Journeys 5-20-12

We are in planting season right now.  Planting corn.  Planting soy beans.  Planting seed corn, and sorghum.  Some are planted and some are seeded.  Then there are the gardens, where things are planted according to the moon and frost probability.  Some plant potatoes around here on Good Friday.  Tomato plants are started in people’s basements and green houses, then transplanted when its safe from frost.

I have very little knowledge of the mechanics of planting.  My farmer friends talk about planting by GPS, so you can actually pre-prepare the row of soil in the winter, then in the spring place that seed at just the right depth with just the right amount of fertilizer/weed repellant sprayed in there.  All guided by the satellite that guarantees everything is lined up.  

I am more into the philosophical aspects of planting.  It takes a lot of guts to risk sticking that seed in the ground.  It is an act of hope.  Hope has to do with an unknowable future.  If you know how the future’s going to turn out, there is no hope involved.  Hope is planted in a bed of uncertainty.  

You just don’t know if all the right rain and sunshine are going to happen at all the right times to produce fruit 60, 80 or 90 days from now.  You prepare your soil, then you plant your seed, then you live into the hope that everything is going to turn out O.K. 

You can also hope for another.  Hope can be a part of the glue of a relationship.  We can hope for good things to happen to our friends and loved ones. There’s a part of me that wants to believe that the more you hope, the better you get at it. I also don’t think that there is a limited amount of hope out there. We don’t have to be stingy with our hoping. My experience is that hope expands my view; opens up the pores of my soul to unforeseen possibilities.  Prayer is an act of hope.  It is a seed planted in our relationship with God.

Hope is very close to faith. Faith has to do with trust.  We trust that God wants the best for us.  We trust that God is always with us, no matter what.  Seeds of faith can be planted with hope. We hope that our future relationship with God can be trusted to be as good as or better than what it is now.   I wonder of the GPS could be helpful with that?

Grace & Peace,

Rev. Kelly

Journeys 5-29-12

We still have a couple more weeks of having our Confirmands write the Journeys article on the back of the bulletin.  I hope you enjoy seeing the world through the eyes of a seventh grader.  This week's contributor is Trey:

God Sighting

The topic I have chosen for my bulletin article is a place I have seen God recently. I decided that one of the places that I have seen God is in our confirmation class and in all the support we have had from our church.

The reason that I see God in our confirmation class is God helps us to learn more about him and become closer to him as we go through our thirteen weeks. You can also see it in how at the start of our confirmation class everyone was kind of shy and didn’t really talk much, but as the weeks have went on we have started to become more comfortable with each other and get to know each other better. I believe that God helps by giving us more courage to speak up and let our guards down.

Another place I see God is in how fully the congregation of our church supports our confirmation class in our journey to become full members of the church. They are always setting a good example of how we can become good members of the church by how they act and how they treat each other. Also, they are always so supportive and kind to us. It makes it so much easier to go through these 13 weeks when you have a congregation like ours.

Finally, I see God in our confirmation mentors and our pastor. First of all, our mentors volunteer so much of their time. Instead of using the time to get a lot of their own personal stuff done, they choose to teach us about how to be a better Christian. Also, I see God in Pastor Kelly.  He is so knowledgeable about the Bible, being a better Christian, and about God. Another reason I see God in him is that he always takes the time to teach us all of the necessary information we need to become a member of the church, and he always takes us on fun field trips to help us to learn more about God.

Pastor's Page, May 2012 Newsletter

Pastor’s Page

May 2012 Newsletter

In March, there were 50 people from the Hastings area trained by the United Methodist Committee on Relief to be Emergency Responders; folks to go to places that have had floods or tornados and provide basic assistance on behalf of the church.  Our trainer was excellent.  He’d been all over the world on behalf of UMCOR.  He was an old firefighter/fire marshall from Las Vegas.  It was a day-log event.

So when the tornadoes hit Nebraska and Iowa a couple weekends ago, by wife Cindy was messaging an old friend from our Duke Divinity School days, Brian Milford.  Brian’s the District Superintendent of the Southwest district in the Iowa Conference.  Cindy let him know that we had newly trained people ready to come help.  We just hadn’t received our official name tags in the mail yet.  Brain said he thought there was a good chance we could come and help.  This was Saturday night.

Sunday afternoon, I was awakened from my afternoon nap by a phone call from the District Disaster Coordinator in Iowa.  She was asking if we could come and help with the tornado damage in Thurman, IA.  I said, I’d get on the phone to those who’d been trained and get back to her.  After an afternoon of phone calls, we had nine folks from four different churches who could drop everything and leave the next morning at 9 a.m. for Iowa.  

We took the van from Grace UMC and met a couple guys from the Kearney area and drove the three and a half hours to Shenandoah, IA.  We were met by the pastor from the Shenandoah UMC, his Missions Coordinator, the District Disaster Coordinator and Brian.  Then a pickup pulled up with a load of high school boys in the back.  They jumped out and quickly carried the materials for 10 bunk beds to the third floor where we were to put them together.  We spend Monday afternoon putting the bunk beds together and blowing up the air-mattresses that’d go on them.  Then Brian took us all out to supper.  They were setting up two rooms on the third floor of the church’s education wing to sleep up to 40 people for future mission groups and Emmaus retreats.  They’d just put in two new showers between the sleeping rooms.

Tuesday, we woke early and headed over to Thurman to help.  There is no greater thrill than to extend my hand and say, “Hi, I’m Kelly, we’re from the United Methodist Church in Nebraska, and we’re here to help.”  We cut trees and piled up branches both in town and at the local cemetery for most of the day.  Some helped in the coordination office.  Some drove trucks to help haul debris away.  We were fed lunch by the Salvation Army and Red Cross.  We met and chatted with the pastor of the United Methodist pastor in town.  The hardest work was in the park; bending over to pick up thousands of tiny shards of shingles and putting them in trash bags.

Keith Haussler and I were from the Doniphan/Rosedale churches.  Jonathan Kubicka was from First UMC, Hastings.  Suzanne Foster was from the Junieta UMC.  Rich Reimer, Paul Larsen and Tom Genung were from Hastings Grace UMC, Tracy Broeker & James Wrenn were from Kearney area UMCs.

We got to live through one of the best parts of the United Methodist Connection; service in mission.

Grace & Peace,

Rev. Kelly Karges

Journeys 4-22-12

Our Confirmation Students are writing the Journeys article for the next several weeks.  Enjoy seeing the world through seventh grade eyes: - Rev. Kelly

Today, we hear from Abby Williams,

There are many things that I like about my church.  But my favorite is youth group.  We eat a delicious supper, play a fun game and then have a lesson that helps us learn about God and our faith.  Also, this year we will be going to Camp Comeca in April. We will be swimming, using the zip-line, hiking to the cross on the hill, having a campfire, watching movies, but mostly learn about God and getting closer as a group. I would like to thank our sponsors; the Wiltfongs, the Roachs, the Stocks, the McNeils and the Sullivans for the time they have given to the youth group. Also, all the people who has helped with the meals.  Our youth group meets every first and third Wednesday of the month at 6:30. One of my favorite memories is when it was close to Christmas we had to play a game where we walked with a bandana over our eyes to a table with whipped cream in a plate.  Hidden in the whipped cream was gummy worms and a whistle. With our hands behind our backs, we had to find the whistle and had to be the first one to blow it. One lesson I remember is a Easter lesson where we learned about Jesus being in the tomb.We took a big marshmallow that represented Jesus and wrapped it in a crescent roll which was the tomb. He rose again in the oven then the marshmallow vanished just like Jesus. I am looking forward to all the things I will do in youth group in the years to come.

Journeys 4-15-12 Dalton Lewis, Confirmation

I'm having the confirmation kids write the Journeys article for the next several weeks. So we get to see the world through seventh grade eyes! This week the article is from Dalton Lewis:

It is my turn to write the bulletin letter. The topic I choose was, “Why I want to become a member of the church.”

