Working Together So That All Experience Gracious Invitation Into Life-giving Christian Community |
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Welcome to the Gethsemane Lutheran Church Newsletter. As the end of this year 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! |
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Who's Who At Gethsemane
Minister of Music: Beverly Timpton-Hammond
Food Shelf Volunteer Coordinator: Jean Bailey
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This holiday season, we have many exciting events and news to share with all you readers. Below are just some of the amazing things Gethsemane is doing within it's walls and out in the community.
Upcoming Quilting Event
This coming December 13th from 9am to 2pm, the lovely ladies of Gethsemane will be holding their next quilting event. Stay posted for more details!
Come Hungry, Leave Happy
Here is a gentle reminder that we will continue to serve lunches Monday through Friday 12-2pm in the fellowship hall. This food is hot, free, and tasty. All are welcome into the Lord's house to eat, stay warm, and break bread.
Christmas Basket Distribution
Keep your eyes on the calendar as we have many an event coming this December. Christmas basket distributions will occur Saturday the 17th. This will run right before our Christmas Ham distribution, which you can read more about below!
Christmas Ham Registration
Christmas is just around the corner, and with it comes registration for Christmas ham pickup. This registration starts December 4th and will run until December 12th. These hams will be distributed December 18th. All are welcome to register, and we are happy to assist in giving more information as we get closer to December 4th.
Upcoming Christmas Service
Lastly as we talk about the Christmas season, there will be no Christmas Eve service. Instead, there will be a Christmas Day service for the first time in 7 years. Sunday 12/25 at 10:30 will be our church service. We hope to see you there in celebration of the the birth of the Christ child.
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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 the 1st & 3rd Saturday’s at Gethsemane from 12-3pm
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The Camden Promise: Weekly Food shelf Schedule |
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Food Giveaway Schedule into 2021:
The Camden Promise Food Shelf feeds boxes of food to community families 6 days a week at noon: Monday through Saturday.
All are welcome!
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Gospel of the Week: Romans 13:11-14 |
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11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
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Writer's Corner: A Winter's Lake Pond |
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Walking the lake near our home (while trying to avoid the puddles and slick icy spots under my feet), I noticed a giant watery patch in the center of the lake’s frozen surface and a bunch of feathery creatures with in it. Most were brown and black wood ducks and mallard, except for three elegant white larger bodies—swans! I’d wanted to see swans on the lake the whole summer of walks, yet only finding geese families, wood ducks, and an occasional quirky heron strutting around near the lakeshore. When my daughter and I kayaked in July, we’d see turtles sunning themselves on the rocks, and a couple muskrats swimming by. But not a single swan, even during the long autumn. Then, winter came early, the snowfalls and deep freezes.
Fortunately we had a sudden bit of thawing out, icicles dripping from our eaves. And on one of the warmest day since October, I leashed up our dog and headed on a last trek around the lake. Of course, Mia was more attentive to the squirrels on land as I squinted my eyes to catch glimpse of the white birds floating in the water circle. They were large trumpeter swans with black beaks. One was primping on the icy edge, its neck curled into its wings, content. What a blessing to see these glorious creatures!
When I got home, I searched the internet and discovered that trumpeter swans can survive in cold weather and are very adaptable to cold by carrying up to 2 pounds of down on their bodies. Think of your warmest down coat mid-February! They are also the largest waterfowl in North America, sporting lots of fat stores (adaptable like us Minnesotans during the holidays?). And finally, they have amazing circulation in their legs in what scientists call a “counter current” heating system with veins and arteries so close together that the warm blood leaving the body heats up the cold blood that is returning. God truly is the master of creativity.
