F I R S T E V A N G E L I C A L L U T H E R A N C H U R C H Celebrating Sixty-eight Years of God s Amazing Grace Mission Moments S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 Volume 11 Issue 9 In Response to the Good News of Jesus Christ: Our Purpose Gathered to worship! Sent to witness and serve! Our Vision To become more diverse, creative, nurturing, and welcoming within our congregation and in the wider community. Our Guiding Principles... We will follow Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We will read, teach, and preach God s Word faithfully. We commit to prayer and worship as a way of life. We invite people to know Jesus Christ. Reconciling in Christ Welcoming Statement First Evangelical Lutheran Church/La Primera is committed to being a radically loving and welcoming community of faith, centered in the Good News of Jesus Christ. Therefore, in faithfulness to the Gospel and our Lutheran heritage, and to the best of our ability, we promise to provide programs, ministries, and pastoral care to all who seek God in this place. All are welcome here, including persons of every race, ethnicity, creed, class, age, gender, marital status, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Bring them Home! The Stranger the Better We Become! Have you ever noticed there are just those houses in a neighborhood where all the kids hang around? My grandparents house was like that and so was my parents house. At my parents no matter where in the wide world we lived, kids would be at our house. Sometimes kids would be outside pressing their noses on the kitchen window while we ate dinner waiting for us to play. Sometimes kids we didn t even know would be near our house when it rained..so my mom gave them a ride to school that rainy day and every day after until we moved. My mom, every once in a great while, would say, Melissa, they re strangers; don t bring them home. My Dad would look over his newspaper and just give a look. When I was in college and would go home for Holiday breaks I got to see that the family tradition hadn t stopped. Herds of teenaged boys, my brother s friends, slept in our living room every night. My father called them the Swine Contingent. He d ask, Is the Swine Contingent having biscuits and gravy this morning? Suddenly ten sleeping lumps popped up and answered, I am! I ve been trying to figure out what my dad s look meant when my mom said don t bring strangers home..i think the Look meant: Bring them home; the stranger the better. One of the reasons I ve always loved First Evangelical is they have always been so open and loving to strangers. So loving and open to strangers, that in just a couple of days with our people, strangers transform into family. I love this because it feels like home to me. I love it too because it helps me see how God s people live the Word.right now we re being called to live into Hebrews 13:1-3. Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you were being tortured. Lutheran Refugee Focus is opening in our community, using First Lutheran as a home base. Strangers will be among us, speaking different languages, having different customs, perhaps even different religions. It s time for us to live into Hebrews. Most of these people come from refugee camps. Some have experienced terror and fear, perhaps torture. Some have known hunger. They are coming to a strange unbelievable world of abundance and freedom with the rule of law as protection. Now is the time to live into Hebrews. Now is the time for us to welcome strangers until they transform into family. Inconvenient? sometimes. Frightening?.maybe. God s will?..absolutely! The stranger the better we become. Jesus said it best. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. (Matthew 25: 34-40) That s putting First Things First! Pastor Melissa
2 Staff Melissa Harr, Pastor Lynda Maraby, licensed lay minister Joy Petroff, Admin. Secretary Congregational Officers Evan Rogers, President Sarah Shaw, Vice President God s Work. Our Hands. Sunday = Rally Day Combined/bilingual worship at 10 AM in the Sanctuary followed by a potluck in the Great Room. Please bring your food contribution as follows: A-G Condiments H-N Main Dish O-R Salads S-Z Dessert Kathleen Rogers, Treasurer Kay Mortensen, Financial Secretary Carmen Guerrero Diane Johnson Mary Kilber Lynda Maraby Laura O Connell Evan Rogers Kathleen Rogers Rhonda Schmidt Sarah Shaw Congregational Council Senior Vicars Marilyn Bloom, RN Laura O Connell Foster Cornett Ellen Riske Roger Hughes Evan Rogers Dave Jeffery Kathleen Rogers Mary Kilber Vicki Wilcox Lynda Maraby Wayne Wilcox The Messenger is a monthly publication of First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mesa, Arizona. Please submit information by email to felc@firstevlutheran.com or in written form to the church office by the 15th of the month prior to publication. SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR SERVICE PROJECT: *Notecards to write thank you notes to first responders *Children s & teen books for ages 10-17 (mostly 13-17) for the kids at Pastor Melissa s group home. These can be reading books or activity books such as Suduko, crosswords, wordsearch, etc. *Soap, washcloths/towels, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion (or $ to purchase)
3 First, I want to thank you all for your participating in our latest version of the Summer Seating Experiment. I had breakfast with Pastor John in late July and told him about it. He reminisced about worship times in both the Great Room and also in the Fellowship Hall. He was so interested that he came over to look at the Great Room and said that he heartily endorsed our venture. That makes me feel good about what we are doing. Second, I want to announce an expanded mission partnership with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, specifically a welcome to the Refugee Focus Program that will be operating out of First to serve new families to the neighborhood. Refugee Focus has already settled six families to our community and will be working to bring stability and normalcy to more families in the months ahead. I personally look forward to the service opportunities this program will provide to the saints at First Evangelical Lutheran Church. This mission partnership with LSS-SW will be expanded in the part of the annex that has served as the church library. Church leadership is still figuring out how and where to relocate the library holdings, so stand by for future announcements regarding that. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome, so please share your ideas with Council members and Vicars. Finally, in terms of church business, I think it is important to note that under newly negotiated agreements, our major mission partners - Concordia Charter School and LSS-SW- will be supporting First Evangelical to the tune of over $65,000 a year to maintain our church ministries and campus. When you add in Cursillo weekends on our campus, use of our campus by our mission partners now brings in over $72,000 a year. We are not sustainable without this support. In short, God has blessed this place and uses our facilities for outreach to the community and our mission partners. God in His infinite mercy and generosity continues to hold up our church and its people. Thanks be to God! Evan Rogers FELC Council President Bathroom Remodel The women s restroom off the Great Room will be updated soon. The stalls will be torn down to create better accessibility for people with walkers and wheelchairs, and a baby changing table and dead bolt closure will be added. Moving forward, what used to be the Women s bathroom will be the Women and Family bathroom.
