30, or A Frazier-Inspired Birthday Reflection

Turning 30 today, I'm aware of my own mortality. Maybe its due to the fact that I've been giving Laura a hard time about being 30 (she is 1 year and 5 days older than me) for a solid year now. But now that I'm half-way to 60, which is half-way to 120, it takes on an all-too-close-to-home dimension.

I'm reminded of a great pair of lines from Frazier. Lillith is in town in Seattle for a weekend and she and Frazier wind up wondering what life would have been like had they not divorced and Frazier moved to Seattle. Lillith's poignant line is (essentially): with one hand the past pushes us forward and with another it pulls us back. In another episode, after his near-death experience Niles lives with such caution that he fails to really live. He is too afraid that he could go at any moment. Martin's comment to him is (essentially) that you never know when your time is up, so you live each moment to its fullest.

How true. I don't want to waste my life agonizing over what I could have done or said differently, or what I will do with what vaporious days I might have left. Frazier's wise response (essentially) to Lillith is that their experiences, both good, bad, wise, foolish, whatever, have "made us who we are and brought us to where we are."

With one hand the past could paralyze us, but we must not let it. With another hand the future could beckon us to an ever-elusive possibility, but we must not let it. Instead, let us be chastened and taught by our past, have joy in the moment, and be hopeful for the future.

Grace and peace.

Give Blood

Congrats to the Ezell-Harding Anatomy and Physiology students, and Professor Lisa Smith, biologian extraordinaire, for coordinating a successful blood drive today. 100 pints, including one of my own, were donated throughout the day. I have a childhood memory of once accompanying my grandfather when he donated (now deceased, he gave gallons and gallons). He told me that with so many people in need, how could he not give? I suspect that his experiences in World War 2 Japan also had a great deal to do with his regular lifetime of blood donation. A good memory indeed.

Are eligible to donate? Why not do it? You may be the one who needs blood. I'm glad to donate for you. What if I need it? Will you donate for me? For those you love? For those you do not, nor will ever, know or love? If you are eligible, make a difference and donate.

-------
In other news, Fred Peatross is taking a break from blogging. I've appreciated his critiques and look forward to his return to the blogosphere. I have removed the link to his blog; I'll put it back when he returns and things are current.

My sometime colleague in various Hicksian Theological Courses at Lipscomb, Bren Hughes, is now on the link bar to your right. He is a thoughtful and capable theologian, a great dialogue partner in class (who will graduate waaaayyyy before me) and a great guy. Read his blog.

Grace and peace.

In-service

The mere mention of the word is enough to make teachers cringe. However, actually, today has proven to be a rather useful day. Frank Scott (from Madison church) had a superb presentation on grief and how we can help grieving students. Roy Hamley (from Lipscomb) has the afternoon session on helping hard to reach students.

The key idea in all of these areas is relationship. Grieving kids, "hard to reach" kids, our neighbors, whoever, it all comes down to healthy redemptive relationships. Making a difference in the difficult moments of life is far more apt to happen in the context of an already-safe relationship. The church ought to be about these sorts of relationships as the top-priority for evangelism before we plan any outreach event or Bible study.

Given that everyone, to some extent or degree, is experiencing loss or grief of some kind at this moment, ought to at the very least, give us pause as to how potentially redemptive even the tiniest encounters may be. And then from there we proceed with ministry, prompted and compelled by the compassion of Christ within us.

How intentional are we at creating safe relationships wherein the redemptive and reconciling ministry of Christ can flow through us?

--------

In other news, we had snow again! About 3 inches in our part of town. While it was too dry and powdery for a snowman, it made great snow angels and fun was had by all.

Curious George, likewise, was loved by all. Being Darby's first time to a real movie theater, she was mesmerized by the whole experience. The film is well done on all counts: innocent, playful, colorful, and well-produced. Thumbs up from everyone in the Ice house.

Grace and peace.

Slow Friday

31% of our student body is off to the mountains for Winterfest, the premier Church of Christ youth rally, held each February in Gatlinburg. Something like 12,000 teens are expected.

This brings to mind a flood of good memories. My first Wintefest wasn't the first one, but it was very early. I remember them announcing that they had broken 800 and "next year we want 1,000." That was way back, even before Gatlinburg. It was in some hole in the wall in Pigeon Forge. I have good memories of taking youth groups from various churches to Winterfest. In particular my heart is warmed by the memory of Laura and I and our three teens from Central making a one-car road trip up there when I was "youth minister." Yes, I had 3 kids in the "youth group." (Hands down, the most "productive" and enjoyable ministry experience I've ever had).

I have one nutty memory associated with Winterfest. Visting a local Nashville congregation, I was approached by a older man, in the lobby, who introduced himself as a new member and then told me why was a new member of this church. His previous church was sending their kids to "that Winnerfesht up in Gatlinburg...you know, they have Baptist women pastors teaching classes up there...and we just had to leave..."

This is nutty for several reasons: one, I was just visiting this church, standing in the lobby waiting for Laura to exit the restroom, and this random man, moved by something (what, I do not know), feels the need to fill me in. Um, thanks. And two, this man has made the decision to leave one family of faith for another based, at least in a straw-that-breaks-the-camel's-back sense, on gross misinformation. I think he was a bit surprised to hear me state that I personally knew all of the organizers of said "Winnerfesht" and that, contrary to what gossip he has heard, there were no "Baptist women pastors" teaching any classes there. While there may yet be any number of things he would dislike about Winterfest, I assured him he can safely check off that list the "women Baptist pastors."

But I digress (no pun intended).

Slow day today. Which means catching up on grading (yes, like a fool I gave another test), working on a practicum paper, and reading (finishing Francis Schaeffer's Escape from Reason, for some reason..haha!)

