Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

L I V I N G T O D A Y F O R E T E R N I T Y

LIVING SAVIORLutheran Church

How’s your Advent going so far?  I know that for most of us Advent is a very busy time of preparation for Christmas, which it rightly should be.  Even so, we don’t want the busyness of this season to

scream for our attention so much that we can’t hear the glad sound that our Savior comes.  During the three Advent midweek services this year, we’ll focus on the songs in three familiar parts of the of the Advent and Christmas accounts in the Bible. The theme of the midweek services is based on a well-known Advent hymn, “Hark the Glad Sound!”  In that hymn we rejoice in knowing that our Savior, who was promised so long ago, comes to us.  As with all the hymns we sing, there are scripture verses that have inspired its words.  I’d like to share those words with you

here as a way of preparation for the weeks to come.--Isaiah prophesies about John the Baptist and all prophets:  “A voice cries:  ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”  (Isaiah 40:3)--Jesus taught the people that these words from Isaiah 61:1-2 were prophesied about him:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)--Like the people of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we also cry out:  “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”  (Matthew 21:9) May the fact that Christmas is coming soon (with all you have to do) not steal away the joy that our Savior comes!

December 2015

Inside This Issue

Notes from Pastor........1 Activities & Events…...2

Articles of Interest…….4

Birthdays & Anniversaries……..……8

December Calendar..…9

HARK THE GLAD SOUND!

Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Dec 2, 9, 16 Advent Supper &

Worship

Dec 3 Ladies’ Lunch

Bunch

Dec 12 Christmas in Montgomery

Dec 13 Children’s Christmas Program

Dec 24 Christmas Eve

Worship

Dec 31 New Year’s Eve

Worship

Ladies Lunch Bunch Thursday, December 3 at 11:30am

We will be meeting at Pizza Shack in Montgomery. Come join us for food and fellowship! Contact Joice at 936.588.6782 or rgfang43@consolidated.net for more details or to RSVP.

Advent Suppers & Services Wednesdays, Dec 2, 9, and 16

Supper at 5:30pm; Service at 6:30pm

Leave behind the shopping, the cooking, the decorating and the stress and join us for a time of TRUE CHRISTmas preparation. If you can, come a little early for some food and fellowship. Supper on December 2 will be hosted by the Mary-Martha Guild LWML. The Confirmand parents will be providing supper on December 9. And, the Youth will be cooking on December 16. Please join us!

Christmas Eve Worship Thursday, December 24 at 4:00, 6:00 & 8:00p

Join us for candlelight worship celebrating the birth of the Newborn King. Communion will be offered at the 8:00 service.

Ladies' Bible Study Thursday Mornings at 10:00am

The current study is Golden Fruit: Nine Lessons about the Fruit of the Spirit. Each lesson focuses on a fruit of the spirit: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Women of the Bible are used to show how God produced the fruits of faith in them.If you have been thinking about joining the Ladies' Bible Study, now would be a great time to do it. Please prayerfully consider joining us. On December 10, we will be starting on Week 2:The Joy of Elizabeth. What an appropriate lesson for Advent!

Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

The Houston Lutheran Chorale Annual Christmas Concert

Saturday, December 5 at 7:30p at Memorial Lutheran Church in Katy

Sunday, December 6 at 4:00p at Trinity Lutheran Church Downtown

For your listening pleasure over the holidays, the Houston Lutheran Chorale presents their annual Christmas Concert. No tickets are necessary.

“Glad Tidings”

Friday night, December 11, at 7:30

You are invited to First United Methodist Church in Conroe to hear Montgomery County Choral Society’s Christmas Concert “Glad Tidings”. Hear all the familiar carols of the season for choir and orchestra.  Add in the sweet voices of the Montgomery Junior High School Concert Women's Choir, directed by Joseph Bonsuelo, and the magic begins! Tickets are available at the door or through Paul or Claudia Downing.

“O Holy Night”

Saturday, December 19 at 8:00p

Texas Master Chorale presents their Frosted Pearls Christmas Concert “O Holy Night” including guest high school: Cy-Fair Chorale, directed by Jed Ragsdale. All Texas Master Chorale Performances are held at The Centrum, in Spring. Tickets are available at the door or through Kathy Lamprecht.

Houston Area Holiday Music Concerts

Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

Christmas In Montgomery Saturday, December 12 - Sunday, December 13

Before the busy starts…mark your calendar!! Living Savior hosts Breakfast with Santa, provides cookies & hostesses for the Montgomery Home Tour, enters a float in the Christmas Parade and serves the annual Texas Christmas Dinner followed by the Children’s Christmas Program.

“A Super Christmas” Evening Sunday, December 13 at 5:00p

You are invited to our congregational Texas Christmas Dinner served by the Fellowship Team at 5:00p….brisket with all the trimmings! Dinner will be served in the Family Life Center and a free-will offering will be taken. Following the meal, sit back and enjoy the Children’s Christmas Program at 6:30p in the sanctuary.

