December-2018-Online
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December 2018 Holiday Events Drive-Thru Nativity Sunday, December 2nd 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm Hanging of the Greens Sunday, December 9th after 9:30 am worship service Holy Cross Lutheran Church Children’s Program Sunday, December 16th 9:30 am Worship Service Christmas Caroling Sunday, December 16th 5:00 pm Candlelight Worship Monday, December 24th 6:30 pm There will be no service on Christmas Day. Cross Talk FROM PASTOR’S HEART would like to start off by saying thank you to those that sent birthday cards, as well as encouragement I cards and anniversary cards. Also a big thank you goes out to all the members for what you have done for Susan and I and the rest of the family this past year, as Susan and I celebrated our sixth year anniversary. And one last thank you goes to the Church Council for their encouragement and support, as well as allowing me to take vacation over Thanksgiving. Ready or not, the holidays are upon us, Thanksgiving is over and now we turn our attention to Christmas, and of course stores have been bombarding us since November 1st, and in some cases even before Halloween was over, with Christmas music and stuff to buy that we can’t live without. But we as Christians need to re- member why we have a Christmas season; it is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, don’t forget we have many opportunities to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this Christ- mas season. The Christian Education Committee once again decided to do a Children’s Christmas service that is a lot simpler. Just as we did last year, we will have the younger children set-up and portray the Nativity scene with the older children/young adults reading the Christmas story and other readings. The service is set for the De- cember 16th Sunday service. There will be lots of singing of Christmas hymns, both by our Choir and the con- gregation. We are looking forward to providing this wonderful worship experience. Parents please look for information about practices in the upcoming bulletins, as well as the letter I sent out. This Sunday will also be a Christmas party for the Little JC’s and that evening the congregation is invited to come join with the youth, as we go Christmas Caroling to the Nursing Homes, as well as some of our shut-ins. We will have our Christmas Eve Candlelight service at 6:30 pm on Christmas Eve, which is Monday De- cember 24, 2018. I pray that these services will fill you with joy as we celebrate our Lord’s birth. I would like to spend a few minutes talking about Building fence; a lot of you know and understand what building fence means, but what about building a fence around the things that you love and cherish, so that nothing disturbs that block of time; say your favorite TV show, date night with your spouse, which Susan and I try to do at least once a month. I am sure all of you have a list of sacred things that have fences around them as well. Did you know that there are 168 hours in a week? That’s quite a few, if you think about it, and at Holy Cross – with the exception of Lent – we only gather all of us together for one up to three of those hours from 4:30 pm to around 5:30 pm on Saturday and then 8:00 a.m. to around noon every Sunday, we sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to his sacred Word and receive his blessed Sacrament. Yet so often, because of the busyness of parish life and busyness of life in general, the fence around this time gets broken down. It’s not uncommon. We are, as Jesus says, “anxious and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). As I write this article on a very nice and sunny Tuesday afternoon, I have, to continue the metaphor, built a fence around this time to encourage you with a word from the Lord that I hope will strengthen and uplift you. It’s important to serve God, and we should, as his Church, be about the business of living out our calling. However, for these one or three hours – our Saturday worship or Sunday morning 8:00 am or 8:30 am or 10:45 am Bible Studies and our 9:30 worship – for these one or two or three hours, we must stop. We must refill our spiritual tanks and “choose the good portion.” Let me encourage you this month to be intentional about the fence we build around these sacred hours; to be intentional about the time we spend, not just with the Lord (you can do that on your own, or in a small group study), not just with one another (you can do that at your favorite restaurant), but together with Christ’s saints and at the feet of him who calls us to the good portion that will not be taken away from us. As we head into a new Church Year, I pray that we keep praying and seeking God’s will for this congrega- tion and dream big, because we have a Mighty God, who can do and does mighty things. Therefore, let’s for- get the small things and focus on the large things and if we can’t dream big let’s at least believe big. As al- ways, you can discuss with me at any time your concerns for Holy Cross, as well as any ideas that you would like to see happen. Let us turn our hearts over to God and seek and do His will. God be praised! 2 And don’t forget to build a fence and set aside some time each day during the upcoming Advent season to give praise and prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ. May he fill us with the Holy Spirit, so that we can give our praise to him and his coming to us this Christmas season! Season Greetings to all and remember Jesus Is The Reason For The Season. To God be all the glory. Pastor Alsen “Wait on the Lord. Be courageous, and he will strengthen your heart.” Psalm 27:14a As a member of the LCMC, our mission is to tell people the story of the Gospel. Not only tell them but say it in a way that they will understand. This is not difficult. There is a very easy way…support our members on a mission. We have an Evangelism Committee that can’t wait to share the news of our Lord and Savior with those in our community. You can join them or you can support them by submitting names of people you know that aren’t members of a church. There are a lot out there. Even though the news paints a bleak picture of our world today, there is still hope. People are still receptive to the Gospel if given the right introduction. Give them that introduction by submitting their name to the Evangelism Committee. Be bold in word and deed. Who knows what God may do with it? “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be fearful or discouraged, because the Lord your God is with you wher- ever you go.” Joshua 1:9b “Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mys- tery of the gospel...Pray that I may declare it boldly.” Ephesians 6:19-20 Fill out the form at the bottom of this page and turn it in to the church office. You can include your name or not. The choice is yours. Help us to reach out to those who need to hear what we have to say. 3 RECOGNITION GIVEN TO... THANK YOU COUNCIL MEMBERS!! Those who have served… Bernice Chumchal Gery Maneth Patricia Nordstrand And those who have agreed to serve… Mabel Hickey Ralph Polzin Tomi Soehnge Edwin Steinmann Acts 2:38 An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of religious service when she was startled by an intruder. As she caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valu- ables, she yelled, 'Stop -Acts 2:38!' (..turn from your sin...). The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, 'Why did you just stand there? All she did was yell a scripture to you.' 'Scripture?' replied the burglar, 'She said she had an AXE and two 38's!' 4 DISTRICT NEWS!! Missionary Mandate The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 has served as the church’s marching orders since the very day Jesus ascended to heaven: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” The church has long understood its purpose is to make new disciples and to strengthen the disciples we already have. Church leaders have long debated which is more important: making new disciples (mission) or strength- ening the faith of disciples (maturity). Most pastors, if forced to choose, I believe fall on the side of maturity even though they believe mission (making new disciples) is also important.