Yesterday was our day off, so we filled it with the kind of activities that others do when they have a day away from the office. I went to the lake and paddled in the wee hours of the morning and then came home and organized items to take to the church rummage sale. I stopped by the blood bank and donated platelets and plasma and made it home in time for lunch with Susan. There were plenty of household chores and a trip to the hardware store to fill the afternoon. In the evening, we went out to supper.

There are a lot of different places to choose from when going out to supper in downtown Rapid City. Tally’s Restaurant is a local icon and serves up good fare. There are hotel restaurants like Paddy O’neill’s in the Alex Johnson or the Enigma in the Adoba Hotel. Firehouse Brewing is a local favorite. Susan and I like Curry Masala and their downtown restaurant is usually a good place for a quiet conversation. Botticelli is definitely the place to go for Italian and Murphy’s is the place for pub food. There are several spots in Main Street Square including the new Que Pasa, Dakota Thyme and the Chicago Hot Dog place.

However, we chose the barbecue at Trinity Lutheran Church. Our friend and colleague Wilbur Holtz is the pastor at Trinity and we have been partnering with Trinity this summer in hosting barbecues to invite in the neighbors. Trinity is located in the heart of downtown Rapid City just across from the courthouse complex and among their neighbors are dozens of homeless people who are often in need of a nutritious meal. The barbecues provide an opportunity for the people of the church to mix with the people they serve through their regular Samaritan’s Food Pantry. This summer, our church has provided pasta salad to go with the burgers and fruit and cookies provided by the people of Trinity Church. We make up a few big bowls of salad and enjoy the opportunity to get to know the folks at Trinity and their neighbors a bit better.

Good food, good folks – that’s not a bad way to spend part of an evening.



As is often the case with such events, things didn’t exactly go as planned. When we arrived Pastor Will and another member of the church were staffing the grills, but the cooking wasn’t going well. They were out of propane to keep the grills going. So we made a quick trip up to our church to get propane. When we returned, things heated up quickly. In fact the usual flare up of a gas grill cooking burgers turned into quite a conflagration in one of the grills as the old grease in the grill provided fuel for a real grease fire. No one panicked, the propane was turned off and the fire was allowed to burn itself out before continuing. A little excitement is OK as long as no one gets hurt. Pastor Will may have singed a few of the hairs on his arm, but he emerged with a smile on his face. A few burgers were burnt into inedible chunks of black ash, but the grease had burned off of the grill and it soon was able to be used to cook the rest of the supper.

All of that was happening behind the scenes. There was plenty of other entertainment as Kansas City Street in front of the church is excavated about two feet below grade and the construction equipment operators were shutting down for the evening as the crew at Trinity started to serve food. Folks spread out on the steps and lawn in front of the church. The clouds threatened rain, but no rain materialized and it was a pleasant evening.

Summer is passing quickly. The list of things we were going to do is as big as it was in June. We haven’t taken time for all of the backyard barbecues that we intended. We haven’t had friends over as much as we had planned. We haven’t gone for short, one-night camping trips yet.

Of course summer is an elusive season in the hills. Most years, September is more summer-like than June when it comes to weather. This year we’ve been so lucky in the rain department that the hills are still lush and green and inviting as the middle of August is upon us.

But there is work to be done. The church rummage sale is a huge undertaking with the need for lots and lots of volunteers. The church leaders’ retreat is just over a week away and there is a lot of business for the Church Board to consider. It will take preparation and organization to have things ready for them to consider in an efficient manner. August is the season of preparation for the ramping up of fall programs. Plans need to be put in order. Volunteers need to be recruited and trained. And in the midst of all of that, our congregation is searching for a new choir director. It is a process that is increasingly complex and difficult as the years go by. The committee is wishing that they had a field of candidates to interview and from which to choose, but it just isn’t working out that way this time around. I am confident that God will provide the leadership that the church needs, but it is a bit difficult to see how we are going to have our fall music programs in place in time to have everything working on schedule.

So the gift of a quiet meal with friends and neighbors was a pleasant gift. There will be time to get the work done if we also take time to be with people, to listen, and to observe the work that God is doing in our community. No one left Trinity Church hungry last night. That in itself is a blessing. There are more blessings to come if we are willing to walk at God’s pace instead of our own.

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