his week.
 
My wife’s family has a tradition of putting three kernels of corn on your empty plate before the feast begins. When you’ve been waiting to eat the feast and you’re finally sitting down at the table, this form of piety seems a bit much to many.  But it has served its purpose and reminds me to consider what I am grateful for in the last year.  So before I go to lunch, here are three things in no particular order that I am grateful for at EPUMC
 
I am grateful for the staff, especially those who must put up with me every day. I don’t have time to call out each person, but let me tell you, I could.  There have been some comings and goings over my six Thanksgivings here, but the core of Don, Deb, Rick and I have remained the same.  In these days, Becky, Terri, Tim and Elisha and Susie the accountant who comes in one day a week make up our staff.  In the last two years, we have become much more collaborative in our time together.  This means we not only work well together, but work together well… we have each other’s back, we pitch in when someone needs an idea, we have a lot of laughs.  I’m so grateful for the gift of collaboration.
 
I’m grateful for all of you. EPUMC is a great bunch.  I mean it when I say I enjoy the work of being your pastor.  I so appreciate your acceptance of some of my foibles… and imperfections.  Although how I pronounce the way in which we do our laundry may be tolerated by most everyone, other shortcomings, in my experience, have not been so graciously overlooked. This acceptance has helped me both heal and has energized my ministry to a degree I wasn’t so sure I’d ever know. This kind of attitude is a sign also of what we call in my world a “healthy congregation.”  And like any other body, when the body of Christ is healthy, you can focus on what matters in life more clearly.  I am so grateful that at EPUMC, we are a bunch who does not sweat the small stuff too much.
 
Finally and I don’t know how to say this, but it is that the last year has been without a doubt the most exciting time I’ve known in my 35 years of being a full-time local church pastor. This “New Energy” we keep talking about is undeniable.  This energy extends beyond Sunday morning. I know because I’m here most every day.  We can call this experience a lot of things: new people, creativity, focus. These are all true and they add up to the gift we have been given by God to share with our world at EPUMC. I am grateful to be a part of these times at our church.
 
Have a great Thanksgiving and if you’d like, get back to me on something you are grateful for around EPUMC. 
 
 

​This Sunday is what we sometimes call “Stewardship Sunday. “ Or sometimes we call it “Pledge Sunday,” but we always also call it “Pancake Breakfast Sunday.”  Stewardship and Pledge Sunday refer to a part of our worship service.  Pancake Breakfast Sunday refers to…free pancakes for breakfast at our church.
 
For Stewardship Sunday, we are asking you to dig around the mail at home in the “not thrown away” pile and hopefully find the letter we sent out to you that talked about giving financially to EPUMC this year.  In the mailing there is a card where we are asking that you take some time to prayerfully consider your financial commitment to EPUMC in 2017. There is also a place on the card for you to consider giving to our recent building/parking lot update.
 
 Bring that card to church with you this Sunday.  If you can’t find it, we’ll have extras out for you to use. If you can’t make it to church Sunday, please take the time to mail it in this week.
 
During worship when the offering plate is passed your way in addition to your “commitment/registration” for the week and any gift you might bring that day, place that card in for good measure.  As I place those offerings and promises on the altar, we will say a prayer together. That is Stewardship/Pledge Sunday.  I’m expecting that the offering plates will be stacked to overflowing …which could be a problem, but I prefer to see it as yet another “challenge of vitality.”
 
Pancake Breakfast Sunday is even easier to explain.  Come before church starting at 8:30 a.m. and/or stay after church until they get tired of making pancakes for breakfast.  Kathy Jarvis and her crew love doing this together as a thank you for your commitment to EPUMC.  It’s a great time and the pancakes and sausage are…and I’m not just saying this…really good. This is a picture of Walter and me last year. I think this was right when I was trying to take a bite of his pancakes.
 
I really do believe what we have been saying the last couple of weeks.
​
            Great things do, by the grace of God, KEEP happening at EPUMC.

 The new energy we have recognized at church this year began last year on Stewardship/Pledge/Pancake Breakfast Sunday.   This blessed energy began as we showed up to enjoy each other’s company, to experience the love and presence of Jesus, to celebrate what it’s like to financially support something as important as this church together, and to eat some pancakes.
 
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
 
 

I need to write the memo this morning…Wednesday morning, not only because tomorrow morning something is going on at church, but also because something happened on Tuesday night. Like many, I am beyond surprised by the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.  And, like other times when the world and my life really surprise me, I don’ t know what to say or think.  Some who know me may find this hard to believe, but when I don’t know what to say or think, especially when the news frightens or saddens me, I get very quiet and introverted. 
 
