December-January SPIRE 2015-2016

Our Ministry of Special Gifts...
In Memory of Mr. Henry Halpin
Earl Halpin
In Memory of
William Lichtenwalner
Earl Brunner
Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Kutz
Barry Kline
Ed & Nancy Miller
Anne McClelland
Martin & Jeanette Nichol
Donald Brannan
Martin & Virginia Crone
June Sieger
Lance Burgess
Mary Jane Micco
In Memory of Rosemary Kurtz
Morris Halpin
In Honor of Beverly Vos
80th Birthday
to ASJ
Earl Brunner
Martin & Virginia Crone
In Memory of Linda Keck
Jeffrey Keck
Patrons of the Arts at St. John’s
W. Jane Bieret
Earl W. & Betty Brunner
Dolores Durst
Andrew & Barbara Katana
Mr. & Mrs. John Leh II
Anne L. McClelland
Ed & Nancy Miller
Jean O. Schiffert
Millie & Joe Sekulski
Mr. Lynn Smith
Loretta Wiltraut
Nelvin & Beverly Vos
Jane Brannan Memorial
Ginny Crone
Mr. & Mrs. Donald Hausman
Clark & Maureen Kurtz
Rev. Thomas Kochenderfer
The McManaman Family
Pastor Jim & Janet
Maria B. Schmid
Jean & Harry Sibbach
Rev. & Mrs. Richard Stough
Carolyn Volk
Bill York & Carol J. Miller
We’re on the Web:
Larry D. Greene, President
Aaron Maza, Vice President
Courtney Keiser, Secretary
Treasurer: Michael Pletcher
Kathleen Bush
Cheryl Gonzalez
Sally MacGowan
Kristina Troxell
Paul Willistein
STAFF
Rev. Lori Kochanski, Interim Pastor
Kira DeeAnn Keiser 1111-8-2015
Daughter of Courtney & Zachary Keiser
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Rev. Clark Kuntz, Visitation Pastor
Charmarie Colon, Parish Administrator
Dana Flok, Parish Secretary/Data Specialist
Dennis Carl & Thomas Boka, Sextons
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM-2:30 PM
Office: 610-435-1587
Fax: 610-435-6505 Email: stjohnslutheran@rcn.com
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December 2015/January 2016
St. John’s Lutheran Church
37 S. Fifth Street Allentown, PA 18101-1692
Lessons & Carols
December 8 at 7pm
Christmas Eve
Services
December 24 at 7pm & 10:45pm
Highlights in this issue:
Hanging of the Green………. PG 8
Arts @ St. John’s…………. PG 6
Parish Life………..…...……...PG 3
Calendar…………… PGS 10-13
We are a community of Christians,
open to all, empowered by faith in
Jesus Christ, to make the Gospel visible by nurturing one
another and all whose lives we touch.
This issue of the Spire is sponsored in
Memory of Dr. Albert W. Schreiber Sr. and
his wife Clare G. Schreiber.
Our Financial Stewardship
Income
Offering
October
$26,243.88
$9,969
This Year
To date
$332,316.86
$134,175.42
Last Year
To Date
$344,257.48
$141,194.18
Expenses
Deficit
$32,547.31
($6,303.43)
$353,471.93
($21,155.07)
$372,796.73
($28,539.30)
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PASTOR’S GREETING
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your gracious welcome. I look forward to getting to
know many of you in this interim time.
Before I arrived I received an email from Charmarie telling me of
some upcoming Baptisms in our community of faith. What a beautiful way to begin our ministry together. If you were listening carefully when we
baptized Kira you may have noticed that there are promises that we make even as
the family make their promises. We promise that we will support and raise up the
child and help them to know God. We promise that we will support the family of
the child. We also acknowledge the gift of God's son as our salvation and grace.
Baptismal grace will be what leads us in our time together. Part of my focus
with you will be to recognize where and how God is leading the people of this
congregation. Once we take notice of the gifts of God we will work to develop
ways to share those gifts with all who yearn for a deeper connection with God.
I hope you have a blessed Advent season as you prepare your hearts for the
light of Christ to be ignited once again. I pray you take time in the Christmas season to rest in the manger light. I trust you to enter the new year with the boldness
of Jesus' earliest holy visitors.
Blessings,
Pastor Lori Kochanski
This month there are so many opportunities to participate in living out the Gospel
of light and love. I hope you can find time in your daily life to give thanks to God
and come to a meal at the Holy table.
ADVENT LESSONS AND CAROLS
On Tuesday, December 8 at 7:00, we will have an evening of Lessons and Carols.
Please plan to attend and invite your friends and family to join you. Advent is an
important time of reflection and contemplation of the mysteries of God unfolding
so long ago and today.
CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP - On Christmas Eve we will have two worship
services of Holy Communion. The light of Christ will be our focus as we gather
to remember Christ's birth and as we notice the ways Christ's light continues to
break into our world. The first service will be at 7:00 PM and the second service
will be at 10:45. There will be special music at both services.
