Blog – Page 320

The Olive Branch,. 3/25/15

March 27, 2015 By Mount Olive Church

Accent on Worship

Where would I have been standing on that day when the palm branches and shouts of adoration both raised in to the air? Would I have been along the path to spread out my cloak or run to my neighbor’s house to pass along the news that the Savior was in our midst? Would I have even noticed or stopped long enough in my day to pay attention? Palm Sunday presents a quandary of wonder about our nature as Christians. There was celebration and joy at the hope in the form of a man that humbly rode a donkey through town – this was the time that was desperately needed. How did people know that this was cause for some ruckus, to bust out the alabaster perfume and the home team foam fingers to cheer this wandering prophet in to home plate? Would I have known then? Would I know now? And where would I be on Friday?

Palm Sunday is a shining piece to the Easter story because it reminds us of ourselves as both the faithful and the faith-less and just how precariously we sway between them. Even Peter the rock took his waving palm branch and hid it behind his back when pressed. It makes me ask myself all the questions that the world asks all the time, but I’m not as inclined to overtly answer like, “Is Jesus the Savior? Yes? Are you willing to scream and yell and wave things around? Are you willing to speak up to claim him or speak out when he is wrongly accused?” This weekend pushes us to evaluate the answer to those questions, just as our broken, human Christian ancestors were presented with their options that Sunday and Friday long ago.

It would be nice to think that we know more now than people did back then, but that doesn’t show to be the case or maybe we wouldn’t still be struggling with the same difficulties and battles as we were back then. No, still human, still sinners, still working on it. What we do have though is the rest of the story, a redemption story that shows us what those choices lead to. There is hope and encouragement that God gave us the outcomes so that we could choose our answers to the questions. Come and wave that palm like a Brazilian soccer fan on Sunday, but keep it in the air on Monday, and the next day, and the next…

– Anna Kingman

Holy Week at Mount Olive

Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday – Sunday, March 29: Holy Eucharist, 8 & 10:45 am

Monday-Wednesday of Holy Week – March 30-April 1: Daily Prayer at Noon, in the side chapel of the nave

Maundy Thursday, April 2: Holy Eucharist at Noon; Holy Eucharist, with the Washing of Feet, 7 p.m.

Good Friday, April 3: Stations of the Cross at Noon; Adoration of the Cross at 7 pm

Holy Saturday, April 4: Great Vigil of Easter at 8:30 pm, followed by a festive reception

The Resurrection of Our Lord, Sunday, April 5: Festival Eucharist at 8 & 10:45 am
Easter Brunch at 9:30 am

Sunday Readings

March 29, 2015: Sunday of the Passion
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:1—15:47

April 4, 2015: Resurrection of Our Lord
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Acts 10:34-43
John 20:1-18

There will be no Adult Forum
on Palm Sunday, March 29,
or on Easter Day, April 4.

Paschal Garden

Volunteers will be on hand for one more Sunday (Palm Sunday, March 29) before, between, and following the liturgies to receive your donations to purchase Easter flowers for this year’s Paschal Garden.

March is Minnesota FoodShare Month!

Donate cash or groceries to the local food shelf during Minnesota FoodShare month in March!
A donation of money more than doubles the amount of food available to food shelves, because food shelves can purchase food at discounted prices. If you choose to give in this way, make your check payable to Mount Olive and write Food Shelf on the memo line. If you prefer to donate non-perishable groceries, they may be brought to the grocery cart in the coat room.

Can You Help?

Mount Olive’s Congregational Care Committee wants to help what has been a “naturally occurring experience” become more inclusive and available to all of its members. The goal is to increase awareness and responsiveness to needs such as:

• A new baby in the family. (A few starter meals can ease the adjustment.)
• A spouse suddenly alone. (A meal, coffee or lunch out, and/or companionship can ease the loneliness.)
• An unexpected illness in the family. (Meals to drop off or share can provide a needed break for caregivers.)
• The loss of job and income. (Meals, a listening ear, and supportive conversation may help lessen feelings of discouragement.)
• A single person experiencing a significant life change. (Help with meals, transportation, etc. can support continued independence.)

How will this work? The hope is to develop a list of people who would be willing to bring a meal, take someone out for lunch, and to participate in the sharing of food and conversation. Think about it! The opportunities are wide open.

Can you help? Please call or email Marilyn Gebauer (phone: 612-306-8872, email: gebauevm@bitstream.net).

Book Discussion Group Update

For the April 11 meeting, the group will read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain; and for May 9, The Boat of Longing, by O. E. Rølvaag.

TRUST Young Adult Grief Group

Are you a young adult who has you experienced a significant loss? Connect with other young adults who’ve lost someone due to death, in a supportive group environment. A 4-week support group is meeting at Allina Health, 1055 Westgate Drive, Suite 100 in St. Paul, MN. Food is provided and there is no cost to attend, but the leaders of this group request that participants R.S.V.P. so they know how many to expect.

The group will meet on Wednesdays, April 15 – May 6, 2015, from 4:00 – 5:30 pm

RSVP/questions may be addressed to: Michele Dettloff at 612-262-7596 or Michele.Dettloff@Allina.com

Night On the Street

Need a Tax Deduction for next year? Donate to Night On the Street! On Friday, April 17, TRUST Youth will once again participate in raising awareness and funds to help alleviate youth homelessness. Sponsored by Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, hundreds of youth from around the Twin Cities will participate in an overnight in the parking lot of Plymouth Congregational Church near Downtown Minneapolis. The youth (and chaperones) will get their own cardboard box to sleep in for the night, have a soup line meal, and learn from former homeless youth and those that help them what can be done to help.

Donations (which are tax deductible!) from Night On the Street go to help fund the interim housing facilities run by Beacon Interfaith. If you would like to help make a difference, you can make a tax deductible donation through April 16. Please make checks payable to “Night On the Street.” You can give your tax deductible donation to Julie or Eric Manuel or leave it in the church office. If you have any questions, please contact Julie or Eric Manuel.

Proofreader Needed!

Ethiopian Pastor and Luther Seminary student Dinku Bato is almost finished with his dissertation and needs a proof-reader before his oral defense. Dinku Bato helped lead the “Taste of Ethiopia” activities at Mount Olive three years ago and has maintained a relationship with us.

He is asking whether someone from Mount Olive would be willing to help proofread his dissertation–or even a part of it. He would need the proofreading finished by April 4. His total dissertation is 220 pages but someone could agree to tackle a section and help him reach the finish line. If you are interested, please contact Dinku Bato directly at dbato001@luthersem.edu

Benefit for Our Saviour’s Community Services

Caritas Vocal Ensemble will present a concert on behalf of Our Saviour’s Community Services on Sunday, April 19, at 3 pm. It will be held at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church, 2020 W. Lake of the Isles Pkwy. in Minneapolis. Admission is free, though donations are gratefully accepted to support the work of OSCS—ending homelessness and educating immigrants. Light refresh-ments provided. Please come and bring your friends!

Caritas Vocal Ensemble is a non-profit choral group with a special mission: to share their music with the community for the purpose of raising money and awareness for people in need. You’ll experience a concert of exquisite a capella chamber music from virtually every genre—madrigals and folk tunes, sacred, pop, and international. Great for all ages!

Through two distinct programs—Our Saviour’s Housing and the English Learning Center—OSCS provides dignified shelter and housing for those without a home and free English classes to immigrants and refugees.

May Day Parade: Sunday, May 3, 2015

The May Day Parade and Festival has become a joyous annual rite of spring. More than 2,000 participants, along with amazing puppets and floats, parade down Bloomington Avenue telling a story and creating a moving theatrical performance. Thousands more line the streets to watch the parade and participate in day-long activities. Following the parade, a pageant and tree of life ceremony in Powderhorn Park ushers in the renewal of a new spring season.

For more information or to get involved check the HOBT website: http://hobt.org/mayday/

Selma Anniversary Rally at the Capitol

On March 8, a few of us from Mount Olive with some friends participated in a rally commemorating the 50th anniversary of the rally lean by Martin Luther King in Selma. This rally wasn’t simply a celebration, but it was also to support the Black/All Lives Matter campaign, and bring an end to discrimination. We were surrounded by people who also had the desire to bring an end to discrimination and intolerance. After a few speeches at the State Capitol, we walked from to Central Presbyterian Church, singing “We Shall Overcome” as we entered.

Once we entered into the church, we got seated near the back of the pews. We joined hands with one another and sang together. We heard several great speeches from several wonderful speakers. Many of them had great stories to share. The speech that had the biggest effect on me was from Dr. Rev. Barbara Holmes, a woman who actually was at the original Selma rally. This anniversary rally was very safe. However, I started to cry, thinking of how people were hurt and injured at the original rally. Holmes also asked those who were at the 1965 rally to stand up. We think about all the harm and pain those at the rally faced, but 50 years later, it is remembered, but we saw them seemingly healed physically.

We may have made much progress, but there is still much work to be done. However, we shall overcome, and, as we sang at the rally, we shall not be moved.

– Robin Rayfield

Opportunities to BE involved

Check out the information located in front of the main office for more details.

Needed: Food donation deliverer! Is anyone available and willing to take a load of food to CES at 1900 11th Ave. S.? A drop-off time can be arranged and helping hands to load. Please let Anna K. know.

Give the Gift of Independence

You can help Meals on Wheels by volunteering to deliver meals in your neighborhood once a week or once a month. It only takes about an hour to bring a hot meal and a warm greeting to homebound individuals who cannot prepare meals on their own.

Please consider donating your lunch hour and give the gift of independence.

Interested? Contact TRUST Meals on Wheels at 612-822-6040.

Transitions Support Group

All are welcome to visit the Transitions Support Group meetings if you’ve been hoping to find new ideas or encouragement to meet the challenges or uncertainties that are before you. This is an opportunity to share in fellowship, prayer and discussion with others in the Mount Olive community.

The next session meets on Wednesday, April 15, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm at Mount Olive in the lower level Youth Room, and will be facilitated by Amy Cotter and Cathy Bosworth.
If you have questions, please contact Cathy at 612-708-1144 or marcat8447@yahoo.com.

Action Alert

Sign up now to visit Guatemala and our Common Hope partners. One or two groups will be going. Pick your dates and get in on the action. Leave your name at the office, sign a yellow info sheet or contact Judy Hinck either by email to judyhinck@gmail.com or by calling 612-824-4918. Teams will be set by Easter.

Koester Presentations Now Available Online

The first of the four lectures from the Adult Forum series presented by Dr. Craig Koester is now on YouTube! It can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/gA-tRFB1FKk.

Stay tuned for links to the other three presentations.

National Lutheran Choir to Presents Gretchaninoff’s Passion Week

The National Lutheran Choir brings Alexander Gretchaninoff’s glorious Passion Week to the majestic Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis and Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester.
Each year, Christians around the world remember and re-experience the seven days leading up to Easter Sunday through worship and music. Gretchaninoff developed his Passion Week, a magnificent representation of 13 sacred musical settings, for this ‘Great and Holy Week.’ Join us for a transcendent journey of the soul that you won’t soon forget.

Thursday, April 30, 2015 – 8pm
Basilica of Saint Mary (88 N 17th St., Minneapolis, MN 55403)

Saturday, May 2, 2015 – 7pm
Zumbro Lutheran Church (624 3rd Ave. SW, Rochester, MN 55902)

Tickets: $25 Adult – $23 Senior – $10 Students aged 17 and under FREE. For tickets or more information, call (888) 747-4589 or visit www.NLCA.com

Midweek Lent 2015 + Clay Jars filled with Grace (Paul’s second letter to Corinth)

March 25, 2015 By moadmin

Week 5: “God’s Appeal”

We are not our own people anymore: made a new creation in Christ, reconciled to God, we are now entrusted by God to bear this reconciling treasure that makes us into a new creation, bear it into the world as ambassadors for Christ.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Wednesday, 25 March 2015; text: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

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

It’s hard to speak for another person.

When someone criticizes our loved one, or has an issue with a friend we know well, we want to defend them. We want to speak for them, act on their behalf. Sometimes our friend is the one having difficulty with another, and out of love, we want to help. We’ll talk to another person on their behalf, smooth the way.

It’s just not the easiest thing to do. Often it’s the difficult situation that we’re not sure what our loved one would want us to say or do. Or, we can’t always explain another’s motives. Especially when others criticize someone we love, and the criticism seems valid. When our heart feels there must be a good reason for the problem, but our head isn’t sure what that is.

So what should we feel about Paul’s words today, that God is entrusting us with the job of “Ambassador for Christ”? If it’s hard to speak for a loved one, how much harder to speak for God?

The way some other Christians are living into this role of ambassador doesn’t help. They speak of a God whom we don’t recognize in the Scriptures, who doesn’t seem to be the Triune God whose love faced death for us and the world. When we’re offended or angered by how others represent Christ, we sometimes fear to be ambassadors ourselves.

There’s no need to fear. God’s taken care of both the job description and our ability to do it.

Paul reveals a joyful mystery of the treasure of God we bear within us.

Paul’s said we carry this treasure, God’s grace and love and forgiveness for us and the world, in clay jars, in our fragile, broken selves. Paul’s also said our bodies are a temporary tent compared to the house prepared for us in the coming world. This is only part of the grace.

Because even now, Paul says, this treasure of God’s reconciling with us and all humanity in Christ’s death and resurrection, is re-making us to be unrecognizable from what we were. Paul declares we are already transformed into this new creation, now, even with our fragile, clay lives. Even if we only see our failings, our weakness, in fact the forgiveness and life we already know has changed us.

We may need perspective to see this, a look back at the arc of our lives. Close up, we see how flawed we are. But if we climb to a better vantage point, turn around, and look back over the past five years, ten years, twenty years, we could see how the Spirit has transformed each of us into a new person. With this perspective, we realize Paul’s right: we aren’t looking at each other from a human point of view anymore. We see Christ in each other; others see Christ in us.

God makes us new so we can carry in our bodies God’s appeal to the world.

The Gospel truth is God needs us. God’s plan to restore all things in Christ will not happen without humanity being transformed from within. As people who are being transformed, God needs us to live this reconciliation into the world.

God has entrusted this message to us, Paul says. The treasure we carry in our hearts and lives is not given to us to keep. It changes us into new people, people who give the treasure away by our very lives in the world, so it reaches everyone. Only by sharing it can it change the world.

This transforms evangelism for us.

We are made new creations so we can be ambassadors for Christ, not sales people. An ambassador speaks for the one who sent her, carries messages on behalf of the one in whose name he comes. Ambassadors stand for their senders. We represent Christ in the world in our being, in our doing.

So we’re not selling “church” to anyone, or selling God. Evangelism – “Good Newsing” – isn’t about trying to attract people or increase numbers or convince others only we’re right.

Evangelism is bearing the Good News of God in Christ in our very bodies. So when people meet us they meet Christ. We bear forgiving grace so people actually experience it through us. We bear transforming love so people actually are touched by it when they are with us. We bear God’s relentless desire for all people to know God and know they are loved, so that people can’t miss it when we are with them.

Really, we’re like Mary.

Today is the feast of the Annunciation, which wasn’t on my mind two months ago when choosing this part of 2 Corinthians for today. But how wonderful to remember with this word from Paul that today Gabriel came to Mary and invited her to bear God’s Christ into the world.

That is precisely what God is doing to us through Paul. Except instead of giving birth to a child, we are made into God’s Christ ourselves, so that our lives, our words, our love, our hands, our voices, everything about us bears God’s grace in Christ.

We can do this, be this, because God is making us new so we can.

So we go, filled with joy in our calling.

And all our incentive is with Paul’s words: “the love of Christ urges us on.” This love we have come to know in Christ not only changes us. It gets us up in the morning eager to be Christ, motivates us to seek to grow and deepen as disciples, gives us the little bump we need to reach out to another in grace and love rather than hold back.

The love of Christ urges us on. And gives us all we need for this job.

What a joy and purpose for our lives. What a delight that God reaches people through us so they, too, know the hope and love and grace we so deeply drink in from God every day.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

Midweek Lent 2015 + Clay Jars filled with Grace (Paul’s second letter to Corinth)

March 25, 2015 By moadmin

Week 5: “God’s Appeal”

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

It’s hard to speak for another person.

So what should we feel about Paul’s words today, that God is entrusting us with the job of “Ambassador for Christ”? If it’s hard to speak for a loved one, how much harder to speak for God?

There’s no need to fear. God’s taken care of both the job description and our ability to do it.

Paul reveals a joyful mystery of the treasure of God we bear within us.

God makes us new so we can carry in our bodies God’s appeal to the world.

This transforms evangelism for us.

So we’re not selling “church” to anyone, or selling God. Evangelism – “Good Newsing” – isn’t about trying to attract people or increase numbers or convince others only we’re right.

Really, we’re like Mary.

We can do this, be this, because God is making us new so we can.

So we go, filled with joy in our calling.

The love of Christ urges us on. And gives us all we need for this job.

What a joy and purpose for our lives. What a delight that God reaches people through us so they, too, know the hope and love and grace we so deeply drink in from God every day.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

The Heart That Matters

March 22, 2015 By moadmin

The only thing that matters in the dark places of our hearts and minds is not our nature but God’s, not our heart but God’s. And God’s heart is incessantly and always love willing to lose all to draw us in.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Fifth Sunday in Lent, year B
texts: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-12; John 12:20-33

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

What if I’m not worthy of being loved?

What if I’ve not been good enough to be loved?

If people knew the truth about me, would they still love me?

These frightening thoughts are deeply rooted in our hearts. Even the most confident-looking have inward darkness of unworthiness haunting their outward boldness. We all want to be loved. We all need to be loved. We often find it hard to believe we can be. And if we are loved, we fear it can be taken away.

Whether we are loved by other people is enough to make us anxious. As people of faith, even more troubling is the question of God’s love.

This steady talk of God’s covenant promises we’ve heard this Lent raises in us feelings of anxiety, guilt, shame, fear. We know we are not always what God hopes for us. We can say God is not our enemy, and God’s law is a good for us, not to be feared. It is true, God has said so.

That doesn’t mean we easily believe it.

We struggle as if it’s all about us, our failings, our weakness, our unlovability.

There’s truth in that.

If we fear there are things in our heart others find unlovable, things God doesn’t want to see, it’s because we know it’s true. We can’t easily look into the heart of another; we have to live with our own hearts, and we know them, we know the flaws. It’s not outlandish to fear we’re not worthy, not good enough.

As to God, we’ve made centuries of theology describing how broken we are, how sinful, how our human nature is warped. We talk about our relationship to God most often from the perspective of how messed up we are. As if there’s only one nature that matters, our human nature, which is no good. As if there’s only one heart that matters, our human heart, which is turned away from God.

Our problem isn’t that we don’t know the truth about ourselves, our failings.

Our problem is we’re often forgetting a deeper truth, the only one that matters.

The Scriptures tell us about the nature of God, about God’s heart, as if that’s what’s important.

Our readings today aren’t about our unfaithfulness; they’re about God’s intractable love. Jeremiah’s people are in exile, their homeland destroyed, their hope in tatters. From the words of their prophets to the knowledge in their own hearts, these people know they failed God. They know they were unfaithful to God’s covenant promises, their sinfulness led to their downfall.

