Keep your heart open this last week before Christmas

 

As we move into the final week before Christmas, I want us to encourage others to step back and reflect on what will happen to us this week. 

I’m talking about more than the presents we buy, the parties we attend, and the Christmas celebrations we will enjoy. These are lovely parts of Christmas. 

However Jesus didn’t come into the world as a baby, so we could purchase the newest electronic gift for our favorite person. 

Jesus didn’t come into the world as a baby, so we could eat so much that we have to go on a diet when Christmas is over. 

Jesus didn’t come into the world as a baby, so that we would have the perfect family celebration. 

I gave a sermon once entitled “Will Christmas or X-mas comes this year.” In the sermon I made the case that the celebration of Christmas does not have to be that complicated. But if we find ourselves at the end of Christmas in greater debt, needing to go on a diet, and exhausted from Christmas celebrations, then something has gone amiss. 

This year at Chain of Lakes I’m sharing a sermon series called “The keeps on giving.” I’m talking about preparing our heart to celebrate Christmas. (To watch all of the sermons, find the link at colpres.org.) 

I’m talking about what this gift can do to our heart. Even though many have gone through Christmas many times, we can still have our heart touched and find ourselves touched in a spiritual way. 

Two themes I’ve talked about in this series. 

One is to be open to being surprised. The entrance of Jesus into the world was a great surprise to those who were part of the story. Zechariah and Elizabeth and Mary and Joseph as the silent partner, did not know that they would be participants in this story. The angel Gabriel showed up to Zechariah and Mary and basically said, “surprise!” 

Zechariah and Mary didn’t have a choice about being surprised. But I wonder if we can be open to being surprised. In my research on that sermon, I learned about the psychology of being surprised. When we are surprised our brain freezes for a moent and then releases neutrotransmiters into our body. This cements the memory for us. I learned that surprise can help us experience happiness. 

But to be surprised our hearts have to be opened to being surprised. 

I get it some of us don’t like to be surprised. We want to be in control and have a sense of predictability about what is going to happen. And some of us fall into cynicism. A cynic is going to protect his or her heart from being surprised. A cynic has a sense of know-it-all. They have a been there done that” mentality. 

I hope that you, the reader, don’t fall into this pattern. 

To be surprised means we have a sense of adventure. Even if we’ve done something a hundred times, we are willing to do it again because we want to see what happens. 

Even if we have celebrated Christmas often, I want to encourage us not to let the experiences dull the adventure of the celebration. Be open to being surprised. 

Yesterday I talked about mercy. When the angel, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, Gabriel shared that God was sending Jesus into the world from the perspective of mercy. 

In fact one of the qualities of God is mercy. I had people at Chain of Lakes write down five qualities of God that they identify. One of them has to be mercy. 

When God appeared to Moses God declared the first descriptive word of the divine character was mercy. Don’t believe me? Check out Exodus 34:6.

 I encouraged people and encourage you the reader to focus on mercy this last week of Advent. Go out of your way to extend mercy to the people who you meet. For some of us this is easy as our hearts naturally are merciful. For others this is hard as mercy doesn’t describe us. Whatever our spiritual make-up, though, we can train ourselves to respond in mercy. 

My prayer this week is we can be open to being surprised and orient ourselves towards mercy. If we do this, I think this could be one of the best Christmas weeks that we’ve had.

A tribute to Gary Crippen

 

What a treat it was for me to attend the funeral of Gary Crippen yesterday. Of course, I am sad for his passing and the hole that his absence will create for his family. And the huge hole for the world. But going to the funeral brought back so many wonderful memories of going to the Crippen house while I was in High School. 

In the 1980’s Worthington, Minnesota was a place where everyone knew everyone in high school. (And it probably is the same today.) We weren’t a small high school compared to the neighboring towns—approximately 160 in a graduating class. But we were small enough that we knew everyone’s names. 

And everyone knew the Crippens. Or it seemed that way.

They lived in a fairly large house on Lake Avenue in Worthington. Just turn the corner and there was the house. Across the street from Lake Okabena. They moved to Mendota Heights in the mid-80’s, but even today when I’m in Worthington and drive around the lake, I look at the house and think, “Crippen house.” 

One of my best friends dated Sarah in high school, and the three of us (and others) hung out—a lot. And often we would find ourselves at the kitchen table in the Crippen house talking to Nancy, Gary’s wife. We would talk about everything—politics, religion, relationships in school, what was happening on the School Board, and would the inevitable referendum for more funding for schools pass. I was quite devoted to playing the violin in that season in my life, so we would talk about the orchestra. And because I was passionate about football we would talk about football. No topic was off-limits at the Crippen table. It was like a symposium. 

Those memories came streaming back yesterday at Gary’s funeral. 

And to call the gathering a funeral does not do justice to the occasion. It truly was a celebration of life. 

The Crippens were passionately devoted to education, particularly public education. This commitment has been lived out by their seven children. They have taken on the most honorable of professions—two are pastors, one a lawyer, one an administrator of a museum, and one the CEO of the children’s cancer research fund. 

