A Season of Being Sent

For those of you out there who are walking along side us and keep in touch through this blog, I want to take a minute to tell you about the upcoming season for ClayPeople Community. The season might best be described as a "season of being sent"...

Nate and I just spend four days at his home in Scotia, New York where we spent some time creating, praying and discerning our ministry project for this summer. Our current thought is to be in Minneapolis.

On Saturday Tim leaves for a two week stay in Nicaragua. He'll be there with Lutheran World Relief and their partners on a fair trade coffee coop. This is his first ministry experience outside of the US!...very excited.

Courtney will be spending the semester in Egpyt and the Middle East studying and being with the people there. Maybe she'll post her tentative itinerary on the blog so you all can pray for her. Maybe she'll let out her mailing address too.

Nate will be spending the month of January at Holden Village, a retreat village in the mountains of Washington State. He'll be taking a class through St. Olaf on spirituality there. He won't have email or phone access...snail mail only. We'll get that address up so people can send love out his way.

This is an exciting time to support one another in our discernment and ministry together. More in the next few days from me (Tim) as I prepare for my trip and I'll also be blogging from Nicaragua! Paz y Amor.

Going Home

I've only got minutes before my ride comes to pick me up. Its the end of the semester and I'm going home. For some of my friends this is a weekend experience. But, for me, it only happens once or maybe twice a year. This is a big day.

By the time I return to my apartment on campus, I will have spend two weeks in Washington DC, a few days near Albany, NY, a possible side trip to Pittsburgh, PA and a two week stay in Managua, Nicaragua. My heart is starting to race faster when I think about these trip - each one has so much meaning in it - to be on a journey and to be going home.

When I get back, I'm hoping to leave again. I plan on trips to Seattle, WA and Atlanta, GA in January. Again, I'll pack my bags, check my e-ticket (for the third time), text message the weather forecast to my cell phone, and I'll head out on the journey. And then I'll come home again.

This rhythm of heading out and coming home might be speaking something to me about being the church. I can not avoid being sent. I can't avoid the journey. I must get ready, go, and come home. Each sending brings with it some fears and each one writes a chapter into my life that continually shapes who I am becoming.

The dishes are still piled up and the garbage must go out. Its time for me to go home, only to be sent again.

Tim

Thanks for My Mentors

As I wrap up another calendar year, I've been thinking about my journey over the past twelve months. I've covered some rough terrain. Its been a year since I changed majors and begun to think about what it means to follow Christ with my whole life. Along the way I've had some incredible mentors. I simply wouldn't be where I am with out the other characters (some of them indeed are quite a character) who have been performing on this stage of discipleship with me. Because I know there's many outside of our core community who read this blog, I want you all to know that if you're reading this you are a part of our community. These mentors that have shaped me are also a part of this community - its time you all meet some of the people who have shaped me.

So here they are... A special thanks goes out to all of them...I love them all dearly...I'd not be where I am with out you all! Thank-you.

Greg Ronning, our rockin' campus pastor
Greg has been an incredible mentor through-out the last year as Intermission has taken huge steps and he also was part of the mentoring team that I worked with this summer. He continues to invest in me and others around me in profound ways. Plus my dad and I went to the bar while he was in town, we had beers and watched Greg rock out with his charity rock band "The Harleys" - good times


Peggy Contos Hahn
Peggy has been walking along side me for the past five years. Many times she's walked along side from from a distance, but always with an eye out for me. She's always challenged me in ways I've never thought I could be challenged and her insistence on being a catalyst in this church and this world have be a profound impact.

Rozella White
Rozella, your friendship and your words of care and support are stunning. Your transparency and your grace is exactly what I'm looking for in communities to grow in. Thank-you for both the space and nurturing to grow.

Jenna Davis
Jenna was my "peer mentor" during my internship. Jenna, your tenderness, your deep insights, and your beautiful soul speak in unique ways to my worldview - thanks for pushing when I needed a push and listening when I needed an ear.

Aaron Strumpel
There aren't words to thank you Aaron. Your investment in me has sent me on a chase...a pursuit of this God who speaks out in love in ways I don't even understand yet. Your mentorship has shaped me in profound ways. Thank you for being patient with me, for walking with me, for challenging me, for tending both to my soul and my mind, for teaching me about community, for showing me how deep our artist-Creator-God speaks to us and for allowing me to be a speck on the radar of your journey. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you.

Marc and Dana Reed
There isn't enough I can say about these two. Marc and Dana have been my spiritual father and mother. They have this distinct sense of call to be a father and mother to God's children in order to care for their hearts. Marc and Dana, thank-you for adopting me - for providing not only opportunities for ministry, but for your complete embrace. Your embrace must be exactly what God had in mind when He called his church to love for one another. You guys have blessed me more than you even know. I can't even wrap my mind around your love for God and his children. Thank-you for answer yes to God's call to be a spiritual father/mother ...thank-you.

There are others too...I'll save them for another shout-out.

with love,

Tim

Us versus Them

There has been two kinds of experiences that I've had with others from with in the Body of Christ, this community of believers - some might even call it "the church". Sometimes I get this vibe from people that not a thing could separate us, despite the differences in our pasts or where we come from or anything superficial like that. But then sometimes, I get this feeling in my stomach that its an "us versus them" game we're in. Its as if there were some kind of match going on and we're match-point, one away from winning this set and so the serve becomes aggressive. These places honestly scare me. It seems as if we're too often aiming at our brothers and sisters in Christ and trying to distinguish an "us" and "them" so that we can separate ourselves from "them" and build up ourselves.

I think we may be missing the point. But the thing is, there is no "us".

We are called out into the world. We must eat with the poor and hungry, we must walk with the immigrant wanderer, we must struggle with the addict, and associate ourselves with those of us who are alone: the widows who have no lovers, the orphans who have no fathers and the strangers who have no friends. Our efforts must undergo the same radical transformation that our paradigm has. There is no “us versus them” because its not about us and what we do. It turns out that there is only them. To be with them is what it means to be the church.

once upon a time there was a house in Minnesota that spewed forth love like no other.
and once upon a time I criticized myself for using the word "spewed" in a sentence.
how's this entry for intelligent and insightful?

Discerment...lately

There is no easy way to discern God's will for your life. It seems this whole idea of your "calling" is about as ambiguous as it gets. I used to think that a call meant God would email or fax me a job description. I was wrong. God's current callings for my life include many significant relationships and include a variety of responsibilities

My calling as...
a friend (to be availible, helpful, encouraging, fun, etc)
a roomate (to be responsible with keeping up my part of the apartment)
a son (to be in contact with the parent)
a brother (to be supportive, caring, etc to those I've shared life with growing up)
a student (to study, read, and be in relationship with professors)

But the thing is, fulfilling my responsibility in one calling may lead to a less than hoped for fulfilment of another one. I may decide to ignore the dishes and instead study. Its a good decision - but it neglects a calling. As I continue this journey I'll only be adding callings husband, father, professional, minister (of some sort???), colleague...the list could go on.

The only resolution for me in this tension has been to think of my calling in an entirely different way. I'm becoming aware that I'm called to BE; not to DO. This means that I accept the call to follow. That mean to trust, be transformed, and be willing to "go". Its not about what I do.

Lately...I've been thinking about my gifts. Mission Developing (or, starting new missions / ministries) seems to really fit the various chapters of my life that God has written into my story. However, it is possible that I will have to choose a path that I've never wanted (and I still don't). We had a candidadcy committee rep come talk to one of my theology classes. He said "don't do this unless you have to". Now is my time to resist, push and protest that path until I'm sure that there is no other way.

peace!