Pastor’s Reflection

This Lent is for You-

On Ash Wednesday, we once again begin the special season of Lent. This traditional period is a time of introspection and renewal for us as disciples. It is a season that can be rich in spiritual practices and lead us to deepen our relationship with God and one another.

Our quest during Lent is to draw closer to God. The traditional disciplines of fasting, praying, giving up things, journaling, and donating money to those in need, such as world hunger or SOS, are all intended to clear the way, remove barriers, and take away hindrances from our growth in God’s way. They help us to strip away excess and get back to the basics of faith. These disciplines are meant to remove distractions so that we can focus on the real truths of Lent.

We don’t do the disciplines to show God how devoted we are, or how good we are. We do these things so that we can see more clearly God’s action and God’s reconciling movement for us. The ashen cross on our forehead reminds us we are a fallen people, and God has redeemed us by the cross.

Lent is a time for renewal of faith, for recommitment to God’s purposes, and for experiencing God’s gracious reconciliation in our lives.

Interim Pastor,

David Bradford

Volume 43 Issue 3

March, 2017

Address: 9425 N. Citrus Springs Blvd Citrus Springs Florida 34434 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2070 Dunnellon Florida 34430 Phone: 352-489-5511 Fax: 352-489-5222 Church Email: Hopeevangeli-cal@bellsouth.net Web Page Address: www.hopelutheranelca.com Sunday Sermons www.hopewards.blogspot.com Staff Interim Pastor David Bradford Church Secretary Barbara Decker Music Director/Organist Susan Collins Custodian Kerry Reed

Happy Events!! 6

Martyr Moments 7

Prayers 11

Critics Corenr 12

Inside this issue:

Hope’s Newsletter

“To Know Christ and to Make Him Known ”

Page 2

Council Officers & Members President Steven Northsea Education Vice President Hans Witter Finance Secretary Julia Southard Family Activities, Altar Guild Treasurer Deacon Diane Kahler Financial Secretary Michel Northsea Larry Casper Deacon John Chiappetta Worship & Music Committee Emilio Del Valle Casey Gaylardo Serving Our Savior Food Pantry Judy Howe Sandra Meslow Memorial Garden Meredith Press Harold Skidmore Renate Wilms-Rovin Acolytes, Readers Outreach/Stewardship

Dollars and Sense

From the Treasurer's Desk

January 2017

Regular Offering Communion

1/1 $3543 59 1/8 $2406 70 1/15 $1826 69 1/22 $2501 68 1/29 $2641 80 Total Inflow: $11,735.25 Total Outflow: $8,744.68

Communion Cards

To all the membership of Hope:

As a criteria for membership at Hope a Communion Card needs to be filled out at least once a year. If you have not already done so, please fill one out at the next service at which you commune.

Communion Cards (along with pencils) are available in all pews and can be given to ushers or placed in the offering plate.

NEW ADDRESS

For those of you who wish to send cards or letters to Anthony Diaz here is his latest address:

RCT Diaz, Anthony E.

1st RTBN Bravo Co PLT 1028

PO Box 16125

Parris Island, SC 29905—6325

Page 3

Highlights from Council

6. Reminders:

1. Sunday, February 12 at 3:00 PM Hope will host a musical celebra-tion concert by Annie & Tim's United Bluegrass Gospel Band. In-vite your friends and neighbors..

2. A meeting with Assistant to the Bishop, Rev, James Greaser is scheduled for Thursday, February 16 at 7:00PM in the parlor. This meeting is to discuss the various options open to Hope in regards to pastoral leadership. All are wel-come.

3. Sunday, February 19th a Con-gregational Leadership Training will be held following the service. All committee chairs, council mem-bers and other congregation mem-bers are invited.

Council Highlights - February 8, 2017

Meeting

1. Approved an Eagle Scout project to upgrade and expand the playground to in-clude a playhouse, slide, climbing wall and an additional rear gate.

2. Reviewed the transition process and set goals for the March meeting.

3. Reviewed the Lenten Services. They include a pre-Lent activity on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) evening, February 28 at 4:30 - 6:30 PM in Luther Hall which includes a potato pancake supper and bingo. Then from Wednesday March 8 through Wednesday April 5 there will be 6 PM soup suppers and 7 PM Wednes-day Services. The theme will be the ob-servance of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The mid-week Lenten services will be built around Luther's Small Catechism which can be found in the hymnal.

4. Set up a task force to our mission, purpose and guiding principles to follow up on the congregational retreat, "Claiming Our Identity."

5. Elected Officers: President Steve Northsea, Vice-President Hans Witter, Secretary Julia Southard. Appointed Di-ane Kahler as Treasurer and Michel Northsea as Financial Secretary.

Page 4

Council Minutes January 11,2017

Call to order 7:00 pm /remarks- 2. Roll Call - Steve Northsea __x __, Hans Witter __x __, Victor Kahler __x __, Diane Kahler __x __, John Chiappetta __ x__, Aida Diaz __x __, Anthony Diaz __A __, Casey Gaylardo __ x__, Julia Southard __ x__, Harold Skidmore __A __, Larry Casper __ x__, Sandra Meslow __ x__, Renate Wilms Rovin __ x__, Pastor Bradford __x __. Note: Harold Skidmore Illness, Anthony Diaz resigned because of his military obligation. 3. Devotion – Pastor Bradford read from St Christopher’s Burden 4. Opening prayers – Pastor Bradford 5. Visitors: Ron Press 6 a. Adoption of the Jan 11 2017, Agenda b. Additions/Corrections: None c. Approved: Motion to approve was unanimous 7. Secretary Report of Dec 14, 2016 Council Meeting Minutes a. Additions/Corrections: None b. Approved: motion to approve was unanimous 8. Report of the Treasurer a. Questions/Concerns: Diane said that all bills were paid. Steve questioned the dedicated funds and a motion was made to transfer the Sunday school fund to the general fund was unanimous B. Accepted as discussed above 9. Report of the Pastor: Interim Pastor's Report ~ December 2016 10. Reports of January Church Committees by Council Liaisons 1. Outreach committee (Renate – Liaison) See electronic report 2. Finance committee (Hans-Liaison) – Hans asked us to review the electronic file 3. Worship committee (John- Liaison) – no meeting, Pastor Bradford will start a children’s Sunday school at 9:15 am 4. Digital committee (Harold – Liaison) Steve said the prayer list has been modified 5. Long Range Planning (Casey – Liaison) – see electronic report. A motion to have Pastor Graeser at the next LRP meeting passed unanimously. 11. Old Business a. Transition Process: Checklist review was discussed b. 2016 Constitution: the changes for the constitution will be available prior to the Janu-ary congregation meeting for review. 12. New Business

Page 5

Minutes (cont.)

Archiving the church computers and security: Victor changed the passwords on the Secre-tary, Financial, and the Pastor’s computer. The passwords were placed in the safe. Victor has been making periodic backup shadow copies of the secretary computer’s hard drive in case the hard drive should fail. Victor asked council’s permission to remove old files from the secretary’s computer and store them on disks and put them in the safe. Motion to archive passed unanimously 13. Consent Agenda a. Anthony Diaz Submitted a letter of resignation due to his joining the United States Ma-rine Core b, Barb Decker asked for her vacation birthday in February which will be covered by Con-stance Detuerk C. Motion to approve the consent agenda passed unanimously 14. Current Meeting Highlights for Newsletter and Bulletin – January 11.2017 Council Highlights 1. Children's Sunday school will begin meeting at 9:15 AM Sunday Mornings starting Janu-ary 15, 2017 2. Adult Sunday school will resume at 9:00 Sunday Mornings starting February 5, 2017 3. Nominating Committee has five volunteers to run for five council positions. 4. The Long Range Planning Committee will meet at 2:00 pm on Thursday January 26th to discuss demographics and new financial information. 5. Council agreed with Long Range Planning request to ask Pastor Jim Graeser to a meeting open to congregation to discuss challenges and options for Hope's future. 6. The annual congregational meeting will be held following the 10:00 am service on Sunday January 22nd. 7. A congregation retreat “Claiming Our Identity" will be held at Hope Sunday January 28. A few copies of "Living Lutheran: Renewing Your Congregation" are available in the church office for anyone wishing to prepare for the retreat. Council all have personal copies. 8. Sunday February 12 at 3:00 PM Hope will host a musical celebration concert by Annie & Tim's United Bluegrass Gospel Band will be held. Invite your friends and neighbors. 9. Sunday February 19th a Congregational Leadership Training will be held following the service. All committee chairs, council members and other congregation members are invit-ed 15. Council meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm with closing prayers Victor Kahler, Secretary

Volume 43 Issue 3 Page 6

EVENTS AT HOPE

Pictured above are from left: Deacon Rick Mainster, Mary Jane Stroud, Victor Hernandez, Pastor Dave, and Phylis Bradford,, entertaining at the Gospel Bluegrass concert on Sunday, February 12. Photo courtesy of

Judy Thomason.

