Newsletter January 2025
St. John/Norrona News
January 2025
Please have any reports or information to be included in the newsletter, submitted by the 24th of each month. Thank you.
Pastor Richard D. Schulz
Pastor’s Cell (306) 725-1401
Parish Phone (306) 725-3113
Email – stjohn.norrona_pastor@sasktel.net
Mailing Address: Box 505
Strasbourg, Sk. S0G 4V0
Website: stjohnnorrona.com
Just a reminder that you can receive your Newsletter by email. If you wish to do so email the church at stjohn.norrona@sasktel.net
Scripture Lessons
January 5, 2025:
Jeremiah 31:7-14 Psalm 147:12-20
Ephesians 1:3-14 John 1:(1-9) 10-18
January 12, 2025:
Isaiah 43:1-7 Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
January 19, 2025:
Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11
January 26, 2025:
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 Luke 4:14-21
Christian Unity Lunches
January 17 – Luncheon will be held at St. John starting at 12:05 (St. John Lutheran Church and Strasbourg United Church hosting)
January 24 – Luncheon will be held at the Alliance Church starting at 12:05 (Strasbourg Alliance Church and Calvary Fellowship hosting)
Norrona Lutheran Church
Financial Report
November 2024
Norrona Revenue
*Regular Sunday Offering (envelopes,
loose) $ 580.00
benevolence/missions (including CLWR) $ 95.00
outstanding to St. John $ .02
Total Revenue $ 675.02
Norrona Expenses
Paid to St. John
Offering donation $ 339.40
*Norrona Congregational Expenses (e.g.
maintenance, insurance, utilities, worship
& office supplies) $ 240.62
*Missions of the Church (e.g. Sask. Synod,
CLWR, and other Norrona specific mission
projects) $ 95.00
Total Expenses $ 675.02
Balance $ 0.00
St. John Lutheran Church
Monthly Financial Summary – November 2024
Revenue
Total regular offering (includes for our
church, CLWR, Benevolence, and
pre-authorized monthly giving) 9,955.00
Total other revenue (e.g. rental property,
donations, interest , etc.) 6,629.77
Total revenue $16,584.77
Expenses
Pastor Payroll (e.g. salary, benefits, EI,
mileage, etc.) 4,428.13
Missions (e.g. Benevolence, Sask. Synod,
etc.) Fundraising 1,136.55
Worship and services (e.g. Pulpit Supply,
travel time, mileage, worship and office
supplies, Organist, Secretary, Treasurer,
Envelope, Secretary, etc.) 2,092.34
Church properties (e.g. power, telephone,
natural gas, bank service charges, line of
credit, insurance, church maintenance,
etc.) 3,282.52
Total expenses $10,939.54
Net Gain $5,645.23
NOTE: On line donations for this month $500.00
TRANSFORMATION
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
Everything old has passed away; behold, everything has become new!”
2 Corinthians 5:17
By the time that you read this, we will have ‘officially’ closed the calendar for 2024. As we open our 2025 calendars, I suspect that many of us begin the New Year with much enthusiasm and many hopes for all that might lie ahead. Some of us will be overjoyed that 2024 has ended while others could hardly wait for 2025 to begin. It seems that all too often, one year ends and while another begins, it does not take long before we continue on with life as though nothing has happened.
Sometimes I wonder if we are guilty of the same thing in the church. We neglect to help people understand the links between the seasons of the church year or we assume that they know what the links are. We usually do a good job of celebrating the major festivals or special occasions like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day etc. Then we just kind of float along during the rest of the year and we are left to our own devices sometimes to make the connection between what is taking place in our church year and our personal faith journey. I have come to realize that I am guilty of doing this sometimes.
I suppose I thought about this because we are moving into the Season of Epiphany very shortly. I suspect that this is probably one of the most misunderstood seasons of the church year. I wonder if many people unconsciously think of it as the rest period between Christmas and Easter. Yet this season is probably my most favourite time of the entire church year.
So what has brought us to this time? We have gone through the season of waiting and watching and preparing to meet the birth of the Christ-Child. We have been encouraged to spend time in self-reflection. To hear God’s voice crying in the wilderness of our lives and to be open to receiving the forgiveness that can come from God alone. As we encounter God’s voice and God’s forgiveness, we are invited to ‘turn around’ so that we might engage God in our lives and become willing to lead the life that God would have us live. All of this experience allowed us to celebrate the birth of this Christ-Child in a new way at Christmas.
Now that this tiny little child has been born anew in our hearts and minds, we enter the Season of Epiphany. This season is regarded as the time in which we celebrate the ways in which God is ‘made known’ to us in our lives. It is also known as the ‘accordion’ season because its length is determined by the date of Easter and will end the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
This season always begins on January 6th, which is known as the day of Epiphany. This is the day that this tiny little child is ‘made known’ to us as the Christ, the Messiah, the long-awaited One who has come to redeem the world. The first Sunday following this day, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, the day that Jesus was baptized and is an opportunity for us to remember and celebrate our own baptism. The season then concludes with the Transfiguration of Our Lord.
This is a great season to celebrate. We celebrate all the ways in which God is made known to us in our lives, whether that be through an earth-shaking event or through the still, small voice of God. We celebrate our baptism and the ways in which we witness God journeying with us through our day-to-day lives. We celebrate the ways in which we have been blessed to experience God’s forgiveness and the ways in which we have been empowered to offer forgiveness to those who have wronged us. And as we are awakened to all of these encounters in our lives, we celebrate our own transfiguration, our transformation, our becoming a changed person as a result of the ways that God has been ‘made known’ to us in our lives.
It is true that another year has ended, that everything in the old year has passed away. But because of Christ there IS a new creation and everything has become new! Because of Christ and the ways in which God is made known to us, we are transformed and we all have something very special to offer the world around us, namely, the ways that God is been made known to those who are willing to journey with this awesome God of ours!
I hope and pray that your journey through the Season of Epiphany will be a rewarding experience as you encounter the ways in which God is ‘made known’ to you.
God’s blessings in your Epiphany journey,
Pastor Rick
Lamp
If anyone would like to donate to LAMP (LAMP is a cross-cultural ministry sharing Jesus Christ with God’s people in remote areas of Canada), this can be done by mailing cheques payable to LAMP to 4966-92 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T6B 2V4 or visit www.lampministry.org.
Worship Services at the Last Mountain Pioneer Home
Pastor Rick will be leading worship at the Last Mountain Pioneer Home on the following Wednesday Mornings from 10:30 – 11:00 a.m.
– January 15th – July 30th
– February 12th – August 27th
– March 12th – September 24th
– April 9th – October 22nd
– May 7th – November 19th
– June 4th – December 17th
– July 2nd
Worship Committee Report
Thank you to Jan Schulz for leading worship on December 8 and Krista Loydl & Carla Betker for leading the well attended Family Christmas service at Norrona on Sunday evening December 22. Great job!
Service Leaders for January:
*All services are at 9:30 am unless noted otherwise.
January 5 – Pastor Rick – communion service
January 12 – Brenda Small – lay service
January 19 – Pastor Rick – communion service
January 26 – TBD – lay service
Names are still being added to the list for lay service leaders. If you are interested, or would like more information, please speak to Pastor Rick, or email stjohn.norrona_pastor@sasktel.net.
Hotdog and carolling on Sunday, December 8 went very well. The group was able to sing at both the LMPH and the Manor, and I hear the singing was fantastic!
If you have topic suggestions for future worship workshops or would like to read lessons, learn how to run the powerpoint, be a greeter, help with communion, set up or provide flowers for the altar, make coffee, or provide special music, please speak to Pastor Rick, Orva or Rhonda or you can also send an email to stjohn.norrona@sasktel.net.
Mark your calendars for the annual potluck and dessert auction on Sunday, February 2.
The next Worship Committee meeting is Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at 1:30 pm at St. John. Anyone is welcome to attend the meetings.
Submitted by Rhonda de Hoop