Author: MASadmin

Hey, if a traffic cop can bust out to Michael Jackson while he’s working, I don’t see why I can’t.

via metafilter

I’ve come to realize that I probably have thought enough about the elements of the Eucharist. I mean, I think I have the beginning part down. The idea about them coming from the earth, being substantial, being part of an actual meal – that I feel comfortable with. And the whole real presence – yeah, I’m cool with that as well. But it is what happens AFTER that I haven’t thought enough about. How do I handle the elements after the service is over and I’m alone with the leftovers in the sacristy, cleaning up as part of the altar guild?

By default, my theology is to consume all the leftovers. I tend not to play the game about when it’s no longer the body and blood of Jesus but I do tend to view them as set-apart. If I don’t consume them, I then try to return them to the earth rather than throw them into the trash. For my internship site, this means opening up a side door and walking a few steps to a nearby playground and pouring the wine/dropping the bread onto one of the many bare and lifeless spots of ground in New York City. I tend to only do that when there is too much wine for me to drink or if I just don’t feel like ingesting extra carbs. I don’t feel as if there is anything necessarily “wrong” with how I handle the elements but I do know that I haven’t thought about it enough. Instead, I’m parroting advice and thoughts that others have given me.

I was thinking about this while I was prepping for the late service and I was deconstructing the altar setup for the early service. I ate the remaining pieces of bread and noticed that there were a few minor crumbs left. I didn’t feel like doing anything too wild to ingest every single crumb so I just shook out the dish over the trash. And as the little pieces of bread feel into the trash can, I wondered if a) that was okay and b) was I okay with it? I don’t know the answer to either question right now.

After the late service, I had the same thoughts. I finished off the chalices of wine and white grape juice (which meant I downed about four glasses of wine in a few minutes), wondering why just I did that. Did it make sense for me to get heavily buzzed right before a few after church meetings just because I felt the need to ingest the leftovers of the elements? Or do I just always forget that I don’t have the tolerance I had five years ago?

Or maybe I should just have had breakfast before I left for church this morning. That probably would have kept my mind (and blood alcohol level) at ease today.

publicity photo

So one of the founding members of Megadeth is on his way to seminary. Sure, he’s going into the LCMS but we won’t hold that against him. He is a celebrity and he’s joining the Lutheran Christian ministry. I have no idea but I don’t think that’s the norm for celebrity-turned-clergy. As a friend on facebook said, “It gets boring when all the ex-celebrities come to TEC [The Episcopal Church] for their priestly call.”

An article in St. Louis Today fleshes out his story. After growing up in a Lutheran family and church, he moved out to LA, formed Megadeth, became a rock star, ended up in rehab, re-affirmed his faith, and ended up back at a church in Arizona. There, recognizing his skills, his pastor convinced him to develop a contemporary worship service. He’s being called to become the pastor for that role at his church.

And, in another sense, he’s become the current face of the distance learning model approach to seminary that Concordia (and a lot of seminaries) are now taking a serious look at. I know LTSP is struggling with setting up a similar program, GTS is in the beginning stages, and Luther Seminary is already well on its way. But what I found interesting about the Concordia model is that it seems to be an OLD model of ministry training. The men in the program are specifically already called to serve in a specific ministry at a church. They do two years of distance study, are ordained (to what, I’m not sure), and then do another two years to become a full blown pastor (I think). Their home congregation pastor serves as their supervisor. It reminds me of the old fashion training of clergy in the USofA where a pastor took on a few souls to teach and train. And I’m sure that this model is also developed from the “evangelical” influence that the LCMS has been under for years. It’s an interesting idea and I’m curious how it will play out. But then I also wonder if it will just end up with a large number of clergy who are stuck in a specific church and ministry (though maybe not – but the program title seems to imply that) and if it will end up perpetuating an idea that only ordained men should serve in specific leadership roles in the church.

Yet this might be the model the ELCA will follow if the “advice” for new clergy that they should be “bi-vocational” becomes a requirement. These folks already have places to work, are supposedly getting paid through their regular jobs, and are able to pay for their education. Maybe this is the LCMS’ way of creating a bi-vocational force of clergy for their next generation of ministers. Spooky.