DECEMBER Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

2702 Hwy 29 North

Alexandria, MN 56308 1-320-762-5152

www.goodshepherd-lcms.org

1.

Salt, Snow & Sin gets harder and takes much more effort to remove as well as all the other results that come with it. Three, using salt may not work so well if one shovels the snow on to the grass or it melts onto the grass. The same holds true when dealing with life’s struggles and troubles. Using the wrong tool or dealing with problems and troubles the wrong way can also cause more prob-lems and troubles. However, after all these points, there still is GOOD NEWS! The Good News is no matter how well or poor-ly we walk in faith with God and Jesus, no matter how well or poorly we deal with our sins, problems, and trou-bles, no matter how well or poorly we face them - GOD is still near. GOD still watches; and GOD still cares. GOD still makes better all the bad that comes our way. After all, this IS the center of the Good News story of Christmas! GOD sent Jesus, His son, into this world. He took all the bad that comes because of sin and He paid the price. All by himself, Jesus experienced all the consequences for what we did and didn’t do. NOW, we don’t have to pay any consequences! NOW, all we get are all the re-wards He deserves!

WOW! Talk about a turn-about! Talk about a twist! Jesus gets the bad. We get the good! Ya-hoo! Yippee! PRAISE GOD! THANK YOU, JESUS! No really, THANK YOU, JESUS! You got all the bad. We get all the good. Now that’s a GREAT STORY to be able to tell the whole world!

God Bless you and yours with a Christmas celebration full of Peace, Love, and ever-lasting JOY!

Pastor Tim

There is snow and ice already on my driveway. Looking at the forecast, I think it’s here for the winter. I didn’t get it shoveled all the way before we drove over the top of it. So, now I’m already in a quandary. This year I vowed NOT to use salt. Why? There were brown spots in the yard and all along the driveway which never did turn green. I think it was the salt. So, either I need to shovel better this year or the possibility increases of others and myself slipping and falling and hurting our-selves. What ought one do? As I see it, it will depend on what happens as time goes by. It will depend on when I weigh this priority next to other priorities and see which is done first, second, third, fourth, or not at all. With our driveway facing North, it’s hard for the snow and ice to melt. The peak of the garage and the line of the house roof block sunlight from hitting the driveway. Thus, I can’t look to the sun for assistance. NOW, I will have to be much more diligent about shoveling snow BE-FORE we drive over the top of it. So, what does this have to do with a December Flock Talk at Good Shepherd Church? One, I think it has to do with how we approach faith and our walk with God and Jesus. I think for many of us, we tend to think of our faith walk as more like a “honey-do list.” We know we need to do certain things. However, sometimes, other life events and other priorities get bumped up and one of the first things to fall may be shoveling and… spending time with God and Jesus. Two, dealing with sin is like dealing with snow on a driveway. Sin happens. Snow happens. Dealing with and removing the snow first is better than not removing it. When you get rid of the snow first, it’s much better than just continuing to drive over the top of it. As you do so, the snow gets harder and thicker and turns into ice and then it gets even harder to remove. It takes much more effort to deal with it. So too sin. It’s much better to deal with it right away than let it accumulate and grow. It too

2.

Advent Worship

Wednesday Evenings Dec. 5th, 12th, 19th

7:00p.m.

Everyone is invited to attend our Family

Advent worship! Some parts of these special

Advent services are written especially for

children, but we are all children of God, who

was born among us. He slept wrapped in

swaddling cloths in a manger in Bethlehem.

Jesus is Emmanuel, a name that means

“God with us.”

In our first Advent service we will

learn that God is with us as our

Potter and we are the clay.

In our Advent second service we

will learn that God is with us as our

Shepherd, who carries us close to

his heart.

In our third Advent service we will

learn that God is with us as our

Living Branch, who died and rose

to give us forgiveness and eternal

life.

Advent Soup Suppers and Fellowship

Come warm up with a hot Bowl of Home-

made Soup, delicious Breads and Desserts!

Wednesday Evenings during Advent

Dec. 5th, 12th, 19th

6:00p.m.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services

December 24th

5:00p.m. & 7:00p.m.

3.

Sunday School…

Submitted by: Deb Hull

Children’s Christmas

Worship Service

Sunday December 16th

10:45a.m.

Happy December Good Shepherd Family!

Offering NEWS- our offerings have been adding up

weekly and the children have voted to buy 100 pairs

of SILLY SOCKS to be given to “Cards for Kids”

who has set a goal of raising 7000 pairs to be sent to

St Jude’s Children’s Hospital and other kids who are

battling cancer. Emerson Harris founder of “Cards

for Kids” is an AAHS Senior this year and has been

making kids battling the horrible disease SMILE with

her handmade cards as well as other fun projects from

backpacks, Halloween costumes, SMILE cards and

silly socks to name a few. “Cards for Kids” is dear to

our children’s hearts this year because they worked

together through VBS this summer to help them out.

WE will share pictures and other information in Janu-

ary’s Flock talk about our outcome.

Now -here we are starting our Sunday School Christ-

mas program practices, making sure our children are

ready to do their best at Blessing you with the Christ-

mas Story and all the songs. We hope you will enjoy

it. Here are the dates that should be put on your cal-

endars.

Practices: December 1st, 8th, 15th all @ 9:30- 11:00

am. We will also be practicing our lines and songs

during Sunday School time on the 2nd and 9th.

Children’s Christmas Worship Service: Sunday, De-

cember 16th @ 10:45 am. HOPE to see you all there!

Thank you Wanda, and Denise for all your hard work

on the program, also to the teachers and parents for

all their practicing with the kids in learning their parts

and to the kids for working hard on getting those

parts in your heads.

There will not be Sunday School on December 23rd or

December 30th, we will resume classes on January 6th.

Teachers and Students please enjoy your Holiday Sea-

son with family and friends and we look forward to

seeing you all in the 2019!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Practice times:

Saturdays Dec 1st, 8th, 15th

from 9:30-11:00a.m.

Light

A

Candle

Dec. 1…Jenna Fearing Krista Fearing

Dec. 3… Sara Myhr

Dec. 4…Renae Morse

Kristofer Setterstrom

Madison Stigman Tyson Stigman

Dec. 5...Nancy Hasz Cody Notch

Dec. 6...Cheryl Corson

Verla Schwendemann

Dec. 7...Todd Bettermann

Dec. 8...Micheal Ziegler

Dec. 9… Rebecca Johnson

Dec 10… Austin Becker

Steve Black Michelle Elmer

Dec. 12...Janell Becker

Dec. 13...Gus Berninghaus

Linda Hop

Dec 14…Grace Berninghaus

Bennett Black Vicki Paulson

Marshal Swenson

Dec. 16…Norm Schimmelpfennig

Dec. 18… Scout Schoenrock

Dec. 19…Holly Tahtinen

Dec. 20...Doug Hunt Grant Schad

Dec. 21… Matt Ewoldt

Dec. 22… Garret Niska

Dec. 23…Bruce Swenson

Dec. 24… Tyler Koep

Dec. 25…Cody Roos

Dec. 26…David Bertek

Todd Domine Mark Rice

Dec. 27...Tim Hull Tim Stennes

Dec. 28...Jordan Reese

Candace Rodriguez

Dec. 29...Jayden Buchholz

Dave Nelson

Dec. 30...Hawken Anderson

Saige Glaser

Dec. 31...Jennie Christians

David Glaesman

Elizabeth Hausmann

DECEMBER Birthdays

4.

Birthdays

Come and Go...

But ...

The Lord’s Love

For You is

Everlasting!

Wedding Anniversaries

Anniversary Prayer

Lord, we thank you for this couple and for all of the years that they have had together.

As they celebrate their anniversary, our prayer is that you will continue to bless them.

