by Dean J. Seal
The use of Chocolate (the movie) is a great idea that pastors Evelyn and Craig are employing in Lent. Lent becomes a season of withholding if we turn it into a competition of who can give up the most, and feel the worst. Feeling bad is how you measure what you have given up, innit?
What we are learning from the film is that the radical atheist chocolatier is more generous, more giving, more adventurous than any of the petrified Christians in town. They are not just petrified with fear, the fear of doing something wrong, the fear of losing face and being shamed. They are also petrified stiff with following the rules that have been around so long no one knows where they come from. Petrified in their paths. Not to spoil the ending, but by then end there is liberation for the lot of them. Chocolate4 has arrived. And fear of joy crumbles.
Fear of Joy is how an old buddy of mine used to describe the Twin Cities before she left for the West Coast. Why should it be bad for us to enjoy ourselves? Enjoy chocolate? Enjoy new ideas and all that jazz? She was a dancer, and there was a very palpable fear of enjoying the process of watching a body, usually female, do all kinds of cool and unusual stuff. It seems obvious now, but a recent study (published somewhere near France, I don't know) said that women would much rather look at another woman's body in motion, whether it be dance, basketball, tennis or just running, than look at a man's body pretty much any time. This town has improved since my pal left (about seven years ago) and in fact the Big Twin Towns are very much a Dance Mecca. Ask James Sewell. So we are learning, we do move, even at a glacial pace.
What Am I talking about? you may ask yourself, and me. Here's the Interfaith Message for today. In the Movie Chocolate, the Petrified Forest of Christians was liberated by a self-described atheist. She had something to teach them, and it was compassion. Also, the church we go to is reaching beyond the bell book and candle format to learn from a movie. That is a format-style of interfaith dialogue; learning from a different resource. We can also learn from plays, from dance pieces, heck, even other religions have something to teach us. The Native Americans had it all over the White man in respecting the earth, right? Dr. King studied Gandhi, and Gandhi studied Jesus. They all picked up stuff that was theme-compliant with the work they did, and made it their own. King did not become a Hindu, and Gandhi did not become a Christian (someone asked him why, and he said, "I might have become a Christian if I had not met so many of them.")
So. I'm a guy who has no problem saying there are many paths up the mountain. There is something wrong with every religion, every faith tradition, including my own. With patience, with some mild study or chance encounter with another person's viewpoint, we can pick up stuff that makes sense that helps even if it isn't in our Bible. Jesus said, " I have called you to live abundantly." Go get 'em.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I Love Nordeast Luteran
by Dean J. Seal
Why oh why do I love Nordeast? It's not an easy situation that it finds itself in. After deciding to take up residence in the big old German location on 13th St. we find some cracks in the beams that cast doubt on the viability of the space. We have to run for cover at the smaller, less equipped Swedish place on Lowry.
Galling for me; I'm a youth minister without a place to teach. Adult Bible Study gets pretty raucous, doncha know- lots of laughs and messing around. Me and the Young Adults are pretty serious- or at least we want to hear each other. So we huddle in the office of the Ministers, and I try not to spill coffee so we get invited back.
And being in two locations is not the optimal environment for bringing in new people. It's like when the Lakers were a Minneapolis team, and they played in three different auditoriums; once their star player came to the wrong building and missed the game. How are newbies supposed to know where to go, when we get confused sometimes ourselves?
Still. What follows is a partial list of why I find this congregation to be interesting, attractive and, let's face it, sometimes even adorable.
First, because it is a merging congregation, they make an effort to be new. New things are hard to spring on a congregation, and this is three congregations trying to merge, and old habits die hard. But everyone is very much committed to making a new thing, or as Isaiah puts it, "I sing a new song." In other words, by living in the present, we understand we are building a future. Knowing that the three traditions created three shrinking congregations, there is a move afoot to create something new that will grow.
