Pastor's Page - February Newsletter, Doniphan/Rosedale UMCs

I am a calendar geek. Yea, I’m THAT guy. Obsessive is just the tip of the ice-berg when it comes to describing me and my calendar. There’s something about nailing down the dates and times of where I’m supposed to be that settles my nerves, calms my soul; makes the unknown future a little more decided.

For the past three years, I’ve kept my calendar on my Blackberry cell phone. After years of carrying my Palm Pilot on one hip and my cell phone on the other, having it all on one small mobile device was refreshing. I liked having my phone, calendar, mileage, and, survival e-mail all in one device.

Now, after being the owner of the oldest phone in my family for a long time, I finally made the leap to an IPhone in mid-January. The youngster at Best Buy who sold me my phone was shocked to transfer 1,100 contacts over from my old phone to my new one. I had to explain that in the modern cell phone age, I’ve been a pastor in Ainsworth, Johnstown, Seward, Beaver Crossing, Beatrice and now Doniphan. And I had a hard time deleting contacts, cause you never know when you’re going to need that number!

For the longest time I designed and printed out calendars for my entire family. They had everybody's’ birthdays and the scripture readings for each Sunday (useful things for a family of ministers). Then we started to cross over into the digital world.

Now, after a day to day search of my Blackberry calendar I’ve pretty much got all those regular church meetings down in my new IPhone calendar. So if somebody asks about a funeral next week or a wedding a year from now, I can check to see if that date is clear. And the best part is if I’m driving all I have to do is ask Siri (my IPhone assistant) to check my calendar and she’ll tell me if that date is clear. She’ll even just put an event in my calendar when I ask her . No typing on little letters with big fingers.

So as of February 1st, I’m feeling good that my calendar is up to date. Now all I’ve got to do is look at it.

May God help us all keep our calendars up to date. And God be with us when life interferes with previously scheduled events.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-29-12 Dropped the IPad!

Accidents happen. Thats easy to say, and hard to live by.

This past week, I dropped my IPad. I’d already dropped it a couple minor times, but the case had protected it from any major damage. Not this time. I was loading stuff into the trunk of my car and it slipped out of my arms and hit the pavement on its corner. When I picked it up and opened the case there were spider-web cracks across the glass face.

It still works. But I almost cried. I immediately started trying to cheer myself up. I used every deep breathing, Centering Prayer, Zen focusing tool I knew. It didn’t help. Sad and mad were meeting pity and taking up residence in my chest right there where I sat in the drivers seat of my car.

I was never very good at teaching my children “not to cry over spilled milk!” Cause I was usually the one jumping up and screaming, “NOOOO!!!” Then we’d be down on our knees mopping it up or dabbing it off the carpet as fast as we could; working our way up the legs of the chair to the legs and body of the baby. Spilled milk made everyone cry when my kids were little.

Since I got it in May, I’ve really loved my IPad. I was always the kid who had 3-4 books in a bag with him at all times, (O.K., as an adult too). Now I can have all my books in my IPad along with newspapers and magazines. It’s a reader’s dream. No more need for a night light, the white screen glows behind the words! I haven’t printed up a sermon or wedding or funeral service since May. Its all on the IPad. On Sundays, with three services in two places, I only have to remember to grab my IPad instead of a Bible, maybe a hymnal and a pile of papers and notes. Now I only forget my water bottle from time to time (O.K., I forget my jacket and hat and reading glasses too).

So in the end, I’ve still got a usable IPad. It just doesn’t look so shiny and new any more. It looks kind of bruised and broken. But it works. I know my Zen Buddhist brothers and sisters would want me to remember that the past is perfect. But I’m still going to mentally obsess over all the things I could have done to not drop my IPad for the next month or so. Or, until my mind lets my soul know that it’s time to get over it and move on to more important things, like where I left my cell phone (I just had it).

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-22-12 Clergy Event in Topeka

Journeys
1-22-12

This past week Cindy and I spent three days in Topeka at a gathering of the United Methodist clergy from Nebraska and Kansas. In September of this year, Nebraska and the two conferences in Kansas will begin to share one bishop. Depending on the future voting of the Annual Conferences, Nebraska and Kansas could become one "Great Plains Conference" in the near future.

There has been a "Transition Team" made up of folks from all three conferences that has met for over a year working on this. They presented their work as a part of the meeting. Our speaker was Dr. Brian McClaren. He talked to us about how much our world is changing around us and how we as a church can respond to this change. He has written several books on this subject.

As with all such gatherings, there were the meetings before and after the meeting. So we were basically in Topeka from Monday night to Thursday night. I got to play my djembe in the clergy band that led the worship services. I also got to lead a drumming circle at the beginning. We also cranked up the drumming circle after coffee breaks as a way to call people back in to the meeting hall. I played the djembe so much my hands hurt! It was great to see clergy friends from all over Nebraska and meet new folks from Kansas.

One afternoon, our small groups of clergy from all three conferences did a service project, putting together tricycles. Then pre-schoolers from the local Headstart (and their parents) came in and we got to give them their new trikes. It was an amazing experience. At our table, the child (age four) was not able to come, but his mom said he'd wanted a trike for Christmas and couldn't get one. Now, she could just tell him that Santa was a little late this year.

It was a week of meeting lots of Kansans who really do have a lot in common with us Nebraskans. We had great fellowship, great learning and great worship. We just need another three or four days now to catch up on our sleep.

Grace & Peace,


Rev. Kelly

Journeys 1-15-12 Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday held on the third Monday of January. It celebrates the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., an influential American civil rights leader. He is most well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the United States.

Martin Luther King Day is a relatively new federal holiday and there are few long standing traditions. It is seen as a day to promote equal rights for all Americans, regardless of their background. Some educational establishments mark the day by teaching their pupils or students about the work of Martin Luther King and the struggle against racial segregation and racism. In recent years, federal legislation has encouraged Americans to give some of their time on this day as volunteers in citizen action groups.

Martin Luther King was an important civil rights activist. He was a leader in the movement to end racial segregation in the United States. His most famous address was the "I Have A Dream" speech. He was an advocate of non-violent protest and became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was assassinated in 1968.

In 1968, shortly after Martin Luther King died, a campaign was started for his birthday to become a holiday to honor him. After the first bill was introduced, trade unions lead the campaign for the federal holiday. It was endorsed in 1976. Following support from the musician Stevie Wonder with his single "Happy Birthday" and a petition with six million signatures, the bill became law in 1983. Martin Luther King Day was first observed in 1986, although it was not observed in all states until the year 2000.

Here are some MLK quotes:

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

Even though Nebraska is one of the few states that does not celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day, each of us can still do what we can do to end the racial discrimination that is practiced around us every day. I believe its what Jesus would have wanted us to do.

P.S., If you want a good read to remind you of the Civil Right era try, "Blood Done Sign My Name," by Timothy Tyson. My daughter Katie recommended it to me. He's a great writer, and its message rocked me to my core.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-8-12 When does the new year start?

So when does the new year officially get going? Is it the minute that ball drops in Times Square? Or is it when the first baby of 2012 is born?

In our house, the holiday season ends when the left-overs are gone, the Christmas tree is taken down, and, the last college bowl game is played. Even though the relatives have gone home and both high school and college have cranked back up, it doesn’t feel like a new year until that 35th and final bowl game is completed. Then we can turn and face the new year. Cause we just can’t wait for the Superbowl, (now in February), to get closure on 2011.

So this year the new year starts on January 9th. By then the dust from the collapse of 2011 should have mostly cleared. Then we can squint toward the far horizon of 2012 and start to fill in important dates we already know are coming down the pike.

So we have ‘til Monday to really get serious about 2012. You can avoid it until about half-time of the LSU-Alabama Game tomorrow night. When the final seconds of that game tick off, there will be no more residue from college football 2011. The mixing and matching of one season over two calendar years will be over and we can focus on the future without the past weighing us down.

As our Zen Buddhist masters teach us, “The past is perfect.” It cannot be altered or perfected any more. It just is. Though 2011 can still effect us, we can no longer effect it. So it is time to put the past behind us and move on. We cannot grab hold of the future until we let go of the past. I don’t know about you, but I always need God’s help with that one.

“God, please help us to let go of 2011, so we can live fully in the present in 2012!”

Grace & Peace,