BIRTHDAYS:

Carolyn Olson 12-2

Linda Servold 12-2

Chloe Payne 12-10

Vera Bierle 12-16

Kensley James 12-17

Finnick Rushing 12-23

Bill Grinstead 12-26

Dylan Payne 12-27

Seporah Rushing 12-30

Kate Hanson 12-31

If we have inadvertently omitted anyone, please contact

Laura Dhenin in the church office. Thank you!

Bill Festing, being

honored on Veteran’s

Day, November 11, 2019

At a Glance... Dates to Remember:

Sunday, December 1:

Food Drive for Jonah’s House

December Birthdays Reception

Saturday, December 7:

9:00 am: Trek for Trees

Sunday, December 8:

5:00 pm: Tree Trimming &

Pizza Party

Sunday, December 15:

5:30 pm: Youth Group Gift

Wrapping Party

Tuesday, December 24:

9:00 am: Christmas Eve Set-Up

7:00 pm: Carols, Communion &

Candlelight

Sunday, December 29:

10:30 am: Service of Lessons &

Carols

ANNIVERSARIES

Paul & Toni Thompson 12-30-75

Dean & Linda DeSelms 12-31-99

Saint Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church

December 2019. Volume 58 #12

Page 2

Choir Practice Resumes Every Wednesday at 6:30 pm

New members welcome!

Ministry Appreciation Luncheon

Italian Potluck Saturday, December 14

th

12:00 pm

Please join us as we honor our

2019 Pumpkin Patch recipients and

others we have helped throughout

the year.

Bring a dish, salad or desert to

share.

All are welcome!

Trek for Trees Saturday, December 7th

(meet in the church parking lot at 9:00 am)

Join us as we journey to the Lincoln National

Forest (near Queen) to pick the perfect Christmas

tree for our sanctuary.

Weather permitting, a cookout lunch will follow.

Bring your own lunch or some to share.

If you would also like to cut your own tree, a permit

must be purchased in advance from the U.S.

Forestry Dept., (off National Parks Hwy &

Commerce Dr. - near the airport)

It’s always an adventure and

All Are Welcome!

Birthday Reception:

December 1st - After Worship

Join us as we honor those celebrating

birthdays this month.

Christmas Tree Trimming & Pizza Party

Sunday, December 8th

5:00 pm.

Come help us decorate our

Christmas Tree and Sanctuary.

We will take up a collection and order pizza for

dinner.

Join us for family, food, fun and fellowship.

Youth Group Christmas Project: Our Youth Group is planning on providing Christmas gifts for the children in the Carlsbad Transitional Housing program, and they need your help!

Our Youth Group is asking for your donation of items (see wish lists in the Narthex) or your monetary donation. They will need all items (or donations) by December 15th so they have time to wrap the gifts and deliver them to CTHHS.

Thank you for your support!

SHIP Shelter:

Carlsbad Transitional Housing & Homeless Shelter Inc. will once again coordinate the SHIP Shelter (November-February), providing overnight accommodations for the homeless in Carlsbad on cold nights or other nights of inclement weather.

This year they will work side by side with the Community of Hope Center (Tent City). Community of Hope Center will be the hosts for the entire season.

If you would like to help with meals, please contact CTHHS at 575-200-3095 or cthhs1999@gmail.com

Christmas Eve Carols, Communion &

Candlelight Saturday, December 24

th

7:00 pm

Christmas Eve Set Up

Tuesday, December 24, 9:00 am

Come help as we prepare the sanctuary for our

Christmas Eve Candlelight service.

Lessons & Carols

Sunday, December 29th

10:30 am

Page 3

In-Home Communion Mondays

On the first and third Monday of the

month Rev. Marty will be visiting our

homebound members and offering

Holy Communion.

Others are invited to accompany Rev.

Marty on these visits.

If you would like to participate, or have

a friend or family member that would

enjoy a visit, please speak to Rev. Marty.

God’s Work. Our Hands. The things we do and ways YOU can help…

• Noisy Offering Collection for ELCA WORLD HUNGER: Every week during our worship service, the children of the congregation take a coin collection after the Gospel for Children.

• Food Drive for Jonah’s House: Jonah's House in in need of canned goods and other non-perishable

food items. PLEASE Remember to bring your items to church the first Sunday of each month.