I hadn’t talked to Gary since attending the funeral of Nancy.  But hearing the memories shared yesterday by his children and others brought back memories of conversations. And reminded me of the impact a kind and decent person can make. Gary was brilliant himself. A lawyer who became a judge who eventually served on the MN Court of Appeals. 

His kindness was mentioned often yesterday—a part of the Fruit of the Spirit. And this part of the Fruit was embodied in his life. He was a curious person. I loved the story that was shared about Gary loving trees. His interest seemed a bit odd; however being reminded of his curiosity made his interest make sense. He was interested in what made a tree grow, how it weathered the Minnesota climate, what it would take for a tree to develop fully.

The world needs curious people.

What was so touching at the funeral was the genuine smiles from his family. Sure they experienced sadness for Gary's passing, but more importantly they could smile about the beauty of a life very well lived. 

The tributes that others have wrote are worth reading. 

One by his son, Stephen.  https://www.stephencrippen.com/blog/2023/12/11/f7uedctbcq7mg2k5d56ho07thhjbu9?fbclid=IwAR0OfZNiBmN20qQfX0uMqAL-vvX6CogI2f514MdOUypC1TDKwt9Xkqyn2NM

One written in the Worthington Daily Globe.

https://www.dglobe.com/news/local/crippen-a-native-son-was-a-leader-in-state-judicial-community

One shared as a Facebook post by his daughter, Mary

https://www.facebook.com/mary.miklethun

I never got to meet his second wife, Sandy, but I’m sure I would have enjoyed sitting at their table talking about the events of the day. 

The world needs more people and especially men who are good and kind and decent. Gary Crippen was our role model. His legacy will live on in the intelligent, compassionate, decent response to a world that is too often, too harsh. 

Gary embodied, Philippians 2:1-5, a Scripture read at the service. 

May the rest of us live by his example.

A lot is at stake in being thankful!

 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to preach a sermon about thankfulness. 

And I’m thankful for that. Taking some extended time to reflect on thanks has led me to want to advocate even more for identifying myself as a person of thanks and encouraging others to share thanks.   

During my work on the sermon, I came across a video produced by Steve Hartman on a story of thankfulness. At the time of the video Frank Grasberger was a 95-year old man who lived in a Care Facility in Ohio. He received a thank you note for his military service from a third grader. The note touched him deeply. He carried the note with him in his wheel chair and told his wife, Delores, that nothing mattered to him more than that letter. His wife noticed the difference the letter made on Frank. She shared that when Frank has the letter he has a feeling of faith and trust and love. 

Giving thanks is powerful!

Frank wanted to get in touch with the author of the letter who identified herself as De Shawna. It took a while, but after a long search De Shawna was found. She agreed to meet with Frank at the Care Facility. Coincidentally (or maybe this is a God-thing) De Shawna serves in the National Guard. She showed up to meet Frank with a bouquet of roses. When De Shawna showed up his wife thought, “Where’s Frank's heart pills. This is the big one!” 

Frank and De Shawna have developed a friendship. Frank shared that De Shawna is like his third daughter. 

This is the power of thanks. A 95-year-old veteran was so touched by a letter of thanks that he sees the author, an African American young woman, as his third daughter. 

The full story can be seen here: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/kindness-101-a-lesson-in-thankfulness/ 

I went to Mass at St. Joseph’s of the Lakes Catholic Church on Thanksgiving. At the start of his homily, Father Mark Anderson said we need Thanksgiving. I cannot agree more. Our spirits need to be touched frequently by the power and importance of thanks. We need to be reminded to respond to the events of life with thanks. Without living and sharing thinks we are limited as people. 

In my sermon yesterday I preached about the story of the ten lepers. You probably know the story. Ten lepers were healed of their skin disease. One leper returned to Jesus to give thanks. Nine did not return to give thanks. Jesus wanted to know, “where are the other nine?”

I believe that each of us make choices every day that determine who will we be in the story. Will be the person who returned to give thanks or will we be part of the group who didn't give thanks. And I don't think we are always in one group. Depending on the day we can be part of both groups. 

Where we find ourselves is a choice that we make.

Let me ask you, "which group will you choose to join?"

I spent some time last week thinking and doing research on what prevents people from giving thanks. I came up with two reasons—and certainly others exist. The two reasons are entitlement and grievance. 

One reason is entitlement—it’s easy to believe that we deserve what we get. I live in a beautiful home and have two beautiful cars and enjoy a beautiful family. It’s not hard to conclude that through my efforts I have achieved this beauty. I’m entitled. At one level I am entitled—just as everyone who is human is entitled to a beautiful life. But it’s easy to forget the force who created the world and provides the gifts that allows me to live this life. 

Oops! I guess it’s easier to be one of the nine than I might have thought. I don’t want to be part of that group. Thank you, God! 

Another reason is grievance—folks who believe the world is out to get them or have been hurt in the past and respond to life from that pain. That person is going to have a hard time being thankful. 

In my sermon yesterday I asked four questions about thanks. The questions are just as relevant today as yesterday.

           How many times have you said the phrase, “thank you” in the past 24 hours?”

           How many thank you notes have you written in the past month?

           How many times have you told a group of people, “I’m thankful for you?”

          How many times have you shared with your spouse or a friend in the past 24 hours, “I’m thankful for you.” 

Congregations can be laboratories of thankfulness. I shared that I’m surprised that I’m not familiar with any congregation that has named themselves, “thankful.” I get it, it would feel a bit weird to say, “I go to Thankful Church.” That probably doesn’t work. What does work is to have thankfulness be expressed frequently from the people in a congregation. I hope that when guests come to Chain of Lakes they will experience thankfulness. I want the people of our congregation to be known as people of thanks. 

The relationship between thankfulness and suffering deserves much reflection. More reflection than I am going to share right now. Certainly, events exist for which I would never give thanks—rape, indiscriminate violence, abuse and many other horrors. However, even when we suffer we can find ways to look at our situation with thanks. I shared in my sermon that last week I did my best to respond with thanks to the inevitable occasions during the week when things don’t go as I wanted. When that happened, I did my best to respond with thanks for the growth opportunities these occasions presented to me.  

Ultimately my hope or aspiration as a person is to have thanks be my first response to the events of my life.  

I don't think that responding to the events of life with thanks is inevitable. I do think we can train ourselves to do this.

I’m going to take some concrete actions to respond more with thanks. I’m going to write a thank you note every Thursday. I’m calling this Thankful Thursday. Certainly I could do more than one, but this is my starting point. And I will continue to pray that I will see my own identity as a person of thanks.  

I might not be able to change the world, but I can influence my sphere of influence by sharing thanks more often and encouraging others to be people of thanks.  

The full sermon that I shared yesterday can be found at the fifteen minute mark at this link:  Worship Service November 26, 2023 (vimeo.com)

Growing Young in the PC(USA)

Yesterday at Chain of Lakes we focused on the theme of “Growing Young.” I shared a vision for children’s and youth ministry. This is the theme of the stewardship drive at Chain of Lakes this year. We showed a video about the campaign and had someone speak about it. It was a joyous day of celebration. It was close to being the largest attended service of the year. 

The entire service can be watched at: vimeo.com/manage/videos/883769099

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about church growth this past week. And I know that this term, “church growth” is not one that everyone likes. Other phrases could be evangelism or church development. I’ve heard many say that to use this phrase is to turn people into numbers. Of course, I believe that people are not numbers. Everyone who comes to a faith community has a story that needs to be heard and honored. I don’t want anyone at Chain of Lakes Church, the place I serve, to be thought of as a number.

I still like this phrase. I believe that all congregations are called to grow in their worship attendance and in numbers of people. Certainly this is not the only objective of a congregation, but congregations who aren’t growing will inevitably encounter problems.

This is an issue for the Presbyterian Church (USA), a denomination that I love. My love is deep. I share with people that I bleed Presbyterian; and because I’m on blood thinner I bleed really fast. I want to see our denomination thrive.

Right now we’re not growing. In 2017 the PC(USA) had 9,451 churches; in 2022 that number declined to 8,704 churches. Total membership declined from 1,482, 767 in 2017 to 1,140,665 in 2022. In fact we haven’t grown for a very long time. I talked about this last week in my blog I wrote after leading worship at my home church in Worthington, Minnesota. That congregation has a special place in my heart. Because of their decline in numbers they are moving to a new phase of ministry. They are selling their building and purchasing a new building. I’m glad that the congregation is making this move, but the move came because they weren’t growing.

I wrote a blog about this. More people read that blog than any blog I’ve written in a long time.  Something resonates with people about this issue of decline and growth.

Which brings me back to the theme of growing young.

I wonder what it would look like if the PC(USA) spent five years focusing on youth and children ministry. If we made an intentional effort to grow young. What would happen if we raised money so each congregation could have at least a twenty or even thirty hour a week person doing youth and children’s ministry?  Or what if more resources were shared with congregations about how they can grow young?

I know there are people who are doing outstanding work at the wider denominational level. And though I haven’t attended an APCE conference for a while. They have video resources on their web site regarding previous conference at this site: 2022 Annual Event Video Resources - Association of Partners in Christian Education (apcenet.org)

I don’t claim to have any magical answers. I do know that when I came to my last church the congregation has less than five children and when I left we had over thirty. It took a lot of focus, and creativity, and financial giving. At Chain of Lakes we’re going to hire a thirty-hour a week person to coordinate our volunteers who do ministry with youth and children. This is a big increase in cost for us. But the potential for growth with children and youth is so high, that our Session has decided that we can’t afford not to take this risk.

I see our congregations declining and wonder if a five-year focus on youth and children’s ministry would help.

For the purpose of this blog, I’m not going to go into what that might look like. Though providing staff resources to congregations would help. And I know that my Stated Clerk sister would tell me to write an overture. For now I just want to stay on the big picture question.

How about a five-year focus on helping congregations develop ministries with youth and children?

And for all of my Presby friends who are immediately thinking, “that will never work or happen” let me ask you to start out by thinking, “what would happen if this was our focus?”

