Aberdeen - June 7-12

 

Aberdeen, SD
June 7-12
Rev. Jill Warner

Aberdeen UCC is a large, modern church with a congregation around 400. I stayed with Rev. Jill in a room upstairs in her lovely home. She was a wonderful host, sharing her church, touring Aberdeen and taking me to a theatrical performance on Saturday evening.

Rev. Jill was very open with her ministry. We joined other pastors for lunch at a local restaurant to talk about our various thoughts on Pentecost. We attended a Wednesday evening dinner and worship service, a Trustees meeting, and she gave me the opportunity to preach on Pentecost.

It was wonderful to work with her to design the worship service. She wanted a service that was different, dynamic and filled with the Spirit. Rev. Jill, Sandy and I had a great time creating sacred space on the chancel and altar. We were blessed by a young lady, Makala, who danced early in the service to a hymn that Rev. Jill sang and accompanied on electric keyboard. For a different style of Communion we set a dinner table with red cloth, white plates for the bread, and glass goblets for juice. People came up in groups of 10, and overall it went well for a new ritual. For Children's Time, Angela designed headbands with flames with a white dove that stood up like the flames on the Apostles heads that first Pentecost.

Rev. Jill introduced me to everyone at the top of worship and then... yes, folks, my Very First Sermon in Front of a Congregation! This was a delightful challenge, especially since I will be taking my first class in Preaching next Fall! I used two Biblical texts (1 Corinthians 12 and Acts 2), a youth-focused book called "God Will Not Forget You" and the Serendipty Student Study Bible.

After service I got many warm handshakes and best wishes from folks, so overall I think it went over pretty well. It remains to be seen if people minded me referring to God as "She." :-} I also was given the opportunity to do the Benediction and used the lovely blessing Rev. Jim Mitulski uses.

I am very grateful to Rev. Jill, Sandy, Angela and Nicole for a wonderful visit to Aberdeen. This next week I will be with Rev. Steven Bailey in Watertown. Stay tuned for further updates.

Love and blessings to all!
Michael

Prairie Retreat

I arrived at the Prairie Retreat and got to stay in the Big Red Barn Home, in a back bedroom upstairs. This Retreat is a true dream for my city-weary soul. The quiet is a balm to my heart and mind. The roosters do think it's morning most of the day and crow when the Spirit moves them; which is just fine with me. The two turkeys love to fan out their gorgeous plumage and chortle at me. (I am impressed, guys, you can relax!)

Rev. Marjie and her lovely husband Ray are true farmers with big hearts and excellent cooking skills. I have been helping Rev. Marjie air out, clean and put clean sheets on the many beds in the little Church and the Bunk House (which is in the back, ground level of the Big Red Barn) getting ready for guests. During a break in our work, Rev. Marjie shared a bit of her story with  me. What an amazing woman! I am blessed in having her as my Mentor this summer.

I also have done some actual work. The kitties helped me weed a patch of... well, weeds! I took out a LOT of them so we can see the irises which are gorgeous. It was a joy to get my hands in the dirt and commune with the bees visiting the flowers.

One of the congregations Rev. Marjie serves is in the bustling metropolis of Bryant (pop. about 350). The lovely little white church is comfortable and welcoming. This congregation has about 30 members and 22 folks came to worship on Sunday June 5. This was a great turnout as they had not been planning on having a service as Rev. Marjie and I were supposed to be off at the Prairie Lakes Annual Meeting in Pierre (yes, it's pronounced "Peer"), so we were pleased to see them all. Because of flooding on the Missouri River, the officials at Pierre said no one could come into the city unless they were planning to work on the dikes to hold back the rising river. So with 2 day's notice, the committee put together a meeting in Chamberlain. Most of the churches had representatives at the meeting and they got everything done in one afternoon! Five minutes for each report, vote to approve, lovely Move On! Amazing.

I will be going to the Post Office (pictured above) to mail some postcards soon. The mailman will bring packages, stamps, letters and take whatever ya got. I forgot my powercord for my laptop, and dear friend Nate mailed it to me. Several packages came that day and we found them upstairs just inside the door. Now that's a great mailman!

The most amazing feature here, for me, is the huge sky. The sunsets are 360 and gorgeous. I am very much the city girl though: one evening Rev. Marjie said we would have dinner and then we had to go load chickens. I gave her a look that made her burst out laughing. "load chickens" I queried? I was thinking, "ok, what are we going to load the chickens With?!" you know, is it like loading a shotgun? But no, we went to the chicken coop and loaded the chickens into crates and took them to Miss Flossy down the road who... how shall I put this? she prepares them for eating. As in, we went back the next day and got 40 chickens in plastic bags ready for roasting. This whole process was a bit much for my city heart/tummy and I wasn't much help loading the chickens. As I have always said, I am a terrible hypocrite... I don't like my food to look like who it was. If I had to kill my own meat I'd be a vegetarian. Currently, I'm not much interested in eating chicken.

But life on this planet is about life supporting life. Everything eats something else. Even the vegetables are life which we gather and use for our nourishment. This experience is giving me a deep appreciation for that cyclical life. Rev. Marjie and I also went out to the garden and picked rhubarb for a rhubarb crumble for dessert. The leaves are as big as elephant ears and the stocks at least 3-fingers wide. Delicious. And I have been eating a LOT of asparagus also fresh from the garden. I've never tasted asparagus like that! And here, with all the hard work involved in producing this food, the prayer before supper is sincere and real. Life here is real. You know?

So... this week (June 7-12) I am in Aberdeen. Following report will come from Rev. Jill Warner's church where I'll be preaching on Pentecost (yikes!). This is some of my favorite Scripture though and a celebration dear to my heart, so it will be fun. Rev. Jill, Sandy and I sat on the chancel steps last night designing the sacred space decoration and deciding how to do Communion. Rev. Jill is relaxed because I'll be preaching! This will be my first sermon, like, ever! Pray for me!

Love to all from windy North-East South Dakota!
Michael

On my way soon!

Dear Friends: On Wednesday June 1, I will be traveling from Berkeley, California to Bryant, South Dakota for a 12-week internship! I will be working with and for 12 different churches over the summer, spending usually 5 days in one location, returning to the Prairie Retreat in Bryant for two days to debrief and do laundry, then go to another church for 5 days.

It is my intent for this blog to post regular entries on my experiences, photos of the 12 churches I'll be working with and to share my journey. One of the goals of this Internship is to share knowledge about these various South Dakota churches, congregations, and communities with UCC and DOC Ministers-in-Training who might possibly want to apply for positions in South Dakota. So I will welcome your insights and questions which I can share with the folks I am visiting. Also, please share this blog with your UCC and DOC friends who might be interested.

I'll be attending the Annual Meeting of the South Dakota Conference of the UCC June 3-5 where I hope to meet many of the Pastors and Reverends who are participating in this Internship. This will be in South Dakota's capital city of Pierre. Looks like they have a great program lined up!

I am very excited about this opportunity and hope to share some really great experiences with everyone.

Blessings,
Michael