Talking Together

Talking Together
the weekly newsletter of
Concordia Lutheran Church
17906 Garden Lane Hagerstown, MD 21740
301-797-5955
Concordia Home Page address: http://www.concordia-hagerstown.org
E-mail address: concordiased@verizon.net
December 11, 2011
Our Stewardship of God's Gifts
Attendance for December 4, 2011 …….....…...…..……..….…………..………..….....….……....…..……..………..…..…...…..…................................. 120
Tune in December 18th
Giving for November 27, 2011 …………..………..…….….……….…….……………...….……….…..……...……..........................................
...... $3,521.00
Year-to-Date Regular Offering Received ………………………….………………….………...………………..…………..… ……………….. $211,432.96
Budget Needs Through Week 48 of 2011 ……………………...………………………….…….………………..….…..….…....…...…...……..... $199,010.69
Our 2011 Total Annual Budget (Operational Expenses Only)………………..………….……....….……..…..….….……..…....….…..………. $220,182.00
Serving in
Worship
Date
Acolyte
12/11
No Acolyte
Early
Service
Late
Service
Danny Flanick
Early
Service
No Acolyte
12/18
Late
Service
TBD
Nursery
1st No Nursery
2
nd
1
st
2nd
Karyn Flanick
Lector
Greeters
Assisting
Ministers
“What
Luther Says”,
(Selection
based on today’s Old
Testament reading)
Bob Shives
Kreymborg
Carol Rosicky
Shives
No Communion
Gann/Tichnell
Les Braun
Diest
Hector/Shives
Rick Anthony
TBD
No Communion
No Nursery
Sylvia Shives
TODAY
(CPH 1959)
Wednesday …………………………….……….. Advent Worship, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday …… THERE IS NO COUNCIL MEETING THIS WEEK …..
Pastor’s class ……………….……...….…….. 12 Noon, (after late worship)
Wednesday …………………..……….. Soup & sandwich supper, 5:45 p.m. Saturday …………………… Christmas Play Rehearsal, 10:00 p.m.
- Hector family - (The death of Larry’s - Gann family - (At the passing of Jim
Prayer Requests:- Michelle Hector - (Praise and
grandfather. We pray for peace and comfort
thanksgiving for very impressive progress in for the family.) Hector family and Prayer
the treatment for cancer.) Hector family and Ministry Team
- Serena - (A person in our community
Prayer Ministry Team
called and asked for prayers for her daughter,
- Mierkey family - (Vern Mierkey
Serena who was recently diagnosed with MS
passed away on November 28. He was the
(multiple sclerosis). We pray for healing and
father of Fran Plyler former member of
comfort.) Pastor and Prayer Ministry Team
Concordia. Please pray for peace and comfort
for the family) Fran and Prayer Ministry Team - Stephanie Macus - (She has been
- MChad Shumaker - (Has a dislocated diagnosed with cancer of the lung, brain and
spine. Pray for God’s healing power. Friend
knee and diagnosis is trying to determine the
of Kathy Schleef) Schleef family and Prayer
severity. Pray for healing.) Shumaker family
Ministry Team
and Prayer Ministry Team
 - New
M
- Member
constant nausea and terrible headaches.) Mikie, Pastor and Prayer
Ministry Team
- MBob Keane - (undergoing
treatment for prostate cancer.) Bob
and Prayer Ministry
- MKim Jackson - (suffering
from issues related to
pregnancy.) Kim, Pastor and Prayer
Ministry Team
- Bill Harris - (Recovering from
heart surgery back home at
Providence Place) Prayer Ministry
Team
Concordia Emergency Communications
“Nurturing the Faith”
The following readings are provided for your
preparation for next Sunday’s worship. Scripture
readings for, Dec. 18th, Fourth Sunday in Advent
2 Samuel. 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke
1:26-38
Sunday Christian Education
Sunday School
Adult Bible Study
Gann’s father, we pray for peace and
comfort for Jim’s mother and family
knowing that father Tom's spirit now rests
in the Lord Jesus Christ) Gann family and
Prayer Ministry Team
- MGretarsson family - (Continued
prayer for the well being of mother and
child)Pastor and Prayer Ministry Team
- Chase Baker - (having some serious
abdominal pain and there has been no
official diagnosis) Pastor and Prayer
Ministry Team
- Mikie McCullough - (She is having
For cancellations or adjustments to
church schedule due to inclement
weather the following will be used:
1. Phone - Dial 301-739-4913 for
emergency message.
-
9:30 a.m.
9:30 a.m.
ON PAGE 2  Announcements
 Birthday/Anniversaries  LWML
 Church Mouse Report  Luther says
Please Note:
Today Christmas Cookie Sale after
worship
Tune in to Hagerstown radio,
WJEJ, 1240 am
or call radio station at 301-739-2323.
or to Frederick radio,
WFMD, 930 am
If there is no emergency message the
or call radio station at 301-663-4181.
following
3. Concordia Web Site message will be heard:
“This is the emergency alert phone for http://www.concordia-hagerstown.org/
(This feature under development at this
Concordia Lutheran Church, Hagerstown, MD. Weather related messages time.)
such as ‘worship and/or Sunday School 4. Calls from Pastor or Board of
cancellations or delays; meeting canLay Ministry
cellations or other communications of
For those families and individuals withemergency nature will be placed at this
phone number. Thank you”
out access to the internet and/or poor re-
2. Radio - Concordia message will be ception on radio; Pastor and the Board of
placed on the radio station list of
closings or delays.
Lay Ministry will place a call of emergency by phone.
Continued on page 2
Birthdays and Anniversaries This Week
17 - Surzano Solomon
Birthdays
Baptismal Birthdays
5 - Robert Rosicky
12 - Mathias Fridgen
13 - Gayle Myett
12 - Kathryn Hector
13 - William Von Alt
16 - Kyra Baker
13 - Kristine Shumaker
16 - Regina Haines
Anniversaries
17 - Carol Rosicky
14 - Judy and William Garrison
17 - Robert Sines
“Listening to the “Lutheran Hour” You are invited to tune in next
Sunday to one of the radio stations listed below:
Tune in December 18th
WNAV (Annapolis) 143 FM 7:00 a.m WBAL (Baltimore) 1090 AM 10:30 a.m.
WTRM (Winchester) 91.3 FM 7:01 p.m. WZXH (Hagerstown) 91.7 FM 4:00 p.m.
"Ordinary? No, Extraordinary!" Through God's gift of a Savior,
ordinary lives take on extraordinary significance. (Luke 1:26-38)
Lutheran Hour Speaker: Rev. Gregory Seltz
ADVENT
We Christians are to prepare for the Coming of Christ before He
actually comes -- and that Coming is symbolized and recalled at
Christmas. Non-Christians miss this season of preparation, and
then scramble for six days after the 25th to make their resolutions. By then, however, it's too late -- Christmas has come and
gone, Our Lord has already made His visitation to the earth, and
He has found them unprepared. This is precisely what will take
place at the Second Coming, when those who have put off for
their entire lives the necessary preparations will suddenly be
scrambling to put their affairs in order. Unfortunately, by then it
will have been too late, and there will be no time for repentance.
The Second Coming will be less forgiving than the Incarnation.
There will be no four-week warning period before the Second
Coming, like we get during Advent. There will be no six-day
period of grace after the Second Coming during which to make
resolutions and self-examination, like the secular world does
from Dec. 26 until Jan. 1.
Offering Envelopes for 2012 The 2012 offering envelopes are
now out. If there is only one box for the family, it will be in their
mailbox. If there are two or more boxes for a family (due to all
confirmed members now getting a box), they will be rubberbanded together and placed on a table across from the mailboxes. Due to the change in envelope numbers for everyone, 2012 envelopes should only be used AFTER Dec. 31, 2011.
Therefore, any 2011 envelopes should not be used in 2012.
Trees, Wreaths, and Arrangements Thanks to all the folks
who have come to sell trees in the evenings/weekends and to the
ladies who have been busy making wreaths and arrangements.
We especially thank Karen Kreymborg and Cheryl Fertitta who
set up the work area and have been on site for every workday.
Many others helped with either making arrangements and/or
decorating the sanctuary and narthex. Oh yes, the ladies sold a
few trees during the day too!
Christ Appears in the Old Testament
The patriarch Jacob distinguishes the Persons in the Holy Trinity
(Gen. 48:15f). . . . He calls the Lord Christ an “Angel,” not as if He
were an angel according to His essence and nature; for it would be
manifest idolatry to pray to an angel and ask for his blessing. By his
prayer Jacob, then, confesses this Angel to be the true, essential God.
But He is not forever to conduct Himself as the invisible God; for He
is to be sent to earth, to be clothed in our flesh, and to be sacrificed
for our sin. As Christ often says in the New Testament: “The Father
hath sent Me” (John 20:21). Again, in the Prophet Isaiah: “The Lord
hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted” (62:1); also Is. 63:9:
“The Angel of His Presence saved them.” Thus Malachi calls Christ
the “Messenger of the Covenant” (3:1). So these two names, “God”
and “Angel,” describe two distinct Persons, whose essence is nonetheless entirely one and the same.
(Selection based on today’s Old Testament reading)
“What Luther Says”,
(CPH 1959)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Open Arms CCDC Colds and other sickness caused six
children to be absent last Thursday! We hope everyone is recovered enough to participate in decorating gingerbread houses this
coming week. Carol Rosicky has a new cell phone number: 571442-0015.
Cookie Sale TODAY The annual cookie sale will be held in
the fellowship hall just before adult bible study and after the second service. Wreaths, arrangements and mugs will also be for
sale. Proceeds from the cookie sale will go to the Fort Wayne
Seminary Food Bank.
Angel Tree We are supporting two families with our Angel
Tree outreach this year. Please take an angel tag, purchase the
specified gift and return it wrapped with the angel tag
attached. Gifts and a food basket will be delivered to the
families on Christmas Eve. Monetary donations are accepted to help purchase food for the baskets. Deb Jorgensen and Karol Stanley are managing the Angel Tree project.
Christmas Bazaar It has been awhile, but the ladies have set up
their Christmas Bazaar in the lower stairwell. There are many
small decorator and gift items. Many are things brought for the
yard sale. Items are available for a donation.
The Sunday School Christmas pageant Rehearsals today
after late worship and next Saturday A practice is scheduled for
Saturday Dec. 17. At 10 a.m. The performance will take place
next Sunday December 18 as part of the 10:45 worship service.
Thank you to all the ladies who helped decorate,
prepare food, and clean up for the party Thursday evening. The fellowship hall was transformed into a beautiful dining room lit by icicle
lights. The food was great. Many beautiful ornaments were exchanged in a unique and fun “Left-Right”
game. The evening devotion was based on Isaiah 40:1-11
read responsively. The mite offering and the Salvation Army
stocking were dedicated as part of the devotion.
It was great to see Heather Gretarsson back in circulation Wednesday evening for the supper and worship.
Grandpa Gretarsson had the pleasure of babysitting with baby Hannah.