Gretchen J. Bingea, Pastor - 707 W. Fort Street, Boise, Idaho, 83702 www.ilcboise.com - [email protected] - (208) 344-3011 August 2017 Volume 3, Issue 8 From the Pastor 1 Build Us Up, Lord! 2 LH Solar Eclipse Viewing 3 LH Writing Workshop 3 LH Upcoming Camp Dates 3 Children/Youth Ministries 4-5 Solar Eclipse Presentation 5 Celebrate Reformation 500 5 Bulletin Board 6 Social Ministry 7 Birthdays & Anniversaries 8 Baptism & In Memoriam 8 Financial Corner 9 Office Hours/Contacts 9 Assistants/Readings/Psalms 10 Calendar of Events 11 Movie Night 12 Inside this issue: Inside Immanuel Monthly is pub- lished the last week of the month to keep members and friends informed. Please submit your articles by the 15th of each month to [email protected] for publishing the following month. Inside Immanuel Monthly Almighty God, you sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your church. Open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may be ready to receive you wherev- er you appear, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. From the Pastor By Pastor Gretchen J. Bingea “Summer is going by so fast!” This lament from a friend of mine recently is a familiar one as we move into August, the dog days of summer. In just a few short weeks it ’s back to school, fall schedules and regular rounes. Summer always seems to fly by and never long enough for sing outside on the pao, camping trips and family reunions. In fact the older I get, the faster me flies in general, not just during the sum- mer. I’m reminded of one of my favorite hymns that describes me as an ever-rolling stream: “A thousand ages in your sight are like an evening gone, short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun” (O God, Our Help in Ages Past, ELW #632). I’ve just returned from my home state of Minnesota where I officiated at my brother -in-law’s memorial service. It was another reminder to me of how me “bears all our years away.” Coming back to the place where I grew up, and looking back at photos and memories from the past, I couldn’t help but wonder where the me has gone. Life is precious and fragile. We never know how much me we have leſt. Yet each day we can choose to live with gratude and purpose. I ’m reminded of the quote, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a giſt of God, which is why we call it the present.” As Chrisans we live by the gracious promise that all of me is held in God’s hands—past, present and future. God is with us as the Alpha and the Omega, from the beginning to the end, so that we may not lament the passing of me but sing with confidence and joy, “from everlasng you are God, to endless years the same.”
12
Embed
Inside Immanuel Monthlyfiles.constantcontact.com/0616dcc8001/4ed5815b... · Gretchen J. Bingea, Pastor - 707 W. Fort Street, Boise, Idaho, 83702 - [email protected] - (208) 344-3011
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Gretchen J. Bingea, Pastor - 707 W. Fort Street, Boise, Idaho, 83702 www.ilcboise.com - [email protected] - (208) 344-3011
August 2017
Volume 3, Issue 8
From the Pastor 1
Build Us Up, Lord! 2
LH Solar Eclipse Viewing 3
LH Writing Workshop 3
LH Upcoming Camp Dates 3
Children/Youth Ministries 4-5
Solar Eclipse Presentation 5
Celebrate Reformation 500 5
Bulletin Board 6
Social Ministry 7
Birthdays & Anniversaries 8
Baptism & In Memoriam 8
Financial Corner 9
Office Hours/Contacts 9
Assistants/Readings/Psalms 10
Calendar of Events 11
Movie Night 12
Inside this issue:
Inside Immanuel Monthly is pub-lished the last week of the month to keep members and friends informed.
Please submit your articles by the 1 5 t h o f e a c h m o n t h t o [email protected] for publishing the following month.
Inside Immanuel Monthly
Almighty God, you sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your church. Open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may be ready to receive you wherev-er you appear, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
From the Pastor By Pastor Gretchen J. Bingea
“Summer is going by so fast!” This lament from a friend of mine recently is a familiar one as we move into August, the dog days of summer. In just a few short weeks it’s back to school, fall schedules and regular routines. Summer always seems to fly by and never long enough for sitting outside on the patio, camping trips and family reunions. In fact the older I get, the faster time flies in general, not just during the sum-mer. I’m reminded of one of my favorite hymns that describes time as an ever-rolling stream: “A thousand ages in your sight
are like an evening gone, short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun” (O God, Our Help in Ages Past, ELW #632). I’ve just returned from my home state of Minnesota where I officiated at my brother-in-law’s memorial service. It was another reminder to me of how time “bears all our years away.” Coming back to the place where I grew up, and looking back at photos and memories from the past, I couldn’t help but wonder where the time has gone. Life is precious and fragile. We never know how much time we have left. Yet each day we can choose to live with gratitude and purpose. I’m reminded of the quote, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” As Christians we live by the gracious promise that all of time is held in God’s hands—past, present and future. God is with us as the Alpha and the Omega, from the beginning to the end, so that we may not lament the passing of time but sing with confidence and joy, “from everlasting you are God, to endless years the same.”
Page 2 Ins ide Immanuel Month ly August 2017
Thank you Immanuel and Friends for the continued generous support of our “Build Us Up, Lord!” Capital Campaign. To date we have received over $417,738 in support of our goal of $950,000 over three years. We have been richly blessed as we strive to “build up” the physical structure of our church through essential infrastructure improvements, so Immanuel continues to be a gathering place to grow in faith and fulfill God’s Mission.
“Build Us Up, Lord, build us up; Let our lives reflect your glory!”
GOAL
$950,000
Pledged Received
July 2017 $764,991
$417,700 July 2017
$360,500 April 2017
$310,000 March 2017
$258,400 January 2017
Page 3 Ins ide Immanuel Month ly August 2017
Claiming the Wisdom in Our Hearts: A Memoir Writing Workshop
Immanuel's own Susan Rowe is leading this workshop at Luther Heights Bible Camp August 25-27. During this weekend workshop, participants will look at extraordinary examples of memoir to see how personal narrative allows us to discover our shared human experience. We'll review the building blocks of creative nonfiction writing to build a strong foundation for memoir practice. And we'll use prompts and short writing exercis-
es to get your thoughts flowing in a variety of writing styles and formats. You'll leave with fresh inspiration, new ways to approach memoir, and the blessings of taking part in a writing community. This workshop is for all would-be memoirists regardless of experience level. Susan Rowe is a Luther Heights board member, has an MFA in creative writing from Boise State University, and an active member of our congrega-tion! A graduate of Oxford University, she is working on a memoir about growing up on a farm in the Idaho desert.
To sign up go to the Luther Heights website lutherheights.org.
Luther Heights Camp Dates
July 30-August 4 Senior High Backpack
August 6-11 Intermediate, Senior High
August 11-13 Family Camp August 13-16
Mother Daughter Canoe A sign up sheet has been posted in the gathering space, overflow room and library bulletin boards for people to indicate when they're headed to Luther Heights this sum-mer. This will help people know who's go-ing and to carpool.
View the Solar Eclipse from Luther Heights!
Want to see the Solar Eclipse and have a camp retreat in the beautiful Sawtooth mountains? Luther Heights has made a retreat available: It starts Sunday, August 20th after 3:00pm and ends after breakfast on Tuesday August 22nd. More details about the retreat are available online, by phone or in a brochure at church. The price is $100 for 5 meals, 2 nights in a warm cabin and some of God's very best scenery. We may even find some carpool options.
Contact Jon Davidson, Program Director, Luther Heights Bible Camp, 208-886-7657 Website: www.lutherheights.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lutherheights/
Children and Youth Ministries Youth Mission Trip 2017
The youth, along with adult chaperones are traveling to Montana from July 29th to August 4th for their mission trip on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. They will be paint-ing, cleaning, doing yard work and other work projects; assisting with sports programs for the community's young people; as well as Bible lessons, games, crafts and reading. Please keep our youth and adult chaperones, Jackson Busch, Bryan Harwick, Elizabeth Iverson, Seth Miller, Anna, Bruce & Janet Oliver, in your prayers for safe travel and an en-riching faith experience. They will share their experiences with the congregation during a worship service later in August.