Preaching at my home church with sadness

Yesterday I had the opportunity to preach at my home church, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Worthington, Minnesota. The web address to the entire service is on that church's Facebook page: facebook.com/WestminsterPresby. 

The congregation celebrated their 150^th anniversary on the Sunday after Labor Day. As part of their celebration, they invited all of their previous pastors and people who grew up in the church who became pastors to attend. My sister and I are part of the latter group. I wasn’t able to attend the anniversary celebration as we had a very large event happening at Chain of Lakes Church that day. However I told Galen Smith, the pastor at Westminster, who is doing a terrific job as their pastor, that I would be willing to preach on a Sunday when he was gone. Yesterday was the day.

Westminster has made some significant decisions in the past two months. They agreed to sell their building to a local Pentecostal church and buy the church building of that congregation. They also agreed to share Galen with the Presbyterian church in Round Lake. The move to the Pentecostal building will take place in January.

I’m not attached to church buildings. Though I have to admit that I’ve spent a lot of time in my ministry raising money for buildings. At Community Presbyterian in Plainview we did a complete remodel of our building and bought the two adjacent lots next to the church. That involved three capital campaigns. Here at Chain of Lakes I’ve participated in two capital campaigns and was part of the leadership team that made decisions for our new building. Our next captial campaign will be in a year.

Despite the thousands of hours I’ve spent raising money for buildings, I’m not attached to church buildings.

However—I know the reality that church buildings are important. At their best they help the congregation be successful at their mission; at their worst they become the most important mission for a congregation.

Westminster’s building has a lot of memories for me. I started attending worship when I was one-year old. I certainly don’t remember that, but I do remember being quite bored in worship as a child. During that period of my life, I spent a lot of time gazing at the beautiful stain glass windows during worship. In high school I shared a violin/piano recital. I enjoyed singing in the choir and looking out at the congregation from the choir loft. As a young adult I was ordained to the office of pastor, now called Teaching Elder, in the sanctuary on February 7, 1993. I helped officiate my sister’s wedding in that sanctuary and spoke at my sister’s ordination service. There isn’t a space in Westminster’s building where I don’t have a memory.

For what it’s worth I completely support the decision of the congregation and Session of Westminster to sell their building and buy the Pentecostal church building.

But I’m still sad.

The decision will keep Westminster going, but it reflects the decline of the congregation. When I was one-year old the congregation had to set up folding chairs in the large sanctuary. Over 650 people attended every Sunday. Yesterday I preached to about forty people. And I might have been the youngest person in the room. And I'm not young!

I have hope for the future of Westminster. I’ve told my parents many times that I believe the church needs to hire a full-time youth/children director. I believe that if the church made this move many new children, youth and families would come over time.

But it’s still hard to see the decline of a congregation I love dearly. And it’s hard to know that the decline at Westminster has happened in many other Presbyterian churches. In 2022 the Presbyterian Church (USA) had 747 fewer congregations and about 340,000 fewer members than in 2016. No business would tolerate that without making significant changes.

Though these statistics are shared every year, I’m almost astonished that these statistics haven’t been a clarion call to focus more on church growth as a denomination.

This call to church growth doesn’t have to come at the expense of the outstanding ministries of Presbyterians. I’m proud to be a Presbyterian partly because we are so concerned about what happens in the community. At Chain of Lakes Church we have an extensive ministry with homeless organizations. At Westminster that congregation went out of their way to be a part of the community in multiple ways. Both Westminster and Chain of Lakes have been successful in this ministry.

But a ministry that focuses on social impact at the expense of church growth and evangelism won’t work.  The numbers of the denomination I love dearly bear witness to this reality. 

This week we’re taking in a new group of people who will join Chain of Lakes. When they go through our process for joining I share that at Chain of Lakes we are as passionate about prayer, Bible Study, and worship as we are about serving the homeless. I tell them that we support LGTBQ ordination and marriage, but if a person doesn’t share that support he or she will still be welcomed. For what it’s worth I sometimes tell them that in my thirty years of ministry the worship attendance of the congregations I have served has increased in 26 of those years. And two of these were COVID years!

The consequences of decline in the PC(USA) are significant. Without a congregation in Worthington, a strong ministry of service in the community won’t exist. And a group of people won't have an opportunity to grow in faith. I don’t anticipate that will happen, but Westminster, like all congregations, needs to grow. 

I believe that Presbyterian congregations are thirsting for resources and leadership from the leaders of the Presbyterian Church to help them grow in numbers of people.

I don’t believe that the leaders of the wider governing bodies are responsible for the decline in congregations and people, but I do think that there hasn’t been enough focus on growth at the Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly level. I’m not trying to call anyone out, but I think that most Presbyterian congregations want to grow. And part of the problem is most have not been resourced well from our wider governing bodies. I’m not solely talking about money—though money helps. I’m talking about focus, success stories, a willingness to talk about what is working and what is not, and the expectation that congregations will grow. A culture that desires growth hasn't existed enough.

