First Presbyterian Church

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1 JANUARY 2015 NEWSLETTER First Presbyterian Church 225 North Holcombe, Litchfield, MN PO Box 6 ch: Pastor s cell: As servants of God, we open our doors wide with the heart of Jesus welcoming all as children of God. We strive to provide spiritual growth and support for all through prayer and community and the acceptance of mutual respect. To my brothers and sisters in Christ, Another new year! Where did 2014 go? It was a good year in many ways, a sad year for some of us past and we look forward now to A goal I am putting at the forefront this year is to make this a year of prayer. I invite all of you to join me as we put an emphasis on prayer for our church. Pray for its future, for its impact in our community, for its sense of love and fellowship within, for its leaders and wise decision making, for our children that they grow up desiring the things of faith, for our senior citizens that they continue serving the Lord faithfully in old and new ways, for your pastor that he makes wise decisions and is led by the Holy Spirit, and for our worship and service to be pleasing to God in all things. That is a big list, but too often we take these things upon ourselves and fail to include God completely. We are here to serve our Lord and Savior; we are to be including Him in all we do. I am looking for prayer volunteers to meet together for the purpose of prayer for our congregation, for individuals, and for the church's impact in spreading the Good News. I will be emphasizing prayer even more at our meetings and invite all committee chair-people to do so as well. Too often we are confronted with the bad news about the future of the mainline church. Too often we look to programs and make our own plans to fix them. Let's remember that our future lies in the hands of God and with God all things are possible. If you do resolutions, make this one: to bring the church before the throne of God and make 2015 a year of prayer in our church and in our individual lives. The Peace of God be with you! Pastor Gordy Upcoming Events Thursday, January 1 Happy New Year Sunday, January 4 Home Communions 3:30 Tuesday, January 6 The Epiphany of the Lord (Visit of the Magi) Sunday, January 11 Ordination and Installation of new officers; Annual Meeting after worship Tuesday, January 13 Session meets 7:00 Old and new officers Wednesday, January 14 Afternoon Bible study at 4:30-5:30 PM Choir practice 7 PM Sunday, January 18 Executive Presbyter Rick Carus joins us for worship Saturday, January 24 Leadership training day for all elders and deacons 9:30 AM 2:30 PM Sunday, January 25 Wellness service following worship; Bowling at 1:00. Wednesday, January 28 Afternoon bible study 4:30-5:30 Sunday, February 1 Souper Bowl of Caring, more info to come First Presbyterian Church 225 North Holcombe / PO Box 6 Litchfield, MN Pastor Gordy Pennertz Website: ****Secretary s mrsp57@nutelecom.net Pastor Gordy & Julie Rae

2 Verse for January: Psalm 29: 11 The LORD shall give strength to his people; the LORD shall give his people the blessing of peace. Communion Servers: Wade, Arlyce, Julie Rae, David P. Liturgist: Ushers: 4-Susan Berg 11-Shirley Brooks 18-Kay Hanson 25-Judy Holmes Don & Jayne Ackman Phil & Leetha Waldron Ann Abramson Wade & Amy Viehauser Money Counters: 4-Susan Berg & Wade Viehauser 11-Shirley Brooks and Jayne Ackman 18-Arlyce & Bev Driver 25-Susan Berg & Michael Joldersma LITURGY FOR JANUARY: 4-Psalm 147:12-20 Ephesians 1:3-14 John 1: (1-9) Psalm 29 Acts 19: 1-7 Mark 1: Psalm 139:1-6, Corinthians 6:12-20 John 1: Psalm 62: Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN NEWS Have you ever considered attending the Church-wide Gathering of Presbyterian Women? The Gathering, held every three years, is an opportunity for Presbyterian women from around the world to gather for worship, education, community building, fun and renewal. Don t miss this chance to attend since it is so close to home! The 2015 Gathering will be held June in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Hyatt Regency. Full registration is $395. Single day registration is $125 per day. Registration opens January 15 th. Room rates at the Hyatt are $169 per night for up to 4 people. Ann Abramson, PW Coordinator JANUARY 2-Our Church s 145 th Anniversary! 4-Philip Waldron 12-Kennedy Rech 19-Stephanie Savoy 24-Lauretta Hanson COFFEE HOUR SERVERS 4-Stephanie Rech It s Bowling! January 25 th, 1 PM start time at the Litch Bowl. JOIN us! First game paid for by the activities fund!!

