Peace Talk570-343-9828 www.yourpeace.orgPeace Lutheran Church

And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen!" Lk 24:5-6

Holy Week explodes in Joy on Easter Morning and we thrill in that blessing here in the season of Easter!

Martin Luther speaks of Resurrection in this way: "Know ye, then - sin, death, devil, and everything that assails me - that you are missing the mark. I am not one of those who are afraid of you. For Christ, my dear Lord, has presented to me that triumph and victory of His by which you were laid low. And from this very gift of His I derive my name and am

HE IS RISEN! ALLELUIA! AMEN!

An Apostol ic Mission Congregation of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

April 2013

called a Christian. There is no other reason. My sin and death hung about His neck on Good Friday, but on the day of Easter they had completely disappeared. This victory He has bestowed on me. This is why I do not worry about you." - Martin Luther (Illustration by Ky Betts)

Thank you to ALL who participated and assisted in the Holy Week observances. + We had some great help on Saturday before Palm Sunday for the church clean up.+ Palm Sunday the choir sang+ Judy, Kyle, Robert, Ray, Ramona and so many others for helping out with the Re-Enactment on Good Friday!+ Thanks to Arlene Jones for making the Lamb for the Thursday Seder Meal (and the 20 others who shared as well)+ Beverly and Judy had lots of help from the children dressing the Altar on Easter morning+ Ky Betts assisted Pastor leading the Easter Vigil service as well as played the trumpet on Easter morning.+ Hannah practiced Easter Sunday music diligently. Other singers included Kiana and Marja on Easter morning.

April 5: Ken and Pat Williams PRAISE THE LORD at Ken's return home from the hospital and rehab! Ken has experienced something of a resurrection himself! After being near death for so long, he treasures your prayers for further healling!

SUPPORT THE ACADEMY!: If you would like to support the mission and ministry of the Academy, PLEASE remember that you can donate to the Academy either in the Sunday offering plate, or simply go to our Academy website at www.thelutheranacademyscranton.org and make a donation with your credit or debit card!

IF YOU ARE A THRIVENT MEMBER - please assign your "Choice Points" to Peace Lutheran Church and the dollars are automatically assigned to the Academy! Thank you so much!

INCREDIBLE DAY COMING UP: We are looking forward to SUNDAY, MAY 4TH! On that day we will witness the baptisms of AT LEAST 4 of our students at The Lutheran Academy! There is a great possibility of more children coming to Holy Baptism through family contacts and friends. We need to PRAY for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all of these children AND their families!

FOOD PANTRY VISIT! This past Februrary the students of the Academy collected food stuffs for the Breadbasket Food Pantry. Then on March 6th they went shopping for food, learned all about what kind of food is good for you, the brought the combinded HUGE PILE of food to the Food Pantry on North Main Ave. and here Mr. Pencek is telling the kids what happens at the Food Pantry and how they help people! Thank you for your support!

Ladies Guild/LWML News!

Lutheran Women's Missionary League Spring Rally is COMING TO PEACE LUTHERAN on SATURDAY, MAY 4TH!We need lots of help with organizing for this gathering of faithful women in mission from around our NEPA congregations!

Also note: We will be having an LWML Mite Offering after the regular Sunday offering on April 28th!

And finally: PLEASE MAKE YOUR DONATION TO THE LADIES GUILD BAKELESS BAKESALE!!!! The Ladies will be wrapping up this fundraiser this month!

LWML JUNE NATIONAL CONVENTION: you can still join the Bjornstad family and Audrey and 4000 other women from around the country this June 27-30 in Pittsburgh!!!! See the latest LWML quarterly magazine at the back table for more information!

PASTOR BJORNSTAD IS PLANNING AN APRIL 19-20 OVERNIGHT MISSION TO LONG ISLAND DISASTER ZONE! Please talk to him if you would like to come and make a real difference in someone's life - all the while having a great time! No special skills needed!

