No Caribou October

Hi, my name is Jake and I’m a coffee addict.

Here’s the deal: At least five days a week I spend $1.70 in the morning on a small dark roast coffee at Caribou. It’s enough to get me through the morning, but in the afternoons I’ll often spend $2-5 on a latte or double-shot on ice or some other sort of tasty pick-me-up. I don’t work on Friday or Saturday (usually), and sometimes I don’t buy coffee on those days — but lots of times I do.

So let’s do some math. If we add the average the price of the afternoon coffee ($3.50) with the morning coffee ($1.70), we get $5.20/day spent on coffee. Which, assuming I only buy coffee five days a week, amounts to $26/week, or $104/month, or $1352/year. One thousand, three hundred and fifty-two dollars. Per year. And that’s a conservative estimate.

Simply put, it’s odious.

That’s where No Caribou October comes in. For the entire month of October, I will not spend a penny of my own money at Caribou Coffee. And just so we’re clear, when I say “Caribou Coffee” what I mean is “any coffee shop whatsoever”. I think we can all agree that No Any Coffee Shop Whatsoever October is a bit of a lingual traffic jam.

Instead of buying my coffee from a shop every single day ($1352/year!), I have developed the following personal coffee plan for the month of October:

Before I go to work in the morning, I will use a (1) Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Coffee Press to brew several cups of (2) El Diablo Dark Roast coffee, which I will then transfer to a (3) Thermos Nissan 26-Ounce Travel Companion Stainless-Steel Insulated Bottle for consumption while at work. That’s it. I had to purchase all three items, but those expenses will be more than covered by the money I save this month.

I am both nervous and excited about No Caribou October (and I have certainly come a long way), but it’s pretty hard to argue with saving money.

So what do you say? You in?

Update: Follow along on Twitter via the hashtag #nocaribouoctober. Looks like a few people will be playing along.

Getting on in a post-ELCA Churchwide Assembly world

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past week, you’re aware that the ELCA voted to “open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships.” It’s been all over the mainstream media (although the MSM is possibly biased and/or misinformed) and there’s still lots of chatter on Twitter about it.

I haven’t ever spoken explicitly on this blog about my views on GLBT issues, but I’ve hinted a couple of times that I am in fact pro-GLBT. And in the interest of full disclosure, had I been at the Churchwide Assembly as a voting member, I would have voted “For” both the social statement and all four recommendations on ministry policies.¹

But I’m not writing this post to defend my position or debate those who disagree with me. I’m writing it because my heart breaks at how quickly some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are willing to erect walls and further splinter an already fractured Protestant Christianity.

I was reading David Dark’s The Sacredness of Questioning Everything yesterday, and this passage seemed to me particularly prescient with respect to the Churchwide Assembly and the reactions it has generated:

[The] refusal to question, to listen, and to think past a certain point has tragic consequences, easily discerned in the morning headlines. Self-described people of God are wreaking havoc in our world. They revere their own faith, but their irreverence for the faith of others is the loudest voice in the room… Instead, we’re called to wrestle with a God more complex and more deeply affectionate toward all of life than whatever God we have in mind. Due reverence toward other people, in this sense, is a work that is never complete, a work that is ever before us. Anything less is bad worship, bad theology, and a plain old bad idea. As that very famous prayer involving debts and trespasses reminds us, the peace we make (or don’t make) with others — those who vote differently or believe differently or who happen to have been born in a different country — is the same peace we have (or don’t have) with our Maker. Peace with God and peace with others are never separate issues. When we say we love God while hating others, we lie and the truth is not in us.²

That’s it. I know for a fact that Matt Cleaver — someone whom I deeply respect — and I disagree on these issues. But the fact is, we’re called not only to love one another despite our disparate viewpoints but also to assist one another in the advancement of the kingdom of God, i.e., being the church. Wouldn’t it be a massive waste of kingdom-time to spend all my energy defining myself or my church as pro-GLBT? Or, worse yet, anti-anti-GLBT?

As I watched the tweets and blog posts roll in last week during the Assembly, it took a concerted effort on my part to not be reactionary. It wasn’t easy, because our sinful tendency is to vilify those with whom we disagree. But as Dark reminds us, “we’re called to wrestle with a God more complex and more deeply affectionate toward all of life than whatever God we have in mind.” In actually listening to those whose views differ from mine, I am able to see a broader picture of God’s kingdom than my narrow vision normally allows. And for better or for worse, I believe that’s a good thing.

