Attending the 3M Open

 

Yesterday my wife, Amy, and I had the pleasure of going to the 3M Open, the PGA golf tournament that was held in Blaine. It’s pretty cool that the PGA has this tournament that is so close to where we live. I drive by the course almost every day on Radison Road. I haven’t had the chance to golf there, but our Rotary Club met in the Clubhouse of the TPC for many years. Every Wednesday when Rotary met I could look out the window of the Clubhouse at the 18^th green. 

This is the thirtieth year of the 3M Open. The tournament replaced the 3M Championship in 2019. The 3M championship was a senior golf event. Before the 3M Championship the tournament was known as the Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic and the Burnet Senior Classic. 

The 3M Open offers non-profits the opportunity to raise money by volunteering at different concession stands. Many folks from our church from Chain of Lakes were there. I was scheduled to volunteer on Friday, but our stand was double-booked. 

Going with Amy on Sunday was a spectator opportunity. We’ve gone almost every year. We waited until early afternoon to arrive. Getting there was easy. We drove to the soccer fields by the National Sports Center, got on an air-conditioned bus and arrived at the gate. 

Mapping out a schedule is the biggest challenge of watching golf. Being able to look at my phone and knowing which golfer is on which hole is very helpful. We eventually landed at the 12^th green and watched the golfers aim for the pin. The 12^th is a par 5 which is reachable in two shots. Most of the golfers were near the green in two shots. Lee Hodges showed why he won the tournament by hitting a 258 shot within three feet of the pin for an eventual eagle. For me that was the shot of the tournament. 

The 3M Open has struggled to attract the top golfers to the tournament. With the tournament being a week after the British Open, many of the best golfers don’t attend. This year Tony Finau and Justin Thomas  were the biggest names to come to the tournament. Finau won the tournament last year and Thomas was trying to get additional Fed Ex points. 

One added highlight was the addition of Caleb VanArragon to the field. He graduated from Blaine High School the same year as my daughter, Hannah. He has been on an incredible streak of golf lately as he won the Minnesota State Open by nine strokes and then the MGA State Amateur Championship by twelve strokes. He was wisely given a sponsor exemption. I followed his round on Thursday from the comfort of my phone. 

After spending some time sitting near the 12^th green yesterday, Amy wanted to go shopping. So I found Finau’s group and followed him for three holes. He was golfing with Aaron Baddeley. Watching each of them hit drives of over 325 yards and then hit the green is amazing. I gained a new appreciation for the quality of these golfers. 

Amy and I hung out at the 18^th green for a while and watched many of the golfers try to go over the water and hit the green in two. Sitting in the stands on the 18^th hole would be a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Most of the golfers were not laying up, so each shot into the green had its own drama. 

When it became apparent that Hodges was going to win the tournament, Amy and I decided to leave. We wanted to beat the line to the bus and the traffic out of the parking lot. We were successful at that. I would guess it took twenty minutes to arrive home after climbing on the bus. I even had the opportunity to watch some of the closing interviews on CBS. 

To do well at golf is financially lucrative. The total purse for the 3M Open was 7.8 million. Hodges won 1.4 million for winning the event. The last place contestant won $15,600. 

Hodges led the entire tournament—the first wire-to-wire victory on the PGA Tour since 2019. His margin of victory was the largest of the season. Patrick Reusse wrote an excellent article about him in the Strib and predicted that he would win many more tournaments. 

The dates for next year’s tournament have already been set. I put them in my calendar. I’ll be there, and hope that many top-ten golfers will attend.

Would you take the kindess pledge?

 

For 2023 my objective for the year is to live out kindness. This is my personal “goal” for the year. I want to be more kind at the end of the year than I was at the beginning of the year. 

On Sunday, June 28^th I shared a sermon on kindness. You can find it by clicking the link at colpres.org. In getting ready for that sermon I took a deep dive into the work of Greg Atkinson that he wrote on kindness. Shortly after that sermon he released a book called, “The Secret Power of Kindness." I love the book and encourage everyone to read it. 

He shared two definitions of kindness that have stayed with me. 

