House of Prayer on Parker and MainPeace TalkNEWSLETTER

June/July 2014

It was a difficult time in our congregation over the past month. We mourn two sons of God, Elwood Korban and Mark Herie - who died about 24 hours apart. There is often a tendency in our

American churches to glorify youth and disparage the elderly. No one wants to have an “old” church where they have funerals every other week. And, generally in society, more and more funerals are not attended - or they are even simply foregone. There have been congregational members who have made their wishes known that they did not

want to have any funeral for themselves. Of course, we can understand why… Who wants to deal with death? Who wants to cry? Who wants to witness suffering and death? Who wants to die

themselves? It is very easy to simply try our best to put the ear plugs in and ignore death.The temptation is great, but it would certainly be wise for us as the family of Christ to stop and pay attention to death. It is our greatest enemy according to scripture, but also our greatest moment of victory in Christ! Death is the ultimate reason for the Savior’s suffering. In Jesus we face death with His victory, faith and the power of God. In Jesus, even in our weakness, we spit in the face of death and sing:CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! AMEN!

Peace be yours in Christ, Pastor B

Returning our focus to Prayer

Sad? Pray.

Blessed? Pray.

Joyfull? Pray.

Giving up? Pray.

Thankful? Pray.

Hurting? Pray.

Guilty? Pray.

Strong or Weak? Pray.

Struggling or Worried? Pray.

He prays to God and finds favor with him,

he sees God’s face and shouts for joy;

he is restored by God... Job 33:26

MAY OUR PRAYERS ASCEND:Our churches: Immanuel as Pastor Mandile and family leaves to pastor another church in Florida… St. Stephens as their pastor Vomhof struggles with cancer… for St. John (Hazelton) as Pastor Stephens begins his ministry.For those mourning: Judy and RJ Herie and Edith Korban… Monica Bjornstad and families… For those in need of healing: Edith Korban, Tina Bernardi (knee replacement)For Laura and Chris Jones who are preparing to have their first child!

Page 1

DON’T MISS IT!Peace Lutheran Church VBS!

Begins Sunday, Aug. 3 - Thursday, Aug. 8

5:30 - 8:15pmImmanuel is running their VBS beginning July 14

in the evening as well!

Working in partnership with God's people to raise up a new generation of faithful Christian men and women!

The Immanuel Preschool and the Lutheran Academy!

7th Academic Year ends and we prepare for the 8th!THANKS SO MUCH for all your support to get us through this year! It has been extremely exciting place to be and we pray that God would continue to bless us in every way!

The picture here at the right is what was taken after the 2014 Year End Program held here at Peace on June 12. It was so very amazing and we hope to share portions of it with the congregation through the summer. It was sad to see two of our students age out of our school, and especially also difficult to say goodbye to our Principal/Teacher Mrs. Lori Mandile (to the right).

Please pray for all our preparations through the summer for our opening day after Labor Day this Fall! We are preparing to welcome three new first graders, including our very own Jullian Vacarro!

A.J. HACKENBERG CONFIRMATION MAY 18th! After two years of Jr. Confirmation classes May 18th saw A.J. receive Confirmation. After breakfast before service he presented a paper on the teachings of the Bible on Holy Communion. And then during the worship he spoke on “Why he wanted to be a Christian”:

“Being a Christian is the most amazing thing that can happen in your life. Being close to God is important because he is our savior. Being a faithful Christian means worshipping and

sharing the Word of God. I want to be a Christian because being close to God is the best experience life can offer.

Being a Christian made a difference in my life by making me love and forgive others around me. God changes people in many ways because he does what is best for you. God makes a

difference because he is faithful, joyful, and peaceful. He fills our lives with joy and made laws to keep us safe from sin. Being a Christian gives you an opportunity to have a faithful

and joyful relationship with God. God provides love to others. He shows faithfulness to everyone in this world. He forgives all sinners. He provides peace to all and provides joy to everyone. He asks that you praise and spread his Word. He loves and cares for

everyone. He provides protection to all harm. He also gave us the Ten Commandments and expects people to follow them. He forgives all sins you make.

Being a Christian is amazing. It is the best thing that can happen to you. I want to be a Christian because I want to be close to God. God is so important in my life. He cleanses my sins and loves me. I want to be a Christian because I

want to be saved and experience joy and peace that he provides.”

church website: www.yourpeace.org.... email: yourpeace@verizon.net

Remember to ask: "How can I pray for you?"

Pray without ceasing - 1 Thes. 5:17

Page 2

HAPPY NEWS AND NOTES:+ OUR SPRING CONGREGATIONAL MEETING TOOK PLACE MAY 25th worship and the main topic of conversation was our 100th anniversary coming up in 2016! Please note that we have an “idea” box in the church narthex for any and all of your good ideas on how we can celebrate 100 years!

+ Michele Cherney (became a new member of Peace May 18!) is our VBS director this summer! VBS starts August 3 and the time is NOW to see how you can help! Her phone number is 570-667-0131! Please pick up registration sheets at the back of the church or go to the church website and register there!

+ The Bjornstad family and Hannah would like to THANK YOU for your help and support of Hannah in attending her Senior Recital. We parents are so very thankful to God for all the gifts that she has been given.

+ SPONSORING FLOWERS! If you would like to sponsor the flowers for a particular Sunday, please note that it is now the sponsor’s responsibility to provide/order the flowers. Please sign up on the calandar at the back of the church though! Remember you can bring in an arrangement of flowers from your garden - or boquets of wild flowers are wonderful too! But if you want to order “regular” flowers from McCarthy’s Flowers, please call: 570-507-9441 or 570-343-1179 and ask to speak with Carol Kemler! or you can stop by the 1001 N. Main Ave, Scranton, store and order from there!

