The Leaves Are Changing! (And probably by the time this gets to your house they will have all fallen off the trees.)

Transcription

1 November 2016 The Leaves Are Changing! (And probably by the time this gets to your house they will have all fallen off the trees.) by Pastor Toby Schmidt FALL IS ONE OF MY FAMILY S FAVORITE TIMES OF YEAR. I LOVE IT WHEN LEAVES CRUNCH AS YOU WALK AND PLAY OUTSIDE, AND THERE S A CRISPNESS IN THE AIR. MY FAMILY AND I ENJOY THE CHANGES THAT HAPPEN, HOT TO COLD, GREENS AND BLUES TO YELLOWS AND REDS. IT S A GREAT TIME TO BE OUT AND ENJOYING YOUR COMMUNITY AND GOD S CREATION. IT S ALSO A GREAT TIME TO CONNECT TO, GROW WITH, AND SERVE OUR CREATOR AND OTHERS. This November I d like to challenge and encourage you to do just that. I d like to encourage you to do some fun things with your family, friends and neighbors. Intentionally get out and Connect with people, Grow with them, Serve them. I want you to intentionally set aside time; calendar in an afternoon, evening, or meal with people you might know, but you re unsure if they know God and how awesome He is. Pray about your time with them. Connect to God through prayer and His Word. For example read, study, and pray Psalm 66: Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious. Say to God, How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name. Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. Pray for God to grow your faith, and your relationship (your connection) with Him and those people. And then just serve. Serve and love God by serving and loving them. Don t worry about what you re going to say or how to say it. Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. (Mt 10:19b-20, Mk 13:11, Lk 12:11b-12). Just enjoy yourself and let the Holy Spirit take control. Here are some of ideas you could do this last month of Fall: 1) Join a local ministry event, like our Trinity First Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, November 19, from 3-6 PM; invite your friends and family to be a part of it. 2) Create a neighborhood scavenger hunt or geocache, and invite your friends and neighbors. 3) Go to the pumpkin patch and surprise a friend with a pumpkin on his/her front porch. 4) Rake (someone else s) leaves. 5) Take a hike and try to meet neighbors you don t know. 6) Set up a hot apple cider (or hot chocolate) stand for charity. 7) Bake a pumpkin pie from scratch and share it. 8) Make your own audio letter (or read a story, with sound effects) and send it to someone you know through . 9) Host a neighborhood s mores party. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

2 PAGE 2 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Kidstitute, Coats for Kids, Mittens and Hats for Trinity First, Christmas Program KIDSTITUTE UPDATE November will have a lot of variety in Kidstitute! Here s our schedule this month: November 2: Service night November 9: Game/Lesson night TROUBLE November 16: Special Thanksgiving lesson and take home craft November 23: Happy Thanksgiving! No Kidstitute November 30: Kidstitute goes to Feed My Starving Children It s going to be a busy month! Hope you can join us! COATS FOR KIDS COAT DRIVE A SUCCESS! Thanks to everyone who participated in our coat drive to assist The Salvation Army to provide coats to kids this winter! In two weeks we brought in 60 coats! We give thanks that we were able to help kids stay warm in the months ahead! NOVEMBER MISSION PROJECT: MITTENS AND HATS FOR TRINITY FIRST Winter is coming! In partnership with The Frauenshuh Company, on October 30 we will kick off a mitten and hat collection for Trinity First. Drop off NEW mittens and/or hats through Sunday, November 20. After the 20th, The Frauenshuh Facility Expansion Project Town Hall Nov. 13, 9:30-10:30 am While progress is steadily being made on our potential facility expansion project, the vision is not yet fully formed. Church council prays that all Cross View members will engage in refining the vision and in one of the many responsibilities associated with a building project. In an effort to keep the congregation informed, and continue to collect feedback, there will be a Town Hall meeting on Sunday, November 13 during the education hour. The meeting will include a brief recap of the Town Hall meetings held in May 2016, recent progress made and next steps including further project vision development, architect selection and initiating a campaign. You are encouraged to attend to be in the know as the excitement builds and Cross View prepares to serve our members and community in new ways. Company will deliver them to Trinity First in December. What a wonderful way to help kids and adults. (Please note that the Mitten/Hat drive will be our Sunday School mission project this month). CHRISTMAS IS COMING! THE CHILDREN ARE PREPARING! Sunday School children have started to work on their Christmas programs to share the Christmas Gospel with family and friends! Mark your calendar for these special dates! Preshool-1st Grade Program Sunday, December 4; 9:30 AM during the education hour. 2nd-6th Grade Program Saturday, December 10 (during Children s Nativity); TWO performances 10:15 and 11:40 AM. Rehearsals for this program will be during the opening of Sunday School. We will also have two dress rehearsals Saturday, December 3, 10 AM 12 noon & Wednesday, December 7, 6:30-8:00 PM. Information for the program has already been sent out to families. If you have questions, please contact Christine Eid at Christine@crossview.net. Christmas Decorating Volunteers Needed Decorations for the Christmas season are installed only with the help of volunteers! This can be accomplished by a crew of 8-10 people who work with camaraderie and a cheerful spirit! We decorate the sanctuary, as well as hallways and gathering spaces. This work will be done in three shifts: Friday, December 2, 10:00 AM: Hanging of the greens; crèche set-ups Thursday, December 22, 1 PM: Arrange poinsettia display Sunday, January 8, Noon 2 PM: Take-down/clean-up If you are able to help one or more of these times, please contact Rebecca Waller, Rebecca@crossview.net. Bring a friend or family member to help! Clear, easy instructions are available for these easy tasks!

