IMMANUEL LUTHERAN IS GIVING THANKS FOR HELPING HANDS!

MESSENGER
VOLUME 13
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Messenger
NOVEMBER 2013
NOVEMBER 2013
Vol. 13 No. 11
IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL, BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
IMMANUEL LUTHERAN IS GIVING
THANKS FOR HELPING HANDS!
FEEDING THE CHILDREN EVERYWHERE
OUR MISSION
The people of
Immanuel Lutheran
Church are living proof
of the grace of God
through salvation in
Jesus Christ.
Empowered by Christ,
our mission is to reach
out in love to those who
have not yet responded
to the Gospel that all
may be united in Christ.
Immanuel Lutheran
Church and School
154 Meadow Street
On Saturday, November 23rd Immanuel will be hosting a
wonderful project that reaches out to many in our world
who do not have enough food to feed their family. Through
a program called Feeding the Children Everywhere, we will
be assembling meals for the hungry. Each of these meals
includes lentils, rice and other nutrients which will feed a
family of four. The cost of one meal is only 25 cents. The
goal set by the New England District for our assembling day is 25,000 meals. During
the first semester the school has designated its chapel offering to help fund part of
this project. Our goal is to raise enough through our chapel offering to pay for 5000
meals.
The other part of the project is to assemble the meals with the combined effort of
individuals from many churches in our circuit and our area. We need approximately
300 people to volunteer for the assembling of the meals. These will be broken down
into 3 shifts of 100. The jobs are varied so come even if you cannot stand for a long
period of time. There are ways that you can help. Watch for sign-up sheets for the
different shifts during the month of November.
Bristol, CT 06010
860-583-5649
cl.church@ilcs.org
www.ilcs.org
Rev. Kevin A. Karner
Pastor
Mr. James F. Krupski
School Principal
The Spirit of Giving is Alive and Well at Immanuel Lutheran!
The Call for donations was made by our Board of Trustees to
fund a Boiler for our new School building and the response
was overwhelming. We currently have about 60% of what will
be needed to fund the project in its entirety. The Lord has
blessed us all with many gifts and one of them is certainly the
gift of giving in Faith that the Lord allows us to do!
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NOVEMBER 2013
Women of Immanuel
WOMEN OF
IMMANUEL
SAVE THE DATE:
Women of Immanuel will
hold a Christmas pot luck at
6:00 pm on December 12, 2013 in the Parish Center. Mark
your calendar to celebrate the Advent of the coming of our
Lord with your sisters in Christ. Items will be collected for
Hands of Grace, an outreach ministry of St. Paul’s Lutheran
Church in New Hartford, CT. They assist people who are
experiencing financial crisis. They need toiletries and paper
products. Watch the bulletin for more details.
LUTHERAN WOMEN in MISSION
The LWML New England District Retreat will be held
November 1st & 2nd in Enfield, CT. Make plans now to join us
this fall for a Christ-centered Retreat: spiritual growth and
encouragement for all women in our shared journey of faith at
every season in our lives, in order to deepen our relationship
with God and with each other. Registration forms may be found
on the bulletin board by the gym or at LWML-NED.org.
THANKSGIVING DEVOTION
Come to me all you who are weary and burdened
and I will give you rest … and you will find rest for
your souls. Matthew 11:28, 29b NIV
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and this means the
holidays are looming large in our thoughts and plans. Are the
words “holidays” and “weary” synonymous in your thinking?
Have you ever been so tired that when you finally, finally got to
bed you could not quiet your mind enough to go to sleep? Were
you so weary you ended the next day the same way? Weary is
not the same as being physically tired. Weary is being worn out
physically, mentally and spiritually. Weary is being resigned to
coping with being tired and discouraged and burdened on an
ongoing basis.
And this is when Jesus speaks to us, as He always does, in our
hour of need. He offers peace for the restless and rest for the
weary. Come unto me, He says, all you who are weary and
burdened … and that means everyone. It means you, and it
means me. Not only if we are weary and burdened by
monumental issues or serious problems, but whatever our
burdens, real or imagined, He assures us … and I will give you
rest, rest not only for our bodies, but more importantly He says
He will give us … rest for your souls.
Prayer: Dear Lor d J esus, thank You for Your gr eat love for
us. Thank you for Your many promises to us. Today we
especially thank You for Your promise of rest when we are
weary and burdened. Help us to learn to rely on You more in
these troubled and uncertain times. It is in Your holy Name that
we pray. Amen.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one, lay down Your head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was, So weary, worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-resting place, And He has made me
glad.
