August 25, 2013 Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Office Phone: 612-789-7256 ART NIGHT THIS TUESDAY Join us for Art Night on Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 7:00 p.m. We’ll be starting work on a group project: monogrammed wooden letters to sell at the Craft Sale on October 5. You are also welcome to bring your own creative projects; writers and poets are welcome, too! AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP TODAY – SUNDAY, August 25 9:00 a.m. Prayer 9:30 a.m. Worship 11:00 a.m. Faith Formation 12:30 p.m. Vine & Branches Ministry MONDAY, August 26 7:00 p.m. Book Discussion TUESDAY, August 27 12:00 noon Staff Meeting 6:30 p.m. Endowment Committee 7:00 p.m. Art Night 7:00 p.m. Vine & Branches Ministry WEDNESDAY, August 28 11:00 a.m. Dinner Bell Delivery 6:30 p.m. Miracles of Jesus THURSDAY, August 29 4:00 p.m. Audubon Farmers Market 7:00 p.m. Narcotics Anonymous (NA) 7:00 p.m. Movie Night FRIDAY, August 30 7:00 p.m. Vine & Branches Ministry SATURDAY, August 31 11:00 a.m. Spirit and Truth Ministry NEXT SUNDAY, September 1 9:00 a.m. Prayer 9:30 a.m. Worship 11:00 a.m. Faith Formation 12:30 p.m. Vine & Branches Ministry Loralie, Kallie and Kurtis Schuchard lost their home and all of their belongings in a fire in March 2013. Over the past months they have been waiting to find out what of their belongings could be restored. They have found out in the past month there is little that could be restored. In the next month, as a community we will be collecting monetary donations for their family. There is a donation box in the narthex of the church and at the coffee table downstairs. It is our hope we can help them get a home established in the months ahead. Make checks out to GA, indicating “Schuchard Family” in the memo line. “GOD’S WORK – OUR HANDS” EVENT...SEPTEMBER 8 The 8th of September will be an opportunity for us as a congregation to reach out into our neighborhood and be the wonderful, warm, inviting presence of hospitality that we are by offering a free meal to the community. This event is our part in the ELCA-wide day of service marking the 25th anniversary of our denomination. We need lots of help to make this event happen. See the gold flier in today’s bulletin to see the specifics of how you can help. Return your sheet to the church office. BLESSING OF THE BACKPACKS … SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 By Sunday the 8th, students of all ages will have returned to school. Pastor Marggi will lead us in a time of prayer for another school year of learning and growth. Students are encouraged to bring their backpacks to worship that day. PIE & ICE CREAM SOCIAL … SEPTEMBER 10 This is a very popular event and we need your help to make it a success! We need a lot of homemade pies and we need workers. There is a sign-up sheet in the Narthex and we hope to see a lot of names on it. We also have some flyers advertising the Social. If you have a good place to hang one, pick one up from the workroom. And be sure and bring all your family and friends. All proceeds go to the ministries of GA. (We suggest you make your pie in a disposable tin.) YOGA SCHEDULE FOR THE FALL The fall Yoga session begins on Tuesday, September 3, and will be held every Tuesday and Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. through October 30. Yoga sessions will be held in the basement in the dining hall area. Drop-in rate is $5.00 per class. Participants can also pay in full. If you choose to come one time per week, the cost is $45 for the nine weeks; if you choose to come two times per week, the cost is $90 for the nine weeks. Help spread the word to those who might be interested in participating. We Need YOU to Help with Spark! Sunday School As the new Sunday school year approaches, we still need some help from GA folks. The hot pink insert in today’s bulletin spells out the areas where we need help. If you can offer your gifts to our children’s ministry in some way, return the sheet in the offering plate or to Phil Holzman in person. If you can’t help with classes on a regular basis, we especially need help painting the large basement room on September 4 and 5 in the evening. There’s room on the pink sheet to sign-up for that project! FAITH FORMATION — Sunday, August 25 9:00 a.m. — Prayer — Education Wing/Upstairs/East Room