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Weekly Update (May 16-22)

Helping Hands:
A group of church members is interested in doing a "Mask Drive" to share the masks they have been sewing with the community. If you are interested in assisting or helping sew masks (or know of someone who needs a mask), please contact the church.
The gardens and grounds around the church are longing for a little TLC. If you are interested in doing some weeding or planting, send a note. We can form a safe and healthy work group.
Reminder that all meetings, gatherings and events are still suspended until further notice.
From Pastor Paul: Toward Sunday
…so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him…though indeed he is not far from each one of us.  ~ Acts 17:27
    It's gotta be my favorite part of being a minister…I mean, preaching is pretty cool, and I love the songs, and the friendships, and let's not forget the sweet treats on Sunday and good food on Wednesday (can't wait for those again!), but my favorite part is hearing the stories people share of the moments they feel God's presence in their lives…you know, a feeling of grace that something happened just the way it did and prompting a hearty "thank you" to God. Or when people share about thoughts or questions or work toward healing and then suddenly – an epiphany! I love it when people tell me about some grace-laden clarity that has formed in their lives, or a connection with a loved one that has passed away – ah, so many! I love them all! I thank God that people share them! I celebrate them, care for them, and do what I can to nurture them like flowers in a garden. Each precious, each holy.
    So, it feels right to share with you about one in my own life. See, I shared a bit in last Sunday's sermon about how an area of brokenness and pain in my life that I had been carrying for years was erased in a sudden instant by the right conversation with the right person at the right moment. I have to tell you, friends, feeling that transformation from pain to healing, from grief to solace, from anger to love, is what I hope and pray heaven is all about!
    Thing is, it is already here. "He is not far from each of us," Paul spoke to the Athenians, and by golly he's right! See, I knew my brokenness was unhealthy, and the pain inside of me was also affecting other people. I knew because every day I would keep up my faith practices, and as I turned to God my prayers would remind me that I am, indeed, in need of healing. So I kept moving toward the things that I knew were life-giving to me. I would walk in the woods, spending time with the flora and fauna I love so much. I would play music, because I knew that some day I would "feel" it again. I would gather with life-giving, affirmative people (a tip o' the hat to y'all) and share moments of laughter and creativity and good food. I would write, even if what came out wasn't all I wanted it to be, because I knew it had always been a positive thing in my life. Friends, this is not to pat myself on the back because I "kept working at it" – those things were just self-care. What I really want you to know is that each and every one of those things I was turning to were, in their very presence, gifts from God…and it was God's timeline that I was living in, not my own – no matter my tendency to seek instant gratification. Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven. At any moment, God truly is not far from us.
    And here's the other cool part of the story: all those things I would turn to – nature and music and friendship and words and on and on – those things are still there, and I gotta tell you, when I turn to them now, they fill me with a delight that I haven't felt in a good long time. Thanks, God! Even if I couldn't always feel it the way I wanted to, I knew you were always there. Good plan, that one.
Keep in touch, Friends
Pastor Paul
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Weekly Update (May 9-15)

Helping Hands:

