Wife, Mother, and Pastor

Scooby Doo...

2010-02-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

Good Morning all! No, I haven't forgotten about this blog or the two followers I have...I always thought that blogs were a kind of like plants, if you neglected them they died, well hear it still is...maybe nothing really dies on the internet. ;)

Well, it's Friday morning, my day off! Soren woke me up bright and early and now we're watching a Scooby Doo movie...I forgot how good those cartoons are. Soren seems to enjoy it, he likes Scooby of course and they drive around in a van.

Well, my hope is that I'll get back to regularly posting on this blog, sermons, tidbits from the day, and so forth. I am taking a class to further work on my STM and so I may even post that work.

Friday's with Soren

2009-08-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

It's my favorite day of the week, Friday, and it's my day home with Soren (a.k.a. Buggy). YEAH! Thus far we spent the morning having breakfast and watching cartoons. He's playing with his toys right now and I decided that I should post something on my blog, I haven't done that in ages. **sigh**

It's been another crazy week at home and at church, so much to do before fall starts (does anyone else need more time before September and Rally Sunday?), thankfully it's all coming together, slowly, but it's coming together nonetheless. Things will only get busier at church in the coming week(s), but with God's help anything is possible, right? Of course!

Okay, so I have nothing profound to say except that with any luck I will be posting more often. :)

I'm still here...

2009-06-29T07:51:00.001-07:00

Though I don't believe that I have anything profound today, I can say that I've been thinking a lot about Stewardship lately. Last Thursday, Blair Anderson, from Kairos came to Immanuel and gave a presentation on the 12 steps to creating a culture of stewards. It was a great presentation, I can't say that I learned anything new, but it made me think about my own personal stewardship.

Now I must preface my forth coming statement with the following, there is the giving of money, there is the giving of time, and there is the giving of other sorts of things, in my mind these are different. You can disagree with me, but, there different, okay! With that distinction made, I can say that I am not a joyful money giver. That is to say, that when I make checks out to St. Peter's Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church for Ryan and I, I do so out of obligation (a Martha thing), but, when I give of my time to either congregation, or give in other sorts of ways, I burst with joy ( a Mary thing). Why is that? I'm obligated to pay my taxes and I do, with more joy than when I write out the checks for the offering plate. Interesting.

Perhaps it's is a Mary and Martha thing, you remember Mary and Martha, don't you? Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and Martha rushed around preparing the meal...I wonder if I will ever have a Mary moment when I place my offering envelope in the offering plate, I wonder if I will ever feel joyful when I place my blue envelope in the offering plate, the same kind of joy I feel when I give of my time, or other resources. I hope so, I pray that will be the case...God help me, Amen.

Never ending winter...

2009-03-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well, it is still winter here in Northwestern Minnesota. I realize that winter hasn't lasted any longer than any other time of the year, but it sure feels like it, it's been such a cold and snowy winter, it hasn't even been fun to be out in it...Soren has played outside once and that was while we were in PA for vacation. Okay...so I'm just complaining now, but I figure I've earned the right, mostly I'm just yearning for spring.

In other news, Soren said the "F" word and the "SH" word as well....oh my! It was kinda cute actually and then Ryan and I realized that we needed to stop laughing, our laughing was causing him to say those words even more. What have I done!

White at a wedding

2009-02-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

This may sound odd...but it really chaps my hide when the altar paraments are changed from whatever season we're actually in to white (unless of course the liturgical season calls for white). It tells me that liturgical color and even season is not important...or, if it were, then most congregations and their well meaning altar guilds or wedding coordinators wouldn't turn something like a wedding into a queen festival of the church! (Well, I suppose in a post modern age, modern and premodern designations mean nothing...or at least they don't carry the meaning they once did, how sad.)

Weddings are NOT liturgical seasons nor are they queen festivals of the church year, such as Easter or Christmas. After all, the liturgical calendar and it's designated colors revolve around Christ and Christ's church, not around the rituals of man.

On vacation!

2009-01-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

This won't be a long post. A note really to say that we're on vacation in PA. It's warmer here then in MN and for that I am glad. Soren got to play outside today with LuLu (the puppy) and had a blast. This is the first time he's been able to play outside all winter! It's been too cold otherwise. :(

When winter strikes...

