Pastor’s Newsletter article for November

After living in Minot for 12 years, for the first time I went to “Minot High School” at 8:00 one morning. It was with some reservations. Would it be chaos, with students arriving and I being unable to navigate the crowd? Boy was I surprised! Yes, there were teenagers everywhere but I was greeted by multiple students who didn’t have a clue who I was. Not only greeting this lost stranger but they held doors open for me and responded with a big thank you when I did the same for some of them. It turned out to be an amazing experience and I was so impressed by the students and staff. It is something I would look forward to doing again.

Likewise, I often observe young parents guiding their children carefully as they teach them to respond with “thank you” whenever they receive anything from someone. Once again as a culture, I believe we are pretty good at desiring our kids and grandkids to understand the importance of being thankful. But I’m wondering if we practice what we preach? I believe those ears around us hear more complaining than thankfulness. Do the words out of our mouths reflect thankfulness or dissatisfaction? Many are listening!

Have you ever given thought about “thankfulness” being the key reason that we gather for worship? Yes, we gather for worship to be fed and encouraged in our faith, to hear accounts of how God helped the faithful, throughout history, face challenges. We also gather to receive Holy Communion as the forgiveness of our sins. We gather to be encouraged by others who are dealing with all life has to offer, intersecting God’s love and grace as encouragement and strength to move forward. However, underlying all these important reasons to worship, is the key one of expressing our thankfulness for God’s promise of love, made so real in the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Somehow, we fail to think about thanking God for each moment of our days. We seem to believe that we somehow are entitled to all that we experience in a free land and have worked hard to create for ourselves. We’re pretty quick to pack our weeks full of so many events that worship times become a tacked-on duty or obligation rather than the most exciting time of our week. Worship seems to have become something we do if we have no other plans, rather than the priority of our lives.

We should not come to worship to be entertained, to be a passive observer going through the motions. In every word we speak it would be helpful

to frame our expression from a thankful heart. We recite parts of our worship from memory. Should that be boring or filled with expressions of meaning? Maybe I’m not a good Lutheran, if it means that we should be so humble as to never show emotion!

Thankfulness also is the backbone of our giving to the church. With our financial gifts and the giving of our time, it’s a direct expression of our thankfulness to God. As God watches our giving does he feel that we are very appreciative of all that He has given us this day? Thankfulness I believe is the one thing that can change our emotions from sad to joyful. I don’t know about you, but I desire to be filled with joy rather than sadness. So often it is determined by how generous I have received or given thanks. In this Thanksgiving month of November might we consider the difference “Thank You” makes, whether we’re holding the door open for others or coming to worship. Thankfulness changes our life one moment at a time. One worship service at a time. Worship is our opportunity to praise and honor God with our thankfulness.

I’m thankful that you have read this article to the bottom; now give thought to how many times you give God thanks today. Count them, then increase that number by one more time each day! Happy Thanksgiving!

Christ Lutheran

invites Bethany Lutheran to their church at

502 17th St NW for

Thanksgiving Eve Worship Wed Nov 21st at 7:00pm

Christ Lutheran youth will serve pie and coffee

during Fellowship time

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LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF— The Lutheran World Relief projects and quilts were shipped Oct 18. I know why Wed. night worship is called WOW. WOW! Did they work assembling 239 school kits and packing them all into boxes. There were another 39 kits brought in for a shipping total of 278. Thank you all for your help. Special thanks to Betty Frantsvog for sewing all the bags and to Lianne Anderson for helping Wed night with the packing. Thank you also to Boyd and his helpers for taking all the boxes to Midwest Motor Express for shipping. Thanks, too, to all who put cords in the bags. Working together gets lots accomplished! 205 Baby Care Kits were also shipped plus 31 quilts.

! LutefiskDinnerSaturday,Dec.1

Mark your calendar for Bethany’s 29th annual lutefisk dinner. It will be held Saturday, December 1st. Be ready to volunteer for the dinner and get involved in some great fellowship with Bethany members. Please call Larry Walter at 838.5329 or LuAnn Roise at 839.4306 to help with this event.

