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Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – January 5, 2012

This week, within a 24 hours period, I had something like “bookend” experiences.  What I mean by that is, I had an experience that comes at you from either side or ends of something. For me the something was time, and it has set me to thinking how I so often live in-between times.  Here’s what happened.

I was just getting ready to leave the office on Tuesday.  I was standing, talking to Carol, coat on, computer in its case and over my shoulder, and my mind was already thinking what I was going to do when I got home.  Into the office walked Cody.  Cody is our new Wesley Foundation Executive Director at the University of Minnesota.  This means he is a campus minister.  He is young, full of ideas and was carrying a sort of “on the edge” book about the beginnings of Christianity. It was the same book that I’ve been wanting to purchase in preparation for actually reading. I have been wanting to meet with Cody, so I took off my coat, put down my computer and had a great time. 

There is something about talking to someone who reminds you of yourself 30 years ago. It is invigorating because you sit there thinking – I think I still have some of that spark.  There is something about it also that caused me at least to think, “Man, where did the time go?  I remember when……”

The other end of this experience came yesterday.  I attended the funeral of a retired pastor, Duane Lunnemann.  Duane was a great model for many of us progressive pastors.  He was one of my former District Superintendents.  Katie worked with him for few years.  I guess you could say that I got to know Duane over the years. 

At the funeral of a pastor, all the pastors, deacons and ordained folks sit together, and we sing a hymn together, just us.  As a pastor I’m not a member of any church, but I am a member of the Annual Conference.  The Annual Conference is sometimes very hard to define, but at a funeral for a colleague, it’s easy to see and feel.  I was in the front row of this choir. As we started to sing, “For All the Saints” I was caught up in that experience that comes when you are singing but can’t hear yourself. You can hear the whole choir, and you are sort of lifted off your feet by it all.

It was a very powerful moment for me. The deep resonance of the voices of men and women who were, I suspect, feeling something of the same thing I was feeling, came almost pushing forward.  For a moment I thought about sitting with Cody. Then I realized that I am just as close to the time in my life when I will be lying where Duane was as I had been to the time in my life when it was me sitting in Cody’s chair.   Try having that thought on a Wednesday before lunch.

So this morning, after meeting with Eric Peterson at 6:30 a.m., I’m thinking about all this. I go to my favorite Caribou to write this little piece. When I do this, I feel a little closer to Cody than Duane, and so I also put in my ear plugs and listen to the I–Tunes list I’ve created. This is music you can download to your computer for about a buck a song.  Doing this REALLY makes me feel closer to Cody than Duane.  As I’m sitting there trying to think of what to say about this being in-between in life, a song comes on. It is a song by a group named “Green Day,” which is old to my kids but new to me. It is called “Good Riddance” and here is the first verse.

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road,

Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test, and don't ask why,

It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.

I hope you had the time of your life.

Listening to that song I felt closer to Duane than Cody, which, for today at least, I’m interpreting as another way of saying. “I’m having the time of my life right now.”  It is on the days when I realize that it is time that has directed me more than anything else, that I also trust that something of God is what has grabbed me by the wrist, still has a hold of me and will keep a hold of me even when Cody is singing for me.

Keep the Faith,

Dan

Respond to Pastor Dan at: danb@prairiechurch.org

Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – January 12, 2012

I have had some problems finding the right shoes to replace the ones someone took from me at the gym. (See memo December 22). So on Monday, I decided to go to the Mall of America.  My thought was that if I could not find a pair of men’s shoes at the Mall of America, it was my problem. So off I went.  It was early in the day, so I got a great parking place, and there were not that many people there.

I’ll be honest about this, I enjoy going to the Mall of America once in a while.  There is that sense that I’m in the Lion’s Den of American, if not World, Consumer Culture, but I will confess that every once in a while I am an American consumer. I felt better because unlike many of my trips to the Mall of America, I had something very specific in mind this time. I walked with purpose, looking for every men’s shoe store on the second level. 

I was moving from the Ecco Store (there is such a thing) to the Merrill Store. (Can you believe that, how cool is a Merrill Store?) I passed one of the kiosks where people try to get you to try something.  I don’t know why I let the woman with the packet of hand cream stop me.  I don’t use hand cream, I only use lotion when my wife tells me I need to, so I really have no idea why I let her keep talking to me.  I mean there was the Merrill Store right there – and I could see in the distance the Johnson and Murphy Store, which is where I finally found a pair of black shoes to wear with jeans which I like better than the ones I, uh, lost.

