3 Minute Ministry Mentor

Episode 21: Practicing Resurrection

Easter season, or Eastertide lasts for six more Sundays. The season of Pentecost begins on June 9, and it continues for close to six months. We also celebrate a little Easter every Sunday of the year. And being a follower of Jesus invites us to practice resurrection on every day of our lives.

This week’s Three Minute Ministry Mentor episode is about practicing resurrection.

 

#3MMM

Episode 20: Identity and Place

Place matters.

In so many ways it matters.

Where you observe Holy Week. Where you go home at night. Where you were raised. Where you work and live and play. Each of these places matter, and they give shape to who you are.

This week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor is about place and identity. The day we made this episode was cold and windy and miserable. Hints of spring, yet winter was still having its way. The place was outside in that weather and it shows on my face and body.

 

Learn more about the how Identity and Place impact your ministry by listening to episode 20 and reading on the blog. #3MMM.

Episode 19: Brick Walls

What do brick walls, American Idol and ministry have to do with each other? Read on . . .

Lately, I’ve been watching American Idol. Now, in truth since my daughter was born, I nearly gave up television altogether. The TV in our living room (only the second one we’ve owned in all our married lives), goes months and months without coming on. The World Series, the Grammy’s, the Emmy’s. A game or two of college ball. That’s pretty much it.

But then we found out Walker Burroughs was auditioning for Idol. We could not resist. I’ve known his parents, David and Colleen Burroughs since before they were married. I’ve worked with Passport Camps in many roles since they began the camp in the mid-1990s. I remember so well when Walker, and his twin sister Milligan, were born. Through social media and fewer visits in person I’ve seen Walker grow up and heard him sing. Always fun!

And now he’s made it into the top 20. Of American Idol. Katy Perry thinks he’s dope. Luke Bryan says “so professional” and Lionel Richie (my first stadium concert) thinks Walker is awesome! Sunday night he was in the duets round, singing with Jason Mraz. The whole moderate and progressive (mostly white) Baptist world is abuzz with Walker’s success, hoping to cheer him on and vote him to success.

Tonight I stood up and cheered when he made it through to the next round of 14 singers. And next week we get to vote!

Read more brick wall stories at: Episode 19: Brick Walls #3MMM.

Episode 18: Preaching Jesus

I felt enthralled and overwhelmed by the sculpture of Mary holding Jesus (pictured above) when I stepped into the foyer at Belle Meade United Methodist Church to film this week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor.

And the name of the sculptor grabbed my attention immediately. Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet, is among my favorite poets. Yet it turns out the poet and sculptor are not the same person, but cousins, sometimes mistaken for one another.

It took some investigation to sort out the story of two Kahlil Gibrans. The sculptor of this Piata (Mary and Jesus), born in 1922, was the namesake of his elder poet-artist cousin, author of The Prophet. The younger Gibran even wrote a biography about the literary genius of the elder poet. The sculptor often rendered artistic creations from found materials that he shaped into new works of art.

Preaching Jesus can be like this. Lots of investigation and sorting out identities. Working with found materials and fashioning new works of art. #3MMM

 

Episode 17: Aha Moments

So many kinds of moments deserve this word!

When conducting interviews with 50 seminarians-on-the-way-to-ministry and 25 seasoned pastors and priests, we asked them all to tell us about and “aha moment” of learning in ministry. The Learning Pastoral Imagination data is thus filled with wonderful, surprising, and profound moments of learning in practice.

Rarely did we hear stories of classroom learning. What we heard were stories about Clinical Pastoral Education, internships and field education, camp experiences, and other moments when people were deeply immersed in the practice of ministry itself.

What are your aha moments of learning in the practice of ministry? #3MMM

Episode 16: Engaging Ritual

This past weekend I took some of my seminary students to the “Beating Guns” tour where Shane Claiborne and Michael Martin led us in a powerful liturgy filled with statistics and singing, rap music and poetry, Scripture, stories, images, and fire. One of the aims of the worship event is to transcend the gun debate in America. One side says, “guns are the problem, and we must reduce the number of weapons,” and the other side says, “humans are the problem, and we just need to change hearts.”

We gathered in the nearly-200-year-old Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Nashville. The church is not only the oldest Episcopal church in the city, it is also the cathedral parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee. The Very Reverend Timothy Kimbrough welcomed us. And he reminded us that the first building of the church, located several blocks away at Sixth and Spring Streets, was built with the labors of enslaved people in the 1830s.

The rise of guns and rise of white supremacy came at the same time. To have this worship ritual at this house of worship was going to do spiritual and theological work on several levels.

Read more about Episode 16: Engaging Ritual #3MMM.