This game originates from revgalblogpals and it is called the Friday Five. Play in the comments section or post a link in the comments to your post on your blog.
This week is entitled: Holy Week, Batman!
1. Will this Sunday be Palms only, Passion only, or hyphenated?
Yes!
2. Maundy Thursday Footwashing: Discuss.
The footwashing on Maundy Thursday is experiential worship at its best. Jesus said do as I do, so we do in the hopes of being more like Jesus.
3. Share a particularly meaningful Good Friday worship experience.
Last year I preached on Good Friday. I think we did three services with never more the four or five people at each one. But inspite of the small crowds, or maybe because of them, I really connected with how lonely the disciples must have felt that day. It really helped me imagine what it would have felt like if God were dead if only for three days.
4. Easter Sunrise Services--choose one:
a) "Resurrection tradition par excellence!"
b) "Eh. As long as it's sunrise with coffee, I can live with it."
c) "[Yawn] Can't Jesus stay in the tomb just five more minutes, Mom?!?"
I'm at a new church so this is my first Easter here. My hope is for number 1, of course.
5. Complete this sentence: It just isn't Easter without...
BRASS lots and lots of BRASS! I could do without the lilies however.
Bonus: Any Easter Vigil aficionados out there? Please share.
Yep! I love the Easter Vigil, especially the readings. I would love to use all nine, but alas that isn't going to happen this year. Anyway, it is a wonderful experience of being immersed in salvation history, of getting in touch with our best story and hoping to live it.
Well, I hope you have enjoyed my responses to the Friday Five. I hope I get to blog next week, but I am going to be busy for sure.
God's Peace,
Jason+
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
The Thursday Four!
I'm ripping this game off from RevGalBlogPals who does the Friday Five game. I should be writing a sermon right now, but since I am not feeling very original at the moment--evidenced by my theft of this game--I am procrastinating; therefore in the comments section, tell me four things you like to do to procrastinate. Here's mine:
Jason+
- Blog
- Read
- Go to a book store
- Bug other people in my office to procrastinate with me!
Jason+
IPOD Shuffle
Another installment in the Ipod shuffle game I picked up from Bob G+, though I believe he picked it up from someone else.
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Fugue in C# Major, Daniel Barenboim Piano
- What a Friend in Jesus, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Funeral For a Friend Album
- Adam Raised a Cain, Bruce Springsteen, Greetings from Asbury Park
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Prelude in E Minor, Daniel Barenboim Piano
- Beautiful Day, U2, All that you can't leave behind.
- Carnival Time, All Johnson, A Celebration of New Orleans
- Beethoven, Symphony #3, Finale, Berlin Philharmonic
- Beautiful Savior, St. Olaf Choir, Hallelujah, We Sing Your Praises!
- Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Prelude in F# Minor, Daniel Barenboim Piano
- Cuttin' Out, Professor Longhair, A Celebration of New Orleans.
A confession
With a title like, "A Confession" for this blog entry, I bet you were hoping for something juicy. Well...I'm not sure how juicy this post is; so you might be disappointed. What follows is a confession I wrote for our "Wednesday night laid back Eucharist" We have been using it during Lent, and last night was the last night. We'll probably pull it out again next year. However, our of my own egotism, I wanted to give it a little longer life. So, here it is...
Gracious God, who creates all there is and loves all there is; you command us to love as you love. We failed, we fail, and we are failing. Too many of your children, our neighbors, went hungry and died today; too many of your children, our neighbors, were oppressed today; too many of us counted our wealth in material possessions instead of your love today for us to call ourselves successful Christians, successful God Lovers. Please forgive us. For Christ’s sake have mercy on us. Give us yet another chance to love ourselves, our neighbors, and you as you want us to. Amen!
God's Peace,
Jason+
Gracious God, who creates all there is and loves all there is; you command us to love as you love. We failed, we fail, and we are failing. Too many of your children, our neighbors, went hungry and died today; too many of your children, our neighbors, were oppressed today; too many of us counted our wealth in material possessions instead of your love today for us to call ourselves successful Christians, successful God Lovers. Please forgive us. For Christ’s sake have mercy on us. Give us yet another chance to love ourselves, our neighbors, and you as you want us to. Amen!
God's Peace,
Jason+
Thursday, March 15, 2007
of moses and fig trees
This is my sermon from last Sunday. Not my best. Not my worst. But it is like I tell my congregation...I don't take credit for the good ones, and I don't take blame for the bad ones.
“I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.”
May only God’s word be spoken, and only God’s word be heard, Amen!