This woman, who talked faster than anyone I’ve ever known, put the packet down and asked if I would try something. I knew it was the old bait and switch, so I took the opportunity to tell her that I had a purpose today. I needed to find some shoes.  She said, “Great, I’m size 9.”  And then without missing a beat, she handed me a shaker of salt.  She told me it was salt from the Dead Sea and started to give me a geography test about the Dead Sea and why this salt is so good for cleansing your hands.  It’s, supposedly, because nothing grows in the Dead Sea, including things that cause impurities in salt. She shook a little of it into my hands, told me to scrub a little and then poured some water over it.  It felt great.  So then she put a little of the lotion on my hand and asked how that felt.  Well it felt great too.  So I said, “Thanks, but I’ve got to get some shoes today.”

“I’m size 9,” she said again, and then she asked if she could do one more thing. What could I say?  It was a great conversation; I had the time and besides what could happen next?  She said, “I’m going to do something that will make you remember me for two weeks.”  Well, you know what she did?  She buffed my thumbnail.  I’ve never had my thumbnail buffed; I’ve never had any nail buffed.  I’ve never thought about having my thumbnail buffed. But you know what – a week later it’s still smooth and shiny. 

Somehow I walked away from the kiosk without the Dead Sea Salt, hand cleanser or nail buffer.  But this shine on my thumbnail has set me to thinking about a couple of things.  It’s not so much that I admire the woman’s persistence, which I do; as much as I walked away thinking that was a very interesting 10 minutes of my life that I would usually avoid. I know it’s more in my nature than most others, but I’m wondering if sometimes we avoid – a relationship, an experience, an opportunity and then out of habit we miss out on something.  And how do we know when an important moment, relationship or opportunity is upon us?  I guess the answer is we don’t; it’s something of the mystery of life. But if you ask me, some of these are the moments, the relationships, or the opportunities where we will run into something of God.  Sometimes you’ve got to just give something a try. I’m not thinking about your faith and our community, but I’m wondering what are some of the ministries and needs of our church that you might never consider participating in but which may be a place God is awaiting you.

I was walking out of the Mall with my new shoes in this big grey bag, and I walk by another kiosk selling the same Dead Sea Salt.  I turn my eyes, I thought in time, from the guy holding out the packet of hand cream – but he still says, “Sir, can I show you something?”  I look at the guy; show him my newly buffed nail and say, “I already heard the story upstairs.”  He says, “What did you think?”  I caught myself smiling, which is something I’d imagine guys selling hand cream at kiosk in the Mall of America don’t see very often, and said, “I liked it.”

Keep the Faith,

Dan

Respond to Pastor Dan at: danb@prairiechurch.org

Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – January 19, 2012

This is a picture of me in my ’06 Outback on the day it finally dropped below zero.  Before I moved to the Cities, I was completely satisfied with this car.  It hauls a lot of stuff, including my bike.  It has all wheel drive, all the time, which although you pay a price in gas mileage, comes in handy from time to time.  I purchased the car while living in Duluth, which in case you haven’t heard, is a challenging place to drive – especially in winter.  In Duluth, I used to fill my driving time by counting how many Outbacks I passed climbing Woodland Ave. to get to the house or how many I could see that were parked next me in any parking lot. In Duluth the saying is, “You can’t spit (excuse me) without hitting an Outback.”  It’s a great car.

My Outback in a 4-cylinder automatic and usually that is just fine. It has a sport shift that can help me imagine that I’m back in the something like the Camero which I drove at my brother’s funeral, but I rarely use it.  This brings me to the times that I have problems with this car here in the Cities; it is when I’m trying to accelerate past a BMW or Mercedes or Acura (hey sometimes they are going too slow) or anytime I’m merging onto 494 or 35 or for that matter Flying Cloud Road.

I’m telling you about this today because this less than peppy transmission also has a little glitch that I forget about every year when it turns this cold.  The car starts up just fine, it goes into first gear just fine; it’s when it’s moving from second to third or third to fourth (I’m not sure which one; would someone email me back which it is?) that there is a problem.  As the speedometer reaches 40 mph, there is an almost violent jerk as it sort of punches or I should say kicks and screams its way into 4^th (or 3^rd).  I have no idea if this is a precursor to making somebody’s day as I discover who my new Eden Prairie mechanic is going to be and I pay for a new transmission. I’m doubtful because after this happens for the first time in the morning the car is good for the day.

By this time in a winter I’m usually a little more attentive to this glitch, and I let the car warm up. I also warm myself up to understand that the first time I ask this Outback to go into 4^th gear on a cold day it is going to let me hear (and feel) it.  And so, when I remember I take it really easy, I stay off the gas, I let any make of car pass me, I have my eyes glued to the speedometer awaiting the jerk that is sure to come, hoping it will be a little one.  Usually when I pay this kind of attention, that first shift up to 4^th is OK; at least I’m not looking in my rearview mirror for my transmission.  On some days, usually when I’m rushed or just spacing out or wondering why I didn’t take the time to make and then drink some coffee at home, I don’t remember and the car awakens me. 

Now I’m sharing this on this cold morning because I’m pretty proud of myself for remembering to warm up the car and to go very softly into 4^th gear, even though I was running a few minutes late for my 6:30 A!M! meeting.  It set me to wondering how we pay attention to the glitches, hitches and faults that we all live with.  This is what I think Jesus was talking about when he taught his followers to pay attention to what is going on within us before we judge another and the equally important instruction throughout the gospels – not to judge ourselves too harshly

Perhaps one of the things Jesus was trying to get at is this; as we pay attention to the things that we are aware of that set us off in a direction that is less than Christ-like, we can stay closer to that path.  When the weather turns cold and it takes us a little longer to get going in the morning, perhaps we can give ourselves and perhaps the person we are meeting for breakfast just a little more slack.  Or maybe when you know it is final’s week for your high school junior, you can remember how great it was just to have mom or dad remember. Or the next time you forget something, remember not only what it is like to be forgotten but how good it is to be remembered.

Jesus teaches that often when we pay closer attention to the need of another than we do of our own, we discover something like God awaiting us both.

Keep the Faith,

Dan

Respond to Pastor Dan at: danb@prairiechurch.org

Weekly Memo from Pastor Dan – January 26, 2012

The other day I was at Methodist Hospital to visit someone. It was one of those times when I went to the room and no one was there.  This means that they were having some sort of procedure or test or they were going to physical therapy.   Dislocating my shoulder and tearing my rotator cuff (yes, I fell off my bike) 10 years ago taught me that the “PT” of physical therapy actually stands for physical torture, and so I usually allow the folks who I’m coming to visit to suffer in obscurity without me tracking them down to watch.

But on this day, since I was in a bit of a hurry to get back to our staff meeting, I decided to track this someone down at PT.  I was walking up to the counter to inquire where I might find my someone, when suddenly the woman sitting behind the counter one station over exclaimed, “WHO IS MEAN JOE GREEN, I KNOW HE’S SOMEBODY, I’VE GOT TO GOOGLE THIS!”  (I’ve put this in capital letters because my son once told me, after I had made the mistake of locking my tab key, that it is common Facebook etiquette to only capitalize when you are angry or really want to emphasize a point.)  The older fellow, who this woman was supposedly helping, looked at her like she was from the planet Venus.  And then she said, “I know you are somebody famous.”  I guess his name was Joe Green. He had no idea who Mean Joe Green was or is, and he did not care.  He just wanted to get to his PT and, my guess is, get it over with and get on with his day.

Now here is the thing, I know who Mean Joe Green is, and I immediately looked at the woman and said, “Defensive line for the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl team.  He’s the football player who throws his jersey to the little boy in the Coke commercial.”  I didn’t add, “He is a big, big man, #75, part of what they called the “Steel Curtain.”  I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Now I know she wasn’t talking to me directly, but I trust that we adults who shout out things like this don’t mind when a total stranger can tell us what we want to know before we can Google it.  She looked at me with this big smile and said, “Thanks.”  The woman behind the counter, directly in front of me, looked at me and said in her East African accent, “Oh, I love that commercial.”  The guy standing next to me looked at me like I was from the planet Mars and didn’t say a word.  I looked back at him and said, “Don’t worry sir; you don’t look anything like Mean Joe Green.”

I am sure I only confused the poor guy a little more, but sometimes we adults, who allow life to distract us from time to time, just can’t help ourselves.

I’m not saying everybody should look for and write about experiences like this one. I know this is a relatively unimportant moment in my life; in fact, I’m hoping the poor guy standing next to me has already forgotten it.  And yet there is something about these small, insignificant distractions that make me smile, which is another way of saying they give me joy, which is another way of saying they sometimes help me make it through the day. 

I’m not saying that all of us need to know things like who Mean Joe Green is or that we need to be prepared to answer anyone who might shout out the question.  Those of us who are easily distracted in life have to remember that there are others who are very focused and just want to get into their appointment so they can get it checked off the list for today and go on to the next thing. These folks usually get their smile by either making the list in the first place as a sort of suggestion of how a day can go or looking at things that are checked off of the list as a way of saying “I’m having a good day.”

Either way works, as well as most of the ways of getting through our days that lay somewhere in between.  However you get through your day, or make your day, I hope you have a way of experiencing the feeling that you are not going through it alone and, at the very least, if you pay some attention - even on a very challenging day - something of God will sneak into your life, find its way onto your list or otherwise help you to see the goodness that is within you.

Keep the Faith,

Dan

Respond to Pastor Dan at: danb@prairiechurch.org

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