Adult Formation Hour Options

9:20 a.m.

Felonies Don’t Define Futures is a program that Dawn Bartusch is coordinating. This is about important work being done by Dawn and her colleagues to assist people who are leaving prison make a successful re-entry to communities outside prison.

New Coats for Friends and Neighbors of Bethel Lutheran Church

Christ Lutheran is teaming up with Bethel Lutheran, our sister church in Gary, to provide 9 new coats for 8 children and one adult in need of warm clothing this winter.  CLC has committed to provide these new coats.

Here’s what you can do:

• Find the coat poster in the gathering space.

• Take one of the removable buttons from the poster with coat/accessory info for a particular child. (If you’d like, you could ask another person/family to partner with you)

• Shop!

• Pack your coat and accessories, with their original button of info, in a gift bag.

• Bring them to the gathering space on or before Sunday morning, December 10, and leave them below the poster.

Thank you for helping to keep our friends warm this Christmas! 

THE ANGEL TREE IS HERE!

Christ Lutheran Church is organizing a way for you to give to others who need some help during the upcoming Christmas Season. Recipients of these angel gifts are yet to be determined.  The tree and the angels will be in the Gathering Place this weekend. 

SAVE THE DATE!  

The CLC Retreat is happening with a focus on FORGIVENESS. Please plan now to    attend on February 23-25, 2024.  It will be a good time to step back from our stressful daily lives into a time of respite and spiritual renewal at the beautiful Lindenwood Retreat Center near Plymouth, IN.  Watch for more details soon. 

Senior Group News

December 3, 2023 (Sunday):  Immediately following the late service, our senior group will be meeting with the youth group (in the Gathering Place), as we had hoped to do after Kaitlyn's earlier presentation to our group.  Please let me know by return email if you can attend, and if so, what you can provide in the way of lunch.  So far, we have a sandwich tray and chips. Right now, five youth have indicated their attendance.   Thank you! 

December 17, 2023 (Sunday):  2:00 P.M.   White Christmas at Valpo's Memorial Opera House downtown.  We will not meet as a group but will  check in individually, giving "The McCawn Group" as the identifier.  This event will be for those that have already prepurchased tickets through Marilyn. 

January 25, 2024:  Thursday, 9:15 a.m.  Meet at church for our meeting as Pastor Erica will share with us her sabbatical experiences!  A sign up sheet will be on the bulletin board, and also indicate if you are able to provide treats for that meeting. 

Thank you for letting me know if you are able to attend this Sunday's gathering!  If needed, my phone number is 219 477 3937, or please reach out to Sue Reinhold. 

Giving Envelopes

The 2024 giving envelopes are available.  You will find them in the Gathering Place, the church Hall and by the Church Office.

Please let Jen Bias know if you have any questions.  Thank you.

Fleece Donations Needed!

Do you have fleece lying around that you aren’t quite sure what to do with? Consider donating it to the CLC Youth Ministries! In January, our youth will be making tie blankets to donate to Living Hope. We will be using fleece to create these blankets, so any donations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for supporting our youth ministries!

CLC Social Ministry and Mission

December 2023

Bethel Lutheran Church – Miller/Gary

• December’s Social Ministry emphasis is to provide monetary support, along with increasing partnership activities, with Bethel Lutheran Church, a diverse, urban ELCA congregation in the Miller neighborhood of Gary, Indiana (part of NW Indiana Conference of I-K Synod)  http://bethelmiller.org and http://facebook.com/bethelmillerbeach    Bethel’s Pastor is Rev. Joy Heine, and Greg Bueltmann is Director of Music.      Bethel means "house of God" and members believe strongly “that the God of Jesus Christ truly is present as they regularly gather in fellowship around his Word and sacraments”.  CLC has partnered with Bethel over many years, including our 3^rd joint worship service at Lake Michigan this past summer, and it is wonderful to further increase relationships with a sister congregation.

• CLC began as an ELCA suburban mission congregation almost 53 years ago.      The ELCA I-K Synod Mission and Urban Congregation programs some years ago refocused on needs of urban, rural, and diverse congregations. 

• Help achieve our goal of $2500 in December (over and above giving combined with CLC’s budgeted amount of $1200).  By achieving our goal CLC will help Bethel Lutheran continue to thrive as a congregation with outreach activities to organizations such as Interfaith Action Network, Crisis Center, and Sojourner Truth House.  Use your weekly worship giving envelope mailed with check to CLC and indicate “Bethel” or contribute through Subsplash on the CLC website https://clcvalpo.org via the “Give” button.  Thank you to members for supporting monthly social ministry emphases.

Please remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

Continuing with our tradition at CLC, we are taking up a collection for Christmas gifts for our CLC Staff.  If you are interested in contributing, please either drop off your contribution to Jenny at the church office or place it in the offering plate with the designation “Staff Christmas Gift.”  It is our intention to divide the funds evenly among all of our CLC staff.

Christmas will be here before you know it, please have all contributions in by Sunday, 

December 17. If you have any questions, please contact any Church Council Officer.

2023 End of Year Contributions

As we approach the end of 2023, please take a moment to read the following guidelines for year-end giving.

All contributions received on Sunday, December 31, will be recorded in 2023.  Please remember to clearly write your name, the amount of the contribution, and the purpose of the donation (operating budget, social ministry, etc.) on your envelope.  (Tip:  Several of our members use return address labels on their envelopes – quick and easy!)

Our envelopes have preprinted lines for Operating Budget, Social Ministry Monthly Emphasis, and Special Offering (for any other offerings).  Please indicate the amount for each fund on the appropriate line.  If your gift is designated for something other than the Operating Budget or Social Ministry Monthly Emphasis, please indicate the amount and the purpose.  Please note that all contributions that are not designated will be put towards the Operating Budget.  If you don’t have preprinted envelopes, feel free to use one of our pew envelopes (located in the pews and on top of the indoor lockbox outside the church office).

The church can accept gifts of securities!  If you would like to transfer securities to the church, or if you would like to transfer the proceeds from the sale of securities to the church, please contact the church office for more information.

Thank you for your faithful contributions to the ministries of Christ Lutheran Church!  If you have any questions regarding your contributions, please contact the church office.

Weekly Prayers

Global:

• Violence in the Holy Land
• Anti-Semitism hate crimes

Hospice:

• Janet
• Pat
• Julia & family
• Frances
• Norma
• Ramona

Long-term/ongoing:

• Joy
• Mike 
• Sally
• Letty
• Katrina
• Jimee
• Tim
• Dawn

11/24

• Lus, Norberto, and family
• Stuart
• Maritza

11/16

• Janet
• Laura
• Kim
• Char, Krista and Faith
• Kelly
• Raven
• Ms. Leonelli
• Shelli