We’re back from a great vacation to Virginia and New York State. It’s great to be back after logging nearly 2700 miles which includes a jaunt to Vermont.

Before we left I bought an I-Pass. It’s an electronic gadget you attach to your car and it allows you to skip the toll booth lanes in Illinois. It also works wherever E-Z Pass is used on the east coast.

I bring this up because of my ingrained Lutheran guilt that tickled my conscience every time I scooted past a toll plaza. It started in the Land of Lincoln where you have no way of knowing if the little box actually works. You’re not even required to slow down. My immediate reaction was to look for an officer who would ticket me for avoiding the toll.

Then, in Pennsylvania, we started going through the collection points that require you to slow to about five miles per hour. As you do, the light turns from yellow to green and off you go into the rolling hills of the Keystone State. My guilt leaning soul says, "It can’t be that easy."

Now, I know this eventually comes out of my pocket somewhere, but it’s that immediate feeling of getting a free pass for something you used to pay for that struck me again and again.

I can’t help but put it into the perspective of our Lutheran motto - SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH. The I-Pass to life is the water splashed with God’s word. The sign of the cross on our foreheads is the machine on the windshield. And best of all, the account is not on my credit card, but paid always by the love of God for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Pastor B.

On Saturday, July 21, I married the most beautiful young woman in Albany County, New York. That would be July 21, 1973. Yep, 34 years ago this date also fell on a Saturday. St. John’s Lutheran Church was filled with guests. Relations, friends, and congregation members all came. I was the intern. Susan had been baptized there and still was active. (I met her for the first time at a VBS planning meeting in 1972).

Since then we have been side-by-side finishing up seminary in St. Paul, living in Red Wing for four years, Burlington (WI) for six, Platteville for ten, and now nearly 13 years in Sun Prairie.

We were in Albany last Saturday. Much has changed in 34 years. The inner-city congregation of St. John’s struggles to survive. Our favorite Italian café has disappeared. The suburbs are expanding like most other metropolitan areas.

Over the history of our nation many people, ideas, and corporations have come out of the Albany area and changed the world. Yet, I think that I managed to get the most wonderful gift Albany ever produced. (Happy Anniversary, Susan.)

Pastor B.

It is a very important Key. I know this by looking at it and deducing its import by its setting. It is made of brass. Not shiny brass. But its dullness does not diminish from its importance. After all, brass that glimmers is all about show.

The Key is the only one on the ring. Lesser keys - like the ones for the house, car, and church - jangle together in a disorderly array producing a sound that only pleases babies and dogs. This key stands alone. When I open my desk, it’s the first thing I see. As if saying, "Here I am, send me" like some biblical prophet. The Key awaits on the pencil ledge in the very front of the drawer.

This very important key unlocks a place made secure because of the value inside. More valuable than a bar of gold. More priceless than a new idea. This key opens that which secures more than hope, more than love, more than life itself.

Yes, this singular key is very, very important. Nations would go to war to have this key. I’d be happy to give you a nickel if you can remind me exactly what it opens.

Pastor B.

The fireworks are mostly over, and summer is in full swing. The laid-back week which witnessed the beginning of so many vacations deserves some reflection. Here it is:

* The annual timed hot dog eating contest was won by a man who managed to devour 66 of those tube steaks along with the surrounding bun in 13 minutes. Only in America.

* Speaking of franks, one of the Wienermobiles got stopped (in Arizona, I think) for having stolen license plates. Turned out to be a big misunderstanding that resulted in a red-faced officer and the distribution of wiener whistles.

* I stopped in at Shopko recently to buy an outdoor chair. Most of the seasonal equipment was depleted as they were preparing the back-to-school shelves.

* Fireworks (legal & illegal) lit up the sky and cracked the air for several nights around our house. Yet, for all the smoke, sparks, and sound, they can’t hold a candle to the spectacular light show of fireflies hovering over a hay field after dusk.

* The 1812 Overture has become a staple in the repertoire of July 4 music. Yet, it has nothing to do with America since it was written to celebrate Russia’s defeat of Napoleon. Guess the year?

* I saw two movies both of which I recommend to you. Ratatouille revisits the Disney formula for pleasing the audience, and it does it well.  Bring a kid.  Evening is being considered an "art" film (whatever that means), and it is well worth the drive.  Leave the kids home since the drama is in the dialog and not the special effects.

* If last Saturday (07/07/07) was such a lucky day for weddings, why didn’t I have one?

* Finally, we bade farewell to Melva McNeary last Friday. She left our community and church with a big empty spot.

Thanks be to God.

Pastor B.

So, you think George Washington was the first President of the United States. Here we are at the week of celebrating our independence from King George (of England, that is), and it’s time to dive into one of the minor historical elucidations.

Our Constitution didn’t become our basis for running this country until 1789. Until then, from the official end of the Revolutionary War in 1781 the country of 13 colonies (each considered a separate state) were bound together by the Articles of Confederation. The document outlined the official title of the "President of the United States in Congress Assembled."

The first such congress, meeting in 1781, elected John Hanson as president for a one year term. Hanson was a Swede, and very likely a Lutheran.

In his one year, Hanson set the tone for the presidency that echos even today. Hanson helped in approving the Great Seal of the United States that is still used today with some minor changes from the original. He was committed to removing all foreign troops from American soil. He established the first consular service, the Treasury Department, departments for Secretary of War and Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Under his leadership a post office department began and a national bank was chartered. Hanson helped develop a uniform system of coinage. Along with congress he urged Americans to observe the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving.

By 1789, the Federalists had gained the political power to change the way the states organized. The Constitution was ratified and Washington was elected as the "first" president.

Let us celebrate on this July 4^th John Hanson and the seven others who presided over congress in the infant days of what has become a great nation.