Vol. 53      December 2004/ January 2005     No. 10

“As one family, we lovingly proclaim Jesus Christ.”

 

From Your Pastor:

It is Advent, and we prepare our hearts not only for the celebration of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, but we most specifically prepare ourselves for His 2^nd Advent, the time of or our Lords’ return in glory to judge both the living and the dead. Yet, the question still remains in our world: Who is Jesus Christ? This question is as old as the incarnation of the Son of God. Given the long and rich history of the Christian church, it is surprising that it is still asked, and it is equally surprising that various answers are still being given. You would think the debates would have stopped and the matter settled.

The debates continue because we live in a day of increasingly watered-down Christianity, when churches ask what kind of theology people want and which teachings will prove successful or popular. Jesus has become many things other than the Savior of the world, the one who died on the cross to win the forgiveness of sin in order to satisfy God’s demand for justice. Unfortunately, to some He is no more than a problem solver, a teacher of morality, an example of “good, clean living.” To others He is someone who can provide us with a life of success and prosperity, with a sense of security in a time in our times of fear and doubt, and worse yet, a “genie” who can be accessed from His bottle when we need something.

Our Advent season, which precedes the celebration of our dear Savior’s birth, has the answers to the question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” This Advent, we once again hear the preparation for the arrival of the Messiah who would save His people and the world. I invite you to allow the prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist to prepare your heart for God coming to us in Jesus, the baby of Bethlehem and the man of Golgotha who comes to bear our punishment and be our Lord and God! I invite you to listen in our Advent hymns and worship how God came into our human flesh, not to terrify us with His majesty, but to come to us in our sin and weakness, in our living and dying! “Who is Jesus Christ?” It is simply this: “Jesus is Lord!” He is the King of all kings and the Lord of life, who, as Martin Luther once wrote, “has snatched us, poor lost creatures from the jaws of hell, won us, made us free, and restored us to the Father’s favor and grace and taken us under His protection and shelter, in order that He may rule us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life and blessedness.”

The Advent and Christmas season is a special time of the year for us Christians. It is one of the few times during the year that the world gives us the license to carry our message of peace and hope to our families, our communities, and the world. By the songs we sing, the decorations we put up, the words we speak, and the actions we display, we witness to the world concerning the love and peace of our Savior and King.

May God richly, deeply and significantly bless and impact you and your family this Advent and Christmas season as you wait with both the saints below and in heaven for His 2^nd coming!

Yours in Christ’s service,

Pastor Young

From Pastor Brauer…

“If the Snow Gets Too High…”

“Make sure the message board has a message we can live with for a while.” Interesting thought, isn’t it? In southern Iowa, the snow never became a problem and since the church I served didn’t have a message board, it wasn’t a problem to begin with anyway. However, I will have to learn how severe Indiana winters can be. Yes, I was warned to price snow throwers and get one primed and ready before the first snowflakes hit. But the message board certainly got me to thinking. What is the message we display?

Obviously we don’t want to bore the La Porte community with the same message week after week. I remember one church where “Christ is born! Join us for Christmas Eve service at 11pm ” stayed on the board for 10 weeks because the lock on the sign froze and it couldn’t be opened until weather got warmer in mid-February. That’s just as timely as a postmark I have that was posted on January 3 with the slogan, “Mail Early for Christmas.” It’s either out of place for the time, or an exaggerated sense of preplanning.

But the world needs to hear the message of salvation every day, for Satan and his horde are constantly trying to push that message off the minds of every person. We know the message the world would have us accept: Eat, drink, and be merry today and the next, and let’s not talk about death and suffering. The message of Scripture, however, says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). Death is the reality all must face due to our sins (and unfortunately, not many ‘religions’ in the world deal with sin properly.)

But thanks be to God! HE dealt with sin decisively. He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ into the flesh to rescue all mankind from sin, death, and the power of the devil. And as all are condemned, so all “are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and even that faith is a gift from God, given by Him freely, every day, not just one single day of the year.

Christmas and Epiphany are the seasons during which Indiana winters exist. There may be a day when the path to St. John’s message board will be blocked by snow and ice. The lock may become frozen. But the message we will proclaim will tell the world that God’s peace is here in Word and Sacrament. The message of God’s love will be shown to the La Porte community by what each member does as they serve God and their neighbor in love with His blessings.

Do remember to save this edition of the newsletter. The next edition will come the end of January, so some information will need to be available for that month as well as December. You will also want to post the special worship times on your ‘shrine of daily visitation’ (e.g., microwave, refrigerator, bathroom mirror, TV, Nintendo, or where ever you visit the most) so as to make your worship plans complete. And if there is a fuel shortage this winter and the snow gets too high, some of these pages can be used to kindle a fire to keep you warm. In all seriousness, you can let your neighbors and friends read what happens here at St. John’s. They may become interested in the hope you confess. Or maybe you have been away for a while and need that prompting of love to come join the rest of your fellow members in receiving God’s gifts from altar, font, and pulpit. Consider God’s love to have come to you this day! It started with a promise, a promise for YOU. Come see that promised fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Oh, come; let us adore Him—Christ, the Lord!

There are a large number of banners stored in the church that need sorting, repairing, cataloging, or simply need to be recycled. New banners may need to be considered to edify the chancel. If you are interested and would like to help with any of these tasks, please let Pastor Brauer or Pastor Young know. After the holidays, there may be time to consider designs and begin work on new banners.

