able to put a dent in the wide gap that

separates us from our holy and good

God. And yet, this gap was bridged, by a

love that was wider and deeper than the

forces that kept us apart. And the Gap-

Bridger, the Chasm-Leaper, his name

is Jesus, and the work that he did on

the cross was far more powerful than

the dark that may have surrounded

you in the past, or perhaps surrounds

you now. And the beauty of it all? You

don’t have to see it to believe it. You

don’t have to feel it to be so incredibly

assured of its truth that you can sense a

piece of calm, even if it’s a tiny piece, in

the chaos of the storm. Because God

doesn’t wait for the horizon. God IS the

horizon. God spoke, and Light broke into

the world, first in creation, then in Jesus.

The darkness didn’t stand a chance.

The beauty of this, outside of the breath-

taking beauty of the gritty and real and

overwhelming love that God has for you,

is that absolutely none of it depends on

you, and especially on your mental

health status. The bloody work that Jesus

did on the cross happened outside of

you, for you. You cannot make it better;

you cannot mess it up. When you look to

your heart and see its innate brokenness,

which perhaps is even a bit easier to do

when trapped in the dark, and you hand

those broken pieces to Jesus, you leave

yourself empty-handed… blessedly,

comfortingly empty-handed. And when

you are in the dark, that is a very good

thing to be.

The smaller issue then is where do we go

from that truth? Should that be enough?

The answer is yes, it is enough, but also

no, we don’t stop there. The truth is we

are broken physical creatures, living in a

broken physical world.

…Article continues on page 2

Life can be a challenge, and I know that

many of you in our family of Faith carry

heavy burdens daily. I hope this article,

written by a friend of mine in Minnesota,

can be a blessing to those in our congrega-

tion who struggle with depression or know

someone who does. – Pastor Josh

In February of this year, I had the joy and

privilege of teaching at our annual

women’s retreat. I spoke to the women of

our church about God being our refuge,

our strength, a subject I had been study-

ing for months leading up to it. Imagine

my surprise then when, 17 days later, I

would find myself being led in a wheel-

chair into station 32 of the psychiatric

wing of the hospital, where I would

spend the next eight days clawing my

way out of the literal depths of despair.

Those eight days are their own story in

and of themselves, of which I would hap-

pily spend an hour or two discussing over

a cup of coffee, but the question I want to

try and answer in a small way here is

this: How does a Christian bear up un-

der the burden of mental health ill-

nesses, of any variety, while maintain-

ing a “give it all to Jesus” mentality? Is

it possible? Is there an imaginary line

somewhere where medicine and self-

compassion stop helping so Jesus steps in

(or vice-versa)? Or should we not even

have these mental health issues to begin

with because we should just believe/pray/

fast/love/etc more?

The bigger issue is this: our separation

from God. The bigger issue is this chasm

that is so deep and so wide that we would

never be able to cross it on our own, even

if our mental health was at its peak. We

could never have a sad thought again for

the rest of our lives, and still our happy

little smile-factories would not even be

September’s Message from LAURA RINAS - Guest Contributor

Contact us at:

402-462-5044

Visit us at:

AFamilyofFaith.com

Inside this issue:

Prayers 2

Message cont. 2

News & Notes 3

Thank-you Notes 4

Looking Ahead 4

Community News 5

Staff & Council 6

September 2019 Volume 42, Issue 9

Faith Lutheran Church The Parish News

Please Take Note

Included inside this

newsletter is :

September calendar

& Council summary

Sept. 2019-20

Education News

Take a moment to check

out the Education News

insert and see all Faith

has to offer this Fall!

Message by Laura Rinas continued…

There are things that, though they hold no bearing

on our salvation and everlasting joy and peace with

Jesus, can and should be attended to, and our men-

tal health is most certainly one of those things. We

have a God who has given us creative minds, minds

that instinctually (for the most part) see a problem and

want to fix it. And this is a good thing. This is a way

that God has made us in His image. And we have

minds among us that are passionate about learning

about the brain, and learning how to help when things

go awry. Use those minds. Seek help. It was not meant

to be like this. Living in the dark is something that we

can do if that is what the Lord has planned for us, but

let it not be for setting aside the resources that He Him-

self has set before you. The weird, tricky call of Chris-

tianity is that we are to be prepared for suffering, ex-

pect it even. But the awesome, magnificent call of

Christianity is also to cry out to the God who loves you

in times of distress! And we can do that because of the

gospel. We can do that because the gap is already

closed. We can do that because having an illness does

not mean that you are not redeemable, and we serve a

God who delights to help His children.

