one thing

Ok, ok, so first things first, these are not my favorite worship services ever invented. But I was in Anderson yesterday evening to sing with the seminary chorus at the beginning of the final North American Convention (Not A Campmeeting) service of the year. So I figured I might as well stick around for the whole service, especially since I had a great seat.

The service was remarkable for a number of reasons: (1) The worship music, led by a team of people older than me, seemed to be directed toward a crowd younger than me, and most of it was unfamiliar to me. Huh. (2) The sermon, which I will discuss in a future post, was simultaneously very frustrating and very satisfying for me. Rather, I should say that two-thirds of it were frustrating, but the last third was surprisingly strong. And yet it seemed that most of the people there did not appreciate the strong part. Maybe that’s why it was strong. More on that later. (3) The candlelight service.

All right, so it was really just a normal, convention-ending candlelight service. It seemed like all the others I’ve ever attended. (By the way, read this satirical article.) But I was struck with a new take on the symbolism of the service, one which I’ve never heard taught or explained before. I’m filing this under the category of “If I have to do a candlelight service, I’ll do it this way”:

The flame represents holiness. Fire destroys its fuel, and it eliminates the impurities from metals like gold. Fire has a certain cleansing property, but it cleanses in a relatively painful way - by tearing down the object to be purified. In the same way, the Holy Spirit cleanses and purifies those who follow Jesus Christ by eliminating impurities and by establishing a new way of life. The old self is burned up (painfully, at times) and is replaced by something pure and holy.

The flame also represents unity - in the same way that the bread of the Lord’s Supper represents unity. Ideally, the Lord’s Supper utilizes one loaf of bread from which each person takes a piece. In this manner, each person expresses his or her identity in Jesus Christ (which the one loaf represents) and his or her unity with the other believers (who also share in the one loaf). Similarly, a candlelight service can begin with one candle, representative of Jesus Christ. Each person then shares in the life and light of that one candle… you see where this is going.

This second expression can quickly become cheesy or trite (from a certain perspective) unless the first concept is kept firmly in mind. The unity we experience is not fuzzy-wuzzy, feel-good stuff (see future discussion of sermon). Instead, the unity we experience is grounded in the purifying, consuming holiness we receive from the Holy Spirit, which is based on the purifying work of Jesus Christ (which consumed him entirely).

Holiness and unity. Get it?

Many early Christian martyrs were burned at the stake. I wonder… how would a candlelight service have been interpreted and understood by their fellow disciples?

From this week’s Sports Illustrated:

• 66-32: Margin by which the last-place Indians have been outscored in the eighth inning this year.
• 364-357: Margin by which the Indians have outscored their opponents in all other innings.

Enough said.

Well, I’ve done it. After five years, I finally graduated from seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. I feel greatly relieved to have reached this milestone. If you’ve been following me lately, you know I have kind of dropped off the face of the planet for the past month… there are lots of reasons for this, but mostly I’ve just been relaxing, taking a serious break, doing work on and around the house, giving my mind and my soul a rest.

Five years ago, I wrote these words:

I am excited to begin. I am hopeful for what will come. I know very little of what I will be in four or five years when this phase of the Journey is complete. I trust that God will take care of all my needs in this span, and I hope to be readily dependent on his grace and love in the coming months and years.

God has been faithful to me - to us. The Lord has seen us through a wedding ceremony, three moves, a new home, job losses, new living arrangements for new jobs, and a new car (out of necessity). And never have we had to worry about where the mortgage payment will come from, nor how we will find our next meal. All of our needs have indeed been provided. If nothing else I realize how much more “dependent on his grace and love” I will need to be in the next few months and years, as compared to the past five.

Since my time in seminary has come to a close, it’s fitting that this blog be renamed to something more appropriate. In a recent meeting of a small prayer group which I attend, I was reminded of this prayer of the psalm-writer:

The LORD is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:1-4)

One thing. No matter what happens in the future, no matter what has happened in the past, only one thing truly matters: seeking the face of the Lord and dwelling in his house forever.

This week is my Spring Break from the seminary, but not from CPE, so that means I had this Monday and Tuesday off from class. Since Tara still works up in Lafayette these days, we decided that it would be fun if I came up and spent the days/evenings with her while I was on my break. So we put the dogs in a doggy day care that we’ve used in the past; nice people, the dogs get worn out from barking and playing nonstop, everybody wins.

Well, when I arrived this afternoon to pick up the dogs, the owner of the place came up to me and asked if I had talked to Tara yet. I hadn’t, because I had been in CPE all day. It turns out that some other dog picked a fight with Jake … and bit him. Twice. The lady assured me that Jake did not need stitches, but that she had already taken him to our vet across town to have him taken care of. Since I was already out and about, I told the lady I’d be glad to go pick up Jake at the vet to save her a trip (and me some time). So Lindy and I packed up in the car - she knew something wasn’t right, and she was looking for Jake everywhere!

The vet gave me some antibiotics and some pain pills for Jake to take over the next several days. They had to shave about one square inch of his fur around each puncture wound, of which there are three. But they said he should be fine in the long run. (Oh, and the day care owner payed for all the vet fees and medicines, which was nice. I sure wasn’t going to pay for them myself.)

I kind of wonder if this will be a defining moment in Jake’s life… I wonder if his personality, especially toward other dogs, will change. He looked pretty miserable all night tonight, but some of that might be the medicine.

Here are the pictures you’re all expecting to see right about now:

Jake's head wound. The other dog gave him a pretty good bite on the top of his skull. Ouch!

Jake's shoulder wounds. It looks like he was bitten by some half-crazed vampire-dog!

Jake in his crate. Doesn't he look pitiful?

Pop quiz! When was the following quote written?
(a) 1928; (b) 1948; (c) 1968; (d) 1988; (e) 2008

A feeling of brotherhood is fast growing among Christians, and this will become more pronounced. Creeds as a test of fellowship are being repudiated and will doubtless be less in favor as time passes. Christians will recognize and accept the truth each other has held. Denominational lines will gradually fade out as they are beginning to do now and rivalries will consequently cease. All Christians will feel free to worship together and to help each other in Christian work. Cooperation in Christian work will be common and is now becoming so. True Christians will gradually come to the true basis for unity by God’s working in their consciousness. They will eventually wake up to find themselves in loving fellowship with division walls gone.

Answer will be in the first comment, so as not to spoil the fun. (Sorry, Facebookers, I mean the first comment on my blog. Dig around, you’ll find it.)

My dog got mad at me this morning.

It’s a rainy morning, which is a little unusual for this area, this time of year. Let’s just say it was a surprise to both Jake and Lindy. Each morning, when I come downstairs, the first thing I do is let the dogs out into the backyard. Lindy went relatively willingly, even in the rain, but Jake was really hesitant to go out and get his little paws (and the rest of him) wet. But finally he did, did his business, and came back inside…

…and went straight to his crate.

Normally, right after the dogs come back inside, I feed them. So they are usually pretty excited to be around me first thing in the morning. Lindy was her normal hungry self, so I fed her. But Jake just wouldn’t come out of his crate, even though I called him over and over. And then I realized… he was throwing a fit, because I made him go outside and get wet.

So I went over to his crate, apologized profusely, petted him, rubbed a little water off his back, and sure enough, he started to wag his tail. Soon he got up and came with me to the kitchen to eat his food… slowly.

Poor dog.

Lots of strange things have been happening to me in the past few days… today, especially. Ever have one of those days (or weekends)?

• I got a flat tire on the way to school today.
• I got summoned to report for jury duty tomorrow.
• The previous owner of my house (who sold it to us 2.5 years ago) got a summons, on my front door, that he’s being sued in small claims court.
• Lindy pooped in the front room of our house sometime between the time I wife got up this morning and the time Tara left for work.
• The left temple of my glasses suddenly, and without provocation, broke on Saturday. (I had it soldered by a repair shop, but it hasn’t been the same since.)
• I took our dogs on a walk this evening, and I was asked by no fewer than ten neighborhood children if the dogs bite. (Two kids actually were brave enough to pet them!)

