Last week, Dianne and I travelled to Virginia to spend a day in the Shenandoah National Park and visiting our daughter Julia at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. It was a great trip and very relaxing. We drove first to Winchester, Virginia which is on the north end of Shenandoah National Park and had supper and spent the night. It had been raining from eastern Ohio to Virginia so we could not see the scenery very well. It looked like a beautiful drive as we drove alongside the Ohio River for about 50 miles but the fog, rain, spray from trucks did not allow us to see much.
The next day, that we planned to drive the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, dawned clear and bright. The 109 miles of this famous highway was outstanding. We stopped at many overlooks to see the beautiful valley below. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the leaves had not begun to fully turn yet but the views were outstanding none the less. We took a couple of hikes that were suggested. The first one was to a rocky overlook with a sheer cliff and amazing view. The second hike was to a waterfall. It was over a mile walking down hill to the top of the falls which were far from any motorized form of travel. We continued our walk to the bottom of the falls and got many different perspectives of the water rushing through rocky crevices and over cliffs. Fortunately, there was significant rainfall in the area the week before so the falls were full. It was a great day relaxing with each other and being close to God’s wonderful creation that we often take for granted.
After this very re-creative day out of doors, I wondered why I don’t make the great outdoors a more regular part of my life. It is true that the scenery in NW Ohio is not quite the same as the mountains of Virginia, but there are many beautiful spots to enjoy. It is so easy to get stuck in my office feeling like I don’t have time for that re-creation that can only take place out of doors.
The rest of our time was spent around Harrisonburg where Julia attends college at Eastern Mennonite University. It was good to eat with her in the “caf” for “Burger Friday” and eat at a couple of unique restaurants by the square in down town. It was also good to meet some of Julia’s friends and see what her “home away from home” is like.
On Sunday morning we attended worship at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church where Craig Maven is pastor. Craig and I had worked together at First Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana for over six years before both of us received calls to other pastorates. It was good to hear someone else preach as that is a rare occasion for me since I preach almost every Sunday. It was especially good to hear Craig preach again as I always greatly appreciated his preaching as senior pastor at Berne.
It is certainly good to be away but it is also good to be back home in the community and congregation that we have grown to love and know we have the care and support of brothers and sisters in Christ here in Pandora.
Greetings from Camp Friedenswald in Sourthern Michigan
This week (July 5-10) I am serving as camp pastor at Camp Friedenswald for 67 enthusiastic 5th and 6th graders. Unfortunately it is a very hot week with temperatures in the 90’s. The heat and humidity seems to diminish some of the enthusiasm and energy of the staff but seems to have little effect on the kids. Fortunately, I have a basement room which is relatively cool. The campfire in Mosquito Hollow feels like a sauna bath even at nine in the evening
The theme for the all the camps at Friedenswald this summer is “Cloud of Witnesses: Sharing Stories: Finding Faith from Hebrews 11:1-12:3. As camp pastor, I work with a worship team to get this theme into the minds of hearts of the campers. We use singing, skits, and various activities to do this. My specific responsibility is to pull the day’s theme together in a 7-10 minute talk at the evening campfire. It has been fun and challenging to speak to 5th and 6th graders who always seem to have an excess of energy. The kids seem to be having a good time and are engaging pretty well with the theme.
I have lots of free time to myself here. Some of the time I have worked on my sermon and worship service for June 11. Other free time, which I would normally use watching TV news and reading newspapers and magazines at home is available to be used for other things. With some trepidation and a little anxiety, I finally decided that I could be away from the media for a week. In fact I knew it would be good for me. In place of all the media, I have been reading a historical novel on Menno Simons. I have wanted to read this book by Myron Augsburger for some time but felt I never really had the time. Now, I am beginning to realize that I really do have the time for reading. Maybe this “media free” week will teach me a little more balance when I get home.
Today (Thursday), the heat has finally broken and it is raining. The rain kind of puts a damper on camp activities but it is really needed. Last night the campers were at “outpost” sleeping in tents. Even though I spent the night in my comfortable bed, I went to the boys campsite for supper and breakfast. Both were prepared over an open fire. For supper, we had pita pizza. Pita bread was cut in half and then opened up and filled with cheese, pepperonis, and pizza sauce and then grilled to perfection on the fire. Delicious! For breakfast we had sandwiches of English muffins, egg, sausage, and cheese heated together over the fire. McDonalds will never taste quite the same again !
It really is fun to be here and see how camp works and get to know the permanent and summer staff. What a dedicated group of people. Soon Saturday will be here and I will find myself back in the routine in Pandora.
The theme for the all the camps at Friedenswald this summer is “Cloud of Witnesses: Sharing Stories: Finding Faith from Hebrews 11:1-12:3. As camp pastor, I work with a worship team to get this theme into the minds of hearts of the campers. We use singing, skits, and various activities to do this. My specific responsibility is to pull the day’s theme together in a 7-10 minute talk at the evening campfire. It has been fun and challenging to speak to 5th and 6th graders who always seem to have an excess of energy. The kids seem to be having a good time and are engaging pretty well with the theme.
I have lots of free time to myself here. Some of the time I have worked on my sermon and worship service for June 11. Other free time, which I would normally use watching TV news and reading newspapers and magazines at home is available to be used for other things. With some trepidation and a little anxiety, I finally decided that I could be away from the media for a week. In fact I knew it would be good for me. In place of all the media, I have been reading a historical novel on Menno Simons. I have wanted to read this book by Myron Augsburger for some time but felt I never really had the time. Now, I am beginning to realize that I really do have the time for reading. Maybe this “media free” week will teach me a little more balance when I get home.
Today (Thursday), the heat has finally broken and it is raining. The rain kind of puts a damper on camp activities but it is really needed. Last night the campers were at “outpost” sleeping in tents. Even though I spent the night in my comfortable bed, I went to the boys campsite for supper and breakfast. Both were prepared over an open fire. For supper, we had pita pizza. Pita bread was cut in half and then opened up and filled with cheese, pepperonis, and pizza sauce and then grilled to perfection on the fire. Delicious! For breakfast we had sandwiches of English muffins, egg, sausage, and cheese heated together over the fire. McDonalds will never taste quite the same again !
It really is fun to be here and see how camp works and get to know the permanent and summer staff. What a dedicated group of people. Soon Saturday will be here and I will find myself back in the routine in Pandora.
Trip to California
Here are a few pictures I promised from our trip we took to California a few weeks ago. It was wonderful to be out in God's majestic handiwork. Sorry I did not get all the pictures labled. They are all from the California Coastline from Monterey to the Hearst Castle, Yosemite National Park and Sequoyah National Park. More next time.
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Falls
More Yosemite Falls
Pacific Ocean near Carmel
Still More Yosemite Falls
Hearst Castle
.JPG)
Hearst Castle
Swimming Pool at Hearst Castle
Diane and I at Pebble Beach
Elephant Seals sleeping on the beach
California Coastline
March 30, 2010
Dear Readers,
A couple of weeks ago my wife, Dianne, shared with me a story she read from the daily Lenten email devotions from Goshen College. The story was so good, I wanted to share it more widely. I might even use it in my Easter sermon this Sunday. I hope it adds brightness to your day.
By Carolyn Schrock-Shenk, associate professor of peace, justice and conflict studies at Goshen College
I felt the heaviness of the room envelope me as I walked through the glass double doors, the security guard locking them behind me. It was 4 p.m. and I was the last person allowed into the local Social Security office. The waiting room was still full; two long, silent rows of people; faces etched with anxiety, fear and sadness; gloom wrapping them about like a shroud. This was the recession personified.
Almost immediately, my name was called and I moved forward to claim the appointment I had made three weeks before. A woman, perhaps in her mid-fifties, greeted me, then pulled up my “case” on her computer screen. She turned to me expectantly. With anxiety tripping up my words, I began to describe why we couldn’t possibly owe large amount of (alleged) overpaid disability benefits from years before.
She listened carefully, jotted a few notes, then pulled up more data on her screen. I waited, not knowing, trying to intuit what would come next.
I was astonished by what did come next. In the space of a few minutes and without an ounce of judgment, she replaced my anxiety with peace of mind. She understood why I was anxious, she said, but the next part of the process was hers to worry about. It was her job, in these next weeks, to figure out what happened and why; then she would work with me to decide how to address it. She promised to work with me until the end of the process. “It will be okay,” she said simply. “You don’t need to worry.”
I stared at her, almost undone by her compassion. Feeling an immense sense of relief, I asked her, “How can you be like this, working with sad and difficult stories every day, all day long?”
Her eyes brightened and she leaned toward me as if sharing a secret. “I love my work,” she said, with passion. “At the end of every day I go home and know that I made a difference for at least one person that day. What could be better?”
I was deeply moved; the power of her spirit transformed mine. If the people in the outer room embodied the distress of the recession, the woman in this cubical embodied the promise of abundance.
“Besides,” she then added, with a grin, “They don’t pay me nearly enough to be mean and grumpy.”
A couple of weeks ago my wife, Dianne, shared with me a story she read from the daily Lenten email devotions from Goshen College. The story was so good, I wanted to share it more widely. I might even use it in my Easter sermon this Sunday. I hope it adds brightness to your day.
