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 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!
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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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Between Ash Wednesday and Easter, many Christians observe a 40-day period known as Lent.
This name comes from the “Old English lencten springtime, spring” and “from West Germanic langitinaz long-days or lengthening of the day.”
Popularly regarded as a fasting period, there are many ways to make the Lenten period meaningful without missing meals. What is Lent and why should one take part? Does every participant follow a strict Lenten plan of rigid self-denial? Let's take a look at some of the most popular questions regarding the Lent season.
When Does Lent Start?
Lent begins each year on Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter Sunday. This year Lent will begin on February 22nd, 2023, and if you are following the 40 days tradition, Lent will end on Holy Saturday, April 8th, 2023. Ash Wednesday falls after Shrove Tuesday, also known as Fat Tuesday, when it's traditional a time of confession and indulgence before fasting begins.
So what is the meaning of Lent?
Lent is meant to be a time of repentance. That’s not a feeling of shame but an awareness that sin separates us from God and of what it cost Him to be reunited with us. “Shame has its place, but feeling shame over sin is not the same thing as repentance from sin” because “our tempter can take our obedience to God and turn it into a source of pride.” During these next few weeks, let us keep this in mind and observe both the historical and traditional meaning of Lent together.
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With sadness and in the sure and certain hope of resurrection to new life in Christ Jesus, our family announces the death of Harry Lehew; Husband, Father, Grandpa, Uncle, Friend and my Father-in-law. He died of metastatic pancreatic cancer this morning at 5:30am after a brief hospice in our home. He was 84 years old.
Funeral announcement in the days ahead.
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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 every Saturday of the month at Gethsemane from 12-3pm
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Gospel Reading: John 11:1-37 |
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1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,
7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.
10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”
13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,
19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have
died.
22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
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Writer's Corner: In the Light of Grace
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“I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)
Our adorable English-doodle, Mia, has a serious fixation with chasing squirrels and bunnies. Whenever she sees one on our walk, she tries to bolt, yanking her leash and my arm with her. I remind her to “leave it” and she looks at me defeated as if saying, “but mom, it wants me to chase it!” When she sees one from inside our home (with oh, so many windows), she will climb to the top of a chair (even if you are in it!) and peer outside, panting fast. And if it runs off she jumps to another window to see if she can at least view where it is going. The mere mention of the words squirrel or bunny, cause her to look around, turning her head left then right: “where, where, where?”
We are currently working on training our fur baby, to “desensitize” her obsession, with verbal cues, follow through, and some bribery treats. We’ve consulted with experts and read many articles. We also put an invisible fence around our whole yard because the last time she slipped out the front door, she ran wild circles through our neighborhood—like the dog from the movie Funny Farm who gets loose, and starts running, and every so often you see it sprinting across the screen, still chasing something, for days, weeks, full season-changes, and 90 minutes of the movie later). In a movie it is funny, when its your own dog, not so much! Not even my sitting patiently in the middle of the driveway (holding a rotisserie chicken in my hand) could entice my youngest “child” to pause. Mia approached slowly, smelling the meaty goodness, thought about it for two seconds, and with a look in her eye that said, “sorry mom, I’m on a quest,” off she went again.
Luckily, unlike the movie dog, Mia did finally come home (after two hours of non-stop running and sniffing). She had burrs over every square inch of her fluffy freshly cut coat, muddy legs, and a limp. Who knows what happened on her adventure (I can only speculate), or whether she ever caught anything (I doubt it), but she was dehydrated, shivering; her tired eyes saying she was ready to be home. So, I scooped her up, carried her inside, and gave her a thorough shower—cutting out all the leaves, sticks, and who-knows-what from her fur. I then bundled her ‘wet dog smell’ body into a blanket, like a swaddled babe, and she slept the night through , late into the next morning (her feet kicking in running adventure dreams throughout the night). The pads for her paws were so raw that she couldn’t go for a walk for an entire week and needed to be carried up and down stairs for a day until her leg was better. But oh, did she think the chase was worth it!
I know I’ve personally “chased” things in my life, we all do. Goals I have had, people I thought I loved, my need to be thin, my need to be needed… even misguided things in my younger years, that I knew would get me into trouble, come limping home with mud and “burrs” all over me. But it is the nature of humanity to try to fill our lives with things that bring us pleasure, fulfillment, relief from pain, always looking for the “next best” or the “latest;” or maybe even replacements for what we didn’t receive in our life, things we craved: stability, support, love, consistency, youth, beauty, and on and on. And these replacements might be in the form of food, alcohol, drugs, clothing, material things, money, travel, “searching for love in all the wrong places,” the list goes on and on…
Mia, when she was a tiny pup, managed to get a baby bunny in her mouth for only a second, but in that time she decided that this was something she wanted to experience again; whether it was out of instinct, yummy bunny taste, or because we said, “no.” But unlike Mia, we know, as Christians that whatever we “get into our mouth” that we become fixated on —it is all meaningless in the scope of things. We are told that everything under the sun is meaningless, without God in the picture. We can continue to chase the wants and “needs” in our lives until we come home dehydrated, hurt, or spent. We can even continue to chase the wind—that can never be caught. Or we can pursue God with all our heart and reap the benefits of all the things we thought we were missing: the support, the love, the constancy, the acceptance, forgiveness and more. So, “turn your eyes upon Jesus/Look full, in His wonderful face./And the things of earth will grow strangely dim/In the light of His glory and grace…”
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The Camden Promise: Weekly Food shelf Schedule |
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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!
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Gospel Reading: Psalm 73:26 |
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My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. |
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Lord, let us trust in your comfort, Let us trust in your love. As we grieve, we feel loss, Though we know we are blessed. Give us resolve through the sadness, and comfort in knowing that those we loose live with you, forever, in a place of peace and no pain. In your name we pray.
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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