I like pumpkin pie especially topped with whipped cream. At a recent Thanksgiving dinner I had pumpkin pie- without the crust, cooked in a ramekin. With whipped cream on top it was still delicious. On the other hand I have a pound of pumpkin flavored coffee which probably will last me the rest of my natural life. It doesn’t exactly taste terrible (ok, maybe it does), but I am certain that one cup a year is more than enough. Some things are just a bit too much. At times I feel like this about the Christmas season. I enjoy all the trimmings and trappings, but after a while it seems a bit too much. I appreciate the deeper religious and theological meaning of the birth of Jesus, but when Christmas decor goes up alongside Halloween, I begin to wonder if all this is less about loving and honoring Jesus and more about loving and honoring sales projections. I try not to let this spoil my pleasure in Christmas, but it is a struggle. I don’t really feel “grinchy” about all the Christmas excess. I do remember with some revisionist nostalgia when one toy and an orange in one’s Christmas stocking was a reason for celebration. If there was a book shaped package under the tree, socks and underwear could be accepted as presents even with some limited appreciation. There are things I miss about that simpler time in my memory. In the end it is not advertisers or pitch men who determine how I will view Christmas, but rather my willingness to welcome Christ into my life and love. It will be my willingness to let the Christ child be born in me today.
11/28/2021
This is the first of the four Sundays of Advent. It is part of the beginning of the church year. Often we think in practical terms of the church’s year starting at summer’s end and the beginning of the school year. This is good for practical planning, but officially the church year starts with All Saints Day on November First. Not to long after that we begin Advent. This is a season of anticipation. It is the start of all the wonders of Christmas and Easter. We look again with anticipation as we remember the coming of the Messiah. “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, born to set the people free…” We get caught up in the pageantry and nostalgia of the season, but we still remember why it is so meaningful. The sending of Christ into our world is the magnificent expression of the Heavenly Father’s love. So in honor of that great love we express our love to those around us. At least for a season we greet each other and are on our most polite behavior- at least most of the season. Perhaps we sense even in our customary Christmas celebrations that something deeper and more profound than mere decoration is going on. We are anticipating a new year. Could this be the year that more and better peace might be realized? Could this be the year in which we recover politeness and the reset on what it should be based? Is this the year that violence might decrease and gentleness reigns supreme? Is this the year that we learn to get along together? That we have hope and anticipation? Even if we realize that our ideal hopes may not be realized we believe that this year can be better by the grace of God.
11/21/2021
Our grandson, Frankie was named Franklin Henry Boyer for his two great grandfathers, T.Franklin Miller and Henry Boyer. He has always been an inquisitive and thoughtful boy. He wants to do things right and wants others to do things right as well. Underneath his strong opinions there is a deep pool of kindness and helpfulness. Fairly early in his elementary school period, he began to think about Thanksgiving and its meaning. He announced to his parents that this year at Thanksgiving he was going to celebrate Franksgiving. If someone needed help, Franklin Henry Boyer was going to help them. It would be a holiday of Frank’s giving. With a practical pun, Frankie demonstrated one of the basic principles of a grateful heart. If we are truly thankful, we need to find ways to express our thanksgiving by helping those around us. My preacher’s ear picked up on that idea immediately. I was delighted by the pun Frankie created but even more by the heart it revealed. How much our children and grand children can help see through the clutter of our life and times. If you are thankful then help other even if your name isn’t Frank. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if here was an outbreak of Davidgiving and Susangiving and Georgegiving and Gladysgiving? This Thanksgiving could be a wonderful celebration of helpfulness. I don’t know if Franklin still remembers to celebrate Thanksgiving his way, but I know he is still kind and helpful. So celebrate and indulge a bit with family and friends, but see if you can also find ways to be helpful. In honor of the impulse that prompted Franklin Henry Boyer, practice a little "Franksgiving.”
