March 13, 2008
Every year, my dear wife’s family has an Oscar picking contest. Some families fill out March madness brackets; mine chooses favorites for art direction and original score. After a few years way behind, this year I scored 14 correct guesses, and tied with my father-in-law for the victory. This year’s reward: easter M&Ms!
This week, The Church Geek pointed me to this wonderful list of 100 “spiritually significant films.” We don’t get to see movies as much as we did pre-twins, but we try to see some now and then, and we used to go see quite a few. So, I was surprised that, like the Church Geek, I’d seen so few of what this author lists as the top 10 (two, actually: The Miracle Maker and the Gospel According to Matthew). Though, part of that has to do with the fact that most of the top 100 seem to be foreign films…
Some of my favorite movies are on the list: Millions, The Mission, The Apostle, Schindler’s List, Les Miserables (though the musical is better, and one of my favorites there too..). One movie I would have had on there that wasn’t: Shawshank Redemption.
Check out the list next time yer planning a rental.
Posted in media 
1 Comment »
January 7, 2008
The youth group received a check last week for $41.18. This was our inaugural installment of funds from GoodSearch, a search engine that uses engines like yahoo! but which redirect a portion of their advertising proceeds to groups like us.
We’ve not pushed this very hard at Southminster, and yet we still got $41 for our workcamp. Thanks to all who are using this, and imagine what we’d get if more used GoodSearch in just some of their web browsing.
Give it a shot! Type ‘Southminster Presbyterian Church’ in the box that designates where you want your funds to go…
Update: There’s also a way for you to add a special toolbar for ie or a special GoodSearch entry in your firefox searchbox. Look for these at http://www.goodsearch.com/Toolbars.aspx
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December 18, 2007
Today I joined some 160+ ministers and elder commissioners, and some visitors, at a called meeting of Heartland Presbytery. What follows is a long post about what transpired today, and my blogging about some of the events elsewhere under the moniker ‘kairos’. If you aren’t interested, or don’t have much patience for the inter-church squabbles of a mainline denomination and its polity, you are free to skip it; if you are, feel free to read on… I’m sorry its so long, even as I skip a lot of details.
Read the rest of this entry »
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December 12, 2007
My college class newsletter arrived yesterday, where various members of the Grinnell College Class of 1997 write in with updates about their life, and I was pleased to see that I was included:
Chad Herring is associate pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas. He and his wife, Brook Bailey ‘98 had infant twin girls, Nora and Tessa, in August 2006. Chad tells me that he feels called to do this particular kind of ministry, to be in a church that’s at the core of his faith tradition–in his words, “warm, accepting, and grace-giving.” Chad blogs at www.southminsterpres.com/roe/.
I thought that was pretty cool! Welcome, Grinnellians…
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December 11, 2007
My friend Landon is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Liberty, Missouri. He’s a good guy, with lots of blogging ambition. He has a new venture, called Not That Calvin, that you might enjoy.
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December 11, 2007
Blogrolls are lists of other blogs on a particular subject. I’ve started expanding my blogrolls, and you might find some of the links of interest. Because of the number, for now they’re available through the ‘links’ tab above.
I plan a few categories:
- decently and in order, for those blogging that claim affiliation with the presbyterian church (usa) in some capacity,
- emergent-esque and faith musings, for blogs that are trying to explore what this contemporary movement called the emergent church is all about,
- amusing blogs, for those blogs I think are well done but that defy definition,
- news and political commentary, which should be self explanatory,
- official pcusa sites, which should be self explanatory, and
- pcusa advocacy.
I’m going to try to put up links that represent a broad range of thought, so you might find all sorts of links up there, conservative to liberal, red state to blue state, and all things in between. So I don’t take responsibility for those to whom I link, but I’ll try to keep the list focused to some good stuff. Enjoy!
Posted in blogging 2 Comments »
December 10, 2007
An early new-year’s resolution: I am going to start tending to Roeminations to make it a better blog. Don’t worry; I won’t wait until January to get started.
What makes for a good blog? This has long been an interesting question to me, but I think it is some combination of regular attention, original insight or at least some pointer to the same, a particular lens through which one views the world and articulates a vision, and a measure of intellectual honesty. What makes a good blog on issues of faith and the church includes all the former, and adds a commitment to the best ideals of Jesus Christ in the writing.
I aim for this blog to become more active in the weeks and months ahead. I hope for it to become a better blog than it currently is, so I’ll try to attend to the points listed above.
One of the difficulties is, I think, that my writing this blog links me in some way to the church and denomination I serve. This in many ways cannot be helped, and that is not in itself a bad thing. I am a minister of word and sacrament in a particular denomination that feeds my spirit and in a particular church that gives context to my ministry. I love my church and my denomination which gives vibrant expression, in my judgment, to the gospel.
I’ve tried blogging under a pseudonym before, though, in part because I thought (and still do) that the freedom that it would offer was important–being able to write commentary without it being identified as a specific pastor of a specific church. In some ways that worked well, and in other ways it did not. But that venture is pretty much over for now, and I am back to Roeminations…
A few things that will become pretty clear. The blogging that I do here is not in any way the responsibility of Southminster or the Presbyterian Church or the like. I am related to them through ordination and installation vows; I am one of their pastors and representatives. My work and my life is intertwined with them, and Southminster hosts this website for the time being.
But this blog is not a Southminster blog; it is my blog, about things of interest to me or about things that I think are important, whether it is important to the life of Southminster or to Johnson County, Kansas, or to the wider world. This is an important distinction that I want to emphasize. And I gather that, just as I am afforded the freedom, and indeed am expected to exercise it, when approaching scripture for the purpose of exegesis and sermon preparation, the same will be presumed for this forum. Any failing you find on this page is solely my own, and I take responsibility for it.
