Category Archives: Blog

2018

02 Tuesday Jan 2018

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I completed some of my goals for 2017 and missed the mark (sometimes way off the mark) on some of my goals.  Time to move on to 2018.

Here’s some changes for 2018.

  1. Become healthier.  What this means for me is to reach a specific weight.  That means I’ll work on eating healthier, following an exercise routine, and get back to doing a distance race (1/2 marathon).  I haven’t identified which race, but first I need to get into good enough shape to start training for a race.
  2. Social media focus.  Since this is my blog, I have specific goals for the blog and social media in general.  I’m streamlining some things.  I have made the decision to stop doing travel blogging posts.  This blog will focus on theology/philosophy/life.  It will be more focused on these things.  I love to travel, but posting about our travels takes up a good amount of time.  I can use that time for many other things.  That will save me a considerable amount of time each week.  I know several of my readers come to this blog specifically for the travel posts, and to them I say, thanks for coming and reading my posts.  I appreciate you visiting.  I wish you well.  I’m making this change because it’s more in line with the direction of my life.
  3. Writing.  I’ve made goals about writing many times before.  I’ve tried setting a routine.  I’ve tried many things before.  I haven’t succeeded at this.  Clearly, my motivation for this is questionable.  Therefore my goal is to just write a book and get it over with.  I will complete this by Dec. 31, 2018.
  4. Career.  I’m now a pastor at a congregation that I love serving.  The biggest goal that I hope to accomplish is to develop some kind of discipleship model that incorporates visitors, members, and disciples within the church.  This really excites me and I can’t wait to see what this will look like and how it will evolve.

 

That’s enough public goals to share for today.  I hope you have goals for the year.  Go get em!

The last two weeks of my life…

24 Wednesday May 2017

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The last two weeks of my life have been unlike any other two weeks that I can recall.

Two Mondays ago, I left my home in the morning, met up with several other students, got on an airplane and traveled about 30 hours (flying time and layovers, etc) to Windhoek, Namibia.  We were heading to the Lutheran World Federation Assembly there.

We stayed there for 7 days and then jumped on some planes last Tuesday and arrived back in Pennsylvania last Wednesday – tired and exhausted, but happy about the trip.  I promise that I’ll be writing more about the trip in upcoming posts – along with some pictures too.  I’m still processing the trip.

I got a nap (mostly because I don’t sleep well on long plane rides), got to use a real sauna, and got a shower.  I was then ready for the senior banquet – a fun even for seniors at the seminary who are ready to graduate.

Then on Friday of last week there was graduation.  A truly historical event in its own right.  First, every graduation is historic because the graduating class is added to the history of the institution.  Second, this would be the last graduation of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.  The seminary will be merging with Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia come July 1 to form United Lutheran Seminary.  It’s been a long road for LTSG.  I’m proud to be a part of the last class.  Again, there are lots to process here.

Then on Sunday I had my call sermon – and the congregation voted to call me as their pastor.  Beginning June 26th, I’ll be pastor of St. Stephen Lutheran Church in New Kingstown, PA, USA.  I’m pretty excited about this.  And again, there’s plenty for me to process.

Because of all of these things, it’s taken me a bit longer than normal to get back to any type of routine with posting materials on social media and online.  I haven’t been able to post a daily prayer or do my usual tweets about made up bible passages or do travel or theological posts here on the blog.  I finally unpacked from Africa two days ago and I’m still working on going through the piles of paper on my desk to clear that off.  I hope to start posting again tomorrow, but give me a little slack if I don’t – I’ll get there.

The next big thing is ordination – next Friday, June 2.  Again, that will take some processing on my part.

And the biggest thing – figuring out the new normal.  Classes are done, but I don’t start as pastor until the end of June.  There is work that needs to be done around the house that I have been putting off for some time.

Let’s see what tomorrow holds.  Blessings.

Some blog changes

09 Monday Jan 2017

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At the beginning of December I told you I was going to take a little break from blogging in order to figure out what to do with the blog.  Things were going along fine, but not as well as I thought they could.  Plus, I was in the midst of finals for the semester.  So I needed the time.

