A Place for my Head

Just got back from Chuck's retirement. It was a great time; really emotional, though. We did this thing where we hooked something we learned from him on his fisherman's vest and said a little bit about it. I told a story about how I came right from seminary to my residency, and that was on the tails of a painful internship where I had been doing what I knew in my heart was good ministry and was knocked down again and again and told I wasn't a pastor and didn't have what it took to be a pastor. And then I sat in Chuck's office, and at first I was really intimidated, and then he started talking about clinical assignments and telling me about the hospital and never once did he question my ability to do this job. And then all through my residency he never addressed me as anything other than an equal and a partner and a minister even when I screwed up and he had to correct me for something. And then he invited me to be a casual chaplain, and then he gently wondered aloud if maybe I would be interested in one of the new pediatric positions, and when I finally realized I would be perfect for that position he smiled knowingly and welcomed me on board without so much as an interview.

I had been so devalued by so many people in my internship because who I was wasn't "right" for them, and they couldn't see a person like me, a quiet, introspective, deeply thoughtful, loving person as being good enough for them, good enough to be truly called pastor because I wasn't extroverted and loud and energetic like their pastor. And this man looked me right in the face and despite 40+ years of experience called a 28 year old newbie colleague, and chaplain, and pastor, because he recognized that my unique gifts were exactly what made me the kind of chaplain that would be a good fit to our diverse team. Our new manager is great. He is a nice person, and he likes me and I like him and he likes my family and is impressed with my clinical work. But Chuck gave me the gift of recognizing a calling that I was having real trouble seeing for myself, and that's something I will never forget.

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I posted this on Facebook but I'm posting it here too because it's hilarious. I don't know who that person is, but I want to marry her.

The Terrible Tragedy of the Healthy Eater

Seriously, read the whole thing, it's worth every word.

Hey, given the recent events in Ukraine and the number of shits (none) Putin apparently gives about playing by the rules, I created a petition for further action that the US should take. Please take a minute to read it and sign it.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/lift-ban-exported-oil-create-further-economic-consequences-russias-aggression-ukraine/VmL0cVY1

Creating an account is really easy. I need 150 signatures for this to go "live" on the We the People site, so if you could share, I'd appreciate it.

I seem to have collected a few Russians following my lj…

привет!

:)

So life plans seem to be more or less falling into place. I may have mentioned this before, but how the call process works is that you are assigned a region, and then a synod speaks up and says 'hey, we might have a place for this person' and then they start the process of matching you up for interviews with congregations in need of pastors like some sort of weird synodical dating service. But when your spouse is anchored to a geographical region, you have to say 'this is the only synod I can be in' and hope they honor your restriction. Which, here in the Twin Cities, they will not. Which means I am going to be unassigned and floating. That means I'm going to be sitting around waiting for a call for a while, unless some miracle happens, and so I started brain storming what to do. I decided to apply to chaplain residencies so that for the next year I'll at least be employed, even if I won't be ordained (you have to receive a call to a church for that, usually). But that still left the whole summer of me floating around doing nothing.

SO Pasha started thinking about spending some time in Ann Arbor doing research with a colleague there, since I will be more or less unemployed either way. I didn't want to just be floating around doing nothing in an unfamiliar place, though, so I e-mailed the synod there to ask if they might have use for me somewhere. It took a couple weeks but the assistant to the bishop got back to me and said yes, and she wanted to talk with me and forwarded my information to the director of evangelical mission and to a host of pastors. The DEM e-mailed me about 5 minutes later, and a pastor at a church in Ann Arbor sent me an e-mail a little bit later. So we contacted Pasha's colleague and told him we are free to come so it sounds like, though nothing is setting in stone yet, we may be spending July and the first part of August in Ann Arbor.

This seems like it could work out pretty well for me. This is a bigger geographical area so I think Lutheran churches are more sparse. I think if I do some work there and they like me, word could get back to that bishop, and bishops talk... so maybe it could be a connection that might give me a boost here. It's real ministry experience, and it's in a university setting which is outside of my ministry experience thus far. If I can do a residency next year, that will also give me really valuable experience, so maybe once some more calls open up in the Cities, I will look more attractive as a first call pastor. We'll see what happens. I feel kind of good about it. I am slightly nervous but I think it's like 'my future is unfolding in front of me' kind of nervous. For now, I just have to get through approval, though...

So yeah, we got married yesterday. I'm a wife. Bizarre.

( I have a lot to say. )

All in all, I have to say it was amazing. Even with the little hitches and quirks and everything, it was amazing. And now we're MARRIED! I have a HUSBAND! This is so weird! I feel like we're "playing house" a little bit, but it also feels so, so right. It's kind of amazing.

Anyway, I know what you're really here for is photos, so here are a few. I will post more once Cat gets the edits and everything done, but for now here are some teasers.

( Wedding pictures! )

I wrote a rebuttal of this article:. Mine is here: http://mylittleparish.blogspot.com/2013/01/why-i-intend-to-raise-my-hypothetical.html

I don't have a problem with atheists or teaching your kids whatever spirituality (or lack thereof) that you want, but I do have a problem with using an immature interpretation of Christianity as justification for it. So I decided to write my own list explaining what values and truths I want my potential children to learn through their faith.

I'm kind of curious what you all think.

There's nothing like having the cute little gay guys at Starbucks flirting with you to brighten your day.

Posted via LjBeetle