Christmas Blessings to all from Calvary! Here is this week's newsletter ...

CALVARY LUTHERAN CHURCH

Your Weekly E-Newsletter Thursday, December 23, 2021

Pastor Ken's Pondering ...

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”

Revelation 22:14

In the sacred songs of the church, there are few references to Christmas trees. An exception is one called “I Am So Glad Each Christmas Eve” which contains the line “When mother trims the Christmas tree, which fills the room with light, she tells me of the wondrous star, that made the dark world bright.” In the Bible, two very significant events involve trees – the temptation of Adam and Eve and their enticement by “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, and the cross of Jesus, the remedy of our sin, which I Peter 2:24 describes as our Lord “bearing our sins in his body on a tree.”

Revelation 22 envisions heaven as containing a “tree of life” which some interpret as the cross, while others see it as a symbol for God’s eternal provision and the reversing of the curse of Eden.

The Christmas tree, while not a recognized Christian symbol, is nonetheless not entirely unrelated to God’s saving work and future promise. This week I re-produce for you some interesting facts about tree usage and Christmas from History.org.

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-Americans continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.”

Whatever your customs are regarding Christmas trees, I wish you all a very happy Christmas celebration. I hope to see you in worship on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. If you are traveling, I bid you travel blessings.

Because of a manger…

Pastor Ken

Thank you!

The poinsettias decorating our Sanctuary this Christmas season were donated by the following Calvary members:

Linda Berger in memory of Marge & Paul Skarie & Carolyn Dolter

Ray and Janet Chesner in memory of our parents

John and Mary Lau in honor of granddaughters Brittany, Taylor & Camryn

Keith and Karen Pierce in honor of all blessings received

Judy Sayas in memory of Dave Sayas, Jean & Leo Hock, Helen & Ray Sayas

George and Kay Sedivec in memory of Jerry J. Gradisnik

Steffens & Streicher Family in memory of Ruth Steffens, and son/grandson Brett Robert Streicher

Linda Thorpe in honor of my family

Pat Treutelaar in honor of Yvonne & Clark Malone

The outdoor Christmas wreath decorating the entrance near the garden was donated by Martha and Dale Altmin in memory of their parents and in honor of their grandchildren.

Thank you to those who helped decorate the Sanctuary and the front lawn area of the church with the lights and nativity scene.

December 24-26, 2021

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and First Sunday of Christmas

Worship Attendance - December 18-19, 2021

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day Worship Opportunities

Two candlelight services will be held on Christmas Eve.

4:00 p.m. (Service will be livestreamed)

10:00 p.m. (Will not be livestreamed)

No reservations are required. Please join us and bring a friend or family member!

Join us for worship

on Christmas Day at 10:00 a.m.

This service will not be livestreamed.

Congregation Council Update from 12/14/21 Meeting

1) Council approved the proposed 2022 Operational Budget

2) Council approved moving forward with the recommended additional sound panels for further sound reduction in the Fellowship Hall

3) Annual congregational meeting date has been set for January 30th, with a back-up date (in case of inclement weather) of February 6th

Our Church Family

Ed Witzke, 12/23

Lynnette Anderson, 12/24

Mike Anderson, 12/24

Wayne Dieck, 12/25

Joe Grundman, 12/25

Hannah Ware, 12/27

Trinity Cebertowicz, 12/28

Lenny Graffin, 12/28

Gabrielle Hanke, 12/29

Judy Klade, 12/31

Sallie Schulz, 12/31

Al and Rhonda Rodriguez, 12/23 (49 years)

Ron and Jean Holman, 12/26 (68 years)

Bob and Donna Siderits, 12/26 (61 years)

Jeremy and Nicole Nowicki, 12/28 (11 years)

Rick and Carol Treadwell, 12/29 (48 years)

New prayer requests: Dave and Paula Altman, Keith Pierce, Wayne Dieck; Pastor Mark Gehrke (son of Lois Gehrke); Dale Hermann (son of Marilyn Hermann); Barb Anderson (friend of Lisa Grossman); Gareth George (cousin of Judy Sayas) and Joseph Franko (friend of Judy Sayas)

