Basking in the Light

Dear People of Our Savior,  What a wonderful celebration yesterday for our 50^th Anniversary and Dedication of our expanded building!  This morning at the Men's Breakfast Don Poust (one of our ushers yesterday) said they started to lose track after counting over 400 people in attendance.  It was wonderful having so many members plus friends and many of the workers who worked on our project, along with the Bishop and Bishop's assistant, all in attendance.  Even with the rain, the celebration continued in the Fellowship Hall and under the tent with a nice luncheon and lots of great conversation, laughs and remembrances.  And speaking of remembrances, at the end of this email is a letter of congratulations and some wonderful memories from "Vicar Dave", now Pastor Dave Keck from Hickory NC.  Pastor Keck was our first "Vicar" or "Intern" in 1994-1995, from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.  Since we didn't get to read his whole letter at our celebration, I thought you'd enjoy reading it all here.

Now, at the risk of missing anyone, let me here send out some BIG THANK YOUs to the following for this past weekend: 

Worship: Our musicians: Deacon Carol Olsen for directing our women's choir; Bobbi Johnson, cantor and all the other choir members; Dr. Ray Adams, organist; Sara Diehl Fletcher, oboist; Karen Diehl and Debbie Mozodlowski, handbells; Ron Sample, guitarist and leader for the other guitarists and Youth Group singing during the offering; Michael Hyde, our resident bagpiper who piped us in and then piped us back out of worship…awesome.  Also thanks to Bob Kapp, John and Pat VanDeusen, head ushers and their crew of ushers; to Katie Lindner, Linda Goodson and their Altar Guild crew who came in during the week to scrub down and clean all the pews and other woodwork in the church including the floors, and all others who added to a wonderful worship experience.

Anniversary Celebration:  As mentioned above, after worship, the celebration continued in the Fellowship Hall and under the big tent with a luncheon.  But first, along with that, a lot of folks hung around in the church before and after the luncheon watching the great 50^th anniversary photo history which was Zac Barringer's Eagle Scout project.  How fun was that!  Thanks, Zac!  We're looking into getting it accessible on our website, and will let you know  Along with that, a big thanks to Michael Heinze and his Outreach Team who manned the tables where people could sign the posters if they were baptized, married, or confirmed here or if they had a memorial service for a loved one here at Our Savior. These posters will be available in the narthex for the next few weeks.  In fact, this coming Saturday we'll add the name of Wil Nesper to the Baptized list, as he the first baby baptized in our new narthex (but baptized at the same baptismal font that his Mom was baptized at over 20 years ago)!  Then, the next morning, he will be baby Jesus in our Sunday School Christmas program!  J  How's that for a special weekend for that family and all of us here at Our Savior!

But back to the luncheon, a huge thank you to the Bolinger family (Adam, Suzanne and Brittany) and to Linda Aiken for spearheading that whole event from the big picture to the smallest details.  Very, very nice and very impressive on all counts!  And thanks to their crew at the event, especially the whole Dritenbas family, all 5 of them, and Silas Weeks, who helped set up, serve and cleanup.  What great helpers and what a great spirit they all brought with them.

A big thank you also to Marianne Luethje and her crew (Carole Olsen, Gail Parker and Helena Pierson) for the 50^th Anniversary Historical Booklet.  Whew.  What a job that was!   This is the best, most comprehensive history of Our Savior ever!  If you'd like one of the booklets, contact the church office. 

For a list of all the contractors and workers on our building expansion, that was in this past weekend's worship bulletin.  What a great job everyone did, and what a wonderful experience this was for all of us.  It was a lot of work, but when we see the results that we have, that makes it all worthwhile. 

Finally, I want to thank our whole staff (Pastor Shelly, Bonnie, Jimmy, Gretchen, Eleanor, Marilyn, Mo, Carol, and all our great office volunteers, "folding ladies" and "money honeys" for all the extra work that went along with the building program and the anniversary celebration.  This was all on top of the normal work of a congregation and the search for a new director of music!  It's been an extraordinary several months.  The fact that we are all still standing, enjoying each other's company and continuing to do what we are doing says that truly God's Light is shining on us...and we pray through us…in these holy, special days.   

