I am very happy that I passed the second round of Board interviews. In our conference, we break the ordination process into three modules, and we meet once a year for a retreat at one of the United Methodist camps for interviews. I passed Module B this year, and I only have one more round to go before full ordination as an elder.

Most of us wouldn’t necessarily say we love the process. Most of us really love griping and complaining about the process. However, I truly enjoy the time I spend at these interviews for one main reason: the connection with other pastors. As United Methodists we are blessed (and this blessing brings its fair share of curses as well) to be so visibly connected with one another. As a result of these meetings, I know far more people in the conference than I would otherwise. I know women and men who are going through the same things I am. It is a great privilege to be around others who are plodding along through the long haul of ordination either as a deacon or an elder.

The connections we form at these retreats are invaluable. I can’t imagine ministry without my colleagues and friends in ministry. The connection is the Church.

Today I’m leaving for our annual Board of Ordained Ministry retreat.  No, I’m not on the board.   This is the time when we probationary members have our annual interviews.  We get together at one of the Methodist camps for fellowship and interviews about this time every year.  This is my second year, so hopefully this will be my next-to-last time to be there as an interviewee.

This is such a long and complicated process, and it is one that I have mixed feelings about.  On one hand, I appreciate the selectivity we have for UM pastors.  On the other hand, if we really have a clergy shortage, I don’t think drawing the process out a decade does much to remedy that.  Anyway, I don’t have any better ideas right now, and until I do, I’m not going to complain much.

Today I’m leaving for our annual Board of Ordained Ministry retreat.  No, I’m not on the board.   This is the time when we probationary members have our annual interviews.  We get together at one of the Methodist camps for fellowship and interviews about this time every year.  This is my second year, so hopefully this will be my next-to-last time to be there as an interviewee.

This is such a long and complicated process, and it is one that I have mixed feelings about.  On one hand, I appreciate the selectivity we have for UM pastors.  On the other hand, if we really have a clergy shortage, I don’t think drawing the process out a decade does much to remedy that.  Anyway, I don’t have any better ideas right now, and until I do, I’m not going to complain much.

I may be totally out of the loop, but this is the first year that I have heard the Friday after Thanksgiving so consistently referred to as Black Friday. Fortunately, it seems to be one of those miracles of the lectionary that Black Friday comes right before Christ the King Sunday.This Sunday was introduced into the Christian year in an encyclical by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as he entreated the world to live in such a way that we acknowledge Christ’s reign in all the earth. Scripture seems to suggest that idolatry is one of the root sins humanity struggles with, and I think that it is easy to allow other things to ‘reign’ in our lives. Black Friday is a reminder that consumerism has a pretty powerful and compelling reign in many of our lives. Perhaps Christ the King Sunday can be a reminder that Christ’s reign places consumerism and greed in their place and exposes them as fakes and frauds.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wait in line for 32 hours to see if they have any more Playstation 3s.

Guy Clark is one of my favorite artists. He has a wonderful song that really captures a feeling that I get every now and then. It’s called That Old Time Feelin’, and here are the words:

And that old time feelin’ goes sneakin’ down the hall,
Like an old gray cat in winter, keepin’ close to the wall.
And that old time feelin’ comes stumblin’ up the street,
Like an old salesman kickin’ the papers from his feet.

And that old time feelin’ draws circles around the block,
Like old women with no children, holdin’ hands with the clock.
And that old time feelin’ fall on it’s face in the park,
Like and old wino prayin’ he can make it ’till it’s dark.

And that old time feelin’ comes and goes in the rain,
Like an old man with his checkers, dyin’ to find a game.
And that old time feelin’ plays for beer in bars,
Like and old blues-time picker who don’t recall who you are.

And that old time feelin’ limps through the night on a crutch,
Like an old soldier wonderin’ if he’s paid too much.
And that old time feelin’ rocks and spits and cries,
Like and old lover rememberin’ the girl with the clear blue eyes.

