ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER · 2019. 12. 1. · ST.JOHN LUTHERAN LCMS 11400 WEST PANAMA...

ST . JOHN LUTHERAN LCMS

11400 WEST PANAMA ROAD , CRETE , NE 68333

DECEMBER 2019 VOLUME 33 ISSUE 12

ST . JOHN LUTHERAN

CHURCH NEWSLETTER

Come to the cross and learn of God’s great love for all His people. There is friendship, fellowship, and the gift of God’s word of forgiveness.

Hope, Joy, Peace Christ Our Hope, Christ Our Joy, Christ Our Peace. Advent is a penitential season that helps us to prepare for Christ the Lord who comes to save us. It is a great blessing for us to spend the penitential season of Advent in worship. One of the aspects of Advent (and Christmas) that many Christians enjoy is the music and hymnody of the seasons. This Advent season our theme will incorporate the use of several hymn stanzas. We will be singing a few stanzas of select hymns as they help to convey the message for the day. Each service will have a focus on three words that are expressive of what Christ brings to us: hope, joy, and peace. God bless our time in Advent as we anticipate the coming to earth of the Son of God. God bless you and your family as you prepare to cele-brate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King, our Savior, who brings us hope, joy, and peace. Worship on the Wednesdays of Advent: 10:30 a.m. – Matins; 7:30 p.m. – Vespers December 4: Christ Our Hope (1 Timothy 1:1) December 11: Christ Our Joy (Luke 2:10–11) December 18: Christ Our Peace (Micah 5:5a; Ephesians 2:14a)

ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS SERVICE SCHEDULE Advent Services 10:30 am and 7:30 pm on December 4, 11 and 18 Christmas Eve Lessons & Carols Service 6:00 pm AND Christmas Eve Holy Communion Candlelight Service 10:00 pm Christmas Day Service with Holy Communion 9:00 am New Year’s Eve Service with Holy Communion 6:00 pm

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS SERVICES & DUTIES Wednesday, December 4 Christmas Eve 6:00 pm, December 24 Pianist: Ellen Miller Organist: Jolene Reetz Elder: Mitch Homolka Elder: James Walker Greeters: Mr & Mrs Todd Hoyer Greeters: Mr & Mrs James Walker/Mr & Mrs Elmer Reetz Acolyte: Colton Homolka Acolyte: Kian Morris Wednesday, December 11 Christmas Eve 10:00 pm, December 24 Pianist: Ellen Miller Organist: Jayne VanAsperen Elder: Todd Hoyer Elder: Gary Meinke Greeters: Mr & Mrs Wayne Eggert Greeters: Mr & Mrs Terry Reetz Acolyte: Madison Hestermann Christmas Day, December 25 Wednesday, December 18 Organist: Jayne VanAsperen Pianist: Ellen Miller Elder: Terry Dittmer Elder: Terry Dittmer Greeters: Mr & Mrs Gary Meinke Greeters: Chris Hollman Acolytes: Jordyn Adam & (need volunteer) New Year’s Eve 6:00 pm, December 31 Organist: Jolene Reetz Elder: James Walker Greeters: Mr & Mrs Roger Koch

ST . JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER

Please have all infor-

mation or articles

for the newsletter to

Chris Hollman by

25th, thank you!

Clothing for Orphan Grain Train: We can once again send used cloth-ing to Orphan Grain Train. When leaving clothes in the drop box out-side the church by the back door, please mark them for either OGT or PCM (People's City Mission).

BIRTHDAYS 1 Tim Reetz

4 Deanna Eggert

5 Austin Adams

6 Taiden Warta

7 LaVerna [Kate] Kattau

9 Irelynn Kirkpatrick

10 Rylee Pospichal

11 Gloria McDermott

13 Lydia Lee, Janice Mehl, Aaron Meinke, Travis Shore

15 Melissa Gash, Justin Hollman

16 Kade Nelson, Barb Shore

17 Garrett Easley

18 Doug Kattau

20 Andrew Munro

21 Ryan Lee, Dan Meinke

22 Rev. Art Brinkmeyer, Tanna Nitzel, Liam Lee

23 Jerome Kalkwarf

28 Kent Nelson

29 Glen Louch

30 James Samples

31 Troy Henning, Scott Murphy

BAPTISMS 4 Heather Wendelin 6 Lewis Clark 7 Carol Brinkmeyer 8 Nathan Patak, Alayna Poole

9 Ed Skillett 10 Cathy Hollman 11 Darren Weber 12 Brad Hestermann, Kristine Muff, Dave Musil 15 Tim Reetz 17 Kasey Murphy 18 Charles Slama 19 James Walker 20 Bryce Kalkwarf 22 Alexandrea Tremblay 23 Teagan Kalkwarf 24 Madison Hestermann 26 Judi Korte

&

CHRISTMAS CAROLING

LWML is sponsoring Christmas Caroling on December 8, following worship services and Sunday School. EVERY-ONE is invited to join—-including children, youth and families.

Thank you .......

It is certainly a great joy and God-pleasing to see us working together and caring for one another at St. John. Recently, we decided to go without refreshments on Sunday morning due having a peanut and tree nut allergy among us. The re-sponse of the Elders and those involved in Sun-day School and Bible Class to forego treats at this time, shows the great depth of love we have for one another. This is truly sharing and show-ing the love of Christ to our church family.

In continuing to show such care for each other, we all need to be aware of the food items that we have at church. I would ask that all of our other groups that meet and have refreshments at their meetings to also be cautious and mindful with treats. Resid-ual peanut dust left on a counter, back of a chair, or door handle can have some very adverse effects for someone with contact allergies, meaning they do not even have to ingest the peanuts, but react with just contact. Please consider avoiding peanuts espe-cially, when providing treats for other events at church. We would also ask that all of our groups would clean and wipe down counter, tables, chairs, etc. after serving treats.

This is a work in progress and we strive to educate ourselves and to provide the safest and most welcoming environment we can to all of our church family. If you would like to learn more about food allergies, two good resources are foodallergy.org and foodallergyawareness.org.

As the Son of God sacrificed Himself for our salvation, so do we make sacrifices of love and care for each other. God grant that the love we have seen in this matter con-tinually grows and gives witness to others of our joy in Jesus and the life and salvation we have in His name.

LADIES AID MINUTES

OUR MISSION Share the Joy

of His News by growing inward

through God’s Word,

Sacraments and fellowship and

by growing outward through

words, actions, and mission

outreach.

PAGE 3 ST . JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER

St. John Ladies Aid met on November 20, 2019, with Donna Hillgren as hostess. The meeting opened by singing “What A Friend We have in Jesus.” Pastor Toensing led us in a continuing Bible Study on the friendship David and Jonathan.

Roll call was taken with six members present. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved and the treasurer’s re-port was given.

Correspondence was read from the JoAnn Renner family. A discussion on the funeral was discussed.

The December meeting will be held December 18, following the morning Advent service. The members of the Ladies Aid will provide a covered dish for those attending church. Diane will put an article in the bulletin.

Janice Reetz will purchase Christmas gifts for our shut ins. Loren Beck, Albert Vosika, Marge Meinke and Kate Kattau.

NEW BUSINESS: A motion was made to give Christmas donations to the same groups we gave to in 2018. Seconded and passed.

A poinsettia request for Christmas Eve will be placed in the bulletin. Ladies Aid will purchase two for the altar during the Ad-vent season.

Diane Kahle will look into getting a new Flower Calendar.

We will ask Olga Weidner to replace JoAnn Renner as a caller for funerals.

A hostess sign-up sheet was passed around.

Birthday celebrated in November: Carol Brinkmeyer, Irene Reiss, Olga Weidner. The birthday song was sung.

We closed with the Lord’s Prayer and common table prayer.

Respectfully submitted.

Carol Brinkmeyer, Acting Secretary

BEAUTIFUL SAVIOR, KING OF CREA-TION: An Advent-Christmas-Epiphany Ser-mon Series

How about a theme for Sundays and the wor-ship opportunities of the up-coming seasons? “From Creation to the New Creation: Telling the Entire Story of God” was the theme for a recent symposium on creation at the St. Louis Seminary. Advent and Christmas focus our attention on the coming into the world of the One through whom the world was made. He comes to establish His kingdom. The messages for this theme are drawn from the Psalms. They will help us recognize the many facets of God’s work in creation before us and as we look forward to the new creation in store for us through the work and Word of Christ, our Lord.

LYF THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to Linda Eggert for overseeing the LYF pie baking and all you did. Thank you also to Lisa Shore, Abbie Reitz, Cathy Hollman, and Cheryl Skillit for helping. Thank you also to Marianne Tesar and Tammy Holmolka for the use of your ovens. Thank you to everyone who donated supplies and to everyone who bought the pies.


LAMBS OF CHRIST PRESCHOOL

Thank You...I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support of our annual pancake feed. We had a nice turn out and the children really enjoyed singing for everyone.

Christmas Program...The Lambs of Christ Christmas program will be held on Sunday December 8th at 6:00 pm followed by a cookie reception. We would love to have you join us.

Fundraisers... At this time we are holding our annual fundraiser which includes Village Inn Pie Cards, Pampered Chef and Scensty Products. The fundraiser will close on December 10th so let me know if you need anything. We do have order forms in the church hallway.

December Events...We will be busy this month learning about the birth of Jesus, the true reason for the Christmas season. Each class will have a Christmas party and we will be making things to decorate our classroom of course.

