A Newsletter concerning the
Mission and Ministry
of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, La Porte, IN
Vol. 56 June 2007 No. 5
“As one family, we lovingly
proclaim Jesus Christ.”
From Your Pastors
From Pastor Young:
They say that sticks and stones can break our bones but names can
never hurt us! You and I, however, know that is not true; if you’ve ever heard
anyone laughing at you or making a rude remark about you then you know what I’m
talking about. If anyone has ever started or spread a rumor about you or a
family member, you know words can hurt more than a punch in the gut. Once words
leave your mouth, they become powerful indeed.
God knows how powerful the spoken word is. He used His word to create life.
The Genesis account of creation found in the Bible’s first two chapters remind
us that all that was and is came after these words: “And God said…”
God also knows how destructive words can be; it was in that same Garden of
Paradise that the serpent caused the ruin of all that was good by speaking these
deceptive words: “Did God really say…?” For this reason, the book of James says
this about what proceeds from the mouth: “the tongue is a small part of the
body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by
a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the
body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire,
and is itself set on fire by hell.” (NIV James 3:3:5-6).
God also restores life and re-creates life in fact by His Word-the living
Word, the Word who became incarnate- to live, die, and rise again from the
dead to bring life and salvation to light. I am speaking of Jesus, of course,
who, we are reminded in this season of Pentecost, gave us His Word by sending us
the Holy Spirit so that we may overcome the world and the deadly and destructive
acts of the tongue. His
life-changing Word speaks forgiveness, grants us life and salvation as His
Word is in, with, and under the water, bread and wine that “incarnates” to His
real presence among us. It grants us all God desires for and from us as we
sojourn before both the face of God (coram Deo) and the before the world
(coram mundo).
The Spirit of God that we receive from him in Word and Sacrament can restrain
our tongues from saying hurtful and destructive things that, once cast into the
wind, can cause damage to young and old alike. 1st John 4:4 says
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is
in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” The Spirit, however,
can also speak healing upon all wounds, great and small, if we only allow His
presence in our lives.
May God lead us to speak words of encouragement rather than words that
disparage; may we spread good accounts of our brothers, sisters and neighbors,
rather than speak “lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his
reputation;” may our tongues glorify God and bring healing, peace and harmony
“coram mundo” instead of hurting and corrupting. To God alone be the glory!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Young
From Pastor Brauer:
My wife and I recently held our LAST garage sale. It was a lot of
work—cleaning, pricing, arranging, getting up at the crack of dawn to set tables
out and beat the ‘early birds’ who come to seek a bargain. It was a long day
with only 4 hours of sleep, working through the day, welcoming visitors, and
watching them leave with a simple “thank you” but no sale. We did have a lot of
nice, usable stuff. We even spent the money to place an ad in the paper. The
right person would have come, seen something that they needed, bought it, and
enjoyed its use. But the proof of the pudding was in what we took in. Sad to
say, with all our work the day before and the day of the sale, not to even
mention packing up what was left, we hardly made minimum wage. How
disappointing! And to think, we still had our ‘garage sale stuff’ to store or to
determine its fate.
Sad to say, some people think the Church is like a garage sale. It’s a lot of
work, so few people come, many people leave without taking what is available.
Yes, we advertise each week, we keep the place looking clean and inviting, we
offer the best when it comes to the message of the Gospel, but so many people
think that what the Church has to offer is too ‘old’ that they don’t need it.
Modern people want things that are ‘modern’ and ‘with the times.’
That is when we need to hear the message the Apostle Paul preaches in
Galatians. You will hear these words on Father’s Day. “I have been crucified
with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the
body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”
(Galatians 2:20). This is the Good News of our life and living today. Yes, the
Church continues to preach Law and Gospel. Nothing has changed since that first
day when sin entered the world. We all still need the forgiveness of our sins.
We sin daily and are in need of forgiveness. But thanks be to God! He saw our
need and sent His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ to rescue us from sin, death,
and the power of the devil. He accomplished this, not with gold or silver or
MasterCard® or even the garage sale money in our pockets, but with
the pure, holy, and precious blood of Jesus Christ and His innocent suffering
and death by crucifixion.
In our recent Friday Morning Bible study on the book of Exodus, we learned
that the Jews today know full well the story of their deliverance from bondage.
They recount that story each year when they celebrate the Passover. However,
they fail to see the connection of the blood atonement with Jesus Christ as it
was foretold with the blood marking of the doorframes. We Christians, and may I
be so bold as to say ‘us Lutherans,’ probably have a good understanding of the
blood atonement in Christ, but fail to see the dangers of our bondage. We carry
our sins much like storing up stuff in our garage, hoping that some day we can
get rid of it and still make a little money on the side. However, we find that
in order to rid ourselves of sin, we spend a lot of our own time, energy, and
even money to remove that which is unwanted.
Sin can only be removed through the grace of God. Through the forgiveness of
sins that Jesus won for us we have full pardon. We are granted that same peace
which the sinful woman was given as she anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7 (the
Gospel for Father’s Day). Like that sinful woman, all we have to offer to anoint
the feet of Jesus is the stink of our sins. But faith in Jesus to forgive those
sins removes the stink.
