DSimmer.com

In an attempt to end 2008 electronically, let us take a brief look back at what has happened in my life this past year.

• Work
  • Starbucks (January): After nearly two months without a regular job, I was hired at Starbucks mid-month. This was a godsend. It helped Giles and I get through a second period of "lean months." I originally hired on at the location across the street from our apartment but moved to a location a few miles away in the fall. I am still working for the company but in a very limited capacity because of other work endeavors.
  • Detroit Cristo Rey High School: I actually started working for the school in November 2007 but my role as technology consultant expanded in 2008. I oversaw the deployment of technology equipment for a computer lab and in all of the classrooms as well. It is nice to be a "real school" (we opened officially in 2008) and I hope that my role can continue to expand looking forward into 2009.
  • Christ Church Cranbrook (June): I became the Youth Minister at our parish, Christ Church Cranbrook, in 2008. Surprise! It meant teaching confirmation classes, planning and hosting concert nights and of course, regular youth gatherings. Relationships built, faith grown and a bit of fun along the way. We will see what 2009 holds.
• Coffee
  • Thanks in part to working at Starbucks, Giles and I have been able to (finally!) meet people our age in the Walled Lake/Novi area. Most of them are from one of the Lutheran churches near our apartment, which seems to have a monopoly on the Starbucks I originally worked at. Dion, Bob, Matt, and Thomas joined the friend-fold in 2008, as well as many Starbucks partners. There is no point trying to list off everyone who we befriended in 2008, but let's conclude that it was many.
• Nerds
  • Another one of the many blessings of 2008 was my discovery (and subsequent crush upon) of Drupal. Thanks again to Bob and Matt, who helped me with many of the basics of Drupal and (as mentioned above) have become good friends. Micah W., Micah M., Darrin, and many other users/friends on Twitter have aided my technological growth this year. 
• Beer Me
  • We have had the pleasure of sharing many late-night conversations with new and old friends over beer. So thank you, beer, for your undying support of friendship. Shout outs in particular to Micah & Brenda, Terry & Lauren, Earl & Karen, Alan the Brit, Marty, the Teagues, the above-mentioned friends, Smith, Macaulay, Rock Band, Sprout, Guitar Hero, and bad tranny costumes (oh Halloween, how I miss you).
• Steve Jobbed Me
  • Giles and I became the proud parents of MacBookPros this year. One joined us in July, the other in October. They are wonderful. And they don't cry at night.
• Closing the Year Out Right
  • Giles and I hosted a New Year's Eve party this year at our apartment in Novi. A big step forward for us, especially since it was all Giles' idea.
• Finally
  • Our good friend Dion and his family will move to St. Louis on the morning of January 1, 2009. Dion, a Lutheran pastor, took a call to a new parish in the city where he studied in seminary. We will miss them greatly, but we are excited for them and cannot wait to see what God has in store for all 4 (5 in February!) of them.

Happy New Year!

For whatever reason, neither Giles nor I are particular fans of poinsettias. Probably in part because they are every-freaking-where come Christmastime. Which, in some sense is a real shame, considering the legend that birthed their world wide association with Christmas:

The poinsettia is indigenous to Central America and tropical Mexico. The story goes that a poor Mexican child on her way to church on Christmas Eve wept because she had no gift to place before the altar of the Virgin and Child. Through her tears, an angel suddenly appeared and instructed her to gather weeds from the roadside. When the child arrived at the altar with her wilted offering, starry crimson "blossoms" burst forth from every stem. 

Neat story. Yet another semi-religious tradition gone commercial. But I digress.

Like I was saying, Giles and I are not poinsettia fans. We do not buy them for ourselves, and when given the option in previous years, we have never brought one of the extra ones home from church.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten the many, many perks to working for a church. Lots of gifts given around Christmastime to those on staff. Including a poinsettia on my desk yesterday.

So I brought home a poinsettia for Giles for the first time ever. And she put it in the most logical place she could find.

