The vision of the other crucified convict is the vision we need to see God’s work in the world: to look at the dying Jesus of Nazareth and see the Christ, ruler of all things and the image of the invisible God.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Christ the King, Lectionary 34, year C; texts: Luke 23:33-43; Colossians 1:11-20
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
The sign was, in the end, unnecessary. Everybody knew who the man in the middle was. Still, it was the custom to hang a sign over each crucifixion, naming the convict and the charges against him. So Pilate, the governor and judge of this case, had one made for Jesus. “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” John tells us that the religious authorities protested that the charge should be “he claimed to be the King of the Jews.” But all four evangelists agree that the crime, the charge laid against Jesus by the Romans, was that he was actually the King of the Jews. A little bit of gallows humor, with the added bonus to the oppressor that the oppressed are offended by it.
But everyone knew who he was. Jesus of Nazareth. An itinerant rabbi from Galilee who’d been drawing big crowds for a couple years. Rumors of healings and miracles were breathed, but most of his work was in the north country, where you can get hicks to believe anything, even that water can be changed into wine. Those in the city, the sophisticates, likely doubted he was anything real. But they knew of him. Everybody did. Every generation it seemed there was someone stirring up the people and raising hopes for freedom and restoration to Israel. At the very least, he was the latest news. And here he was, ending the way the rest of them always ended, on a Roman cross.
The title “king” was never really in question, except as a Roman joke, not to the crowds. Even to those who might have heard him teach, might even have found hope in some of his words, this execution, this death was probably not a surprise. No one really thought that he was a king of anything. And who ever could be king in a world ruled by Caesar?
Except there is this: one man, strangely enough one hanging on a cross next to him, with his own name and crime above his head, one man looked at this dying teacher, this failed hope, and saw a king. A real King, one who was somehow yet to inherit his kingdom, his reign. Dying himself, this convict asked only one thing, to be remembered when this King entered his kingdom.
Look, everybody knew he was Jesus of Nazareth. Everybody knew that the title King was either a big joke or an offense.
So answer this: how in the world did this convict see the Christ, the ruler of all things, when he looked at the dying Jesus?
That is the truth we must grasp, above everything else in this world, because until we see how this convict sees, we understand nothing about God.
In some ways we have made a wall of separation between what we know and think happened at the cross and what we consider about God in our world today.
There’s no question we believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross, and was raised. We debate about how this saves us, what needed to be made right that only Jesus’ death could do. But we know that he died and he rose.
Yet, when we consider what the Triune God is doing in the world today, when we seek signs of God’s hand, of God’s will, somehow we separate this death of Jesus from that. We ask where God is in suffering and death. We ask what God wants of us and of the world. We blame God for things we ourselves have caused, we abandon faith when challenges come.
We believe that Jesus died and rose, but we have segregated that event to having something to do only with what happens after we die. We don’t consider that it might have something to do with everything in this world.
But the apostle Paul sees with the convict’s eyes. He looks at the cross, at the dying Jesus, and sees Christ. He looks at the cross and sees God’s ongoing action in the world.
This paean of praise at the entrance to Colossians is majestic in its beauty. Paul claims that Christ is the “image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;” “in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,” through him and for him. And on top of it all, Christ is “before all things and in him all things hold together.”
This is a cosmic view of the lordship of Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the ruler of all things. But that’s only part of the hymn. Paul also claims that in Christ “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Not only the image of the invisible God, Christ Jesus is the fullness of God, fully God. Now we are into Trinitarian lands, speaking of whom we know as the Second Person of the Trinity, very God of very God.
But then Paul adds: “through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross.” Thump. This exalted Christ, God from God, Light from Light, bled on a cross? This fullness of God, this image of the invisible God, ruler of all, bled on a cross? And through that bleeding, reconciliation with all things in heaven and on earth happened? Peace with God happened?
This is the vision of the convict: to look at the bleeding, dying Jesus and see the eternal Christ and believe that he is, in dying, acting his kingship, beginning his reign. This is a death and resurrection that is not for a single moment segregated from the rest of our theology, held in reserve for our hope in life after death.
This is not an image of a superhero disguised in rags who sheds them at the last moment and reveals his power and glory: this Son of God wears the rags into death. This is a Christ ruling over the universe through his bleeding and dying, a Christ who is only recognizable to the world in that dying rabbi from Nazareth. A Christ who cannot be understood or known apart from this death on the cross.
What the convict sees is that this is how God answers human evil and how God will continue to answer human evil: by entering it and dying to it in order to rule over all things.
We know from what Paul says here and elsewhere that the center of all of this is to see that this death is God’s way of bringing reconciliation to all things. “Reconciling” is the key word, isn’t it? Somehow, by the Son of God, existing with the Father and the Spirit before all time and now living in our flesh, somehow by God entering suffering and death, God breaks through our evil and hate.
We do not love God with our whole lives and our neighbors as ourselves. God, since the Flood, has committed not to use power against us when we sin like that. So the Triune God sets aside all power and lets us kill the Incarnate Son. And somehow that reconciles all things, that God is willing to be killed by us.
This is mystery, but this is the truth that the Triune God shows us consistently throughout the Scriptures: the only way to win is to lose all; the only way to be free is to be a slave; the only way to live is to die. The Son of God, in dying, shows forever God’s answer to the brokenness and pain of the world.
If we can look at the dying Jesus and see the Christ, the ruler of all, and say “remember me when you come into your kingdom,” only then will the world begin to make sense.
This is the path we find when we see like this and follow our Lord Christ: a path through death into life.
Looking for ways in the world for us to protect our rights, secure our safety, ensure our sense that we are right and others not, to find gain at whatever expense, this is not a path of Christ.
If we think that Jesus’ death and resurrection are only important because they get us to heaven we deny that they are in fact the path we are all called to walk.
God’s biggest problem with humanity wasn’t that we die. God could stop that with a word. The Son of God didn’t need to die and rise to stop death. God’s biggest problem with humanity wasn’t that we sin and need forgiveness. God could forgive us with a word – look at what Jesus says about those who crucify him. The Son of God didn’t need to die and rise to forgive us.
The witness of Scripture is that the Son of God needed to die and rise because he was willing to make himself completely vulnerable to us, to reveal God’s love by setting aside all power. Even if we killed him. And he did this, he said, to show us the path to real life, the path God needs us to walk, the way he invited his disciples to walk. That’s how we’re reconciled to God: we return to our created path.
Forgiven, yes. Given eternal life, yes. But the important thing was that God needed to die to show us the way to life. True life, Jesus’ death tells us, is found in letting go of our need to control, of our need to win, of our need to be the center of our lives, of our need to grasp for power.
We will love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength when we let go of putting ourselves in the center of our hearts and lives. We will love our neighbor as ourselves when we put our neighbor before us, before our needs.
We will find God’s answer to suffering in this world to continue to be in the suffering and death of Jesus as we take it on ourselves; in other words, God’s answer is that we enter the suffering of others and hold them in it, taking it on ourselves. That we learn to suffer so others might find life, that we stand firmly in love in a world of evil and hold on to the good and the gracious, even if it costs us everything.
Our willingness to be Christ means our willingness to lose like Jesus of Nazareth. That’s the fulfilling of the reconciliation God works on the cross: in our lives, our voices, our bodies, our hearts, laid out in the world. In our willingness to lose ourselves, like Jesus, that we might be found in the heart of God and in the resurrection life God makes happen only in death.
To see the eternal Christ the way the convict sees is to see the life God is making in the death of this world, and the path we are invited to walk.
It means becoming comfortable with paradox and mystery. That power is truly exercised when it is released and let go. That weakness is the true strength. That death – daily death – is the gateway to life. This was not only true of Jesus, the Son. It is the path he holds out before us now.
And in repeating the words of that convict, we are committing ourselves to walk that path with our Lord Christ, seeking only the grace of his remembering us, that he might turn to us and strengthen our hearts and our faith, and transform us in our dying and losing, that we, and all things in heaven and on earth, might faithfully walk this path which ultimately ends in life.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
The Olive Branch
Accent on Worship
My major in college was history. I took a lot of European history classes and learned that most kings in history, even when they started out with much promise, were corrupted beyond belief by the time of their death. Most held unlimited power in their kingdoms which, I believe, was their undoing and the cause of great hardship and suffering for their subjects.
The image of God and God in Jesus as king is made clear in the readings for Christ the King Sunday, and it is quite the opposite of historical kings and their kingdoms. God in Jesus is depicted in all three readings. In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah describes him as a king who is wise, just, and righteous, the one who is coming and will put all things right. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Strong words are reserved for the string of kings who came and went in Judah during Jeremiah’s time. They were referred to as shepherds who allowed their sheep to be scattered and did not attend to them.
The second reading, an inspired letter to the Colossians, tells of the one so powerful, through whom all was created and who rules over all dominions and powers. Yet in him, we are rescued from the power of darkness, transformed, forgiven, and redeemed. In these passages Paul paints a picture of Jesus, who is one with God from the beginning and who holds all power, yet because he willingly became so lowly through the blood of his cross, dispenses eternal mercy. In God, who holds unlimited power over everything in heaven and earth, there is eternal mercy.
This mercy is revealed in the suffering and death of Jesus, who offers his forgiveness and an invitation to be with him in paradise to the sinner on the cross beside him, who recognized the kingship and kingdom of Jesus and asked to be a part of it.
- Donna Pususta Neste
Sunday Readings
November 24, 2013 – Christ the King, Sunday 34
Jeremiah 23:1-6 + Psalm 46
Colossians 1:11-20 + Luke 23:33-43
December 1, 2013 – First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5 + Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14 + Matthew 24:36-44
Thanksgiving Eucharist
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28
10:00 a.m.
Bring non-perishable food items to help re-stock local food shelves. Monetary donations are especially welcome (for every $1 donated, food shelf personnel are able to buy about $9 worth of food!)
The entire offering received at the Eucharist on Thanksgiving Day will be given to Sabbathani Community Center and Community Emergency Services.
Neighborhood Ministries Newsletter
This Sunday, November 24, the ushers will distribute the fall issue of the Neighborhood Ministries newsletter, Greetings from Mount Olive Neighborhood Ministries. If you will not be in church that day and would like a copy, they will be available to be picked up at the church, in the office or in the narthex.
Adult Forum
• November 24: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 3 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
Thursday Evening Bible Study
On Thursday evenings (except for Thanksgiving Day) through December 19, Vicar Beckering is leading a topical study on the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. This Bible study series meets in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Each gathering will begin with a light supper. All are welcome!
Book Discussion Group
For December 14, The Book Discussion group will discuss The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty, and on January 18 (postponed one week due to the Liturgy Conference), we will discuss Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively.
Please Note
Church offices will be closed on Friday, November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving).
2014 Pledge Cards
A letter and pledge card for 2014 was sent to Mount Olive members last week. The Stewardship Committee would like to have all pledge cards returned by Sunday, December 1, either to the church office or placed in the designated box next to the coat area.
Creche Needed
Our Godly Play church school program is in need of a Christmas creche, preferably one made of wood that the children can handle. If you have one you can donate or loan to us for a while, please bring it to the church office. Thank you!
Patsy Holtmeier and Carol Austermann
Advent Procession
Sunday, December 1 – 4:00 p.m.
All are invited to this contemplative service of lessons and carols for Advent.
A Note of Thanks
At Mount Olive, one would, of course, need to say that our spirits are fed by the Eucharist that we share every Sunday morning. But we do food and drink for the body pretty well, too! Many thanks to Gail Nielsen and her crew for Sunday's wonderful NovemberFest meal and celebration! It was a great time.
ELCA Disaster Relief: Super Typhoon Haiyan
One of the most powerful storms ever recorded, Super Typhoon Haiyan, crashed across the central islands of the Philippines. With winds of over 200 miles per hour and torrential rains, it has caused massive destruction, loss of lives and forced millions of people to flee their homes.
Our help is needed to make a difference in the lives of those affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan. Through partnerships and as a member of ACT Alliance, Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to the most urgent needs of food, water, clothing, shelter, sleeping material and medicine. Possible assistance may also include helping those whose livelihood of fishing or farming has been destroyed.
Gifts designated to "Pacific Typhoon Response" will be used by Lutheran Disaster Relief in full – 100 percent – to help with immediate and long-term need. Your generous offerings of prayer and financial support will help those affected as they journey to recover.
If you wish to make a donation toward relief efforts, use your blue missions envelope or any other and mark it clearly for Typhoon Relief. This past Sunday, November 17, Mount Olive members contributed $2420 toward this effort. The need is great, and our continued donations help.
The Art Shoppe
For those who are new to Mount Olive, I would like to extend a special invitation to visit and shop at the Art Shoppe for the upcoming holidays.
Three years ago, Mount Olive was invited to join A Minnesota Without Poverty in a micro-enterprise that would support local artists. A retail space in the Midtown Global Market, in the old Sears building one block from Mount Olive, was obtained for this purpose. The Art Shoppe faces Lake Street in the west corridor of the Midtown Global Market.
There are now sixty artists involved who offer their work in a variety of forms: clothing, jewelry, pottery, photos, cards, glass-blowing, and woodworking.
Are you looking for some one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts this year? Shop and support the artists at The Art Shoppe.
Carol Austermann,
Neighborhood Ministries Director
How are you?
“Just fine!” or some similar response is often our automatic reply. If things aren’t really all that fine, we aren’t sure the inquirer really wants to know so we hesitate to elaborate further. The fact is life brings changes to each of us and we are often surprised by how difficult and even painful these changes can be. As Christians we know we can share the complications of life with each other, but often we aren’t sure how to go about it.
Mount Olive Congregational Care group would like to open a conversation so that those of us who care for others can share experiences and insights, and in so doing, strengthen one another through shared faith. A four-week structured group will be offered at Mount Olive on Fridays at 1:00 PM beginning December 27. Cathy Bosworth, Vicar Emily Beckering and Marilyn Gebauer will act as facilitators. Each week a brief educational component will be offered with equal time for each person to share personally in a confidential, supportive setting.
If you have interest in attending, or have questions about this, please call Cathy Bosworth or Marilyn Gebauer. Cathy can be reached at 952-949-3679 or marcat8447@yahoo.com. Marilyn can be reached at 651-704-9539 or gebauevm@bitstream.net. If four or more people have interest in participating, each will be contacted to confirm the group will meet as planned.
Narthex Updating
A big thank you goes out to Mount Olive members who helped with new upgrades and maintenance of the narthex.
The changes have been subtle but over the last couple months you may have noticed a few changes in the narthex. It started with some tough scrubbing of the brick walls in the north stairwell to the balcony. Many years of buildup on the walls had had turned the stairwell bricks a very dark color, accentuated by much lighter colored chips in the brick. Steve Pranschke, Bob Lee, John Meyer and Sue Ellen Zagrabelny applied a fair amount of elbow grease and heavy duty cleaner to brighten those brick walls. Thank you, Steve, Bob, John and Sue Ellen.
A few days later, new carpet was delivered and as the carpet layers were removing the old carpet from the stairwells, they found that the floor boards on the first landing of the south staircase were dangerously decaying from an old water damage problem and needed to be replaced before the new carpet could be installed. Who do you call in an emergency situation where some major floor repair is needed immediately?? Well, the dream team of Art Halbardier and George Oelfke appeared on a moment’s notice, and they cut out the decayed floor boards and replaced them with new flooring all in time for the new carpet to be installed without any delays. Thank you, Art and George.
Also over the last few weeks, new brighter lighting has been installed in the stairwells leading to the balcony and in the two stairwells leading to the undercroft. Future plans call for painting the stairwells to the undercroft and more new lighting at the bottom of the stairwells.
