DECEMBER Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
2702 Hwy 29 North
Alexandria, MN 56308 1-320-762-5152
www.goodshepherd-lcms.org
1.
Salt, Snow & Sin gets harder and takes much more effort to remove as well as all the other results that come with it. Three, using salt may not work so well if one shovels the snow on to the grass or it melts onto the grass. The same holds true when dealing with life’s struggles and troubles. Using the wrong tool or dealing with problems and troubles the wrong way can also cause more prob-lems and troubles. However, after all these points, there still is GOOD NEWS! The Good News is no matter how well or poor-ly we walk in faith with God and Jesus, no matter how well or poorly we deal with our sins, problems, and trou-bles, no matter how well or poorly we face them - GOD is still near. GOD still watches; and GOD still cares. GOD still makes better all the bad that comes our way. After all, this IS the center of the Good News story of Christmas! GOD sent Jesus, His son, into this world. He took all the bad that comes because of sin and He paid the price. All by himself, Jesus experienced all the consequences for what we did and didn’t do. NOW, we don’t have to pay any consequences! NOW, all we get are all the re-wards He deserves!
WOW! Talk about a turn-about! Talk about a twist! Jesus gets the bad. We get the good! Ya-hoo! Yippee! PRAISE GOD! THANK YOU, JESUS! No really, THANK YOU, JESUS! You got all the bad. We get all the good. Now that’s a GREAT STORY to be able to tell the whole world!
God Bless you and yours with a Christmas celebration full of Peace, Love, and ever-lasting JOY!
Pastor Tim
There is snow and ice already on my driveway. Looking at the forecast, I think it’s here for the winter. I didn’t get it shoveled all the way before we drove over the top of it. So, now I’m already in a quandary. This year I vowed NOT to use salt. Why? There were brown spots in the yard and all along the driveway which never did turn green. I think it was the salt. So, either I need to shovel better this year or the possibility increases of others and myself slipping and falling and hurting our-selves. What ought one do? As I see it, it will depend on what happens as time goes by. It will depend on when I weigh this priority next to other priorities and see which is done first, second, third, fourth, or not at all. With our driveway facing North, it’s hard for the snow and ice to melt. The peak of the garage and the line of the house roof block sunlight from hitting the driveway. Thus, I can’t look to the sun for assistance. NOW, I will have to be much more diligent about shoveling snow BE-FORE we drive over the top of it. So, what does this have to do with a December Flock Talk at Good Shepherd Church? One, I think it has to do with how we approach faith and our walk with God and Jesus. I think for many of us, we tend to think of our faith walk as more like a “honey-do list.” We know we need to do certain things. However, sometimes, other life events and other priorities get bumped up and one of the first things to fall may be shoveling and… spending time with God and Jesus. Two, dealing with sin is like dealing with snow on a driveway. Sin happens. Snow happens. Dealing with and removing the snow first is better than not removing it. When you get rid of the snow first, it’s much better than just continuing to drive over the top of it. As you do so, the snow gets harder and thicker and turns into ice and then it gets even harder to remove. It takes much more effort to deal with it. So too sin. It’s much better to deal with it right away than let it accumulate and grow. It too
2.
Advent Worship
Wednesday Evenings Dec. 5th, 12th, 19th
7:00p.m.
Everyone is invited to attend our Family
Advent worship! Some parts of these special
Advent services are written especially for
children, but we are all children of God, who
was born among us. He slept wrapped in
swaddling cloths in a manger in Bethlehem.
Jesus is Emmanuel, a name that means
“God with us.”
In our first Advent service we will
learn that God is with us as our
Potter and we are the clay.
In our Advent second service we
will learn that God is with us as our
Shepherd, who carries us close to
his heart.
In our third Advent service we will
learn that God is with us as our
Living Branch, who died and rose
to give us forgiveness and eternal
life.