Before Worship, you’re invited to join brothers and sisters in Christ for a time to intentionally listen for God’s guidance and wisdom. Sunday Discussion — Fellowship Hall/Downstairs After Worship, gather at the table(s) with wooden cross centerpieces to discuss the appointed scripture readings, hymns, prayers, and other aspects of Worship. FAITH FORMATION — Monday, August 26 7:00 p.m. — Book Discussion — Kicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Imagination by Brian J. Walsh. Teacher/facilitator/musician, Joel Lurvey encourages participants to read chapters six-eight (pp. 87-125). The chapters are entitled: 6 — Creation Dreams and Ecological Nightmares (pp. 87-99). 7 — Into a World of Dancers (pp. 101-110). 8 — Humans (pp. 111-125) … for Monday, the 26th. Joel has also created lyric sheets and CDs that accompany chapters one-five. To secure a copy of Walsh’s book, handouts or CDs, contact: Diane Ott-Hager: dianeh@gachurchmpls.org | 612-789-7256. FAITH FORMATION — Wednesday, August 28 6:30 p.m. — The Miracles of Jesus — Hopefully, you were able to takein a performance of this year’s musical, Table for Five … Thousand last Friday or Saturday. The children offered a harmony in words and songs of the four Gospels’ telling of The Feeding of Five Thousand/The Miracle of the Multiplication. During the past few weeks, a few adults were able to explore the accounts in Matthew 14:13-21 … Mark 6:30-44 … Luke 9:10-20 … John 6:1-15 … and, how this miracle of abundance is connected with scriptural truths in the stories of Moses and the people of Israel, Elijah, the Eucharist, and more. If you’re able to attend, we’ll synthesize these teachings on the 28th. FAITH FORMATION — Thursday, August 29 7:00 p.m. — Grown-Up Movie Night — Downstairs/Media Room The group that assembles each Thursday makes the movie selection; films are connected to themes in Parker Palmer’s book, Healing the Heart of Democracy. We’ve already “deconstructed” the 1976 classic-Network, 2012’s Lincoln, the 2010 documentary I AM, and the 2004 documentary What the #$*! [BLEEP!] Do We Know?! Come for refreshments and refreshing film conversation in air conditioned comfort before the summer’s gone! LITTLE FREE LIBRARY www.littlefreelibrary.org GA’s Little Free Library, near the rain garden, has the blessing of the Property Committee and Council. Lynn Lurvey coordinated the project. The Little Free Library Mission … • • to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide. to build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations. A few weeks ago, I attended this conference and heard Rev. Charles (Chick) Lane review concepts that make good, common sense for stewardship and in my/our everyday life/lives. Chick wrote the following in a stewardship newsletter over a year ago (June 5th, 2012): What if … Chick Lane How would my life be different if I believed and acted like the claims of consumerism are wrong? What if I rejected the notions that what I have defines who I am, that all the stuff around me is really mine and that how much people have becomes a means by which I value them and myself? What if I quit imagining that scarcity defines the world around me, and that I'd better grab all I can because there isn't enough to go around? What if I didn't act like whenever I give something away it means that I'm depriving myself of something else that I would really like to have? How would my life be different if I believed and acted like the claims of the Bible are correct? How would things change if I understood that all I have really belongs to God, and is entrusted by God to me to manage? What if I grounded my sense of self in my baptism, and recognized that in God's eyes what I have doesn't have any relationship to who I am? What if I refused to compartmentalize my life into one box labeled "faith" and another box labeled "finances?” What if I believed and acted like there are infinite connections between my faith in Jesus Christ and my financial life, and these connections go both ways? What would it look like if my faith informed my financial life, not just in terms of what I give away, but also in terms of how I spend that which I "keep" for myself? How is it that what I do with my finances really does profoundly impact my faith in Jesus? What if … I understood that all I have really belongs to God?