|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
May 2011 Newsletter |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE OCCUPIED" 1940-1945 On May 22, for our Armed Services Sunday we not only honor those who serve in uniform but also remember those who were not in uniform but served in very dangerous situations. JosMarie Vanderspek, who grew up in the Netherlands and experienced with her family what it feels like to be occupied by Nazi German forces from 1940-1945 will share her memories during the service. In her own words, “I do not touch much on the war itself, but emphasize trying to survive the occupation of an evil foreign force. I speak about the part the Dutch underground forces played in rescuing not only many Jewish people in our town and the entire country, but also about saving those allied pilots that were shot down.” A time for questions and answers will follow her presentation. A door offering for this presentation will be taken and given to the National Guard Family Assistance Center for our military returning from the war and have no income or job. They need our help to keep us free and I am very happy to help them in this way. JosMarie Vanderspek I am born and raised in The Netherlands, where I lived until I was 19. Studied Medical administration and languages in Amsterdam, finished my studies in Indonesia, where I lived for 5 years and where I managed the Dutch Teachers Union. Lived 5-1/2 years in Australia, and came to the United States in 1962 with my husband. In the US I devoted my life to fundraising and volunteering in many organizations, amongst others the Medical Auxiliary. The CD I made for my children and grandchildren of my presentation has been accepted in the "United StatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum" in Washington, DC, where it is made available to scholars and visitors in perpetuity. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GLORIA DEI NEWS |
UPCOMING EVENTS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
MEALS ON WHEELS KOA 50+ SALVATION ARMY FOOD SHELF CAMPBELL'S SOUP LABELS OFFICIAL ACTS:
LOOKING FOR A HOST FAMILY In the following I would like to present myself, so that you can get a Picture of me. I have one older brother and two sisters. My favourite lessons at School are maths, physics and sports. In my leisure time I enjoy doing many sports like rock climbing, slack lining and snow boarding. Furthermore I am the head and coach of the local youth group for outdoor sports and activities. Apart from that I play the cello. Additionally I love meeting my friends for talking, laughing, and going out, as well as just having fun with them. I have already been on a language holiday two years ago in the USA and Canada. During this trip I recognized that living in a foreign country is the best Way to learn its language. Thus I decided to come to the USA for getting some skills regarding the English language, enjoying the great and beautiful landscape of America and becoming friends with other youths. The space of time I want to make this journey is from the 25 of July to the 11 of September 2011. But I am flexible regarding the period of this trip, because I have some friends in the USA and Canada I can stay with for some of the time. I would be glad to get the opportunity to come to your church, to stay with A family and to experience the congregational life of a foreign church. Now I Wish you all the best and God bless. Best regards - Jonathan Immanuel Tepper If you are interested in knowing more, please contact Pastor Gade, I will be meeting Jonathan and his family in Germany during the weekend of May 7-8th. |
CREST VIEW SENIOR COMMUNITIES
TOUR NEW ZEALAND with the Holst’s and Concordia Alumni and Friends "ONCE UPON A MATTRESS"
Tickets: $12 Adults, $10 Seniors, $8 children age 12 and younger, $4 CSP students with ID. A FIRST CLASS “TEACHING TOUR” EXULTATE WAYZATA WOMEN’S CHORUS LUTHERAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION UNITE - NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER 7 pm at the Mariucci Arena, University of Minnesota - FREE TRINITY FIRST LUTHERAN |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
There Was a Body on the Cross Holy Week is over and it is so easy to move on with Spring without ever looking back and pondering the events in our Lord’s life that we just celebrated. So since we are in the season of Easter for the month of May I thought I’d share a perspective we don’t often think about. In Protestant circles, the rationale usually goes like this. Holy Week did not end with Jesus on the cross. Good Friday is not the end of the story. Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. “And on the third day, He rose again.” The story ends in the victory of Easter. The cross is empty because Christ is risen. In fact, it is true, and as Paul notes, “essential”, that Christians worship a risen Christ. "[For] if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Cor. 15:14). Even walking through the events of Holy Week, the emotion of the Last Supper, the anguish in Gethsemane, the denials of the disciples, the interrogation of Pilate, and the lonely way to Golgotha, we are well aware that though the cross is coming, so is the empty tomb. The dark story of Good Friday will indeed be answered by the light of Easter morning. And yet, there is scarcely a theologian I can imagine who would set aside the fathomless mystery of the crucifixion in the interest of a doctrine that "over-shadows" it. The resurrection follows the crucifixion; it does not erase it. Though the cross has indeed taken away the sting of sin and death, and Christ has truly borne our pain, and the burden of humanity is that we will follow Him. Even Christ, who retained the scars of His own crucifixion, told His followers that they, too, would drink the cup from which He drank. The Christian, who considers himself "crucified with Christ," will surely "take up his cross" and follow Him. The good news is that Christ goes with us, even as He went before us, fully tasting humanity “in a body” like yours and mine. Thus, far from being an act that undermines the victory of the resurrection, the remembrance of Jesus' hour of suffering boldly unites us with Christ Himself. For it was on the cross that Christ most intimately bound Himself to humanity. It was "for this hour" that Christ Himself declared that He came. Humanity is, in turn, united to Him in His suffering and is near Him in our own. Had there not been an actual body on the cross, such mysteries would not be substantive enough to reach us. Author and undertaker, Thomas Lynch describes a related problem as well-meaning onlookers at funerals attempt to console the grief-stricken. Lynch describes how often he hears someone tell the weeping mother or father of the child who died of leukemia or a car accident, "It's okay, that's not On the cross, we find the One whose self-offering transformed all suffering and forever lifted the burden of sin. On Good Friday, we find the very figure of “God with us”, a body who cried out in a loud voice in the midst of anguish, on the brink of death, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Precisely because the cross was not empty, the coming resurrection is profoundly full. Edited from an article by Jill Carattini, managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
STEWARDSHIPThe Third Commandment and Christian Stewardship IA steward is one who is entrusted with the manage-ment of something that belongs to another. As Christian stewards, we recognize that all we are and all we have come from God. Stewardship is not just about money or finances, it is about everything God entrusts to our care. We are to manage everything for His purposes. In the Third Commandment we are remind-ed that we have the privilege and responsibility of managing God's Word. The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. This commandment focuses on managing time as it relates to God's Word. Am I taking the time to read and study God's Word and put it into practice in my life? Am I taking the time to gather with fellow believers for worship to receive the gifts He offers there? Am I taking the time to teach God's Word to my children and grandchildren so their lives are ordered by what He says? "This third word," writes Martin Marty, "is really addressed to the question, Who owns time? The Law of God has much to say in the way of threat concerning misuse of time and of promise concerning redemption of time. Basically, three questions are implied here, as to time and work, time and rest, time and worship." The Hidden Discipline, page 9. We are no strangers to the misuse of the time God entrusts to us. Robert Kolb writes, "This commandment calls attention to our failure both to gather for worship with other Christians and to use the Word for daily living. God has attached His Word to the rhythms of the week to insure our regular use of it, and He has attached it to the community to insure its disciplined and proper use. The Sunday worship service delivers God's Word so that it may shape our world and our days throughout the week. Sunday reminds us of the resurrection of Christ and the beginning of new life in Him. To absent ourselves from the gathering of God's people asserts our unbelief and our refusal to recognize God's community and His purposes for us in community. The person who absents himself from this attention to the Word 'is declaring the real absence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, is asserting that Baptism is a nice trivial rite,' is defining God's Word as an illusion." Kolb, Teaching God's Children His Teaching, page 3-8. |
Who owns time is a vital question for the Christian steward and impacts his/her whole life. David writes in Psalm 31:14-15a, "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hands." God owns time. He created it. He generously entrusts it to us. He uses it to bless us. St. Paul writes in Galatians 4, "4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." We respond to God's grace by holding His Word sacred and gladly hearing it, learning from it, and putting it into practice. That is the Christian steward's joy and delight. R. C. Rein writes, "The Christian's time...is to be consecrated wholly to the Lord. This involves using all occasions and all opportunities for the Lord's glory and for the good of ourselves and others...Time is a precious gift of God. To value it properly and to employ it profitably should be a matter of conscientious concern to every Christian. To devote the first fruits and the best of our time in worship and service to our Creator and Redeemer is an essential part of God's guide for giving." First Fruits, page 44-45. "Be sure to get this:" writes Martin Luther, "even if you knew the Word of God through and through and had mastered everything, yet all your days are spent in the devil's territory, and he rests neither day nor night from stealthily trying to sneak up and kindle in your heart unfaith and evil thoughts against all the commandments. Therefore you must at all times have the Word of God in your heart, on your lips, and in your ears...when we sincerely ponder, hear, and apply the Word, it has such power that its fruit never fails. The Word always awakens new understandings, new delights, and a new spirit of devotion, and it constantly cleanses our heart and our thinking." The Large Catechism, the Third Commandment.CURRENT FINANCIAL STATUS
