OCTOBER 2013
Christ Lutheran Church • Highlands Ranch, CO • Gathering † Gifting † Sending
Military Ministry CLC’s Military Ministry Team is excited to announce some great plans that we have for one full week in November, November 9/10 - November 16/17. In recognition of Veteran's Day on the 11th, we are once again asking you to bring in any military memorabilia you might have for display the weekend of November 9/10. We ask that you please mark each item with your name and phone so we can be sure you get your property back. On Sunday, November 10, we will have a guest speaker during the 9:30 hour. Her name is Julie Schrock, and her son, Cpl. Max Donahue was gravely wounded in Afghanistan on August 4, 2010, and passed away on August 7. Max was a marine dog handler, and only the second such person to be killed in the line of duty. Julie has written a book titled "Missing Max", and lives here in the Highlands Ranch area. This book is a compelling story of one mother's journey as she recalls the extraordinary events surrounding her son's death, and of moving through the grieving process. Through her faith and love of family and friends, Julie writes of her journey through the healing process and going forward with her life. Come hear Julie talk about her experience as well as the PTSD observed in some of Max's friends who were with him that day. This exciting week will culminate with a second Michael Peterson concert on Saturday, November 16. There will be a reception at 6:00 PM and the concert will begin at 7:00. With nine tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, six since December 2010, Michael Peterson is the 2008 recipient of the distinguished Bob Hope “Spirit Of Hope” award for his service to the nation and the servicemen and women of the Armed Forces. He is loved for such million selling country music chart toppers as “Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie” and “From Here To Eternity". This multiple Grammy and CMA award nominee has moved audiences all over the globe for over a decade. You don't want to miss this concert!
News From the Preschool Hello and welcome to the fall season at the preschool! We have such a busy month planned with two Chapel visits; “Jesus Heals” and “The Good Samaritan.” Our Storyteller will also visit and we will enjoy pizza on that day. All students will also participate in Vision/Hearing screening from the Center for Speech and Development. Our yearly and exciting Butterbraid fundraiser begins on the 9th and ends on the 22nd. We will have order forms upstairs for the congregation to order and we so appreciate the support we have received over the years. They are good to have on hand for the holiday season! The children will have a Halloween parade and party at the end of the month. They look so adorable in their costumes! We wish everyone a colorful fall season. – Ms. Deb and Ms. Blair
SCRIP UPDATE Thanks to everyone who purchased Red Robin gift cards during their recent promotion. Beginning September 28, there is a promotion for all GAP stores (GAP, Banana Republic and Old Navy). CLC will receive an additional 2% bonus during this promotion, resulting in a 16% contribution. We can have the cards here within a week of orders being placed. You can get a jump on early Christmas shopping, and help CLC at the same time!
STAFF: Rev. Tom Shelly, Sr. Pastor pstrfstr@clchr.org Rev. DJ Dent, Associate Pastor pastordent@clchr.org Debby Kinsella Dir. Outreach/Equipping dkinsella@clchr.org Gary Knutson Dir. of Youth & Family gknutson@clchr.org Deb Morgans Dir. of Preschool dmorgans@clchr.org Mary Behnke Administrative Manager mbehnke@clchr.org Sallie Burns Financial Secretary sburns@clchr.org Linda Holcombe Dir. of Music lindaholcombe64@gmail.com Nicholas Koltay Administrative Assistant nkoltay@clchr.org Carrie Mallery Principal Pianist Larry Scalfari Pianist Barbara Pierson Dir. Nursery Ministry Barbara.Pierson@comcast.net Meliha & Predrag Vajzovic Custodians CHURCH COUNCIL: Ken Kroneberger kenk@jcmh.org Lee Bergstrom lee_berg@yahoo.com
Pastor Tom’s Message The Days Ahead, the Days Behind! Keeping up with the calendar can be challenging. Looking at the Days Ahead can either be overwhelming or cumbersome as we plot out the future and watch it change and fluctuate right up until the moment of implementation. This does not even begin to address the complications in calendaring all our electronic syncing devices. Recently at the Rocky Mountain Synod Theological Conference I heard and excellent speaker suggest we need balance and boundaries so that our calendars and social media not take over our lives. Both adults and youth may need to keep an electronic Sabbath or sabbatical even if it is for a couple of hours, an evening or weekend. Of course this is for a specific reason, to let our souls catch up to our schedules and spend some time going deeper into our spirits for richer, more sacred time and experiences. Looking at the Days Behind can be a guide to what we need in the future. Our Days Behind may have been busy and full but were they filled with what is important? Was what was accomplished just full of the urgent? If so maybe it is the divine deeper experience one needs more. Remember, all God’s gifts, peace, renewal, forgiveness, grace and the many others are given with the circumstances that will require us to use them! We have had a lot of fun and excitement the past month at CLC as we celebrated Rally Day, Ministry Sunday, Mission Sunday and finally Youth Sunday. They each speak to the busy-ness of our community of faith. At the same time I hope and pray they have helped us deepen our faith walk beyond the “doing” into the “being.” As seasons change, fall approaches. May we find sacred Sabbath time to deepen the Spirit that gives us life and faith amid all challenges! + Many Blessings + See You in Worship + Pastor Tom
Nancy Bauer nancybauer@q.com Rick Boyer safetyguy74@yahoo.com Julie Waggoner waggoners5@gmail.com Norm Beulke nbeulke@gmail.com Adrian Hafner backyardkids@hotmail.com Bret Sumner bretsumner@hotmail.com John Ringkob jer@dascoinc.com John Riley johnriley05@comcast.net
All articles, photos and notices for the next issue of CrossWord are due by the 15th of the month. Send to mbehnke@clchr.org. Editor reserves the right to edit for content and space.
Changes here at CLC! The announcement is out; we have a new full time Director of Music, Linda Holcombe! Congratulations Linda and CLC! Linda’s official full time status will begin Saturday, October 12th. All Music groups of the Days Behind will continue into the Days Ahead, Celebration Choir, Carillon Ringers, Joy and Jubilation Choirs, Crossroads Band and CLC Praise Team. Further out we will introduce a few more groups we hope to get going and other ministries but for now the Celebration Choir is practicing every Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. (Come and Join a Choir!). Carillon Ringers are invited to meet with Linda on October 2nd, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Sonrise Room. Joy and Jubilation Choirs and Parents are invited to meet with Linda for a half hour meeting on Sunday October 6th at 11 a.m. in the Sonrise Room.
CLC Sunday School
September is really shaping up nicely! The kids are having fun in Sunday School and we have several new friends who have joined us. We are talking about our challenge this year for Sunday School. The challenge is to do as Many Acts of Kindness we can! All year long, but espeically in October, we are challenging the Sunday School students and all children of CLC to do as many Acts of Kindness possible and fill out a quick form so we can put it up on the wall to spell the words KIND with OUR Good deeds! Get those flat pastors going! Don't know who flat pastor is? Let me know or better yet, ask your kids! In October we are in need of a few volunteers! We need a 3yr old teacher for October 13th/20th and a 1st grade teacher. Helpers are needed for ALL GRADES except 4th Grade.
Card Making Team
Our card making team led by Cindy Russell would like to extend an invitation to all to join them. They make all kinds of cards that the CLC staff uses to brighten people’s day for prayers of thanksgiving, celebrations like birthday and anniversaries, also prayers or healing and comfort in illness and loss. The Card making team meets once a month on Monday’s. If you are interested or want to know more please sign the response sheet. (Cindy’s computer crashed and she lost everything including names and numbers. If you have been on the her list before and haven’t been contacted recently please sign the response sheet on Sunday too!) Thank You!
Pastor DJ’s Message If you can imagine, there are things that I cut from every sermon. I know, right. It seems like there’s too much stuff in there already, but trust me there is stuff on the cutting room floor. Some things I stick away for later use, but I have something that I’d like to bring out from a recent sermon that didn’t make the cut but is worth sharing nonetheless. I introduced probably a new idea about the interpretation of the “Parable of the Dishonest Manager” when I spoke of the early interpretation of the text of Luke 16:1-13. For reference, I get this interpretation from John of Chrysostom (circa 388) and if you’d like to find out more about what he said, I recommend “On Wealth and Poverty” which is a series of sermons on Lazarus and the Rich Man. But the basic idea I proposed from him was that the poor needed to vouch for the rich for entry into heaven; which should at least raise the question in our mind if any among the poor would know us well enough to offer a recommendation – not just that we helped but that we built a relationship. Indeed a challenging and intriguing thought. But I remember the person who taught this perspective to me told me another story about understanding “heavenly mansions” which I would like to share with you. Harvey was an elderly member in her church whose family had all passed away and he maintained his own residence, a single bedroom studio apartment. He didn’t really have the means for survival and depended every day on a single meal from Meals on Wheels for nutrition. Harvey repeatedly asked his pastor to share lunch with him, which she refused several times until eventually agreeing after a visit. Thinking she was going to take him out to lunch, she got up to leave but was stunned to turn around and see Harvey pulling two plates from the cabinet and moving to his refrigerator to pull out the one meal he would receive that day. Despite her protests he carefully divided each portion of the TV Dinner sized meal in two and set the table. The Chicken, the fruit cup, the mixed veggies, the roll, and even the dessert lay split between the two humble settings. In this is the meal that is spoken of in scripture of the great banquet at the reconciliation of all things, says the pastor. While we tend to think of magnificent things we are promised as children of God, we miss how caught up in the world’s standards we are. That the “true riches” have little to do with fancy houses and meals but about a completely restored relationship where even what seems like a little is an abundance. I just wanted to offer this as more food for thought for what exactly our mission is. Thanks for your work and witness, Pastor DJ
Excel in the Grace of Giving! Our Stewardship campaign begins on October 20th and will be a four week period of special presentations ending on November 17th with Consecration Sunday. Giving: an Obligation or Opportunity? As the Apostle Paul traveled to churches, he collected offerings for the Christians in Jerusalem who were experiencing hard economic times. When Paul was speaking to the Corinthians, he used the Macedonian believers as an example of people who, in spite of their own economic troubles, gave joyfully to the people in Jerusalem. The Macedonians’ love for Christ and their concern for their fellow believers moved them to give beyond their ability. They excelled in the grace of giving. The Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord, and then, Paul said, they “urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints” (2 Corinthians 8:4). In Christ, they saw their giving as an opportunity to help other believers in need. Does someone who views giving as an obligation plead for the opportunity to give? Probably not. When giving is an obligation, we will give, but giving as an obligation will not give us the joy or the attitude of pleading for the privilege to give as the Macedonians had. As God’s people, we have both an obligation and an opportunity. Scripture is clear that we are called to give. Paul said, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made” (1 Corinthians 16:2).
Giving is an obligation, but, just as God changed the hearts and minds of the Macedonian people, He changes us so we view our giving as an opportunity rather than an obligation. As renewed and transformed people, our attitudes toward giving change from a “got to” to a “get to” attitude. We stop giving grudgingly, and we start to excel in the grace of giving by giving willingly and cheerfully. We want to give, because giving is an expression of our love and gratitude to God for who He is and what He does for us. The more we give of ourselves and our gifts the closer our relationship with Christ becomes and the more we want to give, and the more God blesses us, enabling our continued giving. “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11). We thank God that He fills us daily with His love so that we as members of His Body here at our church see giving as a privilege and an opportunity to praise and thank Him.
Cindy Chavez 1-Oct Jack Mahalik 1-Oct Chuck McGavern 1-Oct Rylie Mundell 1-Oct Paul Betthauser 2-Oct Nathan Marxhausen 2-Oct Kenny Jensen 3-Oct Greg Kleen 3-Oct Linda Pace 3-Oct Barbara Pierson 3-Oct Peyton Hengen 4-Oct Priscilla Raddatz 4-Oct Tim Stohs 4-Oct McKenzie Subart 4-Oct Chris Dull 5-Oct Delilah June Fisbeck 5-Oct Brittany Harner 5-Oct Alex Hinz 5-Oct Julia Hegele 6-Oct Scott Lichty 6-Oct Maddy McCullor 6-Oct Steve Mitchell 6-Oct Ellie Sedbrook 6-Oct Bryan Warren 6-Oct Richard Dethlefs 7-Oct
Happy Birthday
