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Banana wedding!

18 Sep
Lynn baby, one of my utmost best friends from high school and from all time, was married yesterday.  She was married to another awesome, wonderful friend from high school, Mr. Kyle.  I drove home on Friday to attend rehearsal and dinner [I assisted and preached at the ceremony.] and drove back to MN Saturday night [with arrival at the parsonage a la 1:30am.]  It was so incredibly worth the trip.  I’d do it again anytime.
Lynn looked absolutely stunning.  As her dad walked her down the aisle, I had to fight back tears.  This couple is so wonderfully in love.  *sigh*  I’m so happy for them.
The Bananas, one short of a full bunch.  We missed you, Jenni!

Right before the beginning of the ceremony, Kyle and I waited downstairs to walk to the front of the church.  In effort to calm nerves [both of ours], Kyle made a crack, “At least you know there won’t be any strange dogs who show up at this wedding!”  [In reference to Krissy and Matt’s wedding in August.]  I laughed.  And then said I could make no promises.  He gave me a quizzical look, confused.  It was great.
Because the banana dog played a role in the message I gave.  [Remember the banana dog from way back when?  This was the second time he was a part of a sermon I preached.]  The text chosen was John 15:9-17; find my message below if you care to read.
The ceremony was perfect.  Lynn was beautiful and Kyle was giddy.  A few Bananas and parents went out for drinks before heading to the place of reception for dinner.  A buffet, photo book, picture slideshow, and lots of hugs … and then I had to tear myself away.  I had to drive back to MN.  boo.  So many congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Lynn and Kyle – I love you both.

some of my favorite guys trying out the photo booth, complete with props.
…
Let’s start at the beginning.  Picture Lynn, a young girl with long thick brown hair and eyeglasses with a small butterfly on the frame above one eye.  This is the Lynn I first knew.  Friends for many, many years, we’ve been through everything together.  We dressed up together – I was a giant bunny and you were a penguin and a flamingo.  We rode skateboards down your driveway and camped in your backyard.  In the past years, though we often haven’t even lived in the same state, Lynn is always a friend I know I can call at any time and we’ll find things to talk about for hours.  A friend full of hope and love and genuineness.
I don’t know as much about Kyle from the younger years.  A Yahara kid by location, it wasn’t until high school in Mr.Papendieck’s AP US History class that Kyle and I began to know each other.  Instead of grades, we would compare the smiley faces that Mr.P put on our papers.  I know Kyle to be a person who stands by a friend in good times and bad, willing to help in any way.  As phrased by another one of Kyle’s friends, he’s a people magnet, consistently making new friends and connecting to new people.
We know that you’re awesome friends to those in your life.  I feel lucky to call both of you friends, and friends from so many years ago and still.  You care beyond measure and treasure relationships within your lives.  What’s even more awesome is that’s how you began your journey to this time and place of wedding vows and rings.  You first were friends to one another.  In Edgerton and in Madison, in between classes and football games, you were first friends.  From that strong base of friendship, you built this relationship that we now celebrate.  The relationship that leads you to become husband and wife today. 
The reading that you chose from the gospel of John speaks deeply of friendship.  These words are spoken by Jesus to his disciples; words that will guide them after Christ has been crucified.  Within these words Jesus commands his disciples – his closest friends – to love one another as he has loved them.   He tells them that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.   We’re commanded to love each other with a Christ-like love and to be a friend in all times, through tragedy and happiness.  Christ commands his disciples – and us – to live a life of love.  You, Lynn and Kyle, practice this each day.  You give your time, your love, and yourselves to those in your life. 
At the center of your life together are your friends and families.  This is evident in all of the people who have gathered here to celebrate this day and your relationship with each other.  To find a space large enough to hold all the people you care about and who care for you would be impossible.  I’m pretty sure that’s why Lynn told Kyle that he wasn’t allowed to make any new friends until after the wedding.  Is that right?
As you have chosen each other and make promises to each other today and every day following, you together go into the world to bear fruit.  Jesus chose the disciples to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.  That’s what it says in the gospel ready – to bear fruit.  That sounds a bit weird – not necessarily something that we would say today.  It’s not like Lynn leaves for work in the morning and Kyle says goodbye by saying, “Bear good fruit today, honey.”  What does it mean to bear fruit?
I think we should ask Lynn.  Lynn knows all about fruit.  I don’t think there is any kind of fruit Lynn doesn’t like.  She can peel an apple in one spiral of apple skin.  Lynn is known as an excellent strawberry picker and apple crisp baker and banana dog sender.   I’ll say that again – Lynn is an excellent strawberry picker, apple crisp baker, and banana dog sender.  Lynn sent this to me in the mail once.  It’s a banana dog.  Another example of what a great friend she is – because she mails things like this.  Because why not, right?
This may not be the exact kind of fruit that Jesus meant to bear – it’s likely he was not referring to this banana dog or the matching one that lives with Lynn and Kyle.   To bear fruit is not Biblical code to send animals made of fruit.  But Webster here might help us understand what exactly it does mean.
Webster was chosen for me by Lynn and given as a gift.  As Jesus chose the disciples to go out and bear fruit, you have chosen each other.  That in itself is a gift.  Kyle, you chose Lynn, and Lynn, you chose Kyle to build your life with.  Today you will vow to love each other for your entire lives.  In that life together, go out and bear fruit.  Bear fruit that will last. 
Fruit that will not last are things like selfishness, holding grudges, and envy.  The actions that kill, hurt, and prevent a love from growing. 
Rather to bear fruit that will last is to be a friend to each other.  To bear fruit in your relationship is to do the things that would help a strawberry plant or orange tree grow.  Care for each other.  Love each other with attention and protection.  As weeds creep up or a worm comes along – whatever that may be in our actual lives – be there for the other.  Work together.  Nourish your relationship with the things you need and support each other as you grow.  It may look like listening more than you speak.  Webster is great at listening.  To bear good fruit means compromise.  Apologizing and forgiving.  Ultimately, to bear fruit is to share the love that Christ commands us to share, the love that we’re first given by the God who created us. 
You vow today to put the other before yourself, to care for the other with a love that is patient and kind.   A love that is not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude.  A love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.  Be a friend to each other.  Go out together, hand in hand, and bear good fruit to the world. 
Those of us here call you friends, love you deeply, and cannot wait to see the fruit that you bear as you love and life you lead together.  May God bless your relationship and always be a source of love in your lives.  Amen.

to rochester and back.

15 Sep
Forgetting the fact that I need to walk home [across the parking lot] and write two sermons, today was a good day.  A good, good day and positive ending to – frankly – a crappy week.
I’ve felt completely under water this week.  Completely.  No way around it – transition is hard.  I finally broke yesterday and cried in Marilyn’s office.  While part of me shames myself for showing such emotion, people should know that I’m not a rock.  I’m not void of feeling.  I cry too.  And so the church admin assistant now knows.
Today was a good day likely because I let myself breathe and it was a day of reflection.  [In a phone call I just made to another local pastor, she reminded me that I must take time to process and reflect.  That, in itself, is a way of working and necessary, especially as an internal processor.]  I picked jD and Paige up in Owatonna at 8am this morning and we headed to the synod offices in Rochester for a first-call theological event.  Today’s topic: taxes and pensions.  [Just knowing that makes you wish you were there, right?]  It was actually quite interesting and good stuff to learn in these first couple weeks.  
But really, what was awesome about the day was the conversation to and from and the conversation there.    The southeastern MN synod staff is beyond awesome, and the other first-call colleagues seem pretty top drawer too.  Bishop Huck led us in devotions and during that time, I felt my anxiety melt.  He has such a way of speaking and of comfort that those were words of gospel I needed to hear.  He reminded us that we don’t need to have all the answers.  Thank you.
Delicious red pepper soup for lunch and more laughing and conversation with colleagues was great.  Paige and I also signed up for the Bishop’s Open.  Yes, a golf tournament.  We’re not going to golf but rather put our names in to be caddies.  We’re not sure they will accept us as caddies but we think it will be a fun place to be on Monday, September 26th.  It’s an event only for clergy, hosted by the bishop, so it will be a day of collegiality and dinner if nothing else.  jD is going to do it too but I think he’ll actually golf.  The synod must think the three of us go everywhere and do everything together.  [I celebrate that fact!]  We should probably have a gang name.
Speaking of our gang, it seems jD and Paige have also met some young morticians in their local funeral homes.  Plans of a new pastor and mortician game night are in the works.  Pastors and funeral people make great friends, or so I’m told.

Marilyn.

