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Active in Faith

December 2014

Monthly publication for members and friends of

Faith Lutheran Church 4005 Palm Drive, Punta Gorda, FL 33950

941-639-6309 faithmin88@embarqmail.com

Pastor: Rev. Dana Alan Narring, MDiv

Mission and Vision Statement:

Empowering All People to Know Jesus Christ!

Weekly Bible Studies

Monday 10:30 –Women’s Bible study, “Encouraged in Heart” by Dr. Mary Hilgendorf.

Dec. 1 and 8. Will resume Jan. 12

Thursday – 10:30 to 11:30 AM – Pastor Clyde’s Thursday Bible class

Worship Services

Saturday 5:30 Praise and Worship Service

Sunday 9:30 Worship Service

Sat./Sun.

Nov. 29/30

Wednesday,

Dec. 3 6:00

Sat./Sun.

Dec. 6/7

Wednesday,

Dec. 10 6:00

Sat./Sun.

Dec. 13/14

Wednesday,

Dec. 17 6:00

Wednesday

Dec. 24

Candlelight 7:00

communion

Candlelight 11:00

communion

Thursday

Dec. 25

Christmas Day

9:30

communion

Sat./Sun.

Dec. 20/21

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Pastor’s message Greetings in Christ, Please enjoy this December Stewardship message . . . We’re all familiar with Jesus’ parable about the man who tore down his barns to build bigger ones in Luke 12:13–21. The key to His teaching resides in verse 20. Most translations read: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou has prepared?” But that’s not exactly what our Lord says in Greek. The subject of what God says to the fool is not “thy soul” but “they” implied by the form of the verb “to require.” And the verb is not in the future, but the present tense. And so what our Lord actually said was: “They are requiring your very soul from you.” And the question is: Who is “they?” In the context, the answer is, of course, the things—all the stuff the rich man had been so concerned about that he built bigger barns to hold it all. A better translation might be this: “Fool! This night they are requiring your very soul from you. Now who owns whom?” The moral of our Lord’s parable then is not “you can’t take it with you.” For the rich man in our Lord’s parable doesn’t die. He lives. The worst part about putting all your stock in stuff is not that you might die before you can enjoy it. But that you might actually live and be enslaved to it. For all the stuff the rich man thought he owned actually owns him. It dominates his life. He’s launched a demolition and construction program to support it all. He has to lie awake at night terrified that someone might slip in and steal it from him. He doesn’t own his stuff. The stuff owns him. But a man’s life doesn’t consist in his possessions. A man’s life consists in being possessed and being possessed by the right things. We delude ourselves into thinking that we are in control. We think we control the things in our life. When if fact they call out to us night and day, day and night. Our flesh is easy prey for the devil and the world. Our hunger for the things of creation is insatiable. And we seek to consume it all. But it is vanity, a chasing after the wind. For in the midst of our consumption we find that we are the ones being consumed. It consumes us. It kills us. It possesses us. Fool, this night they are requiring your very life, your very soul from you. The Holy Trinity does not share. You can have only one master. We belong to that which we love, and we are a slave to anything from which we will not walk away. Better to be a slave keeping the door in the house of the Lord than deluded in the tents of wickedness. Better to enter eternal life without an eye or a hand than to enter into the hell of fire fully intact.

Continued on the following page.

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It is only when we give things up, when we are content with nothing, that we can fully enjoy creation. Because when everything in this world is a gift, when nothing really belongs to us, then gratitude flourishes and joy grows free. Where mercy rules, joy abounds and love grows spontaneously. And the most significant thing that does not belong to us is we ourselves. We must give up ourselves because we are not our own. We were bought with a price. We are possessed by the Lord. Remember the Catechism: “who redeemed me . . . purchased and won me . . . that I may be His own . . . .” He has taken us as His own by Water and Word. Redeemed in Christ, the poor in spirit are now rich toward God. We are free of this sad world and its uncertainties, free of trying to make our own way, of being perfect or even of being happy. You brought nothing into this world. You will take nothing out of it. Yet all of this world, in Christ, who gave up all things for us, is ours, because we are His. The irony is that in giving up all things we gain all things. And this is what it means to be rich toward God. To be rich toward God is to empty ourselves of all things, to cast ourselves at his feet and like beggars, cry out for mercy and grace, for his undeserved love and kindness. To empty ourselves so that he can fill us up. Being rich toward God is simply to receive, to sit at the receiving end of his gifts. It is to recognize that He is the giver and we the those who receive. It is to receive daily bread, house and home, spouse and children, land and work and all that we have as gifts from His gracious and giving hands. It is to recognize that all that we have, all that we are, and all that we shall have and shall be are His. And in receiving Him, we have received all that we need and more. And so with that in mind, let us turn our faces toward Bethlehem. For the Lord, our Possessor, has given up heaven and His Divine rights and power and has taken up our Flesh. He gives up His possessions so that they may be ours. He has given up his life so that that death would be for us true life. The Lord has emptied Himself of righteousness to be filled with our guilt and sin. He empties us of what is yours in order to fill you with Himself. We belong to Him, the Lord born in Bethlehem, murdered in Jerusalem, visible in Emmaus, and ascended into Heaven. For a man's life consists in being possessed by the God who gives us all that we need for this life and the next. How can we not give back to Him in thanksgiving and gladly do what He says? May God continue to richly bless you! Blessings in Christ, Pastor

