Beginning
June 3, 2001
Sunday at
8:30am &
10:00am
Saturday
remains at 6pm
Sunday School and Adult Bible study will
Resume in September
Christmas in July
The weekend of
July 21 & 22, 2001
Our project for this year is to raise money for a Risograph copy machine to print bulletins and posters and other advertising for the Grand Canyon, A Christian Ministry in the National Parks.
Each year our Confirmation class worships with this community during their retreat at the Grand Canyon. Pastor Joe Surin is thrilled to have the financial help. This entire ministry is supported solely by the offerings each Sunday of tourists and year ‘round residents of the Grand Canyon. Pastor Joe oversees 20-25 college and seminary students each summer who lead 21 Protestant worship services each week at camp grounds and lodges in and around the Grand Canyon.
The need for publicity is vital and our gifts will assist in getting the word out that there are worship services available while people are on vacation.
Use the designated envelope in your bulletin.
Lutheran Brotherhood Bonanza Branch #8237 will match the first $450.00 we raise.
Christ the King Catholic Community
Will join us this year
And it will be held at their Church
4925 S. Torrey Pines
Mexico-Mission-Trip
Meeting Schedule
June 26th, 7pm-Meeting with all participating churches at The Lakes Lutheran (only team leaders are required to attend)
July 24th, 7pm-Meeting for all "Amigas y Amigos " at Good Samaritan Lutheran
July 29th, 5pm-Fiesta (potluck) at The Lakes Lutheran Church
July 31st, 7pm-Final meeting at The Lakes Lutheran Church
Aug. 5th, 5:30pm-Departure from The Lakes Lutheran Church
Aug. 10th, 4pm-Arrive home at The Lakes Lutheran Church
I ask all participants, and parents, to come to the meetings on July 24th, the Fiesta, and on July 31th, the Final meeting. All who helped us prepare, but are not going to Mexico, are invited to the Fiesta.
Youth Events During
Summer Vacation!
During this summer, we have planned some activities for all youth from different Lutheran Churches in Las Vegas. Every Thursday, all Junior and Senior High students are invited to come along to the following events:
June 28th, 10am-3pm-Wet’n Wild
July 5th, 9am-1pm-Hike Red Rock to Ice Box Canyon (bring a sack lunch)
July 12th, 10am-Omnimax at Caesar’s Palace
July 19th, 1pm-Mountasia
July 26th, 5pm-"Charlie Brown" play at Spring Mountain Ranch
Aug. 2nd, 9am-Bike ride
Aug. 16th, 10am-2pm-Adventure Dome
We’ll start off with a "Hawaiian LUAU" on Wednesday, June 20th, from Noon-3pm at the Desert Shores.
The cost for this event will be $5.00 per person. Please notice, that we have to make arrangements for some events very soon in order to get tickets (for Charlie Brown.) Therefore, a sign-up sheet will be in the Narthex. Please sign up as soon as possible. If you can’t come to church, please give me a call 873-3589. The exact times will be announced later.
Intern Joe
A Letter from the President
Dear Friends:
I grew up in a very self-confident corner of the Lutheran church. Not only did we lead with the Bible, the creeds, and Luther’s Small Catechism, but we were also pretty sure that all our practices were the very best (if not the only) way of being a Christian. We were especially sure that we knew the right way to keep Christmas.
In this German-American community in Ohio, that meant both opening presents on Christmas Eve and attending a late night candlelight service. I know now that this pattern is not the one that had always existed, even at St. John’s Lutheran Church, but what you remember from your childhood seems to stretch all the way back to the time of Christ.
It was a great shock when I married a Southern Methodist to realize that I was going to have to compromise on a few things. With difficulty I adjusted to opening presents on Christmas morning, but I held on to the late service on Christmas Eve as one of the constants in my life, one of those traditions that I wanted to pass on to the next generations.
The great thing about traditions is how well they anchor you. The terrible thing about traditions is how they can tie you up and make you unnecessarily rigid. A severe test came this past Christmas when a 24-hour flu swept through our family. My wife faded all day on Christmas Eve, and by that night I realized that it was the right thing for me to stay home with her rather than leave her alone in a big empty house while I kept my Christmas Eve tradition.
"Well," I thought as I went to bed, "there is a Christmas Day service. It won’t be the same, but perhaps I can at least go to that. It will be something." When Christmas morning dawned, Mary-Carlton was feeling pretty well and we went off to church together. The surprise was how wonderful the service was – bright and light and cheery, just as the Christmas Eve service is always dark and quiet and mysterious. We both remarked what a good celebration it had been, with different lessons and some different but wonderful carols. It was a lot shorter too! We didn’t get to sing "Silent Night" with lighted candles, but you can’t have everything.
I’ve been thinking that my struggles with my own childhood Christmas traditions are a pretty good metaphor for a larger struggle in our church for that needed flexibility to be successful in mission. We have so many members with rich memories and deep convictions of what we want to hold, to preserve, to pass on. But if we try to keep it all, it just won’t work. What will come through above all is not the way that the gospel has been present in these forms, but rather our own stubbornness that things have to be done "our way." Difference can mean loss, but it can also just mean difference, and sometimes real enrichment.
I suspect that in years to come the Lulls will keep going to the late service on Christmas Eve. The younger generation is now too committed to the "family tradition" to make a permanent change to Christmas morning possible. But I also now know that it doesn’t make quite so much difference as I once thought. Perhaps that will let me hear the good news in a fresh way in Christmases to come, with less worry about passing on our tradition and more gratitude for the gift that no one heritage can completely capture.