The proclamation of the Church remains the same since the day Jesus gave the
Church the Office of the Keys, namely to forgive the sins of those who repent
and to retain or withhold forgiveness to those who do not repent and turn away
from their wicked ways. It may not sound ‘modern,’ but in God’s eyes, we still
need to confess our sins and to trust Him for the full forgiveness of those
sins, and, to enable us live a life of faith.
Don’t get me wrong! I’m not against garage sales. As a matter of fact, this
month St. John’s hosts her annual ‘Parking Lot Sale.’ This is an opportunity for
fellowship; while at the same time this gives members a place to sell those
gently used articles they have available. One thing our garage sale did was it
moved us to clean out the shed and garage!
So whether you are a father, mother, son or daughter, this news is for you.
While we may celebrate Father’s day once per year, we daily need the forgiveness
of our sins. And, thank God too, that we don’t have to wait for one time a year
to get rid of our sins like an annual garage sale. We come each week to hear the
absolution of our sins and to be unburdened from their load and guilt. We will
also hear each week how Christ lives in us to help us live in faith every day.
Pastor Ron Brauer
Matthew 11:28-30
June 2007 Message from The Board of Stewardship
In June we celebrate the beginning of summer. The first day of summer is a
time when we enjoy the longest day of the year in contrast to the first day of
winter when we observe the shortest day of the year. That can be a reminder that
there are also equal parts with Christian stewardship—Law and Gospel.
From God’s Word we know what good Christian stewardship should be. We also
have principles that guide our stewardship life. But at the end of the day we
realize, with sorrow, that we have failed over and over again in our
stewardship. We have not managed all of life and life’s resources for God’s
purposes. We have not lived out our stewardship with the reality that God is the
Owner of all things and we are simply managers. We have used our possessions as
if they belong completely to us—not acknowledging that God has simply entrusted
them to us for wise management that brings glory to Him and blessings to others.
And the list of stewardship failures could go on and on. That’s bad news! That’s
what the Law says to us!
However, for us as Christians, there is also some very good news. Moved by
sacrificial love, Jesus came into our world and took upon Himself our sins—yes,
also the sins of poor stewardship—and gained God’s forgiveness for us by going
to the cross to suffer the death penalty that we deserved. What good news that
God does not treat us according to what we deserve; instead, in Christ, He loves
and forgives us—daily and richly.
That loving forgiveness of God has moved Christians throughout the ages to
manage all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes—and to do it freely
and joyfully. That loving forgiveness of God is also the proper motivation for
our stewardship. It moves us to share and give freely and generously of our
time, talents and treasure for the work of the Lord and to make life sweeter for
others. What a place this world would be if we all practiced faithful
stewardship. It would be heaven on earth!
The sad reality is that we have not only sinned in the past, but we have also
sinned in the present and will continue to sin in the future. Yet there is hope
and new life. We confess our sins to God with sorrow in our hearts and minds and
flee to the cross of Jesus Christ to find full and free forgiveness for every
sin. We have the added blessing of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to
help us live in new and different ways. That’s what the Gospel says to us!
When it comes to our stewardship, it is not possible for us to bring about
heaven on earth. But, by God’s power, we can make our little corner of the earth
a better place because we are here!
“Maturing stewards do the right things for the right reasons
and strive for excellence in all they do!”
Principal’s Page
From Mr. Wippich
The Mission of St. John’s Lutheran School is to joyfully
celebrate the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.
The PTL and the Board of Education provided two scholarships the annual LPHS
Senior Scholarship Evening. One went to Karen Eigenmann and the other to Sarah
Chlebek, two students who graduated from St. John’s and are currently members of
the church. They both accumulated outstanding GPA’s. Sarah plans to attend
Butler University next year and train to be a Physician’s Assistant. Karen plans
to attend Concordia Chicago and major in Early Childhood Education.
I. Calendar
6/1 Preschool, Pre-kindergarten, and Kindergarten Graduation
7:00 PM in Gym
6/3 Christus Chorus sings at 10:45 AM service
6/4 Sex Education: Grades 5-6, 9-11:00 AM-Grades 7-8, 12-2:00 PM
lunch will be continuous
6/6 8th Grade Graduation 6:30 PM-in church
6/7 1/2 day dismiss at 11:30 AM
6/8 Last day of school
2. Thank you to Mrs. Martinsen for coordinating the 6th annual Academic Bowl
sponsored by St. John’s Lutheran School.
Additional thanks as well to Mr. Hoeppner, Mrs. Bremer, Mrs. Krider and Mr.
Wippich for assisting in this Saturday event. We also thank Wayne Wilczewski,
Charlie Baima, Matt Schuster, Annette Williams, Taylor Baima, Nick Wilczewski
for their assistance throughout the day. Fourteen teams represented 7 Northwest
Indiana Lutheran Schools. The results are as follows:
First Place: St. John’s Team A.
Charlie Williams, Cassandra Nickerson, Allison Back,
Haley Alexander, Rocco Angone
Chaperoned by Colleen Nickerson
Second Place: Immanuel-Valparaiso
Third Place: Trinity-Crown Point
Fourth Place: St. Paul’s Munster
Fifth Place: St. John’s Team B
Brooke Baima, Johanna Kalita, Graceanne Wilczewski, Belle Schuster, Kelsey
Virgin.
Chaperoned by Pete Kalita
Our “C” team was comprised of:
Roman Angone, Elin Boklund, Sam Chlebek, Desmond Alexander
Chaperoned by Rebekkah Angone
Treasurer’s report: Dale Fischer gave a report showing a deficit of
$43,000. for the first three months of 2007. The report is attached to these
minutes.
Old business: None
New business: None
Communications: There was general discussion regarding the Pastor’s
attendance at various school and other church functions. This was referred to
the board of Elders for discussion and follow up.
President Foglesong thanked all involved in organizing and staging the Lily
event held on Friday, May 4th. It was a very enjoyable evening.
Announcements: None
The meeting was closed with the Lord’s Prayer
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Annual Parking Lot Sale: Now is the time to clean those closets and sort
through the children’s toys. For only $7.00 you can be a part of the sale At St.
John’s. Customers have flocked to our past sales due to the highly visible
location with multiple sales. We do the advertising and bring in the customers,
you sell from your van, truck or bring your own tables and chairs. Refreshments
will be available.
The time and date is Saturday, June 16, 2007, from 8:00 AM-1:00 PM. For more
information, call Ellen Heidel, 362-5694.
From Family Circle: As you know, the Family Circle has been working to
create a cookbook in honor of St. John's 150th anniversary. Unfortunately the
response has been somewhat slow, and as a result we are extending the deadline
to June 8th. You may submit up to four recipes per contributor. We are hoping to
collect cherished recipes from all the great cooks in our congregation. Recipes
handed down through the generations are especially welcome as are traditional
German ones. We also encourage submission of photographs and/or a brief
remembrance of the author.
If you are computer savvy, we encourage you to go to www.typensave.com to
submit your recipe. List your name as the contributor. The Group Login is
(omitted online), and the password is (omitted online). It only takes a few
minutes and is very user friendly. If you'd rather, there are now recipe
collection sheets you can fill out at the church office and in the narthex.
Committee members will then type your recipe for you. You can return these
completed sheets to the church office where a basket is provided. Let's work
together to make this cookbook a great success that we can treasure for a long
time to come!
From the Worship Committee and Trustees: Rolling Sound, from Rolling
Prairie, has done a thorough check and evaluation of the sound system in the
church. Much of our equipment is worn out and useless. The Trustees have
authorized an update to be done. We will be getting new lapel mikes for the
Pastors, pulpit mike, handheld mike for the balcony, CD burner (for radio
broadcasts), and basic updates to the system. The total cost will be $3300. We
already have a few donations toward this project, but would gladly accept
donations from anyone wishing to help.
St. John’s Senior Tours: Join us on June 7, 2007 when we visit Amish
Country/Shipshewana area. Two reservations are available at $59.00 each.— The
Branson, MO. Christmas Shows trip will be November 7-11, 2007. Four reservations
are available. Call Eunice Wright at 362-7947 for complete details and
reservations.
St. John’s Daycare is Now Open Year-Round: If you are interested in
summer childcare, we are now offering it here at St. John’s! Please come to the
school office or daycare room to fill out an information sheet as soon as
possible, so we can reserve a spot for your child. If you have any questions,
call Julie Vergin, at the school office (362-6692) or at her home (326-7315). We
need daycare workers at least 18 years of age. Applicants must well with
children, be trustworthy, dependable and responsible. Apply in person at
the school office (8:00 AM-4:00 PM).
We are also wanting to update our little fenced in playground that is used by
the Pre-school/Pre-K classes and younger daycare children. We are looking for
new or used outdoor play equipment and toys that are in good condition. If you
have any items you would like to donate, please call Julie Vergin at the school,
362-6692.
From the Voter’s Meeting: It was decided to change the time of Saturday
evening services to a 6:00 PM starting time. This will be a trial period from
June 1 until the November Voter’s Meeting. The first 6:00 PM Saturday
service will be June 2.
Can Recycling: Please keep saving your aluminum cans. We will have
another can recycling day on June 16, the sane day as the parking lot sale. All
the money will go toward our 150th Anniversary Fund. Just drop your cans off in
the grass near the school door off of the parking lot. Thanks! Anyone with a
truck and willing to help for a few hours, please call Imogene Dahl at 324-6668.
Worship for Shut-ins
Sharing Christ's Love
La Porte Area
A TV MINISTRY YOU CAN TRUST!
30-minute Lutheran worship service
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music by choirs, soloists, and
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(260) 471-LOVE (5683) (888)286-8002
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Also on Sunday Mornings…
St. John’s Lutheran Church Worship
Service
rebroadcast on at 11:00 A.M.
over WLOI, 1540 AM on the radio dial
