Week 3: “Providing Daily Bread” Fourth Petition, the Lord’s Prayer
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: Exodus 16:9-30; Matthew 6:25-34
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
22,000 children under the age of five will die today of hunger, according to UNICEF. One every four seconds. Considered on a broader scale, that’s equivalent to an earthquake like the one in Haiti last year occurring every 10 days. And that’s just children under five. In 2009, 8 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday. 4 million newborns worldwide are dying in the first month of life. 1 billion children are currently deprived of one or more services essential to survival and development. Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. 2.5 billion people in the world – over one third of our people – lack access to improved sanitation(1). And according to the World Bank, almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day (2). The numbers are staggering, and beyond our capacity even to grasp.
Martin Luther says that daily bread consists of “everything included in the necessities and nourishment for our bodies, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house,” but also including things like “upright and faithful rulers, [and] good government.” Clearly he would say that over half our planet’s people do not get their daily bread on a regular basis.
I’m sure these numbers aren’t new to most of us. We’ve heard the bleak statistics before, and not only do we struggle to grasp them fully, we tend to become numb to the sheer cruelty and horror the dry numbers can conceal. But in a world where we spend astronomically more for military defense than we do for ending hunger and poverty, I wonder how any of us who live in our comfortable lives, who rarely if ever miss a meal, who take sanitation for granted, and who have more wealth than most of the world, I wonder how we can bring ourselves to pray this petition. How do we pray, “Give us today our daily bread” with any sense of honesty or integrity? How do we hear Jesus’ words to us that we not be anxious for what we will eat or wear without acute embarrassment?
Perhaps what we need to do is remember the petitions which came before: that we have asked God to help us live in God’s rule and reign, and do God’s will. Because in that context, a prayer for daily bread can be for us a plea for God to change us in such ways that we become part of God’s providing daily bread for all.
Our problem is that because we fail to do God’s will, and so to live under God’s rule, we become so self-absorbed we think we’ve got all the problems.
We hear Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 and think, “well, that’s going to be hard – I’m so anxious about so many things, how can I trust God to provide?”
The people of Israel in the wilderness had seen God’s saving acts again and again. Prior to today’s reading, in their hunger they complained to God, as if God had done nothing for them up to now. And once again, God provided. But then, like us, they couldn’t just take that with grace. Afraid they might run out in future, they disobeyed God and hoarded. Manna was given sufficient for the day – and Moses clearly told the people not to save up extra. But of course, people did – and it went foul. And we’re persisting in that behavior and lack of faith.
Because that’s what this all is – a lack of faith. We live in the richest country in the world, with resources beyond belief, where we can throw anything into the ground and it will grow. We’ve had only a handful of attacks by enemies on our nation in the past two centuries – in fact, you’d have to go back to the War of 1812 to find the last time war was waged on our soil by outside enemies, apart from surprise attacks like Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
We live in safety, with all we need – and yet we hoard wealth, we build walls to protect what we have, we live as if we don’t know where our next meal will come from. We are taught to pray “give us today our daily bread,” and we live as if we need to provide for the next 20 years’ needs or more.
And children, meanwhile, continue to die. Or live desperate malnourished lives. If anyone should lack faith in God’s ability to provide daily bread, it should be the half of the world’s people who live in utter poverty, not we who live as we do.
Which means we want to pay attention to Luther’s words in his Large Catechism, and pray this petition in a different way.
Luther gladly proclaims God provides all we need. But then he gives this warning: “How much trouble there is now in the world simply on account of false coinage, yes, on account of daily exploitation and usury in public business, commerce, and labor on the part of those who wantonly oppress the poor and deprive them of their daily bread! This we must put up with, of course; but let those who do these things beware lest they lose the common intercession of the church, and let them take care lest this petition of the Lord’s Prayer be turned against them.” (3)
We pray this prayer in part to remind ourselves that all we have is from God, and we have all we need. We pray it that we might learn to put aside anxiety over our future, over what we have, and trust God to provide all.
But we pray this with Luther’s words in mind, for a greater good: that we might be a part of God’s daily bread for all people. This petition reminds us that it is God’s intent for all God’s people to have all they need for life.
It is, in fact, God’s will. And if others are starving, living in squalor, drinking polluted water or none at all, while we luxuriate – then it is our job, our service, to change that. If we truly wish to live in God’s kingdom and follow God’s will, this is it.
Simply, we cannot pray this petition today without confessing our sin, asking forgiveness, and seeking God’s grace to make a difference for others. We were blessed, through no merit of our own, to be born into the best garden on the planet, with more safety and peace than anyone else in the world has ever known. We cannot pray this petition imagining that that’s all we need to know.
God’s good will is that all have all their daily bread.
Today we learn to pray that we be a part of that providing, that we do whatever we can to bring about an end to poverty and hunger on this planet. We pray that those horrible numbers do not cause our eyes to glaze over and our minds to wander, but urge us to action as much as if the children dying were our next door neighbors.
Because they are. They are our sisters and brothers. And they need daily bread. And so we pray, “Lord, have mercy. And help us do your will.”
In the name of Jesus. Amen
1 “The State of the World’s Children,” 2010 report, www.unicef.org .
2 Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion, “The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty,” World Bank, August 2008
3 Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord : The confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (451–452). Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sermon from March 27, 2011 + The Third Sunday in Lent, (A)
“By Night Or By Day”
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: John 4:5-42
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Sometimes it can be hard to imagine what it would be like to encounter Jesus, to have lived when he walked the roads of Galilee, to have been able to hear him, see him. We read the Gospels with a sense of distance from the people and the times which makes us more observers than participants. Until we open the Gospel of John. John’s approach – to tell only a few stories of Jesus but with greater detail and length – is particularly effective in removing some of the barriers to our engagement with Jesus. Somehow in the lively dialogue of his stories, the telling details of the people involved, the careful description of the side characters, we’re drawn into these stories in ways that almost make them seem contemporary. It’s a mark not only of John’s narrative gift, but also of his editorial intent: as he states in several places, he intends his Gospel to be exactly what we experience. He writes so others may see themselves in the stories and so also encounter Jesus for themselves, and his hope and prayer is that by such encounters, others may come to faith. Even those who, like us, are invited to believe without having seen for ourselves.
What’s interesting about the two people we’ve met so far, Nicodemus (last week) and the unnamed Samaritan woman today, is that in a number of ways they represent polar opposites of each other, and yet Jesus engages them, and offers them his grace and life. Both are seeking something, but it turns out Jesus is offering something better. And in their contrasts, it’s likely that each of us can find ourselves in one, if not the other, and so also hear Jesus’ offer to us.
Nicodemus and the woman are in fact a study in contrasts.
Nicodemus is the ultimate insider. A member of an elite sect, the Pharisees, he’s one of the teachers of Israel, the learned in God’s law. He comes to Jesus at midnight because he has everything to lose by this conversation. Jesus is seen by most of the Pharisees as a threat and a blasphemer, but Nicodemus is intrigued by him. But he also knows that he’ll be in serious trouble if he’s seen with Jesus, in addition to the risk of losing status and prestige among his peers. And he comes to Jesus to ask him questions, check his credentials as it were.
