November 6, 2022 Newsletter

They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. ~Romans 3:24

Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour this weekend,

or you will be early to church!

Pancake Breakfast – November 13th between services! The youth group is having a Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, November 13th between services (10:30-11:30ish). There will be a free will donation for the youth group. We will be adopting people from Sunshine Communities and this will help with that. There will be a pancake bar, where you can choose your own toppings.

We hope people will come spend some time together, eat yummy pancakes and enjoy some fellowship time.

Thank you, The Youth Committee

Operation Christmas Child

November – monetary donations. It costs $9 to send a box. Donations can be dropped off in the office or labeled and put in the offering.

Debbie Downs I was born and raised in Rhode Island. I had two brothers and we three just loved the beach and sailing our family’s sailboats on a nearby bay.  I became a member of the Episcopal Church at an early age and stayed there till I moved, many years later, with my husband and two of our children  to Sylvania.

Now I have four children, Rob, Kim, David, and Bill, nine grandchildren, Beth, Robbie, Trevor, Valerie, Hannah, Emily, Luke, Heather and David and six great grandchildren, Wyatt, Genevieve, Amelie, Jude, Leo and Vivian  All but four of them are scattered from Texas to Italy.

I am a retired Sylvania Elementary School teacher, but still keep busy. I volunteer for the Sylvania Historical Society at the museum  on Main Street.  Most of our programs are about early pioneer life in this area and are attended by school children on field trips. I usually portray a one-room school teacher and have just begun my 23rd year there. It is a lot of fun.

I love cats and have really lost count of how many I’ve had over the years. They can be demanding at times, but overall are great company for me.

I was a member of Advent Lutheran Church for about forty-five years till its doors closed about seven years ago. I joined Grace in June 2018. I am so happy to be here; have made lots of wonderful new friends, and feel very much at home.

My favorite Bible verse is Psalm 121, verses 1 and 2.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. I also have a favorite hymn, it is The Church’s One Foundation.

People say the church is not the building, but the people. I would like to thank Pastor Brenda and all the people who have made, and continue to make Grace the great place it is today.

Thank you, Debbie, for all you do!

Barbara Charvat I was born and raised in South Toledo graduating from Libbey High School and attending Faith Lutheran Church. My late husband, Jim, and I were married at Faith in 1956. Jim was a lifelong member of Grace.  One evening shortly after our marriage we were cleaning up the dishes after dinner when there was a knock on the door.  Reverend Karl Brenner made an unannounced call on Jim and I and asked me to consider joining Grace, which I gladly did.

Jim and I had three children, twin sons David and Dennis, and a daughter Beth.  Early on I was a stay-at- home mother, re-entering the workplace gradually once the kids were in school.  At first, I sold Avon and then started doing product sampling in grocery stores for Coca Cola and Eckrich Sausage.  That led to a full-time telephone sales position with Coke.

At Grace I have been involved in many activities over the years. Hospitality has  always been a big interest of mine. In the 1970’s I was involved in cooking and    serving the weekly Lenten dinners along with phoning members to invite them to attend. For many, many years Jim and I set up for the weekly coffee socials and I served as greeter at the first service. In addition, for a long time I was responsible for recruiting ushers for the first service.  After retiring from Coke, I volunteered in the  office at Grace once or twice a week. I still cherish the opportunity to meet and greet members and visitors at Grace.

Interesting fact, prior to my meeting him, my future husband Jim and future Father-in-Law, Charles Charvat helped select a parcel of real estate on Monroe at the corner of the street where they lived, Stannard, for the building of what has been the location of Grace Lutheran Church since the 1950’s.

It is always a joy to see Barbara and her smile on Sunday mornings! Thank you, Barbara for all you have done and all you do!

Barbara’s birthday is November 7.

Make sure to wish her a happy birthday!

Lutheran Basics Class:

We have had great discussions in the Lutheran Basic class in October! We need a bit more time to continue our learning, so the class will continue for a couple more weeks. We will meet on Sunday, 6 November and Sunday, 13 November at 8:15 a.m. We will also meet on Wednesday , 9 November and Wednesday, 16 November at 6:00 p.m.. Please note: Both the Sunday and Wednesday sessions will take a break the week of 30 October, with no class on 30 October or 2 November.

All Saints’ Day will be observed at Grace on Sunday, November 6.  As in the past, the Altar cloth will list names of deceased loved ones which have been    added by members. This year a new cloth had to be purchased as our previous cloth was completely filled. The cloth will be at the back of sanctuary on a table starting October 23 so that names of members’ loved ones can be written on it.

Election Day Bake Sale – RADA Cutlery – Fellowship Craft Fair Ruth Circle is sponsoring a bake sale, cutlery sale along with Fellowship Fair. Donations of baked good would be appreciated and can be dropped off in the Brenner Hall kitchen on Nov. 6th, 7th or 8th marked for bake sale. We will also have crafts and RADA cutlery available for sale. Even if you are not voting at Grace you are welcome to come see what we have to offer. The proceeds are used to fund our outreach projects in Toledo and Northwest Ohio. Hope to see you there!

