Standard Disclaimer
This is my personal site, which is semi-anonymous at best. I do not presume to speak for all Lutherans, the ELCA, the parish I serve, Elvis fans, tattooed folk or Hemi lovers. I am just one more idiot with internet access spouting opinions no one should care about. If you don’t have a sense of humor, use your back button now.
I have been reading your blog like a novel this evening. I found the link at Incarnatus Est about the rattlesnake in the parish and that got me over here (I serve a parish in West Texas and we’ve had a rattlesnake in the chancel! Needless to say, I called someone more proficient at slaying serpents).
Anyway, I feel as if you are living the same life in a parallel universe:
1) I am a Lutheran pastor (Missouri) with many of the same evangelically catholic notions. As a matter of fact, David Yeago was probably the single most pervasive influence in my becoming a Lutheran.
2) I too was a convert to Lutheransim from an evangelical past.
3) My wife and I just went through a miscarriage last month and it’s been worse than I could imagine. Reading your story has helped greatly.
4) I am a Florida grad. I majored in religion and graduated in 1999. I am also a disgustingly avid and slothful Gator fan (right now, I am trying to figure out how to arrange a baptism on the 21st of September so as not to miss the UT game. I don’t think it will work.)
5) I am also a big indie rock fan and former bass guitarist. But I was not into the rockabilly stuff so much as the scenes at Jade Tree, Saddleback, and the like. Also loved Touch and Go back in the day. Favorite Gainesville band was definitely bloom.
I was hoping to find an email link on the website so I could contact you privately, but this is all I could locate. Please do feel free to email me, as I would love to ask questions about your conversion to Lutheranism and time at Florida.
Rick Serina