Kennedy at Seminary

Thursday, April 27, 2006

More on vicarage

Today I finished arranging to go down to Kingwood to observe what the current vicar is doing with a young adult ministry called Kairos (Greek for "appointed time"). I'll be in Kingwood from May 11 to 13. I'm excited about meeting members of the congregation. Over the past few days, I've heard nothing but positive things about the church and the people there. I spoke for a while with the vicar from a year ago, who is finishing his fourth year at seminary. He couldn't stop saying what a great experience it was.

Here's a description of the church from the paperwork I was given:
"Christ the King is a growing 17-year-old congregtation of mostly families (700 of its 1,600 members are below the age of 15). It has a staff of four called workers (two ordained), lay workers, support staff, and preschool staff. Christ the King strives to be a 'mission outpost' for the sake of reaching the lost and discipling the saved. Alternative ministry approaches and worship formats are used to present the truth of God's unchanging Word to a highly educated, affluent community."

The vicar preaches 12 times a year, helps plan and lead worship, visits, teaches, and works with the staff on various projects.

I've spoken with the senior pastor a number of times. I think he'll be a great supervisor. I've heard the ministry team is full of creative, caring people. The worship services are completely contemporary, something I enjoy. I know it won't be a perfect vicarage; there's no such thing. But I think it will be a good fit for me.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Vicarage

Next stop: Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kingwood, TEXAS! www.christ4u.net.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Ranting and rejoicing


OK, I'm going to save my entry every two seconds so I don't lose it this time.

We've had some odd rain here lately. It rained at 2:00 today while the sun was out. From under an overhang, I looked up at the sky and didn't really see any rain clouds. I'm sure there were some there. They must have been directly above.

Time to rant about a pet peeve. I realize this pet peeve is slightly hypocritical because it's a fault of mine, too. I'm tired of sarcasm. Before proceeding, I'd like to distinguish sarcasm from irony. Irony is very funny and usually harmless. It's merely pointing out some inconsistency in what you'd expect and what actually happens. It's a subtle form of humor. Sarcasm, on the other hand, says to me that the speaker is expressing bottled up anger and has a pessimistic view of the world. If you're annoyed about something, come right out and say it. Don't hide your thoughts behind words that communicate the opposite of what they really mean. I've noticed that pastors and seminarians have a lot of built-up aggression that comes out as sarcasm. I learned from my college Greek prof that the word sarcasm comes from the Greek root "sarx," meaning "body," because sarcasm is like taking a chunk out of someone's flesh. When used against someone, sarcasm is painful. I'm not venting because someone said something sarcastic against me recently. I'm just urging you to be conscious of using sarcasm because I'm tired of hearing it and it does more harm than good. Usually sarcasm can only be decoded by those familiar with the speaker, so it can be a way of excluding people, too. OK, thanks for reading the rant.

Other than the rain, the weather has been pleasant this week. On Wednesday, I took my camping chair and read outside at the park next to the sem. Here was my pattern: read a chapter, put the bookmark in the book, doze off for a second, read a little more, bookmark, snooze. At one point, I must have fallen asleep for 10 or 20 minutes. This lasted for close to three hours. I was so relaxed. It was like being in a trance. The Calvin and Hobbes picture expresses my thoughts about nice weather.

Thanks for reading.

18 days till Call Day.