The Good Shepherd News

Transcription

1 The Good Shepherd News Garden Street Titusville, Florida [ ] Rev. Bruce Alberts, Pastor Anne Dobbins, Early Learning Center Director Website: titusvillelutherans.org December Brothers and Sisters in Christ, A Word from the Pastor As you know, the church shooting in Texas has set off considerable discussion about the place of firearms in church. Some people speaking to the topic bring sensible thoughts. Some not so much. What follows are my thoughts. First off, I have no desire to prohibit or discourage any person who is legally able to own and carry a firearm from doing so, even on church property. Jesus himself did not discourage his disciples from bearing arms. (Luke 22:36ff) I will not presume to be smarter than my Lord. I will also point out that for Concealed Carry Weapon (CCW) permit holders it s nobody s business, including mine, whether you chose to be armed at any given time or in any given place. A word of warning: I am uncertain about the legal status of carrying a firearm on the grounds of a church that also has a school. You will need to check with your own legal counsel to ensure that you are operating within the boundaries of the law. Of course, if you ve had proper CCW training, you ve already thought to do so. Speaking of proper training, that is what I would ask of all our firearm owners in the congregation. Jeff Cooper once quipped that owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician. (If you don t know who Jeff Cooper is you probably should get more training.) Please train properly and practice regularly. Here are some tips. First, actually shoot your firearm. We are blessed to have two wonderful ranges in Titusville. For a small fee they will not only provide you with a place to use your firearm but will also provide you with proper oversight and training. The need to actually shoot your weapon should be self-evident. Training is also necessary. If the last class you had concerning firearms was more than five years ago, you can be sure things have changed. Take the time to learn/re-learn you necessary skills. Women are especially able to do this. The American Police Hall of Fame offers free firearms classes for ladies every Saturday morning. There is absolutely no excuse for lacking proficiency with your weapon, especially if you re female! Next, spend regular time practicing your skills at home, including dry firing. Practice your draw stroke. Buy a bunch of snap caps. Use them to practice clearing malfunctions and reloading. Be able to do these things in the dark and while running. Continued on pg 2

2 Christmas Decorating On Saturday, December 9 we will get together about 9:00am for a couple of hours to decorate the Sanctuary for Christmas. Everybody is Welcome Please join us! Contact Betty Kogok if you have any questions. Christmas Poinsettias It s that time of year again! Christmas Poinsettias will be available to order beginning Sunday, December 3 thru Sunday, December 17. Order forms will be in the weekly bulletins or you can contact the church office at to place an order. The cost for each poinsettia is $7.00. January Newsletter Articles will be due no later than Monday, December 18. A big thank you to all those that contribute to this monthly newsletter. Please articles to office@titusvillelutherans.org or leave a hard copy on the desk in the church office. 2 Continued from pg 1 Finally, realize that it s okay, if prompted by the Holy Spirit, to be a martyr. Some of you may know the story of Jim Elliot. He was a missionary to Equator in the 1950s. He and his colleagues were brutally killed by hostile natives while they were attempting to share the Gospel. Few people are aware, however, that he and his party were armed with rifles. They could have easily defended themselves. At the last minute, they chose not to. No sensible Christian can make the claim that Christians cannot defend themselves or others when they are attacked. (Luke 22:36) In many circumstances, it would be immoral and sinful not to do so. (James 4:17) But this is not true of every occasion. There are times we are called to lay down our lives. The challenge for the mature Christian is to know when to fight and when not to. Martyrdom should never be an excuse for cowardice or sin. Once again, there is no part of me that in any way shape or form will attempt to dissuade a citizen of this great land from carrying a weapon, even to church. If I would err, it would be to encourage everyone who possibly can to do so. We are one of the last truly free nations on earth. We have been given our freedoms as a gift from God. We should make every effort to use the rights of our citizenship in the same way Paul used his rights as a citizen of Rome. I ask only that these unalienable rights be used thoughtfully and prayerfully. I m happy to share more of my thoughts and experiences if you would find that useful. I m also happy to help you find or to coordinate proper training if there s an interest. God s blessings, BRUCE ALBERTS Pastor

3 Helpful Health Hints By The Congregation Nurse But those who suffer He delivers in their suffering; He speaks to them in their affliction (Job 36:15) This month I would like to share some thoughts with you about chronic illnesses, namely Living with A Chronic Illness and what our Faith can offer us. The Bible, as well as our personal experiences, shows the difficulties in living with an illness that is not curable. Without our faith we would have a hard time dealing with the daily struggles we face. Chronic illnesses are ongoing diseases, or impairments, that involve the entire being with no chance of being cured. Examples might be heart disease, diabetes, dementia, Parkinson s, and Multiple Sclerosis. Chronic illnesses are our number one health problem today. They can affect persons of any age, but the elderly comprise a higher percentage. Chronic illnesses can affect all areas of a person s life. Often these people experience physical symptoms that cause discomfort and disrupt the very basics of life, eating, sleeping or working. The illness can cause depression, fatigue, and an all around sense of discouragement. This then affects their interpersonal relationships and also their relationship with God. The perspective of our faith can offer support and encouragement to persons struggling with a chronic illness. Each person is created by God, in his image. This serves as the basis for human dignity, not the person s level of dependence or productivity. (Genesis 1:27). God alone has the ability to make something good out of disease, impairments, and suffering. (Romans 8:28-32). The church is called to be attentive to persons who are suffering and to use it as an opportunity to witness to Christ s love for us. (Matthew 25:34-40, Acts 20:35). We can be confident that the Lord will not give us more than we can bear, but He has provided help for us in healthcare providers, therapists, medications, family, and our community of faith, the church. (Psalm 46, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, and 16-18). May we all experience the peace and comfort that comes from our great God. Barbara (Adapted from Seasons of Wholeness) 3

4 FROM YOUR HISTORIAN Today was one of the gorgeous days for which Floridians wait all summer, a perfect time for Vera Beck s brief committal service in Good Shepherd s beautiful memorial garden. Around 25 chairs were set up in neat rows for the comfort of those who attended, mostly older friends and neighbors of Vera from The Great Outdoors where she lived almost next door to her daughter, Connie and husband. Vera remained in her home after her husband s death. They were a neat couple, arriving at Good Shepherd Sunday mornings and walking down the aisle to their usual seats, several rows from the front on the left side of the church. The pastor had a brief but comforting sermon for the benefit of all gathered in the garden, and it was encouraging to hear how well the audience responded in the recitations of the Apostles Creed and Lord s Prayer. There were no printed programs. All the while the tall tree in the center of the garden stood guard and protected those present from the sun on that beautiful morning. Then a brief stop at the grocery store where a familiar face came up to me and asked if I remembered her. Of course, who could forget Karen Dreschel and her beautiful daughter, Katy, now 32 years old and mother of three children. She is now the same age as I was when we moved to Florida (also with three children). The Dreschels belong to St. Luke s near Oviedo, because Dr. Tom s parents retired to the Lutheran community there, and this gives them a chance to visit on Sundays. Back in our old days, I taught a Sunday School class on one of the balconies in our Ed Building. One of Katy s classmates was Michelle Muelke who is our sanctuary sound technician on the third Sunday of each month. My issue of Lutheran Life magazine arrived today, so not much else was accomplished. Before giving my copy to Tom Lau, I go through it from cover to cover so interesting and full of information. The District President s Equip conference took place in Ponte Vedra Beach near the end of September. What I read reminded me a lot of the annual Fall Pastor/Teacher conferences. Although I am not a called teacher, I was invited to St. Petersburg one year to tell about our Girls Mission League at Good Shepherd. That year, our mission emphasis was India, and Lisa Simpson loaned me a beautiful sari for my onstage demonstration. One has to be wearing a narrow belt to start it off, tucking some of the material into the belt, then throwing a section of it over a shoulder, and you re on the way to India. Pastor Milan Weerts (he s in the magazine hasn t changed a bit except his red hair has turned white) was the momentary master of ceremonies and was very eager to help me get the sari in place. At Pastor Claus request, he brought his Luther League over to Good Shepherd to demonstrate how neat it was to have a Director of Christian Education (and then we got Dallas Dubke). On page 8 the various anniversaries are listed, Pastor Bruce heading up the 15-year group, and we hope he remains with us for at least 15 more years, God s Will allowing. Since little has been printed about the LCMS Lutheran Center of Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., opening January 1, I have found information online and printed the 1- page report. That will be my January newsletter item, so stand by if you re interested. Till then, may you and your loved ones again experience the joy and meaning of our Savior s birth. Your Historian 4

