Spirit Garage - Meditations

What does heaven look like? by Rowen

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:10:36 -0400

I request that you lend me an ear because I have a question for you: What does heaven look like? As a young girl I thought about this many times with two primary images coming to mind. One was a castle with long, pink and blue passageways lined with doors and on every door was someone’s name. These were our private rooms in heaven. The second was the Shire with all my pets roaming around in the fields. But there is something wrong with these images. I wonder if you can see it? Because I couldn’t. (Read more . . . )

Godspeed to the Spirit Garage Communion Bread Baker and Courier

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:34:36 -0400

About 6 months ago Lauren asked if she could make the communion bread for Spirit Garage. It is a ministry her mother did for her church and she would like to carry on the tradition here at Spirit Garage. What a great tradition it has been; including the Good Friday Worship, where Lauren's husband Nick couriered the communion bread by bike moments before serving communion.

Recently I received the following email. . .
Hi, Rob. This Sunday I will bring enough communion bread for two weeks. Unfortunately, this will be the last time I can bring communion bread. We're moving out of our apartment on May 31 and will be splitting our time between Rochester and St. Paul through the summer, then in Rochester full time starting in September. I wanted to give you the recipe in case anyone in the future wants it . . .

My Easter, by Chad Maglich

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:25:45 -0400

It’s through Jesus’ sacrifice
That I am saved
Preached love for our fellow man
He walked the land
With his apostles
He kept spreading the Word
And paid the ultimate price
He gave up his life
So we could live
(link for full poem)

Another Historic Flood, by Wendi Wheeler

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:07:37 -0400

In 1997 I lived in Fargo and watched the "flood of the century" invade Grand Forks (and many other cities) from the safety of my second-floor apartment by the NDSU campus. Homes in the south part of Fargo-Moorhead were threatened, but what we experienced was nothing like what happened farther north.

I couldn't help with the sandbagging effort in '97 -- it's a deeply personal story that I still can't share -- and I am not able to leave Minneapolis now either. But I send prayers and warm, dry thoughts to the people in the Red River Valley, and I'll send money to the Red Cross because I know they will use it.

The other night I saw Nan Froelich on the news talking about the students who were helping sandbag outside their house. She's the wife of Andy Froelich, my piano and music theory prof from NDSU. I know some high school and college friends are fighting and getting ready to leave as well. And Mark, my coworker, is helping at his parents' house.

Remembering the words of Isaiah, I ask everybody to pray for them, and please donate to the Fargo Red Cross if you can. For God cares for people through other people - God's Work in Our Hands!

Lent for Unchurched Trail Runners, by Steve Quick

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:26:03 -0500

People are always surprised to find out that I'm a regular churchgoer (well, as regular as I get). First, I'm a scientist. Second, I'm politically liberal. Third, I'm irreverent about just about everything. That's not the description most people give churchgoers: liberal scientific jokesters. [Furthermore], Everyone is surprised that my favorite season is Lent. Maybe it's my contrarian nature. Most people don't understand the season and think of it as a dark, gloomy period when people give up something as if it were a New Year's resolution. I'm going to try to explain the season and how it actually applies to trail running. Read More. . .

Target Practice

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:15:06 -0500

"But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5.20-21).

"Learning," that’s the stage of discipline that Rob will be discussing during the message this week. Have you ever thought about sin as an example of learning? It’s a lot easier to do when you think of it as “missing the mark” (the literal Greek meaning of the word “sin”). Doesn’t seem nearly so bad, now does it? Which of us goes through life without missing the mark occasionally…or rather, often? Let’s face it, we all regularly miss the mark.

“Things I would never know” by Eric Koch

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:57:05 -0500

I just needed to work through some stuff,
looking back at my life,
I really only loved the one that I still love,
And that would be my wife.

Mysterious Ways

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:22:58 -0500

He called the crowd and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mark 8.34-35).

So I’m on the way to worship today, and I’m for the most part in a good space. I’m thinking through what I’ll say for the invocation, and doing my best to stay focused on simply doing God’s will. I tend to experience way more anxiety than is necessary for this sort of thing, and am doing my best to turn it over to God’s grace. I’m repeating the final words from the 84th Psalm, “O lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.” This is the essence of what I’m needing to remember. It’s also the essence of what I’m wanting to say to others during the invocation.

How Will We Know?

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:29:26 -0500

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6.20-23).

"Thy Will (Love) Be Done"

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:19:50 -0500

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5.48).

God’s will be done. God’s concern be done. God’s acceptance be done. God’s grace be done. God’s love be done.

In my daily prayers to God I often silently recite the words, “Thy will be done.” Given my particular history, I can sometimes experience this as harsh, as critical, as judgmental, as punitive. That word, “will,” it can seem so strong, so oppressive. We talk about ourselves as being “strong-willed” or “weak-willed.” It can just all become so burdensome; so much so that I can even begin to resist it as something that really isn’t in my best interest at all. In fact, I may begin to think that God’s will is something foreign to me, something that is being forced on me from without. I can experience it as a boundary violation.

Peter or Judas, Who Am I?

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:43:42 -0500

And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he (Judas) departed, and he went and hanged himself (Matthew 27.5).

Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the cock crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly (Matthew 26.74-75).

Crossing the Line?

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:34:49 -0400

“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6.24).

At what point does involvement with another person become participation in the problem? As Christians, we’re called to be compassionate, to be loving, to be merciful. Jesus regularly consorted with people whom the religious leaders of his time considered unclean and contemptible -- tax collectors, prostitutes, the physically ill. Jesus said that he came to heal the sick, not to tend to those who were already well. Then again, Jesus never crossed that line into participating in the problem with those who were dis-eased. Using the analogy of the two masters, he never crossed that line into serving both God and “wealth,” into serving both God and the source of the sufferer’s suffering. The distinction between the two was always maintained by Jesus. It was always crystal clear.

Bridges by Terese Najarian 9/18/2008

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:49:54 -0400

Spinning, turning, losing my way,
Loads of 911 assistance passing today.
How strange to see such a site,
What’s going on?, What has taken such flight?
Gave way, another attack perhaps?, it collapsed, it fell,
People plunged into the Mississippi River for a forever light.
(read more for entire poem)

Got Disturbed?

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:41:50 -0400

“When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord” (Psalm 4.4-5).

During the course of my day, there are so many things to become disturbed about. Perhaps I’ve been misunderstood or treated unfairly. Perhaps someone is rude to me on the bus or someone cuts me off in traffic. Perhaps I repeatedly find myself coming up against a personal limitation that I had really hoped I would have been able to overcome on my own. The Psalmist reminds me to take some time, to take a few deep breaths, to reflect, to practice relaxation techniques, to pray, to talk with a friend, to meditate, to sleep on it. The Psalmist reminds me to not so quickly react. After taking some time to pause, I’m then much less likely to deal with my disturbance by over-reacting or by responding in kind (or what the Psalmist calls “sin”). I’m also much more likely to discern what God‘s will is for a particular situation and then “offer right sacrifices” of love, acceptance, patience, understanding, confession, and forgiveness. Having paused and consciously taken my disturbance to God, I find that I can once again “put my trust in the Lord.”

I'm "That Guy"

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:37:44 -0400

Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live. (Ezekiel 18.31-32)

As a young adult, I believed I was a victim. I had experienced some mistreatment at the hands of others as an adolescent. I was a “late-bloomer” who had been made fun of by my peers. On a small scale, in my own little corner of the world, I experienced life as hurtful, painful, and less than fair. At least on a small scale, haven’t we all?