Glimpses of spring are starting to happen! Hooray! Before we know it, we’ll be enjoying summer weather. This past month we had some fun thinking about summer and the opportunities for our children and youth here at Lake of the Isles. Information sheets and Registration forms are available on the Children/Youth table in Fellowship Hall and on our website. There is something for everyone from 3 yrs old to high school graduates! We are looking forward to being playful and creative as we explore God’s Word together this summer.
Here are two fun camps for Sunday School age children being held at Lake of the Isles to add to your calendar. Invite your friends to sign up with you. It will be twice as much fun!
Preschool VBS:
Date: June 23-26
Time: 9:00-11:30 am
Age: Kids who are 3 yrs old through those entering Kindergarten
Registration fee: $20
We will explore and play (and splash!) in God’s Word through art, games, music, creative play and storytelling.
Elementary Day Camp:
Date: June 23-26
Time: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Age: Kids entering Grades 1-6 in the fall
Registration Fee: $40
Come for a week of fun, joy, laughter, smiles and growing in faith! Luther Park staff is coming to Lake of the Isles leading our kids in games, crafts, skits, small group time, worship and lots of crazy fun songs.
Children and youth who have completed Grades 1-12 also have the option to go to Luther Park Bible Camp in Danbury WI. You can register at www.lutherpark.org. Information is on our website and on the Children/ Youth table in Fellowship Hall.
We need youth volunteers! If you have completed Grades 6-12, there are opportunities for you to be youth counselors at Preschool VBS and Elementary Day Camp. Information and sign up forms are on the Children/Youth table in Fellowship Hall and on our website.
Sunday School calendar notes:
April 6: Sunday School (rehearsal of Palm Sunday song with choir during SS)
April 13: No Sunday School kids sing in worship for Palm Sunday.
Note: A musical reading of the Holy Week story will be in place of a sermon
Pancake breakfast and Easter Egg hunt following worship.
April 20: No Sunday School (Easter Sunday)
April 27: Sunday School resumes
May 18: Last day of Sunday School & Guardian Angel party (kids meet their Guardian Angel!)
The season of Lent is a “moveable period” in the church year. It is a preparatory season for the festival of Easter, and since Easter is determined the lunar calendar and not a calendar date, the entire Lent and Easter season shifts from one year to another. This year the first day of Lent known as Ash Wednesday begins on Wednesday, March 5th. Historically, churches have chosen to mark the 40 days and Sundays of Lent as a penitential period focusing on the agony of Jesus’ death on the cross. Originally, the period of Lent was intended was to be a period of growth. Men and women dedicated a tenth of the year to learning and growing in faith. The English word “Lent” actually comes from the old English phrase to “lengthen.” This implies both the light and days in spring growing greater, but also that Christians grow greater in faith.
At Lake of the Isles, we will explore this growth in faith, with an intentional time of fellowship and worship in Lent. Each Wednesday evening, there will be an opportunity to gather together with friends and eat a simple meal of soup and bread. This will be followed by a worship service in the sanctuary. Ash Wednesday service on March 5th will follow the traditional service of reflection, confession and the imposition of ashes. The remaining five Wednesday evening will be celebrated with Marty Haugen’s Holden Evening Prayer service and will include an original sketches written by Neil and Ellen Johnson. These will be performed and directed by the members of the congregation. With such titles, “A Desperate Housewife” and “The First Ever Lutefisk Dinner,” these sketches are intended to help you think about the Christian faith in new ways.
Our Holy Week service for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday will be celebrated together with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Maundy Thursday will be held at St. Paul’s and Good Friday will be held at Lake of the Isles.
This Lent, let us grow in faith together at Lake of the Isles.
If you wish to purchase Easter flowers for display around the altar (which you can then take home with you after Easter Services), order forms will be in your bulletins on Sunday or in Fellowship Hall. Please enclose your money with your form and either drop it in the offering plate in a pew envelope or leave it in the church office. Our estimated order is due March 25th and final orders will go in April 8th. In order to be guaranteed you will get the plant you want, please have your order in by March 25th.
The Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign goal is a constant: To raise enough money and food to provide more than half the food distributed annually by 300 food shelves statewide.
