Atonement Lutheran Church Newsletter - The Messenger

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January 26, 2010 - Volume 31, #4

• Save a Tree, Save a Stamp, Save some Money!

  Have you signed up to get the Messenger Online?

  To sign up for electronic "delivery" complete the online form at: http://www.alcsyracuse.org/mailinglist.php

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• Annual Meeting and Dinner! - January 31
  

  Immediately following the 10:45 service we will gather in the Fellowship Hall for dinner and then move to the Chapel for the business meeting. This arrangement has worked well for the last few years. We'll be doing it again. This allows Appleseed to have a 2 PM performance in the Fellowship Hall and all of us to hear better at the meeting in a smaller space with adequate sound system.

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• Help for Haiti - Relief and Refugee Support
  
  

  There are many ways we can be of help to the people of Haiti who have been devastated by the earthquakes. We have given you information about those helping who need your financial support. There are surely others that you may prefer.

  However, we at Atonement have a very special connection that we hope you'll respond to. Lisa Quackenbush, a daughter of this congregation, teaches at Lake Gem Elementary School in Orlando FloridaÐin "Pine Hills," the largest Haitian community in the US. (Yes even larger than that in Miami that you have been hearing about.) Many of the families in Lisa's school and class have lost loved ones in Haiti. Many more are serving as US hosts for refugee families who have been encouraged to come to the US temporarily for relief. We will be gathering supplies for these families (see the list inside) that another daughter of our congregation Pam Brynien and her husband David will be delivering to Florida.

  Please bring your donations and place them in the boxes in the rear of the church and please be generous. These are people who had next to nothing and now have even less.

  How can you help? Pam and Dave will be driving a pickup truck to Florida on February 11th. They will fill the bed of that truck with whatever we can put in it. There will be a box labeled "Pine Hills" in the area where the stairway meets the inside doors leading to the elevator. Please help us fill it - hopefully many times over - with needed items. These include:

  • toiletries for men, women, and children including shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, brushes, etc.
  • school supplies.
  • books for all ages
  • non-perishable food (no glass containers please).

  In addition, we are excited to report that the youth group is going to donate funds they collect for "Souperbowl of Caring" to the relief and refugee support of this community.

  If you have any questions, please contact June Quackenbush at june@alcsyracuse.org or 559-0602.

   

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• Health Kits for Haiti
  

  Due to the Haiti crisis the Atonement Women of the ELCA are collecting items for Health Kits to be sent to Lutheran World Relief or Church World Service. Please help by placing items in the box in the narthex.

  Include the following items in each health kit:

  • One hand towel, dark color recommended
  • One washcloth, dark color recommended
  • One bath-size bar (4 to 5 oz.) of soap, any brand, in its original wrapping
  • One adult-size toothbrush in its original packaging
  • One wide-tooth comb, remove packaging
  • One nail clippers (remove packaging)

  Money is always welcome and the Women will buy the needed items.

  DO NOT add toothpaste. The distributor will add toothpaste with an extended expiration date just prior to delivery.

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• Souper Bowl of Caring
  
  

  On Sunday February 7th, 140 million Americans will tune in to the Super Bowl football game. There will be parties with abundant food, friendship and fellowship. At the same time there are folks in Haiti and refugees from Haiti who need food and basic necessities.

  Our youth will hold soup pots at church doors on Souper Bowl of Caring Sunday, February 7, 2010. They will join young people in churches across the country to collect money for those who are hungry and hurting. Drop $1 (or more) in the soup pot as you leave worship on February 1st. Those who need help may not know that you cared, but God will. And our young people are developing hearts for giving that can last a lifetime. Please support their efforts.

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• Envelopes

  It costs just about $5 to purchase and mail the offering envelopes. Please help us to cover those costs by putting $5 in that "initial" offering. Thanks! ..and it's not too late to hand in a pledge fo 2010. We mailed out 200 envelopes, but so far have only 53 pledges. Do we have yours? Call the church office at 492-9065 if you need a new pledge card.

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• Speaking of Envelopes - 2009 Giving Statements Are on the Way

  2009 Giving Statements are being mailed this week. If you do not have yours by Friday, please call the church office at 492-9065 and leave a message for June, or send her email: june@alcsyracuse.org

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• Presentation of Jesus - February 2
  
  

  Many people lease their cars today. For some, it makes a certain amount of sense; fewer repairs, more up-to-date features, similar monthly payments as buying. But it wasn't always this way. Not too long ago, few would have ever thought to rent their car. A car was a long term investment. Perhaps once upon a time, it was more common to stick things out, to stay the course and to not always look for the next, best thing coming down the road. With this in mind, we meet Simeon and Anna this week; two older people whose rugged, durable faith let them see, and more importantly recognize, the infant Jesus as the Messiah when Mary brought him to the Temple. We know little about their lives, and we are left to wonder how many days and nights went by quietly, uneventfully but nevertheless shaped by the promise that the Messiah would come. In today's world where the useable shelf-life of things, ideas, even people seems to get shorter and shorter, Simeon and Anna remind us that faith is lived one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, day-in and day-out. Yes, it may seem tedious at times, the upholstery may be getting worn in places, but eventually faith will get us to the Temple where Jesus waits in glory.

  ~ Shalom y'all, Vicar Christine

  Enter into the story of Simeon and Anna: Luke 2:22-38

   

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• Reporting on our Service Men and Women
  
  

  Michael Breedlove
  US Navy
  Rank IC3 Petty Officer 3rd class

  Position: Internal Communications aboard the USS Mustin - a guided missile destroyer that is part of Destroyer Squadron 15, stationed at Yokosuka, Japan His ship was named for Capt. Henry Mustin. Capt. Mustin was an 1896 graduate of the Naval Academy. He flew the first aircraft catapulted from a ship and was the designer of the insignia worn by US Naval aviators.

  (Do you have a son, daughter, or other family member in the service? Tell us about them. Send email to june@alcsyracuse.org or leave a note in the Graphic Arts mailbox in the church office. Include a photo!)

   

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• February Birthdays

  1   Dennis Walker
  2   Mark Anthony Bort
  4   David Hill
  6   Melissa Cox, Clinton Adams, John Adams
  7    Jack Fields
  
  10  Chris Crane, Betty Rae Kennedy 11  Collin Voltz
  13  Thomas E. Taylor, Hal Wilber
  14  Rachel Littlefield
  15  Grace Wildman, Charles Taylor
  16  Jane Richer, Kevin Hill, Casey Draper
  17  Kimberly Lizardi, Beth Arthur
  18  Jeannine Voltz
  19  Spencer Irish, Alice LaFountain
  20  Ashley Lynn Collins
  23  Ronald Babb, Jr.
  24  Jason Richer
  25  Melissa Young, Catelyn Battelle, Aidan Caiello
  26  William Ulrich
  28  David Edmonds, Jr.

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• February Anniversaries

  11  Paul & Geraldine Savolainen
  14  Steven & Linda Galaska, Tami-Jo & Randall Knapp
  26  Miranda & Sherman Inman
  28  Konstantin & Gudrun Koslowsky
  

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• Appleseed Presents....