The Quilt of. St. John s

Transcription

1 The Quilt of St. John s The story of the quilt began on May 26 th 1909 when a young German immigrant Lutheran Pastor and his fiancé arrived at St. John s Lutheran Church in Arnprior to be married. In 1959, on the occasion of their 50 th wedding anniversary celebration in Kitchener they were presented with a beautiful handmade quilt from the United Lutheran Church Women of St. John s. The golden quilt moved to Kitchener. Quilts take a long time to make and they are pieced together carefully. A hand stitched quilt has 10 stitches to the inch. A quilter has to persevere and sit quietly and work at it. The golden quilt is also hand embroidered. Two of the original quilters Betty Cronmiller and Flossie Obst are present day visitor/attendees. You are welcome to view the many names embroidered on this quilt. Quilting is an age old tradition and requires dedication. Upon the deaths of this married couple 1986 the quilt was handed down to the second generation of the family, the youngest son, and was moved to Burlington. They were great friends with Carl and Isabel Fritsch of this congregation. They downsized to a condominium so the quilt was passed to their god-daughter who has a lifelong attachment to the Ottawa Valley and who just happened to love quilts. The golden quilt was admired and then tucked away in the linen closet in South Dundas to be used at a later date. It is now In the summer of 2014 this woman received a call to be the new Pastor of St. John s and moved to Arnprior and brought the golden quilt with her. It was handed over to one of your own quilters, Beryl Richardson, for a consult on how to refresh it, and how it may grace the church where it was created. It has come home full circle to hang in her office at St. John s Lutheran Church. If you walk into the Pastors office you will see it beautifully hanging on the wall. As I mentioned before, quilting is an age old tradition and requires dedicated work and commitment to seeing the material and stitches transformed into the final product. The creators of a quilt need to collaborate with each other to produce a good useable quilt. The vineyards, from today s gospel, grow from age old roots and also require dedicated tending. God owns the vineyard. We are only the custodians or managers. We collaborate with one another to

2 produce the fruits of the kingdom-the fruits of the Spirit. We are part of that kingdom with all the privileges and responsibilities of being children of God. We always need to remember whose we are and who we are. A quilt is created with great care, with a lot of time and delicate work and lots of love. So has the community of faith St. John s - been created over time with great care, dedication and love for your God! This congregation has persevered and worked hard for 125 years. Sometimes you have had to take a time out to reflect and wait, trusting that God is with you and moving you forward into HOPE. As I said last Sunday the future is wide open-your future is wide open. Your Vision Statement reads: St. John s is a welcoming compassionate fellowship of believers who serve God thru joyful outreach and stewardship of the gift of grace. Your Mission Statement: To minister to the needs of this diverse community. To be a vibrant, visible and growing congregation of the ELCIC by engaging in effective evangelism and service in our community. The values that come to mind when I look at a well-aged quilt are much the same values that I see in you, the beloved people of God at St. John s. Values such as endurance, hope, prayer, fun (as quilters share stories as they quilt) commitment, perseverance, and talent. These have all been held together down through the generations by various strands of thread and material. Pieces held by various individuals and families that have kept the faith and remained hopeful for the future. As you and I remember our past and the history that has brought us to today, let us remember whose we are GOD S and who we are as individuals and as a faith community here. We have this vineyard to take care of in our corner of the world. Let us keep moving forward with love and hope and faith and commitment into that wide open future that God has promised us. Let us pray: Let the vineyards be fruitful Lord, and fill to the brim our cup of blessing. Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown, that we may be fed with the bread of life. Gather the hopes and dreams of all; unite them with the prayers we offer now. Grace our table with your presence, and give us a foretaste of the feast to come. Offertory pg 66 of LBW. AMEN Pastor Norine Gullons Sermon / 5 October 2014 / Matthew 21:33-46

3 St. John s Lutheran Church 47 McLachlin Street, Arnprior, Ontario K7S 2Z1 Many thanks to Elmer and Marion Leeck for the Thanksgiving decorations ~ the church looked wonderful. Pastor: Norine Gullons Church Office: Pastor s office hours are Tues., Wed., Thurs., 9:00-Noon Chairperson: Randy Zimmerling Jeff Kargus Lorne Rueckwald Beryl Richardson Lois Rosien Ryan Zimmerling Rhonda McTeer Melissa Watt November Calendar Sunday 2 nd All Saints Sunday During service we remember Lydia Scheel and Lillian Scobie and light a candle for loved ones. Sunday-Tuesday 2 nd 4 th Pastors Retreat with Rev. Doug Reble at Camp Lutherlyn - 5pm start Wednesday 5 th Worship at The Villa 10:30am Sunday 9 th Remembrance Sunday - Coffee and social after service Thursday-Saturday 13 th 15 th Eastern Synod Council in Kingston - starts at 2pm Thurs. noon Sat. Sunday 16 th Worship 10:00am Guest Worship Leader Father Stopa Coffee and social after service ** Christmas Child Shoeboxes Due** Tuesday-Wednesday 18 th 19 th Pastor attends 70 th Anniversary of Canadian Council of Churches Commission on Justice and Peace meets in Toronto Sunday 23 rd Christ the King Sunday (last Sunday of church year). Service will include prayers for healing. Coffee and social after service. Monday 24 th Council Meeting at 7:30pm Thursday 27 th Pastor to hostess Advent Faith Talk Time 9:30am-11:30am in the church lounge four Thurs. in a row. See Ad on p.5 for more details! Sunday 30 th First Sunday in Advent Dedication of new Communion Flagon. Adventfest downstairs following worship including potluck lunch and ending by 1:30pm. See the Ad on page 5 for more information!

