my greatest strength and greatest weakness

I have learned much during this internship. I have learned about my strengths, and I have learned about my weaknesses. My greatest strength is my ability to reflect on my expereince and the word of God, to combine them, and to create something new and inspiring. Unfortunately, this is my greatest weakness as well. It is difficult for a poet to be a pastor. Because a poet lives in his mind a pastor must reach outside of himself to truly know his parishoners. If I try I can get in my pastor "mode" when I am completely focused on the other person. The problem is usually I am usually in the poet mode. So sometimes I can stare off into space thinking about a sermon, a world issue, someone I know who is hurting, or my own life. And I am percieved as being disconnected and uncaring when I do this. To train myself to easily switch back and forth between these two different mindsets is my greatest task. But I will not do it alone. I certainly need a more in depth prayer life

poem

I wrote a few poems while over in the middle east. Hopefully my relfections will be helpful

GALILEE
It’s hard to understand
why such a blessing would be bestowed upon me,
to be floating upon this boat
in the middle of the sea of Galilee.
Such calm waters,
how could they rage?
Such rolling hills,
how could they hide the hurting masses?
And as our hosts begin to sing,
I can’t help but sing along
To this beautiful mixture
of English and Hebrew song.
Carried away by the melody,
I can imagine Jesus walking on water,
traveling the countryside,
healing all who come to him.
But the hearts of Galilee
could not contain the flood of his mercy.
So he emptied himself upon the cross.
So all the world could drink
from the fountain of life.

And as I think about
the love of the Risen Lord.
The amazing grace
of the infinite yet intimate God,
I dream of a day
when God’s love will fall like rain.
When Earth and heaven are united
and remade in the wisdom of the eternal Word.
Not an after life
but a transformed life.
Not a dying world,
but a redeemed creation.
And we as servants of this salvation are called to reach
the hungry, the hurting, and the hopeless.
The liars, the lepers, and the lame.
For them we must walk across the stormy sea,
all for Jesus’ name.


THE WALL
Gray stone,
and towers of death,
separate the Palestinians from their livelihood.
And us from the birthplace of the Savior.
Upon the ominous wall a sign reads,
“Peace be with you.”
But peace is at home here
as a fish out of water.
It is about as tangible
as the morning mist.

On the other side of the wall
I see a different story painted on the dark stone.
Dark images,
Nightmares of an entire people brought into the light.
A ravenous snake,
a savage lion,
a dove in the crosshairs,
cries of hypocrisy and rage,
of a people crammed into this city,
this urban cage.
A people who have endured an unspeakable horror
have now been given free reign
to divide families and strangle cities
They have vowed never again to endure another Holocaust,
so they strain as much security as they can
by force of arms.
But peace through fear
only boils bitterness,
and the pressure threatens to blow everyone’s dreams to bloody pieces.
Walls may protect us from our enemies.
But they can never protect us from ourselves.

couple of questions

Couple of questions that have bugged me since I got here.

1. How Biblical should our faith be? How should it structure our thought? Should our theology always be couched in Biblical language? If not, how do we keep in touch with the history of our faith?
2. What binds Christians in the Body of Christ? Do we believe in Jesus in name only, with each having her or his personal Jesus? What is the Gospel? Is it that Jesus died for our sins? Or that we should help the needy? Or both?
3. Is the apostle Paul a faithful disciple of Christ or did he "create" a religion that Jesus did not intend? If he is a faithful disciple how do we reconcile Pauline theology with that we find in the Gospel narratives?
4. Is the statement, "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life," the Truth or a truth? What is wrong with claiming an ultimate revelation in Christ that is exculsive? Is there not an exclusivist train of thought in the Bible that runs along side inclusivist thought?
5. What does it mean to "believe" in something? This word above all has become very confusing for me in seminary. Some begining question. Feel free to post your honest thoughts.

Gotta start this all somehow

Hopefully, some of the fellas who were hashing it out on a facebook note will start some conversation here.

Until then...just to throw something out there:
check out this time magazine article on the pope's upcoming visit to America

Sorry don't have much time to respond/comment now.

peace,
mike

New Site

Friends, this site needs some stuff:

1. A cool name
2. A cool picture/graphics
3. people to create gmail accounts and email mwatsonpc@gmail.com with their email and request to be a "site author".
4. people to use it a lot.
5. and really, any other ideas you may have to get this off the ground.

let the blogging begin!

Out of a recent, and still ongoing, discussion over someone's 'note' they posted on facebook, I came to the realization that the campus of Union-PSCE has got a LOT to say from all different angles and it's about time we get around to communicate more.

Thus, I am starting this blog site in hopes that we, as a community of seminarians, faculty, staff, and all those interested, may join in healthy discourse in this easily accessible and technologically advanced form of communication. Whereas one-on-one discourse is still preferable, you've got to start somewhere!

So let the blogging begin!