COUNCIL CONVERSATIONS Continuing to explore the topic of Immigration Sunday, March 19, 2017, after 2 nd service worship Sunday, March 26, 2017, at

Transcription

1 COUNCIL CONVERSATIONS Continuing to explore the topic of Immigration Sunday, March 19, 2017, after 2 nd service worship Sunday, March 26, 2017, at 9:30 AM Meet in the Berkland Fellowship Hall Last Sunday, March 12 th, Marie Moore, Community Engagement Strategist for Voices College-Bound Academy, presented information about how recent changes in immigration policy have affected Voices students and staff at their three schools. Our first meeting on March 5th was to share stories of future hope in our local community for native born and for immigrants in the next 3 years. This raised questions and feelings about these stories. Next we reflected on the question If ICE sweeps occur and the detain and deport undocumented immigrants, what is our response as Christians? As Advent Lutheran Church? Notes, summaries, and resource lists from these two meetings are available in the Fellowship Hall. There are two more Council Conversations on immigration; Sunday March 19 after 2 nd service worship and March 26 at 9:30 AM. You are encouraged to join these Council Conversations to share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns.

2 FIRST QUARTER MISSION: Started by Lutheran congregations in 1939, LIRS has welcomed more than 500,000 refugees, migrants impacted by detention, and unaccompanied migrant and refugee children. LIRS is our nation s second largest refugee resettlement agency. Today there are 60 million refugees worldwide, and half of them are children. This is a critical time for the few who are in process or cleared for resettlement. To contribute to LIRS, make your check payable to Advent with the memo First Quarter Mission, or LIRS. $200 provides a child s room kit; $600 provides one month of housing; $1000 provides an ESL class with childcare. LENT AT ADVENT Please join us every Thursday in Lent for a Soup Supper at 6:00 pm, Lent Madness at 6:30pm and then Evening Prayer beginning at 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary. Lent Madness features the biographies of all 32 saints in contention for the coveted Golden Halo. You can go to lentmadness.org or follow Lent Madness on Facebook or Twitter, and vote for a different saint each weekday in Lent. Sign-up sheets for the Thursday evening Soup suppers can be found in the Gathering area. 2

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4 DID YOU KNOW? 4 From Your Stewardship Committee For the past several months, a group of approximately 30 members of Advent have been meeting between services for a discussion of the book, Growing Young: six essential strategies to help young people discover and love your church. If we want our congregation to grow young, if we want to effectively reach out to more youth, young adults and young families, we have to be ready for them. There is a place for you as a part of one of the five teams that will work with Preschool, Kindergarten through 2 nd, 3 rd through 5 th, Junior High School and High School. The book offers questions and discussion topics which each group answers or discusses as the information relates to their grade level. Time is spent growing the organizational side of our ministry with youth, young adults and young families as our focus. For this ministry to work in growing our congregation, we need more team members. So far the meetings have been to formulate some plans for growing our congregation young. The work of implementing the plan has just begun and we need your input. Please consider spending some time with this worthwhile endeavor to grow Advent. This week we are recognizing the 3 rd through 5 th grades Faith Development Team. Members representing the 3 rd, 4 th and 5 th grades team are invited to take the communion elements to the altar for recognition of your stewardship at Advent and to receive a blessing from Pastor Warner. Your Gifts and Participation Make a Difference! THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Spring begins tomorrow, March 20th. Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love." --Sitting Bull "Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"... "It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine..." --Frances Hodgson Burnett

5 SPRING ADVENT WORK DAY SATURDAY, April 8th 8:00 AM TO 1:00 PM Let s spruce up the church for Holy Week and Easter. Come prepared to wash windows, dust, clean church pews and other jobs to make our church facility beautiful for the Easter worship season. Mark your calendars now, with more details to follow. SAVE THE DATE! SATURDAY, MAY 13 TH AT 7:00 PM Advent Lutheran Church Reach Out Food Pantry Fundraiser Check the Advent Adventures Newsletter and Bulletin for more details. THE SHACK Youth and adults are invited to see the film, The Shack, this coming Saturday, March 25, at noon (or whatever showtime is closest to noon; check the showtime listing later in the week) at Cinelux Theaters in Morgan Hill, then meet at church afterwards for ice cream sundaes and conversation about the movie. Parents may drop off youth, and Pastor will take them to church after; they can be picked up from church at 3:30 PM. Contact the church office if you can help host the ice cream sundaes. If you have already seen the film, meet the group at church around 2:45 for conversation and ice cream. 5

