"[Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Luke 3:16b
A classmate from seminary once told the story about coming out of a community Thanksgiving Eve service to smell smoke in the air. Soon they discovered that it was their home that had started on fire and now was in the process of burning to the ground.
As Harold and his wife looked on, she sat down and began crying over lost pictures, lost memories and the great tragedy that is a house fire. Many in the community had gathered around including some of their children and grandchildren.
As Harold tells the story, when his wife sat down and began crying, one of the their granddaughters came up to her, wiggled into her lap and patted her on the shoulder saying; "don't be sad Grandma, I'm sure it will be done burning by morning."
The little girl thought that maybe Grandma was upset because she wanted to began cooking the Thanksgiving dinner yet she was confident the crisis would end soon and things would go back to normal. She couldn't quite grasp how that fire had changed everything.
Yet, in spite of how difficult the fire was, Harold talked about how his family and his community pulled together to support them. Through the tragedy, he and his wife grew closer as a couple and their faith grew strong as they were left with the reality that the only thing any of us can ever count on in this world is God and his love for us in Jesus Christ.
The fire's of life come and often times, things are never the same again. But God who is faithful is at work, bringing life out death, hope out of tragedy and joy out of despair.
Pastor Tony Haglund
November 2009 |
What's Happening at the Church
Canton Community Thanksgiving Eve Service
Join us next Wednesday, September 25th at St. Dominic's Catholic Church for the Ministerial's annual Thanksgiving Eve Service. Worship begins at 7:00 pm and an offering will be received to support the work of the Canton Ministerial. This is a wonderful way to join together in community to give thanks for God's many and abundant blessings and to share what we have been given so that our blessings may also be a blessing for others. |
Harvest Picnic: Wednesday, Nov. 18th
 Join us tonight, Nov. 18th for a Harvest Picnic celebration from 5:00 - 7:00 pm. We'll be serving taverns and hotdogs along with cheesy potato bake and great desserts. It's everything you could ever want for a Fall Harvest Picnic.
Tickets are $5 and funds raised will go to our Senior High Youth who are going on a mission trip to inner-city Brooklyn, NY next summer. Bring your family, bring your neighbors, bring anyone who loves to have a great time and eat great food.
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 Thanksgiving Day Run for Food
Runners and walkers will gather at The Banquet in Sioux Falls on Thanksgiving morning to get in their exercise before feasting on turkey and pumpkin pie.
Participants may choose from a 3-mile run, a 6-mile run or a 1 miile walk. The route begins at The Banquet and goes to Falls Park and then back to The Banquet.
Organizers of the event suggest a $10 donation.
Last year, this event raised $5,900 to feed the hungry. This is a No Frills Event - No t-shirts, no registration, no hassles.
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College Care Packages
We need any updated addresses on all our college student members. Please email them to the church at cantonluth@iw.net, call Lori at the church office, 764-2429 or call LeAnn Anderson at 759-1737 with any corrections or changes. Anyone wanting to donate items to include in the care packages such as individually wrapped snacks, fruit, homemade cookies, gum, microwave popcorn, candy and etc. can leave them in the church office or call LeAnn Anderson. We would like the items to the church office by Friday November 27th. Thank you!!
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 Adult Sunday School:
Exploring the Book of Faith Join us Sunday mornings at 8:45 as we study the Scriptures using the ELCA's Book of Faith curriculum. This is an exciting churchwide initiative to re-center our church body around the Word of God as revealed in Holy Scriptures. Together we will learn ways to study the Bible devotionally, historically, literarically, and through the lens of our Lutheran theological heritage.
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Website Updated
On the left side of this eConnect is a link to our new and revised website (www.cantonlutheran.net). If you haven't been to our site in a while, we invite you to check it out. It's looking pretty cool. Thanks to Sarah Petersen of iDesignher in Sioux City, IA for her fantastic work.
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