Friday morning ramble

I love to take photos...I would take them all the time if I could. We'll be driving or walking along and I say to myself, "wow, that would be a great picture." Sometimes, I'll ask permission especially if the person happens to see me taking the photo. And then sometimes, I like the random kind of street scene with action and a flowy purple-lavender cape and the person never knows that her image has been captured forever. Is that bad? My ethicist friend would probably say it's not "bad" but there's something that feels wrong. Actually, she would use ethics-appropriate vocabulary but I'm not up to thinking about that right now. The other thing is, I don't like my camera so much. And I wrestle with the extravagance of purchasing a new one that I would really really like and wounding the feelings of the one who purchased this one for me that I would have never picked out. I still take photos, though. I would take them all the time if I could.

Can't stop laughing

http://bowerbird.typepad.com/mmmhellooo/churches/index.html

My co-worker just said: Did you just snort?? I've ruined my mascara and it's only 8:34 am!

You'll need to scroll down her list to find "Presbyterians."

The OTHER Seminary

Not that I ever thought of Columbia Theological Seminary as the Other seminary. I think I left that right to Princeton. Anyway - I spent last week on the campus of CTS for what they call their Lifelong Learning Program. I was actually there for a conferece about Rural Ministry, although I played the spy trying to compare the students experiance to my own at SFTS.

At meals I sat with students and quizzed them about their time at the school. It was one week before graduation and students were all smiles. I don't need to remind you all that was not the case with many of us. Many students really enjoyed the professors, course work, seminary support, loved the President, etc. The campus is beautiful and appears well cared for. The library is wonderful - speaking to SFTS's lack of care for theirs as it is really only part of the GTU. The place did not seem lacking for funds as they are in process of building a new large dormitory.

I loved my confrence. It was well organized, there was always help if needed, it was easy to relax and enjoy myself. We had a presentation from Bruggeman their retired star and he is really something. All in all, I learned A TON that will help me in my ministry setting, I made new friends, I enjoyed the campus, I will probably be back. Especially because I got in lots of good time with Heather and Alexis.

I am not sorry I went to SFTS but talking to the students at Columbia certainly gave me pause.

On the yellow brick road!

Dear Family and Friends,
Well it has come to pass, I have been called, I have been examined and next is to be ordained. I have been called to serve a 119-member church in Topeka, KS, Oakland Presbyterian Church. I will serve part time and continue to work part time as a Registered Nurse. Oakland is a great church that is use to being served by a bi-vocational pastor; their previous pastor for thirteen years was bi-vocational. I am very excited they are a small church with a BIG Spirit, very family oriented. I will start May 11th, Mothers Day and Pentecost. An ordination date has yet to be determined.
I am currently in New Mexico going through storage units getting ready to make the move. After a week here I will fly to California to pick up things there, swing through New Mexico and end up in Kansas by the 9th of May. Please keep me in your prayers traveling mercies. My primary reason for this note is to inform you of my new address and phone number. I also recently up dated my email address. See all referenced below.
I would love to hear form each of you and would reply personally.
Yours in Christ,
Robert (Pastor Bob)

New email: rhattle@mac.com

New cell phone # 785-213-7763
Office # 785-232-1029

New Address:
Rev. Robert J. Hattle, RN
Oakland Presbyterian Church
2810 NE Thomas
Topeka, KS 66616

I kid you not

Ketchup cow!
Handy-dandy mustard cow dangles near-by!

Preaching On the Unknown God

Yesterday I preached for the 4th time at the local UU congregation. It was going to be very wild with the addition of a Sanskrit Rock Group but they encountered a previous engagement so it was a normal UU service. Actually - a sanskirt rock band can be part of a normal UU service, they are kind fun that way.

At any rate, I noticed that the lectionary for yesterday included Acts 17 where Paul preaches to the Athenians about the Unknown God. Of course I included it because it was useful for helping make the point.

I was preaching on Christian Theology and the Environment. (Christian theology tends to limit itself to a God-human dualism but there is much in our text to remember that we need to think in terms of community with all of creation)

It was a lot of work. Because I knew I could not take any previous knowledge on the subject for granted, I took my time explaining Paul, Athens, and the Creation Story (both versions). In the end, it seemed to be worth the effort because it was fun to be talking about this stuff to folks who haven't already heard it for 30 years already. Many of them - some who are refugees from Christianity and some who have never made it in the door of a Christian church and some who are somewhere inbetween - many of them seemed genuinely pleased with a new way of thinking about Christianity - and also about the Environment.

I wonder what Paul first thought when he was invited to stand before the Areopagus - and I wonder what the novelty-seeking Athenians thought when he left.

Is That You God?

