The Ministry Begins

January 12, 2012

I began my ministry as an Associate Pastor in the Prairie Rivers Parish last Sunday, January 8, what is called The Baptism of Jesus in the liturgical year.

Prairie Rivers Parish (PRP) is a group of four congregations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), Bergen Lutheran Church (Lidgerwood, ND), Calvary Lutheran Church (Hankinson, ND), Grace Lutheran Church (just north of Wyndmere, ND), and Wyndmere Lutheran Church. The "Lead Pastor" is my good friend, the Rev. Bob Caranicas, and he has been associated with Wyndmere and Grace for more than three years now.

It has been a few years since I have had regular preaching responsibilities, and I am looking forward to resuming this ministry. I took a break when my wife Marjorie was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in April 2005, and, apart from occasional pulpit supply work, that break continued after her death in November 2009.

I continue to teach Ethics and Religious Studies at the ND State College of Science, although in the Fall of 2009 I cut back to teaching three days a week.

I have lived in Fargo since May 2009, so both of my jobs will involve a lot of "windshield time." I will try this for a year, and then re-evaluate my living situation. I enjoy being only an hour away from my children and grandchildren in Grand Forks.

I am not sure what this blog will ultimately look like, but at present my thinking is to use it to engage the people in the pew, and others, in the preaching process. On a weekly basis I will post the scripture readings for the coming Sunday, and make some comments on them. I hope that others will share their thoughts as well, or ask their questions. And, then in the days following the sermon, I hope that the hearers will comment. Right now my practice is to preach from an outline rather than from a complete text, so this will limit the follow up comments to those who have "experienced" the sermon.

Next week I will begin the cycle of posting the texts and comments about them.

Harvey Henderson