Need a creative gift idea for someone?

Want to give a gift that could make a difference in the world?

Ever thought about giving water buckets for a village or an alpaca for a farmer or a school uniform so a child can go to school?

And, do you l like the convenience of shopping on line?

You will want to take a look at the ELCA Good Gift Catalogue, where you can help and support brothers and sisters around the worlds with your gifts. This catalogue has more than 65 gift ideas filled with meaning and love. How about a mosquito net for $25 or a pig for $30 or a microloan for a new woman’s business for $125? ELCA Good Gifts are an opportunity to go beyond your regular congregational offering to support and strengthen the work of the ELCA. After you’ve completed your ELCA Good Gifts shopping, tell your loved ones about their ELCA Good Gifts with e-cards and printable gift cards.

Another avenue to give is through the gifts program of Lutheran World Relief.  LWR Gifts send children to school, enable farmers to grow healthier, more diverse crops, and empower women to change their communities for the better. You will find suggestions sorted by categories, such as “children” and “critters” as well as price. LWR also gives you a way to send greetings to the person you are giving “in honor” or “in memory of.”

Or maybe you are looking for a special gift of jewelry or something for the kitchen; visit SERRV International, a nonprofit organization with a mission to eradicate poverty wherever it resides by providing opportunity and support to artisans and farmers worldwide. SERRV also works with famers who produce fair trade coffee and chocolate products.

This season consider bringing a little joy to the world through your support of any or all of these three partners in mission.

This Sunday there will be an opportunity to help the Buffalo Food Shelf with the cost of distributing this year’s Thanksgiving meals. Stop by the display in the Narthex and give a donation of your choice and pick up a HOPE candle to light your own home this Thanksgiving. A full Thanksgiving meal for a family as provided by the Food Shelf costs about $15. Thank you for helping to feed the hungry in our community!

Facing the holiday season after the death of someone you care about can be especially painful. On Saturday, November 21 at 9:30am Riverside Church in Big Lake will be hosting a two hour seminar which will equip you with tools you can use to move from merely surviving the holidays to re-experiencing joy. For more information or to register, call Lisa at 763-263-2410 or check their church website.

Pastor K. Alvar Persson, who was a pastor at Zion from 1950-1953, died at the age of 94 this past August in his home of Medford Wisconsin. He was born March 28, 1915 in Vesteros, Sweden. He was ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1945, and served at congregations in Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Connecticut. May peace be to his memory!

Marley Stevens

Marley Stevens, a 1st Grader at Discovery Elementary and a member of  Zion, is home recovering from the effects of the H1N1 virus. She  has begun physical therapy and other follow-up treatments, and returned to school for part-days this week.

There will be a Celebration Benefit for Marley on Friday, November 13,  at the Rockford Township Hall including a spaghetti dinner (5-8pm), silent auction (5-8pm), dance (7-10pm), and kids activities (face painting, juggling, games and more) throughout the night!

If you are able to help provide bars for the meal, please bring them to Zion on Friday morning, November 13. If you have other questions or would like to donate a silent auction item, email marleysbenefit@gmail.com or Courtney Gusel at (763) 682-6696.  You can also contact Josie Kolasa or Lori Nyholm with questions.

Additional volunteers are still needed on Saturday for Harvest of Hands as cashiers (9-11am or 11am-1pm) and for clean up (1pm-?). Contact Joy Arens at 763-300-4542 to volunteer.

Just a few of the items staff have spotted so far (click to enlarge):

The Harvest of Hands Festival will be held at Zion on Saturday, November 7, starting at 9am. Bring your family, your friends and your neighbors over for brunch and shopping.

The St Olaf Handbell Choir fall tour will include a concert at St Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Praire at 2pm on November 22. The St. Olaf Handbell Choir is the premier handbell ensemble at St. Olaf College, and is directed by Jill Mahr.  Performers are selected by audition in the fall and each group rehearses once a week for 75 minutes. The group performs for chapel and church services on campus, student recitals, off-campus events and concerts, and combines with other groups for a concert each spring.

