FROM YOUR PASTOR, David M. Young

Pastors are often asked why we are always “preaching” to everyone. We are also asked, “Why do you make such a big deal about going to church every week?” Good and faithful pastors make such a big deal about it because we understand why God has required you (see the 3^rd Commandment or Heb. 10:25!) to gather, assemble and “Sabbath”. In the Bible the principle is laid down that one day in 7 is to be observed as a day holy to God. From the reason given for keeping the Sabbath day in the Ten Commandments we learn that the example for the Sabbath rest is a “creation ordinance,” set by God himself in the creation. But does God call you to church for HIS SAKE or, is it for YOUR SAKE?

Beloved in the Lord, your house of rest; your house of worship is your church, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is the place where you come for “Sabbath.” It is a place where you come to hear God’s love for you. It is a place where the Holy Spirit is imparted to you by God in the hearing of His Word and the proper administration of His gift found in Baptism and given and shed for you in His Holy Supper. Your church is the place where God himself gives you rest, comforts you and gives you hope. Your church exists to strengthen your relationship with him through His Son Jesus Christ. It is also a place where you can and must strengthen your relationship with those whom God has called you to serve, and to prepare you for His service to others. That is why you joined St. John’s.

Your membership at St. John’s says to the world you are a Christian, that you are a member of God's own people, who are called " a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9), and that you believe and act thus and thus as a witness to the Christian faith and as an example to others. It connects you with all the saints of faith: the saints in the Bible, the saints in the early church, the saints who helped build and spread the Gospel message of God’s love and forgiveness on fallen humanity, and connects you with the church triumphant in heaven who, like us, awaits the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Your weekly participation at St. John’s means that you are doing what the very first Christians did in joining together to devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42). It means that you will be able to receive the encouragement, strength, prayers, baptism, the Lord's Supper and the application of God's Word from fellow Christians and this church’s pastors, which you may not have the privilege of receiving as a non-member.

Your weekly fellowship at St. John’s will tell other Christians and the world that you have considered it a serious matter to be able to join together with Christians to support the work of the church by providing instruction in the Christian faith for the youth, adults, the older set, doing evangelism and mission work at home and abroad. Your regular and joyful participation in worship is not only a witness to other people as to who you are and what you are about, but it shows God what He wants from His children. Your regular participation at St. John’s is a witness that you are not just talking about it and maybe doing it half-heartedly, but are involved whole-heartedly in doing what He expects. Your membership claim is a serious declaration that you intend--with His help--to participate fully in doing the things of God. What would happen to God's church if everyone decided not to join with other Christians to BE His own people? It is for YOUR SAKE then, and the sake of the Christian faith, that God calls you to church every week.

Brothers and sisters, as your pastor, I cannot apologize for making a big deal about you coming to church every week, for I know what it means to YOU! You are loved with an everlasting love by your pastors who desire to bring you to the One whom we serve, our Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks to you by His Word and says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Your brothers and sisters at St. John’s love you too. Come to church this week so we can, ALL TOGETHER, yoke our burdens, our joys, and our faith in worship in the place where you can find rest.

Yours in Christian love,

Pastor Young

Dear Friends in Christ,

The story of the rich man and Lazarus will be read at the Gospel reading on October 10 (See Luke 16:19-31). In this story of role reversals, we see Lazarus, who begged for simple comfort, is given that comfort, while the rich man now begs for comfort, having lived a life of luxury. This does not go to say that rich people will suffer in eternal punishment, and that all the poor people will enjoy heaven. How hard it will be, Jesus said, for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Abraham found that out. He’s in heaven, rich as he was, but that’s not what got him there. It was Abraham’s faith that was credited to him as righteousness.

St. John’s Lutheran Church and School will soon be putting together the plans for next year’s budget. There is one guiding principle in budget strategies: You can’t spend it if you don’t have it. While there may be a lot of things and services we might want here at St. John’s, the simple fact is we won’t have them because the funds are not there. School and Church expenses will rise as we compensate our teachers, pastors, and staff. Repairs, both routine and immediate, need to be done to keep the ship floating. It seems like a lot of time, energy, and money are being spent for our luxury, while there are Lazaruses at our gate that lack the comfort of the Gospel.

