Mark Hayes Peacock – blogs

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.

So it went well! Festival’s Jason Richards and Peter Weber made things easy for us, LaMoine and I sold books, we had about 3/4 of a house full, my voice held up, people enjoyed themselves, there were laughs in the right places, and it was a warm and friendly atmosphere overall. If invited, I’d do it again next year. There are enough stories written or in the mill that I could do it without duplicating anything. (In fact, the next “mangled” fairy tale is titled “Sinner Ella”.) We didn’t raise a ton of money for Festival but it’s more than they had before last night, and every bit in small theatre makes a difference.

I appreciate the opportunity to do this for Festival and my thanks go to the theatre’s Board of Directors for seizing the opportunity.

The Balsam Lake Public Library wants me to read in the future, most likely in the Fall. Stay tuned for a date and time.

So the underdog with no State office experience trounced a State Representative looking to move up to the State Senate. National news sees this as a referendum on President Trump. I think there’s more.

First, I think many people found their reactions similar to mine. I resented expensive mailings from Washington D.C. that were personally negative. There several coming each day and I found myself wondering why the intense out-of-state interest in a special election in northwest Wisconsin. By contrast, the Democrat ran a positive campaign and made “being nice” an asset. I think there was one negative mailing and that came from State Democrats. I realize that Representative Jarchow had no control over the Washington D.C. mailings and the outside money, but on the other hand he didn’t disavow them.

Second, there seems to be a growing feeling that the Republicans have been overplaying their hand. Vos and Fitzgerald, leaders of both houses in Madison, have come across as bullies, punishing their opposition. Safeguards of our environment and special favoritism to large campaign donors seem to have governed the decision making. Even though Rep. Jarchow voted against the huge benefits and future generation debt for Foxconn, people don’t seem to think it’s a good deal for Wisconsin and that it mortgages Wisconsin for a quarter of a century.

Third, Rep. Jarchow slicked in some major changes as part of the budget bill two years ago so that there could be no discussion or debate. That took away local control over waterways/shorelines etc. and he also worked to carve out a special State exemption for a single property on the Federally protected St.Croix River. People reacted to that negatively. As it turns out, real estate groups were major contributors to Jarchow’s Senate campaign. He worked for those to whom he was beholden.

Fourth, people don’t seem to buy the idea anymore that Democrats are going to take away our guns and Constitutional rights. The Democrat also hunts and was able to neutralize Jarchow’s championing of that idea.

Fifth, is it possible that many people thought it appropriate to have a woman succeed a woman in the Senate?

There’s more to all this, but the election was a definite upset and yes, there may well have been some anti-Trump sentiment in it, too. We should see more of that in the coming national elections in November. Republicans have plenty of baggage with Trump and many, if not sycophants for the President, have lacked the integrity to call him on his stuff.

This morning I preached at Taylors Falls United Methodist Church. We were graced by Dave Johnson, from the Gideons. They do fine work for the Lord out in the world by distributing Bibles in huge quantities. Dave is an annual visitor to the church and always gives a serenade with his guitar; the congregation loves him.

I gave my own guitar contribution by leading “Lord, You Have Come To The Lakeshore”, a hymn in the Hymnal written by Cesario Gabarain, a Spanish priest and composer of more than 500 hymns. The song was unfamiliar to Taylors Falls and it went over well. Two other hymns dealt with the theme for the day, which was “Come and see”, a way to witness effectively about the Lord to others, taken from Chapter One of John’s Gospel, verses 43-51.

Last night I was part of reading some of Judy Iverson’s works published in “Soundings”. Judy was a member of the writers’ group at the Northern Lakes Center for the Arts and we did the readings there. Julie Smith and LaMoine and Mary Ellen MacLaughlin also read.

I am looking forward to reading my stories next Saturday evening as a fund raiser for St.Croix Festival Theatre. Their publicity machine is working now and we may even get some sort of an audience.

Today is New Year’s Day, 2018. I churned out 13 newspaper ads, something I’ve done each quarter now for 30 years for Church Page Ministries. Bill Yambrick’s business is based in Siren, Wisconsin but his ads run in papers throughout the United States. Thirteen ads in a single day is real “seat-in-the-chair” stuff but I’ve done that before and when things flow well, it’s just a matter of how much pain one wants in the hindquarters, so I get up and walk around a bit every so often.

The genesis for my next short story is peeking its nose around my consciousness. We’ll see if it comes together in the next week or so. Thus far I have two new stories ready for the next collection.

Today I also rehearsed three of the stories I’ll read at Festival Theatre. One story is strictly theatre stuff and I thought I’d read it on Festival’s theatre turf, but I find it’s a bit long and too “talky” so it’s more interesting to read in silence than to read it aloud. What to do?  I think I’ll opt for something different for Festival’s audience. I’ll probably read “Green Card” and “Little Red Hoodie”, followed after intermission by “Number Eleven Oakwood Lane” and “Jack and the Bean Sprouts”. At this writing, Festival’s website still has me advertised as a poet. What a way to insult poor LaMoine MacLaughlin!

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent and it felt like it this morning at Taylors Falls United Methodist Church. I preached on 2 Peter, Chapter 3, which deals with being ready for the Second Coming. Peter tells us it will come in the fulness of time, a phrase he does not use in this passage but one that I love. Whenever Jesus returns, we’d best be ready and, as Peter says, “at peace”. To me, that means to be at peace with oneself and if we can achieve that, we are likely to be at peace with others; we will have an aura of peace surrounding us. Sounds good to me!

 

I expect preach in Taylors Falls again in January, 2018. Meanwhile, no publicity visible yet for my story reading for Festival Theatre on January 20th. It sounded as if they were doing up a brochure for the event; if so, I’d love to see it. The event is a fundraiser for Festival and I’m hoping it will draw a good audience and raise a bundle for Festival!

“Four More Break Time Stories” is now on Kindle. The stories deal with art–or not; a bit of racial prejudice; an out-of-fashion actor; and “Jack and The Bean Sprouts”, the latest “mangled” fairy tale.

The next little item planned is to bring all four of the published “mangled” fairy tales together in their own Kindle book.

For the next four story collection, I’ve finished “A Cabbie’s Sunday Morning Soap Opera” and am working on the next story, yet untitled and not yet fully formed. Deadly? Only in my mind.

Last night (Wednesday, November 15th) I read two short stories to some of my favorite people at Milltown’s Public Library. The setting is intimate there, with chairs in a semi-circle and the reader’s chair–a comfortable one on the order of a living room chair–at the focal point. I had a good time and I think those who attended did, too.

One listener was a Unity Sophomore named Molly, who also writes and who has had one of her stories submitted by her English teacher for publication. Bravo to you, Molly! She said she came to be inspired but if drive and ambition augment talent, she has already what it will take to succeed.

I read “I’ll Cook For You” from “The First Gathering” and “Jack and The Bean Sprouts” from just-published “Four More Break Time Stories”.

I’m scheduled to read stories for Festival Theatre on Saturday, January 20, 2018. I’ve asked LaMoine MacLaughlin to join me to read some of his poetry. This should be fun! It’s a Festival Theatre fundraiser, so grab a ticket soon to help a worthy cause. I’m hoping to sell out the space!