Economics of Immigration

The percent of the U.S. population that is foreign born is now at levels not seen since early in the 20th century. Immigration is a timely issue that relates to Gethsemane’s outreach to the Latino community in our area. Our upcoming Adult Forum will address the positions that surround immigration and who gains and loses in an economic sense.

Last Sunday attorney Colleen Beebe spoke about immigration and the law. On May 18 Bob Shebeck will speak on the “The Economics of Immigration.” Join the discussion at 10:10 am on Sunday in the Fellowship Hall.

Lutheran World Relief speaker at Spring Supper

Gethsemane women and their guests at the GCW Spring Supper will hear stories of how Lutheran World Relief has changed lives for those in need in third world countries.

Joanne Negstad, who has served as director of LWR, will tell some experiences she has had traveling to Kenya and Peru where LWR supplies have come to change lives. She will share how LWR has enabled women to put faith into action by providing quilts, school kits, midwife kits, layettes and sewing kits. You will hear how women of Gethsemane are involved with Lutheran World Relief.

Reservations should be made by calling the church office by Tuesday, May 13. Cost is $8.00.

Click here to visit the Lutheran World Relief website

Food Shelf volunteers needed May 16

Gethsemane is a participant of the Intercongregational Communities Association (ICA), our local food shelf organization. All the west metro congregations share in providing volunteers to ICA on a rotating schedule.

Two Gethsemane members are needed on Friday, May 16 to help out at the new ICA Center located at St. David’s Episcopal Church, just off Minnetonka Blvd.

Hours of operation are 9 am - 4 pm. If you can give 3-4 hours of your day receiving, sorting, stocking, or distributing food shelf items that would be very helpful to the ICA staff. The demand on ICA food shelves grows each year, so let’s support them with our time and food donations.

Future dates assigned to Gethsemane are July 3, August 20, October 7, and November 21.

If you can help please contact Norm Hendrickson at 952-933-1044 for information.

Click here to visit the ICA website!

ICA Representative Needed

We are in immediate need for someone to serve as our representative on the ICA (Intercongregation Community Association) Board. There are only two requirements and many of you reading this article will find that you meet them.

1) You need to be available to attend a noontime meeting held four times each year on the 3rd Wednesday (Jan, April, July, Oct.) Even attending 2 or 3 of the meetings would be a big help.

2) You should support ICA’s general mission to help those in need within our community through a food shelf and other services.

Gethsemane should have representation on the Board of this faith-based community group, and we presently do not. So if you’d be interested in volunteering or even in getting a bit more information, please contact Donna Anderson from the Social Ministry Team at 952-933-0453. It should prove to be a fairly simple, but very worthwhile commitment.

Habitat for Humanity 2008

We’ll be working on a new home in Savage from July 9 - 11. It’s being built through a partnership between Thrivent Financial and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

As part of this project, coordinated by our Social Ministry Team, we will need:

• 15 workers (age 14 or older) for each of the three days
• Food for our workers
• Financial support for our project

What financial support is needed and why? Organizations sponsoring three day work crews are asked to donate $1500 to TC Habitat. These dollars are needed because costs continue to increase for land, building supplies, and certain skilled work that volunteers cannot provide. Thrivent is also making a significant contribution to this and seven other area Thrivent Builds with Habitat homes in 2008.

Do you typically make donations directly to Habitat? If so, please consider giving that gift through Gethsemane during our annual project collection. To launch this effort, the Social Ministry Team is seeking people who would either sponsor our Habitat Project at a level of at least $100, or be a matching giver at a level of $200 or more. A Libby Turner CD will be presented to each Project Sponsor or Matching Giver.

We would like to hear from Sponsors and Matching Givers prior to our general congregation donation request, which will take place as June’s Need of the Month. Anyone who would be willing to offer this level of financial support is asked to contact Pr. Laurie as soon as possible.

Mission of TC Habitat: To eliminate poverty housing from the Twin Cities and to make decent, affordable shelter for all people a matter of conscience.

Click here to visit the Habitat website.

May Need of the Month

During May our Need of the Month will focus on Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, which is in the Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis and includes a homeless shelter.

We will be collecting laundry soap, reusable sport water bottles (all sizes), new and used towels and washcloths, inexpensive men’s flip-flops and pillow cases, which are much needed articles for this homeless shelter, long connected to the church.

We have contributed previously to this shelter, which has operated for many years, and our generosity has always been much appreciated. Let’s fill the barrels and meet their needs just as they meet many of the needs in their community. Donation barrels are located inside the north and south entrances of Gethsemane.

