Credit where credit is due

President Kay Parries welcomed members andguests to Tuesday’s meeting, the last inDecember and 2012. She thanked Ron Kolb,Eric Johnson and Alma Cater for planning theclub’s very successful Christmas party lastweek. Members had praise for the choice ofsetting, the Bluestem Trollwood Events Center,and for every aspect of the evening.

Rev. John Andreasen received a special roundof applause for his remarkable originalprogram — a tale of how an infant came to beborn in the Bear Pit underneath Usher’sHouse, with a little help from every MoorheadRotarian.

Giving thanks for Rotary’s gifts

According to Ron Kolb, our club’s Christmascollection raised a total of $925 for threebeneficiaries, including Lakes & PrairiesCommunity Action, Dorothy Day House andChurches United for the Homeless. Tworepresentatives of Lakes and Prairies joined us

to thankmembers inperfson forour supportand the difference it will make in people’s lives.

Sergeant at Arms Mike Hulett absolvedeveryone of all fines ... and asked for “joyfuldollars.” Many were contributed.

Gary Nolte announced that he and Cindy arereturning to serve in Haiti in January, wherethey will be building a school.

Inspirational ‘Winter of Discontent’offers much food for thought

Rotarian of the Day Jon Benson introduced Dr.Paul Dovre and his much-anticipatedChristmas message. He gave us much to thinkabout in his message, titled “A Winter ofDiscontent.”

Paul counseled us to acknowledge ourproblems, mistakes, unhappniess andselfishness; to remember the promise and thereason for hope — and to love. “Loving ourneighbor as ourselves,” he said, “will allow usto reverse the ills of this world today and in thefuture.”

The full text of Paul’s presentation is includedin this newsletter.

President Kay presented Paul with the bookthat will be donated to the Moorhead PublicLibrary in his name, “Christmas Time.”

The PaddlewheelThe PaddlewheelMoorhead Rotary Club

December 18, 2012Moorhead Rotary

Chartered May 1, 1921Club 970

District 5580

President Kay ParriesSecretary Vern GoodinTreasurer Don MeidingerRecording Paul Suomala

President-ElectWarren Wenner

President-NomineeRuss Hanson

Past PresidentJon Riewer

Director ’12 Ron KolbDirector ’12 Jon BensonDirector ’13 Kay ParriesDirector ’13 Gary NolteDirector ’14 Russ HansonDirector ’14 Warren Wenner

Paul Harris Foundation Gary Nolte

PhotographersGeorge DavisRuss HansonGary NolteTeresa Joppa Mike Szymanski

Program ChairRuss Hanson

Meeting ReporterTeresa Joppa

Paddlewheel EditorNancy Edmonds Hanson

The Moorhead Rotary boardof directors meets the secondWednesday of each month.

International PresidentSakuji Tanaka, Japan

District GovernorDon Cavalier

District Governor-ElectTim Kaminski

Assistant District GovernorHerb Schmidt

Other F-M Rotary ClubsMonday: Fargo West

Noon, Holiday Inn1st & 3rd Tuesdays: PM/FM

5:15 p.m., Lucky 13 PubWednesday: Fargo

Noon, RadissonThursday: AM/FM

7 a.m., Ramada Plaza

If you attend meetings of anyof these clubs, just check in.We have a reciprocalagreement.

Moorhead RotaryP.O. Box 72Moorhead, MN 56561

Dec. 11Paul Dovre inspires Rotarians and guestswith his moving Christmas message

Volume 91—No. 25

Coleen and Tiffany from Lakes & Prairies CommunityAction thanked the club for its donation.

Raffle Kitty is still growing

One of our guests from Lakes andPrairies drew the week’s winningticket, but her luck didn’t hold; shefailed to pick the eight ofdiamonds. This week’s pot ($466)will be even bigger when we nextmeet Jan. 8.

Correction: The last Paddle -wheel reported that our member -ship brainstorming sessiongenerated 16 potential Rotarians.The actual total was 60.

