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May

2009

Inside this issueInside this issueInside this issueInside this issue

A word from our Pastor 1

Assigned Scriptures 2

Church Council 2

Helping Worship

Happen

3

Thoughts for

Memorial Day

3

Upcoming Events

at Holy Cross

4

Prayers for Active Military

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Birthdays 5

Congratulations 5

Anniversaries 5

Special Thanks 5

Upcoming Synod & ELCA events

6

News You Can Use 7

Community Service Opportunities

8

Volunteer Opportunities

8

Traveling Thru Pages 8

Letter from Bishop Mark

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Health Related Prayers 10

Medical News 11

Just for Kids 12

Calendar 13

Dear Friends,

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Greetings to you all this Easter season. It is truly a wonderful time for us, hav-ing celebrated the death and resurrection of our Lord this past month. It was an interesting month to say the least. We had Palm Sunday service with no palms due to a communication blip. We also had an Easter sun-rise service that only took place because of a bold deci-sion to trespass. For those of you who weren’t there, we arrived early Sunday morning at windy hill only to find the gates locked with signs that said “park closed.” So we decided to go ahead with the service after a brief discussion with Joey, whose response to the situation was, “what are they going to do, arrest us?” The sun ended up rising just as we were singing the last hymn, warming our hearts and our fingers. During the service I felt that it was pretty chilly out, but from what I’ve heard, it was rather warm compared to what it has been like in the past. Next time I’ll bring gloves. In addition to a good sunrise service, we had a full house for our regular 9:30 service on Easter Sunday. There were many visitors and family members present, and I feel that the service went very well. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my first Lenten season as a pastor, but was fairly tired after the Easter services were over. It definitely is a Holy time, but busy as well. I want to thank those of you who helped out with various parts of the Lenten season. The gift of your time and help was truly appreciated. I want to especially thank those who helped with the Maundy Thursday service. You were put on the spot at the last minute and came through big time. The Seder meal was wonderful and I know that everyone who attended enjoyed the food and fellowship tremen-dously. On a more personal note, I want to say thank you to you all for the encourage-ment and support you have given me these first two months. I do believe that God has brought us together for our mutual benefit. And I feel as though I am remember-ing a lot of your names! There are still some that I miss, but I hope that you will con-tinue to be patient with me. Also, we will be having a series of cottage meetings over the next couple of months and would encourage all of you to try to make it to one of these meetings. It will give us time to get to know each other better, as well as spend some time talking about what your dreams are for Holy Cross Lutheran.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon

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Assigned Scriptures May 3-- Fourth Sunday of Easter May 24-- Seventh Sunday of Easter Acts 4:5–12 Acts 1:15–17, 21–26 Psalm 23 Psalm 1 1 John 3:16–24 1 John 5:9–13 John 10:1-10 John 21:15-19

May 10-- Fifth Sunday of Easter May 31-- Day of Pentecost Acts 8:26–40 Acts 2:1–21 Psalm 22:25–31 Psalm 104:24–34, 35b 1 John 4:7–21 Romans 8:22–27 John 10:11-18 John 15:26–27; 16:4b–15

May 17-- Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 10:44–48 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1–6 John 10:22-33

Bible Quiz After the Resurrection, the apos-tle Philip was on the road to Gaza when he came upon an Ethiopian official sitting in a chariot. The man, on a return trip from worshiping in Jerusalem, was reading aloud. As Philip approached, he recognized the words that the offi-cial was reading: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter …” (Acts 8:32, NRSV).

Philip knew they were the words of what Jewish prophet?

A. Amos C. Hosea B. Micah D. Isaiah

The answer is in Acts 8:30.

