TAKE ME INTO A NEW YEAR,
Gracious God.
Help me to continue looking for meaning, seeking peace, praying for light, dancing for joy, working for justice, and singing your praise.
I go into the new year filled with expectations, a touch of worry, and a bundle of hope.
I do not journey into the new year alone but with you as my guide, with a commitment to my disciplines, with a community of family, friends, and faith.
Take me into the new year, Creator of beauty and wonder.
Bless me with the companionship of Jesus,
and gift me with the guidance and power of the Spirit. Amen.
- Larry James Peacock
Openings
From page 398 of Openings,
by Larry James Peacock. Copyright © 2003
by Larry James Peacock.
Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved

53 years ago!

Christmas still

The first Sunday after Christmas day.
The verse of the day should be Luke 2:19; to be like Mary as she treasured and pondered...in her heart.
The two Christmas eve services are past. The relatives have returned to their homes. Some things have been put away. We simplified Christmas more intentionally this year. That means we did not contribute very well to the economic recovery. We wrapped most of our presents in newspapers, gave more Christmas gifts to charities such as the UMCOR Zimbabwe relief or some local needs. Sara knitted me a scarf. Nick is doing special chores for us, we enjoyed some gifts of homemade breads and jams. ( My anonymous Christmas tie giver at church also got in on this trend and gave me,instead, a flock of chickens through Heifer Project and a pair of black socks. Thank you anonymous giver if you read this!)
I did not put up the Christmas lights outside so we reduced some energy consumption. In side the house we put up much less of the decorations as well. It felt simpler. Maybe we can simplify even more next year. And leave more time for pondering this Christ gift, then and now.
Merry Christmas, still....

When the song of the angels is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flock
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among brothers and sisters
To make music in the heart.
Howard Thurman (1900-1981)

Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.
- Christina Rossetti"

GENTLE, loving God,
you come to me this dayin the form of a tiny, vulnerable baby.
I look on you with wonder and gratitude.
Glory to you in the highest heaven,and on earth, peace among all peoples and nations.
For it is in the name of your child, Jesus,that we pray.Amen.

- Beth A. RichardsonChild of the Light: Walking through Advent and Christmas
From p. 84 of Child of the Light by Beth A. Richardson. Copyright © 2005 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light......the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

GOD CALLS us to come home for Christmas.
God calls us to come back from all those places where we have settled for less than the fullness of life promised to us in Christ. God calls us back from all the ambitions and possessions we have pursued, thinking they would satisfy us. God calls us to let go of any bitterness and resistance to forgive that block the light of love from warming us. … God calls us to come home and to rest, to be embraced by one who loves us as we are. God offers us a place where we are fully known and also fully accepted.
- Mary Lou Redding
While We Wait: Living the Questions of Advent
From p. 45 of While We Wait: Living the Questions of Advent by Mary Lou Redding.
Copyright © 2002 by the author.
Published by Upper Room Books.

Christmas... not that long ago...

OUR HEARTS — our spirits — wait for the coming of the Christ child. We have worked hard during this Advent season to listen to God’s voice, to turn over our fears and worries, to make a place in all the chaos to be able to welcome God into our lives and hearts. During these last days of Advent, we continue to wait. May these final days include times of quiet. Open wide the door to our hearts. Let there be spaces, silences, and open places. Let us give ourselves the gift of time.
- Beth A. RichardsonChild of the Light: Walking through Advent and Christmas
From p. 75 of Child of the Light by Beth A. Richardson. Copyright © 2005 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved



see also my notes on Advent Silence on my sermon link

It was a time like this,
War & tumult of war,
a horror in the air.
Hungry yawned the abyss –
and yet there came the star
and the child most wonderfully there.
It was time like this
of fear & lust for power,
license & greed and blight –
and yet the Prince of bliss
came into the darkest hour
in quiet & silent light.
And in a time like this
how celebrate his birth
when all things fall apart?
Ah! wonderful it is
with no room on the earth
the stable is our heart.
– from Winter Song: Christmas Readings
by Madeleine L’Engle and Luci Shaw

thnks to LH over on Next Reformation

A friendly Advent Reminder from John the Baptist

Lighting your Advent candles?

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.
- Etty Hillesum,died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 29. From An Interrupted Life, a compilation of her diaries and letters.

For what its worth

saw this at Sojourners and passing it on......

This week GM printed a full page ad in Automotive News magazine to make a public apology. They said:While we’re still the U.S. sales leader, we acknowledge we have disappointed you. At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs become lackluster. We proliferated our brands and dealer network to the point where we lost adequate focus on our core U.S. market. We also biased our product mix toward pickup trucks and SUVs. And we made commitments to compensation plans that have proven to be unsustainable in today’s globally competitive industry. We have paid dearly for these decisions, learned from them and are working hard to correct them by restructuring our U.S. business to be viable for the long-term.

I really don't want a God who is solicitous of my every need,fawning for my attention, eager for nothing in the world so much asthe fulfillment of my self-potential. One of the scourges of ourage is that all of our deities are house-broken and eminentlycompanionable. Far from demanding anything, they ask only how theycan more meaningfully enhance the lives of those they serve."- Belden C. Lane, "The Solace of Fierce Landscapes"

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
Source: The Guest House By Rumi

Random rambles

Charter is running slow so I may not bother with this for long! Facebook visiting has , in fact, reduced my time with the blog. I hope you all had a pleasant thanksgiving. Jeff Ozanne fulfilled Park Church's preaching obligation/privilege in our shared Thanksgiving eve service with the Congregational Church. We had a a pleasant house full of good food and good company for Thanksgiving Day. Later in the evening I retreated to the church to gather up my notes from the previous days meeting with Don Paxton's family. We had Don's funeral service this morning. In addition to his 1o years with the Navy and Air Force, he was with the foreign service as a power plant supervisor for the Voice of America in Liberia, Morocco, Okinawa and Washington DC. I was fascinated with his stories and will miss him. This afternoon I visited the new home of a church member family, rebuilt after a fire so we did a house blessing. Sara hosted a party of college students home on Thanksgiving break so they swarmed through the leftovers, for which I am also thankful. My brother, Randy, gets a ride back to Moorhead tomorrow and I hope, with Nicks help, to get up a few Christmas lights...oh and the Sunday sermon needs some finishing.