So here’s the deal: Because of its nature, the mainstream media is all over this issue. It’s no exaggeration to say that the world is watching. What if we took the opportunity and ran with it? What if we showed the world how we have a rich and ancient knowledge of what it truly means to be bi-partisan,³ for we are one body in Christ?

In her sermon this week, Nadia Bolz-Weber concluded with these words:

So let’s again look to Christ and not ourselves because in the end there are no winners and losers, there is just what there has always been: the good news of Jesus Christ the Holy One of God. To whom else shall we go? He has the words of eternal life and offers all the inexplicable gift of his own self — body, blood, and word. And bids all come and eat.

Amen.

1. Please be reminded that my About page says, “The views and opinions expressed on this blog are strictly mine and have not been reviewed or endorsed by St. Mark [the church where I work]“ ↩
2. Dark, David. The Sacredness of Questioning Everything. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 23-24. ↩
3. Or poly-partisan, for that matter ↩

The Monday brief: “Where the heck have I been?” edition

Highlight of the week: A friend and I recently secured the lease to an apartment (which is really the 1,800 sq. ft. first floor of a house), and this past weekend I an entire afternoon inside a furniture store picking out some things for the place, including (but not limited to): a mattress, a faux-leather recliner, and a couch. Unfortunately I have to wait until August 1 to actually use any of them, but exciting nonetheless.

Book(s) I’m reading: Since the last Monday brief, I’ve read the following books: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States by Bill Bryson, Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, and Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar.

I’m currently trudging my way through David Foster Wallace’s monumental and maddening-yet-seductive Infinite Jest with a bunch of other souls via Infinite Summer. Clueless? Read Dave Eggers’ foreward to IJ’s 10th anniversary edition.

Music I’m digging: Wilco’s Wilco (The Album).

Something(s) that blew my mind: This optical illusion made me feel like I’m malfunctioning.

Ministry update: We (myself, the intern, and adult leaders) are working on the final preparations for the National Youth Gathering that happens in two weeks. Meanwhile, this Wednesday and Thursday a group of high school and young adult guys from church is going to Chicago for both a Cubs and a White Sox game. The first of an annual tradition? Let’s hope so.

Seminary/ordination update: Nihil.

Looking forward to: The aforementioned baseball trip. Go Cubs!

Photo of the week:

Squirrel watching, uploaded by jakebouma on flickr.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: The First Annual St. Mark Sale Barn & Silent Auction was an amazing success. In addition to raising 20% more than our goal, the event was unbelievably fun — at one point I was laughing so hard I was in tears. Oh, and it’s wonderful to have the Cubs playing regular season baseball.

Book(s) I’m reading: I finished The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson which was interesting but not incredible, and I’m now reading The Chemistry of Joy: A Three-Step Program for Overcoming Depression Through Western Science and Eastern Wisdom by Henry Emmons. I wrestled with depression in college, and never took the time to actually understand the disease. I’m only 60 or 70 pages in, and it’s already eye-opening. I also picked up Bill Bryson’s A Walk In the Woods for my bedtime reading.

Music I’m digging: Three Flights from Alto Nido (link opens in iTunes) by Greg Laswell. If you like indie rock, you’ll like this album.

Something(s) that blew my mind: This video of a guy beatboxing while playing a kalimba.

Ministry update: As I said earlier, the auction was a total success. And since we just served our annual Easter breakfast, all of our fundraising for the summer trip to New Orleans is finished. Phwew!

Seminary/ordination update: Nothing new to report.

Looking forward to: I am extremely excited for the silent retreat at the end of this week. I’ll post more on it later.

Photo of the week:

Opening day (34/365), uploaded by jakebouma on flickr.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: Is it pathetic to say that the highlight of my week may have been receiving two boxes of Caramel deLite Girl Scout cookies? Yeah, they’re that good. Also, late last week I shaved my facial hair into a Fu Manchu (Dad, if you’re reading this, try not to fall out of your seat when you realize that’s not a portrait of you).

Book(s) I’m reading: Still working on The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson. It’s totally fascinating thus far.

Music I’m digging: No new music this week, but I did re-enjoy The Damnwells’ One Last Century which you can still get for free.

Something(s) that blew my mind: John Stewart’s interview of Jim Cramer was really, really good. As Andrew Sullivan said, “you almost had to look away.”

Ministry update: I’m focusing this week on doing tons of prep work for the First Annual St. Mark Sale Barn & Silent Auction. T-minus 19 days!

Seminary/ordination update: Nothing new to report.

Looking forward to: Brandon Barker and his wife may be joining our budding tradition of Wednesday night bowling — if so, it will undoubtedly be hilarious. I’m super pumped about the NCAA tournament, which starts on Thursday, and I’m making a trip to Omaha on Friday night to see the masterful William Fitzsimmons. Again. Add the gorgeous weather forecast for this week on top of all that, and it could shape up to be an incredible week.

Photo of the week:

We can talk about the street lights, uploaded by jakebouma on flickr.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: Last weekend Kelly and I drove to St. Paul to see Green River Ordinance play a show, which was totally bizarre because a) the bouncer let us in for free (it was a $10 show) and b) there were less than 25 people there. Even so, they put on a great show. If only I had received my new camera by then.

Book(s) I’m reading: I finished You Shall Know our Velocity! by Dave Eggers and at this point I think I am okay saying that it’s my least favorite work by Eggers. You see, I usually love anything he writes, but I feel like there was something missing from this novel. Anyway, I’ve moved on to The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson.

Music I’m digging: For the past couple of weeks, I have almost exclusively been listening to Out of My Hands by Green River Ordinance, which is a phenomenal pop/rock album, and A Sucker’s Dream by The Alternate Routes.

Something(s) that blew my mind: I just want to be a fly on the wall in this room and soak up every ounce of songwriting goodness.

Ministry update: We’re super busy getting ready for the First Annual St. Mark Sale Barn and Silent Auction, which is less than a month away. Lots of things need to come together for it to be a success; and while I’m really nervous about it, I have faith that it will turn out to be a fantastic fundraising event.

Myself and most of the staff at St. Mark are going to the Congregations Together In Mission mini-conference this Saturday. I’m indifferent about it.

Also, Brandon and I are busy putting together the next several videos for Lenten small groups. Here’s Chapter 3:

Seminary/ordination update: Nothing new to report.

Looking forward to: I’m looking forward to a normal week. I don’t have any extra meetings or anything, so I’m hopeful that I can be really productive.

Photo of the week:

Nook (5/365), uploaded by jakebouma on flickr.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

Enter photography

2/365, uploaded by jakebouma on flickr.

In my life, the days of being simultaneously passionate about photography and not owning a decent camera are a thing of the past. Using this year’s tax return, I recently purchased a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi.

In reality, I know next to nothing about photography, but I am willing to be patient and slowly learn the ins and outs. To help facilitate the process of learning, I’m participating in Project 365 on Flickr, which means I will take and post at least one photo every day for 365 consecutive days.

No doubt I’ll occasionally post some photos here on the blog, so I hope you don’t mind. In fact, I hope you will leave comments with constructive criticism.

Photographers, I have two questions for you (I’m looking at you, Jim): 1. What’s the #1 piece of advice you’d give to a newbie photographer? and 2. What is the best photoblog you read? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Coax mixmaster, uploaded by jakebouma on flickr.

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: Even though I’m less than excited to be 25, I had a great birthday weekend. It was so great, in fact, that I fell out of a booth. Thank you to all my friends and family who made it awesome.

Book(s) I’m reading: Well, now I’m in the middle of five books. The two that I added in addition to last week’s are You Shall Know Our Velocity! which I picked up because it was the only Dave Eggers book I didn’t own and hadn’t read (I’m halfway through it), and Theological Reflection: The Creation of Spiritual Power in the Information Age by Edward O. de Bary.

Music I’m digging: Still digging The Fray.

Something(s) that blew my mind: It didn’t necessarily blow my mind, but this picture has been stuck in my head for a couple of days now… I’m not sure why, but I really love it.

Ministry update: Our junior high and high school ministries will be doing the H2O Project during Lent. Although I’m not looking forward to two weeks sans coffee, I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out. I think it could be really sweet.

And, for your viewing pleasure, here are the first couple of videos that Brandon and I made for St. Mark’s Lenten small groups.

Seminary/ordination update: Nothing new to report.

Looking forward to: The Cubs’ first spring training game is on Wednesday (go Cubs!), and I’m going to see Green River Ordinance in Minneapolis on Friday night.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: The highlight was definitely not when the database that holds all of JakeBouma.com’s content mysteriously disappeared. The support people were able to confirm that a) they didn’t delete it and b) I didn’t delete it, by accident or otherwise, and I had pretty much resigned to starting over agian; I even put up a splash page during the downtime. Anyway, I got an email from support saying “the issue has been resolved,” with no further explanation… so apparently the found the misplaced server. Whatever. At least it wasn’t my fault like this time or this time.

The real highlight of my week was probably listening to Brandon Mick repeatedly butcher the introduction to the St. Mark podcast (link opens in iTunes). Luckily for you, a recording of the whole escapade is available; just click the play button below.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Book(s) I’m reading: I’m currently in the middle of three books: How to Think Theologically by Howard Stone and James Duke, which is a bit of “research material” for a project I’m working on; The Future of Christology by Roger Haight, for the Tranforming Theology Theo-Blogger Consortium; and The Fidelity of Betrayal by Peter Rollins, which I’ve been reading in bed the past few nights.

Music I’m digging: The Fray’s new self-titled album is incredible… I can’t get enough of it (You might remember that back in 2005 I said, “They are totally on the verge of becoming huge.”). Also, I’m really digging One Last Century by The Damnwells, which you can download for free here.

Something(s) that blew my mind: How about the fact that last week it was 60+ degrees midweek and it snowed 7 inches on Friday? Welcome to Iowa.

Ministry update: The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy for me. I’ve had the biggest “pastoral care” issues with parents/students that I’ve dealt with up to this point in my (admittedly short) youth ministry career, and it’s been scary, humbling, draining, while at the same time, beautiful, life-giving, and affirming. And through it all, God has been speaking to me in profound ways (which is something I have said with any confidence very few times).

In other ministry news, one of my students who is in college called me tonight and told me he’s feeling called to youth ministry. We had a really long and productive conversation about it… it was awesome.

Seminary/ordination update: A strategic phone call has been made.

Looking forward to: I am both excited and not excited about turning 25 this Sunday. Excited because birthdays are generally a good time and not excited because 25 is halfway between 20 and 30. Ugh.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: I have had a blast at the Extravaganza the last several days. My presentation went really well, but the highlight has surely been meeting new people (like Bethany from Augsburg Fortress, Assistant to the Bishop Eric Carlson, and Emily) and getting to know people in our Des Moines network even better.

Book(s) I’m reading: On the flights to New Orleans, I finished Marko’s Youth Ministry 3.0 and got about a third of the way through Living Gently in a Violent World by Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier.

Music I’m digging: Something We Can’t Let Go (link opens in iTunes) by Wideawake and the Sans Radio EP by The Daylights.

Something(s) that blew my mind: During Christian Scharen’s workshop on pop culture, he played the music video for The Saints Are Coming by Green Day and U2 and encourage us to use the time as a music video divina. After watching, myself and the people around me were literally speechless.

Oh, and last Wednesday’s episode of LOST was insane.

Ministry update: Brandon Mick has officially begun his ministry at St. Mark. Although we have completely different job descriptions, we have hit the ground running on a couple of really exciting projects. A new audio/visual era has begun. Nerds unite!

Seminary/ordination update: After being denied acceptance into Luther Seminary this past fall, I was pitched on the very program for which I applied upwards of five times at the Extravaganza this week. Oh, the irony.

Looking forward to: Retrieving my guitar from the guitar shop (again), LOST, and beginning Saturday evening worship at St. Mark.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: Ireland totally lived up to my expectations. Fun fact: It didn’t rain at all while we were there. No joke. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to editing/uploading the last video from the trip. Bear with me.

Book(s) I’m reading: I read St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography on the plane rides and intermittently throughout the week. Right now I’m reading What Would Jesus Deconstruct? because it’s been sitting on my shelf for a while, but mostly in preparation for my workshop at the Extravaganza in a few weeks.

Music I’m digging: I’ve been trying to get into the album Dynamo (link opens in iTunes) by Faded Paper Figures (think Postal Service), but I’m not sure I like it.

Something(s) that blew my mind: This video from Peter Rollins. It fits it really well with things I’ve been reading/researching/thinking about as of late:

Ministry update: We’re back to a bit of normalcy after the holidays, which is nice. Lots of stuff coming up, though. I’m chipping away at a rather ambitious idea which I hope to flesh out on this blog in time.

Seminary/ordination update: Nothing new to report, but there may be some very exciting things happening in the next several weeks. Stay tuned.

Looking forward to: Getting back into the swing of things at work.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

Ireland: Days 3 & 4

Hey, folks. Here is the video from days three and four of the trip. Enjoy!

The video is from Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday (Monday) we went to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands, where I took this panoramic (on my iPhone!) and then tried to find a leprechaun.

Today we took a bus tour and saw the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher, the Ailwee Caves, and other equally awesome things. Since we’ve been gone for the better part of both days, the videos and pictures will trickle in rather slowly.

Alrighty… I’m off to enjoy the Galway nightlife. Slán!

Ireland: Day 2

I forgot to wish everyone a happy new year in the last post. So… Happy New Year!

Anyway, getting on with it.

This post has a video and some photos from day two of the trip, which was Friday. It’s hard to keep up with all of the video and photo editing/uploading with all of the sightseeing and whatnot; which is why I know you’ll forgive me.

Below is a slideshow of some of the better pictures I’ve taken while in Dublin. You can check out the originals on my flickr page.

And again, if you’re not following my twitter stream, you’re missing out on some good play-by-play commentary. Check it:

last night, @kellythorsen and i met two irish women who loved both LOST and bill bryson. #

i was just chided by a local for drinking a beer other than guinness. “when in rome, mate!” he has a point. #

there is no ranch dressing in all of ireland. #

Here’s the video:

Ireland: Getting there

Greetings from Dublin!

I’m geeking out in our hostel right now, charging all of my electronics (iPhone, laptop, video camera), and recharging a bit after a long day and night of travel.

Nothing substantial to say in this blog post, I mean, we just got here. I did, however, quickly put together a video of clips from the journey here for your viewing pleasure. Check it out below.

G’head and leave a comment to say hello and be sure to follow my Twitter stream… I’ll be updating that quite frequently during the next week.

Oh, and I’d like to make a request to readers who know me personally: Please do not call me or text me at all until I return home next Thursday; not because I don’t want to hear from you, but because I don’t want to be paying exorbitant international phone fees. If you want to contact me, please do so by leaving comments on blog posts, messaging me on Twitter, emailing me, and so on. Thanks!

The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: Last Tuesday afternoon, I joined an impromptu meetup with Brandon, Brandon, and Ryan at Caribou Coffee. It was a wonderful break from the beginning of what was a stressful week.

Book(s) I’m reading: In halfway through two books right now: In Search of Ancient Ireland: The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English, and Booking Passage: We Irish and Americans by Thomas Lynch (the latter which I got at the suggestion of Mike Stavlund). The back cover of Booking Passage calls it “part memoir, part cultural study,” but there’s something about Lynch’s writing that transcends the categories of memoir and/or cultural study. It’s about life, and it’s written beautifully (Lynch is a poet, after all). Take this, for example:

Today, the easier communications become, the easier it becomes not to communicate. The more rapidly we travel to the ends of the earth, the more readily we avoid our nearest neighbors. The more communing we do, the more elusive a sense of community seems. We are each encouraged to make individual choices, to seek personal saviors, singular experiences, our own particular truth. We make enemies of strangers and strangers of friends and wonder why we feel alone in the world. (xxxix)

So good.

Music I’m digging: I haven’t been listening to any new music, really. The majority of my music-listening time has been spent finding recordings and arrangements of Christmas songs to do with the praise team at St. Mark.

Something(s) that blew my mind: “Recently, researchers at the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center in Rhode Island suggested that anal sex is on the rise among teens and young adults, particularly those who have unprotected vaginal sex.” Is anal sex covered in public schooling curriculum? Youth ministry curriculum? Looks like it should be. Read the article: Study Reports Anal Sex on Rise Among Teens: Lack of Sex Education, Virginity Pledges, Ignorance Contribute to Risky Behavior.

Ministry update: We had the high school Christmas party last night and it was tons of fun — good food, good games, and good white elephant gifts. I took the opportunity at the part to hand out these pencils that say “Jesus loves you snow much.” ‘Tis the season! The junior high Christmas party is this Wednesday night.

Seminary/ordination update: Nothing to report, but in Booking Passage, Lynch describes ordination as becoming “lieutenant in the standing army that wages war on sin and evil and the flesh.”¹ Perfect.

Looking forward to: Reading and planning the Ireland trip itinerary.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

1. Lynch, Thomas. Booking Passage. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. 89. ↩

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