Advent Soup Suppers and Fellowship
Come warm up with a hot Bowl of Home-
made Soup, delicious Breads and Desserts!
Wednesday Evenings during Advent
Dec. 5th, 12th, 19th
6:00p.m.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Services
December 24th
5:00p.m. & 7:00p.m.
3.
Sunday School…
Submitted by: Deb Hull
Children’s Christmas
Worship Service
Sunday December 16th
10:45a.m.
Happy December Good Shepherd Family!
Offering NEWS- our offerings have been adding up
weekly and the children have voted to buy 100 pairs
of SILLY SOCKS to be given to “Cards for Kids”
who has set a goal of raising 7000 pairs to be sent to
St Jude’s Children’s Hospital and other kids who are
battling cancer. Emerson Harris founder of “Cards
for Kids” is an AAHS Senior this year and has been
making kids battling the horrible disease SMILE with
her handmade cards as well as other fun projects from
backpacks, Halloween costumes, SMILE cards and
silly socks to name a few. “Cards for Kids” is dear to
our children’s hearts this year because they worked
together through VBS this summer to help them out.
WE will share pictures and other information in Janu-
ary’s Flock talk about our outcome.
Now -here we are starting our Sunday School Christ-
mas program practices, making sure our children are
ready to do their best at Blessing you with the Christ-
mas Story and all the songs. We hope you will enjoy
it. Here are the dates that should be put on your cal-
endars.
Practices: December 1st, 8th, 15th all @ 9:30- 11:00
am. We will also be practicing our lines and songs
during Sunday School time on the 2nd and 9th.
Children’s Christmas Worship Service: Sunday, De-
cember 16th @ 10:45 am. HOPE to see you all there!
Thank you Wanda, and Denise for all your hard work
on the program, also to the teachers and parents for
all their practicing with the kids in learning their parts
and to the kids for working hard on getting those
parts in your heads.
There will not be Sunday School on December 23rd or
December 30th, we will resume classes on January 6th.
Teachers and Students please enjoy your Holiday Sea-
son with family and friends and we look forward to
seeing you all in the 2019!
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Practice times:
Saturdays Dec 1st, 8th, 15th
from 9:30-11:00a.m.
Light
A
Candle
Dec. 1…Jenna Fearing Krista Fearing
Dec. 3… Sara Myhr
Dec. 4…Renae Morse
Kristofer Setterstrom
Madison Stigman Tyson Stigman
Dec. 5...Nancy Hasz Cody Notch
Dec. 6...Cheryl Corson
Verla Schwendemann
Dec. 7...Todd Bettermann
Dec. 8...Micheal Ziegler
Dec. 9… Rebecca Johnson
Dec 10… Austin Becker
Steve Black Michelle Elmer
Dec. 12...Janell Becker
Dec. 13...Gus Berninghaus
Linda Hop
Dec 14…Grace Berninghaus
Bennett Black Vicki Paulson
Marshal Swenson
Dec. 16…Norm Schimmelpfennig
Dec. 18… Scout Schoenrock
Dec. 19…Holly Tahtinen
Dec. 20...Doug Hunt Grant Schad
Dec. 21… Matt Ewoldt
Dec. 22… Garret Niska
Dec. 23…Bruce Swenson
Dec. 24… Tyler Koep
Dec. 25…Cody Roos
Dec. 26…David Bertek
Todd Domine Mark Rice
Dec. 27...Tim Hull Tim Stennes
Dec. 28...Jordan Reese
Candace Rodriguez
Dec. 29...Jayden Buchholz
Dave Nelson
Dec. 30...Hawken Anderson
Saige Glaser
Dec. 31...Jennie Christians
David Glaesman
Elizabeth Hausmann
DECEMBER Birthdays
4.
Birthdays
Come and Go...
But ...
The Lord’s Love
For You is
Everlasting!
Wedding Anniversaries
Anniversary Prayer
Lord, we thank you for this couple and for all of the years that they have had together.
