CALVARY LUTHERAN CHURCH | |
Your Weekly E-Newsletter - December 5, 2024 | |
This Week's Devotional - Listening for the Promise | |
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“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.”
- Malachi 3:2
Pure and Clean
What does Christmas look like? To the world it is Christmas trees and Santa Clause and perhaps even a nativity scene here or there. It is “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night” but how does that line up with scriptures like the prophecy from Malachi that foretells John’s coming as a witness and messenger to prepare for the coming of the Lord. John doesn’t bring a happy story or the expectation of a silent night. Instead, Malachi warns that the coming of the Lord will be sudden and that He will come like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. The Lord’s coming will mean transformation and cleansing.
The image of the refiner’s fire is harsh and distant. It takes extreme heat to refine metals, it is almost unbearable even for the refiner. Though the refiner must remain close to the metal while it refines, he does not become actively involved in the refining. The fire does all the work. On the other hand, the launderer is thoroughly involved with the cleansing of a garment, handling each item with special care, scrubbing when necessary. These two images show us that our God is both distant, refining with fire, but also very near, intimately involved with our very souls. He cleanses out the impurities in ways that might seem harsh, but He also does so in ways that are gentle.
When the refiner is finished and the launderer is done, the finished product is pure and clean. The same is true of the work God does in our life, and yet we never seem to be complete. The reality is that though Christ finished the work of salvation, we are continually refined and cleansed by our God until that day when Christ comes again. We look forward during Advent to the beauty of Christmas and long for the peace and joy that comes with the child in the manger, but Malachi reminds us that something even greater is to come. We wait for Christ the King who will transform and cleanse us for eternity.
Sola Worship Resource — Weekly Devotional © 2024, Sola Publishing
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Candidate Listening Session This Sunday!
The Calvary Call Committee will be holding a listening session this Sunday in the Fellowship Hall at 10:30 a.m. to hear your thoughts and answer some of your questions about our current pastoral candidate.
We will also be sharing the next steps in the Call process, and discussing how we, as a congregation, would like to move forward.
If you are unable to attend, feel free to reach out to Angie Schatz, Call Committee Chair with your feedback and questions.
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Second Sunday of Advent
December 7 - 8, 2024
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PRESIDING MINISTER: Pastor Jerry Wittmus
ASSISTING MINISTER: Lee Tyne
DEACONS: Saturday: Ed Ramthun
Sunday: Pat Foy, George Sedivec, Ruth Brostowitz, Sue Rowe
ACOLYTES: Bristol Nowicki
LECTOR: Bill Graffin
CHILDREN'S MESSAGE: Angie Schatz
USHERS: Karen and Keith Pierce
ALTAR GUILD: Jonni Roush
GREETERS: Diane Grundman, Marilyn Hermann, Everett Lambert
FELLOWSHIP TREATS: Lisa and Scott Grossman
FLOWERS: Kalupa family in memory of Gabriele Muth
POWERPOINT OPERATORS:
Saturday: Amelia Evert
Sunday: Jessica Dudzik
LIVESTREAM OPERATOR: Chris Dudzik
This weekend's hymns: LBW #36 "On Jordan's Bank"; "Even So Come" (listen to it here: YouTube or Spotify); LBW #30 "Come, Thou Long Expected"
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Several youth took a yummy pumpkin pie over to the Brookfield Fire Department for the firefighters to enjoy on Thanksgiving Eve. I'm sure they loved it! | |
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Advent Devotionals Available | |
Two options for Advent devotionals are available on the table in the Narthex. Please feel free to pick up your copy when you're here!
The NALC also offers an Advent devotional and you can access it here: AWAKENING EXPECTATION
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Mittens, Gloves, Scarves and Hats, oh my!
The "Mitten Trees" are up and ready for your donations of hats, mittens, gloves and scarves! You'll see the two trees in the Narthex already adorned with some beautiful items from the Calvary Knitting Group.
Thank you to the Mission & Outreach committee for sponsoring this annual collection which will be donated to keep those less fortunate warm this winter.
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New Entry Door Policy
Church Council, along with representatives from the Brookfield Police Department, recently conducted a review of our building security. As a result of this review, the door by the nursery (Door #2) will remain locked at all times on Sundays. This door will always be available as an exit door.)
Please use one of the other doors to enter the church.
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Order your Christmas Poinsettias Today!
Order forms are on the table in the Narthex for this year's poinsettias to decorate the altar on Christmas. Shady Lane Greenhouse in Menomonee Falls provides these top quality plants. You have a choice of red, white or pink plants at $25/each.
Order forms are due by December 11 and can be dropped off in the church office or placed in the offering baskets.
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Thank you to all who have previously donated books for our church library, which is located in the Narthex by the angel windows.
