Nipper Notes

Weekly eNewsletter of Our Saviour Lutheran Church

May 6,2016

This Sunday 
OSLC Choir
Celebrating Youth! 
One Service Sunday! 

Our Saviour Lutheran Church, 212 Sunset Drive, Johnson City, Tennessee, will offer one Holy Communion service at 10:45.
 
A nursery is provided.  

All are welcome. 
   
For further information 
about OSLC, please 
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Pastor Eds 
Daily Devotional Blog

  

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Parents Day Out

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Friday, May 6, 2016

Walk / Talk 10:00 AM

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Men's Prayer Breakfast 8:00 AM

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Celebrating Youth!
One Service Sunday!
Sunday School 9:30 AM
Single Service (1st Comm) 10:45 AM

Monday, May 9, 2016

Parent's Day Out 9:00 AM
Cover Girls 10:00 AM
Prayer Shawl 2:00 PM
Council 6:30 PM
NAMI Board 7:00 PM
CoEd Softball 7:30 PM
CoEd Softball 8:30 PM

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Friends in Grief 10:00 AM
Heart Valve Talk 6:30 PM

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Parent's Day Out 9:00 AM
Melting Pot 11:00 AM
LYO 6:00 PM

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Yoga 6:30 PM

Friday, May 13, 2016

Walk / Talk 10:00 AM

"Breathe"
 
"But truly it is the Spirit in a human, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding." (Job 32:8)

This Sunday, our youth will participate in the one service offered (10:45 only).  We also offer first communion to eight of our children of the congregation:  Aubrey Golden, Easton Hopper, Adryana King, Audrey King, Owen King, James McAllister, Lily McAllister, and Caleb Wilcox.  What a great day it will be!
 
The video sermon, "Breathe" by Rob Bell, is an example of how our youth are taught in many different arenas of learning:  here at OSLC, Bible studies, state-wide gatherings, synod wide gatherings, and national assembly gatherings.  It's a powerful medium that we wanted everyone to see and hear for themselves.  Come and see - I think you will be inspired.
 
Breath is vital to our existence.  To breathe is to live.  We take our first breaths at the moment of birth.   As we get older, we can have the need of some aid to help us breathe.   I, for example, have to use a C-PAP machine each night.  I'm not sure how I could live without it.  As we even get older, there are machines that can breathe for us.  That machine has prolonged and saved many a human life!
 
The breath of life, which began back in Chapter 2 (verse 7) of Genesis when God breathed the gift of life into Adam, is given to us as a gift every day of our lives.  Eight young children will receive that first new breath known also as "communion" with God this Sunday.  Their lives will never be the same.  They may not realize it yet, but it will.  You who are older know what I am talking about!
 
We have youth helping with the leadership of worship.  They help breathe new life into the worship of all our people, whether they lead the readings, or prayers, or assist in the communion or with the music.  We are grateful to have them lead us in this time of worship this Sunday.
 
Breath of life.  Before we were born we received oxygen and other necessary nutrients from our natural mothers.  Even before we took a breath, our mothers were working hard to give us life.  We experienced this within our parish once more this week with the birth of Parker Reagan Huff, on Tuesday, May 3, at the Bristol Regional Medical Center.  What a blessing he already is to Christy, Doug, Clayton, and Gracie. (Not to forget his proud grandparents, Carolyn and Randy Parrish!!)  So - with all our mothers - past, present, and the future - we are thankful to them for this gift of life, this breath that is so sacred to us all.
 
God is good.  It is through His Spirit and that breath that the Holy Spirit gives us that helps us understand who we and whose we are.
 
"Come and see" for yourself this Sunday (again, at 10:45 a.m. only) the breath of God that will be very prevalent in our time together!
 
And remember, God loves you and so do we!
 
Pastor Jim
Jesus Prayer
Products of the Month
 
Family Promise

For the next two months, we have designated Family Promise (formerly Interfaith Hospitality Network) our agency to donations. Promise sponsors a network of churches, volunteers and community members to assist homeless familie with children. Through Family Promise, families can remain together while addressing the challenges confronting them to obtain housing. Families receive counseling and assistance to address their particular needs. Visit their website at: 
www.familypromise.org.

When a family leaves the program and goes to an apartment or a house, they need products to clean and "fix up" their new home. They also need personal items such as deodorant, soap, tooth paste, toilet paper, etc. As the OSLO family, let's put together 3 laundry baskets filled with items to start their homes. Two baskets will be in the narthex and one in the fellowship hall. Let's see if we can give three families a boost and love with a gift from OSLC.

Coming Up at OSLC 
 
Parish Nurse "Ministries in Motion":

Thursdays, 6:30 p.m., Yoga - Youth Room - please bring your own mat; Fridays, 10 a.m. - Walk/Talk - prayer, devotion, joke of the week and "Chair Yoga."  

Looking Ahead:  
May 10th - Janey Owns, MSN, CCRN, NP-C, Heart replacement valve coordinator from JCMCH - 6:30 p.m. Fellowship Hall.
 
THIS SUNDAY - May 8 - Youth Sunday - "One Service Sunday!"  
We will have one service of worship this Sunday at 10:45 a.m.  Our youth will take parts in worship and our first communion class will be present as well!  Come to worship and celebrate with our youth this Sunday.
 
PARENTS DAY OUT:  
We are now enrolling for Fall 2016, ages 1-4 years old.  For more information, contact Cat Hopper, our OSLC Parent's Day Out Director at 423-232-0077.  Registration Packets are available in the OSLC Office.

COED SOFTBALL:  
Another double header:  7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Monday night, May 9 at Winged Deer Park.  Come out and cheer on the team!  
 
PENTECOST TEA:  
Our Women of the ELCA will host the annual Pentecost Tea after church on Sunday, May 15 in the Fellowship Hall.  There is a sign-up sheet for your help that you can find on the WELCA bulletin board in the library hallway!
  
REMEMBER - CHURCH OFFICE HOURS are: 
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
The OSLC Prayer List
Praying Hands

Members: 
Parker Reagan Huff, born May 3, 2016; Mary King; Barbara Gish; Margaret Allown; Mary Ostermeyer; Beverly Van Camp; Erica Dalton; Trudy Blackmer: Pat Keffer; Otto Zinser; David and Martha Herting; Penny Van Hooser; Tom Loveday; Janet Ecklund; John Stafford; Anne Godsey; Kay Scheurer; John Paul Neas; Betty Marshall; Josiah Flint; Pat Tomita; Irene Ackley; Truman Billings; Phoebe Sand; Janice Knipp; Jennifer Stafford; Wendi Garrison; Lori Markstrom; Debbie Garrison

Family Members and Friends:  
Alice Sulkowski; Jason Rakel; Carey Outen; Sharon Neuhaus; Lou Fox Baskette; Haskel Sykes; Reese Creasy;  Rev. Willis Bowers; Josh Nunn;  Ann Carter; Bruce and Betsy Shine; Glenn Nutter; Mark Mullinex; Brian and Jen Milliken; Linda Linden; Bonita Martin; Taylor Miller; Jim Ackley; Rosalina White; Preston Burke; Robin Barnett; Angie and Amber Frazier; Eve Hargrave, Abi Amato, Ashton Drinnon, Mark Singleton, Bob Fetterolf, Eric & Chrissy Essmann; Chris Toft; Cameron Crawford; Ben Ivey, Marsha Millhorn, Carmen Yoder, Jessica Mowell, Beth Neas; Al Rudolph; Karen Winter; Ella English's family upon the passing away of Ella's brother-in-law, Glenn Cadman.

Military Service - Members:
Chance Johnson (Army); Nick Harris (Air Force); 

Military Service -
Friends and family:
Nick Hodge (Air Force) friend of the Flints; Chase Estep (Marines) brother of Clint Estep; Matthew Sibenaller (Army) godson of Ed Wolff; David Guck (Marines) friend of the Pat Wolf; Jeremy Downes (Navy) cousin of Joni Cannon; Adam Beier (Army) nephew of Carolynn Bailey

"Christ has no body but mine, no hands but mine, no feet but mine.
Mine are the eyes through which we are to see Christ's compassion for the world.
Mine are the feet with which Christ is to go about doing good.
Mine are the hands with which Christ is to bless now. Amen." 
 
~ St. Teresa of Avila, a prayer offered by Bishop Mark W. Holmerud of the Sierra Pacific Synod as written in the 40 Days of Giving Devotional.

The youth of Messiah Lutheran Church in Madison, Alabama are living out St. Teresa's poetic prayer and finding amazing ways to "go about doing good."Using the 40 Days of Giving
Campaign as a catalyst, the youth of Messiah have responded to the call to end hunger in their community.

Messiah's Director of Outreach Ministries, Claire Strand, reports that the congregation is 'giving generously' in an effort to meet the ELCA World Hunger's challenge to raise $2 million by Easter morning. From the 40 Days of Giving Campaign came the ingenuity to use the hands and feet of Messiah's members to actually provide sustenance to those in their community living in poverty or living with food insecurity.

"Just this past weekend, our youth groups delivered 466 pounds of food to a new local food pantry as part of their service project, 30-Hour Famine," Strand said, "What great kids!"

Messiah is using another program to accompany the 40 days of Giving Campaign called Feed the Need.  According to Feed the Need's Facebook page, the program mobilizes and engages volunteers with hands-on opportunities. Hands on... "Christ has no body but mine, no hands but mine," St. Teresa prays.

The congregation exemplifies the model of the ELCA World Hunger's comprehensive approach. The approach simultaneously addresses issues of hunger domestically and globally. Messiah models this approach by including international needs in its giving.

Strand wrote that a portion of the Lenten offering taken up for both the Feed the Need program and the 40 Days of Giving
Campaign, were designated to build a desperately needed kitchen next to an elementary school in rural Honduras.

"Their original kitchen was adobe and had to be demolished due to termite damage. This [new] kitchen will allow parents to make the school lunches under 
sanitary conditions, as well as save them from trekking the food over the mountainside each day, " she said.

On behalf of the ELCA World Hunger Team, thank you Messiah Lutheran Church for sharing your story and being God's hands and feet in a world of need and hope.

Contact Adrainne Gray - ELCA Southeastern Synod World Hunger Ambassador - with questions or for other opportunities to join the World Hunger Campaign to end hunger. ajtdelta@gmail.com
Thought for the Month
                                                                              
 
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." ~ Psalm 34:8
 
 
 



Flowers
ARE GIVEN THIS WEEK: to the glory of God by Kasey Sorenson and to honor Patty on their 26th Wedding Anniversary, May 5th. 

Famlies
Joan & Mark Blackmer Christa Dison

Our Purpose
Make disciples, and grow in grace.

Our Vision
We love God and neighbor, so that all people will be disciples.