NOVEMBER 2012

The Lamb’s Pen

A monthly publication of Abiding Shepherd Lutheran Church

“BRING them in...LIFT them up...SEND them out”

MISSION UPDATE (Ruthann Mickelson)

On a gorgeous Saturday, October 20th, 100

ladies and gentlemen from the area gathered for

the Fall Rally of our ELS Women’s Missionary

Society at Western Koshkonong Lutheran Church

in rural Cottage Grove. We learned from Bill and Faith Krug about the Czech

Republic and their experiences at the Martin Luther School in the city of Plzen.

The Krugs volunteered there from March through May of this year. We also

visited Chile via modern media and heard about how Chelsea Dietsche

teaches English as a Second Language there. Pastor Paul Fries brought us up

to date on ELS foreign missions. We voted to disburse $6,550 to various mission

endeavors. Our luncheon was delicious, the Holy Spirit lifted our hearts and

we came away with new enthusiasm to spread the Gospel here in the U.S.

and throughout the world!

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” Matt. 28:19

Visit our website at

www.AbidingShepherd.org

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Abiding Shepherd Lutheran Church

406 W. Cottage Grove Road

Cottage Grove, WI 53527

(608) 839-3770

Pastor Nathan Krause

Pastor Nathanael Abrahamson

“When you have THE SHEPHERD…

...you have everything you need.”

NEWS AND EVENTS

3 - November 2012

Blake Ole Hougan was baptized on

Sunday, September 23. We

celebrate with his family as he is

adopted into God’s Christian family.

Violet Johanna Lee Marty was born

on Sunday, October 14 and

welcomed into God’s family through

baptism on Monday, October 15.

Stephanie Schilling and son,

Preston, recently joined Abiding

Shepherd! Please take a moment

to welcome her!

Several members of Abiding Shepherd

pitched in to help

Kids Around the World

pack over 400,000 meals for students

in Haiti on Wednesday, October 10.

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FYI… (Pastor Krause)

Spiritual information… My Turn. Last Month Pastor Abrahamson offered up

some great answers concerning worship. You may recall as the result of our

first Trinity study this year we had a good list of questions. This month it’s my

turn to tackle a few more...

WHAT ABOUT WORSHIP LEADERS OTHER THAN THE PASTOR? That’s a great

question and it has been asked many times throughout the history of the

church. At the time of the Reformation, the church fathers, in our Lutheran

Confessions, made sure to answer it. In the Augsburg Confession, article XIV,

the answer is given: “Of Ecclesiastical Order they teach that no one should

publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments unless he is

regularly called.”

The Reformers recognized that while many people are willing, and many

others would be capable of leading worship, God has established an order

and specifications as to who can lead worship. The main passages in which

God outlines the answer are: 1 Timothy 3:1-13; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; and 1

Corinthians 14:34-36. Titus 1:5-9 also reiterates some of the qualifications for a

called worker and worship leader.

HOW TO LEAD NON-CHRISTIANS TO CHRISTIANS IN WORSHIP? This question is a

little more complex than the previous because it has to do with what we

can, and what we cannot do, as humans. First, we should realize that

worship is an activity for believers. Non-Christians have no desire or reason to

worship God. Second, worship is for believers to express their thanks and give

glory to God while at the same time to be nourished and fed by God.

Neither of these purposes for worship apply to a non-Christian.

So the best answer is that first we must reach out to and evangelize to non-

Christians. This is not the purpose of the worship service, but rather the goal of

our personal and our corporate sharing of faith. In witnessing, our first task is

to use the Law appropriately to show the need for a Savior. Once that need

is realized, then we apply the Gospel and share the amazing truth that God

Himself has provided salvation through Jesus. Whether or not someone else

believes this truth is not our job or our goal. Witnessing is our goal. But faith is

the gift of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit then gives His gift of faith and the

non-Christian becomes Christian, then we can teach and mentor them in

worship of the true God.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN PRAYER AND WORSHIP? Both prayer and

worship are fruits of our faith, each serving a different purpose. We should

remember that prayer can be a form of worship, but not always. Two of the

four reasons we pray are to adore/glorify God and to give Him thanks for His

goodness. These are acts of worship whether done privately or in a public

worship service. But there are two other reasons to pray: to confess our sins to

God and to ask for His help (for ourselves or for others). These may be part of

a worship service, but not necessarily worship in and of themselves.

On the other hand, parts of our worship service can be prayer, such as, the

general prayer after the sermon, the unified praying of the Lord’s Prayer, or

offering up special petitions to God. But not all parts of worship are prayer:

the reading of the Scripture lessons, the sermon, the blessing - these are

moments in worship when God speaks to us. It is by God’s grace, whether in

public worship or the private practice of our faith, that when He speaks to us

we are then led to speak to God in our prayers.

CHILDREN IN WORSHIP? This question is a little more difficult because it is not

defined. If it is asked to see whether or not children should be able to have a

part in the service where they lead others in worship, that is answered in the

first section. If the question is asked wondering if it is right and proper for

children to be part of the congregation during worship, then the answer is

“by all means, yes!”

This answer is not to condemn churches which have a separate children’s

sermon or even a separate children’s service, but such activities often work

at cross-purposes to God’s desire for our worship. Some might object and

raise the point that children can be distracted or distracting in worship. The

idea of some is to provide age appropriate worship opportunities as a benefit

to all age groups.

God speaks indirectly to the concept of segregating ages and people

when it comes to worship and the study of His word. While all children need

to be taught how to worship, God tells parents to be involved with and

provide for the Christian education and worship of our children. Consider

such passages as Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Deuteronomy 11:16-21; and Mark

10:13-16. One last thought, if children seem distracting during worship there

are a few things one can do - sit in the front of the church or even offer to

help so that the child’s parents might be able to worship occasionally without

distraction.

5 - November 2012

ABIDING SHEPHERD TRAVELS TO STOUGHTON (Tammy Niedfeldt)

Thank you to the Abiding Shepherd crew who spent

Saturday, October 13 working on a Thrivent Builds with

Habitat for Humanity home in Stoughton. The crew

worked on hanging drywall. The leader said that the

team did well and that they normally spend about eight

full days hanging drywall. Our team was “day three” and

accomplished much. We had fun and even learned a

new trick or two with cutting out boxes! Thanks to

everyone for their dedication and hard work, Valerie and

her two children will be "home" in time for Christmas!

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DIRECT MINISTRY AND MISSION SUPPORT FOR 2013 (Pastor Abrahamson)

This past year we put into place an exciting new Direct

Ministry and Mission Support policy. With this program, we

as a congregation choose four different ministries or

missions outside of Abiding Shepherd to sponsor. In

addition to a certain portion of our church budget being

set towards those ministries and missions, individuals also

have the opportunity to support them as well. Each

quarter of the year we focus on one of the four missions chosen and support

them through prayer and through our financial blessings. The four ministries

that we have sponsored this year are:

Ukraine VBS Program

Salty Earth Pictures

Friends of China

India Orphanage Fund

The time has come for us to start thinking about what missions and ministries

God would have us support this next year. Please prayerfully consider

ministries you’ve heard about and e-mail your suggestions to me at

pastor.abrahamson@abidingshepherd.org. Our Coordination Team will

choose four organizations from those suggestions and submit them for

approval at the Annual Congregational Meeting.

CHRISTMAS FOR KIDS (Pastor Abrahamson)

Can you believe that we’re already talking

about Christmas? It seems like there is no way

we could be to that part of the year already

but just look at the calendar - the Christmas

season will be soon upon us! With the holiday

season quickly approaching, that means that

CHRISTMAS FOR KIDS will also be here before

you know it!

Our annual Christmas for Kids is our BIGGEST OUTREACH EVENT of the year

and is perhaps what we are most known for in the Cottage Grove

community! The first three Saturdays in December, 70 to 80 kids, ages two

through eleven, fill Abiding Shepherd from 9:00 am to noon for a morning of

stories, songs, and crafts all centered on the real reason for the season! After

three Saturdays of learning the Christmas story and

learning Christmas songs, parents, family, and friends

are invited to join the kids on Sunday December 16,

for the annual Christmas for Kids Pageant! This

program will include energetic kids Christmas songs

performed by the kids themselves, classic Christmas

carols sung by everyone, as well as a message from

Pastor Abrahamson.

Something new this year, instead of having the oldest group of kids perform

a play, this group will put together props and artwork that will visually show us

the Christmas story while those great classic Christmas Bible passages are

read, telling the Christmas story both straight from God’s Word and through

visuals created by the kids themselves. You are not going to want to miss this!

As you can imagine, an incredible undertaking of

this magnitude takes many hands at work to pull

off. Soon you will see information not only on how

to sign your children up to attend, but also how

you can help make this a wonderful success by

volunteering to help. If you have any questions

please contact:

Claire Doelger at (608) 839-4567 or

Pastor Abrahamson at the office (608) 839-3770.

7 - November 2012

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E.P.I.C. RETREAT

October 19 - 21 was truly an “EPIC”

weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in

Wisconsin Dells, as around 80 youth

and chaperones came together for a

“Storylines” Fall Youth Retreat! In

addition to our own E.P.I.C. youth,

there were youth there from Connect

Youth Ministry in the Twin Cities,

E.D.G.E. Youth Ministry in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, Salem Lutheran in Stillwater,

Minnesota, Holy Cross Lutheran, and several other churches in southern

Wisconsin and the Twin Cities area!

The theme for the weekend was “Storylines,” talking about how God’s story

has collided with our story, making our story His story. We began the weekend

Friday night by telling fun stories from our lives.

Saturday morning we turned the storytelling to God’s Word, acting out and

re-telling incredible Bible stories. The

afternoon was spent in the Great

Wolf Lodge’s massive indoor water

park and making use of their arcade.

