Our Savior Lutheran - Thomaston, CT

PRESIDENT’S REPORT
 

This has been an interesting and productive year in the life of Our Savior Lutheran
Church. The ordination of Rev. Brian Rajcok was certainly a highlight, and a milestone
in our history as a church. We have in place some remarkable ministries and have received widespread recognition for our innovative programs, such as New Beginnings and Tuesday Night Sunday School. We have been praised by Lutheran clergy and Synod for our modern cutting edge Worship space. By all accounts we should be hailed as a young, vibrant, growing body of the Church of Our Savior Jesus Christ.
We should. But (there is always a but) to quote the punchline of an old joke about how a Lutheran pastor got rid of bats in the belfry, “I baptized them, confirmed them, and haven’t seen them since.” We aren’t all that young, well, some of us aren’t, and much of our growth is from members of faltering Lutheran congregations whose growth has stopped and who have begun the inevitable decline. We cannot be one of those congregations!
Our congregation, like most, follows the “Discipleship Rule.” Twelve people do everything. If you look at the roster of virtually every Lutheran church you will see the same dozen names serving multiple roles in every position. There are two problems with that; one as shown in The Little Red Hen (a children’s story.) where everyone who was asked to help said “Not I.” (“said the duck.” “Not I said the cow.”); and the other is that all of our ideas, programs, and innovation come from a very small group of people.
We have a congregation full of brilliant creative people who are droning along like bumblebees on a summer afternoon. We need these people!
We need help. Not only from within, but from without. The E in ELCA stands for “Evangelical.” We, as a congregation need to do two things. The first and easiest is to sign up. In fact, don’t even volunteer. Offer to help in a counting session, to see what it entails. Offer to join the Fellowship providers for a Sunday to see what they do. Help out the Sacristans or the Ushers. Lector now and again. Be a crucifer and get to wear a robe. Join Council. Once you see that none of these things is hard and all of them give you a real sense of satisfaction (you should hear the counters’ glee when all the
numbers add up) you may be moved by the Spirit to become a part of it.  Then comes the hard part. The Evangelical part. Invite someone to church. Yes, at first you will think about those friendly people who show up in pairs on your doorstep from time to time, but you don’t have to go the Fire & Brimstone route. Tell people about the nice little church full of friendly people you go to and invite them to come with you one Sunday, or on a Tuesday evening. Keep doing it. Someone out there is just waiting to be asked. We are the Church. The more “WE” there are the more the Church will
grow.

Yours in Christ
Jack Kearney
Council President

 

When anything needs to be repaired or replaced John Schwalm is always on call.  There are so many things throughout the year that need attention.  Emergency Exit Lights were all replaced, exterior fencing was repaired, interior lights were replaced as needed, and the lawn mowed weekly in season and on and on, John takes care of it.  Thank you - thank you John!
Twice a year we gather as a congregation to clean in the fall and spring.  A huge thank you to all who help.
We hired a new cleaning person, Marie Dionne! We appreciate your weekly cleaning.
Also thanks to Jennifer Kerney who had been keeping our building clean prior to Marie.
 
  

The theme for our Stewardship campaign for the Fall of 2015 was Growing Thankful and Generous Hearts.  Before any mailings went out, before we even told you what our theme was, your stewardship team (Diane Elwood, Pastor Gollenberg, and Sandy Talbot) challenged our congregation to begin by counting our blessings.  Part of the response to this challenge took the form of creating a wall of blessings.   We asked you to write your blessings on post-it notes and put them up on the wall behind the altar in our worship room.  And what an awesome and inspiring wall it was!  Adults and children, young and not-so-young, Sunday worshipers and Tuesday Night Sunday School participants, catalogued our many blessings with enthusiasm and joy.
Now, as we approach the middle of 2016, it is time to remind ourselves (just in case we’ve forgotten or just haven’t thought much about it lately) just how blessed we as individuals and a congregation are. And it’s time to respond with thankful and generous hearts to the many blessings we have received. As an inspiration for this response, we might want to take a look at the blessings that we posted.  You can find them by using the link on our congregation’s Web page (www.oursaviorthomaston.org) or by using this link (https://youtu.be/dIfKN1UBwrg) to go directly to the video on YouTube.
Respectfully submitted,
Sandy Talbot for the Stewardship Committee
 

 

What a blessing this ministry of knitting and crocheting has become to those of us who make blankets, shawls, hats and scarfs.  But the goal is to bless to whom these items are made for.  As we stitch and create, prayers of health and wellness are tied right in.  These items are filled and covered with prayers for those going through tuff times. Below are pictures blankets as they are brought to the altar where more prayers are offered by the congregation. 
We try to meet once a month where we gather together and bring our work with us.  We talk and create!  We decide what project might be next.  Currently some of us are working on 2 blankets to be given to the Red Cross to be used here at the blood drives. 
A big thank you to Carolyn Chesto, Rachel Foster, Linda Howard, Barbara Howard, Bev Sabia, Tami Duda, Karen Ligi, Sandy Talbot, Lynne Kearney, Geri DeLuca and Isabella Howard.
Submitted by Lynne Kearney