I’ll continue to exhort the people at Chain of lakes to grow in numbers while serving passionately in the community. And I carry the sadness of a necessary change in my home church that I love.

Welcome to the world, Elouise Ivy Joy Perteet!

The heavens opened on Saturday evening at 10:59 Central Time when Elouise Ivy Joy Perteet came into the world. 

Wow!

I’ve said many times before that babies change the world. 

The birth of Elouise brought back many memories of the birth of our daughter, Hannah. She was born at 10:38am on Saturday, December 16, 2000 in Rochester Methodist Hospital. We were told that her due date was December 7. The wait for her seemed long. Amy was scheduled to be induced, but her water broke on Friday evening the 15^th at a choir party shared by a third church that Amy was attending. When we got home she called the hospital to see about going to the hospital. They told her to come in. She got her stuff ready, vacuumed the main level of our house (which is not surprising if you know Amy), and then we went to the hospital. When Hannah arrived at 10:38am the next morning and the doctor held her up, my first thought was “she’s finally here.” I still remember clearly holding her in my arms and having the picture below taken.  

It's incredible for me to think that this girl in my left arm delivered a baby this past Saturday evening. 

How fortunate we are in the United States to have a high-quality system for delivering babies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ten thousand babies are born ever day in the United States. Only 10.49 percent were born less than 37 weeks; thirty two percent were born cesarean; seventy-eight percent of mothers receive some sort of prenatal care in the first trimester; the infant mortality rate in the United States is 5.44 for every thousand births.  I’m thankful that the infant mortality rate in Minnesota is even lower than the national average. 

From my vantage point, Hannah has received terrific care during her pregnancy. Hannah shared with Amy and me that she was pregnant in February. Hannah started receiving medical care in Florida and then continued her medical care with Allina when she moved to our home in Minnesota in July. 

Hannah’s due date was last Sunday, October 22. She was scheduled to be induced yesterday evening. Amy, Hannah, Carter and I took guesses on when Elouise would arrive. All four of us missed on our first guess. We wrote down our second guess and kept it from everyone else. 

On Saturday morning Hannah and Carter went to Mercy hospital as she wasn’t feeling well.  I figured the doctors would examine her and send her home. Amy & I went through our day as it was a normal Saturday. I finished my work for worship at Chain of Lakes in the morning. I then drove to Northfield to watch Carleton play football. As I was coming back to Blaine I saw that Hannah was still at the hospital. Something must be happening! I joined Amy at St. Joseph’s by the Lake Catholic church. During Mass I prayed for her, and Amy & I shared our excitement with others that Elouise would soon come into the world. I found myself weeping on multiple occasions. After Mass we hung out at our home with Hannah’s cousin Olivia. We waited. 

Carter kept us informed through his texts. Shortly after 11pm we received the call we had been waiting for—Elouise had arrived! The first time I met her was hearing her cry over the phone. Ever since then I’ve been thinking about and singing the lyric “I was there to hear your borning cry” that came from the hymn with that name.

 The three of us quickly drove over to Mercy Hospital. Amy   was able to go into the room and be with Hannah. Olivia,   Carter’s mom, and I waited patiently. Finally we were all   allowed to go into the room. And there was Elouise! And like   almost 23 years ago, I held a baby in my arms—though this   time she was in a different arm.

  Babies can change the world as they bring out our happiness. I showed many pictures Elouise on Sunday morning at Chain of Lakes with my phone. I rewrote part of my sermon and included the story about her birth—along with more pictures. I only broke down a few times in worship—I was expecting to weep much more than I did. Yes, this former football player cries! I had the opportunity to go to the hospital twice yesterday. Once in the middle of the afternoon and then again last night. I’m always impressed by the quality of care shared by nurses at the hospital. 

Elouise will come live in our home today. She has a nursery all ready for her that Hannah and Carter and Amy and I have been preparing for a long time. I stood in the nursery this morning and reveled at all of the love that Elouise has already experienced.   

  Amy, Hannah, Carter, and I are blessed to be surrounded by terrific medical care, loving family, supportive friends and a community that celebrates babies. Babies do change the world.  Elouise has already done so. 

  Yay, God!

Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection

At the end of September I had the opportunity to attend Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection with five others from Chain of Lakes Church. This was one of the largest groups from Chain of Lakes that have attended this conference. Leadership Institute is a conference shared by Church of the Resurrection (COR) in Kansas City. COR is the largest Methodist church in the United States. The church started from scratch in 1990 and today has become a very large congregation  with six campuses in the Kansas City area. Unlike many large churches, COR’s theology is unapologetically main-line. They care passionately about personal faith AND social engagement. They are welcoming to the LBTBQ+ community. 

I’ve been attending Leadership Institute for many years. I’ve actually lost track of how many times I’ve gone to this conference—maybe twenty. I started attending when I served my previous church in Plainview. Many years ago I stopped attending by myself. Now I always bring a group of people from the church I’m serving. The six of us who attended grew in our friendships with each other. 

Kansas City has a special place in my heart as my family lived in inner-City Kansas City for three summers and a school year in the early 1970’s. While living in Kansas City my eyes were opened to the reality of poverty and the obligation of those who are not poor to help. 

