The SEED

Christ Speaks

December 13, 2016

Faith Church News 2

Announcements 2

Fellowship Events 2

Giving Opportunities 3

Worship Opportunities 4

Inside this issue:

Christ speaks in us and for us when, in one of the psalms, he says to the Father: I shall be

satisfied when your glory is revealed. For he and the Father are one, and whoever sees

him sees the Father also…He will transform us and show us his face, and we shall be

saved; all our longing will be fulfilled, all our desires will be satisfied.

But this has not yet been accomplished…So while all this remains in the future and we

still walk by faith, absent from the Lord, while we still hunger and thirst for justice and

with inexpressible longing yearn for God’s beauty; let us reverently celebrate the day he

was born into our own sinful condition.

Since we can as yet form no conception of his generation by the Father before the daystar,

let us keep the festival of his birth of a virgin in the hours of the night. Since it is still be-

yond our understanding that his name endures forever and existed before the sun, let us

at least recognize his dwelling that he has placed beneath the sun. We cannot yet behold

him as the only Son, abiding forever in his Father, so let us recall his coming forth like a

bridegroom from his chamber. We are not yet ready for the banquet of our Father, so let

us contemplate the manger of Jesus Christ our Lord. (Augustine, Fifth century.)

Jen, Leif and I wish you a blessed Christmas, “for unto you is born this day a Savior who

is Christ the Lord!”

Peace,

Pastor John Albertson

Faith Church News We continue to pray for Cheryl Gaul, mother of Christy Pratt, Caleb Kerner, Cousin of Sherry Stark, Jackie Devine’s Mother, T.J. Barnidge’s uncle, Nick, nephew of Catherine Dytrt, Annette Mohling’s brother, Lyle, brother, Dean and nephew, Drew. We express our sympathies to Lois Yoerger on the recent passing of her brother. We celebrate with the Poellet family on the birth of Abigail Christine Ratliff daughter of Da-na (Poellet) & Eric Ratliff & her big brother, Ja-cob. She was born on Friday, December 9th and was 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. Coffee with Pastor Christmas Party will be here on Thursday, December 15 at 1:00 pm in the Faith Library. Just bring a wrapped $5 gift, a plate of cookies and come and join the fun! Pastor John will be having First Commun-ion Instruction on Wednesday, December 14 at 5:00 pm in the Library. The Office will be closed on Monday, December 26th and reopen Tuesday, December 27th. Special thanks to everyone who provided gifts and cards to the needy people and animals in our community. Your generosity of spirit is overwhelming! Amanda Pierce, Lead Event Planner from

AP Events, will be hosting a craft and vendor

show in the family center at Faith Lutheran

Church in Marion on Saturday, February 4th,

2017. Time is TBD. A portion of all table fees

will be donated to the Faith Lutheran Capital

Campaign. As always, AP Events organizes all

craft and vendor shows with no more than two

vendors and two crafters per product type on a

first come, first serve basis. If you are interested

in joining AP Events for the February 4th craft

and vendor show to benefit the Faith Lutheran

Capital Campaign, please contact Amanda Pierce

at (319) 981-8243 or ap_events@outlook.com.

AP Events would like to open the tables to Faith

Lutheran Church members for priority registra-

tion. Craft and vendor tables will be open to non-

members on Wednesday, December 14th. For

more information, please visit

www.apeventsiowa.weebly.com or find us on

Facebook at www.facebook.com/APEventsIowa.

Thank you for your support!

PAGE 2 THE SEED

Please join us on Sunday, December 18th at

6:00 pm for our Faith Lutheran Choir’s

Christmas Cantata. Following the Cantata

stay for desserts. Please sign up on the

clipboard in the welcome center

if you could donate desserts.

Proceeds from the reception will

go to help the Youth fund trips

and scholarships.

The Marion Food Pantry would like to thank all of you for your donations throughout the year. They have a particular need for canned fruit, soup, and 1 lb. boxes or bags of rice. A can of soup is given to each member of the family every time the family comes in. So if a family of 6 comes in all 9 times in 13 weeks, they receive 54 cans of soup. For other items like juice or peanut butter, they only get 1 per visit. So if you were wondering why soup is always on the list, that is why. As always, you can donate any other canned or boxed items you want.

The Marion Food Pantry is still looking for volunteers. Several older volunteers have had to step down because of health issues. They are reorganizing the work. They need volunteers to help with purchasing and distribution. Purchasing - They are putting together 3 teams to purchase items. They already have enough people for 2 teams, but are still looking for 3 or 4 more people for the last team. People on the team would be responsible for placing orders and picking up food. Since there will be 3 teams, they will be on a 3 week rotation. It would be helpful if volunteers were able to lift up to 25 pounds. Distribution - They are look-ing for people to help distribute food 1-3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This takes place across the alley from the Presbyterian Church in downtown Marion.

You can volunteer for one day a month, you can volunteer for the whole year or select months, or you can put your name on to be a last minute substitute. Several of the older volunteers are snow birds and leave for the winter so you could just do winter months. If you are interested, please contact Gary Frederick at 377-6887 or at gfrede5612@aol.com.

Christmas Cantata

Marion Food Pantry

THE SEED PAGE 3

.

Sonja Kendrick has processed the Feed Iowa

First tally for the

2016 growing

season. The Faith

Farm grew and

donated 891.02

pounds of onions

and 221 pounds of

leeks! Thanks

to all who partici-

pated in this out-

standing first ef-

fort. Collectively, Feed Iowa First donated $134,558.96 worth or produce

to the community in 2016. This was

35,000 tons!

We have available Pet Angel Tree tags to

benefit the Cedar Valley Humane Society. Items for donation will include:

Peanut butter, New spray bottles, cat and kit-

ten food (wet), Cat treats, Cat litter, Canned

cat food, Cat toys, KMR (Kitten Milk Replac-

er), Puppy food (dry),

Dog and puppy food

(wet), Bathing supplies,

Pill pockets, Rawhide

bones, Treats, Dental

treats, Martingale collars

(all sizes), Leashes (all

sizes), Two-handled

leashes, Muzzles (all

sizes). Also cleaning sup-

plies are needed. Please have items back to

the church by Sunday, December 18th.

Mark your calendars for our

upcoming Christmas

Worship Times:

Saturday, Dec. 24th—5:30 pm &

9:00 pm

Sunday, Dec. 25th—9:00 am only

Join us for Family Movie Night on Saturday,

December 17th. From 7:00-9:00 pm the all

ages options in the Family Center is “The

BFG” (PG) or for bigger kids in the Middle

School Room we have “The Secret Life of

Pets” (PG). The Grown Up Pick is

“Florence Foster Jenkins” (PG-13) and

the Middle School and Older kids have

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar

Children in the Youth Room (PG-13)

(Pre-K youth must be accompanied by

parent or care giver)

Donations are always welcome to help pay

for the snacks, come and join the fun, family

night!

The Senior High Youth will be having their

Senior High Overnight on Thursday,

December 29th beginning at 8:00 pm and

going until Friday, December 30th at

8:00 am. Please bring

$5.00 for pizza &

breakfast, snacks to

share, board games and

video games. Register

at the welcome table or

on Facebook by

December 27th. Adults

are needed

to share in the fun.

Wednesday, Dec. 14th-WNL with the

Men’s team for cooking and clean-up.

Wednesday, Dec. 21st– WNL Worship

with Women’s team for cooking and clean-

up.

Wednesday, Dec. 28th No WNL

Wednesday Night Live

December Movie Night

Shenanigans

Feed Iowa First Update

Cedar Valley Humane Society

155 Boyson Road Marion, Iowa 52302-9443

Phone: 319.377.9700

Fax: 319.373.6001

Pastor John cell: 319.651.8171

Email: secretary@faithlutheran.org

Website: faithlutheran.org

We are a community of Faith,

growing in Christ, sharing God’s love.

Faith has been serving the Marion-Cedar Rapids area for more than thirty

years; supporting local ministries such as the Marion Food Bank, Habitat for

Humanity, and Senior Assistance Programs. We are in partnership with the

10,657 congregations, 28 Lutheran colleges and universities, 8 seminaries, 450

global missionaries and one of the largest non-profit social service networks

in the United States; as well as Lutheran World Relief worldwide. All are minis-

tries of the 5.2 million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Faith Lutheran Church Staff John A. Albertson Rodney Bluml

Senior Pastor Pastoral Intern

Jen Heinsius Daniel Stone

Secretary Director of Youth and Family Ministry

Diane Lehtinen Steve Roggow

Choir Director Bell Choir

Christy Pratt

Parish Nurse

Faith Lutheran Church Council Members David Ripley Connie Bulman

President Director of Worship

Kellie & Josh Osbeck

Vice President Directors of Youth

Steve Deines Amy & Nick Sagan

Secretary Director of Fellowship

Karen Cain Lynette Marling

Treasurer Director of Witness

Dave Koch Bruce Tweeton

Financial Secretary Director of Facilities

Diane Lehtinen Vicki Barnidge

Director of Adult Nurture Director of Youth Nurture

Jeff Ausman

Director of Social Concerns

All are welcome and invited to worship at Faith Lutheran Church.

WORSHIP TIMES

Saturdays

5:30 pm– Worship

Sundays

8:00 am–Worship

9:10 am—Sunday School

10:45 am—Worship

Christmas Eve Worship

5:30 pm & 9:00 pm

Christmas Day Worship

9:00 am

Worship Opportunities

But most of the real work is done by unpaid members of the congregation, often without recognition, who see their service as a response to God.