December Worship Opportunities

Transcription

1 Parish Scope/December 2018 CHRISTMAS AT OSL December Worship Opportunities December 2nd First Sunday of Advent: 8:30 AM & 10:30 AM Services December 9th Second Sunday of Advent: 8:30 AM & 10:30 AM Services December 16 th Third Sunday of Advent: 8:30 AM Service December 16 th Children s Christmas Program at 10:30 AM December 23rd Fourth Sunday of Advent: 9:00 AM Service (No Sunday School) December 24th Candlelight Christmas Eve Service: 3:00 & 5:00 PM December 24th Candlelight Christmas Eve Service with Communion: 10:00 PM December 30 th Lessons & Carols at 9:00 AM with Communion (No Sunday School)

2 Memorials and Special Gifts Building Fund Mark & Sarah Chambers, Mark & Karen Jansen, Marie Young, Quilting Queens ELCA/Disaster Kim & Karen Fruit, Bob & Kathy Hirsch, David & Emily Beck, Nancy Bjornson Youth Ken & Jeannette Breckner, David & Emily Beck, Nick & Sarah Place, Mark & Sonya Kalscheur Radio Broadcast Mary Busalacchi, Cal & Bonnie Christianson, Gayle Holte, Michaela Gifford (in honor of what would have been Mabel Gifford s 100 th birthday on 12/25) Greatest Needs David & Emily Beck, Julie Bloom, Megan Bayrd & Paul Horvath, Kelly Jensen, Hank & Marge Kunkel, Angie Ruchti, Trudy Forster (Thanksgiving meal donation and gas card donation) General Lois Debee (Memorial for Clayton Erickson) Loose Richard & Vicki Jaeger (Thrivent Choice Dollars) OSL Women Carolyn Barnhart WELCA Gloria Kraemer, Mike & Sally Schendel, Nancy Bjornson Kids Against Hunger Bob & Kathy Hirsch, Paul Horvath & Megan Bayrd, 1 st Congregational Church, Bremer Bank

3 Annual Good Gifts Available Dec 9 & 16 Please consider the purchase of a unique gift this Christmas season. ELCA Good Gifts offers more than 50 gift-giving options, including $10 for a mosquito net or a baby chick, $30 for a piglet, $40 for a uniform for a girl, $50 for a goat and many more! On December 9th & 16th a table will once again be set up in the Friendship Room with an opportunity to purchase a gift that can truly make a world of difference! For more info visit Note: OSL Sunday School is also supporting Good Gifts this year!! HEALTH MINISTRY Blood Pressure Checks Between Services Sunday, 12/9 In the Friendship Room Global Health Ministries (GHM) Workday Dec 12 On Wed., 12/12, several OSL members will spend the day at GHM in Fridley, MN. At this HUGE warehouse, we will be volunteering to help with sorting, labeling, packing medical supplies and equipment to be sent to overseas hospitals (items donated by facilities in a several state area). We will also be delivering devotional booklets, and roller bandages made by our members, plus any other items that have been donated by members. We would love to have you join us on December 12! We leave the OSL parking lot at 8:30 a.m. and return approximately 4 PM. Contact Becky Kneer becky@oslme.com if interested! Share a Christmas Greeting December 9 th & 16 th - Good Gifts December 9 th - Blood Pressure Checks December 12 th - Global Health Ministry Workday Please consider sending a card this Christmas season to our OSL members in care facilities and/or to our missionaries. Updated lists are available near entrances to the sanctuary and in the office.

4 MUSIC MINISTRY Silent Night Friday, December 7 th, at 7 PM, the UW Stout Symphonic Singers and Chamber Choir commemorate the centennial of World War I with Silent Night, a program featuring mostly music from the United Kingdom, France and Germany composed during World War I. An exhibit of images and artifacts will follow the concert, curated by the Dunn County Historical Society, as well as the Stout University Archives. Tickets are available for $5 at the door. December 7 th at 7 PM - UW Stout Silent Night Concert December 8 th at 4 PM Schola Cantorum Schola Cantorum Saturday, December 8 th at 4 PM come celebrate the holiday season with Schola Cantorum of Eau Claire! Enjoy the sumptuous sound of sacred Renaissance music from Sapin and Mexico, which reflects upon both the miracles and human aspects of the Christmas story. Free admission, with donations welcome. For more information, visit solaec.org, or find us on Facebook. The performance will be repeated on Sunday, December 9 th at 2 PM at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Eau Claire.

