Bulletin Announcements

October/November 2008

These are the announcements for October/November 2008

ANNOUNCEMENTS:Our Pastor Ted Bodjanac, can be reached by phone at (602)253-9739 or by e-mail at:pastor@relcwels.org Area Reformation Service: The are Reformation service for the WELS churches of greater Phoenix will be November 2nd @4pm. The service will be conducted at Arizona Lutheran Academy which is located on 27th Ave south of Southern. Arrive early as this is a very well attended service. Church Picnic: We will have our 2008 picnic on November 9th at Granada Park located on 20th Street south of Glendale Ave. The picnic will begin after the 10am worship service. Please bring your own food and drinks and a dish to share. There will be games for the children. Everyone is invited. Thanksgiving Day November 27th there will be a worship service at 10am. Please come give thanks to the Lord. Gospel Bluegrass Jam: On second Friday night of each month at 7pm our member Jason Jonker will host an evening of Gospel bluegrass music in the basement of the church. You are invited to come and play your guitar, violin, mandolin or other acoustic instrument. You are welcome to come and listen too. There will be a freewill offering gathered to cover utilities. Weddings: IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A CHURCH TO HAVE A CHRISTIAN WEDDING OF ANY SIZE YOU ARE WELCOME TO OUR CHURCH. WEDDINGS ARE NOT JUST FOR MEMBERS HERE. CONTACT US, LET US HELP YOU. LET US EXPLAIN WHAT IS REQUIRED TO HAVE YOUR WEDDING HERE. Quinceañeras: If you are looking to have a quinceañera worship service in our church for your 15 year old daughter. Contact us we will help you. We offer a service in English, Spanish or as bilingual as you want it. We do not take last minute requests so please plan with us four to six months before your desired date. BILINGUAL WORSHIP THE 2ND SUNDAY EACH MONTH AT 10AM or as announced. MONDAY Lutheran Girl Pioneers 2nd and 4th Mondays @ 6pm We start in September on the 8th at 6:30pm Please come! Greenfield Acres Neighborhood Association Meeting the 2nd Monday of every month at 6:30pm TUESDAY - Youth Catechism 6:15pm WEDNESDAY- Meetings and Classes by appointment BRING YOUR CHILDREN TO SUNDAY SCHOOL Every Sunday 11:15am. Bring yourself to Adult Bible Study 11:15am Every Sunday. Teen Study: (Mid-August-May)We now have a Bible Study for Jr. High and High Schoolers. This class meets each Sunday at 8:45am with Ms.Kimberly Clah. LUTHERAN GIRL PIONEERS: If you are interested in being involved in Luhteran Girl Pioneers a Christ centered youth organization for girls in Grade School and High School please contact Pastor Bodjanac 602-253-9739. Learn more about this organization at www.Lutheran Girl Pioneers.org ALRC-Arizona Lutheran Retirement Center located at 19th Ave and Orangewood has a new web site visit it today at www.azlrc.org or call 602-995-2541 for apartment availability and information. Donations to the center are always appreciated and needed. Thank You. ALA THRIFT STORE located on 59th Ave South of Thomas Rd in Phoenix is very much in need of volunteers to help run the store. There are also Two Paid Thrift Store Positions Available Sales & Back room Asst.Manager (bilingual helpful) Donation Pickup Person Call Linda at 623-245-9559 or 602-573-0512 for details Please call 623-245-9559 if you want to volunteer. BUY SCRIP to support our Lutheran High School: The scrip coordinator for our church is Chris Folkerts. Scrip can be purchased from Chris after church every Sunday, or you may call her at 480-998-4285 to place your order. There are many stores and restaurants to choose from. If you are not familiar with the scrip program, ask Chris and find out what it is all about. CHOIR: Our choir is in need of a few more members please come join the choir. Talk to our organist Chris Folkerts for details. CHILDREN’S CATECHISM: Classes begin the last Tuesday in August (August 26) at 6:15pm. This class is for children in 6th-10th grades. All the lessons to prepare your children for Holy Communion are included in this class. Children are confirmed and make their first Holy Communion the same day. Parents may take the class with thier children. Church E-mail List: If you wish to be on the church E-mail list to receive announcements during the week then please send an E-mail to the church requesting to be on the list. Pastor@Relcwels.org Want to be a Member? We want very much that each visitor to our church feels at home. If you wish to become a member please contact the pastor 602-254-8682. Holy Communion: If you have missed Holy Communion on the 1st Sunday of the month, you can request it any Sunday after church. Simply ask the pastor. Catechism