Answer: D

Thoughts for Memorial Day The anthropologist and naturalist, Loren Eiseley, who died in 1977, wanted this epitaph for his wife and himself: “We loved the earth, but could not stay.” No one can stay, of course. We all are moving inexorably toward that final day when “the shadows lengthen, and the eve-ning comes, and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over, and our work is done” (Book of Common Prayer). This Memorial Day we particularly remember the men and women who have perished in war, giving the ultimate sacri-fice to make the world a better place. They too “loved the earth, but could not stay.” May God hasten the day when we can solve our disputes peacefully. We also remember all our loved ones whose stay on Earth is over. Christians believe that death does not end all. We trust that the God who made us will provide for us when our bodies can no longer sustain us. A memorial stone on the campus of the College of Woos-ter in Ohio, placed there by a class many years ago, reads: United in time Divided in time To be reunited When time shall be no more. That is a hope we can have for ourselves, our loved ones and those who sacrificed all.

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Upcoming Events at Holy Cross Chrismons If you are eager to have Christian themes reflected in your Christmas decorations are invited to join the chrismon-making group. Chrismons will meet on Friday, May 1st and 15th. They begin at 10am If you have not attended and are interested in attending please contact the church office.

Journaling Journaling begins at 1pm on Friday May 1st and 15th. Journaling Group gathers to share and discuss journaling ex-cerpts. All are welcome to participate in this class.

Revelations Bible Study Beginning May 4th the Monday Afternoon Bible Study Class will begin exploring the book of Revela-tions. All are welcome to attend. Bible Study is every Monday (except Holidays) beginning at 1:30pm. If you would like more information please contact Melissa or Pastor Jon.

Quilting Quilting group will meet on Thursday May 14th and Wednesday May 27th. Quilting will begin at 4:00pm for both meetings! The group will be working on quilt tops. Quilting experience is not required, so if you are interested just show up! Also, there will be a quilt tying sometime in June; date has yet to be determined. Two quilts are completed for our "fund raising," and they are both beautiful. During May and June we will be selling raffle tickets to raise money for the quilt batting and thread we use in the quilts. Contact the church office for more information-and to get on our e-mail distribution.

Ladies of the Club Book Group Our meeting is scheduled for Thursday May 14th. Our book selection for the month will be Freeze Frame by Heide Ayarbe. The author has been invited to come and join us. This will be a joint meeting with the Carson City group. Thanks and happy reading.

Spring Shower Holy Cross is giving itself a shower!!! Please take a flower from the tree in the Narthex and return the shower gift by May 17. Also, we ask that you purchase products that are not Styrofoam! Thank you!

Senior Luncheon This month’s luncheon will be on May 20th at noon. This will be the last senior luncheon till May, and all are welcome to join! Our Savior Lunch Bunch will be joining us for the pot luck in Jamaica Park- weather permitting. If the weather is bad the luncheon will be held at Holy Cross.

Last Saturday Worship Saturday, May 23rd will be the last Saturday Night Worship. Eventually, there will be another ser-

vice offered sometime during the week. At this time the details of that service are still being worked out. More information to come!

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Upcoming Synod & ELCA Events Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly, Fresno, CA On May 28-30 2009 A member of the congregation and Pastor Jon will be voting members from Holy Cross at the Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly in Fresno, CA. We need a female member to attend as a voting member. Contact Melissa or Pastor Jon is you are interested in attending. Visitors are welcome to attend, too.

Mount Cross Memorial Day Mount Cross, our exciting Bible Camp Ministry, is pleased to announce that after an in-depth and prayerful search for a new Executive Director, Craig Oldenburg has ac-cepted the call to serve. You can send greetings and inquiries to Craig at craig@mtcross.org. Come to the Annual Memorial Day work weekend and barbeque and meet him in person.

Journey with Christ If someone yearning for God came to your church, would they find an obvious path towards faith in Christ? Journey with Christ is a training workshop on the catechumenate. This workshop will be held July 10-12, 2009 at the San Damiano Retreat Center, Danville CA. The workshop is presented by Word & Sacra-ment Discipling Team of the Sierra Pacific Synod 'Journey with Christ' is based on the ancient Christian faith-forming process called the catechumenate, adapted for the twenty-first century. In this process, people new to the church are paired with faithful members, and through small group discussion and life-transforming worship, all involved grow in spiritual maturity and love of God. This event is affordable (For two nights, all meals, and the program, single room $170 or double room $140) and scholarships are available, so we hope you will consider coming for this life changing and congrega-tional changing event! For questions about this event please contact Pr. Scott Guemmer at christthek-ingOV@sbcglobal.net or (916) 988-2484.

