Grace, Mendham THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

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1 Grace, Mendham Phone: web: gracemendham.org Page 1 Sunday s News PAGE 2 Serving this Sunday Page 3 Weekly Calendar & Special Announcements Page 4 This week s lessons THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD Page 5 Service Opportunities Page 6 What s happening in the New Jersey Synod and The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 2015 Offering Envelopes are now in your narthex PAGE! 1 mailbox. Please remember to pick them up. WORSHIP SCHEDULE Sunday, January 11, :00 am Worship and Sunday School 11:00 am Adult Forum 11:00 am Council Meeting 5:00 pm Harmonium We can use a couple of more folks to host coffee hour this coming spring. If you re able to help, please contact Yvonne Kloehn yvonne.kloehn@yahoo.com Please remember to return your estimate of giving cards as soon as possible. This will greatly help the Council as they prepare the budget for 2015.

2 NO MATTER WHO YOUR ARE OR WHERE YOU ARE ON YOUR LIFE S JOURNEY YOU ARE WELCOME HERE SERVING THIS SUNDAY Ushers: Ministers: The People of Grace Pastor: Carol Petersen Ralph Boe, John Pellegrino, Joe Schmadel & Dan Swift Diaconal Minister: Kathryn Schwartz, Director, Faith Kitchen, Dover Assisting Minister: Jan Abbott Acolyte Kristen Briney Reader Fred Ertel Altar Guild: Millie Eberenz & Georgine Meyer Coffee Hour Oberst Family Counters: Dan & Kathy Swift Philippians 4:6-7 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Dan & Wendy Utberg & their daughter Bryanna Mike & Tracey Wade & their children Jason and Melissa Bob & Mary Welch Book Group Our January "read" will be Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Copies are available at church in the narthex. Please sign out your copy. We did attempt to get copies of the book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr; it is much too popular and in demand to secure enough copies for everyone. It's a great book and I highly recommend it. (Perhaps we can read it for discussion next year.) We discussed and decided to change our meeting day to the fourth Wednesday of the month. So January's book club meeting will be January 28th at Susan Pilshaw's, 7 Prospect St., Mendham at 1:30. We will decide then if we want to go forward with a permanent change to the fourth Wednesday. PAGE! 2

3 Weekly Calendar WEEKLY CALENDAR Monday, January 12th 4:00 pm Music Room in Use Tuesday, January 13th 10:00 am Quilters 12:15 pm Bible Study 7:00 pm - Handbells Wednesday, January 14th 4:00 pm WMMHS Hockey Team in Parish Hall 7:00 pm Choir Rehearsal Thursday, January 15th 4:00 pm WMMHS Boys Basketball in PH Thank you, thank you. Thank you all so much for the wonderfully generous Christmas gift. I can t tell you how touched I am, and appreciative of your generosity. I receive so many blessings from you. Please know how grateful I am for each and every one of you. May God s blessings be yours in this coming New Year. Peace, Pastor Carol Annual Congregational Budget Meeting Sunday, January 25, 2015 Following Worship Friday, January 16th Saturday, January 17th Sunday, January 18th Second Sunday after the Epiphany FOOD DUE FOR FAITH KITCHEN WORSHIP 10:00 am Coffee Hour Before and after worship Sunday Church School 11:00 am Adult Forum 5:00 pm Harmonium PAGE!3 6:00 pm Boy Scouts in PH Calling all baseball fans! The Grace Hot Stove League may start up again. The first meeting would be Saturday, February 7 at The Pub in Mendham immediately following the Saturday service. If you are interested in joining, please see Lynn Perry or her at zapper97@optonline.net so she can determine interest and hopefully make reservations!

4 READINGS FOR THIS SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2015 Genesis 1:1 5 Out of chaos, God brings order. Out of the primeval darkness, God brings light. This familiar story was good news for the Israelites, who experienced much chaos in their history. It remains good news for any person living in the chaos and darkness of despair. God created and continues to create new life. In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. BAPTISM OF OUR LORD Our re-creation in baptism is an image of the Genesis creation, where the Spirit/wind moved over the waters. Both Mark's gospel and the story in Acts make clear that it is the Spirit's movement that distinguishes Jesus baptism from John's. The Spirit has come upon us as upon Jesus and the Ephesians, calling us God s beloved children and setting us on Jesus mission to re-create the world in the image of God s vision of justice and peace. Acts 19:1 7 In Ephesus, Paul encounters people who had received John's baptism of repentance but had never heard of the Holy Spirit or of baptism in the name of Jesus. After Paul baptized them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and empowered them with gifts of the Spirit. While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3 Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism." 4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied 7 altogether there were about twelve of them. Matthew 1:4-11 Mark's gospel reports the story of Jesus' baptism with some irony: the one on whom the Spirit descends is himself the one who will baptize others with the Holy Spirit. 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." PAGE!4