“the secret power of kindness is the self-awareness to know that you have the power to make or break someone else’s day and eventually change the world. Kindness has no hidden agenda or strings attached. Its only purpose is to express love to another soul made in the image of God.” 

“The Secret Power of Kindness,” Page 12 

“Kindness has been defined as loaning someone your strength instead of reminding them of your weakness.”  Brene Brown 

Kindness is not often associated with power. It’s easy to think that a kind person is a pushover—that the person will be nice and will give in during an argument. This isn’t the case at all. Let me 

Kindness comes from the Hebrew word “chesed.” Chesed has many different nuances. It means steadfast love and loyalty. It’s the essence of a marriage relationship. 

Chesed is the opposite of giving in. In fact it is staying with a difficult situation with a perspective of care. It’s not running away when life gets hard or messy or disagreeable. Kindness has a deep rootedness to it. It is like a tree planted by streams of water that the Psalmist wrote about in the first Psalm. 

The definition of kindness is to stay connected even when people disagree. It's not giving in. It's staying rooted. Our culture needs this kindness. 

I love the song called Revolutionary written by Josh Wilson. You can find the link to the song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6glQdaQUZ1U. He sang this:

“Why does kindness seem revolutionary?
When did we let hate get so ordinary?
Let's turn it around, flip the script
Judge slow, love quick
God help us get revolutionary.” 

To think that the word, “kindness” would be paired with the word “revolutionary” shows where we are as a culture.  

When Josh Wilson and two others wrote the lyrics to the song they were pessimistic about their expectations about the divisiveness of the upcoming Presidential campaign.    

He didn’t even know that in March 2020 a world-wide pandemic would happen; then in June of 2020 George Floyd would be murdered in front of the world and that protests all over the world  would take place. 

He wrote, “No matter what side of the political spectrum we’re on, deep down I know that we are not as different as we are led to believe. There is peace to be made, there are names to be learned, meals to be had, chasms to be crossed, and it all starts with kindness.” 

In his book on kindness Greg Atkinson wrote about ten keys to unlocking kindness. As the picture of the Table of Contents shares, they are forgiveness, generosity, composure, acceptance, rest, wisdom, empathy, patience, love, and unity. These qualities are similar to the Fruit of the Spirit. When they are planted inside of our own spirit and nurtured we are on the path to being who God wants us to be. 

This is how I want to live; and this is how I want to see others live. 

I would encourage organizations to do a kindness audit. Imagine if companies and non-profits lifted up people who exhibited kindness, while recognizing when kindness wasn’t expressed. What if kindness became a Core Value of companies—employees would come to expect that kindness was the expectation for behavior. 

Kindness seems so basic that it wouldn’t need attention—except that, as I mentioned above, we are not living out kindness as a culture. 

For worship that day, I purchased wristbands that said kindness matters and distributed them to everyone present. I wear mine every day. It’s my own reminder to live out kindness. No matter how stressful or emotional a situation I find myself, my response is kindness. 

Greg Atkinson and Josh Wilson got it right. Kindess is revolutionary. And we need a revolution! 

I want to encourage you to take the kindness pledge. 

“I pledge during this year to strive for kindness in all of my interactions; I pledge to study kindness, to look at myself and to learn when I don’t share kindness; I want to be more consistently kind at the end of this year than at the start.” 

If you will take the kindness pledge, say "yes" in the comments.

The incarnation is everyday!

 Hi blogger friends. In order to change things up a bit, I'm going to post my sermon manuscript from the previous Sunday on Monday. I'll still share another blog post during the week. This is an experiment, so share your thoughts about me sharing my sermon manuscript in the comment section.  You can also find the video of the sermon at vimeo.com/chainoflakes

Before I begin let me encourage you to get out this brochure that is in the bulletin. I wrote a devotion for you on the Incarnation. It’s an amazing concept. The Bible has a lot to say about it. In the middle of this devotion is a place to take notes. On the back is a listing of prayer requests.

Merry Christmas!      

For the second year in a row we’re celebrating Christmas in July at Chain of Lakes Church. Our faith community is not the only group who is celebrating Christmas.

