Blog – Page 308

As a Child

October 4, 2015 By moadmin

We find no life playing games with God’s law, no loopholes to sneak through; our only hope is to recognize our utter dependence and vulnerability and turn to Christ Jesus for welcome, forgiveness and newness of life.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 27, year B
texts: Mark 10:2-16; Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

If you want a fight over God’s law, don’t pick it with the Son of God.

If you want a fight for a loophole to avoid the harshness of God’s law, don’t pick it with the Son of God, either.

But if your fight helps you harm someone who is already vulnerable, and endanger their well-being, well, you really, really do not want to pick such a fight with the Son of God.

Would that these religious leaders had such wisdom. They were testing Jesus, and that meant what it means today, asking a hot topic question hoping to trip him up.

They knew the Torah permitted divorce. Their trap involved a debate between two schools of Jewish thought at the time. One permitted divorce only under extreme circumstances, like adultery. The other argued a man could divorce his wife for almost any perceived fault, including, according to one rabbi, spoiling the evening meal or no longer appealing to him. [1]

Jesus wanted nothing of this debate. Their mistake was picking the fight. Because if you argue the law of God with the Son of God, he will give you God’s law. And you won’t like it.

Jesus takes them to school and leaves them no loopholes, no mercy.

You can’t dodge God’s command, he says. God doesn’t ever want divorce. Read the Scriptures.

But Jesus isn’t done. By Jewish law, only a man could initiate divorce. He could give his wife a letter of dismissal from his rabbi, and she was out. The debate was about what criteria were needed.

Jesus ignores Jewish law, saying, “If a man divorces his wife,” and adding, “and if a woman divorces her husband.” He’s already said God doesn’t want divorce. Now he speaks as if that applies to men and women. This was so far from reality that when Matthew and Luke tell this story, basing their account on Mark’s, they delete the line about a woman divorcing her husband. “Like that could ever happen,” we imagine them thinking.

Jesus still isn’t done. Not only is divorce outside of God’s will, whether a man does it or a woman, he says, if they re-marry, they’re committing adultery.

This is why you don’t pick a fight with Jesus over God’s law. You go in looking for loopholes, hoping to trap him, and you leave with a law so stringent, so airtight, you’re far worse off than when you started.

We can’t return and warn the Pharisees. But we should heed this warning.

If we want to play the law game, Jesus seriously outclasses us. We can argue about interpreting these words on divorce till we’re blue in the face, whether Jesus meant that divorced people must remain single forever, whether there are exceptions. We can correctly claim that Jesus was protecting women who were vulnerable to an unjust system. We can seek a creative way around an absolutely clear statement by the Son of God.

But we will always end with Jesus saying, God’s law is absolute. There’s no way around or through it.

And we knew this all along. No one really believes God wants divorce. No one delights in it when they do it, even if they think it’s the only option. I’ve never married a couple who said, “We can’t wait for our divorce.” If you’ve been divorced, nothing Jesus says here is a surprise.

But that goes for all of God’s law. There are lots of people in this room who every three years get to hear this reading and feel pain and guilt over their lives and their past. If you’ve been divorced, this isn’t a fun Sunday to be in church.

So let’s get everyone in this room feeling pain and guilt. There’s no reason only some of us should squirm. If you think you can somehow trick Jesus into saying the things you’ve done that were contrary to God’s will, against God’s law, are OK, or you’ve found a loophole, or they didn’t harm you or anyone else, or didn’t matter, well. You won’t win that fight, either.

Jesus will tighten our own trap until we can’t breathe. You want to justify hating and being angry with someone? He’ll say it’s murder. You want to pretend you’ve been faithful to your spouse just because you didn’t act on your fantasies? He’ll say if you thought it, you did it. This is the only outcome of playing the God’s law game. We can’t make God’s law fit our way of life. We always get caught.

So if this is a fight we can’t win and don’t want, what can we do? Lord, to whom shall we go?

We could notice Jesus doesn’t want this fight, either.

Jesus only gets harsh about the law of God when people do what these folks did, pick the fight, try to test, look for loopholes, step on others. He’s minding his own business when a woman caught in adultery is dragged in front of him. Instead of condemning her, Jesus condemns the whole crowd for their sins and gives a strong impression he knows what they are. This is the way it always goes.

But when Jesus preaches, he announces God’s reign is coming into this world, and it’s marked by forgiveness and grace. It’s a reign where the least are the greatest, where everyone is willing to serve others, where life is found in letting go of fights over right and wrong. He announces good news to the poor and oppressed, the downhearted and sinful. He goes out of his way to welcome into this reign of God people that the so-called “good” people have written off as lost causes.

If we really want to know what to do, we could notice this is the way the Son of God prefers to work in the world. He shows this by what he does next.

