February 2, 2010

Christ Lutheran “Church Chat”

Thoughts from Pastor Ron…

Wow! It’s February already! The big holidays are rapidly approaching! Which ones are those? Glad you asked! Why Super Bowl Sunday and Valentines day of course! Oh, and don’t forget that Valentines day weekend is a three day weekend – since Monday the 15th is President’s day! Woo-hoo!

Those may be the world’s holidays – but there is a much, much more important Holy Day this month: Ash Wednesday is February 17th. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Easter Season in the church year, which culminates not on Easter day, but at Pentecost. The period of Lent is a time of preparation, of reflection, of self-introspection.

If you have been coming to the adult forums on Sunday, you are aware that there are a lot of questions with widely divergent feelings and interpretations of Scripture. All congregations sometimes have to wrestle with difficult questions. A significant issue came up at another congregation where I was working with the confirmation students a number of years ago. It got to the point where they were actually forced to bring in an outside facilitator! During this time, we posed a question to our confirmation students: “Where is Jesus in the midst of conflict between Christians?” One of our 7th graders responded, “He is in the solution.” This young person was not speaking like a child – this young person made a very profound statement of faith.
Shalom,
† Pastor Ron

CHOIR PRACTICE STARTS ON SUNDAY, 2/7 AT 11:30 FOR ASH WEDNESDAY COMBINED SERVICE AT TRINITY LUTHERAN

2010 Synod Assembly News No. 1
The 2010 assembly for the Southwest California Synod will be held in Burbank on June 3-5. The congregations voting representatives at the assembly are the pastor and the lay delegates. The number of lay delegates for each congregation is based on the number of active members. We elected *** and **** as our two lay delegates at the December congregational meeting. I will pass on agenda information as soon as it becomes available.

The first item that has been published is the elections, We will be electing the synod council treasurer, secretary and five at-large synod council members. (clergy or lay, male or female). We will also be electing one youth representative (male, 10th – 11th grade). We will also be electing ten voting members to the 2011 churchwide assembly, one at-large position for the endowment committee and one synod council representative from our Channel Islands conference.

Nominations are due in the  synod office no later than 15 Feb 2010. Please check with the office for the detailed job descriptions and nomination forms. If you have any questions, please contact me in the church office, or your synod delegates **** or ***.

† Pastor Ron.  (No, the names *** and **** are not misspelled. We did not have anyone volunteer at the December congregational meeting! How about YOU?) 

A Note from Kelly
BFF Thursday 6:30-7:30 PM

Conformation Wednesday 5- 6:15 PM

No LOL Sunday because of the super bowl.

Any age of youth call Kelly to hang out one on one or in groups.  (805) 252-4605.  I’ll take you out to frozen yogurt or blenders, my treat!

February and March 2010 Mission Basket:
The Food Pantry has been a long-term mission of Christ Lutheran Church; serving the Santa Barbara area, the food Pantry has had a profound impact on the community and is trying to expand its ministry by increasing its weekends of operation.  CLC has been working in collaboration with the other Lutheran Churches in the area to help with this effort by changing our giving from canned goods to cash, and now we are committed to raising enough funds to keep the Food Pantry open one more weekend.  This Mission Basket is not aimed at replacing the fourth Sunday giving, but rather serving as a means to receive matching funds from Thrivent.  Any funds given to the Food Bank, either by donations on the altar or donations in the second basket itself, will be counted towards Thrivent matching.

We have a new Secretary!
Welcome to our new Secretary, Tracey Goss.  She will officially start on March 1, 2010.

She is the wife of Pastor David Goss of Light and Life Goleta and mother of three boys, Noah (8), Caleb (6) and Micah (4).  While in her official position as “stay at home mom” for the past nine years, Tracey has performed the duties of Church Secretary for Light and Life Goleta and worked part-time as the Pastoral Care Coordinator for the Asbury Seminary Spouse Ministry.  Responding to her own call to ministry, Tracey is on track for ordination within the Free Methodist Denomination and is a licensed minister.  Prior to ministry to ministry and motherhood, Tracey was a Project Manager for Goodwill Industries of Southern California where she served as Job Developer and Creator and Director of their Micro Enterprise Program for Welfare-to-work participants.  Prior to social work, Tracey was Public Relations Director and later a Marketing Manager for Sebastian Internationsl.

Helping Haiti
Lots of confusion for “Helping Haiti” funding raising with respect to writing
checks. So here is some clarification:

1) If you are a Thrivent member (Benefit or Associate) please try to make your
donations online at the following website.  This is the only way to request
matching fund from Thrivent as it must come individually through Thrivent
members.

https://www.thrivent.com/helpinghaiti/

2) As a Thrivent member (Benefit or Associate) you may also mail your checks
made out to “Thrivent Financial” directly to Thrivent at the following address.
Please indicate “ELCA Disaster Response-Helping Haiti” along with your
membership ID number in the memo of check.  This method will also achieve matching funds from Thrivent.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Appleton Office
4321 N Ballard Road
Appleton, WI 54919-00001 USA

3) Please do not write checks to “Christ Lutheran” or “ELCA Disaster Response”
if you are a Thrivent member requesting Thriven matching funds for “Helping Haiti” as these checks cannot
be credited for Thrivent matching funds.

4) Finally, if you are not a Thrivent member you may make a check out to
“Christ Lutheran Church” with “Helping Haiti-ELCA Disaster Response”
in the memo. However, these funds will not be matched by Thrivent.

New Phone Directory Coming
I plan on getting a new small phone directory done soon.  I have a question about it, however, do you want your cell phone numbers listed?  If I don’t hear from you within the next two weeks, I will automatically add them to the directory.  Thank you.    Jan

Winter “Book of Faith” Classes
“This may be the season of Advent – but it’s time for you to make the most important New Year resolution you will make – and we will even help you keep it! “Huh? “What is that?” you might ask.

Why to read the Bible daily, of course – and what a better way to start than joining one of the group Bible studies! The winter “Book of Faith” classes will start on  Epiphany (January 6th) and run for 6 weeks until the week before Ash Wednesday (February 17th).  Making sense of Scripture, Exodus, the Gospel of John, and “Prophets, Kings and Ordinary Folks” will meet at Christ Lutheran on Wednesday evenings at 6:45. The John class will also meet at Christ on Wednesday afternoon and “Prophets, Kings and Ordinary Folks” will be offered at Grace on Wednesday afternoon.

The evening sessions will open with a brief worship time for all classes. The worship time will be led by one of the three pastors. The instructors for the courses are not yet firm.  All of the courses will use the Augsburg Fortress material. Sign-up sheets will be on the patio after the service on Sunday.”

This Week’s Activities

Tuesday:        7:00p.m.    “Gospel of John” Bible Study
Leader:  Maurice Lee
Location:  Trinity Lutheran
Wednesday        11:00a.m.    “People of Faith” Bible Study
Leader:  Jeannie Christensen
Location:  Grace Lutheran
2:00p.m.    “Gospel of John”  Bible Study
Leader:  Kent Carlander
Location:  Christ Lutheran
5:00p.m.    CLC ConFORMation Class
7:00.m.        “Making Sense of Scripture” Bible Study
Leader:  Pastor Ron
Location:  Christ Lutheran
7:00p.m.    “Exodus” Bible Study
Leader:  Mark D’Evelyn
Location:  Christ Lutheran
7:00p.m.    “People of Faith” Bible Study
Leader:  Heather D’Evelyn
Location:  Christ Lutheran
Thursday:        6:30p.m.    BFF

2010 Flower Chart – Thanks!  Still need a few sign-ups!
Many Thanks to all who signed up recently to provide flowers!  There is still need for a few more sign-ups, especially in the coming 3 months.

The beauty of flowers greatly enhances our worship services. Take this opportunity to give thanks to God for all His Blessings, honor a loved one, or to celebrate a special occasion. Then you will have flowers to beautify your home the following week, or you may give them to a friend or shut-in for enjoyment! You may provide your own arrangement or arrange a week in advance for Janet Schoepp or Marsha Honnold to make an arrangement for about $30. Many thanks from the Altar Guild.

CLC Thrivent Financial Members – Feb 7th
This Sunday after Worship Thrivent Financial members are asked to meet for a very short time (about 10 minutes) to plan “Requests for Matching Funds” for our Mission Basket offerings from May to the end of the year.  At least six households are needed to support these fund raisers!  Thanks!

FEBRUARY 7 Scripture Readings:
First Lesson:         Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13)        Psalm: 138
Second Lesson:      1 Corinthians 15:1-11        Gospel:     Luke 5:1-11

UPCOMING EVENTS
Feb. 17    12:15pm    Ash Wednesday Service at CLC
7:00pm    Joint Ash Wednesday Service at Trinity Lutheran
Feb. 21    11:30am    Acolyte Training
Feb, 26-28            Farstrup-Mortensen Lecture Series
Bethania Lutheran Church (see bulletin board for information)

Pastor Ron’s contact information_
Pastor Ron may be reached through the church office (964-2267, the church e-mail (pastor@christlutherangoleta.org), his home e-mail _(ronald_f_cox@hotmail.com) or his cell phone (805-807-5257).  Please use the cell phone or home e-mail for “time critical ” messages or emergencies at any time.  Please contact Pastor directly to schedule meetings.

Jan’s Hours
New hours, Mon, Tues, Wed from 8:30-12:30 and Thurs & Fri, 9- 10.

Servers for February 7
Ushers:    Trowbridges
Greeters:    Baumanns
Assisting:    Dwain Vanderhoof
Acolyte:    Mimi Honnold
Offertory:    Dwelley family
Reader:    Beth Lee
Flowers:    Anne Burggraf
Coffee:        Knudsons
Counters:    Arleen Twedt and Ralph Tapphorn
Snack:        Janaet Schoepp and Lucy Hughes
Sacristan:    Julie Vanderhoof

TIME AND TALENT SHEETS
There are still some of you that have not returned your Time and Talent Sheets.  Please fill one out,(or if you have misplaced yours, I have more), and return it to the office.  It is important that these are received so accurate schedules may be made up for the following year.