Lastly, Mark Pipkorn hand crafted new brighter globes for the four main lights in the narthex. The original globes were installed in the early 1960s and were made of fiberglass that had darkened considerably, especially when larger, hotter light bulbs had been used and caused the fiber glass to discolor. Thank you, Mark!
Also a special thank you to Brian Jacobs for providing his decorative expertise and help in choosing and ordering and installing the carpet and lighting.
Mittens + Gloves = Warm Hands
At the Community Meals in December (7th and 21st), mittens and glove will be given to our guests who need/want them. If you would like to donate mittens and/or gloves to this cause, please call Irene Campbell at 651/230-3927.
To the Wearers of Albs
As the season of Advent approaches and the worship assistants’ albs get more frequent use, please take a moment or two to check your alb to see if it needs to be repaired or replaced. Take a good, long look! Also, look for additional information on the alb closet door. If you have any questions or concerns, please call Carol Austermann at 612/722-5123.
Communion Ministry at Mount Olive
We are looking to add some new Communion Ministers to our team.
As an extension of Pastor Crippen’s ministry, each week Communion Ministers visit members of our congregation who aren’t able to attend a Sunday service because of a short-term recuperation or long-term illness. During our visits, we share the Eucharist, creating a connection to our weekly worship.
Each year Communion Ministers make more than 200 visits, and we want make sure we meet the needs of congregation members as they arise.
We typically ask Communion Ministers to visit 1-2 members one time per month, and while the visits are usually on Sundays, they can be scheduled for other days, too.
If you are interested in becoming a part of this rewarding experience or would like more information about it, please contact Tom Graves and Ginny Agresti at 651-292-1685, or by email at thgravesmn@msn.com.
Field Trip!
Interested in attending the largest choral music event in the world? Ever seen the film “The Singing Revolution” or maybe have heard the recent concert of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir? Ever thought of visiting Saint Saviour’s Church in Riga, Latvia that Mount Olive was instrumental in resurrecting (with Arden and Jana Haug) in the 1990’s?
Join former Mount Olive Cantor Mark Sedio and his partner, Jeff Sartain as they lead a trip to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this summer from June 27 through July 7. The group will visit three interestingly diverse capital cities: Vilnius (Lithuania - a gem of a city with stunning Baroque architecture and a center of Jewish learning), Riga (Latvia’s lovely capital - not only lots of red brick like Copenhagen but also a treasure chest of a peculiar brand of Art Nouveau), and finally Tallinn (Estonia - boasting one of the best preserved Medieval city centers in all of Europe). The culmination of the trip is the All-Estonia LAULUPIDU (the Song Festival which happens only once every five years) in which 120,000 people join together in song. It is one of the largest choral events in the world! All this, plus side trips to places like Cesis (Latvia) - a pristinely preserved Latvian town and the Estonian island of Saaremaa with its many windmills, mysterious crater lakes, and one of Europe’s largest stone Teutonic fortresses.
Tour brochures will soon be available in the church office. For more information, contact Mark at 612/ 767-9230 or msedio@centralmpls.org. Hope you’ll consider joining us!
Mark Sedio
Incarnation Icon
Adam Krueger and Thomas Fenner have commissioned an Incarnation icon, which they are giving to Mount Olive in memory of Adam’s mother. The icon writer (or painter), Nicholas Markell (who also wrote the icon of the Ascension in Mount Olive's columbarium), will present the icon to Adam and Thomas and will discuss the icon -- its genesis, its symbolism, its meanings -- at the Adult Forum on December 1.
My major in college was history. I took a lot of European history classes and learned that most kings in history, even when they started out with much promise, were corrupted beyond belief by the time of their death. Most held unlimited power in their kingdoms which, I believe, was their undoing and the cause of great hardship and suffering for their subjects.
The image of God and God in Jesus as king is made clear in the readings for Christ the King Sunday, and it is quite the opposite of historical kings and their kingdoms. God in Jesus is depicted in all three readings. In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah describes him as a king who is wise, just, and righteous, the one who is coming and will put all things right. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Strong words are reserved for the string of kings who came and went in Judah during Jeremiah’s time. They were referred to as shepherds who allowed their sheep to be scattered and did not attend to them.
The second reading, an inspired letter to the Colossians, tells of the one so powerful, through whom all was created and who rules over all dominions and powers. Yet in him, we are rescued from the power of darkness, transformed, forgiven, and redeemed. In these passages Paul paints a picture of Jesus, who is one with God from the beginning and who holds all power, yet because he willingly became so lowly through the blood of his cross, dispenses eternal mercy. In God, who holds unlimited power over everything in heaven and earth, there is eternal mercy.
This mercy is revealed in the suffering and death of Jesus, who offers his forgiveness and an invitation to be with him in paradise to the sinner on the cross beside him, who recognized the kingship and kingdom of Jesus and asked to be a part of it.
- Donna Pususta Neste
Sunday Readings
November 24, 2013 – Christ the King, Sunday 34
Jeremiah 23:1-6 + Psalm 46
Colossians 1:11-20 + Luke 23:33-43
December 1, 2013 – First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5 + Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14 + Matthew 24:36-44
Thanksgiving Eucharist
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28
10:00 a.m.
Bring non-perishable food items to help re-stock local food shelves. Monetary donations are especially welcome (for every $1 donated, food shelf personnel are able to buy about $9 worth of food!)
The entire offering received at the Eucharist on Thanksgiving Day will be given to Sabbathani Community Center and Community Emergency Services.
Neighborhood Ministries Newsletter
This Sunday, November 24, the ushers will distribute the fall issue of the Neighborhood Ministries newsletter, Greetings from Mount Olive Neighborhood Ministries. If you will not be in church that day and would like a copy, they will be available to be picked up at the church, in the office or in the narthex.
Adult Forum
• November 24: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 3 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
Thursday Evening Bible Study
On Thursday evenings (except for Thanksgiving Day) through December 19, Vicar Beckering is leading a topical study on the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. This Bible study series meets in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Each gathering will begin with a light supper. All are welcome!
Book Discussion Group
For December 14, The Book Discussion group will discuss The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty, and on January 18 (postponed one week due to the Liturgy Conference), we will discuss Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively.
Please Note
Church offices will be closed on Friday, November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving).
2014 Pledge Cards
A letter and pledge card for 2014 was sent to Mount Olive members last week. The Stewardship Committee would like to have all pledge cards returned by Sunday, December 1, either to the church office or placed in the designated box next to the coat area.
Creche Needed
Our Godly Play church school program is in need of a Christmas creche, preferably one made of wood that the children can handle. If you have one you can donate or loan to us for a while, please bring it to the church office. Thank you!
Patsy Holtmeier and Carol Austermann
Advent Procession
Sunday, December 1 – 4:00 p.m.
All are invited to this contemplative service of lessons and carols for Advent.
A Note of Thanks
At Mount Olive, one would, of course, need to say that our spirits are fed by the Eucharist that we share every Sunday morning. But we do food and drink for the body pretty well, too! Many thanks to Gail Nielsen and her crew for Sunday's wonderful NovemberFest meal and celebration! It was a great time.
ELCA Disaster Relief: Super Typhoon Haiyan
One of the most powerful storms ever recorded, Super Typhoon Haiyan, crashed across the central islands of the Philippines. With winds of over 200 miles per hour and torrential rains, it has caused massive destruction, loss of lives and forced millions of people to flee their homes.
Our help is needed to make a difference in the lives of those affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan. Through partnerships and as a member of ACT Alliance, Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to the most urgent needs of food, water, clothing, shelter, sleeping material and medicine. Possible assistance may also include helping those whose livelihood of fishing or farming has been destroyed.
Gifts designated to "Pacific Typhoon Response" will be used by Lutheran Disaster Relief in full – 100 percent – to help with immediate and long-term need. Your generous offerings of prayer and financial support will help those affected as they journey to recover.
If you wish to make a donation toward relief efforts, use your blue missions envelope or any other and mark it clearly for Typhoon Relief. This past Sunday, November 17, Mount Olive members contributed $2420 toward this effort. The need is great, and our continued donations help.
The Art Shoppe
For those who are new to Mount Olive, I would like to extend a special invitation to visit and shop at the Art Shoppe for the upcoming holidays.
Three years ago, Mount Olive was invited to join A Minnesota Without Poverty in a micro-enterprise that would support local artists. A retail space in the Midtown Global Market, in the old Sears building one block from Mount Olive, was obtained for this purpose. The Art Shoppe faces Lake Street in the west corridor of the Midtown Global Market.
There are now sixty artists involved who offer their work in a variety of forms: clothing, jewelry, pottery, photos, cards, glass-blowing, and woodworking.
Are you looking for some one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts this year? Shop and support the artists at The Art Shoppe.
Carol Austermann,
Neighborhood Ministries Director
How are you?
“Just fine!” or some similar response is often our automatic reply. If things aren’t really all that fine, we aren’t sure the inquirer really wants to know so we hesitate to elaborate further. The fact is life brings changes to each of us and we are often surprised by how difficult and even painful these changes can be. As Christians we know we can share the complications of life with each other, but often we aren’t sure how to go about it.
Mount Olive Congregational Care group would like to open a conversation so that those of us who care for others can share experiences and insights, and in so doing, strengthen one another through shared faith. A four-week structured group will be offered at Mount Olive on Fridays at 1:00 PM beginning December 27. Cathy Bosworth, Vicar Emily Beckering and Marilyn Gebauer will act as facilitators. Each week a brief educational component will be offered with equal time for each person to share personally in a confidential, supportive setting.
If you have interest in attending, or have questions about this, please call Cathy Bosworth or Marilyn Gebauer. Cathy can be reached at 952-949-3679 or marcat8447@yahoo.com. Marilyn can be reached at 651-704-9539 or gebauevm@bitstream.net. If four or more people have interest in participating, each will be contacted to confirm the group will meet as planned.
Narthex Updating
A big thank you goes out to Mount Olive members who helped with new upgrades and maintenance of the narthex.
The changes have been subtle but over the last couple months you may have noticed a few changes in the narthex. It started with some tough scrubbing of the brick walls in the north stairwell to the balcony. Many years of buildup on the walls had had turned the stairwell bricks a very dark color, accentuated by much lighter colored chips in the brick. Steve Pranschke, Bob Lee, John Meyer and Sue Ellen Zagrabelny applied a fair amount of elbow grease and heavy duty cleaner to brighten those brick walls. Thank you, Steve, Bob, John and Sue Ellen.
A few days later, new carpet was delivered and as the carpet layers were removing the old carpet from the stairwells, they found that the floor boards on the first landing of the south staircase were dangerously decaying from an old water damage problem and needed to be replaced before the new carpet could be installed. Who do you call in an emergency situation where some major floor repair is needed immediately?? Well, the dream team of Art Halbardier and George Oelfke appeared on a moment’s notice, and they cut out the decayed floor boards and replaced them with new flooring all in time for the new carpet to be installed without any delays. Thank you, Art and George.
Also over the last few weeks, new brighter lighting has been installed in the stairwells leading to the balcony and in the two stairwells leading to the undercroft. Future plans call for painting the stairwells to the undercroft and more new lighting at the bottom of the stairwells.
Lastly, Mark Pipkorn hand crafted new brighter globes for the four main lights in the narthex. The original globes were installed in the early 1960s and were made of fiberglass that had darkened considerably, especially when larger, hotter light bulbs had been used and caused the fiber glass to discolor. Thank you, Mark!
Also a special thank you to Brian Jacobs for providing his decorative expertise and help in choosing and ordering and installing the carpet and lighting.
Mittens + Gloves = Warm Hands
At the Community Meals in December (7th and 21st), mittens and glove will be given to our guests who need/want them. If you would like to donate mittens and/or gloves to this cause, please call Irene Campbell at 651/230-3927.
To the Wearers of Albs
As the season of Advent approaches and the worship assistants’ albs get more frequent use, please take a moment or two to check your alb to see if it needs to be repaired or replaced. Take a good, long look! Also, look for additional information on the alb closet door. If you have any questions or concerns, please call Carol Austermann at 612/722-5123.
Communion Ministry at Mount Olive
We are looking to add some new Communion Ministers to our team.
As an extension of Pastor Crippen’s ministry, each week Communion Ministers visit members of our congregation who aren’t able to attend a Sunday service because of a short-term recuperation or long-term illness. During our visits, we share the Eucharist, creating a connection to our weekly worship.
Each year Communion Ministers make more than 200 visits, and we want make sure we meet the needs of congregation members as they arise.
We typically ask Communion Ministers to visit 1-2 members one time per month, and while the visits are usually on Sundays, they can be scheduled for other days, too.
If you are interested in becoming a part of this rewarding experience or would like more information about it, please contact Tom Graves and Ginny Agresti at 651-292-1685, or by email at thgravesmn@msn.com.
Field Trip!
Interested in attending the largest choral music event in the world? Ever seen the film “The Singing Revolution” or maybe have heard the recent concert of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir? Ever thought of visiting Saint Saviour’s Church in Riga, Latvia that Mount Olive was instrumental in resurrecting (with Arden and Jana Haug) in the 1990’s?
Join former Mount Olive Cantor Mark Sedio and his partner, Jeff Sartain as they lead a trip to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this summer from June 27 through July 7. The group will visit three interestingly diverse capital cities: Vilnius (Lithuania - a gem of a city with stunning Baroque architecture and a center of Jewish learning), Riga (Latvia’s lovely capital - not only lots of red brick like Copenhagen but also a treasure chest of a peculiar brand of Art Nouveau), and finally Tallinn (Estonia - boasting one of the best preserved Medieval city centers in all of Europe). The culmination of the trip is the All-Estonia LAULUPIDU (the Song Festival which happens only once every five years) in which 120,000 people join together in song. It is one of the largest choral events in the world! All this, plus side trips to places like Cesis (Latvia) - a pristinely preserved Latvian town and the Estonian island of Saaremaa with its many windmills, mysterious crater lakes, and one of Europe’s largest stone Teutonic fortresses.
Tour brochures will soon be available in the church office. For more information, contact Mark at 612/ 767-9230 or msedio@centralmpls.org. Hope you’ll consider joining us!
Mark Sedio
Incarnation Icon
Adam Krueger and Thomas Fenner have commissioned an Incarnation icon, which they are giving to Mount Olive in memory of Adam’s mother. The icon writer (or painter), Nicholas Markell (who also wrote the icon of the Ascension in Mount Olive's columbarium), will present the icon to Adam and Thomas and will discuss the icon -- its genesis, its symbolism, its meanings -- at the Adult Forum on December 1.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Eyes on Jesus
In his incarnation, death and resurrection our Lord Christ walks the same path he invites us and strengthens us to walk, and so we face fearful events and signs of tribulation without fear, witnessing by our walking as Christ walked and now walks beside us.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 33, year C; texts: Luke 21:5-19; Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98
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
“There will be wars and insurrections, nation rising against nation.” There will be genocide and civil war in Africa and Syria. Slaughter in Afghanistan and Iraq. “There will be great earthquakes and portents and signs from heaven.” There will be typhoons in the Philippines, tsunamis in Southeast Asia, hurricanes in New Jersey and vicious tornadoes in Oklahoma. “There will be plagues and famines.” There will be AIDS and antibiotic-resistant germs, powerful influenza viruses, cancer seemingly everywhere the eye looks. Tens of thousands starving to death daily. Drought in once fertile places and melting ice caps.
Do not be terrified, our Lord Jesus says, these things will have to take place. And along with this, you may also face personal struggles directly related to your discipleship: even arrest, persecution.
