American Enterprise Institute

One of the most unique things about being in Maryland right now is the proximity to our country's political headquarters with the upcoming election. Though I live about an hour away from the DC Metro area and Capital Hill, there is a different energy here around political structure, various freedoms, and impact of government action. It's not better or worse, just different. It has challenged me to think outside the box on political issues that I have never had much of a voice on, in a good way.

Our group had the opportunity to attend the American Enterprise Institute's annual fall conference (https://www.aei.org/) on Values & Capitalism. It was set up as a series of discussion panels, with varying beliefs and political ideologies. Peter Wehner, Michael Wear, and Russell Moore, among others.. People that I'm learning more about, and am so thankful to be hearing from during this season in America, even if we don't share the same views.

One of the most engaging conversations was around how Christ-followers will respond after November 8th, because regardless of the outcome of the election, many Americans will wake up disillusioned and afraid. It was a call to remember and apply what it means to follow Jesus regardless of party or affiliation, because he is our ultimate authority. It was also a call for engagement, that we are still called to love our neighbor now while living in the tension of the Kingdom of God being both now and not yet.

So while I'm not excited about November 8th, it is upon me, and I'm grateful for people reminding me of where my real allegiance lies.

Life Stories

I have been failing to post, consistently :)

I thought the last few weeks would be slower, with more free time, as we were sharing our life stories with one another and didn't have class. Somehow that didn't happen, and October has really flown by.

So what were life stories? We each had an hour and a half block of time to share where we have come from and anything that we feel has made us into the people we are today. In preparation for my life story, I read "To Be Told" by Dan Allender. Some of his thoughts on the idea of story:

"He [God] asks me to take the only life I will ever be given and shape it in the direction He outlines for me. I am to keep writing, moving forward into the plot that God has woven into the sinews of my soul." (3-4)

"We don't have stories; we are a story. It is our responsibility to know our story so we can live it out more intentionally and boldly for the Great Story, the gospel." (52)

Allender claims that our more defining moments in life are when peace is destroyed, when shalom is broken. A central part of being known is recognizing these moments and intentionally sharing with one another, and the listeners receiving and learning to respond with love.

"Heartache awakens us to the whisper of a rumor, to a hint of the truth that we're not at home. We spend more of our life pursuing both necessity and luxury, guided by the presumption that life can be orderly and predictable if we just try hard enough. And then tragedy in some form breaks through and awakens us." (73)

And so, we prepared, shared, and then have celebrated and grieved with one another these last few weeks. I'd encourage any of you who would like to try this, I will gladly listen (via Facetime, the phone, or a holiday break). It is hard, but it is good.

Email me for a copy of mine if you'd like.

The Official Blog

Each of us fellows take a week to write a blog post about our classroom time, and I just posted for my week on Tuesday. Link below:

http://trinityfellowsacademy.org/2016/09/27/culture-is-ordinary-week-4/

If you are interested in our classroom lectures and discussion, give this blog a read. It will be almost purely academic, but some of my colleagues have incredible eloquence in talking about what we are learning, especially if it is an area they are passionate about.

The Fellows (Part 1)

Our bios are up online, so I'll direct you here ( http://trinityfellowsacademy.org/about-us/class-of-2017/ )  if you are looking for a sterile, professional description of all the blah blah things we have done for professional growth blah blah bidity blah. So after reviewing those, I'll give you a little more of a rundown here.

First off, everyone here is awesome. Don't let my sarcasm about bios confuse you: I just find bios funny and intimidating and often slightly overinflated, so it's been a blast to meet these friends in real life and get to see great personality on top of great bios.

Several weeks ago, a group of us was biking down a lane that looked an awful lot like Middle Earth, at which we declared ourselves the "Fellow"ship of the Ring and started to match each Fellow to a character from Lord of the Rings. Yes, it's incredibly nerdy. But shockingly, it worked! We had to add Gollum as an honorary member to round out the number to ten, but hey... So first:

Lauren (pronounced Lau-REn, like Ralph Lauren) starring as Pippin. Lauren is a great lover of life and all things Jesus. She has a super dynamic personality and endless energy, as well as an amazing array of meaningful tattoos all over her body. She basically can tell the Gospel story with her tattoos. We are on opposite ends of the spectrum in regards to planning and spontaneity, but she has been good for me in reminding me what it means to live in the moment. She is passionate about truth and has been a Fellow quick to point others back to Biblical truth and God's love.

Chris, playing Boromir. Chris is the oldest of the Fellows here (at 28, I think?) and has had incredible work experience building technical start-ups. He is very strategic and always thinking up new ideas and business plans. He loves tea, and is always willing to share his tea collection to anyone willing to try a new tea. Chris loves people and has had a lot of success as a manager, specifically in helping people find roles that they are really good at.

Jeff, aka Gandalf. Jeff is brilliant, and has a huge appetite for questions. Jeff, who has been dubbed the Group Dad, has a lot of wisdom and is probably one of the more well-read people that I know. He often is found saying things like "I wonder about" and "What could you do with" and "Have we considered the implications".  We analyze (*cough* overanalyze) life very similarly, so have found a lot of common ground in some of our questions and wonderings.

The introverts (plus Taf, who is NOT) trying to get in some good reading

Friday morning coffee tastings, which are becoming a tradition... it has been fun to introduce people to the idea of pairings

 Further descriptions to come...

The Facilities

So the living situation... Below is a picture of Windrush. Windrush contains all ten Fellows plus our host "parents", Steve and Susie, who decided that empty nesting wasn't for them when their boys went to college, so three days later moved in here. They have a little apartment with personal living space, but eat a lot of evening meals with us. 

And this is the local lodge, Osprey Point, where we do our service shifts. They have said that we will average about 15 hours a week in here, either in the kitchen, dining, or stripping and resetting rooms. The manager, Roger, is amazing and has promised some extra time of discussion and brainstorming around hospitality management and hopefully additional training. 

The lodge is home to the longest pier on the Chesapeake Bay, clocking in at just about 1/4 mile long. Legend has it that the first owner of the property (a slightly eccentric man who helped invite fake leather right before a world war) built it so that he could dock his yacht. 

Sunsets

The sunsets here are out of this world. I have seen some amazing ones before, but am consistently amazed because they are a little different every night, but still amazing. We have been forbidden to blog about them on the "official" blog, as (per our program director Syman), we must not allow the outside world to think that all we do is goof around and watch sunsets.

To this, he gets my best "unamused face", which I'm being told is apparently a Tianna special.

I didn't take any of these pictures, as I have become very fond of leaving my phone in my room, so photo cred goes to my fellow Fellows.

Take some time today to worship the One who gets to paint each one of these, every night. 

Matins and Evensong

Matins: a service of morning prayer in various churches, especially the Anglican Church.

I'm going to do a few blog posts on different aspects of the program, so that I can begin to make some sense of it to those I haven't explained much to. TFA itself is not Anglican, though we do practice matins every morning. This means that at 8a, Monday through Friday, we are expected to meet in the chapel for a time of prayer, song worship, and liturgical reading from the Common Book of Prayer. 

I have absolutely no experience with liturgy or the Common Book of Prayer. So picture me frantically flipping pages trying to mouth words and figure out what a "canon" and "suffrage" are, and what page they are on. Thankfully, I'm getting better and listening to the prayers means almost as much as saying them myself. A big positive of worship this way is that we are praying through the Psalms, and so by the end of the year will have read through most of the Psalms together as a group. Another big positive is that it is our first group activity of the day, so it sets a great tone for the purpose of the day ahead. 

Evensong happens Sunday through Thursday at 6:15p, and is slightly shorter than matins but follows a similar routine. It is a time to "close out" the day in a way, to end a work day with worship. Both take place in a little chapel about 50 feet from our house, so it's an easy distance, but still significantly separate from where we live. The photo on the left is the inside of the chapel, and the photo on the right is the entrance. It's very small, maybe only 15ft by 40ft. 

It's a cute little spot, and ideal for quiet.