Sustainable Youth Ministry by Lynn Clark
The sustainable youth ministry team met again in late July to continue creating a framework on which to build and advance our youth ministry program. This involves a detailed visioning pro-cess that needs to be done before we can try to fill the youth ministry position which is currently vacant. While we have faith that our process will yield a stronger program, it will take time. In the meantime, however, we understand that there are educational needs for our youth at Im-manuel that cannot wait. We, therefore, are excited to announce that we will still be offering Faith Quest to all elementary aged children in the fall. This will most likely start the 3rd or 4th week of September.
We are beginning to plan for Faith Quest now and are eager to tap into the many resources we already have. We invite all members of the congregation to considering sharing their time and talents in some way with our youth. If you would like to contribute to our youth ministry program please contact Lynn Clark at [email protected] or 208-392-5977 or Pastor Gretchen. Please feel free to think “outside the box” with what you may wish to offer. We look forward to finding new ways to help our children grow in their faith, and any help is greatly appreciated!
Youth in 7th, 8th and 9th grades along with their families are invited to our Treasure Valley Confirmation Kick-Off on Sunday August 27th, 5-6:30pm at Hope Lutheran in Eagle. Watch for a letter with details and a registration form soon!
Blessing of Backpacks Another fall is approaching. It is time for stu-dents to return to the classroom and for other fall schedules to resume. Immanuel will be having a “Blessing of the Backpacks” during the 9:30am worship on Sunday August 20th. We invite students of all ages, from pre-school through university, to come with backpacks or
another kind of student bag. The Blessing of the Backpacks will in-clude students, parents, teachers and other school staff to be present for recognition and for prayers. As a church family we want to offer our spiritual, emotional and communal support for all those who are beginning a new school year.
Celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation Save the date!! On Saturday, October 28th, Immanuel will host the performance of a Bach cantata and hymn sing, comprised of a multi-congregational choir from our local ELCA churches, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation! Our Immanuel Chancel Choir will be participating in this event. Contact Debbie Jones ([email protected] or 208-608-2520) if you would like to join in the singing. Otherwise, we would LOVE to pack the sanctuary for this special event!
Solar Eclipse Presentation
On Sunday August 20th at 7:00pm, Immanuel will host a presentation by astronomer Mark Showalter about the eclipse of the sun
happening the next morning. Mark is a member of University Lutheran Church in Palo Alto and will be staying in Boise on Sunday
night with a group of others from California, then traveling a short drive north on Monday to be put directly into the shadow of the
moon. A total eclipse of the sun is a rare and awe-inspiring experience, not to be missed.
Mark is a professional astronomer and an experienced eclipse-chaser and lecturer. He will talk about the many marvels we
can expect to see as the sun narrows to a tiny crescent, disappears behind the moon, and reappears about two minutes later.
The talk will be non-technical and geared toward adults and children of all ages. There will be plenty of time for Q&A after-
ward.
Mark is a senior research scientist and fellow of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. His research responsible for NASA's
Cassini mission to Saturn and its New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond. He is best known for his discoveries of small moons
orbiting Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
ELCA National Youth Gathering In 2018 youth entering 9th grade through graduating seniors will have opportunity to attend the national gathering in Houston Texas from June 27-July 1st. The Gathering happens once every three years and is not to be missed! Immanuel is joining with other Treasure Valley ELCA churches to plan and fund-raise and travel together. A meeting will be held Sunday August 27th at 6:30pm at Hope Lutheran in Eagle. The first registration deposit is due on Sep-tember 10th. Come and find out all the details!
Youth Lock-in Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church is hosting and inviting middle school and high school youth from the Treasure Valley ELCA churches to a lock-in from Friday August 18th 6:30pm to Saturday August 19th at 8:00am. Activities include an outing to Roaring Springs, piz-za, movies, games, sleep and more! Cost is $5. Please RSVP to Pastor Gretchen at 3344-3011 or [email protected].
Please join us Monday, August 28 at 6:00pm. We will meet at Dry Creek Cemetery (Parking for the Veteran's Trail Hill Parkway and Dry Creek Cemetery entrance). The planned hike is the Veteran's trail to Rabbit Trail loop.
No council meeting was held in July as several members were out of town. The next meeting will be held August 14, at 6:30pm in the Library. Top-ics on the agenda include Linden House projects, musician reviews, draft purpose and guiding princi-ples review, and the mid-year financial review.
Invitation to Join ILC Prayer Group
Were you aware that people are gathering weekly to pray for our Immanuel Lutheran Church staff and congregation? Come join us! It is a wonderful way to find out what is going on at Immanuel and to be in prayer seeking God’s direction for ILC, its family and our community. If you are interested in participating, please contact Jo Stensaas at 208.794.5417 or [email protected] for the next date and time.
Help Wanted The Episcopal Diocese of Idaho is seeking a Diocesan Coordinator and Bishop’s Assistant. Clerical skills and good working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs is a requirement. Work hours are Monday-Thursday, 9am to 5pm, with some work and/or travel 4-5 weekends per year. Contact [email protected] and submit a cover letter, re-sume and 2 references by August 5, 2017, if interested.
Idaho Discipleship Conference October 6-8, 2017
Nampa Civic Center
Register at www.idahodiscipleship.org Cost: $75 Adults-$10 Child-$180 Family
Register by September 17, 2017
A multi-congregational choir will be sharing an anthem at the Sunday (10/8/2017) morning worship service during the Idaho Discipleship Conference. Anyone in-terested in joining this choir can contact Debbie Jones, Immanuel Choir Director at [email protected].
You can make the summer a bit more beara-ble for our guests who attend the Tuesday night Food fellow-ship. Light summer clothing including t-shirt, shorts, hats, bandanas, socks, underwear, chapstick, sunscreen, and wa-ter bottles are needed.
You may drop off new or gently used clothing and unopened personal care items at the church office.
September 10, 2017
It’s time to start planning for this year’s “God’s work. Our hands.” dedicated day or week of ser-vice. It’s an opportunity to join with congregations across the nation and to celebrate who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neigh-bor. Will you help? Pastor Gretchen is looking for peo-ple to serve on this one-time project as part of a planning team. To volunteer or for more infor-mation contact her at [email protected] or 344-3011. If you go to elca.org/day of service you might find a picture or two to include. Or grab one from Face-book from last year!
Summer of Sheets
There is still plenty of time left to contribute to the Summer
of Sheets at Immanuel.
† Purchase a flat colored or print (no white or light colors)
twin sheet = 66’ x 96” (Cost about $7.00 each and
sizes vary with brands so check the size)
† Bring your sheet or sheets to the bin in the Immanuel
gathering place (narthex) just inside the church
Prayer Chain
Immanuel is reorganizing and updating our Prayer Chain through a series of meetings with interested members. Our hope is to make it a more responsive service for those in need of prayers and those who want to be a prayer partner. Jesus tells all of us in John 15:16-17: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” If you a have suggestion for, or would like to join the Prayer Chain group, please let Pastor Gretchen or Carol Hoobing ([email protected] or 208-342-0970) know. Experience and/or ideas from other Prayer Chains would be especially wel-come. You are chosen to serve others with prayer and thanksgiving.
“Cool” Movie Nights at Immanuel this Summer August 9th
6:30 – 9:00 pm
Beat the heat in the cool of Immanuel’s Thomas Chapel with friends and “cool” movies along with popcorn and drinks. On August 9 we will gather to watch the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons. This film stars Paul Sco-field in the role of Sir Thomas More, Robert Shaw as King Henry VIII, along with Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Or-son Welles, Susannah York, and a host of other well known stars. At the Oscars in 1967 this film won "Best Picture" as well as "Best Actor" Paul Scofield, "Best Director" Fred Zinnemann, and "Best Screenplay" Robert Bolt. This film covers the time period in England while Martin Luther was leading the Reformation in Germany. The story concentrates on the struggle between Sir Thomas More and his King, Henry VIII, who is determined to break with Rome so he can divorce his current wife and wed again, and good Catholic More's inability to go along with such heresy. For more information contact Anne Palma 208-409-9347 or [email protected].