11/14/2021
Recently we went through our collection of music CDs. It is embarrassing how many we have in our possession. We have all kinds of music: classical, religious, country/western, pop, opera, instrumental, folk and jazz. Our Christmas collection alone spans all these forms. We don’t have much in the comic genre. No Grandma Just Got Run Over by a Reindeer, but most other forms are there. I did notice that there was a missing element. We only had on Thanksgiving CD. So I ordered a couple of Thanksgiving CDs. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir had a couple of examples with some of the great Thanksgiving hymns. Another album has: We Gather Together to ask the Lord’s Blessing and Come, Ye thankful people Come and Count your blessings and Let all things now living and We plow the fields and Scatter and For the beauty of the Earth. There are too many to sing in one service but fortunately they can be sung in almost any service because thanksgiving is a basic part of the Christian experience. Every day we give thanks to God for his love and mercy. We thank God for our daily bread. We thank each other for their help and love. We thank God for sending Jesus to us. We thank God for health and healing. We thank God for comfort and guidance in difficult times. We thank God for the times of gladness and joy. Around our family table we name the things for which we are thankful. We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and for every day before and after. With all this thanksgiving it is amazing that we ever need to complain and criticize. So come you thankful people come and raise a song of thanksgiving to God for today.
11/07/2021
In the northern hemisphere autumn runs from September through November. It is also known as Fall, one of the four seasons of the year. The leaves fall during this season and that seems to be the origin of the term. The word Autumn can be traced back through Latin to the Etruscan word “autu” for the changing of the year. It is a time of harvest: corn, pumpkins, apples and other lasting vegetable produce that symbolizes the harvest season. It is the season of All Saints Day and Thanksgiving. On our tables are the symbols of plenty. It is a generous time filled with inner and family warmth even amid cooler temperatures. The days are shorter and there is less sunshine, so a fire in the fireplace warms not only the body but the spirit as a symbol of protection and home. Often the skies are clear and the stars are available for viewing. The Harvest Moon as the first full moon near the Autumn Equinox lights up the night sky. The autumn equinox is September 22-23 in the northern hemisphere, but occurrs in March-May in the Southern hemisphere. Autumn could symbolize many different things. It could represent change as all the seasons do. It could symbolize preservation as we prepare for winter. It could be full of pictures of cozy comfort and protection. It could remind us of the necessity of letting go. Perhaps it is enough not to ask and deep probing questions of autumn and simply enjoy the glory of the changing leaves and bask in its beauty. Isn’t beauty itself enough to be meaningful? So sip your cider, eat a donut, cozy up to the fire, kick through the leaves on your walk, wear a warm fuzzy sweater and just enjoy the Fall. Maybe after all that is enough.
10/31/2021
This Sunday is All Hallows Eve which will later be pronounced as Halloween. This is the evening before All Saints Day on November first. All Saints Day honors all the saints of the church and so could be accounted an extra ordinarily holy day. Perhaps that’s why Halloween seemed to some the last chance for all the spooky things to assert themselves. I don’t take any of that very seriously, although I do take evil seriously. Halloween seems to me to be a chance to dress up in silly costumes, shiver with a little imaginary scary fun and eat lots of candy. Even the Tricks in “trick or treat” seem largely to be gone. I do take seriously All Saints Day. It is a moment to honor all the saints, but especially those that have gone to be with the Lord. The Apostle Paul uses the word “saints” for all the people of God and not just the “saintly” ones. He calls the members of the Corinthian Church saints even when he confronts them about their inappropriate behavior at the Lord’s Supper. All of us who are in relationship with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, are saints by this definition. If you happen to be around for my funeral service, I hope the congregation will sing For All the Saints who from their labors rest, with music by Ralph Vaugh Williams. This is not because I feel especially saintly, but because I, like you, will be part of that heavenly host who “triumphant rise in bright array…singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost; Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
10/24/2021
A well known religious TV program is entitled Words and Music. The title prompts us to think about how much the interaction of words and music affect us. The relationship is especially significant when the words come from scripture. When we read Psalm 27 “the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I be afraid?” many of us hear the triumphal solo “The Lord Is my Light.” We hear in our minds the soaring solo voice confidently proclaiming the Lord’s salvation. Even the secular setting of Ecclesiastes “to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven” rings true in our minds and hearts. Many of the settings of scripture in Handel’s Messiah repeat every time we read the passage. Who can remain unmoved by the Alto solo “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the mother sheep?” We remember in Holy Week Steiner’s God So Loved the World. Even non musicians recognize Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus and thrill to “the kingdoms of this world is come the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever.” The words and the music together reinforce their significance in our hearts and minds. We do not even need to work at memorizing the words because they plant themselves deeply in our consciousness. Poetry and music combined are powerful in every culture and time. So, “Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth,” and while you are at it sing unto the Lord some old songs as well as together we sign praises to our God.
