Blog – Page 385

The Olive Branch, 2/8/13

February 8, 2013 By moadmin

Accent on Worship

Shine On

Working at a Bible Camp in northern Minnesota during my summers in college, we had a term for the experience of our campers. We called it “The Mountain Top.” The Mountain Top experience is that ‘high’ that kids often felt in being at camp. It’s that feeling of never having been closer to God; never having been loved more in your life. Usually, by mid-week Tuesday or Wednesday, kids would start feeling as though they were on the mountain top, but by Thursday and certainly Friday, they started to dread going back down into the valley. They dreaded going home, going to school, and going back to “normal life” as they often called it.

I often wondered what it was that separated this place, the mountain; from our normal lives, the valley.

Our text this week answers that question beautifully. It tells us that there is a veil that separates us from God. The veil is that space between God and us. In scripture, whenever God appears to the people, it’s always at a distance or at an angle. God appears to Moses in a burning bush, and when he leaves, Moses only sees God’s back. Jacob wrestles with God in the dark, but God leaves before daybreak.

In this world, there are places where the veil is heavy. There are places in our lives where God seems far away, places of hatred, death, despair, loneliness, etc.

But there are also spaces in this world where we glimpse God. Sometimes we glimpse God when a friend comes to us in our sadness and loneliness. Sometimes we glimpse God in worship or in feeding the hungry. As someone once told me, there are places where the veil is thin.

But we also learn that in one person, the veil is removed. There’s one space where we see fully what God is like, and that’s in Jesus Christ as he comes down from the mountain, and into the valley to be with us.

So when kids at camp described their “mountain top” experience, what they are really saying is that they’ve encountered Jesus Christ who has come down from the mountain into the valley of their lives. They’ve encountered the Word of God, Jesus, in Bible study. They’ve encountered the Holy Spirit when friends and adults alike surround them with love and affirmation. They’ve encountered God in a song sung around the campfire. So, like Jesus and Moses on their mountain tops, they shine for the world to see when they encounter the Triune God.

The same is true for us. When we encounter God in worship, we shine. When we learn to love our neighbor as Jesus taught us, we shine because that is the image of God. When we bear this good news for others, we shine because we reflect God’s word to us.

So as Jesus and Moses did once, come to the mountain top where the veil is thin so you too may shine for the world.

– Vicar Neal Cannon

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Tuesday, February 12, 6–6:45 p.m.

All are invited! Please take a moment to sign up on the chart in the west assembly area so that we can get an approximate count for food preparation– or call your RSVP in to the church office.

We are in need of two volunteers to help with games at this event. If you are willing to help, call Beth Sawyer at 651-434-0666, or drop her an email at mikebethsawyer78@gmail.com.

Lent Begins
Ash Wednesday
February 13, 2013
Holy Eucharist
with the Imposition of Ashes
Noon and 7:00 pm

Bring Your Palms

It’s time to bring in any palm branches you have from last year’s Palm Sunday liturgy. These branches may be placed in the designated basket in the narthex. They will be burned in a brief rite on Shrove Tuesday after the Pancake Supper, and their ashes used for the Imposition of Ashes on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 13.

Sunday Readings

February 10, 2013 – Transfiguration of Our Lord
Exodus 34:29-35 + Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12—4:2 + Luke 9:28-36[37-43]

February 17, 2013 – First Sunday in Lent
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 + Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13 + Luke 4:1-13

Taste of Ethiopia – This Sunday

“Taste of Ethiopia,” is this Sunday, February 10. The preacher and education hour leader will be The Reverend Dinku Bato, a Ph.D. student at Luther Seminary in Congregational Mission and Leadership, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the education hour, he will talk about the history and current context of Christianity in Ethiopia and Lutherans in particular. After the second liturgy, please join us for a lunch of Ethiopian food, prepared by members of Mount Olive. The annual “Taste of” event, which highlights the culture, foods, and history of various areas of our global community, is a long tradition at Mount Olive.

Proceeds from this year’s “Taste of Ethiopia” will benefit two initiatives of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the Lutheran church partner in Ethiopia. (1) The Oromo Functional Literacy project teaches Oromo communities to read and write with the goal of empowerment and development. We were invited to support this program by representatives of the Lutheran World Federation. (2) The other initiative is a program that supports communities to care for children who have been orphaned due to AIDS. We have been invited to contribute to this program by the Bishop of the La Crosse Area Synod of the ELCA, which supports this project through its sister synod relationship with Ethiopia.

Upcoming Adult Forums

Sunday, February 10 – As part of our Taste of Ethiopia observance, The Reverend Dinku Bato, a Ph.D. student at Luther Seminary in Congregational Mission and Leadership, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will talk about the history and current context of Christianity in Ethiopia and Lutherans in particular.

Sunday, February 17 – Common Hope Project, led by the Ruff family (and others).

Lent Procession to be Held Sunday, February 17, 4 p.m.

Join us for another contemplative service of lessons and carols – for Lent! This service is offered on the First Sunday in Lent as an opportunity to withdraw from the busyness of life to pray, sing, listen, smell – to fully enter into the season of Lent, a time to renew our life as baptized children of God.

Book Discussion Group

The Book Discussion Group will NOT meet in February because several members will be traveling at the usual meeting time. For the March 9 meeting we will discuss Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie. For the April 13 meeting we will discuss In the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah Dunant. Looking ahead, in May we will discuss Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. This is the sequel to her novel The Sparrow which we read earlier.

Servant Schedule Deadline

February 15, 2013 is the deadline for requests for the 2nd quarter Servant Schedule. The schedule for April, May and June of 2013 will be posted at the beginning of March. Please email requests to Peggy Hoeft @ peggyrf70@gmail.com by 2/15/13.

Art Shoppe Update

In 2011, A Minnesota Without Poverty approached Mount Olive and JCRC seeking help in providing a space in which local artists could sell their work. We agreed! And after several months of planning and remodeling an area at Midtown Global Market, The Art Shoppe opened in October of 2011. One year later, they celebrated their first birthday with food, music, and demonstrations. At Christmas, not only did the store do well, but a “sister” store in Gaviidae Common downtown asked us to participate. December sales topped $10,000.

The artists, Kim, Terry, Raelena, Tara, Kip, and Keegan, have learned skills of bookkeeping, sales, management, and publicity in this micro enterprise. Mount Olive volunteers Kathy Thurston and JoAnn Sorenson, and Carol Austermann have contributed their energy and ideas. Over 60 consigners bring a variety of glassware, pottery, clothing, and jewelry to sell.

The income generated at the store has enabled the artists to pay rent and to begin paying off the loan which enabled them to start this adventure. A contract for the same space for 2013 has been signed and they are looking at a bright future and toward teaching others how to succeed at business. Congratulations to The Art Shoppe!

All are encouraged to visit The Art Shoppe – and to shop!

Hymnal Companion

Have you ever sung a hymn in church and wanted to know more about it? Were you curious to know a little about the person who composed the tune or who wrote the text, or other background on the hymn? Thanks to a generous donor, a copy of Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, by Paul Westermeyer is now available in the west reception area. This book is meant to remain in this area to be a resource for the whole congregation. Take some time to peruse it and learn a little more about the church’s rich heritage of hymns.

Church Clean Up – Mark Your Calendars!

The next church clean-up day will be held on Saturday, February 23, from 8:30 am – 2:30 pm. Plan to come and pitch in – many hands make light work!

Lenten Bible Study: Practice Faith

Christian faith practices are widely accepted, but not broadly understood outside of a moral/ethical understanding. Of course we should be hospitable, of course we should give to the poor, and of course we should be in service to our neighbor. Other faith practices take on the sense of duty and obligation. We’re called to pray, observe Sabbath, share the gospel, etc.

Come to the six week Lenten Bible study starting February 14th from 6-7:30pm in the Chapel Lounge to explore these topics in scripture and community.

February 14 – Hospitality and Welcome
February 21 – Tithing and Generosity
February 28 – Prayer
March 7 – Celebration and Sabbath
March 14 – Sharing the Gospel
March 21 – Serving our Neighbor

A New Opportunity to Serve

The Neighborhood Ministries Committee recently took a survey of guests to see whether there was interest in staying for a social hour after the meal. There was enough favorable response so that we are considering offering a social time. However, the volunteers serving the Community Meal are obviously otherwise occupied. This is where you come in. We hope that a Mount Olive group or individual would like to take on this service. There is interest among the guests particularly in playing board games, and doing craft activities. The social hour could be kicked off, for instance, with a game of Bingo. A social time such as this could help fill a need for people who are often isolated and seeking to form relationships.

This service would require only a couple of hours on the Saturday that the community meal is served. If you or your committee or other group might be interested in carrying out this activity, please contact Carol Austermann (612-722-5123) or Eunice Hafemeister (612-721-6790) or speak to any member of the Neighborhood Ministries Committee.

Church Library News

One of the newest displays in our church library contains some timely or topical reading, as well as some pre-Lenten reading, such as:

• The Real Score, by golf champion Gene Littler
• All the Master’s Men: Patterns for Modern Discipleship, by Kendrick Strong
• Trevor’s Place: The Story of the Boy Who Brings Hope to the Homeless, by Frank and Janet Farrell
• Catch the New Wind: The Church is Alive and Dancing, by Marilee Zdenek and Marge Champion
• To the Kid in the Pew (60 Chapel Talks), by Eldon Weisheit
• Time for Questions: Messages for Lent and Easter, by Harris W. Lee
• Come, Lord Jesus, Come Quickly (Lenten Meditations), by Constance F. Parvey
• Parables from the Cross (Sermons for Lent and Easter), by Kenneth Rogahl and Walter Schoedel
• Voices of the Crossroads (First Person Dramatic Portrayals of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus),
edited by Paul K. Peterson (yes, this is our late Paul Peterson)
• Meeting Christ in Handel’s Messiah (Messages for Lent and Easter), by Roger T. Quillan

A recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune featured a great quote from the Reading is Fundamental organization and it goes like this: “BOOK PEOPLE UNITE — Read to a child today and spark a lifetime of ambition!”

– Leanna Kloempken

Sign Up, Sign Up for Coffee!

If you are willing to host an upcoming coffee hour during the months of March or April, please take a moment to sign up on the chart, located in the church office. The chart is also available to sign at coffee hour on Sunday mornings.

Godsent

February 3, 2013 By moadmin

In baptism we are anointed, like Jesus, and filled with the Spirit, like Jesus, to proclaim God’s good news to the broken and weak of the world, with God’s strength supporting us throughout, even when we meet resistance.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, year C; texts: Luke 4:[14-20] 21-30; Jeremiah 1:4-10

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

As I began to read the Gospel just now, some of you might have thought I turned to the wrong page. Surely that was the Gospel we heard last week? Well, it was (at least the first half was). The lectionary divided this one episode at the start of Jesus’ ministry into two weeks, but to understand the second part, assigned for today, it’s important to hear what led up to it.

And reading the whole event together also helps make a deeper connection to the call of Jeremiah which began our words from Scripture this morning. Because there is both joy and concern, both sending and opposition. There are messengers of God and the threat of, and even reality of, enemies of those messengers. Or of the message itself. And if we’re to consider the one, we can’t ignore the other.

Today we baptize our young brother Felix John, and anoint him, praying the gift of the Holy Spirit on him. Whenever we do this, we not only rejoice in this new sibling who joins our mission, who joins the ranks of the anointed ones of God sent into the world, whom we will see grow up among us into that call, we quite naturally are reminded of our own anointing and sending. We speak it aloud in our welcome to Felix and to all whom we baptize in the name of the Triune God, welcoming him and them into the body of Christ and into the mission we share.

But both Jeremiah and Jesus, who also share such anointing, remind us today of what we often let slip out of our conscious thought: being sent by God to bring the Good News to the world is not necessarily an easy job. It not only might meet with resistance, it almost certainly will, from outside, or from ourselves.

In some ways, we can find ourselves avoiding such resistance by being less active in our mission, our sending, than we could be. We can be timid in our actions, shy in our proclaiming, quiet in our convictions. There are often times when we feel a pull to act, to pray, to do, to serve, to get involved in one way or another, when we resist that pull because, either consciously or subconsciously, we are afraid of the consequences that might result.

What God suggests to us by way of Jeremiah is that there is a better way. Rather than dodge our call or duck from it, we could choose to embrace it. Rather than fearing what might happen if we did something, said something, acted on something, we could believe the powerful truth that the Triune God who anointed and sent us has not sent us alone, but goes with us, giving us all the love and support, and guidance and direction we need to faithfully fulfill our mission.

So to begin our exploring of this path God offers Jeremiah, and us, we begin as we all began, with Baptism, and the certainty of our own anointing.

Luke is the only evangelist who gives these important details to Jesus’ first visit to his hometown as a rabbi: Luke says that Jesus is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and he claims his anointing as God’s servant. It’s a powerful claim: I am the servant of God Isaiah foretold, he says. Quite a first sermon for him to deliver to his own people.

He claims that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him, which Luke the narrator has already told us. And that he, Jesus, their kid from the hometown, is anointed by God to bring “good news to the poor,” sent by God to “proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,” and sent to “let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

These were important words to Israel, words of promise that God would come with an Anointed One who would bring about such grace and healing to the chosen people. So at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus declares he is the fulfilling of that promise to Israel, that, as he said, “today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

But what’s also important for us to know is that Luke believes the same about the Church, and therefore about us: we are so anointed, we are so filled with the power of the Spirit. Throughout his Gospel he points to these realities of Jesus, but in Acts he says the same thing about the Church. The Church, the believers, is filled with the power of the Spirit at Pentecost, a power that continues to be poured out on new believers as they are baptized. So throughout Acts, more and more people are anointed by the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus was.

And from the beginning of Acts to the end, the Church is called to the same mission, the same outreach Jesus was called to do. But there’s a twist in Luke 4 and in Acts, a twist Jesus now shares with his fellow Nazareth residents: this mission is not just to Israel. It is to all people.

This causes problems for him, as we’ll see in a moment, but for now let’s recognize that the dual mission of Jesus after being anointed by God and filled with the Spirit, a mission both to Israel and to all the Gentiles, is precisely the mission of the Church in Acts. This message of healing to the broken of the world is for all people, both for Jesus and for us.

But as Jeremiah would learn, and Jesus learns in this very story, being the anointed of God, bringing Good News to poor and downtrodden folks, Good News which also applies to outsiders, can rile up the insiders, even the less than powerful ones.

As we’ve already seen, though we’re early in our year with Luke, there is no secret in Luke’s mind about Jesus’ identity or his mission. From the start he is identified as Son of God, filled with the Holy Spirit. And from the start, his mission is both to the Jews, the chosen people of God, and to the Gentiles, the rest of the world. It is comprehensive.

Luke doesn’t follow Matthew and Mark in this, who tell a story of a meeting Jesus had later in his ministry with a foreign woman who wanted healing for her daughter. In that encounter, Jesus seems to have his mind opened to the possibility that his mission is beyond just the Jewish people. Luke doesn’t tell this story. As we heard in Nazareth today, Luke believes that Jesus understood this expansive mission from the very beginning.

And so Jesus launches into a bit of a rant which marvels at God’s goodness in healing foreigners over Israelites. Though there were many starving widows in Israel in the multi-year drought that happened during the time of the prophet Elijah, the only one we know who was fed by God was the foreign woman from Zarephath, Jesus says. And though there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha, the only one we know was healed was Naaman the Syrian.

It’s as if Jesus is forcing the people of Nazareth to face his anointing as for all the people of the world, not just them. So the good news to the poor, the release to the captives, the sight to the blind, the freedom for the oppressed, all these things are for all God’s people.

And for Jesus as well as for us, that’s not always going to be well-received. Any time people speak out for the voiceless, for the outsider, for those for whom God has a particular love and care, there is resistance.

In our politics, people who claim to be concerned about spending and don’t want the government to offer help to the least of our society don’t blink an eye when the government spends billions to subsidize corporations. But those who speak to the powerful about the powerless are often pushed aside, ignored, even ostracized.

To free the oppressed, heal the wounded, release the captives, welcome the outsider, requires a great deal of courage. Consider just the immigration debate. For years compassionate cries to care for real human beings who have lived among us and contributed to our society for years have been met with by angry shouts and outcries of “keep those people out.”

And standing up for those who are most in need can often be uncomfortable, risk friendships, cost time and energy, and put us into situations where people misunderstand or even hate us. Jesus’ own people wanted to kill him.

Maybe that won’t happen to us. But lots of people get death threats in this country for doing the right thing, for speaking up. For witnessing to God’s love where it needs to be said. Even if we aren’t threatened in this way, which both Jeremiah and Jesus were by the way, we are threatened by the costs to our lives that such witness and work would bring.

We can measure those costs in lots of different ways, and their impact on our lives. But sometimes the cost is just taking time to do something rather than staying silent. How many of us regularly, or ever, contact our state representatives to express concern or support for legislation that will make a difference in other people’s lives?

We’re sending letters for Bread for the World today, as a part of an ongoing effort to effect societal and legislative changes that will have a direct impact on reducing hunger and poverty. How many of us walk past the tables every year that we do this at Mount Olive, thinking, “that’s not for me”?

There seems to be a fear inside us to actually live fully into this call, this anointing.

In our rite of baptismal affirmation we always promise to strive for justice and peace in all the earth, and to serve all people, following the example of Jesus. We say this because in baptism we were anointed to do that very thing. In affirming our baptism, we are saying we’ll do what we’ve been sent to do.

But somehow we don’t often actually do much striving in that way. Maybe we’re indifferent. That really can’t be an option, as we make these promises pretty often, and it’s what we’re called to do, what we’ve said we’ll do. But maybe we’re afraid at various levels of what it will cost to be such an anointed servant. If that’s the case, then we have some good news.

Our hope is found in God’s word to Jeremiah, which Luke speaks of in his theology of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: God will be with us. We are Godsent.

Jeremiah protests that he’s not the right person for this job, and God says, “don’t be afraid. I am with you.” Do not fear, God says, and it’s more than we might think.

Sometimes we think all those expressions in the Bible which say not to fear are meant to ease our fear of what might happen to us, dangers that might befall. Fear of evil, fear of tragedy, fear of the world.

But God’s word to Jeremiah is not about a passive fear (fearing things that might happen.) It’s about a fear of being active, of doing something and having it all go wrong. For us, it would be fear of being pro-active in our Christian call and anointing. Fear of doing, for whatever reason.

And to Jeremiah and to us, God says, “don’t be afraid. I will be with you.” Do what you are called to do, what I sent you to do, without fear of anything – reprisal, inconvenience, loss of time or wealth, whatever – do not fear because I do not send you out alone.

Remember, all who are anointed to do God’s call are anointed with the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the very breath of God to do what we are called to do. We go with the Triune God moving within us in strength, love, and power.

There’s a common expression, where people say to another, “you are a Godsend.” That’s exactly what we are. Godsent. People who bear in our hearts and lives the very strength of the Spirit of God, to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, freedom to the oppressed, healing to those who are wounded or broken. We can do this because we do not do this alone. That’s what God says to Jeremiah, that’s what Jesus understood, and that’s our absolute promise.

And though we do not know how our anointed life will play out, and even what adversity we might encounter, we know it is our life.

And more to the joy of our hearts, we know that God goes with us.

There is a prayer which in our last two worship books has been one of the collects that could be used at the ending of Vespers (Evening Prayer). This has become beloved to many as a result. It comes from Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, and has only been in print since the mid-nineteen-fifties, but was already also included in The Service Book and Hymnal, though not at Vespers. The prayer reads:

“O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [1]

Give us faith to go out with good courage . . . knowing only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us. That’s all we need. There’s much unknown in our calling, much we could fear, but we are called, anointed and sent by the Triune God, whose love and care and strength and guidance are with us always.

And who says to us, as he did to Jeremiah: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Now, go.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen

[1] Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, Daily Prayer, © 1946 Oxford University Press, under the title “The Call of Abraham.” No author is cited, so it is presumably from the two editors. (Included in SBH in a list of collects for various needs [this one was “For Guidance”], and in LBW and ELW as one of the collects at the end of Vespers.)

February 1, 2013 By moadmin

Accent on Worship

The word of God is always pleasing in the abstract. “God is love,” God loves the whole world,” or even the words that Jesus read in his hometown synagogue from the book of Isaiah about all that God is going to do for them; make the blind to see, heal the lame, free the oppressed and all those other good things. When Jesus put down the scroll and challenged them to go beyond the edifying words of God, to truly love and be a comfort themselves to all who suffer, they were enraged. They did not accept that the words read were fulfilled in him, a human being.

To pray to God for all that is good and believe that God will do this without us is not biblical. To pray to God and to believe that all our efforts to comfort, heal, do justice and bring peace to this world are driven by God, is truth. God will not do it without us. The first reading for Epiphany 4 is a good example of this and a familiar story. God is calling the prophet Jeremiah and Jeremiah is resisting. Like many prophets before him, he listed his faults and weaknesses and I’m sure that he was questioning whether God had made some kind of mistake. God did not leave Jeremiah on his own, though. He put his very words in the mouth of the prophet.

God sent out a formal invitation to Jeremiah to do a hard and special thing, and God calls us too. “Who me?” we may ask. “I don’t know how to write a letter to my representatives in Washington about changing policy to help those who are poor and hungry in this nation and the world,” we may say to a God of justice who is calling us. However, like Jeremiah and all the prophets before him, God will not leave us on our own. God has called others to help you do just that through Bread for the World, a faith based national organization. A representative from Bread for the World will be at Mount Olive this Sunday during the Adult Education hour with everything you need to be a voice for justice.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians (in Sunday’s second reading) that if we believers do not have love, we have nothing. Love is not an abstract concept. It is divinely driven action that brings all that is good, and all that promotes peace and well-being to all of God’s creation. We are called to love.

– Donna Pususta Neste

Sunday Readings

February 3, 2013 – 4th Sunday after Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10 + Psalm 71:1-6
I Corinthians 13:1-13 + Luke 4:21-30

February 10, 2013 – Transfiguration of Our Lord
Exodus 34:29-35 + Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12—4:2 + Luke 9:28-36[37-43]

The Presentation of Our Lord
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Holy Eucharist at 7:00 pm

Upcoming Adult Forums

Sunday, February 3 – Bread for the World Offering of Letters, facilitated by Donna Neste.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Tuesday, February 12, 6–7 p.m.

All are invited! Please take a moment to sign up on the chart in the west assembly area so that we can get an approximate count for food preparation– or call your RSVP in to the church office.

We are in need of two volunteers to help with games at this event. If you are willing to help, call Beth Sawyer at 651-434-0666, or drop her an email at mikebethsawyer78@gmail.com.

From the Mount Olive Foundation

The Mount Olive Lutheran Church Foundation is excited to be able to fund an annual gift to the Church from the earnings of its endowment in the amount of approximately $26,000. The value of the endowment is now approximately $800,000, thanks to generous donors and those who have included the Foundation in their estate plans. The use of the endowment gift is restricted to activities that directly benefit Mount Olive, therefore no outside programs are eligible for the annual gift. The Foundation in the past has preferred gifts that are capital items or special programs not able to be funded out of the budget or through other Church funds. Please submit any ideas that you have to a Vestry member under whom the program or gift would fall. The Foundation has asked that the following questions be addressed: 1. Amount of funds requested. 2. How will the funds be used? 3. How will this request benefit the mission of Mount Olive? 4. If there is not enough money to fully finance this request, would less money be useful?

Please submit your ideas and answers to the four questions above to the appropriate Vestry member by February 8. Vestry Members are: Adam Krueger (President); Lisa Nordeen (Vice President); Elizabeth Beissel (Secretary); Kat Campbell-Johnson (Treasurer); Carl Manuel (Congregational Life); Brooke Roegge (Education); Andrew Andersen (Evangelism); Eunice Hafemeister and Carol Austermann (Neighborhood Ministries); Paul Schadewald (Missions); Brenda Bartz(Property); Dennis Bidwell (Stewardship); Al Bipes (Worship); and Beth Sawyer (Youth).

Taste of Ethiopia February 10

Mark your calendars for “Taste of Ethiopia,” on Sunday, February 10. The preacher and education hour leader will be The Reverend Dinku Bato, a Ph.D. student at Luther Seminary in Congregational Mission and Leadership, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the education hour, he will talk about the history and current context of Christianity in Ethiopia and Lutherans in particular.

After the second liturgy, please join us for a lunch of Ethiopian food, prepared by members of Mount Olive. The annual “Taste of” event, which highlights the culture, foods, and history of various areas of our global community, is a long tradition at Mount Olive.

Proceeds from this year’s “Taste of Ethiopia” will benefit two initiatives of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus–the Lutheran church partner in Ethiopia. (1) The Oromo Functional Literacy project teaches Oromo communities to read and write with the goal of empowerment and development. We were invited to support this program by representatives of the Lutheran World Federation. (2) The other initiative is a program that supports communities to care for children who have been orphaned due to AIDS. We have been invited to contribute to this program by the Bishop of the La Cross Synod of the ELCA, which supports this project through its sister synod relationship with Ethiopia.

Book Discussion Group

Mark Your Calendars!

The next church clean-up day will be held on Saturday, February 23, from 8:30 am – 2:30 pm. Plan to come and pitch in – many hands make light work!

However, the volunteers serving the Community Meal are obviously otherwise occupied. This is where you come in. It is our hope that a Mount Olive group or individual would like to take on this service. There is interest among the guests particularly in playing board games, and doing craft activities. The social hour could be kicked off, for instance, with a game of Bingo. A social time such as this could help fill a need for people who are often isolated and seeking to form relationships.

Nave Seating

You will notice some ‘rearranged’ seating in the nave this Sunday. One of the pews near the front (pulpit side) has been exchanged for a shorter one from one of the upper galleries to provide additional wheelchair accessibility. This mirrors the open space already available on the lectern side. Please leave these spaces available for those who need them, including the section of pew directly next to them for companions. Thanks to the Vestry, the Property Committee and the Thursday C.P.R. team (Art and George) for making this possible, that Mount Olive might continue to be a place of welcome for all.

Servant Schedule Deadline

Theology on Tap

Have you ever wanted to get to know the people sitting next to you in the pews a little better? Do you enjoy a good beer while sharing stories with friends? Then come to Theology on Tap! Theology on Tap is a new group at Mount Olive that meets once a month at local bars/restaurants to enjoy a good beverage (beer/wine/soda? It’s up to you!), good food, and good conversation. Each week we’ll also dive into a dialogue about faith and life (no preparation or book reading required, only your personal knowledge and insight) as we explore Christianity in the 21st century. Contact Vicar Neal Cannon (vicar@mountolivechurch.org, 612-827-5919 x12) if you would like to join us for our first Theology on Tap!

February Event Details

Who: Anyone 21+ is welcome to join
Where: Herkimer Pub and Brewery – 2922 Lyndale Ave S., Mpls.
When: Thursday February 7, 7:30-9:00pm
Discussion Topic: Young Adults and the Church
Facebook Page: Mount Olive Theology on Tap
(“Like” the Page to get updates on Theology on Tap
Contact: Vicar Neal Cannon
(vicar@mountolivechurch.org)

A Note of Thanks

To all of our friends at Mount Olive:
Where do I begin to express my gratitude for all of the extraordinary talent, love, compassion, and caring shared during one of the saddest times of my life with my Mama Z passing away?
There are many angels on this earth and our church is filled with them.
I will say to all of you what I said to so many at Westwood Health Care Center: if I thanked each one of you several times each day until my last day on earth, it still wouldn’t be enough thanks for all of the magnificent things you have done for me and for us.
God bless you all,
Eric Zander & Dennis Bidwell

Lenten Bible Study: Practice Faith

But what is the Biblical root of these practices? Why are these things so important that they are mentioned over, and over, and over again in the Bible? What have Christians done in the past and what can we do now to keep these practices alive in our lives?
Come to a six-week Lenten Bible study starting February 14, from 6-7:30 pm in the Chapel Lounge to explore these topics in scripture and community.

https://www.mountolivechurch.org/2013/02/01/1370/

Gladly Hear and Learn

January 27, 2013 By moadmin

God’s written Word, the Scriptures, shape us in the relationship the Triune God is creating in us through the life, death and resurrection of the Son. Ancient and strange as these words are, they lead us to our Lord Jesus and to life.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Third Sunday after Epiphany, year C; texts: Nehemiah 8:1-10; Psalm 19; Luke 4:14-21

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

We are a strange and peculiar people who do a strange and peculiar thing. I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but we just did it, right now. The difficulty is that we’ve seen it done so often we’ve come not to consider it odd. You and I heard three people read from an ancient Book. We gathered together today and asked three people, a lector, an assisting minister, and the presiding minister, to open and read from a book that in its newest part is nearly 2,000 years old, but in its oldest is closer to 4,000 years old. We also sang together a song from that book that has been sung pretty continually by human beings for nearly 3,000 years.

More to the point, we asked people to read these old words to us today because we have agreed amongst ourselves, and with people like us in the world, that these elderly texts are actually words from the God who made all things. We asked people today to read these words because we also have decided and believed, along with many like us in the world, that these ancient readings matter to our lives. And you have called me to the task of now speaking to you about these words, as if these words should and do matter to us in our lives.

But do we understand how strange and foreign this is? How unusual we are? We Christians are not people who find God by gazing at our navels. We don’t find God by using mind-altering substances. We don’t find God in the desires of our heart, even, or in our hopes and dreams. In fact, we Christians do not believe we even find God. We believe the God who made all things finds us, seeks us out, and does this in a large part through these ancient words. Though these words are millennia old, we believe they also were written for us.

And so, we are people of the Book, as are our Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers. We are connected most tightly to the belief not that God is found anywhere, but that God, and God’s plan, and all we need to know about God, can be found in a two to four thousand year old book. And that is very strange. And unfamiliar to the secular world in which we live.

If we’re not able to stop for a moment and recognize how utterly different from the culture what we do here is, what we do when we open a Bible in our homes or study it, when we seek out preaching, we risk taking for granted that we actually believe these words will change us, move us, matter to us. And we risk losing the very truth to which these old words will lead us.

When we consider Ezra and Jesus, however, we see a familiar sight, and begin to understand once more.

In Nehemiah 8, the scribe Ezra stands on a wooden tower built over the people and reads to them from the law of God. (Which sounds a lot like what I’m doing right now.) This is after the exile, as we heard this morning, “the people of Israel [were now] settled in their towns.”

Ezra and Nehemiah are among those scribes who are determined to help Israel correct the problems which led to Babylon’s destruction of their nation and their Temple. To do this, they need the people to hear God’s Word again, and since the people speak a different dialect or even language, and since they want all to be sure to understand, they intersperse the crowd with interpreters, other scribes and Levites, to help people know what’s going on.

The people are so overwhelmed by hearing God’s Word, they weep. But Ezra encourages a different reaction. He encourages them to be filled with joy, for they are hearing from God, and this joy should provide them great strength. Ezra wants them to hear and obey, and they do. But he also wants them to see the joy of having the Word of God read to them, and explained.

And look what happens when Jesus comes to his hometown, early in his ministry. He goes to synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his custom, Luke reminds. But notice this: at the synagogue, the people, his neighbors and friends, people who saw him grow to adulthood, do not ask, “Jesus, tell us about your view of the world. Tell us what you’ve been doing, your experiences. Tell us what you think of life.”

No. They give him a scroll, and say, “read it. Read it.” They ask him to give them the Word. They are Jews, after all. They say, “read this to us.” And so he does. And remarkably, like the people of Ezra’s time, they expect that it will be important to them. They wait afterward, like with Ezra, for preaching to come, for explanation, based on that Word. These ancient words are central to what they want from Jesus.

And so it is with you, and your expectations of me. You did not call me to come here and share my views of the world. To philosophize and share my wisdom. When you come here on Sundays, you don’t want me to read my latest essay on the human condition. There are lots of folks who write blogs on the Internet or essays in papers online and in print, people who say what they think about life and the world. Some are good, others not.

But that’s not what you have called me to Mount Olive to do. No, when I first came here, and now even today, you gave me a book. You gave me the Bible. You called me to be your pastor because I am ordained a minister of Word and Sacrament. And you said to me, and still say, “read this Book, this Word to us. Then, help us to know it better.”

We are people of the Book. God’s Book. Nothing bothers us more about preaching than when we hear a sermon where the pastor preaches with no reference to the Scriptures at all. We want to hear these ancient words. And then we want the preacher to help us understand them, like Ezra, like Jesus, because we believe they matter to our very life.

And that’s because, unlike any other words, we believe these words not only bring us life, they lead us to God.

This is very different from other words, new or ancient, and other readings.

Three years ago Mary and I visited Hannah in Nottingham, England, where she was studying for a year. We were able to join her and her other classmates from Luther at a production in the town of Stratford-on-Avon, at the theater of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a production of one of Shakespeare’s comedies. It was wonderful. These skilled actors spoke 500-year-old words and made them alive, they brought life and light to our evening, laughter and tears, joy.

This was a night we’ll remember for a long time. But though we heard these ancient words and found good in them, it was and is a very different thing from how we come before the written Word of God. Literature, essays, plays, movies, drawings, photographs, sculptures, many human creations and art forms inspire and move us. I’ve seen some beautiful art in my life, read some transformative works.

But while they teach us about the human condition, about ourselves, about life, even about good and evil, while they help us grow and become better people, while they challenge us in many ways, there is one thing that we do not claim about them. We do not claim or believe that they are God’s revelation to us which leads us to know definitively what God is doing in the world.

That, however, is what we claim about this book we call the Bible. There isn’t time here to fully consider why Christians, like our sisters and brothers of other faiths, attach such meaning to these particular ancient words. It’s worth a conversation, though, and worth our thought and consideration.

But for today, what we can say is that we continue in a line of believers that stretches back over 3,500 years or more, who have seen and experienced in these words the very voice of God. Who have claimed that the God of the universe speaks to us through these words and leads us to life and salvation, calls to us, challenges us, judges us, loves us.

We stand in the same line as Thomas Cranmer, whose collect from the 1552 Book of Common Prayer is appointed as our Prayer of the Day today, which says that God has given us these Scriptures for our nourishment and life. And so we ask God to help us “hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them.” That we take these words literally to heart, to our guts, to the core of our very being (for as the psalmist says they taste sweeter than honey), so that they might change us and shape us.

And the primary reason we need these words to do that is that it is these words which lead us to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God who saves us. Each of the books of the Bible works together with the others ultimately to show us what the Son of God was and is doing in the world for God’s creation.

There’s an old Communion hymn that didn’t make the cut from the green book to our new worship book, which begins “Here, O my God, I see thee face to face.” That’s why these words are different from any other for us. That’s why we gather week after week to hear them. That’s why we pick up our Bibles for study and daily prayer, something we never do with Shakespeare, beautiful as his writing may be.

Because here, in these words, as we encounter them daily, we see our Lord face to face and find his love for us, his grace, his invitation. These become words by which we live and die, words which change everything for us.

We are a strange people.

We are strange people, we with this book we call God’s Word. And though it may seem strange to the rest of our society, it is the place where we can find our Lord, just as the people of Nazareth saw him, revealed as the anointed One of God who brings healing and life to the world.

But now, of course, the real work begins. Knowing that we agree this is the Triune God’s voice for us, leading us to the Son, now we must read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest together. We will disagree at times about what we are hearing from God. We will not always understand. But such is the power of this written Word of God, this gift the Spirit helps us with, that when we do make mistakes of reading, of understanding, of interpretation, the Word continues to work in and among us and correct us, to bring us back to God’s path. It has done so often in the past, and will continue to do so with the help of the Spirit.

