This post is one of the monthly posts blog posts written by the deans of the conferences of the Minneapolis Area Synod.
By Pastor Kris Tostengard Michel
Bethlehem Lutheran Church Twin Cities
Dean of the South Minneapolis Conference
Last November, we received word that a former member, aged 92, had died. The family had moved away 60 years ago, but for three-and-a-half decades, Bethlehem had been a place where faith was formed, friendships nurtured, and the next generation was introduced to stories and songs about Jesus.
The man had requested a simple scattering of his cremains. With the family now spread across the country, how would we arrange a ceremony that met the deceased’s request, the current needs of a large and religiously diverse family, and the schedules of all involved?
The family decided to gather in Minneapolis for a burial in April. My schedule didn’t allow me to go to the burial cemetery, so we arranged for the family to stop by Bethlehem Lutheran Church* for a blessing the day before the inurnment.
The stained glass in the chapel at Bethlehem Lutheran Church Twin Cities
On the morning of the blessing, we were pleasantly surprised to welcome nearly double the number of family members we’d expected! The Holy Spirit was at work! I started thinking about where we’d find some extra chairs, slightly worried about how we’d all fit in the small chapel space. Before the blessing, thinking they may want to see how the space had changed – and not changed — over a few generations, and perhaps hear the majestic organ again, I gave them a tour of the space. They took one look around and said, “Wait…we’ve never been here before…This doesn’t look like the church we remember!” They realized they had belonged to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis, not South. The Bethlehem they attended had merged with other congregations (Bethlehem and Zion, River of Life, and Christ English) over the years which today is known as Christ the River of Life, a congregation that still worships in the building they had known and loved. They started texting family and friends to make sure everyone was headed to this Bethlehem* on Lyndale Ave South.
A short time later, with everyone at the same Bethlehem Lutheran Church location, we scooted and squeezed into the tiny chapel. We named the reason for gathering: to remember a beloved father, brother, uncle, and friend, to give thanks for his life, and to commend him to God’s eternal care. I read Scripture, and his loved ones created an impromptu group eulogy. In the intimacy of that space, we looked into each other’s eyes and spoke the truth about his life; he was a beloved child of God, his life on earth mattered, and his life is now with God.
Sometimes I walk by the chapel in the late afternoon when the sun streams through the windows, and I remember the thin place we shared that day when the distance between heaven and earth collapsed. Our gathering wasn’t about a particular place or congregation that worshiped there — Bethlehem here or there. We were a multigenerational company of saints spanning time and distance to accompany another who was traveling on to be with God. We are church together, people simply walking with each other.
“Blessed be the God and Parent of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of all mercy and the God of all consolation, who comforts us in all our sorrows so that we can comfort others in their sorrows with the consolation we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
*Bethlehem Lutheran Church Twin Cities was formed in 2009 when Minnetonka Lutheran Church and Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Minneapolis (formed by the 1923 merger of Golgatha and Bethlehem Lutheran Churches) consolidated.