St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, ELCA 915 Federal Avenue – Downtown Saginaw - Saginaw, MI 48607

Pastor: The Rev. Carl E. Ballard

Pastor email: cballard123@msn.com

Office: (989) 754-0489 Worship w/Communion Sundays 9:30 a.m.

Pastor: (517) 515-3129 Office Hours: 9am – 1pm, Monday-Friday

Office Email: sjc915@sbcglobal.net stjohnlutheranelcasaginaw.weebly.com

SPIRIT NEWSLETTER April 2109 Issue 120, Volume 1

Fellow Ministers in Christ,

Happy Spring! We hear the joyful chirping of birds and watch the blooming

of the flowers and the trees coming to life once again. And we are surprised

when the long-forgotten plants bloom. When the first warm day we anticipated

arrives then people will daydream and pay more attention to God’s creation.

Lent is like our somber, dying, lifeless winter’s---then Spring bursts forward and

things that look like they have died become alive again and there is hope for the

future in new life. Like Lent we have to go through the cold, bitter winter to get to the new creation

and the new life.

Humankind is God’s creation. God’s Spirit breathed the breath of life and humankind was created.

“Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of

life; and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7 NRSV)

At the start of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, our foreheads were marked with a cross of ashes on our

foreheads as we heard the words “you are from dust and to dust you shall return.” This reminds us of

where we came from and Creator who gave us life, to whom we belong and also how fragile our life is

as we return to God.

Lent is a time for contemplating our relationship with God through Christ, where the Holy Spirit

can renew a new and right spirit within us. As we seek spiritual renewal, we become closer to God in

our intense study of God's Word, by meditation, through prayer, by doing penance (having a new

perspective and attitude) along with fasting by helping others. During this time, we spend time for

self-examination. How can we be more Christ like in our relationships with others? How can we pray

to ask how to handle the distractions we face in this increasingly busy world? As we pray, we should

reflect on God’s gift of Christ, Jesus’s gift to us through the Holy Spirit and pray that God’s Spirit will

make it possible for us to find the time. We must take time to crucify our sins to enjoy the new life in

Christ.

Paul reminds us: "I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life

I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:19-20 NRSV).

Since Lent is a season of spiritual preparation and contemplation. Worship should enhance your

experience and reflect on what it means to have Christ living in us. There have been changes in both

Sunday and mid-week worship throughout Lent. I am sure you have recognized the familiar and the

changes that are unfamiliar. These changes are a change of pace, and hopefully these changes in

worship will help create changes in ourselves.

Alexander and I sat down and (my perspective) talked about the worship elements that would

enhance our time of revival, our time of personal renewal, and our time of contemplation all to give a

deeper spiritual experience. We thought of the touches, smells, the visuals, the hearing and the tastes

that take us out of our comfort zone and stir up our emotions. Not doing routine things but truly

entering into Jesus’ death so that the resurrection to new life becomes a physical experience, not just

a patterned intellectual meditation and exercise. These are done to assist us in getting closer to God.

The music, extra candles, the incense, the bells and all the elements added to our Lenten worship are

designed to assist us in contemplation. Alexander feels called by God to come to St. John and to

share his amazing gifts and creativeness to bring all people closer to God.

This year we will observe the Easter Tridium, the 3 days before Easter. which combine the Passover

with the death and the coming resurrection of Christ. These three days are actually one service.

Maundy Thursday, we will have a meal with demonstration and explanation of the Seder meal and it’s

meaning to us and Passover. Worship on Good Friday will be stark and sobering as we solemnly strip

away the adornments in the altar area and leave in silence and seal the tomb as we try to understand

our place in the death of Christ. The Vigil of Easter, Holy Saturday is a remembrance of our baptism

and what it means and is the prelude to the next day. It is a time to reflect on our promises in

baptism. Any volunteers who want to enhance by leading, playing music, doing a special reading,

sharing in art, poetry etc. will greatly enrich the keeping of The Three Days. Please let Alexander

know.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things

to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate

us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39 (NRSV)

Live your lives with Christ and without fear—always boldly trusting in God through Christ with the

help of the Holy Spirit.

