I trust that you are having a wonderful holiday season and as we continue with Christmas (long after the retailers and radio stations have given up on the holiday) we also look to the possibilities of the new year and the highlights of the outgoing year.
At RLC, 2011 meant a year of departure, a year of welcome and a year of substitution. We learned early in the year that our wonderful Director of Music, Amy would be leaving us to pursue new opportunities in Nashville. While we were thrilled for her and the possibilities, we were sad to see she and her family depart the RLC family. Fortunately for us, our own capable Pam Crawford and Caitlin Scherbert filled in beautifully during the Summer and Fall months. And now, we’ve recently welcomed Linda Jakubowski as our new Director of Music and are already enjoying her musical gifts and leadership of the choir. I guess the old saying is true, when God closes a window, he opens a new one!
Also during the course of 2011, our Pastor Mary was able to enjoy a 3 month sabbatical, allowing her to focus on her writing pursuits. While I’m sure Anita Marlin had more than a few moments of challenge, to the rest of us, her fill-in schedule of Pastor Steve, Pastor Marilyn, our own Pastor Ken and lay preachers appeared seamless and we are all richer for the diversity of style and message. With Pastor Mary’s return can a renewed spirit and a cache of new ideas that she is implementing within worship and other RLC programs.
The year also saw the loss of RLC member Lowell Anderson, always a
difficult loss, but especially difficult with such a long-term member. Health circumstances have kept other members from being able to be as active as they have been in the past, but their physical absence hasn’t diminished our warm feelings for Jerry, Dale, Ruth and others who remain close to our hearts.
From a partner perspective, our relationship with Reformation has grown even stronger and our first-ever RLC delegation of Dave, Pam and Mary visited our partners in Tanzania over the summer, closing the distance between our congregations. Harvest Sunday and HarvestFaire were successful in the harvesting of treasures grown from the “Seeds of Love” and making substantial contributions to both of our partners. Thank you to all involved in our outreach efforts.
I am happy to report that our new RLC “Wish List” has already paid
dividends with donations of three key wish list items; a new microwave for the main kitchen, new table cloths for the Fellowship Hall and a new computer for the office.
While on the subject of the Fellowship Hall, our thanks have to go out to Andy and Sue Toth for the donation of the new carpet that will soon grace the Hall’s floor, adding aesthetic and acoustic improvements to the room. Also, thank you to Dave and Renee for the new paintwork in the space which has provided a clean, fresh look to this well-used space. Thank you too to Lynnette, our office administrator for her continued great work for RLC. There are just too many other people to thank for all their contributions of time, talent and treasure over the past year, so on behalf of the congregation, I will simply say to you all, Thank You!
We remain thankful for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon our RLC family and the families of our partner congregations over the past year and look forward to the continued blessings that will undoubtedly continue to flow in the coming year.
Looking forward to 2012, some immediate changes will be taking place at our Annual Meeting (Sunday, January 22, 2012) later this month. We’ll say thank you to our outgoing council members; June Gumm, Al and Jan Larsen and Jonathan and Katie Petersen and welcome their successors. Work will begin on the “Pipeline FROM Jesus” on 124th Street and our church property will be home to a great deal of construction and pipe storage activity.
On a longer-term basis, committees, task forces and council positions will continue their work on a variety of activities that support our cornerstones of; worship, nurture and outreach. Music will continue to flow forth from RLC and Linda will have a chance to put her mark on our services and musical groups. We will all learn, grow and be spiritually enriched by Pastor Mary’s teachings as well as those provided each week at the Caring Conversations Café.
It is a time to continue our optimism for the future at RLC. We have such a wonderful thing going at 124th and Coldspring in New Berlin, as well as 35th and Garfield in Milwaukee and on the African continent in Tanzania. God has been good to us and so, as we end each week’s service, I urge you to love the sentiment; Thanks be to God, our service has just begun!
At RLC, 2011 meant a year of departure, a year of welcome and a year of substitution. We learned early in the year that our wonderful Director of Music, Amy would be leaving us to pursue new opportunities in Nashville. While we were thrilled for her and the possibilities, we were sad to see she and her family depart the RLC family. Fortunately for us, our own capable Pam Crawford and Caitlin Scherbert filled in beautifully during the Summer and Fall months. And now, we’ve recently welcomed Linda Jakubowski as our new Director of Music and are already enjoying her musical gifts and leadership of the choir. I guess the old saying is true, when God closes a window, he opens a new one!
Also during the course of 2011, our Pastor Mary was able to enjoy a 3 month sabbatical, allowing her to focus on her writing pursuits. While I’m sure Anita Marlin had more than a few moments of challenge, to the rest of us, her fill-in schedule of Pastor Steve, Pastor Marilyn, our own Pastor Ken and lay preachers appeared seamless and we are all richer for the diversity of style and message. With Pastor Mary’s return can a renewed spirit and a cache of new ideas that she is implementing within worship and other RLC programs.
The year also saw the loss of RLC member Lowell Anderson, always a
difficult loss, but especially difficult with such a long-term member. Health circumstances have kept other members from being able to be as active as they have been in the past, but their physical absence hasn’t diminished our warm feelings for Jerry, Dale, Ruth and others who remain close to our hearts.
From a partner perspective, our relationship with Reformation has grown even stronger and our first-ever RLC delegation of Dave, Pam and Mary visited our partners in Tanzania over the summer, closing the distance between our congregations. Harvest Sunday and HarvestFaire were successful in the harvesting of treasures grown from the “Seeds of Love” and making substantial contributions to both of our partners. Thank you to all involved in our outreach efforts.
I am happy to report that our new RLC “Wish List” has already paid
dividends with donations of three key wish list items; a new microwave for the main kitchen, new table cloths for the Fellowship Hall and a new computer for the office.
While on the subject of the Fellowship Hall, our thanks have to go out to Andy and Sue Toth for the donation of the new carpet that will soon grace the Hall’s floor, adding aesthetic and acoustic improvements to the room. Also, thank you to Dave and Renee for the new paintwork in the space which has provided a clean, fresh look to this well-used space. Thank you too to Lynnette, our office administrator for her continued great work for RLC. There are just too many other people to thank for all their contributions of time, talent and treasure over the past year, so on behalf of the congregation, I will simply say to you all, Thank You!
We remain thankful for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon our RLC family and the families of our partner congregations over the past year and look forward to the continued blessings that will undoubtedly continue to flow in the coming year.
Looking forward to 2012, some immediate changes will be taking place at our Annual Meeting (Sunday, January 22, 2012) later this month. We’ll say thank you to our outgoing council members; June Gumm, Al and Jan Larsen and Jonathan and Katie Petersen and welcome their successors. Work will begin on the “Pipeline FROM Jesus” on 124th Street and our church property will be home to a great deal of construction and pipe storage activity.
On a longer-term basis, committees, task forces and council positions will continue their work on a variety of activities that support our cornerstones of; worship, nurture and outreach. Music will continue to flow forth from RLC and Linda will have a chance to put her mark on our services and musical groups. We will all learn, grow and be spiritually enriched by Pastor Mary’s teachings as well as those provided each week at the Caring Conversations Café.
It is a time to continue our optimism for the future at RLC. We have such a wonderful thing going at 124th and Coldspring in New Berlin, as well as 35th and Garfield in Milwaukee and on the African continent in Tanzania. God has been good to us and so, as we end each week’s service, I urge you to love the sentiment; Thanks be to God, our service has just begun!
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