As they celebrate their anniversary, our prayer is that you will continue to bless them.
Let their testimony of love and forgiveness be a help to other couples as they start on their own journeys into married life. Lord, we
pray that You will honor their commitment to each other and to You by granting them many more years of happiness together.
Amen
December 2nd-Lloyd & Dianne Schwanke
December 3rd-Loren & Tracy Boysen
December 13th-Damon & Katie Bullock
December 17th-Bob & Marlys Olson
December 18th-Gregg & Sue Raisanen
December 27th-Tom & Holly Gerard
December 29th-Bob & Audrey Robatcek
5.
Submitted by: Karen Nolz
I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and had a nice
day of lots of food, football and especially family. Decem-
ber is a fairly quiet month for the students at Zion. The
first week of December bring mid-quarter for the second
quarter already.
Practice for the children’s Christmas Program will begin soon. They work long and hard and always do such a good job with this each year. It will be presented at their Christ-mas Service on Sunday, December 16th at 6:30 PM. All are welcome to come worship that night. Assuming it is like years past, you won’t be disappointed!!
Probably the favorite part of the school year for most stu-dents is in December. Yup, you guessed it, Christmas break!! This year, the last scheduled day is Friday, Decem-ber 21st and they will return on Wednesday, January 2nd.
I hope everyone can stay warm, enjoy family time and have a safe holiday season. I am not afraid to add “MERRY CHRISTMAS” to all!!
Submitted by: Marian Brelje
Love Patches has made a total of 27 quilts in 2018. We
gave 14 lap quilts to individuals needing comfort and 6 baby
quilts for baptisms. Two quilts were given to Lutheran Is-
land Camp for their auction. If anyone has a friend or rela-
tive that you feel would be comforted by receiving a quilt,
please let us know. We would be happy to get a quilt for
you to take or send to the person. You may pick out the
quilt you want us to give.
We will not be quilting from December 20th through Janu-
ary 3rd. We will return on January 10th from 9 - 12 am.
Zion’s Happenings Submitted by: Amory Anderson
How time has flown by! Once again it is a time of antici-pation, preparing for the coming of the Christ Child. The Altar Guild will in the next couple of weeks be adorning the Altar area with Christmas trees, the Advent wreath and flowers. The color of the Paraments chang-es to blue at this time. Two Advent banners will be placed on hooks of the side walls, wreaths will be placed on the remaining hooks, and Two blue Advent banners will be hung on the front walls.
Thank you to Carol Rasmussen and Marian Brelje for their Altar care in November and December care givers will be Carol Rasmussen and Marian Brelje.
Thank you to all of you who have volunteered your time for Altar care for the coming year. (2019)
We are still in need of volunteers for the months of November and December 2019. Please prayerfully consider one of these months and let the Altar Guild team know.
We will be meeting to decorate the Christmas trees on Monday, December 3rd at 9:00 a.m. If you would like to be a part
of this fun time, please join us.
Altar Guild News
Love Patches
Prayer
The World’s
Greatest
Wireless
Connection!
S..NO..W Joke
What do you get when you cross a Snowman
with a Vampire?
Frostbite
What do Snowmen like to do on the weekend?
Chill Out
What do you call a Snowman in the summer-
time?
A Puddle
What do Snowmen have for breakfast?
Frosted Flakes
6.
Annual
Congregational
Voters Meeting
Sunday December 2nd
12:00 Potluck
Meeting to follow
Weds. Morning You are WELCOME to join us
for Bible Study!
Wednesday Mornings
10:00a.m.
Ed Wing
Led by Pastor Schiller
NO Bible Study Dec. 26th
Contact Information Pastor Tim Schiller
Shirley
WebSite
www.goodshepherd-lcms.org
The Flock Talk and Monthly Calendar are available on the site!
