Nipper Notes

Weekly eNewsletter of Our Saviour Lutheran Church

May 20,2016

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 
visit our website at 
or join us on Facebook.
Pastor Eds 
Daily Devotional Blog

  

Click here or on the picture to go to the daily devotional.

Parents Day Out

Click here or on the picture to go to Parents Day Out.

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Saturday, May 21, 2016

Holy Yoga 2:00 PM 

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Celebration Sunday: Sunday School
Traditional Service 8:15 AM
Sunday School 9:30 AM
Heartsong Service 10:45 AM
Traditional Service 10:45 AM

Monday, May 23, 2016

CoEd Softball Tournament
Parent's Day Out 9:00 AM
PDO Reception 9:00 AM
Cover Girls 10:00 AM

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Friends in Grief 11:45 AM

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Katie Circle 10:30 AM
LYO 6:00 PM

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Heartsong Band 6:30 PM
Yoga 6:30 PM

Friday, May 27, 2016

Walk / Talk

"Let Your way be known upon the earth, Your saving health among all nations." (Psalm 8:2)

We talk weekly about spiritual health.  It's important for us to be reminded daily of what we can do that is important and right for this kingdom we call earth.  It's our job as Christians to then take that knowledge, whether it be from a worship service, or a Sunday school class, or a Bible study, and share it with those we meet during the week.

It's our call to "...let Your way be known upon the earth..."  It's a no brainer.  But what about getting a bit literal with this passage?  Do we notice the ways that surround and encumber the very earth we live on?  The earth has the ability to regenerate, to renew itself.  But - as the population grows, I'm convinced that humanity (and her hunger and greed for more destructive ways to gain fuel for power) is overpowering the very nature and ability for renewal of the earth itself.

Now don't get me wrong:  I don't hug trees, but-I do hug my grandchildren.

At 62, I know my years become more numbered as I age.  Having had kidney cancer surgery and triple by-pass surgery, I sense that those numbers, realistically, have gone down even more; the threat of any form of reoccurrence is greater than it was before 2007 for me.  So, as I do approach the time of the golden years with my life (teenagers probably would say I've been in those golden times for a while!), I've decided to try and make some changes.  Things about my personal health I'll keep to myself, but what I can do "on the outside" and "for my grandchildren" I will be sharing in the near future.

First of all, I invite you to add to your daily prayers, prayers for everyone empowered in our government to have their eyes, ears, and hearts opened to the facts that are presented everyday about what is happening to our earth.  Yes, I try to read both sides of the global warming and the global cooling opinions (and everything in between those two poles).  For me, that's very important.  But what's even more important is our prayers as great tools for helping the Holy Spirit move the hearts and minds of legislators to make the necessary changes to improve the world's atmosphere.  However, I read a quote for Pope Francis recently that said we should first "...pray about world hunger and then go out and feed the hungry.  This is how prayer works..." (paraphrase)

Much to the chagrin of Dr. Martin Luther himself, "Faith without works is dead."  (James 2:17)  How we let God's way be known upon the earth is to act.  The time is now.

And, what about taking a literal look at "God's saving health"?  I know the Psalmist is referring to the saving work that will come through Jesus Christ, but what if we allowed it to apply to situations today?  There is a "saving health need" in our very state, Tennessee, at this very moment.  Many of you are aware of the Insure Tennessee concern shared by many, many of whom are church-going, God-fearing people.  To be blunt, our state legislature won't pass this so that many people who cannot get health insurance would be able to get it.  The sad thing is that the reasons for not passing it are purely political.  Opponents have made a direct connection with this potential help to thousands with Obama Care and that's a killer in its own right in Tennessee.  For me, the bottom line is that state politicians won't connect with Insure Tennessee because it might cost them precious votes.  This measure is simply about "saving health"-it's about common decency and care for our neighbors.  It's pretty basic stuff.

I invite you to check out two FB sites that I think you might find helpful:  for info about what's happening close by on the healthcare situation, check out "Jonesborough - Insure Tennessee."  I encourage you to check out "Green Team - SE Synod" on FB to get info about how to better care for the earth around us.  This FB page relates directly to our Southeastern Synod, ELCA's work on these important issues.

And, I invite you to pray...

I do this because scripture increasingly speaks to the need for these kind of things being addressed on a daily basis.

I do this so that my grandchildren will someday be able to hug their grandchildren.

Remember - through it all - God loves you and so do we!

Pastor Jim
Pentecost
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."

Thank you very much: 
to our WELCA for all the hard work they did for Pentecost Tea.  It was wonderful!

Friends In Grief: 
 will meet Tuesday, at the home of Berla Smith @ 11:45 a.m. Bring a sack lunch.  Drinks & dessert will be provided.  Call 282-0508 for directions) 1904 Kenwood Drive.  (If you're coming down Sunset [heading west] from the church, you will pass Mahoney's and the intersection at Knob Creek; Kenwood is only a couple of blocks off Sunset past that. On the right) 
 
Katie Circle:  
Wednesday, 10:30 a.m., Church Library

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."

Softball:  
Monday, 7:30 (v.s. Grandview Christian) and 8:30 p.m. (v.s. Grace Free Will Baptist) both games will be at Field #1 - Winged Deer.  Y'all come on out!!!

Remember 
at this time, our OSLC office hours during the week, Monday through Friday, is 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

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.
  
REMEMBER - CHURCH OFFICE HOURS are: 
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
The OSLC Prayer List
Praying Hands

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

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; Karen Winter; Al Rudolph; Jennifer Bremmermar, (friends of Dale & Joni Cannon); Rev. Jim Simpson (friend of the Peters); Jim Aderhold (friend of Melissa Malenda); Richard Williams (brother of Maggie Flint).

Special Prayers: 
Melissa Malenda, eye surgery, this Thursday; SE Synod ELCA Assembly, Birmingham, AL (May 27-29)  

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
given today to the glory of God by Larry and Janet Ecklund in honor of their 64th wedding anniversary, and, by Jim and Denise Montag, in honor of Emma's birthday.

Famlies
Judi & Tim Boebel; Lisa & Eddie Jones.

Our Purpose
Make disciples, and grow in grace.

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