15 Sep

I’m going to tell you about a woman I’ve known for just over a week.  She’s pretty awesome.
Marilyn is Red Oak Grove’s administrative assistant.  [Secretary to most but I just can’t get myself to say that, even if it is shorter.]  She’s in her 60s [I think – I’m a bad judge of age.] and has been at ROG for – I gather – about five to six years.  She’s not a member, but instead attends the large Lutheran church in Blooming [Prairie] – First Lutheran. 
Let me tell you how she’s awesome.  I’ve interrupted her work more than once – heck, more than twenty five times – to ask her questions and, more often than not, she knows the answer.  She has been such a blessing since I began working here.  She is so incredibly helpful. 
She’s been a great advocate for me since day one.  Though I often know what I want, I won’t voice it right off the bat, especially if that thing is only for my benefit and thus – to me – selfish.  [I do not like to be needy … though sometimes I am.]  I had off-handedly mentioned to her that I would enjoy a lighter paint color in my office.  Brent, the council president, stopped in and Marilyn told him.  “Don’t you think you could lighten it up a little bit in there?” she asked.  Then she told him the chairs could stand to be reupholstered.  That was not my idea but that Marilyn – she’s looking out for me.
She’ll dodge phone calls I don’t want to take.  Don’t judge me – they’re not parishioners but solicitors and the March of Dimes that wants to throw me in jail.  She hooks me up with office supplies and she, too, enjoys a good Sharpie. 
Now the other day, as we both lamented over the lack of internet, I exclaimed that I can’t live like this!  I need technology!  [I feel like we’re comfortable enough with each other now that I can make such exaggerations without her judgment.]  Since the outburst, she invited me over to her house two different times to use her internet.  First, she said she would feed me ice cream while I was there.  And then she said that she didn’t have any wine chilled but she could be an ice cube in it.
Oh for cute. 

Up next.

21 Aug
I arrived home and promptly went to bed on Saturday.  I still haven’t recovered in the sleep/rest department, and I don’t think life is going to let me.
I hit the road bright and early tomorrow morning for Austin.  For Red Oak Grove to be specific.  I’ll spend the next three days catching up with the current interim, seeing what he has to say.  The goal is not for him to teach me his way of doing things so I can continue, but rather for me to get a grasp on where the congregation has been and the direction they are currently heading.  I’m hoping it’s a good experience and educational for the future ministry as I step in come September.  I’m not entirely sure what we’ll talk about/do for Monday afternoon, all of Tuesday, and Wednesday morning … but we’ll see.
While in Austin, I’ll be staying the night with jD and Lauren in Owatonna, including a dinner one evening with Paige, another seminary colleague.  I’m pretty darn excited to catch up with these friends and spend time with them.  It will be good.
From there, because I’ll already be halfway and I have the time so why not, I’m going to continue onto Dawson to take in the Taste of Grace, an annual supper held at Grace, on Wednesday night.  It may be the last time in a long while I’ll have the opportunity to visit and after driving to Alaska [remember that?], what is eight more hours?  Take note, Dawson friends, because I hope to see you there!  
After that, I’ll likely drive home through the Cities and make a few stops there, both city and friend-wise.    I’ll return home Thursday?  Friday?  Eh.  It doesn’t really matter.  Until I move on labor day weekend, I have nothing much on my calendar except to pack and prepare for the move.  It will keep me busy enough but to put it off in exchange for seeing far-off friends I am more than willing to do.  On the road again!

[AAA] Big Sandy.

13 Aug
It was awesome that my trip could conviently take me through [just adding an hour] Big Sandy, Montana, where friends Joel and Melissa have been living for the past three weeks.  Joel serves two congregations – one in Big Sandy and one in Havre.  They’ve settled in and have begun to make the house their home, all while welcoming many visitors.  When I arrived last night around 7pm, I was joining Joel’s sister, brother-in-law, and their three kids.  The house was full and filled with laughter.  It was the perfect stop after a long day in the car.  We ate pizza and hung out until well after midnight.  This morning, Joel, Melissa, and I walked to the coffee shop [The Bear Paw – named after the Bear Paw mountains in the distance] to pick up the caramel rolls they had pre-ordered.  We drank coffee, ate the rolls, and went antiquing after a tour of the town.  Then, I sadly had to say goodbye as the border to Canada was beckoning.  It was so great to stop and have this work into the August Alaskan Adventure!  We’re setting up skype coffee dates to stay in touch in the future – love them!

We stopped by the church in Big Sandy on the way to the coffee shop this morning.  This sculpture was on the wall of the church – “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

The main drag of Big Sandy – just a short walk from J&M’s house.

The coffee shop/deli was oh-for-cute and awesome for such a small town.  It’s where the farmers gather.

J&M

And then I had to leave.  boo.

[AAA] I’m alive.