Now and forever!

Pr. Carl

WHAT IS OUR MISSION?

Sharing God’s grace while growing in faith.

WHAT IS OUR VISION?

To be an inviting, welcoming faith community making a difference.

GET RID OF GLUT TEAMS

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them,

and where thieves break in and steal.” Mt. 6:19

GROG, as it will be called, is an effort to clean up our building. We have mounds of VHS

tapes that the donation stores won’t take. We have 80-year-old clothing that is falling

apart. Over 200 coffee cups and saucers along with multiple sets of choir robes. St John

has a habit of saving stuff. We have 2 pianos in the basement that haven’t been played

in over 30 years.

"'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant,

overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” Ezekiel 16:49.

We are NOT emptying out the building. I feel that someone somewhere can use some of

this stuff. Put it into a useful service for what it was intended for.

The mission of the teams is to appraise the value, attempt to sell the items. If they

won’t sell, we will contact organizations that may take and use the stuff. If you would

like to go through St. John history, volunteer to help. If you don’t, I’ll be asking you.

Praying for God’s continued blessings, Mark Oswald.

APRIL BIRTHDAYS

01- Brian Meyer

03- Matthew Acha 04- Barbara Kramer

05- Helen Boitel, Martin Wiegand 07- Helen Henley

08- Mattie Brown, Raul Venegas III 09- Lindsay Alverson, Mark Oswald

11- Kalifah Sharper 13- David Brimmer

14- Victor Leichner 15- Gage Hopper

20- Jacklyn Marcet, Sandra Wendland 25- Melvin Gay

27- Debra Alverson 29- Jacob Hoppe

ANNIVERSARIES 28- Donald & Lorna Keaner

MAY BIRTHDAYS

02- Mikayla Aven 04- Barbara Beden

04- Kurt Keaner 08- Ryan Beers

09- Sarah Schulz 09- Pastor Carl

16- Ashley Specht 18- Andrew Marcet

24- Nancy Keaner 26- Laura Pytlik

26- Colleen Taylor

ANNIVERSARIES

12- Wayne & Jacklyn Marcet

22- Don & Sue Albrecht 26- Brian & Lin Bentley

26- Scott & Colleen Taylor

Suppers Wednesday, April 3rd & April 10th

6:00 p.m.

At St. John Lutheran With Resurrection Lutheran

Worship at 7:00 p.m.

Pastor Carl and Pastor Marilyn will be participating in the worship.

April 3rd St. John providing food. April 10th Resurrection providing food.

OPEN SANCTUARY AT ST. JOHN

Contemplative music on organ and piano

by Alexander Verdoni

will fill the Sanctuary for meditation,

reflection & prayer.

TUESDAYS from 5 to 7 p.m.

Holy Week Services and times

April 18th Maundy Thursday will be a 6 p.m. dinner-style worship service where we will

gather in Knauer Hall for readings and songs of praise. Dinner will be eaten during the

worship service. We are looking for two or three volunteers to bring a meal to share.

April 19th Good Friday service 6 p.m. April 20th Saturday Easter Vigil 6 p.m.

April 21st Easter breakfast 8:30 a.m. Potluck

Easter service 9:30 a.m.

Memorial Gifts

Given in memory of Elizabeth Frisch

To the General Fund: Larry & Lorelei Roenicke, Luella Markel

To the Cantor Fund: Robert & Alice Morgan, Charles & Ginger Reed

Pray for our home bound

and care facility members.

Summer Day Campers

It is time again to sign up for Summer Day Camp.

There have been changes this year and I think you will be excited and happy about them.

The day camp has been moved to the Saginaw YMCA. This way there will be more room inside

on rainy days (and it will not be as hot!) and the pool is a lot closer. There is a bus stop in front

of the Y so distances should not be a problem.

Please read their flyer and sign up!

Have a safe, fun and blessed summer!

Mark Oswald St. John Council President

____________________________________________________________________________

ST. JOHN LUTHERAN NUMBERS

DATE ATTENDING REGULAR OFFERING

03/03/19 45 $2125.00

03/06/19 22 $82.00

03/10/19 34 $954.00

03/13/19 26 $140.00

03/17/19 67 $695.00

03/20/19 26 $57.00

03/24/19 31 $943.00

Year to Date Income

January 6, 2019 – March 24, 2019

Regular Offering: $14,130.00

Rentals: $6984.00

DATE ASSISTING MINISTER ACOLYTE ALTAR GUILD USHERS

4/7 Lin Bentley A A

4/14

Palm Sunday Ruth Sharper Brandy Blohm B B

4/21

Easter Mark Oswald C C

4/28 Carl Quackenbush D D

From Marie Wells, Chair, Worship and Music

We have a table set up in front with candles to light.

We use it on Tuesdays Open Sanctuary from 5 to 7 p.m.

We will leave it for Sundays also.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

April 2019

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

6pm NA Group

2

6:30 pm Trust Committee meeting

3 10am & 6pm NA Group

Noon Bible Study

6pm Lenten Supper 7pm Worship

4

5

6 10am NA Group

7 9:30am

Worship/communion 10:45 Fellowship Hour

11:00 Bible Study

8

6pm NA Group

9

10 10am & 6pm NA Group

Noon Bible Study

6pm Lenten Supper 7pm Worship

11 8am Food Pantry

Free Community Dinner

5:30pm

12

13 10am NA Group

14 Palm Sunday

9:30am Worship/communion

Noisy Offering 10:45 Fellowship Hour

11:00 Bible Study

15

6pm NA Group

16

6:30pm Council Meeting

17 10am & 6pm NA Group

Noon Bible Study

18 Maundy Thursday 6:00 pm Service

19 Good Friday Service

6:00 pm

20

10am NA Group

Easter Vigil

6:00 pm

21 Easter

8:30am Breakfast 9:30am

Worship/communion 10:45 Fellowship Hour

11:00 Bible Study

22

OFFICE CLOSED

6pm NA Group

23

24 10am & 6pm NA Group

Noon Bible Study

25 Food Pantry 8:00 am

26

5:00 pm Wedding Rehearsal

27 9:00 am Breakfast

for the Hungry 10am NA Group

2:00 pm Wedding

28 9:30am

Worship/communion 10:45 Fellowship Hour

11:00 Bible Study

29

6pm NA Group

30

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church 915 Federal Avenue Saginaw, MI 48607

Worship with us at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays Serving the Saginaw Community Since 1857

Mission: Sharing God’s grace while growing in faith.

Vision: To be an inviting, welcoming faith community making a difference.

Council Members as of July 1, 2018 Officers to Serve One Year

July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019

President ........................................................ Mark Oswald 989-799-1247 Vice-President .................................................... Lin Bentley 989-996-0135 Treasurer ................................................ Carl Quackenbush 989-770-4129 Secretary ........................................................ Ruth Sharper 989-245-2965

Boards to Serve Two Years July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2020

Stewardship & Finance ........................... Carl Quackenbush 989-770-4129 Property Maintenance / Camp Ministry ................. Kurt Aven 989-980-8038 Worship & Music ............................................... Marie Wells 989-793-7340 Evangelism……………………………………… Marie Wells 989-793-7340 Congregational Life ................................. Eveline Gatzsche 989-790-0872 Parish Education ........................................ Madeline Blohm 989-274-8398

FOOD PANTRY SCHEDULE FREE COMMUNITY DINNER Thursday, April 11th & 25th 8:00 a.m. Thursday, April 11th 5:30–7:00 p.m.

BREAKFAST FOR THE HUNGRY – Saturday, April 27th – 9:00 a.m.

If you are interested in serving the church, please see Pastor Ballard.