Gifts My Mother Gave Me

December 4, 2017

Each December brings me special memories of my mother, Peg. Her birthday was December 19th, 1927, and she left this life on December 7, 2015. In between those two dates, she embraced the Advent and Christmas seasons in very determined and creative ways. I was remembering her this month and found myself grateful for three gifts she gave me.

She taught me the importance of baking and decorating Christmas cookies.* It was a Bourland tradition to make: peanut blossoms, snickerdoodles, spritz cookies from a cookie press, and something called icebox cookies (heavily laden with chopped nuts). The most fun for us five kids was to work on the sugar cookies: rolling out the dough, using the cookie cutters, baking, and then icing the reindeer, wreaths, and stars. All of these were carefully stored in tins, ready to serve anyone who dropped by, or to take to neighbors as a small treat.

Mom also gave me a passion for music. As a young child, I listened repeatedly to her LPs of Gilbert and Sullivan and modern musicals like “My Fair Lady” and “Oklahoma.”221632-Love-Came-Down-At-Christmas.... But what really brought me into the world of music was her own piano playing. In December, she mostly played and sang along to Christmas carols. One of her favorites was “Love Came Down at Christmas,” which articulated the deepest belief of her Christian faith: “God is love.”

This core belief shaped my mother in the ways of “practical Christian service.” In my childhood and youth, I observed the attention she gave to young children. Through such domestic tasks as cooking, singing, traveling, reading, sewing, gardening, and laundry, she built structures and routines for her own family. But she also moved beyond our family to church and Sunday School, PTA and Girl Scouts, and the entire town to provide places for all children to flourish. Her focus on children’s development came to its fruition in her work as a kindergarten teacher in the public school.

After retiring, she felt called to establish a community-wide, ecumenically-based food pantry. Founded in 1990, the Glade Valley Food Bank  has now served thousands of people. My quiet and competent mother tackled the organizational logistics–provisions, legal, personnel, and financial–with careful thought and a sensitive heart. Over 23 years, she served as a volunteer in the roles of the staff trainer/coordinator, intake specialist, and county-wide representative, and helped to procure the food from government agencies and supermarkets. I think of her and the food bank during the Thanksgiving-Christmas season because she was so committed to obtaining and then providing all the items needed for each of “her” families to have an abundant feast for these holiday meals.

I thought again of my mother while reading Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by social psychologist Brené Brown.51KKA+VTF5L._SY445_QL70_ She writes: “Why am I working so hard to decorate my son’s birthday cupcakes like cute little Despicable Me minions when there are so many Syrian children starving to death? What difference do these stupid cupcakes really make? They matter because joy matters” (page 156).

Decorating cupcakes or Christmas cookies, singing carols, or donating spiral-cut hams–all these activities matter. Because when we sing about Love Divine becoming incarnate in a human baby, we open our whole selves both to receive that love and always to share it with others. Brown sums up God’s call on our lives: “working to make sure that everyone gets to experience what brings meaning to life: love, belonging, and joy.”

 

*My mom also had a HUGE Epiphany baking project: fruitcakes by the dozens. She gave each one regular soakings of brandy for about 10 months so they’d be ready as gifts for the following Christmas. Somehow I have never been attracted to the dried red and GREEN maraschino cherries of fruitcakes.

download

2017 Christmas Cookies

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION CHANGED MY LIFE

November 7, 2017

This statement would come as a great surprise to my eighteen-year old self, who vowed to stop going to church as soon as she left home for college. Up till then I had been a confirmed member of a small-town United Methodist church.

walkumc

Walkersville United Methodist Church (Maryland)

I sang alto in the church choir every single Sunday, and attended Sunday School and youth group. I was even elected as the youth representative to the Administrative Board.

But in the 1960’s, the world around me seemed increasingly chaotic due to the continuing Cold War, several political assassinations, and passionate student protests. The civil rights movements and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations–while inspired and led by many Christians–made my own particular church seem insular and superficial. And, to epitomize the attitude of the times: “irrelevant.”

