Resurrection Bell Ringer
Days of Grace
Baptisms: Received in the joy of the Christian community through Holy Baptism was Paige Catherine Andrews. Paige is the daughter of Jackie and Cory Andrews and was born on August 19, 2003. Welcome to the Lord’s family.
Marriage: Matt Himsel and Kristin Snyder were united in marriage October 25th. Blessings to Matt and Kristin!
Death: Received by our Lord Jesus Christ to His eternal joy in heaven was Clifford Wise. May the comfort and hope of Jesus’ resurrection sustain Mike and his family and all who mourn his death.
In Our Prayers
In Celebration: Lesley and Geoff McDougal for the birth of their son, Brennan Geoffrey
Hospitalized: Connie Wallin, Clara Andersen, Brian Hewitt, Hayley Phillips
Prayers for healing: Joyce Schmelzer
In Sympathy: David Wantz, for the death of his mother; Joe Nicholson for the death of his grandfather, Bill Spurlin; Lesley McDougal, for the death of her cousin; David George, for the death of his cousin, Terry Henderson.
Friends and Family of the Congregation in need of God’s presence and comfort: Arlene Wright, Linda Hoffmann, Annie Deitch, Nancy Stephan
Active Duty in the Military: Dan Dibble
Regular / Semi-Annual Meeting
of the Congregation of
Resurrection Evangelical
Lutheran Church
December 7, 2003, 9:30am
1. Opening Devotions
2. Determination of Quorum
3. Acceptance of Minutes of June, 2003
4. Reports of Administrative Boards
5. Treasurer’s Report
6. Other Reports
7. Associate in Ministry / Mutual Ministry Staffing Report
8. Consecration Weekend Report
9. 2004 Congregation Budget
10. 2004 Congregation Goals
11. New Business
12. Pastor’s Report
13. Adjournment
Plan to attend our next Congregational Meeting on Sunday, December 7 at 9:30am in the Sanctuary. This is an important meeting – we will be voting on the 2004 budget. You can preview the 2004 Budget on Sunday, November 30th at 9:30am in a Ministry Plan / 2004 Budget Review.
From the Staff . . .
December - A Month with Confused Identity
Dear friends,
It is hard to believe that we are already preparing the December edition of the Bell Ringer. This year has gone by so quickly! It struck me as I thought about December, that it might be a month that is confused about its identity. Allow me to explain.
Much of the world sees the month of December as the end of something, for it comes at the end of the calendar year. However, for those Christian churches that follow a liturgical calendar as we do, December finds us at the beginning. Toward the end of November we celebrate the Festival of Christ the King, which marks the close of the liturgical church year. The Sunday following Christ the King is the First Sunday in Advent, the season which marks the beginning of a new church year.
Much of the world experiences December as a frenzied time of special gatherings, parties, extra tasks and responsibilities, and being stretched to the limits. In the Christian church, we often find ourselves at odds with what is going on in the world, for December and this season of Advent are a time of preparing for a sacred event. Many families make a special effort during this season to set aside time for family devotions. Churches try to create a slice of sacred time during worship to help people keep their focus during this chaotic month.
Much of the world spends December searching for the perfect gift to give - or dropping hints about the perfect gift to receive. In the Christian church, we know that the most wonderful gift that the world could receive has already been given - it came in the birth of a child, Emmanuel, “God with us.” For us, December is about sharing the gift already given.
I think many people spend time in December accumulating regret or disappointment about what was not accomplished during the past year. My hope is that we can use December as a starting point for looking forward. We have just completed our annual stewardship emphasis and nearly three-fourths of our congregation have indicated an estimated increase in their giving. That is a wonderful response to God’s blessings! May December be the time that we celebrate God’s blessings and begin a new discipline of returning to God a portion of what God has entrusted to us. And as December is the time in which we anticipate the birth of Jesus Christ, may it also be a time for us to anticipate and put into practice new ways for us to engage in the marks of faithful discipleship: prayer, reading the Bible, worship, serving others, being in relationship for spiritual growth, and giving of the resources entrusted to us.
May this December be a month, not of confusion for you, but a time to experience the Holy in our midst.
Family Christmas Caroling
Dec. 14th at 3:30pm . . . .
If you haven’t been caroling with Resurrection before, than this is a must for you to try. Groups of families go to different homes of shut-in members of RLC. The people are so thrilled to have the special visit, and those who sing are richly rewarded with seeing how giving of your time can bring such happiness into these people’s lives. We will leave the church at 3:30pm!
Lasagna Dinner
Dec. 14th at 6:00pm . . . .
