Thought For Soon to Graduate Seminarians

Read this blog post tonight from Seth Godin and thought it would be beneficial to pass along to all of my soon to graduate seminary friends. I've heard so many stories about graduates entering the ministry in bad situations because they "took what they could get" and I am hoping that we can all keep from compromising...easier said than done, right? So enjoy the post and leave a comment about what you think.

Take what you can get (?)

When you're just starting out or when your organization is struggling or when the economy isn't hot, it's very tempting to take what you can get.

You just graduated from law school and you have a lot of debt and the best job you can get is doing collections work. Should you take it?

Your consulting firm is organized around providing high-value work for large corporations, but the only gigs you can get in the consideration set for are small, struggling companies looking to spend a few hundred dollars a day. Should you take them?

The list goes on and on.

There are two things worth remembering here:

1. Like bending a sapling a hundred years before the tree is fully grown and mature, the gigs you take early will almost certainly impact the way your career looks later on. If you want to build a law practice in the music industry, you'll need to take on musicians as clients, even if the early ones can't pay enough. If you want to do work for Fortune 500 companies, you'll need to do work for Fortune 500 companies, sooner better than later.
2. The definition of "can get" is essential. Maybe it seems like this gig or that gig is the best you can get because that's all you're exposing yourself to. Almost always, the best gig I could get is shorthand for the easiest gig I could get.

Surviving is succeeding, no doubt about it. Doing the work is better than not doing the work. Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress. But, and it's a huge but, you define yourself by the work you do, and perhaps you need to redefine what you're willing to take and where you're looking for it.

A Hardy Love For Reading

When I was a boy I love the Hardy Boy novels. I would have one everywhere I went and usually had the covers wrapped around my face until the final page was turned. I hung on every word. Page after page my imagination was engaged by the images painted by the words. (If I read one now I would probably find them quite silly but I am remembering nostalgically.) The content of those books would be long outdated and many kids today wouldn't really "get" the two brothers. But the Hardy Boys influenced me to become a life long reader. I'm an avid reader today because of these two teenage super-sleuths.

Today Elijah went to the library and checked out a book filled with colorful pictures of fancy gadgets, high speed chases, and actions sequences. All of the text is contained in dialog bubbles and imagination is far less necessary. But he has been reading it since he got home from school. And what is this colorful graphic novel you might ask? A reinvention of the famed detectives, Frank and Joe. The Hardy Boys!

I just hope that maybe these books can help Elijah develop a love for reading as much as the old series did for me.

What books do you remember reading as a kid?

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Worship Tailgating

I wanted to post a few thoughts and hopefully discussion starters from some discussions we have been having at something called Levite Camp. We have been talking about the "traditional" order of worship which consists of:

Gathering - Word - Table/Response - Sending

Whether or not you agree with this order of worship you can participate in the discussion of specifics within each area.

Gathering:

God's people are the body of Christ and this body is separated from one another at some level throughout the week. The first thing that needs to be done when we come to a specific place for worship is to gather the people together as one body. To unite together in hearing from and responding to God.

So how does this happen? How about TAILGATING? (Hat tip to Tom)Before a sporting event many people come together to eat, spend time together, and most importantly unite in a common purpose. They come together to be a part of the event that is going to take place in the gathering space.

Does this have anything to say to preparing for worship? Should we find a way to unite for a common purpose, with common language, and common symbols in order to come together as a community in worship? Keep in mind that I am talking about the ideas and purposes behind tailgating and not the specific activities of tailgating that take place at a sporting event.

Is there a way to make Worship Tailgating a reality?

No Babies in Church PSA

I found this video on a pastor's blog I follow. His church seems to be doing some really good things and I enjoy reading what they have going on. This video, while very creative and funny, disturbed me a little. The girl in the video is the pastor's daughter and it seems that they actually showed this video in one of their services.

Having been the parent of babies who make noise during service I have been on the receiving end of dirty looks from other adults who seem annoyed at your child's presence in the place of worship. I have also felt excluded from the place of worship and therefore the worshiping community when having to leave the service and sit with the other parent "lepers" in some far off place where we won't disturb others. I understand that babies can be distracting but can't we as ADULTS get past the small amounts of noise and allow the parents of these small children to continue to worship with us? I would like some feedback and response on this from those who think babies should not be "distracting" during worship. Help me understand please!

iPod and Worship Music

Has the iPod ruined music in the church?

Music in the church used to be one of the main places where the best music could be heard. Creativity in composition of music was valued and the instrumentation (think organs) was new and innovative. When you came to worship you heard something you didn't hear every day. Music in worship created an experience that you couldn't get the rest of your week. Music in worship was something special.

But times have changed. Technology has led to a society in which we carry music with us everywhere. We can hold entire libraries of studio perfected music in our back pockets. Our cars very rarely are without music and we can choose whatever genre of music we like. We then go to the church where the quality of music will never match what we are hearing on a daily basis.

Granted we still experience gathering together and uniting in song and this is important. However, on the day we set aside for remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus our music is no longer the most creative or innovative.

So here is my question:
Does the easy access to music for people today lead to a different purpose/reason for music in worship than it did before the iPod? (Hat tip to Gabe Gibitz for raising this question in class today.)

Myth of the Cul De Sac

I live on a cul de sac.

If I'm not mistaken this is french for "bottom of the sack." The cul de sac probably developed because people did not want a great deal of traffic on their street, strangers driving by seeing what they were doing and looking in their windows. Cul de sacs by their very nature say, "stay back I want my privacy." You would not try to have a yard sale on a cul de sac unless it was part of a neighborhood sale with signs everywhere pointing to the accessibility of your house. You don't "just happen" to "see things" at a house in a cul de sac. (It probably seems strange that a person who believes community and hospitality to be important would live on a dead end but it is where we found a house, get off my back!) Needless to say living on a cul de sac made what happened today seem strange to me.

This morning Erin took the recycling out to the curb. The constant snow and ice we have been experiencing has caused the recycling to pile up beyond measure. In order to get everything to the road Erin used the boys' wagon. She left it there with the recycling inside. Elijah protested this morning in fear that his wagon was going to the trash man but Erin assured him that the recycling people would not take the wagon, a seemingly logical assumption.

Recycling didn't run today. It must be the off week but who could keep track with the rash of recent weather cancellations. I was walking past the front window of our house when Harley (our dog) barked a little. I looked out and there was a man in a truck starting to pick up the wagon to take it away. I stuck my head out the door and informed him that the wagon wasn't for the taking. He apologized saying he thought it was out for the trash and drove away.

I still can't deduce how he happened to see the wagon out by the road or why he thought he might take our "trash." I now never to leave anything too close to the road as it might be mistaken as trash and free for the taking. My eyes have also been opened to the myth of cul de sac privacy.