Script of Invocation given to minnesota state senate 3/28/17
Senators Gazelka and Fischbach
Senators Bakk and Rest
Members of the 17-18 Biennium Ninetieth Legislature: It is my honor to bring you the word today – and the word is a simple one: Embrace the Suck.
Coming out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago, the concept of embracing the suck requires our Soldiers to understand that the work we do is messy and quite often terrible.
Our collective mission can quite often take us to the other side of the equation, to the tedious and the mundane. Please know that this isn’t the military equivalent of going from the sauna to the hole in the ice – we’ve been known to spend too long in the heat. And we find ourselves out in the cold far too often, as well.
King David, a pillar in three of the world’s great religions, is an outstanding example of a prophet, warrior and king. He was also an example of a horrible husband and a lousy father – but when he was that way it was because he got into situations and wasn’t able to face them head on. David did what we all tend to do: He ignored them and when that didn’t work he tried to take the easy way out.
So today – like King David ultimately did – I am calling you out to embrace the suck of the situation you find yourself in. I’d also suggest avoiding superlatives and infinitives while doing this. They’re not normally helpful in finding solutions.
Here’s the ticket: It is altogether likely that your God has you here, and has given you specific skills and abilities to use at this moment in history. So do it. Get to work. Don’t avoid the ugly truth (because the truth is often that) or take the easy way out.
And here is the blessing: The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. And the ability to embrace the suck. Amen.
Senators Bakk and Rest
Members of the 17-18 Biennium Ninetieth Legislature: It is my honor to bring you the word today – and the word is a simple one: Embrace the Suck.
Coming out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago, the concept of embracing the suck requires our Soldiers to understand that the work we do is messy and quite often terrible.
Our collective mission can quite often take us to the other side of the equation, to the tedious and the mundane. Please know that this isn’t the military equivalent of going from the sauna to the hole in the ice – we’ve been known to spend too long in the heat. And we find ourselves out in the cold far too often, as well.
King David, a pillar in three of the world’s great religions, is an outstanding example of a prophet, warrior and king. He was also an example of a horrible husband and a lousy father – but when he was that way it was because he got into situations and wasn’t able to face them head on. David did what we all tend to do: He ignored them and when that didn’t work he tried to take the easy way out.
So today – like King David ultimately did – I am calling you out to embrace the suck of the situation you find yourself in. I’d also suggest avoiding superlatives and infinitives while doing this. They’re not normally helpful in finding solutions.
Here’s the ticket: It is altogether likely that your God has you here, and has given you specific skills and abilities to use at this moment in history. So do it. Get to work. Don’t avoid the ugly truth (because the truth is often that) or take the easy way out.
And here is the blessing: The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. And the ability to embrace the suck. Amen.
sisters schooled inMission Trip Report from Connie and Jan: presented the Sillerud Quilters and friends quilts last night to Pastor Angel and his wife Jackeline last night. Soon the quilts will be providing warmth to children in the valley of Constanza, Dominican Republic.
Trip to the dominicangod's absolute grace |
|
ASH WEDNESDAY WORSHIP SERVICE AT SILLERUD
A Reading from the Third Chapter of Leviticus, the 12th verse: 'Moreover, if his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD.' Pastor Jennie is concerned that the goats are spending more time in her garden than she has.
The Things i don't want to do, i do.
Sillerud Devotional 3.4
By Pastor Daryl Thul
Pastor Jennifer likes to let the goats roam free at the Sillerud Parsonage.
This actually works out well. They generally don’t go much into the church parsonage (although once they followed Delores Swan about 100 yards to the front of the church), and they get to live in their buffet.
The young dog, Blue, tries to herd them and once in a while it works. Occasionally the biggest of the goats, Velma, will put down her horns and shake the puppy’s world. It’s an interesting dance that they have.
Over the past couple of days, the goats have taken to eating from the flower garden in front of the house, as well as from the small vegetable garden that Jennifer planted.
Jennie, who put chicken wire up to stop this sort of thing from happening, is not cool with this.
“They have everything that they could want,” she said the other day as pushed Trouble and Velma out of the garden. “Why do they need to get into the one place I don’t want them to go?”
If this isn’t a set up for a theology lesson from the Garden of Eden story, I don’t know what it.
God told Adam: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
It took a little time, but that’s exactly what they did.
They ate.
Eventually they died.
The Apostle Paul described this phenomenon well: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”
This is not an abdication of your responsibility to live pure lives.
It is simply a fact that you suck at it.
That’s why Jesus added that part about leading us not into temptation, but rather delivering us from evil in the prayer He taught us.
The goats will get a free pass.
The fencing will be improved and it won’t be a problem for much longer.
We are too manipulative for our own good and I can’t see God building a fence to keep us away from the things that most tempt us.
We can have accountability buddies in dealing with our biggest temptations. Let a person closest to you know what you are struggling with and solicit their involvement.
We can pray and ask from strength in fighting these demons. The Spirit of God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
We can also be honest.
Living with clear lines is important.
Don’t try to justify bad behavior by nibbling around the edges of the law.
That is all for today.
Stay focused!
By Pastor Daryl Thul
Pastor Jennifer likes to let the goats roam free at the Sillerud Parsonage.
This actually works out well. They generally don’t go much into the church parsonage (although once they followed Delores Swan about 100 yards to the front of the church), and they get to live in their buffet.
The young dog, Blue, tries to herd them and once in a while it works. Occasionally the biggest of the goats, Velma, will put down her horns and shake the puppy’s world. It’s an interesting dance that they have.
Over the past couple of days, the goats have taken to eating from the flower garden in front of the house, as well as from the small vegetable garden that Jennifer planted.
Jennie, who put chicken wire up to stop this sort of thing from happening, is not cool with this.
“They have everything that they could want,” she said the other day as pushed Trouble and Velma out of the garden. “Why do they need to get into the one place I don’t want them to go?”
If this isn’t a set up for a theology lesson from the Garden of Eden story, I don’t know what it.
God told Adam: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
It took a little time, but that’s exactly what they did.
They ate.
Eventually they died.
The Apostle Paul described this phenomenon well: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”
This is not an abdication of your responsibility to live pure lives.
It is simply a fact that you suck at it.
That’s why Jesus added that part about leading us not into temptation, but rather delivering us from evil in the prayer He taught us.
The goats will get a free pass.
The fencing will be improved and it won’t be a problem for much longer.
We are too manipulative for our own good and I can’t see God building a fence to keep us away from the things that most tempt us.
We can have accountability buddies in dealing with our biggest temptations. Let a person closest to you know what you are struggling with and solicit their involvement.
We can pray and ask from strength in fighting these demons. The Spirit of God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
We can also be honest.
Living with clear lines is important.
Don’t try to justify bad behavior by nibbling around the edges of the law.
That is all for today.
Stay focused!
SILLERUD DEVOTIONAL: A MESSAGE THROUGH ICE COLD PUSH UPS
Sillerud Devotional 3.2
There was about an inch or so of slush on the ice at Current Lake when I dropped to do my 22 push ups yesterday afternoon.
As I stood and gave Caleb the thumbs up he informed me that my phone had quit recording about half way through – the screen had gone dark and he was pretty sure I’d need to do it again.
Now there is a little bit of a difference between push ups 1-22 and 23-44 – but I did it.
The main problem was that my leather gloves soaked through and my old running shoes got soaked through the toes. It got worse when I came near the shore and had to jump over the spring-fed open water and dropped through the ice. It was mid-shin cold at that time.
I’m almost halfway through this campaign to promote awareness of suicide awareness within the ranks of America’s armed services veterans and walking out on melting ice is probably as good an analogy as you’re going to find in dealing with the issue of suicide.
There are times in the middle of winter when the ice just cracks and things fall through – but that doesn’t happen a whole lot. Most of the time, there are signs that the ice is probably not as safe as it once was. Slush appears. It gets soggy and/or wet. The ice itself gets milky as it is starts to soften. There might be signs warning you of thin ice. A guy could even be at the shoreline yelling at you to be careful.
Pain is an absolutely wonderful gift that we are given by God. Pain is what our body and our mind and our heart uses to tell us that we’re in trouble. And when we are in trouble, we ought not be alone. If we see someone in trouble, we don’t leave them alone.
The Psalmist writes that the Lord is near those who are brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit. (34)
If you’re hurting today, please let someone know.
And if someone comes to you, please listen.
It’s not about problem solving or fixing.
It’s about being there.
Get help when needed and ask the tough questions.
Pastor Daryl Thul
There was about an inch or so of slush on the ice at Current Lake when I dropped to do my 22 push ups yesterday afternoon.
As I stood and gave Caleb the thumbs up he informed me that my phone had quit recording about half way through – the screen had gone dark and he was pretty sure I’d need to do it again.
Now there is a little bit of a difference between push ups 1-22 and 23-44 – but I did it.
The main problem was that my leather gloves soaked through and my old running shoes got soaked through the toes. It got worse when I came near the shore and had to jump over the spring-fed open water and dropped through the ice. It was mid-shin cold at that time.
I’m almost halfway through this campaign to promote awareness of suicide awareness within the ranks of America’s armed services veterans and walking out on melting ice is probably as good an analogy as you’re going to find in dealing with the issue of suicide.
There are times in the middle of winter when the ice just cracks and things fall through – but that doesn’t happen a whole lot. Most of the time, there are signs that the ice is probably not as safe as it once was. Slush appears. It gets soggy and/or wet. The ice itself gets milky as it is starts to soften. There might be signs warning you of thin ice. A guy could even be at the shoreline yelling at you to be careful.
Pain is an absolutely wonderful gift that we are given by God. Pain is what our body and our mind and our heart uses to tell us that we’re in trouble. And when we are in trouble, we ought not be alone. If we see someone in trouble, we don’t leave them alone.
The Psalmist writes that the Lord is near those who are brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit. (34)
If you’re hurting today, please let someone know.
And if someone comes to you, please listen.
It’s not about problem solving or fixing.
It’s about being there.
Get help when needed and ask the tough questions.
Pastor Daryl Thul
Sillerud devotional: life, death and the american chicken
Devotional 3.1
Pastor Daryl Thil
Today I set up the 4x4 chick pen in the basement of the parsonage at Sillerud.
I should have done it yesterday. The six growing chicks became five in the plastic brooder box last night, a reminder that animals - even cute baby chicks - can be nasty to each other. The victim was smothered by its siblings and then used as a pillow until I removed its corpse.
These six were actually a group of eight eggs that hatched a couple weeks ago as we did a test batch of 41 from our own hen eggs. The other two chicks that died were spent from their struggle getting out of the shell. It was my fault - the humidity was far too low the last three days.
Yes, the hatch rate was horrible. I blamed the two roosters and retired them to the Henkel farm where they will live out their days as confirmed bachelors as long as they are able to avoid the dog. I own some of the failure, I admit.
We brought in a Road Island Red from the Davis farm. We collected nine eggs that we are sure came from one of his ladies. He then dropped over dead.
There seems to be a death motif here.
And there is.
You can't get to Easter without Good Friday.
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote of 'Cheap Grace' - explaining how we are given to bypassing any real sorrow or contrition to God or those we have hurt by our sins, instead falling back on God's promise of forgiveness.
There are real consequences to our sins. We hurt one another and ourselves and we break trail to our own graves. The rule is 'You Sin, You Die.'That's something we are not going to avoid.
Jesus, who did not sin, humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8).
And it is for the sake of Jesus death and resurrection that God the Father opens the Gates of Heaven via the empty tomb. Our baptisms are baptisms into Jesus' death.
Our lives are given into the Light of Christ, as well. We are joined also in this Easter morning promise.
Rather than risk not having chicks for Palm Sunday (an awesome tradition here in the southern part of the Prairie Conference), I bought fertilized eggs from a farmer over by Ruthton.
The main incubator is at Colonial Manor and the chicks will start hatching around the 18th. The Davis rooster's progeny are incubating in my basement.
I owe Todd a replacement.
Know this: Life is messy and death is never that far away.
I'm not writing that to encourage you to run up your credit cards and pretend there is no tomorrow, but rather that you dance in the Light of Christ.
It's not easy, but it is worth it.
Sillerud Devotional: Sin and Carp
Sillerud Devotional 2.12
Sin and Carp
1 John 1: 7-9 If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Sin reminds me of the carp living in Current Lake.
They came to the shallows about a week ago for maybe 36 hours, splashing and spawning. And then it got cold again and they dove down into the depths.
That is sort of funny.
Current is a Prairie Pothole and doesn’t get more than eight feet at its deepest.
Carp are not native to this lake or any lake in Minnesota. They were imported from Asia and from Europe as a farmed fish delicacy in the 1840s and subsequently used to stock fish populations in lakes – a bad idea made worse by the fact that carp are highly adaptable and can survive in conditions most fish cannot.
The carp in Current are like my shortcomings.
Once in a while they come toward the shore and are easily seen by just about anyone. Most of the time, however, these sins are hidden. They are destructive and crowd out the good things within me.
When I hear my sins are forgiven, I wonder if it really can be that easy.
