Newsletter Announcements

GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH  TO CELEBRATE 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Time flies! Did you know that our congregation is celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2015? Please keep July 18 and 19th, 2015 open for our celebration – including a dinner, special activities, and worship services!

 

 

Due to the harsh winter, Good Shepherd is facing a budget shortfall for energy needs – this includes heat and gas. “Energy Needs” offering envelopes will be available for giving above and beyond your regular offering to help cover these important expenses.

 

December Baptismal Birthdays

Theron Noth                          12/1

Caleb Evans                          12/4

Curtis Kessler, Jr                 12/5

Sierra Parker                          12/12

Gordon Schroeder                12/18

Jeanette McNeely                 12/20

Lawrence Nord                      12/22

Samantha Logue                   12/23

Jacob Piper                           12/23

John Campbell                      12/25

Aaron Scott                            12/27

Maria Kirchner                       12/28

Heidi Bliese                            12/29

Karson Lueck                         12/29

December Birthdays

Matthew Culp                         12/3

Jacob Piper                           12/3

Eli McNeely                            12/6

Kaitlin Culp                            12/7

Brian Hitch                              12/7

Kimberly King                         12/10

Johanna Kirchner                 12/14

Pauline Hanner                      12/17

Karson Lueck                         12/17

Matthew Holland                 12/19

Heidi Bliese                            12/20

Lawrence Nord                      12/21

Devin Kemp-Golden             12/24

Tanner Hitch                          12/28

Audrie King                            12/30

Richard Olson                        12/31

December Pastor’s Notes

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

 

During this month of December, we think a lot about gifts.  Giving gifts.   Receiving gifts.  Having to shop for gifts.  How elaborate do you get?  Over the years, what gifts do you most remember? 

 

Interestingly, it is not always the large purchases that bring back the best memories.  Oh sure, I remember the one Christmas where my whole Christmas from my mom and dad was a VCR.  Yes, kids, a VCR.  My parents were always very generous at Christmas, and they almost felt guilty that I only was getting the one gift.  But the gift was expensive and what I really wanted.  So that does stand out.  But many other years, it was the least expensive gifts that I got the most use out of.  I played a hand-held football game for years.  Books that were just stocking stuffers brought me great joy.  Our boys have enjoyed many great gifts over the years, but the one thing that we still have and use is 13-year-old Fisher-Price basketball hoop in our basement.  It was probably about $29.95 when purchased, but it has gotten a lot of play for the price. 

 

What gifts do you remember?  For many of us, it is the simple ones.  The ones that didn’t stand out while unwrapping but provided the most usefulness over the years.  You ever watch kids?  We think we need to shower them with the latest and the greatest.  Give them a cardboard box and they can have great fun.  I saved the box from our fridge when we moved 15 years ago.  The kids loved it.  When it would no longer stand up, we folded it down and used it for a sliding baseball game in our basement.  The boys are great sliders on the baseball field even today because of that simple piece of cardboard. 

 

The wonderful gift that we celebrate at this time of year is also very simple.  The wrapping was not glitter or gold but swaddling clothes.  While Jesus came inexpensively – no labor or hospital charges – what He brought was the most expensive gift the world has ever seen.  He laid down His life for the sins of the world.  That same baby in the swaddling clothes would someday be wrapped in linens and placed in a tomb.  The resurrection would signify an eternal gift that awaits all who believe in Jesus as Savior. 

 

This gift will be remembered for all time.  This gift lives on.  This gift is your gift.  Cherish it as you worship Him this month. 

 

In Christ,  

Pastor 

“The Waiting Is The Hardest Part” — Sermon: Sun, 11-30-14 (10:30am)

 

Nov. 30, 2014 Text: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Dear Friends in Christ,

Can you think of times in our world when people were not prepared? How about these: The German invasion of Poland in 1939. The Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Islamic terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. The tsunami that roared across the Indian Ocean in December 2004. Hurricane Katrina that devastated the Gulf Coast back in 2005. Tornadoes that come without warning. The recent snowstorm in New York State.
Waiting is one thing when we’re prepared. Waiting is quite another when we’re unprepared. And how can we possibly be prepared when we don’t know what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen?
Today begins the new church year and the season of Advent. This liturgical season is all about preparation and . . . waiting. I’ve titled the sermon after a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song from the 1980’s. Even though it was probably not meant to be theological this is the line in the song right before the title. “You take it on faith, you take it to the heart . . .
“THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART”
Paul as he writes to the Corinthians acknowledges that they lack nothing. They were enriched in speech and knowledge. They have been given grace through Jesus Christ. The testimony of Christ was confirmed among them.
We also lack nothing. We have been enriched through God’s good gifts. Christ revealed, salvation completed, surrounded by the grace and mercy of the Savior.
Yet we are waiting. We are waiting for “the day.” (v. 8) When I say that, what do many of you immediately think of? You think of the day that is still twenty-five days away. You think of the preparations that still have to be made. You will not be caught unprepared. You know it’s coming so why worry.
It is true that many of us are waiting for Christmas and the blessing of celebrating and worshipping Jesus Christ, the revealed Son of God the Father, born in Bethlehem. But Paul is not writing about Christmas. He is writing about the Greater Day. The return of Jesus Christ. And so we wait. Strangers in a strange land.
While many may agree that “waiting is the hardest part” when it comes to Christmas, do you feel the same way about the return of Christ? Is waiting the hardest part? Or is it not knowing when this will occur the hardest part? Do you take it on faith? Do you take it to the heart? Is the waiting the hardest part?
With Christmas we have a fixed date. Even though we may flitter around wondering how we will accomplish all that needs to get done, we can look back on a record number of years where we accomplished what we wanted. The worry melts away like the spring snows because we have been through it before. The rhythm of life helps us to be prepared.
The opposite can happen with the return of Jesus. Since we do not know the date, we can worry about whether our faith life is in the right place. Do I fully trust Christ as Savior? Has my heart been prepared for His salvation? We may even begin to join the scoffers of the day who insist that Jesus isn’t ever going to return, because after all, where has He been as the world falls apart?
And still, we are ready. We are prepared. This is not we scurrying to the mall to get eternal clothes for Jesus’ arrival. We are not the ones hanging the stockings by the chimney in hopes that Christ would soon be here. Paul writes, “as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (vs. 7b-9)
We are not sustaining ourselves to the end. God is. He is preparing our hearts and our minds for the expected arrival back to earth of our Savior. We are not always faithful. God is always faithful. We are no longer guilty of our offenses but through the death and resurrection of Christ we are guiltless. “Jesus has cleansed His church by removing the sins of believers through His own blood on the cross. This cleansing has been applied to Christians through Holy Baptism.” (Eph. 5:26) When Jesus returns the church will be blameless because God who is faithful keeps it in the cleansing flow of His grace. It all God’s doing through the Word and the Sacraments. He has prepared us. Yes, the waiting is the hardest part because we cannot wait to experience the joy of being with the Lord forever.
Take it on faith. Take it to the heart. The return of Christ our Savior is the blessed part.
Amen.