End of Week 3

The third week is over and as I write this blog I’m sitting in O’Hare airport, one of the busiest airports in North America. Here languages, races, ethnicities, creeds and colours come together to travel the skies. Perhaps, that is a fitting metaphor for the ACTS DMin in Preaching program. Over the last three weeks people from all over North America and Germany gathered as individuals in Chicago. We arrived knowing only a couple of people or no one at all. We arrived representing the diversity of Christianity with varied theologies. We arrived representing various denominations and for some, no denomination at all. We were young and old, black and white, female and male, yet we came with at least one thing in common: we loved to preach the Gospel of Jesus our Christ.
Over time those differences began to disappear. Over time creed didn’t really seem to matter anymore. Over time gender didn’t seem to matter anymore. Over time race and colour became less and less of an issue. Over time our love of preaching and our support of one another and our dedication to becoming the best possible preachers we could be became the focus. The niceties of newly met colleagues faded away until were able to ask the really tough questions. Why did you use that phrase? Why did you include that theology? Would that really work in your context? Or simply we shared with one another what worked and what didn’t. It was a tough, rigorous, 17 days of classes from 8:30 am to 5 pm, of gathering daily for worship, of breaking bread together and sharing insights about preaching, ministry and life. And I loved it!
While I sit here I have some time to reflect on the year ahead and all the work that remains to be done as part of year one. There is a Parish Project Group to create (I’ll be tapping people on the shoulders in August), there are three incarnational translations to create, the sermons to prepare in special ways, three reflection papers to write and a final integrative paper that pulls it all together. While the residency is completed successfully, there is still much left to be done before I can claim that year 1 is complete.
Yet for now I’ll bask in the reality that I’m one third of the way through my residencies here in Chicago. I’ll bask in the incredible colleagues and friends that I’ve made. I’ll bask in the simply amazing preaching that has challenged me, uplifted me and recharged my soul to come home a different person than when I left. In a strange way it almost brings a tear to my eye.
So to those of you who have been working hard while I’ve been away trying to become a better minister for the ministry we share together – thank-you! It is only because you have watched the fort and been willing to step into the breach that I could be here and no amount of words will ever fully and adequately relay the depth of my appreciation and gratitude. Shalom.

Rejoicing in the Midst of Chaos

My first sermon as part of the program was preached last Friday. Its title was “Rejoicing in the Midst of Chaos” based on Philippians 4:4-9. As I’ve mentioned before preaching on Paul is not something that historically I’ve chosen to do on my own accord and not something that I’ve usually enjoyed, yet this sermon was a wonderful experience of what Paul’s pastoral ministry in the 1st century CE can still say to us in the 21st century CE. It was a great chance to delve into a text and preach it to a community of preachers that contained a very familiar phrase “rejoice in the Lord always.”
Now preaching to that community was a whole other matter. It’s is one thing to preach within a community where you’ve developed a relationship. Where we’ve share communion and baptism; where we’ve mourned together; where we’ve celebrated new covenants together; where we’ve struggled with budgets and vision. Preaching to preachers is a whole other matter and so last Friday, at the end of a very long day and week, I went second to last, and with great humility preached to my classmates a sermon that I wrote while here in Chicago with a style that intentionally would have an African-American flavour.
The end result, a powerful sermon based on Paul and his message to the early church that’s still relevant to us today. It was a sermon that certainly had an African-American flavour; at least as much as a white guy can have one, which received the comment “man I think you’ve been eating some greens and black eyed peas!” I was a wonderful experience to have folks respond during the sermon to what was being preached. It was a powerful collective witness to the power of God in our live through Jesus out Christ who calls us to rejoice and rejoice and rejoice again regardless of what life throws our way. It is something that I will probably try out from time to time at home as another way of sharing our witness of the gospel with one another.
One sermon down, another one this week. Lots of great feedback that is building on the experiences and changes in myself that I’ve noted during the course of the last two weeks.