April Newsletter... and Halle's Update

Matthew's Update (aka April Newsletter)
As I am focusing on my classes (three weeks till summer!) I had the opportunity to go to the call service for this year’s vicars and future pastors. It was an amazing experience. For those of you who do not know exactly how the call service works, students who are to receive their calls in the service have no idea where they are going (either for their first call or for their vicarage) until they get there. When they get there they have a worship service, a sermon, and finally each student is called up by name and told where they are going to be spending the next long time. It is a wonderful thing. It is also strange to think that both Halle and I will be sitting there at this time next year, finding out where we will be going for vicarage. It really goes by so fast.

Halle is doing well with work, still loving working with the kids. She just got accepted at a masters in teaching program from university of southern California. It is an online full time program that she can do online. The benefit is that she can start teaching vicarage year.

One of my favorite classes is a study of Revelation from professor Louie Brighton. Before I took the class, I had no idea who dr. Brighton was. I asked a professor who described him this way: “He is so old and ancient looking, he could tell me that he studied with John the gospel writer and I would believe him. He was old thirty years ago when I was a professor here, and he has just gotten older.” Dr. Brighton sure is an old man, but he has so many stories and so much wisdom. Nobody has read any book of the bible like I have seen Dr. Brighton read Revelation. If I were to summarize the class briefly, I would say this: The book of revelation gives us a picture of God’s absolute control over the world. Things from our perspective may look like they are out of control, but God really is in charge of everything that happens. There are also no accidents in this world. Earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters are all under God’s control. Furthermore, terrorist acts are also under God’s control. God is in control of everything. He does not let us suffer these things because he is an angry God, but he uses them to teach us to more fully rely on him. Like a parent who spanks a child, God uses suffering in this world to show us that there is nothing that can save us except Jesus Christ himself. Praise be to God he does not leave us alone, but constantly works to save and bring us to rely on his power alone.

God's Faithfulness

This week God asked me if I trusted Him. I guess I learned not always should've been my answer.

It was late last week that my admission counselor from the MAT program that I am applying to called me. He gave me some unexpected news - the news was although my application was due this Thursday (giving me a week) recommendation letters were due Monday... What? So I rushed emailing my two recommenders to plead with them to email them in as soon as possible and ended up leaving a voicemail for each as well. While praying for God to please get them in He asked me

Do you trust me?
I said - yes sure but please please please they need to be in by Monday!!!

The weekend roles by with the admission counselor calling me each day asking where the letters of recommendation were (he got quite annoying - but was only doing his job) and I got worried and worrieder... (yes intentional spelling) and God kept asking me
Do you trust me?

And my answer kept getting farther from a yes.

Monday I got a ticket from expired car tabs (we did see that one coming) and my phone stopped working. By midnight one letter of recommendation was in but the other was still missing. Tuesday going to get a new phone my car had problems starting and I had a fight with my spouse. I decided I was going to write a former professor and current friend and ask him to write a letter and God kept asking me - Do you trust me - So I wrote the professor and did not ask him to write a letter of recommendation I decided to wait it out.

Wednesday comes and goes and all day I am getting more and more anxious. Finally late Wednesday I am able to speak with the other recommender and she says that she was currently writing it. I relax. God, I ask, did you always know this was going to happen. Yes, he answers. I guess I should have trusted him all along.

Songtime

Just a song that has been playing on my heart.

Own Me:
Got a stack of books so I could learn how to live;
Many are left half-read covered by the cobwebs on my shelf.
And I got a list of laws growing longer everyday;
If I keep pluggin' away, maybe one day I'll perfect myself.
Oh, but all of my labor seems to be in vain;
And all of my laws just cause me more pain;
So I fall before you in all of my shame;
Ready and willing to be changed-

Own me
Take all that I am,
And heal me!
With the blood of the lamb.
Mold me with your gracious hand;
Break me till I'm only yours-
Own me!

You call me daughter,
And take my blame;
You run to meet me,
As I cry out your name,
So I fall before you in all of my shame,
Lord, I am ready to be changed

Aritist: Ginny Owens

Going Green

Sidenote:

Matthew and I are also (thanks Northwest) starting to 'go green' in small ways of course. Currently we walk to work/school around 2-3 times a week, and are growing our own herb garden. Composting is on our list of things to do as well as investigate other easy ways to stop consuming as much. If anyone has any ideas feel free to comment below.