In a group therapy session recently, the subject of hope

was brought up. We were asked to talk about if we had

it, and what we could do to bring more of it into our

lives. I thought about that for a long time, and came

away with this answer. There are days when I have no

hope, where I am convinced that this is what my life

will be for the rest of my days, the dark pushing in with

no rhyme or reason, and me just barely surviving it.

Those days come and those days go. But every day, I

have Hope. I have a Hope that, though this feels un-

bearable at times, it is just a blip in eternity, and that

regardless of how this plays out or if I ever find free-

dom from depression, the last chapter reads the same. It

is a Hope unaffected by the amount of tears I shed, or

the amount of hours I sleep to dull the pain. It is a

Hope that can never be scared off by the thoughts

that play in my head, because it has seen worse and

prevailed. It is a Hope that has nothing to do with

me, and everything to do with Him.

One of the most debilitating things for my own per-

sonal depression was the isolation, so if you are reading

this and are currently experiencing depression or have

and never sought help, I encourage you to start here:

Pray. Tell God of your suffering, and then tell a trusted

friend or family member. We were promised suffer-

ing, yes, but we were never promised isolation. We

were promised a body with which to mourn and to rejoice. Let those around you help you. And on the

days when you can do no more than that, rest easy, for

the biggest work has already been done.

Health, Treatments,

or Hospitalization Recently included in prayers: Linda Crum,

Will DeRosear, Glen DeVries, Jayden DeVries,

Julie Fitzke, Lydia Folcik, Gene Kohtz, Chris

Martin, Chandra Muske, Doug Nienhueser,

Sharon Petersen, Rick Rail, Bill Sadd, Betty

Stanley, Parker Stanley.

And continuing prayers for: Becky Baker,

Mark Doiel, Tim Dycus, Mason Gundersen,

Morgan Hanson, Karen Nykodym, Craig Parnell, Linda

Stocks Schafer, Harlan Schlachter, Fenton Sund, Merna

Urwin, Mary Lou Weber, Eddie Worthington.

Births & Baptisms

We give thanks for babies born to Brett & Andrean

Rowley, Chase & Alyssa Bengtson, Matt & Karissa

Folcik, and Landon & Brittany Epp; and we celebrate

with those newly baptized - Pierce Katherine McCarty,

daughter of Andrew & Courtney McCarty; and Kollyns

Lou Marquardt, daughter of Blake & Anjelica Marquardt.

Marriage We give thanks with Aaron Jank & Kathleen Thomas,

married in Omaha last month.

Sympathy

We pray for the family of Wanda Koch at her death; Judy

Bosier at the death of a brother; Gail Buss at the death of

her mother; and Carol Krause at the death of a cousin.

Page 2

PRAYERS

Did you know…..

Our church follows a 3 year lectionary. The church year runs from the First Sunday in Advent (the last of November or begin-ning of December) through the Last Sunday of the church year typically in November. Our Church year calendar is Series C which follows the Gospel of Luke for most of this year. If you would like to prepare in advance for the September readings you can read and meditate on the Gospel of Luke, chapters 14-16.

Home Visits– Meet the Intern! Over the next few weeks, Leah will be conducting

home visits, visiting students in Middle and High

School. This is an opportunity for her to get to know

these students better in their own setting. Please email

her at leah@afamilyoffaith.com or call the church (402-

462-5044) to set an appointment time that works best

with kid’s schedules.

College Bible Study Calling all college age students! Leah (our new DCE

Intern) is in the process of starting a college Bible

study. If you would be interested in joining, please

email her at leah@afamilyoffaith.com or call church.

College freshmen and their parents: Once you have your (or your child’s) college address

for the year, please call the church office or email Pas-

tor Josh (pastorjosh@afamilyoffaith.com). We would

like to keep in touch with them throughout the year!

Young Adults Young adults (ages 18-25)… how about joining others

your age for Bible study, fellowship, and food? If this

sounds like something you’d like to be a part of then

email Leah (leah@afamilyoffaith.com) or call the

church office.

September 2019 Volume 42, Issue 9 NEWS AND NOTES

We hope you will join us for one or more of these monthly get-togethers!

Priscilla Circle - September 3 at 1:00pm All women are welcome to be a part of this women’s group that meets monthly! For more information please contact Wyoma DeVries, 402-469-6149.

TheoPub - September 5, 6:30pm at Steeple Brewing All men (21 and over) are invited to join other men for conversation and fun fellowship.

Women in the Word All women are invited to meet at *The Blue Moon (downtown Hastings) on Tuesday, September 10, 6:30pm for an informal Bible Study and a time of fellowship. Contact Pam McCartney, 402-984-5561 for more info. *This is a venue change from Winestyles - we will discuss more at the Sept. meeting.

