Ragnarok?

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

Well, then this one says quite a lot all on it's own. My best friend, Kevin, and I hosted a Viking party last night to celebrate our adopted Scandinavian heritage. That's what happens when you go on internship to Dayton, Iowa and Billings, MT - you learn about lefse and lutefisk and all things Scandinavian. So I made Lefse and other delightful treats were brought by friends. Kevin even purchased pickled herring for us (not as bad as I would have thought, actually!). And we even had mead.

We were in a celebratory nature anyway given that the seniors had just completed their RLP's and Forms for assignment! So here's to some Lefse... here's to our future as pastors... Skol!!

For a long time I have wanted to learn how to play the violin. I have thought it to be a sophisticated instrument with a great sound that can be used in a wide variety of music. Now I finally have that opportunity! I was casually mentioning my desire to learn how to play the violin when one of my other classmates mentioned that she had a violin and was looking to get rid of it…for free! I couldn’t believe it! I would have to wait until after Thanksgiving, but I could totally do that. I got it this week and so far I have learned (kind of….I still suck) the melody line for Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, The Final Countdown, Lux Aeterna (sp?), and a couple of other little jingles. It’s sooooooo much fun! And I have one very wonderful classmate to thank for opening up my world to play a new style of music!

Then again, here’s another plug for what makes LSTC wonderful to me. I have already talked about how welcome I have felt by other students here, but it doesn’t end at the welcome. This violin is one gesture of acceptance that I have encountered this week as I have finished up some of the semester. I want to say thank you to the middler who asked about my CPE application and if I wanted any help or advice. I want to say thank you to the classmate who said they enjoy reading these things that I write. I want to say thank you to the dude who shouts “Tiiiiiiger” whenever I come around. All of these little things are not little to me, nor are they just “things”. They are wonderful signs of the transition that I am still making into the world of LSTC.

Forgiveness Policy

I'm in the midst of a war. A couple months back I ordered a Halloween costume for my three-year-old niece. Halloween has always been our special day - for the past several years we attended a holiday party at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens called Boo-tanical Bash. Now living in Chicago, I wasn't able to maintain that tradition, so I bought her costume instead.

Or so I thought. Apparently when my sister opened the box from a highly frequented retailer (it's logo may or may not look like a bullseye), instead of a toddler-sized princess dress inside, she found an adult male Abe Lincoln costume. I have been trying to get refunded for this costume for six weeks now. They are refusing to give me a credit in any other form then a gift certificate to their online store. I don't want a gift certificate to their online store, because it was the error of the online store that put me in this predicament to begin with. Time and time again, this retailer has told me they would mail me a refund, and yet, every email confirming the return is for a certificate for their online store.

Each time I call, I am told they are sorry. They are continually sorry for making the same mistake over and over again. The last time I spoke with them I said, "You keep telling me you're sorry, but you're not doing anything to fix this. Prove to me your sorry by getting it right." Well, wouldn't you know, today I got an email about my refund - an online gift certificate.

While I'm feuding with this company, I can't help but point out the irony that this situation is to my life's calling to be a pastor. As Christians, we are constantly making the same error over and over again. But God never asks us to prove that we're sorry by forcing us to get it right. He just forgives.

A policy like that would never fully work in the real world. People are eventually held accountable for their actions. Society demands that we have show that we are trying to make things right to our fellow neighbor, and very often things are made right before we are willing to forgive. This is what makes God's forgiveness so extraordinary, so out of this world. God's patience is infinite, his love never ending.

I just hope that I can tap into a fraction of that patience when I call the bullseye yet again.

Thanksgiving at LSTC

If you've ever wondered whether or not an LSTC apartment is suitable for hosting a Thanksgiving dinner, you're just like me. Last week, as I was busy preparing for Thanksgiving services at church, my wife and I were also busy cleaning the house, buying groceries, and preparing to host 4 parents, a brother, and a niece for the big holiday. I wasn't sure if the kitchen could handle all the cooking, but standing on the other side, I'm here to say that, yes, this LSTC apartment was the perfect place to have Thanksgiving with my family. We spent all day cooking, laughing, and talking together as we did everything we could to make sure dinner was ready on time. Of course, it wasn't; we were having too much fun. But, eventually dinner was served, and it was amazing. Tender turkey, green beans with home-friend onions, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing, two kinds of potatoes, and Mom's homemade pecan and pumpkin pies for dessert - Amazing.

The family, sans my mother, who's on the other side of the camera

The next day, after a full breakfast, we decided to burn off all those calories by taking a walk to Promontory Point, the lakeside park in the neighborhood. It was a beautiful day, with a fantastic view of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline, and it was a perfect ending to a great holiday spent with family here in Chicago. When it's not possible to go "home" for the holidays, it's so wonderful to have home come here.

Light Shining in the Darkness

Advent is my favorite season at LSTC. Mainly because we get to sing all of those wonderful much-neglected Advent hymns. Don’t get me wrong; I love Christmas music as much as the next guy, but Christmas hymns seem deeper and truer for having spent December with the hauntingly beautiful “Each Winter As the Year Grows Colder” or eager “All Earth Is Hopeful.”

More than the hymnody, I love the simplicity of the season, the somber blues, the flickering candles, the flash of an evergreen wreath in the midst of the bare winter branches. Advent just seems to fit the mood of the seminary in December. Two weeks left in the semester, it is a stressful time. And then here comes Advent, like “communal deep breathing.” Advent is somber, but not penitential like Lent. Instead, it is hopeful waiting. A deep pause that assures you that even in the midst of chaos everything will be, in the end, all right. This year, the Advent wreath in the chapel is an “eternal flame.” This small, constant flickering candle reminds us that one small light shines through the deepest darkness and the Light of the World is on the way.

Let's Get Choppin'!

These past few days I have been struggling to balance my workload with break time. On one hand, it’s Thanksgiving BREAK! This means that I’m supposed to take this time to take a break from my worries and deadlines surrounding my academic schedule. On the other hand the last two weeks of the semester are about to begin, which means it’s time to wrap up the projects that have been gradually creeping up during the semester. It’s become more of a struggle to keep the work apart from the play.

I feel that Chopped can sum up how I feel about these last two weeks. One thing that I really enjoy about Chopped is that the chefs must keep adapting to the wide variety of ingredients to the point of a professional improvisation act. In the same way, I can feel myself getting ready to adapt to these last two weeks. The pressure’s there and in my mystery basket of goodies is one major Worship quiz, one video recording of my Great Thanksgiving, one reflection for Church History, and one Pentateuch quiz! What am I going to create with this batch of ingredients! And it’s still just the appetizer round, there’s more to come.

Despite this pressure, the positive aspect of my academic episode of Chopped is that, like the competing chefs, I will feel good about the work I will put into it and to simply participate in the opportunity to be there. While there will always seem to be something that I can improve in my scholastic dish, I will feel relieved after presenting my dish to the judges. There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is a finish line. I think this break has been very useful to re-focus myself for the home stretch. Here we go!

Until next Friday!

Singing

There's this line in the movie, Elf, that talks about the best way to spread Christmas cheer. Anyone know the line? The answer: singing loud for all to hear!

But it's not just Christmas cheer that singing spreads, it's cheer in general. As my mom, aunt, cousin, and I were cooking up our Thanksgiving feast, we had my mom's ipod on and were rocking out to some tunes. We were crooning at each other, swaying our apron clad bodies as we stirred up stuffing and sweet potatoes.

I enjoyed the food, don't get me wrong. My grandmother even said it was the best food she's EVER had! But it was the singing that did me in. A group of people that know the lyrics to the same songs and don't mind looking like little girls as they dance around a kitchen like they're wearing ball gowns instead of messy aprons.

We may mess up the lyrics. We don't always hit that high note. But you know what? We don't mind at all.