12 Aug
Hi friends.  After 12 hours in the car and 650 miles through two states, I’m still living and breathing.
Today I learned that North Dakota really doesn’t deserve its bad reputation [in my humble opinion – though I also realize it’s August and not January].  I made a pit stop in Lindsay, Montana briefly to stretch my legs and snap a photo.  This is also the place that spurred the tweet, “Meeting men in trucks in Lindsay, Montana. #serious.”  [Neither of them were my age but we did have a fun conversation.]  I gave my heart to the landscape of Montana and arrived safely to Joel and Melissa’s home in Big Sandy, MT.  
Here I rest for the night in the company of seminary friends and their visiting family.  I plan on not leaving for Canada until late morning/noon tomorrow; there is a carmel roll with my name on it at the Bear Paw Cafe down the street.  Tomorrow will be an easy day of only six and a half hours of driving with a hotel reservation made in south Calgary.  I figure when in the company of good friends and as a gift to myself after twelve hours of driving today an easy day is acceptable.  I’ll blog more tomorrow night when I have no one else with whom to visit; for now, I return to the land of living people and retire to the living room where two young boys battle it out for a ball in their diaper/underwear.  [J&M’s nephews.  They’re young so underwear is acceptable attire.]
But first, a few photos of my day –
Theodore Roosevelt National Park – the ND Badlands

This is how Montana stole my heart.  Now I need a farmer and a truck.

Joel teaches me the beauty of the Hostess Zinger.

[AAA] ND.

11 Aug
I’ve never been to North Dakota before and now I get the chance to drive all the way through it.  [First impressions?  Lots of trucks.  I like.  And I now understand what amber waves of grain look like.]  I’m resting for the night in Valley City after a nine hour day of driving.  Harry Potter on audio book and a country song playlist kept me awake and alert.  It actually wasn’t too bad until my butt started to hurt from sitting for so long.
I arrived in Valley City, checked into the hotel for the night and then friend, Kara, from seminary came to visit!  She lives about an hour and a half from VC but willingly made the trip.  We hopped in her car and explored the town briefly.  VC is known for its bridges so we went on a bridge tour about town.  [It’s amazing how towns cash in on weird things for tourism.  And how they make such a big deal out of these bridges when, really, they’re just bridges … a couple are kinda cool.  But still.  Bridges, people.]  We drove about town and then sat for a nice dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel.  It was great to see her and have someone to visit with before settling in for the night.

loooong railroad bridge over the valley.
[Which I’m totally ready to settle in now.  I’m exhausted and have a ten and a half hour drive – at least – ahead of me tomorrow.  Not only is it ten and a half hours but it’s ten and a half hours of … nothing?  North Dakota and eastern Montana.  More Harry Potter and Lady Antebellum sing alongs!  I think I’ll be showering and heading to bed.  Early to bed and early to rise! On the road by 7am?  I’m going to try!]

[ps I added a photo of the werewolf to the previous wedding post just so you could see this crazy dog that crashed the ceremony.  check it out here.]

a wedding & a werewolf.

7 Aug
The day had arrived.  Friends Krissy and Matt were to be married and I was the one doing the ceremony.  It was my first official wedding I had officiated and the first time I’d ever signed a marriage license.  It was a full day leading up to the wedding at 6pm.  We had rehearsal in the backyard of Krissy’s parent’s house [where the wedding would take place – a beautiful yard with a pond] in the late morning and from that point on, it seemed I was on child duty.  There were seven [yes.  seven.] children under the age of eight in the ceremony and they needed lunch, naps, tuxes, and guidance for pictures.  There is just something about small short children in tuxes – they look like such little men.  Oh for cute.
three of the seven.
The wedding began only a few minutes late, complicated by a processional song that was not quite the one the bride had picked out and a few issues with the aisle runner.  Krissy and Matt stood before me and in front of one hundred family and friends who had gathered for the occasion.  Things were going well.
Except one of the bride’s sons walked up the aisle with a major attitude attached.  I’m not sure what had happened and I was too focused on Krissy and Matt to see what he was doing during the ceremony.  Crouched on the ground between the best man and the groom, he dug in the dirt with a stick and apparently, at one point, shoved grass down his brother’s shirt.  There was something more about dirt and throwing.  It didn’t much matter because, as if that didn’t distract the bride and groom and assembly enough, there was more.
Right around the time of the vows and rings, a mangy old Husky dog wandered into the ceremony and right up to where the bridal party stood.  This thrilled the children who were standing up front – they went right to petting the questionable dog and scratching his stomach.  I see this happening – as does everyone else present – and I can’t hold it together.  There’s a flippin’ dog to my left who just appeared and is now enjoying the attention.  And I’m almost worried the dog might hurt the kids.  What do I do?!  I stare at my papers and try to focus.  Laughter exploded once more when Evan, always a Twilight fan [thanks to his mother’s influence], asks, in reference to the dog, “Is it a werewolf?!”  I can’t even look at the bride and the groom because they are stifling laughter.  This was a point when ad-libbing and throwing a joke in would be good – but I’m just horrid on my feet.  Something to learn and grow.

