A Message from Your Scribe

Dear Brothers: 

Last night, I submitted my resignation via letter to the Clerk of the Session of First Presbyterian Church.  The text is as follows:

Dear (Clerk):

After meditation, prayer, and consultation with trusted family members, friends, and colleagues in ministry, I submit my resignation as installed pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Denton effective June 30, 2016. 

When I began work as temporary supply pastor (2010) and through to this date, the congregation has faced significant challenges -- challenges that require change.  From nearly the beginning, the changes I proposed and my manner of ministry have met with quiet, consistent, and now organized opposition from certain members and staff.  In addition, the mission and ecclesial posture  of the PCUSA -- of which I largely concur -- are no longer in keeping with the views of certain members.

I thank God for the opportunity He has given me to serve as pastor in this setting.  He has led me in the past, and I have every confidence I will be similarly led in the future.

Sincerely,

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

As a result, the "status" of our noon meetings of THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE has changed.  Personally, I am willing to continue to meet -- individually or as a group -- if there is interest.  The setting, however, will no longer be at First Presbyterian Church.

Diana and I love Denton; we feel God's direction to stay here.  We have been blessed to be involved with many entities that are of direct benefit to those in need in our area.   My initial plan is to take interim training through the PCUSA and be available for congregations in Denton and/or the North Dallas area in general as needs arise. 

Finally, I will no longer be using this email for correspondence.  Feel free to contact me at any time.  I can be reached at prdunklau@gmail.com and/or 940-206-3582 (text messages welcomed).  I realize this announcement will be something of a shock, but I trust, in time, that you will understand.

With gratitude to God and for you, I remain...

Your Scribe,

Rev. Paul R.Dunklau

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

1114 W. University Drive

Denton, Texas  76201

Office:  940-387-3894

Office Fax:  940-387-3877

Mobile:  940-206-3582

Email:  prdunklau@gmail.com

No TNL Tomorrow

Dear Brothers:

With my quarterly responsibilities on the THR Presbyterian Hospital of Denton's Board of Trustees, I cannot be in attendance tomorrow.  In addition, there are weddings coming up and other community-oriented commitments going forward into the next few months.

Thus, THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE will begin a Summer Hiatus!  I'll have more information forthcoming on the date/setting for future meetings.

I wish you a blessed Summer -- replete with all the resources you need to keep spirit, mind, and body strong!

Peace be with you!

Your Scribe,
PRDunklau

THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE for Wednesday, May 4!

See you tomorrow, gentlemen, for nourishment and lively discussion.  Sandwiches from The Egg & I will be provided.  (Your free will donations are most appreciated.)

We'll have a round table conversation about what's on your mind, and I'll have a short presentation of interesting (hopefully!) points on what some call "Post-Christian America."

See you soon!  Invite a friend!

Your Scribe,

PRDunklau

TNL Meets Tomorrow (Weather Permitting)

Dear Brothers:

Moments before I began this missive, Dawn Cobb of the Denton Record Chronicle reported that we were at "Level 4" ("Level 5" being worst) for violent thunderstorms/tornados in our area.    Currently, we're under a watch, but that may change.

With optimism born of faith, I'm planning on meeting with you tomorrow, and I hope you can come.  If things are not good, I'll be in touch via this medium and email.  Boxed sandwiches will be on hand (email your order:  prdunklau@gmail.com).

I'll have a short devotion, and then I propose this for conversation:  for quite awhile, I've been of the view that the problems in our country are primarily spiritual and cultural and not political (although on the latter, we have both "sides" saying, in so many words, that "the system is rigged."  If they are spiritual and cultural problems, what makes us think that political "solutions" are going to remedy them?  I'd be very interested to know what you think.

At any rate, I hope to see you tomorrow.

Your Scribe,
PRDunklau

P.S.  Keep Bear Manor in your prayers; he had hip replacement surgery earlier today.

NO Nicodemus League Today

Gentlemen:

Sorry for the late notice, but TNL will not meet today, 4/20.  We will gather next Wednesday, 4/27, at the usual time.

Your Scribe,
PRDunklau

THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE MEETS TOMORROW!

Brothers

I hope you'll be able to join us for an "Easter Edition" of TNL!  We'll enjoy sandwiches from "The Egg & I", great conversation, laughter, and a quick review of our namesake:  Nicodemus! 

It's the usual time (12:00 Noon-1:00 PM) and place (Sybil Hopper Room) here at First Pres!