And though that part of Jesus’ words doesn’t seem to apply to us as strongly in this country (though it certainly does to Christians elsewhere), this yearly excursion into the apocalyptic warnings of Jesus that we have each end of the Church Year is distressing and confusing. Far too many of our sisters and brothers in Christ focus most of their energy on proclaiming the end times and little on the grace of God Christ embodied for the world, and that troubles us. Yet, like virtually every generation before us since our Lord said these words, it’s hard not to hear them and then look at our newspapers or the Internet and tremble a bit.
“This is not the end, yet,” Jesus says. It won’t follow immediately. But in response to our forebear disciples’ small-town admiration of the beautiful Temple and rich appointments of the buildings of Jerusalem, Jesus says that while the end isn’t necessarily here, we might be wise not to depend on the institutions and works of our hands in this world to last forever. Stones do get thrown down upon stones, and human enterprise envisioned to endure for centuries can quickly become overgrown with grass and weeds.
What we must not forget, then, is the only thing that matters about all these words, these sayings, and that is just who it is who is saying them. Taking little bits of the Scriptures each week to read in worship is the only way we can do it – we can’t read the whole Bible each Sunday – but it sometimes causes us to focus on the external details of readings and forget the deeper core, the center of God’s written Word. And in these verses there is only one thing we need to look at, one idea to understand, one place we need to see: we need to turn our eyes to our Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks these words, and thereby changes their impact on us forever.
The lectionary preparers gave us the first hints that the most important thing in the face of apocalypse is the Incarnate, Crucified and Risen Christ who is with us.
You might have heard two such hints as we moved through our readings.
At the end of Malachi’s dire warnings of the flaming destruction of the wicked was a burst of the light of grace, a beam which Charles Wesley placed at the celebration of the birth of Jesus. “But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.” So says the LORD through Malachi. “Hail the heav’nborn Prince of Peace!,” says Charles Wesley. “Hail the Sun of righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, ris’n with healing in his wings.” Hark, you herald angels indeed.
And then we have this curiosity: when the lectionary preparers were considering a psalm for Christmas Day, they said, “We know – let’s assign Psalm 98. It’s perfect.” And Isaac Watts’ paraphrase of Psalm 98, known to us as “Joy to the World,” is also closely associated with the festival of the Nativity of Our Lord.
But then, when these same preparers of the lectionary considered this Sunday, these dire warnings from Malachi and Jesus, they also seem to have said, “We know – let’s assign Psalm 98. It’s perfect.” And so it is, and so they were correct.
Because God’s answer to the portents and disaster and tragedy and war and rampant disease and starvation and pain of the world is the coming of the Incarnate Son of God into that very chaos, that devastation. The answer of the Triune God to this world’s pain and brokenness is not to overpower it, or avoid it, or even to pull the children of God out of it, but to enter that pain and brokenness and through losing, through dying to it, bring healing and restoration and life.
So when we sing “Joy to the World” on a day like today, do not the words “No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found,” do not these words sound different, feel different today than they do on Christmas morning? Is this not exactly what our Lord is saying in these words from Luke today? Is this not actually an Easter stanza, these words, as well as a Christmas one, and an apocalyptic one?
Our Eucharist each week is actually a living into and through the entire story of Christ embedded in the Church Year. The whole work of Christ, birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, Pentecost, and life in the Spirit, all are present in this moment each time we gather. We inhabit it all in this one moment, this open rift in time, and in that context we hear the various teachings and readings and Scripture passages assigned each week, and they never can be heard apart from this greater truth and reality.
So when this Incarnate One, the Son of God, turns to us today and says, “It’s going to be pretty bad out there at times for you, and for all,” he’s only saying what he already knows to be true himself, in his own body. And we cannot hear his words without remembering everything else we know about him, the one speaking.
And do you see how that changes this whole reading, to remember it is our beloved Lord Jesus Christ who speaks this word? That he calls us to endure what this world is as one who has already endured what this world is? That he promises to strengthen us and give us wisdom as One who has already made his way through the chaos, and in rising from the dead has begun to heal it?
When we know who it is who is speaking to us, then we can hear the grace in his words and promise, even on days like today, words like today.
So his first word today is: there is only One whom you should follow, One to whom you should listen, and that is me, your Lord and Savior.
This warning he gives today about people speaking falsely in his name isn’t about wondering who the Antichrist is, as if it’s one person. It’s about realizing there are many who will claim to speak on behalf of our Lord Christ who are not.
So here is our test: if anyone tells us an answer from God to the suffering and pain of this world that does not involve entering it fully and transforming it, even losing, in order that life might come through it, they are not of Christ. The world always looks for an easy path, but it does not exist. Our Lord walked the path he now reveals lies before us, and no one truly of Christ can tell us there is another.
And if anyone tells us that in the apocalyptic destruction that may be at the end of the world, and in the devastating pain and suffering that certainly are in these days there are some who are blessed by God and who will avoid such things because of that, they are not of Christ. The world always looks to those who suffer and seeks to blame, to explain, and to claim that those who do not suffer are the blessed ones. Our Lord, the blessed, Incarnate One, the Son of God, entered the chaos of the world on our behalf, suffered its worst, and permanently blessed all who likewise suffer, and if we’re going to follow this True One, we’re going to have to go there, too, as vulnerable as the Christ Child, as willing to lose as Jesus on the cross.
So be careful, he says, whom you listen to, whom you follow, especially if they say they’re from me. They might lead you astray.
But his second word to us today is: don’t be terrified.
Yes, this way of facing the pain and brokenness of the world with our lives and our work and our heart and our love and our bodies is a frightening way to consider, to live. But don’t be terrified, he says. Don’t be terrified, because none of this can ultimately harm you, for I am with you always. Don’t be terrified, because as he said in John’s Gospel: “take courage, I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)
The Son not only was born among us, entering this broken world, not only died facing it, he is risen and gives life: he has overcome the world in this. So we need not fear, though the earth shake and the mountains fall into the sea, though the nations rage. Christ has conquered the world.
His third word to us today is: this all will be our opportunity to testify, literally, to martyr, to witness. Our trust in the Incarnate, Crucified and Risen One who leads us through this wilderness, this world of destruction, not only gives us strength in this journey. It is a witness. We can become people who testify by our very selves that Christ has come and conquered the world, even if it is hard to see now.
Our grace under stress, our trust in the Lord, our willingness to be with others in their pain and suffering as the very grace of God, our courageous placing ourselves into the face of evil and holding the light of love high, this is our witness. Our testimony to the risen Christ who offers life to all.
Our Lord says to us, instead of fretting about how hard it is to live in this painful world, instead consider what a witness you can be when you do, the opportunity to be the word of grace from God in the midst of a broken world, the one who helps others see the Son of God in our midst, healing all.
And his last word to us today is: don’t worry about what you will say (or do), I will give you what you need. We don’t need to think about what we say, worry about not being brilliant speakers or gifted evangelists, fear that we aren’t brave enough or strong enough.
We have an opportunity every day to witness to the truth about what God is doing in this broken, suffering world, and God will give us what we need to do this witness. The words we need. The wisdom we lack. The strength we cannot find in ourselves. The courage that comes from the Spirit of God in our hearts.
This is our hope, always: we belong to Christ Jesus, and in that love nothing can separate us.
We need to hear these honest words each year which name the destructive reality that a world torn apart by sin is: wars, disasters, tragedies, disease, devastation. We would be liars if we denied this truth, and our part in making it.
But today we remember that we cannot talk about any of these things as if they exist apart from the reality that the Triune God has entered this world to redeem it from within, and we hear none of this except in the voice of our Lord who loves us enough to die for us, and in rising gives us new life, life that will one day fill the whole world.
It is a hard world, a frightening world. But we keep our eyes on Christ Jesus, who’s right in the middle of it already, holding out his hand that we might walk with him, and in our witness to others, lead the rest of the world to this life he is bringing.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 33, year C; texts: Luke 21:5-19; Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98
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
“There will be wars and insurrections, nation rising against nation.” There will be genocide and civil war in Africa and Syria. Slaughter in Afghanistan and Iraq. “There will be great earthquakes and portents and signs from heaven.” There will be typhoons in the Philippines, tsunamis in Southeast Asia, hurricanes in New Jersey and vicious tornadoes in Oklahoma. “There will be plagues and famines.” There will be AIDS and antibiotic-resistant germs, powerful influenza viruses, cancer seemingly everywhere the eye looks. Tens of thousands starving to death daily. Drought in once fertile places and melting ice caps.
Do not be terrified, our Lord Jesus says, these things will have to take place. And along with this, you may also face personal struggles directly related to your discipleship: even arrest, persecution.
And though that part of Jesus’ words doesn’t seem to apply to us as strongly in this country (though it certainly does to Christians elsewhere), this yearly excursion into the apocalyptic warnings of Jesus that we have each end of the Church Year is distressing and confusing. Far too many of our sisters and brothers in Christ focus most of their energy on proclaiming the end times and little on the grace of God Christ embodied for the world, and that troubles us. Yet, like virtually every generation before us since our Lord said these words, it’s hard not to hear them and then look at our newspapers or the Internet and tremble a bit.
“This is not the end, yet,” Jesus says. It won’t follow immediately. But in response to our forebear disciples’ small-town admiration of the beautiful Temple and rich appointments of the buildings of Jerusalem, Jesus says that while the end isn’t necessarily here, we might be wise not to depend on the institutions and works of our hands in this world to last forever. Stones do get thrown down upon stones, and human enterprise envisioned to endure for centuries can quickly become overgrown with grass and weeds.
What we must not forget, then, is the only thing that matters about all these words, these sayings, and that is just who it is who is saying them. Taking little bits of the Scriptures each week to read in worship is the only way we can do it – we can’t read the whole Bible each Sunday – but it sometimes causes us to focus on the external details of readings and forget the deeper core, the center of God’s written Word. And in these verses there is only one thing we need to look at, one idea to understand, one place we need to see: we need to turn our eyes to our Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks these words, and thereby changes their impact on us forever.
The lectionary preparers gave us the first hints that the most important thing in the face of apocalypse is the Incarnate, Crucified and Risen Christ who is with us.
You might have heard two such hints as we moved through our readings.
At the end of Malachi’s dire warnings of the flaming destruction of the wicked was a burst of the light of grace, a beam which Charles Wesley placed at the celebration of the birth of Jesus. “But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.” So says the LORD through Malachi. “Hail the heav’nborn Prince of Peace!,” says Charles Wesley. “Hail the Sun of righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, ris’n with healing in his wings.” Hark, you herald angels indeed.
And then we have this curiosity: when the lectionary preparers were considering a psalm for Christmas Day, they said, “We know – let’s assign Psalm 98. It’s perfect.” And Isaac Watts’ paraphrase of Psalm 98, known to us as “Joy to the World,” is also closely associated with the festival of the Nativity of Our Lord.
But then, when these same preparers of the lectionary considered this Sunday, these dire warnings from Malachi and Jesus, they also seem to have said, “We know – let’s assign Psalm 98. It’s perfect.” And so it is, and so they were correct.
Because God’s answer to the portents and disaster and tragedy and war and rampant disease and starvation and pain of the world is the coming of the Incarnate Son of God into that very chaos, that devastation. The answer of the Triune God to this world’s pain and brokenness is not to overpower it, or avoid it, or even to pull the children of God out of it, but to enter that pain and brokenness and through losing, through dying to it, bring healing and restoration and life.
So when we sing “Joy to the World” on a day like today, do not the words “No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found,” do not these words sound different, feel different today than they do on Christmas morning? Is this not exactly what our Lord is saying in these words from Luke today? Is this not actually an Easter stanza, these words, as well as a Christmas one, and an apocalyptic one?
Our Eucharist each week is actually a living into and through the entire story of Christ embedded in the Church Year. The whole work of Christ, birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, Pentecost, and life in the Spirit, all are present in this moment each time we gather. We inhabit it all in this one moment, this open rift in time, and in that context we hear the various teachings and readings and Scripture passages assigned each week, and they never can be heard apart from this greater truth and reality.
So when this Incarnate One, the Son of God, turns to us today and says, “It’s going to be pretty bad out there at times for you, and for all,” he’s only saying what he already knows to be true himself, in his own body. And we cannot hear his words without remembering everything else we know about him, the one speaking.
And do you see how that changes this whole reading, to remember it is our beloved Lord Jesus Christ who speaks this word? That he calls us to endure what this world is as one who has already endured what this world is? That he promises to strengthen us and give us wisdom as One who has already made his way through the chaos, and in rising from the dead has begun to heal it?
When we know who it is who is speaking to us, then we can hear the grace in his words and promise, even on days like today, words like today.
So his first word today is: there is only One whom you should follow, One to whom you should listen, and that is me, your Lord and Savior.
This warning he gives today about people speaking falsely in his name isn’t about wondering who the Antichrist is, as if it’s one person. It’s about realizing there are many who will claim to speak on behalf of our Lord Christ who are not.
So here is our test: if anyone tells us an answer from God to the suffering and pain of this world that does not involve entering it fully and transforming it, even losing, in order that life might come through it, they are not of Christ. The world always looks for an easy path, but it does not exist. Our Lord walked the path he now reveals lies before us, and no one truly of Christ can tell us there is another.
And if anyone tells us that in the apocalyptic destruction that may be at the end of the world, and in the devastating pain and suffering that certainly are in these days there are some who are blessed by God and who will avoid such things because of that, they are not of Christ. The world always looks to those who suffer and seeks to blame, to explain, and to claim that those who do not suffer are the blessed ones. Our Lord, the blessed, Incarnate One, the Son of God, entered the chaos of the world on our behalf, suffered its worst, and permanently blessed all who likewise suffer, and if we’re going to follow this True One, we’re going to have to go there, too, as vulnerable as the Christ Child, as willing to lose as Jesus on the cross.
So be careful, he says, whom you listen to, whom you follow, especially if they say they’re from me. They might lead you astray.
But his second word to us today is: don’t be terrified.
Yes, this way of facing the pain and brokenness of the world with our lives and our work and our heart and our love and our bodies is a frightening way to consider, to live. But don’t be terrified, he says. Don’t be terrified, because none of this can ultimately harm you, for I am with you always. Don’t be terrified, because as he said in John’s Gospel: “take courage, I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)
The Son not only was born among us, entering this broken world, not only died facing it, he is risen and gives life: he has overcome the world in this. So we need not fear, though the earth shake and the mountains fall into the sea, though the nations rage. Christ has conquered the world.
His third word to us today is: this all will be our opportunity to testify, literally, to martyr, to witness. Our trust in the Incarnate, Crucified and Risen One who leads us through this wilderness, this world of destruction, not only gives us strength in this journey. It is a witness. We can become people who testify by our very selves that Christ has come and conquered the world, even if it is hard to see now.
Our grace under stress, our trust in the Lord, our willingness to be with others in their pain and suffering as the very grace of God, our courageous placing ourselves into the face of evil and holding the light of love high, this is our witness. Our testimony to the risen Christ who offers life to all.
Our Lord says to us, instead of fretting about how hard it is to live in this painful world, instead consider what a witness you can be when you do, the opportunity to be the word of grace from God in the midst of a broken world, the one who helps others see the Son of God in our midst, healing all.
And his last word to us today is: don’t worry about what you will say (or do), I will give you what you need. We don’t need to think about what we say, worry about not being brilliant speakers or gifted evangelists, fear that we aren’t brave enough or strong enough.
We have an opportunity every day to witness to the truth about what God is doing in this broken, suffering world, and God will give us what we need to do this witness. The words we need. The wisdom we lack. The strength we cannot find in ourselves. The courage that comes from the Spirit of God in our hearts.
