(The following is a reprint of a Newsletter Article I wrote for Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Fargo, ND for April, 2025)

It only took about a month, but I finally got all my boxes unpacked and my decorations up in my new office space. I still need to change around some furniture, but am waiting for the garage sale season to kick-off in Fargo. Hopefully I will find a comfy rocking chair and loveseat, but in the meantime, you are certainly welcome to come in and meet with me.

When you come in, you may notice a strange decoration on my wall: a busted-up and dented license plate. And you may wonder why, such an item, would be prominently displayed. Well, there’s a story behind it.

It was during my Vicarage in Wisconsin that I found this poor decrepit item. The Confirmation students were required to participate in the highway cleanup. As the Vicar, I was assigned to go with them as one of the adult chaperones, as we walked this 2-mile stretch of country highway in rural Wisconsin.

One of the students came across this license plate, and was about to add it to their garbage bag, but I stopped them and asked to have it. They looked at me strange and said, “Sure,” wondering why I wanted this piece of trash. But to me, this license plate was beautifully broken, as if it was a piece of art. And, to me, it became a reminder of the Gospel.

This license plate was created with a purpose and function. And for a time in its existence, it did fulfill its purpose and function. But then something happened. This license plate experienced the brokenness of this world. At some point, this license plate was dented. It was punctured, and eventually it was ripped from its rightful place, only to end up discarded and lost in the ditch, there to lay until rust and rot returned it to the earth.

Until it was picked up with a purpose. It was seen, not as garbage, but as something to be valued. It had the dirt washed off of it, and it was given a new purpose: to help point people to Christ. The dents weren’t pounded out. The puncture and the rip weren’t welded back together. Rather, the scars and the damage were valued and appreciated, for by them the license plate possesses a story.

And the story of the license plate serves as a reminder to me, the pastor, who sees the licenses plate hang there while people come in to tell me the stories of their lives. Often these stories include times when people’s function and purpose were torn from them. Often these stories include times when they have felt pierced and ripped, damaged and discarded.

And in those times, I am reminded how God comes along and finds them in the ditch. How God washes them off (through Baptism) and gives them a new purpose. How God doesn’t take the pain from the past completely away, but is able to use it to point people to Christ. And, as God’s servant in this place, I try to help people, who visit with me in my office, to realize this Gospel reality in their lives. That God, just like with this license plate, has an even greater plan for their lives.

To God be the Glory,
+Pastor Dan Bodin