A Heartfelt Thank You to Pastor Dave and his Gospel Band

On February 12, you filled our church with a joyful noise and our pews with an enthusiastic record crowd. It was an inspiring event and under your lead-ership and God's guidance, our church attendance may resemble that of the concert again in the not too distant future.

A grateful congregation

BTW: Love Offerings in the amount of $276.00 were received. The band knows how to fundraise!!

Volume 43 Issue 3 Page 7

Hans Nielson Hauge

(April 3,1771-March 29, 1824)

Born the 5th of 10 children in Nor-way he received a “spiritual bap-tism”. Within 2 months he started a revival movement in his own com-munity, written a book and decided to take his mission on the road. He traveled mostly on foot throughout Norway teaching in the Lutheran doctrine. He wanted to share the assurance of salvation with others. At the time, itinerant preaching and religious gatherings held with-out the supervision of a pastor were illegal. He was arrested and imprisoned more than 14 times in 17 years, accused of witchcraft and adultery. The imprisonments broke his health and led to his premature death at the age of 52.

March Birthdays Martyr Moments

Birthdays 1 Steve Kasco 17 Paul Popke

We have a birthday/anniversary file but it needs updating!

If you have a birthday or anni-versary date that you would like published in future newsletters, please contact the church of-fice.

Critic’s Spot

LA LA LAND

A worthwhile movie to see– mu-sic, dancing, tap as well, a re-minder of Fred and Ginger. You come out smiling and laughing and just feeling good. A must see.

Casey Gaylardo

Volume 43 Issue 3 Page 8

MORE EVENTS AT HOPE

Renewal of Vows for Meredith and Ron Press, pictured above with Pastor Dave presiding. The celebration was held on February 12 at Hope with re-freshments following the event. Photo by Judy Thomason.

Happy Birthday cel-ebration held at Hope in February for David Doyle’s 90th birthday. Dave is pictured on the right with his wife Alice and his sister, Norma. Photo cour-tesy of Judy Thom-ason.

Volume 43 Issue 3

Operation Christmas Child Homebound Members

Page 9

Joan Layton– Home

Dorothy Scianna– Crystal Gem Manor, Crystal River, FL

Helen Van Horn– Brentwood

Samaritan’s Purse recently released the number for the total shoeboxes collected and delivered in 2016. It was an incredible 11,485,662!

“Hope” donated 205 boxes towards that awesome total. We thank you for your generosity.

It will soon be time to kick-off our 2017 shoebox ministry here at Hope. Please watch for a special decorated box in Luther Hall to place your dona-tions.

Remember, this year we are not col-lecting toothpaste or candy.

If you have any questions. Please see Carole Warden who will be spearhead-ing this project.

Volume 43 Issue 3

“Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.”

Miguel de Unamundo, Spanish Phi-losopher (1864-1936)

“Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself.”

Sam Levenson, American humorist (1911-1980)

“Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.”

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

“Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.”

Rabbi Hyman Judah Schachtel, American theologian, author and educator (1907-1990)

“I am living on hope and faith…a pretty good diet when the mind will receive them.”

Edwin Arlighton Robinson, Ameri-can poet (1869-1935)

Page 10

Hope’s Lenten Midweek Services are scheduled for Wednesday eve-nings from March 8 thru April 5, 2017.

6:00PM Soup Suppers

7:00PM Midweek Services

Special Emphasis this year:

The year 2017 marks the interna-tional observance of the 500th an-niversary of the Reformation. In honor of that anniversary, our mid-week Lenten series is built around Luther’s Small Catechism.

Each week we will focus on one of the teaching topics that Luther in-cluded in this teaching tool of faith, his simple explanations of the Ten Commandments, The Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, Baptism and Holy Communion. Studying the Small Catechism offers a way of growing closer to God by thinking on God’s word and the basics of our Faith.

Bring a friend so they too can grow closer to God and learn about our Luther basics.

Quotable Quotes Lenten Midweek Services

Page 11

Prayer for the whole body of Christ is important. Names will be listed so that prayer can be offered to God on their behalf. Please be aware that sit-uations and conditions change but God knows the need as you bring the indi-viduals to God in prayer.

MEMBER SHUT-INS AND THOSE IN RECOVERY

Joan Layton, Dorothy Scianna, and Helen Van Horn

PRAYER REQUESTS Please pray for:

¨ For comfort and grief: Prayers for the families for all those who have passed away recently.

¨Prayer for serious health concerns: For Howard Stephens and Jay Treat, friends of Casey Gaylardo, both diag-

nosed with cancer. For Allison Meslow, daughter-in-law of George and Sandra Meslow. For the uncle of Rhonda Del Valle. For Ralph, friend of Vic Kahler.

Carolyn Dalton, the mother of Judy and David Howe’s daughter-in-law. Casey Gaylardo’s brother-in-law Frank. Also for Casey’s sister, Dorothy who is seri-

ously ill. Ulrich Rues. For Peggy and Bob Schade’s daughter-in-law, Amy Schade. For Dee Forsyth’s friend, Bobby Lindstrom. For Stan Miller’s sister. For Dorothy, the sister of Carole Kramp, who is in treatment for cancer. For

Zoe Mosedale and her whole family to come to know the Lord. For Michael Clemetsen, son of Charlene Hicklin.

¨ For healing and recovery

For Anthony Diaz, who had a recent injury, Felicia Jaffee, dear friend of Linda Becker, who has MS and has broken her leg-prayers for healing both

physically and emotionally. For Janice, daughter of Aida and Luis Diaz. Emilo Del Valle, Lyle Kramp, Renate Wilms-Rovin, Yvonne Popke, Ned Davis. Mat-

thew Kessel along with Rebecca and Sue Kessel, Linda Becker, Dianne Carlson, Richard Keifer, Austin Walters, and Raitza Reyes.

Hope’s Prayer List

Volume 43 Issue 3 Page 12

Critic’s Corner

In Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor

This book is a historical fiction account of the charity of John Groom’s Crippleage and Flower Girls Mission in early 1900s.

Step into the world of Victorian London, where wealth and poverty exist side by side. This is a story of 2 long lost sisters whose lives take different paths and the young woman who will be trans-formed by their experience. In 1912 20 year old Tilly leaves the peace and beauty of her native Lake District for London to be-come assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower girls. For years the home has cared for London’s flow-er girls-orphaned and crippled children living on the grimy streets and selling posies of vio-lets and watercress to survive. Soon after she arrives Tilly dis-covers a diary written by an or-phan named Florie-a young Irish flower girl who died of a broken heart after she and her sister, Rosie, were separated. Full of twists and turns and surprises it leads the caring and determined young woman into unexpected places including the depths of her own heart.

Critic’s thoughts: A well written book but it is based on truth. Many of these girls would sell flowers and watercress to earn a few pennies to survive, most times with no foot covering in the win-ter. It is a book well worth reading.

Critic: Deacon Diane Kahler

I would like to thank the congregation for your kind and generous gifs of food, money, and Pampers (desperately needed) on Super Bowl Sunday. This is an Outreach you should be most proud of. Photos to follow.

Casey Gaylardo

SOS Thank You!

Those who will assist at the 10:00AM Worship Services for March and 7:00PM on Ash Wednesday, March 1.

Communion Assistants and Acolytes 1 Deacon Diane Kahler/ Renate Wilms- Rovin 5 Renate Wilms-Rovin/Edith Regan 12 Dee Forsyth/Jackie Dean 19 Deacon John Chiappetta/ Ron Press 26 Rhonda Del Valle/Judy Howe

Altar Guild Margarita Chiappetta

Margaret DeWalt Casey Gaylardo Diane Kahler

Vivian Matthews Julia Southard

Nursery Please see an usher for assistance

Lay Readers 1 Renate Wilms-Rovin 5 Judy Thomason 12 Steve Northsea 19 Jackie Dean 26 Bob Schade

Ushers for the Month

March 1 Russ Telfer

Manley Benmark/Luis Diaz

Greeters March 1 Julia Southard

Joan Klotz/Julia Southard

Assisting Minister 1 Deacon John Chiappetta 5 Renate Wilms-Rovin 12 Steve Northsea 19 Deacon John Chiappetta 26 Rhonda Del Valle

Guest Greeter Pat Kessel

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