FOR THE NEW YEAR

GOD, IN THIS NEW YEAR, may I no longer be my own but yours. Put me to what you will; rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing; put me to suffering. Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you. Let me be full; let me be empty. Let me have all things; let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God — Creator, Redeemer, and Inspirer — you are mine, and I am yours. May this promise that I hereby make on earth be ratified in heaven. Amen.

- W. Paul Jones
An Adaptation of Wesley’s Watchnight Vows
An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful

From p. 438 of An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful by W. Paul Jones. Copyright © 2006 by the author


Perhaps it would be a good idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every telephone and halt all activity for an hour some day to give people a chance to ponder for a few moments on what it is all about, why they are living, and what they really want.
— James Truslow Adams in the nineteenth century quoted in The Time Is Now by Daniel S. Wolk

Patient God...what I want is passionate days, wondrous days, dangerous days, blessed days, surprising days.
What I want is You!
I hold up my life to you now, as much as I can, as high as I can, in this mysterious reach called prayer. It is not new time, but new eyes, new heart I seek,... and You. Amen (Ted Loder, adapted)

Prayer for the New Year

O God of new beginnings and wonderful surprises, thank you for the gift of a new year. May it be a time of grace for me, a time to grow in faith and love, a time to renew my commitment to following Your Son, Jesus. May it be a year of blessing for me, a time to cherish my family and friends, a time to renew my efforts at work, a time to embrace my faith more fully. Walk with me, please, in every day and every hour of this new year, that the light of Christ might shine through me, in spite of my weaknesses and failings. Above all, may I remember this year that I am a pilgrim on the sacred path to You.

Amen

Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.

Christ under me;

Christ over me;

Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me

on my left and my right.

A New Year's blessing prayer

From Edward Hays:

Lord, You who live outside of time,
and reside in the imperishable moment,
we ask Your blessing this New Year's Day
upon Your gift to us of time.

Bless our clocks and watches,
You who kindly direct us
to observe the passing of minutes and hours.
May they make us aware of the miracle
of each second of life we experience.
May these our ticking servants
help us not to miss that which is important,
while You keep us from machine-like routine.
May we ever be free from being clock watchers
and instead become time lovers.

Bless our calendars,
these ordered lists of days, weeks, and months,
of holidays, holydays, fasts and feasts --
all our special days of remembering.
May these servants, our calendars,
once reserved for the royal few,
for magi and pyramid priests,
now grace our homes and our lives.
May they remind us of birthdays and other gift-days,
as they teach us the secret
that all life
is meant for celebration
and contemplation.

Bless, Lord, this new year,
each of its 365 days and nights.
Bless us with new moons and full moons.
Bless us with happy seasons and a long life.
Grant to us, Lord,
the new year's gift
of a year of love.

Amen.

(From Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home)

Prayer for New Year’s Day

We come like the magi,
as wise and as foolish men and women to kneel before the Christ child.
We bring our regrets from the past year,
our shame, our guilt,
acknowledging our failures and ready to begin afresh

Touch us with your hand of forgiveness
Help us also to forgive ourselves

We come like the shepherds,
from out on the rough hills of life,
bringing our memories
of danger, of suffering, of grief,
bearing our own hurts
and carrying the pain of those around us,
like lost lambs in our arms.

Sing to us your peace
Shine on us with the glow of your gentle comfort

We come like Mary and Joseph,
excited by new life,
promises of hope,
joys remembered from the past year, progress made,
achievements that light up our year.

Glory to God in the highest!
Take us on to Jerusalem!

We come also like Mary and Joseph
and the baby, fleeing from Herod,
at one with all who seek asylum
and languish too long in detention centres,
and with those who have not escaped
but wait for liberation

We open our hearts to make room for all whom you love
Move us and all who have power to move mountains.

We come like the baby wrapped in cloth
and laid in an animals' feeding trough,
looking at the faces of children everywhere
who suffer the effects of poverty and malnourishment,
and remembering those who still suffer
the impact of natural disasters
such as earthquakes, tsunamis
and failed crops.

Speak to us through the cries of the baby Jesus and the cries of all children.
Feed us with the good news of his gospel of love.

And now we must go to our Nazareth,
our Galilee, our Jerusalem, our New Year.
You will announce good news to the poor
and we want to be there.
You will reach out to the marginalised
and we want to be there.
You will meet us in deep communion,
in brokenness and life poured out
and we want to be there

We will stand by your cross
and share your risen life.
We greet you with the palms of peace:

Hosanna in the highest!
Welcome to our Jerusalem!
Welcome to our New Year!