Halle

Newsletter

Each month Matthew sends a newsletter to churches that support him so I thought I would post it here - it briefly talks about his classes and St. Louis and it has a little of me in there too!

March 2010 - The Warmbiers in St. Louis - Matthew Warmbier
So begins a new trimester! I am taking two more classes this trimester than I was last time, so I have a much more busy school life. But, it is ok. This is what I am here for and I enjoy it. This semester I am studying homiletics (how to preach), the second of two classes about the Lutheran Confessions, a class on the first three Gospels, a class on the book of Revelation, a class studying pastoral theology in Luther’s writings, and a class where we look at and discuss the readings for the following Sunday. It is a lot of work, but the classes are very good and the professors are all very enjoyable.


Halle is continuing her work with St. Mark’s and is really enjoying it. She is also taking a class offered for free to the seminary wives on C.S. Lewis, one of her all time favorite authors. She has just finished up her application to a master’s program for teaching, so we are waiting anxiously for that. Keep her in our prayers. We all hope that she gets accepted and can spend her working years doing something she really enjoys in service of others.

Focus on a Class
My class on preaching so far has been a wonderful class. I am taking it with Dr. Meyer, who is the college president. I figured that it would be wise to take whatever classes he offers, since he teaches only once a semester (since he is so busy doing president stuff normally). It is good. I have an enormous amount of respect for him since he teaches. Many college presidents do not teach and have a minimal relationship with the students and faculty. Since Dr. Meyer teaches, he keeps the students and the teachers first in his mind when he makes decisions as the President. If any of you remember, he was the Lutheran Hour speaker for a number of years, so he knows how to speak publically.


Anyway, in the class we just finished up a discussion on literacy. It is amazing – my generation and those younger generations are actually choosing to be less literate than their parents’ generation. TV, computers, texting and the like have caused kids to leave reading behind. As a result, their brains are developing differently than previous generations who read books and listened to the radio. They are increasingly incapable of understanding more difficult complex logic and abstract thought. The result is a generation that puts off propositional logic in favor of stories. Their brains are actually wired to think in stories and word pictures rather than with solid ideas. The cure? Read your child/grandchild a book before bed! Until then, we must continue to teach them the stories of the faith.

Yay!

A little update now and then...

The week of February 22nd ended up being absolutely wonderful. Tuesday we flew from Stl to Pdx to come up for a friend's wedding. We spent seven great days seeing old friends, preparing a bride, and visiting family members. There were many fun stories and highlights from that week including (but not limited to) seeing the improved health of a favorite Eggert, seeing the liver girls, the dinner at red robin where two times our party elbowed the waiter in the crotch accidentally, making bachelorette plans, singing in the lobby of the church for two hours, discussions in hotel rooms, a surprise of me meeting the rest of the party of Starbucks, a BEAUTIFUL wedding and seeing my expecting sister-inlaw (Davis side). It was wonderful, beautiful and insightful.

This week has been a week of readjustment, grieving, and growing. I spoke with a dear friend Serena last night and she reminded me of something I had seemingly forgotten sometimes we need to go back to the basics. The basics meaning get out your Bible, turn to a devotional and start praying. I put a quick tab on my internet explorer for a Charles Spurgeon devotional (www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/morningandevening). If you like old language, deep thoughts, and new insights into small passages then check him out.

Sometimes being a DCE at a church has its struggles, one I have found is doing the work without the director of the author. Sometimes it seems as though I just work. Nothing will inspire me it has simply become another day to finish. Thank you Serena for reminding me of the hope that I have within me. That this jewel of love still exists with me. I love you.
Go.

When we see God

I was thinking today about when we first will see God.

I had always imagined the moment as me running up to see a long lost friend whom I had only been able to communicate with through letters or something. Yet today as I reflect on this sentiment again I sadly don't think that will be my original feeling.

I think when we finally will see God we will have a feeling of shame. What did we spend all those years on earth doing? Why in the world did we spend so much time watching TV? What was it that really consumed us here on earth - was it the mission of loving those most in distress? Was it giving all our money to the poor? Was it being kind to those who spit on us and forgiving our enemies - truly, totally, forgiving them? Did I give all I had to the cause I claimed to follow so 'religiously'? Looking at these questions - are they too high, too unreasonable? Although I can't say yes to any of these questions - no I don't think they are unreasonable.

