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Mount Olive Lutheran Church

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

This Week's Liturgies

Sunday, May 1, 2011: Second Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist, 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.

The Olive Branch, April 26, 2011

Accent on Worship

Bishop Hanson’s 2011 Easter Message

"So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. “
- Matthew 28:8

Mary Magdalene and Mary walked to Jesus’ grave, expecting to find death. It’s understandable. Images of violence filled their minds. Thoughts of their vulnerability and mortality deadened their spirits. Death had become the defining story of their lives.

Instead of death, the women met a resurrection messenger who said, “He is not here: for he has been raised, as he said.” As they hurried to tell others, the risen Jesus met them. They were changed. Now resurrection, not death, would define their lives.

Jesus lives! Now resurrection, not death, defines our lives. Jesus continues to meet you in resurrection messengers, just as Jesus met me in Pastor Josephus Livenson Lauvanus, president of the Lutheran Church of Haiti. As we walked through the ruins and rubble that lie in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake, Pastor Livenson Lauvanus proclaimed, “We will not be defined by rubble, but by restoration, for we are a people of the resurrection.”

Baptized into Jesus’ death and raised to newness of life we, too, are people of the resurrection. We, too, are resurrection messengers. We, too, are about God’s work of restoration.

The world aches to hear the message we have to tell. Sing with joy! Jesus lives! We are a people of the resurrection.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America


Sunday Readings

May 1, 2011 – Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 22-23 + Psalm 16
I Peter 1:3-9 + John 20:19-31

May 8, 2011 – Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 36-41 + Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
I Peter 1:17-23 + Luke 24:13-35


Join Us In the May Day Parade This Sunday!

Hey everyone, it's time to put on your walking shoes and march with Mount Olive members and friends in the May Day Parade, on Sunday May 1! It has been our tradition to let folks know that we are in the neighborhood by marching behind the Mount Olive banner. Meet after the second liturgy at Cedar Park on 18th Ave. and 25th Street. MONAC members will be there to greet you with fun stuff to wave. We will walk from there down Bloomington Ave. to Powderhorn Park.

If you have never done this and want to participate this year, you are in for a treat. It is energizing and fun to have thousands of people wave back at you and wish you a happy May Day! It might be a good idea to carpool or have someone drop you off at the park, because parking is limited there.


Book Discussion Group

For its meeting on May 14, the Book Discussion Group will red the essay collection Small Wonder, by Barbara Kingsolver. For the June 11 meeting, Nine Stories, by J. D. Salinger.


First Sunday Ingathering

This Sunday, May 2, is our first-Sunday-of-the-month ingathering of non-perishable food items to be donated to area food shelves. Please pick up a few extra groceries to share and bring your donations to the coat room and place them in the grocery cart.

Also needed are donations of “travel-sized” toiletries (toothpaste, shampoo, bar soap, lotion, etc.). These personal items will be shared with local homeless people, who necessarily “travel light.”)


Thanks

Many thanks to all whose efforts contributed to a beautiful and meaningful Lenten season and joyful celebration of Easter:

  • To those who made and served our Lenten Soup Luncheons and Suppers: Gail Nielsen, Margaret Bostelmann, Carla Manuel, Andrew Anderson, Jean Glabe, Art & Elaine Halbardier, Lora & Allen Dundek, Allan Bostelmann, Kay Krohnfeldt, and Cheryl Holmgren.
  • To Kate Sterner, for her diligent work with the scheduling of worship participants for Sundays and all of the extra services of the season.
  • To Susan Cherwien for assembling the “Journey Into Lent” devotional booklet;
  • To the drivers who provided transportation for others to Maundy Thursday worship: Al & Margaret Bostelmann, Joe & Liz Beissel, Stan & Jo Sorenson, and Warren Peterson & Gary Nack (and to those who volunteered but were not needed to provide rides);
  • To the Mount Olive Cantorei;
  • To Donna Neste and the Jobs After School kids who assembled worship folders during Holy Week;
  • To those whose contributions purchased palms and flowers for the Paschal Garden: Marcella Daehn; Gail Nielsen; Melba Smrcka; Evelyn Royce; Leanna Kloempken; Geri & John Bjork; Mabel Jackson; Helen Bender; Beth Hering; Rosalie Griesse, Rob & Lynn Ruff & family; Jim & Marlene Sorenson; Annette Roth & John Clawson; Catherine Lange; Rod & Connie Olson; Pastor Joseph & Mary Crippen; Elizabeth & Joe Beissel; Eric Zander & Dennis Bidwell; David Bryce; Steve & Julie Manuel; the Hennig family; Leila Froehlich; Lillian Olson; Al & Margaret Bostelmann; Michael Edwins, in memory of loved ones; Louis & Kay Krohnfeldt; Don Johnson; Mark & Linda Pipkorn; Al Bipes; Paul R. & V. Darlene Engwall; Walter & Judy Hinck; Steve & Dixie Berg; Beverly Shupe; Kate Sterner; Thomas Fenner; Tim Sneer; Ann Bruggeman; Lora & Allen Dundek; Wally & Lydia Iverson; George & Marlys Oelfke; Carol Austermann; and Dan & Julia Adams.

Bach Tage - For You

In just six weeks, June 4 and 5, Mount Olive will host our Fifth Annual Bach Tage.

That weekend, we will again welcome guests, both professional church musicians and ordinary music lovers, from the local area and far away. Over the past four years, members of Mount Olive have also participated in Bach Tage, and again this year you are invited. Mount Olive members are entitled to a special discounted rate of $50.

Kathy Saltzman Romey will again be conducting the Bach Tage singers and orchestra. Kathy Romey is well known locally as faculty member at University of Minnesota and conductor of the Minnesota Chorale, but she is an internationally recognized conductor as well, especially for her work with the Oregon Bach Festival and her many collaborations with Bach specialist, Helmuth Rilling.

Bach’s cantata 106, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit also known as Actus Tragicus, plus one of his motets will be on the program for this year. Musicologist Alfred Dürr wrote, “The Actus Tragicus belongs to the great musical literature of the world.”

Participants will study and rehearse on Saturday and Sunday, and then perform the music with orchestra and soloists during a service of Evening Prayer on Sunday, June 5. Scores will be available to all who register in advance to allow time for preparation.

Bach Tage brochures with more information, the schedule for the days, and a registration form are available around the building. Invite friends you think may enjoy this experience to share it with you. Be sure to register soon to allow yourself time to learn the music before Bach Tage.

Of course the Evening Prayer on June 5, and the all-Bach recital on Saturday, June 4, presented by Cantor David Cherwien are public events, and all are welcome.

Consider being part of this memorable event at Mount Olive, June 4 and 5.


New Members to Be Received This Sunday

We are pleased to welcome a number of people into membership this Sunday, May 1, at the second liturgy. Come to meet and greet them at the second coffee!

Sermon from April 24, 2011 + The Resurrection of our Lord

“Found by the Answer”

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: John 20:1-18

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

Questions and more questions. There seem to be a lot of questions in our Gospel today.

Twice Mary is asked “Why are you weeping?” Jesus also asks Mary, “Whom are you looking for?” And Mary asks, “Where have you laid him?” Questions.

We are full of questions, too. Perhaps even the same questions. Why are you weeping? (That is, what is your pain, for yourself, for others, for the world?) Whom are you looking for? (Where is Jesus in all this, after all?) Which leads to: where have they laid him? (What do we really think about this day, this resurrection?)

In fact, if we really are honest with ourselves, even on this Easter morning, we very much need to answer these questions. The only questions that really matter for us in the end.

Why are you weeping?

Mary Magdalene was weeping because she had lost her Lord. If we had been with her that weekend, we would not have needed to ask the question. Her Lord, friend and Master died a terrible death. Jesus was dead. There was no more hope.

Now she’s come and found an empty tomb. Could grave robbers have moved so quickly? Why hadn’t the soldiers prevented it? Nothing could be worse than his death – except this.

And we, we weep for the same reason. We have lost our Lord. Or maybe we’ve gotten ourselves lost. We do not know where he is.

We weep because our lives are so busy and so complicated, and we still don’t seem completely happy. Or even partly happy sometimes.

We weep because we can’t control the really important things in life, the things that really matter, life and death things.

We weep because we are filled with anxiety, and the worries and cares of this life sometimes seem as if they will overwhelm us.

We weep because we remember loved ones who are not here with us this Easter because they have died.

We weep because some of our loved ones are ill, and we’re afraid for them, and for us.

We weep because we want to know the answers to life, but we don’t. We don’t know how to live, we don’t know to love, we don’t know how to change.

We weep because we run after all sorts of things in our search for meaning and importance, but they never satisfy us where we need it.

We weep because this world is full of death and we know that we can’t avoid that.

We weep because we’re looking for our Lord Jesus to be alive in our lives, and we can’t find him most times, most days.

We don’t understand. And we don’t see him. Like Peter and John at first. They come and see the empty tomb, and believe what Mary says, that it’s empty. But the Evangelist says they still don’t understand he is risen.

We just don’t get it, either. Jesus’ resurrection is too often a fact for us, but it’s a past fact, a history. And we don’t know where he is now. We don’t know, because we don’t yet understand what it means for Jesus to be risen for us.

But go back to the story: it turns out the answer is not about what you know, or even who you know, but who knows you.

As we hear the story, we know that Jesus is speaking to Mary. But she doesn’t. She’s looking directly at him, and can’t see him for her tears. She who thought she knew him so well, couldn’t see him in front of her.

And the interesting point is not why. Because others weren’t sure they were seeing him at first – I mean, when someone whom you know to be dead suddenly stands before you, and not as a ghost but a real flesh-and-blood person, it takes your mind a bit to get used to it.

No, the interesting point is when. When does she understand? When does she know who he is? When he calls her by name. “Mary,” he says. Then, then she says, “Teacher!” Now she knows. Now she understands. Now she sees him.

Because life is not about what you know, or even who you know, but who knows you.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C. S. Lewis, Eustace asks Edmund if he knows Aslan. Aslan is the Christ-figure in these books, and Edmund knows him, has met him, talked with him, been with him often. But Edmund hesitates with his answer, because Aslan is Christ in these stories, and how do you easily answer that question, do you know him?

But finally he says, “Well, he knows me.” And that is our first and greatest answer this morning.

We weep because many times we do not know where Jesus is in our lives. But he knows us, who we are, and where we are. And that is all that matters.

Jesus asks, “Whom are you looking for?” We think we’ve come here to find out if Jesus is really
alive in the world for us. And instead, we learn that he has already come looking for us.

In our baptism, he called us by name, and still knows it. Still calls to you. To me. By name. You may not always know him, but he knows you. And that’s more than enough for us.

We hear him calling to us from the Word. We come here to hear it read and preached; we read it at home, too. In God’s Word, our Lord calls us by name, and we suddenly begin to recognize him in front of us. We see him in our lives. He’s been with us all the time. Now that we’ve heard his call, we begin to sense his presence.

And we hear him call to us this morning from his Supper table. When we come to the table, at his invitation, we receive his real presence right now. We are filled with his Body and Blood right now. He has called us and blessed us and forgiven us and filled us up each time we have shared this Meal, and now he calls to us again. By name. And we see him. In the bread and the wine we see him. And we begin to understand.

And we hear him call to us by name this morning with those whom he has made to be his Body. These believers whom you greeted as you came, who share the Meal and hear the Word next to you; he is calling to you from them. And we are here together in Christ, he has put us together so that we all can be our Lord’s strength to each other. Our Lord’s voice to each other. Our Lord’s love to each other.

And when he calls to you and me by name this morning, like Mary we see and begin to understand.

We see that he is the Answer who has found us in our many questions.

He has come to calm our hearts and tell us that there is nothing that can harm us, nothing we need fear, nothing that can overwhelm us, for we are standing firm in the Lord’s love, with peace in our hearts, because he is risen.

He has come to re-center us on what is important in life, giving us meaning and purpose, so we’re not running after emptiness, but finding there is life for us in the Lord, because he is risen.

He has come to comfort our fears by assuring us that all who suffer are in the Lord’s hands, no matter what, for he is alive, always with us, and evil has no more power, because he is risen.

He has come to ease our pain of loss by promising that all who die in the Lord will live again, and death has no more power, because he is risen.

When the One who knows us by name comes to us, then we understand that he is risen and alive for us even today. And he comes to satisfy us deep down, where we need it most, because he in his Word, and Meal, and presence, can give us what we truly need: life lived abundantly in him now, and when we are raised from death with him.

Here is our Easter joy: instead of having us find answers, God comes to us in Jesus and is our Answer.

And our joy is complete, even in a world which still raises more questions than it answers.

And now that we have seen him today, we can do the same as Mary. She ran from this encounter in joy, saying “I have seen the Lord!” Now Mary would say to us, “Go and tell others how you know him in this life, how our Lord is real to you. How you have seen him. How he speaks to you, and fills you up, and surrounds you with his strength and promise. Now you are the apostle. You are the messenger,” she says. “Go and tell. It is too good to keep to yourselves. Tell the world this love is for them, too.”

My dear friends, whom are you looking for? Never mind – he found you already. He is calling you by name, and is risen from the dead. And that’s all the answer we need, ever.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

Sermon from April 21, 2011 + Maundy Thursday, (A)

“Love Unafraid”

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

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

Why are we so reluctant to believe that Jesus meant what he said tonight? Our response to Jesus in our lives of faith, and our life as the Church, seems to indicate we have serious reservations about his final command to us. After all, the command of Jesus this night, the command, mandate, which gives the day its name “Maundy Thursday,” the command simply to love as he loved, is the central ethic of the New Testament. It’s the shape and direction of the new life in Christ the Church proclaims throughout the New Testament.

And yet the Church too often acts as if it’s reluctant to love. As if it’s afraid to love. And not just “the Church,” as if only collectively is the body of Christ at fault. We ourselves too often show the same reluctance, the same fear in our lives. We love to fight. We love to be right. We love to be self-righteous, to feel good about ourselves. We often love trying to control others and their thinking and their actions. We love to judge others – or if we don’t, then it’s hard to explain why we do it so often. We act in self-interested ways all the time, and far too often to the detriment of others.

It seems unavoidable for us to conclude that we don’t want to love. Or we’re afraid to love. And here are what I think are the reasons why.

First, it seems too simple.

Jesus couldn’t be clearer: “By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is the sign of discipleship Jesus has given. The only one.

And Jesus says other things, like, the whole law and prophets is summed up in complete love of God and sacrificial love of neighbor. And Paul says to owe no one anything but to love them, that all God’s law is fulfilled in that way. Again and again in Scripture this love is said to be the sign of the kingdom of God, the sign of God’s presence, the fulfilling of God’s will.

Yet we persist in thinking, “it can’t be that simple.” We’re people who are suspicious of faith that seems too easy, of answers that aren’t complex. “Real life is more complicated,” we say. “He can’t have meant it to be that simple an answer.”

What we likely are sensing, however, what’s leading to our attitude, is that it may be simple, but it isn’t at all easy. So to avoid dealing with how hard it would be to live Jesus’ love we point to fake loves and say, “see – that’s not what Jesus really needs.”

We’ll point to people – even Christians – who talk about love as if it’s just some wishy-washy way of living. I’m OK, you’re OK, no harm, no foul. Everybody’s always happy all the time. Love that risks nothing because it means nothing. It’s just something to put on a bumper sticker.

Or we’ll point to people – especially Christians – who talk about love and then act in hateful ways in the name of love. Sort of the “this will hurt me more than it hurts you” kind of hypocrisy and deceit. Love that acts like hate is easy to condemn.

Of course, these fake loves have nothing to do with what Jesus is talking about. We’re putting them up because they’re easily knocked down, and we can go on with our lives unaffected. If we can mock them, or challenge their hypocrisy, we then avoid facing the simple, clear, and difficult command of Jesus.

Because it turns out we’re reluctant to love, we’re even afraid of love, because it’s so hard. Human love is notoriously conditional. We love those who give us joy and pleasure, those who love us in return, those who are good to us. Anything else, we hesitate.

To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, even when we don’t understand God – that’s hard. Even when we disagree with God’s apparent inaction – that’s hard. Even when we can’t hear God or we wonder where God is – that’s hard.

To love the other, the neighbor, the friend, the spouse, the enemy, even when they are unlovable – that’s hard. Even when they hate us, or mistreat us. Or threaten us. That’s hard. When they are too close to us, or on the other side of the world where we don’t have to see them or think about them – that’s hard.

So we pretend that Jesus isn’t as clear as he seems, that the New Testament doesn’t really mean this.

But a second reason for our reluctance and fear is that to love as Jesus loved means being vulnerable.

Vulnerable literally means “able to be wounded.” And we fear that as much as anything. If you’re vulnerable to another, they can hurt you. And Jesus says we’re to remain open to that hurt?

As long as people treat us well, that’s not a problem. But Jesus seems to expect they won’t – he even said that the greatest love we could have is to die for another. Who wants to do that?

And even if we do allow ourselves to be vulnerable, once we’re wounded, we’re less inclined to be vulnerable to that person – or any person – again. Vulnerability, once betrayed, is really hard to bring back.

And if two people – in a marriage, in a friendship, in a family – fear trusting the other, fear being vulnerable, they will never grow in love together. Someone needs to take the first step of vulnerability and risk being hurt for love to grow and live. And the same is true for any human relationship.

But we not only fear being vulnerable. We despise it. We’ve bought into our culture that says it’s a sign of weakness, and we hate being seen as weak. So we won’t risk being wrong, or offering love to someone who doesn’t want it, or someone who doesn’t deserve it. We won’t risk being open to the other and open to being wounded because we don’t want others to see us as weak.

Someone once said that nothing distorts the human heart like fear. In our self-protection, we miss the center of Jesus’ call and at the same time we damage our hearts. In our hatred of being seen as weak, and our fear of being hurt, we miss the depth of love that only living like Jesus can show us.

But tonight all we have is the Son of God living this love and calling us to follow.

Jesus came to the world, God-with-us, to bring God’s love concretely to us. And he came to love us even if we killed him. What other option did he have? Come here and beat us into being loving people? Use divine power to force us to love? Kill anyone who didn’t follow?

Put yourself into Jesus’ mind and heart tonight. Knowing that love was the only way to bring us back to God and make us what we were meant to be, what other way could he think of than to live this love to the death?

Jesus came to show us the true nature of God’s love. That love is not something that uses power or tries to control. It’s something that transforms in serving, in giving of itself. How else could he do this but by offering himself to us?

It’s simple, as simple and clear as can be. And it’s vulnerable – Jesus was willing to die to show this to us.

Think of the wonder of it all: God’s solution to the problem that all of us were and are at war with God and each other, going our own way, rejecting God’s way of life and love, was to lose the war. To come and show us that the true power of love is that it absorbs hatred and violence and returns only love.

And when humanity did its worst to the Son of God – killed him – what we will discover later this week is that he came back to life. That love can’t even be defeated by the worst hate can do.

Paul understood this, and died for it. So did many of the disciples. Mary Magdalene understood this and lived it. So have countless disciples over two thousand years, our witnesses, those who taught us the faith.

This is the gift of washing that we have this night, if only we understand. This is the gift of the meal of his body and blood that we have this night, if only we understand. That Jesus’ love is enough even to absorb all we have done and return love to us. And to truly wash and feed us in that love, changing us from within as we discover that there is no bottom to the depths of God’s love and its power to transform us.

If even death cannot stop this love, then this could save the world. That’s God’s plan.

And that, finally, is our only hope.

In the first letter of Peter the author writes that there is no fear in love, but that perfect love casts out all fear. We’ve seen that perfect love. It’s in the face of our Lord at our feet, washing them. In the face of our Lord on a cross, dying for his love of us, feeding us with his life in this meal. It’s in the face of the risen Jesus, still loving us after our betrayal and rejection.

It’s in the love that God has for you and me that absorbs all our brokenness and sin and radiates grace and love back to us. This perfect love can and will end our fear of love and our reluctance to love.

As we now wash each other’s feet at his command, and eat and drink of his meal of grace, may our Lord Jesus fill us with the strength and courage we need to begin to take seriously his command to love, that others will know we are his disciples, and even more importantly, will come to know God’s astonishing love themselves.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Olive Branch, 4/19/11

Accent on Worship

The Resurrection of Our Lord

“Do not hold on to me,” Jesus said to Mary Magdalene in the garden after his Resurrection. Those words just popped out at me when I read John’s Gospel. There is more than one level to that request. Jesus knew he would shortly be returning to his Father. He had forty days to prepare his closest followers. He had to forgive and heal those who abandoned and denied him. He had to instruct them on what his life, death and resurrection meant to the world, and he had to say good-bye, knowing that soon his Spirit would return to them and the world would never be the same.

The Resurrection is God’s “yes” to Jesus and the world. It is the Father’s vindication of Jesus, all that he is and all that he taught. It is our salvation, but it is much more than that. The Resurrection is cause to embrace our own life, death and resurrection, because it has shown us that through the love of God death has been defeated. Like Mary, we must not linger in the garden holding on to Jesus, but go forth into the world armed with his wisdom, guided by the Spirit and the power of the Resurrection. To draw on the power of the Resurrection is to give us the courage to live as Jesus lived, compassionate and healing those hurting and in pain, helping those defeated by life, reassuring the burdened of God’s love and forgiveness, challenging the domination systems that twist the law to benefit only those who hold the power and wealth. To draw on the power of Jesus’ Resurrection is to walk humbly with our God giving our life to God, as Jesus did, in prayer and service.

Jesus did not hold on to his Godhood but went forth into the world and said “yes” to the Father the whole time he was with us. Like Mary, we must not hold on to Jesus in the garden, but rather embrace our life in Jesus and bring it to the world in a resounding, “yes!” For this is the power of the Resurrection in us and through us. It is God’s “yes” to us and the world.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

- Donna Pususta Neste


Sunday Readings

April 24, 2011 – Resurrection of Our Lord
Acts 10:34-43 + Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Colossians 3:1-4 + Matthew 28:1-10

May 1, 2011 – Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 22-23 + Psalm 16
I Peter 1:3-9 + John 20:19-31


Carry-In Easter Brunch This Sunday, Easter Day
9:00 am in the Undercroft
Sponsored by the Mount Olive Youth
Bring a favorite brunch dish to share!


Join Us In the May Day Parade

Hey everyone, it's time to put on your walking shoes and march with Mount Olive members and friends in the May Day Parade, on Sunday May 1! It has been our tradition to let folks know that we are in the neighborhood by marching behind the Mount Olive banner. Meet after the second liturgy at Cedar Park on 18th Ave. and 25th Street. MONAC members will be there to greet you with fun stuff to wave. We will walk from there down Bloomington Ave. to Powderhorn Park.

If you have never done this and want to participate this year, you are in for a treat. It is energizing and fun to have thousands of people wave back at you and wish you a happy May Day! It might be a good idea to carpool or have someone drop you off at the park, because parking is limited there.


Book Discussion Group

For its meeting on May 14, the Book Discussion Group will red the essay collection Small Wonder, by Barbara Kingsolver. For the June 11 meeting, Nine Stories, by J. D. Salinger.


Wish List Update

There has been little activity on the Mount Olive Wish List in recent weeks. Remember to either view it here online in the Olive Branch, or in the church office next to the Altar Flower and Coffee Hour sign-up sheets. Currently, there are several furniture items, and several Godly Play items listed which need to be donated. Please do consider donating one of these items to enhance our newly renovated spaces, or to help the Sunday Church School program to advance their available curriculum. All you need to do is sign your name and telephone number, and you will be contacted regarding total pricing, as delivery fees may apply. You may write your donation checks to Mount Olive and insert them in an envelope with an indication on it regarding what you're donating.

Currently, we are most in need of at least 17 of those comfortable upholstered stack chairs that you see in the East Assembly Room. We would like to move the folding chairs back to the Undercroft. As the new library space will be finished by early June, we'd also like to get a new library table in that space. We are also hoping to get combination storage/shelf units to be used in each of the new restroom vestibules.

On a separate note, members of the Vestry, Building Committee and ad hoc decorating committee met to discuss what items are needed to complete the renovation of the new spaces. It seems that the reception desk that was generously donated is not being used as planned in the West Reception Area. I will be working on moving some furnishings and placing the new coffee tables sometime this week. We will toy with different placement of the reception desk to see what works best. This desk is designed to be used by those who are selling or soliciting donations for tickets, plants, gifts, MFA events, etc. A stool will be donated soon by President Adam Krueger to be used by the person sitting behind the desk doing the selling. Having the desk placed prominently, visibly and permanently in the area will render it more usable. There will be no need to set up card tables anymore to perform the above sales and solicitations. It was also agreed that certain of the new and refurbished chairs will be switched around for better aesthetics. You'll notice that several items have been reupholstered, thanks to talented Carol Austermann, however, we are still in need of a few more donations before calling the project complete. Please consider perusing the Wish List again and help us finish up this project!!

Remember, any group can place items on the Wish List for anything that would fall over and above their annual budget. Please contact me to do so!

Respectfully,
Brian Jacobs--Wish List Coordinator/Vice President of Vestry


Highlights from the April Vestry Meeting

The Vestry met on April 11, 2011. First order of business was to continue discussion of the Visioning Process. Pastor Crippen asked for a few more volunteers from the Vestry who would work with him to help prepare a process for the Vestry to consider, and then to bring to the congregation. This is directly related to the desire of the congregation set forth during the call process to begin to discern together what God’s vision is for the future of Mount Olive.

Kathy Thurston was approved by the Vestry to take over the open seat on the Columbarium Committee, upon the expiration of John Bjork’s term.

A list of nominees for the Staff Support Committee will be assembled soon, from which the Vestry will appoint a committee in coming months.

The Neighborhood Ministries and Missions Committees will be conversing about how to earmark projects for the remaining $80,000+ tithe as a result of the Capital Campaign. Dispersal criteria and solicitation of grant proposals will be discussed.

The gifting list recommended by the Mount Olive Foundation was approved by the Vestry. The following is the disbursement of gifts this year:
• Capital Campaign: $5,000
• Sanctuary Sound System: $6,000
• Bach Tage: $1,000
• Manz Tage: $2,000
• Adult Forum: $2,000
• Neighborhood Ministries: $3,658.43

Staff Reports and Director Reports were given. Most notably, Diana Hellerman reported that both the Adult Forum and Godly Play have seen dramatic increases in attendance, speaking well of the curriculum. Andrew reported that there is a new members’ luncheon on Sunday the 17th for those interested in becoming members. New members will be received on May 1. Andrew continues to clean up the Mount Olive roster.

Paul Schadewald reported that the next “Taste of....” event will be held in the fall. Paul submitted his committee’s timeline for the year and he indicated that the committee is trying to better define the boundaries of missions served by his committee and the Neighborhood Ministry Committee. The Vestry discussed the changing view of the word “global” and, after reviewing the bylaws, indicated that Neighborhood Ministries is given the charge to focus on the immediate neighborhood within which Mount Olive sits. The Missions Committee is focused on every other mission which lies outside of South Minneapolis and the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Eunice and Carol reported that the Neighborhood Ministries Committee will host a fundraiser for supplying the newly renovated kitchen on June 12. They also want us to know that Mount Olive is registered for the annual May Day parade and celebration in the Powderhorn Park area. Their committee voted to grant their remaining tithe in full to Community Emergency Services. They are also considering expanding the Community Meal concept from 1 monthly luncheon to 1 luncheon and 1 breakfast. They are in talks with All God’s Children Church to consider jointly hosting the breakfast. David Molvik reported that repairs were made on the south side of the sanctuary roof. Their committee has approved the purchase of a rain sensor, so that our sprinkler system will water only when needed. The library is nearing completion and will have a grand reopening in June. Rooms 11 and 12 are currently being remodeled on the lower level. The community rain garden project around the parking lot should be finished this spring. Carla Manuel, Congregational Life, reported that the soup and sandwich lunches and dinners this Lent have been well-received. She’d like to thank all those involved with preparation and cleanup. Adam Krueger reported on behalf of Paul Odlaug that our offering envelopes will be reworded as of July 1, changing “Capital Campaign” to “Bridging the Gap”. Irene Campbell reported that Youth will host the annual carry-in Easter brunch on the 24th. Paul Sundquist submitted his treasurer’s report. The Capital Campaign income has met budget expectations every month. First quarter giving was up notably, but our deficit continues. He indicated that most budget categories have been underspent, however, which is a good indicator that we are able to stay solvent with decent cash flow.

The next Vestry meeting will be held on May 9 at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Brian Jacobs, Vice President


Art Exhibit in Chapel Lounge
Selections from the St. John’s Bible

In 1998, St. John’s Abbey and University commission- ed renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. This display will invite you to explore this work of art which unites an ancient Benedictine tradition with the technology and vision of today, illuminating the Word of God for a new millennium.

This exhibit is sponsored by Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts, and will be open to the public before and after all church services and events in April.


Missions Committee Update

Where is God leading Mount Olive? Over the next months, the Committee will be reconsidering Mount Olive’s mission partnerships. The Missions Committee welcomes and encourages your feedback, comments and prayers.

Our goals are to be good stewards of Mount Olive’s resources; to support missions that are not just about donating money but about building mutually transformative relationships; to ensure that our missions reflect the diversity of interests and ways that people at Mount Olive define mission; and to consider ways that the missions are effective, culturally appropriate, and address needs, while building on assets and strengths.

Our congregation allocates 4% of gifts to Mount Olive toward missions and frequently, members use the blue envelopes to make additional gifts to Mount Olive’s missions. Our area of support is everything that is “beyond” Mount Olive’s immediate neighborhood—at the state, national, and international levels.

In 2011, Mount Olive is supporting four areas of missions as part of its regular giving: (1) Bethania Kids; (2) The ELCA’s Department of Global Missions (the Knutson Family in South Africa and the Haug Family in Slovakia); (3) Sierra Leone’s Kids in Need; and (4) Lutheran World Federation’s medical and housing programs in Jerusalem.

In the past few years, we have also provided support to: Lutheran World Relief, Common Hope’s Education Fund in Latin America; the Global Missions Institute of Luther Seminary, Abraham’s Tent in Beit Jala, Palestine, International Partners in Mission, and a higher education scholarship program for a Lutheran student in El Salvador. We have also discussed other mission possibilities such as Lutheran Volunteer Corps, a sister church relationship in Latin America, and programs in Nigeria.

We consider Bethania Kids and the ELCA’s Department of Global Missions as a strong foundation that will continue into the future. But as we start to plan for 2012 and beyond, we want to consider prayerfully: What other relationships should be part of Mount Olive’s regular mission? Which ones should we strengthen? Which new endeavors should we begin? We imagine that in addition to Bethania and the ELCA’s Department of Global Missions, our congregation can support about 6 other relationships as part of its regular giving for multi-year commitments.

If there are mission relationships that you want the committee to know about or if you want to comment about any of the missions listed above (in addition to Bethania and the ELCA), please e-mail Paul Schadewald at pschadew@yahoo.com or leave a message for him at church. In a world of good organizations, Mount Olive cannot do everything, but we want to prayerfully consider: Where is God leading us?

- Paul Schadewald, Director of Missions

Monday, April 18, 2011

This Week's Liturgies

Holy Week and Easter at Mount Olive

Monday-Wednesday, April 18-20, 2011
Daily Prayer at Noon (in the side chapel of the Nave, near the columbarium)

Thursday, April 21, 2011 – Maundy Thursday
Holy Eucharist with Washing of Feet at 7 pm

Friday, April 22, 2011 – Good Friday
Stations of the Cross at Noon
Adoration of the Cross at 7 pm

Saturday, April 23, 2011 – Holy Saturday
The Easter Vigil at 8:30 pm

Sunday, April 24, 2011 – The Resurrection of Our Lord
Festival Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 am
(Easter carry-in brunch at 9:30 am)

Sermon from April 17, 2011 + The Sunday of the Passion, year A

“Having the Same Mind”

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

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

It would be well for us to consider carefully the conflicting emotions this liturgy embraces. Ever since, in the mid-1970’s, Lutherans in the United States began returning to the historic designation of this day as the Sunday of the Passion, thus combining both the liturgy of the entrance with palms and a focus on a reading of one of the Passion accounts, this has been a day with two strong emotional centers. Joy and sorrow, “hosanna” and “crucify,” celebration and devastation – these are the poles around which we meet God this morning.

Here’s our challenge. Can we see the beauty and wisdom of the Passion instead of idolizing the pomp and glory of the palms? If we do think about this day, there tends to be a wistful sense of regret, a desire that the shouts of “hosanna” didn’t have to transform to shouts of “crucify.” A sense that something goes wrong for Jesus after the triumphal entrance, that the week falls apart for him.

What is clear from the witness of Scripture, including the entirety of Jesus’ ministry and teaching, through the interpretation of Paul and the other early Church leaders, is that in fact, the entrance with palms was the aberration, the thing which Jesus rejected, and the Passion was truly the whole point of Jesus’ incarnation among us. Far from being a regrettable loss, this was the goal all along.

Paul invites us to be of the same mind as Christ Jesus this morning. To see our lives in the world as Jesus saw his. Which means for us not only seeing the Passion as Jesus’ finest hour, as his chief word to us about God’s intention for the world, but also seeing the Passion as our call to live as disciples of this same Jesus, the Son of God.

What the Passion shows us is simply God’s plan for how this world works and how it can be healed.


It is completely counter-intuitive, which is a sign of how broken our human nature has become. God’s message to the world in Jesus is that the only way to healing and restoring of the world is self-giving love, not use of power.

Matthew’s Passion makes this clearer than the others in this little vignette we heard, where Jesus tells the disciples that had he wanted it he could have called upon 72,000 angels to defend him, fight for him. If he had wanted a political takeover, he could have accomplished it after the royal entrance he made into Jerusalem. But this was no new temptation for him: it was what the devil put before him at the outset of his ministry, in the wilderness. Use your divine power to get what you want.

Jesus’ suffering and death are truly God’s triumph, and not just in John’s Gospel where he states that overtly. They are a triumph of love over power, of self-giving over self-centeredness. And in this we find our call.

This is God’s reality: the world is broken, filled with hate and destruction. God’s dream of humanity caring for the earth and each other and living in loving relationship with God is barely a mirage. But if God could have accomplished this dream through use of power, Jesus would have done it.
Jesus is not a victim on the cross because he willingly chooses this direction. And says to us, “go and do likewise.” It is no accident that later this week Jesus will make this crystal clear when on the night of his betrayal he gives one commandment, and only one: love as I have loved you. Serve as I have served you.

What the Church has always known, though most often not lived, is that the way of Christ when lived will transform the world. Jesus’ death and resurrection have ended the power of death over us and begun the healing of the world. Now our self-giving lives and servant love – from the smallest moments of our personal lives to actions on a global scale – will continue to transform the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.

And if we didn’t believe the witness of Jesus and the early Church, the late 20th century should have confirmed it for us. It was a century of unprecedented war for the human race. Power over others was the currency of the day, and millions were slaughtered, with a worse political mess at the end of the century than at the beginning. The way of triumph and power was tested and found incredibly wanting.

In the meantime, almost forgotten now in our lust for more domination over others, there were powerful movements of self-giving love that transformed nation after nation. Poland. East Germany. Eastern Europe. India. South Africa. The United States. And now Egypt. Whole nations were changed, not through revolution. Through nonviolent resistance of evil. Self-giving love.

In all these places, not least the United States, there is much more work to be done. But we see that Jesus understood this truth all along. This is the way to the healing of the world. As did Gandhi. Dr. King. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu. Lech Walesa. And so many more. This world can be healed, with the help of God. Nonviolent resistance to evil wherever it is found transforms it. Love ends it.

So Paul asks us to look at the Passion of our Lord Jesus and see our clear call to do the same.

Have the same mind in you as was in Christ Jesus.

Who did not see equality with God as something to be exploited, but humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. Who did not seek political power but lived in self-giving love. And saved us.

When we were children we sometimes thought, “If I ruled the world . . .”, and then would imagine what wonders we would perform. Mostly for our benefit. It is time for us to give up childish dreams and begin to ask Jesus’ question, “If I served the world . . .”, and see where that leads us.

This self-giving sacrificial love is what saves the world and us. And it is how we are called live. God give us the courage to so live in our daily lives, and the grace to begin our part in the healing of this world.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Midweek Lent 2011 + Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Week 5: “Deliver and Save Us”
Sixth and Seventh Petitions, the Lord’s Prayer
Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: Romans 8:31-39; Matthew 26:36-44

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

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

So goes a night-time prayer which for generations has been prayed by families and taught to children. Except, I would hazard to say, for many in my generation, and perhaps a half-generation before mine. Something happened between when we were children and when we became parents – perhaps the prevalence of wars and the fear of imminent nuclear war – suddenly people didn’t like the threatening, frightening end of that prayer. With all the things to fear in life, praying to be delivered from the evil of death every night is not something modern parents are eager to teach their children. So other alternatives were created, and many families use them.

But for centuries Christians have taken the model of the Lord’s Prayer – which ends with “save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil” – and prayed that and other similar prayers at night, as they face sleep and darkness and the unknown. The question is, how do we understand this prayer in our day? What evils do we fear and how do we pray about them? What trials do we face? And can we learn to pray for deliverance?

This prayer of Jesus has given us a vision of a lifetime of conversation with God.

We have learned from Jesus to ask that we make God’s name holy by our lives. That we live under God’s rule and reign, and follow God’s will. That we trust in God for all things we need and help God provide for others. That we ask forgiveness from God and offer it to others. These are all our needs for this life, and they are important prayers. With them we’re invited to see our entire life as wrapped up in God’s care. Luther included all the necessities and nourishment we need for this life under “daily bread,” and covered the waterfront of our needs, even the smallest things. There is nothing we need for which we haven’t prayed. Except one thing.

Now Jesus says – don’t be afraid to pray for the really big stuff, too – the things that you fear, the things that can harm. For the first time in this prayer we acknowledge the presence of evil, and the reality of times of trial. We’re invited to ask God to save us. Defend us. Protect us.

We acknowledge in these petitions that this is a dangerous world and we need God desperately. Trials and temptations will come, Jesus knows this. The evil one is at work in the world, Jesus knows this, too. And so he encourages us to trust in God for all we need – even such things as these. To trust as Paul says in those beautiful words of Romans 8, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus – not even death.

And it’s inexpressibly powerful and comforting that Jesus himself understands not only our fears but also the infinity of the love we find in God.

We are days from our Holy Week journey. And what does Jesus face in the garden but these two things: a time of trial, and the attack of evil? He is tested, tried, whether he will do his Father’s will. Evil is seeking to destroy the very Son of God in the world.

The early Church saw Jesus as not only our Savior in his death and resurrection, but the pioneer for us, the one who leads us on the path having walked it himself. When we pray for help in times of trial and deliverance from evil we pray to the One who faced both and overcame them in love. We pray to the One who can help us in our own time of need. Who turned to his disciples on the very night of his trials and once more encouraged them to pray that they not be overcome in the time of trial.

When we consider first the sixth petition in light of Jesus in the garden, then, it’s a good thing that we use the translation we do.

For over thirty years we’ve been praying in this prayer to be saved from the time of trial, instead of not being led into temptation. Trial, temptation – both are legitimate translations, but trial is closer to the sense of what Jesus is saying here. And so we’re praying for exactly what Jesus told the disciples to pray for in the garden. We need it as much as they.

Life is confusing, frightening, sometimes. Often difficult. We’re easily distracted from things that matter by things that do not. We fear death. Illness. Financial loss. We try our hardest to keep our heads above water. And like the disciples, those fears can cause us to lose faith, even to walk away from the other things we’ve prayed for – walk away from living under God’s rule, following God’s will.

Like the disciples, we want to be strong in faith. But when things get hard, we fall asleep, instead of praying. We close our eyes to the reality. Like the disciples, we want to be close to Jesus. But when things get hard, we run away. We seek only ourselves. It would be better to die with Jesus than to live apart. But they do not know that yet in the garden. And we certainly don't. Like the disciples, we hope for easy answers to difficult questions, and when things get hard we fall away from our convictions and our principles. We fall away from God.

And so Jesus encourages us with these words. Pray for help. You will receive it. God will be able to strengthen us and keep us when we struggle to be faithful, to obey, to forgive, to honor God’s name.

The last petition is a little more awkward for us – we who believe we are modern and sophisticated.

What Jesus actually says in this prayer is we should pray “deliver us from the evil one.” So not only are we invited to pray for deliverance from things that can frighten our children and even us, we are asked to pray for deliverance from the devil. And if people aren’t thrilled about thinking of their death every night, many tend to be even less thrilled about belief in the devil’s existence.

But of course Martin Luther had no problem with it. And in his evening prayer he ends with that image. In our house we’ve prayed it – the same one we use in Evening Prayer – pretty much every night for years. And the last line – in a slightly older translation than our current one in the worship book – the last line my children have memorized and prayed for longer than they can remember, is this: “Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked one have no power over us.” For Luther, that’s an image to cherish as we fall asleep, that God’s angels will protect us from the wicked one.

It strikes me that we need not be so sophisticated that we cannot allow for the possibility of personified evil. But that we need not fret about it, either. There’s plenty of evil in the world from which we seek deliverance. Be it illness, terrorism, hatred of others, poverty, war, natural disaster – the list is long, as Luther has said. We may not cower in fear in the dark as some of our ancestors did, waiting for demons to pop in on us and harm us, but we have plenty enough to fear.

And that’s the true gift of this petition – that we’re told by Jesus we can ask for God’s help, God’s deliverance. Whatever we think or imagine about how evil happens, whether we’re comfortable with the biblical and other images of the demonic, we need to know we can come before God and ask God’s help.

It should be said, though, that we aren’t promised that we won’t be harmed. We are promised, however, that God will be with us, no matter what. In one of my favorite passages, from Isaiah 43, God doesn’t promise that we won’t pass through fire or flood, but rather that God will always be with us, in whatever struggle with evil we have, and we will not be overcome. It isn’t that we won’t face death. Of course we will. Or the powers that be, as Paul says in Romans 8. Or heights or depths, or sickness. All these things can and will afflict us.

But they cannot harm us ultimately – we’re in the hands of our risen Savior. That’s Paul’s point – nothing, nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.

So that’s what we’re praying for – that God fill us with that hope and confidence.
Evil will happen – and sometimes we will even be participants. Life will be hard sometimes and we will literally feel as if we’re on trial, under temptation, struggling to follow God. But we can always pray, “save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil,” or even “deliver us from the evil one,” and trust in the God who will not let us go, the God whose love for us is permanent and cannot be taken from us.

And in the end, that’s all we need to know. At the end of our prayers, every night, that’s all we need to say before we close our eyes in sleep, or even in death, trusting in the love of God which holds us forever.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Monday, April 11, 2011

This Week's Liturgies

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Midweek Eucharist, noon (followed by Soup Luncheon)
Evening Prayer, 7:00 p.m. (preceded at 6:00 by Soup Supper and Table Talk)

Sunday, April 17, 2011: Sunday of the Passion
Holy Eucharist, 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.
Compline, 8:30 p.m.

Sermon from April 10, 2011 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent, (A)

“Real Reality”

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: John 9:1-45; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6-11

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 can only imagine how hard the wait was for these sisters. Mary and Martha have sent word to Jesus that their brother, his dear friend, was dying. When he finally arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days. But if it took a couple days for the messengers to get to Jesus, and he waited two days as John says, and then it took him a couple days to get to them, it’s possible that Lazarus died even as the messenger spoke to Jesus, and his delay made no difference in the outcome.

But how long had Lazarus been ill? How long had the sisters been praying for healing, waiting for word about where Jesus was? This story is very different from our other Lenten Sundays – Nicodemus had heard of Jesus, but the woman at the well and the blind man hadn’t, and all three really had their first encounter with him in the stories we’ve heard. Not so Martha and Mary. “Jesus loved Martha” – that’s what John says – “and her sister, and Lazarus.” This was not a disciple-teacher relationship as much as a dear friend relationship. And they’d seen what their dear friend could do – healing, teaching, being grace. Mary and Martha knew he could save their brother. But they had to wait. And waiting for something you desperately want and need is incredibly hard to do.

The psalmist sings today, “Wait for the Lord, for with the Lord is steadfast love; with the Lord is plenteous redemption.” Even calling to God out of the depths of pain and sorrow, the invitation is to wait, because God will provide, God will save.

But how long can one wait? What if it doesn’t look like God is going to do what you’re praying for, hoping for?

This is a powerful part of this story for me: Martha, and then Mary, both confront Jesus in their grief which rises out of their fruitless waiting.

It’s hard to tell if they’re angry or just filled with sorrow. Probably both. But if we’re to look at Jesus through their eyes, the first thing we see today is disappointment. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” How could you? How could you not come? Does our love mean nothing?

And in that disappointment we see a bit of ourselves. And perhaps the others from our Sunday readings. Was Nicodemus disappointed he didn’t get the answers he sought? Was the woman disappointed that there was no magic water after all? The blind man shouldn’t have been disappointed – he actually got his healing.

But this is the emotional connection for us here: facing pain or grief or loss, waiting for God to do something, and believing God has decided not to. Anyone who has stood in desperate silence beside a hospital bed knows what Mary and Martha are feeling. Anyone who’s stood at a grave on a cold hillside knows what is crushing them. Anyone who has looked at the devastation of a natural disaster in stunned horror can understand them. And I think we’ve all made, or wanted to make, their rebuke as well: “Lord, if you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened.”

So what are we to make of who Jesus is, what he offers us as followers?

It’s John’s goal for us, after all. So can we trust Jesus for what we really need? It’s fine to talk about prayer and asking God for help, but will it matter in the end? It’s fine to say Jesus is our beloved friend, but will he be there when we need him? More than anyone so far this Lent, we can see ourselves in these beautiful sisters.

But if we’re to know if Jesus is trustworthy, we ought to finish the story, see what he offers these sisters, and what happens next. Because the story doesn’t end with these rebukes, with Martha and Mary’s disappointment. And therein lies our hope.

And really the story isn’t about Lazarus being raised, either. At least for us it isn’t.

Yes, that seems like the main point, and it’s a pivotal moment, one that seals Jesus’ fate. From here on out his opponents are bound and determined to have him, and Lazarus, killed.

But for us there is something even more important. Lazarus died again, 2,000 years ago. He’s quite literally history. But there is truth for us in Martha and Mary’s experience that is deeper and more real and more present to us than this morning’s breakfast.

And that truth is that faith in Jesus means seeing a deeper reality of a loving relationship with God that gives meaning to the rest of life. Jesus invites Martha and Mary to see him in a different way, in a transforming way, even if the evidence of their eyes, of their lives, tells them otherwise.

Jesus responds to the sisters differently. Martha, the practical one, the one who runs out into the road to shout her disappointment at Jesus, gets a conversation. Jesus doesn’t tell her she’s wrong in criticizing him. He tells her that her brother will live again. She agrees – at the last day, she says. But that doesn’t change her sorrow. And it’s also not what Jesus is talking about.

Before he ever raises Lazarus, without promising that he will do it, he wants to know if Martha trusts him for her life. “I am the resurrection and the life,” he says. “Everyone who believes in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” he asks.

Here’s what he asks of Martha: a leap of faith. Can she trust that, even though it looks as if she’s lost Lazarus, even though it looks as if Jesus has let her down, can she trust that Jesus will be life for her? Enough for her? That he can fill her up inside with love and peace, even though her brother is dead?

And what a blessed woman! Martha not only elicits for us Jesus’ great “I am the resurrection and the life” statement, she makes a statement of faith more powerfully than any of his disciples in any of the Gospels: “Yes, Lord, I believe, that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

It’s important to remember – she has no idea what he’s about to do. That’s clear when they come to the tomb, and she doesn’t want Jesus to open it for fear of the smell of a rotting body. Martha doesn’t know what he’s going to do. But she’s decided to trust him for her life.

It’s the same leap Jesus asks of Nicodemus – to trust that with the Spirit giving him new birth he won’t need all the answers. And of the woman at the well – to trust that with this loving relationship with God that is hers, she’ll be quenched to the depths of her heart. And of the blind man – that even beyond his physical new sight, he is now seeing God’s love in the flesh, standing before him. And none of these had any more proof than Martha did. Or than we do.

This is what John tells us about Jesus, the Son of God: Living in a loving relationship with the God of the universe, as given by the risen Lord Jesus, transforms everything in our lives.

If we focus only on the tangible things, the things we can touch, sense, feel, we ultimately find only death. Nothing lasts – we grow old, we get thirsty, we go blind, we lose loved ones, we die. As Paul says in today’s reading, living by the flesh, the way of the world, is death for us. And if we’re hoping for God to make that different, it won’t happen, any more than the woman of Samaria got a magic pitcher which never emptied of water.

But what God has come to offer us in Jesus is the intangible reality of real life lived in relationship with God. A life where we live and breathe in God’s love, which surrounds and shapes and gives meaning to our life. Meaning even when we are thirsty, or grieving, or blind, or without answers. What Jesus offers is Resurrection and Life now – that we live with the amazing confidence that we are in God’s hands, no matter what.

And here’s the miracle: when we take that leap of faith in the intangible love of God, it then gives meaning to the tangible realities of our lives. As Paul says, if we live by the Spirit we receive life even in our mortal bodies.

And Mary is our key here. Jesus doesn’t have a conversation with her. He simply is with her. He weeps with her. He honors her pain, her grief, her sorrow. And transforms it by being there. This offer of Jesus is no rejection of our worldly needs and wants – Jesus knows how badly we need these things. This is an offer of life that will so fill and surround us that no matter our external circumstances we can know and live in the joy that God loves us with a deathless, eternal love.

Faith is a mysterious thing. And ultimately it is a gift of God to us.

And today Jesus invites us to jump into the gift, into the mystery, and revel in the love we find.

Of course Jesus ends up raising Lazarus. But his invitation to Martha, and her leap of faith, comes before that. While she’s still waiting. While she has no evidence that anything will be better, except the presence of her beloved Master standing before her offering her life. And it is enough for her.

And so we stand before Jesus on the road to our Bethanys. And of course we know that in his resurrection Jesus will bring us to eternal life even after our deaths. But like Martha and Mary, we’re not there yet. We live in our world as they did in theirs. And we come to this Table seeking answers, quenched thirst, eyes to see, life in the midst of death. And we have no guarantees that the things we think we most need will be given us. We come, knowing that what we see as real life can often be hard, and painful.

But we come to this Table and our Lord comes to us in bread and wine – granted, small tokens of this presence, but gifts of grace nonetheless. And Jesus looks at us and says, “Do you believe that I can fill you up, even if your other circumstances don’t change? Do you believe I am Resurrection and Life, even now for you? Do you want to leap into my love and know forever that you are mine?”

We know what Martha said. As for me, I’ve come to know that in Jesus I’m home. At his Table I am home and I am fed. That’s the best way I can describe what it means for me. In Jesus, I’m alive. I’m loved. No matter what happens. Even death. And that is your gift, too – I pray God helps you know that as well. Because this, this is real life. This is ours as a gift. And this, this is what we have to share with the world.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

The Olive Branch, 4/11/11

Accent on Worship

Prepared For What?

The word preparation has been stuck in my head, like a ditty that won’t go away, since Ash Wednesday. It’s not a particularly religious word, although it sounds downright profound, even Lenten if you add the word “solemn” in front. But really, what does preparation have to do with Lent? Let’s face it, most of us have experienced Lent many times, what’s to prepare? We all know the story and how it ends, and it’s spectacular!

I have a very dear friend who has taught second grade for many years. She is in her classroom every morning at 5:00 a.m. in preparation for her class. This might seem odd. The material hasn’t changed much over time and she certainly must know it by heart. I think her preparation shows a profound dedication to her calling, and a deep love for her students. She spends as much time in preparation as she does in presentation. I believe her objective is to make the material that she knows so well relevant and exciting to this group of second graders, the class of 2021, just as she did for the class of 2020, 2019 and so on.

We have all endured lectures, presentations or meetings where it was obvious there was little or no preparation. We soon feel impatient, embarrassed and uncomfortable or even angry that our time is being wasted. We leave feeling the presenter lacked conviction and consequently credibility. On the other hand, when the speaker is prepared, conviction is obvious and remarkable things can happen. They don’t convince you of anything, but you are drawn to a new way of looking at something, a new way of thinking. Dr. Fretheim and adult forum this past Sunday was an excellent example.

We will soon hear again the story of Peter’s unfortunate confrontation in the courtyard. His lack of preparation is obvious in his three-fold denial of Jesus. Let’s not be too hard on Peter. We will encounter our own “courtyards” and be challenged by “maids,” perhaps in the boardrooms, break-rooms, classrooms and living rooms of our lives. Undoubtedly something we do or say will cause another to wonder, “I thought this person was a Christian,” or they might actually call us out like the maid, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” How much more prepared will we be than Peter? Might we be inclined to denounce Him: “Sure I’m spiritual, I believe in God, but I’m not crazy over this stuff.” Or perhaps we have become more adept than Peter and can deflect the whole issue, perhaps shift the conversation to focus on others. We might even avoid the courtyard altogether; just blending into the crowd … the one that yells “Crucify Him!” Of course, we would never yell that… but maybe just raise our fist and mumble it, just to fit in: “It’s nothing personal, Lord. This is where I work and live, I have to survive here, Lord, and I have to fit in!”

These 40 days of Lent point us to a life changing, (better said, a death changing!) event. We know the story, like the 2nd grade teacher, but have we spent the time in preparation? Will the people we encounter every day see our conviction, that we have been changed? This stuff of Lent and Holy Week makes little sense to the world in which we live. We are compelled to do far more than tell the story, we are called to show what life in Christ means in our lives. That requires a lot of preparation, a whole new way of life!

- Al Bipes


Sunday Readings

April 17, 2011 – Sunday of the Passion
Isaiah 50:4-9a + Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11 + Matthew 26:14—27:66

April 24, 2011 – Resurrection of Our Lord
Acts 10:34-43 + Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Colossians 3:1-4 + Matthew 28:1-10


Sunday’s Adult Education - 9:30 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge
This Sunday, April 17: Annual Bread for the World Offering of Letters, facilitated by Neighborhood Ministries Coordinator, Donna Neste.


“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
Wednesdays in Lent at Mount Olive
  • Noon: Holy Eucharist, followed by a soup luncheon
  • 6:00 pm: Table Talk (meditation and discussion on The Lord’s Prayer)
  • 7:00 pm: Evening Prayer

One Maundy Thursday Liturgy

Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Triduum, the great Three Days in which the church contemplates, remembers, and celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus. In recent years Mount Olive has had both a noon and an evening liturgy.

Given the importance of the foot washing and the stripping of the altar in that day’s liturgy, and given the Gospel reading’s emphasis on the unity of the church, it seemed that it would be better to have one liturgy rather than two on that day. After several years of discussion, the decision was made this year to have only one liturgy on Maundy Thursday (April 21 this year) at 7:00 p.m.

In talking with several of those who have ordinarily attended the noon liturgy, it is apparent that the biggest obstacle to their being present for the evening liturgy is transportation. Driving at night is difficult for some. We are, therefore, going to work at matching those who will be driving to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy with those in need of transportation to that liturgy.

If you are able to provide transportation to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy, or if you are in need of transportation to that liturgy, please contact the church office either by phone (612.827.5919), or by email (welcome@mountolivechurch.org). A coordinator will follow up with you once arrangements have been made.


Maundy Thursday Footwashing

In the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John, we read about the goings on in the upper room where Jesus and his disciples shared their last meal together. In this precious, brief span of time, Jesus does an astonishingly intimate thing: he washes the feet of his followers. It is an act of both devotion and humility that makes Peter so uncomfortable he refuses at first to accept this gift. Yet in the next moment, Peter goes overboard in wanting to participate, once he understands what it means.

We may be reluctant to receive this lesson of foot washing, but listen to what Jesus says: (John 13:14-15): "So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you."

Notice that Jesus does not tell his disciples that they must go out and wash a bunch of other people's feet. Rather, he tells his disciples to wash each other's feet. This powerful, intimate, humbling gift is meant to be mutual. We are to love and serve each other, both giving and receiving.

This year at the Maundy Thursday evening service, we will listen again to the Gospel story, and then do as Jesus commanded: We will wash each other's feet.


Art Exhibit in Chapel Lounge
Selections from the St. John’s Bible

In 1998, St. John’s Abbey and University commission- ed renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. This display will invite you to explore this work of art which unites an ancient Benedictine tradition with the technology and vision of today, illuminating the Word of God for a new millennium. This exhibit is sponsored by Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts, and will be open to the public before and after all church services and events in April.


Contribution Statements Available
Contributions statements for the first quarter of 2011 are printed and ready to be picked up at church. They are on a table near the coat room. Please pick yours up! If you are unable to get to church, please call the church office and your statement will be mailed to you.


New Members/Inquiry Lunch to be Held This Sunday, April 17

Those interested in joining Mount Olive this spring, or just interesting in learning more about membership at Mount Olive, are invited to a luncheon on Sunday, Apr. 17, following the second liturgy. Leaders of Mount Olive will be present to meet and greet folks, and answer questions about Mount Olive. New members will be received on Sunday, May 1, the Second Sunday of Easter. Please talk to Pastor Crippen if you would like to consider joining at this time, or if you simply would like to talk about membership for a future time.


Join Us In the May Day Parade

Hey everyone, it's time to put on your walking shoes and march with Mount Olive members and friends in the May Day Parade, on Sunday May 1! It has been our tradition to let folks know that we are in the neighborhood by marching behind the Mount Olive banner. Meet after the second liturgy at Cedar Park on 18th Ave. and 25th Street. MONAC members will be there to greet you with fun stuff to wave. We will be marching from there down Bloomington Ave. to Powderhorn Park.

If you have never done this and want to participate this year, you are in for a treat. It is energizing and fun to have thousands of people wave back at you and wish you a happy May Day! It might be a good idea to car-pool or have someone drop you off at the park, because parking is tight there.


