Merry Christmas!
Clemens Schmidt--The Church Year and the Art of Clemens Schmidt, 2003, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Strike Two!
I do not know which is worse: Being a little bit surprised by the findings of the Mitchell report or thinking that baseball had changed its ways. I really like to give people the benefit of the doubt. After all I am not supposed to judge anybody, but when I heard that Mitchell report had concluded that all 30 teams in Major League Baseball had at least 1 player who was using steroids at some point within the last 10 years, I became very judgmental.
As a Minnesota Twins fan because I grew up in Minnesota, I enjoyed watching both the 1987 and the 1991 World Series'. I enjoyed hearing Kirby Puckett's name being announced by the unmistakable voice of Bob Casey, the Metrodome announcer, and then seeing him put one in the nose bleed section. I also enjoyed watching Kent Hrbek and Chuck Knoblock and the other Twins players at the time. That of course was before baseball lost its innocence in the strike of the mid-1990's. That was strike 1. I really did not like baseball for a while after that and not too much later the greats of the game that I grew up with started to retire.
I was starting to get back into baseball a little bit. I again began to follow the Twins and their several appearances in post-season games. I began to really follow the Twins when I was in seminary and had friends that were White Sox fans. I enjoyed our conversations.
Yesterday was not a good day for baseball or any other professional sport, as far as I am concerned. Lost again was the innocence of the game. Although, for some time we have wondered about certain players, such as the wanna-be home run king. And it hurts, it really does, for whether they know it or not, there are people-children who look up to these players who listen to their speeches about not cheating and being good. Now who can you believe.
I guess that it is a good thing that I am a pastor. As someone who proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ, we first have to start at the beginning. We "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23. We are all loved by God-even baseball players who use steroids and lie to Congress. The question is what we do about it. We have to make it right. We have to come clean. We must repent of our sins-turn away from them, and come to faith in Jesus and rest in his grace.
Unfortunately this is not always easy and sometimes it hurts and while we are forgiven of our sins the consequences of them are still in play. For public figures that probably means a downfall. I suppose, after awhile, I will again become interested in baseball, but unfortunately the umpire has called "Strike 2."
As a Minnesota Twins fan because I grew up in Minnesota, I enjoyed watching both the 1987 and the 1991 World Series'. I enjoyed hearing Kirby Puckett's name being announced by the unmistakable voice of Bob Casey, the Metrodome announcer, and then seeing him put one in the nose bleed section. I also enjoyed watching Kent Hrbek and Chuck Knoblock and the other Twins players at the time. That of course was before baseball lost its innocence in the strike of the mid-1990's. That was strike 1. I really did not like baseball for a while after that and not too much later the greats of the game that I grew up with started to retire.
I was starting to get back into baseball a little bit. I again began to follow the Twins and their several appearances in post-season games. I began to really follow the Twins when I was in seminary and had friends that were White Sox fans. I enjoyed our conversations.
Yesterday was not a good day for baseball or any other professional sport, as far as I am concerned. Lost again was the innocence of the game. Although, for some time we have wondered about certain players, such as the wanna-be home run king. And it hurts, it really does, for whether they know it or not, there are people-children who look up to these players who listen to their speeches about not cheating and being good. Now who can you believe.
I guess that it is a good thing that I am a pastor. As someone who proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ, we first have to start at the beginning. We "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23. We are all loved by God-even baseball players who use steroids and lie to Congress. The question is what we do about it. We have to make it right. We have to come clean. We must repent of our sins-turn away from them, and come to faith in Jesus and rest in his grace.
Unfortunately this is not always easy and sometimes it hurts and while we are forgiven of our sins the consequences of them are still in play. For public figures that probably means a downfall. I suppose, after awhile, I will again become interested in baseball, but unfortunately the umpire has called "Strike 2."
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Cancelled
On Sunday morning I was a part of something that I was never a part of before. I was part of the decision to cancel church. For those of you who do not know, we got a snowstorm up here in the Upper Peninsula. We got about 10 inches of snow. It began early on Saturday afternoon.
I had gone to Menominee, which is the largest town nearest to me. I knew the storm was coming and so I headed out to buy a shovel. I decided to stop in a few stores in downtown Menominee where a friend of Lost Lake Covenant owns a store. I was in a used bookstore for about 10-15 minutes and when I got outside it was snowing pretty good, the ground already had a good coating on it. It was not snowing before I entered the store. Needless to say, I ended up going out of my way to find a shovel. I then decided to head back to the parsonage.
It snowed and snowed and snowed. Late Saturday night I talked with the chair at Lost Lake and the decision was made to cancel the service and all of the members were called. We also were supposed to have a presentation by a Gideon, so I called him and told him that we were cancelling our services, but Bethlehem was not 100% cancelled yet.
When I woke up the next morning and looked outside, I could see the thick blanket of white all over the ground. Now the chair from Bethlehem calls and as he is talking to me the plow goes right by their house. I looked out the window because they are my neighbors on a corner. I see the plow also, but he heads away, so he decided to call a couple others for advice. He calls me back and we decide to cancel church at Bethlehem as well and begin to notify all of the members.
