JANUARY 2020
A gracious and wonderful year’s beginning to all!
As a congregation, we are on a journey towards something new. God himself has laid out every step which we will take. It is very important to remember that a congregation is a living organism. It does not live alone by good organization, a well drafted budget, or the best coffee reception in town. An active congregation draws strength from its common and shared faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and from the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In addition, authenticity must prevail to achieve a joyous and graceful atmosphere.

The laws of the world do not apply in the church of Jesus Christ, but those which ask for absolute faith in the gospel. A church that lives in this reality will never please the world, but this is not our mission.

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5)

The coming year and decade will bring us new challenges. Constant spiritual self-reflection is necessary amidst different trials and afflictions. Only the congregation who is willing to make Jesus the most important aspect of their lives has the possibility of being successful.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom.12:2)

Thank-you for this past year. Let’s go forward together, serving God and one another, and let’s do it with joy and gladness!

Pastor Mia

Come join us for our journey through the Bible! This spring we will read the whole Old Testament.
This is your weekly reading program.

You can aldo check our website for the program and lectures.
Preschool News
Preschool News – January 2020

Happy New Year! We hope you had a blessed Christmas.

During December we had a wonderful time singing, learning about baby Jesus, making cards for the residents of the Finnish American Rest Home, baking cookies, creating tree ornaments and reindeer art.

Our students sang in church during English service and our annual party for friends and family was a big success.

At the party, the children gave another wonderful performance, there was a lot of great food to eat and Santa even made an appearance! 
The school was tented for termites December23-24th. It has now been aired out and before the New Year will get a thorough cleaning.

After a two week break, the school will reopen on Monday, January 6th.
We begin the New Year learning about Calendars, Clocks and Time. We’ll make our own “clocks” and create “2020” collages.
 
The winter season has officially arrived, so we will be studying how winter is different in various parts of the world. We will cut and paint snowflakes, make artificial snow, build “snowmen” and do experiments with ice to see how it changes under different conditions (from solid to liquid and gas).

In January, we will continue tending our school garden. We have already harvested some beans, tomatoes, basil and parsley and soon we hope to have squash, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, carrots and assorted flowers.

The final theme of January is Healthy Habits. We will discuss the importance of good hygiene (washing hands using tissues!!), eating healthy foods, getting exercise and taking care of our teeth.

Happy, Healthy New Year to all!



Pirjo Komonen Campitelli
Music News
This past year has been very Blessed at our church! As we begin this new year let us reflect on all the music concerts, prayer and praise events that served our Lord with music and brought joy and enthusiasm to everyone in attendance. Here at St. Andrew’s, we are fortunate to have singers and musicians who play music to the Glory of God. Thank-you to this wonderful group of talented people!
There are a lot of great events planned for the new year which you are all invited to participate in. We need singers and musicians for our new English contemporary services, as well as new members for both our Finnish and English choirs. Please come and join us! We also have some wonderful Finnish praise events planned with some new contemporary music. I look forward to seeing everyone at these occasions.
Music is a very powerful way to give praise to our God and we are grateful for everyone who has given their talents to our church this past year. Thank-you!
“Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” (Ps.105:2)

Michael, music director 
President's Corner
Year 2020 is waiting
 
Christmas, the time to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, is behind, the holiday season is almost over and we are ready for the year 2020. I wish that Christmas carols and parties have given a lot of joy, renewed soul, strengthened mind and brought blessings to everyone.
Year 2019 was historic for our congregation. In December we finalized the lengthy sales process of our church building. The closing event on Dec 5 th was a very warm-hearted and friendly event. It was a living proof about both parties’ commitment to continuous constructive co-operation.
One month as a tenant has proven that all our operations continue like before. Our financial future is now much healthier than before, but it still requires a lot of everyone’s effort to reach the financial balance.
Please note in your calendar that the Annual Congregation Meeting will be on Sunday, March 8 th , 2020 right after the Sunday service. You will have an opportunity to hear more about the most important topics during 2019, the budget for 2020 and you can elect the new council members. Annual meeting materials will be added to congregation’s website during Februart 2020.
 
Many new activities are waiting for you already in January. A very interesting trip to St. Augustine on January 23 rd -24 th and Mrs. Raija Sipinen’s birthday party and coffee on January 12 th will be some of the highlights.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
 
Blessed New Year!
 
Pertti Pietarinen
Council President

CHRISTMAS CONCERT ECHOES
The talented musicians at our church brought a warm Christmas feeling to everyone, on Wednesday, December 11 th at our Christmas concert, which was directed and organized by our organist Michael Poutiainen. At the beginning, the captivating Santa Lucia procession brought “light into darkness” as the young participants walked up to the altar wearing their candle-crowns, while singing that familiar tune. Combined choirs, AGAPE, and Chapel choirs sang in both Finnish and English, plus the accordion ensemble and Florida Male Singers, under the direction of Keijo Räikkönen, complemented the program very nicely. Tuula Nordström’s performances brought Christmas into our hearts, and the euphonium of Hannu Halonen rang out beautifully. Well-seasoned and trained musical artists Lilli and Ella Theisen along with our organist Michael Poutiainen offered some beautiful light string trio music. There was true Christmas feeling as our wonderful tenor Esko Airikka performed Sylvia’s Christmas song. At the conclusion, all the choirs, along with the congregation sang the very heart-warming “Silent Night”.
NEW YEAR’S PICNIC

Both local Finnish churches were in attendance in big numbers at the annual Christians coming together picnic, on Saturday, December 28 th at John Prince Park. We enjoyed good fellowship, community singing, a variety of picnic food, listened to the Word of God through testimony, and heard some good music under a nice pavilion. God had blessed us with nice sunny weather after the morning rains. Loyal church volunteers had once again done a tremendous job organizing the event, to the enjoyment of everyone present.
Anja Laurila
Christmas Poinsettias For The Altar in 2019
Thoughts From the Volunteer
An old man was walking on the seashore. Large waves were crashing on the beach, bringing with them rocks, shells, sea stars, and pieces of driftwood. The beach stretched out as far as the eye could see.

The man saw a young girl playing on the beach. The girl bent down, carefully picked up a sea star, carried it to the waters’ edge and tossed it into the sea. She then picked up a second sea star and brought it into the sea. She continued doing this over and over.

Poor girl, the man thought, she is wasting her time doing this work - I must go talk to her.

He walked over to her and said, “What you are doing is pointless. Can’t you see that there are more sea stars on the beach than you can count? You will never finish your work, and the waves constantly bring more sea stars to the beach. Your efforts are wasted.”

The girl gazed up at the man in a peaceful manner, then down at the star in her hands and then answered him: “My efforts are not wasted on this sea star.”
This story came to mind as I was going through the past year in my mind and came to realize how significant or insignificant one person’s actions are. This can leave a lasting impression, in both good and bad situations. From my side, I have been able to experience the good side of this, especially during the past month.
I really hope that this year, and why not the next several years as well, that we could all help change someone else’s life, and make it a little better with some small good gestures.

Finally, I would like to leave you with this prayer by Martin Luther:

Dearest God, give me a joyful spirit, that we would have fun.
Everything we have is a gift from you. We would not receive it, unless you gave it to us.
I ask in the name of Christ, give me a joyful spirit, give me pure joy,
that I would be in a good mood around friends and not sin against anyone.  
I wish everyone a Blessed new year, from a not so cold Turku.

Teppo Honkanen 

December Highlights
INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION

The traditional Finnish Independence Day celebration was once again very dignified and accompanied by a nice program. The featured and invited speaker was Commander Johan Tillander.

The Florida Male Singers, under the direction of Keijo Räikkönen, brought a tear to everyone’s eye with the performance of Finlandia.

World touring opera singers, husband and wife Cynthia Makris and Raimo Sirkiä delighted everyone with their captivating solos and duets. Afterwards everyone was treated to salted-salmon and ham sandwiches at the coffee reception.
CHRISTMAS CONCERT

The traditional Christmas concert organized by Michael Poutiainen drew a big crowd which filled the church. The program was wide-ranging and there was room for some community singing as well.

The highlight of the concert, for the past few years has been the Finnish-American assembled youth Santa-Lucia procession. At the conclusion of the concert everyone was treated to Glögg and Christmas sweets in the fellowship hall.
FAMILY SERVICE

We held an English contemporary family service on December 15 th . Performers included our preschool children as well as their teachers. The music was relaxed with a nice Christmas feeling and everyone had a nice time. The performance of the teachers deserves a special thank you. After the service we enjoyed a delicious meatball lunch together and celebrated Oliver’s birthday, along with many other preschoolers’ birthdays. We will do this again next year!

MOST BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS CAROLS

The church was filled on the afternoon of December 15 th , when we held our Finnish Christmas carols concert. Keijo Räikkönen served as moderator and song-leader for the occasion.

A job well done!

After the singing, K.K. Car and Coastline Realty treated everyone to mouthwatering Christmas tarts. Thank-you to everyone who came to this event and also to all who collaborated to make it possible.
CHRISTMAS EVE NIGHT CANDLELIGHT SERVICE

Our English candlelight-service on Christmas eve was one of the most heart-warming occasions of the church year. During the mass we heard from the gospel of Luke as well as the from the gospel of light from John.

Towards the end of the service the lights were turned off, as everyone delighted from the 70+ strong congregation lighting candles one by one, illuminating the church.

This year we also celebrated communion during the service. The candlelight service is well attended by both Finnish, as well as English speaking families and couples.

Come join us next year!
CHRISTMAS MORNING MASS

Two hundred church guests gathered on Christmas morning to revel in song, prayer, and nourishing Word, as well as some solo performances.

During the coffee reception we were treated to some tasty rice pudding served up by the Ettanen family, along with herring and liverwurst sandwiches and Christmas sweets.

What a wonderful time at Christmas church!
NEW YEARS PICNIC

For the third year in a row, we have collaborated with Kotikirkko to organize a Christian-partnership picnic.

There was community sing-along accompanied by the accordion ensemble and music director-Michael.

Serving as song leaders were Tuula, Liisa, Arja, and Lauri.

The ladies from our singing group also labored to make over 200 Finnish-style pancakes, from a delicious batter prepared by Tuula Nordström, all served with organic berry jam.

The grilling side was handled by Kotikirkko as they served up tasty sausages and hot dogs, which were all eaten by a hungry crowd. We had a wonderful time, we wish you could have been with us!
BECOME A PARTNER WITH ST ANDREW’S CHURCH!

Do you want your business advertised in our monthly newsletter, or possibly at some of our events?

At the same time you will be supporting our important work for the benefit of Finnish-American partnership in our area.
Yearly cost is $300.

COME JOIN US! 
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!
We would like to thank everyone who has given their time and helped in the kitchen, office, rest home, Sunday services and at other events!

Volunteers provide essential help and keep our congregation afloat and moving forward. By participating, you are serving God and one-another, it can’t get any better than this!
A special thank you for December goes to our trusted helper Oliver and also to Sami and Tarja Ettanen for their exemplary service.

We will also hear Sami from the sermon pulpit in the Finnish service on January 18 th
January Program
Have A Blessed New Year!