These transitions are easy -- matter of fact they are out right painful. In a sense things end up falling out from underneath you. It takes the edge off of leaving as things come together in St. Paul. This week I received my (preliminary) housing assignment and landed an on campus job. Both of these are pretty much ideal situations -- better than I could have ever hoped for...
Housing: Many seminarians live on campus at Luther Seminary. Some live in the dorm and others live in the apartments (either on top or bottom of the hill). I'll be living in a 1BR apartment down the hill in Burntvedt Apartments. Each apartment has a small study room in addition to the bed room, living room/kitchen/dining area -- kind of excited about that.
New Job: Most students work part-time in seminary earning a little bit of money to help cover basic costs. I wasn't exactly excited about the initial ideas our dean of students shared with me, but fortunately I got lucky and the perfect alternative. I'll be joining the Learning Design & Technology Team this fall as a Production Assistant. Because I've been a distributed learner and I also have some good experience editing, graphic designing, and building online collaborative spaces it really is a great fit. Luther's use of technology and online courses makes it one of the most leading edge theological schools in the country. This is actually going to be fun.
At least a few other LifeCast updates will be in order in the coming weeks. I've also recently added features to this blog (see right hand "Let's Connect"/updated calendar) and have been updating my profiles on all my social media sites.
Next Step...Course Registration, Leadership transition meetings, last worship with the Co-Op (Aug. 9)
In this transition from full-time ministry/part-time school to full-time student, I am discerning my commitment to other projects and vocations. I've discerned my networking roles with in Luthermergent & Emergent Village will continue, for now. I've updated my calendar here at CuratingTheJourney.org and its an exciting time of travel between now and this fall.
Here are some highlights...(click the images for Event Info)
Emergent Theological Conversation with Jurgen Moltmann // Sept. 9-11, 2009 // Chicago, IL
Missional Church Consultation with Miroslav Volf // Nov. 6-7, 2009 // Luther Seminary, Minneapolis, MN.
If you'll be at any of these events, or in the area, hit me up: tksnyder(at)gmail(dot)com. Stay tuned for more info, event reflections, photos, etc. -- TS
Now that everyone knows I'm leaving soon it's weird. This place now is a suspended space. I'm stuck in between now and what is yet to be. I wrote a little piece this afternoon about this tension I'm in.
+++++
the notecard girl
I'm at a cafe outside. on the patio. this cute girl is sitting next to me. but she's inside ...we're separated by glass. close...but yet so far away she's working through greek note cards she just flipped through “agape” i knew that one - love. really? this is werid. and I leave in 6 weeks. damn.
This is both a difficult and yet exciting announcement for me. For the past month I have been engaged in some intense discernment. This past spring has been a difficult season -- with two intense vocations: seminary study and serving as developer at The Co-Op. At the initial request of my bishop, I began to discern the possibility of transitioning into full-time study. After lots of conversation with my family, close friends, mentors/pastors, and finally the Co-Op community, I've decide to move to St. Paul, MN in August to pursue full-time study at Luther Seminary.
This decision comes with some deep grief. I have invested three years into this project we've called The Netzer Co-Op. It has come at a great cost to me personally, and yet I wouldn't have had it any other way. This community has changed me. While being a part of this community has been deeply affirming, it has also been a (long) season of much self-sacrifice. As I discerned this decision, one thing was clear to me: I have lots of public belonging, and yet very little social, personal or intimate belonging. It is time for me to move into a season that is more holistic.
This decision does not come easy and it was never my plan to leave this community so soon. But God would have it another way. Frankly, I'm not sure why I was okay with the suggestion to pursue full-time study, other than to say, that it came from a deep place in my soul where I have yearned for a more simplistic and focused life. Of course, there is never a good way to say goodbye, and yet we all must follow where it is that God is leading us.
In this transition, I will be taking some space to discern my involvement in all my other side projects. What has emerged in my discernment is that I am really being called to a season of focused simplicity. I'll be take the next several months to discern my involvement in a variety of side projects including Luthermergent, Generate Magazine, Emergent, blogging, networking, etc.
But what is also clear to me in this decision is that I have always been surrounded by an incredible family, circles of friends and mentors, and a gracious community. I've been reminded just how blessed I am. The move to St. Paul brings with it incredible opportunities for me to learn, to study, to refine my own theology, to broaden and deepen my convictions and finally to be transformed by the crucible that is seminary. I am very sad to leave, but leaving with a great sense of anticipation about where ever it is that God is calling me.
As I prepare to leave, I am excited to join our bishop and our mission director in affirming and lifting up Brianna as an incredibly gifted and talented leader in this community. She will continue to serve as a Curator and she will lead this community to new places. She will take over many of the responsibilities that I had as Curator and the community remains committed to shared ownership and leadership. The Co-Op community will certainly continue under Bri's leadership and with the full support of our Board of Directors and the ELCA. As we transition together in the month of July, I hope to have many conversations to thank all of you in the community who've been part such an important part of my life. I will worship for the last time with the community on August 9th and will be moving that following week.