KTIS radio is celebrating Christmas in July.  I heard that mentioned as I drove to church this morning. When I was out at Bunker Hills golf course a few weeks ago they had flyers for Christmas in July.

Christmas in July is not new. And there are all sorts of stories about how and why Christmas in July started

According to the magazine, Southern Living, it’s believed that the first celebration of Christmas in July took place on July 25, 1933 at an all-girls summer camp in Brevard, North Carolina.  According to camp history, Christmas in July came about as an occasion to exchange gifts, sing carols, and mark the end of the summer season in an unconventional way.

Santa and Mrs. Claus would pull up in a big red truck tossing candy to all the campers. Camp counselors would dress in reindeer and elf costumes and would gather everyone into the lodge for secret Santa.

There was a film done in 1940 called Christmas in July around the story of a man who mistakenly believed he won a $25,000 lottery and buys presents for his friends and family in July.

Celebrating Christmas in July can lead us to ask the question, “why is Christmas celebrated in December.”

The Bible tells us that, right? Well the Bible doesn’t tell us that. The birth story of Jesus is in two of the four gospels—Matthew and Luke. And nowhere in those two gospels do we read that Jesus was born on December 25. The dating of the death and resurrection of Jesus is much more accurate as the Bible tells us that he was killed during Passover and Passover is celebrated in the spring—in March or April.

Why December 25? There are a lot of theories.  And I don’t intend to wade into a historical issue that not all people who make a living studying faith have agree on.

You could go on the Internet and google the question, “why is Christmas celebrated on December 25” and find many different responses.

Some believe that the Annunciation—that is when the angel Gabriel told Mary she would have a baby happened on March 25. Nine months later is December 25.

Originally Christmas was celebrated on January 6—the date that today is Epiphany.

One  theory is the church selected December 25 because there were pagan festivals going on in December and to compete the Christians wanted a competing celebration. Some believe that the date was chosen to be near the winter solstice when more light was coming into the world.  

Let me ask you another question? Why is the celebration called Christmas? It’s in the Bible, right?

I pulled out my Concordance. A Concordance has every word in the bible. This is the one that I have. It has every word in the NRSV translation. I looked for Christmas.

And—it’s not there. 

Why is it called Christmas? Christmas is made up of two words—Christ. Christ is in the Bible. Christ is a term that describes Jesus as the Messiah. The one who came into the world to save the human race. The three letter word “mas” comes from mass. And that is a mass or the worship celebrating Jesus as the Messiah.

            I don’t bring up these questions to cause us to question Christmas or whether Jesus was born. If you leave this place with your faith diminished because Jesus was probably not born on December 25^th, then I have failed to communicate the point. Quite frankly if our faith is diminished because the birth of Jesus is most likely not December 25 than I wonder about the foundation of our faith.

The reality is Jesus was born on one of 365 dates. We don’t have a record of the date. People used their best judgment to select a date. There is nothing malicious or devious in the selection of that date. A tradition of December 25^th was developed. Traditions inform and help our faith. It’s essential to have a date where we celebrate the birth of Jesus. And it’s also healthy to know the history of our traditions.

At Christmas I wouldn’t say “Happy Birthday, Jesus.” I would say, thank you Jesus for coming into the world.

            What is Christmas? It’s not a date. It’s a story of the birth of Jesus. We can celebrate that story any date of the year.  

I believe that the birth of Jesus is one of the greatest stories that has ever happened. God came into the world as a baby. Think about it. God could have entered the world in any way that God wanted. God chose to be born as a baby to a unwed mother. That was dangerous. IN carrying a baby without being married, Mary could have been stoned to death. God chose to be born in the room of a boarding house. It wasn’t the nicest health health facility in Jerusalem. God chose to be born without any doctors or nurses or midwives present. There was no epidural. God chose to be born in Bethlehem. There was nothing special about Bethlehem. It was a town of two to three thousand people when Jesus was born. King David had grown up there. It was located a little more than five miles from Jerusalem.

The birth of Jesus was a threat to the existing political order. Soon after Jesus was born King Herod had all the children under two years who lived near Bethlehem killed.

God chose to enter into the world like this?