Now, looking ahead, this coming weekend, Dec. 17-18 will be the 4^th weekend in Advent and the last weekend before Christmas.  At the 11am service on Sunday the Sunday School children will be "telling us" the Christmas story.  The following weekend, our Christmas schedule is as follows:  Christmas Eve, Saturday Dec. 24, Candlelight Communion Services at 6pm and 9pm; Christmas Day, Sunday Dec. 25, Christmas Service, with communion at 11am followed by our Home Alone Christmas Dinner at noon.  Call the church office, or just reply to this email and we'll save a place for you.

For other information about life at Our Savior, please visit our website at www.oursaviorelca.com.  In these last two weeks of Advent, may the Light of the coming Christ Child shine upon you and through you in all of your comings and goings.   Now, below is the letter from "Vicar Dave".

Dear Pastor Diehl and Our Savior Lutheran Church,

 The peace of Christ be with you and Happy Anniversary! You are in my prayers as you celebrate 50 years of ministry, proclaiming the Gospel in Word and deed; 50 years of worshiping our Savior Jesus Christ; administering the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and Communion; singing to God above anthems, hymns of joy, grateful love, praise, blessing, hope and faith; 50 years of teaching the Bible, the old, old story of Jesus and his love; 50 years of welcoming the stranger and the snowbird; 50 years of building community, a family in the name of Our Savior; 50 years of serving the community; 50 years of raising children, youth, adults in faith; 50 years worth of marriages, funerals, Christmas Eve and Easter Sunrise services; 50 years of being GRACED by God; 50 years of confession and forgiveness by command and mercy of Jesus; 50 years of blessings outpoured by the Holy Spirit; 50 years of being led by the Spirit; 50 years of laughter, tears, celebrations, sorrows; 50 years of being stewards of the mysteries of God.

 On Sunday, December 11, the congregation that I serve will be celebrating too. We began a capital campaign at the end of 2007 to pay off existing debt as well as to renovate and restore our sanctuary (pews, lighting, flooring, audio/visual, heat/ac) and other building work. In addition we have tithed all the offerings that have been given and shared them semi-annually with several local ministries as well as some Lutheran ministries.� We moved out of our sanctuary in June 2011 for the work to commence. We move back in the sanctuary this Sunday, December 11 and rededicate it to the glory of God. Thus I am not able to be present with you on your 50^th celebration.

 I treasure the time I enjoyed at Our Savior and the blessings that you graced me with during my internship as �Vicar Dave� in 1994-1995. I learned a great deal from Pastor Jack and from ministry with Our Savior. Some of those remembrances are: the crucifix hanging above the front of the sanctuary; Evelyn Anderson gracefully giving the church and this new vicar her home for the year!; a sudden tornado north of town and Pastor Jack�s whisking me away in his red Tracker to go visit victims; youth group gatherings every Sunday afternoon for games, Bible study, or beach time; hospital visits; key limes; Friday night dinners with Don and Lela Poust and Wil and Sylvia Coudriet; the hospitality of so many Our Savior members who invited me and my wife into your homes or out for a meal; peanut butter pie; fishing early one Friday morning with Pastor Jack; the wonderful stories of faith and traditions I heard from Lutherans of German, Scandinavian, New York, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania descent; Easter sunrise service at the columbarium; council meetings; the Gardening Angels; getting to preach on Sunday, December 25, Christmas Day like I will do again this year; Pastor Jack always being so wonderfully excited to welcome newcomers and old friends to worship; the choir in their blue robes and the festival of love songs near Valentine�s Day; Pastor Jack playing the accordion; Pastor Jack praying with me and for me; newsletter articles �From Pastor Jack�s Desk� and �Off the Vicar�s Wall�; my Honda Civic�s engine troubles; the River Rat Ramble; manatees; early-bird specials; Pastor Jack�s fantastic family: Karen, Sara, Andrew, Katie, and Anna; sunset walks on the beach with my bride Nina (we now have a 14 year old daughter Rachel and 11 year old son Robert); and there are many more special memories and mementoes of my one short year with you out of your 50 years.

 Keep on being Our Savior�s people! Almighty God bless you now and forever.