Baccaleaurate Prayer and Blessing

As part of the Volga, SD ministerium I was able to take part in the baccalaureate service for the Class of 2013 at Sioux Valley High School.  There were about six of us who split up the service, and I said the closing prayer and gave a blessing.  I chose the Prayer for the Journey but did some slight editing so those who aren't familiar with fine theological works and ideas could hopefully appreciate it.  As for the blessing, I'm sure something like it has been written before, but this one came from my head.  Feel free to use it and change it if you like.

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, though you see all; by paths as yet untrodden, yet you are present in all places; through perils unknown to us, but not you.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us.

As you go from this place...

When you learn, may God bless your brain.

When you work, may God bless your muscles.

When you serve, may God bless your hands.

When you go, may God bless your feet.

When you speak, may God bless your words.

When you experience opposition, may God give you patience.

When you experience anger, may God give you peace.

When you go through temptation, may God give you strength.

When you feel fear, may God give you courage.

When you experience achievement, may God grant you humility.

When you experience joy, may you have thankful a heart.

When you sin, may you know God’s forgiveness.

When you give praise to God, may he bless your heart.

Amen.

The Love of Children

Two nights ago, my three-year-old son Isaac fell backwards off his bench at a restaurant. He was playing after we had just finished our evening meal. His head hit the floor with that horrid hollow thunk that craniums make when they come in contact with hard objects. I was in the bathroom when this happened; when I heard the crying I thought, "MAN, I hope that isn't Isaac!" There were wails of pain, screams that tore out my heart. If you have seen the move "The Princess Bride," it was just like the scene where Wesley made a "sound of ultimate suffering" while in the machine inside the Pit of Despair. As I walked up and saw it was MY son making those noises I went into protective father mode, ready to engage his attackers no matter the enemy. When Claire told me that he had fallen off the bench and bonked his head, my rage quickly subsided as one cannot defend their loved ones by fighting the floor. All that was left was a brain full of concern, guilt, worry, fear...

What followed was amazing, and was acted out not by adults but by two children about Isaac's age. The little girl across the dining area was apparently amazingly worried about him; I think her mother stopped her from coming over to check on him because as we walked by them on the way out the door she said, "Oh, see, he's okay. You don't have to worry." I got the idea she had actually stopped her daughter from coming over. There was also a little boy seated closer to us who did approach Isaac. He didn't say a word, just started playing with the toy that had come in his kids' combo meal while looking at Isaac. It was like he was beckoning Isaac to bring his own toy and come play with him, to come have fun and enjoy himself. Now, you have to understand that Isaac was still wailing at this point, screaming in pain. To spell it out would look something like this: "AAAAH!!!!" *quick breath in* Repeat, ad infinitum. In fact, he told Claire last night that he hoped "the sparkles" don't come back because they hurt him; he hit his head so hard he had seen stars! Still, despite his pain, I could see on Isaac's face that the invitation from the little boy was tempting.

So here is the thing: none of the adults came to see if Isaac was okay. They looked at us, sure, but didn't make any move towards us or motion of concern. They could have been either worried or annoyed, I'm not sure which. This little girl and boy, though, were immediately concerned and wanted to take action. The girl wanted to make sure Isaac was okay. The little boy wanted to help Isaac feel better. They showed, I think, the kind of love that Jesus wants his people to show each other and the world. These two children hadn't yet been taught to keep to themselves, to not get involved, to mind their own business. Their childlike faith was put into action at the mere sight and sound of someone who had been hurt. They couldn't have healed his physical affliction, but they were still worried about the whole of him. That boy and girl had love for the other that didn't depend on familiarity or a culturally-perceived appropriateness.

Isaac is better now. No trip to the ER was necessary. His bump on the back of his head has shrunk down. I'm still moved by the care these kids showed my son. I'm not angry at the adults: they acted within their rights and I'm sure had we needed it they would have helped. Those kids, though... they did something special. They loved Isaac even though he was loud and a stranger and his pain interrupted their meals. Aren't we called to be actors with the same blatant love for those who are suffering? Wouldn't Jesus have us minister to all of the person, not only the presenting issue? When Jesus healed the paralytic in Mark 2 he forgave his sins first, then proceeded to the physical part of the healing. Healing the woman who had bled for twelve years not only stopped her condition but restored her to a place of cultural acceptance she hadn't known for over a decade. This little boy and girl at the restaurant wanted Isaac to be better, both physically and emotionally. I'm thankful for these little kids and for the love of a fellow human that moved them to want to act. I pray that my faith could be put into action without concern for cultural restraint or self-consideration. I pray that I would be as quick to act when I see or hear suffering!

Welcome to Confirmation

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Confirmation kickoff video!

...and now we rock.

On Easter morning during the sunrise service at Lake Campbell Lutheran Church, I played a guitar duet with an exchange student from Germany during the offering. We sounded GREAT. Unfortunately I don't think we got a recording of it, so I decided to record the parts we played--the melody and bass lines (including a few additional parts)-- and upload them for people to hear. This is "Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds" from the Lutheran Book of Worship #143. Enjoy!

Technutheran

So... my wife has convinced me to post this song. I took the hook from a Lutheran hymn and gave it a funky, funky beat. It should only take about 2.5 minutes of your day. Enjoy!

The Watchmaker's Workshop

The Watchmaker's Workshop
(this is a retelling of Matthew 21:33-46 and Isaiah 5:1-7)

There was a watchmaker who really enjoyed and was very good at making watches; really, he was the best at it! He was never alone because his son was a good helper and liked making watches as much as the watchmaker did. It was together that they made watches, but it was the son who wound them all and made them run. One day they decided that they wanted help making watches because with help they could make even more watches than normal. With his knowledge of inner workings and small parts, the watchmaker designed and made machines to help with the task. The son made sure they were all wound tightly and started them up. They gave their creations a nice space to work within the workshop where they could watch over them.

Before they started the watchmaker told the machines one thing: “Make watches with me.” That wasn’t enough to tell the machines, however, because one of the watchmaker’s enemies convinced them they could do things other than just make watches. This meant they spent time otherwise preoccupied, and therefore the watches they made weren’t as good nor as numerous as they could have been. Despite being sad his creations didn’t follow his intentions, the watchmaker let them continue helping but decided to make new machines with new instructions.

The next machines the watchmaker designed were told “Make watches with me, and make them as good as you can.” Convinced that was enough for their creations to follow, the watchmaker and his son continued their own work. Eventually the watchmaker started to notice unfamiliar noises in his workshop. When he checked on his machines they were using techniques to make the watches that he hadn’t taught them! He asked where they had learned those methods and they told him, “Another watchmaker taught his workers to assemble this part like this. We thought it was better than the way you taught us, so we started to use it here too.”

Again upset that his machines had done different than he intended, but still glad he had made them, he designed a few new machines to watch what the others were doing. He told them, “Make watches with me, and make sure you and the others follow my directions.” They were made to give the others reminders and written instructions if necessary to make sure they followed the watchmaker’s plans. For a while after that things went very well! Eventually, though, one of the watches his machines made reached his desk for review. He noticed it wasn’t as high quality as previous ones had been, but figured it was just a mistake so he let work continue.

When a sample from the next batch was brought to him he noticed it was even worse than the last one, so he and his son went to watch his machines work. They saw their creations focusing more on the instructions than on the watches they were making! Somehow the instructions on how to make the watches had become more important than the watches themselves, and so the machines had stopped caring how the watches looked. They were so disappointing to the watchmaker and his son that they decided to send them away to punish them.

When he brought them back, the watchmaker had hoped the time away from his workshop would change their minds regarding what was more important, the watches or the instructions. The first watches they made were wonderful! As time progressed though, the quality started to decline again, so the watchmaker’s son had an idea. “Send me to the floor, dad. I’ll teach them how to make watches the way you taught me to make watches.” Loving his son and wanting his creations to succeed, the watchmaker agreed. His machines were important to him, enough so that he would do anything to help them make watches how he intended.

As the watchmaker’s son walked the floor, he talked with many of the creations. The ones that needed slight adjustments in their work would get a friendly correction. Other machines that were following the original instructions were praised for their work. The presence of the son vastly improved the work of many machines! All of the machines that heeded what the son said were granted a special winding that helped them continue doing the work of the watchmaker. Some of them even started telling others about how they were made to work according to the son.

There were a few, however, that somehow had gotten the wrong idea into their heads about what the watchmaker wanted. Those machines still believed that the instructions the watchmaker had given them were more important to the watchmaker than the end result of the watch. The son tried talking to them about what they were doing but they kept going and told others to do it their way.

Even after speaking firmly and directly, some machines kept making watches by focusing on the instructions and not paying attention to the watch. They knew what the watchmaker had said: “Make watches with me;” “Make them as good as you can;” and “Make sure you and the others follow my directions.” To be sure they could continue doing that, they organized a way to make the son go back up to the watchmaker’s workbench and leave them alone.

What does the watchmaker do next?

Floor Show!

The library at my seminary held a video contest for $$$ in our bookstore. Here is my entry!