From the Pastor November 2014

Transcription

1 From the Pastor November 2014 The last couple of years we have spent Thanksgiving with my sister and her family in North Dakota. She hosts the relatives of my brother-in-law. We have gone there, mainly to take the opportunity to spend some time with my mother. It was always a great feast. Sue and I and my mother hardly made a dent in the number in attendance. My sister would host, sometimes over 50 people. And the food!! As people came they brought food that was put out for all to enjoy. It was not unlike a pot-luck, but with more food and more choices; something for everyone. There was turkey, of course, and ham and often roast beef as well. It was more than a feast for kings. I always felt it a privilege to be invited. And I would marvel as each person, each family arrived. My sister knew them all, from all the babies to all the adults. I knew only a few. But together we feasted and shared a meal. And always, before anyone could eat we gave thanks. And then the feasting began. It was easy for me to be lost in the mass of people, finding a quiet place to eat and enjoy so fine a meal. For me, it was a reminder of the incredible providence of our heavenly father. As my sister knew each one at her table, God knows each child. It is a source of comfort to realize that the circumstances that come to us are, in a sense, tailor-made. The God who permits our testing and gives us moments of joy and sorrow knows us through and through. This year there would be one less. My mother is resting in the arms of her savior. It is loss and we will recognize the empty chair at the table. But we also know that God continues to be present at the table with us, still caring for all. We find it difficult to believe that God takes an interest in the individual. Because we are overwhelmed by the great mass of humanity living on this planet, we make God over into our own image, making God fit into our little boxes. It is no small wonder then, when we do this our faith fails us, and we begin to feel lost in that great crowd. Jesus spoke some of his greatest words to individuals, and never failed to track people down and find them in their innermost privacy. In this respect, as well as many others, Jesus is our revelation of God. Our God is the God of the least and the last and the lost. God s love seeks and finds and saves! I invite you to remember that as you gather this year to give thanks and feast on the bounty God provides to each and every one of us. Pastor Keith

2 Clark County Thrivent Annual Meeting Announcement Activity: Clark County Chapter 2014 Annual Meeting Date: Sunday, November 2, :00 PM Informational Session- Your LEGACY: Family, Church, Charity, presented by Courtney Livingston, Thrivent. No products will be sold at this session 6:00 PM Supper will be served by the women of Bethlehem 7:00 PM Annual Meeting with election of officers gifts for Thrivent members attending the meeting and door prizes will be given away. Place: Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Vienna, SD MEDICARE D Medicare 'D' season is almost here! Mid-October thru the first week in December is open enrollment for Medicare 'D' (Drug insurance). These insurances change their plans every year. Premiums go up, coverage per medications change, you need to have your coverage checked every year to make sure you have the best coverage available. I have volunteered and have taken training to help you check your present plan or enroll in a different plan if need be. I will be available at Grace Lutheran in Willow Lake, Oct. 22, 29, Nov. 5, 12, 19, 26 & Dec. 3 in the afternoon, 1-4 PM. Or call me at , Lucille Birkholtz OOPS!! I forgot to put it on the calendar but the deadline for newsletter articles for December is November 21. REMEMBER TO SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK ON SATURDAY NIGHT. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS STARTS ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2!!

3 BETHLEHEM GAME AND GARDEN Sunday, November 9 Game and Garden Serving from 11 a.m. 1 p.m. Menu includes breaded deep-fried walleye, pheasant in cream sauce and venison meatballs and gravy. There are no advanced tickets. Tickets at the door are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 10.

4 Bethlehem Lutheran Church Council Meeting 10/15/14 Submitted by Julie Larson *Meeting called to order by President Mark Prouty. Also present were Kristin, Julian, Ken, Lee, Jennifer, Chuck, Butch, Pastor Keith and Julie -Devotions led by Lee. Acknowledgments: The scholarship fund has been established! -Thank you to the town of Vienna for letting us use the town hall for coffee after church -Game and Garden Feed is scheduled for November 9th Secretary s Report: No report given. Minutes from the September meeting will be printed in the November newsletter. Treasurers Report: Total expenses: $50, Total offering through 10/12/14-$39, Memorial: $ Building: $20, Flowers: $ Local cash on hand- $24, Read by Jennifer and approved Pastor Keith s Report: Aaron Madsen will be helping with church services during the next few months. -Confirmation will be beginning next week for 8th and 9th graders and will be held every other Wednesday. -Joint service will be held at Our Redeemer November 30th -Discussed options for Thanksgiving and Christmas joint church services -3rd Graders will receive their Bibles on October 26th -Pastor Keith will work on scheduling a new member recognition Sunday. -Discussed updating church record book Trustees report: Chuck and Butch cleaned out the bell tower recently. -Discussed recent microphone problems. Parish Report: No report given Building committee Report: Discussed building surveys that have been returned. Another building committee meeting will be scheduled at a later date. Old Business: Kristin made a motion to pay for the sunday school dividers from the memorial fund account. Seconded by Butch. Motion Passed. New Business: Discussed first communion age and setting some guidelines. Pastor Keith will work on setting up a time for a first communion class for families and their children to attend sometime yet this year. -Church insurance will need to be reviewed by the auditing committee -Discussed ways to show appreciation to the town of Vienna for the use of the town hall. -Butch moved to use $500 from the mission outreach account to give to the Cameroon Roof Project. Seconded by Kenny, Motion passed Meeting adjourned by President Mark and closed with Lords Prayer Next Meeting: Weds, November 19th at 8 pm

5 GOOD HOPE The Good Hope WELC met at the church with quilting at 12:30 and meeting at 2:30. President Olleen called meeting to order by saying The Purpose, Theme Verse. She gave devotions from Proverbs on "Artist of Artist". Bible Study on "We Are Called" was given by Pastor Keith. Roll Call taken, Sec. and Treas. minutes were read and approved. A report on the Badger retreat was given. We will give our quilts to New Horizons, Watertown Resource Center and the Boys and Girls Ranch in N.D. We will decide later when and if we are going to have A Harvest Festival. Our next meeting will be held at the Joyce Lamb home on Nov. 6th. The officers will meet at 1:30 and make out our 2015 budget. The meeting and bible study will begin at 2:30. The Lords' Prayer was prayed, offertory and table prayer sang. Meeting adjourned. Lunch was served by Olleen, Mildred and Joyce. ANNUAL HARVEST FESTIVAL Good Hope will hold its annual harvest festival on November 16th beginning with worship at 9:45 with the WELCA Thank Offering, potluck dinner to follow and the Good Hope Council will meet after the dinner to plan the 2015 budget.

6 GRACE Let s hear it for our Vets!! Grace Lutheran will be collecting Christmas gifts for veterans at the VA Medical Center. Please have your items at Grace by Dec. 1st. There is a box in the back of the narthex. If you would prefer you can get Char Loterbauer your monetary donation and she ll do the shopping for you. Please have any monetary donations to her by Nov. 16th. Possible Christmas Gifts for inpatients: Fleece throws Stamps Toiletry carry bags Note paper/pads Neck pillows Pens Greeting cards Winter gloves and caps Puzzle books Candies Memory games, electronic and manual Pocket calendars Envelopes Water bottles with finger and thumb grips Women s sweaters, larger sizes Men s flannel shirts, larger sizes Men s and Ladies front closure cardigans, larger sizes Thank you so much for your support!! Just a reminder ----The In Gathering Offering will be going to the Cameroon roof project. Grace Lutheran Church Council Minutes October 8 th, 2014 The October meeting of the Grace Lutheran Church Council was called to order by President Jim LaMont, with five members present. Those answering the roll call were Char, Pastor Keith, Jim, Marcie and Lucille. The meeting opened with devotions, followed by the financial secretary s report. There was no secretary s report from September as Shawn had taken the minutes and wasn t present. Char stated that we have a balance of $ , and the report was approved as read. A check in the amount of $90 was received from the sale of iron that was on the church property.

7 Pastor Keith gave a report on all that has been happening since he returned from his vacation. Along with funerals, he has been preparing for confirmation which will be held on October 26 th. Alyssa Evenson will be the only confirmand this year. There will be two new confirmands to begin classes, both from Willow Lake. In old business, the numbers for the PSLP are in. At this time we have 98 members who are both baptized and confirmed plus 15 that are baptized at Grace Lutheran for a total of 113. Jim wondered if we should contact Harley Lamb with these numbers, but it was decided to wait until the end of the year to see if any additional names come up. An appraiser from the Bryant bank did come and look the parsonage over. He did not give any dollar amount yet, but will send a letter. The Grace council will have the opportunity to either accept or reject his appraisal. Pastor Keith mentioned that there may be a problem with the hot water heater, but it does work fine at this point and he will continue to keep an eye on it. Jim asked Jeff Verdon about the possibility of snow guards on the roof and also straightening the gutters. He wasn t given a definite answer, so will ask again. In new business, the ingathering will be held on November 9 th with a potluck dinner. There was some discussion about where the funds raised at the ingathering would go. Jim had several brochures that he had gotten in the mail with lots of ideas. Lucille made a motion that 100% of the funds collected at the ingathering will be designated towards the Cameroon roof project, and it was suggested that we challenge the other churches in the parish to donate to this project, too. Char 2 nd the motion and all voted in favor, the motion carried. There will also be a joint service held in November it will be Our Redeemer s turn to host this service which will be the first Sunday in Advent. The Christmas program will be held on December 21 st. The following Sunday, December 28 th, may be a joint service with Good Hope, but that will be decided at the parish council meeting. Lucille brought up the subject of ushering, reading, and cleaning the church and wondered what would be the best way to go about getting people to pitch in and help. It was decided that this matter would be posted in the November newsletter, giving people the opportunity to volunteer for any of the jobs that they felt comfortable with. If they didn t sign up for anything, then they would be assigned to cleaning. This will be tried for a couple of months to see if it helps with the problem. With winter approaching, some tasks need to be completed. Jim said that Doug would get the AC covers on. As for snow removal, Bob Schmidt, Del Bratland and Jeff Verdon are all possibilities. Lucille will be using the church for her Medicare information on Wednesday afternoons from 1-4 PM from October through December. The John Peterson family has asked to use the fellowship hall on October 12 th for a family gathering. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned, followed by the Lord s Prayer. OUR REDEEMER Ushers for November Gary Wiseman Rob Chambers Wes Johnson Dustin Wiseman Altar Guild for November Jean Steever Carolyn Krull NOON LUNCHEON November 13 th we will be having our Noon Luncheon with serving starting at 11:45. The menu will be: Creamed turkey over mashed potatoes, corn, coleslaw, bun, and pumpkin desserts. Come and enjoy a meal with us. Following the meal, our general meeting will begin at 1:30 with our Thankoffering service included.

8 THE BANQUET ORLC will be serving The Banquet at Grace Lutheran church in Watertown on Monday, November 24 th. A lot of hands will be needed to prepare and serve this meal. Last year we served 170 people. We will serve chili with crackers, French bread, fruit and brownies for dessert. Contact Jayne Jensen at or if you d be willing to help with foods or service.