Jesus takes a child into his arms and says, “this is how you come to God.”

If you want to come to God with your arguments and self-righteousness, if you think you can finesse your way past God’s law and God’s standards, you will soon find out how impossible that is.

But if you’re willing to admit you are as vulnerable and dependent as any child, as vulnerable and dependent as those wives they were debating throwing away like so much trash, if you’re willing to be that weak, well. I’ve got good news for you, Jesus says. I came for people just like you.

Do you see? Jesus says to us. You can’t argue your way around what God asks of you. God wants us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. God wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. These will be the hardest things we have ever done. There are no loopholes, no shortcuts. We will fail at both these commandments, and fail often.

But I have come that you will not fail, Jesus says. When you admit your weakness, your dependence on my mercy, your inability to live up to God’s will, I will take you into my arms, always forgive you, and set you down again with the strength and courage to love God and love neighbor with every breath of your being.

That’s the true Good News of God the Son of God wants us to know.

To show us this, Hebrews says today, the Triune God in Christ became the most vulnerable and dependent of all. Instead of supporting those who would crush others by their interpretation of God’s law while seeking loopholes for themselves, Christ Jesus tasted death, Hebrews says, suffered completely, to become the pioneer, the guide, of our salvation.

He showed us that being vulnerable and dependent on God means being vulnerable and dependent on each other. While that opens us up to all sorts of pain and loss and daily death, he shows it’s also the path of life, of resurrection.

When we are willing to become the least, we find the true God has gotten there before us, and we begin to understand: love of God can only happen where God is, and that’s always with the least, the lost, the stepped upon in our midst. Love of neighbor begins there, too, when we see everyone as our neighbor to be served, everyone as worthy of our love and care.

Then we truly begin to understand God’s grace and truly begin to live.

This is the news we’ve desperately needed, the only news worthy of being called “good.”

There is no fight we want over God’s law, and God doesn’t want it, either. The healed, whole world the Triune God is making by taking on our life in the Son and making us new, is found when we become as children again, utterly dependent, utterly vulnerable, utterly loved and graced.

The reign of God belongs to such as these, Jesus says. What a relief it is to let go of our need to prove our righteousness, to let go of our fear of failure, to let go of all those things that cause us pain and guilt. We are loved, blessed children of God, and in that reality we are given strength and courage to live like the children of God we are.

God help us on this path, because we need this life. We want it. We long for it.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

The Olive Branch, 9/30/15

October 1, 2015 By Mount Olive Church Leave a Comment

Accent on Worship

Thoughts on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

There is a wonderful consistency upon entering the church on a day that I bring Jack to work. We come in the back door and he bolts through the hallway, usually careening towards the main office, but often stopping for a quick hello at David’s office before taking off in the direction of Cha’s lap. You can hear a familiar, “Hi Jack!” from each person in their own style. Then Jack races off in search of William who usually has some extravagant treat for him like hot dogs or pork chops. Eventually he makes his way back to my office simply to grin widely, look for some water, and bring his tennis ball to someone to play with him. Every doorbell is met with passionate barking (sorry!) to greet each person that comes through the doors. To many who are new around here it is a surprise and usually a
delight to see a dog in church. To Jack’s familiar family here he is beloved, anticipated, and spoiled rotten.

It has been a particular pleasure to observe these interactions and the positive impact Jack can make just through his eager playfulness and his irresistible puppy dog eyes. Many people, both Mount Olive members and neighbors, come by hoping to see him. It seems like the simplest pleasure in the world to interact with this small dog and watch him chase a ball down the hallway.
God designed it that way. There were layers of creation; earth, water, sky, and the creatures to fill them. I often wonder at Adam’s task to name each one. He must have roamed around in peace with them, observed them, and looked them in the eyes to see who they were. Maybe he, too, wondered what was behind those peering eyes when much was communicated but nothing was said. Often when I look at Jack and he looks back I find myself looking in to that start of creation, the first relationship between humans and animals that has existed since God gave a command upon the earth. It was all “Good.”

The small little role that one puppy can play around Mount Olive continues to remind me of how utterly close we all are to those first moments on a newly created earth and the responsibility we were given. I hope to keep bringing Jack to work, barking and all, so he can take part in his place in this community and be a blessing to us in the same way we try to be for one another, tail or no tail.

– Anna Kingman

Sunday Readings

October 4, 2015: 19th Sunday after Pentecost, 27 B
Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 8
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
______________

October 11, 2015: 20th Sunday after Pentecost, 28 B
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Psalm 90:12-17
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31

Now is the Moment to Respond

Your Missions Committee had decided at its last meeting to wait until we heard from our Synod how our church would respond to the refugee crisis before we asked for your special gifts. We heard this week–and now it is our turn to respond and meet the challenge.

“In response to the refugee crisis in Europe, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Brooklyn Park, has committed to match all gifts from Minneapolis Area Synod congregations, up to $50,000 for Lutheran Disaster Response. Senior pastor Chad Brekke said, “our members watched vulnerable families risk lives and livelihoods to leave war zones and they asked ‘what can we do?’ And then they asked, ‘Who can be in this with us?’”

The answer: You can! Lutheran Disaster Response states that LDR “is committed to meeting basic humanitarian needs and upholding the rights of those fleeing war and crisis. We are working with our companion churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary, the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in Serbia, and The Lutheran World Federation to provide food, diapers, blankets, water, health kits, hygiene kits, and psychosocial services to assist those who have fled their homes.”

So Mount Olive members and friends–let’s have our gifts doubled! The Missions Committee will contribute from its general fund, not taking away money from another other ministry. Your contributions, clearly marked Refugee Relief, will be added to the Committee’s contribution and sent along to the Synod as soon as possible to join with Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Please make your checks payable to Mount Olive, and be sure they are clearly designated for “Refugee Relief.”

Together we can help many.

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Sunday, October 4, 1:30 pm
Blessing of Animals

Bring your pets to this annual service of blessing!

Updated Photos

If you need an updated photo for the church’s online pictorial directory, please contact the church office or Paul Nixdorf (pn@paulnixdorf.com or 612-296-0055). We will update the online directory in November after new members are received, but updated photos need to be taken before then. This is a great opportunity to update your directory photo if needed.

Tending the Family of God

Have you ever noticed that someone who has regularly been at worship is now no longer there, and have you ever wondered what has happened to him or her? Have you considered that your wondering what has happened may be the voice of God calling you to action? Make a phone call. Write a note. Send an email. Attend to those around you.

– Warren Peterson

Work on Church Floors to Begin Soon

As work continues outdoors on the walls, roof, and windows of the church, why not start some more projects?

Next week, on Monday, work will commence in the Undercroft to replace the floor, and also in the sanctuary to clean, strip and refinish the floors under all the pews. The Undercroft project will require two weeks, because there is asbestos in the tiles and the mastic that glues them down.

Week One will be “abatement,” which involves sealing the space with plastic so workers can safely remove the nasty stuff without contaminating the atmosphere in the rest of the building. Mavo Systems, specialists in this work, have been engaged to do this important phase of the project.

Week Two, beginning October 12, will be laying a new floor in the Undercroft. The color scheme will be similar to the upper floor of the Parish House. The new floor will be in place by October 15 or 16. This winter, the walls will be given a fresh coat of paint.

This project has been in the planning for some months (months before the outside repairs demanded attention), and is funded by a generous grant for this year from The Mount Olive Foundation. Eventually the lower level hallway will also be redone to match the upper level, and the Parish House will all look “of a piece,” but not right now.

Meanwhile, volunteers and Sexton William Pratley will be busy upstairs in the church – a project also planned many months ago. All the pews will be taken loose in sections and moved aside so that the floor underneath can be cleaned and resealed. Everything will be back in place for worship on October 11.

A busy time of taking care of our beautiful church home!

New Member Welcome’

Mount Olive will welcome new members and associate members on Sunday, November 15, during the second liturgy. If you are interested in becoming a member or associate member, please contact the office via e-mail to welcome@mountolivechurch.org or by phone, 612-827-5919. You may also contact Pastor Crippen at church, or Andrew Andersen (763-607-1689).

A welcome brunch will follow the liturgy for new members and for all who would like to be part of the welcome festivities.

Dust Off Your Name Tags!

With the arrival of our new Vicar, Anna Helgen, at Mount Olive, please consider wearing your name tag for the coming six weeks.

This act of hospitality will help Anna to better serve in our midst. If your name tag is missing or worn out, please contact the church office for a new one. There are holders with clips in the narthex under the name tag board for those who prefer an alternative to the original pin style.

Thursday Bible Study Continues

Thursday evening Bible Study continues through October 29. The evening starts with a light supper at 6:00 pm, followed by Bible Study. This session, titled “The Last Enemy,” is led by Pr. Crippen. The focus is on mortality, death and dying, and how the Scriptures guide us.

Can We Help?

A great sorrow has struck a family of this neighborhood that considers Mount Olive a source of support and friendship. More than thirty years ago, Sylvia Thompson Leith was actively involved in Neighborhood Ministries here, particularly the Clothes Closet. Even today her children and grandchildren approach Mount Olive with a familiarity from being in the doors, taking part in Jobs After School programs, or the ties of relationships with members.

During the past week the Thompson family has experienced the sudden death of two of Sylvia’s children, Noel “Ole” Thompson, and his sister Laura Thompson Goodwin. Laura was on the way home from the funeral of her brother when she died suddenly. This family is faced with a new wound and the process of grieving the loss of two loved ones. A prayer was said in the service last Sunday for the Thompson family and I assured Laura’s daughter, who just left my office moments ago, that we will continue to raise them up in prayer and spirit during this time.

She, like all other members of this clan, came to Mount Olive seeking help as if they were asking a friend, not a stranger. It is another reminder of the ties that bind us all within the world and the importance of community in times of joy and times of great sorrow.

If you are interested in helping this family, please contact me at church.

– Anna Kingman

Transitions Support Group

All are welcome at Transitions Support Group. If you’re looking for new ideas or encouragement to meet the challenges or uncertainties that are before you, join us on Wednesday, November 11 at 6:00 pm.

This is an opportunity to share in fellowship, prayer, and discussion with others in the Mount Olive community.

Transitions Support Group meets on Wednesday, November 11 from 6- 7 pm at Mount Olive in the lower level Youth Room, and will be facilitated by Cathy Bosworth and Amy Cotter.

For more information, please contact Cathy at 612-708-1144, marcat8447@yahoo.com, or Amy at 612-710-1811, agate651@gmail.com.

What are your Top Three Favorite Hymns? Let us know by Oct. 15

I am conducting a survey in the coming weeks, to find out what our top three hymns are. My hunch is that for many of you this may be difficult – to narrow it down to so few, that is! I did this in past parishes, and learned a lot about who they were in doing so. I suspect that will again be the case, although I also suspect the lists will look quite different from than those I’ve seen before.

When you get a chance, begin thinking and thumbing through the hymnal; try to narrow it down. Jot them down and bring/mail them to the church office – or call them in by calling the office at 612.827.5919.

The results will be helpful in a number of ways, but mostly will be informational for me as your Cantor.

– Cantor David Cherwien

Book Discussion Group Update

Mount Olive’s Book Discussion Group meets on the second Saturday of each month, at 10:00 am in the West Assembly Area at church. All readers are welcome! For the October 10 meeting they will read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers, and for November 14, they will read The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery.

Adult Forum

Adult Forum is held between the liturgies on Sunday mornings, beginning at approximately 9:30 am. This Sunday’s forum will be “Restorative Justice Community Action,” presented by Cynthia Prosek

Cynthia Prosek is the Executive Director of Restorative Justice Community Action, an organization that serves communities in the five precincts of Minneapolis, endeavoring to place offenders, victims and neighborhoods in conversation with each other to heal the community. For more information, see www.rjca-inc.org.

Restoration 2015 Updates

Follow the Renovations 2015 blog for weekly updates and new information on the project: http://morenovations2015.blogspot.com/.

There is also a link to the blog on the front page of the church website www.mountolivechurch.org.

TRUST’s Annual Auction

TRUST’s annual fundraising auction will be held on Friday, October 9, beginning at 6:00 pm at St. Joan of Arc Church, 4537 3rd Ave. S., Minneapolis.

All are invited to come and be entertained, eat great food, and bid for great stuff!

Tickets are $20/each in advance or with reservation; $15 for seniors 65+/youth; and free for kids under age 10. Tickets will be available at the door for $25 each.

For reservations call 612-827-6159 or send contact TRUST via e-mail to trustinc@visi.com .

Another Companion

September 27, 2015 By moadmin

For prayer to be what God intends, we need to see it as how we live in relationship with the Triune God who loves us and saves us.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 26, year B
texts: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Mark 9:38-50; James 5:13-20

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Tell me what you look for in a close relationship with another person, and I’ll tell you what prayer could be for you.

We’re needlessly confused about prayer. If Scripture tells us anything about the Triune God it’s that God desires a true, abiding relationship with us.

Yet we stumble at the very place of connection in that relationship, what we call prayer. We reduce it to a question of access to a divine vending machine, instead of rejoicing in the astonishing gift God offers.

Words like James’ today sometimes get us off track, the invitation to pray for the sick, the claim that “the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” From there we’re off to a conversation about whether prayer “works,” or claims about how God answers prayer. Once again we miss the point.

James doesn’t intend that direction. And from what we see in the two other readings, there is clearly a deeper wisdom about prayer we need to learn. It’s all about our relationship with God.

Now, there are at least three important things we want in a close relationship.

We want intimacy with the other person, a closeness of love and care. Intimacy has different shapes and levels, depending on the relationship. Without it, the relationship isn’t close.

We want better knowledge of the other, his point of view, her hopes and dreams, his moods, her wisdom. We want to learn about the other, and the other wants to learn about us, to understand each other better.

We want awareness of our actions and how they affect the relationship. To pay attention to what we do, whether it’s helpful or hurtful, and adjust. Sometimes we seek forgiveness, sometimes we forgive, to continue the relationship. Sometimes we change our behavior.

