Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

        Stuff, stuff, and more stuff!  I've been involved with a number of churches over the years who have held thrift sales as fund-raisers.  All of them have been thrift sales exploding with stuff!  Stuff, stuff, and more stuff! 

        Following the sales, there often was a bunch of stuff left over!  All that leftover stuff was dispersed to other organizations in order to give away or sell. Now they’ve got stuff!  Stuff, stuff, and more stuff!

        Over the course of the years I have moved several times.  Each time I moved I tried to reduce my amount of stuff. You know what’s amazing?  I still have stuff.

        How about you? Do you still have stuff?  Isn’t it amazing all that stuff we have?  Stuff, stuff, and more stuff!

        I wrote this originally back in October of 1999. We had stuff, stuff, and more stuff then and we have stuff, stuff, and more stuff now. There is a new personality on the scene recently.  Marie Kondo.  She is a Japanese organizing consultant and author who emphasizes our emotional connections to our stuff – Keep only that which "sparks joy."  She may be right. It's one more potential solution to our cultural problem with stuff, stuff, and more stuff. I once read somewhere that 70% of our economy is based on our consumption of stuff.

         “Thrift sale" is an odd term.  When I think of “thrift” I think of economic management, frugality.  If I’m “thrifty,” I pinch pennies. I’m careful what I buy.  I try to save because I don’t think I have all that much.  I live out of scarcity.  But if that were truly the case, wouldn’t I have managed my stuff better and not let so much stuff accumulate?  Stuff, stuff, and more stuff!  Maybe these "thrift" sales would be better called “Awholelottastuff” sales.

        Why do we have “thrift” sales?  Might it be because we’re not really all that thrifty in the first place?  Why else would we end up with so much stuff?

        Of course, there are those of us who are thrifty.  We’re the ones who go to the thrift sales to buy.  We’re out there looking for a bargain because we don’t want to have to pay too much for anything.  In fact, it’s a source of pride when we can show people something and tell how great a deal we got on it.

        Did you know another meaning for “thrift” comes from the verb “thrive”?  That means “Thrift” can be the condition of thriving.  It can be a state of prosperity and vigorous growth. Thinking this way, maybe a "thrifty" life could be defined as an abundant life.

        I like that. What might my state of mind be if I lived from a perspective of thankfulness for the prosperity of my blessings?  There is much for which I am grateful. I have been blessed! 

        Too often we forget the abundance of our blessings and think we need to live out of this sense of scarcity.  We won’t make ends meet, so God gets the short end of the deal while we go have our Sunday brunch.

        Stuff stuff and more stuff!  We have it!  Too much of it! But do you know what we have even more of than all that stuff?  The love of Christ!  The huge floodgates (more than any mere closet) are open on Christ’s love for us and that stuff is the best stuff of all.  And we’re drowning in it!  Knowing that, how can we help but be “thrifty” -- “thriving” -- as we give out of the prosperity of our blessings?

On Our Way

We're on our way.  Flights are an odd thing. Relinquishing control. Trusting that "the experts" -- pilots, attendants, baggage handlers, etc. -- will get you where you need to go. Hoping to have all your accessories handy -- id, passport, boarding pass, carry-on, etc. -- so as not to hold up the others. Mustering the patience needed when someone else slips up and delays you.  So far so good.

Well, my second entry for today:  We have arrived.  All went well.  Natalie and the kids are excited to explore.  Maddie and Jonah had to drag me out to check some things out right away tonight.  The river walk is humming.  Of course, when beautiful night weather 400 kilometers from the equator is at 11:30 p.m. it probably is going to be when things are humming.

Tomorrow we will explore on our own a bit, then meet up with our Smithsonian Family Adventures crew Sunday morning.  Stay tuned

A Sabbatical Sunday Morning

I remember a number of years ago.  It was a late September Sunday morning.  Natalie and I would be leaving later that afternoon to attend our synod's annual Fall Ministry Retreat. We decided to take that morning as one of our allotted continuing education Sundays.  It was 9:30 a.m. The sun was shining.  Jonah and Maddie were pretty young -- still in elementary school.  They were playing in the living room while Natalie and I sat at our big round antique dining table, drinking our morning coffee.  We still had a subscription to a newspaper, so we were sharing the different sections while we sipped our coffee.

 

Our backyard on this beautiful Sunday morning

It didn't take too long for us to look at each other as we relaxed with our reading, coffee, and the kids playing in the background with the warm morning sun bathing them, and agree, "No wonder people don't go to church on Sunday mornings!"

