NEWSLETTER OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH. February 2018

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1 OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER Pastor Al Muck 751 N. Maple Grove Ave. Hudson, MI February 2018 Church Council Church Council meets Sunday, February 4th, following service. Installation of Officers will be February 4th during service. Soup Suppers Soup Suppers will begin on Wednesday, February 14th, at 6:00 PM. Come and join us for soup and fellowship. Ladies Guild Ladies Guild will meet Thursday, February 1st, at 7:00 PM. Please join us. Church Officers A voters meeting was held on January 21st. The approval of the 2018 budget and election of officers was on the agenda. The following church officers for the year 2018 were unanimously voted in: President, Watson Clark; Head Trustee, Roger Sholl; Financial Secretary, Betty Capper; Head Elder, Watson Clark; Treasurer, Gloria Spencer; Council Secretary, Betty Rupley; and Evangelism, Linda Ruggles. Ash Wednesday Service Ash Wednesday is Wednesday, February 14th. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a sixweek, 40-day season during which we remember the price that we owed and that Jesus paid for our sin and the mercy of God. We will observe Ash Wednesday with a worship service on February 14th at 7:00 PM. Updating Directory The church office is updating the church directory. Please give JoAnn Clark any changes you have (names, addresses, phone numbers, e- mail). Thank you. New Fundraising Effort At the annual Voters Meeting, a new fundraising effort was begun to repurpose the building formerly used as the church parsonage. The new Alternative Worship and Meeting Center, affectionately dubbed the South Campus will include a Worship Room for church services and meeting rooms for MOPS (Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers), Young Life, the Boys and Girls Club, Sunday School and potentially other uses as well. A goal of $10,000 was set to begin cleaning and renovating the property. $1,000 has already been received toward that goal. We plan to begin immediately on the new center and there was a painting work session on Friday, January 26, 2018 to paint the ceiling in the Alternative Worship Center.

2 The Family of Megan Gunya (Piper Stone s Mother) Raelene Prothero strength and healing Shirley Klinger in remission, strength Eric Lewis healing of his body Kay Peterson declining health Todd Risedorph hospitalized, diabetes John Boehk healing from bypass leg surgery Jaykob Robinson autism Kylee Claeys loss of her third child at birth Jayme Lohr the ability to sell house, find a job, a new place, and start of a new and better life Mike Sanborn heart attack Grayson Rupley sensory disorder Margaret Runnells broken leg complications and cancer Allison Stickel health & anxiety issues Greg Dorfmeyer heart problems Mark Stubli personal and medical problems Josef Kuckelkorn healing from spinal surgery Nadine Padden for direction in making life and medical treatment decisions First Baptist Church (Sutherland Springs, Texas) healing from mass shooting Families impacted by Hurricane Harvey Families impacted by Hurricane Irma Church Council Ladies Guild Our Saviour Lutheran Missionaries Meeting needs My neighbor s material needs are my spiritual needs, said 19th-century theologian Israel Salanter. In other words, when someone else suffers hunger and poverty, when people endure a natural disaster and lack shelter, when another human being is sick or injured in all such cases, God calls us to action. And God knows that whatever we do to meet those material needs will meet our spiritual needs at the same time. It might be our spiritual need to expand our horizons into neighborhoods, cultures or situations where we re uncomfortable. We might need to grow in love for people different from us. By serving others, we might find our own sagging spirits nurtured with a sense of well-being or even joy. And as we reach out to help, surely we ll notice others doing the same thing, and our spiritual need for renewed faith will be met. Heidi Mann Our new home A preacher who had always feared death felt powerless to comfort others who were facing it. Toward the end of his life, he moved to another house. When all the furniture had been packed, he lingered in the home where he d raised his children and prepared many sermons. An assistant interrupted those reflections by saying, Everything s gone, sir, but the new house is better than this one. Come away. The preacher never forgot this lesson. God has prepared for his children a home infinitely better than earth an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1, NIV).