Amen

prepared by William Loader

The Slaughter of the Innocents

The reading from Matthew this week includes the slaughter of the innocents. I think I have only preached on it once... too much reality to bear; or my need to linger in the softer sides of Christmas a little longer. I know I could exegetically ramble around on the need for Jesus to be called out of Egypt so we could have parallels with the Exodus story and the fulfillment of prophecy and so on. Other preachers and interpreters reminded me that this text is also meant to keep me from disconnecting the hope of Christ with this harsh world. The Word became flesh in this world. Jesus was born into this kind of political power struggle. It still exists. Just watch the news. The light shines in this darkness.
And then the day after Christmas my morning started with two funeral homes calling to schedule services for this Saturday. One was for a person in his late 50s who died suddenly the day before Christmas eve. His birthday also happened to be Dec. 24. A very harsh Christmas mix. Cruel Herod.
I also went to see a person who had spent Christmas in the hospital and then that afternoon drove my brother back to Moorhead . My brother’s life is a complicated story as well. It all felt like Christmas had come to a sudden end. Or does it “begin” in a more realistic way?

I would still like to linger around with Silent Night and ponder, with Mary, all this nativity in my heart. But instead it does feel more like an escape to Egypt or a time to run, lest I lose what innocence I might have; or succumb to cynicism. I can’t let Herod’s cruelty do its slaughtering of hope in me. It's a tragic story and a tragic happening, in both social reality and spiritual metaphor.

WE WORSHIP not a hidden God, covered, clothed in mystery, inaccessible. We worship God revealed — a child, born of humble means, forsaking glory to be one of us, one with us, Emmanuel. We worship God reconciling, giving life for us, and raised to new life, calling us by the Spirit to give our lives away for love.

- Alive Now

From cover 2 of Alive Now, November/December 2003. Copyright © 2003 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved

Christ is born

Words for repetition in prayer:
Merry Christmas
Light of Love
Spirit of Peace
Hope for all
Presence of God
Gift of Life
Joy of the World
Blessed New Year
Mystery
Simplicity
Song and Silence
.......Christ is born.

Being Naive for Christmas

The following is from Ron Rolheiser's article of the week:An Invitation Inside of Christmas and I would love to simply copy the whole piece..but instead refer you to his site; http://www.ronrolheiser.com

The American educator, Allan Bloom,..... tells how, as a young man taking his first university classes, a professor introduced his course in this way. Looking at his young, 19-20 year-old students, the professor said: "You come here from your small-town, parochial backgrounds and I am going to bathe you in great truth - and set you free." Bloom, even at 19, wasn't impressed. He writes that this professor reminded him of a little boy who had solemnly informed him when he was seven years old that there was no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny. But, Bloom adds, "he wasn't bathing me in any great truth, he was showing off."

Bloom comments that what he learned from that professor was to forever teach in the opposite way. He, Bloom, would start his classes with words to this effect: "You come here having experienced so many things. You've seen so much of life that I'm going to try to teach you how to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny again - and then maybe you will have a chance again to be happy!"

This, properly nuanced, captures one of the invitations inside of Christmas. The Christmas crib invites us back to our innocence, though not to the pre-sophisticated naivete of a child, but to the post-sophisticated and post-cynical joy and innocence of a truly mature adult, to a second-naivete, a post-liberal, post-bitter, post-wounded, and post-hard-hearted place.

One of my professors in Louvain used to flag this little slogan: If you ask a naive child if she believes in Santa and the Easter Bunny, she will say yes. If you ask a bright child if she believes in Santa and the Easter Bunny, she will say no. But if you ask even a brighter child if she believes in Santa and the Easter Bunny, she will smile slyly and then say yes.

Christmas is about much deeper things than Santa and the birth of Jesus is not just some delightful fairy tale meant to warm the heart. We measure time by this event. Christmas is about God being born physically and historically into this world and, among many other things, we have some stunning lessons to learn from the manner in which this happened.

As virtually all of our iconography around Christmas makes clear, God is born, not as some superstar whose earthly power, beauty, and muscle dwarf us. No. God is born as helpless, vulnerable, thoroughly under-whelming baby who looks out at us quietly even as we look back at him and he judges us in that way that vulnerability forever judges false strength, transparency judges lies, generosity judges selfishness, innocence judges over-sophistication, and a baby, gently and helplessly and disarmingly, calls forth what's best in us.

