You are on page 1of 8

www.auroratrinitylutheran.

org

March 2013 Newsletter Worship Services:


Palm Sunday (Sunday, March 24th) 9:00am Worship @Trinity 10:30am Worship @ Aurora/S.S. sings Maundy Thursday (Thursday, March 28th) 7pm @ Trinity Good Friday (Friday, March 29th) 7pm @ Aurora Easter Sunday, March 31st 7am Sunrise Service @ Aurora 8am Breakfast@ Aurora 9am Worship Service @Aurora 10:15am Worship Service @ Trinity 7:00 p.m. Service

Special Services:

Communion Worship Services:


Sunday, March 3rd and 17th

Daylight Savings

Remember to set the time on your clocks ahead one hour for the start of Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, March 10th.

Confirmation:
7 & 8th Grade: Monday, March 4th & 11th at 6:30 p.m. 9th Grade: Sunday, March 17th at 12:00p.m. Council Meeting: The next Aurora Council meeting will be held Tuesday, March 19th at 6:30 p.m.
Young Adult Group The Young Adult Group outing for March is being planned. Please stay tuned to Facebook and the upcoming bulletins for more info.

March Lenten Worship Schedule:


Wednesday, March 6th &20th 5:30 p.m. Service @ Trinity 6:00 p.m. Soup Supper @ Aurora 7:00 p.m. Service @ Aurora Wednesday, March 13th
Joint Worship Service @ Trinity

Food Shelf Sunday


The next food shelf Sunday at Aurora is Sunday, March 3rd! Please give to this worthy cause as we Feed Bodies with the Love of Jesus! Aurora Nursery

6:00 p.m. Soup Supper

Bonnie Johnson is willing to staff a nursery for babies through 4 years old every second Sunday of the month. Bonnie will be available in the preschool/kindergarten room. Family Movie Night Movie Night is Friday, March 1st at 6:30 p.m. at Aurora! Come with the family and enjoy an evening watching a movie with popcorn, treats, and pop, all for 25 per person! Everyone, young and old, is invited to attend! Aurora Singers Wanted! Pastor Jon would like to introduce the congregation to a new liturgy called Holden Evening Prayer by Marty Haugen. This liturgy will be used on the last two Wednesday Night Lenten services (March 13th and 20th). In order to prepare for these services, Pastor Jon and Debbie would like some people to stick around after worship at Aurora on March 3rd and 10th in order to learn the music, so that there will be some familiarity with it on the Wed. night services. Please consider sticking around after worship to learn this new liturgy.

The Sunday School continues to raise money to complete a safe and kid friendly playground at Aurora Church. We are over half-way to our goal!! In the upcoming weeks we will be selling Pampered Chef products with the help of Kayla Paape. If you are interested in taking a look at, or purchasing these great kitchen tools, please contact Kayla or any of the Sunday School teachers to view a book.

Lenten Offering Folders


Last year, we set the goal of raising enough money to purchase 40 mosquito nets ($10/each) with our Lenten Folder Offering to support the ELCAs initiative to fight Malaria overseas. In the end, we raised enough to purchase 96 mosquito nets! This year, one of our goals is to become more familiar with the physical and bodily needs of our community by creating a relationship with the organizations that support and care for those who are homeless in our community. As one way to attend to this goal, our Lenten Folder Offering will go to support the Hospitality House of Owatonna. Hospitality House is a home that provides emergency shelter and short-term transitional housing to single men, as well as assistance in meeting basic needs and accessing area social service agencies, community organizations and programs. These men are our brothers in Christ who are in need of support. Lets help feed their bodies with the love of Jesus with a warm home to go to each night. Can we raise more than we did last year? These folders are available at church or by contacting Pastor Jon. MAMA PROJECT WELCA continues to assemble school kits for their service project this month. The completed Mama Project kits will be sent to Honduras or Haiti. We are still in need of approximately 100 spiral notebooks (70-80 sheets each) and 2-gallon size bags to hold the items. A drop-off box will be located in the Narthex. Thank you to those of you who have already donated items.