This is our hope, always: we belong to Christ Jesus, and in that love nothing can separate us.
We need to hear these honest words each year which name the destructive reality that a world torn apart by sin is: wars, disasters, tragedies, disease, devastation. We would be liars if we denied this truth, and our part in making it.
But today we remember that we cannot talk about any of these things as if they exist apart from the reality that the Triune God has entered this world to redeem it from within, and we hear none of this except in the voice of our Lord who loves us enough to die for us, and in rising gives us new life, life that will one day fill the whole world.
It is a hard world, a frightening world. But we keep our eyes on Christ Jesus, who’s right in the middle of it already, holding out his hand that we might walk with him, and in our witness to others, lead the rest of the world to this life he is bringing.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The Olive Branch, 11/13/13
Accent on Worship
“Such times we live in,” the saying goes. And if the old Chinese blessing has any merit (“May you live in interesting times.”), we must be blest indeed!
For Christians, the experience of time is a very blessed and hallowed reality, as we live into God’s New Creation. In worship especially, our participation in Christ’s body has one foot planted in our experience of time, and one foot in the timeless eternity of God’s kingdom, where we sing with saints and angels. For our Orthodox sisters and brothers, liturgy is the one place in this life where we get to step out of our temporal lives and enter into this new creation of God’s making. Though we cannot grasp anything other than our experience of passing time, faith allows us to see in a mirror, dimly, a different reality—a simultaneous reality—a continuum within which our lives are held fast.
I had an uncle who taught at Luther Seminary while I was a student there. I remember a classmate who thought my Uncle Bob’s ideas were terribly dated and old fashioned, and in class one day, this student accused him of “having one foot in the grave.” My Uncle Bob sighed, and said: “the minute the church no longer has one foot in the grave, it is in dire trouble.”
So in these last Sundays of the church year, these last Sundays of “Ordinary Time,” we focus on time itself, and the nature of God’s reign among us. We are reminded that we have one foot in the grave, even as we “live, and move, and have our being.”
For the secular world, time is a cruel and ruthless master and serves-up a sentence that continually reminds us of our death. Thanks be to God for our life in Christ, who transforms this death-sentence into life itself, right through the center of every moment. Gone is the futile feeling that history is “just-one-damned-thing-after-another” (Arnold Toynbee). In Christ’s new creation each moment of time is blasted open into eternity itself, leading on to God instead of death. This, to me, is what these “end-time” Sundays at the end of the church year are all about. They are, to be sure, Sundays in “Ordinary Time,” yet the message is clear, and hope-full, and indeed, extraordinary!
- William Beckstrand, Interim Cantor
Sunday Readings
Nov. 17, 2013 – Time after Pentecost, Sunday 33
Malachi 4:1-2a + Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 + Luke 21:5-19
Nov. 10, 2013 – Christ the King, Sunday 34
Jeremiah 23:1-6 + Psalm 46
Colossians 1:11-20 + Luke 23:33-43
NovemberFest!
This Sunday, November 17, the Congregational Life Committee will hold a NovemberFest Fundraising Dinner. This event will be a fun opportunity for Mount Olive members and friends to visit with each other and guests, eat a wonderful meal of German food prepared by members of our church, play some games (led by Hans Tisberger), all to help raise money for new ovens for the Undercroft kitchen. A freewill offering will be received. If you want to come and haven’t signed up, call Gail Nielsen at 612/825-9326 to RSVP, so we know how much food to prepare.
Theology on Tap
Faith journey conversations for folks 21 and up
When: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 7:30pm
Where: Longfellow Grill, 2990 W. River Pkwy, Mpls
Topic: That “small, quiet voice”-- how and when do you hear it, what does it tell you, what gets in the way?
Contact: Bob Anderson, 952-937-8656
Thanksgiving Eucharist
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28
10:00 a.m.
Bring non-perishable food items to help re-stock local food shelves. Monetary donations are especially welcome (for every $1 donated, food shelf personnel are able to buy about $9 worth of food!)
The entire offering received at the Eucharist on Thanksgiving Day will be given to Sabbathani Community Center and Community Emergency Services.
Adult Forum
• November 17: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 2 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
• November 24: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 3 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
Thursday Evening Bible Study
On Thursday evenings (except for Thanksgiving Day) through December 19, Vicar Beckering will lead a topical study on the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. This Bible study series will meet in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Each gathering will begin with a light supper. All are welcome!
Attention, Bakers!
We will again bake communion bread for our liturgies from Advent through Holy Trinity. There is currently a regular group of five bakers, but additional bakers are always welcome. If you are interested in baking communion bread, Please contact John and Patsy Holtmeier either by email to jpholt67@gmail.com, or by phone: 952-582-1955.
Book Discussion Group
For December 14, The Book Discussion group will discuss The Optimist's Daughter, by Eudora Welty, and on January 18 (postponed one week due to the Liturgy Conference), we will discuss Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively.
Please Note
Church offices will be closed on Friday, November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving).
Families with Kids, Please Note!
Families with children and teens are invited to assist with the noon meal this Saturday, November 16. Come at noon for the meal and help bus tables, visit with guests and make Thanksgiving cards for Meals on Wheels recipients. Call Beth Sawyer with any questions. 651-434-0666
Every Church a Peace Church
Thursday, November 14, 7-8:30 p.m. at
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
1895 Laurel Ave., St. Paul
Every Church a Peace Church, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Veterans for Peace and Fellowship of Reconciliation invite you to an evening with Fr. Michael Lapsley on November 14.
Father Lapsley became chaplain of the African National Congress in 1976. He survived an assassination attempt by the South African Apartheid government. It destroyed both of his hands, one eye and his eardrums. Fr. Lapsley believed God was with him and he was able to move from victim to victor. During his lengthy recovery he became a staff member of the Training Center for Survivors of Violence and Torture and later was involved with Bishop Desmond Tutu in the Truth and Reconciliation effort in South Africa. Fr. Lapsley helped develop the Healing of Memories (HOM) American. He leads HOM retreats in Minnesota for returning veterans.
CoAM Fundraiser
CoAM (Cooperative Adult Ministries) will have a fun fundraiser on Monday, November 18, beginning at noon, at Bethel Lutheran Church (4120 17th Ave. S.). The musical group From the Heart will perform songs from the Great American Songbook. Plan to come, share a meal, and listen to the music! For reservations, call the CoAM office at 612/721-5786. CoAM is a program of TRUST, of which Mount Olive is a part (TRUST sponsors our Meals on Wheels program).
ELCA Disaster Relief: Super Typhoon Haiyan
One of the most powerful storms ever recorded, Super Typhoon Haiyan, crashed across the central islands of the Philippines. With winds of over 200 miles per hour and torrential rains, it has caused massive destruction, loss of lives and forced millions of people to flee their homes.
Our help is needed to make a difference in affected areas. Through partnerships and as a member of ACT Alliance, Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to the most urgent needs of food, water, clothing, shelter, sleeping material and medicine. Possible assistance may also include helping those whose livelihood of fishing or farming has been destroyed.
Gifts designated to "Pacific Typhoon Response" will be used by Lutheran Disaster Relief in full – 100 percent – to help with immediate and long-term need. Your generous offerings of prayer and financial support will help those affected as they journey to recover.
If you wish to make a donation toward relief efforts, use your blue missions envelope or any other and mark it clearly for Typhoon Relief.
Lynn Dobson in the News
The most recent issue of The American Organist features Lynn Dobson’s new organ at Merton College in Oxford, England. Several from Mount Olive will travel to Oxford in April for the dedication of this fine instrument. Stop in the church office and pick up a copy of the article which features Lynn and the work of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, and this exceptional organ.
Special Request from CES
Community Emergency Services has informed us of some current special needs: computers, a 2-stage snow blower, shopping carts, fans, and a vacuum cleaner. The most important need, however, is people! The need volunteers for their mail crew, clerical assistance, drivers, and painters. If you can help, please contact CES at 612/870-1125. CES is the local recipient of our food shelf donations.
2014 Pledge Cards
A letter and pledge card for 2014 was sent to Mount Olive members this week. The Stewardship Committee would like to have all pledge cards returned by Sunday, December 1, either to the church office or placed in the designated box in the narthex.
“Such times we live in,” the saying goes. And if the old Chinese blessing has any merit (“May you live in interesting times.”), we must be blest indeed!
For Christians, the experience of time is a very blessed and hallowed reality, as we live into God’s New Creation. In worship especially, our participation in Christ’s body has one foot planted in our experience of time, and one foot in the timeless eternity of God’s kingdom, where we sing with saints and angels. For our Orthodox sisters and brothers, liturgy is the one place in this life where we get to step out of our temporal lives and enter into this new creation of God’s making. Though we cannot grasp anything other than our experience of passing time, faith allows us to see in a mirror, dimly, a different reality—a simultaneous reality—a continuum within which our lives are held fast.
I had an uncle who taught at Luther Seminary while I was a student there. I remember a classmate who thought my Uncle Bob’s ideas were terribly dated and old fashioned, and in class one day, this student accused him of “having one foot in the grave.” My Uncle Bob sighed, and said: “the minute the church no longer has one foot in the grave, it is in dire trouble.”
So in these last Sundays of the church year, these last Sundays of “Ordinary Time,” we focus on time itself, and the nature of God’s reign among us. We are reminded that we have one foot in the grave, even as we “live, and move, and have our being.”
For the secular world, time is a cruel and ruthless master and serves-up a sentence that continually reminds us of our death. Thanks be to God for our life in Christ, who transforms this death-sentence into life itself, right through the center of every moment. Gone is the futile feeling that history is “just-one-damned-thing-after-another” (Arnold Toynbee). In Christ’s new creation each moment of time is blasted open into eternity itself, leading on to God instead of death. This, to me, is what these “end-time” Sundays at the end of the church year are all about. They are, to be sure, Sundays in “Ordinary Time,” yet the message is clear, and hope-full, and indeed, extraordinary!
- William Beckstrand, Interim Cantor
Sunday Readings
Nov. 17, 2013 – Time after Pentecost, Sunday 33
Malachi 4:1-2a + Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 + Luke 21:5-19
Nov. 10, 2013 – Christ the King, Sunday 34
Jeremiah 23:1-6 + Psalm 46
Colossians 1:11-20 + Luke 23:33-43
NovemberFest!
This Sunday, November 17, the Congregational Life Committee will hold a NovemberFest Fundraising Dinner. This event will be a fun opportunity for Mount Olive members and friends to visit with each other and guests, eat a wonderful meal of German food prepared by members of our church, play some games (led by Hans Tisberger), all to help raise money for new ovens for the Undercroft kitchen. A freewill offering will be received. If you want to come and haven’t signed up, call Gail Nielsen at 612/825-9326 to RSVP, so we know how much food to prepare.
Theology on Tap
Faith journey conversations for folks 21 and up
When: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 7:30pm
Where: Longfellow Grill, 2990 W. River Pkwy, Mpls
Topic: That “small, quiet voice”-- how and when do you hear it, what does it tell you, what gets in the way?
Contact: Bob Anderson, 952-937-8656
Thanksgiving Eucharist
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28
10:00 a.m.
Bring non-perishable food items to help re-stock local food shelves. Monetary donations are especially welcome (for every $1 donated, food shelf personnel are able to buy about $9 worth of food!)
The entire offering received at the Eucharist on Thanksgiving Day will be given to Sabbathani Community Center and Community Emergency Services.
Adult Forum
• November 17: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 2 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
• November 24: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 3 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
Thursday Evening Bible Study
On Thursday evenings (except for Thanksgiving Day) through December 19, Vicar Beckering will lead a topical study on the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. This Bible study series will meet in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Each gathering will begin with a light supper. All are welcome!
Attention, Bakers!
We will again bake communion bread for our liturgies from Advent through Holy Trinity. There is currently a regular group of five bakers, but additional bakers are always welcome. If you are interested in baking communion bread, Please contact John and Patsy Holtmeier either by email to jpholt67@gmail.com, or by phone: 952-582-1955.
Book Discussion Group
For December 14, The Book Discussion group will discuss The Optimist's Daughter, by Eudora Welty, and on January 18 (postponed one week due to the Liturgy Conference), we will discuss Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively.
Please Note
Church offices will be closed on Friday, November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving).
Families with Kids, Please Note!
Families with children and teens are invited to assist with the noon meal this Saturday, November 16. Come at noon for the meal and help bus tables, visit with guests and make Thanksgiving cards for Meals on Wheels recipients. Call Beth Sawyer with any questions. 651-434-0666
Every Church a Peace Church
Thursday, November 14, 7-8:30 p.m. at
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
1895 Laurel Ave., St. Paul
Every Church a Peace Church, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Veterans for Peace and Fellowship of Reconciliation invite you to an evening with Fr. Michael Lapsley on November 14.
Father Lapsley became chaplain of the African National Congress in 1976. He survived an assassination attempt by the South African Apartheid government. It destroyed both of his hands, one eye and his eardrums. Fr. Lapsley believed God was with him and he was able to move from victim to victor. During his lengthy recovery he became a staff member of the Training Center for Survivors of Violence and Torture and later was involved with Bishop Desmond Tutu in the Truth and Reconciliation effort in South Africa. Fr. Lapsley helped develop the Healing of Memories (HOM) American. He leads HOM retreats in Minnesota for returning veterans.
CoAM Fundraiser
CoAM (Cooperative Adult Ministries) will have a fun fundraiser on Monday, November 18, beginning at noon, at Bethel Lutheran Church (4120 17th Ave. S.). The musical group From the Heart will perform songs from the Great American Songbook. Plan to come, share a meal, and listen to the music! For reservations, call the CoAM office at 612/721-5786. CoAM is a program of TRUST, of which Mount Olive is a part (TRUST sponsors our Meals on Wheels program).
ELCA Disaster Relief: Super Typhoon Haiyan
One of the most powerful storms ever recorded, Super Typhoon Haiyan, crashed across the central islands of the Philippines. With winds of over 200 miles per hour and torrential rains, it has caused massive destruction, loss of lives and forced millions of people to flee their homes.
Our help is needed to make a difference in affected areas. Through partnerships and as a member of ACT Alliance, Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to the most urgent needs of food, water, clothing, shelter, sleeping material and medicine. Possible assistance may also include helping those whose livelihood of fishing or farming has been destroyed.
Gifts designated to "Pacific Typhoon Response" will be used by Lutheran Disaster Relief in full – 100 percent – to help with immediate and long-term need. Your generous offerings of prayer and financial support will help those affected as they journey to recover.
If you wish to make a donation toward relief efforts, use your blue missions envelope or any other and mark it clearly for Typhoon Relief.
Lynn Dobson in the News
The most recent issue of The American Organist features Lynn Dobson’s new organ at Merton College in Oxford, England. Several from Mount Olive will travel to Oxford in April for the dedication of this fine instrument. Stop in the church office and pick up a copy of the article which features Lynn and the work of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, and this exceptional organ.
Special Request from CES
Community Emergency Services has informed us of some current special needs: computers, a 2-stage snow blower, shopping carts, fans, and a vacuum cleaner. The most important need, however, is people! The need volunteers for their mail crew, clerical assistance, drivers, and painters. If you can help, please contact CES at 612/870-1125. CES is the local recipient of our food shelf donations.
2014 Pledge Cards
A letter and pledge card for 2014 was sent to Mount Olive members this week. The Stewardship Committee would like to have all pledge cards returned by Sunday, December 1, either to the church office or placed in the designated box in the narthex.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Today
God seeks us out, welcomes us, finds us, and shares a meal of grace with us, when no one else would, and all we can do is live overwhelmed by that abundant love. Such love changes us, shapes us, and helps us let go of what controls us and hinders abundant life.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 31, year C; texts: Luke 19:1-10; Isaiah 1:10-18
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
When someone has told you that you are unacceptable and then you find acceptance, nothing is ever the same.