Today is a special day. Not only is the Sun due to peek its head out this afternoon; not only, with the advancement of the clocks this morning, do we have a clear sign that spring is about to be sprung; not only do we get to freely gather here in this house of God and experience the mystery of communion when we come to this table and receive the ultimate gift of God’s grace in the mundane gifts of bread and wine; not only do we get to sing and pray, but we also get to witness the birth of a community.
Just a few minutes ago, we read the calling of Moses, also known as the story of the burning bush. Now we usually get caught up in Moses when we hear this story. We talk about how he is drawn up the mountain, how he is commanded to remove his shoes because he was on holy ground, and how he baulks at the prospect of leading his people because he doesn’t know God’s name. We get so caught up in the figure head of Moses that we forget what God is doing for all the people called Israel.
See, it’s like this: (yall know I’m a recovering camp counselor, right?) When I was working camps, I was on leadership staff. One of my jobs was to motivate the other counselors to do their jobs. Now this was rarely needed, for indeed most of the counselors I worked with are some of the most dedicated, hard working, self-starting people I know. But, after three or four weeks of mainly 20 hour days, hot sun, the occasionally challenging camper, and always having to be up and energetic, a modicum of exhaustion and self-pity is to be expected. Expected or not, it still must be overcome; therefore, us leadership staff folks had a little saying for when the whining began. We would tell the wayward counselor to “Suck it up, your working for God!”
Now, the staff that were able to actually hear that phrase, my self included, gained the most from the camp counseling experience. We, that is to say I learned what it was to be committed to a community, that my actions always effect someone else, and if I fail someone else suffers with me. In short I learned on a deep level that there is no I in Team.
So, yes, God calls Moses. God calls a person to lead God’s people, a person for God to act through. However, who God called is not nearly as important as to what end Moses was called. Moses was called for God to act through for the creation of a community, a society, indeed a nation founded on the Grace and freedom of God. Now, our story today is barely the beginning of the story of the Exodus, but we get a glimpse of what this community is to be when we hear God say, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.” Now, that might not sound like much to us. That might not sound like a big deal, but to the slaves in Egypt, and even more so their masters, it is a huge deal. The statement that they would worship the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, is crazy; at least to Pharaoh. The God that we call God, that Jesus called father, the I AM, the one whose name is so Holy that the ancients simply said “the Lord” because they did not want the Lord’s name defamed by their unholy lips, pharaoh did not know this God. The ruler of Egypt had not given sanction to the worship of this God. How could Pharaoh be sure this God would tell the people what Pharaoh wanted said to them. What if this God commanded something of these people that undermined his rule. Well, that just isn’t done, that can’t be. We can’t have free Gods running around graciously acting upon the people, calling their allegiance, there devotion, indeed their love and worship away from the State, away from the king, away from pharaoh. But indeed that is what God’s says will happen. Furthermore, not only will they worship God, they will do it on God’s mountain. They will worship God where God says to worship God not where Pharaoh says.
Our reading from exodus this morning is not the beginning of the story nor is it the end. The people are liberated from pharaoh they do indeed journey to the mountain of God and worship God, but it doesn’t stop there either. They build a society, a nation based on a covenant, not with a king or a bureaucracy, but with God and on God’s commandments. And what a weird society it is, a society that is do what God did in liberating the slaves from Egypt. See, in the exodus we learn that God prefers, not pharaoh who had won many battles and much material wealth, but the slaves, the lowly, the ones Jesus called the least.
We see evidence of this preferential option for the poor in the law given to Moses on the holy mountain. The edges of fields are not to be harvested so that the poor and landless can harvest them and have food. A cloak, taken as collateral from a poor person, is to be returned at night; so that he or she won’t freeze. Every fifty years is to be a year of Jubilee where all debts are forgiven and land taken as payment of debts is to be returned to ancestral owners. The care and protection of the alien, the widow, and the orphan—all metaphors for the poor—are the responsibility of the entire community. In short the “good and broad land…land flowing with milk and honey” is to be organized, worked, and used to the benefit of all. The resources available to the community are not to be exploited for individual gain, but managed for the good of all.
So, what does all this have to do with fig trees? I confess I’ve been banging head against this Gospel reading all week. Deacon Bob Henrichsen, had to deal with me repeatedly coming out of my office this week and lamenting my lack of knowledge of the rearing of fig trees. Indeed, to my knowledge no one in the office this week, staff or congregant that happened to drop by, has ever owned a fig tree.
So, where’s the good news in Jesus’ parable about the fig tree. As far as I can tell, where the fig tree is located, is as important as the fact that it isn’t blooming. See, the fig tree is in the desert, resources are scant. For this farmer, if the tree is going to take up water and fertilizer, it had best produce fruit. It can’t take up the resources and time of the community without contributing to the community.