• Packs for Hunger: Packs for Hunger is feeding nearly 250 Carlsbad-area children PER WEEK (even

in the SUMMER!) and they need your HELP. Please consider making a monetary or food donation.

Lists of suggested food items and a collection container are in the Narthex.

• Sock Drive: Donations of (new) socks and undergarments for boys and girls, pre-K-12th grade can be

made throughout the year by placing them in the Packs for Hunger collection container in the Narthex.

• Can Tabs for Ronald McDonald House: We collect aluminum soda can tabs for Ronald McDonald House. A collection container is in the Narthex.

Page

Noisy Offering Update:

Those coins are adding up!

We have collected $735.00 so far this year (January – October) for ELCA World Hunger.

Thank you for your generosity and for helping teach our children about giving.

Please help us reach our goal this year of $1,000.00.

Need Help with Your Christmas Gift Shopping?

Consider a gift from the ELCA Good Gifts Catalog.

(Available on-line or in the Narthex).

As members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in

America (ELCA), we believe that God is calling us into

the world – together. And with generous, loving hands,

we can make a difference.

ELCA Good Gifts go beyond your regular

congregational offering to support the ministries of the

ELCA that mean the most to you and your loved ones.

Together, we can do more than we ever could alone, making a huge collective impact on the needs of our

church and the world.

Page 5

2020 Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-NM: Bishop's Luncheon & Issues Briefing

Thursday, February 6

You are invited and urged to attend!

The morning Issues Briefing will again be at the United Church (1804 Arroyo Chamiso in Santa Fe). Registration and refreshments will begin at 9:00 am.

The Bishop's Legislative Luncheon will be at 12:30 pm La Fonda Hotel (100 East San Francisco).

The cost for the luncheon is $35 per person. That cost is reduced to $30 when 4 or more people attend from your congregation or group. If you are only able to attend the morning Issues Briefing, the cost is $10.

Faster Pastors Do It Again!

Over $20,000 was raised for Lutheran Disaster Response by the 2019 Faster

Pastors of the Rocky Mountain Synod. Twelve runners ran the 200-mile Ragnar

relay race that began in Castle Rock and made their way to the Fort Collins finish line

the weekend of September 13th. This was the 8th year the team has gathered to run

for an ELCA ministry cause.

The team included Rick Reiten (Trinity-Fort Collins, CO), Gus and Josie Brockmann,

Katie Emery, (First-Longmont, CO), Will Johnson (Cross of Christ-Broomfield, CO),

Jake Thorson (sub for Eric Kurtz of Holy Shepherd-Lakewood, CO), Barb Walter (sub

for Michael Degner-(Our Savior-Alamogordo, NM), Kim Gonia (Risen Lord-Conifer,

CO), Brad Doty (St. Philip-Littleton, CO), Andy Steitz (King of Glory-Loveland, CO),

Joel Pancoast (Zion-Loveland, CO) and Wendy Kalan (Shepherd of the Valley-LaSalle, CO). The team is grateful for all

those who donated to the cause and for the wonderful hospitality of congregations along the way at Christ-Highlands

Ranch, CO, Well of Hope-Castle Rock, CO, and Our Saviour's-Fort Collins, CO.

Welcome Kurt Rager, new Director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry New Mexico

Kurt Rager is the new Director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry – New Mexico. Succeeding Ruth Hoffman, Kurt becomes just the third director in ministry’s 35-year history. A native of New Mexico, Kurt has been an active member of All Saints, Albuquerque, for most of his life.

A graduate of the University of New Mexico, Kurt studied political science and religious studies. In addition to his passion and commitment to advocacy in the public sector by individuals and congregations, Kurt brings a special skill set to the ministry due to his uniquely diverse professional background. In addition to years of management experience in the private sector, Kurt served as the Education and Youth Minister at St. Paul, Albuquerque, for 11 years, and as the Team Minister on the staff at First

Lutheran, Temple, Texas. Kurt spent 5 years living in Germany, as civilian employee of the U.S. Army, leading a variety of programs that provided services to and advocated for the needs of Military Members and their Families. Most recently, Kurt directed the Family Readiness program for the Southwestern Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was also the Texas State Community Support Coordinator, working on behalf of the U.S. Army, advocating for the care and support of active-duty Military members, Veterans, and their Families, with state and local governments.