If you had received a listing of members to contact back in September and still have your list, please return them to the church office as soon as possible so that information may be updated. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you. I hope your turkey was everything the food network promised it would be. and I hope you were careful with that fryer apparatus! I like that commercial about so many thousands of people frying their turkey and 15 managing to burn their house down in the process. A little comical. but, I know, from experience that hot fire can create an unforeseen problem if not properly respected.

Winter officially approaches as those turkey leftovers turn into various soups and casseroles and sandwiches. and overheard conversations pertain to the first snows. often expressed as surprise. as if we maybe haven't seen these white flakes that often accompany the cold, inclement harshness of winter. Such amazement in our voices proclaiming the coming of something we know and have seen. from past experience. will come as long as you live around here.
The season of celebration of Jesus approaches. with that same wonderment, amazement and surprise. as we focus on the birth of our Savior. something we know and have seen celebrated before. from past experience. will come. no matter where you are. We are thankful that God sent his Son to us. to live in ridicule and die in unjust anguish. to save. and yes. to come again to take believers to the Promised Land. that is our HOPE and FAITH in Jesus.

I. CALENDAR ITEMS:
11/25-26 No school Thanksgiving break
12/3 Final rehearsal at Civic
12/5 Concert at Civic
12/6 Salvation .Army Bell ring
12/10 Grade 2 Barker Mansion
12/14 School Board 6:30
12/15 School program 6:30
12/16 PTL Craft fair in cafeteria
12/17 Last day of school
1/12 Lutherhaven presents chapel
2/7 Spell Bee Grades 3/4 cafeteria. 12:45-1:45
2/9 Spell Bee Grades 5/6 12:45 cafeteria. 7/8 in classroom
2/18 School practice Bee 1:15 in gym
2/24 District Spell Bee Kesling at 6:00. kids at 5:30
3/5 Math contest Valpo
3/6 Opening service 10:45 NLSW
3/7-11 NLSW
3/10 Health Fair during NLSW 3/6-11 6:30-8:30...gym
3/22 Steven's Puppets 1:00 Beauty and the Beast

II . Enrollment

As of 11/3/04 enrollment is 165 Preschool-8th.

III. Other notes:
1. We will be ringing bells again at the Post Office on Monday, 12/6.
Classes and groups have signed up to ring and collect for an hour at a time.

2. We still need volunteers to prepare, serve, and clean up at the
Salvation Army on the 3rd Friday of each month. We have November and January covered at this point. Any church groups who could assist in this project may tell me now, contact the school office or contact Annette Williams of the PTL. We need volunteers to cover December 17th.

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3. The 7th/8th grade mission trip to Minnesota is being planned. We have arranged a camp out at the Minnesota Zoo, a tour of the Statehouse in Madison, Wisconsin, service at the Harbor Lights Mission and other items. We also plan to head to Duluth to the Fon du lac Reservation to assist in community development projects. Pastor Brauer is developing this aspect of the trip. This trip will be from May 15 to May 21 of 2005.
4. Our Christmas Program committee has planned the children's program for 6:30 on 12/15/04. This production, "Angel Alert," will be in the church
this year. Practices will begin after the Civic Christmas Concert. At this writing all practices are during the school day.

5. Please continue to support our mission trip by purchasing Pizza Hut on
12/15 from 4-11:00 pm. Just mention that you are supporting St. John's
Lutheran School and we receive 20% back on your purchase.

6. Please continue to purchase Kroger and Al's certificates. Dorothy Levandoski has sold $88,000 worth which realizes a $4400 profit at 5%. This money will eventually support technology costs. it currently is rolled over to purchase more certificates.

7. 7/8th grade students are also selling Pizza Hut cards for $10.00. These
cards have a variety of savings options when purchasing items from Pizza
Hut. You may obtain a card in the school office.

8. Perfect church and school kids will receive a Ponderosa certificates.

9. I/2 days in-service for us are 2/17, 3/16, 4/28. we do not have one on
11/10 mostly due to computer glitch that did not place all of these dates on
our calendar. we will attempt to pursue further computer training in
PowerPoint..

10. I have written grants again which hopefully will cover fall 2005 teacher
conference and other in service expenses.

11. Grants written and expended from 2003 to present total almost $14,000.

Some of this money is money the school did not ask the church to reimburse or expend from budgeted line items for conference expenses and continued education for teachers. Other money supports various additional programs that would normally be paid from registration funds or other school general fund accounts. And a recent grant promises to send teachers to LEA (Lutheran Education Association) events in April of 2005. This expenditure will be around $4500 and is money the church does not have to expend.

12. FAN. Family Activity Nights. ..

11/18 6-8:00 Game night by Athletic Dept will include some concessions available for a nominal fee.

12/16 Craft Fair
1/28 Faculty Movie Night with Valentines from 6-6:45 with Movie to
follow.

13. With National Lutheran Schools week being March 6-11. the faculty is planning to hold a health fair on Thursday, 3/10/2005 in the evening. If
you have any skills or expertise relative to nutrition, spiritual. physical. mental fitness, financial fitness, alcohol/drug abuse, growth and development, school and community health etc., please contact Jan Martinsen as soon as possible to reserve your space in the gym.

Voters’ Assembly Meeting

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Jim Foglesong and Pastor Brauer led the assembly in a brief devotion and opening prayer.

The minutes from the August 11, 2004 meeting were read and approved.

Rhonda and Gregory McConnell were received as new voting members.

There was no old business.

Pastors’ Reports

Pastor Young was not present.

Pastor Brauer discussed the following items:

Principal’s Report

Attached

For the Church Council, Penny Nelson made a motion to accept the following slate of officers: