Territorial Bloggings

Yesterday afternoon, my election to the Concordia – CA (Irvine) Board of Regents became very, very real.

I got a phone call yesterday from Dr. Kurt Krueger, President-Elect of the University, congratulating me on my election, and welcoming me to the Board. I thanked him and reciprocated, congratulating him on his recent appointment as President of CUI.

He then informed me about the first Board meeting, as well as the upcoming Inauguration.

It’s all pretty darned nifty, if not a little overwhelming if I let myself get too far along in thinking about it all. I’m very much looking forward to serving in this capacity, not only because it’s a higher-profile kind of thing (and it was, being honest, very cool to win a synodical election), but more so because I have some professional skills that I can bring to bear in service to our church body. I.e., this is a vocation for which I am actually well equipped.

Another thing that is pretty cool, in “the LCMS is a small-world way”, is that someone that I grew up with is actually on faculty at CUI! The odds that two classmates from St. John, Rochester & Lutheran High North (graduating class size: 123) would cross paths 25 years later in SoCal are kind of small. That said, I’m looking forward to chatting with Lori (Christiansen) Siekmann, who has distinguished herself as Dept. Chair & Director of Theatre Activites, such that she was mentioned in CUI’s report to the Synod in the recent Synodical Convention Workbook. Lori always was a very smart cookie! ;^)

I’m almost afraid that this is going to be more fun that I should be allowed to have… ;^)

-ghp

Is the congregation a volunteer organization?

This is an interesting question. It’s also a pertinent one, that many congregations, and congregational leaders, have to deal with this time of year as voters assemblies deliberate & vote on officers & administrative boards for next year.

On the face of it, the question seems like a simple one with a simple answer. Of course, it’s a volunteer organization. Right? After all, we are a congregational polity, with supreme voters assemblies – i.e., we’re not led by professional church workers.

I contend, however, that our local congregations ARE NOT volunteer organizations, not as we have come to commonly understand the term/word “volunteer”.

I posit that the currently held understandings of “volunteer” and “volunteer organization” are such that the individual volunteering holds the position of power. IOW, they get to call the shots because they are ponying up their time.

This means that, if volunteers want to do task “X”, then they get to do task “X”. Volunteer organizations, then, are built on, and couldn’t exist without, these individuals; therefore, they are indebted to them to such an extent that they can’t/shouldn’t question the skills or suitability of the volunteer to task “X”.

I further posit that local congregations have fallen into the trap of viewing “volunteerism”, as it applies to congregational service & leadership, in this way. This is a very dangerous and detrimental thing.

Why dangerous & detrimental? Because it creates an environment wherein folks feel entitled to do what they want, and only what they want, without question or check. If Bobbi Sue wants to join Parish Ed, then who has the right to tell her she can’t? After all, she’s volunteering! She doesn’t understand teaching or curriculum? Has a beef with the current Sunday School Superintendent & the DCE? Doesn’t matter – she’s a volunteer! Bubba Joe wants to get on the Board of Elders? He’s been feuding with the Pastor? Or openly shacking up with the girlfriend that he left his wife for? Doesn’t matter — he’s volunteering!

Unfettered volunteering, and the uncritical acceptance of it, puts the local congregation at greater risk of conflict, unrest, and discontent. It’s not good practice. Worst of all, it’s not Biblical. 1 Corinthians is rife with examples of how congregational life should work. Of particular relevance is 1 Cor. 10:23-24 — while ostensibly dealing with eating meat, it also applies to the general topics of Christian freedom, love for one another, and submission to one another in the Gospel.

When we offer to serve in the congregation, it should be gladly and willingly, in full knowledge and submission to our brothers and sisters in the congregation. We may very well think we have gifts in a certain area (and, indeed, we may); however, we must submit to those congregational leaders who have a knowledge of what is needed & where, so that the proper mix can be found to best serve the congregation. If our “volunteering” would cause a weaker brother offense, then we ought not serve. And we ought not take offense ourselves when such is lovingly pointed out to us.

Leadership in a congregation is an arduous task, even in the best of circumstances. Rewarding and necessary, to be sure, but always arduous, and far too often stressful, difficult, and even painful. In this respect it’s a vocation just like any other on this side of heaven. That all said, it’s still necessary.

As such, it would behoove us to always remember that we need to carry out that vocation faithfully, even at its most difficult. Taking the path of least resistance is not an option. Neither is capitulating to societal definitions, understandings, or practices in how we go about executing those vocations.

-ghp

For the first time that I can remember, since I started blogging that is, I’ve been busy enough that I’ve been disinterested in blogging. Real life has intruded, quite rudely, on my favorite self-indulgent habit.

Work has been busy, but that’s expected, as this is the time of year in higher-ed IT when you run fast to get things done that you can’t do during the regular parts of the academic year. Most folks think Summer is the “quiet” time, and that’s true if you only look at things like the number of people on campus. But for things like projects, improvements, purchasing new computers, moving all sorts of stuff around, and getting it all ready for the onslaught of the new school year? That’s what Summer, and particularly the first three weeks of August (after the Summer semester ends), is for. In addition to our usual stuff, we’ve had some extra chaos in the form of some construction & moves in our office space, plus a few new hires, as well as a maternity leave thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, there’s also a major database (our student information system) conversion going on – thankfully my group has only been tangentially involved, but it’s still a 2+ year, multi-campus project coming into production. It’s all made for an atmosphere that is nice & ripe for stress, tension, and drama…

I’m also teaching a class for the first time, and I’ve got to finish getting things ready for that. There’s nothing like knowing you have to get your syllabus ready, along with making sure that everything is ready to go in the online course management system (it’s an online-only, distance learning course), to make me flash back to the days of doing homework & having projects of my own…

And then there’s the ongoing recovery from the chaos generated by the flood in our basement almost two weeks ago. Fortunately, things went very well with the cleanup (losses were limited mainly to particle-board type furniture & bookshelves, the carpeting, and a washing machine). The insurance company has been good to deal with thus far. The washer has been replaced, the carpeting has been ordered, a battery backup has been installed for the sump pump so that this won’t happen again, and we’ll probably hold off on the bookshelves until after we get the new carpeting.

We’ve also been watching the Olympics more than I thought we would. It helps that I’ve been recording them so that we can buzz through them to get to the good parts without having to deal with the dreck that NBC insists on subjecting us to. It’s been darned impressive & entertaining to watch the swimming events, especially – but certainly not only, as all the swimming events were good, both men and women – Michael Phelps’ quest to break Mark Spitz’ record by winning 8 gold medals in 8 events, which he did by setting 1 Olympic & 7 World records. The women’s gymnastics meet was also pretty good, and it was nice to see the Americans acquit themselves so well.

So, life’s been busy. It’s a reason, not an excuse. I’ll try to do better. I must find my muse…

-ghp

Or, at more accurately, I don’t like storms that cause power to go out, which knocks the power out in the middle of the night, which causes the sump pump to not work, which causes the basement to flood.

That I don’t like at all. Not one little bit.

Especially when you wake up to nice, squishy, wet carpeting in the basement at 7 in the morning.

Comparatively speaking, we got off a whole lot easier than a bunch of folks here in NW Indiana — and for that I thank God — but it’s made for a darned annoying, stressful, and inconvenient day. Fortunately, we were able to find a wonderful company to take care of the work of clean-up & drying things out (Garner, Inc. for those of you in this neck of the woods – they are good people, who do top-notch work at very reasonable prices…). They got here real early and did a great job of getting the water out, the carpet ripped out, the fans & dehumidifiers moved in & things drying out, so that we should be dry by the end of tomorrow (Tuesday) at the latest.

Fortunately, we weren’t without power for too long, so we didn’t get too much water built up (my parents, by comparison, ended up with about a foot of water standing in their basement! But at least they didn’t have any carpet, and also didn’t have as much stuff low to the ground as we do/did, after the flooding they had last year around this same time of year…). I’d guess that we ended up with no more than an inch or two, which probably didn’t get to too much more than the bottoms of stuff like cabinets, bookshelves, & some power strips (i.e., nothing too valuable that I’ve noticed yet…)

It’s amazing how much something like this, which to be honest is really quite minor, can throw the whole household into chaos. Do we really have such a tenuous grasp on normalcy? Scary…

I’m just thankful that the only damage was to stuff, not people, and that the damage was to stuff that thus far looks to be easily replaceable. I’m also very thankful that God has watched over us, kept us safe, and provided us with capable and qualified neighbors to give us the services that we need to get us through these difficult times.

-ghp

Something that I’ve been grappling with of late (for the last 9 months or so, actually) is the relationship between ambition and vocation, particularly as it relates to one’s individual career advancement and family obligations.

We are constantly bombarded with the idea & mantra that ambition is good, and that there really is no such thing as selfish, blind ambition (except, perhaps, in hindsight to ascribe blame/guilt). Job-hopping up the career ladder is no vice, even if it means uprooting home and hearth.

But does this conventional wisdom mesh with a Lutheran of the Doctrine of Vocation? I think not…

In my case, raw ambition would dictate a full-court press job search, so that I could show “proper progression” and get into a director-level job to have enough time to parlay that into a director-or-higher-level job somewhere bigger & better. And if I have to uproot the family, so be it.

Here’s the rub – to do that, I think I would have to seriously drop the ball on propery executing my vocations as father, husband, & head of household. My family likes where we are. The kids are getting old enough to have “roots”. And the only reason (at this moment) to think about leaving would be my ambition (vanity? selfishness?). And I just don’t think that it’s enough, at least not enough to warrant the type of full-bore search that I would’ve undertaken without a second thought even 5 years ago. It isn’t just about me anymore – not even to rationalize it such that “I need to be happy in order to make my family happy.” That’s true, but not necessarily in quite the way that raw, unfettered ambition would demand. Sobering thought.

So, what say you? I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the subject of ambition vs.vocation – help me out here with your collective wisdom!

-ghp

It’s been an interesting extended holiday weekend here at Schloß TB – the girls have been away at a softball all-star tournament, leaving us hearty males (and dogs) to fend for ourselves.

In different times, under different circumstances, we might’ve all gone to the the tournament, which was down Indianapolis-way. Finances (hotel/food/amusement costs), sibling attention/amusement issues, dog care issues, and other types of logistical stuff made it reasonably clear that it would be best for this to be a split-duty weekend: “girls’ weekend out” & “boys’ weekend in”. And it’s turned out pretty well, from what I’ve heard & experienced.

I’m very proud of my daughter, who has represented both herself and her league quite honorably — the girl has talent, and she has worked very hard in these past weeks since earning her way on to the all-star team representing Valpo. Unfortunately, Valpo has not been playing at this level for long, their league doesn’t play with the same rules (stealing, lead-offs, etc.) as the tournament, and their team hasn’t had as long to gel together, which resulted in a rather quick two-loss & out tournament. That said, the girls (from what I’ve been told) all had a good time, played hard, and acquitted themselves very well. They’ve had lots of fun, and my girls have had a nice mother & daughter weekend, with (from what I’ve been told) a minimum of snarling, which is a pleasant & welcome development, given the often mercurial natures of the Territorial Queen & Princess!

As to the boys, we’ve had a full weekend of activities, beyond even the normally outstanding hanging around the Schloß watching tube, playing the Wii, reading, & going swimming (him, not me…). We’ve gone bowling, gone out to eat a few times, gone to the library, we’ve got some yard work on the docket for tomorrow, and we caught a flick on Thursday. I would’ve liked to have taken him to a White Sox ballgame at some point this weekend, but didn’t for two reasons: 1) the games were all night games, and I didn’t want to keep him out that late, and 2) the tickets were just too darned expensive. It’s too bad, because he’s getting to the age where he’s ready to really enjoy his first big league game (he’s just a little bit older than when I went to my first game at Tiger Stadium…).

The movie we saw was WALL•E, which was not all that bad – maybe not as great as it’s been hyped to be, but then what is? It kept his attention throughout, and it worked very well on the level of a kids movie, which is good. It’s very clear, however, to any reasonably aware adult that this movie is pretty blatantly designed with two main intentions: 1) as an entertaining piece of eye- & ear-candy for little kids to be adequately entertained for 97 minutes, after which they will want to buy all the merchandise, and 2) as a blatant piece of pro-environmentalist, anti-capitalist propaganda.

On both levels, WALL•E is successful. It is very good eye- & ear-candy — technically very well-crafted, very well-made, & undeniably very entertaining. Why, it’s even possible to willingly suspend disbelief enough to anthropomorphize the robots WALL•E & EVE — that’s pretty good animation production.

As to the propagandistic nature of the flick, I’m willing to forgive it, because it’s so ham-handed & obvious about it that I can use it as a way to easily talk about it, should I ever need to. I didn’t really expect it to be subtle in its satire, but goodness, neither did I expect it to be so boldly cynical & conspiratorial. For a movie that was made by a huge conglomerate, and will make gobs of cash off of merchandise that will clog landfills, well, it’s hard not to view it as at least a little, y’know, hypocritical…

Anyhoo, like I said, it’s been a good, albeit different, weekend.

-ghp

Well, my two week break is over. Tomorrow, it’s back to work (for me), school (für die Kinder), & the mud room (for Holly).

Several times during the past two weeks, I felt almost guilty, like I wasn’t getting done what I should. At those times, I tried to remind myself of why I took the two weeks off: 1) to watch the kids, so that we didn’t have to pay for daycare during their holiday break, and 2) to watch the new puppy, helping her get acclimated to her new home (esp. in the form of house-training her…).

I’m pretty sure that I’ve blogged before on my tendency to, shall we say, underperfrom/achieve in the face of large chunks of free time. This was certainly the case in the past two weeks, somewhat understandably fueled by the fact that Holly needed lots & lots of close supervision — meaning that I wasn’t able to do a whole lot of anything that required undisturbed concentration.

That all said, I’m willing to pin my rationalization (and, thus, my positive state of mind) on the vocational argument that realizes and accepts that I fulfilled the two main reasons/goals I had for taking the time off of work. Namely, I was able to watch the kids & keep from having to send them to daycare. Money was saved & lots of good time was spent with them. Second, I think that I was quite successful in helping Holly get properly integrated into her new home. She isn’t fully housetrained, but then what 10 week old pup would be? She is, however, making good progress, and seems to understand the basic premise. She is also showing herself to be much more comfortable with her new surroundings and, in particular, her new big brother Hammie. The two of them are now really starting to have fun romping & playing with each other, and then snuggling for a nap. And she’s growing like a weed, having gained a full pound in the past week, getting her up to a robust 4.2 lbs!

I know that returning to work will be a pain tomorrow (esp. given the backlog of work that’s resulted from one of my staff leaving with rather short notice recently…), but if it was all fun, it wouldn’t be work, now would it? ;^)

For those of you who might be interested, here are links to two new slideshows, one of Holly & Hammie snuggling, and the other of Holly’s first bath.

-ghp

Over a week without posting. Who’da thunk it?

Paragraph 1: The Weather (External) — Winter is here in NW IN, in the form of sub-freezing temps & ~5″ of snow last night. I drive past lots of farmland (corn & soybean fields mostly) on the way to work, and the starkness of snow covered fields never ceases to move me. It is inspiring and desolate. Bleak but Beautiful. Restful, yet reflective of inner turmoil.