Life is good . Still a happy thanksgiving

on line labyrinth

There are several out there but here is one
http://www.gratefulness.org/labyrinth/index.htm

Saturday

Unlike any other day of the week, Saturday morning gets to be slower and relaxed. No one is rushing out to work or school. Just slower. I look forward to some cooking and cleaning. I have a Thai rice recipe to try that Eric Hucke made for us at the Episcopal House of Prayer. Sara is home and hungry for things she doesn't get at school. Nick will get back late tonight ( I think) from the Augustana College Band Festival in Sioux Falls and Beth gets back around 10 pm from Rochester New York where she was the key note presenter at a conference. I will see a couple people in the hospital later today. But the sermon is done and the day is looking good. Maybe I will take a walk, do a load of laundry, and read, and spend some time in silent prayer!

......a thought for the day
”The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble, and humbling, and (insofar as it involves love) pleasing and rewarding,” writes poet and essayist Wendell Berry. “Its jobs will be too many to count, too many to report, too many to be publicly noticed or rewarded, too small to make anyone rich or famous.”

Rambling on

sacrament of waiting

By Macrina Wiederkehr

Slowly
she celebrated the sacrament of letting go.
First she surrendered her green,
then the orange, yellow, and red
finally she let go of her brown.
Shedding her last leaf
she stood empty and silent,
stripped bare.
Leaning against the winter sky
she began her vigil of trust.
Shedding her last leaf
she watched its journey to the ground.
She stood in silence
wearing the color of emptiness,
her branches wondering;
How do you give shade with so much gone?
And then,
the sacrament of waiting began.
The sunrise and sunset watched with tenderness.
Clothing her with silhouettes
they kept her hope alive.
They helped her understand that
her vulnerability,
her dependence and need,
her emptiness,
her readiness to receive
were giving her a new kind of beauty.
Every morning and every evening they stood in silence
and celebrated together
the sacrament of waiting.

Source: unknown From inward/outward

A prayer

A Prayer for a New President and a New America
by Shane Claiborne 11-07-2008

God of Abraham, Miriam, Hannah, Rizpah, and David…God of Elijah, Amos, Ruth, Isaiah, Deborah…
God of Mary, John the Baptizer, Peter, Paul, Philemon and Onesimus…
God of Anthony, Ambrose, Dirk Willems, Teresa of Avila, and Francis ofAssisi,
God of Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, WilliamWilberforce, and Oscar Romero
and God of love, grace, and hope…
Thank you for creating a perfect world.
Forgive us for the mess we have made of it
.Thank you for creating Jubilee, gleaning, and Sabbath as patterns to
ensure that the poor are cared for,
the earth rests, and inequality isdismantled
.Forgive us for choosing the patterns of empire.
Thank you for using the weak things to shame the strong and thefoolish things to confound the wise.
Protect us from becoming too strong or too wise.
Protect us from ourselves.
Forgive us…for the groaning of creationfor the millions who die of hunger and curable diseases
for warehousing people in prisons and using them for labor
for the scandal of billions wasted in war
for worrying about tomorrow and storing up more than this day our
daily bread
for an economy that mirrors the seven deadly sins
for our Caesars and our Herodsfor the violence and greed in our own hearts
Save us from ourselves.
Deliver us…from the arrogance of power
from the myth of redemptive violence
from the tyranny of greed
from the ugliness of racism
from false hope and counterfeit change
from the cancer of hatred
from the seduction of wealth
from the idolatry of nationalism
from the paralysis of cynicism
from the ghettoes of poverty
from the ghettoes of wealth
from the blood-stained pages of history
and from the legacy of slavery.
Deliver us oh God.
Give us the courage…to bless the poor in a world that blesses the middle class.
to bless the meek in a world that admires aggression.
to bless the hungry in a world that feeds the already fed.
to bless the merciful in a world that shows no mercy on evildoers.
to bless the pure in heart in a world of clutter and noise.
to bless the peacemakers in a world that baptizes bombs.

Give us imagination…that we might not conform to the patterns of this world.
that we might shatter indifference and interrupt injustice with grace
that we might choose the cross over the sword
that we might be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves
that we might consider the lillies and sparrows as they shame WallStreet’s splendor
that we might choose the dream of God over the dreams of nations
that we might cling to the God that so loved the world, not just America
that we might allow our Jesus to change America rather than America to
change our Jesus.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

from Gods Politics and http://www.sojo.net/blog/godspolitics/?p=3639

Happy 21st Anniversary

A prayer for today

GOD, HELP US TO BE OPEN to new ideas, daring to err on the side of idealism rather than settling for entanglement in the practicalities of expedience. Forgive our idolatry in insisting on our particular way as the only way. Whatever our differences, help us to express them with charity, from a perspective always tilted toward the needy. Amen.
- W. Paul JonesAn Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful
From p. 101 of An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful by W. Paul Jones. Copyright © 2006 by the author

from Today's Upper Room web site

Introverts

Check this out
http://www.newreflectionscounseling.com/Default.aspx?page=ENTER_TOPIC_INTROVERSION

Makes good sense to me!

