second annual brew & stew - clover sitesstorage.cloversites.com/holycrosslutheranchurch5/... ·...

Holy Cross Lutheran Church Newsletter

February 2014

In t

his

iss

ue:

Annual M

eeti

ng:

Bre

w &

Ste

w:

Page 1

The P

ast

or’

s Pen:

Page 2

Vib

rant

Fait

h a

t H

om

e:

Page 4

Ste

ward

ship

Update

: P

age 5

Pra

yer

Lis

t: Page 1

1

Our

mis

sion

:

Cla

imed

, Met

, Cal

led,

Sen

t to

be

God

’s P

eopl

e D

oing

God

’s W

ork

Our

vis

ion:

To

be a

com

mun

ity o

f fai

th

wher

e pe

ople

are

insp

ired

and

equi

pped

for a

jour

ney

of li

ving

live

s

cent

ered

in C

hris

t

Second Annual

Brew & Stew Chili Cook-Off and

Homebrew Competition February 15th, 2014

Noon—5PM

Calling all Brewers and Stewers! Get your blue-ribbon contenders ready for the big day! Invite your friends!

$7 presale tickets $10 at the door

Prizes for Best Beer, Best Chili, and Most Creative Table. Proceeds to ben-efit Holy Cross Social Ministry.

Register your chili or beer at www.holycrosslivonia.org

Holy C

ross

Ev. Lutheran

Church

30650 S

ix M

ile R

oad

Liv

onia

, M

I 4

8152-3

499

RETU

RN

SERVIC

E R

EQ

UESTED

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP TEAM: Pastor Dana Runestad Cantor Dr. Michael Burkhardt Pastor Benjamin Morris Ministers - The disciples at Holy Cross

Phone: 734-427-1414 Fax: 734-427-1419

Email: [email protected] Website: http://holycrosslivonia.org

FINAL NOTICE

Sunday, Feb. 23rd after 10AM Worship

Find out what will be happening in the new year. Vote on important issues, including our annual budget. A light lunch will be served. We need volunteers to prepare soup, salad and rolls (or meal of your choice). Please contact Kathy Weaver to volunteer.

Wilderness. Let that word sink in a bit - what images come to mind? Biblically it is a desert, a place without water and therefore a place without life. It is the haunt of animals associated with chaos - the jackal and the ostrich. It is a place of fear, and a place wonder. Paradoxically it is where God’s people go to meet God. From Mo-ses on Sinai and 40 years of wandering, to the prophets and of most note for the Church the 40 years Jesus spent the wilderness is a place of formation. Think about the place wilderness holds in our own national psyche. Thoreau, Lewis and Clark, John Muir and less familiar Sigurd Olson - the wilderness is where Americans go to find themselves.

Now it is 2014 and the world has changed significantly - the pace of life for all of us can be overwhelming. It is hard to find and hear our own voices let alone the voice of God. Now think for a moment about the lives of our young people. They know nothing other than a life that is plugged in, a life that is harried, scheduled, and busy. Increasingly we know that they are absent from the church and more and more absent from themselves. And so we are calling them into wilderness: the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Far from desert, the BWCAW is a land of lakes, rivers and marshes, instead of the jackal and ostrich it is home to moose and wolf. The landscape is different but wilderness it remains. Our young people will spend a week in groups of nine, exploring this vast place. Paddling by day and camping by night they will experience life at the speed of canoe, a speed that will be quite foreign to most of our youth. They will not hear the ringing of cell phones, the buzz of lamps, or even the hum of motor boats, for in the BWCAW only the shoes of hikers and the hulls of canoes are allowed. In this place, in the absence of so much they will hear the sound of their own hearts beating, and when they listen deeper, to the quiet voice of the Spirit. Like those who have experi-enced wilderness before them, they will not return the same people who left. In the past, adventurers who went into the wilderness to seek fortune would promise inves-tors in the city a return of fur, gold, and jewels. Today I am asking for partners who will in-vest in that which is intangible, our young people’s hearts. We are asking each young per-son’s family to be responsible for half of the cost of the trip. We are asking you to help make the other half happen. That is what the “Brown Envelope Campaign” on the Youth bul-letin board is about. Would you prayerfully consider taking an envelope and place in it not just money, but hope, trust and prayer that our youth will experience God in the wilderness and come back with new skills, new strength and new hearts? Peace, Pastor Ben

-11- -2-

REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS

Angela Allen

Ed Ardnt*

Mary Ann Asher*

Bill Barton, Jr.