The Samaritan woman is the ultimate outsider. She doesn’t even rank the mention of a name. A woman was not to talk to strange men in public, and she’s a Samaritan woman to boot, a member of a race that Jewish people considered half-breeds, heretics, and not to be touched. She speaks with Jesus not at midnight but at broad noon because she’s somehow even outcast from her own people – the women typically would go to the well in the cool of the morning, and together, but here she is all by herself fetching water in the heat of the day. She has absolutely nothing to lose by this conversation with Jesus. Being on the outside fringe of an outside fringe group, she has nothing to fear from her peers, if even she thinks she has any. And Jesus comes to her, not she to him, asking her for a drink.
But look at Jesus. He engages them both in the same way, offering the same thing, as if they are equally deserving and equally in need.
First, he demands complete honesty from both of them. No pretenses are allowed here.
Nicodemus acts as if he’s the teacher, quizzing the pupil. Jesus exposes his weaknesses in understanding God’s law and God’s ways. “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things?” Jesus asks.
The woman responds to Jesus’ offer of living water with a hope for a pitcher which would never run dry, and would take away the burden of carrying water. Jesus cuts right to the quick and asks her to go fetch her husband. He’s not being mean – he knows she’s been married five times and now is living with a man who is not her husband. But if she’s going to receive what he has to offer, she needs to know that he knows her, the truth about her.
Jesus has amazing gifts to offer both of them. But first he needs to be clear with them: He knows the truth about them, he knows everything they’d rather not have known. But he also still is going to offer them life. They are known, and still loved.
The second thing Jesus does for both of these people is offer far more than they expected to receive.
Nicodemus wants answers, wants to know who Jesus is. Jesus opens up the possibility that not only is Nicodemus loved by God, but the whole world, the whole cosmos is. And that a new birth is possible in the Spirit of God, which will give abundant life.
The woman wants a relief from an onerous and difficult daily task – she’d like running water in her home, basically. Jesus offers her a vision of a life richly filled with living water – with the grace and love of God. A life in which there is no such thing as Samaritan or Jew, male or female, insider or outsider – where she is known with all her sins and still offered life and love.
What’s so powerful about John’s two stories is how we can find ourselves in one of these two people.
Because we’ll either be one or the other, usually.
Some of us will likely identify with the insider, Nicodemus. For insiders, being known as a religious person, a follower of Jesus, can be awkward in social circles or at work. We might believe, but we’re going to keep it pretty quiet. We’ve got too much to lose if people think we’re one of those faith people. And insiders tend to keep faith to themselves even after meeting Jesus – just as Nicodemus kept his faith secret until after the crucifixion.
Others here today might identify with the woman, the outsider. For outsiders, life is about someone telling you that you’re not good enough, or your type of person is unacceptable, or you cannot be loved by God. Outsiders might fear that if Jesus really knew the truth about them, he’d think the same thing. They’ve got little to lose, but also little to hope for. And like the woman, when outsiders find welcome they tend to let others know, too – as she ran to her village to tell of Jesus.
What John does is open up the possibility that we might find ourselves welcomed and loved by Jesus in the same way. Whether you feel like an insider in this world or an outsider, there is invitation here from Jesus.
It will mean complete honesty – we can’t hide behind our pretenses and act as if we’re something we’re not. Jesus knows us completely and would rather we were honest about ourselves.
But it also means that we have the joy these two people had of being exposed for who we are and discovering that it doesn’t matter. That we are known fully and still loved. That though there are no pretenses with Jesus, there is grace and forgiveness.
And that means that it’s also true for us, whether we are outsiders or insiders, that Jesus has far more to offer us than we expect or ask.
As he said to the woman, if you had known who it was you were talking to, you’d have asked for more. Whatever it is we want in life – happiness, security, no risks, ease of living, no worries – Jesus doesn’t promise to give us that. We’re not going to find easy answers from Jesus which help us to faith, as Nicodemus wanted, and he’s not about putting in indoor plumbing, which would have helped the woman.
Instead, he offers us the real deal: rich, abundant, full life. Life in the Spirit of God which fills our hearts and souls with meaning and purpose. Life in God’s love which gives us confidence even in the face of suffering and death. Life in the arms of the One who is lifted up on the cross, as Jesus reminds us several times in John’s Gospel, to draw all people to him, all people to the grace of God.
What Jesus has to offer is the life God intended for us all along. Most of John’s Gospel explores how this abundant life, as Jesus calls it in John 10, is different and yet richer than life we think we want. Over 30 times in John’s Gospel life is what is offered in Jesus, God’s Word made flesh. In the two stories yet to come this Lent we’ll find that it’s better than getting our eyesight after being blind, better even than being given back a loved one who has died. It’s life connected to Jesus the vine, filled with the life of God which produces the fruit of love in us for the sake of the world.
As we’ve said several times already this Lent, John tells us these things that we might believe for ourselves that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and believing, have life in his name. Believing in Jesus for us then is not about believing in him for what we think he ought to be for us. It’s believing that he actually has life to offer us that is better, more meaningful, and with greater purpose and joy than anything else we could ever experience.
That he is Messiah in the way he will be Messiah – dying, rising from death, and offering us a loving relationship with the God in whom we are invited to live and move and have our being.
And so we leave it for today.
As to his new Samaritan friend, Jesus says to us, “if you knew the gift of God and who it is who is talking to you, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
If we could see ourselves with Jesus and begin to see what he truly has to offer, maybe even we could ask him and he would give us that living water. I mean, if insiders and outsiders are all welcome, there might be a place for us, too. As the woman said, “he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”
Let’s come to his Table and see for ourselves. And find life in his name, just as he promised.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: John 4:5-42
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Sometimes it can be hard to imagine what it would be like to encounter Jesus, to have lived when he walked the roads of Galilee, to have been able to hear him, see him. We read the Gospels with a sense of distance from the people and the times which makes us more observers than participants. Until we open the Gospel of John. John’s approach – to tell only a few stories of Jesus but with greater detail and length – is particularly effective in removing some of the barriers to our engagement with Jesus. Somehow in the lively dialogue of his stories, the telling details of the people involved, the careful description of the side characters, we’re drawn into these stories in ways that almost make them seem contemporary. It’s a mark not only of John’s narrative gift, but also of his editorial intent: as he states in several places, he intends his Gospel to be exactly what we experience. He writes so others may see themselves in the stories and so also encounter Jesus for themselves, and his hope and prayer is that by such encounters, others may come to faith. Even those who, like us, are invited to believe without having seen for ourselves.
What’s interesting about the two people we’ve met so far, Nicodemus (last week) and the unnamed Samaritan woman today, is that in a number of ways they represent polar opposites of each other, and yet Jesus engages them, and offers them his grace and life. Both are seeking something, but it turns out Jesus is offering something better. And in their contrasts, it’s likely that each of us can find ourselves in one, if not the other, and so also hear Jesus’ offer to us.
Nicodemus and the woman are in fact a study in contrasts.
Nicodemus is the ultimate insider. A member of an elite sect, the Pharisees, he’s one of the teachers of Israel, the learned in God’s law. He comes to Jesus at midnight because he has everything to lose by this conversation. Jesus is seen by most of the Pharisees as a threat and a blasphemer, but Nicodemus is intrigued by him. But he also knows that he’ll be in serious trouble if he’s seen with Jesus, in addition to the risk of losing status and prestige among his peers. And he comes to Jesus to ask him questions, check his credentials as it were.
