NEWSLETTER December 2015
Peace Talk
House of Prayer on Parker and Main
Jeremiah 33:14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
From the pastor’s heart: Jeremiah 33:14 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The hopes and dreams that we have in our lives are so precious to us. It was hope that brought the first settlers to this land. It was hope that drove the industrial revolution. It was hope that builds each generation. It is hope that lifts our heads in the morning and shapes our day. But is hope in short supply in these difficult days? Expectations about the future are dampened and it has been noted that for the first time in the history of our nation, the current generation does not hope for a better life than its parents. Of course hope is what has driven the people of God through the ages even until today. The people of the Old Testament were a people that hoped in the Lord. And it wasn’t easy. For hundreds and thousands of years the people of God looked forward in hope to the coming Messiah. At times God would show himself in great deeds, but for long stretches of time the signs of God’s providence seemed few and far between. The hearts of the people were often bone dry and their hearts bereft of a joy as life was exceedingly cruel.
But against every notion of a reasonable time, in the long darkness of waiting, there was this singular promise… this candle that could not be put out… the divine hope of a Savior. And lo! Behold! The Savior WAS born!!!! The promised of ages! The angels and all creation sang! The light burst forth and revealed the heartbeat of God in human flesh - for all sinners everywhere. And today the heartbeat of God continues. Its life and light be extinguished. Even now as we longingly look back to the cross, we also look forward to the promised hope of the second coming… and we WAIT… (again)… Today… the night seems to get longer and we strain to stay awake in our faith as we wait for the dawn… but the Christ candle continues to flicker, never failing to calm our frayed nerves and bless us. It is the hope of our faith which overcomes the world and lifts our heads every morning. All is not lost. Far from it. The foundations of the earth still reverberate with the joy of the Christ child… He is STILL our hope: The hope of our congregation, the hope of the church around the world, the hope of our families, and the hope of each one of us. We worship this Advent and Christmas with great and abundant HOPE! In Jesus,
Pastor Bjornstad
The Immanuel Preschool and the Lutheran Academy! Working in partnership with God's people to raise up a new generation of faithful Christian men and women!
Academy Board UPDATE The Board is eagerly preparing for the following important and fun events. On Wednesday, December 9th, the Academy will conduct the Festival of Lessons and Carols at Immanuel Lutheran Church. Students will each have an opportunity to share scripture readings and perform various musical numbers. On Tuesday, December 15th, all are invited to the annual Christmas Tea at the school from 1:00-2:45. Students will serve the refreshments and present musical offerings for all who attend. This year, an invitation has been extended to our new neighbors around our new Monsey Ave home.
Thanks to Rachel and Jonathan's mom, the Academy enjoyed a wonderful field trip to the University of Scranton for an informative (and delicious) presentation on Ecuador.
Whether you have attended every year, or have never had the chance to come, the Academy board sincerely hopes you will find the time to attend one or both of these beautfuil events in December. Do you, or someone you know, want to support the Academy? While there are various needs at the school, we have a few students who could benefit from a partial tuition scholarship. Please speak with Pastor or contact the principal, Heather Luklanchuk at the school to discuss this wonderful option.
Thankful little “turkeys” at Immanual Preschool & Kindergarten.
Students “Falling in love” with recess
Visit the school anytime on the web at: www.thelutheranacademyscranton.org
School websites: www.thelutheranacademyscranton.org
and
www.leccs.org
Pray without ceasing - 1 Thes. 5:17 Remember to ask: "How can I pray for you?"
HAPPY NEWS AND NOTES: + AROUND THE CONGREGATION
* Ky Betts has begun a part time job ice carving with Ice Works in Lakeville, PA. He can be seen conducting ice carving demonstrations at Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem December 5 & 6.
* Hannah and Marja Bjornstad will be home for the Christmas holiday. We are pleased to welcome Hannah back to the organ for Christmas Eve service. * Meredith and Kevin Woolverton stopped by to see the Lutheran Ministry Center this holiday weekend while in town. They send a “hi from Harrisburg” to all at Peace Lutheran Church. * Beverly Gedrimas has made wonderful strides, regaining strength, and has been coming to church the last few Sundays. She is thankful for all the prayers, love and support. + JR. CONFIRMATION
Pastor has combined the confirmation classes of Peace and Immanuel this Fall. Classes will be shifted a little during the Advent season. Class will be held 5:30-6:30 pm prior to each Wednesday evening Advent service. Location to match the service location that week. After the new year, classes will resume their normal time and location of 6:00-7:15pm at Immanuel Lutheran Church.