Click here to visit the Our Savior’s Lutheran Church website

Social Ministry Team welcomes all

All are welcome to attend this open meeting. Our Social Ministry Team meets four times each year with a focus on providing opportunities for members of all ages to put their faith into action. New ideas and suggestions are always welcome.

If you have an interest in how Gethsemane responds to the needs of our community and beyond, come and join the discussion. Come and get involved in creating solutions!

'Greening Up' Gethsemane

By Brian Furan, Facilities Supervisor

These days, you can’t turn on the news, go online or open a newspaper without seeing more and more about global warming, the environment and being ‘green’ (environmentally friendly.) By doing what we can to conserve energy here at Gethsemane and at home, we are contributing to a much larger effort that can produce massive results!

For instance, if every household in America replaced just one normal, incandescent bulb with an EPA certified compact fluorescent bulb (available at all hardware stores), it would save enough energy in one year to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to more than 800,000 cars!

So what can we do here at Gethsemane? Replacing light bulbs is a great idea, but not inexpensive. To replace the bulbs in the Sanctuary and Narthex areas (about the only area in the building that does not use fluorescent lighting) would cost around $1,800 and provide a savings of about $200 year – requiring 9 years to recover the initial cost! However, it’s not just about the cost savings. Replacing those same lights would reduce our energy use for those fixtures by 60% - a big step toward reducing overall energy consumption!

We can ALL make an immediate difference by just doing a few simple things when we are at church.

• Simply wiping your shoes well on the way in can make a difference in the energy and resources needed to keep the carpets clean.

• Turn off lights and air conditioners when you are finished using a room.
• Recycle instead of just tossing in the nearest garbage can. We have can recycling containers around the building, and containers for paper, glass and plastic are located next to the walk-in cooler in the kitchen, as well as a large red barrel for paper in the work room.
• Ink cartridges, cell phones and cell phone batteries can be recycled in a container located next to the front desk.
• Cardboard can be recycled in the paper dumpster located behind the garage, or left next to the maintenance office downstairs.

Other steps being taken include using paper products such as towels and tissues from recycled materials and certified ‘green’ industries, and researching bio-degradeable cleaning products and methods to reduce cleaning waste.

In addition, we have applied for an Energy Audit from Centerpoint Energy, who will evaluate our entire facility and make recommendations to improve our energy use and hopefully cut energy costs.

Together, we can all take little steps towards making a big difference at Gethsemane, and hopefully be an inspiration for others in our community to work toward a cleaner, better environment for our future generations to enjoy!

Katrina Mission Presentation

Participants from the recent Katrina Mission Trip will give a presentation during Adult Forum. Click here to see a slide show of the mission trip.

Blessings abound for each of the Katrina mission participants, who went to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, February 23 to March 1, 2008.

What a blessing it was to be called by God to join 15 other people from Gethsemane to hurricane-ravaged Mississippi! Thank God also for the leadership of Fred and Sue Hedberg. Our presence and work there provided witness to God’s love and care for people who are struggling to recover from Katrina. From the beginning, it was the volunteers who brought hope.

What a fellowship we had: 15 people living, working, laughing, eating, sleeping, worshiping and centering on being God’s servants in that place. We made close connections to one another that follow us back to Gethsemane.

What a wonderful God we have that provided each of us with jobs we could do. It varied from day to day and hour to hour. Some worked from tall scaffolding, and others brought supplies to them. Some used electrical tools and others wielded a paint brush or a hammer. One day shoveling dirt was a priority. We had guidance to learn new things as well as a chance to use skills already known.

What memories: meeting talented, Christian dedicated young adults, who were working as long-term crew leaders at little or no pay; hearing the young mom say “it is beginning to hit me” when the kitchen cupboards were delivered to the blitz built house; seeing the grandmother gasp and tear when she saw the flooring and the ceiling fan we’d installed. Another soon-to-be Habitat owner said she was amazed by the number of people from churches across the United States that keep coming to help. She is so grateful.

What a worshipful experience we had in a predominately black church with Gospel singing at a service that included teenagers giving historical portraits of their ancestors who could serve as role models. After worship as we toured New Orleans on Sunday afternoon, we saw the contrast between the still devastated Ninth Ward and the revived French Quarter. God’s work isn’t done.

Come to the Adult Forum on Sunday, April 27. Hear more experiences. See pictures. Ask questions. See you then.

Reaching Out: A look back

The weather on Thursday evening, April 10 was windy, wet and stormy. However, inside Gethsemane it was warm with the spirit of community. Highlights would have to include:

• fantastic music by Libby Turner and Sam Reeves

• scrumptious desserts supplied by all the participating GLC groups
• warm, delicious enchiladas prepared by the women of St. Paul’s
• excellent informative displays by 10 GLC groups presently involved in mission or outreach activities
• generous giving during the freewill offering, which covered the cost of the entertainment and also allowed us to set aside $250 for our future Habitat for Humanity work.