Leadership Institute is made up of lectures and smaller seminars.  One of my favorite seminars was one led by Tom Langhofer on the Recovery ministry that COR is doing. Each Thursday night COR offers a meal and then a talk on some aspect of Recovery. They then break out into different recovery groups. The talks can be downloaded and shared. We’ve talked at Chain of Lakes about sharing some type of recovery ministry with the wider community. Hiring Charlie Clark to be our Minister of Health and Healing will help. After this workshop I talked with Tom about their ministry, and what we want to do at Chain of Lakes. As a reflection of their generosity, he said we could download all of their talk without charge and show them to anyone who wants to gather. He also followed up two days letter with an email.

His personal response to me is one reason that Church of the Resurrection does so well. 

Each time I attend Leadership Institute I give everyone from Chain of Lakes a tour of the neighborhood where I used to live. The summer of second grade, my Dad took our family to work for Cross Lines, a social service organization in Kansas City. We lived in a huge house called, “fading grey” with other people. It was my first experience at Communal Living. I always drive by the house and share stories about “fading grey.” We moved to Kansas City for fifteen months when my Dad took a sabbatical from teaching. Within half a mile were two places that were called “the projects.” I drove our group through these areas. We found the church where my Dad ran a day-camp for the community. I still remember knocking on doors with him asking people to go to the day-camp. 

I was delighted that Carey Nieuwhof shared a presentation and then led a breakout group. I have read many of his books and listen to his podcast. In his   presentation he talked about managing energy and not   our time. He encouraged us to identify the times in the   day when we are at our best and then do our most  i important work during those times. Makes sense to me.  He challenged everyone present to think about how a   local congregation can share a digital ministry. He said   that successful congregations in the future will see   themselves as digital organizations in a physical location. 

Once again Church of the Resurrection provided an   outstanding conference. They provide hope for anyone in   the church who has given their lives to the church.

The eagle is pointing towards Carleton!

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend the Carleton/St. Olaf football game at Sullivan Field in Northfield. According to the Carleton Game Day Program this was the 103^rd time the two teams have met, 100^th time as varsity programs.

This is a big game for football players at each school. I clearly remember the four times I participated in the Carleton/St. Olaf game. The first time was the very first time I played college football. The game was at St. Olaf. We lost 9-0 as we had two bad snaps on punts. The second time I was injured and watched from the sidelines. The third time we lost at St. Olaf. In a low moment for me, I sacked the St. Olaf quarterback. Low, you might think? After the sack I proceeded to point with disdain and challenge the "manhood" of the St. Olaf sideline and their fans. Not a great act of sportsmanship. My best friends on the team almost killed me on the sidelines for that.

After losing three straight times, Bob Sullivan gathered the returning players at the end of the season. He gave us a medallion with the date, “10-19-85” on it. I carried that medallion with me the entire year. The day of the game I taped it to the inside of my uniform. And the game turned out splendidly. Carleton won 35-7.

This game has quite a lot of meaning. 

This year St. Olaf decided to choose this game as their Homecoming. I’ve never heard of a school choosing their rivals’ homecoming as their own homecoming.

I arrived at noon this past Saturday and immediately enjoyed the tail gate party by the parents of the football game. Many alumni were present. The weather was beautiful and close to four thousand people attended the game.

Carleton got off to a terrific start. We scored on our first drive and then forced a turnover and scored again. We missed the extra point, but that didn’t seem to be a big deal. After the touchdown I turned to another football alum and said that if Carleton could stop the ‘Oles on the next drive the game could be a blow-out. But if we didn’t, the game would probably be close. 

Unfortunately, St. Olaf went on a methodical seventeen play drive to score a touchdown. 

Game on. 

Carleton led 23-10 at halftime, but I was anxious. Unless they turned the ball over St. Olaf had proved they could score almost every time they had the ball.

And my premonition was correct. The ‘Oles went on two long, drives and eventually took a 31-30 lead with a little less than four minutes remaining in the game. That missed extra point was important. Their second drive took almost ten minutes of clock and went 98 yards. Ouch!

After the Oles' touchdown, Carleton got the ball back and dropped three passes. We punted. All St. Olaf had to do was continue what they had done, and they would win the game. I have to admit, I was not optimistic.  If I had been charting the percent chance of winning at the start of that drive, I would have said St. Olaf was at eighty percent.

St. Olaf ended up with a fourth and two with about two minutes left. If they made a first down the game was over. They went for it. It made sense to me. But Carleton held. And suddenly it seemed like there was a chance. The percentages were moving towards Carleton--50/50?

Carleton drove down the field with help by two, clutch third down conversions. Carleton’s quarterback, Jack Curtis had ice in his veins. Carleton was left with a 30 yard field goal to win the game. And-the-kick-was good!! Carleton was ahead. 

St. Olaf didn’t have enough time to score and Carleton won!

Pandemonium on the Carleton side of the stands. For the second year in a row Carleton has beaten St. Olaf! 

