On Being Church

Enhancing Salubrity - A Vocational Issue

Again, yet another 'breakthrough'. Although, at the rate I'm going, I'll be breaking windows before I get any writing done. Setting the outline has been a nightmare, since I have chapters 2 through 6 set in concrete, or maybe carved in marble, but have been wrestling like Jacob at the Jabbok with chapter 1.

Chapter One sets up the whole project. Chapter One sets the course, the direction, the tone and the tenor of what I'm going to be working on for the next four years. Chapter One introduces the concepts of 'pastoral' and 'dramaturgy'. Chapter One is the first impression. Chapter One is IT!

How will I begin, which pastoring or dramaturgy? Will the chapter be about preaching, sermons, dramaturgy, or the work of pastoring? Which order to the items need to be in? Introductory items first working toward a conclusion or concluding items first and then show the rest as evidence, as if in a trial?

While I'm still not sure about evidence or introductory material first, I am, finally and thankfully and limpingly certain that Chapter One will be focused on the call to enhance the richness of sermons: "Enhancing Salubrity - A Pastoral-Dramaturgical Vocation".

May the muses speak, the floodgates open, and the words just simply flow onto the screen.

Burst Technology

It has finally dawned on me, I cannot write every day.

So, after months of anguish, I've finally created a schedule or system that makes sense for me. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - reading and research, dreaming and wondering. Thursday and Friday - write 1,000 words. Saturday and Sunday, to finish up any writing that didn't get done or simply goof off and recharge for the week ahead. Rather than trying to crank out something every day, and feeling incredibly guilty when unable to do so, I now have a weekly rhythm that makes much more sense. And thanks to Scrivener, a wonderful writing production program, I'm able to write and then keep track of what I've written in a way that is easy to maneuver and manipulate latter on. The progress is slow, but it is progress none the less.

It's About Better Sermons

It has taken me a while, just over a year to be more exact, to figure out that my research project, while focusing on dramaturgy, is really about 'better sermons.' Why it has taken this long is beyond my to comprehend, other than I'm an intellectual thrasher who needs to meander through the hinterlands of my imagination until I have a deep sense 'this is it'. Well, 'sermons' are IT.

Working toward sermons which actually nurture and sustain Christian communities-of-faith, I'll incorporate dramaturgy into: 1) the pastoral vocation; 2) preaching; and, 3) the interpretation of Scripture.

It is amazing how liberating it is to finally have a clear picture/sense of what I'm actually working on. Now, I hope I can stay focused and simply do the work. My goal is 20,000 words by the end of March 2010. I'm hopeful that this won't be a huge obstacle. If I'm able to put together that many words in a manner not too deviate from the work of prior theological scholars, I'll be awarded with an advancement from MPhil candidacy to PhD candidacy. Not a bad move.

Writing in the Rain

There's something about cleaning the gutters in a thunderstorm at 2:15 a.m. that really clears the mind and prepares one for writing. That and the new pair of Bose earphones which really make Rostropovich's cello sound especially good. As my daughter is heading off to college tomorrow and I'm flying to England on Monday, I'm not sure how much progress I'll make this weekend but as of right now, I have 8,654 words down on paper. I'm about 2/5 done with the first chapter. My hope is to get it half done before jetting out.

I'm learning more about myself in this process than I ever imagined. It is hard to 'have fun.' It is hard to just simply offer what I have and not worry about nailing it down to the point where no one can question any of it. In my effort to make a precise argument, I close down the beauty of the argument I'm trying to make, turning 'fun' into something else. My prayer for the next season of my dissertational adventure is: more fun!

Maybe my job is simply to 'clean out the gutters' and then to trust the flow?

Salubrious Is the Word

In my prior post I shared relief at having settled an important issue - what type of sustenance is a sermon. As I continued to sit with the idea of "Scriptural Sustenance" I kept thinking ... close but ...

Then, in a moment of (un)inspired typing, a search lead me to the word 'jejune' - an adjective which means not nutritious. And that search lead me to discover the word 'salubrious,' - 'favorable to or promoting health.'

Now I really have it: Sermons as Salubrious Sustenance - best dissertation title ever!

The Difference a Word Makes

For some time I've been stuck on how to get set up my project properly. The title I've been working with has been: Sermon as Sustenance: Dramaturgy and the On-going Performance of the Gospel. I kept bumping up against how I was going to get the whole question of biblical interpretation placed into the flow of the project. This morning, after a time of quiet prayer, the answer emerged: Sermon as Scriptural Sustenance ... Bingo! My project isn't a conversation between pastoring and dramaturgy, but a trialogue - Bible, preaching, dramaturgy. It feels good to have finally settled this matter. Now its time to address the thousand related changes adding this one word to the title means.

