Blessed be the Goofy and the Whacky!

A verse from Isaiah especially sustains me as a preacher, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty.  (Is 55:11a)

The best example I have from my years of ministry was when I was just a baby pastor and teaching confirmation class in my first years.  Jason was a cute kid with red hair and freckles with a short attention span and a tendency for trouble-making.  We were studying a unit on Holy Baptism and I was telling them about making the sign of the cross on the head of the baptized.

I went on to tell the class that there is nothing “un-Lutheran” about making the sign of the cross nor is it the property of any church.  Rather, tracing the cross upon ourselves is done in remembrance of our baptism.  I told the kids that one way to start the practice is when they are standing all alone in the shower while they let the water rain upon them to say, “I am baptized” and make the sign of the cross.  I wondered if the suggestion was a little more pious than what 12 and 13 year olds were ready for.  Jason, of course, was squirreling around during the moment of instruction.

The following week, in good teaching style, we started with a quick review of the previous week.  Jason blurted out, “You know that thing you said about doing the cross in the shower?  Well, I tried it.”  There was a pause and then, “It was kind of neat.”

Hallelujah!  So much for the short attention span and pestering others in class, something made its way into this kid’s noggin.  I do not know if Jason grew up to be a participating adult of the congregation and unashamedly makes the signs of the cross within worship or not, but the word took some kind of root.

Here’s the point—or two points:  First, to all the Geezer’s Lutheran readers, there is nothing “too catholic” about making the sign of the cross.  Don’t forget that it says in Luther’s Small Catechism at the beginning of instruction for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, “make the sign of the cross in remembrance of your baptism.”  It adds a tactile dimension to both our worship and prayer.

 The second point tells us never to think our words of grace and hope are just going to fall on empty ears so why bother.  The Holy Spirit has a real goofy way and a whacky timetable of how and when those words connect.  Blessed be the goofy and the whacky!

Over the River and Through the Woods

Thanksgiving for my 60 years has been associated with traveling.  As a youngster we would usually travel the 70 miles in our ’52 Studebaker to my grandmother’s house in Manawa.  After she passed away we had a few years of a small Thanksgiving at home.  One year when we had mild weather like this fall, I remember baling third-crop hay Thanksgiving afternoon.

Some years later, my father’s side of the family started the tradition gathering on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at his sister’s house.  My aunt will never be confused with Martha Stewart.  The family would gather in the “lower level” of the house.  (My dad called it “the cellar.”)  There we would dine around the pool table covered with plywood.  A table cloth would cover the table.  We still laugh about the year she bought a “Battlestar Galactica” tablecloth presumably by mistake.

Since being married, Thanksgiving has been spent at my in-law’s home in Strum.  Because the guys in the family are deer hunting that has been a perennial arrangement.  As the number of grandchildren increased it was usually mayhem.  For several years, we would travel the “Wisconsin Triangle.” With small kids in the car it was not unlike the Bermuda Triangle.  From western Wisconsin we would travel to my home near Green Bay.  We would then be poised to take part in the Saturday gathering of the Schaub clan and guess what movie theme would bedeck the pool table.  From there we would hustle home to south-central Wisconsin to meet my Sunday morning duties.  The very memory of those days exhausts me.

Here’s the point:  family is a precious commodity.  There are jokes about dysfunctional families and the holidays and tragically there are some.  However, solid family units overlook the frailties and failings and rejoice in the blessings we bring to the family.  There will be the sacrifices of fatiguing travel; uncomfortable sleeper sofas; and nonexistent solitude.  But, such are the things memories are made of and how we establish the value of family for our children and grandchildren.

Happy Thanksgiving and Safe Travels!

Change? Over My Dead Body

How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?

Change?  Who says we need to change?

Change is one of the greatest threats to our sense of preservation.  Ironically, the political ads we endured this fall were filled with demands for change.  But when we talk about change within other institutions (i.e., the Church) it is met with resistance and defensiveness.

I’m not exactly sure why the human condition is so threatened by change within the church.  Maybe it is because we hold some things to be of the Truth and so revered that anything that might challenge a practice or procedure is a challenge to the Truth.

We have to stop and excavate the situation.  What lies beneath a defensive response?  

Pastor Kathy was at a two-point congregation in South Dakota.  One congregation still had a “back altar,” an altar up against the wall of the chancel so that the pastor would have his or her back facing the congregation.  Pastor Kathy naively asked if a free-standing altar could be constructed so that she would be facing the congregation.  Emmitt became enraged at such a suggestion.  “It’s been good enough for the last hundred years, it will be good enough for another hundred.”

Wisely, Pastor Kathy visited Emmitt at his ranch and calmly spoke to him, “The discussion about the altar brought out a lot of feelings.  Tell me the story about the altar.”

Emmitt told her how his mother used to tell him about how his grandfather worked side by side the craftsman who designed, carved and turned the intricacies of the altar.  Sometime later, his grandfather was killed in a farming accident when his mother was a little girl.

Aha, the altar had a significant emotional connection and thus, the protective feeling about it.  Pastor Kathy then came up with a simple plan and patiently educated Emmitt and the leadership how the back altar would be preserved and a simple free-standing altar would be in front.  After doing a simple thing like educating the people Pastor Kathy was able to introduce change for a positive modification.

In a healthy congregation change will be constant.  It is part of the growing pains we experience.  But without the pains of change growth will never occur.  So, the change agents who are wise will massage the pains of change with education and conversation.

I wish I could say that this is a sure-fire formula to institute change.  I can’t guarantee that.  But, it is amazing what a little excavation can uncover and deal with.

Why All The Meanness?

November 5, 2012

It is now an official term:  “Campaign Fatigue.”  It is a malady suffered by the American population, it is suffered by the media, and it has been suffered by the candidates themselves.  We are just darn tired of all the haranguing and the rhetoric.  Our privacy has been invaded.  Campaign ads have violated our television sets. Our ears are tired from hearing about poll numbers and the analyses of political pundits. We just want to put the pillow over our head and cry out, “Make it go away!”

Campaign Fatigue has sucked energy out of me.  I have known how I will vote for several months.  I have been offended by the amount of negativity that has taken place.  It seems like every election candidates seem to be asking, “How much more can I get by with?”  The ugly pictures of the other guy, the strident voices, the bombardment of propaganda only contribute to the agony and tragic erosion of the human spirit.

An executive from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) issued a statement entitled, “Why All the Meanness?”  In his letter he grieves the way national elections just boil down to being mean.  He urges his people to simply not tolerate the mean-spirited theme that clouds America.

I have to agree.  As the people of God, we are better than that.  We should not have to stoop to such off-putting unconstructiveness that has permeated our culture.  I am not going to attempt to point to the sources but even after campaigns are over we witness and experience a growing incivility within our culture.  It may be the murmuring that goes on behind our back.  It may be the inappropriate language that we hear on the streets.  There are just some people who would kick the crutch out from under a cripple. We are a culture that has become malevolent and unrepentant.

To turn this incivility around starts with people ready to say, “NO!”  Cry “foul,” when we witness these violations of humanity.  We implement the nonviolent philosophies of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.  The way we turn the other cheek is to create an alternate pattern of behavior that does not tolerate rudeness and the disrespect of our brothers and sisters.

As far as campaigns, who knows how to turn around the animosity and bitterness we have now endured?  The people who can do it best are trapped in the system they have created.  If I ever run for office I am just going to have pictures of me surrounded by puppies and kitties waving my hand saying, “I’m the Interim Geezer.”

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   My email is:  klschaub52@gmail.com