P a s t o r s M e s s a g e

Transcription

1 Return to All Saints Home Page S. Spruce Street Spokane, WA All Saints Gather Monthly Newsletter October 2012 P a s t o r s M e s s a g e I have lately been looking at all the events to which I am regularly invited to participate. There are community events around topics ranging from sustainable food practices to justice issues involving our court system. I don t have time to attend them all, I do participate in some. The interesting thing is; who I see when I do attend an event. Very often it is the same people at multiple programs, and I have talked with people about that fact several times. Each conversation is different but we arrive at a similar conclusion that the same people are interested in advocating similar ideas, kind of like preaching to the choir." The problem we all admit to is this: How do we reach that vast number of people in the middle? The undecideds, the swing votes if you will, are a popular group of people right now because every politician in the country is trying to get their vote, I have heard that there are only about a million people in the country that will decide the presidential election. The rest of us have already made up our minds as far as our vote is concerned. There will be billions spent in the next weeks trying to influence that million people with advertising and the like. The point I am hopefully going to make here is that if you are one of the active folks in the community, if you participate regularly in advocating events, then you need to invite someone from that undecided group. It is the same for all of us who attend worship. Active folks in church must learn to invite others. In the last 50 years, church attendance in the U.S. has steadily dropped, the numbers are down to around 20% or less, in Europe the numbers have fallen to 5%. The question we must ask is whether or not Christianity could die out in first world countries? Christianity itself is doing fine, growing steadily in many parts of the world and prospering even under attack. Here in the U.S. the effects of too much apathy coupled with too much affluence have crippled churches. The attitudes of; I don t care and I don t need to care. I am doing fine and even though I see some bad things, it hasn t bothered me yet. Justice issues, poverty, addiction, mental illness etc. are out of my realm and I prefer to avoid talking about it. Politics is boring and for someone else to worry about, I have my own family and work and that s enough worry for me. If any of these arguments sound familiar to you or if you have heard your friends say them try to think about the future. Imagine what things will look like in the future God gives us a great blessing when he forgives us our sin, He gives us a future with the blessing of knowing that the past is done and we can live again. This hope is all that some folks have, and it may be all we have at some future date. I hope and pray that you will prayerfully consider being an advocate or companion to someone who needs it. Participation in our church and in our community is a great honor and blessing, and we need more partners to continue growing. Pastor Alan

2 Pastor... Reverend Alan B. Eschenbacher Lay Ministers... All Members of All Saints Congregation Organist... Willie Graf Worship Leader/Choir Director... Mary Johnson Parish Administrator... Teresa Freund Altar Guild Directress... Cora Jelinek Newsletter Editor... Verne St John Council President... Council Vice President... Council Secretary... Church Treasurer... Financial Secretary... Bryce Eschenbacher Dean Treichel Maynard Ross Eleanor Olson Cora Jelinek Sunday October 14th, 2012

3 "People of Christ, Living in Community, Working in Partnership, Doing the 'Stuff' of Local Ministry" ALL SAINTS LUTHERAN CHURCH has witnessed God in action in our congregation, and in the world. We seek to proclaim the Gospel that all may know the depth of God's love. We thankfully exercise our abilities, time and material assets in service to our neighbor. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same LORD, and there are varieties of workings, but it is the same GOD who inspires them all in every thing. 1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-6 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind... love your neighbor as yourself. MATTHEW 22:37-40 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY SPIRIT, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. MATTHEW 28:19-20

4 For the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the future of All Saints For Pastor Alan Eschenbacher as he serves All Saints For Bishop Martin Wells and the Synod Staff For ELCA presiding Bishop Mark Hanson For Divine Guidance for our Country For Thanksgiving and time with Family Brian Dickerson, Craig Davenport, Arlene O Brien, Shirley & Homer Evers, Bill Lobeda, Shannon, Matthew, Kass, Forest, Connie Jelinek, Cindy Shepherd, Roberta MacKay, Judy Shoaf, Shannon Squires, Janice Johnson, Trayci Ballin, Eileen Roloff, Susan Walup, Taylor Halsey, Steve Taulbee For our Members in the Military Paul Billings, Ben Coles, Robert Guyton, Aaron Jelinek Thank You I would like to thank everyone who has prayed for me since my diagnosis in May - that has meant more to me than I can express. As of now, all appears to be normal. Cindy Shepherd

5 God's beloved people Cross Connection - October 2012 Weren t the readings from Ephesians powerful during August!? Here s a blessing to start your fall schedule: I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, (17) and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. (18) I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, (19) and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. EPHESIANS 3:16-19 I share this blessing in order to set the standard by which our lives are ordered in these complicated days. As the demands of the fall pile up on you political choices; economic stresses; wisdom about health care; unemployment might we dare pray to be filled with the fullness of God available to us in the love of Christ? Can we believe that this is real power grounding us in love that is tall and wide and as deep as anything in life? In truth everything else is a false God, that is, any power or fear or offering that is not part of this fullness of God is thin and fleeting and insubstantial. It is not true. Christ dwells in you as you trust his Spirited love; he is the *fullness* of life that people search for, looking in so many blind alleys. God bless you and keep you as you enter the busy, busy fall! You are Godblessed! -- By the time you receive this Mark Nelson will have begun his new position at Region 1, ELCA. The Synod Council, meeting in early September, had a rich opportunity to thank Mark for his 21 years of service to the synod and to offer him both a Godspeed and a Sending. As you have opportunity please offer your own thanks to Mark! We hope to host an Installation service for him in the next 8 weeks which will give us another opportunity to share our thanks. -- On September 4, along with Corporation members from our synod, I had the opportunity to attend the installation of Tom Krise as the new President of Pacific Lutheran University. One of the most important developments in the life of the University has been its embrace of Luther s notion of Vocation through the Wild Hope project. In the installation service each part of the PLU community was invited to make promises based on the calling of their work. Most poignant were the promises of the faculty to pursue their vocations as scholars and teachers. Finally the students were asked to promise to fulfill their callings as students. It was a powerful moment of clear promise-making and I invite our prayers for all the teachers and students who begin a new school year! -- On September 7 and 8 the Synod Council met for a meeting packed with substantial questions and planning. Many, many thanks to the members of the Council and their leader, Gary Gemar! Here we go! Pr. Martin Wells, Bishop

6 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FRIEND - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU AND MANY MORE!!! OCTOBER 1ST SARAH MCGUIRE OCTOBER 2ND ROBERT CHENAULT OCTOBER 6TH DI NGUYEN OCTOBER 10TH ARIELLE MCGUIRE OCTOBER 10TH SHYLAH VOSS OCTOBER 12TH ANDREW BRUMITT OCTOBER 14TH JOANNE BROCKWAY OCTOBER 17TH SIERRA CRABTREE OCTOBER 26TH ALEX BRYANT OCTOBER 26ND EVELYN ROSS OCTOBER 29TH LISA MAYER OCTOBER 29TH RICKY SKOCILICH OCTOBER 30TH BEV PATTERSON OCTOBER 31ST KEITH THOMAS OCTOBER 14TH CHRISTINA SIMNIONIW WHETHER THE FIRST OR THE FIFTIETH AND COUNTING... THE BEST ONE YET, WITH MANY MORE TO COME Happy Anniversary to... OCTOBER 18TH BRYCE AND KEELY ESCHENBACHER OCTOBER 18TH HOWARD AND NADINE KELLY

7 SPEAR News and Notes October 2012 Happy Fall from SPEAR the kids, parents, staff and volunteers! Plans are in the works for another great year with the kids and families of our neighborhood. Sheryl Kruger, the Coordinator for SPEAR s programs, reports that as of the Board meeting on September 10, we have given away 52 backpacks filled with school supplies. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our Backpack Program this year. We will be offering refills to the kids throughout the school year, so we would appreciate any more school supplies you can set aside for us. Thank you! Have you checked out our website yet? We will be working to add our wish list and our schedule of activities throughout the year. Check us out Thank you to Darryl Hammonds and Donna Huck for managing our website. And, please send our link to your friends and families so they can also stay in touch and donate to our programs if they wish. We have another of our SPEAR kids going to college this fall! Wow! How exciting is that. Sheryl has said that we have not had any of our SPEAR kids drop out of school to date! What an accomplishment and what great help you all have been to our kids. One of our young people finished up the Culinary Program at Spokane Community College and is now working at the Davenport Hotel! Occasionally we have been able to help our kids go to college, and it is a dream to set up a scholarship program to help more kids get into higher education. We are so proud of our students. Next big event is our Halloween party and we have plenty of candy except for candy corn and candy pumpkins. We encourage our kids to make their own costumes for our party and they come up with some great ones. If you can help out, please do. After Halloween, we will start collecting food for Thanksgiving dinner baskets and then comes Christmas and collection of gift items for the kids to wrap and give to their family members. The kids love doing that. Probably sometime in October, we would like to have an "Undie Sunday" to collect new underwear for our kids and their families. Watch your bulletin for more on this. And for winter, we will need some jackets, gloves and boots - our kids are ages 4 through 18 - and any help you can give us would be wonderful! I believe we have plenty of hats on hand. I also just received an from Kathy Hammonds of St. Marks that "Undie Sunday" has been set at St. Marks for October 14 to collect new underwear in both children and adult sizes as part of our St Marks Feeds and Clothes People program. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your support for the SPEAR program! We cannot thank you enough for all of your support and helping hands. Blessings! Claudia And if you would like to get involved with SPEAR, have questions or wish more information, contact Claudia Holtz / SPEAR Board of Trustees her: choltz.spear@gmail.com call her: Home: / Cell:

8 will meet on Wednesday, October 10th at 11:00am in the All Saints Fellowship Room meets at 10:00am, Saturday, October 20th in the All Saints Fireside Room will meet at Ben & Laurel Gitting's home on Friday, October 19th, 7:00pm Bring a Fave Snack to Share Wine Tasting Fundraiser Because There is Hope You re invited to join us at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 2715 S. Ray Street in Spokane, for a wine-tasting fundraiser to benefit Because There Is Hope on Saturday, October 13th, from 1-5pm. Because There is Hope is a local non-profit organization which assists cancer patients from out of town find temporary lodging before, during and after treatment at Spokane hospitals. They also financially help to cover transportation costs (costs which aren't covered by insurance). This is our second annual fundraiser and again the premium wines from Mission Mountain Winery, Dayton, Montana will be featured. The tickets for this event will be available at the door for $12.00 each or 2-for-$20.00 but can be reserved in advance by calling or ing stuartshawen@comcast.net. Stuart Shawen Event Coordinator Bethlehem Lutheran Church / Spokane,WA

9 Sunday - October Greeters / Ushers...? 7th Altar Ushers-Greeters Guild...? Coffee Hour...? Altar Guild Counters...? Coffee Hour Greeters / Ushers...? Sunday - October Altar Guild...? 14th Coffee Ushers-Greeters Hour...? Counters...? Altar Guild Coffee Hour Greeters / Ushers...? Altar Guild...? Sunday - October Coffee Hour...? 21st Ushers-Greeters Counters...? Altar Guild Coffee Hour Greeters / Ushers...? Altar Guild...? Sunday - October 28th Coffee Hour...? Ushers-Greeters Counters...? Altar Guild Coffee Hour FOR DATE Tamie Evers and Norm Sanborn Harry & Mavis Michael Dean and Christina Simnioniw FOR DATE Maynard Ross and Evelyn Ross Tamie Evers and Sandi Crabtree Bev Patterson, Sandi Crabtree, Deana Wickert, Norm Sanborn FOR DATE Norm Sanborn and Harry Michael Jack & Betty Renford FOR DATE Maynard Ross, Evelyn Ross, Tamie Evers, Mavis Michael Jim & Shirley Chaffins Tamie Evers and Sandi Crabtree Joanne Brockway, Jim and Shirley Chaffins Members of Worship Group for October 2012 Joanne Brockway, Jim Chaffins, Shirley Chaffins, Brandi Crabtree, Derrick Crabtree, Sandi Crabtree, Tamie Evers, Jaak Juhkentaal, Betty Ledbetter, Harry Michael, Mavis Michael, Di Nguyen, Lang Nguyen, Bev Patterson, Betty Renford, Jack Renford, Carla Ross, Evelyn Ross, Maynard Ross, Norm Sanborn, Christina Simnioniw, Dean Simnioniw, Deanna Wickert, Ernest Wickert

10 Scripture Readings for October 2012 Sunday - October 7, 2012 Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost Color: Green Genesis 2:18-24 Psalm 8 (5) Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12 Mark 10:2-16 Sunday - October 14, 2012 Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost Color: Green Amos 5:6-7, Psalm 90:12-17 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 Thursday - October 18, 2012 Luke, Evangelist Color: Scarlet / Red Isaiah 43:8-13 or Isaiah 35:5-8 Psalm 124 (8) 2 Timothy 4:5-11 Luke 1:1-4; 24:44-53 Sunday - October 21, 2012 Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost Color: Green Isaiah 53:4-12 Psalm 91:9-16 Hebrews 5:1-10 Mark 10:35-45 Sunday - October 28, 2012 Reformation Sunday Color: Red Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 46 (7) Romans 3:19-28 John 8:31-36