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

The food here is amazing, and wonderful, and spectacular and perfect and yummy. Did I mention the food here is really good?

This is the view from the building most of our meetings take place in. It is quite beautiful here in wine country...

As some of you know, Brian McLaren will be with us in Minnesota for two days in September, the 21st and 22nd, to be exact. In preparation for his visit, and to ensure we get as much contextualized conversation as possible, we are asking Minnesota Episcopalians to blog. The blog is under construction at the moment, but can be found at www.episcopalspirit.com (or www.episcopalspirit.wordpress.com) Rather than ask a specif question, we are asking that you reflect on the following passage from the book of Wisdom (7:22-23) in context with the message of Brian McLaren's new book, "A New Kind of Christianity", which is essentially a series of essays n the ways Christianity as an institutionalized religion is changing. There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sue, free from anxiety, all powerful, overseeing all, and penetra...

God...Miracles. “Fairy tales are more than true,” writes G.K. Chesterton, “not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that they can be beaten.” Now a number of the scriptural commentaries I read this week almost made me think there were dragons in these texts. Scholars were uneasy with these miracles happening in any kind of historical way, and they thought you might be, too. And I understand that concern. I do. They are hard to believe. And we’re supposed to be uneasy, in a way. We don’t live in a miraculous society. We live in a scientific one, a technological community where the events that draw us together are the release of the latest Apple gadget or the finale of a beloved television series. If our lives were fairy tales indeed, our Merlins would be more likely be found in a board room than a woody glen, more likely working in the hospital’s surgery than in the hospital’s chapel. Rational, comprehensible inquiry saturates the very ...

The above video, if it works, is a video of the the nest that was built by a Robin in our front yard. We were all excited to see the development of the little family, but alas, something got into the nest and destroyed all the eggs, well, all but one, but the mother decided not to return and eventually the third egg disappeared as well. Cool new videos from our new place...

Literally. I walked over to look at our Garden the other day and there were green things growing. Very cool, I will get some pictures up here regularly so people can see the progress of our Garden. Literally, last Sunday morning before services I went and looked at the plants that had come up the day before, and then returned after the 8AM service and all the peas had sprouted!!! I am so grateful for the work of the people who have put so much energy into this, it is exciting to watch the vision of a couple of people galvanize a congregation and bring us all great joy. Grow Garden! A+

I used the following for my two sources to craft a sermon on Sunday morning. Anthony De Mello says this about the needs of the Church: “The greatest need of the Church today is not new legislation, new theology, new structures, new liturgies – all these without the Holy Spirit are like a dead body without a soul. We desperately need someone to take away our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh; we need an infusion of enthusiasm and inspiration and courage and spiritual strength. We need to persevere in our love without discouragement or cynicism, but with a new faith in the future. In other words, we need the fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” And from a man I knew as a student at St Thomas, The Rev. Stephen Stanley, at the time chaplain at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. If you are confused – Thank God! If you do not have all the answers – Thank God! If you do not know exactly what God is up to – Thank God! If you have to wait up on the Lord – Thank God! ...

The following was found int he Parish Visitor from May 21, 1910, and interesting little bit about the rectory that was found and secured for the rector at the time, Irving Peak Johnson. From the May 21, 1910 Parish Visitor Gethsemane Parish Visitor Published every Saturday at Minneapolis, Minn. By the vestry of the Church of Gethsemane. The rector has waited for the actual passing of the deed before formally expressing to the committee in charge of this work, and to the constituency which they represent, the deep appreciation which he feels for their generosity and interest in this matter. The securing of a rectory is a matter so much bound up with the comfort of the rector and his family that which he nevertheless feels is most vital to the interests of the parish. If it were merely a matter of his own personal comfort, he would say that the rector, as well as others, might run his chances in the securing of a home; but a parish has a social side as well as a religious one, and no pa...

I did not preach this Sunday, we had the Rev. Dr. Lucy Hogan in for a sermon, and the baptism of her Granddaughter. Very exciting. I did do a little winging it homily at the 8AM service, we did not do the Ascension readings, using instead the readings for 7 Easter. Here they are: The Lectionary Page The Acts reading is one of those wonderful visual readings that the writer of the Gospel of Luke-Acts uses to express the power and possibility of God. Paul and Silas are freed from prison by an earthquake. My brief homily touched on how we can revel in the imagery of this story and how God does the impossible in freeing God's disciples. However, the Gospel, from John, offers us the real impossibility. What does it mean to be one? What does it mean to be one for the Church. This is the impossible feat that we should all be impressed if it were accomplished by God. Breaking a couple of short tempered disciples from prison is no problem, making the world one, or all Christians on...

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done. Nothing you can say that can’t be sung. Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game. It’s easy. Nothing you can make that can’t be made. No one you can save that can’t be saved. Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time. It’s easy. All you need is love! Do do do do doooooo… The Beatles have a sort of soft, prophetic lilt to this song. Tunefully they proclaim the bridging and healing powers of love in the world. You can do anything, go anywhere, save everyone, because all you need is love. However there is one phrase wrapped in the song that I simply cannot, or perhaps do not want to, agree with. It’s small, but don’t over look it. Right there, taunting you before the refrain. Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time – it’s easy. I subscribe to the idea that there is little about love that is easy. I suppose it really depends what kind of love you happen to be looking at. There is familia...

The four Gospels in the New Testament do not describe the actual event of the resurrection. Jesus dies, is put to rest, and then women go to see the tomb and it is empty. That time in between the death of Jesus and the arrival of the women, it seems, is left to the imagination. Jon Sobrino, a Jesuit liberation theologian says no, “The Gospel writers did not give free rein to the imagination. To depict Jesus’ resurrection in itself puts faith on a false trail by conceptualizing the resurrection as a return to living under the conditions of our current existence.” To return to our current context, to image a world after the resurrection similar or just a little better than the world we live in today is a horrible lie. It was a matter of fact that the Gospel writers did not depict the resurrection itself, it is a matter of duty, Sobrino says, that they refer us instead, as in today’s Gospel, to something just as important, Jesus’ appearances to the disciples. Today’s Gospel picks u...

(Vicar's note: I went off the cuff and didn't record my sermon from Sunday, so the below is a brief synopsis.) I have been reading Sorkin's book, "Too Big To Fail" and learning a little bit about this whole economic melt down and how it got started, and why it happened and how it was encouraged by the actions of a few. Interesting book, I like it and enjoy it. What I find fascinating is the drive to succeed and the complete unwillingness to fail on the part of the main characters of the Wall Street Investment Banks. They were so confident in what they were doing, had been through so much that were driven to believe that they could never fail. Having just finished the Olympics, I saw the same kind of mentality on the slopes, in the rinks, all over the place, people who were simply unwilling to fail, unwilling to lose, unwilling to finish second. The difference between the Olympics and W@all Street of course, is that someone always finished second and the athle...

I went to see the new movie 2012 this week. The movie, about the end of the world as the Mayan calendars predicted, seemed appropriate for our particular world ending scripture readings that we have today. I went to see it so I could have some great tidbit of wisdom for you all about end times. I came away from that movie only wanting to talk about Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Dolls. Seriously, its hardcore. I am turning into a big wimp when it comes to movies these days. The end of the movie has stuck with me because it expresses a dream I have for our Church. A dream for Gethsemane, for the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, and the United Sates, for the Anglican Communion and for Christendom as a whole. In the movie the world is changed, it took freak alignment of the planets, and extra strong bursts of fire from the sun, but the world was changed. At the end of the movie one of the kids asks if they can go home, which of course they can’t because some place in Wisconsin has bec...

VOTE HERE VOTE HERE VOTE HERE

The Rev. Aron Kramer 5 Easter Sunday May 10, 2009 The Church has become a place to go, not a people to be. This was said by Phyllis Tickle last Wednesday night at Breck school. Many of you heard her say it and I hope it struck home as much with you as it did with me. This is the tension we are being called to live into at this point in our lives together. We have become a place to go, not a people to be. And yet we are making a decision together on how we will be a people called and sent by God, to participate in the work God is already doing in the world. I would be lying to you if I said that I was overjoyed we voted to remain in the building. What seemed to be the easiest task of the three truly is the hardest. Closing the building was the easiest of all of them, and we resoundingly chose not to take the easy path. Leaving the building would have also been difficult, but oddly enough, not as difficult as staying in this space. The decision we have made toget...

For the past three years The Garden has been one of a handful of parishes who have taken the work of the BCMS and incorporated into the very fabric of our being, into the very culture of who we are as a congregation. We have allowed its wisdom to guide our decision making processes as we journey to a new future together. Gethsemane was the catalyst for this entire mission discernment process, out of the work around the Gethsemane plan, the BCMS and MSN processes emerged and came into being. For every minute of our renewal experience and around every decision we have made in the Garden (how we affectionately refer to ourselves, no one seems to know how to say Gethsemane) we have held close to our heart and soul the work of the original BCMS plan. It is important work that challenges us at a level that goes beyond the perceived diocesan structural challenges we face. Three years ago Gethsemane was in an uncertain place, a place not unlike where the Diocese finds itself today. As part...

naomiandstick781 , originally uploaded by origen00 . We went to the state fair on Friday, the last day of vacation, and my excellent picture taker sister in law snapped this great one of Naomi finishing off my deep fried Snickers bar on a stick. It was delicious! I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to say, I was impressed. Be Well, A+

So the drives home lately have been relatively quiet. I imagine that some of what happens in the car and some of what is said is pretty noteworthy, would be entertaining, but most of that has been hashed over so much in the past two years that it is no longer entertaining to me or Sara as it once was. You hear it a couple hundred times and its funny, then it eventually stops being funny. Anyway, Eliot and Naomi both have taken to answering my once brilliantly disguised question, "So, what happened at school today Eliot/Naomi" with "Nuthin." Seriously, Eliot says "Nuffing" and Naomi just sits quietly, or says, I played with my kids. That is something that is cute beyond measure, whenever we are talking about school and their classmates, we don't call them friends, we don't call them classmates, or anything like that, the other children at school are identified by E & N as "my kids." Now I am not sure if this is a good thing or not, ...

When we first started taking the kids to daycare, or school as we call it, Eliot and Naomi both had a really tough time. Eliot sat in his corner in the bathroom, crying for, as he put it, 40 minutes. I understand now about the significance of the number 40 in the bible. 40 days, 40 nights, 40 years in the desert. 40, biblically speaking, means a VERY VERY VERY long time. Not actually 40 days or 40 nights, it just means that the people experiencing the pain and agony of that moment experienced it for a very long time. Eliot was in great pain and agony for 40 minute everyday, we still haven't quite figured out what happened, or even what motivated him to end his pain, I like to think it was one of the young women he has grown fond of lately. Naomi, on the other hand, simply didn't talk, she didn't interact with the kids, just sat around sucking her thumb and holding her blanket and sitting, I assume, in the lap of her teacher. We discovered Naomi's plight one day whe...

I'm reading a book called "blink" which is about the fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second decisions our unconscious makes in our lives. It is the millisecond when we know something is right or wrong, real or fake, etc, etc... For me, I was most in touch with that split second process when I was coaching soccer. I knew exactly when a goal was going to be scored, about 2 seconds or so before it actually happened. I could tell by the curve of the ball, or the location of the forward, or the misstep of a defender. I just knew. Therefore I was the first to cheer when one of my girls scored, or the first to groan and turn my head when we got scored upon. I just knew. Long after I had stopped coaching that ability remained until one day when I realized I was a bit rusty. I still remember it well, I hit a shot about as well as I have hit one before, it was about 25 yards out and the thing just knuckled and knuckled, there was no way it was going to miss, headin...