Sami's crushed dreams

Sami is obsessed with getting into the laundry room. She camps out regularly at the door hoping for an opportunity. Look at her intense gaze--like she's trying to make me open the door by the sheer force of her feline will.





She tries whatever angles she can think of looking for an opening.





She bats at the door in a most irritating fashion (notice the blur of paws in motion).





And it's all because this is the joy that awaits her in the section of the laundry room behind the tarp, where my landlord stores all the random things that tend to accumulate when one works on a house.





It's a veritable amusement park of possibility! So much exploring to do! So much, in fact, that she can easily get into crevices from which I cannot extract her, and she has done exactly that. Consequently, no more laundry room expeditions for Sami.

Poor kitty. She has such a rough life.

Wedding bells

Saturday was my first wedding as an intern. I previously had the privilege of assisting at the wedding of two friends this summer at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church in St. Paul. Here we are in July:





So this was my second opportunity to participate in a wedding. This week's wedding was at First Lutheran in Kenyon. It was quite the affair, with six bridesmaids, six groomsmen, three flower girls, and two ring bearers. Nothing like a little holy chaos to celebrate such a blessed event! The kids were remarkably well-behaved and we all had fun, I think.

And check out the post-ceremony rides. The groom's father (I think I have that right) is part of the fire department, hence the fire truck. The charter buses took guests to the reception in Morristown, about 25 miles from Kenyon. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

Gol Harvest Luncheon

As I was driving home from the Harvest Luncheon at Gol Lutheran Church, I realized I had forgotten to take any pictures! It's really unfortunate, because it was a lovely event, and it would have been nice to share it with you. Alas, you will have to take my word for it.

The menu included ham sandwiches, beans, the most amazing vegetable beef soup ever, and the dizzying array of pies and desserts I have come to expect at these functions. The fabulous soup chef is no longer local, but she returned just to share her talents with us for this event. Thanks be to God for that!

As always, I enjoyed seeing a wide variety of people from all of my various congregations. I'm really struck by how dedicated the people of the area churches are to supporting one another. And I hope I was reasonably good company, since I was in that post-liturgical fog that comes between worship and the post-liturgical nap.

Sunday at Holden and Dale: The blood of Christ, shed ON me

I led worship at Holden and Dale Lutheran Churches this week. It was a great experience, as always, and nice to be back there only three weeks after the last time. I had a chance to share worship with Pastor Rell Spickerman, who was on vacation when I was there in September. Everything went quite well, except one thing, and thankfully it didn't affect anyone but me.

So here we go...lest you think I am fully competent at life and worship, allow me to disabuse you of that notion.








Communion wine all the way from chest to hem, including on the cincture (rope belt). That takes talent, my friends. Not just any amateur klutz can do that; I am just that awesome. Naturally, it happened at the 9:00 service at Holden, so I had to do the entire 11:00 service at Dale looking ridiculous.

This alb (liturgical robe) was a gift from my parents and some dear friends who have supported me all along this journey. It took three tries and six months from the time I ordered it for it to arrive in the right size (quite the saga). So there's a lot of money, love, and tenacity invested in this garment, and I was in a bit of a panic that it was ruined forever after I've hardly broken it in.

But I employed a combination of tips from my altar guild-experienced mother (boiling water) and my supervising pastor (Oxi Clean). It required quite a time investment, but I prevailed over these stains! Behold, clean and white, and all is well!





Clearly this calls for an Arrested Development-style lesson, so here it is:
...And that's why we should always use white wine for communion. Even if it tastes like Angelica.

Conference meeting

Last week was the monthly gathering of the Cannon River Conference of the Southeast Minnesota Synod of the ELCA. Minnesota is divided into six synods--Minneapolis area, St. Paul area, and the four quadrants of the rest of the state. The Southeast Minnesota synod is divided into approximately five conferences, so it's a fairly compact geographical area.

The conference meeting is a chance for the pastors of this area to get together for fellowship, reflection, visioning, and worship. In September we gathered at First Lutheran in Red Wing and worshiped in their small chapel. It was a warm and serene space, and I regret not getting any pictures.

This month, we were hosted by Bethel Lutheran in Northfield, and I didn't make the no-pictures mistake twice. Here's the beautiful space.


Sanctuary




Baptismal font and paschal candle, at the entrance to the sanctuary




My favorite part...the floor of little rocks!

Weekly beauty: Bible word clouds

Stunning graphic art. Visual depictions of the most common words in each book of the Bible. Larger words are more prominent (read about other particulars). Check it out at the artist's website for this project, where you can purchase posters or download images. Or there's a PDF of all 66 images at the bottom of this blog post (before the comments).


Genesis




Isaiah




John




Revelation

Fish-jello frenzy

...aka the annual Vang Lutefisk Dinner. That's right, the blessed event has come and gone, officially kicking off Lutefisk Dinner Season 'round these parts.

The good news is that I somehow managed to escape without having to eat any. The bad news is that I didn't get a chance to eat anything else, either!

I got there about 10:30 am, just in time to be trained for the 11:00 crowd (the 11:00, noon, and 1:00 seatings require reservations, then they serve continuously from 4:00 until 7:30). I was a server for the first two lunch crowds, got set up for the third, and realized we were running half an hour behind, so I had to go get ready to teach confirmation elsewhere.

Let me tell you, they run a tight ship at Vang! They have their system down and it works. Here is most of the dining area. There's another room out of sight. I'm sure they seat more than 150 at a time. There is a reason there were 44 servers listed on the sheet I got in the mail.





There are dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, coleslaw, coffee, and water on the tables when guests arrive. Everything else (lutefisk, meatballs, mashed potatoes, lefse, corn, fruit soup, and cookies) is brought to the tables by serving staff and served family-style. The servers get the food from different Sunday school rooms. Here you can see trays of fruit soup lined up and ready to go. Behind it are bowls ready to be filled with corn.





Here's the actual kitchen, center of mashed potato distribution and dish-washing...not to be confused with dish-scraping, which was done at another station. I'm telling you, this was a precise operation.





And, of course, we have the main attraction. It was prepared in a creepy back room off the kitchen that probably exists solely for this once-annual function. There were a whole crew of people tending to the lutefisk preparation, and here you see the near-final step: transferring it from the baking dishes to the serving trays. I can testify that it is an art form to carry a tray of this slippery stuff without it sliding right off the edge. By all appearances, the jello comparison is not exaggerated.





All in all, it was a fabulous day! This dinner is a huge fundraiser for Vang Lutheran Church and it is clearly an institution in this area. It was a delight to be a small part of it!

Now I've enjoyed fall events at Hegre, First, and Vang, and I still have several others to look forward to...the Gol Harvest Luncheon this Sunday, the Holden All Saints Dinner (which, sadly, I have to miss), and the Grace Fall Bazaar. And probably others I don't know about yet. Good times ahead!

Prettiness in Faribault

I recently had occasion to ride along with my supervising pastor to Faribault to visit someone in the hospital. It was a quick trip, but we did take a few extra minutes to see a couple of the city's highlights. Check out these magnificent buildings!


The Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf. Faribault is also home to the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind (counterpart to the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in my own hometown of Vinton).




Shattuck-St. Mary's School. Stunning campus.

Sunday at Grace and Vang

I returned to Grace Lutheran Church in Nerstrand this week. I had assisted there the first Sunday of my internship, and this time I preached. It was a treat to enjoy the "Now the Feast and Celebration" setting without having to lead it.

Grace, along with First, celebrates Holy Communion every week, whereas the rest of my congregations do so twice a month. It's nice when I end up at one of these two places on the Sundays (like today) when the other churches aren't including the sacrament.

After worship at Grace, I headed to Vang Lutheran Church in rural Dennison. It was the only church I hadn't worshiped at yet, so it was a delight to finally get there to preach and to meet more of the congregation.

Today was a special day at Vang, as we dedicated the new addition they just built. It provides them with a much-needed narthex (plus the space below it), as well as an elevator for accessibility. Just in time for the lutefisk dinner on Wednesday! Here are some pictures of Vang, just as beautiful as the rest of my churches!