2008-12-13T14:45:00.001-08:00

Apparently we're in for one hell of a storm. Ice, snow, winds gusting up to 45mph, and so on... Tonight was to be our Sunday School's Christmas Program "Special Delivery," the children have worked so hard and it will no doubt be a wonderful production! A hard decession was made today, with the weather being what it is and what it will become, we had to postpone the Sunday School Christmas Program till next Sunday during our eleven o'clock worship service. We'll have a party for the Baby Jesus before hand and the children will receive there goodie bags afterwards! Hopefully our families find a sense of relief in this, and hopefully they will come next week, families in tow ready to provide the congregation of Immanuel Lutheran Church with a story of Christmas, of hope and of joy!

Not much else to report! With all the business of getting ready for Christmas at Immanuel I have yet to do much at home! The gifts need to be wrapped, there is baking to do, and we'll have to coordinate Christmas Eve. Blessed Advent to all and to all a good night!

A Clean Coffee Cup

2008-11-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

I know that it may be strange, but I prefer to drink my daily two cups of coffee out of a clean coffee cup. So, during my lunch hour each day I wash out my coffee cup and dry it and place it on my desk.

Now, some folks don't wash out their coffee cup each day, my mother is one of those people. The rational of course is that your the only one drinking coffee out of that particular cup so there is no need to wash it. Yuck! Old coffee! Okay, I know...just the stain of old coffee...there really isn't old cold coffee in the cup...but still!

Well, I think most would agree that each day brings with it it's own challenges so why bring the left overs, even if it's a stain of the previous day into a day filled with enough for that day...its the same with coffee in a clean cup.

Each cup of coffee is its own sweet sweet reward...and it shouldn't be tainted with the stain or film of the previous days coffee.

Pictures of Soren Alexander Oldfather Stout

2008-11-07T11:53:00.001-08:00

Balance and the approaching holiday season

2008-11-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

As the days and weeks of November begin there count down towards that great American holiday "Thanksgiving" I can't help but reflect on balance. I continue to work to achieve balance in my own life, as wife, mother, and a pastor, but it seems that the holidays come along and complicate the whole thing.

Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday's as much as the next person, after all I get to work all the major ones! :) But, with the holidays come the preparation, the good food, the presents, and well everything else...and general out go the strict diets, the exercise programs, and routine.

So, I wonder how does stay balanced as the holidays come and go? Is it through better planning and preparation? Who knows! But I for one am going to attempt to stay balanced...I said I'm going to try!

Making a Difference

2008-10-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you on this day from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.

I have for many years now enjoyed many and various topics of study, but none more than history and the social sciences, sociology and psychology. In fact there are just as many books on my shelf whose subject matter relates more to sociology, pop culture and the like as there are books about theology, and the Bible. I also have a few that cover all three areas, sociology, theology, and the Bible.

When I was in high school, I aspired to be a high school history and social science teacher. I was convinced that I was going to be a teacher that was adored, admired, and who more importantly made history come alive. I would work long hours between September and May and then I would spend my summers back packing in and around Europe. I was going to make a difference. I was going to impress on future generations the necessity of knowing ones past, the mistakes and the successes, so that they would make wise decisions in the future. I was going to make a difference, so that future generations could make a difference.

Alas, I did not become a high school history and social science teacher. I was able to discern early on in my college career that that was not what God was calling me to do. But before I had a sense for what God was calling me to do, I lamented over and over like many young twenty something’s, just what would I do and how would I made a difference in this world. (Pause)

Most people would agree I think that it’s a good idea to make a difference. Making a difference is the stuff of commencement addresses, strategic plans, electoral manifestos, and boardroom platitudes. But making a difference is, to say the least, an under examined conviction, wouldn’t you agree? Would any difference do? Stalin for example made a big difference, but no one is commending him for doing so. Our foreign policy over the last decade has made a difference, and it is still unclear as to whether that difference has been positive or negative. Clearly “making a difference” means more than narcissism- more than leaving one’s mark on the world in such a way that no one for centuries afterward could possibly miss it.

Often times “making a difference” is used as a code term, shorthand way of saying, “There are a whole host of class, race, and gender inequalities in the world, and there’s clearly something amiss with the climate, our oceans, the forests and the diminishment of species, though we all have our own careers and the bottom line to attend to, it’s good to pay attention and maybe give something back in a way that addresses this distressing context.” The world has a whole a lot of problems to be fixed, and while we all have a lot on our own plates, it’s good from time to time, to pitch in and fix a few of them.