3 Christ -- First, Christ is not the last name of Jesus. Christ is the Greek word for Messiah, or more accurately, Kristos. Messiah is Hebrew and means the anointed one. It includes the anointing of kings and high Priests. But this term Messiah came to be to the Jewish people to represent the one anointed by God as the liberator or savior of the chosen people. Today we Gentiles understand the Christ to be our spiritual savior, anointed to lead us to eternal salvation and to lead us day by day by the power of the Holy Spirit. THE STORY, Bible Study: A reminder that we are underway with the bible study The Story, a big picture look at the bible. We have held five sessions but you can join us at any time. It is a basic study, you don't have to know a lot about the bible to join us and we will together study from Genesis to Revelation. Its key is that Christ is represented throughout the Bible and that God loves us unconditionally. Good news for each of us. We are now meeting on Wednesday afternoons at 4:30-5:30 every other week. Our next class is January 14th. New Web Site!! The Technology committee has the new website up and running. We continue to tweak some items as we seek a professional and welcoming web presence. It has more information and pictures and links. It will be useful for someone looking for a church to find out what we at First Presbyterian are all about. It also will have useful information for members, like links to articles, our newsletter, sermons, activities and pictures. Check it out at- Due to this those of you who are receiving the newsletter by can click on the general resources on the website for the calendar page. It will be shown in a list style. If you prefer an actual calendar, at the bottom of the list it says google calendar. Click on that, then click on month and it will show you the calendar. If you prefer to have it printed, it will print from that page by pressing the ctrl/shift and P all at the same time. That will bring your printer info up and then you should just be able to press enter and print. January Prayer List 1- Joel Barrick 2- Our church: 145th Anniversary! 3- Mortie & Susan Berg 4- David Sr. & Carol Blunt 5- David Boll 6- Linda Boll 7- Heath Bozonie 8- Barbara Bremseth 9- Shirley Brooks 10-Dennis & Melva Burnette 11-CJ Crosbie 12-Arlyce Dedrickson 13-Beverly Driver 14-Bruce & Shirley Good 15-Gary & Rosie Graphenteen 16-Lauretta Hanson 17-Kay Hanson/Tim Law 18-Greg & Karen Heath 19-Mary Ann Hicks 20-Judy Holmes 21-Doug & Laurie Johnson 22-Harlan Johnson 23-Jared & Courtney Johnson & Maci Alice 24-Michael & Rhonda Joldersma & Savannah 25-Sierra Joldersma 26-Ken & Harriet Koelln 27-Owen Kragenbring & family 28-Roger & Roz Landers 29-Amy Levinski 30-Jim & Lila Lundberg 31-Marshall & Dottie Madsen

4 MARY-MARTHA CIRCLE Mary Martha Circle has started their study called Twelve Women of the Bible and there is room for more! PLEASE feel free to join us on January 26 th when we will study Hannah. Judy Holmes will be our hostess. Choir Practice: Wednesday, Jan 14-7 PM Everyone welcome!! Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with the Christmas program. The message of salvation is the message that needed to be conveyed as a reminder that Christ came as a child for that purpose. He came for all who are his children. None are too far gone, nor done anything that cannot be forgiven, as Christ has already paid the price. My prayer is that message shown through our program. Christ s blessings and love, Julie Rae You change your life by changing your heart Answer the big question of eternity and the little questions of life fall into perspective. Faith is the grit in the soul that puts the dare into dreams. Quotes from Max Lucado IDENTITY Your fingerprints are unique designs of archs and loops and whorls intricate patterns laid down at birth. Your legal identity is forever linked to them. They never change. Your spiritual identity, being identified as a Child of God, means that now God s fingerprints can be seen more clearly than ever all over your life. The result is pure art! Being secure in your identity, enjoying being the person God created you to be, and appreciating the unique place HE has given you in this world will help you live every day to the fullest with childlike abandon and JOY! The Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God s children. Romans 8:16 Everything is good when it leaves the Creator s hands. Jean-Jacques Rousseau Be imitators of God as dear children Ephesians 5:1 The way in which we think of ourselves has everything to do with how the world sees us. Arlene Raven He who counts the stars and calls them by name is in no danger of forgetting His own children. Charles Spurgeon

