Work
I was invited to apply for another library position and I’m doing it somewhat half-heartedly. I’ll also apply to be a counselor for the Seminary Sampler program at Trinity this summer. Last time, she was still looking for people and I have a feeling that CPE will probably prevent some people from applying. Then again, I don’t have as much youth experience as a lot of people do. I’m going to submit my application and pray that all works out. It’s 6 weeks in residence with the high schoolers and I think it would actually be fun. Most importantly, it would be a chance to show the kids about ministry and I really think that this is essential if we’re going to keep people my age in the church.

The only downside: I’ll probably be competing against a lot of people for the Seminary Sampler job who have MUCH more youth experience than I do. I’ve been a camp counselor, taught VBS all of ONCE, and I’ve done about as much work with the youth here as they’ll let me do. Still… if I don’t apply, I’ll never know if I will make it.

Why I am Lutheran
My in-laws got me “The Third Miracle” for Christmas and watching it made me have dreams about maybe joining the Roman Catholic Church. It would be interesting, it would indulge my mystical side but…
-They won’t ordain me. Sorry, but… the Lord has called me to ordained ministry.
-As much as I revere the saints, I still have some issues with the way a lot of Catholics pray to them. I know that there is the distinction that it’s like asking a friend to pray for you but… some people cross the line on that.
-The Roman Catholic Church is NOT the one true church. The universal (“catholic”) church is. I cannot say that all Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Orthodox, and [insert Trinitarian Christian group] are wrong and going to hell. This is also what prevents me from being Eastern Orthodox.
-The way things are done in the Roman church is NOT the way they’ve been done since the beginning. Much of the way things are done is how they’ve been done since the Council of Trent or at most 1000 years. Celibacy did NOT exist until the 11th century and purgatory started with Augustine.

I’m in a really strange position because there aren’t a lot of Lutheran bloggers. There is a pretty good-sized Reformed community but I cannot claim to agree on the way a lot of them express their faith given that a.) talking theology does not turn me on; b.) I am not a believer in paedocommunion — there is no basis for it in Scripture and I think that children need to be old enough to understand the sacrament in which they are partaking; c.) I do not view my faith in terms of covenants; d.) I feel like a lot of Reformed bloggers neglect the fact that Luther was influential on Calvin which means that *I* can count myself as Reformed (something many of them dispute); and e.) I don’t really find a lot of Refomed theology to be Cross-centered (which is what Lutheran theology is).

Oh yes… a lot of the Reformed bloggers I encounter don’t affirm my call to ordination, which is fine — I just feel like a lot of them look at me as a heretic.

OK… there is an amendment to the drinking game. You may subsitute water, juice, Red Bull, or whatever if Coke or alcohol is not your cup of tea.

This is a rather interesting game. In reaction to this idiotic article, Mark Shea suggested a game where some event must have the logical conclusion that “the solution for much of this is painfully obvious: Ordain women, and drop the celibacy requirement.” If you read the comments section on the writer’s blog, there are some rather interesting ones.

I actually have a proposition for St. Blog people: all y’all have the St. Blog drinking game. Why not the “media is biased against Catholics” drinking game. You start with a pint of beer (if you’re German) or Guinness (if you’re Irish) or mead (if you’re Welsh) or hard pear cider (if you’re me) or Coke (if you’re allergic to alcohol) or water (if you’re Doug). These are the rules:
-take 1 sip if there’s even a story about the Church in the news that day. (This is easy if you read the CT Weblog.)
-take 1 sip if the story is positive
-take 2 sips if the story is negative
-take 2 sips if it involves the sexual abuse scandal
-take 3 sips if the words “church cover up” are involved
-take 3 sips if a bishop is asked to resign
-take 2 sips if the story is on female ordination
-take 2 sips if the person writing it isn’t even Catholic
-take 1 sip if you have a problem with a Lutheran creating a Catholic drinking game
-take 1 sip if you’d like to see me go through RCIA in the somewhat near future and abandon my apostate ways
-finish off your pint and chug another if this game would have been prevented by the ordination of women and the lifting of the celibacy requirement.

**Nota bene: I am just teasing all y’all. Please do not send me hate mail and please do not bash me in your blogs. I found the article as stupid as all you did and I’m just playing with you.**

*cough* *hack* *sneeze* Sorry for not updating really regularly. I have the cold from hell… AGAIN!!! Thankfully I don’t have work until Friday, so I can spend some time in bed resting.

The site visit for Jon’s internship was yesterday and it went really well. Jane (the Contextual Ed person) came down and met with Jon and Bill separately and then together. Then, she tookJon, me, and Bill out to dinner at Olive Garden. I was (and still am) in the “food is yucky” stage so I barely ate anything more than some soup and a breadstick. (Brian, I *did* eat. You may NOT pull out the mixing bowl, Cheerios, soy milk, and duct tape!!!) The last thing was a meeting with Jon and his internship committee.

Today, I’ve mostly crocheted, slept, been bossed around by my Flufferpie (who is an EXCEEDINGLY bossy kitty), and played Text Twist (a Yahoo Game that is VERY addictive.) I have choir practice tonight but I’ll probably ditch because I’m not feeling up to leaving the house.

Oh yes… no word from the library yet. I don’t know whether to be afraid or to chill.

Equality Issues
I just finished Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and it was an eye-opening book in a lot of respects. She works at a bunch of low-paying jobs, such as waitressing, housecleaning, retail, and others and talks about how badly people are treated and how one really has to work two jobs in order to support one’s self. I was thinking, “Yep! She’s on it!” throughout the book and it made my desire to find a non-retail job more passionate. The majority of the people at Drug Emporium are very nice but I feel really out of place there because I can’t really talk to any of my co-workers about anything in my life.

Prayer Requests
-that I get a call back for the library position
-that if I don’t get the library position, God has something else better in store for me
-that I can make it through the next two weeks (work this week and psych stuff the next week)

Back in Ohio
We got back to Ohio last night. Our flights were smooth and the day seemed much shorter than it was — mostly because I slept a lot of the way to Minneapolis (something I shouldn’t have done in hindsight). Our cats are slowly forgiving us for being gone — Cullen is uber-affectionate and Finian is allowing himself to be cuddled after he scolds me.