Linda Boyken was discharged from the hospital on Friday, Feb 2. Her hospital stay was a real roller coaster ride! She is now in the rehab wing at Avera Prince of Peace for physical and occupational therapy until she is ready to return home.

 

If you would like to send her a card, I know it would lift her spirits. You can use her regular address, and I will make sure her mail gets to her.

 

Washington Crossing

4709 E 6th Street #310

Sioux Falls, SD 57110

(You must include the apartment number.)

 

Many thanks!

 

Jolene Mittelstedt

Wed. Message

April 17, 2024

For Such a Time as This

 

This month’s Bible study is on the short, Older Testament book of Esther.  It’s a story that our Jewish kin re-enact  every time they celebrate the holiday of Purim, which was less than one month ago.

 

In the days of the great King Xerxes of Persia, a significant community of Israelites who had been taken captive many years before dwelt in the capital city of Persia and the regions around it.  They were not enslaved as they had been in Egypt.  They lived as a minority ethnic group, somewhat assimilated into the general culture of Persia, but often persecuted as minorities in any culture can be.  Mordecai, a Jew, was a minor court official, and Esther was his cousin.  King Xerxes’ wife had displeased him, so he decided to hold a sort of beauty contest to choose a new wife.  Esther was taken to be part of the contest, and Mordecai urged her to be silent about her Jewish heritage for fear this would disqualify her.  To make a long story short, Esther pleased the king and he made her his new queen.

 

Meanwhile, a new character enters the story: Haman, a high-ranking member of the king’s court.  If you were at a Jewish Purim celebration, which is all about the book of Esther, you would all boo at this point because Haman is the villain in the story. 

 

Haman gets upset because Mordecai, who often sat at the king’s gate hoping for news of Esther, refused to bow to him when he passed.  As a Jew, Mordecai could not commit the idolatry of bowing to a human being.  Haman hates Mordecai, but instead of trying to kill Mordecai alone, Haman decides to convince the king that all Jews are a threat to him and that they should all be destroyed.  A genocide.  A holocaust.  Haman even bribes the king by promising that he’ll bring the money held by the Jews to enrich the king’s coffers.  So the king signs the edict for the genocide. The date is set and the plan is publicly announced.

 

Now Mordecai hears the announcement and immediately goes into mourning in the traditional Israelite manner: he tears his robes and puts ashes on his head and fasts.  Esther, who has not heard the king’s edict, is told about Mordecai’s behavior, and she sends a messenger to find out what is going on.  Mordecai sends back the news of the king’s genocidal edict as well as a call for her to approach the king to have this edict rescinded.

 

Esther replies that she can’t do that; she has no power and in fact her life she could be executed if she dares to approach the king on her own unless he holds out a golden scepter to signal his willingness to hear her.

 

Mordecai replies with these words: “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish.  Who knows?  Perhaps you have come to the royal court for just such a time as this?”

 

Friends, I have to confess that much of what’s happening in the world right now scares me.  Economic inequality is at an all-time high, and the middle-class has been disappearing for decades.  The violence in Gaza and Ukraine threaten to spread to the rest of the world.  At home, women and refugees and LGBTQ+ persons are all under attack and losing their rights.  Democracy, itself, seems precarious.

 

None of us would choose these things.  We would prefer to live in a more secure and tranquil time.  But, who knows?  Perhaps God has put us here for exactly such a time as this.

 

Blessings,

        Pastor Dustin

 

Please submit all news items and/or reports for the monthly newsletter.

 

Bible Study, Wednesday April 24 3:00 pm with Pastor Dustin,  the second and fourth Sunday and Wednesday of the month.  Everyone is always welcome to come and join us

There will be no bible study during the month of May.  Pastor Dustin will be out of the office.

 

Spring Clean Up, Saturday, April 27, 2024 10:00 am weather permitting. We will have a list of the jobs that need to be taken care of.  There will be cleaning supplies, garden equipment will be set out including

grass containers. Don’t forget your gloves.

 

Coffee Server: April 21st ~  WinG’s

 

Money Counter: 

        

        April 21  Sue Pearson

       April 28  Cyndy Voight