Blog – Page 232

4/3/20 TWIG: Cantor’s Corner #2

April 6, 2020 By office

Here is the link to the second of the series “Cantor’s Corner.” It explores hymns that we all enjoy singing, little of their background stories, and why they can be helpful in these days of isolation. Today’s hymn is “When Peace Like a River.”

I hope you sing along – remembering that you are undoubtedly being joined by others.

The next one will come next Tuesday, on the hymn “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.”

Cantor David Cherwien

“When Peace, Like a River”

4/4/20 TWIG: Godly Play at Home – Palm Sunday

April 6, 2020 By office

During this time of physical distancing, the Godly Play teachers wanted to offer families some additional tools to tell Bible stories at home, together, and to remind the children of their time together in Godly Play. Parents and guardians: please feel free to adapt these guidelines to whatever works for your child(ren) and family.

This material is intended to supplement, not replace, worshipping together as a family on Sundays. As such, the Godly Play team thought that Saturdays might be a good time for Godly Play-like story time, but feel free to do what timing works for your family. This is the first in a weekly series to come out on Saturdays.

Light a candle

Say: Long ago, God told us, “I am the Light of the World.” So, we light a candle together to remind us that God is always near to us.

Sing or listen to a song together.

This Little Gospel Light of Mine

Here’s a recording you might like to sing along with: This Little Gospel Light of Mine

Tell a story and talk about it together:

This week’s Gospel is the combination of the Palm Sunday and Passion stories:

Palm Sunday: Matthew 21:1-11

Passion: Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

Here are some options to adapt those stories to your own home:

If your children are older, consider reading those stories together from the Bible.
If they’re younger, perhaps you could review the stories ahead of time and then tell them in your own words about Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem and the Last Supper
If you have a Spark Story Bible, you could read Palm Sunday (page 454) and The Last Supper (pg. 462) together
If you prefer, there are also a couple of Youtube videos of Godly Play stories. You could watch them together as a family, or even use the videos as thought-starters to how you would like to tell the stories to your own children.

The “Faces of Easter” stories. Circle 2 (with teachers: Judy Hinck, Larry Duncan, and Sue Browender) was in the middle of that series when worship and Godly Play were suspended. That video is available here: Note: You may want to stop the video before Jesus’ resurrection (around time 15:50) and pick that up next week for Easter.
The story, “Jesus the King” is told in this video, and is much shorter than the “Faces of Easter” series: and may be better for younger viewers. (Though please note: the last two minutes seem to be instructions for how this parish was going to tell the story in person)

After the stories, the children often hear invitations to discussion that start with, “I wonder…” After telling the stories, try asking them:

I wonder what there is in this room that can help us tell more of this part of the story. Look around and see if you see something you can bring to help show more of this story.
If the children aren’t able to think of something to bring, consider inviting them into discussion with these questions, or make up your own:

I wonder if anybody around this table has discovered who they are and what their work is going to be?
I wonder if anyone here has come close to holy bread and holy wine?
I wonder if anyone in this family has come close to people — especially people no one else wanted to come close to? I wonder if anyone here has told parables? I wonder if anyone around this table has ever been sick?
I wonder if anyone here remembers their very best Easter? I wonder what the earliest Easter is that you can remember?

Close by saying the Lord’s prayer together (if the children are younger, perhaps the adults can say it and help the children to learn as they go on).

If you’d like, now might be a good time to craft or color some palms for the Palm Sunday liturgy out of paper or other materials you have at home (there is a multitude of craft ideas and coloring pages online). Or, you could go on a walk outside and find some branches that you could wave for your Palm Sunday procession. Notice other signs of spring and new life as you go.

If you’d like to continue preparing for Easter throughout the week, consider dying eggs, baking or decorating cookies, or making Easter decorations for your home.

4/5/20 TWIG: Christ is Risen Videos

April 6, 2020 By office

Let’s proclaim Christ’s resurrection together, loudly, joyfully!

We’d like to invite any who are able to make a very short video, people of all ages, to record a video of yourself shouting “Christ is risen indeed” and send it to us so we can put them all in one video for Easter morning. We may not be able to say it together in one place. But we will shout it, declare it, rejoice in it.