When someone has told you that you are different and therefore not welcome, and you find a place where your difference is embraced and you are welcomed, nothing is ever the same.
When someone has told you that your sins are such a problem that you have to suffer in them and then another person shows you God’s forgiveness and love for you, nothing is ever the same.
When someone has told you that God is anger and judgment, that “God is not mocked” means that you shouldn’t fool yourself into hoping for benevolence from God because you’re not worthy of it, that God is primarily concerned with how bad you are, and then someone brings you into a place where you meet the Triune God and are astonished to find love, and welcome, and grace; to find healing and Spirit-given holiness; to find that you are precious in the eyes of God and to actually meet this loving God in worship, nothing is ever the same.
This we know to be true here. This we live here.
I am convinced that the hospitality and welcome this community offers others of all kinds is directly tied to the sense that in this place that welcome has been extended to everyone who is here, and that changed us and changes us.
I am convinced that our love of being in this room regularly and worshipping God with all our senses, our love of this liturgical life we have here is directly tied to the sense that in this place the Triune God comes to us with blessing and life, that this is holy ground, that here we are met by the God whom Christ has made known to us in death and resurrection and are regularly given life in the midst of our deaths, and that changed us and changes us.
I am convinced that our commitment and desire to make a difference in this world, to challenge ourselves to deepen our presence in this neighborhood and city, and in all our neighborhoods, is directly tied to our sense that in this place we have found the healing grace of God and are overwhelmed by our hope to see that grace abound elsewhere, and to be a part of that, and that changed us and changes us.
It is not hard for us to understand Zacchaeus, then.
Much of his pain is covered up by his wealth, his lifestyle. But what rich man, secure in his choices, lets himself be vulnerable enough to chase down the street after an itinerant preacher and healer, and even hike himself up into a tree to see? This is not a man content. This is a man searching.
Does it matter that people hate him for what they consider good reasons? Sure, he’s a collaborator with the oppressive occupation forces, taking their taxes from his fellow people, his own Jewish sisters and brothers. Sure, he’s very likely the same as most tax collectors in that day, adding his own hidden surcharge on top of everyone’s tax bill, so he can profit, and have a nice house, nice clothes. But does he deserve to be hated by all?
We can’t deny the truth of his public shame. They grumble of Jesus, “He’s gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” His sinfulness is so public, so reviled, that he gets the title “sinner,” as if the rest aren’t worthy of such a name. As if they “sin,” but he’s categorically “a sinner.”
So we understand his reaction to Jesus’ inviting himself over. To be welcomed by this one that everyone wants to meet, everyone wants to see, everyone is interested in, this is unexpected, especially by one who is hated by all his neighbors, accustomed to being a pariah in spite of his wealth.
Maybe part of Zacchaeus is just inwardly the thought that this is a feather in his cap, he scored a dinner with the famous rabbi.
But his reaction – and we notice it’s not clear if the dinner has happened yet or not – his reaction seems like there’s something else happening to him, his reaction is something we understand. He explodes with a response of joy.
He doesn’t just promise to stop cheating. Instead, he goes further and promises to return four times what he’s cheated from people.
He doesn’t just promise to stop profiting from others’ misery. Instead, he goes further and promises to give away half of what he has.
He receives such grace and welcome from Jesus he bankrupts himself out of joy and thanks.
That kind of joy at God’s grace we can understand.
What we might not fully grasp is his own analysis of the connection between his wealth and his entrapment.
Isaiah speaks to people who do all that God commands with regard to worship, but that’s an end of it. And that’s not our experience.
Shockingly, God rejects all their actions of worship, every one of which is commanded of them. Coming to the Temple, doing sacrifice, celebrating the yearly festivals, burning incense, all were required, and of all of these God says, “I am sick to my stomach with them.”
Instead, the people are told to “learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” The worship of the Lord God of Israel, says the Lord, is intimately tied to the actions of the people for justice.
Our experience of welcome, grace, love, acceptance, forgiveness, our very meeting the Triune God in worship has led us to commitment and passion; unlike Isaiah’s people, we do desire to “learn good,” and to seek justice. We may not always be good at it, but we are committed to deepening, and growing. I hear this from people here all the time, I know it is true.
However, Zacchaeus shows us a disconnect that we sometimes don’t understand as true in our lives. Zacchaeus experiences the welcome and love of Jesus. What connects in his mind is that his wealth is going to be in the way of his living in that welcome and love as he wants.
And his reaction to Jesus is pretty revealing. Of all the ways Zacchaeus could respond in joy and gratitude, what he did was free himself from the enslavement of wealth, from what got him all he had.
He recognized that his privileged status, his comforts, his luxuries, were obtained on the backs of others, at the expense of his neighbors. He recognized that his sinfulness was directly tied to his love of money, to its hold on him. There was only one option open to him once he understood that.
What would happen if we learned that to be true for us? It certainly is true that our privilege and wealth has come to us on the backs of others, here and around the world. We don’t have to have been cheaters like Zacchaeus for that to be true. Is it also true, then, that similarly our wealth enslaves us, traps us, keeps us from being free?
When you have been rejected, cast out, and you find welcome, everything changes. You cannot help but welcome, even if it’s costly to offer it sometimes. I have said to others outside this congregation on several occasions that if you really want to rile up the people of Mount Olive, hint that you might be excluding someone. That will surely raise up an outcry.
Can Zacchaeus help us see with a similar passion that the freedom we find in Christ, this grace, this hope, is inhibited, blocked, even undermined by our clinging to our wealth? There are many congregations who don’t find their way to be gracious and loving even though they have received grace and love. That doesn’t seem to be our problem.
But Zacchaeus troubles me, and I wonder if he troubles you. He keeps riling up inside me feelings of discomfort and even guilt at how well off I am. He couldn’t see a way to embrace Jesus’ embrace while holding on to the riches he had. He makes me wonder about me, about us.
He asks me, and perhaps you, these questions:
What if you learned your sense of welcome by God came at the expense of someone else’s rejection? Could you live happy with that?
What if you believed that having grace and forgiveness from God was a limited resource, and you were going to cling to that as much as possible and not let go of it for others? Would that seem right to you?
So Zacchaeus says by his actions, if your wealth is at the expense of others, and it isn’t truly yours in the first place, and it is abundantly given, is it fine for you not to respond to God’s love and welcome and grace by letting go of it? Is it possible that you are not free because you are clinging so tightly, that it is leading you into sin?
Our understanding of stewardship is skewed because we’ve sequestered our wealth and life-style from everything in which we rejoice about God’s grace and love.
It’s that simple. We’re generous when we perceive a need. That’s a good thing, and better than some I suppose. Lots of charities are grateful for such generosity.
But Zacchaeus wasn’t perceiving a need in others he needed to address with his ill-gotten wealth. He was perceiving a need in himself that he needed to address by divesting himself of it.
When we understand that for ourselves, we will be on the path to being faithful stewards. It is that sense of letting go, of recognizing that as much as being inhospitable and excluding is not in keeping with the grace we know, clinging to our own possessions as if they belong to us and as if they don’t in some ways control and own us is also not in keeping with the freedom we have come to know in Christ.
We look at Zacchaeus and see what it looks like when our whole lives are captive to God’s love and grace, everything, not just part.
This week we will receive invitations for us to pledge to each other and to God our promises for 2014, invitations for each of us to find a Zacchaeus revelation.
I have no urgings, no pleas to make. Only prayers. A prayer that each one of us, so deeply filled with the knowledge of living in God’s amazing love, might know without any second of fear that God loves us, loves you. A prayer that we each find that freedom Zacchaeus found, that we can be so free that we can promise to each other from this point forward a transformative use of the wealth we have, wealth that we know is not ours.
When the good news that God has loved us, and still loves us, reaches our hearts and lives, things change, we change. We know this. Zacchaeus simply raises to each of us this possibility that there is more change that would give life, more letting go that would be freeing. He raises the possibility that we might really know what life in Christ is if our response of joy and gratitude to God’s astounding grace in our lives involved breaking our hold on this idol, this master over our hearts.
When God answers these prayers, then we will hear the words of Jesus once again, and know it to be true perhaps more deeply than we ever have before: “Today salvation has come to this house.” Today.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen, Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 31, year C; texts: Luke 19:1-10; Isaiah 1:10-18
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
When someone has told you that you are unacceptable and then you find acceptance, nothing is ever the same.
When someone has told you that you are different and therefore not welcome, and you find a place where your difference is embraced and you are welcomed, nothing is ever the same.
When someone has told you that your sins are such a problem that you have to suffer in them and then another person shows you God’s forgiveness and love for you, nothing is ever the same.
When someone has told you that God is anger and judgment, that “God is not mocked” means that you shouldn’t fool yourself into hoping for benevolence from God because you’re not worthy of it, that God is primarily concerned with how bad you are, and then someone brings you into a place where you meet the Triune God and are astonished to find love, and welcome, and grace; to find healing and Spirit-given holiness; to find that you are precious in the eyes of God and to actually meet this loving God in worship, nothing is ever the same.
This we know to be true here. This we live here.
I am convinced that the hospitality and welcome this community offers others of all kinds is directly tied to the sense that in this place that welcome has been extended to everyone who is here, and that changed us and changes us.
I am convinced that our love of being in this room regularly and worshipping God with all our senses, our love of this liturgical life we have here is directly tied to the sense that in this place the Triune God comes to us with blessing and life, that this is holy ground, that here we are met by the God whom Christ has made known to us in death and resurrection and are regularly given life in the midst of our deaths, and that changed us and changes us.
I am convinced that our commitment and desire to make a difference in this world, to challenge ourselves to deepen our presence in this neighborhood and city, and in all our neighborhoods, is directly tied to our sense that in this place we have found the healing grace of God and are overwhelmed by our hope to see that grace abound elsewhere, and to be a part of that, and that changed us and changes us.
It is not hard for us to understand Zacchaeus, then.
Much of his pain is covered up by his wealth, his lifestyle. But what rich man, secure in his choices, lets himself be vulnerable enough to chase down the street after an itinerant preacher and healer, and even hike himself up into a tree to see? This is not a man content. This is a man searching.
Does it matter that people hate him for what they consider good reasons? Sure, he’s a collaborator with the oppressive occupation forces, taking their taxes from his fellow people, his own Jewish sisters and brothers. Sure, he’s very likely the same as most tax collectors in that day, adding his own hidden surcharge on top of everyone’s tax bill, so he can profit, and have a nice house, nice clothes. But does he deserve to be hated by all?
We can’t deny the truth of his public shame. They grumble of Jesus, “He’s gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” His sinfulness is so public, so reviled, that he gets the title “sinner,” as if the rest aren’t worthy of such a name. As if they “sin,” but he’s categorically “a sinner.”
So we understand his reaction to Jesus’ inviting himself over. To be welcomed by this one that everyone wants to meet, everyone wants to see, everyone is interested in, this is unexpected, especially by one who is hated by all his neighbors, accustomed to being a pariah in spite of his wealth.
Maybe part of Zacchaeus is just inwardly the thought that this is a feather in his cap, he scored a dinner with the famous rabbi.
But his reaction – and we notice it’s not clear if the dinner has happened yet or not – his reaction seems like there’s something else happening to him, his reaction is something we understand. He explodes with a response of joy.
He doesn’t just promise to stop cheating. Instead, he goes further and promises to return four times what he’s cheated from people.
He doesn’t just promise to stop profiting from others’ misery. Instead, he goes further and promises to give away half of what he has.
He receives such grace and welcome from Jesus he bankrupts himself out of joy and thanks.
That kind of joy at God’s grace we can understand.
What we might not fully grasp is his own analysis of the connection between his wealth and his entrapment.
Isaiah speaks to people who do all that God commands with regard to worship, but that’s an end of it. And that’s not our experience.
Shockingly, God rejects all their actions of worship, every one of which is commanded of them. Coming to the Temple, doing sacrifice, celebrating the yearly festivals, burning incense, all were required, and of all of these God says, “I am sick to my stomach with them.”
Instead, the people are told to “learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” The worship of the Lord God of Israel, says the Lord, is intimately tied to the actions of the people for justice.
Our experience of welcome, grace, love, acceptance, forgiveness, our very meeting the Triune God in worship has led us to commitment and passion; unlike Isaiah’s people, we do desire to “learn good,” and to seek justice. We may not always be good at it, but we are committed to deepening, and growing. I hear this from people here all the time, I know it is true.
However, Zacchaeus shows us a disconnect that we sometimes don’t understand as true in our lives. Zacchaeus experiences the welcome and love of Jesus. What connects in his mind is that his wealth is going to be in the way of his living in that welcome and love as he wants.
And his reaction to Jesus is pretty revealing. Of all the ways Zacchaeus could respond in joy and gratitude, what he did was free himself from the enslavement of wealth, from what got him all he had.
He recognized that his privileged status, his comforts, his luxuries, were obtained on the backs of others, at the expense of his neighbors. He recognized that his sinfulness was directly tied to his love of money, to its hold on him. There was only one option open to him once he understood that.
What would happen if we learned that to be true for us? It certainly is true that our privilege and wealth has come to us on the backs of others, here and around the world. We don’t have to have been cheaters like Zacchaeus for that to be true. Is it also true, then, that similarly our wealth enslaves us, traps us, keeps us from being free?
When you have been rejected, cast out, and you find welcome, everything changes. You cannot help but welcome, even if it’s costly to offer it sometimes. I have said to others outside this congregation on several occasions that if you really want to rile up the people of Mount Olive, hint that you might be excluding someone. That will surely raise up an outcry.
Can Zacchaeus help us see with a similar passion that the freedom we find in Christ, this grace, this hope, is inhibited, blocked, even undermined by our clinging to our wealth? There are many congregations who don’t find their way to be gracious and loving even though they have received grace and love. That doesn’t seem to be our problem.
But Zacchaeus troubles me, and I wonder if he troubles you. He keeps riling up inside me feelings of discomfort and even guilt at how well off I am. He couldn’t see a way to embrace Jesus’ embrace while holding on to the riches he had. He makes me wonder about me, about us.
He asks me, and perhaps you, these questions:
What if you learned your sense of welcome by God came at the expense of someone else’s rejection? Could you live happy with that?
What if you believed that having grace and forgiveness from God was a limited resource, and you were going to cling to that as much as possible and not let go of it for others? Would that seem right to you?
So Zacchaeus says by his actions, if your wealth is at the expense of others, and it isn’t truly yours in the first place, and it is abundantly given, is it fine for you not to respond to God’s love and welcome and grace by letting go of it? Is it possible that you are not free because you are clinging so tightly, that it is leading you into sin?
Our understanding of stewardship is skewed because we’ve sequestered our wealth and life-style from everything in which we rejoice about God’s grace and love.
It’s that simple. We’re generous when we perceive a need. That’s a good thing, and better than some I suppose. Lots of charities are grateful for such generosity.
But Zacchaeus wasn’t perceiving a need in others he needed to address with his ill-gotten wealth. He was perceiving a need in himself that he needed to address by divesting himself of it.
When we understand that for ourselves, we will be on the path to being faithful stewards. It is that sense of letting go, of recognizing that as much as being inhospitable and excluding is not in keeping with the grace we know, clinging to our own possessions as if they belong to us and as if they don’t in some ways control and own us is also not in keeping with the freedom we have come to know in Christ.
We look at Zacchaeus and see what it looks like when our whole lives are captive to God’s love and grace, everything, not just part.
