The Beacon. Pastor s Ponderings. January 2019 Pastor Rich Taylor

Transcription

1 H O L M E S & S A M U E L L U T H E R A N C H U R C H E S The Beacon January 2019 Pastor Rich Taylor... He said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12 Pastor s Ponderings So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:10, 13 All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said through the prophet, The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel which means, God with us. Mt. 1:22,23 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, And His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Is. 40:28 31 Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and will rescue you. Is. 46:3, 4 If God is for us, who can be against us? Rom. 8:31b May God s people have a most blessed each day of the year with HIM! Pastor Rich

2 ANNUAL REPORTS DUE: Holmes Sunday, January 6th Samuel Sunday, January 13th ANNUAL MEETINGS: Holmes Sunday, January 20th after 9:00am worship Samuel Sunday, January 27th after 10:45am worship with a lunch served by the Little Disciples Wednesdays: 6:15pm~Confirmation at Samuel Friday Mornings at 9:30am~ Bible Study at Samuel Lutheran WORSHIP SCHEDULE Holmes: 9:00am Worship 10:15am Sunday School Samuel: 9:30am Sunday School (3rd Sunday of the month~ Little Disciples to Rotary) 10:45am Worship A night for the confirmation class spent with Pastor usually means studying the Bible and learning Bible History, preparing for confirmation day. But this night was spent just having fun and food. Shown above is Jacob Schermer, Mack Morgan and Austyn Baack hunting a pickle (from Pittsburgh of course) and trying to feed themselves Oreo cookies CONTACT INFORMATION: PO Box 393 Eagle Grove, IA Pastor Rich Taylor Office: Cell: Home: pstrich@ymail.com Parish Secretary - Annette Taylor Office: HSChurchSecretary@gmail.com

3 Holmes Women HOME CIRCLE Wed, January 9th ~ 1:30 meeting at The Meadows Samuel Women SLCW Wed, January 9th ~ 1:30 meeting at Marlene Kleppe s home JANUARY FLOWERS: DeAnn Johnson MARY/MARTHA Wed, January 23 at 1:30 Hostess: Anna Bell Hinz Lesson: TBD FEBRUARY FOOD PANTRY FOCUS: February newsletter items are due by Wednesday, January 23th Newsletter assembly will be Wednesday, January 30th at Holmes beginning at 9:30am. Paper Towels, Toilet Tissue, Household Cleaner, Dish Soap, Dish Detergent, Baby Foods, Infant Formulas, and Diapers. As usual, any food products or personal hygiene products are always needed.

4 HOLMES January 3 ~ Lauren Odland January 8 ~ Jared Burres Corbin Reed January 10 ~ Darla Thompson January 11 ~ Jill Haupt Betty Manning Tonya Schermer Michael Steffenson January 15 ~ Naomi Lette January 22 ~ Bryce Rasmussen January 24 ~ Melanie Carrigan January 26 ~ Lori Lutch January 31 ~ Austin Lette SAMUEL January 4 ~ Cody Ramsey January 5 ~ Eric Darland Scott Middleton January 10 ~ Cynthia Wolf January 12 ~ Alana Ketchum January 13 ~ Terri Torkelson January 15 ~ Kati Olson January 16 ~ Bianca Baker January 18 ~ Dan Jacobs January 21 ~ Marge Brown January 23 ~ Darin Grandgeorge January 24 ~ Phyllis Hansen January 26 ~ Jacob Wesselink

5 CHRISTMAS EVE 2018 Christmas Eve 2018 found the Holmes and Samuel Lutheran congregations joining together to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem, born of a virgin. The service centered around Jesus and the advent of His coming culminating with a message of His birth. Throughout our lives the Lord calls us to wait. We now anxiously wait for His return. His second coming. We need to be prepared for that time of His arrival, His coming for us, just as we prepare for our time of work, getting married, and the coming of the arrival of our children. We thank Mike Lette, the fisherman, Julie Schmidt, the bride, Troy and Tonya Schermer as the farmer and the mother, with William Schermer as himself their son. Jacob was our candle lighter for the evening. Come Lord Jesus! ALL IN THE FAMILY ~ Gayle of Mya Morgan and granddaughter s elson, sang musical Senior Living joined with other Sunday School to program The Tale residents of the wonderful Christmas Morgan, grandmother Laine Morgan with her cousin Kenedie Gabriselections at Rotary December 12th. They youth from Samuel s present their Christmas of Three Trees to the South Building after a dinner.

6 A Rare Christmas Day Song: His Name Is Wonderful Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name. The angel s halo was a little crooked and the shepherds had their pants rolled up under their bathrobes, but something wonderful was about to take place. A beautiful song was soon to be born. Audry Mieir, who wrote that song, tells us what happened on that day, one of those rare Christmases that came on Sunday: We wanted to do something special in our little church, Bethel Union Church in Duarte, California. The pastor was my brother-in-law. We Were using the young people in a Christmas presentation. Mary was a teenage girl and the angels were young boys. The baby was a doll. The whole place smelled of pine boughs, which we used to decorate the church. The atmosphere was charged. I so often have thought that I could hear the rustling of angels wings. It seemed that the whole room was filled with the presence of the angels of God. I looked down at the little children and they were sitting there with open mouths, thinking, as they listened to the soft organ music. I looked around at the older people and they were wiping tears away, remembering many other Christmases gone by. The pastor stood up and slowly lifted his hands toward heaven and said, His name is Wonderful! Those words electrified me. I immediately began writing in the back of my Bible. As I wrote I was thinking that God has something He wants said. I wrote a simple chorus and I sang it that night for the young people around the piano. They sang it immediately. It wasn't hard for them to learn. I never dreamed it would go any further, but it has traveled around the world in many languages. Audrey Mieir was born in Pennsylvania in She began her songwriting career at age sixteen. How thankful we should be that God chose to use her talents to praise Him with these simple but powerful words: His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, Jesus, my Lord. He is the mighty King. Master of everything. His name is Wonderful, Jesus, my Lord. He s the great Shepherd. The Rock of all ages, Almighty God is He; Bow down before Him, Love and adore Him, His name is Wonderful, Jesus, my Lord. Reflection: Is the name of Jesus wonderful to you today and every day? Sing a song of praise and you will feel closer to Him. You, too, will experience that His name is Wonderful. from Stories Behind Popular Sons and Hymns by Lindsay Terry.