Whether you go caroling and then come for dinner . . . . or come for the Children’s Christmas Program and then stay for dinner . . . . or come for all . . . . or come just for eats . . . . don’t miss our Lasagna Dinner at 6:00! You will enjoy great fellowship and great food. Please bring a desert to share. Don’t forget to sign up on the yellow response form in the bulletin! The Lasagna Dinner is sponsored by the Board of Christian Education and the Board of Fellowship.
Children’s Christmas Program
Dec. 14th at 5:00pm . . . .
“Baby Jesus, We Love You”
Join us as we celebrate the birth of our Savior through word and song. The children of RLC will delight and entertain you as they lead you on a journey to the manger in your spirit and with your heart in a meaningful time of worship and praise.
Spiritual Gifts Discovery Course
Watch for January Offerings . . . .
The spiritual gifts discovery course, “Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life: You and Your Spiritual Gifts,” will be offered again in January at several times. We are working on arrangements for offering the course in a retreat setting. Watch the blue announcement sheet in the bulletin, the mailboxes in the narthex, and the website (www.RLCIndy.org) for more information.
Attention Chili Cooks . . . .
Just a heads up so that you can be perfecting that special recipe you have over the holidays – The Board of Fellowship will be hosting a January Chili Cook-off Contest. Save the date: Sunday, January 25. Judging will be at 4:30 and all-congregation chili supper will begin at 5:00. Watch the Bell Ringer and bulletin for more details in January.
Sunday School Teachers . . .
We are looking for Second Semester Sunday School Teachers! Anyone interested should contact Kathy French. It’s a great way to get involved!
Women of Joy . . . .
Women of Joy is a new Christian Conference for women by Phil Waldrep Ministries on April 2-4, 2004 in the Great Smoky Mountains of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Winter is now upon us and we are looking to spring! This is a wonderful opportunity for any woman to join together with women from RLC as well as across the country in a beautiful setting to have time away from the “busy-ness” of life and refresh their spirit in a time of worship and renewal and wonderful speakers and musicians. Featuring Alicia Williamson, Becky Tirabassi, Lori Salierno, Gloria Gaither, Janet Parshall, and Point of Grace. Registration fee as low as $89 per person if you register early. (Includes lodging for 2 nights and all conference participation. Does not include meals.) If interested or for more information, Call Karen Mikkelson 859-0557 by December 21st.
Hanging of the Green . . .
Altar Guild Members should plan Saturday, December 6 at 9:00am to have a brief meeting, sign up for Christmas and 2004 Altar Guild coverage. Then we will have our annual “Hanging of the Greens.” If you are unable to attend this very important meeting, please call Judy Lewis (881-1879). We need everyone there and look forward to seeing you.
Kids Club
Christmas Cookie Bake
and Games
December 7th at 12:30pm
Fellowship Hall
(Sign-up across from Scott’s Ofc)
The Mutual Ministry Committee . . . .
To a person, the Mutual Ministry Committee believes that our Congregation has been blessed with a rare and special opportunity – to assemble a Staff capable of ministering to the unique and special mission and vision of this congregation. Since August, the focus of the Mutual Ministry Committee has been two-fold. It has acted as the supervisory committee over the internship of Scott Mikkelson; and it was commissioned to evaluate our Program Staff’s division of responsibilities and develop a plan for staffing in anticipation of Scott’s departure in mid-2004. Since August, 2003, the Committee has met on six occasions. The commitment of the MMC during this period can be described as prayerful, steady, consistent and thorough.
In conducting its work, the MMC has had no preconceptions of the kind of certification, nature of training, or level of experience that may be required of the person, or persons, that will both fit and fill our staffing needs in the foreseeable future. Rather, we have approached our task as though it were analogous to a blank canvas – the contents of the final work limited only by our imagination. We are learning how our Program Staff – Prs. Dave and Mitch and AIM/Intern Scott – operate (cooperate is probably a more accurate term) on a day-to-day basis, dreaming of how it could operate better, and learning of the variety of ways congregations generally, and this congregation specifically, can fill ministry needs.
The MMC has developed a list of Crucial Ministry Needs that must be addressed in some manner upon Scott’s departure. That list is as follows:
1. Administration and support for the Congregation’s youth education program (approximately ages infant through junior high/middle school).
2. Administration and support of the confirmation program (this would include, but is not limited to, tracking information, record-keeping, ordering materials, preparing materials for class work, etc.)
3. Pre-6th grade confirmation classes. This particular class is critical as a foundation for preparing our children for confirmation. Needs a strong Lutheran background.
