July Garden Notes 2023

 

Gethsemane Lutheran Church, ELCA

13200 W Greenfield Ave

Brookfield, WI 53005

Worship Opportunities

Please join us for Sunday Worship at 9:15am

in Person and also Live Streaming on YouTube.

Log on to www.Gethsemane-ELCA.org 

> One Click Link on the Home Page. Look for Live Streaming button. <

 

From the Pastor’s Desk

 

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

 – Ephesians 4:25

 

A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from the Assistant to the Bishop for Authentic Diversity and Leadership, Rev. Afi Dobbins-Mays, asking if I would be willing to write up a little blurb on Gethsemane’s strides toward authentic inclusion and welcome. She explained that she and Dr. Joyce Caldwell, the Vice President of the GM Synod had been talking about Gethsemane and some of the “amazing work your church has been doing in discerning the RIC process and inturn becoming more diverse, equitable and inclusive. “

 

It brings me such great joy to share that with you, beloveds! You are simply a beautiful expression of God’s love in action. I thought I would share segments of what I wrote about you… so here you go!

 

It is probably important to note that Gethsemane Lutheran in Brookfield has enjoyed a culture of “welcome” for years. When I first arrived, I was delighted to know that one of our staff members was openly gay and that his marriage was celebrated here. Early in my call, I was visited by parents and congregation members who upon seeing the pride flag in my office, knew that it was a safe place to ask questions about gender diversity and sexuality. But much like other congregations in the ELCA, openness to learning about diversity, equity and inclusion was not something that was happening with any kind of intentionality.

 

As pastor of this congregation for the past two years, I have seen growth in ways that are both organic and authentic as we continue to learn and grow together in discovering what it looks like to open up spaces for true diversity, equity, and inclusion to happen.

 

Over the last two years, we have been part of the ELCA Congregations Lead Initiative, a cohort of churches and faith centers challenged to “think outside the box” and experiment with ways that we are “being church”. Gethsemane’s work has been steeped in growing community outside the walls of our building. We realize that some people have been hurt by the church and that going inside the building on a Sunday morning may be challenging.

 

So, we decided to take some of our programming out of the building, meeting at an establishment across the street to do a book study “God and the Gay Christian” by Matthew Vines. We also chose to meet there for our “Big Questions” meetings where we pull a big theological question out of a hat and discuss what it might mean. We have enjoyed a few guests along the way who were curious about what we were doing studying the bible… in a BAR!

 

Because of this experiment, we now have a wonderful relationship with the owner of the establishment, who found hope in joining our book study as she has a child who identifies as transgender.

 

The neighborhood we are a part of is filled with several Hindu and Muslim families. Using our parking lot outreach events (Kids Fest, Story Time with Pastor P, Live Nativity, Trunk or Treat, etc.) we have become part of the community and have enjoyed organically meeting our neighbors this way.

 

We had a gentleman named Ram join our weekly bible study about 18 months ago. He is Hindu and brings a beautiful perspective to our studies. He takes notes and often asks questions about Jesus.

 

One Sunday morning during the distribution of The Meal, suddenly Ram was in front of me. He had never been to church with us. He bent down and in his Hindu tradition, blessed my feet and reverently held his hand out to receive the Body of Christ. It was one of the most meaningful expressions of God’s movement in the world; God who unites us as God’s children. It was a beautiful moment for Gethsemane.

 

It was also a test for our congregation – how would Ram, a Hindu, receiving Holy Communion be received. I am happy to say that the congregation has received Ram as a sibling in Christ. Ram has also joined our Centering Prayer group led weekly by a talented congregation member.

 

It is tricky to know what it feels like to be a person of color, a person who identifies as part of the LGBTQIA++ community, or simply a person who has been hurt by the church if one doesn’t identify that way. A final story I would like to share happened most recently and helped me realize that although we have much work to do, we are growing in the right direction.

 

A pastor colleague and their wife were finishing a week of vacation and decided they wanted to attend church somewhere as they were back in town. They chose Gethsemane. For the purpose of the story, the pastor identifies as non-binary and is a person of color, their wife is white and their granddaughter, who attended with them is also a person of color. My pastor friend shares that as they walked into our Narthex, they were warmly welcomed by not just one or two people, but “a whole bunch of people”. They shared that it felt warm, natural, and authentic. In fact, her wife said, “I could come here every week” to which my friend said “well, you better not!” The welcome didn’t end in the Narthex, but an invitation was extended to the Mother’s Day reception in the Social Room afterward.

 

My friend, who is heavily involved in the GM SYNOD RIC team shared this story at a recent meeting with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team led by Pastor Afi Dobbins-Mays. It was tremendously encouraging to know that they felt this level of authentic welcome from our people at Gethsemane.

 

Our congregation has been on a tremendous growth trajectory, and we continue to see the work of The Spirit as we welcome more people, traditional and non-traditional families into our family of faith. We have been blessed beyond by the work and support of the GM Synod DEI team/RIC team and we look forward to seeing what the Spirit has up her sleeve next!

 

I am proud of you and the intentional work you continue to do to authentically welcome “the stranger”. I am proud of the uncomfortable places you put yourselves to educate and become better stewards of God’s mystery of creation. Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus notes that we are all “members of one another” – an incredibly rich statement of love and inclusion.

 

In the month of July, I will be starting a 3-week sermon series entitled “The Expansiveness of God” in the hopes that we can unlock new understandings of who God is and how God shows up in our world – Yesterday and Today!

 

Thank you, beloved Gethsemane, for all the work you do as community to continue to open the door to the understanding of God’s love for ALL people.

 

With gratitude! Pastor P

Lunch bunch is Tuesday July 11th, 11:30 at Meyer’s Restaurant. 4260 S 76th Street. Sign-up sheet in Narthex.This group is open to all Gethsemane women. Feel free to invite your friends and neighbors.Please contact Joy Clark 414-690-3522with any questions

Summer is here and that means we are bringing back our outdoor worship services! This past Sunday we had our first of three outdoor worship services for the year. Thanks to all who joined! Future outdoor services will be: Backpack blessing August 27th and Pet Blessing September 10th

Karen Wenzler                  7/02

Sherry D'acquisto             7/03

Gerry Wenzler                  7/04 

Tyler Kraft                           7/10

Scott Schalk                        7/10

Jerry Haack                         7/15 

Linda Hofstetter               7/16

Kris Matthews                   7/20 

Diane Petsch                      7/22 

Dustin Spears                    7/22

Leigh Anne Spears           7/23

Linda Rosandich                7/28

Beth Kraft                           7/30

Mexican Fiesta was such a great success with so much welcoming, warm, loving energy and great fellowship! We appreciate everyone that came! Thank you to all our volunteers for donating your time and energy to make this night happen. Thank you to Cindi and Eddie Gonzalez for creating this event and making it such a wonderful experience.

In January of this year, a number of Gethsemane folks attended Together in Mission, an event sponsored by The GM-Synod. One of the things that we could participate in was a photo/storytelling project spearheaded by an organization called “A Peace of Mind” where the question was asked "When have you felt included or excluded from a group or community?" We are so proud to share that our own Laurie Thalacker was selected as one of 15 stories and portraits that are now a part of a traveling photo display and free video playlist! Thanks for sharing your powerful story, Laurie! Gethsemane is so thankful for you and that you are here with us!

CANS FOR KIDS UPDATE!

 

Thank you to everyone who donated cans on our first rally can Sunday June 25th!

 

Our next rally can Sunday will be 7/30 & 8/27 please continue saving your cans to bring in on those dates. This drive directly supports our Sunday school kids.

Through the end of May:

·  Actual giving was $73,781.13 which is ahead of our pro-rated YTD budget ($50,875); this number includes offerings for Raise the Roof, 75th Anniversary, etc.

 

·  Actual expenses were $100,049.33 which are slightly higher than the pro-rated expenses ($98,458)

 

·  YTD endowment draws are $57,100.00 as of May 31, 2023.  The Endowment Fund balance as of April 30, 2023 is $ 509,465.24 (this does not include the 2nd draw request of $28,550.00 which was received in May).

 

·  If we continue similar giving and expenses for the remainder of the year, the total endowment draw should be less than the $114,200 projected deficit

 

Thanks for your continued support to our church home!

 

Family Fest, formerly Kid's Fest, is planned to take place here at Gethsemane on Saturday, August 19th from 1 to 5 PM.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, Family Fest is a community-oriented, family event with games, food, music, and fun for people of all ages.

 

New to this year's event, the planning committee is reaching out to area businesses to ask for their sponsorship to help support the event.  If you are a business owner, know a business owner, or believe that your place of work would be interested in being a sponsor of the event, please reach out to Ashley Jeske or Mitchell Levenhagen to receive a digital or physical copy of the sponsor letter, sponsor information, and event flyer.  The planning committee is also asking businesses to consider donating gift certificates and/or items for the event's silent auction.

 

Please reach out to Ashley Jeske or Mitchell Levenhagen with questions or requests for additional information.  Thank you.

Volunteers needed for the AV Team!!!

 

If you are interested in helping with AV during our Sunday services please contact the office at office@gethsemane-elca.org or let pastor know! Thank you so much for making our services great!

Raise the Roof Progress!

We want to thank everyone who has already donated to the Raise the Roof campaign, we have done such an amazing job! This is the total as of the month of June. We thank you all again Gethsemane would not be what it is today if it wasn’t for each and every one of you.

75th Anniversary

We had our first round of Garden Parties on June 23rd and 24th!

Thank you everyone that came and enjoyed themselves, thank you Gonzalez family for putting on the parties and welcoming us into your home.

 

Social Media!

We use it on the daily and Gethsemane is going to start to advance ourselves so we may use this tool as a way to get Word of God and our wonderful church more known in the social media world! We need your help! We would love to show others Gethsemane Church our events, ministries and all the wonderful things us as a community have to offer. If you have some pictures you would like shown with details please send to our new email address photosgethsemane@gmail.com we have some wonderful people on our social media team that will be checking and creating content to share. If you are not part of our Facebook page hop on and take a look, like and share our page, engage in our posts!

 

We are so proud to be part of this church and we are loving the growth we have seen here. Gethsemane is a special place to share and that is exactly what we are going to do! Thank you all so much for your support!

Look who wants to say Hello to her Gethsemane Family!

 

Pastor went to see our dear Dian on Tuesday June 27th

Dian is doing well and misses everyone so much!

 

If anyone is interested in sending our dear Dian Ferch a note of love and encouragement please send in Care of Craig Ferch 102 Sunrise Court Bonduel WI 54107

 

If anyone would like to give her a call too her number is 715-940-0658

She is always happy to hear from her community here at Gethsemane Lutheran Church!

Office Talk with Autumn

 

Office updates!

 

Happy July Gethsemane Family!

I wish you all a beautiful magical July 4th with your family and friends! I am excited to take the boys to see fireworks!

 

You will see more content on our Facebook page and we will be updating our website soon! Our social media team is wonderful and this will help give you all information about what is going on here at Gethsemane.

 

If you ever have a question about schedules or events coming up please check out Facebook, Gethsemane Website, we have our weekly “Here at Gethsemane” email and of course a paper copy in the front of the church. Or the Garden Notes ;)

 

Please check the sign up table! I know we all have things going on this summer and I have a sign-up sheet for the workers in the Garden on Sunday for our services. This way we can schedule out for the month coming up! If you have any questions please let me know!

 

Thank you all for being a part of this wonderful church and community. As always please contact me if you have any questions or concerns! office@gethsmeane-elca.org

New Member orientation meeting July 16th after service! Come join us learn more about Gethsemane Lutheran Church. Come with questions! We have answers!

Please contact office to volunteer for July schedule

Or sign-up sheet in the Narthex

* AV * Assistant Ministers * Readers *Acolytes * Ushers

Please keep our Gethsemane Family & Loved ones in your prayers!

 

… Dian Ferch … Paul Johnson … Aaron Kittson … Judy Piotrowski

… Pat Lambrecht … Anne Frost … Tracy

… Melissa … Community of St. Camillus … Aimee … Leah … Jessica

… Dan Boyd … Zachary … Community of Mr. Bob’s Under the Bridge

… Women of the Freedom House

 

If you need prayer requests added or removed or

would like it sent to the Prayer Chain Group,

please contact the office at 262-782-8370 or

send an email to the church office.

Upcoming Events for Gethsemane

July 2nd – Social Media Meeting after worship

July 4th – July 9th – Pastor Out for Conference

July 5th July 12th July 19th July 26th – Bible Study 10-1130 am

June 6th – Centering Prayer 6 pm

July 8th – Property meeting 8:30 am

July 11th – Busy Bee’s 9:30-12 pm

July 11th – Lunch Bunch at 11:30 Meyer’s Restaurant

July 12th– Transforming Book Study 6-7:30 pm

July 13th – Mission Team 6:30 pm

July 14th - 55+ Club 1-4 pm

July 15th – Mr. Bobs Under the Bridge meet at church at 7:15 am

July 16th – New member meeting after worship

July 17th – Community Chapel at St. Cam’s 10:30 am

July 18th – Council meeting 6:30 pm

July 19th – Transforming Book Study 6-7:30 pm

July 21st – Garden Party at Gonzalez household

July 22nd – Garden Party at Gonzalez household

July 22nd – 75th Anniversary meeting 9 am

July 24th – Community Chapel at St. Cam’s 10:30 am

July 25th – Busy Bee’s 9:30-12 pm

July 26th – Transforming Book Study 6-7:30 pm

July 28th – 55+ Club 1-4 pm

July 29th - Men’s Breakfast 8 am at Pallas

July 31st – August 3rd – Autumn out of office

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We will

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Share God's Bounty

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Office@gethsemane-elca.org

Pastor@gethsemane-elca.org

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