St. Olaf has a very good football team. They could play Carleton ten times and each team might win five. But all that matters this year is Carleton 33 St. Olaf 31.

We did plenty of celebrating on the field. I got to hold the goat trophy that I had held thirty-three years earlier on the same field. Plus standing next to Pete Machacek, my linebacker mate, with that goat trophy was very special.

We walked down to the town square of Northfield and turned the eagle towards Carleton—another ritual for the winner. The eagle was already facing Carleton as won last year, but it was turned 360 degrees. 

The football alumni continued the celebration at the Armory in Northfield. We remembered the Carleton/St. Olaf game in 1973 when Carleton broke a long losing streak against the ‘Oles. We also lifted up a new program where anyone can make a direct donation to Carleton that will benefit the football program. 

Tom Journell is an outstanding coach. He understands Carleton and the type of football player who Carleton will recruit. He has a terrific coaching staff. The program is in very good hands. 

I love Carleton football alums and players. They are some of the most fascinating people I’ll ever meet. They are intelligent and have the athletic skills to play for a Division III team. But they also know that they will probably never play in the pros. But that doesn’t stop any Carleton player from training as hard as they can to do their best. Before my senior year of football, I'm guessing I trained as hard as any player in the conference. I've always shared with anyone who would listen that when I ran onto the field with a Carleton jersey on my back there was no one playing football at any level that day who wanted to win a game more than I did.

As I was driving back to my home on Saturday, I was musing about why these athletic games are so important. For my entire life I’ve been playing in games and then cheering at games. Does it really make that much of a difference if the team I’m rooting for scores more points than the opposing team? It obviously does. I'm not sure why it matters, but I can assure you that it does. I’ve always said that all is right with the world when Carleton beats St. Olaf in football. If you pressed me, I’m not sure I could explain why this is. What I do know is my heart is happy that the eagle is pointing towards Carleton for another year.

Twins win! Twins win! Twins win!

 Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Target Field to watch the Twins break their eighteen-game playoff losing streak. Wow! 

I decided to go to the game shortly after watching the Twins clinch the division against the Los Angeles Angels on September 22. I wrote a blog about that experience. After watching that game I convinced myself that I wanted to go to a playoff game. I had never been to a playoff game before. I love going to Target Field, so why not? I bit the bullet with purchasing overpriced tickets and invited Hannah’s partner, Carter, and my Dad to join me.

And if you’re wondering about the tickets being overpriced--$131 for a seat in the left field corner? I found out at the game that these seats were being sold for $34 yesterday morning.  Tickets in that same section are being sold for today’s game for $70 a seat. 

I’m not trying to throw cold-water on the experience. The value I received in attending the game far surpassed the cost. 

Before the game the big question was whether Royce Lewis was going to play. He was injured on September 19 in a game against Cincinnati. His personality and baseball skills have led many to believe he is a superstar in the making. His joy in playing the game is contagious. It has to be contagious with other Twins’ players. I remember the joy of Kirby Puckett when he played in the late 1980’s and early 1990s. Royce Lewis has the same “it” that Kirby did. 

Fortunately Royce was able to DH yesterday.

 

We got to our seats early as I wanted to ensure we could find parking and give my Dad enough time to walk to his seat. The ballpark had many empty seats at 2:51. 

But when Pablo Lopez threw his first pitch at 3:40pm, Target Field was almost full.

The fans were immediately into the game. Every two-strike count on a Blue Jay brought us to our feet. Every pitch seemed to sway our enthusiasm. Many fans of the Blue Jays were in attendance. In fact Carter sat next to two Blue Jays’ fans—who were conversational and respectful. The fans were cheering and booing and yelling chants. I can’t say I was in favor of the “USA” chant. I love our country as next to anyone, but I didn’t see this game as a USA versus Canada contest.

I think breaking the Twins’ eighteen-game playoff losing streak captured the fans imagination. We wanted to see a victory. It’s hard to believe that the Twins had bumbled to that many playoff losses in a row. It seems almost comparable to the Vikings’ four Super Bowl losses. And it fit the mantra of a Minnesota Sports’ fan—which I identify myself. Our sports teams let us down in big moments. 

However on occasion someone steps up to break through. This happened when Royce Lewis came to bat in the first inning. Edouard Julien was on base. He blasted a fastball into the left field bleachers. The Twins were ahead. This playoff game seemed different.

 And then in the third inning he came to bat with no one on base. A high, looping fly ball to right center. And AGAIN! Homerun! Carter and I looked at each other for about thirty seconds with a “I can’t believe what I just saw” look on our faces. We were cheering our heads off.

 Without Royce Lewis, I don’t think the Twins would have won. Royce had two hits; the rest of the team had three.  

 The Twins were outstanding in defense and pitching. Michael Taylor had one diving catch, and one leaping catch with two runners on; Carlos Correa made a brilliant throw to home to save a run. The bullpen was rock solid. I questioned why Griffin Jax was pitching in the eighth and when his first pitch turned into a double for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., I was convinced that doom was coming. But he settled down and was superb. Jhoan Duran didn’t even make us sweat much in the ninth.

