The Parish Communicator Falun/Salemsborg Lutheran Parish

October 2015

But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness,….Matthew 6:33a (nrsv)

It hits home doesn’t it!? Jesus looks at all of His follow-ers and says to strive first for the kingdom of God. He looks at you and me and says to strive first for the kingdom of God. I don’t know about you but my response to Jesus’ words is to try to rationalize them away. What does it mean to strive first for the kingdom of God? What does the word strive mean? What does the word kingdom mean? Does first really mean first? Surely my family comes first, doesn’t it? My job? I have to be a good steward and who knows what may happen. Kingdom must mean what I think is the good and right thing to do, correct!? Tradition must mean something!? Jesus is not one to try to confuse or rationalize. Jesus puts it right out there. We are to strive first for the kingdom of God. We are to strive to do what Jesus commands us to do. We are to love God and love our neighbor as our-selves. We are to put God first in our lives. We are to let the Holy Spirit lead us in all our decisions. We are to pro-claim love for God and neighbor and self. We are to strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and put ourselves in second place. I have another confession to make to you. As I type the words to love God and love neighbors as ourselves, once again I try to rationalize. I get all confused on what it means to love. But once again, Jesus showed us what it was like to love God and neighbor. He lived it and died it! We are called to strive to put God first in our lives rejoic-ing in the opportunity and asking for forgiveness when we fall short. We are the Church! We are God’s servants! We are free to be people of God! We are called to serve the hungry, the needy, the widow, and to clothe the naked. We are called to strive to do God’s will being blessed by God’s grace, before, during and after the journey. May God bless and keep us as we all strive first for the kingdom of God!

God’s Peace Pastor Ethan

Special Thanks Dear Pastor Ethan & Congregation; Thank you all so very much in helping us through the noisy offering. As I continue to heal slowly and Cindy cares for me, we think of your kindness and generosity, prayers and compassion often. All of these things help bolster our faith and belief that somehow, life will go on. Your kindness is a true example to us of Christian love, and will never be forgotten.

Thank you! Mark & Cindy Challans

Haunted Forest & Chili Feed The Falun/Salemsborg Parish will host the Haunted For-est & Chili Feed on Saturday, October 24th; Friday, Octo-ber 30th and Saturday, October 31st, at the Salemsborg Fellowship Center. Chili supper begins at 6:30pm. Sug-gested donation is $5.00 per meal. Haunted Forest begins at Dark. Suggested donation is $10 per tour. Event is rated PG-13. activities WILL scare children and those faint of heart! Proceeds benefit Parish Youth Programs.

Support Parish Youth Programs Would you like to help support the Parish Youth pro-grams? The Haunted Forest is in need of volunteers 18yrs. and over! We are also needing help with setting up the Trail, making props, making food for volunteers, tending the campfire, dressing up in costume, behind the scenes without a costume, Security Team, There are numbers of opportunities! Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 24th, Friday October 30th and Saturday, October 31st! Watch for more detail in the future!

Salemsborg Lutheran Mission Statement “We at Salemsborg have so benefited from the

gifts of God’s love, peace, strength and joy through Jesus, that we seek to share these same

gifts with others in grateful response!” Falun Lutheran Mission Statement

“As children of God, we strive to love, care for, and inspire one another as we extend

