University Evangelical Lutheran Church
and Campus Ministry
The Lampstand - September 2021
|
|
Our Mission
UELC's Mission:
To Embrace and Share the Love of God in Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit Empowers us.
UELC's Guiding Principles:
Jesus is our Lord and Saviour; therefore, we are to:
- Worship God in inspiring, diverse, and creative ways
- Be a community engaged in spiritual practices that attune us to the Holy Spirit's guidance for our living
- Welcome all people in their diversity to worship, learn, and serve with us
- Be a safe place to learn, explore, and debate
- Be generous stewards of the gifts God has given each of us to bless others and care for the natural world
- Continue outreach to, and further develop connections with, the academic communities of Alachua County
- Affirm human rights and work for social justice
|
|
Council President's Report
Dear fellow UELC members,
The council met on Tuesday August 24th via Zoom.
The property committee has been busy assisting with the move-in process at the 1902 House dealing with some maintenance issues and getting the yard ready for football parking. Speaking of football parking, a huge kudos to Pat Dasler for all the work she has done to arrange and organize the football parking and vendors for the upcoming season! Also, a big thank you for everyone who has volunteered to help park cars on football game Saturdays.
Janet Janke reported that the Village of Hope was fortunately a long distance away from the epicenter of the earthquake that recently struck Haiti and they were not impacted although are still in need of medical supplies for the clinic.
Dan and Krissi Norford are making contact with a few new students who have contacted the church regarding the Campus and Young Adult Ministry now that the semester has begun.
We continue to prayerfully consider when it may be possible to return to in-person worship and will keep the congregation informed.
Best regards,
Becky Borgert
|
|
|
|
SEPTEMBER Birthdays
9/ 2 Sofia Panagiotopoulos
9/ 7 Ruth Fugmann
9/ 7 Joan Anderson
9/16 Patricia Gordon
9/17 Kristina Panagiotopoulos
9/22 Melissa Singer
9/28 October Stutzman
9/30 Richard Ezell
9/30 Virginia Lakotas Hedden
|
|
Continued Prayer Concerns
Prayers for healing: Lois Wilkowske, Schirmer family, Ron and Beverly Gronwall, Les O'Brien, Cecilia Noss, Hal Noss
|
|
Music and Worship Committee
We have selected a new liturgy, Setting 11 from the ELCA hymnal addition All Creation Sings. The choir will begin recording the hymns in the coming weeks. The congregation will be introduced to the new hymns gradually.
Our song bank is really low on communion hymns right now and we are busy working to get more hymns recorded for in person worship.
Pastor Jacob, Rachel, Sharai and I, had a few Sunday worship practice runs for in-person and live-streamed worship. I am very pleased that the recorded choir hymns are working well for in-person service so far. We had a few problems with the live-stream sound, but hope to have that ironed out in future.
Thank you to all who encourage and support the music ministry and to the faithful choir members.
Crystal Jacob, Minister of Music, for Worship Committee.
|
|
Offering Direct Deposits
It is Sunday morning and you are on your way to church. Part way there you remember you have not written a check for the offering plate.
It is another Sunday morning and you are sitting in the sanctuary you write a check and slowly you attempt to remove your check from your check book as quietly as possible.
It is another Sunday at church and you realize that your offering check and envelope remain at home on your dresser.
These are some of the ways that the use of direct deposit helps UELC to receive consistent income to pay its bills.
If you wish to learn more about the use of direct deposit, contact Jim Yale to get set up.
|
|
Family Promise Update
Thank you, and stay well! In peace,
|
|
LIFTvT
Share a Good Read: The pandemic has given us extra hours for reading. LIFT would like to focus next on what members have been reading this past year. The ones for September have been received. Now it’s time to send an email to [email protected] during the month of September with the title, author, and a brief paragraph about your book/books to be used in October. Both Fiction and Non-Fiction are welcomed. These “good reads” will be in your in box each Thursday.
|
|
Young Adult Ministry
Campus/Young Adult Ministry weekly meetings on Thursdays, 5:30-7:00.
Young Adult and Student Ministry continues to meet by Zoom and are studying the Bible.
|
|
The Bee has Been Busy!
School is now in session so The Bee has begun to assemble Book and Blanket Bags to be given to the Guidance Counselor at Parker Elementary to distribute to the children there.
|
|
Adult Forum
Adult Forum is not meeting for now.
|
|
UF Football Parking Volunteers
The 2021 UF football seasoning will starting in a month. We have sold out the church lot and have lined up a couple of vendors. Now I am requesting help to line up volunteers for the 6 home games for which we will be parking cars. The home games are scheduled for: Sept 4 at 7:30 PM; Sept 18 at 3:30 pm; Sept 25: Oct 9; Nov 13 and Nov. 27. We open 4 hours prior to kick off and need 2 people for the parking in the lot at the 1902 house and 2 for Parking in the church lot. There is a need for 2 for clean-up after the game as well, either willing to stay through the game and clean up or come after the game and clean up. If our trash cans are emptied when full our parkers generally do a good job of picking up after themselves. Because of our location and proximity to the stadium, pedestrians are the cause of the need for a lot of pick up along University Ave and along 19th Street. There will be a sign-up sheet in the Narthex or you can call or text Pat at (352) 262-4219. Huge thanks to Anna Grace, who has coordinated the parking for a number of years and also to Anna, John, Adam and Austin Montmarquette, who have put in 10-12 hour days on game day parking, watching over the lot and picking up after for a number of seasons. Their effort was vital to keeping this going and was an enormous time commitment.
