For Sunday, March 20, 2011
Second Sunday In Lent


For a list of upcoming activities go to http://www.mychurchevents.com/calendar/calendar.aspx?ci=G1K5L6N8L6I3N8

Be sure to check out our website http://welcometopeace.com
If you cannot attend this Sunday, you can still make an offering using our online service at Contribute Online. Thank you for your commitment to our mission and ministry.

We invite you to become a friend of Peace on the Peace Facebook webpage. Facebook is an online social networking site that helps communities of friends stay connected on an on-going basis. The cost is free. Facebook is a lot fun and you will enjoy the connections. You will need a Facebook account to join. Go to http://facebook.com for more information and search Facebook for Peace Lutheran Church, Pasadena Texas. We look forward to you joining.

Sunday’s Events
LWR Fair Trade Coffee on Sale
The midweek Bible Study group is a “partner” in the coffee business and sells coffee, tea and hot cocoa mix through the Lutheran World Relief Fair Trade Coffee Project. By using Fair Trade coffee and other products in our congregation and homes, we are helping farmers receive a fair price that covers their cost of production and guarantees them a living wage for their labors. Look for the table in the narthex.

St. Patrick Day Celebration: March 20, 12:30 pm-2:00 pm
It’s that time of the year again. Wear your green with pride, but it’s also a time of celebration of Saint Patrick, the Saint that helped spread Christianity. We’ll have a church family picnic here at Peace Lutheran with games, food (Potato Bar: $6.00/Adults, $3.00/Children under 10, an enjoy our Christian community together as we share our church’s history.

A Message from Pastor Galen
The Scripture readings for Sunday, March 20th are rich: God's call to Abram and Sarah in Genesis 12:1-4a, Psalm 121 where we are told to lift up our eyes to the hills in expectation of God's help, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 where Paul speaks of Abraham's faith, and John 3:1-17 where Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about a new birth by the Spirit. It's a richness fit for a feast. Some of you may have celebrated St Patrick's Day. Did some of you celebrate St Joseph's Day with an Italian feast? Come to worship this Sunday for a foretaste of the feast that is to come! Let us remember, "God so loved the world." You are God's creation. Let us remember, God doesn't make junk! Like Abraham and Sarah, we have been blessed to be a blessing.

Midweek Lenten Worship
Our midweek Lenten theme this year will be a reflection on our life together as a congregation. The springboard for this reflection will be Dietrich Bonhoeffer's little book entitled Life Together. This classic in spiritual literature is still available in print if you want to read it on your own. Our Lenten reflections will not be a book study or strictly speaking a Bible study, so having the book and reading it will not be necessary. Pastor Galen will offer his reflections on the five chapters of Bonhoeffer's book.

March 23: The Day with Others.
March 30: The Day Alone.
April 6: Ministry.
April 13: Confession and Communion.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is commemorated on our ELCA church calendar in remembrance of his resistance to Hitler and his death as a martyr in that cause on April 9, 1945. Bonhoeffer helped form the Confessing Church and headed its underground seminary. His well known books, The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together reflect his effort to establish a faith community that was faithful to the Gospel in the face of grave social injustice by the Nazis.

Plan to join us each Wednesday during the season of Lent for services at 12:30 pm and 7:00 pm. A soup lunch will be held at 11:45 am and our usual soup suppers at 6:00 pm.

Ben Remmert’s Commissioning As An Associate in Ministry On April 10th-
Thank you for those that were at our congregational meeting on February 27th to vote and call Ben Remmert as our Associate in Ministry for Youth and Family Ministries Ben will be commissioned in a service at Kinsmen Lutheran Church on April 10th at 4:00 pm. A light reception will be held afterwards. Ben would like to extend an invitation to you to celebrate this important event in his life, as well as witness a special ceremony where he will be commissioned by the Bishop Mike Reinhart. If you have any questions, please contact Ben Remmert.

Call Committee Notes of March 13, 2011 Meeting
Great progress was made in our meeting and we are looking forward to getting input from the congregation. There will be a Congregational Survey form available soon for your input.

A part of the Call Process involves identifying candidates for review. This "list of candidates" usually comes from the Synod as they look for an adequate match of pastor and church. But members of the congregation may also nominate pastors for The Call Committee to consider. Here is the process to nominate possible candidates:
Complete the "Pastoral Candidate Nomination Form" – which is located on the Call Committee Bulletin Board.
Drop the form in the "Council Suggestion" Drop Box located on the table in the Narthex. The Call Committee Council representative will then forward this to the Call Committee for consideration.

