Passing the

Peace Lutheran Church

February 2013 Volume 2, Issue 2

Are We There Yet? Thoughts along the Way by PJ.

1 John 3:1-3 New International Version (NIV) 3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. I recently received birthday well-wishes from my parents! Normally my mother makes a card on the computer and prints it out, says something quirky, and my folks give me a check to help with the birthday celebration! This year, however, my mother and father added a tad bit of a twist to the whole mix. Mom and dad included some pictures of me as a baby, elementary school, early high school, and even a graduation picture from high school. At dinner, on the day of my birthday, Abby and Sydney and even Jennifer were treated to a veritable smorgus-board of laughs as we looked through all of the pictures my folks had sent to us. Oh, what cute cheeks! Daddy, did you really wear a coat like that? The coat Abby is referring to is my khaki colored sport coat my folks made me wear to have pictures taken when Tim, my younger brother was born. Nathan, my older brother, and I were pictured. My kids found it funny what I worelike I had a choice in the matter. Everyone was enthralled with the pirate costume I wore one Halloween to a party! I am not sure I have been this embarrassed for a long timeand that is saying something since I am pretty good at embarrassing myself on an almost daily basis! As I looked at those pictures, though, I couldnt help but see that the pictures I saw of myself as a baby resembled me, but they didnt quite capture the fullness of me. Said in a different way, my baby pictures, and the pictures of my youth captured, in that moment in time, who I was and they pointed towards who I was becoming. For example: when I looked at my baby pictures my smile and my eyes shown with the yepthat is Jon but my hair and other features are still in development. My elementary school pictures shine with energy and platinum blonde hair, and that smile was still there. Today, however, if you were to look at me and look at these pictures you would be able to see that I have evolved, grown, changed, taken shape. All of this is to say, as we live, the God who loves us, who forms us, is continuing to love and form and shape us through our families, our schools, our work, our play. Each day we live, God is helping
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(Are We There Yet continued)

us to be more and more like the one God sent, Jesus the Christ. Each of us bears the name of Christ, as Christian, which literally means: Little Christ! We are each Little Christs in the world, being shaped by a God who loves and cares for us, grants us insight and knowledge as we learn from our experiences, helps us to grow, feeds and provides for us so that we can feed and provide for others! God, our God, knows the gift of life and the challenges life presents and it is such a gift to know and be known by God!which is why I love the verses above so very much. Who we are is not fully known to the world because, just maybe, we dont fully know who we are just yet. Each day is an opportunity to learn more and more about who we are as children of God! Each day is a gift as we serve God! Each day a little bit more of our identity is unwound in Christ for us to know, and for the world to see! And in that day when we return to our heavenly home, or Christ returns, whichever comes first, we see our full selves just as God knows us now! I also love these verses because no matter what happens in our lives: our joys and successes, our failures and losses, our ups and downs, our lefts and rightsall of them are, in some way, shape, or form caught up in who we are as children of God! And, therefore, whether we want to believe it or not, they are caught up in Christ and redeemable! To me, as I fathom the promise we have that God is still working on us, molding us and making us to be more like the Little Christs we are made to be, I find it a delight and pure joy to look back and see, yepI am different now than I was thenand it is a good thing! I also find it pure joy to know, deep in the depths of my soul, through everything, God has a hand on me and is using me and changing me to change the world. I am excited to one day know what my true self will look like, but until then, I am pumped up in the Spirit and joy of knowing God is working on me, in me, and through me! I hope you are too! Peace, Pr. Jon

Special Ash Wednesday Family Worship Event and Traditional Ash Wednesday Worship Service on February 13, 2013.
The congregation is invited, especially families with children, to come to dinner and worship at 5:30 pm, Dinner will be pizza and veggies and drinks, and immediately following our dinner together we will have a worship service designed to help the children to come to a little bit better understanding of Ash Wednesday and the imposition of the Ashes. There is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board or please RSVP to peacepastorjon@att.net so that we know how much pizza to order. There will be a worship service at 7:30 pm with communion and the imposition of the ashes for all of us folks who are not able to make it to the 5:30 pm worship with the children, Please mark your calendars and plan on attending these beautiful opportunities to worship our God!

