SABBATICAL 5, Grace, Grace & more Grace

From the magnificent heights of the Colorado Rocky Mountains to the endless Great Plains of Kansas, our sabbatical travels have brought us back to the land where we grew up.
On the way back from Colorado, we stopped at a huge new IKEA store near Denver. Phil and Mary wanted us to pick up a bed for them since we had room in our van to carry large items. If you have never been to an IKEA store yet, it is well worth the experience. The sheer volume of creative, European style household furniture and goods at a relatively inexpensive price make it quite an adventure. I like the displays that show a complete apartment in 300 square feet or less. Before leaving I had a plate of the delicious, inexpensive Swedish meatballs available in their cafeteria.

Grace, Grace & more Grace was the name of the Aprentis Institute Conference that we attended for the next three days at Friends University in Wichita. It was a wonderfully inspiring conference focusing on spiritual formation: growing in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Speakers shared on how we live in God’s grace to grow in the image of God. It was stated that the two primary hindrances to growing in the image of God are busyness and distraction. Our American predisposition to constantly being busy (even with important things) does not allow time for God to speak to us and shape us into the people we are created to be. A major distraction in our current tech culture is the little electronic screens that we all carry offering us the constant temptation to be in touch with others and vast informational resources we really do not need. I look forward to further reflection and growth in this area. You folks at Grace Mennonite will certainly be hearing more about this topic.

On Sunday, September 30, we had the great privilege of attending Phil’s installation as lead pastor at Tabor Mennonite Church. The church is only four miles from the Alexanderwhol Mennonite Church where I was pastor from 1987-1997. I still don’t think I can put it together emotionally that my son is now a colleague of mine in the pastoral ministry and that he is serving about half way between where I grew up in Newton, KS and pastured for ten years near Goessel, KS. I am very proud of him and am confident that he will do well. We have been spending time this week helping Phil and Mary get set up in housekeeping in the Tabor parsonage where they are living. Mary is working in sigh language interpretation in a telephone relay office. She speaks to the deaf person in sign language with a video connection and the hearing party through a headset.

Tomorrow evening, October 4, my daughter, Julia, leaves Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on Turkish Airlines for Istanbul, Turkey on a 2 week Christian Peacemaker Team Delegation. From Istanbul the delegation will be travelling into northern Iraq into some of the Kurdish refugee camps in the area. They will become informed of and be able to hear the stories of human rights abuses in the area. It will be a very challenging and I am sure an emotionally and physically draining experience. Again it is difficult for me to put in words what it means for my youngest child to take on an adventure of this magnitude. Again I am very proud of her for responding to the call of God in her life. Pray for her during the next two weeks. Julia will be sharing with the Grace congregation on Sunday, November 25 during the Sunday School hour.

For the rest of sabbatical, our plans are the following

1) October 6—Attend the wedding of a nephew in Niles, Michigan
2) October 7—Pack a U-Haul truck with Phil and Mary’s stuff that they have been storing in our basement for their years of seminary in California. It will be good to have the space once again!
3) October 9-12—Have a spiritual retreat at The Hermitage near Three Rivers, Michigan.
4) October 12-14—Spend time with my brother and sister-in-law in Goshen, IN as well as check in on my mother in South Bend, IN. She seems to be failing somewhat in the last week or so.
5) October 15-17—Relaxing at the beach at Ocean City, New Jersey.
6) October 17-19—Pick up Julia at Dulles International Airport and take her back to Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We will stay a couple of days at the EMU guesthouse. Julia will be sharing her experiences at the University chapel service on October 19.
7) October 20-21—With our son, Ryan, in Orrville, OH.
8) October 22—Back in the church office. Sabbatical is over.

Blessings and Peace

SABBATICAL 4, Leaving Colorado

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds his people

both now and forevermore.Psalm 125:2

In two days we will be leaving the mountains and heading for the plains of Kansas. It has been a wonderfully re-creative time. This is the first time that I have ever had over four weeks straight to be embraced by these majestic peaks and valleys. Thanks to the wonderful people at Grace Mennonite Church who made this possible. But the sabbatical is not yet over! On Thursday through Saturday, September 27-29, we will be attending a conference on Christian Formation in Wichita. It looks like a great conference with inspiring speakers and worship. It also looks like a conference with lots of ideas to bring back to Grace. I’ll report on that next week.

Picnic at Maroon Bells



Maroon Bells

 Our son and daughter-in-law, Phil and Mary, stopped by the cabin last week. They were on their way from their seminary experience in Fresno to Tabor Mennonite Church between Newton and Goessel, Kansas where Phil will be lead pastor. On Sunday, September 30, we will have the privilege of attending his installation at Tabor’s morning worship service. While Phil and Mary were here, we drove to one of the most photographed mountain scenes in America: the Maroon Bells near Aspen. It was one of the most beautiful sunny days we have had in the last month. We have been to this stunning sight a number of times before, with a natural lake in the foreground, but never with the Aspen trees in full fall color. Words can’t describe the views and I am not sure a couple of photographs will do justice to the beauty we have experienced.

During these last couple of weeks we have continued our readings and walks together which I shared about in my last blog. We have also been doing some physical work. Since this is a family cabin there is always something that needs doing. We had a basement room taped, mudded and sanded that had been dry walled for many years but never finished. Then we painted the room put down carpet and linoleum and finished it by putting a baseboard around the room. Now it is a nicely finished bedroom and laundry room. We also stripped the stain off the deck and applied a new coat of stain. Yesterday, we had a large pine tree cut that was too close to the house in case of a wild fire. After the professionals finished their cutting we dragged all the branches to the road for a chipper that will come in the next week or so.

The Cabin in Alpine, Colorado

Snow on Pikes Peak

I love to drive in the mountains. I especially like to drive over the high mountain passes and to the peaks of mountains if possible. A couple of weeks ago we drove to the summit of Pikes Peak which is over 14,000 feet. We have driven this road a number of times and always find it a breathtaking experience. This is the first time we have made this drive with the road completely paved to the top. We have also driven to the top of a number of passes over 12,000 feet. A first for us was taking a 4-wheel drive All Terrain Vehicle (a motorcycle with 4 wheels) over the 12,154 foot Tin Cup Pass. This was a narrow, rocky and steep road drivable only with a four wheel drive with fairly high clearance. Along the way we saw four moose; the first time we had ever seen moose in Colorado. We hardly go anywhere without seeing deer but moose are a rare sight.

Tin Cup Pass

So far this has been a wonderful sabbatical. We look forward to further inspiration this coming week-end in Wichita and then putting it all together for further ministry when we return.


Blessings to everyone.



SABBATICAL 3, And I thought Pandora was quiet!

Hiking through the Aspen trees

Every now and then we hear an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) pass on the street below. Since that is not a regular occurrence, we go to the windows and see who it is. It is really quiet here. We see more deer near the cabin than we do motor vehicles. Never the sound of a siren or more than cars honking and racing by. Sometimes we hear an airplane overhead or a chain saw of a neighbor, but that is about all the noise we have around here. In June we spent a couple of nights on the 16th floor of the Double Tree Hotel in down town Chicago. There it was constant noise. The L trains would rumble past and sirens seemed to screech constantly. The streets below were full of people, trucks, and cars of all description. (Except there were no ATV’s or chain saws.)

Another contrast on noise level was the pro tennis match and the Reds baseball game that we attended in late August in Cincinnati . (sabbatical blog 1) More noise is constantly being encouraged to spur the players on in a baseball game. The noise level reaches fever pitch when a run is scored or a home run is hit. A fireworks presentation at the end of the game completes an evening of elevated noise. The pro tennis match, however, was completely different. Having never attended one before I was surprised at the silence in which the contestants played out their point. The only cheering was after a point was scored.

