Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

November 19, 2017

Church News and Events

A big Thank You to those who helped make the Thanksgiving Dinner a big success!! We had about 75 people attend. A good time and good food was had by all.

Many thanks to all who have turned in their pledges and time and talent surveys. If you haven’t done so, please do ASAP.

Advent devotion booklets are here. Pick yours up in the back entryway or the Narthex. Make daily devotions a part of the Advent season. Advent starts December 3.

Gratitude Meditation December 9 - Research has shown that practicing gratitude meditation increases one's feelings of gratitude. Surprisingly, it also increases one's well-being and sleep quality and decreases levels of depression. To coincide with the holidays, the Mental Health Ministry is hosting a Gratitude Meditation, led by Linda Doyle, a trained family counselor and clinical social worker. Please join us at this

Special Congregational Meeting

for the purpose of calling a Pastor — Sunday, December 3, immediately after 11:15 service, in the sanctuary

This meeting will be for the purpose of calling a pastor and accepting the Definition of Compensation, Benefits, and Responsibilities of the Pastor. A quorum of voting members as defined by the Constitution is required. There is no absentee voting. Two-thirds of those in attendance must vote affirmatively for the motion to pass.

Save the Date:

Meet and Greet the candidate for pastor of Grace on Wednesday, November 29, in the Fellowship Hall at the following times:

3:30 – 5 p.m. and 6 – 7:30 p.m.

There will be a nursery available at 6 p.m.

Light snacks and beverages will be provided.

Prayer meeting is held on the third Tuesday of each month. The informal format includes scripture, time for meditation, music, and corporate and individual prayer opportunities. The next meeting is Tuesday, November 21, at 7:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary. All are welcome — bring a friend! This Prayer

Meeting will be devoted to HEALING. Come as you are. If you have a friend who needs healing, encourage that person to come if possible.

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unique event on Saturday, December 9, at 1:00 p.m. in the fellowship hall. All are welcome to participate in this FREE event.

Flower Calendar for 2018: You may sign up to give altar flowers in honor or in memory of a loved one or to celebrate a special event in the coming year.

The 2018 flower calendar is posted in the hallway above the mail folders. Your donation of $25 will provide flowers for both the traditional and contemporary services. Thanks to everyone for your support.

A Joyful Noise: First Harmony (for age 6 and up) rehearses from 3:00-4:00 p.m., Wednesdays. Ringspiration handbell choir rehearses at 5:45 p.m. weekly; Chancel Choir at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome!

Learning Opportunities at Grace

Children and Youth Sunday School: All classes meet at 10:00 a.m. The children meet in Jacob’s Ladder (the room beside the nursery). Youth meet upstairs in the youth room (at the top of the stairs to the right).

The Adult Sunday School Class is using the video Christianity: the Second 1000 Years. We are currently focusing on the effect of Christianity in the New World, especially the development of the United States, as well as Europe in the 18th century. We will finish this series in the next couple of weeks and then look at Lutheranism in America.

Monday Morning Bible Study is now studying the Book of Amos. Class meets from 10-11:30 a.m. in Room 101. Members and friends are welcome!

Thursday Evening Bible Study Invites You! We are using Ray Vander Laan's video series Faith Lessons: In the Dust of the Rabbi. This video series presents the events and characters of the Bible in their original setting to better understand the cultural context of the Scriptures. The group meets on Thursdays, in Room 101 at 7:00 p.m. Each video stands alone, so feel free to join as you can!

Proclaiming Commission is exploring the Alpha approach to reaching out to unchurched and formerly churched folks. If you might be interested in finding out more, please visit the alphausa.org website and explore. We are looking to start in mid-January for Grace folks. Please contact Nancy Munro, Christy Gipson, Pat Hope, or Stan Long if you want to know more about this.

What is OLSE? Other Languages for Speakers of English, a spontaneous outgrowth of our ESOL program. Currently, we have four ongoing classes! Spanish, taught by our very own Jeniffer Navarro, meets Thursdays from 6-7 p.m. in Room 101; Chinese, taught by native Mandarin speaker Lotus Wang, meets Fridays from 9:30-11:00 a.m. in Room 101. Korean class, taught by native speaker Aileen O’Kada, meets Mondays, at 9:30-11:00 a.m., in Room 107. All are free and open to anyone, Grace member or not. Please let the office know if you’d be interested in an Arabic class.

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Fellowship

The next Men's Group meeting will be on Saturday, December 9. Coffee will be ready by 7:30 am with breakfast at 8:00 am. Our speaker will be John Gunning who tell us about "Nuclear Fishin on America's Great Loop" which is the 6,000 mile journey by water around the Eastern half of the United States which should be fascinating. All men of Grace are invited to attend. If you have any questions, please contact Phil Stumbo.

New Prayer Chain Coordinators: If you have a prayer chain request or would like to be added to the list of those who provide prayer, please email or text Sylvia Countess or Donna Gurecki.

The Prayer Shawl Ministry has weekly working meetings on Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., in the narthex. Anyone interested in crafting a prayer shawl in the company of others is invited. All who want to learn how to knit or crochet are also invited. There is plenty of yarn to use, but you will need to bring knitting needles or a crochet hook of the appropriate size. Please contact Dore Busch or Barbara Sparks if you would like more information.

Memorials for Victoria’s sister—Katherine Medaglia-Wilkie should be sent to: Traci’s Hope (This is a breast cancer non-profit) P.O. Box 504 Apalachin, NY 13732

Opportunities to Serve Please save the date! December 17 will offer the chance to enjoy both our Christmas Cantata at the 11:15 service and our caroling party that evening. We will gather at 5:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, then visit homebound, nursing homes and the neighborhood. Please invite friends and family to sing!

Fall has arrived! Time to get busy making hats to give away with our Christmas Baskets. If you can knit or crochet, there are patterns and yarn available in the narthex. How many can you make by December 16th? I’ve already made 20, but I got a head start. Please help!

Flower Guild members arrange flowers for the altar and special events, including the Flower Festival. If you are interested in joining the Flower Guild, please contact one of the members.

Coats for the Cold: Please leave coats on the hanging rack in the back entry ASAP. Last year, KARM collected over 6,000 coats. Every donated winter coat was given to someone in our community. This year, they expect to provide more than 10,000 coats to those in need. In order to meet this goal, they will work with us to transport coats from our church to KARM Stores.

If you have coupons from KARM and would like to donate them to the church, please put them in Judy Joy’s folder.

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Communications

An updated directory is now available. Members may request a printed or electronic copy from the office.

As the call process is winding down, please thank the members of our Call Committee for their excellent work and many hours of service. Members are: Christy Gipson, Nelson Lingle, Harry Meyer (Chair), Heston Moua, Paula Pope, and Margaret Cumberland. The Call Process Manual is available on the SE Synod website (https://sites.google.com/a/elca-ses.org/elca/resources/call-process-manual) if you are interested in learning more about the process.

Events in the Wider Community

The next Homelessness Community Meeting will be tomorrow, Monday, Nov. 20th from 5:30-7 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Clinton in the Lower Auditorium (main building, 1st floor). This will be our last meeting for this year. We will continue our open forum discussion and discuss the proposed meeting time and name changes for our group. We will share information gathered from the poll on the subjects, share pros, cons, and concerns, after which we hope to make a decision. We will also brainstorm visions for this group in the new year. We hope you can join us. (A report of the last meeting is on the bulletin board.)

If you have bulletin board announcements, check with the office about where and how to put them up. Please date all bulletin board announcements. Items will be left up until the date of the event being announced. If the item is not about a particular event, it will be left for several weeks then replaced or moved. If bulletin boards are not changed periodically, they lose their effectiveness and people are less likely to pay attention to them.

Prayer list: Please use the “Prayer Concerns Request” form for adding names of church members, family, and friends to the Special Concerns List. Request forms are available in the narthex, the back entry, and the church office. Requests may also be made via email. This “Family and Friends” section is updated weekly; names will be removed after 6 weeks, unless the request is renewed.

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Worship Volunteer Schedule

Date November 26

Christ the King Sunday December 3 December 10

Time 9:00 9:00 9:00 11:15 11:15 11:15

Lector/Reader

Gayla Cutler Paul Gurecki Karla Hollenbach

Larry Sparks Judy Joy Paula Pope

Readings

Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24 Psalm 95: 1-7a Ephesians 1: 15-23 Matthew 25: 31-46

Isaiah 64: 1-9 Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9 Mark 13: 4-37

Isaiah 40: 1-11 Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13 2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1: 1-8

Liturgist Barbara Sparks

Robert Stewart

Vicki Quraishi

Worship Leader

Paul Gurecki Betty Dagley Randy Nesbit

Acolyte Lana Haese Quinten Fritts Brianna Weber

Jacob Moua Kennedy Weber

Evan Weber

Merry Ann Hansen

Chelsea Martin Gayla Cutler

Ushers Mack Bailey/ Jim Slice

Andy & Jessica Moehl

George Smith / Nelson Lingle

Lisa Sipes

Steve & Marianne Johnson

Audrey Elam/ Sigrid Ludemann

Gayla Cutler David & Kathy Olsen

Ken Altes/ Barbara Walker

Flower Guild

Alicia Rudat Marla Weber Marla Weber

Offering Stewards

Valerie Hansen, Ingrid Busch

George Smith, Nelson Lingle

George Smith, Nelson Lingle

Altar Guild

Kathy Olsen, Ingrid Busch, Nahida Jallouk

Kris Brenner, Lorraine Huynh, Judy Joy

Kris Brenner, Lorraine Huynh, Judy Joy

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This Week at Grace

CR = Choir Room; FH = Fellowship Hall; JL = Jacob’s Ladder; N = Narthex;