Thrilled to be back in New Mexico, Kurt pursues a lengthy list of interests and activities, though the most joy is brought to Kurt’s life by his 8-year old daughter, Hannah.

Kurt is looking forward to maintaining the long history of advocacy by LAM-NM on solutions to improve the lives of those

most vulnerable in New Mexico. Kurt is also excited to support Partner Congregations in connecting member’s faith to

their daily life through the awareness of issues and by providing opportunities to use their voice through advocacy. He

begins his work December 1.

Page 6

Joy in gratitude

By Kimberly Knowle-Zeller, November 27, 2019

With half-eaten bowls of oatmeal on the table, my children jump off their chairs and run to the living room. “Music on?” my son asks, smiling.

With arms lifted in the air, both children yell, “Music! Dancing!” I nod my head and soon hear the click of the stereo system and the familiar beat of Pentatonix from their latest favorite CD. Finishing my breakfast and sipping my coffee, I watch them dance. Isaac, the 2-year-old, runs in circles, laughing, while his older sister, Charlotte, lifts her arms and spins on one foot. Their delight echoes throughout the room; the smiles never leave their faces.

Moments like these show me my children’s innate joy. Having each other, some music and room to move is all they need. I look at them and can’t help but feel joy too.

For many children, joy comes easily but expressing thanks takes more work.

November is the traditional month for sharing thanks. Through my children, I see how joy and thanks go together. As a parent, I can easily overlook the moments of joy throughout my day. I can be consumed by the to-do list: never-ending emails waiting for responses, appointments to schedule, errands to run, dishes to clean and put away, and clothes to wash.

Yet if I look up, I can see my children’s joy—and, simultaneously, their gratitude for life—as they play with their trains, recount what they learned at school, celebrate the blue sky, and play and share with friends at the park.

For many children, joy comes easily but expressing thanks takes more work. I know there will come a time when I won’t have to ask my children, “What do you say?” after they receive a gift or someone does something nice for them. But until then, I hope to celebrate the simple moments of joy that surround me and to keep modeling thanks for all the gifts we receive. I want to continue to invite my children into a life of joy and gratitude.

Practices

• As a family, keep a list of all the people, places and things that bring you joy. As you share together, offer a prayer of thanks.

• Watch what brings your children joy and join them in it. Share in dancing before bed. Color together. Slide down the slide. Read their favorite books with them.

• Search your Bible for passages that contain the word joy. Read them together as a family.

Kimberly Knowle-Zeller Kimberly Knowle-Zeller is an ordained ELCA pastor, mother of two and spouse of an ELCA pastor. She lives with her family in Cole Camp, Mo. Her website is kimberlyknowlezeller.com.

Page 7

SEASON OF DOUBT By Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop, ELCA November 1, 2019

 When serving as a parish pastor, I would sometimes be asked if it was possible to be a faithful Christian and also doubt. Could one be a disciple and also question?

Parishioners would be hesitant to ask for fear that they would face judgment—Divine and mine. Somehow, we’ve gotten it into our heads that doubt has no part of

faith, that questions are disloyal, and that anguish and even anger are an offense to God.

We think of the heroes of the Bible, strong and steadfast. We consider the lives of the saints and martyrs as they stood resolute in the face of death. Surely these heroes, saints and martyrs must be models of faith. Our doubts and questions reveal how short we have fallen.

When my family and I moved from Columbus to Ashtabula, Ohio, we were able to find a house that had a little bit of land, about a quarter of an acre. I could mow the lawn of our Columbus house with a weed whacker. Now I had room for a proper garden. I had to break through the grass in the backyard to get to the good dark earth. I felt like the Norwegian pioneers from Giants in the Earth, and I probably had enough sod squares to start a prairie sod house.

I laid out my garden according to a plan I saw in Martha Stewart Living. (Odd juxtaposition: sod house and Martha Stewart.) Then I planted. Carrots were just some of the seeds I sowed, envisioning a bountiful harvest. I had pretty good luck that first year: corn, potatoes, radishes, tomatoes and carrots.

Then winter came.

