March, 2015

Connections A PUBLICATION OF

OUR SAVIOUR’S LUTHERAN CHURCH Monthly

“I Believe” A look at the Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

The holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the

Resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen

During Lent, we have made time to meditate on God’s word and experience a transformation which enables us to

renew our faith and our relationship with God in whom we trust.

A creed is a statement of faith. We recite the Apostles’ Creed each week in worship. Most of us have studied the

Apostles’ Creed through Luther’s Small Catechism. Has our communal statement of faith become rote? Have

you ever gone beyond the saying of the words and thought about you really believe?

Diana Butler Bass, author of “Christianity After Religion” points out that though we use the words of a creed that

was first written centuries ago, the main word “believe” has undergone an interesting transformation. “To believe”

now means to have an opinion about instead of the original Latin word “credo” which meant I give my loyalty to…

or to treasure or hold dear (love). Therefore, belief is not an intellectual opinion, but rather a pledge of

faithfulness and loving service to. How relational our Creed becomes if we substitute:

- I “belove” or have faith in God the Father Almighty, the one who made all things.

- I “belove” or have faith in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son…

- I “belove” or have faith in the Holy Spirit…

It becomes a new personal way of saying “I believe” with certitude and humility because we have experienced

God who loved the world so much that He gave his only Son to die for us that we might have eternal life.

May this Lenten journey be for each of us an awakening to a personal and deeper faith that fully communicates

God’s love that transforms how we believe, what we do and who we are in the world.” (Diana Butler Bass)

I Believe...

"I believe; help my unbelief." ~Mark 9:24b

What is belief? I like the Latin word for belief, which is "Credo". Credo means "I give my heart". Belief isn't just having an opinion about something. It's not even merely being convinced that something is true. Instead, belief is giving our heart to God; following Jesus wherever Jesus leads. That's not what we often think of when we think of belief, but for me it's a very helpful understanding.

During Lent this year, we are going to be exploring the theme: "I Believe..." During our Wednesday Lenten services, we will be looking at the Apostles' Creed. We'll wonder about the meaning of the words we use when we profess our faith. And we'll also wonder what it means for us to believe at a different level--not just intellectual assent, but commitment with our lives.

That's one of the reasons I like the verse from the Gospel of Mark--"I believe; help my unbelief." I think belief is a journey more than a destination. Our lives are spent growing in our commitment to Christ, growing in our ability to give our heart to the one who gave his life for us. I struggle giving my heart. It is much easier for me to curve in on myself-- to focus on what I want, what I desire. I pray that my heart may continually be turned toward Christ, that my eyes may continually be turned toward Jesus, that my life may continually be turned to reflect God's love.

I've been talking a lot recently about caring community. It is my vision for Our Saviour's that God may make us more and more a caring community, loving one another and reaching out in love to those around us. That's part of belief--not just understanding, but caring.

And I've been talking about our mission statement cross. We know Jesus through worship, small groups, Sunday School, prayer, Surge, Ignition. That vertical relationship focuses on the gifts God gives us. The horizontal is also crucial, to make Jesus known. As we serve and share the good news, we are living our belief. Both parts of the cross are essential to our lives of faith.

May this Lenten season help us grow in faith, giving our hearts as we follow Christ, knowing Jesus and making Jesus known.

In Christ,

Pastor John Gerike

Reflections from Pastor John

Kn

ow

ing

Jes

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Making Jesus Known

Council Updates

By Lane Lewis, Council Chairperson In our February meeting, Council reviewed a proposal from Jean Jepson to enhance, modernize and update our Church website. There is great potential to make the website more useful for members of our faith community as well as visitors through an embedded search engine, enhanced home page, embedded movies, an easier to use calendar, enhanced communications... as we consider this upgrade, please send any feedback you have to Jean at jeanjepson@oursaviours.com. We'd like to insure this is a valuable resource for our community! One more time we would like to invite anyone interested to participate in a Task Force that explores how we can use the upcoming November Naperville Marathon as a potential Front Porch Ministry to our Faith Community... Our Saviours sits right on the race route... how can we use this opportunity that disrupts our Sunday worship to connect with the larger community and maybe even support our Missions? If you are interested in participating in this Task Force, please contact Jennifer Schuler at jenniferlschuler@gmail.com.

Holy Week and Easter Worship

We invite you to join us for Holy Week and Easter worship.

Palm Sunday Weekend - March 28/29

Saturday- *5:00 pm - Our Saviour’s Campus

Sunday - 8:00 am, *9:00 am, *10:30 am - Our Saviour’s Campus

*10:00 am - Celebration! Campus

Maundy Thursday - Thursday, April 2

Noon and *7:00 pm - Our Saviour’s Campus

Good Friday - Friday, April 3

Crosswalk - 9:30 and 11:00 am - Our Saviour’s Campus

Specifically designed for families to walk with Jesus and the key characters from Palm Sunday through

Good Friday.

Tenebrae Worship: Service of Darkness

*6:00 pm and *7:30 pm - Our Saviour’s Campus

Easter Services - April 4/5

Saturday - *5:00 pm - Our Saviour’s Campus

Sunday - 6:30 am, *7:45 am, *9:00 am, *10:15 am, *11:30 am

Our Saviour’s Campus

*10:00 am - Celebration! Campus

* Childcare available

Lutheran Schools Week: March 1st-7th

“Our Children… A Future with Hope”

By: Kelly Gilligan

As we March into Spring with warm weather hopefully around the corner, we are

excited to celebrate Lutheran Schools Week. As a private, faith-based program, we

are so happy to be able to share the good news of the gospel with our little preschool

friends. We are in the “seed planting” business, and hopefully those seeds will be

nurtured and watered, until full bloom later in life. Our little ones love to hear the

stories that we share in our Godly Play Christian education program, through our

Children’s Chapel time each month, and the prayers and bible stories practiced in the

classrooms. We are so happy to be able to share our faith along with academics at

The Children’s Center. What a wonderful gift for the children and their families!

Each year, Lutheran Schools Week takes on a new theme. This year it is “Our Children… A future with hope.”

Our children are the future, and based on the fine little ones that are in our program, we are in good hands.

During this special week of celebration, we have planned activities around ways that we can help prepare our

children for the future. We will be doing random acts of kindness for other classes and some of our support

staff. We will be writing class books stating each child’s favorite part of attending a faith-based preschool. We

will celebrate chapel and invite parents to attend. We will thank our parents for their support in bringing their

children to our school by honoring them with a free large coffee from the Open Door coffee shop. Teachers

and Staff members will be on the look out for children “doing the right thing” and will have stampers ready to

stamp a heart on their hands… “Caught you being good!” We will also honor our staff who work countless

hours to prepare for and teach the children. We will have a staff luncheon sponsored by the parents. Each

child will also be bringing in a single flower to his/her teacher to form a bouquet of flowers. This represents

that one single flower alone is pretty, but together with everyone else’s flower contributions, it makes a

beautiful bouquet. How blessed the staff is to have such wonderful supportive families.

Lutheran Schools Week is a perfect opportunity to stop and to truly appreciate and be thankful for the

opportunity to openly practice our Christian faith. What a wonderful, free country we live in to be afforded

these opportunities without sacrificing our safety. Thank you all for your support of The Children’s Center. We

are an active group of 250 children and 25 staff members. We welcome you to come over to the Celebration

campus anytime to visit!

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” Proverbs 22:8

Children and Family Ministry By Janine Norgaard

During Lent, faith practices like special commitments, good works, Bible study and

participation in worship help us spiritually. Faith practices help us make time and

space to realize that God is working in us and through us every day.

Recently, the children focused on two Bible verses during church school:

We love because God first loved us.

1 John 4:19

And

Whatever you did for the least of these, you were doing it for me.

Matthew 25:40

The children made a cross and put these Bible verses in a heart on each side of their cross. Then after

hearing a story they were asked, “What is something you can do this week to treat others like you would

treat Jesus?” They wrote their responses on smaller hearts and glued them on their cross. Some responses

included being kind to their babysitter, sharing their toys, and letting someone in front of them when waiting

in line.

Then we prayed:

Dear Jesus,

When I see someone who needs a hand, Let me see you

When a friend needs me to understand, Let me see you

When someone’s in pain and feels so sad, Let me see you

When my temper is short and I’m getting mad, Let me see you

When someone is scared and turns to me, Let me see you

When every day - everyone I see, Lord, let me see you

Jesus, give us the love to treat others the way we would treat you. Amen

Confirmation Retreat By Matt Burns

On the weekend of February 13-14, twenty-seven of our confirmands embarked on a trip to the Lake Geneva

Youth Camp and Conference Center. With the help of our awesome mentors: Tommy Grevlos, Lynn Gutzke,

Julie Michael, and Todd Peterson, and the pastoral care of Pastor Jade, we were all able to explore the

meanings of confirmation while also having a bit of fun on the side. Throughout the day, the students

explored the meanings of confirmation and the core beliefs of what it means to be a Lutheran. While learning

about God and the bible, they also had time to get to know themselves and their peers. Through sharing

stories in small groups, to taking tests about what kind of learners they are, they were able to really explore

how they could connect with God and what they could do to further their knowledge.

But there was also plenty of fun to be had. During recreation time, the students enjoyed snow tubing and

tobogganing, basketball, volleyball, pool, and ping pong. And even late in to the night as we waited for the

bus, the students never let it dampen their spirits. In the long wait they made sure to keep smiles and even

started their own karaoke corner! Through the weekend it was easy to see the growth that everyone made. In

the next months as we welcome these eighth graders into our community, please pray that their transition to

the next level goes smoothly, and that God can guide them in their journey. We have a great group of new

Christian adults about to break into the community!

Comments from the Confirmands: “Something that surprised me this weekend was the retreat itself. I had a totally different picture in my

mind and I had a total blast this weekend.” “I saw God when my friends and I had deep conversations and when we opened up to each other. When

we were done, we all prayed to get rid of the bad things in life.” “I believe that God is always with us, and that it takes one moment that you really feel his presence to

really believe.” “I would really recommend going (on the retreat). It is so fun and I got close with my friends and met new

people. You hear so many great sermons, and they really inspire you! Such a fun, great experience!” “I saw God in all our prayers and when eating meals because I knew how much he had blessed us with

all that.” “God was there during the day. When we prayed, while we ate, tubing, and in the quiet time where we

thought about him.” “There is no reason to be nervous. It was one of my favorite experiences in Surge.” “One thing that surprised me was how easy it was to talk to people I had never really talked to before.” “I was surprised by how quickly I got to know some people I have barely talked to. I was shocked by how

easy it was to talk to many people.” “I believe that our faith journey doesn’t end at confirmation.”

Walking Beside and Caring for Other...Mission Moments

Slovakian Dinner

Annual Slovakia Dinner was held on Friday, January 23, and was a

great evening of fellowship and discussion about the new and

exciting plans the Center for Christian Education, in Slovakia have

been developing.

Did you know that it took 20 volunteers over 200 hours, includes

prep meetings, set up, shopping, cooking, cleaning, serving, to make

this exciting event happen?

Over 130 people attended the dinner, and we raised money which will go towards helping build a new high school for

the Christian Center for Education.

Small Painting Project Helps Out

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois/Lutheran Disaster Relief has

asked Our Saviour’s for volunteer help with a painting project. They

moved into a single story church that needed refurbishing, and to

five rooms and a hallway painted at their new facility located at

6201 S. Sangamon, Chicago. Some people from the Men’s and

Women’s ministry team stepped up and got their paint brushes

ready to help. Thanks to all of those who shared their gifts of time to

help out with this rewarding ministry.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner Brings People Together

The Youth Ministries tried something new this year...Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Dinner. Over 170 people attended the dinner and enjoyed a

wonderful Slovakian dinner and the fellowship. How many volunteers

helped make this wonderful evening happen? 20 volunteers stepped

in to help prepare 6 gallons of orange juice, 4 1/2 bags of pancake

mix (Sam’s sized) cook up 180 sausage patties and put out 60 oz. of

syrup for the pancakes. WOW! That’s a lot of food that was prepared

and consumed.

Over $1,000 was raised to help benefit the youth trips that are

occurring this summer. Thanks to everyone who helped, and

attended to make this such a great evening!

