Josh Samuelson

Musings on the personal, practical, and theological

An Introvert in an introverted world

Aug 26

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I just finished a Summer internship as a hospital chaplain on Friday.  The program is called CPE, which stands for Clinical Pastoral Education.  Although much of the time is spent visiting patients, there is also a lot of time for reflection and processing of the experience.  Although I think this has been an incredibly enriching experience for me, as and introvert I found it totally exhausting.  Since it’s finished I feel like I have almost boundless energy, which I think is a sign of just how drained I felt this Summer.

This has led me to think a little about what it means to be an introvert and I’ve decided to start collecting tips and perspectives on how to keep the world from sucking the life out of me.  I’ll probably make a few posts on this topic as I figure more things out, but I want to start with this simple idea; The world as it is can work very well for an introvert.

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A couple of old recordings

Aug 23

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Here are a couple of Josh Ritter songs I recorded myself playing a while ago.  I felt like I ought to post them somewhere.  Enjoy.

Rainslicker Girl in the war

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Endorsement: Faithful Living

Aug 22

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Reflect on your personal, vocational, and spiritual development since beginning the candidacy process.
How have you been challenged, strengthened, or delighted?

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Schism

Aug 22

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The ELCA recently voted to allow the recognition of committed same-gender relationships and to allow ordination of openly same gender loving people in those relationships. When I lived at Holden Village from 2005 – 2007 this issue was at the forefront of much of the community discussion. I met many people there who had been excluded from the ELCA, including several ordained pastors who had been taken off the roster. I posted on twitter recently asking those in #CWA09 to explain why a schism would be bad and I found the responses quite disappointing. For a long time I had been of the opinion that a schism was inevitable and would be healthy for the denomination. I was convinced that the “Word Alone” aka “Lutheran Core” folks were gearing up for a schism and would probably be much happier if they simply left. Those that don’t join the schismatic LCMC would probably find a home in the LCMS and could become a prophetic voice for the Gospel in that community. Now as I join in conversation and debate with my brothers and sisters on the other side of this issue, I really regret that so many feel they must leave. It’s not really because I think denominational unity should be put before the individual bound conscience per se, although that is part of my reason. What really saddens me about this is that I see it as reinforcing one of the major problems that Lutherans in America have; we are far too focused on feeling comfortable and safe. I have been blessed to be a part of several Lutheran communities that value and respect free and open discussion of controversial topics, and I hate to think what a schism would mean for that openness in our communities.

How did we get like this? When I read about the reformation in my Seminary coursework I get a real sense of how radical it was. There was lively debate and disagreement among the early reformers and the writings in the Book of Concord really reflect the serious give and take that was going on at the time. Certainly, there were times when it was too radical and ceased to respect the bound conscience of the believer. Luther speaks quite well to this in his Eight Sermons at Wittenberg:

I was glad to know when some one wrote me, that some people here had begun to receive the sacrament in both kinds. You should have allowed it to remain thus and not forced it into a law. But now you go at it pell mell, and headlong force every one to it. Dear friends, you will not succeed in that way. For if you desire to be regarded as better Christians than others just because you take the sacrament into your hands and also received it in both kinds, you are bad Christians as far as I am concerned. In this way even a sow could be a Christian, for she has a big enough snout to receive the sacrament outwardly.
(Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings 2nd Edition, Lull p294)

Luther is strident, but he never suggests that Karlstadt and the others preaching at Wittenberg in his absence should simply form their own denomination. He never suggests that believers should try to find a place where they feel safe and everyone believes the same thing that they do or practices in the same way that they do.

I think our problem today is that we allowed the Church to be coopted by society during the Modern era. Many Modernists, even Christians, seem to view the Church as simply a “moral influence” that offers little else. Because of this, dissent and debate are viewed as “weakness” or “unclear teaching” rather than signs of deep and vital faith in a diverse community. If we let the Church remain in the hands of Modernism and reduce it to being about morality alone, then it will disappear and rightfully. A Church that only cares about morality is not a Church that proclaims the Gospel. Thankfully, the Modern era is nearly over, as we struggle through it’s death throes in our current post-Modern time, I see a new thing emerging from the rubble. There isn’t yet a term for it, perhaps because that kind of labeling seems too Modern, but I see evidence of it in the Emerging/Emergent movement happening across Christianity. That movement, in my experience, values debate and community over uniformity of belief. It is a place where the bound conscience of the individual is not only respected but challenged to speak.

I know that there are many who will schism and I think at this point there is little that I can do to convince them to stay, but I hope that they will continue to be in open dialogue with each other and with the ELCA about all sorts of issues. I trust that the Holy Spirit will find a way to keep proclaiming the Gospel even in those churches that leave, and hope that they will find a way to hold each other in Christian love rather than judging and excluding those who don’t hold to their view of “pure doctrine”.

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Endorsement: Faithfulness to the Church’s Confession

Aug 21

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Give a clear statement of faith that reflects your understanding of the heart of the Lutheran confessional witness.

God continually comes to us, just as we are, and loves us. This statement is the heart of my understanding of the Lutheran confessional witness. All of my theology rests on that simple faith. God comes to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He comes to us in the Sacraments, he comes to us in the Word, and he comes to us in community. The story of God’s relationship with us is one of God always reaching down to us.

You will be asked to serve in accordance with the Scriptures, the creeds, and the confessions of the ELCA. In light of doctrinal traditions what characteristics or functions will reflect your role as a “diligent and faithful” rostered minister in this church?

As I’ve developed my understanding of my call and become more interested in theology, I’ve begun to take the Scripture much more seriously. Part of this is learning more about historical and linguistic context and delving deeply into those texts that I find most difficult. I think that part of the role of the pastor is to challenge his or her community to do the same, and offer guidance and encouragement to them in the process.

For me the creeds play a very different role from the scripture. I see the creeds as being primarily community statements of faith and identity.
The creeds tie us together in Christian community but they also remind us of our connection to the Body of Christ throughout history. As someone who has struggled with my faith and often said the creeds without believing them, I also believe that we are called to offer room for those who doubt and never view any creed as a litmus test or preach about them in that way. A creed should bring people together, not separate them.

The Confessions are and important part of Lutheran identity for me. When I first discovered the Book of Concord on the shelf in the library at Holden Village years ago, I didn’t realize what it was, but as I read parts of it I found so many things that surprised and gladdened me. Before then I had assumed that my beliefs about ordination were not in line with Lutheran teaching, but I discovered that my views were exactly in line with the confessions. Because we so often gloss over the confessions and assume they say one thing or another, I think part of the role of the pastor is to know them very well and understand the role they play in our theological heritage.

What is your understanding of the mission of the church?

The mission of the church is proclaiming and celebrating the inbreaking Kingdom of God. This happens in as many ways as God give us gifts; for some it is in service to the poor and the outcast, for some it is in teaching and preaching, for some it is in building and sustaining community, and in many other ways. My generation is struggling with a world that seems spiritually empty, and at the same time the Church is losing so many young people. I believe part of the mission of the church needs to be to bring those same people into community by being a place of authentic relationship and love.

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Endorsement: Call to Ministry part 2

Aug 19

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State your understanding of the church’s leadership needs and the contribution of the form of ministry in which you seek to serve: ordained, consecrated, or commissioned.

First and foremost, I think the church needs servant leadership.  One of the greatest lessons my father has taught me about what it means to be a pastor is that it’s never really about you.  That takes away some of the glory, which I think is the challenge for many pastors, but it also takes away some of the strife.  I think the the most effective leaders in the church are those who are willing to find lay leaders in the community, encourage them, offer guidance, and gentle correction if necessary, but trust the Holy Spirit to call them in the right direction.  All of this means that the pastor’s ego needs to take a back seat to the needs of the community, the pastor needs to be a servant of the community.  I see the role of an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament to be of “shepherding” and facilitating the life of the community.  In Word, the pastor leads theologically, aware of the needs of the community and responds appropriately with comfort and challenge.  In the Sacraments, the pastor facilitates the formation and sustenance of the community.  My faith is deeply sacramental, especially in the Lord’s Supper I see God touching human existence, again and again.  An Episcopalian friend of mine once said to me that he believed that there are an infinite number of sacraments, that God is constantly encountering us through other people.  His language is a bit strong theolgically, but I agree in principle, God is constantly seeking and providing opportunity for relationship with Him.

What gifts will enable you to serve in this particular ministry?

As I understand call, we are all called to ministry as fits our gifts.  My gift happen to be uniquely suited to ministry of Word and Sacrament.  Primarily, I have a gift of deep compassion.  In my experience of being a hospital chaplain during CPE, I have discovered a great gift for care and compassion for those who are suffering.  For me, the call to care goes beyond what I think I ought to do.  I believe that God will love and accept me even if I’m apathetic and uncaring to the suffering of others, yet I feel an unavoidable call to care deeply for those who are suffering.  In the hospital setting, I have found I have a natural gift of empathy and am able to reach beyond the superficial and help patients connect with the sacred, and find comfort and meaning withing their own understanding of God.  In Seminary I have refined my gifts for Theological thinking and speaking.  The time that I spent in the business world helped me learn vital skills of administration and time management.  Although these things aren’t glamorous, I think they are some of the most important gifts for effective ministry.

What challenges or excites you about your sense of call?

I have struggled with my sense of call for many years.  Ultimately, I think my greatest struggle with my sense of call stems from my own anxiety and insecurity.   As I have had more real world experience, I have come to see that many of those feelings were misplaced or overblown.  I will probably always struggle with some of those feelings, which will be a challenge, but I do believe that God has called me to this ministry.

Reconnecting with the Church changed my life more than anything else, and I am deeply excited about the possibility of facilitating that for other young people.  I have often said that agnosticism is a perfectly reasonable reaction to the postmodern condition, but ultimately it is empty.  I hope that I will be able to help my generation and future generations to connect with God through Christian community.  I see the Holy Spirit working actively in my generation and I’m glad that I will get a chance to be a part of that work.

God gives the gift of  ministry to the whole church. What does that mean to you? What is your relationship with others in the church?

The priesthood of all believers is central to my understanding of call.  God calls each of us to use are gifts in ministry.  Because of my particular gifts, I see that ministry in Christian community.  The gifts of each believer shape what that means.  Some gifts seems simple; hospitality, care, friendship but these are the cornerstone of the deep relationship within a community.  Some have specific gifts like music, technology, visual arts.  Like anyone, I have a small share of all of these gifts, but mostly my gift is in encouraging and facilitating those gifts.  My greatest gift for ministry is relational, helping create community and relationship, and creating a place where those gifts present in the community can find their full expression.

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Endorsement: Call to Ministry part 1

Aug 19

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Reflect theologically on your vocation as it is grounded in baptism, in contexts such as family, confirmation, friendships, work settings, school and community.

As I reflect theologically on my vocation, I see that primarily it has an experiential and not an intellectual basis.  Certainly, I believe that there is a priesthood of all baptized believers, that God calls everyone to ministry and some of us have the gifts for the specific ministry of Word and Sacrament. But my call is something deeper down than any of these ideas, I feel a call, I don’t just “think” a call. Theologically, I know that all Christians (and I suspect all people) must feel this same sense of call to ministry, to community with other people, and community with God.
There are many pastors in my family, so the idea of becoming an ordained pastor doesn’t seem unusual. In my immediate family, my father and brother are both pastors in the ELCA, my brother was the 4th generation in my family to be ordained. This had the opposite effect on me from what many would expect, I resisted my sense of call because I didn’t want to just “follow in their footsteps”. I think it is in my nature to be somewhat of a rebel, I don’t like following a certain path without good reason. Ultimately, what I came to realize is that family tradition isn’t a good reason to become a pastor, but it also isn’t a good reason to avoid becoming a pastor. God gave me gifts for ministry, gifts that I find are especially suited to ministry of Word and Sacrament, who am I to ignore that?

Vocation, for me, is about far more than my career. God calls us to be in deep relationship with each other. Theologically I see this represented in the incarnation. In Jesus, God is reaching out to us, coming down to us and sharing our human existence. As the Nicene Creed states: “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.” This shatters the old idea that we must reach up to God, because God comes to us just as we are, weak, sinful, and human. I think this is also God’s call for us and how were are to relate to eachother. As Jesus says in John’s Gospel “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” We are called to love one another as Jesus has loved us, just as we are. So in relationship, we are called to love eachother as whole human beings who are deeply broken.

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Endorsement Essay Blogging

Aug 19

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Well, I’ve got to write this essay for the next step in my candidacy process for ordination, so I thought I’d try blogging each section as I complete it.  Here are the questions I’ll be working with:

I.
CALL TO MINISTRY
Reflect theologically on your vocation as it is grounded in baptism, in contexts such as family, confirmation, friendships, work settings, school and community.
 
State your understanding of the church’s leadership needs and the contribution of the form of ministry in which you seek to serve: ordained, consecrated, or commissioned. What gifts will enable you to serve in this particular ministry? What challenges or excites you about your sense of call?
 
God gives the gift of  ministry to the whole church. What does that mean to you? What is your relationship with others in the church?
 
II.
FAITHFULNESS TO THE CHURCH’S CONFESSION
Give a clear statement of faith that reflects your understanding of the heart of the Lutheran confessional witness.
 
You will be asked to serve in accordance with the Scriptures, the creeds, and the confessions of the ELCA. In light of doctrinal traditions what characteristics or functions will reflect your role as a “diligent and faithful” rostered minister in this church?
 
What is your understanding of the mission of the church?
 
III.
FAITHFUL LIVING
Reflect on your personal, vocational, and spiritual development since beginning the candidacy process.
How have you been challenged, strengthened, or delighted?
 
What contributes to the nourishment of your faith, health and well-being?
 
You are expected to make a “commitment to lead a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ and in so doing to be an example in faithful service and holy living.” How do you understand your responsibility as a public minister “whose life and conduct are above reproach”?

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The ELCA seems to have forgotten its roots

Aug 18

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I watched the beginning of the ELCA 2009 Churchwide Assembly last night and kept up with the twitter feed at #CWA09.  I’ve never done any “liveblogging” before and I was surprised at how fun it was, there were quite a few people who were watching the live stream and commenting as it went.  Of course most of the interesting comments centered around the upcoming vote about the new Social Statement which focuses on LGBT “marriage” (although without that word) and ordination of non-celibate openly LGBT folks.

I’ve been interested in this issue for a long time, since working at Holden Village a few years ago, and I usually just get caught up in the debate, but this time I think I was looking at it with a fresh theological lens.  I’ve always thought we should stop this stupidity and pass this.  If God doesn’t want LGBT pastors, why does He call them?  But this time as I look at the arguments on both sides, I find myself thinking “WTF is wrong with us?!?”.

I think that what we really need St. Paul to write us a letter like he did to those “Foolish Galatians” so I took the liberty of creating one from the text of Galatians.  I almost left out the second to last part, since it talks about “desires of the flesh” and I didn’t want to open that can of worms, but when I looked over the text I realized that none of this applies to homosexuality.  I know a lot of pastors who are against LGBT marriage who are also guilty of “jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy,* drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” and I’ve met quite a few LGBT pastors who are models of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  I know there are plenty of anti-gay passages in the bible, and my point isn’t that scripture can win this argument, my point is that we need to remember where our core theology is, and the Law is not it.

One of the other commenters on the twitter feed asked me to justify my position with scripture.  I am dumbfounded by this attitude from Lutherans.  Have we totally forgotten our theological heritage?  Are we reduced to prooftexting and quote battles?  You want proof that all people should be included, proof that God loves us and comes to us just as we are?  You blind guides, Pharisees! Well how about John 3:16-17:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Indeed God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Why are we squabbling about these fine points of the Law and letting the Gospel fall by the wayside?  I think the problem actually has nothing to do with sexuality.  This is probably the influence of my recent CPE experience, but I think this issue is about unresolved grief around the way the church is viewed in society.  I know that in MN things are a bit different, but out here on the west coast, most people don’t care much about Christianity.  They see organized religion as largely irrelevant to their lives.  Although this is the world that I have grown up in, I know that it wasn’t always the case, people used to care about church, Lutherans didn’t have to struggle to make ends meet, or watch their congregations slowly dwindle and close.  I get it, that’s a hard loss to deal with, let’s talk about that instead of all this nonsense about sex.

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Stupid twitter got me blogging

Aug 18

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Well I’ve certainly tried to start a blog before, but I think I was a little too focused on a single topic.  I hope this blog ends up being interesting, but it’s going to be kind of a grab bag, I’d like to focus on theology and my ordination/seminary process but I’m going to include all kinds of random stuff too.  I’ve gotten sucked in via twitter via @fremontabbess.  Maybe I’ll stick with it this time, I think CPE has gotten me a little more used to sharing.  Enjoy.

-Josh