5 THANK YOU to all who donated food for our Thanksgiving meals! Together with Peace and Christ Lutheran Churches your generosity helped provide enough food for 40 meals. These meals were packed by the youth of the three congregations and distributed to families within our Menomonie community. YOUTH MINISTRY Thank you for donating turkey meals to so many of our River Heights families this Thanksgiving. Your kindness and support for children in need is appreciated every year. Stacey Berg, School Counselor Mark your Calendars: Annual Ski Trip to Trollhaugen: Jan. 20 th Ski or snowboard with other church members from Menomonie while taking advantage of group rates on lift tickets and rentals. Watch for more details coming soon! December 5 th at 7:30 PM Pine Ridge Mission Trip Meeting in Youth Room January 20 th Annual Trollhaugen Ski Trip Pine Ridge Mission Trip Informational Meeting: Wednesday December 5 th at 7:30pm in Youth Room (downstairs.) This mission trip takes place June 22-28, We will travel to Pine Ridge, SD to build bunkbeds and outhouses, install skirting on trailer houses, build decks and steps. This meeting will supply you with more details about the trip: estimated cost, itinerary, work projects, lodging and transportation, who is eligible to go, other ways to help, etc. Whether you plan to attend this trip, want more information before deciding, or just want more information about Pine Ridge, come and learn more about life on the Reservation and why the residents of Pine Ridge need our help. Questions? Contact Kelly Jensen kelly@oslme.com or

6 Attention All Families: YOUTH MINISTRY You're invited to attend our very first All Family event this holiday season. Sunday December 9th following the second service we will be hosting a family cookie decorating event in the basement in the old preschool room. Sign-up sheets for those attending will be in the Friendship Room. Please sign up and let us know how many children you will be bringing. If you have extra sprinkles, jimmies or colored sugar, please bring those to church and drop them into the collection basket. December 9 th at 11:45 AM Cookie Decorating in OSL basement December 19 th at 6:15 PM Youth Caroling at American Lutheran Home Youth Caroling Event Wednesday Night Youth will be joining the Confirmation and Youth Choir kids caroling on Wednesday December 19th at the American Lutheran Home/Autumn Village. Families should meet at the Lutheran Home BY 6:15 where we will be gathering before we start caroling. Song sheets will be provided. Wednesday Night Youth will also be making small crafts to pass out to OSL and other residents that evening. Wednesday nights at 6:00 PM Wednesday Night Youth Activities Wednesday Night Youth Join me Wednesday Nights from 6-7:15 PM for games, activities, crafts, and devotions. Each week we gather in the large room downstairs and all youth up to 6th grade are welcome to join us. Parents are encouraged to come and watch/participate or you can enjoy building your own spiritual friendships with the other adults or you can drop off your child(ren) and attend the Bible study running through Christmas. I want to personally thank you all for your kind words and encouragement since beginning this role as your Children and Family Ministries Director. I look forward to getting to know you all and welcome any and all suggestions or comments. If you are interested, think about joining the Children Youth and Family Ministries team. We meet four times and year and work to envision what we'd like to see our program become. We would love to have you join our team. Contact me at denise@oslme.com

7 NOTICES, EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES Thank you to everyone who helped make the Meatball and Gravy Fundraising Ministry Project another great success. Thanks to all the people who bought the meatballs. Those who served the coffee fellowships and made a donation. THANK YOU to all who came on Friday to make and package the meatballs. It is a fun project, good fellowship and great time to connect with our church family. A special thanks to the OSW Board members for all the work they did in organizing this ministry project. God s Work, Our Hands! Be sure to join Our Savior s Women for the Advent Potluck Luncheon on Thursday, December 6 th! Lunch will be at Noon. All are welcome! Please bring a dish to share. We packed 23,544 meals for Kids Against Hunger on October 27 th! From the Benckes: This past summer your congregation very generously contributed and entrusted us with $ for the ministries here in Kumamoto. I thought I'd let you know how that contribution was used/is being used. The exchange rate was roughly 110 JPY per $1US, so we had about 55,710 JPY to work with when combining your donation with that of two other congregations, totaling $2, A contribution of 50,000JPY is being prepared for a graduate of our college (who now works here as the global studies adviser) to attend the Japan Lutheran Seminary. A donation of 36,000JPY (about $350) was made to help two of our students participate in a JELA (Japan Evangelical Lutheran Association) work camp in Jamkhed, India. Another contribution is being prepared for 50,000JPY to Ji-Ai-En, which is a home in Kumamoto for kids (birth to 18) whose parents have died, or who cannot care for them because of illness, domestic violence, or incarceration. Thank you to the OSL Congregation for your gifts at this year s WELCA Thankoffering service! We were able to send a generous donation of over $600 to WELCA from the congregation here at Our Savior s Lutheran Church. Thank you for your kind donations. Thanks also to all the women who helped host the Annual Women of the ELCA Thankoffering Service on Sunday, October 21, 2018.