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. The job scene isn't moving. The book sits in a publisher's office w/o further word. No churches in the area are open and I can't seem to make it to the interview stage with the churches that have been open. Recently I was in Portland and ran not once but twice into people I knew and worked with when I was in politics who asked, "Gee what are you doing? all kinds of think I imagine" and I had to quickly sell baking bread and gardening as "all kinds of things" ("I'm deep into earth centered activities" I think I babbled. Yikes, I've been in Sonoma perhaps a little tooooo long. )

So, naturally enough, I take up the tradition of David & the rest of the Psalm writers and the Isrealites trudging their way across the desert and get all whiney on God. Are you there God? Do you still care? Did the call thing have an expiration date I didn't know about? Was I delusional in going to seminary (well, okay don't answer that question, I did choose SFTS so there is some damning evidence there...)? I'm to the point of being so pissed off & discouraged that this afternoon I took down the stoles I have had hanging out in my closet and put them away out of sight.

Then Bill & I go out to a chinese restaurant tonight and my fortune cookie arrives with the following message:

"Trust your intuition. The universe is guiding your life."

Isn't that just like God? Who believes fortune cookies? Its like one of those episodes on Joan of Arcadia where out of nowhere in a form least expected and in a way that leaves open the way for uncertainty - God speaks. (maybe... maybe not) I started looking toward the door for Mrs. Landingham to walk in and glance over at me in a significant way.

Nice job God. Nice sense of humor. And thanks.
I'll take the stoles back out of the bag. Not like they left my mind or my heart anyway.

sheesh.

Daffy-dills!

Oh -- how fun!! The daffy-dills are finally finally showing their beautiful happy yellow faces...the tulips are sure to follow. John Bell is here at Western this whole week, leading worship and opening my eyes, ears and heart to scripture that I have been hungering and thirsting for! Next week, Mark Yaconelli will be here for a contemplative youth seminar and I'm looking forward to reconnecting with him.

This year, I have been volunteering with Vanessa through the KIDS HOPE program. Vanessa is in the 3rd grade; we first started meeting in October and she was a wild child! Walking on tables, running and hiding from me, running and climbing on, over, under, through anything she could find. Over the past few weeks, it seems we've turned a corner. Last week, she decided it would be great fun to take everything out of my purse and examine it!?!? This week, she shared more about her family than I've heard all year while working on painting a heart on the back of my hand.

Anyway -- what's all this got to do with daffy-dills, you may ask. I think that somehow the daffodils remind me that even though I can't always see the growth, or take responsibility for the growth, or even know when those glorious yellow flowers will appear, I trust that it will happen. I have faith that it will happen. And for Vanessa, even on the days when I was chasing her down the halls of the elementary school (NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!!!), I had faith that someday we would have days like today -- bright, warm and sunshiny, filled with the promise of spring and the gift of a new friend.

Mariners Win!

I had a great week off to celebrate my 30th with my family. I went to Seattle with my parents and we went to see the Mariners. I had hoped to get a Wilbur sign on TV - at least I got on the big screen in the stadium! It was a good week of eating, shopping, and even some time with my brother. I dreamt about church but didn't think about it during the days so that was good.

Now I am back to work and busy sorting through all that I left in my wake. Oh well, I am taking another week out of town in May to attend a confrence in Atlanta so there is another break on the near horizon. Thank God for continuing ed!

A Family Reunion...

At last, Mary has discerned that her ministry at SFTS is coming to a close. She gave notice that she will leave her employ there at the end of May, much to the dismay of many folks -- all of whom knew this was inevitable at some point in time. This will be such a blessing to us as gasoline surges past $4/gallon and we will both be spending *much* less time on I-80. It will also be quite nice to have her around EG full-time to share in all that happens here.

Her plans are to continue consulting to some of her corporate clients while she pursues Commissioned Ministry in the UCC, focusing on her experience and skills at facilitating transitions, transformations, and conflicts in the local church settings. She was taken In-Care of our congregation earlier this month and will visit our COM (think CPM in "Presbyterian-ese") in August to become a "person in discernment" for at least a year before being commissioned.

All I can say is, "Yeaaa!"

Stress Relief

Seems we've been mighty quiet since Heather turned 3-0. Here's something for your amusement, distraction or stress relief. . .

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf

Hope you're all well. Spring is slowly arriving in Holland. Soon and very soon, it will be Tulip Time again.

"The Big 3-0"

Not that 30 is really all that big but I guess it gets credit for being a round number. I turn 30 on Thursday of this week and its not as much of a retrospective time as I may have guessed it would be. Granted, I don't think I ever thought I would grow up to be a pastor but stranger things have happened. I think the only shocking thing is being 30 with braces. I was at the ortho today for thicker wires and lots of tightening. (OUCH) Right now I have a large light purple rubber band across the top teeth and then alternating light and dark purple on each bottom tooth. Hey - you have to have fun with it right?

