thirst4

Meet Eric Duwe

2009-02-06T14:52:00.003-06:00

I'd like for you to meet my great friend, Duwe (pronounced like "do-ee"). He is near the top of the short list of my faith-heroes. And that's saying alot to have someone younger than me to look up to for my own journey.

Duwe is from around these parts in southeast Wisconsin. But for the past 18 months or so since he graduated from college, he's been living in Thailand as a missionary. One of my highlights in life that I look forward to is catching up with Duwe and hearing all about his experiences.

But you don't have to wait until he comes home to hear about his adventures in person. You can follow along on his blog: sabaisabaiduwe.blogspot.com. Duwe delivers regular updates about what he's learning in his immersion within several facinating cultures, as well as reflections of his own process of growing in faith.

Dive in.

Digest.

Do it.

Duwe!!!

Website Updates

2009-01-31T22:40:00.002-06:00

The Thirst website has now been update. Check back often for news about an upcoming party!

www.brewcitythirst.org

And, Thirst is now on ning. Join the network for conversation, pics, and vids:

www.brewcitythirst.ning.com

Bishop Highlights Young Adults

2008-05-29T22:15:00.000-05:00

May 2008 Accompaniment
News and information for rostered leaders

Dear Partners in Ministry,

In a trip to El Salvador two weeks ago, the accompaniment theme was certainly evident, as we celebrated the robust and faithful partnership we share with the Lutheran church there. It played out as we witnessed remote faith communities struggling with hunger and natural disasters, now served by Ten-to-One projects. It was evident in the Lutheran Church, as it contends with financial shortfalls, even as our sister parish partnerships are strengthened and our El Salvador Pastoral Assistance Fund builds. It was experienced through prayer and worship, through conversation, and in visiting the sobering memorials to Oscar Romero, Rutillio Grande, and the nuns and Jesuits who were assassinated. We realized the essential quality of the church in that nation...and in ours. What a privilege to experience such accompaniment, something we will hear more about at our upcoming assembly, as Bishop Gomez joins us for our time together.

But one of the unexpected discoveries of the trip was that we were accompanied throughout our time by a missionary from our ELCA. His name is Daniel Bierne, a 23 year old recent graduate from Valparaiso University, who is serving in El Salvador as a GM2, a two year young adult missionary. He serves there as a translator, as a delegation guide, as Bible study leader with youth, as an ambassador of Christ to children (perhaps not a part of his job description, but an aptitude nonetheless). We appreciated his giftedness and his spirit (and his patience!).

That set in motion for me a deep appreciation for the place of young adults in our ELCA, and an increased awareness of these connections.

Last month, we gathered at Lake Park Lutheran Church to honor the Rev. Christine Thompson for her call to serve in Lutheran Campus Ministry at UWM. Her ability to connect with young people, and her passion for the Gospel is evident in her voice, and in the testimonials of the young people with whom she serves. To imagine Christine and Pastor Brad Brown (at Marquette) is to recognize a strong ministry to young adults.

At an Invitation to Serve Event earlier this year (itself evidence of the leadership potential in our youth) I spent time speaking with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps participants here in Milwaukee. The seven individuals volunteering here, working on behalf of our church, are impressive young adults, doing amazing things, too often unrecognized.

I spoke with Jeff Bluhm, the executive director of Lutherdale Bible Camp, and was reminded of the huge number of young adults who each summer serve as camp counselors. He said they are the "minor league" for training seminarians.

This is a time when our ELCA colleges and universities are preparing for their graduations, when the baccalaureates will connect this time with their faith journey, and when commencement marks a beginning of their ministries beyond college. This weekend, we travel to Luther College for Maren's graduation, after which she will serve through Lutheran Volunteer Corps in Baltimore...which may be why this topic is on my mind.

There is serious talk of an "emerging church" expression of ministry, reaching out to young adults in the Greater Milwaukee Synod, perhaps as a church without walls.

It seems that next year at the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, our synod will have two high school students as voting members.

Geri Murtaugh on our synod staff continues to provide inspired and organized leadership to youth and family ministry in our synod; our congregations and young people are well served.
All this is to say that this church is gifted with its young people, and responds to their gifts with creative and meaningful opportunities. Let us accompany these individuals and these ministries with our prayers, with our appreciation for the present of this church, and with high hopes for the future of this church.

