by Daniel Thomas, CGS Musician
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For many people, December is the most musical month of the year. The “sounds of Christmas” worm their way into our ears, often before Thanksgiving dinner is even finished. We hear the familiar strains of Mel Tormé, or Mariah Carey, or Bing Crosby, or the Carpenters coming out of the radio, through our television sets, across the shopping malls, and likely haunting us in our sleep.

For many generations, Christmas music meant the carols of Advent and Christmas – many of the songs and hymns we’ll be singing over the next few weeks – beloved tunes and texts about the anticipation and celebration of the birth of Jesus. In the last century or so, however, Western culture has added what is often referred to as “secular” Christmas music – songs about family and friends, food, parties, love, Santa Claus, presents and so forth. As someone who often gets asked to provide talent for various holiday functions, such as Christmas tree lightings, corporate parties, and the like, I’m often asked whether or not the singer can do “non-religious” holiday music. It has gotten to the point that if you asked the person on the street to name a Christmas song, you’re as likely to get “White Christmas” as you are “Silent Night.”

That said, I think the breadth and depth of seasonal music – both religious and secular – is a wonderful thing. I know people who decry the Tin Pan Alley or Pop Christmas song as neglecting “the reason for the season” – and we should never lose sight of why we celebrate and give thanks on December 25. But, I feel that many of the themes of these songs – friendship, family, peace and unity, generosity, love – are things that Jesus would want us to embrace, and in fact, would hope that we would be singing about throughout the year. And while we won’t be playing “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” in service, I hope that when you do hear that song, or any of the dozens of other ear-worms that you’ll be bombarded with the next 35 days or so, you’ll think about the happiness and joy they bring to so many people of all cultures, the happiness and joy we are lucky enough to enjoy because we also know of the happiness and joy of the coming of Jesus.

P.S. I also think there hasn’t been a good Christmas song written since 1970’s “Merry Christmas, Darling.” Feel free to argue with me!
 

The publication Stories of Faith in Action and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly offering in your congregation is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. The portion of your offerings that support the ELCA’s synodical and churchwide ministries is called Mission Support. The publication helps explain and answer questions about Mission Support and tell the story of those gifts in action.

Sharing space, growing in faith
A growing, new worship community—ELCA Batak—is sharing space with First Lutheran
Church in Redlands, Calif., and leaders say both groups are enriched by the experience.
“It’s working,” said Kamser Siahaan, president of Batak’s council. “We have a good relationship.”
The partnership began last fall, and members even celebrated Christmas together.
Siahaan’s faith community, with about 60 people, is awaiting a new pastor from ELCA companions in Indonesia, where the Batak have their roots. They have been worshiping together in Southern California for more than 10 years, originally part of a larger Batak group, said Tom Goellrich, director for evangelical mission in the ELCA Pacifca Synod.
Goellrich helped match the Batak community with First and provides support. Mission Support from the synod and churchwide organization sustain his work.
“They’re a very enthusiastic, very energetic group who have a great faith and a great love for Jesus,” he said.
While they await a pastor, the Batak community calls on outside help to preach on Sundays, sometimes from other pastors who speak the Indonesian language. Having an Indonesian pastor helps older people in the congregation who can’t understand English as well as younger members, Siahaan said.
Kim Krogstad, pastor of First, also helps. She recently presided over the wedding of Siahaan’s daughter.
As with any new relationship, there was some “stepping on each other’s toes,” mainly involving scheduling, Goellrich said. The congregations worked it out.
First has worship services on Sunday mornings and the Batak congregation worships in the afternoons, with singing, dancing and a meal afterward.
“We have a lot of growing because members of the congregation live around here,” Siahaan said. “We’re
hoping to have more than 100 people.”
Krogstad said she hopes the youth groups in the congregations can share activities. A new group of people with a different background is bringing life and joy to their congregation, she said,
 

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by Susan Duran 
BEYOND the building, I love that phrase! It means that we not only considering making some much needed remodeling and updating of our building infrastructure, but that we are concerned about helping our community and others outside our church walls. It means that we truly want to live out our mission statement of proclaiming, welcoming and serving. 

Even though we are still in phase one of our five phase multi-year project, I am excited and hopeful about the outcome. I know that the journey ahead will not be easy, but together with the many different gifts that the Holy Spirit has given each of us we can go forward. To do that we need to know if our members are willing and ready to move forward with trust so that we can take risks and accomplish our goals. Every person at our church is extremely important and necessary to our future success. Now if the time for your thoughts, opinions, and viewpoints.

So won't you please join us at the November 18, 2018 (yes, that’s today!) Congregational Meeting  following church service. A light lunch will be provided. We will have elections to council, go over the listening study report, discuss 2018 financials update, as well as 2019 goals and our draft budget for next year.

(For more detailed information about the phases of BEYOND the Building, please go here on our website: Beyond the Builiding)

Your fellow worker for Christ,
Susan Duran

​Do you know that in a year, our CGS office gets visited and gives assistance to about 120 unhoused or underhoused guests, 48 transients or travelers passing through, and 60 people who just need help with buying groceries so they can use their own funds for other necessities? Yes, we help by giving them gift cards in varied values, that they can use to either purchase food and other sustenance, or gas for their vehicles that they use as their lodging, or to continue on with their travel. Sadly, there are times when we have to turn people away because we run out of gift cards to hand out.