The Ice children are beside themselves with excitement: we've got a warm front of grandparents coming in from west tonight for a long weekend visit. Rumor has it we'll be staying up late, sleeping in late, eating lots of pizza, ice cream, and seeing Curious George at some point. What could be better?

Grace and peace.

4th Six-Weeks, by the numbers

1: only one prep (this spring it is Luke's gospel). My hat is off to teachers with 2-3 preps. I have had a colleague with 4 preps (bless his soul)

2: tests I gave this last six-weeks

4: minimum number of pages required for the paper I have assigned to my students this semester

5: sections of High School Bible I teach on a daily basis

7: quizzes I gave this last six-weeks

50: minutes per class period

85: number of students I have

170: quizzes I graded yesterday morning (I procrastinate)

340: pages of student research I checked over the last two weeks

850: individual grades I entered into our computerized grading program this morning

27000: individual grades it seemed like I entered this morning

Tag

Having traced my way back through many of the tags that preceded mine (back to Chad, Travis, Krister and others), I am struck by how similar we are, and how unique we are. We have much in common: common concerns, common interests, common experiences, common educational and minsterial backgrounds and training, and common friends. So, I've come up with a little tag of my own. We'll see where it goes, but I'm thinking primarily of those bloggers who are in their 20's-30's, CoC folk, emerging student-leaders of the next generation of our inherited Reformation movement. In other words, those who have been recently tagged by the round of questions I answered for myself below. I've appreciated reading several blogs. Sometime I'd like to meet you bloggers face to face. Maybe this tag will give us a open door to start the conversation.

Here goes:

Three reasons you stay in Churches of Christ:
1. We want to be Christ's church and we take our discipleship seriously
2. Relationships
3. This is my heritage: I have been nurtured in faith in this group and want to stay in order to contribute as I have received.

Three reasons you would leave Churches of Christ:
1. We have too often settled for sectarianism in lieu of genuine undenominational, organic Christianity.
2. We have not sustained well a healthy, constructive, self-critical view of ourselves.
3. We have not tolerated well honest dissent and challenge; neither have we always dissented or challenged well.

Three professors and/or courses who have influenced your thinking:
1. Randy Harris (Systematic Biblical Doctrine and Christian Mind and Devotional Life, both undergradute)
2. John Mark Hicks (Systematic Theology and Theological Hermeneutics, both graduate, and lots of Chinese food)
3. Gary Holloway (Restoration Movement and Hebrews-Jude, both graduate)

Three academic books which have shaped your thinking:
1. Michael S. Horton, Covenant and Eschatology
2. Luke Timothy Johnson, Scripture and Discernment
3. Gabriel Fackre, The Christian Story

Three CoC/Stone-Campbell books which have shaped your thinking:
1. Richard Hughes, Reviving the Ancient Faith
2. Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement
3. Tie: Thomas H. Olbricht, Hearing God's Voice and K. C. Moser, The Way of Salvation

Three hopes you have for the future of Churches of Christ:
1. That we will increase in love
2. That we will increase in being missional
3. That we will critically embrace and continue our heritage of simple Christianity

Three fears you have for Churches of Christ:
1. Having abandoned love, that we will miss the heart of God
2. Having abandoned our mission, that we will turn inward
3. Having abandoned our heritage, that we will become sectarian

Three challenges we will face in Churches of Christ in our generation:
1. Will we be politcial church or a church of disciples. We will sort out our faith in the midst of our national and world climate in some way. The question is, how and how well?
2. We will wrestle with gender and sexuality issues; again, how and how well?
3. We will wrestle with being missional in our postmodern context.

Three bloggers you tag:
1. Chad
2. Mark
3. Travis

Tagged

So I've been tagged. Here's my list. I'm sorry that I don't have time to hyperlink to everything from Ezell-Harding to the national turnip greens website, but if you're that curious then you don't need my link to get there.

Four Jobs I’ve Had
1) HS Bible Teacher, Ezell-Harding
2) Minister, Central Church
3) Store Manager, HG Hills Food Stores
4) Insurance Agent, Primerica (very brief stint)

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
1) Dead Poet's Society
2) Back to the Future
3) Monty Python, Holy Grail
4) The Wizard of Oz

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over
1) Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines
2) Thomas Olbricht, Hearing God's Voice, My Life With Scripture in Churches of Christ
3) Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn
4) KC Moser, The Way of Salvation

Four Places I've Lived
1) Nashville, TN
2) Charlotte, NC
3) Atlanta, GA
4) Smyrna, TN

Four TV Shows I Watch
1) Frasier
2) Will & Grace
3) The Bachelor, (hey, they're hometown kids this time around)
4) Antiques Roadshow

Four Places I've Been On Vacation
1) The entire East Coast to Maine, Quebec, Niagara Falls, back to TN via West Virginia. (honeymoon, part 1)
2) Israel (honeymoon, part 2)
3) Disney World
4) UTAH!

Four Websites I Visit Daily
1) EHCS Room 152
2) Chad's blog
3) Mark's blog
4) Ebay

Four Favorite Foods
1) Bacon-egg-and-cheese-plate-scattered-smothered-covered-on-TWO (that this also includes coffee and chocolate pie need not be stated)
2) Turnip Greens
3) Laura's lasagna
Tie for 4) Any Supreme Pizza and a plate (careful, plate is hot) of really spicy Mexican food from El Palenque in Green Hills in Nashville

Four Places I'd Like to Be Right Now
1) Quebec with Laura
2) Disney World with the girls
3) Angels Falls overlook, Big South Fork
4) Germany