Let their testimony of love and forgiveness be a help to other couples as they start on their own journeys into married life. Lord, we

pray that You will honor their commitment to each other and to You by granting them many more years of happiness together.

Amen

December 2nd-Lloyd & Dianne Schwanke

December 3rd-Loren & Tracy Boysen

December 13th-Damon & Katie Bullock

December 17th-Bob & Marlys Olson

December 18th-Gregg & Sue Raisanen

December 27th-Tom & Holly Gerard

December 29th-Bob & Audrey Robatcek

5.

Submitted by: Karen Nolz

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and had a nice

day of lots of food, football and especially family. Decem-

ber is a fairly quiet month for the students at Zion. The

first week of December bring mid-quarter for the second

quarter already.

Practice for the children’s Christmas Program will begin soon. They work long and hard and always do such a good job with this each year. It will be presented at their Christ-mas Service on Sunday, December 16th at 6:30 PM. All are welcome to come worship that night. Assuming it is like years past, you won’t be disappointed!!

Probably the favorite part of the school year for most stu-dents is in December. Yup, you guessed it, Christmas break!! This year, the last scheduled day is Friday, Decem-ber 21st and they will return on Wednesday, January 2nd.

I hope everyone can stay warm, enjoy family time and have a safe holiday season. I am not afraid to add “MERRY CHRISTMAS” to all!!

Submitted by: Marian Brelje

Love Patches has made a total of 27 quilts in 2018. We

gave 14 lap quilts to individuals needing comfort and 6 baby

quilts for baptisms. Two quilts were given to Lutheran Is-

land Camp for their auction. If anyone has a friend or rela-

tive that you feel would be comforted by receiving a quilt,

please let us know. We would be happy to get a quilt for

you to take or send to the person. You may pick out the

quilt you want us to give.

We will not be quilting from December 20th through Janu-

ary 3rd. We will return on January 10th from 9 - 12 am.

Zion’s Happenings Submitted by: Amory Anderson

How time has flown by! Once again it is a time of antici-pation, preparing for the coming of the Christ Child. The Altar Guild will in the next couple of weeks be adorning the Altar area with Christmas trees, the Advent wreath and flowers. The color of the Paraments chang-es to blue at this time. Two Advent banners will be placed on hooks of the side walls, wreaths will be placed on the remaining hooks, and Two blue Advent banners will be hung on the front walls.

Thank you to Carol Rasmussen and Marian Brelje for their Altar care in November and December care givers will be Carol Rasmussen and Marian Brelje.

Thank you to all of you who have volunteered your time for Altar care for the coming year. (2019)

We are still in need of volunteers for the months of November and December 2019. Please prayerfully consider one of these months and let the Altar Guild team know.

We will be meeting to decorate the Christmas trees on Monday, December 3rd at 9:00 a.m. If you would like to be a part

of this fun time, please join us.

Altar Guild News

Love Patches

Prayer

The World’s

Greatest

Wireless

Connection!

S..NO..W Joke

What do you get when you cross a Snowman

with a Vampire?

Frostbite

What do Snowmen like to do on the weekend?

Chill Out

What do you call a Snowman in the summer-

time?

A Puddle

What do Snowmen have for breakfast?

Frosted Flakes

6.

Annual

Congregational

Voters Meeting

Sunday December 2nd

12:00 Potluck

Meeting to follow

Weds. Morning You are WELCOME to join us

for Bible Study!

Wednesday Mornings

10:00a.m.

Ed Wing

Led by Pastor Schiller

NO Bible Study Dec. 26th

Contact Information Pastor Tim Schiller

ptschiller@gmail.com

Shirley

shirley@goodshepherd-lcms.org

WebSite

www.goodshepherd-lcms.org

The Flock Talk and Monthly Calendar are available on the site!

