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Winning through…Flossing? By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott I hate flossing my teeth. I’m actually not crazy about anything teeth related. I don’t like going to the dentist. The one root canal I’ve had to endure felt like torture.    I do appreciate teeth, however. Eating is a pleasurable activity, and teeth are pretty handy for that. And we know they don’t survive life’s full journey, for everyone. So there’s that.   For more than half my life, I didn’t floss my teeth. But as the years passed, bending...

By: Rev. Cindy Hickman I just returned from a trip to Ireland. On the first day of our trip our driver/guide encouraged us to chat with the Irish people we met. He told us the Irish liked to meet people and anticipated conversation. “They will give you their time,” he told us.  Those words struck me. It is such a statement of generosity.  To stop whatever one is doing. To pause with a stranger. To see that person as someone worth listening to. To listen and respond. To give your time.  We found ...

A God that doesn't need a flashy introduction By: Pastor Nate Mason “He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”   Remember how cool the first Avengers movie was?  There’s a lot of talk about “Superhero Fatigue” in the movie industry.  I’m too much of a biased dork to have an objective opinion on the subject.  I’m still excited to see movies about the B and C list heroes ...

The Solitude You Inhabit By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon Contemplative priest and author Henri Nouwen often said that being solitary and being in community are complements. As I was dwelling on that, I reflected on how my own contemplative practice connects me more, I believe, with the heart of the world. I hope you enjoy the poem.   The Solitude You Inhabit   I must venture  into solitude to find you – oh, not just the sounds of breath from the rhythmic lungs of God, but all of you and ...

Abiding in Hope By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott A year ago, I wrote a reflection on hope. It was the announcement of our turn—in this weekly series of posts—from exile to hope. We had been “Abiding in Exile” through the pandemic. With the waning of that experience, a turn toward hope seemed appropriate.    Appropriate, but not entirely easy. I mentioned in that post some ways I was finding hope complicated. It’s this thing on the other side of suffering, and endurance, and character,[1] and who wants...

Have you seen the Barbie movie? By: Rev. Cindy Hickman Have you seen the Barbie movie?  By all indications, it is a box office smash. Millions of people have seen it world-wide. Apparently, Barbie is helping revive the movie theater industry which hasn’t recovered since the pandemic. The movie is a surprising phenom.  I went last week with my 13-year-old granddaughter, but even before I went, I experienced some of the buzz. A clergy friend enthusiastically admitted she had seen it, twice. ...

Language Needs an Update By: Pastor Nate Mason English can be a silly language.  My daughter went through kindergarten this past year and has come out a fully functioning reader.  I give full credit to her teacher, Mrs. Nelsen, because I was not helpful at all.  In my defense, there really are no set rules for how words are made!  Have you tried explaining to a six-year-old why “night” spells night?  Silent consonants, the 42 ways we pronounce “th,” the 14 ways we pronounce “oo.”  It’s all ...

Morning on the Ridge of the Canyon By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon This summer I was able to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time. The remarkable beauty reminded me of how we are composed of the very essence of the universe as it spins through time – the layers of the canyon marking the ages of the earth, both when people were here and when we weren’t. It’s a remarkable thing, don’t you think, to experience the miracle of God’s hand in creation and to know, somewhere in the deep ...

By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott Fireflies.   Your dog’s weight lazing against you.   Good sleeping weather on a summer’s night, the breeze through open windows stirring your light blanket.   Simple pleasures, received mostly without effort or design. Moments that come, unbidden. Things so familiar, we could be forgiven for not really seeing them, day by day.    You would name your own delights, if I asked you. Look around yourself right now. What do you see? Could you even begin to list all the ...

The Story of Noah and Pride By: Pastor Nate Mason This is a story about Pride, because it’s important to remember why we celebrate Pride.  This story begins with Noah.     The Story of Noah is not about genocide, it’s about a people surviving genocide. This is an easy mistake to make considering all the, you know, genocide that was going on in the story.  It’s definitely not about animals.  I bet you don’t even remember how many of each animal Noah brought with him.  (Check Genesis 7:2.  You ...

Dear Pastor By: Rev. Cindy Hickman Dear Pastor, I was once a pastor, but now I am retired (I am not a fan of that word. Let me know if you have a better synonym). After years of leading worship, I now participate in worship as part of the flock. I have made some observations. Think of me as a secret shopper. I have some requests and suggestions. This is not a To Do list. I am sure you already have one of those. These are just things to consider as you step up to lead worship on Sunday. Look at...

How Can We Bear the Hope? By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come....16 “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” John 16: 12-13; 16    I believe that the present suffering is ...

God’s Calling. Again. By: Lee Roorda Schott At our recently completed annual conference, we heard a lot of words about calling. Our worship services had us say, for instance: “We reaffirm…our common call to ministry.” Bishop Kennetha Bigham-Tsai said to us, “Listen all believers! Listen for your call!”    Do we know what it means to be called? If you’re a layperson, do you describe yourself that way? “Called”? You might think this is a thing that clergy have experienced. I wonder if you use this...