the grace of Christ to all.” www.fslc.net salemsborg@hometelco.net

Parish Women’s News

Many Thanks Thank you so much for supporting the Youth Group and I going to Detroit! I had a blast! We all became so much closer. I feel closer to God thanks to this trip. I am so blessed. Thank You! Baylee Wolf Thank you for supporting the Youth Group and I as we went to Detroit. It was a blessing to be able to help others and become closer to God. Thank you, Kaitlin Allton Thanks for supporting us as we headed to Detroit this summer! Kate Deterding Thank you so much to the church for supporting us while we went to Detroit this summer! Rilee Car-son Thank you very much for the opportunity to go to the ELCA gathering in Detroit! It was an awesome experience and I learned so much about the wonder-ful people that make up Detroit. We all had a great time! Jade Soukup Dear Salemsborg; Thank you so much for the unex-pected scholarship money! I have loved growing up at Salemsborg and am blessed to be able to come home to such a great congregation! Thanks again so much!!! Quinn Dippel Salemsborg Evangelism Committee, I deeply appreci-ated the $10 Pizza Hut gift card! It is wonderful knowing I have a great SLC church family. Thank you again! Love, Taylor Peterson Salemsborg Lutheran Church Family; Thank you so much for the $100 scholarship! This will be nice to have to decorate my new office at the Bank of Tescott. It is great having the SLC family! Thank you again! Love, Taylor Peterson Dear Salemsborg Parish; I wish to thank you all for your love and support over the years. Thank you all for the school fund money and the Pizza Hut card. God’s bless-ings to all, Chad Stamm

New Youth Group Sponsors Kendall & Jade Banning are the new UYG sponsors! The UYG will be blessed by God through them and they will be blessed by God through the UYG members! If you see Kendall and Jade, make sure you give them a thank you and keep all in your prayers!

Confirmation Class Dates The following dates on Saturdays were chosen last Sunday for Confirmation class: November 14th, January 30th, February 27th and alt date April 2nd. Classes will be held from 1:00 to ????. Affirmation of Baptism date will be Sunday, April 17, 2016. Please lift up in prayer the stu-dents and teacher as they learn together, grow in faith together and build up the Body of Christ, it is appreciated.

Women of Salemsborg

Information needed for the 2016 Women of Salems-borg Ministry booklet is due to the Coordinating Com-mittee on Sunday October 4, 2015. The Women of Salemsborg will hold their Annual Plan-ning Meeting right after worship on Sun, Oct 4, 2015. Women of Salemsborg are in charge of Bingo at Beth-any Home on Monday, October 19, 2015. Lydia Tabitha Group will meet October 22, 2015 at 2:00pm at the Fellowship Center. Audrey Miller is hostess. Esther Group will meet October 26, 2015 at 7:30pm at the church. All are hostesses.

Falun Lutheran Women

Falun Lutheran Women will meet on October 7, 2015 at 7:00pm for their Movie Night. Falun Senior Citizens will meet on October 13, 2015 at 1:00pm at the church.

Bridal Showers at Salemsborg Mark your calendars for two bridal showers coming up: Parish shower for Britta Tjaden and Josh Dauer, Sunday, October 4 at 2:00pm in the fellowship center. They are reg-istered at Kohl’s and Target. And a “stock the shelves” shower for Maggie Pihl on Sunday, October 25 at 2:00pm in the church basement. All are welcome!

Wedding Congratulations Congratulations to Peggy Crowl and Robert Ochoa who were married at Salemsborg on Saturday, September 12, 2015. May God bless the happy couple! Congratulations as well to Angela Graves and John Miller, Jr. who were married at Salemsborg on Saturday, September 19, 2015. May God bless them and their life together.

Baptism at Salemsborg Congratulations to Angela Dawn Graves who was bap-tized at Salemsborg on Sunday, September 6th. God has washed you with the water and the word and marked you with the cross of Christ! What gifts were given! God bless you and keep you and May God’s Holy Spirit continue to lead you!

New Member at Salemsborg We welcomed new member John Miller, Jr. into our Sa-lemsborg Church family on Sunday, September 6, 2015. We look forward to worshiping with you and spreading the Good News of Jesus! Thanks to everyone who does work “behind the scenes” at

this Parish, your stewardship is appreciated!

Hyllningsfest Community Choir You are invited to join a special choir that will partici-pate in the opening church service for Hyllningsfest on Thursday, October 8 at 7pm. Dr. Mark Lucas will direct the choir in singing 1-2 songs at this service. Rehearsals will be held on the following dates: Sunday, Oct. 4 at 1:30pm at the Covenant Church (note change of date and time); Wed, Oct 7 at 8:15pm at BLC; Thursday Oct 8 5:30-6:30pm at BLC (service is at 7pm) For more information please contact Dr. Lucas at lucas@bethanylb.edu.