So I might (or might not) talk about a whole host of things: various issues of theology or biblical exegesis; matters of church and state, thoughts about the wars we’re in over in Iraq and Afghanistan, what it means for our country to adopt torture as an “enhanced interrogation technique,” or things like that. In fact, that last one has captivated my conscience for quite a while now, and I think the church in America has lots to say about torture.
So, the commentary, vision, commitments laid out on these pages are my own, and I take sole responsibility for them. I don’t plan to be intentionally political, but I don’t plan to shy away from it either. I am who I am. I do not think a case can be made that Jesus Christ was a-political, either. Issues that he cared about–poverty, purity, peace–intersect with the public realm and thus have a political dimension. The church has something to say about things that are happening in the world.
However, I also know that you are who you are, and I love you for it. I will endeavor to write with respect for honest differences of opinion, with candor and humility, and with love and faith for God and God’s creation. I promise, like I do in every aspect of my life, to conduct myself with as much integrity as I am able, living my life in such a way that commends the gospel as I am able to articulate it.
I don’t suspect that everyone in my church or that all those who stumble across the blog will agree with the whole substance of the posts I make, but that is ok, since I believe in the importance of diverse voices at the table when discussing these matters.
If you would like to, I encourage you to comment as you wish. I tend to allow quite a bit of leeway with comments, though I will not permit comments which are in my sole judgment spam (of course), vitriolic or abusive, off topic, or beyond the pale. I don’t take responsibility for what others write there, but I’ll try to keep it both as free as possible and as upright as possible. I admit, that’s a hard balance. Take it for what its worth.
With all that said, lets begin anew, shall we?
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November 13, 2007
Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper has inspired countless folk to imagine what Jesus’ last meal might have been like.
Today I saw this neat online tool that allows you to get REALLY close to the mural, revealing an unbelievable amount of detail through digital magnification. Check it out!
Posted in church history No Comments »
November 13, 2007
Last Tuesday I went to see Rob Bell at the Uptown Theatre. I’ve you’ve not heard of him, he’s an engaging and captivating voice in contemporary Christianity. He’s written a few books (with provocative titles like Velvet Elvis and Sex God), and he’s come up with a series of short DVDs called NOOMA that are just dynamite. He’s the founding pastor (and now holds the title “Teaching Pastor”) of a non-denominational church called Mars Hill Bible Church outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I first became interested in Bell after reading a New York Times article about his previous speaking tour, called Everything Is Spiritual. It seemed the Times was picking up on the fact that this Bell guy was selling out auditoriums all across the country, filling them with (mainly) 20-40 year old folks and sparking something in them along the way. So I bought Velvet Elvis and started using his NOOMA videos for some of my adult ed and youth group classes…
I’ve found Bell’s work personally uplifting and edifying for my own faith and ministry. He seems to be an interesting bridge between what I would call mainline protestant and evangelical thought. He comes out of the latter world, and while some of what he writes and teaches has been challenging to those of a more “evangelical” worldview, it seems pretty much in line with the faith handed down to me in the various mainline-reformed communities of my upbringing. Focusing on individual piety, the work and grace of God in Jesus Christ, and novel ways of reading and hearing the biblical material for today, Bell has a way of drawing people into the gospel message and rendering it meaningful for people where they are. He doesn’t shy away from where he thinks the gospel speaks most deeply: to help people become free from their hurt and their sin and their pain.
I was excited when I heard that his present tour, The Gods Aren’t Angry, was coming to town, and I was quick to get a ticket. It was billed as “part anthropology, part history, part deconstruction.” I wasn’t sure what to expect at the uptown, but the place was buzzing with excitement. The event was sold out, and in this venue for small, intimate concerts, hundreds of people were lined up for the wait to reach their plastic chair before Bell took the stage.
My internet-friend and fellow Presbyterian Pastor Jim Bonewald, also known as The Church Geek, has written up what I think is a very good summary of what Bell spoke about, so I don’t have to rehash that here. If you’re interested, please read it. In many ways, Bell’s presentation shows how solidly he fits within the basics of Reformed Theology (which is what we Presbyterians are): we celebrate the love, grace, and freedom that God has already given to us, and it is because of that alone that we are set free to get past the need to “appease the gods”–be they our guilt, or our fear, or our rage–and to live fully, live freely, live wholly. That’s basically what Bell was getting at, I think, and that’s Reformed Theology 101. Good stuff.
It was so wonderful to be in an auditorium with 500+ young adults craving to hear that message. Bell’s a wonderful communicator. Would that more begin to hear the word that he is bringing to the world, so that we can live by it.
Incidently, I’m wanting to start showing these NOOMA videos to the young adults at our church. We just need to work out a time and a place to begin. Trust me, its worth it…
Posted in Faith 2 Comments »
October 31, 2007
Roeminations went dormant just after Easter this year. Too much was going on in my life to tend well to this project: Jeff’s sabbatical, my beautiful girls, various other realities of life.
Southminster just went through the process of changing our webhosts from AT&T (nee SBC) to Dreamhost. We’ve gone this route for a few reasons, including getting far more webservices for the dollar, the possibility of video streaming, and more robust blogging and social networking platforms. It will take us several months to figure out just how to make these extra features work for us, but the basic webpage that the other service enabled is working just fine on the new service.
I’ve also decided to move my blog to this new server. This will get it off of my personal webhost, and will perhaps integrate better with our church’s webpage. I will need to clean up and maybe modernize the look-and-feel of roeminations a bit, so it might take me a bit of time to get back up to speed. But I’ll work on it.
Until then, thanks for reading this occasional blog. I hope to have something worth writing about shortly.
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Chad Andrew Herring :: creature of dust :: child of God :: husband of 9 years :: 
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