If you know of someone who doubts God and you’re having a conversation with that person, (and quite frankly I hope that you’re having a conversation with a person who doesn’t completely believe at least once a week) let the person know how God chose to enter the world. This says a lot about God.

            This is the incarnation—the entrance of God into the world.  The incarnation is beautiful and true and relevant for our faith. And it impacts our lives right now.

            The gospel writer, John didn’t share in his gospel a story about the birth of Jesus. But he did write about the incarnation.

            He started out his gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the WORD.” This is called the Prologue to John—the first eighteen verses. These verses are important for our faith. Let’s take a bit of time to go deeper.

There is another chapter in the Bible that starts out with the phrase “In the beginning.” Do you know what that is? Genesis. In the beginning.

            We might think of beginning to indicate time. But I think that John was talking about something different than time. I think he was talking about the story. We could paraphrase this verse to say at the start of the story was the WORD. All parts of our story originate from God.

            What is the Word? The English word for Word comes from the Greek word, “Logos.”

            In the beginning or at the start of the story was the LOGOS. What is the Logos?  Some people think that Logos is Jesus, but I don’t think that equating Jesus with Logos quite makes the mark. I did a lot of reading about Logos this week, and the best description that I came across came from Adam Hamilton. He pastors Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. We’re taking a group to go to their leadership conference in September.  He wrote

            “The Word [or Logos][ is God’s heart, God’s reasoning, God’s mind, God’s purposes, God’s character, God’s creative power, and God’s desire to reveal himself to us.”  

Adam Hamilton “John, The Gospel of Light and Life” Page 16

            A word that I came up for Logos this week was life force. It’s the power of life. 

            In the beginning was the life force

            Let’s go with life force.

The life force was with God and the life force was God.

            Later in this prologue John wrote, “the life force became flesh and lived among us.”

This is the incarnation. The life force took on flesh and lived among us. We call him Jesus.

Presbyterians have nine statements of faith. They are part of the Book of Confessions. One of the statements of faith is the Brief Statement of Faith. It entered the Book of Confessions in 1991. .

The Brief Statement of Faith beautifully captured the humanity of Jesus—what we celebrate in the incarnation.

”We trust in Jesus Christ,
Fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor
and release to the captives,
teaching by word and deed
and blessing the children,
healing the sick
and binding up the brokenhearted,
eating with outcasts,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.”

         This is a little longer way to describe the Incarnation. This is beautiful. There are a lot of take-aways, but one is Jesus is a personal God who understands our own humanity.  As a recent advertising campaign proclaimed, “He gets us.” Jesus gets us.”

Last week our daughter, Hannah, and I drove from Casselberry, Florida to Blaine. 1550 miles, 24 hours. This is a picture of when we started on our journey. We were still smiling then.  Not everyone likes long-distance driving, but I do. I enjoyed the drive, and I cherished the time that I got to spend with Hannah. 

The first day we drove was Friday; we made it to Nashville. We got to the hotel late—about 10:30 or so. We decided to take a break the next morning. Hannah wanted to see a bench that Taylor Swift used when she lived in Nashville. We found the bench. We used Tik Tok to find it—that’s another story.

            We took some pictures at the bench.

The bench was in Centennial Park in Nashville. While we were there, we saw a Parthenon. Who knew. I didn’t know. What a great adventure. I learned later that in the early 20^th century the leaders of Nashville built a Parthenon in Nashville. They wanted Nashville to be the Athens of the south. We walked over to the Parthenon. When we went into the entrance someone gave us free tickets. Okay.  

         

We walked upstairs and we saw this large statue of the god, Athena. Whoa! Forty-two foot-high statue that is gold plated. Athena was one of the twelve chief Olympian deities and the goddess associated with wisdom, craft, and warfare. According to legend she came from her father Zeus, without conception from a mother. Athena embodied cold rationality, tactics, and strategy. impulsiveness.

I love reading about Greek mythology. When I was in sixth grade I went through a phase where I couldn’t get enough of it. Here’s the thing.

There’s not a life-force to Athena. You wouldn’t worship Athena. Athena doesn’t understand you.

Jesus was the life-force that took on flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus understands us.

