December 2013 the SHEPHERD’S VOICE Santa, the Gospel, and Christmas
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December 2013 THE SHEPHERD’S VOICE Santa, the Gospel, and Christmas “And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” — John 1:16 ESV recently received another email asking if I approved pout … of “Santa.” The short answer is “yes, but with qualifi- He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice, he’s gonna find cations.” out who’s naughty or nice. I he knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for Santa has his origins in a very old Christian tradition, re- goodness sake. membering the ministry of St. Nicholas of Myra, who lived from the years 270 to 343, in what is This is the opposite of the Gospel! now modern day Turkey (pretty far This teaches that we get rewarded for from the North Pole). The original being good, and get a lump of coal for Nicholas was indeed a gift-giver, being bad. It teaches that we get what secretly bringing gifts to the needy. we deserve. That’s terrible news! If we Over the years, his example inspired get what we deserve, we will get noth- many Christmas traditions, including ing but God’s wrath. The good news of “Father Christmas” in England, Christmas — the gospel — is that we “Christkind” in Germany, and “Santa don’t get what we deserve. God is giv- Claus” in Holland. It was immigrants ing good things to those who don’t from Holland who brought this to deserve it – and that includes us! America. So, please don’t use Santa to try to The heart of the original St. Nicholas frighten children into being good. That tradition was secret gifts to the poor. leads to all sorts of mischief. It leads to This continues to be an important adults who feel they should get a re- part of how Christian’s celebrate ward from God whenever they are Christmas. Each year I have the priv- good – and who get angry with God, ilege of arranging secret gifts, where and even lose their faith, when they people who have been blessed give have to suffer something bad. Instead, Christmas gifts to those who have use these traditions to reinforce the been struggling. (If you’d like to do Gospel: that we have a loving heaven- this, call me — I know of many fami- ly Father who treats us better than we lies whom I’d like to help.) deserve, and this empowers us to treat others with great kindness and Martin Luther is often given credit for Christkind generosity. promoting “Christkind” in Germany, which emphasized the giving of gifts on Christmas Eve. These gifts were ex- May your Christmas celebrations be filled with God’s un- pressions of the Gospel. The Gospel is that God is giving deserved kindness! free gifts to sinners who don’t deserve them. While we were still rebellious, ungrateful sinners, God sent his Son, the greatest gift of all, to save us from sin, death, and Sa- tan. As we recognize what a great gift we have been giv- Inside this issue: en, we respond by giving freely to others – without con- Operation Christmas Child 2-3 cern for whether they “deserve” the gifts. † Pastor Jay Children & Family Ministries 4 Youth Activities & Events 5-6 This is where I have to qualify my support of Santa. Be- Serving Opportunities 7-10 cause Santa is so popular, many non-Christian traditions Simple Hope Benefit Concert 11 have been added to his story. The one that is the most Christmas Happenings 12-13 dangerous is well-known, because it is part of the popular Church News 14-15 song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Some of the dan- Upcoming Events & Info 16-17 gerous lyrics include: You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not Page 2 Operation Christmas Child November 3rd Family Sunday School Event Sunday school families gathered on November 3rd for a special event to help us prepare for our Operation Christmas Child shoe box packing event. Students and parents assembled boxes and labeled them, placed bars of soap in zip-lock bags, and made small bags of hard candy from bulk bags. They also made Christmas cards and crafts for shoe box gifts. Thank you everyone for your help! OCC Community Involvement This year our Operation Christmas Child committee was blessed to have the opportunity to partner up with many dif- ferent businesses, organizations and schools with our fundraising efforts and collection of donations. We wish to thank the following groups: Businesses Schools & Scouts Dentists & Dental Suppliers Bilda's Freiss Lake Pub Addison Elementary School - Girl Scouts Dental Professionals Culver's of Jackson Decorah Elementary School - West Bend - Family Dental in Jackson Edmund Allen Shoes Girl Scouts Lake Five Dentistry Fox Brother's Piggly Wiggly - Friess Lake Elementary School - Girl Scouts Levine Dental Associates Hubertus Jackson Elementary School - Cub Scouts Shumway Dental Graphic Edge Printing Lannon Elementary School - Girl Scouts Tess Oral Health Kohl's