Mt. Cross Women’s Retreat Mt. Cross is planning a women's retreat on September 26, 2009. All women in the synod are encour-aged to place this date on their calendars. For more information, go to the Mt. Cross website at www.mtcross.org

Women of the ELCA Convention The Sierra Pacific Synod’s Women of the ELCA 2009 Convention will be held at Peace Lu-theran Church in Grace Valley, CA. The two-day event will take place on November 13-14 and will feature keynote speaker, Marva Dawn, who has led worship conferences throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and many other countries.

Synod Assembly May 28-30

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News You Can Use Change in office hours Beginning May 18th, Melissa’s office hours will be Monday thru Friday from 1-5 due to her summer school schedule. If you need her out side of these hours you can always leave a message on the office voicemail or send an e-mail!

Book donations for Synod Assembly As we prepare to gather in Fresno for the 2009 Synod Assembly, we want to have a positive impact on the community that will host us. One of the significant educational resources in the greater Fresno area is the Central Valley Book Bank. The vision of the Book Bank is that every child in the region will have access to an adequate supply of appropriate books to help them become proficient readers. We are encouraging all congregations to bring children's books (grades K-6) to the Assembly. On Sat-urday the books will be blessed and presented to a representative from the Central Valley Book Bank. In this simple way, each of us can make a positive difference in the life of a child!

Cookies for Synod Assembly Each congregation attending the Synod Assembly is being asked to bring at least 10 dozen cookies to share. The Synod Assembly is May 28-30, so cook-ies need to be dropped of at Holy Cross at Holy Cross no later than May 27. A sign up sheet will be available in the narthex!

Newsletter Articles If you are interested in submitting an article or announcement please feel free to do so! Input is always welcome. Please submit ideas or articles to Melissa, the Administrative Assistant, by the 20th of the month for articles to

be printed in the following month’s newsletter.

Memorials & Honor Gifts Holy Cross is purchasing a plaque to commemorate memorials and honor gifts. If you have given such gifts, please let the church office know as our records are incomplete.

Helpful Websites ELCA Church wide (Chicago, IL): elca.org Sierra Pacific Synod (Oakland, CA): info@spselca.org Mt. Cross Bible Camp (Felton, CA): mtcross.org Global Health Ministries (Minneapolis, MN): ghm.org Lutheran World Relief (Baltimore, MD): lwr.org Lutheran Disaster Response: ldr.org Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (Berkeley, CA): plts.edu California Lutheran University (Thousand Oaks, CA): callutheran.edu Lutheran Volunteer Corps (Washington, DC): lutheranvolunteercorps.org Thrivent Financial for Lutherans: thrivent.com Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service: lirs.org Lutheran World Federation (Geneva Switzerland): lutheranworld.org Augsburg Fortress Publishing (Minneapolis, MN): augsburgfortress.org Luther Seminary (Saint Paul, MN): luthersem.edu Bread for the World (Washington, DC): bread.org

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Community Service Opportunities Shared Harvest During April, Holy Cross members are asked to provide the following items for Reno’s disadvantaged population: Cold cereal juice boxes crackers deodorant small peanut butter powdered laundry detergent Bagging of these items will take place at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Sparks, on May 31st at 1:00p.m.

Second Mile Giving During May, our Sierra Pacific Synod’s extended ministry “Second Mile Giv-ing” recipient is Mt. Cross Camp/Lutheran Outdoor Ministries. Checks to assist this important outreach should be written to “Holy Cross Lutheran Church” with “Second Mile Giving/LOM” added to the memo line.

Good Shepherd’s Clothes Closet The Good Shepherd’s Clothes Closet is in constant need of clothing, especially men’s. Donations can be dropped off here at Holy Cross or at the Clothes Closet lo-cated at 335 Record Street (just east of downtown Reno).

Volunteer Opportunities China Service Opportunities China Service Ventures (CSV), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and an affirmed partner with the ELCA, offers two service opportunities in 2009 Teaching ESL in China & Youth Service Project in Henan Province. For more information please contact the church office.

Traveling Thru Pages Our book selection for April was Abandoned and Forgotten by Evelyne Tannehill. This is a story of a young girl, orphaned at the age of nine and her survival during World War II. She was from a small German town in East Prussia, near the Baltic Sea. At the end of the book she asks the question as to how all this could happen? How could all the peo-ple (adults) watch their country being destroyed without raising a hand? When I finished the book, I asked myself, how as People of God could we ever allow this to continue to happen today? Do we do enough to pre-vent the horrors thrust on any peoples of oppression or civil war? It's a well written book.

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Who’s Poor? A wealthy man took his son to the country to teach the boy about poor people. They spent several days and nights on the farm of a poor family. When they returned home, the father asked his son, “What do you think now that you’ve seen how poor people live?” The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, but they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden, but they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, but they have friends to protect them.” The boy’s father was speechless.

Letter from Bishop Mark Dear Holy Cross, At its most recent meeting, the Church Council of the ELCA voted to bring forward to the Churchwide Assembly in August the proposed Social Statement, Report and Recommen-dations of the Task Force on Human Sexuality. It also affirmed the position of the Secretary of the ELCA, David Swartling, that a 2/3 majority will be needed to approve the Social State-ment, "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust," but only a simple majority vote will be required to approve the Recommenda-tions and implementing resolutions offered by the Task Force. The most up-to-date version of the Report and the Rec-ommendations is available on the ELCA website. This "vote before the vote" has been the source of much conversation as these issues are brought forward for further de-liberation in the church. What hasn't been talked about nearly as much is how this conversation is being "overheard" by those who are outside of the ELCA. There are no doubt people in the communities we serve who would favor opening our roster to include openly gay or lesbian persons, just as there are people who would disapprove of such a decision. The ultimate deci-sion of this church, therefore, and the process of how we arrive at such a decision, will be an important part of our witness to the larger community.

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Medical News: from the Parish Nurse Deep Vain Thrombosis Deep Vain Thrombosis is a very serious health condition that is potentially life threatening. DVT, as it is commonly called, occurs when a blood clot forms in a vein; usually in the lower leg or thigh. These blood clot can block the blood flow within the body. Deep vain Thrombosis becomes especially dangerous if a piece of blood clot breaks off. After the blood clot breaks it can travel through the body and become lodged in the brain (causing a stroke), lungs (causing pul-monary embolus) or the heart (causing a heart attack.) There are a few frequent causes of DVT. Firstly, people on bed rest are more prone to DVT. Bed rest allows the blood to pool in the lower leg, slowing circulation, and allowing clots to form. Secondly, nicotine users are more prone to DVT. Nicotine causes the smaller vessels to clamp down which also slows circulation. Thirdly, women who have given birth in the past six months are at much higher risk. Lastly, people who have fractures are also at a higher risk. This is because the bone marrow gets into the blood stream and can cause an embolism. There are some effective treatments and prevention. The first step to prevention is to not sit still for too long. For example, if you are on a long road trip stop every hour or so to take a short walk and keep your body moving. If it’s not possible to get up and walk, at least move your feet and ankles. Also do these exercises frequently during air travel. It is essential to seek immediate medical attention at the first signs of shortness of breath, coughing up blood, swelling in the legs or pain in the chest. Once you have sought medical attention there are some things you can expect. These include: ● Having a Doppler ultrasound done (to detect the blockage) ● Many lab tests ● Having a venogram done (x-rays veins in the legs) ● Receiving coumadin, a blood thinner ● Surgery may be required to place a filter in the body’s largest vein. This will prevent a clot from moving into the lung. ● Most patients are also given medication to break down the clots. This medication must be administered with in a short time frame. I can not stress enough that this may be a life threatening situation and if you think you have deep vein thrombosis you must seek immediate medical attention!!

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Sunday

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Thursd

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May 2009