MESSIAH MESSENGER. Why do we do what we do? from the Pastor s desk... April Communion Bread. Office Hours: Contact Messiah:

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1 April 2018 MESSIAH MESSENGER Messiah Lutheran Church, 415 S. 18th St., Aurora, NE Office Hours: 8 am 2pm Monday - Friday Contact Messiah: Church Office Pastor Sarah Ruch Pastor Miles Ruch, Jr. messiah@ hamilton.net Find us on Facebook & from the Pastor s desk... Why do we do what we do? Communion Bread Epiphany greetings from our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, the light of the world! It s probably no news to you that over the past year we ve been experimenting with the type of bread we use for our communion celebration each Sunday. This past year it s been our typical routine to use unleavened bread on Sundays when we commune at the railing and wafers when we commune by Intinction. Using unleavened bread was a change for us at Messiah, and we talked about the reasons for this change in a variety of ways when it was initially made. Throughout the coming months, you may be seeing an adjustment back to wafers, so I thought we d touch base on these fluctuations once again. In the Lutheran Church, Communion is a Sacrament. This means that is commanded by Christ for us to take part in, carries with it a promise of God s grace, and includes physical elements that we can see, taste, and touch. We celebrate Communion because through this meal we are connected. We are connected to our ancestors of faith who shared together the Passover feast as they were liberated from oppression. We are connected to our Savior Jesus Christ, who shared the Passover meal and instituted the first Communion with his first disciples and who gave himself for us, flesh and blood, so that we may be forgiven for our sins. And finally, we are connected also to the vast body of Christ throughout the world that also shares in this meal as a foundation of faith. Communion is at its base level a meal that shows us, in a tangible way, God s immense love for us, his children. While the meal itself is mandated by God for us to take part in, the elements (the type of bread and wine) were not. While it might be uncomfortable for us because we are a people ingrained in tradition, we could share the meal with crackers and Diet Coke if we wanted to. It is not the elements themselves that impart God s word to us, it is the Word of God with physical elements that imparts this promise. Churches today use a variety of breads to celebrate communion as well as a variety of wines and juices. From regular loaves of artisan bread, rounds of unleavened bread, and flat wafers, all are used, and all impart the promises of Communion to those who partake. continued on page 2

2 Messiah Ministries Continued from page 1 Why do we do what we do? Communion Bread The use of unleavened bread is a practice that goes back to our ancestors who fled from slavery in Egypt with bread that had no yeast because they were in a hurry and had no time to let the bread rise. In the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) Moses uses yeast as a metaphor for sin in the world, rising within us as yeast would cause bread to rise. We re not told exactly what kind of bread Jesus used when he shared the Passover meal with his disciples, but it would be historically accurate to assume that this bread was unleavened. Flat, disc-like wafers that mimicked bread with no yeast came into use just before the Middle Ages in the Roman Catholic Church as it was practical for the people and would not spoil. The Evangelical Lutheran Church acknowledges Communion as celebrated using any type of bread and any type of wine, although it encourages the use of whole loaves because it signifies the community we are joined into in this meal and because it must be broken to be shared (to read more, check out: The Use of the Means of Grace). What it all comes down to is preference and tradition. Over the past year we ve been blessed to experiment with what Communion means to us as a meal as we ve used various types of bread or wafers to commune. Over the next few months we ll continue to use our supply of unleavened bread, returning to wafers on a regular basis when it has been exhausted. We will continue to offer gluten and nut-free wafers for those with allergies or intolerances. On a personal note, I give thanks for the many gifts of Christi Aycock, who has been faithfully baking our unleavened bread throughout the past year. She has given much of her time and talents to this spiritual discipline, and I thank her for her tireless efforts so that we might be able to fully experience our faith in this meal. Blessings to you in this new year! Pastor Sarah Monthly Financials November 30, 2018 Beginning Offering Income Other Income Expense Ending Current Fund $ 36, $ 17, $ 1, $ 20, $ 35, Building $ 17, $ 2, $ 3, $ 17,387.20

3 Messiah Ministries Messiah Lutheran Council Meeting Monday, December 17, 2018, 6:30 pm Present: Pastor Sarah, Mike Stewart, John Farris, Christi Aycock, KC Pawling, Diane Gowen, Tim Tyma Meeting was called to order at 6:38 by President Mike Stewart and Pastor Sarah lead us in opening prayer Unfinished business: challenge of debt reduction and ministry mission search. Kairos: Lynn James visited with us regarding his experience with similar campaigns and shared that Joe is reducing his fees for us from $32k to $26k to be paid in 6 payments over 3 years. There is also a daily per diem of $150 for the times he needs to be physically present, can be reduced to $50 if there is housing available with a member. Extra costs for mailings, videos, infrastructure (committees) In-House: ELCA Synod has congregation vitality surveys and other materials we can download to use in our own campaign. Would require Council to be very active in overseeing progress and keeping congregation motivated to reach goals. Was decided to pray regarding this subject and we encourage the congregation to pray for direction on this matter as well. Treasurer s Report: The council reviewed and discussed the report submitted by Diane Gowen cover the time period of November 1 November 30, Extra $5k was made toward building loan in December. The synopsis report is available in the office for review. The treasurer s report is placed on file for the auditing committee. Motion was made by John to make a $5k payment in January towards the building loan to reduce principal. Second by Tim, motion carried. Pastoral Reports: Pastor Sarah and Pastor Miles were invited and accepted to attend a continuing education course that will from from January 2019 to June It is located at Carol Joy Holling. The cost of the class exceeded the amount left in the budget line by $37, Diane motioned to have advancement from 2019 cont. ed line to cover cost. John second, motion carried. Reports for both were reviewed, no additional questions/comments. Committee Reports: Hospitality Hay rack ride was a success. Small crowd due to cold but Jeff with Prairie Plains gave a great tour and information. Cookies and Hot Cocoa were shared afterwards. Winterfest is scheduled for January. Committee is going to review numbers and determine if this will remain an activity or change and do something different.

4 Messiah Ministries Council Meeting Minutes Continued from page 3 New committee members will be contacted after first of the year to meet and put plan in place for Parish Ed- Kiley is filling the positions vacated by Ryan and Cassie Wineteer. Reviewing plans for day camp and VBS Property Protex is working on items for Fire Marshal codes updating. Bamford is to be moving sprinklers but need to follow up with them for time commitment. Stewardship Will be discussing type of building campaign and how to present before next council meeting so we have action plan to discuss further Worship Pastors are gone on December 30th so working on filling that day s service. Budget. $361 was received from Thrivent for undesignated donations. It was determined to put into the helping hands MM budget worksheet was presented by Diane. Lines were reviewed and revised. Diane will update and bring worksheet to January meeting for a vote. Announcements: Next council meeting January 14 at 6:30 pm Council adjourned at 10:42 pm and closed in prayer. Respectfully submitted by Christi Aycock. **Anyone who has questions or comments about the Minutes is encouraged to speak to the Pastors or Council Members about the same. CUSTODIAN POSITION AVAILABLE Messiah Lutheran Church is hiring a parttime Custodian. Job entails interior cleaning of the church building. $10 an hour/15 hours per week. Full job descriptions and applications can be picked up at Messiah Lutheran Church between 8am-2pm Monday-Friday. Page 4

5 Women of the ELCA at Messiah WELCA of Messiah Messiah Lutheran Church Sunday, January 13, :30-11:15 a.m. Call to Order Prayer & Devotion Approval of Minutes Treasurer Report Old Business Bold Women Day Central Spring Gathering Movie Fellowship Winter Retreat Thankoffering Service 2019 Directory Committee Reports Altar Guild Banner Funeral Dinners Kitchen Quilting Soup & Pie New Business Election Vice Chair Treasurer Annual Church Meeting Closing Prayer WINTER RETREAT "What does this mean?" *Bishop Brian Maas will be presenting the Bible Study* January 19, 2019 from 9:00am-3:00pm St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Grand Island Chick Flick Movie Fellowship February 17, 2019 Central Spring Gathering March 16, 2019 tinyurl.com/nebraskawelca is the Nebraska Synodical Women s Organization website. Page 5

6 Messiah Ministries Women, Wisdom & Wine will be held on Tuesday, January 15, 2019, 7:00pm at the church parsonage. The address for the parsonage is 130 Galway Road, Aurora, NE The Adult Choir will practice Wednesday, January 23rd at 8:00pm in the church Sanctuary, and we will be singing during Worship on Sunday, January 27th. If you like to sing, please join us. For more Information about the church choir, contact Diane Haden. See you there! Friday, January 25th (Last Friday of each month) 6:30 am 7:30 am All men of Messiah are invited! A free will offering will be taken to help offset the cost of the breakfast. If you have questions or you would like to be a part of these, contact Pastor Miles or Todd Jensen. Page 6

7 WinterFest Join us for our Annual WinterFest Celebration at The Leadership Center on Sunday, January 26th from 3pm-6pm. We ll play board games and card games (please bring your favorites), have snacks and the pool, basketball, ping pong tables will be available. A donation of $5 per is suggested. All are welcome, and bring your friends! ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING & MINISTRY CELEBRATION Please join us! Sunday, February 3rd following worship Annual Reports will be available January 20th. FOOD PANTRY FOR BACKPACKERS January: 15 oz. cans of Spaghetti & Meatballs You are welcome to bring other items for our local food pantry as you have available to you. Please help re-stock the pantry s shelves after a busy holiday season! Page 7

8 THANK YOU to the Messiah Youth and Church members for the wonderful caroling and the fruit and goodie tray. It was greatly appreciated. Ken & Parma Werner Thank you for stopping by our house to bring Christmas joy to us! Thank you also for the fresh fruit, the yummy muffins and the candy canes. It was beautiful to share the Christmas story by joining in singing carols. Thank you so much! Blessings to all, Dick& Kathy Akerlund...well, we haven t, but if you have, please let us know! It is time to update the mailing list for the newsletter and yearbook. Please let us know if your phone preferences, , or address have changed! Also, if you want to continue to receive your newsletter by or prefer to It by mail, please let the church office know.

9 Messiah Lutheran Church Messiah Lutheran Church, ELCA 415 S. 18th St. PO Box 37 Aurora, NE January 2019