GLIMPSES OF GLENDALE: Weekly Newsletter

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Weekly Newsletter

Glimpses of Glendale

Glendale Lutheran Church Newsletter

May 8, 2025

Springtime is T-Shirt Time - article by Joel Hempel

Pushing my cart down the aisle at Walmart, I noticed a man approaching who seemed to be locked in on my T-shirt. As we walked by each other, the man glanced at my face, looked back at my T-shirt, shook his head, and walked by with an apparent look of disgust on his face.

I was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Inclusion Lives Here."

Originally, I received the T-shirt because Marcia and I walked in a fundraiser event for the developmentally and intellectually disabled. It's the motto of Best Buddies International.

I continue to wear the shirt proudly in support of our sister Shelley and others like her, even though the word inclusion has somehow become controversial.

Absolutely, I believe in inclusion. I even believe in including people like you. Some of you have very different political views than I do. Others of you hold to theological perspectives I could never accept. I know that people reading this are of different denominations, races, and ages. Some of you have a different body shape, are in a different tax bracket, have a different level of intelligence, a different sexual orientation, and are a different gender. You're just different!

But how similar does a person have to be for us to accept them as one for whom Christ died? How similar does a person have to be to love them as Jesus would love them? How similar was the Good Samaritan to the left-for-dead Jew?¹ And how much less of a sinner does a person have to be before we befriend them and invite them into our home?²

If we gave each other access to our inner feelings, private thoughts, and hidden behavior, how long would it take to discover each other's sins? And if we were then seen in our spiritual nakedness, how comfortable would we be showing our faces in public? Yet, knowing we all struggle with desires of the flesh,³ we still want people to accept us, include us, and love us for who we are.

Father, forgive us, for we know what we do.

1. Luke 10:25-37

2. Luke 14:12-14

3. Romans 7:18-25; Galatians 5:16-26

God's Will for Glendale Lutheran Church

On Sunday, May 18, 2025, there will be a presentation in the Family Life Center immediately following service to discuss a proposal for a process that will start this Fall for discerning God's will for Glendale Lutheran Church and for our future as a congregation. The presentation will discuss Pastor's, the Elders' and the Church Council's proposal, the purpose for discerning God's will for the congregation, the process we propose for discerning God's purpose, the issues we will consider during that process, and the goals for that process. Pastor, the Elders, and the Church Council all believe the discerning God's will process is a very important step for both the current and future direction of Glendale Lutheran Church and as a consequence we hope as many of you as possible can attend the May 18, 2025, presentation so you can provide your input and support should you agree with what is being proposed and so you can prepare in the coming months to participate in the process. We look forward to seeing you!

Baseball Darts

Come join the fun at Baseball Darts, on the following Wednesdays: May 14 and 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the Youth Room.