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I learned tonight that I’m appointed 1/4 time to pastor Wolf Creek United Methodist Church. That’s subject to their acceptance of me; however, I am their longest serving pastor (11 years) so they have some idea of what they’ll be getting. When I’ve had services there over the past year or so, I am warmly received. We will discuss details of the arrangement the first week of May.

Quarter time may be difficult for me to adjust to, since I am used to being the guy who’s at the hospital at 2 a.m. when needed–that sort of thing. If we can be clear about our mutual expectations, all will go well, I think, and this old dog certainly can re-train.

But what about Good Samaritan Care Center? We shall see. Lately, I find myself chafing against more and more of what I think are bureaucratic paperwork tasks that take time from what I signed on to do when I was invited to consider chaplaincy work there: do one-on-one ministry with residents, with families with great guilt about putting a loved one in a nursing home, and with staff that sometimes has a difficult day or has something at home that’s upsetting and they need to dump their burdens. I’ll continue as long as I can and I will know when the Lord tells me it’s time to quit. As for the added schedule, the Lord has made me strong.

Our town home association’s secretary/treasurer is in a nursing home and the books and records have been dumped in a box and left with me. We all will need to meet to figure out practical things like who gets the mail, who signs checks and pays the bills, and who contracts to have things done around our eight units. I don’t think it’s all that much work, but I really would rather have someone else take it on.

This morning saw no falling snow but a good crowd at Taylors Falls United Methodist Church. I’m always well received there and the service went well. One woman called the service “superb!” The church building is the oldest Methodist Church building in Minnesota that still is in use and is registered as an Historical Site amid the historical homes on “Angels’ Hill”.

Yesterday was spent cranking out 13 ads for the next quarter series for Church Page Ministries. The ads run in newspapers nation-wide and CPM has been a client of mine for more than 30 years now. The task in the ads: capture peoples’ attention in 45 words or less and motivate them to get to church that week. We use a combination of scripture, argument (so to speak) and then an invitation to show up at the church of their choice. I hope that when they do show up that they get fed.

You know that I have filled in frequently of late at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church. After service this morning with District Superintendent Rev. Dr. Kate C. Jones, the Wolf Creek congregation met to formally withdraw from the Upper St.Croix Parish (the other churches include Grantsburg Central, Atlas and St.Croix Falls United Methodist Churches). They had decisions to make, officers to elect and a budget to adopt. The next step there is for the Wisconsin Conference to appoint a quarter-time pastor. This is a major move for WCR, as they have been yoked with at least one other congregation since (perhaps) its beginning. (Back in 1911 they were yoked with Eureka and Cushing Methodist Churches. My predecessor pastored Wolf Creek, St.Croix Falls and Taylors Falls. I was fortunate to pastor just St.Croix Falls and Wolf Creek.) It is difficult to be the small or smallest church, difficult to pastor and difficult to be the small or smaller church. As it was, my predecessor did the 8:15 a.m. service at Wolf Creek, hightailed it to St.Croix Falls, often arriving late, and then hustled over to Taylors Falls. Taylors Falls, then, received the pastor’s time for conversation after the service and things evolved so that Taylors Falls became the favored congregation. When I came, Taylors Falls had been spun off to Minnesota’s Conference (where it belonged) and I had the St.Croix Falls service moved to 10 a.m. instead of 9:45 a.m. so I had a bit of time to visit at Wolf Creek and didn’t have to rush off. The early service time in Wolf Creek is a problem for some, especially for young people, but some people like the early service time. The ultimate attendance there is limited by the small space of the church building, which is a former two room school that the congregation has updated nicely. Sometimes snug can be good!

Dresser’s outdoor thermometer read “0” degrees when I drove through this morning enroute to Wolf Creek United Methodist Church. It wasn’t much warmer in the church building when I arrived: the furnace was not working. We joked about going Pentecostal and doing church aerobics. During the service Neil, whose business is furnaces, was at work in the basement. (At the service’s end, I took Holy Communion down to him.) I preached on Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth and I can’t say it was the best Easter message I’ve ever preached. (Sorry, Lord!) Young Josh read scriptures and showed a nice presence for someone who might be 10, 11 or 12 years old. We were about 3/4 full; some of the regulars were with family but then we had family with some of our people, too. Next week is their meeting with the District Superintendent to formally disassociate from the Upper St.Croix Parish (Central [Grantsburg] Atlas and St.Croix Falls). They may hear, also, who their next pastor will be. I have a hunch I know who that is.

Next week I’m at Taylors Falls United Methodist Church, which means I’d better get cracking on some sermon preparation if I want to deliver something better than I did this morning.

Later in April I’ll be reading “Shall We Dance?”, the re-named flamenco story, for the writers’ group at Amery’s Northern Lakes Center for the Arts. And in May they’ll hear “Sinner Ella”, the latest “mangled” fairy tale.

Marina and I are looking at adding a second bedroom to the main floor of our Bone Lake cabin. That also means a covered screen porch and a new deck. Will we move there someday? We shall see how the future unfolds.

