1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity

In the First Place
“Learning the Way, Sharing the Journey”
May 20, 2015
Published by First Lutheran Church
Vol. 22, Issue 8
THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH ARE REQUESTED FOR
THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE: Bob Papp (KS Rehab Hospital), Sue
Wild (home), Ed Klein (home), Margaret Worrell (home), Michael
Schmidt (home), Jerry Rus (home), Bob Hogrefe (home), Diane White
(home), Sharon Brandt (Diane Dukat’s cousin), Pete Rus (Marty & Jerry’s
grandson), Harry Sharpnack (friend of Ron Bessler), David Metzenthin
(Bud & Lois’ son), Aileen Daily (Pat Wild's sister), Sonya Hess (Sherry’s
sister), Florence Stillwell (Pastor Jenny’s grandmother), Leela Ussery
(Dolores Hanners’ daughter-in-law), Laurie McAndrews (friend of Martha
Donohoe), Lorraine Sannes (friend of Ron Bessler), Cole Newstrom
(Shirley’s son), Raymond Carstensen (Wendy Sanders’ grandfather), Bill
Jacobs (Cindy Crawford’s uncle), Catie Wools (friend of the Roark’s), Steve
Rexer (friend of the Engelhardt’s), Amy Shafer (friend of John Hanna),
Annika Lundgren (friend of the Engelhardt’s), Bruce Baenig (former
member).
May 24 Pentecost (Please wear Red)
May 31 Beginning of Summer Worship Schedule
(8:15 outdoor chapel, 10:15 indoors)
PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN YOUR HISTORY
SURVEY TO THE WELCOME CENTER BY MAY 31st.
WEEKLY STEWARDSHIP RESPONSE TO GOD’S LOVE
SATURDAY & SUNDAY April 18 & 19 and 25 & 26
SATURDAY & SUNDAY May 2 & 3 and 9 & 10 and 16 & 17
ATTENDANCE TOTAL: 207
Tithes and Offerings:
Saturday: 28 Early: 57 Late: 122
$6,888.00
ATTENDANCE TOTAL: 230
Saturday: 20 11:00 AM: 210
Tithes and Offerings:
$4,761.00
ATTENDANCE TOTAL: 213
Saturday: 38 Early: 71 Late: 104
Tithes and Offerings:
$9,734.75
ATTENDANCE TOTAL: 223
Saturday: 27 Early: 68 Late: 128
Tithes and Offerings:
$8,351.75
ATTENDANCE TOTAL: 213
Saturday: 39 Early: 69 Late: 105
Tithes and Offerings:
$2,675.00
FROM THE PASTOR
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you.”
Romans 1:8
As we transition between the academic year to the summer, stopping and
saying thank you seems right. There are so many people that serve God
through the ministries at First and do these ministries, not for the
accolades, but for the opportunity to serve one another and our neighbors.
Every week, a host and driver go and pick people up so that they can
come to worship. During the week, activities to keep the bus in good
working order happen.
To Bud and his team of drivers and
hosts/hostesses, we say thank you for your ministry.
In just a short growing season, our garden will be feeding others. Thank
you Bob and team for hearing God’s command to feed the hungry.
Each week, many children, their parents and others come into this
building to CDO. Thank you to Kathy and her staff of very dedicated
folks who make the school such a wonderful experience that people come
and leave with a smile on their face.
For all the hospitality provided each and every Sunday, thank you to those
that prepare and serve.
For all the wonderful Bible stories that get taught each Sunday, for the
opportunity for children to know that not only God loves them, but God’s
People at First love and care for them, thank you to all those that
participate in the Education Ministry.
For those that teach adults, challenge and cajole us into a deeper
relationship with Christ, thank you.
For those that plan the dinners, provide the food, clean up, and provide the
supplies, thank you.
For the altar guild, who weekly provides us bread and wine and cares for
all the items that help us in our worshipping, thank you.
For music and musicians that feed our soul and invite us to experience the
Good News in a new way, thank you.
For all those that help worship to be a deeper and richer experience so that
we might deepen our relationship with God, thank you.
For the bulletin board, pictures, outside signs, all those things that help us
celebrate our life together as First, thank you.
For those that care for the grounds, by making it a beacon in this
community, thank you.
For you, that you continue to serve, that you continue to find ways to say
thank you to God for all the blessings God has provided us, thank you to
all God’s People at First.