I don’t know that these words specifically refer to the way I’m feeling, but the song itself is definitely evocative of the general way I feel on days like today. It is sort of a homesickness. I read The Narnian a few weeks back, and it is the feeling I think C.S. Lewis referred to as Joy. Alan Jacobs describes joy in Lewis’ thought as follows,

“One cannot say it is exactly pleasurable – there is a kind of ache in the sense of unattainability that always accompanies the longing – and yet, as Lewis puts it, the quality of the experience ‘is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.’ This is why he calls it Joy: because the word longing fails to convey the desirability of the feeling itself.”

So, for what it’s worth, that’s how I’m feeling this morning. I’m not sure if it’s as desirable as Lewis describes, but it is certainly different than an ordinary day.

Guy Clark is one of my favorite artists. He has a wonderful song that really captures a feeling that I get every now and then. It’s called That Old Time Feelin’, and here are the words:

And that old time feelin’ goes sneakin’ down the hall,
Like an old gray cat in winter, keepin’ close to the wall.
And that old time feelin’ comes stumblin’ up the street,
Like an old salesman kickin’ the papers from his feet.

And that old time feelin’ draws circles around the block,
Like old women with no children, holdin’ hands with the clock.
And that old time feelin’ fall on it’s face in the park,
Like and old wino prayin’ he can make it ’till it’s dark.

And that old time feelin’ comes and goes in the rain,
Like an old man with his checkers, dyin’ to find a game.
And that old time feelin’ plays for beer in bars,
Like and old blues-time picker who don’t recall who you are.

And that old time feelin’ limps through the night on a crutch,
Like an old soldier wonderin’ if he’s paid too much.
And that old time feelin’ rocks and spits and cries,
Like and old lover rememberin’ the girl with the clear blue eyes.

I don’t know that these words specifically refer to the way I’m feeling, but the song itself is definitely evocative of the general way I feel on days like today. It is sort of a homesickness. I read The Narnian a few weeks back, and it is the feeling I think C.S. Lewis referred to as Joy. Alan Jacobs describes joy in Lewis’ thought as follows,

“One cannot say it is exactly pleasurable – there is a kind of ache in the sense of unattainability that always accompanies the longing – and yet, as Lewis puts it, the quality of the experience ‘is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.’ This is why he calls it Joy: because the word longing fails to convey the desirability of the feeling itself.”

So, for what it’s worth, that’s how I’m feeling this morning. I’m not sure if it’s as desirable as Lewis describes, but it is certainly different than an ordinary day.

My least favorite part of moving is packing. My second least favorite part would be unpacking. Today I’m making the move from Blogger to WordPress based on the advice of a more seasoned blogger. Fortunately, there isn’t much packing or unpacking to do, other than setting up the site a bit!

Although there may be minor changes in the days ahead, I’m pretty much simply going to start blogging over here. I don’t have a ton of posts over at Blogger since I’m still a relative novice, so I won’t be missing much in the archives. I look forward to the switch, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Based on some good advice from The MethoBlog, I’m making the shift from Blogger to WordPress. There are some great things about Blogger, but I’ve been looking at the WordPress platform for some time now. It seems like the trouble with Blogger-beta will be over eventually, but I’m ready for a change. I’m not moving anything from this web address to WordPress. I’m just packing up and leaving.

WordPress here I come! http://catchingmeddlers.wordpress.com/

Sometimes I’m not sure why I started blogging. I’ve wanted to for at least a year, but I’ve just started working on it with any consistency. Writing has always been something I’ve loved. In fact, I can still remember one of my first stories from gradeschool. It was an incredibly predictable western except for the very end when the hero dies by plunging off a cliff. For whatever reason, I’ve also continually been fascinated by plunging off cliffs…and digression.

So, back to the point. Scot McKnight, one of my favorite bloggers, wrote an article that helped clarify my blog-urge. He quotes James Vanoosting who says, “Writing is not pedagogy but an epistemology.” That’s it! I write as a way of knowing. The other thing McKnight describes is that the only way to improve as a writer is simply to write! That’s probably my main motivation here. I can’t start off by writing anything deep, even though I am published (The fascinating titles of these two works are Characterization of exochitinase of cantaloupe fruit tissue & The lymphocyte metalloprotease MDC-L (ADAM 28) is a ligand for the integrin alpha 4 beta 1.). However, I can write regularly with a desire to improve and sharpen my skills. That’s the reason I blog.