Weekly eNews - Emmanuel Lutheran Church

Week of January 24, 2021

Third Sunday after Epiphany

In this week's eNews...

January 18th: Church Office Closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day
January 21st @10am: Thursdays Together with Pastor Hall
Beginning January 21st @1pm: Revelation Bible Study
January 24th @11:45am: New Member Orientation
January 26th @ 1pm: "Between the World & Me" book study
Beginning January 31st @ 11:45am: Annual Congregational Meeting
Signup is now open for Altar Flowers and Eternal Candle dedication for Jan-Mar of 2021 through the links below or contact the church office.

Click Here to Register For Next Weekend's Worship - January 23/24

Attending in-person worship? We are in need of ushers for all services. If you are interested, please email the office and we will forward your information to the appropriate usher captain. Please include which service you are available. Thank you for your consideration.

Please DO NOT leave food outside the office or at church

Any food donations for the South County Food Pantry should be taken directly to the South County Food Pantry located at 121 Warfield Avenue, Venice. The church is not collecting on a regular basis at this time. Their website states that their hours vary so call before you go! 941.408.2911.

Thursdays Together with Pastor Hall

January 21st at 10am

Join our community of faith for conversation around the gospel for the week. This is a thirty-minute Zoom dialogue with Pastor Hall based on the gospel. There is a short litany followed by the reading and open discussion on the text for the following Sunday's worship. It is a time to see faces and an opportunity to connect-up with members of Emmanuel.

Topic: Thursday's Together

Time: Thursday, January 21st @10:00am

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/92351281523?pwd=Q0FMOGFxSUNnUFhpZzBQdHF6RW03Zz09

Meeting ID: 923 5128 1523

Passcode: 999623

January 31, 2021

Mark your calendars for the annual congregational meeting on Sunday, January 31st at 11:45am in the sanctuary. This will be a hybrid meeting (both in person and zoom). The meeting is open to all members, although only full and seasonal members may participate in the voting.

If you will be attending in person, please register below:

Click Here to register for in-person Annual Meeting

In Our Prayers...

Marcia Hatteberg, Bill Pitman (Debi Hammett's father), Roesler and Jim Szyman.

January Outreach Emphasis

Lutheran Services Florida (LSF) is a leading, life-changing

Building communities, strengthening lives.

Family Promise of Sarasota is a nonprofit, non-denominational organization affiliated with National Family Promise, which was founded in 1986. We provide shelter, meals, and support to homeless children and their families. We initiate coordinated local efforts that bring communities together to help homeless families regain their housing, their independence, and their dignity. We envision a nation in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and a chance to build a better future.

Remember or Honor a Loved One

There are several dates open!! Sign-up to dedicate Altar Flowers and the Eternal Candle for the First Quarter of 2021 (Jan-Mar) is now available online by clicking the links below. Once you have reserved your date, please submit your dedication with payment no later than 2 weeks prior to your reserved date. If you have any questions or are unable to sign-up online, contact the office.

Jan-Mar Eternal Candle

Jan-Mar Altar Flowers

The Property Committee is working on plans for Winter and Spring Projects for our Church Campus. We assess our needs monthly and prioritize according to the changes of the church as we continue to journey through the pandemic and how it has affected our Campus use. We have an Air Conditioning priority right now and are getting our bids to replace two of our units which is a Capital Improvement Project that has already been budgeted. We are working on the bids for the updating of the cremation and memorial gardens for the spring. We will begin getting bids for our other capital improvement project needs. We continue to monitor our vendors and the cleaning protocols for the containment of the virus and look forward, with you, to meeting together more regularly soon. If you have an interest in joining the property committee, please let the office know and they will forward your information to us. See you in church.

Blessings,

Lynne Ross and Property Committee

Barb's Medical Minute

A pet is a marvelous thing! They give you joy, happiness, companionship, and help with your mental health. But, if you are considering getting one, make sure that you are physically able to walk it every day, play with it, bend down to say, clean a litter box. Also be sure that you can afford one. The estimated basic annual cost of caring for a dog is about $1,381; for a cat $908. But, the love we get from our fur babies is PRICELESS!

Covid 19 vaccine updates: Sarasota County is using a texting system to notify individuals about the vaccine distribution. Text alerts are sent out once the Department of Health in Sarasota County has received more vaccines and additional appointments are available. Appointments are required and currently only frontline healthcare workers and individuals 65 and over are eligible.

If you have not done so already, you are encouraged to sign up for these text alerts by texting SRQCOVID19 to 888777 on our cellphone. You will receive a return text asking for your zip code. You will then receive notifications when vaccine appointments are available. As of this writing no vaccines were available. DOH states it expects a new shipment next week.

January Events

Study of Revelation

Begins this Thursday, January 21st

A Bible study on the book of Revelation will be starting this Thursday, January 21 from 1-2 pm and will be done on Zoom. It is based on the book “ You Can Understand the Book of Revelation” by Pastor Skip Heitzig. If you have any questions about how to use Zoom or any other questions, or if you want to sign up for the class and receive lesson materials, call or text Judi Johnson at 616-299-0759. You can also email her at judiajohn@aol.com.

A four-week Zoom discussion based on the book “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates will begin on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 from 1-2pm. This autobiographical book explores the “place” of American black men and women, as influenced by past and current issues. The Zoom link and pages to read will be emailed a week before each session. There are numerous copies of this book in the Sarasota library system, including audio editions, and it is available for kindle, in paperback and hardcover. To participate please contact Kathy Anderson (ktanders55@yahoo.com).

NEXT SUNDAY, January 24th

at 11:45am in the Sanctuary

If you wish to join Emmanuel's church family, there are membership forms available in the Narthex or contact the office.

"Energized Knitters"

A special THANK YOU to all who have been busy knitting beautiful shawls at home to support our ministry. We brought 10 prayers shawls to the Florida Cancer Center to give our support to those receiving treatment. We also appreciated a wonderful supply of yarn from Millie Myers to keep our needles busy.

I have needles, patterns and yarn available and a supply of shawls for all who need that extra warm love of God. Feel free to contact me for any supplies.

Blessings and stay safe and healthy.

Jadynne Berg

Lutheran World Relief Quilt Distribution....looking ahead

Emmanuel Lutheran is once again the gathering church for all the quilts made by congregations in our area to benefit Lutheran World Relief. We are in need of able bodied volunteers to help unload (February 5th) from 9am-3pm and reload (February 9th) from 8am-10am in Fellowship Hall. Sign ups are available via FlockNote by clicking the date you'd like to volunteer above. Sign up for as many time slots as you'd like-all help is welcomed! If you have any questions, please call Samantha Schnittker at 630.209.2518.

Sign-up to help with LWR dropoff

Readings for This Week

January 24th

3rd Sunday after Epiphany

Jonah 3:1-5,10

Psalm 62:5-12

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Mark 1:14-20

January 31st

4th Sunday after Epiphany

Deuteronomy18:15-20

Psalm 111

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Mark 1:21-28

Remember these guidelines when coming to worship:

6 feet social distancing requirements - do not crowd pews.
Remember to wear a mask with nose and mouth covered and use the hand sanitizer available in the narthex or pews.
Please do not stop in the narthex or inside the sanctuary.
Wait for the ushers to dismiss your row. They start at the back of the sanctuary. For everyone’s safety and proper distancing, follow the ushers instructions.

Reminder: Please wear your Name Badges when attending worship so we know who you are while wearing your face masks!!! Also, please silence your cell phone out of consideration for all worshippers.

For your information...

As a gentle reminder to everyone, if you have been exposed to COVID in any way or are not feeling well, please follow self-management steps to ensure you are not exposing other members of our congregation. Your cooperation is very much appreciated by everyone. In addition, should you contract COVID, please notify the church office for contact tracing.

Due to increasing COVID numbers in the area, the Executive Committee has extended the cancellation of all non-worship activities through January 19th. The Executive Committee will re-evaluate at that time.

Want to know more about some of the items in eNews? When viewing the eNews online or on your mobile device and you see the pointing finger when running your mouse over a graphic or text, you will be able to link to more information such as a flyer, website, etc. Try it with the top picture of the church!!

Devotional/worship: Sunday Worship is posted after 8:30am to the website and the 10am service is live-streamed on FaceBook. Thursdays Together with Pastor Hall is accessible through the Zoom link above. All previous worship services are also available through our website by clicking on the Vimeo logo in the upper left corner of the posted video on the website.