This year’s Christmas concert aims to help raise funds for this ministry, while showcasing the abundant musical talents that God has blessed our church. We will help spread the holiday spirit with musical renditions from our choirs, the Keynote Vocal Group and CGS Mixed Choir, sound of familiar carols will fill our sanctuary with the instruments of our CGS Band and the Hand Bells, and solo interpretations of songs that bring us the hope, love, and joy of Christmas.

There will be no tickets to see the show, but we ask people who are planning to come to bring gift cards in any value, for groceries (Safeway, Target, etc.) or for gas from any gas station. We will also collect free-will donations during the concert and we will take care of purchasing the gift cards with the offerings we will gather.
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We hope that CGS can continue to help spread the spirit of giving throughout the year, and bring a little bit of comfort and joy to people in need through this ministry.

​The publication Stories of Faith in Action and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly offering in your congregation is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. The portion of your offerings that support the ELCA’s synodical and churchwide ministries is called Mission Support. The publication helps explain and answer questions about Mission Support and tell the story of those gifts in action.

ELCA Deacon Ryan Hostler sees his life’s calling as one that involves equipping others with the tools they need to sing and worship God.
As minister of word and service for music and worship at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Vero Beach, Fla., Hostler oversees the church’s music program, plans services and serves as cantor. As a leader in the church, he draws on his music training and educational experience, particularly those gained at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

Trinity is one of the ELCA’s seven seminaries; each receive annual Mission Support grants to sustain their work in training leaders like Hostler for service in the church. For Hostler, seminary “provided a solid foundation for future growth and learning.”

Moreover, Hostler counts the experience as one of the best decisions of his life. “[It] allowed me to grow immensely in my theological depth and understanding,” he said.

After seminary, Hostler began working in the ELCA under the title associate in ministry and became a deacon when the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly brought together the roles of associate in ministry, diaconal minister and deaconess under the umbrella of deacon. “I’m thrilled [the church] put us all on equal footing,” he said.

Hostler said being a deacon means opportunities to bring his unique talents to the church. “It’s wonderful because I’m able to focus on worship and what that means to our  congregation. ” Every deacon brings something different to the table based on their skills. “You have deacons that deal with finances and deacons that deal with worship and deacons that deal with social justice,” he explained.

God’s call to become a deacon took hold within Hostler when he “fell in love with the idea of serving with the gifts that God gave to me.”

As he uses his gifts to lead music and worship at Our Savior, Hostler keeps this mission statement close to his heart: “My simple but profound calling is nurturing the song of the church.”

The publication Stories of Faith in Action and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly offering in your congregation is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. The portion of your offerings that support the ELCA’s synodical and churchwide ministries is called Mission Support. The publication helps explain and answer questions about Mission Support and tell the story of those gifts in action.

When the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly authorized the development of a social statement on women and justice, issues related to the topic weren’t dominating the headlines. Today national conversations on sexual misconduct, gender justice and institutional sexism have taken hold in a way that suggests a lasting cultural impact.

The ELCA Task Force on Women and Justice: One in Christ (ELCA.org/womenandjustice) has been at work since 2012, bolstered by Mission Support funds. The social statement draft the task force helped shape—which examines gender-based violence, workplace discrimination, economic inequality, gender role expectations, and use of Scripture and theology—will be edited with reference to public feedback and presented as a proposed social statement for a vote at the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

In her work with the task force, Fern Lee Hagedorn came to see “sexism not just as a women’s issue but one that harms women and girls, men and boys, as well as those who don’t fall into set gender categories.”

Hagedorn also realized that race, economics, education, immigration status and age add to the complexity of issues facing women. “I am grateful to be part of a church that speaks up on behalf of all who are made in God’s image,” she said.

Another important ELCA initiative elevating women is the ELCA rostered women of color project (ELCA.org/rwoc), led by Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration, and Cheryl Pero, emeritus professor at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

“God’s Faithfulness on the Journey,” a resource created by the project’s committee and partially funded by Mission Support, highlights reflections from 42 women leaders of color in this church.

“God has called and continues to call women of color as leaders in this church, yet their ministry experiences are often characterized by discouragement and lack of support,” wrote Bullock and Pero in the introduction to that resource. “We initiated [the rostered women of color project] to change this.”

Thulie Beresford, an ELCA chaplain, was among those who shared their stories.

At 18, Beresford knew she wanted to be a pastor, but her home church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, was not yet ordaining women. After graduating from college, she received a scholarship to complete her master’s at Ohio University in Athens, where she attended Christ Lutheran Church.

“There I met for the rst time a female Lutheran pastor, Patricia Lull, and my heart began to burn within me knowing I could be a pastor,” Beresford wrote.

Two years later, with support from Lull, Beresford enrolled at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. Now Beresford serves at Franke at Seaside, a continuing care retirement community in Mount Pleasant, S.C., a ministry of the ELCA South Carolina Synod.

“Yes, there have been challenges,” she recalled. “What has strengthened me are the words of a mentor: ‘If you feel like quitting at least three times a week, then you are being faithful to your call.’ ”
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By showcasing stories of hardship, hope and courage, “God’s Faithfulness on the Journey" joins the ELCA in its work of breaking the silence and celebrating women of color.