From the Wish List

The following items currently appear on Mount Olive’s Wish List, waiting to be donated by generous members. If you are interested and able to donate any of these items, please sign your name next to the item on the Wish List, posted in the church office. Someone will contact you regarding payment and exact amount.

Furniture:
(3) Mahogany Upholstered Guest Chairs for Chapel @ $199 ea.;
(6) Upholstered Stacker Chairs for Library @ $139 ea.;
(17) Upholstered Stacker Chairs for East Assembly @ $139 ea.;
6x2 Maple Table for Library @ $250;
(2) White Melamine Sideboard Storage for restrooms @ $150 ea.
(2) White Mirror over Sideboard Storage @ $100 ea.

Educational Supplies:
The Ark and Tent/Tabernacle Godly Play set @ $196.95;
Prophets Godly Play set @ $36.95;
Jonah, Prophet Godly Play set @ $169.95;
Basic Lent Godly Play set @ $128.95;
Mystery of Pentecost Godly Play set @ $137.95.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Midweek Lent 2011 + Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Week 4: “The Obvious (?) Solution” Fifth Petition, the Lord’s Prayer
Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: Matthew 18:21-35

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

“Forgive us, God, just as we forgive others.” Is there any way to say that which doesn’t cause us to hesitate? We might struggle to pray for daily bread, as I talked about last week, but this petition could be even more difficult. Tying our own forgiveness to our ability or willingness to forgive others is a little daunting.

Jesus gives us this prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, to teach us to pray, and this petition is one we need every day. But it’s not easy to pray. And the difficulty isn’t just in the second half, to be honest. We’re not entirely thrilled with the first part, either. It’s a toss-up whether we’re less willing to admit our own wrongdoing or to forgive the wrongs others have done to us.

But maybe we’re missing something here. Martin Luther said this is a petition to gladden us, a prayer we can “use and practice every hour, keeping it with us at all times.” (Large Catechism) He saw great joy in the first part, that we can turn to God who has already promised to forgive us, and honestly face our flaws, our sin, our brokenness. We can turn to God in confidence that God will forgive, and admit all, tell everything, and trust in God’s love. And as for the second part, Luther says there’s comfort in it. Though it seems at least in the Large Catechism he doesn’t really explain what that comfort is, I think I might know. And I do believe this – our Lord Jesus would say that praying this petition hourly, daily, all our lives, is central to living in the grace of God for the world.

The first part first: we’re invited to admit our own sin and brokenness.

The story Jesus tells Peter today responds to Peter’s complete lack of focus on his own reality. Whatever the precipitating circumstances were that caused Peter’s question, Jesus is aware that Peter’s view of sin is uni-directional. He only wants to know how he can limit his forgiveness of others – what’s the bar, the standard, the end?

To be fair, he sets it rather high. Not many of us would willingly forgive the same offense seven times running. But Jesus focuses him and us on the reality that while we’re withholding forgiveness from others, we’ve received infinite forgiveness from God.

The key to this story, and to Jesus’ understanding of forgiveness, is relationship restoration. The relationships are what is repaired, or needing repair: between the king and the servant, and the servant and his fellow servants. Forgiveness in the Bible is most often about re-creating a broken relationship, be it between God and us, or between people.

So the reaction of the king to the unforgiving servant is in part so strong because he believed that his relationship with the servant was restored by the forgiveness. The fact that the servant was unwilling to forgive another person showed that he wasn’t living in that relationship in any significant way – he only saw forgiveness as avoiding punishment. But that’s not the point of biblical forgiveness – it’s always about God wanting us back, and wanting us restored to each other, not about getting out of something.

This is why we want to pray the first part: we want to be back in a loving relationship with God. We have nothing to lose in confessing and turning to God but our pride (and Luther reminds us how foolish that is) and everything to gain in a new relationship with God.

But what about part 2, the other part?

Forgiving others and asking their forgiveness is one of the hardest things we do.

In the the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, there was a series dealing with the little boy Calvin insulting his friend Susie. In one key strip, Calvin realizes that he feels sorry he’s hurt her. But when his friend the tiger says “Maybe you should apologize to her,” Calvin replies, “I keep hoping there’s a less obvious solution.”

That’s our dilemma – asking forgiveness of another, and offering forgiveness to another require a vulnerability that we’re often not willing to have. But if we don’t do it, we live with the pain of the broken relationships. We keep hoping there’s a less obvious solution, when this is the only one that makes any sense. It’s the only one that can restore relationships.

And that’s the key to Jesus’ command in this parable, and repeated in this petition. We are commanded to forgive each other because it’s the only way to healing and new life with each other. As long as we persist in believing we’re in the right, we will live with the pain of our disrupted relationships, no matter who is at fault in the disruption. And if I could add to Luther, I think this is where the comfort of this second half comes – in forgiving others and seeking forgiveness from them, we find the same rich, joyful life we find in seeking God’s forgiveness.

I learned this many years ago in a way that deeply affected me. I was pretty young, and there was a person who was very hard on me, unkind, and said things to me and to others about me that weren’t kind or true. I’d tried to talk through with this person what was wrong, to no effect. It didn’t help at all that others told me this person did this to everyone – I felt I should find a way through it. But I was firm in my self-righteous belief that I at least wasn’t in the wrong.

But as God often does, the words of Scripture kept pushing at me. I’d read stories like today’s, or pray the Lord’s Prayer, or hear Jesus’ command to love, and think “I’m not doing this very well.” So finally I gave in. I prayed for this person. Here was my prayer, initially: “Dear God, help me forgive this person. But I have to tell you that I don’t want to – I’m only praying this because you say I have to. So you’re going to have to work hard on this one.”

Not the most gracious of prayers, but it got me through. And for awhile I prayed that prayer. I tried to pray for this person every day. And what was amazing to me was that over time I didn’t need to be so obstinate in my prayer. I began to pray that God’s love be real to this person, that this person be filled with God’s joy – something I began to see they needed badly. And the result was that after a few months, my prayers for this person were all about them, and their needs, and that they know God’s grace as real.

This person never stopped being unkind to me, that I could ever tell. But the miracle God worked in me is that I eventually found I wasn’t angry or hurt – I only had pity and compassion for this person. Given my attitude when I began, this is all God’s grace.

And that’s what Jesus is promising in this petition – that our forgiveness from God and our forgiveness of each other will transform us into new people, regardless of what the other person has done.

And of course Jesus is saying in this petition and parable that we can hardly deny forgiveness to another person when we’ve received it in full from God. But what he means is that if we do not forgive others, we are living as if we haven’t been forgiven by God – we are living as if there is no new relationship of love between us and God. And through this prayer Jesus promises that God will change our hearts and make us filled with the grace that we’ve already received from God, grace that we can then offer others.

And that’s definitely something worth praying for.

At the bottom line, we need this petition because we need to ask God’s help in doing it. Without God’s help, we’d never confess or forgive.

As I experienced, God changes our hearts even when we think right up front we don’t want them changed. And with the difficulty we have with both directions of forgiveness – divine and human – I’m thankful Jesus tells us we ought to pray for this. As Luther says, when our heart isn’t right with God we lack the confidence and do not dare to pray this petition. So thanks be to God that Jesus commands us to do it, whether we dare or not – and then gives us the confident heart to live in it as well.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Monday, April 4, 2011

This Week's Liturgies

Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Midweek Eucharist, noon (followed by Soup Luncheon)
Evening Prayer, 7:00 p.m. (preceded at 6:00 by Soup Supper and Table Talk)

Sunday, April 10, 2011: Fifth Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist, 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.
Compline, 8:30 p.m.

Sermon from April 3, 2011 + The Fourth Sunday in Lent (A)

“Do You Also Want to Become His Disciples?”
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: John 9:1-41; Ephesians 5:8-14

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

This story seems to be simple, doesn’t it? It’s all about a healing Jesus does. It’s all about seeing when you couldn’t see before. Except the story’s not about physical sight at all. Greek, like English, uses the same verb “to see” to mean both physical sight and mental or spiritual insight. In this story the man born blind gets two gifts of sight, the first physical and the second spiritual, and the second is by far more important to him. Likewise, the Pharisees, whose eyes by all we can tell were just fine, never see at all.

But what if seeing isn’t our problem? What if our problem is what we do or don’t do once we’ve seen?

So we’ll begin with the question of seeing and not seeing – but we can’t end there.

Initially, this is simply an account of a man who was born blind receiving his sight from Jesus. And the question everyone wants to know from this man is “who did this?” For the man born blind, it was very simple: once he was blind. Now he can see. He doesn’t know who Jesus is, just that he healed him. Once he finally meets Jesus at the end of the story, he becomes a believer – and a follower.

In John’s Gospel, these miracles Jesus does are called signs, signs which point to who Jesus is. And this man follows the sign. In fact, the whole story is a story of the movement for this man from him knowing nothing about Jesus except that he’s a healer, to being a follower and almost an evangelist himself with the Pharisees. And what gives him life is that he now sees, believes, that Jesus is God’s gift to him of life and salvation.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, have a different kind of blindness with which to deal. They witnessed a miracle. As the man himself said, never before had they seen a man born blind get his sight back. But they couldn’t see it. They couldn’t see who Jesus was. All they saw was a lawbreaker – a man who healed on the Sabbath.

We’re amazed that they’re so blind they can’t see God’s Son in their midst. But Jesus healed on a Sabbath. That was too much. God wouldn’t break God’s own rules, even to help someone, they thought. And they were sure they knew what God would do. They wanted a God they could control, manage, understand in their terms. They weren’t bad people as much as people who felt more comfortable when they knew the rules and could stay within them. The problem was when God moved outside the rules they were completely lost.

But what if you can see what God has done and still don’t know if you’re going to do something about that?