5 December 2017 From the Elder s Corner: This month marks the retirement of Art Kranz from the Board of Elders. We thank Art for his years of service and call for God s blessings on him and on Patti in the years ahead. Art will be replaced by Barbara Terhune, who has answered our call for new members on the Board of Elders. The Board welcomes Barbara and looks forward to her service as we carry out our ministry. December finds us in a joyful time of the year. Along with the joy, I also feel sadness for those who receive no lasting benefit from Christmas. First on the list are retailers. Their main focus is on the dollar bill. I believe they call it the Christmas Sales Season, and to our dismay, it seems to get longer every year. The next group is that of the non-christians. For them Christmas is all about Santa Claus, decorations, and gifts. It must be a hollow feeling for them when on December 26 th the decorations have to come down, the toys are all broken, and the credit card bills start arriving. Last we have the atheists. Their main focus is on having manger scenes moved out of public view, or worse, putting up their own satanic displays. How can you be offended by something you don t believe in? Make no mistake, their goal is not to wipe out Christmas. Their goal is to wipe out Christianity! What a shock for them to find out that they will spend eternity in everlasting darkness. Blessed are we whose Christmas focus is on a little babe in a manger in Bethlehem. We experience the true meaning of Christmas and it fills our hearts with joy and peace all year long! The Board of Elders wishes each of you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Prosperous New Year! God s blessings to you until next month. Dick Steller Mid-Week Advent Services Begin Wednesday, December 6 Join us for our Midday services that begin at 11:00am on December 6 followed by soup lunch. (See The Signup Sheet.) Services will continue every Wednesday through December 20 in the Sanctuary. We will be having evening services, at 7:00 pm in the sanctuary on December 6 and December 20. The Early Learning Center Children s program will be on December 13 at 6:30pm, in Shepherd s Hall for our special Advent service. Make sure to make note on your calendars to join us for the morning or evening services. 5

6 Good Shepherd Early Learning Center Plans a Busy December! Come and Get Involved! ELC Children s Christmas Program All are invited to the children s Christmas program. It will be held Wednesday December 13 th in Shepherd s Hall at 6:30 PM. The program is in place of the 7pm service in the Sanctuary. Please mark your calendar for an adorably fun evening! ELC Classroom Christmas Party On Thursday December 21 st the Early Learning Center will have Their classroom Christmas party at 10:00. Come and join the fun with the kids. Parents and grandparents are invited to join in the fun also! Christmas Eve & New Year s Eve Services Three Christmas Eve Sunday Services, December 24. One morning service at 10:00am, and services at 4:00pm and 7:00pm in the Sanctuary. Please make sure to invite your family and friends! Two New Year s Eve Sunday Services, December 31 st. One morning service at 10:00am, and one service at 7:00pm in the Sanctuary. We wish you a blessed Christmas season and a Happy New Year! December Birthdays 1 st Brandon Paltin 24 th Anita Morgan 5 th Jordan Beier 24 th Lois Bengtson 12 th Anita Klepps 26 th John Kenney 13 th Linda Graves 27 th Kelly Fredericks 17 th Hannah Schnirel 29 th Jean Theobald 21 st Angela Stokely 30 th Monica Daniels 23 rd Susan Ritchie December Anniversaries 16 th Jack & Elaine Bray 19 th L. Peder & Karen Larson 29 th Corey & Erika Hall 30 th John & Sherrianne Larson We join in thanking God for His blessings in the past. We ask Him to keep you in His Grace and love in the future. If your birthday or anniversary was not listed or listed correctly, please contact the office. Lunch Bunch November and December lunch bunch will be suspended due to the busy holiday season. We will resume in January and look forward to seeing you all for good food, great fellowship and lots of fun! Have a blessed holiday season and we will see you next year for lunch! 6

7 STEWARDSHIP CORNER ATTENDANCE INFORMATION OCTOBER 2016 OCTOBER 2017 WORSHIP SERVICE TOTALS (AVERAGE) LWML LADIES CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON All are invited to attend the Annual LWML Christmas Luncheon to be held December 9th, 2017 at 11:30 am at the Great Outdoors "Blue Heron" Restaurant. Please sign up by December 7, 2016 or call Betty Kogok at if you wish to attend. Enjoy Christian Fellowship. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Bible scholars say Dec. 25 is impossible! Christ was born in a manger. No cover, no warmth in the middle of winter if Dec 25. So why do we celebrate His birth on that day?! Because He was!! We are the ones in error about what happened on that date. An Angel came to Mary and told her she was to carry baby Jesus. Jesus was CONCEIVED on Dec 25! Forty weeks later baby Jesus left His mothers womb, in the Fall. Probably on a Jewish Festival day. So celebrate Dec 25 as the true date of His being CONCEIVED. The absolute true date of the beginning of His reign! Enjoy the day and ring in the New Year with Jesus Christ. The Savior of the World. Merry Christmas. Joseph Laberge Handyman Services Just to let everyone know most of the church has been recovered from hurricane damage so we can again begin to address church member issues better. Between all the buildings and grounds we were stretched thin. We did do some but some waited a long time for us to respond. Do call and let us know your needs. Call the church, see one of us on Sunday or call me at my home and leave a message The service is free all you have to pay is for the supplies. Joseph Laberge 7

8 What is Thrivent Financial? Recently, I was asked to explain exactly what Thrivent Financial is. Thrivent is an investment company, with products like insurance, annuities, individual retirement accounts, and investments. What sets it apart from other companies is that it is a fraternal organization, meaning that the company is owned by its investors, and its investors reap the benefits from its success. Thrivent is also a Christian company that embraces core Christian beliefs. Once upon a time, there were two companies Lutheran Brotherhood and Aid Association for Lutherans. Around the time that various Lutheran synods were joining together, those two companies merged and became Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. A few years ago, the name changed to Thrivent Financial for Christians. They not only offer products for you to purchase (or invest in), they also invest in bringing people to Christ. They sponsor Thrivent Action Teams, Thrivent Choice, Investment Workshops, Scholarships, work with Habitat for Humanity, and many other charitable acts of giving. Here s some more information about Thrivent Financial from their website at Thrivent.com: We are more than financial services. We re a not-for-profit membership organization of Christians. WHO WE ARE We create financial strategies that help Christians be wise with money and live generously. We offer a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, annuities and mutual funds, plus tailored guidance from financial representatives nationwide. For more than a century, we've helped our member-owners show God's love to others by being good stewards of the gifts they've been given. OUR STORY IS DIFFERENT We see money as a tool, not a goal. Our unique approach to blending faith, finances and generosity helps our members thrive, but that's only part of our story. We also support programs that help build stronger families, churches and communities. You could call it a fresh way to think about money. We call it The Thrivent Way. When it comes to financial services providers, you have plenty of choices. But while others see money as a goal, we see it as a tool for serving God, your family and your community. THE THRIVENT WAY Our mission statement guides us in all we do. We are a membership organization of Christians, and our members are our owners. Our purpose is to serve our members and society by guiding both to be wise with money and live generously. We believe that all we have is a gift from God and that generosity is an expression of faith. We succeed when our members, their families and their communities thrive. We value our relationships, so we will: BE trustworthy in character and competence, and ACT like owners and treat each other as owners, and LIVE balanced and generous lives. If you have any interest in joining Thrivent, please contact our local representative, Brian Lund, at Also, remember, those of you who are already Thrivent members, please use your Thrivent Action Team Seed Money for 2017 soon! Call Carol Steller if you need help in writing your Action Plan! Blessings, Carol Steller Thrivent Financial Congregational Advocate 8

9 Creation/Evolution Your DNA is the single most amazing evidence proving evolution to be the biggest lie ever told to us by science. Nothing about evolution stands even the slightest scrutiny when looking at DNA. All life requires it. I started my career working on mainframe computers, back in the 60 s. Anyone working on computer basics knows how complicated even the shortest computer program works and how even the slightest error means death to the program. DNA makes even the most complicated computer program look like children s building blocks. Yet we are expected to believe mindless evolution assembled DNA when our most advanced science is close to clueless understanding its complexity. Plus the mechanism for decoding our DNA is RNA which is in the DNA. Think about that for 1 second. You need the RNA to read the DNA but the RNA is in the DNA. Our Creator, Jesus Christ, made us with wonderful complexity and He tells us He knew us before He created the Universe! How cool is that!! Joseph Laberge Florida-Georgia District Junior High Youth Gathering! We re Baaaack! What an awesome time we had at District Youth Gathering! Over 500 Jr. High students from Florida and Georgia gathered to hear about a New, Burning, Peace. A teaching that took us through the crucifixion to the resurrection and why it matters. We were but a small part of that 500 students, but the impact our 3 girls will have from this event may well last them a life time. The break out events attended by our girls were on relationship building and goal setting. I went to a break out session on Discipleship. We also participated in a servant event where we wrote notes of encouragement to kids in an orphanage. Thank you for your prayers for these girls. I know God will hear and honor those prayers as they take the experiences they had at Youth Gathering and move forward. There is a Sr. High Youth Gathering coming up on Feb. 2-4 th The theme will be What s Next: Past, Present and Future. If you have or know of some Sr. High students that would like to go, I would be happy to help facilitate that for you. Suzanne Alberts 9

10 MORE FROM YOUR HISTORIAN! And some of this may be repetition. When plans for our sanctuary were submitted to the district mission board (drawn up by its EPISCOPAL ARCHITECT), the a/c was immediately scratched out, not being considered necessary for a subsidized mission congregation, although it was placed into the two tiny offices. When the building was completed and moved into on Easter Sunday of 1961, the ushers did indeed use the object on the long pole (recently rediscovered by Pastor) to grab onto the metal loops hanging from the windows, twisting them open. In the meantime, the new ALC mission in town (our competition) advertised the fact that it offered an air-conditioned nursery. Eventually, our good physician-elder (Dr. Harold Albert from eastern Pennsylvania) started proceedings to have a/c installed in the really incomplete building. The installation crossed the building with a box-like enclosure that followed the line of the upstairs railing of the balcony. It did not interfere with the three long tables of first graders (36 children) who used the balcony as their Sunday School classroom classroom. In fact, it provided a good surface for sorting their papers. Let me tell you about how close we came to having a female Elder. It was none-other than the totally eligible Eunice Knocke (now deceased). The voters meeting was in progress, and the election was about to take place when a former president jumped up and said, You can t do this--- Synod doesn t allow it!!! There was also another problem. The constitution/by-laws doesn t accept proxy votes; and a group of LWML workers was still in the other building cleaning up after the dinner that preceded the meeting, assuming that they would still be allowed to vote they weren t! That made little difference since our candidate was disqualified. In fact, I have since found my copy of a letter to Paul Smith, then vice president of the congregation, containing even more information. Apparently, Bill Anliker (then president of the congregation) was no longer in office for some reason--maybe he left the church, or moved away or whatever. Gentlemen these are the facts, and the above could well become the Historian s article for the December Newsletter, removing the objector s name which it didn t, being saved for another time. Lots of blessings as we start a new week! Betty N