To Be a Spider Plant

Ministry is a rewarding career.  I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than being able to share the good news of Jesus Christ in a variety of ways.  However, there aren’t very many concrete measuring tools.  The kind of success that I generally value is not related to numbers but more about the spiritual growth that goes on inside of a person. It is hard to hold that up to a yardstick.  That’s when I look at my spider plants.   

When I moved in to my office at Trinity, formerly occupied by Pastor Sam Hamilton-Poore,  I inherited a spider plant.  I remember meeting with Pastor Sam before I started and making a joke about the poor plant.  It was laying sideways in a pot with very little dirt.  He said he would leave it for me as a gift.  Within the first month of starting at Trinity I took the plant home, re-potted it, and put it outside in the spring sunshine to see if it would survive.  By the end of the summer, I was overwhelmed with spider plant “babies” hanging off the plant.  I cut and potted a few and returned the original to my church office.  Since that time, they have multiplied with so many new spider plants that I haven’t known what to do with them or where they have all gone.  My college age kids have them in their apartments and dorms.  I put them in with my annuals flowers outside at home and at our businesses.  They adorn the front entry of the cafe downtown.  I have given them away to friends and strangers who then have given them to others.  As I started to move my plants inside for the winter this year, I potted numerous spider plant babies to give to the youth to sell at the Scandinavian Bazaar.  One forlorn little spider plant at Trinity has given birth to countless other plants that have gone all over our community and beyond in the last 5 years.


When Jesus talked about discipleship, he used familiar images from his environment:  vines and branches, sower and soils, mustards seeds and trees.  I wonder if Jesus lived in north Iowa today, he would say, "You are spider plants."  We are to send out shoots of growth, creating new plants.  These plants then find their own soil where they can grow and create more new plants, eventually to the point that no one is sure where they all came from or where they all have gone.   


Sometimes, I like to think about the ministry at Trinity as trying to live up to my spider plant.  In the last five years, it is my hope that some words and actions of comfort, hope and challenge have reproduced in others.  And it is my belief that shoots of spiritual growth from Trinity have made an impact all over our community and beyond.


(For those of you wondering... After a 3 week silence of returning to regular ministry responsibilities and evaluating some responses to this blog, I have decided to continue writing.  Because of other time commitments, the entries may not be as often as they were during my sabbatical but will evolve as my life experiences reveal God to me in fresh ways each day.)

A Perfect Autumn Day

What a great day!  Thirty six friends from Trinity made the journey from Mason City to Iowa Falls to board the Scenic City Empress Boat for lunch and a cruise along the Iowa River.  The weather was lovely, the food was delicious, and the fellowship was wonderful.

As I sat on top of the boat watching the vista of colors, experiencing the gentle flow of water, and reflecting on the beauty of creation, the words from Isaiah 55: 12 seemed to be exemplified before me.

For you shall go out in joy,

and be led back in peace

the mountains and hills before you

shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field

shall clap their hands.

I hope your autumn days are filled with God's blessings and thank you to those who shared this one with me.

All Behavior Has Meaning

      It is said,  “All behavior has meaning.”  I’m not exactly sure if I completely believe it but I do think behavior sometimes reveals more about who we are as people than we realize.  Every once in a while, I have fun analyzing what I am doing(or what I forget to do) and what it reveals about my psycho/spiritual self.

      I slipped back in to church on Friday to go through some mail and get re-oriented to what has been happening.  I started to resume my usual "pre-sabbatical" morning routine but immediately experienced a difference.  Noah is driving himself to school. (Motorists beware of a rusty blue pickup J)  For the first time in 17 years, I don’t have anyone to drop off or pick up from school.  What will I do with all my extra time?  Instead, I went to my favorite coffee shop, (you might know which one) and filled my to-go mug.  They brew Hazelnut on Tuesdays and Fridays so those are always good days.  I wore jeans and a sweatshirt to church so no one would take me too seriously.  I pulled in to the parking lot but in spite of my routine, I discovered that I had left my calendar at home.  Oops.   I carefully packed my bag the night before, like a kid going to the first day of school, but left it in the kitchen.  Yes, all behavior has meaning.  I guess I am ready to be back at church by the end of this week but maybe not for the calendar of activities and commitment to a schedule.  In fact, I haven’t worn a watch for two months and I actually misplaced my calendar for over a month during my sabbatical.  You don't have to be Freud to figure that one out.

     On a completely different note, however, I arrived at church only to discover a whole other way that all behavior has meaning.  Extraordinary things have been happening with many extra-ordinary behaviors by our church members.  What was the spark of the Holy Spirit moving in one person’s life to do something of incredibly generous proportion for the church, has been fanned in to a “wild fire blaze” of activity since I have been gone.  Kitchen renovation, demolition of the old parsonage, new carpeting, stained glass repair are part of what appears to be contagious generosity, excitement, and caring .   Benevolence has abounded through time, talents, and unexpected charitable gifts.  All behavior has meaning and the meaning of Jesus' gospel teachings have truly found expression in multiple kinds of behaviors in the last two months at church.  I am humbled to minister to, with, and ministered by such a wonderful group of committed servants of God.

      And so I was led from my external parking lot self examination of what I forgot to do, to an internal soul searching of what I ought to do.  If all behavior has meaning, and the church is filled with good stewards and disciples, then what am I to learn from their examples?    How do I prioritize what is meaningful in my life.  Do my actions reflect the hierarchy of importance?  What does my charitable giving, or lack there of, demonstrate about who I really am as person? And through it all, thanks be to God for the meaningful behavior of so many people.