For 32 years, the March Campaign goal has been ambitious. This year is no different and because this effort requires the help of so many, including congregations like ours, the focus is on a new event for congregations called “Pack the Pews” the weekend of March 21, 22 and 23. We are encouraging members of LOTI to bring a grocery bag of healthy non-perishables or a monetary donation to worship services to be donated to Community Emergency Services.
Last year, the Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign raised more than $8.3 million and almost 4 million pounds of food. That is the equivalent of a year’s worth of meals for more than 7,700 families of four.
The weather outside might still be winter, but we are going to think about summer on Sunday, March 9! Come in your summer gear (underneath your winter gear) and let’s get excited for hot summer days filled with God’s love at Lake of the Isles. We are excited to share with you some new summer offerings for kids at Lake of the Isles on this day.
We joyfully welcome Joel Legred from Luther Park Bible Camp in Danbury WI to worship and Sunday School on March 9. Joel will share with kids and families the many opportunities this summer at Luther Park.
This month the kids will be working hard on learning the song they will sing on Palm Sunday (see calendar note below). We are excited to have them share in the gift of song with our wonderful choir on this special day.
We look forward to seeing you in Sunday School!
Calendar notes for Sunday School families:
March 9 – Summer program registration kick-off
March 31 – No Sunday School. (Spring Break) Families will be in worship together
April 13 – Palm Sunday and Pancake Breakfast. Children sing in worship (no Sunday School)
April 20 – Easter Sunday. (No Sunday School)
Diane LaMere
Another Sparkhouse Animation, background filmed at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church.
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Luke 2:22
Dear Friends and Members of Lake of the Isles, it is always a discussion in our house when the Christmas decorations must be put away. The Christmas tree is easy. It must be standing through the 12 days of Christmas to the day of Epiphany on January 6th. Some years that’s a little risky when the needles begin to rain down when you walk by. In Scandinavia, Christmas trees are allowed to stand until January 13th, a day that is called the 20th Day of Knut. As the tree is carted away the last cookies and sweets are eaten. The Swedes even have a name for this ritual, “Julgransplundring,” which roughly translates as “the Christmas tree plundering.”
There is one other traditional date for marking the end of the Christmas season and that is Candlemas, February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord. According to St. Luke’s gospel, the infant Jesus was brought by Mary and Joseph to the Temple in Jerusalem. According to the law of Moses, this was the fortieth day since Jesus’ birth. . It was during this visit that the old prophet Simeon, who had been assured that he was to see the Messiah before his death, saw the couple and their infant son Jesus walking across the Temple courtyard. According to St. Luke gospel, Simeon took the child in his arms and announced, “Now, oh God, I can leave this world in peace- for I have seen my salvation.” He then spoke the prophecy that Jesus would be the light for all the world.
Martin Luther himself felt that the story of Candlemas captured the fullness of God’s love and grace. In a sermon for Candlemas he wrote Simeon’s prophetic word, “God has ‘prepared salvation,’ which fact clearly indicates that He is merciful and does not desire our death; yea, He has prepared this salvation for “all the people,” that everyone might enjoy his blessing.”
Candlemas is a natural day to put away the last Christmas decorations. And so our worship service on Candlemas will feature candlelight, the Sunday School children singing, and a hint of a Christmas carol or two. But there will also be a clear sense that we are moving away from the nativity toward the cross of Calvary. It is there, like Simeon, that we are given the assurance that we need not fear death. It is there that we will see our salvation.
The stars will keep guiding through this Epiphany season to remind us that the good news of salvation is for all the world to see.
Peace, Pastor Arden Haug
On Sunday, January 12th, The Festival of the Baptism of Our Lord, our new organist Kenneth Vigne will lead the congregation in song. Kenneth is a 2004 graduate of Como Park High School, a 2008 St. Olaf College graduate in church music (where he met his wife Emily) and a 2010 Master of Music Graduate in organ performance from the University of Oklahoma School of Music. For the past three years, Kenneth has been the organist at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Roseville. In the weeks and months ahead he will take on the role as our Director of Music. In addition to his work in music, Kenneth, a Geek Squad veteran, works full-time in IT at General Mills. Join us on January 12th in welcoming Kenneth Vigne and his family.