Eden Prairie United Methodist Church
Connect with Us!
  • Home
  • Being Church
    • Crops For PROP
    • Serving Our Neighbors
    • Fellowship >
      • Women's Retreat
  • Children | Youth
    • Nursery
    • Sunday School (Preschool through 7th grade)
    • Especially for Families
    • Rooted (3rd - 4th grade)
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Middle School Youth (Grades 7-8)
    • Confirmation (8th-9th grade)
    • Higher Ground (10th-12th grade)
  • Music
    • Adult Music Opportunities
  • About EPUMC
    • Worship
    • Staff
    • Notes from Pastor Becky Jo
    • Lay Leadership
    • A Reconciling Congregation
    • Tumbleweed Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Annual Report
    • Calendar
  • Prayer
  • Online Giving
  • Contact Us

Weekly Memo for January 26

1/26/2017

Comments

 
Katie, my daughter Anna and myself are heading to St. Louis, MO.  My nephew Nathan is getting married to his longtime significant other Mindy, and they have asked me to do the wedding. 
 
My three brothers and all their families still live in the St. Louis Metro area, but I never get back home. I find it to be one of the great ironies of my life as a pastor. Here, I am surrounded by the closeness of families and talking about the importance of family, and yet personally my experience with my side of my family is very distant.
 
This week my brother David, who was the brother I was closest to growing up but whom I now talk to about once a year, has called me twice in two days to make sure I’m free on Friday afternoon and evening to “hang out.”  What is that…
 
After I talked with David, … I began to wonder how he is really doing and if we will get to that when we hang out or not. This set me to thinking… I’ll have a day to do whatever I want…  And so I’ve been making some plans to visit my hometown of Worden, Il.  I’ll visit the graves of my parents and brothers and grandparents, drive by the house I grew up in, and maybe sneak in a hello to my Aunt Jackie.
 
When you’re the distant member of a family you learn that …when you go back home… in one way or another, it’s a trip to reconnect with your roots…it’s about remembering you are a part of a family, no matter how distant you have become. 
 
Being a part of a family for me is about recognizing that there are some things about our lives that are so significant and yet remain so deep down in the trenches of our souls that sometimes it takes a physical connection to bring them to the surface.
 
I think being a member of a church family is a lot like that.  When people say, as they often do at Eden Prairie UMC, “this feels like home” we are recognizing what we might call our spiritual roots. And spiritual roots are important because whatever they are…they are a part of us… And isn’t the spiritual life really about being able to somehow reconnect with what is the deep down, very real part of ourselves… trusting that God will, embrace us and heal us and empower us all?
 
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
 
 

Comments

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

Connect with us!
office@prairiechurch.org
(952) 937-8781

15050 Scenic Heights Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Picture
Picture