10/17/2021
We all make mistakes in our speech. We are not taking, as point, about errors in grammar or sloppy usage. We make the more serious mistakes of saying what we should not say. In a moment of anger or carelessness we may say something hurtful to someone else. At times the hurtful speech is directed to those closest to us. How difficult it is as the Book of James puts it to control our tongues. We describe that process when we say things like “I had to bite my tongue.” We know from the physical process of literally biting our tongue how painful the process of controlling our speech can be. The damage of our uncontrolled tongues is at its worst when we have hurtful intent. We may use our speech to build ourselves up and to tare others down. We may be assassins of others character. We may murder the hope, dreams and reputations of other people. What we are often less aware of is the effect of careless speech. A thoughtless casual comment may be appropriated by someone else and used for harm. What is intended as a joke may be used to wound another person even without being intended to do so. At times something proposed as a joke may have a truly malicious intent. Gossip may be intentally or accidentally harmful. We try to avoid it in every way we can while still being concerned about each other’s welfare. Our words can be a curse or a blessing. It is important that we choose our words carefully. It is certain that we all will make mistakes with our tongues and we learn together how to forgive each other’s failures of the tongue. It is not easy to be responsible in our speech. Perhaps that is why Jesus said, “let your yes be yes and your no be no” as a way to avoid the danger of injury by our words.
10/10/2021
Easter Sunday in 2022 is April 17. I know this in part because my new Church Leaders Calendar feels like a new adventure. Here are blank pages waiting to be filled with new events and activities. Some of those spaces will be filled with wonderful events: weddings, births, anniversaries, milestone celebrations. There will also be sorrowful events: deaths, funerals, breakups, conflicts. There will be unpredicted events on local, national and international levels. There may be wars and rumors of wars. New illnesses may develop and new remedies may come. The joys and disasters of technology will keep accelerating. Celebrities will rise and fall in popularity. Teams will win and lose. Politicians will come and go. Even for just one year the events are not fully predictable. As I begin to fill in the things I do know I will fill in birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations. The church calendar will add fixed dates and the big events: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and others will be there. The best part of a new calendar (especially one that arrives three months before the New Year) is that it reminds me that I need to be planning. I need to be thinking about Easter now even though it is still many months away. There will always be changes. My old planning calendar has many cross outs and last minute changes noted. Still it was better to plan ahead even when we know that the plans will in some cases have to be changed. God can be with us in our planning and in the changes that inevitably come. But for now, let’s start filling the calendar spaces with good plans knowing that the future is bright with the promises of God.
10/03/2021
For many years I carried in my mind a variety of phone numbers. Now days, while I remember some numbers from the past, I am hard pressed to remember any contemporary phone numbers even for those close to me that I call often. I’m not sure I would even remember my wife’s number except that it is only one digit different than my own number. The problem could be my changing memory as I age, but I don’t think that to be the case. Not everything should be foisted on old age. The real culprit is my cell phone. It is so easy to scroll down through the contact list and push the button to call someone. I no longer have to remember the number so my mind doesn’t bother to remember. I do feel safer with my wife and I having cell phones since no one can remember seeing a phone booth on a street anywhere in the United States except perhaps in an airport. The downside is that if the phone is on the blink we are stuck until we can find a directory. Rarely is this a problem, but it does make me reflect on this new level of dependence on technology. Will this change the sharpness of our memory? What would happen if the whole system went down? Overall I think cell phones have been a blessing, but sometimes it makes me wonder. New technologies will keep coming along. In the main they will be beneficial if used correctly, but they can be damaging if abused. We could take the stance that we will avoid all the new stuff, but it will still be the world of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I don’t want to be left behind. Hopefully, I can take advantage of the benefits of new technology and still be wise enough to see its limitations.
09/26/2021
According to the back of the bulletin for September 12, 2021, that Sunday is designated as Grandparents’ Day. As a special day on the calendar, it does not have the cachet of Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. As a grandparent myself that really doesn’t bother me. Every time I am with my grandchildren it feels like Grandparents’ Day. At all the stages of their lives so far, they have treated their grandmother and I with affection, love and respect. They delight in our stories of the past, indulge our jokes and forgive our mistakes. I know that not all grandparents and grandchild relationships are so positive, but when I talk to most grandparents, their love and pride in their grandchildren is self -evident. We are fortunate in our time of longer life spans to know our grandparents and even at times our great grandparents. Often when families are separated by distance there are substitute grandparents who families informally adopt who are dear to the children. They may be called Aunts and uncles or just family friends, but they also extend the circle of trust and love for children as they grow. Often those relationships are life long parts of our lives. Fortunate is the child who has four grandparents and several other grandparenting friends. We don’t read much about grandparents in scripture in terms of their relationships with grandchildren. Perhaps this is just assumed by the culture of the time or perhaps life span issues are the problem, but we can be sure that there was loving relationships between grandparents and grandchildren back to the very beginning. They didn’t have a specific Grandparents’ Day, but like now they did not need it. It was enough to just be someone’s grandparent.
09/19/2021
Having been born in Utah, I have always been fascinated by the Old West. While many of the stories in what were called at the time “dime novels”, were an important century in the development in America. There were colorful events like rodeos and Fourth of July Celebrations, farming and ranching with roundups and gatherings like potlucks and country dances. Churches were built and towns established. There was hardship and violence particularly against Native Americans. Saloons and dance halls, at times, far out weighed churches and courthouses. TV and movies have distorted our vision of what that time was actually like for those who experienced it. Old letters and diaries from the period gave a more realistic picture. My nostalgia for the Old West is a combination of fantasy and experience of the rural west. My uncle was a cowboy in Idaho, bred, raised and raced quarter horses on his Utah farm where I helped during the summer. My brother was a rodeo rider, particularly entering bareback and bull riding events. For both good and ill the rural west in the 1950s still carried the values and mythology of the Old West. At times when the veil of Old West mythology is thin in my mind, I wonder if the violence we see in our present society has in any way been influenced by the violent images of the Old West on TV and movies. Perhaps, we would benefit by a view of the past which idolized the peace makers rather than warriors. Olive branches may be a better symbol for our country than arrows. The back of the one dollar bill shows the eagle with olive branches clutched in each foot as a reminder of the need for peace in our society. Eventually the Old West became more civilized than its early days. We can hope that our current violent time may also move toward peace.
09/12/2021
Someone described an example of confidence as “doing the New York Times crossword Puzzle with a ball point pen.” I have always been glad that pencils usually have an eraser built in. While confidence is an attractive quality, it has its limitation. We all make mistakes even about things where we are highly confident. One waggish observer described an acquaintance with the statement, “Often wrong, never in doubt.” It is always possible that what we think we know may in fact be wrong. For those of us who like to be right that is an irritating thought. It has happened to followers of Jesus before. Jesus had just finished telling his disciples that he was going up to Jerusalem and that he would be killed by the powers of that time. Peter immediately contradicted Jesus indicating that could not happen. Peter was certain that Jesus was the Messiah and that death could not be the early end of the Messiah. He was confident but events proved him wrong just as Jesus had said. Christians have gotten things wrong at other times. Some Christians were wrong about slavery, for example. Christians, even faithful, confident Christians can get things wrong even yet. We may not see it at the time, but later events and God’s guidance may help us see the better way. It was a hard path for Peter, but in the end, with God’s help, Peter gained a new vision of what God’s Messiah should be. We might well remember that while Christians get many things right, we can also be mistaken in our opinions. All this should make us a bit more modest especially when we are in disagreement with each other.
