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Mount Olive Lutheran Church

Monday, September 26, 2011

The Olive Branch, 9/26/11

Accent on Worship

The Gospel for Pentecost 27 is the familiar parable of the vineyard owner who attempts to collect the rent, only to be thwarted by the violence of the tenants, which eventually leads to the death of his son. This final action compelled the landlord to totally crush the tenants.

Author, peace activist and Assistant Professor of Justice and Peace Studies at St. Thomas University, Jack Pallmeyer-Nelson, believes that many of the parables of Jesus were spiritualized. He has another take on this and other parables of Jesus, in his book, Jesus Against Christianity. As food for thought, I would like to share this interpretation with you.

The vineyard workers are not the Jews in this interpretation and the vineyard owner is not God, and the son is not Jesus, but rather representatives of a system of oppression. The vineyard tenants are exploited for their labor, with most of the proceeds going back to the landlord, and not leaving enough for the tenants to sustain themselves. This system of sharecropping was very common in Jesus' time and still too common in the world today. So the tenants decide to violently rebel. Jesus' parable is a warning against the spiral of violence. Two times the landlord sends his slaves to collect the rent and the workers met them with violence, even killing one of them. The third time he sends someone important, his son, believing that because of his status no harm will come to him. But, he was wrong and the son was killed. Jesus asked his listeners, "Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those tenants?" The answer was very clear, "put those wretches to a miserable death, and least the vineyard to other tenants."

Violence begets greater violence and the powerless are crushed only to be replaced. Even when violence seems to work for a while, (The tenants in the parable may have felt they won, after they defeated the three groups attempting to collect the rent), it never does. There are so many examples in history of uneasy peace only to be followed by greater destruction and loss of life. Likewise, there are so many examples of peaceful resistance that ends in real and lasting peace.

- Donna Pususta Neste



Sunday Readings

October 2, 2011 – Ordinary Time: Sunday 27
Isaiah 5:1-7 + Psalm 80:7-15
Philippians 3:4b-14 + Matthew 21:33-46

October 9, 2011 – Ordinary Time: Sunday 28
Isaiah 25:1-9 + Psalm 23
Philippians 4:1-9 + Matthew 22:1-14



Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Blessing of Pets, 7:00 p.m.

Bring your pets for this annual service of blessing. The service will be held in the Nave.



This Sunday’s Adult Education - 9:30 am in the Chapel Lounge

The first of a 2-part presentation by Cantor David Cherwien: “Chant in the Church’s Worship.”



Sign up, Sign Up for Coffee!

Volunteers are needed to serve coffee following both Sunday morning liturgies for the next several weeks. If you are willing to serve, please sign up at coffee hour on Sunday – or call the church office to be signed up!



Book Discussion

For their meeting on October 8, the Book Discussion group will Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, and for the November 12 meeting they will discuss The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.

Mount Olive’s Book Discussion Group meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. All readers welcome!



Brunch, Anyone?

Mount Olive shares a small tri-fold flyer with the names and addresses of several local restaurants which serve Sunday brunch. We are in the process of updating that brochure and are eager to include any of YOUR recommendations! Have you enjoyed a Sunday brunch at a local restaurant recently? If so, please drop a note to Susan Cherwien at scherwien@aol.com within the next couple of weeks, and we will include your recommendations in the updated flyer.



Leipzig Group to Visit Mount Olive; Home Hosts Needed

Mount Olive will be a part of the Minneapolis Area Synod’s welcome to a group of 17 church music directors and pastors in October, and host homes are needed for the three guests who will spend several days at Mount Olive.

Homes are needed for the nights of October 15 to 19. During those days our guests will meet with Pr. Crippen and Cantor Cherwien and talk about the intersection of liturgy and culture and the world in our context. The whole group will worship at congregations throughout the synod, so some of the others will likely come to Mount Olive. Five other congregations will host parts of the group as Mount Olive is doing. The Leipzig District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony, Germany, is a companion synod of the Minneapolis Area Synod.

Please contact the church office if you are willing and able to provide room for one of our guests. This is going to be an exciting opportunity for the congregation to learn and share!



MICAH Fundraiser Event

MICAH, a faith-based organization that works for affordable housing for all, has been supported by Mount Olive for seventeen years. They would like to invite Mount Olive members to join them on Sunday, Oct. 16, to realize a vision for a metropolitan area where everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.

Professional musicians and spoken word artists will inspire and motivate each of us to take action and raise funds for MICAH. The event includes a reception (with drawing for special prizes) at 2:30 pm, and a program at 3:30 pm at Capri Theatre in Minneapolis. Tickets are $30.00 each, available at www.micah.org or by contacting Paul Stoll at paulstoll@charter.net. You may also purchase tickets from Donna Neste by calling her at church (612-827-5919) or by sending an email to her at d_nestea@yahoo.com.




Church Library News

Another prominent display of books in our Mount Olive library at this time comes as a gift to our library "from the literary estate of the late Erwin John, founder of the Lutheran Church Library Association." The gift of this group of books was facilitated by a close friend of Mr. John's, our own member, Rod Olson. Mr. John was also a friend of mine, especially when I was employed by the Lutheran Church Library Association some years ago. The gift consists of 9 books but I will mention 5 here and thank Rod Olson for the annotations he provided for your perusal.

The Complete Gospels, Robert J. Miller, ed. A new translation of the traditional Gospels plus other recently-discovered gospels from the early years of the Christian era.

Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas, by Elaine Pagels. A dramatic discovery in Egypt in 1945 yielded many ancient religious texts -- the most important being the Gospel of Thomas. Some scholars believe this gospel comes from the first century. Prof. Pagels shows how it relates to our biblical Gospels.

Meeting Jesus Again For the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith, by Marcus J. Borg. This book, dealing largely with Borg's own religious pilgrimage, has influenced and inspired thousands of Christians on their similar journeys.

The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, by Marcus J. Borg and N.T. Wright. Borg and Wright are good friends, but each thinks the other's understanding of Jesus needs correction. Therefore, this makes for a lively, informative discussion.

Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, by John Dominic Crossan. The tagline on the cover reads, "A startling account of what we can know about the life of Jesus." That's it exactly---by an author who is incapable of writing a dull sentence.

On another topic, we have a real need for more volunteer library help on Sunday mornings. Library helpers serve on a rotating basis and have a choice of two shifts so they are always able to attend one of the two liturgies on any given Sunday. If we can add 2-4 extra volunteer helpers soon, then no one needs to serve more than once a month. I believe you will find our library space pleasant to work in, the work is not difficult and an orientation session (one-half hour) will be given to all new volunteers. We hope that our church library can play a more important part of the total ministry of our congregation and that this kind of volunteerism offers a wonderful opportunity for stewardship as well. Please call me for further details at 952/888-1023 or e-mail at ldkloempken@earthlink.net.

This week's quote is, "A truly great book teaches me better than to read it only, I must soon lay it down and commence living on its hint -- what I began by reading, I must finish by acting." (Thoreau)

- Leanna Kloempken



New Neighborhood Ministry!

Local artists and A Minnesota Without Poverty, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and Mount Olive Lutheran Church have come together to create The Art Shoppe at Midtown Global Market.

The artists working at The Art Shoppe are professional artists who share their experience with poverty though their artwork. All money generated from the shop goes to the artists and works toward ending poverty in Minnesota by 2020.

The newly created Art Shoppe of Midtown Global Market will be open for business starting next Saturday, Oct. 1! Our Neighborhood Ministries, (now including the former MONAC) is participating in this exciting development, and you can be involved, too! The artists have set up a schedule to be at the shop in four-hour shifts. But there are times when they need someone to fill certain time slots. It could be an interesting thing to do, waiting on customers, selling jewelry, etc. If you are interested, or would like more information contact Liz Beissel, (612-245-7067) or Carol Austermann ( 612-722-5123).

Another important need is for someone with knowledge in the area of setting up a business, legal expertise, or advertising. If you have experience in any of these or related areas and would like to volunteer your help for this project, it would be greatly appreciated.

The artists are enthusiastic and have been working hard. They consider this a great opportunity. Let's give our support to this project and help to ensure its success.


Sunday, September 25, 2011

Turn Together, Then, and Live

The Holy Spirit makes us into a community which shares the mind of Christ, and helps each of us turn to God for life, and in that community we find the fullness of God’s grace and forgiveness.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Ordinary Time, Sunday 26, year A; texts: Philippians 2:1-13; Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Matthew 21:23-32

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

The central question of the first reading, the psalm, and the Gospel for today is, as it has been for the past few weeks, the question of God’s grace and forgiveness. And there’s a fundamental problem with the first reading and the Gospel: yet again, as we’ve been hearing before, forgiveness is something we want for ourselves, individually, but which we are not very interested in applying to others.

The more I look at this (and this is informed by the readings of the past weeks as well as of today) the more it seems that the problem stems from our assumption that forgiveness is an individual thing. Each person must stand alone before God, we assume, therefore faith is primarily a question of how each person ends up standing. Whether we believe that ultimately we stand before God and are forgiven freely by God’s grace, or, as some proclaim, we need to earn God’s favor somehow, both views imply that it’s simply a question between each person and God.

Today’s readings particularly tempt us to such interpretation, and not only because our psalm is sung from a first-person-singular perspective, “show me your ways . . . lead me in your truth and teach me.” All of our hymns today problematically share the same first-person-singular perspective as well. But when we hear readings like the ones from Ezekiel and Matthew they seem to beg for individualistic interpretation. In Ezekiel, the Lord says no more will the children be punished for the parents’ sin. Each will be responsible for their own wrongdoing. And Jesus tells a parable that could be interpreted as “Each of us is individually responsible to do the will of God.” So we read these texts, and other calls to turn and live, as if they are given to single individuals who are on their own, who need to decide whether they will admit sin and seek God, or keep to themselves.

But what if that’s not how God sees us? What if God’s saving grace and gift are most fully known and experienced in community, not in our individual hearts? In other words, what if we have been created into a community of Christ, the body of Christ, not accidentally – after all, once you have more than one person you have to figure out how people relate – but intentionally, that community is fundamentally part of God’s saving of the world? That the body of Christ as Paul teaches it is central to what it means for God to save us? If that’s truly what God is about, it would mean re-thinking some of our treasured assumptions. But if Paul’s right today, it also might be the path to life God is opening up for us in our Lord Jesus.

If we push Ezekiel and Matthew hard today on that path of individual interpretation, the cracks do show more clearly.

This sense of isolation, of individualism – that salvation is just between one person and God – seems to lead to a whole lot of worrying about other people going on in Ezekiel and Matthew today. In words from the prophet Ezekiel, the people of Israel, suffering in exile, believe that they are suffering for the sins of their parents. Their complaint: God is unfair for punishing them for things their parents and grandparents did. “We’re not to blame,” they say.

Meanwhile in Matthew the religious authorities of the Jews challenge the authority of one of their own, this rabbi Jesus. They do this in part because he’s been critical of them (this happens the day after he chased the moneychangers out of the temple). But they also challenge him in part because he’s known for consorting with bad folks, sinners. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he lifts up prostitutes and tax collectors in the punch line to this parable – he knows that rankles them deeply. With these leaders, it isn’t that they feel punished for what they’ve done, and certainly not for their parents’ sins. They’re upset that Jesus apparently isn’t interested in punishing folks who, to their mind, richly deserve it.

What seems to be happening is that if our belief is that every person stands before God on their own it leads us to all sorts of resentment and fretting about others. It’s inevitable: whether we are among those who feel they are suffering for the sins of another, or those who feel some are getting off too freely when they ought to be punished, both attitudes are self-centered. Am I getting what I deserve from God, or is God unfair? Are they not getting what they deserve from God, and therefore God is unfair?

What is lost in all of this, and this is the real problem, is the forgiving grace of God. Whether we can’t forgive a sister and brother in our own church community, or an enemy who has harmed us, or we simply are angry, as in Jesus’ parable last week, that God’s grace is fully given to lots of folks who haven’t quite done as much as we, what we’re missing is that God is offering forgiveness.

Lost in the worrying and complaining and challenging of God’s authority or fairness today is God’s powerful message: “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone. Turn, then, and live.” God claims to be able and willing to forgive anyone’s wickedness when they turn for forgiveness; the Son of God shows it by pointing out the prostitutes and tax collectors who have fully claimed the forgiveness God is offering. Meanwhile, in our griping, what we’re risking is missing out on all of this.

What we need is someone to help remind us of what’s really important, that God is offering love and grace. What we need is someone to be honest with us when we act as if we don’t sin as badly as other people do. What we need is someone who can help us recognize just how hungry and thirsty we truly are for God’s grace. Someone who can lovingly call us to repentance and confession, and in the same love lead us to the forgiveness Jesus offers. Someone who will stand with us before God.

In short, we need help. It turns out, we need a community.

There are many passages throughout Scripture that stress the communal nature of the Christian faith. We do not believe alone, they say. We are a Body. But let’s only look at Paul to the Philippians today.

This is a beautiful passage on the emptying of self-concern and conceit that comes with Christian faith. We are called by Paul to model ourselves after Jesus, who gave up everything to give us life, even to the point of death on the cross. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,” Paul says, “but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” And then, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” And again, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

And we read this and think, “Paul is inviting me to do this. I should think about what that means for me.” But there’s only one problem with that interpretation. There is nothing addressed to “me” or “I” here. It’s all about community, about “us” and “we.”

The tip-off is verse 2: “Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” You can’t do verse two alone. You can’t be in full accord, and have the same love, and the same mind with yourself. And in fact, if you look in the Greek, every single “you” in this passage is plural. If we lived in the south, we’d read every one of them “Y’all.”

And when we realize this, suddenly we’re looking at a very different thing. We’re looking at Paul assuming that we as Christians are so united, so one in Christ, that he gives his directions for Christian life to the group as a whole. In fact, this powerful passage about how Christians are shaped for life cannot be understood except in our life as community.

Listen to the difference: “Let the same mind be in all of you that was in Christ Jesus.” It’s not about each of us doing it our own way – we are called to share the mind of Christ.

“Make my joy complete by all of you having the same mind, all of you having the same love, all of you being in full accord and of one mind.”

And this hard one that is so difficult for us to understand when read individually but which makes complete sense when read as an address to a community: “Work out your salvation together in fear and trembling.” Work out together what it means to be loved by God, Paul says.

For Paul, and this is consistent in his writings I might add, the life in Christ is primarily communal. We are created into a body, and not just because there happens to be more than one believer and Jesus needed to do something with more than one. We are created into a Body by our Lord because it is in the Body that we find our true life. In this Body we learn to look first to the interests of each other because without each other we haven’t got the fullness of God’s grace.

We are called to empty ourselves together, to serve others together, to be together in faith.
So I can’t think whatever I want to think about the Gospel because I belong to you – and we belong to Christ. And so we are accountable to each other, but even more to Christ. That also means I can’t live however I want to live because I belong to you – and we belong to Christ. And so we are accountable to each other, but even more to Christ. We are called to share the same mind, the same heart, together, that Jesus had.

We do not do this alone. And that’s intentional.

When it comes to God’s forgiveness, then, if we’re sharing the mind of Christ, we are together turning and living.

The community becomes that group of sisters and brothers which lovingly, gently holds each other accountable, becomes a people who share the way of Christ.

We worship together, not alone, because God has called us together, and together we stand in need of God’s grace. The profound thing that happens as we worship together is that the Spirit makes us a community. A place where we “work out our salvation together with fear and trembling.”

And so we become the place where we can safely help each other be accountable. We can call ourselves together to be what God has made us. And we can look to each other in love and help our sister or brother recognize their need for grace. Or if they are overwhelmed by their sense of that need, invite them in love to receive it.

This is the power of confessing our sins together and hearing absolution. We’re not only accountable to God, but to each other – both for our sins and for reminding each other of God’s grace. And we experience God’s forgiveness most fully, most completely, when we live it together, know it together.

And what this does is change our focus from selfishly worrying about what others are or aren’t getting, or what we might or might not be suffering, to primarily concern for others. Shaped into a community accountable to Christ and forgiven by Christ, we learn to look to the needs of others before our own.

And because we know that our experience of God’s forgiveness is fully understood in community, we don’t resent others for being forgiven, we rejoice in it as a sign of the utterly astonishing grace of God which also gives us life. And without our sisters and brothers, without the forgiveness they have received, our sense of God’s forgiveness is lessened.

It’s a hard lesson to learn, but it’s a lesson which ultimately gives life.

We are in this thing together. That’s the way our Lord Jesus has made us. And together we learn that God does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, but wants us all to turn and live. Together we remind ourselves that we have life offered in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and that we all, all, are desperately in need of it.

Have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, Paul says – that’s our call. And it’s a call we live and breathe together. And in sharing that mind, focusing on the needs of each other and the grace God is giving each other, amazingly we also find ourselves filled with grace and love without all our worrying. Maybe that’s what Jesus had in mind all along.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Olive Branch, 9/19/11

Accent on Worship

What Just Happened?

Have you experienced this phenomenon? When waking up from an afternoon nap, you have a moment of not quite knowing where you are, what time it is, and what has just happened. Or you attend a movie, play, or experience a concert that takes you out of time and space and it takes you some time to re-enter reality and the here and now.

When attending a hymn festival led by Paul Manz, this was almost always the case for me. I’d want to hear “him play” but would leave with that sense of having been some where else. I’m not alone in that experience with these hymn festivals, as I hear these stories everywhere I go – most recently from a pastor in Midland, Texas.

The extent of Paul Manz’s influence is something to ponder. His life and work had a profound influence on perhaps more than he knew, and perhaps more than any of us will know. We do know that it was not limited to being amazed by the playing itself – it was deep.

What was it? What began here at Mount Olive?

As we “wake up” from his direct influence now that he and Ruth are no longer here with us “on earth” (as we say - a rather curious way of putting it, don’t you think?) and try to figure out where we are, and what the here and now calls us to. We can do this as we reflect on the experiences we had with our direct interaction and partnership with Paul Manz here at Mount Olive and beyond.

The Music and Fine Arts committee has planned a two-day event called “Manz Tage” during which we will hear about his ministry first here in Minneapolis, and then in Chicago following these years. We will sing together, we will hear about what the role “Cantor” means for Lutherans. (The term is also used in the Jewish Synagogue, and in Roman Catholic liturgies in different ways). Organists will learn about improvising for hymnody. We will hear an organ recital by a recipient of the scholarship Mount Olive established years ago.

The purpose is not only to nostalgically remember (which we will do, of course) but to talk about carrying forth the momentum begun by this congregation and this prophet in our time. We reflect how we respond to “water having been poured” - how we carry forth the power of this Baptismal water on our own.

A brochure with additional information and registration form is attached to this edition of the emailed Olive Branch. Hard copies of the Manz Tage brochure are available at Mount Olive. Sign up, and join us.

- Cantor David Cherwien



This Sunday’s Adult Education: 9:30 am in the Chapel Lounge

The second part of a 2-part presentation by The Rev. Dr. Terrence Fretheim of Luther Seminary: “Where is God in the Tsunami?”



Minneapolis Guitar Quartet

Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts’ 2011-2012 season kicks off with a concert by the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet this Sunday, September 25, at 4 p.m.



Volunteer Tutors Needed

The Way to Goals Tutoring Program for students from second through sixth grade, will resume on Tuesday, October 4. We will meet every Tuesday evening (except for the days that Minneapolis Public Schools are not in session) from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. for tutoring, a snack, and an activity. The program will end for the year on May 29, 2012. Consider being a part of this wonderful program, by volunteering to be a tutor.

There will be a dinner and short training session for new tutors on Saturday, September 24, at the home of Donna Neste, beginning at 6:30 p.m. If you would like more information, would like to volunteer, or need directions to Donna’s house, call her at church 612-827-5919.



Sign up, Sign Up for Coffee!

Volunteers are needed to serve coffee following both Sunday morning liturgies for the next several weeks. If you are willing to serve, please sign up at coffee hour on Sunday – or call the church office to be signed up!



Book Discussion
For their meeting on October 8, the Book Discussion group will Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, and for the November 12 meeting they will discuss The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.

Mount Olive’s Book Discussion Group meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. All readers welcome!



Congratulations!

 To former Mount Olive member, Daniel Ross-Jones, on his ordination into the ministry of the United Church of Christ on September 24. He has been called to serve as Minister for Youth and Young Adults at First Congregational Church (UCC) of Palo Alto, CA;

 To former Vicar Jennifer Peters McCurry on her installation as pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Etna, PA.



Brunch, Anyone?

Mount Olive shares a small tri-fold flyer with the names and addresses of several local restaurants which serve Sunday brunch. We are in the process of updating that brochure and are eager to include any of YOUR recommendations! Have you enjoyed a Sunday brunch at a local restaurant recently? If so, please drop a note to Susan Cherwien at scherwien@aol.com within the next couple of weeks, and we will include your recom- mendations in the updated flyer.



MICAH Fundraiser Event

MICAH, a faith-based organization that works for affordable housing for all, has been supported by Mount Olive for seventeen years. They would like to invite Mount Olive members to join them on Sunday, Oct. 16, to realize a vision for a metropolitan area where everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.

Professional musicians and spoken word artists will inspire and motivate each of us to take action and raise funds for MICAH. The event includes a reception (with drawing for special prizes) at 2:30 pm, and a program at 3:30 pm at Capri Theatre in Minneapolis. Tickets are $30.00 each, available at www.micah.org or by contacting Paul Stoll at paulstoll@charter.net. You may also purchase tickets from Donna Neste by calling her at church (612-827-5919) or by sending an email to her at d_nestea@yahoo.com.



Vestry Update, September 12, 2011

The September 12 Vestry meeting served as the meeting for August and September as there were not enough members able to attend the August meeting to meet quorum. The meeting opened with everyone introducing themselves to Vicar Erik Doughty and welcoming him to Mount Olive.

The unfinished business portion of the meeting included reports from Al Bipes on the “Guidelines for the Staff Support Committee Members of Mount Olive Lutheran Church,” a working document that will be reviewed by the Vestry and ratified at the October meeting. There were also brief updates on the Capital Campaign and the visioning process which are ongoing projects.

President Adam Kruger shared two thank you notes that have been sent to Mount Olive. Crestview Senior Communities and Our Savior’s Housing sent their thanks to the congregation for monetary gifts received. He also passed along a request to refurbish the faded reredos to the Worship Committee.

The Worship Committee also stepped forward to cover the fee to allow Vicar Erik to attend a Preaching Conference with Pastor at Luther Seminary. Everyone agreed that this is an important event for him to attend as a part of his internship experience at Mount Olive.

The 2011-2012 calendar was reviewed and dates were finalized for events planned for the upcoming year. There will be many opportunities for the congregation to participate in not only worship, but volunteering, meals and fellowship as well.

Individual Directors within the Vestry will meet with their committees in the upcoming weeks to develop their 2012 budgetary needs and submit them to Dennis Bidwell by October 1. We were all encouraged to look closely at the budgets to determine if there are any monies that can be released or streamlined as well as any new endeavors being considered. As committees and commitments evolve, it is important for us to remember to evaluate and modify as we progress so that we are all making the best possible use of funding.

Pastor Crippen, along with Vicar Erik, is planning to add another Bible study at Mount Olive and will be discussing with Diana how it might fit into the educational plan of the congregation. He also highlighted a visit from the Leipzig District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Saxony, Germany. A group of musicians is coming to discuss music, culture and liturgy and we need to find housing for some of the members of the group for a few days while they are here.

Cantor Cherwien is excited to have the Cantorei back up and running! It is a large group and he has been pleased with what he has heard so far. His next quest is to find new music for the choir to sing so that they might expand their repertoire from previous years.

Carla Manuel has had a busy summer with Congregational Life. She and Gail Nielsen are working to brainstorm different fundraiser opportunities so that they can purchase some additional items for the kitchen. Carla also brought up the need for a liaison to Crestview Nursing Home, which would require 2-3 visits a year from any interested individual.

Andrew Andersen is glad to be back worshiping after being out ill. He plans to have more updates from the Evangelism Committee for the next Vestry meeting. At the October meeting
Paul Schadewald will also have a list of organizations that the Missions Committee plans to work with in the future.

Eunice Hafemeister and Carol Austermann reported that the Neighborhood Ministries Committee unanimously agreed to eliminate the name MONAC to avoid confusion and include all related activities under the umbrella of Neighborhood Ministries. The congregation will be asked to vote on the removal of the parenthetical “MONAC” in bylaw 4.05 at the next meeting.

David Molvik is hoping to strengthen the Properties Committee this year by adding members. He is looking for people to help him with the various needs around the building and plans to continue work on the building usage policy and how it relates to our mission at Mount Olive.

Irene Campbell is investigating how the Mount Olive youth might participate in next year’s national youth gathering. Mount Olive’s young people may go to the gathering or they may be invited to take part in a local event such as a retreat or day-long event.

It was moved by Al Bipes that the Vestry create a standing sub-committee for communications, public relations, advertising and marketing. The committee would be composed of members of the congregation who would work to communicate all of the activities taking place at Mount Olive as well as promote the congregation through various media channels. The motion was tabled for discussion at the October Vestry meeting.

Several items on the wish list have been purchased for the Godly Play and a new chair has been purchased for Vicar Erik through the generosity of Tom Graves and Ginny Agresti. Vice President Lisa Nordeen will continue to update the wish list as items are purchased and gifts come in.

The next Vestry meeting will be on October 10 at 7:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Nordeen, Vice President



Leipzig Group to Visit Mount Olive; Home Hosts Needed

Mount Olive will be a part of the Minneapolis Area Synod’s welcome to a group of 17 church music directors and pastors in October, and host homes are needed for the three guests who will spend several days at Mount Olive.

Homes are needed for the nights of October 15 to 19. During those days our guests will meet with Pr. Crippen and Cantor Cherwien and talk about the intersection of liturgy and culture and the world in our context. The whole group will worship at congregations throughout the synod, so some of the others will likely come to Mount Olive. Five other congregations will host parts of the group as Mount Olive is doing. The Leipzig District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony, Germany, is a companion synod of the Minneapolis Area Synod.

Please contact the church office if you are willing and able to provide room for one of our guests. This is going to be an exciting opportunity for the congregation to learn and share!



Sunday, September 18, 2011

Totally Unfair

In both the Jonah and Matthew texts for today, God forgives and extends grace, offending our human sense of fairness and justice, choosing God’s own justice and mercy. We are blessed by that mercy.

Vicar Erik Doughty, Ordinary Time, Sunday 25, year A; texts: Jonah 3:10 - 4:11; Psalm 145:1-8; Matthew 20:1-16

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

An ancient Facebook status:

LIKE THIS STATUS TO HOLD GOD TO HIS PROMISE TO DESTROY NINEVEH! PASTE TO YOUR PROFILE! GOD SHOULD BE FAIR TO HIS PROPHETS AND IS MAKING THEM LOOK BAD! TELL GOD TO BE FAIR! SPREAD THE WORD!

or how about:

COPY AND PASTE THIS TO YOUR STATUS, AND JOIN OUR PAGE TO PRESSURE THE VINEYARD OWNER TO PAY A LIVING WAGE, AND EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK! JUSTICE FOR THE WORKERS!

In September, our lectionary texts have first called us to forgive, then reminded us we are God’s servants commanded to forgive infinitely. Today God offends our sense of justice and fairness . . . and next week, God will annoy us by inviting all manner of (literally and figuratively) unwashed folk into community with us.

From Jonah’s point of view, God is a jerk! First God calls Jonah to go preach doom to Jonah’s enemies: Go to the capital city of your aggressive enemies, and tell them God’s gonna overthrow them in 40 days. This is not a fun assignment! And many of you know the story-- Jonah runs the OTHER way, away from God’s call-- and through the story, everyone but God’s prophet seems to recognize God at work. The sailors in the boat, they see God at work. The elements of nature obey God, including the Great Fish that swallows Jonah. Jonah finally does preach doom to the Ninevites, not mentioning God or repentance at all, and what happens? The Ninevites repent (including their cows!) and turn to God.

And then-- this is the part that really bugs Jonah -- God forgives Jonah’s enemies.

Jonah’s response is to pitch a fit while yelling a Psalm. He takes the last verse of today’s Psalm and rephrases it as a temper tantrum: “I knew you were going to do this. I knew you would forgive my enemies. I knew you were gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. That’s why I didn’t want to come do this job in the first place! ARGH! I wish I were dead!”

And God says, “Should you be angry about this?”

Jonah doesn’t even answer. He turns away and stomps out of the (forgiven) city of his enemies. If this were a cartoon, he’d have steam coming out his ears. And he makes himself a place to sit, and watches the city, hoping God will change God’s mind back to “DOOM” so Jonah can see his enemies obliterated.

But God has dealt with Ninevah with forgiveness. God’s already DONE with Ninevah. God’s problem now is with his crabby prophet who still doesn’t Get It.

So instead of messing around any further with Ninevah, God works on Jonah’s attitude. God makes a bush (or vine) grow up to give Jonah shade-- which makes Jonah happy. And overnight, God sends a worm to kill that plant. . . and then God sends a hot breeze. Again Jonah says, “I wish I were dead!”

(You notice, again, that we’re adding to the list of who’s obedient and thankful in working for and with God-- now, in addition to the wind and waves and pagan sailors and the great fish, we’ve added the enemy pagan people of Nineveh, their cows, the bush, the worm, and the sultry east wind. Who’s still resisting God’s call? That’s right, Jonah God’s prophet.)

So again God asks, “Is it right for you to be angry?” And again, even now, Jonah says, “Yes! I wish I were dead!”

And the final verses of the whole story of Jonah documents God trying to give Jonah perspective. “You’re concerned about a bush that you had nothing to do with. I, God, am concerned about all these people and animals that I do have something to do with!”

And we never hear Jonah’s response Maybe that is for the best, right?

Over to Matthew. It’s a different story but it pulls us into Jonah’s place, you see, as the crabby insider crying “it’s not fair!”

In the parable, the owner of the vineyard goes out and hires day laborers, and promises the first bunch of workers a denarius a day-- it was the usual daily wage for day laborers, but as in our time, the usual wage for day labor was pretty low.

He goes again, later, and hires another batch for “whatever is right.” And another batch of workers is hired even later in the day-- at that point the owner just tells them to go into the vineyard; there’s no discussion of pay at all.

But when time comes to pay them, this totally unfair vineyard owner pays the last-hired first, and pays them as though they worked the entire time! And eventually, the first-hired, the longest-working ones, get a denarius too. No overtime, no bonus.

So these workers gripe! They say, “We worked hard and they haven’t and you made them equal to us!”

But the totally unfair vineyard owner says, “It’s my vineyard; it’s my money; it’s my choice. Is it my generosity that makes you mad?”

And again, as with Jonah, we don’t hear the answer from the laborers.

But we do know the answer, don’t we? It’s our answer too. The answer is YES! Yes, we were pretty sure we wanted a fair and just God. Yes, we wanted a bonus for working longer hours. Yes, we’re pretty sure those other folks don’t deserve all they’re getting. Yes, if we’d known this was how it would all work out, we’d have stepped back and been in one of the later-hired groups! Yes, the vineyard-workers’ union rep is gonna hear about this, eh?

A reality we must face is that, whenever we come to work in the vineyard, there is always someone who comes in later than we do, yet receives the same grace that we do. Whenever we proclaim God’s powerful word to the world estranged from God, there are always those who repent and are forgiven, who join us in the pew and at communion, whose mere presence-- and whose forgiveness by God-- makes us want to throw a fit. When we live life in community, and that community is within God’s world, there are always times when we are the last ones to be on-board with God’s desire to love, forgive, and reconcile the world. Sometimes we’re Jonah and those long-working day laborers. We’d much rather have front-row seats to watch our enemies destroyed, more so than gathering with them at the altar. And we’d rather those folks who came in after we did, or who do a little less at church, got a little less than we did.

And some of us here have a different history where we were those folks in Nineveh, or the pagan sailors, or the workers called late. We know too well, now, that we were on a bad path, part of a community that had no care for God, or for whatever reason we were hostile to God. And we recognized God’s work in the world, or heard God’s call; and here we are; and a denarius in our hand and forgiveness by God has given us new life.

Well-- here we all are, together.

We are called to forgive one another-- in corporate confession and forgiveness; in the sharing of the peace; in the Lord’s prayer.

We are encouraged to strive side by side for the faith of the gospel, in sermon, hymns; liturgy.

We are entrusted to one another in community-- and this is what happens at the font, at the altar; in the prayers we share; and at confirmation, at weddings, at funerals, even (or maybe especially) at coffee hour.

We are sent from this place, weekly, to let God’s Word and God’s Holy Spirit work in our lives, so that we do more than help others around us-- we listen. We walk together. We truly become neighbors and we build the other up.

Wherever our heads and hearts are when we arrive here-- and whatever God’s creatures and God’s worlds are doing outdoors-- it IS God who calls us here. It is God who is true not to our sense of justice, but instead is true to God’s own sense of justice AND MERCY. It is God who, for the sake of Christ, is absolutely and totally unfair in giving us not the judgement we deserve, but the blessing and grace we have not earned. It is God who changes our status, you see, from “condemned” to “redeemed.” It is God who cares for us, and gives us to one another, that we may take that blessing and grace right out into daily life with us, for the sake of the world. Thanks be to our totally unfair God.

Monday, September 12, 2011

The Olive Branch, 9/12/11

Accent on Worship

Forgiveness Given and Received

This month our lectionary readings are exploring the nature and shape of forgiveness, both divine and human. It is central to our proclamation about the Son of God that he came to restore relationships between the Triune God and the people of this world, to save us by bringing us back into fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The only way that can and will be accomplished is by God’s gracious forgiving of all our wrongdoing, even to the point of facing death on the cross.

What our readings explore is our own struggle to be shaped by the forgiveness we have received. We’ve had Jesus articulate a way to find reconciliation in a community, tell a parable about someone forgiven much who cannot in turn forgive, and next Sunday we hear him tell a parable about people who resent the generosity of God toward others. With the models of Joseph forgiving his brothers last week and Jonah resenting God’s forgiving the people of Nineveh next Sunday, the Old Testament readings parallel this direction of Jesus. On the last Sunday of the month, God challenges the people of Israel who have claimed God is not fair in punishing their sins, and Jesus holds up prostitutes and tax collectors as the righteous who will go into the kingdom before those who consider themselves righteous.

In short, we live and breathe by the joyful proclamation of God’s forgiving us freely, yet we somehow have made a disconnect between that grace and how we live our lives. That this is a serious human problem is evidenced by the many words in Scripture which address it. That we all too easily recognize ourselves in those words and stories is painful evidence that they still apply.

We are beginning each liturgy this month with confession and forgiveness. Our pattern is to use an order for absolution when the readings seem to call for it, and this month is clearly calling for it. However, we’re doing a more fully imagined rite than the brief order we more normally do. In using the order for corporate confession in our worship books, which includes a litany asking for the mercy of the Triune God, we hope to take the time to contemplate seriously this broken, disconnected reality in our lives.

At the end of the first reading for September 25, we read, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the LORD God. Turn, then, and live.” Let us turn and confess our sinful withholding of forgiveness, our sinful holding of resentments and grudges, and our sinful need to see others punished, while begging for mercy ourselves. Let us turn, and with God’s living grace, live.

- Joseph



This Sunday’s Adult Education: 9:30 am in the Chapel Lounge

The first of a 2-part presentation by The Rev. Dr. Terrence Fretheim of Luther Seminary: “Where is God in the Tsunami?”

Part two will be presented next Sunday, September 25.



MFA’s 2011-2012 Series

Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts 2011-2012 season kicks off with a concert by the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet on Sunday, September 25 at 4 p.m.

Music and Fine Arts Committee members will be on hand between liturgies this Sunday, September 18, seeking your support of this year’s series. Please be generous!



Volunteer Tutors Needed

The Way to Goals Tutoring Program for students from second through sixth grade, will resume on Tuesday, October 4. We will meet every Tuesday evening (except for the days that Minneapolis Public Schools are not in session) from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. for tutoring, a snack, and an activity. The program will end for the year on May 29, 2012. Consider being a part of this wonderful program, by volunteering to be a tutor.

There will be a dinner and short training session for new tutors on Saturday, September 24, at the home of Donna Neste, beginning at 6:30 p.m. If you would like more information, would like to volunteer, or need directions to Donna’s house, call her at church 612-827-5919.



Attention Greeters!

The first of two informational meetings for Greeters was held this past Sunday, Sept. 11. A second session will be held for those who were not able to attend. This second session is this Sunday, Sept. 18, beginning at 9:30 a.m. These sessions are for all greeters and also for those who might be interested in serving in this capacity.

As worship leadership and worship servant rosters have changed over the years, so have some past practices. All worship servants are going through similar training and information sessions so that we're all performing our duties with consistency. If you are a Greeter and were unable to attend last Sunday’s session, please consider attending the session this Sunday. We will meet after the first liturgy at 9:30 at the rear of the nave.

- Brian Jacobs, Greeter coordinator



Did You Know …

… that MONAC is now serving Community Meals twice a month at Mount Olive? The second meal is served on the 3rd Saturday of the month. Although mid-month meals have just begun, attendance has increased, which is an indication of the need for this kind of service.

If the Spirit moves you to be involved in this ministry, this is a perfect opportunity! Food preparation begins several hours before serving time (Noon to 1 pm). During that hour, volunteers dish up food, serve beverages, etc. Mount Olive workers, when having their lunch, are encouraged to sit and converse with the people from the community. Naturally, clean-up follows the meal and volunteers are needed for this, too. You may choose to work during the whole or any part of this operation, on either the first or third Saturday of the month. Those who have been involved in this ministry find it a rewarding experience, and enjoy the camaraderie with fellow workers. No need to sign up or give notice, just come!



MICAH Fundraiser Event

MICAH, a faith-based organization that works for affordable housing for all, has been supported by Mount Olive for seventeen years. They would like to invite Mount Olive members to join them on Sunday, Oct. 16, to realize a vision for a metropolitan area where everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.

Professional musicians and spoken word artists will inspire and motivate each of us to take action and raise funds for MICAH. The event includes a reception (with drawing for special prizes) at 2:30 pm, and a program at 3:30 pm at Capri Theatre in Minneapolis. Tickets are $30.00 each, available at www.micah.org or by contacting Paul Stoll at paulstoll@charter.net. You may also purchase tickets from Donna Neste by calling her at church (612-827-5919) or by sending an email to her at d_nestea@yahoo.com.



A Stewardship Opportunity forAll Women of Mount Olive

Leanna Kloempken from Mount Olive is planning to attend the Women of the ELCA gathering later this week. WELCA is collecting an offering of personal care items for a women’s shelter, and small gift items to be placed in Christmas stockings for developmentally delayed adults. and would be pleased to bring our donations to the above location. If you can help provide these donations, please bring them, clearly marked for either of the two designated recipients above, or just “WELCA,” to the church office or the church library no later than this Wednesday, September 14.

Thanks for whatever help YOU can offer!



Church Library News

Have you been in to browse in our restored church library yet? If not, we invite you to come soon and we recommend allowing extra time to explore the treasure trove of good reading and reference material available there. With the arrival of the fall worship and education schedule, the library is now open expanded hours, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon each Sunday. Until further notice, please bring books from the Courtyard library back to the main library to be checked out. From time to time, we will highlight a special display in our library and at this time, we want to feature just a few books that will likely be helpful to all those involved with the challenging job of parenting:


52 Ways to Raise Happy and Loving Kids (and Avoid Parent Burnout)
Nine Challenges for Parents (Leading Your Child into Responsible Adulthood)
Different Children and Different Needs (The Art of Adjustable Parenting)
How to Parent Your T'weenagers
The Gift of Love
A Second Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul


This week's slogan to end this article is -- "If you hope to develop a child reader, Mom and Dad need to be readers too!"


- Leanna Kloempken

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Not for Ourselves

Forgiveness of others who have wronged us – however awful we believe the wrong to be – is commanded of us by the Lord to whom we belong, whose forgiveness claims and saves us, whose authority is over us in all things.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Ordinary Time, Sunday 24, year A; texts: Romans 14:1-12 (13-19 added); Matthew 18:21-35; Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 107:1-13

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

There are some extravagant numbers being thrown around in our Gospel today. In today’s dollars, the first slave was forgiven a debt of roughly $3 billion. He then threw his fellow slave in jail for a debt of a little under $8,000. 3 billion. 8 thousand. Jesus has crafted a parable which is so ludicrous in scope and reality – what ruler would loan $3 billion to a slave in the first place, and what ruler would then forgive such a debt without any further demands – that it effectively makes any counter arguments impossible. Should anyone come up with a sin which seems impossible to forgive, they would still run up against Jesus’ dramatically overstated figures and fall short.

Here are some other extravagant numbers to consider that have the unfortunate problem of being real. Estimated dollars spent by Al Qaeda in planning and executing the attack on the United States ten years ago: half a million dollars. Amount spent by the United States to punish those responsible, including some estimated dollars for future continuing of the war begun in 2003: about $3.3 trillion. [1] Which incidentally is about a fifth of our current national debt. Some more numbers to consider: in retaliation for the brutal murder of 2,977 people in the airplane attacks of that day, the United States began a war in a country which had nothing to do with the attacks, and the current death toll of Iraqi civilians is at least over 110,000 – some studies argue a far larger number. This doesn’t even take into account the brave men and women who’ve been sent away from their families for years at a time to fight these wars, the nearly 5,000 of them who have been killed, and the tens of thousands who have suffered the trauma and mental anguish of years of war.

This is a hard day to handle as Christians, isn’t it? I’m grateful for our readings assigned to today, because they’re helping me process what we need to consider as we move forward as Christians who are also American citizens. Because there is nothing we can say about our people and our nation on that day that is not honorable and worthy of recall. The indescribable horror in which people acted again and again with immeasurable bravery, the tragic loss of so many good people, the powerful sense of community which was created across our country – we remember the events of that day with pride, with sadness, with incredible gratitude for those who gave their lives willingly and those whose lives were taken from them without any choice.

But when we look at what we have done in the past ten years, it’s hard to comprehend. Are 3,000 American lives [2] really worth 110,000 Iraqi lives? To say nothing of Afghan civilians. How many scenes like 9-11 have been experienced in villages and cities across those two countries in the past ten years, brave people risking lives and rushing in to save others while their cities burn and they mourn their losses? And was there nothing we could have done with that $3.3 trillion in the past ten years that would have created jobs, educated children, built affordable housing, bolstered the economy? In the face of Jesus’ parable how can we sit by and ignore the questions that must be asked: was our wanton spending and even more wanton war-making necessary in response? Was it moral? Can it be condoned by followers of Jesus? Was there really no other way? And even if our country had chosen that way, why were we in this room and in churches across the country, Christians all, willing to let it pass? To hold up the flag as the standard for our behavior instead of the cross?

I’m coming to believe that we who believe in Christ are guilty of the sin of omission here. We have not spoken out enough a word of peace and reconciliation in this case. We too often have let the images of that day drive us to blind support and unquestioning acceptance of any amount of spending, any amount of death, and too often we have said nothing. All this we can and must confess.

But we have today to live. And God willing, tomorrow. And God’s word today once more calls us to live differently. We can and will confess our sin. But the real issue for God is: what will we do now? How will we now live? And for that we return to a basic understanding of Christians which we have lost in our love of our independence. We have it from Paul today: we are not our own authority, for we belong to a Lord who claims our lives.

“We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves,” Paul says. (v. 7) We are the Lord’s.

This passage is often read at funerals, and it’s powerfully helpful. To know that whether we live or whether we die, we belong to Christ, that is good news. I can see why it is often chosen.

But did you notice the context? It originally had nothing to do with the time of funerals. Paul’s talking about how we live with each other, and even with non-believers. He describes a way of living which sets aside our own needs for the sake of others. Which recognizes above all that we are not the center of the universe, or even of our own lives. To paraphrase what children often say, “We’re not the boss of us.”

There’s a claim here – we do not belong to ourselves. Baptized into Christ, we are claimed by God. We belong to God. And so Paul, Jesus, and many of the New Testament writers consistently use the word “slave” or “servant” to describe our relationship to God. We don’t have the freedom to act however we will. We do have free will, but we have set that aside in obedience to the God who saves us.

We have a Lord. Who is in charge. Whose will is ours to obey. And in our independent nation, where people feel free to say “be what you want to be” and “do what you want to do,” we say that isn’t so. We say that our will is bound to the God who loves us, who died for us, who forgives us, and who makes us new.

So even, as in Paul’s several scenarios, we might think we are right and others wrong, we do not do anything which might trample on the other. As Paul says, “Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall.” (v. 4) They, too, belong to God, not to us, he says. And maybe he’s even suggesting here that this is true for those who are not believers in Christ.

So we stand in relationship to others – in our community and outside, in our nation and outside – as people who don’t just get to do what we want to do because we are concerned about the other. Because our Lord is concerned about the other.

“Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died,” Paul says. (v. 15) Or, we might add, what you think. Or what you believe. Michael Garvey, a theologian who taught at Notre Dame, once put it this way: “Whether or not you are among ‘those who in principle oppose the use of military force,’ if you believe that Jesus is Who He says He is, you know that it is impossible to kill without killing a specific person whom Jesus loves enough to die for.” [3] Whether we are contemplating forgiving a sin of a brother or sister in our own community, or the grievous sins of terrorists against our own country, it matters not. All people are people whom Christ loved enough to die for. That’s central to our proclamation.

We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

This is also central to all our readings and their exploration of forgiveness and retribution today.

Joseph’s brothers admit what they did was a “crime” – they don’t softsoap. But they hope they will be forgiven. You can argue that they’re only being self-serving here and not honest. Joseph has all the power, and the food, after all. But Joseph understands that it is not his call. Yes, they abducted him, faked his murder, sold him into slavery, leaving him for dead. But Joseph says, “Am I God?” I don’t get to make this call. And he promises to take care of them and their families.

And we’ve already heard from Paul, but listen to another thing he says: “Who are you to pass judgment on your brother or sister?” he says. “We all stand before the judgment seat of God.” (v. 10) So all are under God’s rule, God’s authority. As are we. So we don’t have the authority to do retribution or judgment on others. Or even withhold forgiveness.

And in Jesus’ parable, the fellow slaves of the unforgiving one recognize that their lord’s grace has been offended against. They know this is bigger than themselves, because they all are under the same lord. So they take their concerns about their fellow slave to the one in authority, whose will truly matters. They know that their lord is in charge, and he must deal with this person, not they.

So fundamentally, this is our question: whom do we serve, ourselves or God?

Because if we truly belong to the God who faced the cross rather than use force against sinners, we are commanded to do the same. If we truly claim the forgiveness of the Risen Jesus we are claimed and commanded to be able to forgive even those who kill us, as Jesus did.

We can’t take up obedience to the Triune God and put it off when it’s inconvenient. We can’t claim salvation by the way of the cross and either openly or silently support destruction of others by the way of the sword. At some point, we have to know: is our loyalty to ourselves ultimately, or some vague national patriotism, or local parochialism, or family pride? Or is it to our Lord and Savior by whose blood we live?

And if we admit we belong to God, then Jesus’ point is for us: if we are going to trust God for our own forgiveness, we cannot withhold forgiveness from others. How can we declare again and again about the events of a decade ago, “Never forget” and then sing with joy in our psalm today this prayer of thanks to God: “You will not always accuse us, nor keep your anger forever.” (v. 9)

How can we demand that others pay for what they have done when we sang in the same psalm this wonder of God: “You have not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities.” (v. 10) The servants in Jesus’ parable understand this is impossible. We simply cannot avoid this reality: we have been forgiven everything. Our forgiving Lord commands us to do the same.

Frankly, it’s hard to argue that doing it our way makes us any more secure. Our world is in worse shape now than it was then. Our economy is near collapse, and no one would claim that terrorism has been eliminated. We’ve spent trillions, killed hundreds of thousands, and we’re still afraid and unsafe and vulnerable. So even if God’s claim on us in Baptism isn’t enough to cause us to change how we are, surely practical reason would suggest the way of peace might be tried?

And notice – there is nothing in any of these readings which doesn’t take seriously the actions in need of forgiveness. It’s just that they say we are to forgive. No one demands that the events of 9-11 be diminished or considered as nothing. If anything, their severity is what we need to take seriously, because we are called to forgive all things, not just little things.

And we are called to confess our own sins, and those of our nation, which by any reckoning are far greater than anything done to us. And then hope that we can be forgiven.

Jesus believes the world can be changed by such forgiveness. He died to prove this. Brothers can be reconciled. Slaves can be freed. Lost can be found. And even the world can be healed. In the end, it’s the only thing that will heal the world. Not power and violence, not retribution and vengeance, and certainly not battleships made from the steel of the destroyed towers.

Peter thought he had the perfect answer to Jesus’ call to forgiveness.

He offered seven as the amount – if someone sins the same sin against me seven times, and I forgive them seven times, is that enough? Seven is the complete, perfect number biblically, the holy number. And Jesus’ response: how about holiness beyond holiness, completion times completion? How about unlimited forgiveness and reconciliation?

After all, Jesus says, that’s what I’ve offered you. That’s what gives you life. Now I need you to do the same.

And friends, this isn’t our call. We have a Lord and Savior. And he’s given us a command. Now may he give us the grace and strength to do it, and to live it with our lives. May he give us the courage to speak out in the public square even if it means others criticize, so that we can call our nation to live up to its highest ideals. But even more so that we ourselves can live up to the calling our risen and forgiving Lord gives us.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

Notes
[1] The New York Times, www.nytimes.com, 09-08-11.
[2] Actually, not all were Americans. There were 372 citizens of other countries among the 2,977 killed, or about 12%. The point is the same.
[3] Michael Garvey, Notre Dame University, courtesy of Richard Cross, quoted in “Slowly Waking to Justice,” by Kristen Johnson Ingram, Weavings XVII:6 November/December 2002, p. 21.


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Olive Branch, 9/5/11

Accent on Worship

I’m excited to be your vicar this year!

I grew up on five acres outside a small central-Illinois town (Brimfield, population 850). My Dad was employed by the Federal Aviation Administration as an air-traffic controller, then a supervisor, until he retired a few years ago. Mom was a part-time teacher aide until she retired at the end of last year’s school year. I do have one older brother, who is married and lives with his wife and their kids in Sterling, Illinois.

I graduated from Augustana College, Rock Island, IL, in 1995 with my B.A. in Religion (and a minor in Geography). I was active in Campus Ministries there, and my campus job was “Sacristan”! The campus minister at the time, Rev. Richard “Swanie” Swanson, was a mentor to me, and was one of the first people who got me thinking about ordained ministry.

Once I graduated, I volunteered full-time for a year through Lutheran Volunteer Corps. That 1995/1996 year was the first time I visited Mount Olive, too! After my LVC year, I entered Luther Seminary.

I studied at Luther, then went on an early internship, and it was not good. I made mistakes, the congregation was extremely conservative, it was in a dim climate (Western Washington), and I felt I had to be closeted. It just was not a good fit! So I came back at the halfway point, dropped out of seminary, and worked in retail for about 8 years.

But the call to ministry didn’t go away, and the ELCA has changed to allow for partnered gay and lesbian clergy. Therefore, here I am with some added life experience, ready to learn from you, my teachers this year.

My partner, Scott, and I live in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis. We share our home with three cats and our chocolate-lab puppy, Molly. In spare time you will usually find me gardening, reading books, cooking, and taking pictures (which I send to my Grandma through e-mail).

I’m delighted to meet you all!

- Vicar Erik Doughty


Regular Worship Scheduleto Resume This Sunday

Beginning this Sunday, September 11, and continuing through May 20, 2012, Mount Olive will resume its regular Sunday worship schedule: two liturgies each Sunday morning at 8:00 and 10:45 a.m. Sunday church school resumes that day as well.


Mount Olive Invited to LSSCelebration for Changing Lives

Saturday, September 17, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota are holding their annual celebration and dinner, and have asked if Mount Olive congregation would be willing to provide a table of guests. The reception and dinner begin at 5:30 p.m. at the downtown Hilton, and include a program of entertainment by The Steeles and a “Fund-the-Need” auction. Mount Olive recently contributed $20,000 to the capital campaign for the Center for Changing Lives, benevolence giving from our own capital campaign. The cost is $90 per person, and a table is made up of 10 people. If any are interested in being a part of this as a group from Mount Olive, please contact Pr. Crippen by September 6.


Next Olive Branch Deadline

Beginning with this issue of The Olive Branch, we resume weekly publication. The deadline for information for the newsletter is Mondays at Noon.


MFA’s 2011-2012 Series

Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts has an exciting series planned for this year. Brochures for the upcoming season should arrive in the mail near the beginning of September.

The season kicks off with a concert by the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet on Sunday, September 25 at 4 p.m.

Music and Fine Arts Committee members will be on hand between liturgies on Sundays, September 11 and 18, seeking your support of this year’s series. Please be generous!


Book Discussion Group

For its meeting on September 10 the Book Discussion Group will read Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison. And for the October 8 meeting they will read Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton.


Did You Know …

… that MONAC is now serving Community Meals twice a month at Mount Olive? The second meal is served on the 3rd Saturday of the month. Although mid-month meals have just begun, attendance has increased, which is an indication of the need for this kind of service.

If the Spirit moves you to be involved in this ministry, this is a perfect opportunity! Food preparation begins several hours before serving time (Noon to 1 pm). During that hour, volunteers dish up food, serve beverages, etc. Mount Olive workers, when having their lunch, are encouraged to sit and converse with the people from the community. Naturally, clean-up follows the meal and volunteers are needed for this, too. You may choose to work during the whole or any part of this operation, on either the first or third Saturday of the month. Those who have been involved in this ministry find it a rewarding experience, and enjoy the camaraderie with fellow workers. No need to sign up or give notice, just come!


First Sunday Food Ingathering

Mount Olive Neighborhood Ministries (MONAC) continues its monthly ingathering of non-perishable food items for area food shelves. On the first Sunday of each month, worshippers are encouraged to bring food items to church and place them in the grocery cart in the coat room. They will be delivered to our local food shelves.

MONAC also receives donations of travel-sized toiletries to be distributed to area homeless persons. These can also be placed in the coat area in the box provided.

Thanks for your support!


MICAH Fundraiser Event

MICAH, a faith-based organization that works for affordable housing for all, has been supported by Mount Olive for seventeen years. They would like to invite Mount Olive members to join them on Sunday, Oct. 16, to realize a vision for a metropolitan area where everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.

Professional musicians and spoken word artists will inspire and motivate each of us to take action and raise funds for MICAH. The event includes a reception (with drawing for special prizes) at 2:30 pm, and a program at 3:30 pm at Capri Theatre in Minneapolis. Tickets are $30.00 each, available at www.micah.org or by contacting Paul Stoll at paulstoll@charter.net. You may also purchase tickets from Donna Neste by calling her at church (612-827-5919) or by sending an email to her at d_nestea@yahoo.com.


Greetings from Mount Olive Neighborhood Ministries

If you missed the summer issue of the Neighborhood Ministries newsletter, (distributed by the greeters after liturgy on Sunday, August 29) and would like to have a copy, extras are available at the church office. An electronic version is also attached to this Olive Branch.


Thank You to Jobs After School Volunteers

Many thanks to Judy Hinck and Mike Edwins for their invaluable help this summer with the Summer Jobs After School program. With their help, we were able to accomplish much and together created opportunities for 21 kids to grow and be challenged during these summer months.


Volunteer Tutors Needed

The Way to Goals Tutoring Program for students from second through sixth grade, will resume on Tuesday, October 4. We will meet every Tuesday evening (except for the days that Minneapolis Public Schools are not in session) from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. for tutoring, a snack, and an activity. The program will end for the year on May 29, 2012. Consider being a part of this wonderful program, by volunteering to be a tutor.

There will be a dinner and short training session for new tutors on Thursday, September 22, at the home of Donna Neste, beginning at 6:30 p.m. If you would like more information, would like to volunteer, or need directions to Donna’s house, call her at church 612-827-5919.


Office Need

As we welcome Vicar Erik, and hopefully the next string of vicars, to the new office space, we find we are in need of an appropriate desk chair that offers comfort and one-size-fits-all adjustability. I've ordered a new chair from our furniture supplier and will pick up the chair to save on delivery charges. The chair is in the $100-200 range. It will be added to the Wish List by current Vice President Lisa Nordeen. If anyone would care to donate toward the chair, please do so by writing a check to Mt. Olive and placing it in an envelope marked Vicar's Chair-Wish List.
Respectfully,
Brian Jacobs


Attention Alb-Wearers!

Although we look angelic while performing our liturgical duties, some of our albs look like they have been vacationing in hot spots!

Carol Austermann is organizing and treating and rejuvenating these albs, but tags and hangers temporary and the assignment list will be updated.

If you are having “alb issues,” please call Carol at 612-722-5123. Any ideas you might have about labels and laundry will be gratefully received!

Thanks for your service to Mount Olive, and for your attention to our worship attire.


Every Church A Peace Church Potluck

The next Every Church a Peace Church potluck meeting will feature Dr. Terry Nichols, professor of Theology at St. Thomas University and co-director of the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center. He will address the topic, "Are Muslims our Enemies?"

This event will take place on Monday, Sept 12, at 6:30 pm at Annunciation Church, 509 West 54th Street, Minneapolis (612 824-0787). The potluck begins at 6:30 and the program begins at 7 pm. All are welcome.


A Stewardship Opportunity for All Women of Mount Olive

The Minneapolis Area Synod of the Women of the ELCA will hold their 2011 Annual Fall Gathering at Nativity Lutheran Church of St. Anthony on Saturday, September 17th. Theme for this meeting is "We Renew Our Call to Inclusivity." The keynote speaker is Vivian Jenkins Nelson, Director of Inter-Race, a non-profit think tank set up to encourage diversity education.

A stewardship response of in-kind gifts to two agencies will be received at this event. Alexandra House Women's Shelter provides 24 hour emergency shelter to victims of domestic or sexual violence across the State of Minnesota. They are collecting personal care items, such as full size shampoos, soaps, conditioner, deodorant, unopened cosmetics, new women's socks, underwear, gift cards and phone cards. The second agency, Northeast House for Learning Disabled Adults, is part of NE Residence, a responsive and innovative non-profit organization providing services for children and adults with disabilities. They are collecting items to be put into Christmas stockings for developmentally delayed adults, such as small stuffed toys, mirrors, combs, socks, soaps, hats, scarves and mittens.

