As Mr. Peterson and I were wishing our server at the Original Pancake House a Merry Christmas this morning, she started telling us about decorating her Christmas tree. She told us that she decorated her tree three different ways, three different times before she settled on a “theme.”  Then she says, “I spend more time in my living room now just sitting, looking at and smelling my beautiful tree.”

I responded with my experience of decorating so far this Christmas.  Katie and I have a tree that comes in two pieces that we keep in storage in the basement.  The lights even stay on it.  We have yet to haul out the boxes and boxes of stuff we have in the basement to decorate the tree. We have enough to choose from several “themes.”

I don’t know why we put off decorating for Christmas, but it seems since the kids moved out we’ve done less and less, later and later.  I suppose I have good excuses; two pastors in the busy weeks before Christmas.  But the truth is everyone’s busy.  It’s been very cold all December and so it has been difficult to put lights outside, this excuse ignores that our heating bill is paid and the tree is inside.  I’d like to say it’s not in my blood, but the pictures I saw on Facebook of my brother Mark’s home (in Staunton, IL) has more blow up Santa’s and Snowmen than one picture frame could hold (I can only imagine the “ theme” of his tree) deposes that notion.

The truth is, that I know that all the effort and energy into putting up a tree and decorations are only going to last only a short while. And yet, I long for the beauty and mystery and whatever it is that comes when we decorate for Christmas and spend more time in our living rooms, before we go to bed at night, with just the lights of the tree on.

Some people discount this and describe the tendency to put on Christmas music as we build a fire in the fireplace or turn on the TV station that has only a “Yule” log burning 24/7.  We admire our Christmas decoration themes as sentimental or nostalgic or the magic of Christmas.  I agree that at some level when we try too hard or force anything or any theme around Christmas it can become so sour that we avoid it or so sweet we ignore it. We can also miss the point when our theme does not include the story of Jesus’ birth.  Most of us fall in-between being Scrooge and my brother at Christmas.  

And so for me the issue is not how far along I am on my decorating for Christmas; but  am I open to being moved, stirred, enlightened not only by the spirit of the season but by the spirit that I believe encompasses each and every season and theme or moment of my life.  Christmas is an opportunity to recognize our capacity to go deeper to somehow see a different part of ourselves; the part of ourselves that longs for beauty, the part that desires to be connected to something greater than ourselves, a part of ourselves that needs to give more than we get.

Somehow, most of us are at some level stirred by the story we will tell again next Tuesday evening at Christmas Eve worship.  Most of us are moved by the theme of a family in difficulty, a child born into a broken world, the recognition that as miraculous as every birth is; there is something extraordinary about the birth of this baby named Jesus that causes us all to pause and respond.

And so my prayer, is that you may be moved this Christmas: rather it’s the shudder you experience at a Christmas tree decorated and glowing like a star in the night sky in your living room or the tremor that resounds in many of us when we hear the opening words of the story of Jesus’ birth, “When Qurenius was Governor of Syria.”  May we all be open to being moved, stirred, enlightened not only by the spirit of this season but by the spirit that I believe encompasses each and every season and theme or moment of our lives; the spirit that is the true light that enlightens everyone; Emmanuel, God with us.

Keep the Faith!

Pastor Dan

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who remembered in your thoughts and prayers my son, Greg, and our family during his recent hospitalization. For those of you who haven’t heard my son had a severe asthma attack last week. The news is that Greg is doing well; he’s back at his apartment trying to take it easy and making up time with his girlfriend Laura and their new Boston Terrier puppy, Drago.

Last week as so many of you asked how my son was doing, I relearned that there is a certain kind of grace to receiving the concern and connection that is being offered when another says, “You are in my thoughts and prayers.” The experience of accepting what some on Facebook called, “all those positive vibes,” was both humbling and inspiring.

It was unusual to say the least to be on the other end of all those thoughtful, prayerful, gracious intentions.  There is a part of me – and it’s just a way I am – that doesn’t want to bother someone with the real issues of my life, like the health of my son.  All of us have some mother or brother or aunt or cousin who is worrying us. There is someone for whom each one of our hearts ache.  And so, if but for the moment it takes to say it, for someone else to offer to be with you in what is as close to suffering you can be without being the one in the ICU, well you wouldn’t ask anyone to do that. Who wants to add to someone else’s pain or remind them of the burden they are carrying?

And so for me, the experience is humbling; it asks us to recognize that we are not in control.  This is because there are times when no one or nothing on this earth is going to fix what is wrong or heal the one we love quickly enough to relieve their suffering or give comfort to our fretfulness. We can try to understand the information the nurses and doctors and anyone else who can offer us even a sliver of information that sounds like hope, but sometimes we just don’t know what is going to happen. It is into this emptiness and the desperation of that void that sometimes we allow the intention of the gracious nature of others to enter. I’ve experienced this in so many hospital visits and conversations when I was the one offering that last week, when it came my time to receive well… that part of “who I am” was transformed.

The grace that comes in receiving is inspiring, not so much because I would wish it on anyone, but because it restores a sense of community or whatever it is that helps us to believe that we are connected, a thought that is often lost in our hectic, siloed, segmented lives.  I know we often struggle with what to say to someone who is either suffering themselves or who is the one left behind to worry.  This experience has taught that for me at least, the words: “you are in my thoughts,” or “prayers”, or “sending positive vibes your way” or even  “what is it I should be praying for;”  these are all attempts to say that if just for the second or two it takes to say them, “I’m with you, you are not alone.”

This is the message that is offered to each one of us at Christmas by our compassionate concerned creator.  How we are able to receive that word – that word that becomes flesh in Jesus often defines our lives. Allowing others to reach out and touch our lives when we are the ones in need, as well as being prepared to use what we have to offer are the two sides of this season.  How you receive a gift is often a gift in of itself.

What I am struggling to say today is a thank you for the opportunity to experience and learn anew from you and with you the depths of God’s love that has become flesh in this world we call Grace.

Keep the Faith!

Pastor Dan

It’s the first blast of cold and snow and things going wrong are piling up.  I’m relearning some important practical lessons that always remind me of my spiritual challenge to slow down a little and deal with life less as a problem to overcome and more as an experience to be if not learned from, then at least appreciated.

The Cantata our Chancel Choir prepares and presents every year is scheduled for worship this Sunday.  Of course the first cold and snowy day of the winter fell on Wednesday their dress rehearsal night.  The orchestra is made up of musicians from across the metro area were scheduled to be at church to rehearse with the choir, which is made up of choir members and those who rehearse just for this opportunity.  Don, our choir director had a look of gritty determination, as if he had faced this challenge before when I last saw him.  This morning he reports that it was a great rehearsal, all the musicians and all but two of the choir made it through the snow and cold.  It’s going to be a great Cantata!  Lesson number one, don’t let a barrier keep you from your passion. Have courage.

Of course this was the first time I started my snow blower since last winter and so the suspense of pulling and pulling and adjusting the choke and then the throttle and then doing it all again was a little more than I liked.  I never know what I’m doing; I just fiddle with it.  It finally started. Second lesson, remember the little rubber button is to prime the cold engine.

The snowplow was working just fine as I went up and down the driveway until suddenly the auger caught on something and seized up.  I didn’t need to look to know what had happened.  Any guesses; in our rush to get to work neither Katie or I had bothered to pick up the paper that was now buried under the 5 inches or so of snow that Eden Prairie had received.  I spent more time digging out that newspaper that was still rolled up in between the two stages of my two stage snow blower than I did snow blowing.  My third relearned lesson of winter is to make sure you have picked up the newspaper before you start snow blowing.  Oh! and turn off the snow blower even if it’s not running!

This morning I had a very early meeting. I was running late and so I jump into the car that had spent the night in my relatively warm garage, started it right up and pulled out of the nicely blown driveway. I got to my meeting just a few minutes late.  It was dark when I went in and light when I came out.  In that time the windows on the “INSIDE” of my car had not fogged but frosted over; you could have used a scrapper on the inside.  Lesson number four give your car time to warm up, it’s cold out there!

I sat for five minutes to get the inside of my car defrosted so I could see to  drive 10 minutes on a drive that usually takes less than 5 because of the slick roads to sit and drink a cup of coffee and write this memo.  So I walk up to my barista and say in what some may say is a “witty” tone, “May I have a cup of dark roast please?”  She, who usually has something equally “witty” to say, says, “No, we do not have any drip coffee products at this time.”  I look over her shoulder to see somebody with his arms up to his elbows in the drip coffee maker.  Realizing the screwdriver in his hand is not a part of the regular process I say, “What kind of tea do you have?”  That’s right I settled for hot tea!  Lesson number five roll with it, it is winter, the roads will not always be clear, slow down take a little more time. Things break, so try something different.

Embrace the challenge, be sure to prime the fuel pump, remove the distractions, give yourself some time, expect the unwanted and unexpected and try it you might like it, are all spiritual lessons I’m relearning today. This first snowy cold day of winter is a time to relearn many other lessons of the spiritual life. But I’m going to stop here and ask what are some of your life lessons that these first real days of winter re-teach you how to interpret and respond to the events of life.

Keep the Faith!

Pastor Dan