The angels in heaven were ecstatic to

tell the news about Jesus, the Savior

of the world, finally coming into the

world. You see, the angels even in

heaven do not know all things. They

knew the promises of God and His

prophecies of sending the Messiah.

They did not know when the Lord

would send the Messiah. They

waited along with all people in the

world for the Lord to carry out His

plan of salvation. The angels knew

as we know that with the coming of

Jesus the Lord identified the Savior

and that through Jesus God was per-

fecting His plan of saving mankind

from all sinfulness. Yes, the angels

were full of joy to see God sending

the Savior. They were blessed to

have the privilege to bring the mes-

sage of Christ’s birth to the world.

It is with the joy and excitement of

angels we commemorate the birth of

Jesus every Christmas celebration in

our families and congregation. It is

with similar joy and excitement we

are blessed to share the truth about

Jesus the Savior with anyone who

has not heard about Jesus or who

does not fully comprehend what it

means that Jesus came as foretold

being born in Bethlehem, a descen-

dant of King David.

This joy of angels is the joy of our

Christmas spirit. May all our fami-

lies rejoice again this Christmas

thinking of that first miraculous out-

pouring of heavenly light accompa-

nied with the angel’s proclamation of

Jesus’ birth. From that day the Light

of God’s love and truth through Je-

sus have been shining in our world

ready to brighten every day and

chase the darkness of sin away until

at last we will be with our Lord in

heaven. May we together have a

blessed Christmas!

Pastor Jeffrey Berg

Christmas Angels

If you have the chance, go out in the

country where no lights from the city

or nearby home penetrate the dark-

ness with only the dim star light to

help you see. Then think of what it

must have been like for the shep-

herds to suddenly have their field

illuminated by the light of the glory

of God that accompanied the angels

who announced the birth of Jesus the

Messiah saying, “Glory to God in

the highest, and on earth peace to

men on whom his favor rests” (Luke

2:9-14). Nothing like this had hap-

pened in the lives of the shepherds.

What a magnificent way for the birth

of our Savior to be announced to the

world! No wonder the shepherds

encouraged each other to go quickly

to Bethlehem and “see this thing that

has happened, which the Lord has

told us about” (Luke 2:15). It has

been the privilege of Christians eve-

rywhere to retell the Christmas na-

tivity story with all the excitement

and importance that came into the

world on that day when Jesus was

born.

Eagles’ Wings December 2016

The Children’s Service for PreKin-

dergarten 3 & 4 and Kindergarten

is entitled “Let’s Light The Christ-

mas Tree” and will be shared with

the congregation at our Saturday,

December 17 service starting at 5:30

PM.

The Children’s Service for Grades

1-8 is entitled “Children of the

Heavenly Father” and will be shared

with the congregation at our Sunday,

December 18 service at 10:30 AM.

The Christmas Eve service will start

at 6:30 PM on Saturday, December

24.

The Christmas Day service will

start at 9:00 AM on Sunday, Decem-

ber 25. Please note we will be hav-

ing only one service on this Sunday.

The New Year’s Eve service with

Lord’s Supper will start at 6:30 PM

on Saturday, December 31.

The New Year’s Day service with

Lord’s Supper will start at 9:00 AM

on Sunday, January 1. Please note

that we will be having only one ser-

vice on this Sunday.

It has been a long standing tradition

at our church that we offer to help

serve a luncheon when one of our

members passes away. This is a way

of lending a helping hand to the fam-

ily that is mourning the loss of a

loved one. Over the years, the pool

of members able to help in this effort

has shrunk drastically. We need to

find additional ladies and men who

are willing to continue this effort. It

only takes an hour and a half of your

time for serving and clean-up.

Please consider helping to keep this

option open for all of our members.

There is a sign-up sheet at the Infor-

mation Center where you can add

your name as a willing helper.

Thank you in advance for your

thoughtful consideration.

Martin Luther is hosting

an Advent Tea! Please plan on join-

ing us for an afternoon of fellowship,

beautiful music and delicious treats

as we, the women of Martin Luther

prepare our hearts for Advent. Invite

your female family members, friends

and neighbors for a Christ-centered

preparation for the holiday season on

Saturday, December 10th, at 2 pm.

There is no charge for this event. We

recommend that you make your res-

ervations early and hope to see you

all there!

Want to get involved? We are look-

ing for a variety of Nativities to dis-

play during this event! Feel free drop

off your nativities at the office or

Christmas & New Year’s Service Times

Advent Tea

Page 2 Eagles’ Wings

come to Advent Tea at 1pm to set

yours up! We are also looking for

volunteers to help bring treats, set up

and clean up. Sign up sheets are lo-

cated on the tables in the commons

or contact Grace Seeger

[jgseeger@gmail.com - (920) 267-

6032] with any questions.

Check out some of the Christmas

books located in the library in the

extended narthex.

Adult titles include;

Book of Christmas

Keeping Christmas

Celebrating Christmas with Jesus

Children’s titles include:

The Very First Christmas

The Story of the First Christmas

The Christmas Story From the Gos-

pels of Matthew and Luke

The Story of Christmas

Continuing a Gesture of Kindness

Adult Library

We are producing a New Congrega-

tional directory as part of our Cen-

tennial celebration of 2017.

Portrait sessions for our Parish Di-

rectory are scheduled for the follow-

ing dates and times:

Sunday, December 4 from 9 AM to

12 noon

Monday, December 5 from 11 Am

to 2 PM

Monday, December 12 from 3 to 6

PM

Tuesday, December 13 from 9AM to

Noon

Members sign up on the sheets that

are in the extended narthex and call

Quick & Smart Photography (920-

922-8233) to reserve their seating

time or contact them at their website

quicksmartphoto.com. You can call

church (235-1612) and we can assist

you also.

We are calling members who have

not yet had their pictures taken in

order to sign you up for one of the

few remaining dates. Please choose a

date soon in order to reduce the num-

ber of calls that will be needed.

All members who participate will

receive a free copy of the Parish Di-

rectory. Additional copies are each

$10.00.

Need a present

for the mail

carrier? Piano

teacher?

Coach? Or

Babysit-

ter? Stop at the scrip table to check

out our low denomination gift

cards. This Christmas season we are

carrying $5 or $10 Panera Bread, $5

or $10 Starbucks, $10 Target, $10

Red Lobster or Olive Garden, $10

Noodles & Company, $10 Culvers,

or $10 Subway. There are also many

other $25, $50, or $100 gift cards in

stock. Looking for something differ-

ent, many other gifts cards are avail-

able for order and will be ready for

pickup a week later.

When you are doing your shopping

for groceries to make your big

Christmas meals or all your Christ-

mas cookies and candies buy a gift

card before you go shopping and

give a little back to church or your

favorite Martin Luther student. Stop

by the scrip table after any church

service to purchase your gift cards or

get your questions answered. Help

make this Christmas season the most

successful season for scrip yet!

There will be three more Thursday

night services this year at Rising Son

chapel, 634 Wisconsin Street. The

services are on December 1, 8 and

15 at 6:00 p.m. After that we will

take a break for Christmas and for

the UW-Oshkosh winter interim.

Chapel services will then resume on

Thursday, February 2, 2017.

So far this year, about 10 member

families have been making use of

Thursday night worship. This is

helpful in our goal of offering mid-

week worship near campus for col-

lege students. Jesus promises to be

present wherever two are three are

gathered in his name—but it also

helps to have a larger group to wel-

come the students and to support

congregational singing!

New Pictorial Directory

Thursday Night Worship Continues at Rising Son

Page 3 Eagles’ Wings

Each Thursday service is the same as

the services at Martin Luther on the

following Saturday and Sunday.

Mrs. Marilyn Krause is serving as

our piano accompanist at the chapel.

Beginning December 1, we will be

offering a fellowship meal before

chapel. The meal will be served be-

ginning at 5:00 p.m. and is especially

for students but others are also wel-

come to join in from time to time. If

you would like to help provide or set

up for a meal, please speak with Pas-

tor Ericson. Costs can be covered

through the Action Teams program.

If Thursday night worship would

work well for you, please consider

joining us at Rising Son Thursday

nights at 6:00 p.m.!

Scrip for the Holidays

The children in the school have been

preparing for their upcoming wor-

ship services during the month of

December. This year the children of

our school will be partnering with

the Sunday school children for two

worship services leading up to

Christmas. The students in our Pre-K

and Kindergarten classes will lead us

in worship on Saturday, December

18, at the 5:30 p.m. service and

grades 1-8 will lead the service on

Sunday, December 18 at the 10:30

p.m. service.

On Sunday, December 11, after the

10:30 a.m. service we will have a

special voters’ meeting to place our

first call out to a candidate for our

new position of an Early Childhood

Director. Should you not be able to

attend the meeting please offer a spe-

cial prayer asking the Holy Spirit to

guide our decision. The voters ap-

proved tuition rates for grades K-8 as

well as newly established rates for

our expanded early childhood minis-

try offerings for the upcoming 2017-

2018 school year. The K-8 tuition

rates increased roughly five percent

from the current rates. That increase

equals about $7 per month for fami-

lies who have utilized a 10 month

payment plan. Included in the tuition

rate proposal was a grandfather

clause for students currently enrolled

in our three year old program.

well as other games to play and na-

chos for lunch. We will start at 11:30

and play until 1:30pm. We hope you

can come!

Sunday mornings Youth Group

meets from 9:15-10:15 to spend time

with Christian peers, studying God's

Word, and enjoying breakfast treats.

High school students are invited to

attend any week they can.

A Christmas

Party in Janu-

ary? We'll call

it an Epiphany

Party! Sunday,

January 8th the

Youth Group

will be having an Epiphany Party.

Even if you have never come to

Youth Group this would be a great

time to come check it out; all high

school age youth are invited. We will

have an Epiphany Scavenger hunt as

From the Principal: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

rely on the truths of God’s Word at

all times of life. In social studies we

will be examining the history and

cultures of Africa. The students will

also be researching an African coun-

try to present to the class. In reading

we are wrapping up The Westing

Game and working on our second

book report of the year. God’s bless-

ings on your Advent and Christmas

celebrations!

This month we will be making

preparations for Christmas. We will

be rehearsing our Christmas service

songs, recitations, and narrations.

We will also be preparing our hearts

to celebrate the first coming of our

Savior at Bethlehem.

In ChristLight we will be going

through the early portions of our new

study, “What is Truth?” This study

will help us examine how we can

Eagles’ Wings Page 4

Youth Group

Mr. Evers, Grades 7 & 8

We are pleased to announce that

from December 2015 through No-

vember 2016, Martin Luther School

has received $3,180 and Martin Lu-

ther Church has received $2,465

through Thrivent Financial’s

Thrivent Choice® program.

By directing Choice Dollars, eligible

Thrivent members can recommend

which nonprofit organizations they

feel should receive charitable grant

funding from Thrivent.

If you are an eligible member, please

consider us when directing Choice

Dollars.

To learn more about Thrivent

Choice, visit Thrivent.com/thrivent

choice or call Thrivent at 800-847-

4836, and say “Thrivent Choice”

when prompted

Thrivent Choice Program

Mr. Hennig, Grades 5 & 6

Preparations for Christmas are joy-

fully underway in the third and

fourth grade! The students are ex-

cited to be learning their parts for the

upcoming Christmas service, and

decorations will soon be going up as

we focus on the birth of our Savior!

Our class has also been enjoying

their science unit on electricity and

magnets. We have made electromag-

nets, watched a motor in action, and

will soon be using a hand-crank gen-

erator to turn magnetism into elec-

tricity!

Our class continues to read vora-

ciously! We are rapidly approaching

5,000,000 words read this year!

Mr. Seeger, Grades 3 & 4

Much joy and anticipation swirl

around the classroom as we prepare

for the Christmas service. We hope

to share the message of Christmas

with you on Sunday, December 18.

You may hear us around town as we

go Christmas Caroling on Tuesday,

December 20.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and

a happy New Year!

Mrs. Strusz, Grades 1 & 2 ; Mrs. Schroeder Grade 2

Page 5 Eagles’ Wings

If you visited our classroom this

month you heard many Thank You

Prayers! Our door is covered in all

our prayers. God has richly blessed

us all! We enjoyed working in our

pilgrim house. We feel very thank-

ful we do not have to work as hard as

the Pilgrims! Our favorite job was

catching fish for dinner in our pond

and rolling dough to make pies and

bread! We also had a great gathering

of friends and family along with the

Kindergarten class. It was fun to

share our songs and play games with

you all! Along with learning about

the first Thanksgiving we were busy

learning new letters, words and even

songs for our Christmas Service on

December 17th at 5:30p.m. Now

we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth!

A blessed Christmas to you All!

Mrs. Busse, Kindergarten

In Social Studies we have been

learning about Pilgrims, the First

Thanksgiving and communities. In

math we are learning simple addition

and subtraction facts as well as ten

frames and geometric shapes.

God’s blessings to you this Christ-

mas and New Year!

This past month Kindergarten joined

with PK4 in a celebration of Thanks-

giving . We had a wonderful time

making table decorations, placemats

and refreshments to share with our

families and friends and performing

a few fun Thanksgiving songs and

poems. We now turn our attention

and efforts to preparing for our up-

coming Christmas service which is

on Saturday, Dec. 17 in the 5:30 pm

service. .

Mrs. Berg, Pre-K 3 & Pre-K 4

Our Bible lessons reveal Jesus as

true God as he continues to perform

miracles and acts of kindness. We

are switching over into our science

books this month to study the prop-

erties of matter.

First Grade is practicing place value

in math, especially those tricky teen

numbers. We are developing our

proofreading skills in spelling. The

Superkids are sending messages on

kites and sharing gifts.

Christmas is just around the corner

and the class has been working hard

over the next few weeks to prepare

for the upcoming worship service

that they will be leading on Decem-

ber 18th at the 10:30 a.m. service. In

other news our class is studying the

colonization of the North America.

We have seen how the roots of our

country began and how the country

began to take shape. The science

class is wrapping up the study of

simple machines. The class created

gears out of cardboard to get a hands

on feel of how they work. Our class

wishes you a blessed Christmas cele-

bration and a Happy New Year!

Join women of the church for Bible

study and encouragement of faith

making us certain of our salvation

and growing stronger in our trust in

the Lord. If you have questions or

need more information, please con-

tact Paula Nimmer (233-1069).

Tuesday Morning & Sunday Bible

Classes

The Tuesday, 10:00 AM Bible

Class and the Sunday Family Bible

Hour held between the Sunday

services (9:10 AM) have competed

their study of “Timely Topics, Time-

less Truths.” For the month of De-

cember the classes will follow Ad-

vent themed Bible studies taking a

look at what kind of Gospel mes-

sages were heard by Adam and Eve

(Genesis 3:15); heard by Abraham

(Genesis 16:1-6) and preached by

Tuesday Evening Sisters in Scrip-

ture

The ladies of church are invited to

attend at 6:00 PM on Tuesdays in

Room 5 as they continue their dis-

cussion of the book “A Heart at

Peace” by Kenneth Kramer. This

book is available from our North-

western Publishing House. The de-

scription of the book reads:

Conflict is bound to occur amid all

human beings, regardless of their

religion. Yet, as Christians we are

called to reconcile with our neighbor

and with our heavenly Father. This

book offers a biblical blueprint for

conflict resolution to help you break

down the hostility that can divide

believers. It provides tools to aid the

reconciliation process and promotes

healthy, God-pleasing conduct in the

future.

Eagles’ Wings Page 6

Bible Study

Men’s Club

Our next meeting of Men’s Club will

be our Christmas Party on December

7 at 7:30 PM at the home of Jerry

and Mary Braasch (3482 W. Lone

Elm Ave, Van Dyne). A $10

exchange gift is optional. Martin

Luther members, friends and spouses

are all welcome to join us for this

Christmas celebration! Elections

will take place at the December

meeting for President, Vice

President, Secretary and Treasurer.

If you are willing to serve as one of

the Officers of Men’s Club, please

contact Dennis Zorn. We will also

be determining where we will be

sending our offerings which we have

been gathering all year to support

various ministries. Hope to see you

there!

For Major Repair:

In memory of Myra Oesrteich, $585

For Church and School:

In memory of Sarah Taylor, $25

Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6-7). On December

18 the Sunday Bible Class will

watch the video “My Son, My Sav-

ior.” By following these studies we

build towards our celebration of the

birth of Jesus at Christmas. There

will be No Tuesday Bible Class on

December 27 or January 3. There

will be no Sunday Bible class on

December 25 or January 1.

The Adult Discipleship Committee

welcomes input from members and

invites you to share or send your Bi-

ble study requests to Pastor Berg or

Mike Strusz. Perhaps you have a

question you would like to have an-

swered or there is a topic you would

like to study. Just share your

thoughts with either Mike or Pastor

Jeff. Thanks for your input.

December Serving

Schedule

Altar Cloths Linda Elmer

Candles Ralph and Rose Wat-

kins

Communion

Ware

Dec. 11th Paula Nim-

mer

Dec. 25th & 31st Rita

Neumann

Funeral

Coordinator

Rita Neumann

Funeral

Committee

Muriel Sagmeister

Phone Paula Nimmer

Flowers Ellen Hennig, Christina

Evers

Dates to Remember: Dec. 12th clean church

at 9 a.m.

Special Gifts