Pat Dasler
UELC Football Parking and Vendor Coordinator
|
|
Village of Hope
From the Village of Hope website:
The good news is that the earthquake was a great distance from VOH so they were not affected. The not so good news is as follows from their website.
“Our greatest need right now is to be able to get access to medical supplies. Our Emergency Fund has been depleted. Even before this week’s tragedies, the supply of medicine and medical supplies was limited. The cost of these supplies and fuel had doubled and now it will be more difficult to supply our health center. “
For Sponsorship information contact Janet Janke,
Lazarus Project Coordinator at University Lutheran Church, at [email protected] or 372-8610.
|
|
Community Sponsorship for People Seeking Asylum
The “Remain in Mexico” policy has resulted in multitudes of people from numerous countries stranded (still) for many months, waiting for acceptance into the United States. Indeed, desperation drives migration.
Concerned citizens and volunteers across the country have undertaken sponsorship of individuals and families to provide safety and security while they await decisions in their cases. There has been a lot of interest in our Gainesville community in providing support. The Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice (IAIJ) coalition members (including UELC representation) have been in discussion with hosts and organizers of the Asylum Seeker Sponsorship Project (asylumsponsorshipproject.org) and currently are exploring how to gather and organize the needed human and physical and financial resources. Together as a community we can readily provide help.
Two individuals have committed: the lead sponsor and the central contact person for support. A small committee has formed with spokespersons from local Mennonite, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Lutheran churches, and three other community representatives.
The Sponsorship Project takes care of placement matching and vetting of asylum applicants. We have been told that there is at least one family already identified as particularly suitable for our sponsorship. [Note: This effort does not extend to people who are entering currently into limited areas of the U.S. from Afghanistan. Do visit the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (lirs.org) to learn more about settlement of people fleeing from that war.]
The priority need for our community sponsorship is for housing (safe and stable room for 6 to 12 months) and for a coordinator to connect resources with needs. If you have insights or inspiration about addressing these initial needs for housing or leadership, please contact Joan Anderson!
The UELC Congregation Council already has had a discussion and initial agreement to be supportive in some way (financial, legal, medical, transport, food, language, friendship) to the community sponsorship effort as needed and feasible. UELC people have many blessings to share and the hope is that together we may be strengthened to continue to be a blessing to others.
Joan Anderson
|
|
Songs of Praise for God
Gima Gasi Sɔ̧ – “Songs of Praise for God” – Gbaya hymnal
I would like to express appreciation to UELC for facilitating the transfer of memorial gift funds from the United States to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon (EELC) for the printing of their newly revised and updated hymnal, together with a special word of thanks to UELC members who made contributions.
The EELC traces its beginnings to missionaries who came to Cameroon in the early 1920's. They began learning and writing Gbaya, the most important local language, they started translating the Bible, they taught reading and writing, and, with the first Christians, they translated and compiled songs. The first songbook, with 30 songs in Gbaya, was published in 1934.
The songbook was updated over the years as the church grew. But then, in our electronic age, the text was lost for nearly three decades. In July 2020, Doko Jean-Marie, Director of the Gbaya Literature Center, discovered and recovered the manuscript from a decrepit old computer. Following orthography changes, numerous corrections, and song updates, a revised songbook, counting 350 songs on 350 pages, was prepared and printed in Cameroon.
My brother, Jim Noss, who is known to this congregation, and to our Florida and Bahamas Synod for his service to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti, was called Home just three months ago. Jim and his wife Karen served as missionaries in Cameroon over 30 years. Over his lifetime, he especially supported the translation of the Bible into Gbaya, together with publication of the Gbaya hymnal, Gima Gasi Sɔ̧.
It was his wish that memorial gifts would be used for the renewal of the songbook, “Songs of Praise for God,” to enrich the life of the Christian community in Cameroon and the Central African Republic.
Phil Noss
Attached photo: Rev. Yamba Pitang, bishop of the Mbere Region of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon, holding a copy of the newly printed songbook for its launching during the churchʼs recent biennial Synod meetings. During our weekly Zoom prayer sessions, I have asked for prayers for the church and its new leaders as they take on the duties of leadership at a very difficult time both for the church and for the nation of Cameroon.
|
|
Our Pastor and Staff
Pastor Terrance Jacob
Pastor, Congregation and Campus Ministry
Crystal Jacob
Minister of Music (Direct Choir and music-related ministries)
Moses Choi
Pianist
Evelyn Simmons
Administrative Assistant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