So we do this together, and with sisters and brothers in the Church around the world, and trust that our Lord the Living Word will open our hearts and minds to know what we need to know for life.

So strange as it may seem, this is why we do what we do. Because the God of the universe has spoken to us in these words, and led us to the Son of God who gives life to us and the world. There is nothing more important for us to know, to hear, to take in. It is our blessing to do this. It is our blessing to share this with the world. Thanks be to God for this gift!

In the name of Jesus. Amen

January 25, 2013 By moadmin

Accent on Worship

For “Accent on Worship” this week, I’d like to reprint the reflection from the conference on liturgy’s hymn festival, written by Paul Westermeyer. The hymn festival was about “Images of Creation: the Earthiness of Liturgy.” This reflection was about smoke, and it preceded the hymn “Isaiah in a Vision Did of Old.”
– Cantor David Cherwien

Isaiah had a vision that the whole earth was full of the glory of God. So did Ezekiel. Ezekiel perceived God to be so holy that all you could see was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God [Ezekiel 1:28]. God was protected by glory which was in turn protected by the appearance and the likeness of the glory. For Isaiah God was also protected by glory; and the glory of God was itself so holy that you could only approach it through smoke [Isaiah 6:4].

But in Christ God became flesh. Now we see God’s glory in Christ, full of grace and truth [John 1:14]; and we sing, “Holy, holy, holy” with a new vision. Both Isaiah’s vision and the one in Christ lead us to serve the earth and its creatures. When the smoke settles and the tomb is empty God asks, “Whom shall I send?”
The message God gives us is no picnic because it is full of grace and truth. The holiness of God’s anger has been kindled against a people who have wreaked injustice on the earth. There is no smoke now. God tells Isaiah to say to the people: “Hear, but don’t understand if you won’t. See, but perceive nothing if you won’t” [Isaiah 6:9]. Isaiah asks, “How long, O Lord?” God answers, “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate” [Isaiah 6:11]. It is a message of doom.

Second Isaiah is coming, to be sure, with a word of comfort, valleys lifted up, hills made low, and the glory of God to be revealed. But God still comes with justice, and the nations are as a drop from a bucket [Isaiah 40:15]. The glory of God is revealed in Christ, to be sure, but in Christ the justice we are called to do on the earth is, if anything, even more heightened.

We continually need to get two things straight. First, the holiness of God is holy indeed, and we are right to point to it through smoke since even when we see it in Christ it is veiled in flesh beyond our understanding. Second, the holiness of God has implications for how we are to treat the earth which is charged with the grandeur of God. We usually get it backwards. We mistakenly think that by removing the smoke and tinkering with our worship we by our works can make God clear. Then, we think that is all we need to do, when in fact it is not only impossible and wrong; it is yet another clever way to avoid our calling to serve and care for the earth and all its creatures.

“Holy, holy, holy,” says the Sanctus. The beams shake, the house is filled with smoke, and God says, “Go.”
– The Rev. Dr. Paul Westermeyer

Sunday Readings

January 27, 2013 – 3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 + Psalm 19
I Corinthians 12:12-31a + Luke 4:14-21

January 20, 2013 – 4th Sunday after Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10 + Psalm 71:1-6
I Corinthians 13:1-13 + Luke 4:21-30

Upcoming Adult Forums

Sunday, January 27 – A presentation by the Minnesota Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH).
Sunday, February 3 – Bread for the World Offering of Letters, facilitated by Donna Neste.

The Presentation of Our Lord
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Holy Eucharist at 7:00 pm

From the Mount Olive Foundation

The Mount Olive Lutheran Church Foundation is excited to be able to fund an annual gift to the Church from the earnings of its endowment in the amount of approximately $26,000. The value of the endowment is now approximately $800,000, thanks to generous donors and those who have included the Foundation in their estate plans. The use of the endowment gift is restricted to activities that directly benefit Mount Olive, therefore no outside programs are eligible for the annual gift. The Foundation in the past has preferred gifts that are capital items or special programs not able to be funded out of the budget or through other Church funds. Please submit any ideas that you have to a Vestry member under whom the program or gift would fall. The Foundation has asked that the following questions be addressed: 1. Amount of funds requested. 2. How will the funds be used? 3. How will this request benefit the mission of Mount Olive? 4. If there is not enough money to fully finance this request, would less money be useful?

Prayer Shawl Ministry News

The members of the Prayer Shawl Ministry will meet following the second liturgy this Sunday, January 27. They will meet downstairs in the Undercroft. The purpose of this meeting is to further define and plan our ministry to the people of Mount Olive. Feel free to join the group, and bring your knitting/crocheting if you like. Please contact Peggy Hoeft with any questions about this group: 952-835-7132, or by email to peggyrf70@gmail.com.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Tuesday, February 12, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
All are invited!

Taste of Ethiopia, February 10

Mark your calendars for “Taste of Ethiopia,” on Sunday, February 10. The preacher and education hour leader will be The Reverend Dinku Bato, a Ph.D. student at Luther Seminary in Congregational Mission and Leadership, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Between 1998-2009 Pastor Bato was the national coordinator of the Mekane Yesus University Student Ministry (EECMY-USM) in Adddis Ababa. He will be joined at Mount Olive by his wife Mergitu and three sons: Amen (13), Ketim (9), and Melala (8). At the education hour, he will talk about the history and current context of Christianity in Ethiopia and Lutherans in particular. After the second liturgy, please join us for a lunch of Ethiopian food, prepared by members of Mount Olive. The annual “Taste of” event, which highlights the culture, foods, and history of various areas of our global community, is a long tradition at Mount Olive.

The Missions Committee is in need of volunteers who would be willing to cook a dish at home and bring to church on Sunday, February 10. The Missions Committee has the recipes. This is a wonderful chance to contribute to the event and to learn a new cuisine. We are also in need of volunteers to help prepare decorations for the event on Saturday, February 9. If you are interested in preparing one recipe at home and bringing it to church or in helping with decoration or set-up, please contact Paul Schadewald at pschadew@yahoo.com or 612-237-8517.

Book Discussion Group

The Book Discussion Group will NOT meet in February because several members will be traveling at the usual meeting time. For the March 9 meeting we will discuss Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie. For the April 13 meeting we will discuss In the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah Dunant. Looking ahead, in May we will discuss Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. This is the sequel to her novel The Sparrow which we read earlier.

A New Opportunity to Serve

Noticing that many of the guests linger after the Community Meal, the Neighborhood Ministries Committee took a survey to determine whether there was interest in staying for a social hour after the meal. There was enough favorable response so that we are considering providing a social time. However, the volunteers serving the Community Meal are obviously otherwise occupied. This is where you come in. It is our hope that a Mount Olive group or individual would like to take on this service. There is interest among the guests particularly in playing board games, and doing craft activities. The social hour could be kicked off, for instance, with a game of Bingo. A social time such as this could help fill a need for people who are often isolated and seeking to form relationships.

This service would require only a couple of hours on the Saturday that the community meal is served. If you or your committee or other group might be interested in carrying out this activity, please contact Carol Austermann (722-5123) or Eunice Hafemeister (721-6790) or speak to any member of the Neighborhood Ministries Committee.

Haug Family Ending Mission Work in Slovakia

The ELCA just contacted the Missions Committee to let us know that the Haug family has ended its mission to Slovakia/Eastern Europe. Pr. Arden Haug has taken the position of pastor at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church here in Minneapolis. We pray that their transition goes well.

Upon the recommendation of the Missions Committee, Mount Olive had allocated $2,000 in the 2013 budget to support the Haug family, as part of the 4% congregational support to missions. The ending of this particular mission offers new possibilities. The Missions Committee will take time to examine how these funds should be used in 2013 and into the future. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact Paul Schadewald, Missions Committee Director, at pschadew@yahoo.com.

Nave Seating

You will notice some ‘rearranged’ seating in the nave this Sunday. One of the pews near the front (pulpit side) has been exchanged for a shorter one from one of the upper galleries to provide additional wheelchair accessibility. This mirrors the open space already available on the lectern side. Please leave these spaces available for those who need them, including the section of pew directly next to them for companions. Thanks to the Vestry, the Property Committee and the Thursday C.P.R. team (Art and George) for making this possible, that Mount Olive might continue to be a place of welcome for all.

Reconciling in Christ Festival Worship

The Reconciling in Christ Program of ReconcilingWorks Twin Cities welcomes all people to join in their eighth annual Metro Area Festival Worship on Saturday, January 26, 2013, 4:30 p.m., at First Lutheran Church (463 Maria Avenue, Saint Paul). The service of Word and Sacrament celebrates the welcoming ministries of Metro area Lutheran churches. Rev. Anita Hill will preach.

The RIC program rosters Lutheran congregations that welcome and affirm LGBT persons in their full sacred worth. Both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Synods are RIC Synods and together include dozens of RIC worship communities. A light supper will follow the service. All are welcome!

Vestry Meeting Updates
Submitted by Lisa Nordeen, Vestry Vice President

From the December, 2012 meeting

The December 10, 2012 meeting of the Vestry centered primarily around end of the year wrap-ups for many of the different areas represented on the board. First on the agenda was a discussion about restricted accounts and their general oversight and viability. Kat Campbell-Johnson presented an overview of all of the accounts and their standing as a starting point for a review of the accounts.

As we look forward to 2013, the Stewardship committee would like to remind the congregation to turn in their pledges for the upcoming year. Pledge cards can be placed in the collection plate at Sunday services.
William’s recovery has been progressing and we would like to thank all of you who have stepped in to help with the upkeep of the church during these past few weeks. The Properties committee also welcomes everyone to participate in the winter clean up which will take place in January after Epiphany. Watch for details in the Olive Branch.

The past month has been an extremely busy one at Mount Olive. Pastor Crippen and Cantor Cherwien have been busy with several funerals as well as preparing for Advent and Christmas. Congregational Life has worked the funerals and also served a well hosted an Advent luncheon for senior members of the congregation and a luncheon for synod pastors.

The Tithe Task Force will present their recommendations to the congregation after the second service on Sunday, December 16. All are asked to attend to approve the suggestions.
Missions will once again be hosting a “Taste of…” meal on February 10, 2013. This year Ethiopia will be the focus and that Sunday will include preaching from an Ethiopian pastor and delicious foods to be sampled after the service. Look for details in a future Olive Branch.

From the January, 2013 meeting

The first Vestry meeting of the new year was held on January 14 and was a positive one on many fronts. As we look forward to the coming year there are several items to note. Mount Olive is a generous congregation and many organizations have offered thanks for gifts they have received from us. Thank you letters have been received from the Capital Campaign Tithe grant recipients and those letters, along with more information about the organizations, will be posted in the near future. In addition, December giving was very strong and allowed us to pay off several commitments and end 2012 with a slight positive balance, and with an overall increase in member giving of 12% over 2011.

A number of people will be working to promote sustainability and green living. Also, Judy Hinck has been appointed as a new member of the Missions committee.

In the coming weeks look in The Olive Branch for a request for ideas that can use funding from the Mount Olive Foundation. Last year’s application process was a great success and Vestry Directors will gather ideas to bring to the Foundation.

Pastor Crippen and Cantor Cherwien both wrapped up a busy Advent and Christmas season. As they shared in their reports, when you add it up the numbers can be surprising. For example, Cantor Cherwien presented 90 hymns throughout the season and Pastor preached six sermons in 11 days during the Christmas season.

In the next few weeks look in The Olive Branch for details of some of these upcoming mission events. On February 10, the Missions Committee will host Taste of Ethiopia. Reverend Dinku Bato will be preaching that day and will also be a part of the adult forum. An Ethiopian meal will be served after second service. The following week, Lisa Ruff will lead an Adult Forum on their family’s work with Common Hope. She will be joined by representatives of Common Hope who wish to thank the people of Mount Olive for the gift they received from our Capital Campaign tithe.

The Stewardship Committee has noted pledges for $409,115 this year, which is about $3,000 less than last year. Approximately 1/3 of the congregation has submitted pledges to date. If you want to submit your pledge there is still time to do so.

https://www.mountolivechurch.org/2013/01/25/1372/