WEEKLY E-MESSENGER FROM REFORMATION LUTHERAN CHURCH

       For the Week Beginning December 28, 2017

First Sunday after Christmas

 THE WEEK AT REFORMATION

Saturday – 5:00 p.m. Service of Holy Communion

Sunday – 9:30 a.m. Service of Holy Communion

Wednesday – 10 a.m. Eucharist followed by Prayer Ministry

 

Wishing you all a Blessed New Year filled with Hope, Peace, and Joy

The office will be closed Monday for New Year’s Day

Come join us for worship this weekend – both services this weekend will be Lessons and Carols with Holy Communion

(There is no Sunday Church School or Nursery Coverage this Sunday)

PRAYER LISTS/REQUESTS

 As we began our new church year, we too began our new prayer lists.  If you have someone on the prayer list and you would like them to remain on the prayer list for the new church year, please call (732-229-9180), email (reformationwlb@gmail.com) or leave a note on Debbie’s desk. Please remember, unless otherwise asked, we will put your loved ones name on the weekly spoken prayer list for 4 weeks and then they will remain on the prayer list below and in the monthly messengers indefinitely (until you let us know we can remove them).

  PRAYER REQUESTS

 

Amy Applton, Phil Apruzzi, Baby Arabella, Haley Brunner, Allan & Christa Buergin, David Ditrick, Amanda Ferraro, Coralee Gleason, Royce Howell, Thomas Jansen, Don Keller, Sharon Kennedy, Joe Lombardo, Joyce Mendez, Mark Mercerino, Beth Nilsson, Joan Nolan, John Powlesland, Francesca Rashid, Glen Robinson, Dolores Strockbine

UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES AT REFORMATION

Sunday, January 7 – SCS resumes as does Nursery coverage

Monday, January 8 – Reformation Exercise Class resumes with light Qi Gong

Monday, January 8 – Prayer Shawl Ministry meets at 7

Tuesday, January 9 – weather permitting the Crafters will meet at 12

Tuesday, January 9 – Council meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, January 28 – Annual Congregational Business Meeting following worship

 

Christmas

On Saturday the 30th at 5:00 pm, and Sunday the 31st at 9:30 am, the 6th and 7th days of Christmas, we will gather for services of Lessons and Carols with Holy Communion.

 EPIPHANY

 Dinner Church, January 6th at 5:00 pm

13 days after Christmas, the Church keeps The Feast of the Epiphany. This feast marks the end of the Advent and Christmas cycle with remembering the coming of the Magi, Kings or Wise Men.

As Epiphany falls on a Saturday Evening this year, the Worship and Music and Fellowship Committees have chosen this for our next Dinner Church event.

We will gather for a 3-course pot-luck dinner and Eucharistic celebration. As we share the meal we will also pray, sing, read Scripture, hear preaching and share Holy Communion.

Those who have participated in our previous dinner church events have raved about how wonderful it is to spend an evening in prayer, praise, thanksgiving and Communion, all in a relaxed and casual setting. Why not give it a try!

We are planning to include some child-friendly “3 Kings” related activity as part of the gathering.

Keep an eye and ear open for further details, and be sure to sign up to participate as the date draws nearer.

 

Baptism of our Lord – Baptismal Recognition

At our morning service on January 7, The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, we will invite for a time of blessing and recognition, those who have been baptized in the previous year.

We will also offer an opportunity for all those gathered on that day to affirm the covenant God made with us all in Holy Baptism.

Come and celebrate the gift of Baptism and God’s great love poured out over us as God names us and claims us as children of God!

COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS

Wednesday, January 10th at 7:30 p.m. – Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Congregation Torat El, 301 Monmouth Rd. Oakhurst.  All are welcome to attend but please do RSVP to 732-531-4410 to help Torat El plan. It’s an evening of learning and remembering with a dessert buffet reception afterwards. The flyer is on the kiosk in the gathering area with more details

Sunday, January 28th at 11 a.m. – Meet Judy Singer author of In the Shadow of Alabama at Congregation Torat El. $10 per person with a light bagel brunch.  Plan to read the book prior to attending.  It is a deeply personal novel based on the experience of the author’s father, a Jewish boy from Brooklyn, who as a master sergeant during WWII, is put in charge of an all-African American platoon in the segregated South.  The flyer is on the kiosk in the gathering area with more details

Summer 2018 – YES – SUMMER 2018 We’ve received the Cross Roads Camp and Retreat Center full summer camp schedule.  There are a few new camps and all of the very many choices of old favorites.  Please be sure to check out the flyers in the gathering area. There is something for everyone – all ages – all seasons – not just summer!!!