Subway Star Wars

I'm way behind here, I've got several posts I want to write, but this was too awesome, it had to be put up immediately.

Oh, how I love New York.  And Improv troupes.

Something New Every Day

Things I did not know before tonight:

1. Copland interjected "Fanfare for the Common Man"(which he had written 2-3 years prior) into the last movement of his 3rd Symphony.

2. Jorja Fleezanis left the Minnesota Orchestra. 2 years ago (guess I'm a little behind the times).  For as long as I can remember going to orchestra concerts, she had been the concertmaster - I was actually sad when she didn't come out to tune the orchestra tonight.  :(

Why It's Good I Have a Strong Inner Monologue

Our class led chapel today. Dr. Keifert was the preacher and I was the presider.

The thing about liturgy is: it takes a lot of focus and mental energy to lead well, you are always thinking two or three steps ahead of the assembly while simultaneously being present in the moment and making it all look smooth and effortless.

The other thing about liturgy is: it is a lot easier to sustain the kind of focus required when one is in a regular rhythm of leading.

And the thing about liturgy in this particular context: leading it at Luther is a bit nerve-wracking. In theory it shouldn't be - as a place full of pastors-in-training it should be a place where people are free to flounder and fail on their way to refining these skills. But in reality it is a place full of pressure to perform at the peak of one's game.

Part of that pressure comes from my own inner perfectionist wanting to "get the A" from my peers and professors, especially since I'm no longer a pastor-in-training but have been a real live pastor for a number of years now. But part of the pressure is definitely embedded in the system - if there were 50 people in the congregation here today, I can guarantee there were probably 55 opinions on how to properly preside over communion. ;)

Anyway, I was presiding today. And though I got back into a regular rhythm of presiding this summer when I was covering for Jen, I hadn't led worship since the end of July. I was a bit rusty going in this morning, which only served to amplify the anxiety of leading in this context.

I was also tired, having spent most of yesterday traveling back from the East Coast, and had a sinus headache due to the change in weather.

And the service was running long. As I walked back up to the chancel at the end of the peace, Dr. Keifert whispered to me "We need to move it along."

So as I approached the altar to begin the communion liturgy, I was trying to pick up the pace while remaining articulate in an echoey room and also not appear to be racing through the liturgy. I was also trying to remember to say "new testament" instead of "new covenant" in the words of institution, as that would tie directly to what Dr. K said in his sermon.

I made it through all that just fine.

But at the end of it, I completely forgot to lead us into the Lord's Prayer.

The congregation knew it, they didn't sit down the first time I gestured for them to sit down.

I still hadn't realized my mistake so gestured again, that time they sat.

I realized my mistake after communion was over, when I finally flipped the page in the leader book and saw, not the post-communion blessing that I expected, but the Lord's Prayer staring back at me.

This is why it's good I have a strong inner monologue because inside my head I went "Oh SH*T!" Thankfully that didn't also come out my mouth and into the rockstar microphone wrapped around my ear.

I was completely embarrassed, I'm sure my ears flushed as red as my hair through the close of the service.

Despite the glaringly obvious flub, several friends and professors were kind enough to compliment my presence up front and gracious enough to chuckle about the mistake as a good reminder of our imperfect humanity.

I used to joke about this in the parish, but the kindness of these others affirmed it once again today: it seems a decent voice and a pretty pectoral cross will cover a plethora of liturgical sins. :)

How Many Graduate Degrees. . .

does it take to print a label?

Believe me when I tell you, you do not want to know.


Religion geeks we are.

Computer geeks we are not.



So very, very not.

:)

It's Always 20/20

The Best Musician You've Probably Never Heard Of

is Peter Mulvey.

I discovered him by accident when I was living in Pennsylvania. I was at a Borders and trying to use one of those music preview machines - I thought it was the kind where you scanned the barcode of a CD you were interested in and it would play what was on it. Turned out to be the kind where there are 5 or 6 featured CDs loaded into the machine and you pick from those what you want to listen to.

So I scanned the CD I was holding and the computer defaulted to the first CD in its memory, Peter's The Knuckleball Suite. And I was like, "This isn't what I scanned but this is really good!" So I bought it instead of what was in my hand.

I told Peter that story tonight at the merch table after his gig at Gingko Coffeehouse, and he gave me a high five. :)

In all seriousness, though - I have yet to hear this man sing a song (original or cover) that I didn't like. His lyrics are smart and funny and profound, and he is one of the most skilled and most versatile guitar players I've ever heard or seen. And his stage banter is hilarious.

Plus, the dude's on a bicycle tour. He rode 70 miles today, then performed an amazing show tonight. Most impressive.

He's touring with Brianna Lane, another excellent musician, and she's local! If you're in the Twin Cities, you've got one day left to see them, at Calhoun Cycle tomorrow afternoon, or The Aster Cafe in Northeast tomorrow night.

Here's a couple youtube vids to demonstrate your need to go!

Shirt


Simon Stimson

10 Years Ago, Part Two

. . .looking back, the me that woke up the morning of September 11 seems so charmingly naieve - I could not in my wildest dreams have imagined the horrendous crash and burn that was about to happen, not only in New York, but in my own life.

I was up early. I had an 8 am class, which I typically tried to avoid, but it couldn't be helped that semester.

Pauline Epistles with Dr. Craig Koester.

That's where I was when it happened.

Blissfully oblivious.

I don't remember which epistle Koester was lecturing on that day.

I do remember the second class was over, Dr. Diane Jacobson calmly walked in to the room and somberly told us "There has been a terrorist attack on the United States, airplanes have been hijacked and flown into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. It is not certain whether there are other planes or what their targets may be. We are gathering in the chapel."


WHAT?


I went to chapel. I don't remember exactly what we said and did. . .a lot of praying, and speaking and singing lament psalms, I think.

My memories of the day are like that - certain things are crystal clear, while others are vague and hazy.

I do remember - clearly - it felt like time slowed down and the day would never end.

I was supposed to go to God, Evil, and Suffering next.

Ha.

But my neighbor Dana was expecting her cousin Sebastian to land later that day, coming to visit from Germany. But everything had been shut down, and who's to say where he was? And Dana didn't speak German. I went and explained the situation to Drs. Sponheim and Fretheim, and they said, by all means, go help your friend find her cousin.

His plane was halfway over the Atlantic Ocean when the pilot abruptly announced the United States had closed its borders and its airspace, they were turning around for Europe immediately.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for him to hear that, sitting on that plane, halfway through a long journey he'd been planning and looking forward to for months. I would have asked myself, "What do you mean, they closed the borders? WTH is happening on the ground?"

But at least he was safe, and made it back to his family alright.

From there I must have eaten something for lunch, though I doubt I had an appetite. And I must have finished out the very full day of class, with Lutheran Confessions, and Preaching. . .but honestly those parts of the day are also fuzzy.

I was working for Pilgrim Lutheran at the time, and they pulled together a prayer vigil that evening. I do remember going to that.

And I distinctly remember yelling at God the entire drive to the church: "Where were you? Where ARE you? Do you not care that we are perishing? Do you not understand what this means. . .with THIS President in particular at the helm?. . ."

I distinctly remember praying for our enemies at the service, because I could not fathom what kind of hell a person must live in, day in and day out, that would lead them to see such a suicide mission as their best and only way forward.

I distinctly remember all the hope and joy of the summer being sucked completely out of me in a matter of moments, as if a Dementor had followed Dr. Jacobson into the room, then grabbed hold and followed me out of it.

For me, September 11 was the beginning of a year of absolute hell, and an epically dark night of the soul. That journey was long, and is a story for another day.


Today in her sermon, Jen asked us, 10 years later, where do we find hope?

Which was a hard question because over the past few months, the devolving state of various situations in the world, which we never seem to gain traction on, have left me feeling increasingly hopeless and fearing we are, collectively, hell-bent on getting to a Fahrenheit 451/Clockwork Orange kind of world as fast as we possibly can.

Perhaps my old Dementor has been lingering a little too close lately, but I really had to think about this question.

I decided - I find hope in the people who choose life, who live life abundantly, who relentlessly rebuild this world even as others actively tear it down.

And I find hope in the God who continues to create beauty and truth and goodness, even out of the chaos and the rubble.

I give thanks to God for both Jen and Jeni, two of the saints in my life who give me hope, and for the brilliant sermons they each preached this morning.

And I leave you with this prayer, which we sang in worship today (though I thank another hopeful saint, Choral Girl, for this particular link):