Record yourself wherever you like – in your house, out in nature, in your car, someplace fun (where you’re not within 6 feet of anyone else). Email it to Vicar Reading – vicar@mountolivechurch.org – and she’ll put them together into one joyous video. If there are more than one in a household, do it together, or each do one, whatever feels right. A simple video off your phone or computer will be perfect.

We still have to walk Holy Week with Jesus. But as we walk, let’s get ready to declare to the world that death has no more power, for Christ is risen indeed!

TWIG, 4/6/20: From the Congregation President

April 6, 2020 By office

3 April 2020

Not unlike a river, when the downstream path becomes impeded, water always finds a way to continue its journey. As is God’s work at Mount Olive. This time separation in the last month has presented a great number of challenges for a congregation that LOVES, literally loves, being with each other in worship, in fellowship, and in service to our community.

The good news here is the new path forward being forged during this period of physical distance. I am so grateful for our amazing staff: for innovative ways that Pastor Crippen and Vicar Reading deliver the Word and teach Bible Study; for Cantor Cherwien and Interim Cantor Fothergill sharing the blessed music our hearts long to hear; for Jim Bargmann finding new ways to continue his ministry to our neighborhood; for Cha and her irreplaceable support of all our activities both new and old.

As you are aware, Governor Walz “Stay at Home” order means that our staff must work from the safety of their homes. As Sexton, James is the only staff member whose job duties cannot be performed “virtually.” Therefore, until the “essential service only” status from the Governor is lifted, James will remain at home with full pay. As I’m sure you can imagine, James is anxious to be back at Mount Olive as soon as possible.

The Vestry has been working diligently during this time to support the congregation as well. We are meeting online every Monday night to bring forward ideas, provide updates, and to ensure we have our ears and hearts open to the needs of the congregation. As a result, we have a large cadre of volunteers calling folks in the congregation to “Check-in,” visit, and ensure any needs are addressed, especially for the most vulnerable in our Mount Olive family. Additionally, group of healthy, less vulnerable volunteers have signed up to delivery groceries to those in the congregation that should not or can not go out for essential needs. Education and Youth & Family are working with the Godly Play team to engage our children.

There is some congregational business activity that will need to be postponed, most prominently, the Semi-Annual Congregational meeting originally scheduled for April 26, 2020. Although our constitution mandates this meeting occur in April, given the circumstances, it will need to be rescheduled. We have a slate of Vestry candidates that require a congregation vote prior to the July 1 start of the new terms on Vestry. Over the course of the next month, we will assess the need for an alternative form of voting if an in-person meeting is not feasible before July 1. However, the 2020 Nominating Committee has completed their work and the following list of candidates will be submitted to the congregation for consideration:

___________________________________________________

President: Gretchen Campbell-Johnson – 1-yr. term

(2 yrs eligibility remain)

Vice President: Mark Ruff – 1-year term

(1 yr eligibility remains)

Secretary: Gene Janssen – 1-year term

(2 yrs eligibility remain)

Treasurer: Doug Parish – 1-year term

(2 yrs eligibility remain)

Education: Katie Krueger – 3rd year of a 3 year term

Stewardship: Consuelo Gutierrez-Crosby – 3 year term

Missions: Judy Hinck – 3 year term

Worship: Dan Hellerich – 3 year term

Property: Carol Martinson – 3rd year of a 3 year term

___________________________________________

Let me finish by saying this: I am so thankful to each one of you. Your resilience, care and genuine love for one another has been an extraordinarily beautiful example of Christ in the World.

Thank You,

Gretchen Campbell-Johnson

Mount Olive Lutheran Church, President

Mundane and Mysterious

April 5, 2020 By Vicar at Mount Olive

We hear the Passion story anew amidst these unprecedented circumstances that have us celebrating Holy Week in our homes. The death we face – in this story and in our world – is real, but the God who loves us accompanies us into the suffering.

Vicar Bristol Reading
The Sunday of the Passion, year A
Texts: Psalm 31:9-16; Matthew 26:14-27:66

Palm Sunday looks a little bit different this year. Even your palm leaves might look a little bit different this year. These are dark and scary times to be moving into the celebration Holy Week, a beloved and special time in our church year. It feels strange to be hearing the story of Jesus’ passion from our own homes, instead of in the sanctuary together.

But as is so often the case, the scriptures meet us right where we are. The realities of this moment seemed unimaginable just a few weeks ago, and yet these ancient texts from thousands of years ago can reach across time and space and speak God’s word to us today.

Perhaps the Psalmist’s words could be your own: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress. My strength fails me.” (Psalm 31:9-10, ESV) This Psalm is a lament: it cries out in need to God. But laments don’t end with grievance; they also includes expression of praise and trust in God. In the midst of pain and fear, you can declare, as the Psalmist does: “My times are in your hand, God.” (Psalm 31:15)

“My times are in your hand.” Jesus actually says something very similar at the opening of the Passion reading we heard today. As he arrives in Jerusalem, he says to his disciples: “My time is near.” (Matthew 26:18) Jesus accepts each day as it comes, continuing to trust that his time is in God’s hands. Jerusalem has been pulling him like a magnet, even though he knows what trouble awaits him there.

And we know what trouble awaits him there, too. The Passion story is so familiar that you might have to intentionally invite yourself to hear it in a new way. Perhaps the unprecedented circumstances we’re in might help you do that. The seemingly mundane aspects of this story might resonate with those of you who are sheltering at home for days on end right now.

The story opens with Jesus and his friends celebrating a holiday, not in a temple or synagogue, but in a home. There are no elaborate rituals, only a shared meal made with everyday food and drink, made with what they had on hand. Bread and wine. These ordinary things become extraordinary in the hands of Christ, who transforms them into vessels of God’s grace. Bread is body, broken open that it might feed all. Wine is blood, the sign of a covenant with God, a promise sealed and kept forever. It is only Matthew’s Jesus who specifically mentions “forgiveness” being poured from the cup. A well of mercy that will never run dry. At the end of the celebratory meal, Jesus and the disciples sing hymns and pray together. (Matthew 26:30)

This Holy Week, as you gather around your tables to share a holiday at home, remember those parts of the story. Remember Jesus’ body and blood; remember Jesus’ promise and love. Notice the sacramental coming alive in your own hands. Sing the hymns you love, and pray the prayers you know. Trust that Christ is present right where you are, even in a Holy Week that looks unlike any other.

Of course, despite its ordinary moments, the Passion is an extraordinary story. It is full of the unexpected and inexplicable. It is full of sacred mystery.

In this Passion story we proclaim that Emmanuel, God who has come to be with humanity, will die for humanity. No failure, no sin, will change that. And this story is full of human failure: betrayal, abandonment, denial, torture, execution. None of these can undo God’s love in Christ. That love is poured out for all people, in all places, at all times. That cup of forgiveness always overflows.

In this Passion story we proclaim that we do not worship a God who conquers or punishes but a God whose victory is in sacrifice and mercy. This is a God in solidarity with those who suffer, because this is a God who suffers. In this story we see that God knows what it is to be human, like me, like you. God knows your pain, your sickness, your grief, your death. God goes with you into the dark.

So Holy Week might look different, but the truth of this precious story that we tell every year, that truth does not change. Your God does not change. Your God still comes to you, right where you are, and still speaks to you, right where you are. And the Word God speaks is one of love, even in the face of death.

That death isn’t theoretical. It’s real. This week, we encounter that death directly – in the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross. And in our own world, right now. Holy Week, even this Holy Week, has space to hold our grief in that. Even the Light of the World, dies. That’s where the Gospels story ends for today.

Except for one last detail. After Jesus’ death, his body is taken down from the cross and put in a rock-hewn tomb. Perhaps the officials who had ordered Jesus’ execution felt like justice had been served, a threat had been neutralized, the law had been upheld. Perhaps they felt like this marked the end of the story of Jesus, the supposed Messiah.

But something kept nagging at them. The Gospel writer tells us that they just couldn’t stop thinking about something Jesus had said when he was still alive: something about rebuilding a destroyed temple; something about the dead being raised to life; something that had sounded crazy at the time.

A heavy stone is rolled in front of the entrance to Jesus’ tomb, and soldiers are sent to seal it shut, just in case. A guard is put on 24-hour watch outside. But still, it just doesn’t feel secure enough. They’re just not sure death can hold Jesus.

And everyone is left to wonder: What if there’s a crack that’s just enough to let the light in? Or maybe to let the light out? What if Jesus was telling the truth all along? What if death is not the final word? What if, somehow, the story doesn’t end here? Friends, this Holy Week, may you live into these mysteries even in the midst of the mundane.

Amen.