Credo ↔ Oratio

Just in case you haven’t been on facebook and/or didn’t otherwise hear…

Our 2nd daughter was born yesterday morning (1/13/09) at 8:25.  She was 7 pounds 2 oz… 21 inches long.  Her name is Petra Grace.

Both her and JJ are doing well and the hope is that both will be able to come home this afternoon or early evening!  Sophia is taking the news pretty well (although she is probably even more excited about staying at “aunt Roxie’s” house while we’re at the hospital than the baby at this point).

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf… feel free to spread the news!

Grace and Pace,
`tim

The new year is fast upon us and, as is usually the case when the calendar makes its remarkably over-celebrated transition from one page to the next, I find myself reflecting on the past year. Meditations like this can easily lean either toward the negative or the positive and, to be fair, this year has provided enough on both sides of the list to write several lengthy posts. It’s the positive that gives life though, so I’d like to end the year giving out a few unofficial awards noting those who have made my little corner of the world better and more hopeful in a variety of ways.

My self-imposed rules are simple:

• No one in the family gets awards – they go without saying!
• No one gets an award who would expect to get one – that defeats the purpose.
• Awards are presented in random order; I’m giving 7 for no other reason than that it seems like a good biblical number.

Award #1: Emily… For all the work she’s done at church… all the ways she’s gone above and beyond… all the times she picked up the slack when others fell through.

Award #2: the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America… for an historic vote on the Belhar Confession and taking the monumental step of sending it to the Classes for approval as the RCA’s fourth standard of unity.

Award #3: Joe Chicago’s Pizza our absolutely favorite pizza joint. Sophia refers to it as the “monkey place” because of the reprinted poster on the wall of a monkey embracing a large bottle of some kind of liquor. This award should probably be shared with Skile’s Tavern, who make the best thin crust, greasy pizza in the world. Truly incredible. The two are too different to be compared, so both win!

Award #4: Joe and Todd… Joe is one of the key organizers of the Men’s Knitting Retreats and Todd, put together the midwest version which I had the pure joy of attending in November.   On a related note, MenWhoKnit.com deserves mention. The people from these two (overlapping) groups have, unquestionably, made up the most supportive, most encourage and most caring group of people I’ve had the privilege of interacting with throughout the past year.

Award #5: Von Morgens früh…und bis zur Nacht… my favorite album of the year. Absolutely life-transforming collection of music related to the daily prayer cycle. The album is worth every penny for the masterful “Laudate omnes gentes” (Track 2) and one of the most beautiful and haunting pieces ever set to music: Arvo Pärt’s “Magnificat” (Track 11). That said, every single track is worth the price of the album.

Award #6: Matt & Ragbrai…. This year I eagerly rode my third Ragbrai; Matt has ridden with me through all three of them. Both the ride and the co-rider have been more valuable than any amount of professional counseling could have ever been in providing perspective, relaxation, and rejuvenating (yes, believe it or not 500 miles on a bike can be both relaxing and rejuvenating.)

Award #7: Seminarians… Ok, this may seem like an odd award. Those of you who know me well know that I did not consider seminary a particularly enjoyable experience. This year, however, I’ve had the opportunity to spend more time with current seminarians than I have since my graduation a decade ago. I can’t speak to all of those preparing for ministry in the RCA, but I can say this: the RCA is on the cusp of receiving some it the most thoughtful and intelligent seminary graduates we’ve seen in decades. I hope and pray that rather than dumping them into local congregations hoping they don’t hurt themselves or others, we welcome them into ministry, encourage them along the way, support them, and help them sail faithfully into ministries (both old and new) that the church needs.

There could be more, but I’ll stop there.

Whatever the past year has brought to you and yours, I hope the new one finds you increasingly healthy and wise and that it’s filled with unbelievable amounts of both joy and hope.

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Consider me floored.

Last week I got a call from a member of Zeeland Classis’ nominations committee asking if I’d be willing to accept a nomination to the position of Classis Vice President. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Reformed Church, a Classis is a regional body (made up of elder and minister delegates from local congregations) that has the rights and responsibilities similar to a Roman Catholic bishop. I am a reasonably active, but often disagreed-with member of our Classis and since the call came so close to the meeting, I assumed they were simply looking for enough people to fill out the nominations spots on the ballot. In short, I had absolutely no expectation that I would ever be elected – literally.

Well. . . you know what they say about assuming. Turns out, I was the only one willing to accept the nomination. That means, the vote ended up being a mere formality. I have now been elected Vice President of Zeeland Classis. That means that barring anything strange, I will be the only one on the ballot for next year’s presidency.

Let me repeat: consider me floored.

As the saying goes, the Lord works in mysterious ways.

This should be interesting! I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers in the months to come.

Grace and Peace,
`tim

I just put up a new post on my portion of the Church Herald blog site regarding the ordination of commissioned pastors.

If you have any interest in such things, I’d appreciate your comments…

Commissioned Pastors and Their Ordinations

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Please?!

I have a thesis deadline coming up in a few days and am still awaiting news from my adviser and second reader – making the deadline doesn’t mean I’m done, but it will mean that I’m dramatically closer to being done. The fortunate thing is that, although the whole process has been dramatically slowed done since my adviser is no longer working at the seminary where I’m studying, he’s brilliant and knows the process really well. I also, apparently, was assigned an awesome second reader. I don’t know him but the rumor is good.

On a completely different note. Those of you who know me know that I have never been accused of being athletic. Although I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Ragbrai the past couple of years, it’s mostly because Ragbrai is only tangentially about being athletic. It’s really more about the people and fun. Despite that, I’ve allowed myself to be talked into running a 5k. Crazy! For the record, Matt Reimink is the guilty party. It’s all his fault. In any case, I’ve now embarked on a 9-week plan called “Couch Potato to 5k” that’s supposed to be able to get anyone – even the likes of me – to the point of being able to make it through the experience. Apparently I’m just a sucker for trying something new. I’ll keep you posted.

On a more theological note, we’re working our way back through the Heidelberg Catechism in our Adult Sunday School class. I am increasingly convinced that one of the fundamental problems in the Church today is a mis-balance of emphasis on Word without Sacrament (in the Protestant Church… just the opposite in most Catholic churches). Add to that the fact that we have so separated the table from the experience of eating and drinking with one another that it’s hard to even pretend that the sacramental table is a “meal.” More will eventually show up on this blog to this effect. I’m just to emotionally and intellectually strung out to type it up for now (see first paragraph of this post…).

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers…

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Doodling helps you pay attention.

Read about it here!

Grace and peace,
`tim

I haven’t blogged in nearly-forever. Sorry. (Yeah, I’m sure you’re live has been at a near stand-still waiting for me to post something….)

Anyhow, thought I’d check in… (Of course, not in any particular order…)

Church (Dunningville):
Things are going well at church. Dunningville has been patient with me over the past months as I’ve been working on my thesis; hopefully they will have enough patience to make it through the next month or so, even though some things haven’t gotten the attention I would have liked to give them.

Joyfully, we celebrated the sacrament of baptism on Sunday. Equally as joyfully, I have Sunday off and don’t have to lead/preach/etc.

Our Adult Sunday school class is working our way through the Heidelberg Catechism (for the second time) and currently in the middle of my favorite part (the part on the sacraments). The evening service has finished a study of Galatians (which was perhaps the most transformative series I’ve ever preached – for me, at least, I can’t speak for anyone else!) and we’ve just started a study of the first 9 chapters of Judges — wow… that’s going to be fun.

Church (RCA’s Worship Commission):
The Worship Commission met last week – what a great group of people! We polished up a liturgy we’re hoping to submit to synod this summer for approval as our first official “occasional use” sacramental liturgy.

Church (RCA/CRC Hymnal):
We had our most recent editorial committee meeting for the joint hymnal about a week ago – another great group! I have high hopes for this project; theoretically we are putting together a hymnal that will inform the worship of a generation in some congregations.

Thesis:
Currently, I’m in the middle of my yearly week of “education” time working on my D.Min. thesis. As you may know, I’m drastically behind on it but am still hoping to get it done on a time line that will allow me to graduate this spring. Everything has conspired against it including medial tests for our daughter, surgery for my wife, and my adviser quitting and moving back into the parish – all of which are potentially good things but not particularly helpful when it comes to my thesis. As it sits, the rough draft is done; my adviser has constructively criticized it (truly, he was constructive); I’m rewriting and reworking it this week and hoping to have a “final” draft done to be submitted by the middle of March.

Knitting
I’m currently in the middle of another Baby Surprise Jacket (which is looking more boy-ish than expected) and have purchased the yarn for a girl-ish sweater. One of them will go to some college friends of mine who are expected a new baby just around the corner, the other of which doesn’t have an intended home yet.

I’ve also scheduled a class on Brooklyntweed’s Habitat which I’ll be teaching at Lizzie Ann’s (my local, and absolutely favorite, yarn shop) and a two-part tatting class for later in March — fun!

If you’re wondering about the Kimono I’ve started for JJ, it hasn’t gotten anywhere. I need absolute attention to keep my count on the chart and haven’t been able to give it that recently.

Beer:
No new beer brewed recently. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks – I’d like a fresh batch ready for the beginning of summer.

Coffee:
Have I told you how much I love coffee? Really?! Currently I’m drinking our favorite (Sweet Maria’s Monkey Blend which we use for just about everything – espresso, drip, mokka, etc). I’m also working on getting the hang of using a Chemex, which I bought using a gift certificate my MiL gave me for my birthday. I’d highly recommend it: smooth brew, low acid. It seems like the filters are overly hefty though.

Ragbrai:
I’m signed up… hoping to make it again this year! Druck your Daumen for me!

Latest gripe?
I recently received an Adeo from Motion Lingo. I’m certain I’ll love it but the blasted thing doesn’t work on Vista. Oh Vista, how I detest thee. Oh, and we’ve done a number of tests trying to figure out what’s going on with Sophia – nothing yet, and I’m exceedingly disappointed in DeVos Children’s Hospital. Don’t get me started! (But, thank you for those who’ve asked about her, we deeply appreciate it!)

Well, that’s pretty much it right now. Hope you’re well; we are.

Grace and peace,
`tim

I was tagged over on facebook to provide 25 random facts about myself. It’s actually harder than I expected, but just for fun, I thought I’d cross post them here:

1. I home roast all the coffee we drink at our house.

2. My favorite color is unquestionably purple.

3. In my opinion the only good thing about American football is the half-time show.

4. I’m slightly addicted to facebook, Ravelry, and MenWhoKnit.com

5. I wish we had mass transit where I live – I love buses and trains.

6. I’m extremely behind on my Doctor of Ministry thesis and yet cling to the desperate hope that I’ll still graduate this spring.

7. I’ve never been accused of being athletic but spent the last week in July of 2007 and 2008 biking across Iowa and hope to do it again in 2009.

8. I find Dora the Explorer absolutely annoying – she always seems to be yelling.

9. One of my favorite characters in the Bible is Jonathan. This often results in transference, I automatically like most people with the name.

10. I really like vampire movies; I know there’s no sense in it, but it’s true.

11. Other than coffee roasting, I enjoy knitting, scuba diving, tatting, and home brewing.

12. I blog at www.tenclay.org/blog but probably have less than a dozen readers due to the fact that the whole thing is far to eclectic to have a constant readership.

13. I currently use Alesti as my RSS reader and highly recommend it.

14. I dislike most office suites and use Open Office for all my word processing, spreadsheets, etc.

15. The two languages I would really like to learn are Latin and Mandarin Chinese.

16. I believe seminary is an invaluable experience for people preparing to be ministers but most definitely did not enjoy it – at all.

17. I love playing piano, but would much prefer to own a harpsichord.

18. The Bird of Paradise is my favorite flower.

19. I don’t own an Ipod, but do have a Zune – and while I’m no fan of Microsoft, absolutely love it.

20. I lived in Germany for a year, Hong Kong for a summer, St. Thomas for a summer but have never been to Mexico and have only been to Canada once (and I was just driving through on the way to Niagara).

21. Mozart Kugeln and Peeps are my favorite sweets, although baklava is definitely toward the top of the list.

22. I brush my teeth regularly but haven’t yet found a toothpaste with a flavor that I like.

23. If it were up to me, I would sleep until 11 every day and work into the middle of the night.

24. I find wooden shoes comfortable and would wear them regularly if I felt like I could get away with it.

25. I never thought I’d admit this in public, but we own a dog that has to wear a sweater if she goes outside during the winter so we trained her to use peepee pads.

There… now you know more about me than you ever wanted to!

Grace and peace,
`tim

Today was the day of preparation. I made Saucijzebroodjes to go with our poffertjes tomorrow morning – our little family’s traditional Christmas breakfast.

I’ve also managed a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread. The wonderful thing about this loaf isn’t just that it’s 100% whole wheat (which is a bit tricky), but also that it’s the first real loaf I’ve managed with my own home ground flour. I used red hard wheat and hand ground it in my new Back to the Basics Grain Mill and modified a recipe I found on the internet. I’ve learned, over the past week that home ground flour doesn’t bake the same way as the store-purchased stuff. I’m happy with this loaf though. It turned out heavy, nutty and moist – almost perfect:

My first 100% wheat, hand-ground loaf!

All of which is preface to the real purpose of this post: a very blessed Christmas to you and yours!

May it be a perfect continuation of a wonderful holiday season!

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Well… It’s been a process.

I had to update my WordPress (the program I use for blogging) and find a new theme (the old one didn’t work), but I’ve managed. We’re up and running with a new and improved theme on new software!

Let me know if you find any major problems!

Grace and Peace,
`tim