December 2011 newsletter

THE SAINTINEL DECEMBER 2011

A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH

ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH 701 SOUTH PLEASANT AVENUE, LODI CA 95240 PHONE (209)368-2747 FAX (209)368-3945 WWW.STPAULLODI.NET

OFFICE STAFF -MARK PRICE SENIOR PASTOR [email protected]

-SARAH MECKLER ASSOCIATE PASTOR [email protected]

-MONICA SWOPE DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP/MUSIC [email protected]

-DWIGHT HOLMQUIST DIRECTOR PEALS OF PRAISE [email protected]

-MARK SWOPE DIRECTOR OF CHANCLOR CHOIR [email protected]

-SUEANNE DALEY BUSINESS MANAGER [email protected]

-CHRIS OLSON PARISH ASSISTANT [email protected]

-MARILYN MAKI PARISH NURSE [email protected]

-SONDRA AMAN RECEPTIONIST [email protected]

-RITA SPOHN DIRECTOR OF PRESCHOOL [email protected]

Christmas Eve Services 5:00pm 7:00pm 1100:pm

Christmas Day Service 9:30am (one service only)

http://www.stpaullodi.org/�

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Hopefully this Advent season finds you waiting in eager anticipation for God’s gift of love and hope in Jesus’ coming to dwell among us. It is a busy time, and there are lots of exciting ministries happen-ing at St. Paul this month: The Advent Faire is on December 4, between services in Morton Hall. This is an intergenerational event

that involves craft projects, cookie decorating, and great fellowship. Please join us as we celebrate the Advent Season! We have started Communion classes, and they are continuing on December 7th, and 14th from 4:00-4:30. The classes will provide time for 2nd-5th grad-ers to come and learn more about the sacrament of communion and the place it holds in the life of the church and our lives as Christians. Christmas Pag-eant rehearsals will be held in the same time slot, so the communion students can go to rehearsals when they are done with Communion classes. I enjoy this opportunity to spend time with the children as we learn about God’s love for us and the way that love is expressed through the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. The Christmas Pageant is happening on December 18th! The program is entitled “The Wonder” and tells the story from the perspective of the innkeeper and her son. Monica and the children have been working hard on this year’s production. Please come and support them as they retell the Christmas story through word and song. The Preschool will be doing their Christmas program on December 15th, at 6:00 in the Sanctuary. This is a wonderful opportunity to come and support our preschool. It is also a lot of fun to watch the ador-able 3 and 4 year olds as they retell the Christmas story and sing songs. Please join us for this fun evening. Remember that we have 3 opportunities to worship together on Christmas Eve, at 5:00, 7:00 and 11:00.

The 5:00 service is a children’s liturgy. We also have worship at 9:30 Christmas morning. Christmas is on a Sunday this year, so please mark your calen-dars with the change that there is only the one ser-vice that day. Finally, many of you were present for the announce-ment made in church on November 20, but I am so excited to share my engagement announcement with my church family! My fiancé will be in church on De-cember 18th to be introduced and to meet you, but before then here is some brief info about him: His name is Andrew Tate, Jr. (please call him Tate), and he grew up in Alliance, Ohio, which is in the Cleveland area. He got a business degree from the University of Akron where he also played football. For those of you who love sports and are disappointed in my com-plete lack of knowledge, you will have someone to talk to! Apparently “our” teams are the Yankees, Lakers, and Cowboys, but don’t argue with me when you dis-like these teams, as I am just the messenger. Tate moved to California for a former job opportunity. He is currently a National Accounts Manager for a company called MMG Technologies. He works in Sacramento, but recently bought a house in Elk Grove, where I will move after we are married. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving St. Paul, I will just have a somewhat longer commute than my current trek across Pleasant Ave. We are planning to be married on August 24th, 2012 and will have a reception in California sometime in September. Thank you so much for the kind words and well wishes you have already given us. I look forward to sharing this new part of my life with you! There are so many wonderful ministries happening here at St. Paul. Please check out the rest of the newsletter for more news and chances to get in-volved. Advent and Christmas are joyous times in the church year, and provides us with opportunities to fulfill our purpose of connecting with God, each other, and the world. Blessings to you as you await and then celebrate the birth of Jesus and the fulfill-ment of God’s promises through the incarnation!

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Board of Women’s Ministry will have boxes in the Narthex as you enter the church. There are photos of the 5 members we have serving in the military. We encourage you to take a look at the list provided here and help us to fill these boxes. Not all of the these young men will be com-ing home for Christmas so lets show them how much their service and sacrifice means to their St. Paul family and friends. Deadline to ship these packages to guarantee Christmas delivery is December 10 so PLEASE have your items at the church by December 7.

