Chautauqua, Death, and a Skydiving Cat

Last week was a week I won't soon forget.  The plan was to spend the whole week at Chautauqua Institution in NY.  I'd been accepted into a program run by the religion department there called the New Clergy Leadership Conference.  It consists of clergy from many faith traditions spending a week, discussing relevant issues pertaining to leadership in ministry, as well as participating in what people commonly call "the Chautauqua experience."

But, as often happens in ordained ministry, there was a death in our congregation and I returned home for two days mid-week to tend to the family and lead the funeral service.  While home, I also spent time tending to one of our two cats, who fell out of a 2nd floor window in our home and broke his paw.  Needless to say, I got very little sleep.

Since things were so hectic, I didn't get a chance to do what I had hoped: to blog about the Chautauqua new clergy program while I was experiencing it.  But over the next couple of weeks, I plan to share some reflections in this space about my week at Chautauqua and the ways it enriched me.  So check back for several installments in the days ahead, pray for the grieving family in our congregation, and if you have cats, don't let them lean up against the window screens!

Merry Christmas and some links

I know, it's been awhile since I last posted. Unfortunately, while getting our Christmas tree a few weeks ago, I slammed my finger in the car door. In addition to solidifying my status as the klutz of our household, the injury made it difficult to type for awhile. I'm still not back to 100% typing capability, but I'm finally at the point where I can go beyond necessary typing and re-enter the world of blog.

Things are well in West Newton. I'm surprisingly prepared for this evening's service, and our house is ready for Lisa's family to arrive this afternoon. I cannot wait for the service tonight. It's the best service of the year in our congregation -- as well as the most dangerous. I might ask Lisa to take some pictures tonight so you can see what I'm up against as I delicately maneuver around uncovered candles. It's a flaming clerical robe waiting to happen.

A few brief updates, for those of you I won't see in the next couple of weeks:
1. The kittens are growing, and still incredibly cute. Chief and I have established a "fetch"-like game, where he brings his toy tiger up to me on the couch, and I flick it across the room, he retrieves it, and we repeat.
2. It snowed a lot last Saturday, and a little more on Monday. Hopefully it will stay cold enough today that it doesn't all melt, and we can have a white Christmas. Have I ever told you how much I love snow? Unfortunately, tomorrow's forecast is for ice/sleet in the morning, turning to rain in the afternoon. Ugh.
3. Amazingly, the Steelers still have a slim chance of sneaking into the playoffs. But, I don't think any team who loses to the Chiefs, Raiders, and Browns in a 5 week stretch should be allowed to make the playoffs. So, should the Steelers miraculously get in, I propose that they go all Notre Dame and decline the playoff invitation, because they sure didn't earn it.
4. We now have a church website, created by one of our members, who happens to be a web developer for clothing retailer American Eagle. We're still filling in some content, but I'm very excited that our congregation has finally chosen to keep up with 1990's technology.

In an effort to be politically correct, I will not wish you a Merry Christmas. Rather, in the spirit of NBC's hilarious new show, Community, I wish you a Merry Happy, and I hope Mr. Winter brings you lots of non-denominational gifts and cheer!

Cat-napping

I apologize for my recent laziness in the blogosphere. Things have been relatively busy around here, and I haven't had the time or motivation to write anything. Hopefully, I'll be getting back to the theological reflections soon -- I've had many, but never got around to blogging them. For now, a life update for those of you who are interested.

Things are going well here. The church is beginning new ministries and improving existing ones. We've established a coffee hour on the sidewalk in hopes of attracting new visitors, but really just to be good neighbors in the community by offering free coffee. We just finished making flood buckets for UMCOR, and we're hoping to send the youth on a mission trip this summer. Internally, we're beginning a long overdue membership audit, designing a website, and hopefully starting up a men's group.

The biggest news in our household has been our adoption of 2 stray cats. They were both part of a litter of 5 living in a parishioner's yard. We named the male Chief, in honor of the legendary founder of the Steelers, Arthur J. "Chief" Rooney. The female is Koloa, named after an old sugar town in Kauai, Hawaii, near one of the places we honeymooned. We spent a lot of time hanging out in Old Koloa Town. Koloa is currently playing with the zipper on my sweater, which means at least she's not trying to attack the computer screen. Koloa's on the left, Chief is on the right.
The biggest news in Lisa's family is a new nephew in the Hess clan. We went out to Hershey a couple weekends ago to see Owen Robert Hess. He's a cutie. Here he is with the brand new parents, Brandon and Julie.
In a couple weeks, I'll be heading to Nashville for a program through the Upper Room called Companions in Ministry. It's a 2 year program focused on using clergy peer covenant groups for spiritual formation. One group will be a writers group, centered on spiritual formation through the discipline of writing. Considering my educational background and my passion for writing and journaling, I'm hoping to participate in that group.

Tomorrow will be the first Saturday since early May that I have nowhere I have to be. Between church events, weddings, trips, and other obligations, I've gone almost 6 months since having a "normal" Saturday lounging around at home, sitting on the couch holding only a book, a remote control, and my wife. Seeing as the forecast for tomorrow is much like today's - 40 degrees and raining - we're looking forward to what kids these days call a mini "stay-cation."

I close with a short rant about playoff baseball. Why are the games so late? I can't stay up till midnight every night to watch these games. And why are there so many off days between games? Of course, we all know the answer to this: TV ratings. Which means it'll forever be this way. Hopefully, by next fall I'll have DVR, and maybe I can tape the 2nd half of the games and watch them in the morning before I go to work. Until then, I can't watch exciting baseball because I have to go to bed. I feel like I'm 7 again.