Loving the world madly, like God does.

Last night I had the opportunity to be a part of Colorado and national history. The Colorado legislature passed a civil unions bill last month which included civil unions for LGBT people and their partners. I had the honor of attending the bill signing earlier and last night, at midnight on May 1 the law went into effect. To help celebrate, clergy from all different denominations and faith traditions were asked to be on hand to sign civil union licenses along with plenty of magistrates (if people didn't want a religious service). Nadia was asked to be one of the officiating clergy, and in true HFASS style, we had liturgy booklets ready with a liturgy for blessing civil unions, hymns for couples to sing if they wanted, and 20 or so members of the community ready to surround the newly unioned couple with love, support, and prayers.

There, of course, were some glitches in the system, like one couple had the wrong names on their license and had to go back and get a new one. But, perhaps the biggest glitch was that they did not have regular coffee for the event, only decaf. That meant at 1am I got to run to the 24 hour diner 7 blocks away so we all could stay awake for the whole thing. (These are the very glamorous and exciting parts of internship)

Angela and Michelle

3 HFASS couples got their union licenses last night. One couple, Angela and Michelle, met at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago 7 years ago, and are planning a ceremony for August but told me that they couldn't imagine not being part of such a historic and momentous event. After Nadia signed their license, all 20 of us belted out Blessed Assurance at the top of our lungs in the middle of the municipal building. I cannot imagine a more fitting song for these two as we blessed their lives together.

It was quite an incredible night, and a huge honor to see the faces of 260 people getting unioned, and getting to be part of blessing some of those unions in the presence of God and an awesome church that shows up in the middle of the night to sing, bless, and love people madly, like God does.

Ashes to Ashes

Note: This post originally was published on my personal blog.

Last Wednesday, as I was getting ready for bed, I looked at myself in the mirror...as I was washing off my cross of ashes that I had gotten earlier in the evening.

This year was the first year I paused mid wash, to look at my forehead, and I was struck off guard by what I was looking at.  My face wash is from Lush and it is called Dark Angels...it's a face wash whose major ingredient is ground charcoal.  I swear by it for keeping my face clean, but it is kind of a gross black paste that is rather messy. 

And here I was, washing off my cross made of palm ashes with the ashes of some unknown tree that gave its life for my face wash.  

As I looked at myself, there was no distinguishing between where the palm ash ended and the face wash began, it was all smeared together on my forehead.  In one moment, the sign of my mortality mixed with the refreshing promise of cleansing...all in one.  

And as I looked at what I had created...a mix of dirt and clean, of death and new life, of the visible and invisible cross on my forehead...I was overwhelmed with emotions...considering that maybe all of life is like my forehead.  We are sinners and saints, yes.  But Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality, and simultaneously reminds us of the cross of Christ which claims us at baptism and promises life eternal in the Kingdom of God.  We are dead in sin...we confess it weekly, yet we are forgiven and free...reminded weekly.  

Living in this all encompassing life is beautiful...and maybe it's the reminder I needed going into Lent this year.  I admit I wasn't as into Lent this year as I was Advent (normally it's reversed...I like Lent more...) but as I looked at myself in the mirror, I thought about how daily, in an effort to clean my face, I spread ashes on it...and so thus...my Lenten discipline:  Being mindful of my face wash...and being mindful of the cross on my forehead.  

For real?!

Time flies when your having fun (source)

Recently an email was sent to all LSTC students by our candidacy coordinator informing the seniors that their assignment was coming up and that if any changes needed to be made to their paperwork to let him know.

I know that current seniors are all anxious about this but my thoughts were "oh sh**!  That's in 12 months for me."  Which was quickly followed by "Wait a minute...I've only got 6 months of my internship left."

These moments of panic are running around most of my class right now as we realize that we are halfway done with internship.  Some of us are not looking forward to going back to school and others of us are ready to fast forward to August of this year.  I'm somewhere in between...I love my church and I love everything I'm learning and doing on internship but there are quite a few days where I long for a cappuccino from Z&H on 57th St. (though, really in general Denver's coffee is better than Chitown's) and some lasagna from Leona's.  But more than longing for Chicago or enjoying Denver I was hit with the reality of my future and how quickly it is coming.