So, before you scoff, you Alaskans, Dakotans, Montanans and Minnesotans, Ohio can have some long and intense winters too. Ashtabula is in the snow belt. Before Lake Erie freezes, storms can whip across the lake, pick up moisture and dump snow when they hit land. We call this lake-effect snow. Buffalo, N.Y., has been known to get 7 feet of snow in a single storm. Ashtabula isn’t far behind.

Snow and cold are fine in November and December. Thanksgiving feasts, Advent anticipation and Christmas joy make the weather and the long nights seem cozy, and even like “the close and holy darkness” that poet Dylan Thomas describes in A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

The snow and cold are accepted grudgingly in January and February, but by March we are so over it. We long to see new life. We long to see green. I remember when a snowplow accidentally went too far and uncovered 3 feet of lawn. We just stared at it.

When the snow began to melt, I inspected the garden, thinking about a new season and new growth. Then I noticed something—the green tops of carrots. Some of the carrots had wintered over. Through the snow, through the cold, through the long nights, life had been happening. Without my knowing it, without my doing anything about it, the carrots made it through.

Doubt can seem like winter—long, cold, barren. It can feel isolating and lonely. These are natural and true experiences. What is not true is that doubt is the absence of faith. Doubt is part of faith. We hear it in Scripture, and Jesus never shies away from it. A father seeking healing for his son cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” and Jesus healed the boy (Mark 9:24). The risen Christ appeared to his disciples and some disbelieved for joy (Luke 24:41). Still, Jesus sent them out to tell the good news.

Faith, like wintering-over carrots, still lives even in our winters. God still acts and nurtures even when we cannot. Doubt and questioning draw us into a deeper relationship with God.

God can take it, and God will carry us through the winter.

A monthly message from the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Her email address: bishop@elca.org. This column originally appeared in Living Lutheran’s March 2019 issue. Reprinted with permission.

Somehow, we’ve gotten it into our heads that doubt has no part of faith, that questions are disloyal, and that anguish and even anger are an offense to God.

Page 8

Worship 101

The "whats, hows and whys" of Lutheran

worship—part 4 of 5

By Meghan Johnston Aelabouni June 7, 2019

Meal

The stuff of the earth, Jesus’ command to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) and the community eating and drinking together—this is communion, the meal of worship. Yet the simple recipe has countless variations (wafers or loaves, wine or juice, a common cup or individual glasses, kneeling at the rail or walking to stations) and the diversity of the people who preside at the table or serve and receive the meal.

Wherever communion takes place, every table is part of the same table at which Jesus first said, “My body, given for you … my blood, shed for you.”

There are many whys behind communion and baptism being the two sacraments celebrated in Lutheran worship. Tradition, practicality and context may all help determine how the sacraments are carried out. Yet the what of the sacraments—their meaning and their central place in worship—is also worth examining.

Lutherans refer to the sacraments as “means of grace”—ways in which God in Jesus Christ is present through the Spirit in the materials, words and human actions that offer us God’s grace. As we “taste and see” or “come to the water,” communion and baptism connect us not only to

God, Klein said, but also to the community, to the body of Christ, who share in these sacraments.

It’s important to experience the sacraments

as something “different from what I

control”—like the surprise of drops hitting

your skin as the water from the font is flung

out over the congregation.

Martin Luther emphasized that daily individual remembrances of baptism could be done while washing hands or bathing, but Klein argued that it’s also important to experience the sacraments as something “different from what I control”—like the surprise of drops hitting your skin as the water from the font is flung out over the congregation during a communal remembrance of baptism.

The sacraments also carry this sense of community and connection out into the world. Christensen noted: “If these are the ritual acts we participate in week after week, they remind us of the reality of God’s good creation and our place in it.

“The church has an immigration policy, and it’s called baptism. In a world deeply divided over national identity, baptism says everyone is welcome. It preserves the integrity of our identities and unites us.”

Similarly, the abundance and sharing of communion, in which everyone is fed and there is enough for everyone, challenges “a manufactured scarcity in which we work and overwork,” he said. If baptism is the church’s immigration policy, “communion is our economic policy.”