This week we will receive invitations for us to pledge to each other and to God our promises for 2014, invitations for each of us to find a Zacchaeus revelation.
I have no urgings, no pleas to make. Only prayers. A prayer that each one of us, so deeply filled with the knowledge of living in God’s amazing love, might know without any second of fear that God loves us, loves you. A prayer that we each find that freedom Zacchaeus found, that we can be so free that we can promise to each other from this point forward a transformative use of the wealth we have, wealth that we know is not ours.
When the good news that God has loved us, and still loves us, reaches our hearts and lives, things change, we change. We know this. Zacchaeus simply raises to each of us this possibility that there is more change that would give life, more letting go that would be freeing. He raises the possibility that we might really know what life in Christ is if our response of joy and gratitude to God’s astounding grace in our lives involved breaking our hold on this idol, this master over our hearts.
When God answers these prayers, then we will hear the words of Jesus once again, and know it to be true perhaps more deeply than we ever have before: “Today salvation has come to this house.” Today.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
The Olive Branch, 11/6/13
Accent on Worship
Transferring a wee little man
For those of us who pay attention to little details, there might be something that looks like a typographical error in this Olive Branch. In the little shaded box in the lower right corner of the page, where it lists the readings for the next two Sunday Eucharists, it says Sunday 31 followed by Sunday 33. So either this is a typo or we have to ask, what happened to Sunday 32?
Well, the simple answer is that it was overridden by a transferring of Sunday 31’s readings to this Sunday. “Transferring” is the word we use when we take the lectionary assigned to one day and move it to another. Some Lutheran churches, for example, rather than celebrating Epiphany on January 6, the actual day, will transfer the Epiphany lectionary to the next Sunday. The same is often done to Ascension Day. Mount Olive typically doesn’t do this. If a lesser festival (of one of the apostles and Biblical saints) falls on a green Sunday, we celebrate it. We always celebrate the Epiphany and the Ascension on their proper days, even if it means (as it always does with Ascension) coming here on a weeknight to celebrate the Eucharist. They are important feasts in the life of the Church and here we have appreciated the rich and ancient tradition of stopping our daily lives when they arrive, and gathering to worship. We also value the lectionary’s assigning of texts so we never replace the Sunday readings with other readings of our choosing to suit our needs.
The one exception is that for decades here we’ve followed the traditional Lutheran practice of transferring the Reformation Day (Oct. 31) lectionary to the preceding Sunday and the All Saints Day (Nov. 1) lectionary to the following Sunday. While there has been good reason for that, the outcome that is often unseen is that we never read the actual lectionary readings assigned to those two Sundays, and there are some important words of Scripture we never get to hear in worship as a result.
This year it seemed worth our while to rectify this at least in one way. The readings for Sunday 31 are powerful readings that help us consider our stewardship of our wealth and our relationship with our neighbors, and it is the time of year for us to consider such things with a little more intentionality. So we’re going to read Sunday 31’s readings this week (and you can see a little more reflection on stewardship in my pastoral letter in another part of this Olive Branch.) This year, Sunday 32 will take the back seat because of All Saints instead of Sunday 31. [It’s worth noting, by the way, that the numbers don’t refer to “Sundays after” a specific date, as the lectionary used to count. (Most will remember “The 24th Sunday after Pentecost” style.) In the revised common lectionary which we use, the numbers are simply a consecutive numbering of the lectionary readings for the green seasons, ordinary time. So the Sunday after Holy Trinity this year wasn’t “the Second Sunday after Pentecost,” it was “Sunday 9.”]
What this means is that we hear the story of Zacchaeus this Sunday, and he will invite us into a passionate way of considering how we steward the resources God has entrusted to us. It will be good to hear from this old friend who has been absent from our liturgies for too long.
Sunday Readings
Nov. 10, 2013 – Time after Pentecost, Sunday 31
Isaiah 1:10-18 + Psalm 32:1-7
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 + Luke 19:1-10
Nov. 17, 2013 – Time after Pentecost, Sunday 33
Malachi 4:1-2a + Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 + Luke 21:5-19
Adult Forum
• November 10: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 1 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
• November 17 & 24: Parts 2 and 3 of this series.
Thursday Evening Bible Study Begins Tomorrow!
In Psalm 13, David cries out, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” No doubt David is not the only one to ask God these questions, for here is not a household untouched by pain or suffering. Thursday evenings starting on Nov. 7, Vicar Beckering will lead a topical study on the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. This Bible study series will meet Thursday evenings in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and run for six weeks, with the exception of Thanksgiving. Each gathering will begin with a light supper. All are welcome!
Volunteer Opportunities Abound
This Sunday, November 10, during both coffee times representatives from various Mount Olive groups will be available to talk about volunteer opportunities with their committees and groups. Please come see what volunteers accomplish at Mount Olive, what opportunities exist for service at Mount Olive, and how you can get involved. Volunteering is a great way to serve our congregation and our neighbors.
Attention, Bakers!
We will again bake communion bread for our liturgies from Advent through Holy Trinity. There is currently a regular group of five bakers, but additional bakers are always welcome. If you are interested in baking communion bread, Please contact John and Patsy Holtmeier either by email to jpholt67@gmail.com, or by phone: 952-582-1955.
Book Discussion Group
Mount Olive’s Book Discussion group meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. at church. For Nov. 9, they will read Parade's End, by Ford Madox Ford, and for December 14, The Optimist's Daughter, by Eudora Welty.
A Word of Thanks
As the photo directory project is winding down, I’d like to thank the many people who helped make it happen: Andrew Andersen, Paul Nixdorf for heading up the project and Cha Posz for lots of support; Elisabeth Hunt, Marty Hamlin, and Bonnie McLellan for registering appointments; Marcia Burrow for recruiting hosts; and all those who helped me with hosting: Steve Pranschke, Mary Rose Watson, Elizabeth Beissel, Don Johnson, Kate Sterner, Margaret Bostelmann, Sue Ellen Zagrebelsky, John and Patsy Holtmeier, Kathy Kruger, Tim Lindholm and many more who were willing but whose schedules didn’t match with the photo session times. I am truly grateful for everyone’s help and I apologize if I have left anyone out.
- Sandra Pranschke, Congregational Life
Mark Your Calendars for NovemberFest!
On Sunday, November 17, the Congregational Life Committee will hold a NovemberFest Fundraising Dinner. This event will be a fun opportunity for Mount Olive members and friends to visit with each other and guests, eat a wonderful meal of German food prepared by members of our church, play some games (led by Hans Tisberger), all to help raise money for new ovens for the Undercroft kitchen. A freewill offering will be received. If you want to come and haven’t signed up, call Gail Nielsen at 612/825-9326 to RSVP, so we know how much food to prepare.
Theology on Tap
Faith journey conversations for folks 21 and up
When: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 7:30pm
Where: Longfellow Grill, 2990 W. River Pkwy, Minneapolis
Topic: That “small, quiet voice”-- how and when do you hear it, what does it tell you, what gets in the way?
Contact: Bob Anderson, 952-937-8656
Sign Up, Sign Up for Coffee!
On Sunday at the Stewardship event, there will be a new sign up chart for hosting coffee hour. Please consider signing up for this important time of food and conversation. Willing to host but don’t want to do it alone? Let us know and we’ll pair you with someone. See you at the Congregational Life table on Sunday.
Two Events for Every Church a Peace Church
Monday, Nov. 11, 6:30 p.m. at
United Church of Christ in New Brighton
1000 Long Lake Road
New Brighton, MN (651 633-1327)
Every Church a Peace Church bi-monthly potluck supper meeting presents "An Introduction to Nonviolent Peaceforce and Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping."
This international organization originated here in Minnesota. Its mission is to train civilians to accompany people who have been targeted in various foreign countries to provide nonviolent protection for them.
Thursday, November 14, 7-8:30 p.m. at
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
1895 Laurel Ave., St. Paul
Every Church a Peace Church, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Veterans for Peace and Fellowship of Reconciliation invite you to an evening with Fr. Michael Lapsley.
Father Lapsley became chaplain of the African National Congress in 1976. He survived an assassination attempt by the South African Apartheid government. It destroyed both of his hands, one eye and his eardrums. Fr. Lapsley believed God was with him and he was able to move from victim to victor. During his lengthy recovery he became a staff member of the Training Center for Survivors of Violence and Torture and later was involved with Bishop Desmond Tutu in the Truth and Reconciliation effort in South Africa. Fr. Lapsley helped develop the Healing of Memories (HOM) American. He leads HOM retreats in Minnesota for returning veterans.
Thanksgiving Eucharist
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28
10:00 a.m.
Bring non-perishable food items to help re-stock local food shelves. Monetary donations are especially welcome (for every $1 donated, food shelf personnel are able to buy about $9 worth of food!)
The entire offering received at the Eucharist on Thanksgiving Day will be given to Sabbathani Community Center and Community Emergency Services.
Please Note
Church offices will be closed on Friday, November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving).
Special Request from CES
Community Emergency Services has informed us of some current special needs: computers, a 2-stage snow blower, shopping carts, fans, and a vacuum cleaner. The most important need, however, is people! The need volunteers for their mail crew, clerical assistance, drivers, and painters. If you can help, please contact CES at 612/870-1125. CES is the local recipient of our food shelf donations.
CoAM Fundraiser
CoAM (Cooperative Older Adult Ministries) will have a fun fundraiser on November at, beginning at noon, at Bethel Lutheran Church (4120 17th Ave. S.). The musical group From the Heart will perform songs from the Great American Songbook. Plan to come, share a meal, and listen to the music! For reservations, call the CoAM office at 612/721-5786. CoAM is a program of TRUST, of which Mount Olive is a part (TRUST sponsors our Meals on Wheels program).
A Word From Your Pastor
Sisters and brothers,
In the second of these letters to you on stewardship I’d like to consider the possibilities that could be before us when we learn to think of our stewardship of financial resources in a deeper, more profound way. In particular, what might happen if we were to deepen in our understanding of the spiritual discipline of tithing.
In some Christian settings, tithing (the giving of a percentage of one’s income to the work of the church, often set at 10% due to a biblical precedent) is nearly a law, a requirement. Other Christian groups teach tithing as almost an investment scheme: give a certain percentage and God will turn your investment into much more, you will be even more wealthy and blessed. Neither of these approaches are faithful to Scripture.
What is truer to Scripture is the biblical tradition of the faithful people of God committing – joyfully, gratefully, enthusiastically – a percentage of what they have been blessed to receive from God to share with God for the work of ministry. That’s the place of discipleship we could find more fully at Mount Olive, and the accompanying blessing of deepening faith that results.
We are already a high-commitment community. We commit a great deal of time and energy to worship, to caring for our neighbors, to supporting each other in this congregation. In our visioning process the leadership team continually heard the desire of members to deepen in that commitment of time and life to work together for the ministry God needs us to be doing here. Learning the spiritual discipline of intentionally committing a percentage of our income to the work we do together flows along the same lines, and is in keeping with our other understandings of the work we are called to do together.
What is interesting is to dream about what it would look like if we, the members of this congregation, deepened in this faith practice. The most recent numbers this fall state that the median household (not individual) income in Minnesota is now $58,000 per year. Clearly not all of our households are at that level and some are at a higher level. But let’s use that and play with the numbers a bit.
We have roughly 230 households who give to Mount Olive every year. Assuming that averaging those households’ income would be close to the Minnesota median, if each of those households began in 2014 to give 10%, we as God’s people would have $1,335,000 to use for the work of God. Just for 2014. Now we know it takes us about $600,000, give or take, to keep our own things taken care of, building, staff, utilities, necessities. So what would happen if we found ourselves next year with over $700,000 to give away, to invest in the neighborhood, to transform this world? What kind of a congregation would we be in 5 years, in 10 years, if every year we were sending nearly three quarters of a million dollars out into the world to bring God’s justice and grace to the world? Do you see? We barely scratch the surface of the joy we could be a part of when we just “take care of business.”
The transformation in our life together would be equally profound. What Christians have discovered in two millennia is that letting go of the things of this world that seem so important opens us to rely ever more deeply on the grace of God in which we live and move, and when we share the resources God has entrusted to us in our wealth we find a joy in participating in God’s grace for the world we might never have dreamed possible.
This is a theology which assumes God has abundantly blessed the world with enough for all, and certainly abundantly blessed us. This is a theology wherein we are overwhelmed by the many and various ways God’s grace has blessed and enriched our lives and can only respond by an outpouring of our own. This is an ancient spiritual discipline which, like so many others, helps us learn ever more to rely on God and not ourselves. The astonishing bonus to all of this is the wonders that we will be able to do together when we share our resources in such a way.
This Sunday we will consider our stewardship in our Sunday liturgy, and between liturgies. All of us will have opportunities after each liturgy to sign up for ways in which we feel called to commit our time to this shared ministry we do. In our Eucharist, the readings for the day, the hymns, the preaching will help us listen to what God is saying, and think deeply about what we are each called to do with the stewardship of God’s wealth entrusted to us.
We have not sent out pledge cards yet. This is intentional. I wanted us to have some time to consider these things, both in these two Olive Branches, and next Sunday. A letter from Dennis Bidwell, the stewardship director, and from me, will go out next Monday with pledge cards for 2014. I invite all of us to look at this card and, whatever each has done in the past, ask ourselves what new things God might be calling us, calling you, to commit to do with this pledge. I knew a couple once who was giving at 10% and felt that they needed to risk more in faith and began to push to increase that percentage by a percentage point each year. Because the percentage isn’t a magical thing. The grace comes from the moving in faith, the committing.
So let us continue to pray about this together. When we each get our invitations to pledge to our shared ministry, let us ask God for the courage to let go and trust. And then let’s be ready to be astonished even more than we have been by what God’s powerful grace can do among us.
In the love of Christ,
- Joseph
A Reflection on Volunteering
Last Sunday in church we heard this from Vicar Emily:
"In the fullness of that story, an end will come to poverty, and hunger, and pain, and weeping, and hate, and we and all the faithful dead will be united with God. But here and now, God is in our very midst putting to death our harmful beliefs and behaviors and raising us once again by the power of the Holy Spirit to live as Christ—to fill and be filled by the hungry, to weep with the weeping, to return hate with love, to forgive and lift up before God those who hurt us, and to give of ourselves and our resources for the joy of being apart of what God is doing. When this happens, all around us the clouds part and God’s future breaks in now."
I was sitting in the pew reflecting on these words when a finger gently tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to come. It was the usher asking if I could help out and carry the sacraments to the altar. Now, you must know that I have never done this before. Last time I walked down that aisle was at my wedding more than 3 decades ago (other than communion each Sunday).
So my first reaction was slight terror. I would not know what to do; when to bow, stop, turn, follow, lead, etc. I have watched but not been attentive to the details. But I had just heard this incredible sermon and been moved by it. The words came to my mind again (paraphrased). "Stop your harmful beliefs and patterns that limit Gods work and rise up with the power of the Holy Spirit to live as Christ!"
So I was being asked to get off my duff and be part of something wonderful. Now I know many of you do this regularly and it is no big deal but we cannot see one another's inner fears and I would never have offered myself for this volunteer activity.
I nodded a yes but was not comfortable as the elements were placed in the palm of my hands. But as I moved down that aisle toward the altar an amazing presence filled me. I forgot myself and my fears seemed way behind me and even silly. I felt the fullness of the body of Christ surrounding me. I sensed being a part of something much bigger than me. I was no longer a bystander but I was in the midst of the Holy and I felt the presence of God deeply.