The Thul family speared and/or netted 164 carp last spring and we have 14 already in this shortened early season. I watched as quite literally the group out of Curry netted thousands of carp out of the lake last fall. Do you want to know the sadness? We don’t even make much of a dent in the carp population, and even if we did – a single female carp lays up to 2 million eggs per cycle and a young carp can grow up to 8 inches in a summer.
God understood the very nature of His creation, this truth that we are unable to rid ourselves of sin once sin gets a foothold. And boy, does it have a foothold.
Through Jesus, the visible sins are forgiven.
Through Jesus, the hidden sins are forgiven.
I want so much to be better than I am, and God wants that for me, too.
I pray God purify us in ways that we cannot on our own. Lord knows we tried.
Sin and Carp
1 John 1: 7-9 If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Sin reminds me of the carp living in Current Lake.
They came to the shallows about a week ago for maybe 36 hours, splashing and spawning. And then it got cold again and they dove down into the depths.
That is sort of funny.
Current is a Prairie Pothole and doesn’t get more than eight feet at its deepest.
Carp are not native to this lake or any lake in Minnesota. They were imported from Asia and from Europe as a farmed fish delicacy in the 1840s and subsequently used to stock fish populations in lakes – a bad idea made worse by the fact that carp are highly adaptable and can survive in conditions most fish cannot.
The carp in Current are like my shortcomings.
Once in a while they come toward the shore and are easily seen by just about anyone. Most of the time, however, these sins are hidden. They are destructive and crowd out the good things within me.
When I hear my sins are forgiven, I wonder if it really can be that easy.
The Thul family speared and/or netted 164 carp last spring and we have 14 already in this shortened early season. I watched as quite literally the group out of Curry netted thousands of carp out of the lake last fall. Do you want to know the sadness? We don’t even make much of a dent in the carp population, and even if we did – a single female carp lays up to 2 million eggs per cycle and a young carp can grow up to 8 inches in a summer.
God understood the very nature of His creation, this truth that we are unable to rid ourselves of sin once sin gets a foothold. And boy, does it have a foothold.
Through Jesus, the visible sins are forgiven.
Through Jesus, the hidden sins are forgiven.
I want so much to be better than I am, and God wants that for me, too.
I pray God purify us in ways that we cannot on our own. Lord knows we tried.
Sillerud Prayer Path, Part 2
|
Between the snow and the rain, there was a two hour window a couple weeks ago when a group of teens, along with members of Team Soybean King, blazed the second leg of the Prayer Path at Sillerud Lutheran Church.
While no one was actually wearing a coonskin cap, it should be noted that the young men and women were more than up for the challenge - clearing wood and other grove items (like barbed wire that had to be 75 years old). The original prayer path was created almost 5 years ago and it ran from the Northwest Corner of the Sillerud Cemetery to just behind the Parsonage garage. The work completed in late March now extends the path to the southwest corner of the grove and alongside the goat pen. In the coming months, there will be a drive to add crosses and other meditation items to the path. In addition, additional work will be needed to lay down a layer of wood chips. "It's pretty dry in there right now, but in a normal year there are muddy spots along the way," Pastor Thul said. 
This is a picture of the original Prayer Path Crew!
|
|
Palm Sunday at sillerud, all-ages choir and baby chicks!
Worship on the Water! (Ice)
WELCA, C-PLUS Girls Team up for bowling event at Colonial manor
Crystal Buysse and Kelly Louwagie of Sillerud Lutheran Church made treats and bibles out of candy for residents who choose to spend time throwing a ball at some plastic 2 liter bottles. The women of Sillerud are always thinking of ways to do something fun and different. Putting the youth together with the residents was a win win for everyone. The 7th and 8th grade girls had a blast and the residents hooted and hollered. It was a good night!
Making a 70 year old quilt in 2014 (or maybe just finishing it ... )
God's Work, Our hands sunday
By Pastor Thul
Sunday at Sillerud was all about reclaiming sacred space.
This is what I mean.
Time and distance take their toll on all things human – to include human beings themselves. And while you can sometimes see frontier buildings slowly dry rotting in the arid conditions of western South Dakota – the same cannot be said for our part of the prairie.
Even concrete crumbles over time around here.
The field rock and mortar foundation of the old horse stable can be found along the prayer path in the Sillerud grove, a stand of trees about 120 years old. We know this about the grove because the earliest pictures of the church show absolutely no trees – just prairie.
But given a chance, nature will take back what it can. And what it did take was 25 feet and five graves sometime in the past 70 years or so.