I’m sharing this with you because it’s important today to recognize that everyone is receiving this surprise differently and we cannot predict just how deeply any one of us is moved.  Some of us are grieving today. Some of us are elated.  So whether you are sad and afraid or elated and hope-filled, let’s be gentle with each other, especially with those who are feeling differently than we might be anticipating. Giving everyone some time to gather perspective is a gracious and generous act.
 
Having said that, I do believe that those who are like me and need some time just to be with our thoughts and feelings also need some word so that we do not remain in our cocoons for very long.  I’ve been listening for that word with anxious ears.  So to those who are hope-filled today, please grant me the moment to offer some words to those who are not.
 
Here are a few things I’ve received today.
               
                “Almighty God, you hold all the powers of the universe within your hands, and we are your children. Turn us to the splendor of life in you, transforming us through Jesus Christ our Savior, and strengthening us in every good deed and word. Amen.”  Excerpt From “A Disciple’s Journal 2016.
 
                “I’m….. looking at my immediate surroundings which are the same as yesterday. And God enters the world through all of us.”
 
                …We must pray that our better angel selves will emerge. Our better angel selves work for justice with love for all in speech and action in spite of our hurt and fear. Let us give witness to the best of our nation's tradition and values as well as our faith.  (Bishop Sally Dyck … Northern IL. Conf.)
 
                …I love you papa…
 
These words both comfort me and call me out of my cocoon, trusting a perspective beyond politics. The first is a prayer offered by a friend; it reminds me that we all are indeed God’s children. The second is a perspective that reminds me that everyday life goes on and God works on, whether I am elated or devastated. The third reminds me of Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural where he too called upon the “better angels of our nature,” in a challenging time. The last was the first message on my phone this morning. It’s from my daughter and a word sent, on purpose, to bless and comfort me when she suspected I needed it. 
 
 
If you needed it, I hope one of these words I’ve shared also spoke to you. If you are elated today, I hope these words did not offend. Watch for what word God is sending just for you as we move forward together as a country and a church: watch for that WORD made flesh we know as Jesus.
 
May God’s Peace and Christ’s purpose be made real in all of us.   Amen.
 
Pastor Dan
 
 
 
 
  

​There are several very current things I want to tell you about today; all of them have something to do with what we call a person or role or a given day.
 
First: The place I meet many people during the week changed its name yesterday.  “JJ’s” is now called “Pipers.”  The owners originally named it “JJ’s” after each other; both their names start with a “J.”  “Piper,” is the name of their baby girl.  They said, “It’s all for her anyway.”  It’s the same great staff, same great coffee, same great place to hang out.
 
Here is this from Don:  We are an Eden Prairie polling place and are one of the busiest sites in EP. And to make our voting visitors feel welcome, we supply coffee and cookies throughout the day as they wait in line. (We as a staff… that is Deb… also cook for the judges who are here all day.) You can help by bringing two dozen cookies (commercially baked only) to church on Sunday or drop them off on Monday. Another way you can help is be an “Election Day host.”  Sign up for a two-hour hosting time slot on the insert that will be in Sunday’s bulletin.
 
Last Sunday was “Servant Sunday.” It was fantastic! Attendance and participation was over the top. We spent 25 minutes in our regular worship and then another 40 minutes or so on Servant Projects throughout the church.  This included assembling the 30 cleaning buckets we raised over $3,000 to fill.  We also washed windows, wrote cards, put up foam tiles for sound proofing and talked about what service projects we should be doing.  Kids made cards and cookies and blankets to give to those who are lonely.  People had such a good time that I’ve already been asked, “When are we doing ‘Servant Sunday’ again?” I’m hoping that comment comes because of all the good we did and not because it included my shortest sermon ever.
 
In the “I believe in miracles department:” We had a 50-or more-year-old tank come off of its bracket…UP ON THE CEILING in the boiler room.  The miracle is that it didn’t break a water main. The possibilities of what could have been included renaming our church after Noah’s Ark.
 
This coming Sunday is “All Saints Sunday.”  All Saints Sunday is the day we remember those in our congregation who have died in the last year.  We will celebrate Holy Communion.  We will also offer the opportunity for you to place a flower on the altar in memory of someone you have loved and lost.  Here is a brief thought for All Saints Sunday from Nadia Boltz Weber…  “What we celebrate when we celebrate All Saints is not the superhuman faith and power of a select few, but is God’s ability to use flawed people to do divine thing.”
 
 
One more thing because I have to:  Although it pains my “deeper than dirt” St. Louis Cardinal fan heritage to say it…The Chicago Cubs are, as of early this morning, The World Champions of Baseball… This clip expresses what many of us in religious vocations thought about this years’ World Series. 

Have a great week.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan