Learning the Rules

Wow, I can actually remember how to post on my blog!

Sorry it has been so long. I've been busy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So I have been a volunteer chaplain with our local fire department for a bit now, and I am doing a lot of on the job training, learning how the department works (very well, I might add), how I fit it (all right so far), and how things are done.

I have been making a list of the "Rules of Fire Chaplaincy," as they make themselves known.

Rule 1 - Stay out of the way.

I have a specific set of skills and an important role on the scene of an accident, a fire, or a medical manpower assist call. But I do not fight fires, I do not cut people out of cars, and I do not do CPR, so I stay out of the way of those who do. I arrive on scene and see where I fit into what is going on.

Corollary to Rule 1 - "Look, here comes the chaplain." "How can you tell?" "He shows up late and parks too far away!"

Second Corollary to Rule 1 - Wow, those big trucks make nice big ruts in the snow so it is much easier for me to drive to the scene. Thanks, guys.

Rule 2 - Don't park so far over in the garage, and back out slowly, no matter how urgent the call is.

This rule was made known when I was in a hurry the other night to get to a scene. I have been improving my personal response time, but now need to add more wisdom than speed. Which is the nice way to say I smashed the heck out of my passenger side mirror on the garage door frame the other night.

Rule 3 - Don't grab the first shoes available. Take the time to put on boots.

I have a fire jacket and a helmet, for the sake of safety and visibility on scene, but as Rule #1 applies, I don't have turnout boots and pants. But when we have 10-12 inches of snow, and the fire is at a house in the country, walking around in sneakers is a bad idea. I was okay until I got back in the car afterward, and all the ice which had formed around my ankles melted and ran down my socks.

Or as one Captain put it, "Time spent putting on cold weather gear is time well spent."

Rule 4 - Get plenty of sleep the night before a call.

This one gets more difficult with occasional insomnia, like now, when I am typing this at 2:40 in the morning. But it is important to get regular rest, because the pager doesn't keep a schedule.

Corollary to Rule 4 - get the sermon done early, because that regular time set aside for it may get interrupted.

I know there are more just waiting for me to learn them. I'll let you know when I discover them.

From the "Couldn't have said it better myself" file

Law and Grace on the Way to the Pulpit: a sermon for preachers

Something to think about

The most boring or boorish person you know has a story that will bring you more tears and joy than the finest Shakespearean play.

The most rude and difficult person you know has a struggle and pain that you wouldn't want to carry around.

Just something to think about.

Why am I not praying constantly?

Pray constantly.

I am often praying for situations and people, sometimes at dedicated times, other times impromptu based on what is going on around me.

But last night, as I was sitting in on a women's prayer group that is starting up at our church (pastors often get to sit in on stuff where the categories of qualification are suspended), and they were talking about each woman praying for herself, that they might be transformed and help transform others, several thoughts occurred to me.

First, I have heard many women speak of the difficulty of doing for themselves what they would do without reservation for someone in their circle of care. I recognize this in other men and myself as well, but women are far more likely to articulate it, in my experience.

Second, praying for myself can feel selfish (to me, your mileage may vary) even when I do so out of fear, pain, exhaustion, worry, illness or any other condition where I would pray for someone else in that same condition without reservation.

Third, praying for oneself is not selfish unless it is done for selfish reasons. To use an example that grossly exaggerates the point: If I pray to win the lottery so I can always be comfortable, that is a more selfish prayer; If I pray to let God help me steward my resources for the betterment of those around me, that seems a much less selfish prayer. And yes, how I pray even that prayer may also reveal my motives as well.

Fourth, every Sunday as I get robed to lead worship, I pray "Lord, help me be the best minister I can be," as I put on my stole, the symbol of the office of minister in our denomination. In my brief time with these praying women, I was convicted with the realization that I should spend more time praying this prayer each day, not just right before show time.

Lord, help me be the best minister I can be.

And as I am praying that, I need to use other words in there, too. Help me be the best husband...friend...son...prayer partner...colleague...manager...chaplain...person...I can be. The list is as long as roles that I have in my relationships with others.

But for today, as I type from the office of the church, I am going to start where I am.

Lord, help me be the best minister I can be.
Amen.

A Moment in History, pt 2.

An African-American woman, during some of the post-election coverage on television, said that her children will never know a world in which someone who looks like them could not be president.

It is hard for me, as a guy who has so little pigment in his skin as to be close to clear, shy my freckles, to understand how much this means to people of color. And yet, I feel it, too.

Part of what is going on is the end of an election cycle, when the country held its breath until the results come in.

Part of it is the end of a time in history when many in our country held their breath wondering if there would ever be more than historical changes and small, incremental changes in what is possible for people of color, and with that, all people, in our own lifetimes.

The pundits on both sides have already started spinning and twisting. But in this moment, the nation took a breath, stepped into a future that many saw impossible just a short time ago, and we are still breathing.

A Moment in History

There have been several moments in my lifetime which I pray will be in my great-great-grandchildren's history books.

The Vietnam War will be there (I add this, even though I wasn't alive for all of it).

Perhaps the twin space shuttle disasters of 1986 and 2003 will be included, but probably not by the time several generations have passed. Such things, traumatic and overwhelming at the time, seem to be overshadowed by other events a century later.

The tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1986 ought to make it. I also hope the image of the single man facing down a column of tanks in the Tienanmen Square demonstrations and protests of 1989 makes it in.

Certainly September 11, 2001 will be there.

With it, the twin Gulf Wars of 1991 and today will be mentioned.

The recent crash of investment giants might make it in, depending on how far-reaching their effects wind up being. This would be the problem of predicting the future view of history.

But today, I am writing about something that will be included beyond any doubt. The election of Barack Obama to be the 44th president of the United States is going to be in the history books as long as we have history books.

January 1, 1863, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in Confederate states.

December 6, 1865, the practice of slavery is abolished by constitutional amendment (#13).

February 1870, restrictions on the right to vote according to race is abolished by constitutional amendment (#15).

January 23, 1964, poll taxes, often used to intimidate African-American voters and unfairly bias elections, are abolished by constitutional amendment (#24).

In 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously rules that anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional. These were the laws in various states prohibiting mixed-race marriages, such as that of Barack Obama's parents.

November 4, 2008, by both popular and electoral vote in a record turnout year, Barack Obama becomes the president-elect of the United States of America.

This moment will be in my great-great-grandchildren's history books. For good reason.

Coolest. Wedding. Ever.

I had the honor and privilege of co-celebrating a wedding this past weekend. A friend of mine whom I have known since the fourth grade (and we are not saying how long ago that was) got married, and his father, a Rev. Dr. Presbyterian, led us through most of the celebration. I was pleased to be asked to offer a few words, and the prayer of blessing on their marriage.

It helped that the weather in the hills of East Tennessee cooperated to be a perfect match for the reading of "An Appalachian Wedding" by Thomas Berry, read by one of the bridesmaids.

An Appalachian Wedding

Look up at the sky
the heavens so blue
the sun so radiant
the clouds so playful
the soaring raptors
woodland creatures
meadows in bloom
rivers singing their
way to the sea
wolfsong on the land
whalesong in the sea
celebration everywhere
wild, riotous
immense as a monsoon
lifting an ocean of joy
then spilling it down over
the Appalachian landscape
drenching us all
in a deluge of delight
as we open our arms and
rush toward each other
all of us moved by that vast
compassionate curve
that brings all things together
in intimate celebration
celebration that is
the universe itself.

-- by Thomas Berry

The leaves floated down off the trees just as the bride walked under them. The collection of bluegrass and jazz and rock and other genres of musicians, groom included, who graced the tent with music during the reception was outstanding.

Among the many elements of this particular wedding, seeing friends of long ago and again, being able to help officiate the wedding of ones dear to me, co-celebrating with my second dad (as it were), a setting so perfect, this will be a long-remembered moment.

Congratulations Greg and Paige. What a wonderful celebration of your love.