Ruth Circle

An Invitation From The Christian Education Committee

You are invited to our Annual Operation Christmas Child packing party, November 13, 2022 after the 2nd service in Brenner Hall. We will be packing boxes with items to be given to a child who may never have received a gift before. Our goal is to fill 125 boxes this year. We need volunteers to help fill the boxes. Bring a lunch or snacks and come join us for the fun and fellowship. We will provide beverages and snacks. Come for a short time or plan to stay the whole afternoon. We look forward to seeing you.

Thank you to the praise band for playing at the Reformation Sunday service!

And thank you to all who helped the band move everything back after the service!

Fellowship Time

Thank you to all who help!

November 6th – Jan Dustman and Karleen Jaquillard

Meditation on Luke 6:20-31

By Vicar Dave

Once again, Jesus is turning things upside down in today’s Gospel reading. Blessed are the poor, the hungry and those who weep? And we are blessed when people hate us because of Jesus?

The world in which we live in values having possessions, being rich. We tend to  idolize people like Elon Musk or Bill Gates, who have more money than they know what to do with. I don’t know about Musk, but the Gates family is at least somewhat philanthropic. There’s an entire TV series that follows the lives of a family of wealthy, self-indulgent women, the Kardashians. On TV, radio and when browsing the internet, we often see ads for restaurants, or various types of food and beverages. And being sad is considered a social taboo. People often confuse sadness with depression, which is a mental illness, and discourage or hide it whenever we can. (In my non-clinical point of view, not expressing your sadness allows it to stay inside of us longer than it should and fester into something like depression, but I’m not even close to an expert in this area.) We also value being successful at whatever we do, including sharing the good news of Jesus. The idea of being hated for doing this runs counter to that societal value.

So, what’s going on with this sermon? I think what Jesus is doing is taking the long view of things, not just for this life, but also for the next. We know that God tends to favor the downtrodden, the poor and the lame. You can find references to this in both the Old Testament and the New. For example, when God delivers the nation of Israel from bondage to the most powerful nation in the world at that time. Or all the laws about taking care of the widow in the Torah. Jesus talked about the poor widow’s gift of a view coins being of greater value to God than the rich man giving from his excess. I remember the parable of the rich man and the beggar outside his gate, and how when they died, the poor man was taken to heaven and the rich man to hell because he failed to care for his fellow man. Maybe the message here is that if we have wealth and can keep ourselves well fed in this lifetime, we are expected to share that with others. That can be difficult. We tend to be hoarders, accumulating wealth so that we can be assured of being able to take care of ourselves, rather than relying on God, whereas the poor have no choice but to rely on God. Perhaps that’s why they are blessed.

There’s an expression that is used in the Spiderman comic books all the time. With great power comes great responsibility. Peter Parker suffers with this because as he tries to help others, he often gets himself into a jam with either his family or friends or at school. If we change the wording of that expression to with great wealth/blessings, comes great responsibility, we might see how being given things in this life implies that we must work hard on caring for others. That can be difficult. We don’t like giving up the stuff we have, be it money or food or even time. So maybe that why Jesus says woe to the rich or those who are full now. Because if they don’t share what they’ve got now, they’re behaving like the rich man who failed to care for the beggar at his gate.

I feel as though God has really blessed me in this life. I have plenty, so I’m expected to share what I’ve got with those less fortunate than myself. I’m happy in my life, so I need to share that as well and care for those who need to be comforted and not judge them. While the world may condemn me for doing these things, I believe that this is the best way to share the good news of Jesus Christ. If I am reviled or called a hypocrite for that, then I’ll accept that blessing from God and keep doing the good work!

Behind the scenes at Grace….by Gretchen

1. Almost all the beautiful leaves have fallen from the trees in the parking lot! The squirrels have picked up the pace gathering the acorns – must have gotten the message that they need to start stashing away the goods!
2. This last Sunday’s Service was wonderful, and it was definitely a sea of red! The blending of the choir, the organ and the Praise Team was great ! Then the kuchens for Fellowship – awesome and super yummy as was seen by the crowd of people and the empty dishes! Then there was the Lutheran Trivial Pursuit game – we had to be on our toes to answer Pastor Brenda’s questions – the grand winner was Cindy Matthews!                      .
3. On October 21st approximately 60 blankets, some coats, a whole bunch of mittens and hats were taken by Wendy McCall and Debbie Fallon to Tent City! Grace received a BIG Thank you for our donation! We will have another “Wrap Your Heart with a Blanket “ collection in February, so hang onto those blankets if you did not make the drop off this year. If you need to donate earlier just let Gretchen know and she will make arrangements to pick up. (Thanks to Wendy and Debbie for transporting!) * If someone comes to the church and is in need of hats, mittens or a blanket we do keep some to give .
4. Have you been checking the Community Bulletin Boards? New stuff (all interesting 🙂 ) is posted quite often . We can also post information that you feel is interesting and important – just give to the office .
5. Thanks to Cindy Wood for overseeing the H.E.L.P. closet for the last 2 weeks!
6. Remember : Grace is not the building but the people of Grace carrying out God’s Mission!

Our Church Will Be Perfect When We Hear…

1. Hey! It’s my turn to sit in the front pew.
2. I was so enthralled, I never noticed the sermon went twenty minutes overtime.
3. Personally, I find prayer more enjoyable than golf.
4. I dearly want to be a teacher for the junior high Sunday School class.
5. Forget the denominational minimum salary; let’s pay our pastor so she can live like we do.
6. I love it when we sing hymns I’ve never heard  before.
7. Since we are all here, let’s start the service early.
8. Nothing inspires me and strengthens my commitment like the annual (fill in the blank) campaign.
9. Pastor, we’d like to send you to a continuing education seminar in the Bahamas.
10. I’ve decided to give our church the five hundred dollars a month I’ve previously sent to TV evangelists.

Conversation 

Coming out of church, Mrs. Peterson asks her husband, “Do you think that Johnson girl is putting a rinse on her hair ?” “I didn’t even see her,” Mr. Peterson admits. “And the dress Martha Hansen was wearing,” Mrs. Peterson continues, “really, don’t tell me you think that’s the proper outfit for a mother of two.”  “I’m afraid I didn’t notice that,  either, ” Mr. Peterson says. “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Mrs. Peterson snaps, “a lot of good it does for you to go to church.”

 How to Get to Heaven               

A teacher asked the children in her Sunday School class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to church, would I get to heaven?”  “No!” the children all answered.  “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the lawn, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get to go to heaven?”. Again the answer was “No!”. “Well,” she continued, “then how can I get to heaven?” In the back of the room, a five-year-old boy shouted, “You gotta be dead.”

Memory Verse                             

Sunday School Teacher: “Do you remember your memory verse, Charlie?”. Charlie: “I sure do. I even remember the zip code…. John 3:16.”

Pastor’s Thoughts:

As we look ahead to All Saints Sunday this week, I have been pondering sainthood.

To my mind, saints are those whose lives show the love and grace of God. We think first of people such as St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John, St. Mary … We can easily see the love and grace of the Good News of Jesus in their lives. Their lives have made Christ known, and have inspired the faith of others.

But today I am thinking of people such as St. Rosalyn, St. Harolyn, St. Al, and a few others. Not familiar with these beloved saints of God? Allow me to share …

St. Rosalyn, my maternal grandmother, taught me about the sacredness of Holy  Communion. She often took me with her when she would prepare the altar at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Fremont. It was a holy time for me, and I recall her stories about what Communion meant to her. Not one celebration of Communion passes without me thinking of her.

St. Harolyn, my mother, not only taught me about God through her ministry in our  congregation, she also showed me the love of God for all people through her work with autistic children and others with learning challenges.

St. Al was a member of my internship congregation. Every time I would preach, he would shake my hand after worship and say, “Remember: it’s always about Jesus!” That reminder sticks with me each time I write a sermon, as the central message should always point to Jesus.

On Sunday,  we will remember the saints of our congregation and lives who have died since 1 November 2021. It will be good to celebrate their lives and remember them and the effect they had on us. It will be good to look forward with hope and faith to the day when we will all worship God is the kingdom of Heaven.

It is also good to think about the saints who are still among us. Who points you to Jesus? Who embodies God’s love, mercy, and peace in your life? And … how can you point to Jesus for others? How can your life be one of sainthood, of sharing the Good News of God in Christ far and wide? That, I believe, is part of what it means to Bless the World: Be God’s Grace!

In Christ, Pastor Brenda

    Healthy People ! Healthy Parish !

Swat the Flu !

It is not too late to get the Flu Shot! The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention ) is reporting a significant rise in the number of reported cases. The news is also reporting an increase in children’s respiratory cases. To protect you, your family and the kids please get the Flu shot ASAP if you are able. If you have not had the second Covid Booster the CDC is reporting that it is safe to get both the booster and the Flu shot on the same day.

Handwashing with soap is the very best but in a pinch use hand sanitizer which contains at least 50% or more alcohol . Remember 3 chorus’s of Happy Birthday while washing hands is needed to fight germs !

Germs form unwashed hands can get into foods and drinks while people prepare or drink.

We touch our eyes, nose and mouth without being aware and these 3 are great doorways into our body.

Germs from unwashed hands can be transferred to other objects handrails ,tabletops, toys and then be transferred to more people. Just think about what could be on your cellphone.

Good handwashing can reduce the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 24-40% (this is an older reference from 2008 so is probably much more now)

In 2014 it was estimated that only 19% of people wash their hands after using the  toilet – EEEEEKKK !

Birthdays

If you do not see your birthday on the birthday list for the month, it is because I do not have it in the records. Please contact the office – call or email – let me know when your birthday is so I can put it in our records. And yes, you need to include the year!

This is the day the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

~Psalm 118:24