Why am I UMC? By: Pastor Cindy Hickman #BeUMC. That’s the slogan The United Methodist Communications has adopted. We are seeing it a lot.  At this crossroads moment in our denomination, I stopped to ask myself “Why am I UMC?”  The answer comes automatically. I can sum it up in one word: grace. I am UMC because grace is at the core of who we are. And grace is what I need.  Grace is “the undeserved, unmerited, and loving action of God in human existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit” ...

Seeing you in the heart of God By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon This poem comes from work in my contemplative prayer group. We allow ourselves to “see” each other in a time of silence during an interlude in our prayers together. We allow our imaginations and our spiritual core to evoke and bring images of each other as expressions on the journey.  Then we share these images with each other. What the images mean often becomes something to ponder and pray about  for each of our group members,...

Laziness, sometimes By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott Be busy, always.   It’s what I was taught, growing up. On our family farm there were always things to do. Getting ready for mealtime, and baking cookies and apple crisps. Getting laundry off the clothesline. Snapping beans, or pitting cherries, and helping get those and innumerable other fruits and vegetables canned or frozen in their time. Cleaning and mowing and dusting and weeding.    It’s not that I never had time to myself. I did. But by the ...

Uncertainty! By: Rev. Cindy Hickman If there is one word to describe the world right now, that’s it. We are immersed in Uncertainty. Climate change. A Global Pandemic. Culture Wars. Political division. Drought. Derechos. Random violence. Daily revelations on social media. The economy. Add to that your own personal uncertainty—job changes, growing kids, aging parents, that twinge in your right knee on your early morning run. What once seemed rock-solid-certain now seems to be fractured and ...

Biblical Masculinity for Dads By: Pastor Nate Mason Ola Obisanya is my Dad Goal In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, Ted Lasso is one of the best sitcoms of all time.  If you’re not familiar with the show, it features a college football coach from Kansas (played by Jason Sudeikis) who becomes the head coach of a premier league football team (or as we call it soccer) in the UK.  Ted knows nothing about soccer, which is a nice entry point for people completely apathetic towards sports such as ...

By: Nan Smith In my work as an outdoor environmental educator (interpretive naturalist), I led programming for all ages aimed at helping them to learn about their natural world. I led hikes through prairies and woodlands and taught about Iowa’s flora and fauna. I helped students to explore the critters of ponds, showed them how to catch and study insects, and I taught them ways to look and listen for birds.   What a life it was! I loved the work I did!  I believe my work was made even better, ...

[Your name here] By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott “[Mary] turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).”  — John 20.14b-16 At Easter we almost...

Holy Saturday By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon Some years ago, I wrote this poem. I have shared it now and again with friends. But it is my best effort, I believe, on the nature of Holy Saturday as we await Easter morning. In our tradition, sometimes we overlook Holy Saturday. But if you remember your Apostle’s Creed, you know that some ancient traditions suggested that on Holy Saturday, Jesus descended to hell and redeemed it. This is sometimes called “the harrowing of hell.”  What a ...

Back in the Sabbath again By: Pastor Nate Mason Behold! My son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased!   Noah Isaac Mason joined us this month.  As soon as we found out we were having another boy, we knew right away this was a Noah.  I’ve shared before that Noah was a surprise baby.  We had planned on having two, but then God laughed at our plans, so Isaac seemed appropriate. I now have the privilege of spending twelve weeks getting to know my new family.  Privilege shouldn’t be exclusive, but ...

Just say the Word and I shall be healed By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon In Mark’s Gospel there is a story, repeated in Luke, of a man coming into the synagogue in Capernaum as Jesus was teaching. The scripture says the man had an “unclean spirit” and cries out, “What have you to do with us Jesus of Nazareth?” And Jesus goes on to rebuke the spirit, “Be silent and come out of him,” and the unclean spirit does leave the man immediately.  (cf. Mark 1: 21-28; Luke 4: 31-37)   Because the man ...

What little I can do By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott It’s my week to write this Exile to Hope post. My fellow writers and the Communications folks who send it out know I’m always later than I’m supposed to be in getting it sent off to them. I had two really good ideas for what I wanted to write this week. But priorities—good ones!—got in the way and here it is Wednesday already and I really must send something.   One of those priorities has to do with the bills being introduced in this session of the...

What does love look like today? By: Rev. Cindy Hickman Before you read this, a warning: Lent always flips me out, wrecks me.   Lent, our 40-day journey to Easter, begins this week. Our Easter story is an act of love none of us can ever fully comprehend. A man, filled to overflowing with God’s grace, offered himself wholly and completely to a world that did not know him or accept him. He poured his blood into our brokenness as a healing balm. During Lent, I experience that incredible sacrifice as...