 

It's Memorial Day Weekend.  I woke up about 8:00 o'clock.  Maddie wanted me to drop her off at Our Saviour's Irvine Park summer worship service.  (Today begins our 33rd year of worshipping at the park.  If you are in town, check it out!) I told Maddie, "It's starting right now.  You'll be late." By the time she was ready and we got down there, it was a pretty safe bet that they were going to be done with worship pretty soon.  We decided to go for breakfast somewhere instead.

 

We ended up checking out that new coffee shop across Bridge St. from Lucy's Deli.  I don't know the name of it.  It was good, though.  The experience made me think of that Sunday morning years ago.  "No wonder people don't go to church on Sunday mornings!"

 

A colleague posted on his Facebook feed this morning 1 Corinthians 11:29-32: 

²⁹For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. ³⁰For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. ³¹But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. ³²But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

 I'm not sure why, but as I contemplate this morning I am drawn to how Paul segues from this passage into his hymn to the Body of Christ and how we are called to build up that body, not by separating ourselves from it, but by bringing the best of ourselves into it.  

²⁰As it is, there are many members, yet one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." ²²On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; ²⁴whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. (1 Corinthians 12:20-26)

 I must admit that the opportunity to relax alone with my family on a Sunday morning is rewarding. Very pleasant even. But I miss those treats on the picnic table following worship at the park.  I enjoy the conversations with the others that gather as the Body, and who share in communion together.

Is this what Paul is talking about?  So often we use his words as judgement against those who we think need to believe rightly in Christ in order to not be judged. And right belief is of course defined as, "believe like I do."  Couldn't it also simply mean that we are called to acknowledge that, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have not need of you.'?" That while it is okay to enjoy that beautiful Sunday morning now and again, partaking of a gathered community that sees its purpose as something more than the sum of its parts for the sake of the world and each other, is also rewarding? Very pleasant even?

It's a Funeral

Dutch funeral expo digs up the latest in death trends.

I'm not a big fan of holding a "Celebration of Life" for someone who has died. I say call it what it is. A funeral. Body. Ashes. No body. No ashes. No nothing but a picture. It doesn't matter to me.  If you will be holding some sort of ritual gathering of family, friends, faith community, and others, call it a funeral.

I googled the word "funeral."  I checked it out at the Online Etymology Dictionary.  Not much to learn. Funeral is a word of somewhat uncertain origin.  It pretty much refers to death or corpse.  It pertains to the burial of the dead. Not exactly the most explicitly clear articulation.

My own assumptions have been that a funeral requires something present to bury.  I suppose the "purist" might say that the "something" is an actual intact body and that anything other than that is going to be pretty iffy funeral-wise.  If there is no body it's a memorial service. I think that's stupid. It's semantics.

In reality, when I am called to engage a family in the process of ... In the process of .. In the process of.. what? If not a funeral, then what?  Letting go? Entrusting them into the arms of Christ? Saying good bye?

This is my problem. I don't want to deny that death happens.  Let's not use euphemisms. I do not want to mitigate against the depth of grief people will feel when losing a loved one. I do not want to manufacture happiness when the authentic emotions present are so much more complicated. Nor do I want to shield any children from it, or try to soften it.  Death is death.

By the time St. Paul got around to writing his letter to the Romans, he'd had some time to work out his thinking.  He'd written to the Thessalonians, the Galatians, the Corinthians, Philemon, and the Philippians -- and those are just the letters that have survived through to today. By the time he writes to the Romans, he knew what he wanted to say, and he could say it pretty clearly and susinctly.  So, in Romans 8:31-39, when he says nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ, not even death, let's take his word for it. There is no need to protect ourselves from it or try to avoid it. There is no need to deny it or obfuscate it.  Why?  It's pretty simple.  God's won already.  The race has been finished. The hard work has been done.

It's true.  We don't like death all that much. Nor do we really like the things that lead to death. Death takes people away from us.  Even if they live to be 105 with all their wits about them and in good health and simply go to bed one night and don't wake up, they still leave us and we still miss them.

Even in the best of circumstances death still has a capricious, thief-in-the-night quality about it that we cannot control.  But we sure do try! "It's not a funeral. It's a celebration of life." or  "... It's just a memorial service." "The little ones should not have to go to the visitation (or funeral) it'll be too sad.  they won't know how to behave." I say let the children come be what may.  Death is what it is.. It cannot and should not be denied.

So, let us call a spade a spade.  It's a funeral.  Somebody died.  Place yourself in the middle of any given funeral. Emotions are present.  Emotions of every kind.  Each sibling, child, cousin, relative, and friend of the dead person has their own experience of that relationship. They have their own emotions that are tied to it. Are you going to hold a "Celebration of Life" for the guy that so many people think is great, but who had a complicated relationship with his children? Who cheated on his first wife with his second wife? Who was an alcoholic?  I really don't care how great people may believe the person was, someone there knows the truth. Let's not try to make the deceased more or less than they were.  Let's just let them be.

I'll tell you a secret.  If you look back at all the funeral bulletins that I have put together for funerals over which I have presided, notice the cover -- A simple cross, a name, a date of birth, and a date of death. No more than that is needed.  It is enough. We are there to acknowledge a child of God, an imperfect, yet God-loved child.

So, no semantic gymnastics needed. If someone dies, we hold a funeral, no more, no less.  It's just what it is.

Police Call-Out

I am one of seven local pastors who alternate monthly as on-call police chaplains for the Chippewa Falls Police Department.  I think we may be coming up on our second anniversary of this program.  It has been a great way to get better acquainted with our police officers.  I think they have certainly appreciated our presence in the midst of difficult events.  What follows is an edited version of my callout report from a death notification that I was called to assist with this morning (May 25):

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At around 9:00 a.m. Thursday, May 25, I was contacted by CFPD dispatch asking if I could meet two duty officers to accompany them on a death notification.  Upon my arrival they filled me in on the details they had received from the neighboring county authorities regarding a collision between two heavy trucks resulting in the fatality of a 61 year-old Chippewa Falls man. 

We were met at the door by the wife of the deceased who, after making sure her dogs were in another room, invited us into the front room where she took her seat. 

Officer #1 proceeded to inform her of her husband’s death.  Her response was one of shock, denial, anger, grief, bewilderment, etc.  I knelt down beside her, introduced myself, and shared how sorry I was for her loss while I gently took her hand.  I remained there while she continued to convey her shock and bewilderment.  I offered to pray.  She accepted.  We prayed and ended with the Lord’s Prayer.

At this point she had calmed down and said she needed to contact her son who was downtown.  I offered to do that for her.  She found his number on her phone, which I took and went outside to use due to the noise of the barking dogs.  When her son answered, I introduced myself and my role as a CFPD Chaplain.  I told him that I and the officers were at his mother’s home and why we were there. I expressed my condolences to him saying that his mother asked that I contact him to come to the house immediately.

Within minutes the deceased’s son arrived accompanied by his fiancée.  Officer #1 and I followed him to the kitchen upon his request.  He asked for details and received from Officer #1 the contact information for the neighboring county investigating officer.  While he contacted the investigator we assisted the son’s fiancée with contacting the deceased’s daughter so that she could also come to the house immediately. 

Seeming to have reached a point of emotional equilibrium, I offered to remain with them until the daughter arrived.  Officer #2 had given the wife his contact information and also offered to stay if they desired.  They were comfortable with the officers leaving.  I thanked the officers.  They asked if I was good with them leaving.  I said I was.  I remained until the daughter arrived. 

While we waited for the daughter’s arrival, I sat with the wife and her son’s fiancée making some small talk.  I asked if they had a church home or a pastor or priest I could contact.  They did not.  Upon the daughter’s arrival I offered my assistance while they informed her of the tragedy.  I remained a few minutes longer to assess the emotional climate.  I did not want to leave until they all seemed to have their wits about them and knew the next steps they were going to take.  I left them my contact information, asked if there was anything else I could do for them, affirmed that they were in my prayers and then took my leave.  It was around 9:50 a.m. when I left.

******************

I am struck by how short our visit with this household was -- less than 50 minutes.  The intensity of the emotional encounter with the woman who had been married to the deceased for 42 years, and then again with the son and then the daughter, was enough to make it seem like we had been there significantly longer.

It's an interesting roll that we play as chaplains. A primary reason for beginning this ministry was so the police could be more efficient with doing what they need to do without the distraction of having to offer emotional care to the family.  They get my compliments for recognizing how important having someone there to be attentive to the survivors is. As police, they could not effectively investigate while simultaneously field questions, offer compassion, address spiritual/emotional trauma, etc.  Time in and time out we chaplains receive the appreciation of the police for being there in ways they were unable to be.  This presence is growing to include death notifications as well.  I think that as this evolves, we are collectively discovering intangible benefits for all parties beyond simply being a buffer between the police and those they serve.

This is how my day began.  On a lighter note, balancing out the weightiness of then morning, I ran an errand down to Gordy's Grocery store to get ice cream, dish washer detergent, and wine (okay, not so much an important errand, I guess). I parked by the liquor store entrance, so I checked out with all my stuff at that register.  The kind lady behind the counter eyed me suspiciously, verbally wondering if I needed to be carded. Before she could finish, I nicely commented that I was 51 and it shouldn't be a problem.  I showed her my ID and we agreed that she must have been having a long day.  I chalk it up to wearing a baseball cap and carrying 60 more pounds than I should be.  I have often told folks who get my age wrong that the extra weight fills in the wrinkles.

I really should get down to a healthier weight and test out that theory.

Getting Started

Dear Friends,

I'll be up front.  Journaling is not my forte.  I have an old homemade foot locker in the garage in which a bunch of old high school stuff is stored.  I pulled the stuff out hoping to find a beat-up spiral notebook with daily journals from an English class taught by Mr. Maddox.  A standard topic of these daily journals was my low opinion of keeping daily journals.

 



Contents from the "old homemade footlocker"

So, given that such a discipline is an uphill battle, I shall scale the incline by crossing genres -- "killing two birds with one stone," so to speak.  for example, what follows is a "snail mail" letter I sent the congregation prior to my departure.  Considering my skepticism regarding the number of eyes that read that antiquated means of communication, it connot hurt to cross genres by publishing it here as well.

 

Enjoy!

 

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As summer approaches I am excited for OSLC.  Great things are happening!  Sunday, May 28 at 8 a.m. OSLC goes back to Irvine Park for our 33rd consecutive summer park service.  Throughout the summer OSLC kids and families go to bible camp.  Our Servants of Our Saviour’s holds its annual June Salad Luncheon on June 8.  OSLC’s Friend in Faith go rock-climbing June 26-28.  We have folks heading to El Paso and Juarez in July.  Campfires at our north side fire ring begin May 31 and continue thru the summer.  Our long tradition of Vacation Bible School with Central Lutheran is scheduled for July 24-28.  Pure Water Days’ Ecumenical Worship at Irvine Park is at 10 a.m. on August 13.  Our annual blessing of the animals is August 20 at 8:00 a.m.  And more.

These are just the highlights!  We still worship weekly, our Faithful Friends continue to visit our homebound, and Jared, Shannon, Ellen, and Toni will be gearing up for the fall programming.

Overseeing it all, leading worship and checking in periodically will be Rev. Amy Fondroy-Eich, who has agreed to help out during my clergy renewal leave. I am excited for her because you are a great community of believers!  Sure, summer is a time to step back and take a breath, but that doesn't mean that the ministries stop.  Wonderful things are occurring at our Saviour’s as we enter into these summer months.

In addition to Amy, Natalie Leske, Curt Rohland, Barry Boyer and even perhaps Aaron Sturgis are also doing their part.  As for me, if I am not travelling, you may see some cameos of me around town.  My goal, however, is to relax, renew, travel, and get done those projects around the house that have been languishing.  I hope to do some visiting of family and friends, and, of course, enjoy the two big trips I have planned with Natalie and the kids – the Galapagos Islands and Washington D.C.  I will be back in the office on Monday, August 14, refreshed, renewed and ready to dive into a refreshed and renewed ministry with you!  Between now and then, follow what I am up to.  I plan to keep a blog at www.pauloppedahl.blogspot.com.  Feel free to check it out.

Now, what follows is important:  Your financial contributions are imperative.  We cannot accomplish all the exciting stuff going on in and through Our Saviour’s without them.  I thank God every time I remember you and cannot thank you enough for your support.  Each gift, no matter the size, helps us make a difference in our community and beyond.  As we enter into the season when the warm weather and summer activities take us away from church, I encourage you to consider an additional gift to support us through these months. 

Also, if you have not done it yet, make the leap into setting up a sustaining contribution.  If not you entire offering, consider taking a portion of what you try to put in the plate and give it via electronic funds transfer.  So many of us already pay our bills this way.  Why not support God’s mission through Our Saviour’s in the same manner?  Your ongoing donations are extra powerful because they help us ensure Our Saviour's viability week-in and week-out, well into the future.

Simply call your financial institution and set up an electronic funds transfer today, or contact the church office.  We can do it for you.

In the meantime, I invite you to make a one-time gift that can help make these leaner summer months just a bit easier.  Make checks payable to “Our Saviour’s Lutheran.”  Drop it in the mail or stop by the church office.  If you would prefer a more immediate method, visit oslccf.org and click on the $$$$$$ button on the right side of the top menu.

Thank you so much!

December (edited)

There is something I like about December. (If I lived in the southern hemisphere I would say that there is something I like about June.)  December is the month within which our Northern Hemisphere's Winter Solstice falls.  I like the winter solstice because it means that the days start getting longer again. There is something hopeful for me in this.