When Jesus said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” ~ John 11:33-44
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Friday, March 24, 2023
Dear Gethsemane Family,
I’ve often relayed to you the words I once received from a rabbi. What makes a story True (with a big ‘T’), True in the spiritual sense, she said, is not that the story simply happened once upon a time, but that, on the contrary, it keeps happening. Stories that are spiritually True are stories that happen again and again and again.
Brainfog and stinking, here’s Lazarus. Here he is still changing his bandages twice per day. Here he is still returning to his Neosporin, as prescribed. The scars, the wounds remain, but here he is! This story of Lazarus is True to me not because I’ve seen dead people get up from their graves. I haven’t. Rather, it is True to me because it is what I’ve witnessed in nearly every season of my life, every time I’ve been able to linger for a while at a church like ours. A church like Gethsemane.
It may not happen every week for everyone. But it happens. We show up. With our anger, our grief, our bandages stinking. We show up praying and praising the One who can save. We show up screaming at the savior, too. Sometimes. Inside if not outwardly. We sit. We stand. We sing. We share a cup. Wine. Coffee. Community. Whatever.
And though, in our convening, something of what ails us clearly remains, nonetheless, at the same time, we walk away, week after week, at least some of the time, a bit more resurrected. A bit more connected. And alive. And so it is, I think, especially at churches like this. Especially at churches like Gethsemane. Here, such experiences are common.
They are part of why we keep coming back and part of why we keep this up: so that the story remains True. So that it takes place again and again and again. That’s why I showed up. And that’s why I stayed. It’s difficult to leave a community where one has witnessed the miraculous.
For this reason, it’s quite difficult for me to share with you all the news that Daisy, Hannah, Samson, and I will soon be moving away. When we do, I will no longer be the pastor to this community. Daisy has been offered a role at a public health clinic in Milwaukee. For her and for the people she will serve, this is an incredibly important Call. She’ll be ensuring that people receive dental care who otherwise would not be able to access or afford it. She’s incredible. I’m so excited to see what good, by grace, she will do.
Just as, by the Spirit, Daisy followed me to this Call at Gethsemane, so now it is time for me to follow her into our next chapter. Our hearts are broken at the thought of not being in your presence regularly even as they smile for having the opportunity to have known and serve you through these unusual times.
Sunday, April 23 will be our last Sunday at Gethsemane. The following Saturday, April 29, we will have some kind of party. People from all of our Chicagoland decades will be invited to celebrate and send us off. More details will follow. Sunday, April 30, Pastor Kyle Severson will be preaching at Gethsemane. On behalf of the synod office, he will be ready to meet with you about your next options for leadership and the paths you’ll be able to take to call your next leader.
In the meantime, I’m here. If you’d like to connect beyond Sunday mornings, please don’t hesitate to call, text, or email. I’d love to get together, have a cup of coffee, or chat on the phone.
Gethsemane Family, you are a True site of resurrection. Places like these are rare.
Daisy, Hannah, Samson, and I will miss you. We’ll carry a piece of you always in our hearts.
Much Love,
Pastor Tom Gaulke
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