+ MUSIC MINISTRY EXPANDS
A small choir has been formed at Peace Church. We are currently looking for a few more committed voices for Advent and Christmas services! We also want to form a bell choir for Christmas eve. Be watching for an announcement of rehearsal times.
+ CHRISTMAS PAGEANT: Chain Reaction: A Christmas
Celebration will be held December 20th at 10:30 am. Directed by Tammy McClure… Invite your neighbor children to join in the fun! Practices held during Sunday school hour 9:30-10:15 with a final dress rehearsal Saturday, Dec.19th from 10-noon. There is no snow day, so pray for good weather on the 20th!
+ ESL CLASSES
ESL classes are held 5:45-7:15pm each Thursday at the Lutheran Ministry Center. If you are available on Thursdays, the ESL program can ALWAYS use more volunteers.
+ ACADEMY SUPPLY NEEDS
The Lutheran Academy is always in need of anti-bacterial/ disinfecting wipes. You can bring to church on Sunday or simply drop off your donation at the Lutheran Ministry Center.
+ FRIDAY YOUTH NIGHT
Send your youth for a fun night every Friday from 6:30-8:00 pm. Pastor could use a few volunteers to help. If available or to find out more about youth events, please contact Pastor.
+ COMING UP: Advent Midweek services will be held on the following Wednesdays: December 2, 9 and 16 Two service times: 10:00 am and 7:00 pm All 10:00 am services will be held at Peace Lutheran Church 7:00 pm Services will be held at the following locations: December 2nd- St Stephen’s December 9th - Immanuel (Festival of Lessons & Carols) December 16th- Lutheran Ministry Center Supper and fellowship prior to each service beginning at 6:00pm. In the event of inclement weather on December 9th, Lessons and Carols will be rescheduled to December 16 at Immanuel and the final advent service will be move to December 23 at LMC. + IMMANUEL CALLING PROCESS Immanuel Lutheran Church voted on November 8th to extend a divine call to Pastor Shockman. Please pray for wisdom and for God’s hand to continue to be on the process.
+ NATIONAL YOUTH GATHERING
Please continually pray for the following Peace Lutheran Church youth who plan to attend the convention next summer: Brooke Cherney, Mark McHale, Kiana and Kobe Sauter, Andrew Harsche, AJ Hackenberg, and Joel Kriger.
+ LCEF REMINDER
LCEF investment opportunities are available to members, including Family Emergency Accounts, 2-year or 4-year or 5-year Term Notes, and Young Investors Accounts. Brochures and sign up information is available at the church or online at www.lcef.org.
+ In MEMORY OF PASTOR VOMHOF
Security doors will be installed over the Christmas break at the LMC separating the sanctuary space from the education wing as a safety measure for the Academy. One door will be dedicated in memory of Pastor Vomhof. If you would like to make a donation in his honor, please indicate on your check or offering envelope.
+ Please pray for the Church of All Nations mission at the LMC.
The final service of 2015 was held November 22. Being VERY thankful for what Pastor Nischal was able to accomplish with us since June, we are sad that our working relationship with him has come to an end. Please pray for Pastor Nischal and his family. Please also pray that, after taking a short Christmas break, God will lead us to renew the Church of All Nations's ministry in the new year. Cards and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated. Marilyn (Wright) Sellers 824 Adams Ave Room 105 B Scranton PA 18510
Church website: www.yourpeace.org.... email: pastor@yourpeace.org, amybetts@yourpeace.org… LMC: 570-703-0607
WORSHIP LIFE AT PEACE LUTHERAN CHURCH: 8:00 9:30 10:30
Worship with Holy Communion Sunday School (ages Kindergarten to Adult) Worship with Holy Communion every other Sunday
Additional Services at Immanuel: 5:30 pm Saturday Evening and 9:30 am Sunday Morning
SPONSORING FLOWERS
If you would like to sponsor the flowers for a particular Sunday, please note that it is the sponsor’s responsibility to provide/order the flowers. Please sign up on the calandar at the back of the church to indicate your sponsorship! Remember you can bring in an arrangement of flowers from your garden - or boquets of wild flowers are wonderful too! But if you want to order “regular” flowers from McCarthy’s Flowers, please call: 570-507-9441 or 570-343-1179 and ask to speak with Carol Kemler! Or you can stop by the 1001 N. Main Ave, Scranton store and order from there!
