DECEMBER
A MONTH OF
PREPARING FOR
THE JOY
& CELEBRATION OF CHRIST’S BIRTH
For
the first four full weeks of December each Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday plus
Christmas Day the doors of St. Michael will open for special services. Walk
through our doors - each service and event offers you the opportunity to
experience the true meaning of Christmas and join in the special spirit and
fellowship of the season. A special calendar is included in this newsletter.
Make space for it on your refrigerator, wall, or table. You won’t want to miss
any of these special times.
December 2, 9, 16,
& 23
Lunchtime Advent Tuesdays – “Catch
Your Breath – Catch the Spirit – Take Time on Tuesdays” This midday event is being held in conjunction with
our Creative Alignment Church, Tree of Life. It will happen from
December 7
Annual Congregational Meeting and
Lunch – It is important for
church members to remain after services for our annual meeting. We will be
approving a budget, electing council members, and making plans for 2009. Chef
extraordinaire,
December 3, 10, &
17
Wednesday Evening Services in Advent – Join your St. Michael family on these Wednesday evenings
beginning at
November 30, December
7, 14, & 21
Sunday Evening Prayer Services – New this year is a service of Evening Prayer at
(continued on page 2)
(continued from page 1)
December 21
Hanging of the Greens - Please keep Sunday, December 21, open! Decorating
the church for the 12 Days of Christmas will occur following worship on
this day. Many hands make the work go faster, so let’s help each other prepare
our church for the season of Christmas! A hearty lunch fellowship will take
place after the decorating. Please see the sign-up sheet (“Transformation
2008”) on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall. We need members and friends to
coordinate the completion of various decorating tasks.
December 24
Christmas Eve Services – Christmas at St. Michael begins with a recital at
December 25
Christmas Day Service –Our Christmas celebration continues on December 25
with a Christ Mass at
AN ADVENT MESSAGE FROM PASTOR HAWKINS
We live in a world that has
already been redeemed by Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a done deal
and God’s promises are true. And yet violence, evil, illness, and brokenness
are all around us. What does it mean that we are saved and yet the world is in
need of so much healing? How do we live our daily lives in such a tension?
These
are the questions of Advent. Advent is not about preparing for Christmas; the
Incarnation happened over 2000 years ago. Advent is about how we live faithful
lives as children of God and heirs of God’s kingdom while we wait for the
fullness of the Kingdom to arrive in the final coming of Christ.
Worship
in Advent is about praising God and caring for the souls of those who gather by
offering a place that speaks the promise of Christ into the tension of
preparing, waiting and watching for our Lord’s final return. The scripture
texts of Advent offer four practical answers to the questions Advent places
before us.
- The
First Sunday in Advent we
are reminded of the final time when Jesus will return; and, we are
encouraged to stay alert and keep watch.
- The
Second Sunday in Advent we
are called to repent, to turn again to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The
problems of our world are not separate from us, and if we long for that
day when the fullness of the Kingdom of God will be here, then we need to
look closely at those ways that our own lives resist God’s Kingdom. And as
we look at ourselves, we do so remembering to each other God’s great
patience and never failing mercy.
- The
Third Sunday in Advent is
about responding. The faith of Jesus Christ empowers us to respond to the
needs of this world.
- The
Fourth Sunday in Advent the
texts turn our attention to consider the great gift we have received from
our God; a gift beyond our deserving and a promise beyond our merit. Through
the words of Mary, the Mother of God, we are called to trust in our God,
and to receive God’s gift with a humble heart.
Advent’s
answer to our profound questions about how we live our lives in the space
between the promise of the empty tomb and the arrival of the fullness of that
promise in the final coming of Christ Jesus is four fold. In this time of
promise and brokenness we remind each
other of God’s promises and encourage each other in that truth; we repent
and turn again to live in concord with the way of Jesus Christ; we respond
to the brokenness of our world in the faith of Christ; and we gather in worship
in word and sacrament and receive the gift of God’s presence
to us.
Come,
join us this Advent season as we remember, repent, receive, and respond to
God’s holy Word.
AN ADVENT
MESSAGE FROM BISHOP HOOVER
Dear Co-laborers with Christ,
The weeks leading up to
Christmas are always filled with busy preparations. This year, in a time of
economic uncertainty, those often joyful activities will be tinged with anxiety
about the future. Perhaps our gift giving or at least our spending will be
scaled back, and extravagance replaced by simplicity. It is especially in
anxious, uncertain times that we need the season of Advent.
