G o d W i t h U s. November 2018 C E L E B R A T I N G Y E A R S I N H A R T F O R D Volume 113/No.10

Transcription

1 G o d W i t h U s T h e N e w sl e t t e r o f Emanuel L u t h e r an C h u r c h i n H a r t f o r d C omplaining and grumbling are to Satan what praise and thanksgiving are to God. I don t know who said that, but when I first heard it, I immediately thought, Bingo! That is exactly right! Think about it what do you feel like, how does your body react, and how do people around you respond when you grumble and complain, looking for what is wrong? Chances are you feel ornery or cranky, your body tightens up, and the mood around you fills with negativity. It certainly isn t refreshing or life giving. And the powers and forces of evil rejoice, because through grumbling and complaining, the seeds of dissent are sown and people are not focused on God. But what happens when you are full of thanksgiving and praise how do you feel, what is your body doing, and how do people around you respond? People who exude thankfulness and praise are kinder people, more hopeful, generally healthier, and certainly more fun to be around. In addition, our God, who told us in everything, give thanks, for this is God s will for you in Christ Jesus (I Thess. 5:18), is definitely more pleased with us, because God s will is truly accomplished in thanksgiving and praise. That is why it is wonderful to have a season devoted to Thanksgiving, and a time in the church year when we focus on our response to the God who gives us so much. It is truly a gift to be able to celebrate a time when we can focus on an attitude of gratitude. But what, exactly, is an attitude of gratitude? It is an attitude that focuses on what God has given us, and one that is grateful for those gifts, seeking to respond to those gifts by giving freely, as we have received. (Continued on page 3) November 2018 C E L E B R A T I N G Y E A R S I N H A R T F O R D Volume 113/No

2 Contents From the Pastor... 1 Since You Asked... 3 Alternative Ideas for Christmas... 4 Remember to Vote on November Emanuel Women s Retreat at Calumet... 4 Reconciling in Christ The Next Steps... 4 Children s Library News... 5 Did you Miss the Sermon on Sunday?... 5 September 2018 Council Highlights... 6 Members of the Church Council... 7 Emanuel QR Codes... 7 Online Giving to Emanuel is Now Available... 8 Church by the Pond... 8 First Annual Emanuel Post Thanksgiving Pie Fest t h Annual Lucia Festival... 9 Worship Themes for November... 9 Worship Ministry for November... 9 Special Emanuel Birthdays in November Special Emanuel Anniversaries in November Prayer Request Those who have passed into the Communion of Saints Altar Flowers in Honor of/memory Of for November Altar Flower Order Form Emanuel s Calendar of Events GOD WITH US (USPS ) is published monthly by Emanuel Lutheran Church, 311 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT. Postmaster: send address changes to God With Us, 311 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT Emanuel Lutheran Church Staff The Reverend Dr. Paula V. Mehmel Senior Pastor extension 2 PastorPaula@emanuelhartford.org The Reverend Elizabeth Krentz-Wee Visitation Pastor extension 3 PastorElizabeth@emanuelhartford.org Jonathan Reuning-Scherer Director of Music Jonathan.rs@emanuelhartford.org Jeff Potter Christian Education Jeff.Potter@emanuelhartford.org Jane Wunder Operations Manager extension 5 Jane.Wunder@emanuelhartford.org Naomi Ngoma Community Life & Outreach extension 4 Naomi.Ngoma@emanuelhartford.org John Franzis Administrative Assistant extension 0 John.Franzis@emanuelhartford.org Rachid Chelali Sexton 2

