Epiphany 5
February 4 and 5, 2012
Theme:  “Everyone is Looking For You”
Mark 1:  29-39
Boy Scout Weekend 

Epiphany 6
February 11 and 12, 2012
Theme:  “If you choose, you can make me clean.”
Mark 1:  40-45
Healing service at our Saturday evening and Sunday 10:30a.m. worship service.

Free Clinic

A big THANK YOU from all volunteers at the Free Clinic. They always look forward to food from our congregation. That's a big compliment to all our "cooks." Food is provided to the clinic six times a year for about 20 volunteer doctors and nurses. If  you would like to participate in this outreach program, please, contact Elfie Schmid at (540) 937-5315.

All of us from People Helping People would like to thank this great congregation for the tremendous financial support last year. You not only included us in your annual budget but also supported us with donations from Lent and Thanksgiving. A big Thank You also to the Women's and Men's Groups for their generous donations. This year was extremely challenging. Due to the present state of the economy, requests for assistance increased but donations declined. Your support always came at a time when it was most needed. A big THANK YOU to all volunteers who faithfully staffed the office and also provided additional financial support during times of need. May God bless you all so we can continue to carry out the Lord's commandment: Love thy neighbor in need. We are looking forward to your continued support during 2012.

 We still could use some more volunteers. Can you spare three hours a month? Please contact Elfie Schmid at (540) 937-5315. 

You Are Invited!

Join us for food, fun, and fellowship!  

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
February 21, 2012 at 6:00 p.m.

Be sure to invite a friend or someone whom you haven’t seen in church lately. This is a great opportunity for both outreach and in reach!

LAURA BARR CIRCLE is changing! Meetings will now be quarterly (March 21, June 13, September 19, December 12) at 10:30 a.m. in the Daughters of God Room. There will be Bible Study, participation in Women of the ELCA groups, and continuation of the Lunch Bunch ministry at Overlook Rehabilitation Center. Offerings will be gathered in support of community and congregational projects. Watch for more information about the March 21st meeting coming soon! All women are invited to attend; let us know if you need babysitting.

It is almost time for our congregational meeting of annual reports on Sunday February 12th following 10:30am worship. Task group leaders: Please take a few minutes and tell the story of the ministry of your task group during 2011. We want to hear about all that you accomplished during 2011 and what your plans are for 2012. Reports are due in the church office by Sunday, February 5th. All groups are welcome to share a written report and also to be present at the congregational meeting on the 12th to share the good news of our task groups work.

Prevention of Domestic Violence; P.M. workshop on Self-Defense for Women. topic for Germanna Conference Spring Gathering on March 17 at Hebron Church, Madison, VA. All women of the church are invited to attend. A planning meeting will be held on February 4 at 10 a.m. at Hebron church, 899 Blankenbaker Rd. Madison, VA to assign duties and plan some of the additional things. Women interested in helping to plan the meeting are encouraged to attend.

Thanks to all those who are serving as council members this year. We appreciate your willingness to share of your time, talents, and treasure to build up God's kingdom in and through Our Saviour Lutheran Church. Please see below all Council contacts and positions of leadership.  Especially in this year of transition please feel free to ask questions or express your opinions to any council member.

The Family Library now has a permanent home; you can find it in the room marked Library at the back of Fellowship Hall. There are books for kids from preschool through middle school. Many can be used for points in the Enterprise AR reading system used in public schools. This is a great opportunity to bring positive values and Bible-based reading into your home. The system is self serve; just check out a book on the appropriate clipboard and return it within two weeks. Questions or suggestions?  Talk to Amy Brown, Jennifer Hebert, Carla Jones, or Karen Voth.  

We decided that having a payment due in December just wasn’t any fun but we now need your next installment of $225.00 due this month on the 20th made out to OSLC.  Please place it in mailbox in the office marked Brad Stewart Youth Convention or bring it by any Saturday Night during service. In the memo field write the name of the participant. DO NOT place it in the offering plate or we won’t record your payment correctly. We will let you know when our first group meeting will be shortly.

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to stranger, for by doing this some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13: 1-2) This verse reflects the heart of our greeters ministry: to be intentional about promoting the mutual love of our fellowship and to welcome the stranger in Christ's name. If you would like to be a part of building up this great vision of mutual love and hospitality in our congregation, we need you. At this time, we are looking for a person to schedule our greeters for Sunday morning services, make reminder calls or send reminder emails to those serving, and work with the worship team in a yearly training session for our greeters. This person will get the joy of working with many willing church members who are very gifted at the ministry of greeting. And what's more, this person will get to see God's vision for our welcoming, hospitable congregation realized. If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please speak to one of our Worship Team Leaders, Brad Stewart or Susan Bingler, or speak to one of the pastors.

 Scouting around OSLC Troop 180 and Winter Activities  

With our first winter snow of a few weeks ago, folks around Our Saviour would think that Scouting has moved indoors for the winter. Not so, Boy Scout Troop 180 has a full schedule of winter outdoor activities planned. In January the Troop will attend the District Chill-out. This is an outdoor camping event held each year by the Piedmont District. In past Chill-outs we have camped in temperatures in the 60s with plenty of sun to below zero and snow. The Scouts will come prepared for anything that is served up. A good deal of training is done to make this a successful and a comfortable trip for the boys and adult leaders. At troop meetings the training points include how and where to pitch your tent, the proper gear to stay warm in the many weather conditions that Virginia offers in January, and winter first aid. Even with the winter weather, Scouts will rise to the challenge of camping in whatever the weather brings.

Scouts and campfires

One activity that I know will take place at these winter campouts is a camp fire. The tradition of the campfire goes back hundreds of years and is very much a part of almost ever Boy Scout campout. The boys really enjoy sitting around a blazing fire, talking about the day’s events, telling tall tales, or just staring into the fire and relaxing. I have seen the most hyperactive youth calm down around a simple but mesmerizing campfire. I am not sure how much longer we will be able to have campfires with so many burning ordinances currently in place, but for now they remain a large part of Boy Scout camping.

All our units successfully re-chartered

December is re-charter month for all the Scout units in the Piedmont district. All of OSLC’s units have re-chartered with flying colors.

If any ne from the church has any questions or knows of young men interested Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts or young men and women interested in Venturing, please contact me at rd_baker@comcast.net or by phone at (540) 347-9135.

Interested in joining Our Saviour community of faith? Please join Pastor Debbie in an information session about belonging to Christian community and to Our Saviour’s community of faith.

The class is being scheduled now. We will have time to build relationships, learn more about Christian community, the Lutheran church, and how to find your place at Our Saviour.

Please let Pastor Debbie know if you plan to attend or if you would like to join our community of faith on this weekend.

Our Saviour prayer chain is a group of people who intentionally pray for specific needs of our congregation, family, friends, and the world. Give one of our prayer chain leaders a call to have your request prayed for. They will then pass along your request to rest of the prayer chain members. All prayer chain requests are kept confidential. Our new prayer chain leaders and contacts are Kathryn Brettle (540) 428-2782 and Ginger O’Reilly (571) 261-3321. 

If you would like to join our congregation’s prayer chain and pray for others specific requests, please be in touch with Kathryn or Ginger. Our thanks go out to Jane Osburn, who was instrumental in starting the prayer chain and the leader for several years. She offered us great leadership in this ministry. We will miss Jane as she leaves our church and the Warrenton community and moves to her new home in Northern Virginia.  

The new Care-notes in the vestibule area are given in loving memory by the family of David Blank and in thanksgiving for the support and love shown during his illness and after his death.  These Care-notes are a resource of care and support for the journeys of life.

OSLC Car Magnets

While you are at the Donut Table on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, please look at the NEW OSLC Car Magnets which the Youth are also selling to raise funds for the two upcoming Youth trips. For $3 you can show your pride in OSLC and at the same time help defray some of their travel costs!!

Social Ministry Activities September - December 2011 - January 2012

Items collected: 322 food items collected (Dec)

Food baskets filled: (Dec) 6

Food Distribution: 200 families/690 people (Dec)

People Helping People: 24 volunteer hours, $4,413 aid to 33 families (Dec)

Free Clinic: Provided 20 meals for volunteers on Dec 8. Next opportunity is February 9

December Activities: Advent Food Tree in narthex—792 items, and still counting!!

February Activity: Ash Wednesday—special offering for ELCA World Hunger

Special thanks to all who provided items for the Advent Food Tree. We will use some of the food to restock the shelves in our OSLC food pantry, and will take the remainder to the Food Coalition Distribution (January 21), and to Fauquier County Food Bank.

Financial Report - December 2011