Your companion on the way,

Bishop Paul Stumme-Diers

Around the world

2008-05-21T08:46:00.003-05:00

Last night at the Westside Thirst was an amazing experience to hear people tell about what God is up to in their lives all over the world. From Thailand, to Australia, to Israel, to Tanzania, to Colombia, to El Salvador, to New Orleans, to Milwaukee and Waukesha -- those of us who gathered to experience the Spirit together heard how God is weaving our journies together, that we may grow in faith. This growth has come through both highs and lows, celebrations and challenges. But the guidance of God's hand is evident through it all. In the past months, we have grown in prayer and reading scripture, in worshipping more regularly, in making decisions and commitements with our time, money, goals, and plans. The most common characteristic of our stories, was that God was helping us to grow spiritually by calling us to serve people and to share our faith.

This commonality started to make a lot of sense in light of reading Matthew 28:16-20. Jesus tells his disciples to "go", to "make disciples", to baptize them into God's name "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" -- i.e. into God's saving presence -- to teach people to follow Jesus as their rabbi that they too may participate in his messianic mission with him, who is "always with us." By going around the world, around the block, and even around our Facebook connections, we have grown in our own discipleship by encouraging others to follow Jesus. There's no need to sit around and wait until we're "ready" to live our faith with radical passion. Getting off our duffs and "going" and "doing" is how we are experiencing God nurture us into being more and more "ready".

Please Read This Now

2008-05-18T02:09:00.002-05:00

[Um, apparantly leaving this blog open to post via email let in a lot of spammers to post here trying to sell their junk. So we had to clear out all that junk and eliminate the email function. Since that wiped out almost a year of posting, I thought I'd post something from my personal blog to get the ball rolling again.]

Jesus healed me!!!

Here's how it went down:

You may have noticed that I haven't written in a long time, except for one post on Obama which took me like 5 hours to write. Well, it's no secret to people who know me that I live with depression. And in January, I bottomed out big time. Couldn't get off the couch if the house was on fire. That gave me a lot of time to pray for healing, except that I couldn't even form thoughts in my brain. I couldn't read, couldn't have a conversation, couldn't even cross the street safely. So I trusted that the Holy Spirit within me cried out in sighs too deep for words.

By the second day, I was seeking medical help. And over the next couple of months my doctor put me on various meds and increased my dosage. My friends and family surrounded me with support and care. Especially my wife. She's amazing. Each day I saw a litle bit more progress toward healing. But I couldn't get over the hump.

Then a copule months ago I started weekly sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy. My therapist, Sarah, worked with me on identifying my 'hot thought', which is one of those automotic tape recordings in our heads that is associated with my periods of depression. We discovered that my hot thought was vocational crises...times when the vision Jesus was calling me toward wasn't jiving with my present experience.

I was first diagnosed with depression my senior year of undergrad. I was already accepted into seminary and was able to coast in school. (My friends will tell though I my senioritis began my sophomore year of high school and hasn't left me yet.) Then during my second masters program, I fell into depression for a few days when I had finished my classes and had to buckle down to finish writing my thesis. And now this time, i had just finished my course work in my Ph.D. program. I finished up a 10 day mission trip to New Orleans with 37 young adults, and then returned home to finish one last paper incomplete from last term.

The common thread, or hot thought, with all of these episodes is that I am able to sprint marathon after marathon, but when I come to an inbetween time when I can pause to take a breat then my body crashes and forces me to rest. When this rest corresponds with a vocational crises, the bottom drops out from underneath me and my system crashes.

In this case, I had just returned from being on cloud nine: serving people in need, networking with new friends, and discipling people in a postmodern culture. I was feeling affirmed in my gifts and in my theological proposals for ministry. Here I was, still working my way toward a degree, but I was already doing the things the degree was supposed to be enabling me to do. So I thought, argh, I don't need to be studying at Marquette any more if I can already do what I'm called to do. I knew finishing my studies at Marquette is vital to my long term call, but with much frustration I've been experiencing I wasn't feeling it day to day.

To make a long story short, my hot thought was that I wasn't seeing Jesus at Marquette. Sarah asked me to think about how I could reframe that hot thought. And so at the very next Thirst event, which was last Tuesday, I was sharing my journey about therapy and reframing my hot thought. Then one by one, everyone else started sharing their own stories of wanting to reframe aspects of their life in which, like me, they know in faith Jesus is present but we just weren't seeing him.

So then we turn to Luke 24 and read the story of two men walking to Emmaus. They meet a man on the road whom they don't recognize. He tells them why according to Moses and the prophets the messiah must suffer, die and rise to new life. Then when they reach their destination, they recognize this stranger to be Jesus. He had reframed their entire story and now they could see how he was walking with them all along.

