Friday Night Lights, the Sequel!

The boy across the street, who of course, is a member of First Lutheran here in Dundee, was promoted to the varsity football squad. He wears number 50. He was pretty excited about the promotion so he invited Anna and me to come see him play. He plays for Fulda, as most of the kids here in town attend Fulda area schools. Last night the Fulda Raiders were facing off against the Murray County Central Rebels in Slayton, so we made the trek up highway 59 to sit on the away side and root for the good guys in white. It's not that the other team doesn't have good guys on it as well, I'm sure the mixture is about the same as Fulda between good guys and scoundrels, but I don't really know anyone in Slayton (yet) so we were rooting unashamedly for Fulda. Besides, their away uniforms are white, so as far as I'm concerned, they were the good guys in white.

It turns out that the boy across the street plays on the special teams unit, and covers kick returns as a tackle. Things were going pretty well for the Raiders, although the halftime score was 12 to 6 in favor of the Rebles, but on the kickoff to open the second half the Fulda boys managed to contain the MCC boys pretty well, and when they got the ball back had excellent field position. They began their drive on the Rebel 45 yard line. It took about six plays to find the end-zone, but Fulda pulled even with the eventual touchdown, and took the lead when they converted the extra point. The boys got very excited to finally be in the lead this late in a game. So then came the kick-off, and I noticed that our neighbor from across the street was in his usual position, on the line ready to persue whoever managed to catch the football. He ran with extra intensity, as did most of the boys now that they had the lead, and made the tackle around the 35 yard line. It was a good, solid hit, and a nice tackle, but then, he didn't get up! The whole crowd was concerned because he just laid there. He tried to get up a couple of times and then collapsed back to the turf. It looked pretty serious, especially when the training staff from the team went out and spent several minutes working on him right there on the field. I really thought they were going to have to call in the ambulance, but after a few minutes of working on him he finally was able to get back on his feet and hobble off the field. Poor kid, he was so excited for this chance, and he made the most of it, but that finished him for the night. The good news, though is that Fulda held on to beat those pesky Rebels with a final score of 33 to 18. I know our neighbor is sore this morning, so I probably won't see him for the youth baking event at church, but even when you're sore, it hurts a lot less when you win. Ah, what fun here on the rural Minnesota prairie! Blogged by Don

Everybody wants into the act!

That's an old Jimmy Durante saying. But I am reviving my trombone skills, and Anna is reviving her clarinet skills, although she also tried her hands at trombone as well, before deciding she really would rather stick with clarinet. We are going to play some duets together, so if you come to visit, maybe we can entertain you in the old fashioned way, with live music! Before there was radio and television, that's how people used to do things. It will be awhile before we're ready for the concert halls of the prairie, but in the meantime we're having fun. Blogged by Don

First Communion

One of the realities of large parish ministries is that there are not enough ordained people to do all the things that ordained people are "supposed" to do. One of the things that Prairie Star Ministries does is participate with other churches in the area to serve communion to the residents of one of the nursing homes in the area. We hold church services in the nursing home chapel every Wednesday, and clergy from the participating churches preside over the service. Mark, my supervisor, showed me the ropes a couple of weeks ago, but yesterday I was on my own. That meant I had to pick hymns that were available in the large-print hymn books, preach the sermon, and serve communion. It is the first time I have ever served communion without a clergy person present. It went fine, and I'm sure Jesus is fine with it, but it is my own feelings that somehow I've entered some kind of elite club. Peter writes in the Bible about how we Christians are all priests to one another, and that no one is set above another, so any clergy person will tell you that those who serve communion are no more holy than those who receive it, but it was my first time doing it, so I thought it was noteworthy. I will serve communion at Evangelical Lutheran in Heron Lake on the first Sunday in October, and that will be my first time serving in a church building without a clergy person present. The Southwest Minnesota Synod authorizes interns to do these kinds of things, so everything is on the level, but it will still feel noteworthy to do it for the first time, and so I am writing to let you know I'm growing as a leader of the church. I think that's a good thing.

Last night at confirmation we had a really great discussion around the fact that Saul was a scoundrel but God used him anyway, and everybody thinks David was such a great king, but he really had some big screw-ups, the largest being the Bathsheba incident, but God used him anyway. The discussion ended with noticing how God uses anybody, whoever God chooses, to do what God wants done, so God just might choose one of my confirmation students to do something great. You never know. Good discussion; the problem is that now I'm behind schedule. I was supposed to get as far as from Samuel, the last judge of Israel, to Solomon, the king that divided the kingdom. We only got as far as David. Oh well, better luck next week. Blogged by Don

Friday Night Lights

Anna and I were invited to the Fulda Raider's homecoming football game last night, so we went to see how the local boys would fare. It was fun, and it was a good way to spend a warm, late summer evening. Other than the fact it was warm, it was very much like many of the games I went to when Andrew was in the high school band in Bellingham. Here are some odd coincidences; first, the team name is the Raiders, same as Bellingham, second, the team colors are red jerseys with white helmets, same as Bellingham, and third, the team's fight song is "On Wisconsin", same as Bellingham. Another unfortunate coincidence is that the final score was also reminiscent of a Bellingham football game. Fulda lost 34-7 to Dawson-Boyd (wherever they are!) Still, it was fun, we sat with some parents of some of the team members and talked about a lot of stuff that had nothing to do with football, along with the occasional, "Go! Go! Go!" when Fulda finally got a big gain or a nice pass reception. As the year progresses I will fill you in on other community events as we participate and learn the things that make these rural communities tick. For now, Go Raiders, wherever you are! Blogged by Don