6 OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS A listing of how you can support the mission of this congregation at this time...children S AND YOUTH MINISTRY Children s Time is on Sunday mornings, 9:30 10:30 AM. All children are invited for active learning as we tell Bible stories together. Please contact Pete McElheny at peterandmasuyo.net if you would like to tell stories, lead music, lead a craft or art, or lead a cooking project. FAITH BASED TASK FORCE Do you have an interest in the homelessness situation in South County? We need someone who is interested in representing Advent on the Faith Based task force on homelessness in South County. There will be a meeting of representatives from churches this Wed., March 22 at 3:30 PM in St. Catherine s Parish Hall. Please contact Marcia Nelson, Community Connections chair, at if you will attend for Advent. TWO OPPORTUNITIES TO PRESENT THE SCRIPTURE DRAMATICALLY: 1. To participate in a scripture tableau on Sunday, April 2, without words, contact Linda Loftesness at lindaloftesness@earthlink.net or (408) You will be asked to meet for two hours of engagement time with the scripture. 2. To participate in a readers theatre (voice only) of Matthew s Passion on Sunday, April 9, contact Linda Loftesness (info. above). You will be asked to participate in a 30 minute rehearsal at a time TBA, possibly the afternoon of April 8. 6

7 NURSERY CARE IS AVAILABLE ALL MORNING IN BERKLAND FELLOWSHIP HALL CHILDREN Grades 4-6: Marvelous Mondays on the third Monday of each month CONFIRMATION Grades 7-9: April 22, 9:30 - Noon HIGH SCHOOL AND ADULTS Growing Young Sundays at 9:30 AM MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY Tuesday 10:00 AM All are welcome every Tuesday in the Library WOMEN S SPIRITUALITY CIRCLE Meets on 10:00 AM in Library WOMEN S BIBLE STUDY MARY AND MARTHA CIRCLE Meets 2 nd Wednesday of the 10:00 AM in Berkland Fellowship Hall INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP SPIRITUAL DIRECTION For support in your prayer life, deepening your relationship with God and living out your faith with the gifts you are given, please contact Lee Tyler at or ltyler3@juno.com 7

8 Week of November March Sunday 8:00 AM Worship Service 9:30 AM Children s Time 9:30 AM SCORE Teams meet all are invited 10:45 AM Worship Service 12:00 PM Council Conversation on Immigration 1:00 PM New Life Church Worship Service Monday 7:00 PM Alanon in Rm. 2 Tuesday 10:00 AM Mid-Week Bible Study in Library 10:00 AM Sew Seeds Quilters in Fellowship Hall 5:00 PM Community Table Dinner in Fellowship Hall 7:00 PM Overeaters Anonymous in Room 2 Thursday 10:00 AM Women s Spirituality Circle in Library 10:30 AM Stewardship Committee 6:00 PM Soup and Bread Supper in Fellowship Hall 6:30 PM Lent Madness 7:00 PM Evening Prayer 7:00 PM SAA Meeting in Room 1 7:45 PM Chancel Choir Rehearsal Friday 8:00 PM New Life Prayer Service Saturday 8:30 AM Men s Fellowship in Library ` 10:00 AM Gather and Cantor Rehearsal 10:00 AM Women for Sobriety in Room 1 4:00 PM Iglesia de Cristo Church Service in Room 2 7:00 PM AA in Room 1 Next Sunday 8:00 AM Worship Service 9:30 AM Children s Time 9:30 AM Council Conversation on Immigration 10:45 AM Worship Service 1:00 PM New Life Church Worship Service 8