I think we forget that our faith, the religion following the life of Jesus Christ of Israel is radical and not cozy. It is not something that we can participate in half-time. It is like swimming, when you get in the water you are completely surrounded, although sometimes I feel like I am the one clinging to the edges with my water wings, hoping that the experience will soon be over and yet the next day claiming that yes I am indeed an experienced swimmer. When will I dare to be surrounded, completely surrounded by Christ.
Being kind to those who spit on us
Loving those MOST in distress
Giving ALL our money to the poor
Forgiving our enemies COMPLETELY. These are not standards I can profess to adhere to.

Isaiah 25

O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigner's stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall
and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquest of aged wine --
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.

The LORD has spoken.
:1-8

Remembering and Remembering

But you are a shield around me, O Lord;
you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill.
I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.
Psalm 3:3-6

I have been thinking a lot today about a lot of different things.
Today is a thinking day and a rememberence day.
Not specifically to one person (with the exception God - but then again he is three... I guess that counts him out too) but to ideas and concepts and times and places.

Tolerance. What a word. It is thought to mean so many different things and implies so many different things (Did I just say the same thing twice).

According to Dictionary.com the definitions for this word are as follows...
1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.
2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.
3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint
4. the act or capacity of enduring; endurance: My tolerance of noise is limited.

The definitions continue in relation to Machinery and Medicine but for our purposes this is what we are sticking with.

We, meaning Matthew and I, were thinking about the world and how the world refuses to stop hating others and yet certain sectors continue to try and attain perfection on earth. Perhaps I am not being as clear as I can be - we try and become perfect and yet perfection is unattainable.

Back to Tolerance. I was speaking with some high schoolers and they said that they disliked the tolerance movement (don't get your feathers too ruffled yet). These kids - apart from all being from educated homes (parents with college degrees) are all from a wide variety of schools (differing in economic prosperity), have a very wide variety of political opinions, and agree on fews things except that one of the kids looks like frodo. They said of the Tolerance movement that instead of promoting and embracing the differences that in their schools the tolerance movement was making everyone look the same and no one was allowed to talk about the differences. They seemed to find that the rule was, "you MUST tolerate all people... or else". To make quite an outrageous statement in fact we musn't tolerate all people - we have the right in this country to hate... In fact I believe it is in our very nature to hate... This is why Christianity is needed... because humanity is first and foremost bad... yes there exists good charity in the world and yes there exists love... but the first lesson we teach children is how to share... So back to the original subject - are we simply trying to impose perfection onto a imperfect race (the human race) - and although as Christians we are indeed simply trying and failing to be good in a bad world why is everyone else - and is the tolerance movement actually helping or building up barriers when kids feel as though their uniqueness is being taken away - I would like thoughts from all aspects of the spectrum (although in the spirit of... well.. tolerance I would ask the comments to be respectful)...

I should clarify that I do actually think the original principles of tolerance are good - embracing differences - especially in reference to the third definition of tolerance listed above - I am simply wondering if we have skewed (what a horrible way to spell it) the definition in favor of implementation.

On a brighter side - life is beautiful - and this world is beautiful - if this world is currently marred by sin think of how beautiful the mountains will be when perfected.

Also I want you to know that Matthew and I are doing fine here in St. Louis - my job at the church is working out wonderfully and I am doing what I love - spending time with youth and the sun just started shining - Matthew is in his groove with the classes he is taking here and we are very greatful for Joshua and Kirk who came with us. My beautiful friend Maria is getting married in just about one month and both Matthew and I will be flying back for that occasion and are getting really excited!

To end I have created a Top 10 list of things I love in St. Louis

10. Ted Drewwes Custard (sort of like ice cream except better)
9. More snow than the NW Coast
8. having my own house
7. wild bunnies are everyone
6. there are lots of free things to do (Art Museum, Zoo - mom, History Museum, etc.)
5. being walking distance from the Sem and my job
4. Target has a Starbucks (yes this is number 4 on my list - and I can say I come from the birthplace of Starbucks and people think thats cool)
3. Being branded as a complete hippy liberal
3b. things here are cheaper (ex. gas and food)(please don't read into that statement)
2. I can't put a number two - it's too close to the top to be anything random
1. Being with Matthew (I know it's cheesy)

Much Love from me and THE FATHER