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The Saturday IM Monks Brunch: October 3, 2020
Saturdays at IM — A Retrospective (part 2)
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Saturday Ramblings 2.0 – The Pastor Dan Show
After Jeff Dunn stepped down in 2014, I turned the Saturday duties over to my good friend Pastor Dan — Daniel Jepsen — and Saturday Ramblings 2.0 was born. In order to help you know Dan a bit better, here’s some information from his church website bio.
Things you may not know about Daniel…
- He is often mistaken for George Clooney
- Using only a typewriter and a bottle of Windex, he successfully defended an Ecuadoran village from rabid terrorist raccoons.
- He once smuggled gospel tracts into the headquarters of the Christian Broadcasting Network.
- He writes rap/bluegrass operas.
- He only passes gas once a year. For an hour.
- He had a full-ride surfing scholarship at the University of Iowa.
- He is an expert in origami, a veteran in love and an outlaw in Mexico.
Books written by Daniel…
- Crowd Control in the Sahara
- The History of Antarctic Agriculture
- Do-it-Yourself Brain Surgery
Favorite Activities…
- Playing full-contact Euchre
- Teaching Falconry to Mongolians
- Dominating football games at the nursing home
- Annoying Accountants
- Writing weird stuff on the internet
We’ll begin with a video Dan posted back in May of 2015. Here we see our beloved pastor as he works with two women from the the worship team to prepare our hearts through song (and dance) to receive the morning’s message.
Let me tell you, Dan’s the man when it comes to finding material for Saturday morning. He is at once the most serious person I know and one of the funniest. He’s a deep thinker as well as a mischievous child at heart. What are some of the things Dan did on Saturday Ramblings?
- He reminded us of the unforgettable song, “Muskrat Love,” saying, “This sublime ballad forever speaks to the deepest and holiest part of my soul.”
- He (of course!) taught us the link between Calvinism and Grand Theft Auto.
- He helped us appreciate the talent and wit of Steve Taylor.
- Dan pissed off Putin.
- He tweaked Chaplain Mike relentlessly, mocking his beloved Chicago Cubs, and even drafting him for POTUS.
- Dan memed Shakespeare (something Michael Spencer would have enjoyed).
- He pointed out odd and wondrous headlines, like this one. And then there was this one.
- Daniel was the first of us here at IM to ponder the multitudinous, magnificent, majestic (and, let’s not forget, moronic) mysteries of Donald Trump, including this image of him in a tub of butter, found by a startled woman as she prepared to butter her toast.
- With keen insight, Dan deciphered for us the secret code to understanding Japanese toilets.
- Being the fine citizen he is, Dan gave helpful public service announcements, like this one.
Police in northwestern Massachusetts posted an important reminder Monday night:
**Chasing bears through the woods drunk with a dull hatchet is strongly not advised**
The North Adams Police Department is urging everyone to NOT chase bears through the woods with a dull hatchet, drunk. Yes that really did happen tonight. We understand there are bears in the area. If you see a bear, LEAVE IT ALONE and call us. We certainly don’t need anyone going all Davy Crockett chasing it through the woods drunk with a dull hatchet. It is just a bad idea.
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Dan and I have shared the Saturday duties over the years, but I have never been able to match his level of wit, silliness, and the pure joy he takes in this whimsical, enigmatic, profound life we share. He still contributes regularly to the Saturday Brunch, and since Pastor Dan is, in truth, an excellent chef, we are all the better for it. He will be sharing more with us before the end of year on Saturdays and through more serious, theological posts on other days as well.
Thanks, Pastor Dan, for hours of enjoyment and encouragement on Saturday mornings as you’ve led us on our weekly rambles!
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Let’s end with a video Dan posted back in 2015. My friends, this is one of the greatest, most magnificent, most insightful, most dispensational music videos ever.
As Dan said at the time: “And what better than to mix some beautiful music with profound eschatology? And who better to mix it up than William Tapley, a Roman Catholic Rapturist who also calls himself The Third Eagle of the Apocalypse and Co-prophet of the End Times.”
Again, thanks to Pastor Dan, frying the whore of Babylon faithfully here at Internet Monk on Saturdays past.
The Internet Monk Archives 
Little Butter-tub Trump
?
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Yes Rick, incredibly ironic.
I’m rooting for the virus…
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Thank you Daniel. I have always enjoyed your Rambles.
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I use this app too.
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There’s a neat little app called Daily Lectio. I’ve been using it for a few years now and I’m very happy with it.
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Oh, the humanity!
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Thanks for the warning. I’ll make sure not to watch it.
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I have appreciated your conversation and verse.
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The Treasury of Daily Prayer (Concordia Publishing) is not exactly the lectionary, but does have daily readings, along with a prayer and other writings for each day, and follows the church year. Hmm, I think I need to get my copy off my shelf and back next to my easy chair.
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Yup
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Volumes of voluminous volumes?!?!
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Seared into the brain, yep… unfortunately.
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Very funny stuff today
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I will never be able to unwatch that Christian breakdance video. Thanks a lot!
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That would be one mighty voluminous volume! More like three voluminous volumes!