Second, that experimentation is alive in how the services are put together. Our new Music Director, Kristi, is amazing. She brings a mix of traditional and modern stuff, and she does them both right. She can sing, she can bring in musicians who add to the mix, and it seems fresh and vital every week. I have to tell you, I have always thought of the flute as a boring, wimpy instrument, unless it was played by Ian Anderson in Jethro Tull. But Kristi plays it so well I actually forgot i hate flutes.
It isn't just music by Kristi, though. When John Koski gets inspired to knock off a New Song, Isaiah-like, they let him go up and do it. And each minister gets to experiment with delivery, and they each get to follow their own muse.
I really like how cookies after church has become Actual Food with Actual Substance. I remember when fruit was served, the kids went straight for it; they don't have to feed on sugar all the time. And as the food improves, I think the temptation to linger and chat increases. My wife is fond of saying: Food Is Love. As we show this generous hospitality to whoever walks in the door, as we gather at table for a snack of soup or fresh bread, it's like hanging out in each other's rec rooms.
So this is where I end up, at table during the coffee hour, where I feel a community emerging from the dust of three former congregations. We are gathering, laughing, sharing, consoling each other on Sundays. We become Community, because we want community. We reach out to the community of people who have not enough to eat; we welcome the stranger to our table; we work with new ideas and make them our own.
It's a lively, living church.
Why oh why do I love Nordeast? It's not an easy situation that it finds itself in. After deciding to take up residence in the big old German location on 13th St. we find some cracks in the beams that cast doubt on the viability of the space. We have to run for cover at the smaller, less equipped Swedish place on Lowry.
Galling for me; I'm a youth minister without a place to teach. Adult Bible Study gets pretty raucous, doncha know- lots of laughs and messing around. Me and the Young Adults are pretty serious- or at least we want to hear each other. So we huddle in the office of the Ministers, and I try not to spill coffee so we get invited back.
And being in two locations is not the optimal environment for bringing in new people. It's like when the Lakers were a Minneapolis team, and they played in three different auditoriums; once their star player came to the wrong building and missed the game. How are newbies supposed to know where to go, when we get confused sometimes ourselves?
Still. What follows is a partial list of why I find this congregation to be interesting, attractive and, let's face it, sometimes even adorable.
First, because it is a merging congregation, they make an effort to be new. New things are hard to spring on a congregation, and this is three congregations trying to merge, and old habits die hard. But everyone is very much committed to making a new thing, or as Isaiah puts it, "I sing a new song." In other words, by living in the present, we understand we are building a future. Knowing that the three traditions created three shrinking congregations, there is a move afoot to create something new that will grow.
Second, that experimentation is alive in how the services are put together. Our new Music Director, Kristi, is amazing. She brings a mix of traditional and modern stuff, and she does them both right. She can sing, she can bring in musicians who add to the mix, and it seems fresh and vital every week. I have to tell you, I have always thought of the flute as a boring, wimpy instrument, unless it was played by Ian Anderson in Jethro Tull. But Kristi plays it so well I actually forgot i hate flutes.
It isn't just music by Kristi, though. When John Koski gets inspired to knock off a New Song, Isaiah-like, they let him go up and do it. And each minister gets to experiment with delivery, and they each get to follow their own muse.
I really like how cookies after church has become Actual Food with Actual Substance. I remember when fruit was served, the kids went straight for it; they don't have to feed on sugar all the time. And as the food improves, I think the temptation to linger and chat increases. My wife is fond of saying: Food Is Love. As we show this generous hospitality to whoever walks in the door, as we gather at table for a snack of soup or fresh bread, it's like hanging out in each other's rec rooms.
So this is where I end up, at table during the coffee hour, where I feel a community emerging from the dust of three former congregations. We are gathering, laughing, sharing, consoling each other on Sundays. We become Community, because we want community. We reach out to the community of people who have not enough to eat; we welcome the stranger to our table; we work with new ideas and make them our own.