If you have information about your ministry and you would
like it put on our website, let me know! Shirley
Service Cancellation Information To check for service cancellations listen to KXRA radio
station or go to www.voiceofalexandria.com
Kooltv
go to: www.kooltv-mn.com
Paul Luedeke
320-760-6937
Keith Ramsay
886-5574
Pastor Tim Schiller
712-898-1658
Our Elders are here for
YOU!
Contact us for any
spiritual needs, prayer
or visitation needs.
Gary Christianson
320-491-0258
Mike Doehling
320-808-4250
Jeff Fassett
846-1128
Brandon Luedeke
320-304-4237
I Am Not Sure
Who My Elder Is?
What Do I Do?
The Elder Flock Lists are
posted on the bulletin
board in the Hallway to the
Fellowship Hall, or Call
the Church Office.
We Are Here For YOU!
Executive Council Members
2018
Chairman– Blaine Elbert
Vice Chairman—Dave Nelson
Secretary-Erin Johnson
Treasurer-Evelyn Beulke
Executive Board-
Mike Berninghaus
Nancy Hasz
Rich Duncan
Tracy Boysen
Bruce Swenson
Council Minutes are posted on the bulletin
board in the hallway to the Fellowship Hall!
We are here for YOU and
YOUR FAMILY
7.
BROCCOLI SLAW FROM THE KITCHEN OF MARILYN GROTH
1 bag broccoli slaw
1/3 green pepper sliced
1 1/2 c. red grapes
Black olives, sliced 3-4 green onions
DRESSING 1 1/2 c. Miracle Whip (not mayo) 4 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. dill 1/2 tsp. celery seed
JUST BEFORE SERVING Add 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese 1 jar real bacon bits 1 c. cashews
8.
MMMM-Good
A Christmas Table Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, Love brought Jesus to the earth, and love brings us to this Christmas table. Today as we share this holiday feast, may we also share with one another a joyful heart and a warm smile. May our Christmas dinner be filled with kind-ness. And may the memories of today warm our hearts for years to come.
Amen
Submitted by: Elaine Beulke
Our November LWML meeting is on November
26th. Pastor Schiller will be leading our Bible study.
We will have installation of new officers.
The LWML is having their Christmas Outing
December 1st at Arrowwood at 11:30 a.m.
All ladies are welcome to join us.
The LWML Spring Rally will be at Good Shepherd.
The Spring Rally planning meeting will be in January
at Good Shepherd.
There is no LWML meeting in December.
Our next meeting will be on January 28 at 7 p.m.
All ladies are welcome to join us.
9.
LWML A Christmas
Wish May you have
the gift of Faith
the blessing of Hope,
and the peace of His Love
at Christmas and always!
Once a lovely shining star,
seen by shepherds from afar, gently moved until
its light made a manger’s cradle bright.
There a darling baby lay, pillowed soft upon
the hay, and his mother sung and smiled:
“This is Christ, the Holy Child.”
CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP FROM THE KITCHEN OF MARILYN GROTH
2 tbsps. olive oil 2 med. Carrots finely chopped 3 cups chicken broth 1 c med. Picante sauce 1 15oz. Black beans rinsed and drained 1 tsp. ground cumin 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves 1/8 tsp. paprika 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1 large onion, chopped 2 tbsp. minced garlic 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained 1 15 oz. can ranch-style beans, undrained 1 c. frozen whole kernel corn 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. chili powder 2 cups chopped cooked skinless chicken breasts (Optional when serving: tortilla chips, sliced avocadoes, shredded cheddar, sour cream ) 1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic. Cook until onion is tender, about 6 min. 2. Increase eat to high and add broth, tomatoes, picante sauce, beans, corn and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add chicken. Cook until thoroughly heated. Add cilantro just before serving. 3. Ladle into soup bowls and top with tortilla chips, sliced avocadoes, cheese and sour cream, if desired.
Pecan Pie Cheesecake Is The Sexy Cousin Of Pecan
10.
Warm Up With Soup!