Please know that the most recent of these tombstones dates to the 1920s, and they were in a section of the cemetery that is generally reserved for non-members who couldn’t have been buried in just about any other cemetery (it wasn’t that long ago that churches and their respective cemeteries would only allow their own to be buried within their fences). Sillerud, as it happened, was just about as open as a church could be from the get-go and there are many people buried in Sillerud who did not have ties to the congregation.
Probably not an excuse for letting the grove swallow them up, but this isn’t about assigning blame – it’s about celebrating that which was gone has been found and is now reclaimed.
If a church on the prairie can reclaim its own – so can and will God.
Feel free to take a tour of the grounds.
Just in front of the church itself stands an Ebenezer, a Testament to God’s continuing presence in our lives.
May you feel Him in your life, as well.
Sunday at Sillerud was all about reclaiming sacred space.
This is what I mean.
Time and distance take their toll on all things human – to include human beings themselves. And while you can sometimes see frontier buildings slowly dry rotting in the arid conditions of western South Dakota – the same cannot be said for our part of the prairie.
Even concrete crumbles over time around here.
The field rock and mortar foundation of the old horse stable can be found along the prayer path in the Sillerud grove, a stand of trees about 120 years old. We know this about the grove because the earliest pictures of the church show absolutely no trees – just prairie.
But given a chance, nature will take back what it can. And what it did take was 25 feet and five graves sometime in the past 70 years or so.
Please know that the most recent of these tombstones dates to the 1920s, and they were in a section of the cemetery that is generally reserved for non-members who couldn’t have been buried in just about any other cemetery (it wasn’t that long ago that churches and their respective cemeteries would only allow their own to be buried within their fences). Sillerud, as it happened, was just about as open as a church could be from the get-go and there are many people buried in Sillerud who did not have ties to the congregation.
Probably not an excuse for letting the grove swallow them up, but this isn’t about assigning blame – it’s about celebrating that which was gone has been found and is now reclaimed.
If a church on the prairie can reclaim its own – so can and will God.
Feel free to take a tour of the grounds.
Just in front of the church itself stands an Ebenezer, a Testament to God’s continuing presence in our lives.
May you feel Him in your life, as well.
Sillerud Devotional 1.16
Too much of a good thing is not wonderful, despite what Liberace once said.
Mae West added a disclaimer to the phrase: “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” Still off.
The actual quote, “Too much of a good thing is bad,” can be traced back to 16th century England. Bingo.
I bring this up because rain is generally thought of as a good thing in the summer months on Minnesota – and I write this as another line of storm clouds march eastward to our little place in the sun.
Proverbs 25 says that it isn’t good to eat too much honey. Having eaten too much candy once or twice in my life – I agree.
The passage goes on to say that we are not to search out our own glory. Here’s the right way to go about this: Give away all the credit and power for the things you find success in.
Point to your neighbors, your teammates, your Jesus. I normally talk about how blessed I am just to be in a position that allows me to see success. That really cool new sign on Highway 91? The Council gets some credit for taking a step out, and special kudos go to Dave Wieme and his family, Rick Miller, Dave Peterson. And God, who has breathed life into Sillerud and continues to do so.
And when things don’t go that well, when things fall apart?
Own it. At least own your part.
These are tough words, but life is better when you follow them.
Pastor Thul
July 16, 2014
Too much of a good thing is not wonderful, despite what Liberace once said.
Mae West added a disclaimer to the phrase: “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” Still off.
The actual quote, “Too much of a good thing is bad,” can be traced back to 16th century England. Bingo.
I bring this up because rain is generally thought of as a good thing in the summer months on Minnesota – and I write this as another line of storm clouds march eastward to our little place in the sun.
Proverbs 25 says that it isn’t good to eat too much honey. Having eaten too much candy once or twice in my life – I agree.
The passage goes on to say that we are not to search out our own glory. Here’s the right way to go about this: Give away all the credit and power for the things you find success in.
Point to your neighbors, your teammates, your Jesus. I normally talk about how blessed I am just to be in a position that allows me to see success. That really cool new sign on Highway 91? The Council gets some credit for taking a step out, and special kudos go to Dave Wieme and his family, Rick Miller, Dave Peterson. And God, who has breathed life into Sillerud and continues to do so.
And when things don’t go that well, when things fall apart?
Own it. At least own your part.
These are tough words, but life is better when you follow them.
Pastor Thul
July 16, 2014
|
|
Doug Prairie and Stan Larson dumped more than 160 bags of insulation into the blower, a part of the recently completed church renovation project. God's work in rural Balaton isn't done yet!
|
