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December 2013 Newsletter Special Worship Services:

Food Shelf Sunday Sunday, December 1st - Aurora Sunday, December 8th - Trinity Please give to this worthy cause, as we Feed Bodies with the Love of Jesus
Aurora Sunday School Christmas Program:

Christmas Ser&ices: Christmas )&e-Aurora- 5:00 p.m. Christmas Day-Trinity- 9:00 a.m. Communion *orshi( Ser&ices: Sunday, &ecember 'st ( ')th
* rinity +nly,

Sunday, December 1 th ! ":## a$m$ Come and see what the Sunday School students have been preparing. here will be refreshments in the basement following the program. %lue Christmas Ser&ice: Thurs$, Dec$ 1"th ! ':## ($m$ at Aurora !" Service of #emembrance and $ope%

Trinity Mitten Tree he annual rinity -itten ree will be up through Sunday, &ecember .th. Please donate new or clean, gently used mittens, gloves, scarves, hats, soc/s or any other winter accessories. hese items will be donated to the Blooming Prairie Christmas 0ish ree pro1ect, Blooming Prairie 2lementary School, and Blooming Prairie Boys and 3irls Club. Please help spread the warmth this holiday season.

Christmas Bo es:
Trinity will be packing Christmas boxes with goodies! Please join us on Sun., Dec. 8th at 2 p.m., at the Dick and Elaine Klemmensen home in Blooming Prairie. Please bring hate!er baked goods or other items that you ish to contribute to brighten "hristmas #or our shut$ins and #riends. !o"n# $%"lts &ro"p
he 4oung "dults 3roup will be meeting on Fri., &ec. '5 at 6758 p.m. 0e will be meeting at "licyn and Jared Prestegard9s house. 0e want to remind everyone that the 4oung "dults 3roup meets the second Friday of every month. :t;s a chance to hang out and have some fun where we can sit bac/ and chat with each other about a lot of different topics. Please feel free to bring an appeti<er=snac/ if you would li/e ( your own beverage. 0e hope that you can ma/e it>

.pm @ .am. he cost is D'8. :f any Luther League youth and friends are interested in going, money and permission slip must be turned in by &ecember ?th. :f interested, tal/ to Pastor Jon for a sign@up sheet.

Scholarships:
Scholarship applications are now available. Forms can be found in the Aurora Narthex or available from Pastor Jon or Lisa Korbel. There are four scholarships for Aurora Trinit! students who are currentl! attendin" a colle"e or trade school. The scholarships will be awarded sometime in earl! #$%&.

Christmas Carolin#
Both "urora and rinity will be doing some Christmas Caroling this year for our members who aren;t able to leave their homes. +n Sunday, &ecember EEnd, at Epm, "urora will begin its caroling at Foda Living Center and then head to other locations from there. rinity will be caroling on Christmas morning, before worship, at 2lla Benson;s house at .758am. "ll are welcome>

!o"th an% 'amilies Corner:

December Con(irmation Sche%"le: 0ednesday, &ecember ?th @ A758 p.m. )i#h School !o"th &ro"p: 0ednesday, &ecember ?th B .788 p.m. $"rora S"n%ay School Christmas *ro#ram: he "urora Sunday School Christmas Program will be on Sunday, &ecember ')th during the C788 a.m. 0orship Service. Please continue to help your child with their lines and songs. +"ther +ea#"e +oc,-.n Luther League will be having a 1oint loc/@in with #ed +a/ 3rove Lutheran at #ed +a/ 3rove on &ecember '5th, from

$/010$ C1NST.T/T.1N 2 B!-+$WS he committee has finished revising the Constitution ( By@laws. :t was updated with synod guidelines and numerous changes. :t has been reviewed by the Council and also the Synod. he neGt step in the process is having it approved by our members at the "nnual -eeting in January. 2ach member will be given a copy of the Constitution prior to the "nnual -eeting to review. 0e will have copies available at church to pic/ up and those not pic/ed up by &ec. E8th will be mailed. "ny concerns regarding the revisions can be discussed at the "nnual -eeting on Sunday, January EA, E8'? where we will then ta/e a vote to approve. :f the revisions are approved without changes, it will then be ta/en to

our neGt "nnual -eeting in E8') to be ratified by a two@thirds vote of those present. " big than/ you to "ngie Jensen, heona Lewison and Jeanne Pichner for their efforts in reviewing our Constitution.

W3+C$ C)0.STM$S 343NT: he 02LC" Christmas event will ta/e place on Sunday, &ecember .th at A788 p.m. 0e will be attending the 0omen;s Christmas &inner in 0aseca.

$ Bl"e Christmas
+n &ecember '?th, E8'E, almost a year ago now, shots rang out at Sandy $oo/ 2lementary School. :t was haunting and horrific. wenty@seven died that day and so many of us didn;t /now what to do or what to say. But with it so close to Christmas, it felt li/e something had to be done. Some way to give voice and space to this tragic event that had forever been tattooed onto the Christmas season for so many. Somehow, moving on li/e nothing happened and then singing !Joy to the 0orld% only '' days later 1ust wasn;t going to wor/. So we did something. " couple of days before Christmas, we held a !Blue Christmas% service at "urora. :t was a time of remembrance for us. 0e sang. 0e prayed. 0e lit candles in honor of our loved ones who have died. 0e named the names of those who died at Sandy $oo/ and we lit candles for them too. "fterwards, many people eGpressed their appreciation for the time and the space and the silence. :t gave voice to what is so often left unsaid during the Christmas season. "nd somehow, after that, it felt li/e we could sing !Joy to the 0orld% with honesty. 0hile the events at Sandy $oo/ were certainly the motivation for this service, the truth is Christmas can be a painful time for some. :t may be the first Christmas without a loved family member who has recently diedH it may be a time that has always been difficult for other reasons. he constant refrains on radio and television, in shopping malls and churches, about the happiness of the season, about getting together with family and friends, reminds many people of what they have lost and grieve. :t can lead us to feel alone in the midst of the celebrating and 1oy. 0e need the space and time to ac/nowledge our sadnessH we need to /now that we are not alone. 0e need encouragement to live the days ahead of us. "nd what better way to do this than with a Blue Christmas serviceI Christmas is the story of 3od being born into this world. Joy to the World the Lord is come. "t Christmas, we claim Jesus as 2mmanuel, which means !3od with us.% "nd we sing, O ome! O ome! "mmanuel. :t is the story of 3od being with us, in this world. :t is the story of 3od entering as a light into the dar/ness of our lives @into our pains and our bro/en hearts and our shattered dreams and to be with us there. So we will do it again this year. 0e will have a Blue Christmas service where we will sing, pray, and light candles together. "ll are welcome.

Bl"e Christmas: $ Service o( 0emembrance an% )ope

hursday &ecember 'Cth, E8'5, 6788 p.m.

"urora Lutheran Church

Peace and love to you all,

*astor 5on
TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH MONTHLY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, October 13, 2013

Pastor Jon opened the meeting with prayer. Sessions 5 and 6 of Journeying Together Faithfully were discussed, along with how to ring this to the congregation. Sec. report presented y Shari. !ppro"ed as read. Treas. report handed out y #ich. The gift for the $ishop was ta%en out of the wrong account. #ich will ring this to &orna's attention. (ther than this the report was appro"ed as read. $alances on hand include) *hec%ing +,-,./6..0, 1emorial Fund +,2,65-.32, 1ainstay Fund +,,63/..2. The 4oint udget meeting was held on (ct. -.th. ! udget was agreed upon. #ich did not ha"e the official udget to show, so it will e discussed at the 5ec. meeting. Sign for outside the church. #ich tal%ed to J.*. Press. ! /36/3 will cost appro7. +2-.. This has een ta led for spring. 8e will get a sample to loo% at that will included ser"ice time, Sunday School, we site, and anything else we may want on it. Trees) 1otion was made to ta%e down the trees on the west side of the church. 9n the spring we will decide on what %ind, and how many trees to plant. *rystal :elson has "olunteered to clean church. She has een gi"en a %ey to get in. *hristmas *aroling) Trinity will again do caroling on *hristmas morning efore the ser"ice. $anners) Jan rought a catalogue for all to loo% at. Pastor Jon will e on "acation starting right after *hristmas day ser"ice for one wee%. Than%sgi"ing ser"ice will e a 4oint ser"ice on 8ed. :o".20th at 6)-. at Trinity. Pac%ing o7es for shut;ins will e held on Sun. 5ec. 3th at 5ic% and <laine's home. :e7t Trinity council meeting will e on 1on. 5ec. =th at 6)-.. 8ith nothing further to e discussed, motion to ad4ourn was made y >ary, and seconded y 5arryl.

#espectfully su mitted, Shari 1anges, Trinity Secretary