Outwardly all I did was walk down an aisle. All I did was hand over some bread to another member. Yet from the moments of being asked, saying yes, taking one step at a time and walking into the midst of the people of God gathered for worship, I knew without a doubt that my fear was gone and a deep joy came to my heart because I knew I belonged to the body of Christ.
This Sunday during the social hour you will be tapped on the shoulder and invited to see, hear, touch, taste the opportunities to volunteer in this congregation. Will you be attentive to what God is asking you to do or be in this place? Will you take some time to perhaps burst out of some of your old patterns and say yes to try something new?
As Vicar Emily stated in the sermon: "This God who has made us saints and called us blessed, will continue to call us back, to put to death harmful patterns, to raise us again to live as Christ, and to remind us whose we are until that time when before the throne with all the saints in light, we will know in complete fullness, the God to whom we belong.”
- Connie Jaarsma Marty
Transferring a wee little man
For those of us who pay attention to little details, there might be something that looks like a typographical error in this Olive Branch. In the little shaded box in the lower right corner of the page, where it lists the readings for the next two Sunday Eucharists, it says Sunday 31 followed by Sunday 33. So either this is a typo or we have to ask, what happened to Sunday 32?
Well, the simple answer is that it was overridden by a transferring of Sunday 31’s readings to this Sunday. “Transferring” is the word we use when we take the lectionary assigned to one day and move it to another. Some Lutheran churches, for example, rather than celebrating Epiphany on January 6, the actual day, will transfer the Epiphany lectionary to the next Sunday. The same is often done to Ascension Day. Mount Olive typically doesn’t do this. If a lesser festival (of one of the apostles and Biblical saints) falls on a green Sunday, we celebrate it. We always celebrate the Epiphany and the Ascension on their proper days, even if it means (as it always does with Ascension) coming here on a weeknight to celebrate the Eucharist. They are important feasts in the life of the Church and here we have appreciated the rich and ancient tradition of stopping our daily lives when they arrive, and gathering to worship. We also value the lectionary’s assigning of texts so we never replace the Sunday readings with other readings of our choosing to suit our needs.
The one exception is that for decades here we’ve followed the traditional Lutheran practice of transferring the Reformation Day (Oct. 31) lectionary to the preceding Sunday and the All Saints Day (Nov. 1) lectionary to the following Sunday. While there has been good reason for that, the outcome that is often unseen is that we never read the actual lectionary readings assigned to those two Sundays, and there are some important words of Scripture we never get to hear in worship as a result.
This year it seemed worth our while to rectify this at least in one way. The readings for Sunday 31 are powerful readings that help us consider our stewardship of our wealth and our relationship with our neighbors, and it is the time of year for us to consider such things with a little more intentionality. So we’re going to read Sunday 31’s readings this week (and you can see a little more reflection on stewardship in my pastoral letter in another part of this Olive Branch.) This year, Sunday 32 will take the back seat because of All Saints instead of Sunday 31. [It’s worth noting, by the way, that the numbers don’t refer to “Sundays after” a specific date, as the lectionary used to count. (Most will remember “The 24th Sunday after Pentecost” style.) In the revised common lectionary which we use, the numbers are simply a consecutive numbering of the lectionary readings for the green seasons, ordinary time. So the Sunday after Holy Trinity this year wasn’t “the Second Sunday after Pentecost,” it was “Sunday 9.”]
What this means is that we hear the story of Zacchaeus this Sunday, and he will invite us into a passionate way of considering how we steward the resources God has entrusted to us. It will be good to hear from this old friend who has been absent from our liturgies for too long.
Sunday Readings
Nov. 10, 2013 – Time after Pentecost, Sunday 31
Isaiah 1:10-18 + Psalm 32:1-7
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 + Luke 19:1-10
Nov. 17, 2013 – Time after Pentecost, Sunday 33
Malachi 4:1-2a + Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 + Luke 21:5-19
Adult Forum
• November 10: “An Introduction to Matthew,” part 1 of a 3-part series, led by Pastor Crippen.
• November 17 & 24: Parts 2 and 3 of this series.
Thursday Evening Bible Study Begins Tomorrow!
In Psalm 13, David cries out, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” No doubt David is not the only one to ask God these questions, for here is not a household untouched by pain or suffering. Thursday evenings starting on Nov. 7, Vicar Beckering will lead a topical study on the Biblical witness to suffering and who God is for us in the midst of that suffering. This Bible study series will meet Thursday evenings in the Chapel Lounge from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and run for six weeks, with the exception of Thanksgiving. Each gathering will begin with a light supper. All are welcome!
Volunteer Opportunities Abound
This Sunday, November 10, during both coffee times representatives from various Mount Olive groups will be available to talk about volunteer opportunities with their committees and groups. Please come see what volunteers accomplish at Mount Olive, what opportunities exist for service at Mount Olive, and how you can get involved. Volunteering is a great way to serve our congregation and our neighbors.
Attention, Bakers!
We will again bake communion bread for our liturgies from Advent through Holy Trinity. There is currently a regular group of five bakers, but additional bakers are always welcome. If you are interested in baking communion bread, Please contact John and Patsy Holtmeier either by email to jpholt67@gmail.com, or by phone: 952-582-1955.
Book Discussion Group
Mount Olive’s Book Discussion group meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. at church. For Nov. 9, they will read Parade's End, by Ford Madox Ford, and for December 14, The Optimist's Daughter, by Eudora Welty.
A Word of Thanks
As the photo directory project is winding down, I’d like to thank the many people who helped make it happen: Andrew Andersen, Paul Nixdorf for heading up the project and Cha Posz for lots of support; Elisabeth Hunt, Marty Hamlin, and Bonnie McLellan for registering appointments; Marcia Burrow for recruiting hosts; and all those who helped me with hosting: Steve Pranschke, Mary Rose Watson, Elizabeth Beissel, Don Johnson, Kate Sterner, Margaret Bostelmann, Sue Ellen Zagrebelsky, John and Patsy Holtmeier, Kathy Kruger, Tim Lindholm and many more who were willing but whose schedules didn’t match with the photo session times. I am truly grateful for everyone’s help and I apologize if I have left anyone out.
- Sandra Pranschke, Congregational Life
Mark Your Calendars for NovemberFest!
On Sunday, November 17, the Congregational Life Committee will hold a NovemberFest Fundraising Dinner. This event will be a fun opportunity for Mount Olive members and friends to visit with each other and guests, eat a wonderful meal of German food prepared by members of our church, play some games (led by Hans Tisberger), all to help raise money for new ovens for the Undercroft kitchen. A freewill offering will be received. If you want to come and haven’t signed up, call Gail Nielsen at 612/825-9326 to RSVP, so we know how much food to prepare.
Theology on Tap
Faith journey conversations for folks 21 and up
When: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 7:30pm
Where: Longfellow Grill, 2990 W. River Pkwy, Minneapolis
Topic: That “small, quiet voice”-- how and when do you hear it, what does it tell you, what gets in the way?
Contact: Bob Anderson, 952-937-8656
Sign Up, Sign Up for Coffee!
On Sunday at the Stewardship event, there will be a new sign up chart for hosting coffee hour. Please consider signing up for this important time of food and conversation. Willing to host but don’t want to do it alone? Let us know and we’ll pair you with someone. See you at the Congregational Life table on Sunday.
Two Events for Every Church a Peace Church
Monday, Nov. 11, 6:30 p.m. at
United Church of Christ in New Brighton
1000 Long Lake Road
New Brighton, MN (651 633-1327)
Every Church a Peace Church bi-monthly potluck supper meeting presents "An Introduction to Nonviolent Peaceforce and Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping."
This international organization originated here in Minnesota. Its mission is to train civilians to accompany people who have been targeted in various foreign countries to provide nonviolent protection for them.
Thursday, November 14, 7-8:30 p.m. at
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
1895 Laurel Ave., St. Paul
Every Church a Peace Church, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Veterans for Peace and Fellowship of Reconciliation invite you to an evening with Fr. Michael Lapsley.
Father Lapsley became chaplain of the African National Congress in 1976. He survived an assassination attempt by the South African Apartheid government. It destroyed both of his hands, one eye and his eardrums. Fr. Lapsley believed God was with him and he was able to move from victim to victor. During his lengthy recovery he became a staff member of the Training Center for Survivors of Violence and Torture and later was involved with Bishop Desmond Tutu in the Truth and Reconciliation effort in South Africa. Fr. Lapsley helped develop the Healing of Memories (HOM) American. He leads HOM retreats in Minnesota for returning veterans.
Thanksgiving Eucharist
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28
10:00 a.m.
Bring non-perishable food items to help re-stock local food shelves. Monetary donations are especially welcome (for every $1 donated, food shelf personnel are able to buy about $9 worth of food!)
The entire offering received at the Eucharist on Thanksgiving Day will be given to Sabbathani Community Center and Community Emergency Services.
Please Note
Church offices will be closed on Friday, November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving).
Special Request from CES
Community Emergency Services has informed us of some current special needs: computers, a 2-stage snow blower, shopping carts, fans, and a vacuum cleaner. The most important need, however, is people! The need volunteers for their mail crew, clerical assistance, drivers, and painters. If you can help, please contact CES at 612/870-1125. CES is the local recipient of our food shelf donations.
CoAM Fundraiser
CoAM (Cooperative Older Adult Ministries) will have a fun fundraiser on November at, beginning at noon, at Bethel Lutheran Church (4120 17th Ave. S.). The musical group From the Heart will perform songs from the Great American Songbook. Plan to come, share a meal, and listen to the music! For reservations, call the CoAM office at 612/721-5786. CoAM is a program of TRUST, of which Mount Olive is a part (TRUST sponsors our Meals on Wheels program).
A Word From Your Pastor
Sisters and brothers,
In the second of these letters to you on stewardship I’d like to consider the possibilities that could be before us when we learn to think of our stewardship of financial resources in a deeper, more profound way. In particular, what might happen if we were to deepen in our understanding of the spiritual discipline of tithing.
In some Christian settings, tithing (the giving of a percentage of one’s income to the work of the church, often set at 10% due to a biblical precedent) is nearly a law, a requirement. Other Christian groups teach tithing as almost an investment scheme: give a certain percentage and God will turn your investment into much more, you will be even more wealthy and blessed. Neither of these approaches are faithful to Scripture.
What is truer to Scripture is the biblical tradition of the faithful people of God committing – joyfully, gratefully, enthusiastically – a percentage of what they have been blessed to receive from God to share with God for the work of ministry. That’s the place of discipleship we could find more fully at Mount Olive, and the accompanying blessing of deepening faith that results.
We are already a high-commitment community. We commit a great deal of time and energy to worship, to caring for our neighbors, to supporting each other in this congregation. In our visioning process the leadership team continually heard the desire of members to deepen in that commitment of time and life to work together for the ministry God needs us to be doing here. Learning the spiritual discipline of intentionally committing a percentage of our income to the work we do together flows along the same lines, and is in keeping with our other understandings of the work we are called to do together.
What is interesting is to dream about what it would look like if we, the members of this congregation, deepened in this faith practice. The most recent numbers this fall state that the median household (not individual) income in Minnesota is now $58,000 per year. Clearly not all of our households are at that level and some are at a higher level. But let’s use that and play with the numbers a bit.
We have roughly 230 households who give to Mount Olive every year. Assuming that averaging those households’ income would be close to the Minnesota median, if each of those households began in 2014 to give 10%, we as God’s people would have $1,335,000 to use for the work of God. Just for 2014. Now we know it takes us about $600,000, give or take, to keep our own things taken care of, building, staff, utilities, necessities. So what would happen if we found ourselves next year with over $700,000 to give away, to invest in the neighborhood, to transform this world? What kind of a congregation would we be in 5 years, in 10 years, if every year we were sending nearly three quarters of a million dollars out into the world to bring God’s justice and grace to the world? Do you see? We barely scratch the surface of the joy we could be a part of when we just “take care of business.”
The transformation in our life together would be equally profound. What Christians have discovered in two millennia is that letting go of the things of this world that seem so important opens us to rely ever more deeply on the grace of God in which we live and move, and when we share the resources God has entrusted to us in our wealth we find a joy in participating in God’s grace for the world we might never have dreamed possible.
This is a theology which assumes God has abundantly blessed the world with enough for all, and certainly abundantly blessed us. This is a theology wherein we are overwhelmed by the many and various ways God’s grace has blessed and enriched our lives and can only respond by an outpouring of our own. This is an ancient spiritual discipline which, like so many others, helps us learn ever more to rely on God and not ourselves. The astonishing bonus to all of this is the wonders that we will be able to do together when we share our resources in such a way.
This Sunday we will consider our stewardship in our Sunday liturgy, and between liturgies. All of us will have opportunities after each liturgy to sign up for ways in which we feel called to commit our time to this shared ministry we do. In our Eucharist, the readings for the day, the hymns, the preaching will help us listen to what God is saying, and think deeply about what we are each called to do with the stewardship of God’s wealth entrusted to us.
We have not sent out pledge cards yet. This is intentional. I wanted us to have some time to consider these things, both in these two Olive Branches, and next Sunday. A letter from Dennis Bidwell, the stewardship director, and from me, will go out next Monday with pledge cards for 2014. I invite all of us to look at this card and, whatever each has done in the past, ask ourselves what new things God might be calling us, calling you, to commit to do with this pledge. I knew a couple once who was giving at 10% and felt that they needed to risk more in faith and began to push to increase that percentage by a percentage point each year. Because the percentage isn’t a magical thing. The grace comes from the moving in faith, the committing.
So let us continue to pray about this together. When we each get our invitations to pledge to our shared ministry, let us ask God for the courage to let go and trust. And then let’s be ready to be astonished even more than we have been by what God’s powerful grace can do among us.
In the love of Christ,
- Joseph
A Reflection on Volunteering
Last Sunday in church we heard this from Vicar Emily:
"In the fullness of that story, an end will come to poverty, and hunger, and pain, and weeping, and hate, and we and all the faithful dead will be united with God. But here and now, God is in our very midst putting to death our harmful beliefs and behaviors and raising us once again by the power of the Holy Spirit to live as Christ—to fill and be filled by the hungry, to weep with the weeping, to return hate with love, to forgive and lift up before God those who hurt us, and to give of ourselves and our resources for the joy of being apart of what God is doing. When this happens, all around us the clouds part and God’s future breaks in now."
I was sitting in the pew reflecting on these words when a finger gently tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to come. It was the usher asking if I could help out and carry the sacraments to the altar. Now, you must know that I have never done this before. Last time I walked down that aisle was at my wedding more than 3 decades ago (other than communion each Sunday).
So my first reaction was slight terror. I would not know what to do; when to bow, stop, turn, follow, lead, etc. I have watched but not been attentive to the details. But I had just heard this incredible sermon and been moved by it. The words came to my mind again (paraphrased). "Stop your harmful beliefs and patterns that limit Gods work and rise up with the power of the Holy Spirit to live as Christ!"
So I was being asked to get off my duff and be part of something wonderful. Now I know many of you do this regularly and it is no big deal but we cannot see one another's inner fears and I would never have offered myself for this volunteer activity.
I nodded a yes but was not comfortable as the elements were placed in the palm of my hands. But as I moved down that aisle toward the altar an amazing presence filled me. I forgot myself and my fears seemed way behind me and even silly. I felt the fullness of the body of Christ surrounding me. I sensed being a part of something much bigger than me. I was no longer a bystander but I was in the midst of the Holy and I felt the presence of God deeply.
Outwardly all I did was walk down an aisle. All I did was hand over some bread to another member. Yet from the moments of being asked, saying yes, taking one step at a time and walking into the midst of the people of God gathered for worship, I knew without a doubt that my fear was gone and a deep joy came to my heart because I knew I belonged to the body of Christ.
