Anchoring St. Olaf

This Sunday, January 14th, St. Olaf kicks off an Epiphany season sermon series called, “The Four.” It’s a nod to the first four women named in the genealogy of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew. Now, the genealogy of Jesus is the opening to Matthew’s Gospel ; the first 17 verses are all dedicated to the ancestors of Jesus. We see some notable names, like Abraham, Isaac, and King David. You’ll also notice that all of the names are those of men, the paternal ancestors of Jesus…except for five. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and of course, Mary, the mother of Jesus.   I won’t make you count all of these names, but it breaks down to 42 generations between Abraham and Jesus. Out of 42 generations, the names of all but five women have been forgotten. Sure, we hear about Abraham’s wife Sarah, and Jacob’s wife Rebecca, but these names were left out of the written account of ancestors. The erasure of all but 5 of these women from Jesus’ ancestry is alarming, but unfortunately n...

Here is Pastor Madison's sermon preached in worship on October 29, 2023, to celebrate both Reformation Sunday and the confirmation of St. Olaf's five 9th grade students. To read the preaching text, John 8:31-36, click HERE ! --- Today is Reformation Sunday, one of my favorite days of the church year, and a day in the life of the church that is a little bit strange. We are celebrating change, which is practically unheard of in the church. And, today we rejoice not only in the change, but for the courage of Martin Luther to see the injustices happening in society and doing something about it. Without the courage of Martin Luther, we wouldn't be where we are today. Because over 500 years ago, Martin Luther saw these injustices happening. He saw the Catholic church, as it was in the 1500s, taking advantage of its people. He saw the church charging people money in order to guarantee their spot and their loved ones' spots in heaven. Money was the key to escaping eternal punis...

Ok, so this blog is supposed to be about all the ways that St. Olaf is being revitalized, how we are engaging our larger community and being a resource for other congregations who may need some help.   It is also a way of talking generally about what’s going on in this amazing community of faith. Here’s a new situation. You probably know that the Lutheran Church and the traditions that are generally called mainline protestants (in addition to our Roman Catholic siblings) put a great emphasis on the fact that we are God’s beloved, chosen by our God for life.   Part of how we show this is by baptizing babies.   We believe that God’s choice of us is superior to our ability to choose God. But what happens when an adult comes into our community who isn’t baptized?   And more, what happens when that adult who wants to enter into that relationship with Christ and Christ’s church but doesn’t have what we normally call “sponsors?” We are going to see what that’s like ...

  I’m back!   My sabbatical over the past three months was an amazing time and I am grateful for the opportunity.   I had two very broad goals for my time away.   The first included rest time that was primarily meant to process the first half of my professional career.   I didn’t realize how long it would take to do that.   What I learned is that while being a pastor is an incredible calling and you have opportunity to walk with people through the best and worst of things, it also means that processing those experiences can be challenging.   I may not have fully processed everything, but I’m on my way.     Professionally, my original goal was to explore the concepts of Anchor Church, an approach to ministry that I’ve been immersed in for the last two years.   And while I did some of that work, I found it more beneficial for me to be at these churches who are involved in Anchor, but mostly so that I can see their staffing structures, ...

Pastor Madison here, and it was my distinct honor and privilege to preside over the funeral for a beloved colleague and St. Olaf member, Rev. Ronald D. Jensen, this past week. I've had several people request a copy of the funeral sermon and sonnet that were written for him, and with Kathy's permission, I share them both here. This sermon is based on Ron's life, as well as the following texts:  Romans 8:31-35, 37-39 ,  Psalm 121 , and  Luke 24:13-35 +++ Dear friends and family gathered today, grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.   Now, if you’ve been with me as I’ve had the honor of presiding over other funerals in my tenure as a pastor, you’ll know that I always start my funeral sermons with a quote from the writer, Gerhard Frost, who once said that to mourn for someone is to pay them a great compliment; it is to give meaning and significance to their life.   This is, of course, the reality; that when we mo...

 Between worship services on March 12, I (Pr. Mark) led another session where people can gather to simply ask questions about what is happening in the church.  Here is a brief recap of the questions and the discussion. As always, please come to these sessions if you can, it is a great way to stay in the loop! Membership: how is it going?  2022 saw the first net increase in membership at St. Olaf in years.  Due to demographics, we will almost always have more funerals than transfers and baptisms combined, but not in 2022.  More important than membership though is engagement.  The number of people engaging in our ministries is slowly but surely increasing.   An anecdote: In Advent, for our Wednesday worship services, we would have between 40-55 people present.  This Lent, through the first two weeks, we are averaging over 100 in worship.  Not just the confirmands and their mentors, we have more people present.  There is a meal served ...