St. John’sSt. John’s Pastoral Musings Lutheran Church

Marriage Ministry DateDate NightThe Truth ProjectGive your spouse an early Valentine’s present!Bring him or her to Date Night! Wewill have a fabulous dessert bar withgoodies to satisfy any sweet-toothand follow up that treat with anotherone Doug Swink from Winning atHome will be doing a presentation on Christianmarriage. If you missed our first date night youwon’t want to miss this one! Event starts at 7:00p.m., Friday, February 4. Presented by your Faith atHome Marriage ministry team.The Truth Project is still being presented and we willbegin a new class on February 6th at 9:00 a.m. onSunday mornings in the 7th/8th grade classroom.Those who are attending late service may beinterested in coming in a little early and you will beout by 10:20 and be to church on time. Considerthis 13 week study as part of your worshipresolution for 2011.Christianity and the CompetitionA new Sunday morning Bible Study will start up onFebruary 20, meeting during the 9:30 a.m. time slot.It will be in a DVD – Discussion format. It’s author isDr. Paul L. Maier (it’s his latest).Dr. Maier writes: “Although Christianity is by far thelargest of the world religions, it is increasinglychallenged today by competing belief systems. Infact, the globe is littered with every possible varietyof religious and parareligious spirituality. While aseminar such as this cannot hope to deal withthem all, we shall address the major religioussystems in both the east and the west, providing abrief summary of each in terms of its founder, itsholy book (if any), its prime beliefs and, inparticular, its credibility.As a model for this approach, we shall begin withChristianity, omitting details or its founders andbeliefs since this series will primarily be used byChristians, but testing its credentials andcomparing them with those of other world religioussystems.”Other religions to be covered will be: The Far East –Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhs, Confucianism, Taoismand Shintoism. The Middle East – Judaism,Mithraism, Montanism, Manicheism, Baha’I andIslam. Western – Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses,the Cults and Scientology.We will also be taking a look at how a Christiancan respond to all these competing faiths. Plan onjoining us beginning Sunday, February 20, at 9:30a.m. in the Multipurpose Room.Several people have attended this study morethan once as it is packed with thought provokingconcepts as we struggle with the Truth in today’sworld.Family Spiritual Planning SessionOur next session is Saturday, February 26. This is aprogram you don’t want to miss. This thoughtprovoking 4-hour planning session will help you tochart out specific plans to assist your family inmaking God a part of your home and family life.The leaders will walk you through the steps, but theplan itself is written individually (or with yourspouse), and privately. Your plan is personal toyou, and your family and will be tailored to yourpassions in life. Please sign up on the Parish Edbulletin board, or see Richard Rothe or CraigKaschube to allow us to plan for materials andsupplies. Child care is available.Weekend to RememberWeekend to Remember Marriage Conference: It'snever too early or late to learn how to make yourmarriage flourish! Marriagegetaways have made a hugedifference in my marriage and itcan in yours as well. TheWeekend to RememberGetaway, sponsored by FamilyLife, is coming to Grand Rapids March 4-6. Don'tmiss this opportunity to invest in your mostimportant relationship! Join our group and save 159/couple when you register. This is oneinvestment that will pay huge dividends for the restof your life! We hope you can join us.http://www.familylife.comFor more info, contact Craig Kaschube atckaschube@sjlcs.org or (616) 842-4510.St. John’s Lutheran Church, February 2011-4-

SECOND AND THIRD GRADEPRESCHOOLThe preschoolers were very excited and ready tocome back to preschool after their long Christmasbreak. During January the preschoolers learnednursery rhymes. Many are familiar but some arenew to the children. The children enjoyed theirannual pajama party – they get to come to schoolin pajamas and bring blankets. They watch videosand play in their pajamas all day. It is tons of fun!Mrs. Debbie LuytjesKINDERGARTENThe children were excited to return to school inJanuary and tell about their time with friends andfamily during our Christmas break. Our room wasfilled with winter fun. Each child made a snowmanfor a bulletin board and wrote in a "voice bubble"what each snowman would say. They also drewpictures and wrote sentences of what they do inwinter. We are working with our five sensespreparing for the Science Fair. Using our ears toidentify different sounds was interesting. Using oureyes to look at each other and things around uswas exciting. It was hard to find Mrs. Behm in thegym with our eyes shut. We used our sense of tasteto see if we liked or did not like how things tasted.We found out some things smell good and somethings smell not so good. We had fun describinghow some things felt. Thank you, God, for our fivesenses.Mrs. Connie BehmFIRST GRADEThe first graders returned to school after theChristmas break eager to see their friends andready to learn once again. With half of the yearbehind them, the first graders are becomingactive readers and are improving greatly on theirphonics and reading skills. They are also using theirwriting skills creating sentences using their spellingwords and remembering to include capital lettersand an end mark, a real feat for the elementarystudent.The children thoroughly enjoy the giant snow (ice)hill and the challenge of climbing it. the ride downhasn't always been as smooth as anticipated.After learning about Jesus in the temple and Hisbaptism at age 30, the children enjoyed seeingMrs. Kooi's baptismal dress that she wore at herbaptism. We are thankful to be God's children andespecially knowing that our sins are forgiventhrough our baptism. It is important that wecontinue to practice that forgiveness with oneanother in the classroom.Mrs. Patti KooiWow, January went by fast! We are busy gettingready for the Science Fair which will be onFebruary 11th. Our dioramas are complete as wellas our reports so we look forward to telling you allabout the animals we researched and theirhabitats. In math we are learning about placevalue and subtracting greater numbers. In socialstudies we have learned about map skills, bodiesof water and landforms. Religion has beeninteresting as we look at the descendents of Adamand the ancestors of Jesus.Mrs. Barb Bunda, Mrs. Laura HarveyFOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADEGabe Casper is studying to become a Lutheranpastor at Concordia Seminary. The studentsreceived a picture of him from the MichiganDistrict and have been praying for this young manand asking the Lord to bless his endeavor. InLiterature class while reading the novel, Island ofthe Blue Dolphins, we discussed where we shouldplace our trust. The Bible has specific passagesthat help with this question. Reading our Bible isone of the most important part of our day! Finally,the students are using technology in the form ofMrs. Kolberg's website to complete a blog questionin Math and Reading.Students are very excited to learn about the earlycolonies and the different lifestyles of the NewEnglanders, the Middle Colonies and the SouthernColonies. Very soon we continue our story ofAmerican History with the Revolutionary War.Mrs. Debbie Kolberg, Mrs. Tracy WoodSEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADEWe have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird inschool and discussing themes of racism, growingup, and moral character. It's thrilling to be able tointroduce this great American novel to mystudents! Our last week of geography brings anessay test in which students will discuss howgeography has influenced history throughout theEastern Hemisphere.The seventh and eighth graders are followingscientific method as they design and conductindividual experiments to present at the St. John'sScience Fair on Feb. 11th. We hope you will cometo hear them share their results to questions suchas the following: How does wind speed affectwind chill? Which hand lotion retains the mostmoisture? Can a hamster learn a maze faster witha particular treat as the reward? How does StroopEffect change as we become fluent readers? andDoes temperature affect the accuracy of apaintball?Mrs. Tracy Wood, Mrs. Dawn KohnSt. John’s Lutheran Church, February 2011-5-

“Fiesta of Faith”2011 Spring AuctionFriday March 25th, 2011Grand Haven Community CenterOnce again, St. John’s Lutheran School will be hosting our annual Spring Auction fundraiser. This year it will be held onFriday, March 25th, 2011 at the Grand Haven Community Center. We need many hands for a successful event! This year’stheme is a ‘Mexican Fiesta’. The money we raise will go directly back into our school. Please consider donating items,whether it is a product or a service to be auctioned off, gift certificates or perhaps consider sponsoring our event this year.Listed below are a few suggestions for items and services that families can donate. These are only suggestions, so feel freeto use your imagination for something that would fit your talents and your schedule. You can use St. John’s as your drop-off site, or one of our volunteers would be happy to arrange apick up for any items or donations.We can create a certificate so the winning bidder will contact you directly to make arrangements onhow to receive their prize.We are also looking for baskets of different sizes that we could use to “group” items together andpresent at the auction.We are hoping to borrow any Mexican blankets you may have, to be used as part of our décor forthe evening (will be returned to you after the auction).Ideas for Products to Donate Certificate for 1 homemade dessert per month for a year Handmade Afghan/Quilt Woodworking projects A dozen jars of homemade jams or jellies Artwork Purchased items that we could ‘group’ together if needed Handmade jewelry Five pounds of deer meat, sausage, jerky, etc.

St. John’s Lutheran Church, February 2011 - 2 - Pastoral Musings (Cont. from page one) Such suggestions cheapen Christ’s sacrifice and love for you. Such suggestions attack the cross,