God’s blessings and my prayers, Pr. Lesley
THE BIRTH AND BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
The word PENTECOST means “the fiftieth day.”
PENTECOST is “a Jewish festival” occurring 50 days after the
PASSOVER. It marked the beginning of the offering of first fruits.
The New Testament uses the term to refer to the established Jewish
feast, but since the gift of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s church occurred
on the day of Pentecost, Christians reinterpreted the meaning of it in
terms of this event and called Pentecost the “birth of the church” (see
Acts, chapter two, for the Pentecost account).
The liturgical color of the DAY OF PENTECOST is RED. Red is
the color of FIRE, which symbolizes POWER. It also is the color
of LOVE, the renewed LOVE the disciples had after Pentecost.
The color for the SEASON OF PENTECOST is GREEN. Green
symbolizes GROWTH, both numerically, as the Church grows in
followers committed to their Lord and Savior, and spiritually as
individual Christians grow and mature in their faith and in their
relationship with Jesus and with God’s people.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
Called by the Spirit, we serve Christ,
sharing God’s love with all.
CDO NEWS
The CDO students and staff are on break until CDO Summer School
which takes place June 2-4 and June 9-11. We continue to pray for
these children and adults and the ministry we share with them.
IT’S GOOD TO BE THE SECRETARY
I want to say THANK YOU so much for sharing this journey and
making this ministry/job so enjoyable for the past 17 years! The public
accolades and the personal cards and other gifts are so appreciated and
I love you all right back.
God Bless you all! LaDonna or LJL
NEWSLETTER INFORMATION
We need your help.
Beginning with the September
newsletter, the church office will only be MAILING the
newsletter to those who do not have access to email. Those
folks will receive the newsletter mailed first class instead of bulk
mail. This will help to get the newsletter to you in a timelier
manner. Those that do have email, but would like a printed copy
of the newsletter, may pick the newsletter up at the Welcome
Center. If you do have email, but the church does not have
your email address presently, please send it to us at
[email protected]. If you are not getting the
weekly First Glance, we do not presently have your email.
Thank you for helping us to communicate with you in an effective
and efficient way.
The CHURCH STAFF prays for you!
The church staff made a Lenten discipline of praying for our
congregation every Tuesday and we plan to continue this
practice. If you have any specific prayer requests, please email
us at [email protected] or call 272-5302.
DEADLINES
FOR THE NEXT “IN THE FIRST PLACE” ARTICLES
JUNE 10th and JULY 8th
CALENDAR DEADLINE FOR JULY IS JUNE 10th
MANY THANKS goes to all who filled hunger banks. After receiving
additional donations for the ELCA WORLD HUNGER APPEAL,
the FINAL TALLY as of 4/30/15 equaled $720.13.
LUTHERAN CAMPUS MINISTRY – KANSAS UNIVERSITY
HUNGER AWARENESS AND CAMPAIGN CHALLENGE
The students and Campus Pastor Shawn Norris of Lutheran Campus
Ministry at the University of Kansas (LCM-KU) are excited to share
the results of the recently completed “crowd-sourced” fund raising
campaign. This campaign was sponsored by KU Endowment and
included 13 other KU student groups. In the final tally, we raised
$7,624; were awarded a bonus prize of $2,000 for second place in
number of donors, and another bonus of $500 for first prize for most
dollars raised. So, we ended with more than $10,000 - surpassing our
goal. Thanks be to God!
We are so very grateful to everyone who donated to and supported us in
this cause – thank you! And we look forward to serving “5,000 meals”
+ plus! – as we help alleviate food insecurity and hunger on campus.
THANK YOU again for all your generous support of our ministry
at KU.
RED BAG OFFERING
Again this year we will be receiving a special Red Bag offering on the
weekend of May 30th and 31st. Our voting delegates will take the
offering along to the CENTRAL STATES SYNOD ASSEMBLY
being held this year in Lindsborg, Kansas from
June 4th thru 6th.
The special offerings from the CSS congregations will be divided
equally three ways: Lutheran Campus Ministries (Campus Ministry
sites in St. Louis, K-State & KU); Companion Synod Fund of the
Central States Synod; and ELCA International Leaders – Scholarships
for Women. Please be generous in your contribution!!
ORGANIST STEPHEN WURST will be in concert at St. John’s
Lutheran Church, 901 SW Fillmore on Sunday, May 31st, at 3:00
p.m. A graduate of Concordia University Wisconsin, Stephen will be
playing compositions by Buxtehude, Bach, Couperin and others. His
concert will also include the Kansas premier of his “Toccata on Two
Carols”, interweaving the melody of an Advent and Christmas carol.
The Rev. Kantor Roger Goetz, organist and choirmaster at St. John’s,
first heard Stephen play a piano concert as a sixth grader and
encouraged him to start organ lessons. Pastor Goetz stated, “He did,
and now ten years later I’m looking forward to hearing this exceptional
organist in concert once again."
This free event is sponsored jointly by St. John’s and
The Lutheran Fine Arts Council of Topeka.
CONGRATULATIONS to Anita Nelson for receiving Doorstep’s
Volunteer of the Year for 2014.
CONGRATULATIONS to Meghann Leininger & Chris Chaudhry
on their May 17th Wedding, we pray for blessings on their marriage.
First Lutheran is sponsoring a COLLECTION OF MEDICAL
SUPPLIES for use by Jim and Dawn Anderson in their
missionary work in Guinea, Africa.
The following items are especially needed:
**Infant Liquid Vitamins **Children’s Chewable Vitamins
**Chewable Children’s Ibuprofen **Liquid Ibuprofen—Infant
**Antibiotic Ointment
We will collect the items in the Nave Lounge using the same
containers used for the recent March Madness food drive for
Doorstep (no credit given for KU or K-State). Collection will
take place throughout the month of May for shipment to an
east-coast port in early June. Please donate generously to
this worthwhile cause.
DINNER FOR EIGHT
We're planning a new round of "Dinner for Eight" to start this summer
and extend into fall. Groups of eight will gather to share a meal and get
to know each other. It's a great way to meet new people in the church
and reconnect with old friends you may not see much.
This is the way it works -- you sign up at the Welcome Center, either
as a couple, a pair or a single. (Singles will be matched up as needed.)
When sign-ups end in mid-June, groups will be assigned and notified.
The group chooses its own schedule, and rotates where to meet. Each
couple/pair hosts once -- just a simple meal. No gourmet meals are
necessary! In fact, you may choose to host a picnic at a local park
when it's your turn! Your choice!
The sign-up sheet is at the Welcome Center, so sign up soon to be a
part of this. The connections made will be lasting. The bonds of
friendship will be formed, and our congregation will benefit as well!
LIBRARY NEWS!
FLC library riches are available year round! The school year may be
winding down, but we are not. The travelling cart will be available
near the Worship Center most weekends this summer and the children’s
cart in the Worship Center will be newly stocked each week. There are
books for teens downstairs on our new satellite bookshelf. The library
room will continue to have books to catch your eye on top of the
bookshelves and current magazines fanned out on the shelf inside the
entry. The children’s section is the first thing you see when you enter
the room. From the adult section which covers the length of the south
wall, you may want to browse the nonfiction shelves for topics of
interest, or begin to read several fiction books of one author. There are
series shelved above the check-out desk and in with all the fiction titles
to the right of the entry. Next month’s newsletter will have even more
reviews and recommendations by readers. Stay tuned!
Library Task Force
BOOK REVIEW by Laura Haefke
Have you visited the FLC Library lately? I just finished reading two
books that I recommend for good reading.
The first is "Overcoming Life's Disappointments" by Harold Kushner,
a Rabbi. I liked how he compared our lives with that of Moses. No
matter what happened in his life, he remained faithful to his lord and
Savior.
This book helped me work through some of my
disappointments.
The second book is "God's Outrageous Claims" by Lee Strobel.
I
found it very interesting that God makes some amazing claims about
what He wants to do in our lives. Check out the book and see if you
agree with God's claims.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Mark your calendars for SATURDAY,
June 13, 2015 for our
OLD FASHIONED
ICE CREAM SOCIAL from
6:00-8:00 p.m. in the
SOUTH parking lot. Please PARK in the NORTH lot and
walk thru the building to get to the south lot. For our
HANDICAPPED VISITORS there will be a DESIGNATED
AREA in the south parking lot provided for your drop off and
pick up. This is a FREE event for our members and our
community provided by funds from the Sibberson
Endowment Fund.
Bring your friends ~ everyone is invited!
We will be
serving "G's Homemade Ice Cream" (several flavors) and we
will be entertained by the LINDSBORG SWEDISH
DANCERS from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
There will be an
opportunity for audience participation with the dancers.
Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy a wonderful evening of FUN
and FELLOWSHIP!!!
In case of inclement weather, we will move to Parish Hall.
If you can help LET'S HELP on the third Wednesday of any month
please call Bob and Sara Aufdemberge at 256-2672. The next date for
helping is June 17, 2015.
EVER WONDER WHERE WE CAN FIND THE SEED MONEY
TO START A GREAT NEW PROJECT AT FIRST? Thrivent
Financial has a program called “THRIVENT ACTION GRANTS.”
Each member of Thrivent has access to two (2) $250 Thrivent
Action Grants a year to provide seed money to help cover
promotional, production and material expense of the project.
Need ideas or help with applying for a Thrivent Action Grant,
contact [email protected], any team member
on the Social Concerns Ministry Committee or Pastor Lesley.
Let’s take advantage of this wonderful opportunity from Thrivent
to spark action in our community.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL:
Journey Off the Map!
June 15-19
We will be taking adventures and exploring God's word and
world, trusting God as our guide. CHILDREN ages 3 thru
Kindergarten: If you would like to go on an adventure, come
learn! YOUTH: If you would like to help lead, talk with PJ.
ADULTS: If you would like to serve, talk with Pastor Jenny. We
need Jungle guides, snack distributors, crafty folk, and story
tellers.
EXTRAordinary DAYCAMP
with Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries
st
th
June 15-19
1 – 6 grade youth enrolled in the 2014-2015 school year
REGISTRATION FORMS
CAN BE FOUND ON PASTOR JENNY’S DOOR.
STRENGTHEN YOUR COMMUNITY
Make an impact with a Thrivent Action Team
If you’re a Thrivent Financial member, you can lead a Thrivent
Action Team to bring people together for a one-time project to
help others be wise with money and live generously!
YOU CAN:
• Coordinate an educational event.
• Conduct a service activity.
• Organize a fundraiser.
THRIVENT WILL PROVIDE:
• Resources to help you plan the event.
• Promotional items, including Thrivent T-shirts.
• Community Impact Card with $250 of seed money.
Learn more at Thrivent.com/actionteam and apply online.
Not a member of Thrivent? Share your service idea with me.
Together, we can make a difference!
CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Juli Meier Tinoco
Financial Associate
th
1609 SW 37 Street
Topeka, KS 66611
785-580-8478
DOORSTEP
The month of May is filled with fun
celebrations… Mother’s Day and Graduations!
During the month at Doorstep we continue to
focus on the services we offer throughout the
year. Families and individuals will still come
to us for food and clothing. With the help of
grant funding each month we are able to help
with prescriptions, dental vouchers, gas
vouchers and bus tickets to help people who are struggling and in need.
We will continue to try and assist our neighbors in need with rent
assistance to prevent them from becoming homeless or place them in a
new home if they are already homeless. Within two months we have
already spent over $10,000 on utility assistance and the calls continue
to come in on a daily basis. If you can help with this service by making
a donation to Doorstep we would be grateful. Please note your
congregation for credit. Doorstep, 1119 SW 10th Avenue, Topeka,
KS 66604.
TOPEKA GIVES 2015 is Tuesday, June 2nd at
Fairlawn Plaza Mall from 7AM - 6PM. Doorstep
will be there again this year with a table. Please
come by and see us and make a donation for
Doorstep! Donate $25 - $1,000 to Doorstep on this
day at Fairlawn Plaza and the Topeka Community Foundation will
match it proportionately. There are 130 local non-profits participating.
This year there is $56,500 available for the match. Last year Doorstep
made $8,809 from our donors to help with agency needs! Save the date
and come out on June 2nd!
For more information visit: www.topekacommunityfoundation.org
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED AT DOORSTEP & DOVETAIL!
Doorstep is in desperate need of volunteers in our clothing bank and at
the Dovetail Shoppe (Doorstep’s thrift store). If you can give of your
time on a regular basis, please call Carrie at Doorstep, 357-5341 or Ron
at Dovetail 234-3004.
CHRISTMAS IN JULY
It is hard to believe now, but Christmas in July will be here before you
know it. Start looking now at the winter clearance racks where you
shop. Also, check out the store “Uniquely Yours” in Brookwood for
bargain prices on new items. Remember, we need new winter items in
all sizes for men, women, juniors and children.