What we don’t see in our relationships is our usual view of prayer.

Talk of prayer devolves into questions of whether God hears or answers. We’re wise enough not to expect we’ll get everything we ask for. But listen to that sentence. We’d never say that about any good relationship. With how many close friends do you wonder, “Do I always get what I ask for?” Who’d want a friend whose only conversation was asking for things?

So why would God want that? As long as we treat prayer in terms of asking and answering, we miss everything God wants to be with us.

Moses and John today have actual relationship with God. All the elements we desire in close relationship are here. Were we to grasp this we could put two things on the shelf, never to take them up again. We could set aside forever the worthless question, “Does prayer work?” That’s a question we’d loathe in human relationships, we’d never ask it. Alongside it we could put the pat statement, “God always answers prayer, but not always as we want.” That always pushes us back into a mechanical, “what’s in it for me” view of prayer that hinders the true gift of relationship God offers.

So let’s look at Moses and John.

Moses is breathtaking today.

He didn’t want this job, tried to get out of it. Now, into the second year of the journey since Exodus, the people are a huge burden. Hungry, they complained and were fed by manna, heavenly food, given daily. A year into eating that, they long for meat, and complain again.

God’s furious, but it seems directed at Moses, not the people. Because Moses launches into this amazing rant: “why are you treating me so badly? Are these my people? How am I supposed to feed them? I can’t do this job anymore. Kill me if you think I’m bad at this, it would be a blessing.” It’s brilliant.

Look at this true relationship. This isn’t a prayer by Moses, asking for something from God. This is ongoing life together, God and Moses speaking to each other, being changed.

John also freely speaks his mind.

He’s concerned. He saw someone unknown to the disciples casting out demons in Jesus’ name. John said they tried to stop him, since they thought he was unauthorized.

John didn’t expect Jesus’ answer, though. First, Jesus says, if he’s doing powerful things in my name, he’s not likely to speak against me. (He could have added, the power to drive out demons comes from God so why are you concerned?) But second, he says, I’m more worried about the little ones, those following this person. You want a showdown with him, but you forget there are people following him, who perhaps believe in me through him, who could stumble. He also might be weaker in faith, did you consider that?

This is also a true relationship. John and Jesus are talking, learning about each other, being changed.

Those three elements of relationship are all here.

God initiates the conversation with Moses, interestingly. Prayer that starts with God. And Moses reveals a deep intimacy in his outburst. Only someone who trusts completely would be that open and honest about his pain and frustration. Learning happens, too. God listens to the rant, learns Moses is nearing the end of his rope, and says, so to speak, “that’s actually a good point”. God decides to fill 70 people with the Spirit to help Moses. There’s the third element. God’s the one, remarkably, whose action changes. Moses doesn’t have to apologize or even ask; God adjusts, does something different.

With John, Jesus learns he’s anxious to protect him, to make an us vs. them line he can defend. John learns Jesus has a completely different interest. Their intimacy increases with this knowledge, they get to know each other’s mind and heart better. But John’s challenged to change his action, not Jesus.

Jesus makes it clear to John one of his highest priorities is that we don’t block others from coming to him, and so to God. Whatever we do, we need to get rid of anything that might cause us or others to stumble, especially those most vulnerable to doubt. This isn’t quite “get behind me, Satan,” but John’s getting a strong sense doesn’t yet understand his Master.

Moses and John model for us true prayer: a relationship with the Triune God based on honesty, give and take of conversation, listening and speaking.

This is what we need for our journey of faith.

We’ve heard Jesus call us to his challenging path, to give up things, even our lives, and so find life. We’ve recognized the gift of each other on the path: because God’s Spirit flows in us, we are God’s grace and presence to each other on this journey.

But Moses and John remind us we’re also actually walking with God, and should take advantage of that. They invite us to a deeper awareness of our direct connection with the true God.

How different our journey would be if we were more aware every day of our constant companion on the path, our God who loves us. If we learned prayer as a way of getting to know God’s mind and heart better and God ours, a way of deepening intimacy and love with God, a way of considering our steps on the path, our behavior, and adjusting as needed.

This is the relationship we’ve longed for.

Thanks be to God, this is also the relationship God wants.

The Son of God taking on our own bodies meant we could envision a true relationship with God, one that could deepen and grow. It also was a sign of God’s abiding desire to be closer to us. The risk of death at our hands wasn’t enough to keep the Triune God from taking this step to make it possible for us to be in relationship. Relationship where we and God are changed, where we find grace in our companionship on the road.