You’re encouraged to check out the photos.
You’re also urged to continue asking yourself, “How am I Reaching to Serve? What is my niche in the mission of Gethsemane?”

What in the World are we Doing?

Each quarter we highlight ministry and outreach efforts at Gethsemane both inside and outside our walls. Here’s a look at our efforts so far this year.

Social Ministry

• After School for Kids (A.S.K.) program completed its 7th year of outreach with 38 children and their families participating, along with 27 GLC volunteers.

• 15 volunteers served Sunday dinner at the Simpson Shelter through March. January recruitment for new people was very successful; 61 people volunteered to serve in this year and 8 people offered to make food.
• Dinner at Your Door volunteers continue to deliver meals to the homebound twice each month.
• GLC was a sponsor for the March 25 Empty Bowls community fundraiser for local hunger
• 32 people volunteered to donate at our Memorial Blood Drive and 24 units of blood were given.
• As a result of our Need of the Month collections, many bags of needed items were delivered to Community Emergency Services in January and the Simpson Shelter in February.
• MN Food share drive was held in March. Complete totals will be announced soon.
• We continue to support local coffee growers through serving Fair Trade Coffee each Sunday and selling it once monthly.

Mission & Outreach Teamwork

• 23 people representing 9 different ministry groups participated in a Mission/Outreach Cooperation Conversation in late January. This newsletter page and the April 10 Reaching Out: Music and Mission event are both outcomes of that meeting.

• The Art Team’s exhibit of Mark Carlson’s “The Wicked Game” reminded us of our Christian responsibility to advocate for justice.
• Sisters in Spirit, our annual day-long retreat for women was attended by 100 women, one third of whom were not members of GLC.

Youth - Confirmation Students

• 80 pounds of foods, supplies and letters were sent to soldiers serving overseas

• Youth went caroling at Chapel View Care Center
• Over $2000 was collected for World Vision during 30-Hour Famine lock-in
• 12,400 nutritious meals were packed by “Kids Against Hunger”
• $601 was collected for I.C.A. Food shelf on “Souper Bowl of Hunger” Sunday
  with donations from the congregation and local businesses

• $10,000 was earned by the Silent Auction event to help kids pay for summer camps/trips. Palm Sunday Breakfast earned $1,200 more for summer youth trips.

Children and Family Ministry

• 20 families came to four separate Open Play times to take advantage of this outreach opportunity for a safe place for young children to play.

• 50 kids participated in Arts Alive with 29 of them from outside our congregation.
• The Easter Festival was attended by 130 people.

St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Outreach

• Five youth from St. Paul’s attended our Arts Alive Event. Tiphanie received a thank-you note signed by the kids.

• Bob Shebeck and Jim Shirley attended the quarterly meeting of the St. Paul’s supporting congregations (Diamond Lake, Advent, St. Barnabas, and Gethsemane.)
• Plans were initiated for a joint event in the Phillips neighborhood for late summer.
• Pastor Laurie and several members of the staff and Outreach Committee had lunch at the Super Mercardo on Lake Street on March 13 with Pastors Luisa and Patrick of St. Paul’s, and then met at St. Paul’s for further discussions on joint activities.
• On April 13 Pastor Luisa from St. Paul’s will be here to preach and lead the forum.

Hospitality Plus Committee

• By invitation of the Hospitality Committee, Paul McKenzie and Tony Pollock attended the November meeting to talk about Gethsemane’s welcoming statement – especially as it pertains to GLBT issues (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender.) With the Hospitality Team’s blessing, HOSPITALITY PLUS was formed. A focus group met in January at the home of Carol and Howard Hanson to view a video and to begin a discussion of raising GLBT awareness.

• Our first event will be on Sunday, April 20. Pastor Lowell Erdahl will be our guest for the 10:10 Sunday Forum to speak on “A Christian Perspective on Homosexuality”. This is the first of several consciousness-raising events here at Gethsemane. Plan to attend and invite a friend.

Core Team Leadership Training

• 37 GLC members attended a Traveling Dialogue conversation with a facilitator from ISAIAH. We discussed our hopes and fears for the future and how we, as people of faith, should address these hopes and fears.

• 2 more members, Jeanne Pavelka & Bob Windels, went to leadership training in March.

