Our Family Picture

Here is our wonderful family picture taken by the Picture People at the Asheville Mall.

How Noisy is Our Church?

This past Sunday (June 24, 2012), I preached about the necessity for the church to practice her Christian faith.  So now, I ask – how noisy is our church?

Think about the last time you heard someone practicing an instrument.   Do you remember hearing an out of tune guitar?  Do you remember hearing a trumpet’s notes playing a little off key?  Practicing something means at times playing it a little wrong.  We learn by playing it wrong to know what does not work.  We also see the progression of growth as we look at one’s ability to play the first month of learning compared to playing the instrument for a year.  Even after a year, people can still play a little off.   There is always room for growth in playing an instrument.  There is always room for growth in practicing the Christian faith, in following Christ.  Do we hear the same ‘wrong’ noises in the church?

When someone is practicing the Christian faith, there will be times we make mistakes.  There will be times we play a little off.   The Christian faith is a journey, and we get to share this journey together!  As the Body of Christ, we get to offer each other encouragement along this journey.  There are very few people to learn how to play an instrument without the aid of a teacher or mentor.  The same is true for the Christian faith.  We need each other to faithfully follow Christ.

The church can be a place of encouragement for those times we need it.  The church can also be a place of encouragement for those times we need to give it.  We also need to be encouraged to play our faith and not simply work it.  You cannot work a guitar.  The piano is to be played.  Practicing and playing the Christian faith does not minimize the task.  Instead, we internalize Christ’s invitation to follow him and begin the journey by embracing the ups and downs, by being faithful amidst our misunderstandings.  It is the sounds of faithfulness that sustain us during our misunderstandings that we find Christ’s love and welcoming grace.

The church should be the nosiest place in town with the most awful sounds bursting forth into the community. So, I ask again – how noisy is our church?

May you experience Christ’s love, so you can in return show Christ’s love to others.

Danny

dwr

Becoming a Pastor

How does one become a pastor to a particular congregation? There is the official process of sending a resume for an open position and the interview to follow, but this article will explore the process of becoming a pastor to a particular congregation once a position is accepted. The movie “Gran Torino” can teach how one becomes a pastor. “Gran Torino” came out in 2008 and was directed by Clint Eastwood. This article will look at the relationship that develops between Father Janovich, the local Catholic Priest and Walt Kowalski, the Korean War vet.

The movie begins with Father Janovich speaking at the funeral of Dorothy Kowalski, Walt’s wife. After the funeral, Father Janovich asks, “How are you holding up, Walt?” Walt replies, “Mr. Kowalski, that’s my name.” Immediately, the audience recognizes that Walt has no respect for the Father and does not see the Father as his priest. Before Dorothy’s death, the Father promised her that he would get Walt to come to a confession. Walt has no room in his life for the church or the Christian faith and has no desire to “confess to a boy just out of seminary.” It becomes very clear that Father Janovich and Walt Kowalski do not have a working relationship as the Father’s connection to the family was only possible because of his relationship with Dorothy.

As the story continues, Walt’s Hmong neighbors are attacked by a local Hmong Gang. Tao, the son, is beaten up, and Sue, the daughter, is beaten and raped by the gang. After hearing about this tragedy, Father Janovich visits Walt. Father Janovich begins the conversation by saying, “Mr. Kowalski, are you ok?” He continues saying that if he was Tao he would “want to stand shoulder to shoulder and kill those guys.” The Father also says to Walt, “I know you are close to this, but this pisses me off, Mr. Kowalski.” Walt offers the priest a beer, and he takes one. As the conversation continues, Father Janovich asks, “What are you going to do?” Mr. Kowalski replies, “Call me Walt.” This is the moment in the movie where Father Janovich becomes Mr. Kowalski’s pastor or priest.

Afterwards, Father Janovich is speaking at Walt’s funeral. At Dorothy’s funeral, Father Janovich talks mostly about life and death from a theological perspective with very little mention of who she was or the kind of life she lived. At Walt’s funeral, Father Janovich talks about who Walt was and how Walt taught him about life and death. As Walt’s priest, Father Janovich offers pastoral care to the family during the funeral as one who really knew Walt.

“Gran Torino” has many lessons and truths portrayed in the movie, one of them being the process of becoming a pastor to a particular person. Initially, the Priest is understood as someone separate, as an outsider. As the Priest responds to the injustice honestly and openly, he is welcomed into the person’s life. It is only by the minister sharing in the pain of suffering in the congregation does he/she become their pastor. It is through the difficulties of life and the sharing of this burden that the minister is no longer seem as the one who preaches each Sunday morning but the one beside people in their pain.

What is Theological Formulation?

Simply put, theology is the study of God. Theological formulation is the approach used to progress from the study of God to an understanding of God. Understanding God begins at a theological reflection but then moves to an articulation of that theological reflection. Theology not only wants to think about God, it also wants to say something about God. Since God is the basis of the Christian faith, theology must begin and end with God. The foundation of theological formulation is the question of God; Christian theology seeks to discover how knowledge of God affects knowledge of everything else. There are many questions that theology seeks to answer like the questions of the nature of a person, the nature of our sinfulness and the nature of God’s salvation, but each of these questions begin with the character of who God is. The concept of God is rich and deep in essence that allows theological formulation to take on many directions and questions about the Christian faith.

Doing theology is also more about the process of critical thinking than finding a solution. While people seek to discover who God is, they also accept that God will always be some type of a mystery. There is a difference between God and humanity as people are finite and God is infinite. Theological discovery embraces that the knowledge of God will never be completely attained. God is not some concept like knowing the mechanics of a car that needs to be ascertained. While theology does not lead to a particular goal to attain in the end, there is also some completeness within theology. The study of God may not lead to concrete answers, but it does lead to some clarity. The discovery found in theological study brings clarity to the Christian faith, but it also brings more questions. Theological formulation creates the necessity of discovering more questions. Theological formulation is faith seeking understanding as the Christian faith is trying to understand itself in light of new understanding available to humanity.

Cayden Getting His Arm Braces Removed

Two weeks after Cayden's second cleft lip surgery, Cayden is allowed to have his arm braces removoed.  As you can tell; he was very happy bending his elbows again and having full range of his arms.