Lingonberries

Swedish-Americans can be annoying in their Swedish pride.  Depending on what part of the USA in which you reside, you may be painfully aware of this fact, or blissfully ignorant.  I know it well, being of this heritage myself.  And though I agree that it can be annoying, I contribute to it.  In fact, this is the coffee mug I drink from at work, inherited from my desperately Swede-centric Uncle Bryce:-)

But I am a black sheep in the Swedish-American community.  Is it because I married a Danish-American?  No.  I like to think the Scandinavian-Americans are past these silly divisions, though I'm probably wrong.

No, I am guilty of something far drastic, something that is personally and morally reprehensible in the eyes of many.  Are you ready for it?  

I don't put lingonberries on my Swedish pancakes.  There.  I said it.  True confession.

Now you may be thinking, "what's the big deal?  The man's entitled to his own taste, right?"

Wrong.

A bit of background: Lingonberries are tiny, red berries, probably most closely related to the cranberry.  When stewed into a jam-like sauce, it is a truly beautiful thing, and a unique contribution from the Scandinavians.  In the minds of most, this berry confection is a perfect complement to a heaping helping of Swedish pancakes, a wonderfully ethnocentric breakfast, hopefully served on a blue and white porcelain plate.

My refusal to put lingonberries on my Swedish pancakes is not because I dislike the magic red sauce.  I love lingonberries.  I repeat:

I love lingonberries.

But, I also love Swedish pancakes.  I mean, I love Swedish pancakes.  It's really not healthy.  I am a ruthless and irrational defender of the goodness of the greatest breakfast food on the planet.  And this is why I cannot bear to cover them in lingonberries.  Lingonberries are wonderful, but they are powerful, and when slathered upon the culinary perfection of a Swedish pancake, they overwhelm its scintillating flavors.  I find a simple coat of butter to draw out the natural goodness of the pancake better than lingonberries.  

Swedish pancakes need no savior, and so I eat them with butter only.  

And I save the lingonberries for those foods which are in need of redemption: whole wheat toast, rye toast, biscuits, and when I'm really in an international mood, an English muffin.  

So if you're ever in Rockford, IL, and find your taste buds craving the sort of salvation that only comes through Scandinavian cuisine, do yourself a favor and stop by the Stockholm Inn.  

And I suppose you can make your own decision about the lingonberries.  

Shared Pregnancy - Labor Of Love (LOL) 5K Walk/Run

Run with me, or walk if you prefer. Help set up, hand out water, or cheer for runners. It's for the kids, you know? No better way to spend the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

Shared Pregnancy - Labor Of Love (LOL) 5K Walk/Run

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Family of Four

Welcome to our world, Hosea. Welcome to our world.











Our beautiful children, Addison and Hosea.


The new family of four.


That's a good lookin' boy right there.


We are enjoying our new life as a family of four with all its adjustments and compromises and joys. It hasn't been quite as earth-shatteringly different as it was when Addison was born, but there is definitely a new vibe in the Gates house. And I like it.

Tomorrow, Hosea will be three weeks old, and, as they say, "it's already hard to imagine life without him."

HOSEA! (And a "Streaky" Blogger)

First off, the Gates family is now a family of four!  Hosea Daniel Thomas Gates was born at 2:48pm on Monday, July 6.  He was 8 lb. even, and 21 1/2 inches long.  Pictures are forthcoming.  For now, let's just say we love him lots.  And lots.

In baseball, there are a lot of people who are characterized as "streaky" hitters.  They look like MVP's for a few weeks, and look like career minor-leaguers the next.  

In my own blogging, I am very streaky.  As the circumstances of my life change, my blogging frequency ebbs and flows.  Since I've started full-time ministry again, with weekly sermon writing, pastoral visits, and a whole list of other things, I haven't felt the need to blog so much.  

But, as you can tell, I'm blogging today, and I feel like there will be more to come soon.  So be ye forewarned.  Grace and peace, my friends.

This New Life

Though I started in the office on Monday, my first official function as pastor of Bretton Woods Covenant Church was attending the Covenant Midwinter Conference, the annual denominational gathering of the pastors and missionaries of the Evangelical Covenant Church. It is difficult to describe how it felt to walk around with a nametag that read "Bretton Woods Covenant Church, Lansing, MI." It was great to sit once more under the teachings of my former professor, Klyne Snodgrass, to participate in workshops with John Wenrich, Al Tizon and Wayne Gordon, and to hear a powerful message from Gary Haugen. It was an invigorating experience, yet a bit of a whirlwind. I was reminded again and again of the centrality of the word of God, a truth that comes alive as I sit in the office this week preparing to proclaim the word.

So beginning in my first call to pastoral ministry is like settling into a new life. It's a life God and I have been preparing for a long time, but it is now a reality. This feels like a transition from 'student' to 'pastor', but I know I won't be a very good pastor unless I remain a student. I am a student of Scripture, a student of peoples' lives, a student of the city of Lansing, etc. There's something to all that 'lifelong learning' talk I've heard.

Though it is only my fourth day, I have to say I am encouraged. I am excited about the ministry at Bretton Woods, and I love all it entails: visiting the sick, crafting sermons, envisioning God's ministry for the church, and loving people from all different walks of life who are united in the power of the gospel.

I know there will be less encouraging times when I'll have to recall this vitality, when I'll struggle to believe it. But I thank God for this day, and for all the wonderful people who've made these first stages of transition so smooth.

Hope and Prophetic Imagination

Since 'hope' has become a bit of a buzz word in this world in which we live, I was struck by these words on the subject from Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination. He is basically looking at what the Old Testamen prophets, in the tradition of Moses, have to offer those of us seeking to be a prophetic voice today. For Brueggemann, true hope is truly subversive to the status quo. Okay, onto the quote:

Speech about hope cannot be explanatory and scientifically argumentative; rather, it must be lyrical in the sense that it touches the hopeless person at many different points. More than that, however, speech about hope must be primally theological, which is to say that it must be in the language of covenant between a personal God and a community. Promise belongs to the world of trusting speech and faithful listening. It will not be reduced to the "cool" language of philosophy or the private discourse of psychology. It will finally be about God and us, about his faithfulness that vetoes our faithlessness. Those who would be prophetic need to embrace that absurd practice and that subversive activity. (p. 65, italics mine)

Into what and whom do we place our hope? Brueggemann insists that hope grows in the most unlikely places, places of exile and anguish, and it can only come from the one who stands in freedom from the restraints of the cosmos, the Lord God Almighty. It's a beautiful thing.

I'm a Pastor!

As of about an hour ago, I am officially the Pastor of Bretton Woods Covenant Church in Lansing, MI. My first day in the office will be Monday, February 9 and my first Sunday will be February 15. It's incredible. Marcie and I (and a whole lot of our friends and family) have been praying for this moment for years, and now it's here. It's surreal, it's exciting, and it's sacred. I can't wait to get started. So my days as a stay at home dad are numbered, and I will enjoy them to the best of my ability.

It's truly humbling to be living into this call, a call which I first sensed a little more than 10 years ago and now am able to realize as the pastor of this wonderful little church in Lansing. I'd refer you to the website, but it's not currently functional. I think the pastor should get to fixing that right away.

So thank you to all who pray for us. We sense that God has made this happen, and we know many of you have prayed for just that. We look forward to life in Lansing, and thank God that it's only an hour away from where we live now.

Now it is with great enthusiasm that I now say "Go Lugnuts!" (the single-A baseball team in Lansing), and with slightly less enthusiasm, yet endless respect for Tom Izzo, I say "Go Spartans?!?" I'll have to work on that.