Category: Uncategorized
Epic Fantasy @kateElliotSFF
A good definition of epic fantasy and why it doesn’t have to be sexist (I agree with the Kate Elliot note, who is my current favorite high fantasy)
“epic fantasy is also high fantasy and allows the author to write stories that operate at the mythic and legendary level of storytelling, in the same way as the epic sagas such as theIliad and Parsifal, for example;
also a good definition of Why I don’t like high fantasy most of the time: sexism with little character development is NOT my favorite, but as the article says, neither of these are necessary for epic fantasy to take place!!
Millennial Preacher
“With the Bible in one hand, and Facebook in the other”
My sermon writing involves
reading scripture
praying
reading commentary
rereading scripture
online news articles
blogging
Outlining sermon
catching up on twitter, tumblr, etc
reading all of my favorite people’s posts (I have a great gay rights friend, an awesome scholarly pastoral friend and couple of fantasy Geeks)..to feel “up” on the world
renegotiating my sermon
thinking about illustrations
In the morning I
pray
read scipture
read outline
edit my outline (which usually means completely reordering and changing everything)
listening to conversations of congregants
holding in my heart the status of the church
realizing how the hymns/prayers add nuance to my sermon and trying to jot them in
Preaching and trying to stay focused
Leading Prayer, Praise and Worship, Blessing and Benedicting
Talking more to people 🙂
Going home and collapsing…
It is the most artistic, emotionally engaging and wonderful hour(ish) of my week.
Followed by a nap
Why I Am (Still) a Presbyterian
It happened again yesterday. I lose track in the last nine years how often the question comes, but for some reason yesterday was a tipping point that sends me today to the keyboard and this blog.
Here’s the question (asked sometimes kindly and sometimes with less kindness, but always basically the same):
“Why are you still in the Presbyterian Church (USA)? Don’t you know it is in decline because it is too liberal/too conservative, too traditional/too trendy, too political/not political enough, etc.?”
Well, here’s why.
1. I think God is big, in the sense of sovereign, in the sense of “such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high, I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6), in the sense of “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33). John Calvin thought this was the most important message of scripture, and the PCUSA thinks…
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Amazon is trying to kill me…
in what has to be the best (worst) recommendation list..all preorders mind……this is what pops up for me…agony and $50 I don’t have!!!!!
Habit energy and spiritual ignorance
Habit energy and spiritual ignorance.
What a hardened heart is, and how that’s different from nonbelieving/disbelieving/different believing heart
Thanks!
I have reached 250 posts and 100 followers about the same time! Then today (midafternoon) I’m already up to 51 views! The blog has seen amazing growth in the last month, and sustains a VARIED audience (wahoo!!)
Thanks for all the reads, likes and comments!
What Young People want in church
What Young People want in church
YES, YES, YES
“So here are some of my thoughts about this. Please chime in as you feel so moved.
1. Young people want innovative things in church.
Now, this is going to seem to stand in direct opposition to what I said above, but bear with me. Far too often faith communities latch onto the word “innovative” and think it means media in worship services, contemporary bands, and so on and so forth. This is wrong. This was maybe innovative 20-30 years ago. Maybe not even then. When I say innovative, I mean different from ordinary life. I have a smart phone and a laptop that are with me constantly. I am constantly connected and surrounded by a multimedia, multi-sensory experience. In the church that I attend, I want something different. We actually want to be fully present and have an experience of the divine. We are not looking for entertainment. Which leads me to my next point…
2. Young people want church to be part of the world
Congregations have gotten into a nasty habit of trying to appeal to young people, or furthermore any new people, by trying to make their churches as much like the “outside world” as possible. This rests on at least two problematic assumptions. First, that the church is separate from the world and, second, that we want to be isolated from it. This is not true. Just because your congregation has a coffee cart in the narthex, doesn’t make me think you are cool and certainty doesn’t make me want to come attend worship. We want churches that are in touch with their neighborhoods and our country and our world. This is not limited to once-yearly Habitat for Humanity builds or mission trips (that is another post entirely) to Mexico once every couple years or collecting food for the food pantry. No, young people want their congregations to share life with their communities. The good, the bad, and the ugly, which leads to…
3. Young people want church to be a place where they can be real
Coming of age as a young adult right now is a lonely and terrifying proposition. We are disproportionately unemployed. We are the first generation who are “worse off” than our parents. We are drowning in debt. We are putting off getting married and having children and owning homes. We will likely never realize the American dream as it has been known in the past. We are being bombarded with demands to “hold it together” and maintain a certain image because networking is important and we “never know what contact will help us get a job”. There are very few places where we can be truly who we are. Where we can share our pain and disappointments and joys and fears. Church can be that place. But most of all, we want to be heard in all of who we are, which brings me to…
4. Young people are tired of having assumptions made about them
“Young people” are often seen as a commodity. And furthermore, seen as THE commodity that will save the church. A church is seen as thriving if it has young adults and we sometimes feel only like numbers and a bullet point in the strategic plan. We are talked about and around and all sorts of people have ideas about what we want and what we need, most of which is wrong. There is a pretty easy way forward. People could ASK us what is important to us, which leads to…
5. Young people want to feel valued in the church
We want to have opportunities to serve and learn in faith communities. But it is not as simple as keeping the existing structure of volunteer positions and leadership structure and plugging in young adults. How about getting to know us and identifying and nurturing our gifts? This is an entirely opposite approach than currently exists and it is scary. If you want us to lead, you might have to step out of the way to make room for us. Which leads me to…
6. Young people aren’t interested in maintaining the status quo in church
The Derek Penwell article, What if the kids don’t want our church?, has been floating around for awhile and I have even written about it on this blog before. This is painful but I am just going to say it, we don’t really want your church. This is not a value judgment. It just is. The Baby Boomer generation is perhaps the first in American history that has had such a wide swath of products and experiences targeted especially towards them. They received this well. And this huge and gifted generation has assumed that everyone else wants the same thing that they do. We do not. We want the same opportunities that you all have received to re-imagine and re-shape what church can be. Which opens the discussion of…
7. Young people value authenticity
Authenticity gets thrown around as a marketing tool, particularly in churches. Young adults have a finely tuned ability to smell inauthenticity and nothing is more pathetic than a carefully crafted facade of being “authentic.” We want congregations to recognize their own gifts and identity and live into that. Not every congregation can stand for everything and not every congregation is going to be able to be a place where young adults find a church home. But that is okay, because we need to leave room for the Holy Spirit to do what she will and form and reform our congregations and our leaders which leads me to my final points…
7. Young people value authenticity
Authenticity gets thrown around as a marketing tool, particularly in churches. Young adults have a finely tuned ability to smell inauthenticity and nothing is more pathetic than a carefully crafted facade of being “authentic.” We want congregations to recognize their own gifts and identity and live into that. Not every congregation can stand for everything and not every congregation is going to be able to be a place where young adults find a church home. But that is okay, because we need to leave room for the Holy Spirit to do what she will and form and reform our congregations and our leaders which leads me to my final points…
8. We are open to where the Spirit is leading us and we want our churches to recognize that
Those of us who are a part of faith communities are incredibly faithful. Our religious practices look different. We want to discuss theology in bars with our friends. We want to experience worship, not just attend it. We want to sing hymns loudly and badly in pubs with our congregations. When we start becoming engaged in congregations, it might look different than our parents and grandparents, but it is no less valid.
9. Those of us who sense a call to serve want to be raised up as clergy in the church
We are young. We are faithful. We are LGBTQ. We have tattoos. We sometimes swear. We have made mistakes. We will continue to do so. We are no different from you, yet we are so different from you. We need to be mentored by you, but we also need for you to allow us to fly and to be moved by the Holy Spirit.
10. We want to hear when we need to step back and let a new generation lead
We won’t be young forever. Even though we are often the youngest in congregations, we will continue to age. And if our church communities are doing what they hope we will, we won’t be the youngest. And we need to learn when to get out of the way for something new to happen as well. At that point, we will need you to help us know how to gracefully step aside. “
Short Story: Library Monsters….by Katy Stenta
“Why is there no down?” the boy-boy asked the librarian, looking for the elevator button
“There is no downstairs” the librarian chuckled, “Well there is one, but you can’t get there from here?
“Why? What’s down there” child asked 2 more of his 300 questions a day (249 already, his mom didn’t mean to be counting, but she couldn’t help it once she heard that children tend to ask 300 questions a day)
The librarian raised her eyebrows “I think there are library monsters”
“Are they nice” boy-boy recklessly asked, (250 questions)
“I can’t imagine mean monsters living in the library”
The boy-boy went upstairs with his two little brothers, until the library closed.
As the library closed, the boy-boy (and his mom and brothers) went out to the steps to wait for his dad to join them)
While they waited, a natural game of chase arose up and down the steps and looping around the ramp…(and at times climbing upon the railing, although mom kept trying to say no)
Then a mumuring began…a kind of quiet celebatory roar
Naturally the boy-boy had to know “What’s that noise?” he piped out, asking the noise, then the stranger and then finally his mom (253 his mom thought).
“It could be the monsters” mom said, just as the noise quieted
The boy-boy imagined Library Monsters–Piling books up high….Sliding up and down the railings of the library steps, snuggling the animals, messing with the toys. He imagined the monsters had a million eyes, and would spend long hours looking at books–and that during the day they would listen in the pipes to the adults reading them out loud.
Just then the noise started again, and the boy-boy whispered “See you soon” as his dad came down the steps and the family got in the car, and he didn’t ask another question……until they arrived at home!
A Christian’s Plea for Civil Discourse
This is an interesting perspective on discourse between believers and nonbelievers…Two counterpoints I would make 1. I VERY much disagree with the fundamentalist’s perspective. I believe everyone is on a different journey of faith but HATRED disguised as gospel or LOVE is WRONG. Period, end of story. SO that’s another Christian pastor preaching against hate and fundamentalism (going to school at an extremely liberal school I had to plead with my fellow students that the God fundamentalists talked about was nothing like my God and please don’t be offended by my faith and love, which hopefully are a better way of being). My second problem is 2. Jesus was against crazy religious leaders too, as was Eli, and a Isaiah, Moses and Aaron certainly took the crazies down a peg. Yes there is some language (particularly in Deuteronomy and the Pauline language) that I disagree with, strongly…..but I focus on what I DO agree with. I use my mind and my relationship with God to discern what is right. God gave me a brain so I can use it. I also know (which the author probably doesn’t) of the GROSS mistranslations that exist ALL over the Bible, clearing up some of what is read as hatred ex: Sodom and Gromorrah was against Gang Rape<—-who doesn't agree with that! That being said, I am Reblogging this! Let the discourse begin!
CNN’s Belief Blog posted a short article yesterday by Rachel Held Evans calling for atheists to avoid using the worst of Christian extremism in their critiques against Christianity, offering to return the favor by not doing the same in reverse against atheists. Evans is a favorite Christian writer of mine for the simple reason that she speaks prophetically to the Christian church as an insider. By speaking “prophetically” I mean that she openly speaks up when she sees her friends and fellow Christians saying and doing things which she feels are contrary to the faith, no matter how important or influential those people may be. She holds the professors of her faith accountable to the ideals she feels are central; and those ideals are, in my opinion, some of the better tenets of the Christian faith. Incidentally, those elements which I find praiseworthy are the same principles which can be…
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katyandtheword 