RoboPreacher

Right now I am physically in an in-between place. My summer with the Metro Lutheran has come to an end, and now I am in respite at my folk’s place for a few days until I start my journey west to begin my year-long internship. The back drop for this post is three different news articles. The first is one I wrote for the Metro Lutheran concerning women’s ordination, the second is an article about inclusive language in contemporary, North American, mainline churches (how’s that for a string of adjectives!), and the last is a fantastic article about the men and women in North America today. Briefly, a few words (well, adjectives) about myself: male, white, and lower-middle-class. Also, in-between places. You will have to forgive my lack of citations, I do not have access to my books, they are in transit. The question of gender is one that is of particular interest to me. One, I was not raised by my biological father, yet I did, and do, have many wonderful, loving male ...

This week I am finishing up on my story about women’s ordination. It’s been such a great experience. I’ve spoken with pastors about stewardship, gifts, theology, hope and sorrows. It’s humbling. At the end of this process I am emerging with a renewed sense about the importance of diverse perspectives and characteristics leading within the church. While this affirmation has to do with rights, it has a lot more to do with a promise; a promise of God’s presence and the promise of the goodness of God’s creation. Keeping those from ministry who bring new, unique and important gifts ultimately stunts the growth of the church. The growth I am talking about isn’t a growth in numbers, institutional strength, political prowess, social relevance or the like. Instead this growth is a promise to be part of God’s mission in the world . Once this story is published I will link it, and I am very excited to do so. Until then I have to sit on my hands and let the story go through the ed...

Update: Sorry I haven't been updating lately. I've been on the move, and will be for a few more weeks. This summer I will be working as an intern for the Metro Lutheran . Now that my Trinity project is over it's time to move onto something else. So for the summer I will weekly blog about a topic inspired from my reporting. So for this week I am reporting about a retired pastor celebrating his 100th birthday. The heart of his celebration was a worship service. This example struck me. What a wonderful example of worship being the center of someone's life. This leads me to a question; How does one's faith affect how someone thinks of life? This retired pastor had some thoughts about the topic. "I am not old. I am getting older, but I am not old. And I consider growing old a great adventure. I am growing in my wealth of grace and growing closer to my creator who has daily called me to service."