Timothy F. Lull
Reprinted by Permission
From PLTS Newsletter
Winter 2001
About Dr. Lull:
http://www.plts.edu/index.html
There may be found links to articles by Dr. Lull:
Easter Sermon 2000
Thirteen Summary Theses for the Magnet Church Consultation
In Support of the Formula of Agreement
The Christian Life--A Lutheran Perspective
Light as a Feather: Lutheran Ecclesiology Today
Theology for Advent and Christmas
Pacific Chill and Burning Hearts: A Sermon for the Celebration of the Lutheran / Reformed Full Communion
At this writing, we have just returned from the Synod Assembly in Phoenix. We’re wondering if it’s possible to feel both elated and exhausted at the same time. The sessions were long and exhausting, yet, the worship services, Bible studies and the election of a new Bishop were exhilarating.
We voted on ten resolutions and heard numerous reports. We had several "spotlights" (our intern, Joe), Ethiopia, Sudan and a multi-cultural camp for kids.
The first night at the assembly there was a banquet for Bishop Howie Wennes. They did a roast, and we can tell you there are some pretty funny pastor’s running around our Synod! It was great and Bishop Wennes very graciously sat with a big smile on his face all evening. He did however get back at some of them throughout the next two days.
The Rev. Dr. Barbara Rossing, Associate Professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, was the Bible study leader for the assembly. We have had the pleasure of having her at our Church a few years ago and also just recently the Thursday morning Bible study group viewed her videos on Revelation.
There was great music at the assembly and Bishop Medardo Gomez preached and also brought a musical group, Tohil, with him from El Salvador. His son is part of that group.
We elected, by Ecclesiastical Ballot, a new Bishop, Pastor Michael Neils, he is currently Senior Pastor at All Saints Lutheran Church in Phoenix. There were many pastors nominated, several from Las Vegas, including Pastor Tom. Most from Las Vegas removed their names after the first ballot. (Didn’t want to move to Phoenix I guess)
Thank you for sending us to represent our Church. Our experiences at this assembly will help us in serving our Church better.
If you’d like more information just ask one of us.
Joyce Johnson, Church Council President
Jolene Carlin, Office Manager
Joe Woerner, Student Intern
INTERN UPDATE!
Congratulations to Intern
Tonya Casci!!
Tonya has accepted a call to
be pastor at
Calvary Lutheran Church
P.O. Box 47
Irene, South Dakota 57037
Average attendance 133
Baptized members 387
Ordination will be July 28th in
Houston, Texas
Intern Justin Van Orman
Justin is currently employed by
Trinity Lutheran Seminary
2199 E. Main St.
Columbus, Ohio
As Admissions Counselor
Intern Mark Tanis
Associate Pastor at
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church
1515 5th Ave. NW
E. Grand Forks, MN. 56721
EVENTS
Our Grand Canyon Synod Elects
a New Bishop
On the fifth ballot, Pastor Michael Neils was elected the second bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod. He is 52 years old and married to Cheryl, who is an elementary school principal. They have two children, Matthew, a freshman in college, and Mary, a freshman in high school. Bishop-elect Neils will be installed on September 9th in Phoenix.
Births
June 4-Myles Parker Bauman son of Todd & Tiffani Bauman-grandson of Joe &
Kris Bauman
Baseball
Lutheran Night at the Las Vegas 51’s Baseball game drew 700 Lutherans and raised more than $3,200 for Lutheran Social Services of Nevada. Aid Association for Lutherans helped with matching funds.
Churches Open Their Charters
May
Saved by Grace Lutheran in Pahrump
September
New Hope Lutheran in Summerlin
As a formal way for congregations to begin the process of organizing as an official congregation of the ELCA every worshiping person, including children, can become ‘charter members’ by signing this document. It is a significant leap of faith and commitment for both worshiping communities.
Lutheran Social Services of Nevada
The new Executive Director is Dr. Christine Springer, a local native who attended Western High School. She began work on May 29th. The past ten years, Dr. Springer has run her own management consulting firm in Arizona.
Martin’s Mart
Lutheran Thrift Store
Charleston & Main Street
Desperately needs volunteers!!
You can work from
10am-1pm or 1pm-4pm
Monday-Friday
Or 10am-1pm on Saturday
For more information call
Carol Connor 873-3589
Ginny Clark 438-7989
Interfaith Hospitality Network
On June 10th Executive Director, Tona Campbell resigned. The board is in the process of searching for a new director. With the absence of a director and many host weeks empty in July and August, the board has closed IHN for the summer and will reopen in the Fall. During the summer there will be major renovations to the day site.
"Be ye fishers of people. You catch them and God will clean them"
Closure
As I write this, it has been almost a week since we executed a man who confessed to killing 168 people. It was a heinous crime. But, it is not an unforgivable crime. Where I differ from most Americans on this issue is on where forgiveness comes from. The word I hear mentioned often in discussions about the death penalty, and it has been used in this particular death, is that an execution will give us closure. Closure is the secular word for forgiveness. Both words mean that we refuse to let someone else’s words or actions hang over us and cause us continued pain. We want to be able to say, ‘I am not going to let what this person did so influence me that I cannot live at peace.’
Closure doesn’t mean we excuse the sin and it doesn’t mean the sinner isn’t to be held responsible. But, as Christians we believe that the only way we can obtain closure is through the work of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit works in us, forcing itself into our hearts with power and love and enabling us to forgive. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can forgive or gain closure. We can’t obtain it on our own so it will not come from executing someone. In fact closure will not come from any punishment or any sentence.
I have heard it argued, for and against, that the death penalty meets ones need for revenge, justice, and satisfaction that the person got what he/she deserved. But, if one is to argue for the death penalty on the basis that it will give us closure, the Christian can legitimately say that we understand it is the Holy Spirit that enables us to forgive at all and therefore it is the Holy Spirit, not the death penalty, that gives us closure.
See you in Church!
Pastor Tom