The Samaritan woman is the ultimate outsider. She doesn’t even rank the mention of a name. A woman was not to talk to strange men in public, and she’s a Samaritan woman to boot, a member of a race that Jewish people considered half-breeds, heretics, and not to be touched. She speaks with Jesus not at midnight but at broad noon because she’s somehow even outcast from her own people – the women typically would go to the well in the cool of the morning, and together, but here she is all by herself fetching water in the heat of the day. She has absolutely nothing to lose by this conversation with Jesus. Being on the outside fringe of an outside fringe group, she has nothing to fear from her peers, if even she thinks she has any. And Jesus comes to her, not she to him, asking her for a drink.
But look at Jesus. He engages them both in the same way, offering the same thing, as if they are equally deserving and equally in need.
First, he demands complete honesty from both of them. No pretenses are allowed here.
Nicodemus acts as if he’s the teacher, quizzing the pupil. Jesus exposes his weaknesses in understanding God’s law and God’s ways. “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things?” Jesus asks.
The woman responds to Jesus’ offer of living water with a hope for a pitcher which would never run dry, and would take away the burden of carrying water. Jesus cuts right to the quick and asks her to go fetch her husband. He’s not being mean – he knows she’s been married five times and now is living with a man who is not her husband. But if she’s going to receive what he has to offer, she needs to know that he knows her, the truth about her.
Jesus has amazing gifts to offer both of them. But first he needs to be clear with them: He knows the truth about them, he knows everything they’d rather not have known. But he also still is going to offer them life. They are known, and still loved.
The second thing Jesus does for both of these people is offer far more than they expected to receive.
Nicodemus wants answers, wants to know who Jesus is. Jesus opens up the possibility that not only is Nicodemus loved by God, but the whole world, the whole cosmos is. And that a new birth is possible in the Spirit of God, which will give abundant life.
The woman wants a relief from an onerous and difficult daily task – she’d like running water in her home, basically. Jesus offers her a vision of a life richly filled with living water – with the grace and love of God. A life in which there is no such thing as Samaritan or Jew, male or female, insider or outsider – where she is known with all her sins and still offered life and love.
What’s so powerful about John’s two stories is how we can find ourselves in one of these two people.
Because we’ll either be one or the other, usually.
Some of us will likely identify with the insider, Nicodemus. For insiders, being known as a religious person, a follower of Jesus, can be awkward in social circles or at work. We might believe, but we’re going to keep it pretty quiet. We’ve got too much to lose if people think we’re one of those faith people. And insiders tend to keep faith to themselves even after meeting Jesus – just as Nicodemus kept his faith secret until after the crucifixion.
Others here today might identify with the woman, the outsider. For outsiders, life is about someone telling you that you’re not good enough, or your type of person is unacceptable, or you cannot be loved by God. Outsiders might fear that if Jesus really knew the truth about them, he’d think the same thing. They’ve got little to lose, but also little to hope for. And like the woman, when outsiders find welcome they tend to let others know, too – as she ran to her village to tell of Jesus.
What John does is open up the possibility that we might find ourselves welcomed and loved by Jesus in the same way. Whether you feel like an insider in this world or an outsider, there is invitation here from Jesus.
It will mean complete honesty – we can’t hide behind our pretenses and act as if we’re something we’re not. Jesus knows us completely and would rather we were honest about ourselves.
But it also means that we have the joy these two people had of being exposed for who we are and discovering that it doesn’t matter. That we are known fully and still loved. That though there are no pretenses with Jesus, there is grace and forgiveness.
And that means that it’s also true for us, whether we are outsiders or insiders, that Jesus has far more to offer us than we expect or ask.
As he said to the woman, if you had known who it was you were talking to, you’d have asked for more. Whatever it is we want in life – happiness, security, no risks, ease of living, no worries – Jesus doesn’t promise to give us that. We’re not going to find easy answers from Jesus which help us to faith, as Nicodemus wanted, and he’s not about putting in indoor plumbing, which would have helped the woman.
Instead, he offers us the real deal: rich, abundant, full life. Life in the Spirit of God which fills our hearts and souls with meaning and purpose. Life in God’s love which gives us confidence even in the face of suffering and death. Life in the arms of the One who is lifted up on the cross, as Jesus reminds us several times in John’s Gospel, to draw all people to him, all people to the grace of God.
What Jesus has to offer is the life God intended for us all along. Most of John’s Gospel explores how this abundant life, as Jesus calls it in John 10, is different and yet richer than life we think we want. Over 30 times in John’s Gospel life is what is offered in Jesus, God’s Word made flesh. In the two stories yet to come this Lent we’ll find that it’s better than getting our eyesight after being blind, better even than being given back a loved one who has died. It’s life connected to Jesus the vine, filled with the life of God which produces the fruit of love in us for the sake of the world.
As we’ve said several times already this Lent, John tells us these things that we might believe for ourselves that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and believing, have life in his name. Believing in Jesus for us then is not about believing in him for what we think he ought to be for us. It’s believing that he actually has life to offer us that is better, more meaningful, and with greater purpose and joy than anything else we could ever experience.
That he is Messiah in the way he will be Messiah – dying, rising from death, and offering us a loving relationship with the God in whom we are invited to live and move and have our being.
And so we leave it for today.
As to his new Samaritan friend, Jesus says to us, “if you knew the gift of God and who it is who is talking to you, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
If we could see ourselves with Jesus and begin to see what he truly has to offer, maybe even we could ask him and he would give us that living water. I mean, if insiders and outsiders are all welcome, there might be a place for us, too. As the woman said, “he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”
Let’s come to his Table and see for ourselves. And find life in his name, just as he promised.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
This Week's Liturgies
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Midweek Eucharist, noon (followed by Soup Luncheon)
Evening Prayer, 7:00 p.m. (preceded at 6:00 by Soup Supper and Table Talk)
Sunday, April 3, 2011: Fourth Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist, 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.
Compline, 8:30 p.m.
Midweek Eucharist, noon (followed by Soup Luncheon)
Evening Prayer, 7:00 p.m. (preceded at 6:00 by Soup Supper and Table Talk)
Sunday, April 3, 2011: Fourth Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist, 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.
Compline, 8:30 p.m.
The Olive Branch, 3/29/11
Accent on Worship
Postlude to the Postlude
A new rubric has appeared in the bulletin requesting that we not offer applause following the postlude. Some have asked, “Did someone complain?” The answer is no. The rubric and request came from me, and the responses I’ve received about this gives the occasion for a topic to be discussed here. I realize this practice goes a long way back, perhaps stemming from post-liturgy recitals offered by Dr. Manz.
What is the postlude? I regard it as a part of the liturgy. It is the exclamation point of what just happened, of what we journeyed through as a gathering of God’s people. It also serves as transition: from what we just journeyed through into what we do with that experience, illustrated by the procession out. Therefore, I regard the postlude as a part of the liturgy, and not as a post-liturgy recital.
As a part of a liturgy, it takes its place among many things we do and experience – all of them a part of a flow that begins with our walking into the Nave before the liturgy begins, taking our place, and taking on a frame of mind which is God-directed. When all of the components of the liturgy are “well done” – no single component stands out by itself, but takes its place as a completing piece of the puzzle: the whole of the liturgy. That whole focuses on God and not our selves; God coming to us, and us coming to God. The quote I’ve used often here is from Eric Routley: “People should leave the service not saying ‘what great music they have here’ or ‘what great preaching they have here’ but rather, ‘what a great God these people have!’” The evidence of liturgy done well is the depth of meaningfulness by which we all DO the liturgy as a whole. As I’ve said, this is what I suspect to be the most winsome witness of the liturgy, for all of us there!
What makes me squirm a bit with the applause following the postlude is that it feels like a shift in focus from God and the liturgy to a performer (in this case, the organist). Would we clap after the sermon? After the Prayers of the Church? It is true that spontaneous clapping can be an outward expression of an inward glee. This isn’t quite in that category. I understand that there might be a desire to show appreciation. This can still happen in the same manner that one might express appreciation for effective preaching.
I am grateful that most remain to “experience” the postlude – it is not background to our exit and greeting of each other. This feels very respectful - of the liturgy! I am grateful that folks are appreciative and that is expressed to me often in many other ways.
Now here’s the most important point. None us who serve in leadership roles in the liturgy can dictate what you decide or decide not to do. For me, I suggest. I suggest you sing here. Consider singing this hymn this way. Consider looking at this text this way. Hopefully the suggestions are ways that deepen meaningfulness. However, it is you who must decide to enter in to the suggestions. So can this be in the issue of postludial-postludes. (Applause). I merely suggest we re-examine a long held practice.
Perhaps we can have a post-postlude to the postlude conversation!
- Cantor David Cherwien
Sunday’s Adult Education - 9:30 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge
This Sunday, April 3: "The St. John’s Bible: What it is and How it Came to Be.”
Palms and Paschal Garden
Donations for Passion Sunday palms and the Easter paschal garden will be received on Sunday, April 3 and Sunday, April 10. Members of the Worship Committee will be available after each liturgy on those dates to receive your contribution. Checks should be made payable to “Mount Olive Women.”
Sunday Readings
April 3, 2011 – Fourth Sunday in Lent
I Samuel 16:1-13 + Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14 + John 9:1-41
April 10, 2011 – Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:1-14 + Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11 + John 11:1-45
“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
Wednesdays in Lent at Mount Olive
Semi-Annual Congregation Meeting Announced
Because of the significant number of agenda items, the April semi-annual meeting of our congregation will be held following the second liturgy on April 10, 2011.
Agenda items include election of Officers and Directors to the Vestry: Adam Krueger-President, Lisa Nordeen-Vice President, Ann Sorenson-Secretary, Paul Sundquist-Treasurer, Paul Schadewald-Global Missions, Dennis Bidwell-Stewardship, Al Bipes-Worship; reports from the Audit, Mount Olive Foundation, and Capital Campaign Committees; Internship program and proposed Constitution and Bylaw amendments; and endorsement of a resolution of the joint Peace with Justice Committees of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Synods.
Come and let your voice be heard.
One Maundy Thursday Liturgy
Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Triduum, the great Three Days in which the church contemplates, remembers, and celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus. In recent years Mount Olive has had both a noon and an evening liturgy.
Given the importance of the foot washing and the stripping of the altar in that day’s liturgy, and given the Gospel reading’s emphasis on the unity of the church, it seemed that it would be better to have one liturgy rather than two on that day. After several years of discussion, the decision was made this year to have only one liturgy on Maundy Thursday (April 21 this year) at 7:00 p.m.
In talking with several of those who have ordinarily attended the noon liturgy, it is apparent that the biggest obstacle to their being present for the evening liturgy is transportation. Driving at night is difficult for some. We are, therefore, going to work at matching those who will be driving to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy with those in need of transportation to that liturgy.
If you are able to provide transportation to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy, or if you are in need of transportation to that liturgy, please contact the church office either by phone (612.827.5919), or by email (welcome@mountolivechurch.org). A coordinator will follow up with you once arrangements have been made.
Book Discussion Group
For its meeting on April 9 the book group will discuss the poem Gilgamesh, and for the May 14 meeting, the essay collection Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver.
Holy Week and Easter
at Mount Olive
_________________________________________-
Sunday, April 17, 2011 – Sunday of the Passion
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 am
Monday-Wednesday, April 18-20, 2011 –
Daily Prayer at Noon (in the side chapel of the Nave, near the columbarium)
Thursday, April 21, 2011 – Maundy Thursday
Holy Eucharist with Washing of Feet at 7 pm
Friday, April 22, 2011 – Good Friday
Stations of the Cross at Noon
Adoration of the Cross at 7 pm
Saturday, April 23, 2011 – Holy Saturday
The Easter Vigil at 8:30 pm
Sunday, April 24, 2011 – The Resurrection of Our Lord
Festival Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 am
(Easter carry-in brunch at 9:30 am)
Art Exhibit in Chapel Lounge
In 1998, St. John’s Abbey and University commission- ed renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. The display will invite you to explore this work of art which unites an ancient Benedictine tradition with the technology and vision of today, illuminating the Word of God for a new millennium.
This exhibit is sponsored by Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts, and will be open to the public before and after all church services and events in April.
April 10 Adult Forum: Prayers in a Time of Trouble
Questions about prayer are common, even in the church and especially in times of difficulty. What effect might our prayers have on God? Can our prayers help shape the future? Do our prayers make a difference? Yet, if God is in charge, why pray? We will explore such questions in view of the place of prayer in the Bible, especially the Old Testament. This forum will be presented by Dr. Terence E. Fretheim, Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, where he has taught for over forty years. He has authored twenty-two books and more than one hundred articles.
New Members/Inquiry Lunch to be Held on Sunday, April 17
Those interested in joining Mount Olive this spring, or just interesting in learning more about membership at Mount Olive, are invited to a luncheon on Sunday, Apr. 17, following the second liturgy. Leaders of Mount Olive will be present to meet and greet folks, and answer questions about Mount Olive. New members will be received on Sunday, May 1, the Second Sunday of Easter. Please talk to Pastor Crippen if you would like to consider joining at this time, or if you simply would like to talk about membership for a future time.
Postlude to the Postlude
A new rubric has appeared in the bulletin requesting that we not offer applause following the postlude. Some have asked, “Did someone complain?” The answer is no. The rubric and request came from me, and the responses I’ve received about this gives the occasion for a topic to be discussed here. I realize this practice goes a long way back, perhaps stemming from post-liturgy recitals offered by Dr. Manz.
What is the postlude? I regard it as a part of the liturgy. It is the exclamation point of what just happened, of what we journeyed through as a gathering of God’s people. It also serves as transition: from what we just journeyed through into what we do with that experience, illustrated by the procession out. Therefore, I regard the postlude as a part of the liturgy, and not as a post-liturgy recital.
As a part of a liturgy, it takes its place among many things we do and experience – all of them a part of a flow that begins with our walking into the Nave before the liturgy begins, taking our place, and taking on a frame of mind which is God-directed. When all of the components of the liturgy are “well done” – no single component stands out by itself, but takes its place as a completing piece of the puzzle: the whole of the liturgy. That whole focuses on God and not our selves; God coming to us, and us coming to God. The quote I’ve used often here is from Eric Routley: “People should leave the service not saying ‘what great music they have here’ or ‘what great preaching they have here’ but rather, ‘what a great God these people have!’” The evidence of liturgy done well is the depth of meaningfulness by which we all DO the liturgy as a whole. As I’ve said, this is what I suspect to be the most winsome witness of the liturgy, for all of us there!
What makes me squirm a bit with the applause following the postlude is that it feels like a shift in focus from God and the liturgy to a performer (in this case, the organist). Would we clap after the sermon? After the Prayers of the Church? It is true that spontaneous clapping can be an outward expression of an inward glee. This isn’t quite in that category. I understand that there might be a desire to show appreciation. This can still happen in the same manner that one might express appreciation for effective preaching.