This year there are two students from Zion in the ensemble, Maria Squadroni, daughter of Joel & Minda Squadroni, and Amanda Burgdorf, daughter of Andrew & Sherilyn Burgdorf.

The fall tour includes

• Friday, November 20 at 7:30pm at Christ United Methodist Church in Rochester, MN
• Saturday, November 21 at 7pm at Faith Lutheran Church in Morris, MN
• Sunday, November 22 at 2pm at St Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie, MN
• Sunday, November 22 at 8:15pm at Urness Recital Hall, Christiansen Hall of Music, St Olaf College in Northfield, MN.

A Brunch Tradition at Harvest of Hands

Zion’s Harvest of Hands Festival will be held at Zion THIS Saturday, November 7, starting at 9am.

For over 30 years, Zion ’s Harvest of Hands Festival has raised thousands of dollars each year to support the hungry through the Lutheran World Federation, and more recently the Buffalo Food Shelf. The festival includes crafts, white elephants, brunch featuring made-to-order omelets & crepes, and a silent auction.

Bring your family, your friends and your neighbors over to Zion for brunch and shopping. See you Saturday!

November 1, 2009, Temple Talk by Carol Clark

Yes, it’s that time of the quarter again…time for your dose of financial update. To recap the year so far, as you have noted in the bulletin and in the monthly newsletter, we entered the year with positive balances in both the General Fund and in the Forward In Faith Building Fund. Despite very tight expense control throughout the year, however, we have had a tough time bringing in the gifts necessary to cover operating expenses and mortgage payments and the positive balances have been drawn down.

Unlike many of us who receive stable income throughout the year, the church’s income ebbs and flows, with summer being the leanest period. At the start of this summer, Pastor Chris made a call to each of us for sacrificial giving throughout the summer months, and he accompanied that by taking a 10% reduction in his total income as his way of tithing to this church (in addition to the tithe he and his family made to their home church). An anonymous staff worker joined in this call – as did many of you. We were very gratified to see that income stayed steady over the summer relative to last year’s summer months – which we deemed a major coup given the state of the economy. All told, over the four months of the effort, income was actually up about 2% over last year. With tight expense control, we ended the summer with a narrowing in the deficit. We were very happy with this result and we sincerely thank those of you who participated.

Normally, weekly income picks up noticeably after Labor Day as all the programs get back into full swing and attendance swells. This has not been the case to date, however, and trends are discouraging in September and October As you will note in the bulletin, through the end of October we had a $59,000 deficit in the General fund and a $39,000 deficit in the Building Fund. We will get some relief on the expense side beginning in December when one of the extra pastoral salaries that we have been carrying drops off and we revert to one Senior and one Associate Pastors’ salary.

As you may recall, the Finance Committee recommended and Council approved the installation of a $50,000 credit line last spring to help meet any cash flow issues that may arise during the normally lean summer months. We did have to draw on this credit line to the tune of $20,000 over the summer and we were hopeful that we could pay this back with post labor day increase in gifts. This has not been the case, however. And in fact, we have had to borrow an additional $12,000 from internal funds as we have needed to make October expenses payments. We are hopeful that the bulk of these inter-fund borrowings will be paid back in the next week, but we may need to draw more from the credit line in order to do so. Normally, we get more than 20% of our annual revenue in these final months of the year, but we have a long way to go to meet that objective this year.

I know, I know, I feel like I’m always a “Debbie Downer” delivering these messages. Believe me, they are not fun to write and they are stressful to deliver, but it is important that each of us understand the state of Zion’s finances and that each of us understands our part in supporting Zion’s ministries within the broader community. I’m hopeful that someday, and someday SOON one of us will be able to stand up here and profile how flush we are and all the additional outreaches we can fund because of it. But FC can only work with one side of the equation – that is allocating the dollars we receive.

With the aide of staff, committees and Finance Secretary Sue Stensrud, there has been a very tight focus on keeping expenses as lean as possible. It’s important to remember that more than 70 cents of every dollar of budget goes to pay staff salaries and that program expense is already very very lean here. Everyone operates on a shoe string budget and we do amazing outreach with what we have. There are many things to be hopeful about and positive about heading into the fall, including:

• a new Senior pastor starting in a week and we are optimistic that under his steadying hand and guidance we will find new and innovative ways to approach our finances and stewardship.
• We have a host of positive ideas that have been raised by Bridgebuilder task forces over the summer and which council will be addressing in great detail with Pastor Ted’s help in the New Year.
• We have hundreds of kids in Sunday School, confirmation and youth programs spanning all ages.
• We have scores of people involved in music ministry.
• We have a very active social ministry committee that helps strengthen and solidify our ministry within Buffalo and surrounding communities.
• We have active ministries like the Wednesday suppers, Harvest of Hands, etc etc etc that place us solidly in this community.

So, while trends in the past few months have been trying, we remain ever hopeful that we are near a key inflection point in Zion’s future. As always, we welcome any comments, questions, concerns – or new members! If you have input, please contact one of the finance committee members:

• Craig Fautsch, Chair
• Joyce Dehmer, Secretary
• Jud Goerss, Church Treasurer
• Len Bengtson
• Jason Kabe
• Chuck Zumbusch
• Carol Clark

Sunday School Students: Stop in the Sunday School office with your answer and to choose your prize!

Kindergarten through second grade question: Who was the Giant that David had to fight?

Third grade through sixth grade question: Where was the Giant Goliath from?

It’s hard to believe that students in the Christmas program are beginning practice already!

Practices will be Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays November 2-24 from 3:45-5:00pm. There are no buses from the schools on those days, so please make your own transportation arrangements.

• November 4: Follow God
• November 11: God is on our side
• November 18: Listen to God
• November 25: There is no school and no Kids’ Club

Kids’ Club has several opportunities for you to be involved! If you’d like to volunteer once or several times, contact Roxie.

Weekly Topics:

• November 4: Protect Property
• November 11: Defend Truth
• November 18: Do Not Covet
• November 25: NO CLASS – Thanksgiving

Be sure to bring your Bibles, Lutheran Handbooks and a pen each week.

Confirmation Homework Due November 18

• Statement of Faith – Due Nov 18
• 7th Grade – Who is God?
• 8th Grade – What is the Church?
• Worksheet #1 & Memory Work #1

Graceland, which meets on Wed nights from 7:15-9pm, is open to all Senior High students!

Weekly Topics:

• Nov 4 – Belief part 3
• Nov 11, 18 & Dec 2 – Changed

Members of Redeemer, young and old enjoy the beauty and safety of the new front stairway. The work was done by Zion members Dave and Doug Schmidt.

As well as partnering in worship with Redeemer Lutheran Church, Zion has also been an active partner in helping Redeemer begin a capital campaign with the emphasis being on replacing the roof of their building. As Redeemer began their campaign, they realized that the front stairs were no longer safe for entrance into the building. Something had to be done to make the front entrance safe. This is where Zion members Dave and Doug Schmidt came in. They went to Redeemer and met with Pastor Kelly and discussed what needed to be done. Pastor Kelly gave them the OK to proceed with tearing down the old steps and building new ones. In Dave’s words…

“Rick Johnson asked if we would look at Redeemer’s front entrance because they had major problems. For years, I had heard about Redeemer being our sister church.  I thought it was a very large newer church, so I never paid much attention, but I agreed to look at the problem. Wow, was I surprised to see a smaller, older church with some problems, but a great Pastor Kelly and I was introduced to the staff who were very nice people.

