Prairie Pastoral

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

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November 5, 2021 | Leave a Comment

Letting go

I’m a hanger-on. I hang onto things…memories, old receipts, friendships, bad song lyrics. There’s good and bad in hanging on.

       “The stripped and shapely maple grieves

                          the ghosts of her departed leaves”

John Updike’s poem, “November,” in A Child’s Calendar, chimes to me the beginning of the holiday season:  the over-eating of Thanksgiving, the frenzy of Advent, the bone-deep joy of Christmas, and the excitement of Epiphany all begin after this reminder that all gain is loss. All loss is gain.  And we are the better for it.  

This fall has been a lovely one in our lower Arkansas Valley of Colorado. Ours is never the glamour autumn of New England, but this year the river bottom turned flaming yellow, the backyard trees orange and lighter brown, and the leaves crunched under my feet on my slow morning jogs in City Park.  [Read more…]

Book of Hebrews, Expectation, Spiritual maturity, Time Tagged: autumn, expectation, John Updike, letting go


February 18, 2021 | Leave a Comment

Here’s to the enforcers

I’ve realized a lot about myself as a leader since last March. You know what I figured out just last week?  I probably knew it but I never really put it into words? I hate being an enforcer. I can do it, but I hate it.  

“No, no, you have to wear a mask when you come in on Sunday. No, you really have to wear a mask. No, it actually has to go over your nose. That’s the whole point. Really.”  

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. Did I mention that I hate it?

I said as much last week in my Sunday message, as I made a larger point about how hardship can–not every time, but many times–shape us closer into the image of God.

As I repeated, “I hate it,” for the fourth or fifth time, I began to see knowing looks, heads nodding slightly, in the congregation. Ah, I thought, those are the other enforcers out there. They hate it, too.

We’re doing the work–however imperfectly–to lead through a pandemic.

None of us are enjoying this. None of us.  

So, here’s to the enforcers–to the principals, the supervisors, the coaches, the teachers, the pastors, the administrators, the flight attendants, and everybody else whose job descriptions include looking out for other folks. You’re exhausted, too, and we know it.

Thank you, enforcers, for the hours spent pouring over public health orders, crafting safety plans, revising safety plans, communicating the new and newly revised safety plans, and then making those safety plans happen in the face of constant suspicion (at best) and outright hostility (at worst).

Thank you, enforcers, for keeping us safe.

Leadership, Spiritual maturity, Trust Tagged: church, COVID 19, enforcement, masks


September 24, 2019 | Leave a Comment

Superabounding faith

I lost my temper last night. I yelled at people who probably needed some gentle prodding, but not the verbal cannon fire I launched at them. I’ve apologized several times. Nevertheless I will lose my temper again.

My mother would tell stories of my epic temper tantrums as a child. My bedroom strewn with clothes flung from my dresser drawers, pages torn out of books, toys and stuffed animals hurled around the room. At least I’ve moved past property damage, right?

Peter wrote, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8).

“Increasing.” I really like that word “increasing.” [Read more…]

Discipleship, Hope, Spiritual maturity, Trust Tagged: blunders, growing faith, superabundance, temper


This is the day that
the Lord has made;
let us rejoice
and be glad in it.

– Psalm 118:24
Rev. Dr. MJ Romano

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Bible Verse of the Day

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
Romans 8:19
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LaJunta Presbyterian Church

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