But Jeremiah declares an astonishing truth: The LORD, the God of Israel, can’t let go of them. Yes, God kept every covenant God made with them and they broke every one. It’s true. They were and are unfaithful to God, not living as God dreamed and hoped.

None of that matters, Jeremiah says. God still wants to create a relationship of love with them. God’s going to try a new covenant. God says, I won’t write this one on stone or scroll, but on my people’s hearts. They will know me and love me, and know and love each other, from the least to the greatest.

This is the stunning revelation of Jeremiah: The only thing that matters about human sinfulness, about your brokenness, about our unfaithfulness is one thing: the God who made all things loves you, loves us, with an incessant, unexplainable love. The heart of God is irrevocably turned toward you, toward us.

Hear this again: God loves you completely and eternally, no exceptions.

We often say, “God loves you anyway.” “God loves you in spite of your sin.” “God loves you even though you are a failure.” We are doing God’s love a great injustice.

Jeremiah says, “God loves you. Period. End of sentence.” No “anyway”s, no “in spite of”s. But, . . . we sputter, what about all that bad inside us, what we regret, fear, are ashamed of, what about our sinful human nature?

Jeremiah says, You’re not listening. God loves you. And that’s that. There’s nothing you can do about it. You are worthy because God says so. You are good enough because God thinks so.

This is made abundantly clear in God’s final statement: “I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.” For the first time God builds into a divine agreement the promise of forgiveness and forgetfulness.

This is not Sinai, where God saved the people and said, “Now, here’s how you will live.” This is not Abraham and Sarah, where God promised land and blessing and family, and said, “Now, follow me and be faithful.”

Here God says, I will make a covenant relationship with you and I will change your hearts. And built into my part of the bargain is my forgiveness and my forgetfulness. Before you even think about failing, I promise to forgive you. That’s what God’s love truly is.

God wants this to be so clear it’s tattooed on our hearts.

The new heart David asked for is what God now promises. This heart will be marked with the love of God, “I love you eternally” written on every surface. Forgiveness from God isn’t about avoiding punishment. Forgiveness from God transforms us, gives us heart transplants, makes us new.

Now we are closer to Jesus’ mystery today. “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself,” says the One who is God-with-us. Once again, the only heart that matters is the heart of God that will not rest until all people are drawn in. But God will have to die, be “lifted up,” to make it happen. God’s heart of love will break in order to break ours and begin to make ours new.

This willingness to lose everything for love of us is at the center of this new covenant first promised in Jeremiah and now fulfilled in Jesus: if the loving relationship comes with a guarantee of constant forgiveness, it will cost God dearly to keep that promise.

In God’s willingness to die out of love for us, we find our path.

God says, “Follow me into this loss.” Like a seed that must die when it is planted before it can become what it is meant to be, getting this new heart will be death for us.

But everything that will die is what we want gone: all our deepest wrongs, all those things in our heart we don’t want known, all our failings, all our stubborn resistance, all these die away when we are drawn into God’s love. Shame, fear, guilt, anxiety, they die, too. They’re tossed away, the shell of the old seed that gets discarded while the new growth comes forth.

The new heart made in us will be like God’s, willing to break for love of others, willing to begin and end with love and forgiveness, no matter what. The only way we get to that kind of heart is this path God’s heart makes possible for us.

Sometimes the truth that really matters isn’t the one we fear, no matter how true it is.

The only truth that can save us is the relentless, obsessive love of God for us and for the world. God’s is the only heart, the only love, strong enough to change our own hearts.

We will soon see at the cross how much it costs God. We begin to see in our own lives what it costs us to be so changed in heart. But today we rejoice that such unbreakable love is ours, always, and cannot be taken away, not even by those things we think only we know about.

God loves you. Period. End of sentence. And you will never be the same for it.