Below John Harsche traveled with Pastor Bjornstad and painted three rooms of a new friend Raj's travel motel. Raj is quite famous in Point Pleasant for letting Disaster victims stay on the undamaged second floor of his motel for FREE if they needed it. He was absolutely thrilled to have us and we were very conscious of our Christian witness in his

presence. Thank you John for your great work! We pray for John as he mourns the death of his wife earlier in the month!

UPDATE ON PASTOR NAVEEN NISCHALL and his family. Pastor Nischall is still hoping to come to Scranton and work here with Pastor Bjornstad, hoping to do outreach to the East Indian/Asian population, however he has decided to delay that move until his son can finish the school year out! Please continue to pray that God's will be done here in Scranton!

WORSHIP AND SPIRITUAL LIFEat Peace Lutheran ChurchWe are coming up toward the end of our weekly reading!!!! May 5th will be our concluding our read through "The Story"! But if you have been lax about keeping up with the read through, please know that there is NO BETTER TIME THAN NOW to pick up that Bible and start reading the chapters with us! April 7th we begin our focus on the birth of the church as recorded in Chapter 28 and following!

Our Sunday Schedule is as follows: + 8:15 Worship with Holy Communion + 9:15 Education Hour for Adults and Children + 10:30 Worship Celebration (with Holy Communion 1st and 3rd Sundays/month)

The congregation was thrilled with the singing of our youth choir this past month! They sang a beautiful rendition of "There is a Green Hill Far Away" with Hannah Bjornstad conducting. The video is posted to the church website on the "news" link at (www.yourpeace.org). Check it out if you missed it! We are looking forward to more beautiful music from the youth and the ADULT choir!

NEXT ONE IS APRIL 28!

THE FIRST FELLOWSHIP COFFEE HOUR in April was a BEAUTIFUL success! Thank you Susan and the youth choir for sharing! Susan presented slides from her medical mission trip to Equador. Her testimony was incredibly touching and we all praised God for her and her work! It was also Ann Crosbie's Birthday so we sang Happy Birthday to her!Our next Fellowship Coffee Hour after church will be April 28th! You can look forward to having sharing and pictures from either Poland or Costa Rica! :) JOIN US!!!!

MISC. NOTES:

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SENIOR YOUTH ON THEIR WAY TO TX! 1. RESTAURANT CARDS FOR $10! The cards are EXCELLENT deals and well worth their price as you can use them as many times as you like! 2. COMING UP: WE HAVE A PLANNED MAY 11TH RUMMAGE SALE HERE AT THE CHURCH!!! We do need LOTS of help with this so please contact Kerry H., Alison M., or Pastor or Monica Bjornstad if you can help! AND OF COURSE: PLEASE COLLECT AS MUCH "STUFF" AS YOU CAN FOR THE SALE!!!!

OUR ADULT CHOIR ARE REHEARSING WEDNESDAY NIGHTS AT 7PM! New voices please! JUST PLEASE COME!

ALLELUIA! PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS FINALLY (AT LONG LAST!)

A NEW CHURCH DIRECTORY! Please pick one up and use it to

encourage and pray for each other!

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THE RENOVATION OF THE CHURCH BATHROOMS IS NEARING COMPLETION! Thanks to the hard work of Dale Newhart, the ladies bathroom is absolutely beautiful and the men's room is almost done! The renovations are costing over $6000 so PLEASE remember that your offerings are important! The best part of the renovations is the new BABY CHANGER!!!! That means that we are definitely a church that values its infants!!! Praise the Lord!

ORGAN FUND DRIVE NEARING COMPLETION! At our council meeting, it was reported by Rick Hellard that last year $11,000+ was given toward the Organ Fund. That would mean that (along with what was given in 2011) we are truly just $3000 shy of the $30,000 we need to replenish our Building Fund (which we borrowed from to pay for the organ in 2011). Let's see if we can finish it off by Easter? If you pledged to the Organ fund but have not yet fulfilled that pledge, please do!

IF YOU ARE A THRIVENT FINANCIAL FOR LUTHERAN'S MEMBER, please remember to VOTE in the important referendum to either remain an organization specifically for Lutherans, or expand our base to anyone who is a Christian. You can vote through April 30th either on line or through the mail!