Some of the best advice I ever got was from a friend of mine, Carrie, during my freshman year of High School when she was a senior.  She said "your freshman year is the longest year of your school".  I didn't believe her at the time, cause that year went pretty fast...but it's held true, even beyond high school.

But ultimately, living in the past, being anxious about the future, wishing I was somewhere else, or any other thing that keeps me away from living in the moment is unhelpful and keeps me away from being mindful of the present moment.  Being present and mindful of where I am at...contemplating God in the midst of my reality...is where I can find solace in the midst of all sorts of emotions.

Wade in the Water

Not an image from this particular baptism...but look at our crazy font

Okay, so there was no wading in the water...because the font at my church is old school (like, it has a lock and a brass relief of a dove which actually looks like a raptor) but we had the first baptism since I've been there yesterday.  

Typically House does baptisms on baptismal festivals (like the Easter Vigil) but we aren't really all that strict about it and this instance was no exception...or maybe it was the world's largest exception.

About a month ago, a woman emailed House to tell us her story.  In it she recounted that she was raised an atheist and a cultural Jew, but in the midst of watching her family lose everything in Hurricane Sandy, she saw something odd.  A bunch of Lutherans and Episcopalians in New York cleaning up the damage and rebuilding.  It was something she hadn't experienced before, and wanted to learn more about these strange benevolent Lutheran people.

Through a series of circumstances she found House For All Sinners and Saints and listened to every single one of the sermons that have been preached here.  In her email she explained that she laughed with our community, cried with our community, and she felt the presence of God in her life for the first time.  Because she felt like she was part of our community, and had just discovered this God thing, she wanted to fly to Denver to be baptized into our community, knowing that it was unlikely she would be back often, or maybe ever.

After discussing the request in Housekeeping (our Church Council) one member of it pointed out that we unapologetically have an open table at House, so we had to have an open font as well.  I know that there is a lot of debate in the church about open tables, and it's likely that those same people will be in disagreement about our open font as well...(and we've worked to help our newest sister in Christ find a church home in her part of the country)...but, regardless of thoughts surrounding our practices, it was one of the most beautiful things I've witnessed thus far.  Baptisms, for me, are such a powerful and amazing reminder of my own baptism.  That, 25 years ago, I too had water poured over me and I was sealed with the Cross of Christ forever.

A joke about John the Baptist

Panorama of Beer and Carols by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Okay, so I stole this joke, but it's funny.

"On Jordan's bank the Baptists cry, if I were Baptist so would I.
They drink no beer, they have no fun,
I'm glad I am a Lutheran!"

This past Friday House hosted an event we like to call Beer and Carols. There are basically 2 rules for the evening.
1. drink beer (or soda)
2. sing carols

I've been asked by a couple people about our theology behind this event and each time I answer "we don't have one...we just like to sing and drink." Which is entirely true. We do it because we enjoy it and because it's a good way to show the greater community that we are a little bit different than your mother's Lutheran church.

I think that sometimes we get so caught up as seminarians about theologizing everything we do in the church that we can forget what it is like to just have fun.  So, this Advent season do something crazy.  Drink beer and sing Christmas carols...don't over think it, and don't feel bad about singing Christmas songs before Christmas.  I promise you'll feel good about your decision.

Park(ing) Day Eucharist

Note: So, this happened on Sept. 21 and I'm just now getting around to writing about it, many apologies for people who were curious about it.  

Free Jesus in a parking space!    ||    Photo courtesy of Rick Strandlof

Every September 21, an event takes place simultaneously around the world, throwing pedestrians off, and confusing drivers everywhere.  This day is called Park(ing) Day and is a moment to recognize and reframe what public land looks like.  Since parking meters are technically public property, the organization says, then anyone should be able to meter out a space and do what they want there, not just park cars.  The initiative started with turning a parking space into a public park (complete with sod and park benches) and has grown to metering out spaces and doing all sorts of things in them, to raise awareness for...well...anything.