Book Group - September 12, 7pm at Dally’s Deli-South

Join us to discuss The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. All are welcome! Some come early (6pm) and enjoy supper together...we’d love to have you join us! If you have questions about book group or need a copy of the book club selections please speak with Amy Hafer, 402-984-8886.

Party at the Park: YOU ARE INVITED to join

us on September 15th at 5 pm

for a Party at the Park. Chau-

tauqua Pavilion (off of 3rd

Street, just north of the Aqua-

court Water Park) will be the

site of this gathering. Sand-

wiches and water will be provided for all. You are

asked to bring a side or a dessert to share with the

group, along with any games you’d like to play. If

you’re intending to come, please sign up in the church

forum, so we can have enough sandwiches for every-

one. Hope to see you for this time of fun, food and

fellowship.

Lutheran Layman’s League

Zone 8 Fall Rally

October 6 at Faith Lutheran

Registration begins at 5:30pm. Dinner

at 6:00pm. The guest speaker will be

Chris Birkestrand. RSVP by Sept. 30 to

Paul, 402.462.2064/Bill, 402-461.6624.

A Note from the

Board of Stewardship

The earth is the LORD’s and every-thing in it, the world, and all who live in it: for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. - - Psalm 24:1-2

God’s entire creation belongs to Him and we were created to help Him take care of it. We can’t be faithful in serving the LORD if we don’t take good care of what the Lord has designed to be good and holy. This includes the universe in which we live and move and have our being.

Dear Family of Faith, thank you to all of you, who shared

good wishes either verbally or in a greeting card, as we cele-

brated our 50th wedding anniversary. Our friends and family

make it a VERY special time that we will always cherish.

We are so richly blessed. Lee & Alyce Sherman

Faith Lutheran Church… thank you so much for your

generosity and support over these past few weeks. I am overwhelmed by your

kindness and care! I am settled into my apartment and have begun my work

here at Faith. I look forward to seeing what the next year will have in store! Leah Werling, DCE Intern

Thank-you to all those in the family of Faith who donated items to this year’s

Project Homeless Connect and all who helped at the event. Your giving spirit

and generous contributions were extremely appreciated in helping to assist ap-

proximately 200 families in need in Hastings and the surrounding area.

Thank-you for your prayers, kind inquiries, cards, and support! I’m doing

much better. God Bless! Rachel Reinke

Thank-you all so much for your prayers, cards, and other acts of kindness fol-

lowing my recent surgery. Pam McCartney

Thank-you and your “crew” for the leftover sand (from VBS) you gave for

our courtyard. The kids just love it and we appreciate your help. Hawthorne Elementary

Page 4

Thank-you Notes

FOOD PANTRY MINISTRY

Thanks to

everyone

dedicated to

our Food

Pantry min-

istry and

especially all

of you who

have stepped in to help with the

recent shortages of needed items.

To date our Faith family has given

1,339 pounds of food & other

nonperishable items to the Hast-

ings area Food Pantry. Thank you

so much! ♥

***Just a side note for those who

may not be familiar with this min-

istry… We collect non-perishable, non-expired food items and per-

sonal hygiene products in the two grocery carts - one in the forum

and one in the back of the sanctu-

ary. Every donation helps! And, a BIG thank-you to Ken Young for

counting and delivering the dona-

tions to the Food Pantry.

Faith in Action - October 6

We are starting to make plans for the October Faith in Action! We

love new ideas for ways to serve in our community. Thrivent offers

grants to help so if you have an idea you’d like to see implemented

please contact DCE Wade, 402-462-5044, soon to get plans rolling.

Voters’ Meeting - October 13

Our next quarterly Voters’ Meeting will follow the 10:30 worship service on October 13. Mark your calendar and

make plans to attend. It is a brief meeting intended to let everyone know what is going on in the life of our church.

Hope we will see you there!

80+ Meal– October 27

This meal and event was begun last year and was such a hit that we are making plans to do it again! The event is for

all those 80 and older and is hosted by our High School Youth. Watch for details to follow in next month’s news.

Financial Peace University Begins Sept. 9 at 6:30pm

at 1st Presbyterian Church

This Dave Ramsey money management

class is open to everyone. For more in-

formation about this class please contact

Deb Johnson at 402-469-5847 or email

her at debjohnsonflute@gmail.com

Women’s Event - Flourish

Saturday, Sept. 7, 2pm at The Lark This life changing adventure from

brokenness to wholeness is hosted by

Grace Life Church. Questions can be

emailed to morgan@gracelifene.org

Zion Vendor Show

October 20, 10:30-4:00 Mark your calendars and watch for more

information to come about this event.

ACLEA Golf Tournament

Sun. Sept. 8 at 1pm This four person scramble at the Elks

Country Club supports Christ Lutheran

and Zion Lutheran Schools. Entry fee is

$220 per team which includes 18 holes

of golf. Cart rentals are an additional

cost of $15 per player. For more infor-

mation contact Dan Rayburn at 402-984-

5974 or you can email him at

dan.rayburn1960@gmail.com

Caregiver Connections

If you’re caring for a loved one with

Alzheimer’s or another dementia you

can join other caregivers monthly on the

1st Wed. at The Kensington. For more

info call 402-461-3149 or email Cheri at

CTheesen@Kensington-Evergreen.com

2nd Annual Walk Against

Human Trafficking September 14, 10am-10pm

Grace Abbott Park, Grand Island

CLUB VOLLEYBALL

Christ Lutheran Church, Juniata, spon-

sors a Fall Volleyball Club for girls

entering grades 6-8. This competitive

program is open to girls attending Lu-

theran schools and churches in Adams

County. To learn more call the church

office at 402-744-4991.

UNITED HARVEST MOBILE

FOOD PANTRY 3rd Saturday of each month at 1st

Presbyterian’s Annex Bldg at 7th &

Lincoln. The United Harvest Pantry dis-

tributes food to any in need! No ques-

tions asked!!! They follow a distribution

schedule so please stop by the church

office and pick up an instruction sheet.

They also welcome any volunteer help!

Page 5 Volume 42, Issue 9

Community Events

“[Jesus said]: “I tell

you, there is rejoicing

in the presence of the

angels of God over one

sinner who repents.”

-- Luke 15:10 September 2019

Recommended Reading

Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade

The 5 Love Languages and the Alzheimer’s Journey

If you’re reading this, you may have a loved one suffering from dementia, and you’re looking for hope. The disease has already taken so much, and though you’re determined to fight, you’re weary. Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade shows how love can persist even as dementia gradually erodes memory and physical abilities. It offers powerful testimony to the lasting nature and immense power of human relationships.

Please note that many of the listed community events have detailed posters on the bulletin boards here at Faith Lutheran. The information provided in the newsletter is just a snippet to let you know of the possibilities within our larger community. So check out the posters or call for more info! ………………….

September Verse of the Month

– – Luke 15:10

Pastor George Buttrick (1892-1980) comments on this

verse: “In human life the last word is not sinning…the

last word is joy, for Calvary is but the halfway inn that

leads to Easter…Could any words more thrillingly tell

the sympathy of God? He cannot rejoice alone; he

needs to share his…joy with men and angels…Man’s

only true joy is that which comes from God by God’s

sharing, the joy of finding the lost. At long last there

can be no other joy than God’s joy…”

2019 Church Council Chairman: Doug Koopman Vice Chairman: Bill Henkel

Treasurer: Adam Jacobitz Recording Secretary: Deb Bunde

Board of Education: Becky Hamik, Dave Johnson, Jason Weseman

Board of Evangelism: Bill Henrichs, Jade Bartunek, Denise Koch

Board of Family Life: Lisa Mertens, Jocelyn Rundle, Deanna Haase

Board of Finance: Linda Venteicher, Jim & Doll Wiegel, Ron & Linda Hemberger,

Dave Bierman, Jody Davis, Victor & Teresa Bockerman

Board of Lay Ministry: Ron Haase, Becky Schutte, Trisha Shafer, Phil Nelson

Regina Anderson, Larry Kuehn

Board of Trustees: Jeff Grabill, Larry Ochsner, Tyler McCartney, Kathy Johnson,

Donna Buss, Patti Hinrikus

Board of Stewardship: Eric Arneson, Sandy Frerichs, Deanna Dirks

Faith Lutheran Church

Office – 402-462-5044

www.aFamilyofFaith.com

-includes all email addresses

STAFF

Paul T. Dunbar, Pastor

462-9551 (Home)

Josh Davis, Pastor

402-705-0874 (cell)

Wade Johnson, D.C.E.

402-834-1077

Vicki Fisher, D.C.E.

402-462-0194

Leah Werling, D.C.E. Intern

Support Staff

Cindy O’Donnell, Secretary

Deb Henkel, Bookkeeper

Angie Nissen, Custodian

Non Profit Organization

US POSTAGE PAID

Hastings, NE

Permit No. 309

Faith Lutheran Church

837 Chestnut

Hastings, NE 68901

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Our Mission Statement: Faith Lutheran Church is the body of Christ, called to be the caring hands and loving voice of Christ in this world.

September 2019