The Olive Branch, 6/11/14

Accent on Worship

Gratitude

Sunday’s activities here every week don’t just happen. It’s astounding how many are involved in plans, preparations, implementation, etc. Everything from planning each service, preparing, proofing and printing the bulletin, cleaning, scheduling the worship leaders for each service, Altar Guild’s preparations, Sacristan setting up and arranging the space, vestments made ready, coffee hosts preparing food, adult education planned and presented, the Godly Play leaders trained, and parents communicated with – the list can go on and on, and no doubt someone is thinking “Hey what about what I do?” We need to thank God for all of this.

     And of course, there are the musicians to add to that list. Most of the time, music the choir sings began its learning process several weeks prior. We began learning last Sunday’s music on April 30.

     I am feeling gratitude for the group of people who sing in the choir. They make a special trip in every week, and spend close to two hours in rehearsal preparing for what they contribute to our liturgy.

     Many of them also are very involved in other committees and volunteer work at church and some weeks are here many days of the week. In addition to its weekly schedule of Wednesday rehearsals and Sunday
participation, this year the choir had many “extra-curricular” events in which they gladly participated: several wedding liturgies, a City-wide Hymn Festival at Central Lutheran, four Music and Fine Arts events (two procession services, the Conference on Liturgy Hymn Festival, and two full-days for Bach Tage. During Holy Week we joke about putting cots in the choir room.

     Another group for whom I’m feeling special gratitude is those who prepare food for so many events. Receptions, meals, breakfasts – it’s a huge amount of work preparing the food, and the less-fun-to-do clean-up afterwards. On one day this past month one crew prepared and cleaned up a breakfast, community meal, and a wedding reception – all in one day!

     I hope you join me in thanking God for all that they, and everyone who helps implement what we do on Sundays.

     Why do we do all of this? We do it because God means that much to us. God’s loving grace evokes a desire to “go out of our way” and add inconvenience to our schedules, so that we, too, can share our sense of gratitude, praise, and sense of Grace as God’s people in this place.

     Indeed: “Thanks be to God!”

- Cantor David Cherwien



Sunday Readings

June 15, 2014: The Holy Trinity
Genesis 1:1—2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20
___________________

June 22, 2014: 2nd Sunday after Pentecost (Lect. 12A)
Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:7-10 [11-15] 16-18
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39



Mount Olive Church Picnic June 22

     Mount Olive will have a Church Picnic this year on Sunday, June 22, from 3:00-7:00 p.m.  John and Patsy Holtmeier welcome all to their (spacious!) backyard at 601 Drillane Road in Hopkins.

     Games and hilarity for kids and adults will be held from 3:00-5:00 p.m., including a Bean Bag Tournament, Zip Line Run, lawn games, and more.  A potluck picnic will begin around 5:00 p.m., and the day will close with a hymn sing on the lawn.  All are invited!  Sign-up sheets for attendance, food preparation, set up, etc. will be at church for one more Sunday, June 15.

     In the event of rain on the 22nd, a modified picnic will be held that day in the Undercroft from 5:00-7:00 p.m.




Olive Branch Summer Publication Schedule

     During the summer months, The Olive Branch is published every other week.

     The next Olive Branch will be published on Wednesday, June 25.  Information for that issue is due in to the church office by Tuesday, June 24.



Vicar learns New Role

     Al Bipes, director of the Worship Committee, has been working with Vicar Beckering to learn and be able to do the duties of sacristan at one of our regular Sunday Eucharists.  Sunday, June 15, they will switch roles, with Al taking the role of Eucharistic Minister and Vicar Beckering serving as sacristan.  The hope is that this could be a new piece of training for our vicars going forward, near the end of their year with us, to better understand all the preparation and work needed for our liturgy to flow smoothly.  It is also the hope that through this learning, our vicars can leave here with some tools they can use to help members of their congregations take ownership and responsibility for preparing and leading worship themselves, and help them develop and train strong lay leadership in worship, especially in places where it has not previously been a practice.



Transitions Support Group Continues

     Members who found the recent 4 week life transitions support group helpful have decided to continue meeting but on a less regular basis.  They invite others who would like an opportunity to discuss concerns and receive support to join them.

     The next meeting is on Wednesday, July 16, at 6:30 in the Youth Room. Amy Cotter and Cathy Bosworth will act as facilitators.  If you have questions, please call Cathy at 612-708-1144 or email marcat8447@yahoo.com.



New Vicar Assigned

     Mount Olive has received our assignment for next year’s vicar, the seminary intern who will serve with us.  Her name is Meagan McLaughlin, and she and her wife Karen live in south Minneapolis.  She grew up in Edina, and has worked as a school teacher and in social outreach at the Basilica, among other things.  She is a student at United Seminary, but taking her Lutheran core classes at Luther Seminary and seeking ordination in the ELCA.  Vicar Beckering’s last Sunday among us will be August 17, and Vicar McLaughlin will begin the next week.  When she arrives, much more in the way of introduction will be forthcoming.



Book Discussion Group’s Upcoming Reads

For their meeting on June 14, the book discussion group will read, The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson; and for the meeting on July 12, they will read, All Over but the Shoutin', by Rick Bragg.



Sign Up Now for Summer A.C.T.S. ! (Adults, Children Teaming to Serve)  June 16 – July 17

Thank you to those who have signed up to participate in Summer A.C.T.S.   Twenty youth are signed up and ready to begin work next week.  Sixteen adults and three teenagers have signed up for shifts but there is still room for a few more.  The most urgent needs are Monday and Wednesday, June 16 and l8; Tuesday and Thursday June 24 and 26; Monday and Wednesday June 30 and July 2; Tuesday and Thursday July 1 and 3; and Tuesday and Thursday July 8 and 10.  Please call Connie at the church (612-827-5919) or e mail her at connietoavs@comcast.net if you can help.



Getting to Know You …

John Wall:  Born in Virginia, Minnesota, baptized at Zion Lutheran (Suomi Synod), confirmed in the Presbyterian Church, confirmed (again) at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, I left for Gustavus to earn a degree in church music. Shortly before graduating, I was confirmed (3rd time) in the Episcopal Church, and married my first wife in Christ Chapel. After a year at Seabury-Western Episcopal Seminary, Evanston, we moved to the Cities where I began service as choir director /organist from Redeemer Lutheran in Minneapolis, Good Samaritan Methodist and St. Stephen’s Episcopal in Edina, St. Luke’s Roman Catholic and Edgcumbe Presbyterian in St. Paul, to Emerson UCC in Richfield and elsewhere. In the 1990’s I also worked for Gould and Schultz Pipe Organs. In 1988 my wife Carol Anne and I married at St. Clement’s Episcopal, St. Paul. We live in St. Paul with our two Chinese daughters, Sarah, 15, and Rachel, 12, each baptized at an Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Episcopal, St. Paul. Carol Anne works at Securian and as adjunct writing professor at Metropolitan State. My love of psalmody and the Benedictine Rule brought me to this year’s Conference on Liturgy and my first Sunday morning at Mount Olive – I just keep coming back. Having ended 50 years on the organ bench, composing music and working on liturgy, God put me in a pew among you. My spiritual aliveness comes also from service to my fellow addicts now at the international level on the Literature Committee, so from liturgy to literature I am filled with gratitude.



The Bargain Box

     Saturday, August 2 will be a busy day at Mount Olive! We will be helping to get neighborhood children ready for school year with Bargain Box fitting children with new school clothes and distributing school supplies during the Community Meal. We are looking for donations of cash, gently used children’s clothes (no adult clothes, please), school supplies, and backpacks.

     If you have time to help with the meal, or assist with clothing or school supplies, please plan to come to the August Community Meals!

Please note: Neighborhood Ministries is looking for backpacks, new and gently-used, to distribute at the August Community Meal. We want children to be ready for school! Stay tuned for more information.

- Neighborhood Ministries Committee




Food and Personal Items Needed!

      Now that school is out for the summer, many children who receive free or reduced-price lunches at school will often go hungry.  Please keep up or increase your monetary and food contributions during the summer months.  You may use your blue envelopes and designate "food shelf" as the recipient.  Food contributions may be placed in the shopping cart in the coat room.

      In our summer travels, let's remember that the complimentary toiletries provided by hotels and motels are ideal for homeless people who have little space for such items. Most of the time, we are charged for these items as a part of the payment for accommodations.  Please bring your unused toiletries to the designated basket in the coat room.

     Know that your donations help provide basic needs, as Christ would have us do.



Calling All Graduates!

     On Sunday, June 22, we will recognize and remember in prayer those who are graduating this spring … but we need to know who you are! If you are graduating from high school, college, or graduate school (or if your family member is), please call the church office with your name and the name of the school, so that your name can be included in the prayers for that day.
 
     We would love to celebrate your achievement with you!