It is important that the Congregation has input into the call process and your opinions are valuable to us.

Think on this – "What is God’s will for Peace?"

Blessings,
Peace Lutheran Call Committee
From the Special Call Committee Prayer Group
TAKE TIME TO BE CAREFUL OF....
Your thoughts,
For they become your words.
Your words,
For they become your actions.
Your actions,
For they become your habits.
Your habits,
For they become your character.
Your character,
For it becomes your life.

Have a blessed, careful day!
"Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you are not willing to move your feet."

Remember to pray for:
The Call Committee, the pastor the Lord is preparing for service at Peace, the ministry of Pastor Knutson, as he serves as interim pastor and for Ben Remmert, as he leads the Youth and Family Ministry of Peace.

Congregational Survey
As an effort to get the best picture of the congregation and your thoughts and hopes for a new pastor, a congregational survey will be distributed in the next few weeks. One method by which we will be offering the congregational survey is on-line. If you would like to receive a link to the on-line survey but do not currently receive the weekly Peace email, please make sure to include your email address on the worship attendance card.

Lunch Bunch
Bring your family and join us at the Grand Buffet, 8309 Spencer Hwy, on March 27th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. So that we can plan for enough seating please be sure to sign up on the Parish Life bulletin board in the narthex, next to the chapel. Any questions call Owen King (281) 961-0803.

Senior Citizen’s Day Cancelled
Senior Citizen’s Day, scheduled for Wednesday, March 23rd, is cancelled for this month. Join us at 11:45 am for our midweek Lenten soup lunch followed by our worship service.

Installation of Pastor Gary Morgan-Gohlke
The congregation of Light of Christ Lutheran Church in La Porte, TX announces the installation of Pastor Gary Morgan-Gohlke as their pastor at a service on Thursday, April 7th at 7:00 pm.

Sarah’s House
During the month of March we will be collecting items in Jars: peanut butter, jelly, spaghetti sauce etc, and also canned soups. Sarah’s House is a shelter for women and their children who have fallen on hard times. They rehabilitate the women and get the children back in school. Please prayerfully consider donating one or two items. It would be greatly appreciated.

Lutherhill Ministries Golf Tournament
The 10th Annual Lutherhill Ministries Golf Tournament will be held at the Longwood Golf Club in Cypress on Friday, April 15th. 1:30 pm shot gun start. 4 Person Scramble Entry Fee: $110. Sponsorships are also available. Register by April 11th. See further information on the Parish Life bulletin board. Your generous participation and sponsorship of this event helps us to insure that no one is kept from camp due to cost.

Creative Hands
We will again be making journals for the boys and girls at the Krause Center in Katy. We will need 60 plus black and white non-spiral composition books. I have a few on hand and will purchase a few with our ink rebates but will need more. We appreciate any that you might care to donate. Please watch for times and dates to come and help with this project.
We will also do gift bags for the Krause Center. We are asking for all who travel to please save your unopened and unused hotel toiletries. These are perfect for the gift bags. We need 60 plus shampoos, soaps, lotions and conditioners. We also need small beanie size stuffed toys, decks of cards, toothbrushes and white sport socks for the boys (men sizes) and ladies size sport fun socks for the girls.
Jany

PLEASE CONTINUE TO SAVE YOUR USED INKS AND TONERS. The rebate we get back helps us get our supplies that we need for card making, the blessings and other projects.

Lutheran World Relief Sewing Kits
March & April items will be collected for World Relief Sewing Kits. Many retailers will be running their yard goods on sale. Wal-Mart in Pasadena is a great place to purchase your material also. The following items are needed to assemble a sewing kit:
Cotton or cotton blend fabric (no knits or 100%
polyester)
2- 1/4 yds of 60" wide fabric, or
3 yds of 44" wide fabric, or
4 yds of 36" wide fabric
1 pkg of 10-15 needles
1 spool of matching general purpose thread, 250-
300 yds
6 to 10 average size matching buttons (1/2 to 3/4
preferred)
Please prayerfully consider a sewing kit for World Relief. Thanks for your support and help through out the year. Remember to continue to save your cancelled stamps.

From the Youth Director
So we are well underway for Lent as we approach this time to reconcile with God. This includes sorrow for our sins as your life changes when you admit that Christ suffered and died for your sins, a time of spiritual growth, and a renewed commitment in the hope and faith of Jesus Christ. But the popular notion of lent is the fasting of something that is close in our lives to remember Christ’s temptation with the devil. However, did you know that you can also take this time to study scripture, a time for prayer and reflection, or a time for good deeds? So my question for you is what are your spiritual practices that you are doing for Lent? Come on over to my office and write your practices on my dry erase board.