+ We honor our HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS who graduated this past June! We already gave a blessing to James McHale who will be attending Temple University! As we are able we will be giving our blessings to Christian Sauter and Timothy Hackenberg and Hannah Bjornstad, ALL of whom will be going on to university this Fall! Praise the Lord!

+ Pastor and Monica Bjornstad attended the Eastern District Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Convention at the beginning of June in Buffalo, NY. It was a real blessing and Pastor was elected as one of the Pastoral Counselors. Check out what the LWML is all about at www.lwml.org! It was very exciting for the convening body to vote on several exciting mission projects to fund with our mite offerings! We have them here at Peace four times a year! Thank you for your support!

+ PASTOR AND FAMILY WILL BE ON VACATION from June 30 - July 19th to attend to Erika’s WEDDING(!) outside Reno, NV - and tend to visiting other family in the Midwest. Please pray for us and our journey - and for Erika and Caleb! Our Elder Ky Betts will deliver the Sunday message on July 6th and our Congregational President Chad Tyke will deliver the message on July 13th. Please pray for our church leadership! For any kind of pastoral emergency you can certainly call Pastor Bjornstad at 570-815-0917, but if his cell phone is not accessible, you can call Pastor Naveen at (848) 203-4084 or Pastor Murray Brindle at (570) 240-1521 or (570) 836-4718.

+ Praise the Lord for John Schulz and his co-worker Dan who built the ramp for the House of Peace this last month!

+ CHURCH CHICKEN BBQ WILL BE TAKING PLACE AUGUST 9TH! We need your help and participation - and LEADERSHIP if you can spare it! A meeting will take place after church on June 29th to organize the details! TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE!

+ CHURCH CAMPING AT THE END OF AUGUST! There is the beautiful Salt Springs park a few miles north of Montrose that has rustic cabins and tent sites and all kinds of fun activities (besides a waterfall!) on August 22-24! Who is game for a lot of fellowship and fun that weekend?

+ PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!! SEEK HIM AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU! SUNDAY WORSHIP IS AT 9:30 in the summer! BE THERE!

KY BETTS bulletin illustration for Trinity Sunday!

+ ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE classes were hugely popular this spring! The effort was started by Pastor Naveen and we were especially blessed with the leadership of Ginny Periano and help from MANY people including Frank Grecco and Gus Bernardi (driving), and Ramona, Elsie, Daryl and Ray for helping out with teaching… and ESPECIALLY Judy Herie and the Bjornstad girls for helping coral the kids while the adults studied!

+ At the end of May we had a BEAUTIFUL picnic out at Nay Aug Park where the Nepali students brought fabulous Nepali food which they just loved heaping our plates with!

+ Although we had been talking a lot about Jesus and praying to Him with the group every class, at the last class we took everyone up to the sanctuary and showed them a introductory video on Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. Pastor handed out all the Jesus movie DVDs that he had (and he will order more) as they all wanted to watch it! + Follow up visits will be made, and their children invited to come to VBS. Classes will start up again in August and we would dearly love to have YOUR participation!

MISSION NEWS!!!! PRAY FOR GOD'S MISSION!

PASTORAL NOTE ON THE RECENT PA COURT DECISION ON “GAY MARRIAGE”Of course everyone knew the day was coming when our Commonwealth would have “gay marriage”. It is just one of those things that happen these days seemingly out of the blue. There was no hoopla. No debate. No vote. It is just that you get up one morning and some judge somewhere throws the gavel down and decides that enough is enough and that everyone’s sense of right and wrong has changed enough and made it an acceptable time to essentially change the definition of marriage. And, the sad thing is, of course, he is probably right. There is really hardly a peep of serious objection.

With the throw of the gavel, our justice system has put the seal of approval on what our nation now believes about marriage: that it is simply a narcissistic institution that caters to the sexual and love desires of the individual. Marriage today has nothing to do with God’s perfectly plain plan for the male/female complementary natures in establishing families and raising the next generation of God fearing citizens.

The reality is that marriage today (in general) is a sham. It is simply way to get what you want for as long as you want. And when it doesn’t meet your need? You get divorced. Who cares about the kids? (not just yours, but the nighbor and

church kids who see you get divorced and wonder “could that happen to me?”) Who cares about the plan of the Lord for us?

If that is what we want, then that is what we will give ourselves. How utterly pathetic it all is.

But the important thing is that all this ISN’T to be true for the Christian. We are the new creation of Christ, blessed in the saving blood of Jesus, forgiven and set free! We are to have nothing to do with the lies of Satan. We are called to live faithful and beautiful lives to the Glory of God - no matter the situation - being faithful to our spouse and honoring and loving our families.

As the future unfolds, Christians as individuals and as the church of God, need to fervently ask our Lord to help us in these areas of our lives together:1. Be able to articulate and hold to (for the long term) the

Biblical and rational understanding of marriage - in a beautiful and winsome way.

2. Be able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins with the gay individual and community in meaningful ways.

3. Eagerly practice the art of Godly marriage and sexuality within the parameters set by our creator God - and teach it to our children!

May God preserve and save us all!

This was the scene on our last ESL night… about 25 adults and at least a dozen children playing outside! We had two NEW students on our last night!

Pictured to the left is Rev. Randy Golter having dinner with the church leadership here at Peace on May 17th. Rev. Golter is the Executive Director of LCMS International Missions and he shared with us personally what it means to be a church body in mission around the world. He also presented the next day at the NEPA Lutheran Mission Festival!