Spring Garden Lutheran Church O c t o b e r 2 0 1 7 The Messenger No Confirmation on Wednesday, Oct. 18 due to MEA break. The Annual Women s Retreat at Good Earth Village will be March 9th - 11th, 2018. We hope you will be able to join us! HEARTS FOR GUATEMALA 5K Amber Soine of Cannon Falls was the first runner to cross the finish line, with a time of 24.45, at the Hearts for Guatemala 5K on Saturday, September 9th. Jayson Brooks of Hampton was the first man to cross, Nick Norstad of Pine Island was the first place youth, and Mira Cook of Maple Grove was the second place youth to cross the finish line. A nice cool, cloudless morning greeted all the participants on a beautiful run or walk in Cannon Falls. For the last five years, Spring Garden Lutheran Church has sent medical teams to work with the Health Promoters ministry of the Augustinian Lutheran Church of Guatemala. With little to no medical care of most people, the Spring Garden team trains local Health Promoters to provide basic medical care for the Guatemalan people. All proceeds for the day will be used toward the February 2018 medical trip. Photos courtesy of Tom McCartney Photography FMSC Mobile Pack Event 2017 is Saturday, November 18th, at the Cannon Falls High School. This is the 9th year of this successful community event. With the combination of all the years, Cannon Falls will pack our 1,000,000 meal this year!!!! Each year the Cannon Falls area has about 500 volunteers gather and donations of $24,000 raised in order to help starving children around the world. If you are interested in volunteering again or joining us for the 1st time, there will be 2 shifts of 8:00 am - 10:00 am or 10:30 am - 12:30 pm. We will have a sign up coming around in church in October. As a congregation, our main fundraising for the event is a Bake Sale (held in September), along with collecting any extra change $$$ you might have in your pockets/purse during the Children's Sermon during the month of October. So save your change and bring it with you--the kids love to collect!!! If you have any questions, please contact Brenda Safe.
P a g e 2 Pastor s Notes - Pastor Nick Fisher-Broin 500 th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation Dear Friends this October 29 th we will celebrate a community worship with our 5 local ELCA congregations. It will take place Sunday, October 29th, at 10 AM at the high school auditorium. A ticketed dinner will follow tickets available at church. Mark you calendars you won t want to miss this grand celebration! When we gather, we will celebrate what it means to be a church that is always reforming. In Martin Luther s time as a faith leader about 1517-1546 Luther never imagined there would be a denomination named after him. Instead, Luther s greatest desire was to call the church to always more closely follow and trust in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps some of you can remember a time when denominations were at odds with one another where it was a family crisis if a Lutheran married a Catholic or a person from some other denomination. Those days where we defined ourselves over-against other faiths is mostly over and I say: good riddance! Our world continues to see war and violence acted out in the name of religions and it remains a sad statement about the brokenness remaining in the human family. So, for us, this celebration will be about celebrating Luther s vision of an always reforming church. That means we take Luther s clear sense of the Gospel of Christ as a Word from God that always asks us to check our human assumptions, our beliefs, our actions through the lens of Christ and be prepared to change to be more like Christ. Here are some words that are central to our experience of faith I hope you ll listen for them at worship, in our conversations, and let them be a guide for living a faith that re-forms every single day. We can honor Luther best by keeping the witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ central to how we do church. See you on October 29 th! GRACE GOSPEL Jesus Christ Living Word Catechism Sanctification Sacraments Justification by Faith Holy Bible Reformation Baptism Holy Communion Augsburg Confession Freedom of a Christian Service T h e M e s s e n g e r
P a g e 3 I was pondering what to write about this month and remembered that there is a member of our extended family that has multiple sclerosis or MS. I wanted to find out more about it, so am sharing the information with you. Multiple Sclerosis, or MS as I'll refer to it from now on, is a long lasting disease that can affect the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve in the eyes. It can cause problems with vision, balance, muscle control and other basic body functions. The effects are often different for everyone who has the disease. Some have mild symptoms and others will have trouble getting around and troubles with activities of daily living. MS happens when the immune system attacks a fatty material called myelin, which wraps around the nerve fibers to protect them. Without this outer shell, nerves become damaged. Scar tissue may form. The damage means your brain can't send signals thru your body correctly. The nerves also don't work as they should to help you move and feel. As a result, a person may have symptoms such as trouble walking, feeling tired, muscle weakness or spasms, blurred or double vision, numbness or tingling, poor bladder or bowel control, depression, pain, and problems with memory. First symptoms often occur between the ages of 20 and 40. Most have attacks, or relapses, when the symptoms become noticeably worse, followed by times of recovery. It is hard to diagnose MS. Usually a specialist, such as a neurologist, who treats diseases of the brain or nervous system, will order blood test to rule out other diseases, will check for balance and coordination issues, do an MRI, and check the cerebral spinal fluid which cushions the brain (people with MS usually have a specific protein in their cerebral spinal fluid). Doctors don't know for sure what causes MS. Some may get MS after they've had a viral infection like the Epstein-Barr virus or the human herpesvirus 6 that makes their immune system stop working normally. The infection may trigger the disease or cause relapses. New treatments can often help prevent relapses or slow the effects of the disease. Blessings, Yvonne Salmonson, RN, Parish Nurse We are seeking additional members for this group. Our goal is to come up with fun events for the congregation as a whole. We want to encourage all groups and members to engage in these events. Please let me know if you have an interest in helping out with brainstorming and planning events for 2018. It's very important that we as a congregation continue to gather together as a community. There is plenty of coffee through September and to start October. We need 2 people to provide 3 dozen cookies for Oct 8th and 1 person for Oct 22. A sign-up sheet will be passed around. Please feel free to call, text or email for this as well. On Sunday October 8th, weather permitting, we would like to have a bon fire and marshmallow roast. We will be serving BBQ sandwiches, chips, and some bars. More information on this will be available soon! Thank you! Maja-Lina Lundell (I can be reached at talk2thechef@gmail.com or by cell: 651-808-5825)
P a g e 4 Once again, we had a great Sunday school kick-off! During our service Sept. 10, we gave out faith boxes to our new preschool students and bibles to our kindergartners, 2nd graders & 7th graders. Spring Garden's 6th graders received their cross-training t-shirts also. Thanks so all you parents for encouraging and bringing your kids to Sunday school every week. Also, a HUGE thanks to all of our teachers, directors & guides for volunteering your time & talents to our Spring Garden kids. REMINDER - there is no Sunday school at our Spring Garden church on Sunday, Oct, 29. There will be a church service at Cannon Falls High School that morning - please see information in this newsletter to learn more. It would be great to see you there! The Cherub Choir rehearses Sunday mornings at 8:45. They will be singing during the worship service on the 2nd Sunday of the month, beginning Sunday, October 8th. Ruthie Sjoblom is directing the choir this year, but will be retiring from directing at the end of the year. If you have ever thought about directing, now would be a good time to come to a few rehearsals to see how fun it is!
P a g e 5 Corner Financial Facts August 31, 2017 Checkbook Balance: ($2279.96) People go through three conversions: their head, their heart and their pocketbook. Unfortunately, not all at the same time. -- Martin Luther (1483-1546) The checkbook balance is in the red, so we need you to dig deep, to get back ahead. Outstanding Loans, Memorial Committee: $5,940.00 **Thank you for your continued support of the Church financially, it s only through your support that we can continue the Church s mission of Building a Rural Family in Christ. **Just a reminder you can text your contributions to the church now. **If you forgot to drop your offering in the plate on Sunday, just simply go to our website www.spring-garden.org, click on the online giving tab, and make your contribution that way. You will need to register and create a password, but once you have done that you can direct how much and how often you would like to give. Mom s Group Watch for information about upcoming gatherings! (Moms with children from birth 12th grade) We will be starting a new book for discussion Please join the Facebook group: Mom s Life~Finding the Balance through Christ We will be meeting in October for something FUN! Please watch the Facebook page or the bulletin for details. Congratulations to Kelsey Lee & Greg Berg who were united in marriage on September 16. 2017 Breck Harold Wilson Born May 12, 2017 Baptized September 3, 2017 Son of Brock and Maggie Wilson Sponsors: Ryan and Molly Olson Avery Jane Helgren Born July 13, 2017 Baptized September 17, 2017 Daughter of Jason and Kelly Helgren Sponsors: Brian and Jen Lindahl Baby Quilt Ministry will be meeting Thursday, Oct. 19 From 7-9 pm
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P a g e 7 MEGAN NERISON 507.263.4679 / 507.271.7491 MNERISON13@GMAIL.COM October/November: WEBSITES: Make sure you add both Facebook pages for important information: Spring Garden LYO & Spring Garden Church Cross Training Oct 8th: Deposit and Registration due for the ELCA Youth Gathering Sub Sales: Orders due Wed. Oct 11th. Nov Feed My Starving Children event Last month we kicked off our new year and welcomed another group of 6th grades into Cross Training. Our numbers continue to grow which is very exciting! Our kick-off was held at Hannah s Bend Park with Urland. 2018 SUMMER TRIP: If you haven t heard yet next summer (yes 2018) is the ELCA Youth Gathering in Houston, current grades 8-12 are eligible. Things youth and parents need to know: - Due date for The Gathering registration and deposit is Sun. Oct 8th. - We have shared our Service trip Experience with Spring Garden and will be at Urland Oct 1st. - We are going to do a little switching up this year on fundraising and service activities this year. Since all the Cannon Falls Churches are planning on attending the Gathering, we are gong to try to offset some of our regular events regular pancake breakfast/brunch offering, child free time in December for parents, hotdish sale, and of course some of the old favorites! OPEN INVITE TO ANYONE (parents, young adults, grandparents, single who like working with youth): if there is anyone out there interested in the youth committee and sharing their talents to help plan out events, lead some of the smaller events (grocery bagging), or just want to learn more about the behind the scenes logistics and financing, consider joining in to form a committee (as our Bylaws noted we should have a formal one) on Wed Oct 4th at 6pm (yes, that s an hour before confirmation) or Sun 9am at church! There is an opportunity coming up for voting members of Spring Garden Lutheran Church to review and give input to the proposed constitution: Sunday, October 1, 2017, at 11:30 am, at Spring Garden Church A few paper copies are available in the church office. A PDF file is also available via email. Please email the church office to request a copy (springgardenchurch@frontiernet.net).
The Messenger Spring Garden Lutheran Church Church Council Members & Board Members President Jenny Jandro 507-202-8926 Vice-President John Olson 507-263-5640 Secretary Sandy Hanson 651-258-4114 Treasurer Rob Lorentz 507-263-2384 Financial Secretary Pam Davis 507-263-5657 Worship & Music Lisa Miller 651-258-4341 Evangelism Bill Erickson 507-732-7301 Christian Education Becky Haugen 507-421-2964 Youth Ministry Megan Nerison 507-271-7491 Congregational Life Maja-Lina Lundell 651-212-6318 Church Property Glen Lundell 952-846-9672 Stewardship Mark Sjoquist 651-258-4123 Missions Board Katie Sjoblom 507-302-9167 Parish Nurse Yvonne Salmonson 507-951-7921 Building a Rural Family in Christ Custodian Sue Safe 651-258-4619 Administrative Asst. Rachel Benson 651-380-0161 Pastors Nick & Cindy Fisher-Broin 507-824-3216 P. Nick s Cell: 507-298-0416 P. Cindy s Cell: 507-298-0415 Spring Garden Lutheran Church PO Box 237 10239 County 1 Blvd. Cannon Falls, MN 55009 507-263-5532 springgardenchurch@frontiernet.net www.spring-garden.org US POSTAGE PAID Permit #69 Nonprofit Standard Mail Cannon Falls, MN 55009 Address Service Requested