genesis...the x rated version.

you know...
i have 8 boys in confirmation. 8. i have male member of the congregation that helps me out...you know...boundaries and what not. now, genesis is filled with lovely stories of family drama. yes, baby mama drama...and more.

i wandered into...
circumcision.

yup.
8 prepubescent boys and one man, me, and abraham getting the command to circumcise all males in israel.

great.

the youngest boy in the group (10) was reading through the chapter in genesis. he got to the word circumcision, the other boys giggled, he looked up and said, "what is circumcision?"
Almost in unision the other boys said, "DON'T ANSWER THAT!!!!!!"
In all my vicarly glory i said..."just keep reading, we'll come back to that."

so...

my wonderful assistant looked at me and let me be mortified. then, i just decided to deal with it. circumcision becomes an issue in the new testament, so i couldn't just ignore the issue. plus, it is the second big sign of the covenant God has with Israel...

so...
i didn't explain the hows of circumcision...i explained the whys of circumcision. kept me from being mortified, but the boys were embarassed enough. they also learned why it was important.

then...if that wasn't enough...a few verses later...
SODOM and GOMORAH

WOOHOO!!!
and since that is a "Bible Bullet" for GLBTQ folks, i just figured i had to deal with it. except...i didn't really want to call the sin, "gang rape". oh, wait...the study Bible they have does!! easy out for me! i can blame it on the Bible. so wonderful when we can do that. :)

we keep reading...
i stopped them just before they got to...
lot's daughters sleeping with him so they could each have a kid. i figured i had made us all sufficiently uncomfortable for the morning! incest didn't need to be covered as well.

then...i decided that we needed to move on to Exodus for the next week...

so i summarized 20 chapters of Genesis in 15 minutes. tell the kids it is a soap opera and they think it is great! which...it kind of is...

i told a couple of the parents about the circumcision conversation. they laughed at me. i almost made the organist choke on his coffee as i mentioned the whole circumcision episode. i think this is a class for the record books.

on another note...
i had a moment this morning when i thought, "i am more afraid of the secret service than i am of God." is that weird?

i know that God will forgive me. i am not so sure about the secret service.

baby mama drama...

yes.
i said it.

i said, "baby mama drama." i said it in confirmation yesterday.
the boys were so squirrley. finally i wanted them to reread genesis 15-19 where sara, abraham, hagar and a few boys are having a family drama. i told them to think about the baby mama drama that was playing out in the Bible. i asked them to think about how that family fight became our problem today.

how is that for making the Bible contextual? as my wonderful lay leader said, "just like the springer show!" oh, yes. i have plenty more.

our problems in the middle east can all be summed up with "baby mama drama."
probably not, but it would make foreign policy conversations more interesting!

i really hope i don't get calls from the parents about that one..."vicar margaret, did you really say 'baby mama drama' in class on sunday?"

what else...

oh yes.

the installation of the bishop.
they put a mitre on him. a mitre. the east coast clergy thought i was nuts for thinking there was something wrong with the bishop wearing a mitre! um, okay, i have never seen a lutheran put a mitre on! i introduced myself to the presiding bishop, and Bishop Hanson also thought it was a little bit amusing. he doesn't have one either. some of the east coasters were surprised when i said bishop hanson didn't have a mitre...oh, dear...i am out of my league.

i am getting to know some of the interns better. i found a few liberal confessional lutherans!!!!!! there are more of us! it was so nice to find them...apparently philly is the place to find a few.

okay...a few more photos.

this is a gps unit from one of the apollo missions...how would you like to haul that around? i was at the smithsonian air and space museum where i found this.



this is for my mom and dad...they were married just before the moon landing in 1969. july 10. and then they were travelling someplace together as newlyweds listening to the moon landing together on the car radio. also curtesy of the smitsonian air and space museum.

who's big idea?

here is my question... who thought it was a good idea to lock people in a church and let them stay up all night while giving them large amounts of sugar?

any takers?

now, i may be an odd seminarian (stop giggling all you in cyber space!), i have never participated in a church youth group. i was confirmed and then proceeded to ditch all youth activities in the elca. i'm sure my parents are so proud now, having that publicly posted! i had no desire to participate in luther league or anything that resembled luther league. for two reasons: i'm a preacher's kid and that was just asking for me to get made fun of. reason 2: i thought it was dorky. it was a little too rah, rah God for me. i prefered my religion with a bit of cynicism. yes, even as a child.

lock-ins always sounded like a bad idea. all i ever thought when i was in middle school and high school was, "that sounds miserable!"

