I’m away this week and next on vacation. I want to thank the SPRC, our staff and everyone at EPUMC who cover the bases. If you do have a pastoral emergency I have arranged for other Pastors to cover, just call the church office. Sundays when the pastor is out of town are a great opportunity for a variety of experiences in worship. This summer is no exception.
This Sunday August 3rd, the Rev. J. Cody Nielson, the Director of our United Ministry in Higher Education Ministry at the University of Minnesota will be leading worship. Cody is a young, passionate and engaging speaker.
On August 10th, our Director of Worship and Music, Don Prestly is going to lead us in a service of music. It’ll be something like what we sometimes call a “hymn sing.” This is where you pick the songs that are sung. A variation of this is called “stump the organist” which is where you pick the hymns on the spot. We’re asking you to email us or otherwise let us know a song or hymn you’d like to sing in advance and we’ll see what we can do.
I believe I am very fortunate to be able to have a vacation. In our culture where we are so often evaluated by how busy we are, my idea of vacation is to let go of that for a while. It’s not so much doing nothing or doing just what you want; after all Katie and Otto our dog will be with me and maybe the kids for a few days. For me at least, vacation is about doing something a little different. What I do different on vacation is spend a lot of time by myself.
I’ve found that since I spend so much time in my day job listening to others that time spent by myself helps me to listen to my dog, my wife, myself and if I’m lucky God a little better. We are up at a cabin north of Brainerd and so there are a lot of things that are not usually around to listen to like; the put-put of a small fishing boat waking you up in the morning, the stillness of the lake at sunset, the getting caught up in another world of a good book (it never ceases to amaze me how that works on vacation), and then there is that inner stillness that it takes a few days to get use to.
The most important part of all this for me is that every once in a while when I’m not on vacation I have a day or an hour or a few minutes of something like the same experience. It reminds me that there are a lot of things right here at home in my every day (not on vacation day) life to listen to and many of them include something of God speaking in my life.
Keep the Faith!
Pastor Dan
This Sunday August 3rd, the Rev. J. Cody Nielson, the Director of our United Ministry in Higher Education Ministry at the University of Minnesota will be leading worship. Cody is a young, passionate and engaging speaker.
On August 10th, our Director of Worship and Music, Don Prestly is going to lead us in a service of music. It’ll be something like what we sometimes call a “hymn sing.” This is where you pick the songs that are sung. A variation of this is called “stump the organist” which is where you pick the hymns on the spot. We’re asking you to email us or otherwise let us know a song or hymn you’d like to sing in advance and we’ll see what we can do.
I believe I am very fortunate to be able to have a vacation. In our culture where we are so often evaluated by how busy we are, my idea of vacation is to let go of that for a while. It’s not so much doing nothing or doing just what you want; after all Katie and Otto our dog will be with me and maybe the kids for a few days. For me at least, vacation is about doing something a little different. What I do different on vacation is spend a lot of time by myself.
I’ve found that since I spend so much time in my day job listening to others that time spent by myself helps me to listen to my dog, my wife, myself and if I’m lucky God a little better. We are up at a cabin north of Brainerd and so there are a lot of things that are not usually around to listen to like; the put-put of a small fishing boat waking you up in the morning, the stillness of the lake at sunset, the getting caught up in another world of a good book (it never ceases to amaze me how that works on vacation), and then there is that inner stillness that it takes a few days to get use to.
The most important part of all this for me is that every once in a while when I’m not on vacation I have a day or an hour or a few minutes of something like the same experience. It reminds me that there are a lot of things right here at home in my every day (not on vacation day) life to listen to and many of them include something of God speaking in my life.
Keep the Faith!
Pastor Dan
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