Al Kravitz 7-Oct Tessa Polodna 7-Oct Gavin Rocha 7-Oct Lee Smook 7-Oct Brodie Dilges 8-Oct Nicholas Koltay 8-Oct Courtney Wilson 8-Oct Donald Perko 9-Oct Jenny Radtke 9-Oct Michelle Schultz 9-Oct Chad Freitag 10-Oct Gary Knutson 10-Oct Marilyn Kolseth 10-Oct Amy Pierce 10-Oct Dick Swanson 10-Oct Chase Bigelow 11-Oct Hailey Johnson 11-Oct Thomas Kinsella 11-Oct Dan Kramer 11-Oct Mike Lee 11-Oct Travis Saxton 11-Oct Barb Bremer 12-Oct Sharon Burbank 12-Oct Rusty Porterfield 12-Oct Megan Silverman 12-Oct
Mike Morton 13-Oct Kati Polodna 13-Oct Curt Rowe 13-Oct Darin Weitzel 13-Oct Joanne Edmunds 14-Oct Cyndi Perry 14-Oct Barbara Voelker 14-Oct Don Alpern 15-Oct Cheryl Beck 15-Oct Steven Gutsch 15-Oct Jessica Lytle 15-Oct Kelly O'Hearn 15-Oct Michael Porter 15-Oct Tressa Stohs 15-Oct Mario Flores 16-Oct Michael Hansen 16-Oct Jack Connolly 17-Oct Joseph DiGrappa 17-Oct Reece Evans 17-Oct Bruce Klein 17-Oct Lindsay Ross 17-Oct Mikayla Devin 18-Oct Jon Hegre 18-Oct Gail Lasater 18-Oct Joyce Woody 18-Oct
Lillianna Flores 19-Oct Dan Menck 19-Oct Mark Bauer 20-Oct Chad Liley 20-Oct Jackson Lindemann 20-Oct Barb Sande 20-Oct Warren Arnold 21-Oct Audrey Larsen 21-Oct Steve Heutmaker 22-Oct Dean Macko 23-Oct Leah Ringkob 23-Oct Jeff Snauwaert 23-Oct Colin Brown 24-Oct Taylor Holter 24-Oct Madison Riley 24-Oct McKenna Riley 24-Oct Kathy Bigelow 25-Oct Josh Garcia 25-Oct John Heiner 25-Oct Erik Johnson 25-Oct Reilly McGavern 25-Oct Nicole Moses 25-Oct Bob Mulverhill 25-Oct Carter Parks 25-Oct Madison Bachelder 26-Oct
Sallie Burns 26-Oct Sarah Fisbeck 26-Oct Eric Hemenway 26-Oct Linda Nix 26-Oct Zach Sorenson 26-Oct Lesley Cantrell 27-Oct Nadia Carroll 27-Oct Sam Hughes 27-Oct Lara Rockwell 27-Oct Darrell Woody 27-Oct Anthony Dimercurio 28-Oct Conrad Freeman 28-Oct Charlie Larsen 28-Oct Jason Gray 29-Oct Katie Lyneis 29-Oct Zachary Tiedgen 29-Oct Susan Carroll 30-Oct Brooke Libner 30-Oct Sergio Mena Casa 31-Oct Carol O'Hearn 31-Oct Kyoko Okada 31-Oct
Thrivent Choice Special Announcement
Thrivent has announced the launch of the Thrivent Choice “Double Direction Church Campaign” that runs from October 1 to November 30, 2013. All Choice Dollars directions made to enrolled churches will be DOUBLED during this time or until $15 million has been awarded, whichever comes first. To direct your Choice Dollars, you have two options: • Log in to Thrivent.com/thriventchoice and select "Get Started." When prompted, enter Christ Lutheran Church, Highlands Ranch, CO as your recipient • Contact a representative from the Member Connection Center at 800-847-4836 and, when prompted, say "Thrivent Choice." When next prompted, say, "Choice Dollars." Directing Choice Dollars® is subject to the Terms & Conditions of the Thrivent Choice® program. We urge all Thrivent members to take advantage of this “Double Direction Church Campaign” during the allotted time period. These dollars are a great help to CLC!
BOOK SALE UPDATE
Thank you to all who supported the CLC Women’s Book Club annual book sale. We raised over $500 from book sales, which will be split between the Colorado Flood Relief and the CLC Scholarship Fund. The Book Club appreciates your support!
OCTOBER SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
8:30am Preschool 1 8:30am Preschool 2 8:30am Preschool 3 8:30am Preschool 9:00am MOPS Mtg 11:00am Chapel 6:00pm Cub Scout Den Mtg. 9:00am Rejoice Circle 11:00am Chapel 11:15am Staff Mtg. 7:00pm Celebration Choir 5:30pm Parents Night Out 2:00pm Chapel 1:00pm Christmas Planning rehearsal 5:30pm Carillon Ringers Meeting 6:30pm Confirmation Music 2:00pm Chapel 7:00pm Confirmation Learning 5:00pm Crossroads Band/ Event Praise Team Rehearsal 7:00pm BLAZE 8:00pm MOPS set-up
NAME TAG SUNDAY 6 8:00am Worship/CC 9:30 Worship/SS 9:30am Adult University Class 11:00am Worship/CC 11:00am Joy Choir rehearsal 11:00am Jubilation Choir 12:15pm Baptism Class 12:30pm Pet Blessing 3:45pm Dynamite Youth 7:00pm AA Meeting
6:30am Men's Breakfast 7 Group 8:30am Preschool 9:30am Bible Study 5:30pm Jr. Brownie Troop 7:00pm Boy Scouts 7:00pm Personnel Committee Meeting
8:30am Preschool 10:15am Storyteller 11:15am Staff Mtg. 2:00pm Storyteller 5:00pm Crossroads Band/ Praise Team Rehearsal 7:00pm BLAZE 7:00pm Council Mtg.
8:00am Worship/CC 13 8:00am BAPTISM - Holder 9:30 Worship/SS 9:30am Adult University Class 11:00am Worship/CC 11:00am Joy Choir rehearsal 11:00am Jubilation Choir 12:15pm 1st Bible Class 7:00pm AA Meeting
6:30am Men's Breakfast 14 Group 8:30am Preschool Fall Break 9:30am Mission Quilters 6:00pm Boy Scouts Venture 7:00pm Boy Scouts 7:00pm Legacy & Endowment Meeting
8:30am Preschool Fall 15 Break 11:15am Staff Mtg. 1:00pm Visiting Nurse Assoc. 5:00pm Crossroads Band/ Praise Team Rehearsal 7:00pm BLAZE
8:00am Worship/CC 20 9:30 Worship/SS 9:30am Adult University Class 11:00am Worship/CC 11:00am Joy Choir rehearsal 11:00am Jubilation Choir 12:15pm 1st Bible Class 2:00pm Member Reception at Pastor Tom's 7:00pm AA Meeting
6:30am Men's Breakfast Group 8:30am Preschool 9:30am Bible Study 7:00pm Boy Scouts
REFORMATION SUNDAY 27 8:00am Worship/CC 9:30 Worship/SS/1st Bible celebration 9:30am Adult University Class 11:00am Worship/CC 11:00am Joy Choir rehearsal 11:00am Jubilation Choir 7:00pm AA Meeting
6:30am Men's Breakfast 28 Group 8:30am Preschool 9:30am Mission Quilters 9:30am Bible Study 4:30pm Brownie Troop 6:00pm Boy Scouts Venture 7:00pm Boy Scouts
21 8:30am Preschool
10:15am Storyteller 11:15am Staff Mtg. 2:00pm Storyteller 5:00pm Crossroads Band/ Praise Team Rehearsal 7:00pm BLAZE 8:00pm MOPS set-up
8 8:30am Preschool
9:00am Vision and Hearing Screening 10:00am MOPS Steering 10:15am Storyteller 2:00pm Storyteller 5:30pm Carillon Ringers 7:00pm Confirmation Small Group
9 8:30am Preschool
10 8:30am Preschool - No
9:00am Vision and Hearing Screening 7:00pm CLC Military Ministry 7:00pm Celebration Choir rehearsal
FALL BREAK-NO 16 8:30am Preschool Fall 17 Break CONFIRMATION 7:00pm CLC Military Ministry 8:30am Preschool Fall Break 7:00pm Celebration Choir 5:30pm Carillon Ringers rehearsal
22 8:30am Preschool
23 8:30am Preschool
9:00am MOPS Mtg 11:00am Chapel 2:00pm Chapel 5:30pm Carillon Ringers 6:00pm Confirmation Guide Huddle 6:30pm Confirmation Music 7:00pm Confirmation Learning Event
6:30pm Cub Scout Mtg. 7:00pm Celebration Choir rehearsal
School Inservice 12:00pm OWLS Luncheon
8:30am Preschool Fall Break 9:00am Rejoice Circle
24 8:30am Preschool
8:30am Preschool 29 NO CONFIRMATION 30 8:30am Preschool 31 11:15am Staff Mtg. 8:30am Preschool 7:00pm Celebration Choir 5:00pm Crossroads Band/ 5:30pm Carillon Ringers rehearsal Praise Team Rehearsal 6:30pm Confirmation Music 7:00pm BLAZE
SATURDAY 4 9:00am Chicks w/Sticks
5:00pm Worship/CC 5:00pm BAPTISM - Flores
5
11 5:00pm Worship/CC
12
18 5:00pm Worship/CC
19
25 7:00am General
26
Maintenance 5:00pm Worship/CC 6:00pm Halloween Party
Followers of Jesus Christ
8997 S. Broadway Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 Change Service Requested
There’s a place for you! Outreach Ministries
Fair Trade Coffee Project ELCA World Hunger The Gathering Place Grant Avenue Street Reach Habitat for Humanity Harrington Elementary Lutheran Family Services Adult Mission Trips Outreach Uganda Urban Peak (MOPS) Mothers of Preschoolers
Music
Celebration Choir Crossroads Worship Band Confirmation Choir Jubilation Choir Joy Choir Carillon Ringers
Preschool
Caring Connection
Individual Care Team Confidential Prayer Tree Card Ministry New-Mother Ministry Prayer Shawl Knitters Chefs for Christ Pastoral Care and Counseling Chicks with Sticks Mission Quilters
Youth & Family Ministries
Sunday School Dynamite Youth Group (4th, 5th, 6th graders) Blaze (High School Youth) Sr. High Mission Trip Confirmation (7th & 8th graders) First Communion classes First Bible classes Baptism classes Family Nights