GuestsJanie Hulett

(guest of Mike Hulett)Colleen Murray & Tiffany

McKinnon, Lakes andPrairies Community ActionAgency (guests of club)

Norma Mjelde (guest of Cindy Nolte)

John Gjevre and Mardee Dovre(guests of Paul Dovre)

Kathy Benson and Mark Krejci(guests of Traci Moorhead)

Clark Tufte (guest of John Andreasen)

Linda Davis (guest of George Davis)

Katie White and Terry Storsved(guests of Violet Deilke)

Make-UpsGary Nolte (bell ringing and 5-

Presidents meeting)Noah Fischer (Fargo West)Eric Wilkie (Fargo Rotary and

Fargo West)John Andreasen (Fargo West)Bill Woods (FM/AM club)Gina Monson (Fargo Rotary)

Looking Forward … to Moorhead Rotary MeetingsDec. 25 No meetingJan. 1 No meetingJanuary 8 Rotarian of the Day, Dave Ebinger

Program Cass County Sheriff Paul LaneyGreeters Cater & Schmidt* Travel drawing for trip for San Francisco trip

January 15 Rotarian of the Day, Sam WaiProgram Linda Boyd and director candidate David

Itkin, F-M SymphonyGreeters Craft & Schwandt

January 22 Rotarian of the Day, Corey ElmerProgram Brenda Elmer — Chinese Cultural Exchange Greeters Deilke & Sederquist

December 18, 2012

Photos from Christmas PartyDec. 13, 2012

Prospective MemberThe board approved theapplication for offrom JoshFrost, a personal banker atBell State Bank inMoorhead. His sponsor isRotarian Greg Johnson,also from Bell State Bank.If no objection to hismembership is received byclub secretary Vern Goodinwithin the next two weeks,he will be invited to joinour club.

Moorhead Rotary December 18, 2012

The Winter of Our Discontent

“The Winter of our Discontent:” thesewords were penned by WilliamShakespeare and laid the groundworkfor his portrait of Richard the III as adisenchanted man. In many ways,America is experiencing a winter ofdiscontent. Consider the continuingpolarization of the body politic.

We are a self-indulgent people whobelieve we can have what we cannotafford. We are a self delusional peoplewho believe that there is no hell to payfor our self absorption. We are anidolatrous people caught up in theworship of the false gods ofmaterialism, individualism andpleasure

In our world the hopes of the ArabSpring have been dashed by the deathof an ambassador and his aides, bythe emergence of a new form ofoppression in Egypt, by the resurgenceof the Taliban in Afghanistan and othernations, by the continuing crisis inSyria which may yield an outcome wedespair, and by a global economy soprecarious that if one domino falls—whether Greece, Spain or France—theconsequence may be a global financialcollapse

And that was before last Friday when27 people died in Connecticut, most ofthem children; which was after theAurora, CO shootings where 12 werekilled; which was after the Oak Creek,WI shooting where 7 were killed.

And none of this has to do with gunsand ammunition of course—whosesales have skyrocketed following theelection of Barak Obama 4 years agoand again this past Saturday at ourown Mills Fleet Farm store. We seemto gravitate toward, and evensubsidize, a culture of death with ourpassion for violence in movies, inmusic, in video games; with our toxicpolitics: with the death spiral of ourpublic spending and debt; and with ourcontinuing withdrawal from thecommons and toward the self. One

hundred andfifty years agoAbrahamLincoln said ofthis nation: “Ifdestruction beour fate, weourselvesshall be itsauthors and itsfinishers.”

We have localversions of ourwinter of discontent as well. Homelessnumbers continue to mount and toexceed the capacities of this affluentcommunity so we have gone tooverflow housing in area churches. Weserved over 62,000 meals to thehomeless in 2011 and that numbergrew to over 102,000 in 2012. Therecontinue to be more people than thereshould be who are entering our heathcare system through the emergencyroom rather than through someseamless care program. And fundingfor mental health needs continues tobe compressed

For many there are also very personalagendas of discontent as when amother exhibits the first symptoms ofAlzheimer’s; when a friend—myfriend—receives word that he hasbeen dismissed from his job one dayand that his mother is terminally ill thenext; and when another friend—myfriend—struggles to recover his healthafter a month of hospitalization.

And we may experience our winter ofdiscontent when you—your very ownself, and me—my very own self,acknowledge a fundamentaldisconnect between our values andour conduct.

My first word today isacknowledgement, that is, theacknowledgement of our winters ofdiscontent for, as the novelist JohnSteinbeck said long ago “to be alive atall is to have scars.” John Bachman,editor of the Christian Century writesthat most of the revelations of God

An album with all photos from our Christmas party is available on Moorhead Rotary’s Facebook page.

