ARTICLES FOR THE NEXT SCROLL ARE DUE IN THE CHURCH OFFICE: February 19, 2016

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1 The Shepherd s Scroll Vol. LII, No. 4 January 2016 The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd 7380 Howdershell Road Hazelwood, Missouri (314) Office Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 8:00 am-4:30 pm Linda Daniels-Block, Pastor ARTICLES FOR THE NEXT SCROLL ARE DUE IN THE CHURCH OFFICE: February 19, 2016 Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd 7380 Howdershell Rd. Hazelwood, MO 63042

2 On January 3 of this new year 2016, we will celeb rate the Epiphany of our Lord. Epiphany is a day and a season of no cing. We ac vely look for the miraculous, the spectacular, the Shine God put on things. We see signs that the birth of God s son in the world makes a difference in the daily life of people, and even in the life of the world. The Wise Men from the east have seen a spectacular star in the sky a supernova? The birth of a star? They know this signifies a newborn, powerful King who will change the world. For although they are not Jews they see that this will be a holy king. The arrive and bring rich gi s, gi s that can be sold or bartered to escape King Herod s slaughter of the innocents, as Herod orders the first born sons of the Hebrew people killed again. Another miracle, the angel tells them and they flee. Do you think seeing holy moments is something we do naturally? We do not. We need mentoring and training to see God s epiphanies into our world and our lives. It is also a daily spiritual discipline to look for the holy, to see when God is ac ng in everyday me. Because God is here and working, o en in what we see as a problem or a struggle, or iden fy as something bad that is happening to us, our church, or someone we love. God does not cause bad things, but in our weakness we are made strong, St. Paul writes. These are mes of transi on, when we are vulnerable and our guard is down, and we in despair turn it over to God (finally!) Then God is free to work in the situa on, in and through us, and in our neighborhood and world. If we are skilled to watch for God every day we will see God at work, transforming death to life, the old to the necessary new, and the dying to the rising. If you pay a en on to God at work here and now, each day, it is astounding how many mini-miracles to great big whopper miracles happen. In more elegant terms, God is incarnate, here among us, transforming us from what we are to what we are called to be. Another way to say this is that the transcendent God is imminent, here among us in our space, in our face, in our daily me. Start looking each day for where you see God working in your daily space and me. I think we humans are lazy about looking for God in the spaces we inhabit. If you expect God to act it will break through your barcalounger a tudes about God, a tudes we share as humans, even when we re faithful. My exhorta on to you? Every day look for one space or me where you see God working transforming the rough places into the plain (Isaiah). How extraordinary it is to be alive when you see God ac vely at work here. Prac ce. Watch for God. Train the eyes of your soul to see God s epiphanies. See God shining everywhere. In the light of God s shining, Pastor Linda

3 Keeping our neighbors warm...by sharing mittens, gloves, scarves, hats, with those who are cold. Donations of gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, etc. are needed for our Warming Tree. Please drop in the donation box. If you have no extra warming items, consider donating a box or two of gallon Ziploc bags or clothespins (the squeeze/spring kind). A Twel h Night Madrigal Evening with the Greenleaf Singers - Friday, January 8 th, :30 PM The Greenleaf Singers is an exci ng vocal ensemble specializing in a cappella music of the Renaissance. Their repertoire includes folk songs from village fes vals, and love melodies from royal palaces. So, come sit back, relax and enjoy their wonderfully blended voices as they bring to life the works of the most gi ed composers of the 15 th thru 16 th Centuries as well as some cherished carols of the season in celebra on of Twel h Night. This is a fes val marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dic onary as the evening of the fi h of January, preceding Twel h Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas fes vi es and observed as a me of merrymaking. For more informa on, Ted at ad@greenleafsingers.com (use 12 th Night as subject heading) or call CHURCH CAMPOUT Congregational Meeting Sunday, March 6, 2016 after late service: Agenda - Approval of 2016 Annual Budget Mark your calendars! FOR TEAM Tomato Product Month PLEASE GIVE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING, IF YOU CAN: Tomato Sauce Tomato Paste Canned Tomatoes Manwich Ketchup Food items can be placed in the large basket in the Welcome Area. Bless you! The annual church family campout will be held August 12-14, 2016 at Dam West Campground, Carlyle, IL. Reservations must be made by the first of February. Please let Kathy Carter know how many nights (and which nights) you want to camp. Please her or call her on her cell at 314/ this information no later than Saturday, January 30, The camping fees are $18 per night (unless they change in 2016) plus a $10 reservation fee to ensure getting the campsites we want (booking for more days and changing later). Kathy will let you know at a later date how much you owe, so you don t need to give her a check up front.