4 October Church Council Report Pastor's report: Pastor again presented a report detailing where she had spent her time during September and October. In addition to attendance at local meetings (cluster, local ministerial, etc.) Pastor Norine attended the Bishops annual Leadership Meeting. Pastor indicated that she had resigned from several Synod Committees with the permission of our Bishop so as to prioritize the local church work in the near term. Finance Report: Church council reviewed the year to date reports for the Profit and Loss Statement and the Balance Sheet. Significant notes included: Current offerings are up 34.7% vs. last year and correspond to an increase in average attendance at Sunday services. Our balance sheet reflects a balance of 165, in chequing and investments largely as a result of the sale of our parsonage Property Report: Progress has been made against our published objectives: All storm windows have been painted and minor repairs applied Parging repairs and other mortar repairs to the brick walls and front entrance has been completed During the next couple of weeks we plan on completing: - repair to top window at our front entrance - painting the stairwell to the organ loft - providing a solution to our humidifier for the organ We still are investigating ways of improving our sound system (increasing the number and quality of speakers, looking at microphone options, etc.) Worship and Music: Alexandra has found some books for 2 part harmony that she would like to get the choir working on. A minor organ tune-up was completed prior to the installation service and will be also done in November. Outreach: Council discussed our current practice of publishing birthdays of members as part of our monthly newsletter. After consultation with synod and researching current legislation with respect to privacy laws we are compelled to cease publicizing personal information of members (including birthdays) without their expressed consent. We will resume our practice of publishing birthdays once we have received/verified members consent to do this. Council will be working on a communication policy that addresses the privacy issue in the near future. The same situation exists for the publication of pictures-again we will be soliciting members approval before we publish pictures in either the newsletter or our website. Altar Guild: Beryl has suggested that we consider purchasing replacement wooden candle holders for the ones that currently are placed on either side of the altar. This could come from a memorial donation.council will investigate this further.

5 Food bank/clwr: Randy (on Jeff's behalf ) pointed out that the Thanksgiving drive for the Food bank via our reverse offering was a huge success and the folks at the Food bank were pleased and grateful to receive the much needed food supplies at this time. Jeff gave an overview of some of the needs and practices of the Food bank he has witnessed firsthand as part of his monthly volunteer efforts. Jeff will be discussing some ideas for CLWR support and efforts that we could undertake in early spring. The Arnprior and District Food Bank was blessed by St. John's generousity this Thanksgiving - 3 bushels full. We are a church in mission for others till all are fed! Pastor Norine New Council Members: Rhonda McTeer, Ryan Zimmerling, and Melissa Watt were installed as council members on October 26 th. Respectfully submitted, Randy Zimmerling Advent Adult Bible Study - A time of Comfort & Joy 4 Advent Thursday mornings: Nov. 27, Dec. 4, Dec. 11, Dec. 18 Gather in the church lounge from 9:30am -11:30am for crafts, coffee, chats of Faith & Communion. If you are interested in attending please contact P+ Norine ADVENT-FEST Nov. 30, 2014 the First Sunday in Advent Hope for our Community 11:15 Potluck lunch immediately following worship After lunch activities include: Crafting angels for our angel tree. What s an angel tree? Come and see! Enjoying singing and music Wrapping gifts and signing cards for people in nursing homes at Christmas

6 Birthdays and Anniversaries Due to the Privacy Act we require your consent to continue to publish names for birthdays and anniversaries in the Church Newsletter. Due Nov. 16 th Need more information? See Jeff A permission form will follow shortly. Lutherlyn Camp & Conf Centre is selling 50th Anniversary calendars for the year They are $20. Please pay Pastor if you would like to purchase one. Postings in the Narthex Eastern Synod Lutheran Monthly Newsletter (or access online at: Upcoming Galilee Centre events for November What Matters? Summary of Bishop Younan s Presentation on Peace We need volunteers for November and December for ushering, counting, and communion assistants. Please consider choosing a Sunday (or more if you wish) to help out. VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE FOR NOVEMBER 2014 SUNDAY USHERS READING COFFEE/SOCIAL COUNTERS Nov. 2 nd Andy Kalnins Lois Rosien Nov. 9 th Joy Statham Beryl Richardson Nov. 16 th Cathy or Randy Zimmerling Floss Obst Nov. 23 rd Cathy or Randy Zimmerling Maureen Rueckwald Nov. 30 th Cathy or Randy Zimmerling Adventfest Potluck Thank you volunteers! If you would like to help out, please sign-up in the Narthex! Website: Church-Arnprior/