2018 BIBLE PRESENTATION

The BLCW presented the Kindergarten and 3rd Graders Bibles. The presenter was Judy Anderson. The following children received Bibles. Kindergarten Children: Grace Flanagan, Audriana Henderson, Kaelyn Hirzel, Larae Hirzel, Kylie Hoaglund, Jerzey Brown, Matilda Olson, Aden Williams 3rd Grade: Owen Casey, Teegan Dangel, Paislee Everson, Malaki Jensen, Jace Hoaglund, Caleb Jenkins, Sava Nelson

Holiday Food Support

The Ministry of Care will again assist families with holiday food. Names can be

submitted to the office by Nov 1st!

The Ministry of Care Committee is baking cookies for a Thanksgiving treat for the

prisoners and staff at the Ward County Jail on Saturday, November 17, at 9:30 a.m. in the

Church Basement. This is part of our mission to reach out to our neighbors and those in need in times of trouble. We welcome your help on the Nov. 17th. Will you call Mary at 701-720-1454 if you can help? We are still

working on getting numbers and other information on this Prison Ministry. We always

appreciate your help and prayers.

Høstfest Successful THANK YOU: We as the committee want to express our gratitude to each of those who helped to bring: God’s work Our hands. Each one of you have been touched or have touched someone this week through the celebration of Høstfest. Yes, we worked hard and wondered why we went through this exertion, but in the end the effort brought us closer and shows the visitors how God works in and through each of us. All of the effort and smiles and “hello’s” make us remember all of us have heritage, not just the Scandinavians, something of our ancestors and family that influenced and made us what we have become. Thanks just does not express enough how we feel to head this event and call on you to help. The Høstfest Committee

Bulletin & Newsletter Deadlines The deadline for input and articles in the Messenger newsletter is the 20th of each

month, unless otherwise noted. The deadline for bulletin items is 2:00pm on Wednesdays for

that following weekend. Thank you!

! Set your clocks back one hour

November 4, 2018

! November Cause of the Month

World Hunger The ELCA World Hunger program has a fine reputation for effectively using our gifts for the greatest benefit of those in need. Not only are the gifts used for direct food aid, but world hunger money also goes toward projects that help people to feed themselves.

LYO November Schedule 3 2:00pm Turkey Dinner Prep .........4 9:30am LYO TURKEY DINNER .........7 7:15pm Dancing with Jake .........11 9:30pm Coffee Hour-Veterans Day ........14 7:15pm Bible Study-Prayer Beads .......18 Ladies Serving Coffee Hour-Not LYO .......21 No LYO Happy Thanksgiving!! .......25 9:30am Coffee Hour .......28 6:45pm Advent Worship ....... 7:15pm God’s Work, Our Hands- ........... Tie Blankets ...........

October Offering 03 $3325 07 $7372 ..................... .........10 $1550 14 $6383 ..................... .........17 $435 21 $4577 ....................... .........24 $? 28 $? ........................... ...............Thrivent Simply Giving $5969

October Ministerial Acts Weddings: Robert Anderson & Kristin Congreve Baptisms: Vincent Henry Horner, Jack Bjorn Shoberg New Members: Darrel, Stefanie, Violet Stalheim, Shelby & Marcheta Holmly Deaths Mary Bovee, Ana Jo Nelson, Patricia Lehner

� � Make a Joyful Noise

The choirs are looking for more voices. There are 3 choirs and they would like to have you join.

Note rehearsal times on the monthly calendar.

LefseBakingTime

� November13,8:00amComehelpmakeLefseandenjoythefellowshipIfyoucanhelpcontactLuAnnat839-4306

StewardshipSundayNov.11-9:30am-12:30pm

Bethany Lutheran Foundation October 2018

Karn Stevick Memorial Rosella Tollefson Duane & Sharlene Tollefson Mark Tollefson Greg Simonson

Lavern Latendresse Memorial Greg Simonson

Mike Timm Memorial Jane J Trihub Darrell & Arlene Michalenko 50th Wedding

Anniversay Duane & Sharlene Tollefson

� LCM 10th Annual Chili Feed & Auction

Sunday, November 18, 5-7pm at Christ Lutheran Church, Minot

Live Auction begins at 5:45pm, Silent Auction from 5 – 6:30pm

Free will donation to get in! Come and support our work with the Minot State

University community Funds raised will go to support students going on

the LCM Spring Break trip to Washington DC This is our 85th year as a Lutheran organization at MSU, come help celebrate by eating chili made by

local pastors! Questions? Call Campus Minister Anna Dykeman –

701.858.4170 Pastor Janet’s Joke of the Month TopTenThingsYouNeverHearinChurch

10. Hey! It's my turn to sit in the front pew.

9. I was so enthralled; I never noticed your sermon went 25 minutes over time. 8. Personally, I find witnessing much more enjoyable than fishing. 7. How long is the waiting list to serve on the church stewardship committee? 6. I volunteer to be the permanent teacher for the Sunday School. 5. Isn’t it great to have the children running all over the church after worship? 4. I love it when we sing songs I've never heard before! 3. Since we're all here, let's start the service early. 2. Pastor, we'd like to send you to this Bible seminar in Cancun. 1. Nothing inspires me and strengthens my commitment like our annual stewardship campaign!

Speaking of stewardship, there was a little girl who became restless in church as the preacher’s sermon dragged on and on. Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?”

Oct2018HonorariumandMemorials:

InHonorofDuane&SharleenTollefson60thAnniversaryUndesignatedfromBoyd&PhyllisHanson.

InMemoryofKarnStevickUndesignatedfromDavid&SusanAbel.ChurchSchoolfromTerry&JackieGehring.

InMemoryofTerryStrandUndesignatedfromMark&BonnieSolberg.

InMemoryofWillard&VioletOlsonChoirfromScoE&ColleenHodenfield.

InMemoryofAnaJoNelsonMusicfromBill&BevJensen.

InMemoryofPatriciaLehnerMusicfromBill&BevJensen.

InMemoryofMaryBoveeMusicfromBill&BevJensen.

Foundation Food for Thought

Did you know?

The Bethany Foundation is providing scholarships to Bethany families

participating in the “Hammering Out Faith with Dad” and “Piecing Faith Together with Mom” Metigoshe retreats on November 1st. Please visit with Pastor Gerald if you are interested!

The Bethany Foundation has made a commitment to support David Myers with up to $20,000 for tuition and book costs while he participates in the Wartburg Seminary program called TEEM (Theological Education for Emerging Ministries).

We have a strong commitment of support for Bethany members wishing to enter seminary or who will be attending an ELCA-approved college or university. A new scholarship opportunity was also added this year for Bethany college students serving as summer camp staff at a WND Synod Outdoor Ministry. Our application process is now online, at the Foundation tab of the Bethany website: bethanylutheranminot.org

If YOU would like to support these exciting opportunities for Bethany members, please consider a donation to the Bethany Foundation!

� UpdatedPledgeOfferingsthru10/19/2018BudgetAnGcipatedPledges$327,480.ActualReceivedPledges$317,495.NegaXveDifferenceof($9,985)BethanyisencouragingonlinegivingwithsignupformsbeingintheNarthexorChurchoffice.We would like to thank everyone who hastakentheGmetosignupfortheonlinegiving!If you like the feel of the pledge envelope inyour hand—you can simply write “I giveonline”ontheoutside! AnyquesGons,pleasecalloffice.

� Bethany Birthday’s!

November: 2nd–Donna Mae Olson, Dalton Rademacher, Brantley Schafer, Jo Vannett, Zona Vick 4th –Damian Emly, Jean Meiers 5th –Judy Mathson, Krista Permentier,

Monte Walker 6th –Christine Grunewald 8th –Craig Harvey, Landon Lemieux,

Leif Nelson, Katie Seier, Dwight Syverson

9th –Jayleanne Evanoff, Victoria Gotvaslee

10th –Brad Lommen, Julie Wallace 11th –Vicki Phippins 12th –Aaron Brentrup 13th –Conner Dyke 14th –Terry Gehring 15th – Donald Lee 16th –Shirley Harmon, Larry Schoenwald 17th –Dan Vannett 18th – Tim Reiten 19th –Cheryl Farstad, Logan Johnson,

Archie Kress, Mary Sather 20th –Angelina Opperude 21st –Sandra Larson 22nd –Ed Duchsherer, Austin Westmeyer 23rd –Liam Thrailkill 24th –Barry Bourquin, Cayden Rocarek,

Arlene Shipman 25th –Darren Fawbush, Hannah Foley, Kari Norby 28th –Norman Jacobson, Rodney Selfors,

Kellen Tollefson 29th –Mary Fix, Vicki Johnson, John Seier, Louise Stark 30th – Michael Coffin, Gavin Hartleib, Asher Holtz, Roberta Larson