December Sermon Topics: Advent 1: Hope Advent 2: Peace Advent 3: Joy Advent 4: Love
A Look Ahead to Advent Wednesdays, December 2, 9 and 16 10:00 am and 7:00 pm services All 10:00 am services will be held at Peace Lutheran Church
Fellowship Sunday The fourth Sunday of the month is typically Fellowship Sunday at Peace Lutheran Church. We will be skipping December. However, looking ahead, our next one will then be January 24th. Please plan to stay for a time of food and fellowship after the 10:30 service. We are looking for a sponsor for the January fellowship time. Please let Pastor or Amy know if you would like to sponsor or co-sponsor January 24th. Rolls and butter from Texas Roadhouse will be provided.
7:00 pm Services will be held at the following locations: December 2nd- St Stephen’s Lutheran Church - 701 W Lackawanna Ave, Dickson City December 9th - Immanuel Lutheran Church (Festival of Lessons and Carols)- 238 Reese Street, Scranton December 16th- Lutheran Ministry Center- 1546 Monsey Ave, Scranton Supper and fellowship prior to each service. In the event of inclement weather on Dec 9th, Lessons and Carols will be rescheduled to Dec 16 at Immanuel and the final advent service will be move to Dec 23 at LMC.
Congregational Voter’s Meeting Highlights: * The current council members were re-elected for another tem. * Randy Fornaszewski was elected to serve as an additional trustee on the church council for 2016. * The 2016 church budget was passed. * Please be in prayer about being attentive to your weekly/monthly offerings. Reminder, SimpleGive is a viable option to set up and make your offerings online. They can set up as a recurring payment or a one-time tithe. If you need assistance setting up a SimpleGive account, please contact Amy in the church office. www.simplegive.com
Welcoming People to the Church Tips of the Month: ✿ Treat first time visitors as guests of God, not strangers. ✿ Smile at everyone and offer your hand. ✿ Look people in the eye and smile. ✿ Take the initiative, don’t wait for visitors to initiate conversation with you.
Praise God for a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner held at 1:00pm at the Lutheran Ministry Center. With almost 50 in attendance and no one leaving hungry, it is safe to say that it was a success. Special thank you to Bonnie and Jerry Cornog who took the lead and organized everything with LOTS of help from Brenda and Lillian Colbert (and Bill and Mark too!) and many others!! Carsten Bjornstad supplied plenty of music and there was a beautiful dance performance as well.
Dear friends at Peace Church, We wanted to leave you all a note of gratitude for the blessing you have been to us. We’d been faithful members of Grace Reformed Episcopal Church in Scranton since 2007. But our last year or two there had been really hard on us. We’d dealt with lots of conflict, and the loss of our pastor and many members (and friends!) We felt burnt out, lost and a bit jaded about community. How fitting that we should come to Peace in search of peace! In these last several months that we have been here with you, we assumed that our home church would eventually close its doors- that we’d exhausted al options of keeping the church going. It turns out that we were wrong about that and a new pastor has been called to minister there. We are sad, and a bit nervous really, to leave Peace; but our confession of faith, although very similar to Lutheran, is more aligned with the RE Church. we’ve expereinced such kindness and love from you all. We thank you so much for being a welcoming presence to us, especially at a time where we’d felt pretty beat down. It has been so encouraging to serve and worship wit you this past year. Please pray for us as we serve again at Grace Church. We will be visiting with you now and again, I am sure. So this isn’t goodbye, just so long! With love & many thanks, The Hughes Family
Lutheran Ministry Center Building Use Request Forms The LMC Building Use form can be found at the back of the church. You can also visit the LMC tab of the Peace Church website for the form and to check availability on the LMC calendar at www.yourpeace.org. This form is required when requesting the use of the LMC. Reserve the kitchen and fellowship hall for an event or party, the sanctuary, or perhaps the conference room for meeting. See the form for fees and policies for using the space. Help us also spread the word about the space being available and reasonably priced.
NEEDED: The Lutheran Ministry Center is in need of a gas range and refrigerator. New or gently used, free or inexpensive, please contact the church office at 570-703-0607 if you have any leads.
NEED TRANSPORTATION TO WORSHIP? The Peace van is avaialble to pick you up for Sunday School and worship service on Sundays. Call the church office to arrange: 570-703-0607. Church website: www.yourpeace.org.... email: pastor@yourpeace.org, amybetts@yourpeace.org… LMC: 570-703-0607