Ralph Bolhouse

Isabelle Bumford

Michael Burkhardt*

Michael Chaves

Kelley Cote

David Eads

Rene Foster*

Laura Geletzke

Wolf Goreceki

John Hobart*

Bob Hoyrup*

Ann Kalec

Bob Kunz*

Ellen Kuuttila

Arlayne Lewis*

Herb Lewis*

Carolyn Martin

Mary Kay Moore*

Elizabeth Morman

Diana Paolella

George Rabe

Dorothea Ross

Steve Sheldon

Mary Spire

Ruth Tobey

Brooklyn Underwood

Melissa Wangler

Dave Wheeker*

Benjamin Wrobel

Those Ill or Recovering or in need of Special Prayers:

Jayne Beyers*

Jo-Andrea Brandt*

Betty Connell*

Betty Dahlstrom*(R)

Edna Duffy*

Norma Eisbrenner*

Ann Holliday*

Margaret Hoover*

Doris Knapp*

Sally Lanius*

Ruth Lindke*

Dianne Markwell*®

Marilyn May*

Amy Oellerich*

Werner Oellerich*

Lee Onkka*

Bea Rumley

Jan Siemert*

Bob Stone*

Trudy Stone*

Eleanor Thom*

Jack Thom*

Betty Wickham

Those Homebound:

Doug Morehead

Carol Simmons*

Esther Taylor*

Rae Ellen Walsh

Ellen Zerbst*

Those Who Grieve for Family or Friends Who Have Died:

Andrew Barr

Nathan Bordach*

Paul & Erin Tracy

Joseph Comeau

Matthew Conrad

Stephen Cruickshank

Chad Davey

Michael Davey

Taylor Furda*

Marc Garnsey

Evan Gearino

Tina Hiller

Seth Hooper

Conner Lanius

Daniel Lanius

Jeremy Samuels

Marc Samuels

Heidi Scherbarth

Jennifer Smith

Jeff Sweitzer

Those Serving in the Military:

(H) - Known to be Hospitalized (HO) - Hospice (R) -Rehab (*) - Member

To add a name to this list:

Call or email the office, [email protected], put “Prayer Request” in the subject line:

include only the request information and a general reason for the request.

Names will be removed after 3 months unless we are contacted. Thank you!

-3- -10-

Altar Flowers

for February All Sundays in February and March are open. Please sign up on the bulletin board outside the office to provide flowers for the altar.

March NEWSLETTER

DEADLINE is set for

February 9

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP TEAM PASTOR DANA RUNESTAD

CANTOR DR. MICHAEL BURKHARDT PASTOR BENJAMIN MORRIS

(734) 427-1414 http://holycrosslivonia.org

* SHARI DUDEK – EDITOR

(734) 331-2649 [email protected]

Holy Cross Lutheran Church NEWSLETTER

Bits & Pieces

Michelle Long has declined the opportuni-ty to continue as the church sexton. The search for custodial support is ongo-ing. We thank Michelle for her dedicated work through the years. Look for information regarding the Lenten season to arrive in your mailboxes soon.

Trifolium hybridum l.

Holy Cross Statement of Welcome

Holy Cross is a Christ-centered community in the Lutheran tradition (ELCA).

We believe all people are created in God’s image.

We are passionate about the radical hospitality that Jesus showed all people.

We are committed to being a community of that same kind of hospitality.

We welcome all people to our life and ministry together…

…in worship, at the font, at the table and in fellowship,

regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age

or any other category society uses to distinguish between people.

