Working Together So That All Experience Gracious Invitation Into Life-giving Christian Community

Welcome to the Gethsemane Lutheran Church Newsletter. As 2023 unfolds, and we continue to bring you information virtually, we welcome all who are members of Gethsemane, as well as those who are discovering us for the first time, to join us in our mission journey. We hope to keep you up-to-date in these times of amazing change for our church community. Feel free to forward the newsletter to others and give us the emails of those you think my wish to connect with us and see what great things God is doing with our church each week!
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To contact staff: Please click email links on names to the right!



Who's Who At Gethsemane


Senior Pastor: Jeff Nehrbass

Minister of Music: Beverly Timpton-Hammond

Newsletter Editor: Jacob Nehrbass

Newsletter Article Writer: Cindy Nehrbass

Food Shelf Volunteer Coordinator: Jean Bailey




Church Updates and Announcements


We Are So Grateful For our volunteers from Lord Of Life Lutheran in Maple Grove! They helped us put together 150 Thanksgiving baskets a blessing. Each basket contains enough food for a complete Thanksgiving meal for four, turkey included!

The Camden Shop is Open



The Camden Shop is now open! After a short prayer of blessing, we opened the doors and shoppers found clothing and housewares that they needed. We are so excited about how this place will help our friends in the Camden neighborhood! Spread the word, and come say hello!




We are open every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month at Gethsemane 

The Camden Promise: Weekly Food shelf Schedule




Food Giveaway Schedule into 2022:

The Camden Promise Food Shelf feeds boxes of food to community families 6 days a week at noon: Monday through Saturday.


All are welcome!


Gospel Reading: Matthew 25:1-13

1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 


Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 


The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 


The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 


The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.


“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’


“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 


The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’


“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’


10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.


11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’


12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’


13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Writer's Corner: This Is The Day - Give Thanks!

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118: 24)


We spend a lot of time talking about weather in Minnesota. We become preoccupied by too hot days or days that become “unseasonably” this or that temperature. The worry of sudden snow. Weather reporters in our state work compete to be “mostly right” (some of the time) or at least “somewhat correct,” occasionally. Sometimes it seems the luck of the draw. We often doubt them, and check our phones weather apps to see if predictions are reliable, or if we will be suddenly surprised by a rain cloud or gusty gale or flurry of white flakes. Personally, I now check my phone app every time I leave the house, because I cannot trust simply looking out the window into a perfectly sunny day. Because in Minnesota, that could mean it is time for your winter coat and hat. It could be thirty below…


The other day, in the late afternoon, the sun was bright and the trees were blowing as I headed out with our dog to walk around the lake. I was glad to be able to venture from home and hoped for the revisit of spring to clear my head and to brighten my grumpy disposition. Of course, my phone’s weather app had said it was 50 degrees. But what did that mean? Was it a “warm fifty” like when I visited California in the middle of our Minnesota February deep freeze? When it felt like a thawing out as I wore sundresses and shorts while my California family was in parkas and Ugg boots. Or was it like the “first fifty” of fall after our warmest, most humid, summer—when I needed a knit hat, scarf, gloves and first turned on our furnace on at home? 


Of course being the planner that I am, I planned for this outing. Even though Mia was in her fur coat (regardless), I donned on layer after layer (one’s that could be carried if needed): a packable light weight down vest and a hoodie that would cover my ears if the wind around the north side of the lake decided to try to take the baseball cap off my head. I started my Apple Watch “outside walk” app to collect data on our pace and number of steps (information that I never do anything with later) and out we went. At first, my nose was nippy and fingertips wished I’d grabbed my mittens. The windchill factor must have been great. But the kids across the street were still riding their bikes, sleeveless. So things appeared to be fine. To them I must have appeared to be prepared for a winter storm. 


As we walked the 2.5 miles, I discovered that each section of the shore had different weather. I walked a few meters through summer, (and I took off my vest) then a few steps of chill (and I covered my head). All the while, Mia kept prancing with a wag of the tail and a smile (yes, we know when she smiles) on her face. She didn’t care that the wind blew her facial fur up over her eyes and she could hardly see, or that rolling sticks tripped her up now and again. After all, the squirrels were chasing each other and all the smells of autumn were whipping through the air. So much to absorb and be thankful for. 


Watching my dog revel in the day, I decided to stop worrying about whether I was cold, or hot, or if the sun would set too soon on our walk. I stopped checking my phone app to see when that would be— if we’d make it back home before dark. I started noticing the sun as it shifted in color (the hues of orange and light pink) as it determined where to settle behind the trees. I noted the leaves and pine needles on the ground pile collect in patterns like modern artwork on the pavement. I could smell the faint hint of maple on the breeze that reminded me of my childhood in Pennsylvania, when our fifth-grade class went on a field trip, tapped maple trees, and made maple candy on a cast iron stove. I remembered my parents faces when I returned home from that trip, so happy to see me—tasting the candy that I had helped make. And this memory (that I hadn’t had in so long) made me smile, too. 


For a time I thankfully forgot all the paperwork I had to do, the soreness in my joints, that my uncle’s Parkinson’s is worsening, our world of chaos and war, how so many people are dying daily, or that my parents are no longer here to talk about it all face-to-face. And I remembered;



This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118: 24)


That regardless of the weather of the day, or how many times it changes in twenty-four hours— whether we get stuck in puddles in our favorite shoes or wind sneaks up and steals our hats—we must rejoice and be glad in each one. Through the hardships and boredoms, through our sunny dispositions and our grumpiness, through all the events of our lives and the changes that come…in each day we should wag our tails as fur flies in our faces and sticks try to trip us; we should count all the squirrels playing, the kids riding bikes, and smell the maple on the breeze. Because this is the day that the Lord made, rejoice, give thanks for every breath that allows us to remember the joyful moments, the love and the smiles of our loved ones, too.


Amen.

The Prayer Corner

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have bestowed on my life. You have provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. You have surrounded me with people who always look out for me. You have given me family and friends who bless me every day with kind words and actions.

Sunday Worship

Please join us every Sunday for our Virtual Zoom Worship Service. Online "fellowship starts at 10:00 am and Worship Service Starts at 10:30 am.
Visit Link to Sunday Zoom Service!

Gethsemane Lutheran

Building Hope Together

Gethsemane Lutheran Church

4656 Colfax Avenue North

Minneapolis, MN 55412

612-521-3575

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