Also I would like to invite you in this time of Lent to a prayer station that we made in our narthex. This is a place where you can write a prayer that you have and give this prayer to God by writing on a sticky note and placing it on the wooden cross symbolizing how God takes our prayers and listens to them. There are also other Lent goodies that you can use to help make this time special for your friends and family.
God Bless,
Ben Remmert

Sunday Refuge for Jr. & Sr. High @ 9:45 am!
Are you ready for a new experience? Are you needing a time to be amongst people your age? Why not come to a place of Refuge where you can explore your faith while having a blast doing it! This will not be your typical Sunday School class you have experienced in the past. There will be food, games and activities, and time to listen to the gospel in a new light with a message that reflects our world today. Bring a friend!

Camp Hope Paid Staff Applications- Turn Them in Asap!
Camp Hope is an opportunity for our Jr. High and Sr. High to lead in a 3 week day camp where we teach the good news of Christ through games, worship, interactive story telling, snacks, crafts, expressive arts, and service. It’s an opportunity for Peace to be a part of one of the most successful outreach and youth leadership programs that our synod offers to our youth and families. If you have not turned in your staff application, please contact Ben Remmert as we will begin our interviewing for staff on April 2nd so please sign up on a time that you can come in to interview.

Saints of Faith Milestone: March 20 at 9:45 am and March 27 at 11 am Worship
We are given our time together as a gift of God’s creation. People are given the choices to do what they want with their time. Our Christian faith calls us to live the life of the servant, the life that Jesus Christ lived. But can we truly live this life style? For those that accept the call to live the life of the suffering servant and preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the community, these are saints. This is what we are going to ask of our third graders for this milestone celebration as they will be learning about the people that helped shape our Christian story and heritage and how we can continue to shape the Christian story. So be sure to mark your calendar for this important milestone. For more information, please contact Ben Remmert.

Youth Garage Sale on April 16th!
To help raise funds for Camp Hope and summer ministries this summer, we are going to host a garage sale here at Peace. We will also be serving lunch at the garage sale. So if you have items in your closet, attic, or garage that are collecting dust and just need a reason to donate, why not help our youth as they are preparing for our summer outreach ministries. If you plan on donating items, please plan on bringing them over to Peace Lutheran Church after March 20th. For more information, please contact Ben Remmert.

Lutherhill Summer 2011!
If you are planning on going to Lutherhill this summer, we need you to sign up as soon as possible. Spots are filling fast and we need a good head count so we can put down our deposit. Remember that if you are in 1st-5th grade, we are going to Lutherhill on August 7th-12th, 2011 and 6th-8th are going to Lutherhill on June 19th-24th. Sign Ups are on the youth and family bulletin board for summer ministries and see the pictures form our Rally Day. More questions? Contact Ben Remmert.

Deep Leadership Meeting: Next Meeting Sunday March 27th @ 2 pm
Our leadership team is called “DEEP” because we are going to dive into our ministry together, head first. This is again a time for us to come together to gather and share the vision of Peace Lutheran’s ministry but also a time for our leaders to come together for devotion and have some discussions about passing on the faith to our youth. We are going to begin our times together discussing about the research done on the spiritual lives of American youth by Kendra Dean in Almost Christian. Kendra Dean has made some new discovers that can help us grow in our ministry. So if you are interested in becoming a leader in our youth and family committee, please contact Ben Remmert.

Family Meal Nights with the Youth Director!
Thank you for those families that have already talked to me about a time to meet, but for those that have not, there is still time! I have been here for 9 months and I am still committed to meeting all our families here at Peace Lutheran. I have placed a sign up sheet on our youth bulletin for families to sign up what day and time you would like to schedule a meal together where we can bond together as Brothers and Sisters in Christ. For more information, please contact Ben Remmert.

Jr. High, Sr. High and Youth Group!
Are you a youth and are searching for a community to belong to? Do you want to have fun with people your own age? Why not come and give youth group a try. This is a time where we are going to build on our community through fellowship, prayer, devotion, and a meal together as a group. We are wanting this to be an engaging time for our youth so the more the better! Here is the schedule for our youth groups for 2011.
Jr. High- Sundays at 5 pm- 6pm
Sr. High- Sundays at 4 pm- 6 pm
Young Adults- Wednesdays at 7 pm-8:30 pm

Communion Instruction- April 3rd, April 10th, And April 17th At 1 pm
It’s coming up, our spring class of Communion Instruction! All students ready for instruction in First Communion (we suggest 3rd grade- 5th grade) are invited to attend classes every Sunday at 1pm on April 3rd , April 10th, and April 17th we are going to learn more about how communion is our gift of God’s love and grace while learning how it helps us communicate our Christian message. Our children will receive their first communion on April 24th with their families. Please contact Ben Remmert for more questions. Please sign up by March 27 so we can have enough supplies for our class.

Sr. High and Jr. High Hunger Famine Lock-In- March 25th- March 26th
Final Sign Ups Sunday! We will be going over to Kinsmen Lutheran Church with other Lutheran congregations from March 25th – March 26th! All Senior High and Junior High are invited as we will have activities for both grades and activities that are to engage them on their own level. We are going to learn more about world hunger and participate in a 30 Hour Famine to help raise money for Lutheran World Relief to help the world fed the world. It’s going to be a blast! Please bring $5 to help pay for dinner and breakfast. For more information, please contact Ben Remmert.

Jr. High Human Dignity Retreat: April 8-9
What this is not is a Sex Ed. Retreat. However, this is a place to have caring and warm discussions where we will talk about how we are relational beings and how God has given us the gift of sexuality. This is a lock-in only for our Jr. High students and we are going to Holy Comforter Lutheran Church where we will be with 5 other Lutheran congregations where there will be food, games, fellowship, and meaningful conversations. For parents, we will come together on March 21st at 6:30 pm to discuss what we will be talking with your youth about. We will meet at Peace Lutheran Church at 6 pm and be back at Peace on April 9th at 8 pm. Cost is $30 which includes three meals, snacks, transportation, and our activities. Sign ups are on the youth and family ministry bulletin board. Please sign up by March 21st. More questions please contact Ben Remmert.

Youth Lent Focus: Becoming A Contagious Christian
Lent is the time to focus our attention to the ministry of Jesus Christ. So with Lent coming around the corner, we are going to have our Wednesday Night evenings focused on how to equip our youth in relational evangelism by discovering your own style of communicating about Christ, how to build spiritual significant relationships, telling your own story, and having some fun doing so. For more information, please contact Ben Remmert.



Calling Our Jr./Sr. High Actors For An Easter Performance
It’s closer than you think. With such a successful Christmas Program, we are going to be putting on another production for our Easter service and we need some help! As of right now we are looking for Jr. High and Sr. High students who would like to perform in a production that has to do with the Easter Message. If you are interested, please contact Ben Remmert for more information as we are beginning our rehearsal.

Family Seder Meal on April 20th At 6:30 pm
During Holy Week, we are going to celebrate our time together with a sedar meal together where we will come together to have a family friendly seder meal. After our meal, we will have our Jr. High and Sr. High perform their Easter production. Its going to be a time to come together for fellowship, come together in prayer, and come together to learn more about our shared Christian history. We will need a count for food, so please sign the sheet on the table in the narthex if you plan to attend. For more information, please contact Ben Remmert.

Buck A Chick: For ELCA World Hunger Relief
This Easter, we are going to join congregations from across the nation by having a “Buck-a-Chick” sale. For one dollar, you can purchase and decorate a paper chick for yourself or in honor of a loved one where your gifts will help provide families living in poverty with chicks to provide a source of food and income. If you are going to write a check, please make your checks out to Peace Lutheran with “Buck-a-Chick” in the memo line.

Camp Hope Registration for Summer!
Camp Hope this summer is themed as our own circus! Camp Hope is a ministry where our youth who are 5 years old through 5th grade are invited to our three week Day Camp. Expect an action packed day for school children which include Bible Stories, crafts, games (indoor & outdoor), songs, & more. Campers are cared for by trained High School and College age Small Group Leaders and Support Staff. Camp Hope is from July 11-15, July 18-22, July 25-29th. So make sure to register now to get in on our early bird discounts by April 30th. For more information, please contact Ben Remmert or Camp Manager Jessica Gaul!

VBS 2011- Pandamania – July 31 – August 5
Vacation Bible School is just around the corner! A wild celebration of God's unconditional love! At PandaMania VBS, kids will discover that God has a purpose and a plan for everyone and that he crafted each of us with his own loving hands. Make sure to check out our VBS board in the narthex for more up to date information as we move closer to our event!