Katrina Adult Mission Trip Recap (2/23 – 3/1)

• The Katrina mission team is so thankful for the your prayers and financial support for this week long outreach opportunity. The team members paid for their own travel and room & board. Contributions were used to defray some costs for trip participants plus van rental, gas, etc. The remaining funds ($1,120) were donated to the two recovery organizations with whom we worked: Bethel Lutheran Ministry of Hope and the St. Rose Recovery Fund.

• The Katrina Mission team will be presenting at the forum on Sunday, 4/27.

Textile Ministries

• Through March of 2008 50 quilts and 15 Layettes have been created and sent on to Lutheran World Relief (Global) and Lutheran Social Services (Local).

Opportunities to serve

• Dinner at Your Door Driver: deliver warm meals to community homebound. Time commitment is about 60 minutes beginning at 11 am on either the second Monday or second Tuesday of the month. Contact Jan Quist at 952-474-8194.

• Stewardship Team – we are looking for a few good men and women. We need your talents, gifts and enthusiasm. We promise you it won’t be boring. Please contact Doug Rasmussen at dougnbetty83@msn.com or Mike Paterson at mikebevpaterson@comcast.net
• Textile Ministry - Quilters would welcome many more hands. They meet every Wednesday morning from 9:00 - 12:00. Contact Carol Rodine at 952-935-9457. The Layette Team’s next gathering is Saturday, May 10, 9:00 - 11:00 am. Contact Carol Rodine at 952-935-9457.

Shelter Speak

Shelter Speak will take place at the Simpson Men’s Shelter, 2740 1st Ave. So., Minneapolis. Those who attend will get a behind-the-scenes look at Simpson Men’s Shelter. There will be a tour, a continental breakfast, and a showing of the film, ‘Land of 10,000 Homeless’. Everyone is welcome. An RSVP would be appreciated to cgiese@simpsonhousing.org.

As you probably know, Gethsemane serves an evening meal once a month at the Simpson Women’s Shelter. Shelter Speak would give you a better understanding of the issues facing both homeless men and women in our area.

Click here to visit the Simpson housing services shelter page

April Need of the Month: Diapers

The Social Ministry Team is collecting diapers for our April Need of the Month. The diapers will be distributed on an as-needed basis to parenting teens in the Intermediate School District 287 South Vista program.

South Vista serves up to forty pregnant and parenting students at any given time and provides on-site daycare for up to thirty infants and toddlers. The students come from several school districts including Hopkins, Minnetonka and St. Louis Park. South Vista offers a supportive environment that provides prenatal care, home visits after the babies are born by nurses on staff, and homebound academics so students can still graduate on time.

Many of the students receive economic assistance such as WIC for their basic needs, but diapers are not provided under the program. Your help is greatly appreciated and will be warmly received.

The greatest need is for diapers in sizes 3, 4 and 5; newborn diapers are not needed at this time. Place your donations in the barrels located inside Gethsemane’s main entry and near the reception desk. Thank you for making a difference!

Click here to read more about the South Vista Education Center

Empty Bowls a Success!

We’ve received a Thank You for our support of the Empty Bowls community fundraiser for local hunger. Those attending took home 1260 handmade bowls. In addition, 269 volunteers and 398 entertainers were part of the day. The result…$52,954 was raised! This amount is divided equally between the Hopkins Minnetonka Family Resource Center and ICA.

A Christian Perspective on Homosexuality

Join the Adult Forum on April 20 to hear “TESTIMONY TIME!…Sharing My Present Convictions Concerning a Christian Perspective on Homosexuality” presented by Pastor Lowell Erdahl.

Lowell O. Erdahl is the Bishop Emeritus of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In addition to 12 years as a bishop, Erdahl served for 20 years as a parish pastor and spent five years on the faculty of Luther Seminary. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College, Luther Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary.

Following retirement as Bishop Pastor Erdahl served for 19 months as Interim Senior Pastor at Gethsemene. He has six books in print including “Winsome Wisdom: 366 Thoughts to Ponder & to Live” and “Sexual Fulfillment for Single and Married, Straight and Gay, Young and Old” (coauthored with Herbert Chilstrom) which will be available at the forum.

By invitation of the Hospitality Committee, Paul McKenzie and Tony Pollock attended the November meeting to talk about Gethsemane’s welcoming statement – especially as it pertains to GLBT issues (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender). With the Hospitality committee’s blessing, HOSPITALITY PLUS was formed. A focus group met in January at the home of Carol and Howard Hanson to view a video and to begin a discussion of raising GLBT awareness.

The forum on April 20 is the first of several consciousness-raising events here at Gethsemane. Plan to attend and invite a friend.