Still, I prefer warmer months, and usually look at God’s creation mid-winter and think that it is on hiatus, everything frozen, nearly dead, awaiting new-life in spring. I don’t find winter as beautiful or as vibrant as the other seasons. I’m not a true Minnesotan at heart, I guess. Everything seems to just be hanging on until better, and more fruitful, times when food is more abundant and the colors of the world more spectacular. But when I think of the elegance and strength of one of God’s creatures—that I normally think of in a summer pond with the sun shining—living out its days in the middle of an icy lake cleaning its feathers in the cold, I realize that God created his creatures to be resilient, adaptable, survivors. And if you think about it God created that in us as well. Think of all the things we have survived especially as of late, as a community, as a world, even personal losses and struggles. Think about all the support systems that continue to rally around us all, and the ways in which we have all survived something in our lives. Then think of God’s amazing creation, the swan.
Personally, I will have the image of the trumpeter swan in my mind as I approach the second anniversary of my mother’s death. I will think of the long winter of grief that I’ve experienced and the occasional thaw in the middle of the frozen over lake—Jesus’ love for me, far warmer than any down coat or thick layer of feathers. His network of love in those around me is more brilliant than the fancy circulatory system of that swan. I will also think about how God prepared me to weather the loss, the sadness, as I’ve had to learn to adjust to a world without her. He prepared me by giving his son to die on the cross, so that I know for certain my mom has eternal life. He prepared me to know that someday there will be no tears and by the grace of God I will see my mom again. And if I forget, he will find a way to remind me. Like He did, today, with a beautiful swan on a winter’s lake pond.
Amen.
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Sermon Notes: What Time is it? |
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Time; we are all fascinated with time. Who among us does not have a clock on the wall, in their office, or at home next to their bed stand. When we wake up in the morning and it is time to go to work, we always make sure we know the time, are awake, and ready. Even if we are running late or getting up early, we have clocks on our watches and phones that tell us how fast or slow we need to be running. We always need to know what time it is.
We even use time in the way in which we construct our own language. There are tenses like past perfect, future perfect, past present, and others that linguistically use time as a tool to understand context. Time is very important to us, our society, and how we all navigate our daily lives.
In preparing for this sermon, I thought it best to really ask what time means, especially in relationship to what Paul writes in the book of Romans.What is time, why should we be aware of it, and why is it so important to Paul? As a people that are focused and constantly thinking about time, we are so preoccupied with what we will make time for in our own lives. Take a moment and think about this for yourselves. What will you make time and space for? What do you prioritize during your day?
Paul writes in the book of Romans that we all should know what time it is, considering how aware of time we already are. Paul says times up! Now is the time people of God, disciples of Jesus; now is the time and now is the moment. But for what?
Paul repeats this sentiment over and over. So what then, in our own busy and scheduled lives, should we be aware of and presently be participating in or even prioritizing?
People of God, It is time for us to live in the light of God. Paul calls us in Romans to walk in the way Christ wants us to live. All of those things that are so hard for us to get our heads around, like watching how much you drink, like not getting into trouble, like not falling prey to life’s sins and the desires of the flesh, are what we are now called to take action against. Now is the time, Paul says, for us to clean up our lives and walk in such a way that is indicative of a life dedicated to action in the name of Jesus. Christ has changed our lives and we are now able to walk in the freedom of the gospel. In taking action now, we exclaim we are no longer chained by sin. Now is the the time to take action, so what are we waiting for?
We have 4 weeks in advent; a time of preparation and awaiting the Christ child. During this time, we must clean our houses and look under the beds of our lives. Time to make sure that everything is ready in all of our lives to receive Jesus. Most of us with our mistakes and insecurities prefer to not take action, but hide them; stick them in a box or put them under the bed so it looks like we are walking in congruency with the life we have already made for ourselves. People of God, we must change. Now is the time. Time is up. Look at your phones; Jesus is coming. Let us follow in the words of Paul. Let us clean up every room in our houses, and walk in the way in which we are called by Paul during this time of advent.
Amen
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God, as the weeks grow colder, the winter harsher, we pray for the homeless and those without shelter or heat. Give them unexpected warmth, comfort, and community. Let us be lights for those who seek shelter both in these cold times and for those looking for support spiritually.
Amen
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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. |
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Gethsemane Lutheran
Building Hope Together
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4656 Colfax Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55412
612-521-3575
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