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We look forward to the wedding of Sandra (Woolverton) and her fiance Collin on April 20th here at Peace Lutheran!+++++++++++++++++++

HAND MADE EASTER CANDY SALE by Kim Koenig netted an impressive net of $278! ALL THE

PROCEEDS TO TO THE VAN FUND! Thank you Kim for all your amazing work!

NEW MEMBER SUNDAY IS GOING TO BE MAY 19TH! Pastor will be continuing to gather those desiring church membership for luncheons after worship on Sundays. Please let him know that you would like to be there!

We praise God that Zachary Spies, son of Jeff and Joyce Spies (new attenders here at Peace) was baptized in Syracuse at their family's Lutheran Church!

MARYWOOD GRADUATIONS: Alison McHale, Ky Betts, and Robert Herie will all be graduating on May 12th! We want to fill the van of congregational fans to attend the gradutation at the WB arena! Join us!

PRAYERS NEEDED:+ Ken Williams has been discharged from Allied Skilled Nursing and is now home. He is progressing every day and is very happy to being at home with his wife Pat again! He is thrilled to testify to the mercy of the Lord and would be glad to see any visitors!+ Pastor Al Vomhof, of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, who is under doctor's care for what might be a return of cancer.+ Art Grogan, nephew of Audrey Russell, who is suffering from brain cancer (he has a wife and two small children.)+ Our shut ins the Korbans, Trudy Makowski, Anita Holzmann, Mark Herie…Also pray for Mark, Judy and RJ Herie!

WEB SURVEY RESULTS: PASTOR BJORNSTAD MADE UP A BIT OF A WEB SURVEY FOR THE CONGREGATIONAL MEMBERS. It was an effort to let the congregational members share their thoughts and feelings about the church. You can still fill it out on the web by emailing Pastor Bjornstad or going to the church Facebook Page and getting the link. You can also fill it out the old fashioned way as well - on paper! Just request it! We would LOVE to have more feedback! HERE ARE SOME RESPONSES to the request to "Please share any other blessings/comments/concerns you would like to about Peace Church. It would be very helpful for the church leadership to know your honest concerns and feelings (positive and negative)!"

We do need to reach out to others, but at the same time we still need to see to the needs of our own congregation.

I love the whole place. When I think of home, this is where I want to be. I love the people, the family that I have in the whole church, I love the way I have grown spiritually with the church as I have grown, and I love the place and the part I have within it. Thank you!

THAT I BEEN BLESSED BY A CHURCH WHO CARES IN A TIME OF NEED,WHEN THINGS OUR GOING ROUGH IN LIFE YOU CAN COUNT ON THEM, AND THE CONGREGATION TO HELP TOO

Peace Lutheran is warm in their welcoming.They care and want to know about everyones feelings before they make a decision.

Really liked the Couples dinners we used to have. Would be interested in reviving them if there is other interest. Appreciate support from church so my child can attend the Academy. WE cant wait to be in a position to pay the full tuiton ourselves. Youth night is a fabulous addition for our young kids.

Church in my opinion, from a non member appears to be vibrant and welcoming... Very nice indeed.

we should be careful with church finances

I love to see all of the babies in church, and young children with their parents.

I really like that Peace has a Facebook presence! I love what Pastor Kris does with photos & keeping us posted online. Also, I LOVE having the Bjornstad daughters blessing us with their musical gifts, as well as their servant's hearts! We are also blessed by MRS B's participation/leadership with the women's group & more than I suspect by her behind the scenes help. BY THE WAY, Peace Lutheran members are INCREDIBLY GENEROUS with their gifts! Pastor Kris & his family have really taught us well, to share what God has given us!

The pastor is the driving force in this church. He is the Shepherd. He provides the atmosphere of love and acceptance. The "sheep" can always do more. We should seek to follow Pastor's example and converse with each other and get to know one another. Work at getting to know one another. Don't leave that up to only the Pastor!