Confronting Ignorance

I'm amazed at how often I bump up against my own ignorance - looking up words in the dictionary, being over zealous in my writing schedule, finding books that I think will make my research obsolete before it even sees the light of day.

Writing a dissertation, like staying on a healthy routine, is difficult work. At times, the juice of the Spirit is flowing and everything is falling into place. At other times, everything is just falling.

I am emerging out of a period of falling. Having just spent two weeks on vacation on the whitest beach I've ever seen (Siesta Key, Florida) I now find myself back in my flow of the Spirit, reading articles on dramaturgy and beginning a book on homiletics by Jana Childers (Performing the Word: Preaching as Theatre).

I'm heading to Exeter on August 24 and was hoping to have 20,000 words done. I'm not sure that is at all possible or prudent at this point. I've creating a good writing/research schedule for myself and just hope to be able to stick with it. Work at church is picking up as we get closer to September and the kick-off of the new program year. So ... I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Thankfully, I'll be waiting upon the Lord (something about 'renewed strength' is floating around in my head - always a good thing).

So, I push on ... blissfully ignorant yet floating in grace (like I said, two weeks at the beach, sorry).

Easter in July - Frags and Fitness!

The reason for the 'Easter in July' title is that I feel like I've been resurrected. After presenting at the conference in Utrecht, I completely fell off the doctoral research wagon. It wasn't until I scheduled my next trip to Exeter, at the end of August 2009 that I finally got back on the research wagon. I've now settled upon a really good project outline and have 'fragmented' my writing into about 55 different pieces (55 as of now). By fragmenting the work, I can now spend time during the week working on one and I realize the cumulative effect of my efforts. I'm quite excited about discovering that writing a PhD dissertation is really an exercise of writing 1500 word sections that are all linked together.

I continue to read in the area of theatre/performance/drama etc. I had the horror of reading Max Harris' Theater and Incarnation and thinking 'this is my dissertation' when he talked about a 'theatrical hermeneutic'. But it wasn't! It was close and, in fact, has become a wonderful resource. I continue to realize that my project does in fact 'fit within' an ongoing academic conversation AND it makes an original contribution (I hope).

I also stepped on the scale, the first time in years. Ouch! Since I've created a step by step plan for my dissertation, I have also created a step by step plan for losing weight (or blubber). I've been working on drinking unbelievable amounts of water, walking, not eating non-stop. So far...so good. My ultimate goal is to lose 90 pounds - get back to high school weight. We'll see, but so far I feel much better; it's good to be making progress.

Finally, I looked up what the PhD robes at Exeter look like and they are boring! A cool looking, funky robe is offered for a DD (Doctor of Divinity) but the requirements for that degree are lots of wonderfully published material in your field of expertise. As motivation I was trying to dangle the graduation carrot before my imagination - black robes didn't quite do it.

Back at Home

The last two weeks were spent in England and the Netherlands, at Exeter and then at the Society for the Study of Theology conference. While at Exeter, my goal was to outline my project and enjoy evensong at the Cathedral of St. Peter - mission accomplished. During the conference, I just wanted to get to know a few people and not make a complete fool out of myself while presenting my paper, "Pastor as Dramaturg" - mission accomplished again.

While at the conference, I got the sense from talking to several professors that my project is a unique and worthwhile endeavor given the currents of current theological enquiry. By combining a concern for communal sustenance and reading Scripture toward performance with a practical component that measures what is actually happening in the community-of-faith will be quite rich. Several conversations stand out. Peter Ward, David Ford, and David Brown were especially encouraging.

I returned to St. Louis energized, filled with excitement. I also returned with the requisite sinus cold. Spending 24 hours in trains, planes and automobiles never does my body good. But it sure is nice to sleep in my own bed.

Presentation Panic

I found out yesterday, via email, that my request to present a paper at the upcoming gathering of the Society for the Study of Theology in Utrecht, the Netherlands, has been accepted. I am very excited about presenting at the first conference I've ever attended...and also a little scared.

I'm working off the assumption that it's a brief paper, only 20 minutes of talking, so it shouldn't be too hard, I hope. My paper will bring together the idea of the dramaturg's sensibility for the cultivation of the whole of an experience with Jesus' invitation to Peter to 'feed my sheep,' an invitation I hear as 'nurture my community.' One way for the Christian community to be nurtured is through experiencing God in the drama of biblical encounter.

This is the direction I'll be heading in. I hope I get there, or close enough. I can't wait to present!