Bethany Education

News Church School on Wednesdays is in full swing. We have eight dedicated leaders and nine substitute teachers

supporting an average of 36 students each week. This month’s lessons will be on “The Widow’s Offering,” focusing on the importance of giving. Next, we will study about “Being Ready,” explaining how God is always with us, working to make good out of bad. Following the Thanksgiving break, the children will learn about “A Good Ruler”. The text will help children understand how Jesus is like a branch that comes from God. And we are part of the same tree because we belong to God’s family. And do not think church school is for just children. We also host an adult forum each Wednesday on the Gospel readings of the week. There is a lot of fun and laughter as we try to dig-down deeper in understanding God’s Word. And don’t forget we have Worship on Wednesday’s beginning at 6:45. We encourage all parents and children to attend. Please note, there is no Church School the week of Thanksgiving (November 21st).

ELCA World Hunger’s Global Farm Challenge

Blessings! Dave Myers

Once again, Bethany Lutheran is supporting the ELCA Global World Hunger's Global Farm project. This ELCA-driven challenge is a yearlong, youth-driven fundraising challenge to support the agriculture-related programs of ELCA World Hunger, the church's ministry to end hunger and poverty. This year, we will have Christmas tree ornaments to help support the honeybee industry. The shrinking honeybee population worldwide is especially worrisome, and the honeybee is a growing importance. It’s mere presence on a farm means that they are pollinating plants and boosting crop growth. Also, beeswax can be transformed into handcrafted soaps, candles, honey and other products to create a small, sustainable business. Supporting this buzz-worthy venture is easy…a small donation of $20.00 provides you an ornamental gift and supports families in third world countries.

Gospel Seeds - November 2018 A Monthly Update from Western ND Synod Staff

Joy… Where do you find joy? I invite you to grab a cup of coffee, sit back and ponder that question. What in your life brings you such peace, comfort or hope that you are willing to let someone else know? Do you find this in your relationship with Jesus, the risen savior? A joy that comes from knowing you are a beloved child of God, no matter what! How does your connection to the life of your congregation help you live into your identity as God’s beloved? How might you help those around you discover the same joy you have found through this relationship? I invite you to ponder these questions. I want to push a little further though – how about if you gather with others from your congregation to think about these questions. I want us to realize that “church” is not an event – instead, worship is a relationship, a place where we can be honest before God about our failings, hear a word of forgiveness and be reminded that we are claimed as God’s very own. It is in this that joy, peace and hope reside. You are beloved! I encourage you to live out of that identity, inviting others to the joy you have found. We have been given gifts too precious to keep to ourselves.

Learnings from the Conference of Bishops… As a conference we spent significant time talking about our priorities as a church together. We acknowledged that there is much this church does for the sake of the proclamation of the Gospel. At the same time we wrestled with where we can best invest our resources of time, talent and treasure. One unexpected learning has to do with property insurance. Parishes may want to discuss whether it might be wise to have the same insurance carriers. A three-point parish, which has different insurance carriers can run into difficulties of which carrier is responsible for a covered loss. One example given was the embezzlement of parish funds. The Conference also sent a letter to President Trump asking that budgeted funds be released to help support Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital is owned and operated by the Lutheran World Federation. It is a life line for cancer care and kidney dialysis.

End of Year Giving… We are thankful for the faithful donations which through the years have helped build your Synod Endowment Fund. These funds help you do ministry in Christ’s name. Whether it is through the Ministry Endowment which provides seminary scholarships, the Mission Endowment which helps provide seed money for creative Christ-centered ministries or the Accompaniment Endowment Fund which ensures there are people to walk with seminary candidates or those dreaming of new mission possibilities – Gospel proclamation is happening because of these funds. As you approach the end of the year, a reminder, gifts of $5,000 or more maybe eligible for a North Dakota State Tax Credit and may also provide a deduction on federal taxes – please check with your tax preparer for details. I am ever so thankful for the generosity of people within this synod. Thanks be to God.

Changes in Call Status… -Rev. Julie Anderson has accepted a call to serve at Good Shepherd Lutheran, Bismarck -Rev. Mike Pretzer has accepted a call to serve the Western Edge Parish of Peace, Dickinson and St. John, Richardton. -Rev. Sandy Anderson has resigned her call at First and Trinity of Tioga. -Rev. Steve Sathre retired November 4 from Trinity, Bismarck. -Rev. Gary Erdmann has accepted an invitation to serve as Interim at Trinity, Bismarck. Rev. Mark Narum Serving as Bishop of the Western North Dakota Synod

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