I want to become more spiritual and come closer to God. Being a member also brings you closer to the community. I think going to church brings a good feeling. If you think going to church is a waste of a Sunday, you are wrong. It makes the day better. When I get out of church I feel like a better person.

My family hasn’t gone to church steadily for a couple years. I don’t wont want to do that anymore. I want to grow spiritually and learn more about God. I don’t know a lot about God but I can learn.

I go to youth group and confirmation but I want more! I want to live like God, and try to be somewhat of a saint. My spiritual level is about a 3 out of ten. By the end of this year I want it to be an 8. My favorite part of church is communion because you are resembling a big event, “The Last Supper.”

My Grandma is my mentor for confirmation she is a great helper and supporter. She goes to church every Sunday, and is very spiritual. She teaches me a lot about the bible too. I didn’t know much about the bible but, I’m learning pretty fast. Another reason I want to become a member is, when people talk about the bible I will know what they are talking about. If you don’t go to church a lot like me right now don’t feel bad. You don’t have to go that much but I want to, so don’t feel pressured to go to church. That’s what my belief is.

Another reason I want to become a member is to make good dependable friends. If you are a member you know when church activities are. You can think of ideas that the church can do too. The other confirmands’s and I get confirmed on Mother’s Day and become full members of the church. That will be a great day.

By: Dalton

Journeys 4-8-12 Easter

The Confirmation kids will be providing the Journeys Article for the back of the Bulletin for the next several weeks. Enjoy the view of the world through seventh grade eyes: - Rev. Kelly

Carson Wiltfong:

When our Youth Group went on the mission trip to Denver last spring Pastor Kelly challenged every one of us to find a God sighting each day. One of the God sightings that I had that really stood out to me was when we were walking around downtown Denver and I saw a boy about my age maybe a little younger that appeared to be homeless pushing what looked like his father around in a wheelchair. When I saw this it made me really appreciate the many things that I have in my life and realize that God has blessed me. It also made me appreciate that I don’t have nearly as much pressure on myself as that kid did because he had to take care of himself and his father and survive on the streets.

While looking for the God sightings on the trip it helped me to be more positive and appreciative about things. What I think we all need to do is look for those God sightings in our community and we will become more positive about life. Another thing we need to do is create those God sightings because God calls us to be his hands and feet or like Pastor Kelly says the Donkey to bring Jesus to others. Without us being the donkey the word of God and his love will never spread.

Carson Wiltfong

Journeys 4-11-12

Confirmation kids are providing the Journeys Article for the back of the bulletin for these next several weeks. I hope you enjoy the world through seventh grade eyes: - Rev. Kelly

David Roach:

I see god in many things. The one that has caught my eye lately is the sandhill cranes. I always look forward to the time of year when the cranes come. I would always look for the big birds when we are on the road.

I see god in the cranes when they are coming and going. Its just amazing how the cranes travel so far to reach their destination spot. Also how they have to adjust to the environment so fast because some of them might have never stopped around here and this might be some of the birds first journeys in life. It also is amazing how the birds can fly so far to their winter and summer homes. I also wonder how the birds know were to go, is it god leading them, I believe it is. I also am curious how the birds know if there is a predator in the area. And how they only land in certain places. I believe God is guiding them.

That’s how I see god, how he helps the incredible bird accomplish the journey of life.

David Roach

Journeys 3-25-12 Tom Pfeiffer - 2012 Confirmation Class

God is everywhere, even though we can’t physically see him. He is always around us, protecting us and helping us. As I go through confirmation, I’m able to realize this more and more through many experiences.

This past Sunday, the confirmation class along with other church members prepared and served the evening meal at the Salvation Army in Grand Island. We had the responsibility of doing everything from making the spaghetti sauce to mopping the floors at the end. I helped by serving food and cleaning up after everyone had eaten, while others washed dishes and did other jobs.