If you have books to donate, please drop them off in the office so that they can be reviewed and logged before placement in the Library.
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New prayer requests or any updates to this current list should be directed to Cindy Zilske in the Church office - office@calvarylc.com
New Prayer Requests: None
Ongoing short-term prayer requests: Linda Richmond; Shirley Mahn, Ka Thao; Nadine Schuelke; Sue Dindorf; John Schwartz; Laura Burger; Ann (cousin of Mary Lau); Jeff Edwards (friend of Ernie Kretschmann); Brenda Schmidt (relative of Judy Kestly's friend); Micaela (daughter of Scott and Lisa Grossman); Paul Queck (sponsor of Ka Thao); Chris Bogusch (son-in-law of Pastor Jerry and Nancy Wittmus); Nate Kreiter (friend of Rick Kegel); Bonnie Nelson (former Calvary member); Barbara Runge (friend of Jeanette Kalupa); Nancy Berth (friend of the Calvary Knitting Group); Jack Banker (brother-in-law of Mary Lau); Brian Nowak (cousin of Ernie Kretschmann's niece); Creig Moritz (brother of Bryant Moritz); Taylor (granddaughter of Lenny Graffin); Edward Hermann (son of Marilyn Hermann); Larry Larsen (brother of Kris Larsen); John Kretschmann (brother of Ernie Kretschmann); Lou Dangler (friend of Evelyn Ceci); Paul Mahn (son of Shirley Mahn); Amy Clark (friend of Megan Scott)
Please continue to pray for: God’s guidance and support for our Call Committee, and that the Holy Spirit is working in the heart of the pastor He wishes to call as the next pastor of Calvary.
The Hindi-speaking Yadav Hindus in India, who have limited or no access to the Gospel, with our partners at the World Mission Prayer League.
The victims of hurricane Helene.
Serving in the Military: Marshall Owen (nephew of Ken Miller serving in the U.S. Marines); ITC Agustin Juarez (son-in-law of Ken Miller serving in the U.S. Navy); Kevin Butler (son of Heidi Powers serving in the U.S. Army); Ben DeYoung (son-in-law of George and Kay Sedivec serving in the U.S. Air Force); Alex Olson (grandchild of Ardath Olson serving in the U.S. Air Force); Kyle Pierce (son of Karen and Keith Pierce serving in the U.S. Army); Nicole Wahlgren (serving in the U.S. Army National Guard); all military chaplains; and all veterans suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder.
For All Men and Women Serving: Police Officers, Firefighters, EMT's; Health Care workers and First Responders.
Serving in the mission field: Our NALC missionaries and missionaries everywhere bringing the gospel to the ends of the Earth.
Long-term prayer list:
Calvary members: Jan Chesner; Pat Corcoran; Wayne Dieck; Jonni Roush; Sue Rowe; Pat Treutelaar; Jan Tschetter; Janet Zastrow
Non-members: Jean Asleson(friend of Linda Thorpe); Kathy (friend of Judy Sayas' sister); Christine (cousin of Judy Sayas); Jan Sperry (friend of Judy Sayas); Ron Parker (brother of Linda Thorpe); Lauren (granddaughter of Scott and Peggy Langelin); Dennis Reich (friend of John and Mary Lau); Curt (friend of Larry Bonier); Pastor Mark Gehrke (son of Lois Gehrke); Monica Barchus (niece of Ernie Kretschmann); Michael Rossa (Lucy Dallman's son); Karen (friend of Lydia Trudell); Tom Dallman (husband of Lucy Dallman); Laura Lynn (friend of Pastor Jerry and Nancy Wittmus)
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John Foley, 12/5
Nadine Schuelke, 12/11
Caleb Liu, 12/14
Brian Kretschmann, 12/15
Amanda Olstinski, 12/15
Bob Smith, 12/15
Ray Chesner, 12/17
Donnie Dentice, 12/17
Pat Treutelaar, 12/18
Ingrid Nelson, 12/19
Judy Sayas, 12/19
Ron Holman, 12/20
Carol Rooney, 12/20
Margaux Baumgarten, 12/21
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Al and Rhonda Rodriguez, 12/23 (52 years)
Ron and Jean Holman, 12/26 (71 years)
Bob and Donna Siderits, 12/26 (64 years)
Jeremy and Nicole Nowicki, 12/28 (14 years)
Rick and Carol Treadwell, 12/29 (51 years)
Amanda and Ken Olstinski, 12/31 (3 years)
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Faith Formation/Youth Ministry | |
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The Great ADVENTure!
Friday, December 6 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Join us for a GREAT evening ADVENTure as we explore the true meaning of Advent and Christmas. We will visit all 5 of the advent candles and learn their meaning. We will have crafts, activities, and stories to go with each stop. This event is for families and all ages.
