the eagle - st. john lutheran church & preschool...a little book of songs entitled dainty songs...
TRANSCRIPT
The Eagle December 2016
St. John Lutheran Church & Preschool 122 Cheyenne Mesa
Hamilton, TX 76531
Phone: (254) 386-3158
Preschool (254) 386-3332
Fax: (254) 386-3159
Pastor—
Secretary—
Preschool—
Website: www.stjohnhamilton.org
May we continue to be used by God and share
the Gospel with A Heart for Hamilton
County and the World!!
Advent
It is hard to believe that we are al-ready to the month of December. I know that the commercial world is in full swing with Christmas, but in the Church Year we are in the season of Advent. Advent means “coming”. The season of Advent originally was more of peni-tential season similar to Lent. A lot of focus was placed on mankind’s sinfulness as we await Christ’s final return. Therefore the liturgical color was purple, thus the use of pur-ple candles on the Advent wreath. Over the years a shift has been made and the season of Advent has taken on more of a sense of hope and anticipation rather sorrow and repent-ance. The liturgical color has shifted to blue, thus the use of blue candles on the Advent wreath.
During the Advent season, we will be looking at the Ad-vent wreath and how each candle is a reminder of hope, love, joy and peace as we approach Christmas. An addition-al candle is lit each week. As more light is added each week, we are reminded that we are getting closer each week to the Light of World, Jesus, being born. This Advent Wreath Series will be what we look at on our Wednesday evening Advent services.
On the Sunday mornings during Advent and Christmas, we are going to be looking at the word Christmas as an adjec-tive. We will be looking at different words we attach to Christmas like Christmas Cookies, Christmas Shopping, Christmas Cheer, etc., as they pertain to different attitudes and behaviors of our lives and most importantly how we can be Christmas People throughout the entire year.
Advent is certainly a time where we prepare ourselves to celebrate Jesus’ birth, but it is also a time where we wait in anticipation for Christ’s final return. May we continue to be used by God to share the message of Christmas with A Heart for Hamilton County and the World!
The Eagle December 2016
2
Birth
days
, Bap
tism
s &
Anniv
ers
arie
s Birthdays 1st Jaley Reich
3rd Phillip Pierce
Jimmy Whitt
4th Marjorie Seider
6th Kade McKandless
8th Cora Hurst
Grace Hurst
Debbie Roberts
Doyle Roberts
9th Laverne Brown
James Janisch
Danny Rudd
10th Travis Odom
11th Chrissy Kensing
13th Jerry Zschiesche
14th Kasey Kunkel
15th Lorin Lange
Grant Surley
Mitch Surley
16th Karen Johnson
17th Avery Hall
19th Doyle Cook
Brianna Hill
Amber Tyson
20th Johnny Clark
Brad Surley
24th Reagan Wagner
25th Melissa
DeLaGarza
David Tyson
26th Henlee Wagner
27th Josh Chorenziak
Bonnye Wenzel
Irene Zaruba
28th Lindsey Hanson
29th Joe Sommerfeld
30th Emiliegh Burton
Jane Wagner
Baptisms 3rd Alice Jeschke
Steve Young
5th Auden Martinez
7th Jaley Reich
8th Brenda Schrank
9th Bert Schrank
10th Ima Jean Roberts
11th Ted Jahns
Judy Knoll
12th Jacob Robertson
Martin Wenzel
15th Lois Hungerford
16th Casey Finstad
Sharolyn Lawson
Billie Looney
Cole McCown
18th Joseph Polster
19th Geraldine Kauitzsch
Cade Robertson
Colton Robertson
21st Mary Jeffers
Charles Rudolph
Gretchen Rudolph
Michael Rudolph
22nd Danna Hurst
Eddie Krueger
23rd Myron Kauitzsch
24th Emily Wagner
26th Tyler Peace
27th Majorie Seider
30th Jacob Dossey
Trever Sellers
Tyler Sellers
31st Reagan Wagner
Anniversaries 9th Patrick & Debbie Roberts
42yrs
11th Quin & Lindsey Hanson
12yrs
14th Joe & Michele Cathey
31yrs
21th Robert & Julie Stanley
42yrs
23rd Gary & Tootie Schoen
50yrs
26th Dickie & Kathy Coleman
45yrs
27th Carlos & Fabiola Olalde
25yrs
28th Louis & Frances
Donahoo
31yrs
Memorials Given
General Fund:
In Memory of : Given by:
Jean Bottlinger Natrell Love
Jean Bottlinger Travis Odom
and Family
The Eagle December 2016
3
Jr/Sr Youth NEWS
Important Dates
December 1st– Singing on the Square
December 3rd
or 4th
– Main Street Bethlehem in Burnet
December 6th
—Youth Quake– DEADLINE-$50 dep due
December 24th
– Children’s Christmas Eve Program 6pm
To everyone who
helped with the pie
fundraiser. 276
pies sold
Opening/Breakfast
Sundays 8:30am
Sunday School
Sundays 9:00am
Church Worship
Sundays 10:00am
B.L.A.S.T.
Wednesday 3:30
Pre-K thru 2nd
Pre-Confirmation
Wednesday 3:30
3rd thru 5th
Jr. Confirmation
Wednesday 5:30
6th thru 8th
Sr. Youth
Wednesday 6:30
9th thru 12th
$ 3,044 Current
$ 50,000
$ 100,000
$ 150,000
$ 200,000
$ 230,000
At the Voters’ Meeting on October 25, 2016, Charles Jahns presented the build-ing plans that the Planning Committee has been working on. We are still very ear-ly in the planning stages, but it was decided to start a Building Fund that members can start contributing toward as we go forward with the planning stages. The cur-rent plans can be seen in the narthex outside the church office. Additional input that anyone has is welcomed and encouraged.
The Building Fund currently has $2,044. It was reported at the Voters’ Meet-ing that the concrete work and insulated outer structure would cost approximate-ly $130,000. This does not include the plumbing, electrical, heating/cooling, interi-or walls and finishing. A goal at this point has been set at $250,000.
The expansion project would give our youth a large room to meet in, another nice size meeting room and the preschool the space they need to have everything contained on one side of the building. Also included in the plans for expansion is the plan to remodel our current kitchen. If anyone has any questions or ideas do not hesitate to share your ideas.
(portion outlined in yellow is the possible addition of the back of the FLC)
The Eagle December 2016
4
Parent News
•Thank you for completing our program evaluation survey. Your feedback is helping us better meet the needs of our families.
•Have you used our half day drop in coupon from open house yet?
•Ask us about our upcoming Holiday Care!
Important Dates
•Christmas Program- Sunday, December 18th at 3:00pm •Early Release – December 21st at 12:00 noon •Christmas Break- December 22nd- January 6th
•Holiday Care-
December 26th - 30th &
January 2nd – 6th
PRESCHOOL NEWS November [email protected] (254) 386-3332
A Note from the Director
Another month has flown by quickly. I can not believe how fast the school year is moving along. The children are really getting settled in and building strong foun-dations for their Christian education. It is such a blessing to be a part of your chil-dren’s early years, and we feel so thankful for the opportunity to help guide their development. Thank you!
Our learning themes for this month have included: Fall, Thanksgiving, and the stories of Ruth and David & Goliath. Our upcoming themes focus on Friendship, Daniel and the Lions, and the story of Jesus’ birth. Each week we offer opportuni-ties for our children to grow spiritually, academically, and emotionally.
We will also start practicing for our Christmas program which will take place on Sunday, December 18th in the Family Life Center. Kids love telling the story of Jesus’ birth through song. Please plan to join us that day to celebrate the Christ-mas story.
In Christ Love- Tiffani Logan
The Eagle December 2016
5
Spotlight On…
Promoting
Independence
Preschoolers are typically able to do more than we give them credit for. Try these tips to help foster self-esteem and inde-pendence in your child.
•Expect more, they are up for the challenge and enjoy learning new things
•Resist doing for him/her what she/he can do him/herself
•Don’t redo what they’ve done
•Let them solve simple prob-lems
•Assign a chore
•Develop predictable routines
•Let your child work out
minor squabbles
•Prioritize play
•Give structured choices
•Add music when working on tasks
Kinderoo
CLASSROOM NEWS Little Lambs Mighty Lions Kinderoos
Some of the fun and learning the Little Lambs had this month included:
•Creating special art from objects they gathered on their nature walk
•Developing their social/emotional, writing, and math skills at their farmer’s market and pumpkin patch dramatic play centers
•Continuing to work on their shapes, colors, and letters of the week
Little Lambs
Learning took place for the Mighty Lions this month when they…
•Practiced writing their names, letters, and numbers in the sand and salt sensory center developing their letter recognition skills
•Discussed how God can help us overcome big ob-stacles like the story of David & Goliath
•Worked on their fine motor skills through building turkey’s out of play-doh
Mighty Lions
The Kindergarten adventures included…
•Exploring the pumpkin patch with their friends and family
•Preparing a Thanksgiving meal for their fami-lies
•Visiting the Historical Museum in Goldthwaite
•Working on letter sounds and number recog-nition
•Continuing to build math skills with graphs, surveys, and ordinal numbers
What’s Happening
This Month
The Eagle December 2016
6
This is commonly known as “Luther’s Cradle Hymn.” But did the great German Reformer, Martin Lu-ther, really write the words? Did he sing them by the cradle of his little son, Hans? This is a great mystery in hymnology. In 1887, “Away in a Manger” appeared in a little book of songs entitled Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses, published in Cincinnati by the John Church Company. The songbook was compiled by James R. Murray. A notation beneath “Away in a Manger” said: Lu-ther’s Cradle Hymn (Composed by Martin Luther for his children and still sung by Ger-man mothers to their little one.) Only stan-zas one and two were given.
And she brought forth her
firstborn Son, and
wrapped Him in swad-
dling cloths, and laid
Him in a manger, be-
cause there was no room
for them in the inn. Luke
2:7
Music Notes by:
Gary Gromatzky
Away in a Manger Anonymous
“Away in a Manger” quickly became America’s favorite children’s carol, the words being sung to forty-one different tunes! Everyone assumed the poem
had been written by the great Reformer, Martin Luther.
Then in 1945, Richard Hill published a fascinating article entitled “Not So Far Away in a Manger” in which he announced he had discovered the first two stanzas of “Away in a Man-ger,” in an 1885 songbook entitled Little Children’s Book, published by German Lutherans in Pennsylvania. No authorship was given nor could Hill find any appearance of this carol in Ger-man church history or in Luther’s works.
After extensive research, Hill concluded: “It seems essential to lay (aside) once and for all the legend that Luther wrote a carol for his children, which no one else knew anything about, until it suddenly turned up in English dress 400 years later in Philadelphia. Luther can well afford to spare the honor.” But he adds, “Although Luther himself had nothing to do with the carol, the colonies of German Lutherans in Pennsylvania almost certainly did.”
So the mystery endures. Who wrote “Away in a Manger”? There were apparently two unknown writers: A German Lutheran in Pennsylvania who wrote the first two stanzas, with another unknown author adding a third verse which first appeared in an 1892 songbook pub-lished by Charles H. Gabriel.
Well, who cares? Certainly not the generations of children around the world who have come to love and know the little Jesus through this sweet carol, and who have gone to sleep praying:
I love Thee, Lord Jesus; look down from the sky And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.
Away in a Manger
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky look down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, a sleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning in nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay,
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And take us to heaven to live with thee there.
Ref: Then Sings my Soul – Book Two, Nelson Reference & Electronic (A Division of Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
The Eagle December 2016
7
Seminary
Family
Christmas
Gifts
Our family this year is the
Terral Family
Paul and Jamie
Madelyn (9)
Lillie (7)
Samuel (4)
Baby Boy (due in Nov)
There is a “stocking & bag”
in the Narthex to place gift cards.
Please put cash or checks on the
desk in the church office with a
memo on them
“for seminary family”
Please attach your name and ad-
dress so they have the opportunity
to send thankyou notes.
Questions?
Contact the church office or
Kay Zschiesche
Deadline is December 1tth
Nov 30th-Men’s Club/Soup
Dec 7th- Bd of Ed/Youth/Chili cornbread
Dec 14th-Ruth Guild/Spaghetti
Dec 21st-Clark Family/Baked potatoes
Meals begin at 5:30p Services begin at 630p
Christmas Caroling/Hay Ride
December 11th @ 4pm
Wear warm clothes
Cookies and Cocoa to follow