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Well, I have officially moved to Texas.

My calling has led my family to trek all the way from Washington DC and setup home in the heart of Dallas, Texas. I ended up accepting the position of Minister of Church Life at East Dallas Christian Church. It was a difficult decision to make through all of the waiting and struggle to be in the right opportunity. But Dallas is good so far - it’s a big city, so it does have a lot to offer. The church is terrific, though there is a lot of good work ahead.

East Dallas Christian Church is like a lot of churches - a strong, interesting history but a future that can at times seem a little uncertain. It’s got growing to do - it needs some younger leadership woven into the life of the church. There is a tremendous core of older leadership that did cutting edge ministry in their day, but as the years go on, they get older. The good news is that the church still has a lot of resources to undertake its mission.

I will be doing some evangelism, some new young adult ministry, and worship development. I’m also excited to have an opportunity to learn some pastoral care in the process. It’s been an exciting past couple of weeks, but the next few months will be even more exciting as I do some visioning for how East Dallas can reach out to its neighbors in new ways.

Emily is finally here - she was born on June 11, 2008 at 2:17 AM. It’s been a good past three weeks. She is growing well and continues to explore her world bit by bit.

Check out some photos of her here:
http://www.nathanjhill.com/meetemily/index.html

Needless to say, the life transition to parenthood has been challenging. We are pretty exhausted, doing our best to get as much sleep as possible. Eunice’s mother-in-law is helping out wonderfully too. We are trying to keep this little girl entertained, fed, and asleep. I’ve found myself worrying over new and different things, stuff I never thought I would worry about. I’ve even found myself feeling more protective than ever. It’s interesting - but natural too.

She is super precious, super beautiful, and super awesome.

My blog is undergoing some reconstruction, so be patient as I clear the cobwebs and get some new content up.

The big news is that Yunkyong and I have graduated. We walked across the stage of the National Cathedral here in Washington, DC on Monday. It felt good to complete that part of the journey. It’s been an interesting one, that’s for sure. I will be working on the rest of my ordination requirements over the summer and plan on being ordained in DC at National City Christian Church.

I am also looking toward my first full-time call as a minister. I don’t know where we will be heading yet, but I am excited about the possibilities. I want to do ministry in a place that is going to be challenging and intriguing. Yunkyong and I are both sort of staring at the void right now, waiting for our first child, Emily, and the next move with some anticipation.

I’ve got mp3s, some video files, new links, and new articles coming up soon - check back this weekend for that stuff.

Just a reminder for those folks out there who believe being a Christian means walking with and supporting efforts to bring justice, equality, and compassion into our society, Ecumenical Advocacy Days is this weekend. I’ve gone two years in a row, and I will miss it if Eunice and I move away from DC. It’s just a great opportunity to be a part of the emerging conversations about advocacy and what churches, organizations, and Christians are lifting up.

You can find out about the event here: http://www.advocacydays.org/

In addition, the Disciples and UCC are having a combined event:

On Saturday, March 8th, at 7.45 pm, at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Alexandria, VA (in the Arbors Room), there will be a special event for Disciples and UCC from across the nation. The main speaker will be Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. Other speakers include: Rev. Michael Paige from Michigan Park and Rev. Noemi Mena from National City. All local Disciples and UCC are invited to this free event. Light food and drink will be provided. An offering will be taken. Please RSVP to DAWN at dawnccca@comcast.net.

This special event is part of the annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Peace with Justice (March 7 - 10, 2008). To register for this conference and/or to get directions to the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, please visit www.advocacydays.org. Help spread the word!

I’d love to see you out, but if you can’t or if you are on the other side of the continent, I’ll probably do another podcast of the event, maybe even some video.

Using the internet to guide and support spiritual practice is something that is being explored by a lot of folks. I read a lot of ideas in the Emerging Church book by Eddie Gibbs. Many young congregations who are trying to straddle our cultural shifts are finding that cellphones can be as good as church bells for calling people to pause in their day and remember the source of all life.

I decided to jump into the fray with the Lenten Prayer Project, a 40 day or so experiment with automated prayers. It begins today with a morning and evening psalm and prayer. The only instructions are to stop what you are doing when you receive the email and pray. I figure some folks with have more time to build around it - maybe additional petitions, maybe a moment of quiet, maybe a lit candle, maybe even a favorite song. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you take the time to acknowledge God where you are. The prayers are on a weekly cycle too (minus Sundays), so you’ll get the same prayer each Monday morning. There should be a rhythm that develops out of that. The prayers are from some Celtic resources I’ve collected, and they are beautiful and challenging.

That’s the general idea anyway, but I figure I could expand it in the future. I could see emails sent out each day, calling participants to pray the hours (the ol’ medieval or monastic way). I also imagine that it could be a very simple service that churches could offer to their communities, especially to those folks on the edge who want a taste of spirituality but aren’t ready to trust the church again.

The “how-to” is pretty simple. I used a free email service called LetterMeLater.com to setup each email and schedule it to be sent. I then setup a simple form at nathanjhill.com to receive possible subscribers. Right now, I enter them in manually to a group on the LetterMeLater site and update the scheduled emails. It’s not an automated process - in fact, if I do it again, I will probably look at setting up a mailing list of some kind. Still, it’s a first step to see how this goes.

In fact, I want to hear people’s responses, so as we get past the first week or two, I may add additional spiritual insights that folks have received as they have prayed these prayers. Collectively, we can see what God is doing among us as we try out this spiritual practice together.

If you want to join the experiment, sign up here: http://www.nathanjhill.com/lentenprayers/index.php

The Democratic and Republican primaries are in full force at this point. Words are starting to fly. Campaign staffers are looking to pull dirty tricks (I’m looking at you, Hillary), and battleground states are up for grabs. This is politics in America, and it makes me feel sort of queasy at times.

When I was in South Korea over the Christmas break, elections were going on in full force there too. At one point, when Eunice, her mom, and I went to the local department store, we came upon a crowded intersection filled with banners, political supporters, noise, and flyers. The sheer audio pollution was overwhelming. Supporters on opposite sides of the intersection were using bullhorns and PA systems to speak about the greatness of their candidate and lead in patriotic songs. In Korea, the system is quite a bit different - there were 10 candidates, and you just voted once for the one you liked. It really was chaotic, though one candidate (MK) came out on top, despite the fact that this was a candidate hit heavy just before the election by a scandal in which it was pretty apparent he was lying about some shady business deals.

I think the one thing that disillusions me most about political campaigns is the dishonesty. When asked what his greatness weakness was during a recent debate, Barack Obama answered truthfully - he has a cluttered desk. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton both rattled off dishonest answers that resembled the job interview scene from season 3 of the Office. When asked what his weaknesses are, Michael Scott answers - “I work too hard, and I care too much.” John Edwards cares too much, and Hillary is too impatient for change. Thanks for the goofy answers, folks.

On the Republican side, compassion is apparently a weakness, revealing how farther and farther into the extreme that party drifts. For example, Governor Huckabee suggested that the compassionate thing to do was allow children of illegal immigrants to get access to financial aid for college. Heck, it wasn’t their fault they are here in the US illegally. But for Republicans, such a show of compassion means being weak on immigration. Later, Huckabee backpedaled on this assertion, rather than stand up for what is right.

I guess what I am watching for in this election is honesty - candidates who stand up for what they believe and aren’t afraid to express it. Like many Americans, I’m tired of politics that is about pandering for votes and pulling some sort of centrist triangulation. I’m ready for change. I’m ready for honesty.

This video is making the rounds, because it is absolutely awesome - for any human being who is amazed and awed by the world. Ken Miller of Case Western University speaks about “The Collapse of Intelligent Design.” Ken is a Roman Catholic, and he wittily describes how he was involved in the court cases and efforts in both Kansas and Dover, PA surrounding attempts to teach intelligent design in the classroom. His speech destroys intelligent design, while at the same time, reflecting how beautiful and amazing evolution and our world is.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRsWAjvQSg

I’ve never been a fan of intelligent design. I certainly respect those who want to affirm that God created the universe (as I do), but that doesn’t mean we have to dress up philosophical ideas in science dressing.

Ken’s best comment (so far) is that Intelligent Design requires people to believe that if a god did create the world in the manner the intelligent design folks say, we end up having to admit that this god intentionally used deception. That does not line up with the witness of the Bible or the life of Jesus. Enjoy the video!

I’m 29 years old today.

Happy New Year!