We agreed on a price and started to rip out the steps and ramps leading up to a gathering area in front of the church. As we got into the project, everything started crumbling and shaking, even the stuff we thought we could leave. I talked to Pastor Kelly and he said, “Well, let’s fix it right.” I was extremely nervous about the situation, thinking there’s not even a foundation under all this mess.

Suddenly we found a foundation, under everything, solid as a rock with not a crack in it anywhere. We started to rebuild the entrance, starting on a solid foundation. Well now we’re finished, with all new steps and ramps as well as a gathering area at the front door. The railings are all new with Redeemer Lutheran Church inscribed right in the metal – very cool!

Everyone is happy, and I guess God had his hand in the project so that everything would work out, starting with that solid foundation buried under tons of rotting rubble. In today’s troubled world, I have been reminded by God that there is a solid foundation buried underneath all that’s happening in our lives. God is our foundation, so don’t worry!”

As you can see by the picture, the members of Redeemer are happy and grateful for the efforts of the Schmidt’s to make the entrance once again safe and also beautiful. The following comments from Pastor Kelly express his feelings about the capital campaign and the repair of the front steps. It is written to the members of Redeemer, but also has a message for all of us.

“Your capital campaign contributions and pledges made it possible for Redeemer to respond when the front stairway to the church deteriorated to the point of danger. We were blessed to have the contributions and pledges that made it possible to secure a contractor to build a new wall and entrance to Redeemer. Thanks to the capital campaign, people are safe to enter the church.

As I think about the unstable entrance to a church that is under construction, I think about how congregations like Redeemer are the entrance way to a Lutheran Church that has also become unstable and at risk. The church is unstable and at rick when people look at the church and wonder will there be a place for them leadership? If they dare to alk through throught the doors, will the church embrace them or try to change them? Will they find a church structure where people argue, criticize and judge or will they feel unsafe? When people dare to put their feet down on the structure of the church, is the intention to fully include them? Will they feel unsafe?

When we made our contribution to the capital campaign, it was a no brainer for us because in Redeemer we have found a dedicated congregation where people can feel safe to enter church. The entrance to Redeemer is built and cemented in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Bible study, choir, Sunday School, quilting, Busy fingers, cookouts, Narcotics Anonymous, Living Room, or affordable housing are all to support our understanding of God’sove and message that everyone is safe to belong and ennter God’s beloved community.”

Thanks to our Volunteer Gardeners for this past season of beautiful Garden plantings at Zion.

If you are interested in a garden space, please contact the Church office for details.

In the Fall 2009 issue of Thrivent Magazine, Gretchen Roberts asks “How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb?” The answer is “None. Lutherans don’t believe in change.” The joke makes us chuckle because we see ourselves in it, however on the outskirts of actual truth it may be. It’s not that we’re inflexible when it comes to change. It’s just that we put our hope in someone who does not change – God. His love, His grace and His word are eternal.

She goes on to shed a humorous light on 10 things that help make us Lutherans a unique bunch.

Go to the Thrivent Magazine website to find out why Lutherans:

1. Sit in the back of the church.
2. Reprint the entire worship service in a bulletin when we have hymnals.
3. Consider our main form of socialization the potluck (with mandatory Jell-O®).
4. Consider it a badge of honor to show as little emotion as possible.
5. Approach the church’s spending with a careful eye, but often give anonymously to those in need.
6. Live our faith all day and all week, even in our work.
7. Avoid saying hello to new people in church.
8. Volunteer endlessly even though we believe we’re saved by grace alone.
9. Pass the peace when secretly we feel that shaking hands and/or hugging our neighbor in church is too intimate.
10. Baptize babies.

For 20 years Rivers of Hope has served families and youth in Wright County by building violence-free homes and communities. You will be able to learn more about what this organization does and how we can help them as they will be our Social Ministry Mission of the month in December.

Learn more about Rivers of Hope by attending a brief presentation in Fellowship Hall after the first service on Sunday, November 22.