Have you encountered suffering this past week. Maybe you are going through cancer treatment or you know of someone who is going through cancer treatment. Jesus understands suffering. He was nailed to a cross and bled to death

Have you been let down by someone this week. Maybe someone in your family or a friend. You had hopes that something was going to happen butt you were let down. Or maybe you consistently feel let down by your friends or family. Jesus understands what it was like to be let down. One of his closest friends—Judas—one of the twelve who we call apostles betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus understands what it means to be let down.

Or maybe you disappointed someone this week. Jesus understood what it was like to disappoint someone. You remember when Jesus heard that his very close friend Lazarus was sick. Jesus went to the location of Lazarus. By the time he arrived, Lazarus had died. And when he got there people didn’t thank Jesus for coming. They expressed their disappointment. Martha, a strong woman who could be a role model of assertiveness for all genders, said “Lord if you have been here my brother would not have died.”  If you have disappointed someone this week, Jesus understands you.

Jesus experienced great disappointment himself. As he was dying on the cross, Jesus cried out to his Abba, Father. My God, my god why have you forsaken me. Jesus was in terrible pain as he was tortured. He was angry. It was the same anger that he expressed when he saw injustice in the Temple and he turned over the tables. If you experience disappointment, Jesus understands you.

This is the incarnation. This life force came into the world and experienced what we do. He understands what we have.

I don’t know about you, but knowing that there is a life force that understands me changes everything. I want to share my life with him. I want to share my joys and happiness; my sadness and anger; I want to share my complete self because Jesus understands us.

I wouldn’t feel this way about Athena or any other god.

What is so powerful is this incarnation is always available to all of us. Whether we are male/female/bi; whether we are old, young adult or a child; whether we are hetero or LGTBQ. The incarnation is for all of us.

I think of it as a gift. A Christmas gift. Because of his incarnation every person has been given this gift. And our task is to be delighted as children coming to the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Opening up this gift and enjoying what Jesus—fully God, fully human has for us.

That’s worth celebrating every day of the yar.

One more point about the incarnation. Let me set up by sharing a story from my trip.

On the last day of the trip, annah and I stopped at a restaurant in Rockford, Illinois for breakfast. The hotel where we were staying wasn’t offering breakfast. And this restaurant had a gift shop. We went. And Hannah found this journal. Hannah said to me,

“Dad you should buy this journal for our baby.” Hannah is going to have a baby in October. We’re so excited about this baby. This journal was entitled, “Grandpa tell me your memories.” Each day it has a question where grandpa can write something for the baby. It’s a way to share life. One of the questions this week was “share a memory involving a heat wave, a drought or a flood.” I wrote a paragraph. Another question was how did you celebrate birthdays in your family.

Every morning, at the end of my prayer time I’m going to write my answer for the day’s question for my granddaughter. Before she is even born, I get to share my life with her.

This is what Jesus has done. Another way to say this is “in the beginning was the lifr force and the life force dwelt among us, and I’ll share my life with you. There is no deception with Jesus; there is no hiddenness to Jesus.; there are no secrets. Jesus wants to share himself completely with us. This is so beautiful.

It’s a gift—it’s Christmas. It happens every day. Today it’s Christmas in July.

Today we are going to publicly welcome four more people who have joined Chain of Lakes. When people join they say Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Athena is not our Lord, Jesus is our Lord.

Whatever happens to you on your journey, I pray that you will always grasp this life force called Jesus. It’s always available to us. And I pray that this faith community called Chain of Lakes Church will be made up of people who have experienced this life force. A group of people who without apology want to share this life force with others.

Merry Christmas!            

If you have comments about this sermon or about putting this sermon on my blog, please share in the comment section. Thanks!

Road Trip!

I love a Road Trip. I love getting in a car and driving a long way. I can’t completely explain my love for Road Trips. I went on many Road Trips (and yes, I think it’s appropriate to capitalize the term Road Trip) as a kid. I found something wonderful in getting in a car and looking at the wide sky of southwestern Minnesota and then South Dakota. 