Ongoing short-term prayer requests: Fay Heyen, Janet Zastrow; Mary Smith; Ginny Cox; the Waukesha community; Susan Petropoulos (sister of Wayne Johnson); Matt (friend of Larry Bonier); Tom Frank (brother of Mary Ellen Thiede); Taylor Czerwinski (granddaughter of Bill and Lenny Graffin); Lisa Haggadone (daughter of Sallie Schulz); Tom Dallman (husband of Lucy Dallman); Marie Traxler (mother of Sue Meyer); Eric (friend of Larry Bonier); Father Patrick Malone (Holy Cross Anglican Church); Delores Seel (mother of Keith Pierce); John Nielson (brother of Judy Kestly)

Serving in the Military: Dan Berger (serving in the U.S. Marines); 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 (U.S. Air Force, grandchild of Ardath Olson); Kyle Pierce (son of Karen and Keith Pierce, serving in the U.S. Army); Karmen Thomas (friend of Tony and Krista Dentice 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 (PTSD).

For All Men and Women Serving: Police Officers, Firefighters, 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: Don Heyen; Shirley Mahn; Donna Polizzi; Nadine Schuelke; Ruth Young

Non-members: Nancy Myers (friend of Judy Sayas); Paige Yeager (friend of Sallie Schulz's family); Rose Luther (friend of Nicole Moritz); Judy Grospitz; Jan Janchan (friend of Jonni Roush); Monica Barchus (niece of Ernie Kretschmann); Michael Rossa (Lucy Dallman's son); Karen (friend of Lydia Trudell)

If you have any new prayer requests, please contact the church office at 262.786.4010 or via email to office@calvarylc.com.

CHURCH OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED

The church office will be closed on December 24 and December 31 so that our staff can spend time with their families over the holidays.

Community Outreach Opportunities

Disaster Relief for Kentucky

The NALC Disaster Response team is already delivering emergency supplies to those affected by the devastating tornadoes in Kentucky last week. Calvary supports this work as a Mission of the Month, financially and with quilts, Bibles, school bags and health kits so that they are able to respond quickly when disasters strike.

However, if you would like to make a special contribution at this time, Calvary can send it on to our mission partners working to bring the love of Jesus to those who have lost their homes. You can be assured that your gifts go directly to this aid work and that they are distributed while bearing witness to Jesus Christ. There are also volunteer opportunities to go and help with the aid work if you are interested. Please contact Marcella Nelson for more information.

Checks can be made out to Calvary Lutheran and designated for NALC Disaster Response. Thank you for remembering those who have experienced such huge loses of life and property.

Women's Book Group - January 10 at 1:00 p.m.

Wanna get away? Pick up a copy of our January book, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle and escape to France!

From amazon.com: In this witty and warm-hearted account, Peter Mayle tells what it is like to realize a long-cherished dream and actually move into a 200-year-old stone farmhouse in the remote country of the Lubéron with his wife and two large dogs.

He endures January's frosty mistral as it comes howling down the Rhône Valley, discovers the secrets of goat racing through the middle of town, and delights in the glorious regional cuisine. A Year in Provence transports us into all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo governed by seasons, not by days.

The library system has several copies on the shelves. We hope you are able to join us!

Monday Afternoon Movie - January 17 at 1:00 p.m.

I.Q. is a light comedy to bring some sunshine into a January afternoon. Join us in the Media Room for some fellowship and a movie. Bring a friend!

The story line: Ed Walters, an auto mechanic, falls for the intelligent and beautiful Catherine Boyd. It is love at first sight. There is however a problem: she's engaged to stuffy professor James Moreland. Fortunately, her uncle likes Ed, and he and his friends scheme to make her fall for Ed. The comedy in this movie stems from the fact that her uncle is none other than Albert Einstein, who's portrayed as a fun-loving humble genius, as are his mischievous friends, Nathan, Kurt, and Boris.

Einstein is played perfectly by Walter Matthau, with Tim Robbins (Ed Walters) and Meg Ryan (Catherine Boyd) bringing their romantic-comedic gifts to the screen as well. With the story set in Ike’s first term as president, we’ll all feel right at home.

Faith Formation

Pastor Ken's Weekly Bible Study

Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall

Pastor Ken's weekly Bible study is held each Wednesday from 12:30 -1:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. He will lead discussion around the Scripture lessons that will be read in worship the following weekend. Please bring your Bibles - other materials will be provided. There will not be a Bible Study on Wednesday, December 29. The study will resume on January 5, 2022.

Copies of the text study sheets will be available on the table in the Narthex if you can't attend the Bible study, but would like to refer to it for the weekend worship.

December Mission of the Month

In December we raise up a vital Mission of the Month supporting the training of pastors for service in the North American Lutheran Churches. We were been blessed to have Lynnae Douglas with us during the past year as a pastoral intern. Lynnae and her husband Caleb are both graduates of the North American Lutheran Seminary in Amhearst, PA and have moved to western Pennsylvania where Caleb has taken a call to serve. Pictures of Caleb and Lynnae from Caleb's installation are shown below.

The NALC is growing and the need for pastors trained is crucial to us and congregations like ours in the NALC. Initially there was only one seminary in Amhearst, PA; however, due to growth and demand, the Lutheran Institute of Technology in Brookings, SD also trains pastors for the NALC.

We have a goal this year to increase our giving to $7,000. Please prayerfully consider an end-of-year gift in support of these vital seminarians. To support this important Mission for the Month, you may include it in your weekly offering envelope or designate the donation as "Mission of the Month" in your online giving.

Below are several examples of the value of your support of NALC Seminary.

Caleb Douglas' Ordination was held at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Export, Pennsylvania.

We received this message from the church staff at Emmanual regarding the Douglas family:

They're a very special family.

After four years of mayhem regarding church leadership here at Emmanuel, they have been welcomed with open hearts and arms. Pastor Caleb is kind, dedicated, and very spiritual. A definite keeper!

Meet a Seminary Student:

My name is Hailey Halmstad. My husband and our five boys currently live in Northern Wisconsin where I serve two churches: Bethany Lutheran in Catawba and Bethel Lutheran in Hawkins. I am endorsed through the NALC Candidacy Committee and am a full time student at the Institute of Lutheran Theology where I attend online classes towards my Master of Divinity degree. My goal is to graduate in December of 2022.

There's more information about Hailey on the Mission of the Month bulletin board outside of Fellowship Hall.

Are you interested in attending seminary? Local congregations like Calvary are the source of future seminarians. We need to identify, encourage and support prospective seminarians as they consider their educational choices. Calvary's Endowment Fund is poised to do just that. Up to one-third of its annual disbursable funds are available for tuition support of Calvary's members who attend seminary.

Men's Ministry

Weekly Men's Breakfast Wednesdays at 7 a.m.

Maxim's Restaurant

18025 W. Capitol Drive

Brookfield

The restaurant seating has been reconfigured in compliance with social distancing requirements.

All men are invited to attend!

Monthly Men's Gathering

On hiatus until January 27, 2022

If you have any questions, please reach out to Ernie Kretschmann at kretschmann@att.net.

A few reminders ....

Hospitality Treats

We invite you to stick around after worship on Sunday mornings and enjoy fellowship time and a treat/cup of coffee in Fellowship Hall. We are taking great care to provide safe food items for you (poured cups of coffee and plated breakfast snacks).

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 (3-4 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.

For the time being, we are asking that any donated food be something that can be easily cut and placed on individual plates for serving.

Sunday mornings at 9 a.m.

The link is available on the home page at www.calvarylc.com

Sanctuary Flowers

We invite you to sign up for flowers to beautify our altar each weekend. The sign-up sheet for 2022 is posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex.

Flowers are $35 and you may take them home following the 9 a.m. worship on Sunday morning. If you'd prefer, you can leave the flowers at church to be enjoyed by the office staff.

Severe Weather Announcements

With winter coming, we are reminded that weather can definitely impact traveling to church. And with that, inclement weather could necessitate the cancelling of worship.

In the event this should happen, you will receive an e-mail stating that the church is closed. We will also be sharing this with WISN-TV 12 and FOX6 so that it will be included in their scrolling list and on their website of closures.

Facing tough times? Need a Christian Friend?

Stephen Ministry is here to help. Free, just like God's love.

Stephen Ministers are congregation members trained by Stephen Leaders to offer high-quality, one-to-one Christian care to people going through tough times. A Stephen Minister usually provides care to one person at a time, meeting with that person once a week for about an hour.

If you, or someone you know, could benefit from this important ministry, please contact Scott or Peggy Langelin at 262.853.0018.

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.

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.

Please check in with the office staff so we know 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.