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.

Three Become Four

We announced it to our families around the table today, so I might as well announce to the world ("the world" being defined as you who read this blog) that Marcie and I are expecting our second child!

Marcie's due on July 6, and in case you're wondering, we won't find out the gender or tell anybody the names we've picked until after the birth. We're just jerks like that.

So needless to say, we're stoked.

But I feel like it would be an injustice to give this joyous proclamation without remembering what happened before. On August 8, 2008, Marcie lost a baby six weeks into the pregnancy. Six weeks is a short time, but it's enough time to get hopes and expectations up, and more importantly, it's enough time to create human life. It's been difficult to deal with miscarriage. It's not something people seem to talk much about, and therefore dealing with it can be a very lonely thing. Dealing with it alone isn't the best thing for us or for the dignity of this child, but it's been hard to navigate just how public we want to be. We are grateful for the loving support of our families and a few close friends throughout the past few months. Losing a child, no matter how far along, is heartbreaking. And thankfully the grace of a loving God comforts us in our grief, loves us in our anger, and heals us in our brokenness.

So we celebrate and give thanks for this healthy child growing inside Marcie, who's 8/9 weeks along already, but we also honor the life of this child we thought we would have in March. We remember our friends and family members who have been lost at any age, but specifically through miscarriage or at infancy. And we pray that God will be with all four of us as we continue on, this time with a little less naivete and a little more gratitude.

It is with overflowingly grateful hearts that we announce that we're going to be parents again. We are grateful for this new life, for our lives, and for all life. And for all of you who will do so, we thank you in advance for your prayers.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

You're Never Too Old to Rock

The title of this post is the tagline to the film Young @ Heart.

The Young at Heart chorus is brilliant, the film is brilliant, and it's not just because a chorus of 80 year olds get on a stage and sing songs by Sonic Youth, the Talking Heads and the Clash (though that's a plus). This documentary, and the Young at Heart chorus which it follows throughout, is a picture of life in aging. We so often speak of aging alongside death, and death is a reality in this film, but aging also offers life. It offers life to these octogenarians, and it offers life to twenty-somethings like me who watch the film and are reminded that life can be truly joyful, simply because it is life.

This is the best film I've seen about community since Lars and the Real Girl, and it is encouraging for someone like me, soon to become pastor to people of all ages. Young at Heart reminds me that people do not always fit well into the boxes we shove them into. It also reminds me that people who have shoved themselves into boxes can step out and find great meaning.

Yet it's a bit absurd. These folks don't listen to Coldplay and Alan Touissant, but their director does, and he knows that this choir can do great things with their songs. Are these people "cooler" because they sing "cool" songs? I think the answer is no, but that is what it has taken for folks like me to give them a chance. How absurd is it to say that I love this choir of 70-, 80- and 90-somethings because they have "indie cred"?

Really absurd, but if they didn't, I would never have heard them. It's a good reminder that I'm am pretentious and ridiculous.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this film is sad, and heartwrenchingly so. But it deserves a look. And in case you've never heard the Young at Heart chorus, here's a taste of one of their tame moments: