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Mount Olive Lutheran Church

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Olive Branch, 2/16/14

Accent on Worship

Alleluia, farewell

Hallelujah – praise ye the LORD.  Literally, “all of you, praise Yahweh.”  That’s what the Hebrew word Hallelujah means – “all of you praise the one who is named I AM WHO WILL BE”.  It’s such a short word that urges so much.  Latin didn’t pronounce it with or write the initial “h” so we also say, after the Latin, “Alleluia.”  Praise the Lord.

And this is the last Sunday for a long time that we will be able to say it.  For centuries it has been the practice of the Church to forego the singing or saying of Alleluia during the Lenten season.  We put aside the word of praise of almighty God that is so important to our worship, and we focus on our repentance.

It’s so helpful that our last day of Alleluia for a time is the Sunday of Transfiguration.  In some parts of the Western Church, namely among the Roman Catholics, Transfiguration is celebrated during the summer.  But our tradition places it here, the Sunday before Lent, and what is most helpful is that the experience of Jesus on the mountain of Transfiguration and what happened after is imitated by our singing Alleluia Sunday and then putting it aside.

Our Lenten discipline of setting aside Alleluia also reminds us of this truth: it’s often very hard to find a way to praise God in a difficult, painful, confusing, and often hostile world.  The psalmist in exile in Babylon said it this way in Psalm 137:  “On the willows there we hung up our harps, for how could we sing the LORD’s song, Yahweh’s song, in a foreign land?”  That, indeed, is often our question, isn’t it?  The reason we’re so enamored of Transfiguration, of this scene on the mountaintop, is that we can go long stretches of life without such beautiful inspiration, such wonderful confirmation of our faith.  The reason Peter wants to make tents for the three amazing personages is that he wants that moment to last.  And it never does.

Even so, we will leave the mountain, leave our Alleluias, for a time, that we might enter the wilderness of this world with our Lord.  We will set aside our fullest celebration for these forty days as we consider our lives and need for repentance.  We will take the song up again, yes.  We will once more learn to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.  For now though, after Sunday, we will listen for a different song, that the Spirit might continue to shape us into children of God through this journey, this discipline.

In the name of Jesus,

- Joseph



Sunday Readings

 March 2, 2014: Transfiguration of Our Lord
 Exodus 24:12-18
 Psalm 2
2 Peter 1:16-21
 Matthew 17:1-9
_____________________
March 9, 2014: First Sunday in Lent
 Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
 Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
 Matthew 4:1-11



This Week’s Adult Forum 

March 2: “From Earth, to Eden, to Ground: The Opening Chapters of the Book of Genesis,” part 2 of a 4-part series, presented by Scholar-in-Residence, Prof. Earl Schwartz of Hamline University.  



Lent Begins Next Week

     Wednesday, March 5 is Ash Wednesday. Holy Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes will be celebrated at Noon and at 7:00 p.m. that day.

     During the season of Lent, midweek worship will be held on Wednesdays: Holy Eucharist at Noon and Evening Prayer at 7:00 p.m.

     A soup luncheon will follow the Noon liturgies, and a soup supper will precede Evening Prayer, beginning at 6:00 p.m.



Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

     The Shrove Tuesday pancake supper will be held on Tuesday, March 4, from 6 to 6:45 pm.  Everyone is invited for an evening of pancakes, costumes, games and fun. At 6:45 pm we will observe the burning of the palms for the Ash Wednesday ashes.  Bring your dried palms from last year and leave them in the basket in the narthex.  Kids can wear costumes, and adults can dress festively in any way they choose!

     Help is needed from people 6th grade to 12th grade to assist with the pancake races.  If you are able to come and help with this event, please call or email Beth Sawyer at 651-434-0666 or mikebethsawyer78@gmail.com.  If you would like to help decorate the church basement on March 4 during the day, please also call Beth Sawyer to let her know.



Bring In Your Palms

  If you have a palm branch from last year’s Palm Sunday liturgies, please bring it to church. Last year’s palms will be burned following the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday liturgies.

Palm branches may be placed in the large labeled basket in the narthex.



Thursday Evening Bible Study Session Postponed and Rescheduled

The final session in the current Thursday Evening Bible Study was cancelled last week, due to inclement weather. That session has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 6, 6:00 p.m. in the Chapel Lounge, beginning with a light supper.



Lent Procession to be held Sunday, March 9, 4:00 p.m.

     All are welcome to this contemplative service of lessons and hymns for Lent. This service is offered as an opportunity to withdraw from the busyness of life to pray, sing, listen, smell, and to fully enter in to the season of Lent, a time to renew our lives as baptized children of God.



2014 Lenten Devotional Books

     Susan Cherwien has prepared another Lenten devotional booklet for our use during this upcoming season of Lent.

     Copies of Journey Into Lent 2014 are available in the narthex and in the church office. Pick yours up soon! If you need a copy to be mailed to you, just contact the church office.

     Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5.



Centering Prayer Group to begin March 4

     Hello, my name is Sue Ellen Zagrabelny and I am a member of Mount Olive and an oblate or lay associate at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, WI. One of the monastic disciplines practiced at the monastery is centering prayer, an emptying of oneself in prayer in order to be accessible to the Spirit. A Centering Prayer Group will be offered at Mount Olive at two different times over a period of 5 weeks.

     A brief introduction of Centering Prayer will be provided and written material about the discipline will be made available.

     On Tuesday, the group will meet after Bible Study, from 1:15 to 1:45 March 4, 11, 18, 25 and April 1.  On Wednesday, the group will meet before the Lenten Supper at 5:30 to 6:00 on March 12, 9, 19, 26 and April 2. Both sessions will meet in the library.

     If you have questions, please contact Sue Ellen Zagrabelny at 815-997-6020 or via email to skatzny@yahoo.com. Please join me in this meaningful discipline of Lent.



A Farewell Celebration

     March 14 will be Donna Neste's last day as our Neighborhood Ministries Coordinator.  Donna has served God and Mount Olive admirably for many decades and it's time to bid her a fond farewell. We invite members of the congregation to donate to a gift in Donna's honor. Please make checks payable to Mount Olive Lutheran Church (be sure to designate them "Donna's Gift"), and bring or mail them to the church office by Friday, March 7. There will be a meal and celebration after the second liturgy on Sunday, March 16.  For questions, contact Carol Austermann or Kathy Thurston.



Friendly Calling Program

     Mount Olive began a Friendly Calling Program last May.  There are currently about 15 people called on a regular basis by trained Friendly Callers to offer companionship and support. We need another caller to complement the current group.  If you are interested in making one or two calls on a regular basis and are willing to attend a brief training session, please contact Sue Ellen Zagrabelny at 815-997-6020 or by email to skatzny@yahoo.com.



To the Wearers of Albs

     Please sign your name and list your alb number on the chart provided on the inside of the alb closet door! We need to know which albs receive the most use to assure that we have enough of them in the appropriate sizes. Thanks for your help!

- Carol Austermann



New Event Tables

     Perhaps you have noticed the new event tables in the Chapel Lounge! These were purchased to help provide a place for people to set their refreshments on while they are visiting at coffee hour.

     Thanks to the awesome and generous members who contributed toward the purchase of all 12 tables, we did not need to use money from the budget for them. So many thanks to them for their generosity, and to Gary Pagel, who did the research and found the tables online.

     I am sure these tables will be well-used at coffee hour and in other fellowship activities.

- Gail Nielsen



Bread for the World Workshop

     One of three annual Bread for the World workshops will be held at Mount Olive this year this Sunday March 2, beginning 1:00 p.m.  A light lunch will be served in the Undercroft after the late liturgy for those who plan to stay for the workshop.  If you plan to attend please call Donna Neste at church so that the servers can plan accordingly.  More information about the workshop is written below.  There are also brochures available on the Neighborhood Ministries bulletin board directly below the stairs by Donna's office.



Sign Up For Coffee!

     The coffee time following each Sunday liturgy is a great time to meet new friends and to enjoy conversation with friends already made. Coffee hosts make this happen and we need folks to sign up on the new sign up board. If you would like to host but want to serve with another person, contact Carla Manuel at 612-521-3952 or see her at coffee most any Sunday morning. Thanks from Carla and the Congregational Care Hospitality Team.



Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Banner

     In the parables, the shepherd finds the sheep and the woman finds the coin, however, the Neighborhood Ministries Committee has been unable to find Mount Olive’s banner for the May Day Parade. Have you seen it? It was last seen at church in its labeled bag, which is about 40 inches long. The banner is 36x120 inches, and has our name and church logo on it.
     This May, Mount Olive’s neighborhood celebrates the 40th anniversary of the May Day Parade. With our banner or without it, we plan to walk, wave flags, cheer, picnic, and have fun at this year’s May Day Parade. Plan now to join us!



Luther College Cathedral Choir Coming to Mount Olive  
   
     The Luther College Cathedral Choir (90 singers!) will  perform a tour concert here at Mount Olive on Saturday evening,  April 5, 7:00 pm.

     We will be looking for hosts to house these young singers,  so watch for detailed information about how you can help.  It is a large number of students to host, but it’s our turn, and I’m sure we can be successful helping them get warm rest and hospitality for that night!

- Cantor Cherwien


Sunday, February 23, 2014

In the Image

We are the image of God.  It’s time to start living that way, time for us to seek the Spirit's grace in maturing and growing up in faith that we might see God's way as our way of life and the way of life for the world.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, year A; texts:  Matthew 5:38-48; Leviticus 19:1-2, 19-18; 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23; Psalm 119:33-40

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

I wonder what would happen if the Church started to take seriously the Biblical claim that we, that humanity, are created in the image of God.  What it would look like if we – you, I, this congregation, the Church – if we actually expected that to be true, and lived into that truth.  If we let that reality shape our teaching, direct our decisions, even make a claim on our individual lives and presence in the world.

We certainly don’t seem to show much desire to do this yet.  While I doubt you would find any Christian who would deny that we are made in God’s image, the depths of what such a truth actually means seem far beyond our willingness to dig or dive or probe.

What would it mean for this world if that were not our way?  If we acted as if we believe that the Triune God was serious about this, and about what it means for us?  We hear this from God’s Word today: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”  And from Jesus, the Son of God himself, today: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  What would it mean if we embraced these commands instead of wincing at them, hiding from them?  What would it mean if we took God’s Word seriously – as, by the way, we claim to do – and saw such claims on our identity as our hope and our future, not as something from which we run?  If we found joy in such commands, as our psalmist does today, not seeing them as something we need to parse and dissect until they don’t mean for our lives what they clearly seem to mean?

These weeks with the teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, alongside various similar teachings from the Torah and the prophets, have been calling us to find a greater growth in our faith and lives, to recognize that we can often persist in an immaturity when it comes to the way of life God has set before us, and so we miss the fullness of life God intends for us.  Today we face the full scope of that call to “grow up”: that we learn to find joy in this promise of our identity as the image of the living God, and learn to eagerly seek the Spirit’s strength in living into that identity, for the sake of the world.

Today we see a powerful glimpse of what this image of God looks like across the Scriptures.

We begin with the words of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who describes a way that is God’s, but that is laid out as our path as well.

The path Jesus describes is one where we resist evil and violence not with more violence and evil, but with the strength of standing in the face of it non-violently, peacefully, strongly.  A way where we never retaliate when wronged.  Where if someone wants to deprive us of something, even by taking us to court, we get ahead of them and give freely.  A way where if someone needs something, we give it to them.  And a way where we stand against the way of the world and treat our enemies with love, where we lift them up in our prayer as much as we lift up those who are dearest to our hearts.

Now you can see what I mean about our problem as the Church.  Does this look at all like the public face of the Church in the world?  The center, driving force behind our teaching, our life, our work, individually and collectively?

But Jesus, the Son of God, only continues in the great tradition of God’s people Israel, for we hear much the same from the LORD God in Leviticus today.  To be holy as the LORD God is holy looks like this:

It is to live with wealth in such a way that we do not consume all, but share with those in need: here it’s sharing the edges of fields, the grapes of the vine we do not need, but we can supply the metaphors that work for our way of life.  That we do not rapaciously consume what we have and what resources the world provides as if it is our right and ours alone, but see ourselves as one with all and the resources we have as shared, communal.  This is the way of the LORD God.

And God’s way also looks like this: that we do not cheat or steal or lie to one another.  That we live justly, giving laborers a fair wage and not keeping it ourselves, that we do not profit from the blood of another.  That we do not take vengeance, or even bear a grudge against anyone, but love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Not surprisingly, Jesus sounds very much like this, and not surprisingly, this is also not the way, the image, we see in ourselves and in the Church.

Let’s keep this very simple today: clearly we fail to live as the image of God shown here.  But there are different ways to fail, and that difference is critical.

One way to fail to live in this way is simply to fail to live in this way.  That is, to live in such a way that the fullness of this graciousness isn’t always how we act and react, how we present ourselves.

And if there is anything in what we heard from Leviticus and Jesus that you realized you didn’t live into fully, you know what I mean.  We call this sin; we could call it failure.  It’s a truth about our human nature that we do not always live in the way we are called to live, the way we were created to live.  We know this, and when we are honest, we confess such failings, such sin, and seek God’s grace and forgiveness.

Another way to fail is a truly problematic one, though, because it is a failure of intent and desire and design.  This is the way that fears the law of God, that seeks to mitigate it, reduce it, explain it away.

To say, “Jesus might have preached non-violent resistance to the evil of the world, but we live in a real world where sometimes you just have to fight back and harm.  Where war can be justified.”  (As if Jesus, the Son of God who was present at creation, doesn’t know about the “real” world.)

Or to say, “realistically, you can’t run an economy where people share equally and there is no profit incentive, where people aren’t allowed to accumulate capital; in fact, that way, we say, will eventually lift all to a better standard of living.”  (As if the God who created all things doesn’t know what to do with the gift of creation, doesn’t know what’s best for the creatures so lovingly made and planted on this earth.)

We do this kind of thing all the time with the teachings of Jesus, the way of God.  We cut them, shape them, cleverly explain why they can’t work fully, why the Bible really didn’t mean that anyway.

Do you see why this way of failing to reflect God’s image is the dangerous one?  In the first way we fail, but we know it.  We seek forgiveness that we might continue to learn the better way, God’s way.  In the second, we don’t even have it as a goal.  We find any number of ways to avoid facing the truth that the Triune God lays before us about what we actually look like in the world and what God would have us look like.

And for we who are Lutheran, there is an especially potent temptation to this second path, ironically.  We proclaim so loudly that we are saved by God’s grace, forgiven of our sins, but we can easily let that become for us only the thought that we are out of trouble, we’re not punished.  When in fact the Biblical model of forgiveness is restoration to relationship with God so that we might once again live as people of God, become the image of God in the world.  Sometimes we forget that, and rejoice in forgiveness as if it’s the end goal, crisis averted, punishment set aside.

But it’s not the end goal.  It’s the beginning of new life.

The Good News for us today is that God’s Word tells us that not only are we created in God’s image.  God will also continue to shape us to be so.

This is the promise our Lord gives through the working of the Spirit: we will be made new, changed into people who look like our God once again.  We don’t have to do this alone.

And so we gather weekly to hear God’s Word because that’s how we are shaped and made new.  By hearing it again and again and finally having it sink in, “this is God’s way”.  By speaking it to each other, teaching each other, listening together, discerning together, so that we never forget these words, this call, this claim God has on us, and so that we continue to understand better and better what it might mean.

And we gather, we gather: we come together in community because we need each other and God works through the community to shape us into the image of God.  We need each other because we pray for each other, encourage each other, support each other as we all seek to reflect this image in the world.  We especially need the community because we each need people who are truth-tellers to us, who can name the behavior of the community, or our behavior as individuals, or the direction of the Church, when any stray from God’s image, move into ways that are not of God.

But the truly deep mystery is that we are shaped as we gather to worship through the very grace of God we come to find, and are made into the image of God.  It is no coincidence that we see the community of the Church as the Body of Christ and we gather to be fed by the Body of Christ, because the latter creates the former.

As we are fed and nourished by these gifts of grace, and by God’s Word, we become what we are given.  We become the grace of God, the body of Christ, the image of the Triune God in the world.  So we leave here and our Lord says to the world about us: Take these, they are my body broken for you.
And we will be broken, let’s not pretend otherwise.

One of the reasons we sometimes run from the command to be like God is that to be like God is to lose, to give away, to let go, to love even when no one thinks we should.  You know this, if you’ve ever forgiven someone who truly hurt you, forgiven and loved them.  That costs, that hurts.  It’s what happens when we are like God.

You know this if you’ve ever stood with love and grace in the face of evil and been run over by it, hurt by it.  That costs, that hurts.  It’s what happens when we are like God.

Make no mistake, there’s plenty of reason for us not to seek this.  If we are called by God to be like God, we will find great cost in many ways.  But what we need to hold before us this: where else do we ever want to be but with God?  What life could we ever imagine being real without God?

A life lived fully as Leviticus and Jesus speak today, a community, a world, shaped like this would be astonishing to see.  Life-giving, rich, abundant.  Living with the Spirit of God inside us, as if we were a temple of God, as Paul describes today, is not just the way we are given the power to be new people, it is a place of joy and hope and grace for us, because God is with us and in us, and that is life.

This is where we want to be, even if it costs us everything.

It did, after all, cost the Son of God his life, too.  And it is in his resurrection life we most dearly wish to live, even now.  It’s tempting to run from this, because it can seem hard, too much.  Because we realize how much we fail at this.

But we can grow up, mature, with God’s help.  As we do, as the Spirit lives in us and moves in us, more and more we see this light as the way we need to go, the way we want to go.  More and more we learn that the cost is negligible compared to the alternative, not being with the God whose love for us and for the world is overwhelming and is life.

We are the image of God.  That’s the truth.  God give us the grace and strength, and forgiveness, and courage, to actually start looking like it.

In the name of Jesus.  Amen

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The Olive Branch, 2/19/14

Accent on Worship

The Assembly

     In my adult forum a couple of weeks ago, I discussed my experiences in worship in other churches during my sabbatical.  I mentioned that I wanted to get a t-shirt that on the front said “I’m already IN” (Baptized, child of God – full benefactor of the Grace of God, just normally at a different company branch office!).  On the back I wanted it to say “Always have been” (as in, a member of God’s family, unconditionally loved).  Assumptions frequently get made about why someone may be in attendance at church, when there is really one thing we can and should assume, and that is that everyone at any given liturgy has gathered for one purpose:  to worship God and have God speak to them.  In God’s eyes,  it doesn’t matter who is a “member” or not,  who is local or not,  who is there for the first time or not,  God loves all the same,  and we are all there for the same purpose and do the liturgy at hand together.

     The ELCA began using a term when it went about preparing Evangelical Lutheran Worship:  “The Assembly”.

     I think this is the perfect way to say who is at worship.  It shows no distinctions between “inside” and “outside” a membership roster.  It gives no heed to frequency of attendance.  It’s simply, “this is who is here today, and all are here for the same things” and in God’s eyes,  we are all equal.
 
     Outside of the liturgy, all of us are called to be about hospitality, however.  We do need to keep our antennae up – to be aware of the needs each other has.  Someone may indeed be needing a greeting.  Someone may want to be left alone.  Someone may be looking for acceptance – for unconditional love.  Someone may need food.  Someone may need help getting through the liturgy – it is important to remain aware of all of these things.

     What happens outside the liturgy is the proof-in-the-pudding – did we mean what we said and did as an assembly doing the liturgy?  Do we love each other equally?

     Even if it’s someone we struggle to like, we stand beside them and praise God.  God always has loved both of us.  “God makes the sun rise on the evil and the good” (Matt. 5:45).  It’s our calling to turn our attitude around.  Rather than saying, “Glad you’re with us today,” we should be saying, “I’m glad to join YOU in this assembly today.”  That is the honor.  And for the one with whom we might struggle, or as the Gospel this Sunday says, “our enemies” – it is our calling to  a) love them,   b)  be with them in the assembly at worship,  and  c) pray for THEM!!

     It’s because we’re all IN.  Always have been.

- Cantor David Cherwien



Sunday Readings

 February 23, 2014: 7th Sunday after Epiphany

 Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
 Psalm 119:33-40
 I Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 Matthew 5:38-48
_____________________

March 2, 2014: Transfiguration of Our Lord

 Exodus 24:12-18
 Psalm 2
 2 Peter 1:16-21
 Matthew 17:1-9



This Week’s Adult Forum

February 23: “From Earth, to Eden, to Ground: The Opening Chapters of the Book of Genesis,” presented by Scholar-in-Residence, Prof. Earl Schwartz of Hamline University.  



Book Discussion's Upcoming Reads

For their meeting on March 8, the Book Discussion Group will read Howards End, by E. M. Forster, and for April 12 they will read Elizabeth and Hazel, by David Margolick.



Centering Prayer Group to begin March 4

     Hello, my name is Sue Ellen Zagrabelny and I am a member of Mount Olive and an oblate or lay associate at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, WI. One of the monastic disciplines practiced at the monastery is centering prayer, an emptying of oneself in prayer in order to be accessible to the Spirit. A Centering Prayer Group will be offered at Mount Olive at two different times over a period of 5 weeks.

     A brief introduction of Centering Prayer will be provided and written material about the discipline will be made available.

     On Tuesday, the group will meet after Bible Study, from 1:15 to 1:45 March 4, 11, 18, 25 and April 1.  On Wednesday, the group will meet before the Lenten Supper at 5:30 to 6:00 on March 12, 9, 19, 26 and April 2. Both sessions will meet in the library.

     If you have questions, please contact Sue Ellen Zagrabelny at 815-997-6020 or via email to skatzny@yahoo.com. Please join me in this meaningful discipline of Lent.



A Farewell Celebration

March 14 will be Donna Neste's last day as our Neighborhood Ministries Coordinator.  Donna has served God and Mount Olive admirably for many decades and it's time to bid her a fond farewell. We invite members of the congregation to donate to a gift in Donna's honor. Please make checks payable to Mount Olive Lutheran Church (be sure to designate them "Donna's Gift"), and bring or mail them to the church office by Friday, March 7. There will be a meal and celebration after the second liturgy on Sunday, March 16.  For questions, contact Carol Austermann or Kathy Thurston.



Stories for the Journey:  Thursday Evening Bible Study

This Thursday is the final session in the current Thursday evening Bible study series. Pr. Crippen will conclude a series on the parables of Jesus and how they provide us a vision of God’s reign. As with all these Thursday series, they meet in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., beginning with a light supper.



 2014 Lenten Devotional Books

     Susan Cherwien has prepared another Lenten devotional booklet for our use during this upcoming season of Lent.

     Copies of Journey Into Lent 2014 are available in the narthex and in the church office. Pick yours up soon! If you need a copy to be mailed to you, just contact the church office.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5.



Scholar In Residence

Beginning on February 23 and continuing through March 16, Professor Earl Schwartz of Hamline University will make presentations to the Adult Forum as the first Mount Olive Scholar in Residence. He will engage the Forum with presentations he has titled “From Earth, to Eden, to Ground: The Opening Chapters of the Book of Genesis.” Professor Schwartz has led Bible studies for the Adult Forum in the past, and he never fails to excite, inspire, and educate. The Scholar-in-Residence program is made possible by a generous grant from the Mount Olive Foundation. We will all be grateful to the Foundation for this grant and to Professor Schwartz for his contribution to the knowledge and spiritual formation of those who hear him.



100th Birthday Celebration

 This Sunday, February 23, all are invited to join Paul and Ted Odlaug and their families for coffee and cake as we celebrate the 100th birthday of Dorothy Odlaug.  Dorothy’s birthday is February 22, President’s Day.
 
     The reception will take place in the Chapel Lounge after the second liturgy.  We know that Dorothy is eagerly looking forward to seeing all of you at this time as she has been unable to be among you now for almost a year.  Please, no gifts.  Cards or just greetings would more than welcome.

Thank you,
Paul & Ted Odlaug



Friendly Calling Program

     Mount Olive began a Friendly Calling Program last May.  There are currently about 15 people called on a regular basis by trained Friendly Callers to offer companionship and support. We need another caller to complement the current group.  If you are interested in making one or two calls on a regular basis and are willing to attend a brief training session, please contact Sue Ellen Zagrabelny at 815-997-6020 or by email to skatzny@yahoo.com.



Gift Giving

     The Board of Directors of Mount Olive Lutheran Church Foundation soon will meet to recommend the designation of its annual gift to the congregation.  It appears that this gift again will break another record, allowing more to be done in and for our church.

     The Foundation Board actively solicits gift designation suggestions from the Pastor, Cantor, Director of Neighborhood Ministries, and every member of the Vestry.  Individual congregation members also can be part of this process.  If you know of a worthy project or need at Mount Olive, please speak with the Vestry member whose program area applies to your suggestion.  He or she will share your recommendation with the Foundation board for consideration.

     Since its 1972 inception, the Mount Olive Foundation has distributed over $300,000 to benefit our church.  It is our privilege and joy to further Mount Olive's meaningful mission, now and far into the future.

- Keith Bartz, President



To the Wearers of Albs

     Please sign your name and list your alb number on the chart provided on the inside of the alb closet door! We need to know which albs receive the most use to assure that we have enough of them in the appropriate sizes. Thanks for your help!

- Carol Austermann



Sign Up For Coffee!

The coffee time following each Sunday liturgy is a great time to meet new friends and to enjoy conversation with friends already made. Coffee hosts make this happen and we need folks to sign up on the new sign up board. If you would like to host but want to serve with another person, contact Carla Manuel at 612-521-3952 or see her at coffee most any Sunday morning. Thanks from Carla and the Congregational Care Hospitality Team.



Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Banner

     In the parables, the shepherd finds the sheep and the woman finds the coin, however, the Neighborhood Ministries Committee has been unable to find Mount Olive’s banner for the May Day Parade. Have you seen it? It was last seen at church in its labeled bag, which is about 40 inches long. The banner is 36x120 inches, and has our name and church logo on it.

     This May, Mount Olive’s neighborhood celebrates the 40th anniversary of the May Day Parade. With our banner or without it, we plan to walk, wave flags, cheer, picnic, and have fun at this year’s May Day Parade. Plan now to join us!
   


From the Church Library

Stop in to our main library soon to see the book and bulletin board displays regarding Black American History Month, observed annually in February.  The bulletin board near the check-out desk provides a chronology of black history and people from the early days of slave trade through the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which abolished slavery) and was adopted by the 38th Congress in 1865.  The books on display include:

George Washington Carver (The man who overcame), by Lawrence Elliott
My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., by Coretta Scott King
Handyman of the Lord (The life and ministry of The Rev. Holmes Borders), by James W. English
Cecil E. Newman, Newspaper Publisher, by L.E.Leipold
The Emancipation of Robert Sadler, by Robert Sadler and Marie Chapian
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Straight From the Heart, by Roger D. Hatch and Frank E. Watkins, editors
Just Mahalia, Baby (The Mahalia Jackson Story), by Laurraine Goreau
I Touched a Sparrow -- Ethel Waters, by Twila Knaack
Black, White and Gray (21 points of view on the Race Question), edited by Bradford Daniel
The American Presidents (Biographies of the Chief Executives, from George Washington through Barack Obama), by David Whitney (Rev. and Updated 11th edition)

 A new bookmark available in our library, to take for free, has these suggestions for "What Good Readers Do" such as:
        Good Readers have a purpose for reading,
        Good Readers think about what they already know,
        Good Readers make sure they understand what they read,
        Good Readers look at pictures also when possible,
        Good Readers predict what will happen next
        Good Readers form pictures in their mind, and
        Good Readers practice that trait often!

- Leanna Kloempken



Bread for the World Workshop Coming to Mount Olive in March

One of three annual Bread for the World workshops will be held at Mount Olive this year on Sunday March 2, beginning 1:00 p.m.  A light lunch will be served in the Undercroft after the late liturgy for those who plan to stay for the workshop.  If you plan to attend please call Donna Neste at church so that the servers can plan accordingly.  More information about the workshop is written below.  There are also brochures available on the Neighborhood Ministries bulletin board directly below the stairs by Donna's office.



Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

     The Shrove Tuesday pancake supper will be held on Tuesday, March 4, from 6 to 6:45 pm.  Everyone is invited for an evening of pancakes, costumes, games and fun. At 6:45 pm we will observe the burning of the palms for the Ash Wednesday ashes.  Bring your dried palms from last year and leave them in the basket in the narthex.  Kids can wear costumes, and adults can dress festively in any way they choose!

     Help is needed from people 6th grade to 12th grade to assist with the pancake races.  If you are able to come and help with this event, please call or email Beth Sawyer at 651-434-0666 or mikebethsawyer78@gmail.com.  If you would like to help decorate the church basement on March 4 during the day, please also call Beth Sawyer to let her know.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Ready for Solid Food

The way of life is the way of God; following in the way set before is grace and gift, though we too often see it as the opposite.  The grace of Christ invites us to know this way as the way we want to walk, the way we want the Spirit’s help to live.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, year A; texts:  Matthew 5:21-37; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Psalm 119:1-8; Deuteronomy 30:15-20

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

“Brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.  Even now you are still not ready.” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

Paul, we just heard you say this in your letter to our sisters and brothers in Christ who once lived in Corinth, and it troubles us.  So we have a question for you:  What about us, Paul?  Are we ready for solid food?  Or are we still only able to take in milk?

Sometimes it seems as if we have grown, matured in faith.  But then we come upon a proper meal, filling, fiber-laden food for our hearts and our minds, rich, tasty food that requires some chewing, and serious digestion, and we back away.  We hear Moses today, and Jesus today, and we flinch, even grumble.  Why is that, Paul?  Are we only still infants?

You said to the same Corinthians a little later in this letter, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.”  (1 Corinthians 13:11)  Is that our hope as well?  And if so, Paul, how will we know when we have grown?  How will we know when we can handle solid food, not just thin gruel and milk?

Moses and Jesus, we need to ask the same of you, too.  How can we be certain that the choice you set before is life and death, Moses?  Can’t we just go on as we are, not choosing God’s way or our way, but muddling somewhere in between?  And Jesus, this way you describe seems so daunting, so over the top, making the commandments so complete, so full, that we cannot begin to see how we could live by them.  Is this really necessary?

Or is this what solid food looks like?

My friends, what we have before us today is witness from Moses, the psalmist, Paul, and our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, that holds out a sophisticated, deep, completed way of living in the world according to the way of the Triune God.  It is not easy to digest.  It is not sweetened with extra sugar.  But Moses has said, and the others agree wholeheartedly, that this is the way of life.  That any other way is a way of death.

So I ask you: is it possible that we might find a way to grow up and see such food for the life-giving grace it is proclaimed to be?  Must we remain as children in our continued resentment of the law of God, not wanting anyone to be the boss of us, or is it possible that we might seek the Spirit’s help in growing up enough that we can take the solid food of life our gracious God is giving, and see it for the grace and hope it truly is?  So that we can look even at Jesus’ words in our Gospel today and see them for what they are: life, and grace, and gift?

When we only want milk, the idea of loving God’s law seems absurd.

God’s law, we think, is to be feared, because we can’t do it, we fail at it.  So we resent it.  We don’t want to face that it might actually speak truth about our lives.  We find ourselves arguing like children with God, and with the law: why do you tell me to do that?  It’s too hard.  I don’t want to.  It’s too confusing.  I’m not able to.

Love your enemies?  That’s ridiculous.  Who loves an enemy?  Give of our hard-earned money to the poor, to others?  Who can afford that?  We can take any law of God and find any number of reasons why we don’t think it’s worth our time.  It’s unrealistic.  Impossible to achieve.  Unfair.  Nobody’s perfect, so why should we try?

When we are ready for solid food, however, we begin to appreciate the grace – the grace – God’s law really is.  Moses makes sense to us, this is a choice of life over death.  The psalmist’s joy in keeping God’s laws actually sings in our hearts.

We know we are ready for solid food when we look at God’s law and see it as a way of life which would make life worth living, rich, full, abundant.

Just as with any command our parents gave us when we were little that we resented or feared then, but now do of our own free will because we know it is good for us, life for us, so growing into taking God’s solid food can become a joy and a gift.

We could play in traffic still, but fortunately we grew up and realized how dangerous that is.  We could never wash our hands or our faces, but fortunately we grew up and realized how good and healthy it is to be clean.

We likewise could hate our enemies, and ignore the poor, and not do anything of what God asks of us, but fortunately we can grow up with the Spirit’s help and see that a world where there are no enemies, and no poor, and no selfishness would be nothing short of paradise.

There is life in the way of God that is given us.  When we’re ready for solid food, we’ll see that.

When we only want milk, we think that only actions matter, and only some actions: that as long as we don’t do the really bad things, then the lesser things, and the things that we only think in our minds really aren’t a big deal.

We categorize sins, the breaking of God’s law, making some worse than others so that we might pretend that we’re just fine.

So when Jesus claims that hating, being angry, calling others names are a violation of the Fifth Commandment and as serious as murder, we find that ridiculous.  As ridiculous as claiming that thinking about adultery is breaking the Sixth Commandment.

Everybody knows killing is worse, we say.  Actually committing adultery, cheating on your spouse, that’s far worse than just thinking it, we say.  Who can control their thoughts? we say.

This is because we’re still thinking like children.  When we are children, no matter what we do that is wrong, as long as there is someone else who’s done worse, we loudly proclaim that.  When we are children, no matter what we do that is wrong, as long as there is some extenuating circumstance that explains it to our minds, we loudly proclaim that.

How is it fair to judge thoughts, if we hate someone, or lust after someone?  How is that right? we say.  I can’t help getting angry: you should see what he did to me, we say.

But when we’re ready for solid food, we begin to understand the depth of the problem of our sin, that it runs to our core, and that all things are related.

We understand that anger, left to fester, makes ever-widening cracks in relationships, in community.  That hatred for another must be fed, nurtured, sustained to stay alive, and that drains energy and joy from our lives.

We learn that if we indulge our thoughts toward things that lead away from life, even if we don’t do them, we incur a cost to our well-being, to our sense of feeling good about the kind of person we are, and the vibrations of our hearts actually get picked up even by others.

That is, we learn that if, for example, we hold someone in disdain and hide it as best we can, it’s not only that our heart begins to wither under that emotional drain.  But that sense inside also never really remains within us, and the other begins to feel it, even if it’s unspoken.  And the relationship suffers.  This is true of all our thoughts, they can never stay hidden.

When we’re ready for solid food, we realize that Jesus here is giving us a great gift of grace to speak the truth about how our lives are affected by even our thoughts and attitudes.

We realize that all he’s doing is exactly what we already heard in the Ninth and Tenth Commandments, commandments that have nothing to do with action, only intention: coveting is an internal sin, a sin of the heart, that leads us to dissatisfaction, broken relationships, a dismal sense of what good we have.  Jesus here is only saying the same thing.

When we’re ready for solid food, we see that were we to live by such a way as Jesus describes, our lives in community would be enriched, the world would be beautiful, as God intended.

When we only want milk, we think that there’s only black and white, right or wrong, Godly or ungodly.

Our objection to any law of God is that we can’t do it perfectly, so we want nothing to do with it at all.