One of my parishioners, Rick, found out about this and said "lets do a Eucharist in a parking space!"  Naturally, we said yes.  So, I was in charge of getting all the supplies from church and hauling them around to 3 different parking spaces in downtown Denver throughout the day.  Each spot, we fed the meter (one of them was only $.20/hour!) and set up an altar, a prayer station, and gathered with HFASS people and some passersby and celebrated the Eucharist.  "Free Jesus (for all sinners and saints)" got some looks, and some questions, and some ignoring, but all in all it was a really great experience and opened some conversation about what church can and could look like.

Pastor Nadia posted about this on her blog in about 4 sentences and it sparked a ton of debate.  One of the critics said that the Eucharist should only be celebrated where there is a community of baptized believers, and should be done reverently instead of in a parking space.  We at House have no membership, and what that means to us is that whoever the Spirit brings to worship is the Church, regardless if it is in our worship space or in a parking spot.  We also practice radical Eucharistic hospitality at House meaning that everyone, without exception, is invited to have the body and blood of Christ.

Ultimately the rules we have around something that is not rightfully ours to make rules about are about preserving 'us' and keeping out 'them' when we should be called to embrace the 'we' as the body of Christ.  And...you know...HFASS tries to show people that Church doesn't always have to be something so inaccessible, that's why we bring it to the streets in a parking space.

First internship sermon

I got to preach my first sermon at HFASS yesterday, and almost had to 'lead' the service.  Nadia had a speaking engagement (well, 5 in 4 days and 2 states) and her flight was scheduled to arrive at DIA at 3:30.  Of course, it got delayed, and was then scheduled to get in at 4:27.

Luckily the Spirit interceded when I had nothing but sighs too deep for words and Nadia's plane picked up speed in the air and got into the airport with enough time for her to get to liturgy at 5pmand change into her clerics.

The spirit also showed up in the preaching event, which always happens, but is a relief nonetheless.  Nadia has a tradition that whoever is preaching is prayed for by the other person before the service.  In that moment, I felt my nerves disappear and I was filled with the peace that only God is able to give.  As the service started and we sang Schumann's mass I was filled with emotion, as only liturgy can do.

I am going to have to get used to preaching in an interactive environment...I've never had anyone (until last night) talk back to me in the middle of the sermon.  It was nothing terribly distracting, but I made a point and someone said pretty audibly 'wow' in response.  Everyone laughed out loud and it all worked out, but I have a feeling I will like Holy Spirit interruptions like that!

Till next week!

Edit: here's the sermon!

Wow. I'm Officially A Vicar!

Yesterday was my first day at House for All Sinners and Saints as their newest Vicar.  But, I really started on Friday where Nadia, my supervising pastor, had "Office Hours" to get to know the new vicar.  "Office Hours" are essentially when Nadia is guaranteed to be at a coffee shop during certain times and people can come and hang out and chat about whatever with whoever shows up.  I think it's a great concept and definitely fosters a sense of community.  One of the parishioners actually came and used her lunch break to hang out and talk.

Then Saturday I got to find out what I'm actually going to be doing.  And I'm pretty sure that not many other interns will have an internship like mine.  Basically, I get to be a person for an living this year!  Part of my job will be, of course, preparing sermons, having coffee from parishoners, making hot dishes for potlucks, and the like.  But, since HFASS is a mission start church, I'll get to do things like join clubs (hiking? biking? book? help me choose!) and doing volunteer work (again...suggestions welcome!) in the community as a religious leader.  That is to say, I'll do these things being clear that I am a leader in the Church.  The point is not necessarily to get more people to come to HFASS, but instead to be an active presence in the community.  My internship responsibilities also include personal health and growth, through reading stuff I want to read, working out, and making friends outside the church.

I'm pretty stoked that I get to be a person for a year, doing God's work in all the world, not just in an office!

Seriously...give me suggestions for clubs/volunteer jobs/general merriment!