If you have information about your ministry and you would

like it put on our website, let me know! Shirley

Service Cancellation Information To check for service cancellations listen to KXRA radio

station or go to www.voiceofalexandria.com

Kooltv

go to: www.kooltv-mn.com

Paul Luedeke

320-760-6937

Keith Ramsay

886-5574

Pastor Tim Schiller

712-898-1658

Our Elders are here for

YOU!

Contact us for any

spiritual needs, prayer

or visitation needs.

Gary Christianson

320-491-0258

Mike Doehling

320-808-4250

Jeff Fassett

846-1128

Brandon Luedeke

320-304-4237

I Am Not Sure

Who My Elder Is?

What Do I Do?

The Elder Flock Lists are

posted on the bulletin

board in the Hallway to the

Fellowship Hall, or Call

the Church Office.

We Are Here For YOU!

Executive Council Members

2018

Chairman– Blaine Elbert

Vice Chairman—Dave Nelson

Secretary-Erin Johnson

Treasurer-Evelyn Beulke

Executive Board-

Mike Berninghaus

Nancy Hasz

Rich Duncan

Tracy Boysen

Bruce Swenson

Council Minutes are posted on the bulletin

board in the hallway to the Fellowship Hall!

We are here for YOU and

YOUR FAMILY

7.

BROCCOLI SLAW FROM THE KITCHEN OF MARILYN GROTH

1 bag broccoli slaw

1/3 green pepper sliced

1 1/2 c. red grapes

Black olives, sliced 3-4 green onions

DRESSING 1 1/2 c. Miracle Whip (not mayo) 4 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. dry mustard

1/4 tsp. dill 1/2 tsp. celery seed

JUST BEFORE SERVING Add 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese 1 jar real bacon bits 1 c. cashews

8.

MMMM-Good

A Christmas Table Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Love brought Jesus to the earth, and love brings us to this Christmas table. Today as we share this holiday feast, may we also share with one another a joyful heart and a warm smile. May our Christmas dinner be filled with kind-ness. And may the memories of today warm our hearts for years to come.

Amen

Submitted by: Elaine Beulke

Our November LWML meeting is on November

26th. Pastor Schiller will be leading our Bible study.

We will have installation of new officers.

The LWML is having their Christmas Outing

December 1st at Arrowwood at 11:30 a.m.

All ladies are welcome to join us.

The LWML Spring Rally will be at Good Shepherd.

The Spring Rally planning meeting will be in January

at Good Shepherd.

There is no LWML meeting in December.

Our next meeting will be on January 28 at 7 p.m.

All ladies are welcome to join us.

9.

LWML A Christmas

Wish May you have

the gift of Faith

the blessing of Hope,

and the peace of His Love

at Christmas and always!

Once a lovely shining star,

seen by shepherds from afar, gently moved until

its light made a manger’s cradle bright.

There a darling baby lay, pillowed soft upon

the hay, and his mother sung and smiled:

“This is Christ, the Holy Child.”

CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP FROM THE KITCHEN OF MARILYN GROTH

2 tbsps. olive oil 2 med. Carrots finely chopped 3 cups chicken broth 1 c med. Picante sauce 1 15oz. Black beans rinsed and drained 1 tsp. ground cumin 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves 1/8 tsp. paprika 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1 large onion, chopped 2 tbsp. minced garlic 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained 1 15 oz. can ranch-style beans, undrained 1 c. frozen whole kernel corn 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. chili powder 2 cups chopped cooked skinless chicken breasts (Optional when serving: tortilla chips, sliced avocadoes, shredded cheddar, sour cream ) 1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic. Cook until onion is tender, about 6 min. 2. Increase eat to high and add broth, tomatoes, picante sauce, beans, corn and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add chicken. Cook until thoroughly heated. Add cilantro just before serving. 3. Ladle into soup bowls and top with tortilla chips, sliced avocadoes, cheese and sour cream, if desired.

Pecan Pie Cheesecake Is The Sexy Cousin Of Pecan

10.

Warm Up With Soup!