Jeffrey C. Long

I’m not big on mornings, but it seems this famous Celtic prayer could get things off on the right foot.I Rise TodayI rise todayin the power’s strength, invoking the Trinitybelieving in threeness,confessing the oneness,of creation’s Creator.I rise todayin the power of Christ’s birth and baptism,in the power of his crucifixion and burial,in the power of his rising and ascending,in the power of his descending and judging.I rise todayin the power of the love of cherubim,in the obedience of angelsand service of archangels,in hope of rising to receive the reward,in the prayers of patriarchs,in the predictions of the prophets,in the preaching of apostles,in the faith of confessors,in the innocence of holy virgins,in the deeds of the righteous.I rise todayin heaven’s might,in sun’s brightness,in moon’s radiance,in fire’s glory,in lightning’s quickness,in wind’s swiftness,in sea’s depth,in earth’s stability,in rock’s fixity.I rise todaywith the power of God to pilot me,God’s strength to sustain me,God’s wisdom to guide me,God’s eye to look ahead for me,God’s ear to hear me,God’s word to speak for me,God’s hand to protect me,God’s way before me,God’s shield to defend me,God’s host to deliver me,from snares of devils,from evil temptations,from nature’s failings,from all who wish to harm me,far or near,alone and in a crowd.Around me I gather today all these powersagainst every cruel and merciless forceto attack body and soul,against the charms of false prophets,the black laws of paganism,the false laws of heretics,the deceptions of idolatry,against spells cast by women, smiths, and druids,and all unlawful knowledge that harms the body and soul.May Christ protect me todayagainst poison and burning,against drowning and wounding,so that I may have abundant reward;Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me;Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me;Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me;Christ in lying, Christ in sitting, Christ in rising;Christ in the heart of all who think of me,Christ on the tongue of all who speak to me,Christ in the eye of all who see me,Christ in the ear of all who hear me.I rise todayin power’s strength, invoking the Trinity,believing in threeness,confessing the oneness,of creation’s Creator.For to the Lord belongssalvation,and to the Lord belongs salvationand to Christ belongs salvation.May your salvation, Lord, be with us always.

Years ago I acquired the domain www.jeffreyclong.com which I use for my website and email. From the beginning, for some reason you haven’t been able to get here by simply typing jeffreyclong.com without the www. It is interesting when I look at my stats to see how many people get here by doing a search for “jeffrey c long” in google. And then there is the occasional misspelling “jeffEry c long.” All seem to get here. But it is now just a little easier to find me. You may simply type jeffreyclong.com without the www and you’ll get here fine.

Towards the end of my time of ministry at Filer Mennonite Church I did a series of sermons on Elijah the prophet. I really felt like it was some of my best work but decided that I wanted to edit them some more before I posted them online. Today I had the privilege of preaching at Aberdeen Mennonite Church and decided to take the opportunity to edit my first in the series and repreach it. I think it went really well. So here it is, part one of my series on the ministry of Elijah the prophet.I used to work at a high school in my home town of ephrata. I was a jack of all trades musician and teacher assistant. One of the hallmarks of that season of my life was all the lifechanging relationships I built with the students, parents and adult volunteers there. We sang together. We played together. We went on trips together. We ate together. We slept together.But I was more then a teacher’s assistant. I was a former youth minister and pastor. I was a Christian interested in ministering to these students at a level deeper then their musical accomplishments. As a result, I became acutely aware that while a large number of my students were in fact practicing religion, it was not Christianity. It was not faith in the salvation by grace alone made available through Jesus’ death and resurrection.Those students who were in fact Christians each interacted with these students of another faith differently. They enjoyed each other, became friends, and worked well on music together. But most wanted to convert them and so they generally wound up in debates. And every year there was tension around the Baccalaureate because it was sponsored by the Protestant and Catholic churches. While these students of another faith were welcome to attend they were sometimes not included in the planning and participation of the Baccalaureate.Each of us has had occasion to have relationships with people of other faith. Whether Buddhism, B’Hai, Mormonism or Christian Science. We need guidance from the Word of God for how to approach these relationships. I think that we have something to learn from the prophet Elijah about how to interact with people of other faiths. Elijah like us was a firm believer in Yahweh, the God of Israel. But the time he lived in was much more hostile to his faith then ours is. It is safe for us to go to church. We won’t be arrested for sharing our faith with someone. We do not have to register with the authorities if we want to have a bible study in our home. We can even speak out against our president without risking our life as Elijah did. But most of our neighbors do not worship Jesus. In fact many of them worship other gods.Whereas Christianity is still the dominant religion in America, Israel had become influenced by Baal worship. Israel’s citizens had originally covenanted with Yahweh but then turned away from Him to Baal. And the citizens of the nations surrounding Israel had served Baal from the beginning. And so Elijah had to decide what kind of relationship he was going to have with these people who did not serve his God. Today we are looking at two instances and how he chose whether or not to be hostile or hospitable. [Read more →]

This song by Arrested Development says a lot about how I feel about religion these days. I haven’t been free to talk about it here while pastoring Filer Mennonite. And not surprisingly that experience had a negative impact on my faith. I’m finally making a turn around. But it’s remarkable how ridiculous the whole enterprise (organized religion… not faith in general) looks once you become an outsider. I think that’s why emergent church authors and churches are so appealing to me. Anyway… here’s the song. The words go by pretty fast so the lyrics are available if you click the “read more” link.