There’s nothing more we needed for life and hope as we go together. We get to walk with God! Now the journey truly becomes life for us.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

The Olive Branch, 9/23/15

September 24, 2015 By Mount Olive Church Leave a Comment

Accent on Worship

Needed Repairs

Our building is starting to look renewed. Mortar is filled in on the major peaks on the back of the chancel, the worn-out wall along the alley is get-ting filled in. The sign looked like it was hit by a truck for a week, but all the bricks are in, the mortar is set. Once the workers do an acid wash of the brick, we won’t see the difference between old and new mortar. Turning the corner into fall, this is good.

A brick building is deceiving in its solidity. Brick houses, brick churches look strong, unassailable. What we didn’t see was water gradually wearing down mortar and joints in places only the birds sat. We didn’t see a tiny bit of water eroding away a structure that looks solid and forever. But the drone that flew over our roof lines saw the truth, and helped us understand our need to fix this grand old structure.

Is this like us? Outwardly we might also project that we’re fine, doing great, while hiding our struggles, keeping them to ourselves. Our spiritual practices might be eroding, we may be overwhelmed by what life brings to us, yet to others we act as if we’re put together. The psalmist this week even suggests we might not know ourselves well enough to know where the cracks are, the openings for water, the broken bricks. “Who can detect one’s own offenses?” we’ll sing on Sunday.

Our Christian community in this place gives us a chance to see the truth about our brokenness together and, as with our building, find a way to healing and restoration. It’s sometimes frightening, but when we learn to trust one another to see each other truly and honestly, we’ll learn to find wholeness together in Christ.
The building needed to be secured before the arrival of winter. Our life together is a way we can all be better prepared to handle the cold and bitterness that life sometimes brings. For my part, I’m grateful for your eyes to see and ears to hear as you help me in my journey. God give us all the grace to be and receive such eyesight and insight.

– Joseph

Sunday Readings

September 27, 2015: 18th Sunday after Pentecost, 26B
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 19:7-14
James 5:13-20
______________

October 4, 2015: Feast of St. Francis of Assisi; 19th Sunday after Pentecost, 27B
Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 8
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16

The answer: You can! Lutheran Disaster Response states that LDR “is committed to meeting basic humanitarian needs and upholding the rights of those fleeing war and crisis. We are working with our companion churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary, the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in Serbia, and The Lutheran World Federation to provide food, diapers, blankets, water, health kits, hygiene kits, and psycho-social services to assist those who have fled their homes.”

Together we can help many.

Updated Photos

If you need an updated photo for the church’s online pictorial directory, please contact the church office or Paul Nixdorf (pn@paulnixdorf.com or 612-296-0055). We plan to update the online directory in November after new members are received, so it’s a great opportunity to update your photo if needed.

Dust Off Your Name tags!

With the arrival of our new Vicar, Anna Helgen, at Mount Olive, please consider wearing your name tag for the coming six weeks.

Tending the Family of God
People who know me know that I am in church every Sunday. A couple of months ago I was sick on a Sunday, so I wasn’t in church. That afternoon a member of our congrega-tion called to let me know that she had missed me in church and to ask if everything was all right. That was kind, gracious, compassionate – and easy! All of us can do that.

– Warren Peterson

New Member Welcome

Mount Olive will welcome new members and associate members on Sunday, November 15, during the second liturgy. If you are interested in becoming a member or associate member, please contact the office via e-mail to welcome@mountolivechurch.org or by phone, 612-827-5919. You may also contact Pastor Crippen at church, or Andrew Andersen (763-607-1689).

A welcome brunch will follow the liturgy for new members and for all who would like to be part of the welcome festivities.

LSS 150th Anniversary Hymn Festival

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is 150 years old and is celebrating their anniversary with a hymn festival! Everyone is invited to join them for this event with the National Lutheran Choir. The concert will include the premiere of “How Beautiful, O God, How Good,” a hymn commissioned especially for this occasion.

This celebration will be held this Saturday, September 26, beginning at 3:00 pm at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. This event is open to everyone and admission and parking are both free!

Tutoring Program Update

Due to quite a few circumstances all at once, the Neighborhood Ministries Committee and I are choosing to postpone the tutoring program for the time being and will make a decision by October 3 at the next Neighborhood Ministries Committee meeting on how and whether to move forward with the program for this school year. We lost 3/4 our tutors from last year for a variety of reasons, and have an upcoming remodel downstairs. So we’re going to just take a moment and collect ourselves. There is consideration for the needs of the community and the valuable relationships that we’re building through this ministry, but we must also consider the nearby resources already available to this group and whether it is the right program at this moment for the time and talents of the members of this church. Though we haven’t made any final decisions yet, we are looking into the opportunities to transform or adjust our program to best fit the personality of the neighborhood as well as the character and passions of this congregation.

A letter is being sent to previous participants and their families to explain the delay in starting as well as to invite them to participate in other Mount Olive activities such as the Children’s Choir and Youth group events. If you are interested in continuing this program and are able to become a tutor please contact me at 612-827-5910 or by email to neighborhood@mountolivechurch.org. Also, if you have any motivations for helping create and shape this program in what it can become for the future please let me know!

