Four Chords, a Cat and Some Dream Hands

One of the benefits of hanging out with teenagers all the time is that I get to stay tuned in to pop culture...or at least be reminded when I've fallen woefully behind.  I spent last weekend in Ocean City with the teenagers from our church.  In between the times when we talked about God and stuff, we were entertained by the viral videos that at least 21 million other people have already seen.  It's good to be in the loop again:

I'm a Lutheran 'til I die

This was an overwhelmingly Lutheran weekend.  

Matt and I went to the Prairie Home Companion "Summer of Love" tour on Friday evening (with some Lutheran friends, naturally) at the beautiful Pier 6 Pavilion in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

We had wonderful seats (thanks, Garrett!), and we could've reached out and touched Garrison as he walked through the crowd:

Yesterday morning was an equally Lutheran experience: Rally Sunday.  It was so good to be back at church with our awesome high schoolers.  They've done more thinking and reasoning about their faith and their place in the world's faith community than most of the adults I know.  They're an inspiration.

In honor of all this glorious Lutheranness, I thought I'd share a song that aired on this weekend's Prairie Home Companion rebroadcast.  It was written in 1999 when the ELCA merged with the Episcopalians.  You can also cross your fingers and try to listen to the song here.

"I'm a Lutheran" by Garrison Keillor

Hello from Minnesota.
You call it pasta, we call it macaroni,
and thank you very much,
yes, I believe I will have more. And

I was raised in Iowa, went to Concordia,
Swedish, I'm proud to say.
Got a job at Lutheran Brotherhood,
And I never was sick one day.
Bought a house in south Minneapolis
Over by Cedar Lake
If you ask me this latest merger
Was nothing but a big mistake.
Now I have nothing against Episcopalians
I believe in an open door
I'm sure it's good to get new ideas
But we never did it that way before.

Praise heaven, I believe
Praise heaven, I believe
I'm a Lutheran, a Lutheran, it is my belief,
I am a Lutheran guy.
We may have merged with another church
But I'm a Lutheran 'til I die.

We are a modest people
And we never make a fuss
And it sure would be a better world
If they were all as modest as us.
We do not go for whooping it up,
Or a lot of yikkety-yak.
When we say hello, we avert our eyes
And we always sit in the back.
We sit in the pew where we always sit,
And we do not shout Amen.
And if anyone yells or waves their hands,
They're not invited back again.
I'm a Lutheran, a Lutheran, it is my belief,
I am a Lutheran guy.
We may have merged with another church
But I'm a Lutheran 'til I die.

We've got chow mein noodles on tuna hotdish
And Jello with cottage cheese,
And chocolate bars and banana cream pie,
No wonder we're on our knees.
This is the church where we sing Amen
At the end of every song.
The coffee pot is always on
Cause the meetings are three hours long.
The blessed tie that binds our hearts
Is cream of mushroom soup
We do not walk through the door alone.
We wait and go as a group.

Praise heaven, I believe
Praise heaven, I believe
I'm a Lutheran, a Lutheran, it is my belief,
I am a Lutheran guy.
We may have merged with another church
But I'm a Lutheran 'til I die.

Episcopalians are proud of their faith,
You ought to hear em talk
Who they got? They got Henry the 8th
And we got J.S. Bach.
Henry the 8th he had six wives
Trying to make a son.
J.S Bach had 23 children
And wives, he had just one.
Henry the 8th'd marry a woman
And then her head would drop
J.S. Bach had all those kids
Cause his organ had no stop.
Praise heaven, I believe
Praise heaven, I believe
I'm a Lutheran, a Lutheran, it is my belief,
I am a Lutheran guy.
Episcopalians I don't mind
But I'm a Lutheran 'til I die.

Once in awhile we go to shows
But a Lutheran is not a fan.
We don't whistle and we don't laugh
We smile as loud as we can.
If you come to church, don't expect to be hugged,
Don't expect your hand to be shook.
If we need to know who you are,
We can look in the visitors' book.
I was raised to keep a lid on it,
Guard what you say or do.
A Mighty Fortress is our God
So he must be Lutheran too.