It's a lively, living church.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Background Check
by Dean J. Seal
So. It has come to my attention that writing for an established blog might benefit from introducing myself. It sounds like the only polite thing to do. If one was conducting a Background Check, it might include some of the following.
At Northeast Community Lutheran, I am the Youth and Drama Minister. I am actually ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) to work in Interfaith Dialogue through the Performing Arts. So that is something I pursue.
In the past, I was an award-winning Producer of the MN Fringe, and Director of the Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater. I was 50% of Mr. Elk and Mr. Seal, which used to perform a lot in NYC with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Rosie O'Donnell, Lewis Black, Dennis Leary, Ray Romano ( I was chatting with the Queen of England yesterday and she and I both agreed how much we hate name droppers). I wrote for the Prairie Home Companion for about 6 months too. Mr. Elk and myself were in a band with Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, called Bongos, Bass and Bob. Our only LP was called "Never Mind the Sex Pistols, here's Bongos, Bass and Bob (what on earth were they thinking?)" And it was produced by Kramer at Noise New York. We were on MTV, Comedy Central, and America's Funniest Videos, and we shot a pilot for HBO (who chose instead to take Def Comedy Jam).
But show biz was a task that I found to be weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. So I became more enamored with low-budget theater.
Currently, I am an Artist in Residence at City Passport in St. Paul, a drop-in center for aging Americans. I run a little theater company called the Passport Players. We are people with chronic pain issues, and we are performing a 20 minute musical (it has two songs) called "My Ex-Husband is Married to Your Ex-Husband's Ex-Wife." We perform in senior centers where the residents feel trapped and are starved for entertainment.
I also teach Religion as an Adjunct Instructor for Augsburg College. I teach 100, 200 and 300. It is about three things: The history of Christianity, the Interfaith Dialogue, and finding a sense of vocation in your own life, no matter what belief system you have. 100 and 200 are required courses, and 300 is a combination of the two taught to nurses in the nursing program. I love nurses, in the best, most platonic agape-esque sense of love. More on that later.
There's more. I am at present a consultant to the congregations that sponsored the Downtown Interfaith Forum, which is looking for new ways to make the Interfaith Dialogue more present. I am also Executive/Artistic Director of Spirit in the House, a producing entity that among other things manages an annual festival of film, storytelling, theater, dance and music where the artists express their spirituality through their art.
I wrote a book about using the Bible as a source of ideas for theater (Church & Stage, Cowley Pubs. 2005), and how to use that as a youth ministry program so the young people understand that there is valuable stuff for them in the text. Otherwise, the Bible is a Dead Book. Like a 1953 Encyclopedia.
I've seen some amazing stuff in this line of work, and I hope to make it more visible and available. Unfortunately, many of the people who do this kind of work are not ambitious. So I can't always build on what succeeds.
Such a delicate flower of a project. Let me know if you have an interest.
So. It has come to my attention that writing for an established blog might benefit from introducing myself. It sounds like the only polite thing to do. If one was conducting a Background Check, it might include some of the following.
At Northeast Community Lutheran, I am the Youth and Drama Minister. I am actually ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) to work in Interfaith Dialogue through the Performing Arts. So that is something I pursue.
In the past, I was an award-winning Producer of the MN Fringe, and Director of the Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater. I was 50% of Mr. Elk and Mr. Seal, which used to perform a lot in NYC with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Rosie O'Donnell, Lewis Black, Dennis Leary, Ray Romano ( I was chatting with the Queen of England yesterday and she and I both agreed how much we hate name droppers). I wrote for the Prairie Home Companion for about 6 months too. Mr. Elk and myself were in a band with Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, called Bongos, Bass and Bob. Our only LP was called "Never Mind the Sex Pistols, here's Bongos, Bass and Bob (what on earth were they thinking?)" And it was produced by Kramer at Noise New York. We were on MTV, Comedy Central, and America's Funniest Videos, and we shot a pilot for HBO (who chose instead to take Def Comedy Jam).
But show biz was a task that I found to be weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. So I became more enamored with low-budget theater.