A matter of perspective By: Nate Mason Happy Transfiguration Sunday! It’s that time of year again, where liturgical preachers look at their calendar and say “Why is this a thing?”  Of all the non-Christmas and non-Easter holy days, this one stands out as the most puzzling.  We get Ash Wednesday.  Perhaps it’s the visual/tactile aspect that helps us connect.  We get Pentecost.  Fire, wind, speaking in tongues.  Perhaps we like a spectacle.  But this one tends to be a head scratcher.   Six days ...

A matter of perspective By: Nan Smith When I worked as an interpretive naturalist for Story County Conservation, I was always given most of the winter outdoor school programming. I was the one who was usually tagged to spend hours upon hours hiking in the snow and cold, in order to hopefully provide children with a positive experience of winter. So, you might wonder why was I the lucky one tagged?  Well, my colleagues reasoned that since I grew up in Minnesota, I was ”Minnesota hardy.” They ...

Skillful strings and loud shouts By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott For many years my personal e-mail address has included a “333,” and not a single soul has ever asked me why. To the extent anyone would puzzle over this, I’ve guessed they’d think it’s connected to 666, the number of the beast, or the Antichrist, according to Revelation 13:8. Our collective knowledge of this reference probably comes more from the 1976 movie The Omen than from our careful reading and memory of the Bible. Who can forget ...

By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon This last week I received the ashes I ordered as well as a cruet for our new campus minister Lewis Cox.  I also put together our Ash Wednesday service for Feb. 22.  As I was doing all of this preparing, I came across a poem I wrote for Ash Wednesday a few years ago. I had been driving somewhere and I heard a program on NPR talking about a company in Illinois or Indiana, one of those states, who were turning human cremains into diamonds that people could wear...

A year of... By: Pastor Nate Mason New Toys   I got a new toy for Christmas: The Wok: Recipes and Techniques by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. This cookbook is great! It has recipes from all across the Asian world: various regions of China, South Korea, Thailand, and so many other countries that I had to google when I read the recipe. This new toy pushed me to spend a Saturday afternoon exploring the various Asian groceries in the greater Des Moines area.   These various cooking styles are just so ...

A year of... By: Cindy Hickman A few weeks ago, I was sitting at the pharmacy waiting for a vaccination. A woman sat down in line behind me, and a man joined in line behind her. I’ve stopped calling people “elderly” since I have begun to feel little “elderly” myself, but we all probably fit that label. We joked a bit about being brave as we waited to get our shots. The woman opened up a conversation by turning to the man and asking if he had always lived in this community. No, he and his wife ...

The Jeweled Tears By: Nan Smith Over this past weekend, I put Christmas away for another year and I must say I was more than ready to do that. I share this with you because, this year, Christmas has been very hard for me. You see my 98-year-old mother passed away at the end of October and so this was my first Christmas without her loving presence. I found that all the traditions I celebrated with family were chock full of so many memories of her and Christmas’ past. I found in this time of ...

Epiphany By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon? Enlightenment has always been gradual for me -  I remember what happened, for example, after my children were born, how I came to know who I was now: each day a little more room in my heart, in my knowing, as they grew, as their aliveness gathered something more: to grip, to smile, to turn over, to crawl, to walk, to speak. It was all this gathering that taught me:    Enlightenment is gradual like the sun rising even if you just suddenly see it and...

This Year's Gifts By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott  As I look ahead to the gifts I’ll give and those I’ll open on Christmas morning, it occurs to me that I’ve already received some gifts I’m savoring. This year, 2022, for all its challenges, has brought me some gifts that have been unexpected and sweet. I wonder if that might be true for you, too. I’ll share a few of mine. Maybe my reflection will prompt you to think, too, about gifts this year has brought you and yours.   Returning to something like ...

My Christmas List By: Rev. Cindy Hickman I want BIG GIFTS this Christmas. That may sound selfish and greedy. If you are one of the people obliged to give me a Christmas present, you may be wondering what you are in for. A Caribbean cruise? A luxurious car with a big red bow sitting in the driveway on the morning of the 25th? Let me explain.  These big gifts I am hoping for are not the kind of gifts we can buy with money. I once heard a pastor say: “You can’t outgive God.” I think that’s true. ...

How the Grinch can just take Christmas… Please… By: Pastor Nate Mason The older I get, the more I identify with the Grinch. I mean the old school, Dr. Suess original or even the 1966 TV movie featuring Boris Karloff. The modern incarnations of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the Jim Carey or Benedict Cumberbatch versions) try to make the Grinch a tragic character to make him seem relatable. I find that completely unnecessary. The OG Grinch didn’t like Christmas. I get it. All the Who girls and...

Openness By: Nan Smith So there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the exile to Babylon to the Christ. (Matthew 1:17 CEB)   There is a hiking trail that follows a river that I have walked upon since I was a wee one. A place so familiar, that my feet just know the right way to go without me having to really think about it. It is a terrain that has been etched into my very being. I know what to ...

Sharing life, beyond words By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon This is a bit of poem about how sometimes we know each other more in our shared silences and quiet observations of one another than we do in the ongoing chatter.  How that can be a deeply held way of knowing. How that can remind us of how God’s great silence wraps us in abiding love together through time.   Sharing Life, Beyond Words   Everyday there is wanting to tell you the story that cannot be spoken, and to ask about your ...

Welcome, welcome, welcome By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott In this week when we’ve experienced our first snowfall of the coming winter, a friend posted a meme on Facebook that included this sentiment:    If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.  —@mindfulfitness    It’s not hard for me to find joy in snow (yes, I’m one of those people), but those words immediately made me think of the carbon steel skillets my husband insists on ...

By Kae Tritle, RN Well-Being Coordinator   Life this fall seems to be back to normal—stores, churches, schools and businesses are open and operating as usual. We are attending sporting events, plays, concerts and other social events. We are gathering with our friends and family in each other’s homes and restaurants. Fewer people are sick with COVID-19. But life isn’t quite the same as it was before the pandemic. We are still being careful with whom we get close. There has been a dramatic shift ...

By: Pastor Nathaniel Mason November is traditionally a time when Americans intentionally practice gratitude, so every second Wednesday for the past 10 years I have been grateful that I have woken up a little extra refreshed. Before getting into ministry, I was a political organizer. I did everything from college campus organizing, base organizing, all the way up to Regional Field Director. I promise you that this is the most physically and emotionally draining work that you can do. I’m sure you ...

Vote  By: Rev. Cindy Hickman Next Tuesday, Nov. 8, is Election Day. Please vote. This is the last edition of “Abiding” before the election, and I feel compelled to encourage you to vote. We have a lot to vote about: the economy, Ukraine, Russia, threats to democracy, racism, women’s bodies and health, climate change, mental health, public education, gun ownership and gun violence. We are even voting about access to voting and voter rights.  No one of us has all the answers, but in a democracy, ...

How the Contemplative Prayer Group Goes By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon I have taken to writing a poem for my contribution to From Exile to Hope. This time the poem emerged from my biweekly contemplative prayer group. I have been meeting in this circle on Zoom since the lockdown began. My college roommate, who is my chosen sister, invited me to this group which includes people from all over the United States. Amongst us are a Lutheran pastor, two United Methodist pastors, an Episcopal ...

The silence in between By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott A funny thing is happening to me, on the way from exile to hope.    That’s the space we’re in right now, isn’t it? The first “normal” school year since the start of the pandemic, without mask battles and extra protocols, is well underway. We’re past the worst of that long sense of heaviness, and dread, and every tiniest thing being extra complicated. Maybe we’re starting to imagine that there really can be hope, on the other side of all this.   ...

What's the most important part of the church? By: Rev. Cindy Hickman   What do you think is the most important part of your church?  I hope your first response was “the people, of course!” You’re right, but today I want to focus on the church building, the physical space where we worship.  What do you think is the most important part? The pulpit? Maybe, although we preachers might want to check our egos if that was our initial response. Not every sermon we have preached has been fabulous ...

Forgiveness By: Pastor Nate Mason   So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister[a] sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” Luke 17:3-5   I’m not usually a lectionary preacher.  For simplicity of planning, I’m falling back on the Revised Common Lectionary until I take my three-month vacation ...

Beauty By: Rev. Nan Smith   A couple of weeks ago I returned from visiting my adult son in Maryland.  He is a young professional who has just purchased his first house.  It has been a big step for him.  The house he bought is a great house — a colonial, with four bedrooms, that is in an established neighborhood, complete with mature trees and a large yard. He is very excited to be a new homeowner. Plus, his home comes with a definite bonus!  Uniquely his own. His house is home to a whole bunch ...

Looking By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon So often we search for God without looking; we stumble on little sayings, we keep talking as though in the middle of a particularly long sentence God will appear, will show up.   But I have found that it is when we show up that God appears, and when we are present to each other the breath of the Holy Spirit rises and falls between us, and maybe you or I said a thing or maybe we didn’t.   Just yesterday we were walking and I saw how the leaves were ...

Day one on the job, two years in By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott   I heard a hopeful word recently. It was in a podcast about church leadership, where these two guys told me, “Welcome to your first day on the job!”    They were talking to me, because I’m among the many of us who began ministry at our current churches in 2020. You might have arrived in your place earlier or later, but you, too, can get in on this hopefulness.   The message I found hopeful went like this: When we look at what we’ve ...

