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.  

Lake Superior is beautiful today! 

Wow, caught this picture this morning, Naomi was up early, and so Eliot was not long to follow. If I had slept in, I would have missed this! Vacation is so good.  

Leaving for the North Shore soon, will blog again when I get back! Be well, A+

This is the sermon I preached on Tuesday Night at the Celebration of St. Mary, mother of our Lord. I like it a lot, what do you think? Sometimes, I feel like a motherless child Sometimes, I feel like a mother, a motherless child Sometimes, I feel like a motherless child A long, long way from my home When I first started thinking about this sermon, what to say and how to say it this song by a band called Hootie and the Blowfish, burst into my conscious. As I sat with it and let the words wash over me, I realized this song embodies the sense of the world and the people walking in and on it. There is despair and longing in those words, there is truth and even beauty in those words. They are a call to all of us, all of us gathered here today to remember this compassionate and courageous woman who did God’s will simply by saying yes, and with that yes was overwhelmed, and overjoyed by the glory of God. One of the Church fathers, Tertullian, has said, “The Glory of God is a human be...

Yesterday as we were about the begin the 4:30 service, a group of people walked in and sat down to join us for the service. As I asked them questions, I found they were from Canada, down here for the 4 game series the Toronto Blue Jays had with the Twins. We get a lot of visitors like that, I still have been unable to get over the fact that something like 15 or 20 New York Yankees fans were at our Easter Sunday service for the series against the Twins this past year. It was amazing. Anyway, Walter was very generous and played the organ for them and told them all about the greatness that is that instrument. It was tons of fun. They went on their way happy an dsatisfied and prepared for the rest of the week. That is one of the great things about Sunday's at the Garden, you just never know who is going to walk through those doors. It is quite fun, kind of like eating Jelly Belly's and wondering what flavor you'll get. Be well, A+

So Justin Chapman has been hanging around for the summer as the first Summer Intern under my tenure, which has been fun and exciting and cool. His primary tasks are 2-fold, one is to help develop the 4:30 service that we are trying to get off the ground and the other is to help form a plan for growth for the next year. Anyway, as we were looking at our plan, we started talking about how cool it will be to do some real shaking up of our liturgy for the 4:30 service. Pretty soon the plan, which, of course has at its center the development of the service, went on the back burner and we started talking about how some of the things we were planning to accomplish would turn everything upside down in some interesting and fun ways. I imagine the Liturgical Police out there might get a little upset about what I am planning to do, but hey, sometimes you just have to take some risks right. Anyway this all happened after a phenomenal conversation with Rachel at the OC, Old Chicago, I can only w...

So Sara's sister Laurie is in El Salvador right now doing some fun, challenging and amazing work. She just posted a blog about her experience of returning photos an acquaintance of hers took of people in a village there 15 years ago. It is really powerful. Read it, then write a check. If you didn't click on the above link, feel free to click this one: http://lauriemcginley.blogspot.com/2006/08/terrys-return.html#comments Laurie, hopefully if she is willing, will do some presentations about her work in El Salvador at the Church sometime this Fall. Thanks Laurie! Be well, A+

So I was standing at the back of the Church, getting ready to say my little opening spiel about welcome to Gethsemane and all that, when one of the members of Gethsemane runs out and says to me, "YOU HAD TO HAVE DONE THIS ON PURPOSE!!!" I looked at him dumbfounded and said, "What?" He showed me the bulletin for today and what was written down as the opening hymn. Now, let me first share with you that I try my best to get through the bulletin each Thursday before I send it off to be printed. I try hard to catch all the spelling errors and all the fun stuff you mess up when you are creating a bulletin, even one that is mostly done for you already... The opening hymn for today was "The Glory of the Lord shineth" or something like that, except that I put down the "lorry of the Lord..." Everyone cracked up when, after saying my welcoming schtick I added, "Please stand and join me in singing our opening hymn, The Lorry of the Lord, which we w...

So, for the first time ever, I celebrated Eucharist in my shorts, shoes and clergy shirt. That's it, just clothes and a stole, no alb, no nothing! HOLY COW!, it is hot down here, amazingly hot. So hot, the AC in my office is struggling to keep up. The 8AM service, at 8AM, was recorded as 85 degrees as I walked into the sanctuary. The 10AM service was hot up near the altar, while, thanks to some strategic fan maneuvering, it was not all that bad down in the pews. I got up a couple of times to adjust the fans so the blew on me and Barbara, out guest preacher, who did a tremendous job! I don't know about this building, it is crazy hot in there, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of respite in site. Ugh. I am not looking forward to the heat in there from this afternoon as we prepare for the 4:30PM service. Only a month more of this stuff, and then guess what, WINTER ARRIVES!!! YAY!!! I love winter and the cold. My favorite season is fall though, so I am really lo...

Am I having way too much fun or what? Poor Justin, looks like he is scared to death! Why is it that pitchers have to have silence right before they pitch, don't you think we should do all in our power to disrupt and mess them up? Baseball is such a "respectful" gentelman's game, I had forgotten. After watching soccer all month and listeing to the national songs of each ocuntry, we need to come up with a good song to sing at Twins' games! Something that would really throw opposing pitchers off! Be well, A+

Here are a couple of the kids that have been involved in the Vacation Bible School that has been a great success! They are all wonderful kids, with tons of energy and have been gracious and patient with us old people! Thanks kids. Be Well, A+  

Had an interesting conversation with the other young priest in the Dicoese, I hate that, that there is only one other young priest in the Diocese, about where we are at as the Episcopal Church in America. Talking about a post denominational era, that names myself as a Christian before all else, read, before Episcopalian. It was interesting to talk about it, and try to comprehend the big picture and how much effect the Church can have in this movement and then to even think about the fact that we are not really a Denomination at all, but rather a Communion, a group of people spread throughout the world who are willing to come together and live in tension, and challenge and all that difficult stuff that includes great joy, hope and happiness. It is interesting to think that most people in this day and age are not going to join a Church because it is Episcopalian or even Anglican, they are going to join because the people, the services, and other factors that make them feel at home, and...