A New Look...

I do realize that there's little value in updating the appearance of such a thing as a website or blog if you don't intend to do anything about it... so let it be known that I do intend to do something about it.

Again, that being said, the imfamous quote about a certain road being "paved with good intentions" comes to mind and because of that alone I do somewhat even hesitate to post this brief set of remarks.

But here they are.

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There's been an aweful lot going on this summertime, and since today is the last full day of summer you might think that I'd be inclined to write about it ALL.
Well, I'm not.

But piece by piece some of it might come forward, who knows?

Lets start by talking about today.
What a dissappointment of a day...

I had one thing on my planner - ONE THING - and I missed it!
I was scheduled to do chapel across town at our East-Side Lutheran High School, and I'm very sorry to admit that because of traffic and my lack of research into said traffic, I only arrived as the bell was ringing to welcome the students back into their next class AFTER the appointed time for chapel service.

I had a good one for them too.

So, on the very distant chance that anyone from Cleveland Lutheran East High School classes of 2011-2014 is reading this:
"I'm very sorry, and I hope to make it up to you soon."

I suppose its something to learn from, and to avoid duplication of. All that 'education' and 'self-improvement' sort of stuff...

But once I got back, I just felt nearly enraged with frustration.

I knew there wasn't anything to be done. As I said to the office staff here, I was really quite 'Zen' about the whole thing while on the drive, etc.
But coming back, my combination of disappointment/anger/self-punishment/and some pent-up general sadness literally made my head spin. (well, it FELT like it was spinning - a literal head-spin wouldn't be very good for the spine)

...and in my reaction is my lesson for the day.

...and in that lesson, I've somehow wound up back here.


May God bless HIS work in us all!

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Post Drafts

I've read on some other blogs that they find it useful to have 'drafts' of new posts stored away at the ready that consist of little more than a memory-triggering title so that when the time comes to write something witty, they've merely to flesh things out and viola!

Well, as someone who has no less than eight of these 'drafts' stored away, let me tell you that they are not a perfect solution to anything!

In fact, they've served more often to make me sad... since I'm obviously not very good at keeping on top of things with my little corner of cyberland.

Perhaps I'll try something different this year; maybe I'll just go for 'quickie' posts, and more often than before... Hmm, that might work. In which case, this one's getting long.

Best wishes to you, and God bless!

Pentecost

50 days after Passover...

50 days since Jesus payment as the sacrificial lamb...

He ascended about a week ago...

Now we celebrate again in Jerusalem - and throughout the world!

Pentecost is an easily forgotten church holiday. Its not the one where we get candy, its not the one where we get presents, it isn't even the one when Mom makes us all wake up early and go to church because Dad bought her flowers! (OK, so Mother's Day technically isn't a church holiday... but if you asked around, that's probably the 3rd "Big Church Day" for many families in our country. Right?)

Pentecost is the day when we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming in an amazing way and kicking off the real work of the Church on Earth.

And yet since its so easily forgotten, it sort-of makes it all the more appropriate... given the situation for the Holy Spirit.

This is all just going back the the main point of this blog, I suppose.
The idea that God continuously works in sometimes quiet and sometimes not so quiet ways through the efforts of the Holy Spirit in our world.

Pentecost is a day to blow the trumpet for the 3rd Person of the Holy Trinity, to be sure. But the really great part about the Holy Spirit is that, regardless of whether we recognize His work in our lives or the lives of those around us, He still does His thing!

Praise the Lord that the Spirit continues to work in our world through the Word of God and His people!




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Like a teleprompter in my head...

Tonight was our first Membership Class as part of a new concept that I'm trying out here at church. I invited the Long-Standing (carefully avoiding the term 'Old') Members to join us for review as one of our Elders and I taught a New Member Class on the topics of:

1) Martin Luther's Reformation
2) Classic Bible Narratives
3) The Chief Parts of the Catechism

It turns out that Luther's life works really well to go along with sharing the doctrines of the faith... and there are always good Bible stories to go with the teachings of the church.

...that's kinda how we got those teachings.

(That's a bit of sarcasm, for those who might not be aware. Our church only gets its doctrine from the Bible.)

