I'm so excited!!

The blog has been too quiet lately, so I decided to experiment with adding videos to it. If you don't love this clip and know the entire SBTB episode by heart, it is possible that you lived in a cave since the mid '80's.

Focused Craziness

There's much I could update our loyal few readers on these days. I haven't posted since before going to Passport with the youth of Emory Pres. That was a bittersweet week. I thought the camp was great, but it was tough saying goodbye to a group of kids I really enjoyed being with.

Thursday I started my new position as Director of Student Ministries at First United Methodist Church of Monroe, Georgia. I'm trying to learn names of youth, parents, and other church members while figuring out what I need to do first. My days are also beginning earlier because until our house is ready in August I'm commuting from Atlanta everyday. It's my first full time position so I feel overwhelmed and over prepared all at the same time. It's nice to have one thing to focus your attention on instead of juggling school and a part-time position. I'll really be happy in a few months when the kids here start school again and life settles into some kind of rhythm.

Keep Jana and me in your prayers as we make this transition.

A Good Question, A Great Book...

I promised myself that I would not read any other books this summer until I had completed The Brothers Karamazov. Well, so much for that promise. Last week I read a review in The Christian Century of Barbara Brown Taylor's new book, Leaving Church that intruiged me. I felt drawn to read this book. So this past weekend I got to do something that I love...I started the book on Friday afternoon and finished Sunday evening.

This book takes the reader through the highs and lows of Taylor's priesthood. Involved in the formal discernment process in the Episcopal Church myself, I have read many books about discernment. The only book on this topic that I have ever found helpful was Parker Palmer's little gem, Let Your Life Speak, which contains many nuggets of Quaker wisdom. That is, until I read Leaving Church. This is a book that anyone who is considering the ordained ministry should read. And if you are not, this book is still a wonderful memoir of vocation. I simply cannot say enough about this book. I do want to share one of my favorite parts:

"Many years ago now, when I was invited to speak at a church gathering, my host said, 'Tell us what is saving your life now.' It was such a good question that I have made a practice of asking others to answer it even as I continue to answer it myself. Salvation is so much more than many of its proponents would have us believe..." (pp.225-226) Taylor goes on to share what is saving her life right now.

She then goes on to say, "Although we might use different words to describe it, most of us know what is killing us." I have found these to be helpful questions...What is saving your life right now? What is killing you?

Why Celebrate Death?

Today I woke up to the news of the death of Musab Al Zarqawi. I did not hear news that simply reported that the US dropped two five hundred pound bombs and killed this terrorist leader, unfortunately I heard people celebrating the death of another human being. I understand, although I totally disagree with, the precepts of war, there are deaths. I know that this is a part of war, which is one reason why I am so against it. When I turned on the news I heard our president calling a dead man a coward. I saw people celebrating the death of another human being. I saw pictures of Zarqawi, not just the ones we all have seen countless times, this time there was a new picture, one of Zarqawi's dead body. In my opinion there is never any justification to show the dead of war. When did we forget, if we ever remembered, that the lack of human respect, dignity and the total disregard of life are what cause wars, it is not how you end them. Some might argue that the world needs to see the photos of the dead to prove that they are in fact dead. This is rubbish, first off it is not to prove anything, this entire war was based on information that was never proven to the American public. America does not need proof. It is however using the lifeless body of another human being as propaganda in a time of fear and regret. We all shudder when we hear of the killing of troops and would never think of exposing their bodies, I believe the same dignity should be afforded to all people, enemy or not.
Pax
Stephen

Back in Town...

Yes, the rumors are true. The infamous R.G. Lyons, alumnus of Samford University & Duke Divinity School is back in the Magic City (that's Birmingham for all you non-natives). This week I have been on a Jr. High Mission Trip to West Birmingham with the Joe Rush Center for Urban Ministries (a Methodist organization.) I discovered through the site coordinator that R.G. was actually working at Urban and was in the early stages of a new Methodist Urban startup church. R.G. came and had dinner with us, and spoke to the kids about homelessness. It is awesome to see these kids getting excited, passionate, and caring about the least of these. One of the kids in the group pointed out that Jesus might have been homeless.

Welcome back to Birmingham R.G.

The Seeger Sessions

A few weeks ago, I heard a story on NPR about Bruce Springsteen's new album, The Seeger Sessions. While I am not typically a huge folk music fan, this combination of progressive folk & rock is very compelling. Springsteen has increasingly become politically active, and these songs are a neat way to get a message across. The songs range from Irish antiwar ballads to Virginia Minstrels to Negro Spirituals. I found that I could not get the song "O Mary Don't You Weep" out of my head, nor did I want to. One line in this song reads, "Pharoah's army got drown-ed." I like this line because Pharoah was The Man. This song gives me hope that The Man in my life, too, will "get drown-ed." I am even thinking about using this as a camp song for youth to sing and put actions to. So if you're looking for some good music, this is definitely worth checking out.

We Are Marshall

This Wednesday I took my youth group to the filming of the new Movie "We Are Marshall" to be crowd extras. It was a blast. We saw Matthew McConnahey and Matthew Fox. It was alot of fun, but also very hot and very tiring. We bagan the day at 3:00 and got home at midnight. They asked my guys and I to paint our chests so we should be pretty easy to see in the football scene against Moorehead State. Here are a few pics. In the picture of the fans in the stands if you look really closely you will notice none of them are real, they are all blow up dummies, over 2000 of them!
Pax
Stephen