Breakfast With Santa

Saturday, December 12 at 8:00-10:00am Help is needed on Friday afternoon to set up for Breakfast with Santa! Additional elves are always needed on Saturday morning to help with breakfast. If you are available to help, please contact Annet Riley at 713-598-2556 or asriley@ymail.com.

Calling All Bakers Cookies are needed for the Candlelight Home Tour Open House on Saturday and for the Children’s Christmas Program on Sunday. If you are able to donate cookies, whether homemade or store-bought, please label them “Christmas in Montgomery” and leave them in the LSLC kitchen by Saturday morning.

Christmas Parade Saturday, December 12 at 10:00am

We need Sunday School Kids to ride on the float! Line-up begins at 10:00am, near the Charles B. Stewart Library, with step-off at 11:00am. We need all Sunday School kids on the float by 10:30; please wear a Christmas shirt and bring an adult with you!!

Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

NOTES FROM THE MUSIC

DEPARTMENT

So, the turkey is done with, and we’ve already jumped into the season of ADVENT! The paraments are now BLUE! The FIRST MID-WEEK ADVENT Service is Wednesday, December 2nd at 6:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.

HARK THE GLAD SOUND is the exciting Advent mid-week series theme. We are using a Family Friendly version where we will all gather and join our voices with Zechariah, Mary, and the Angels to sing and celebrate the songs of Advent found in Scripture!

Remember Zechariah? He is Elizabeth’s husband, and cousin-in-law to Mary (the mother of Jesus). Anyway, now that we are confused, we will learn how his Song revealed that his newborn son will be a prophet, sent to prepare the way of the Lord. His son will be called (drum roll, please)…JOHN! (as in the Baptizer.) Zechariah’s Song serves as a MELODY OF REPENTANCE for us today.

Wednesday, December 9th at 6:30 we will focus on The Song of Mary….You may recall this as being The Magnificat, where Mary’s Song declares that the Lord has remembered his covenant with us through his Son, making this a MELODY OF REMEMBRANCE for us…

The final midweek Advent service will be on Wednesday, December 16 at 6:30. (went fast, didn’t it?)

This night we will hear about The Song of the Angels as they announced with great joy the Good News of Christ’s birth, and echoes through our lives today as a MELODY OF REJOICING for us!

Don’t forget…there will be light suppers served prior to each Mid-week service at 5:30, (one provided by confirmand parents) and Choir Practice will be at 7:15 on those Wednesdays.

REPENT, BELIEVE, and DO will be our focus on Sunday, December 6th. This will be the Sunday we turn in our pledge cards of our Time, Treasures, and Talents. What a blessing to give back to God!

After celebrating CHRISTMAS IN HISTORICAL MONTGOMERY on Saturday the 12th, we REJOICE IN THE GOOD NEWS on Sunday, December 13th!! The Sunday School Children present A SUPER CHRISTMAS starting at 6:30p, preceded by a delicious BBQ dinner at 5:00p! It is always wonderful to see the children of our church active in worship and service, so come!!

“Bless Your Soul” is actually part of the dialogue between Elizabeth and Mary and will be our message on Sunday, December 20th.

CHRISTMAS EVE offers a number of worship opportunities, including special music at all three Christmas Eve services. These are wonderful services to invite friends and neighbors to attend. They will be SERVICES OF LESSONS AND CAROLS. The paraments are now white!

Come with expectation on Sunday the 27th, as we regroup and ponder this” Infant Lowly, Infant Holy” with less stress and settle down to wrap our minds around the amazing Gift and Giver we are chosen to know!.

Then, there’s NEW YEAR’S EVE SERVICE at 5:00 P.M. This quiet and contemplative service will focus on “It’s About Time”. If you’ve never been to one of these services, make this one your first!.

The HOUSTON LUTHERAN CHORALE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY CHORAL SOCIETY, and TEXAS MASTER CHORALE are each presenting memorable Christmas Concerts this holiday season. Attending these events supports the arts in our area. These are all wonderful choirs and venues, and all are spiritually meaningful and extremely well-done.

My personal prayers are for each of you to be blessed abundantly spiritually, and particularly over the celebration of the Birth of our Savior!

Oh Come, Let Us Adore Him, Christ The Lord….and….Go Tell It On The

Mountain!

“In God our

hearts rejoice, for

we trust in his holy

name.”

Psalm 33:21

Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

Your Mites at Work “Last biennium LWML granted $30,000 to Lutheran Church Charities (LCC) to train three K-9 Comfort Dogs to aid those who share the love of Jesus and help spread the Gospel to people who are hurting and in need.  

This week a second team of LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs and handlers arrived in Roseburg, Oregon to supplement the original team of six dogs and twelve handlers. The administration of Umpqua Community College requested the LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs as the only outside group to be present when students returned to classes on the campus where mass shootings claimed ten lives and seriously injured nine. 

Tim Hetzner, President of Lutheran Church Charities says, “In the midst of crisis God works - and works through His people. Healing, hope, compassion, the listening presence of another, and the soft fur of a Comfort Dog; all things that God does and works through. What an impact for Jesus Christ in bringing the mercy, compassion, presence, and proclamation of Jesus Christ to those suffering!”Deployed team leader Rich Martin said, "We have never prayed with more people in a deployment than this one. It is non-stop, people wanting to talk and wanting us to pray!"Your support of mission grants through mite offerings relieves suffering, shares Christ’s peace, and spreads the Gospel to a world in need of God’s love.”Note: This makes putting in our loose change more meaningful, doesn’t it?

Reminders!! Don’t forget to continue to add dimes to your Dime Stocking! Also,

continue to collect Mites and deposit them in the large Mite box the first Sunday of each month. Small Mite boxes are available, but are not

necessary for collecting.

School Supply Kits We are still collecting school supplies for Lutheran World Relief School Kits. The LWML will continue collecting for the Kits through Palm Sunday of 2016. Sixty backpacks have been purchased and our goal is to fill all of them! Items needed are:

notebooks (70 sheet ruled 8 x 10 1/2“)#2 unsharpened pencils with eraserssharpeners rulers (30cm on one side and inches on the other)blunt scissorsballpoint pens (no gel pens)erasers boxes of either 16 or 24 crayons

Collection containers will be in the Fellowship Hall or Church entry. Monetary donations are also accepted. (please make checks out to Mary-Martha, LWML). As always, thank you for your donations.

Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

Missed Church? Have you missed church recently due to scheduling, illness, etc…? Did you know that there are worship opportunities available on the radio or on-line? The Lutheran Hour, with wonderful pastors from our synod, is broadcast every Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on 105.7 FM radio. The call letters for this station are KHCB (Keeping Him Close By). During the week, this station has commercial free broadcasting of Christian programs and music. You can obtain their schedule at www.khcb.org. Another “closer to home” opportunity is available on our website, www.livingsaviortexas.org. Thank you to Larry Wunderlich, videos of Pastor Bailes preaching his latest sermon is available for your viewing. Just simply visit our website, click on the button labeled “Media” at the bottom right of the home page. The most

recent newsletters and sermon videos are posted for you! Now, even if you miss, you can still stay current!

If you have any articles, photos or news-worthy items, please send them to

Carol Bowen at news@livingsaviortexas.org. The deadline for the January newsletter is

Monday, December 21.

Happy Mike Newman 12/5Robert Mattfeld 12/6Kim Wunderlich 12/8Olin Crowley 12/10Steve Cirtaus 12/11Bethany Perez 12/11Frank Kutach 12/12Ed Moe 12/13Joe Henschel 12/14Kathryn Langloisq 12/15Eric Mattfeld 12/15

Birthday! Brittany Downing 12/25Diane Hadley 12/29Tammy Dawson 12/30Ron Fangmann 12/30Lee Kurtas 12/30Elle Godfrey 12/31

Happy Anniversary!

Kevin & Sarah Wieghat 12/6Gary & Kim Howze 12/18Charles & Ruth Bland 12/20Roger & Carol Bartel 12/30Tim & Tiffany Mattfeld 12/30

Living Savior Lutheran Church * 309 Pond St. * Montgomery, TX 77356 * 936-597-8013

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1

5:15 Girl Scout Troop 10836

6:00p Long Range Planning Mtg

2

5:30p Advent Supper

6:30p Advent Worship

7:15p Choir

3

10:00a LWML

4

Pastor’s Day Off

5

8:30a Church Council Mtg

10:00a Music Practice

68:00a Worship9:15a Fellow.9:30a Sun. Sch. 9:30a Voter Mtg10:45a Worship2:00p Bailes Christmas Open House

7

6:00p Girl Scout Troop 10822

8 9

5:30p Advent Supper

6:30p Advent Worship

7:15p Choir

10

10:00a Ladies’ Bible Study

11

Pastor’s Day Off

6:00p Children’s Christmas Prog. Dress Rehearsal

12Christmas in Montgomery…8a Breakfast w/Santa9a Crafts10a Parade4p Home Tour

138:00a Worship9:15a Fellow.9:30a Sun. Sch. & Bible Study10:45a Worship5:00p TX Christmas Dinner6:30p Children’s Christmas Prog.

14

6:00p Girl Scout Troop 10822

15

6:30p Women’s Bible Study

16

5:30p Advent Supper

6:30p Advent Worship

7:15p Choir

17

10:00a Ladies’ Bible Study

5:15p Girl Scout Troop 10836

18

Pastor’s Day Off

19

10:00a Music Practice

4:00p Bailes Family Christmas Party

208:00a Worship9:15a Fellow.9:30a Sun. Sch. & Bible Study10:45a Worship

21

6:00p Nat’l Charity League Ticktocker Class of 2016

22 23 24 CHRISTMAS EVE4:00p & 6:00p Candlelight Worship8:00p Candlelight Worship w/Comm.

CHURCH OFFICE CLOSED

25

CHRISTMAS

CHURCH OFFICE CLOSED

26

10:00a Music Practice

278:00a Worship9:15a Fellow.9:30a Sun. Sch. & Bible Study10:45a Worship

28 29 30 31NEW YEAR’S

EVE5:00p Worship

December 2015