I am grateful that most remain to “experience” the postlude – it is not background to our exit and greeting of each other. This feels very respectful - of the liturgy! I am grateful that folks are appreciative and that is expressed to me often in many other ways.
Now here’s the most important point. None us who serve in leadership roles in the liturgy can dictate what you decide or decide not to do. For me, I suggest. I suggest you sing here. Consider singing this hymn this way. Consider looking at this text this way. Hopefully the suggestions are ways that deepen meaningfulness. However, it is you who must decide to enter in to the suggestions. So can this be in the issue of postludial-postludes. (Applause). I merely suggest we re-examine a long held practice.
Perhaps we can have a post-postlude to the postlude conversation!
- Cantor David Cherwien
Sunday’s Adult Education - 9:30 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge
This Sunday, April 3: "The St. John’s Bible: What it is and How it Came to Be.”
Palms and Paschal Garden
Donations for Passion Sunday palms and the Easter paschal garden will be received on Sunday, April 3 and Sunday, April 10. Members of the Worship Committee will be available after each liturgy on those dates to receive your contribution. Checks should be made payable to “Mount Olive Women.”
Sunday Readings
April 3, 2011 – Fourth Sunday in Lent
I Samuel 16:1-13 + Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14 + John 9:1-41
April 10, 2011 – Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:1-14 + Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11 + John 11:1-45
“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
Wednesdays in Lent at Mount Olive
- Noon: Holy Eucharist, followed by a soup luncheon
- 6:00 pm: Table Talk (meditation and discussion on The Lord’s Prayer)
- 7:00 pm: Evening Prayer
Semi-Annual Congregation Meeting Announced
Because of the significant number of agenda items, the April semi-annual meeting of our congregation will be held following the second liturgy on April 10, 2011.
Agenda items include election of Officers and Directors to the Vestry: Adam Krueger-President, Lisa Nordeen-Vice President, Ann Sorenson-Secretary, Paul Sundquist-Treasurer, Paul Schadewald-Global Missions, Dennis Bidwell-Stewardship, Al Bipes-Worship; reports from the Audit, Mount Olive Foundation, and Capital Campaign Committees; Internship program and proposed Constitution and Bylaw amendments; and endorsement of a resolution of the joint Peace with Justice Committees of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Synods.
Come and let your voice be heard.
One Maundy Thursday Liturgy
Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Triduum, the great Three Days in which the church contemplates, remembers, and celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus. In recent years Mount Olive has had both a noon and an evening liturgy.
Given the importance of the foot washing and the stripping of the altar in that day’s liturgy, and given the Gospel reading’s emphasis on the unity of the church, it seemed that it would be better to have one liturgy rather than two on that day. After several years of discussion, the decision was made this year to have only one liturgy on Maundy Thursday (April 21 this year) at 7:00 p.m.
In talking with several of those who have ordinarily attended the noon liturgy, it is apparent that the biggest obstacle to their being present for the evening liturgy is transportation. Driving at night is difficult for some. We are, therefore, going to work at matching those who will be driving to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy with those in need of transportation to that liturgy.
If you are able to provide transportation to the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy, or if you are in need of transportation to that liturgy, please contact the church office either by phone (612.827.5919), or by email (welcome@mountolivechurch.org). A coordinator will follow up with you once arrangements have been made.
Book Discussion Group
For its meeting on April 9 the book group will discuss the poem Gilgamesh, and for the May 14 meeting, the essay collection Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver.
Holy Week and Easter
at Mount Olive
_________________________________________-
Sunday, April 17, 2011 – Sunday of the Passion
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 am
Monday-Wednesday, April 18-20, 2011 –
Daily Prayer at Noon (in the side chapel of the Nave, near the columbarium)
Thursday, April 21, 2011 – Maundy Thursday
Holy Eucharist with Washing of Feet at 7 pm
Friday, April 22, 2011 – Good Friday
Stations of the Cross at Noon
Adoration of the Cross at 7 pm
Saturday, April 23, 2011 – Holy Saturday
The Easter Vigil at 8:30 pm
Sunday, April 24, 2011 – The Resurrection of Our Lord
Festival Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 am
(Easter carry-in brunch at 9:30 am)
Art Exhibit in Chapel Lounge
In 1998, St. John’s Abbey and University commission- ed renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. The display will invite you to explore this work of art which unites an ancient Benedictine tradition with the technology and vision of today, illuminating the Word of God for a new millennium.
This exhibit is sponsored by Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts, and will be open to the public before and after all church services and events in April.
April 10 Adult Forum: Prayers in a Time of Trouble
Questions about prayer are common, even in the church and especially in times of difficulty. What effect might our prayers have on God? Can our prayers help shape the future? Do our prayers make a difference? Yet, if God is in charge, why pray? We will explore such questions in view of the place of prayer in the Bible, especially the Old Testament. This forum will be presented by Dr. Terence E. Fretheim, Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, where he has taught for over forty years. He has authored twenty-two books and more than one hundred articles.
New Members/Inquiry Lunch to be Held on Sunday, April 17
Those interested in joining Mount Olive this spring, or just interesting in learning more about membership at Mount Olive, are invited to a luncheon on Sunday, Apr. 17, following the second liturgy. Leaders of Mount Olive will be present to meet and greet folks, and answer questions about Mount Olive. New members will be received on Sunday, May 1, the Second Sunday of Easter. Please talk to Pastor Crippen if you would like to consider joining at this time, or if you simply would like to talk about membership for a future time.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Midweek Lent 2011 + Lord, Teach Us to Pray (Week 2)
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
“Willing Will” Second and Third Petitions, the Lord’s Prayer
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: Deuteronomy 6:1-6; Mark 12:28-34
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
God’s will gets blamed for a lot of hard stuff these days. Either someone’s using the excuse of the will of God to do something horrible to someone else, or someone’s using the idea of God’s will to deal with unexpected and painful suffering. While it may be true that God wills some things that are painful or difficult, there’s no way ever to be certain that we know when suffering is God’s will or not. And there’s certainly no valid reason for us ever to invoke God’s will as a rationale for punishing or harming others.
The kingdom of God also has difficulties as a concept. When Christians do think about it, they usually assume it means heaven, life with God after we die. But that sort of reduction to the sweet by-and-by has the awkward problem of completely ignoring most of Jesus’ teaching about his rule and reign, his kingdom. Including the idea in the Lord’s Prayer that we are to ask for God’s kingdom and will to be done here, not just in heaven.
Maybe Jesus knew that we, his followers, would have difficulties with these two concepts; maybe that’s why he included them when he taught the disciples to pray. Whatever we understand about God’s kingdom and God’s will, Jesus invites us to pray for them to come, to be done, to be lived here as they are already lived in heaven.
This prayer Jesus taught us is a guide for our prayer, a way to invite us to deeper and more meaningful conversation with almighty God. If we are to know how to pray for God’s will and kingdom, we need to know what Jesus means by these terms.
We can begin by saying this: Living in God’s reign is living by God’s will.
They’re not just part of the same sentence of the prayer – they’re inextricably linked. When a ruler rules, that means the nation’s subjects follow his or her will. In a democratic society, we follow our own rules that we agree upon – so in the rule or reign of democracy, it presumably is the people’s will that is done. But in monarchy, the kingdom is found where the monarch’s will is obeyed, and certainly in God’s case, the kingdom, the rule of God exists when God’s will is done.