Sanctuary




Chancel




Amazing window and organ




View from front...they have a cool wrap-around balcony with seating on all three sides (you can see one end of it in the picture above)

October 10 sermon

Text: Luke 17: 11-19
Preached October 10 at Grace Lutheran Church in Nerstrand, MN, and Vang Lutheran Church in rural Dennison, MN


So, Jesus is on the move again. He's now in the final stages of his journey to Jerusalem, but he never seems to get very far without someone asking for something. This time, it's not one person, but ten. And they all call out: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

These ten men had leprosy. Not only were they afflicted with physical illness, but their disease would mean that they were also cast out of society, isolated from their loved ones, and left to fend for themselves. So it was quite obvious to Jesus what they wanted, specifically. They wanted physical healing. They wanted social and religious acceptance. They wanted the restoration of their place in their community.

Rather than touching them, like we often see him do, Jesus says, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” We haven’t heard that any healing has occurred yet, but they must have believed something would happen. The priests’ job was to examine them and declare them clean and acceptable to the community. There would be no reason to see the priests if there was no change in their condition.

But there was a change. In fact, Luke says, “as they went, they were made clean.” Completely cured on their way to see the priests! I’m sure they were ecstatic! And they probably couldn’t wait to get to the priests so they could officially end their suffering and isolation and rejoin their community.

But Luke says “one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back.” One of them interrupted his trip to the priests. As eager as he was, he postponed his acceptance back into society. And he turned back to Jesus.

Not only did he turn around, but he praised God loudly all the way back. As he approached, he got closer and closer, and he just kept coming, until finally, he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him all the while. This is an extravagant response! This one man clearly made the connection. He recognized Jesus’ healing as the work of God.

But there’s another piece to this story. This man—the one who turned back to praise God—this man has a secret. And Luke keeps it secret until we’ve seen the man’s extraordinary response. Then Luke springs it on us: the man is a Samaritan. He is not a Jew. He is not one of God’s chosen people. He is a foreigner, an outsider, looked down upon by those on the inside.

Who would have expected this outsider to be the one to figure it out? Who would have expected this outsider to recognize God’s activity? Who would have expected the outsider to turn back to Jesus? Who would have expected the outsider to offer the most extravagant thanks and praise?

I don’t think Luke’s readers would have expected it, and I know I wouldn’t have either.

Shouldn’t it be the Jews who turn back to Jesus? The Jews are the insiders in God’s story. They are the chosen ones. Shouldn’t it be the Jews who recognize that such a miracle could only be the work of God?

But this is not how it happens. The nine Jewish lepers do not return. For whatever reason, the Samaritan is the only one who returns to thank Jesus. The Samaritan—the outsider—recognized God at work in his healing and responded with gratitude and praise.

This outcome is not at all expected. But why is it so surprising? As Terry Fretheim says, “God does not run a ‘closed shop’ on who receives a word from God and who can engage it.” As we just saw, Jesus did heal and speak with the Samaritan in the first place. He didn’t refuse to engage with him because he was an outsider.

So perhaps we should expect this response. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when God works in unexpected ways, among unexpected people. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when those we see as outsiders recognize God’s work and respond to it with extravagant gratitude and praise. After all, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen it happen, and I’m sure it isn’t the last.

What about Naaman, the Syrian general we just heard about in our first reading today? He too, suffered from leprosy, which may have been surprising for someone described as a “mighty warrior.”

Naaman heard from his wife’s servant that there was a prophet in Israel who could cure his condition. So he went to Israel and saw Elisha. Like Jesus does in Luke’s account, Elisha kept his distance. In fact, Elisha didn’t even come out of his house. What an unexpected reception! Naaman fancied himself important enough that at least Elisha could have shown his face!

But instead, Elisha just sent a messenger to tell Naaman to go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. What an unexpected instruction! Naaman had expected something a bit more dramatic. He couldn’t see how a simple bath in the Jordan would cure his leprosy, especially when he thought there were better rivers back in Syria. So “he turned and went away in a rage.”

But Naaman’s servants convinced him to get over his anger and do as Elisha had instructed. So Naaman washed seven times in the Jordan, and “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.”

