from Pastor Sarah Moat
Ever since I was very young the first day of summer vacation has been spent marking the calendar in multiple colors and ways to signify all of the events that were before me for three whole months. I loved to look at those blank calendar pages and imagine all of the free time that was sure to unfold in the weeks ahead. I pictured myself roaming the neighborhood for hours on my bike, getting together with the other neighbor kids for kickball games at dusk, reading thick mysteries and spending long afternoons at the beach playing in the water. I imagined having time to waste, and the possibilities that those three months contained seemed endless.
And then, slowly, the little boxes assigned for each day would begin to fill up as I carefully added all of the games, family outings, trips and special events that our family had planned for the summer months. Soon the summer calendar filled up even though we didn’t have the traditional rhythms of school and our weekly commitments. Life looked and felt full all of a sudden. Of course, I still managed to find plenty of time to waste with friends, play, bike, swim and read. Life was full but it had a different pace to it, time slowed down a bit, there was time to reflect and play. It felt like holy time.
I heard recently that, "there is no wasted time - only holy time." As someone who has always lived tied pretty closely to the rhythms of a calendar and a schedule this comment has challenged me to think about time in new ways. I am reminded of the value in rest, conversation, solitude, quiet times and playful times – even if they don’t fit nicely into those little squares on a calendar page. The idea of holy time also helps me to remember that God is present in all time.
I am convinced that every once in a while we need to change up how we spend our time so that we can recognize God in new and different ways. Summer seems like a pretty good time to spend some holy time with one another! As our schedules change naturally it can be just the opportunity that we need to waste a little time with one another and with God.
The Gethsemane summer calendar is already pretty full these days. The rhythms may be different but there are still many opportunities for us to get together and be the church in this place. There are many opportunities for us to waste a little time together.
So I invite you to take out your calendar before all of the little boxes for the month of June get too full and make room for a few of Gethsemane’s holy happenings. On June 5 in worship we will be recognizing the hard work of our graduates and honoring them with a reception. June 10 and 11 is the Glocal Mission event at Mt Calvary Lutheran where you are invited to learn about local and global mission opportunities. We are sending out our youth to do mission in Alaska on July 18. Even if you are not going on the trip, I encourage you to mark it on your calendar and pray for them while they are gone. The younger kids leave the next week for Bible camp. On June 21 we are getting together for the very first Music and Arts fundraiser at the Geth-Summer Melodies celebration.
And of course, there is no better way to waste a little time together than on Sunday mornings as we gather to praise God, pray, experience the forgiveness of sins and hear again the promise of the gospel. I look forward to wasting some time with you this summer - it is holy time indeed!
from Pastor John D. F. Nelson
They are watching, always watching. We know that our
children are the first to mimic our actions or behaviors -
not always the ones we want seen - but still they are watching. Look at the toy shelves and what kids "demand" to play with - toy cell phones or car keys, things we as adults constantly have in our hands. They see what we do and beam up at us in satisfaction that they can do it too.
In our baptismal call we are given the challenge to "let our light shine," not as payment for God’s blessings, not to get into heaven, not even so that we look good and people like us. We are called to let our light shine so that people might see God. See what we are doing, notice something is different, and then see the reason we are doing it; because God first loved us. When people see hat, they see God at work.
The weekend of May 21 and 22, Gethsemane will be joining with nine other congregations and one synagogue to let our light shine in our community during the Community Days of Service event. This year we not only have the cities of Hopkins and Minnetonka involved but also the city of St. Louis Park.
The planning team has been meeting for nine months to create service opportunities for over 800 volunteers through 35 different projects spread out over the weekend. There are projects for young and old, nimble-bodied and slow-going, so that all will have a place to serve. We will be working with Habitat, ICA, Gethsemane Quilters, Bet Shalom, Feed My Starving Children, and many more local projects.
On that Sunday, May 22, our congregation will be canceling our egular worship services so that you can worship through your service in the community. We will hold a brief sending service at 8:45 am and then send teams across the city and in our building to various projects.
For planning purposes, we need you to sign up ahead of time, either by registering in the Gathering Space on the Sundays prior to the date or online. Project descriptions are available when you register.
Worship is a time dedicated to working on our relationship with God and to give thanks and praise. Our praise brings God glory because people see it and so see God. In the same way, when we do good work people see it and thus see God at work in their midst.
On May 22 I want our congregation to shine as bright as we possibly can. I want people all over town to see God at work: painting, sewing, cleaning, sorting, caring, and loving. I want our light to be so bright that we have to wear shades. This community will have to be blind not to be able to see the hand of God at work in their midst, and when they do, they just might say a little prayer of thanks. Thanks that they live in such a great community. Thanks that for once our church groups and faith traditions are working together for a common goal in caring for our community. And thanks to God, that God would work in such a way to care and love them personally. Come on, let your light so shine with us!
from Pastor John D. F. Nelson
In the throes of life, in the onslaught of economic concerns, in the seemingly endless waging of war, in the sudden upheaval of natural disasters, comes a most shocking message… peace.
"Peace be with you. My peace I give to you."
While the world screams anxiety, hurry, anger, frustration, loss and more, God enters into our midst and says, "My peace I leave with you," and boy do we ever need it.
During these weeks of Lent we have been looking again and again at how people continually find peace amongst the broken pieces of a world filled with trouble. Peace in times of heartache, peace in times of death, peace in times of violence, peace in times of hopelessness, again, and again, and again, peace keeps coming back. You would think these people must be those obnoxiously happy ones that have a perpetual smile plastered on their faces. Instead they are faces smeared with sweat, furrowed with wrinkles of worry, with eyes that know too much. How can peace reside there? How does peace reside with you?
