Happy Halloween

Wanted to post a short note of Happy Halloween to all, traveling to football game in Bismarck will share results when we get home. Stay safe while trick or treating or whatever you do.

My Aching bones

I am beginning to understand why one should get out of bed at 6 a.m. or at least 7. The longer I am in bed the more my legs and back hurt. I should stop by the chiropractor today, but not sure if I will take the time, seems I always want or have time to go on Tuesday or Thursday, but she is only in town on Mon, Wed, or Friday. Mostly though it is only an excuse not to go or just to complain. Some of us are like that. I am trying not to have that mind-set, but every now and again it sneaks in.

Our mother was born without a father and she often attributed her problems to the fact that there was no “man” in the household. She felt her problems in school or in jobs or in life, especially when my father, her husband was abusive were all because she had no father. She blamed the unknown man for everything that went wrong, and looking back, I see some of it, but I also see that it is ourselves that cause our own fates.

Shakespeare wrote it so well in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar when he had Cassius tell Brutus: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” In the case of Brutus and Cassius, they decided to partake in a bloody and gory ordeal that ultimately was their demise. We too have the opportunity to choose certain aspects of our lives. Granted not everything that happens to us is by our own choice. The key is how we react to those events that shape what we do and ultimately who we are.

In my past few postings that are not full messages, I had been using some verses from Proverbs because that is my current daily devotion, but I need to go back to the Psalms today. Chapter 124 beginning in verse 2 simply because it is nearly a repeat of 1.

Psalm 124: 2-8

2. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us,

3. then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;

4. then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;

5. then over us would have gone the ragging waters.

6. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

7. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken and we have escaped.

8. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

That last verse is the one that I need to keep remembering whether it is a morning when my legs hurt down to the bones or if it is a windstorm that is ripping up the yard or if there is a sick child in the house. Our help comes from God who made everything. May God be with you all today and may your needs be met as you call out to a God who loves you enough to send his only Son for your Salvation. Peace to you!!

November Newsletter

The following is the little letter that I put in the church newsletter for November. Just thought I would share.

Wednesday (today) as I backed out of my garage, I saw a thin scattering of snowflakes drifting down in front of my van. It didn’t seem that they were hitting the ground and there certainly weren’t enough to capture in a picture, but they were there and a grim reminder that we are well past the warmth of summer and now even the crisp cool days of early fall. Winter is just around the corner, time to drag out the sweaters and heavy coats and gloves and boots. ICK!

On the other hand our devotion booklet this morning began with the scripture: I Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Even for the cold we are to give thanks. I know it has its purpose and when the flies are gone for the year, most of us are more than happy. A few nights ago my sisters and I and my daughters were all part of a long and continuous text message round robin. It went on for over an hour and was for this time not the complaint session that has happened a time or two. The words going back and forth were silly and funny and at one point I was laughing so hard that I could barely breathe.

It felt good and reminded me of times when we would sit at my grandmother’s and then my mother’s table drinking coffee and talking and laughing. But life should not only be about the past or even the future, it should also be about the here and now. November is the month of Thanksgiving. I thank God for our time together, our time for laughter and tears. I look forward to the times we will share as we celebrate Mission Fest and Advent and on and on. The verses before the one above say: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.” May we take time to do both the rest of this year.

Proverbs 16

I was really intrigued with the words I found in Proverbs today. It is on my list of readings, and in the past I have tried to avoid the Proverbs because they seem like just a bunch of jumbled sayings that might be found in Pinterest, but here all tied together. Today it struck me as something interesting to put out there.

NRSV: Proverbs 16:1-7

1. The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2. All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.
3. Commit you work to the Lord, and you plans will be established.
4. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
5. All those who are arrogant are an abomination to the Lord; be assured, they will not go unpunished.
6. By loyalty and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one avoids evil.
7. When the ways of people please the Lord, he causes even their enemies to be at peace with them.

I really like that last one. Perhaps it would be good to please the Lord enough that even your enemies are your friends. Of course that verse does go against what I suggested in my message yesterday when I said that Satan becomes so enraged when people are good that he words even harder to bring them down. How can we believe both ways? So of this is very paradoxical. Christianity is not easy to understand and certainly not as black and white as some would have us believe. I guess that is part of why I need to study more. I think the bottom line is faith and relationship, as in a very personal relationship. The more you know and are known, the better. Blessings to those who have taken the time to read and ponder. Have a great day.

 

Faith and Faithfulness

This Sunday we held a small dedication service for the many projects we have done in the past two years and the quilts we have almost finished. The lectionary scriptures used for this day were Mark 10:46-52 and Job 42:1-6, 10-17. Our title was as seen above. Here is what they heard, maybe, we had Jaxon and Ana with us. Ana left the security of her grandpa and aunt Paulina’s side during the hymns and came and danced beside the piano. I was almost the only one who could see her. She was the entertainment committee. Pictures of her and Jaxon will be on lucindagardens later today. Thanks for the visit.

Message below.

Next week when we take some time to light candles for those of our church who have passed on this last year, I would like to include a candle for Willis. I know that technically he wasn’t a member here when he passed away, but anyone who shared music with and for a church as long as he did for us, it just seems to me that he should be remembered as we remember those whose services were held here. If we look at the prayer concerns list or the local paper’s obituaries in the past month or so, it feels like our community has had about enough of people passing on.

I have read and re-read the verses from Mark, and imagine how many people would like to hear those words, “Go your faith has made you well.” How many times would we like to be able to feel the security that if we just believe enough all will be fine? Years ago, in what we might call, “the early days” or well maybe not even the so long ago days, we had faith healers in some communities just north of the border. My aunt remembers going to one when she was quite young, and the first thing the woman asked her was if she believed because she said unless she believed, it would not work. I don’t know if there was anything to those types of things, but I am sure belief was the majority of the battle. Wouldn’t it be great if belief/faith in a healing or a healer was all you needed to make it work?

Perhaps the trick is to place our trust in the right healer as Bartimaeus did. For a blind man, he saw some things pretty clearly. According to Mark this was the first time anyone referred to Jesus as the Son of David. Bartimaeus recognized something that no one else mentioned before. Son of David is an indication of Jesus’ lineage. This is one of the clues that Jesus is the Messiah; he comes through the parentage of the great King of Israel. He is the chosen one. He is the only one who has the power not only to heal, but to cleanse us from the sin that keeps us apart from God. Bartimaeus saw this, perhaps even more clearly than the disciples who were closest to Jesus at the time.

The stories we have been covering in Mark the past few weeks have been drawing us closer and closer to the entry into Jerusalem when Jesus is first recognized on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday, and then the events that lead to his betrayal and death on the cross. Jesus in the past few stories that we have been reading has been trying to make his disciples understand what is to come for himself, and all of them. And mostly he is trying to get them to understand who he really is, or maybe it would be better to say, what he will need to endure and they will have to watch.

But let’s back up to our Old Testament lesson for a bit. I almost chose the other lectionary suggestion for this week because I was hesitant to use this in a message when we are so far from this part of Job in our Bible Study. It almost feels like when you are reading a book and can’t wait to find out the ending. You know those times when you stop in the middle of chapter 8 or 10 and go read the last chapter, then go back and finish the book. I can’t tell you how many times I have done that. But this piece in Job is the part that finally makes it all fall into place.

The book of Job is likely one of the very oldest written of all the books of the Bible. Its author is unknown yet it seems to have some serious insight into some of the earliest of times. The story is about Job. Job was a righteous man. He did what was right in the eyes of God and because of it, he attracted the attention of Satan. And it wasn’t in a good way. No, Satan was jealous beyond belief at what Job had been given. Let’s think about all the evil that Satan did to Job. He was wiped out financially including crops, animals and even servants. All of his children were killed in one day, and to top that off he had sores all over his body. The only thing Satan wasn’t allowed to do was kill Job, and throughout the story, Job keeps begging for death to end his misery.