It's my intention to do this post style every Monday. The idea comes from Jake Bouma, who in kind stole it from someone else. It's a brilliant idea, in my opinion, so I stole it without warrant. Hopefully you enjoy it. Consider it my weekly "Christmas newsletter" that happens to be ecofriendly.

Highlight of the week: This past Saturday (December 27) Giles and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. Rather than do something elegant or super-romantic, we stayed home in our pajamas for most of the day, except for an evening funded entirely by gift cards (dinner at Applebees, shopping trips to Barnes and Noble and Borders). It was fantastic.

Book(s) I’m reading: Finishing up Timothy Keller's The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism as well as working through two John Yoder classics, The Politics of Jesus and The Original Revolution: Essays on Christian Pacifism. Keller's book is a fantastic response to the Dawkins/Hitchens types who have tried to make reason away a belief in God. Yoder, one of the most prominent Mennonite theologians of the 20th century, was a strong influence on Stanley Hauerwas, one of my favorite Christian writers.

Music I’m digging: Giles and I have both been listening to the Love Actually soundtrack (a lot). I have also been listening to John Rutter's Gloria
(thanks to the Christ Church Cranbrook choir singing the first movement at the Christmas eve services) as well as Akon's latest album. Yeah, I know. Shut up.

Ministry update: Working on the preparation for the January 17th concert outreach night at the church. I also have three more confirmation classes to teach, as well as planning and hosting the deanery confirmation service in June.

Seminary update: Enrolled at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry for one class this semester. The class is Pastoral Theology 500: Spiritual Formation:

A serious look at the Christian spiritual life and the practice of Christian spirituality from a New Testament and also Reformational perspective.  The class focuses on personal spiritual growth and provides opportunities and exercises to enhance one’s development and growth as a follower of Jesus Christ.  The course will also study various approaches to ascetical disciplines.

Looking forward to: The previously mentioned seminary course. It is my first graded academic endeavor since the second week of May, 2006. While I had the opportunity to enroll for more a full slate of classes this semester, I decided to start with one class to work my way back into the process.

*Links to all books, movies, and music go to the Amazon store. For reasons that I will describe somewhere else, I don't use the iTunes store and will likewise not link to products in their store. Sorry, you'll have to manually look them up if you want to buy them from Apple.*

One of the joys of having a bunch of time to prepare for our move is the opportunity to meet many of those we'll be calling neighbors. And the opportunity to partake in many of the small, locally-owned business in Corktown. To that end, I'd like to mention the recently-opened Mercury Coffee Bar. If you're in the Corktown area, you must check it out on Michigan Avenue and Vernor.

As the whole "to lend or not to lend" auto industry vs. the Congress battle rages on, I wanted to give credit to the Detroit Free Press for taking an honest approach to the topic (read it here).

The loss of jobs, the devastated retirements, the massive loss of
health care coverage, the sharp drop in local tax revenues, the
closings of supplier and ancillary businesses — all would be calamitous
in the best of times. And these are not that. Just ask the people you
represent.

More than 3 million jobs are at stake in the industry. General
Motors, Ford and Chrysler are threaded in the fabric of businesses in
every state across America.

This is one of the things that has scared me. Three million people! Political/economic theories aside, the idea of letting that many people lose their jobs in the name of economic correction is scary. In October, 10.1 million people in the United States were unemployed (Bureau of Labor Statistics), which translates to a 6.5% unemployment rate. And if you look at the map the Free Press put together showing the national breakdown of direct automotive jobs, you'll see that there are 7 states with over 90,000 people employed in the auto industry. It's not just Detroit that is at stake, regardless of where you live.

Because the losses from an auto industry failure are about more than
dry statistics. Every job associated with the industry is a family, a
home, a college education, a cancer treatment or a secure retirement.
Every one of those jobs is about someone making a living doing work
that's vital to the nation's economic interests.

I was pleased to read this paragraph. Why? Because, rather than bemoan Congress supporting Wall Street but not Main Street, the Free Press has hit on the realities of all of this. Three million is not an exit poll statistic. It is not a voting block. Three million is the number of our neighbors that will be affected by the collapse of this industry. Three million more families left in need.

