WE NEED YOU for God s Work Our Hands Sunday. Parish Contacts. Angelos Volume 17, Issue

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1 79 Angelos Volume 17, Issue Parish Contacts Parish Office: Pastor Kerry: Pastor Cell: zion_adrian@iw.net kerryboese@frontiernet.net ck_knips@hotmail.com Parish News Confirmation Week for Summer 2016 will take place the first week of August, the 1 st through the 5 th. From 9 am to 3:30 pm every day we will be studying, discussing and, hopefully, enjoying the whole topic of our Lutheran church personality, and how that came about, and how that has made Lutheran Christians unique in the church. We ll learn more about Martin Luther and his contributions to the church. We will talk about his role in the Reformation of the 16 th century, the 500 th anniversary of which will be celebrated around the world in The confirmation youth will meet at Zion Church s building. Students are to bring their Bible, copy of Luther s Small Catechism, notebook, pencil/pen and a sack lunch. Pastor Kerry will be on sabbatical leave August 8 through September 18. During that time, two retired pastors will lead worship at both Adrian and Hadley. Rev. Richard Ricker of Worthington will lead August 14, 21, 28 and September 4. Rev. Richard Foster of Sioux Falls will preside at worship the 11 th and 18 th of September. In case of a need for emergency pastoral care during Pastor Kerry s time away, you are encouraged to feel free to contact (especially for Hadley) Pastor Chris Naig at Lake Wilson Good Shepherd Lutheran, Pastor Ted Kunze at Slayton Christ Lutheran; (especially for Zion) Pastor Richard Ricker of Worthington, or Pastor Gary Anderson at Worthington American Lutheran. Hadley/Zion is serving The Banquet, Sioux Falls, Monday, August 1 st. September 11 th is God s Work, Our Hands Sunday. It is a day ELCA members and congregations across the country are making a special effort to serve the neighbor in some way. That day is also the 15 th anniversary of 9/11. WE NEED YOU for God s Work Our Hands Sunday WHO: Zion members of all ages. WHAT: Cleaning up the bottom of the Adrian sledding hill. WHERE: Meet at Zion church building. WHEN: Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 8:50AM God s Work Our Hands Sunday is September 11, 2016 and we need your help! God s Work Our Hands Sunday is an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; one church freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor. It was decided by the Zion Council to do an activity for God s Work Our Hands Sunday. Anyone who is available to help should plan to meet at the church at 8:50AM. We will walk or car pool to the sledding hill in Adrian, and pick up the garbage that collects at the bottom. We will plan to return to the church around 10AM to enjoy a light morning snack together and will then come together for worship at 10:45AM. For those who wish to be a part of this but who feel they may not be able to pick up garbage, we are looking for help with bringing donuts, rolls, cookies, bars or juice to be served when we return to the church. We will need volunteers to stay at church and have the food set out and ready by 10AM. If you are helping with the garbage pickup please bring your own gloves, and dress accordingly, we will all worship together; don t wear your Sunday best. Please call Sara Henning at (507) if you are able to help with donating juice, or any food items for the light morning snack, if you can help get the food ready at the church or if you have any questions. 1

2 Thank You... Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers and gifts of delicious food that was given when I had surgery in June to remove a benign brain tumor. A special thank you to Pastor Kerry for his encouraging words before the surgery and the support afterwards. It was all so very much appreciated. 2 Summer Hoiland (Z) 5 Irene Reinke (Z) 7 Tim Peterson (H) 10 Leelan Veldhuisen (H) 13 Andrew Johnson (Z) 14 Brent Johnson (H) Kellan Johnson (H) Logan Rogers (Z) 15 Neal Gibson (Z) 16 Deb Homan (Z) 17 Kim Nelson (H) 19 Mikayla Reith (H) 21 Sara Henning (Z) Jason Nelson (H) 24 Dan Braun (H) 26 JoAnn Johnson (Z) 27 Linda Olson (H) 28 Mary Zebe (Z) 29 Michael Pearson (H) Please contact the office with any additions or corrections. Missionary Contact Information Zion & Hadley: (Drop an or note sometime) Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Johnson B.P. 111 N gaoundere, Cameroon elisajo@msn.com ELCA World Hunger - Send donations to: ELCA Gift processing center, PO Box 1809 Merrifield, VA , or give online with credit card at (click on Donate Now, then click drop-down box below dollar amounts for choices.) Lutheran Disaster Response For online giving, go to Follow the links for the specific crisis to which you want to give. Becky Gibson Pastor s wider-church involvements for August: [Pastor Kerry is on sabbatical leave August 8 th through September 18 th.] Shetek Lutheran Ministries Christ-Centered Renewal & Learning for All Ages. August 6 Saturday night services 5:30 pm August 20 Pre-Marriage Workshop Shetek Lutheran Ministries would like to be a part of helping you get your marriage off to a strong start, by offering you and your fiancée a chance to think about some key marriage issues, together with other couples also ready to get married. There are various camps still available this month. For details call or check out ELCA Mission Statement: Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we are claimed, gathered, and sent for the sake of the world. Southwestern Minnesota Synod Mission Statement: God places us in cities, farms and towns together under one prairie sky. The Risen Christ surprises us with opportunities to plant God's Word in the world. Walking together in confidence, we cultivate life-giving congregations, nurture partner ministries, and cooperate in the life of the ELCA. By God's grace, together we have what we need. 2

3 Kerry s Column -- The pastors ponderings I have been serving in this parish, or some configuration thereof, for over 12 years. And not once have I dedicated this space to lifting up the importance of worship. And the reason is NOT that I don t think worship is important. For I do. It is the heartbeat of the life of the Christian faith community. The reason I have not written such an article is that, in my experience, when I have done it (as I did in my younger years) or when I have read other clergy articles about said subject, it always feels like the pastor is frustrated and just haranguing on people who don t come to worship. Furthermore, in my estimation, it doesn t work. You can t, with such a written message, convince people who don t think regular worship is important that regular worship is important. Furthermore, if they don t have the sense of connection to the congregation that would inspire them to worship, they likely don t have an inclination to read the congregation s newsletter, either. But, now, having written all that, I m going to take a shot at it, anyway. Maybe it is something we pastors need to do for ourselves at least once a decade or so just to let off steam, get something off our chest, or whatever. But, I m going to compromise here. Instead of using my words, I am going to share with you an article that was originally printed long ago in the newsletter of Zion Lutheran Church of Staten Island, New York. How did I come across this? In some files of mine. It had been reprinted in the newsletter of Riverdale, North Dakota, which was being served by a colleague and fellow text study group participant at my first parish. John Nilsen had grown up in Metro New York and had connections with that church in Staten Island. His first call as pastor was to that church in Riverdale of the Western North Dakota District. Now retired, he stayed in that place his whole career! Incidentally, this piece had also been reprinted in a publication prepared for a Liturgical Conference in Washington, D.C. So, here it is, Having made its way, now, to our humble Angelos, serving as my long delayed return to the worship is a good thing newsletter pastoral article message. I hope and pray that more than just the choir hear this: We need to worship. YOU need to worship. Christians need to be a part of a worshipping faith community. Why? We need to be healed, encouraged, comforted, forgiven, strengthened, guided all of which happens at worship over the long haul. It happens as we lift up our hearts to the Lord. We are lifted out of ourselves, beyond our delights and dilemmas, out of our preoccupations and problems. We are lifted into a new way to see life: to see life in God s context and from God s perspective. Life is more than this problem or that pleasure. Today s pain and dilemma - and happiness - are put in the context of God s reign. In worship we are reminded of all that God has done for the covenant people in the past; we are given the promise of God s presence in the future. In corporate worship God thrusts (lifts) us out of ourselves. Worship thrusts us back into God s history, where we learn the meaning of life. At the same time the liturgy thrusts us into the future, where we learn the hope of salvation, reminded of it, again. Worship also thrusts us toward the world, where we meet our brothers and sisters in Christ and serve them and with them. And in all this, our own needs are met or transformed. As we seek to be healed of a particular illness, we are made whole in a deeper way than we had expected. As we seek protection for our loved ones, we are strengthened to commend them to the God who loves them even more than we do. As we seek prolonged life instead of death, we are given eternal life through death. As we seek forgiveness, we are empowered to be forgiving. As we seek salvation, we are called to bear the cross. As we seek comfort we are taught trust. As we seek peace for our lives, we are made peacemakers. In Word and Sacrament we are transformed. God takes our needs and gives us blessedness. This exchange takes place as our Sunday worship draws us out of ourselves and more and more deeply into God. The meaning and power of our Baptism become clearer as we are drawn more and more profoundly into Christ crucified and risen. Going to worship is not like taking an aspirin that will solve our problems; it is taking Christ s body and blood and becoming what we eat little Christs, beloved children of God. Now, these word will likely not convince people who don t think regular worship is important that regular worship is important. But, if you who come were to come more and more, and invite others to do the same, we can, together, learn, again, the truth of the claim: worship is a good thing. Yes, people can live without worship or vegetables but In Christ, Pastor Kerry Pastor s quote of the month: Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he/she knew where his believers are? (Martin Luther) 3

4 My 2016 Synod Assembly Experience: Embrace God s Mission; Equip God s People As one of your representatives, I think it s important for me to come back from the Synod Assembly to share a few thoughts with you. This year s theme is part of this title: Embrace God s Mission; Equip God s People. To me this theme can mean different things to different people, but to me I always feel that the assembly makes me better equipped to embrace God s mission within my own life and in the lives of others. I have to confess that once again, my Aha moment was not the passing of resolutions or the elections that took place at the Synod Assembly. Now don t get me wrong, those things are important and necessary for Embracing God s Mission and for Equipping God s People. This year there were two resolutions and both of them passed. The first resolution was Regarding the dissolution of the corporation: Lutheran Campus Ministry of MN. The second resolution was to receive River of Hope Lutheran Church, ELCA, Hutchinson, MN. This was a wonderful celebration for this congregation that has been in development in the SW MN Synod for the last six years. If anyone would like more information on these resolutions, please feel free to ask me, I would be happy to share more information about them with you. There were also the important Synod elections that took place where very deserving, faith filled individuals were willing to run for these offices and serve in those capacities. Some great leaders were elected to fill these offices. I will share a few thoughts of my Aha moment. Pastor Kerry probably was hoping I would share this at a worship service, but I couldn t and here s why. For those of you who know me, you know that I often wear my heart and feelings on my sleeve, I can be very emotional and touching things easily bring me to tears and I was afraid of getting up in front of you and falling to tears, however they would have been tears of thankfulness and joy. So, here s my story, I heard the Gospel taken from Luke 7:36-50 at a Synod Assembly worship service. A story I d heard several times before, but for some reason the spirit stirred something up in me this time. If you re familiar with that Bible passage you know that a woman in the town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee s house, so she came there with a jar of perfume. As she stood behind Jesus she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she washed his feet, wiping them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. The Pharisee thought that if Jesus were really a prophet he would have known that the woman touching him was a sinner. In the end He tells the woman that her sins are forgiven; he did know she was a sinner, he also knew how giving she was being to him, her faith saved her. You see the woman did know that she was a sinner, and was so thankful for the opportunity to show him how much he meant to her. It was humbling to me to know that I too am a broken sinner, just like the woman but Jesus loves me and my sins are forgiven because I believe in him so much. It moved me to tears as I thought about how good it must have felt to be that woman and to be able to do something so special for Jesus, I cannot wipe Jesus feet today, but as I Embrace God s Mission, I can Equip myself, equip myself to do acts in my everyday life that Show him just how thankful I am for saving me, a broken sinner! So, I left the Synod Assembly feeling very thankful to Jesus for loving me and forgiving me! Something I already knew, but that I felt deep within at the Assembly as I listened to the Gospel reading from Luke. Thank you to my Zion family for the opportunity to represent you at the Synod Assembly; an opportunity that allowed me to grow deeper in my faith. God s Blessing s to you all! Sara Henning 4

5 Zion Lutheran Council Meeting June 2, :00PM The meeting was called to order by President, Chuck Serfling. Members present, Chuck and Carol Serfling, Kevin Knips, Angelle Berreau, Mel Kroon and Pastor Kerry. Pastor Kerry lead devotions based on "The God of new things". The minutes from the April council meeting were read and approved (motion by Carol, seconded by Angelle). There were no minutes from May due to lack of a quorum. The treasurers reports was reviewed and approved. April: motion by Mel and seconded by Angelle, May: motion by Angelle and seconded by Kevin. Pastor Kerry's sabbatical will run from August 14, 2016 thru September 18, Pastor Rickers will be pulpit supply for the first four Sunday's with Pastor Foster for the final two Sunday's. Hadley will be participating with this schedule. $ per Sunday plus $0.54 per mile. Discussion on a pictorial directory was tabled. The building insurance will be reviewed by Carol prior to our next council meeting. Insurance policies will likely require background checks on all church personnel in contact with children. We have not received a bill for the new mike. A discussion on our funeral policy brought up the trend of cremations without funeral directors. This places more responsibility on the pastor. Pastor Kerry will send out information to council members to review and consider at the next council meeting. The Midsummer Service will include a send off for Pastor Kerry's sabbatical. It was suggested to have Pastor Kerry share his experiences at the October 2, 2016 Sunday service at Zion followed by a potluck downstairs. The Midsummer Service will be held in Adrian's upper park (Grove Park) on Sunday, July 10th at 10:45am. The meal will be chicken, potato salad, baked beans and Pastor Kerry and his wife Deb will be serving ice cream sundaes to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his ordination. Meeting was adjourned. Acting Secretary, Mel Kroon 5

6 Zion Lutheran Council Meeting Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 7:00 pm The meeting was called to order by President Chuck Serfling. Members present: Pastor Kerry, Chuck & Carol Serfling, Mel Kroon, Deb Graham, Kevin Knips, Sara Henning, Char and Randy Kruse. Devotions were led by Pastor Kerry, "The Little Church That Could". The minutes from the June meeting were read. Motion by Deb G., seconded by Char and approved. The treasurers report for June was reviewed. Motion by Mel, seconded by Kevin and approved. Carol reviewed our church insurance policy. It was comparable to other policies that she reviewed. Pastor Kerry reported on the $10.00 club and recent use of it was to help defray camper expense at Lake Shetek Bible Camp. A discussion on revising our funeral policy resulted in the formation of a committee to make suggestions to update our funeral policy. Members, Pastor Kerry, Chuck Serfling and Cindy Knips will meet and report to the council. We received the bill for the microphone for the pulpit. The amount was $ and included labor and parts. The bill will be paid thru the Sound System Fund. The pictorial directory was discussed. We will need to find someone to produce the booklets and a group to schedule photo shoots. Pastor will contact his daughter, Ellie to see if she has any interest. Sara Henning is willing to help with scheduling. Motion by Mel, seconded by Carol to send a check for the Synod Assembly as per suggested guidelines. Motion carried, Carol will send a check. Zion and Hadley will be serving at the Banquet the evening meal on Monday, August 1st. The first shift will start at 2pm with the meal served at 6pm. The donation is expected to be $ This amount may be difficult to raise now that we have only two parishes. It was suggested we have each congregation donate $ Pastor has information packets on stewardship available. We will consider a Fall event. Deb Graham suggested we schedule carpet cleaning this Fall. Randy Kruse has the equipment and cleaning supplies and with some help would clean the carpets. September 11th is "God's working hands" Sunday. Mel will check with the City about cleaning garbage from the sledding hill and creek area. The meeting was adjourned. Acting Secretary, Mel Kroon 6

7 Hadley Zion Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 Serving supper at Sioux Falls, The Banquet (Preparers arrive 2 pm; servers 5:15 pm) Confirmation Week (see article) Zion Council meeting 7:00 pm th Sunday after Pentecost H Worship/Comm. 8:45 am Z Worship/Comm.10:45 am; ELCA Churchwide Assembly, New Orleans 14 13th Sunday after Pentecost Rev. Richard Ricker H Worship 8:45 am Z Worship 10:45 am 15 H Bingo at Golden Living Center, 2 pm th Sunday after Pentecost Rev. Richard Ricker H Worship/Comm. 8:45 am Z Worship/Comm.10:45 am; Please have all September newsletter items in by 9 am th Sunday after Pentecost Rev. Richard Ricker H Worship 8:45 am Z Worship 10:45 am Hadley Ushers Gordon Swan Richard Swan Reader Dan Braun family Altar Iola Hanson Cindy Hanson Zion Ushers Kevin Knips Reader Cindy Knips Altar Cindy Knips 7