As we talked about how we heard Holy Spirit reframing our own journies that night at Thirst, I heard Jesus reframe my story.

My depression tells me that Jesus isn't at Marquette, so I should stay in my cave, lying on my couch and not go to campus. But the two times I went to campus this semester, I saw Jesus. The first time, I sat in my history prof's office and we talked about depression and therapy; he offered me grace and compassion; and wow, I saw Jesus clear as day sitting in his office. Then a few weeks ago, I went to a meeting for students to learn how to prepare for our doctoral comps, and as soon as I entered the room three people came up to me and said 'hey kev, haven't seen you in a while. are things alright with you?' yep, saw Jesus in that room too.

Hmm... my depression tells me don't go to campus or study theology because Jesus isn't there. BUT, everytime I go to campus and read or discuss theology I've seen Jesus bright as the sun. AHA! Therefore, my depression lies to me.

Satan is the father of lies . . . and so as quickly as you can turn on a light switch, I was healed of my depression that night at Thirst. I've been back to myself everyday since then: high energy, critical reasoning, creativity, itch to write.

It's good to be back with you all. Praise Jesus.

Beloit's Young Adult Mindset List

2007-08-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

Here is this year's list from the faculty of Beloit college that provides insight into the worldview of 18 year olds encountering the big world on their own. You can have the list sent to you each August by signing up at www.beloit.edu

THE BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST FOR THE CLASS OF 2011

Most of the students entering College this fall, members of the Class of 2011, were born in 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy, Abbie Hoffman, and Don the Beachcomber have always been dead.

1. What Berlin wall? .
2. Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
3. Rush Limbaugh and the “Dittoheads” have always been lambasting liberals.
4. They never “rolled down” a car window.
5. Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
6. They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.
7. They have grown up with bottled water.
8. General Motors has always been working on an electric car.
9. Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
10. Pete Rose has never played baseball.
11. Rap music has always been mainstream.
12. Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else!
13. “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.
14. Music has always been “unplugged.”
15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
16. Women have always been police chiefs in major cities.
17. They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day.
18. The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on.
19. Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson.
20. Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club.
21. Eastern Airlines has never “earned their wings” in their lifetime.
22. No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
23. Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
24. Being “lame” has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.
25. Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN.
26. Katie Couric has always had screen cred.
27. Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it.
28. They never found a prize in a Coca-Cola “MagiCan.”
29. They were too young to understand Judas Priest’s subliminal messages.
30. When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility.
31. Multigrain chips have always provided healthful junk food.
32. They grew up in Wayne’s World.
33. U2 has always been more than a spy plane.
34. They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as “The Joker.”
35. Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.
36. American rock groups have always appeared in Moscow.
37. Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV.
38. On Parents’ Day on campus, their folks could be mixing it up with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz with daughter Zöe, or Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford with son Cody.
39. Fox has always been a major network.
40. They drove their parents crazy with the Beavis and Butt-head laugh.
41. The “Blue Man Group” has always been everywhere.
42. Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.
43. Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
44. Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
45. They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
46. Most phone calls have never been private.
47. High definition television has always been available.
48. Microbreweries have always been ubiquitous.
49. Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed.
50. Smoking has never been allowed in public spaces in France.
51. China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation.
52. Time has always worked with Warner.
53. Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
54. The purchase of ivory has always been banned.
55. MTV has never featured music videos.
56. The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.
57. Jerry Springer has always been lowering the level of discourse on TV.
58. They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.
59. They’re always texting 1 n other.
60. They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.
61. They never saw Johnny Carson live on television.
62. They have no idea who Rusty Jones was or why he said “goodbye to rusty cars.”
63. Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.
64. Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil.
65. Illinois has been trying to ban smoking since the year they were born.
66. The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.
67. Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial.
68. Burma has always been Myanmar.
69 Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture.
70. Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

####

Copyright 2007 by Beloit College, 700 College St., Beloit, Wisconsin 53511

0708-013
August 21, 2007

The Drunkest City

2007-05-30T19:15:00.001-05:00

Forbes.com published a list this past year of our country's "drunkest cities." I found that as I perused the list, I was following the path of my life. My childhood and adolescent years were spent in the towns around Pittsburgh, PA which is number 8 on the list. Then when I went to college, I lived in Cleveland, OH (one notch up at # 7). After the party years, I graduated four steps higher when I moved to Columbus, OH at # 3. And now I live in Milwaukee -- to everyone's surprise -- the #1 drunkest city in the United States.

Say what you will about people in the Brew City, but we know how to enjoy life. Some ways people seek enjoyment leave us with a nasty hangover.

Like the way we enjoy doing church, for instance. Most congregations still operate under a model created for the Constantinian arrangement. That's a fancy term that simply means that when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the followers of Jesus went from a social movement requiring total personal commitment in the face of societal powers, to being then the very societal power of a religious institution in which participation became a simple matter of citizenship. Even though society and the church are becoming ever more distinct, our way of organizing ourselves and being the church are still the same.

What will the church look like when we sober up from our hangover? I think we'll see part of that answer right here in the drunkest city of Milwaukee. I see Holy Spirit up to amazing stuff, especially with the people at Thirst. We don't know for sure what God has in mind, exactly. But we're discerning a call to break out of the mold for radically committed discipleship with passionate spirituality. And that's how we're experiencing the joy of God's presence, without the headaches. If you're thirsting for the enjoyment of such a church, come join us in our discernment.

Shalom!

Kevan

Wow!

2007-05-10T23:49:00.001-05:00

Those of you at thirst tonight know that I'm finishing a term paper right now, but I'm so psyched after our gathering that I couldn't wait to post. We talked about breaking out of the mold, wrestling with doubts, and moving beyond fear to follow Jesus into the lives of people who need him in our community. Let's brainstorm what it would look like in concrete and specific terms for us to do that. How is Holy Spirit calling and enlightening us?

Thirst on!

Kevan

April 26th

2007-04-18T19:10:00.000-05:00

At our last thirst, we experimented a little. We took the same basic format as the previous post, i.e asked what's Jesus been doing in your life the past couple weeks, read scripture to see how our stories are in God's story, and then encouraged and supported one another in prayer. The experimental part, however, is that we didn't come with a biblical text in mind. Instead, we . . .

(drum roll please)

. . . trusted Holy Spirit to inspire us with God's word. [Gasp] And you know what? It was amazing! After listening to our stories, people suggested bibilical stories and passages that spoke to our situation today. Those are the texts we read after listening to each person's story. Just like life, our thirst in God's story is . ..

"Unscripted".

If you didn't get the chance to experience our community in the power of Holy Spirit last time, then join us at 9 p.m. on Thursday 26 April @ Miss Katie's Diner (19th and Clybourn). Invite friends. We'll see you there.

(image from sixthdaydance.org)

Seek God's Kingdom & God Provides

2007-03-29T22:45:00.001-05:00

We just finished our gathering for 'thirst' tonight. The feedback was that Miss Katie's Diner is a great location, so we'll be here next time too on April 12th (9pm). Tonight, I thought I'd share with you all, who are keeping eyes on us, what a sample conversation at 'thirst' is like. In faith networking, we share where our journeys have taken us; we walk together in God's presence, then we go our various ways along our paths knowing we're held in prayer. Tonight's theme was God providing for our needs when we seek first God's kingdom in our world.

Merge:

"My journey the past few weeks has taken me through . . ."

"Lately I've felt the urge to break the mold of . . ."

"I saw Jesus (doing) . . ."

Journey Together:

READ: MATTHEW 6: 25-33

"I hear Holy Spirit guiding my journey by telling me . . ."

"(Name), when I listen to your story in light of scripture, I sense God is . . . "

"I'm surprised by . . ."

(Time permitting, READ: Genesis 22: 1-8 and journey together.)

Godspeed:

"(Name), what you shared about _________ spoke to me by . . ."
"(Name), until the next 'thirst' I'll be praying for you about . . ."

Don't forget to post your thoughts on this blog for what you're thirsting for, where your journey has taken you, and what suggestions you have for themes at the next 'thirst'.

Kevan D Penvose, M.Div, S.T.M.

Discipleship Coach for Family Ministries

St. Stephen the Martyr Lutheran Church

6101 S 51st Street Greendale, WI 53129

work: 414.421.3543 home: 414.258.0858

http://www.discipleshipcoach.blogspot.com/

http://www.ststephenthemartyr.com/

Reflections on Young Adult ministry

2007-03-07T15:27:00.001-06:00

Recently a friend who is starting a young adult ministry in the Cleveland area asked me about my experience with 'thirst' here in Milwaukee. I share with you some of my thoughts:

(1) Don't give me your rehearsed answers and all too familiar traditions. I want mystery -- a sense of awe in the presence of something bigger than all of us. I want an authentic experience of the holy (like all of us do, I think, deep down below our routine traditionalism);