We often ask why bad things happen to some people who seem to us to be good. We don’t know the answer. We don’t understand, but when we read the book of Job, we begin to know that it was Job’s goodness and resulting rewards that really made Satan jealous, and he tried everything to get to Job, to turn him against God. So in this case it was because he was good, that Job ended up suffering. I am not trying to imply that everyone who suffers does so because they are really good and evil is trying to turn them around, but it might be a possibility, a thought, an alternative to the idea that bad things happen because people are bad and they have sinned and so deserve their punishment.

I have been trying for years to wrap my mind around the dilemma, the plight of the homeless, the hungry, the jobless, the wayward. Last weekend when we were in Fargo for our nephew’s wedding, we were turning at a semi-busy intersection and a young girl was sitting cross-legged in the median holding a sign that said, “Homeless, pregnant, need help” and she had a large dog with her. My first thought was how some would condemn her for the dog and others for the confession of being pregnant. And I wondered how we live with ourselves as we drive through the busy intersection without looking back. And yet I always question the truth of sign. Why do we still have beggars? Am I no better than the disciples?

Bartimaeus was a blind beggar sitting at the side of the road. From the way the others in the story acted about him, I am thinking they have seen him so often that they are immuned to his condition, and he has become almost invisible. When he recognizes that it is Jesus the Messiah passing by he begins to shout and the others around him try to hush him, to make this unimportant, lowly beggar close his mouth so as not to bother Jesus. Wow, have you ever felt that way? How many times have we felt that maybe our problems aren’t really that important, our problems aren’t something we should be bothering someone else about, maybe not even worth a prayer?

We know from Jesus response that it is worth the bother. Jesus heard Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, Bartimaeus who recognized Jesus as the true Messiah, the Son of David, and Jesus called him to him, and he healed him and he sent him on his way, but Bartimaeus didn’t leave, instead he followed. The Blind Beggar was so sure of who was passing by that when he was called, he left all that he had (his cloak) on the side of the road to go to Jesus.

The disciples had been following Jesus for quite some time. Most of them had left everything behind, occupations, businesses (fishing nets) and family to follow him, yet they didn’t see Jesus quite as clearly as Bartimaeus the blind beggar did that day from the side of the road. They even were in on trying to hush that beggar so Jesus wouldn’t be bothered. Maybe they were noticing the tiredness, the strain on their teacher. They had also tried to stop the children from coming to Jesus, they complained about the man who was casting out demons in his name and a couple of them even got into a bit of an almost contest about who should sit at his right hand or his left hand in the world beyond earth. Really?

See here is the part where I finally get the book of Job. Here is where I see the jealousy and pettiness and the rage that Satan must feel about the absolute goodness of Christ. Here is where I can understand why the artists centuries ago began to depict Satan as this completely red creature. It’s the blood pressure. It’s the jealous rage! If you can’t get to the person you want, get to those who are closest to them. It almost feels like Satan was working on getting to the disciples in an effort to stop Jesus ability to spread his good news of Salvation. Satan was using the disciples to keep people from Jesus, to block their way to salvation and a chance to follow him. Bartimaeus recognized Jesus and was able to be healed and instead of going on his way, turned his life to following Jesus.

I think the hardest part of reading stories like this is trying to decide which character to relate to. As much as we might not want to think of ourselves as blind beggars, I am thinking that is where I would like to relate. I want to be like Bartimaeus who recognized Jesus and after being healed begin to follow him without need for fame, he was not mentioned again after this and no one is sure what became of him. I don’t think I want to relate to the disciples, at least not in most of this story.

Perhaps the “don’t be like the disciples” is more of a moral for us as a church. No place of worship, no Christian congregation should ever-present themselves as blocking someone from coming to a faith in Jesus Christ. None of our actions or policies or common practices should ever be about preventing a fellow Christian from belief in Jesus. Jesus asked his disciples to love each other when he left them. He also asks us to love each other as a church and as part of the Christian community.