Now, yall, I love you but we’re the fig tree. Jesus is calling us to remember that our actions affect everyone. Jesus is calling us to remember, that we must use the resources of the community for the good of all, not just ourselves. Whether it is in our neighborhoods, our schools, our city, state, nation, or world, we are called to produce the fruit of God for the community. We are called to live in the covenant of God which commands we most serve the poor. Indeed, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 25 verse 40, it is by how we treat the least of society that we will be judged. Not whether we make a lot of money, not whether we win a lot of wars, not whether we wear the latest clothes, drive the coolest car, or live in the right neighborhood, the right house, with the right friends, but by how we as a community of the faithful live for the least, how we as a team, as a people, a congregation, community, society and state suck it up, ‘cause we working for God. Amen!
“I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.”
May only God’s word be spoken, and only God’s word be heard, Amen!
Today is a special day. Not only is the Sun due to peek its head out this afternoon; not only, with the advancement of the clocks this morning, do we have a clear sign that spring is about to be sprung; not only do we get to freely gather here in this house of God and experience the mystery of communion when we come to this table and receive the ultimate gift of God’s grace in the mundane gifts of bread and wine; not only do we get to sing and pray, but we also get to witness the birth of a community.
Just a few minutes ago, we read the calling of Moses, also known as the story of the burning bush. Now we usually get caught up in Moses when we hear this story. We talk about how he is drawn up the mountain, how he is commanded to remove his shoes because he was on holy ground, and how he baulks at the prospect of leading his people because he doesn’t know God’s name. We get so caught up in the figure head of Moses that we forget what God is doing for all the people called Israel.
See, it’s like this: (yall know I’m a recovering camp counselor, right?) When I was working camps, I was on leadership staff. One of my jobs was to motivate the other counselors to do their jobs. Now this was rarely needed, for indeed most of the counselors I worked with are some of the most dedicated, hard working, self-starting people I know. But, after three or four weeks of mainly 20 hour days, hot sun, the occasionally challenging camper, and always having to be up and energetic, a modicum of exhaustion and self-pity is to be expected. Expected or not, it still must be overcome; therefore, us leadership staff folks had a little saying for when the whining began. We would tell the wayward counselor to “Suck it up, your working for God!”
Now, the staff that were able to actually hear that phrase, my self included, gained the most from the camp counseling experience. We, that is to say I learned what it was to be committed to a community, that my actions always effect someone else, and if I fail someone else suffers with me. In short I learned on a deep level that there is no I in Team.
So, yes, God calls Moses. God calls a person to lead God’s people, a person for God to act through. However, who God called is not nearly as important as to what end Moses was called. Moses was called for God to act through for the creation of a community, a society, indeed a nation founded on the Grace and freedom of God. Now, our story today is barely the beginning of the story of the Exodus, but we get a glimpse of what this community is to be when we hear God say, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you…you shall worship God on this mountain.” Now, that might not sound like much to us. That might not sound like a big deal, but to the slaves in Egypt, and even more so their masters, it is a huge deal. The statement that they would worship the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, is crazy; at least to Pharaoh. The God that we call God, that Jesus called father, the I AM, the one whose name is so Holy that the ancients simply said “the Lord” because they did not want the Lord’s name defamed by their unholy lips, pharaoh did not know this God. The ruler of Egypt had not given sanction to the worship of this God. How could Pharaoh be sure this God would tell the people what Pharaoh wanted said to them. What if this God commanded something of these people that undermined his rule. Well, that just isn’t done, that can’t be. We can’t have free Gods running around graciously acting upon the people, calling their allegiance, there devotion, indeed their love and worship away from the State, away from the king, away from pharaoh. But indeed that is what God’s says will happen. Furthermore, not only will they worship God, they will do it on God’s mountain. They will worship God where God says to worship God not where Pharaoh says.
Our reading from exodus this morning is not the beginning of the story nor is it the end. The people are liberated from pharaoh they do indeed journey to the mountain of God and worship God, but it doesn’t stop there either. They build a society, a nation based on a covenant, not with a king or a bureaucracy, but with God and on God’s commandments. And what a weird society it is, a society that is do what God did in liberating the slaves from Egypt. See, in the exodus we learn that God prefers, not pharaoh who had won many battles and much material wealth, but the slaves, the lowly, the ones Jesus called the least.