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I wish MSU held a special place in my heart too, but it was more-or-less four years of extreme disorientation and social dislocation and dysfunction for me. I did learn a few things along the way, not anything that I was able convert into a well-paying career and eventual affluent retirement, but some that helped me sound reasonably intelligent —- I hope! — as a conversant in the blogosphere.
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brought a lot of joy
much needed
much appreciated
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I did actually find a bible with the lectionary attached to it, but many complained that the print of the Bible was very small, around 9 font, so that put me off.
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Thanks for the replies. What I am looking for is something that would have the text of the reading as well as the reference. So if the Psalm for the morning prayer was Psalm 1 it would have
Psalm 1
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Basically I’m being lazy, but the convenience of having all the readings, not just the references printed together in one book is what I’m looking for. I already have this as a phone app. I just like reading a book better than reading my phone.
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The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer has all the readings arranged for decades to come. But you have to use the instructions provided in the rubrics to start in the right place; the rubrics put and keep you in the correct liturgical year.
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Jon,
Here’s a link to Amazon.
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First let me say, I’ve always enjoyed Daniel’s ramblings, he does an excellent job.
Secondly, this is totally off topic but this is the only place I know to ask this question and maybe get an answer. I’ve been considering using the lectionary to guide my daily devotions this year, starting at advent. I have an app that will do this for me, but I get tired of staring at a screen. Does anyone produce a lectionary that has the actual reading for every day, not just the references. I could look the references up from my phone and then find them in my Bible, but it would be a lot easier to just be able to open a book and see here’s the passages for the morning, and here’s the passages for the evening, and read them. Just curious if such a resource exists, and if it doesn’t, that seems a wasted opportunity.
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I hope we don’t have to say “incredibly tragic” as well.
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oh here we go slithering and squelching on
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Can anyone say, “Incredibly ironic”…?!?!?!
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Your ramblings were always elevated over all others, Daniel. That’s not to discredit everyone else, just to say you had the true knack for mixing humor in with the semi-serious. Or maybe not even all that serious.
And yes… good humor and satire takes TIME. I knew your ramblings weren’t thrown together in 5 minutes. I always appreciated your time and effort.
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I’d never heard of Euchre until I roomed with a guy from Illinois during my sophomore year at the University of Washington. Loved the game. Haven’t played it in forever. I’ve even forgotten the rules. Need to find someone to play it with again!
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No one combines Christianity and music quite like Carmen!
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Michigan State has a special place in my heart. I’ve lived all but 2.5 of my 70 years in the South. The exception was when we lived in Lansing, MI from kindergarten thru most of 2nd grade. One of our church members, my Dad was the minister, was a grad student in chemistry. One day we visited him on the Michigan State campus and to my great excitement, he let me look into his microscope. It is one of the highlights of my life.
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Hi there T. S., thanks for letting us know all of this. Bet you have some interesting and memorable stories about that place and time.
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I appreciate a thoughtful Pastor who enjoys sharing fart jokes. Thank you, Pastor Dan, for the laughter. It is good medicine.
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“IT’S PROPHESIED! IT’S PROPHESIED!”
What happens when your brains are fried…
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I never before thought I would ever say this, but that’s a bad sign.
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The sound you hear is near Twitter silence.
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It is very quiet
Hmm
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“Giant Elephant” — I have no idea whom you mean
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🙂
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These were fun to write; took a long time, however
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That’s me at the driver’s door of the Rambler in 1966 in Laguna Beach. There was a park there where you could drive right to the beach. The dude on the hood is Howie Keevel. The one by the rear wheel I know but forget his name. His mother had a trailer near the beach in Beach Haven, New Jersey. If by any chance that Howie reads internet monk, please please it would be unbelievable to contact. He moved to Hawaii that year and I went back east and was drafted.
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Meant to add to comment about Tapley!
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If we have to listen to strident, reactionary, raving apocalyptic nonsense songs, this would be an improvement.
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These days, no matter what current subject or retrospective matter the iMonk posts cover, I always feel that there’s a giant Elephant in the room, today more than ever.
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Ditto.
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Re: the William Tapley, Roman Catholic Rapturist, video: I would rather sit through a 1970s style folk mass than listen to that drivel.
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You made my day with a Steve Taylor song.
Thanks!
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As the great Kenny Rogers sang in The (R)ambler, “You got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em”.
Thanks Dan and Chaplain Mike for a lot of great fun in this segment over the years. It’s always been something I’ve looked forward to on Saturday mornings.
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We used to kill many an hour in the student center with marathon sessions of euchre. One guy in our group had the infuriating habit of ordering up trump on a Left-8. We called him Mr. Kamikaze. >:-(
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Euchre? Never heard of it until I started attending Michigan State University in the late 1970s, where learned more than I never wanted to learn about it, and haven’t thought or heard about it — until now! — since I returned to the East Coast in 1981.
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bright moonlight
in the kitchen sink —
lunar landing
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Nice video. I still think this one should have gotten the Rambler though. 😛
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Notice the Rambler is loaded and ready to leave. Those surfer dudes look more like they’re waiting for the amazing Pastor Dan to hurry the heck up getting ashore after his wipe-out, so they can hit the pub.
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