Today is what is considered Reformation Sunday, which means this is the time certain of the Protestant Churches might be celebrating the break from the formal church that came about from the early Christians, the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation happened because Martin Luther presented the 95 Thesis against the practice of selling Indulgences and granting absolutions for payment. The story is that the 95 Thesis were nailed on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. If they were or weren’t physically tacked to a part of the building is of least importance today. The fact that writing them and presenting them caused a major revolution in Christianity and how we look at the scriptures and worship is what is important.

Church Reformation is something that should be and is ongoing. Reformation is something that goes on within Christianity, within individual denominations, inside individual churches and even within ourselves. We need to be always looking at our own actions, both individually and as a church. Who do we embrace? Who do we support? And how do we do both of those things? How do we accept others and share our faith? Are we like the disciples who for at least this time pushed away or tried to suppress those who might be taxing the strength of their teacher, or are we like the blind beggar, who after being healed followed Jesus? May God be with us to strengthen us in all we do.

What should/do we give?

Message for today with the following scripture: Job 23:1-9, 16-17, Hebrews 4:12-16 and Mark 10: 17-31. Title was: What Should/do we give?

This past spring we told ourselves/we promised ourselves this was going to be the summer to re-clean and reclaim the basement, so we can have a family/TV room and an extra bedroom for when all of the kids come home. It was cleaned out and set up at one time, before I moved my classroom back into the house when I quit teaching. But, as you could tell from the opening sentence, the cleaning and finished didn’t happen this summer. I think I will blame the garden.

The items I am storing in the main room would probably make a good opening sequence for a reality show on beginning hoarders. There is no need to have boxes of dictionaries or classroom sets of novels or outdated text books if you are not running a school. And the boxes of clothing and material and possible craft projects is more than one family should have to come across in a life time let alone store for any amount of time. I keep telling myself that “someday” I will do something with these items, but it is starting to become vaguely apparent that someday is not around any corner and maybe, just maybe, I will have to think about letting go of a few things.

If you have ever watched any of the shows about people who hoard things, you learn that for them hanging on to things is emotional. I can relate to that. I have the hardest time giving up things that someone else gave me, even if I never used it or didn’t really like it. Now a real hoarders hangs on to everything, even say, empty pizza boxes or other items of garbage. I realized as I was writing this that I used to have my house filled with plants that I was emotionally attached to. The thing about plants is that at some point they die, and when that happens, you are free. I am contemplating freeing myself of a few this fall by accidentally on purpose leaving them outside when it goes below 30 degrees. Oh, never mind most of them have already been brought inside.

Why is it that some of us have this need to have so much stuff? Maybe the new trend in tiny house living is a good idea. If we had to down size to something super small, we would begin to let go of some of this “stuff” this excess. I know that I have brought this up before in a message earlier this summer, this need for more than we can use at one time, this accumulation of things. I suspect that each of us has had more than one of something at sometime in our lives, and I don’t mean two sets of jumper cables, one for each car or a stack of something so that you don’t have to do laundry every other day. I mean things like two toasters or 4 sets of screw drivers or 3 bulb planters and the list could really be anything. We all have had excess of something even if we don’t at this time. The question why, why do we have this stuff, always has the simple answer, “because we can.” Not because we must, just because we can.

Jesus in the passage in Mark was questioned by a young man about what he had to do to gain the kingdom of heaven. The young, rich, perhaps ruling class man wanted to know have to gain salvation. He was a law-abiding, honest, we could say, God-fearing person. He followed the rules, the customs, the religion of the time, but he felt, he knew that there was something more that he needed to do, to have, to believe in so that he could gain eternity. And as I said in reading the passage, this is the saddest of all stories in the gospels. It is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, the three synoptic gospels. It is nearly the same in all three of them. Jesus tells him what he wants to know, and the young man turns away. He is not willing to give, to do what Jesus asks. He won’t give up what he has.

