Heard the Word: David Ruhe

David Ruhe, looking quite happy.

Today, I headed to Eden Theological Seminary for a special worship service for those graduating this evening. The preacher was David Ruhe, a pastor in the UCC tradition currently serving at Plymouth UCC in Des Moines, Iowa. His message was entitled, "Welcome to the Wilderness," using Exodus 17: 1-7. Now, I must be perfectly honest and say that I was there with my 17 month old daughter Jo, which made for an interesting experience. I had come armed with sliced bananas, Cheerios, water, and a variety of quiet toys in order to make it through the service, and mostly succeeded. I was able to sit through the whole sermon as Jo bot up and down from the chair next to me, played quietly, and ate and drank. Though my attention was diverted through much of the sermon, I was able to follow it pretty well. I attribute this to Ruhe's humorous, storytelling style. Below are just little things I wanted to make note of:

• Scripture Reading: Graduating student Cheree Trent Mills read Scripture, and did a fantastic job. I am wondering if she spoke to Ruhe beforehand, because I felt like her reading centered so strongly on   verse 4: So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
• Ruhe is a great storyteller. He shared the story of the first spaghetti dinner he did as a youth director right out of seminary, and it was great. He included such great descriptions of the scene, his feelings, expressions, and voice that I could really see the scene. A standout: his description of wheeling like a wild animal kneeling over its prey to growl at the senior pastor as he checked up on him. Ruhe also used a lot of impressions and caricatured voices in his sermon that really worked for him.
• Ruhe was funny. Even my 17 month old caught on and laughed, because he had everyone there chuckling along with his tales.
• His message about ministry was a simple one--about how entering ministry is entering into Moses' leading the Isrealites through the wilderness. But what Ruhe emphasized was that it needn't be a lonely space for new leaders. Instead, it could be a humerous space. A space shared with the laughter of colleagues. A space filled with the stories and misgivings of those who have come before you. 
• Ruhe didn't dig all that deep into the Scripture passage (or if he did, I missed it in trying to keep the Cheerios flowing), but he did make enough of a connection to keep it rooted there--seems like what I often do.
• Grace of this Message: Honestly? I think a part of the grace is that I could listen with one ear while tending a toddler and not feel like I missed anything. The other? He found a way to say, "Welcome to Ministry" without it sounding like either a threat or apology. That's hard to do.