January 2021 Church Newsletter

January 2021

I took this photo on one of my last hikes of 2020. What do you see?

Any stories that could be told among the trees and bushes and hills and sky?

Dear Friends in Christ:

“His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” -Luke 2:51b

What stories do you treasure? This month we read the story of the boy Jesus “lost” but not really lost in the temple. As the story concludes we are told that Mary treasured these things. I love that! I believe that Mary had to have been a source for the author of this story.

It’s interesting though, that Mary treasured this particular story because it wasn’t the best of stories. In our day the parents would have been in trouble for “losing” their child. Can you imagine the stress and fear they experienced when they discovered he was not with the caravan? Yet Mary this incident was among the stories that Mary treasured. I’ll talk more about it on Sunday (1/3). Meanwhile I am pondering the stories that we treasure.

As we start a new year ,and join many in the world in a collective “good riddance” to 2020, I am wondering what stories we can treasure. What have we learned about ourselves? What small joys did we experience? What do we have to be grateful for?

I am grateful that our congregation has shown resiliency in the midst of struggle. I am thankful that through technology we have continued to worship and we’ve even been blessed with people joining us in worship who would not be able to do so in person. Some of my treasured stories of 2020 will be about worship…the things that worked and the need to laugh about the things that didn’t work quite so well.

Whatever stories you treasure from that past year are stories worth sharing! Please send me you stories as I love to hear them. Yours, mine, and our collective stories are also reminders that we can get through difficulty. We can remember this as we are still working our way through the pandemic.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Nancy

Preschool News

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break with your families. I can speak for the staff in saying that we had a great break and are excited to be back into the swing of things with our students!

It is hard to believe that the school year is almost half over already. We look forward to having a great rest of the school year with our students!

Have a wonderful month,

Mrs. Kerry Roman

On behalf of Lutheran World Relief, I want to reach out one last time to update your congregation about the quilts and/or kits that you had in the Beirut port when the blast shook the city on August 4. As you recall, we originally thought all was lost and only later discovered that the LWR supplies were protected.

Thanks to the love of your congregation and other Lutherans across the U.S., over 11,500 people in Lebanon have received these quilts and kits! All 21,433 quilts and kits were distributed to families (many households receiving multiple items).

A video has been created to share with your congregation, accessible either on YouTube or via download.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/JIrXrgGbB5U

Download: https://photos.lwr.org/?r=32494&k=932ca74359

Additionally, thanks to the love of Lutherans and our staff on the ground, we've been able to meet more needs in Beirut:

We have finished 290 household repairs and another 810 are in progress to be completed by Christmas. We’re exceeding our target of 742 households ... and yet there are so many more to whom we could respond.
We are in discussions with partners on a mental health/psychosocial training for those who are still struggling with the impact of the blast, coupled with the COVID-19 lockdown (much like the US, Lebanon experienced spikes in November and the government has severely limited movement as a result).

Once again, thank you for bringing the light of Christ to our neighbors this Advent. If you ever have any questions about your partnership with Lutheran World Relief, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

In gratitude,

Emma Wagner (she/her/hers)

Associate, Congregational Engagement

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree's

Last Day:

January 3, 2021

Please support the ministry of Our Redeemer with a simple Christmas gift.

Church Council

The January's Church Council meeting will be held on

Monday, January 11, 2021 at 7pm Via ZOOM

Important Information Regarding

Prayer Requests

Starting January 1st, we will start fresh with Prayer Requests

For the sake of keeping up-to-date on all of our loved ones in our prayer concerns, we will start fresh in January. The requests will be kept in the prayer concerns for one quarter or upon request.

For any Questions, Please contact Michael at (805)983-0612

Happy Birthday

If you would like to be added to our birthday list, please let us know so that we can add you. You can let us know by replying to this e-mail or calling the church office at (805) 983-0612.