Strengthen Faith, Build Hope, Share Love in Christ Our Savior

Christ Our Savior

Lutheran Church

ANDY KELTNER, PASTOR

5 South 8th Street
Louisburg, KS 66053

(913)837-4502
pastor@christoursaviorlouisburg.com

Worship 8 a.m. 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Sunday School 9:15a.m.-10:15a.m.

Christmas Season Special Service Schedule

December 2nd	Wednesday	5:30 & 7:00 p.m.	Advent Dinner / Service
December 6th	Sunday	11:30 a.m.	Annual Voter's Meeting
December 9th	Wednesday	5:30 & 7:00 p.m.	Advent Dinner / Service
December 16th	Wednesday	5:30 & 7:00 p.m.	Advent Dinner / Service
December 24th	Wednesday	7:00 & 11:00 p.m.	Christmas Eve Services
December 25th	Thursday	10:00 a.m.	Christmas Day Service

We will not have a service on New Year's Eve this year.

Confirmation Classes will not meet in December. Classes resume January 6th.

NEWSLETTER

December 2015

Pastor Andy Writes...

Pastor Andy Keltner

Christmas

The Deist believes that the world was made by a higher power and a process was set in motion following natural laws. "Deism: The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation." (The American Heritage dictionary) Christmas for those of us who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord stands in direct opposition to the Deist.

The God who created the heavens and the earth is not willing to abandon His creation. He comes to us in the person and work of Jesus. Jesus is true God and true man. He redeems us from the power and consequence of sin. God has not abandoned us. He desires our salvation. This is the meaning of Christmas.

There are many Christmas miracles that demonstrate God's activity in our world. A virgin bears a son. The angels announce his birth. The star leads Gentiles from the east to come and see a child of humble birth. John leaps in his mothers' womb and Mary keeps all these things in her heart. God fulfills the promises made in Scripture to send a Savior for all nations.

The message of Christmas is that God desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of his truth. Christmas is the historical reality that God comes to us. He remains with us interceding in our lives to give us hope and peace. We are the beloved of God. We are his redeemed and chosen children. The fool in his heart says there is no God. The Christian proclaims God is with us.

During the Christmas season there are many opportunities to come and worship the God who comes to us. In December, we will gather beyond our Sunday services to worship our God. The first three Wednesdays (12/2, 12/9 and 12/16 at 7:00 p.m.) we will anticipate the coming of Christ during our special advent worship services. These services will be preceded by a fellowship meal. Then on December 24th at 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. we will have Christmas Eve worship services. Christmas Day we will have communion worship at 10:00 a.m. I pray that you will take time during this busy time of the year to worship the God who comes to us.

God desires to exert influence on your life. His influence brings peace, hope and joy. Christmas is a time when we celebrate that God is with us. Come and share your worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

I pray that God will richly bless you with his presence during this Christmas season. Come and celebrate his love.

Pastor Andy and family

Join us for great food and fellowship as we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth

Wednesday evenings during Advent, the basement will be full of delicious food and members of the congregation engaged in fellowship as we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth. Dinner begins at 5:30 and will be finished in time for everyone to attend the Advent services at 7:00 p.m.

Dec. 2nd	Chief Richards' Chili with a baked potato bar and dessert
Dec. 9th	Open
Dec. 16th	YOUth Group's Soup selections, salad and dessert

Everyone is welcome. Watch the weekly bulletins for menus, sponsors, etc. If you or your group would like to provide the meal for December 9th, please contact Cindy Karrow at 913-269-1935(cell) or ckarrow524@yahoo.com.

Thank you Cindy Karrow for organizing everything this year! Also, Thank you to all those taking time out of their busy schedules to prepare and serve meals!

It's time to decorate the Church

Each year, Sandy Barsh and volunteers from our congregation work to make the Sanctuary and Church beautiful for Christmas. They put up two Christmas Trees, decorate them, and put other decorations throughout the church.

This year, Sandy would like to decorate on Tuesday, December 15th at 6:00 p.m. She is in need of two to three tall men to help put the Christmas trees together (this will involve being on a ladder). She also needs help with decorating the trees and the church.

Please consider taking time out of your day on the 15th to help. Contact Sandy Barsh at 837-2997 if you are able to help.

Order Your Poinsettias

Each year, members of the congregation purchase Poinsettias to adorn the altar during the week of Christmas. You may begin purchasing your Poinsettias for this year from December 6th thru the 20th. We will not be able to accept any orders after that date. Poinsettias will be $8.00 each.

