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WEEKLY  MEMO from EPUMC

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EDEN   PRAIRIE

 UNITED  METHODIST  CHURCH

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Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – February 2, 2012

Service for LaVonne Hansen

LaVonne Hansen, a long time member of our congregation known to many, died this past Sunday.  . LaVonne’s funeral service will be tomorrow, Friday, February 3rd. Visitation is at 10:00 a.m. and the service is at 11:00 a.m. A lunch will follow the service. Please keep Roger and their family in your prayers.

The other night I was reading the local Eden Prairie newspaper’s “Best of” edition.  Katie and I were reading through the “best of’s” as a way of deciding where to go for dinner. There were more than a few “best of’s” that I agreed with:  JJ’s is a great coffee shop; I’m sitting right now at Crumbs writing this because it has great sandwiches.  I’m having something with turkey and avocado and chipotle mayo.   As we were reading I joked with Katie, wondering which church was the “best church.”  She laughed and said, “No way that they could do that.” 

But, as some of you know, we turned the page and there was the “Best Church” “Best Pastor” and “Best Place to Attend Worship.”  I laughed when I saw it, especially since the best church I know of in Eden Prairie, Eden Prairie United Methodist, didn’t make the cut.  I hadn’t read how the “best of” was determined for this edition of the paper. That got me to thinking, what it might be like to really be the best church in Eden Prairie or if there is even need to have a best church category.  Or do you even want to be the best church; I mean think of the responsibility. 

Now here is how my brain works.  I wonder where we came in; were we in the top half, did we finish a close second?  The truth is; I don’t mind not being first, I just don’t want to be last.  I almost immediately began to think about what it would take to get more votes.  I thought about, how I have started to wear jeans most every day to the office.  It’s my attempt at being inviting or comfortable, and whatever other word you might use here that would get us a vote or two for best church.  I try to dress my jeans up a bit; I wear a nice shirt, and nicer shoes. I think it’s a good look.  It certainly matches the look that I run into in places like JJ’s and Crumbs where I meet people and have lunch.   To me wearing jeans at work doesn’t mean anything more than something of an expression or a desire to fit in.  The question becomes, when does it matter to fit in?

I believe there is a constant tension between being the best church we are called by God to be, the best church we can be, and lobbying to be voted the best church in Eden Prairie.  How do we maintain a sense of integrity, even as we seek to invite others to reach out and be with people where they are in their lives?   How do we recognize when we are not just behind the times, but missing the direction of the Holy Spirit as it moves ahead of us in history or when is the culture leading us?  And when are we called to be a prophetic voice even if it means not getting a single vote?

Another thing; and here is what I think the crux of the matter is, what is wrong with having all kinds of different “best” churches?  In the newspaper, there were a lot of different categories for restaurants, bars and other places to eat or drink. Why is there only one category for churches and pastors? Is it possible, in the mystery of faith, that God is working through different people and different churches to accomplish different things at the same time?  Perhaps the direction lies less in what might be the most popular opinion and more in what seems to be the most faithful response.

Keep the Faith,

Dan

Respond to Pastor Dan at: danb@prairiechurch.org

Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – February 10, 2012

Last Wednesday the Confirmation Class attended a play at EPHS.  Lest you think it was just a getaway, let me tell you a few things about the play.  First it was, in large part, written by the high school cast members that included two of the 9^th graders from our Confirmation Class this year.  Secondly, it was a play about bullying entitled “Sticks and Stones.” 

It was interesting to be back in a High School hallway.  Some things never change. The youth in our group seemed to come alive as we walked into the school.  As they saw friends, said hello, and got caught up on the latest news of the last 4 hours since they had seen each other, I realized that we were, how do I say this: “on their turf,” “in their house.”  We all have places where we are more comfortable, places where we spend so much time that it has become our world.  It doesn’t mean that it’s all good or all bad in this world, but it is our world.  It was interesting to notice that although I think our youth feel great about being in church and at Confirmation, still, school is more of a place that is their world.  I’ll tell you one thing; I knew it wasn’t my world.

It took the lights going down in the auditorium for the chatter to settle down, and what happened next could not have been more dramatic.  We went from the noise of a hundred or so teenagers talking to the dead silence of everyone in the room being captured by what was going on in front of us.  “Sticks and Stones,” is the real world of teenagers.   It depicts, in several scenes, how painful it can be to be in a world that seems to demand conformity and, at times, is just plain cruel.

I was sitting behind a couple of our youth, and as one scene was changing to another I asked them what they thought so far.  One said, “This is depressing,” the other said, “Yea.”  It was sad, depressing and moving.  Those same teenagers, sitting in front of me, didn’t once pull out their cell phone, whisper to each other or even move a muscle.  They were glued to that stage, as if they were actors themselves.

After the intermission, the cast sat down to talk with us.  They told us some statistics, reminded us that everything we had just seen had happened to someone in the cast and then took questions.  It was brief but very powerful, encouraging and, in its own way. inspiring.  I mean how can you not be inspired by a group of teenagers willing to be so vulnerable in front of their peers as to write out and then act out their most helpless moments?  How can you not be inspired by an auditorium full of teenagers willing to sit and not only watch but to engage as only theater can help us to engage?

All this is to say that I was very proud of our Confirmation Class that night.  Sure I was proud of the two in the play, but it was more than that.  I was so encouraged; inspired by everyone who was willing to put themselves in the position to consider some of their most difficult moments.  Because, I am here to tell you, they all did whether they were on stage or not.

If faith in Jesus teaches us anything, it is that even the worst moment of our life has within it the possibility of being redeemed.  Redemption, you see, is not that something good has to always come out of something awful or evil.  Redemption is the choice we make not to allow what is awful or evil to have the last word.  It is the inspiration that comes some days by just showing up.

Keep the Faith,

Dan

Respond to Pastor Dan at: danb@prairiechurch.org

Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – February 16, 2012

Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – February 23, 2012

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