3 From the Pastor (continued) (Continued from page 1) When we have an attitude of gratitude, we will be full of thanksgiving and praise, not grumbling and complaining. When we have an attitude of gratitude, we will have a theology of abundance. A theology of abundance is one that takes the promises of God seriously, believing that God provide us with exactly what we need to live according to God s riches in glory, just as it says in the Bible. (Phil 4:19) The opposite of a theology of abundance is a theology of scarcity, which is nothing more than a failure to believe that God will keep the promise to care for us at all times. It is an approach to life that clenches tightly to what one has, and seeks out reasons to grumble and complain rather than rejoice and give thanks. It is an attitude of negativity that breeds discontent and leads to unhappiness, because nothing is ever good enough. As you respond to our stewardship campaign this fall, Live What You Believe, you will be asked to give of your money, your time, and your devotion to our God through offerings, through servanthood, and through prayer. My hope, as we begin our stewardship campaign, is that everyone will consider taking a step up in Since You Asked... I have seen you looking at your phone during the service. Is there a reason? Yes there is. Thanks for asking. I have some absent minded professor /ADHD tendencies, which means it is easy for me to misplace pieces of paper on a Sunday morning when my mind often gets distracted. In fact, it is not uncommon for me to misplace a bulletin in the middle of a service. Because of that, I will write my sermon notes and de- giving this year, and deliberately and intentionally pledge two percent more of your income to the work and ministry of Emanuel than last year. In other words, if you gave 3 percent, we encourage you to give 5 percent this year. However, if you want to move beyond that, and take the leap and try tithing, we would be thrilled and our ministries would be blessed. You can approach giving with an attitude of scarcity, believing that God is not faithful and that you will never have enough to share freely. If you take that approach, you can be assured that attitude will spill over into your whole life. Or you can approach it with open hands and an open heart, full of praise and thanksgiving for what you have and believing in a God who is faithful to promises made in Scripture. God tells us that we will have enough. When we believe that and Live What We Believe, we will find a wealth beyond our wildest imagining. A wealth of love, a wealth of peace, and a wealth of joy. Give boldly, trust deeply, and live what you believe. Peace, Pastor Paula tails/quotes/facts I need to remember in the notes section of my phone. (which is harder to lose and if I do, I can use my Tile app to find it.) I will often glance at those notes just prior to my sermon to make sure that I have accurate information or am on top of the flow I have prepared. Although I preach without a transcript, that does not mean I don t outline and plan my sermon, while still leaving it open to the Holy Spirit to guide me. 3

4 Alternative Ideas For Christmas I f you don t feel like giving Uncle Lou another tie he will never wear, or your parents a knickknack they don t need in an already overcrowded house, why not consider an alternative idea for Christmas giving. You can give a gift to World Hunger to buy rabbits for a Ugandan Village in someone s honor, or money to buy trees in the desert of South Africa. The ELCA has an excellent booklet full of alternative giving ideas at or you can check with Pastor Paula, who has a copy of the book. Why not consider a gift in honor of the homeless child whose birth we celebrate to someone who really needs it? Remember to Vote on November 6 A s Christians, we are called to participate in the political process in this world as well as being concerned about the life in the world to come. So take advantage of the privilege we have as Americans, as well as remembering your obligation as a Christian citizen and VOTE. Besides being a Christian commitment, you also forfeit your 4 right to complain about what is happening in the country if you don t vote. And just as important, no matter who wins, remember to pray for our elected officials on November 6, as well as our nation as we seek to heal some of the wounds that have First (hopefully annual) Emanuel Women s Retreat at Camp Calumet--March 22-24, 2019 G et the dates on your calendar now for the First (hopefully annual) Emanuel Women s Retreat. There was no availability until then, but we were able to reserve resulted from this long and divisive election season. Reconciling In Christ--The Next Steps A s we move toward voting on a Welcome Statement to become a Reconciling in Christ congregation at our annual meeting, we want to give everyone who has any questions, concerns, or confusion a chance to ask their questions and engage in dialogue. To that end, the Core Team of Rick Lilljedahl, Melanie Sinche, Janice Favreau, Mike Johnson and Dave the Village Cabins and the Micah Room for that weekend. If you are interested in being on the Retreat Planning Team, let Pastor Paula know. As time draws closer we will get more details, but we wanted it on everyone s calendar now. Kierznowski have scheduled the following events in the month of November. Nov. 4 Reconciling in Christ-- a conversation with a non-binary identifying person, Gabu Keyl, child of our guest preacher, Kari Henkelmann Keyl in the church Lounge 11:15-11:45. Nov. 11 RIC Info Session at a table in Luther Hall staffed by members of the Core Team. Ask (Continued on page 5)

5 Reconciling In Christ--the Next Steps (continued) (Continued from page 4) your questions and find out what becoming an RIC congregation means and why it matters. Nov. 18 Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, a conversation with psychologist, Dr. Elizabeth Kieschnick, answering questions you might have on this topic. 9:15-9:45 and 11:15-11:45 in the Church Lounge Children s Library News T he Holy Moly Easter DVD and storybook have been popular items in our Children s Library. We now have several other Holy Moly DVDs and books by Rebecca Glaser. Volume 2 in the Holy Moly Bible Stories DVD collection is titled Baby Moses, Jonah, and Other Bible Stories. On this DVD you can find the stories of baby Moses, the crossing of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments, Deborah, Naomi and Ruth, Queen Esther, the calling of Samuel, Samuel anointing David, David and Goliath, Daniel and the lion s den and Jonah. This wonderful DVD pairs with the Holy Moly books Baby Moses and Other Bible Stories and Jonah and the Big Fish and Other Bible Stories. Nov. 25 RIC Info Session at a table in Luther Hall staffed by members of the Core Team. Ask your questions and find out what becoming an RIC congregation means and why it matters. Jesus at the Temple, the Good Samaritan, and Other Bible Stories is Volume 3 in the Holy Moly DVD collection. It includes the stories of Jesus at the Temple, John the Baptist, Jesus calls the Disciples, Jesus changing water into wine, Jesus calming the storm and the parables of the house on the rock, the sower, the mustard seed, the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. This DVD pairs with the books Jesus at the Temple and Other Bible Stories and The Good Samaritan and Other Bible Stories. We will be highlighting other Holy Moly books in the coming months. Did You Miss the Sermon on Sunday? Would you like to hear it again? Would you like to share it with someone? E ach Sunday s reading of the Gospel, Sermon and Hymn of the Day are now available on itunes, and Google Play in addition to Emanuel s website. You can even ask Alexa to play them. Search for Emanuel Lutheran Church In the City for Good on either itunes or Google. Subscribe to the podcast and get new Sundays automatically. For Amazon Echo devices the podcasts are automatically available. For other Amazon devices you first need to enable its podcast player, just say "Alexa, enable Anypod skill." 5

6 September 2018 Council Highlights P resident Mark Hollertz convened the meeting and Pastor Paula led devotions on spiritual growth. Further conversation followed on how to increase diversity at Emanuel, how to be relevant and Reconciling in Christ. The minutes of the August meeting were approved as corrected. Senior Pastor s Report Christian Activities Council In follow-up to the presentation in August, there was further discussion and agreement that Emanuel s current focus needs to be on Reconciling In Christ. The CAT evaluation done during the transition made it clear that becoming an RIC congregation was a priority. Additionally, a recent shy Lutheran ballot was taken during an Emanuel meeting and that indicated clear and overwhelming support for RIC. There will be opportunities to learn and talk about what the Bible says about homosexuality as well as to ask questions about RIC and the process. The vote for RIC would take place at the Annual Meeting. Upon approval, Emanuel would then determine how best to indicate RIC on its exterior signage. Emanuel would be the third congregation in our Lutheran Conference to become an RIC congregation. Space Task Force - It is excellent that people from the community would like to use Emanuel s space. New forms are being developed to gather the information that helps us determine if a particular organization/use is suitable. youngest members/guests and their families. A welcoming space will be created in the back of the church with a rocking chair. The space can be used for toddlers to walk around when they become restless during the service. Additionally, the nursery downstairs is reserved for the youngest guests/members of Emanuel. Pastor has 4 weeks of vacation time per year. She will not be taking this time off all at once but rather in 1-3 day increments so she is not gone from Emanuel for extended periods of time. Treasurer s Report Bobbee Canfield distributed the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Statement for review by Council. Offering income has taken a dip but expenses are still under budget. We are still counting on people making their pledges between now and the end of the year. We will likely need to borrow from our endowment again. Pastor discussed with Council that we need to look at stewardship as a gift; we need to understand and experience the joy of deliberate and intentional giving. Motion was made to approve $1,500 for a special stewardship initiative in November, funded from leadership donations and, if needed, from Pastor s discretionary fund. Motion passed. Expenses for the National Youth Gathering in Texas were $18,000. The net that is needed is about $8,500 versus the budget of $7,500 from the endowment. Council approved taking the additional $1,000 from Youth Endowment. There was also discussion that families may need to contribute more in the future. A task force has been meeting on how to be more welcoming and comfortable for our (Continued on page 7) 6

