February concludes our season of Epiphany. The emphasis of this feast season begins with the “proofs” that the man Jesus is God in the flesh. The “proofs” are established by signs and wonders. Our Lord’s baptism was an epiphany or manifestation of Himself as God. For His bride the church and for those called to our various vocational positions in service to Him, we celebrate our call to faith. It is also a time to consider the mission of the church in the world today. What is that mission? The mission of the church is to go and tell all the world the Good News, as difficult as that task may be in our culture and in this age.

We have some built-in excuses, don’t we? For us to proclaim God’s message of repentance and faith, we know that we are to face hardships. It’s hard to leave commitments (like spouses, children, jobs, bills, responsibilities, etc), as those fishermen Simon, Andrew, James and John did, especially when life has provided a measure of successes in riches, notoriety, and establishment.

It’s hard to leave the customary and familiar comforts to go to strange places and tell strangers in other lands and from different backgrounds the things we know and confess in our faith. Like the prophet Jonah sent by God to Ninevah, it’s hard to speak words of love to strange and hostile people, and it’s hard to know what to say or how to say it. But the most difficult task in our calling in life is that it’s hard to believe and trust in God in this vacillating day and age where “truth is relevant!” We also suffer from our sinful laziness and our confused priorities to respond with urgency to Jesus call to heal, forgive and love. It’s just hard to “go and tell.”

It’s our responsibility to decide whether we should accept the mission of the church as our own. It’s ours. It’s the being of our call as disciples of Christ. We are ambassadors for Christ. It’s not ours to determine to whom the church should carry the Gospel. We’ve been sent into the whole world. It’s not up to us to inquire into who is worthy to hear the Gospel. It’s the will of God that all flesh, all humanity should come to a knowledge of the truth. It’s not even up to us to worry about the results. Those are in God’s hands!

It is our purpose, our mission, our life as the church, the Body of Christ, to carry the Gospel into every corner of the earth, to all people, confident that God’s Word is powerful and will accomplish it’s purpose. The appointed time grows short. This world and it’s sinful agenda are passing away. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel. And take that message from St. John’s to wherever God calls and places you this Epiphany season.

Your fellow servant in Christ,

Pastor Young

Dear Fellow Redeemed at St. John’s,

Have you ever eaten straw? I mean, as a steady diet? Now if you are trying to shed pounds from all the fruitcake and cookies of Christmas, then this high fiber, low carb diet may work, but be prepared to drink a lot of water!

All this aside, there are times when work in the church is much like chewing straw. We do it because it needs to be done, and to leave it undone only leaves us with a sense of guilt. “We know we should do it, but I rather be doing something else,” we say. Jesus commissions us to “make disciples.” We know we should do it, but there’s always the temptation to take the easy road: Let someone else do it…that’s why we have pastors…it’s not in my job description…we have a committee to do that…I’m not qualified…I don’t have the time…I’m too busy… You’ve heard the explanations—rather excuses.

Yet there is work that is necessary and proper for a Christian to do. This month our focus is on Social Ministry. Two Bible texts that will come to our attention this month are Mark 2:1-12 and Ephesians 2:10. The first one from the Gospel of Mark tells what social ministry does. If you pause in your reading of this newsletter to grab your Bible and look up this story, I’ll pause in typing while you get it.

Got it?

Great. You might remember that story. Four men brought a paralyzed man to Jesus. But the house where Jesus was teaching was ‘SRO—Standing Room Only.’ They couldn’t get their friend into the front door. So they carried him up onto the flat roof (typical home construction in those days) and took the roof apart (easy to do in those days) and lowered the man down from the four corners of his bed. Jesus forgave the man his sins, and as a bonus, healed him of his paralysis (easy for Jesus to do in those days).

We applaud the work of Jesus—forgiving our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. We marvel like those who witnessed the healing. Yet one thing that scurries to the background is the work of the four men who brought their friend to Jesus. This is what social ministry does in the Church today. Social ministry takes the lame, the blind, the wounded, the hurting, the needy, and the lonely to Jesus. It does so by actively taking the roof apart. And here at St. John’s, the roof is removed by providing those things that render aid to those in need.

Grocery items are brought to fill our food pantry. Members help

others with projects around their house or to fix their cars. Youth groups rake lawns of senior citizens in the fall or shovel snow in the winter. People give others rides to church or doctor’s appointments, or in the case of some, transport family members to visit their spouse or family member in the hospital.

Which is easier to do: give a ride or tell a person Jesus forgives their sins? Which is easier: fill a grocery sack or profess your faith to a hungry person?

Jesus asked a similar question. “Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or, ‘Rise, take up your bed, and walk?”

Ephesians 2:10 tells us that after we have been saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves but by the pure gift of God, that “… we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Social ministry is but one of those avenues for good works. God has already prepared those works for us to do. The good news is: we don’t have to come up with them ourselves. God has already provided them for us!

We have been given faith. That is essential, for without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). We are empowered (commissioned) by God to do His will. Faith will move us to remove the roof to allow someone to see Jesus. We do that through our regular offerings and through the over and above commitment of our “Sowing Seeds for the Harvest.” We do that through joining our voices in chorus to sing God’s praises. We do that through sacrificial giving of our time, abilities, and expertise to serve on boards, committees, and circles to put into motion those good works God provides us to do.

“Let none hear you idly saying, ‘There is nothing I can do.’” Satan would tempt us to say, “I’d rather not do anything at church for God or for anyone else for that matter.” Satan would tempt us to throw that straw away and chew on forbidden fruit. But God gives us faith to follow our Savior’s example of love, just as He gave faith to the four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. Christ feeds us with His body and blood in the Holy Sacrament to feed our faith and strengthen us for lives of social ministry. May God so give you that faith to do His works of love for others!

Pastor Brauer

2/2 Principals meeting here

2/2 Service League Play “Frosty the Snowman” ps,k-8th 9:30 show

2/3 Service League Play...Pk at 9:30 show

2/4 7th and 8th grade basketball tourney

2/5 Super Bowl Sub day…proceeds to HVAC

2/11 8th grade boys to Lafayette Tournament

2/15 8th grade registration at LPHS

2/17 LILY Event

2/23 District Spelling Bee @ Kesling

2/25 Math Contest @ Valpo

3/5-10 National Lutheran Schools Week 3/5 10:45 worship service

3/16 County Spelling Bee @ M. City...ps and K registration night 6:00

3/17 FAN Disco Dance TBD

3/21 Questions and answers from School Board at 6:00 p.m. in cafeteria regarding new tuition

1. LILY Event is Friday…2/17/ 06 @ The Silver Palace…Doors open at 6:00 pm…Dinner is at 7:00 pm…Tickets are $25.00 each and are available from all boards, church and school office, the principal and all school board members as well…This is a Dinner, Dance, Silent Auction, Fellowship, Fun!…All proceeds go to the church general fund…We need auction items, auction services (perhaps you can cook a meal or provide some other specialty service that would be purchased at auction) or cash donations to support this event. Please see a school board member…or Mr. Wippich for your donation. Thank you for supporting the ministry at St. John’s Lutheran Church and School.

5. Super Bowl Sub Fundraiser Event: $6.00 gets you a foot long sized sandwichwith your choice of two meats, cheese and all the fixin’s…or the family deal supplies you with 4 sandwiches, a two liter pop and chips for $25.00. Find an order form in the narthex of the church…the church and school office. Orders due to the school office by February 1, 2006. Proceeds go the school HVAC fund this year….

6. ISTEP results…our students in grades 3-8 scored well again this year…on the average we scored a 90% pass rate in language arts and a 93% pass rate in math. Also, we scored a 100% pass rate in math from grades 5-8…that means that every student passed the math test in grade 5-8! And, every student in grade 6 passed all tests! And, every student in grade five passed all language and math tests! That is a declaration of fine instruction from our teachers and hard work from the students.