I am dreaming of Spring but we still keep having snow off and on. My poor bulbs are trying to come up and don't know what to make of it.

My church threw me a surprise birthday party yesterday. I was surprised and it was quite the cheery little party. We even had a cake with my picture on it, imagine something like that available in Wilbur. We are moving up in the world and will have a gas station with a convenience store soon!

On the actual birthday day Lars and I are going to Spokane for a nice dinner. Then next week I am leaving him alone with the mutts and I am going to Seattle with my folks. We are going to a Mariners game, getting together with my bro and fiance for dinner, and shopping shopping shopping. Should be a good break.

Anyway, hope all your adventures are going well, that you are out in the garden if you want to be, and that wherever you are it is warmer than Wilbur!

This wasn't covered in our Reformed Worship Class

The folks at the Santa Rosa Universal Unitarian congregation has invited me back to preach again. This is #4 I think. Its always interesting - and this time promises to be even more so.

The choir has been given the sunday off in favor of this group: Shanti-Shanti.





I will be preaching on Christian-eco theology. Or at least trends - but this also involves teaching about theology and why its not a bad thing to have around.

Personally, I think Jesus would probably be tapping his toes (if not whirling around) big time on the music but I'm wondering exactly how the sermon & this group are going to go together in the service.

The group is listing both services as a "concert" on their web site.

So potentially the community of New Age spirituality will be significantly present at this service.

I think I'll be thinking of Paul who kept wondering into town squares and proclaiming the good news to mixed effect....

Waitangel, another pitcher of beer for my friends and me please.

(I'm writing a sermon which is touching on eschotology and this is an little side observation that needs to go somewhere else)

So... is anybody else perturbed by the Philly cream cheese commercials that has angels exclaiming over its great taste/less filling qualities while in the background is a fluffy cloud holding up a row of walking exercise machines? Like going to gym in this lifetime - which has an end sooner or later - isn't enough fun we can all die and keep going for all eternity? Is not my own post-resurrected self supposed to be already perfected?

I"m just saying...

A letter to Sally Kern from a senior in high school in Oklahoma.

I am not sure if you are aware of recent comments that were made by Oklahoma State House Representative Sally Kern. If you have not you can listen to her hate filled speech here:

http://pageoneq. com/news/ 2008/ellen_ sallykern031208. html

If you haven't seen this yet, read it, then pass it along.

>> A letter to Sally Kern from a senior in high school in Oklahoma.
>> *******
>>
>> Today my nephew attempted to deliver a letter to Sally Kern but
>> was stopped by a highway patrol man. With his permission I am
>> distributing the letter to all news stations and thought I would
>> include it here.
>>
>> Maybe we can all stand to learn a listen from this smart, loving,
>> young man. He more than most has reason to hate. He lost his
>> mother, my sister, in the Murrah Building bombing.
>>
>> Elizabeth
>> ( by way page 112 of the News9 Comment Section at http://
>> www.news9.com/ global/story. asp?s=7983168
>>
>> Letter From Tucker
>>
>> Rep Kern:
>> On April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City a terrorist detonated a bomb
>> that killed my mother and 167 others. 19 children died that day.
>> Had I not had the chicken pox that day, the body count would've
>> likely have included one more. Over 800 other Oklahomans were
>> injured that day and many of those still suffer through their
>> permanent wounds.
>>
>> That terrorist was neither a homosexual or was he involved in
>> Islam. He was an extremist Christian forcing his views through a
>> body count. He held his beliefs and made those who didn't live up
>> to them pay with their lives.
>>
>> As you were not a resident of Oklahoma on that day, it could be
>> explained why you so carelessly chose words saying that the
>> homosexual agenda is worst than terrorism. I can most certainly
>> tell you through my own experience that is not true. I am sure
>> there are many people in your voting district that laid a loved
>> one to death after the terrorist attack on Oklahoma City. I kind
>> of doubt you'll find one of them that will agree with you.
>>
>> I was five years old when my mother died. I remember what a
>> beautiful, wise, and remarkable woman she was. I miss her. Your
>> harsh words and misguided beliefs brought me to tears, because you
>> told me that my mother's killer was a better person than a group
>> of people that are seeking safety and tolerance for themselves.
>>
>> As someone left motherless and victimized by terrorists, I say to
>> you very clearly you are absolutely wrong.
>>
>> You represent a district in Oklahoma City and you very coldly
>> express a lack of love, sympathy or understanding for what they've
>> been through. Can I ask if you might have chosen wiser words were
>> you a real Oklahoman that was here to share the suffering with
>> Oklahoma City? Might your heart be a bit less cold had you been
>> around to see the small bodies of children being pulled out of
>> rubble and carried away by weeping firemen?
>>
>> I've spent 12 years in Oklahoma public schools and never once have
>> I had anyone try to force a gay agenda on me. I have seen,
>> however, many gay students beat up and there's never a day in
>> school that has went by when I haven't heard the word **** slung
>> at someone. I've been called gay slurs many times and they hurt
>> and I am not even gay so I can just imagine how a real gay person
>> feels. You were a school teacher and you have seen those things
>> too. How could you care so little about the suffering of some of
>> your students?
>>
>> Let me tell you the result of your words in my school. Every
>> openly gay and suspected gay in the school were having to walk
>> together Monday for protection. They looked scared. They've
>> already experienced enough hate and now your words gave other
>> students even more motivation to sneer at them and call them
>> names. Afterall, you are a teacher and a lawmaker, many young
>> people have taken your words to heart. That happens when you
>> assume a role of responsibility in your community. I seriously
>> think before this week ends that some kids here will be going home
>> bruised and bloody because of what you said.
>>
>> I wish you could've met my mom. Maybe she could've guided you in
>> how a real Christian should be acting and speaking.
>>
>> I have not had a mother for nearly 13 years now and wonder if
>> there were fewer people like you around, people with more love and
>> tolerance in their hearts instead of strife, if my mom would be
>> here to watch me graduate from high school this spring. Now she
>> won't be there. So I'll be packing my things and leaving Oklahoma
>> to go to college elsewhere and one day be a writer and I have no
>> intentions to ever return here. I have no doubt that people like
>> you will incite crazy people to build more bombs and kill more
>> people again. I don't want to be here for that. I just can't go
>> through that again.
>>
>> You may just see me as a kid, but let me try to teach you
>> something. The old saying is sticks and stones will break your
>> bones, but words will never hurt you. Well, your words hurt me.
>> Your words disrespected the memory of my mom. Your words can cause
>> others to pick up sticks and stones and hurt others.
>>
>> Sincerely
>>
>> Tucker

