The Soloist

Christa and I have a membership for Netflix. Living in Oakfield, this has actually worked out well because we are at least 15-20 minutes from a rental place. The mail service also works remarkably fast here, so we get movies pretty quickly.

We watched The Soloist last night. Christa and I both look for different things in movies. Generally, we see to eye to eye on our ratings. Netflix gives you the option to rate the movie on a five star system. I think we have a system down. Let's put it this way:

* = Nothing redeeming. This movie is just absolutely awful. (We jhave yet to give a move this)
** = May be a glimmer of hope, but pretty bad.
*** = Average, entertaining movie.
**** = This was a very good movie with a lot of good qualities.
***** = Nearly flawless. This movie kept our attention. We'd want to see it again and again.

I find now that, as a pastor, I can't help but view movies from a religious and theological perspective. For instance, a movie like Knowing (***) took on whole different meaning when you think about it theologically. Same with Seven Pounds (****).

Today, however, let's focus on The Soloist. I do recommend the film and there's a few things I'd like you ponder as you watch:

• Check out the portrayal of the cello player, Graham Claydon (played by TomHollander), as a Christian.
• There is a moment when Nathaniel Ayers (played by Jamie Foxx) says that Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) is God. As you learn about their relationship, it is an interesting point of discussion.
• There is an overall message in the movie about what one person is capable of doing to make a difference in the world. With its focus on the homeless in Los Angeles, you can't help but be moved and saddened.

The overall story is that Lopez is researching stories for the LA Times. He finds Ayers who was a Julliard dropout suffering from schizophrenia. Ayers is homeless and estranged from his family. Lopez works with Ayers to get back his gift for playing the cello. I'll leave the rest for you to find out. Let me know what you think of the movie.

Town Hall Meeting - Sunday's Service.

I had every intention of attending the Oakfield Town Council meeting last night, but I was not able to go. I hope to be able to attend in September. I want to make an effort to be knowledgeable and aware of the affairs of this village. In Oshkosh trying to do that was intimidating...I think it will be more manageable on this level. I did notice earlier this week that Tom Petri would be visiting Oakfield for a Town Hall Meeting.

With all the hub bub over health care and some of the interesting occurrences that have happened at these meetings around the country, I wanted to check it out. I was curious to see how many people would show up. Walking down Main Street, I noticed a lot of cars parked. I could tell this one was going to be packed. That was the case. It was a standing room only crowd.

With one hour for the meeting, Petri fielded a variety of questions and allowed for people to comment. Much of the discussion revolved around concerns regarding health care. Other topics included illegal immigration, off-shore drilling, media bias, and the taking of God out of America.

It was neat to see democracy inaction and it was neat to see a Congressman talking to the people about the issues that concern them. But...I sensed a great deal of fear among the crowd. They were fearful of socialism creeping into America. They were fearful of losing benefits to illegal aliens. They were fearful for a secular United States that lost its religious roots. One man said he was mad at the state of the country, but he didn't know what to do.

* * * * * *

I wish I had an easy answer for that man. Politics aside, there are lots of issues that we are wrestling with. This Sunday, the theme of the worship services at Tabor and Oakfield is about wisdom.Specifically, we will be looking at Solomon's desire for wisdom above everything when God asks him what he wanted. Hopefully, we can learn more about how to proceed in times when we are uncertain, scared and overwhelmed. God bless.

Thoughts on Language

I have learned to appreciate the quiet that comes with living in a community of 1,000 people. That appreciation is greatly increased when you compare our living situation now to living in a residence hall of 200 college students within a college campus in a city of 60,000 people. Yesterday, I took the opportunity to grab a chair and sit out on the porch of the house and read a book. It was refreshing and relaxing. It is something I hope to do every day, as long as weather allows.

As I was reading, I came upon a passage in the book about today's culture and the Christian perspective on it. Specifically, it addressed swearing in public. This brought up a two things that I wanted to write briefly about; I would also appreciate your thoughts as well.

Swearing

I struggle with swearing. Do I swear? Yes...but a lot less than I used to. I work every day to reduce my swearing. I am getting better! What pains me is when I see young children biking around and here them talking with every fifth word being some kind of swear. I hear adults using the most apalling language to talk about pretty mundane stuff. Why do we feel the need to swear? How did we allow our language to get so vulgar?

I don't exactly know, but I know that it's not helping us. I feel as though we are continually becoming more accepting of foul language. I can't control the language that people use, but I know that I can role model better use of it. I feel as though swearing makes someone look bad and also makes them a bad role model for younger folks.

Perhaps this serves as a challenge for us to find the right words to describe our wonder, frustration, excitement and other emotions. Just as it can be helpful to have someone pick out all the times you use "umm" when you speak in public, it might be worth while to see the role that swearing plays in your conversation. I gaurantee that you will be seen as more intelligent and refined if you don't swear. Try it!

Using the Lord's Name in Vain

There has been a lot of talk lately about the use of words like "retarded" and "gay" to describe people and situations. I am in complete agreement. I am frustrated when I hear people use these words. I will confront people when they use words like that and explain how it can be offfensive. With this in mind, I wonder why these words need not to be used, but people can feel free to use the Lord's name in vain and nothing is done about it.

I will also confront this behavior and I get some strange reactions. I think this practice is so engrained in people's word choice so they don't even think about it. It may come as a shock to them that someone might actually be offended by them doing that. This is something that I really struggle with. I believe the Christian community also has the right to say that when people use the Lord's name in vain, that is offensive.

If you haven't confronted someone about it, I encourage you to do so. I also encourage you to think about your own word choice. Have I used the Lord's name in vain? Yep. We all make mistakes, but let's take the opportunity to praise our Lord, not defile His name.

...so, what are your thoughts on this? They would be appreciated.

Byron Center Worship Service

As many of you may already know, it is with great sorrow that the Byron Center will be closing its doors as a camp site for the United Methodist Church. It has a long and rich history of camps and has provided many wonderful memories. On September 13, 2009 there will be an opportunity to come together to share memories and celebrate the ministry that the Byron Center and its staff have helped foster over its life.

The grounds will be open to visitors at 2:00 PM for folks to walk around the grounds. There will be a worship service at 4:00 PM. There will be a pot luck supper beginning at 5:30 PM. I encourage you to come out to this event if you have been been involved in any way with the Byron Center.

If you are at all interested in helping out with the service, please contact me at: jbdroste@gmail.com or (920) 583-3352.

If you are unsure of how to get to Byron Center, check this map.

*** I will be announcing this event in the Oakfield and Tabor worship bulletins as well as the September "Good News"Newsletter. ***

Fitness Watch

As part of the WebMD component of our Health Insurance that we get through Annual Conference, we have the option of signing up for the Virgin Health Miles program. OK...the sponsor does seem a little interesting.

By signing up, you are sent a free pedometer which monitors all of the steps you take in a day. Periodically, you are asked to download them onto their website so that it can track your progress.

It is meant to promote activity and physical fitness. I happened to see a few of my clergy colleagues doing this and I though I should get on board. And...not only does it help you to get out and get active; you can also earn rewards! :)

So, you will see me all over with my pedometer on...even in church. Feel free to ask me how things are going with it. Thanks!

Tabor Vacation Bible School

I had the opportunity to finally be able to join the kids that were participating in Tabor United Methodist Church's Crocodile Dock Vacation Bible School Program. It was a three day program that was Monday-Wednesday of this week. I was honored to have the opportunity to lead the storytelling segment this morning. They will be having a celebration tonight at 7:00PM for all parents, family and friends of those that participants. From what I've heard, they had 35 kids from the great Eden area that participated. That is amazing.

The curriculum centered around five keys words and the ministry of Jesus. For instance, the key word for my storytelling focused on the word "seek." The story was about the four men bringing the paralyzed man through the roof of the busy house to that Jesus could heal him. We focused on the people's resolve to get in as well as the great gift of forgiveness and healing that Jesus gave to the man. Then the children had music time, crafts time, game time and science time to learn and reinforce the concept. I wish I would have been able to check out more than one day.

I want to thank all of the volunteers and coordinators that put in a great deal of time to make this event a success. It was great to see so many kids enthusiastic and excited to learn about about Jesus Christ!

Today's Field Trip

As I mentioned in the bulletin on August 2, I participated in a field trip with the other clergy in our circuit. We had the opportunity to travel to Sun Prairie to visit with Dan Dick, the Director of Connectional Ministry of the Wisconsin Annual Conference.

Wisconsin Annual Conference Headquarters
Before that meeting, we had the opportunity to take a tour of the facilities. I got to meet the folks from the Foundation, I got to see the resource room and I got to see the Bishop's office. Although the bishop was not available, I did get to see Steve Polster, the bishop's assistant :). I did see that there are some wonderful resources available to us as a congregation. I am hopeful that I might be able to incorporate some bible studies and some videos into worship and meetings.

Our meeting with Dan Dick provided great conversation and got me thinking about lots of ideas for the church and for our circuit! He has a website that you can see HERE.

Madison First United Methodist Church
After our tour, we walked to lunch and happened to walk by Madison United Methodist Church. They recently completed a large reconstruction project and we happened to see two trustees who gave us a complete tour. It is an amazing facility. I was glad to see it. The website should give you some insight what they have accomplished.

I think that's all for now.