7. The school is still accepting any memorials on behalf of Mike Light. Please send your memorials to St. John’s Lutheran School …111 Kingsbury Ave…LaPorte, Indiana 46350…Memorials are being placed in the school HVAC fund in memory of Mr. Light, whose wife, Rio, is our Preschool Director. Mr. Light, who volunteered in daycare… coaching… and as supervision for many other school sponsored events, passed to heaven 12/8/05 after a 2 year battle against cancer. Continue in prayer for the family. Thank you.

The Elders have been trying to contact members who have been inactive for three years or more, to see if they are interested in retaining their membership at St. John's. The following is a list of those who have not responded positively. These names will be presented at the February Voter’s Meeting for exclusion from membership. If any of these names should not be included, please contact an Elder or the Church Office with an explanation.

The Board of Social Ministry is requesting the following items for the food pantry so we can continue to help those in need in our congregation. We especially need the following items:

Cereal           Paper towels

Macaroni and cheese           Pine Sol or other cleaning products

Box meals           Comet or other scouring powders

Crackers           Laundry soap

Toothpaste           Fabric softener

Dish soap           Bath soap

Thank you for your continued support.

The Evening Circle has Pecans, Chocolate Covered Pecans and

Chocolate Covered Pecan Caramel Clusters for sale. They are just $7.00 a bag. For more information, call Deana Murray at 362-8084.

Come one, come all to our 2^nd Annual Lily Event! It is a dinner, silent auction and dance held at the Silver Palace to benefit our church and school. The date is Friday, February 17^th and starts at 6:00.

There are many benefits to the evening in addition to the fundraising effort that we hope everyone will take advantage of. There is great food, including desserts and midnight snacks as well as an open bar. We will have many fun and interesting auction items to bid on and a great band to dance to after the auction is complete. (This year we have rented both rooms of the Silver Palace so that there is adequate space to browse the auction items.) We will also have a photographer on hand to take keepsake pictures of you and your spouse/friend/group in a designated area of the smaller room…for free!! So bring your friends and neighbors to this community-wide event supporting our church and school.

Tickets are $25.00 per person and include dinner, non-alcoholic drinks, dessert, midnight snacks, and photograph. Tickets are available at the church and school offices and from members of our various boards. If you have any questions please call Julie Sinclair at 326-0585.

We pray for Gods blessings on our efforts to fulfill our mission to reach, lovingly, to all people and to provide them with the means to develop and sustain a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ by the leading of the Spirit.

See you there!!

Contribution statements for 2005 are now ready for pick up. They will be available in the Narthex before and after all weekend services and in the church office throughout the week.

Contribution envelopes for 2006 are available in the Narthex of the church..

“Sowing Seeds” envelopes are available in the church office..

We need your help! Please make sure to put your NAME and your NEW ENVELOPE NUMBER on the outside of your “Sowing Seeds” envelopes. With a new year starting, and most people having new envelope numbers, we want to make sure all pledges are credited to the correct account. Thank You!

At least through the month of February, Mothers and Others Bible Study will be meeting Wednesday mornings from 8:15 to 10:00 a.m. in the Youth Room. Everyone is welcome. (The February calendar had already been produced when this information was made available.)

The next Voters Meeting will be held Wednesday, February 8, 2006 in the school cafeteria at 7:00 p.m. Mark your calendars; plan to attend.

Due to popular demand (praise God!) by those who work during the week, we will begin a Thursday evening Bible study for those who can’t get to Sunday morning Bible study or the other morning Bible studies that we have throughout the week. Beginning Thursday evening, January 26, a Bible study will begin, led by Luke Vandercar. The first topic will be a Biblical study of marriage. The Bible fellowship will begin at 7:00 pm in the Youth Room and run to 8:30 pm.

NOTE: Young children are welcome! There will be things for them to play with while we gather. For further information, please contact the church office.

From the Youth Director:

The Youth Group is now meeting every other Wednesday evening in the Youth Room. The next meeting is February 1. Meetings are from 6-7 pm and include Bible Study and a planning session for monthly events. All St. John’s Youth of high school age are invited to participate. Please bring your Bible and a friend!

Support Our Youth Group:

Save your aluminum cans and scrap iron. These will be collected and transported to be recycled by our youth. Al Vollmer has again volunteered to oversee this project. Watch the bulletin for exact collection date and drop off point. Let’s make this a big one!!

It is amazing that the Lord has given us 70 years of proclaiming the Gospel message through music at the Civic Auditorium. We have truly been blessed and pray that so has the community. Yet, many things our world have changed. It is time for the music department to make a change as well. The choir, pastors, and I have discussed and prayed in length about the change we feel that Lord is leading us to make…In December of 2006 the 73^rd Annual Walther League Christmas Concert will NOT be held in the La Porte Civic Auditorium. Instead, we share the gift of Christmas music in our sanctuary. We hope and pray that this will be a new ministry to both our community and our church family. There will also be other changes that will be announced at another date. We ask for your prayers and support while we work through this transition. Thank you and God’s Blessings, Matt Nelson

The choir is in need of some storage place for the acoustical shell used in our concert. If you may have some space in a pole barn or shed, please contact Matt Nelson at 380-9030.

Hand bells: We have a great need for more hand bell ringers. Minimal musical ability is needed. We meet on Wednesday evenings for about one hour. If you are interested, please call Matt at 380-9030.

Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Soup Suppers begin March 8, 2006

Fish Fry, March 24, 2006

The Newspaper Stuffers are still stuffing every other Saturday.

In 2005, we gave over $10,000 to the General Fund and other church/school organizations.

We are in need of additional workers from 10 am to 12:30 pm on Saturdays. Our next Saturday is February 4, followed by February 18, March 4, March 18. and every other Saturday thereafter. If you can help or be a stand-by, call Karen Piper at 362-8070.

I have been thinking recently about how we define ourselves, and about how those definitions affect the way we define others.

In our culture, we are prone to defining ourselves and others in terms of work. Statements like “he’s a dentist,” “she’s a teacher,” “he’s an electrician,” serve to satisfy us that those individuals are respectable and productive citizens. In fact, they don’t tell us anything about whether they are kind, God fearing, or talented in areas outside their fields of work, but we accept them as sufficient to assess people’s merit.

By the same token, we are equally prone to being disparaging, even if we don’t quite admit it to ourselves, toward people who cannot be so easily defined. Some people may not have a paying job at all, and may not be terribly well educated either. But perhaps they have tirelessly cared for a sick person, offered meals and shelter in their own homes to a homeless person, loved a difficult- to-love person, given encouragement to a hopeless person, volunteered countless hours, taking the places of all those who have no time to volunteer, earnestly prayed for all those who have much less time to pray.

In a perfect world, there would be perfect balance in everyone’s life, no deficiencies to identify and criticize, only total self sufficiency and strength in all practical matters couples with total selfless Godliness.

But we don’t have a perfect world.

Perhaps we could try to see people a bit more in the way that God sees them. We could remember that Jesus went so far as to tell His disciples to leave their work behind to follow Him, at which point they became very dependent on God’s provision for them through other people. We could remember that even then, especially then, they fulfilled the purposes to which God had called them.

Is it necessary to leave our work behind to follow God? Certainly not. On the other hand, must we be engaged in earning money to follow God? Not necessarily.

We don’t fully understand everyone else’s circumstances. We don’t know why God has them where He has them, why He uses us one way and them another. But we can try to see and value others who are different from ourselves with His heart.

Please display your handicap parking permit when parking your car in the handicap spaces. Thank you.

http://www.stjohns-lpin.org - copyright 2000-2010 - St. John's Lutheran Church, La Porte, IN. All rights reserved. Contact the church at: St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 111 Kingsbury Avenue, La Porte, IN 46350, or call us at 219-362-3726.  For questions, updates or comments regarding this web site contact St. John's Web servant, debra@dreamercreative.com.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®.  NIV ®.   Copyright ©  1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society ®.  Used by permission.   All rights reserved world-wide.