Faith Lutheran Church

Bellingham, Washington

A "Reconciling in Christ" Congregation of the ELCA.

www.faithbellingham.org

Advent 2013 Newsletter

ADVENT & CHRISTMAS SERVICES

WEDNESDAYS IN ADVENT

Throughout the season, join us each Wednesday for a simple supper (6:00 PM) followed by Holden Evening Prayer (7:00 PM).

SUNDAYS IN ADVENT

Join us each Sunday for communion service at 10:00 AM. Stay for coffee hour following the service!

CHRISTMAS EVE (Tues, 12/24)

5:30 PM Service of Holy Communion

The children will help tell the story.

10:00 PM Service of Holy Communion,

Candlelight & Hymns.

CHRISTMAS DAY (Wed, 12/25)

10:00 AM Simple Service of Carols & Communion

BOXING DAY (Thurs, 12/26)

6:00 - 8:00 PM Celebrate the second day of Christmas with a community meal, plus root beer & hymn sing!

WINE, WOMEN, & SONG

Advent Cross

Thursday, December 19

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Women of all ages are invited to come to Faith and take a moment to pause during the whirlwind of the season-visit, share stories, enjoy potluck appetizers and a glass of wine.

HELP US CARE FOR A LOCAL FAMILY THIS CHRISTMAS

FLC is sponsoring a family through Interfaith Coalition's Holiday Gift Program. If you'd like to purchase a gift specific to this family's needs, a list is available through the church office. If you'd prefer to donate money toward the purchasing of those gifts, you can also do so through the church office. All donations need to be collected by Sunday, Dec. 15 (gifts should be unwrapped).

FINANCIAL REPORT & PLEDGES

The finance committee continues to work on the budget for the upcoming year at Faith. With pledges received to date, we are approximately $10,300 short of our projected need. Please prayerfully consider making or increasing your pledge for 2014 and turn it into the church office as soon as possible. Below you will find the current numbers.

UPCOMING DATES TO NOTE:

Weekly Sunday Worship

10:00am

Wednesday Supper & Prayer

Every Wednesday

6:00pm Dinner

7:00pm Prayer

Faith Women's Breakfast

Wed, Dec 11

Wed, Jan 8

8:30am

Parish Council Meeting

Mon, Dec 9

Mon, Jan 13

6:00pm

Food Drive Sunday

Sun, Dec 15

Sun, Jan 19

Weekend of

Re-Formation

W/ Dr. Gerald Hobbs

Oct 26-27

Saturday Seminar:

10:00-2:30

Sunday Service:

10:00 am

Wine, Women & Song

Thurs, Dec 19

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Christmas Eve Services

Tues, Dec 24

5:30 pm

10:00 pm

Christmas Day Service

Wed, Dec 25

10:00 am

Second Day of Christmas

Dinner, Root Beer & Hymns

Thurs, Dec 26

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Youth Snow Day

Fri, Dec 27

New Year's Day Party, Dinner, & Prayer

Wed, Jan 1

6:00 pm

Epiphany Service

Wed, Jan 8

7:00 pm

(Dinner @ 6:00 pm)

Newcomer Evenings

Thurs, Jan 9, 16, 23

6:30 - 8:00 pm

Painting the Stars Series Begins

Sun, Jan 12, 8:45 am

Thurs, Jan 16, 10 am

Dinner & Prayer Around the Cross

Wed, Jan 15

6:00 pm

THANKS FOR FALL FAIR PARTICIPATION

The Fall Fair Committee would like to extend great thanks to all who pitched in and helped with set-up, clean-up, day-of tasks, donations, and everything else necessary to pull off the Faith Fall Fair this year! It is always a huge community effort, and this year was no exception! The event raised over $3,000, designated to upgrade the chairs in the social hall and church.Thanks to all vendors, volunteers, and community members for making the Fall Fair such a great event!

Still need some Christmas gifts? There are still flower bulbs, cookbooks, and t-shirts available through the office!

SEVERE WEATHER SHELTER VOLUNTEERS

As many of you know, we have already been open for a week in December as an emergency severe weather shelter for men. FLC and Garden Street Methodist (site for women) partner with Interfaith Coalition to coordinate emergency shelter during periods of weather that are simply unsafe for brothers and sisters without roofs over their heads. Shelter openings are entirely weather dependent and require a significant volunteer presence. Many of you already volunteer when this need arises, and your help is greatly appreciated--from cooking meals for our guests to all-night volunteer shifts to cleaning and organizing the building each day/night the shelter is open.

If you are interested in volunteering with the emergency severe weather shelter for future openings, please contact Interfaith Coalition (734-3983), the FLC office (733-3970), or talk to one of Faith's site coordinators: James Harris, Dan Daniels, or Steve Swanson.

WEDNESDAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS

After Christmas, we will have slightly different program on Wednesday evenings (in place of Holden Evening Prayer). See the schedule below for details! As usual, community dinner will be at 6:00 pm, and the rest will follow. All are welcome!

Dec.25 No evening program (Christmas Day)

Jan 1 New Year's Day Party, Prayer around the Cross

Jan 8 Epiphany: bonfire, blessing the building, Service of Holy Communion

Jan 15 Prayer around the Cross

FOOD DRIVE SUNDAYS:

Sun, December 15

Sun, January 19

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING CARE FOR PEOPLE IN THIS COMMUNITY.

ON FAITH, COMMUNITY, AND STEWARDSHIP...

From the FLC Council President, Chris Behee

This is a special place. Twenty-two years ago, just married and looking for a church, Pam and I decided to try out Faith Lutheran. A week later, in our small apartment, we were having coffee with Dick Christenson. One thing led to another and we found ourselves at work parties, potlucks, Bible studies, pinochle nights, committee meetings, and chaperoning middle school lock-ins and high school youth trips. A few more things happened, and now we find ourselves with a middle schooler and a high schooler of our own.

Faith is our family. Ethan and Mark were baptized, then crawled, then ran their way around this building, just like the current crop of little ones does every Sunday and Wednesday, every week of their lives. They know this building like their own house. They've grown up knowing many of you the way they know aunts, uncles, and cousins. They know this is a safe place. A place where hungry people are fed; where homeless people find shelter; where all are welcome; where the mysteries of faith, mercy, and forgiveness stop being just ideas, and take shape in real-life programs that we all make happen. They know they have a role to play.

I see Ethan serving meals in the CAST program and know it affects the way he sees the world. I see it in his quiet, but thoughtful leadership at school. I see it in the way his friends respect his opinions and his choices. The know his faith matters. I see Mark respectfully helping with worship and then questioning everything he learns in Confirmation. From big-picture ideas of scripture to liturgical details of the Lutheran tradition, he wants to learn it all and judge for himself what makes sense. He can do that because he knows that htis is a place where grace is real.

My kids and yours are growing up knowing that moving seamlessly from prayer to worship to working to help others is normal. They see the programs at Faith and know that church isn't just on Sunday and that mixing all of these things together is what the Community of God is supposed to look like. Talk to our youth. Those of us that participated in the All-Ages Morning Catechism class this fall know that they are biblically literate; that they THINK about their faith; that they care about this community; and that they have great hopes for the future.

I encourage you to get more involved in Faith's programs. Most of them involve doing simple things, for short manageable amounts of time. Volunteer with CAST to make sandwiches in our kitchen for an hour once a month. Go shopping for bread, peanut butter, and Cup-o-Noodles. Help deliver and serve those simple meals downtown to appreciative, hungry people. Get involved with supervised visitation and get to know a parent and child who see each other for just an hour each week. Help make a meal for Wednesday night dinner here at the church. Bring snacks for hospitality on Sunday morning. Be a lector, usher, or communion server. Sign up for one our upcoming bible studies. You don't need to do it all, just pick one or two things and try them out. You'll find it easier than you might have thought. You'll be surprised what you discover about yourself in the process.

Faith is a unique community. We push the envelope in some areas and maintain centuries-old traditions in others. We are fortunate to have found this balance of music, prayer, education, care, feeding, and shelter programs. We have an amazing, talented, and innovative staff. We have enthusiastic volunteers. We need your generous pledge of financial support. We need your time. We need you. Come help us keep the momentum going and figure out where we go next.

Thank you.

-Chris Behee, FLC Council President

NEWEST MEMBER OF FAITH'S STAFF

Faith's staff has increased by one! Fisher Twigg Harris came into the world on October 29, 2013, to proud parents James Harris and Jessie Twigg-Harris. Jessie and Fisher are already back in the office, and while Fisher spends most office hours sleeping and lounging, he is already lending his creativity to program planning.

FAITH READS

The Gospel According to Matthew

By Barbara Reid

Volume 1 in the New Collegeville Bible Commentary

"A helpful and informative guide to Matthew's Gospel. With an eye on both the big picture as well as on significant details, Barbara Reid supplies clarifying information and insightful commentary. The resulting reading illumines both the Gospel text and the tasks and challenges of contemporary discipleship."

-Warren Carter

Copies are $8.00 each through the office. Sign up for your copy today!

UPDATE ON BORDER PATROL BUILDING

The process of applying for use of the former border patrol building across McLeod Street has come to a close due to the fact that the government has decided to auction the building rather than lease/sell it for non-profit use in alleviating homelessness. Thanks to Dick Clark, Chris Behee, and many others who invested a great deal of time and energy into the application process. While this particular project will not move forward, the process was indeed valuable in preparing Faith for future grant-writing and project planning. We will continue to explore our ever-growing role in this community in providing food and shelter to people who need them.