Christmas is meant to bring us back to the crib so that our hearts can feel that freshness that wants to make us start living over again.

end quote


Marcus Borg also writes about that "second naivete. "
Does Christmas invite me into this "naive" view that peace is God's will, and that we are all children of God, despite the headlines of the news? Can I be naive enough to believe that community with diversity is worth the effort? Can I naively believe that human hearts can move beyond the self centered ego? Can I believe that the Christ way really is the way to live? Maybe I will spend some of the day with things like prayer, and taking some communion elements to an elderly couple, and seeing a women in the care center, who has had a stroke, and won't know who I am anyway. I will try to be naive enough to think it is worth doing and that it too, could be the love of God.

Yesterday the Daily Spiritual Seed had this quote:

 "Every light that comes from Holy Scripture comes from the light
of grace.  This is why foolish, proud and learned people are blind
even in the light, because the light is clouded by their own pride
and selfish love.  They read the Scripture literally, not with
understanding.  They have let go of the light by which to Scripture
was formed and proclaimed. "
 - Catherine of Sienna -

Does being  faithfully naive mean reading scripture in that other
 light of understanding
that Catherine suggests?

Naively rambling?
Rory

Learning the Music

Sometimes people tell me things that easily become illustrations of the spiritual life.
One of our church members, Richard Slieter, remembered that his daughter had been learning to play viola in the school orchestra and every year the concert would begin with Pachelbel’s Canon in D. He recalled being a delighted, supportive and proud parent, even as these inexperienced, screeching sounds came forth from the viola. Each year the concert would begin again with Canon in D, and as the students, and their daughter learned the instruments and the music, the screeching lessened until the music was heard in its intended clarity and richness. Progress was made.

That’s how it is with our spiritual growth. A disciple is a student and a learner. We are all sacred music students! God has written this rich music for us and offers its vision to us and usually we are able to hum it or hear it deep in our minds (and souls) long before we are able to duplicate it with our own abilities and desires. Yet we pick up the available instruments of our lives, and begin to play the songs of faith, and hope and love. We begin with our screeching sounds that may seem hardly recognizable at first, to be the music of God. But God is that loving, encouraging parent or that music teacher who knows where we can, indeed, go with all of this! God still hears the score perfectly, beyond our abilities of the moment.

We are gathered again and again, year after year, or Sunday after Sunday so we can rehearse, listen to the music, catch the vision, encourage one another; sometimes with private lessons, but most often in the shared concert or “concerted” effort of being the church.

John Wesley , the founder of our Methodist way of being the church, spoke of “going on to perfection.” Maybe that means that we are, indeed, a work in progress, but there is a vision to that work and that progress. So we keep rehearsing toward it, and living into it. And sometimes, for a least a few measures, or perhaps on just some notes, we do get it right! And God keeps encouraging us with the music. Maybe that’s the opportunity represented by a New Year ; another rehearsal, another concert. Maybe you and I need to hear the call of the song again for 2008. Maybe we need to get back into the rehearsal schedules of prayer, worship, study and service; and re-visit the deeper desires of our hearts. Remember when you first got inspired by this Divine music? God is not the harsh music critic who will throw us off the stage. But more like the smiling, understanding parent, who wants us to keep growing and trying to reach the music suggested in the Holy Song Book.
So Happy New Year! Screeching is allowed.. I have, and will continue to do it often. But don’t give up. I have heard some wonderful notes this year in Park Church. We can play the tunes. Maybe that’s why the Christmas music, if we honor the 12 days of Christmas, will always be the music that takes us into the New Year calendar. Christ is born. “Sing unto the Lord a new song”. Pay attention to the conductor! Play on!

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet seen of old
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Another music student,
Pastor Rory

FYI This entry is also going to be my January church newsletter article

What's on your paper?

What if we asked ourselves the question "What is on my piece of paper?" I could see handing out this cartoon to a group as a reflection tool for faith sharing; thinking about my core belief. What would I share? Maybe this time of the year my piece of paper would simply say "Immanuel. God is with us. " Maybe that's what our Christmas cards are about, sharing our piece of paper!

This past weekend the Sunday School lead us in the 9:30 worship service. I had a sermon on Joseph at the 11:15 service that is posted on the sermon link.

Nick played his tuba at the mall on Saturday as part of the low brass "Tuba Christmas" concert. The Dispatch had a nice big picture showing him from the back.

....in the Advent of joy!

Council of Bishops Resolution on Iraq War

Here is the Resolution from our Bishops and I refer you to Bishop Sally Dyck's blog (see my side link) for some related conversation.

United Methodist Council of Bishops Resolution on the Iraq War

Whereas, the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church, meeting Nov. 9 at Lake Junaluska, N.C., is committed to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world; and

Whereas, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, calls his followers to be peacemakers (Matt. 5:9); and

Whereas, "We believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ" (Book of Discipline 2004, Par. 165.C); and

Whereas, the cost of the war in Iraq as of Nov. 7, 2007 has been the lives of 3,843 members of the U.S. military, 171 members of the United Kingdom military, 132 members of the other Coalition military, 28,385 U.S. military wounded, and the lives of at least 76,241 Iraqi civilians; and

Whereas the war in Iraq has displaced 2 million persons and forced another 2 million persons into refugee status;

Whereas, every day the war continues more soldiers and innocent civilians are killed with no end in sight to the violence, bloodshed and carnage;

NOW, THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS calls on the President and Congress of the United States and the leaders of all the nations in the Coalition Forces:

• To begin immediately a safe and full withdrawal of all military personnel from Iraq, with no additional troops deployed;
• To declare that there will be no permanent military bases in Iraq;
• To increase support for veterans of the Iraq war and all wars;
• To initiate and give strong support to a plan for the reconstruction of Iraq, with high priority given to the humanitarian and social needs of the Iraqi people, such as healthcare, education and housing;

FURTHER, THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS calls United Methodist people throughout the world:

• To pray for peace and to have regular prayer vigils for congregations and communities;
• To care for all impacted by the war, including combatants and noncombatants by honoring the dead, healing the wounded and calling for the end of the war;
• To be peacemakers by word and deed that we may be called the children of God.

Isaiah 11

Isaiah 11
lectio Divina
lingerings
reflections
interior ramblings

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
And a branch shall grow out of his roots

New life, but in new shoots....a new way will come forth, not just as before...new locations...different, but of the same root, connected under neath it all

How will I look , expect, to see this in me, around me, beyond me; ...coming from the same root source...the eternal spirit root that is shared with Jesse, with David, with Christ. The same root bringing forth, growing persistently in me. What, of the spiritual life, is growing, breaking forth to the surface, or still pushing beneath the earth? Hidden, but still to come. Trust the roots.


2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge

How will I seek and be open, be taught and formed to this Spirit? Scripture, prayer, teachers of this Way. The gifts are given...Spiritual transformation for this.


3 He will not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

O God, see me, and know me, in ways deeper than what others can see of me and what my ego reveals to the world, and what I say to myself and others,
not to be judged by deeds, or lack of them, but search me and know me,,as I am , to you,
More than I even know myself. Grace, to see others as you see.


4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.


And then when I can love the poor and the needy in me, ..then will I be able to respond more faithfully, genuinely, eagerly, generously to the poor and meek of this earth?

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

God, will you remove the wickedness, the slanderous and hurtful in me, remove from me what I cannot seem to take out of myself?

Will I let you transform me, change me,

with breath of your lips,
with the breath of your spirit and your words,
when you breathed on the disciples, you inspired them with breath of intimacy,
life force,, re-created in them, breathing a new Adam
in the wind-spirit of God, of a new Genesis
will I be close enough, stay close enough to feel your breath, and be a new person, new breath of life? Out of breath
Do not run from the breathing.

Silence, stillness, listening, for the inspiration. ...catching our breath

5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Will I be dressed and ready to do this work,,will justice be my uniform, my new form, my work belt.?

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

Will I let this chosen (Christ) child, or this child of God-life, in me,
lead me?

7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

Will the wolf, the leopard, the bear, the lion, the viper,
the violent, the uncontrollable, and the venomous in me, be calmed,
to let the young, the child, the vulnerable and growing in me,
the future in me, to grow in sanctuary
of shalom

9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea

Is all the earth your Holy mountain now, your dwelling place, your revealing place?


as the waters cover the sea...
Will I be this full, immersed, baptized in this presence, this knowing, this truth,
Am I already this surrounded,...
but not knowing?


