MyQuest | my thoughts on life's journey

Yummy Spinach!

Yesterday we finally ate the spinach we had harvested, and it was very yummy.  I made a creamed spinach.  First I wilted it with a little water and salt.  Then I cooked it further in some half and half, butter, and grated fresh parmesan cheese.  The spinach itself had a beautiful green color (it didn't lose that color when cooked) and a rich flavor.

Yesterday it rained buckets and buckets.  Our garden has required little maintenance, as the weather has been so rainy.  I do need to transplant a couple of the cucumber plants, which I keep forgetting today.  Maybe I can do that today if the ground dries out a little bit so it isn't messy.

I may go harvest some kale to put out during the church coffee hour.  We put produce from the garden out and people leave a donation.  The money funds feeding the homeless.

Peter & Henrietta

Yesterday my good friend and former congregant Judge Peter Keltch died.  A few weeks ago Henrietta Holcomb, another former church member died.

Henrietta and her late husband Herbert were pillars of Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  They quickly embraced me when I came as Associate Pastor and shared their stories, their hospitality, and their advice.  Henrietta was a stalwart of Christian education, mission, and wider baptist life.  She had been an educator all her life, and one of the elementary schools in Fayetteville is named for her.  My early years in ministry benefited greatly from their kindness and support.

Peter was a member of Cathedral of Hope-Oklahoma City.  He sang in the choir and served in leadership roles.  He was a faithful, regular attendee and participant.  He was also a good friend.

Peter would regularly take me to lunch so we could have engaging conversations.  He was a Republican, a history buff, a Sooner fan, and into geneaology.  He enjoyed our conversational disagreements more than when we agreed.  He always felt a little inferiority that his family came to Plymouth on the second boat, so I was able to jokingly rub it in that mine were on the Mayflower (my last e-mail to him was about learning that another branch of my family are also Mayflower descendants).  Once he groaned when I wished him a Happy Thanksgiving, "The holiday brought to you by my ancestors."

We enjoyed watching football together or going to games, especially if we got to say nasty and hateful things about the University of Texas.

He traveled to Omaha for my installation here and read scripture in the service, bringing greetings from CoH-OKC.  His visit was a delight.

Yesterday when I heard the news, I cried deeply.  I will miss my friend.

Will Campbell

Will Campbell died.  A good obit in the NY Times.  

Campbell is one of those indirect influences on me.  I never met him, heard him, or read one of his books.  But he influenced many of the baptist ministers who influenced me and was quoted by some of the theologians, like James McClendon, who influence me.  

The Homiletical Beat

The Homiletical Beat: Why All Sermons Are Narrative by Eugene L. Lowry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Based on Lowry's Beecher and Self Lectures, this small book contends that all preaching is narrative preaching because "a sermon is an ordered form of moving time." Telling stories is only one form of narrative preaching, but not the only form. Preaching has long moved away from a structured argument (at least the best views of it have), and Lowry was one of the leaders of that movement. My own preaching was affected by reading Fred Craddock who teaches that the true point of the sermon should only come out at near the end, keeping people in anticipation throughout. I've corrected people before when they've used the old high school idea of how to write an essay, "Say what you're going to say, say it, remind people of what you've said." Because that is the worst sermon form in the world.

Lowry writes that the audience shouldn't be able to complete the sermon for you, but need to listen to see where you are going. I hope I'm good at that, because it is what I aim to do. And my own particular technique is leaving the end of the sermon somewhat open and not using a gimmick for closure.

Lowry says a sermon should follow a plot of oops, ugh, aha, whee, and yeah. Or, put less eloquently, upsetting the equlibirum, escalating the discrepancy, disclosing the clue to resolution, experiencing the gospel, and the unfolding.

Lowry also contends that sermon preparation should remained focused on practices of orality. He is not against a manuscript, but that we should not move to quickly to closure or the finished product and that the writing should be with a oral experience in view. I believe I do that. I always rehearse my sermons, which often greatly changes what is written or how it is structured. When an Associate Pastor, I rehearsed sermons in the sanctuary and even practiced gestures, but I don't do that anymore. My delivery of the sermon is never exactly what is in my manuscript.

So, a good refresher with some interesting new ideas I will incorporate into my practice.

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Darkwood Brew: For the Love of God

I appeared on last night's Darkwood Brew episode, the final in a six part series on homosexuality and scripture.  The Skype guest was Bishop Gene Robinson.  The episode discussed the love of God, marriage equality, and Omaha's good news on the ordinance/petition drive:

 

Happy MLK Day

First Forum featured on the news

One of our First Forums at First Central was featured on the news.  

 

How the Church Fails Businesspeople (And What Can Be Done About It)

How the Church Fails Businesspeople by John C. Knapp
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A year or more ago my Stewardship Committee chair requested that we do something on the intersection between faith and work. Our staff recently planned an upcoming worship series with the theme "Make Our Work Worthy" that will focus on vocation and spiritual gifts. For an accompanying study, I read this book, which I had seen well-reviewed in The Christian Century. I will use the book for the study.

The title isn't the best and suggests the book is less meaty than it is. There are good discussions of the church's theological traditions on work and money. The main focus of the book is that people compartmentalize work and faith and that the church (and business) have not helped people to integrate these aspects of their lives.

I most enjoyed the early chapters which explored the differing natures of business and church and some of the church's theological tradition. The noticeable lack was anything about the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on work.

The second part of the book wants to move toward coherence. It begins with a chapter on rethinking Christian vocation, drawing on the teaching of Luther and Calvin. I thought this chapter could have been longer and stronger. The next chapter was a good approach at developing a moral theology of work.

The last two chapters weren't very engaging. The penultimate discussed the faith at work movement, which seems to primarily be a phenomenon for conservative evangelicals. I learned things in this chapter, but didn't find it spiritual or theologically interesting. It will prompt some interesting discussions when we read it at church though.

The final chapter was supposed to be about the church's potential in helping to integrate faith and work. Most of what was covered had already been (except for an interesting section on Charles Sheldon). I expected more in this last chapter than what was presented.

The book will be good at generating discussion and raises all the issues that I'd like to raise as we explore this question at First Central.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Children's Sabbath Preview