Nate was right!   By: Rev. Cindy Hickman   Last week Nate Mason wrote a great piece about change and transition. Honestly, it was like hearing a good sermon that keeps coming to mind days later. (If you haven’t read it, you can find it here.) Nate wrote about change and transition. Change is facing a new situation. Nate’s daughter is going to kindergarten, a new situation. Change might be heading off to college or taking a new job or getting married or ending a marriage. I retired a year ago ...

Happy New (School) Year everyone!   By: Pastor Nate Mason [email protected] “Ch-ch-ch-Changes/Turn and face the strange”                                      -David Bowie   I always felt like the school year affected me in my personal and professional life, even when I wasn’t directly doing school related things.  Church programming, even for adults, tends to reflect the school year, youth ministry is built to be a mirror to its secular counterpart, and church attendance mimics school ...

Ramblings By: Rev. Nan Smith I have a friend, an engineering professor, who when he retired took to kayaking the waters in a city park located north of Ames. Ada Hayden Heritage Park, so named for Ada Hayden, a past curator of the Iowa State Herbarium. She was instrumental in preserving specimens of the tallgrass prairie habitat. It is a sparkling gem of a park. My friend built his own wooden kayak – a beautiful work of craftsmanship and when he retired, he spent his days on the waters. It was...

Abiding in the distant country By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon As Abiding in Exile moves to Abiding in Hope, I drew back to a sermon that I preached on the Prodigal Son in February 2022.  It reminded me of circumstances we sometimes find ourselves in and the question of hope.  So, I have edited my sermon for this essay in my hope that some of you reading this may resonate.    I believe it was Charles Dickens who once said that the story of the Prodigal Son was the most exquisite in all of ...

From Exile to Hope By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott  revlas33[email protected]   We’re transitioning, in this weekly missive. We’re going to try moving through exile in order to lean into hope.   For the last two years, we’ve been Abiding in Exile. That’s the title we chose, six months after the pandemic began, for this series of posts that has contained lament, truth, poetry, prayer, history, social commentary, and more.  We chose this theme thinking of the Biblical stories of exile and wondering if they ...

Considering our losses By Cindy Hickman A wise friend once told me that if we want to understand someone, we should consider what that person has lost. Right now, at least to me, the world seems pretty confusing. This seems like a good time to take my friend’s advice and consider our losses. I asked my Facebook friends to describe what they lost during the pandemic. They poured out their hearts. Here’s what they said:   They lost their health. I lost my taste, and it changes my perspective on ...

The importance of wonder and awe By Nate Mason      Image: Webb’s First Deep Field Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI The heavens keep telling the wonders of God,  and the skies declare what he has done. Each day informs the following day;  each night announces to the next.  They don't speak a word, and there is never the sound of a voice.  Yet their message reaches all the earth, and it travels around the world. Psalm 19:1-4 (CEB)   Have you taken the time to check out the newly released images...

Here are two poems that capture moments, one in morning, one in night. It is in the moments that we live our lives; it is in the moments that we are aware of life within life, God within life, God with us, God with the world.  By Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon    The Morning Walk   My shoes were drenched where I left them in the yard   so I walked barefoot   over the smooth stones and the long folding grass, then,   the sharp edge of the trellis cut my ankle   when I leaned in to breathe the early day...

This week we welcome Rev. Cindy Hickman to our regular team of Exile writers. You’ve met her already as a guest writer. Welcome, Cindy! "C'mon" By Rev. Cindy Hickman The Holy Spirit offers a daily invitation. “C’mon. I have something to show you. Come and see with your eyes, your heart, your soul." A few days ago, my husband and I were visiting New Orleans. One evening we walked to Café Du Monde, famous in the French Quarter for beignets, puff pastry covered in powdered sugar. We picked up our ...

When we no longer know what to do By Rev. Lee Roorda Schott Stuck with a push-pin on the board behind my computer, I have this poem by Wendell Berry:   Our Real Work It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.   I read this, and I think, has Wendell Berry been watching me? Because “no longer ...

A conversation with Emily St. James By Pastor Nate Mason For this week I'm doing something a little bit different. I'm doing a follow-up to my last piece by doing an interview with Emily St. James, a trans journalist, co-founder of the trans-inclusive style-guide for literature and journalism, and my old friend.  She has some very helpful tips on ways the church can connect with marginalized communities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y8iHFGTReE&t=1s   Subscribe to Abiding In Exile ? ...

Wonder By Pastor Nan Smith Sing to God; sing praises to the Lord; dwell on all God’s wondrous works. Psalm 105:2 (CEB) The meeting ran long, very long. At the time, I was working as a naturalist for Story County Conservation and as a favor to a good friend had agreed to do a naturalist program for the children of the families she worked with. She said “I need to have a short, I mean really short meeting with the parents. I promise it won’t last more than 5 minutes.” One should always be wary of...