We want to hear only of God’s forgiveness, not realizing how ridiculous that is if there is nothing to forgive.  If we haven’t done anything wrong, why do we need forgiveness?

But we do this because, as drinkers of milk, we can’t get our minds around the idea that it’s not either/or, this living in God’s way.  We think too often that if we can’t live up to it at all times, we will have nothing to do with it.

So we justify why we get are who we are, saying God can’t expect us to be perfect.  We justify whenever we go against what it’s pretty clear God wants, because no one could live like that, we say.

But when we’re ready for solid food, we hear these words of Jesus, Paul, and Moses for the good news they are, in every respect.  Good news, because they are the way of life, as we’ve said already.

But good news, because we are talking about growing up, not being grown up.  One does not become mature in an instant.  It takes time, a lifetime.  It takes patience, and the long view.

So, just to take anger as one example, if this is our particular sin, we don’t get rid of that in one moment, but by regularly attending to our anger, regularly asking God’s help to move us past it, regularly reminding ourselves that it is not the path of life.

And many years later, we might have the joy of looking back on the road we’ve walked and realizing that in fact we are different now.  That for all that prayer and work of the Spirit, we are less angry, more like Christ.  With much more growth to go, yes, but we can see that we’ve come a ways.  This is true of anything we need to remove in order to walk God’s ways.

And of course we hear these words as good news in light of Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection.  None of this law of God comes to us apart from the reality of our being forgiven and loved completely by God in Christ Jesus.

When we fail, when we struggle to walk this path of life, we are forgiven and blessed to be put back on it.  But that’s the point, isn’t it, that everyone’s trying to tell us today: even forgiveness is ours so that we can once more get back on the path to life, not the path to death.

The grace and forgiveness of God in Christ Jesus that we are so overjoyed to know and have only makes sense in seeing God’s law as a path to life as well.  Then, when we fall and are picked up by our Lord again, we know exactly the direction we want to take, the road that leads to life.

So Paul, we have to say this to you: we think we might be ready for solid food.

And so we pray:

Gracious and holy God, so deepen our hearts and lives into the mature faith you wish to see in us, that we see your path as the path of life.  By the love of your Son, forgive us when we stray.  And with the strength of your Spirit, shape our lives into this way of life until that day when we start a new journey with you in the world that is to come, through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Olive Branch, 2/12/14

Accent on Worship
Pastor Joseph Crippen

Seeing Truly

Monday, over the lunch hour at the Midtown DMV, I bought the license plate tabs for the car Martha drives, but we own.  Her tabs expired in January.  It is February.  The tenth of that month.  I walked over to Midtown Market with some trepidation, knowing that I was in violation of the law, suspecting that the people at the DMV would likely be a little harried, and intent on being as pleasant as I could be that I might avoid a scolding.

Now, my mother, of blessed memory, would doubtless say with irony, “It’s too bad that the DMV sent the renewal form in February so that you had to be late getting these.”  Of course, the truth is otherwise.  The renewal notice has been on my desk at home for some weeks now, and I’ve been “meaning” to get to it.  The point is, one of our vehicles was in violation of state law, and I am the only one responsible for that violation.  I knew that accounting must be made.

This month in our Sunday liturgies, we might carry some of the same trepidation into our hearing of the Gospel readings.  Jesus is in full Sermon-on-the-Mount preaching, and he’s saying hard things about how we live, how we think of others, how we show ourselves in the world.

There is no room for us to wiggle, either.  As with my tabs, we know that these standards he sets – hatred of others is like killing, thinking of sins is like doing them, no law of God is to be  set aside –we know that we regularly do not meet them with our lives.

     What makes everything different for us is that it is our Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God, whose love for us is profoundly greater than we ever could have imagined, in whose death and resurrection we live and hope, it is our Lord Jesus who is saying these things.  This gives us two reasons not to fear.  First, we rest wholly in the forgiveness and grace of God the Son of God reveals to us.  We don’t need to come in with trepidation.  Second, Jesus isn’t trying to make things harder for us, he’s simply telling the truth about our lives and showing us the way of living that is life in God’s kingdom.

     It is that second one in which we want to live for awhile, pondering, thinking.  Just as I know that our car needs up-to-date licensing, regardless of whether or not I take care of it, regardless of whether or not I want to take care of it, we also know that our lives are best lived fully as God intended and designed, regardless of whether or not we do it, regardless of whether or not we want to do it.  These words in the Sermon on the Mount, were we to live them fully, would create a world of beauty and grace, of life, not death.  They are the gift of God to us, were we to live them fully, because they show a life and a world as God made them to be.

     There’s no reason for us to fear Jesus this month, but let’s at least try to see that he’s only telling the truth about our lives, and how we live them.  Denying one is outside the law when the opposite is true is just foolish.  Rather, we could try listening to Jesus, accepting the truth of our situation, seeking his grace and help to live as he is inviting, even while we ask forgiveness for our shortcomings.  The path of wisdom lies in seeing the truth our Lord reveals and moving toward that truth, not denying it.
In the name of Jesus,
 
Joseph



Sunday Readings

February 16, 2014: 6th Sunday after Epiphany
 Deuteronomy 30:15-20
 Psalm 119:1-8
I Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-37
_____________________

February 23, 2014: 7th Sunday after Epiphany
 Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
 Psalm 119:33-40
I Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
 Matthew 5:38-48



This Week’s Adult Forum 
February 16:  “The Lament Psalms in Prayer and Devotional Life,” presented by Vicar Emily Beckering.
 


A Farewell Celebration

March 14 will be Donna Neste's last day as our Neighborhood Ministries Coordinator.  Donna has served God and Mount Olive admirably for many decades and it's time to bid her a fond farewell. We invite members of the congregation to donate to a gift in Donna's honor. Please make checks payable to Mount Olive Lutheran Church (be sure to designate them "Donna's Gift"), and bring or mail them to the church office by Friday, March 7. There will be a meal and celebration after the second liturgy on Sunday, March 16.  For questions, contact Carol Austermann or Kathy Thurston.



Taste of Mardi Gras Thank You!

     Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of "Taste of Mardi Gras: A Celebration for Lutheran Volunteer Corps."  Thank you to all the people who cooked, decorated, invited guests, and enjoyed themselves. It was a fun time.

     Our partners from Lutheran Volunteer Corps and guests from Luther Seminary enjoyed themselves. We learned more about LVC and gave their good work a boost financially.  Remaining food was offered to the Lutheran Volunteer Corps members and served at Our Saviour's Shelter during the evening meal.
     We'll have more details about the Taste of Mardi Gras and our contribution to Lutheran Volunteer Corps in a forthcoming Olive Branch.  Stay tuned.    

     (Remember: If you prepared and brought a dish, please remember to pick up your personal pots, pans and serving  dishes from downstairs.)



Scholar In Residence

Beginning on February 23 and continuing through March 16, Professor Earl Schwartz of Hamline University will make presentations to the Adult Forum as the first Mount Olive Scholar in Residence. He will engage the Forum with presentations he has titled “From Earth, to Eden, to Ground: The Opening Chapters of the Book of Genesis.” Professor Schwartz has led Bible studies for the Adult Forum in the past, and he never fails to excite, inspire, and educate. The Scholar-in-Residence program is made possible by a generous grant from the Mount Olive Foundation. We will all be grateful to the Foundation for this grant and to Professor Schwartz for his contribution to the knowledge and spiritual formation of those who hear him.



100th Birthday Celebration

 On Sunday, February 23, all are invited to join Paul and Ted Odlaug and their families for coffee and cake as we celebrate the 100th birthday of Dorothy Odlaug.  Dorothy’s birthday is February 22, President’s Day.
     The reception will take place in the Chapel Lounge after the second liturgy.  We know that Dorothy is eagerly looking forward to seeing all of you at this time as she has been unable to be among you now for almost a year.  Please, no gifts.  Cards or just greetings would more than welcome.

Thank you,
Paul & Ted Odlaug



2014 Lenten Devotional Books

     Susan Cherwien has prepared another Lenten devotional booklet for our use during this upcoming season of Lent.

     Copies of Journey Into Lent 2014 are available in the narthex and in the church office. Pick yours up soon! If you need a copy to be mailed to you, just contact the church office.
     Lent begins March 5.



Gift Giving

     The Board of Directors of Mount Olive Lutheran Church Foundation soon will meet to recommend the designation of its annual gift to the congregation.  It appears that this gift again will break another record, allowing more to be done in and for our congregation.

     The Foundation Board actively solicits gift designation suggestions from the Pastor, Cantor, Director of Neighborhood Ministries, and every member of the Vestry.  Individual congregation members also can be part of this process.  If you know of a worthy project or need at Mount Olive, please speak with the Vestry member whose program area applies to your suggestion.  He or she will share your recommendation with the Foundation board for consideration.

     Since its 1972 inception, the Mount Olive Foundation has distributed over $300,000 to benefit our church.  It is our privilege and joy to further Mount Olive's meaningful mission, now and far into the future.

