Aunt Marie

My Aunt Marie had a tradition every year for Easter - she made butterhorns for the whole family. I've never really seen them anywhere else, but remember that each year for Easter breakfast, Mom would get out the coffee cans filled with butterhorns that Aunt Marie had brought over for us. It was the only time of year she made them, and they were a nice treat for that one Sunday each year.

It has been almost 20 years since Aunt Marie died in a car accident (actually 19 years ago this past week.) That means it's been 20 years since the last Easter with butterhorns. But today, during a quick stop at Sentry, I walked by the bakery table with today's special - butterhorns! These were twice as big as the ones Aunt Marie used to make, but honestly, I don't remember ever seeing them anywhere else. At first I just walked by and smiled, recalling this tradition from my past. But then it dawned on me - tomorrow is Aunt Marie's birthday. There must be some significance to the fact that the long-forgotten butterhorns are on special just in time for her birthday and with Easter coming up too. The ironic thing is, I rarely stop at Sentry, but for some reason today decided to swing by there instead of my usual Pick & Save. So I went back and picked up a package of butterhorns.... high triglycerides be damned!

I'm not sure what the significance is... but I also picked up an extra Powerball ticket just in case. Hey, the drawing is on Aunt Marie's birthday and I bought it at the store with the butterhorns, so ya never know! There has to be some reason I stopped at Sentry, right? Maybe Aunt Marie was sending me a message. :)

What a Moron!

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=726636

OK, so I know we all have choices to make in this world. I know business people can make whatever choices they want about who to serve and who to allow to use their property. But this man made a totally moronic decision - as I see it, it's moronic even from a business standpoint, and it just plain pisses me off!

He had been allowing this Madison church to use his parking ramp free on Sunday mornings during their worship, but has now told them unless they stop serving as an emergency homeless shelter for overflow from the regular shelter, they cannot use his ramp. Excuse me?? He wants to force this church NOT to do one of the very basic things that a church is called to do?????? Feed the poor, shelter the homeless, reach out to the outcast and needy of the world? Part of the basic teachings of Jesus - but hey, if you want to park your cars on Sunday mornings you damn well better stop because those homeless guys are "bad neighbors." All I can say to that is, Jesus said "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."

Even from a business standpoint - bad move! Certainly bad PR, and will likely lose many customers for his business just from the bad press he's getting. Not only will the church members undoubtedly stop utilizing his business, but I would hope others would as well in a show of solidarity for the mission of the church.

Needless to say, the church said "no thanks" to the free parking and has kept on sheltering the 20 or so homeless men. Thank God there are places like that church to offer shelter, and people like those members to support it. My last congregation was an emergency shelter one night a week during the winter months (a program that I'm sure was similar to this one in Madison,) and part of my job as associate pastor was overseeing this ministry. It was a very, very time-consuming and exhausting ministry for the congregation because of the sheer numbers of volunteers we needed for all those Saturday nights all night. Not many congregations can physically, financially, or emotionally support that kind of ministry, so I commend all who do.

As for that business man? I certainly hope he never finds himself in a place of need. Although if he does, knowing what little I know about this congregation he would not be turned away.

Whew!

This morning, the nightmare I have occasionally over the years actually came true. Every once in a while, I think every pastor has that recurring bad dream of waking up late and finding oneself in the pulpit with no sermon. That was me today!

I wish I could blame it on Daylight Savings Time, but I did remember to turn my clock ahead. I set the time for my usual Sunday morning wake up too. But I forgot to check to see if I actually turned the alarm on.

Somehow this morning I miraculously woke up at 7:05 am. My waking words were not entirely appropriate for a Sunday morning, although I did thank God for waking me before the 8:00 service anyway. I usually make it out the door by 7:10 on a typical Sunday. Today it was 7:15. Poor Max couldn't figure out what was going on as I grabbed any nearby clothes to wear, splashed cold water on my face, brushed my teeth and got ready to head out the door. He cried for attention and some time on my lap, but I had to beg for his understanding on my way out. However, I did take the time to fill his dishes, so I wasn't a totally neglectful mother.

Needless to say, there was also no time to boot up the computer to print out a sermon for this morning, so I had to rely on my memory of what I was preparing for today. I rarely print out a sermon before Sunday morning because it almost always needs at least a little tweaking in the early morning hours after some overnight processing. I prayed desperately for the Spirit to intervene on the drive to church, and somehow it worked. Granted there were some differences in my sermon from 8:00 to the 10:30 service - definitely for the better, I would say. But the basic concept I was working with made it through in spite of my lack of decent waking and preparation time. If I must say so myself, it went pretty well! And there was a higher than usual number of compliments this week too. I could say I should let the Spirit take me every week, but man, I don't want to go through this again any time soon.

What I will say is, today was a good reminder that my preaching is definitely Spirit driven and not any reflection at all on my own ability! However, I would prefer a more subtle reminder next time.