guess what i am doing tonight?

chaperoning my very first lock-in! some of you have heard about my image of God...it is the Simpsons version of God. some weird combo of homer and ned flanders. with a bizarre sense of humor. so...i am guessing that this is not surprising. God would send me packing to such an event.

the pastor organizing it is quite nice. she is barely older than me and been ordained for three years. she went to gettysburg. meredith has asked me and another vicar to lead parts of this event. i am doing a devotional in a park homeless folks sleep in. i am going to read a children's story, "dog heaven." meredith has asked me to plan the advent event for confirmation students...not the sort of thing i ever saw myself doing...youth gatherings kind of freak me out. it is a good learning experience, though. maybe it will be fun.

oh, another first this weekend...
i come from alc country (american lutheran church...for simplicity...these are the lutherans that like bishops least). i have never felt the need to hang out with bishops too much or to go to bishop installations. washington, dc has been influenced by the anglican church and came out of one of the more high church lutheran bodies...so...

people like bishops and church hierarchy.

tomorrow the new bishop gets installed. at some fancy catholic church, cause the national cathedral isn't big enough for everyone...and all the clergy are supposed to process in. plus, the partner synods are all sending their bishops...slovakia, england, el salvador. kind of crazy. i guess i am going to that. after staying up all night. the el salvador bishop is preaching at my church. which is cool.

so that is that.
wish me luck...should be an adventure tonight!

a few photos of the 'hood!

This is the path between the actual church building (to the left) and the church offices (to the right). It leads into a small courtyard and the back parking lot.



This is the building the offices are in. The windows in the middle are the windows to my office! Yup. I look out onto East Capitol Street. Right across from me is the Folger Shakespear Theatre. If I lean out the window I can see the Capitol.





Another view of the church buildings. The church is to the left. The offices and such to the right.



The sign in front of the church.



This is what I saw when I was pulling up to the church my first day! I took this picture from the sidewalk in front of the church. It is still weird to me to be at a church in DC!!

why i love minnesota reason #....

i'm not sure what number we're at yet for reasons why i love minnesota. i went to the pharmacy the other day to get a prescription filled. the pharmacist looked at my health insurance card and exclaimed, "i want your health insurance!" minnesota care looks pretty good in minnesota...it looks REALLY good in the district of columbia. i am discovering that part of why the schools, social services, roads, etc are so bad is because the district is dependent on the federal government for their budget. yup. so, we gripe because we don't get the extra little bit from DC...folks here gripe...well, they just don't get anything to run anything. and they don't have any representation in the federal government. it is certainly odd.

i went to a lutherans concerned banquet last friday. it was nice to be around a familiar style of lutherans. pastor bradley schmelling was there as the keynote speaker. he is such a wonderful preacher. and so pastoral. i sat with the organist and some other men from my congregation. we had so much fun. it was decided i needed a title more fitting than vicar, but could not go without a title. i am waiting to see what they come up with! should be interesting. to the little ones i am vicar maggie. to the JAG officer i am vicar mags. yup...my new found friend is an attorney in the us army...and calls me mags...and she's kind of girly. i like contradictions. and when i have a tough day i get the army treatment, "is anyone shooting at you? no? well, then you are having a good army day!" certainly keeps things in perspective...

this past sunday i went to a soccer game for the team that two the confirmation boys play on. it was pretty intense. one of the boys could not play due to an injury. when he tried to explain the game to me a little, i got the funniest look when i asked which ones the defenders were. well, i wasn't sure!!!! i laughed. i realized that the boys are coming to the age when they are trying to differentiate from their parents. so, they try to ignore them. when i am with their parents they don't talk to me. when it is class time or their parents are doing other things the boys are much more willing to talk about whatever is going on. i get more than one word answers. i think we are starting to have a rapport. we have so much fun in class. the boys never stop moving...the whole hour they are in constant motion. but, the questions they ask are so wonderful! this week we started reading about abraham and sarah. one boy asked why we had to read all the names, then they wanted to know about righteouness and about geneaologies. And why didn't God just bless everyone to begin with? what is with the going through one guy thing? All good questions....and fun to talk about. the lay person that helps me out calls it a "mini-theology class." i wish everyone could have that much fun teaching.

i preach this sunday for the first time. it is a long weekend, so many people will be gone. it makes me a little sad. since a few of the people i have begun to have relationships with will be gone. there will be plenty more sermons, though. it is good for people to rest and take care of family.

i think that is that. the kitties are well. no escapees in recent days. it is still too warm and humid here for my minnesota blood. i think i will make it though! :)