Author: MASadmin

New house, same as the – no, wait, it is nothing like the old house

I haven’t lived in a house in a long time. Well, let me qualify that statement a bit. While living in NYC, I spent my time in houses converted into apartments (some better than others) but I’ve never lived as an adult as the primary occupant of a complete house. I’m living that dream now.

It is daunting.

I’m still renting and we moved into a house that has been a rental for probably 40 years. And it looks like it. The inside has only been partially renovated. The kitchen was rebuilt at some point but just built on top of the original floor. We can still see the old floor through some of the bottom cabinets. The garage door is original to the house (built in the 50s) and its paint is peeling. Every window has at least 4 different hardware sets for blinds or curtains and most of it has been painted over. Also, we can see that the owner originally painted over wallpaper rather than remove the wall paper itself. Random closets were installed and there is a million nails and random hooks stuck in the walls. There’s also baseboard heaters that come off when you breathe on them. It’s a mess of a house but we’re making it our own. We’re removing all the random hardware, fixing up cracks, sanding the rusted bits, taking down all the random cables entering the building, cleaning up the yard (and figuring out how to mow it), and just fixing up everything. We’ll paint. We’ll make this place look great. I’m just not sure how long it’ll take.

House living is different.

Here are a few pictures of some of the things we’re dealing with. You can follow along on my instagram.

Cable

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Suburbia Living

Well it happened: I’m living in the ‘burbs.

After being assigned to New Jersey Synod in March, we decided that heading to New Jersey after graduation (whatever my call status is at the time) made the most sense. K found a rental house in a great neighborhood that is easy for her to commute back to Manhattan. We said goodbye to the seminary campus, packed up our belongings, bought my brother’s old car, and headed to the ‘burbs. The house is a complete mess (it has been a rental for at least 40 years), the yard is ridiculous, the animals are stressed out, I’m a full-time dad while I await a call, and I’m learning that living in a one-car household is a little strange for Paramus, New Jersey. But O and I explored two playgrounds within a 20 minute walk today and he found one he liked.

Goodbye NYC. Hello New Jersey.

Just Go: a sermon saying Goodbye to my Home Congregation in

I preached this today at Trinity Long Island City, saying goodbye to the community that brought me on this journey that I now find myself on.

Lessons: Jeremiah 20:7-13; Psalm 69:7-18; Romans 6:1b-11; Matthew 10:24-39

*******

So, two days ago, I sat in a car outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, caught in some lunch hour traffic. It was day 2 of my road trip from Raleigh, North Carolina to NYC, where I went to buy my brother’s old car and drive it back home – and the traffic was barely moving. My legs ached because I wasn’t use to all this driving and my head was a little foggy after spending the last two days listening to Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” like a million times on the radio and I felt trapped between SUVs, pickup trucks, and semis, on this highway 180 miles from home. But then I noticed something ‚Äì something that I wouldn’t have noticed if the traffic was actually moving. There was this man, standing on an overpass, over the highway, and he was holding this large sign. I don’t remember exactly what the sign said ‚Äì something about repenting and following Jesus ‚Äì but I remember that man because he was standing there and giving the happiest, friendliest wave to everyone as they drove by. SUV, semi-truck, old pickup ‚Äì we all got that same, happy, smiling wave, as we inched along. Here was a man who heard Jesus’ commands ‚Äì heard his words in Matthew ‚Äì heard the word to Go out – and this is where it lead him: to an overpass outside Harrisburg, PA.

These words from Matthew ‚Äì they are part of a whole chapter that Jesus devotes to instructing his disciples about what it means to follow Jesus. After blessings and giving the disciples orders to cast out demons and cure the sick, Jesus follows up with words on what to bring, how to interact with people you meet, and what to do when people aren’t happy that you’re there. These disciples are being sent out ‚Äì sent beyond Jesus’ immediate presence ‚Äì and they are told to GO, to visit new places and meet new people ‚Äì to tell their story and to tell all the new things that God is doing through Jesus. Jesus’ words to his disciples are simple ‚Äì they are to just GO ‚Äì to preach the gospel, tell their story, talk about Jesus, share Jesus with everyone they meet because once you roll with Jesus, everything changes.

And what we heard today ‚Äì these are Jesus’ last bit of instruction to his disciples. And – I’ll be honest – they’re not my favorite Jesus sayings. Sure, there’s the bit about God knowing every hair on my head ‚Äì that’s a personal favorite of mine ‚Äì but then Jesus continues. He says he comes to not bring peace but to bring a sword. He says he has come to turn son against father, daughter against mother ‚Äì where is the love here? Where is the hope and peace that defines the Jesus we know and love? This isn’t the gentle Jesus – this is a hard Jesus. This isn’t even the Jesus that asks us to be nicer to someone else or to think more of our neighbor or the stranger down the block – this is a harsh Jesus that says once you roll with Jesus, everything changes. And not just our disposition or emotions – we don’t just start thinking happier thoughts or become more optimistic and positive ‚Äì no, when Jesus says Go ‚Äì things become riskier ‚Äì everything changes.

But what exactly does it mean to Go?

If we take our relationship with Jesus seriously, does that mean everything about ourselves right now has to change? Do we quit our jobs, pack up our families, and like the early disciples of Jesus, head on out into unknown places? Or maybe, like that man on the highway outside Harrisburg, do we give up our lunch hour to hold a sign, to proclaim the importance of Jesus with a friendly wave to anyone who sees us go by? Or do we do something maybe a little more tame – and we send an email to Pastor Paul or maybe our bishop – and ask about seminary and just what it means to be a pastor in Jesus’ church?
To be honest, I wish I had a better answer to what it means to Go. After three years in seminary, one year on internship, a summer working as a chaplain at a hospital – after all the sermons I’ve preached, all the books I read, all the lectures I attended, all the people I sat with as they took their last breath, all the babies I blessed as they began their walk on earth – from all the Tweets and facebook posts, Confirmation and Sunday School lessons I taught and created – I wish I had a better answer for all of us of just what it means to Go. But I don’t. There isn’t a checklist out there where we just cross everything off that helps us be the best Christian or be the best disciples in the world. There’s isn’t a special code that unlocks the secret to what God is doing in every situation we find ourselves in at home or at work. And seminary doesn’t give you all the answers and it doesn’t even help you say the right thing in those situations where you just don’t know what to say. I can’t say that after all this that I know what your Go will look like ‚Äì but I can say this ‚Äì just Go.

Because that’s what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying “Go and Go Out” – because Jesus is taking us somewhere where our story needs to be shared – where our struggles need to be told – where our hopes, fears, loves, and peace need to meet with someone we don’t know yet. They need to hear our story – our meeting with Jesus – our struggles with God ‚Äì they need to know when we felt God in our lives and when we didn’t. They need to know all of our story because that’s part of God’s story. That’s what Paul is hinting at in our second lesson ‚Äì that’s part of what baptism is all about ‚Äì your story is now God’s story and God’s story is now your story ‚Äì and that story needs to be shared with the person not in the pew sitting next to you but with the person that you’re about to meet. We don’t know where this will take us – or what this we’ll cause us to do – but our command from Jesus is to just Go ‚Äì Go because God is with us. Go because God loves us. Go because God is bringing us to love and bring hope to places that can only respond with a sword. Your journey might lead you to Seminary, it might lead you to a bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to say hi to a guy waving to drivers every Friday – or it might lead you to someplace entirely new. But wherever it leads us, know one thing ‚Äì God knows you ‚Äì God loves you ‚Äì Jesus is with you ‚Äì so just Go.

Amen.

A slightly more hardcore sendoff blessing

Here’s the third (and final) blessing I received on my sendoff on Sunday.

O God of Outrage, worshiped by the saints and all the angels: pour out your Spirit on your servants who, with the gift of music, welcome the Misfits and give hope to the Damned. Embolden your musical Stooges, that with dissonant courage they might Clash with Bad Religion, clarify every Social Distortion, and shred every Black Flag of government tyranny and corporate oppression. Through their ministry heal our Poison Hearts and purify our Maimed Happiness as we await your coming glory, our Holiday in the Sun. In your name we pray, Amen.

Another Sendoff Blessing from Frodo

Here’s another sendoff blessing I received on Sunday.

We thank you, O God, for all your servants and witnesses of times past. Through their example, inspire us to act in Spirit and in truth. Give us the wisdom of Gandalf, the humility of Aragorn, the faithfulness of Samwise Gamgee and steadfast endurance of Frodo Baggins, the alacrity of Legolas Greenleaf and courageous strength of Gimli. Unite us in your fellowship with all the saints who have passed to glory in the Timeless Halls; in your mercy, give the hope of your salvation and the promise of eternal life to those of us who endure in Middle Earth. In your name we pray, Amen.

A sendoff Star Wars blessing

Yesterday, I said goodbye to Advent NYC where I served for the last four years during my seminary career. At a special reception after the 11 am service, three special blessings were shared with me. Here’s one of them.

Gracious God, whose ark of the covenant melted the face of Belloq, yet whose mercy spared Indiana Jones and Marion, we thank you for Marc’s time and service here at Advent church.

He came in as a young Padawan, and now is leaving as a Jedi for Jesus.

Please Lord, bless him with focused sermons that can cut to the heart of his congregation like a light saber through the belly of a tauntaun. Give him faith as deep as the Sarlac pit, and let not even ingesting a heavily armored bounty hunger disturb it.

Give him the wisdom of Yoda, yet may he never confuse his syntax by placing the verb before the subject. Confusing that would be.

Give him the strength of a wookie, yet let him be a better loser at holographic checkers.

Give him a warm heart so he can empathize with others and also survive being frozen in carbonite.

Give him the friendliness of an Ewok, but never let him be as annoying.

Lord, illuminate Marc’s path with the light of the twin suns of Tatooine and bless him wherever you lead him.

From Ephesus to Endor.
From Antioch to Alderaan.
From Damascus to Dagobah.

Lord, when Marc is doubtful, whisper in his ear, “Marc, I am your father.” And then add in a rasphy heavy breath, ’cause that will be cooler.

Keep him from the dark side. And let Marc know that your force is with him…always.

Amen.

The making of an amendment to the ELCA Capital Campaign: the Young

The ELCA Children, Youth, & Family Network recently released videos of the keynote presentations from their 2014 Extravaganza. Ian McConnell offered a vision of ministry that works through generational frameworks. His presentation was centered the work I participated in at last years 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly where a group of young adults and youth gathered together to add a $4 million amendment to the ELCA Capital Campaign that will support the development of lay youth and young adult leaders in the church. Take a look.

And I’m not only sharing because several of my tweets are visible in his presentation. This is a story that we’re telling and sharing. Expect to hear more very soon.