NEWSLETTER January 2019
Peace Talk
House of Prayer on Parker and Main
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ~Romans 12:4-5
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Grace, mercy and Peace to you from God Our Father and Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Compare the church with your own body. You’re snuggled in your bed nice and warm on a cold day. Your eyes open and you look at the clock. Dang! It’s time to get up. Maybe there’s some stiffness, a little morning breath, you rub your eyes as you pivot on the edge of the bed and plant your feet on the floor. Everything is functioning, more or less, the way you want it to. Your body is reacting to the commands from your brain. What if, instead when you woke up, the left eye opened but your right eye stayed closed. The alarm is going off but your dominant arm is flapping around like a dying fish out of water on the bed because your hips refuse to let your body roll toward the clock. You're trying to move your other arm but the fingers in rebellion are grasping the headboard of the bed for dear life. One foot is on the floor but the other sticks straight up in the air. Other body parts decide they don’t want to be what they are.The elbow wants to be the heart. The heart wants to be the stomach. The stomach wants to be a lung. Another year is about to begin and soon the gyms will be filled with people with the New Years resolution of toning their muscles, increasing their stamina, strength and endurance. The ability of the body to meet its goals, however, depends on each part fulfilling its individual role. The church is the body of Christ, as such it too needs to exercise. Our goals for the coming year, ok every year, are to become more knowledgable of the scriptures, spend more time in prayer, outreach to our inactive members, and work to prevent our members from becoming inactive by having everyone use their gifts to the glory of God, to re-connect to our community and share Christ not just with each other but with those who don’t know Him. Now, like all those resolute New Year people at the gym, we can’t expect that we will enter the gym like a ninety-eight pound weakling and exit after an hour looking like Arnold Schwartzenegger. But we can make a good start of things. It’s not likely that each of us will jump into a new daily routine. We can’t expect that a one size fits all program will meet everyone’s needs. What and how we start will differ for every person. But I would like to challenge you to spend one hour a month, Twelve hours for the year on one of the goals above, or all of them. You might do it with a 5 minute devotion each day or spending 15 minutes extra in prayer each week. Maybe you’ll help a child at the academy for 1 hour a month or host a bible study at your home for two hours every other month. Perhaps you will start a new ministry day event that will take twelve hours between preparation and execution. Whatever form it takes if you need support please let me know! Maybe your ministry or growth opportunity will be the way others fulfill their twelve hour time of growth. Working together as one body, by the Grace and for the glory of God, He will use us for Great things! May God bless you all with a joyous New Year and the inspiration of the way you will work in His kingdom this year! SDG, Pastor John If you find yourself unable to attend worship on Sunday, head over to Facebook and during the readings and sermon portion of the service we will go LIVE on “God’s Peace at Parker and Main”Facebook page. Now you can stay connected to God’s word and and Pastor message each and every Sunday. Past Sundays are available now on the “Video” section of the page.
News of The Lutheran Academy! Working in partnership with God's people to raise up a new generation of faithful Christian men and women!
Ramona Brown Ramona Brown was our special guest on Friday, December 21st. The academy had a half day of school in preparation for the Christmas break, and the board invited Ramona to come teach the students (and staff) a few line dances. Everyone had a wonderful time and lots of laughs were heard and good exercise was enjoyed. Thank you Ramona for giving of your time and talent for the school!
Festival of Lessons and Carols On Wednesday, December 12th at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Pastor Zimmerman read eight lessons and the hymns to complement each reading were sung by the Academy students and the congregation. It was a lovely evening of worship and fellowship in the middle of the Advent season. Pictured here is the 2018-19 students and staff of the Academy (minus one student unable to attend the worship service).
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION Thank you for your support via the Box Top program. Each Box Top when turned in earns the Academy 10 cents. The collection box is located in the back of the church. Please save your Box Tops for the Academy and turn them in to the box regularly. Thank you.
Visit and share the Academy website at anytime at www.thelutheranacademyscranton.org
Pray without ceasing - 1 Thes. 5:17 Remember to ask: "How can I pray for you?"
CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES:
+ CAROLING AT THE NURSING HOME
+ SPECIAL PRAYERS
Youth and adults from Peace Lutheran Church and The Lutheran Academy visited the Gardens at Greenridge Nursing Home and blessed the residents with caroling on Friday, December 14th. Our very own Audrey Russell was in attendance and after caroling the youth enjoyed a time of cookies and drinks with the residents. We hope this will continue in years to come. Thank you to all who made this event possible.
Thanksgiving and Praise to God for His approval for Pastor John Babbitts as an SMP Candidate. For Peace Lutheran Church as we work through the call process. For Frank Schulze as he serves the final months of his prison sentence. We pray for him and his family as they eagerly await his return home. For Beverly Gedrimas as she continues chemotherapy treatments. For Bonnie Cornog and Grace Morris as they continues the recovery process. + THRIVENT CHOICE POINTS If you are a Thrivent member, you really CAN make a big difference to the Academy by directing your choice points to Peace Lutheran Church. If you don’t have a computer you can simply CALL Thrivent and they will help direct your “choice points” to Peace Lutheran Church.
+ CARING FOR INACTIVE MEMBERS I’m sure we all notice the empty pew. Maybe it’s a family member that you miss having next to you in the pew. Maybe it's a member that you remember fondly but haven’t seen in years. It could be a person who you know feels that they can’t come back to church for whatever reason. It could be someone who’s hurting and needs someone to reach out. What do you do? What do you say? What if you saw the person walking through the supermarket parking lot, would it be awkward? After our 10:30 a.m. service for two hours on January 6, 13, and 20 we will explore these questions and more. Through a study of Caring for Inactive Members: How to Make God’s House a Home by Kenneth C. Haugk, we will be learning how to communicate that we care about the person we’re speaking to and not just about numbers in attendance. Even how to make the phone call so that you don’t communicate that you are fulfilling a need of your own instead of genuine love for the person being reached out to. Please let Pastor John or Amy know if you can join us for this important training. If you can’t make all three weeks it’s ok come for as many as you can!
Have a special prayer need? How about a praise? Please share with Amy in the office so it can be included in the bulletin on Sundays.
Church website: www.yourpeace.org
+ ADULT BIBLE STUDY Winter 2019 Beginning January 6th, the adult bible study class (open to those confirmed and older) will be studying In His Mighty Power by Jerry Kosberg. This booklet for group or individual study contains 18 chapters that first identifies the enemy of our spiritual battle and then enumerates the weapons believers can use in their spiritual fight. Each chapter ends with a list of questions called "Warriors Aware." From the book's Prologue: "Martin Luther's understanding of spiritual warfare has always fascinated me. You will see that I use his insights a number of times in this book. God used this man in remarkable ways. I hope this book motivates you to reacquaint yourself with his insights, particularly those found in his "Small Catechism." Lutherans have always believed that God accomplished His greatest victory at Christ's cross and empty tomb. Spiritual warfare takes us to that cross and empty tomb and never let us stray from it. Luther's insights lead the way in this."
Looking Ahead . . . February 10 Academy Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser 9:00am-1:00pm here at Peace March 17 Prayer Vigil - plan to sign-up for some time to pray!! October 5 Blessing of the Animals - Plan to bring your pet! October 26 Block Party - come meet the neighbors!
Office email: amybetts@yourpeace.org
Phone: 570-703-0607
Many are upset with the spiritual state of our country. In fact a well known theologian has said “Dear God what misery I beheld! The ordinary person, especially in the villages, knows absolutely nothing about the Christian faith and unfortunately many pastors are completely unskilled and incompetent teachers. Yet supposedly they all bear the name Christian…” Ok the theologian was Martin Luther and he was speaking of Germany in the 16th century not the United States in the 21st. Some thing never change. Luther’s solution was the small catechism. He saw it as a guide to those who didn’t know Christ, a book of instruction and a book to be used in prayer. If you’re not sure where your catechism is please grab one of the copies in the Narthex! Know someone who can’t make Sunday morning worship because of work, sports, or even just not a morning person? Maybe that someone is you. Please tell them to join us or join us yourself on Saturday’s at 5 p.m. These Saturday services will incude Communion. Following the service is an optional a time of food and fellowship. If you plan on staying after service, please consider bringing something to share. See you there! Most of us have people in our past, that we remember fondly. That adult who was a mentor for us. Who took the extra time to see the diamond in the rough and do their part to polish us. The children of today need those people too. We look at the headlines and the talking heads on the news and shake our heads at what’s happening to our society. If we are content to shake our heads I’m sure the situation will continue to get worse and give us even more opportunities to talk about how much better the world was when we were growing up. The other alternative is to share our knowledge, stories and interests with children. Just an hour of your time will make a huge difference. If you can spare some time to help tutor a student, to assist the academy in the classroom, to teach children how to throw, golf, hit a baseball, or maybe toss a horseshoe. Maybe you have a favorite board or card game you could teach. Already I have so many requests from those who would love to have activities like this available to children it is almost difficult to know where to start. However, it has to start with you. If you can spare any time at all please contact Jan Wells, Amy Betts, or Deacon John and may God bless your day
Many have asked recently, here is the Bjornstad’s Minnesota Address: 120 Palmer Path Mankato, MN 56001
The Gathering Hall
at the Lutheran Ministry Center is available for rent various times each month. Right now we have Saturdays open all of January. Rental agreements are available at the back of the church and at the Lutheran Ministry Center. Talk to Amy Betts if you have any questions or would like to reserve the space. Please help us spread the word to those in the community you may know looking for a meeting or event location.
Right now we have one ac.ve altar guild person. Especially with the addi.on of a Saturday evening service it would be nice to have several women (no age requirement) trained and ac.ve. If you would be willing to learn the proper way to set up the altar and prepare the elements for service please see Pastor John, Amy BeEs, or Judy Evans.
Midweek Church Family Devotions at Immanuel Lutheran Church Come and join your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for a time of prayer and meditation at Immanuel (238 Reese St, Scranton). Devotions will be led by Pastor Zimmerman weekly on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. The Sacrament will be available for those who desire it afterwards. To reach Pastor Babbitts: 570-409-6323 or deacon.babbitts@yourpeace.org Remember you can call the church office to speak with Amy for many of your questions or to RSVP to events, and to pass along needs or requests to Pastor Babbitts.