I apologize to my faithful readers who are probably disappointed that I haven’t written anything in two months (and anything of substance in longer than that). My life as it exists right now does not lend itself well to this type of ultra-public reflection, for a number of reasons.

For starters, I am in CPE, which means (for me) that I am spending two days a week at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. There are *lots* of things going on there, and I have seen situations that I never imagined, both good and bad. Mostly involving death, if you’re curious. But suffice it to say that I can’t really write anything on this blog about specific experiences I’ve had in the hospital - that would violate all sorts of laws.

Also, I am finishing my seminary education this semester. Today happens to be my first day of that last semester, and I have to admit that I actually am excited and interested in my final three classes: ethics for ministers, Church of God history, and mission in the urban church. But combined with CPE and ordination (see below), I’m going to be heads-down until May 9, graduation day, so who knows, maybe I’ll find a minute or two to post something interesting about class sometime.

The biggest strain on me right now is the ordination process. But this is not the place for me to describe what’s going on, because far too many people with multiple roles, perspectives, and levels of investment in my ordination are at least occasional visitors to this site. We’re talking about conflict of interests at a nearly maximal level, and that’s not something that I need to subject myself to at this point in the process. (Let the reader understand.)

That parenthetical line comes to mind, incidentally, because of my interest in it as a red-letter sentence in the gospels. Those versions of the Bible that highlight Jesus’s words print that sentence, “Let the reader understand,” in red type as well. And that always fascinates me, because I’m positive that Jesus didn’t actually say those words, because he didn’t actually write those words. Instead, the gospels were written by other people for specific audiences (”reader”s) for specific purposes (which they, we assume, would “understand”). I think it’s a fun task to try to figure out what in the world they understood by such things as “the abomination that causes desolation” (see Matthew 24).

No, “fun” isn’t the right word. “Necessary” is the right word.

Oh well, off to buy the remainder of my books for the semester.

It’s cold outside. The November-in-Indiana type of cold, so yes, I know it’ll get a lot colder in the next couple of months.

But - surprise! - this morning it was cold *inside*, too. Really cold. Like November-in-Indiana-and-your-furnace-is-broken cold. We still have hot water and gas for the stove, but our extremities are pretty chilly. It’s times like these that make me realize how thankful I am for something so “ordinary” as a working furnace.

A local repairman is coming by this afternoon to take a look. On the phone, he had me check some things out for him, and he diagnosed the problem as a faulty igniter. I wonder how much he’ll charge to fix it?

I got some good news on Tuesday: I am signed up to finish my seminary degree this spring with a total of 93 credit hours!

Now, that might not seem like good news to you, but it sure did to me. That’s because I’m only required to have 90 credit hours in order to graduate. Each class at the seminary is 3 credit hours. And as I loved to say to my math students once upon a time, “you can do the math.”

CPE is, as I have said here before, rather time consuming (and rather emotionally consuming). And CPE doesn’t end, much to my chagrin, until the end of March. That’s two and a half months into the spring semester at the seminary, in which I am scheduled to take three classes on campus. Three classes is my normal work load. But if you stack CPE on top of that, it amounts to about five classes’ worth of time commitment (at least). I have often said that anyone taking five seminary classes at once is, for lack of a better term, crazy.

And I was planning to be crazy for a semester. Ah, but now, I don’t have to take all three classes - one of them is an elective, so I think I’m going to elect to audit the class instead of take it for credit. It’s a class in urban ministry, and I think it would be interesting to take given my experiences at Woodruff Place these past three years. So I can sit in on lectures, do the readings, participate in conversations, but I don’t have to do any of the work. Sounds pretty good, huh?

I’m feeling a lot more comfortable about next semester already. It will still be hard - I’ve never taken four classes at once, either - but hopefully it won’t be crazy.