lessons are availible for adults by request in English or Spanish. We ask that every adult take this class and be confirmed in the Lutheran Church before regularly attending Holy Communion. We want you to know what we teach and believe. Also we care that you have a scriptural understanding of Holy Communion before you participate in the sacrament. Catechism Classes For Adults Will be held as requested. FOOD FOR THE NEEDY: We are in need of cans of vegetables, bags of rice and pinto beans, and baby formula for our food closet. Our Church helps neighborhood families each week with these items. MEDITATIONS Devotional booklets are available on the table in the entrance of the church. Cleaners Needed: We are in need of church members to volunteer to clean the church each week. Please serve Christ in this important way. Sign up today! Please Save Your Aluminum Cans for the church. You can bring the cans to the church on Sunday and leave them in a bag outside the west doors which are nearest the parking lot. Let us be generous and meet the needs of the Holy Ministry in our church. “But just as you excel in everything- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in the grace of giving.” 2 Corinthians 8:7 LA QUINCEAÑERA MEXICANA: NOT LETTING THE DEVIL HAVE ALL THE GOOD STUFF About four years ago a young woman and her mother came to church and asked me to conduct a special blessing worship service in honor of her 15th birthday. I agreed to do this before I really knew what I was promising. With some investigation I realized that this was a Mexican Catholic tradition. One in which the glory is given to the Virgin Mary with the young woman presenting flowers to the blessed Virgin and asking for her blessing on her life as a woman. I also learned that most Mexican people are willing to allow the Misa (the mass) to be conducted as the priest saw fit. While I felt that Jesus had placed a challenge in front of me, I soon realized again that He was also opening a door on such a happy occasion to preach the Gospel. A blessed opportunity to allow the brilliance of his grace to beam down into the lives of people who did not know him or His peace. With the help of a brother pastor I prepared a worship service which was the Common Service in Spanish with a couple of changes. I added baptism for those who would request it during their quinceañera, I added allowing the girl, who is also know on that day as the quinceañera (La quinceañera), to make her first Communion provided that she would study in the Catechism lessons class for adults before her birthday arrived. I added a place in the service for the Padrinos (God Parents) to present the girl with a Bible and other special gifts such as jewelry or flowers. The center piece of the service is the sermon which is full length. The service ends with the girl kneeling in front of the altar on her cojín, which is a very fancy pillow, to receive God's blessing on her life as a woman. Some of the girls have asked if, at the very end of the service, they can place their flowers on the altar as a gift to Christ. I allow this and make it a very clear point that this is a gift to honor Jesus Christ. That first quinceañera went well for me though my Spanish was not perfect, yet Christ was exalted even though the preacher was limited in vocabulary. At a later quinceañera, when one of my old German yet Spanish speaking elders attended, I was brought to realize by him that the quinceañera was truly youth ministry. I remember him saying " Pastor, when you can have so many young people and adults dressed up and paying attention to a church service and you declare to them the saving Gospel, that's youth ministry." This truly fulfills Luther's comment to "not let the Devil have all the good stuff". Through the last four years I have become a veteran of many quinceañeras. I have met and worked so many kind and beautiful people. I have had the privilege to baptize many of these young women and at times included baptisms of other family members during the quinceañera. Many have completed their Catechism training and made their first communion. Others were confirmed as well on a following Sunday and have stayed members. Surely Christ has opened wide a cultural door in the Lutheran Church through which many will pass intending to celebrate becoming a woman yet also discover that Jesus is waiting for them on the other side of those church doors with the gift of Salvation through Faith by Grace alone. I believe Jesus explains the success of the Lutheran Quinceañera this way : "For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Isaiah 56:7 .Pastor Bodjanac can be reached by phone at (602)253-9739 or by e-mail at:pastor@relcwels.org