so i see there are a lot of people that follow this blog that haven't moved over to my new one.

for various reasons i have made the choice to transition to a different blog (different url and different title) and so i encourage you to follow THAT blog and not THIS one any longer.

thanks!

new post

Another new post at my new blog marklepper.blogspot.com

If you follow this blog and want to keep reading my updates, you might want to follow that one instead as that is where I will be posting all of my new blog posts.

Thanks!

Some News to Share

I have some big news to share over at my new blog. It's basically just the same blog, but a little bit of a different look with a different address. Go check it out.

http://marklepper.blogspot.com/

Marry Me/You

There are two songs I've heard on the radio quite a bit in the past few weeks. They have quite a bit in common as they are both catchy tunes, pretty singable and they cover the same subject matter. I like them. I like to sing along to them. But the fact of the matter is, I don't think I like how they approach the subject.

The first one is "Marry Me" by Train. Now, most of the lyrics are fine, if a bit cheesy. For instance, "Forever can never be long enough for me to feel like I've had long enough for you," and "You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love you and you're beautiful." Kind of cheesy, but I can see how a bride might swoon over this song as she dances with her new husband. The one thing that bugs me about this song is the chorus. Not the entire chorus, but how it ends. It starts off fine, "Marry me today and everyday. Marry me..." now here's where I have an issue, "If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe." So, if I'm interpreting this right, then the singer has just seen the object of his affection in a cafe. He does not know anything about this person, but feels like pouring out his undying love and affection and desire to spend the rest of his life with them. After seeing them in a cafe. What happened to actually getting to know someone first? Spending time with them? These are important things that should lead up to a marriage. At least if you want the marriage to last a long time and to be healthy and not just based on physical attraction. If you want the relationship to just be based on physical attraction, then perhaps you're asking the wrong question. If you want the relationship to be based on anything more substantial and long-lasting, then perhaps you should start the conversation with something a little more casual...

The second song is "Marry You" by Bruno Mars. While it is fun to sing and has a catchy tune, it gets derailed pretty much right off the track. "It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you." Right. So, you're bored. You want to do something stupid. Hey! I know! Let's get married. Yeah, that sounds like something socially responsible to do. Who cares if there are people all over this country who want to get married to the person they love, but are legally forbidden to do so because people are afraid that it will somehow threaten the institution of marriage! Let's just go get drunk and get married for kicks and giggles! "Who cares if we're trashed gotta pocket full of cash we can blow." Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Oh, and if you wake up tomorrow and regret your decision? "If we wake up and you want to break up that's cool. No, I won't blame you. It was fun, girl." Yeah, that makes a great argument for the sanctity of marriage.

But hey, at least it's fun to sing, right?

An Unexpected Guest

I think God has a sense of humor. I mean, God must have one to watch some of the things we do and still love us. And I'm not sure, but I think God might have been exercising that sense of humor with me today.

First, if you don't already know, I wrote a blog post about how March is National Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. If you haven't already done so, maybe you might consider checking that one out and reading it. It's just the previous post on my blog, so it should be easy to find. But if you want me to make it easier for you, you can find it by clicking here. It's not imperative to this story that you read it, but to fully appreciate this story I think you at least need to know that I wrote it.

So, today I decided it would be a good day to take a book and go find a coffee shop and drink some coffee and read for a while. I drove a little ways out of town just so I could find one where I didn't think I'd know anyone. Not that I don't like talking to people, just some days it's good to be a little anonymous. I didn't have one in mind, I just drove for a bit and then saw a sign advertising a Caribou Coffee off the next exit of the highway, so I picked that one and decided to stop there.

When I arrived at this coffee shop, it wasn't very busy, so it wasn't hard to find a table and settle in. Now, I'm a people watcher and easily distracted, so every time the door would open I'd look up from my book to see who was coming into the shop. There were a few couples, some parents with kids, a few older ladies and some others. As more people came into the coffee shop, it began to fill up. Soon, as far as I could see, only one high top table was empty but no table was completely full. Most had only one, two or three people at them.