Christmas Vacation...We will follow the public school and enjoy quality vacation time December 23 - January 3.

God’s Blessings

Kathy Oelschlager

[email protected] (402)826-4375

ST JOHN’S CHILDREN’S

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

December 8 during the Worship Service

These days, the world has forgotten the reason for Christmas. Please join us as we share the true meaning of Christmas—the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior!

SAVE THE DATE!

SHOW UP. CONFESS CHRIST. BE LUTHERAN.

MARCH FOR LIFE—JANUARY 24, 2020

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

MAIN STREET NEWS

Locally produced-Regionally recognized, With a Message For the World, is the “motto” of Main Street Living. December programing on KLKN television station at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings is as follows:

Dec 1-Rev. Maynard Toensing, St. John Lutheran, Crete, NE

Dec 8-Rev. Brian Tuma, St. Johns Lutheran, Cordova, NE

Dec 15-Rev. James Moshier, Trinity Lutheran, Arapahoe, NE

Dec 22-Rev. Matthew Harrison, Pres.-LCMS, St. Louis, MO

Dec 29-Rev. Dr. Roger Paavola-DP-Mid South, Memphis, TN

Evangelism Committee Update

In lieu of a special, joint Board of Evangelism & Board of Elders meeting to be held on Monday, December 2nd, the Board of Evangelism will convene for its next regular meeting on January 7th.

ST . JOHN LUTHERAN

CHURCH –LCMS 11400 W. Panama Road

Crete, NE 68333 4 miles East & 2 miles South of Crete

Office: 826-3883 [email protected]

www.stjohnkramer.org Rev. Maynard Toensing, Jr. [email protected]

OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER GROWTH

Schedule at a Glance

Choir Rehearsal 8:20 a.m.

Worship Service (Sundays) 9:00 a.m.

Sunday School/LYF/Bible Class (Sundays) 10:30 a.m.

Midweek Classes (Wednesdays) 6:30 p.m.

Elders Meeting /Evangelism Board (December 2) 7:00 p.m.

Ladies Bible Study (December 7) 10:00 a.m.

Men’s Bible Study (December 10) 7:00 p.m.

LWML Christmas Dinner (December 17) 6:00 p.m.

Ladies Aid Christmas Party ( December 18) following 10:30 a.m. Advent Service

DUTY Dec 1, 2019 Dec 8, 2019 Dec 15, 2019 Dec 22, 2019 Dec 29, 2019

Organist/Pianist Ellen Miller Jolene Reetz Jayne VanAsperen Jolene Reetz Jolene Reetz

Elders Todd Hoyer Roger Koch Roger Koch Gary Meinke Mitch Homolka

Greeters Mr & Mrs Dave

Musil & Mr & Mrs Marvin Nitzel

Mr & Mrs Brian Persing, Barb

Meinke, Fran Sieck

Mr & Mrs Dean Prochnow & Mr &

Mrs Del Reiss

Marilyn Nelson & Marianne Tesar

Mr & Mrs Rollo Schultz & Mr &

Mrs Byron Shore

Acolytes Jordyn Adam &

Kian Morris Ted Muff

Jacob Meinke & Calen Homolka

Nick Hollman Hugo Pomajzl &

Cole Novak

THOSE SERVING DURING THE MONTH OF December

PAGE 5 ST . JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER

From the elder’s Dear Fellow Believers “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

The angel Gabriel told Mary that God was planning to do something humanly impossible. All human logic would agree that a virgin could not give birth to a child. It was impossible. Yet this is exactly what was to happen. When God speaks of doing the impossi-ble, it is no longer absurd. When was the last time God did the impossible in your Life? When was the last time God spoke to you about what He wanted to do and you were scared to death by its magnitude?

God still does the impossible! Too often we acknowledge our belief that God can do whatever He wants; then we add a safety clause: “But I just don’t think God will do that with me!” We become practical atheists, believing that God can perform miracles but never expecting a miracle in our own lives.

God wanted to bring salvation to all of humanity. It is critical that Mary not only believed God could perform a miracle, but also adjusted her life to the awesome work He planned to do through her. The difference between a Christian and a moral person is the divine. The difference between a church and a social club is the miraculous. Some can duplicate the morality of a Christian, but no one can reproduce the miraculous that should be a part of the Christian experience. Do you believe that nothing is impossible for God? (taken from Experiencing God Day to Day by Henry & Richard Blackaby)

God’s Blessings to you all, The Elders


The word list contains the angel’s Christmas mes-sage to the shepherds. Fit those words into the crossword squares. Then write them on the cor-rect lines below to complete Luke 2:10-11, NIV.

ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER · 2019. 12. 1. · ST.JOHN LUTHERAN LCMS 11400 WEST PANAMA...

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