– Anna Kingman

Restoration 2015 Updates

Follow the Renovations 2015 blog for weekly updates and new information on the project: http://morenovations2015.blogspot.com/.

There is also a link to the blog on the front page of the church website www.mountolivechurch.org.

TRUST’s Annual Auction

TRUST’s annual fundraising auction will be held on Friday, October 9, beginning at 6:00 pm at St. Joan of Arc Church, 4537 3rd Ave. S., Minneapolis.

All are invited to come and be entertained, eat great food, and bid for great stuff!
Tickets are $20/each in advance or with reservation; $15 for seniors 65+/youth; and free for kids under age 10. Tickets will be available at the door for $25 each.

For reservations call 612-827-6159 or send contact TRUST via e-mail to trustinc@visi.com .

Book Discussion Group Update

Mount Olive’s Book Discussion Group meets on the second Saturday of each month, at 10:00 am in the West Assembly Area at church. All readers are welcome! For the October 10 meeting they will read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers, and for November 14, they will read The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery.

Adult Forum

Adult Forum is held between the liturgies on Sunday mornings, beginning at approximately 9:30 am.

September 27: “Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life,” led by Nancy Koester – Nancy Koester, former Associate Pastor at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church in St. Paul, was awarded the Minnesota Book Award for general nonfiction in April 2015 for her spiritual biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Nancy is currently preparing for a book on Sojourner Truth, and her Introduction to the History of Christianity in the United States was released by Fortress Press in August.

What are your Top Three Favorite Hymns?

I will be conducting a survey in the coming weeks, to find out what your top three hymns are. My hunch is that for many of you this may be difficult – to narrow it down to so few, that is! I did this in past parishes, and learned a lot about who they were in doing so. I suspect that will again be the case, although I also suspect the lists will look quite different from than those I’ve seen before.

When you get a chance, begin thinking and thumbing through the hymnal; try to narrow it down. We will NOT ask you to include Christmas carols and hymns, as that is too easy to guess. (or..?!?…)

The results might be helpful in a number of ways, but mostly will be informational for me as your Cantor.

– Cantor Cherwien

Neighborhood Garage Sale Report

Our parking lot was crowded last Saturday, but not with cars – with people! Mount Olive hosted another Open Space Neighborhood Garage Sale and it was great! Perfect weather! Clothes, toys, whatever a garage sale needed was there for sale. Many thanks to all who made it possible. Thanks to the 18 vendors, the countless volunteers, the helpers of the Community Meal, and to all those who provided physical, mental, and emotional support for this event. About 350 people came to shop! It has been a wonderful season of using our Open Space to be a benefit and blessing to our neighbors.
What about next year? The Neighborhood Ministries Committee and Open Space team look forward to hearing your ideas about how our parking lot is a place we can be in the presence of God and be the presence of God.

– Carol Austerman, Director of Neighborhood Ministries

Breaking Silence

September 20, 2015 By moadmin

We cannot understand what the path of Christ, our path, means for us unless we break our silence of voice and ear and talk with God and each other and together, learn.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 25, year B

texts: Mark 9:30-37; James 3:13 – 4:8a (restoring 4-6 to the assigned reading)

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

We understand why the disciples are silent today.

After what happened to Peter last week, it would take great courage for anyone else to speak up. Seeing a brother be told, “Get behind me, Satan,” puts a damper on one’s need to speak.

But their silence is a profound problem. A week or so earlier, according to Mark, Jesus told them that his path, and theirs if they follow him, is a path where one dies in order to live. We heard last Sunday how Peter’s struggle with that turned out. Today, Jesus tells them that his path, and theirs if they follow him, is a path where one is last in order to be first.

No one said anything this time. “They didn’t understand what he was saying,” Mark says. But “they were afraid to ask him.”

Worse, when they continued walking together on the road, they didn’t even talk to each other about their confusion, which would have been natural. They got into a discussion about which of them was most important in Jesus’ entourage, which was the greatest. When Jesus asked, “what were you guys talking about on the road?”, once again they were silent.

We can explain their silence. It would be better if we recognized our own unhelpful silence in theirs, and decided to do something about it.

This path of Jesus is both familiar and something we struggle to embrace.

It may have been a new shift in Jesus’ teaching for these disciples. But we’ve read these words for years, heard them in worship as long as we can remember. We sing countless hymns that refer to them; “cross to bear” from last week is a common expression even among those who aren’t Christian.

But we’re often as confused as those who heard it for the first time on that Galilean road. We don’t know what it means to lose our lives so we can find them. We misunderstand “bearing the cross” as all suffering that happens in our lives, from disease to evil to accident, instead of suffering we receive because we choose to follow Jesus on his path. We don’t know what it means for the last to be first, though we’ve heard it often enough, and we’re not sure we want to try being last all the time. What if we remain last, and are taken advantage of?

And the whole “servant of all” thing. Again, it’s familiar. But what that actually means for our everyday lives and decisions is so uncomfortable to consider we often set it aside rather than struggle with the implications.

In this tension we theologize and abstract Jesus’ words until they don’t challenge us personally.

Listen when Christians talk about these words. Hear how quickly we make a high-level discussion of servanthood, or a theoretical question of denial of oneself that never really asks the speakers, what denial are you avoiding?

Hear how quickly we speak of others who are self-righteous, who lord it over people, how often we talk about great societal woes and pains that surely Jesus’ words are meant to address. These words can certainly lead to a conversation about a racist culture or the terrible refugee crisis, or any other huge problems. But it’s interesting how that is often the exclusive content of our conversations, not our hesitance to see what Jesus means for our daily lives.

Our reluctance to ask, “what would happen if my mood, my attitude, my needs weren’t what drove my actions and decisions, but the mood, attitude, and needs of others were my priority? If I were the one to adjust to others, rather than expecting others to adjust to me? What would happen if I got up first to be the helper? If my needs didn’t always have to be considered? If I yielded? If I didn’t always try to be the one who wins?”

It’s so easy to see other peoples’ blind spots and struggles to follow Jesus, to see society’s ills and failures to grasp these simple truths, to make it a question about theology and not a question of how we actually will live. Talking about those things helps us avoid facing our own fear of Jesus’ words.

That’s the silence that’s eroding our discipleship.

But . . . what if we set aside our fear and asked our Lord, “what do you mean, and what does that mean for me?”

What if we ask Christ Jesus to explain, help us understand? He is the living Word of the Triune God, speaking through the Holy Spirit into this world. We could ask what we’re wondering.

We could pray about this. Lay before God our fears and worries about what might happen if we saw ourselves as lowest and last. Ask for wisdom in specific situations every day when we struggle to serve others.

We could read the Bible. Listen for help and guidance on our path of faith, for understanding about the challenges we have in learning how losing ourselves is actually finding ourselves. For clarity and courage about the ways we might die for others every day. These aren’t easy things to learn. God’s given us guidance in these words. Maybe we could look for that.

James says today, “you do not have because you do not ask.” What if we finally asked? Broke our silence? We could break the silence of our ears, too, and listen. James could have added, “You do not hear because you do not listen.” Both silences need to end.

What if we broke our silence with each other, changing the topic of our conversations on the road?

Instead of arguments over things that distract us from our purpose, fights over who’s right and wrong, conversations about ideas that never enter our hearts and change our direction, we could talk about this confusing, frightening path of Jesus.

We could ask people alongside us, “how do you understand this?” “What’s hard for you when you try to lose, try to serve, try to die to yourself?” “What do you do to set aside fear when you’re too afraid to step forward?”

Our silence with each other comes from fear of being exposed as a poor disciple. But if we opened our mouths and ears to each other we could learn how to be better disciples. As long as we need to pretend we’ve got it together, we’re going to stay confused.

Listen, Jesus put us together for a reason. We need each other as faith companions on our road. We need to learn from each other, help each other, encourage each other. Once we talk about this together, we’ll find tremendous wisdom in the people around us. There are folks walking with us who can help us see the next steps ahead on Jesus’ path.

And here’s the grace we find when we break our silence with God and each other: God’s wisdom begins to sink in.

God’s gift in Christ is the wisdom we need to understand and walk this path of Christ. When we draw near to God to speak and listen, James says we find God drawing near to us, and pouring out wisdom that, according to James, is “peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits.”

This is God’s answer when we speak, and James’ answer, and the answer of all whom we trust to speak to on the road: the wisdom we need to walk the path of servanthood, the path where we lose to win, where we die to live, where we yield to others, are peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, this wisdom is God’s gift to us. We don’t need to make it happen in ourselves.

It’s time we broke our silence and started to find this grace.

James says God “yearns” for the spirit God has made to live in us. God’s been waiting and waiting for us to speak, to ask. Waiting for us to hear and listen. We might not realize it, but others have waited, too; when we start talking on the road we’ll find that’s also true.

This path Jesus takes, the one we’ll take if we choose to follow him, looks confusing and hard. What we will learn when we open our mouths and ears is what those who have already walked ahead of us on this road have been telling us for centuries: this is the only path of life. From the very first step, when we are open to God’s wisdom that to the world seems upside down, we find abundant life and God’s grace everywhere we look on the road.

So maybe it’s time we started to learn really what lies ahead.

In the name of Jesus. Amen