First Evangelical Lutheran Church/La Primera Council Minutes August 14, 2016 4 Present: Pastor Melissa, Evan Rogers, Kathleen Rogers, Diane Johnson, Carmen Guerrero, Rhonda Schmidt, Sarah Shaw and Lynda Maraby. Also present: Roger Hughes and Ellen Riske. A. Opening prayer: Evan Rogers B. The July 10, 2016 minutes were approved as submitted. C. Reports: 1. Monthly parochial report: Joy prints it out monthly. The statistical information is useful. Council discussed what more information might be included and whether Council needed to see it monthly. 2. Treasurer s Report: a. Our checking account is in the black as of July 31. We have received rent from Lutheran Social Services, and we will be billing Concordia. b. We have been the fiduciary agent for the East Valley Millennial Outreach Initiative Grant for the last year. Kathleen has asked the Synod office whether the money should be transferred to Spirit of Hope and whether we will be compensated for our services this past year. c. Funding for Christian Education was discussed. 3. Pastor Melissa s Report: a. Pastor Melissa will be changing jobs soon and will be more available at First. She will also pursue Interim training. b. In addition to visitations, Council discussed the possibility of asking Metro about their transportation program. We would like to maximize the opportunities for seniors to attend services. 4. Lynda Maraby s Report: a. We have had three baptisms since Pastor Miguel left. One of the families has been regularly attending La Primera services, and we will invite them to formally join the congregation. b. We have schedules a 50 th Wedding Anniversary service in Spanish for October 29. c. Attendance at the Spanish service has been increasing. We have been asked about First Communion and Confirmation classes, and Council discussed including instruction into our regular Sunday School offerings. d. PFLAG will hold its third meeting in the conference room at 7 PM Tuesday night. The meetings have been well attended so far, and Council members are invited to attend. All reports were approved as delivered. D. Old Business: 1. The Memorandum of Understanding with Concordia is still in progress. Evan will sign the document when it has been finished. Subsequent to the last discussion about rent, Concordia has increased its contribution by 12.5%. 2. We have signed two Memoranda of Understanding with Lutheran Social Services, one for the balance of the last year and a new one for eleven months (Aug. 1, 2016 through June 31,2017. LSS has increased its contribution for use of space to $300 a month. 3. The Exit Interview with Pastor Miguel was conducted by Evan and Sarah. Council has been asked to fill out the congregation portion of the document. A Covenant Letter (part of the exit process) has been signed by Pastor Miguel and Evan Rogers. 4. A Bathroom Remodel for the restrooms off the Great Room will begin shortly. We will tear down the stalls to create better accessibility for people with walkers and wheelchairs and add a baby changing table and a dead bolt closure. Moving forward, what used to be the Women s bathroom will be the Women and Family bathroom. E. New Business: 1. Johnson Controls submitted a large bill for service to the cooling system, but Kathleen was able to negotiate it down. The maintenance agreement we signed with them seems to be saving us money in the long run, and Council voted to renew our contract for the coming year. The amount we will owe is $4,550, to be paid quarterly. 2. Landscaping in the Close needs to be done by volunteers going forward. The Rogers offered to donate a lawn mower. We will ask Matt Larson to look at the irrigation system and give us a list of what needs to be done. We also need to remove a dead tree by the school. 3. Adding Lutheran World Relief to our occasional offerings (i.e. Change for Change) was discussed. We may find an additional time for collecting offerings for the ELCA World Hunger program. F. Transition Planning: Work continues on the Ministry Site Plan. A possible Interim Pastor salary will be proposed when Kathleen and Evan Rogers return from vacation. The next Council meeting will be after the combined worship service and potluck on September 11.
5 HERE NOT HERE Do you want to leave a message, attendance count, coffee money, something else for Joy? PLEASE put all items that need attention IN THE BOX with Joy s name on it, not the desk. Things get lost too easily otherwise. If you are standing in front of the desk, look left. There it is! Thank you! Vicars Meetings resume Thursdays, September 1, 8 & 15 at 12:45-2:30 PM, then to a Wednesday 9:30-11:30 AM schedule beginning September 21 and onward. Olson Conference Room Youth Sunday school begins September 18 in the Learning Center September 18 12:15 PM Olson Conference Room September Change for Change Offering to be received on September 25 will support the ELCA Anti-Malaria Fund The July Change for Change offering contributed $169 to Concordia Charter School s Shoe Drive Choir Resumes September 7 Wednesdays, 4-5:30 PM New voices welcome! MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT As of 7/30/16 Actual 2016 Budget 2016 Actual 2015 Budget 2015 Offerings 88,550 $111,283 $93,858 $115,615 Other Income $58,122 $55,967 $66,017 $54,250 Total Income $145,795 $167,250 $159,876 $169,865 Expenses $145,259 $172,266 $156,733 $170,315 Inc. Less Exp. $536 $-5016 $3143 $-450
6 Food Pantry Shopping List: Macaroni & cheese Spaghetti Spaghetti sauce Canned vegetables Canned fruit Canned meat Canned tuna Canned soup Canned beans Peanut butter Jelly Cereal Bagged rice (1#) Bagged pinto beans (1# or 2#) Ramen noodles Remember to save the following: Collection box is in the Great Room
2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 12:45-2:30 Vicars - 7 4 16th Sunday in Pentecost 11 17th Sunday in Pentecost 18 18th Sunday in Pentecost 25 19th Sunday in Pentecost 2 OFFICE CLOSED 9 OFFICE CLOSED 16 OFFICE CLOSED 23 OFFICE CLOSED 30 OFFICE CLOSED 9:15 FELC Worship GR 10:30 Fellowship/Gift Shop GR 11 AM La Primera Worship God s Work Our Hands Sunday 10 AM Combined Worship S Potluck - GR Council Meeting - 9:15 FELC Worship S 10:30 Fellowship/Gift Shop GR 10:45 Sunday School LC 11 AM La Primera Worship S 9:15 FELC Worship S 10:30 Fellowship/Gift Shop GR 10:45 Sunday School LC 11 AM La Primera Worship S GR Great Room S Sanctuary Olson Conference Room FH Fellowship Hall 5 DEADLINE: BULLETIN 12 DEADLINE: BULLETIN 19 DEADLINE: BULLETIN 26 DEADLINE: BULLETIN HFL Hahn Fireside Lounge LC Learning Center * - Off-Campus 6 9 AM LSS-SW Food Bank - Courtyard 13 NO Food Bank 10 AM Lay School of Theology - 20 9 AM LSS-SW Food Bank - Courtyard 6:30-8:30 PM PLAG - 27 9 AM LSS-SW Food Bank - Courtyard 7 10 AM-noon Group Triple P (Family SPOT Class) - Conference Room 4-5:30 PM Choir Rehearsal HFL 14 10 AM-noon Group Triple P (Family SPOT Class) - Conference Room 4-5:30 PM Choir Rehearsal HFL 21 9:30-11:30 Vicars - 10-11 AM Kids in the Kitchen - GR 4-5:30 PM Choir Rehearsal HFL 28 9:30-11:30 Vicars - 4-5:30 PM Choir Rehearsal HFL 8 12:45-2:30 Vicars - 15 NEWSLETTER DEADLINE 12:45-2:30 Vicars - 22 29 7 PM FELC Worship NO FRIDAY WORSHIP (Combined worship Sunday 10 AM) 9 AM LSS-SW Food Bank - Courtyard 10:30-11:30 AM PlaySPOT - Great Room 7 PM FELC Worship 7 PM FELC Worship 7 PM FELC Worship 3 10 17 10-11:30 AM Little Rembrandts (Family SPOT) - Great Room 24
8 First Evangelical Lutheran Church 142 N. Date Street Immediate Mesa, Arizona Delivery Requested NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. Postage PAID Mesa, Arizona Permit No. 72 Return Service Requested September 2016 Please join us. All are welcome in this place. Friday Communion Worship: 7 PM EXCEPT Sunday Communion Worship: 9:15 AM La Primera Communion Worship: 11 AM ONE COMBINED WORSHIP SERVICE THE WEEKEND OF SEPTMEBER 9-11: SUNDAY AT 10 AM OFFICE HOURS Mondays through Thursdays: 8:30AM-2:30PM First Evangelical Lutheran Church 142 North Date Street Mesa, Arizona 85201 Contact Us Phone: (480) 969-7221 Fax: (480) 969-7222 Email: felc@firstevlutheran.com Web: www.firstevlutheran.com