We see evidence of this preferential option for the poor in the law given to Moses on the holy mountain. The edges of fields are not to be harvested so that the poor and landless can harvest them and have food. A cloak, taken as collateral from a poor person, is to be returned at night; so that he or she won’t freeze. Every fifty years is to be a year of Jubilee where all debts are forgiven and land taken as payment of debts is to be returned to ancestral owners. The care and protection of the alien, the widow, and the orphan—all metaphors for the poor—are the responsibility of the entire community. In short the “good and broad land…land flowing with milk and honey” is to be organized, worked, and used to the benefit of all. The resources available to the community are not to be exploited for individual gain, but managed for the good of all.
So, what does all this have to do with fig trees? I confess I’ve been banging head against this Gospel reading all week. Deacon Bob Henrichsen, had to deal with me repeatedly coming out of my office this week and lamenting my lack of knowledge of the rearing of fig trees. Indeed, to my knowledge no one in the office this week, staff or congregant that happened to drop by, has ever owned a fig tree.
So, where’s the good news in Jesus’ parable about the fig tree. As far as I can tell, where the fig tree is located, is as important as the fact that it isn’t blooming. See, the fig tree is in the desert, resources are scant. For this farmer, if the tree is going to take up water and fertilizer, it had best produce fruit. It can’t take up the resources and time of the community without contributing to the community.
Now, yall, I love you but we’re the fig tree. Jesus is calling us to remember that our actions affect everyone. Jesus is calling us to remember, that we must use the resources of the community for the good of all, not just ourselves. Whether it is in our neighborhoods, our schools, our city, state, nation, or world, we are called to produce the fruit of God for the community. We are called to live in the covenant of God which commands we most serve the poor. Indeed, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 25 verse 40, it is by how we treat the least of society that we will be judged. Not whether we make a lot of money, not whether we win a lot of wars, not whether we wear the latest clothes, drive the coolest car, or live in the right neighborhood, the right house, with the right friends, but by how we as a community of the faithful live for the least, how we as a team, as a people, a congregation, community, society and state suck it up, ‘cause we working for God. Amen!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Bono Quote
Don't know if this is real or not, but it is a great quote:
Christians are hard
to tolerate; I don't know
how Jesus does it.
— Bono
to tolerate; I don't know
how Jesus does it.
— Bono
Friday, March 09, 2007
Job Opening at my Church
Greetings,
My church is looking to hire a full time youth and young adult minister. If you are interested please send a resume, cover letter, and 3 references to:
fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
or
Father Jason Emerson
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
The job description follows:
YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT MINISTER
ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
ACCOUNTABLE TO: Rector and Associate Rector
PURPOSE: To serve the church by overseeing and coordinating all youth and young adult ministries, providing for the Christian Formation of Teenagers, their families, and young adults (ages 18-30), and providing leadership to and supervision of volunteers involved in the ministry.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Grow in faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ through worship, personal devotion, and education.
2. Actively participate in the worship life of the congregation through attendance, worship planning, and execution.
YOUTH PROGRAM AREA
3. Work closely alongside Director of Christian Formation
4. Oversee recruitment, training and spiritual growth of leaders for various classes/ministries/groups within the youth ministry, including sexual misconduct prevention training.
5. Support a youth ministry steering committee in the ongoing visioning and development of the youth program.
6. Plan and coordinate High School and Middle School Youth Groups, Journey to Adulthood program, and confirmation; work collegially with other staff to develop, support and grow a Youth Choir and Youth Bell Choir.
7. Maintain communication with youth and parents involved with All Saints through, but not limited to, the writing, editing, and publication of a regular youth newsletter.
8. Manage the youth ministries calendar and involve our youth in diocesan events, coordinating with the parish calendar.
9. Oversee planning of special events, mission trips and retreats including administrative details such as permission slips, medical releases and insurance issues.
10. Attend weekly staff meetings, and other meetings and retreats with program staff.
11. Attend vestry meetings as a resource as requested by the Associate Rector or Rector. Submit a monthly report of youth attendance and activities.
YOUNG ADULT PROGRAM AREA
12. Initiate, Develop, and Oversee the young adult ministry focusing on the ages of, but not limited to, 18-30.
13. Coordinate fellowship programs for young adults to grow young adult membership in the parish.
14. Assist in the discipleship development of young adults through discerning spiritual gifts of young adults and networking them to other ministries in the church such as, but not limited to, Choir, Lay Reading, Adult Forums, Outreach and Social Justice Ministries, etc.
15. All other duties as assigned.
CHARACTER TRAITS, EXPERIENCES, AND SKILLS (candidates should exhibit the majority of these.)
16. A Bachelors Degree with specialized training in youth or educational ministries is required to qualify for this position.
17. Candidate exhibits strong Christian character that demonstrates a close relationship with God through personal devotional, worship, and prayer life.