09/05/2021
If in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson had written “the pursuit of satisfaction” rather than “the pursuit of happiness”, would we be a less selfish nation? I’m not sure how Jefferson understood happiness. If he saw it, as many seem to think, as the pleasure of the moment, then the pursuit was much too shallow. If he saw it as the deeper satisfaction of long term righteous goals and accomplishment, then it seems more substantial. Some see happiness as the absence of any pain either physical or psychological, but life can never be painless. Some pains are worth it for the reward that is attached to them. Giving birth might be in that category as some mothers have described it. The pain of grief at the loss of someone dear to us is very real, but it also marks, for many people, how dear our relationship is with the one who has passed. Physical disciple in exercise can be painful, but may still be worth the effort. Any sacrifice has at least a pinch to it even at the simplest level. Finding satisfaction even in the midst of difficulty can have far more permanence than the pleasure of the moment. The contrast to shallow happiness is like the contrast between infatuation and deep committed love. One is enjoyable but temporary. The other is lasting and fulfilling. Even with our relationship with God and others, we should seek the deep lasting satisfaction of real happiness.
08/29/2021
Tuesday night I left the car out of the garage with the windows down and, so, of course, on Wednesday morning it rained. I pulled on some street clothes and went out to put up the windows and dry the car’s interior. I was irritated with the rain and with myself for leaving the car out in the rain. My first shower of the day was courtesy of Mother Nature. Later, while drying my exterior after drying the car’s interior I had time to reflect on my dampened enthusiasm. Friends in the western United States are thirsting for the rain I found annoying. For them rain would be a shower of blessing. Drought conditions have resulted in increased wildfires, in limited water resources, in agricultural shortages, in loss of life and property. My car will soon be fully dry, but in other places the water crisis will continue. Are we able to be thankful for blessings that come to us in simple things like abundant rain, ample food crops and, safe surroundings? The crises of our lives can remind us of how often we receive blessings unsought and even unappreciated. Can we somehow increase our gratitude quotient?We hear talk of intelligence quotient and emotional quotient.What about a gratitude quotient?Let us pray a “Lord thank you for the everyday blessings of our life together with you.For what we receive of our daily bread, make us truly thankful.”Amen.
08/22/2021
In my small town in South Dakota there were three Lutheran churches. There was an ALC (American Lutheran Church, an LCA (Lutheran Church in America) and a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. There may even have been a small Wisconsin Synod Lutheran Church. The LCA Church built a beautiful elaborate new church. I heard a critic say, “A really big church for building Christians.” It was intended as a criticism for what the speaker saw as needless excess by a powerful church group. As I have thought about it since, I have reflected that Jesus told his followers “Go make disciples of all nations teaching them…” What does it mean to “make” disciples? What is our responsibility to others to “make disciples”. Teaching, Serving, Helping, Healing, Peacemaking all leap to mind. Our words and our example surely must be part of that. If a building and facilities can be used to help make disciples, a little excess can hardly be faulted. If the excess is a matter of pride and arrogance, that seems far less noble. Why we do what we do and how we use things for the betterment of God’s work to reconcile the world to God should be the real measure. I suspect that the person who was critical of the large LCA church may have had their own issues with jealousy, pride and arrogance. Can we learn how to support others in their attempt to do good rather than impugn their motives? Others may be just as sincere as we are and often just as limited in vision as we often are. Let’s find the good and praise it. Not because every motive is perfect, but by praising the good we focus on what we hope for not on what we negate. “Find the good and praise it.”
08/15/2021
There is an old camp song that proclaims, “The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.” The last two years have proven that song by showing us the negative. We are much less happy when we are unable to get together. We really do need each other. Along with food and shelter we need human contact. Being able to be out among people is helpful, while the best contacts are those we have with people who are friends and people we care about. I am convinced that it is possible to die of loneliness or at least to fail to prosper when we are cut off from loving contact. God knows that about us. When God looked at Adam he said, “it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a companion for him.” We need companionship. That may come with a spouse or a good friend, or a sibling, or a child or a family member. It is no mistake that “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is a perennial favorite among hymns and spiritual songs. Our companionship with God and with each other is vital to our wellbeing. We sing about walking with God. We note our communion with God and with his son, Jesus. When we are very young we are frightened when our care givers are out of sight, even for a minute. Later we learn that they will return and relationship is still secure even when those we love are not constantly, physical present with us, but we never fully outgrow our fear of abandonment and loneliness. With the constancy of God’s presence we have less reason to feel alone, but we still want and need other people in our life to feel fully whole and secure. So we celebrate in our church the themes: Peacefully, Simply, Together. All three are significant but “together” may be more important to us in our current time and place.
08/08/2021
My son-in-law, Marc and I were at a Fantasy Movie based on the comic book character, “The Spirit.” Our wives were not interested in the movie so it was a boy’s night out. The villain in the piece was played as a bit silly. He had minions, large beefy guys, with their names on their t-shirts. All the names ended in “os”. There was mild laughter when onr “minion” emerged with “huevos” printed on his shirt (Spanish for “eggs”.) Later in the movie three entered with the names, “logos, ethnos, and pathos.” Marc and I were the only ones laughing. We both recognized Aristotle’s sources of persuasion from the Poetics. Admittedly, that was a pretty obscure reference for a general audience. We were aware of the reference from college philosophy classes we had each taken. Jokes can be like that. There has to be a shared context to get the joke. On reflection, it made me wonder how often I miss the point in reading, conversation, viewing, or hearing because I am missing some vital piece of information. There should be no shame in not getting the point when our knowledge is limited in some way. At other times, I know that I miss the point because I am not paying attention (not to mention my faulty hearing). How often I wonder is God trying to point out something important to me and I am too distracted by the things around me to hear or get the point. I can work on greater knowledge of God and his ways and I can purpose to pay better attention. I want to be sure that I am getting the message that the eternal author is sending out.
08/01/2021
This is the 100 year anniversary of the development of insulin treatment for diabetes. Based on earlier research beginning in the late 1800s the hormone insulin was discovered but it took a young surgeon names Frederick Bonning with his assistant Charles Best to separate insulin from a dog’s pancreas. They used the insulin to prolong the life of a dog with diabetes. Later colleagues Collip and NacLeod retained insulin from the pancreas of cattle. In January 1922 a fourteen year old boy, Leonard Thompson who was dying from diabetes was treated with insulin and survived. In 1923 Banting and Mac Leod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine which they shared with Best and Collip. Shortly after this Eli Lilly began to mass produce insulin. In 1978 synthetic “human” insulin was developed which Lilly introduced as Humulin. Insulin has continued to develop, so that diabetes is no longer a death sentence for the 10.5 percent of the U.S. population which diabetes. This serious disease can now be controlled and life prolonged. Worldwide diabetes affect 8.5 percent of people according to the World Health Organization. In 2019 that percentage represented an estimated 34.2 million people in the U.S. How fortunate we are that there is help for diabetes with both insulin and oral medications. It is gift from science and medicine for which we praise God.
07/25/2021
“Just relax”, he said. “OK,” I responded but I didn’t relax. Have you noticed that having someone tell you to relax often has the opposite effect? The request/suggestion/order just makes me more tense. All of us recognize the value of relaxing for our overall health. It was part of the divine plan to have a day of rest after six days of work. With our human ability to make things more difficult and even more tense, we came up with all sorts of restrictions to try to force people to relax on the Sabbath. Such restrictions have often invited rebellion instead of relaxation. Worship should be restorative, and contribute to our sense of well- being. Being with people who care about us and who we care about feels good. Singing together lifts the soul. Sharing our prayers brings comfort, encouragement and help. I will be glad when can return to pot luck meals at church and coffee and cookies at Sunday School and before services. I enjoy being a leader and like to preach and teach, but it is great to sit and chat with a coffee and cookies. I don’t even worry about what we talk about. It can be about weather or sports, books or movies, God or faith, even problems or griefs , being together helps me relax without it even having to be suggested. So don’t worry about relaxing, just take a deep breath, grab a cookie and just enjoy it together.