The Crow Wing County Coalition to End Poverty

The Crow Wing County Coalition to End Poverty invites you to participate ina community wide event intended to generate community-led, on-going actionto fight poverty and its destructive impacts on the entire community. Please plan on attending this community conversation and visioning session to identify citizen-driven strategies for fighting poverty in our county. We
need your input!
Date: Tuesday, January 13th 2009
Time: 5:00pm-8:00pm
Location: Central Lakes College501 W. College Dr.Brainerd, MN 56401
We Need You!
Room: CLC Cafeteria
For more information about this event please contact Bridges of Hope at:218-825-7682

We had a Hope-full Sunday! Thanks to Brenda Pfeffer for put together great A/V Presentation.

Then on Monday, we had about 530 people join us for the annual Swedish Meatball Dinner!

The picture above is one designed by Brenda Pfeffer that she was not able to include on Sunday's presentation. So I get to include it here.

Church buildings

Playing around with some of the pictures I scanned and thinking of what else to scan, I started to group up some of the church buildings over the years..but I have others to copy. Thy aren't in chronological or appointment groupings (yet)

Park UMC

Clinton UMC


Beech Creek, KY

Beech Creek sanctuary

...(Red Bird Missionary Conf.) This a back view of Joy center

.Still need to add Bertha, Wrightstown, Verndale and Central as Communities of Faith Larger Parish

Manchester KY but we remodeled the front when I was there

Ortonville UMC

Ortonville

Wynot UMC Neb
Maskell Neb. I was student pastor , part time , with Wynot UMC , while at Morningside college

Osakis UMC was with with Villard

(I also served 1/3 time assoc pastor at Alexandria ( 81/82 )
while in Villard , then added Osakis

Correll ..along with Ortonville and Clinton .

Below is a picture of the TRF UMC...reflecting on the river water. This is my hometown church, where I was confirmed.

Scanner work

There was a scanner at home today so I got out the old photo albums and boxes of loose pictures. And I scanned. I had to make choices . Do I want pictures of the cars I have had over the years, or pictures of me holding fish, camping trips, church buildings, parsonages? Of course I copied the old black and white pictures of me as a baby and a toddler. Pictures of grandparents and family ! Wedding pictures too ! So consider this a warning. Pictures may become blog posts.

Commision to end poverty draft report

This morning I heard Gregory Gray and Andrea Lindgren presenting the draft report of the commission's work. Go read their findings. And yes, in this election season, you might still have time to find out where candidates stand on some of these poverty related issues. At least find out how familair the candidates are with the concerns. Read more at http://www.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/lcep/

Pie throwing

I had fun at the Pumpkin Festival at Gregory park. This was the second year of the event. It was a pleasure to see that beautiful park being enjoyed by so many families. There were pumpkin rolling races, and crafts, and cookie making, bobbing for apples, pie eating contests, and of course the pie throwing contest.
Father Tony from the Catholic church, pastor Darrell from Lord of Life Lutheran, and myself were foolish enough to have agreed to the event. We each got 4 cool whip or whipped creme pies to use against each other while staying in a marked out triangular area. I think we each got about 4 pies spread back on to ourselves. Go to the Brainerd Dispatch "spotted" section to see the pictures. http://spotted.brainerddispatch.com/pages/gallery.php?gallery=502677

Teen tech Talent bank

My sister, Lynn, is suggesting a new kind of youth group project. She was listening to an elderly woman' s frustration with some computer problem. My sister suggested that she just needed to find a teenager, who could no doubt solve the problem without any trouble. When my mother in Thief River Falls needs something done on her cell phone she has been known to simply walk across the alley of her backyard, out into the park , and approach any teenagers who might be there, asking if they could do what she needs to have done.
So here is the idea. Remember when youth groups used to do service projects for church members such as rake leaves or put up Christmas lights? ( I remember doing that) Maybe this could be updated into a different kind of talent exchange. Today typical tech savvy teens could be available to set up computers, enter new software, change email accounts, enter telephone numbers or set up speed dials on cell phones In turn they might come home with home baked goodies. Anybody out there all ready doing this , a teen tech talent bank?

Poverty, local

The numbers were up again at the soup kitchen. We have seen that pattern 60, 70, 80s. I remember that the soup kitchen numbers just a couple years ago were more like 40-50. We see all ages. Based on a couple of odd conversations at my dirty dish return window I am wondering if we are seeing more people with unmanaged mental health issues. Is there a way to asses that? I recently got involved with the Coalition to End Poverty in Crow Wing County and I am impressed with the idea of local listening, learning and responding. But of this I am sure. The economic woes of the nation are happening here.

I will be at the great Pumpkin Festival in Gregory Park this afternoon for the pie throwing contest around 4 pm A chance for three pastors to throw pies at each other!

Rory Swenson

I still think we need another Star Trek TV series. At least I could learn about parallel universes , time distortions and alternate realities without having to read about physics. Remember the shows where you end up with more than one Picard or Kirk? Are there others of me? 2, 3 4?
I googled up "Rory Swenson" and found out that I am not the only one in the universe! My name is not that common so Iam not used to sharing it. There is a Rory Swenson in Saskatoon who is on facebook. Another Rory Swenson works for Franklin Covey and either that or another Rory Swenson writes on other blogs. Some other Rory Swenson is a very active Mormon. Some Rory Swenson has political opinions that are the opposite of mine! So when you are out in the cyber unverse, try to get the real me!

Un-offical ecumenical movement

Today the 56 year old Lakota woman whose funeral service I had on Tuesday was buried out in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. She was going to have a traditional Lakota ceremony for the burial. I also noticed that the burial place was in a Catholic cemetery. When we were planning her service the family said that she and the family had not been particularly religious but when they had had gone to church it was with the Methodists. For her service here in Brainerd the family wanted a religious service with time to share stories. So that is what we arranged. At first we started in a smaller room with the chairs in a circle near the open casket but the numbers soon crowded the seating arrangement so we ended up with a few rows. Several shared stores. Indeed the person had not lived a traditional religious life and was described as a rascal and a rebel. Yet I also heard of her humor, her love for the outdoors, for family, and of her hospitality as a place where many of them had been able to "just go and crash there." She had worked with social service and tribal agencies, worked for welfare reform, loved Indian art. When we got to the sharing of those memories and stories I felt like we had entered the deeper part of the service. Talking about someone's life is sacred work. Clearly (to me) she had some attributes in her life that would be called "spiritual." I am glad that some Methodists got to be part of that along the way in some small influence at least, and I assume that she had been baptised in a Catholic church, yet had been coming home to her Lakota spirituality as well. She probably never made much of an impact on any official church membership rolls, but it sounds like she had a calling and a ministry with some folks that we just don't see in the churches. Maybe it took an "ecumenical , inter-faith movement" to pull it off: Catholic baptism, Methodist Sunday Schools, Lakota spirituality, and some mysterious mix of God's rebellious, "rascally" Holy Spirit. Maybe there is more of that going on than we know?
Rambling on

"Whats new?"

Sara got back from the Neil Young concert in the Cities and said she was writing about it on facebook. Well that left me out so she kindly posted it on her blog so I could get at it too. But it was enough to motivate me to set up a facebook page. Thats what is new. My first thought was that it wants me to be a lot more extroverted and chatty than I usually care to be. But I will give it a try.

She had a great time at the concert, had no troubles getting to Hamline and then back to Duluth. Since she put some Neal Young music on my ipod I think I will finish my day with that music.

The Laramie Project

Beth and I just got back from Central Lakes College's production of the Laramie Project, the story of Matthew Shepard's death and the awareness that it raised. Our son, Nick, played the part of the bicyclist who found Matthew on the fence. A powerful piece of dramatic literature, well done. Go see it! better yet.. hear the message.

Today's Vision Statement from the Upper Room

WORLDLY ORGANIZATIONS spend most of their time and energy worrying about tomorrow. This worry is manifested in strategic planning, financial predictions, five-year goals, and vision statements, to name just a few. … Jesus, on the other hand, knew that God would lead and guide him in his life and work. The path of his activity would be laid out for him day by day, week by week, and there really was no need to worry about tomorrow. This was especially true because for him, and therefore for us who claim to be the church, his vision statement was simple and clear: follow God.
- Daniel Wolpert Leading a Life with God: The Practice of Spiritual Leadership
From p. 142 of Leading a Life with God by Daniel Wolpert. Copyright © 2006

What's going on?

Last week I got busy with a funeral on Monday for Jessie B, and with a wedding on the weekend so it felt like I was trying to press everything else in to the middle of the week. Brainerd had a community homecoming celebration on Saturday and Nick and his tuba got to march in the parade wearing the parade uniforms for the first time.
Sunday was a nice CROP walk in spite of some light rain. Now I am thinking this could be more of a normal week, but what is that?

I sometimes think the image of the plate spinners describes parish ministry.Gotta keep the preaching plates going, plus a few people looking for a home visit. Today it was two hospital visits in Brainerd plus one in Crosby, (none of which I knew would be on my schedule today) And I needed to get some preparation done for the confirmation class orientation tomorrow. Then a few other emails, phone calls and visits arrived in the office. But I got a start (maybe) on the Sunday service planning! Actually it felt like a rather slow and easy day. So maybe I should worry ahead to next week because its is looking busier.


Tonight I plan to watch the debates and the "spin" that follows and check in on the latest Wall Street juggling. I have thought about trying to do some thoughtful, informed blogging on the banking crisis and the ethical issues but since I have never done anything of that much depth in my "ramble' it might be easier to go read the thoughts of others.
Or maybe that's just more of the cultural plate spinning!
Have we become a nation of plate spinners? When does being amazing and talented become trapped and ridiculous? *(see PS) Why did this get started and how do you stop and catch the plates without the breakage? Seems to me you can't stop unless there is someone next to you , who is not spinning the plates, so you can toss them to that person. How many non-plate spinners do you know?
Maybe some of it needs to just stop?
Ok, I'm off for a walk. The maple leaves are gorgeous. Didn't Jesus say "Consider the lilies how they grow: they neither toil nor 'spin'...

Rambling on, ending this entry before it spins out of control?
*PS now read this: posted on inward/outward

By Jim Wallis
Most Americans feel that they are “just getting by.” No matter how much they have, they continue to protest, “We’re barely keeping up with the bills.” Most are up to their necks in credit card debt. Even if they wanted to get out, it would take years. They are, indeed, trapped. Or, in more biblical language, they are in bondage.
The people who have more money and goods than any people in the history of the world spend most of their time worrying about not having enough. We have come to hold all the values of the consumer system without recognizing our subservience to it—the most perfect form of slavery.
Source: The Call to Conversion

From Today's Verse and Voice of Sojourners.
Feeling that morality has nothing to do with the way you use the resources of the world is an idea that can’t persist much longer. If it does, then we won’t.
- Barbara Kingsolver,Backtalk

That comment covers a lot of ground
such as the banking crisis, and Wall Street, and global warming, and energy policy (both the national and my personal energy policy)....and the book that I am reading with some clergy colleagues...Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster...or the stewardship emphasis that will happen in Park church this month..and ...and ....and...
maybe I will stick to a smaller piece of ground!

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

This morning I walked with some others from Park church and the Brainerd/Baxter community as we participated in a walk to raise awareness about rape and abuse issues and also financial support for the women's shelter. With these shoes I am glad it was only a mile.