4. Administration and support of the Congregation’s High School Youth Ministry.
5. Administration and support of the ChristCare Ministry.
6. Administration, support and leadership of Kid’s Club Ministry.
7. Assist worship leaders (i.e., lay assistants, lectors, acolytes, and ushers).
8. Children’s music ministry. (It must be remembered that we will not only be losing Scott, but also Karen, whose talents have been instrumental leading our youth choirs in recent years.)
The MMC has never believed it was the only group that could address this task. However, with this list as a starting point, we believe it is the right time to enlist the Congregation’s assistance.
We propose to seek the Congregation’s assistance during the month of December. First, we plan to hold a “public meeting” to allow those in attendance to hear from and speak to the members of the MMC concerning their ideas and suggestions. That will occur on December 14, 2003, during the education hour. Second, those who cannot attend the meeting will be encouraged to provide feedback by e-mailing their reactions to the list to any one of the MMC members. Third, the Congregation will be encouraged to speak by telephone with those members of the MMC who agree to act as a sounding post for this purpose. After December, we plan to use the feedback received to put together a final plan for consideration by the PPC.
Members of the Mutual Ministry Committee are: Terry Fewell, Jená Hartman, Loren Hewitt, John Reames, Townsend Schnabel, Nancy Tatum, Donna Thomsen
Sharing Wreath . . .
The Sharing Wreath is back this year. You can choose from the following giving opportunities:
☆buy presents for battered women and children
☆provide money to pay heating bills for battered women and other local families this winter
☆provide money to pay for holiday food baskets for military families whose loved one is stationed overseas.
If you would like to provide a
present for a child, just choose an ornament and take it with you. Place your
gift (either wrapped or unwrapped) with the ornament attached under the wreath.
For heating assistance or military food assistance, take an envelope and place
your donation (cash or check made out to "Resurrection Lutheran Church") in the
envelope, seal it, and place it in the box provided. Thank you for sharing your
blessings!
Children’s Christmas
Program Practice . . .
will be held on Saturday, December 13th from 9:00 to 11:00am in the Sanctuary. All children are asked to attend. The Christmas Program will be Dec. 14th.
An invitation from the Phillips . . .
Open House
& Blessing of a Dwelling
Saturday, Dec 13th - 3:00-5:00pm
This past June we moved into our new house and we would like to invite our new family of faith to share in our joy of having a new home. We are going to have an Open House on Saturday, December 13th from 3:00 to 5:00pm. Please, we are not asking you to bring any housewarming gifts – we simply want you to celebrate with us. We will have some goodies to share, and at 4:00, everyone present can help with the scripture readings and prayers for the Blessing of a Dwelling. You will find directions below. Our time here has gone by so quickly - thank you so much for making us feel so at home here.
– Pastor Mitch & Charisse, and Hayley
(Directions: We are in the Wakefield subdivision on the north side of Smith Valley Rd, between SR 37 and Morgantown Rd. Take the western entrance to Wakefield (one-half mile east of SR 37 or one-half mile west of Morgantown Rd). Turn at the second left onto Governors Lane (alongside the pond). When Governors dead-ends into Wakefield Rd, turn left. Wakefield Rd ends in a couple of barriers just before Messersmith Creek. Just before the end, you can turn left onto a short street that leads to Columbia Circle (the street signs have been knocked down by construction in this area). When you stop at Columbia Circle, you are looking at our house. The address is 5873 Columbia Circle and our phone number is 885-2331 in case you get lost.)
Sunday School
Calendar Notes . . . .
Sun. Dec. 7☆Pre K - 5th: Kids meet in Fellowship Hall to practice Christmas program during Congregational Meeting.
☆ Jr. & Sr. High classes meet
Sun. Dec. 14 ☆All Classes meet as usual.
Sun. Dec. 21 ☆(Pre K-5th) Kids meet in Fellowship Hall for large group activity
Sun. Dec. 28 ☆no children’s Sunday School
Sun. Jan 4th ☆no children’s Sunday School
☆ 2nd Sem. Teacher Meeting
Sun. Jan. 11th ☆Second Semester begins
Choral Sunday . . . .
Choral Sunday, December 14th at 8:00 and 10:45, will be full of beautiful Advent and Christmas music by our Resurrection choirs. Join us for this inspirational service as we give glory to the coming Savior.
RLC Global Missions . . . .
Welcome to the new RLC Global Mission page. Each month there will be a page in the Bell Ringer devoted to Mission and Missionary happenings around the world. In January of 2004 RLC will begin to personally sponsor a missionary family that is currently serving in a foreign country. The names and pictures of those missionaries will be placed on the bulletin board outside the main office as well as in the January Bell Ringer. Each month there will be an update on the lives and ministry of that particular missionary family. The hope is that sometime in the coming year this family will make a personal visit to RLC so there can be a personal connection to those whom RLC is supporting.
