About two months ago I shared that I had a looming deadline to turn in my ordination paperwork to the District Committee on Ordained Ministry in the UMC in order to be approved to appear before the Conference Board next Spring. That Board will determine whether or not I am commissioned as an appointed elder in the UMC. The good news is even in the middle of a semester I was able to meet their deadline and turned in no less than 72 pages and passed their interview process. Yay!
Just last week I finished another semester (two more to go). This summer and fall will be the last. Come December I will be a Master of Divinity, HA!
Something else quite significant happened last week as well. I was appointed as a part-time pastor to Martha Brown United Methodist Church in East Atlanta Village. Although it is part-time I am the only pastor. My first Sunday is June 27. I am so humbled by this high privilege and pray God will use me in mighty ways. There are some exciting and wonderful things going on there and I look forward to being a part of what God is doing in and through the people of MBUMC and the community.
What I have learned in the last three years of ministry while being a seminary student has value beyond measure. God has taught me so much about who I am, who God is, and who God created me to be. He has taught me about need, and lack, and want, temptation, provision, and providence, grace, love, and power. Some of it I learned in books, most of it I learned in life, by reaching out, by being obedient even when I didn't want to, by looking up, by falling on my face before God. I learned so much in the despair of a late night cancer diagnosis, the desperate cries of parents watching their baby die, the prayers prayed aloud in multiple languages in the frenzy of a hospital trauma room, the praises sung to God in a dirt floor church in Mexico, the tears in the eyes of young Palestinian woman in a souk in Jordan, and so, so, so much more.
God is amazing. God's power, grace, and love are matchless. To God be the glory. Now and forever. Amen!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
She's gonna die?
What a revelation...well we are all going to die right? We just don't think about it every day. Should we? If we did would we live differently? This was something we discussed in an ethics class I took on death and dying. In order to die well do we all need to be living well? I think so. Yes, we will all die a bodily death, but will we die well?
This was a topic of conversation this week in my house. Our nine year old dog has been sick and we found out she has kidney disease. Our time with her is more limited than we previously had thought. Honestly this is the absolute sweetest, most obedient dog I have ever encountered. It has broken my heart to see her in pain and suffering. I have become an amateur veterinarian trying to help her feel better. She has been refusing to eat or drink for a week now and ate little to nothing the week before. I have been giving her a liter of fluids a day through an i.v. that I have to put in every morning. Talk about doing something you never thought you would or could do. But man I love this dog! We sit by the front door and watch the birds and squirrels while I pet and stroke her and tell her how sweet and good she is. It takes time for a whole liter of fluids to empty, but it is quality time. Time I am forced to slow down...time I wished I had taken before now.
How much do we take for granted daily because we think we have tomorrow or that we will get around to it. When pressed, when whatever it is we take for granted is threatened to be taken away we hold on for dear life! Suddenly our priorities are realigned.
When I told my 11 and 7 year old about our dog there were a lot of tears. My 11 year old asked repeatedly, "she's gonna die? she's gonna die?" It seemed almost ridiculous to me listening to her. My reply was, "of course she is honey, we are all going to die, she is just going to die sooner than we thought in a way we did not expect." But of course that was the reaction. Somehow death takes us by surprise. I wonder why?
Could it be because God created us to live forever? Perhaps this piece of who He created us to be is so much a part of who we are that despite the Fall and all of the goodness of God and His original intent that has gone astray, this bent toward eternity remains? What else does?
As Christians could we talk about death more? The spiritual death and resurrection in our baptisms? The echoes of the here, but not yet, of the kingdom of God. Eternal life that begins the day we unite our lives with God in Christ, not in another time and place.
Christ's death, conquered death, for all time, when he rose again, restoring and redeeming God's intent for humanity.
Suffering of any kind is difficult to witness. Even after my chaplaincy expereince in a children's hospital I cannot fathom how a parent can even breathe when their child is severely injured or chronically ill. What I do know is that in loving and supporting these families it was easier. In sharing with others what God has graciously and generously given to me, it was easier. The human emotion of compassion is not possible unless it is a reponse to suffering. What do we do with that?
Don't take a day for granted. Live like you are dying...you are, well at least your body is, and life as you know it is temporary, how temporary no one knows except God Himself.
