A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

Well, there has just been little to no activity around here, in terms of homless people bringing excitement to our days, which is really a blessing I suppose. I have had the opportunity several times to walk around downtown, and am coming to the conclusion more and more that I love this city. It is a great place to live, a great place to work and a great place to be. I had lunch and dinner at the boardroom yesterday, aka The Local, an Irish Pub that ROCKS! In all my wanderings I have been contemplating and praying about how we as a community can really start to have an impact on the downtown scene. The buildings, though quite awe inspiring, are also like big fortresses and to try to penetrate them will be a challenge indeed. But last night the Bishop's Committee met with the folks from EPNI, and they, BC, got really excited about what was going on in the neighborhood, and the graciousness of EPNI to include our Church in it. The mission of EPNI parallels the mission of Gethse...

So it is late, and I am just now sitting down to try to get my sermon done, so here is a little rambling to get my head moving and shaking around this issue of the Gospel question, who do you say that I am? Hopefully my contacts will cooperate here, they are getting a little cloudy right now... There seem to be two subjects that are necessary to address as part of this GOSPEL , the first is this question of who do you say that I am, and the second is that of being a disciple, following Christ. First, the who question is interesting, Marcus Borg says a lot about this, how he believes that Jesus did not believe himself to be the messiah, that Jesus had a whole other agenda, and was not seeking to change the world as the anointed Davidic King to bring justice and freedom to all the oppressed. NT Wright, however, believes that Jesus did know himself as the messiah, and therefore acted accordingly. I think I tend to go with Borg on this one, but not because of what he wrote, though tomor...

So, after a quite eventful 4:30 service last week, it was very peaceful and nice this week. However, the circus, or the karma or whatever it was joined us for the 10AM service this past Sunday instead of 4:30. It was Rally Sunday, and the plan was to cook hot dogs and serve them Chicago Style, which turned out to be really good, thanks Jeff, for that inspiration. Anyway, after the 8AM service and well before the 10AM service I set out the grills, filled them with charcoal and walked away, knowing I would be going back and forth and would be able to keep an eye on them, plus people would have been coming and going so they would have been ok. Well, I was wrong. Ten minutes after I put them out there, the nice Weber Grill disappears! So much for mass grilling Cub Foods brand Hot Dogs, and so much for keeping the veggie options separate from the non veggie hot dogs! Turns out the nice homeless guys that live in the park just south of the church, like half a block south, took the grill...

Eliot wasn't too sure about the canoe, I think next time he will love it, isn't this a great action shot!  

So the 4:30 service on Sundays has turned into quite the amazing circus. As 4:30 approached, I returned from lunch with my California cousin who is in town briefly to find a guy totally smashed on the corner of 9th and 4th. He was so drunk, on Listerine, he couldn't stand up. Shortly after that a student from North Central University arrived on the scene, and decided he really wanted to "help" the man who couldn't see straight, walk straight or anything. I had to get ready for the service, so I was more than happy to let him take care of the guy. At about 5 or so, they finally realized the best thing to do was to call 911 and get the guy to detox. So the detox folks came and took him away, and now we have a bike in the Church. Then another guy came in and interrupted the service with a story about how he was arrested and had to get to St. Cloud by 8 to finish his service hours that he had started otherwise he had to spend a month in jail. Usually this guy just c...

TRADITIONAL: Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of the Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. CONTEMPORARY: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Crhist our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

We took a lot of really great pictures on our vacation, but this one is my favorite. Eliot, tonight after we got home, was so crazy tired, he could only laugh hilariously. Naomi just cried really loud. He had a ball and we had a great time relaxing. Look at those smiles! Sara will have many more pictures at her blog, www.eliotandnaomi.blogspt.com , enjoy! 

This is the view off the dock at the place we stayed at. It was evening, the sun was setting and all the ducks were in a row, heading home.