As a constant flow of roughly 100 people made their way through the food line, many thoughts came to me. I realized how lucky many of us are just to have food on our table or a home to live in. I knew that God was the one who had been providing that for me these past years. He was the one giving me a bed to sleep in, a school for learning, and a family for support. I felt thankful that God has taken care of me.

I could see God elsewhere, too. I could see him working through us at the Salvation Army to help others with their needs. I could also see God in the gratefulness of the people we were serving.

My experience at the Salvation Army was definitely an excellent one. It was good to have the chance to serve others around our area and to learn something important that would help me understand everyday life better.

Thomas Pfeiffer

Pastor's Page - April Newsletter 2012 "April Fools Day"

This year we have April Fool’s Day on Palm Sunday, then Easter Sunday is on April 8th.I was wondering how April Fool’s Day got here, so I googled it and landed on Holidays.net.

It seems:

“The history of April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day is uncertain, but the current thinking is that it began around 1582 in France with the reform of the calendar under Charles IX. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved from March 25 - April 1 (new year's week) to January 1.

Communication traveled slowly in those days and some people were only informed of the change several years later. Still others, who were more rebellious refused to acknowledge the change and continued to celebrate on the last day of the former celebration, April 1.

These people were called"fools" by the general populace, were subject to ridicule and sent on "fool errands," sent invitations to nonexistent parties and had other practical jokes played upon them.

This harassment evolved over time and a custom of prank-playing continue on the first day of April. This tradition eventually spread elsewhere like to Britain and Scotland in the 18th century and was introduced to the American colonies by the English and the French. Because of this spread to other countries, April Fool's Day has taken on an international flavor with each country celebrating the holiday in its own way.

The origins of the "Kick Me" sign can be traced back to the Scottish observance.

In England, jokes are played only in the morning. Fools are called 'gobs' or 'gobby' and the victim of a joke is called a 'noodle.' It was considered back luck to play a practical joke on someone after noon.

In Portugal, April Fool's Day falls on the Sunday and Monday before lent. In this celebration, many people throw flour at their friends.

So, no matter where you happen to be in the world on April 1, don't be surprised if April fools fall playfully upon you.”

April Fool’s Day this year marks the beginning of Holy Week in the church with Palm Sunday services. Then the Confirmation class will be traveling to Seward for the annual “Living Last Supper” presentation on Wednesday night, April 4th. Folks are invited to travel along to this inspiring event. Then Maundy Thursday worship is at 7 p.m. at the Rosedale Church on Thursday, April 5th with communion. Good Friday Worship is at 7 p.m. at the Doniphan Church on Friday, April 6th. The Confirmation Class hosts Easter Sonrise worship at the Nebraska Nature Center just south of the Alda exit of I-80 at 6:30 a.m. on Easter Sunday, April 8th.

It seems appropriate that Holy Week should begin with April Fools Day, because it ends with Easter and the celebration of a resurrection that has shocked the world ever since.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 3-18-12 St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick was the son of an imperial Roman officer in Britain in the year 406. At about age 16, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates who sold him into slavery in their native land. That was his first encounter with the island he would later transform.

During his six bleak years spent as a slave herding sheep, he turned to his faith. He escaped and made his way to Gaul (modern-day France), where he studied at the monastery founded by St. Martin of Tours.

St. Martin of Tours was an influential leader in the early church who started the first widespread Christian movement among the rural people of Europe, those the cosmopolitan Romans called “paganus” (meaning rustic or of the country). From that Latin word comes the English term "pagan".

After he became a monk, Patrick had a dream where he heard the Irish beseeching him to return to the land of his captivity and, eventually, the pope appointed the former slave to be the first bishop of Ireland.

Patrick helped initiate Ireland’s first indigenous Christian movement. To do that, he adapted pagan traditions to reach new converts. For example, if people in a Druid settlement worshiped at a large standing stone, that is where Patrick and his team of missionaries placed a church. The new Christians would then carve the great stone into a cross. He also preached in the native language, Irish Gaelic.

