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 2022 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
Children's Ministry: Brittany Schiebe
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Weekly Update: Share Your Story With Sam! |
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Do you have a story you want to share with our community that you think will be inspiring for others? Well I’m here to help you share it! With your story, we will be able to spread the goodness of our community members in our church by highlighting it on our social media pages and weekly newsletter so that anyone and everyone can see!
If you would like to be interviewed by me, I can be reached by...
Phone (609-431-1369)
Consider contributing today!
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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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Bible Reading: Luke 24:36-49 |
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36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”
37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
43 and he took it and ate before them.
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
47 and that repentance for[c] the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
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Writer's Corner: And So We Wait
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“You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord’s coming is near.” (James 5:8)
When I was little, I remember all the times I waited for things; wondering why time was so sluggish and why the clock seemed to tick ever slower the closer it came to the thing I anticipated. Basically, I thought that time was a tease. It could speed up or slow down on its own volition— on purpose, just to make me feel out of control or even lose my patience. The night before Santa came was definitely the slowest of nights. So, too, were the last legs of road trips to visit family or my favorite place: the mountains. Even just sitting by the window waiting for a friend to come over on a Saturday was enough to make me think that time had it in for me. Because time sped up when you were taking tests and didn’t think you could finish, piano lessons went by in a flash, and our vacations never seemed to be long enough. The car seemed to go faster away from the mountains than it arrived to them.
The Saturday vigil between Good Friday and Easter is always a very interesting and day of reflection for me. And maybe for you, too. It’s filled with preparation for Easter, gatherings with families, good food, maybe fancier clothes and hopefully church services with favorite resurrection hymns. “Christ the Lord is Risen Today. Hallelujah!” But it is also the day after we reflect and mourn the sacrifice of Jesus nailed to the cross, all his pain and suffering, for us, for our sins, for final defeat over death. The day that humanity left him to die and shoved his body in a tomb behind the heaviest of stones. It is the day that we might have wept at the foot of the cross, outside the grave, or alone in our homes for the simple devastation of it all (and for some shadow of a doubt that Jesus would ever come again). What has the world done?
But the Saturday between it all is a vigil, a waiting, that at the time of Christ’s death was not at all certain that a good outcome would arrive. It’s like the vigil my family went through during the twenty-four hours when we waited for our daughter’s heart to start again after heart surgery, to beat on its own without machines. The hope we held, but the certainty of outcome still weighing in our guts, heavy in our hearts. And it is also like waiting for the friend to come back because they said they would, but really there are so many circumstances that could prevent it from happening. Our mind worries about weather, about accidents, about our promises that we broke in the past (like the disciples who promised faithfulness but then ratted Jesus out). Really would our friend keep theirs? It didn’t matter that at the time the disciples might have had their doubts and like Thomas needed to stick their fingers into the hole at the side of Jesus to truly believe. We each have our own set of facts that prove to us what reality is.
The Easter vigil is a time for us to reckon with our beliefs, our faithfulness in watch for Jesus to come again, it’s a time to sort out the happenings of Good Friday and decide what power the resurrection of Easter has in now our lives. Is is about chocolate bunnies and egg hunts, family gatherings? Or is it about the power God has over death in our lives, in the lives of our loved ones? Is it about God’s promises fulfilled for us? And if it is, how is God fulfilling promises in your life, especially in lieu of all the chaos, sadness, and desperation in the world right now. And more importantly, how does the Easter vigil continue to play out in your life after all the lilies that sat in your kitchen die, and the chocolate is eaten, all the relatives leave to go home.
Are you still waiting for something? If so, what are you really waiting for? Did the tomb being empty on Easter really capture your soul and make you live your life differently because Jesus sacrificed his? Or is the time of your vigil just a slowing clock, ticking away while you hold a sinking feeling in your gut? This year, take a look at your life, listen to your gut, and ask God to show his face to you in a way never before. But above all, be patient as you wait for the answer, know that our friend has already arrived, God was good on God’s promises. Look at Jesus, on the cross and the empty tomb, after all.
Amen.
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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: Luke 24:1-12 |
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1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
8 And they remembered his words,
9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles,
11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
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Dear Lord, may we realize afresh today what Your death and resurrection mean for us. Forgiveness, freedom, and the ability to walk with You through this fallen world into eternity. May we always find our satisfaction in You and Your willingness to offer Yourself to us on the cross. In Jesus' Name,
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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