SAMPLE OR TRAVEL SIZE work best. Only non-perishable foods please. No pork products sent to the Middle East please.

Remembering our Military members at Christmas

The altar always looks so beautiful with flowers from our members. If you have a special occasion coming up sign-up now! The flower chart is located on the bulletin board outside the church offices. Find a date that works for you and add your name. Call the church office and let them know who the flow-ers are in memory/honor/celebration of. More than one person can sign-up per Sunday.

No Sunday School

December 25 or

January 1

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COUNCIL CORNER

The Advent season brings us the promise of birth, new life, hope and grace. Council is excited to be ex-periencing some of those same promises through our ministry here at St. Paul. Recent council and forum meetings have sparked excitement and hope in the possibilities of a new Spanish language ministry. The congregational discus-sions during Sunday school forums were informative, thoughtful and en-couraging. The idea of sharing our gifts and God’s word was met with enthusi-asm by those in attendance. Most members seem willing to take up God’s challenge to us to be disciples. While the how’s and where’s of this ministry are still up in the air, the hope of reach-ing others with God’s promise remains exciting! Other council discussions have cen-tered on stewardship and how we can improve stewardship overall. Times are tough for many people right now, and I was reminded recently that there are many gifts we can give to supplement our financial gifts. Advent, which means “beginning,” “start,” or “approach.” is, wisely enough, not a single day, but a whole season including the four Sundays before Christmas. This Advent season, “begin or start” a new approach to Stewardship. Spend a Sunday greeting, ushering, host coffee hour, a Sunday school class or bible study. These are areas where

member support is necessary to supplement the missions here at St. Paul. This Advent season, if you really want to give a meaningful gift, say YES!

Consider a new approach to your com-mitment, offering yourself up to the true spirit of Advent, and in return open yourself up to the joys of giving.

—Lori Bryant

Don’t forget about …

Christmas Eve Services 5:00pm 7:00pm 1100:pm

Christmas Day Service 9:30am

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Marie Boyd, Alexandra Burkhardt, Katherine Burkhardt, Joshua Churchill, Kim Churchill, William Churchill, Jean Clark, Karen Copstead, Cameron Daley, Luella Dietz, Marilyn Dorr, Rick Engelhardt, Holli Erlenbusch, Susan Faith, Christopher Faszer, Michael French, Nikki Froehlich, Craig Gallego, Marilyn Garcia, Rosilyn Gaudet, Joann Geiszler, Jonathon Gilbert, Rodger Gilbert, Aimee Giroux, Leanne Goldhahn, Elsa Gross, Kylie Hall, Faith Harper, Patrick Hazen, Susan Heberle, Colleen Herzfeldt, Sue Hetzner, Patricia Hickey, Gerald Hoyt, Robert Jaymot, Gary Kielhold, James La-Roe, Elmer Lautt, Richard Ledterman, Margaret Loney, Keith Lowrie, Tarek Maier, Steve Manas, Dustin Marzolf, Theresa Marzolf, Gail McCarver, Gavin McKeown, Jason Meyers, Nick Meyers, Nichole Peavy, Aimee Pennington, Martha Pfeifle, Kristy Phillips, Melissa Phillips, Victor Plunkett, Walt Plunkett, Katie Price, Lisa Price, Louise Pulliam, Lauren Quarnstrom, Erwin Rall, Karin Rogero, Ryan Rogero, Rachel Roth, Stacy Schafer, Kathy Schulz, Debbie Sharp, ElJoan Shealor, Makenna Staples, Mallory Staples, Sandie Stevens, John Stewart, Christian Sweatt, Ken Takeda, Kenneth Theilen, Elizabeth Tobeck, Elizabeth Vincent, Mary Vincent, Hilary Wagner, Daryl Weisser, Matthew Weisser, Brian Weist, Pat White, Isabella Whittaker, Carl Wohl, Alice Wolff, Mitchell Woods, Scott Woznick, William Wright, Michael Youdall.

Sign-ups for Salvation Bell Ringing has begun. The sign-ups will be gathered after the service. The ringing starts the Monday after Thanksgiv-ing.

Bell Ringers

Advent Dinner for Octogenarians Octogenarians plan to join us for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and a time to connect with each other. Our annual Advent Dinner for St. Paul Octo-genarians will be held, in Morton Hall, December 11th following the late service. We look forward to seeing you,

St. Paul Friendship Ministry Coordinators

I want to thank all you wonderful people

that have served on Altar Guild this past year. You have been

so faithful in serving. It’s a job that needs to be done and you’ve done it!!