Paragraph 2: The Weather (Internal) — Intellectually, I flash on the history of our country and the hardy folks that built it. I contemplate the differences between how we interact with winter in ways that are far different than just 100 years ago. I am thankful that I live now. I am drawn to the Midwestern winter tableau. Emotionally, I feel the bleakness that I see in the fields. Waning daylight and cloudy skies contribute to my increasing moodiness. This has always been true. Even so, I have always stated that this is my favorite season. And I always will…

Paragraphs 3 & 4: Blahg — I think that one of the reasons that I always return to blogging about realitytv & pop-culture-ish stuff is this: it’s sort of like comfort food to me. It’s an escape, of sorts, from the “real” world, or at least from the daily grind that occupies my thought cycles for most of the day. There are days I’d very much like to bitch about work, not so much about specific incidents, but about conceptual things. The problem is that I don’t want to risk causing myself unneeded grief. It’s not that I think that someone is (or would be) out to get me in trouble; no, it’s more that my internal sense of impending doom gets hung up on the “what-if?” scenarios. It’s very much the same thing that keeps me from venting about things theological, as much of my thinking is done on topics that rise up at my home congregation (like folks reacting against the pastor chanting, because it’s “too Roman Catholic” – I’d really like to vent on that, but I’d hate for it to somehow get back & cause my pastor any grief…). At times/in instances like this I really do understand why some folks get involved in anonymous blogging.

I also wonder from time to time about the whole question of to what purpose do I blog. It stings when folks I respect dismiss blogging as something that is almost unredeemably (to coin a word) self-aggrandizing. I reject that assessment of blogging, particularly when it’s made by those who hold email lists (and possibly discussion forums) as somehow being more thoughtful & beneficial for thoughtful discourse. It just ain’t so. Is blogging sometimes bereft of content and purpose? Sure. Is it always so? No, of course not. Any medium where thoughts & opinions are given & discussed will have good and bad associated with it. I’ve read crap in email lists, discussion forums, and blogs. I’ve read brilliant commentary in all three. I’m glad I have access to all three. I’ll continue to use all three, despite what highly opinionated proponents of each might say about the others.

Besides, AI7 is just over a month away!

-ghp

Per this blog & this article at Christianity Today, Bill Hybels over at Willow Creek states “We made a mistake.”

Wow.

I’ve long thought the theology of pop-American Evangelicalism (as defined by the “seeker sensitive” mantra of Church-Growthers like Bill Hybels’ Willow Creek & Rick Warren’s Saddleback churches) to be deficient, dangerous, and outright wrong. Thus, it’s interesting to read the article at CT & some of the comments at the other blog linked to above, wherein Hybels forthrightly admits that they’ve made some mistakes wrt their programmatic emphases. To wit:

“Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.”

“We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.”

Read that second paragraph again. Legalistic/Law-driven “participation” & emphasis on programs didn’t work. Catechesis, teaching, & training in the Word is what should’ve been done.

Amen.

Church ought not to be primarily a social club. It’s where we get fed through Word & Sacrament. That’s how we get equipped to exercise our various God-given vocations, through which God ensures that His children are cared for. Socialization is important, for we most certainly do need to support & “build each other up” (1 Thess 5:11) in the body of Christ. It’s just that it is not the end in and of itself, and neither will it suffice as the sole/primary means for helping folks grow in their walk with God.

That some are being led to this realization is, as the saying goes, a good thing.

-ghp

While the waiting might very well be the hardest part, I can now say that the finding out isn’t all that easy, either.

As might have been easily discerned, I was waiting on the results of a job search. More specifically on the results of being a finalist for a position that would’ve been a significant progression in my career trajectory (from the assistant director-level I’m currently at, to a director-level position).

I didn’t get it.

Which has been quite a difficult pill to swallow. Not (necessarily) because I’m unhappy where I am currently, but more because I believe that I’m ready to take the next step, career-wise, while also being at a point where it makes sense wrt family commitments to make a change, and because I really did like & want the position that I didn’t get.

That all said, I’ve been trying to take a more thoughtful & measured approach to my current situation, at least as it pertains to the doctrine of vocation. There is still work to be done where I’m at, and I need to remember that I’m here for a reason, and that I can very much serve my neighbor in positive, God-pleasing ways. It isn’t always easy or pleasant, but then I guess those were never really promised, were they?

I’m still going to keep my eyes & ears open for other positions, as I believe that doing so is a responsible thing to do, in terms of faithfully executing my vocations as husband, father, & head-of-household. I’m just going to have to try and avoid being too manic about it, so that I don’t make myself crazy.

-ghp