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!