A glimpse of rural ministry

Okay, so I haven't written an entry for a little while, so I'm just going to offer some thoughts and observations from my little bit of time so far. First off, there are a lot of really great pastors here in the Southwest Minnesota Synod. Yesterday we had our first pastor's conference of the year, and it was well attended. There were several new faces among us, including yours truly along with another intern named Bruce, a second-career guy like me, so we played a game to get to know one another. You may have heard of this game, where you write down three statements about yourself, two true ones and one false one, and people try to guess which is the false statement. I was surprised at how many people were interested in learning my statements. In case you are curious what I wrote, I said, "My wife and my grandmother have the same name. I play trombone, and I drive a Chrysler." Several people guessed which statement is false, because they didn't recall seeing any Chryslers in the parking lot when we arrived. Darn! I wish I had thought about that. Anyway, the conference went well and it was a good time of sharing ministry ideas and other techniques. It seems that several of the churches are working with trying to get more people interested in Bible study, and there were lots of good ideas, including many ecumenical ideas where we would share study leadership responsibilities with other churches in our area. I think people around here want to feel connected, since there is so much distance between neighbors, so when a few churches pool their resources, more people come to events, people feel more connected and get to know more neighbors, and it is more fun. Most churches here are struggling with the same issue that most churches everywhere are struggling with, and that is how to involve more young adults. In Prairie Star Ministries, we have started a Facebook group, and Mark, my supervisor, is astounded at how quickly it has developed. We have two groups functioning, one for youth and one for young adults. We shall see how well we interact in cyber-space.

Confirmation class is going well. I have five students, and they are interested and engaged with what I am teaching them. Hopefully that will continue. We are using a web-based curriculum called "Here We Stand" by Augsburg Fortress publishers. I like it, but it comes with a lot of built in expectations about how much time I have to teach each lesson. The lessons all come with a Power-Point presentation, so that helps keep the students engaged in the material, plus it highlights the most important ideas in the text, so it assists in memorization. The other day, however, I went to open my power-point presentation and it just plain wasn't there! Oh well, I sighed, and I just taught "Old School" with my Bible and the lesson outline.

Next week I preach my first sermon. In the meantime, I will enjoy the fruit of someone elses labor, sort-of like Jonah, although that isn't what my sermon is about. I'll try to keep you posted on the doings in my world. Blogged by Don

Where are the tall buildings when you need them!

Don has been interning for 2 weeks now, it has gone very fast. Our first week was a whirlwind. We had friends from Bremerton, Washington, from our home church come visit. They came on a Saturday, not aware of how busy the schedule had become. That Saturday Prairie Star had a dinner with a tour of the place and things to buy. We got there and 2 women were there to greet us. As my mind is a sieve these days, I cannot remember their names, but are friends of Ethyl Mae Nelson, who by the way we had visited with at St. Olaf at the end of July, and they greeted us as though they knew us. It was heartwarming to see them as they stood out in the rain patiently waiting for us to arrive. We stayed long enough to buy some candles and I got some homemade jam, and then Joe and Nancy took us out to dinner at the Dundee Steak House. It was good conversation. Joe and Nancy had to drive back to Worthington on a country road in the pitch black, I am grateful no deer came prancing out in front of them. The next day was Don's first day at the churches, 2 of them, First of Dundee and Grace of Worthington. Not being familiar with roads, Joe and Nancy accidentally took a wrong turn and instead of coming to Dundee made their way to Heron Lake; needless to say they had to back track to get back to Dundee There are no landmarks around here, only corn, corn, beans and more beans. Where are the tall buildings to help you out when you need them, oops, I am forgetting, there are grain elevators and water towers, but unless you know what you are looking for, it is easy to get lost. Both churches had planned a potluck after the service, so we ended up eating 2 meals within 1 hour of each other. The same thing will happen on September 28, at this rate I will forget how to cook. Needless to say, Joe and Nancy's visit with us came to an end all to soon. It was so good to visit with them and a nice reminder of home.

Our second week was more quiet except for the fact that we held an open house for people to come visit with us. Don and I baked cookies, putting together a cheese platter as well as fruit (actually with all the excitement I forgot to put out the fruit platter, we are now eating a ton of fruit) . We had a fairly good turnout and a fair representation of all the churches. Some of the people had not met each other yet, Prairie Star is only about 3 years old, so it was good for them.

Don will be working with the youth this year. There is a trip planned for St. Cloud the end of November and I do believe they are planning a trip to Louisiana in July, Don may just get to go to that, if I play my cards right, maybe I can go too, hint, hint. We will see.

This year has only started but these 2 weeks have been a blur and have gone fast. Am learning lots about small town life and I know there is more to come...will write about the journey that we are undertaking with God's help and understanding and guidance along the way, this will be a fruitful journey I am sure. Blogged by Anna

Busy Ministry Day

Yesterday was a busy day. I spent the day with Mark, as is the plan for the first three weeks, and we started out the day meeting a young couple to plan the baptism of their new baby this Sunday at church, and to discuss the importance of baptism and bringing up their young son in the Christian faith. After that, it was on to a nursing home where we offered communion to a woman who has just moved there after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. She is no longer able to care for herself at home, so she is living in a nursing facility that is close to where her daughter works. She was in very good spirits, though, because her sister from Iowa was there and she seemed to make the woman feel much better. After lunch we headed to another church to conduct a burial service for an infant that had died only a few hours after birth. I felt sorry for the people that attended that burial. You could see the confusion in their eyes, wondering why this young child was not able to live. That one is still in God's hands, and we still see through the glass dimly. After the burial we headed to yet another town to pick up some supplies. One day, four visits, in four separate towns. Welcome to rural ministry! Blogged by Don.