The Word - December 2013

The Word

The Word

PASTOR

Elaine Gerth

[email protected]

(920) 349-3315

(920) 382-3998

ADDRESS

402 Herman Street

Post Office Box 43

Iron Ridge, WI 53035

ON THE WEB

WEBSITE:

www.os-elca.org

FACEBOOK:

fb.me/OurSaviorsELCA

TWITTER:

twitter.com/oursaviorselca

THE WORD

While they were there,

the time came for her to

deliver her child. And she

gave birth to her firstborn

son and wrapped him in

bands of cloth, and laid

him in a manger,

because there was no

place for them in the inn.

-Luke 2:6-7

Advent is here on December 1st! Where did 2013 go? We lost 2

gentleman in 2013 and 1 former member. They are free of pain and with

our Lord. We gained a few new families and Sunday School is a great

blessing to us. Our children are our future. I will be meeting with our new

bishop on Monday and I hope we can work well together for the

betterment of Our Savior’s.

A very Merry Christmas to all,

Pastor Elaine

We are the little white church on the corner,

the friendliest place to be every Sunday morning. Page 2

As a lay-pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),

Elaine has to be renewed yearly by the bishop of our synod.

We are pleased to report that Rev. Mary Froiland, bishop of the

South-Central Synod of Wisconsin, has approved Elaine for another year

of pastoral leadership at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church!

Join us for our annual Christmas potluck on Sunday, December 8th.

Please bring a dish to pass if you are able.

The Christmas worship service is almost here! Make sure to invite the

family and friends! Students should be practicing their parts at home.

On the day of the program, students should arrive by 8:30am.

We are asking everyone to bring a dozen cookies for the fellowship

time following the worship service.

We are a church that believes Jesus is God’s “Yes” to us.

Our lives can be a “Yes” to others. Page 3

Sunday 12/1

9:00am WORSHIP

GREETER: Curtis READER: Joan

10:00am SUNDAY SCHOOL

STORY: Jesus is Born

Monday 12/2

9:00am MEETINGS

Sunday 12/8

9:00am WORSHIP

GREETER: Janet READER: Trevor

10:00am CHRISTMAS POTLUCK

Monday 12/9

9:00am Ladies Aid goes to

Hartford Ponderosa

Sunday 12/15

9:00am WORSHIP

GREETER: Joan READER: Kathy

Sunday 12/22

8:30am Students Arrive

9:00am CHRISTMAS

WORSHIP!

Sunday 12/29

9:00am WORSHIP

GREETER: Curtis READER: Janet

Rev. Elizabeth Eaton ELCA Presiding Bishop

A first-call candidate assigned to

the Northeastern Ohio Synod came to me

about an interesting encounter she had with

a waitress. The waitress admired our

candidate’s Luther Rose pendant and asked

what it was. “It’s Lutheran,” replied the

candidate. “Where’s Lutheran?” asked the

waitress.

We chuckled that the waitress imagined a

place of beauty and mystery called Lutheran

and were a little rueful that she had never heard of Lutheran before.

Her question “Where’s Lutheran?” has stayed with me ever since.

Lutheran does not coincide with Lake Wobegon. It’s not found only in

Philadelphia or Minneapolis or South Dakota, but everywhere from

Maine to Hawaii, from Alaska to Puerto Rico. The cuisine of Lutheran is

not limited to green bean casserole and Jell-O, but also tortillas, greens,

fried rice and goat. It’s not populated exclusively by the descendants

of Central and Northern Europe, though there are a lot of those folks. It

is not a place of rigid conformity or where anything goes.

Lutheran would never be confused with utopia. Its citizens have too

realistic a view of disobedience, sin and brokenness to believe that any

human habitation can claim goodness and righteousness for itself.

But Lutheran is also a place of great hope. Lutheran is a place where

the incessant human struggle for self-righteousness and self-justification

is left at the border and, free of the burden of making themselves holy

and acceptable to God, its people cling to the cross of Christ as the

true assurance of life. It’s a place where people can spend their lives in

service to God and neighbor.

Lately people have been taking a closer look at Lutheran — perhaps

because of the unexpected events of the 2013 Churchwide Assembly

in Pittsburgh. I have been asked to explain the ELCA to an audience

that, much like the waitress, has no idea who we are. I tell them that we

are church. At the center of our life is worship, and at the center of our

worship is the crucified and risen Lord. We should be “lost in wonder,

awe and praise,” and we should be intentional about the spiritual

practices of worship, prayer, silence, generous giving and Scripture

study.

“We are a church for the sake of the world.”

-Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, ELCA Presiding Bishop Page 4

BIRTHDAYS!

I tell people that we are Lutheran, that we have a distinctive voice

that has something to add to the Christian, interreligious and cultural

conversation. The great themes of the Reformation — justification,

grace, law and gospel, the theology of the cross, two kingdoms, the

Lutheran scriptural hermeneutic — need to be claimed in our

teaching, preaching and living.

We are a theology of the cross people in a culture of glory. We are a

two kingdoms people who would never claim a covenantal status

for America or any other earthly government. We understand that

the quest for holiness and purity (the works righteousness of the

religious right) and the attempt to bring in the kingdom through

social programs (the works righteousness of the religious left) is vanity.

We are sinners utterly dependent on the crucifixion, which not only

destroyed sin and death but put to death the false hope of good

intentions and human agency. We are saints made righteous by the

cross and joined to the resurrected life of Christ that makes it possible

for us to bear God’s creative and redeeming word to the world.

We are church together. There is no way that the churchwide

organization or synod offices can be with the saints and be present in

the communities where our churches are planted. The local

congregation does that. But there is no way that the local

congregation by itself can run camps, train leaders, engage in

disaster response or accompany global companions. That is the work

we do together as synods, agencies, colleges, seminaries and the

churchwide organization.

We are church for the sake of the world. We have experienced

God’s extravagant love in Jesus. We want others to know that love

too. That is what motivates our evangelism and our work to make the

abundant life promised by Jesus a reality for the most vulnerable.

This is who we are as the ELCA. By God’s grace Lutheran is a

beautiful place.

ANNIVERSARIES!

No anniversaries listed.

PASTORAL ACTS

Funerals

Marge Roberts

PRAYER REQUESTS

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year,

We’re sorry.

For the protection of our members,

this portion of our newsletter

cannot be viewed online.

We’re sorry.

For the protection of our members,

this portion of our newsletter

cannot be viewed online.

Copyright 2013 Our Savior’s Lutheran Church ELCA