Leanna Kloempken from Mount Olive is planning to attend this Women of the ELCA gathering and would be pleased to bring our donations to the above location. If you can help provide these donations, please bring them, clearly marked for either of the two designated recipients above, or just “WELCA,” to either the church office or the church library on Sunday, September 11, or no later than Wednesday, September 14.

Thanks for whatever help YOU can offer!


Bread for the World Action

It is important that members of Congress hear from you as they make decisions about spending cuts over the next months.

Please call or write senators and your representatives with the following message (addresses below):

Please create a circle of protection around funding for programs that are essential to hungry and poor people---especially foreign aid programs needed by our neighbors facing famine abroad. It is critical that these program be exempted from cuts.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar and/or Al Franken
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Rep.___________________
US House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Formed into One

Forgiveness is the fundamental shape of the Body of Christ into which we’ve been formed, but it is one of the hardest things we ever do; only because we have been formed by the forgiveness we have received in Christ Jesus can we live in such love.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Ordinary Time, Sunday 23, year A; texts: Matthew 18:15-20; Romans 13:8-14; Ezekiel 33:7-11

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

Wow. Kind of a tough set of readings framing today’s liturgy: Hellfire and brimstone from Ezekiel, and excommunication from Jesus. The first reading and Gospel on the surface seem to call for more toughness on the wayward and the sinners, to hold the line on those who are sinful. But no one wants hellfire and brimstone anymore. Wouldn’t it be better to be nice, and friendly?

As a matter of fact, the readings aren’t about being either tough or nice. Our readings today, especially the Gospel, and we can’t forget Paul’s powerful words to the Romans, aren’t talking about cleaning up the Church, or straightening up and flying right. But they aren’t talking about being nice, either. They’re talking about a critical mark of the Church: forgiving love like the love of Jesus. They’re suggesting that we are formed into one Body and the central characteristic of that Body – which we did not make but into which we were brought in Baptism – is forgiving, sacrificial love. Not being tough, or nice.

Because it may sound odd, but forgiveness isn’t nice at all. Forgiveness as Jesus describes it today, and as it plays out in the readings for the rest of this month, is difficult, painful, challenging. It’s self-giving. It is one of the hardest things we’ll ever do as Christians. Which is why we aren’t that good at it. And why these words from Matthew 18 are much more often thought of as a way to get people out rather than keep them in.

But today Jesus (with help from Ezekiel and Paul) suggests that the end of forgiveness – restored relationships – is so important that forgiveness is central to being Christian. It’s what we were formed to do. It’s how we become one with each other in Christ.

So we need to reject both of the common extremes Christians seem to prefer, judgmentalism and niceness.

A pastor once said to me that excommunication is the favorite indoor activity of Christians. I don’t know if that’s so anymore, but this text certainly has been used that way. When someone sins in a way that offends another enough, you’re supposed to work through this list – confront them, then bring the pastor or other leaders of the church, then bring them to the whole church. And then, when they don’t listen, you get to kick them out.

One could argue that isn’t done much anymore. I don’t personally know of any congregation which literally walked through these steps from Matthew 18 and ended up setting someone outside the community. Which is maybe a good thing. But that means we still aren’t understanding what Jesus is getting at in this Gospel.

Being nice is far more our style, at least in our culture shaped by many of our northern European stoic ethnic heritages. We don’t want to make a scene. We don’t want to fuss. So let’s just ignore all this stuff from Matthew 18. We’re conditioned to be accepting and tolerant – at least publicly – if someone offends us, hurts us, or dare we even say it, sins against us. God forbid we would ever criticize another for their actions. Who are we to judge? Live and let live, that’s become our motto.

But this means we are living a lie as the Church of Christ because we don’t know how to take seriously the sin and wrongdoing that we do against each other. Of course, it isn’t that we don’t notice when someone sins against us. We certainly do. It eats at us, crawls into our hearts and keeps reminding us of our righteous indignation. And though we might never admit it or do anything about it, we sometimes don’t truly ever learn to forgive others. These become the grudges we carry with us for a lifetime. And once again, we’re not getting close to understanding what Jesus is saying here.

What we need is context: what’s going on here before and after that can help us understand our Lord? Jesus makes it clear in the preceding verses of this chapter that God’s will is pretty simple: God does not desire that any “little ones” are lost – and Jesus doesn’t mean just children. Any who are weak, or struggling, and need the love of God – that’s who Jesus means. Sounds like every human being to me. God’s will is that no one is lost to God’s love and grace. And next week we’ll hear the call to forgive as we have been forgiven. Today’s Gospel falls in between these two important texts.

So neither extreme is faithful to what our Lord Jesus asks of us and models for us. Neither booting people out (which God doesn’t want), or the opposite, cheerfully tolerating every sinful behavior and choice in the name of niceness while silently judging them and treating them ill – neither of these are what Jesus is talking about. Or Paul for that matter. Or Ezekiel. For them, it’s a matter of integrity as a community of believers, as individuals, as children of God, that we learn true confession. And true forgiveness.

So that no one, no one, is lost.

Our challenge is to be who we are made to be, to have integrity with what God has made of us in Christ.

We are forgiven people, so we forgive. Living as who we are – that is integrity. We who are forgiven of everything by our Lord Jesus cannot be unforgiving and wicked. That’s what we’ll hear Jesus say next week.

But we who have been called to new life in the Spirit also can’t simply ignore our own sin or the sin of others and hope that we are doing the right thing by being nice. People get lost that way, too, when they face a lack of integrity between what believers say and how believers actually live.

And this is what is so important about Paul’s summary of the Christian life today: love undergirds everything in our lives, he says. Love is the fulfilling of our lives as Christians. Love like Jesus has. Love which has made us one in Christ.

The love Paul is talking about here, and which Jesus is thinking of in Matthew 18, is not some mushy concept, some vague niceness. It is love like the love of Jesus who gave himself up to death for us, who forgave even those who killed him. It is a love which loses itself in trying to reach others. Which tries everything, says Jesus, from first visiting the one who has offended, and gently trying to reach them. Then, if that doesn’t work, bringing other faithful believers to help, then bringing the church to bear. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, says Paul, even if they have wronged you, says Jesus. That is hard. That is truly love.

Were we to live as we are made to be together, we’d take the hard task of talking to each other when we are wronged, and we’d do it. We’d override our cultural programming with the programming the Spirit has given to the Body of Christ we are.

We’d also learn the incredibly difficult task of asking for forgiveness from each other. Of saying simply, “I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?” Instead of our usual approach: “I’m sorry, but here are the five reasons why I did it, and it really was because you did something first.” That’s the difference between apology – defending ourselves – and confession – asking forgiveness with no defense and no hope except in the Christly love of the one we’ve offended.

This kind of love in the community, the Body, is what Matthew 18 is about, and even Ezekiel’s call to accountability: that through reconciling and forgiving we learn what it is to live as the Body of Christ. We do this because we, like the God who loves us in Jesus, don’t want to lose anyone.

And even the end of Jesus’ advice isn’t giving up on anyone. It’s the opposite. He said if they don’t listen after all this, let that person be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Those groups were the dregs to faithful Jews, the true outsiders. Excommunicating is putting someone completely outside your group like that.

Now, we’ve said that God isn’t into an excommunication plan. Or even a silent treatment plan, for our enlightened age. God wants everyone. So what’s going on?

Well, do you remember what Jesus did with Gentiles and tax-collectors? They weren’t outsiders to him. They were the ones Jesus befriended, listened to, sought out. In other words, if you fail to achieve a reconciliation, Jesus says, your hard work of love is still ahead. Now this person is the object of your evangelism, they need to hear about God’s love for them so it can take over their lives and change them. They need you to be God’s love for them.

So that no one is lost.

No, forgiveness isn’t about being tough or nice. But it is who we are made to be. And it is love. So that God’s will of bringing everyone into the Body can be accomplished.

It will be hard to live this way. Such integrity to who we are made to be means if things are wrong, sinful, we face it. We don’t hide under the guise of niceness, or act in judgmental ways, because that’s not Jesus’ way. And we need to learn confession as much as we learn the hard job of forgiving.

But this is how we are made to live – that’s our hope and our life. That’s the love our Lord creates in us: Love that is willing to lose everything for the sake of restoring a relationship. Love that does no wrong to a neighbor. Hard love. True love. Love that comes from the love of Christ which is given us every time we are forgiven here, every time we come to the Table and receive the Lord’s body and blood for our life.

And it’s all so God’s will can be done, that all know and live in God’s love and grace. Because God doesn’t want to lose any of the little ones. Not even you.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

 

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Reconciling in ChristRIC

Copyright 2014 Mount Olive Lutheran Church