St. Olaf Lutheran Parish MESSENGER Marshall E. Hahn, Pastor Box 56 St. Olaf, Iowa 52072-0056 www.stolafparish.com stolafparish@neitel.net Return Service Requested May 2014 2008 Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID St. Olaf, IA 52072 Permit No. 1 Please check to see if your name is here for helping during May worship services. If you cannot help on any Sunday, please secure a substitute for yourself. THANK YOU FOR HELPING! MARION NORWAY COMMUNION ASSISTANTS Kristie Reierson Cindy Wilker - USHERS Lowell Houg Elmer Schuety Robert Hilgerson Brad & Sandy Harbaugh ACOLYTES May 4 Mariah Wettleson Joe Boehm May 11 Alissa Wenthe Tracy Curran May 18 Weston Helgerson Brent Scherf May 25 Cassie Koehn Ben Kelly LAY READERS May 4 Judy Hanson Dave Wilke May 11 Arlette Schneider Chuck Lammers May 18 Glenda Koehn Ken Sand May 25 Mary Ann Donlon Carolyn Sand May 4 May 11 & 18 May 25 & June 1 COUNTING COMM. Mary Ann Donlon & Alan Landsgard Shirley Best & Kathy Wettleson Larry Landsgard & Vickie Moon ALTAR GUILD Bev Loftsgard & Glenda Koehn Helen Wagner & Lois Nelson FELLOWSHIP SERVERS
May 4 Weston Helgerson WNALC-Joan Frieden, Chr. May 11 WNALC-Hope Circle WNALC-Joan Frieden, Chr. May 18 WNALC-Hope Circle WNALC-Joan Frieden, Chr. May 25 WNALC-Hope Circle Garrett Koch & Alex Butikofer BACCALAUREATE SUNDAY Congratulations to our High School graduates! On Sunday, May 18, we will be honoring those who will be graduated from our area high schools. We are very proud of their achievements and pray that God will bless them in all of their future endeavors. They are asked to bring their caps and gowns with them to church that Sunday. We will have a recognition of them during worship and a short reception for them during the fellowship time. We also wish to recognize those who will be completing college or other post-high school studies this spring, as well. Please let us know if anyone from your family will be completing their studies so we can recognize them, too. MARION JessicaOtt, fromnorthfayettevalleyhigh School NORWAY TorreCurran,fromCentralHigh School Sam Hilgerson,fromCentralHigh School AutumnSchuety, fromcentralhigh School JessicaWegmann,fromCentralHigh School ***************************************************************************** ***************** SUMMER WORSHIP SCHEDULE Our Summer Worship Schedule will begin on June 1 with early worship at 8:30 a.m., late worship at 10:00 a.m., and Saturday evening worship at 7:30 p.m. Early worship will be at Norway in June and August. During July, the worship times will switch with early worship at 8:30 a.m. at Marion, and 10:00 a.m. at Norway. Saturday evening services will be at: Marion -- June 7, 14, & 21, and July 5 & 12 Norway -- July 19, and August 9, 16, 23, & 30 MARION TABLES & CHAIRS The Marion Council has decided that the new Tables & Chairs will not be available for use outside of the church. However, we still have 6 of the older tables and several older chairs that can be used. If you wish to borrow them for graduation or other family events, please contact Shirley Staake or Pastor Hahn. They will be lent out on a first-come, first-served basis.
