LENT WORSHIP SCHEDULE 2025

Mid-Week Lenten Services

Wednesdays:  March 26; April 2, 9

7:00 p.m. 

March Altar Gifts

Holy Communion          Vickie & Gregg Copeland ~ In Honor of our 

                                          Daughter’s wedding

Altar Candles                  Given to the Glory of God

Eternal Lamp                 Given to the Glory of God

Lenten Dinners

During Lent, you are invited to join in Lenten dinners at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at CLC, before each 7:00 p.m. evening service. Please sign up for each meal in advance in the East Link so that the cooks know how many to expect, and consider bringing a dessert to share. A free-will offering will be collected at each meal. Come and join in the fellowship!

Dinner schedule:

March 26—Denise Maragos;  Chicken Piccata, Antipasto Salad,                                                                         Meatballs, Parmesan Pull apart Bread,                                                               Manicotti, Italian Rice Pudding,                                                                           Flourless Chocolate Cake

April 2—Choir; Soup

April 9—Bread Breakers Family Group #2; Chinese Stir-Fry

For Children and Families - Mark Your Calendars!

Communion Conversations

CLC children and families are invited to our annual Communion Conversations on Saturday, April 12, from 9-10:30am. Our practice at CLC is to welcome children to God's table whenever families discern that they are ready to receive - and then to make an opportunity available to learn more, together! If your child is ready to begin receiving communion, or if they are already receiving communion and are ready to learn more, please join us! Email Pastor Erica (pastorerica@clcvalpo.org) with any questions, or to let us know you'll be attending!

Our All-Ages Easter Vigil is the highlight of the Church Year! At 4pm on April 19, we will celebrate this ancient tradition while having a lot of fun along the way, using all 5 senses (plus our sense of humor) to walk through the family stories of God’s people and celebrate the Resurrection - and then break our Lenten “fasts” with s’mores around the fire pit. One of the best parts is always a collection of family storytellers for our Bible Stories - you can sign up at the following link, and contact me (pastorerica@clcvalpo.org) for any help with ideas or questions!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0C49A4A92FA5FE3-55720968-easter#/

Easter Sunday Egg Hunt, April 20 after 10:30 service

Times are approximate, depending on when worship wraps up:

12:00– pre-k-k (near the Memorial Garden)

12:10– 1st– 4th grade (out in the field)
12:15- 5th-8th grade (in the woods)

We will have some plastic bags, but you may want to bring your own collecting container.  Emptied eggs will be collected back afterwards to be recycled for next year.

Third Grade Bible Basics

Every year, our Third Graders and families meet to learn about the Bible - Why do we read it? How does God's love come to us through the Bible? Where did it all come from, anyway? This year's Third Grade Bible Basics classes will meet on Sundays during the Formation Hour - May 11 and 18, with Bible Presentation on Sunday May 18. Email Pastor Erica (pastorerica@clcvalpo.org) with any questions, or to let us know you'll be attending!

Easter Sunday Egg Hunt

Donations of candy and treats to put in eggs are needed.  Please drop your donations off at the CLC office.

Thank you!

CLC SENIORS OUTING

CLC Senior Outing to the Porter County Museum on 

Thursday, March 27 at 11 AM. 

"Arm Chair Historian" Ed Seykowski will narrate the Valparaiso Northern Railroad exhibit.  The VN Railroad right of way was across from his boyhood home, this was the local playground for Ed and his friends when they were growing up.  A trolley ran from downtown Valparaiso north along Calumet Avenue to Burlington Beach Road. Then it wound through the ten lakes north of Valparaiso, through where the present Northwest Health Hospital now exits, and ultimately to Woodville.  Passengers could continue west to Gary, north to Chesterton, or east to Michigan City/South Bend via the interurban system.  The VN Railroad was instrumental in attracting visitors from all around the midwest to the five resorts on Flint and Long Lakes.  Now the only existing hotel is the Long Lake Hotel across the lake from Ed's present home.  Many of the summer cottages built around the lakes have been converted into year round homes. The VN Railroad helped to put Valparaiso on the map.  At 12:30 PM the group will have lunch at Jimmy's Cafe, just 2 blocks from the museum.  Please let Ed Seykowski know if you plan to attend by email at edseykow@gmail.com or text to 219/216-7027.

Attention All Thrivent Financial Members! 

Do you have any Thrivent Choice Dollars that have not been directed to the charity of our choice? 

Minimum and maximum Choice Dollars Designations 

Eligible clients will be designated a minimum of 25 Choice Dollars and a maximum of 5,000 Choice Dollars per eligibility period (Jan. 1 to Dec. 31). 

Choice Dollars designated during the calendar year can be directed until 

March 31, 2025. 

