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Our students had so much fun celebrating love in the Mount Calvary Preschool. We had crafts, songs, and of course, treats!

Happy Valentines Day!

It’s been cold and snowy outside, but warm and cozy in the Mount Calvary Preschool where we celebrated Pajama Days!

One of the “four loves” we learned about in our January sermon series, is “philia” or “friendship love.” (If you missed it, listen online.) Friends add so much comfort, love, and joy to our lives. But, sometimes, especially as adults, it’s hard to make friends. People move around more and don’t necessarily live in the same place as their childhood friends.

We hope that you see your church home as a great place to make friends. One of the best ways to make friends is to find a group where members share a common interest and Mount Calvary offers small groups for all ages and interests. One such group at Mount Calvary is LitChicks.

As you might conjecture from the name LitChicks, this group is made up of women who love books. It all started about ten years ago when a couple of church friends decided it would be fun to read and discuss books from a Christian women’s perspective. They originally called their
group the Christian Women’s Book Club, but as time went on the group agreed that name was a little stuffy and didn’t represent them well. The name LitChicks better embodies their reason for being, and the fun nature of the club.

This group is open and welcoming to all women who want to read and have respectful, bimonthly, book discussions. Not everyone has been in the group for years, in fact, last month they welcomed three new members. The LitChicks start their meetings at 7:00 and get right down to business, and unlike some book clubs, they discuss the book! Casual socializing and visiting is saved for after the meeting when
some of the members adjourn to Maynard’s for post-discussion
refreshments. According to club member Mary K. Klein, it’s a toss-up as to how many most appreciate the book discussion or the friendly chat afterwards.

One thing people in the group really appreciate, is the “vetting” that goes into selecting each book. They want to inspire good discussion, so the books they read are “more than just murder mysteries.” They look for good reviews, rich subject matter, and before selecting a book, they
read a synopsis to ensure the quality of the writing and the inclusion of interesting, conversation-worthy subject matter.

Not everyone in the club belongs to Mount Calvary; they are open to all women in the community. Many of the gang are empty-nesters who find they have more time for reading, now that they are not driving kids to activities every night. As Mary K. says, “It’s a good, casual group of respectful readers.”

If you think LitChicks might be a good fit for you, check out their next book Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, which will be up for discussion March 14th. If you would like to know more about LitChicks, you can email Mary K. Klein at mkklein@me.com, or take a look at their, and other small group, offerings on our website at http://www.
mountcalvary.org/get-involved/adult/small-groups/.

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

When Jesus goes to the River Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptizer, he was joining the many others who had come out to participate in an old Jewish ritual that was very different from what we call baptism today. John invited people to symbolically wash themselves of the past and prepare for the new working of God in their midst, a call to turn away from their sins. But when Jesus is baptized (a Greek word meaning washed), it is not for the forgiving of sins….it was for the revealing of God. Jesus sees the heavens torn open, the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and hears a voice saying, “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” What does John the Baptizer see? He sees simply a man he thinks should be baptizing HIM! He sees a man whom he tells others is so powerful that John does not feel worthy even to untie his sandals. The others see an encounter of two intriguing people, whom some say are prophets sent by God. Each of those ways of seeing is an epiphany, a revealing, of God at work in their midst. 
    
When we talk about baptism at Mount Calvary, it is not John’s baptism that we are patterned after but Jesus’. Baptism is not about gathering at the river seeking to turn our life or our faith around, it is to reveal what God is doing in the moving of the Holy Spirit. It is to stand before God inviting, celebrating, believing that gift of the Holy Spirit is for any and for all…. dependent on God’s choosing, not ours; celebrating God’s promises and commitment to love and embrace through the community of believers and beyond. The community, parents and sponsors all promising to BE epiphanies of grace, wisdom and faith for this child in our midst. 