There are several who would say, "I cannot believe in a God who would allow such tragedies to occur in the world." In response, those who claim to have found peace respond, "I cannot live without God in a world that is filled with such tragedies."
The reason we place so much emphasis on Holy Week is specifically because it is the message of how God entered into the most horrific of scenes—betrayal, mob violence, persecution, crucifixion—and changed everything. God entered into the most painful of experiences, the reality of many individuals’ lives, and brought life where there was death. God declared victory where there was only devastation and created the sheer possibility of hope. This is why we call it "The Passion," because God was so passionate about changing the realities of this world and showing us not only how to find life again but find it abundantly.
This is why we proclaim it each week in our worship and even need to stop everything, even our worship, to share it with those around us. We live in a world filled with trouble, a world filled with sorrow that yearns for peace. We who have come to know God’s peace and find hope in our lives are bearers of Christ’s peace for a world that desperately needs it. Christ may have left his peace with us, but he never intended for it to remain only there. May the peace of Christ be with you all, and may you share that peace with all you meet.
from Pastor Sarah Moat
In the grocery store the other day I heard a woman humming as she traveled through the produce section. The tune was pleasant and familiar but I couldn’t put a name to it. As I journeyed through the canned goods, deli and frozen foods our paths continued to cross and each time I heard the familiar tune but remained unable to place it. Although I left the grocery store with her song in my mind its title remained elusive.
I can no longer remember the grocery store tune but what has stayed with me from my afternoon of shopping are those feelings of anticipation and longing as I heard the song but could not identify it. I liked it, was comforted by its familiarity but was frustrated as I tried, unsuccessfully, to identify the title of the tune.
My experience in the grocery store reminds me of PEACE. There seems to be no shortage of language for peace – I often hear people talking about peace in the world, peace and justice, peace and quiet, a peaceful, easy feeling as well as recognizing a need for peace in our homes, our relationships and our families. Yet, it always seems to be something that we are searching for, something that remains just beyond our reach. At the very least, peace feels like a process – something that we are striving for or working toward. Peace feels elusive. There is always room for discovery and contemplation regarding peace.
Local photographer, John Noltner, has been on a quest to define peace as well. He has spent the last several years interviewing over 50 people from all walks of life on their understanding of peace. He believes that while we all have a personal and unique view of peace, at the core, we are really all the same…longing for and dreaming for the same things. His show, A Peace of my Mind, will be in our gallery beginning March 27 and he will be with us for adult education that Sunday and at the Lenten service on Wednesday, March 30 to share his journey. You can learn more about his project at apeaceofmymind.net.
Perhaps we get the greatest answers to our longings and searching for peace in scripture. In Philippians we hear that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. If we continue to search yet fail to recognize that real peace comes from God our search will remain elusive. True peace is just too big for us to comprehend! We are promised, however, that it is with us and guarding us.
As we explore the theme, A Peace of Mind, throughout Lent, we will explore the stories presented in John Noltner’s exhibit. We will look at our own feelings and longings for peace. And through it all we will be reminded that God’s story always intersects with our story – whether we can identify its source or not.
from Pastor John D. F. Nelson
I think the cold and snow are getting to us. How many days now have we had below average temps and above average snow depths? This is getting ridiculous. It seems to have had its effect on people, too, as more and more stay in to avoid a dangerous fall and the bone-chilling temps. While staying in may be wise at times it can also be bad for your health, even leading to the dreaded...Cabin Fever!
You know Cabin Fever, that term used to indicate the abnormal behaviors people exhibit when they have been cooped up for too long. The dictionary defines it as a claustrophobic reaction when an individual or group has been isolated or shut-in for an extended period of time with nothing to do. Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, irrational frustrations, and more. Have you noticed any of that around your house? Or should I say, any more than normal?
Cabin Fever can set into churches just as easily as it can set in at home. Did you know that there are several ministry implications to Cabin Fever? Laugh all you want but churches can take on behavior modifications when they become too closed in—symptoms like restlessness, irritability, complacency, and irrational frustrations.
Funny thing is, the best antidote for Cabin Fever in either place is to GO OUTSIDE! It sounds simple but if you have been shut in long enough you might have even forgotten what it is like outside and it can be downright frightening. Fortunately, we were never meant to be interior creatures, but created to get out there. For it is outside our comfort zones that the most amazing gifts await us.
When I lived in Vail, Colorado we used to love it when the really heavy snow storms whipped up because that meant all the fair-weather skiers and tourists would stay inside and the rest of us hardy folks could enjoy the best skiing all to ourselves. Any discomfort of the weather seemed to drift away as we floated on clouds of powdery snow. It was a sensation those who did not want to be inconvenienced never got.
Ministry sometimes is like that. People look at a tough project or job and want nothing to do with it. They just hunker down until it all blows over and the blue sky comes out again. But hardy Christians who head out in all kinds of conditions know that the best life has to offer is often awaiting them in those difficult conditions.
Now you might say to yourself, “Wow, Pastor John really needs a ski vacation, it’s starting to affect his work.” Or you might realize that you are the one who needs a break from the hibernation of your faith and you could really use a cold, crisp engagement to wake you up. Through our various programs and ministries there are always fresh opportunities for you to get out there and engage your life of faith; all it takes is one step. So come on out, the weather is perfect, and you can get fresh tracks all day.