Wednesday Evening Worship

This is going to be a very special Lent as we follow Jesus to Jerusalem. And I am excited to tell you that we will be partnering with Border Servant Corps for our Wednesday Evening Worship Services. We will be having dinner at 6:30pm, sign up in the narthex to help with those, and then worship at 7:30pm! We will be working our way through the Sermon on the Plain this Lent. 4 members of the Border Servant Corps and 4 members of Peace will be offering reflections on the 4 Blessings and the 4 Woes of the Sermon on the Plain. The service will be absolutely beautiful and something that you will not

by Pastor Jon
want to miss. Kari Lenander and I have been working to put this service together and are very excited for us as a community to participate and experience the presence of God in worship! Please make it a point to come and spend time with God on Wednesday nights this Lent. Dinner at 6:30 and worship at 7:30pm!

Moving the Furniture

We continue to experience through our worship, service, fellowship, and study the life of Jesus. We have celebrated his birth, rejoiced at his baptism, have been in awe of Gods revelation to the world, and are now approaching and living in his public ministry. As Jesus continues to teach and preach, heal, feed, touch, and dine with all of the folks considered unworthy of being in Gods presence; opposition to Jesus grows almost in proportion to his popularity! And, as a result, we will be entering into the season of Lent as Jesus approaches Jerusalem and his impending death. To help us to enter into this sacred time of Lent we will be once again rearranging the furniture in a special way. We will turn the seating towards our right from the direction it is currently facing which would mean we would be facing east or looking towards Jerusalem as Jesus and the disciples make their way towards the city. We will also be doing something special with our prayer time and prayers. As usual, we will have a member of the congregation compose prayers on behalf of us all. We will also have prayer cards in the sanctuary, probably in the seats, for us to write our prayers or concerns on, and we will all be invited to bring our prayers to God and place them on the prayer wall. You may have heard of the Wailing Wall. The Wailing Wall, also referred to as the Kotel, is located in the Old Quarter of East Jerusalem in Israel. It is 57 meters tall, or 187 feet, built of thick, corroded limestone, and is close to 500 meters in length, though most of it is engulfed in other structures. The wall is believed by devout Jews to be the Western Wall of the Second Temple. The Wailing Wall remains a sacred place

by Pastor Jon
for Jews and others, who often pray, sometimes wail, and sometimes slip prayers written on paper through the wall's welcoming fissures. In July 2009, Alon Nil launched a free service allowing people around the world to Twitter their prayers, which are then taken in printed form to the Wailing Wall. In this way, we all, will be invited into an experiential prayer, whereby we literally will carry our prayers to the wall, and thus, God, beseeching God to hear and answer the deepest concerns and desires of our hearts, our communitys needs, and for any and everything we want to lay at Gods feet. I pray the season of Lent will be a time of deep discernment and growth for all of us, and I hope this will help us enter into that time with reverence and appreciation for the gift of prayer and the devotion of Lent!

Peace, Pr. Jon

Ministry Giving Campaign

The question came up in worship during our announcements, which prompted me to say something here. Our annual ministry giving campaign will begin in early March. The church council and myself are currently in conversation to set priorities for ministry for the year 2013-2014 and our giving campaign will be directly tied to those priorities for ministry. Please keep the council members and myself in prayer as we deliberate and discern what God is asking us to do as a congregation! Materials and information will then be sent out to folks, again, in early March so that we will all be ready for the Annual meeting.

by Pastor Jon

Ladies Nite Out

Thursday, February 3, 5:30 pm El Cuartito Azul 500 Thorn

Youth Director
Everyone should by now have received a pledge card for the Youth Directors position. I thought I would write something to help make sure we all have the same information and just to reaffirm what we have been talking about for a couple months now. The pledge for the youth director position is a onetime gift above and beyond our normal giving to the congregation. This money will be used to fund the youth director position as we share the gifts and talents of this person in a partnership with the congregations of St. Francis on the Hill and 1st Presbyterian. This addition to our staffing, for all of these congregations, represents a commitment to our youth and their families, not just of our membership, but also to the city of El Paso. The recent Lock-In was a success because our young people took the initiative to invite their friends! That took guts, courage, a willingness to put themselves on the line, a willingness to experience something new, a

by Pastor Jon
willingness to be open to however God is calling them to make a difference in the world. The young people of our communities are a treasure and I believe adding this position to our congregation, in partnership with 1st Presbyterian and St. Francis on the Hill, will make a statement to our youth and their families that we value them and believe God to be using them to make miracles happen! Please, pray about it, and pledge generously!

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! Well, you cant blame me for wanting to carry the joy of the Christmas celebration forward into each and every day I am alive! The birth of Christ is a blessing and gets me up and moving in the morning and at night beds me down in peace as I know I am in the Lords hands! I do want to take the time to thank you all! Thank you for

your Christmas gifts! The ones for me, the ones for my family all of them absolutely unnecessary and all of them absolutely touched our hearts! Thank you for thinking of us at Christmas time and all year round as you bless us in friendship and ministry! Peace, Pr. Jon

I am excited to announce to all of you that our theme for this years Vacation Bible School is Gods Backyard Bible Camp! Under the Sun: Where Kids have a blast serving Jesus! We will sing all new songs written and performed by Yancy! We will have crafts! We will play games! We will have service projects! We will learn to love the Lord Jesus by serving God in our families, with our friends, and in the community! We will have a blast! We will also need to have some volunteers so that we can make this event as fun and welcoming to the community as we possibly can! VBS will be free of charge and open to the community and it is a great opportunity for us to wel-

come youngsters into our midst and love, love, love them as God loves us! I, me, Pr. Jon, will be one of the station leaders for the weekBible Stories! We will also need someone to help with music, crafts, service projects, and games. We will also be in need of some folks to help lead the classes from station to station in a rotation model for their activities during the day. As we lead up to the event we will want to work on decorations for the school and coordinate that with Mrs. Barbara! We will want to collect snacks for the event. We will want to pray for the children and families who will be touched by this event! We will want to pray for the volunteers!

We will want to pray for any and all who will be involved! I know VBS can be a lot of work, and at the same time, it is such a blessing to us and to the community! Please pray about how God can use you for this event! For now, spread the word! Registration for the event will open to the members of Peace and the Preschool Families in the beginning of March, and then to the Community at Large in the beginning of April so that by May we know who will be our guests and we can plan accordingly! God bless you all as we prepare for this wonderful outreach to the community!

Family Movie Night

On February 22nd at 7pm, we will gather for an evening of fun and fellowship at family movie night. The movie selection will be either Gnomeo and Juliet or The Dark Night Rises (or another appropriate movie for people 13 and older). Gnomeo and Juliet is a delightful retelling of Romeo and Juliet and is fun for the whole family! The Dark Knight rises will be running for folks who are 13 and older who would like to come and participate in the fun, too, but whose taste in movies, is shall we say, a little more mature. Either way, this evening shall be a great time for all! Please bring a snack to share with folks and we will see you at Peace Lutheran on February 22nd at 7pm for Movie Night!

Childrens Sermons and Preaching

by Pastor Jon

More often than not, I build the sermon and my preparation for the sermon, up into an intensely intellectual and fiercely academic procedure. Not to say there is anything wrong with intelligence or academics, but there is, in a sense much more to the sermon than that. So I do, as best I can, to sit in prayer with the text for the week beginning almost as soon as yall leave after Sunday school each Sunday. My hope is that through the exercise of prayer and meditation the text will become part of me, my life, my lived experience, my breath and that when I begin my academic preparation the product of both the prayer and study will be a sermon that touches all yalls heads and hearts. Someone once said of me, Pr. Jons sermons are very intellectual as well as Chicken Soup for the Soulboth smart and mushy all at the same time. To be quite clear, and I want all yall to hear this, we all have a story to tell. The sermon on Sunday morning is quite literally a telling of how Gods story and our lifes story, is really one story. In other words, how does this Scripture touch my life, our life as a congregation, our life as a community of faith in the city of El Paso? What is it that God wants us to do or be as a result of this Scripture? And, again, we all have a story to tell. Which is why I would like for us to learn together to share the God story we all live together! I would like to give up the pulpit one Sunday a month so that a member of the congregation can share how God is touching their lifeto deliver a sermon for us. I would also like to have members of the congregation deliver the childrens sermons for our young people too, at least twice a month. My hope is that through our prayer, and preparation together, we will all be enriched by our witness to what God is doing in and through us. My hope is that we can be a people of story, a people who notice what God is doing, and share what God is doing. Therefore, dont be surprised if I call you and ask you to bless us with a word from above! I know you can do it, even if you dont yet!

Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass

I recently took a week of continuing education to read books in the areas of church development and mission. I believe in education and reading as important tools to keep myself fresh, challenged, and thinking critically about who I am, where I am going, how I am leading, and what is it that God is asking of us as a community? Of me as a pastor? A father? A child of God? It was in that vein I approached this week of continuing education and I was thrilled to discover the aforementioned book by Diana Butler Bass. Here are some of the things other folks are saying about this book: Church renewal isnt only about the dramatic and large-scale. Its about transformations quietly maturing in local communities nourished by profound prayer, pastoral commitment and imagination, and readiness to learn from a wide spectrum of Christian wisdom. This excellent and timely book celebrates a vastly important phenomenon that has been too little noticed.Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury In the spirit of the much exaggerated death of Mark Twain, Diana Butler Bass demonstrates that the so-called mainline neighborhood church is alive and well, which is for so many of us very good news indeed, given the alienation of fundamentalism or secularism: thank God for this good news.Peter Gomes, the Pusey Minister of The Memorial Church at Harvard What a delightful, encouraging, and informative book! This book not only presents ten characteristics shared by vital, progressive congregations, it also situates these characteristics in the context of recent American religious historyHighly Recommended! Brian McLaren, author of The Secret Message of Jesus I would like for us to read this book as a congregation. In discussions I have had with the church council, and with members of the congregation, I think the practice of reading this book and talking about it in light of our faith, our faith tradition, our experience and lived practice here at Peace, and our calling by God to be in the world creatively and enthusiastically proclaiming the message of Gods never failing love, would help us to celebrate our individual and collective life together while at the same time helping us to deepen our understanding of ourselves as Gods children sharing Gods love with the world. In other words, I think reading and discussing this book will help us to talk about our faith and help us to find ways to deepen our faith as we love and serve the Lord. We will, Cleveland and I, be working to break up the congregation into small groups. The goal is to have everyone split into groups and reading and gathering for discussion about Christianity for the Rest of Us by April 7th. I am letting all yall know about this now so that we can prepare and anticipate these groups forming and plan accordingly. More information will be forth coming in the weeks ahead so that we can all be ready and excited about this opportunity for learning and growth. Till thenplease surround this in prayer! Peace, Pr. Jon

News from Peace Preschool

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. 1 John 4:11

From the Director

Valentines Day is a favorite celebration in preschool. The bright red heart symbol is readily understood by all young children as a sign of love. In fact, the heart is one of the first signs or symbols that young children recognize. As adults, we take for granted the ability of a symbol-like the red heart-to communicate a deep reality, in this case, I love you. The world of young children is concrete. Only gradually, through many experiences, do they become aware of the signs and symbols around that communicate meaning. Learning that there are many ways to show we love others is our faith development early learning focus for this celebration. Is there a relative or neighbor who would be delighted to receive a gift of love-a handmade valentine from your child? Along with the love of God and the following of Jesus Christ, showing others we love them is at the heart of our moral lives. If you are planning to help your child make some valentines, remember that the skill of cutting with blunted scissors is one that develops slowly. You might want to encourage your child to do the pasting and sprinkling of glitter, bits of paper, ribbon, yarn or cotton. Encourage and affirm your childs delight in the doing rather than in the perfection of the finished product.

Barbara
Dates to Remember
Wednesday, February 13, at 6:30 pm - parents of our current Pre-k classrooms are invited for a second informational meeting Getting to know our Kindergarten Classroom . Please join the kindergarten teachers, current parents and the director as we discuss what the children are currently working on in the classroom as well as what is to be expected for the 2013-2014 school year. *Here are some of the amazing kindergarten visitors the teachers have scheduled to come and visit their class, Sun Metro, C.D.C. and even Mayor Cook will stop by, way to go kindergarten teachers.* Monday, February 18 (Presidents Day) - there will be no school but daycare sign up will be available. Week of February 19-22nd - Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held. There will be a sign up sheet with a variety of days and time slots. All classrooms from the infant room to the Kindergarten room will offer conferences. February 25-March 1- Peace will be having In House registration for the upcoming 20132014 school year. You will be provided with an updated registration packet which will include current rates as well as a new parent handbook. If you have any questions, concerns, or if you would like to visit your childs next school years classroom feel free to ask me.

Upcoming Events for March and April

March 4-8 - Lutheran Schools Week - This will be a fun filled week of special days; Beach Day, Stuffed Animal Day, Spirit Day etc. There will be a special chapel, special visitors, planting activities and much more. March 11-15 -Peace will have a Scholastic Book Fair - Books for all ages will be available for purchase. Week of March 18-22nd - Spring Break There will be no morning classes but daycare will be available. Week of March 25-29th - Summer Camp registration will be the, there will be some exciting things happening for the summer. Saturday, April 6th - Our second annual rummage sale, 8:00 am 1:00 pm During the week of April 15 - 19th - Peace will be celebrating the Week of the Young Child. We will have our first Trike-A-Thon. All proceeds collected will go to help the hospitals of St. Judes.