The belief at the time was that those who prosper do so because God is blessing them. The young, rich man could have been seen by those around him as favored. He certainly appeared to be a righteous man, a decent person who deserved his wealth, and yet when he came to Jesus, when he asked what more must I do, what formula is there so that I can have that one thing that I don’t yet have, assurance that I am taken care of in the life beyond this one? He couldn’t accept the answer, he couldn’t give the sacrifice that Jesus asked of him. Jesus looked at the young man and initially liked him/loved him, and said, it is just one thing you should do, give up all you have to follow me.

The more I read this passage, the more I think about what this says to us with bank accounts that aren’t’ teetering on default, with houses that hold more stuff than we can use in a lifetime let alone a month or a year. Today, I cringe when I think of the food most of us throw out of our fridges or freezers because it has gone bad because there was too much there to eat it all. I was in my mother’s basement the other day with a plumber who was fixing a leaking pipe, and I realized that one of these days we need to clean out the old jars of canned goods that are full of dust and spider webs. I cringe when I think of the clothes and coats hanging in my closet and how many others, while people somewhere will be cold this winter. I am thankful for the few quilts we were able to finish this fall, and hope we are able to figure out where to send them. Each time I reread the words that Jesus lays out for us, I feel the enormous responsibility we have. We have so much, yet what are we doing to make things better for those around us?

Yes, some of those around us, the “less fortunate” are there of their own making. Maybe some who live in poverty do so because they choose not to work, they are looking for a handout, and yes we have worked hard to get where we are. And, yes it is nice to feel comfortable. But Jesus’ words are still there looking at us, pointing at us and telling us that unless we are willing to be as faithful as the disciples, we are not doing our part. On that day, Jesus told the young man in order to be his disciple, he had to sell everything he had and give it all away then come back and join the group. He couldn’t do it.

In that story, that example with the young rich man, Jesus showed his disciples, he , reassured them that they had done what he was asking. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

So, maybe in reading this today, we don’t want to feel the words looking at us. Maybe we would like to back up just a bit, and ask, what is rich? Is it millions? Maybe we could sneak by and say by today’s standards it should mean billions, so really we should all be pretty safe here in northern South Dakota. Really we aren’t like the big shot jet setters. The more I read this passage, the more I see that it is everyone. Jesus asks us all to turn away from following our own interests, our own desires, our own possessions. We are all asked to give up everything to follow him. To believe in him, we must do everything that we do, as he would do it. Jesus doesn’t ask us to give up a certain portion to be with him, he asks us to give up everything to be with him.

This is a tough story to hear. This is the saddest story of the gospels both in terms of the time it happened and was told, and it is still sad for us today. Yet, even though there is no happy ending for the young rich man, there is a happy ending for those who chose to follow Jesus. Peter recognized that Jesus through this story was acknowledging all that the disciples had given up to follow him. They left their boats and nets and families to be his disciples and present the gospel to the world. Jesus also told them what they would gain in the world in terms of persecution and trials and grief. But their reward would be in God’s kingdom, not on earth. Their reward was assurance of life, an abundant life with Jesus beyond the life on earth.

By ourselves nothing is possible, but with God all things are possible. I have to admit that before digging into this passage this week, I thought it was just another of the stories about people who Jesus met along the way during his ministry. Now I will look at this passage as making a nice, happy Sunday morning turn into a depressing day sort of like a Maundy Thursday. It is a story that points at us with proddings and accusations and judgments. It is a story that makes me know accumulating stuff and more stuff while others around me are in need is not acceptable. It is a story that makes me understand better the idea that our heart is where our treasure is. Let’s make sure our treasure is with Jesus doing God’s work. Amen!