We are Holy Cross and you are welcome here.

There is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female;

for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

4th Mary Markes 5th Seth Teachout 6th Robert Galka Coralynn Roush 7th Harvey Gist Marlene Johnson Lon Williams, Jr. 8th Brian Foster Jon Gary Joe Nuyen Dave Wheeker 10th Nadia Goodrich Ceilia Maccani Kara Plater Jack Susami 11th Shari Dudek Laura Roush Nancy Tierney 13th JoAndrea Brandt 14th Bob Hoyrup 16th Kim Chartrand Miranda Hall Linda Lestock Cathy Vickers 18th Barb Myers 19th Kim Thomas 20th Bob Ferrari Ron Ferrari Glen Newa Allen Schrecengost 21st Justin Grimble 23rd Margot Beckerman-Macione Elizabeth Hendrickson Susan Morman 24th Rich Debusschere

27th Josephine Baker Ann Holliday Scott Vasko 28th George Simmons

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

1st Meryl & Judy Smith 2nd Doug & Toni Shepherd 7th Jon & Carey Gary 12th Kim & John Thomas 18th Bill & Pat Barton 23rd Mark & Nancy Erickson 24th Millie & Eric Mitchell 26th Nathan & Krystan Goodrich

Happy Anniversary!

12-Hour Crop & Craft Sat., March 8th 10AM - 10PM

Join us! Not a scrapper? Come knit, bead, crochet, paint... whatever craftiness you enjoy. Bring your own lunch, snacks and drinks. We’ll order out for dinner. Come for a few hours or all twelve. Let Shari Dudek know if you plan to come.

-4- -9-

Save these Dates! Saturday, March 1 at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, April 12 at 3:00 p.m.

The Holy Cross Vibrant Faith @ Home (VF@H) team returns during March to help you prepare your hearts for the Lenten journey and then again in April to get ready for Holy Week. VF@H activities are designed to lead you through powerful faith-building activities that connect you to and help strengthen your daily faith walk. The events scheduled for March 1 and April 12 are tentatively set for 3:00 p.m. Specific details about each event to follow. We invite you to continue to explore this new resource available to all Holy Cross families and individuals of all ages. Even if you are not able to attend the VF@H activities, you have access to rich faith building resources at www.vibrantfaithathome.org (also available via a link on the Faith Formation page of the Holy Cross website: holycrosslivonia.org). Holy Cross is excited about Vibrant Faith @ Home, an organization that "supports families who are intentional about their faith and religious practice as they raise the next generation of committed Christians."

Coffee and Tea Servers for November

Feb. 2 … … … … … … W/ELCA: Lydia Circle Feb. 9 … … … … … … … … … … ..Mary Foster Feb. 16 … … Lisa Grimble & Trudi Feenstra Feb. 23 … … … … … … … ..ANNUAL MEETING

Please sign up for this much-appreciated ministry.

Contact Susan Scholz to volunteer.

Calling All

Handy-helpers

You are invited to join the “Brown Bag Brigade” at Holy Cross on Mondays at noon in the Abbey. The idea is to meet together over a brown bag lunch (or one you pick up on your way to church), share in fellowship and a brief devotion, and then tackle any odd jobs and repairs around the building that need to get done. Pastor Dana will meet with you the first time and offer the devotion. As you move into this, adjustments may need to be made to the schedule or the timing, but we’re going to start by coming together on Monday, February 17 at noon and see where things go from there. Please let Cindy in the office know if you plan to come. And thank you for sharing your gifts to build up the Body of Christ!

for FEBRUARY

Lectors February 2 Karen Berean February 9 Norm Sorensen February 16 Sue Scherbarth February 23 Linda Carlucci

Communion Teams February 2 W/ELCA Team February 9 Ferrari Team February 16 Dudek Team February 23 Hall Team

$271,845

$28,874 $34,359 $43,908

$378,986

$252,059

$27,994 $28,550

$56,590

$365,193

$-

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000

$350,000

$400,000

Jan - Sept2013

Oct 2013 Nov 2013 Dec 2013 Year-to-Date

Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church 2013 Comparison of Operating Expenditures and Receipts

January 1 - December 31, 2013 Average Worship Attendance Year-to-Date: 185

Expenditures Receipts

-8-

World Relief Quilts

Brr… this weather reminds us of the need to complete our commitment for World Relief Quilts. We have a few finished and many bits to make more. Starting in February, we will be set up for tying and taking rolls home to make into wonderful, warm quilts. Last year we sent 36 quilts made with loving hands. How many can we send this year?

-5-

Thoughts about Faith Practices

(the core values of Holy Cross)

Worship Learning Prayer

Caring Giving Serving

Fellowship

To engage in a practice is to show up and not get

attached to the outcome. Unlike a habit, like driving

down the same street from work to home every day,

the purpose of a spiritual practice is to help us stay

awake. Hidden in this kind of repetition is the

chance that on any given day, the mind or the soul

will connect with what is waiting to connect to us.

~Nora Gallagher, The Sacred Meal

Christian practices are not activities we do to make

something spiritual happen in our lives. Nor are

they duties we undertake to be obedient to God.

Rather, they are patterns of communal action that

create openings in our lives where the grace, mercy

and presence of God may be made known to us.

They are places where the power of God is experi-

enced. In the end, these are not ultimately our prac-

tices but forms of participation in the practice of

God.

~Craig Dykstra, Duke Divinity School

A Daytime Circle

… is beginning on Thursday, February 13

at 10:00 am. Meet in the Abbey. All wom-en are invited to Bible study, refreshment and fellowship.

2014 Stewardship update…sort of In the midst of the time after Epiphany, we continue to focus on light overcoming darkness. Wrap-ping up the “2014 Stewardship Appeal” and reflecting on what it means as your Church Council wrestles with compiling a budget for the year has led to interesting epiphanies of my own. The 2013 Annual Report will include a Stewardship Report that reports a blizzard of numbers that can overshadow the most important results of the work and ministry happening at and spinning out from Holy Cross. The report will say the 2014 aggregate pledge amount is 1% below the same amount for 2013 with 109 pledges versus 119. It will point out a disconnect between worship at-tendance at the highest level in over six years and operating receipts that are not. It will also cel-ebrate the average pledge up 8% over 2013, over half of the individual pledges representing a -over-year increase and over $500 per week coming from people not pledging at all last year. A blizzard of numbers … but what do they say? Yesterday, I was sitting with Lisa Heise talking about space. Anyone who has recently been within a mile of Holy Cross on any day at any time of day has likely witnessed the force of nature that is Lisa Heise. She generally has a parade of folks in her wake that have been swept up by her energy joining to create space within our building for ministry to breathe, grow and spill outside our walls. Hundreds of hours of loving labor have helped reach this point – just ask for time stamps from Jeff Schuman, Andy Heise, Earl Scherbarth, Jeff Dudek, and …and …and. Both the list and the work are inspiring. Creating space filled with energy. A different blizzard of numbers…but what do they say? It is easy to fall into the trap to try ‘running’ the church. We tend to put on business hats when talking about finances and can put God on the shelf during the conversation…thinking we are doing our ‘job’. It is extremely difficult to balance the cold reality of numbers with the power of God’s call. Looking strictly at the projected numbers, the Council could respond with prudence and limit the budget to what is certain. However, time and time again this community has experienced the power of “Holy Spirit Stuff”. Stewardship is our response to the gifts and grace God bestows on us, and God has been so very busy in our midst. With the combination of Pastor Dana, Pastor Ben and Cantor Michael, we have been entrusted with one of the most powerful Spiritual Leadership Teams in the Church. The work they do is changing the face of Holy Cross and Holy Cross in turn is changing the face of the church the world sees. It is tempting to point to powerful worship experi-ences and amazing ministries like GPS, 6.1.2, and hearts, hands and voices and think that is the point. It is tempting to see each of those ministries spilling outside and touching those around us and think that is the point. My epiphany? All that has happened thus far sets the stage for what happens next. The world needs the Church and we are asked to be the very best stewards of what God has provided. If Holy Cross is uniquely positioned to make a difference, we need to take care that it’s the blizzard of God that drives our running and not just the blizzard of numbers. But God needs every one of us to make it all happen. It is not too late to submit a pledge for 2014, or revise a previous pledge. Cards are in the Sanctuary and the Office. Place it in the offering plate or visit the Office. Faithfully,