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Wandering Editors’ Note

Our sons often say “crazy busy” when they talk to us about their businesses.

You will see that we at Faith will be “crazy busy” in December. Mark your

calendar or you will miss an event. Take the time to be still to await the

coming of our Savior at Christmas.

Terry and Naomi Weslock

Editors

Don't Bake! Get your Christmas Cookies at the

Cookie Walk

December 6, 2014 9:00-12:00

$500.00 to benefit the Homeless Coalition

Preventing Hunger and Homelessness since 1989

Thrivent will supplement the funds we raise for the Homeless Coali-

tion with an additional $250. The rest of the funds will benefit our

local community and Faith’s programs.

Your help is needed! Bakers are needed to make this a success. Please label the candies and cookies if they contain nuts. Bring baked items to Friday or before 9:00

Saturday. Please call Beverlee Winslow (941-637-7680) if are able to bake.

Hanging of the

Greens

Please join us on

December 6 at

9:00am for Hanging

of the Greens in the

church and narthex, putting up the

nativity scene and Christmas trees.

Christmas Dinner

December 7

5:00 at Zalman Hall

Cost: $20.00 paid in advance

Please sign up in the narthex.

Some reserved seats will be

available

Contact: Betty Pio

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Advent suppers will be served at 5:00

December 3: hosted by Fellowship: pizzas and ice

cream

December 10: hosted by Choir and Altar Guild:

sloppy joes

December 17: hosted by Elders: variety of chili

On October 26 the Board of Evangelism hosted

a new members luncheon for us to meet them.

New members since spring voters’ meeting are

Ted and Shirley Naumann, Bruce Vogel, Lisa

Neff and Kevin Johnson. Associate members are

Steve and Janis Schroeder, Clyde and Judy

Spencer and Dennis and Barbara Garling.

Congratulations to Cody Cope who graduated from

National Aviation Academy Maintenance Magna Cum

Laude on November 25, 2014.

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Lutheran Women’s Missionary League

Serve the Lord with gladness. Psalm 100:2

Needed now or when you return to Punta Gorda: the quilt packets completed and turned in, either to the guild room or the table in the narthex.

Thanks,

Arlene

Naomi Weslock

President

Please keep Sam Sessa, our adopted seminarian, in your prayers as he studies for the ministry at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

The LWML Sarasota Zone Fall Rally was

held on November 1, 2014 and hosted

by the ladies of Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Church, Sarasota, FL. During the

worship service we remembered saints

from various units who are now in the

presence of the Lord since last All Saints

Day. Those remembered from Faith were

Kathy Kuchta and Vivian Reis. Cheryl

Huston of My Choice Pregnancy Center,

Inc. in Sarasota and Clearwater was the

guest speaker. The offering collected

were: for LWML (Zone and District) -

$474.00; for LCMS Fund for persecuted

Christians- $289.00 and for My Choice

Pregnancy Center-$917.00+ (still count-

ing!) and donated items.

Ladies who attended from Faith were: Margaret

Andrews, Naomi Weslock, Marilyn Bredvik, Beverlee

Winslow, Virginia Johnson, Gloria Koehler and Gail

Clarkson, the photographer. Pastor Narring was

among the three pastors who attended. A total of 68

ladies from the Sarasota zone attended.

Dates to remember: Dec. 6: Cookie Walk Jan. 16, 2015: Go out for lunch Feb. 7: Flea Market Feb. 11: Meeting (in narthex) Mar. 18: Meeting April 15: Meeting

March 14, 2015 Spring Zone Rally at Lakeside Lutheran Church, Venice Sept. 25-27, 2015: District Retreat Fall 2016 Zone Rally: Faith Punta Gorda

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Board of Missions

A Special Holiday

Collection

The Board of Missions would like to say a big THANK YOU to all that donated items and/or mon-ey for our special drive for the Military. We boxed 10 boxes today and enclosed 12 $25.00 phone cards for them to use to call their loved ones over the Holidays. We hope this will help make their Christmas just a little bit more special.

