The Heart of a Pastor

Thursday coffee shop ponderings on Friday

I thought maybe I would head to my favorite coffee shop yesterday (Thursday), but I never made it.  Since I was not writing a sermon this week, everything got thrown off.  I did make it today, though, but I am sitting at home right now enjoying my coffee.  And get this...I while ago I wrote a tongue-in-check post about my Coffee Choices total being $6.66.  Well...today is Friday the 13th and my Coffee Choices total was $6.66...and it is always a different combination of stuff.   Weird.

Anyway...today I head to Gustavus Adolphus College (GAC) for the SW MN Synod Assembly.  Things start at 3:30pm and I should be home sometime Sunday afternoon.  A good friend of mine over at the "other" Lutheran church down the block is leading worship for me on Sunday.  Through my attendance tracking program I have on my computer I have noticed that when I am gone average worship attendance goes down by about 13 people.  So last week I didn't tell the congregation I was going to be gone.  Of course my council and deacons know I am going to be gone, but it is not widely known.  I am curious what the worship attendance will be.  I'll let you know on Monday how my "experiment" goes.

But before I take my leave of you to do my run and pack for the weekend, I want to share with you something that I have been reading.  The other day I started reading The Living Word: A Theological Study of Preaching and the Church by Gustaf Wingren.  I read this book in my second year preaching class in seminary and decided to tackle it again.  So far I have not been disappointed.  Here's a quote from the first chapter that caught my attention and served as an excellent reminder of what we, as preachers, are called to do:

"The Lutheran assertion that we have just now mentioned, that preaching, in so far as it is Biblical preaching, is God's own speech to people, is very difficult to maintain in practice.  Instead it is very easy to slip into the idea that preaching is only speech about God.  Such a slip, once made, gradually alters the picture of God, so that he becomes the far-off deistic God who is remote from the preached word and is only spoken about as we speak about someone who is absent...God is creative and near simply by speaking his Word." (pg. 19 & 20)

It makes me wonder how many times I have "slipped".  But to get the full flavor of what Wingren is talking about you really need to dive into this book yourself.

With that, I take my leave of you.  I am not sure if I will have time and/or access to stop back during the weekend.  In case I don't...I hope and pray you have a blessed weekend (one without rain).  Take care and God bless.

-edh-

Loon Cam

Check out this website my mom just told me about.  It's the Minnesota Bound (www.mnbound.com) site.  When you get there click on "Live Loon Cam" link and enjoy.  For some reason I have been fascinated with watching this mother loon sit on a nest (of course I am doing some work in the mean time).  But I wonder, though, if my fascination comes from my discombobulation.  Or...maybe...I am just feeling a little loony right now.  In any case...enjoy.

-edh-

Bird man of Jackson

Believe me...I don't embrace this title, but I can't help but chuckle after our little visitor this afternoon...

Connie and I were in the kitchen getting ready do some grilling for supper when I heard a strange noise by our main door (from the kitchen there is a door that leads to three steps that takes you down to a landing.  A left turn takes you outside and a right turn leads you down into the basement).  When I opened the kitchen door to investigate the strange noise...low and behold...there was a bird trying to get out.  Of course my first response was to slam the door to prevent the bird from coming into the main part of the house.  That reaction caused my wife to get a little excited; thinking someone was trying to break into our house to kill us.  But after I assured her that the bird was not going to peck us to death, I entered the landing area to open the outside door.  That, of course, freaked the bird out and it headed downstairs to the basement.  What happened next can only be described as a wild chase trying to convince my feathered visitor that I meant it no harm.  I can't believe it would not trust me.  Eventually I chased it up stairs where Connie had the outside door open and our flying friend found its way to freedom.

[Later that evening]

Connie and I were sitting on the couch watching the news when we started recalling our wild bird adventure.  She then said, "I suppose you have a blog post for tomorrow".  I hadn't really thought about it but now I did.  Later in the evening Connie said, "I think I have an anology for you about the bird.  The bird is like us trying to find our way to freedom and God is trying to guide us to freedom.  Just like the bird who didn't trust you, we often don't trust that God has our best interests at heart.  But all God wants is for us to enjoy freedom...just like what you wanted for that bird." 

Wow...I think my wife is on to something here.  I think she should have a blog as well. 

-edh-

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

This is a fun little quiz based on movie The Chronicles of Narnia.  Follow this link to take your own quiz and find out what character you are most like (my results are to the right):  http://www.jamiefrost.co.uk/narniaquiz/quiz.php?lang=

Just in case you have been living in a cave, the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian is opening on Friday, May 16.  Salem and Our Savior's Lutheran Churches are planning a Prince Caspian event on June 1 at our local theater.  There will be door prizes and other drawings.  After the movie there will be a time for questions and discussion.  Our hope is that people will not get too anxious and go out of town to see the movie, but wait until June 1 (Disney won't let our local theater have the movie on opening day...I guess we are too small).  But as for the rest of you...go out and see this movie asap.  I have read the book and it is going to be a fun movie.

But I do have one request...please don't comment here anything about the movie before I have a chance to see it on June 1 :)

-edh-

Hot...from the church kitchen

In case you can't figure out what in the world this is a picture of...it is a picture of a wooden spoon Salem used to have.  My wife has preparing spaghetti for our Wednesday night "Sunday" school program when this spoon got a little too close to the gas flame :)

[Sorry honey...you had to know that this would turn up here...I love you]

I still think I am in trouble :)

-edh-

My bookshelf

 

Notice anything strange with my office bookshelf?  My dear friend, Kara, left me this nice surprise when I returned home from my week of continuing education :)

-edh-

Canada making a bid to buy Ely, MN

This makes me wonder how much Jackson, MN would be worth (not that Iowa is knocking down our doors to make a bid).   But apparently Ely is worth something:

http://www.ely.org/

-edh-

Comment number 6_6

Someone please comment because I am sitting at comment number 6_6 (I will let you fill in what that middle number might be). :)

Other notes:
(1) My sermons blog has been neglected lately.  I wish I could use the excuse of a busy Lent, but I need to do better than that.  I will have that site updated maybe tomorrow but for sure when I get back from vacation on April 7.

(2) Please remember my secretary in your prayers.  She is still really sick (going on 2 weeks now).  We're not sure yet what is going on yet.  It is looking like some nasty viral thing going through her system.

With that...have a very blessed day!  Take care!
-edh-

It's that number again

It happened again...

...at my favorite coffee place (which is in downtown Jackson). 

I am at Coffee Choices most days and every once in a while (like today) I have lunch there.  And on more than one occasion, when I have gone to Coffee Choices, the total that appears on the cash register is $6.66..."scary".  The owners, when they see that, always give me a wry laugh and immediately take one cent off my total.

[Mental note:  A turkey wrap and travel mug of coffee is "evil" :)]

O.K...maybe nothing bad has ever happened by me receiving "that number" time and again, but at least I save myself one cent every now and then.  So that means after another few hundred more cases of being "cursed" with the mark of the beast I will have saved up enough money for a free coffee.  What a deal :)

[Mental note:  Consider cutting back on the caffeine]

-edh-

Luther and Dogs (Scooby Doo)

Diane over at Faith in Community posted a fun piece titled, Luther on Dogs, part II.  Being the dog lover she is, this is very appropriate.  But as I was reading her post I could not help but chuckle (don't worry, Diane, I wasn't laughing at you).  What made me chuckle was the scene on my shelf to my left...

I guess Martin and Katie DID love dogs.  Scooby dooby dooooooo.... :)

-edh-