Older than dirt

Last week I received my 50 year patch from Lutheridge. Which means, well, I'm old.

It's hard to believe, to be honest. I vividly remember the tether ball championship in 5th grade (Laura Faust cheated, I should add). My first dance at Pioneer B lodge (6th grade) ... dumpster diving in search of my retainer (9th grade) ... breaking my wrist playing volleyball as a counselor ... iconic figures like Papa John, Belvin, Sailor, Pam, and Mama Cline ... getting stuck on Mt. Mitchell with Krista and a slew of middle schoolers during a vicious thunder storm (1997) ... the "hobo Jesus" performances every Thursday night of confirmation camp ... the old Luther Lodge, Friday night Music Week concerts, Capture the Flag at Lakeside (still the best place to play Capture the Flag), life as a WAD, stories of Old Blue and Grey Cabin, the annual Miss Lutheridge contest (why didn't I didn't save my crown?), counselors adding their stars in the PB lounge (mine's a Converse star), dropping my own kids off for camp. The list goes on and on.

Now 68 years old, Lutheridge has been a special place for generations of campers. I'm so very thankful that it remains a vibrant part of the church's ministry -- the perfect training ground for children, youth, and adults. In a nutshell, Lutheridge is Christian formation at its finest.

This summer, Lutheridge welcomes 2,000 campers of all stripes, sizes, and colors. It's not fancy. It doesn't try to "keep up with the Joneses." It just keeps doing what the camp has done for four generations: create space for campers to experience the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I'm glad St. John's has been in partnership with Lutheridge since the very beginning. And I'm glad that I get to proudly display my 50 year patch. 

Even if it means I'm older than dirt.

How do we make decisions?

Krista and I have enjoyed watching Madam Secretary on Netflix lately. Tea Leoni -- Sam Malone's old girlfriend, remember that? -- stars as a former CIA analyst turned Secretary of State. She's smart, capable, an out-of-the-box thinker, and determined to make impactful decisions based as much on ethics as national interest. For purists, that can be a problem. I find it refreshing. 

Last night I watched an old episode of House of Cards, the wildly popular show (once upon a time) about a president and his wife who make impactful decisions without any regard whatsoever to ethics or national interests. Their first and absolute priority is, you guessed it, them. More specifically, their drive to always stack the cards in their favor. 

Both shows are lessons in culture and character, and both reveal -- more than we'd like to admit, perhaps -- our own struggles in making decisions. 

In our sermon series, Road to Character, we'll be consistently turning to that question: How and why do I make the decisions I make? For most, there's not a single answer. We consider ethics, context, time, and "what's in it for me?" Martin Luther says that our ultimate responsibility is to probe the inner depths of our conscience, championing a whole new understanding of one's freedom. James Madison quoted Luther in his defense of the Bill of Rights as this country wrestled with a whole new understanding of liberty. 

Ultimately, we are "bound by the dictates of our own conscience," Luther would say. But what informs our conscience? Is our conscience always our best guide? What if it is in error? What if we've been feeding it a bunch of junk? What then? 

Those are the questions we wrestle with in our Road to Character -- a journey that invites us into an internal struggle for our own soul. I hope you'll join us.

In the meantime, thanks so much for what you do in this part of God's garden. Have a great week!