Becoming an organized church--Yay, God!

This past Tuesday evening the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area met at the Presbyterian Church in Red Wing.  For perhaps the last time I set up a table at the entrance to the sanctuary and shared information about Chain of Lakes Church.

The mood of the Presbytery was celebrative.  The Presbytery elected Barbara Lutter as the new Stated Clerk, heard an outstanding presentation on stewardship by Adam Copeland, voted to ordain Hae Ryun Chang as a Teaching Elder.  The Presbytery thanked Bill Davnie for his service as a Stated Clerk and installed Jeff Japinga as the Executive Presbyter.

But the defining memory of the meeting for me will be the unanimous action by the Presbytery to receive Chain of Lakes as a Presbyterian congregation.  Our new church had met the requirements to become a church on Easter 2017.  The Steering Committee soon afterwards alerted Bill Davnie and the wheels were set in motion for this vote.

The vote was quick, almost perfunctory, and marked with celebration.  When I spoke to the motion I shared what a privilege it has been for me to work with the people of Chain of Lakes.  They have literally given their blood, sweat, and tears to establishing this faith community.  I also shared that I hope the Presbytery can review what happened with Chain of Lakes, learn from the successes and disappointments, and soon start more new churches.  At the end of my short talk I shared that becoming a church offers the opportunity of a new relationship between Chain of Lakes and the Presbytery.  Our soon-to-be organized church will soon start praying, thinking about, and working towards putting a building on the church property.  This next season of ministry offers the possibility of exciting collaboration.

At the Rotary meeting on Wednesday I was asked by a community member why this vote was important.  This person is not part of Chain of Lakes and had seen the posting of what happened on my Facebook page.  This is a good question.  Chain of Lakes probably won’t feel any different as an organized church than as a New Church Development. 

The vote is important because the people of Chain of Lakes and the Presbytery have accomplished an important goal.  Ever since Chain of Lakes was started as a New Church Development, we’ve wanted to become an organized church.   When seven families gathered in the Rice Lake Professional Building in February 2009, the group came to learn about how to become an organized church.  Now that goal is achieved.  Check that box off as an accomplishment. 

Being an organized church will give allow Chain of Lakes to operate more effectively—we can actually open up a bank account under our own name (wow!)—and will give our church legitimacy with the wider community.

During my devotional time on Wednesday morning I was thanking God for all the people who have helped make this happen.  And as I was praying I received a whisper from God that said, “you need to thank me.”  And my gosh is this true.  As a New Church Development, Chain of Lakes has faced some very tough and challenging situations.  Some of these situations presented problems that didn’t have easy answers.  Every time the people of Chain of Lakes have figured out how to respond successfully to these situations.  God led us through these moments—many times in ways that many of us didn’t realize.  God has always been working behind the scenes helping Chain of Lakes become an organized church.  Yay, God!

Starting this church has been an adventure of a lifetime.  I can’t wait to celebrate!

Joshua Tree at US Bank Stadium?

This past Friday night I surprised my wife, Amy, by taking her to hear U-2 perform at US Bank Stadium.  I had shared with her that I was going to take her on a secret adventure for her birthday, which was a day earlier.

I waited to purchase the tickets all week, but finally on Friday I pulled the trigger.  Buying tickets on-line felt like gambling.  I knew the prices were going down, but how long could I wait?  If I could have stomached waiting until Friday evening I could have saved another twenty percent.

The first time I listened to Joshua Tree was on a drive out west.  A confluence of events set me up to fall in love with the music.  Wide open spaces, spiritual messages that fit my views, and long guitar riffs by Beck—it felt like heaven.  Driving for days and listening to the music over and over and over cemented the lyrics in my mind.

The downloaded tickets said the concert started at 7:30, so like proper Minnesotans we were in our seats and ready to go.  But as inexperienced concert goers we didn’t realize we had a long wait to hear the main attraction.  Beck started out the concert.  I couldn’t understand a word the band shared.  I told Amy that I needed the lyrics to be projected.  When Beck finished we waited—and waited—and waited.  Poetry was flashed on the screen in back of the stage.  I liked reading the poems the first five times.  By the 20^th I was mindlessly using my phone.

Finally Larry Mullen walked down the stage, then the Edge, and the Bono and Adam Clayton.  Soon we were all singing “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”  They played their first set of songs on a small stage without any video.  They didn’t need any extra help.  The songs and the music and the singing lifted me back to that drive out west.

When the video choreography started I was wowed.  Scenes of the desert and more wide open spaces.  It felt universal.

The sound was horrible for Beck; slightly better for U-2.  It would be hard for me to go back to US Bank Stadium for a concert.  I have walked through the doors of US Bank Stadium twice—once to watch the Vikings and once to watch the Blaine Bengals.  The stadium worked for me when I watched football.  I went to my seat and cheered.  As I've written before the stadium works differently than Target Field.  At US Bank Stadium the experience works best when I look at the huge windows and take in the sky.

But to spend hundreds of dollars to hear an iconic band and not enjoy a crystal clear sound?  No.  Why not Target Field or TCF Bank Stadium? 

Plenty of reviews have been written about the concert.  And they are worth reading.

Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/u2-inspires-nostalgia-and-excitement-at-the-same-time/443373193/#1

City Pages http://www.citypages.com/music/u2-celebrates-pride-and-prince-at-the-joshua-tree-revival/443453823

Pioneer Press http://www.twincities.com/2017/09/08/u2-revisits-the-joshua-tree-and-shines-brighter-than-the-venue-u-s-bank-stadium/

And plenty of conversations about the sound at US Bank Stadium http://m.startribune.com/u2-fans-sound-off-on-u-s-bank-stadium-s-troubled-acoustics/443645123/?section=%2F’

For me the symbol of the night was the Joshua Tree.  The shape of the tree reminded the Mormons of when Joshua lifted up his hands in prayer.  Whatever our view of God, U-2 connects us to something deeper and far beyond ourselves.  And despite the cost and the venue having that moment with Amy was beautiful.

Being blessed by our friends at the Blaine Muslim Community Center

Last week I had the opportunity to go to the Blaine Muslim Community Center to share a statement of support from the Steering Committee of Chain of Lakes Church.

Let me back up.  In early August the Dar Al Farouq Center in Bloomington was bombed.  At about 5:00 in the morning someone threw an “improvised explosive device” into that place of worship.  The office of the Inman was damaged.  A witness said that the device was thrown from a pickup truck.

No matter how many times a place of worship is bombed, we are called to speak up and ultimately resist.  Every…single…time this happens in the Twin Cities we are called to resist and share that this action will never be acceptable.

The Blaine Muslim Community Center is located about a mile north from where Chain of Lakes Church worships.  Last spring at the lobby day for the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition I had the opportunity to sit around a table with many leaders from the Blaine Muslim Community Center to talk about important issues that the Minnesota Legislature was facing.  After that event the leaders of that community invited people from Chain of Lakes to an event where our friends were breaking the fast during Ramadan.

Shortly after the bombing of the Dar Al Farouq Center in Bloomington I wrote a statement of support for our friends at the Blaine Community Muslim Center.  The Steering Committee of Chain of Lakes edited the statement at our August meeting.  The Sunday after that meeting the Steering Committee stood behind me as I read the statement during worship at Chain of Lakes.

Last Thursday I dropped the statement off at the Blaine Muslim Community Center.  I got there about 8:00 and the parking lot was full.  I walked into the building and shared that I wanted to talk to share the statement with Waleed Shady, the Inman of the Community. 

When I arrived he was praying with others.  When he was done praying he greeted me warmly.  I shared with him the letter of support and other notes of support that people from Chain of Lakes had written on index cards.  He put them all on a bulletin board.  Then he invited me to dinner.

The community was breaking a fast that day.  Over two hundred people had gathered for dinner.  Food was strewn on a table that was must have been thirty feet long.  A man who was my guide told me about all of the different foods on the table.  He wanted to make sure I had the food I wanted.  He practically filled my plate with food.  When the two of us sat down to talk I asked my new friend if it was hard to fast.  He smiled and said he was used to it.  He lives in Blaine.  He has a daughter who is in 11^th grade in Blaine High School.  He teaches in Minneapolis. 

He was willing to spend time with me—a white Christian instead of spending time with the people he knew.  He got out of his comfort zone.  Even though I walked into the Blaine Community Muslim Center with the intention of sharing a blessing, I was the one who walked out feeling blessed.  I was blessed because the leaders at the Blaine Muslim Community Center were willing to get out of their comfort zone and share hospitality with me.