There's a group of church members interested in forming a "Mask Drive" – to share the masks they have been sewing with the community. If you are interested in assisting, or would like to help sew (or know of someone that needs a mask!), contact the church.
Also, the gardens and grounds around the church are longing for a little TLC. Interested in lending a hand? We can form a safe and healthy work group. Send a note!
Reminder: The Morgan Park 5K Run/2.5K Walk (planned for May 31) is cancelled. Eve plans to be back in 2021 to head up the race!
From Pastor Paul: Toward Sunday
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.  ~John 14:3
     Of the many things whirling around my mind in this time, at the center is how to sustain my faith in the midst of missing community interaction. I guess I hadn't realized just how much my faith is nurtured by the presence and sharing of others in Christian life. Oh yes, I keep my disciplines and practices, I engage my spiritual journey, continue to make myself receptive to God's good work through me, and study and pray and journal and write…but there's something about being together that draws me out of my thoughts and  into my whole person. I 'll call it the Pentecost Spirit. I love and miss it, as I love and miss you.
     So…gathering calls me, and from our words over telephone and computer, I know I am not alone. I keep thinking of how we could connect safely, being a group of comparatively smaller numbers. I think: Bible Study can be done with safe distancing…and couldn't we grill on the grounds and keep healthy space? …what about Sundays? If the wipes and sanitizer and masks were utilized? Hey – what if we opened the church at scheduled times so that people can have a quiet sanctuary place to be calm and pray? All of these ideas float out there, but wind up getting lost in the day-to-day concerns about social responsibility, about reminders that we haven't even seen the worst of it yet, about placing one another in potentially uncomfortable situations – about sounding like I'm in-step with the machine gun-toting self-centered bullies shouting "Don't tread on me" – OK, stop, Paul! Don't go down that road. Remember the tools you share with others about walking with faith – about living into resurrection. Am I sharing God's message of love, or contributing to the already rampant fear, anger, and scarcity around us? Am I creating more brokenness, or am I participating in repair? Am I saying "Yes" or "No"? Crucifixion or Resurrection?
     On my morning drive to see the birds and flowers down in Chamber's Grove, I heard this quote over the radio: "I do not claim to have all the answers in Spiritual matters. There are also others engaged in a spiritual search, a spiritual journey. If I keep an open mind about what others have to say, I have much to gain."
     It was from Ricky Defoe, Elder in the Fond du Lac Band (and thank you WGZS 89.1 for airing it), and it reminded me that God transcends in a myriad of different ways in as many different souls and as many different settings. God is present everywhere. Jesus said, in his Johannine prayer that began with these words: "I will come again and take you to myself." If I believe that God is ever present, and Jesus is always with me (as Resurrection has taught me), then what is it about sharing with one another that makes God's presence burn with such a hot flame when we are together?
     …Or maybe it's just that habit of being together? A prompt from the setting of church? Muscle memory? In any event, we're trying an experiment: beginning on the 17th, Cathy Dale will be returning to Sunday morning worship so that we may share music and worship beyond the rambling words and wild hand gestures of your Pastor. Every Sunday, there have always been a few people here in the church, practicing safe distancing and responsible hygiene. The doors are always open. The folks that attend, albeit a small and widely-spaced group, will help to bring us back to a rhythm and setting that all are familiar with.
     Church is not about the words a pastor says in a sermon or a prayer…it is about the shared love present when we turn our hearts and souls collectively toward the presence of Christ in our lives. Good prayer, like good food, means so much more when it is shared.
Keep in touch, friends!
Pastor Paul  
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Weekly Update (April 25-May 1)