I’ve taken that time, got back into some travel posts and an occasional other posting on theology, life, and politics.

This time away has given me the break I needed to refocus.

I’m making a few changes to the blog over the next month or so.  These changes really have to do with the overall theme of the blog.

Going forward, you’ll still see posts about travel, theology, life, and politics.  However, I’m going to be hitting a few themes pretty consistently.  Somewhere in the post I’ll be focusing on church and faith.  I’ll be hitting the challenges that I have found the church in the West faces – being approachable, being enjoyable, and being relevant.  And I’ll do this by talking about how this applies to us individually, as a community, and in leadership.

In case you are wondering, here’s how I’m defining the terms I just used.

Approachable – Is God approachable?  How about church?  The pastor and leadership in the church?  More specifically – Is doubt ok?  How about questions – are they welcome in a church?  They should be.  Does the architecture create a divide between God and the people, how about with the pastor?  How is a church or pastor supposed to accompany people where they are if they see themselves as unapproachable?

Enjoyable – I’m not talking about being entertained here.  I’m talking about this – are you bored out of your mind at church?  They why the hell would you go?  Why would anyone else for that matter?  We have the best news in the history of creation – how about sharing it in a way that would actually connect with people?  Church doesn’t have to be boring – I’m not talking about just worship either.  And it doesn’t have to look or feel like a concert either.  Things that are done well are enjoyable. That’s true for high or low church worship.  It’s also true for all aspects of church and life.  Let’s be enjoyable.

Relevant – This doesn’t mean flapping in the wind on policy or doctrine.  Not even close.  This means, are we as a church talking about the things that are going on in people’s lives?  Or are we too afraid to do that?  If we are afraid, then no wonder people look for answers or comfort elsewhere.  We should be talking about porn addiction, drugs, broken relationships, violence, work stress, how we teach people, money, sex, etc.  If we can’t talk about these things in church, without there being shame involved, then where are we going to have healthy conversations with people and walk with them in their own life struggles and challenges?  How are people going to experience change in their life?  We have a message of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  Those are powerful things when we are dealing with tough issues.  And issues isn’t the right word – all of these things pertain to people’s lives, so they are messy.  But they are real, and they are what people are dealing with daily.  Church should be too.

So there you have it. This is the new focus here at Laceduplutheran blog.  These are subjects I am passionate about and I hope you’ll see that in my writing.  I continue to welcome your comments, ideas, and examples.  Let me know if you have ideas for how I can focus on these subjects even better – who knows where it can lead.

As we go forward, you’ll see other cosmetic changes happen with the blog – all focused on what advances the discussion about the three challenges the church faces.  I hope you’ll continue to join me in exploring these things.

God bless!

Matthew

Goals for 2017

03 Tuesday Jan 2017

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We’re three days into the new year.  It’s time to declare my goals for the year.  Only, this year is a bit different.  I have goals, but the goals a bit different.  They are more like themes that will guide me.  Or maybe it’s the idea of setting up systems that will help me accomplish what I am setting out to accomplish.  To keep it simple, I’ll keep calling them goals.

I actually took some time over Christmas break and mapped out these goals through 2022.  Let’s get real for a moment.  Do I expect everything to go according to plan?  Of course not.  In fact I expect that there will be changes along the way.  Graduating in May and then being ordained, and starting ministry will definitely bring some changes – changes I can’t even foresee.  But that doesn’t mean I just sit around and wait.  Instead, I can try some things out, see how they work, and determine if they are something I will continue with.

So, here’s my goals, or themes, or systems, or whatever you want to call them for 2017:

Health – Run two half marathons in 2017.  I feel as though all of my injuries from 2016 have finally healed up.  I’ve been to the Y two days in a row, doing different workouts – running, cycling, lifting some weights.  I’ll be getting back to outdoor running soon.  The system here is that I created a schedule for myself, with what I’ll be doing each day.  Part of this is also eating healthier as well.  I want to weigh 165 lbs – which means as of yesterday, I will drop 14 pounds.  I’d really like to drop a pound a week, which means I eat considerably less and healthier.  I started this yesterday and already feel healthier.  I’m glad the holidays are over for one simple fact – better eating is easier now.