O = Office; S = Sanctuary; SS = Sunday School Rooms

Sunday, November 19 7:45am 4th Day Reunion Rm 101 9:00am Contemporary Worship FH 10:00am Children/Youth Sunday School Varied 10:10am Adult Sunday School Rm 101 11:15am Traditional Worship S Monday, November 20 LIGHT DEADLINE 9-11am ESOL Class Rm 210 9:30am Korean Class Rm 107 10:00am Bible Study Rm 101 11:00am Gentle Movement Class FH 1:00pm Russian Class Rm 101 5:15pm 4th Day Reunion Chapel 5:15pm Aerobics FH Tuesday, November 21 9-11am ESOL Class Rm 107 5:15pm Aerobics FH 6-8pm ESOL Classes Rms 210-213 7:00pm Prayer Meeting S

Wednesday, November 22 9-11am ESOL Class Rm 101 3:00pm First Harmony S 4:00pm Prayer Shawl Knitters N 5:45pm Ringspiration S 7:00pm Chancel Choir S Thursday, November 23 HAPPY THANKSGIVING Friday, November 24 Saturday, November 25 Sunday, November 26 7:45am 4th Day Reunion Rm 101 9:00am Contemporary Worship FH 10:00am Children/Youth Sunday School Varied 10:10am Adult Sunday School Rm 101 11:15am Traditional Worship S

You know you’re a Lutheran if

you think the phrase “Lutheran Bishop” is an oxymoron.

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Grace’s Mission Statement: Love Jesus and Help Others Love

Him, Too.

We are on a spiritual journey together. Although we have all traveled different roads, God has met each of us on the way. Jesus has accepted us as we are and we strive to do so with one another – thankful for the past, excited about the present and expectant of a wonderful future as the Holy Spirit guides us to be the people of God.

We welcome and involve all people in the life of the family of faith no matter what their journeys so that they may experience the grace we have received from Jesus Christ. We celebrate our life together in worship, prayer, study of scripture, service and fellowship. If you are looking for a Christian community of diversity that will love you, proclaim the good news of God’s unconditional love, offer a place to use your spiritual gifts to the glory of God, and grow with you in God’s love through ser-vice to the local community and world, we invite you to experience the gospel with those who believe that Grace makes a world of difference.

Grace Makes a World of Difference

Our worship schedule is:

9:00 a.m. Contemporary Worship Service (FH) 10:00-11:00 a.m. Children and Youth Sunday School 10:10-11:00 a.m. Adult Sunday School 11:15 a.m. Traditional Worship Service 10:00 a.m. Unified Service every 5th Sunday (Next on Dec. 31)

Audio recordings of recent sermons are available on the church’s website, www.graceoakridge.org. Click on the Church Life tab in the menu, then click Worship, then Sermons (or go here). CDs with recordings of the 11:15a.m. service are available in the

narthex each Sunday. Grace has a Facebook page! Give it a look — It has daily devotionals and more! Get there from our website or go directly to https://www.facebook.com/Grace-Evangelical-Lutheran-Church-Oak-Ridge-TN-303773583084/

Office Hours: Office secretary, Victoria Medaglia, is here from 9-1, Monday and Tuesday, 9-4 on Wednesday, and 9-2 on Thursday. Contact Victoria at 865-483-3787 or office@graceor.org.

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2018 Stewardship Drive Update

Our first reports have come in from our Stewardship drive for 2018. Forty eight (48) pledges have been received.

If you have not pledged, there is still time to do so. Pledge cards are placed throughout the church area or you may pick up a pledge card in the church office.

The graph below shows that we are behind on our pledges. The $163, 646 amount is from pledges received to date. The $284,192 amount includes the pledges to date and an estimated amount derived from our treasurer who is basing her estimate on the following data: • those who have pledged in the past year will pledge again this year • those who gave last year and did not pledge, will do so again this year • loose offering

The $320,000 is the proposed budget for 2018. That amount encompasses operating expenses as well as pastoral and support staff salaries as well as outreach ministries.

The building fund pledges are slightly below our proposed budget, but when the estimated amount is included, the estimate exceeds our proposed budget.

A final budget based on all of our pledges received will be prepared at the end of December. This budget will be presented to the congregation at the January 2018 semi-annual congregational meeting.

Please note: the red column should be labeled “goal for 2018.