super dork...

okay. i know you are going to shake your heads when i tell this story...

this is the celeb i got excited about.

this morning i was walking to meet the pastor at a restaurant on the hill. like three blocks from church and maybe three blocks from my apt.

i see this guy going into a restaurant that is just opening up...

it was SPIKE from the most recent season of top chef!! yes. i do like a good episode of top chef now and then. :)

i wanted to be cool like all the other hill kids so i just sort of gawked and kept walking. i got to the restaurant and said to pastor that i had just seen spike. he looked at me like i was nuts. i proceeded to post on my friend's facebook site that i had seen one of the chefs from top chef. it was rather exciting.

and...
i am a dork.
i am willing to put it out there.

my feet hurt.

okay. those who know me, know that i don't wear heels.

guess what.
i wear heels.

sigh.
i have had to buy clothes and shoes this year.
the comfy danskos didn't quite cut it.
nor did the pink pumas.
yes, i did think i could call the pink pumas dress shoes. don't laugh

well, the one pair of black heels that i have had for almost three years are starting to get a little wobbly. i bought a cheap pair to add to the rotation, but they died...

so...
i finally broke down and bought a pricier pair this week. i am really picky. i may not own many heels, but i am picky. i wanted pointy toe, black, thin heel. right. nightmare to find. i just wanted a kitten heel.

thats all.
what did i get?

a stiletto.

yes.

what has the world come to.
vicar margaret owns a pair of stilettos.

and her feet hurt.

it did take 9 months for me to crumble. 9 months for me to finally get to this point. will i ever be able to show my face again in the midwest?

i feel a bit neither here nor there.

ps the sermon went well. i don't know why.
i don't think it was of my own making.

another sermon.

i don't know how i feel about this sermon.
it was a bit angsty to write. i realized that i have a sermon writing process. and that i managed to totally bypass it. crap.
so...whatever this is, it is. i found out that i was going to be preaching this sunday on tuesday. switched sundays due to some events in the congregation.

so here it is.
mostly i am putting it here since it is my sister's birthday this week and i won't get to see her. this is one of the few ways i can do something for her.

Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

My little sister (who is not so little anymore) will be 25 on the 24th of this month. That is in two days. Does anyone know what saint’s feast day we celebrate that day? It is John the Baptist’s feast that day. We celebrate his birth and feast that day because it is near the summer solstice. It is near the longest day of the year and the shortest night. It is the time of light beginning to leave the world and darkness coming back into the world.

Nice story you think...why is vicar talking about her sister, John the baptist and the solstice?

Just wait.
St. John said that he must decrease so another may increase. He must become smaller so that another may become bigger. The light decreases so that we can prepare for an increase in light. Christ is the light of the world. Christ is born during the shortest days of the year. The light comes back when Christ is born. When John is born the light decreases so that we can prepare for the light to be welcomed. We can prepare for God incarnate. God in human form. God gave us a natural phenomena to help us remember that Christ is our light.

Now, my older brother and my sister were born profoundly handicapped. They both have the same disabilities. However, my sister is more severely handicapped than my brother. She is unable to care for herself in anyway. She cannot walk or talk. She is most certainly the meekest of the meek. She was born on St. John the Baptist’s feast day. She was born on a day that a saint said he must decrease so that another may increase. My sister became humble and low so that we could see Christ.

Light is in the world and so is my sister. The Gospel is here and St. John points the way. So does my sister.

For much of history folks with disabilities were hidden away in secret. They were the shame of families and communities. My brother was at the beginning of the movement to make folks with disabilities whole. To engage these folks with communities. I watched my parents fight to have my siblings “mainstreamed.” I watched them fight to have my siblings given the chance to be treated with respect and humanity. I grew-up believing it was normal to include folks with disabilities in all tasks. It wasn’t until later in life that i realized this was not the norm.

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.” Families have for so long borne the shame and fear of children that are less than. Fearful that friends and neighbors will find out their secrets. Christ is telling us that families are not a secret. The church is not a secret. God is not a secret.

Christ then says that sparrows will not fall to the ground without the heavenly Father knowing. Sparrows were the cheapest form of food in the ancient world. The meekest of sustenance for humans. Sustenance for the meekest of people. Yet, the Father knows all that happens to these little sparrows! That is how precious they are to Him. Christ goes on to teach that the Father knows the number of hairs on each person’s head. This is how much God values each human.
The littlest ones of creation are so valued by God that nothing in their lifespan is not known by God. Humans are valued so much by God that each hair is known. This is why we can trust that we can walk in the light. We can proclaim from the housetops. No matter what the repercussions are, God will know our story.