Meghan Johnston Aelabouni Meghan Johnston Aelabouni is a doctoral candidate in religious studies and a country coordinator for the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission program in Jerusalem and the West Bank

Page 9

DECEMBER 2019

Your perfect Christmas gift?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from

yourselves, it is the gift of God. -Ephesians 2:8a

True confessions: I’ve never worn that jaunty Christmas tie my son bought me five years ago. At the end of every

December I shake my head and say, well, maybe next year. It’s a waste, I know.

Most of us have a few Christmas presents, given in love and received with joy, that are forlornly collecting dust in a

drawer or closet. That’s not very good stewardship, is it?

More important than that forgotten bottle of perfume or homely sweater, how are you stewarding that most precious

of all Christmas gifts—the new life you have through faith in Jesus? Do you cherish it, honor it, make the most of all

it has to offer? Because it is truly amazing.

New life. Too many Christians focus exclusively on the AFTERlife that begins when we die. But that’s missing out on

the joy, peace and fulfillment that Jesus promises us today, what he describes as life abundant. You’ve doubtless

seen evidence of this life in the cheerful eyes and peaceful smiles of holy people you’ve encountered. Light and love

and joy radiates from them.

I want that life. Don’t you?

The abundant life is Jesus’ free gift, but it doesn’t come automatically. It grows with us as we mature in faith through

prayer, scripture study, worship, service and generosity – the disciplines of faith. In so doing, we align our hearts

and souls with God’s purposes and fulfill ever more closely those two holy commandments to love God and

neighbor.

This year, don’t let your faith end up like a jaunty Christmas tie, hanging unused in the closet. Make the most of it

and live into the new, abundant life Jesus promises to us all. It’s the number one stewardship lesson.

--Rob Blezard

Copyright © 2019, Rev. Robert Blezard. Reprinted by permission.

Pastor Blezard serves as an assistant to the bishop of the Lower Susquehanna Synod and works as content editor for www.stewardshipoflife.org. He blogs at www.thestewardshipguy.com.

S u n M o n T u e W e d T h u F r i S a t

1 9:00 am: Sunday School

Confirmation Class Bible Study

10:30 am: Worship & Holy Communion

*First Sunday Food Drive for Jonah’s House

11:45 am: December Birthdays Reception

2:30-5:30 pm: Cub Scouts Den Mtg.

2 3 4

6:30 pm: Choir Practice

5 6

7

9:00 am: Trek for Trees

8 9:00 am: Sunday School

Confirmation Class Bible Study

10:30 am: Worship & Holy Communion

11:45 pm: Fellowship

12:00 pm: Congregational Council Mtg.

2:30-5:30 pm: Cub Scouts Den Mtg.

5:00 pm: Tree Trimming & Pizza Party

9

4:00 pm: CTHHS Inc. Board Mtg

10 5:00 pm: Faith

Formation Mtg.

11 5:30 pm: Worship

& Music Mtg 6:30 pm: Choir

Practice

12 11:00 am: Jonah’s

House Board Mtg.

13

14

12:00 pm:

Community-

Ministry

Appreciation

Luncheon

15 9:00 am: Sunday School

Confirmation Class Bible Study

10:30 am: Worship & Holy Communion

11:45 am: Fellowship

2:30-5:30 pm: Cub Scouts Den Mtg.

5:30 pm: Youth Group

16

17

18 6:30 pm: Choir

Practice .

19

20

21

22

9:00 am: Sunday School Confirmation Class

Bible Study

10:30 am: Worship & Holy Communion

11:45 am: Fellowship

2:30-5:30 pm: Cub Scouts Den Mtg.

23

24

9:00 am: Set-Up

7:00 pm:

Candlelight

Service

25

26

27

28

29

10:30 am: Service of Lessons & Carols

11:45 am: Fellowship

30

31

1302 West Pierce Street • Carlsbad NM 88220 575-887-3033

Email: stpeter@splcnm.com www.splcnm.com

December - 2019

The Contact

St. Peter Lutheran Church

1302 West Pierce Street

Carlsbad NM 88220

St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church 1302 West Pierce Street www.splcnm.com Carlsbad NM 88220 stpeter@splcnm.com 575-887-3033

Sunday Schedule ~ Winter ~

9:00 am: Sunday School

Confirmation Class

Bible Study

10:30 am: Worship with

Holy Communion

11:45 am: Fellowship

5:30 pm: Youth Group*

*every other Sunday