Second May Newsletter

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University Lutheran Church

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May 14, 2008, 12:00:02 PM5/14/08
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Greetings All,

The exodus has started. Surrounding streets on campus have been closed as students begin the process of moving out for the summer. The familiar cardboard boxes on wheels are everywhere as students who are staying move belongs from one residence to another. In a few days those of us who live in University City will be experiencing the quiet that comes with summer in a town and gown environment.

The usual weekday activities continue here at UniLu. Tonight will be Bible Study at 6PM, and tomorrow mid-day eucharist at 10 past noon commemorating Matthias, apostle.

Other Items of interest included below:

  • Looking forward to this Sunday: Details of the Day
  • Baby Manna: It's Not too late
  • Fund raiser Honoring Louise Shoemaker
  • More Poetry by Kevin Saunders
  • An Update from Linda Warner from Israel
  • An update from Harrisburg on SB 1250
  • Lutherans on YouTube

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Looking forward to this Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Trinity:

        9AM Choir: This will be the final choir rehearsal of the academic year.
        9:30AM Adult Forum continues looking at the Social Statement on Sexuality.
        On June 1 they will gather for the last time this year to compile comments to send to the ELCA.
        10:30 Celebration of Holy Communion, Reception of New Member,
         Recognition of graduating seniors. Coffee Hour thanking choir for past year and bidding farewell to     seniors and bass section leader Drew Cardinale.
        7:00PM Lutherans Concerned, a ministry for LGBTQ Lutherans and their allies.
        Pot-luck supper and fellowship.


Worship Assistants for Sunday

Cantor: Drew Cardinale; Verger: Bruce McCullough; Deacon: Raymond M. Kvande; Sub-deacon: Rich Tolsma; Crucifer: Sim Heeren; Lector: Alexa Epstein; Communion Assistant: Sharon McCullough; Prayer Leader:  Fred Quivik;
Coffee Hour: Dorothy and Dick Linderman; Usher: Anita Heeren; Greeter: Carl Beck

Music Scheduled for Sunday

Prelude: Partita for solo violin no. 2: I – Allemanda  – J.S. Bach
                 -Kara Yokley, violin
 
Entrance Hymn: #450 – I Bind Unto Myself Today

Kyrie:  # 153 -Kyrie

Hymn of Praise: # 164 Glory to God, Glory in the Highest

Gospel Acclamation: # 175

Hymn of the Day: #412 – Come, Join the Dance of Trinity
 
Offertory Anthem: Alta Trinita Beata – Unknown, 15th century Italian      
High and blessed Trinity, by us always adored. 
Glorious Trinity, Marvelous unity,
you are savory manna, and all that we can desire.

Sanctus: From ELW Setting One

Lamb of God:  Adapted from Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem

Communion Hymn: #415 – Father Most Holy

Communion Chant Veni Creator (canon)

Sending Hymn: #413 – Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
 
Postlude: Allein Gott in der Höh Sei Ehr’ – J.S. Bach
            Please note: A translation of the chorale on which this work is based
        may be found at Hymn #410, All Glory Be to God on High.

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Baby Manna: It's not too late

If you forgot to include a check last week for Baby Manna, the Philadelphia Food Bank's campaign to purchase infant formula and baby products (which are seldom donated), you can still make a contribution this week. The formula and food will be distributed among member agencies in our nine county service area throughout the Delaware Valley.

BabyManna is so important because 12,000 newborn babies will face the possibility of infant malnutrition in our area alone. Many of these babies are born into poverty and will be raised by caregivers who need infant formula. Watered down formula, too little formula, or the use of cow's milk can lead to lifelong health problems for the child.

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Fund raiser Honoring Louise Shoemaker, May 30

Please join the Christian Association in honoring Dr. Louise Proehl Shoemaker, Dean Emerita of the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania. During her years as a social worker, educator, and Dean, Louise demonstrated her passion for service and social justice. Both her heart and vision are apparent in her work in Africa, with African refugees in the United States, and with African-American students and faculty at Penn.

It is this passion for Africa that the Christian Association wants to cultivate. The Open Mind Grant for Africa in Honor of Louise Shoemaker will fund an annual financial grant for one or more Penn undergraduates or Social Policy and Practice graduate students to pursue studies or projects that will further social justice in Africa and help raise consciousness of Africa’s issues at home.

Named a “Pioneer” by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation, Louise has always worked to introduce students to the social justice issues in Africa, such as education, women’s rights, and refugees. From developing Nigeria’s first master’s degree program in social work at the University of Ibadan, to welcoming Sudanese refugees into her home and then educating and raising them, to social activism with the Evangelical Lutheran Church, to attracting more African-American students and faculty to the School of Social Work, Louise has been a significant contributor to the field of social work and an exemplar for all who follow her.

We know you will want to join us in honoring Louise Shoemaker and help promote future social advocates in one or more of the ways listed on the following page.

Join us at the kickoff fundraising event for the
Open Mind Grant for Africa in Honor of Louise Shoemaker
on Friday, May 30, 2008 at the LGBT Center,
3907 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.

for more info  http://www.upennca.org/index.php?id=285

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More Poetry by Kevin Saunders

The Pain of More.
A poem by Kevin B. Saunders
       God of my salvation, I need you more than ever.
        Every journey in my life is challenging.
        I face the adversary through negative energy--not people;
        through situations of bad temptation.
        Through places I've passed through daily on my way home.
        Wondering if this is it.
        Knowing I have a choice of whether to go left or right; forwards or backwards. To say yes, or to say no.
        Yet you deliver me. You protect me not just from my enemies--but also from myself.
       I was weak; but you strengthened me.
       You allowed me to express myself.
       No one gets harmed in the process.
       She teaches me how to love my neighbor.
       I soon learn to love myself.
       I'm faced with doubts, yet you grace me with faith.
       Former  Brooklyn-based kid, I was, of a now mysterious past.
       Yet it doesn't show me how to live; it showed me how to stay alive.
       Then I relaxed on my fortieth birthday. Retired.
       The adversary didn't defeat me.
       He tried to get everything he could out of me.
       But this time--he loses.
       God wins. We all do.
       And He would never leave.
                     END     

Coming Soon to UniLu newsletter!

A short, five-part spiritual tale full of cliffhanging suspense and a surprise ending will be submitted by Kevin B. Saunders. You'll love it greatly and it will stay in your mind long after you read this suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat tale. Yet it'll uplift you.  Kevin.

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An Update from Linda Warner from Israel

May 12, 2008
 
Today Patti and I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial.  It covers a few acres and has indoor and outdoor remembrances.  We took a bus there, which took about 15 minutes.  Then we had to walk down a pathway which took another 20 – 30 minutes.  The pathway was very beautiful, with rosemary (of course) on the sides and beautiful cedars and other evergreen trees along the way.  When we arrived at the entrance, we go through a building that is built almost entirely of glass.  I think I have been there every time I have visited Jerusalem. 
 
There is a quote from Isaiah 56:5:
                       
And to them I will give, in My house and within
                         My walls, a memorial and a name [Yad Vashem} …
                        An everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”
 
A plan for Yad Vashem was initiated in the summer of 1947.  However, the military struggle and Israel’s war of independence curtailed any activity.  After the State of Israel was established, initiatives were undertaken to create a central state authority that would lead the effort to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.  In 1953 The Minister of education and historian Prof. Ben-Zion Dinur, presented the Knesset with the Yad Vashem – State Remembrance Authority Law. 
 
The cornerstone for the first Yad Vashem building was laid on July 29, 1954.  Entrance is free – it relies solely on donations for its subsistence.
 
The main building is a very long concrete building shaped like an upside down V.  The top of it is glass through which it gets a lot of its light.  The impact of the whole museum is overwhelming.  When you first come in, there is a video of a large town or city.  The video goes down a street and you can see people in their homes: children at play, violinists practicing, women cooking in the kitchen, etc.  Behind this is a map which depicts where the Germans are going.
 
The whole exhibition is chronological.  So as you go from one room to another, you are following Hitler’s regime and what happened.  Remember that the pictures and films that are shown have to have been made by the Germans themselves.  There are some 100 video screens, survivors; testimonies and original film clips including cinematic diaries that recount the Holocaust narrative.  Some of the exhibits include, for instance a suitcase  a person packed to bring to a camp and they never used, the original contents are still in it; a long part of the floor with a glass top (3’ x 12’) filled with shoes; silver items that were confiscated from Jews.  Himmler made it a law that Jews could have no possessions and it was legal to take any and all belongings from Jewish people.  There are, of course, pictures of mass killings and next to the pictures pictures of the dead in better times with friends and family.  There is a history if anti-Semitism throughout time.  There is a history of Hitler, the men under him and his campaign.
 
In March, 1933 the first concentration camp was opened – Dachau.  It became of place of internment for German Jews, Communists, Socialists and liberals.  In July, 1933 Pope Pius XI concluded a Concordate (treaty) with Hitler, even though the Nazis had imprisoned several Church officials for protesting German terror and assaults on civilians.  Later gypsies, homosexuals and Seventh Day Adventists were added to the list of those considered enemies of the Reich. Don’t forget the book burning in May, 1933.  The Germans had radios with one station.  Britain closed immigration by Jews to Palestine.  If they saw ships with Jews headed there, they would board them and send them to
 
I am not going to go through all the history.  Other than to say that this museum is unbelievable and it really grabs you. 
 
 
 
When you leave the main building you can go to the children’s section.  Before entering,  there are a group of large rectangular concrete pillars with the tops appearing to be chopped off.  This signifies children whose lives were cut short.  Then you walk through a building which is completely dark.  Inside there must be a lot of mirrors with lights.  So you have the effect of millions of lights all around you – over, under in front and in back of you.  Then there are voices reading the names and dates of all the children who died in the Holocaust.
 
Outside there is an open square with maple trees planted and it is called the Warsaw square.  There are sculptures throughout Yad Vashem. 
 
The experience of being at Yad Vashem is one not to be missed even though it is emotionally draining.
 
We then took another bus back and got off at Mahane Yehuda.  We walked through and got a few things.  When we got back to Lev Yerushaleum, we were exhausted.

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An update from Harrisburg on SB 1250


Thanks to all of you who spoke out, on Tuesday night last week, the Pennsylvania Senate voted to "Table" the proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned marriages for same-sex couples, civil unions and possibly more for all unmarried couples.

SB 1250 is now off the voting calendar and can not be considered unless there is another vote to move it back on the calendar.

The prime sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Michael Brubaker (R-Lancaster), stated that he was proposing the legislation be tabled because the Speaker of the House, Dennis O'Brien (R-Philadelphia), was going to assign the legislation to the House State Government Committee if it passed the Senate.  The House State Government Committee is chaired by Rep. Babette Josephs (D-Philadelphia), a strong supporter of the LGBT community, who is opposed to the legislation. Rep. Josephs has stated that she would not move the legislation out of committee.

It is important for everyone to understand that the bill is STALLED, not DEAD.  Sen. Brubaker said that if the House indicates that the bill will go to another committee or that it is interested in voting on the bill, the Senate will bring it to the floor for a vote.

So we need you to call or email your state Representative now and tell them to oppose SB1250. Visit our Legislator Locater to find the name and phone number of your state Representative -- please click on the "state" tab above the legislators pictures for your state elected officials.

Your calls and emails also had an impact.  Many Senators were losing their enthusiasm for the legislation due to strong constituent opposition. We need to deliver the same message to the House.

Equality Advocates Pennsylvania was working hard in the Capitol to defeat this legislation last night and we will be there until this legislation is defeated.  I would like to thank all of the members of the Value All Families Coalition and other allies for their hard work and dedication.



Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your Representative (if you live in Pennsylvania)

Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Please Oppose Any Efforts to Move SB 1250 Out of Committee!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As your constituent, I urge you not to support SB 1250, the so-called "Marriage Protection Amendment," or any other Constitutional Amendment that would deny legal recognition of unmarried families.

Senate Bill 1250 was tabled on May 6 in the Pennsylvania Senate. Please oppose any action to move this bill to the House!

I do not support the so-called "Pennsylvania Marriage Protection Amendment," and ask you to oppose it.

Please help to protect all Pennsylvania families and not harm some by writing discrimination into Pennsylvania's Constitution, a document created to expand rights, not limit them.

Pennsylvania law already stops gay and lesbian couples from marrying. This amendment, therefore, is not necessary.

For the well-being of all Pennsylvanians, please vote against Senate Bill 1250 and writing discrimination into our Commonwealth's Constitution.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

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Lutherans on YouTube  (This is your reward if you made it all the way to the end of this email.)


Important information direct from the office of the ELCA’s General Counsel . . . .

 
-----Original Message-----
From: ELCA Attorneys Association [ mailto:ELC...@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG] On Behalf Of Phil Harris
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 11:55 AM
To: ELC...@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG
Subject: Fwd: Re: Lost and Found's Lutheran Song on YouTube

 

Who knew???????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=102kvQ1dWoY


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Shalom, salaam, peace,

Fred

Fred Wolfe
Interim Coordinator for Campus Ministry
University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation
Chestnut Street at 37th Street Walk
215.387.2885
admini...@uniluphila.org   www.uniluphila.org
messageboard   http://uniluphila.informe.com
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