5 SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES 0 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 1 Peter 4:10 INTERFAITH FOOD PANTRY FOOD ITEM OF THE MONTH SPAGHETTI & TOMATO SAUCE How to Donate Altar Flowers We invite you to make a gift towards altar flowers in memory of, in thanksgiving for, or in celebration of a person or event. Your generous donation of $35 will glorify God and enhance the beauty of our worship services on Sunday mornings. Your gift of flowers not only provides the adornment of our altar and proclaims the resurrection, but it also serves as a pastoral blessing to those who receive the flowers delivered to them. You are welcome to bring the flowers home with you after worship, or you may contact Vivian Morrison to arrange to have them delivered to a shut-in. Simply sign up on the 2015 Altar Flower Chart posted on the narthex bulletin board. A reminder that you have donated the flowers will be placed in your church mailbox prior to the week you have donated them. Please pay for the flowers in advance by placing a check made payable to Grace in the offering or Colleen Peterson's mailbox. The donor's name and appropriate dedication will be printed in the Sunday bulletin and on the media screen. Thank you for your consideration. Truly this is a multi-faceted gift! HOMELESS SOLUTIONS Many Hands Make Lighter Work For Everyone! Heartfelt thanks go out to the Erath family for stepping forward to serve at Homeless Solutions the day after Thanksgiving. The Gau family will be serving dinner the day after Christmas. Their time and effort are certainly appreciated; both by the hungry of Morris County and the people at Grace. A new Homeless Solutions volunteer list is now posted for Please take time to check your busy winter (or early spring) schedule and find some time to participate in this worthy effort. Remember, interested adults or a family are both welcomed. Coaches will be provided if you are new, but want some guidance. Here are the first 4 open dates for 2015: January 23 rd February 27 th March27 th April 24th Sign up in the narthex or contact Pam Gau (paapnj@comcast.net) if you are interested or need more information. FAITH KITCHEN WoW! Thanks so much to the many willing contributors to Faith Kitchen in December. There is a new sign-up sheet in the narthex for chili makings for January. Please have all contributions into the parish hall kitchen by Sunday, January 18 th for delivery to Trinity, Dover, on Tuesday, January 20th. It s EASY! Hamburger can be placed in the parish hall refrigerator any time! And tomatoes and beans can go on the counter any time! Onions and cheese can be place in the refrigerator any time! Our lives get particularly hectic. However, the needs of the hungry men and women of Dover continue. PAGE!5

6 NEW JERSEY SYNOD AND ELCA HAPPENINGS By Kristin Berkey-Abbott I love the words of God at the baptism of Jesus: "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased." Note that God says this at the beginning of Christ's ministry, before Jesus has actually done much. Here's the best news of all: God feels the same way about each and every one of us. In this season of New Year's resolutions, consider this question: How would your life change if you believed that God loves you the way you are, right now, before you even make any changes to become a better person? It's true. God's not waiting for you to become more spiritual before God claims you. Even if you never get to the point where you pray more often, where you give away more money, where you become that good and patient person you are sure you can be, God loves you, marks you, claims you, delights in you and with you. You don't have to lose that 10/20/50 pounds for God to find you worthy. You can have a wrecked household budget, and God still loves you. You don t have to be the best parent/child/spouse/friend/colleague for God to care about you. During our long years through the nation's educational systems, most of us learn all the ways we are inadequate, and most of us never unlearn those lessons. Even as grown humans, often the focus in pop culture, in our jobs, in our families, in church even is on our failings, on all the ways that we would measure up if we just did this thing or that thing or another thing. And then we work hard on self-improvement, and even if we re successful, we've still got those messages: Well, great, now you can focus on changing this next enormous thing. All this effort toward self-improvement can make us a bit self-absorbed, and we forget to work on some of the real and serious problems in the world. But what would happen if we decided that God needs us to be the person that we are, right here, right now, without any changes? What if we declared ourselves to be good enough? PAGE!6 The juxtaposition of Epiphany and the baptism of Christ gives us an opportunity to see how differently people respond to this gift of grace and love. Herod is so threatened that he slaughters every child in Bethlehem and the surrounding region. John, on the other hand, tells everyone about the coming arrival of Jesus. Many of us dwell in the land of self-loathing this time of year. Maybe we've spent too much money on our Christmas festivities. Maybe we've eaten too much in that time between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Maybe we've already broken our New Year's resolutions. We look in our mirrors and see multiple reasons to hate ourselves. Try a different practice for a week or two or 52. Look in the mirror and see yourself not as the world sees you. Look in the mirror and remind yourself that God loves you. God chose you. God delights in you. You may find this hard to believe. You may be able to believe that God loves people like Pope Francis or Archbishop Tutu, or any number of people who seem more worthy than you. The good news is that God loves you the same way. God sees you in the same way. We are all equally worthy. No matter how much you improve yourself, God will still love you. No matter how many times you lose sight of your goals and move further away from the best self that you could be, God will still love you. Of course, God sees your full potential and probably hopes that you'll move in that direction. But even if you don't, God will love you anyway. No matter how miserably you've failed, God will always welcome you. We've lived in the land of self-loathing long enough. Why cripple ourselves with this kind of thinking? There's work to be done, and the world cannot afford for us to waste time feeling bad for all the ways we've failed. God loves you; you are God s child, and you please God as only you can. Remind yourself of this good news proclaimed at your baptism. Proclaim it yourself at every opportunity. Kristin Berkey-Abbott is a lifelong Lutheran, a college professor and department head. She has taught a variety of English and creative-writing classes for the last 20 years. ELCA 2015 National Youth Gathering Detroit, Michigan. RISE UP! Saturday July 11 - Sunday, July 19, 2015 Servant projects on our way out to the Gathering! GOD S WORK. OUR HANDS. See Pastor Carol with questions. Please get your forms and deposit in soon. Registration is open.