Guest Blogger

Hello Everybody!

As you may have guessed by the clever title "Guest Blogger," the author of this post is not your usual Swenson. In fact, this is a younger, shorter, left-handed, female version of that famous Rory Lee: his daughter, Sara Ann. For the last few weeks, my Dad has been asking me to do a "Guest Blog" note, so that is what I am finally doing. Oh, and he told me to add pictures. So I'll go and do that too.

As a fellow fan and reader of this blog, I have come to appreciate the laid-back, "Walt Whitman", cloud-busting, star-gazing, philosophy-pondering tone of the blog, and I will do my best to maintain that, in my own odd way.



I am going off to college this fall.
I don't think the idea has completely hit me yet: I am leaving. The nest is shrinking. Bottles have broken on the side of this boat, and I am bound to leave moor. It's countdown to launch time: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I've only got six more weeks to get all of my metaphors figured out before I'm off on my own.

It's exciting, I must admit, and a little bit terrifying. We'll have to see what comes of it. The last few weeks have been Most Strange in the way that they feel like I've lived through my own funeral. Having Mom and Dad sort through boxes of my old things - tossing together photo albums of my life growing up for our grad party, the grad party in general (friends and family from all over gathering to wish me well and "reminisce"). It's been odd. But interesting. I suppose that's a bit of what life is: funeral after funeral, or really, wedding after wedding - old pieces of ourselves dying off while new pieces are met, melded, and born. We bury our fears and bring up our best memories. Every time we step up to a new level in life, we clean out our old "memory boxes" to make room for a few new ones. My dad calls all of this sorting and cleaning and sifting "consolidating tubs." I guess I'll just call it growing up.



Rambling over.

-Sara


P.S. Here's that picture I promised. I just think it looks pretty.

Monday plans

It is my day off. I have already enjoyed a slower morning; two long and relaxing cups of coffee, a walk around the block in the coolness, some devotional reading; meander in the yard, pull a few weeds, sit on the steps and listen to the cardinals sing. I have some thoughts brewing for next Sunday's sermon on Mary and Martha. I plan to spend a little pastoral care time with a family this afternoon and take care of a couple church e-mails. Maybe I will get a haircut today! The church fair Food-booth committee meets tonight so I will be there. Who knows whatever else the day will bring? I have long used the guideline that I only need to plan half of the day because the other half will show up and schedule itself. Stay open to the unplanned and leave room for the unexpected. I have never had a shortage of something to do!
Beth made some great meat loaf yesterday so lunch is planned!
A couple of things I read this morning:
From the Upper Room reflections today:
By [Christ] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. - Colossians 1:16, NIV
SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP REQUIRES paying attention to the reality of our interconnected world, not in a superficial way but in a deep, profound way, a way so strong that Jesus weeps when we do. This process begins with our own attention to and prayer with all that God has created.

- Daniel Wolpert
Leading a Life with God

From page 134 of Leading a Life with God: The Practice of Spiritual Leadership

....and this brief word from the Spirituality and Practice word for the day:
I am a place where God's love turns up in this world.
— M. Basil Pennington in Listening

How do I live into these thoughts and let them grow in my life? Do I really believe them, trust them, practice them?
Rambling on,

Busy

This week the blog has been an example of many other things in my life; I have thought about it but did not get around to it! While doing my devotional reading I read a few quotes that would fit in here. But again I did not put them in. Busy with the usual worship and sermon preparation, catching up on pastoral contacts that I got behind on during my time off, pastoral calls into two hospitals and nursing homes; other appointments, visits and phone calls; four (or five) meetings. One of the meetings was about designing the church's next stewardship themes and programs, and another meeting had us making a decision on putting in a digital projection system in the sanctuary. Hopefully it will be operating by the fall. Another was on how we can improve our Sunday worship visitor identification and follow up. Some of the fall programing and calendering is rising on the horizon and the Food Fair booth week is not that far away!
Busy-,not a bad week, just no blogging! I might have Nick or Sara (or even Beth!) write something as "guest bloggers." Today I have an anniversary open house to attend at the church and do a renewal of wedding vows, make a few pastoral phone calls, and maybe (if I get the lawn mowed) paint a small book shelf that Sara might be able to use in her college dorm room. In the past I have enjoyed refinishing furniture. I know of a few pastors who like to refinish furniture or painting or photography or do wood working. Maybe because its something that can lead to visible results. You can look at something and see the change, the restoration or the creation and say "it is done." Much of ministry doesn't have that kind of visible results. When is it ever done?
Anyway, I will try to put in a quote or two. They are probably copied from inward/outward; The Upper Room, and Spirituality and Practice websites. Thanks for your blog patience and thanks to those who have indicated you are reading this!