But anyhow, to get to tonight's point:
As I spoke stood in front of the class tonight, I was blessed to have the 'right' words more often than not. At least I believe that they were the right words - because its pretty hard for me to take credit for them.
Its not like I can claim to be in any sort of trance, or that I was speaking in tongues (in the sense that most people think of strange language babble), but sometimes when you get talking about God's Word and explaining the Gospel it seems like the words just come!

I could compare it to having a teleprompter somewhere in my head.

Certainly the concepts and the language are not all that strange.
The actual words have likely passed through my lips before as well.
At the very least, I can give credit to other people much wiser and more learned than myself as having spoken those words in my presence.

But the ability to smoothly string all those concepts together; that's something else entirely.

And don't go believing that I was prepared enough to have things go so smoothly!

...that certainly isn't the case.

Instead, I'm giving credit to the Holy Spirit for doing some good work even though He's working through a relative simpleton such as me.

This is just another example of that whole "White Pigeon" concept...

Just God taking the opportunity (at least I pray) to quietly and unmiraculously do some melding and shaping of His people for the sake of His Kingdom and sharing the Good News that Jesus is the Christ!

Its a lot of fun to be along for the ride.


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Baptism of our Lord... "The Dove" descends

After writing all the 'well wishes' last time about Epiphany and Christmas and New Year, I felt remiss because I had not wished you a "Happy Baptism!"

This week the church also celebrates the baptism of our Lord.

(Jesus, in case you needed a reminder)

And that's a big deal for a number of reasons:

1) The act of ceremonial purification for the sacrifice that Jesus would shortly become

2) The idea that His washing in baptism ties us who are baptized into His cleansing holiness

3) The name and concept behind this blog comes from the event that occured as Jesus was stepping out of the Jordan River...

Mark 1:9-10 (NIV)

9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

There He is!

Our quiet little dove, the Holy Spirit.

Other than the many times when the Holy Spirit "comes upon" people in the Bible, there's really only one other time when He arrives in such a boldily form - at Pentecost. Then He comes as tongues of flame and in a rushing wind that fills the house... but this time, there's just that simple little bird.

All four of the Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are very precise in their mention of this avian visit. With the exception of Mark the others all make it very plain that He came in bodily form or physical form... it wasn't just some illusionary fire-bird coming to rest on Jesus' shoulder - the Holy Spirit was really there!

As was the Father, as well as (obviously) the Son.

I guess my point for today - and often is as I write about this, that and the other - that through very ordinary events and seemingly ordinary things...

like a white dove (pigeon)

...our God comes to us and desires to bless.

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Bees and Pigeons and the Holy Spirit

This is a post that I've been thinking about doing for a long time, so I thought that I'd work on it now, and maybe post it for a future date... kinda keep it in reserve until it seems just right.

And I guess now is "just right" as any time.

I mentioned that my daughter is getting baptized this weekend. I am really excited about that. Not only is she getting blessed and made a child of God in this sacred thing of our divine being, but we get to see some family, we'll have some cake... and did I mention that I get to baptize her?

(I'm a pastor, in case I haven't made that clear to the casual reader... all one of you.)

I get to perform the baptism, and its one of my favorite things to be used by the Holy Spirit in very real, and amazingly significant ways. And since God has promised us that baptism is always very real and always very significant... I'm pretty excited any time I get to baptize someone.

But even moreso this time.

So... "Bees and Pigeons", eh Matt?

Yes, yes, we're getting there.

While I was on vicarage (a year of internship for a lutheran pastor), one of the gentlemen in my congregation was a part-time beekeeper. He was really a handyman by trade, but after a few instances of removing honey-bees from people's attics and walls, he thought, "why not use these little buggers the right way?" and proceeded to become somewhat of a local expert. His work was sort of like the little red hen's - nobody really wanted to get too close and help out, but everyone LOVED the finished product! And the honey he sold was pretty darn good, let me tell you!

But I decided to be brave and go out with him to see the bees one day.

It was amazing!

I was so intrigued that the concept of beekeeping started to sound like something I'd consider doing... depending on where we wound up. (Since then I've figured that suburban Cleveland is not necessarily the best place to keep bees.)

Then, back at the seminary for our last year, some pigeons took up roost in our window ledges, and we had two nests that hatched sucessfully while we were there. Ben and I were constantly transfixed by the progress and growth of the little ones. (...and Caesar loved watching them, wishing that he could just get his claws through the window.)

When one of my good buddies was over one time, the pigeons were making a racket and he got to telling me how he'd raised homing pigeons as a kid through 4H. He and his dad had a coop out in the backyard, and it wasn't that difficult really at all. He'd never raced them, technically, but they certainly could fly.

Forget bees, I wanted to get some pigeons!

And thus part of the inspiration for the naming of this blog...

There's still a little part of me that wants to try having pigeons. Its sort of a mysterious desire to help propagate something really fun and cool! (In my eyes at least.)

But those days are yet to prove themselves as being nearby.

So instead I'm doing this - my other little "pigeon" project - as part of the mysterious desire to help propagate something really amazing and yet so simple...

Matthew 3:16-17
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

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Welcome Facebook Friends!

To the two of you who fell for my facebook status 'trick'...

WELCOME!

If you want to know what's going on in my life, you may do better with the facebook account.

If you want to know the crazyness that goes to and fro (that's right: 'fro'/'forth'/'that-a-way') in my head... here you go.

This is sort of an in-between attempt to do soul filling and evangelism... but mainly its practice in getting things regularly put 'out there' so I can regulate my day.

Blessings!

I'd suggest going back to the beginning if you want to get a flavor for things.

(Its still not all that far back.)

Rock (& Roll) Doves

So truth be told, this blog isn't going to be about pigeons that much at all. But, I wanted to clarify something that I've found just a little bit fascinating... and also to try to describe why the the title, "The White Pigeon Hope" feels like it makes sense to me.

At our seminary in St. Louis, MO, the pulpit in the chapel is adorned with the art that you see on the left. Its meant to represent the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. The white dove, of course, reminding us when God revealed Himself at Jesus' baptism, Father (voice from heaven), Son (wet in the Jordan River), and Holy Spirit (descending in the form of a 'dove'). Behind the dove, there's a bronze outline of Moses' burning bush - also reminiscent of the tongues of flame at Pentecost - another time when God very clearly spoke and worked in the lives of humans. Its a neat image.

[That's right, its a Christian writing this blog... in case you hadn't picked up on that.]

But don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to claim that anything here is "the voice of God"!
No, that's not me at all. (I just work for the guy.)

Instead, what I think I'm hoping to do here is provide instances in life that make it a little easier to see just how 'normal' the Holy Spirit is in His daily work as the third person of God's Holy Trinity. Quite often I don't even plan on mentioning God, but I want it to be implied that God's works are all around us... like pigeons, they're not always 'spectacular' or 'miraculous' like shiny white doves, but they swirl around in the background of everything... like pigeons.

And that gives hope!

- more on that later

Love 'em or hate 'em, what you see on the right is a 'rock dove'. That's the more-proper name for our dear friends - the rats of the sky! Pigeons of today, and especially those in cities, are descended from a noble line of wild and domestic creatures both who have been praised, traded, bred, hunted, eaten, raced, and admired for centuries!

Anyhow, to tie it all in...

There's something about the plight and flight of a pigeon that hits me as an appropriate mascot. Something about soaring free, but always coming home to roost. People will like you, people will despise you - but there's always another place to fly and see what's next.

contemplative blogging

So, I'm trying to figure out just where this blog is taking me...

how lame! try again...

Well, here I am!

are you kidding me?

What do you want from me? A blog about something worthwhile? Well, that's just not likely to happen... Wait, why am I talking to myself? I guess that's just the nature of the beast.

I've been getting hooked on various blogs recently, and the common thread is that you usually have someone 'out there' that you perceive is paying at least a modicum of attention. Not me though. Oh no! I'm not even going to pretend that you're reading this even now...

...and that somehow breaks my heart just a little bit.

Huh... I guess that's weird. But I also think that its pretty normal.
Here we are, a culture of on-line 'addition-makers' seeking to be heard, read, commented on, rss'd, whatever... Its just the idea of being 'out there' I guess.