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Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
1
6
7
HANGING OF THE GREENS
Property Workday
7:15pm Boy Scouts
8
7:30pm—LESSONS &
CAROLS
13 Rev. Richard Bardo
8am Service of the Word
9:15am SCS
10:45am Service of the Word
1pm San Martin Worship
3-5pm Confirmation at
St. Luke’s
14
15
20
8am Holy Communion
9:15am SCS
10:45am Holy Communion
1pm San Martin Worship
21
27
9:30am Service of the Word
1pm San Martin Worship
28
8am Holy Communion
9:15am SCS
9:15am Adult Class
10:45am Holy Communion
1pm San Martin Worship
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Property Workday
7:15pm Boy Scouts
POINSETTIA
DEADLINE
22
Property Workday
7:15pm Boy Scouts
29
Property Workday
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St. John’s Lutheran Church
37 S 5th St., Allentown, PA 18101 Church Office: 610-435-1587
Fax: 610-435-6505 Music Office: 610-435-1641 E-mail: stjohnslutheran@rcn.com
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
2
3
7pm Bible
7pm Chancel Choir
Study
4
5
5:30pm Holy
Communion
9
10
7pm Bible
7pm Chancel Choir
Study
11
FOOD BANK
12
Rev. Richard Bardo
5:30pm Holy
Communion
16
17
7pm Bible
7pm Chancel Choir
Study
18
7:30pm Vox Philia
Chamber X-mas
Concert
19
5:30pm Holy
Communion
23
24
26
25
OFFICE CLOSED OFFICE CLOSED
7pm Holy
Communion
10:45pm Holy
Communion
30
31
OFFICE CLOSED
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Dear Members of St. John's,
I will retire from the position as Visitation Pastor at the end of December, 2015.
I have enjoyed this opportunity, for the last seven years, to get to know many of
you as I visited in your homes, hospitals and nursing facilities.
Thank you for trusting me with this most important ministry and for your
friendship and love,.
May God continue to shine his blessings upon your lives as you carry
out His work.
In Christ,
Pastor Clark
NEW! Animate Your Faith: Youth Bible Study
On the first Wednesday of January, February, March and April Pastor Lori will use
the Animate Bible Study to energize conversation about the Word of God and
why it matters in today's world. We begin on January 6 at 7:00 with this special
series. Warning: This is not your typical Bible Study...come and see for yourself!
———————————————————————————————————————
Over the next month you can look
forward to a number of varied choir anthems. I've put together a nice mix of
music I'm sure will enhance our worship.
Hubert Parry's "I was
Glad", Rutter's "What Sweeter Music"
and a newer published anthem called "Et
in terra Pax" by John Purifoy will be part
of our Lessons and Carols and Christmas
music. I'm especially looking forward to Lessons and Carols. Please plan
to attend that service on Tuesday, December 8th at 7:30pm.
I want to mention welcome to a new singer in Chancel Choir, Beth Ann
Krall. She has stepped in for Lauren Madigan and doing a wonderful
job. Beth Ann teaches middle school music classes. As for the upcoming
weeks, I'm planning to have Bells ring, I'm working with Emily McManaman on some solos, and I'm arranging some Brass music for Christmas.
Friends, I'm so grateful for the time everyone contributes to music ministry
and for support everyone is giving me in my service to St Johns.
Thank you - Kevin
IT’S COOKIE CAPER TIME!
Twice each year, a great group of helpers bake, pack and deliver cookies and
other goodies to members who are no longer able to make it to services.
Won’t you please consider joining these volunteers? There are many ways to
help:
Monetary donations___________________________________________
Cookies packaged in plastic bags of three or four_____________________
Type of cookie?________________________________________
A Bag of Individually wrapped candies____________________________
Help package the tins on December 14 at 9AM in the Great Room_______
Deliver tins to the shut-ins’ homes (Pick up at 10:30, Dec. 14)___________
Please give this form, candy and monetary donations to Ronnee Moyer or
Carol Halpin who are helping Nancy Miller this year. Cookies may be
brought to church on December 13 or dropped off in the Great Room by
9:00AM on December 14. Thank you for your help for this worthwhile
holiday project.
I recently checked in with
Laura Madigan and family, their baby son,
Grayson (born July 28th), is
growing like a weed. Please
enjoy the picture of him
dressed up as Charlie Brown
for Halloween.
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Dear Friends at St. John’s,
To update you all on my Eagle Project, it is completed. Thank you
for all the generous donations you have provided me. I received $341 and
was a able to purchase 16 plants.
Saturday, October 24th was my final work party at the Wildlands
conservancy. We spent 5 hours digging holes, planting the plants, sledgehammering the stakes into the ground, fencing them in, and finally watering
them. All I need to do to complete the Eagle rank is to finish the paperwork, and complete 2 more merit badges.
If you want to go see my project, it is at 3701 Orchid Place, Emmaus, PA. It is the closest path to the left of where the birds are kept. (It
will be easy to recognize because of all the plants with fencing around
them).
Thank you again for all the support you have gave me.