Advent provides a time apart
for prayer and reflection so that we may prepare our lives for the coming of
our Lord. It is a spiritual perspective and corrective to our distracting
material preparations. The readings of Advent focus on the inexorable coming of
God’s Kingdom in God’s time and insist that we make ready. The season provides
the comfort and reassurance that, whatever might befall us, God is still Lord
of all and is coming soon. As we gather around Word and Sacrament this Advent
season, may our anxiety be stilled by that assurance and may our prayers
achieve the high urgency of our sure and certain hope that is born of God’s
gift of faith. “Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come!” Let every heart prepare him
room.
May God bless us all as we
wait for his coming.
Faithfully, your bishop,
B. Penrose Hoover
November
2008
LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MUSICIANS
Dan Deitzel is the one who is doing the looking.
He
relates: “As many of you may remember, it is my tradition to host a Christmas
Eve Recital at
Sooooo,…… if you play a
musical instrument or have a love of singing, please see Dan to participate.
THE CHRISTMAS GIVING TREE
The
Christmas Giving Tree will be set up for Sunday, November 30, the 1st
Sunday of Advent, and will remain until after Christmas. This will give people
plenty of time to bring in their gifts.
The following is the latest WISH LIST of the Medical Outreach
Service:
Blankets
Twin/Full Size - can be new or gently used
Winter
hats and gloves for men, women and children (Brown or black for adults)
Shampoo,
soap, hand & body lotions, Men’s and Women’s deodorant & razors,
Travel
tissue packs, lip balm
Cough
Drops, Children’s Liquid Loraine (Generic Claritin), hand sanitizer (2 ounces
or less)
Sugar,
Equal, Decaf coffee for brewing, powdered Coffee Creamer
Ensure
or Boost and Bottled Water
2009 SPONSOR CHARTS ARE AVAILABLE
2009 altar flower, bulletin,
and fellowship hour sponsor charts are up on the bulletin board in Fellowship
Hall. We are happy to report that the cost for both altar vases will remain at
$25. The cost for bulletin sponsorship also remains at the 2008 price - $10. Make
the fellowship hour “what you will.” From cookies to sandwiches, we have seen
it all done during this time of fellowship and conversation. A family celebration
or special occasions are good reasons to sponsor the fellowship hour. Finding a
new recipe to try out works, too!
HUMAN COMMITMENT - THE THEME OF
DECEMBER’S ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL
In December, the adult Sunday
class begins a new session, Human Commitment. In this study we will
explore the stories of individuals who made a commitment in response to God’s
call. We will observe their difficulties and delights in making and keeping
such commitment. We will ponder their need for God’s support and guidance in
order to do so.
Each week, as we explore the
nature of human commitment to God, we will look for parallels between the
biblical story and our stories. By digging deep into the text and reflecting on
the communities that first received it, we will discover that these heroes of
the Bible were ordinary people who were called by God to serve in extraordinary
circumstances. God continues to call individuals to such commitments today! Join the Adult Sunday School Class each
Sunday morning at
Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Leaders Ritual Edition
Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the
primary worship resource for the
We have been presented with the ELW,
Leaders Ritual Edition, given in memory of Lynn Mueller, who passed from life
to Life with our Lord Jesus Christ on November 5, 2005. This lovely book has all of the content leaders require for leading the
worship of the assembly.
We joyfully accept this in
memory of
ELECTION DAY SOUP and BAKE
Election Day is one marked by winners and losers, but
for St. Michael is was a winning day from the opening to the closing of the
polls. We held our first ever Election Day Soup and Bake Sale. Since our church
is a polling place, it was decided that Election Day might be a great time to
sell our famous goodies and to get people into a dialogue about the church.
We made nearly $1,000 for St. Michaels, and Downtown
Daily Bread will be the recipient of 10% of the proceeds.
None of this would be
possible without the participation and loyalty of the congregation of St.
Michaels. We asked for help, and it was received in abundance! Thanks goes out
to all who participated in giving and helping, and also thanks to those who
purchased the goodies.
DECEMBER’S LESSER FESTIVALS
Stephen, Deacon and Martyr -
December 26
“Stephen,
the ‘protomartyr,’ was one of the seven deacons ordained by the apostles, and
he was the first to die for his faith.
In his death he closely imitated the death of Christ, praying for his
executioners and commending his soul to the hands of God. The celebration of this feast was established
very early in the church’s life, and it is possible that the commemoration
occurs on the actual day of Stephen’s martyrdom. Medieval commentators suggest that the three
days following Christmas reveal the three faces of martyrdom: Stephen, martyr in deed and in will; John,
martyr in will but not in deed; the Innocents, martyrs in deed but not in will. The commemoration of the first Christian
martyr the day after Christmas is a good antidote for the sentimentality about
Jesus which all too easily marks that festival.”
(continued
on page 5)
(continued from
page 4)
John, Apostle and Evangelist
– December 27
“John the Divine (i.e., the
theologian), with his brother James and with Peter, formed the inner circle of
the apostles. From a
The Holy Innocents, Martyrs –
December 28
“The
Innocents were the children of
“On
this day one might choose to remember also the innocents of all ages killed in
the slaughters of recent history, such as:
Sand Creek, CO (November 29, 1864), slaughter of 450 unarmed Cheyenne
men, women, and children; Wounded Knee, SD (December 29, 1890), slaughter of
nearly 300 Sioux men, women, and children; Guernica (April 26, 1937),
destruction of a Spanish town by German and Italian aircraft in the first mass
bombing of an urban community; Lidice (June 10, 1942), obliteration of a
village by the Nazis in reprisal for the death of Reinhard Heydrich; Oradour
(June 10, 1944), obliteration of a French town and all but 10 of its
inhabitants by the Nazis; Auschwitz and the extermination camps; Dresden
(February 13, 1945), fire bombed by the Allies; Hiroshima (August 6, 1945), the
first atomic bomb in warfare; Nagasaki (August 9, 1945), the second atomic bomb
in warfare; the martyrs in Eastern Europe.”
BAPTISMAL ANNIVERSARIES CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Martin Luther purportedly began each day
reminding himself, “I have been baptized!” By water and the Spirit, each of us who are
members of the Church has been called to faithfully live as the Body of Christ
in the World. We rejoice with the
following members of St. Michael Church who celebrate the anniversary of their
Baptism during the month of November:
Guy Kehler December 1
Michael Winegar December 6
John Robinson December 22
COUNCIL ACTIONS –
·
Approved the revised 2009 budget
- Approved the creation of a Fundraising
Subcommittee as part of the Financial Resources Committee
- Designated the traditional 10% charity component
of fundraising activities to the following three organizations: (1)
Election Day Soup and Bake Sale to Downtown Daily Bread, (2) Christmas
Wreath Sales to Bethesda Mission, and (3) Christmas Candy Sales to Help
Ministries of Christian Churches United
- Approved 100% of monies raised from the special
Advent Envelope giving to the
Winter Shelter of Christian Churches United
- Accepted the recommendation of the Personnel
Committee’s job description for the position of Director of Music
- Extended the offer of Director of Music to Dan
Deitzel
- Approved
The Palms, are sponsored to
the glory of God and In memory of: Marie Parker by Scarlett and Grandparents by Sonya
Mink Alvin and Eva Umbenhauer by Ken
Umbenhauer Richard Wehrle by Frank
and Esther Wesley by John and Susan Wesley In honor of: Annie, Dane, Carleigh and Peyton by
Guy Kehler and Lindsay Mills All our wonderful grandparents and
friends at St. Michael by Sue and
Matt McDonald and Chris and Corey Persson Alex
and Rosemary Keenan by Brian Wall
The
St. Michael Evangelical
Lutheran Church
return service requested
Time Dated Material
Sunday
Schedule
8:45 A.M. Christian Education
10:00 A.M. Service
of Word and Sacrament
You are welcome here with us
A
reconciling in christ congregation
The Staff
The Reverend Lawrence Hawkins, Pastor
Cecilia F. Price, Secretary
Dan Deitzel III, Interim Director of Music
Fran Zalek, Custodian
Church Office (717)
234-0092
Kitchen (717)
234-0106
E-mail stmichael@paonline.com
Web Site www.paonline.com/stmike
Office Hours Monday
and Friday
Our mission
in this time and place is to invite all people to share our faith in Jesus
Christ. Our responsibility includes ministering to the needs and concerns of
this parish and those of our neighbors in the urban community.
We believe that it is
essential for all who are committed to this mission to participate actively in
worship, prayer, education, and congregational life. We are called to celebrate
the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the stewardship of our time, talents, and
gifts.