PARISH LIFE OF OUR LORD S LUTHERAN CHURCH S h a rin g th e jo y of C h rist s lo ve a n d pro m ise o f salvatio n w ith a ll p e o p le.

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1 PARISH LIFE OF OUR LORD S LUTHERAN CHURCH S h a rin g th e jo y of C h rist s lo ve a n d pro m ise o f salvatio n w ith a ll p e o p le. March 2017 From the desk of Pr. Amanda... Lent starts on March 1st! As we enter into this time of preparing to receive the resurrection of Christ into our lives, we focus again on our three ancient practices: Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting. These practices of faith come from our reading for Ash Wednesday, from Matthew 6. The passage ends with the famous verse about our hearts following our treasure. It is always interesting to me that these practices are connected with our treasure. We often look at either the first or second part of this passage, but when we put them together, it makes sense that our spiritual disciplines help us tend to the treasure of our faith. When we treasure something, we take care of it. We tend to our bodies, homes, families, retirement accounts, cell phones, facebook pages, and a myriad of other things. We pay attention to our treasures, and notice them. Just as exercise helps strengthen the body, our spiritual disciplines help to strengthen our faith. Almsgiving helps us to trust in God s abundance. Prayer helps us to strengthen our relationship with God. Fasting helps us to create space God s kingdom to come into our lives. All of them help us to focus and be intentional in our lives, helping us to integrate our faith in everything we do. The stronger we become in our faith, the easier our disciplines become and the more we enjoy them. We move from attending to our faith because we want it to be our treasure to delighting in the ways God allows us to join in the kingdom of God because it is our most valuable treasure. This Lent, I invite you to make faith your treasure. Whether you really want your faith to be your treasure, and you make the first step of simply saying, Thank you, before your meals, or your faith is your most profound treasure already, and you are so comfortable for the ways in which you attend to it you have forgotten any other way to live. I hope you are up for challenging yourself to intentionally looking for God s grace through a new faith practice. It will change your life! May the disciplines of this Lenten season give you hope and vision of new life in the resurrection of Christ! Pastor Esping WEST HEFNER RO AD O KL A HOMA C ITY, O K (4 05) ww w.ol lc.or g o ail.c om

2 You are dust, and to dust you shall return. Ash Wednesday Worship March 1-6:15PM Wednesday worship: Can you still recite the Small Catechism!? Have you never heard of Luther's Small Catechism? Either way, join us for worship each Wednesday in Lent as we gather around the five central parts of the Catechism - the ten commandments, the creed, the Lord's prayer, Holy Baptism, and Holy Communion. We will also look at the hymns Luther wrote to go along with each of these sections. We will renew our minds and our hearts in faith by going back to the basics! Table Talk Groups at Our Lord s Table Talk! Do you have a table talk group yet!? We will begin gathering around our tables for faithful conversations and projects on March 5 th! If you would like some suggests or contacts for a group, please talk to Pr. Amanda or your neighbor! We need two delegates from OLLC for these 3 days of Worship, Learning, Faith Renewal, and Friendship. Expenses are paid by the congregation. The assembly will be held at the new Lutheran Ministry Center in Tulsa. Please let Pr. Amanda know if you are interested in attending!!!!

3 GENTLE YOGA CONTINUES The Spaciousness of Wilderness: Gentle yoga and centering prayer to allow space for God within our lives. Mondays, March 6 - April 10. 7:00-8:15 Every year on March 8, people around the world commemorate International Women s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating women s achievements throughout history and across nations. On this day, members of the ELCA celebrate by supporting and lifting up the International Women Leaders initiative one of 10 priorities part of The Campaign for the ELCA. How is your congregation celebrating? New this year, the International Women s Day booklet provides fundraising ideas, including a step-by-step virtual book drive, ideas for planning an International Women s Day worship service, and much more to help you get started. A new bulletin insert is also available. Looking for other ideas? Please contact us at globalchurch@elca.org or , ext With your support, we can provide educational and training opportunities, including four-year scholarships to ELCA colleges and universities, for 200 international Lutheran women by Together, we can intensify our efforts to support the contribution of women in the life and development of our church and society.

4 Thank You! Through your compassion and generous donations to our synod missions, we have raised $1835 for Morogoro Diocese of Tanzania drought relief. We pray that the people will see an end to the drought so that their cattle and communities thrive once more. THANK YOU to everyone who helped make Souper Bowl Sunday a success! We raised $330 at the luncheon and the children collected a noisy offering during the church service. The total will be sent to Prosjekt Haiti to help them with their schools and hurricane recovery work. Coffee Fellowship Time! Gene and Anna Naukam have answered the call to be coordinators for our Coffee Fellowship. Please use the sign up sheet, located on the Information Counter, to choose when you would like to host-- starting coffee before worship and bringing donuts, cookies, cupcakes or other treats to share after worship! Call Anna at or Gene and Anna: naukam@cox.net if you have any questions. Upcoming hosts are needed for March 12th and April 2nd. Thank You, Gene and Anna, for coordinating! Altar Guild is a great way to serve OLLC in a quiet, behind-the-scenes way. One person sets up on Saturday (or early Sunday morning) and another person cleans up after Worship. It doesn t take long to do but is certainly missed if it doesn t get done. Please prayerfully consider joining up to help out in such an important way. To join, please talk to Sue Lockard, Carolyn Zachritz, or Pastor Amanda. Thank you!

5 MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Visiting Professor Highlights 500th Anniversary of Reformation Marking the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, Dr. Vitor Westhelle, professor of systematic theology at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) will be Visiting Professor March in the OKC metro. Westhelle, a Lutheran parish pastor for four years in his native Brazil, has been teaching at LSTC since A prolific writer and editor, with more than 130 scholarly publications, Westhelle is author or co-editor of 9 books. A leading Luther Scholar, he is currently co-authoring a book on Martin Luther with a Rabbi in Jerusalem. Mark your calendar for Dr. Westhelle s visit! This is a not-to-be-missed spiritual and intellectual opportunity. Friday, March 24, 6:30p.m. Shabbat Service at Temple B nai Israel, 4901 N. Pennsylvania Ave., OKCDr. Westhelle delivers the sermon: Luther and the Jewish Faith Saturday, March 25, 10:30am 3:30pm Symposium: Luther's Legacy at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, N. Western Ave., Edmond, OK (Lunch included in this venue. RSVP to Liz Taylor at lollutheranchurchedmond@gmail.com or call (405) ) Sunday, March 26, 9am & 10:30am Luther and the Protestant Reformation at Trinity Lutheran Church, 5701 S. May Ave., OKC

6 God s Work. Our Hands. Mark your calendars now for Sunday September 10 th! We will celebrate the with the whole ELCA by being God s hands in the world by putting together school kits for Lutheran World Relief! We will gather before worship on Sunday to assemble 50 kits! Between now and then, we will need to gather the supplies, so watch for sales! You may bring supplies into the office. Joan will keep a tally and publish updates in the newsletter! All together we will need: pg notebooks. Wide or College ruled. Approximately 8 by 10 ½ cm ruler, or a ruler with inches on one side and cm on the other. 50 pencil sharpeners 50 pairs of blunt scissors #2 pencils with erasers 250 Blue or black ball point pens, no gel ink 50 box of 16 or 24 crayons 50 2 ½ eraser $150 to purchase appropriate bags for the kits. During worship, we will bless all of these backpacks, as well as all of the backpacks for our students and teachers in the congregation!

7 LWR PERSONAL CARE KIT Items may be placed in the green box in the narthex. We will begin collecting items again after the first of the year. A full list of items needed is provided at the Information Center. OLLC ENDOWMENT FUND The endowment fund currently has $6000 available for distribution. If you have suggestions or a donation request, please contact any of the endowment committee members-dick Morrow, Lloyd Scheidt, Wayne Karst, Jenny Myers, or Bob Smith. Adults and Youth will continue to meet at 9am on Sundays to grow in faith, love, and knowledge of the love of God! --Thank You! The 2017 Flower Calendar is on the office door and in need of your reservations for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions! The gift of flowers are a wonderful way to beautify our sanctuary! March open dates: 5th (1), 19th (2), 26th (2) January 2017 Treasurer Report January income of $15,420 is lower than budget of $18,140 (15%). January donations of $14,347 is lower than budget of $17,083 (16%). YTD income of $113,940 is below budget of $126,979 (10%). YTD donations of $107,517 is below budget of $121,158 (11%). January expenses of $20,560 is higher than budget, $17,831(15%). YTD expenses of $124,689 is below budget of $124,818 (<1%). Council Note: Tom Ziebell has resigned as President of the Church Council. Consistent with the church bylaws, the council will select a member to complete his remaining term. Regional Food Bank, 3355 S. Purdue, OKC. February 4 a faithful group worked at the Regional Food Bank to fill back packs for at risk kids to take home for the weekend. These include two meals and two snacks. We all packed 450 cases of back packs, weighing 8,955 pounds = 7,462.5 meals! Can you imagine children not having food to eat when they are away from school???? It s terrible! Those helping from OLLC were Chuck Wende, Charlie Wende, Chuck s neighbor Allen, Dick Morrow, John Tassey, Larry Eberhardt, Andrew Ainsworth, Carolyn Zachritz, Lloyd Scheidt, Wayne Craney, and Pastor Amanda. Would you like to join us next month on Saturday, March 4?

8 March Church Family in Service Assisting Ministers (D. Gillson) 5 Wayne Craney 12 Lois Patrick 19 Dick Morrow 26 Larry Eberhardt March Cantors ( Bill Fuller) 5 Lois Carlton 12 Dick Morrow 19 Deborah Gillson 26 Jim Collings Greeters (Dee Sundholm) 5 Amanda Green/Cherylann Kidd/Gene Naukam 12 Jacob Edingfield/Lynn Little 19 Diane Milligan/Linda Scheidt/ Karen Foran 26 Len & Connie Erikson Money Counters (Diane Milligan) 5 Cal & Judy Benhardt 12 Wayne & Karen Karst 19 John Tassey/ Holly an Remmen 26 Dick Morrow/Gene Naukam 1 Holly Van Remmen 3 Debi Morrow 7 Bill Lockard Sue Lockard 15 Meredith Tassey 20 Michael Scheidt 29 Pr. Amanda Esping 30 Lynn Little Flower: Jonquil Birthstone: Aquamarine or Bloodstone Flowers ($22.00 per bouquet) 5 Wayne & Karen Karst 12 John Tassey/Chuck & Carolee Wende Flower Pick Up Anna Naukam Altar Guild Jenny Myers/Judy Benhardt Ushers Diane Milligan/Holly Van Remmen 16 Stephanie & Mark Scott Deadline for the April newsletter is March 20th. Articles may be ed to the church at: ourlordsokc@gmail.com or placed in the Office Assistant s mailbox. Flower Orders may be placed by filling out the form located near the office door. Please leave completed forms in the office assistant s mailbox. Bulletin Articles must be submitted by 11am Monday morning to be included in the weekly announcements. Christ in Our Home devotion booklets are available at the information counter. These are the known birthdays and anniversaries for the month of September. If there is an error, or if your special day is not listed, please let us know. We don t want to leave anyone out! Drop us a line: ourlordsokc@gmail.com or