Housing for Hyllningsfest The Svensk Hyllningsfest Committee, 2015, is looking for housing for 53 members and spouses of the Orphei Dragar Choir from Uppsala, Sweden, who will perform downtown and give a concert on Sunday afternoon at 3pm at Bethany Lutheran Church. There will be a reception following their afternoon concert hosted by the American Scandinavian Association in Fellowship Hall at BLC. There will be a dinner for all of them on Thursday eve-ning at 5pm in the Fellowship Hall of Bethany Lutheran Church just before the 7pm opening service here at BLC, sponsored by TACOL. The committee is seeking host homes for 53 choir members and spouses during their three day visit to Lindsborg. Your responsibilities would be a bed and light breakfast. Please contact Becky Anderson, 620-242-6129 or Kathy Bengtson, 227-2625. The choir will tour New York City, Minneapolis, MN; Toronto, Canada, and Linds-borg! Thanks so much for your help!

Operation Christmas Child FYI—If you plan on filling a box or two for Operation Christmas Child this year, now is a great time to be pick-ing up items. With all the back to school sales and sum-mer clearances, you can get almost everything you need to fill a box for a lot less. The ages for boxes are 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14, boy or girl. More information to follow

Small Used Printer Cartridges We are once again collecting small used printer car-tridges to help cover expenses we have for office supplies. Office Max/Office Depot allows us to turn in 10 empty car-tridges each month for which we are allowed a $2 credit which can be used for purchases. If you are willing to do-nate your small empty cartridges, please place them in the labeled box downstairs at the church. Thanks so much!

My guardian angel helps me with math, but he’s not much good for science.

Henry, age 8

Special Service at Salemsborg A special service now being offered at Salemsborg will be a group of members who’ll serve as parking lot attendants. Their goal is to reduce confusion regarding where to park when special events occur at the church. They will have their own bright red vests so folks can identify who is in charge. If you would like to volunteer to help with this much needed service, please contact Rex Tjaden or Mike Pihl.

Wellness Totes The Wellness tote Project was started in Nov. 2014 to help provide totes filled with items of hope, inspiration and encouragement to men and women undergoing cancer treatments. Wellness totes generally consist of a blanket, fuzzy socks, journal, water, lotion, lip balm, hard candy, tooth brush, hand sanitizer, crossword puzzles, homemade cards of encouragement, etc. The Wellness Tote project relies solely on donations, either monetary or donation of items to include in the totes. If you cro-chet or knit, please consider making hats or lap blankets to include in the totes. Please visit with Amanda Otto if interested in donating in any way. Call 785-452-8674 or email wellnesstote@gmail.com.

You can also check out these websites: www.facebook.com/wellnesstoteproject www.gofundme.com/wellnesstotes.

Laundry Love Project

One of the projects Salina Shares puts together it’s monthly “Laundry Love” sessions where folks can bring their laundry in and have up to five loads done free. Here is a link to a laundry love in California: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/notice/video-explores-minitry-laundry-love. If you hear of anyone/groups looking for volunteer/service opportunities, they are always looking for folks to volunteer time to help work the laundry love days. Here is a link to the Laundry Love page on the Salina Shares website: http://www.salinashares.com/#!laundry-love/c21kz.

God’s Love-Many Hands Sept. 13th was designated by the ELCA as a nation-wide day for special emphasis on God’s Love-Many Hands. Salemsborg’s participation includes: volunteers providing needed services for a Smolan resident. Addi-tionally, celebration of devoted teachers welcoming Sun-day Church School members. Lunch of sloppy joes, hot dogs, sides, ice cream and desserts was served in the Fellowship Hall from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Thanks so much to all who participated in this happy event!

UYG meeting was held Sunday, Aug 30th following worship ; it was an important meeting with changes com-ing so all were encouraged to attend! Worship/Music Committee met Sun, Aug. 30th at 5:00 pm at Salemsborg. Confirmation meeting for 7-8 grade youth and par-ents was held on Sunday, September 13th. It was held during the lunch time at Salemsborg. Youth brought their school calendars as they planned for the year. Sunday School at Salemsborg and Falun began on Sunday, September 13th. Thanks so much to the Salemsborg Choir for their special music and to Debbie Johnson at Salemsborg and Jerrine Oleen at Falun for presenting the Children’s Ser-mon on Sunday, Sept. 13th! Haunted Forest t-shirts were sold to help support Par-ish Youth Ministries. Short sleeved were $15.00 and long sleeved were $20.00. The deadline was Wednesday, Sep-tember 23rd. Payment must be made when placing the order. Forms are at the back of the church. Make checks payable to Haunted Forest. Thanks so much to Dr. Mark Lucas and the Bethany College Choir for their special music at Salemsborg on Sunday, September 20th. For those attending the golf day festivities, please bring out lawn chairs. Some chairs will be provided but not enough for everyone. Please let Pastor Ethan know if you need him to visit, bring Holy Communion, make a hospital visit, etc. He would appreciate your help because there are a lot of members in this parish and he may not realize the need. Pastor Ethan doesn’t want to fall short of the duties you have called him here to do. Your help is appreciated! Those who would like to send a donation directly to the Synod may do so by mailing it to: Central States Synod E.L.C.A; 136 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64105 If you are interested in using the Salemsborg Fellow-ship Center for any reason, please contact Nita Kay Carl-son. She can be reached at nitakaycarlson@gmail.com, or on her cell phone at 785-227-5363. Contact Donna Swanson with information for the bulle-tin or newsletter at 668-2600 or email her at donlee@hometelco.net. Contact her there as well if you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter online.

The deadline for information needed in the November 2015 Newsletter is

Tuesday, October 20th

Parish Notes

Food Bank Sunday Food Bank Sunday is the 1st Sunday of each month. Toilet paper and macaroni & cheese dinners are needed for the month of October, however, any item you wish to donate will be greatly appreciated. Paper products, flour and small clean containers are always needed. A box is located next to the front door of the church for your con-venience.

Please contact Pastor Ethan or Donna Swanson if there are names that can be removed from

our prayer list. Contact them as well if you would like to add someone

We remember in prayer those who have been brought to our attention: Tom Holmquist, trampled by a cow; Terri Norberg, cancer; Nick Schreck, sinus surgery; Shannon Moran, surgery; Pat Anderson, breast can-cer; Mary Keefe, Gregg Swanson’s fiancé’s mom, esophageal cancer; we also pray for all members of

the armed services and the police officers around the world as well as Christians who are facing persecu-tion; All our friends at Bethany Home and the cot-tages as well as those living at Riverview in Mar-quette. We pray for peace, healing, strength and

courage, that all will feel God's loving hands. We also pray for many unspoken requests. If we have

missed anyone who should have been listed, please let us know.

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At the beginning of each month, the prayer list will be changed. If you have someone that you would like to place

on the list, please let Donna or Pastor know. We are doing this to make sure all the needs listed are current. Some

needs are continuous or immediately pressing and we do not want to miss the opportunity to pray for God’s help

for all in need. Thank you

The Care Packages for Our Troops program is an on-going ministry. If you have questions you can contact Rick Saunders at 785-822-2346 or email him at rick.saunders.1959@gmail.com. Items suggested are lo-cated on the donation box by the front door of the church. Thanks to all who have already donated items for this wonderful cause.

The Falun/Salemsborg Lutheran Parish 3831 West Salemsborg Road Smolan, Kansas 67456-9724

ADDRESS SERVICES REQUESTED

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID Permit #15

Lindsborg, KS 67456

2015 Sunday Service Times

Salemsborg Lutheran Church 9:00am—Worship

10:00am—Coffee Fellowship 10:30am—Sunday School Falun Lutheran Church 9:30am—Sunday School

10:30am—Coffee Fellowship 11:00am—Worship