Over the years, I have participated in thousands of baptisms….and as yet I have not seen the heavens opened, I have not seen Holy Spirit doves, or heard a voice resonating from the chambers of heaven. I have held multitudes of the tiniest of infants and splashed the heads of many adults…..I have been the receiver of angelic smiles and spine-tingling cries of fear; I have been splashed, and soiled and urped upon; I have had tiny feet tangled in my microphone and been kicked; I have accidentally used the wrong name and mispronounced legions of them. For years, I kept a cassette tape of the baptism of twin two-year olds where they both screamed until they turned purple and mom and dad turned ghostly white and it seemed more like a scene from The Exorcist than a moment of grace. I have baptized in sanctuaries, hospital rooms, backyards and homes; in robes, suits, jeans and even shorts. I have reached into bowls and lakes and cups and found water colder than a Polar Plunge, warm enough for tea and a couple times no water at all! That is one way of looking at and experiencing baptisms.

But what did I see? I will repeat one of my favorite quotes: “The question is NOT what you look at, but what you see,” said Henry David Thoreau. I see Jesus. I see Jesus in ordinary water, working through the hands and hearts of very ordinary people, embracing one more child of God. I see Jesus, who showed us how silly it was for us to try to figure out how we were going to open the gates of heaven, opening them for us. I see the Spirit of God moving once more in the order and chaos of the moment to say “Life! Light! Love!” for this one. Gift of grace, not reward for righteousness. Gift of grace, voice of God saying, “You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased.”

I see heaven opening up for the youngest of babies…unaware, unknowing and unworthy…and I see a reflection of me. It would be sheer arrogance to claim that I am any more aware, knowledgeable, or worthy of this mystery than this one before me. I see heaven opening up and I offer an echo of God’s voice when I say, “Child of God, marked with the Cross of Christ forever” in the same way those words were spoken for me. I see the frequent tears emerging from the eyes of parents and family members descending like Holy Spirit doves out of love and awe for this one. I see the congregation, rejoicing, adoring, marveling in the miracle of new babies and new life. “The question, my friends, is NOT what you look at but what you see.

All In with Gethsemane Lutheran Church

What makes for a successful partnership? Cohesion? Mutual respect? Common goals? In Mount Calvary’s partnership with Gethsemane Lutheran, both churches look for ways to learn from each other, grow together, and work together as one body in Christ. “We’re all healthier when we’re working together for the whole,” says Gethsemane’s Pastor Jeff Nehrbass.

Gethsemane is located on Colfax Avenue in North Minneapolis. The church was established by a congregation of Norwegian Lutherans in 1893, and they have a brick building that looks like lots of other Lutheran churches in the city, but now they face many challenges due to their changing neighborhood. The area is transient, with many people moving in and out. Pastor Jeff says that people move away when they can afford to, due to gang violence, drug trade, and the proximity of level-three sex offenders.

The neighborhood struggles with stress and violence. The people of Gethsemane work hard to “turn the temperature down” in their neighborhood. They did an assessment and found ways to address immediate needs in the area. The first order of business was to help people with some of their basic requirements, like food and childcare. They opened a food shelf, created a growing preschool that provides a place for 40 kids, and they hope to expand to 60. They hold neighborhood block parties with barbecues and peace walks. The goal is to find ways to interact with people where they are, in ways that will be meaningful to them.

At Mount Calvary, we look for ways to be reminded that our ministry is bigger than our own backyard.  “We look for opportunities to do ministry together; to build each other up,” says Mount Calvary Pastor Aaron.  Pastor Aaron and his family have spent time at Gethsemane baking bread in a brick oven for block parties. He and other Mount Calvary members also have accompanied our 8^th graders, who go to Gethsemane for a day of service as part of their Confirmation program. The 8^th graders help in the food shelf, organize and clean in the preschool, and do outside chores for neighborhood residents. One year they used their confirmation offerings to purchase and bring 60 yards of mulch to contribute to the grounds.

This year our 8^th graders will go to Gethsemane on April 6^th to partner with them in service. We look forward to an enduring partnership with Gethsemane, as one more way to reach out and invite others under the umbrella of God’s love. As Pastor Jeff says, “It is wonderful to be able to be in partnership and to be accompanied in the walk that we do together, here on the North side. We can learn from each other, we can grow together in partnership, and we can learn what it means to be One Body in Christ.”