Echoing in my mind through all of this:

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

All I am saying is this: if a company does go under and the church fails to care for the hundreds of thousands (or millions) left out in the cold, there will be blood on some hands, and it won't be Congress alone who gets the goats-vs-sheep treatment.

I wanted to do a brief cross-post and let everyone know that the New Way Corktown project is beginning to take form. The site New Way Corktown is now live with our vision, a map of the area, a brief history of Corktown and some other info. It's just the beginning of the project (the relocation is still 6-8 months off) but I felt it was worth sharing with you all the same. Let us know what you think, either here or on that site through the contact form.

Over the weekend I was reading over the Book of James and came upon this passage.

"If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." [1:26-27, ESV]

I've often tried to reconcile what it means to "deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." The reality, of course, is that there is no formula, no "work ___ hours a week, volunteer ____ hours a week, etc" to determine if you're taking up your cross daily. But I saw a real life example the other day.

A man I've known for some time, who works as a salaried manager for a large, international retail company, told me on Monday that he is taking a voluntary demotion. When I asked him why, he directed me to the same verse I read the day prior. "I work 50-60 hours a week," he observed, "which is taking away from my time to serve." His wife is currently finishing school. They own a house with a mortgage and everything. And he is stepping back from a salaried position to a $10/hr job so he can serve others as Christ called us to serve.

I'm not sure, but I'm willing to guess that he is making the type of sacrifices that we should all be willing to make. And it makes me all the more set on our Detroit plans.

In reading the Gospel of Matthew, we find that Jesus called some of his disciples right from their jobs. Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew "immediately left their nets and followed him." (4:20) Even more radical, James and John "immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him." (4:22)

I wonder how many times the Holy Spirit has called me to act and I've tried to reason it away, to "pros and cons" it until it's clear that I shouldn't act. That is fear and doubt.

Recently I have noticed some headlines regarding a church plant in a major US city. I am encouraged by the excitement and enthusiasm coming from the leadership of this church. They seem to be empassioned for Christ and that is reflected in their internet presence. But they've been planning for two years. They have been spending money advertising through a variety of mediums, making sure the word is out, yet this church community is not living and ministering until a set date kicks in. The analogy of the fundraiser comes to mind. He blows off the little guys in search of the big fish, trying to catch that big check that will settle his organizations financial worries for years. Instead they continue to flounder, while a similar organization on the other side of the city regularly covers their own operating costs and more. So our friend the fundraiser places a phone call to his counterpart at the second organization, only to learn that they have built their own network of thousands of small fish the first fundraiser ignored.

Many of us say we want to do "big things" for God, and chances are we have the best of intentions. But in a society that values wise investing and mocks those who don't dilligently plan ahead, Christian Americans have mirrored their own economic, political and cultural fears and doubts onto their faith. Rather than say with Isaiah, "here I am! Send me" we say "God, I like your suggestion, let me run it through our five-year projections scale and see what the risks are going to be."

Why do we hesitate to jump when God tells us to jump? Fear. Fear that we'll fail. Fear that we won't appear rational. Doubt. Doubts that God will provide for us after asking us to do something radical. The World. How many times has God asked His children to give up the American Dream/Riches & Fame/etc to serve Him in some radical, irrational way?

The Cost. In the end, we're not willing to accept the cost of following Christ to the ends of the earth. And yet, we lift up those who have as champions of the faith. It seems we have failed to take Matthew 8 to heart:

The Cost of Following Jesus

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

It's ironic that Nike's slogan is more analogous to a Christ-following mindset than most of our us live on a daily basis.

On Monday my friend Joe (the Pastor, not the Plumber) posted his prayers for election day, a short, thoughtful and Christian approach to the election. Now that the election (with a few "too close to call" state races) is over, I call on all of us as Christians to move forward in the name of Christ.

We have differing opinions on the best way to run the country.