MARIN LUTHERAN CHURCH The Bridge Newsletter

Transcription

1 MARIN LUTHERAN CHURCH The Bridge Newsletter A Reconciling in Christ Congregation Special Edition: 25 th Ordination Anniversary We thank our God every time we remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of our prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1: 3-4) Our hearts are brimming over with joy, delight and thanksgiving for your gift to us of the celebration of our 25 th Ordination Anniversary yesterday! We called our family today and they kept saying how wonderful it all was and how they all felt so welcomed! Our bishop was grateful for his reception by you and was so pleased and heartened by your support and love for us! And, of course, your gift to us of bringing our Hannah to the event was the icing on a wonderful cake! What an incredible day it was! From the lovely reception at the church complete with warmed up monkey bread, to the two look alike pastors who greeted us at entrance to the The Key Room, to the heart-warming scrapbook and slideshow, to the delicious luncheon, to the speakers and MC, to the beautiful quilt, to photographers who took so many pictures of us with our family, friends, members and colleagues, to the lovely framing of our ordination certificates and to the organization behind it all to make it all happen we are overjoyed! Thank you all so much for such a grand celebration of our years in ministry of serving Christ and God s people! How blessed we are to be serving at Marin Lutheran Church! Thank you thank you! In Christ s Love, Pastors Tom & Kathryn

2 Sunday, March 1, 2015 The celebration of Pastor Tom and Pastor Kathryn s 25 th Anniversary of Ordination began at church with worship... Bishop Mark Holmerud was the guest preacher. Jeff Reinders, MLC President, welcomed us all at the beginning of each service. Music was orchestrated by David and led by the choir and musicians flautists, Marilyn & Jane (9am), Andrei (11am), violinist, Mary & percussionist, Felix.

3 Between services there was a lovely reception, hosted by Karen Clinton, Sharon Guy and Karen Peters with help from a few talented cooks & bakers... Following the 11:00am service we gathered at The Key Room of Homeward Bound in Novato for a celebration luncheon... Sue making sure there s a spot for everyone Cheri with the scrapbook Seeing double? Barbara fixing that stray flower Beer brewed by Danny Houts

4 I only have eyes for you Kris, Karol, Kathryn John, Tom, Sara, Anne PROGRAM Host Michael Houts OPENING BLESSING Bp. Mark W. Holmerud SALAD COURSE SONG Pastors Dandy MAIN COURSE GREETING The Rev. Jean Lebbert REFLECTIONS The Rev. Paul Carlson SHARING Tristan Mitchell & Cooper Jacobs FAMILY Hannah Gable DESSERT STEPPING STONES Susan Morrow & Jane McKenzie COMMENTS Pastor Kathryn & Pastor Tom CLOSING PRAYER Bp. Mark W. Holmerud Ordination February 4, 1990 Yale Graduation the Gulbranson family August 27, 1988 with the Gable family

5 Speakers... Michael Houts Master of Ceremonies The Rev. Jean Lebbert Dean Jean The Rev. Paul Carlson Bishop Mark W. Holmerud Tristan Mitchell & Cooper Jacobs Hannah Gable Gifts... given to pastors by their Marin Lutheran Church family Hannah s surprise trip home Their framed ordination certificates (yes, the certificates are 25 years old!) Stepping Stones a keepsake quilt sewn by Jane McKenzie Slideshow created by Michele Jacobs from over 300 pictures Song ditty written by Marilyn Davis Scrapbook filled with wishes Susan Morrow Stepping Stones In appreciative recognition of twenty-five years of faithfully serving, inspiring and comforting the children of God Gratefully, Your MLC family February 4,

6 MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS Pastor Kathryn and I were the first pastors of the three congregation parish that became known as ABC Parish. We were each 3/4 time. During the three years we served, the congregations began working together in the areas of youth, education and worship. Each month we would have three Council meetings; once a quarter we would have a Parish Council meeting. Pastor Tom Although I began as an interim at St. Matthew's, after a year I became the regularly called pastor. In seven years we doubled worship attendance, hosted numerous outreach events including a couple Jazz Festivals and regular Poetry Readings, sponsored a few people to get their green cards, and raised over a half a million dollars to restore and renovate our Parish House. As an Associate Pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church we began a Wednesday evening ministry that included dinner, choir rehearsal, adult education classes, and various youth programs. In the fall of 2004 I was part of a mission trip, along with a couple other members, to Rwanda. The greatest ministry highlight is a challenge to articulate. Over twenty-five years of ministry I have been privileged to get to know and share life with so many loving, compassionate, smart and wonderful people: new born babies to individuals over one hundred years old, people from many ethnic, economic and occupational backgrounds. Through these relationships I have been blessed, encouraged and humbled. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ When I look back upon these last 25 years (whew! Really?), what strikes me the most is the love, laughter and sense of community that has surrounded my family. The second thing that strikes me is the many men and women who have been my teachers. Of course I learned so much from my professors, for whom I am so grateful. But it was members of the churches I ve served who have taught me to love the liturgy of the church and to delight when the Spirit shows up when we gather around God s Word. They let me cry when I ve held their newborn baby and allowed me the privilege of praying around the bedside of their loved one who is dying. I ve had the privilege of enjoying teaching Confirmation to their children and have even found joy in meetings where we have struggled to discern where God is leading us. For all of that, I am so grateful! Pastor Kathryn I was the first female pastor of many of the churches I ve served. At clergy gatherings, we women were definitely in the minority! Sometimes, I was met with resistance and suspicion, but most of the time people opened up their hearts and minds to this new thing that the Spirit was doing in the church! And now our Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton serves the ELCA!

7 I served as a chaplain to the New Jersey AIDS Buddies. I buried so many gay men whose partners and family, sadly, had never heard a word of grace or love about their loved one from the church. The first gay couple I married in the church was a joyful event twenty-two years ago; however, even though our bishop supported me, he felt he had to put a letter of reprimand in my file! It is with such joy and delight that our church now accepts openly gay and lesbian pastors and pastors are allowed to marry same-gender couples! It s been exciting to march in the San Francisco PRIDE Parade! Serving as the Vice President of our Teaneck Inter-Faith Council was a highlight for me. My faith was enriched by having so many rabbis who were my colleagues and then became my friends. I was honored to have been the keynote speaker at the National Women of the ELCA Convention in Arizona. What fun that was! All the National Youth Gatherings I ve attended have inspired my faith in the church and in our youth: Portland, St. Louis, San Antonio and New Orleans. Travelling to Tijuana to build a home for a family with St. John s youth and to Cuernevaca with Marin Inter-Faith Council were definite highlights! Together Our time at MLC has been filled with so much laughter, joy and some sadness at bidding farewell to people we have loved and lost. Becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation, our new patio, the front landscaping project, the 7:30am summertime service, our new Dinner Church worship, our adult confirmation class, all the delicious dinners at church, our new Children s Church, wonderful confirmation classes, interesting adult forums, feeding the homeless women with the REST program, mini-mission trips to Glide Memorial to feed the hungry and to worship, National Youth Gatherings, KidZklub events, VBS, men s lunches, women s retreats, singing with our choir, playing golf... it s all been great! Great ministry and great FUN! Our hearts are brimming over with gratitude from all the gifts of love we ve received from the people of God. Thank you! Thank you! Pastor Thomas & Pastor Kathryn Christmas

8 Michele Jacobs with her family, Cooper, Chloe & Jeff & her slideshow behind them Working the AVs John & Anna There s sure to be FUN when Cheri has her guitar words by Marilyn Davis with Bev Kamphoefner, v.3 1 We re a con - gre - ga - tion blessed with peo - ple good and hand - some, 2 Serv - ing o - thers near and far with cas - se - roles or la - bors, 3 Twen- ty five years have flown quick - ly since your or - di - na - tion, Led by the fine cler - gy team of Ga - ble and Gul - bran - son. You lead us to grow and learn and share our faith with neigh - bors. That s why we are gath-ered here for this great cel - e - bra - tion. Pas - tors, pas - tors, keep it up, you re so ve - ry han - dy; Ser - mons, les- sons, sing - ing too, we think that you are dan - dy! Tune: Yankee Doodle Dandy Ditty Composer

9 We are glad you came!

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12 Just for FUN! For Pastor Paul... With thanks to our photographers: Barbara Bischoff, Cheri Houts & Barbara Allen Whether or not you were able to join the celebration, we hope you enjoy these pictures and other content. It was a fun, celebratory day. For those who were not able to attend, we tried to reconstruct the events of the day in this newsletter. Enough thanks cannot be said for everyone involved in the celebration activities thank you! I would like to send special thanks to Sue Southgate, Barbara Bischoff and Cheri Houts who worked with me on the planning team. Their contributions were huge and mulitalented! Bev