3 PAGE 6 Women s Book Club Women s Book Club will read The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce. Joyce Crosby will host, but this month we will meet at church in room 218 on November 21, 2016 at 1:00 PM. All women of Cross View are welcome to join us. Please contact the hostess if you are interested in joining or if you have any questions. InC to Celebrate with Music & Merry-Making! InC* will attend a concert of Christmas carols from around the world at Cross View on Saturday, December 17, 7:30 PM. The concert is presented by Encore, the adult/alumni choir of Angelica Cantanti, a Bloomington-based youth choir program. Featured music will be Benjamin Britten s A Ceremony of Carols with harp accompaniment, carols old and new, and an opportunity for sing-along carols with the choir. After the concert, InC friends and guests will move to Tavern on France for refreshments. No tickets required! Please join us for this social event. Sign-up at the Connection Center so we have an idea how many will attend. *InC is a social and service group of adults, around the ages InChrist, InCommunity, InConversation, InCaring. Help us pack one million 2016! meals November 10-12, 2016! of the Packing Locations*: Woodbury Lutheran Church Trinity Lutheran Church and School, Waconia Rochester Central Lutheran School Hosanna Lutheran Church, Mankato *all four locations have morning, afternoon, and evening shifts over the three days of the event; Mankato does not have Saturday packing shifts Register to pack at one of the four sites or make a gift at mnsdistrict.org/fmsc Cross View Cards & Games Friday, Nov. 11, 7:00 P.M. Location: Cross View, Fellowship A RSVP to One Host: Loren & Marge Rehmer (952) or Barb Reichert (952) Connect with Cross View members and friends (adults of all ages) for several hours of fun and fellowship by participating in cards and games of your choice. New participants are welcome!

4 COINS FOR THANKSGIVING PAGE 7 OUTREACH AND MISSIONS POBLO Update and Many Opportunities to Serve in November and December COLLECTED IN NOVEMBER In the Thanksgiving season of abundance for many, Cross View will support the VEAP* food shelf for those who have too little food. On Sundays, November 6, 13, 20, and Thanksgiving Day, all loose change collected in worship services will be contributed to the food shelf. This is a great time to clean out all those little areas where coins collects cars, couches, drawers, dresser tops maybe even your change jar... and hear the jingle of an overload of coins in the collection plate. Thank you for your generosity! *VEAP (Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People) serves Edina, Bloomington and Richfield. TRINITY FIRST THANKSGIVING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! The annual Trinity First Thanksgiving meal will be Saturday, November 19, from 4-6 PM (the Saturday before Thanksgiving). This is a great opportunity for families to serve together, and a great way to take care of confirmation service hours. Please help serve with donations, cooking, set-up, serving/greeting, or cleanup. Sign up on a bulletin inserts 10/23, 10/ 30, or 11/6, and turn them into the office or put them in the Sunday collection basket. HELP MAKE CHRISTMAS MERRY FOR VA VETS One of Cross View s most important Christmas projects in this year s Redeeming Christmas outreach initiative will benefit veterans at the MN Veterans Home-Minneapolis. We will be assigned a group of 30 to 34 veterans with the goal of making their Christmas happier and more holy. Our activities will include: CV members or groups who volunteer to purchase a wrapped present (value $30 to $35 or more) for one veteran. CV members who will send Christmas cards, ideally with a personalized message, to all 30+ veterans. Christmas Caroling, on Saturday, December 3, at 3:30 PM. We will visit the MN Veterans Home in Minneapolis, sing carols on each floor, and visit the veterans that we ve been blessed to serve. Collection dates for this Christmas project will be November 20 to December 16. Look for more information on a bulletin board in the Narthex starting the week of November 13. This Christmas gift collection will be in place of our typical gift collection for VEAP. POBLO UPDATE People of the Book Lutheran Outreach (POBLO) is coming! Our POBLO missionaries, Nader and Georgette Alaraj, bring a wealth of experience from their work in Omaha, NE, and we can t wait to join them! Perhaps you met them when they visited on Kickoff Sunday in September! Are the Syrian refugees we hear about in the news already here in our U.S. cities? Yes, they are! Are Christian missionaries and LCMS members meeting them and responding to their needs? Yes, they are! In fact, Nader and Georgette are already impacting the lives of these newest immigrants. Their numbers will be increasing dramatically in the coming weeks and months. The coming of the Syrians is giving us opportunity to respond with love and share the Gospel. It has become impossible for us to go to the war torn countries that are filled with terrorists, who are eager to kidnap or kill people from the Western world. So, the Lord is providing us with availability right here. New immigrant families are going through hardship. All have the same basic needs for food, clothing, transportation, and a job to pay rent and utility bills. The most important barrier is language. Until they learn some basic English language skills, life here will be very hard. POBLO Ministries, in partnership with MN South congregations, are opening an International Friendship Center here soon to help teach English and basic American cultural acclimation. These centers are staffed and managed by volunteers like you and me. Perhaps you could see yourself befriending a new immigrant family and in the process earning the right to share the gospel of Jesus and the reason for the hope and love within you. Cross View and other circuit volunteers will team up to teach English skills to these refugees (with a helpful curriculum no previous teaching experience is required). We will also offer sewing classes, helping women learn a job skill. We may provide and deliver needed food, clothing and household items, which will help them get started on their new life. As Nader says, The Holy Spirit is leading the way! Please pray that the Lord would raise up many volunteers willing to follow His lead as we strive to bring many into the kingdom. What part will you play? A group of Cross View members attended a cross-cultural training workshop in October, and we re excited to see how God is preparing an International Friendship Center in east Bloomington. TRINITY 1ST SCHOOL NEEDS VOLUNTEERS Interested in working with kids who need a positive role model and help with their homework? Trinity First Lutheran School is looking for volunteers! Volunteers can assist in any and all capacities, but the school is especially in need of help in the classrooms (8:30 AM - 3:15 PM) and during the afterschool program (3:15-5:30 PM). Help once a week or once a month the schedule is up to you! Check out the website www. trinityfirstschool.org/support for other opportunities. If interested in serving, please contact Educational Support Coordinator Anna VanVleet through (vanvleet.tfl@gmail.com) or phone/ text ( ).

5 PAGE 3 Special Events, Sr. High Youth, Weddings Cross View November 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Election Day 9:30am - Bible Study-Fireside 1pm - Staff Meeting 6:30pm - Small Group Milt 7pm - Open Door Meeting - 7pm - Spiritual Care - Fellowship 7pm - Stephen Ministry Daylight Saving Time ends Church Office Closed 1pm - Staff Meeting ECC Book Room 116 Veterans Day 9am - MAT Training - Fellowship LWML Mite Sunday Women's Bible Study 7pm - Council - Fireside 5:30pm - Long Term Care - Julie 9:30am - Bible Study-Fireside 5:30pm - Family Storytime ECC 7pm - Game Night am - ECC Book Church Office Closed 1pm - Staff Meeting 9:30am - Bible Study-Fireside Trinity First Thanksgiving Dinner 7pm - Open Door - Fireside pm -Women's Book Club 1pm - Staff Meeting Thanksgiving Church Office Closed Worship 9:30am - Bible Study-Fireside 6:30pm - Small Group Milt Church Office Closed 1pm - Staff Meeting 10am - Ministerial Health

6 NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES, MN PERMIT NO Cross View Lutheran Church 6645 McCauley Trail West Edina, MN November 2016 Return Service Requested SCHEDULE Sunday Worship: 8:15 AM (Traditional) & 10:45 AM (Contemporary) Sunday Christian Education, 9:30 AM Office Hours: Tues.-Fri., 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM; Closed Monday Thanksgiving Service Developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ along life s journey Rev. Steve Wheeler, Senior Pastor ext 203, steve@crossview.net Rev. Toby Schmidt, Associate Pastor ext 206, toby@crossview.net Jan Stockman-Sater, Early Childhood Ministries ext 222, jan@crossview.net Christine Eid, Children s Ministry ext 215, christine@crossview.net Jonathan Zellar, Youth & Young Adults MInistries ext 207, jonathan@crossview.net Thursday, November 24, 9:30 A.M. Please invite family & friends to join you! Lisa Carston, Finance & Administration ext 204, lisa@crossview.net Margaret Garrison, Parish Secretary ext 200, margaret@crossview.net Rebecca Waller, Music & Fine Arts Ministries ext 210, rebecca@crossview.net Jason Paulson, Contemporary Music jason@crossview.net Jungjoo Park, Organist jungjoo@crossview.net Lynn Pahl, President Rev. Dr. Harry Wendt, Crossways International Todd & Kim Roeske, Evangelistic Missionaries in Alaska The Clarion is published monthly by Cross View Lutheran Church, 6645 McCauley Trail West, Edina, MN, (Office), (FAX), (ECC). Items for inclusion may be dropped off in the church office or sent via to rebecca@crossview.net. Saturday, Dec A.M. Noon Nativity Story with Costumed Characters Children s Christmas Musical Live Animals at the Manger Crafts, Refreshments