  By Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon This poem was written for the Trauma Summit that was held in 2009 in the collaborated Orders Event with  the Office of Pastoral Care and Counseling. We read it in unison. I wrote it as a homage to the way I had come to experience Iowa and its people. While we find ourselves divided in so many ways – in our politics, in our theologies, and perhaps, for many, within their own minds – I still lean into the sense of place that has gathered human beings here ...

  By Rev. Cindy Hickman This week we are sharing another guest post from Rev. Cindy Hickman, back after her good words a couple of months ago. She wrote this essay a few weeks ago—before the tragic shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, and so many other places. We hope her encouragement will soak deep into your spirit.   A pep talk for us church folk I want to give you a pep talk. (I need to hear a pep talk, so I thought maybe you did too.) These are wild times, for sure. Climate worries; the pandemic; ...

  By: Nan Smith 1 John 4: 16: So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them. As I move towards retirement, there have been so many memories flooding my mind from my time of serving as a pastor. Just recently, there was a married couple where the husband suffered a massive heart attack. The EMT’s were able to get a heartbeat and he was airlifted to the hospital’s cardiac critical care. He was in pretty ...

Matthew 6 By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon Consider the lilies of the field their color drenched in a daily  sun wash: sweet sounds of aliveness –   no promise other than to reach, reach and hold the moment of wind-warmed heat from the sky light above and loamy earth under root.   Jesus says to consider and so that  holiest Spirit teaches of bird flight where no prayer lingers alone,   lifting life instead upward into cloudless  echoes across the sacred opening - thinly between this earth ...

By: Lee Roorda Schott Returning to God, Again I led a frenzied meeting a month ago. People came, and we got done what we had set out to do. But I hurried people through it. There was no overt talk of seeking God’s will. I’m not sure we even prayed. I had the sense that we needed to make some decisions on upcoming events and initiatives, and we did. But was God in it?   As the meeting ended I noticed a grittiness in my spirit. I knew immediately how far I was from God, in leading that meeting. I ...

Sacred Invitation By: Nate Mason   How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? This question is a variation of Thomas Aquinas’s reflections found in Suma Theologica. In the centuries since, the premise of the question has been mocked for its abstract faux intellectualism, but the question was meant to inspire wonder and awe. How can the servants of the Lord achieve such wondrous works with only the Spirit? Let me pose an updated question for reflection: How can a half-time pastor serve ...

Howling By: Nan Smith   Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Romans 8: 26 (NRSV) I was having a bad week. You know the kind of week where there were pressures coming from all sorts of directions, all demanding my immediate attention; a week where the expectations were many and none seemed to be being met completely. I knew I was going to drop the ball somewhere and let others ...

We are Called to Listen By: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon   “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God ...

The Complicated Whether and How of Touching By: Lee Roorda Schott When the CDC changed its metrics and eased its masking and distancing guidelines in February, the leaders at the church I serve promptly pivoted to “masks optional.” As that first worship service approached, I kept remembering details that could suddenly be adjusted. We removed the “Xs” that had, for a year, blocked off every other row in our sanctuary. We took down signs about distancing. We announced that we would again be ...

Abiding in Exile Week of March 24th By Nate Mason   We do things wrong all the time, and that’s ok.  Our lives are full of busy and important things, so sometimes we shlub over the little details because we lack the bandwidth to give it proper attention.  For example, most of us probably use Q-tips the wrong way.  At least, I always have, and still do!  Apparently, we are only supposed to clean the outer ear and not venture into the ear canal.  Our bodies naturally clean that part out through ...

Paralysis Week of March 17- Abiding in Exile- Nan Smith Hope in the LORD!    Be strong!       Let your heart take courage!       Hope in the LORD! Psalm 27: 14 (CEB) Of late, I have been feeling particularly overwhelmed by the tragic happenings in our world.  I find that my emotions are many and difficult to process.  I have appreciated the beautiful prayers and poems that have been written by so many that gives voice to the pain and suffering unfolding around us.  I also give thanks for the ...

Ukraine Week of March 10, 2022 - Rev. Dr. Mary L. Bellon   They are walking. It is snowing. Around them the earth lies shattered and the bridge they climb is broken. A bomb has fallen here - a bomb from the Principalities.    When did You say, “I saw Satan fall like lightening”? Did You see this now and before?  - how you said to us “I have given you the power to tread on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the enemy’s power” Look then:   There is a train carrying children across the border...

Unimaginable Days  By: Lee Roorda Schott   I never had a reason to give much thought to what it would be like to live through the first days of a war.  How fortunate I have been. Some of you reading this may remember the first days of what we now call World War II. “First days” being an uncertain designation, depending on where you lived and when war was declared. In those days, the memory of the “Great War” (now known as World War I) was achingly fresh. Those early days were unthinkable enough;...

Have you noticed that a colleague, friend or family member might be going through a difficult time? What do you do? What do you say? Unfortunately, for many of us this is not a hypothetical scenario, but a lived experience. To help create a more empathetic community and environment within The United Methodist Church (UMC) for those struggling with their mental and emotional health, Wespath is offering first aid training for mental health to all its participants—at no cost. Church staff and ...