By Carolyn Schrock-Shenk, associate professor of peace, justice and conflict studies at Goshen College
I felt the heaviness of the room envelope me as I walked through the glass double doors, the security guard locking them behind me. It was 4 p.m. and I was the last person allowed into the local Social Security office. The waiting room was still full; two long, silent rows of people; faces etched with anxiety, fear and sadness; gloom wrapping them about like a shroud. This was the recession personified.
Almost immediately, my name was called and I moved forward to claim the appointment I had made three weeks before. A woman, perhaps in her mid-fifties, greeted me, then pulled up my “case” on her computer screen. She turned to me expectantly. With anxiety tripping up my words, I began to describe why we couldn’t possibly owe large amount of (alleged) overpaid disability benefits from years before.
She listened carefully, jotted a few notes, then pulled up more data on her screen. I waited, not knowing, trying to intuit what would come next.
I was astonished by what did come next. In the space of a few minutes and without an ounce of judgment, she replaced my anxiety with peace of mind. She understood why I was anxious, she said, but the next part of the process was hers to worry about. It was her job, in these next weeks, to figure out what happened and why; then she would work with me to decide how to address it. She promised to work with me until the end of the process. “It will be okay,” she said simply. “You don’t need to worry.”
I stared at her, almost undone by her compassion. Feeling an immense sense of relief, I asked her, “How can you be like this, working with sad and difficult stories every day, all day long?”
Her eyes brightened and she leaned toward me as if sharing a secret. “I love my work,” she said, with passion. “At the end of every day I go home and know that I made a difference for at least one person that day. What could be better?”
I was deeply moved; the power of her spirit transformed mine. If the people in the outer room embodied the distress of the recession, the woman in this cubical embodied the promise of abundance.
“Besides,” she then added, with a grin, “They don’t pay me nearly enough to be mean and grumpy.”
March Blog
Again it has been over a month since I have made a blog entry. In that month, spring has sprung, at least according to the calendar. Actually today being cold and rainy doesn’t seem much like spring. But we did experience spring and actually a little summer on our recent week long trip to California. Since last summer, we have planned to visit our son Phil and his wife Mary who are seminary students at Fresno, California. We first flew into San Jose where Phil and Mary picked us up and we drove to the seaside city of Monterey. It was there we saw the ocean for the first time on this trip. The next day we took the famous 17 mile drive in Carmel which goes through the world class Pebble Beach golf course. Along this drive and down the coast on California Highway 1, we observed God’s power and creative handiwork in the crashing of the white waves against the rocks. We also saw sea otters playing in the foamy water and elephant seals sleeping lazily on beach.
As I have written in earlier blogs, I am much more of a mountain person than a beach person, and this trip had both in abundance. We spent a day in Yosemite National Park as well as a day in Sequoia National Park. The waterfalls in Yosemite were louder and fuller than normal due to much melting snow. God’s grandeur and majesty were evident in the falls as well as the peaks and the huge Sequoyah trees over a thousand years old.
It was an amazing trip, just what I needed. The sun shone brightly each day with temperatures in Fresno between 70 and 80 degrees. Next week I hopefully will put a few pictures in a blog so you all can enjoy some of God’s wonderful creation with me. But I will need a little assistance to do that from Charlene, my administrative assistant here at the church, who knows how to do that.
Once again I was reminded of Psalm 95 in which the Psalmist sees the greatness of God in the mountain peaks and the sea, the depths of the earth and the dry land.
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
3 For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care. (Psalm 95:1-7)
UNKQZMRHSKM2
As I have written in earlier blogs, I am much more of a mountain person than a beach person, and this trip had both in abundance. We spent a day in Yosemite National Park as well as a day in Sequoia National Park. The waterfalls in Yosemite were louder and fuller than normal due to much melting snow. God’s grandeur and majesty were evident in the falls as well as the peaks and the huge Sequoyah trees over a thousand years old.
It was an amazing trip, just what I needed. The sun shone brightly each day with temperatures in Fresno between 70 and 80 degrees. Next week I hopefully will put a few pictures in a blog so you all can enjoy some of God’s wonderful creation with me. But I will need a little assistance to do that from Charlene, my administrative assistant here at the church, who knows how to do that.
Once again I was reminded of Psalm 95 in which the Psalmist sees the greatness of God in the mountain peaks and the sea, the depths of the earth and the dry land.
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
3 For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care. (Psalm 95:1-7)
UNKQZMRHSKM2
A Cross to Cling To…
Later in the day, I found out that this was a “clinging” cross and each one of us had the opportunity to make one out of air drying clay. The thought ran through my head that crafts were for children in Vacation Bible School and Sunday School. Certainly adults had more important things to do than sit and play with clay. Somehow I forgot the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:3, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Before we took the preformed soft clay into our hands, the following words were spoken:
I hold onto the protection God offers–
in the wilderness,
during temptation,
when everything seems lost.