I’m writing about this because for the past three days I was on a Road Trip with my daughter, Hannah. We drove from Casselberry, Florida to Blaine, Minnesota. The trip was 1,650 miles and took a little over 24 hours of driving spread out over this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

When I was young my family would frequently take a Road Trip out west for summer vacations. We traveled to Montana, and Oregon and many trips through South Dakota. At least three times we also drove during Christmas vacation to Big Pine Key, Florida to visit my dad’s parents. Once we drove straight from Big Pine Key to my hometown of Worthington in 40 hours. I drove from New York City to California once and did a lot of driving when I lived in California. 

Not everyone loves a Road Trip. When given the opportunity to get in the car for a long period of time, my wife Amy’s response is usually the same, “shoot me.” 

Is there something spiritual about a road trip? Absolutely. A road trip is an adventure with many opportunities to encounter something unexpected. And yes, Hannah and I encountered the unexpected. 

I flew into Orlando this past Tuesday. Hannah, her partner, Carter, and I hung out for three days. 

We went to the beach in Daytona Beach before getting rudely moved from the beach by a drenching rainstorm. 

On the way to Daytona Beach, I experienced Buc-ees. Being from Minnesota, I knew nothing about this chain. I loved Buc-ees. Who doesn’t love a bright lit store, with impeccably clean bathrooms, and a huge display of brisket sandwiches—and a lot of other items. I talked to a clerk about the wonder of Buc-ees—she told me I was Buccifed. Only in the south! 

I don’t think I completely got used to the heat and humidity of Casselberry. It wasn’t even terribly hot by Central Florida standards—95 during the day with dew points in the high 70’s. It took a while to get used to walking from air conditioning to the summer heat and having my glasses fog up. Running was hard in Orlando. Even at 10am the heat and humidity and sunshine was almost unbearable while running. I ran this morning in Minnesota with the temperature in the high 50’s and a lower dew point. Give me running in Minnesota on almost any day! 

The first day of our Road Trip was the longest—we traveled from Casselberry to Nashville. I’m grateful that semi drivers do a terrific job of moving product in the United States, but the number of semi drivers was astounding. I’m also grateful that semis don’t drive in the far left lane. We had plenty of time listen to Hannah’s music—which was pretty much Taylor Swift. I told her that we were going to have our own Eras concert in the car. 

Driving down the mountains outside of Chattanooga at night in the dark rivals any ride on Valley Fair. Prayers are required. WE slept in on Saturday at our hotel in Nashville. 

On Saturday morning, Hannah wanted to find a bench that Taylor Swift used in Centennial Park in Nashville. Because of the videos on Tik Tok we found it without a problem. Who knew that Tik-Tok could be helpful in directions?!?

We found the bench and then found a gigantic Parthenon. A Parthenon in Nashville. Who knew? This Parthenon was built in 1897 when Nashville wanted to be the Athens of the south. Inside the Parthenon was a forty-two-foot statue of Athena. Again—who knew? 

I couldn’t help but notice the tributes to the Confederacy in the south—a few museums mentioned in billboards, and plaques in rest tops honoring those who died. It’s a complicated question of honoring those who fought against the Union. I don’t want to wade into the controversy, but it’s fair to say that the South has not forgotten the Civil War. 

The second day we drove from Nashville to Rockford, Illinois. It took Hannah fourteen calls to find a hotel that was open. And the room we found was only available because someone had canceled right before her call.

This road trip gave me all sorts of opportunities to notice how people drove. And the speed in which people drove. I put the cruise at 75 on the Interstate. Oh yes, I know that this is five miles above the speed limit, but this speed puts me in the slow lane. The number of cars who sped past me going over a hundred is sobering. 

On Sunday, Hannah and I finally arrived in Blaine at about 3pm. It was time to get out of the car; time to not eat restaurant food or use a bathroom facility that wasn’t my own. I don't drink, but it was worth having some champagne with Amy, who closely followed our trip.

Hannah and I will always have this memory of riding back from Florida. We didn’t have any deep, earth-shaking conversations, but we enjoyed each other’s company. 

I love Road Trips. Give me a few weeks to recover from this one, and I’ll be ready for the next one. 

If you have a story about a Road Trip, put it in the comments. I’d love to hear about your experience.

