What is the relationship between our likeness and our differences? Does God have an opinion? Do we? How did unity and diversity play out in the early church? In our contemporary churches?

We will need LOTS of help in a variety of capacities:

Cooks-
The meal will be more involved and we will need more folks to cook.

Servers-
We will serve table side and this bumps up the need for serving volunteers at least four fold.

Clean Up-
Big meal means big mess and extra hands to square away the kitchen in a timely fashion.

Donors-
Thrivent Financial has generously offered to match our gift card purchases.  Bring the Target gift cards ($25- preferably with receipts) to ROJ worship.  We did a great job of reaching out to friends and coworkers last year to lend a hand with this part of the meal.  Well done!  This effort will be one of two things we do as a part of our 4th year of participation in Advent Conspiracy.

Please email Melissa as soon as possible if you are going to be able to help with the cooking, serving, and clean up so we can get started on planning.

Thank you for all you do in making our community a brighter place to live and serve!  Hope you are all able to help out in some way!

When we go to get our oil changed and it takes 25 minutes for them to finish the job, the passing of those 25 minutes has no effect on us whatsoever. But if we have to wait 20 minutes to pull our car into the service stall we get frustrated. Ah, but they know us, so they put a timer display outside the building to keep us calm!

If we spend half an hour shopping at the grocery store, that’s no problem. But if the checkout line is more than two deep, we wonder who’s running the place and hope that someone will open another lane nearby. And God forbid we should wait when we are hungry! We go out to eat and we hope beyond hope that the “wait staff” really doesn’t take their name too seriously.

Sometimes it gets ugly. You’ve been there when the waiting pushes someone over the top.

A couple of years ago I spent three hours waiting in a plane parked at a departure gate for the repair of a radio. It would have been easier to wait if the captain had not told us that the radio that they needed to fix was for international use (we were on a domestic flight) but that it needed to be fixed per FAA regulations nonetheless. The middle third of the plane played audience to an obnoxious display of incivility as a frustrated passenger called the airline’s customer service line on his cell phone and proceeded to let loose with a tirade that would have made a sailor blush. Let’s face it, we don’t wait well.

One of my favorite bands is U2. They have a song titled “Forty” that is all about waiting.

I waited patiently for the Lord

He inclined and heard my cry

He brought me up out of the pit

Out of the miry clay

How long to sing this song?

How long to sing this song?

How long, how long

How long, how long to sing this song?

I will sing, sing a new song

I will sing, sing a new song

Frustration with waiting is nothing new. This U2 song is taken right out of Psalm 40 in Jewish and Christian scripture. But it is not written in reaction to being pushed to the edge of our convenience tolerance. It is written as people collectively cry out that the only hope that they have is for God to intervene and change the course of their lives. They have done all that they can and they pray that God will intercede on their behalf and give them a new song to sing.

My flight eventually took off and landed in Miami where I connected on my way to Haiti. I was journeying with Feed My Starving Children, a local hunger relief organization. One of our tasks on the trip was to distribute food at a local village. When we arrived we found the residents waiting for us, in a line that was at least 300 people deep. We were told that they had been there for nearly three hours. Their waiting reminded me of that U2 song and their hallowed patience stood in contrast to my own experience of what it means to wait.

Sometimes our waiting bears fruit. Sometimes it causes us to see things differently and to sing a new song. If you speak to pastors, social service providers, school teachers and social workers in Scott County, they will tell you that this economy has more and more people in our community waiting at the brink of despair ala Psalm 40. What will be our song in response? Will we lament about our busy holiday season of scurrying to get through our sacred lists and the lack of time to get everything done? I pray not.

I hope to sing a new song this holiday season. Maybe you will join me? We can sing this new song together! The first verse goes like this: “Slow down and seize the season for what it is.” The second: “Be thankful for our bounty and share it generously in meaningful ways.” The third: “Spend less money and give more of who you are.”

And maybe as a chorus we can change the way we stand in lines. Instead of spending our time on our phones, or looking at our watches, or checking our lists, perhaps we can invest our time in a conversation with the people around us.

Sometimes, while we are waiting, we are invited to join a song that is way bigger than we can imagine. A song that is filled with passion and purpose and harmonies of our connectedness. A song that is hidden deep within all of us longing to be sung. A song that gives us life. A song that gives the world life. A song that brings our waiting to a quiet end.

We hear a a lot about the power of having a good attitude…But what about gratitude?  Does a thankful outlook change us?  What are you giving thanks for this year?

Here is a sneak peek into tonight’s discussion.

The table is big and all are welcome!  7 pm at Harry’s Air Cafe next to the Lakeville Theater.

But in the practical terms of our day-to-day lives, the first week of September is the start of a new season for us. Labor Day brings summer to a close and we look expectantly toward the fall. School starts (yeah mom, boo kids). Football season starts (yeah dad, boo golf season and Sunday afternoon to-do lists). The new TV season starts (yeah … advertisers, boo bookstores, Kindle downloads and good conversations).

And like all seasons, this one will come and go; and hopefully, in 10 short weeks when that first snowfall comes, your snow blower starts, too!

Yes, our window of fall is short in Minnesota, but we are blessed to live in a corner of the world where the beauty of God’s creation will be displayed in all its glory in the coming weeks.

The changing of seasons has a way of naturally coming upon us. You drive by the neighborhood elementary school one fall day as the kids are pouring out and you realize that you no longer have kids in that building where they spent so many years. Then you drive by the middle school a few years later and realize that your little ones are becoming young adults and are now in, of all places, high school. And before you know it, you drive by that same high school and realize you have become an empty nester.

Or maybe you find yourself in another season of life this fall.

Perhaps you are fortunate enough to be newly-employed and not in school for the first fall in what seems like forever. Or maybe you are gritting your teeth as you grieve your first fall without a loved one who has passed, and you find yourself swimming in memories of trips to apple orchards and the north shore. Or maybe you are transitioning from one living situation to another, either in locale or relationally.

This fall’s changing of seasons may be bringing you hope and joy, or it may be coming to you with seriousness and heavy-hearted concern about what future seasons will bring. Whatever season of life you find yourself in this fall, this is a great time of the year to engage and enliven your spirit as God’s creation enters into a season of beauty, change and the peaceful solace of winter’s approach.

This is my first contribution to the Pacer’s “Spiritual Reflections” column, so the burgeoning of a new season is a place where I find myself personally traveling. And while the roads and trails that we find ourselves navigating are uniquely our own, there are markings and cairn along the way that benefit us all.

Here are four spiritual traveling tips for you to consider this fall:

+ The Journey is the Destination

Spiritual traveling is like a hike up a ridge along the north shore or trekking a trail in the mountains. Every step along the way brings something new: a new view, a new obstacle to challenge you, or an unexpected creature or fellow traveler to greet you. If you are focused solely on the vista view from the summit you will miss the treasures along the way.

+ Fellow Travelers Rock

Literally. They leave piles of rocks along the way (cairn) to mark the path of the trail for future travelers. And if they are with you and have been down the same trail, they can help you navigate where you are headed. Find a fellow traveler. Or better yet, find someone who needs your experiences and travel with them.

+ Forget the Pie Chart

With all due respect to the human resources professional who in the 1980s developed the “wellness wheel” that segments our lives into physical, spiritual, relational, mental and emotional sections, our lives are better lived holistically rather than fighting a never-ending battle of “balance” as we try to keep all the segments proportional and in sync.

Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. Rather, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” The world is experienced differently depending on your approach. And this is my bias, but I find that human experience viewed through a spiritual lens is much richer, deeper, and more meaningful than spiritual experiences that are viewed through a human lens.

+ Devour the Beauty

The beauty of the fall is sublime. It comes to us with the honest knowledge that the harsh reality of winter is part of our lives, too. And I think the reality of that pending season gives an honest richness to how we experience the fall season. We strive to gobble up all of its goodness and beauty, and even have a feast as the season surrenders to winter to celebrate and honor the gifts that the close of the season has brought to us.

As your fall spiritual season begins, do the same. Relish the beauty and savor each moment’s passing. Lay hold of this season of life and honestly embrace and enjoy the richness of human experience, its goodness and its grittiness.

Safe and blessed journeying to us all this fall.

Our global neighbors in East Africa are facing the worst famine that region has seen in 60 years.  More than 10 million people are risk for starvation as the days roll forward.  Thursday evening at 6:00 pm you can lend a hand through Feed My Starving Children and pack some meals to avert this crisis.  We are packing at the Eagan location at 990 Lone Oak Road and will be wrapped up by 7:30 pm.