5 SESSION MINUTES The Session meeting for December was opened with training, Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed is Enough. Pastor Gordy informed us we will be having a guest on January 18 th, as Rev Rick Carus will be here from the Presbytery. We also received a thank you letter from the Presbytery of MN Valleys for our contribution of $500 towards unified missions. The Nominating Committee reported that they have nominations for 2 Elders, 3 Deacons, and 2 people for the Nominating Committee. We approved the use of the church for 2 families in December and 1 in January. The Technology Committee reported that we can review our new church web-site at Worship/Christian Ed: are working on the Blue Christmas for December 17 th at 5:15 PM, Christmas program on December 21 st and Hymn-sing December 28 th. Christian Community reported sending out 1000 post cards to the church area neighborhoods. Other ideas are being looked into for welcoming new people into the church. They are also working on outings such as bowling and roller-skating. Buildings and Grounds: Looking at carpeting for the front ramp to be installed when the weather is right. Memorials Endowment/Stweardship/Finance/Personnel: Reviewed special offerings for next year and when they will be taken. PW reminded us that there will be the annual Bake Sale on December 21 st. We all look forward to this. All committee reports were approve as presented. Our next meeting is scheduled for January 18 th. Respectfully, Wade Viehauser SUNDAY SCHOOL RESUMES ON JANUARY 4 TH FOR ALL AGES. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE! EVEN IF YOU HAVEN T ATTENDED SO FAR, NEW PARTICIPANTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!

6 A note from the Finance/Personal Committee: We wish to thank the congregation for their contributions to the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering, which we collected $260.00, and the Peace Making Offering, which we collected $ We sent our 25%, or $72.00, of the Peace Making Offering to Homes for Hope. It is also time to collect the Per Capita for our church and the following is an excerpt from the Presbytery; Why is per capita important? Per capita brings Presbyterians together literally! Presbyterians are connected in many ways, including our church government. We believe we discern best what God is calling us to do when we gather as mid councils, seek[ing] together to find and represent the will of Christ (Book of Order F ). Per capita dollars pay for the costs of holding a General Assembly including paying for the travel, room and board of commissioners and advisory delegates, several of whom would not be able to afford these expenses on their own. Per capita makes it possible for Presbyterians to govern ourselves the way we do. Presbyterians have a form of government built upon shared power and mutual accountability as we seek together to find and represent the will of Christ. By providing the primary means through which commissioners and advisory delegates can gather to do their work, per capita dollars help to undergird our governance system. Our Constitution provides a moral and theological compass that builds community and calls us to Christian faithfulness in gratitude to God. Per capita makes possible our effort for visible unity of the church of Jesus Christ. The PC(USA), as with other faith traditions and denominations, is but a small part of the one church of Jesus Christ. We affirm that God s call is for the church to be one. The Per Capita Apportionment for each member of First Presbyterian Church Litchfield for 2015 is $34.00 and will be collected throughout the month of January at which time our church will pay its Apportionment. There is an envelope in your offering box for 2014, so pick yours up soon. If you do not get an offering box, just use a pew envelope and mark it Per Capita. The Stewardship committee thanks you in advance for your attention to this basic need of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Yours in God, Michael Joldersma, chair Come and join us for an Open House Bridal Shower for Christa Pennertz and her fiancé Jacob Joseph on Saturday, January 10 th at 10 AM, here at First Presbyterian. This will be a gift card shower as they are currently living in Mesa, Arizona and have no way to transport their gifts at this time. (Small items will be transportable) Christa and Jacob will be married in our church on Saturday, March 14, May God bless this union. (They are currently registered at Wal-Mart).

7 Which will be your Choice? On one side stands the crowd. Jeering. Baiting. Demanding. On the other stands a peasant. Swollen lips. Lumpy eye. Lofty promise. One promises acceptance, the other a cross. One offers flesh and flash, the other offers faith. The crowd challenges, Follow us and fit in. Jesus promises, Follow me and stand out. They promise to please. God promises to save. God looks at you and asks Which will be your choice? From A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado New Year s Blessings to all! In Christ s Love, Pastor Gordy and Julie Rae Pennertz

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