Currently, I am an Artist in Residence at City Passport in St. Paul, a drop-in center for aging Americans. I run a little theater company called the Passport Players. We are people with chronic pain issues, and we are performing a 20 minute musical (it has two songs) called "My Ex-Husband is Married to Your Ex-Husband's Ex-Wife." We perform in senior centers where the residents feel trapped and are starved for entertainment.
I also teach Religion as an Adjunct Instructor for Augsburg College. I teach 100, 200 and 300. It is about three things: The history of Christianity, the Interfaith Dialogue, and finding a sense of vocation in your own life, no matter what belief system you have. 100 and 200 are required courses, and 300 is a combination of the two taught to nurses in the nursing program. I love nurses, in the best, most platonic agape-esque sense of love. More on that later.
There's more. I am at present a consultant to the congregations that sponsored the Downtown Interfaith Forum, which is looking for new ways to make the Interfaith Dialogue more present. I am also Executive/Artistic Director of Spirit in the House, a producing entity that among other things manages an annual festival of film, storytelling, theater, dance and music where the artists express their spirituality through their art.
I wrote a book about using the Bible as a source of ideas for theater (Church & Stage, Cowley Pubs. 2005), and how to use that as a youth ministry program so the young people understand that there is valuable stuff for them in the text. Otherwise, the Bible is a Dead Book. Like a 1953 Encyclopedia.
I've seen some amazing stuff in this line of work, and I hope to make it more visible and available. Unfortunately, many of the people who do this kind of work are not ambitious. So I can't always build on what succeeds.
Such a delicate flower of a project. Let me know if you have an interest.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Funeral to Festival, to Funeral
by Dean J. Seal
The Festival is Spirit in the House, which is about spirituality expressed by artists through their art. Theater is the core, with storytelling being a major vehicle, and dance, movement, testimonial, all chipping in. This year we had 14 live shows, and 14 films. Also, five workshops. Lest you become muddled in thinking it is all Xtian, let's mention the list of Faith Traditions in the past five years: Quaker, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim Dervish, Mormon, Sikh, Baptist, Goddess, Jewish, and lots of Non-denominational experiential. Also, Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist. See the site: Spiritinthehouse.org for details.
The Funeral, this year, was my mother-in-law, Ann. Last year it was my mother, Elaine. Both died just before the Festival. Both had suffered somewhat from pain and debilitating health pictures; my mom was 88 and Ann was 73. But neither wanted to live in a residential nursing home, and both went fast, within an hour for Ann and about 12 for Elaine. It was a blessing for them. It's been a tough year for my little family.
Why the odd pairing? I have no idea how it happened that way. I do think I can juxtapose the events and learn from them. I can recommend a book on the afterlife, not written by a goofball. It's called Forever Ours, by Dr. Janet Amatuzio, who is a Forensic Pathologist. For those unacquainted with the term, she's the one who will inspect each and every stab wound when someone is killed by a freak. Forensic pathologists will not put up with any crackpot ideas from anyone; yet she writes movingly about what she has heard from those who have left and come back.
This is what I talk about when people ask me about it. I don't think there is a hell. I think we go to God, and when we get there, we have a chance to understand out lives, and we bathe in the love of the Eternal Being, the Creator, El Shaddai, the Uncreated. Those of us obsessed with vengeance in this world will be disappointed that there isn't some place where pointy-eared guys with tails are stabbing people with tridents. But they can take that up with the discussion groups when they get there.
My experience here is that I have no trouble with death. Sometimes it looks pretty good; as Liz Lemon said once on 30 Rock, "When will death come?" We have nothing to fear but fear itself; fear is actually a major component of pain, and if you aren't afraid of whatever is causing the pain, you can reduce the amount of pain you actually experience. The shows we produced in the Festival are about how people deal with life in a manner that is attempting to be meaningful; more than a material victory over our pals, more than comfort and time off. What if we felt that compassion was more important than envy?