Praise heaven, I believe
Praise heaven, I believe
I'm a Lutheran, a Lutheran, it is my belief,
I am a Lutheran guy.
Episcopalians I don't mind
But I'm a Lutheran 'til I die.

(c) 1999 by Garrison Keillor

Dogsitting Children

I have to preface this by saying that I love children. Honest, I do. I adore my students, and I'm very fond of small children--in equally small doses.

On Friday night, I helped with a youth fundraiser at church: "Parents' Night Out." In other words, we babysat. I was in charge of the room that entertained 27 children between the ages of four and six for over three hours. Now, even with a hangover, I can handle 27 15-year-olds (let's not talk about how I know that), but 27 little ones? Not so much.

My coping mechanism was to treat the children like I treat Barley. When one of them tried to run out the door, I yelled, "Stay!" When they wouldn't sit down to put their shoes on, I yelled, "Sit!" When one particularly precocious child lay down on another child's toy, I even said, "Roll over!"

I don't think I went so far as to whistle at a child, but I did fantasize about getting a few of those kid leashes.

"A Walk in the Woods"

Every fall, the kids from our church spend a weekend up at our camp in Western Maryland. The kids go to a bunch of different schools, so they look forward to this time to reconnect. This year, our theme was "worship," and the weekend was led by Mudhouse, an acoustic duo.
Aside from worshiping together, rekindling old friendships and spending hours in the beautiful mountain scenery, the kids also get to help out around the camp, though there are always more kids than there are jobs.
This year, a few of us took a hike up to "shock rock." The power lines run so low that if a person sticks his or her hand in the air, s/he can shock someone else. In other words, the perfect game to play with a bunch of teenagers on a cliff.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. I can't wait for next year!

O, Minnesota!

My home and native land! My trip to the Boundary Waters (which did include a very brief stop in Canada, the original "home and native land") was better than anything I could have imagined. My father-in-law said I wouldn't be able to handle it, but I had one of the best times of my life.

My crew of six kids, another adult leader and our guide paddled across some of the most unspoiled wilderness in the world. We carried packs weighing anywhere from 60 to 110 pounds; we hoisted canoes on our shoulders and hiked through miles of trails, including a winding, unmaintained trail, or "bushwhack"; and we spent countless hours lounging on the shores of our campsites. Our highlight was spending time at the campsite at the end of the bushwhack that gave us the view of the gorgeous sunset below (followed by the most glorious night sky I've ever seen; we could see the Milky Way).


I've always said that I like to vacation as God intended--in a busy city, preferably in a 5-star hotel with room service. But I have a new-found appreciation and awe for spending days at a time in God's glorious wilderness. I didn't wear deodorant, take a shower or even use soap for five days; I cleaned dishes with moss and dirt; and I hiked for hours at a time with packs and canoes that weighed nearly as much as I do. And I loved every moment of it.

Aside from the personal empowerment of the week, I also experienced a rare moment in the teenage world--the breaking down of social walls and the dissolution of cliques. The kids in my group couldn't have been more different. Three of them are too-cool-for-school kids and the other three are band nerds. They were thrown together as near-strangers, regardless of the fact that they've been in the same youth group for years. By the end of the week, the traditional high school social walls all but crumbled. They gave each other nicknames, invited each other to participate in activities around the campsite, and even voluntarily mixed it up when it came time to decide who would paddle which canoe each day. When all the kids said good-bye to each other at the airport this afternoon, the cool kids and the band nerds sought each other out for one last hug.

Off to the Boundary Waters!

When I was growing up, "roughing it" meant finding something to do when the cable television went out during a thunderstorm. This week, I'm off to the Boundary Waters to spend five days in the wilderness with 20 teenagers. At the time of this post, we're meeting at the airport. By 6:00, we'll be on our way to Minnesota.

See you in a week!