Live well, that you might die well.
This was a topic of conversation this week in my house. Our nine year old dog has been sick and we found out she has kidney disease. Our time with her is more limited than we previously had thought. Honestly this is the absolute sweetest, most obedient dog I have ever encountered. It has broken my heart to see her in pain and suffering. I have become an amateur veterinarian trying to help her feel better. She has been refusing to eat or drink for a week now and ate little to nothing the week before. I have been giving her a liter of fluids a day through an i.v. that I have to put in every morning. Talk about doing something you never thought you would or could do. But man I love this dog! We sit by the front door and watch the birds and squirrels while I pet and stroke her and tell her how sweet and good she is. It takes time for a whole liter of fluids to empty, but it is quality time. Time I am forced to slow down...time I wished I had taken before now.
How much do we take for granted daily because we think we have tomorrow or that we will get around to it. When pressed, when whatever it is we take for granted is threatened to be taken away we hold on for dear life! Suddenly our priorities are realigned.
When I told my 11 and 7 year old about our dog there were a lot of tears. My 11 year old asked repeatedly, "she's gonna die? she's gonna die?" It seemed almost ridiculous to me listening to her. My reply was, "of course she is honey, we are all going to die, she is just going to die sooner than we thought in a way we did not expect." But of course that was the reaction. Somehow death takes us by surprise. I wonder why?
Could it be because God created us to live forever? Perhaps this piece of who He created us to be is so much a part of who we are that despite the Fall and all of the goodness of God and His original intent that has gone astray, this bent toward eternity remains? What else does?
As Christians could we talk about death more? The spiritual death and resurrection in our baptisms? The echoes of the here, but not yet, of the kingdom of God. Eternal life that begins the day we unite our lives with God in Christ, not in another time and place.
Christ's death, conquered death, for all time, when he rose again, restoring and redeeming God's intent for humanity.
Suffering of any kind is difficult to witness. Even after my chaplaincy expereince in a children's hospital I cannot fathom how a parent can even breathe when their child is severely injured or chronically ill. What I do know is that in loving and supporting these families it was easier. In sharing with others what God has graciously and generously given to me, it was easier. The human emotion of compassion is not possible unless it is a reponse to suffering. What do we do with that?
Don't take a day for granted. Live like you are dying...you are, well at least your body is, and life as you know it is temporary, how temporary no one knows except God Himself.
Live well, that you might die well.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Making disciples
I have been meeting with the same group of men for the last 33 weeks. Men? you say. Well it didn't start out that way but that is how it ended up! We have been working our way through the Bible and God has done some amazing things in us. We have prayed together, confessed our sins and shortcomings, sung praises, written hymns of praise, encouraged one another, discovered our God given gifts together, written our own statement of faith, acted out the scriptures, and so much more. I have been blessed and humbled to be called "teacher" by these men and can't wait to see what God does next in their lives.
It has not been easy to lead this class, being a full time student, mother of two, and working two part time jobs, but it has been incredibly rewarding to pour out all that God is pouring into me. That is what He calls each of us to do...love one another...obedience has been a big part of this. I never would have chosen the path I am on now, but I have chosen to be obedient to God's call. Honestly it is a choice that has been sometimes difficult to persevere in, while at the same time I don't know how I could ever not. I am not sure if that makes sense to everyone.
We all prayed over on another tonight. They prayed over me last, these men, and I wept at what they had to say. Amazing! Every second worth it if I can point lives to Christ so that they might in turn go and do the same.
Go make disciples!
It has not been easy to lead this class, being a full time student, mother of two, and working two part time jobs, but it has been incredibly rewarding to pour out all that God is pouring into me. That is what He calls each of us to do...love one another...obedience has been a big part of this. I never would have chosen the path I am on now, but I have chosen to be obedient to God's call. Honestly it is a choice that has been sometimes difficult to persevere in, while at the same time I don't know how I could ever not. I am not sure if that makes sense to everyone.
We all prayed over on another tonight. They prayed over me last, these men, and I wept at what they had to say. Amazing! Every second worth it if I can point lives to Christ so that they might in turn go and do the same.
Go make disciples!
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