Saturday, April 25: During the shutdown, Ruby's Pantry food distribution continues on 4th Saturday of the month at Mission Creek Church, 521 131st Avenue W., 11 am – 12:30 pm
Helping Hands:
Marna Fasteland is sewing face masks from leftover quilt fabric. If you need a face mask, call or email Marna, and she will mail one to you. There is no charge for a mask – she is using up scraps so she can buy more fabric!
For those who have been able to share offering: THANK YOU. It truly makes a difference. We rely heavily on the plate giving of Sunday offering here, as expenses still continue. What you give, again, makes a difference.
And, as always, we'd love to share your thoughts and well wishes with one another! Send a note, give a call! Your people want to know how you are doing!
From Pastor Paul…Toward Sunday
…but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  ~ Luke 24:16
    Well, for those of you that appreciate the reference, a "Facebook Memory" popped up on my phone (for the rest of you…the majority…just smile and nod and consider the source and read on)…it was a picture, from three years ago, of my children standing in a grassy meadow in Asheville, North Carolina, with a rainbow above them. Oh, it warmed my heart, back then as it does now. A heart that certainly longed for a little warming at that time…a heart that still does, I suppose.
    Here's what I thought: y'know, for a difficult time, the fact that I saw and felt this experience was a blessed afterthought. See: I was getting divorced back then. I didn't quite know it, or accept that it was really happening at the time, but in retrospect it was clear. I was in mourning. I was uncertain about the future. I was afraid and I was lonely, and yet my children ran out into the meadow and wanted to have their picture taken underneath a rainbow.
    Which leads to this: later that Spring I went to get my car repaired at a dealership. The people there were kind, and welcoming. They treated me like a real human being, not just a customer. A seemingly insignificant moment, all things considered, but here that moment is, three years later, in my heart…right next to that rainbow.
    And it was also right about that time that Buzz and Pat were in need of somebody to house sit while they traveled, and they knew I was in need. They welcomed me. They had cats (as many of you reading this will know, I am not particularly fond of cats) but I figured it out. (And, oh, for reference: I did learn that cats are not fans of saxophones, and only grudgingly supportive of banjos, but that is another story.)
    Three years later now, I think of the graces that I received during that time. Kind things from good people. Beautiful things intent on stirring the heart of anxious people. It may be (to quote brother Luke) that my "eyes were kept from recognizing them" at that very moment  – after all, I was rather distracted by rugs being pulled out from under my life…but God has this way, my friends, of sharing heaping helpings of grace even in the mists of dark uncertainty. 
    Oh, this is no great theological treatise I write here. You've been there. Your own life experience echoes this wisdom. I mean: think of your most uncertain times. Think of your greatest discomforting fears. Weren't there shards and shreds of love and kindness and beauty, yes, even in the midst of it? Didn't you feel your heart stir even as your heart was being wrung out like a dishrag?
    So here's my thought: you or I may be so wrapped up in our own drama that our myopic eyes are prevented from seeing the grace around us. Our hearts may be gripped tight in the clenched fist of anxiety…but…is there someone, somewhere around us, that can continue to help us to see? Someone that can hold up the mirror back toward our lives and be a shared witness to God's love in the midst of us? I was blessed with friendships then, as I am now. I remember them as Balm in Gilead (wounded whole/sin sick soul).
    Things didn't get easier when I left Asheville, North Carolina. They got harder. I struggled and suffered and crashed and burned, but I landed in a kind town with kind people doing kind things…for which I thank you Morgan Park affiliated goofballs reading this. I thank you and I ask: wasn't God there? Every step of the way?
    "Summoned or not, God is present" wrote Carl Jung, and he was right (on that point…for everything else, let's talk). Can you see it now? Can you dip a cup and drink of that grace like placing a finger in a flowing spring-thaw river?
    Yeah…I know…not always that easy. I'm here to tell you that I missed it a-plenty o'times.
    But it was there…in many shapes and souls and colors – whether my thick head knew it or not…and that's what I want to tell you. That's your good news for today.
Keep in touch, 
Pastor Paul
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Weekly Update (April 17-24)

Welcome to community-at-a-distance! This is to tell you that we miss you, here at the church, and that we hold hope of our joyous return to being a congregation. Soon enough the music and laughter will echo on these walls and the coffee will brew and the grill be hot and and and…we'll return.
I'm hoping you're receiving Sunday sermons, either in text or in video.
And as always, I'd love to talk to you!
A few things to share:
Cathy says: "Thank you for all the care and prayer and well wishes" on the loss of her sister-in-law. "They mean a lot."
Laura says: "My granddaughter is out of the hospital. God is good! Thank you for praying!"
…and a great many of you share this message: "I'm fine."  (See commentary for more details.)
For those that have been able to share offering: thank you. It truly makes a difference . We rely heavily on the plate giving of Sunday offering here, as expenses still continue. What you give, again, makes a difference.
And as always, we'd love to share your thoughts and well-wishes with one another! Send a note or give a call! Your people want to know how you are doing!
From Pastor Paul… Toward Sunday:
"Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  ~ John 20:29
   Picture it: earlier this week, up the shore between Gooseberry and the Split Rock, there's a small harbor, and tucked on a hill by that harbor, a small grassy outcrop, secluded by the trees, overlooking the lake. There's a small fire pit there, and an easy place to sit. On the day I write about, the sky is clear, the wind is out of the west, but buffered by the hills and the woods. There are no waves, but when the wind settles after passing overhead, it lands on the lake and dances across the surface in the speckled and dappled way wind does, sending sparks of light across the lake toward the Wisconsin shore. It is…yes gorgeous.
   Lest I "wander lonely as a cloud" like Wordsworth, I write this as an intro to the subject of living into Resurrection. It is our time. We have learned that death does not defeat life – that despair does not defeat hope. Jesus has taught us this, and I think it worthy to take it to heart and soul.
   See, this week, I reinvigorated my old practice of journaling with a spirit of inventory – all for the sake of living into Resurrection. I'm pushing myself toward a review of the day (the day-to-day) with four points by which I can measure my overall well-being: "PMSA" I call it: Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Aesthetic. The first three are pretty straight-forward: Am I caring for my body, my mind, my spirit? But the last is a gift from God: did I bear witness today to anything that triggered awe or wonder or beauty?
   I mean, we know this: that there's something out there, every day, that has the potential to touch and stir us…something worth lingering on…something praiseworthy. Do we see it?  Do we let ourselves experience it? Friends, I'm thinking that the in-road to practicing Resurrection comes from our ability to embrace and engage God's presence in our everyday experience. Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Aesthetic .
   …And Friends, I want to share it with you. Why? Well, at the risk of sounding rather flighty or vague, soft or new-age or self-help, I want to share it because I've always appreciated it when others share it – when others share their way of seeing and experiencing the presence of the Holy in their day to day, and it strikes me how little we take the time to share those moments – how often we keep those moments private…lest we sound, perhaps, as loopy as our pastor might be!
   Context: Round about Holy Week, I had this vision that as a church we might share a little with one another about how we're sustaining our faith in these isolating times. I had this idea that I would inquire with each of you, and that each of us would share a few words about practicing our faith in these times, alongside a welcome and word of kindness.
   Can you picture the response? "Tell people that I'm fine." I'm fine. Over and over, person by person, "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine…" …Which is great, don't get me wrong.  "I'm fine" means that you're not struggling, but "I'm fine"  is also the "can't complain could be worse" diminutive neutrality that keeps the spirit of God well-checked in the coatroom instead of out on the dance floor. I picture a congregation, with all of the Scandinavian or Nor'Minnesota stoicism, as a gaggle of birds (think penguins or geese or seagulls) – all with the same tone: "Fine. Fine. I'm fine."
   I know I'm getting quirky here (quirkier than usual, even), but I think there's more to this day-to-day and prayer-by-prayer than our neutrality belies. I think we all have moments of bright joy and dim despair. And I think we owe it to one another to share them.
   I mean, if we can't share all of that very real life with each other – if we can't share our spirit with those for whom "Take It to the Lord in Prayer" every Sunday is common vernacular…well then, who else?
   So here's my nudge for this week…it's the same nudge God has given me: take some time to consider how you are doing…really – (not just the broad generality, but the vivid day to day). Delight in the joys. Accept the challenges. And for the sake of the church and your friends and your faith, share them (I mean it! Send me a note or give me a call: 218-349-0143).  
   And I'll share mine again: those dappled waters on the lake just plain stirred my soul. I wish you were there. And even if I can't take you there right now, I want to tell you all about it. Because it matters. Because it stirred my heart and I want to share it. Because we live in Resurrection. 
Keep in touch,
Pastor Paul
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Aging and Senior Care Community Resources in Duluth

The following are resources that can help seniors and their families understand all the programs that can help pay for senior care:
Joan Martin
Community Outreach and Senior Advocate
(800) 289-4983
Caring.com is a leading senior care resource for family caregivers seeking information and support as they care for aging parents, spouses and other loved ones. We have been featured by AARP, The Administration for Community Living, The National Legal Resource Center, and Forbes, as well as referenced by many government agencies and organizations across the Internet.
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Last week’s reminders

WEEKLY REMINDERS:

Last week's worship is now available in video format here: https://youtu.be/XNUcYmtSXow
My apologies that it's not much to look at, as I'm still working out the formatting, but the audio is clear. And sorry for the delay. It seems my old computer is not a big fan of new technology. Little by little, we'll get this right!

Staying Connected!

In this time of separation, we are collecting messages to be shared with your fellow church members! Send your thoughts and greetings, joys and concerns, by email or phone. We'll compile these messages and send them via email (and I'll print out copies and deliver them to those without email)… Send notes to Pastor Paul: pastorpaulvanantwerp@gmail.com / 218-349-0143 or to the office: office@unitedprotestantchurch.org / 218-626-2570. Let those you love know how you're doing, and that you are thinking of them.