8 REMINDERS & ONGOING MINISTRIES Baptismal Family Meeting Pastors conduct a group baptismal orientation at 9:40AM on the second Sunday of each month. This month the orientation will be on December 9 th. Please call the church office at or office@oslme.com to schedule a baptism. If you have contribution questions, contact Bonnie Christianson at: contributions@oslme.com If you need to contact Kim Studinger, please her at: bookkeeper@oslme.com If you would like to volunteer on Sunday mornings, contact RoseAnn Husby at: info@oslme.com If you have an announcement for the bulletin or Scope, contact Charis Collins at: charis@oslme.com Contributions & Giving If you are out of giving envelopes, let the office know. We can easily print more. If your offering is in a plain envelope, please make sure you write your name and number on it. Online giving is available on OSL s website. Whether you re a member, a visitor or a friend, you re able to make regular contributions, a special one-time donation, or a memorial gift online using your debit or credit card. As a way to celebrate your online Simply Giving, feel free to use the brightly colored giving cards during offering during the service (located in the pew racks) OSL now has a QR (Quick Response) Code: Give directly using the QR Reader app on your device! Men s Bible Study Meets at the Menomonie Family Restaurant at 6 PM on the second and fourth Monday of each month. Contact: Doug Larson AMers Meets the First Thursday of each month at Denny s at 8:30 AM Contact: Jan Willow Leah Circle Meets the second Monday of the month at 11 AM. Contact: Gloria Kraemer Brown Bag Bible Study Meets Wednesdays at Noon in the Library with Pastor Don Wisner. Women in Action Meets Mondays at 8:30 AM in the Recreation Room. Quilting Queens Meets the third Thursday of each month at 9 AM in the Recreation Room. Reading Club Meets the third Wednesday of the month at 1 PM in the Fireside Room. This month they ll be discussing Waterwalk: A Passage of Ghosts by Steven Faulkner. All are welcome! Writing Group Meets the third Wednesday of the month at 1 PM. 500 Card Party Meets the third Tuesday of each month

9 Bishop s Christmas Message This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors. -Bishop s Christmas Message 2018 Dear Friends of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin, I m writing this the day after I get home from my first ever trip to the Holy Land. My husband Randy and I decided that after three decades as pastors we should make a pilgrimage to all the places we ve been preaching about for so many years. I was excited to see Bethlehem, Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Temple Wall, and Athens, Corinth and Rome and all the other landmarks of our Spiritual Geography. I was especially excited to see Bethlehem. While I was in Bethlehem, I heard Pastor Lori Ruge-Jones, a gifted story teller recite from heart, Luke 2, the Christmas story. We were in a beautiful chapel on the site where according to tradition; the angels announced to the Shepherds the good news of Jesus birth. Imagine these familiar words, spoken from the heart, echoing off the stones of the Shepherd s Field chapel. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for see I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. The group of pilgrims I was with sat in silence for a few moments before we sang Christmas carols: O Little Town of Bethlehem, Angels we have heard on High, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night, Away in the Manger It was a holy moment and highlight of our trip to the Holy Land. It was simple, beautiful, goose bump, Hallmark Card moment. BUT the undercurrent of that moment is more complicated. As tourists we were well aware that Bethlehem in 2018 is a city controlled by the Palestinians and the surrounding area is controlled by Israel. It is a land that has been fought over throughout known history by those who considered it Holy; Jews, Muslims and Christians. It is a place that builds walls to separate, and struggles with daily violence and conflict. The Shepherds of first century were well aware that Bethlehem was under foreign occupation by Rome. The Roman Caesar, Augustus sent out a decree that Jews were to be enrolled in their hometown to be taxed. There were uprisings and revolts against Roman rule of the Jews. It was and is complicated and there is no quick fix. But all of that is far away or long ago. How about the here and now? Is your life like a beautiful peaceful Hallmark card wishing season s greetings or is your life more complicated like a major geopolitical conflict? Or is it somewhere in between? Regardless, there is one thing that is true, in the midst of it all God put on flesh and came down to us, to live among us. In the midst of it all, Jesus was born.

10 Our Savior's Lutheran Church Council Meeting November 13, :00 p.m. Fireside Room Present: Pastor Heather, Jane Kingzett, Kris Lemke, Diane Hausler, Dan Krueger, Karl Palmer, Roxie Close, Sarah Place, Paul Horvath, and Tom Rundle Absent: Pastor Sarah Guests: Mark Kalscheur Devotions: Pastor Heather Old Business Call to order at 6:07 PM. A. The October 9th meeting minutes were approved electronically by majority vote. B. Financial Report. a. Income for the first eight months of the fiscal year was $248,567. Expenses were $293,238 leaving us with a negative cash flow of $44,671 for the eight months. It should be pointed out that a number of these expenses were for payment of obligations in 2015 through 2017 that had not been made. Kris made a motion to approve the financial report. The motion was seconded by Jane and approved. C. Pastor Heather s report. a. The computer in the Adult Library has been replaced. 2/3 of the expense came from Adult Library and 1/3 from Youth Library dedicated accounts. Since the funds are from dedicated accounts, a motion was not needed. We also purchased a new computer for Kelly. b. New members. Pastor Heather submitted the names of the new members. Paul made motion to formally accept them as new members. Roxie seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. c. Pledge drive letters will be mailed during the week of November 12. The Council also reviewed a draft of the 2019 Leadership and Participation Survey that will accompany the pledge drive letters. The December 2nd worship service will focus on Celebration of Generosity. Karl will speak to the congregation about the many improvements that the Jane Klatt estate provided and convey a message on estate planning. d. Pastor Heather spoke about adjusting the Wednesday evening dinner and worship service schedule. We re finding that they don t both fit into the allotted time frame. She still desires for all activities to be done by 7:30. We re also finding the room is noisy with echoes. e. The council reviewed a draft of new Simply Giving Cards. D. Pastor Sarah s report. Pastor Sarah was not in attendance for the meeting. She was attending the First Call Theological Event required for all first call pastors. New Business A. Committee Reports a. Worship Committee requested to add one day of vacation for Director of Music beginning January, The request for new microphones and music stands was brought up again. Council agreed that Worship should submit a Mission Endowment request for the microphones and stands. We will have some guest musicians during December that will be paid from Guest Musicians budget. b. Youth and Family. Feedback was received from two families who are positive on the Wednesday evening services but expressed a concern that deserts are served followed by treats during the activities giving their kids a sugar high. We will cut back on the sugary treats. c. Personnel. Did not meet.

11 d. Property Management. 430 LED lights have been installed in the building and we have applied for the rebates. The total expenses were $ 354 ($ 4,098 in expenses less rebates of $ 3,744). e. Mission Endowment will meet in a couple of weeks. f. Health Ministry. On behalf of the Health Ministry Committee, Paul Horvath presented an overview and Mission of the Health Ministry Committee. Diane made a motion to approve the Mission. Heather seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. g. Ministry Outside Our Walls (M.O.O.W). i. M.O.O.W. is establishing ministries with Oaklawn and other local schools. ii. M.O.O.W. is also working with the other ELCA churches for creating Thanksgiving baskets that will be distributed from Christ Lutheran. h. Kids Against Hunger assembled 23,544 meals. We had a long discussion on potential changes for future years such as a possible return to a Wednesday to get more volunteers. We also spoke about how to encourage people and organizations to donate more to help offset costs B. Other i. Technology Committee is trying to working out recording and posting the sermons. C. Lord s Prayer. D. Adjourned at 8:30 pm. E. Next meeting: December 11, 6:00pm in the Fireside Room. Treats: Roxie

12 Our Savior s Lutheran Church (715) STAFF: Senior Pastor: Rev. Heather T. Wigdahl, heather@oslme.com, Ext. 203 Associate Pastor: Rev. Sarah Miller, sarah@oslme.com. Ext. 204 Pastor Emeritus: Rev. Don Wisner Bookkeeper: Kim Studinger, bookkeeper@oslme.com, Ext. 202 Contributions: Bonnie Christianson, contributions@oslme.com, Ext. 202 Director of Youth Ministry: Deacon Kelly Jensen, kelly@oslme.com, Ext. 206 Director of Children s Ministry: Denise Vick, denise@oslme.com, Ext. 205 Health Ministry/Parish Nurse: Becky Kneer, becky@oslme.com, Ext. 207 Parish Nurse: Amy Whelan Administrative Assistants: Charis Collins & Janell Evan, office@oslme.com, Ext. 201 Director of Music Ministry: Michaela Gifford, michaela@oslme.com, Ext. 216 Sunday School Coordinator: Lexi Marsh, sundayschool@oslme.com, Ext. 205 OSL Choir Director: Michael Dayton Joy & Jubilee Choir Director: Emily Hansen Bell Choir Director: Merlyn Aude Worship Band Leader: Ted Bensen Wedding Coordinator: Michaela Gifford Custodian: Josh Madsen, custodian@oslme.com, Ext CHURCH COUNCIL MEMBERS Roxanne Close: President Diane Hausler: Vice President Tom Rundle: Secretary Paul Horvath Jane Kingzett Kris Lemke Karl Palmer Sarah Place Dan Krueger Mark Kalscheur: Treasurer

13 OUR MISSION God calls all members of Our Savior s Lutheran to: +WELCOME all to faith in Jesus Christ +WORSHIP our Lord and Savior +EQUIP us for a faith that works in real life +SEND us into the world to minister in Jesus name Contact Us Our Savior s Lutheran 910 9th Street Menomonie, WI (715) office@oslme.com Our Savior s Lutheran 910 Ninth Street Menomonie, WI 54751