7 September 2018 Council Highlights (continued) (Continued from page 6) The Sandberg Mission Fund Committee handout was distributed and reviewed by Council. From a balance of $10,500, Council approved the committee s recommendation to allocate $5,000 to the Burns School Weekend Food Program and an additional $3,500 (or less depending on individual donations) to the Outreach Food Packaging event on September 30. This would leave the Sandberg Mission Fund with a balance of $2,000. Operations Manager Report Jane Wunder reported on progress with the 315 Capitol Avenue building and meetings with our attorney and State Representative Minnie Gonzalez. An updated building inspection has been completed. The West Tower engineering study has been started with results expected in November. There was continued discussion on lead abatement on the first floor of the Hungerford St apartment and Property Committee s recommendation to move forward with the rental of the first floor, and defer lead abatement (to be considered in the future). Council voted to support Property s recommendation. Music Karen Rock reported on Jonathan Reuning- Scherer s thoughts regarding budget, youth involvement and the choirs Members of the Church Council Mark Hollertz, President... mark.hollertz@virtus.com Sarah Parmelee, Vice President... sarahparmelee@gmail.com Chet Brodnicki, Exec At Large... chetglenna@comcast.net Bobbee Canfield, Treasurer... bobbeecanfield@comcast.net Mindy Olson, Secretary... olson.mindy@gmail.com James Flanders... jimflanders04@gmail.com Karen Rock... karenrockmusic@gmail.com Linnea Bloomquist... linnea.bloomquist@gmail.com Eric Carlson... carlsonericsven@gmail.com Jacob Fulmer... fulmerfred@gmail.com Melissa Johnson...mjohnson529@hotmail.com Peter Murphy... pjmurphy27@yahoo.com Deepak Pedada...deepak.pedada@gmail.com Gary Troutman... trouty13@juno.com Yvonne Gardner... swaney64@hotmail.com Emanuel QR Codes W e have begun using this QR code (quick response code) on our publications the including Sunday s Worship Bulletins and God With Us. QR codes can be read by phones (with one of the usually free QR Reader apps). This QR code will take you to the Emanuel Website. We will be using other QR codes for registrations, information about events and more. 7

8 Online Giving to Emanuel is Now Available I n addition to the automatic EFT process provided through Simply Giving we now have an option for credit card donations through TITHE.LY. Clicking Give to Emanuel on the Emanuel Website will take you to the TITHE.LY process where you can enter your name, address, credit card information and amount of your donation. Note: Since Credit Card companies charge a processing fee for Credit Card transactions there is an option for you to cover the card processing fee. You will always get credit for the full amount of the transaction but you can help the church out by covering these charges. Church by the Pond S ix Volunteers are needed for Church by the Pond. Emanuel will be serving between homeless people on December 1st at 2:00 pm at Bushnell Park. We are looking for 6 volunteers to help prepare and pass out ham and turkey sandwich lunches that day. We will meet in Luther hall about 12:30pm and we then head over to Bushnell Park by the carousel. We should be done around 3:30pm. We will be also collecting new socks to distribute that day as well. There will be a Tupperware tub marked for Church by the Pond in Luther Hall. If you are interested please contact Yvonne Gardner at swaney64@hotmail.com. First Annual Emanuel Post Thanksgiving Pie Fest O n the Sunday after Thanksgiving the Modeen Scholarship recipients will be baking their favorite pies and then serving them to the congregation during coffee hour. Since there is no such thing as too much pie, members of the Congregation are also encouraged to bring some or all of a pie to share! Save the Date: The Emanuel Nativity Festival will be on Sunday, December 16 th. 8

9 ` 105 th Annual St. Lucia Festival This year s St. Lucia Festival will be on Friday, December 7th. There will be performances at 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Admission is $5.00 at the door. However, in the spirit of Lucia, in addition to the admission charge please bring an item of food for the Food Pantry. Worship Themes for November Nov Live What You Believe--Life as a Saint All Saints Sunday Nov Live What You Believe--Living a Generous Life Nov Live What You Believe--Living a Life of Trust Nov Live What You Believe--Living with Christ as Your King Worship Ministries for November Acolytes & Crucifers Nov 4 Acolyte Amy Cangro Crucifer Mebret Farquhar Nov 11 Acolyte Colin Ackerly Crucifer Andre Montoya Nov 18 Acolyte Brendan Murphy Crucifer Megan Murphy Nov 25 Acolyte Alejandro Morales Crucifer Xavier Morales Assisting Ministers Nov 4 Janice Favreau Nov 11 Alan Meeds Nov 18 Lynne Strecker Nov 25 Monica Swanson Communion Preparers Nov 4 Jeanette Urban Nov 11 Elaine Strecker Nov 18 Lynne Strecker Nov 25 Craig and Val McDonald Greeters Nov 4 Nov 11 Nov 18 Nov 25 Lectors 8:00 a.m. Nov 4 Nov 11 Nov 18 Nov 25 10:00 a.m. Nov 4 Nov 11 Nov 18 Nov 25 Lois House and Lorraine McCann Ellen Anderson Janet and John Starkes Patti and Mebet Farquhar Kathy Haller Kathy Haller Kathy Haller Randy Olson Janice Favreau Eleanor Meeds Monique Jennings Roland Johnson Would you like to help with Sunday Worship? Please contact our ministry coordinators: Greeters... Eileen Mitchell Lectors...Lynn Sherman Ushers... Jim Ashwell

10 Special Emanuel Birthdays in November Paul Strecker (November 28) and Alexandria Johnson (November 29) Special Emanuel Anniversaries in November Evelyn and Stanley Samsel (November 2) Please remember the following individuals in your prayers. Joy Hackett Clayton Medling Elyanna Roman Yvonne Gardner Carol Johnson Karin Gottier Homebound: Rudy Peterson Elaine Wilson Joan Feldmann Doris Barron Burt Hedling Betty Fairchild Betty-Lois Benson Inger Swanson Beverly Swanson Those who have passed into the Communion of Saints Robert Nyomah June 17, 2017 Ken West December 6, 2017 Luke Strand December 20, 2017 Elinor McCue March 16, 2018 Dick Johnson April 4, 2018 Russ Bjorklund April 7, 2018 Susan Johnson April 17, 2018 Dorothy Johnson April 20, 2018 John Rosa May 17, 2018 Robert Ihlstrom June 15, 2018 Shirley August July 2, 2018 Helen Peterson July 17, 2018 Alice Gustafson July 26, 2018 Marjorie Acker September 16, 2018 Eleanor Erickson September 26, 2018 Bertil Alvan Johnson October 19, 2018 Altar Flowers in Honor of/memory Of for November Nov 4 In Memory orf The Rev. Stanley and Gladys Sandberg, given by The Stetson Family. Nov 18 In loving memory of her mother Margaret Johnson, given by Ellen Anderson Altar Flower Order Form Please make checks payable to Emanuel Lutheran Church and note Altar Flowers on the memo line. Place your check or $45 along with the order form below in the offering plate or mail it to the church office. Date for Altar Flowers: In Honor/Memory of: Given by: Phone Number: Please Contact the Church Office ( ) if you have any questions. 10

11 11

12 God With Us Emanuel Lutheran Church 311 Capitol Avenue Hartford, CT Periodical Postage Paid at Hartford, CT Address Service Requested Emanuel Lutheran Church The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Rev. Dr. Paula V. Mehmel, Pastor Church Office: