A Rolling Blessing

by the Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen

Among the many blessings of living in this beautiful city is its "bikeability!"

A few years ago I began riding my bike to Westminster. It is good exercise and I find that I can make it to church from our home in 23 minutes. On some days it takes almost as long in a car.

At first I wondered about how I would get around if I needed to make a hospital call or go to meeting elsewhere in the city. I discovered that people didn't mind being visited in the hospital by a minister in bike clothes!

People often ask if there's a shower for me to use at the church. Actually, there is a shower at Westminster, but it was converted long ago to a storage closet. So, I clean up in my office restroom, and change clothes there. (I keep a full wardrobe at church).

I have had my share of close calls while biking on the street. As a result, I wear the most garish reflective safety vest possible (a construction vest left over from a church building project). In three years of regularly biking to and from Westminster, I've only had one incident: late one wet night a man stepped out from between parked cars just as I passed and I knocked into him. Neither of us was injured.

I love to ride early in the morning. Often in the spring or fall there are patches of fog in low-lying areas. The scents and sounds of nature accompany me as I glide quietly down the streets. Every patch of cool air I feel. I often am riding when the warm light of the sun first reaches across the city from the east.

For some reason I seem to ride fastest at night. Maybe it's because I'm homeward bound!

My ride to Westminster serves as a kind of rolling blessing. It's a two-wheeled retreat in the midst of the city. I get to enjoy the wonder of God's creation and the changing seasons. The ride allows me time to collect my thoughts and plan for the day, without having to fight traffic. It gives me the joy of silence; unless cars are around, the streets are remarkably hushed when you're on a bike. The ride centers me as I prepare to go to work – and that's a wonderful blessing!

I do stop riding when there's ice on the streets. I don't mind the cold… think of all the things we do outside in the Minnesota winter! But it's simply too dangerous to ride over ice. I took a spill on the ice once – and that was enough to convince me that riding the city bus or driving the car (or carpooling, as I often do in winter) can be blessing, too!

See you in church -- and on the streets of Minneapolis. I'll be the guy in the bright vest!