Fall Faith article

I haven’t come to grips with the reason, but it seems that summer just evaporated into fall this year. I suspect the dried up rows upon rows of corn in the area are from the dry soil. Certainly it isn’t because of a series of hard frosts; knock on wood to prevent those from appearing. My garden finished producing tomatoes about two weeks ago and now the bean plants have been removed and piled up and are patiently waiting to be taken to the compost heap. All that is left besides the carrots and beets are the peppers that I keep nursing along. I won’t count the zucchini. I have boxes and pails of them inside my house. I figure the only way to get rid of them will be to break into houses or cars, yes cars, maybe on a Sunday morning when they are all parked outside of a church. Now I am rambling and even if breaking into a car to give someone something might be thought by the vandal to be good, it is still not a Christian thing to do. The fact is, summer is gone, fall is here and the pumpkins are ready for Fall yard decorations and pumpkin pie and pumpkin bars and all things gooey and good. Fall is a beautiful time of year for its colors and smells. I particularly think of days on the farm when I smelled cottonwood leaves crunch beneath my feet. The cool crisp days remind us that as the calendar marches on, we have many events to look forward to in the coming days. As the secular culture celebrates Halloween, the church looks to All Saints Day, then there is Thanksgiving and the Advent Season and Christmas and soon after Lent and Easter, and then we are preparing for spring. To paraphrase Ecclesiastes 3:1, in all things there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. There is no time like the present to commit ourselves to a relationship with Jesus our savior. It seems we have so many in our world who are hurting physically, mentally and spiritually. As Christians we are asked, we are commanded to do what we can to ease the sufferings. In Matthew 25, Jesus teaches that when we do for others whether it is feeding or clothing or caring for those around us, it is as if we are caring for him. There is no time like the Fall to join in Christ’s work. And for those searching for what is missing in your life, and no time like the present to join in a fellowship of like-minded believers.

Interview Part #7: Growing up

These were two of the very first interview questions and though I have lots to add to each of them, I am just going to put them out there as I gave them to Elisabeth. I may or may not elaborate on them in the future. If I could add a picture or two they would make lots more sense, but I don’t have uploading ability and at the time have no idea where the pictures are that I am thinking I should add. Maybe down the road. For now, just put some pictures in your head, sort of like I have to do with the voices every now and then. Are you scared yet. We are getting close to Halloween, HA!!

Tell me about the home you were raised in.

I spent the first years of my life on a farm five miles south of Artas, SD. My parents were what you call small grain farmers. My father grew everything from wheat and oats and a little barley to corn for silage and alfalfa for hay. One year he even grew a stand of flax. I remember how pretty that field was. It looked like you were looking at a large lake when it was in bloom. My uncle who was our hired man said if my dad would have combined that field it would have been worth so much money that year, but he wouldn’t do it because he was afraid to let it grow long enough to ripen that much. I think he just baled it up as hay. My parents also raised every kind of animal. We had two large silos on the farm and my father fed steers for slaughter for many years as his major animal crop. They even milked cows when I was very young. We also had cows, sheep, pigs and my mother raised chickens and even some ducks and geese. The money she made from the chickens bought us clothes for school. When I was in the sixth grade my dad bought a house in Herreid and we lived in town during the school year.

 

What kind of things did your parents do for work?

When I was younger my parents were farmers. My mother often had extra jobs. Before I was born she was a school teacher. Later she worked as a clerk for area livestock barns. She also worked in school as an aide and she worked for a program called Greater Missouri that did winterizing and such for people who couldn’t afford much. When most of us were grown and had moved away, she purchased the local café and operated that along with a catering business. My father was a farmer and did custom silage chopping. He also put up hay on shares for other farmers. We were always stacking and hauling bales home to the farm. He eventually quit farming, though he never sold the farm, and he had cattle for many years after he stopped planting. He purchased a hay mover and did that for many years. His last job was running his own fix it business. He was a fantastic welder and should have been an engineer with his mind. When he did the hay hauling, he actually built two of his own movers because he said the ones that were available for purchase were too flimsy.