Please RSVP using the button below to ensure enough supplies for all.
For unto us a child is born.—Isaiah 9:6
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Holiday Gift Wrapping!
Saturday, December 14
9:00 am - Noon
Looking for some help? The Calvary youth are here for YOU! We will lovingly wrap each gift, and tie it with a beautiful bow! The youth will even carry your gifts to and from your car!
Items need to be dropped off at Calvary on December 14 between 9 a.m. and noon. All you need to do is complete and attach the gift tags and we will do the rest. Gifts can be picked up on Saturday December 14 from Noon to 1 pm, or on Sunday morning following our worship service.
All proceeds go to the Youth Summer Programs. Cost: It's up to you! Donations are greatly appreciated.
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Garcade
Sunday, December 15
11:30 – 2:30 pm
Hang out with us for “All You Can Play” classic retro arcade games and pinball.
No skill (or quarters) required! Age: Grades 6-8
Cost: $5 per person
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Weekly Bible Study with Pastor Jerry Wittmus
Pastor Jerry's weekly Bible Study is held on Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. You will be studying the scripture readings for the coming weekend. Study text will be placed in the Narthex prior to the Study.
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Women's Bible Study
First and Third Tuesday of the Month
Janet Zastrow has resumed a Women's Bible Study on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 10:00 a.m. The Study is based on the book "The Battle Plan for Prayer".
"The Battle Plan for Prayer" begins with prayer’s core purpose, its Biblical design, and its impact throughout history. Participants will be guided scripturally through the fundamentals of how effective prayer works. They will be inspired towards a closer, more intimate relationship with God, while being shown how to develop specific prayer strategies for each area of life. Prayer can accomplish what a willing God can accomplish. It should be our first plan of attack in all of life’s battles, not our last resort. If you want to experience the joy of mightily answered prayer, then it’s time to engage with God at another level.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Janet Zastrow at janetzastrow@att.net.
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Mission of the Month - Lutheran Seminaries | |
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In December we raise up a vital Mission of the Month supporting the training of pastors for service in the North American Lutheran Churches.
Bolstered by an interdependent network of five campuses, the North American Lutheran Seminary (NALS) is part of God’s movement in this culture, time and place. Over the next decade, hundreds will be raised and formed in the Great Tradition of confessional and evangelical Lutheran Faith. The NALS is singularly focused on forming pastors and church leaders with an education that is shaped by Christian tradition and bound by the Holy Scriptures.
Upheld by world-class faculty, students have time and opportunity to reflect on the depth and beauty of their faith and be properly formed. The NALS has a commitment to truly cultivate the foundation and the deep roots necessary for tomorrow’s pastors and church leaders to be the stewards of classic, orthodox, biblical theology in preparation for Word and Sacrament ministry in the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). lick here to be directed to the NALS website for more information.
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OUR MISSION
ILT, as an institution of higher education, shall preserve, promote and propagate the classical Christian tradition from a Lutheran perspective.
OUR VISION
Centered in the Word of God and the Cross of Christ, ILT students will be grounded in the Bible, rooted in the classical Christian tradition, understand the contemporary cultural horizon, and think critically in the proclamation and advancement of the Gospel. Click here to learn more about ILT.
Please consider supporting these seminaries in their godly work.
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To support this important Mission of the Month, you may include it in your weekly offering envelope (designate donation next to Mission of the Month) or select the donation as "Mission of the Month" in your online giving.
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NALC Disaster Relief Update | |
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North Carolina Helene Report from
North American Lutheran Church Disaster Response
From Pastor Ken and Marcella Nelson
Pastor Ken and Marcella spent the week of November 11-15 volunteering in Yancey County, North Carolina. Our work was in and near the town of Burnsville, NC. Marcella serves on the NALC Disaster Task force as the representative for the Wisconsin Upper Michigan Mission District. The NALC Disaster Task force has sent over 20 loads of supplies to the area in the past six weeks and will be sending out volunteer rebuilding groups in the weeks and months to come.
The devastation was massive. In addition to flash flood waters up to 20 feet high, many landslides occurred pushing trees and huge boulders down the mountains into people’s homes. Many homes were washed away completely, resulting in the tragic loss of life from either flooding or landslides in this very mountainous community. Roads were destroyed and countless bridges and culverts crossing streams and rivers are simply gone making access to some areas very difficult.
The work of NALC Disaster Response was greatly appreciated by the residents we met. The quilts, fleece blankets, Bibles and other supplies were a comfort to folks who had experienced these losses. The area will take years to restore and we met several other church groups working in the area. The people of North Carolina send their thanks for the financial and material supplies as well as for the volunteers who have gone out and those that are making plans to volunteer in the future.
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Women's Book Group
Monday, December 9
12:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Media Room
"The Bridge of San Luis Rey"
by Thornton Wilder
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“On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.” So begins The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of the great achievements in American literature, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and a novel still read throughout the world.
By chance, Brother Juniper, a Franciscan monk, witnesses the tragedy. He then embarks on a six-year-long quest to determine whether it was divine intervention or happenstance that led to the deaths of the five victims–the Marquesa de Montemayor, obsessed with regaining the affections of her estranged daughter; young Pepita, a humble and lonely orphan assigned by the local Abbess to be the companion of the aging Marquesa; the grief-stricken Esteban, mourning the untimely death of his identical twin, Manuel; Uncle Pio, who has recently taken seven-year-old Jaime into his care as a way of maintaining a lost relationship with the boy’s mother, Camila, once the greatest actress of her day.
Brother Juniper’s search for answers leads him to more questions, and, ultimately, to his own death. “There are a hundred ways of wondering at circumstance,” Wilder writes, challenging the reader to question and to wonder about a story that novelist Russell Banks says in his Foreword is “as close to perfect a moral fable as we are ever likely to get in American literature.”
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Weekly Men's Breakfast
Wednesdays at 7:30 a.m.
Maxim's Restaurant
18025 W. Capitol Drive
Brookfield
All men are invited to attend!
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Monthly Men's Gathering
Fellowship Hall
Thursday, December 19
If you have any questions, please contact Ernie Kretschmann at erniekretschmann@gmail.com
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Worship Attendance and Giving | |
Live Stream Attendance Link | |
If you watch our services via the Live Stream, please take a minute to let us know. There is now a link called "Online Worship Attendance" on the page where you access each week's service.
We appreciate your taking the time to complete this each week. It helps us know that our Live Stream is being viewed.
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Online giving provides options!
While cash and checks are always welcome, the “Give Online” button on the Calvary Lutheran Church website provides another option. And, with the expansion of our vendor’s software, the options are now expanded and customized. In addition to giving to the General Operating Fund, Building Fund and Mission of the Month, you can now specify contributions for Altar Flowers, Sunday Morning Fellowship Treats, NALC, etc.
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Please note that contributions to the Mission of the Month are allocated to the organization for the month in which the donation is made
If you have any questions or would like to make a pledge, please contact Cindy Rooks, Finance Secretary, via email at finance@calvarylc.com or (262) 786-4010.
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Your 2024 Board of Deacons
Front row (l-r) Lenny Graffin, Sue Rowe, Darlene Louison, Joanne Schultz, George Sedivec
Back row (l-r); Ed Ramthun, Judy Kestly, Andy Foy, Pat Foy, Ruth Brostowitz and Bill Graffin. Not pictured: Everett Lambert
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Your 2024 Church Council
Front row (l-r) Joanne Schultz, Peggy Langelin, Jan Lukasik
Back row (l-r); Ernie Kretschmann, Andy Schatz, Scott Langelin, Pat Dieck, Keith Pierce Not pictured: Chris Dudzik
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Do you need a new Church Directory? | |
The Calvary Church Directory is available electronically or in paper format. If you'd like an electronic copy, please send an email to Sue Rowe at communications@calvarylc.com.
There are also printed copies available in the church office.
If there are any changes to your phone, email or address, please advise the Church office. Any updates should be submitted to Cindy Zilske at office@calvarylc.com.
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Sanctuary Flowers
A wonderful way to celebrate a special occasion or remember a loved one is by sponsoring flowers at our altar. The cost is $35 and you may take them home following the Sunday morning worship.
The sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex, near the door to Fellowship Hall.
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We invite you to provide
Hospitality Treats on Sunday
We invite you to stay after worship on Sunday mornings and enjoy fellowship time and a treat/cup of coffee in Fellowship Hall.
If you'd like to provide treats (donuts, bagels, etc.) for Sunday hospitality time, there is a sheet on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall. You may bring the treats (six dozen) and drop them off in the kitchen, or simply add a “P” behind your name, pay $30 to the church office and the treats will be purchased for you.
The sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board. Thank you for your support!
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The right side of the Sanctuary (as you face the altar) is equipped with a hearing loop system which transmits an audio signal directly into a hearing aid via a magnetic field. This greatly reduces background noise, competing sounds, reverberation and other acoustic distortions that reduce clarity of sound.
Most hearing aids are equipped with a t-coil and connecting to this system is an easy switch on the hearing aid. If you need assistance during worship with this system, please reach out to an usher or any staff member.
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The church office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until noon. The door that is closest to the office (NW corner) will be open during those hours. THE CHURCH OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED ON THANKSGIVING, NOVEMBER 28.
Please check in with the office staff so we know that you are in the building.
The office phone number is (262) 786-4010. Feel free to leave a message if you call after hours and we will contact you the next day.
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