Spanish Class to Be Offered

Our very own Ms.Yolanda (Kindergarten teacher) would like to begin an afternoon Spanish enrichment class for children who attend our extended care program. During the first week of February, you will receive a survey by your childs cubby. This will let her know if there is an interest in this new program.

Peace Lutheran Preschool and Daycare to host PDNAEYC Annual Leadership & Advocacy Conference
The topic of this forum is A Wealth of Information. I am honored to chair this conference; which will feature three local speakers and a session that will offer community connections. The speakers will be Linda Wiley MA and Christina Figueroa MA from project launch. They will discuss effective ways to cope with stress and how to be more resilient. The third speaker will be Saul Villalobos MA. He will discuss safety in our schools. Some of the community connections on hand will be Julie LaSerre, a dietician for E.P.I.S.D., a representative from the Department of Family Protective Services, as well as other local community outreach services. This conference is open to Administrators, Principals, Directors and Program Directors throughout the city of El Paso. The cost of this training is $30.00, this conference usually has drawn between 75-80 participants.

Border Servant Corps

Border Immersions: Border Servant Corps hosts groups interested in first-hand cultural immersions focused on education about border issues. This program is designed for undergraduate missions, alternative spring break programs, seminarians, and church and youth groups. January and February visiting groups are fellow volunteer corps from Denver. Upcoming groups o January 30 February 2: Urban Servant Corps (Denver, CO) o February 14-17: Colorado Vincentian Volunteers (Denver, CO) How you can help o Donate breakfast items (oatmeal, cereal, etc.) o Cook a dinner at Peace Lutheran (Las Cruces) for groups during their stay (groups sleep at the church) Honoring 15 Years of Service to the U.S./Mxico Border: Consider donating $15 per month to BSC. This donation can be made easy through JustGive.org, which provides options for one-time or automatic, monthly giving. Details o Visit http://www.borderservant.com/, select the big, red Make a Donation button on the right-hand side, and Donate Now. o BSC is a ministry of Peace Lutheran Church, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization; gifts are taxdeductible to the extent allowed by law. o BSC relies heavily on support from individuals and congregations. With your donation, BSC can continue doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly on the U.S. / Mxico border. Many Thanks: During the month of January, participants in the BSC Servant Stomps in both cities were able to learn about community resources and updated border issues from current volunteers. Thank you for your support of BSC in a variety of ways! Border Servant Corps seeks to provide an opportunity for volunteers to work for justice, serve their neighbor, and walk humbly with their God. This month, Ryan Steinmetz (BSC director) shares a few words about BSC Border Immersions In 1997, as a college freshman, I took a trip to the border with a contingent from Ohio Wesleyan University. We visited the US/Mexico border near Harlingen, and Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico. What happened on that trip changed the direction of my life in ways I had no idea would materialize. I had never before seen how divisive the issues of immigration and poverty really were in our world. As a farm kid from Ohio, I had never been exposed to different cultures, much less the injustices and inequalities that are so visible in the border region. It was this trip to the border that made me lead a border trip to the same place in 2000. It inspired me to study Spanish alongside my education major, and when it came time for me to graduate, the power of that immersion experience in 97 prompted me to apply to Border Servant Corps in 2001 and serve at La Casa domestic violence shelter. Border immersion experiences are bridges. They unite this region filled with challenges and beauty and need and vibrancy with young people who want desperately to make a difference in their world. Immersion experiences bring the voices of immigrants back to home congregations and universities in order to paint a more accurate picture of the realities faced by marginalized immigrant populations. They offer opportunities for a more committed relationship between people of different cultures, different realities. They allow for universities hands-on and genuine educational experiences, and for churches, both at the congregational and the larger church levels, they allow opportunities for living out the Gospel and welcoming the stranger in the midst of being welcomed. Your support of border immersion experiences in the form of supplying breakfast items or sponsoring dinners helps to make this experience a reality for more groups interested in understanding more about the border. Thank you for supporting this small piece of our ministry together.

JOIN THE FUN

GODS BACKYARD BIBLE CAMP: UNDER THE SUN WHERE KIDS HAVE A BLAST SERVING JESUS! JUNE 17-21, 2013 PEACE LUTHERAN PRESCHOOL 595 BELVIDERE ST - EL PASO TX 79912 9AM-12NOON AND THE COST IS: FREE!!!!!!!!!! SIGN UP BY RSVP TO PR. JON AT PEACEPASTORJON@ATT.NET THERE is LIMITED SPACE SO IT IS A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS