In this issue:
- A Message from Pastor Jeff
- Stewardship Corner
- Summer Schedules
- Committee/Interest Group Chairs
- Hymn Selection Committee
- Book of Faith Bible Study
- Angel Network In-Gathering
- Godly Play—Sunday School
- Holoholo Pick-Up
- Rev. Kathryn Zurcher Installation
- Office Closed—Kamehameha Day
- Process Thought Forum
- All Aboard! Let’s Ride the Sugar Train!
- Mary Magdalene Society
- LCH Women’s Book Club
- One Pot, One Hope
- Summer Gatherings Emphasize ELCA Project
- 2016 Good Gifts Benefit Concert Final Update
- DATE CHANGE—Wet’n’Wild Youth & Family Outing
- Will You Help Count the Offering?
- Mahalo Greg Gebhardt!
- College Congrats—Reid Womack
- Rally Sunday
- Anticipating a Big Celebration
- HeartBeat Deadline
- Electronic Funds Transfers for April
- Attendance and Offerings for May
- Prayer Requests
- June Birthdays
- LCH Worship Participants (9:15 am)
- Calendar: June 2016
A Message from Pastor Jeff
An Open Letter to the Congregation
Dear Friends in Christ,
It is never easy to ask for help. But we need your help to address some parts of our ministry and pray that you will take a few minutes to read this article.
First, I give thanks every day for you and for the opportunity to serve as your pastor. LCH is an amazing place where justice, mercy, faith, and service are met with kindness, generosity, and curiosity. It is a joy and privilege to serve you. Mahalo!
But I must confess that I, and others in leadership at LCH, are finding ourselves increasingly concerned and want to share some worries with each of you. Chief among those worries are the decline in worship attendance, committee activity, and reticence to serve in leadership.
Worship attendance is one of the main barometers that many churches use to measure overall health. To be sure, we have had an extraordinary number of families move away from O‘ahu over the past few years, and that may account for some of our decline. But of equal concern is the number of folks who have simply drifted off and are no longer associating with the congregation. Please be assured that I try to make contact with these folks, but in some cases, calls are not returned, letters not acknowledged, and phone calls are ignored. In other cases, folks who attended very regularly have become more occasional in their worship habits.
I beg of you, if you are unhappy or if worship is not feeding you, please communicate with us so we can address your concerns. But I also ask that you be prepared with more than criticism. Please be ready to offer some helpful ideas! Also, if you have noticed a change in someone’s participation in worship or fellowship, please take a moment to reach out and let them know you care. At the heart of our ministry is the love we have for one another and for God; what better way to live out our faith that reach out to care for one another?
Overall, we have some wonderfully dedicated ministries and taskforces that carry out their work well. Worship Committee, Education, IHS, One Pot One Hope, and Wounded Warriors all have regularly scheduled events and meetings. Mary Magdalene is revitalizing and Community Life is beginning to meet again. It is amazing how much you do, and we give thanks to God for you! On the other hand, one of our most-needed groups is in need of additional leadership and members. The Property Committee has consisted of one or two very hard-working people for some time. We are currently searching for a new Property Committee chair to replace April Smith, who served tirelessly for the past few years, assisted by Jean-Paul Klingebiel. Would you be willing to help? We are also recruiting additional persons to count the offering on Sunday, and volunteers to help out as ushers at both services. There are plenty of opportunities for serve; can you help?
Lastly, it has become increasingly difficult to find persons willing to chair committees or serve on the Congregational Council. I won’t pretend that leadership is always easy—sometimes it is hard as heck. But sharing your gifts and talents to help others live out their calling in Christ can be wonderfully rewarding. Positions we really need help with at this moment include: Property Committee chair, a council member (beginning in June), a youth representative to the council, Audit Committee members, counters, and worship assistants. (Okay, pretty much everything.) Can you help?
It is joy to serve Christ with you, and I truly believe we have our best days ahead of us as we seek to be Christ’s church here on O‘ahu. God is up to something powerful in you, in our congregation, in our church, and in the world. Let us give thanks that in grace we have been called to take our part in what God is doing and share our lives, our resources, and our imaginations to bear fruit in the world for the sake of God.
Blessings to you and mahalo,
Pastor Jeff
A Passion for Community Life
What is the Community Life Committee? When Pastor Jeff was on sabbatical in 2014, he challenged the congregation to come together and work on a program or a project that would allow us to grow as a church and as individuals. Inspired by Larry Anderson and Wayne Gau, a committee was formed that ultimately led to a wonderful service project at a preschool and a family picnic.
The committee didn’t want to stop. Through some great and inspirational conversations, the team decided to ask permission to continue to meet. The underlying motivation for the team was the belief that LCH is strongest when it focuses on two areas—our spiritual growth and our outreach to others. The Community Life Committee could easily be called the “What is God Calling Us to Do Committee,” but that name is a little too long.
Moving forward, the committee is reestablishing itself and looking at possible programs. By the time you read this HeartBeat article, we will have had a meeting that will help us determine our projects for 2016. If you have any ideas on programs that you think would help us grow as a congregation, please contact Larry Anderson, LarryA@acctmgt.com, or Mary Fastenau, mfastenau@gmail.com.
Committee/Interest Group Chairs
| Committee/Group | Leader |
|---|---|
| Archive: | Jim Cartwright |
| Concert: | Scott Fikse |
| Communications: | Carol Langner |
| Council: | Craig Clissold & Mary Fastenau |
| Exploring Boundaries: | Carol Langner |
| Fellowship: | Jeanne Castello & Mary-Jo Estes |
| Finance: | Steve Miller |
| Financial Review: | Ron Murashige |
| Food for Thought: | Kathryn Klingebiel |
| In Stitches: | Linda Miller |
| Lay Ministers: | Carolyn Koehler |
| Learning Ministry: | Fred Benco |
| Mary Magdalene Society: | James Cartwright |
| Process Theology: | Fritz Fritschel |
| Property: | Jean-Paul Klingebiel & Greg Gebhardt |
| Scholarship: | Fred Benco |
| Social Ministry: | Jean Lilley |
| Stewardship: | Pam Buckley |
| Sunday School: | Laurie Leach |
| Worship & Music: | Linda Miller & Randy Castello |
| Writers’ Workshop: | Kathryn Klingebiel |
| Youth: | Pr. Jeff Lilley |
Summer Schedules
Beginning Sunday, June 5, we change our Sunday service time to the summer schedule for June, July, and August. There will be one worship service on Sundays, at 9:15 am. This is a communion service. There will be no Evening Prayer during the summer months. Evening Prayer resumes on the first Sunday of September.
Other programs, such as Exploring Boundaries, Confirmation classes, Godly Play and Sunday School for children, Food for Thought, Poetry Group, and Writers’ Workshop, will break for the summer as well. Check the LCH calendar on-line, or The HeartBeat and weekly LCHNews calendars for scheduling information.
Hymn Selection Committee
Wednesday, June 1, 6:00 pm • in the Nave
Scott Fikse, director of music and liturgy, invites you to be part of the Hymn Selection Committee. Selecting hymns that enhance our worship experience and reflect the readings for each Sunday is an important part of liturgy planning. Please contact Scott if you can contribute to this team.
Book of Faith Bible Study
Thursdays, 10:00–11:30 am • LCH Boardroom
The Book of Faith Bible study group meets on Thursday mornings in the Boardroom. All are welcome to join this lively discussion of the Biblical texts, relevant current events, and historical foundations. Please join us for lively engaging fellowship and discussion!
Angel Network In-Gathering
Sunday, June 5
On the first Sunday of each month, an in-gathering of food and personal items is collected at LCH for Angel Network, a ministry based out of Calvary-by-the-Sea Lutheran Church. The items are taken to Angel Network during the following week. Over 2,500 individuals are served monthly through this program. We are grateful for your generosity and support.
Godly Play—Sunday School
There are no Sunday school classes during the summer months, June through August. If you are interested in helping with the Godly Play program, beginning in September, please contact the LCH office for information.
Your Prayers and Presence are Requested
on
Sunday June 5th at 3:00 pm
at
St John Lutheran Church
1004 Kailua Road
Kailua, HI
for the
SERVICE OF INSTALLATION
of
Reverend Kathryn Ray Zurcher
as
Pastor of St. John Lutheran Church
Please join us in Grace Hall for the reception to follow.
Light pupus and refreshments will be served.
The color of the service is red.
Clergy are invited to wear red stoles; no albs.
Holoholo Pick-Up
Tuesdays, June 7 & 21, 2:30–4:00 pm • LCH Boardroom
Holoholo General Store is a Community Supported Agriculture organization, or csa, that works with the Lutheran Church to bring you fresh produce from multiple, local farms. To join or find more information visit their website www.holoholostore.com.
OFFICE CLOSED
King Kamehameha Day—Friday, June 10
Process Thought Forum
Saturday, June 11, 9:30 am LCH Board Room
We will have one last meeting before the summer break. In the article “After the Terror I Return to Etty Hillesum,” Patricia Ann Farmer creates a dialogue with a young Jewish woman, Etty Hillesum, who left her diaries of 1941–1943 as a record of life in Amsterdam under the Nazis. Through such an imaginative exercise, Farmer finds strength and courage to live with the fears and terrors so prevalent in our own time, especially heightened after each act of terrorism against civilians. Find the article at www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/after-the-terror-i-return-to-etty-hillesum.html and join us on Saturday morning for our discussion. Contact the LCH office at 808-941-2566 if you have any questions. All are welcome!
All Aboard! Let’s Ride the Sugar Train!
Sunday, June 12, 2:00 pm
Join us for a ride on the historic Hawai‘i Sugar Train. We’ve reserved the club car (15 people) but more can come! Adults pay $18 and LCH kids are free (must be accompanied by parent or guardian). Bring your money for the ice cream stop. Register through Sunday, June 5, in the courtyard or call the LCH office at 808-941-2566.
Parking at the Sugar Train can be limited. If you would like to carpool, please contact Pastor Jeff and indicate if you are seeking a ride (for how may) or if you are willing to drive (how many you can take).
Mary Magdalene Society
Saturday, June 18, 6:00 pm • Isenberg Hall
LGBTQI and friends, please join our potluck supper and games night in Isenberg Hall. Supper begins at 6:00 pm with games to follow. Set up begins at 5:30, and help is greatly appreciated. Please bring a food item and your favorite game(s).
If you are interested in being on our email list, please contact Jim Cartwright through the Church Office (808-941-2566 or lch@lchwelcome.org). Provide your name and email address. Please share information of this gathering and an invitation to other LGBTQI and friends you know who may be interested in socializing with us.
LCH Women’s Book Club
Monday, June 20, 10:00–11:30 am
We will discuss Paradise of the Pacific, by Susanna Moore, “A fascinating history of our Pacific archipelago.” Meeting place TBA. In July we meet at the Murashige’s to discuss Breakfast with Buddha, by Rowland Merullo, “A spiritual road-trip novel.”
One Pot, One Hope
Saturday, June 25, 10:00 am
A consistent group of LCH volunteers helps feed 100 to 125 people each month in Wai‘anae. Help support this mission outreach project by participating or by bringing donations of designated items—Costco gallon-sized cans of chili, fresh fruit, granola bars, bottled water, recycled grocery bags, and large cardboard boxes—or checks, payable to “One Pot, One Hope.” Bring donated items to church on the third Sunday of the month (June 19). See Peggy Anderson for more information, including volunteering and carpool.
Summer Gatherings Emphasize ELCA Project
Sundays, July 3 & 24 and August 7, 9:45-10:30 am
Over the course of the summer months, LCH will join thousands of ELCA congregations in participating in Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton’s church-wide initiative “Called Forward Together in Christ.” The initiative is an ongoing conversation taking place at every level in the ELCA including the church-wide office, seminaries, synods, regions, and congregations. The intent is to shape the future of our ministry in light of God’s call, the cultures in which we find ourselves, and the current economic and ecologic realities of a changing world.
At our congregational level, we hope to engage in conversation about emerging ideas for ministry and engagement in our neighborhood, community, and membership.
In a moment of madness we came up with a plan. On the dates listed above, we will worship from 9:15 to 9:45 am. Immediately following the worship service, we will gather in the courtyard to share a light brunch—food will be provided—and engage in conversation. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. This should be a truly fun, energetic, and meaningful time of conversation about how God is working in our midst, and how we hope to be at work and prayer in God’s midst. Please plan to be there!
2016 Good Gifts Benefit Concert Final Update
The children and Sunday School teachers would like to thank everyone who contributed to the 2016 Good Gifts Benefit Concert. Over $2,500 was raised!
On Sunday, May 22, the children discussed how they would like to distribute the funds through ELCA’s Good Gifts program. It was decided that the money would be split evenly into four categories: income producing animals, health care, education, and clean water. Items purchased were a cow, goats, medical supplies, medical training, child vaccinations, school supplies, school uniforms and fees for girls, shares of a water well, and a latrine.
Thank you again for supporting the children’s endeavors here at LCH! If you would like to learn more about the Good Gifts program, please visit www.elca.org/goodgifts.
DATE CHANGE—Wet’n’Wild Youth & Family Outing
Sunday, July 31, 10:30 am to 5:00 pm
The LCH youth and family outting to Wet’n’Wild, originally scheduled for June 12, is rescheduled for the end of July. All are welcome! LCH youth attend for free. The cost for adults and guests is $22.00. Register with Georgine Stark, June 5 or July 10, in the courtyard or through the Church Office (808-941-2566 or lch@lchwelcome.org). Look for information updates in the LCHNews and HeartBeat newsletter.
Will You Help Count the Offering?
You don’t need to donate more, just help count the Sunday offerings! For 30 or so minutes after service, volunteer teams of two count the offerings. We need one new counter to join the team. Please contact Angie Niermann or the LCH office for information. Mahalo!
Mahalo Greg Gebhardt!
Greg Gebhardt has stepped up to be co-chair of the LCH Property Committee! We are so grateful for his willingness to take on this vital role in conjunction with Jean-Paul Klingebiel. Greg and Jean-Paul are looking for a couple of people willing to join the committee to assist. Please consider being part of the property committee.
Members help to arrange needed service calls for the church and Luther Place apartments. You don’t need to be “handy,” just willing to make phone calls and coordinate with the church office to schedule service, when needed. It would also be helpful if you could occasionally be on site—depending on the service required—when repair or maintenance people are on the property.
We’ll guide you in getting started in this ministry of stewardship for our property. Please contact the church office for more information.
College Congrats—Reid Womack
Reid is graduating from Honolulu Waldorf School on June 3—his 18th birthday!—and will be heading to Portland, Oregon this fall to attend Lewis & Clark College, where he was awarded a Lewis & Clark Grant, as well as a music scholarship. He plans to study art, but will be active in the music department too. This past year he was principal cellist of the top orchestra in the Hawai‘i Youth Symphony organization and received awards in art from the Honolulu Waldorf School where, at the request of the faculty, he painted a large mural on a campus wall. Reid also worked part time at Izakaya Gazen while going to school, studying cello, drawing and painting, and participating in the Hawai‘i Youth Symphony. This summer he will continue to work and take art classes at the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Here are a couple of pictures of Reid, and his fellow Waldorf seniors, who just returned from a senior class trip to Sri Lanka. Part of the trip was a service project at an orphanage. The Waldorf students painted the school and Reid was able to create a decorative mural on one of the outside walls.
Reid also designed the t-shirt all the kids are wearing in the photo on the right!
Click on either photo for a larger version.
Rally Sunday
Sign up for fall Sunday school on Rally Sunday, August 28. Godly Play Sunday School will start again on September 4. Have a great summer!
Anticipating a Big Celebration: 500th Anniversary
The year 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the traditional beginning of the Lutheran movement that started in Wittenberg, Germany with the nailing of Luther’s 95 Theses to the door of that town’s church. The period, known as the Reformation, was inaugurated and its effects spread worldwide. Now we ask what our congregation can do to honor and celebrate that rich heritage? Ideas are already circulating, but there is certainly room for more. More definite plans will be elaborated after the first of the year. Meanwhile, let your own creative imagination suggest some activity or project that seems fitting for such a celebration.
| Offering Fund | Amount | Offering Fund | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offering | $5,361 | Mission Campaign | $50 |
| Music Fund/Instruments | $170 | Wounded Warriors | $141 |
| Capital Improvements | $107 |
HeartBeat Deadline
Tuesday, June 21, 9:00 am
Denise, Geno, Irene, Irmgard, John, Swede
| Day | Date | Event and Time |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | June 1 | 6:00 pm, Hymn Selection Committee Meeting |
| Thursday | June 2 | 10:00 am, Book of Faith Bible Study 2:30 pm, Weekly Staff Meeting |
| Sunday | June 5 | Angel Network In-Gathering 9:15 am, Summer Communion Worship 3:00 pm, Pr. Kathryn Zurcher Installation |
| Tuesday | June 7 | 2:30 pm, Holoholo pick-up |
| Thursday | June 9 | 10:00 am, Book of Faith Bible Study 2:30 pm, Weekly Staff Meeting |
| Friday | June 10 | OFFICE CLOSED—King Kamehameha Day |
| Saturday | June 11 | 9:30am, Process Thought Forum |
| Sunday | June 12 | 9:15 am, Summer Communion Worship 2:00 pm, ‘Ewa Sugar Train Youth & Family Event |
| Wednesday | June 15 | 12:30 pm, Finance Committee Meeting |
| Thursday | June 16 | 10:00 am, Book of Faith Bible Study 2:30 pm, Weekly Staff Meeting |
| Friday | June 17 | 1:00 pm, IHS Meals prepared 5:30 pm, IHS Meals served |
| Saturday | June 18 | 6:00 pm, Mary Magdalene Society |
| Sunday | June 19 | 9:15 am, Summer Communion Worship |
| Monday | June 20 | 10:00 am, LCH Women’s Book Club |
| Tuesday | June 21 | HeartBeat Submissions Deadline! 2:30 pm, Holoholo pick-up 6:30 pm, LCH Council Meeting |
| Thursday | June 23 | 10:00 am, Book of Faith Bible Study 2:30 pm, Weekly Staff Meeting |
| Saturday | June 25 | 10:00 am, One Pot One Hope |
| Sunday | June 26 | 9:15 am, Summer Communion Worship |
| Thursday | June 30 | 10:00 am, Book of Faith Bible Study 2:30 pm, Weekly Staff Meeting |