We drove over Cottonwood Pass

Sometimes too much quietness is a little disconcerting. I find that I like to hide in a lot of noise. We are exhorted in the Psalms to “Be still and know that I am God.” We can know God in stillness. Allowing ourselves to truly become still is not always easy. But it is a lot easier in the midst of God’s awesome creation of quietness. Another verse I came across is Isaiah 30:15: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” I am thankful for this time away of the noise of everyday routines and normal church work to meet God in the stillness and quietness of God’s creation. I truly believe we all need to work in some quietness in the noise of our schedules to meet God and allow God to renew our strength for the work God gives us the privilege to do.

We spend each day in the quietness here in reading and reflection. I first spend about an hour following my daily Bible reading schedule which takes me through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms two times each year. This morning, I read one of my favorite passages, Ezekiel 37 in which God promises that the dry bones would come to life. The rest of the morning is spent reading some books that I have had on my list to read some time. Here is what I have been reading.

Resting in Molly's Meadow after a long hike up

Love Wins: A book about heaven, hell and the fate of every person who ever lived by Rob Bell. He looks at these thorny issues with fresh eyes and new insight. He asks a lot of pertinent questions of our traditional way of looking at heaven, hell and who will end up where. I think Bell’s most important contribution is to encourage the church to be a place where dialogue and hard questions are not only encouraged but expected.

The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality by Ronald Rolheiser. I have just begun this book but had it recommended to me by a number of persons as a book that encourages a true and balanced spirituality in our lives.

Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament and Contemporary Contexts by Mark Baker and Joel Green. Baker was one of my son Philip’s professors at Fresno Pacific Mennonite Brethren Seminary. He analyzes and evaluates the various theories of atonement in the church today especially the “penal substitution” theory which many churches today hold to be the one true Biblical theory. Baker and Green call for a broader approach saying the New Testament offers multiple explanations about the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross and we need them all for a more complete faith. It is very challenging and enlightening.

Cumberland Pass was a rocky unpaved road with beautiful views

We are reading together out loud a chapter each evening the novel, Home to Harmony by Philip Gulley, an ordained minister in the Friends church, This novel is the first book of the Harmony series in which Sam Gardner, the pastor of the Friends church in the town of Harmony, Indiana shares about the various colorful characters and events in his church and town. Very creative and humorous writing. It is easy to see people we really know in his fictitious characters. Sometimes I see myself.

I have finally finished Judy Clemens Smucker’s mystery novel, Flowers for her Grave which I never finished last year and am now in the middle of her newest book Dying Echo. I try and hold off on this sort of reading until the evening or I will never get to my theological reading. I especially enjoy the interaction between Casey, the main character, and her cynical companion, Death. I also like the wonderfully eccentric characters that push the plot forward. Thanks, Judy, for some great entertainment.

Today was an unusual day in that it was cloudy and rainy the entire day. No fire hazard around here. The thermometer on the deck never made it above 40 degrees. Dianne and I go for daily walks in which we can share and discuss our readings of the day and talk about our dreams. It is wonderful to be able to share this time together. We many times see some deer in the trees and we note each day how the Aspen trees are changing. The leaves are turning a bright yellow hue. This mixed in with the green pine trees is another example of Divine creativity on display here.
Blessings.

Wedding chapel overlooking mountains above Vail

SABBATICAL 2, Looking Down and Looking Up

“Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you.”


I was reflecting on this verse from Colossians 1:2 (The Message) while we were hiking on the Grouse Creek trail last Saturday morning. We hiked steadily upward surrounded by pine and aspen trees. Footing was generally good on a fairly smooth trail. It was going to be an easy hike. Then the trail broke out of the trees on to a bare faced side of the mountain with lots of loose gravel and small rocks. The trail was narrow and slanted. Instead of ‘looking up’ and seeing the beautiful valley below, we needed to keep looking down with our eyes focused on the trail to make sure each step would not slip. Making a wrong step could result in a bad, long fall tumbling and rolling down the steep side of the mountain with no trees or other growth to stop us. And no, there is no cell phone service to call for help. The promise in Psalm 121 “The Lord will not let your foot slip---He who watches over you will not slumber” was especially meaningful. Even with this promise, in order to “look up” and enjoy the wonderful view, it was necessary to stop and make sure our feet were firmly planted. Then, and only then, could we look up and enjoy the magnificent view in front of us. (I really think I am going to run out of adjectives when sharing about the beauty of these mountains!) After what seemed to be a long stretch of stepping very carefully to keep from falling, the trail led us back into a forested area and on to a beautiful meadow. The aspen are beginning to turn to a glorious yellow and we were treated to a whole mountain side of amber splendor. We sat for awhile enjoying snacks on a rock close to a gurgling mountain stream. It certainly was worth the effort.

I have always felt that descending a mountain is more treacherous than going up. By this time my legs were a bit shaky and it was tempting to go faster than we should. Three and a half hours after we left the cabin we arrived back. The rest of the day was spent napping and reading in an easy chair in the cabin. It would be a few days before we would try another hike of any length.

It has now been over a week since we arrived. It has been a good week of reading, praying, reflecting, and talking about what we are reading in the midst of God’s awesome creation. We are settled into a routine and feel a lot more acclimated to the altitude than we did the first couple of days. Even though they had record highs in Denver and other cities, we never saw our deck thermometer over 70 degrees. The lows at night are in the low forties, and high thirties. We have running water and electricity, full kitchen and hot showers. The cabin is located up the Chalk Creek Canyon between Salida to the south and Buena Vista to the north, the closest town, which is about 16 miles away. We do have a land line telephone but no internet service and no cell phone service. We drive to a coffee shop with free wireless in BV about every other day to check our emails, voicemails, and look up information on the internet. At first I had withdrawal issues to not having constant email, cell phone, and internet connections but now it seems more like gift that I need for this time of sabbatical.


Before I close, I should say a little about where we are staying. “The Cabin” was a long time dream of Dianne’s dad. He loved the mountains and wanted to spend more time in them than his work vacations would allow. In the early eighties he found out about some land available in the old railroad town of Alpine. Alpine was established in 1877 with the railroad being built to go up the canyon and through the Alpine Tunnel that would greatly shorten travelling distances. It was a very lively place for about 20 years before falling into disrepair. People moved to the more popular town of St Elmo up the canyon and took lumber and logs from Alpine to build in St Elmo. But the original platting of the town into lots remained on the books and Dianne’s dad was able to purchase lots to build a cabin. Plans were drawn, the land was cleared, the cement was poured and the cabin began to take shape. Dianne’s oldest brother is a contractor and supervised the initial construction. We all helped with dry walling, insulation etc. We first came to the cabin while on our North American assignment from mission work in Congo. After that we have been here many times. While we lived in Kansas, it was a lot closer than it is now from Ohio. Our kids literally grew up going to “The Cabin.” There is still a basket of toys here they looked forward to playing with each time. It has been a wonderful place of refuge for our family. This is the longest time we will have ever been here and the first time we have been here alone without family. Lots of wonderful memories.

Next time I will fill you in on some of my readings and reflections and hopefully we can figure out how to attach some pictures.

May God bless each one of you.

SABBATICAL 1, Cincinnati, Virginia, and arrival in Colorado

The temperature on our van thermometer read cooler and cooler as we made the final ascent on Saturday, August 25 to Alpine, Colorado. It was about 58 degrees when we arrived at the 9,450 foot elevation of the family cabin where we would spend the next month. We filled our lungs with that crisp and dry mountain air. “Now this is Colorado!” I said to myself. The heat and humidity of this summer in Ohio were left behind. Then we began the process of unpacking the van and carrying our supplies up the stairs while breathing very heavily in the thin air of the high altitude. This would take some getting used to. But we have plenty of time to get acclimated.


We figured that we had driven around 2500 miles in 9 states since we left Pandora on Friday, August 17. It will be good to keep the van parked awhile or at least not make any extensive trips for awhile. (We will need to drive at least 32 miles round trip to Buena Vista to get Internet access at the public library to send this blog.)


We first drove to Cincinnati where we had tickets to watch the Reds and the Cubs play Friday night (The Reds won!) and the men’s semi finals of the Western and Southern professional tennis tournament on Saturday afternoon. (Djokovic and Federer won) Both of these were very exciting events but very different. More about that later. After the tennis on Saturday we drove on to Charleston, WV for night, heading for Harrisonburg, Virginia to leave off our daughter, Julia, for her senior year at Eastern Mennonite University. Sunday the 19th was a major driving day as we drove from Charleston to Harrisonburg and back to Columbus, Ohio. We spent less than three hours in Harrisonburg eating lunch and unpacking Julia and helping her get a few things arranged in her apartment before heading over the mountains on US 33 in West Virginia. Now Dianne and I were on our own again.


In Columbus we spent all day Monday and Tuesday and part of the day Wednesday under the guidance of a skilled counselor at Midwest Ministry Development. This was a very stimulating, encouraging and helpful time. After over 25 years in the pastoral ministry, I felt I needed a good tune up, oil change, and get the alignment checked. Our counselor was very experienced with pastors and the ruts they get into and asked very penetrating questions about all aspects of our lives and ministry. This gave us much to talk about on the long drive to Colorado and much to consider in the coming weeks. Then it was back to Pandora to pack up and take care of details for our time away.


Our destination on Friday the 24th was Dianne’s mother’s house in Newton, Kansas, a drive of 860 miles. Then Saturday we drove the final 550 miles to the cabin. Yesterday (Sunday) we attended the worship service at the little outdoor chapel here at Alpine. Worship services are held here in the summer months and have been for many years and we had attended numerous times over the last 25 years that we have been coming here. The speaker of the morning spoke about the spiritual aspect of fire mitigation. I don’t think I had ever heard the word “mitigation” before. It means making one’s property ready for the possibility of a wild fire that had been so destructive weeks earlier near Colorado Springs. Fire mitigation is taking actions like cutting trees too close to one’s buildings and cleaning up dry brush on one’s property that provide fuel for wild fires. He spoke of getting rid of the dead wood and brush in our lives that can interfere with our relationship with our Creator. This was especially poignant for the speaker as he lived near the Colorado Springs fire and was forced to evacuate for one day. The possibility of fire in a mountain community was very much a part of the mindset of the people here even though temperatures have moderated and the area around here has been receiving fairly regular rainfall recently. There are no fires burning in our area now and in fact, not much going on now in the whole state of Colorado. We met some people at the chapel that we had known from other visits and it was good to be a part of this Christian community in this majestic outdoor setting on our first Sunday in Colorado.

One news item: On Sunday, August 19, we found out that the Tabor Mennonite Church between Newton and Goessel, Kansas had overwhelming voted to extend a call to our son Philip to be their next pastor. He and his wife Mary will be moving from California and beginning his ministry the last week of September. They both graduated from Fresno Pacific Mennonite Brethren Seminary in May, Phil with a Master of Divinity and Mary with a Master’s degree in Counseling. While Philip will be full time with the church, Mary will continue doing her interpreting work for the deaf and looking for work in the counseling field.

Tabor Mennonite is in the same community that we were a part of when I was pastor at Alexanderwohl Mennonite church for 10 years form 1987-1997. It is an awesome and humbling thing for me to welcome my son as a colleague in the pastoral ministry. I never imagined that I would be able to attend his first sermon in his new church as pastor as we plan to do at the end of September. Pray for Philip and Mary as they settle in and begin their ministry.
Feel free to email us if you wish at my normal email gmc.dennis@bluffton.edu. We plan to go down and check our emails every 2 or 3 days.