Greetings from Houston!
I’m sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt this morning, so as not to wake the members of my family who can sleep past 6a. We’re here for the national convention of our church (the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) to which my husband is a delegate. So while he goes to long meetings everyday and votes on important issues that will affect our church for years to come, the girls and I are never at a loss for stuff to do. I’m such a geek, that if left to my own devices, I’d watch every second of the live stream of the convention proceedings, but my children like sight seeing and swimming and food and such. Our church is voting on a massive restructuring that would give the Synod and the president more power. We are against the restructuring but it has all passed by very slim margins.
Then there was the vote for president yesterday. Steve commented that he hadn’t been so nervous about something since he got his med school board exam results. I sat on pins and needles all day myself. We were hoping and praying for Rev. Matt Harrison to win and were so thankful to witness the historical moment when they announced him as president-elect. His acceptance speech was amazing. In part of his speech he said, “You’ve kept your perfect record of electing sinners as presidents.” He’s a brilliant theologian and a confessional Lutheran (translated: clings deeply to the Bible and the Lutheran confessions despite growing pressures in our synod and our world to be ‘relevant’) who’s authored many books, plays the banjo, and greeted everyone at a reception last night with such humility and grace AND with a Heineken in hand. You gotta love Lutheran pastors!
So, this convention has been a mixed bag for those of us in the conservative, confessional camp of Lutheranism. The massive restructuring passed but our candidate won.
And more importantly, being the stalker that I am, I met Mollie Ziegler Hemingway (beautiful and brilliant writer for Get Religion.Org and my new BFF), Will and Cindy Weedon (I’ve quoted Pastor Weedon many times before and he’s a regular guest on IssuesEtc. He’s hilarious and I was so happy to finally meet him and his kind and beautiful wife Cindy), Brian Yamabe (the tech-guru behind the site Witterberg Media) and was blessed to finally meet the man behind the mustache —-Pastor Matt Harrison.
Hope you’re having a good week and if you have any spare time this weekend, read Lewis’ The Problem of Pain so we can talk about it next week.
Love to you all!
Thank you so much for this update. I too am trying to follow what is going on with the convention and stay focused at the job. Not an easy task 🙂 Also wanted to also thank you SO MUCH for posting about issuesetc.org. Can’t get enough of them and the their teachings. I listen it traveling to and from work and when I can sneak it in AT work. What a blessing for all christians.
I’m not Lutheran, but I do read Martin Luther,Calvin, Forde, Nestigen.etc. Steven Hein is coming this weekend and we will hear him. And we’ve had Tom Baker. You could say Lutheran at heart. Law and Gospel. Sounds like a good week for you.
Edie,
My wife made me read your blog as she is also an avid blogger and apparently follows yours! I’m an LCMS Army National Guard Chaplain in Arkansas and former Lutheran High School teacher. We both appreciate your “conservative” and “confessional” approach to our faith. Thanks for the update on the convention. I had heard Pastor Harrison won the presidency but I had not heard about the restructuring of the synod passing. I guess we will just have to see how that goes. God bless!
David
hope you don’t melt while down here in H town. If you need any ides on what to do…..
I love hearing about how churches do their business! Thanks for the little inside peek. And I am glad your president is someone holding on to Truth. But really, you have to tell me, because I think I have the sweater you’re wearing in this picture! Here’s mine, on my July 6 and July 7 posts: http://tayloryves.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-07-09T09%3A21%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7
I’m not in Houston, but it was an awesome day, wasn’t it? I tried to watch most of the proceedings by the live stream video at the LCMS site, but had to miss the election. I have to admit I did a happy dance when I heard. God bless President-elect Harrison. With the big job ahead of him, he will certainly need our prayers.
Love the picture! 😀
love that there is humility, grace and a tasty brew all in one sentence!
You look like LOADS of fun! Sheri from ShadesofPink sent me to you. She said we looked alike! 🙂 A compliment for me!
I’m your newest follower! I can’t wait to see more!
I hope you’ve been enjoying some neat Houston sights and sounds- the Museum of Natural Science is watching the corpse flower bloom right now, there’s a great dinosaur exhibit on at the zoo, the Aquarium and the indoor park at Shepherd and I-10 would be fun for your girls. And, I hope you’ve been ejoying our great restaraunts. Email me if you’re still in town and looking for recommendations-I’m like a Houston Tourism pamphlet!
I’m writing you overdue fan mail… I always find so much inspiration of ALL sorts here and today is no exception. Your inner “geek,” wanting to watch the speeches is wonderful, as are your amazing home school reading lists and fun learning projects… Your creativity, craziness and colorful decor are another side I admire. Today I linked to you and mentioned I’d copied my Christmas tree topper from you. Thanks so much for all you share – I love the wacky mix!
hugs,
Leslie
Yikes, meant wacky in the nicest way, but now wish I’d left it out! ;-0 Hope you understood – I love the mix and variety of faith, family n fun you provide here!
🙂 Leslie
I always love reading your blog but especially the ones about Lutherans. Been a Lutheran all my life. Of course, it is the “other” one. LOL
Woot for Pastor Harrison! My dad is an LCMS pastor…the other pastor of our church went down for the convention as well. We were very happy to see the new president of the LCMS…we watched it live on the internet 🙂
You had me at Heineken.
Love,
Lana