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Internship
Newsletter: January 2007
For the Lay Committee: On Engaging Worship
by Dr. Mons Teig
(The following article by Dr. Mons Teig, professor emeritus of
worship at Luther Seminary, is part of an ongoing series designed to
help lay committees and supervisors support interns in their growth
process. Dr. Teig addresses the topic of the intern as worship
leader.)
 Much
of our liturgy is a dialog between the leaders of worship and the
worshiping assembly. For example, the apostolic greeting is a
marvelous gift which we offer each Sunday to each other in "God's
name." It is different from the greeting in my own name when I say "Good morning." Does the greeting at the beginning of the service
feel like a greeting? Does the leader look at the congregation as
she or he says, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all"? Does the
leader reach out with a gesture of embrace like a holy hug for the
congregation? Of course, that will mean memorizing this greeting.
That will also mean looking at the congregation as they continue the
dialog and return the greeting with, "And also with you." It will be
helpful to discuss how the intern helps the congregation understand
and enter the dialog of worship in the many dialog moments in the
liturgy.
Lutheran Book of Worship and now Evangelical Lutheran
Worship assume that several lay leaders will also have
leadership roles. The Assisting Minister role, the leader of the
prayers of intercession and the lector role are designed for lay
representatives of the congregation. It would be helpful if the
intern helped prepare the lay lectors, leaders of the prayers and
assisting ministers for their roles.
A couple of excellent guides are extremely helpful for people
learning these important leadership roles. The booklet for lay
readers is by Dr. Clayton Schmit and is titled Public Reading of
Scripture. The booklet that I find helpful for preparing lay
leaders of prayer is by Professor Walter Huffman and is titled
The Prayer of the Faithful: Understanding and Creatively Using the
Prayer of the Church.
You might want to discuss how the intern effectively interprets the
Scripture by the way they read the texts. You may also discuss ways
to involve the intern in interaction with lay persons who will be
proclaiming the Biblical texts as lectors and lay persons who will
lead the congregation's prayers. Presiders in worship do not do
everything themselves but seek to ultimately engage the whole
congregation in active worship. This preparation of lay leaders is
part of the pastor's role and hopefully part of the intern's
experience. At one of your meetings with the intern, you may want
discuss their ideas and suggestions in these areas.
 I
have another suggestion for you to consider. A good exercise would
be to have the intern, some lay people from the congregation along
with the pastor and musician do creative planning for the Easter
season, "the great fifty days of rejoicing" from Easter Sunday
through Pentecost Sunday. The lectors and leaders of prayers for the
season could be part of the process. What comes out of such a process
may be a surprise and a discovery of gifts. Then discuss what the
intern and the congregation learned through this process of engaging
other worshipers in the preparation and planning of worship for a
whole season.
The key to all of this is that we all become more open to the
dynamic event of the Gospel through which God seeks to engage the
whole congregation as the Spirit works through Word and Sacrament
each Sunday. Then we will not only "go to church," but sense that
each Sunday God is "making us church, the Body of Christ." You might
discuss amongst yourselves and with the intern how worship can do
these great things and how the Sunday liturgy can make us
church. What are the things that happen in the event of
worship that will engage all worshipers in the mission of God's love
for the whole world? What are the intern's passion and gifts for
this mission of worship?
This is simply a short list. Add your own questions and insights as
you discuss the worship of your congregation and the gifts that your
intern brings to this very public, weekly task which is at the heart
of every congregation.
Internship in Hawaii 
 |
| CLI Intern Derek Fosey (left), wearing the latest in
Hawaiian clergy garb, stands at the Pearl Harbor memorial
with his supervisor Steve Jenson (right) and celebrity journalist Tom
Brokaw. |
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Hawaiian intern Derek Fossey's supervisor, Steve Jenson (Commander,
Chaplain Corps, US Navy [Retired]) brought Derek to the "final"
Pearl Harbor commemoration ceremony, marking the 65th anniversary. Featured speakers were Tom Brokaw and the Secretary of the
Interior.
After the pier-side ceremony, Derek joined Steve as one of the
wreath presenters aboard the USS Arizona and had the opportunity to
chat with the two speakers and get their photos taken with them.
They then drove to Ford Island for the opening ceremonies for the
Pacific Air Museum, where the featured speakers were Chuck Yeager and
astronaut Wally Schirra. Special guests there were Japanese Zero pilots
that participated in the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
110 Students Encounter Cross-Cultural
Experiences at Ten Sites
During J-Term 2007, 110 students from five ELCA seminaries will
engage in Contextual Leadership Initiative sponsored Cross-Cultural
Experiences. Three are international sites and seven are in the
United States. Students are anticipating cross-cultural experiences
at the following sites:
Three International Sites
 Mexico
City: Fifteen students from 6 different ELCA seminary
institutions
(Southern, LSTC, Wartburg, LSPS, PLTS, and Luther) will visit Mexico
from January 5-20. Greg Schaefer (Admissions Director at PLTS) and
Kim Erno, Pastor in Mexico City, will lead this experience. These
students will do home stays in Mexico City and Cuernavaca, visit
ministry sites sponsored by AMEXTRA, listen to presentations by
church leaders, historians, economists and experts on the cultural
and religious realities of Mexico, as well as visit the Cathedral
and Basilica in Mexico City, and travel to archeological sites such
as the Pyramids at Teotihuacan and Templo Mayor.
South Africa: Twelve students led by Prof. Patrick Keifert,
and assisted by Johannes Swart, will learn about the situation of
the church in South Africa, January 20 to February 10. They will
explore the working of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and
examine the work of South African churches in a multicultural
setting. The group will spend significant time in the Cape Town area
where they will interact with students from all over Africa at the
University of Stellenbosch, as well as in George working with the
Christian Medical Service and Relief and its ministry to those
affected by poverty and HIV/Aids.
Thailand: Seven students will travel with Prof. Frieder
Ludwig to Thailand, January 22 to February 13, where they will
encounter congregational ministry in Bangkok, Vientiane (Laos), Udon
Thani, Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai. They will visit the Golden
Triangle, Van Chiang World Heritage, Buddhist temples, Myan Mar, and
Maesai. The group will participate in the Asian Lutheran
International Conference in Bangkok during the last week.
Seven United States Sites
Chicago: SCUPE: Eight students will travel to the "windy
city" of Chicago, January 8-19. Pastor John Selders and Glenn
Glassen will be the instructor for SCUPE (Seminary Consortium for
Urban Pastoral Education) that specializes in urban ministry
encounters. Chicago will be used as a multicultural global
laboratory where students visit different ethnic communities in order
to experience cultural divides and diversity of ministries in the
metro Chicago area. Themes of justice, liberation, fellowship, and
risk will be explored.
 Pine
Ridge Reservation: Twelve students will live on the Pine Ridge
Reservation in South Dakota, January 15-27. Pastor Larry Peterson,
staff member of the South Dakota Synod, will lead this very popular
experience helping students explore and examine Native American
culture and spirituality. A recently developed retreat center
provides the setting and context for a broad exposure to people and
ministry on the reservation. Highlights include a visit to Wounded
Knee, the Red Cloud School, listening to Tribal Elders, and frequent
assignments at the Sue Anne Big Crow Youth Center.
North Dakota and Southwestern Minnesota: Eleven students
will travel by Amtrak train overnight, January 8, to Minot, ND where
they will be hosted for one week by Pastor Mark Narum and other
pastors and rural families in rural communities around Minot and
Stanley. The major focus is on developing an in-depth relationship
with one rural family. The second week will be spent in Southwestern
Minnesota where Pastor Mark Yackel-Juleen will lead students to view
rural communities as a distinct culture that seeks to do creative
ministry on a changing landscape. Of special significance is the
formation of clusters of congregations which have committed to
developing a vital ministry in the face of declining population or
shifting demographics.
Los Angeles: Eight students will live with Hispanic
families in the heart of LA, January 5-27, and meet daily at
Angelica Lutheran Church to learn Spanish from teachers from
Cuernavaca, Mexico. Pastor Brian Eklund, Pastor Jim Lobdell, and
Scott Fritz provide leadership that allows students to not only
learn a language, but experience immersion in the largest Hispanic
culture city of the United States.
Minneapolis: Pastor Kelly Chatman and Redeemer Lutheran
Church will host twelve students in this exploration of African
American, Native American, and Southeastern Asian cultures in the
Harrison neighborhood and the City of Minneapolis, January 5 to 19.
Drug Court, Hip Hop Worship, and rides with the police are part of
this experience.
Church Based Community Organizing in St. Paul: Pastor
James Erlandson, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, will lead this
exploration, January 5-19, into a number of congregations in St.
Paul which have committed to the intentional development of Church
Based Community Organizing. This experience is about building
mission and ministry in urban and multicultural settings. It teaches
a set of disciplines that builds relationships, trains leaders (lay
and clergy), and develops ecumenical, intercultural and
collaborative ministry.
 Hmong
Immigrant Culture in St. Paul: St. Paul and Minneapolis are home
for the largest population of Hmong people in the United States.
During January 5 -19, Pastor William Siong will lead students in
cultural encounters with members of Hmong Central Lutheran Church
near downtown St. Paul. Specific experiences include ministry at
Hmong American Partnership, a traditional Hmong funeral at a local
funeral home, evening rides with members of the police department,
and a variety of worship services in St. Paul.
The Contextual Leadership Initiative staff is honored and pleased
to facilitate these learning experiences in varied ministry sites of
the world!
The Toughest Time of the Year
by Steve McKinley
I prefer the role of joking cousin, a little bundle of joy in
this monthly e-zine (makes us sound really cool and up-to-date,
methinks), but now and then duty calls and I wind up being the
bearer of barely bearable news. This, sisters and brothers, is one
of those times. But, as people always say, I am telling you this for
your own good. Sit down. Take a deep breath. Mellow out.
For most interns, the toughest time of the year is just
beginning. It's January. To say that the bloom is off the rose is to
make the rose sound rosier yet than it really is. If you are a "typical" CLI intern, you began your service sometime between the
middle of August and the middle of September. You were new. You were
getting acquainted with a new community. People welcomed you
enthusiastically. You got to do all kinds of "pastor" things in a
congregation for the first time as you tried on a new identity. On a
regular basis you were leading worship and preaching and teaching
and visiting the sick. People looked at you deferentially and seemed
to be offering you a "status" you weren't completely sure you
deserved, but you enjoyed it just the same.
About the time the whole newness thing was wearing off, you and
the rest of the saints at St. Susan's By The Gas Station began
ramping up for Christmas. Maybe you were even introducing a new
hymnal, the cranberry colored one which seemed to fit in just fine
with Advent and Christmas. There were special musical programs and
St. Susan's took on a special glow and there were extra services and
people brought you cookies and the elderly saints of the
congregation sent you Christmas cards and worship was…wow!
 But
now it is January and you aren't new any more and the holidays are
over and Lent is still six weeks away and folks are noticing that
the tune for "O Christ The Same" is different in the cranberry
colored book than it was in the green book and they seem to hold you
personally accountable for this and those little habits of your
supervisor that were endearing foibles in October are just annoying
in January and for many of you the weather is colder than a
well-digger's kneecap and the confirmation students are surly and
you've got a head cold and parishioners are going to Arizona and
Texas and Florida and sending back postcards and…well, you get the
picture. You have entered the Slough of Despond.
I tell you this for a couple reasons:
- To reassure you that you are not the only one. This is
a very, very typical experience for interns, and, to a lesser
extent, for supervisors, too. Supervisors build up a fresh head of
steam every September and it carries them through the holidays but
it is not uncommon to hit the wall in January. So be a little
extra kind to each other these days. You both need it. And know
that you aren't going crazy. Probably.
- To tell you to push on just the same. I've always
thought that the "down" times were the real test of any intern or
pastor. The exciting times, the stressful times, the tough times,
tend to bring out the best in us. I've seen many so-so pastors
turn into great pastors after a fire or a flood or a tornado; many
mediocre pastors become models for ministry in a time of crisis.
It is much harder to be great when the circumstances are not
calling for greatness; when life is ordinary, no tragedies are at
hand, when life is routine. The adrenalin isn't pumping as much,
and it is easier to sit back and coast. The really great pastors
of the church, the really great interns, are the ones who continue
to be great even when the occasions of the world around are not
prompting greatness.
So buck up; this is a tough time for everybody, but God is still
at work in that frozen and gloomy world around you. Dare to be great
when you don't have to be great. January will fly by, and wait until
you read your six-month evaluation!
Attention Supervisors: Sexual Harassment Policy
We want to remind all supervisors that the ELCA
requires all internship sites to have their policy regarding sexual
harassment on file with their seminary's contextual education
office. From December 1 through February 1, internship
supervisors will be updating and submitting their site applications
to the CLI. There will be a required field on the application into
which you will type (or copy and paste) the text of your congregation's policy.
Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork
 Annoying
sometimes. Even burdensome. But necessary.
- Necessary to encourage meaningful conversation between
interns, supervisors, and lay committees.
- Necessary to give direction to ministry.
- Necessary to monitor progress.
- And, of course, necessary to satisfy the Great Gods of
Paperwork.
So do your paperwork. Specifically:
- Interns, make sure your Learning Service Agreement is in. It
was due in the first three months of your internship. That date is
probably past.
- Interns, make sure your Project Proposal is taking shape.
While the deadline for the Project Proposal is less hard and fast,
you should be getting to that.
- Interns and supervisors, your 3-month evaluation should be in
by now. The completion of that evaluation should promote some
healthy conversation between the two of you!
- Interns, supervisors and lay committees: soon it will be time
to be working on that mid-year evaluation. Take a look at the
forms on-line and begin thinking about that adventure.
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