How many Lutherans...

...does it take to change a light bulb? (Totally obvious, rather un-funny answer: "Change? What do you mean, change?")

In that spirit, here's the Friday Five:

Change is a given in life, yet it's not easy for any of us. So strap on your seat belts and let's talk about it:


1. Share, if you wish, the biggest change you experienced this past year.
Hmmm. I went on sabbatical for three months and came back much more ambivalent about my call to parish ministry. I didn't really see that coming; I thought I'd return totally energized and ready to go. I'm not leaving, I just realized some things about myself.

2. Talk about a time you changed your mind about something, important or not.
After the first few dates with my now-husband, I had decided that we probably weren't all that compatible and I'd have to break up with him. So, the next week, I gave him this half-true story about not being over my last semi-boyfriend (there's a whole story behind the "semi" part, but that's for another time). And he responded with such kindness and wisdom that I thought, "you know, there might be something more to this guy." And I decided not to break up with him. We were married less than a year later.

3. Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a controversial book called "Why Christianity Must Change or Die." Setting aside his ideas--what kind of changes would you like to see in the Church?
I would like the church to welcome gay and lesbian partnered folk into the ministry. I would like the church to have the guts to say, "we're not going to spend the next fifty years talking only about sex," and move on with big discussions about ministry, mission, and scripture. I would like the church (and I'm thinking about us crazy liberals) to stand up to the right-wing and say, "you do not speak for us. Ever." Just a few things.

4. Have you changed your hairstyle/hair color in the last five years? If so, how many times?
Absolutely, though not drastically. I color the grey stuff regularly (though after a few instances in the last two weeks of being mistaken for a college student, I might stop). I love changing my hair.

5. What WERE they thinking with that New Coke thing?
Money, honey. Truthfully: I never tried it. I'm a coffee girl.