JANUARY 2021 RLC NEWSLETTER (1)

DECEMBER 2020 RLC NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER 2020 RLC NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER UPDATE:

“Homework and Heroes” will be postponed for the month of November. As RP School has made the move to distance-learning in response to an uptick in covid cases, we are following suit and postponing in-person youth group activities as well. Our remaining November speakers are graciously open to rescheduling in December. We hope to resume December 2nd, but will stay in-step with the school.

A HUGE thank you to all of the guest speakers that have shared with the youth so far! What amazing testimonies you have inspired our kids with! May God bless you all richly, and may the seeds you planted in the hearts of the kids bear much fruit as they grow into adulthood. Looking forward to meeting again next month.

Wednesday at 5 PM CDT – 8 PM CDT

2020 has been a difficult year for everyone, including our kids. They need a place where they can feel safe – somewhere they can work, play and pray.
Introducing Homework & Heroes, a series for 7th-12th graders highlighting faith in action from the heroes in the next pew. Where teens can meet the heroes within their own congregation. A place to come where they can feel connected to their church and community, and learn about faith in action.
Doors open at 5pm. Meal at 6pm. Snacks & drinks throughout the evening. Speaker at 7:30pm. Dessert after the speaker!
Event will take place at Rushford Lutheran Church. Separate rooms available to allow for social distancing and a variety of activities: studying, gaming, eating, and just hanging out. Students are welcome to invite a friend that isn’t a member of RLC.
Follow the Rushford Lutheran Church Youth Facebook page form news and updates.

Bulletin

OCTOBER 2020 RLC NEWSLETTER

The recorded service will be posted to our website (www.rushfordlutheran.com) by 10 AM on Mondays.

RUSHFORD LUTHERAN CHURCH

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

SEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 2020

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 WORSHIP SERVICES

8:00 AM LED BY PASTOR STEVE CHELLEW; SCRIPTURE READER/ACOLYTE: KALLIE EIDE; ORGANIST: SHARY EVAVOLD; PROJECTIONIST: LISA CHELLEW; USHERS: TREVER AND KENDRA EIDE, AND LUTHER MYHRO AND DALE EVAVOLD; ALTAR GUILD: LACEY DRINKALL, FAYE HEIDEN, JESSICA HEIDEN; SOLIST SHAWN GORDER

9:15 AM LED BY PASTOR STEVE CHELLEW; SCRIPTURE READER/ACOLYTE: KAYLEE HAHN; ORGANIST: SHARY EVAVOLD; PROJECTIONIST: SANDY RASMUSSEN; VIDEOGRAPHER: DEAN HATLEVIG; USHERS: TROY AND LAURA HAHN, AND DALE RASMUSSN AND LOWELL RASMUSSEN; ALTAR GUILD: LACEY DRINKALL, FAYE HEIDEN, JESSICA HEIDEN; SOLOIST SHAWN GORDER; P3 AND 3^RD GRADERS RECEIVE BIBLES

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 COFFEE HOUSE WORSHIP

5:30 PM LED BY PASTOR STEVE CHELLEW; PIANIST: PORTIA LEE; PROJECTIONIST: EMILY CICHOSKI

PRESERVICE MUSIC, “Beautiful Savior” sung by Shawn Gorder

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

MILESTONE MOMENT:  P-3 and Third Grade Bibles

P3: Dawson Agrimson, Wyatt Anderson, Riley Britson, Quinn Bunke, Hayden Eddy, Harper Olloff, Lynx Peterson

3^rd Grade: Maycie Anderson, Malayna Brand, Kaelynn Evenson, Ava Grover, Carissa Johnson, Natalie Lindmeier, Ryder Messenger, Amelia and Johanna Oian

GREETING ONE ANOTHER

OPENING HYMN (Please remain standing): “Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”

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Christ, whose glory fills the skies,

Christ, the true, and only light,

Sun of Righteousness, arise,

Triumph o’er the shades of night;

Dayspring from on high, be near;

Daystar, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn

Unaccompanied by thee;

Joyless is the day’s return

Till Thy mercy’s beams I see,

Till thy inward light impart,

Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine,

Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;

Fill me, radiancy divine,

Scatter all my unbelief;

More and more thyself display,

Shining to the perfect day.  

INVOCATION

Pastor:  In the name of the Father, and of Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

People:  Amen.

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Pastor:      O almighty God, merciful Father,

People: I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.

Pastor:      Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen.

Pastor:      May the Lord, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace of the Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

CATECHETICAL REVIEW

(The second article of the Apostle’s Creed and Luther’s Explanation)

Pastor:  Who is Jesus Christ, and what has he done for you?

People;  I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Pastor:  What does this mean?

People:  I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil;

Pastor:  not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,

People: that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

SPECIAL MUSIC: “God So Loved the World” sung by Shawn Gorder

OLD TESTAMENT (Be seated)                    Numbers 21:4-9  (ESV)

Lector:  A reading from Numbers 21, verses four to nine.

⁴ From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶ Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷ And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Lector:  This is the Word of the Lord.

People:  Thanks be to God.

EPISTLE                                                              Romans 5:6-11 (ESV)

Lector:  A reading from Romans chapter five, verses six to eleven.

⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Lector:  This is the Word of the Lord.

People:  Thanks be to God.

HOLY GOSPEL (Please stand)                     John 3:1-18 (ESV)

Pastor:  The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the third chapter.

People:  Glory to You, O Lord.

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Pastor:  This is the Gospel of the Lord.

People:  Praise to You, O Christ.

HYMN OF THE DAY (Please be seated): “In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found”

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In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid,
Here in the death of Christ I live.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the pow’r of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till he returns or calls me home,
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.

TODAY’S MESSAGE: Basic Bible Beliefs: A God Who Redeems

Romans 5:1-11 (ESV)

OFFERING

PRAYERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE (Please stand)

Each petition ends with:  Lord, in your mercy,

To which we respond:     Hear our prayer.

LORD’S PRAYER

BENEDICTION

Pastor: Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever.

People: Amen.

DISMISSAL

Pastor: Go in peace.  Serve the Lord!

People: Thanks be to God!

CLOSING HYMN (Please be seated): “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”

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Lord, I lift Your name on high;

Lord, I love to sing Your praises.

I’m so glad You’re in my life;

I’m so glad You came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth

To show the way,

From the earth to the cross,

My debt to pay,

From the cross to the grave,

From the grave to the sky;

Lord, I lift your name on high!

Lord, I lift Your name on high;

Lord, I love to sing Your praises.

I’m so glad You’re in my life;

I’m so glad You came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth

To show the way,

From the earth to the cross,

My debt to pay,

From the cross to the grave,

From the grave to the sky;

Lord, I lift your name on high!

All songs and hymns CCLI 11170614.  Parts of the liturgy © Creative Worship, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO, 1994 to today; or © Lutheran Book of Worship, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis, MN, 1978, or © Reclaim Resources, St. Paul, MN, 2013  Scripture references, unless otherwise noted, from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version,  © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

Prayer Concerns: If you have prayer concerns, please contact Pastor Steve by emailing [email protected] or calling 507.703.1221 or contact the church office at 864.7152 ([email protected]). Hospitalized this week:

Continued prayers of healing and comfort for: Norma Jorde, Carolyn and Eldon Jonsgaard, John Hoegh, John Magnuson, Mark Reisetter, Haley Wilkemeyer, Laurie Marcoux, Cherryl and Donny Kjos, Bill Jeffers, John Kinneberg, Pastor David Steffenson, Mike Feine, Mike Wick, Deborah Bybee-Newly, Renee Moran, Tony Hallum, Pastor Sylvia and Pastor Julio, Sarah Feirer, Curt Paulson, Jr. (military deployment) and Michele Benson Thompson.

Prayers of Celebration: Listening to the talented Shawn Gorder this morning!

Operation Christmas Child:  Any RLC member that would like to participate in Operation Christmas Child can take one of the green boxes set out in church or the fellowship hall to fill and return to the church by October 11^th. A list of items that can be included are listed in the box. If you aren’t able to go shopping for items, monetary donations are gladly accepted since we will need to include $9.00 per shoebox to cover shipping costs.  Thank you for all your support in this project.

E-mail Your E-mail   We know you are already getting this e-mail, but please think of a fellow member or a family member of RLC that are not yet receiving the news.  Please send their email to [email protected] (With their permission, of course).

ELECTRONIC GIVING: At Rushford Lutheran Church, we use Vanco Services for direct payments. Just go to our website www.rushfordlutheran.com and look for the Tab GIVING, click on that. There will appear a box. Click on Sign In/Sign Up at the top right corner of that box. It will walk you through the set up. OR visit www.vancopayments.com/OnlineGiving‎ to set up your giving account. You can also download the free app “Give+” on your smart phone, search for Rushford Lutheran Church and follow the set up. You may choose to give to the general fund, missions, building improvements, memorial giving, Easter or lent. You can set your offering or contribution to be a one time, weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc. With these challenging times of “social distancing”, this is a great option to submit your offerings and contribution to your church. It is fast and easy.

OFFERINGS AND CONTRIBUTIONS AND MEMORIALS can always be mailed to Rushford Lutheran Church, PO Box 399, Rushford, MN 55971 if electronic giving is not an option for you.

The church office is open to the public from 8 AM – Noon Monday thru Thursday. There is now a black locked box located outside the Secretary’s Office for your convenience to securely drop things off when the office is not open.

Rebecca Stocker is leading a GriefShare program on Wednesdays through December 9^th, from 6:30-8 PM at Rushford Lutheran Church. The cost is $15 (scholarships are available). Space will be limited so to pre-register contact Rebecca at 507.923.9051. Glen Kopperud will be assisting with the program.

UNION PRAIRIE LUTHERAN (Lanesboro) HAM AND MEATBALL SUPPER, Sunday, October 4, Noon- 6 PM. Carry outs only. Please practice social distancing and wearing of masks is required. Menu is ham, meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, corn pickles, lefse, buns and homemade pie. $14

TRINITY LUTHERAN (St. Charles) PRESENTS: AN IRISH FOLK GOSPEL CONCERT. Saturday, October 3, 5-6:30 PM. It will be in the green space behind St. Charles City Hall. Please bring a lawn chair. Free will offering to benefit Purpose Heart Monument and St. Charles Fire Department.

Rushford-Peterson School District is in desperate need of regular route drivers for this school year as well as substitute van drivers. Anyone interested should contact Sarah Hundorf at 507-864-7785,  ext.1004 or [email protected]

Confirmation Mentors   We are looking for individuals to serve as confirmation mentors for this year’s ninth grade class.  We will be starting up the mentor program in October of this year.  Mentors meet with the student they are paired with a minimum of five times during the year.  After confirmation, mentors are asked to continue communicating with and supporting their student through the rest of high school.  If you are a member of the church and would like to be placed on the list of mentors that the students can choose from, please contact Pastor Steve.  (Please e-mail Pastor with your name and contact info.)

Our church is currently looking for individuals who would be willing to be on a rotation to run the projector at the Sunday morning worship services. If interested, please contact the church office by emailing [email protected]. Also, specify which service you would prefer. Training will be provided. 

Update on the Building Restorations contract for 2020. Jerome is scheduled to arrive in September. We have left to raise $18,227 by the end of the year. Thank you for your generous donations to our building restoration project!

CALENDAR:

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

8:00 AM             Worship service; Shawn Gorder, soloist (Home Phones: Dial in for worship service);

Coffee fellowship following service

9:15 AM             Worship service (Home Phones: Dial in for worship service); Shawn Gorder, soloist; P3 students receive Bibles; 3^rd Grade Students receive Bibles

10:15 AM           Coffee Fellowship; Bible Study led by Pastor Steve

in Multi-Purpose Room; Family Education Sunday School

in Sanctuary for all P3-7^th grade students. Please wear mask.

11:15 AM           Praise Team Practice

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

10:00 AM           Worship Service Posted on Website

5:30 PM             Coffee House Worship

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

9:00 AM             Men’s Helping Hands, Ladies Prayer Shawl

5:30 PM             5^th Grade  First Communion Class (student and parent)

6:30 PM             8^th and 9^th Grade Confirmation Classes

6:30 PM             GriefShare

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1

10:00 AM           RLCW Bible Study with Pastor Steve

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4

8:00 AM             Worship service with communion, Ladies Choir sings (Home Phones: Dial in for worship service); Coffee fellowship following service

9:15 AM             Worship service with communion (Home Phones: Dial in for worship service); Ladies Choir sings, 5^TH graders receive 1^st communion

10:15 AM           Coffee Fellowship; Bible Study led by Pastor Steve

in Multi-Purpose Room; Family Education Sunday School

in Sanctuary for all P3-7^th grade students. Please wear mask.

11:15 AM           Praise Team Practice

Reminders for attending in