I trust that God knows all that my brother and sister have experienced. I trust that God knows all that my parents have done for my brother and sister.

I also trust that my sister’s birth on St. John’s birthday reminds us that we are not to work for ourselves, but for Christ. Yes, we do come back to works. And as Lutherans that makes us a bit nervous. But remember dearly beloved, works come from faith. When we trust that, as St. Paul says, “we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” That newness of life is speaking in the light. It is proclaiming from the housetops. It is humbling ourselves to be like the teacher. It is acknowledging the one that gives us life.

Christ does not say that this is easy. Faith is not always pleasant. It is not always delightful to be one of the followers of the Way. This is an alternative lifestyle that is 2000 years old. Just as God acknowledges the littlest ones, so must you. You are to be like the teacher.

My little sister is the most handicapped person I have ever met. I also can’t imagine anyone more perfectly made than her. We could have hid Martha from the world. We could have kept her in the dark. We could have kept her a secret. God does not want her kept a secret. John was sent to proclaim and prepare the way for Jesus. Jesus tells us to proclaim so that we can be acknowledged to the Father. Martha has taught me love. I believe that she has taught many others to love. Perhaps it is others who have in their caring for her, taught me love. We are commanded to love one another. In this way we point to Christ. It is in helping us to love that Martha has been like John the Baptist and pointed towards Christ.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote of being enticed to speak. God enticed Jeremiah and Jeremiah had no choice but to speak God’s words. There was no hiding from God’s call. My brother and sister can not hide their disabilities, nor can they hide from the world. I wonder if they feel that God has overpowered them, the way Jeremiah was overpowered. When I look at my brother and sister I am sometimes overpowered by God.

The lessons today are messy. Jesus is not warm and fuzzy. Jeremiah wants his opponents destroyed. The psalmist is estranged from their family. Only St. Paul seems to have much hope. There is conflict. There is struggle. There have been secrets. The questions are: what will the conflict be, what will the struggle be, and will there be secrets?

There need not be secret family members anymore. There need not be darkness drowning people. There does need to be work done. Proclaim Christ from the rooftops. Proclaim the good news of Christ crucified and risen. When we do this, dear ones, than we can live into the light. Than we can claim, as my sister does a st. John baptist birthday.
So, begin your life again. pick-up your cross this week again. celebrate your st. john the baptist birthday. let it be yours. amen.

i was assembled...and the parts even fit!

yes. i got assembled last week and the parts fit together.
and even better...
i never thought i would say this, but,
i had fun at the synod assembly.
yes.
fun.
probably because i played social butterfly and chatted up everybody.
the pastors were quite lovely. the pastor in charge of the worship services had recruited vicars to help out. well, turns out he went to luther. i have learned to humbly say that i attend luther seminary, in st. paul, mn. i don't simply say, "i go to luther."
well, this pastor asks where i go to seminary at, i tell him. he says, "you go to THE seminary." i nod. at this point i am not sure if he is making fun of me or if he is a proud graduate. you just never know. folks get a little touchy sometimes when you are the only person that attend the BIG seminary. the pastor says, "i went to THE seminary." he proceeded to tell everyone that we both went to THE seminary.

for those of you non-lutheran types, luther seminary is the largest elca seminary. about 800 students. very big. sometimes called the flagship or THE seminary or whatever. minnesota is often laughed about as being the motherland of lutherans. so, yeah. it gets a little rough sometimes being the kid from minnesota that attends luther in the land of episcopalians and gettysburg seminary graduates.

it was a little fun to have someone to laugh with about being from luther.

we were at this lovely college in virginia. far from anywhere i have ever been before. it was beautiful. right in the blue ridge mountains. i can imagine people wanting to stay there for the beauty.

there were lutherans with southern accents and at the bar-b-que they actually had ribs as opposed to hamburgers and brats. i was so not in the midwest. another cross-cultural experience for the minnesota vicar.

so that was my experience at the metro dc synod assembly. well, the short version. lovely people. highly recommend them.

i'm getting assembled tomorrow...

yup. going to the synod assembly. for those that don't know the lutheran structure, synod is like a diocese. or like a small region within a big region. you see, we have regions. multiple synods make a region.

now some places have lots of people and/ or lutherans so there a lots of synods:

Minnesota=6 synods. the minneapolis area synod has 167 congregations. i'm sure the st. paul synod is similar.

Metro DC Synod= Washington, DC, parts of maryland, parts of virginia. 75 congregations.

big difference in the density of lutherans!

and...
i am a good northern minnesota kind of lutheran...well, somedays i am. there is a strong (don't laugh) scandinavian influence. the churches are pretty sparse and so is worship. there isn't much processing. the synod assemblies in northern minnesota aren't known for fancy pants worship.

i came east....

i will wear my collar this weekend. not something i would do up north. i will be processing in both the opening and closing worships. the vicars were asked to participate in worship. i am happy to be helping out in my adopted synod. but, it feels very odd to be doing such fancy worship on a day other than Easter! or at an assembly other than churchwide. it is one of those moments when internship could be better categorized as cross-cultural. i only crossed one time-zone and stayed in the same nation, but there is certainly some cross-cultural experience.

just thought i would share my assembling experience from the...dare i say it...lutheran diaspora.

just another day in DC...

i went to the apple store for my little computer lesson.
much too hot and i have signed up for computer classes to bide my time.

the conversation goes something like this:

me: so this file vault thing, what do you use it for?

apple techie: don't ever use it.

me: okay then...

apple techie: no seriously. people who store there passwords in there never get them back. if you forget it. it is gone. for good.

me: good to know. nothing i have is that secret...nothing anyone has is that secret...

apple techie: oh you would be surprised. we get people in here that need some pretty ...

me (at this point i interrupt): yes, but i don't work across the street...and most people don't work across the street. seriously. nothing i have is that secretive...

what is across the street from the mall i was in?

the pentagon.

this is the conversation you have in DC when you forget that the pentagon is across the street.
yes, i have grown accustomed to driving past the pentagon.
time for me to go home and get grounded again.

p.s.

it isn't me!!!
according to the washington post online it was 98 degrees...a record for today by one degree.
AND...
the heat index (in mn we call it the heat index, you have to have the opposite of windchill) was 106!!

my whining is not just because i am a whimp.
still is too hot. but i do still feel slightly vindicated.
i just wanted you to all know that. i feel better now.

do you remember...

when i first got here and i said it was much too hot?

i take that back. it is now MUCH TOO HOT!!!

97 degrees and like a million percent humidity.

i am not sure i will make it through the summer. i keep thinking my office is a bit warm. not uncomfortable, just warm...then i walk out to go get lunch...

i generally can be heard groaning as i walk out the office door. bemoaning the heat. it is at that moment that i realize i have been in a delightfully climate controlled rowhouse.

i thought minnesota was humid...nope. not like this. mn humid just means a storm is coming. this humid doesn't ever break. it just keeps going. with heat that just keeps going.

doesn't help that DC is built in a swamp.
is it bad that i think 40 below sounds more appealing that this?
i am not tough enough for heat.

baltimore take 2...the funkier side.

on sunday a lovely gentleman in the congregation came to me and said, "what are you doing this afternoon?" i have learned always to ask before responding, "nothing." with a suspicious look on my face i did give the nothing answer. i learned that a trip to baltimore was being offerred. just something to do on a lovely sunday afternoon.

my thoughts were, "why not!" it is either that or take a nap.

so the lovely gentleman, his lovely partner, and i piled in the car and drove the 45 minutes or so to baltimore.
all of a sudden i hear, "oooh look, hare krishnas!"

that made my day!
it was worth the drive just to see the hare krishna set-up on the touristy inner harbor.


i was taken to the more funky section of town that the tour mobiles don't take you to.

we giggled the whole time.
i insisted that i was on vacation for 8 hours.

that said...

when it came time for dinner i was told i had to make the decision.

we happened to be back on the inner harbor where the tourist theme restaurants are...

i got a silly grin and said, "hard rock cafe...i haven't been to one in years!"
one of the lovely boys and i decided we should get matching tshirts. again, i insisted we were on vacation...
though only two of us got tshirts...

we caused a bit of a rucus.
a bit too much fun was had...

and i even remembered to put on sunscreen. a good day.