Career/calling – graduate in May and be ordained.  My last semester of seminary starts soon.  I’ve heard from the registrar that as long as I pass the classes I have signed up for, I will graduate in May.  After graduation – then it’s ordination.  I’m looking forward to seeing where God will be putting me to work.

Family – several things here.  Take a trip with the family for up to two weeks after graduation.  We’re looking at a few options of where this might be and I’m really excited about the possibilities.  I also want to play more games with them and spend open time with each one and as a group with nothing at all planned – just being present with them.  Also, I’m committed to cooking a nice meal once a week – my hope is that I find enough recipes that are unique and that I learn some things from this.

Writing – yes, writing gets it’s own section.  There’s a lot of things I want to write about.  I’ve actually created a schedule for writing.  This may be over the top, but I’ve got five different ideas that I want to write about.  Here’s the thing – I don’t expect that I’ll be writing about all five by the end of the year.  I do expect that I’ll be writing about three of them.  I’m not sure what they will lead to, and frankly, I don’t care.  I just want to write about these ideas.  The topics include church, politics, and prayer.  Also, I’ve been doing a bunch of social media stuff (twitter, blog, etc) that are all very focused.  I want to determine what I’m keeping and what I’m shedding and then some direction of where it might be taking me.  In other words, narrow in on a focus for this – probably in line with the topics I will be writing about.

That’s enough to focus on for the year.  What are your goals for 2017?

Review of 2016

29 Thursday Dec 2016

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So, I’m doing this a couple of days early, but better early than never.

2016 was a pretty good year for me.  Lots happened and if you follow this blog regularly, you’ve seen and heard about them over the course of the year.  As for this blog, this year was a big year – more visitors and views of the blog than the previous two years.  I also had my most read blog post ever this year – soon after the 2016 presidential election – almost 600 reads on a blog post I did arguing that pastors ought to be non-partisan.

2016 also brought about some great travel experiences for our family, finishing up my internship year, starting my last year of seminary, and being approved for ordination.  That’s the quick highlights.

Here’s how I did with my goals for 2016:

Running – complete two half marathons in 2016.  Failed.

Running – I will run 1000 miles this year.  Failed.

I failed because this was a terrible year for me physically.  I turned 40, which means that my body literally fell apart.  I suffered a pulled hamstring at the end of January.  It started to heal and a month later I pulled it again.  It was nasty and gross with internal bleeding and my using crutches for about 3 weeks.  It took many months of recovery and when I got back into running, left foot decided it was time to speak up – I had plantar fasciitis on my left heel.  It was painful and kept me from running even longer.  When I finally was healthy enough this year, it was November.  I ran a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving – a 5k and did well.  I was proud of my son who beat me by a couple of minutes too.  Maybe another runner in the family?  We’ll see.

Travel – I want to do some trips with the family.  Success.

Success here.  We didn’t have any international trips planned – wouldn’t have worked in our schedule anyway.  But we did take a trip to Pittsburgh, and we explored around Altoona, PA  – where we were serving out my internship year.  I was also able to go to NYC with my family and the youth group for a church trip.  I also went to Atlanta for the Festival of Homiletics – which included a few side trips.  In June our family did a family vacation to Raystown Lake for a week – lots of fun.  I was also able to spend a couple of days down in Baltimore with my supervisor and a mutual friend for a relaxing time.

Career/Calling – Get approved.  Success.

Not much more to add here.  I was greatly relieved and also excited to be approved for ordination.  Seminary is almost done!

Writing – Write a book on the challenges the church faces/things I’ve learned from my time in Finland.  Failed.

I didn’t succeed in this venture.  However, I have written a ton over the course of the year.  The form of the book has changed over the year.  And I’m not giving up on this goal yet. I actually have a few writing goals for 2017.

Financial – Have only student loan debt and a mortgage. Success.

I have no credit card debt, no car loans, no other types of debt.  Plenty of student loan debt and a mortgage, but hey, it’s a start – a big start.

Blogging – Keep writing a travel post and a post on theology/politics/current events each weekday.  Mostly a success.

I wrote 394 posts this year.  (I have a couple more through Saturday, including this one).  I didn’t post every single weekday though.  But many days I had multiple posts in a day.  I wrote travel posts very consistently and posts on theology, politics, and other random things pretty consistently too.

Family – I want to teach my children how to play six new games this year. ????

I honestly don’t know if I succeeded in this goal.  We played a ton of games over the course of the year, so I’m guessing that this was a success.

Overall, 2016 was a good year.  I’m looking forward to 2017.  I’ll have new goals posted either on Monday or Tuesday next week (after the kids go back to school).  Happy New Year!

Blog changes

12 Monday Sep 2016

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I’m taking a semi-break.  A what?  A semi-break. It’s a kind of break – but only partially. Let me explain.

I’m going to continue to post travel posts to the blog.  I enjoy doing this and I still have a ton to post.  These posts bring back fond memories.

I’m taking a look at how I’m going to change the blog up a bit.  I’m getting a little tired of some of my other postings – not feeling inspired at the moment.  My backlog of things I had planned on blogging about are “meh” at best.  They just aren’t doing it for me right now.  And frankly, if that’s all they are, then they aren’t worth posting.  Maybe some of this has to do with the way I’ve been posting.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that I’m loaded down with lots of school and church work right now.  Maybe it’s a combination of several things.

Regardless, I need to take a step back from this one part of the blog.  I’m been thinking about how to change the blog up anyway, so this might be a great opportunity to do just that.

Here’s my promise to you – when I’m inspired to write, I will.  I just don’t promise to post on a regular, every day, at the same time consistency for the non-travel part of the blog.  I know this goes against every sage advice about growing a blog.  But here’s the thing – I do this blog because I want to do it.  I don’t make a penny on the blog.  My plan was never to make a penny on it.  I do it because I enjoy it.

Right now, I need a time to re-examine and see where the future of the blog is headed.  And I need some extra time to devote to seminary classes, preaching prep, and candidacy requirements – all of which take up a great deal of time.

Maybe this semi-break will last one week.  Maybe I’ll be back to posting what I have been posting.  Maybe I’ll somehow combine what I’m doing here with my tweets on the bible that I do over on Twitter (@laceduplutheran and @Holey_Bible).  Maybe I combine what I’m doing here with the daily prayer I post (pleasepraywith.me).  Who knows.  I guess we’ll all find out soon enough.  In the mean time, I’d ask for some prayers.  Prayers that I don’t feel overwhelmed, prayers that I complete tasks on time, prayers that I learn what I need to, prayers that the direction of the blog goes the way it should go.

Thank you.  Thank you for reading my blog.  Thank you for the comments you offer.  I appreciate all of you and look forward to moving forward with the blog.

Back to…

22 Monday Aug 2016

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I took last week off from posting anything on social media.  No travel blog posts, no theology, no politics, no prayers, no tweets. No nothing. It was like a vacation.  Only it wasn’t.

We moved back to our home after being away for two years.  I needed the time to unpack (still not totally done, but a good way through).  I’m also working on my Approval Essay (really important essay for concluding seminary).  That’s coming along well.  It’s due Sept. 1 – So I’ll be working on it until then, continually tweaking and changing things as I see it.

Taking time off from social media was nice – a breathe of fresh air.

I’m also realizing that I might be doing too much.  Or maybe I’m just feeling a bit weighed down.  I like posting travel blog posts.  They are fun.  I enjoy writing on theology and politics.  I enjoy creating unique tweets on the bible.  I enjoy all of this, but I’m wondering if I’m just feeling like there has to be a faster way to do this all.

I’ll keep playing with things and see how it works out.

In the mean time, I’ve restarted most of it.  I’ll get back into a groove soon.  It will have to if this is going to continue – classes start next week.  So I better find that groove quickly.

Until tomorrow…Peace.