Ellen Batkie on behalf of the Stewardship Team

Thank you so much for your donation of 550 lbs of assorted foods and $255 to Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michi-gan. This generous gift will provide approxi-mately 1,221 meals to your hungry neighbors in need. Outstanding job. Without advocates like you in our community Gleaners would not be able to collect over 2.5 million pounds of food from food drives and distribute them to our more than 550 partners each year. Through your support, you are helping to connect hungry people with the food they need when and where they need it. Thank you for choosing Gleaners and support-ing our mission to nourish communities by feeding hungry people. I look forward to working with you again in the future.

HOLY CROSS EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH - FEBRUARY 2014

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

4TH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

8:00 am Worship

9:00 am Faith Forum

10:00 am Worship & Sunday School

(for Tiny Tots only)

11:30 am Intercessory Prayer

4:00 pm Pipes, Bells & Brass - EMU

9:30 am Prayer Shawl

Ministry

5:00 pm hh&v –

Methodist Children’s

Home

6:30 pm hh&v

7:00 pm GPS

9:30 am Bible Study

1:00 pm Staff Meeting

6:30 pm Men’s Bible Study

6:30 pm Women’s Bible Study

7:00 pm Trinity on the Road

9:00 am Men’s Breakfast

6:00 pm Bell Rehearsal

6:12 pm 6.1.2

7:30 pm Choir Rehearsal

7:00 pm W/ELCA Board

7:00 pm Prayer Shawl

Ministry

10:30 am Care Givers 6:00 pm Pizza & Game

Night


8:00 am Worship

9:00 am Faith Forum

9:00 am Fair Trade Sales


11:00 am Fair Trade Sales


11:30 am 6.1.2 Handbell Rehearsal

5:00 pm hh&v –


Home

6:30 pm hh&v

7:00 pm GPS

7:00 pm Ruth Circle

9:30 am Bible Study

11:30 am Christian Fellowship

@ Brann’s






6:12 pm 6.1.2


10:00 am New Circle

7:30 pm Rachel Circle

Noon—5 pm

2nd Annual Brew & Stew


8:00 am Worship

9:00 am Faith Forum



11:30 am 6.1.2 Handbell Rehearsal

12:00 pm BB Brigade

5:00 pm NO hh&v Methodist Children’s

Home

6:30 pm NO hh&v

7:00 pm GPS

9:30 am Bible Study






6:12 pm 6.1.2


3:30 pm Book Discussion

6:30 pm Council

11:00 pm W/ELCA

Honoring

Women Lunch

3:00 pm Movies &

Munchies

7TH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 23 24 25 26 27 28

8:00 am Worship

9:00 am Faith Forum



11:30 am NO 6.1.2 Handbell Rehearsal

11:30 am HC Annual Meeting

5:00 pm hh&v –


Home

6:30 pm hh&v

7:00 pm GPS

9:30 am Bible Study






6:12 pm 6.1.2


7:00 pm Lydia Circle 7:00 pm EMU Private

Event

"Building Use by the Community" M 5pm-Ellies Weigh Th 11am-AA

T&Th 6:15pm-Dance It F 10am-AA

T 6:30pm-DHE Sun 5pm-Over Eaters W&Th 7am-AA 1st T 7pm-Model Airplane

W&F 8pm-AA 1st Th 9:30am-Spinners

W 8pm-Alanon

second annual brew & stew - clover sitesstorage.cloversites.com/holycrosslutheranchurch5/... ·...

Documents