Next week its the CROP walk!

Parker and Nick, above

From Spirituality and Practice

A devout man came to the Baal Shem Tov with a complaint: "I've made an enormous effort to serve the Lord sincerely and honestly, but I haven't noticed any change or improvement. I'm still the same ordinary, ignorant person as before."
The Baal Shem Tov answered: "You've realized you are ordinary and ignorant, and that in itself is a great accomplishment."— Rabbi Nilton Bonder in Yiddishe Kop


(Today I might accomplish more of this!....Rambling on)

Desert Wisdom Link

Instead of going over to Jeff Reed's blog to click on his Wisdom of the Desert Link, I have decided to make it easier for myself, and for you. The Link is on the side. Check out and ponder this ancient Christian wisdom. Thanks Jeff, for the lead on that one.

Aggravation of Faith

The confirmations students are asked to prepare a statement or affirmation of faith as part of their confirmation preparation. They have copies of the traditional creeds plus some more contemporary creeds to consider, and a whole list of questions to prime their thinking. I always point out that this is more snap shot for today and that I hope this picture of faith for them will continue to grow.

The confirmation creeds are due about now and one of the students told me this week ,with great satisfaction, that he wrote his "Aggravation of Faith." I kept a straight face and said, That's good but I think you are talking about your affirmation of faith. "Oh Yeh" he said.. But I said that Aggravation of Faith sounded pretty good too and it might make a good sermon idea. I could preach on that!
So, blog reader! How are we doing with our Aggravations of Faith? It does seem like that too. Read the prophets. Or a gospel lesson that tells me I must forgive! Or any of this incessant Jesus language about self denial, dying and rising. And the very idea of God' presence, with us!
I did some dictionary work and found that aggravation is not just something irritating or annoying...it is from the Latin word that means "to make heavy. "
We have made light of creeds, of our beliefs, far too often . Affirmations of faith are heavy.....aggravating.

Trees

Yesterday I walked out to the "end of the world"...the place a couple blocks from here where our street lights end and the gravel road begins and the red winged black birds live (to scream at us as we intrude!) and the cat tails grow. It really should be called the "start of the world" but in our house it became the destination for starry night walks. Anyway, yesterday while I was there .I heard the sounds poplar leaves make - flapping and rusting as they do best (you do know that different trees make different sounds?) And then later in the day (in computer world) I happened upon Herman Hesse and his work called "Trees."
Not a bad meditation for a walk and day off.

"For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the forces of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals it’s death wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk, in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal tress grow.
Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.
A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought. I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.
A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labour is holy. Out of this trust I live.
When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.
A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one’s suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother.
So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts. Trees have long thoughts, long breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness."
(H. Hesse 1918)

Who is first?

This is an excerpt from a recent Jim Wallis post on God's Politics. He is commenting on the political party conventions. Can you hear the point he is trying to make?

But one other thing bothered me last night, and it did also at the Democratic Convention. It was all those signs that read "Country First" and all those chants of "USA, USA, USA!!" The high-powered and, frankly, militaristic rhetoric kept telling us that "country" should be put above everything else -- including family and friendship. But what about faith? Should country be put ahead of faith, too? I kept wanting to yell back at the people yelling at me about putting the country first and say, "No, not me, I'm a Christian." Because we as Christians simply can't put our country first, ahead of God, ahead of Jesus Christ, ahead of the body of Christ (remember the worldwide body of Christ), and even family and friendship. Especially when our country is wrong, and when most of the rest of the body of Christ around the world thinks so.
"Country First" was the theme of John McCain's speech and night, and he asked us to "fight with him." Barack Obama also said in Denver that all Americans must put country first -- to counter the Republican exclusive claim on patriotism. Well, again, not all of us. I suppose people running for president have to say that, but Christian voters shouldn't go along with that. Can anybody imagine Jesus leading cheers shouting "USA!"?
This morning I spoke to the annual Wheaton, Illinois, prayer breakfast. I was driven there by a local Christian leader who spends his days serving poor women and children along with troubled teenagers. When he told me he was Canadian, even though he had lived in the U.S. for years, I asked him if Canadian Christians would respond to the call to put country first. "No," he said, we are "world Christians." What a good thought and what a clear sense of Christian identity. It was a great way to begin the day after two weeks of political conventions. So let the fact-checking and the radical assertion of "faith first" begin in this political campaign.

For the full article go to http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics

Need a break from political news?

I realize that humor can get touchy but if you can go easy on some religious satire..this web site is worth a visit!
http://www.larknews.com

Devotional /reflection tools

As part of the trip to Rosebud SD I put together some reflection guides for the group members to use. Its the sort of thing that you get when you let an introvert plan the devotions...you get devotions for introverts! Most of the reflection guides will be over on my sermon blog


Awareness
As you go throughout this day and review this day; be open to some personal sign of God’s presence.
Look for some thing that reminds you of God or some characteristic or action of God.. If it is something that you can pick up and take with you, do so, otherwise write about it or draw a picture etc.