Well, one time the door opened and I looked up to see two young men walking in. As I watched them walk up to the counter and look at the baked goods, it became evident that one of them had a developmental disability (DD). I watched as the other young man talked to the young man with the DD and asked what he wanted to get. I didn't want to stare, so I turned back to my book and continued to read.

A few minutes later, however, the young man with the DD came over and sat right down at my table. He didn't say anything, just sat there and began to eat his chocolate chip cookie. I looked up from my book, startled and a little surprised, but I smiled and said hello. He mumbled a little hello before taking another bite of cookie.

I looked over at the counter and saw the other young man was still up at the cash register paying for the items that they ordered with his back to us, so I don't think he noticed what his friend had done.

Soon he was done paying and turned to see where his friend had gone and noticed that he was at my table. He came over with a sheepish grin and apologized saying, "I don't think he likes the high top table." I responded by saying that it was ok, that I really didn't need a four person table all to myself, so the other guy pulled up a chair at the end and sat down.

Pretty quickly after that, the first young man finished eating his cookie, so he turned and told his friend that he was done. As they got up from the table the other young man said, "Are you going to say good bye to your new friend?" The first young man stopped and turned and looked at me. I said, "Good bye!" and he looked at me for a second and then started to walk away. The other young man said, "Say good bye!" He then responded with a little wave before he made his way toward the door.

I couldn't help but laugh at this situation. Out of all of the coffee shops that I could have gone to I randomly end up at that particular one. I didn't choose any of the others I passed on my way there, for whatever reason I happened to pick this particular coffee shop, and so did these two young men.

And then, out of all of the empty chairs at all of the tables that were in the coffee shop, this young man chose to sit at the empty chair at my table, only days after I had written a blog post about my experiences with people with developmental disabilities. It just seems so random and so impossible, doesn't it? And yet, it happened. I was there and so were they. There was an empty chair at my table and he chose that one for his seat. I just can't not believe that God wasn't somehow at work in this situation, smiling at what was playing out, and probably even laughing a bit about it.

Oh, and what makes it even funnier? The book I happened to be reading was "The Road to Daybreak" which was written by Henri Nouwen during the year he lived in the L'Arche community for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their assistants in France.

So all of these things aligned at that one moment. Maybe it was random, just a coincidence. But I choose to believe that God was smiling down on it.

[For more information about L'Arche all over the world, click here. For information about L'Arche in the United States, try here.]

All the Body of Christ

March is National Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.

When I was in the 6th grade, my dad took a call as the Program Pastor at Martin Luther Homes (MLH) in Beatrice, Nebraska. That meant that he served as a chaplain to this residential facility for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Until that point, I had not really had much contact with people with disabilities. So when we attended my dad's installation service, it was an interesting experience. My dad sat up front, so my mom, 2 brothers and I chose a pew more towards the back. I remember my brothers and I were pretty strategic in where and how we sat, so that we were on the end of a pew followed by my mom so that if anyone sat next to us they would sit beside her.

The residents of MLH ranged from profoundly disabled to mildly disabled. There were residents in their 60's and 70's all the way down to Gary, who was close to my age. So it was quite the crowd that joined us for worship that day. It was noisy, with a lot of talking and laughter, some shouts and yelps (some voluntary, a lot involuntary), and everyone seemed to be very aware and interested in the group of people (us) who were visiting.

They loved to sing, too. When it came time to sing there were always a few that wanted to get up and help lead the singing. I remember Rose, a woman in her 60's, would always want to get up and conduct. She'd stand up front in the chapel, a big grin on her face, and her arms waving back and forth as people sang. It wasn't the best singing I'd ever heard, but it was some of the most heartfelt. My dad would later say, "The Bible doesn't say you need to sing well, it just says 'make a joyful noise,' and they certainly do!"

