December 2017 NewsletterGrace and peace to you all in Jesus!

Dear Family of God at Grace,

What a wonderful time of the year!  There is so much going on during the month of December.  Please enjoy the concerts, choirs and all the activities that happen this month.  Don't forget that on Wednesday we have dinner and then the Advent service which includes a hymn sing for the first 10 minutes of the service.  Come and sing some of your favorite Advent and Christmas hymns. 

I will be brief in this busy season.  In all the hustle and bustle remember, it's all about Jesus!  With all the fun of full traffic patterns and steady streams of crowds in the mall, remain joyful!  Advent is a season of patience.  Patiently waiting for the coming of the King.  Patience is good and God given.  I pray that God will strengthen your resolve and your patience as it is tested!  I pray that as the tests to your patience come in this busy season God will guide you to love and service of your neighbor. As I write to you, I just got off the phone for a conference call meeting with "Operation Barnabas."  Operation Barnabas is a program within our Synod that encourages congregations to remember and serve the military members within the congregation or within the community.  We are an Operation Barnabas congregation.  I would encourage you to remember in your prayers the men and women who will not be home this Christmas because they are off in some foreign land guarding a post or serving aboard ship.  Their sacrifice is for your freedom.  God bless them and you as you pray for our military members.

Lastly, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fall on Sunday this year.  We are creatures of habit and that can be a good thing, if the habits are God pleasing - like going to church.  With that habit in mind the Elders and I thought it best to keep Sunday morning schedule consistent.  We will have the two services on Sunday the 24th and the 31st of December.  They will be normal Sundays.  Then in the evening on the 24th we will have Candlelight Christmas Eve Divine Service at 4:30, 7, 11PM.  On the 31st we will have our New Year's Eve Divine

Service at 5PM.  May God bless your Advent and Christmas worship!

In His Service,Pastor Lingsch               

UPCOMING EVENTS

Church DecoratingFriday, December 8th6:00 pm - Fellowship Hall and Sanctuary

Shut-in CarolingSunday, December 10th 12:00 pm - Fellowship Hall

Sunday School and Preschool Christmas Program Saturday, December 16th10:00 am - Sancutary

Benefit Christmas ConcertSunday, December 17th1:30 pm - Sanctuary

Elder and Usher TrainingSunday, January 14thBetween Services - Sanctuary

WOG Membership Meeting Tuesday, January 9th11:00 am - Fellowship Hall

Hymn FestivalTuesday, January 23rd7:00 pm - Sanctuary

WEEKLY EVENTS

Women's Bible StudyThursday's 10:00 am - 11:00 amFellowship Hall Handbell ChoirThursday's at 6:00 pm

Wednesday Afternoon/EveningPrograms 3:45 pm Cherubs Choir4:00 pm Kids Club4:15 pm Choristers5:15 pm Dinner6:00 pm Confirmation Class6:30 pm Evening Worship7:00 pm Grace Chorale

Wednesday Night DinnerPlease join  us each Wednesday night for dinner at 5:15 pm.  

If you would like to help with a Wednesday night dinner, please see the sign-up on the wall in the Fellowship Hall or call the office.  You don't need to do the whole meal to help. See the sign-up sheet in the Fellowship Hall for jobs and dishes needed.  

FROM GRIEF TO JOYWhen Jesus told His disciples, "Your will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." (John16:20), He included us in that same promise. Grief is for a season. There is a hope and a future for those who grieve. Please join Deaconess Linda for a new grief support group on Monday mornings at 10:00 starting January 8th. This informal group will meet weekly for those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, a marriage, a dear friend, or any other loss. We'll be working our way through the book "Hope When Your Heart Breaks" by Michael W. Newman.  Bring your coffee, bring your friend. Come and let us help you find joy again.   

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Deaconess Linda is available for spiritual counseling with women by appointment. If you need someone to talk to, to walk with you through a difficult time in your life, or someone to pray with you please feel free to contact her at (248) 892-7405, or at dcslinda1492@gmail.com  She is not a licensed therapist, but she has 15 years of deaconess experience working with women in her former congregation. She is a great listener!

Wanted:  Someone or a couple to deliver an Altar bouquet on a Sunday afternoon to someone who is in the hospital (whenever the need arises). You would be notified after the second church service on any given

Sunday.  Call the church office or Ruth Dishop (239-262-7137) to volunteer.   

December EventsFrom DCE Kami Jo Mogelvang

December 16th: Sunday school & Preschool Christmas play, 10:00 am.

December 17th: Elementary children are invited to make gingerbread nativity scenes with Ms. Lisabet Girr during the Sunday school hour, 9:30-10:15 am.

Sign up for the High School Gathering! The FLGA High School Gathering will be in Ponte Verde Beach, FL February 2-4th. Cost is $130 per person for the weekend and includes all meals and lodging. Registration is due by January 10th, sign up now for a great speaker/band/fellowship weekend with your youth group!

 

From our Financial Secretary Deb Laveen: COUNTERS NEEDED - With the season fast upon us, we are looking for individuals to help with organizing and counting offerings.  Even if you are only here for the season, we would gladly welcome your support.  Counters count on Monday mornings and the process only takes about an hour.  The more volunteers we have, the quicker we can get the process done.  If you are interested in helping with this task, please see Deb Laveen; call her at (239) 206-1058 or email her at bclaveen@hotmail.com. 

 OFFERING ENVELOPES - we are trying something new this year.  We will have the 2018 Offering envelopes in the Narthex on a table mid-December.  They will be in    alphabetical order for you to pick up.  Please try to pick them up before the end of January, 2018. ANNUAL GIVING STATEMENTS - we are also trying something new this year with the annual giving statements.  We will be emailing you your annual giving statement sometime late January.  Please make sure that you have given your current email address to the office.  I understand there are some that do not have an email address and so we will be putting those individuals annual giving statements in their box.   

 

ELDERS' NEWSLETTER REPORT: DECEMBER 2017

 The Elders met on Tuesday, 11/14/17, and seven (7) members were in attendance, along with Pastor Kudart. Pastor Lingsch and Pastor Eisold were unavailable to attend. The Elders' Director had met with Pastor Lingsch before the meeting and obtained his input. The following summarizes the meeting topics: 1)      Three (3) Elders (Koehneke, Gomez and Perri) volunteered to review the process for, and issues related to, moving to a younger age for sharing Holy Communion, as requested by several Grace families. Pastor Kudart will assist in

these deliberations.2)      Several Elders volunteered to work with the Planning Council and related Grace members to address Grace Policies and related issues, as follows: David Wolff will work with Constitution and By-Laws efforts; Ben Borchelt will work with Space Utilization, Properties and Safety issues; Chris Mogelvang will work on the Job Description for the DPM; and Paul Koch will work on other Elder-related Policies and Pastoral Job Descriptions.3)      Paul Koch reported that he had met with Pastor Lingsch and Jonathan to review the Grace Goal Planning Forms and provided these for the Elders' review. The Elders will review these and will be prepared to discuss each in more detail at the next meeting.4)      The Elders proposed the next Usher and Elder Training session for January 14, 2018 between , services, and all were encouraged to help recruit new Grace members for these needs.5)      The Elders agreed that a CPR Training session should be held in early 2018.6)      The Elders extensively discussed the 2017 and 2018 Budget Items and voted unanimously on the draft presented by the Director, with any modifications recommended.7)      Martin Friedrich's resignation form the Board for family reasons was accepted, and Chris Mogelvang reported that he is having shoulder surgery and will be unable to support Communion in the near future. All Elders were encouraged to be prepared to assist, particularly for the extensive Christmas Season, and to identify additional Deacons and new Elders for 2018 election. All those present, whose terms will end in 2018, agreed to continue to serve. The Elders wish all members and families of Grace a very Blessed Christmas and Joyous New Year and safe travels to all those heading away over the Season. We look forward to welcoming all members back in the New Year.

Grace Preschool News 

Our Elf, Bernard, keeps us guessing where we will find him each day!

We are thankful that Pastor Lingsch and Kami Jo come and read Bible Lessons to us each week!

We are having a great time getting in to the Christmas Spirit in the Preschool! 

Pastor Eisold - December 2017

The Pelican Lutheran Church - a mission of Grace It is hard to believe that we are essentially 3 weeks from Christmas DAY!   I find it equally challenging that The Pelican Lutheran Church is coming up on it's FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY of public worship!  Yes, believe it or not, but we started on December 11, 2016 with one service at 11:00 a.m.  We had 15 people, which included supporters and friends from other churches.  What a difference THE LORD can make!  The Lord Jesus has gathered 78 people to His flock at The Pelican over the past year.  Though our running average stands at 35 worshippers every Sunday, we were blessed with 54 and 51 worshippers over 2 Sundays in November. In addition to our primary work of Word & Sacrament Ministry via Church Planting, we have been very active with community partners & mission partners to help those with major problems after Irma.  Many people were left with homes destroyed by flooding, remaining trees down in their yards, and fence/roof/structural damage, which they could not have repaired even two months after Irma. 

 Continued Irma Relief:  The Lord blessed us with a tremendous response of help from personal contacts, partnership with The Naples Lion's Club, and a Volunteer Team from Redeemer Lutheran Church of Peoria, IL.    Ten people came from Peoria to support our mission & ministry by helping those with needs after Irma.  They were with us from November 13-20, and slept on air mattresses at The Pelican Community Center.   Members provided dinner every night - and many lunches as well! The Peoria Team:  Becky, Jeff, Rhonda, Ricki, Chris, Camilla, Steve, Rick, Dennis, & Mike.  They cut trees and removed debris from the home of JAN DELISE and others; they helped construct a new shed for ANTONIO & CRUZ MARIA; and helped JANICE gut a rental home and paint another so that JAKE and his mom, CHRISTINE could return to their neighborhood after losing everything to floodwaters on Cooper St. in Naples.  Members of the group also led an English Camp for three mornings last week and assisted at English Night.  This special activity and its promotion gave us a boost in visitors that we did not experience after October last year.  They also inspired us to gather students, worshippers, and Peoria guests to help with much-needed "Clean-up Day". What a powerful testimony of faith and care - plus the provision of our God through regular people who have been transformed by the Almighty God at Holy Baptism to the extent that they live differently than others.  Thanksgiving & Advent:  We invited the community of believers at The Pelican to join us at Grace for Thanksgiving and 16 people came!  What a blast!  The Pelican will join Grace again during Advent to share in Christ's blessings then, as well.   What a blessing for us to know one another as Brothers & Sisters in Jesus, AND to interact and celebrate together as we grow, learn, teach and encourage in Christ Jesus!! UPCOMING EVENTS: 

"A Celebration of God's Grace:  The Three Month Anniversary of Irma".  Everyone is invited.  Sunday, December 10th we have a special worship service at 11:00 a.m. followed by a celebration with lasagna, a live band, games, gifts, and prizes.  This was made possible by a grant from the LCMS.  Festivities should continue through 3:00 p.m.

Naples Christmas Parade.  Just like last year, we will distribute invitations to Christmas Eve worship to the crowd around the parade.  We find it is easier to do this than to enter the parade and make a float.  (Invitations will be attached to either a candy cane or a glo-stick necklace.  Our goal is to reach 500 people.

Christmas Eve & New Years Eve Worship:  Special service at normal worship times.  

English students from Colombia, Cuba, & Venezuela with volunteer, Erika.

Volunteer Luanne, with students during a break from Thurs. a.m. class. 

Church members and doctors from The Naples Lions Club after worship.

Pastor Mark Eisold leads the congregation in prayer before

fellowship.

Cruz Maria offers fresh Cuban coffee to the "Peoria Team" who were constructing a new shed after Irma destroyed the former one. 

 

Rick, Jeff, & Dwayne work together to help prepare a home for a single mother and her teenage son after being displaced by flooding from Irma. (Redeemer Lutheran Church, Peoria; Grace, Naples; The Pelican, Naples)

Grace in

Pictures

Getting

the Thanksgiving Baskets ready to be picked

up.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Grace, with all the trimmings, including pie.  

 

Women of Grace's Annual Christmas luncheon was held on December 2nd.  They were entertained by Voices of Naples and Rachel Lingsch with a flute solo.  

       

Grace Lutheran Church, 860 Banyan Blvd, Naples, FL 34102