Light in Darkness CHRIST LUTHERAN NEWS. Mark your calendar!

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1 Mark your calendar! December 15 Annual Committee Reports due December 18 Giving Tree gifts due, Education Hour, All-ages Christmas Caroling CHRIST LUTHERAN NEWS DECEMBER 2016 Light in Darkness By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. - Luke 1:78-79 These are the final words spoken by Zechariah upon the birth of his son John, who would grow up to be known as John the Baptist. When an angel came to tell old Zechariah that he and his (equally old) wife Elizabeth would have a child, Zechariah didn t believe it. To prove it, the angel takes away Zechariah s ability to speak. He stays mute until the birth of his son, the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah. Zechariah s first words are a hymn of praise. He bursts into song at the wonders happening in his world, filled with hope and joy at the new thing God is doing. The seasons of Advent and Christmas are filled with these images of hope: light, peace, joy, love, etc. These words, sung in familiar carols or etched on a Christmas tree ornament, make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. But there s a paradox here: if we are waiting for light, we must know something about darkness. If we long for peace, we must be in the midst of war. If we ask that God in tender mercy send the morning dawn to break upon us, we must be stranded in the darkest part of the night. There is indeed darkness, war, and loss all around us. For most of us, if our lives are not wrapped up in it, we can just turn our heads away from the darkness. Darkness and war, those are problems that are far away, we think. Not my problem. Not my issue. We choose to see the good, to think positively, to see the morning light rather than the darkness. But here s the thing: We can t just ignore the darkness. Dark- Light in Darkness continued 2501 SW 320 th St. Federal Way, WA office@christlutheranfw.com ChristLutheranFW.com

2 Light in Darkness continued from page SW 320 th St. Federal Way, WA Tuesday - Thursday 10:00am - 2:30pm office@christlutheranfw.com ChristLutheranFW.com Staff Pastor...Rev. Chelsea Globe pastor@christlutheranfw.com Pastoral emergencies outside of office hours: (253) Office Manager... Laura Olsen Music Director... Katie Stevenson Nursery Director... Diane Putts Custodian...Maria Reimer Church Council President... Tom Hagen Vice President... Guy Olsen Secretary... Mary Hefty Treasurer... Janeen Whitehead At-Large, Pos Ann Murphy At-Large, Pos Gary Curtis Committees Community Outreach... Laura Olsen Finance... Tom Hagen Financial Secretary... Pete Hupperten Property... Mark Lorenzen Social Ministries... Sue Hupperten Worship & Music... Katie Stevenson Ministers All members of Christ Lutheran Church ness, after all, is not always a bad thing. Darkness is creative: seeds sprout and grow in the dark earth. Darkness is fertile: babies take their tiny form in the dark womb. Each day, one half of the world rests and recuperates as darkness passes through. We need the dark. It is only when it gets dark enough that we can see the light. Though Advent and Christmas are happy times, times when we defy the darkness and declare that the Light of the World has come, we can t pretend the darkness isn t there. We need the dark to show us the light. We need to look into the darkness, war, loss, and fear, and know that it isn t just happening somewhere else. We are all connected through the One who is all things, through whom all things, light and dark included, were created. In our Advent prayers, let us pray as Zechariah did: let us pray for God s tender mercy to be known to all. Let us pray for all who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, whether the darkness of poverty and hunger, or the darkness of loneliness, illness, and fear. Let us pray for all who are at war, with nations, neighbors, or family, that their feet will find the path of peace. And let us pray that we will not run away from the darkness but that we will look right into it, see the needs of our neighbors, and shine Christ s light to all the corners of the world. May you know God s tender mercy and love this holiday season. Pastor Chelsea We are again sponsoring two families from Lutheran Community Services Refugee Program this Christmas! Please take a tag and return wrapped gifts by Sunday, December 18. More details in Lewis Hall!

