FAME!!!

Yes, I am a big deal. Check out a reworked version of a previous post published in the Bakersfield Californian, here.

Dancing at the End of the World

An Advent Reflection on Matthew 8.14-17, 28-34 from @EmmanuelBakerSt

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane - Lenny Bruce is not afraid.  Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn, world serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs.  Feed it up a knock, speed, grunt no, strength no.  The ladder starts to clatter with fear, fight, down height.  Wire in a fire, representing seven games and a government for hire and a combat site.

Left of west and coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.  Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop.  Look at that low plane!  Fine. Yes.  Uh oh, overflow, population, coming to a little doom.  Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed.  Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine

I know each of these lyrics to R.E.M.’s popular and apocalyptic song for one particular reason. This reason is inextricably wrapped up in an undeniable truth. The truth is that I am not a natural dancer. If you want to instantly see me squirm and lose all signs of composure you just need a strobe light, some music with a beat, and a dance floor. Assemble these ingredients and you’ll find me slowly creeping backwards, in half steps, searching with my hands out behind me, reaching for a wall to cling to for dear life. As you can imagine this truth did not make me extremely popular or active at middle school dances. I was and often still am accurately labeled as a ‘wallflower’ in any dance-related situation.

And a Shoot shall come out of the Root of the Sequoias

A sermon fragment from the 2nd Sunday of Advent on Isaiah 11.1-10 & Matthew 3.1-12 @EmmanuelBakerSt

Recently Hannah and I took a trip up to the Giant Sequoia National Monument. As we walked the trail of a hundred giants, I could not escape this week's biblical texts, full of roots and trees. An inch or so of snow covered the ground and a reverential silence fell upon everyone walking the trail woven among these towering trees. Even children could not help but to gawk in silent awe at the indescribable magnitude of these truly giant sequoias. Certainly, the divine was present in that place of biblical proportions.

Why its okay to hang a TARDIS on your Christmas[advent] Tree

an advent reflection on Matthew 24.23-35 & Isaiah 54.1-10 @EmmanuelBakerSt

Over the past couple of months the outreach team at Emmanuel has been discussing signage. We have been in discussion and conversation over how to best let people know that we are here. How do we let people know that this place is the place where the people of Emmanuel Baker Street meet and come together to worship, to pray, and to live?

Right now we have a very nice and what I would describe as tasteful sign. It’s humble enough, it’s not huge. It lights up at night, but doesn’t illuminate all of Baker Street. It allows us to put a short message up describing upcoming events, but it doesn’t have a scrolling display with pictures or videos. But sometimes, it doesn’t seem like it is enough. Occasionally the trees grow too big in front of it and it can’t be seen. Sometimes people say they have a hard time finding our church. And there is so much we want to say to the community, to the world, how can it all fit on our unassuming sign?

Why We Need Night: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Darkness

"Living in a glare of our own making, we have cut ourselves off from our evolutionary and cultural patrimony—the light of the stars and the rhythms of day and night. In a very real sense, light pollution causes us to lose sight of our true place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best measured against the dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way—the edge of our galaxy—arching overhead."

-               from Our Vanishing Night

Walking the streets of Bakersfield in the evening, having just moved here from Chicago, I am struck by the lack of street lights surrounding my home. As I walk the dog or walk back from an evening spent at Dagny’s or another downtown destination, I am caught off guard and a little uneasy when I suddenly notice I am surrounded by the darkness. 

Christ the not the Prince of Wales

A sermon on Luke 23.33-43 for Christ the King Sunday, preached @EmmanuelBakerSt.

The Canticle of 'The Office'

A sermon on Malachi 4.1-6 preached @EmmanuelBakerSt.


“My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great and my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait…My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.”

Harry Potter and All the Saints

A sermon on the Lukan Beatitudes, preached on All Saints @EmmanuelBakerSt

I feel it is important for me, as your pastor, to let you know that I have contacted all of the appropriate authorities (including the Bishop’s office both in Glendale and at churchwide headquarters in Chicago) regarding a significant event which took place this past week. I expect that shortly task forces from both of these respective offices will soon descend upon Emmanuel and Bakersfield.

The incident in question took place last Sunday night while we were finishing up our Trunk or Treat event in the church parking lot. Just about all the games and candy had been packed up. The last of the trick or treaters appeared to have left. And just a couple of folks from Emmanuel were closing things up in the Parish Hall. As those last trunk or treaters were leaving the church parking lot, they ran into to a large group of people making their way down the sidewalk on Jefferson. This group of kids approached the other and said, “Hey, they are giving away pumpkins and candy up there,” pointing back at the church.

And then the most unbelievable thing happened, something which would shatter the walls and imaginations of most folks at the ELCA headquarters or just about any church in the United States. This large group of trick or treaters heard the news of pumpkins and candy at Emmanuel and they took off. They started running towards the Parish Hall. There was stampede of probably 20 to 30 kids of various ages running towards the church. [BREATHE] Yes, you heard correctly. This past Sunday there were crowds of people running to (not away from) the church. People were running towards our church.

And the 'Rent is too Dad-gum High' Guy Walked Away Justified

A sermon on Luke 18.9-14 preached @Emmanuel Baker St.

Last week, Jesus told us a parable about the need to pray always and to not lose heart. This week Jesus tells us a parable that demonstrates the pitfalls of pride should we happen to actually, you know, pray always.

God has a Dopamine Deficiency

A sermon on Genesis 32 - Jacob wrestling at the Jabbok - preached on Oct 17th, 2010 @Emmanuel Lutheran on Baker St.:

Last week’s broadcast of the radio show, “This American Life,” featured the stories of people who have a fear of sleep. They were people who didn’t simply suffer from insomnia or were unable to do it, rather each was a story of someone with a deep seated fear of sleep; or as Wikipedia tells me, somniphobia.

For ALL the Saints, Who Now in Glory Rest

During the time I spent in Knoxville Hannah and I became familiar with a local print shop called, YeeHaw Industries. With their presses they make lots of interesting “art-like” products including posters, postcards, stationary, and even clothes. We collected a lot of work from the shop during our year in Knoxville. [As Hannah has gone back to Knoxville to fulfill some grad school requirements, she has definite instructions to bring back whatever will fit in her suitcase.] Our walls are covered with a variety of pieces from the print shop. We have prints of a banjo, a fiddle, and a couple of “Appalachian” themed prints.

But my absolute favorite thing at YeeHaw Industries is their specialty, wood cut prints of classic country music stars. They have prints of Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Carl Perkins, Lucinda Williams, and more. But what makes these prints so impressive and powerful is not just the witty descriptions of the stars or the intricately crafted designs. Rather what stands out is that they are most often done in a style reminiscent of the icons of the saints, there is a definite hagiographic element to these prints of classic country music stars. And my favorite (as a fan  of mid-20^th century folk music) is their piece of Woody Guthrie. Across the top of the piece, printed in uneven type is, ‘Saint of the Working Man.’ The bottom the poster describes the nature of Woody's work which I admire, “Woodrow fought for the dignity of working people who were down on their luck. He walked out the Dust Bowl singing, ‘So Long It’s Been Good to Know You.’ Fact.”