Advent hope
Christ is this image
be born in us today,
in me today and again and again
a child, a vision, a shalom, a Word breath of God,
become flesh
in me, in all creation.

lectio divina

Another site suggestion, with Mary thoughts

Its 7:15 Am. Nick has been taken to school. I have a cup of coffee already in me. I have read my usual blog devotions, but in a rush, and reviewed and printed out the notes I need for a funeral service this morning but here is another favorite site of mine. This one follows the lectionary. Check it out. I will probably add it as a link listing.
http://www.journeywithjesus.net

This week at Journey with Jesus, Sara Miles writes about Mary. So I am thinking about the Annunciation...and my own schedule and waking to the day. What was Mary doing when this messenger and message came to her? Surely she did not live alone , would have been part of an extended household, ...and what were the chores of that Galilean peasant girl? Did this visitation come to her before dawn, was the light rising? Was she fully awake? Had she been preparing a meal, washing a dish, walking to the well, mending a garment; was she tending children in an extended family, busy with a routine day? Had she slipped away for just a moment...did this come to her in some thought of prayer? Or...was it like the way the word of God comes to us today ...sometimes .... between the cracks of a busy day, during the day....in rushed devotions, caring for the family.... working along,....but the day goes on,and we keep going back to that 'in breaking", and carry it along, in the rest of the day..until it breaks wide open,,in our soul, into a new kind of daylight, until something new is conceived, and born? Maybe it begins with a pregnant thought...and nothing is the same.
Luke does not say. So we, like Mary... wonder, "how this could be?"
John simply says.... the Word became flesh.

Another blog referral

When I started this blog I said I would use this space to pass on other blogs, quotes, and places of interest as part of my rambles- as in rambling with my words, my rambling thoughts, and also rambling around on the internet!
So here is a quote and a place to go:

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything. We would like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new....Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be."
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Rev Sally Johnson, on staff at Hennepin Ave, has a more reflective blog that I check into now and then. She used this quote recently. Go to
http://blogs.haumc.org/pause

Please go read this.

Since Advent brings us to John the Baptist and and the wilderness, calling us to repent
and Isaiah 11 points us to a re-visioned shalom, this would be a good time to read some of Brian Mclaren's thinking at
www.tpmcafe.com/blog/tableforone/2007/dec/03/christianity_as_a_global_threat

"Christianity as a Global Threat"....the title alone should pique your curiosity!
Maybe just thinking about something you might disagree with or feel uncomfortable with, or agree with..but you don't quite now what to do with...
can be a doorway to repentance.

For the Advent Adventure

I, God, am your playmate!
I will lead the child in you in wonderful ways,
for I have chosen you.

— Metchild of Magdeburg (1217-1277)
quoted in You Already Know What to Do
by Sharon Franquemont
...from the Spirituality and Practice website

How will you let God lead you to some Christmas wonder and child-like delight...do you need to play!

MESSAGE OF THE DAY from a Daily Spiritual Seed
http://shalomplace.com/seed

Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way.
Advent is
a winter training camp for those who desire peace.
By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation,
we can make our hearts a place where a blessing
of peace would desire to abide and where the
birth of the Prince of Peace might take place.
- Edward Hays, "A Pilgrim's Almanac"

We are in ADVENT, 
JOY AND PEACE!
RORY

School levy comments, and moving ahead

I submitted this to the Dispatch on Friday morning but it's too long for a Letter to the Editor, its not my turn for the Clergy View and they have already printed some excellent guest columns that were more eloquent. I will at least blog post it. (Printed in Dec. 4 Dispatch.)


I want to thank the Dispatch for printing Superintendent Jerry Walseth’s words that urge us to look ahead at what we are going to do for our future. He is asking for community members to get involved, for new volunteers to come forward and he is inviting the business community to do some brainstorming; for all of us to be part of the solution. His message needs repeating and highlighting.
As considerate readers, let me offer an analogy , imperfect as it is, from my own experience.
In 1997 I lived in Ortonville, one of the many Minnesota communities that experienced that early spring flooding. I saw a range of responses. Let me offer these four observations.

1) There were those who acted, quite independently, to protect their own property and interests. They did their own sandbagging and encircled their houses. While I applaud their initiative, it was too narrow. They were interested in only protecting their own turf. It seldom worked.
Others came together, cooperatively, and would sandbag entire blocks or groups of homes, even if the property owners were living out of the area. They looked out for each other. They benefited from each other’s expertise and energy. They tended to have more success and in the process, created deeper levels of community.
But then, there were a few exceptional stories that made headlines. We heard of a small community that came together and built dikes and sandbags around the whole town. They were an island of community surrounded by those threatening waters. I would hope that our Brainerd area could lean toward the larger image of all of us working for the good of the whole community, far beyond individual turf protection;looking out for all of us, for the best future we can create in these circumstances.

2) In that flood experience there was the even more threatening emotional flood. We certainly have that happening here today in the full range of emotions. Part of the community work was to have venues for listening and caring as lives were relocated, disrupted, and grief was experienced.. That too was a deliberate response of the community. It was being “people” together. Whether that gets formally done or not, lets model that sensitive, respectful spirit for those who will be losing jobs, traditions, experiences and school identities. This is not just a civic matter to me, but a moral and spiritual imperative.

3) In Ortonville, as I’m sure other communities had also, we had weekly coordination team meetings. (The disaster response team.) It was a cross section of community leadership. We needed accurate information. We needed to know what responses were possible and the resources available. Who is doing what, when, where, how? Can we create these forums here in the Brained School District community? Many of us do not know what the state or school guideline are for providing volunteer and financial support. Civic and service groups, faith communities, etc, could benefit from such a shared problem solving process. None of us, individually, has the solutions. Who might convene such a group? Could one of our churches host such gatherings? Ideas?

4) Care for the care givers is absolutely critical. They need to be able to the work as best they can. In Ortonville, while my wife and I joined high-school students, fire department workers, and a host of others on the sand bag lines sometimes late into the night, others provided childcare or other services. I was blessed to have church officials, my bishop and other pastors just calling to check in with me. Again, it was all about support. We have a school board and other school personnel that are working long and anxious hours, making agonizing decisions on our behalf. There is nothing easy about this. They need our active support and our encouragement, thoughts, prayers.

The actions we make in the months ahead, will determine not just the shape and spirit of our school, but our community. We all know what kinds of words will help and what words will hinder and hurt. We can personally choose to limit the flood damage of words that would hurt us, and be the healthy neighbors that have found new, creative ways to work together. The future and reputation of our community is being made now, one way or the other. Let’s be the exceptional story of how to move ahead!

Ramble of the Day

My friend, Jeff Fillian, has started (re-started) a lectionary discussion site at http://www.kerygmata.com.
I pass it on to any homileticians who might wander this way. Jeff was a classmate of mine back in Morningside College in Sioux City IA. For our senior year, we were ready to move out of dorm life so Jeff, Mark Haines, and I rented the basement level of a home occupied by an elderly women who lived on the main level. Part of our rent was to put out her trash, clean a few flower beds, shovel snow, and just be around in case she needed help. I remember that we were able to pull our often failing cars into the garage and work on them in there on winter days rather than out in a school lot or on the street.
When Beth and I got married (20 years ago!) at the Beech Creek UMC in Clay County Kentucky, Jeff was one of the three clergy participating in the ceremony and he was our Eucharistic celebrant. When I was going through the Home Missionary commissioning process through the General Board of Global Ministries, National Division, (Could we United Methodists come up with any longer Department names!) Jeff came over to see me at the Penta Hotel in New York City, and got me back to the airport the next day. At the time he was serving a church, I believe, over in Queens. He is originally from Connecticut and is a Drew seminary grad. He is currently letting his Methodist roots return to their Anglican origins and is active in an Episcopal church in the Chicago area. Anyway,.... a long way of plugging his site!

In other news from around here, while this is not the first snow, it is the first real snow that you could actually get a car stuck in or needed shovels and snow blowers. When I was removing the snow on our driveway I thought of how I used to make a special effort to pile up the snow in ways that would be fun for Nick and Sara to climb on or make forts in, but that has changed. No more kids wanting to play in the front yard snow piles. When did that happen? Although, after the roads were plowed and salted, I trusted Nick to drive himself over to the high school hill for some sliding and sledding with his friends. Maybe some day I will have to find a little kid to make "snowmen" with again.
I like the snow. I like the way it looks on the trees. I like the brightness of the snow cover. I like the feel of it all. It even changes the smells and sounds of the outdoors. The winter blue jays have been here for awhile and they look better in the snow too. Years ago I enjoyed some winter camping along with the cross country skiing. I have a few winter stories to tell but can't seem to find anyone who really wants, or needs, to hear them!

This Sunday the snowfall reduced the worship attendance a bit. Beth's 7:30 AM flight out of Brainerd got canceled so she took a ground shuttle on to Minneapolis, got flights re-scheduled, and was in Boston's Logan airport this afternoon, ready to complete the last leg to her destination in New Hampshire.
On Saturday, Park Church and Light of the Lakes Church had its first Women's Candlelight Evening. The speaker was coming from another part of the state so the weather added some travel concerns but the attendance for that event was still near one hundred percent. We had coat check services, vocal music, piano, flute, violin, cello, fine catered meal, detailed decorations, each table hostess brought her finest china and holiday ware...and of course candle light. It was a ministry of hospitality.
I will try to get this morning's sermon posted to the blog tomorrow.

Park Church below, pre-snow