In Christ’s name,
Zack Reinhart
NOTED CHOIR RETURNS FOR CHRISTMAS CONCERT
The chamber choir, Vox Philia, whose last season’s program was so well
received in the Arts at St. John’s series, returns for a fine program on Friday, December 18, at 7:30 PM.
The theme of the program will be the MAGNIFICANT: music in honor of
Mary, the mother of God. The concert features Mary's hymn of praise in
settings by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds and Englishcomposer James
Whitbourn, as well as works by Henryk Górecki, David Himes and Bob
Chilcott.
Recent reviews of the Reading-area choir:
When David McConnell, minister of music at Immanuel United Church
of Christ in Shillington since 2002, decided to start a chamber choir in 2012,
he called it Vox Philia. The name combines the Latin word for voice with
the Greek word for brotherly love (as in Philadelphia), or, as Aristotle defined it, "delight in one another's company." Singing in a choir can be seen
as an act of love, not only for the music, but for one's fellow singers, as any
longtime choral singer will tell you. And that is surely what has drawn Vox
Philia's 25 local singers to this enterprise….
Under the supremely sensitive, subtle and skilled direction of Vox
Philia's founder and artistic director, David McConnell, the 25-member ensemble gave a luminous performance of these beautiful and, in many cases,
unusual works.
Come to celebrate the wonder and beauty and meaning of Christmas.
Suggested donation: $10
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As most of you know, I went to Bear Creek
Camp this summer for a week in August. I had
the absolute most amazing time there and I
could not be more grateful for the people who
kept pushing me to go. I am writing this to you
all because in January, they have something
called 'CONNECT'. It is a weekend packed
with sledding, hot chocolate, worship and a bunch of other cool stuff. I wanted
to tell you some of my personal favorite things that might become yours if you
give Bear Creek Camp a try. My top five favorites at BCC The relationships you bring back home. I was so shy, going up there,
thinking I would just camouflage into the wall and just stay there until the end of
the week. But I couldn't. One of the counselors pulled me into the group and
told me to just relax. Next thing I know, I was becoming friends with about 14
other kids.
The trust that you feel. Not only do you have to trust people to catch you if you
fall off the wall when they are pushing you up it, but you can talk to these people about personal things that make you upset or angry back home, and they will
sit and comfort you and then, they won't tell a single soul.
The games you play. I love games, personally. Most of the games up at
camp I completely adored! I've learned a lot of games there to bring back to Inspire. In fact, last lock-in, we played a bunch of them and we all had tons of fun!
The energy at camp. I have lots of energy, you see, so when I am put in a group
where people have the same amount as me, it's really, really, awesome. The kids
weren't the only ones with the energy, it was the counselors as well, and seeing
them bouncing around, cheering and yelling about 'super fun fantastic activities’
was really motivational.
Last but not least, the worship. To be honest, when I went up to camp,
I never thought that worship would be one of my top five favorite things. But I
have to say, it was truly inspirational being surrounded by all of god's creations.
The songs and the dances that we did during worship certainly helped this be
one of my favorites!
You should consider going to Bear Creek Camp for this weekend retreat, to give yourself sort of a trial run of Bear Creek in the summer, which is
week long. I haven't been to this 'CONNECT' yet, and don't know if I will, but
I am SERIOUSLY considering it. It will be an absolute amazing experience, I
feel, and I think that everyone deserves to have that really awesome time that I
did at camp. The years are passing by and soon, we won't be able to go anymore,
which will suck, but the times that we decide to go, with be worthwhile.
The link to the 'CONNECT' information is www.bearcreekcamp.org/weekend-camps-reatreats/
- Elizabeth Leibenguth
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St. John’s Lutheran Church
37 S 5th St., Allentown, PA 18101 Church Office: 610-435-1587
Fax: 610-435-6505 Music Office: 610-435-1641 E-mail: stjohnslutheran@rcn.com
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
OFFICE CLOSED
2
5:30pm Holy
Communion
1
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
5
3
8am Holy Communion
9:15am SCS
10:45am Holy Communion
1pm San Martin Worship
4
6
7
9
8
5:30pm Holy
7pm Bible Study
7pm Chancel Choir
FOOD BANK
Communion
& Youth Bible Study
SPIRE DEADLINE
11
13
7pm Bible
Study
16
5:30pm Holy
Communion
10
8am Holy Communion
9:15am SCS
10:45am Holy Communion
1pm San Martin Worship
18
OFFICE CLOSED
19
23
5:30pm Holy
Communion
17
8am Holy Communion
9:15am SCS
10:45am Holy Communion
1pm San Martin Worship
25
26
30
24
9:30am Holy Communion
1pm San Martin Worship
Property Workday
7:15pm Boy Scouts
SPIRE MAILOUT
7pm Vestry Mtg.
14
15
7pm Chancel Choir
20
7pm Bible
Study
21
22
7pm Chancel Choir
27
7pm Bible
Study
28
29
7pm Chancel Choir
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5:30pm Holy
Communion
31
8am Service of the Word
9:15am SCS
10:45am Service of the Word
1pm San Martin
Property Workday
7:15pm Boy Scouts
12
Property Workday
7:15pm Boy Scouts
Page 12