Dinner at Your Door volunteers needed

On the second Monday and Tuesday of each and every month, Gethsemane volunteers deliver hot noontime meals to the homebound in our community. Don and Lorraine
Carlson recently ‘retired’ from this duty after many years of faithful service. On behalf of our congregation, the Social Ministry Team recognizes and thanks Don and Lorraine for their generous gift of time.

Could you serve as a regular driver? We have many volunteers who are able and willing to help as occasional substitutes. However, we need people who could be ‘regular’ drivers on the first Monday (or even the first Tuesday) of each month. If your schedule fits that timeframe, please contact Jan Quist at 952-474-8194 for more information.

March Need of the Month

It’s not too late to donate food or cash for the ICA food shelf. Children make up about 50% of those served by food shelves and more than 20% of those seeking emergency food assistance are seniors.

Especially needed are: peanut butter and jelly, hot cereals, instant potatoes, canned baked beans, vegetables and fruit, tuna and salmon, and meals such as spaghetti and chili. Also needed are personal hygiene products such as shampoo and tooth brushes and paste.

Every donation makes a difference. You can stretch your donation with cash as the food shelf has access to discounted foods and products.

Click here to visit the ICA website

Empty Bowls community event

It’s the 10th Anniversary of our community’s annual fundraiser for local foodshelves. Empty Bowls is held at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet. It’s a fun event for a very worthwhile cause! GLC is a sponsoring organization.

Everyone is encouraged to stop by and choose a handmade ceramic bowl as a reminder of all the empty bowls in our community. Enjoy local entertainment and a simple meal of soup and bread donated by local businesses. Perhaps make a bid on a unique Celebrity Bowl in the silent auction. Free will donations go entirely toward supporting the work of ICA Foodshelf and the Hopkins Minnetonka Family Resource Center.

Click here to visit the Empty Bowls website

A.S.K. Year in Review

Our 7th year of the After School for Kids program was completed on March 6. There were seventeen Thursdays of walking 3rd-6th grade students from Alice Smith School, preparing snacks, leading activities, assisting with homework and eating dinner with participants’ families. 33 children regularly attended this free outreach program. They were joined by our 27 volunteers.

Thank you to these fantastic volunteers: Andrea Allegrezza, Beth Allegrezza, Donna Anderson, Char Bolla, John Bolla, Marge Campbell, Marlys Evans, Arlene Flemmer, Connie Glad, Carol Hanson, Gayle Hanson, Howard Hanson, Ardy Jacobsen, Ruth Meier, Mary Ofstie, Mary Pederson, Darlene Peterson, Karen Rogers, Lois Rydeski, Irva Sederstrom, LaRee Shebeck, Jeff Skold, Maxine Skold, Maury Treberg, Gunnar Wick, Mary Wick, Marilyn Zwack.

Our appreciation also goes to Molly Cummings with her dogs, Paul McKenzie with the GLC Children’s Bell Choir and Bob Windels for helping out by leading activity sessions.

A.S.K. received financial support from three sources this year: a generous GCW gift, a Community Grant and donations by participant families.

Katrina Mission Trip Review

Would you have thought that the effects of hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2005) were all in the past? Residents told us that it took 20 years to recover from the last big hurricane—Camille (1969). The eye of Katrina (30 miles across) was the total size of Camille. Katrina was 250 miles wide when it hit the coast. The water traveled inland 12 miles with a water depth up to 30 feet.

This all happened to the town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a state which was the poorest in the US pre-Katrina. In Mississippi 68,729 homes were destroyed, 65,237 had major damage. Faced with this disaster little 30-member Bethel Lutheran Church in Biloxi began their Bethel Lutheran Church Volunteer Ministry, our contact for this mission trip.

Fred and Sue Hedberg had the idea of an adult mission trip after their daughter and her college group went down last spring. Others of us joined the Hedbergs, inspired by Gethsemane youth mission trips. We discovered that adults too can do mission work. We went with congregational prayer and financial support.

Your representatives to the Katrina disaster area on February 23-March 1 were: Fred and Sue Hedberg (leaders), Bill Arthur, Donna Anderson, Bob Dummer, Sandi Edenborg, Barb Krig, Margie Olson, Mike and Bev Paterson, Steve and Jeanne Pavelka, Earl Rodine, Lisa Shelstad, Pastor Laurie Underkofler, Lori Youngvorst.

More information will be in following newsletters and at an adult forum with pictures and music on April 27.

Please know, dear friends, that the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast humbly thank you for your compassion, your prayers, your support, and the hope you bring to all of us in His name.

Click here to see a Slide show of the Katrina Mission trip