- Keith Bartz, President



Stories for the Journey:  Thursday Evening Bible Study

The Thursday evening Bible study meeting in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. continues this week.  Pr. Crippen is leading a series on the parables of Jesus and how they provide us a vision of God’s reign. As with all these Thursday series, there will be a light supper when we begin. The series runs through February 20.



Attention Worship Assistants

     The Servant Schedule for the 2nd quarter of 2014 (April – June) will be published at the beginning of March. The deadline for submitting requests to me is February 14. Please send your requests to me at peggyrf70@gmail.com.

-Peggy Hoeft



Book Discussion Upcoming Reads
For their meeting on March 8, the Book Discussion Group will read Howards End, by E. M. Forster, and for April 12 they will read Elizabeth and Hazel, by David Margolick.



Bread for the World Workshop Coming to Mount Olive in March

One of three annual Bread for the World workshops will be held at Mount Olive this year on Sunday March 2, beginning 1:00 p.m.  A light lunch will be served in the Undercroft after the late liturgy for those who plan to stay for the workshop.  If you plan to attend please call Donna Neste at church so that the servers can plan accordingly.  More information about the workshop is written below.  There are also brochures available on the Neighborhood Ministries bulletin board directly below the stairs by Donna's office.

Bread for the World Workshop

  “Hunger-No More!! Hunger-Know More!!” is the title of the series of Bread for the World metro area workshops this year. They start with an abbreviated workshop from 7 to 9 pm on Monday, February 24, at the Eastlund Room of Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive in Arden Hills. Amelia Kegan of the Washington, DC, Bread for the World National Staff will be the keynote speaker on Saturday, March 1, from 9-Noon at Church of Corpus Christi in Roseville (southwest corner of Fairview Avenue and County Rd. B), and on Sunday from 1-4 p.m. at Mount Olive Lutheran on 31st and Chicago in Mpls. She will talk about hunger globally and in our own country. Anyone concerned about hunger and about learning effective methods of response will benefit.  Registration is 15 minutes prior to the start. A freewill offering will be received.  No pre-registration required.



National Lutheran Choir to Host City-Wide Hymn Festival

On Sunday, February 23, at 4 p.m., the National Lutheran Choir will join forces with hundreds of Twin Cities’ church choir members for a City-Wide Hymn Festival to be held at Central Lutheran Church (333 South 12th St., Mpls.). Mark Sedio, Cantor at Central Lutheran, will conduct the massed choir. David Cherwien and the NLC will lead and perform.

Tickets for this event are $25/adults; $23/Seniors; and $20/Students, and can be obtained by calling the NLC office at 612-722-2301 or by visiting them on the web: www.nlca.com.


Sunday, February 9, 2014

Fulfillment

Christ Jesus became one of us to begin a relationship between us and the Triune God, a relationship of love which shapes our love of God and love of neighbor and makes complete all God’s intention in the law.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, year A; text:  Matthew 5:13-20

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

“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

How are you doing with that?  How is it sitting in you, in your heart, in your mind?  Those are harsh words, scary words.  How do we go on when our Gospel reading ends with such words?

Sometimes you can speak the same language and hear the same words and completely misunderstand what is said.  These words of Jesus are clear English, and are well-translated from the Greek.  We think we know what Jesus is saying.  It frightens us.  Sometimes it makes us angry.  Sometimes we would like to walk away from what those words seem to mean and deny their truth.

But what if we’re misunderstanding what he’s saying?  What if, as we consider all of who Jesus is as the Christ, the Son of God, and we consider all of what he said when he was with us, what if, in that light, these words don’t mean what we thought they meant?

Words can always be taken out of context, in a number of ways, but the context that always matters is the person who says the words.  How can we hear these words clearly without stepping back and seeing who is saying them, looking at the whole of what we know about our Lord?  Sometimes, maybe a lot of times, we take Jesus’ words away from Christ Jesus himself, and understand them apart from his suffering and death, his resurrection, even apart from claims he repeatedly makes about what he wants us to know and do.

“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Why aren’t we asking Jesus what he means by these words?

We can ask him, you know.  That’s the gift of this Incarnation, that the Son of God is approachable, accessible.

This written Word of God, these Scriptures call out with God’s longing to have a relationship of love with us that is reciprocated by us and shared among all people.  Through Abraham and Sarah and their family, through judges, priests, and prophets, God sought better acquaintance with us, with all God’s children.

The coming of Jesus, the Son of God, whom believers after the resurrection began to realize was eternally one with the Father and the Spirit, who was present at creation, the coming of Jesus as one of us quite literally made relationship with God humanly possible.  He was a human being, this Son of God.  He could talk with people, love people, hug people, rebuke people, teach people, heal people, and they could respond back.

Maybe Jesus became Incarnate among us because we can’t understand relationships in the abstract.  For all the Triune God hoped for in having a relationship, maybe being one of us was the only way we could understand it.

Now, there’s truth that gleams from that, isn’t there?  The key to understanding Jesus’ teachings may be to hear them in relationship with him, and to hear them as God’s call to a new relationship.

We sometimes package salvation as some kind of abstract concept, usually centered around whether or not we go to heaven when we die, and we understand Jesus’ teachings through that lens.

But if the Son of God is telling the truth, that wasn’t the main point of God coming to be with us.  God came to be with us to bring us back into a relationship with God and with each other.  Coming in person was the way we’d be able to see, touch, feel, know, hear, understand God’s love in concrete ways, something humans had longed for and dreamed of.

Understanding Jesus’ goal as Jesus describes it sheds an interesting light on our Gospel today.  We see some juxtapositions of truth in that light: one truth answered by another.  Seeing these for the truth they are makes all the difference in how we understand what Jesus is saying, all the difference in how we live, whether in hope or fear, whether in relationship with the Triune God or in a different place entirely.

The first juxtaposition of truth is this:  checklists don’t make good relationships, but righteousness isn’t about checklists.

Checklists don’t make good relationships, but righteousness isn’t about checklists.

The scribes and Pharisees don’t understand this.

They’re good people.  We need to remember that.  They are people who try their hardest to live every aspect of God’s law, and who live their lives with the vocation of teaching others to do the same.  They’re doing their best to keep up a checklist of what God wants, and making sure they check off boxes regularly.  “Just tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it,” that’s what they say.

It’s hard not to admire that.  Not everyone cares about God’s law that much, or works that hard at keeping God’s law.

But this isn’t how true relationships work.

You don’t give your loved ones checklists to accomplish so that you will love them, or so that you will not punish them, or anything like that.  None of us wants our loved ones to be with us under those terms, to be people obsessed with keeping track of what we want and when we want it.  And doing just that, no more, no less.  Looking for loopholes wherever possible.  “Just tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it” sounds horrible from someone we love.  We’d rather they did what they did because they wanted to, because they knew it would please us, because they loved us.

Why would God be any different?

God seeks righteousness from us, yes, to “be made right with God,” have God’s “right-ness.”  But not from a checklist.

We know this from the Son of God, who reminds us often that all God seeks is that we love God with all we are and that we love our neighbors as ourselves.  This, he tells us, sums up all the law and the prophets.

Yes, the law was a list, given to God’s people to show them the way to live with God.  But in coming in person (and actually hundreds of years before Jesus Jeremiah said this would happen), in coming in person God said, “Lose the lists and do it all from your heart.”

“Love God with all your heart, soul mind and strength.  Love your neighbors as yourselves.  “Do this, and you’ll know what life really is.  Do this, and you’re doing all I ever asked.  “Do this, and you’ll be living in the relationship with me and with each other for which I’ve longed for centuries.”

That’s what the Triune God says to us through the Son.

The second juxtaposition of truth is this: seeking reward doesn’t make good relationships, but the kingdom of heaven isn’t a reward.

Seeking reward doesn’t make good relationships, but the kingdom of heaven isn’t a reward.

This is our greater difficulty.  We’re not so worried about lists these days.  But we don’t want to miss out on the lottery prize.

So much of the Church seems to motivate people to live by God’s rules that they might get a good place in death rather than a bad one.  Follow God’s laws, do everything commanded, so that your reward isn’t lost.  The motivation is purely self-centered: I don’t want to go to hell.

But this isn’t how true relationships work.

Which of us wants our loved ones to do whatever they do for us and with us solely for a prize, a reward?  To have someone spend time with us because they’re being paid, or they’ve got a promise of later gift?  To have someone act toward us only that we might give them something?  We’d rather they loved us honestly, openly, truly, not for profit.

Why would God be any different?

God promises that the reign of God, the kingdom of heaven is ours, is something we can enter, something deeply valuable, it is life-giving, life-sustaining, yes.  But it’s never a reward for a good life, it’s never withheld due to a bad life, it’s not even an end of life issue.

We know this from the Son of God, who spoke of the reign of God, the kingdom of heaven as being with us now, inside us, near us, real to us.  The kingdom of heaven is when people live in loving relationship with God and with each other as God intended from the beginning.  So it can be real now, and will certainly be real in the life to come.  It’s not a prize to be earned or won, it’s a gift of life that we can live in right now, this moment.

In coming in person, the Son of God said, “walk with me, love with me, love God and each other, and you will find life.”  When we live as the Triune God made us to live, in such loving relationships, we are already living in the kingdom, we already have the prize.

This what God teaches us through the Son.

“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Ah, Jesus, now we understand: living in love of God and love of neighbor would be complete righteousness.  And entrance into the kingdom of heaven, the reign of God: you’re not talking about a reward but the reality that living in such a relationship is living in the kingdom.

Jesus is telling us the truth, that when we live fully as God’s law had hoped to describe, when our love for God is with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, when our love for our neighbor is as for ourselves, we have already entered the kingdom of heaven.

And we have found a righteousness that far exceeds anything a checklist can give us.  Because it is a righteousness of our heart, a forgiven and restored spirit, given by the One who in dying and rising actually fulfilled all this already, and now makes it possible for us.

Do you see?  He came not to abolish but to fulfill, that we might also fulfill and not abolish.  More than anything, this we see in Christ Jesus, the Son of God: that he fulfilled love of God and neighbor in offering himself fully to us, to the world, even unto death.  But he is risen from the dead, and gives us the same Spirit of God that we might be able to walk the same path, and so live even now in God’s kingdom, God’s reign.

No, nothing can be removed from what God asks of us: this is complete love, not from a checklist but from our heart, and it is a love that calls us to serve, to give away, to lose ourselves both to God and to others, even to die.  Jesus is right in giving a warning that he’s not removing anything.

But that’s only because he knows where real life is lived, in such loving relationships with God and neighbor, and deeply desires each of us to know it, too.

It does make a difference who’s saying this to us.

It makes all the difference in the world.  Because this is life.  The only life.  It’s not easy, it’s not casual, it’s not dismissable.  But it is life.  Christ Jesus give us hearts able to live this now and always.

In the name of Jesus.  Amen

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The Olive Branch, 2/5/14

Accent on Worship

Salt and Light

     You are the light of the world.

This is what we will hear from our Lord this Sunday.
We do not hear: “You might be the light” or “If you ___(fill in the blank)____, then you are the light” or “You will someday in the future be the light,” but “You are the light.” Here. Now. Today.

     You are the light of the world and you are the salt of the earth because the Word of God makes it so. As Jesus speaks this to us, we are made into the salt and the light. This being made into the salt and the light of the world is a gift.

     The gift is a call.

     Neither light nor salt exist for themselves, but for very specific purposes. Salt disinfects, heals, purifies, preserves, and adds flavor. Light shines, not in order to be seen, but to let things be seen as they are. This is the very nature of salt and light. We are made the light and salt of the world, not for ourselves, but for the sake of a dark and hungry world.

     Jesus says, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.” In the same way, none of us, in a power outage would turn on a flashlight just to put it back into the drawer or box from whence it came. Neither would we buy salt just to let it sit on the shelf or to throw it straight into the trash. We buy it to make our food tasty! We point the flashlight where we need to see.

What does it look like to be the salt and light? What we will hear from Isaiah on Sunday gives us a pretty clear clue: “to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them…then your light shall break forth like the dawn.”

Neither Isaiah nor Jesus say that we become the light when we do good works but that we who are already the light, shine—that is, do what light does—when we live a life of love, forgiveness, mercy, and
caring for our neighbor. The gift is a call.

You are the light of world, so shine.

 – Vicar Emily Beckering



Sunday Readings

 February 9, 2014: 5th Sunday after Epiphany
 Isaiah 58:1-12
 Psalm 112:1-9
 I Corinthians. 2:1-16
 Matthew 5:13-20
_____________________

February 16, 2014: 6th Sunday after Epiphany
 Deuteronomy 30:15-20
 Psalm 119:1-8
 I Corinthians 3:1-9
 Matthew 5:21-37



This Week’s Adult Forum 

February 9:  As part of the Taste of Mardi Gras celebration, representatives from Lutheran Volunteer Corps will be with us to share information about their work.



Annual “Taste of” Festival This Sunday

“A Taste of Mardi Gras celebrating Lutheran Volunteer Corps” will be held this Sunday, February 9.
The Adult Forum will feature guests from Lutheran Volunteer Corps, sharing the history of LVC, its impact, and its current mission and initiatives.  Guests will include the Regional Director of Lutheran Volunteer Corps, the Development Director, and several current volunteers who are serving in the Twin Cities.  Following the second liturgy, join us for a Mardi Gras celebration with gumbo, jambalaya, slaw, dirty rice, macaroni and cheese, and bread pudding--all prepared by Mount Olive members. Feel free to invite others.
In places like New Orleans, Mardi Gras is celebrated over the weeks ahead of “Fat Tuesday.” So let’s kick off Mardi Gras right (and this event will be a good bookend for the Fat Tuesday pancake dinner, planned with our youth.)

 Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC), is one of the supported missions of Mount Olive through our congregational giving. Each year, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps provides opportunities for young adults and others to complete a year of full-time service work at select nonprofits in cities across the country, including Minneapolis and St. Paul.  During their year of service, participants live in community and have opportunities to reflect on their commitments, their spiritual journeys, and the ways they hope to put their values into practice.



Book Discussion Group Upcoming Reads

For its meeting on February 8, the Book Discussion group will read and discuss The Bell, by Iris Murdoch. For March 8 they will read Howards End, by E. M. Forster.



Neighborhood  Ministries Newsletter

     The final edition of Greetings from Mount Olive Neighborhood Ministries is now printed and will be available this Sunday, Feb. 9.  The ushers will distribute them after each liturgy, and they will also be available for pick up in the church office.



Stories for the Journey:  Thursday Evening Bible Study

The Thursday evening Bible study meeting in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. continues this week.  Pr. Crippen is leading a series on the parables of Jesus and how they provide us a vision of God’s reign. As with all these Thursday series, there will be a light supper when we begin. The series runs through February 20.



Attention Worship Assistants!
Schedule Request Deadline

The Servant Schedule for the 2nd quarter of 2014 (April – June) will be published at the beginning of March 2014. The deadline for submitting requests to me is February 14, 2014. Please e-mail your requests to me at peggyrf70@gmail.com.

-Peggy Hoeft



100th Birthday Celebration

On February 23, all are invited to join Paul and Ted Odlaug and their families for coffee and cake as we celebrate the 100th birthday of Dorothy Odlaug.  Dorothy’s birthday is February 22, President’s Day.

     The reception will take place in the Chapel Lounge after the second liturgy.  We know that Dorothy is eagerly looking forward to seeing all of you at this time as she has been able to be among you now for almost a year.  Please, no gifts.  Cards or just greetings would more than welcome.

Thank you,
Paul & Ted Odlaug



A Farewell Celebration

March 14 will be Donna Neste's last day as our Neighborhood Ministries Coordinator.  Donna has served God and Mount Olive admirably for many decades and it's time to bid her a fond farewell. We invite members of the congregation to donate to a gift in Donna's honor. Please make checks payable to Mount Olive Lutheran Church (be sure to designate them "Donna's Gift"), and bring or mail them to the church office by Friday, March 7. There will be a meal and celebration after the second liturgy on Sunday, March 16.  For questions, contact Carol Austermann or Kathy Thurston.



Godly Play Needs and Opportunities

Godly Play, our Sunday morning program with children that takes place between liturgies, is in need of people to assist on Sunday mornings by helping the children “get ready” to enter the Godly Play classroom (where we “talk more quietly and walk more slowly”) and to help with our work time and feast.  Training will be provided.  Please consider whether you might be able to serve in this wonderful ministry. Your service would be needed only once every 4-6 weeks.  For more information, or to express your interest, please contact me at diana.hellerman@gmail.com or at 612 581 5969.

In addition, the pre-school class is looking for Arch Books Bible Stories.  Do you some at home you'd like to donate? Please bring them to church.

It is a pleasure to spend Sunday mornings with the children of Mount Olive. Together with Patsy Holtmeier, Carol Austermann and Marilyn Gebauer, I thank you for this blessing and privilege and I invite you to come and be a part of this.

- Diana Hellerman



Bible Study at Becketwood

Vicar Emily Beckering is offering a second run of the six- week Bible study on human suffering at Becketwood Cooperative on five Tuesday afternoons (January 7 through February 11) from 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm. This study examines the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering.  All are welcome!



2014 Lenten Devotional Books Now Available

     Susan Cherwien has prepared another Lenten devotional booklet for our use during this upcoming season of Lent.

     Copies of Journey Into Lent 2014 are available in the narthex and in the church office. Pick yours up soon! If you need a copy to be mailed to you, just contact the church office.

     Lent begins March 5.



Synod Voting Members Needed

Mount Olive is entitled to send two lay voting members (one woman and one man), in addition to Pr. Crippen, to attend the 2014 Minneapolis Area Synod Assembly May 2-3  at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Ramsey.  This is the event that deals with the business of the ELCA on both a local level and beyond.
The theme this year is “Sent Forth By God’s Blessing.”  If you are interested in attending – even if you’ve never done so before – please speak to Pastor Crippen or Lora Dundek (651/645-6636 or lhdundek@usfamily.net).  The congregation pays registration fees for voting members.



National Lutheran Choir to Host City-Wide Hymn Festival

On Sunday February 23, at 4:00 p.m., the National Lutheran Choir will join forces with hundreds of Twin Cities’ church choir members for a City-Wide Hymn Festival to be held at Central Lutheran Church (333 South 12th St., Minneapolis). Mark Sedio, Cantor at Central Lutheran, will conduct the massed choir. David Cherwien and the NLC will perform with the help of the mighty Casavant organ.

Tickets for this event are $25/adults; $23/Seniors; and $20/Students, and can be obtained by calling the NLC office at 612-722-2301. or by visiting them on the web: www.nlca.com.


Sunday, February 2, 2014

Living in the Promise

In the story of Simeon and the Presentation of our Lord, God assures us that God keeps promises. We can wait for God to fulfill God’s promises to us and to all of creation with courage and hope.

Vicar Emily Beckering; The Presentation of our Lord; text: Luke 2:22-40

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

“Could this be the day?” He wondered. “Will it happen today?”

This is the way that he started every morning: wondering, waiting, hoping.

“Could it really happen today?” He tingled at the thought of it.

“Might this be the hour?” he pondered often throughout the day, every day.

It certainly was not a relaxing life: constantly attending to what might be, always alert, living on the lookout, but he had been given a promise. The promise was his purpose and the promise was his pursuit. He could not have rest until it happened, this he knew. And so he watched and he wondered, and he waited.

The story of Simeon is a story of waiting: a story of living in the promise, living in that in-between time.  The time between a promise given and a promise fulfilled.

We, like Simeon, live in an in-between time: the time in between receiving God’s promises to us in Christ and seeing the full realization of these promises. 

The expression: “we walk by faith” is true for us because we have experienced God’s presence with us and care for us, and yet there is still so much that we cannot yet see or understand clearly. There is so much for which we still wait.

As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, we who have the first fruits of the Spirit wait for the redemption of our bodies, not only we, but all of creation groans to be set free from its bondage to decay. We, with all of creation, are waiting for that time when an end will come to suffering and pain and death. We are all waiting for the day when we no longer feel any distance between us and God. We are all waiting to be reunited with the ones who have gone before us.

While we wait with all of creation for these things in this in-between time, there are also things for which we each wait in our lives that have been promised to us in the midst of this relationship with God.  Part of the witness of Simeon’s story is that God really does enter into our lives and speak promises to us.

What are God’s promises for which you are waiting?
What is it for which you are still longing to be revealed?

It is into this time—our time of waiting and anticipation and longing—that God’s word comes to us today. 

And thanks be to God for this because waiting is no easy task. Waiting for God’s promises to us to be fulfilled is difficult because in this in-between time we see glimpses but not the full picture. As Paul writes, we see in a mirror dimly, and only know in part, but we wait for when we will see face to face and understand fully.

In this space, in this in-between time, there is so much room for doubt.

We may doubt the promise itself: Did we hear the promise correctly? Was that really what God promised? Was the promise really for us?

We may doubt ourselves and our ability to recognize or to receive the promise, especially if we are waiting longer than we anticipated for God to keep God’s word: What if we somehow missed it? Is there some way that we could mess it up or prevent the promise from being fulfilled?

We may doubt the One who has given the promise. It is difficult to wait because it is difficult to trust: will God be faithful to God’s word?

Perhaps for some of us, the problem is not doubting the promise, but not knowing what it is that we are promised. We are not certain what God’s word is for our lives. How can we trust if we do not even know what it is for which we are waiting?

In response to each of these fears which often seem to hold so much power over us, we are given the witness of Simeon so that we might wait with good courage. 

At first, we might scoff at this witness and think: “Ha. It was easy for Simeon! He had a direct word from God. He knew exactly what God had promised him and what he was supposed to do about it.” Maybe it’s harder for us because it’s not always clear to us what God has promised to us, how God is at work in us, or where or to what God is calling us.

But the key to hearing the good news in this story today is to recognize that the God who spoke to Simeon and led him to the temple is the same God who has claimed us and is at work in our lives. 

It is evident from Simeon’s witness that this God is a God who loves us deeply and acts out of this love. God cares so tenderly for Simeon that God the Father makes the promise to Simeon through the Holy Spirit. God the Son fulfills this promise. God the Holy Spirit ensures that Simeon gets to see the promise fulfilled.

So much of our difficulty with waiting arises from the fear that we have been abandoned, and that we must have somehow imagined the promise or screwed it up. But God doesn’t just make a promise and then step aside or sit back. God is intimately involved in Simeon’s life, so much so that the Holy Spirit rests upon Simeon so that God may dwell with him. By this Spirit, Simeon is guided at just the right time to meet the Messiah promised to him.

It is clear that just as the Triune God is committed to the saving purpose of redeeming Israel, so too is God committed to ensuring that Simeon, whom God also loves, is able to witness the fulfillment of this promise.

God is a God who keeps promises. God was faithful to the promise made to Simeon. God was faithful to the promise made to all of Israel. God will be faithful to the promises that God has made to us.

What is more, the same promises that were given to Simeon and to Israel are also given to us. We have also seen our salvation. In Jesus, God has given us God’s own heart. When Simeon was led to the temple by the Holy Spirit, he was met by his savior. We were led here today by the Holy Spirit where we are met by our Savior. When we take the Eucharist, we take Jesus into our arms. The same love, the same life, the same freedom that Simeon realized was offered to him, to Israel, and to all people is ours. The same Spirit that rested upon Simeon has been poured out onto us in our Baptism.

Just as the Triune God tenderly cared for Simeon, ensuring that Simeon heard the promise, was led to the one promised to him, and recognized it when the promise was fulfilled, the Triune God is at work in our lives, guiding us and giving us what we need to be formed into who God has promised until that time when we experience the fullness of all that God has promised.

When we hear the story of the presentation of our Lord, God is taking us up into God’s arms and saying: “Look what I’ve done for Simeon. Look what I’ve done for Israel, for the world, and for you. You can trust my promises.”

When we cling to this word from God, then we too, like Simeon, can live in the promise.

Two things emerge for us from Simeon’s witness about what this looks like.

First, we are to keep waiting.

Simeon expected God to fulfill God’s promise to him, so he lived watching and waiting—living on the word given to him. God also asks us to wait, to watch, and to listen. We live in the promise when we live on the lookout for Jesus to meet us, and when we listen for how the Holy Spirit is nudging us, drawing us closer to the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives.

We are to wait and watch and listen, even for the unexpected. The promise might not be fulfilled precisely in the way that we expect. Is it likely that Simeon expected the deliverer and savior of his people and every nation to come to him as a baby? The fact that God’s promises are often fulfilled in unexpected ways is made clear to us not only in this story, but throughout the gospels. Think of the rich man who did not anticipate that the Messiah would ask him to give up all of his possessions to follow him, and how he went away sad because he had great wealth. Think of the Pharisees who could not accept a Messiah who broke bread with sinners. Think of the disciples who were filled with fear because they did not expect their Messiah to suffer and die.

God may not fulfill promises to us in the way that we expect, but with open hearts that listen for the Holy Spirit to guide us, God will see to it that we are led to where we need to be, that we are formed into who God would have us be, and that we can recognize God at work.

We are also to wait and watch and listen even when it takes longer than we thought for God’s work in our lives to be fulfilled. Think of Anna: the prophet who never left the temple but worshipped night and day. Think of all the nights and days and weeks and years that she waited for the promised redemption of Israel before she got to see that promise fulfilled before her eyes.

It might take longer than we want for God to fulfill what God has promised for us and for the world, but God will see to it that it is accomplished.

The second thing that God asks of us today is to respond when we are called.

When the Word was given to him to go to the temple, Simeon got up and followed. By following the Word given to him, Simeon encountered his Messiah and witnessed the fulfillment of God’s promises. We hear from Simeon’s song, however, that following the Holy Spirit caused Simeon to come closer to his own death, for once he met his Messiah, he knew that he could now pass away. Yet, being faced with his death also meant coming face to face with the one who had come to set him free from the power of death.

In the same way, we are not told that living according to God’s promises or following the Holy Spirit to where Jesus is will be easy. Simeon’s prophecy warns us alongside Mary and Joseph of opposition, rejection, and suffering. But what we are promised is that by the power of the Holy Spirit, God will be with us as we follow the call to follow.

Although waiting, watching, listening and following where the Holy Spirit leads us in this in-between time is not easy, we know that the Triune God who held Simeon in tender care also holds us. It might take longer than we would like, and it might not happen in the way that we expect, but God will be faithful to God’s promises for our lives. To this we can cling. That is living in the promise.

 

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Reconciling in ChristRIC

Copyright 2014 Mount Olive Lutheran Church