There will be a display in the narthex of the church with envelopes. Please make checks payable to Sandy Barsh. If you have any questions, please contact Sandy at 837-2997.

Thank you!

Sandy Barsh

Youth Group says "Thank You"!

The youth group would like to say "Thank You" to those who participated in Operation Christmas Child for our October/ November Servant Event either by bringing supplies to fill the shoeboxes or praying for the people packing the boxes, the volunteers who will be collecting, processing, and delivering the gifts, and for the children receiving them - thank you! We exceeded our goal of 25 boxes - we packed 57 boxes, plus we enjoyed some good food & fellowship. It definitely put us all in the "Christ"mas spirit!

"THANK YOU"

to those who came to the Chiefs Chilidog Tailgate party fundraiser for the youth on Sunday, November 15. We made an addition $130 that will go towards New Orleans. We could not make it to New Orleans without your support ~ Thank you!

COS "You"th Group Caroling/Party/Meeting

PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE OF THIS MEETING!!!!

WHAT: Youth Group Caroling/Party/Meeting

WHO: COS "YOU"th in grades 6-12 & family

Date: Sunday, December 20th

Time: 11:45 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Where: COS Basement/ Nursing Homes

What to Bring: Yourself & your family; your favorite potluck meal to share; a white elephant gift from around your house (preferably!); your singing voice.

What: Discuss our next FUN event in January and our next fundraiser for New Orleans plus look/vote for t-shirt designs!

Sign-up: on the bulletin board in the narthex - please sign-up so we know who is coming and what you are planning on bringing.

December Youth Fundraiser

Advent Dinner

Wednesday, December 16th

5:00 p.m. - 6:45 p.m.

We need each family to bring a crock pot of their favorite soup and bread or salad along with a dessert that evening. Please plan try to arrive as close to 5:00 p.m. as possible (I know with work for most of us it will be hard to get here on time but I'm sure we can help each other out.) to help set-up for the supper. I will have bowls, napkins, lemonade, & silverware. Cups are already there in the pantry.

Youth go to Kansas District Youth Gathering 2015 in Hutchinson

We left Friday, November 220 from church and headed to Hutchinson to the Kansas District Youth Gathering with two youth and two adults. We were all excited and couldn't wait! Once we arrived, we hit the floor running to unload the vehicle, drop off luggage in our rooms and make it to the opening session with guest speaker Rev. Jeffrey Meinz. We learned a lot about how to really read and interpret the bible and began to dive into the Gatherings theme - John 10:10 "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Then it is off to the "Rooms of Fun" and the Karaoke room where the kids met with some friends they met going to LVR this summer and let out some energy before heading to our rooms at midnight. The next morning, it was an early rise for breakfast downstairs by the pool, another morning session with the band - theResponse and Rev. Jeffrey Meinz. Then outside for a group picture in the cold before lunch. After lunch we went into our afternoon breakout sectionals -where we divided up: Micaela and Michelle went to "Sharing Hop in this Life - Service/Comfort Dogs" and Nate and Gerry went to "Christ and Sports." We all learned and enjoyed these sessions. Then we had the option to go off site to visit one of three locations - The Salt mines, the Cosmosphere or The Room. We went to the Salt Mines and had a fun time 650 feet below the surface. It was very interesting. Then off to dinner - Mexican food! We then came back with time to spare for the kids to hit the pool and for us to relax a bit! Then off again - the kids went to go meet the band - theResponse and we went to a NYG meeting to help prepare us and answer any questions that we might have about New Orleans. While we finished up our meeting, the kids went off to their last session - This Life is Messed Up - That's in the Bible? To end the evening, we had a mass worship experience with communion and offering designated to Kristin Lange, a missionary appointed by the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) to Wittenberg, Germany (this is Kansas District President Lange's third oldest daughter!). Kristin will be serving as the Managing Director of the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg. LCMS missionaries raise all of the funds they will need to deploy, and currently she is in that support raising phase. In addition, the District Youth Ministry Team said that they would match up to $2000 of the KDYG offering for Kristin. If the goal of $2000 was reached, the Lutheran Youth Fellowship (LYF) representatives would receive a pie in the face! Then we made our way back to our rooms for the night around 11:45pm. The next morning - we began with the closing session and we also learned that the youth raised a little over $2100 in their offerings the night before. So the funds were matched and that next year's District Youth Gathering will be in Wichita. We had a lot of fun, learned a lot and had some great experiences that we can't wait to share with you. Thank you all for supporting us and giving these kids a chance to experience such a great opportunity. It was truly a blessing to be with them this past weekend.

Youth Leaders,

Gerry & Michelle Eickhoff

In This Issue

Pastor Andy Writes...

Advent Dinners

Decorate the Church

Order Your Poinsettias

Youth Group News

Friends for Christ

Christmas Craft Show

LWML

Altar Flowers

Education

In the Military

Anniversaries

Birthdays

Contact Info

Quick Links

December 2015 Calendar

December Service Schedule

COS WEBSITE

LCMS

Friends for Christ

Friends for Christ will meet Saturday, December 12th at 6:00 p.m. at the home of Pastor Andy and Debbie Keltner (1507 N Broadway). Sandwiches and salad will be on the menu and everyone is invited to bring any special CHRISTmas cookies or candies that they would like to share. (Pastor likes divinity.) If you are reading this - you are invited. The evening includes great food, fellowship and a devotion. Plan to attend - the more the merrier!

Back to top

Craft Group

The Craft Group will meet Saturday, December 5th from

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Community Center building.

Bring a project or just come by for a chat. We will have lunch around 11:00 a.m.

Contact Cindy Karrow at 913-269-1935 (cell) or ckarrow524@yahoo.com for more information and to let her know you want to attend.

Lutheran Women's Missionary League

Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML) regular meeting will be held Monday, December 14, at 7:00 pm in the church basement. There will be a Bible study and a short business meeting.

If you have any questions, Please contact Sandy Barsh at 837-2997 or Linda Newman, 837-5116.

Altar Flowers

12/06 Don & Linda Newman

50th Wedding Anniversary

12/13 Open

12/20 Sami Traffis

Bob & Kathy Richards Bdays

12/27 Poinsettias

Bring flowers to church before the 8:00 a.m. service or contact Sandy Barsh to provide the flowers for $15 (checks payable to Sandy Barsh). Flowers can be taken home after the 2nd service.Vases should be returned to church.

December Education

Wednesdays

Evening Bible Study

8:00 p.m.

(following Advent Services)

Sundays

Sunday School

Ages 3-Adult

9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Official Acts

Baptism

Arya Claire Berve

November 15th

daughter of

Joshua & Brooke Berve

Transfer In

Tim & Janie Ott

Funeral

Raymond Shepherd

(Rick Peek's stepdad)

November 15th

Pleasant Hill, Missouri

Christ Our Savior would like to thank Rich Walania and his roofing crews for the significant contribution they made resulting in a couple, much needed, main sanctuary roof repairs in 2015. These roof repairs were substantial requiring replacing the roof sheathing, flashing, and shingles. We are now again back to being dry inside as we head into Winter. Thanks again Rich!

Richard Fauss

Building, Grounds, & Maintenance

In the Military

Military members and friends of our congregation include:

Jim Buckman

Mark Edgar

Ray Gigliotti

Greg Jeffrey

Lindy Kalinka

James Keltner

Clara Littrell

Rob Ortman

December Anniversaries

12/04/04 Randy & Angie Broyles

12/10/05 Howard & Jinnie Willey

12/11/65 Don & Linda Newman

12/20/69 Bob & Kathy Richards

12/27/80 Dale & DeAnn Dotson

December Birthdays

12/1 Randy Broyles

12/1 Howard Willey

12/2 Micaela Eickhoff

12/3 Stan Flick

12/6 Robin MacClymont

12/7 Leon Fortney

12/7 Aften Graham

12/7 Chad Reed

12/7 Jeffrey Thompson

12/9 Brock Varns

12/12 Gretchen Lee

12/13 Steve Mynsted

12/14 Doug Strubbe

12/15 Kara Helms

12/15 Samantha McDaniel

12/16 Benjamin Howard

12/17 Jacob Bell

12/17 Chelsea Brown

12/17 Karleen Carlson

12/17 Christine Stout

12/21 Connor Lee

12/21 Sami Traffis

12/22 Michelle Holtzen

12/23 Bob Richards

12/27 Ally Bell

12/28 Gillin Newell

Christ Our Savior Newsletter is published monthly and produced in email and print versions.

Contact Info

Gloria Rolofson

newsletter@ christoursaviorlouisburg.com

(913)837-4502

If we've missed your birthday or anniversary contact COS Office so we can update our records.
(913)837-4502
office@ christoursaviorlouisburg.com

Back to top