The deep mystery about God is that God chooses to rule without the use of power. Every earthly ruler who is absolute has always kept his or her reign by use of force, power. God rules by becoming one of us and willingly accepting death at our hands.
This means that when we pray to do God’s will, to live in God’s kingdom, it’s the only way we will do so, as God will not force us into obedience. But it also reminds us that God’s will is that we act in the world as God acts.
So God’s will is that we not use power to accomplish what we need, but rather use love, as God did. God will not rule by force or violence – only by inviting us to follow, to willingly offer ourselves as subjects. And in that offering, we have only two jobs: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
When the scribe agrees with Jesus on this in our reading today, Jesus says something very telling: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Living in love of God and love of neighbor – that is God’s will for those who follow God’s reign. That is God’s will for those in God’s kingdom. When we live that way, we live in God’s kingdom, and it is just as it is in heaven for us.
So we know this to be God’s will – for us to live in love of God and love of neighbor. But what is God’s part of this?
This we heard last Sunday: God’s will, God’s part, is also love. Jesus said to Nicodemus in last Sunday’s Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
God’s part of God’s reign is absolute, complete love – love that wills all the world to be saved in Jesus. As Jesus says in Matthew 18 – it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one person, one, be lost. It is this context of God’s amazing love for us – love that died and rose to give us life – that we live our lives of love of God and neighbor.
And we know this about God’s love: Since it is God’s will for the world, it will happen. It will bring about God’s reign, God’s kingdom. We just want to be a part of that.
That’s Luther’s great gift to us. He says God’s will and kingdom will come – but we ask in this prayer that they come in and among us. So, God will love the world, and does. God will save the world, and is doing it.
But we learn from Jesus to ask God to make us a part of that. And this is not asking God to love us – God already does that, and we will ask for forgiveness later. This is asking that God help us be a part of God’s loving action for the world.
What Jesus is saying is that we can only love God and neighbor with God’s gracious help and strength. He invites us to pray regularly for this, to ask God to shape our lives with Christly love and so change our hearts and the world.
So let us pray for God’s rule and God’s will.
Because God’s vision of this world, God’s rule and reign, is a world where all God’s creatures live together in love for each other and love for God. This is no utopia, no wishful thinking – it will happen. All God’s intent, all God’s will for the world is summed up in this vision.
And when we pray this prayer Jesus taught, we sign on to the vision ourselves, we agree that love of God and neighbor is God’s way, and the way we claim for our own. But even more, we put our lives into the hands of God who loves us and who will make this vision happen in us, and so continue to change the world.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Willing Will” Second and Third Petitions, the Lord’s Prayer
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: Deuteronomy 6:1-6; Mark 12:28-34
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
God’s will gets blamed for a lot of hard stuff these days. Either someone’s using the excuse of the will of God to do something horrible to someone else, or someone’s using the idea of God’s will to deal with unexpected and painful suffering. While it may be true that God wills some things that are painful or difficult, there’s no way ever to be certain that we know when suffering is God’s will or not. And there’s certainly no valid reason for us ever to invoke God’s will as a rationale for punishing or harming others.
The kingdom of God also has difficulties as a concept. When Christians do think about it, they usually assume it means heaven, life with God after we die. But that sort of reduction to the sweet by-and-by has the awkward problem of completely ignoring most of Jesus’ teaching about his rule and reign, his kingdom. Including the idea in the Lord’s Prayer that we are to ask for God’s kingdom and will to be done here, not just in heaven.
Maybe Jesus knew that we, his followers, would have difficulties with these two concepts; maybe that’s why he included them when he taught the disciples to pray. Whatever we understand about God’s kingdom and God’s will, Jesus invites us to pray for them to come, to be done, to be lived here as they are already lived in heaven.
This prayer Jesus taught us is a guide for our prayer, a way to invite us to deeper and more meaningful conversation with almighty God. If we are to know how to pray for God’s will and kingdom, we need to know what Jesus means by these terms.
We can begin by saying this: Living in God’s reign is living by God’s will.
They’re not just part of the same sentence of the prayer – they’re inextricably linked. When a ruler rules, that means the nation’s subjects follow his or her will. In a democratic society, we follow our own rules that we agree upon – so in the rule or reign of democracy, it presumably is the people’s will that is done. But in monarchy, the kingdom is found where the monarch’s will is obeyed, and certainly in God’s case, the kingdom, the rule of God exists when God’s will is done.
The deep mystery about God is that God chooses to rule without the use of power. Every earthly ruler who is absolute has always kept his or her reign by use of force, power. God rules by becoming one of us and willingly accepting death at our hands.
This means that when we pray to do God’s will, to live in God’s kingdom, it’s the only way we will do so, as God will not force us into obedience. But it also reminds us that God’s will is that we act in the world as God acts.
So God’s will is that we not use power to accomplish what we need, but rather use love, as God did. God will not rule by force or violence – only by inviting us to follow, to willingly offer ourselves as subjects. And in that offering, we have only two jobs: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
When the scribe agrees with Jesus on this in our reading today, Jesus says something very telling: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Living in love of God and love of neighbor – that is God’s will for those who follow God’s reign. That is God’s will for those in God’s kingdom. When we live that way, we live in God’s kingdom, and it is just as it is in heaven for us.
So we know this to be God’s will – for us to live in love of God and love of neighbor. But what is God’s part of this?
This we heard last Sunday: God’s will, God’s part, is also love. Jesus said to Nicodemus in last Sunday’s Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
God’s part of God’s reign is absolute, complete love – love that wills all the world to be saved in Jesus. As Jesus says in Matthew 18 – it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one person, one, be lost. It is this context of God’s amazing love for us – love that died and rose to give us life – that we live our lives of love of God and neighbor.
And we know this about God’s love: Since it is God’s will for the world, it will happen. It will bring about God’s reign, God’s kingdom. We just want to be a part of that.
That’s Luther’s great gift to us. He says God’s will and kingdom will come – but we ask in this prayer that they come in and among us. So, God will love the world, and does. God will save the world, and is doing it.
But we learn from Jesus to ask God to make us a part of that. And this is not asking God to love us – God already does that, and we will ask for forgiveness later. This is asking that God help us be a part of God’s loving action for the world.
What Jesus is saying is that we can only love God and neighbor with God’s gracious help and strength. He invites us to pray regularly for this, to ask God to shape our lives with Christly love and so change our hearts and the world.
So let us pray for God’s rule and God’s will.
Because God’s vision of this world, God’s rule and reign, is a world where all God’s creatures live together in love for each other and love for God. This is no utopia, no wishful thinking – it will happen. All God’s intent, all God’s will for the world is summed up in this vision.
And when we pray this prayer Jesus taught, we sign on to the vision ourselves, we agree that love of God and neighbor is God’s way, and the way we claim for our own. But even more, we put our lives into the hands of God who loves us and who will make this vision happen in us, and so continue to change the world.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Monday, March 21, 2011
This Week's Liturgies
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Midweek Eucharist, noon (followed by Soup Luncheon)
Evening Prayer, 7:00 p.m. (preceded at 6:00 by Soup Supper and Table Talk)
Sunday, March 27, 2011: Third Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist, 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.
Compline, 8:30 p.m.
Midweek Eucharist, noon (followed by Soup Luncheon)
Evening Prayer, 7:00 p.m. (preceded at 6:00 by Soup Supper and Table Talk)
Sunday, March 27, 2011: Third Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist, 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.
Compline, 8:30 p.m.