Abiding in Exile By: Nate Mason Dear Friends,   Holy smoke!  February is almost over and I have no idea where it went.  Do to my constant distraction from life in ministry, life with a young family, and just life in general I have missed out on most of this month, and that’s tragic because two very important things happen in February.  The first is February is the annual stewardship campaign for Iowan United Methodist Camps  Please, please, please take the time to go to their website and fill ...

Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Fraser This week, the ashes that I ordered for our service on March 2nd arrived. This week, I met with my program staff to develop the liturgy and music for our service -- both the digital service we will offer and the one in our sanctuary.  I know as you read this, we are a couple of weeks away from the beginning of Lent. And yet, do we not feel ourselves getting ready for the journey, preparing ourselves for the spiritual pilgrimage in which we hope to undergo again ...

Abiding in Exile. by: Rev. Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon   I return to poetry this week, and this is a poem about how each season doesn’t end or begin suddenly, but in movements, in flutters of different parts of life that appear and awaken us to the way time moves forward: not all at once but in recognitions. Maybe in seeing something that tells us we are a part of something larger, something that reminds us everything is passing and everything is beginning all at once.   Winter Birds   There is...

Come to the Waters By: Nan Smith And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3: 16-17 (NRSV) It was a hot day, a sticky day, a long day of paddling on our second day out for this canoe trip I was leading for high school girls in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area ...

The Glorious Holiness of Time By: Lee Roorda Schott Just as 2021 was drawing to a close, I read these lines in a terrific novel that takes place almost entirely on the day before New Year’s Eve: The new year arrives, which of course never means as much as you hope unless you happen to sell calendars. One day becomes another, now becomes then. Winter spreads out across the town like a relative with slightly too much self-confidence…. Like much of Fredrik Backman’s quirky prose, these words made ...

Written by: Nancy M (Nan) Smith Be Still “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10 NRSV) When my son was a week old, he developed an infected belly button and ended up being hospitalized for a week, so that he could receive strong antibiotics intravenously. This infection was nothing to mess around with.  It wasn’t until my son was ready to be released from the hospital, that my pediatrician told me, that including my son, he had ...

By: Rev Dr Mary L. Bellon   The Shepherd Speaks   You are sleeping, newly, fresh, your breath a gentle sigh. I find you after a journey so long, long with remarkable stars and midnight hymns.  Angels descending with Angels their voices, stillness, sing joy.   The walk here broke my feet and my heart, snapped the straps that tied me to a life I was no longer living, that did not hold me, freed me from the relentless, empty question of whether there was a You, and so, whether there was a me. How ...

By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott   Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.                             --Psalm 84.5 You may not realize that as you go about your day, you are walking through crowds of amazing creatures. There’s probably a gym or two near your church—not the Family Life Center-type gym—but one where great battles play themselves out, every day or so, with fast attacks and charged attacks (and no, I’m not talking about church conflicts!) and ...

By Nate Mason Growing up, I used to pretend that I had refined musical tastes and would justify all my musical selections by citing critical acclaim, social/musical significance, or technical ability.  Now that I’ve grown to be less insecure, I can admit my musical tastes are pretty much random and arbitrary.  On my most played list in Pandora I have everything from classic b-sides from The Who to video game theme songs. My wife is not thrilled about our two-year-old bouncing around the house ...

By Nan Smith 4 “But I have said these things to you so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.  I didn’t say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I go away to the one who sent me. None of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet because I have said these things to you, you are filled with sorrow.”  —John 16: 4-6 (Common English Bible)   Long ago, as an ISU student taking my first class on bird identification, we had our first...

By Dr. Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon   Earlier in October I went to Maine to visit my son who moved to Portland during the pandemic. With my husband and son, I spent an amazing day hiking in Acadia National Park climbing Norumbega Mountain. At the top we could see the Atlantic Ocean, and the scent of the fall foliage mingled with the salt air. It was exhilarating.  I believe that this day will live with me the rest of my life: to have climbed the rigorous trail to the top and stand there with my son ...

By Lee Roorda Schott Growing up, I never liked my haircut. My bangs (required because of my high forehead) were always crooked, or too short. Once I got my long hair cut short in the fifth grade—in a then-fashionable “shag,” and later a Dorothy Hamill “wedge”—I was never satisfied. Literally every time, I’d complain to my mom about yet another terrible haircut. And always, after reassuring me that it looked great, she would say, “Don’t worry about it, honey. No one else is thinking about your ...

By Nate Mason Part of me absolutely loves Fall.  This year it sure took its sweet time getting here!  Now it has arrived in all of it’s Fall-ish glory.  My mind goes to the first song I ever learned on the guitar, a White Stripes song “I can tell that We are gonna be Friends”   Fall is here, hear the yell Back to school, ring the bell Brand new shoes, walking blues Climb the fence, books and pens I can tell that we are going to be friends Yes I can tell that we are going to be friends[1]   Doesn...

By Nan Smith Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.  And be thankful. —Colossians 3: 14-15, NRSV So, I am excited about this upcoming weekend because I will be going on retreat with a dear group of women friends. This group started as a church book study, but quickly morphed into something much deeper and meaningful. Granted, members of this ...

By Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon Oftentimes in the busy life of ministry, I find it hard to go to sleep when the clock stares at me, reminding me it’s time now, to rest. In my years as a pastoral counselor, I listened to many people who had that problem too. It’s like our minds gather the conversations, events, plans, disruptions and ideas, and spin them around and around endlessly. Mindfulness helps, but not always. Listening to quiet music helps, but not always. I bet that you could add other ...

By Rev. Lee Roorda Schott I did the math and realized we’re eighteen months in. By now we’re well into the season we thought would be post-pandemic. But the news reminds us otherwise, with continued daily news of hospitalization levels, boosters, the latest status of the masking wars, and more. A lot of conversations that begin “How are you doing?” are really asking, still, “How are you surviving this pandemic?,” and the return to school, and the endlessness of it all.   The pandemic malaise ...

By Nate Mason Recently I preached on the Book of Judges.  Before prepping for my sermon, I cannot remember the last time I dove into that particular book of the Bible. Most of us Mainline Protestants stay safely in the Gospels while occasionally venturing into the Epistles or Acts, but I was in the mood for something different. Since I’m still in the honey-moon phase of my new appointment, my congregations let me get away with it. I had forgotten how much I love the story of Deborah![i] Deborah ...

By: Nan Smith Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. John 14: 27 NRSV So, I am now the proud owner of a three-month-old golden retriever puppy.  He is filled with energy and a fascination with the newness of the world that is around him.  Because of him, I am once again becoming acquainted with the wonders of seeing the day break. He carries such a sense of anticipation and ...

Moments of Encounter By: Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon For the spiritual pilgrim, particularly as the journey unfolds, there are presented and taken more and more moments of encounter that move us into liminal space. These snapshots of time may be brief, or, if one is removing themselves for retreat, even longer. The liminal, or that in-between space of what is and what is becoming, often captures the domain of spiritual exile in a unique way. It evokes the sense of being apart or separated for a ...

By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott I’m just back from a much-needed vacation that included four days on the road between here and southwest Colorado. Playing the alphabet game to pass the time, I was helped by the many FedEx trucks. And while logging the sometimes elusive “F,” I found myself marveling again at the arrow in their logo. You know about that, right? It’s been there all along, but I didn’t see it until someone pointed it out. You have to look at the white space between the E and the X. See ...

By: Pastor Nate Mason I am a proud Dork Dad, and one of my favorite Dork Dad activities is reading Ms. Marvel comics to my four-year-old daughter, Lily.  For those of you who are more productive with your reading time, there is a new Ms. Marvel character.  Kamala Khan is a sixteen-year-old daughter of Pakistani immigrants who gets shape changing superpowers. The comics teach inspiring lessons about life and the experience of the modern American Muslim. Lily loves it almost as much as I do.   One...

First Love By: Nan Smith “But I have this against you: you have let go of the love you had at first. 5 So remember the high point from which you have fallen. Change your hearts and lives and do the things you did at first. If you don’t, I’m coming to you. I will move your lampstand from its place if you don’t change your hearts and lives.”  — Revelation 2:4-5 (Common English Bible)   This fall, our church will be celebrating 50 years of being Hope United Methodist Church. The beauty of ...

By: Mary Lautzenhiser Bellon Perhaps no one did exile in quite the same way as Noah: first, as the laughing stock of his community or thought simply crazy as he built his boat; and then on the seas, hidden within the ark with his family and the community of animals as it rained and rained and rained. Finally, he stood alone with his family in a new land. In the poem below, I attempt to capture Noah’s conversation with God and himself as he rides the long, persistent storm and finds dry land. I ...

By: Rev. Lee Roorda Schott I remember Bishop Julius Trimble standing before a room of incarcerated women some years ago, speaking of the 23rd Psalm. He came to those words, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” and he paused there.   Looking out at those women, whose lives he knew contained so much of pain and death and distance, he said these words I’ll never forget. “Trouble is, it’s not just ‘through,’ is it? As if that valley is an easy walk.”    He held his left ...

  With today’s post, we welcome Nathaniel Mason to our Exile Project writers’ team! Nate is an LLP serving Booneville and Maple Grove United Methodist Churches on the west edge of the Des Moines metro. You might remember Nate from his time as the Leadership Development Minister for Young Adult and Generational Ministries (2013-2015) for the Iowa Annual Conference. When not engaged in ministry, Nate is busy pursuing his other callings of cooking and being a fun dad to his two young children. ...