Chairperson

Carol Meyer

Rev. Dr. James Cotter (winter Pastor at Lutheran Church of the Cross) and his wife Donna are taking a group on tour of the Holy Land in April 2015. It is a unique opportunity for a Lutheran pastor to lead a tour. Pastor Cotter has arranged specific stops that will enrich the journey. He has also planned the locations to be “accessible.” There will not be too much walking. Please see the flyer on the Narthex bulletin board or call: 260-615-4394.

Time to ring the bells!

The Salvation Army will be collecting funds in

time for Christmas. Volunteers are needed to

ring the bells November 7-December 22. .

Please check in the narthex to sign up.

If you have a memorial gift to honor a loved one and would like to share it with Faith Lutheran Church, please see Pastor Narring or Carol Meyer. They have a detailed list of ministry needs from which you can select. Thank you!

Lorne and Lois Niemann

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Gail Clarkson 12/2

Nancy Vernon 12/2

Sandra Lehman 12/6

Madeline Schminke 12/9

Cheryl Kampa 12/11

Pat Martin 12/11

Zola Cheever 12/12

Bob Bartelson 12/16

John Jorgensen 12/17

Marilyn Bredvik 12/18

Amanda Kukuk 12/19

Terry Weslock 12/20

Bonnie Doeren 12/22

Ralph Winkler 12/23

Darlene Duggan 12/27

Sam Jackson 12/27

Joe Rogers 12/27

John Arens 12/28

Tuni Miller 12/29

Muriel Pedersen 12/29

Richard and Margueritte Jones 12/1 (7 yrs.)

Jerry and Joyce Metz 12/3 (54 yrs.)

Bob and Kathy Page 12/13 (34 yrs.)

Gerald and Joanne Schultz 12/15 (58 yrs.)

Eugene and Ruth Ann Mayer 12/18 (54 yrs.)

Ted and Shirley Naumann 12/25 (60 yrs.)

Ralph and Kathy Winkler 12/28 (51 yrs.)

Lou and Diane Zanoni 12/28 (51 yrs.)

A big thank you to all who participated in the card shower for George's 80th. We were able to celebrate with some of our children and also our

friends which made it very special. Thanks again. Sherry Marks

Anna Loehnert:

November 29, 1916-

November 1, 2014

Please make the following correction in the church directory. Terry and Naomi Weslock 411 Walnut Street #9703 Green Cove Springs, FL 32043

While they are in Punta Gorda you can use 6800 Golf Course Blvd. M31, Punta Gorda, FL 33982

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Date Ushers Reader

Wed., Dec. 3, 6pm Cheryl Kampa and Sam Jackson

Sun. Dec. 7 Larry and Marcia Berkel

John and Lois Arens John Arens

Wed., Dec.10, 6pm Dick and Lou Young

Sun., Dec. 14 Phil and Ro Miller Pete and Linda Daut

Kay Oetting

Wed., Dec. 17, 6 pm Cheryl Kampa and Rich Fasnacht

Dec. 21 Sam Jackson and Bev Shutter

Stan Smith and Carolee Brockmiller Stan Smith

Christmas Eve Dec. 24, 7 pm

Bill and Beverlee Winslow Sam Jackson and Carolee Brockmiller Beverlee Winslow

Christmas Eve Dec. 24, 11 pm

Dave and Shelly Cope Bob and Sharon Hall

Charlie Holt

Christmas Day Dec. 25, 9:30 am

Terry and Naomi Weslock Virginia and Ken Johnson

Terry Weslock

Sun., Dec. 28 Bob and Kathy Page Bruce and Connie Frilstad

Kathy Page

December Ushers and Readers Schedule

Unless indicated the Saturday ushers are Dick and Sandy Lehman and the reader is Dick Lehman.

Please join us during the Advent season in

worship on Saturdays (5:30), Sundays (9:30)

and Wednesdays (6:00) and in fellowship

at the Wednesday Advent suppers (5:00).

Board of Elders

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View weekly announcements and calendar at: www.faithlutheranpg.com

The church’s office email address is: faithadmin88@embarqmail.com

Church office hours are 9am-2pm Monday-Friday

Deadline for January newsletter is December 22

Please e-mail all announcements, articles and photos to

wanderingweslocks@netzero.com

Editor will reserve the right to proofread and edit all articles for the monthly newsletter.