18. Candidate realizes that God is always working, seeks to join God in God’s work, and is willing to make life adjustments to join God in what God is doing.
19. Candidate seeks to minister to the whole family.
20. Candidate can demonstrate ability to recognize and develop leadership potential.
21. Candidate has Christ like attitude that is accepting and inclusive of all the diverse parts of the body of Christ.
22. Candidate has conceptual skills and can develop an idea into an active ministry.
23. Candidate is Enthusiastic, High energy, Self-starter; Encourager; Visionary, and a People Person who enjoys entering into, building, and maintaining relationships with people.
24. Candidate has demonstrated success at various levels of development.
25. Candidate has been involved in organizations or groups as a leader.
26. Candidate is comfortable sharing the Christian faith from Episcopal perspective with both Christian and pre-Christian people. Candidate is not required to be an Episcopalian.
27. Candidate must be computer literate.
INTERESTED CANDIDATES SHOULD SEND
1. Cover Letter
2. Resume
3. 3 References (including contact information)
To: Father Jason Emerson, fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
My church is looking to hire a full time youth and young adult minister. If you are interested please send a resume, cover letter, and 3 references to:
fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
or
Father Jason Emerson
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
The job description follows:
YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT MINISTER
ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
ACCOUNTABLE TO: Rector and Associate Rector
PURPOSE: To serve the church by overseeing and coordinating all youth and young adult ministries, providing for the Christian Formation of Teenagers, their families, and young adults (ages 18-30), and providing leadership to and supervision of volunteers involved in the ministry.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Grow in faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ through worship, personal devotion, and education.
2. Actively participate in the worship life of the congregation through attendance, worship planning, and execution.
YOUTH PROGRAM AREA
3. Work closely alongside Director of Christian Formation
4. Oversee recruitment, training and spiritual growth of leaders for various classes/ministries/groups within the youth ministry, including sexual misconduct prevention training.
5. Support a youth ministry steering committee in the ongoing visioning and development of the youth program.
6. Plan and coordinate High School and Middle School Youth Groups, Journey to Adulthood program, and confirmation; work collegially with other staff to develop, support and grow a Youth Choir and Youth Bell Choir.
7. Maintain communication with youth and parents involved with All Saints through, but not limited to, the writing, editing, and publication of a regular youth newsletter.
8. Manage the youth ministries calendar and involve our youth in diocesan events, coordinating with the parish calendar.
9. Oversee planning of special events, mission trips and retreats including administrative details such as permission slips, medical releases and insurance issues.
10. Attend weekly staff meetings, and other meetings and retreats with program staff.
11. Attend vestry meetings as a resource as requested by the Associate Rector or Rector. Submit a monthly report of youth attendance and activities.
YOUNG ADULT PROGRAM AREA
12. Initiate, Develop, and Oversee the young adult ministry focusing on the ages of, but not limited to, 18-30.
13. Coordinate fellowship programs for young adults to grow young adult membership in the parish.
14. Assist in the discipleship development of young adults through discerning spiritual gifts of young adults and networking them to other ministries in the church such as, but not limited to, Choir, Lay Reading, Adult Forums, Outreach and Social Justice Ministries, etc.
15. All other duties as assigned.
CHARACTER TRAITS, EXPERIENCES, AND SKILLS (candidates should exhibit the majority of these.)
16. A Bachelors Degree with specialized training in youth or educational ministries is required to qualify for this position.
17. Candidate exhibits strong Christian character that demonstrates a close relationship with God through personal devotional, worship, and prayer life.
18. Candidate realizes that God is always working, seeks to join God in God’s work, and is willing to make life adjustments to join God in what God is doing.
19. Candidate seeks to minister to the whole family.
20. Candidate can demonstrate ability to recognize and develop leadership potential.
21. Candidate has Christ like attitude that is accepting and inclusive of all the diverse parts of the body of Christ.
22. Candidate has conceptual skills and can develop an idea into an active ministry.
23. Candidate is Enthusiastic, High energy, Self-starter; Encourager; Visionary, and a People Person who enjoys entering into, building, and maintaining relationships with people.
24. Candidate has demonstrated success at various levels of development.
25. Candidate has been involved in organizations or groups as a leader.
26. Candidate is comfortable sharing the Christian faith from Episcopal perspective with both Christian and pre-Christian people. Candidate is not required to be an Episcopalian.
27. Candidate must be computer literate.
INTERESTED CANDIDATES SHOULD SEND
1. Cover Letter
2. Resume
3. 3 References (including contact information)
To: Father Jason Emerson, fatherjason@allsaintsomaha.com
All Saints Episcopal Church
9302 Blondo
Omaha, NE 68134
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