The Olive Branch, 3/21/11
Accent on Worship
Dr. James Echols framed Sunday’s sermon around the question, “How far Love?” He
challenged us to reflect on our commitments to our neighbors. Dr. Echols’ question is
an especially appropriate one in this time of political turmoil in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia and continued recovery from flooding in Pakistan and earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. The tsunami and threat of nuclear disaster in Japan has engendered impassioned discussions among charities about whether to issue widespread calls for aid for Japan. On the one hand, the heartbreaking scenes are moving people to provide immediate assistance specifically designated for the people of Japan. On the other hand, some organizations have cautioned against putting out a call for aid too quickly before the shape of the need is known. These organizations suggest instead a call for undesignated donations to relief organizations for use wherever the needs are greatest, including global needs that do not garner widespread media coverage. This debate shows there are no easy answers to the question “How far Love?”
Love for our neighbor is not simply giving money. It is acting with wisdom and discernment, with recognition of both our limitations and our commitments to give to others as a response to the grace that we have received from God. Love depends on relationships in which we are willing to risk vulnerability and be transformed in the process.
Over the next few months, as Mount Olive’s Director of Global Missions I will be encouraging our committee specifically and our congregation more broadly to contemplate and in some cases to re-evaluate our congregation’s commitments to the wider world. We have strong mutually transformative relationships with Bethania and with ELCA missions. We can build on this strong foundation to ask: What additional relationships
should we develop? Where is the spirit leading us to be agents of peace, hope, fellowship, and reconciliation in the world? What relationships will transform and challenge us as a congregation? In the months ahead, our committee will ask for your suggestions and feedback. In engaging these questions, Mount Olive will continue to wrestle with the question, “How far Love?” I cannot think of a more important question for us in this Lenten season.
Sunday Readings
March 27, 2011 – Third Sunday in Lent
Exodus 17:1-7 + Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11 + John 4:5-42
Sunday’s Adult Education - 9:30 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge
This Sunday, March 27: "The Spirituality of Taize (part 2/2)," led by Dr. Dirk Lange. Dr. Lange is Associate Professor for Worship at Luther Seminary and is a former Taize monk.
Tuesday Noon Bible Study
All are invited to come to Mount Olive at noon on Tuesdays for lunch and Bible study with Sunday’s preacher. This informal study will look at the readings for the next Sunday and listen to where the Spirit guides the conversation. Begun on Mar. 15, this study with Pr. Crippen will continue beyond Lent, and when Mount Olive has a Vicar, the Vicar will lead the study on weeks he or she is preaching. Bring a lunch to the west lounge at noon, and the group will finish by 1:00 p.m.
Palms and Paschal Garden
Donations for Passion Sunday palms and the Easter paschal garden will be received on Sunday, April 3 and Sunday, April 10. Members of the Worship Committee will be available after each liturgy on those dates to receive your contribution. Checks should be made payable to “Mount Olive Women.”
Help Us Solve a Mystery
A set of pottery communion vessels has been stored in the safe in the working sacristy for some years and its history has been lost. If you have any information regarding when it might have been obtained, by whom it was donated and in honor of what occasion or person, or for what occasions it might have been used, please contact the church office. We do know that it predates Pastor Wegener, so it is likely 25-30 years old.
“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
Midweek Lent at Mount Olive
For the Wednesday Lenten services this year we are focusing on the Lord’s Prayer, and what our Lord Jesus teaches us about our prayer life with God. The midweek schedule, March 16 through April 13, is Eucharist at 12:00 noon, followed by a soup lunch at 1:00 p.m. In the evening, there will be a soup supper at 6:00 p.m., and Evening Prayer at 7:00 p.m. The preaching at the noon Eucharist will be reflections on the Lord’s Prayer, and the same meditation will be shared during the evening soup supper, with opportunity for further conversation at the meal.
March is Minnesota FoodShare Month
The need this year is as great as ever, so we encourage you to be generous with your donations of money or non-perishable food items for our local food shelf during the month of March. This drive fills the shelves of 300 food shelves across the state of Minnesota.
Fifty percent of all food shelf recipients are children, twenty percent of all adult recipients are elderly, and sixty percent of all adults who use the food shelves are the working poor.
We especially encourage you to consider giving a financial contribution via your blue envelopes instead of groceries, noting that it is for the food shelf. For every ten dollars donated, food shelf workers can buy $40 worth of food through various purchasing resources not available to the general public. So monetary donations go much farther.
Art display in the Chapel Lounge
April 1-30, 2011
Illustrations from the St. John’s Bible
In 1998, St. John’s Abbey and University commission- ed renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. The display will invite you to explore this work of art which unites an ancient Benedictine tradition with the technology and vision of today, illuminating the Word of God for a new millennium.
This exhibit is sponsored by Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts, and will be open to the public before and after all church services and events in April.
Book Discussion Group
For its meeting on April 9 the book group will discuss the poem Gilgamesh, and for the May 14 meeting, the essay collection Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver.
The Book Discussion group meets each month on the second Saturday, at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge. All readers welcome!
Disaster Relief: Japan and Beyond
During a large disaster that requires significant amounts of money like the one in Japan, ELCA Disaster Response and other relief organizations often find it challenging to continue to provide strong support to other emergency situations. Recently, there have been many other natural disasters and political upheavals. Currently ELCA Disaster Response is also responding to recent emergencies in Libya, Egypt, and New Zealand, among other countries.
Congregation members can make checks out to Mount Olive and designate donations to Japan by writing “Japan” on their envelopes or on the memo line of their check. Mount Olive will send that money to ELCA Disaster Response specifically for emergency relief in Japan. Or if you choose, you can also simply write “ELCA International Response” on your envelope or check memo line, and we will designate this portion of donations to ELCA Disaster Relief’s International Fund to be used wherever it is currently needed most.
Any donation made by individual members to the emergency in Japan or to ELCA Disaster Response’s International Fund will be in addition to the regular congregational commitments to global missions.
Wish List Update
Hello all! We've had a couple more anonymous donations from some very generous members recently. If you're in the office area, you may notice a new coat rack. You will soon see two new coffee tables in the West Reception Area that will match the reception desk and the mahogany woods of the new armchairs and legs of the new sofas.
New items on the Wish List will include two new storage units and mirrors for the vestibules of both restrooms. We are trying to source a nursing chair for the ladies' restroom as well. Fair linens are being priced, and those will be added to the Wish List soon.
The most pressing items to be donated are another 17-21 upholstered stack chairs, which will enable us to move the uncomfortable metal folding chairs out of the East Assembly Room. Many of you are noticing and using these new chairs and enjoy the comfort and convenience of upholstery and sturdy arms. We'd also like to get a reading table for the new library space. So if any of you have a bit of extra cash and you'd like to see the continued upgrading of our beautiful new space, please feel free to sign your name to the Wish List. Keep in mind that many more Godly Play items are listed, as well, and Diana Hellerman would certainly welcome any of these terrific educational pieces. If you would like to donate an item from the Wish List, please note that it is posted just inside the church office; sign your name and contact number next to the item you're donating and you will be contacted regarding final price. There may be some delivery charges in addition to the price you see listed. Checks should be made payable to Mount Olive clearly designated on the envelope that this is for the Wish List – please also list the item you're donating. The counters will see that your check is directed to the proper account, and you will be credited on your annual statement for tax purposes.
Thank you for your generosity!