As I get ready for the day, not too long after I talked with the chair. I see something green and yellow in my driveway. It is not the Green Bay Packers, it is a more powerful and dependable machine, it is a neighbor who has a snow blower on the front of his tractor (I think it would be good exercise for the Packers to clean out their own stadium tomorrow). He does the driveway here at the house and the parking lot at church. Then as I am attending church via the idiot box (TV); the plow comes by; it is about 9:30. During the afternoon I operate a very old snow blower to do clean up where the tractor could not reach. I discover as I go to blow the space in front of the mailbox, so the mail carrier can access the box that something is missing--the mailbox is missing. I find it knocked over and begin to put it upright, but it is really heavy. I suspect the plow hit it, maybe on purpose, because he would have had to go out of his way to hit it because it is in line or a little bit further back with the other mailboxes. Needless to say the mail carrier is not happy with me. I told the head trustee and they are working on getting the box temporarily put back.
Why do I write about this? Not because I am upset about the mailbox being knocked over, but because church was cancelled. I came from a tough town, a suburb of Minneapolis that was known for not cancelling school because of 10 inches of snow or very cold days unless the Governor ordered them closed. My home church was the same way, although they did cancel more then school cancelled. It was a shock to my system to cancel church on account of a little snow. It was a shock to be part of such a decision because only those who had that kind of power made those decisions. It was a shock because it was Sunday morning, the sermon was ready to go (a good sermon at that), the service was planned, the baptism was ready to go, the Gideon was planned; but then snow happened and soon my day was not very crazy in going between churches or even preparing my self to preach, even though I was ready.
This disruption reminds me a little bit about Advent. Advent is a disruption. It is a disruption within the normal patterns of life. We celebrate the season of Advent to prepare us for the message of Christmas. We celebrate Advent to prepare us as well for the second coming of Christ. Unfortunately, the disruptions seem to be man-made in the sense that shopping and party's and money are supposed to make this a good time of year for those who make money, but not those who work for a living. That is the wrong disruption for this time of year. The right disruption is by the One who says, "Repent!" Turn away from the cares of this world and cast your cares in the way of the path that leads to life. This is the real message for this time of year.
I had gone to Menominee, which is the largest town nearest to me. I knew the storm was coming and so I headed out to buy a shovel. I decided to stop in a few stores in downtown Menominee where a friend of Lost Lake Covenant owns a store. I was in a used bookstore for about 10-15 minutes and when I got outside it was snowing pretty good, the ground already had a good coating on it. It was not snowing before I entered the store. Needless to say, I ended up going out of my way to find a shovel. I then decided to head back to the parsonage.
It snowed and snowed and snowed. Late Saturday night I talked with the chair at Lost Lake and the decision was made to cancel the service and all of the members were called. We also were supposed to have a presentation by a Gideon, so I called him and told him that we were cancelling our services, but Bethlehem was not 100% cancelled yet.
When I woke up the next morning and looked outside, I could see the thick blanket of white all over the ground. Now the chair from Bethlehem calls and as he is talking to me the plow goes right by their house. I looked out the window because they are my neighbors on a corner. I see the plow also, but he heads away, so he decided to call a couple others for advice. He calls me back and we decide to cancel church at Bethlehem as well and begin to notify all of the members.
As I get ready for the day, not too long after I talked with the chair. I see something green and yellow in my driveway. It is not the Green Bay Packers, it is a more powerful and dependable machine, it is a neighbor who has a snow blower on the front of his tractor (I think it would be good exercise for the Packers to clean out their own stadium tomorrow). He does the driveway here at the house and the parking lot at church. Then as I am attending church via the idiot box (TV); the plow comes by; it is about 9:30. During the afternoon I operate a very old snow blower to do clean up where the tractor could not reach. I discover as I go to blow the space in front of the mailbox, so the mail carrier can access the box that something is missing--the mailbox is missing. I find it knocked over and begin to put it upright, but it is really heavy. I suspect the plow hit it, maybe on purpose, because he would have had to go out of his way to hit it because it is in line or a little bit further back with the other mailboxes. Needless to say the mail carrier is not happy with me. I told the head trustee and they are working on getting the box temporarily put back.
Why do I write about this? Not because I am upset about the mailbox being knocked over, but because church was cancelled. I came from a tough town, a suburb of Minneapolis that was known for not cancelling school because of 10 inches of snow or very cold days unless the Governor ordered them closed. My home church was the same way, although they did cancel more then school cancelled. It was a shock to my system to cancel church on account of a little snow. It was a shock to be part of such a decision because only those who had that kind of power made those decisions. It was a shock because it was Sunday morning, the sermon was ready to go (a good sermon at that), the service was planned, the baptism was ready to go, the Gideon was planned; but then snow happened and soon my day was not very crazy in going between churches or even preparing my self to preach, even though I was ready.
This disruption reminds me a little bit about Advent. Advent is a disruption. It is a disruption within the normal patterns of life. We celebrate the season of Advent to prepare us for the message of Christmas. We celebrate Advent to prepare us as well for the second coming of Christ. Unfortunately, the disruptions seem to be man-made in the sense that shopping and party's and money are supposed to make this a good time of year for those who make money, but not those who work for a living. That is the wrong disruption for this time of year. The right disruption is by the One who says, "Repent!" Turn away from the cares of this world and cast your cares in the way of the path that leads to life. This is the real message for this time of year.
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