We have been immeasurably blessed by God. We have seen what the Pharisees could not. We’re much more in the position of the formerly blind man – we’ve been directly touched by the love of God in Jesus. We know what many people do not – that God loves us enough to die for us and give us life. That God has forgiven us and now calls us to live a new life, a life of light, a life like Christ. We know, as Paul says today in Ephesians, that we used to be in the darkness and now are in the light.

But in some ways, we’re worse off than the Pharisees – we know what God has done in Jesus. We’ve seen it for ourselves. We’re just not sure we’re ready to give Jesus our lives. We tend to live our lives for ourselves. Our number one priority is usually us. Not God. Not God’s will. We want God around when we want God, but not when God might need us. Like the Pharisees, we also tend to want to control God’s presence in the world and in our lives. We tend to feel threatened when God calls us to see things differently, to live differently, to believe differently.

Because that’s the rub, isn’t it? Jesus didn’t come to do miracles that we could see and believe and that was it. In fact, most times, Jesus tried to downplay the miracles, because he was more interested in asking people to follow him with their lives. Through Jesus God says there’s a different way to live than the self-centered ways we usually live, and calls us to look at the world differently.

To start thinking about other people in different ways, to change our lives so that justice and peace might begin to appear. Like this healed man, there are consequences to following Jesus, consequences to living lives in and under Jesus’ rule and reign. And we can become very uncomfortable with those consequences.

So the man’s question to the Pharisees is in fact our critical question today: Do you also want to become his disciples?

Do we or do we not want to believe in Jesus and follow him?

Paul clearly urges us to follow, to be what God has made us to be. He says, “You used to be in the dark, now you can see. So walk as if you can see.” Be who you are, he says. We have God within us now. We’ve seen God’s healing grace in ways the Pharisees couldn’t. The Spirit of God is ours, to open our eyes to the light. So, Paul says, live and walk as the children of light in the Lord that we are.

And that’s our invitation: to believe in what we’ve seen in Jesus, and then to follow Jesus with our lives. Like the man born blind, we once were blind, but now in Baptism we have begun to see. And we can continue to seek this gift of healing sight from the one who today calls himself the Light of the world. We can seek Jesus’ light and life in our lives – and follow him always. Not just when it’s convenient and not intruding on our lives. We can ask our Lord to shine in our hearts so we can see where we’re going in life, and alter our priorities accordingly.

And yes, our lives will change. Things will be different, as they are for all followers of Jesus. But this is life, and we’ve seen it, we’ve seen God’s grace. Do we really want another option?
Now that we know God’s answer to us and the world is found in this Jesus, we can see how it will change our lives.

But instead of fearing that change, we can also see that following Jesus is the only way to real life. Even though it will mean changes for us, we know what we have seen God do, and we want that. And even though much of our life will still be mystery, at least we’ll know where we’re going. And even more, we’ll know who’s going with us, beside us, ahead of us, guiding and leading and showing us the way. When we stumble, Jesus will pick us up. When we sin, and walk away from him, Jesus will bring us back and set us on the right path again.

We were once darkness, but now we are light in the Lord. Let’s walk as children of light – and let Jesus lead us in all our ways. Because we know it’s the only way to real life.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

The Olive Branch, April 4, 2011

Accent on Worship
Lord, have mercy

We have begun our Sunday Eucharists this Lent with extended forms of the ancient Kyrie. “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy) is a prayer which from the earliest centuries of the Christian Church has been a part of our liturgy. Even when the Western rite became shaped in the Latin language, this ancient Greek prayer, with roots extending deep into the Old Testament, was kept in its Greek clothing. We have alternated between using the Kyrie from setting five, expanded with organ meditations, and the Great Litany, another ancient set of petitions which itself begins and ends with the Kyrie.

This pattern of prayer is something of a tradition at Mount Olive for Lent, and I have been deeply grateful for it as we’ve come together these past Sundays. Lent is often described as a penitential season, beginning on Ash Wednesday with a call to return to the Lord, “who is gracious and merciful.” As we pray “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy” we intentionally return our lives to the One on whose mercy we rely and without which we cannot live.

“Lord, have mercy.” It’s a powerful prayer with which to come before God seeking grace and life. Often in our Lutheran tradition we begin our Eucharists with Confession and Absolution, with intentional time for confession before God and a promise of God’s grace and forgiveness. Singing the Kyrie is a similar way of entering worship. We come before God with nothing to commend us except the mercy of God. We offer our prayers for the Church, for the world, for peace, for justice, for new lives, for God’s grace to abound, all trusting that only in the mercy of our good Lord will such prayers be heard and answered.

We now approach Holy Week and the Triduum, when we will ponder the deepest mysteries of God’s love for us and for the world. Let us continue to ask

God’s mercy for our lives as we enter into contemplation of the most potent sign of that mercy, the cross and the empty tomb. As we confess together our sin and brokenness which has harmed us, our neighbors, and the world, we do so trusting in God’s mercy which will make all things new, including our hearts and lives.

Kyrie eleison.






Sunday Readings

April 10, 2011 – Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:1-14 + Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11 + John 11:1-45

April 17, 2011 – Sunday of the Passion
Isaiah 50:4-9a + Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11 + Matthew 26:14—27:66


Sunday’s Adult Education

9:30 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge
This Sunday, April 10: “Prayers in a Time of Trouble,” presented by Dr. Terence Fretheim of Luther Seminary.


Palms and Paschal Garden

Donations for Passion Sunday palms and the Easter paschal garden will be received for one more week, this Sunday, April 10. Members of the Worship Committee will be available after each liturgy to receive your contribution. Checks should be made payable to “Mount Olive Women.”



Holy Week and Easter at Mount Olive
_________________________________________

Sunday, April 17, 2011 – Sunday of the Passion / Palm Sunday
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 am

Monday-Wednesday, April 18-20, 2011
Daily Prayer at Noon (in the side chapel of the Nave, near the columbarium)

Thursday, April 21, 2011 – Maundy Thursday
Holy Eucharist with Washing of Feet at 7 pm

Friday, April 22, 2011 – Good Friday
Stations of the Cross at Noon
Adoration of the Cross at 7 pm

Saturday, April 23, 2011 – Holy Saturday
The Easter Vigil at 8:30 pm

Sunday, April 24, 2011 – The Resurrection of Our Lord / Easter Day
Festival Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 am
(Easter carry-in brunch at 9:30 am)


Book Discussion Group

For its meeting this Saturday, April 9, the book group will discuss the poem Gilgamesh, and for the May 14 meeting, the essay collection Small Wonder, by Barbara Kingsolver.


“Lord, Teach Us to Pray” Wednesdays in Lent at Mount Olive
  • Noon: Holy Eucharist, followed by a soup luncheon
  • 6:00 pm: Table Talk (meditation and discussion on The Lord’s Prayer)
  • 7:00 pm: Evening Prayer

Semi-Annual Congregation Meeting This Sunday

Because of the significant number of agenda items, the April semi-annual meeting of our congregation will be held following the second liturgy this Sunday, April 10.

Agenda items include election of Officers and Directors to the Vestry: Adam Krueger-President, Lisa Nordeen-Vice President, Ann Sorenson-Secretary, Paul Sundquist-Treasurer, Paul Schadewald-Global Missions, Dennis Bidwell-Stewardship, Al Bipes-Worship; reports from the Audit, Mount Olive Foundation, and Capital Campaign Committees; Internship program and proposed Constitution and Bylaw amendments; and endorsement of a resolution of the joint Peace with Justice Committees of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Synods.

All voting members of Mount Olive are encouraged to attend.



One Maundy Thursday Liturgy

Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Triduum, the great Three Days in which the church contemplates, remembers, and celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus. In recent years Mount Olive has had both a noon and an evening liturgy.

Given the importance of the foot washing and the stripping of the altar in that day’s liturgy, and given the Gospel reading’s emphasis on the unity of the church, it seemed that it would be better to have one liturgy rather than two on that day. After several years of discussion, the decision was made this year to have only one liturgy on Maundy Thursday (April 21 this year) at 7:00 p.m.

In talking with several of those who have ordinarily attended the noon liturgy, it is apparent that the biggest obstacle to their being present for the evening liturgy is transportation. Driving at night is difficult for some. We are, therefore, going to work at matching those who will be driving to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy with those in need of transportation to that liturgy.
If you are able to provide transportation to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy, or if you are in need of transportation to that liturgy, please contact the church office either by phone (612.827.5919), or by email (welcome@mountolivechurch.org). A coordinator will follow up with you once arrangements have been made.



Contribution Statements Available

Contributions statements for the first quarter of 2011 are printed and ready to be picked up at church. They are on a table near the coat room. Please pick yours up!


Art Exhibit in Chapel Lounge: Selections from the St. John’s Bible

In 1998, St. John’s Abbey and University commission- ed renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. The display will invite you to explore this work of art which unites an ancient Benedictine tradition with the technology and vision of today, illuminating the Word of God for a new millennium.

This exhibit is sponsored by Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts, and will be open to the public before and after all church services and events in April.



April 10 Adult Forum: Prayers in a Time of Trouble

Questions about prayer are common, even in the church and especially in times of difficulty. What effect might our prayers have on God? Can our prayers help shape the future? Do our prayers make a difference? Yet, if God is in charge, why pray? We will explore such questions in view of the place of prayer in the Bible, especially the Old Testament. This forum will be presented by Dr. Terence E. Fretheim, Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, where he has taught for over forty years. He has authored twenty-two books and more than one hundred articles.



New Members/Inquiry Lunch to be Held on Sunday, April 17

Those interested in joining Mount Olive this spring, or just interesting in learning more about membership at Mount Olive, are invited to a luncheon on Sunday, Apr. 17, following the second liturgy. Leaders of Mount Olive will be present to meet and greet folks, and answer questions about Mount Olive. New members will be received on Sunday, May 1, the Second Sunday of Easter. Please talk to Pastor Crippen if you would like to consider joining at this time, or if you simply would like to talk about membership for a future time.
 

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