THANK YOU ANGELA for continuing to play the music! No singing? - Not gonna happen! Creation was sung into being by the lion Aslan (Lion of Judah) according to CS Lewis in the Magician's Nephew (Chapter 9). And while this is allegorical, the Hebrew culture of the old testament recorded the historical beginnings of music in worship. According to the Song of Moses in Exodus 15, "I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and has become my salvation."(Exodus15:1-2) Delaying the re-opening of services in May 2020 is the right decision; but it is not forever. THIS TOO WILL PASS. In the meantime, I will find a way to keep on singing! --How Can I Keep From Singing?-- is an inspired American hymn. I will sing and make melody in my heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19) I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have being. (Psalm 104:33) Forever Will I sing the goodness of the Lord. (Psalm 89) I will sing in the shower. (That's not a Bible verse!) Sing out loud on the telephone wire. (That's not a Bible verse, either; but, All God's Critters Got A Place in the Choir!) You get the idea! Reading again David's Song of Deliverance in II Samuel 22 renewed my hope, as well as the Song of Mary in Luke 1:46-55. Keep on singing in your heart and anywhere you safely can, Choir. Listen to uplifting music everyday. Hope is the anchor of our soul. We will sing together again soon. CHOIR NOTE Vol. 21 No. 05 May 2020 We will be using our Good Shepherd Lutheran Church website www.goodshepherdpolson.com emails, and phone calls to interact and keep the Congregation up to date and informed on activities and events. If you have information that you would like to share, please contact Kelley at the Church Office. 406-883-5864 NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER MAY 07, 2020 HAPPY MAY FLOWERS FROM APRIL SNOW SHOWERS!
Transcript
THANK YOU ANGELA
for continuing to play the music!
No singing? - Not gonna happen!
Creation was sung into being by the lion Aslan (Lion of Judah) according to CS Lewis
in the Magician's Nephew (Chapter 9). And while this is allegorical, the Hebrew culture of
the old testament recorded the historical beginnings of music in worship.
According to the Song of Moses in Exodus 15, "I will sing unto the Lord for He has
triumphed gloriously; horse and rider thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and song, and has become my salvation."(Exodus15:1-2)
Delaying the re-opening of services in May 2020 is the right decision; but it is not forever. THIS TOO WILL PASS.
In the meantime, I will find a way to keep on singing!
--How Can I Keep From Singing?-- is an inspired American hymn.
I will sing and make melody in my heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19)
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have being. (Psalm 104:33)
Forever Will I sing the goodness of the Lord. (Psalm 89)
I will sing in the shower. (That's not a Bible verse!)
Sing out loud on the telephone wire. (That's not a Bible verse, either; but, All God's Critters Got A Place in the Choir!)
You get the idea! Reading again David's Song of Deliverance in II Samuel 22 renewed my hope,
as well as the Song of Mary in Luke 1:46-55.
Keep on singing in your heart and anywhere you safely can, Choir. Listen to uplifting music everyday.
Hope is the anchor of our soul. We will sing together again soon.
CHOIR NOTE
Vol. 21 No. 05 May 2020
We will be using our Good Shepherd Lutheran Church website www.goodshepherdpolson.com
emails, and phone calls to interact and keep the Congregation up to date and informed on activities and events.
If you have information that you would like to share,
please contact Kelley at the Church Office. 406-883-5864
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
MAY 07, 2020 HAPPY MAY
FLOWERS
FROM
APRIL
SNOW
SHOWERS!
Kids: Confirmation Plus
Are meeting via Zoom conference.
They will continue through May 20th.
Topics:
May 6 Confessing our Faith
May 13 Confirming our Convictions
May 20 Claiming our Calling
Please contact Pastor if you have any questions about
connecting.
Cancellations:
The following events will NOT be happening this year:
Montana Synod Assembly, scheduled for June 5-7
Vacation Bible Day Camp, scheduled for June 22-26
FLBC Choir Camp, scheduled for June 29-July 2
Immanuel Lutheran Communities is Seeking
Board Member Candidates
ILC is searching for new Board members to begin either
this fall in November or next fall 2021. In the next 18
months, we will need 3 Lutheran Board members. As per
our Board Bylaws, we must maintain a majority of
Board members who are Lutheran.
Of particular interest, we would like to find a Lutheran
who is an attorney and someone who has strong business
skills. The ILC Board Governance Committee will
review the candidates and will schedule a time to meet
them usually over lunch or breakfast at Buffalo Hill
Terrace to get to know the person better before making a
recommendation to the full Board. Board members can
serve 3 - 3 year terms. Contact Pastor, if interested.
2
“I can wait!” I had many feelings as I listened to Governor Bullock’s press conference announcing the
beginning of Phase One for our state. Excitement and hope, dread and caution, curiosity,
a longing for a return to normal and fear that all of this would set us back. I suspect it was an
emotional moment for many. Then my brain went into high gear. We have a council meeting
coming up. What do we need to know? What do we need to think through? What would safe
worship look like? I thought. I prayed. I gathered information. I prayed. I worried. I listened.
I talked. I wrote. I read. I prayed.
Sunday’s Church Council meeting began with sharing and prayer. We went through the reports quickly and
turned our attention to the big question: whether to open for worship May 3 or not.
The Spirit of God was with us. I sensed the “peace that passes all understanding” as we spoke and listened,
hearing ideas and perspectives from each person in the room. It was one of the best Council meetings I have
attended. Open minds, warm hearts, deep love for God, respect for each other and concern for the people of our
church were in evidence. The decision was made by voice vote, one at a time. It was quiet. A solemn moment.
And one by one, regardless of their views at the beginning of the meeting, each person said “yes”, we would wait
to begin in-person worship until later.
I went home feeling really good about the meeting and the decision. Then I felt tired. Very, very tired. And by
the morning I realized that while I whole-heartedly believe it was the right thing to do, I am also deeply sad.
I am grieving. I am releasing the prospect of return to worship as we have known it and of seeing people
face-to-face until another time.
Then I thought: “I can wait.” It was a strong, empowered thought. It was a statement of faith, not of weak
resignation. It was the voice of a mature adult, not a whiny child; of one able to delay gratification for the good of
the whole. We will get through. God is with us, within us and among us. We are fortunate to live in a beautiful
place. We are surrounded by others who care. The blessed day will arrive when we can fill up the room without a
health check and a liability release and face masks and assigned seating six feet apart, where we can sing and pray
with full voices not worried about droplet spread; when we can share the bread and wine, the body and blood of
our Lord without using tongs to be sure no one touches anything. I’m exaggerating a little here. But not much.
We can wait. …those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings
like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40.31.
I pray that together we will wait upon the Lord.
Pastor Melanie
+ + + + + + +
3
APRIL WORSHIP SERVICE TEAM
Thank you !
Thank you for all of the volunteer work that
our Good Shepherd Lutheran Church family
does around town, the Church and for each
other!! We are together even when apart.
In 2009, the Rev. Dr. Karen L. Bloomquist, then
director of the Department for Theology and Studies
of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva,
was invited to give a theological presentation to the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon as they
were considering the ordination of women and
preparing to vote on that question.23 They did vote to
allow women’s ordination that year.
Stay connected through all available paths!
When you see the theological and Biblical arguments about
women’s ordination laid out in chronological order, as we
have been considering them in this study, what is striking
when you consider Dr. Bloomquist’s presentation is that she
picks up the thread of the argument from the other side.
Everything prior to her work considers what might prevent
the church from ordaining women: Is there anything in the
Scriptures that tells us definitively that women cannot bear
this role? Is there anything in church history, in our
ecumenical relationships, or in the Lutheran churches’
16thcentury confessional writings of the Reformation era
that hinders us from taking this momentous step in this time
and place, of ordaining women to Word and Sacrament
ministry?
Dr. Bloomquist lists factors typically involved where there
is resistance to women’s ordination, even as she notes the
widespread current practice of ordaining women within the
145 worldwide member churches belonging to LWF—in
2009, 63 million out of 68 million members of LWF
churches belonged to an LWF church that did allow for the
possibility of ordaining women, with some Lutheran
churches having done so as far back as 80, 50, or 40 years,
though many having only begun doing so more recently and
having only a few women ordained.
But then Dr. Bloomquist opens her Bible.
She proposes that the main focus of the Cameroonian
Church’s attention not be on how people have resisted
women’s ordination but that, especially as Lutherans, they
consider what is central in our faith: the gospel. Listen to
her words:
“My main contention is that the church betrays the heart of
the gospel if it prohibits women from being ordained to the
public ministry. “The main basis for this claim is that
according to all four of the Gospels, the first to witness and
proclaim the good news of Christ’s resurrection were
women. According to a Lutheran understanding,
proclaiming the gospel and presiding over the Lord’s
Supper are the central tasks for which some are ordained for
the church’s public ministry.”
She then explores why women have not been ordained for
so much of the church’s history, reflects on the meaning of
the gospel, and encourages her hearers to encounter the
presence of God in Jesus Christ through the ministry of
women, even if it breaks taboos and challenges current
practices.
A good website with more information on the history of
women’s ordination in the ELCA is at St. Olaf College: https://pages.stolaf.edu/lutheranwomensordination/
Eula Mae Turnage, Mike Knutson, Jeff & Shirley Jacobson,
Marjorie Burkitt, Al & Norma Knutson, Joyce Erickson.
Together in Worship Together in Worship Average Year-to Date: We Are Many!
Financial Information Fiscal Year-to-Date January 1 through March 31, 2020
YTD Actual Contrib. & Gifts, Undesignated* $ 39,149.48 YTD Budgeted Target $ 39,346.77 Other Sources of Income** $ 337.00 Total Year-to-Date Operating Income $ 39,487.86 Total Year-to-Date Operating Expenses $ 37,778.13 *Undesignated contributions & gifts includes offerings designated as “non-synod”
