Fun stuff

Getting peed on

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

I went to text study this morning at Shalom Hill Farm, as I do most Tuesdays (O.K…some Tuesdays) and I experienced a first…

…I got out of my car and was greeted by the dog they have out there.  Nice little dog.  Wags its tail, but doesn’t get overly excited and jump on you.  Since I have a allergy to dogs I don’t pet the little guy.  Maybe it took offense to this finally because when I turned around (I am not sure why) I saw the little creep (notice my tone changing) lift its leg…and…pee on the bumper of my car.   Not the tire, but the bumper.  By the time I got over there to shoo it away,he had finished his business…and I a swear…I saw a little smirk on his face as he walked away.

I went inside (with my bumped dripping) and saw a couple colleagues.  I told them the story (which they got a kick out of) and soon I began to laugh along.  Of course…immediately…we went into “pastor mode” wondering if there is a sermon illustration in there some place.

<More laughing ensued>

I suggested a baptismal illustration; of God peeing on us and claiming us as his own.

<More laughing ensued>

Then I suggested, “I think I might have to flush that one out some more.”

<And more laughing ensued>

Moral of the story…well…maybe there isn’t one…except that if you pee on my bumper, I will talk about you on my blog.

<I needed a good laugh today>

God bless!

-edh-

The slinky Gospel

/ The Pastor / 9 Comments

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Why is this simple little toy so hard to put down (except, of course, for this picture)?

I am trying to resist the urge to find a way to work this into a sermon sometime.  But wouldn’t it be fun to have a contest to see who can come up with the most creative way to incorporate a slinky into a sermon.

Hmmm….”Stop it Eric”…

…anyway…when I was in seminary, the on-going joke among my group of friends during my senior year was how to compare Jesus to an armadillo at Christmas time(don’t ask me how that started).

So…if you want to submit an idea (about the armadillo or slinky) I would love to read it 🙂

-edh-

SIDE NOTE:  I know these last couple posts have been a little more light-hearted with little depth, but don’t worthy…I will post some depth soon.

Recharged

/ The Pastor

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“Come to Salem Lutheran Church and get recharged.“

On Monday morning a parishioner stopped by the church.  She was running some errands in a vehicle she knew had a bad battery.  All morning she kept reminding herself not to shut off the car, but when she arrived at the church…well…she forgot…and her car wouldn’t start.  She came inside and mentioned to me her car was dead.  Of course I offered to help and jumped her car.  When I came back in with a good report she was all excited and delivered the above quote.  I laughed.

I wonder…new mission statement?  I would like to think people get recharged here to go out and  serve the Lord.  And…if need be…find a set of jumper cables.

-edh-

My stop light head

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Yesterday (Saturday) I spent the day on West Okoboji Lake boating with some friends.  It was a windy and choppy day on the lake, but it was beautiful.  We had a great time.  The problem is that despite the fact that I put on sunscreen, my big ole forehead still got sunburned (my receding hairline exposes more forehead to get burnt).  Now my head looks like one big spot light.  And against the whiteness of my alb this morning, my head should glow all the more brighter for the congregation to see.  Maybe I should stand out on the corner of Hwy 71 and North Highway and see if my head could stop traffic.

This should be a fun morning 🙂

-edh-

Thursday coffee shop ponderings on Friday

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

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

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

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

/ The Pastor / 5 Comments

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

/ The Pastor / 4 Comments

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-