Faith Lutheran Church Messenger

Transcription

1 Faith Lutheran Church Messenger 1000 Tates Creek Road,, Lexington, KY (859) or (859) website: April 2017 From Pastor Mark Holy Week April 16 we will join in joyous worship celebra on of the resurrec- on of our Lord. This is considered to be the high point of our liturgical year, and rightly so, for we are all joined to the death and resurrec on of Christ through the waters of bap sm. Thus, we carry within us this power of new life, which makes everyday a new day. Being joined together as the body of Christ, we re also called to live as God s people and allowing God to use us to bring about life renewing changes within our community and world. Nine days a er that joyous celebra on we have not only an opportunity, but what I m coming to consider an obliga on to par- cipate with brothers and sisters in Christ as God uses us to bring forth new life in the form of a more equitable and just way of life. April 25, 7 PM, at the Nehemiah Ac on Assembly in Heritage Hall we ll be asking public officials to bring new resurrected life to people in the Lexington community struggling with Mental Illness. We also seek a new day to dawn for those who live in the cycle and fear of crime and violence. The power we have to influence public officials in addressing issues of jus ce within our community comes with our numbers. The more people we have present at the Nehemiah Ac on, the more power we have to influence policy changes to bring forth new and more abundant life for the most vulnerable among us, which also means a more vibrant life enhancing community for all. Consider making the Nehemiah Ac on Assembly a part of your Easter celebra on this year, connec ng the resurrec on of our Lord with the resurrec ng of our community. Just imagine if we could turn out as many people to the Ac on as will a end worship on Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion April 9: 8:30, and 11:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Holy Week April 10, 11 & 12 12:00 noon, Service of the Word The Three Days Maundy Thursday April 13 7:30 pm Holy Communion, Foot washing and Stripping of the Altar Good Friday April 14 2:30 pm, The Way of the Cross 7:30 pm, Adora on of the Crucified Holy Saturday April 15 The church rests and waits The Resurrec on of Our Lord (Saturday) April 15 8:30 pm The Great Vigil of Easter Easter Day (Sunday) April 16 8:30 and 11:00 am Fes val Eucharist (No 6:00 pm service on Easter Day) In Love, Faith, and Hope, Mission Statement: As followers of Jesus Christ, we embrace, reflect and proclaim God s unconditional love.

2 The Messenger of Faith Lutheran Church April 2017 page 2 Holy Week and The Three Days at Faith Faith has always been on the vanguard of worship renewal as led by lay persons and staff, but likewise cau ous of passing trends that are not grounded in the historic prac ce of the church. When Evangelical Lutheran Worship was published in 2006, it reinforced many of the worship reforms that were recovered with Lutheran Book of Worship from 1978 prac ces that were lost over the centuries due to a host of reasons. The liturgies for Holy Week and The Three Days, especially, reclaim the worship of the Early Church. Since these worship services come around only once a year, here is a brief summary highligh ng some important components. This is the high point of our liturgical year, you don t want to miss it. Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday: We commemorate the triumphal procession with Jesus into Jerusalem and become a part of the story ourselves. The reading of the Passion was more integral to Lent before the 2nd Va can Council, an event in the life of the church that which caused a seismic impact along denomina onal lines. Because of this impact, many prac ces of the early church, that had been lost, were reinstated including the reading of the complete Passion story on Palm/Passion Sunday. This year we will read it from Ma hew as we experience the sharp contrast from triumph to crucifixion, marking the commencement of Holy Week. Service of the Word (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday). Three brief services at noon bear witness to the wider church s faithfulness to keep Holy Week sacred and set apart from the rest of the year. Even when sparsely a ended, Faith stands united with Chris ans throughout the world. The Three Days: For most of its existence, the Church has understood Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil as one con nuous arc thus one event, separated by three sunsets. Maundy Thursday: recent decades have focused on the ins tu on of the Lord s supper rather than Jesus command (mandatum) to love one another as demonstrated by the washing of feet, which is now the norm. Maundy Thursday concludes the season of Lent, but throws us into an even deeper reflec on of Jesus passion, death, and resurrec on. Maundy Thursday concludes with the stripping of the altar. Good Friday: This is not a funeral service for Jesus, but rather a celebra on of the triumph of the cross! In John s gospel, always the appointed reading for Good Friday, Jesus is the king on his way to enthronement. It is on the cross that God s power is revealed and God s enemies (sin and death) are defeated. Because God raised Jesus, the cross is now a symbol of how God triumphs in and through our acts of service and self-sacrifice. The tone of Good Friday is one of prayer and reflec on. It is a solemn celebra- on of our Lord s victory on the cross. Easter Vigil: The Three Days culminates with countless elements converging so richly in this night of nights. Preferably held a er sundown (the start of the liturgical day and the start of Easter), we gather around a new fire, rekindling the ancient stories that tell of our salva on throughout the Hebrew scriptures. We reaffirm our bap sm, dying and rising again with Christ and are cleansed from sin and sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Alleluia returns! Last of all, we share in the first Eucharist of Easter. Unfairly denoted as being lengthy, rather this experience is a spiritual feast for the senses that can be life changing. Thomas J. White Cantor

3 The Messenger of Faith Lutheran Church April 2017 page 3 Bid on something special at the Silent Auc on running March 26 th through April 9 th.. We will have a silent auc- on to raise funds for the Kashira s house. How about a nice Mother s Day basket of things for Mom? Or a UK sports basket, including a signed photo of John Calipari? We even have a signed photo of Yo Yo Ma! Update on the Reforma on 500 Build If you have ques ons or something we could auc on, please contact Cindy Heine. Construc on will start on Wednesday, September 13 th. Please see FaithNotesContent/HabitatReforma on500.pdf for a detailed overview of the project. Faith Lutheran Church is planning several events that are listed below to raise money. We hope you will consider how you can contribute to provide this family a permanent home. Join a golf scramble with others from the Lutheran community in June: Thrivent Financial will host a golf scramble to raise money for the build. We will share details when they are available. Would you like to help with the food during construc on (star ng 9/13/17)? Please contact Carolyn Carden. How you can give towards the dollar goal: On-line: Please see h ps://secure.qgiv.com/for/lexhabitat/ for details. By Check (either mail directly to Faith Lutheran Church or put into the offering basket). Write "Reforma on 500 Build" in the memo at the bo om le on your check. Would you like to help with the construc on (star ng 9/13/17)? Please contact Diane Nicely or Marianne Kehres. Meet the Kashira Family: Sunday April 2 nd The Kashira family will join us for the potluck breakfast on April 2 nd. We will ask for dona ons and sell po ed flowers ( just in me for spring plan ng! ). Please see which contains the official family biography. February Financial Statements February 2017 Year - to - Date Pledges Income Expenses Pledges Income Expenses Budget $ 30, $36, $ 40, Budget $ 61, $71, $ 81, Actual $ 27, $ 35, $ 38, Actual $ 52, $ 66, $ 73, variance $ (3,370.75) $ (1,024.44) $ (2,356.17) variance $ 9,042.50) $ (4,780.88) $ (7,347.51) % 89.12% 97.16% 94.18% % 85.41% 93.29% 90.93%

4 The Messenger of Faith Lutheran Church April 2017 page 4 Great 50 Days of Giving During the 50 days of Easter between Easter and Pentecost, Faith Lutheran will embark on a special giving campaign to help meet our 2017 goals. The focus of this effort is to meet our mission: As followers of Christ, we embrace, reflect, and proclaim God s uncondi onal love, and in par cular reflec ng God s love through our community outreach--both locally and globally. The leadership of the congrega- on deeply desires to maintain support of these outside missions and ministries at least to the levels provided during the last few years. However, the total an cipated income will not fund our ministry plan for Faith Lutheran has a history of generosity and we believe we can meet these goals in this special, targeted effort. We invite you to par cipate in the Great 50 Days of Giving with the goal of raising $50,000 to support these local and global mission projects and our 2017 budget. You will learn more about these projects throughout the 50 Days and we ask that you prayerfully consider how you will contribute to mee ng Faith s goals of reflec ng and proclaiming God s uncondi onal love. Confirma on and Sr. High Servant Camp Pastor Mark and Amber will be accompanying any youth comple ng 6-12 grade who wish to a end a week of camp at Lutheran Hills, June Below are the two descrip ons of these camp weeks. You can register online or mail in registra- on forms from the brochure that can be found in our Gathering area. Please let Pastor Mark or Amber know if you re going to go, and if parents are willing and able to provide transporta on. Confirma on Camp: A week that combines 2 hours of study with your pastor and confirma on class each morning, followed by a full day of great camp ac vi es: hiking, arts and cra s, games, music, swimming, canoeing, kayaking, and campfire programs. Sr. High Servant Camp : A Sunday a ernoon through Friday a ernoon camp week that includes familiar camp ac vi es with a "servant" theme. High school campers will assist with Habitat-For-Humanity type service projects in the Lutheran Hills area and with general on-site camp property projects. Par cipants must be entering grades /1-10:00-10:30 a.m. - plant flowers in decorated pots 4/2 - between services - sell po ed flowers to support Habitat for Humanity - these two events count as service me for confirma on and / or school 4/9-6:30-8:15 p.m. Game night 4/23 - Simpsons Sunday school FLY APRIL EVENTS 4/23 - A ernoon movie out - movie and Show me TBA about a week in advance

5 The Messenger of Faith Lutheran Church April 2017 page 5 Enriching lives through free and public offering of the Arts Music and Arts as Mission Faith Lutheran Church has a strong reputa on of jus ce ministry and its outward mission is o en perceived as being inseparable with social jus ce. This is a reason to celebrate! But most vibrant communi es of faith include many areas of mission that are equally vital. The Harstad Fine Arts Series is one such enterprise. The original proposal enthusias cally ra fied by the congrega on council in December 2015 by the council stated: Vision and Mission: in alignment with Faith s Mission Goals, a fine arts series would reach out to the community, emphasizing the value we place on the fine arts (music, visuals, and performance.) As stated in ELCA Principles of Worship, the gospel is proclaimed through the arts and God creates music as part of the whole crea on and gives it to humankind to develop and shape. It is my belief that our community is served not only by bread alone, but with the nourishment we are providing through this wonderful new venture. Harstad Arts is flourishing well beyond my expecta ons and I am thankful for the many supporters! Moreover, the community s response has been overwhelming and we an cipate hundreds of people coming to our events, including the unchurched and skep cs whose lives may be changed in ways we cannot yet imagine. We are strongly commi ed to outreach events at schools and places that are underserved. Faith Lutheran through Harstad Arts is building community. That was Bonnie s vision and that is my vision. If you ever have any ques ons about Harstad Arts, don t hesitate to contact me. Jay Ungar & Molly Mason are masters of music and storytelling who generously share their lives and their music with audiences. There are so many moments and strands to savor in the course of an evening of their music. Millions were entranced by the music they did for Ken Burns PBS documentary The Civil War. Their performance of the series signature tune, Jay s haun ng composi on, Ashokan Farewell, earned the couple interna onal acclaim. The soundtrack won a Grammy and Ashokan Farewell was nominated for an Emmy. Admission is free, but reserva ons are required. Go to harstadarts.com to reserve your seat. We expect to be sold out by early April. Cantor Tom

6 The Messenger of Faith Lutheran Church April 2017 Page 6 Members of Faith, This month I have included informa on about our Spring Fling, our April & May calendars, and a Teacher Spotlight on Lindsay Sco, my assistant director. I will be including a Teacher Spotlight in each of my messenger ar cles so you can get to know a li le bit about my wonderful teachers. Our Spring Fling event/fundraiser is coming up on Friday, April 21 from 5:30-7:30 pm. All church members, families, and friends are encouraged to a end. As we prepare for the event we will be collec ng dona ons for our raffle & silent auc on. If you would like to make something or donate gi cards or other items for our event please contact Charla, or childcare@faithlutheranchurch.com. APRIL 3-7 Faye e County Spring Break, K-5 Drop-In 21 Spring Fling, 5:30-7:30 pm MAY 1-5 Spring Scholas c Book Fair, school hours 19 Last Day of School for Faye e County 29 FLLC CLOSED for Memorial Day 30 FLLC K-5 Summer Camp Begins Teacher Spotlight: Lindsay Sco Director. She has been an excellent and dedicated teacher at FLLC for nearly 10 years, wearing many hats over the years (including cook). She says, FLLC feels like home and the team we have feels like family. I am lucky to be part of such a caring and dedicated center. Lindsay is an integral part of Faith Lutheran Learning Center as she assists the director with daily func ons, scheduling, planning, and most importantly, builds rela- onships with children, staff, and families. Lindsay communicates that, FLLC has a mission to provide the most caring and educa onal experience for early learners and early educators. She supports this mission, spending much of her me at FLLC con nuing her educa on, through early childhood classes at BCTC (obtaining her CDA & Director s Creden al), and earning her Bachelor s in Elementary Educa on from UK in Dec Lindsay is always seeking ways to improve the program through special programs, cost savings, advoca ng for staff (higher pay and addi onal benefits), planning healthier meals for students, and currently she is a ending a gardening class to obtain the info and resources needed to start a school garden. Some of her hobbies include: playing on several soccer teams, a ending local concerts, spending me with her dog Layla, and traveling (this May to Rome and Cyprus). We are extremely blessed to have Ms. Lindsay and thank her for all she does for FLLC! Respec ully, Charla Heersche, FLLC Director Lindsay Sco is our K-5 A er-school Lead Teacher, K-5 Summer Camp Lead Teacher & Charla s Assistant

7 The Messenger of Faith Lutheran Church April 2017 Page 7 APRIL BIRTHDAYS APRIL ANNIVERSARIES Death: 1 Craig Price 2 Griffin Farrar Jim Knauss Andrew Mendenhall 3 Sco Gralheer 4 Gary Chastain 5 Doug Palmer 6 Janice Plain 8 Brighton Perdue 12 Joseph Bower Audrey Reed 14 David Fegley 16 Dave McGrew 18 Jim McGrath 21 Richard Michel 22 Chris Reynolds 23 Gordon Grotrian Gary Rose 24 Lucas Parsons 25 Kristofer Kelley 26 Ned Brown Janel Watkins 27 Carol Akers 28 Kevin Carey Marian Lundborg 29 Ellery Brown Daniel Lau 30 Leroy Elder 5 Bri on & Stephanie Farrar 10 Alann & Kris Karow 12 Brian & Tricia Brown 20 Richard & Cindy Heine 25 Dave & Barbara Palmquist 26 Neil & JoEllen McComb 29 Shane & Amy Hadden First Sunday Potluck Breakfast On the first Sunday of the month, instead of Sunday School, we will have a potluck breakfast between our two morning worship services as a way to build a stronger sense of community within our congrega- on. Everyone is invited to bring something to share, be it fruit, pastries, juice, a breakfast casserole, or whatever. There will be no formal Sunday School classes on these Sundays, but rather an informal me for all ages to gather in order to share about what's happening in your life and faith with each other. If you forget to bring food to share, then you can s ll par cipate as long as you have a joke or word of wisdom to share instead. Please join us on April 2nd. Len Rood, former member of Faith, died March 23 rd in Lexington. NOTE NEW LOCATION O.W.L.s (Older, Wiser, Lutherans) OWLs will meet for lunch at The Liberty Road Café 720 Henry Clay Blvd. APRIL 20TH at 12:30 p.m. Look forward to seeing you there. For further directions contact: Carolyn Carden (859) Steve Carter, undergoing dialysis and on kidney transplant list. Sydney and Adeline Taber, daughters of Leslie Taber, con nued growth as premature infants. Randy Will, son of Eileen Will, spinal cord injury. Henning Egner, dealing with Alzheimer's. Bill Eggers, dealing with Parkinson s disease. Worship A endance February March 1 (Ash Wed) 109 March March 8 65 March March NEWSLETTER ARTICLES ARE DUE THE 20TH OF EACH MONTH.ARTICLES MAY BE EDITED AS TO SIZE, CONTENT AND TIMELINESS. Marian Lundborg, Messenger Editor, mclundborg@gmail.com

8 The Messenger of Faith Lutheran Church April 2017 Page 8 Service Schedule Sunday Worship 8:30 AM, 11:00 AM, 6:00 PM (Nursery provided during the 8:30 and 11:00 AM services) Sunday School (Sept. through May) 9:45 AM Staff Mark Sloss, Pastor pastormark@faithlutheranchurch.com (Call or for appointment / Day off Friday) Tom White, Cantor (Director of Music Ministries) cantortom@faithlutheranchurch.com (Call or for appointment / Day off Friday) Amber Shirley, Faith Forma on Ministry Director ambershirley@faithlutheranchurch.com Ruth Lundborg, Parish Administrator office@faithlutheranchurch.com Monday Thursday 8:00 4:00, Friday 8:00 12:00 Charla Heersche, Child Care Director childcare@faithlutheranchurch.com Kevin Lentz, Coordinator of Youth Ministries lentz.kevin@gmail.com Brian Lundborg, Sexton H. Gene Templar, Pastor Emeritus Marian Lundborg, Messenger Editor mclundborg@gmail.com Faith Lutheran Church Council 2017 Ned Brown Shane Hadden Charlie Hamilton Jim Larson Debbie Rosenberg Tim Sorenson David Templar (859) or (859) office@faithlutheranchurch.com website: h p:// a t L hti af T 0001 g in xel