Rocky Mountain High: House for all Sinners and Saints

The final stage of my long and winding journey towards ordination has set us on the road back to our beloved Denver, CO. It was recently made official that to fulfill my internship requirement, I have been invited to serve as the vicar for the House for All Sinners and Saints under the supervision of the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber. Needless to say, we are overjoyed at the opportunity not only to serve in and be served by such an exciting and trail-blazing community, but also to return to the glorious lightness of being and life that can only come from living a mile above sea-level. Fellow Lutheran and songwriter John Denver said it best: "life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, blowing like the breeze, country road, take me home, to the place, I belong..." My whole family is giddy with a pre-mature Rocky Mountain High!

Nadia began HFASS (which my classmate at Southern pointed out could be construed as "half-ass" - is this intentional I wonder?) as a church plant while still in seminary, and one of the primary goals of my apprenticeship to her will be to study the arts of missional development (ELCA super-secret code for church planting) so that I can "go and do likewise." Judging by the torrents of friend requests we have already received on facebook, however, I get the feeling that even more exciting will be the chance to experience the wonderful and surprising things the Spirit is doing in this quirky little portion of the Body of Christ, from beer and hymn sings at local bars, to celebrating matins on Wednesday mornings, to whatever other surprises the capacious creativity of the Living God devises for us and for the Kingdom while we are graced to pilgrimage alongside them.

The Spirit's future awaits! I begin my service as a Vicar of Denver on Pentecost Sunday, June 12th, 2011. We appreciate your prayers (we are still awaiting word on housing, and will be cutting it pretty tight health-care wise, given that #2 is due Sept. 1st!), celebrations, and support as the journey continues! Onward and upward, as they say...

(PS: YES, John Denver really was a Lutheran at some point in his life...though he later turned to the self-help gurus of EST...so like I said, a true Lutheran...)