In helping to promote a greater awareness of Global Missions there will also be included each month in the Parish Mailboxes, a Prayer Venture. This is designed to help guide congregations and individuals in praying for specific needs through-out the Global Missions Community. To bring a more personal note, December’s Prayer Venture includes a petition for Eric and Beth Elness. Beth and Eric teach at the MaaSea Girls School which is a part of Operation Bootstrap, the mission emphasis that the Sunday School Children are currently supporting with their offering and with the Christmas Giving emphasis.
Included as well is a brief history of the ELCA Global Mission Ministry.
MISSIONARY WORK:
YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of Lutheran missionaries devoted their lives to establishing and nurturing new churches in these countries and many others.
While missionaries preached sermons and taught confirmation, they knew that the new churches could not grow if they did all the work themselves. They made a priority of training indigenous evangelists and pastors.
Today, the churches that European and North American missionaries helped found are independent and self-governing. These companion churches run their own seminaries, provide their own evangelists and pastors, and administer their own social programs.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (ELC-PNG) is a good example. The ELC-PNG became independent in 1956, ninety years after it was founded by missionaries. Today it has over 800,000 members. It trains its own pastors in three seminaries and administers 207 elementary schools, eight high schools, and an extensive health program.
While local leaders have replaced missionaries in many areas of work, ELCA mission personnel still serve in Papua New Guinea. The ELC-PNG and other companion churches often invite people with particular areas of expertise to help train others.
ELCA mission personnel live and work in a model called accompaniment—a mutual relationship between companion churches. In accompaniment, churches walk together in service in God’s mission, with each church having primary responsibility for its area. Central Africans have their own expression for accompaniment: maboko namaboko, which means “hand in hand.”
ELCA mission personnel know that accompaniment takes two hands. They serve at
the invitation of and under the supervision of the local church, and they focus their efforts on equipping and supporting local Christians in their tasks. ELCA missionary Karon Harden tells how accompaniment works for her project:
“We ELCA personnel are guests, here to accompany our Central African colleagues. Our help, though welcome, is not meant to generate dependency. The Village Schools Project is first and foremost their project for the benefit of their children, and for it to have the most profound and most durable effect, they must own and maintain it themselves….We stress the training of (local) personnel, and require the beneficiaries of our aid to prepare for their own long-term administrative and financial sustain-ability.”
– Scott Mikkelson
Christmas Eve
Worship Schedule
5:00pm Worship: Come and join family and friends as we gather children together — young and old — in an informal worship of lessons, carols, and telling the story; concluding with the traditional candle-lit “Silent Night.”
7:00 and 9:00pm Worship: The majesty and awe of the Gospel of Christ’s incarnation, celebrated with processional readings, preaching, special music from the choir and the first Communion of Christmas; concluding with the traditional candle-lit “Silent Night.”
December Sundays 9:30 Adult Education . . . .
December 7th ☆ Congregational Meeting (No Adult Education Classes)
December 14th ☆ A Mutual Ministry Forum: “Staffing after Scott”
As we give thanks to God that we have enabled Scott to answer the Call to ordained pastoral ministry, and as we prepare to send him off to his final year of seminary next May, his departure creates either crises or opportunity. Both Scott and Karen have been tremendous gifts to our ministry. How will we replace them? Our Mutual Ministry Team has been assessing our current staffing responsibilities and needs. Here is an opportunity for further congregational input and feedback in that process.
☆ Sunday School Express: A 30 minute module of topical discussion using “Reality Check: Christianity in the Workplace” by Vera Gilmore. Discussion led by Craig Caudill.
☆ Faith and Contemporary Literature: Kathy Carlson’s class concludes.
December 21st ☆ The Birth Narrative of St. Luke
It is one of the most familiar stories of the Bible. So familiar, we may miss its central message and meaning. How does “the sweet story” distort Luke’s telling? How does it differ from Matthew’s version? What makes it so compelling and enduring? In the sanctuary with the Pastors.
☆ Sunday School Express: A 30 minute module of topical discussion using “Reality Check: Christianity in the Workplace” by Vera Gilmore. Discussion led by Craig Caudill.
December 28th ☆ The Birth Narrative of St. Matthew
This is the “less familiar” story that includes the visit of the Magi. What is St. Matthew telling his audience about this Child? What contemporary message still speaks to “wise ones” today? Since there are no individual children’s Sunday School classes today, this class will be taught with an inter-generational audience in mind. In the sanctuary with the Pastors.
☆ Sunday School Express: A 30 minute module of topical discussion using “Reality Check: Christianity in the Workplace” by Vera Gilmore. Discussion led by Craig Caudill.