NEWCOMER EVENINGS IN JANUARY

There is a place for you here!

Interested in finding out more about Christianity, the Lutheran tradition, and life in community at Faith Lutheran Church?

Join us Thursday Evenings in January!

Jan. 9, 16, 23 @ 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Doubters and questioners welcome!

Please RSVP to Pastor Sharon in the church office (733-3970).

REV. DR. KAREN BLOOMQUIST

APPOINTED DEAN OF PLTS

Congratulations to Faith member, the Rev. Dr. Karen Bloomquist, the newly appointed Dean and Chief Administative Officer of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary! Karen and Bill will be transitioning from their home in Bellingham to Berkeley, CA, where she will begin her new appointment on Jan. 6, 2014. We wish Karen and Bill a peaceful journey, a smooth transition, and many blessings on their new adventure.

LIFE AT FAITH

The season of Advent is upon us again! It has been a busy couple of months with Faith's Weekend of Re-Formation, featuring Rev. Dr. Gerald Hobbs, the confirmation ceremony for Spencer Thulin and Dante DeLeon, the birth of Fisher Twigg Harris, the annual Faith Fall Fair fundraiser, the entering of the Advent season, and the opening of the building for the emergency severe weather shelter. Yet here we are, in Advent. We wait, we watch, we breathe in the songs, the prayers, the sacred silence and the holy chaos of this season as we anticipate the coming of the Christ child, God with us.

FAITH YOUTH

Mt. Baker Snow Day

With Whatcom Lutheran Youth

Fri, Dec. 27

Middle & High School Youth welcome! We'll meet at Faith first, then meet up with other groups at Heather Meadows Lodge. We'll spend the day on the mountain--skiing, snowboarding, sledding, and snow-shoeing--then gather at Immanuel Lutheran at Nugent's Corner for pizza and games! Cost for the day varies depending on snow activities, rentals, etc. Contact Jessie Twigg-Harris to sign up and for more information!

Faith Urban Plunge

For Middle School/Confirmation Age Youth

Feb 14-16

We will join other Whatcom Lutheran Youth for a weekend of interfaith experiences and urban service work in Vancouver, B.C. This is a weekend not to be missed--all confirmation youth are encouraged to attend! Sign-up through Jessie Twigg-Harris; more trip details to come!

Contact Jessie Twigg-Harris for more info:

jessie.twigg-harris@faithbellingham.org

or get more information on our Facebook Page!

PAINTING THE STARS SERIES

Science, Religion and an Evolving Faith

Celebrating the communion of science and faith,

Painting the Stars explores the promise of evolutionary Christian spirituality. Featuring over a dozen leading theologians and progressive thinkers, this seven session program will be presented at the following times:

SUNDAYS: Jan. 12 - Feb. 23 @ 8:45 AM

THURSDAYS: Jan. 16 - Feb. 20 @ 10:00 AM

Facilitated by Pam Behee and Pastor Sharon Swanson

FROM THE PASTOR

advent 2012

Dear Ones,

The following excerpt , from the Advent Festival "Prophets and Angels," by the late Herb Brokering is my greeting to you in this blessed season:

"Halo"

By Herbert F. Brokering

The Kingdom of prophets and angels is beyond all imagination,

more than a star in the East.

It births the angelic light of halo,

a light that dazzles and stuns

and makes preachers and prophets speechless.

Halo can be seen over choirs and heard in a song.

Halo is the light of awe, when teacher run out of words,

and children stand in silence to wonder.

A bright halo is the wonder of brand new thoughts, seasons, new faith.

Mary believed; she wears a halo on most every easel.

The miracle of the halo is best seen in the halo on each other.

Halo of angels is the miracle of tongues of fire,

prophet wisdom, nations under God as one people, aglow,

moving together in one great light,

blending strangers and enemies as friends and family,

sounds of fire in a choir, harmonies ending in one melody.

The Kingdom of Heaven sees halo on the world

on Sarah and Hannah, Rebecca, Mary, Elizabeth, Hagar, Mary of Magdala

Mother Theresa, Henry, Naomi, Ruth, Peter, Paul, St. Francis, Martin, Joseph, Maria.

Haloes give light to prisons, to still birth, to a frightened soldier,

to divorce, at death, when all alone, to addiction.

Halo is the light of God.

God said, "Let there be light" and there is light on all creation.

There is a halo for all the earth.

The kingdom of prophets and angels is one halo.

Be at peace. Remember the poor. Serve the Lord.

Pastor Sharon