Naaman returned to Elisha and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except Israel.” And Naaman declared that he would henceforth worship only the Lord. This Syrian general—this outsider—recognized God at work in his healing and responded with gratitude and praise.

And then there was a woman I’ll call Carol (which is not her real name). She was a patient on my unit of the hospital where I did CPE last summer. Carol was suffering withdrawal from nicotine, alcohol, and opiates. Her appearance during my first visit shocked and distressed me.

She was emaciated. Her hospital gown hung on her like a tent, and I could see the outlines of the bones in her shoulders and upper chest. She looked like a frail little bird, or maybe a twig that would snap in the slightest breeze.

Her eyes kept rolling back in her head. She was disoriented, and she was frustrated that she didn’t know what was going on with her treatment. She seemed to generally feel like a victim.

When she managed to speak coherently, she talked about how much she loved her grandchildren and how she didn’t want them to see her so “goofy,” as she put it. But I learned from the nursing staff that Carol had been through chemical dependency treatment over 30 times without success.

We didn’t have a chance to talk about God during that visit, but I expected her to express feelings of guilt or shame, or perhaps a sense of rejection. Imagining myself in her shoes, I thought I’d feel hopeless—like God had abandoned me into the grip of this awful addiction, and after trying so many times, there was just no way out. After all, she hadn’t experienced the healing that the Samaritan and Naaman experienced.

But when we got around to the big question I was so interested in—“How are you doing with God?”—I didn’t get the response I expected. She didn’t express feelings of guilt or shame. She didn’t express a sense of abandonment or despair.

She looked me straight in the eye and said, more clearly than anything she had said so far, “I know God is right here with me.” She told me she prays all the time, and she reads her Bible, and she knew that God would not desert her during her struggles. There was confidence and deep appreciation in her voice. Carol—who hadn’t yet been healed—saw God at work even in her suffering, and she responded with gratitude and praise.

The Samaritan threw himself at Jesus’ feet, thanking Jesus and praising God loudly. The Syrian general declared his faith in God and set out to worship him. And the addicted woman remained convinced of God’s presence and love.

A leprous Samaritan, a Syrian general, and a suffering addict. They seem like a motley crew, and they wouldn’t be the first place I would expect to find faith. But they all saw God at work in their lives, and they all responded with profound gratitude and worship.

And what about us? How do we respond to God’s work in our lives? We might think of ourselves as “insiders” in God’s story. We know of God’s work. We are in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are nourished and healed every time we hear God’s love and forgiveness proclaimed for us, and every time we receive Christ’s body and blood at this table. This is God’s work in our lives. And how do we respond?

I’ll tell you how I see you responding. I haven’t been around here very long, so I can’t speak to as many details as I would like, but I’ve seen a few things already.

[GRACE] We had an intern committee meeting here this week, and I couldn’t even count the number of people who commented on how warm and cozy and inviting this space is. That ministry of hospitality is a response to the good news you have received here. That warm and welcoming atmosphere is you inviting others to share in the gift of community God has created here. It is a reflection of your gratitude for God’s work in your lives.

[VANG] Today we’re celebrating the major improvements you just made to this building so that people with limited mobility can comfortably join you in this place. That ministry of hospitality is a response to the good news you have received here. That welcoming improvement is you inviting others to share in the gift of community God has created here. It is a reflection of your gratitude for God’s work in your lives.

It is true that we often miss the boat. We often dismiss apparent “outsiders.” We often fail to recognize God at work in our own lives, or to respond with praise. We are often the nine who do not return to thank Jesus.

But there’s yet another unexpected twist to this story, and that is…sometimes we do get it. Sometimes we do see God at work in our lives, and sometimes we do respond with extravagant gratitude and praise.

Sometimes we find ourselves at Jesus’ feet with the no-longer-leprous Samaritan, praising God loudly. Sometimes we find ourselves with Naaman at Elisha’s door, confessing our faith in the one true God. Sometimes we find ourselves with the suffering addict, witnessing to a God who never abandons us in our suffering.

Sometimes we are the one who turns back to bless the Lord, and here we are this morning. And, like he did for the leper who returned to him, Jesus will send us on our way to share the good news of God’s work in our lives, and in the lives of all people. Thanks be to God!