Phew.

18 Sep
It’s been a busy week for me at Grace Lutheran here in Dawson, MN. A few highlights include:
I discovered on Monday that I miss – in the tiniest degree – being in the classroom and being a student. Emily, the membership care director at Grace, and I are leading/participating in a Bible study on the book of Revelation along with eight to ten women on Monday afternoons. Revelation … yea. I know nothing about the book of Revelation and so I needed to expand my mind and learn about this puzzling book. A professor at Luther Sem has lectures from his class on Revelation online so I spent much of Monday morning listening to lectures and taking notes and smiling with sincerity while doing it. Some Revelation insights for you —
  • The book is written by John, but research leads us to believe that this is not the same John to whom we attribute the fourth gospel.
  • The number seven, the number of perfection, appears 57 times in the book of Revelation.
  • Revelation was written as a letter, just as Paul wrote letters. The letter was written to specific congregations in what is now modern-day Turkey. Though the letter speaks to us today, we bear in mind that it was written near the end of the first century to real congregations.
  • In all of the confusing language and images that are so foreign to us today, we remember that in the end, Jesus wins. Amen.
This coming Sunday is our Rally Sunday. I am leading much of the service which is in many ways geared towards the kids who will (fingers crossed) be in church with their parents. If they aren’t there, the older members of the congregation will be treated to award-winning acting by Lori and myself as we act like second graders in the sermon skit. I wrote the skit and wrote it to be funny … here’s hoping it doesn’t backfire.
Towards the end of August, the ELCA met for a church-wide assembly in Minneapolis for a week. In this week, many different resolutions and statements were talked about and voted on, including votes regarding the recognizing of homosexual relationships and the role of ordained homosexual pastors in committed relationships. These resolutions passed but with the realization that the church is divided on the matter; in a sense, the ELCA is agreeing to disagree. Many people in Dawson and Grace Lutheran are fearful, saddened, and angered by these votes which leads us to hold a meeting regarding the resolutions this coming Sunday. We believe that much of the extreme reactions we have witnessed and heard about through town coffee talk can be calmed through receiving the correct information. People are fearful that with the passing of these resolutions the church will change, so much so that churches in the area are strongly considering leaving the organization of the ELCA or withholding their offerings from the church. And so we wait for Sunday afternoon at 3:30 (so as not to conflict with the Vikings game) and hope that no fights break out in fellowship hall.
Confirmation begins next Wednesday. I preach next Sunday. Meetings. Revelation research to be done. It will be another busy week to come.

A weekend of –

13 Sep
– Vegetable races?  For fun.  I went to the Lac Qui Parle County fair just up the road in Madison, MN and planned my visit specifically for this event.  

Gardeners brought in their produce and kids of all ages picked their vegetable of choice, grabbed a wheel kit, and using toothpicks, flowers, and any vegetable available, created their mode of transportation.  They then raced their vegetable down a track to compete for the longest run.  

Some of the veggie mobiles were quite plain, built for distance with proper weight distribution and the like, while others were quite creative works of art or a way of cheering on a certain football player.

As a spectator, this girl was my favorite to watch.  So darn cute and so darn ready to race her eggplant!

– The installation of me.  I was officially installed as the intern pastor at Grace Lutheran Church this morning during the service.  Then following the service, the congregation and I played a game show to better get to know Pastor Lindsay.  They learned that I have have no tattoos and believe in extraterrestrial beings only on rare occasions.  People seem to love the fact that I drink coffee and I’m a “good Lutheran” because of it.  For my love of coffee, they gave me a gift of a coffee mug and coffee.  The mug reads: Coffee.  Chocolate.  Men.  Some things are just better rich.  True?
– I made applesauce and dare I say, it’s not only edible but tastes pretty good.  I remember my Grandma Vera, a grandma of so many treats and homemade deliciousness, used to make applesauce all the time,
sometimes with lots of cinnamon and red hot candies.  I made a very simple recipe and can foresee myself making more as the season of fall and apples aplenty surround us.  
– I was invited over to the interim pastor’s house to have lunch with her and her family.  It was wonderful to eat somewhere other than my apartment and with other people.  The food of choice was pizza and the preferred television station was the one with the Vikings.  (I am in MN after all but still so strange to see Farve wearing purple!)  Lori and her family live on a farm so I was also privy to see the baby calves.  For cute.  I left with the invitation to come back anytime, perhaps specifically at 5:30 pm to help milk!  I’ve never actually milked cows before so I’m game to learn.  Milking cows – another skill to add to my internship final evaluation!

Grace Lutheran Church

10 Sep

This is the sanctuary at Grace Lutheran Church, where I will be preaching, worshipping, and learning for the next year. It’s a beautiful place with stained glass windows and recently refinished hard wood floors. The other new feature in the sanctuary is the grand piano which was played for the first time only weeks ago. It sits just to the right of where this picture ends.

On the left hand side is the baptismal font – above the font, there is a screen which is lowered for the contemporary worship service to display the words to songs/liturgy and announcements.












Beginning September 27 (which also happens to be the first Sunday I will preach) the congregation will return to two services, whereas there was only one throughout the summer months. The 8:30 service will be traditional worship and the 10:45 is contemporary service.
To end our short tour of Grace, to the right is a dreadfully narrow and steep spiral staircase which I will difficultly climb every Sunday while wearing a robe. Quite tricky. The staircase begins in a corner of the fellowship hall and leads to the sacristy, which is just off of the front of the sanctuary. It’s how the pastors and acolytes enter the service and thus I will become skilled at climbing spiral staircases while wearing a robe and heels. Now that’s a skill not every intern can put on their final evaluation.

(Yes. Today was a yellow shoe day. Yellow shoes make me happy.)

Population : 1600

9 Sep

Welcome to Dawson, folks.
Dawson is a small town in western Minnesota, located off of Hwy. 212. If you come into town on 212, turn to the south between the Casey’s and the Dairy Queen, drive for seven blocks and that’s pretty much it. We’ve got numerical streets running north/south, trees running east west (Chesnut, Linden, Walnut, etc.), but really not too many of either of them. Main Street (also known as 6th Street) consists of a few “for cute” shops, a hardware store, post office, grocery store, couple banks, dress shops, and a family restaurant. It’s hard to blink and miss them because the speed limit is 20 mph. “Downtown” is the happening place in Dawson until 6 pm when everything closes.
Railroad tracks run straight through the middle of town, through the grain elevator and AGP, or “the bean plant,” one of the businesses which employs many people in the area. They process soybeans. (More information on AGP) It is a bit strange to drive a few blocks through a residential area and then suddenly be surrounded by railroad tracks, grain elevators on one side, a soybean processing plant on the other, and downtown just ahead.

Here’s a fun Grace Lutheran Church fact I learned today: Local farmers can give their offering to the church in grain as opposed to in an envelope on Sunday mornings. When they take their grain to the elevator, they can specify that a portion of it be given to Grace and then when sold, the money comes to the church. For neat.
There is a milk processing plant just outside of town (AMPI) which employs many people in Dawson and also a Cenex fertilizer plant. Lots of the people in Dawson work at one of these three agriculturally-based plants, farm, or are employed by the school district or hospital in town. Because many to most of the jobs at these places are shift based, this affects how and when we do worship, conscious that people may be working every other weekend or nights. I believe the location of the three plants in Dawson is also to credit for drawing a diverse population into this rural area.
8 Sep

“As soon as we call God, “God-with-us,” we enter into a new relationship of intimacy. By calling God Immanuel, we recognize God’s commitment to live in solidarity with us, to share our joys and pains, to defend and protect us, and to suffer all of life with us. The God-with-us is a close God, a God whom we call our refuge, our stronghold, our wisdom, and even, more intimately, our helper, our shepherd, our love.” Henri Nouwen, Compassion

Week One: Check.

7 Sep
I have officially been in Dawson for one week, though technically I write this post from Watertown, SD. It’s Labor Day, the offices are closed, and I could think of nothing to do within the limits of Dawson or my apartment and thus I traveled to Watertown, one of the largest cities nearby. (Nearby = one hour.) I also do not have internet currently in my apartment and so I drove seeking wireless to connect with the world outside of myself. Well, and not to mention, I had never been to South Dakota before! (Below is proof – proof that I had just taken a shower, it was windy, my sunglasses are large, and I was going to South Dakota!)
The past week went well and didn’t seem as overwhelming as it could have easily been. I followed Lori, the interim pastor, around as she did visits, led worship services at the care center/assisted living facility in town, attended staff meetings, and met lots of people who’s names I now have forgotten. The pastor of the church, Kendall, is on sabbatical for the months of September and October, which puts me in an interesting position, spending the first two months of my internship with the interim pastor (who happens to be the intern pastor from last year). Confused? Me too.
I participated in leading small parts of the worship service yesterday. I was a bit nervous, not necessarily for speaking in front of the congregation but I hate those pocket mics that you have to switch on and off. I always think I’ll mess that up but not yesterday. Phew. I will be leading worship in some sense every Sunday; I will either but leading the service or preaching. Never both off the bat but always one or the other. After church I drank some coffee with some sweet old ladies who invited me to join their table and was introduced to more people I can’t quite remember.
After church, I came home to my apartment and then shrugged my shoulders, wondering what the heck I would do with the day. I was bored out of my mind. No internet. No sewing machine as of yet. Totally unpacked and unloaded. I took a two hour nap … watched That 70s Show … read a bit … and that pretty much sums it up. Yesterday I think I came to the realization that this will be a very lonely year for me though I know that busy-ness at church will help a lot when I don’t have time to feel alone.

Let me introduce you –

7 Sep
To the gnome garden, technically called “Gnome Park.” I have heard that many of you think this garden to be a figment of my imagination, my creativity running away with me, or, bluntly, a lie. I tell you, the gnome garden is not something of fairy tales but a very real and magical place on the east side of Dawson. A few things about the gnome garden:
1. I had estimated that there are 17 gnomes in the garden. Turns out there are 28 gnomes! What a gnome-tastic surprise! Not to mention, there is a map to indicate which gnome is where and the gnome’s name. Apparently, every summer there is a festival in Dawson in which a person in the community is honored an then there is a gnome made and put in the gnome garden in honor of that person.

2. Dawson gnomes are different from other gnomes, shown by a bend in their hat and a heart on their sleeve. (As noted by Daws, the leader of the gnomes, of course.)

3. Some gnomes have had unfortunate accidents, which may or may not be the result of reckless teenagers who are bored and can think of nothing else to do but steal innocent gnomes and throw them in the river. (Bored in Dawson? I can’t imagine. sarcasm) Take Gladys here. Only her gnome feet remain. Poor Gladys.
On my morning walk this morning, I documented the gnome population in the garden and hope to bring you occasional gnome profiles of the gnome people who call Dawson home.

Oh for _____________.

2 Sep
I have lived in Minnesota for pretty much the last three years, give or take a few months. People always comment on the Minnesotan accent, exaggerate the tendencies, and make fun of the extreme vowels. Watch the movie New in Town for a completely exaggerated view that is also hilarious. (And super cute.)
In my three years in MN, I never have really noticed the accent. Maybe I grew accustomed to it or maybe just gained it myself and therefore didn’t realize it when other people spoke with ridiculously long o’s. But, my goodness, have I noticed one thing since I’ve moved to Dawson – the for.
The for goes in front of anything. Anything. Attach a description word and you’re set.
For good.
For nice.
For great.
For fun.
For sweet.
Oh, for goodness sake, I have noticed it coming out of ladies’ mouths left and right. For awesome.

Hey Jesus.

2 Sep
Meet Jesus.

Nice guy.

Jesus is four and a half feet tall and we share an office at Grace Lutheran Church.

I posted a picture of Jesus on my facebook and really enjoyed the responses I got from people about my officemate:
  • Please do not compare your work to the work that he does.
  • Does he light up?
  • Oh for cute! He wants to hug you and hold your scarves!
  • Can dress him up in your hat, mittens, scarf, etc. in winter, or would that be in poor taste
  • I’m all for Jesus but I would be little creeped out by sharing an office with that statue.
We’re getting along pretty well so far, hopefully the cordiality keeps up. Apparently Jesus belongs in the cemetery but first needs a base to stand on which hasn’t been completed. I don’t know, I’m okay with sharing an office with him. I’ve been told he’s the way, the truth, and the light. And I think he loves me.

transitions.

31 Aug
I graduated from my summer internship of CPE and have three months of self-reflection and a cheap pen to show for it. I enjoyed my time at the care center and senior apartment buildings. At the beginning of the summer, I’ll admit, I was scared of old people, not quite sure how to interact or be their chaplain. Fellow group members, conversation, and trial and error worked wonders and now I came to enjoy their company. I actually miss my Friday morning Bible study crew and my “favorites” at the nursing home.
Directly following the pomp and circumstance that was my graduation ceremony, I drove for home and there remained for two wonderful weeks. Family, friends, relaxing, and preparing for my upcoming year-long internship was all that the agenda contained. A few highlights included:
  • A day in Chicago. My sister, five cousins of ours, and myself took the train from Harvard to the last stop in downtown Chicago for the day. We walked everywhere, seeing the sculptures at Millinium Park, sitting by the side of Lake Michigan, eating deep dish pizza, and shopping State Street. We also frequented Sears for the bathroom facilities.
  • Cookouts! Love me a good cookout with fruit salad and eating outside.
  • Bowling, campfires, and otherwise hanging out with both new and old friends. It was great to catch up, eat giant marshmallows, bowl between our legs, and watch movies together.
  • My home congregation of East Koshkonong Lutheran celebrated its 165th anniversary this past Sunday.  The service was held outside where the sun the shining and the weather was perfect. It was also great to hear my grandpa tell me afterwards, “I was so proud of you.” He also told me he liked my blue sweater.
It was difficult to leave home after two weeks there but there was also excitement within me, knowing that I was leaving to begin a new adventure in Dawson. I left home on Sunday afternoon, spent the night in St.Paul packing, and now write this post from my apartment in Dawson, MN, a town of 1600 people and 17 gnomes in the gnome garden.*
It was a beautiful drive to Dawson today with green fields on either side of Hwy. 212. I was greeted by members of Grace Lutheran at the church building and then we taxied to my apartment building and unloaded my car within minutes with so many hands to help. The staff of the church and a few members of my internship committee treated me to dinner at the only restaurant in town that isn’t also a drinking establishment. I returned to the apartment amid reminders to “let us know if you need anything!” and have grown tired of unpacking. More time for that tomorrow after my first day as an intern at Grace Lutheran.
* Seventeen gnomes is an approximation. I have not yet had time to explore the gnome garden but will eagerly report back findings once the exploration has taken place.
… a shout out to Mark Gieseke, for whom I thank for the title of this blog, “There’s no place like gnome.” Who doesn’t enjoy a hilarious play on words?
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