Though I leave this post as a developer of this community, I'm confident these relationship will continue for years to come. Thanks for everything...
48 Hours of Homelessness: Reflections on the MLF Street Retreat, Part I.
This past weekend, four of us from the Co-Op Community joined our friends at Mobile Loaves and Fishes for a Street Retreat -- 48 hours on the streets of Austin, living with our city's homeless and working poor. I'm going to write a bit and include some reflections/media on the event.
WATCH REFLECTIONS AS WE WERE PICKED UP ON SUNDAY:
DAY # 1 - Being Cared for by the Poor
Friday, June 19, 2009. 5:00pm (CST).Ten of us (some of us good friends, some folks we just met) were dropped off at Woolridge Square Park with only the clothes on our backs, no money (actually I accidentally forget to leave my wallet in the car...), a blanket, and our prayers that God would be present despite our serious second thoughts about this whole idea. It was strange mixture of excitement, nervousness, and curiosity. And then, of course, there was a most pressing question: where would God show up in this?
The four of us from The Netzer Co-Op included, myself, Brianna Morris-Brock, Ryan Sladek and Ashley Dellagiacoma. We have all been involved in our community's Likewise Experiements, where we've tried to take Jesus seriously in his call to be about caring for the poor and building relationships with them, but this was a whole new level.
We spent most of the afternoon in the park and met several homeless friends. We heard some of their stories and we began an indepth conversation with a woman named Kim. Kim had been on and off the streets and this time she had been camping out by Riverside Drive for two months. She made a special point to invite us to come sleep out at her camp. She was insistent that we had a safe place to sleep. Since we had two girls with us, we readily accepted the offer. On the bus ride across town we heard from her two traveling companions -- Josh and Karl. Both had recently become homeless (though both had spent time on the streets before). Josh had just lost his job as a welder -- this economy has had a dramatic impact on the poor, though we never hear that end from the media. Josh and Karl told us stories about the harshness of the streets and laced it with humor about being Irish. Josh was from Boston originally and his dad was a lead guitarist in several famous rock bands.
We got to the camp and after being shown around, we explored the near by watering hole. We felt more like we were just camping with friends rather than experiencing homelessness.
That first day I remember several key moments. The first was at 3:50pm. For some reason I thought our meet up time was at 7pm. I was getting directions to the church when I realized we were scheduled to meet up at 4:00pm. I had ten minutes to get ready - shit! At that moment I seriously thought about not going. Maybe it was an easy out. Maybe this was going to be lame. Deep down I had reservations and I wanted some excuse why I couldn't follow Jesus onto the streets -- I, like the rich young ruler (see Mark 10), had too much I was leaving behind.
Karl Barth says, 'Follow Me' as in the case of the rich young ruler is a phenomenon that is absolutely terrifying in its impossibility." (in The Call to Discipleship). Now I get that.
This month at the Co-Op we've been talking about sharing our resources with those around us. I've been struck by two things that came up at our Jesus at a Pub convos:
+ The number of "provoking" questions about whether or not we are enabling them by helping them. They are obvious questions, but while meant to be "provoking," they seem to be more of an excuse not to give.
++ We talked about hospitality as both welcoming others into our spaces and being open to being invited by others into their spaces.
I didn't expect to be so quickly embraced by those who were homeless. We were deeply cared for in Kim's camp. They gave us a safe place to sleep. They made sure we had food in our stomachs. They made sure we knew where water was and a public bathroom. They made sure we knew where the watering hole was. They made sure we knew how to avoid police in the neighborhood who are known for harassing the homeless.
It's not like we all didn't have thoughts about whether or not we were safe or whether these people were trustworthy. It's just that those doubt were proven wrong -- we were cared for beyond our expectations, by friends we met only hours before. We were not on a Likewise Experiment trying to care for the poor. We were being cared for by the poor. To say it was humbling doesn't even begin to express it...
(To be continued...)
Next Post in Series: Part II: Day # 2 - Kairos Time Kicks In.
For years, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- the church in which I belong and the church in which I am a candidate for ordained ministry -- has been in a deep and difficult conversation about sexuality. I first became part of this conversation in 2005 when I served as a Youth Advisory Member to the ELCA Church Council, the board of directors of the national organization. During that time I had the privilege of being at the center of this conversation for two years and it has continued to be a conversation I deeply care about.
In August this church will gather in its Churchwide Assembly (highest legislative authority for the ELCA) and it will consider a social statement -- Human Sexuality: Gift & Trust and it will also consider the Report and Recommendations on Ministry Policies. I strongly encourage you to read them, whether or not you have any affiliation with the Lutheran tradition as this task of theology we bear is a public endeavor. The current policy makes no room for this church to call or ordain pastors who are in life-long, publically accountable, same-sex relationships. The recommended change calls for a "conscious-bound" policy in which who have decision making responsibilities would not be forced to make a decision contrary to their convictions of faith. Why this solution? Because it is clear that the church is not all on the same page. It is clear that we intrepret scripture differently and that faithful people come to different conclusions in light of the authority of scripture. This change would make room for those in committed, same-sex relationships to serve in this church and remain in those relationships.
As a leader (lay-mission developer & candidate for ordained ministry) in this church, I think our public theology and decision making processes call for our people to know where we as leaders stand. We, as leaders, are called to be faithful to the task of working through these difficult questions and coming to a faithful response. No response is still action -- indeed for leaders there is no such thing as inaction. The bishop of the St. Paul Synod recently gave perhaps the most generous response from a public leader in this church that I've seen - you can check it out here: Download ReportAssembly2009(2)
So here's the deal. I've heard some of the most terrible comments from
people debating this issue. I've also heard some of the most generous
statements. I have been involved in the conversation with bishops, churchwide leaders, my own synod roundtables, the study of scripture and the study related to sexuality. I had this conversation over countless cups of coffee and pints of beer. I've been in conversations concerning the issue both in the community and at the seminary. I have studied with prominent theologians who are on both sides of the issue. I have friends who are gay. I've been ministered to by gay pastors. I have friends raised by gay parents. I have friends that feel bound by conscious to leave this church if we embrace these recommendations and I have friends who will leave if we do not embrace them. More than anything I hope we might find a way to live together as one Church untied not by our convictions about sexuality, but rather by our hope in the Risen Lord.
And so, to the Co-Op community and admist other places I have the privilege of serving in ministry...here is where I stand. I fully support both the social statement - Human Sexuality: Gift & Trust and I support the recommended policy changes. I've joined over 200 other seminarians who are current and future leaders of this church in An Open Letter from ELCA Seminarians to the Bishops of the ELCA. I will be in Minneapolis during the Churchwide Assembly as an observer and I will be praying that God's will be done. I trust the Spirit will move where ever the spirit will move us, together.
Yesterday I arrived in St. Paul for two week of grad courses at Luther Seminary. Today I dove into a text on The New Testament and Mission (Nissen) - it was freaking good. So, I quoted my favorite parts on Twitter and let the conversation get going. I posted a graphic mash-up over at Life@Luther BLOG.
Follow me these two weeks at that same blog...I'll post a few things here, but I'll be posting everyday there!
As I approach a week to be filled with reading about mission for summer session at Luther Seminary, I'm anxiously anticipating Pentecost. This might very well be my favorite liturgical season. A professor of mine from Texas Lutheran University, Dr. Phil Ruge-Jones, posted this preaching bit to get us all started. In true RJ (as we used to call him) fashion its provoking, witty and unfiltered. Seriously.
I've written about Elders and its an important topic for me that I'll keep on talking about. Today though its a joy to be celebrating another elder - Paul Soupiset, its his 40th birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!. For the past three years Paul has been an incredible mentor, conversation partner and friend. My friendship with Paul has been a truly generative one. We led the emergent SA cohort together for sometime, he graciously has been serving as an elder (a leadership role in our community), and now we're starting this magazine.
We've laughed, cried and dared to dream a bit together. He's even taken the risk of letting me care for his children (while he and his wonderful wife, Amy have date night) -- bad idea.
So one more time, here's the deal about elders: They change you. It is in the seasoning of their experiences and humbling wisdom of their care that they would dare to surrender the future to the next generation. It takes a real elder to bring us younger leaders into being. We have to be not only told of our faith, to love, to hope, to trust, to risk, to dream, to create, to grieve, to mourn, to lament, and to begin again -- but we have to be shown it all too. Thanks Paul for everything.
dearest friends, family and blogosphere wanderers...
I'd like to take just a minute here to refute a common misconception about life. Yes, its time for us to come to a fuller understanding of the bachelor's life. You see, there seems to be this (false) perception that bachelor = sloppy, cheap, etc. It is as if being a bachelor means to live in a dump, wearing the same dirty clothes day in day out with mild variations of Ramen, leftover pizza and fast food for nourishment.
Check it. I hope we can laugh at the caricature, but on a more serious note, I also hope we might move to a deep value of singleness. Here's a small contribution to debunk the myth of the bachelor's life - three samples from the kitchen of yours truly. If you would like to leave your old paradigm at the door and come by for dinner some time, I'd love to host you!
Exhibit A - Homemade Italian Meatballs with Bowtie pasta and tomato basil sauce, topped with fresh Parmesan cheese and basil. Served with an ice cold Lone Star.
Exhibit B - Latte from Thunderbird Coffee in Central Austin. At least once a week I wake up to one of these delicate and yet incredible concoctions. These should only be reserved for maximum morning creativity.
Exhibit C - Cinco de Mayo Fajitas with roasted bell peppers, avocado, mixed cheeses and cilantro. These beauties were a dual celebration of both the Mexican culture here and Texas and also my brother's 26th birthday. (Not Pictured: Dues Equis Lager - yum!).
So, if you stop by, I'll throw on my chef coat and see what might be waiting in the fridge. Tonight's menu: Grilled Shirmp over Pasta Alfredo with Garlic Bread and a little garden salad...any takers?
This past weekend, four of us from the 
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