3 An event is going to occur this year that has taken place in 73 years! No, Haley s comet is not making a return visit. It s not a solar eclipse that will pass directly over the city of Hudson. It s not the year that the Detroit Tigers will win the World Series (sorry Tiger fans) is a year when two worlds collide! Sounds like the beginning to a great disaster movie. The two worlds that are on a collision course are the secular world and religious world. In reality, they are always on a collision course but in much more subtle ways. Not this year. For the first time in 73 years, Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine s Day and April Fool s Day falls on Easter. How can we celebrate Valentine s Day on the same day that we are entering one of the most solemn seasons of the church year? How can we celebrate Easter when the world around will be playing practical jokes on one another? We may find this coincidence a little amusing, but it does provide us an opportunity to examine this collision in a way that will make each day more meaningful. What is the message and focus of Valentine s Day? It is a day that has been set aside to recognize, remember and celebrate the love between two people and yet the day is discriminatory. There are many individuals who have not experienced the love of another and long for it. There are also many who are mourning the loss of a relationship through death, divorce and find no reason to celebrate but only experience sorrow and pain. In contrast, Ash Wednesday is all about love and inclusive of all people. John writes in the fifteenth chapter of his Gospel, 12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Ash Wednesday is the reminder that it was because of love that Jesus became flesh so that he might take the long and painful journey to the cross to suffer and die for the sins of all people that they might enjoy and experience the true love of the Father. As we gather for Ash Wednesday services on February 14, many of you will come forward to be marked with ashes as you receive the sign of the cross on your forehead. While a solemn moment, our hearts are filled with joy that the blackness of our sin that makes us unlovable has been removed by the greatest act of love of our friend, Jesus, so that we can daily experience the love of the Father and not limit it to one day of the year. Is there a conflict between Ash Wednesday and Valentine s Day? Perhaps from the world s perspective but for those who believe, it fits right in. It may also serve as a great conversation starter and witness opportunity when someone asks you, So what are you doing for Valentine s Day? Oh, and what about the date of Easter being April 1? Think about it. You ll be hearing more about it later. Pastor Al

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5 1 Cathy Henning Sydney Shaffer 6 Broc Nichelson 7 Larry Wollett 10 Zachary Rieger 11 Allison Grimm 14 Becky Sullivan 17 Mollie Houser 18 Michael Ball Noah Gutierrez 23 Steve Rieger Roger Sholl 25 Wyatt Gutierrez 26 Helen Meyer 27 Fred Messersmith Reagan Wonderly 29 Emmalyn Rupley 14 David & Tracy Padden 27 John & Mary Boehk GOD S RICHEST BLESSINGS TO ALL Have a heart Valentines of every size and description adorn store windows and other places of business this time of year. The holiday has become a time for love to be enthroned as a virtue, with the heart symbolizing the romance of our lives. But the heart symbolizes not only love, but life itself! Without a heart, our bodies cannot survive. Consider God s words to Samuel: Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7, NRSV). The heart that inner countenance shows what we really are. Samuel was to seek one of the sons of Jesse to be the new king. David, even though he was the weakest physical specimen, was the one selected. His heart was great. Love looks deeper than outward appearances, and we can thank God for that. Don t be swayed by mere valentines have a heart!

6 February 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Ladies Guild meets 7:00 PM 4 5th Sunday after the Epiphany 10:15 AM Worship Service Installation of Officers Church Council meets The Transfiguration of Our Lord 10:15 AM Holy Communion MOPS at 6:00 PM 14 Ash Wednesday Soup Supper 6:00 PM Service 7:00 PM First Sunday in Lent 10:15 AM Worship Service Newsletter deadline Soup Supper 6:00 PM Lenten Service 7:00 PM Second Sunday in Lent 9:00 AM Sunday School 10:15 AM Holy Communion Special One Offering MOPS at 6:00 PM 28 Soup Supper 6:00 PM Lenten Service 7:00 PM