Vol. 94 No. 8 October 2019 THE MESSENGER’S VOICE€¦ · this Gospel reading speak to me so...

CONTENTS

In The Life of Our Redeemer

Lutheran Church. . . . . . . . 1

Spotlight on......

Ken Larsen.. . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A Message

from the Pastor. . . . . . . . . 3

Building Bigger Barns

Part II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Christian Education. . . . . . . . 4

ACES this Month. . . . . . . . . . 5

Bible Studies.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Fellowship Committee

News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

News from the

Outreach Committee.. . . . 6

Fall Worship News. . . . . . . . . 6

Social Ministry

Opportunities.. . . . . . . . . . 6

Youth Group News. . . . . . . . . 7

Men’s Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Book Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Birthdays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Thank You. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Special Voter’s

Meeting Results.. . . . . . . . 8

October at a Glance. . . . . . . . 9

Updating our

Church Database.. . . . . . . 9

October

Worship Team. . . . . . . . . 10

October Calendar. . . . . . . . . . 11

“God’s work. Our hands.” SundaySeptember 8, 2019

September 22, 2019

Vol. 94 No. 8 October 2019

THE MESSENGER’SVOICE

THE GOOD NEWS FROM OUR REDEEMER

In The Life of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church

2 The Messenger’s Voice October 2019

Note: The “actual income” total above does not include income received from

Account # 4811 (Restricted Income Transfer) & the “actual expenses” does not

include the expenses covered by the use of those funds.

The Messenger's Voice is published monthly

(except for combined June/July &December/January editions)

by

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church130 S. Reynolds Street

Scotia, NY 12302

(518) 393-5031

www.OurRedeemer.cc

[email protected]

Staff: Pastor Rev. Daniel M. MayMusic Director Jon BergmanAdministrative Assistant Melissa JerreldNursery Director Jessica RosslerSexton Richard Tessitore

Deadline for copy: The Sunday

of the month prior to the last

Friday of the month. See church

calendar in this edition for date.

Editor reserves the right to edit

for content & space.

Large print editionavailable upon request,

call 393-5031.

Spotlight on......Ken Larsen

Neither Ken Larsen nor his wife Leslie Thiele were raised as Lutherans. Ken & Leslie wereboth raised as Methodists, he all over the south and she in Washington state. After a timeunchurched, they began searching for a church in their neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA. As luckwould have it, the church closest to their house was a Lutheran Church. So, Leslie & Ken tookthemselves to the early service at Christ Lutheran Church two Sundays before Christmas of 1984,expecting to sing Christmas carols. They learned that (1) Lutherans wait till Christmas Eve to singcarols, (2) Christ Lutheran had no music at the early service, and (3) very few people attended theearly service. In fact, we were the entire congregation that Sunday!

The pastor, Mike Carlson, told them about grace that Sunday, that it is a gift from God, andthat our lives represent our response to that gift. That resonated with them, and they decided - afterreturning to sing carols during Christmas - that this would be their church home. They never gotaround to visiting another church in their neighborhood. They got married at Christ Lutheran in 1986,and were members there till they moved to Schenectady in 1989.

Thirty years later, they are still Lutherans. There have been times when one or both of themwavered in their faith, and became very inactive members, but they have always been drawn back,Leslie by the singing and Ken by the liturgy. Typically, you'll findthem at the 11:00 service!

Ken has been retired so long he has all but forgotten what hedid when he worked. (He worked in Information Technology at GEfor 30 years.). In retirement, he has read a lot of books, bicycled alot of miles, and taken pleasure in seeing his children Jamie andGabby become adults. He took up curling a year ago, and canrecommend it as a lifetime sport for almost anyone. He is thankfulfor the trust the congregation has shown in him by electing himTreasurer.

http://www.OurRedeemer.cc


A Message from the Pastor

OMGosh! There has been so much goingon around here it's amazing! We had a greatkick off for our Sunday School year, “God'swork. Our hands.” Sunday, German Fest,among others. The video for our websiteshould be finished in the next few weeks. We'llmake our home page spiffier as we makeroom for that video. Our Choir is back! YAY!!Jon is keeping them “choralled”! (Musicaljoke…) It is amazing what goes on here.

There is more to come! September 29 isth

St. Michael and All Angels Day, one of those"floating" holidays of the Church Year that onlygets celebrated when it falls on a Sunday. Then, October 6 , we'll have a Blessing of theth

Animals service at 3 pm outside (weatherpermitting). Feel free to bring your leashed orcrated animals for a brief service that includesanimal and owner blessings. Pictures are fineif the animals can't be present. Of course,there will be animal themed refreshments too!

Our big fall celebrations at worship arecoming soon too! Reformation Sunday isOctober 27 this year. Reformation Day isth

October 31 , but we move our celebration tost

fit! Wear RED for Reformation! Thefollowing Sunday (November 3 ) is All Saintsrd

Sunday. All Saints Day is November 1 , sost

we move that one too! Please share namesof those who have passed from this life to theirheavenly one by October 27 so that we canth

remember them at worship. We'll also havespecial candle lighting at worship that day. Come and take part!

Look around in this newsletter. You'll seeinformation about past events, and the peoplewho made them happen. You'll read aboutevents to come, and how you can participateor help with them! You'll see a list of birthdaysof your sisters and brothers in Christ. You'llfind thank-you notes from those to whom wesend benevolence dollars. A list of worshiphelpers. A spotlight article on one of ourcouncil members. Ministry Team articles

about our life together. Back to my openingabout how amazing it is of all that goes onhere.

We have more work to do, that's for sure.Our Property Committee has identified severalneeds here and is working to care for them.Some smaller items will cost money not in ourbudget. Some bigger projects are being putoff until next year. Your support is alwaysneeded to keep our ministry, our building, andour presence in this community going. I'llsave the rest of that for Fred's Stewardshipappeal in November….

How can you help? I'm glad you asked! You can give dollars, which is always neededand appreciated. You can do so withenvelopes, or Simply Giving, or Tithe.ly. Youcan give of your time, like our groundskeepershave all summer! Social ministries needhelpers, choir needs voices, ChristianEducation needs kid and adult students! OurMen's Group and Women of the ELCA needmen and women respectively. Worship needseveryone! Prayer concerns shared at worshipneed everyone to keep praying! Youth Groupneeds YOUTH! Plans are under way forYouth Gathering 2021, as well as some thingswe'll be doing in the coming months. All arewelcome to get involved here, as a helper,organizer, or participant! All are welcome! Allare needed!

Get involved! Come and Worship! Growin your giving and serving! Blessings abound!Receive them and be one to others!!

~Peace

Pastor Dan


Building Bigger Barns Part II

In last month's article, I wrote about arecent Sunday Gospel reading which reallyresonated with me, found at Luke 12:13-21. This was the parable Jesus told about a richman who thought he would find true securityby building bigger barns to store his bountifulharvest. The man was sadly mistaken,however, because he was to die that veryevening, and his plentiful harvest and plans forbigger barns were of no avail to him. I was sotaken by this Gospel reading that I decided tomake the theme of this year's StewardshipCampaign "Building Bigger Barns." Why didthis Gospel reading speak to me so loudly? Well, let me explain.

As someone who has been eligible forMedicare for the last couple of years, I'vebegun to realize that I'm not going to workforever. And, like a lot of people my age, Iwonder if I have saved enough for retirement. I've recently found myself checking my 401kplan frequently, perhaps even obsessively. Infact, I came to think that if my 401k planreached a certain amount that I would be ableto relax and simply take it easy, as if this wasthe true source of my security.

So what was I doing? I was buildingbigger barns! Not literally, of course, but likethe man in Jesus's parable I was thinking thatmy security came from my possessions.However, true security does not come frombigger barns, 401k plans, stock portfolios,IRAs, bank accounts, real estate holdings oranything else of a material nature. God is theonly true source of our security; our days arein His hands. And it is impossible for us to beas faithful in our stewardship as we should beuntil we come to realize this.

Now let me also say, lest anyone get thewrong idea, that prudent financial planning isa good thing, as our friends at Thrivent tell us. The forces of evil in this world are very real,however, and they often attempt to turn thepossessions we acquire through sound

financial planning into things we obsess over. In short, they attempt to make ourpossessions idolatrous. And when thishappens, we no longer control ourpossessions - they control us.

Jesus tells us that "one's life does notconsist of the abundance of things hepossesses." Luke 12:15 (NKJV). Neither areour possessions the source of our security.Once we realize this truth, we are free tobecome the stewards and givers we weremeant to be.

Fred HutchisonStewardship Trustee

Christian Education

Our Confirmation Class and SundaySchool students are in for a treat when theycome to class on October 13 . Our lesson willth

be about Jesus and we have planned a shortskit. The skit is titled "Jesus Tells Satan to GoPound Sand." It promises to be a fun andeducational time for all. We want to thank inadvance Mike Mehigan, who will play Jesus,Randy Jerreld, who will play the part of Satan,and Patti Kopach, who will be the narrator. They are great sports to buy into this and be incostume as well. Photos to follow.

The Sunday School has been collecting the aluminum ring tabs from cans for anumber of years. They have been donated tothe Shriners Children's Hospital. The lastdonation of 33 pounds was just about a yearago. It takes quite a few ring tabs to make 33pounds. The congregation has been verysupportive with their contributions. There aretwo collection places at the church. One is awhite bucket at the entrance to the SundaySchool area. The other is in the FellowshipHall where the other items for donations arelocated. Please continue to save those rings.


“In its simplest form, becoming a sanctuary

denomination means that the ELCA is publicly

declaring that walking alongside immigrants and

refugees is a matter of faith.”

Also, during the month of October, we willbe collecting non-perishable food items for theScotia-Glenville Food Pantry. Our “Just One”campaign encourages each family in thecongregation to bring one food item eachweek for the 4 weeks. Just think about thatfour items in four weeks would be such asmall task yet mean so much to a family in ourcommunity who is in need. We thank you, asalways, for supporting our efforts.

Dott SkompEducation Trustee

ACES this Month

Our ACES (Adult Christian EducationSeries) class will be taking a look at theELCA'S new "Sanctuary Church" declaration.

• What's the reason for it?• Who is it intended to help?• Why was the ELCA the first denomination

to take this step?• What does it mean to us here at Our

Redeemer?

These are just a few of the many topicswe will be exploring. So grab a cup of coffee(or whatever you prefer) and feel free to joinus in the conference room between services inOctober!

Fred Hutchison

Bible Studies

Bible Studies have resumed! Webegan a new (yet familiar) study! We are using the Daniel Erlanderbook called Manna and Mercy. It

is a Bible overview that shares God's part ofour history over time. It also shares a lotabout who we are called to be as Children ofGod. You have two options in which toparticipate:• Wednesday (11:30 am) - the midday Bible

Study meets. They will join in Chapter 1 onSeptember 25 and meet October 2 , 16 ,th nd th

23 & 30 ).rd th

• Wednesday (7:00 pm) - the evening studywill continue with chapters 5&6 on October9 and meet October 16 , 23 & 30 .th th rd th

If you can't make it every Wednesday,come as often as you can!

Fellowship Committee News

On Wednesday, September 18 , theth

Fellowship Committee met in the lounge,which is a very comfy place. Many ideas wentaround the room and one special idea hascome to life. Our talented Ginny Weston hasoffered to bring our Craft Fellowship “back tolife” between services once a month (typicallythe 3 Sunday). We are hoping more peoplerd

will take part in this ministry by hosting it at atime when we are already gathered at church. The dates have been put into the books andthe excitement will begin October 20 . Theth

crafts will be sold at events hosted at OurRedeemer and a table displaying the work willbe in the Fellowship Hall. Melissa hasgraciously offered to prepare specialenvelopes to put the money in, which you canplace in the offering plate on Sundays. Eachmonth, with the exception of March, there willbe a craft time in the Fellowship Hall. Keepyour eyes open for future meeting dates to beposted in the bulletin so you can plan your


time at church. Our next FellowshipCommittee meeting will be held in the loungeon Thursday, October 10 at 6:30 pm.th

Mary Emma TownsendFellowship Trustee

News from theOutreach Committee

Words not said often enough. So manymembers of the congregation have steppedup and helped the Outreach Committee withtheir events during the summer and coming upas well. June, July and August were busy -but nothing could have been accomplishedwithout the help we received from Sandy andNorm Dion, Leslie Thiele and Ken Larsen,Nicole Betz, Linda and Gregg DeBraccio, RonPucci, Karen Smith, Mary Rainey, MelissaJerreld and, of course, Pastor Dan. If youhelped out in any way and your name is notlisted here, please forgive my memory lapseand remind me that you helped so that I caninclude you in the Outreach CommitteeAnnual Report.

Thanks in advance to Katie Armstrong,who has volunteered to serve as team leaderfor the Halloween Cocoa House (being heldon Saturday, October 26 ) and to Dott Skomp,th

who has offered to make adult sized costumesfor Holiday on the Avenue!

If you are interested in participating inHoliday on the Ave., please see me or PastorDan. We need folks to sit at an informationtable as well as walk in our procession ofchimers. We are looking for a couple toportray Mary and Joseph and hoping to find adonkey that will walk with Mary and Joseph. (Riding the donkey is optional!) BecauseThanksgiving is so late in November andHoliday on the Ave. is always held on the first

Sunday of December (this year, December1 ), the event will take place on Thanksgivingst

weekend. What could be a better way to kickoff your holiday season than by walking withfellow members of Our Redeemer, playingchimes and signing carols/holiday songs??

Our next committee meeting will be heldon Thursday, October 3 at 6:30 pm. Pleaserd

consider joining us! The committee is open toall ages and we welcome new ideas foroutreach!

Patti KopachOutreach Trustee

Fall Worship News

October 6 ~ 3 pmth

(Rain or Shine)

Please bring your crated and/or leashed,well-behaved animals that day for a briefservice and some refreshments. Invite yourfriends and neighbors! Pictures of animalsare OK too (especially for snakes andspiders!). See Pastor Dan with any questions.

We will celebrate Reformation Sunday onOctober 27 . What’s the color of the day?? th

You guessed it!! RED!!

Dave HahnWorship & Music Trustee

Social Ministry Opportunities

THANK YOU...Volunteers!We couldn't do it without you!

Are you experiencing Déjà Vu" or didKaren forget and submit last month's article bymistake? NOOOO! This is yet 'another' thankyou that needs to go out to our wonderfulvolunteers who helped with anothersuccessful German Fest!


First off, A BIG THANK YOU to Janiceand Dave Waltz for coordinating our GermanFest event again this year. We are a blessedcongregation and we could not do this withoutyou all....whether you helped with purchasingsupplies, finding entertainment, ticket sales,tent assembly, set-up, clean-up, face painting,jewelry organizing, game coordinating,pumpkin painting, dishwashing, counting theproceeds, greeting our guests….(I'm sure Imissed someone in this list. Please forgiveme!)

All hands make it possible for us to havesuch wonderful events here at Our Redeemerand you ARE ALL APPRECIATED!

We couldn't have asked for a betterweather day either! Fun was had by all. Herbiplayed wonderful music which had all of ourvisitors participating.

October may seem a little “light” on SocialMinistry events, so rest up for November! Weare not serving lunch at the Salvation ArmySoup Kitchen in October but here are theupcoming dates to mark your calendar:

2019: November 1st

December 20th

2020: February 7th

March 27th

May 8th

June 20th

We will not be assembling BethesdaSandwiches in October or November due toColumbus Day & Veteran’s Day. The suppliesto make the sandwiches will still be deliveredto Bethesda House to be assembled there.

Karen SmithSocial Ministry Trustee

Youth Group News

We've been trying to meet on the firstSunday of the month at 7 pm at the Church. Come to worship! Get involved! We'll meeton Sunday, October 6 at 7pm. We'll gatherth

and talk about meetings through the fall. Gotideas? Wishes? Dreams? Text me. Callme. Email me. Talk with me. See you soon!

~Pastor Dan

Men’s Group

We had a good meeting at MikeMehigan's house in September. Thank forhaving us. Our next meeting will be at WarrenSheldon's on October 10 . The study will beth

Investing Yourself (Using your Gifts). Romans12:1-8 page 1581.

All men 18 and older from Our Redeemerare welcome to join us. You are also invitedto bring a friend. If you have any questionsabout the Men's Group or how to get involved,please contact me. Chuck Cox

Book Club

The Book Club has chosen to read The13 Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracleth

by Joanne Huist Smith as their next book. Gladys Cox will host the meeting on Friday,November 15 (1 pm).th

mailto:[email protected]


Birthdays

10/03 Patti Kopach10/08 Cindy Weatherwax10/09 Joseph Flanders10/15 Emily Mehigan10/15 Kayla Mehigan10/16 Joseph Bellomo10/16 Debra Jablonski10/17 Guy Bassi10/17 Christine McKenna10/18 Ryan O'Connor10/18 Anita Walther10/22 Lauren Mehigan10/23 Keith McKenna10/23 Renny Tallman10/24 Sandye Friedman10/25 Cindy Holman10/29 Alex DeBraccio10/29 Dorothy Skomp

Thank You

We received thanks from:

Bethesda House for ourdonation of sandwiches inthe past quarter of 2019.

Ellis Hospital ChaplaincyProgram for a donation of$50.00 shared through ourBudgeted Benevolencesprogram.

In September,we received a deposit from

Thrivent Choice totaling$78.00!

We would like to thankGail Beatty & Cindy Holman

for directing their ChoiceDollars to our church.

We received a certificate ofthanks from the UpstateNew York Synod for ourMission Support for the 2018calendar year in the amountof $4,000. These fundssupport synodical andchurchwide ministries of theEvangelical Lutheran Churchin America. We also receiveda handwritten card fromPastor Pamela Hoh, SynodCouncil Member, for ourMission Support year-to-datein 2019.

We Need Your Help

At the bottom of the nextpage, you will see anopportunity for you to updateyour personal contactinformation in our churchdatabase. We would like tomake sure that our recordsare up to date. We use yourinformation for newsletterm a i l i n g s , f i n a n c i a lstatements, contacting youvia email, phone calls or textmessages.

You might recall theeffort to establish an“Emergency Contact” listfollowing Hurricane Irene andHurricane Lee back in 2011. This list has not beenupdated in several years. We are hoping to create amore comprehensive list andencourage you to include thatinformation as well.

Please complete theform, tear off the bottom halfof the page and bring it tochurch with you. You caninclude it in your offeringenvelope or put it in theAdministrative Assistantmailbox. Thank you for yourassistance.

Special Voter’sMeeting Results

Our Redeemer votingmembers elected Kelli andJohn Torelli to be our VotingMembers to the Upstate NewYork Synod Assembly. Theywill take part in as much ofthe preliminary processconcerning the Bishop'sElection in 2020, which couldinclude actions at the fall andspring Hudson-MohawkConference meetings. Whenyou see them, thank them forrepresenting you and OurRedeemer at the assemblyand keep them in yourprayers as they prepare forthis event June 7-9, 2020.


Meetings/Events Outside of the ChurchOct 10 Men’s Group Meeting (Hosted by Warren Sheldon-Hughes)

Oct 24 Fiber Arts Fellowship; 6 pm (Host: TBD)

OngoingBible Study ~ Wednesdays; 11:30 am

October 2 , 16 , 23 & 30nd th rd th

Evening Bible Study ~ Wednesdays; 7 pmOctober 9 , 16 , 23 & 30th th rd th

ACES ~ Sundays; 10 amOctober 6 , 13 , 20 & 27th th th th

October at a GlanceMeetings at the ChurchOct 3 Outreach Committee Meeting; 6:30 pm

Worship & Music Committee Meeting; 7 pmOct 15 Council Meeting; 7 pmOct 17 Property Committee Meeting; 7 pmOct 18 Fellowship Committee Meeting; 6:30 pmOct 24 Elder’s Meeting; 7 pmOct 25 Messenger’s Voice mailing; 11:30 am

Events/Special Services at ChurchOct 6 Blessing of the Animals; 3 pmOct 26 Cocoa House; 1 - 2:30 pmOct 27 Reformation Sunday; WEAR RED!!

DeadlinesOct 5 Council Meeting Reports DueOct 20 October Messenger’s Voice Deadline

Updating our Church Database

It is important to maintain up to date contact information for mailings and day-to-daycommunications. Please complete the information below. If there have been no changes, writein the Family Name and check this box.

Family Name: _______________________ Address: ______________________________

Home Phone: _______________________ ______________________________

______________________________

Individual name: _______________________ Individual name: _______________________

Cell Phone: _______________________ Cell Phone: _______________________

Email Address: _______________________ Email address: _______________________

Emergency Contact Information (someone that does not live in the same household):

Name: ____________________________ Address: ______________________________

Home Phone: ______________________ Cell Phone: ___________________________

DATED MATERIAL - DO NOT DELAY

Our Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church103 S. Reynolds Street, Scotia, NY 12302-1723

E-Mail- [email protected]://www.ourredeemer.cc

(518) 393-5031 Fax (518) 393-2527

As for me and my house,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TheMessenger’s

Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

we will serve the Lord.Joshua 24:15

A LARGE PRINT EDITION OF THIS NEWSLETTER ISAVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Reformation Sunday

October 27, 2019

Don’t Forget To Wear Red!!

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