Thank you again and have a happy, healthy and

blessed New Year. Norma Grinols

Blessing of the quilts. Thank you for all of your hard working quilters for such beautiful crea-tions. This is indeed a wonderful ministry you have shared with your St. Paul family. If anyone is interested in joining this inspiring ministry please contact Esther Dietz at 333-8125

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December2011 We invite all Seniors (men and women) to join our Social, Spiritual and Service projects and activities. Walk and Talk, Every Thursday, weather permitting at Lodi

Lake at 9:00_a.m The Walk and Talk Group will continue to meet at Lodi Lake at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday mornings during the winter months, weather permitting. Questions-call Jan Flanery—339-1753 or Sharon Seegmiller—712-3348

Knitting Group, 1st and 3rd Wednesday Every Month in the Fireside Room at 1:00 p.m. Beginners and all levels of knitters are welcome. Knit-ters and crocheters are invited to work on personal projects or on items to donate to community organi-zations. Join the group to learn a new hobby and make new friends. Questions—Call Pat Fredstrom, 368-2261

Reading Group , January 26, 2011 in the Fireside Room at 2:00 p.m. The Reading group will not meet in De-cember. The January book for discus-sion will be Reading Lolita in Tehran by

Azar Nafisi. The book will be available to check out at the Lodi Public Library on December 29th (Mention St. Paul’s Book club). Questions—call Bev Cornelius, 334-3719 or Betty Roget, 365-7266

ANNOUNCING

Senior Connection Monthly Gatherings

scheduled for 2012. In addition to the ongoing projects, we invite all senior members of the congregation to meet monthly at the church for social, spiritual and service activities. Our first gathering will be a lunch and get acquainted event on Friday, January 13th at 11:00 a.m. Success-ful gatherings can be a mix of community life, planning for the future, affirmations for the group, new infor-mation and prayer. Come and share your ideas for the future of St. Paul’s Senior Connection.

Our preschool just re-ceived a very special donation from one

of our St. Paul's Church families. Jim and Kathy Morris donated two train sets. One is

wood with many parts and tracks. The other is a metal Lionel set, donated to us in memory of recently

departed Arthur Marzolf. We are so blessed. Thank you Jim and Kathy Morris.

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DECEMBER 2011 December will be exciting and full of activities for our preschool. Our children and teaching staff are doing very well. The teacher’s provide an engaging, loving, and organ-ized environment. The children respond by learning and growing. We continue to accomplish our goals set with curriculum, religion and socialization. De-cember begins our fifth month of this school year. Our next Parent’s Meeting will take place on Thursday, December 8. At this meeting we will discuss our plans to up-date the sign in/out procedure and vari-ous new accounting capabilities. We are also planning to send a box of items to J.D. (son of Chris Olson) who is cur-rently in Afghanistan. Several families have donated money and we have a list of items he needs and would like. Upon his return, J.D. plans to come in and meet the children and staff. There is a collection box in my office, if you would like to partici-pate. The parent’s also are planning two fundraising events in the next few months. One will be with SEE’S candy and the other a TUPPERWEAR sale through one of our parents. We are considering us-ing some of our fundraising money to purchase a set of “walkie-talkies” to better our com-munication during outside time or pm activities. We also plan to buy a new CD player for Mrs. Mettler’s class-room. Miss Dotty will be taking maternity

leave beginning December 26. We have hired two substitute teacher's to cover her morning and af-ternoon hours. Her baby is due January 10. The “Mud Mill will be at our school on Tuesday, De-cember 13. The children and interested families will select ornaments, paint them and the Mud Mill will fire, wrap and return them before our Christmas break. We are having our Christmas Program on Thursday,

December 16, from 6-7pm in the Sanc-tuary. The title of our program is: ‘Twas the Night Before Jesus, and is based on a book by that same name. Both classes will be participating. You are welcome to attend. The school will be closed December 26 and we will return on January 09. This schedule matches Lodi Unified. Our Bible Verses for December are: “Peace by Unto You” and “Great is the Lord.” Our themes for December are: An-

gels and Christmas. We wish you Happy Holidays.

Sincerely, Rita Spohn,

Director

DIRECTOR’S CORNER

ST. PAUL LODI LUTHERAN

PRESCHOOL NEWS

Preschoolers perform-ing for their families at the Pie Social

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A Little Bit on Shingles

There have been a few members of our congregation who have recently been affected by this disease, and it is possible that more will be as most of us are susceptible. According to the Center for Disease Controls (CDC) there are one million cases of shin-gles annually. Shingles is a painful skin rash, often with blisters that is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. This virus is never fully cleared from the body and lies dormant in nerve tissues. Anyone who has recovered from chicken pox may develop shingles, but the risk of disease increases as a person gets older. And while it is not a life threatening illness, it is very painful and can last a long time. There is no danger of passing shingles to someone who has had chicken pox, but the virus can be passed on to those who have never had chicken pox, causing them to de-velop chicken pox, not shingles. There is a vaccine available for those over 50 which will reduce the chance of getting shingles and the CDC recommends that anyone over this age get the vaccine whether or not they have ever had chicken pox. The vaccine is available in many pharmacies, but

check to see if it's covered by your insurance company. Some will only cover you if you are over 59, others do not cover this vaccine at all. Some physician's offices do not have it available, as it is expensive and does have an expiration date, so it is not something they can routinely stock. You can ask your physician for a recommendation as to where to get the vaccine. If your insurance company does not cover it, you will need to decide if you want to pay the price for this vaccine -- it usually runs around $200.00. There is no way of predicting who will develop shingles, and the peace of mind could be worth the cost. If you have any questions, please discuss it with your physician. People who should not get this vaccine include any-one whose immune system is compromised whether by disease (certain cancers, leukemia and lymphoma, HIV) or immunosuppressive drugs, such as steroids and post organ transplantation medications. As we head into December, the Health Ministry wishes you all a very Merry Christmas. Remember to keep your New Year's resolutions from last year -- watch your diet, get regular exercise and enough sleep to make this your healthiest holiday season ever!

Cookies Requested by 8:30am Tues, Dec 6! St Paul’s quilting group has been very hard at work getting the lap robes ready for our shut-ins. So, it is time again, if you like to bake cookies for the holidays, please share them with the quilters. To ensure as many cookies as possible fit into the bags please make them as small as possible. They will be delivering lap robes and bags of cookies to our homebound friends. It would be great if you could help out and bring them to church. They are packing and delivering on Decem-ber 6th, the first Tuesday in December.

I’d like for you to meet Nikki Zupo, she is a parent of a youth who is going to New Orleans next sum-mer. Nikki is giving 25% of her commission of a home sell to the New Orleans fund. So, if you know of anyone who is interested in buying a home please contact Nikki at 371-8211. Once again on behalf of the youth, thank you for all your sup-port.

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TRIBAL NEWS - DECEMBER

NEW TRIBAL ASSIGNMENTS

BASED ON FISCAL CALENDAR YEAR

FOR 2011-2012

MONTH, TRIBE/SISTER TRIBE

August 2011, Reuben/Naphtali

September 2011, Judah/Dan

October 2011, Naphtali/Reuben

November 2011, Simeon/Issachar

December 2011, Dan/Judah

January 2012, Benjamin/Zebulon

February 2012, Asher/Gad

March 2012, Levi/Joseph

April 2012, Gad/Asher

May 2012, Zebulon/Benjamin

June 2012, Joseph/Levi

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE DAN TRIBE

Please pray for these tribal members and families: They need our prayers for the min-istry they do in worship and in our church. Let’s connect with them by affirming their service when we see them, and let’s connect with God by praying for them during the month of December. They are: Erick & Julie Albert, The Beaton family, Dolores Brandt, Michael & Meghann Cazale, Tambra Ciboch, Beverly Cornelius, Esther Dietz, Julia Engel-hardt, The Ferguson/Luce family, William & Patricia Freeman, Kathleen Ganoe, The Gordon family, The Graves family, Patrick & Nancy Hazen, The Hickey family, Phil & Karen Honkala, The Jacinto family, Connie Kiedrowski-Murphy, Vivian Kulm, M. Lassan-ske Family, Dave & Ann Mende, Robert & Lorraine Montgomery, Michael & Sharon O’Connell, The Price family, The R. Reeves family, Karen Rohrbach, The Schafer family, Robert Shaw, The Staples family, Werner & Eileen Tiede, Robert & Carolyn Vocker, Flor-ence Wheeler, Larry & Doris Woznick.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! The families and individual Judah tribal members who helped during the month of November were; Esther Bartholomew, Francis & Luella Bitz, Betty Campora, Greg & Joanne Clark, Karen Copstead, the DeOliveira family, Phyllis Dyke, the Faith family, Lois Fish, the Fyffe family, Jerry & Susan Glenn, Kathy Gritts, Roger & Melinda Harbin, Michael & Roxanne Hess, Shirley Hoffman, Monte & Susan Hummel, Cori Knudtzon, Dwight & Pat Langhoff, Margaret Loney, the Martens family, Jim & Anita McKeever, the McKeown family, Leona Miller, Pat Neu, the Parker family, the Rasmussen family, the Rogero family, The Royal family, Aaron Rusch, Duane & Kathy Schulz, Willa Smith, Lee & Rose Terra, Elaine Ulrich, Connie Welch, Connie Wohl, Gerald & Mavis Zimmerle. We appreciate your faithfulness and willingness to serve.

2011

31

SPA

SPA

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 9a Senior Connection Walk & Talk Lodi Lake 10a Preschool Art Class 5p Women’s Bible Study w/ Pastor Sarah

2

3 7a Men’s Bible Study 9a Pre Christmas Family Event

4 8a Worship with Communion 9:15a Advent Faire 10:30a Worship with Communion 12p Christmas Pageant Rehearsals 5p Confirmation 6p High School Youth Group 7p Peals of Praise

5 10a/7p Tai Chi 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy

6 8:30am Quilters 1:15p Fairmont Ser-vices 3:45p Girl Scouts #2029 6p Cub Scouts 7p Boy Scouts #199

7 6:15a Prayer & Meditation 10a Women’s Bible Study 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy 3p Kids Choir 4p Christmas Pageant Rehearsals 4p Communion Class w/ Pr. Sarah 5:30p Worship with Com-munion 7p Chancel

8 9a Senior Connection Walk & Talk Lodi Lake 1:30p Naomi Circle 5p Women’s Bible Study w/ Pastor Sarah

9

10 7a Men’s Bible Study 8:30am Girl Scouts #2029 Gath-ering 6p Christ-mas Dinner

11 8a Worship with Communion 9:15a Adult Forum/Sunday School 10:30a Worship with Communion 12p Advent Dinner for Octoge-narians 12p Christmas Pageant Rehearsals 5p Confirmation 6p High School Youth Group 7p Peals of Praise

12 10a/7p Tai Chi 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy 1p Friendship Ministry 6:30p Bd of Worship & Music 7p Bd of Property & Social Ministry

13 8:30am Preschool Mud Mill 3:30pm Eagle Scout Court of Honor 4p Executive Commit-tee 6p Cub Scouts 7p Boy Scouts

14 6:15a Prayer & Meditation 10a Women’s Bible Study 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy 1p Rebekah Circle 3p Kids Choir 4p Christmas Pageant Rehearsals 4p Communion Class w/ Pr. Sarah 5:30p Worship with Com-munion 6:45p Board of Christian Education 7p Chancel

15

9a Senior Connection Walk & Talk Lodi Lake 5p Women’s Bible Study w/ Pastor Sarah 6p Preschool Christ-mas Program 6:30p Girl Scouts #182

16

17 7a Men’s Bible Study 10a Christ-mas Pageant Rehearsals 1p Pre Christmas Family Event

18 8a Worship with Communion 9:15a Adult Forum/Sunday School 10:30a Worship with Communion and Christmas Pageant 5p Confirmation 6p High School Youth Group 7p Peals of Praise

19 10a/7p Tai Chi 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy

20 6p Cub Scouts 6:30p Council 7p Boy Scouts 7p Cub Scouts Pack Mtg

21 6:15a Prayer & Meditation 10a Women’s Bible Study 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy 1p Girl Scouts #182 event 3p Kids Choir 5:30p Worship with Com-munion 7p Chancel

22 9a Senior Connection Walk & Talk Lodi Lake 2p Senior Connection Reading Group 5p Women’s Bible Study w/ Pastor Sarah

23

24 7a Men’s Bible Study 5p, 7p, 11p Christmas Eve Services

25 9:30a Worship with Communion

26 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy 6:30p Deacons

27 6p Cub Scouts 6p Preschool Board Mt 7p Boy Scouts 7p Friends for Survival

28 6:15a Prayer & Meditation 10a Women’s Bible Study 10:30a/4p Adult Literacy 3p Kids Choir 5:30p Worship with Com-munion 7p Chancel

29 9a Senior Connection Walk & Talk Lodi Lake

30 31 7a Men’s Bible Study 12p Private Event

CONNECTING WITH GOD, EACH OTHER AND THE WORLD… The mission of St. Paul Lutheran Church is to Connect with God, each other and the world. The priorities in that mission are outreach to families with children and youth, deepening spirituality, strengthening stewardship, and developing leadership. The vision for St. Paul is to be an oasis, a place of refreshment, respite and renewal. If you would like to be a part of this mission and vision, please contact the church office at 368-2747 or [email protected]

We’re on the Web! stpaullodi.net

St. Paul Lutheran Church 701 South Pleasant Avenue

Lodi CA 95240

Phone: 209-368-2747 Fax: 209-368-3945

E-mail: [email protected]

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December 2011 newsletter

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Transcript of December 2011 newsletter