That's what I'm talkin' bout.
Then, on the last weekend of the Fest, I attended the funeral of a guy, Rev. Don Meisel, who was a fan of my work. He came to hear me preach when I had the pulpit at Central Presbyterian in St. Paul. He did not have to do that, but he wanted to encourage the young talent (hah, younger than him, anyway) because he was comfortably retired, and comfortably headed to the Great Round-Up. With his death fully in mind, he could move peacefully from commitment to commitment to make the world a better place after he was gone. He also could speak clearly; when the new minister was being installed, he gave the congregation a charge: "Show up."
So, knowing we will die, this is our charge. Be alive while we are alive. Be aware of the many paths to wisdom, of the many styles of spirituality, give them their due, and learn your own way by being intentional about the pursuit. Listen to the suffering in this world, and be not afraid of sharing that pain. And when there is a need, show up.
The Festival is Spirit in the House, which is about spirituality expressed by artists through their art. Theater is the core, with storytelling being a major vehicle, and dance, movement, testimonial, all chipping in. This year we had 14 live shows, and 14 films. Also, five workshops. Lest you become muddled in thinking it is all Xtian, let's mention the list of Faith Traditions in the past five years: Quaker, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim Dervish, Mormon, Sikh, Baptist, Goddess, Jewish, and lots of Non-denominational experiential. Also, Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist. See the site: Spiritinthehouse.org for details.
The Funeral, this year, was my mother-in-law, Ann. Last year it was my mother, Elaine. Both died just before the Festival. Both had suffered somewhat from pain and debilitating health pictures; my mom was 88 and Ann was 73. But neither wanted to live in a residential nursing home, and both went fast, within an hour for Ann and about 12 for Elaine. It was a blessing for them. It's been a tough year for my little family.
Why the odd pairing? I have no idea how it happened that way. I do think I can juxtapose the events and learn from them. I can recommend a book on the afterlife, not written by a goofball. It's called Forever Ours, by Dr. Janet Amatuzio, who is a Forensic Pathologist. For those unacquainted with the term, she's the one who will inspect each and every stab wound when someone is killed by a freak. Forensic pathologists will not put up with any crackpot ideas from anyone; yet she writes movingly about what she has heard from those who have left and come back.
This is what I talk about when people ask me about it. I don't think there is a hell. I think we go to God, and when we get there, we have a chance to understand out lives, and we bathe in the love of the Eternal Being, the Creator, El Shaddai, the Uncreated. Those of us obsessed with vengeance in this world will be disappointed that there isn't some place where pointy-eared guys with tails are stabbing people with tridents. But they can take that up with the discussion groups when they get there.
My experience here is that I have no trouble with death. Sometimes it looks pretty good; as Liz Lemon said once on 30 Rock, "When will death come?" We have nothing to fear but fear itself; fear is actually a major component of pain, and if you aren't afraid of whatever is causing the pain, you can reduce the amount of pain you actually experience. The shows we produced in the Festival are about how people deal with life in a manner that is attempting to be meaningful; more than a material victory over our pals, more than comfort and time off. What if we felt that compassion was more important than envy?
That's what I'm talkin' bout.
Then, on the last weekend of the Fest, I attended the funeral of a guy, Rev. Don Meisel, who was a fan of my work. He came to hear me preach when I had the pulpit at Central Presbyterian in St. Paul. He did not have to do that, but he wanted to encourage the young talent (hah, younger than him, anyway) because he was comfortably retired, and comfortably headed to the Great Round-Up. With his death fully in mind, he could move peacefully from commitment to commitment to make the world a better place after he was gone. He also could speak clearly; when the new minister was being installed, he gave the congregation a charge: "Show up."
So, knowing we will die, this is our charge. Be alive while we are alive. Be aware of the many paths to wisdom, of the many styles of spirituality, give them their due, and learn your own way by being intentional about the pursuit. Listen to the suffering in this world, and be not afraid of sharing that pain. And when there is a need, show up.
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