It was Palm Sunday at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church. We missed a couple of the regulars, but that meant more to eat at the after-service brunch! I’m always well received at Wolf Creek; they are a great bunch of people and I get plenty of positive strokes, enough so I need two watch out for a swelling head. I suspect a swelled head puts great pressure on the brain. I grew up in Hollywood and learned early not to believe one’s own press clippings. Holy Week reminds anyone of the transitory nature of public approbation. Good receptions can unravel very quickly. I sensed optimism at Wolf Creek last Sunday, optimism about their future as a small congregation and a willingness to put behind them the recent tensions and upset between pastors and the congregation and even between members of the congregation. May it be so!

I did the 9 a.m. service on Sunday at St.Peter’s Lutheran Church in Luck. This is a great bunch of people! We had Holy Communion, done I’m sure in a way that’s unfamiliar to them; but they give me plenty of slack and I’m sure they understand forgiveness is an important Christian virtue.

I’m hoping to attend their coming Meatball Supper on Sunday, April 8th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is well planned and I sense that just about everyone participates.

I’m letting “Sinner Ella” and “Zapateados” simmer a bit before I put them out on Kindle. At this point I’d really like to have more readers, more reviews and certainly more buyers of the stories. I’m like every other author, I guess. I’m also a bit frustrated by not being able to generate a buzz yet so the above desires can be realized. On the other hand, I’m more than busy right now. Just today we received a demand for documentation from the plaintiffs in our lawsuit over the beach boundary at our cabin. There’s a lot to find and get off to the attorneys by a deadline. Tomorrow is a “free” day, which really means some grocery shopping and a trip to the safe deposit box to find some of what I hope is in there that will help in the lawsuit.

When I drove away from St.Peter’s Lutheran Church in Luck, WI after our service (9a.m. on Daylight Savings Time change) the place still stood. Seriously, everyone got to church on time, even me coming from a distance, and–per usual–I was received warmly. We had a good turnout and even apple crisp for treats at coffee hour.

I like this bunch! They have a good sense of humor and care for each other in ways that are obvious. And some of them even are reading my stories!

BTW, I finished the fourth short story in the next collection. It’s called “Zapateados” and deals with a flamenco dance troupe’s fiery difficulties. The other stories are “A Cabbie’s Sunday Morning Soap Opera”, “The Great Experiment”, and “Sinner Ella”.

Next Sunday I’m at St.Peter’s again and at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church on Palm and Easter Sundays.

Lats night we enjoyed St.Croix Festival Theatre’s “Peter Pan”, which was a cute and inventive adaptation of the story. Our granddaughter, Klara Fansler, played Wendy, the lead and did a fine job.

Hola! Today had ice falling as I made my way to Taylors Falls United Methodist Church. It turned to rain on my return home.

Per usual, I received a warm welcome and a strongly positive response to my message that dealt with the “so what?” of Jesus’ cleansing the Temple. Several people asked after Marina, but with the slippery conditions and ice melt on the dog’s paws, she declined to venture out. It’s not like she can hear or see what’s going on when she gets there, but she does like to visit with several of the people there especially.

Next week it’s on to St.Peter’s Lutheran Church in Luck, Wisconsin. Maybe we’ll simply have snow next weekend, but then again it’s March and we live in The Theatre of Seasons.

I just finished the fourth story in my next story collection. It’s titled “Zapateado” and the story unfolds amid a flamenco dance company on tour.  The four stories need a bit of “settling” prior to publishing but I anticipate you’ll see them on Kindle sometime in April or May. Then, it’s four more stories and another paperback, which will be “The Second Gathering of The Break Time Stories”.

In addition to “Zapateado”, the stories are “A Cabbie’s Sunday Morning Soap Opera”, :The Great Experiment”, and “Sinner Ella”. The latter, of course, is the latest “mangled” fairy tale.

I had the privilege again of doing the service at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church. As with the previous Sunday, we were about 3/4 full. And, again, I was welcomed warmly. They are a good bunch and I hope and pray that the issues they are dealing with can be resolved with grace and with God’s guidance. This congregation was very good to me during our nine years together and it has been a privilege to return occasionally to join them for worship.

I stepped in for Wolf Creek’s 8:15 a.m. service this morning. It was a cold morning with wind chill advisories in place, as well as some overnight snow. Driving wasn’t bad; the roads had been cleared fairly well, although G heading west toward the St.Croix River had blown snow in some places so going along that stretch was slow.

Wolf Creek has been experiencing some dissension lately but I was given a very warm welcome. I’d pastored that congregation for 11 years from 1997-2008 and I’d also substituted while one of its pastors was on maternity leave this past summer, so it wasn’t as if I were some unknown or long-lost person. Today’s theme was witnessing (1 Corinthians 9:16-23) and Mark’s Gospel section (Mark 1: 29-39) saw Jesus witnessing the Good News in a variety of ways in the ordinary lives of ordinary people. The question: what will the witness be of the Wolf Creek congregation? Can they handle their issue(s) in a manner Jesus would approve of? People do watch; they want to see integrity–can we live out what we say we believe? I may be there next Sunday, too.

Yesterday I finished the first draft of “Sinner Ella”, the latest “Mangled Fairy Tale” and have one more story to go before being able to publish my fifth short story collection. That also means I have five more stories to go for the next paperback. One by one they come and, per usual, they come between 3-5 a.m.

My computer printer is misbehaving and I’m tempted to replace it. Tonight also brought a nice, lengthy conversation with our son, Aaron in Portugal.