After the service, the staff wanted us to stand and greet people as a family. Reluctantly, my brothers and I agreed. We stood there and shook hands for a little while until Lori came through the line. Shaking hands was not good enough for Lori. With the biggest smile on her face, and an excited laugh, she came with open arms and wanted hugs. She embraced my dad, first. Then she gave my mom a big hug. I was next in line, so she wrapped her arms around me, too. Then she turned for my brothers, but they had quickly run away to the safety of my dad's office.

The years that my dad served, and loved, the people of MLH, were pretty formative for me. I'd often spend time in his office, just hanging out. My dad's assistant led the chapel bell choir, and using a color code she'd lead the bell choir in playing hymns and songs. They would often travel to area churches to play, and I remember traveling on a bus with them on a few different occasions.

There was one resident, I think his name was Phillip, who when he met my dad for the first time said, in his gravelly voice, "Nice to meet you, Pastor Weber." No matter how much my dad would correct him and say, "No, Phillip. It's Pastor Lepper," and no matter how many times Phillip would say, "Oh yeah!" he'd always come back and say, "Hello, Pastor Weber!" Until the day when my dad bet Phillip a can of Coke that he couldn't get his name right for a week. From that moment on Phillip never got my dad's name wrong!

My dad was the pastor at MLH for four years and loved it so much he would have stayed there longer (the reason why we left is another story, probably not suitable for a blog). In those four years, I spent a lot of time with him in his office. In that time I began to get to know a lot of the residents. By taking the time to get to know them, I was able to see past their disabilities and to see what great and fun and amazing people they could be.

Since that time, I have had many opportunities to get to know and love numerous people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through these relationships I have been greatly blessed and I have been able to learn a few things. I don't claim to know everything there is to know about living with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I don't know if anyone could ever learn all there is to know. But I have been fortunate enough to learn some things, and so I wanted to take this opportunity to share them with you.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are not incomplete. They are not any less of a person than anyone else. They are not missing or lacking something. Granted, something happened that caused them to develop differently, but they are fully human. They are still perfect and wonderful and amazing exactly as they are, exactly how God created them.

Along those same lines, we are ALL created in the image of God. In the book of Genesis, when it says that God created humankind in God's image, it doesn't just apply to people who look and act and think like you, but ALL people. This applies to everyone, even if they have cerebral palsy or autism or Down Syndrome or anything else. Just because they have disabilities does not make them any less in the image of God, they just show us the image of God from a different angle.

Disabilities do not define who a person is. When my brothers and I first visited MLH, we saw what was "wrong" with the people there. When we would look at them, we'd see things like Doug walked with crutches or Phillip had some facial and hand deformities or Lori couldn't talk and was prone to squeal loudly when excited. But when I took the time to get to know them, I learned that Doug was a very caring and compassionate young man, Phillip had a fun sense of humor, and Lori had more love in her heart than anyone I've ever met. I would have never learned those things if I had let their disabilities be a barrier to getting to know them.

It's also not a one way street. When we see people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, we can often view it as a one way relationship. They are the ones receiving care and therapy and education and we are the ones who have to provide that for them. But when we allow ourselves to be in relationship with them, we quickly learn that they are not the only ones receiving these things, and we are not the only ones providing them. In fact, more often than not, they give far more than they receive.

There is a wide variety of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Some affect a person's physical development and some only affect their cognitive development. Many times you can't even tell by looking at someone if they have a disability or not. But regardless of these things, they are all children of God. They are all created and known and loved by the same God who created and knows and loves each one of us. They are just as much a part of the Body of Christ as anyone else and they deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect and compassion and love.

So, although March is a month set aside to be mindful and aware of intellectual and developmental disabilities, my prayer is that we all would be just as mindful and aware all year long - mindful about how we treat and often discriminate against people with disabilities, aware that they are a part of our communities, and open to how we might reach out to them and more fully include them as our brothers and sisters.