But the wedding happened, surprise guest and all.  [It’s a neighbor’s dog, I guess.  He heard the party happening and wanted to see what was up.]  The wedding happened, Krissy and Matt are legally married, and the reception was fun.  The dinner and dance was held in a tent right next to where we had the ceremony.  I’ll admit I was skeptical when she said they were having their reception in a tent but it was  an awesome tent.  A Harry Potter tent, as Allen would call it.  There was dancing, a fireworks display, and bubble blowing.  The combination of champagne and the bouncy house only caused one bridesmaid to get sick.  [Just one!  Victory.]  A party rock anthem, sweet caroline, and both nsync and lady gaga.  I had a great time with Banana Lynn and Kyle, Allen, Timmy, and David – friends I don’t see all too often.  I am never opposed to the attention and affection my protective male friends from high school give me including dances aplenty, a “lover’s stroll” around the pond [with five others], and a few “sweetheart” and “darling” pet names; it was good and fun and I love them all.  
Next Banana wedding: Lynn and Kyle’s in September.  This is one where I’m joining pastoral forces with another pastor and will be delivering the message.  Wooten!  Can’t wait!

love.

26 Jul
You think to yourself, “Could this girl blog any more than she has in the last few days?!”  
[Don’t challenge me!]
Here’s what I think: I’m still processing that day when that one thing called ordination happened.  As I process, I blog.  Not to mention, now that the ordination planning is behind me, what else am I supposed to do?
In the process of it all and in talking to the call committee chair at Red Oak Grove [hereafter to be called ROG], I will not move until Labor Day weekend.  I will begin work that week and lead my first worship service on September 11.  [Sounds like a great idea, right?  On the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, I will preach to a church of people I have yet to know.]  That means one more month at home.  One more month to … shrug
So there’s that.  And then there’s the fact that I feel a little … sad that the day is over.  There was so much build-up [um, four years?] to that day and now, it’s over.  In the past.  Behind me.  I knew that on that day I would see friends and family and we would celebrate.  Celebration over.  As my favorite resident in my CPE nursing home would say in her raspy voice, “Now what?”  [“Push Margie?  Feed Margie?”  She would also tell me on occasion, “You talk too much.”  That may apply here as well.]

That being said, let’s talk a little bit about this word love.
This word has been a part of the last few days in many different ways.  I had written earlier that I felt so supported and loved on that day.  [True story.]  Whether the word was said verbally or not, I felt it.  Then I started to say it and hear it in all sorts of places.
From my college roommate, who has taught me a lot about saying “I love you” aloud, something I have always been timid to do; now it’s how we end our phone conversations.  I yelled it to Cassie as she left that night.  “Love yous!”  [She responded with a “I know.”]  In the card I received from my tweeds.  [Tweeds: pet name for Sara.  I call her that and she calls me Schmoopsie.]  At the end of an email from a Dawson friend and in the text message I sent to another Dawsonite [and meant to be shared with the whole sixteen hour crew.  she’s just the one I normally text.].  At the end of a message, combined with a “God loves you,” and at the conclusion of my video ordination greeting from friends.  A “love ya” that was signed with a “ME” in a facebook message, and a “We love you, Lindsay” from the Bananas.
As Hugh Grant says in the beginning voiceover of the movie Love Actually, “If you take the time to look, you’ll discover that love is, actually, all around.”
I’m looking.  I’m looking to name it already present and to grow into it.  It’s still a tricky thing to say, and it can be a tough bridge to cross.  It’s something I still hope to discover in one sense of the word, but also something I feel my life is filled with in another sense.  It’s found on tip-toes and shouted from roof tops, and it’s not an easy thing to always talk about …
And …
… I end this post, having confused myself, forgetting the point I initially wanted to make, and for fear of getting a little too sappy.

‘naners.

25 Jul
You know about my ‘naners, right?  [Dancing Bananas/high school friends/ring a bell?]
I was so grateful that three of them were able to celebrate with me yesterday.  And herein is the only group photo I took of the day –

[Krissy, right, insisted that she stand there and her twin sister, Kim, stand on the left so it would be a Poff sandwich.  I argued that the Poff girls should have stood in between the bread of Lynn and I because who has a wheat sandwich?  Rye?  No.  You call a sandwich by what’s on the inside.  Oh well.  One battle I lost, obviously not influenced or helped by the magical powers I received earlier.]
Many of you were snapping away and for that I am grateful!  It would be super awesome if you could email me the photos you have so I can blog, facebook, and print them off to share!  [Please and thank you?]
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