CONFIRMATION SCHEDULE Because of Pastor Hahn's trip to Ethiopia, the Confirmation classes will be interrupted in May for two weeks. There will be NO classes on May 7 or 14. On April 30 the 1st Year students will receive their final assignments, which are to be turned in on May 21. The 2nd Year students will be asked to work on their Statement of Faith. A First Draft will be turned in on May 21, and the Final Draft on May 28. On May 28 both classes will meet for our year-end Confirmation Party at Marion. *Confirmation Sunday will be on Pentecost Sunday, June 8.* NORWAY SUNDAY SCHOOL During the month of May, the Norway Sunday School will have several special events during the 8:45 worship services: May 4 --Preschool-1st Grade class will lead the congregation in the Lord's Prayer. May 11 -- 2nd-3rd Grade class will lead the congregation in the Apostle's Creed. May 18 -- Special 'Thank-You' to the Sunday School Teachers in Appreciation for leading our children in growing in the faith and knowledge of our Lord! NORWAY STAINED GLASS WINDOWS At the April Council meeting the Norway Council reviewed the report from the Key City Decorative Glass representative on the condition of the stained glass windows. There were several windows in need of repair. The council prioritized the list, with plans to repair 4 of the windows this year and 4 more next year. On April 27 we will be informing the congregation of our plans. If you have any questions about this project, contact one of the council members. ~ TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES ~ *PASTORAL CARE* The 2014 Parish Telephone Directories are available in the mailboxes at Marion and on a table in the fellowship hall at Norway. If you know of any changes or corrections that need to be made to it, let us know. Two changes that already need to be made are: While Pastor Hahn is in Ethiopia, if you need to contact a pastor, Pastor Ken Kimball from Old East & Old West Paint Creek has agreed to be on call. He can be reached at: (563)535-7733 (church), RODMAN, Bill & Sheri: Phone # 880-3892 (563)535-7698 (home), or SUHR, Andy & Julie: Phone # 880-4157 (563)419-6181 (cell phone)
ETHIOPIA TRIP The mission trip to Ethiopia is quickly taking shape! The "Ethiopian Planes" have landed from both directions -- thanks to the generous donations that have been given! We have gone well beyond our goal of $8,000, with over $11,300 donated for the trip -- and that is not counting the "coin bottles" from the Sunday School! We want to give a special 'thank you' to our friends from Faith Lutheran in Monona for the many generous gifts they have provided, including 1/2 of the funds they raised from the Lenten Supper they served. Pastor Hahn & Pastor Baro have been making final plans for the trip. They will leave from Minneapolis on Sunday, May 4, arriving in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday morning, May 6. Our plans include visiting the Gudina Tumsa Foundation, the Fellowship of Oromo Christian University Students, several churches, and a prison ministry in Addis Ababa. We will also travel to Pastor Baro's hometown of Nekemte where we will visit an orphanage, several more churches of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), the synod offices of the EECMY, and where Pastor Baro will have an opportunity to visit friends and family he hasn't seen since he left Ethiopia 15 years ago. Because of the generosity of the members and friends of the St. Olaf Parish, we will be able to present these ministries with gifts from their brothers and sisters in Christ from Iowa to support the work they are doing in spreading the Gospel and caring for the poor and needy. We will also be bringing many pens and toothbrushes to hand out, too! And, thanks to the women of Marion and Norway, we will have several table runners to present with a picture of our churches on them to remind them of their friends in Iowa -- along with several Iowa seed corn caps! The Sunday School donations will go to the orphanage in Nekemte. Throughout the trip, Pastor Hahn will be sending home reports and pictures through the magic of the internet which will be posted on our website at stolafparish.com. Be sure to check it frequently and follow their progress! Please keep Pastors Hahn & Baro and the people of Ethiopia in your prayers that this trip may be a blessing for the people we visit, for our congregations here and in Minneapolis that we may grow in the faith and fellowship of our Lord Jesus. Oaguem Ka'erra - Christ is risen! GO! "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." ~Matthew 28:19-20 When the disciples first saw Jesus following the resurrection, they were so overwhelmed they "disbelieved for joy," as Luke puts it. By the time they were gathered in Jerusalem some 40 days later, it is clear they had come to think this was the time that God would usher in His Kingdom and they had only to wait for Jesus to reveal Himself to the whole world in power and glory. Little did they know that it would be through them that Jesus would show Himself to the world. At the close of Matthew's gospel, the disciples are gathered with Jesus at the foot of a mountain. Do they think they will be gathered up into heaven with Him? Are they ready to leave everything behind? If so, they are in for a surprise. Instead, they are given what has come to be known as the Great Commission -- the marching orders for the church. Jesus is telling them that this is not the end, but, rather, it is just the beginning of their adventure of faith. There are four commands given in this commission. We are to "make disciples." We are not told to increase the membership rolls of our favorite social club, but to call people into a living relationship with our Lord and Savior. We are to "baptize." The sign and seal of that relationship is baptism in the name of our Triune God -- the washing away of our old life of sin so we may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And we are to "teach." We are to keep before us the words of hope and promise given to us by the One who is the very Word of God Himself. And all of this is done under the command to "Go." We are a sent people -- a people with a mission -- a people on the move. This does not mean we are all to travel to distant lands spreading the Gospel, although it does mean some always will be sent. But it means that we are all to have an outward attitude of faith. Our gaze is not to be inward upon ourselves, considering only those closest to us. But we are to have an outward attitude -- -- toward God and the plans He has for our lives to transform us more and more into the likeness of His Son. -- toward others, in our prayers and concerns for all the nations and peoples of the world. -- toward the future in the confidence that the future is in the hands of our Risen Lord and Savior. And as we go, we have the words of Jesus' promise to strengthen us on the way: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."