Download arrested_development_01_04_fishin_4_religion.mp3

[Read more →]

I have no idea how to bookmark this.http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks2.htmInitial launch, those are the number of births in the year, deaths in the year, etc. You can click on now, day, month and get those statistics in smaller doses. Check out the other clocks too.

“Even if we do not as yet know what true humanity is, we already know well what inhumanity is. As Gerd Theissen notes, people were once especially eager to find the “missing link” between primates and human beings. Now, however, it is dawning on us that we ourselves could be that “missing link.” -Walt Wink, The Human Being, p. 26-27

It’s been around 3 weeks since I started teaching elementary music. The greatest challenge is that I have to make music accessible to the broadest range of ages imaginable. Today I taught kindergarteners, 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Tomorrow I will add 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders to the mix. Each age has its own unique characteristics. So I not only have to plan lessons around their uniqueness I also have to be able to relate to them personally and as an educator. I’ve had days of feeling really successful and at least one day when I wondered what the hell I thought I was doing.

But I have to say that the moments that make it all worthwhile are when I work with the youngest kids… the kindergarteners and 1st graders, and the special needs kids. Watching their excitement as they _get_ to play a shaker or bells. Seeing the joy in their eyes as I play the music they “wrote” by putting their M and M’s on a staff. You would think that in ministry you would have the satisfaction of knowing that you were changing lives. But the older people get the more they keep their cards close to their chest. I never felt like I was making a difference in the lives of the people I served for the last 2 and a half years. I honestly don’t know what they needed or if they needed anything at all. But today when I was marching around the room with 20 kindergartneres behind me singing “Bow bow bow belinda” I knew that I was bringing joy to these kids. It’s nice to be making a difference again.

Moving to Nampa forced me to make some media decisions. Our family has two homes now, one in Twin Falls and one in Nampa which means twice the bills. Fortunately all my utilities are paid for here, ‘cept for electricity and I hardly use any. But for the last two and a half years I’ve been spoiled with 200 channels of television and a DVR on Dish Network and wireless internet. Moving to Nampa I knew I couldn’t afford both so I chose internet. So I am now living a TV-free life.

This is really a forced, though fun experiment for me. Before you get all misty for me missing Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes and Numbers, realize that the networks make these shows available online to watch for free. Mind you the video is kinda crappy, there are still commercials and I have to wait the next day to watch the episodes my family watched the night before. And I moved the family’s Netflix account to my Nampa home. Really the only thing that I can’t watch legally for free is my scifi channel shows like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis. For those I’ll rely on bittorrent which will involve a little more work and hard drive space. So really, I have just as much media opportunities as I had with Dish.

So, can I live without cable? Without rabbit ears? Yes. Could my family? Maybe. If we had a media computer like a Mac mini hooked up to the TV we could get by with our prime time shows online. The kids would have to watch cartoons and Disney programs on Netflix. So who knows… might have to try. In the meantime, I’m getting along just fine for those of you who were worried. <wink>

Wanted to let all of you know who have been helping me, praying for me and been concerned for my job search know that this morning I accepted the position of K-6th music teacher at Homedale Idaho. I am very excited. I hadn’t really imagined myself as a music teacher because though I have experience, I have neither a music major, minor or endorsement which are normally needed. But the more I thought about exciting young students about music the more I wanted this job. I actually was driving to Ephrata for an interview with for an afterschool program in Warden when I got an afterhour phone call from the principal while my cell phone was in roam. I didn’t recognize the number as Homedale so I didn’t answer the call and didn’t know it was the principal until I was in Lagrande at 8:30pm. She called me this morning at 8:15pm.

Thank you to all of you for your help, for your prayers and your concern. This long road has ended and now we begin another long road. I will be living apart from my family for the next 9 months. It will be a 3 hour drive from them which I plan to make ever other week if we can afford it. This will not be an easy life for any of us but it means my family’s needs will be taken care of.

Over in the left hand column is a new addition called “What I’ve been doing.” The source for this is my new twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/jeffreyclong. “What are you doing… what do you have to say in under 140 characters.” It’s sort of a microblog. I can post from my phone or instant messenger client. So keep an eye over there for random stuff.