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Read through the Bible in 365 daily readingsThis is a daily Bible reading plan that invites you to share in all the benefits of a regular, steady diet of God's Word. The arrangement of this full-text Bible into 365 daily readings makes it easy for you to delve into these sacred words consistently. So if you are hungry for God, come, be fed!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back to Top | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Dear Church Family, Seed catalogs are starting to show up in our mailboxes. Spring is here, time to think about planting. At a recent KOA/50+ meeting we had as our discussion topic what our participation had been, not only in the planting, but in the harvest. Planting certainly has been evident is our church garden. As you look among some of our aging plants, you see those that have been growing steadfastly in the faith garden for many years, spreading their seeds as their plant ages. How neat it is to see several generational plants in a single pew on Sunday morning, with the new growth taking on many of the church tasks, which their parent plants did for so many years. How neat it is to see many little sprouts in church on a Sunday morning. One of our sprouts is Brandon, confirmed on Palm Sunday. He was our only confirmand this year and we will do an interview with him for our June newsletter. Brandon has been a very strong plant in the Gloria Dei garden. One of Gloria Dei’s mature plants, who is now in our Memory Garden was Nadine Olthoff. Nadine spread her love seeds wherever she rooted down. She was ambitious, artistic, loved her family, her church and as she often said: “I Love to eat.” We always knew if keys, purse, or whatever showed up in the ladies room, where she had gone in “to take the shine off my nose”, they belonged to Nadine. This sprightly flower passed away at her home of recent years, Catholic ElderCare and her memorial service was held there. Our Christian loves goes to her family, who for many years saw to it that Nadine was able to get to what she called “my church”. In concluding this column, we have talked about plants of youth, plants that are aging. We are all planted in God’s garden to grow in His master garden to love and to serve. May your harvest be plentiful. To God be the glory! Happy Mother’s Day! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHRISTIAN RADIO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE LUTHERAN HOUR May 1 - "Accept No Substitutes!" May 8 - "Count On Christ's Mercy for You" May 15 - "We Need a Shepherd" May 22 - "Similar, But Not the Same" May 29 - "Liberty and Justice for All" |
WOMAN TO WOMAN May 7 - Mom... What Did You Expect? May 14 - When He Has a Headache! May 21 - "Called Out: A Lesbian's Discovery" May 28 - Let Freedom Ring TIME OF GRACE St. Marcus Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITYSt. Paul, MN - Rev. Tom Ries of Burnsville, Minn., has accepted the Presidency call to the Concordia University. He will assume the role from the retiring Rev. Dr. Robert Holst on June 1. To honor The Rev. Dr. Robert Holst and his 20 years of service to Concordia University, St. Paul and 49 years of service to the church, a retirement service will be held: Wednesday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. The church body, alumni, friends, students, faculty, staff, family and the greater community are welcome and encouraged to attend. A reception will follow in the Gangelhoff Center. |
THE MASTER GREETER
Useful Practices of the Master Greeter Honor your new people by introducing them to others. After you have learned their names and learned a little about them, introduce them to other people. This makes them feel special. It makes them feel accepted and honored. It reduces their fear level and increases their comfort level. You are helping them to develop new friendships without having to work for them. This is an enormous help. You are helping them to feel at home. This is the feeling you are trying to achieve for them. Introduce them to others. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SPECIAL OCCASIONS FOR SPECIAL PEOPLE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Happy Birthday:
|
Happy Anniversary:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
May ServantsElders:
Counters:
Greeters: OPEN Ushers: Bill Woll and Dale Raschke Altar Care: Shirley Holzinger, Diane Gade |
May ProvidersFlowers:
Candles:
If you sign up for flowers or candles after the newsletter is published, be sure and let Jeannie know. We want to make sure that flowers are ordered and you are properly acknowledged in the bulletin notes. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
