Lutheran Church of
Our Redeemer - Celebrating the Spirit as we work for justice, healing and
reconciliation on earth
Pastor’s
Page Christmas Grace December,
2005
As I was hunting for our
Advent wreath, the blue fabric and blue lights with which to decorate our home
for the season of Advent, I kept thinking of the text from a song called Christmas
Grace that Trudy Franzen, Intern Pastor at Atonement Lutheran Church
recently sent to me. As I spent the past few days pondering what I might offer
to our newsletter that would best convey the spirit of these days of Advent in
which we prepare once again for the coming of Christ among us, I remained at a
loss for any words better than these. I share them with you now in hope-filled
anticipation of celebrating the beautiful seasons of Advent and Christmas with
all of you! May they be a blessing to your devotional time as they are to
mine.
To
take God's Son from heaven, to turn the Lord of all
into
a helpless infant, a baby weak and small.
To
give to our Creator a fully human face!
This,
this is Christmas grace.
The
feet that walked in splendor on streets of purest gold,
now
wrapped in humble swaddling, now shiver from the cold.
The
hand that Mary holds hung the moon and stars in space.
This,
this is Christmas grace.
Grace
to share our frailty, understand our fragile lot;
Jesus
laid aside His power to be helped, trained and taught.
To
know the sting of hunger, feel the pain of grief and loss,
God's
Son allowed Himself to be born for us!
He
traded heaven's majesty, He left His glorious throne
for
wood and hay and rubble, a shell of flesh and bone.
The
Lord Almighty locked in a single time and place.
This,
this is Christmas grace. This, this is Christmas grace. Christmas
Grace!
Blessed Advent and Merry
Christmas! Pastor
Robyn
The youth would like to invite you to “Come Celebrate”
The birth of our
Savior Jesus Christ
on Sunday December
18th at 6:00 pm at Church
Join us for
refreshments, Christmas Carols and
making Christmons for
Our Redeemer Tree.
Come see who your
secret Santa is!!!
Please bring canned food
items for
donations to the food
bank.
-------------------------------------------
Please
fill out for Secret Santa participation. Participating in the Secret
Santa is an optional event. Please turn in by Sunday, December 4th,
to the Christmas wrapped box in the Narthex or Fireside Room.
Name: _________________________________________
Phone
#: _________________________________________
Age
only if under 18: ____________
Favorite
color: ____________________________________
What do you like:
_________________________________
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
November 14, 2005
ELCA Council Commends
'Evangelical Lutheran
Worship' to Congregations 05‑218‑MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) ‑‑ The Church Council of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) commended "Evangelical
Lutheran Worship" ‑‑ a new primary worship resource ‑‑
to the church's 10,657 congregations for use as an "enriching
addition" to ELCA worship patterns.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide
assemblies. The council met here Nov. 11‑13. Assemblies are held every
other year; the next is here Aug. 6‑12, 2007.
Evangelical Lutheran Worship is an outcome of a five‑year
project initiated by the Church Council in 2000 to renew the worship life of
the ELCA. The "Renewing Worship" project invites the 4.9‑million‑member
church to discuss, explore, review and
engage with new worship materials.
Evangelical Lutheran Worship includes 10 musical
settings for Holy Communion; more than 700 hymns, songs and service music
pieces; original works of art and design features and more. The red color of
the hardcover worship book "relates to the two
(worship resource) volumes that foreshadowed" it ‑‑
"This Far By Faith" and "Libro de Liturgia y Cantico," the
Rev. Michael L. Burk, executive for ELCA Worship and Liturgical Resources, told
the council.
The council received a report on the liturgical review
of the proposed contents of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The contents were
complied and developed as part of the Renewing Worship project.
The council expressed its gratitude for the "conscientious
efforts" of reviewers and "the insights and observations offered by a
vast number of people in helping to shape and refine the content" of the
worship book. It called for continued development of plans for the publication
and introduction of Evangelical Lutheran Worship throughout the ELCA.
The Rev. Jeffrey B. Sorenson, council member, Garretson,
S.D., commended "Burk and team (for) paying attention to the voices of
the church."
Information about "Evangelical Lutheran
Worship" is available at http://www.renewingworship.org on the Internet.
For information contact:John Brooks, Director (773) 380‑2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news
2 Jack
Bowyer
6 James Allwine
6 Judy
Vogt
6 Duron
Scott
11 Ray Leber
11 Finn
Schmidt
12 Eugene
Jewell
14 Parker
Zimmerman
14 Doris
Shepard
17 Kimberly
Chartrand
18 Nicholas
Tarkel Lykins
18 James Quast
22 Jennifer
Williamson
22 McKenzie
Specht
24 David
Goodman
24 T.C.
Smith
25 Jeff
Temple
25 Gregory
Winter
29 Susann
Winters
30 Jonathon
Callander
We are in need of new
“Hospitality Coordinators”
Thank you to
the following people who have served as Hospitality Coordinators for the past
few years: Kim Bradley & Yolanda, Val & TC, Cookie & Joan and Deb
and Kim Hunt! Some of these teams are needing to step down at this time. So,
if you would be willing to be in charge of simply making sure that somebody has
signed up to bring Sunday snacks on four different months during the year and
answering any questions they might have about making coffee, etc, please
contact our Office Administrator, Duron Scott at 483-5691 or email redeemeroffice@sbcglobal.net.
All other
members and friends are invited to host our fellowship time by signing up on
the clipboard hanging on the wall in the Fireside Room.
A
Retreat To Help Us Prepare The Way
You are
invited to join Pastor Robyn in attending an Advent Morning Retreat.
Saturday,
December 10th from 9:00 a.m. to noon
at Lutheran Church of the Incarnation in Davis. The Retreat will be led by staff
from the “Bread of Life Center for Spiritual Formation”. Free will offering will be taken. Please let Pastor
Robyn know if you are interested in attending or if you would like to car pool!
“Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord! Praise Him with High
Sounding Cymbals”. This is precisely what happened on November 5th
for Holly Feather’s grand Ordination Service. Our choir grew to about 20
singers with bells and flute making the celebration even more majestic and
memorable. May God bless Holly and Todd in their respective ministries.
“Sound the Trumpet, Praise Him” On November 6th
we looked at Anthems for Advent as well as the Lutheran Book of Worship Setting
III, which utilizes a traditional approach of the choir in its new role weekly,
in place of a cantor, to lead and encourage the congregation as one voice in Congregational
Song for the Liturgy and Hymns. Choir members are sitting in the back two
rows with their families. Thank you to choir members for their commitment in
working together toward the fulfillment of our purpose as an inspired and
dedicated music ministry. We need and welcome more singers to participate and
enjoy this blissful ministry.
We sang three Anthems on “Christ The King Sunday” and will
sing another two on December 11th . The new Liturgy for Advent has
the theme of Hope leading to Peace with the birth and re-birth of Christ in our
lives. Our Advent Anthems will be: “A Place to Keep Your Son” and “Rejoice,
Rejoice Believers”. Please plan your schedules ahead to attend choir
rehearsals which will help us prepare for worship.
Yours in Christ,
Maestro Dennis
P.S. Choir rehearsal at 8:30 a.m. each Sunday.
Jobs
Completed To Date:
1. New
roof on the Fireside Room, Classroom 1 and
the
Preschool, Classrooms 2 & 3.
2. New
Thermostat installed in the preschool, Classroom 3
If
you would like to make a final donation in the year 2005, please have your last
minute checks to the church no later than December 30th. This way the counters can make sure that they are
deposited before January 1, 2006. Thank You
Thank you to everyone that turned in their
Time and Talent Commitment Forms
They are as follows: Wanda
R. Collins, Renee Meyer, Joan Barrett,
David Goodman, Val Specht,
TC Smith, Paul & Judy Carlson, Maidell Kohlman, Goldie Niehaus, Karen &
Mike Idler, Pete Petersen, Elaine Verbarg, Carol Bowyer, Marty Schultz, Delores
Hirning, Mabel Butler, Denyse Curtright, and Debbie Wiedeman, Carolyn Johnson,
Dennis Kalfas, Cheri Davison, Deb Cunnagin & Kim Hunt.
For those of you that
signed up to be in a Worship Leadership role, you will be included in the
scheduling starting the week of January
15, 2006 or after you
are trained. All of the
schedules appear on the Spirit Calendar which is in the Spirit Newsletter each
month.
Advent Wednesday House Gatherings
Continue
December 7 6:30 p.m. Wanda Collins’
home
December 14 6:30 p.m. Judy Vogt’s Home
December 21 6:30 p.m. Wanda Collins’ home
Advent is a time of anticipation, preparation, hope and
active waiting for the coming among us of Emmanuel, “God with us.” To assist us
in this time of preparations, the Advent Worship Planning Team has organized
house meetings that include dinner and Holden Evening Prayer Worship at a
member’s home. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. All are welcome!
Directions to each home will be available at church along with sign-up sheets
for those able to bring soups!
