Sympathies for the family of Lois Maki (husband Dennis), friend of the church, who passed away this week. We hold her, and her loved ones, in the light and love of God.
United Protestant Church will be hosting a funeral service for Debbie Leal on Tuesday, July 9, at 10:00 am (visitation at 9, with fellowship meal to follow). Debbie’s son Andrew and Crystal (Merila) Leal were married in this church a few years ago.
Grill’s On! NOTE: No Thursday picnic this week. Go and grill with your loved ones this holiday…and take care with fireworks, lest you have another excuse for letting your pastor beat you in Bocce Ball!
Pastor Paul will be out of the office from Tuesday, July 2 to Friday, July 5. He’ll be lost somewhere in the Boundary Waters and therefore unreachable by phone. You can try prayer, though. He’ll be listening well.
Note from Pastor Paul When July rolls around, I give a tip o’ the sweaty and sunbleached hat to Edgewood. It is my paddling hat, old and ragged, patched through the years and purposefully worn only in times of floating and deep woods wanders. Edgewood was my traveling partner for many years – out and about the northern woods, in and out of the lakes and streams, cedar thickets and ash swamps, knee deep in muck and eye-to-eye with moose. He passed away a few years ago. I miss him. Unlike me, he was a quiet man. A calm and thoughtful man. Careful, but curious – and oh so creative. With self-effacing reflection I’ll share now that he’d carefully think while I was more prone to action. He’d question the situation, as I’d be quick with reaction. But oh for happy balance, we complimented one another. It reminds me that “it takes many types”….(I mean cliche’s are cliche’s for a reason). Some of us are vocal, some of us are quiet. Some active, some calm. Some authoritative, some passive. As you find yourself in those binaries, reflect for a moment on how proud or critical you are of yourself for such behaviors. But the thing is: we need you. Here in the church we need both the calm and cautious, and the active and reactive. We compliment one another as we share this special time and space.
T.S. Eliot wrote “April is the cruelest month” (though here in our land, I think he’d have changed it to May), but I call July my “Feral Month”, as I prefer to spend as many hours as I can in the hum of the bugs and the wind in the trees and the waves lapping rocks on the shore. Wherever I go, I carry his memory, and his calm but persistent nudge to get out and explore. So I offer this pic of ol’ Edge on one of our travels, to honor the spirit of the season.
Enjoy.
In Joy,
Pastor Paul