Meals for New Parents


As many of you know, the first week after a child is born is exhausting. Rest is crucial for all of the members in the family. In last year, members of Aurora and Trinity Lutheran have provided 5days worth of meals for those who have welcomed a child into their family. We would like to continue this ministry, especially as it fits into our mission for the year Feeding Body with the Love of Jesus. Roberta Jensen has graciously been organizing this ministry and she is looking for volunteers who would be willing to be on her list of people to provide a meal. Volunteers are asked to provide one meal for the family. It is does not need to be a homemade meal; it can something purchased, like a frozen pizza and salad. If you are interested in participating in this ministry, please contact Roberta at 507475-3486 or rmjensen@gofast.am to have your name added to her list.
Aurora Sunday School Fundraiser

Easter Flowers With Easter right around the corner, it is time to start thinking about Easter memorial flowers. If you wish to display flowers in memory of someone at the

Easter Service, please let Lisa know by Thursday, March28th by e-mailing information to auroratrinityoffice@gmail.com or calling 507-456-0740
Newsletter Information Deadline Please have all information for the April newsletter and calendar to Lisa by Thurs, March 22nd. Send your information to:auroratrinityoffice@gmail.com or you can call 507-456-0740.

When A Loved One Dies And the Pastor is on Vacation


A couple of weeks ago, I had the honor to officiate the funeral of a person I had never met. In fact, this person was a member of a local Lutheran church, and his pastor was on vacation. This is a common concern and topic among pastors these days what do I do if I am on vacation and a member dies? Do I come back for the funeral? Do I not? What will the family think of me? There are many opinions about this, but the general consensus is that a pastor does not return from vacation for a funeral. That may sound insensitive to the needs of the community, but there is good reason for this: pastors are burning out and often live unhealthy lives. In 2010, an article in The New York Times showed that members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. Health care experts believe the cause to be that clergy are not taking enough time off for rest and renewal. Many clergy feel a call to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means a clergy person is always on. If a clergy person plans to return home from vacation for a funeral, then he or she is still on, even on vacation, and never gets away to really rest. As you can imagine, this lack of rest and renewal can have a negative impact on a clergy persons family, as the family feels they never get the undivided attention of their spouse or parent. As a result of all of this, and in order to care for myself, my family, and, really, all of you (because I want to be the healthiest pastor I can be for you), I have made a personal policy to not return home for funerals when on vacation. Whenever I am gone on vacation or continuing education, I always have another clergy person on-call. He or she will serve as my back up should any pastoral care needs arise, including funerals. If a loved one dies, I will certainly spend some time on the phone with you and other family members to offer my care and support. However, I will put my trust in the clergy person on-call to plan and officiate the funeral. There is no doubt in my mind that whoever is providing back up will be of great comfort and care in your time of need. Remember, Aurora and Trinity are not my churches. They are Gods churches. Therefore, I trust in the wider church and other clergy to care for you when I am away. If you feel that it is important that I officiate the funeral, you may consider the possibility of waiting until I return home. Should this situation arise at Aurora or Trinity, I ask for your support and understanding. Know that this decision is not made easily or swiftly, but with mixed feelings and emotions. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am always open for conversation. With love for each one of you, Pastor Jon

Annual Meeting of the Aurora Lutheran Church January 27, 2013 The annual meeting of the Aurora Lutheran Church was held on Sunday, January 27, 2013 after the church service. President Jeanne Pichner presided. Pastor Jon Davis led us in prayer. The Secretarys report was approved as read. Pastor Jon recapped 2012, we had 5 deaths, 7 baptism, 2 confirmed, 7 transferred out, 19 transfer in, 2 weddings. Pastor Jon went over some of the things we have done. We created a new mission statement and that we have decided on 3 new themes that we would like to work on this year, as our year to Feeding the body with the love of Jesus. Pastor Jon would like once a month, to have someone share how we are meeting our goals at feeding the body. Communion twice a month was discussed, how do we like it? Some thought it was nice if you miss the first Sunday you have another opportunity to receive communion that month. Is it meaningful? Communion is coming to the table to share with one another. We discussed if we like Passing of the peace. Some are very comfortable with it and others are uncomfortable. But it is a good opportunity to reach out to other people and to welcome them to our church. We will be electing a new bishop in our synod this year and we do have a vote. Feb 10 is the first meeting and they will be looking at names of candidates. They will narrow the list down to 3 people. We can send 6 people to the meeting and if you are interested contact Pastor Jon. The next meeting will be in June and we can again send 2 people from our church. Giving to the Synod, this year we have decided to make a change. We will be doing the first fruits practice, give 4% off the top each month and giving that to the synod, rather than waiting until the end of the year and hope we have money to send. Confirmation: it is challenging to try and keep our young people active in the church. The new program is that the confirmation children meet on Monday nights twice a month and all of them have a mentor that they met with once a month. Pastor Jon is trying to make it more meaning full, something they want to do rather than have to do. That they are gaining something and can make the bible relate to our life today. The treasures report was presented, discussed and approved as written in the annual report. Sara Pichner and Roger Carroll will be auditing the books. The proposed budget and the budget for Aurora was presented by Roger Carroll. A motion was made to accept as written in the annual report. New business: Should we stop putting our offerings in the Annual report and instead just send out statements? It was decide to continue as we do now and if you need a receipt for your offering you just need to contact Sara Pichner and she can get you your receipt. Worship times: Pastor Jon was wondering if we would like to change times of worship and give him 15 more minutes between services. He likes to visit after services but sometimes that makes him late. Should we have 8:30 and 10:30 services? Or go to 9 and 10:45. It was tabled for now with possibly change to the earlier services in summer and see how they are received. Scholarships: we give out 4 and this year only one person applied. A motion was made and seconded that we extend our scholarship to include any children from Trinity. (to include any graduates from 2012)

Constitution: Jeannie Pichner, Angie Jensen, and Theona Lewison are working on the constitution. The first step is to present it to the church council once they have the first draft. If you would like to help, just see one of them. The Nomination committee-Kay Klemmer presented the 2013 ballot, the results area as follows: President: Jeannie Pichner, Vice President: Mark Prestegard, Secretary: Nathele Beadell, Treasure: Jodi Keck, Financial Secretary: Sara Pichner, Deacon: Paul Korbel, Trustee: Brad Thurnau, Board of Education: Alicyn Prestegard, Worship Committee: JoAnn Nelson, Head Usher: Brian Jensen, Nomination committee: Mike Bishman, Katie Lehman.

Respectfully Submitted, Cheryl Thompson, Aurora Council Secretary. Aurora Lutheran Church Council Meeting February 19, 2013 The regular monthly meeting of the Aurora Lutheran Church Council was held on February 19, 2013. The members present were Jeanne Pichner, Mark Prestegard, Jodi Keck, Brett Paape, Brad Thurnau, Sara Pichner, Michelle Willams, Roger Carroll, Jon Davis and Nathele Beadell. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by President Jeanne Pichner. Pastor Jon led the meeting with devotions. Discussion of what the Councils covenant is or should be followed. Secretarys report: The minutes from the December 12, 2012 meeting were approved as read. Treasures report: There was no financial report due to computer problems. $3,000 was borrowed from WELCA to help cover some end of the year financial obligations. Pastors report: The worship committee will meet 4 times a year. Pastor Jon will be on vacation April 1 April 7 and May 12 May 19 Pastor Jon will be in Nashville at a continuing Education opportunity. He led a brain storming discussion to come up with ideas on how we can meet the goals that the church has set. We also discussed what we should do with the Lenten offering. It was decided to support the Hospitality House in Owatonna. Old Business: Windows: Roger reviewed the information from both Kirchners and Larsons. It was clear that we still didnt have all the information we needed to make a decision. A proposal was made that we should leave the decision in WELCAs hands as they are using the money they raised from the Trappers event to pay for the windows. A motion was made by Jodi and seconded by Michelle. Motion passed by a unanimous vote. New Business:

Constitution and By-laws: The committee that is reviewing the constitution and by-laws will continue their work. They will get input to help update the roles and responsibilities of all the offices of the congregation. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00p.m. The next Aurora Lutheran Church council meeting will be held on March 19, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nathele Beadell
TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH ANNUAL MEETING Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 and Sunday, Jan. 27th 2013 Meetings were brought order by Pres. Rich Paulson. Sec. report present by Shari, approved as read. Copies handed out. Treas. report presented by Lorna, approved as read. Budget meeting for 2013 was tabled until Jan. 27th. Total revenue brought in for 2012 was $190635.50. Total expenses pain in 2013 was $22,104.72. This left a net loss of $2468.72 for the year. Balances include: $11,422.66 in Memorial Account, $1684.04 in Mainstay fund, and $14,758.01 in checking. If anyone needs a tax form just let Lorna know, and she will print up something for you. Budget Meeting: There is approx. $100.00 increase per month for Pastor Jons benefit package. Other increases include utilities, meter reading fee and yard light charges. It was also brought up to have an amount set up for an in-house benevolence to be used for community items, such as with disaster relief, food shelf or other needy areas. Motion was made to set aside $300.00 for this. Approved by Ramona, and seconded by Lorna. Motion was also made to continue the 2 % benevolence send to the Synod monthly. Approved by Gary, seconded by Paul. There was a $100 decrease in our property insurance. This brings out proposed budget for expenses in 2013 up to approx.. $26,000.00. Copies of all treas. Items were handed out. NEW BUSINESS: Time Change: It was agreed to change the time of late worship from 10:30 to 10:45. This will allow Pastor Jon more time between services. Constitution: Trinity has a constitution that is really old. The Synod has a sample one to look at that you just fill in the blanks for what you want or your own church. It is not mandatory that we update ours, esp. if we are all happy with it. Rich will make copies to hand out so everyone can take a look at it. Jeanne Pichner brought up a sample of a parish agreement also. Both of these items were tabled until there are copies for us to look at, and have more informed meetings about. Fundraisers: Everyone is asked to come up with ideas for fundraisers to he held throughout the year. Also, ideas for what to use the funds for, such as more remodeling of the front of the church, repair of the cement area coming into the church, better accessibility to the basement. New Bishop: The Synod will be electing a new Bishop. We are members of MN River Conference which is 1 of 5 conferences in the SE MN Synod. On Feb. 10, 2013, each church can send up to 6 members to vote on three candidates per conference. This will send 15 names to the Synod assembly. Late in the year, each church and send 2 members to the Synod assembly for the final vote of the new Bishop. Hosting Conference: Pastor Jon has offered to have Trinity host a conference for area pastors. On April 16th at 9:00 am we will host approx.. 20-25 pastors. Cory Michaelson will be the speaker. He will speak about Green Burials. Trinity will need to provide and serve a small meal, coffee and bars for this. Prairie Manor: Gary reports all good news. Prairie Manor is 97% full, with the Heather Haus also full. Staff are happy, and the annual meeting went well.

Lent: FEB 13th is Ash. Wed. There will be a joint service at Aurora with soup at 6:00, and service at 7:00. MARCH 13th will be a joint service at Trinity with soup at 6:0, and service at 7:00. All other Wed. will be a 5:30 service at Trinity. Aurora will have 6:00 soup, and service at 7:00. Please come up with ideas of where to send the funds given in the Lenten folders. Last year it was five to the mosquito net project. Website: The Trinity website includes information about the Aebelskiver supper. Birthday: Ella Benson will be turning 95 on Feb. 19th. Election of Officers: President Rich Paulson, Treasurer Lorna Craig Paulson, and Secretary Shari Manges all stay the same. Robert was replaced as Deacon by Paul. Other Deacons include Lu and Gary. Roger was replaced as Trustee by Darryl. Other Trustees include Jan and Craig. OLD BUSINESS: Mission Statement: Three year focus with 2013 being on body. Mitten Tree: This was put up earlier, and was a great success. Lap Top for AuroraTrinity Secretary: This has been purchase, and is in use. Sign on 218: This has been purchase, and is in place. Jan. 20th meeting. Motion to adjourn by Jan, and seconded by Abbey. A potluck lunch was enjoyed by all. Jan. 27th meeting. Motion to adjourn by Gary, and seconded by Judy H. Respectfully submitted, Shari Manges, Trinity Secretary

You might also like