 Twins win; Twins win; Twins win! 

The walk out of the ballpark was unforgettable. Many fans, including me, were high fiving each other. I’m guessing I shared at least 25 of these celebrations.

I remember the 1987 playoff run of the Twins. We only won 85 games that year. But something special happened in the first round of the playoffs against the Tigers. It was like we captured magic in a bottle. The fans were very loud in the Metrodome and waved their white homer hankeys with joy. This was the feeling yesterday. We were very loud and waving our red homer hankeys with joy.

 Tom Kelly said that momentum in baseball is only as good as your next starting pitcher, so this could all look different in twenty-four hours. 

But yesterday felt like the start of something …

The Twins are in the playoffs, and I got to see the clinching game!

 

This past Friday I had the opportunity to watch with my wife, Amy, the Twins clinch the Division Championship. I’ve never had the opportunity to see the Twins win a clinching game. Since I moved to Blaine in 2009, the Twins have won four Division titles, but I’ve never been present to see it happen. 

I’ve probably gone to almost a hundred games since they started playing at Target Field in 2009. Target Field is a place where Amy and I decompress from life and enjoy the beauty of that space. 

I’m a long-time Twins fan—just as I root for the other professional teams from Minnesota. The Twins haven’t caused me the pain that the Vikings have. (read past blogs about the Vikings) The Twins' two World Championships in 1987 and 1991 have helped with that. I can still remember where I was for the seventh game of each of those series.   

Before the start of this season my personal goal for the Twins was to win one playoff game. Enough of this eighteen-game playoff streak of losses.   

The last few years of watching the Twins have been frustrating. Last year’s September collapse didn’t sit well and their mediocre play during the first part of this season didn’t help either. The over-reliance on analytics, the early hook given to their starting pitchers, and the strange starting line-ups have made me question Rocco Baldelli. I can’t say I was really an over-the-top fan for the first part of the season.  I’ve gone to less than five games this year at Target Field. 

But something changed in my attitude. I’m not sure what it was. Maybe it was being awed by Royce Lewis, or impressed with Alex Kirillof, Edouard Julien, Matt Wallner and Jhoan Duran. The Twins seemed younger and more interesting than in the past. They developed a mojo after the All-Star break.

Being used to collapses by Minnesota sports teams, I’ve been waiting for the Twins' collapse. But they haven’t. The Guardians got within five games on September 3 and seemed ready to pounce when the Twins went to Cleveland for a three-game series. But Minnesota won the first game 20-6 and won the second game too. The Twins won my respect. 

And I get it, the Twins play in the worst Division in baseball and would not be assured of a playoff berth if they were in the other two American League divisions. But this isn’t the fault of the Twins. 

This week I was hoping the Guardians would win enough games, so the game on Friday would be the clincher. And when I opened the newspaper on Friday morning, to learn this had happened, I told Amy we had to go to Target Field. 

So there we were buying tickets from the box office at 6:45pm on Friday night. And the cost of the two tickets wasn't that bad--$25 a ticket. 

The atmosphere of the game on Friday was much different than other games I’ve attended. This crowd was much more into the game. This wasn’t a game to walk around Target Field and enjoy the atmosphere. This was a game to sit in our seats and focus on each pitch. 

The Angels didn’t provide too much resistance as without Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani they have a team with no names that I recognize. When the Twins took an early lead, it seemed like the game might be a laugher. But the Angels tied up the game in the fifth. For one inning I was nervous. Could this be the first loss of a ten-game losing streak and one of the greatest collapses in baseball history? Alex Kirillof made me feel better with a homerun and more insurance runs made the score 8-3 after seven innings. Even after the Angels scored two in the eighth a win seemed a certainty. With Jhoan Duran pitching the ninth, we had no reason to be worried. Right? 

Well … Duran was wild and all of a sudden, the tying run was on second. With two outs I started taking a video of each pitch hoping that I would capture the final out on my phone. But Zach Neto walked on seven pitches and Brandon Drury worked the count to two and two. That’s eleven pitches and eleven videos. Finally, Drury hit a ground ball to Edouard Julien who threw him out, and the fireworks started. The twelfth video was the magic one. 

Check out the video on my Facebook page. 

Most importantly the Twins are Division champions!

 Amy and I stayed for about a half hour to watch the celebration on the field. We listened to the on-field interviews. We made it back to our car and waited for about a half hour to leave the parking ramp. But we had the radio on and listened to many more interviews. 

Despite my criticism of Baldelli, I think it’s very cool that he and his wife became parents of twins earlier this month.   

It’s hard not to think ahead and wonder if Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray can carry us to the promise land like Bert Blyleven and Frank Viola did in 1987. Joe Ryan or Kenta Maeda could start too. It’s possible the Twins could capture the imagination of the Twin Cities and go on a playoff run. You’re telling me there are more chances! 

I’m trying to figure out how to get to the first home playoff game. I do believe in miracles. It might not be a miracle that the Twins won the Division, but it’s worth taking a breath and singing their “We’re going to win Twins” song. Who knows what could happen in the next five weeks?