Something new and an apology

30 Wednesday Mar 2016

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I’m going to start off with an apology.  I’m not sure I need it yet, but I’ll find out in a few minutes.  Read on and I’ll explain.

So the Daily Prayer experiment is going well.  Well, actually, I’m not sure what it’s doing to be perfectly honest.  My intent was just to offer a prayer on social media because I needed to read a prayer.  Too much on social media is upsetting, angering, divisive and blaming.  My thought was that posting a prayer would be good for me to see.

Apparently several other folks thought so too.

So I decided to streamline things a bit.  I added a Twitter feed and now a blog.  They have the same prayer (actually the twitter feed is connected to the blog).  The idea is that more people can pray along – there seems to be a desire for prayer.  At least I know I’m not alone in that desire.

So here’s the thing with the blog.  I added a widget that allows people to enter their e-mail and they will receive an e-mail whenever I post from the new blog.  The challenge is I’m not sure if you all are getting those e-mails too (if you subscribe to Laced Up Lutheran blog).  The two blogs come from the same account.  So if that is happening, please, please, please let me know.  I’ll remove the option so people aren’t receiving something they don’t want to receive.

Anyway, here’s the information on the blog and twitter feed:

Blog – www.pleasepraywith.me

Twitter – https://twitter.com/dailyprayer16

Blessings to you.

 

Goals for 2016

04 Monday Jan 2016

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So I was going to post my goals for 2016 on Friday, Jan. 1, but this little thing called “the internet was down” happened here at our home.  So I decided to wait until today.  I don’t like to make a ton of goals, but the goals I make do push me and often help me do various other things throughout the year.  I don’t do goals in a particular order, but rather for different parts of my life.  So here goes:

Running – I will complete two half marathons this year.  This isn’t really a stretch for me, but more something to keep me on track.  Let’s put it this way, I’ll be disappointed if I don’t do two.

Running – I will run 1000 miles this year.  I got this e-mail about a 1000 mile challenge.  I thought it would be easy.  Then I thought about how many miles that is each week.  This will be a stretch goal for me, but I think it’s doable.

(Author’s update:  I was a bit off on this.  Upon further examination, the challenge that I am referring to is from Mapmyrun.com.  And the challenge is to run 1000 km. I started it anyway.  I’m still shooting for 1000 miles – it would be good for me.)

(Update #2 – There’s a second mileage challenge.  I got it in a separate e-mail.  It’s for ilovetorun.org and it has a challenge of running 1000 miles or running 100 days in 2016.  I signed up for the 1000 miles.)

Travel – I want to do some trips with the family.  We won’t be doing any international trips this year, as far as I can tell.  But that shouldn’t stop us from seeing some of the great cities in the Mid-Atlantic – cities like Pittsburgh, DC, New York City, and Philadelphia.

We also want to see some of the smaller places of interest – places like Gravity Hill.  This is one of those weird places on the planet where you go to the bottom of a hill, put your vehicle in neutral and then feel the car start to roll up the hill.   Pretty crazy.

Career/Calling – Get approved.  This is the third and final step in the candidacy process for a Lutheran seminarian like myself.  It’s a big deal.  There will be another nasty paper to write in preparation for this, complete internship, do another interview in front of the candidacy committee (about 30-40 people).  Approval essentially says that yes, I’m ready to be called as a pastor somewhere (so long as I pass my remaining classes)

Writing – Write a book on the challenges the church faces/things I’ve learned from my time in Finland.  I’ve been saying I want to do this, this is the year to make it happen.

Financial – Have only student loan debt and a mortgage.  That would mean no credit card debt. I’m well on my way to completing this, but I’ll be thrilled when it happens a little later this year.

Blogging – Keep writing a travel post and a post on theology/politics/current events each weekday.  I’ll not going to say that the goal will be a failure if I miss a few days.  The point is to keep posting content consistently, which for me means each weekday.  I’ll probably take holidays off.

Family – I want to teach my children how to play six new games this year.  Why?  If I’m teaching them a game, then I’m spending time with them and they are learning something new.  I’m already on my way with this one – the girls now know how to play rummy.