Getting This Temple Moving!

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I sit way too much!  I spend countless hours in front of this computer.  Cookies that find their way into the church office stand no chance!  When I was younger, my body could handle all that.  No longer!  Even though I played basketball a couple times a week, in the past year I found myself attracted to ‘comfort band’ pants…ones with elastic that let me delude myself I was the same size as I’d always been.  Something had to give!

Because of this, a few months ago I set a goal: to run in the Eyota Days 5K road race in July.  For experienced runners, a simple 5K is just a warm up.  For those of us who haven’t run that far in years…challenges abounded.  I’ve run off and on (mostly off) over the past years.  Even when I did run, the runs were short and intense.  I had to find a way to slow down and stretch the run to be able to survive a full 5K (which amounts to 3.1 miles).  I don’t think that I’d run that far since my high school cross country days (and I only ran cross country back then because my basketball coach made me!).

In April I finally strapped on my running shoes and dragged myself out of the house.  It took all my energy just to breathe!    I found myself walking for a while because my lungs just couldn’t take it.  I’d stagger home feeling miserable.

 After running for a few weeks, my lungs felt better … but my legs gave out.  It felt like I had lead weights dragging along under me.  I again had to walk a bit to allow them to rest.  I could barely take it!

Suddenly, a few weeks ago, everything seemed to fall into place.  For the first time in my life I began to understand the ‘second wind’ that many runners talk about.  Breathing now comes easily.  My legs continue to gain strength.  When I run, I enter a ‘zone’ where I can just keep chugging along for quite some time.   I know that I’m not breaking any world’s records, but I’m getting into shape.   

God has given me this body to care for!  I’m finally taking that seriously.

Who wants to join me in the Eyota Days 5K on Friday, July 15^th (or, if you’re from out of town, who will get themselves into shape for a 5K where you live!)?   

Old or Young?

The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair (or no hair) the splendor of the old

(Proverbs 20:29 – with a slight editorial addition!)

I can remember the conversation vividly.  I’d only been a pastor for a few months, a whopping 26 years old.  During a special church season, I joined some local pastors in a ‘round robin’ of preaching, meaning that I wrote one sermon and took it to a different congregation every Wednesday night.  One night, as we sat eating cookies after the service, an elderly woman sat down to talk to me.  She looked me over very carefully, then declared, “Aren’t you too young to be a pastor?”  I thought that at age 26 I had ‘arrived.’  Apparently she wanted a pastor with a bit more experience under his belt.  I wanted to be seen as the ‘wise pastor.’  I was too young for that.

Now I sometimes live under the delusion that I am still a young pastor.  The Lutheran Church abounds in pastors of the Baby Boom generation, and they sometimes think of me as ‘just a kid.’  When I do my work at the synod office I’m often referred to as the ‘young whippersnapper.’   But I get together with pastors who are fresh from seminary and suddenly don’t feel quite as young.  I remember back to my junior high days.  My dad was my pastor, and he seemed pretty old.  He’d been a pastor for 14 years.  What a geezer!  Hold on!  Now…that’s me.  Yesterday was the 14^th anniversary of my ordination.   I have a teenager of my own now.  I’m no spring chicken anymore. 

In our culture, the young wish to be older…and the older wish to be younger.  Kids desperately try to act mature…and middle age people (and for me, the definition of middle age keeps rising!) try to smooth wrinkles to look 21 again.  We spend a lot of time wanting to be something that we are not.  

Is it possible to simply be content with how God made us?  We get so caught up in what we wish we were that we forget to appreciate the gift of what we are. 

The JOY of faith

Oh, what a silly week!  Last night I turned a couple green towels into a cape and bandana & did a spoof on Batman and Robin (Holy Parody!).  On Monday night I sported a lovely floral dress (which I have to admit looked AWESOME with the goatee) as I became a shrieking teenage girl!   I’ve jammed to cardboard guitars…fist bumped three year olds…danced with reckless abandon.  And I’m a pastor?  Shouldn’t a person of faith be serious?  Aren’t there rules against cross dressing and frivolous activities? 

It’s Bible School week here in Eyota!  For people who’ve never experienced it, Bible School must sound like a pretty somber event.  Think about it!  The Bible is the Word of God…essential stuff.  School is all about learning…and what’s more important than learning about God and how God works in the world?  Bible…School…put those two things together and you get teaching bout ultimate things.  It sounds intense…so how dare it be so silly?

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are free to be goofy!  We proclaim a God who seeks us out.  We insist that this God loves us enough to die for us and forgive all our failures.  Living a Christian life isn’t just about following God’s rules or believing just the right facts about God!  We’re called into a relationship with the God who has created us…and who gave us our sense of humor.    Jesus constantly ran up against religious people who thought Jesus should do a better job at following the religious rules.  These were serious men who worked hard to get people to follow God’s law!  Jesus refused to buy into their system!  Instead, Jesus constantly demonstrated God’s love and grace.

Churches are places where fun, silly things SHOULD happen!  When we don’t live in fear of being ‘zapped’ by God for every little thing we do wrong, we’re free to experience life to the full. 

While Bible School is a time to teach some information about the faith, it’s a lot more than that.  Bible School week is a time to demonstrate the joy of the Christian faith.  We let people know that being a follower of Jesus can be a wacky experience.  I’m willing to do whatever it takes to demonstrate the joy of the Lord!

What fun, goofy things have you experienced in a church setting?