Brian Jacobs, Wish List Coordinator
Dr. James Echols framed Sunday’s sermon around the question, “How far Love?” He
challenged us to reflect on our commitments to our neighbors. Dr. Echols’ question is
an especially appropriate one in this time of political turmoil in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia and continued recovery from flooding in Pakistan and earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. The tsunami and threat of nuclear disaster in Japan has engendered impassioned discussions among charities about whether to issue widespread calls for aid for Japan. On the one hand, the heartbreaking scenes are moving people to provide immediate assistance specifically designated for the people of Japan. On the other hand, some organizations have cautioned against putting out a call for aid too quickly before the shape of the need is known. These organizations suggest instead a call for undesignated donations to relief organizations for use wherever the needs are greatest, including global needs that do not garner widespread media coverage. This debate shows there are no easy answers to the question “How far Love?”
Love for our neighbor is not simply giving money. It is acting with wisdom and discernment, with recognition of both our limitations and our commitments to give to others as a response to the grace that we have received from God. Love depends on relationships in which we are willing to risk vulnerability and be transformed in the process.
Over the next few months, as Mount Olive’s Director of Global Missions I will be encouraging our committee specifically and our congregation more broadly to contemplate and in some cases to re-evaluate our congregation’s commitments to the wider world. We have strong mutually transformative relationships with Bethania and with ELCA missions. We can build on this strong foundation to ask: What additional relationships
should we develop? Where is the spirit leading us to be agents of peace, hope, fellowship, and reconciliation in the world? What relationships will transform and challenge us as a congregation? In the months ahead, our committee will ask for your suggestions and feedback. In engaging these questions, Mount Olive will continue to wrestle with the question, “How far Love?” I cannot think of a more important question for us in this Lenten season.
Sunday Readings
March 27, 2011 – Third Sunday in Lent
Exodus 17:1-7 + Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11 + John 4:5-42
Sunday’s Adult Education - 9:30 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge
This Sunday, March 27: "The Spirituality of Taize (part 2/2)," led by Dr. Dirk Lange. Dr. Lange is Associate Professor for Worship at Luther Seminary and is a former Taize monk.
Tuesday Noon Bible Study
All are invited to come to Mount Olive at noon on Tuesdays for lunch and Bible study with Sunday’s preacher. This informal study will look at the readings for the next Sunday and listen to where the Spirit guides the conversation. Begun on Mar. 15, this study with Pr. Crippen will continue beyond Lent, and when Mount Olive has a Vicar, the Vicar will lead the study on weeks he or she is preaching. Bring a lunch to the west lounge at noon, and the group will finish by 1:00 p.m.
Palms and Paschal Garden
Donations for Passion Sunday palms and the Easter paschal garden will be received on Sunday, April 3 and Sunday, April 10. Members of the Worship Committee will be available after each liturgy on those dates to receive your contribution. Checks should be made payable to “Mount Olive Women.”
Help Us Solve a Mystery
A set of pottery communion vessels has been stored in the safe in the working sacristy for some years and its history has been lost. If you have any information regarding when it might have been obtained, by whom it was donated and in honor of what occasion or person, or for what occasions it might have been used, please contact the church office. We do know that it predates Pastor Wegener, so it is likely 25-30 years old.
“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
Midweek Lent at Mount Olive
For the Wednesday Lenten services this year we are focusing on the Lord’s Prayer, and what our Lord Jesus teaches us about our prayer life with God. The midweek schedule, March 16 through April 13, is Eucharist at 12:00 noon, followed by a soup lunch at 1:00 p.m. In the evening, there will be a soup supper at 6:00 p.m., and Evening Prayer at 7:00 p.m. The preaching at the noon Eucharist will be reflections on the Lord’s Prayer, and the same meditation will be shared during the evening soup supper, with opportunity for further conversation at the meal.
March is Minnesota FoodShare Month
The need this year is as great as ever, so we encourage you to be generous with your donations of money or non-perishable food items for our local food shelf during the month of March. This drive fills the shelves of 300 food shelves across the state of Minnesota.
Fifty percent of all food shelf recipients are children, twenty percent of all adult recipients are elderly, and sixty percent of all adults who use the food shelves are the working poor.
We especially encourage you to consider giving a financial contribution via your blue envelopes instead of groceries, noting that it is for the food shelf. For every ten dollars donated, food shelf workers can buy $40 worth of food through various purchasing resources not available to the general public. So monetary donations go much farther.
Art display in the Chapel Lounge
April 1-30, 2011
Illustrations from the St. John’s Bible
In 1998, St. John’s Abbey and University commission- ed renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson to produce a hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible. The display will invite you to explore this work of art which unites an ancient Benedictine tradition with the technology and vision of today, illuminating the Word of God for a new millennium.
This exhibit is sponsored by Mount Olive Music and Fine Arts, and will be open to the public before and after all church services and events in April.
Book Discussion Group
For its meeting on April 9 the book group will discuss the poem Gilgamesh, and for the May 14 meeting, the essay collection Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver.
The Book Discussion group meets each month on the second Saturday, at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge. All readers welcome!
Disaster Relief: Japan and Beyond
During a large disaster that requires significant amounts of money like the one in Japan, ELCA Disaster Response and other relief organizations often find it challenging to continue to provide strong support to other emergency situations. Recently, there have been many other natural disasters and political upheavals. Currently ELCA Disaster Response is also responding to recent emergencies in Libya, Egypt, and New Zealand, among other countries.
Congregation members can make checks out to Mount Olive and designate donations to Japan by writing “Japan” on their envelopes or on the memo line of their check. Mount Olive will send that money to ELCA Disaster Response specifically for emergency relief in Japan. Or if you choose, you can also simply write “ELCA International Response” on your envelope or check memo line, and we will designate this portion of donations to ELCA Disaster Relief’s International Fund to be used wherever it is currently needed most.
Any donation made by individual members to the emergency in Japan or to ELCA Disaster Response’s International Fund will be in addition to the regular congregational commitments to global missions.
Wish List Update
Hello all! We've had a couple more anonymous donations from some very generous members recently. If you're in the office area, you may notice a new coat rack. You will soon see two new coffee tables in the West Reception Area that will match the reception desk and the mahogany woods of the new armchairs and legs of the new sofas.
New items on the Wish List will include two new storage units and mirrors for the vestibules of both restrooms. We are trying to source a nursing chair for the ladies' restroom as well. Fair linens are being priced, and those will be added to the Wish List soon.
The most pressing items to be donated are another 17-21 upholstered stack chairs, which will enable us to move the uncomfortable metal folding chairs out of the East Assembly Room. Many of you are noticing and using these new chairs and enjoy the comfort and convenience of upholstery and sturdy arms. We'd also like to get a reading table for the new library space. So if any of you have a bit of extra cash and you'd like to see the continued upgrading of our beautiful new space, please feel free to sign your name to the Wish List. Keep in mind that many more Godly Play items are listed, as well, and Diana Hellerman would certainly welcome any of these terrific educational pieces. If you would like to donate an item from the Wish List, please note that it is posted just inside the church office; sign your name and contact number next to the item you're donating and you will be contacted regarding final price. There may be some delivery charges in addition to the price you see listed. Checks should be made payable to Mount Olive clearly designated on the envelope that this is for the Wish List – please also list the item you're donating. The counters will see that your check is directed to the proper account, and you will be credited on your annual statement for tax purposes.
Thank you for your generosity!
Brian Jacobs, Wish List Coordinator
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