3 Exploring Liturgy: Why do we worship the way we do? December 18 Pastors Chelsea and Lori will lead us in carols both churchy and non! Poverty Bay Café, 1108 S. 322nd Place, Federal Way $10/person burger dinner includes tea or coffee and meal gratuity. Beer and wine available at Happy Hour prices. Everyone 21+ Welcome! Childcare available at Calvary. Confirmation classes start Jan. 5th 3

4 Homespun Holiday Bazaar 2016 God s Work, Our Hands was certainly evident in the 2nd Annual Homespun Holidays Bazaar in November. So what is the purpose of a church bazaar? Obviously to provide a venue for shopping for unique items from gifted artists, beautiful antiques, and exposure to products not sold in stores. But more importantly it is a time to open the doors of our church to welcome vendors and visitors. I d like to think that even though visitors did not come to shop for a church, they might remember us as a small, beautiful building with warm caring people inside, a place they might be drawn to another time, hopefully for worship. We handed everyone a card with our church service information. Maybe Christmas Eve will be that first visit because of our bazaar! The weather was challenging again this year, but we guessed there may have been around 150 people who came in from the storm. This year we set up a Café in the nursery room and served soups and sandwiches and Dorothy Graham s homemade pie! The bakery, normally the library/scouts room, was transformed to a beautiful boulangerie to sell baked goods and treats (all homemade, thanks to the wonderful bakers at CLC). From the planning (which began in May for the Social Ministries committee), to the preparations, baking, set-up, take-down, hosting, and serving, I send out thanks from the entire congregation to these folks who helped: Mary Hefty, Kari Stone, Nancie Russ, Sue O Brien, Barb Claybaugh, Lonnie McWilliams, Tom Hagen, Frank Gaskill, Laura Olsen, Pete Hupperten, Will Stone, Marilynn Short, Irene Dye, Pam Wilson, John Wilson, Jim Short, Sue Hupperten, Ramona Soule, Jackie Hughes, Janeen Whitehead, Dorothy Graham, Ginny Kuhlman, Margie Wright, Kylie Whitehead, Guy Olsen, and the Boy Scouts. A special thanks to Mary Hefty and Kari Stone for extra hours in advertising, and preparing/decorating the Café and bakery; and Margie Wright (sign art) and Kylie Whitehead (room numbers over doors in education wing) for their artistic talents. If I forgot to mention anyone, please let me know. EVERY helper is so valued! Profits from the bazaar (which came from table rentals and food in bakery and café) after expenses were $786.10, which will be added to the church general fund. We appreciate all of you who supported this event. God bless you, good and faithful servants! Liz Smith, Bazaar Chairman Social Ministries Update As you read here in the newsletter, Liz has provided us all with a final report following the very successful Homespun Holidays Bazaar. Again, I say thank you to everyone who assisted in any way to make the bazaar such a positive experience for so many. A decision will be made early in 2017 concerning what could be the third annual, bigger and better bazaar. Social Ministries is proud to assist in celebrating the 100th birthday day of Dorothy Jones. A special reception will be held this Sunday, December 4th, following the church service. Please plan to join us and share your best wishes with Dorothy and her family. We will also be assisting with the reception following the memorial service for Raanah on Saturday, December 10th. SM will hold its regular meeting on Tuesday, December 6th, beginning at 10:00 a.m. As always, we welcome new members to the team with open arms. Sue Hupperten Social Ministries Chair 4

5 New Website! With the goal of helping to communicate Christ Lutheran as a welcoming and inviting place, a small team of members has developed one of the key first touch points for people in search of a church and congregation: our website. Statistics show the look, feel and overall ease of use of websites are key discriminators in generating traffic for both businesses as well as churches. To that end and led by the skillful website experience of Laura Olsen, Pastor Chelsea, Mary Hefty and Tom Hagen have been reviewing other church websites, formats for different devices (e.g. computers, phones and tablets), content selection options and several userfriendly features to refresh our current website and thereby make it more relevant, informative and welcoming. The intent is to use it as one tool to make our church more inviting to new internet searchers, and, at the same time, genuinely reflect who we are as a congregation. We think we have a great story to tell! User login information was sent out to everyone who is in the current church directory. If you have not yet received the New User Details , please let Laura Olsen know. Now that it s up and running, we d like your feedback: is it easy to use? Inviting? What do you think would make it better? A short questionnaire will be coming out soon. Need training? If there is interest or need, Laura will host a tutorial following worship on an upcoming Sunday. Please let her know if you d like some extra help finding your way around! More Than Enough In last month s newsletter I mentioned that the members of Christ Lutheran are good at walking the talk of more than enough, our stewardship theme for this year. The early results confirm that fact, showing we ve just about matched our pledged giving from last year and we re hopeful there are a few more of you out there who are still planning on pledging this month or in the near future. Stewardship is a year round commitment, but especially important this time of year in helping us align our budgetary requirements with our giving. Frankly, the more we know about our planned giving, the easier and more credibly it is to commit to staff salaries and operating expenses. We sincerely appreciate those of you who have pledged and welcome those who still wish to do so anytime. As important as the financial pledges, we appreciate your time and talent pledges as well. Those are the other parts of the resource triangle that help fuel our ministries in powerful ways. Thank you all for your generosity and continued commitment to keeping Christ Lutheran a special place through which we can do God s work with our hands! Tom Hagen Finance Chair 5

6 Celebrate good times c mon! (It s a celebration!) -Kool & the Gang Focus on Our Core Values: Celebration Celebration is one of Christ Lutheran Church s core values perhaps it s fitting that during the joyous season of Advent, we explore what celebration means. What is a celebration? It s an observance, but that doesn t seem to convey the full meaning. It s also an expression of that observance. We celebrate to commemorate something in the past for instance, someone s birthday or a notable event. In 2017, we will celebrate 500 years since the Reformation of the church. We celebrate the present our team winning, getting a new job, a good doctor appointment We celebrate the future for instance, the hopes for success often expressed at a going-away party. we celebrate Jesus First Coming; his nativity in a manger in Bethlehem, 2000 some years in the past. At Easter we commemorate his crucifixion his sacrifice for our salvation, and we celebrate his Resurrection and ascension to heaven and the fact that, because of it, we are all saved now, in the present. Saved. Eternal life. Walking with Jesus. That s an awful lot to celebrate! I m just speaking for myself here, but if I gave this Good News its proper partying due, I d be pooped, danced out, asleep under a fellowship table with cake frosting covering the grin on my face. There s no celebration big enough to express that much joy. I think that s exactly why we don t celebrate every day. As Christians, we try to be thankful to God each day for our blessings and salvation. It s a quiet expression of our thankfulness. Celebrations, whether of church year events or personal, allow us to punctuate that thankful expression to raise our voices and faith together a coherent, unified shout of joy. Blessings, Guy Olsen As Christians, our celebration is a sublime expression that transcends time and binds together the notions of past, present and future. At Christmas, Share your pictures from church events and gatherings! Newsletter and website articles are more interesting and meaningful with photos especially of people and congregational life. them to the office: office@christlutheranfw.com 6

7 Notes from the bench... Our church choir is a dedicated bunch and are working hard to prepare glorious music for the Advent and Christmas season. I recently read a great article that discusses four main functions of a church choir. I want to paraphrase parts of it for you so that both congregants and choir members can see the bigger picture into why we do what we do. The four functions as stated in the article: 1. To lead and enliven the congregations song 2. To sing music that the congregation cannot 3. To serve as a small-group within the church for faith formation 4. To sing beautiful and challenging music to glorify God and to edifying the congregation The first two functions are pretty straightforward, but very important. As the choir members work every week to improve their voices, they are able to sing boldly in church, which allows the congregation to have the confidence to participate in song, especially unfamiliar music. And when the music is too challenging for the congregation, yet important for worship, the choir steps in to present the music to the congregation. One recent example of this is when the choir sang "Soon and Very Soon" for Christ the King Sunday. This song was suggested repeatedly in worship planning materials, so the choir stepped in to sing a great version that really captured the spirit of the song and it's meaning. The third function speaks specifically to choir members, and the article describes in depth about how coming together to make music creates a bond between people, nurtured through faith, where "Christ's love has gathered us into one." Saying that our choir is a dedicated bunch also means that they are dedicated to caring for each other. The last function is perhaps the most poignant as we prepare for this holiday season. It deals specifically about the "why" and the "how" in what we do. We strive to make our music as beautiful as we can in order to create in others and ourselves a "moment with God." This can happen as easily as just an emphasis on a certain word in the song. But we spend time challenging ourselves in getting into the nitty-gritty details that make it all work to serve this function. So I challenge you all to remember when you are doing all of the nitty-gritty work involved in preparing for Christ's birth, take time to remember the "why", and create in your own way a "moment with God" for yourself and others. Blessings, Katie Music Director Original article here: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! DECEMBER Dorothy Jones December 7 Katie Stevenson December 12 Carol Sutphen December 24 If we missed your birthday, please notify the church office! 7

8 8 Council Corner Merry Christmas from your Church Council! What an exciting month in our church year and in our individual and family lives. This season always brings back a lot of memories and, in this case, here s my memory of our November Church Council meeting 11/8 at which we Discussed security issues that have risen dramatically in recent weeks and took action to: Repair a malfunctioning door closer in the sanctuary Inform our own members and church tenants to review security procedures and be extra diligent in locking up and vigilant in ensuring we know about any abnormal indications that unauthorized use of our building have occurred. Received Pastor s monthly Council report noting: The debut of our new and improved website check it out at Doug Dye s creative design and manufacturing of a beautiful new metal sign to eventually hang on the chimney in front of our church The great response to the Operation Welcome Home Food Drive and the pivotal role the Boy Scouts have played in soliciting generous donations at Fred Meyer Two baptisms are planned for the Advent season (November 27th and December 11th). Advent services will be held Wednesday evenings at 7 pm during the season. A combined Thanksgiving service with Zion Castle Church will be at 7 pm Thanksgiving evening. Received the Treasurer s report and noted all accounts are current, in good standing, and we have built our reserve fund to $8,500 of our desired $26,000 three-month operating reserve. Heard Guy Olsen s update on building accommodations made by our tenants during the Bazaar November 5th and that all went well in minimizing the disruptions to their normal scheduled activities. Noted that the Bazaar grossed about $1,100 with about $300 in expenses yet to be paid all in spite of the monsoon weather that Saturday! Deferred serious planning for our Reformation celebration until January 2017 due to many other activities going on this month. Discussed upcoming calendar events: December 3 Men s Breakfast followed by Greening of the Church December 4 Centenarian Celebration Dorothy Jones 100th Birthday December 10 Raanah Aanestad s Memorial Service December 15 Annual Report inputs from Committees and Staff due December 16 Beer and Carols at Billy McHale s December 25 Christmas Day Worship January Congregation s Annual Meeting As always, our Council meetings are open to all members and you re welcome to attend the next one December 13th at 6:30 pm. Your ideas are always welcome as well. God s peace, Tom Hagen - Council President

9 Community Outreach Team Good news of great joy for all the people A few years ago, a question was asked in the Vision and Call group, If our church wasn t here, would the community miss it? (Well, there s some perspective!) It s an honor to be Disciples of Christ, sent to love and serve the Lord, but the mission becomes real when we live out the mandate to be a blessing to those around us. This is the primary focus of Outreach. We pray for the opportunity to do God s work, listen for needs, and then mobilize the congregation in response. When I look at the ways that Christ Lutheran has been active in our community in the past year, I can t help but be proud of the blessings of love and service that our congregation has offered. In addition to serving at Reach Out, making quilts for Lutheran World Relief, visiting Living Stones Prison Congregation and providing two families a warm and hearty welcome with our Giving Tree for Lutheran Community Services Refugee Program, we ve also created new opportunities to bless others. Neighbor Time meets every other Tuesday afternoon, providing a time for seniors around us to get out of the house for games and good company, and still be home before dark (when I was little, our family called it going visiting ). For God s work. Our hands. Sunday, we hosted a Blessing of First Responders at the Farmer s Market, and then Operation: Welcome Home to help stock Multi- Service Center s William J. Wood Veterans House. Notably, all three of the new projects were made possible through recent connections we ve made with neighbors and neighboring churches in Federal Way. We ve heard the Church referred to as the Body of Christ and tend to think of it as members of a congregation (usually settling a dispute over who is most important), but the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer takes it even further. He called the Church literally the very physical body of Christ taking up space in the world. This reality of presence - being Christ beyond our walls - shines a light on exactly how Christ Lutheran has been a blessing to those in our community. So, if our church wasn t here, would the community miss it? Yes, I believe so! And more and more each day. Christ Lutheran News December 2016 Thank you for your donations to Operation: Welcome Home! Public Open House December 8, pm WILLIAM J. WOOD VETERANS HOUSE GRAND OPENING Please join MSC for the Grand Opening of the new William J. Wood Veterans House. Tour the facility, enjoy refreshments, and take the opportunity to support this worthwhile project. Federal Way Chamber ribbon cutting at 4:30pm Parking on site is not available. Please park at Federal Way s Sacajawea Park (by Sacajawea Middle School). Shuttle service between the park and building site will be provided from 2:45pm until 5:30pm. Return shuttle service until 6pm. Shuttle provided by Emerald Downs. In Christ, Laura Olsen Community Outreach Team Leader 9