(LSB #699; LW #348)
Written by: Ruth Ann Johnson, Chicago, IL
Published by: the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, 2002
Baptisms
Kurt Radcliffe
Born on 2/3/06
Baptized on 9/15/13
Gretchen Radcliff
Born on 10/24/08
Baptized on 9/15/13
Called Home to Heaven
Lois (Neumann) Evans
May 8, 1934 - September 28, 2013
Adeline (Wentland) Macdermid
June 26, 1926 - September 28, 2013
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the Grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” 1Corinthians 1:4
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NOVEMBER 2013
From the Pastor’s Desk
Taking the Road More Traveled By: The Benefit of Tradition
in the Church by Chad Bird
Messenger is published
monthly by Immanuel
Lutheran Church and
School for its members
and friends.
Immanuel is a member of
the Lutheran Church
Missouri Synod.
Jason Krueger
Newsletter Editor
Karen Smith
Church Secretary
SUNDAY
DIVINE SERVICE
8:00 A.M.
10:45 A.M.
BIBLE STUDY
9:30 A.M.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
9:30 A.M.
WHEELCHAIR
ACCESSIBLE
Worship Services are
broadcast each Sunday
on
WXCT RADIO
990 AM
1:00 P.M.
Chad Bird is a Professor of Old Testament
Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne
And eventually fall in love with her. Now,
a quarter of a century after our initial
meeting, I can’t imagine life without her.
I grew up over singing “Just As I Am”
and watching folks get drenched from
head to toe in their baptisms. There was
something of a rhythm and rhyme to our
Southern Baptist services; it certainly wasn’t a charismatic free-for-all. The hymns,
sermon, offering, and altar call all fell into
place. But it had little akin to what I was to
discover in my late teens when I began my
pilgrimage into a liturgical church. There I
encountered psalm chanting, creedal confessions, vested clergy, an altar with real
wine atop it, worshipers making the sign of
the cross, the rare but occasional smoke of
incense, and plenty of other practices that
sent my non-traditional sensitivities into
shock. Some might suppose that, awed by
the reverence imbuing the service, wooed
by its sacred antiquity, it was love at first
sight. But, no, to be honest, I didn’t like it,
not one little bit.
Devotees of various faiths, Christian
and otherwise, have their distinctive
traditions and their reasons for perpetuating them. Some like the way these
practices are trans-historical, providing
an unbroken ritual link with prior generations of the faithful. Others appreciate
how traditions tend to concretize doctrine, embodying religious teachings in
religious rites, so that the eyes and ears
and other senses participate fully in
what faith teaches, rescuing it from becoming a bloodless religion of the mind.
Still others embrace tradition as the
communal expression of the faith, the
participation of all in a shared rite, thereby bonding them, and avoiding the tyranny of individualism or clerical whim.
And there are some who simply enjoy
the artistry of religious rites, how they
lift the common to new heights of aesthetic beauty. My own gradual appreciation of Christian rites involved all of
these. Ultimately, however, I fell in love
with traditions - and specifically, traditional worship - for a single, overarching
reason: its components, to varying degrees, are all in the service of the Gospel.
Twenty five years later, having written a
Eucharistic hymn that is sung in the liturgy,
presided as celebrant and deacon at various altars in the Lutheran Church, and contributed regularly to a journal devoted to
the traditional divine service, I guess you
could safely say that my first journal devoted to the traditional divine service worship
were not my lasting ones. Like an arranged
marriag, it took me years to get to know
this heretofore unknown liturgical bride, to
delve into her past, learn her eccentricities,
What you’ll encounter in a traditional
worship service is a framework of readings, creeds, confessionals, hymns, and
prayers that pulsate with the language of
Scripture, with Christ Jesus at the heart
“Oh Give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the
peoples.” 1Chronicles 16:8
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Of it all. By the repetition of these, with new elements circulating every week, truths seep into the hearts and minds of
worshipers, steeping them in vivifying words. Every element
of worship flows toward, into, and from the altar, where Jesus
sits as Lamb, Priest, King, and Man, all with God. Cognizant of
the fact that Jesus came to save not only the soul, but also the
body, the body participates fully in this worship. Knees bow
before the regal Lord; hands trace the sign of the saving cross
upon themselves; mouths dine at His feast; eyes soak in the
portrayal of His Passion in crucifix, icons, stained glass windows; and noses spell the aromatic incense wafting prayers
up toward God’s throne. Moreover, just as the world operates according to a calendar, so the church follows a calendar
of its own, with seasons and festivals that punctuate the year,
each in one way or another preaching the mystery of Christ
crucified and resurrected for us. Though some of the elements of this worship are mandated by Christ - the preaching
of his word, baptism, his Supper - others are not, but part of
the heritage of prior generations, who bequeathed to us rites,
and ceremonies which glorify God, beautify worship, and
work in concert with the Gospel. All is claimed for Jesus—
time, art, movement, architecture, music - so that in everything he may be glorified, and his people receive him and his
gifts for their salvation.