Saturday evening we “sculpted”

through acting and posing several

situations that are common in families

today. Then after some free time we watched several videos where people

told their real life stories of how God had changed their stories. These videos

jump-started a very intense nighttime discussion where we role played some

of life’s toughest situations and talked about how God is writing our story in a

positive way in even the toughest of times. Also, Saturday evening a couple

musicians from Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel joined us and added a very

special worship element to the retreat.

The retreat wrapped up Sunday morning with a closing session based on a

video called “God’s Chisel” where we talked about how difficult repentance

is and yet, how beneficial as it’s at the cross where we are forgiven and

made right, and it’s through the cross that now God is writing our story.

All praise and thanks and glory to God for such an incredible retreat and

providing both the youth and the adult volunteers to make the retreat what

it was!

9 - November 2012

FOR YOUR NOVEMBER CALENDAR!

FALL CLEAN-UP DAY (Dale Fredenberg)

Saturday, November 3, 8:30 - Noon

There is quite a list of projects in the works for fall clean-up

this year! On the top of that list is the usual leaf raking (we

are blessed to have a LOT of trees). Also scheduled is

cutting back perennials, weeding throughout the drainage

field, clearing brush behind the church, preparing stumps

for removal and, finally, trenching for a new downspout.

Round up the family for a morning of working together to complete these

projects. Please bring rakes, gloves, shovels, wheelbarrows, gas powered

weed eaters and pruning shears.

PROGRESSIVE DINNER (Leslie Wren)

Saturday, November 3, 5:00 pm

It is progressive dinner time again — an evening of great food

and interesting conversations! Not familiar with progressive

dinners? Everyone will meet at the home of Rick and Kathy

Bondow for appetizers, then travel to church for the main course

and finish with dessert at the home of Steve and Sheryl Albers.

Please sign up on the bulletin board in the church lobby if you

would like to help or attend this fun evening. Maps will be

available at church.

TIME CHANGE Sunday, November 4

Daylight Savings Time ends at 2:00 am on Sunday,

November 4. Please be reminded that clocks should be

turned back one hour before retiring on Saturday night.

Of course, if you forget and show up an hour early for

church, there are always chores and jobs waiting for you

to tackle.

(November calendar items continue on page 10…)

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BETHANY AUXILIARY Western Koshkonong Church, Cottage Grove

Tuesday, November 6, 1:00 pm

Come for a fabulous luncheon at 1:00 pm and then

stay for the presentation. The guest speak will be our

very own Pastor Abrahamson! He will be talking

about the Christ in Media Conference he attended in

October. Please sign up at church if you would like to attend.

PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY (Bonnie Anderson and Sue Bethke)

Thursday, November 8, 6:00 pm

The prayer shawl ministry group met for the second time Thursday,

October 11. We started with a yummy dessert and enjoyed fun

conversation while we each worked on individual projects. We started to

teach one of our members to crochet. By the end of the evening she was

ready to start a small project.

We have had many hands at work this past

month. We have six lap robes, three shawls and

a baby blanket completed. God has blessed our

church with many talented ladies. Our next

meeting will be Thursday, November 8. We meet

at church from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. We would love to

have you join us.

EUCHRE NIGHT AT ABIDING SHEPHERD (Sue O’Kroley)

Friday, November 16, 6:30 pm

You do NOT need to be an experienced player!

You do NOT need a partner to come - many singles play.

You do NOT need to commit to a full season of cards

You DO need to be willing to have some fun!

Most folks bring a snack to share. If you would like to join or find out more,

please contact Sue at 332-3622 or sueprep1@yahoo.com.

(November calendar items continue on page 11…)

11 - November 2012

ADVENT BY CANDLELIGHT (Kathryn Banbury and Ruthann Mickelson)

Who? Women (family and friends!) of Abiding Shepherd

What? An evening of Advent readings, singing and dessert

When? Sunday, November 18, 6:00 pm

Where? Abiding Shepherd Worship Area

Why? To prepare our hearts and minds to focus on the birth of our Savior

prior to the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations

Six women have volunteered to be hostesses for this

event. Each woman will adorn her table with

personal Christmas decorations including many

candles and prepare a dessert for her five guests.

The program that evening will include Advent Bible

readings and hymns as well as an object lesson on

the gifts believers receive. Please join us for an

evening of being pampered - there is nothing for

you to bring or do, just enjoy a relaxing evening

bathed in the soft glow of candlelight with other

sisters of faith!

THANKSGIVING EVE WORSHIP SERVICE Wednesday, November 21, 7:00 pm

“I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will

sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.” Psalm 7:17

This Thanksgiving Eve bring your family for an evening of praise and

thanksgiving as we celebrate all that the Lord has accomplished in our

personal lives and in our congregation this past year! Please plan to come a

few minutes early to view a pre-service PowerPoint of a year’s worth of

blessings the Lord has poured out on Abiding Shepherd. The choir is already

preparing an anthem to sing that evening. And finally, enjoy a slice of fresh

pumpkin or apple pie before heading home to finish your family’s

Thanksgiving Day preparations. Please join us!

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Cartoons used by permission...

Copyright © 2011 The Zondervan Corporation.