By Ted Loder
Gentle one,
Holy one,
into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go
of heavy experiences,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties,
that softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery,
I may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy
that is you.

Source: unknown


Music makes an altar out of our ears. A single struck tone, a note blown from a flute, can flush the body with goodness.
— W. A. Mathieu in The Musical Life


As our world becomes smaller, through a growing common culture, the true test of community will be our tolerance for our most profound differences and love for the most challenging among us.
— Wayne Teasdale

Saturday reading

Sara is at the Winnipeg Folk festival and Nick and Beth are in Wisconsin to baby sit her sister, Janet's little boy, Nathan. Janet sometimes did that for us when our kids were little so its nice that Beth can return the favor. Nick, I'm sure is hoping to get some time in the lake that they live on. With all the peace and quiet at home I made some hospital visits in Brainerd and St Cloud and used the St Cloud trip as an excuse to drop off some things at Goodwill and then visit the Barnes and Nobles bookstore. I came home with a copy of Brian McLaren's new book The Secret Message of Jesus.
His chapter on the "Borders of the Kingdom" would make a good sermon base for the lesson coming up in a couple weeks on the Good Samaritan, since the whole parable is launched from the question of "Who is my neighbor?" the topic would reach into the area of inclusion and that's what this chapter is about.

A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen.

Source: unknown
I clipped it from inward/outward)

Independence Day Display

We had a great Fourth of July. Brainerd does it up big with several great events. The Sunday Arts in the Park is a favorite for me and for several years I gave the invocation for the "Race for the Cure" But the parade and the fireworks are the main events. My parents from Thief River Falls came to spend the day with us, so we "baked" our way through the parade together and then at dusk we joined the crowd down on the sports field near the fireworks launching. There is no admission charge so the event is free. The viewing is great and thousands of people spread out on lawn chairs, blankets and on the bleachers. It may be the biggest fireworks display in the state, and certainly is the largest in "greater Minnesota." But I'm thinking that the display on the ground is pretty good testimony to our country as well. Probably no other occasion draws together such diverse community and cross section of the nation. All ages, lifestyles, locals and tourists, ethnic and racial variety, (as limited as it might be here in Brainerd), people of different political and social opinions, and so on. Where else do we assemble like that? Maybe the real American display is not just the fireworks in the sky but the one that happens on the ground as we all look up, and at least have some passing thoughts or reminders of freedom and being a nation together. That can be quite a show!

Passages and Prayer

Another rite of passage in the Swenson household: Nick passed his road test and now has a driver's license. I haven't even really grasped the fact that Sara will be moving out this fall and headed to Hamline. When did all this happen!

Maybe a way to respond to all of this is to pull up some quotes on prayer. (Why would Nick's driving make me think of prayer!?")

In his book, Courage to Pray, Anthony Bloom states: "Interceding prayer means " placing ourselves at the heart of a troubled situation."

True prayer demands that we be more passive than active; it requires more silence than words, more adoration than study, more concentration than rushing about, more faith than reason.." (Carlo Carreto)


Meditation is the deliberate and usually systematic reflection on some truth or passage of scripture. It has a threefold purpose: to instruct, the mind, to move the will, and to warm the heart for prayer.
Contemplation is the awareness of God, known and loved at the core of one's being.

Sam Keen "I suspect that we are all recipients of cosmic love notes. Messages, omens, voices, cries, revelations, and appeals are homogenized into each day's events. If only we knew how to listen, to read the signs."
— The Passionate Life

Richard Foster:
"Spirit of the living God, be the Gardener of my
soul. For so long I have been waiting, silent and still —
experiencing a winter of the soul. But now, in the strong
name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask:
Clear away the dead growth of the past,
Break up the hard clods of custom and routine,
Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge,
Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word,
Cultivate and water and tend my heart,
Until new life buds and opens and flowers.
Amen."

When you pray, you talk to God; when you read Scripture, God talks to you. (Augustine)