Moorhead Rotary December 18, 2012

came to people in situations that were bleak. Considerthe experiences of the Israelites to whom the prophetsspoke. They were surely experiencing long winters ofdiscontent. In the centuries of their millennium they hadbeen promised and then received a rich land andsubsequently they mismanaged their largess and wereimprisoned, enslaved and dispersed all across Africaand Asia. While they experienced brief periods of reformand restoration—they often slipped into agnosticism andthe idolatry of the gods of their conquerors or their newhomes. King Herod built temples to Caesar Augustusand if the priests displeased him they were summarilyexecuted. In addition to idolatry, there was politicalisolation and subjugation. Those who remained inPalestine had to bow to the suppression of Rome.

Zephaniah was among the prophets who spoke the truthto both his fellow Israelites and to their oppressors. Hespoke of human and animal sacrifice, of false gods andtheir priests, and of leaders who misused their power.

Here is what he said about Jerusalem: “Ah soiled,defiled, oppressive city. It has listened to no voice; it hasaccepted no correction. It has not trusted in the Lord; ithas not drawn near to God.” If the oppressors andidolaters were comfortable before Zephaniah, by thetime he uttered his prophetic words of judgment—theytoo experienced a winter of discontent.

All of which takes me to my second word for today—theword is promise.

Isaiah was a predecessor of Zephaniah and heprophesied a very similar judgment. But then he gavethe people a reason for hope. He wrote these words topeople in the winter of their discontent: “There will be nogloom for those in anguish.” “For a child has been bornfor us, a son given to us: authority rests upon hisshoulders’ and he is named wonderful counselor, mightyGod, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authorityshall grow continually, and there shall be endless peacefor the throne of David and of his kingdom. He willestablish and uphold it with justice and withrighteousness from this time onward and forevermore.The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

And the key to such hope? One more word: Love. “MyKingdom is not of this world” is what Jesus said. He wasright about that for what he brought was a kingdom oflove. Love is of God and God is love. Again he said: “Asthe father has loved me, so I have loved you, abide inmy love. This probably is neither what every prophetexpected nor what many first century people who wereexperiencing oppression hoped for. They looked for anew King David—a warrior to avenge the Romans.Instead, they got the King of Love. And God in Christ

turned out to be a game changer—initiating a wholenew dynamic of forgiveness and renewal and justiceand righteousness.

One of the placards in Newtown, CT reads: “Love willsee us Through.” “Love will see us through.” The lovethat changes hearts and lives, love that is inexhaustiblein supply. I submit that if we are to address theprofligacy of this nation it will be because we love ourneighbor and our children enough to pay more taxesand give up some benefits we want but may not need. Ifwe are to effectively address the culture of violencethrough some combination of self control and commonaction—it will be because we love our neighbors. Thinkabout the results if we were to approach the matter ofgun violence in the context of love instead of the contextof fear. Don’t think it’s possible? Think about the sheerpower of love in the actions of the teachers at SandyHook last Friday.

I am not suggesting a love that is necessarily soft andgentle in expression. Remember Jesus anger at thePharisees, his rebuke of Peter, his muscular interventionat the temple. Love for neighbor can lead us to somebruising encounters. But I am saying most emphaticallythat the gift of this season is the love of God—and Godurges us to give it away and when we do so—thingschange. Even things we thought impossible like violenceagainst children, homelessness, political gridlock, self-centeredness, and idolatrous self-deception

Here it is succinctly: “As the Father has loved me, so Ihave loved you: abide in my love.” And again, “love oneanother, even as I have loved you.” This is the love thatwill see us through the winters of our discontent. This isthe love that is foretold again this season. This is thelove of which fellow Rotarian William Craft wrote in averse from his “Carol of the Word:”

In this cold and angry season/ This winter of our Sin,From the rude, unlovely manger/Love calls to us againSpeaking justice over empire/ Lifting hatred’s mortal curse.Making whole our broken spirits/With news of peace on earthSo with stabled beasts and angels/ With stars and moon and sun,We declare Love’s new creationGod’s life in us begun.

And so may it be this Christmas season.

— Paul J. Dovre