Savior Divine Lutheran Church S. 88TH Ave. Palos Hills, IL When Disaster Strikes

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1 O C T O B E R Savior Divine Lutheran Church S. 88TH Ave. Palos Hills, IL FROM THE PASTOR Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m. When Disaster Strikes The October monthly discipleship challenge revolves around praying for those affected by recent hurricanes and earthquake and making a donation to help those affected. As Christians, we are to have a concern for those who suffer hardship. This challenge is a way in which we can help individually. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seeks to help in a collective sense through the Lutheran Disaster Response. This agency of the church works through its local affiliates. It works globally with Lutheran World Federation, Lutheran World Relief, and Church World Service (yes, with our CROP Walk organization). The Lutheran Disaster Response seeks to help communities even when other agencies have left. For instance, after the 9/11 attacks, the Lutheran Disaster Response continued to help those affected for seven years. Michael Stadio, the Lutheran Disaster Response program director, stated: We often joke that long after the media s gone, Lutherans are the ones leaving the building and turning off the lights. (quote from the Living Lutheran.org) This agency is helping with the recent hurricanes. You can personally help by making a donation directly to the Lutheran Disaster Response in a couple of ways. You can donate online by going to or you can mail in a donation to the address given on the Web site. I hope you will consider praying and possibly making a donation! Pastor Marty Continuing Our Journey

2 2 Discipleship Group The Discipleship Group will meet next on October 15 following our worship. The group will launch into the second session on the economy and economic justice. The study was produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Frank Pellico Concert Frank Pellico will be presenting a concert at the Allen Organ Company in Bolingbrook on October 22 at 3 p.m. (the doors open at 2 p.m.) as a fundraiser for the church. Please see Frank for obtaining a ticket ($25). You will have the opportunity to hear him play on the theater organ! Health and Healing Service. The Health and Healing Prayer will be offered on Sunday, November 5, during the regular worship time. The prayer is a holistic one for the healing of body, mind, and spirit. Thanks for Secretarial Help A big thanks to Debbie Gonzales for helping with the bulletin and setting up the coffee hour during our secretary s absence. Elsie s Food Pantry Items needed by the Pantry include macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, jelly, pasta, canned fruit, and cereal. Other types of food are also welcome. The food may be placed in the Amish Pie Safe. Also they need plastic grocery bags. These bags can also be left in the Pie Safe. Walgreens Brings Flu Shots to Our Church On October 1, the pharmacist from Walgreens gave out 11 flu shots to members of Savior Divine and Moraine Valley Community Church. This opportunity can be viewed as part of our holistic ministry and being concerned for the well-being of our members. Thanks to Fran Lense for bringing this opportunity to our attention. Oktoberfest will be held on Sunday, October 29 at 5 p.m., which will also include the showing of the film Luther and the Reformation by Rick Steves. Please plan on attending worship and Oktoberfest as we celebrate the 500 th Anniversary of the Reformation. The sign-up sheet is now up on the bulletin board. Please indicate the number of people coming and what you could bring.

3 3 CHURCH PICNIC WRAP-UP The annual church picnic this year on September 10 th again followed a combined worship service with Moraine Valley Community Church. Approximately 50 people attended the picnic, and had an enjoyable afternoon of food and fellowship with door prizes that generated donations of $179 for Elsie s Food Pantry. In the outdoor games, Bev and Megan won the balloon toss, with Tony and Noah winning the egg toss. recaptured the trophy for the longest marshmallow drive against some stiff competition from several up-and-comers. We greatly appreciate Moraine Valley Church for donating and picking up the fried chicken. Our thanks go to Beth and Aimee who brought us the pop and Tony the water to quench our thirst. Our appreciation also goes to the many businesses who donated door prizes (we had 58 this year-- with 11 left over for the Oktoberfest), and to Fran, Susan and Richard, Bev, Karen, and Mike who helped me obtain them. Sandy, and Aida, and Noah aided me much in running the distribution of the door prizes; Bev and Vicki provided lots of help in setting up the game prize tables. Jan and Beth provided advance publicity. I must also thank Matt for running the bingo and setting up the cold drink coolers, the many who helped set up for the meal, and those who helped clean up the kitchen and the hall afterwards. You should also realize the valuable contribution of time and ideas put in by members of a newly formed Planning Committee this year. The members were Bev Yazumbek, Beth Heinrich, Tony Juarez and Matt. Finally, we all appreciated everyone who came, and the tasty appetizers, salads and desserts that you brought. It truly takes many hands to put together an activity such as this. With the efforts of everyone, we are able to enjoy food and fellowship while helping the Food Pantry. Paul Wackenhuth, Picnic Co-ordinator