See you soon!

Your Scribe,

 PRDunklau

No Meeting Tomorrow

Brothers:

Unfortunately, I have a rehab evaluation that will keep me over our time together.  Thus, our next meeting will be next Wednesday, April 13th, at the usual time!  See you then to continue the celebration of Easter!

Your Scribe,

PRDunklau

P.S. Email your prediction on who will win the Masters -- for a special prize!  Select from the full field or after the cut.  Submission deadline:  Friday at midnight!  Good Luck!

TNL Spring Break!

Gentlemen:

THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE will be taking a "Spring Break" in observance of Holy Week and Easter Week!  Thus, our next get-together will be Wednesday, 6 April, at the usual time and place.  May you and yours enjoy a rich and meaningful season as we celebrate the mysteries of the faith.  I will be in town during this time, so if you'd like to get together let me know!

Your Scribe,

 PRDunklau

Nourishment Tomorrow!

Nourishment for spirit, mind, and body are again on-hand at THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE tomorrow!  We'll enjoy box sandwiches from The Egg & I (fire me an email -- prdunklau@gmail.com -- with your order) and then take a look at a new book:  PowerSurge by Michael Foss.  Among other things, the author draws a distinction between the "old model" of church membership and the "new model" of discipleship.

Then, we'll engage our olfactory nerves with a little something called "No. 4711".  (You'll have to attend to enjoy!)

See you tomorrow at 12:00 noon -- and invite a friend!

Your Scribe,
PRDunklau

TNL UPDATE

Gentlemen:

Greetings!   I write on the eve of Super Tuesday -- and if the "election season" is any indication, that traditional discipline of the Lent -- prayer in private (see the Sermon on the Mount, Mt. 5-7) -- is most needed.  

In other matters (thankfully unrelated to the heated political rhetoric), I'll be busy for the next two Wednesdays (3/2 & 3/9) with board meetings.  Thus, we'll meet next on Wednesday, March 16th!  

See you soon!

Your Scribe,

PRDunklau

Psalm of the Day Plus Lunch at The Nicodemus League !

Gentlemen:

Join us for the Psalm of the Day plus Lunch at TNL today!

See you at noon in the Sybil Hopper Room!

Your Scribe,

PRDunklau

We're BACK!!!

Gentlemen:

For your kind words, prayers, and understanding during a time of grief/celebration in my family, I thank you.  I am grateful beyond words that my God knows death AND resurrection.  That said, the promise of the Gospel surely applies to my dad, Rupert, and to all of us.  "He who believes in Me even though he dies yet shall he live," says Jesus.  "And he who lives and believes in Me shall never die."  Faith clings to this promise and others -- and, believe me, we've been crying and clinging and celebrating and clinging of late to a great degree!

We will meet tomorrow, 17 February, at the usual time.  We'll consider -- and perhaps even begin -- 30 DAYS TO A BETTER MAN from our friends at www. artofmanliness.com.

As usual, there will be music, conversation, and lovely edibles from The Egg & I.  (I'll be putting in the order around 7am tomorrow morning, so, if you'd like, fire me an email at prdunklau@gmail.com if there's a particular sandwich you'd like!

We are smack-dab into the season of Lent -- a 40 period of penitential reflection.  Of course, there's more to that, and I'll try to provide some helpful commentary tomorrow.  Along with written devotional materials, the 30 DAYS TO A BETTER MAN program and BEN FRANKLIN'S "VIRTUES" DAY PLANNER offer certain actions you can take each day that easily fit into the three Biblical disciplines for Lent oulined in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).    More on that tomorrow!

I hope you can be with us!  Friends are always welcome!

Your Scribe,
PRDunklau

Dad...thanks for everything!

"30 DAYS TO A BETTER MAN": Tomorrow at The Nicodemus League!

Gentlemen:

I hope to see you tomorrow, 3 February 2016, 12:00 Noon, at the Sybil Hopper Room here at First Presbyterian. Church!  Nourishment for spirit, mind,  and body await you!  Sandwiches from The Egg & I  will be available.  If you'd like, send me an email tonight (prdunklau@gmail.com) with your sandwich preference, and I'll place the order early tomorrow.  It will be ready when you arrive at FPC!

Alright!  It won't be long and the season of Lent will be upon us.  Lent is many things, but it is always forty days!  Forty corresponds to the number of days Jesus Christ was tempted in the wilderness.  For hundreds of years, these Lenten days have been kept as a time of special reflection.  I'm proposing that, along with the increased emphasis on private reflection/meditation, we tackle something offered by our friends at The Art of Manliness.  It's a 30-day project designed to help men be better -- better at being men!  I'll be discussing it tomorrow, and I'd be glad to send you a personal copy of the project in .pdf file form. 

I am going to give the project a try during Lent, and I invite you to join me.  Perhaps we might hold each other accountable and share our progress or lack thereof.  I think it will be fun.  Some of it we will need to modify a bit, but it shouldn't be a problem.  I'll stop now before I get too far ahead of myself!

Peace and strength of spirit, mind, and body be with you all!

Your  Scribe,

Paul R. Dunklau

Should We Even WATCH the News?

Dear Brothers:

Brett McKay, at www.artofmanliness.com, wonders whether we men ought even watch "the News".  At today's edition of THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE we did a little wondering of our own on the subject of the effect that news-watching has on us, what it DOES to us, etc.

See the link below for how the author thinks it all through:


http://www.artofmanliness.com/2016/01/18/is-there-any-reason-to-keep-up-with-the-news/

Meanwhile, Psalm 119 -- the "daleth" section and part of today's lectionary -- chimed in with a familiar fact among men (whether we admit it or not):  we grieve.  We're taught that alongside that grief is the enlivening, enriching wisdom of God!

On a personal note, thank you for your prayers for my dad, Rupert Dunklau, and our family (pictured below).  He is under hospice care and, at the moment, resting comfortably.

Congratulations to Mike and Shirley on their wedding!  May the Chief Physician continue to sustain Jim Welborn's mother.  And thank You, dear Lord, for the joy of grandchildren.  Brother Mike Vance knows all about that!

A "welcome aboard" to Charles Hubbard today!  And finally, I'm sitting here wondering who enjoy the Reuben sandwich from THE EGG & I.  (I should have ordered another!)

Have a great rest of the week, and stay tuned for updates on our next get-together!

Kind Regards...Your Scribe,
PRDunklau

NEXT NICODEMUS LEAGUE!

Dear Brothers:

Greetings!  Happy New Year!  THE NICODEMUS LEAGUE RESUMES:  Wednesday, January 20, 2016!!!   (I have THR Trustee meetings tomorrow.)

Two good friends of mine (that I met through the Denton Morning Rotary Club), Marion and Linda Scott, were murdered in their home this past Sunday.  Their residence was roughly two blocks from my own.  On New Year's Eve, a 20 year old woman was killed by gunfire less than a half mile from where I write these lines.  Earlier in December, a young man was killed in a police action shooting not far from here at the Fry Street area.    Two churches were targeted with bomb threats on their services for Christmas Eve.  The Denton Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was recently  was burglarized, and they sustained damage to their building in the process. 

Most conversations I've had with men over the period referenced above included comments on the foregoing.  Today I was reminded of a series of Gospel readings for worship last year with selections from John 6.  In that chapter, things begin with a blast of popularity.  The Master had just miraculously served 5,000 people. Fully satisfied, the crowd thought they had collectively won the lottery.  They wanted to make him King by force, we are told.  Instant welfare!  Then Jesus started dishing out teaching that didn't resonate with them.  Fast-forward to chapter's end, and there are only a handful left from the literally thousands upon thousands of people who followed Him -- and some were His own disciples.  Jesus looked at who was left, and it was little more than a handful.  He asks:  "You don't want to go away, too, do you?"  (Perhaps the saddest words Master Jesus ever uttered.)

Peter replied:  "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."

Yes, recent events in Denton scare us -- and this isn't even to speak of what's going on in our country, polarized as it is to the extreme as, of all things, another election cycle is upon us.  Like the followers of Jesus in John 6, it all adds up to a big collective desire to go away, hide your head under a rock, whistle in the dark, be in denial, hope against hope, etc. 

Fortunately for us, the apostle Peter had one of his best moments when things looks bleak.  He knew where the "words of eternal life" were:  at the Jesus point.

God, grant us a 2016 where we stay put at the Jesus point.  Then, fully-gifted by His teaching and Sacraments, we take action -- as His men! -- with faith and love.

By the way, look us upon Facebook!  Our blog site:  http://thenicodemusleague.blogspot.com  allows you to submit your email to receive updates.  Bring a friend on the 20th.  More information to follow!

Your Scribe, 

                                                                                                                                                                                          

Rev. Paul R.Dunklau