It Gets Better VI

I can't believe I have neglected to update this story, which left off when one of my parishioners left a copy of the It Gets Better Project book outside my office and I set it out in our reading nook. See also the earlier   posts in this series to hear how I came to receive the book and the support of Lutheran Church of the Savior in this work.

Not a week after setting the book out, we were hosting a luncheon after a funeral. After eating and visiting with folks, I had gone to my office. When I returned to the luncheon, I found a grandson of the deceased standing in the reading nook, reading the It Gets Better book. When I approached, he quickly returned the book to the shelf, but I picked it up and told him how great and powerful I thought the book was, and asked him what he thought of it. He said he had no idea IGBP had a book version, and that he was surprised to find it on display in a church building.

He had been removed from his youth leadership position in his former Baptist church when he had come out, he said, and had not found a church that wanted a 17-year-old gay kid around. I told him such churches exist; this is one, and there are many others. I told him about my dream of having the IGBP book in churches to parallel the drive to have it in school libraries, as church is another frequent setting for the bullying of gay teens. He told me he wanted to go to college for design, or something similarly awesome, hopefully in New York City. It was a great conversation, one of the most meaningful (for me, at least) I have had as a pastor.

I have not seen him again, and I don't even remember his name, but the joy I find in this memory is not about hoping to make him a member of my church. As great as that would be, I am content knowing that we were able to make this gay teen feel welcome in his time of grief. After his previous experience with church, all too common for LGBT folks of every age, he had every reason to be apprehensive about coming into a Christian church building, even for his grandmother's funeral. I am deeply glad we were able to make him feel as welcome as the rest of his family on that significant day.

Twitter

As of this afternoon I've joined Twitter, at long last. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but worth mentioning. To start with the obvious, some of my closest friends swear by it, and it did lead to my having an excellent, healthy lunch in Urbana on Monday. Less likely, I joined in part because someone at a funeral viewing showed me his Twitter account, I guess because he was tired of talking about his late family member.

Along too-similar lines, I joined Twitter because of the tragedy in Norway today, and Twitter is the place to get news the fastest. Eighty kids, with the possibility of more? There are no words for this horror, this sadness, this senselessness. I pray for the victims, their families, their nation. Also, for the killer, though only with sighs too deep for words.

Green Burials, ctd

I've posted before about green burials, but here's a reminder from Al Jazeera news about the cost of business as usual when that business is death and burial in this country. I expect some of their numbers would be disputable, but in general, I believe green burial to be an option more natural and environmentally sound and less expensive than our usual plans. I would never say it is for everyone, but I do hope green burial becomes a viable option for more people around the country.

Lutheran Volunteer Corps Still Has Positions Open for 2011 - 2012

Know someone who is looking for a way to serve? Lutheran Volunteer Corps still has positions available for their 2011-2012 program year! Simply submit a resume and cover letter to recruitment@lutheranvolunteercorps.org to check out this amazing opportunity.

LVC is a great opportunity for people to live out our core spiritual practices of justice, sustainability and community while receiving valuable work experience and opportunities for engagement and learning with a particular focus on anti-racism work. A few placements in this list have education or language requirements.

Learn more about Lutheran Volunteer Corps at www.lutheranvolunteercorps.org.

Ministry of Caring, Inc. - Guardian Angel Child Care, Teacher's Aide (Direct Service)
Wilmington, DE - The Guardian Angel Child Care Center allows low-income parents to maintain their

On Forgiveness

Following an interesting conversation at our Caring and Sharing Book Club on Wednesday night, I wanted to share this link to a story about forgiveness and a Muslim family who will not be defined by the hatred and violence inflicted upon them. 

The beautiful and justifiably famous Niebuhr quotation illustrates the interfaith nature of the story, and reminds us that this story of forgiveness is our story, the story of followers of Jesus, as well. We have so much to learn from one another, if only we dare open our minds and hearts to God's activity already alive in the world around us. My church is known as a leader in interfaith and ecumenical relationships; it's about time I caught up.

I tend to think I do alright with ecumenical relationships among my Christian brothers and sisters; besides our annual VBS adventure, at LCS we partner with Richland area churches on youth events, and tonight I plan to attend a potluck with Methodists, Catholic Workers, and other faithful Kalamazoo folk. Yesterday I had a long, exciting conversation with the new organizer at ISAAC, an interfaith organization working in Kalamazoo, so maybe that could become a way for me - and for LCS - to expand interfaith relationships. We have so many shared core values - forgiveness, love, respect, justice - that we owe it to ourselves to listen for God's call to mutuality, relationship, partnership, and joint action on God's behalf in the world that needs all of us to stand on the side of love.

On Mutual Inspiration

Read these two posts by my dear friend Amanda about the process of leaving her job at Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington, DC. I met Amanda when I was a Short-Term Recruiter for Lutheran Volunteer Corps in the fall of 2008. Because we worked just down the hall from one another (LVC was founded by, and remains housed by, Luther Place), the other STRs and I got to know Amanda, and kept up with her after I'd moved on to other adventures after that fall. After her year of LVC with the Steinbruck Center, she was hired on at Luther Place to do all sorts of awesome work, including the two artistic pursuits detailed in the blog posts, creating the Bethany’s Women of Praise choir and painting beautiful murals on the doors of the old church.

What I love about Part One is the way choir and conductor learn from each other and inspire each other to reach beyond conventional limits. Amanda is a gifted musician, and is off to study choral conducting with my old friends, but I am willing to bet she learned some lessons from her singers at N Street Village that her incumbent singers (Yale grad students and undergrads) could never have taught. Specifically, what motivates a singer to show up for rehearsal or for a concert? How does a conductor truly engage a choir member, reaching the heart of a singer in order to draw out their best effort, their most impassioned interpretation of a piece of music?

My Second Calling

It is common knowledge to most people who find this blog, but my second calling is as a roller derby announcer, calling bouts for our local league, the Killamazoo Derby Darlins. Quite a number of Lutheran Church of the Savior members have attended a bout or two, and they've either enjoyed it or been too polite to tell me they didn't have a good time. Our next bout (yes, roller derby games / matches are called "bouts") is Saturday, June 18th at Wings Stadium, and if you want so save $4 on your ticket, talk to me and I can get you some advance tickets.

I know some people think it's strange for a pastor to be involved in a sport like roller derby,