Shoes Slinger Elementary School - Cub Scouts The Hartford Dental Group Pleasant Valley Tennis Club Page 3 Operation Christmas Child November 9th - Operation Christmas Child Packing Party The Power of a Simple Gift x 1,000 SOTH held an Operation Christmas Child shoe box packing event on Satur- day, November 9th. There were 154 volunteers who attended this event. Our church was filled with excitement, team- work and fellowship. That day 1,001 shoe box gifts were packed! In the next few days, addi- tional boxes were received to bring our total over 1,000. These shoe boxes will be traveling to needy children in Kenya, Zambia, Madagascar and India. Operation Christmas Child will add a Gospel message booklet to each box. Over 1,000 children will be delighted by these shoe box gifts and have the opportunity to learn about God's love for them and Jesus' gift of salvation for them. We pray that the Holy Spirit will touch their hearts and bring them to faith. Each child that receives a shoe box generally shares the contents of their box and the Gos- pel message with an average of 10 other people. So these 1,000+ boxes packed at SOTH have the power to reach 10,000+ souls for Christ! Now that's the power of a Simple Gift! Thank you to everyone who supported our fund raising events, donated gift items and attended our packing event! Guest Speaker - Evilyn Pinnow Our guest speaker for the day was 13-year old Evilyn Pinnow, from Fort Atkin- son, Wisconsin. Evilyn had the honor of being select- ed by Operation Christmas Child to deliver the 100 millionth shoe box to Bren- da Valdez in the Domini- can Republic this year. Evilyn founded a shoe box packing club when she was 9 years old. Her club of 80 children meets monthly to pack between 40 and 50 shoe boxes. The children collect donations and do all the planning for their monthly packs. Prayer is the central ingredient to the success of this club. Evilyn shared two examples of how God an- swered their prayers for shoe box gift items in BIG ways (like 10,000 combs from a corporate donor and dozens of garbage bags full of stuffed animals that keep showing up). Evilyn let our group know that no matter who you are (even children)...you can do big things in this world with God's help. Evilyn is truly an amazing young lady! Page 4 Children and Family Ministries Sunday School Schedule 12/01/13 Christmas Program Rehearsal for all classrooms as a large group in the sanctuary during Sunday school time at 9:30 am. 12/8/13 Christmas Program Rehearsal for all classrooms as a large group in the sanctuary during Sunday school time at 9:30 am. Christmas Program Dress Rehearsal in the sanctuary after worship, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm. Pizza lunch provided. 12/15/13 Christmas Program Rehearsal for all classrooms as a large group in the sanctuary after the first service at 9:40 - 10:15 am. Christmas Program at 3:00 pm. Children should arrive at 2:00 pm. 12/22/13 Christmas lessons in each Sunday school classroom Also snow date for Christmas Program 12/29/13 Christmas Break – No Sunday School In Celebration and Congratulations The following children and youth celebrated “faith mile- stones” in October. Please continue to encourage them in their Spiritual journeys. Confirmed on October 27, 2013 Dayne Gramoll Bennett Schmanski Chandler Lex Kendra Strohwig Joseph Lutz Michael R. Tennessen Halli McCauley Ashton Curtis Werner Daniel Monty Riley Wood Received Bibles from Shepherd of the Hills on November 3, 2013 Preston Bowerman Koryna Schmidt Tyler Buenger Lilly Stephan Carter Disch Spencer Van Engen Aidan Highsmith Peyton Vieau Delanie Kastner Brooke Voss Tyler Mayer Jenna Ziesemer Sophia Parkinson 3rd Grade Bible Presentations Page 5 Youth Activities and Events Confirmation IMPACT Middle School Youth & Middle School Youth News Sunday, December, 1st: http://sothyouthhs.shutterfly.com/ Required Worship/Worksheet Sunday, December 8th: Thank you for your support of our Wreath and Marcus 6:30pm-8:00pm 6th-8th Grade Class Night Movie Ticket Sale. With your generous support, the Sunday, December 22th: total funds raised for our Mission Trip and Compassion 6:30pm-8:00pm 6th-8th Grade Class Night Child support came to over $1,700 through both our church community and individual youth sales! In Service Projects November, 10 IMPACT youth and 6 adult mentors also Don’t forget about your small group service projects assisted with the Operation Christmas Child Packing and service requirements: Event and a small group enjoyed lunch together following! We will also serve by ringing bells for the Friday, November 29th: Salvation Army on Black Friday at Cabela’s, an annual Salvation Army Bell Ringing (Youth Day) @ tradition! Cabela’s – sign-up in the Narthex Sunday, December 15th: 4:00 pm Family Promise HELP (Set Up): Service Opportunity Use the youth website for updates on events, service activities and calendar of classes.