moving forward

What are you doing to move forward?

This being a new dad thing has got me thinking. I wish I would have listened to my dad more. I hope my son listens to me more than I ever listened. I'm moving forward in my life and want to continue.

My wife and I had a conversation about our goals the other night and it occurred to me that I have a real struggle defining just exactly what it is I want to do. Everything I consider a goal comes with some pretty significant roadblocks. I reckon thats just the way of the world, but it makes things a little bit more difficult when it comes to discernment.

What are your goals? How do you want to move forward? What is in the way and how do you look past or take on those obstacles in order to achieve your goals?

food for thought on a cold day.

Cheers, Mike.

Hi There

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy new Year to all out in the blogosphere. It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for me. I'm proud and excited to announce that my son, Michael was born on December 26. He was a happy and healthy 7lb 2oz baby boy and continues to grow and amaze me every day. Mom and baby are both home and healthy, and I really couldn't ask for anything more. I hope your holidays were just as amazing!

My thoughts today revolve around spiritual and religious expression. How do you express your faith? I've never been one to wear my faith on my sleeve but I get the impression that people still know i"m a faithful person. Any time I mention that I work at a church when hanging out at any more secular establishment (read: the Pub) it's nearly inevitable that a religious type conversation strikes up.

I don't have a problem with that, but it has occurred to me that I've done more church at a bar than I have at church. This brings me to my brainstorming about expressing our faith. Some people find it very personal, but i believe that being in community with other believers is how we grow and how our  faith is informed. So what is your way? Can you find real church and real expressions of faith in completely secular settings? Let me know friends. How do you express yourself as faithful people grounded in the real world?

Cheers, Mike!

prayer

So prayer is kind of a big deal. I've been working on improving my prayer life. For several years now it's been shaky at best. What are your favorite prayers? Do you have prayer you say every day? Here's Luther's Morning Prayer that he would say every day. I read/pray it pretty frequently. Im always amazed at how connected some people are/have been to their own spirituality. Gives me something to shoot for.

LUTHER'S MORNING PRAYER

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You.  For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.  Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.  Amen.

Called

So @FranciscanChris challenged us this week in his sermon. He made a statement that was both simple and infinitely complex. He said that God has called everyone to change the world. Simple enough, until he asked us what we were going to do about it. Go out, he said, and change the world. It can be something small, something huge, or anywhere in between, but we are called by god to go out and change the world.

This reminds me of the Buried Life show on MTV. A group of four guys got together and wrote a list of things they wanted to do before they die. Each week on the show they set out to cross something off the list, and as they do they help someone else cross something off their list. Changing the world in the name of Christ isn't exactly the same as a bucket list but there is a certain similarity in the mission. Every day millions of people just go about their life. Just live. Get through this week til we get a little break in the weekend then back to the grind, later, rinse, repeat. But there is more to it than that, and I'm constantly searching for what that means. So Chris' sermon inspired in me more drive to find that.

So what am I going to do about it? I don't know yet. It would be easy to say my wife and I bought a hybrid to reduce our carbon footprint and save the planet, but honestly it was a decision made more by economics than anything else. I could say that I'm preparing myself and my family for the upcoming birth of our son but lots of people have kids. And while bringing a little me into the world will certainly have an impact, I'm looking for something more. Something bigger.

So I'm opening this up to my little corner of the interwebs. How would you answer this challenge. What are your ideas? dreams? Where do you see the church and the world meeting and what needs are there? Help me out on this, we could be on to something big here.

Cheers, Mike.

Just for Fun

What were you for halloween? What factored into you picking your costume?

Goals

I've made an observation about this fledgling postmodern Lutheran experiment. Lutherans are very reluctant to join the technological revolution. I've seen some of the most basic twitter users and the occasional good blog or two, but why aren't we digging deeper? Why aren't we using these tools to make ministry better? How many of your have your church listed on foursquare?

Aside from that, how are we making our worship experiences as innovative as the world around us? I consider myself as a person/minister called to stand at the intersection of the church and the world. If that is the case how can i reconcile being a part of a tradition so stuck in the past? It is my mission to find out if I can still be completely Lutheran and postmodern at the same time. In doing so I have a couple of goals.
1. Utilize technological advances at any opportunity.
2. Expand the priesthood of all believers to actually include all believers.
3. Reach out to a variety of ecumenical partners, not just Lutherans.
4. Continually broaden my education, even if it means being uncomfortable.

What do you think of the list friends? What would you add/remove? Im very interested in everybody's opinion on these matters. Post your comments and we'll talk soon!

Mike.

innovation

I wonder sometimes if our technological advances in the church are limited to twitter, facebook, and a clover site webpage. Don't get me wrong, I think all of these things are very useful. I've been on facebook and twitter already today, and I love the site we've built through clover. But is that all?

What other areas of technology can we use in the church? I believe innovation is good for God's church. I believe that I am called to be on the cutting edge of the church's technological revolution. But it seems that there should be more options. What are you using? What else is out there? Which direction do I need to look?

 mike.