4 4 Helping Make Our Service Flow You will note that there are some blank spots in the section of the Gospel News titled Worship Schedule. This is due to the unavailability of people to help with these tasks. Most of the jobs are easy to do and only take a few minutes. The people doing them will continue but if more people are available the less often each person has to be available. Please look at the titles of the jobs and decide if you could or want to do any of them. October Faith-Stretcher Challenge Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and Mexico City have all suffered severe hurricane or earthquake damage. The Las Vegas mass shooting is also a severe shock and useless loss of life to our country. Continue to pray for the people in these areas and if you haven t yet, consider making a donation of any amount to provide help for one or more of these areas. The Faith-Stretcher Challenges Here is a review of the challenges so far: For September You read something from the Bible and let us know what it was. For October You prayed for someone special in your life and let us know who that was. For November You prayed for someone you saw, but did not know and let us know who that was. For December Do something special for someone you know. For January Do something nice for someone you do not know. For February Share something with someone you know. For March Share something with someone you don t know. For April Tell someone something about your church. By the end of the month, let us know who you told and what did you tell them. We don t need your name or the name of the person that you talked with, just a general statement about what you said about the church. For May Ask God to help you discern places and situations where you can show kindness to others. By the end of the month let us know about at least one time where you were able to do this. No names - just let us know generally what you did. For June Nine months ago our challenge was to read something from the Bible and tell us what you read. So for June we will read something again. You might even want to read a whole book of the Bible! (If that scares you, look carefully. There are a number of books that only have a few chapters.) For July Last October we emphasized praying for someone special in your life. Now, in July, let s offer both prayers of thanksgiving and intercession for the many special people who are blessings for us. For August Let s pray for someone we have casually met but have not gotten to really know. If you haven t started, or you skipped a month, you can still catch up. Just do the challenge, write down what you did, and put your paper in the box on the table by the Sunday bulletins.

5 5 March Challenge response: Shared the joys & problems of parenthood-god s love & how to find strength to make it happen. Shared my Dunkin Donuts gift card with the person behind me in line. While shoveling snow I was able to grab a lost dog and call the owner and get the dog home. While at the zoo I was able to help a grandfather who didn t want to disappoint his grandchildren but was short $1 for souvenirs. When working the food pantry I was able to help a women who was facing breast cancer and was down meet with one of the pastors and that lifted her spirits. I shared money with a homeless young man. I shared the power of prayer with someone. I paid for breakfast for the person behind me at McDonalds. I helped someone find a church who was lost driving to a funeral. April Challenge response: I tell people about how we share our church and how great it is to have joint worship & fellowship I told people about our church having the Praise Dancers and how moving their performance is to me and how glad I am that we have them come to our church I met someone while on vacation and we talked about Christian death and what it will be like. I shared with her how our church allows people to bury the ashes of loved ones in our courtyard. I told our server at Denny s about our church and invited her to our worship. June Challenge response: I read Paul s First letter to Timothy I read the Second letter from Peter May Challenge response: A couple had a problem backing up their car with a u-haul trailer & I got my neighbor (who is a truck driver) to help them. I cleaned the patio for my mom & 5 of us cleaned up in her yard as a special Mother s Day gift. I visited my high school friend and wedding bridesmaid at rehab center 2 times after second knee surgery. Then I visited her at home and brought her a stair stepper for her dog to get closer to her on her bed. It was a joy being together with coffee and sharing moments together. July Challenge response: I prayed for and thanked God for the many friends that have been there for me in times of hard ship and joy. August Challenge response: I bought the book Jesus Calling for someone I just met a couple of weeks ago. Lady at work can t return to work due to cancer in breast. Both breasts were removed. Gave her son who also works at my job, a store-bought cake and get-well cards. I prayed for the members of our congregation, I love the fellowship we all share. I pray for my neighbors who I only know casually. They also pray for me and they are of the Muslim faith.

6 6 Celebrating the 500 th Anniversary of the Reformation. We will have our big celebration on Sunday, October 29. It all starts with worship at the regular time of 9:30 a.m. Pastor s message will focus on the lasting heritage brought to us from the life of Martin Luther. We will continue the celebration with our Oktoberfest at 5 PM. After the meal the film Luther and the Reformation by Rick Steves will be shown upstairs in our sanctuary. If you are coming to Oktoberfest, please be sure to sign up on the sheet at church or call the church office. Please plan on being at church for this important event and celebration! A special event will take place on October 31 at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. with ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton. You can find more information at The Rev. A. Craig Settlage Fund for Leaders Established Rachel Settlage has established an A. Craig Settlage Fund for Leaders Memorial Scholarship Fund. This fund is being established since theological education was very important to Pastor Settlage. You are welcome to contribute to this fund. It will help to honor Craig s memory and assist those men and women seeking to serve God and the church through ministry. Checks may be made payable to ELCA Endowment Fund and include on the Memo line A. Craig Settlage Scholarship Fund. Mail your check to EFPT Receipts, P.O. Box 1806, Merrifield, VA Here is a riddle to think about this month (answer to come next month). What goes up and up and never comes down? Here is the answer to last month's riddle. What can the citizens of Chicago do that no one else can? Answer: Vote for the Chicago Politicians.

7 October Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Church Council Worship Planning 1 p.m Discipleship Grp. Crop Walk 2 p.m Frank Pellico Concert 3 p.m Oktoberfest 5 p.m. Worship Schedule October/November DATE ASSISTANT LECTOR REMOTE BREAD USHERS COUNTER ALTAR 10/1 Seventeenth Sunday after Bob Paul Wackenhuth Cathi Predl Linda Matt Karen 10/8 Eighteenth Sunday after Vicki Doherty Nancy Pappas Matt Diane Chathas Bev Yazumbek 10/15 Nineteenth Sunday after Jill Cottrell Karen Ursula Bittermann Ursula Bittermann 10/22 Twentieth Sunday after Linda Matt Cathi Predl Jackie Bellettiere Matt 10/29 Twenty First Sunday after Sue Adamek Jackie Bellettiere Linda Matt Bev Yaumbek 11/5 Twenty Second Sunday after Sandy Wackenhuth Cathi Predl Ursula Bittermann Nancy Pappas Karen