What I'm Reading

My senior year of seminary we had a guest presenter for a couple days during our Church History class. Roger Fjeld, a previous president of Wartburg Seminary, came to talk to us about the history of the Lutheran Church in the United States.

I sometimes think that history can be a bit dry and not always that exciting, but I have to say I was riveted. I couldn't get enough of what Roger was saying, especially as he talked about the years leading up to the merger of the LCA (Lutheran Church in America), the ALC (American Lutheran Church), and the AELC (Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches) into the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).

He told us about the schism in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) over disagreements about Biblical interpretation, among other things. This schism led to the AELC, as well as Concordia Seminary in Exile, which later became Christ Seminary-Seminex. The AELC then became a voice for Lutheran unity and was an impetus for conversations about a new Lutheran church which eventually led to the merger of the three Lutheran bodies and the creation of the ELCA, at that time the fourth largest protestant church body in the United States.

This kind of stuff fascinates me. I could hear about it and talk about it for hours. So, when Roger Fjeld mentioned a couple of books that were written about this subject, I think it was almost immediately after class that I got onto a computer and found and purchased these books.

Now, I have to admit that I have a severe case of A.D.D. when it comes to reading. I'll start a book and read for a bit, but then I'll see another book I think looks interesting so I'll start to read that and lose interest in the first one. So I've started to read one of the books a couple of times, but each time I'd get distracted by a different book. But this time I sat down to read one of the books and I'm currently on the last chapter. I've almost made it!

This book is "Anatomy of a Merger" by Edgar Trexler. Trexler served in the LCA as the editor of their periodical The Lutheran, and went on to continue to be the editor of The Lutheran when it became the publication of the ELCA. So he was present as media at all of the meetings and conventions that led up to the merger.

It's a bit dry, sometimes it felt like I was looking through really extensive minutes from a church council meeting. But it gave a inside look at what led up to the merger - the struggles and the joys, the ego trips and the compromises, the long journey and finally the celebration when the three churches voted at their respective assemblies to merge into this new church.

There were lots of people involved in this process, too. People like Barbara Lundblad, who now serves as Professor of Preaching at Union Seminary in New York. Herbert Chilstrom was very involved, and served as the first presiding bishop of the ELCA. Will Herzfeld was also very involved, and was a strong voice for the inclusion of minorities and women (sidenote: Herzfeld was an associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. and served as the bishop of the AELC making him the first African-American to lead a U.S. Lutheran church body. He also came to speak at my college when I was a student there and, had I really known all of this about him at the time, I probably would have taken more time to get to know him and hear his story). Even Stanley Olson is mentioned who was serving as a synod bishop at the time but then went on to be the Executive Director of the unit for Vocation and Education in the ELCA and now serves as the current president of Wartburg Seminary.

It's really quite an interesting story. It's about people trying to discern what God might be calling us as Lutherans to be about and to do, and seeking to be a united group and a unified voice. It wasn't a perfect process, there were little groups that broke off and didn't want to merge, there were people who thought things went too far or not far enough. But they worked together and compromised and tried their best to do what they discerned to be the will of God.

Next in line is the book "High Expectations" also by Trexler which is sort of the follow-up to "Anatomy of a Merger." In this second book, Trexler details the first few years of the ELCA as it began to get its feet and figure itself out.

Then, the next book is "Memoirs in Exile" by John Tietjen. Now this should really be interesting. Tietjen was president of Concordia Seminary in St Louis, MO which was the flagship seminary (I think) of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. They got into a "discussion" about the use of the historical-critical method of Biblical interpretation and whether it should be used, or not. Tietjen led the group that left the seminary and started the AELC and Concordia Seminary in Exile. This book is the story of his experiences during that time.

So that's what is on my list of things to read. If you've read this far, I'm impressed. I think when I sat down to write this blog entry it seemed a lot more exciting and fascinating in my head. But then, I am a self-avowed church nerd and this kind of thing really does interest me.