October 2021 AT A GLANCE - stmark-wels.org
Transcript of October 2021 AT A GLANCE - stmark-wels.org
St. Mark Lutheran Church
3307 State Street
Eau Claire, WI 54701
November 2021
November worship opportunities...
Sundays @ 8:00 a.m. (Livestream via Fa-
cebook or at www.stmark-wels.org, under
“Watch Sermons Online.”)
Sundays @ 10:30 a.m.
Mondays @ 6:30 p.m.
(8:00 a.m. service is
livestreamed via Facebook or at
www.stmark-wels.org, under “Watch
Sermons Online”)
Thanksgiving Service, Thursday,
November 25th @9:00 am
Church Phone: 715-834-2595
• Pastor Naumann: 715-214-7880, [email protected]
• Pastor Hollmann: 715-523-3728, [email protected]
• Secretary Barb Krass: [email protected]
School Phone: 715-834-5782 | Fax: 715-834-7668
• Principal Micheel: 715-835-6015, [email protected]
• Mr. Biebert: 715-456-9557, [email protected]
• Mr. Sponholz: 715-835-0213, [email protected]
• Mrs. Seipel: 651-210-5326, [email protected]
• Mrs. Pitt: 715-577-6418, [email protected]
• Ms. Jackie Plant : 715-271-9021, [email protected]
• Mrs. Knickelbein: 715-834-0254, [email protected]
• Mrs. Smith: 701-541-3169, [email protected]
November 2021
AT A GLANCE
2nd - Board Meetings
Morning Moms
9th Pastors Circuit
Meeting @Bloomer
- Council
- Women’s Bible Study
11th CLHS Committee
Meeting
12th - Power Hour
16th - Morning Moms
23rd—Women’s Bible
Study
25th - Thanksgiving
Service
30th - Morning Moms
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, … who has spoken through the prophets.
(The Nicene Creed: Third Article)
This devotion is part of a continuing series on the three ecumenical creeds.
How can you know the will of God for certain? Where can you look to hear his voice?
In Steven Spielberg’s epic 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, he introduces the archaeologist and
adventurer Indiana Jones as he races against the Nazis to find the lost ark of the covenant, an
artifact they believe will make their army invincible. Indiana finds himself in Cairo, Egypt dig-
ging for the supposed final resting place of the ark. Supporting the Nazi expedition is Indi-
ana’s rival, an unscrupulously clever and equally driven French archaeologist named Rene
Belloq. One tense scene depicts the two in a Cairo tavern as Belloq points out to Indy how they
are not so different from each other and how they would each go to great lengths to secure this
monumental artifact. What would it mean to discover the lost ark of the covenant? In Belloq’s
estimation the ark was “a radio for talking to God.”
Whether looking for religious relics, reading tea leaves, studying the position of the stars, look-
ing for omens, interpreting dreams, consulting with the spirit world through a medium or nec-
romancer, or following the voice in your head, people the world over have been obsessed with
finding a way to discern the will of God. Perhaps even we, at times, must admit to looking in
strange, uncertain places to try to figure out what God’s will is. “When [insert unusual event or
strong feeling] happened, I felt like God was trying to tell me something?” or, “How can I know
for sure what God wants me to do in [insert decisive situation]?” or, “I really feel like God is
leading me do this or that.” Do signs or emotions give us certainty from God in our lives? No-
where has he promised to speak to us in such places.
But God has given us a very definite place where he has promised that we can hear his voice
and know his will. “We believe in the Holy Spirit…who has spoken through the prophets.”
The distinct voice of God is heard not in vague omens or vivid dreams, not in occult rituals or
ancient relics, not in misleading emotions or pious opinions, but in the prophetic and apostolic
writings of the Bible. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to his apostles on the night he was be-
trayed, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach
you all things and remind you of everything I told you” (John 14:26). continued on page 3…
Co
nta
ct
Us
I was glad when they said to me:
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.” — Psalm 122:1
St. Mark Ministry Highlights
Public Use of the Means of Grace:
Worship: We averaged 283 worshipers per weekend in Sep-
tember. The Lord’s Supper was administered to 358. Mem-
bership stands at 813 souls and 598 communicants.
Funerals: Kathy Boettcher
Randy Schalow
Baptisms: Onyx James Riebe
Other Official Acts:
Membership Actions: We release Matthew Gehler to his
own spiritual care. We transfer Andrew Christie to Cross of
Christ, Coon Rapids, MN
Voter’s Meeting
The Voter’s issued a Divine Call to Faith Scheer to teach 1st grade next year.
She currently teaches at Christ the Lord in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Please keep
Ms. Scheer in your prayers as she deliberates her calls.
Divine call
Pastor Naumann has received a divine call to serve as pastor at Shepherd of
the Valley Lutheran Church in West Fargo, ND. Please remember Pastor Nau-
mann and his family in your prayers as he deliberates between the call to serve
in West Fargo and the call to continue serving here at St. Mark.
NEW HYMNALS
We will begin using the new hymnals in worship at St. Mark beginning with
our All Saints services on November 7-8. A detailed plan was drawn up and
emailed to the congregation on October 22 and presented to the voters on Octo-
ber 24. The plan lays out a way to gradually introduce the hymnal and its new
service settings over the next six months in worship.
The Service, the primary order of service in the new Christian Worship hymnal,
appears with three settings that each include different musical settings for the
order of service. The musical settings of Setting 1 will be the familiar songs of
the ordinary you know from “The Common Service,” which we will use
through the season of Christmas. This will give the congregation time to become
familiar with the structure and layout of The Service and with new psalm
settings and hymns.
Along the way, the worship choir, children’s choirs, and cantors will help sup-
port the congregation in singing and introduce new and unfamiliar songs.
Please refer to the email that was sent out last week for additional infor-
mation.
The apostle Peter said , “We also have
the completely reliable prophetic word.
You do well to pay attention to it, as to a
lamp shining in a dark place, until the
day dawns and the Morning Star rises in
your hearts, since we know this above
all else: No prophecy of Scripture comes
about from someone’s own interpreta-
tion. In fact, no prophecy ever came by
the will of man, but men spoke from
God as they were being carried along by
the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:19-21). The
Scriptures, what the church has recog-
nized as the 66 inspired books that make
up the canon of the Bible, are the sure
voice of God the Holy Spirit spoken,
written, and recorded through the hu-
man writers.
This voice of God reveals his unchang-
ing, holy will and how we have violated
this law. Moreover, the Scriptures reveal
to us Jesus Christ as the Son of God and
only Savior from sin and death. Jesus
claimed himself as the center of all the
scriptural witness of the Holy Spirit:
“You search the Scriptures because you
think you have eternal life in them. They
testify about me!” (John 5:39). This di-
vine revelation of Jesus as the Son of
God in flesh gives faith unto eternal life,
as Paul writes to Timothy that “from
infancy you have known the Holy Scrip-
tures, which are able to make you wise
for salvation through faith in Christ Je-
sus. All Scripture is God breathed” (2
Timothy 3:15-16). This is the Holy
Spirit’s work. That is how it can contain
hundreds of accurate prophecies ful-
filled centuries afterward. This is how
the work of some forty human authors
over 1500 years stands free of contradic-
tion or broken promise. No need to dig
for ancient relics or discern deceptive
signs to hear the voice of God. The Bible
is he voice of God the Holy Spirit.
THANKSGIVING SERVICE
We will hold a Thanksgiving Service at 9:00 am on Thursday, November 25th. Please join us.
There will be no school November 24th through the 26th for Thanksgiving break.
ALL OCCASION CARDS are available for purchase in the bookshelf near the library. Check it out as we just got some
new cards in. Individual Thanksgiving cards are available now and boxes of Christmas cards along with the 2022 God’s
Creation Wall calendars will be available soon.
Chris Trociaski, grew up on a dairy farm in the Holmen area. He serves as a credit analyst
for Wisconsin Business Development. His free time is spent with Brazilian jiu jitsu, a martial
arts program. He also thrives on reading/studying the philosophy of Adam Smith found in
the book, Wealth of Nations. On a recent trip to Ireland, Chris was fascinated with the archi-
tecture and natural beauty of Ireland. God willing, his next trip will be to Scotland. His an-
cestors came from the Prussia area.
Chris transferred to St. Mark from Peace Lutheran in Sun Prairie. He worships either at ear-
ly or late service and attends Friday morning and Sunday morning Bible classes. Please wel-
come him to St. Mark.
A new member to St. Mark is Matthew Ross. He grew up in the Manitowoc area, and dur-
ing his high school years he started working part time at Menards there. Since 2008, he has
been living in Eau Claire working in Menards corporate office but put off transferring his
church membership from St. John in Manitowoc to St. Mark. The impetus to do the paper-
work was the baptism of his infant son, Finley.
Matthew enjoys outdoor activities, especially fishing.and considers himself a gen-
eral handyman. His wife, Katie,grew up on a farm in the loyal area. Living in the country-
side of Elk Mound, they are able to have horses and chickens. They also spend time camp-
ing. Katie is an athletic trainer at EC North through Marshfield Clinic. She is at the school in
the afternoons to prepare for the various athletic events.
Especially St. Mark members who work at Menards and young mothers are encouraged to
introduce themselves to the Ross family. They usually worship at the late service.
Meet Our Newest Members …