I release my need for control—
my need to know the direction my life will take
my need to live by lists and schedules, plans and rigid rules
my craving for safety and stability.
I hold fast to that image of you as a mother hen, O God–
sheltering,
covering,
warming.
I choose your tent as my cover,
your shield as my protection,
your wings as my safe place.
I relinquish my hold on the things of this world—
possessions,
promotions,
prestige.
I open my clenched fists–
the ones that hold my fear, anxiety, and despair,
my anger, resentment, and resignation,
my pride, self-interest, and skepticism.
While reading this we were instructed to clench our fists and open our clenched fists at appropriate times during the reading. I must admit that the readings were more meaningful to me when I tightly clenched my fists and then let go. The words of holding on to and relinquishing became real as I did the physical actions with my hands.
Then we were instructed to take the soft preformed clay crosses in our hands and squeeze our hands around them while the following was read.
I hold tightly to you, Jesus—
You have been waiting for me, and you clasp me to you
I marvel at all that you give me,
and I cling to the unexpected forgiveness you offer.
The clay felt good in my hands as the cross conformed to my hands. Then we had to set them aside and let them dry the rest of the day. It was when I took hold of my hardened clay cross at the end of the day that my attitudes towards the “craft time” began to change. Holding on the cross reminded me of what Jesus did for me on the cross and I could cling to Jesus in difficult as well as good times.
I keep my clinging cross with me and throughout the day hold on to it while praying for guidance and praying for others. It helps me keep my mind focused on prayer. It reminds me of my dependence on Jesus and Jesus alone. It is not a magical potion of some sort that will work for me but a simple reminder during this Lenten season and the weeks and months to come of clinging to Jesus in every situation of my life.
If you don’t want to make one you can purchase a “clinging cross” online by googling “clinging cross” or “holding cross.” There are a variety of web sites that sell them made out of either porcelain or wood.
January 22, 2010
Again, I must confess how negligent I have been in writing regular blogs for our website. It is not that I have not had lots of thoughts about various events in our lives and national and world events. Hopefully, I will be able to get on a regular routine in writing blogs rather than the sporadic schedule that I have been on
Of course the first thing that comes to mind is the earthquake in Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. The devastation and loss of life is simply mind boggling. My prayer is that the immediate aid will be able to transcend the bottle necks and get to where it is needed the most and that many wealthier nations will be able to provide aid in the long term rebuilding of the country. I am confident that our Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) who has been in Haiti for over 50 years will continue its important ministry “in the name of Christ.” May we be generous in our support of the work MCC and many others are doing.
I have never been to Haiti but I have heard it compared many times to the Republic of Congo where I have spent a number of years. One thing I found remarkable and inspiring living among very poor people was their flexibility, resilience and amazing ability to “make do” with very little. My guess is that these qualities are also in the Haitian people and will help the survivors get through this crisis. I am not sure we who are used to having everything we need and much more would be able to cope as well. Hopefully we will never find out.
The other thing that comes to mind is that January marks one year since I received the invitation to become pastor here at Grace Mennonite in Pandora. It has been a great year even though we have had major transitions as a family. I look forward to 2010 as a year of stability as we settle in to life here in Pandora. We don’t know what the New Year and the new decade will bring but we can be assured of God’s presence and God’s guidance as we seek to live and work together for God’s Kingdom.
Of course the first thing that comes to mind is the earthquake in Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. The devastation and loss of life is simply mind boggling. My prayer is that the immediate aid will be able to transcend the bottle necks and get to where it is needed the most and that many wealthier nations will be able to provide aid in the long term rebuilding of the country. I am confident that our Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) who has been in Haiti for over 50 years will continue its important ministry “in the name of Christ.” May we be generous in our support of the work MCC and many others are doing.
I have never been to Haiti but I have heard it compared many times to the Republic of Congo where I have spent a number of years. One thing I found remarkable and inspiring living among very poor people was their flexibility, resilience and amazing ability to “make do” with very little. My guess is that these qualities are also in the Haitian people and will help the survivors get through this crisis. I am not sure we who are used to having everything we need and much more would be able to cope as well. Hopefully we will never find out.
The other thing that comes to mind is that January marks one year since I received the invitation to become pastor here at Grace Mennonite in Pandora. It has been a great year even though we have had major transitions as a family. I look forward to 2010 as a year of stability as we settle in to life here in Pandora. We don’t know what the New Year and the new decade will bring but we can be assured of God’s presence and God’s guidance as we seek to live and work together for God’s Kingdom.
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