For the activist out there if you would like to send an email to Sally her address is sallykern@okhouse. gov

Preaching

I love my Episcopal church, it has so many positives, except the preaching. It's a little like torture most Sundays; except when they have guest preachers (the regular Methodist guest preacher tends to bring it in the pulpit), and there is one priest who is an excellent exegete and speaker, who only preaches once every two months. (There are 8 priests at our church who rotate preaching, with the Rector preaching 2 Sundays a month). I even go so far as to write my own, but it would be nice to learn from people who are better at preaching than I am. Easter was really the last straw for me, I had to go to 2 services and hear the ridiculous sermon twice. I know preaching is not everyone's gift, our Rector is really good in small groups and great at pastoral care.

All of that being said I am on the look out for great sermons to read on Monday morning. I already read Heather Jepsen's blog (I hope you preached your Easter sermon and will post it soon, if not can I have a copy?). If any of you know of other really good sermons out there that I can read that would be helpful. I'm not looking for things like tribalchurch.org, which I love, but actual sermons.
Thanks

book update

Westminster/John Knox sent me a very nice thanks but no thanks letter.

So that is two down and an unknown number yet to go.

Piffle.

Atlanta turns into Kansas

As you may have heard a tornado came racing through Atlanta this past weekend. Just wanted to update you that thankfully it skipped our house, but we did get the tornado sirens, hale, crazy rain, and apparently some pretty strong winds. We don't have a basement so Heather, Roux, and I were dutifully huddled in an interior closet underneath our comforter when we heard the sirens go off. Roux was really unhappy with us. Luckily we only had to stay in there for about 10 minutes, then the storm went away. I had been through one tornado before, in high school, which destroyed my parents barn (yes we have a barn, I did grow up in Kentucky). This was Heather's first serious storm, Oregon gets some rain, but not wind, thunder, and lightening like this.

Mind The Gap

The worst part right now is the look on people's face when they first see me. That and my complete inability to speak clearly.

new frog pond

Looks like I will have a book review in an upcoming issue of Christian Century. I am still waiting to hear on the book proposal but I'm okay with waiting right now. Meanwhile, I have a couple other assignments to work on for the Chimes & Presbyterians Today. And a chance to preach on one of the high holy days of the Associate/pulpit supply preacher... (the Sunday after Christmas, the Sunday after Easter, Fourth of July Weekend... )

Meanwhile - spring is starting to bust out around here. Below is a picture of a bush over by the creek where the most amazing mass of leaves are pushing their way out of a monster-sized bud:



This is what the leaves look like once they are out and expanded:


Be rich with life, be explosively green this spring!