In your evening devotions read this poem By Jane Kenyon
I am the blossom pressed in a book,found again after two hundred years….
I am the maker, the lover, and the keeper….
When the young girl who starves sits down to a table she will sit beside me….
I am food on the prisoner’s plate….
I am water rushing to the wellhead,filling the pitcher until it spills….
I am the patient gardener of the dry and weedy garden….
I am the stone step,the latch, and the working hinge….
I am the heart contracted by joy…the longest hair, white before the rest….
I am there in the basket of fruit presented to the widow….
I am the musk rose opening unattended, the fern on the boggy summit….
I am the one whose love overcomes you, already with you when you think to call my name.
Source: "Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks" in Jane Kenyon, Collected Poems

Do you believe that God is present in the smile of a child, in the tears of a parent's grief over a suffering adolescent, in the sudden breakthrough of understanding between quarreling spouses? Eternal truths can be learned by observing the most common elements of life: nursing an infant may be a window into God's nurturing care for each of us; bandaging a cut can help us know the healing desire of God; playing games may speak of the divine playfulness that knows our need for recreation; tending a garden may teach us the dynamics of growth. Families learn that they are sacred communities when they begin to name and claim the many forms of God's grace in their daily life.
- Marjorie J. Thompson
from "Family: The Forming Center

By E. B. White Source: Notes and Comment, the New Yorker
If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

AT SOME moment in the day, deliberately gaze at a tree, a shrub, a flower, a bird, a cloud, sunlight, rain, and greet it as a loving partner. Look at it fully and lovingly. Touch it if you can or open your palms to its presence. Let God’s love speak, reach out to you through it. Move gently deeper than the outward appearance and greet the hidden, living mystery.
- Flora Slosson Wuellner Prayer, Stress and our Inner Wounds
From p. 73
Possible group sharing...what were your God sightings today or the signs that you saw? How will this influence the way you live tomorrow?

Back to school?

From today's inward/outward entry:

By Elton Trueblood
The Christian life is presented by Christ, not as the sentimental belief in natural goodness, but as a hard and dangerous road, which involves both severe temptations and continual dangers. It may be necessary to endure sacrifices in order to avoid fatal temptations. Though the love of God is always available, … life, especially for the Christian, is not one of easy choices, but often a school of struggle, in which some things have to be given up if others are to be obtained.
(Source: Confronting Christ)

Do we get recess?

This entry will live up to the Rambling theme.
We had nine from Park church going out to Mission, South Dakota ,where we volunteered with the Tree of Life ministry on the Rosebud reservation. It was a great week. I was very impressed with the Tree of Life Ministry and it was a joy to see how they are growing. There was one other group there, from two UM congregations around Rockford Illinois and we mingled the groups a little on work sites. Some of our group helped with school kits, others worked with clothing items in the thrift store or helped with the food shelf work. We also moved the construction materials out of the current space into a new building that had been recently purchased so that involved building new lumber cribs and shelving ; tearing out old shelving and several trips with trailers; others painted in a house, or built and painted picnic tables over on the Rosebud fair grounds, some of us replaced doors and windows at another home. Tree of Life had cultural experiences available to us in the evenings so we heard Albert White Hat tell us some of his life experiences plus the Lakota creation story and the significance of the Wind Cave to them. Ed Harrison had his sweat Lodge for us as well as a healing ceremony (yuwipi) to which we were invited. On our day off we visited the site of the Wounded Knee massacre as well as the Badlands and Wall Drug. We visited Pipestone National Monument on the way home and got back at dusk on Aug 23rd.
Soon after getting back home we discovered that the pop up drain had rusted out under the bathroom sink and had created quite a large water stain in the hallway beneath it. So I did plumbing on Sunday afternoon and ended up replacing the drains, the shut off valve stems, the faucet and the faucet supply lines, in other words everything but the cabinet and sink itself. On Monday I painted. I took it as a reminder that some service projects need to be done at home too!
On Wednesday I was doing a home visit with communion and I thought of how communion can be a trail marker in life. On Aug. 3 we had communion in the congregation of Park church as part of Sunday services. Before we left Rosebud we had communion out on a picnic table. We used one of the plastic water cups as our chalice, passed pieces of sliced sandwich bread, and thought of the community we had been introduced to in the wideness of God’s table. And then on Wednesday to share communion with a couple who are largely shut in but were so eager to share the sacrament.. While I had come with my little "Communion kit": they had already prepared a chalice of wine and neatly squared pieces of bread for the four of us who would be there. I don’t know that it fit all the liturgical sacrament rubrics, but it was right. All three of those communion experiences were quite different in style and setting and yet the same:Thanksgiving, Community, Spirit. Presence of God. Healing. Hope, Gift of Christ, Peace, Communion.
In Lakota tradition the "peace pipe" (that included us) ) is an expression of community and peace that is movable and shared. So is our sacrament, movable and shared, and an instrument of peace that marks our lives.
Today I got a head start on my Labor Day tradition of seal- coating the parsonage driveway and planted some grass (again) and repaired a garden hose.
On a walk a couple of days I ago I noticed a healthy growth of hazel nut bushes, loaded with nuts, still a bit green. They are on an undeveloped lot on the edge of town so I hope someone will appreciate them, if not the wildlife, and maybe I will get to try a few.
I took Sara to Univ of Minn, Duluth on Thursday, and got her moved into her dorm. The day seemed to go well. So far she is entering into it with some adventure and openness.
Nick starts 11th grade this year! Beth is working on her PhD!
Education is happening and I think of all the people getting back to classrooms this week.
I like some wisdom that I understand comes from a rabbinic tradition."Don’t ask someone, 'What are you studying, but rather ask them, what are you learning?'"
Rambled enough?

Off to Tree of Life

This is pack up and get ready day.
I am excited about the week, in part because I am ready for some change in routine, and not having sermon prep for the week! I told the group to check out the Tree of Life website and also read Wilma Robert's blog. Read Jeff Reed's recent blog posts on Tree of Life also. Here is a link for some background on Wounded Knee which is about an hour and a half away. http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/woundedknee/WKIntro.html

A note on Tree of Life Ministry (that I found by link from the Dakotas Conference website)
"An Ecumenical Cross-Cultural Service Effort and Presence of the United Methodist Church of the Dakotas."
For more information, contact:Russ and Donna Masartis140 S. Roosevelt, PO Box 149Mission, SD 57555 605-856-4266
phone605-856-2396 fax
treeoflife@gwtc.net
General Advance Special #123615-2 Dakotas Advance #466
The Tree of Life Ministry began in 1990 as a "ministry of presence" on the Rosebud Reservation; the work camp ministry began in 1995.
Tree of Life hosts Volunteer in Mission groups from across the United States, with more than 1,000 individuals visiting each year. Tree of Life is a service ministry, showing Christ's love to the Sioux on the Rosebud, Pine Ridge, Crow Creek, Lower Brule and Spirit Lake Nation Reservations.
We want to overcome the history of oppression, distrust and hatred that existed between the Sioux and the Christian Church, so local residents might receive our message of the Good News. We offer a caring ministry of stewardship that addresses human need and pain, and shares the blessings God has given us.


School Supply Distribution: One of Our Biggest Events
Back-to-School Supplies Come from All Over the United States In 2004, Tree of Life distributed 620 school kits. The 2005 distribution topped 1,714 school kits and 100 teacher kits. Every year, the numbers grow!Office Depot donated 400 backpacks and Quill Corporation donated 300 binders in 2005. The United Methodist Church Midwest Mission Distribution Center supplied 1,000 student kits and 100 teacher kits.All other materials came from churches and donations to complete basic kits and create additional full kits.We distributed in 2005 enough supplies to equip the following schools and teaching staffs:
Spring Creek School - 98 students, six teachers
Norris School - 90 students, seven teachers
Okreek School - 40 students, seven teachers
White Eagle Academy - 15 students, three teachers
In addition, we supplied 53 kits for children in foster care through the Department of Social Services, and 60 kits for the St. Francis Youth Center. All other kits were distributed through our Clothing Room.

time more than flying

ouch.... how did it get to be this many days since the last post?
...well I did have a wedding and another funeral, since then, and there was a hospital visit in St Cloud and a pre-marriage session with another couple..and a trip to Star lake to do my annual food tasting adventure with the GUMYs...plus the local hospital and nursing homes. I usually try to do at least 3 to 5 pastoral contacts a day, besides what happens, and who walks into the office; and then Finance and Trustees meetings and so on.
In my visits today I actually was able to meet with 3 of my intended visits in care centers and the hospital while another visit got interrupted by a loud fire alarm that had been activated by shower steam a few rooms down, another person was wrapped up in the after-supper bingo game, one was out of the room. Visiting with people and sharing a prayer is one of favorite things to do but it too often gets croweded into the edges of everything else.
Earlier today I started on a future sermon and spent some time preparing some devotional/reflection material for the trip to Rosebud SD. (We leave Sunday morning around 6:30) ) I pulled together some of my favorite quotes from sources like inward/outward or The Upper Room Reflections and Verse and Voice that comes from Sojourners. They usually have something that sounds right and true even if I don't really live up to it.
For example what do you think and feel when you read something like this? "Every time you sacrifice something at great cost—every time you renounce something that appeals to you for the sake of the poor—you are feeding a hungry Christ"
.- Mother Teresa
"Cry Freedom" by Charles Ringma

I am pretty sure that the sacrifice she is speaking of is more than the one hour a month I spend washing dishes at the soup kitchen or spending a week of service at Rosebud. Maybe I keep busy so I won't have to listen very deeply to the wisdom or truth in words like that. Maybe there is a reason to keep "time flying?"

For now I will simply go out for a stroll and listen to the crickets and the cool feel of an August evening..and see what comes from a moment like that...maybe time will slow down
and I can listen ..and feel....and.....welcome the gift of a beautiful moon.

Fair Week in review

I am not surprised that I did not do any blogging last week. I did about 6 or 7 shifts at the fair plus parts of other shifts, all of which I actually enjoy , besides being inspired by the work ethic and willingness that I see from our volunteers. Some of them worked through significant back pain problems, others are in upper 60's and 70's and 80's!... but cook in the kitchen or put in several shifts with a smile on their face. Others give up their days off or use vacation time. Almost all of them are reporting for duty after finishing their day job! So it seem like a good crowd to hang around with, beside the pastoral opportunities to visit with those who simply stop by the booth or walk around the fair.

Tom and Loree Yeager who have been working with the fair booth for about 25 years are stepping down from their leadership role. They finish on a high point in two ways: the booth not only had a good financial year but we got a perfect score from the state health; "Food Inspector." We have never had violations but he has usually had a suggestion or two.This year we were 100%!

But less enjoyable this week was the devastating fire on Friday at the Baden home. If you have ever been on site with the charred wood, ruined furniture and clothes, the water damage and the foam as the family is walking thought the mess, you know what heart ache it is.
Phyllis Anderson also died on Friday morning. Two hip breaks and surgeries in just a few months was just too much so her service is on Tues.

You might notice a new link again . Wilma Roberts was a presenter at the School of Christian Mission and her PowerPoint is now a blog. I recommend it. We have a group going to Rosebud South Dakota on Aug 17th so that might be a good preparation read. Also see the new links that Jeff Reed has added on his ever-evolving blog. I might have to add that Desert Wisdom site. Michelle Hargrave is a Minnesota United Methodist clergy blogger I need to link to as well at http://33namesofgrace.blogspot.com/

Here is clip from today's Spirituality and Practice site:
God will bring people and events into our lives, and whatever we may think about them, they are designed for the evolution of his life in us.— Thomas Keating in Active Meditations for Contemplative Prayer

(That's plenty to ponder..what do you think?)
Rory, rambling on...

Fair week begins

Fair week starts tomorrow.
Actually it "started" quite a while with new refrigerators that had to be ordered, and a new hood vent over the grills out at the fair stand plus the ordering of supplies and food items, the phone calls to recruit workers and pies. Fair both cleaning day was on Thursday. Cooking was going on at the church kitchen this morning. I enjoy seeing people pitch in and show up for the fair work. I plan to get some time in on the grill but especially the visiting!

My family returns from traveling tomorrow. I think I have a good start on next Sunday's sermon. I had an outdoor wedding on Saturday that the weather accommodated nicely. On Friday I had the opportunity of offering the invocation prayer at The Relay for Life. It was quite moving for me to be there as I discovered how many people I knew .


A couple of devotional thoughts for the day :

By Meister Eckhart at inward/outward
Be prepared at all times for the gifts of God and be ready always for new ones. For God is a thousand times more ready to give than we are to receive.


and this from Spirituality and Practice:

The eighth-century Chinese Zen master P'an-shan had his first satori (enlightenment-glimpse) while walking through a marketplace. He overheard a customer tell the butcher, "Cut me some of the good stuff"; the butcher replied, "Hey, take a look — nothing but good stuff!" This was just the catalyst P'an-shan needed. He took a look, perhaps, at the ground, the sky, the people in their bustle of buying and selling . . . and everywhere he saw nothing but good stuff.
— Dean Sluyter in Why the Chicken Crossed the Road and Other Hidden Enlightenment Teachings from the Buddha to Bebop to Mother Goose

So with this is mind, I will try to be open and aware of the gifts and good stuff in the week of the Fair
See you there!

New links

I have added two links. One is for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and the other is for the United Methodist Church. If you have never visited those web sites, please do!

They just might help you choose a memorable path!

Compassion Coaching

JESUS CALLS US to enlarge our circle of companions, to expand compassion beyond the boundaries of our present awareness. Jesus ate meals with misfits and outcasts as well as with his friends. Jesus healed the daughter of a Gentile woman, even as he claimed that his main mission was to save the Jews. When I imagine Jesus staring into that woman’s insistent face, I believe his own heart was broken and his compassion enlarged by God’s boundless mercy. All of us, it seems, are candidates to be stretched Godward by compassion coaching.
- Don C. Richter Mission Trips That Matter: Embodied Faith for the Sake of the World
From p. 44 of Mission Trips That Matter by Don C. Richter. Copyright © 2008 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books from the Upper Room website

Richter's phrase, "compassion coaching"; caught my attention. Is that the teaching of Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Maybe that is a way to describe spiritual formation work. I might see it as a way to discuss parish ministry. Compassion coaching. What do you think!

Today is my day off. Last week I spent my day off getting ready for Ruby Austin's funeral on Tuesday, making a couple of hospital visits and then taking Sara to St Paul. Today I have my errands and projects that I'm looking forward to doing.

The idea for the Sunday sermon is brewing in my mind and I might try to write it down before it slips away.

When I finish this post I will do my "green thing" and put the laundry on the clothes line. Nothing better than line dried sheets! It's something I grew up with and I wonder if the neighborhood associations that don't allow clothes lines will change their policies and see it as a good energy choice.

The Common Good

This is copied from the Website of Unknowing http://anamchara.com/



"This essay by Julian Edney is a few years old, but I just found it today. And it’s well worth reading, especially if you share my concern that we live in an increasingly uncivil society.
Who Stole the Common Good? The Shadow of Ayn Rand
Here’s a juicy excerpt:
So, do you want to find out if your friends, coworkers or spouse understand the common good? Some do, some don’t. Try a simple game you can play called the Nuts Game — with things you find around the house.
Three people sit around a kitchen bowl. You, the fourth person, with a timer, start off placing ten small items in the bowl — quarters, dollar bills, or nuts. Tell the three players the goal is that each of them get as many items as possible. Tell them one other thing before they start: every ten seconds (you have your watch ready) you will look in the bowl and double the number of items remaining there by replenishing from an outside source (a separate pile of quarters on the side).
I used to run this game with college students. You would think the players would have figured out that if they had all waited, not taking anything out of the bowl for a while, the contents of the bowl would soon have grown very big, automatically doubling every ten seconds. Eventually they could each have divided up a pot that had grown large. But in fact, sixty percent of these groups never made it to the first 10-second replenishment cycle. Group members grabbed all they could as soon as they could, leaving nothing in the bowl to be doubled (destroying the common good), and each player wound up with none or a few items. I saw the bowl knocked to the floor in the greedy melee. And even if allowed to try again, not all groups cooperatively worked out a patient, conserve-as-you-go playing style, necessary for eventual big scores. They didn’t trust each other."
Read the full article here.


(I might have to try the game some time!)


On family notes: Sara had a great time in Grand Rapids Michigan for the North Central Jurisdictional Conference. She text messaged ballot reports to me as we were thrilled to see David Bard rise to the top but, then she went on to report his gracious concession for the election of Julius Trimble. Sara is now with her grandparents in Troy, Michigan, for the week. Nick will be getting home from Son shine fest in Willmar today. Tomorrow he and and Beth will go to Wisconsin to see Janet, Bob, and Nathan.

A sermon to read

A thoughtful "Independence Day" sermon can be found at Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago by Rev John Buchanan. I know the "4th" is behind us but it is never too late to revisit our religious history and conversations about patriotism and the church and state debates.
Here's the link
http://www.fourthchurch.org/070608sermon.html

Ancient Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Check this out!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/world/middleeast/06stone.htm?_r=1&oref=slogin

Can I get this through Cokesbury?

from the Associated press:
The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.
More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday's arrests, said Col. Bob Milligan, director of law enforcement for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.
Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25651899/&GT1=43001
....
No....as far as I know... Cokesbury doesn't carry any snakes in its religious supply catalogue...and if it did ..would snake handling supplies be in Worship, Christian Education, or Church Management Resources?
How about if you post comments about which category you would put it in, and why!