As members of the Body of Christ by virtue of our Baptism, we have the commission to make disciples of all nations, not just the ones that walk onto the property at Monroe and Kingsbury. A Church that is mission minded is a church that grows, and it is the Lord that gives the increase. We do use Godly wisdom to sit down and count the cost of that discipleship, and trust the Lord to work mightily through us. Godly wisdom leads us to make adjustments in the way we do things here. Our School Board and our Trustees will be making those necessary adjustments for the sake of our School. If we fail to make those adjustments today, the future of our school—what we consider as our mission work in this community both for the salvation of our children’s souls now and for the future of the Church—will come to a grinding halt.

How much will it cost? No dollar amount can be given; just ask the rich man in hell. He would have given it all if but one soul could be saved. But it was too late for him. His feasting and lounging ended. It is not, however, too late for you. You still live in this time of God’s grace. You live by faith. You respond to the love of God with your regular, sacrificial, proportionate gifts to the Him. These gifts will not only provide your church with the resources to carry out His work here, but will enable your church to reach out beyond the confines of Monroe and Kingsbury to those who do not know or confess Jesus Christ as their only Savior.

Be mindful of this: The cost of a Bible: $7. Educating one child in our Lutheran Day School: $3,700. The expression of joy over sins forgiven, receiving the Gospel, and learning of Jesus: Priceless. For the things of this world, there is cash, check, or MasterCard. For heaven, there is Jesus Christ by faith through grace. “Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).

Pastor Ron Brauer

Matthew 11:28-30

10/7 Choirs to Ft Wayne for shut in singing and taping
10/8 Bendix Hayride 5:30-7:30 all parishioners welcome upon bringing registration to the school office.
10/12 We have school...no bus
Bd. of Ed Meeting 6:30 pm
10/13 Symphony gr. k-3 leave 9:05 am for 9:30 am show...gr. 4-8 leave 12:15 pm for 12:45 pm show
10/14 Muffins for MOM 7:00
Chapel 8-9:00 Doug Larson Vision Screening for 1,3,8 at Boston Middle School 10:30 am
10/15 End of 1st quarter
10/19 Grade 2 to Garwood
10/20 Wheel of Wisdom 1:15
Parent/Teacher Conference 3:00 pm-evening
10/21 No school...Parent/Teacher Conferences
10/22 No school
10/27 Donuts for Dad 7:00

II. Enrollment:

Enrollment on 9/10/04 was 165, and on 9/5/03 was 169.

III. Other Notes:
1. We will fly the Luther Rose flag beneath the US flag on the outdoor
school flagpole. A dedication was held Wednesday, 9/15/04, during the gathering around the flagpole. Pastor Young led the dedication and Pastor Brauer explained the history of the gathering and led in prayer for PS-8. We were able to utilize our newly acquired mobile sound system.

2. We received $7,000 in Title I money which pays for after school
remediation for k-3 graders in reading and math areas.

3. Received Title IV drug money which is used to pay for most of Wheel of Wisdom coming up in October. $670.00

4. We have Title V money again which will pay for special art work at the
Civic by our middle school grades...

5. We have received a grant for Title II A which was written to cover in
service activities and professional development activities.

6. Title IID provides us with very limited funds for tech hardware and for
professional development.

7. All the above grants are written by me with the intention to provide
additional services for our students and additional training for our
faculty.

8. Thrivent continues to match your donation to the school. We haven't
received many contributions the last few years. If you are able to
contribute to some area of education here at St. John's Lutheran School. the Thriven forms are located outside the school office.

9. We continue to sell Kroger and Al certificates in the school office.
These are the same as cash. All profits will be placed in the technology
fund. We have currently profited around $3500 dollars since we began a few years ago.

10. We invite the entire congregation to our special assembly on Thursday, 10/14. Doug Larson Ministries is here to proclaim the Gospel in music. CD's will be available for purchase This service will from 8-9:00 am.

11. This school year Matt Nelson has been retained to instruct classroom
music for all classes K-8. This is done for 30 minutes per week.

12. We are sometimes in need of daycare workers. Particularly, we need a
person to open from 6:30-7:45 M-F on days when school is in session.

13. We will be needing a kitchen worker to learn the ropes as the assistant and eventually take over the lead job. Applications are available in the school office.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pictorial Directory:

St. John’s has been blessed with two new, loving, caring Pastors, and many new members. Church attendance is up! In addition, phone calls are going out to members who haven’t been to church in awhile, to let them know they are loved and wanted back.

With all this excitement happening, it is time to have a new St. John’s Pictorial Directory. Beginning the weekend of October 2, we will start making appointments for you and your family to have your picture taken

for this new directory. As before, you are under no obligation to buy pictures. Each person or family that has a picture taken, will receive a free 8x10 color portrait and a pictorial directory. Best of all, pictures will be delivered in time for Christmas giving!

Please, lets all support this project and have the biggest and best directory ever! (The more pictures we have taken, the more free pages they give us for group shots and activities.)

Pictures will be taken on November 26, 27, 29, 30, December 1, 2, 3 and 4. Please sign up early if you need a special time slot! If you have any questions, or if you want to help, please call the Church Office at 362-3726. (“SNOW-BIRDS” PLEASE CALL THE OFFICE, YOU CAN GET YOUR PICTURES TAKEN THIS WEEK).

From the Board of Stewardship:
"Maturing stewards strive for excellence in all they do!"

In 2 Corinthians 9:6 St. Paul writes: "Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." Years ago, Chinese farmers decided they would eat the good, big potatoes and use the small ones for seed. They gained a new understanding of the laws of life and found from bitter experience that the new potatoes resulting from this practice were reduced to the size of marbles. The harvest reflects the planting. "Planting small potatoes" is still common practice today, but not for maturing stewards who strive for excellence in all they do. Maturing stewards know that it is crazy to plant leftovers and expect a bumper crop in return.

Maturing stewards also relate to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7: "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

"God loves a cheerful giver." Have you ever thought about that statement and tried to analyze your own feelings regarding giving of anything whether it's time, skills, work or money? When you discover that a more precise translation from Greek of the word "cheerful" is "hilarious," the question becomes even more interesting. How many of us give anything with "hilarity?" Perhaps the ability to give with cheerfulness or hilarity is related to our reason for giving. "Grudge giving" says "I have to!" Duty giving says, "I ought to." Thanks giving says, "I want to."

When God wanted to show us how much He loved us, He didn't send a letter; He sent His only-begotten Son. When Jesus was asked how much He loved us, He stretched out His arms and said, "This much," and He died. But He rose again, the first fruits of all who die, to open up the gates of heaven to all believers. This same God who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will also with Him give us all good things, so that we will have enough for our own needs as well as the needs of others and the extension of His kingdom. God's maturing stewards want to be a part of that kind of sharing that makes an eternal difference, because they strive for excellence in all they do.

This December 5th will mark our 71st year of sharing the good news of Christmas through our Christmas Concert. We have decided to make the concert extra special by including several instrumentalists from around the La Porte area. The use of an orchestra will greatly enhance the music chosen to share this message. For many of the musicians, this is how they make their living, and the Walther League Chorus is a non-profit organization. We are asking the business leaders of La Porte and the members of this congregation to help in this endeavor. We would greatly appreciate any and all donations

From the Board of Parish Fellowship:

Our, October 15, Progressive Dinner is coming up soon. Don’t be left out! We already have enough people for 5 groups, but 5 more would be nice! We will start at the school for appetizers, go to our hosts for the main course, and return to the school for dessert and games. Please call the church office to sign up. Call soon, deadline is October 4.

From the Activities Committee:

St. John’s will be having their annual Fall Bazaar and Luncheon on October 21. The Bazaar will start at 10 AM and the Luncheon will be from 11 AM-1 PM. Mark your calendar and ask a friend to come along. Tickets will be on sale in the church office or from any Activities committee member

The LWML Fall Rally “GOD IS LOVE” is Saturday, October 9, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Tracy, Indiana. Registration is at 9 am. Bring a sack lunch, a small sundry item for the Hope Rescue Mission in South Bend, and a car load of friends! Give your day to the Lord!

The first Sunday in October is Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Sunday. Even though we no longer hold meetings here, we still collect mites and send them to the state LWML for the various distributions. We also pay for the LWML Magazine that is free for anyone who wants to read it.

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