Month: July 2020

Sunday, July 26: Worship at 10:30 am. The church doors are open and we welcome members to worship with us. Fellowship is shared afterward also. Masks are required and social distancing & hygiene protocols observed.

Monday, July 27: Bible Study meets at 5:30 pm. Join Pastor Paul in exploring this week's scripture in the lectionary. You are welcome to join in with your questions and thoughts. Masks, social distancing and hygiene protocols practiced.

Saturday, July 25: Ruby's Pantry at Mission Creek Church, 521 131st Avenue W., 11 am -12:30 pm.

Saturday, August 8: Western Garden Tour & Continental Breakfast-to-Go, Norton Park UMC, 436 N. 79th Avenue W. Cost is $10 day of tour only. For more information, call Kathy at 218-590-1964.

Looking Ahead: Church council discussed holding a rummage sale sometime in September. Watch for more details regarding date, time, and safety precautions. Items may be brought to the church at any time.

Have you understood all of this?  ~ Matthew 13:51

    Last week I wrote that I was taking a trip…I focused on the YES of the trip (personal healing, engagement of hope and positive memories), and not the NO of negative experience and personal challenge. I've made the rounds that I wanted to, returned to places I've always longed to return. Did everything go as planned? Of course not. A flat tire high in the mountains, two major detours on account of bridge repair and forest fire. I'm a few days late in getting home (darn auto repairs!), but I'm almost there.

    It probably isn't a shock to you that along the way I meet people, and strike up conversations. I met a gun-toting conservative (holster showing outside his tucked-in T-shirt) that spoke of our president as "the savior of our nation." I met a joint-smoking river paddler (with sandals like mine on his feet) that said "I figure the world is all (messed) up so we might as well get high and run the rapids." I met an RV-driving retiree that said "surprised they let you into Montana with that Prius of yours" and a Harley-riding biker that asked "How do you like that car? I've been thinking of getting one."

    The common theme? We shared our stories. We listened to one another. We treated one another with humanity.

    I'm sure I'm not alone in my admission that it's easy for me to make snap judgments. It is easy for me to label, and be critical. But in this prayerful journey I've made this week, I understand that every person I met had the presence of God within them, and I did my best to treat them as such.

    …Such different people, but one clear thing they all have in common: they all have stories. They all have truth. They all have fears and hopes and loves and reasons for behaving and thinking the way they do. If they seemed angry, I listened for their fears so that I could understand their loves behind it. If they seemed judgmental, I prayed that they open their hearts beyond the label and critique that has brainwashed them in our divisive culture. If they were happy, I celebrated with them. If they were grieving, I listened extra well.

    Jesus asks: "Have I understood all of this?" Well, Jesus, as far as the big picture, not completely, not yet, but maybe it's not the big picture that you want me to get right now. Maybe the real understanding comes from those moments you gave me to share with your people. I listened, like you told me to, and I like to think my biggest understanding is an appreciation of the many things we all have in common. I like to think I understand how you dwell in each of us uniquely. I like to think I understand how you teach us to respect one another, and engage one another with love.

    So…I think I heard the YES that I was listening for. And that YES, like your last word always is, is love. 

Monday, July 20, 5:30 pm: Bible Study You are welcome to join in with your questions and thoughts. Masks, social distancing and hygiene protocols are observed.

A team of people in the church is forming to explore how we might begin Wednesday "Grill's On" picnics in a safe and healthy manner. If you are interested in being part of this conversation, please contact the church.

 

Saturday, July 25: Ruby's Pantry at Mission Creek Church, 521 131st Avenue W., 11 am-12:30 pm.

Saturday, August 8: Western Garden Tour & Continental Breakfast-to-Go, Norton Park UMC, 436 N. 79th Avenue W. Cost is $10 day of tour only. For more information, call Kathy at 218-590-1964, 

…for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.   ~ Matthew 13:29

    Kind of cool to be sending out a commentary on my birthday. I'm tempted to write a spiritual reflection on this last voyage of mine around the sun, but there's another voyage more immediate on my mind today.

    As I write this (a few days early), I anticipate that on my birthday I will be in or around the Targhee National Forest in Idaho, watching the sunset reflect in gold and pink hues off the snow-covered peaks of the Grand Teton range. More specifically, I anticipate that I will be eating a giant baked potato, loaded up with goodies from a salad bar, at a little restaurant in Ashton, Idaho. And from there, it is southwest to the Sawtooth Range, where a series of alpine lakes, dotted in the midst of snow-covered peaks, have invited me back to the place where I turned twenty-one years old. There I hope (not anticipate, really, but hope…we'll see what God has in store) that I can be reminded of that awake young man I was back then, full of curiosity and questions, easily pleased by new experiences and eager to jump into the next chapter of my life.

    These little – seemingly selfish – details matter here. Here's the other way I could have written that first paragraph: I'm heading out. I need to get away for a bit. There are a lot of issues going on with family and children and transitions in life. I feel myself starting to get anxious and crabby and just need to get it all together. And the church has less in-person requirements than it has since I've been here, and I never know what the future holds, or if I will have the same health and resources to take this trip, so why not do it now? 

    Hear the difference? The first is focusing on the YES, while the second focuses on the NO. I'll be honest, the thoughts in the second paragraph  are the ones that sparked the idea of heading out there, but as a faith discipline, I try my best to turn every NO to a YES, and in so doing begin to center on joyful, not painful, memories. Happy experiences instead of things I would like to forget.

    I think I say almost every week (in some form) that God is with you all the time and wants you to feel God's grace and love. God wants you to be happy and thrive.

    So: it only makes sense to turn all of the negatives into positive ones. This is not meant to be a light and simple message of ponies and kittens and rainbows, though. This is to remind you that it takes practice and requires discipline. I couldn't have made that shift from the NO in paragraph two to the YES in paragraph one, without practice. Without prayer.

    Try it on in your faith life. If you need a hand getting going, give me a call or stop by for a chat. (Note: I'll most likely be out of cell range from Saturday through next Thursday.) I'd be more than happy to tell you how God led me in this faith discipline. I'd be more than happy to walk with you, the same.

Keep in touch, friends

Pastor Paul

He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, 'Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!"