Did Jesus make a difference? Well, if we take into consideration the healings, the exorcisms were perhaps a bit unfashionable and wouldn’t probably qualify and the disciple formation could count as grassroots organizing. So based solely on that and only on that, then yes, Jesus made a difference. But obviously there is more to the story then meets the eye. The difference Jesus made is a bit more dramatic wouldn’t you say? The affects of his life and death are far reaching, reaching, in fact, all the way into the future, to us, to you and to me.

The gospel writer Matthew paints the whole story of Jesus on a much larger canvas. Jesus tells them another parable. There’s going to be a wedding. The king has invited all of the important and prominent people from the community to the wedding of his son. We are told, after two separate invitations have been given via the Kings slave, those prominent and important people of the community apparently have other things planned for that day, and could care less that the king has killed the fatted calf and the oxen, that the tables have been set, and that the best and most expensive floral arrangements have been ordered. The disrespectful invitees face the likelihood of reciprocation or depending on what kind of a king this is, retribution. The King will do something that is for sure, having been shamed; he must save face.

With the patience of the king running very thin. Violence erupts. The Kings slaves are mistreated and killed by the very prominent and important people who were asked to grace his banquet hall. Now the king is enraged and his wrath is made visible as he destroys the murderers and burns down their cities. The wedding banquet is still ready, but those who were initially deemed worthy are now unworthy. But the party must go on! The king then sends his servants out to invite anyone they could find, the good and the bad. All are invited. The hospitality of the King goes unnoticed.

Except by the one thrown out of the party, out into the outer darkness, for not wearing a wedding robe. Apparently, everyone else, even Joe six pack on the street knew to wear a wedding robe, that wedding robe makes all the difference. Or rather it’s what that wedding robe signifies or means that makes all the difference.

In Holy Baptism, through the washing of water and word, you and I, among other things put on Christ. That is too say, that when those baptismal waters were washed over our heads in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we were clothed or robed in Christ Jesus, in his death and in his resurrection. With our wedding robe of Christ Jesus, securely on, we are assured that our sins are forgiven, our relationship with God restored, and the promise of eternal life is ours for the taking. And if that weren’t enough, each and every one of us are then thrust out into the world kicking and screaming, where we face head on all that the world has to offer, the good and the bad. Having been gifted with the wedding robe of Christ Jesus himself and alone, we can go and go confidently, because we are now freed to tend to our neighbor, the good ones and the bad ones, and all of our neighbors’ needs. We are freed then to make a difference in this world, because God in Christ Jesus first made a difference in us. (Pause)

So, though making a difference has a particular connotation for us Christians. Make no mistake, it doesn’t mean that God is somehow overwhelmed and we ought to give up a bit of our spare time to help God out. Remember, God has already made that difference in us and for us, for you and for me, through Christ Jesus and his cross, and daily you and I live our out baptism, dying and rising to sin and to self, daily we are remade, renewed, and refreshed, so that we might meet this world problems and all, and our neighbor and his needs, the good and the bad, head on, and make a difference, and not in the idealized sense either, making a difference in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord, who’s banquet table is open to all. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Balance

2008-10-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

Balance. That's the topic for conversation and reflection today. I haven't figured this out yet and most women who work full time, mother full time, and wife full time, don't have this down to an exact science.

How do other women do it? Maintain balance that is....that's the question for the day.

Entry # 1: Post-Wednesday

2008-10-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my second attempt at blogging. Apparently, you can't neglect a blog, they like plants die when you don't regularly water them.

To the left, is a picture of my son. Isn't he cute!

So, today is Wednesday. It was an extremely long day (10 hours), first the normal Wednesday pastor stuff, and then confirmation, and then the All Committee Night Mtg. All told I was with my son Soren all of 3 hours today....:( I did get to put him asleep and for that I am glad. I don't have anything tomorrow evening, which is great, my schedule seems to balance itself out...at least it seems too from time to time.

So, in a nut shell, I am a busy wife, mother, and pastor. Busy! Yes, that's right busy! Hopefully, I won't neglect this blog like I did my previous one...I have such good intentions (don't we all).