4 Read this! Read this! Read this! Vibrant Faith (VF) What it is: VF is a framework for discipleship. We use this VF framework to reshape our way of being the Chris an church from what worked in the good ol day/the glory days to what is needed now. What does the VF framework do? VF retrains us by prac cing daily spiritual disciplines at home that make us more alert to God and give us skills to prac ce being faithful disciples. Prac cing daily being a faithful disciple makes our rela onship with God more in mate and sa sfying. And it makes us more useful for God s presence and salva on workings. We learn how to be God s witnesses with our hands and our feet and our voices. What is the desired outcome of VF? So that our neighbors will begin to see us as their neighborhood church. So that we and this congrega on will be filled with a living, vibrant faith and together making a real difference. When will VF end? It won t! Discipleship doesn't end for Chris ans, does it? This is a well-researched way of being disciples and being the church in the world. This is straight from the scriptures and from Mar n Luther. VF calls us forward into a faith disciplined with daily devo on, with caring conversa ons with everyone around us, and with Chris an service that grows out of that daily devo on and those caring, listening conversa ons. We the build rituals and tradi ons that transform us, and serve our neighbors, in bringing Christ s touch directly into their lives. Vibrant Faith will never end for us as a congrega on. We are more and more developing the Milestones Ministry of VF, which with our Blessing Bowls will help us share and be built up in our faith. The VF framework also gives us a common vocabulary and language to work with as people of faith, so we can talk about how we see, experience, come to know, and prac ce living out our living with God. VF also calls each one of us to take responsibility for growing our faith. It calls us away from quibbling over small stuff (which is a sport in some congrega ons) and to focus on what really ma ers. VF trains us that Chris ans who are living and prac cing their faith are AAA Chris ans : Authen c Available Affirming Christ needs all of us to be skilled and learning to rock and roll with Christ. What I find so effec ve about the VF framework is this, that it shows us every step of the way: 1. Here s how to do it. 2. Here s where you go. Vibrantly, Pastor Linda

5 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, needless to say, the church Christmas Party was a great success with good food, lots of fun, and great fellowship. However, it doesn't happen without hard work and sacrifice from many of our volunteer members, and even some help and participation from several non-members. On behalf of the entire WOGS group we want to thank everyone for decorating, setting up, costume making, entertaining, video/audio, serving food, donating scrumptious snacks, and clean up/furniture moving afterwards. Truly, we are family and it shows in everything we do, including the Christmas Party. May you have a blessed, God-centered holiday season, Geri, Arlene, Bill We tried something new this year with Christmas Caroling. A few of our shut-ins and a whole throng of other members gathered in the Welcome Area as we sang favorite carols and partook of tasty cookies afterwards. Plus, approximately 17 people weathered the rain as they headed out to Jeannette Hart s home as well as to Chuck and Kennie Hinton s home for caroling. All involved enjoyed these musical experiences of this festive season. With some fine tuning, this Reverse Christmas Caroling will be a wonderful addition to our seasonal activities here at Good Shepherd. The Vibrant Faith Team would like to thank everyone involved in planning and helping with the Sunday School Christmas Service, which has received much praise. Theodore Jander Vibrant Faith Family Development Co-Director We received two letters of thanks for contributions to Care and Counseling and to Wartburg Theological Seminary. Our contributions to Wartburg go to the student account of our own Sam Kost. Thank you for your generosity and sharing. The letters are posted on the KIOSK.

6 STEWARDSHIP FOR FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS: Are you living your life faithfully in the way you spend yourself, your time, and your treasures? As you practice your Christian life to shine with the glory of God in all that you do, take a look at what you do every day. Are you practicing your devotions (being authentic with God), and reaching out with your caring conversations/listening each day (being available)? Are you learning about new, small serving you can do from your devotions and conversations? Are you watching and listening for places we can go to bring god s love out into our community? Are you sharing things you can spare for others without? Are you inviting your neighbors/family to do the same? Are you giving your share for our temple dues, giving as much as you are able for running the church and all the wonderful ministries we do at Good Shepherd? Is generous giving part of your tradition? Studies have shown that raising the amount you give each year, even by $1 a week, teaches you to be more generous to the Lord. Several in our congregation practice this tradition every year, by adding a little, or more if they are able, and deepening their giving. These are all faithful stewardship decisions for a Christian household. As we begin this new year, 2016, practice being grateful daily to God for everything you have and are, and especially fro the gift of life itself. Each day of life is one of the greatest gifts we have been given. As most of you know, we are also completing 2015 in the red. We have planned and budgeted prudently, spent carefully, came in under budget, and yet still experience a short fall. As we look at this it seems like the congregation is giving generously. But it is also true that we are experiencing frailty in some of our generous, active seniors. We have been deeply saddened by death. We have people retiring and a few more moving to be with the grandkids. Added together, these sadnesses also affect our total income. We have lost some who gave generously. We are once again budgeting with prudence, prayer, and great wisdom for 2016, be assured. There is no need to panic, our ministry is vibrant and we are slowly growing, especially with young families. But we pray that God will also raise up among us some that are capable and willing to increase their offerings significantly to help bring new life into our vibrant ministries here, where faithful ones are no longer able to. And if everyone who can adds even a dollar a week it will be a huge help in increasing the work of the Spirit through Good Shepherd. Let us pray: Gracious and generous God, grow in us all the seeds of faithful generosity in every aspect of our lives. Help me to live with joy and delight, and with courage and discipline. Thank you for every single faithful person at Good Shepherd and help me to do my part for Your ministry. Thankful for all you give to me. Amen.

7 Happy Birthday to During the month of February, we would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the following: 2/3 - Don Beehn 2/4 - Carrie Young 2/4 - Linda Sills 2/4 - Steven Silvester 2/5 - Brandon Jones-Claude 2/6 - Linda Koziacki 2/8 - Wayne Armstrong 2/9 - Todd Cook 2/9 - Stephen Daley 2/10 - Randy Hunter 2/11 - Quinn Sawyer 2/14 - Cathy Fuhr 2/14 - James Rantanen 2/15 - Leon Steinbach 2/15 - Clyde Owens 2/16 - Rylee Marx 2/17 - Emily Hager 2/19 - Joyce Mitchler 2/19 - Tom Cook 2/20 - Aaron Pohlmann 2/22 - Mike Kost 2/23 - Arlene Swan 2/24 - Greg Stevenson 2/24 - Dennis McAtee 2/28 - Gregory Loomis Is your birthday in February but not listed here? If so, please let the church office know so we can update our church records. Thank you!