One popular legend is that Patrick superimposed the Christian cross on the popular Celtic ring symbol, which stood for the sun or the world, to demonstrate Jesus’ redemption of the world. He thus created the Celtic cross that churches continue to use. You can google his prayer, “The Breastplate of St. Patrick Prayer,” and see one of his most famous writings. St. Patrick's Day is still a day to remember the first Christian Bishop of Ireland. It is so much more than green beer and shamrocks.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 3-11-12 Spring Weather & Lent

Its a matter of degrees.

I was listening to the radio last Sunday and the weather man said, “Monday, a high of 60 degrees. Tuesday, a high of 70 degrees. Wednesday, a 30 percent chance of snow.” I had to laugh. That is what it is to live in Nebraska in March.

Then we were chatting with a lady from Austin, Texas who was at the St. Benedict’s Retreat Center at the same time as my Covenant Community of Prayer and Service to the Poor group. She twanged in her southern drawl, “Those weather people lie. They say the high will be 70 degrees. But they don’t tell you that the high is only for ten minutes at 3:30 pm!” Then she asked, “Does the wind always blow like this?” And we said, “What wind?”

We have had one of the mildest winters in memory, but March still finds me yearning for spring. I know its out there somewhere. I know we’ll get it in spurts for the next 60 days or so before it settles in for two glorious weeks before Summer hits. But the weather gods need to know that I am ready for Spring now. I’ll even take a wet Spring as long as its a warm one. As far as I’m concerned we can just skip those two or three wet snow storms and one solid ice event that are prerequisites to the gap between winter and summer.

The church word “Lent” is from the Latin word for “lengthen,” as in “the lengthening of days.” It recognizes that painful transition time that is spring, no matter where you live. It is a time of storms and unexpected fast moving weather fronts. So Lent is 40 days of transition before opening the door to hope and sonlight on Easter Sunday.

Lent is lived by degrees. An “I’m sorry,” here. An “I wish I’d never done that,” there. Old baggage is let go of. New practices are picked up. All the time rolling on a downhill slope toward Easter, the next season in our relationship with God.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 3-4-12 Leap Day

A Leap Year is a year that contains one additional day in order to keep the calendar year in sync with the seasonal or astronomical year.

While the calendar assumes the Earth revolves around the sun every 365 days, it actually takes the Earth a bit longer - 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. If the calendar were not adjusted for the extra six hours by adding an extra day approximately every four years, the calendar would slowly shift and the seasons would no longer be aligned with the traditional months. Without Leap Days, the calendar would be off by 24 days within 100 years.

A select few have birthdays on Feb. 29. The chance of being born on Leap Day is 1 in 1,461. For centuries, astrologers believed that children born on Leap Day have unusual talents, unique personalities and even special powers.

So "Leapers" or "leaplings," the nickname attributed to those born on Leap Day, only celebrate their birthday every four years. The leaplings may celebrate their birthday on Feb. 28 or March 1 instead, but most states in the U.S. will only legally recognize the person as their next age on March 1 of the year. In some cultures Leap Day is the only day that women can ask men to marry them.

This past week we made it through this kink in the calendar without incident. Though I did hear of some computer networks that got clogged due to this quarterly extra day. Disney opened up their theme parks for 24 hours solid hours of fun on Leap Day.

I’m thinking that if there was ever a day for a world-wide holiday, Leap Day is it. Imagine a one day universal sabbath/party day. We only have 1,461 days now to make that happen!

Grace & Peace,

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

Some things never change. The older I get; the more changes I have to live through; the more I am attracted to things that don’t change.

Change makes me adjust. Change makes me learn new things. Change makes me move. And sometimes I’m just too tired to move. So I groan at software updates. I roll my eyes at new reports that I’ve never had to fill out before. Getting a new cell phone makes my head hurt.

I’m only in my second spring here and I’m already grateful for the unchanging nature of the annual spring bird migration that we get to witness. Its something I can count on each February and March. At last, something that will not change. I can add it to my list of things I can count on not changing, like: sunrise and sunset, the rotation of the earth, seasons, and hay fever in August and September.

Of course, the reality is that change is the absolute only thing that I can truly count on. No matter what, there will always be change. And history has taught me that living a mature life is about the attempt to thoughtfully respond to the changes thrown at me instead of emotionally reacting (or over-reacting) in a way that’ll surely get me in trouble.

Then there’s that thing about my relationship with God, and all the ways God lets me know that I do not have to stay the same; that I can change if I want to. And God is willing to help me do just that. If fact, if I would like to become more God-like, there are thousands of folks throughout time who are willing to be witnesses to how totally worth it that change can be.

So as you look up in envy at those “V” formations of cranes, remember that they are stuck in a rut that may last millions of years. You, however, can change into the compassionate, caring, unselfish, non-judgmental human being that God created you to be. And you can begin that change right now. This Lent. Between now and Easter, that transformation can happen. Just ask God to help you get that change started, and you will be surprised at what happens next.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-26-12 Birds, Migration

The birds are here! The annual migration of the Sandhill Cranes, White and Canadian Geese, and multiple kinds of ducks has begun. We in Doniphan and Rosedale get to witness this pilgrimage every spring. Thousands of people will also migrate from all over the world to see the migration of hundreds of thousands of birds.

As they fly over, you can almost feel the ancient force that pulls these birds from south to north and back again. Deep inside their psyche the message somehow came to them to, “Get moving . . . stay together, and, leave no bird behind!” So they’ve come from places close to the equator, to stop here and wade in our shallow flowing waters and fatten up for a few weeks in our corn fields before moving on to the arctic tundra.

There is a reason why they do what they do when they do it (even if they’re not conscious of it). Each stage of the journey is a stepping stone to the next. One place is for mating. Another place is for laying eggs and hatching their young. Another place is for maturing their young before starting the whole process all over again.

Soon, we’ll be able to witness a hundred thousand birds flying in at dusk and settling down for the night on the Platte River. We’ll get to see mating dances at dawn and hear the social networking of thousands of birds all night long in our fields near the river. We’ll get to be a part of something that’s been going on since way before our time. And way after you and I have completed our full and productive lives, these kinds of birds will still be doing their thing. Our great-grandchildren will take part in this same migration dance that we’re doing now. Except the bird watchers who stop for no apparent reason in front of them will be driving electric cars with no exhaust pipe and energy absorbing technology that our grand-children have yet to invent.

As the great thaw begins to happen this spring, do you get the sense that maybe God is nudging us as a church to, “Get moving . . . stay together and leave no one behind?” Maybe we’re a part of our own ancient force, pulling us toward a purpose that we’re not even conscious of . . . yet. We just know deep in our psyche that its time to get moving.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-19-12 Ash Wed., Beginning of Lent

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the church season of Lent. Lent is the 40 days (not including Sundays) before Easter. Like Jesus, who spent 40 days in the wilderness praying and fasting in preparation for his ministry, we Christians spend these 40 days in preparation for the celebration of Easter.

On Wednesday, both churches will worship together as we write down on a slip of paper, one thing we’d like to put behind us this year as we begin this Lenten season. It could be a statement of regret, a bad habit, an attitude toward an enemy, an addiction, or something we wish we would have never said, or done. Maybe this year you’ll write down the name of a person that represents a relationship you threw away. And now, you wish you had that relationship back. Maybe its just some part of your life that feels stuck in a rut, and you’d like to ask God to help you climb out of that rut and move in a different direction.

After we’ve written something down, we’ll be given a chance to bring our folded piece of paper forward and place it with others in a bowl to be burned as a symbol of offering it over to God. Then we’ll celebrate Holy Communion and receive the mark of the cross in ashes on our foreheads, hearing the words that have been said since around the year 900 when Christians began celebrating Ash Wednesday, “From dust you came, and to dust you will return.”

Ash Wednesday marks the end of old things and the hope of new things to come. On that day, we remember that when we choose, with God’s help, we can turn our lives around; dying to old ways and rising as a new child of God.

It’s time to start praying; asking God what you need to put on your slip of paper this year at the Ash Wednesday service. What aspect of your life would you like to see go up in smoke?

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-12-12 Valentine's Day

The holiday of Valentine's Day probably derives its origins from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalia. In the early days of Rome, fierce wolves roamed the woods nearby. The Romans called upon one of their gods, Lupercus, to keep the wolves away. A festival held in honor of Lupercus was celebrated February 15th. The festival was celebrated as a spring festival.

One of the customs of the young people was name-drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia, the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew a slip. The girl whose name was chosen was to be his sweetheart for the year.

Legend has it that the holiday became Valentine's Day after a priest named Valentine.

Valentine was a priest in Rome at the time Christianity was a new religion. The Emperor at that time, Claudius II, ordered the Roman soldiers NOT to marry or become engaged. Claudius believed that as married men, his soldiers would want to stay home with their families rather than fight his wars. Valentine defied the Emperor's decree and secretly married the young couples. He was eventually arrested, imprisoned, and put to death.

Valentine was beheaded on February 14th, the eve of the Roman holiday Lupercalia. After his death, Valentine was named a saint. As Rome became more Christian, the priests moved the spring holiday from the 15th of February to the 14th - Valentine's Day. Now the holiday honored Saint Valentine instead of Lupercus.” Holidays.net

These days, Valentine’s Day (THIS TUESDAY!), has become the day to make public statements of affection to the one you love. On Valentines day you have several options. Give a card. Send flowers. Go out to eat. Give a gift. Go out to a movie. Rent a video, order in pizza. The options are endless. The key for us guys is to, 1) remember the day, and, 2) do something/anything about it.

Cause’ you see guys, this day is not just between the two of you. Valentine’s Day is a very public/what did your’s do for you/comparison day. Our performance on this one day in February has a ripple effect across a wide variety of social, physical, emotional, and spiritual spheres of influence.

Remember, the history of this day does include wolves, imprisonment, and the death sentence.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-5-12 Super Bowl Sunday

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Thanks to Google, I know that in the United States, the game will be televised nationally at 5:30 p.m. Central Time by NBC. It will also be streamed online, both to computers (via NBC.com) and mobile devices (via Verizon Wireless's NFL Mobile app), the first legal online streaming of a Super Bowl telecast in the USA.

All commercials for the game sold out by Thanksgiving 2011, at an average price of $3.5 million per thirty-second ad. This is the highest rate for Super Bowl advertising in the event's history. At least one thirty-second advertisement commanded a price of $4 million. In some recent years there have been more than 60 commercials during the Super Bowl, with over 100 million people watching them.

This will be the first Super Bowl to be played in Indianapolis, and the first time in the history of the game it will be played in consecutive years in a retractable roof stadium.

According to Business Week, the average NFL player salary is $1.9 million. The median NFL player salary is $770,000. The average NFL career length, however, is 3.5 years. So the number of players on injured reserve in 2010 was 352. And the average NFL player age is 27. An NFL referee’s average salary is $27,000 (for 16 games). The average NFL head coaches’ salary is $3.25 million.

According to the USDA, in 2012, the average cost of feeding a family of four in the USA is $188.40 per week. The average basic utilities cost in the USA is $208.50 per month. According to the Census report, in 2009, 18.7 % of the United States population lived at or below the poverty level. The 2012 nationwide Souper Bowl of Caring had 595 groups that generated $3,163,686 in cash and food items for local charities. According to their newsletters, the Salvation Army in Grand Island will hand out approximately 160 meals tonight, and there are currently 95 men, women and children at Cross Roads Shelter in Hastings.

I enjoy watching the Super Bowl each year. This year, because of the way the teams came out, I’ll probably be watching the commercials as much or more than the game. These are just some numbers to chew on as we snack our way through Super Bowl XLVI tonight.

Grace & Peace,

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