There are two ways of directing Choice Dollars to Christ Lutheran Church: 

Computer: Go to the Thrivent Financial web site (www.Thrivent.com) and direct the Choice Dollars on-line. 

Phone: Call Thrivent Financial at 1-800-847-4836. When prompted by the electronic answering system, say “Thrivent Choice.” Follow the remaining prompts, and a representative will come on the line to assist you. You will need your Thrivent membership ID number and will need to answer some other personal questions to verify that you are the Thrivent member who is on the line. 

CLC Social Ministry and Mission

March 2025

Social Ministry Emphasis for March.  Our emphasis is providing support for the Lutheran Diaconal Association www.thelda.org.  Below is a message to CLC from LDA:

“Since 1919, the Lutheran Diaconal Association has formed people for ministries of service.  In the early years we trained women primarily as nurses serving in missions and institutions of the church.  Our ministries have changed throughout the last 105 years.  Today we serve in congregations, in institutions and wherever God’s people are.

A deaconess or deacon is someone one who serves. Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and instructed them to do the same for others. Sometimes deaconesses and deacons do actual foot-washing like Jesus did; but more widely, they serve Christ by walking with those the world easily forgets; the marginalized, the poor, the powerless, the sick.

People who reach out to others in this way—with care and compassion in a hurting world—are practicing diaconal service, as all the baptized are called to do.  Some of them desire to do this as a professional in ministry and enter a more formal training and formation process to become deaconesses and deacons.  Since the earliest days of the church men and women have been set apart to do intentional servant ministry.

Deaconess/deacon ministry has come to mean many things: it means serving others on bended knee, and from positions of leadership. It means entering the hurt parts of society and carrying the light and love of Christ in service to others. It means telling the story of God’s love and helping others to hear God in their own story. It means welcoming the stranger in our midst. 

Stories of ministry abound (pick up a copy of a LDA newsletters at CLC throughout the year).  We are nurses, lawyers, engineers, musicians, social workers, chaplains, parish “deacs”, teachers, campus chaplains, missionaries, professors and so much more. 

We are so grateful for our partnership with Christ Lutheran Church.  Your congregation has made a huge difference in our ministry.  Your prayer support and financial support are invaluable and help the LDA thrive and reach out to God’s people..  Thank you!  For more info www.theLDA.org We would love to talk with you! - see Deaconesses Jane Aicher, Diana Iltzsche, Karen Hernes, or Kristin Lewis.”

Deaconess Lisa Swayne will be providing the CLC Worship sermon on March 9, LDA Sunday, and will also lead a Faith Formation session on Homelessness and Gabriel’s Horn Shelter.

Help achieve our goal of $2500 in March (over and above giving combined with CLC’s $1200 budgeted amount).  By achieving our goal CLC will help Luth. Diaconal Assoc. continue mutual support and service activities that are crucial to effective ministry.  Use your weekly worship giving mailed in check to CLC and indicate “LDA” or contribute through Subsplash on the CLC website https://clcvalpo.org via the “Give” button and choose Monthly Social Ministry Emphasis.  Thank you to members for supporting social ministry emphases.

Daybreak Shelter

After 18 years of area churches hosting new creation men, 14 or those years at Christ Lutheran, the Daybreak Men's shelter and warming shelter for unhoused men and women has opened on Feb 1st.

Our help is still needed as the warming shelter for folks living in cars, tents, parks or generally on the street, cannot run without volunteers covering the three shifts. 

Those shifts are 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm, 11:00-3:00 am and 3:00 am to 7:00 am. There is a short training video or Don MacMillian, Diana Iltzsche or Lisa Owen can help you with details. 

Meals are also still needed for the men who were formerly in the new creation program. The men eat at 5:30 at the new shelter in its very nice dining hall. There is parking right in front of the glass doors going into the hall so you can bring easily park and bring your prepared meal right inside. There are dishes, silverware,  water, and salt and pepper for the meals. 

The first link below is to sign up to volunteer for a shift. The second if for a meal. You can sign up to prepare the meal or sign up to serve it too. If you want to just drop off the meal, just sign up to "prepare meal" . If you can stay the 30-40 minutes to serve it and help clean up, sign up to "serve meal" as well. 

Shawn Blank is the volunteer coordinator and you can also direct questions to him. He can be reached at 219-246-7173. 

The Daybreak shelter is located at:

505 Don Hovey Drive. 

Thank you, Christ Lutheran Church for caring for our vulnerable neighbors.

http://volunteersignup.org/DKPBF

http://volunteersignup.org/RKHY7

Diana Iltzsche (219-628-0950)

Don MacMillian ( 219-921-4305)

Lisa Owen ( 219-477-9240)