Spiritual Musings from the north Metro

I’ve started blogging again. I’m going to do my best to share a blog every Monday morning—or early in the week. I don’t know how long I’ll keep this up, but I’d like to keep it up for a while. 

I’ve written many blogs in the past. When I first started as the pastor at Chain of Lakes, I wrote almost every day. I ended up writing 129 blogs in 2009. But the last few years, I’ve written far less. Last year I only wrote two blogs; in 2021 only eleven. 

But I recently got inspired to write again. And before I got too far into this blogging adventure, I wanted to force myself to answer the question, “why?” Why do I want to share approximately a 800-word blog at the start of the week? 

My search for an answer to this question led me to a phrase that captures what I’m trying to accomplish. And the phrase is “spiritual musings from the north Metro.” Let me take some time today to explain what I mean. 

Spiritual.

I am a spiritual being. Ever since I was very young, I knew there was a God. One of my foundational moments was looking at the sun as a young boy from underneath the clothesline of my neighbor. As I was lying on the grass the thought came to me, “there has to be a God.” I believe in God.

I look at the world from a spiritual lens. I want to see people, events, activities, gatherings, and wonder how God looks at them. This is my ideal perspective. 

I want to see the community land in a better place. When I became a pastor thirty years ago, I had the belief that the world can’t get better unless the church is involved in it getting better. I had read about the successes of the Civil Rights movement and the farm worker movement and saw how the church had helped those two movements be successful. This social-justice perspective formed me. I went to Union Seminary in New York City—a place that believes in social justice. 

I understand that some people don’t believe that social justice ministries should be part of a church. And some believe that social justice ministries will lead the church to be political. My example for any ministry has always been Jesus. Jesus went out of his way to help and support those who were on the outside of his world—the poor, women, the Samaritans, those who were blind, those who could hardly walk. In his very first sermon, Jesus said that his mission as to bring good news to the poor. If I can follow Jesus in leading and helping any social justice ministry, then I feel I’m living up to my spiritual calling. 

But before you peg me as a “liberal person who wants to change the world,” let me share some other understandings that I have about being spiritual. I’m just as passionate as prayer, worship and Bible Study as I am about helping the homeless. I want to become the person God wants me to be. And I don’t think I can do this unless I’m daily talking to God and daily reading the Scriptures, and frequently going to worship. And I want others to grow in their personal faith too. I don’t have an agenda in helping—I just want to help people grow closer to God. 

I'm religious too. I'm the pastor of Chain of Lakes Church. And at times I'll write in this blog about what is happening in our faith community. And even though I want to build up this religious community, I'm not trying to write from a religious perspective.

It's this spiritual lens from which I want to share in this blog. 

Musings

“I like to write.” This is what I found myself saying to my coach a month ago. And as I reflected on my response, I came to the conclusion that it’s time to start blogging again. If I had another job, I would be a columnist for a newspaper—and on occasion I’ve written columns that have been published in the newspaper. 

I’m a writer. As a pastor I have the opportunity to write a sermon every week. I write a full manuscript—about 2,500 words--that I edit at least three times. 

Almost every Monday morning I write in a journal. I’ve done this for almost thirty years. 

I like to write. 

I don’t find writing easy, but I find it necessary for me. It’s important for me to put down on paper the thoughts that I have. 

I’m interested in what is happening in the world. And when I see something I often want to write down my own thoughts. The word that I think best describes these thoughts are musings. According to the Cambridge on-line Dictionary a musing is a “thought or comment on something a person has been thinking about for a long-time.” 

In my on-line word search I came across the Cambridge dictionary and discovered that in  ancient Greek and Roman stories, one of the nine goddesses who were believed to give encouragement in different areas of literature, art, and music was described as a muse. 

I want to give encouragement in all areas of life. I see myself as a person who has spiritual thoughts about people and events in the world. These thoughts could be described as an opinion. But “opinion” seems a bit strong for what I’m trying to accomplish. I want to put out my thoughts—a musing—without being overly argumentative. It doesn’t really bother me too much if people disagree with my thoughts as I’m not trying to win an argument. I just want to share these thoughts--spiritual musings. 

The purpose of my musings is to bring people together—not separate them. I don’t claim that these musings are always right or correct. I certainly don’t expect that people will agree with them. And sometimes I’ll feel very strongly about what I share, so it might seem argumentative. 

A musing seems to be what I’m trying to do. 

From the north Metro

I believe that people write from a location. That location forms their perspective. My location is the north Metro of the Twin Cities. A person could describe this place as Anoka Country, but I see my location as a bit broader than that. I’ve lived in the north Metro since June 2009. In some ways I don’t consider this as my home location, but I’ve lived here long enough to believe that I have a basic understanding of this place. The north Metro is a dynamic, fast-growing area of the Metro. It is made up of fascinating people. Right now the north Metro shapes my views of what is happening in the world.

This is my location, and I don’t see my location changing for a while. 

“Spiritual musings from the north Metro.” This is the new title of my blog. No matter where you live, I hope you’ll join me on this journey by reading and commenting on these spiritual musings from the north Metro.  I'd also love it if you would share it with friends and email your thoughts and blog topics to pastor@colpres.org.

What's more important--loving Jesus or loving America? Spiritual musings on July 4th

 

Every July 4^th I read the Declaration of Independence. It’s easy to forget in all that happens around the 4^th of July that this day is a a simple anniversary.  Two hundred forty-seven years ago, fifty-six white men signed this document that contained 1,323 words. Shorter in words than most sermons that were preached last Sunday, the document contains the basic political rights of the United States. It has the phrase that many people believe to be foundational to this country—that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

I read the Declaration today as I do around every 4^th of July. Much of the Declaration contains twenty-seven grievances against King George the III. 

It’s important to note the uniform gender and skin color of the signatories. Mary Katharine Goddard was authorized by Congress in January of 1777 to print the official copy of the Declaration. One draft carries the inscription: “Baltimore in Maryland Printed by Mary Katherine Goddard.” And though that is a beautiful story the reality is all fifty-six signatories were in Philadelphia were men; and all of the signatories were White. And the final draft of the Declaration did not mention slavery. Jefferson’s original rough draft condemned the slave trade as evil and condemned King George III for forcing it upon America. But unfortunately, that section was deleted in the final version. 

I wonder—without an opinion—how the history of America would have been different had that statement been included. 

I was captured by political philosophy when I attended Carleton college. I loved reading about what the great philosophers thought and wrote about the principles upon which the politics of countries should be based. 

Now I’m interested in how pastors relate to the State. Is it more important to say Jesus is Lord or to pledge my Allegiance to the flag? I can do both, of course. But if I was forced to make a decision, what would I do. Fortunately, I doubt I’ll ever be forced to make such a choice that would have life-or-death consequences.  

Not all pastors can say that. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was forced into hiding because he refused to support Adolph Hitler. He organized an underground seminary at Finkenwal that trained pastors who resisted Hitler. He eventually was arrested and put in prison. He eventually was murdered by the German authorities in a concentration camp. He acknowledged being a pacifist but was part of an effort that tried to kill Hitler.    

I love the United States and being a citizen of this country. I have the greatest respect for my step-son, Drew, for his military service in Iraq. Every July 4^th I revel in the freedom that I have. Because of my gender and skin color I have privileges and freedoms that others haven’t. The ideal of America burns inside of me. And I want this ideal for all people. 

Much has been written lately about Christian Nationalism. The best book I’ve written was by Angela Denker called, “Red State Christians.” I read her emails and from one email came across an article that has a speech by Frederick Doulas called, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” That is worth reading too on July 4^th. The link is here: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1852-frederick-douglass-what-slave-fourth-july/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

I'm willing to sing “God Bless America” as loud as anyone, but I don’t believe in divine destiny for a nation. My adherence to Jesus is much stronger than my adherence to our country. And though I would have no problem putting a flag in the Worship Center of Chain of Lakes, I support the strong separation of church and state. 

Pastors always live with the tensions of loving Jesus and loving country. I don’t claim to have the definite answers to these questions, but I do know who is first in my life.

I've committed to posting content every Monday. I guess the box on the right side of this blog is not receiving emails. However if you send an email to pastor@colpres.org, I'll make sure you know when new content is published.