FEBRUARY 2017 NEWSLETTER Lutheran Church of Our Savior The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 16:5 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, With the decision of the voters at Our Savior to offer the common cup (in addition to the individual cups) I thought it would be good to consider the history and reasons for using the common cup during the Lord s Supper. It is good to determine the propriety of any action, be it in our personal life or the corporate life of the church. Any action can be classified on a five-point scale. At the two extremes are actions that are either commanded or prohibited. Loving our neighbor is not a suggestion, it is a command. Murdering our neighbor is not simply discouraged, it is prohibited by God. In between these two extremes rest most of the choices we face. In the middle lies choices that are completely neutral; God s word neither commands nor prohibits them. If you invite your neighbor over for lunch, you are free to serve them any meal you desire. You don t need a Word from God to determine whether you offer hamburgers or fried chicken. Yet there are also many choices that, while not being commanded nor prohibited, are also not neutral. We can categorize them as either commended or discouraged. These are actions that are informed by God s Word. Adoption is a prime example of an action that is commended while not being commanded. An orphaned child is well served by a couple who elect to adopt him, yet that couple is not sinning if they don t. Likewise, there is nothing sinful in drinking beer in moderation. However, out of love for your neighbor, if you are with someone who struggles with alcohol, even having one drink is discouraged. The main purpose of the Sacrament of the Altar is to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sin. Scripture never dictates the manner or the composition of the cup. Whether one receives the Blood from the silver-clad common cup or a plastic individual cup, he is receiving the true Blood of Christ for his salvation. Yet while the manner of distribution is neither commanded nor prohibited, there are some salutary reasons to consider the common cup over the individual. First, Scripture often refers to the Cup (singular) of Salvation or Blessing, such as in Psalm 116:13 and 1 Corinthians 16:5. Matthew, Mark and Paul note that Jesus took one cup and passed it to His disciples, so the use of the common cup more closely matches what occurred at the Last Supper. Second, we are called to share one another s burdens. Sharing the same cup is a visible sign of that unity and our desire to support each other in times of need. Third, it has been the custom of the church universal for two thousand years. Individual cups were only first introduced in the 1890 s, specifically out of hygienic concerns (which have been shown by the CDC and others to be unwarranted). I will be discussing with the Deacons in February about when we will begin using the common cup in the service. I will suggest we start at the Ash Wednesday Service on March 1. The exact manner of distribution will need to be ironed out, but I anticipate that it will be something along these lines. The deacon will distribute the Body of Christ as they currently do. Afterward I will come through with the common cup. If you would prefer to receive from the cup, you should lift your head and place your hands palms up like in this picture. As I bring to cup towards your mouth, you may help guide the bottom of the cup. Afterwards, the cup is wiped and rotated for the next recipient. I will come through a second time with the tray of individual cups, and you may lift your head as I come by and put out your hands. If you have questions or thoughts on this topic or others, please stop by and visit. In Christ,.
FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS Drake Evenson 2/1 Todd Golly 2/2 Janet Schonrock 2/2 Tiberius Williamson II 2/2 Jason Evenson 2/3 Christi Zuhlsdorf 2/5 Landon Nowak 2/7 Roger Ross 2/7 Michelle Weringa 2/7 Zachary Mortenson 2/10 Norvina DeNeui 2/11 Naomi Ochsendorf 2/12 ANNIVERSARIES Peg & Bernard Sonnek 2/4 Ron & Becky Hoppe 2/7 Dori & Dale King 2/7 Dalene & Joel Annen 2/13 Jay & Angela Murphey 2/15 Richard & Jo Johnson 2/17 Joshua & Joni Howe 2/25 Colby Swanson 2/14 Hannah Evenson 2/16 Dave Hurn 2/16 Richard Johnson 2/18 Joshua Howe 2/21 Anne Giese 2/22 Joyce Martin 2/23 Paul Evenson 2/25 Angela Murphey 2/26 Sophia Naomi Olson was baptized on January 25, 2017, at Our Saviour s Lutheran Church, She is the daughter of Chris & Lacey Olson. We welcome Sophia into our church family. Margie Brannick 2/28 Duane Schutt 2/28
LYDIA CIRCLE Lydia Circle will meet on Tues. Feb. 14th at 9:30am at the church. Our hostess will be Carolyn Wagner. The Bible Study will be Encourage One Another on pg 16 in the Winter Quarterly. FELLOWSHIP SUNDAY Fellowship Sunday will be on February 12 th. Please join us for a special coffee hour following worship to celebrate Valentine s Day. MONTHLY MISSION PROJECT Our February Mission Project will be Youth For Christ in Blue Earth. All area youth are invited to attend their faith filled activities. Our door offering will be taken on Feb. 19th. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED There is a need for new people, men or women, to serve on the Altar Guild. You would be responsible to serve one or two months out of the year. A present member can train you in so you understand the duties of changing paraments, preparing for communion and putting out altar flowers. Please consider helping share these responsibilities. Some of our members have graciously done it for years and we need to get new members. We need greeters for Easter on April 16, and on Sunday July 30 th. Our church, along with other churches, delivers Meals on Wheels to members of our community throughout the year. We need someone to deliver the meals the week of Dec. 18-22, 2017. Again, many people have done this act of service for several years and we need new people to carry on this service. Contact the church office with a note in the mailbox or via email if you can help in these areas. Thank you. Sunday School teachers are needed from now until May. You can sign up for one or two Sundays. After the children have their lesson, you would take either the younger or older students to their class and help them complete a worksheet for their age level. This would take about 20 minutes. There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board. CARE PACKAGE FOR DALTON HURN Our congregation will be sending a care package to Dalton Hurn, who is currently stationed at the Kirkland AFB in Albuquerque, NM. Items he could use are: Microwave Mac N Cheese Cup, Ramen Noodles in a Cup, crackers, fruit snacks, granola bars, chocolate chip cookies, Microwave popcorn, Reeses Cereal, Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, bar soap, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, Kleenex, Anything Hockey (magazine), personal notes and anything you think a person in the military would appreciate. If you would like to contribute to this project, please place your items in the box in the narthex. We will collect items through Feb. 19 th. CONGRESSIONAL MEETING All members of our congregation are invited to attend a special meeting on Wed. Feb. 22 at 7:00pm to discuss what we would like our church to offer us and the future of our congregation. Please make it a priority to attend. More information is found in the Recap of the Annual Voter s Meeting in this newsletter. Watch for more information coming!! Lenten Services will begin on March 1st, at 7:00pm with our Ash Wednesday Service at OSL. A NOTE ABOUT PASTOR S OFFICE HOURS Pastor Sabol is normally in the office on Tuesday and Thursday mornings after 9:30. However, he cannot plan regular office hours due to several monthly commitments, some which are on Tuesdays and one which is on a Thursday. In addition, several home-bound members prefer visits in the morning or are out of town which require him to be out on those mornings. You are always welcome to stop by when he is in, but it would be best to call first to see if he is in or to schedule a time.
Recap of Annual Voters Meeting, January 22, 2017 Meeting was called to order at 11:15 am with 29 members present. Pastor Sabol gave the opening prayer. Motions were approved to dispense with the reading of the 2016 secretary s minutes and to approve Yvonne Hanks and Laura Krumholz as auditors of the 2016 financial records. The year 2016 presented some major challenges which with the power of prayer and the efforts of our congregation were met. Pastor Sabol had two hip surgeries which were successful. The exterior tuck pointing project that was approved at last year s annual meeting was completed in early September. We were able to pay off the nearly $19,000 project without borrowing money. Thank you to everyone that contributed to the funding needed. The 2016 Annual Report was reviewed. We welcomed Rick Gilreath, Deacon and Maggie Hassing and Michelle Cyphers-Board of Education to the council. Thank you to Del Tupper, Deacon and Rhonda Johnson and Naomi Ochsendorf, Board of Education for their years of service. The annual report recaps the year 2016 events of the many group activities that keep our church members active in serving our Lord. Thank you for your participation. Financial reports were reviewed and discussed. Our approved proposal budget for 2016, not including special projects was $127,455.27. Our actual expenses were $127,455.77. Our weekly and special services contributions totaled $74,768.37. Miscellaneous contributions for budgeted expenses were $12,933.85. This includes a large donation of $10,000. Total contributions by our congregation for 2016 budgeted items total $87,702.22. St. Peter-Easton contributed $22,961.23 which covered 25% shared designated expense of Pastor s compensation, benefits, and mileage and parsonage utility expenses. Total income to support 2016 budget was $110.663.45 which equaled a shortfall of $19,261.55. We covered the shortfall with funds from undesignated memorial funds from 2015 and 2016. At present we have only a few thousand dollars for future use. We are very thankful that we have been provided with funds to financially move thru 2016. We now need to make plans on how do we as members of the Lutheran Church of Our Savior, Winnebago, Minnesota continue to move forward with our Christian responsibility which is to carry out the work of our Lord. Voters present approved a meeting of all members of our congregation to discuss the issues of what we expect our church to provide to our members, youth though senior citizens. How do we achieve this? How do we activate our present members? How do we finance our future? All ideas are welcome. The meeting will be Wednesday, February 22 at 7pm. If you do not feel comfortable expressing your thoughts in an open meeting feel free to write them down, hand them to me at the meeting or put them in an envelope addressed to chairman and place the envelope in the mail box by the office door. You do not have to sign your name. We will be seeking a committee of volunteers to discuss these needs and solutions and then these ideas will be brought back to the congregation in the near future. Pastor is unable to attend this meeting due to a previous commitment. Any votes on issues will be by paper ballot. Please make attending this meeting a priority. Our future depends on you. Other Business: Voters approved installation of a hand rail on stairwell by pulpit to fellowship hall. Our semi-annual joint power board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 8 th following the Lenten service at Easton. The 50 th Anniversary of our church building will be in 2018. We need a committee to plan for this event and the recognition of our members that made this possible. Pastor Sabol closed the annual meeting with prayer followed by the table prayer. A potluck dinner was served following the meeting. Herb Pederson, Congregation Chairman
Treasurer s Report : January 22, 2017 Checking Account #300-564 (bldg maintenance) $ 8,065.64 Checking Account #300-556 (general) $ - 423.32 EXPENSES FROM 12/22/16 through 01/22/2017 Pastor Sabol (salary) 3,500.00 Pastor Sabol (mileage) 361.80 Waddell & Reed (This is actually Pastor s personal contribution to IRA deducted from his base salary) 300.00 Health Savings Account ($200 of this is Pastor s personal contribution deducted from his base salary) 450.00 Concordia Health Ins/Retirement 2,223.50 City of Winnebago 150.08 BevComm 83.04 CenterPoint 218.58 Benco Electric 303.00 Organists 280.74 Janitor 369.40 Secretary 207.79 Martin Luther High School 370.00 MN South District (mission collections for Aug-Dec) 222.00 Metro Sales 253.30 Post Office 281.00 ($215.00 reimbursed from LWML/mailing permit) Roerig Hardware 352.00 (parsonage microwave $279/church cleaning $73) Pastor Sabol (AmericInn room/mission reimbursement of 96.68 $61.68 and marriage instruction kit $35) Faith Comes By Hearing (Biblestick collection) 465.00 TOTAL EXPENSES $ 10,487.91
~ February 2017 ~ Deacons: Dave Hurn Ron Howe Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Ushers: Aaron Wendt Dave Hurn family Deb Hassing - Sat Altar Guild Susan Miner 1 2 Groundhog Day 10a St Luke's Chapel 11a Worship on 4p OS Confirmation 5:30p SP Confirmation 7p Praise Singers 7p Deacons 3 4 Acolyte: Ryan S 5 Acolyte: Danniel G Holy Communion 8:30a Divine Service SP 8:45a Sunday School 10a Divine Service 6 7 9:30a Office hours -- St Peter 12 Acolyte: Kean H 13 14 Valentine's Day 8:30a Divine Service SP 8:45a Sunday School 9:30a Office hours -- St 9:30a Lydia Circle 10a Divine Service Peter 11a Fellowship Sunday 19 Acolyte: Cameron H Holy Communion 8:30a Divine Service SP 8:45a Sunday School 10a Divine Service 8 9 10a St Luke's Chapel Pastor at Winkel 4p OS Confirmation 11a Worship on 5:30p SP Confirmation 7p Praise Singers 15 16 4p OS Confirmation 11a Worship on 5:30p SP Confirmation 7p Council 3p Parker Oaks Chapel 20 Presidents' Day 21 22 23 9:30a Office hours -- St 10a St Luke's Chapel Peter 4p OS Confirmation 5:30p SP Confirmation 7p OS Congregation Planning Meeting 26 Acolyte: Ryan S 27 28 8:30a Divine Service SP 9:30a Office hours -- St 11a Luther Memorial 8:45a Sunday School Peter Home Devotion 10a Divine Service 7p SP Council Meeting 7p Praise Singers 11a Worship on 7p Praise Singers 10 17 24 Greeters: Feb. 5 & 12 Feb. 19 & 26 M/M Ron Howe M/M Jeff Wendt 11 Acolyte: Kylie J 18 Acolyte: Lily C 8a District Meeting 25 Acolyte: Bailey 9a Men's Breakfast Bible at Huntley Cafe