Tod Bolsinger

Nuestra Semana in Costa Rica

We arrived in San Jose a week ago and after living in the little beach village of Domincal since last Sunday, we certainly feel at home.  Our days have been filled with Spanish lessons in the morning--mostly learning to conjugate querer, necesitar and tener, and in the words of Mauricio, (la professora para Beth y yo) "practica, practica, practica mas, mas, verbos").  By the third day I was even able to have conversation with a cabbie, including saying "I need to stop at a bank and then we would like to go to the Italian restaurant."  (Considering that all I knew where the numbers to ten and a few foods from a Mexican menu, that's pretty good.)

The kids were in their own program where by the second day they were going off to the fruit stand to buy fruit using colones.  Brooks' favorite is an odd fruit called "granallilla".  Ali loves banano an sandia. 

Every afternoon we took in a different adventure:  A butterfly farm, surfing lessons, a zipline tour through the rainforest, and more surfing. Today we snorkeled an visited another idyllic beach. 

Tomorrow we going looking for Monkeys at the National Park.

Pura vida!

Pura Vida!

Buenos Dias amigos!

Greetings from Costa Rica! We are having a blast, learning Spanish, exploring the country, going surfing today, and ziplining through the rainforest tomorrow.

It rains like crazy every night (hence the name, "rainforest") and the water is warm and the people warmer. 

Last night the Bolsingers brought down the house at a local Karaoke bar. My son soloed on "Sunday, Bloody, Sunday" and la familia tore it up on "YMCA" (including handmotions!).  We are learning alot and enjoying the wonder of this place. 

To say that we are grateful is far too small a word.

I'll have plenty of pictures to post when I get home.

Our churches team to Africa is posting at the Well blog.  Please go read their reports and pray for them.

The Church "Scattered"

Today, as my family and I leave for language school in Costa Rica, a team of mostly young adults (and a few "not-so-young" adults) are also heading off to Malawi, Africa.  They are the second team from our church to join with our Y-Malawi Partners (a third team goes in July).  As the SCPC Community gathers for worship tomorrow, may the reality that some of our membership is "scattered" throughout the world (like in 1 Peter 1 ) make us more aware of the whole church called to represent Jesus to the whole world. 

Click for some reading on "missional issues" and Y-Malawi .

Play + Practice = Work

The "equation" above comes from an essay written by a poetry professor in the middle of a sabbatical in Greece.  I shared it with my artist wife and she immediately applauded it as a great description of the creative life.

Play makes practice light-hearted, relaxed and an experiment in observation and wonder. Practice requires discipline, diligence and a commitment to play as more than just a time-filling destraction from "real life" but an opportunity to explore, grow, imagine and discover.

The professor, Aliki Barnstone, also offers this thought: "Practice also helps us stop being so precious about 'inspiration,' as if somehow if one is in a transported state when one writes, the words on the page are sacrosanct or as if that feeling were a moment of truth that cannot be re-entered or re-visioned."

She goes on to describe reading as both play and practice, the pleasure of reading and the discipline of reading frequently leading to the work of the word on the soul.  It reminded me of Annie Dillard's statement that a day spent reading is a "wasted day", but a life spent reading can change the world.

For artists, poets, and yes, pastors who seek to be faithful stewards of God's Kingdom vision, this is a good "formula" for daily discipline.  As I leave this morning for Costa Rica, please pray that I can be faithful in both my "play" and "practice" of learning Spanish, experiencing the culture, praying, reading, learning and spending time with my family.  Whether at play or practice, this is indeed, most blessed and joyful work.

Until next time.

Practicing Understanding

“Practice is to Judaism what belief is to Christianity. That is not to say that Judaism doesn’t have dogma or doctrine.  It is rather to say that for Jews, the essence of the thing is a doing, an action.  Your faith might come and go, but your practice ought not waver. (Indeed, Judaism suggests that the repeating of the practice is the best way to ensure that a doubter’s faith will return.  This is best perhaps explained by a midrash…from Exodus 24, in which the people of Israel proclaim, ‘All the words that the God has spoken, we will do and we will hear (or understand).’ The word order, the rabbis have observed doesn’t seem to make sense: How can a person obey God’s commandment before they hear it?  But the counterintuitive lesson, the midrash continues, is precisely that one acts out God’s commands, one does things unto God, and eventually, through the doing, one will come to hear, understand and believe.” 

(Lauren Winner, Mudhouse Sabbath, p. x, emphasis mine.)

This is perhaps the best explanation of what I hope to “accomplish” in my sabbatical: To “practice unto God” and see what understanding comes from it. We leave for Costa Rica tomorrow and I have decided not to take my computer, so I will likely not post anything much for the next three weeks.  But I promise lots of reflections and pictures when I return.

Peace be with you all.

Holy High-Low

In poker there is a game called “High-Low” that gives two different people a chance to win the pot.  Both the person with the highest hand and the person with the lowest hand split the winnings.  On rare occasions a person can have both the highest hand and the lowest hand (usually in the form of a 5 high straight, in case you were wondering), and that person rakes in all the chips. 