I’m not sure why I didn’t just leave the church behind, as so many of my peers did. Instead, I took my righteous anger and religious confusion to college, where I encountered the Jesus People, and folk-mass Catholicism, and the charismatic movement. Christian faith just kept dogging my steps.

I was pondering those usual questions: what is my place in this universe? . . . what am I going to do with my life? . . . why do people suffer? . . . how can human beings become more loving and more just? . . . how should I behave with integrity in my relationships? . . . and, of course, where is God in all of this?

My concerns led me to Wesley Theological Seminary (D.C.) in 1974. What a grand time to experience theological education! Living in a dorm on the quad, worshipping in a gorgeous chapel with well-planned worship services three times a week, access to an actual bookstore on campus, and dining with friends in the inviting refectory.

My-Wesley-Banner-Photo

Oxnam Chapel, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.

My perceptions of Christianity expanded as I met a great variety of people there:

  • Zimbabwean Methodist ministers Canaan Banana and Abel Muzorewa
  • gay and lesbian Christians just starting to articulate their stories
  • male students seeking shelter from the military draft
  • members of the Sojourners community Jim Wallis, and Karin and Wes Granberg-Michaelson
  • gifted professors and preachers, musicians and writers.

During those years of intense study and lively community, theological education changed my life. I delved deeper into the wisdom of the Bible and testimonies from church history. I learned how to articulate my faith, and also to worship, pray, and share around the Lord’s Table. I found places to work for peace and to serve those in need. I experienced the abundant grace of God-with-us.

Theological education still changes lives today. Students follow their questions and discern their calls. Professors and mentors teach and guide them in the ways of the Lord. Prayer and celebration bind us together in the unity of the Spirit. Through these practices, we each are changed, prepared, and empowered to walk in the world carrying the good news of God’s redemptive love.

Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift.

Part Two: Who are these people and what are they doing?

October 18, 2017

To go to the November blog post CLICK HERE

35735719533_054136bf06_z

UDTS Students on an orientation ropes course at Four Mounds Park, Dubuque, Iowa; photo by Nicky Story

Last month I wrote about the social identity of 1st-century Christian communities. This month we move on to the social identity of 21st-century Christian seminaries. I like to use the phrase “Christian learning community” to describe who we are and what we do at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.

We’re not a church. We’re not a para-church organization. We’re not a mission agency.

Still, we are a group of people committed to Christ and to participating in the mission of God.

“Christian learning community” defines the seminary in terms of the very specific kind of work we seek to accomplish together. Here is why I landed on those three words:

  • Christian: We—students, staff, and faculty—are Christ-followers.
    • Along with other sorts of Christian gatherings, we acknowledge the presence, grace, and glory of the Triune God.
    • The faculty gathered last winter for conversations about our own understandings of the Christian faith. Here’s the Word Cloud that emerged from our affirmations:

coherence wordle

  • Learning: Like other seminaries, we place education at the center of our work.
    • We believe that “learning” is much more than mentally absorbing the contents of books and lectures. Learning engages the whole person—body, soul and spirit. In our context, a useful synonym for “learning” is “growing.”
    • Our professors are both teachers and learners. We take care to learn about learning by participating in workshops that develop our teaching skills.
15936817_1181438175238690_2759442792599434909_o

Iowa Rural Immersion Experience led by Rev. Dr. Skip Shaffer, January 2017

  • Community: We do this work together.
    • Last August I preached a sermon with the title “I + You = We,” emphasizing the communal nature of our educational mission.
    • Recognizing that we have different styles, personalities, gifts, and capacities, we affirm that we are still united in Christ. We celebrate the multiple perspectives and opinions that emerge in our conversations.
    • We support our studies through corporate prayer, worship, fellowship, and sharing our lives.

Through these statements and practices, we find grounding for our identity and clarity about our part in God’s mission of reconciliation in a broken and divided world.

logo