Feed My Starving Children

The community-wide Feed My Starving Children event was a

huge success! Thanks to all those who helped plan the event ,

and to those who volunteered to pack meals. Here are some

facts about what we accomplished together.

1. 2,200 kids fed for 1 whole year!

2. 802,872 meals packed

3. 5 shifts in 10 hours total

4. By 3,833 volunteers

5. 42 hours total Mobilepack time from set-up to teardown

THANK YOU! God surely blessed us, these meals, all the

packing and support volunteers, and the children receiving

these meals. Working Together to Change Hunger into HOPE!

Daddy Daughter Dance

The Daddy Daughter Dance captured the hearts of many fathers and

daughters. Over 200 people attended this fun evening of dancing, hair

braiding, entertainment and fellowship. All together we helped to raise

$2300 to help our global mission partner - Vida Humana.

Vida Humana is based on Chimoio. Mozambique and its volunteers

provide care and support to those living with HIV/AIDS. The 20+

volunteer organization serves approximately 100 patients with home

visits occurring about 3 times per week. The activists provide spiritual

support, ensure medications are taken properly, accompany patients to

visit the doctor, facilitate malaria abatement activities, provide food from

the farm Vida Humana maintains, and other basic needs. Through their

hands-on Christian love, patients are discovering a faith of hope and

unconditional love, in a community that often ostracizes them for a

disease they may have been contracted through a spouse or parent.

Patients that are in remission have become volunteers.

Bridge Communities Transitional Housing Program

O n e o f M a n y W a y s t o B e a C a r i n g C o m m u n i t y

“I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was homeless and

you gave me a room; I was shivering and you gave me clothes; I was sick and you stopped

to visit me.” Matthew 25

After Jesus said those words in Matthew 25, he pointed out further in Matthew 26 that we would always have

the poor with us. Jesus’ intention definitely is not to let us off the hook, but is expecting us to be generous

disciples impacting the world by walking beside those who are under-resourced or less privileged, creating

permanent change, and connecting them to a better future.

We can never stop or cure poverty; but we are able to reduce the generational consequence of poverty. I

recently learned about an amazing ministry that Our Saviour’s has been supporting. We are a program

partner with Bridge Communities which sponsors homeless families in DuPage County by offering financial

support of $10,560 per year from our Operating Fund to cover the cost of renting an apartment. In addition,

we provide a mentor team who volunteers for a two year term to assist the family with budget development, a

savings plan, debt reduction, financial literacy, self-esteem, emotional support, parental skills, and healthy

decision making, all to work towards self-sufficiency.

What made the biggest impression on me about this ministry is the dedication of the mentor team. There are

three mentors who just finished their two-year commitments; they are Suzanne Greene, Rhonda Mueller, and

Ken Miller. When I asked the three of them what they celebrate, they commented that they had to

celebrate every small positive change, the relationship built with the family, and the difference made by helping

the family through a very difficult time in our own community. There is no doubt of the great impact this

ministry has made. By working together as a team, the mentors were able to look out for someone less

fortunate and help the family towards a better future.

Were there challenges? Certainly! Life does not always follow our plan as usual. They commented that the

biggest challenge was offering their time weekly to be with this family, along with holding this family

accountable to follow through on the plan and goals that they had set together.

I admire our youth who participate in the “Sleep Out Saturday” in November every year to raise the awareness

and money for Bridge Communities. I thank God for the generous offerings of this congregation, a portion

collected from the tithing. I applaud the mentor team for their walking beside the family week after week,

helping them, encouraging them, praising them, and celebrating with them as success is experienced. I

rejoice the passion of our liaison Julie Neustadt who handles the administration part to keep this ministry

going.

In January, Our Saviour’s just began sponsoring a new family, including two young children, with a new

mentor team. Please keep these three new mentors in your prayers. They are Eric Sander, Linda Collins, and

Roxanne Gaeth. Let us pray for their coming two years’ journey filled with the fruits of the Spirit, “ love,

joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and temperance.” (Galatians 5)

Pastor John recently preached on how we can be a caring community on January 31/February 1 as the vision

for 2015; and this is a way to be a caring community in DuPage County, not an easy one, but a worthwhile

one. Let us encourage each other, pray for one another, and build up this caring community with God’s love

together.

God’s Blessings, Jade Yi

Births and Deaths We rejoice in new life, and celebrate with:

Jamie and Peter Fray at the birth of son, Connor William; grandparents are David and Nancy Rocks and Bill and Samantha Schnittker.

Chuck Kaufman and Bryna Williams at the birth of son, Kore Thomas; grandparents are Tom and Merna Williams.

Chad and Katie Gutshall at the birth of daughter, Lauren; grandmother is Pam Gutshall.

We lift up in prayer:

Lorraine Head at the death of husband, Ron.

Nancy Sanneman and family at the death of her mother, Phyllis Apitz.

Jan Danchisin and family at the death of husband Rich.

Women and Heart Disease Submitted by Dawn DeBoer, Advocate Parish Nurse

While we often associate heart problems more with men than women, one in four women dies of heart disease. In fact, coronary heart disease (CHD) is the number one killer of both women and men in the U.S. The American Heart Association encourages women to be proactive about heart health. While many women do seek to encourage family members to develop heart-healthy eating and exercise habits, these same women may fail to address their own need for preventative heart care. The AHA started the “Go Red for Women” campaign in which people wear red on February 6th to raise awareness of women and heart disease.

Here are some startling facts about women and heart disease:

While women tend to develop coronary heart disease ten years later than men, CHD is the leading cause of death in women.

Women’s heart attack symptoms may differ from those of men. According to the centers for disease control, women are more likely to have pain in the jaw, neck and throat, as well as chest pain that is described as “sharp and burning.”

Women may be more likely than men to suffer from different types of heart disease, such as asymptomatic "silent" heart attacks. In addition, women may be more likely to suffer from “broken heart syndrome,” a temporary weakening of the heart muscle in response to emotional stress and coronary microvascular disease, in which the small arteries of the heart become suffer damage.

Almost two of three women who die suddenly of coronary artery disease had no previous symptoms.

Here are some ways that women in faith communities can address heart health:

Educate yourself on having a healthy heart.

Get out and exercise.

Prepare heart-healthy recipes.

Resources: Advocatehealth.com • NIH: Heart Disease Prevention – nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/heartdiseasesprevention.html • Heart.org: Preventing Heart Disease at Any Age – goo.gl/1FoPqr • CDC: Prevention: What You Can Do – goo.gl/s7Zk21

Our Saviour's Evangelical Lutheran Church 815 S. Washington Street Naperville, IL 60540 Phone: (630) 355-2522 Fax: (630) 355-2553 Web site: www.oursaviours.com

Our Saviour’s Mission "Knowing Jesus and Making Jesus Known" Our Saviour’s Vision Live it Out! Generous disciples impacting the world Worship Services Our Saviour’s Campus 815 S. Washington St., Naperville Saturdays at 5:00 pm, Sundays at 8:00, 9:00, 10:30 am Celebration! Campus 919 S. Washington St., Naperville Sundays at 10:00 am Leadership Staff Pastor John Gerike, Pastor Jade, Pastor Al Creighton, Lynn Panosh, Lynda DeVore Global Mission Partners Bohdan Hroboň - Slovakia Misheck Ruwa - Vida Humana, Chimoio, Mozembique Praying Pelicans - Haiti Feed My Starving Children For Children - (September - May) Church School is available from September - May for 3 year olds - 5th Grade on Sundays, 9:00 and 10:30 am - Our Saviour’s Campus 10:00 am - Celebration! Campus

For Youth (September - May)

Junior High - Surge

(Confirmation)

Sundays 12:15 - 1:30 pm,

Celebration! Campus

High School - Ignition

Sundays, 6:30 - 8:00 pm,

Celebration! Campus

Share your stories about how God is working in your life and the lives of

others! All articles are due on the first Thursday of each month, for the

following month’s publication. Please send articles and photos to Jean

Jepson at jeanjepson@oursaviours.com. Here’s the deadline dates for

the next 3 months.

Monthly Connection articles for April are due on March 5.

Monthly Connections articles for May are due on April 2.

Monthly Connections articles for June are due on May 7.