In the wake of car accident chaos this weekend, I attended a nice little writers' conference at Luther College called Called to Create. It was wonderful primarily because I didn't have to feed, clothe, buckle, or carry anyone else for 24 hours, and I got to spend some time with another pastor-mother-friend.
What to say about it?:
- It was, unfortunately, little. The auditorium felt pretty empty, and I met with two students from my congregation for lunch, and they had no idea this event was happening on campus. This would never happen at Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing.
- Gracia Grindal, quoting "a colleague" (she didn't say who), about the Lutheran tendency to preach "justification by coma." Ouch. But so true.
- Gracia commented that perhaps Lutherans have few famous authors in English because, well, as a group we haven't been speaking English that long. It takes a few generations for a mastery of the language to take hold. This seems counterintuitive when you consider how English is the ONLY language for many Lutheran Americans now, but I think she may be on to something. It reminds me of a Stanford professor who likes to poll her English classes about how far back the language has been spoken in the family. Generally speaking, the African-Americans in the class have the longest history of native speakers.
- I picked up a lovely collection by Jill Palez-Baugartner, which includes a series of poems based on the Lutheran funeral liturgy. It's found in My Father's Bones.
- I had the very odd experience of hearing someone whom I don't know say my name, and Minneapolis, and church, and something else. . . I didn't know the person, they weren't talking to me, and, well, maybe they weren't talking about me, so I wasn't going to interrupt or eavesdrop at length. Needless to say, my ears were burning. If someone reading this blog happens to be that woman, hey, say hello! Who are you?