Here's a few updates for this week:
-John and Doris Toman say hello! They are doing fine.

-Our sympathies to Cathy Dale and family. Her sister-in-law, Kathy, was hit by a vehicle and killed while walking with her husband Tom (Cathy Dale’s brother).

-Dick and Sue Linde say "Miss you! Stay safe, and get out for a walk! Oh, and Dick says "about one more week before he goes crazy!"

Helping One Another
For those in need of assistance of any sort in this time, there are a great many resources our church and community can provide. We'll do our best to keep track of these. If you need a hand (or know of somebody who does) send a note to Pastor Paul or the office. You are not alone.

Offering
The majority of our income here is based on the offering we receive on Sundays. Without meeting, there is concern that we will significantly diminish our financial resources. We kindly ask that, if possible, you continue to contribute as you would during worship. You can mail any offerings directly to the office at 830 88th Ave West, Duluth, MN 55808. Unfortunately, the bulk of the church’s operating expenses will continue even while we are forced to suspend services – insurance, utilities, etc.

Toward Sunday

Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." – John 11:44

In one of the meditations I practice as I walk and pray (and talk to myself and frighten passers-by who think "creepy man talking to himself!), I imagine God's presence as a wide open field, or range, with endless space where I may wander and explore. Think of driving through Montana or Wyoming as an example. Then I picture the places where, in all that wide open space, I build for myself (or others try to build for me) various fences, barbed wire, and boundaries–things intended to keep me isolated, or separate, from all that God offers. Some are of my own making: "I'm not good enough…or smart enough…or strong enough…or willing to take that risk or work that hard." Others appear from social convention, rules and regulations, norms. "People here don't behave like that! We expect you to be like the rest of us. Don't be too radical, nor too extreme!" Still others, I'm hardly aware I've created until God gives me the gift of seeing them, such as the grip of frustration, or anger, or sorrow. How many ways my horizons are limited by these fences I create all around me! And how great is a God that routinely gives me the tips and tricks to tear down the boundaries that keep me from full relationship! (Cue the western swing music: "Give me land, lots of land, lots of starry skies above…don't fence me in!").

Well, it's nothing quite as amazing as the raising of Lazarus (this week's Gospel), but those last words in John's eleventh chapter this week got me to thinking about the many times and many ways I have felt raised and healed and unbound and able to let go from a similar simple expression from Jesus. Sometimes I snap out of my boundaries by hearing a message that is blunt, and to the point… something like: "Ok Paul, enough already!" And sometimes it takes deliberation and time, creativity and patience, and a whole lot of gentle encouragement from Him.

But I tell you friends, when I hear Jesus say it…my heart and soul listen, and I rejoice. I breathe a deeper breath and think a clearer thought. I am a little more complete as a person than I was before.

Friends, in this time, many of us feel those fences present, obscuring the freedom of our horizons. But as always, we can focus on our scarcities (what we don't have), or our abundance (all the good surrounding us). As I said near the closing of last week's sermon: Look around you… there in your home—in the space you have created day by day. Look out the window to the change in seasons, what God creates day by day. Look around and welcome it.

I've heard stories in the past week of wonderful cooking and baking, of much needed organizing and overdue repair, of reading good books, mending the clothes (and learning to sew!), long telephone conversations with distant friends–I've even heard that this time of isolation has made people feel more connected because they never could justify all the time for friendships previously in their busy lives!

I'm pretty sure it's fair theology to say that God will never limit our horizons, nor "fence in" our faith. I'm also pretty sure that if we feel held back, or "bound" in any way, turning to God, and listening for the guidance of Jesus, is a sure way to expand our horizons and help us be the people God hopes that we will become.

So, here's your homework: send me a note or leave me a message (contact info above in the "Staying Connected" paragraph) and let me know how you are embracing what God has given you, here in this time when so many others struggle to see beyond the limitations. …And if you're struggling, well, give me a call about that as well! It'd be nice to chat.

Keep in touch, Pastor Paul