10 Isaiah 9:6 Shop at smile.amazon.com (with the same shopping experience as Amazon.com) and Amazon will donate to Christ Lutheran. Visit the link below to get started! Altar Guild needs a few more members! To learn more, see CJ Campbell or Pastor Chelsea. JANUARY NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: 1/3 10

11 From the Prayer Team Resting In Christ Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls Matt 11: Thanksgiving and Praises: Lynn Kuhlman and family returning home after Hurricane Matthew with no damage to their house; continued recovery of Pastor Hermstad from a stroke and broken pelvis; Health and healing: Ginny Kuhlman, healing from a broken pelvis; Jill Curtis, healing; Marilynn Short, facing decisions with health concerns; Dorothy Wells, experiencing problems with her kidneys and a return of breast cancer; Shirley Allen, ongoing health concerns; Harold Trump and Barbara Woodworth as Harold is experiencing health concerns; Maria Riemer diagnosed with lupus Peace and comfort for those who grieve: Barbara heist and family upon the death of her brother; for the Hefty family, mourning the loss of Uncle Milt Hefty; Trudy Sorensen and her family upon the death of Trudy's beloved sister, Karen; family and friends of Glenn Jenkins, husband of Diane upon his death; family and friends of Raanah Aanestad who grieve her death as they celebrate the end of her suffering Family and Friends: for Kayten, daughter of our custodian Maria; Fred V, friend of Marilynn Short; Marianne, friend of Liz Smith, facing possible long-term paralysis from tumor on spine; all who are recovering from Hurricane Matthew; Ken Wilborn (CJ s friend) with recurrence of cancer; Karen & Takihiro Nibe (friends of Mary H.) for strength and comfort as they recover from the Kumamoto earthquakes. Jan (Carol Sutphen s daughter) recovering from mild stroke; Frank Alexander (Dorothy Graham s brother-in-law) having surgery; Kari (Nancie Russ sister-in-law), that she can harvest enough stem cells for her cancer therapy; Frankie W. in a time of need; Jean Alexander (Dorothy Graham s sister), with heart problems; Bill Owens (friend of Skau/Savini family); Kirke Sutphen (Carol s son): Lynn Kuhlman coping with the effects of a brain aneurysm; Coleen Adams and family. Interested in joining the prayer team? Contact Liz Smith Christ Lutheran News December 2016 The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation will be here before you know it! Join the Celebration Team! Help us organize our celebration of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in October See Janeen Whitehead Attention Committee Chairfolks: Please send annual reports to the office by Dec. 15, 2016 for Annual Meeting compilation Thank you for your contributions! 2016 First Sunday Offerings (fiscal year) Date Collected $ Given to support 2/7 $ Multi-Service Center 3/6 $ Flint, MI Water 4/3 $ FW Day Center 5/1 $ Living Stones 6/5 $ LDR Japan EQ 7/3 $76.00 LCSNW Sr. Services 8/7 $91.00 God s work. Our hands. 9/4 $83.00 Reach Out - food 10/2 $ Piecemakers 11/6 Multi-Service Center 12/4 (TBD - any requests?) If there is a cause or organization in our community that you d like Christ Lutheran to support, let an Outreach member or Pastor Chelsea know! 11