This Sunday during the social hour you will be tapped on the shoulder and invited to see, hear, touch, taste the opportunities to volunteer in this congregation. Will you be attentive to what God is asking you to do or be in this place? Will you take some time to perhaps burst out of some of your old patterns and say yes to try something new?
As Vicar Emily stated in the sermon: "This God who has made us saints and called us blessed, will continue to call us back, to put to death harmful patterns, to raise us again to live as Christ, and to remind us whose we are until that time when before the throne with all the saints in light, we will know in complete fullness, the God to whom we belong.”
- Connie Jaarsma Marty
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Belonging
In the waters of Baptism, God has claimed us as God’s own children, joined us with the communion of saints and promised eternal life in the future and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives now. We belong to God now and forever. Because we belong to God, the Holy Spirit will equip us to live out the Beatitudes in Luke.
Vicar Emily Beckering, All Saints Sunday; texts: Luke 6:20-31, Ephesians 1:3-23
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Are there any who are poor? You are blessed because God’s kingdom belongs to you. Are you hungry or empty? You are blessed because God will fill you. Have you found yourself weeping lately? You are blessed because God will bring you laughter. Do people criticize you, hate you, or exclude you? Jump for joy because your reward is great in heaven.
But what if we are sitting with more than we need? What if we have full bellies, smiles on our faces, and other people’s praise tingling in our ears? Should we be worried? Have we somehow lost God’s blessing? Must we be poor, mourning, and hated in order to have God’s favor?
The poor, the hungry, those who are grieving or depressed: these are the people who, according to our standards, are at the very least, down on their luck. At our worst, we say that they are the ones who have failed, or floundered, or have caused their own suffering. Not so, Jesus says, there is a special place in the heart of God for these ones.
But the ones who Jesus warns, on the other hand, these are the ones who we believe have it all together! Wealth, success, influence, good times, the best parties, and the love and admiration of all. Who doesn’t want that? These people have everything! Or do they?
According to Jesus, things are not as they seem. Jesus takes everything that we think we know about life and about God and flips it upside down. We have lived our lives according to certain rules, expecting to find ourselves on the right side, come to find out that the ones who we think are cursed are not cursed after all and the ones who we are certain are blessed are not, in fact, blessed.
So when we hear Jesus speak the warnings, “Woe to you,” we may begin to squirm. Is that us? We may also be tempted to think that we must be of a certain status or find ourselves in particular conditions to be loved by God. We may wonder if God’s very blessing and love is conditional.
But Paul tells us something quite different in Ephesians. In the extended reading of Ephesians today, we hear just what God thinks of us. We hear just what the Triune God has done, continues to do, and will yet do for us. God the Father, out of great love for us, chose to adopt us as children. God the Son has bought us back from the power that death and sin once had over us, forgives us for our sins, and through him, we are given the promise of eternal life. God the Holy Spirit has sealed us with these promises and continues to empower and send us to do God’s work on a daily basis. It was God’s great pleasure to do this: God rejoiced at choosing to be in relationship with you and now no condition—nothing—can take away that relationship.
We are not saints, or holy or blessed because of what we have, have done, or hear said about us. We are part of the communion of saints because God has called us Holy and Blessed and claimed us as God’s own. Yes, God has made a decision about us. God has decided to be our God and that we will be God’s people.
To confirm this, we do not look to our bank statements, or our GPA, or the titles added to our names, or the amount of people who want to come to our parties, or whether or not our plans for ourselves work out. We look instead to the waters of our baptism, for it is here that we know for sure that our God is a God of love and mercy, a God who gives all of God’s self to those who have little, who turns weeping and mourning and shame into joy, who transforms our longing into fulfilled promises, our hunger into satisfaction, hatred into love and death into life. God washes us with these promises and says: “You are baptized in my name. I am your God and I will never let you go. All I have is yours and I give it to you freely and with joy and great pleasure because I love you.”
God is, was, and always will be your God so that no grave will ever be able to hold you: God will raise you and all the saints from the dead. And so, it is here in baptism that we are joined with Christ and brought from death into life; here that God claims us as God’s own children and makes us members of Christ’s church and heirs to our inheritance in Christ which is life with God in eternity and the seal of the Holy Spirit. With that seal, comes the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives now, forming us to live as Christ for the sake of the world. The Holy Spirit equips us to do all that Jesus asks in his sermon in the gospel for today.
Jesus is describing the life of the saints here and now. Jesus is doing for us exactly what was promised to the Ephesians. He is enlightening our hearts, showing us what it means and what it looks like to live out of his love, so that, as Paul writes, we may know the hope to which we are called, the riches of our inheritance as saints, and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power in our lives. Jesus is not casting us aside for how we have been living; he is inviting us all back in: the poor and the rich, the hungry and the content, the mourning and the rejoicing, for he died for all.
In this invitation, as a loving parent, Jesus calls us back to his side to recall the promises that we have received in him. Jesus does not say, “in order to belong to me,” but “since you belong to me, live differently. Now that you know that you are mine, live as mine.”
Because we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with Christ’s cross forever, our very lives will be marked by Christ and his cross. Christ was poor, Christ was hungry, Christ wept, Christ was hated and rejected, and so shall we be.
Because we belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we will accept with open arms the people who exclude us and rally against us. Because we belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we will encourage those who criticize us. Because we belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we will pray for God to care for those who discount us, offer our forgiveness to those who only deal out hurt, and give away freely from the abundance of what God has given us.
And this work of bringing us from death into life that God has done in our baptism continues to be lived out daily in the lives of the saints. In Jesus’ words today, the Triune God is at work once again to bring light where darkness has crept in and life where death has tricked us into feeling its icy chill. Here in this place, through Jesus’ words, God is putting to death the fears and behaviors that lead us to destruction, that cause us to wreak havoc on our neighbors and ourselves, and make us doubt the love of God.
When we hear, “Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated,” the Triune God is putting to death our assumptions about who is in, and who is out, where God is at work, and who has value. For those of us who have lived in misery, who know well the bitter taste of suffering, who are ridiculed, and ignored, and cast aside because we do not succeed in ways that the world values, for those of us who have begun to wonder whether there is any hope, the Triune God is putting to death the fear that we have been abandoned, and is raising up actual hope: you have a special place in the heart and in the life of God. Jesus is saying, “Nobody declares your value but me, and to me, you are precious, you are blessed, and you are mine.”
For those of us who have many friends and who find security in our comfortable lives, the Triune God is putting to death our assumptions that we have all that we have because we have God’s favor. Jesus warns, “Be careful who and what you let have power over you. Being rich or successful or influential or well-liked doesn’t make you count in my eyes. You are blessed, but know why. You are blessed because I have called you by name and made you my own: nobody declares your value but me and to me you are precious, you are mine.”
This is the promise that God gives not just to us, but to all, for everything will be gathered to God. Nothing and no one can take away this promise, not even our own tendency to live as if we still belonged to sin and death instead of to the risen Christ.
And so, may these tendencies to live as if sin and the fear of death still ruled us: that is, the tendency to accrue wealth and experiences for ourselves even though we are fully aware of those who are struggling, the tendency to meet our needs at the expense of others, to chase after approval and recognition no matter who we take down in the process, and the tendency to base our value on the world’s standards rather than on who God says that we are: may all these harmful patterns die. And may God raise us up anew, to live out of the Spirit’s power and out of the hope that our story does not end here, for we have a place in God’s story.
In the fullness of that story, an end will come to poverty, and hunger, and pain, and weeping, and hate, and we and all the faithful dead will be united with God. But here and now, God is in our very midst putting to death our harmful beliefs and behaviors and raising us once again by the power of the Holy Spirit to live as Christ—to fill and be filled by the hungry, to weep with the weeping, to return hate with love, to forgive and lift up before God those who hurt us, and to give of ourselves and our resources for the joy of being apart of what God is doing. When this happens, all around us the clouds part and God’s future breaks in now.
This God who chose to make us his own and freely poured out on us the gifts of eternal life, forgiveness, and the power of the Holy Spirit, this God who has made us saints and called us blessed, will continue to call us back, to put to death harmful patterns, to raise us again to live as Christ, and to remind us whose we are until that time when before the throne with all the saints in light, we will know in complete fullness, the God to whom we belong.
Amen
Vicar Emily Beckering, All Saints Sunday; texts: Luke 6:20-31, Ephesians 1:3-23
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Are there any who are poor? You are blessed because God’s kingdom belongs to you. Are you hungry or empty? You are blessed because God will fill you. Have you found yourself weeping lately? You are blessed because God will bring you laughter. Do people criticize you, hate you, or exclude you? Jump for joy because your reward is great in heaven.
But what if we are sitting with more than we need? What if we have full bellies, smiles on our faces, and other people’s praise tingling in our ears? Should we be worried? Have we somehow lost God’s blessing? Must we be poor, mourning, and hated in order to have God’s favor?
The poor, the hungry, those who are grieving or depressed: these are the people who, according to our standards, are at the very least, down on their luck. At our worst, we say that they are the ones who have failed, or floundered, or have caused their own suffering. Not so, Jesus says, there is a special place in the heart of God for these ones.
But the ones who Jesus warns, on the other hand, these are the ones who we believe have it all together! Wealth, success, influence, good times, the best parties, and the love and admiration of all. Who doesn’t want that? These people have everything! Or do they?
According to Jesus, things are not as they seem. Jesus takes everything that we think we know about life and about God and flips it upside down. We have lived our lives according to certain rules, expecting to find ourselves on the right side, come to find out that the ones who we think are cursed are not cursed after all and the ones who we are certain are blessed are not, in fact, blessed.
So when we hear Jesus speak the warnings, “Woe to you,” we may begin to squirm. Is that us? We may also be tempted to think that we must be of a certain status or find ourselves in particular conditions to be loved by God. We may wonder if God’s very blessing and love is conditional.
But Paul tells us something quite different in Ephesians. In the extended reading of Ephesians today, we hear just what God thinks of us. We hear just what the Triune God has done, continues to do, and will yet do for us. God the Father, out of great love for us, chose to adopt us as children. God the Son has bought us back from the power that death and sin once had over us, forgives us for our sins, and through him, we are given the promise of eternal life. God the Holy Spirit has sealed us with these promises and continues to empower and send us to do God’s work on a daily basis. It was God’s great pleasure to do this: God rejoiced at choosing to be in relationship with you and now no condition—nothing—can take away that relationship.
We are not saints, or holy or blessed because of what we have, have done, or hear said about us. We are part of the communion of saints because God has called us Holy and Blessed and claimed us as God’s own. Yes, God has made a decision about us. God has decided to be our God and that we will be God’s people.
To confirm this, we do not look to our bank statements, or our GPA, or the titles added to our names, or the amount of people who want to come to our parties, or whether or not our plans for ourselves work out. We look instead to the waters of our baptism, for it is here that we know for sure that our God is a God of love and mercy, a God who gives all of God’s self to those who have little, who turns weeping and mourning and shame into joy, who transforms our longing into fulfilled promises, our hunger into satisfaction, hatred into love and death into life. God washes us with these promises and says: “You are baptized in my name. I am your God and I will never let you go. All I have is yours and I give it to you freely and with joy and great pleasure because I love you.”
God is, was, and always will be your God so that no grave will ever be able to hold you: God will raise you and all the saints from the dead. And so, it is here in baptism that we are joined with Christ and brought from death into life; here that God claims us as God’s own children and makes us members of Christ’s church and heirs to our inheritance in Christ which is life with God in eternity and the seal of the Holy Spirit. With that seal, comes the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives now, forming us to live as Christ for the sake of the world. The Holy Spirit equips us to do all that Jesus asks in his sermon in the gospel for today.
Jesus is describing the life of the saints here and now. Jesus is doing for us exactly what was promised to the Ephesians. He is enlightening our hearts, showing us what it means and what it looks like to live out of his love, so that, as Paul writes, we may know the hope to which we are called, the riches of our inheritance as saints, and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power in our lives. Jesus is not casting us aside for how we have been living; he is inviting us all back in: the poor and the rich, the hungry and the content, the mourning and the rejoicing, for he died for all.
In this invitation, as a loving parent, Jesus calls us back to his side to recall the promises that we have received in him. Jesus does not say, “in order to belong to me,” but “since you belong to me, live differently. Now that you know that you are mine, live as mine.”
Because we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with Christ’s cross forever, our very lives will be marked by Christ and his cross. Christ was poor, Christ was hungry, Christ wept, Christ was hated and rejected, and so shall we be.
Because we belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we will accept with open arms the people who exclude us and rally against us. Because we belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we will encourage those who criticize us. Because we belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit is at work in us, we will pray for God to care for those who discount us, offer our forgiveness to those who only deal out hurt, and give away freely from the abundance of what God has given us.
And this work of bringing us from death into life that God has done in our baptism continues to be lived out daily in the lives of the saints. In Jesus’ words today, the Triune God is at work once again to bring light where darkness has crept in and life where death has tricked us into feeling its icy chill. Here in this place, through Jesus’ words, God is putting to death the fears and behaviors that lead us to destruction, that cause us to wreak havoc on our neighbors and ourselves, and make us doubt the love of God.
When we hear, “Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated,” the Triune God is putting to death our assumptions about who is in, and who is out, where God is at work, and who has value. For those of us who have lived in misery, who know well the bitter taste of suffering, who are ridiculed, and ignored, and cast aside because we do not succeed in ways that the world values, for those of us who have begun to wonder whether there is any hope, the Triune God is putting to death the fear that we have been abandoned, and is raising up actual hope: you have a special place in the heart and in the life of God. Jesus is saying, “Nobody declares your value but me, and to me, you are precious, you are blessed, and you are mine.”
For those of us who have many friends and who find security in our comfortable lives, the Triune God is putting to death our assumptions that we have all that we have because we have God’s favor. Jesus warns, “Be careful who and what you let have power over you. Being rich or successful or influential or well-liked doesn’t make you count in my eyes. You are blessed, but know why. You are blessed because I have called you by name and made you my own: nobody declares your value but me and to me you are precious, you are mine.”
This is the promise that God gives not just to us, but to all, for everything will be gathered to God. Nothing and no one can take away this promise, not even our own tendency to live as if we still belonged to sin and death instead of to the risen Christ.
And so, may these tendencies to live as if sin and the fear of death still ruled us: that is, the tendency to accrue wealth and experiences for ourselves even though we are fully aware of those who are struggling, the tendency to meet our needs at the expense of others, to chase after approval and recognition no matter who we take down in the process, and the tendency to base our value on the world’s standards rather than on who God says that we are: may all these harmful patterns die. And may God raise us up anew, to live out of the Spirit’s power and out of the hope that our story does not end here, for we have a place in God’s story.
In the fullness of that story, an end will come to poverty, and hunger, and pain, and weeping, and hate, and we and all the faithful dead will be united with God. But here and now, God is in our very midst putting to death our harmful beliefs and behaviors and raising us once again by the power of the Holy Spirit to live as Christ—to fill and be filled by the hungry, to weep with the weeping, to return hate with love, to forgive and lift up before God those who hurt us, and to give of ourselves and our resources for the joy of being apart of what God is doing. When this happens, all around us the clouds part and God’s future breaks in now.
This God who chose to make us his own and freely poured out on us the gifts of eternal life, forgiveness, and the power of the Holy Spirit, this God who has made us saints and called us blessed, will continue to call us back, to put to death harmful patterns, to raise us again to live as Christ, and to remind us whose we are until that time when before the throne with all the saints in light, we will know in complete fullness, the God to whom we belong.
Amen
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