Though my own participation in liturgical worship happened after I left the church of my upbringing, I was surprised
and delighted to read that in the Baptist church there has
NOVEMBER 2013
recently been a groundswell of interest, especially among
young believers, in such worship. In a CNN blog post, Rachel
Held Evans writes, “Many of us, myself included, are finding
ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions - Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc. precisely because the ancient forms of liturgy seem so unpretentious, so unconcerned with being ‘cool’, and we find
that refreshingly authentic.” Whether this is merely a passing fad or a change of more substance and longevity remains to be seen. Needless to say, I hope it is the latter. If
so, I pray that their spiritual odyssey may leave them not
deeper into tradition but that tradition may leave them
deeper into Christ. Fir if tradition is not in the service of the
Gospel, it is fool’s gold, worthless and void. But if it is in
Christ’s service, it is gold worthy of becoming a receptacle
for heaven’s blessings.
The poet Robert Frost famously spoke of taking “the road
less travelled by” when he came to where “two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” Perhaps in some aspects of life,
that is sage advice. But when I came to where two roads
diverged in the church, I took the road more travelled by,
smoothed by the feet of the faithful for centuries, tried and
tested by time, a path free of the pitfalls of modernity and
the quick sands of fads, which leads always to the God crucified and risen for us. And that has made all the difference.
OUR 2013 MUM FESTIVAL FLOAT WON 2ND PLACE IN THE YOUTH
FLOAT DIVISION!
EXCELLENT JOB TO ALL INVILVED!
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name O most high.” Psalm 92:1
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VOLUME 13
JOIN US FOR SUNDAY
MORNING SERVICE!
Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good.
OUR SUNDAY WORSHIP SCHEDULE:
Sunday, November 3, 2013—All Saint’s Sunday
Sunday, November 10, 2013 - Stewardship Sunday
Sunday, November 17, 2013 - Pledge Sunday
Sunday, November 24, 2013 - Last Sunday of the Church Year
Thanksgiving worship on Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday,
November 27 at 7:00 p.m.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Children Grades Pre K– 2 with Mrs. Krueger
Children Grades 3-5 with Mrs. Karner
Children Grades 6-8 with Mrs. Buonafede
and Mrs. Jabs
High School students with Mr. Kisser and
Mr. Read
Come see what all the Buzz is about!
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NOVEMBER 2013
WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY!
Can you believe your good fortune that God has
put you on this earth in this time in the vicinity of
West and Meadow Streets in Bristol CT. USA,
Planet earth, the Solar System, God’s Universe,
where on Thursdays men will congregate at
7:00am in Immanuel’s Parish Center to breakfast
together and to meet with Pastor Joel Kotila who
again will happily lead the Emmaus Walkers
Men’s Bible Study.
If that doesn’t make you spiritually giddy, it’s
because you haven’t joined us yet! Hard to
believe? Talk to any member of this group and he
will confirm.
If you are like the rest of us in this group, you will
freely admit that we need, really need, this
spiritual tune up, fellowship, and learning
experience between Sundays. Yes, we start at
7:00am, maybe a bit early, and a little hard to get
up. Homer Simpson tells his son Bart, “Aw son,
don’t worry, if it’s too hard, it ain’t worth doing.”
Obviously, Homer Simpson has never been to the
Emmaus Walkers!
Come and find out what you have been missing!
BIBLE STUDY OPPORTUNITIES
Sunday Mornings 9:30am in the Gym
Mondays 1:00pm Adult fellowship
Tuesdays 7:00pm Women’s Bible Study
Wednesdays 10:00am Chapel
Thursdays 7:00am Men’s Emmaus Walkers
Be in the Word Every Day Of The Week!
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cl.church@ilcs.org
Ask to have the newsletter sent to your e-mail address
Saves paper, postage and time
Reserve space in your mailbox for those
valuable bills, circulars and credit card offers!
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YOUNG-AT-HEART
We are celebrating this month; it's the 19th Anniversary of our group's beginning back in 1994 and some
are still quite active in our group. It is the traditional
"Soup & Sandwich Lunch", with a number of us bringing homemade soups and others bringing delicious
sandwiches for our buffet. Dessert will be a special anniversary cake that we purchase, so save the date of
Thursday, Nov.7 and join us in the OSB for Christian
fellowship, food and fun. Want to always know what's
happening for our" over age 50" group? Just look at the
glass bulletin board near the library door for photos of
past events and new planned activities. Hope you didn't
miss our "best ever" lunch event in October when we
had the Bristol Old Tyme Fiddlers and an abundant
German Oktoberfest buffet for $5. Some of the school
children came to enjoy the music with us; a wonderful
time also for visitors from our New Britain church - a
great day! For our November program, we are excited
to welcome professional multi-media artist, Phyllis
Bailey also known as Abbe Wade. She has been teaching art to children and adults for over 50 years, and is
the owner of "Farmington River School or Art". Her
works have been exhibited throughout our area and her
presentation will show how an artist works and produces a creative work; a special program we are happy to
bring to you, thanks to Dee Krampitz. Invitations will
be going out this month for our Christmas Party at Nuchie's in Forestville on Thursday, Dec. 5. It will be a sit
down lunch, three entree choices, similar to last
year. Vernon Koch will again bring us a great musical
program. Ticket price is the same as last year $24 per
person, and we will help you out with valet parking, if
you need it. Let the office know if you don't receive an
invitation and wish to attend. Deadline for reservations
is Nov. 27, before Thanksgiving Day, so add the dates
to your calendar now. Plan to join us Nov.7 at 11:30 for
Pastor's message and announcements, and then enjoy a
great program and lunch with your Immanuel friends
who have been offering this program for 19 years.
NOVEMBER 2013
Warm- A- Child
Immanuel’s Helping Ministry is
once again sponsoring the popular
and truly evangelical “Warm–AChild” program. We have gathered lists of needy children from
Bristol schools and social agencies. Last year we provided outfits to each of approximately 90 children. Several jackets and other requested items were also donated. Hopefully we will be able
to be as generous this year.
The paper mittens that you will find on the Christmas
tree by the school library indicate the request /or need
of a specific child. Please take a mitten or two, purchase your gift, and return the wrapped gift to be
placed under the tree (with the mitten-tag attached.)
Because of distribution logistics, the absolute deadline
date for returning the mittens with the gifts attached is
December 8th.
All mite box donations given in the month of December
also benefit the Warm-A- Child program.
There is also an opportunity to support the Crisis
Pregnancy Center in Unionville. Please donate items
suitable for newborn babies. Some examples are clothing, disposable diapers, baby toiletries, small toys…
actually anything that can be used by a newborn.
These items should NOT be wrapped.
Your continued help for both of these programs is
appreciated. Thank you so much.
Please contact MaryAnn Kalwat at 860-583-2975 or
mkalwat@comcast.net with questions or comments.
ATTENTION ALL VETERANS AND ACTIVE
MILITARY PERSONNEL
On Friday, November 8th the students of Immanuel will be honoring all those who have served in
our military at our annual Veterans Day Program
beginning at 9 a.m. Come hear the students as
the share songs, poems and other recognition as
we thank God that he has given us a free country.
“But Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standards of teaching to
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VOLUME 13
mmanuel
L
utheran
NOVEMBER 2013
C Youth News
hurch
November 2013
A new Jr. High Group...
Did you know that Immanuel
now has a Jr. Youth group? It’s
true! It’s open to all youth from
6-8 grade.
Many events are being planned.
Some events will take place in
conjunction with the Sr. Youth.
Others will they’ll be flying solo...well not really! We’ve got a
team of youth leaders being
led by Brenda Buonofede.
Their kick off event was a
hike, which included a great
devotion on “stones”. Then
we were off to Pastor Karner’s
home for smores and some
singing around the campfire!
Our first event of the new
year...hiking.
Does this sound like a great
time?! If you know any 6-8
graders encourage them to
come and join in the fun.
November Events...
 Nov 16—Leaf raking for shut ins
Any questions? See Brenda...
 Nov. 17—Coffee Hour
 Nov. 23—District food
Thanks for your support...
packing event
 Nov. 24—Food Drive
On September 28th the
youth held their annual Tag
The tag sale is an excellent
sale. Once again Immanuel
way not only to raise funds,
Youth Connect with
God…
came through to help donate
(which by the way 10% will be
Time: Sunday @9:30am
and to buy.
donated to mission projects),
The monies raised will go towards helping our youth to
once again attend the LCMS
National Gathering in 2016 in
New Orleans, LA.
but to invite the community
to come to visit our Immanu-
Jr. Youth—Main floor of Parish Center
el family!
Sr. Youth—Basement of Parish Center
ILC Youth is on facebook! (where else...right?!)
We’re ILC Youth Group….come join us...pics and
posts!
“And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and He took seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave
them to his disciples to set before the people.” Mark 8:6
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A letter from the Editor:
When I was in College my Senior Advisor upon giving me
some direction asked me if I knew what altruism was. At
first I thought it was a medical condition, but upon further examination I learned that in a nutshell it was
putting someone else's needs above your own and giving of yourself for someone else’s benefit. At the time I
thought it sounded unrealistic because of the type of
world we live in. As I get older I can truly see that the
more you give, the more you get in return. I’m not talking about wealth or materialistic things, I’m talking
about the intangibles; love, respect, appreciation, and a
general admiration. This month being a month of
Thanksgiving, I would like to give a big Thanks to all
those people who do things for others. Those people
serving our Church on Boards, the Church groups that
go out into the community to do some sort of service,
and those that give of their talents to teach our children
about our Lord and Savior. If you aren’t involved, pray
about it and the Lord will show you where you are needed. Be altruistic in all of your pursuits this month!
NOVEMBER 2013
SECOND ANNUAL
TURKEY ROLL:
This year, we will be
collecting frozen turkeys to
help our church supply food
baskets for Thanksgiving.
We are asking students to
bring a frozen turkey to
school on Friday, and
bring it to the stage in the gym. (Turkeys will be
coming on sale in the coming weeks.)
SAVE THE DATES: Come and celebrate the birthday
of our Lord with students of Immanuel.
December 13th—Festive Christmas Music Concert
7 p.m. in the Gym
th
December 16 —Preschool Christmas Program
9 a.m. in the church.
December 18th—School Christmas Program
“From Everlasting to Everlasting---The story of the
Christmas Wreath" 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
In His Service,
Jason Krueger
1 Alena Hauer
2
Morgan Hebert Dubois
Bobby Boucher
3 Taylor Milano
4 Albert Emmert
Ema Litke
5 Diane Erling
Caryn Hill
6 Donna Kuharski
Janet Voisine
7 Janet Riemer
Suzanne Wentland
8 Raymond Ryskowski Jr.
10 Peter Malsheske
Candace Michelson
Mary Reckert
11 Michael Cassala
John Sonnenberg
12 Breanna Hoyt
Norman Kirshner
Emily Larson
Michelle Matthews
Catherine Sonstroem
Eric Starzyk
13 Jill Casey
Nathan Kirschner
14 Holly Fitz
16 Rick Gurgino
Edith Cook
17 Nancy Malsheske
Kelley McIntyre
Rudolph Jabs
18 Robert Theriault
Ashley Bielert
19 Alice helming
Martha Pond
20 Diane Read
Patricia Bohn
21 Melissa Haras
Deanna Hill
22 Beth Houle
Ida May
23 Marion Freitag
Dawn Santilli
24 Ruth Meusel
25 Raye Bohn
Warren Kirschner
Michael Lauretti Sr.
26 Lori Fitzherbert
Joan Heidorn
Verna Koehn
27 Evelyn Philips
28 Jared Scoville
Marie Vorwerk
Eugene Zahnkel
29 Debora Finn
30 Andrew Follo
Emily Poudin
Chelsea Schaffrick
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It’s That Time Of Year Again!!
If you are a Church or School member,
are between 4th and 8th grade, and
would like to play Basketball for Immanuel Lutheran School contact the School at 860-583-5631 for
the practice and game schedules.
“Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift”, 2Corinthians 9:15
NOVEMBER 2013
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NOVEMBER 2013
SUNDAY, November 24, 2013
 Baby food
 Coffee
 Jelly
 Soap
 Canned food
 Fresh vegetables &
fruits
 33 gallon black
trash bags
 Toothpaste
 Frozen turkeys
 Paper towels
 Peanut butter
 Toilet paper
 Cereal
 Pasta
 Spaghetti sauce
 Shampoo
 Meals in a can
Note: The October &
November Mite Box
Offering will go toward
the food drive.
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
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154 MEADOW STREET
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