Happy New Year!

Squeak!  I hope you had a blessed Christmas season and are getting started on having a great 2012.  As you live out your faith every day, you may enjoy checking in with Living Lutheran, "A daily blend of stories, culture and community" from the ELCA:  http://livinglutheran.com/

Daily Discipleship

Daily Discipleship is a great bible study resource from the ELCA covering the gospel that we are reading each week.  Dig deeper into the Good News for the season of Advent:

First week in Advent (Nov 27)
    Mark 13:24–37         Daily Discipleship

Second week in Advent (Dec 4)
   Mark 1:1–8                   Daily Discipleship

Third week in Advent (Dec 11)
   John 1:6–8, 19–28     Daily Discipleship

Fourth week in Advent (Dec 18)
  Luke 1:26–38             Daily Discipleship

Render unto God...

Pastor Summer recently preached on Matthew 22:15-22.  In the King James: "Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

In what ways do we "render unto Caesar" (the world we live in)?

In what ways do we render unto God?

How do these balance in your life?

What one thing can you do today to tip the scale closer toward the life God intended for you?

(You can leave a comment by
clicking on the title of a post)

Chatter

Hey, batter!  Hey, batter!

I’m flashing back to my little league days when our coach would say, “Let’s hear a little chatter out there!”

In case you didn’t know, you can leave comments on blog articles by clicking on the title of the article.  So, right now, click on “Chatter” and check out the new page that opens up.

Once you're on the interior page, you'll see where it says “Post a Comment” a little further down.  Give it a shot.  “Squeak” counts as a comment in my book.  So, let’s get some squeaks out there!

Disaster Relief

In his daily report from the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Pastor Summer tells of how our church is in action responding to the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.  Many of us are impacted by the images and stories of disasters from around the world.  The ELCA, through its partnership with Lutheran World Relief, is active in caring for God's people and responding in a way that is much needed, impactful, and ongoing.  You can help these efforts right now with prayers for those affected and those working to respond to crisis.  You can learn more about how your offering contributes to our church's efforts, and make an additional designated gift at www.elca.org/disaster.

Hot & Hungry in Hunterdon - Day 4

Here’s Tina’s report from the last day of the Youth of Zion’s Hot & Hungry in Hunterdon service project:

Day 4

Wednesday, July 27

Today, the last day of "Hot and Hungry" was a very successful one.  At Brady Life Camp, the green group finished painting a sound booth as well as the arts and crafts shed, exceeding the expectations of those who run the camp.  The blue group was at the Faith Kitchen, cooking a lunch of hot dogs for their guests.  They also worked at washing the walls both upstairs and downstairs and cleaning the kitchen.  The red and orange groups both were delivering the food we have collected (over one ton!) in two separate caravans.  We delivered to the Fisherman's Mark Food Pantry in Lambertville, the Open Cupboard Food Pantry in Clinton, the Flemington Area Food Pantry, the Frenchtown Food Pantry, the Hampton Food Pantry, and the North Hunterdon Community Food Pantry in Glen Gardener.  After our work, we headed to the Good News Home for Women to have lunch and listen to the moving testimonies of the women who live there.  We came back to the CEB for a final worship, listing all the things we were thankful for. 

So, to sum up our work. Thirty-seven youth gathered to serve at four locations.  As I said, we literally gathered over a ton of food.  Collectively, our group gave a total of 1,092 hours of service.

If I may, I believe that I will declare "Hot and Hungry" a success.

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The Church Mouse would like to thank Tina Dornbusch for taking us all along with YOZ and their friends from Trinity Lutheran in Dover and Grace Lutheran in Mendham for Hot & Hungry in Hunterdon.  Congratulations to the entire team on a successful project, and thank you for all of your service!

Hot & Hungry in Hunterdon - Day 3

Here’s the latest from Tina Dornbusch on all of the amazing work our Youth Group is doing as part of the Hot & Hungry in Hunterdon service project:

Day 3

Tuesday, July 26

Today was a successful third day of "kingdom work" at five separate locations.  At the Good News Home, the green group were busy with clearing out more forgotten belongings to be taken to an overfull dumpster.  They also cleared out overgrown patches of garden area.  The blue group was off to Habitat for Humanity, working with people from Johnson & Johnson.  They put shingles on the roof, removed a bad beam and its cement footing, and exposed their inability to measure when they attempted to install a kick plate as Sue used a table saw.  The campers were very excited to see our red group at Brady Life Camp, even rapping to greet them.  The volunteers then worked on organizing excess Christmas presents and painting the art building.  The orange group fed tuna hoagies, fruit, and deviled eggs to 85 people at the Faith Kitchen as well as getting a chance to have conversation with some of the guests.  They also worked at cleaning.  At the Veteran's Home, they worked around the house as well as bringing 2 dozen cupcakes for the dessert.  Lou was in a talkative mood, discussing his experiences of growing up in Canada and being a tank driver in the Korean War.  After this work was done, the groups made our way over to Round Valley Reservoir to swim and shower.  Dinner was next, and then a trip to Matheny School for a music presentation.  All the kids felt thoroughly embarrassed by the multiple camp songs which they were called to the front to present.  Miraculously, we avoided getting caught in the brewing storm and were able to finish our time at Matheny on a good note.  Now, of course, it's time for bed; we still have plenty of work ahead of us tomorrow.