(Okay, I know that a "poker" analogy to talk about sabbath and sabbatical is, well--profane--but that probably says something about me, doesn't it?)

For a while now, my family has been playing a kind of communication game that we call “high-low” at dinner time.  Every person has to check in and tell his or her “high” of the day and “low” of the day while we eat together.  Those “high-lows” become the center of our sharing of what happened in our days.  Very often the “high” is “right now, eating and being together.”

For this first week of my sabbatical, I have been practicing playing “high-low” at the end of my day in prayer.  Technically it is called the spiritual discipline of “examen”, an end of the day reflection developed by St. Ignatius. 

At the end of the day as I lie in bed, I pray, “Lord, help me look back on this day and see it clearly. Help me to recognize your presence and be honest with my stewardship of this day.  Mostly, help me learn more about you and about myself so that I can serve you better tomorrow.”

Then I consider with the Spirit's guidance,

• What were the “consolations” of this day?  When was I energized, alive, authentic, real, faithful and responsive to the Spirit?  When was I joyful, spontaneous and open to others around me?  When did I represent Christ well? When did I love?
• What were the “desolations” of this day?  When was I drained and when did the day feel like drudgery? When did I feel angry, resentful, insecure, and defensive? When was I closed off to the Spirit and focused on my flesh?  When did I “push” my agenda for the day?  When did I cling to my “false self”?  When did I fail?

Then I pray prayers of thanks and confession, committing myself into God’s hands for sleeping and the next day.  (For a good explanation of "Examen" see this.)

This week has been one of many, many consolations, praise be to God.  Even the deep sadness of having to put down Huge was in some ways a deeply holy moment.  I was surrounded by my family, our tears mingling together in love for this great dog and our sadness given solace by knowing that we were doing a hard but right thing.  To grieve is still to live and one often is most alive when, in the words of Carl Jung, we are “legitimately suffering.”  While certainly the “low” part of my week, it was not a spiritual low point and that is worth a great deal more pondering. (Thanks also to all of you who posted comments and sent notes of condolences. It was very sweet. I realized after the fact that I left the comments open on the post about Huge. I guess I needed some "community" support, even unconsciously.)

It has been a joy to spend so much time with my family.  We celebrated Mother's day and Beth’s birthday, the kids and I enjoying making Beth the center of our attention, as she so often makes us the center of hers. Brooks’ orchestra played at Knotts Berry Farm and since I was off from work I got to go (He even arranged with his orchestra teacher for himself and two other violins and a viola to play Beth a beautiful rendition of “Happy Birthday”).  Ali has a play at school today which I will also get to see and then we plunge into last minute preparations for our trip to Costa Rica. 

Another joy has been reading Lauren Winner’s book, Mudhouse Sabbath, this week.  It is a fine book on Christian spiritual disciplines drawn from her up-bringing in Orthodox Judaism. I read the first three chapters on Sabbath, Keeping Kosher and Mourning the day after Huge died.  I have been aware that so much of the spiritual discipline of our Jewish ancestors really was about paying attention to every detail of life as an opportunity to live faithfully to God.  Whether it is in rhythms of days (sabbath), rhythms of life and death (mourning) or even rhythms of fasting and feasting (kosher), as we attend to the rhythm, we find ourselves more aware of the God who is in, every circumstance, high and low, truly present to us. 

Good bye, old friend

"Huge"
May 1, 1996- May 15, 2006

On Sabbatical!

I gave my Mother's Day sermon, got lots of hugs and kisses from the friends at church, opened a pile of well-wishing cards and treats from my staff, left the keys and the church credit card with my assistant, put on the "out of office" message on my email and voice mail, turned off the comments section to my blog and brought home a box of books. 

I know that I am more blessed than most.  And I resolve and pray to be a faithful steward of the gift of this sabbatical. I am the pastor of a truly wonderful community of Jesus' people.  I have a beautiful family with whom that I get to spend all my time the next three months. I am off to see some great parts of this Earth that God created and meet some of his creatures, great and small (human and otherwise), I have nothing to do but travel, ride my bike, run, swim, surf, hike, fish, play, pray, read, reflect and write some along the way.   

I'll send pictures, post notes and prayers.  But don't hold your breath, it may take awhile until I have something to "show and tell."

To all of you who made this possible:  Bless you and thank you.

Tod

Seeking Holiness

(God) himself says, “Be holy, for I am holy,” that is to say, choose me and keep away from what displeases me. Do what I love; love what I do. If what I order seems difficult, come back to me who ordered it, so that from where the command was given help might be offered. I who furnished the desire will not refuse support. Fast from contradiction, abstain from opposition. Let me be your food and drink. None desire in vain what is mine, for those who stretch out toward me seek me because I first sought them. (Emphasis mine.)

Leo the Great (Bishop of Rome 440-461), Sermon 94.2. from Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture OT 3. (Page 178).

Sabbath Sermons

To prepare the church for a "season of sabbatical" we began a five week sermon series Called "The Gift that Makes Us God's People" on April 30, 2006 that will run through Memorial Day.  Three sermons that I gave at SCPC, as well as two more by my friend and our pastoral counselor-in-residence, Charlie Campbell will remain available during the summer months here.