(2) Along with authenticity comes discipline. That is, if it's not authentic then why should I commit to it? But if I experience presence of holy mystery, then I yearn for deeper commitment through discipline (read: discipleship). So in doing ministry with young adults, be intentional and up front about making disciples rather than offering entertainment or social networking, and trying to sneak discipleship in the side door;

(3) Young adulthood can be a lonely time for those living on their own for the first time, but many young adults aren't living on their own. Many live with parents or friends/roomates. Unlike older adults w/ spouses, w/ children, etc., young adults are more natural at finding opportunities for networking. So social networking events aren't a strong attraction in and of themselves to many young adults. BUT...social networking specifically with those who want a deeper and more authentic awareness of the presence of the divine mystery is appealling. I'm thirsting for it;

(4) Finally, the term "young adult" is itself in-house church-speak. It puts us in the framework of how we typically do "youth ministry", as in "we need a program for young adults." I don't necessarily think of myself as a "young adult", and I don't want to be part of a youth group for adults. Again, for those active in the church -- we want to have peers who are committed to discipleship. As a mark of discipleship, this generation is stoked about doing community service, hands on work to help people. It's one of the main ways we experience the presence of the divine mystery. Service is the natural connection with young adults not active in the church. Without knowing about Jesus' mission or participating in God's kingdom, they experience something bigger than themselves in doing service, and this provides the setting for helping them put the story of Jesus as the framework for understanding their experience of the divine mystery.

(5) What an authentic experience of the holy that inspires my commitment looks like for me is: hitting the streets with a parnter or two in hands-on apostleship ministry. I'm dying to meet someone who is as eager as I am to hang out in bars, clubs, coffee shops, malls, and cafe's to talk with people about their thoughts on spirituality and their experience of the presence of holy mystery in their lives. What a great opportunity we'd have then to invite them to a gathering of folks who are having similar conversations and thirsting for the same awareness!

I don't want to try to convince people about Jesus with my words. I want people to come experience Jesus in this community that thirsts for the experience of holy mystery.

Kevan D Penvose, M.Div, S.T.M.

Discipleship Coach for Family Ministries

St. Stephen the Martyr Lutheran Church

6101 S 51st Street Greendale, WI 53129

work: 414.421.3543 home: 414.258.0858

www.discipleshipcoach.blogspot.com

www.ststephenthemartyr.com

Too Much Water

2007-02-01T21:10:00.001-06:00

Drinking too much water can cause dizziness, fatigue, and disorientation. Even if the water is filtered, purified, and sterilized. I had never heard about hyponatremia until I became a novice marathon runner. It seems to defy common sense. But many long-distance runners face serious health risks from drinking too much--causing electrolytes to get out of balance.

Ironically, many people confuse hyponatremia with dehydration. And they drink more water--making the condition worse--confusing the cure with the cause.

I wonder sometimes if the church suffers from hyponatremia. What is this heresy! Too much water in the font. No, that's not what I mean. But I do think that sometimes we confuse the cause of our struggles with the cure..

--more programs

--more certainties

--more structure

--"stronger" leaders

--more "members"

--more, more, more

We confuse quantity with quality. We replace meaning with marketing. We stray from the way of the cross in pursuit of the path of safety.

Hyponatremia occurs when we consume more water than we can use in the pursuit of our labor. Certainly, members of the mainline church are thirsty these days. As we see membership decline--and the median age of our denomination imcrease. Could God be calling us to empty ourselves--to make ourselves open to something new? We may want to cure our thirst by taking a drink of the familiar. But perhaps we our called to be thirsty. To explore the desires and the stirrings of the Spirit that can not be easily quenched. Perhaps the thirst will lead us to God. Perhaps the thirst is the cure--and not the problem.

Pastor Brad Brown

Blessed to be a Witness

2007-01-16T21:06:00.001-06:00

Thanks so much for the opportunity to share warm drinks on a cold, wintry day.
Just wanted to share the link to my blog - Blessed to be a Witness...
http://www.blessed-to-be-a-witness.blogspot.com/

Taste and see!

Pastor Joy

New Orleans Mission Trip

2007-01-08T10:31:00.000-06:00

Prayers for a safe homecoming! We give thanks to God for the 70 disciples in our synod who followed Jesus in New Orleans to begin the new year with passion. Your witness is an inspiration to us all. May our thirst to be the church in the world never by satisfied.

Click the New Orleans Mission Trip link

in the sidebar to read stories and see pics.