Inside: Faith Alive! U: Introduction to the Enneagram, Gingerbread House Contest, Christmas Giving Tree

Worship

• Join us for worship online this Sunday at 8am & 10:30am, and on Wednesday at 6:15pm, at 1stlu.org/live.

COVID-19 Update

• Pastors and the Vision & Leadership team regularly evaluate when and how the church can be open. These are our current recommendations:

  • Worship: online

  • Education: online

  • Small groups: online

• For an up-to-date list of online options and cancellations please visit firstlutheranonalaska.org/thisweek.

Faith Alive! U: Introduction To Enneagram

Spiritual growth takes time and calls each individual into a deeper understanding of self and others. The Enneagram is one way we can discover more about our inner self and the ways we respond to the world around us. In this introductory course on Sunday, Dec. 6 at 6pm, spend time with spiritual director, Carla Stanton, exploring which of the 9 types you might be and learn how each type responds in times of joy and times of stress. Take away a deeper knowledge of self and how you have been created to reflect unique aspects of God into God's creation. Prior to this course each participant is asked to take a brief online assessment, which can be found at 1stlu.org/assess. This event is intended for confirmation students, high schoolers and all adults. To join the Zoom meeting go to the event page at 1stlu.org/FAUzoom.

Coffee with Pastor Karyn

Coffee with Pastor Karyn is open to all and meets at 7:30am each Wednesday, currently via Zoom. Questions? Contact karyn@firstlu.org.

Stars and Promises Christmas Concert feat. Peter Mayer

On Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 7pm, ELCA World Hunger presents an online Christmas benefit concert featuring Peter Mayer, a longtime Lutheran and the lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffett. This concert is a gift to you this Advent season. It is a way for ELCA World Hunger to say thank you and provide a place for you to gather online with the church community as we prepare for the birth of our Savior. The concert is free and will premiere on the ELCA Facebook page, with a live chat so you can engage with the audience, ELCA staff and Peter Mayer himself. Donations to ELCA World Hunger are encouraged and will support our church’s work to respond to hunger and poverty in more than 60 countries around the world. Register now to receive a free, exclusive Peter Mayer Christmas album download, created just for this event! We hope to see you there!

ELCA Good Gifts

Wondering how to make a positive impact in the world right now? At elca.org/goodgifts you can choose from 50 charitable gifts to give in honor of friends and loved ones. Each one of these gifts makes a real impact in the world, sharing the love of Christ — one goat, water well or school uniform at a time. Start your holiday shopping now and order free, customized cards for each gift you give. Give by Dec. 10, 2020, to ensure that your cards arrive in time for Christmas.

Drawing from the Well

This group is for women of First and the greater La Crosse area seeking to support one another in their spiritual growth. We gather to develop a deeper relationship with one another. We meet on the second Saturday of the month, 9:30–11am via Zoom, with the next one on Saturday, Dec. 12. Contact our Bridget Crave for more info: bridget@firstlu.org.

Gingerbread House Contest

Calling all members! It is time to step away from the screens and get your creative juices flowing! This year, since we can't decorate and distribute cookies together, we are having a gingerbread house contest. Entries can be emailed to karyn@firstlu.org by Dec. 12. You can make your gingerbread house from a kit or scratch or a combination of both. Have fun! Be creative! Then send a picture with you name to karyn@firstlu.org. Voting will happen on FaceBook from Dec. 13-19, and the winners being announced on December 20.

Christmas Giving Tree

Help make Christmas special for area kids and families by buying NEW items for them. We are again partnering with La Crosse County Human Services, and have a list of people and items they or their social worker have requested. Instead of taking a tag from the tree in the church narthex, please go to 1stlu.org/givingtree, and "take a tag" by signing up for one of the gifts. In order to maintain confidentiality, each recipient is assigned a code. Please purchase the item requested, wrap it, and put a tag on the outside of the gift with the code that is on the SignUp.  Gifts should all be turned in to First Lutheran by Sunday, Dec. 13. If you are having trouble with signing up or have questions, contact Bridget at bridget@firstlu.org.

Christmas Flowers for the Sanctuary

If you would like to give a rose in honor or memory of loved ones to decorate for our Christmas Eve services, you may do so by filling out the form and return it to the church office. Cost is $5 per rose. To order a rose, please email the church office: office@firstlu.org. Send a check to First Lutheran, 410 Main St, Onalaska WI 54650. Make check out to "First Lutheran", memo "Christmas Roses." Order deadline is December 13.

First Lutheran's Online Christmas Pageant

First Lutheran will premiere our 2020 online Christmas pageant at 1stlu.org/live during 6:15pm worship on Wednesday, Dec. 16. For those participating in the production, videos need to be uploaded by Dec. 9. Questions? Contact Beth Miller, at beth@firstlu.org.

Christmas Carol Sing-a-long

On Sunday, Dec. 20 we will be hosting a live, online Christmas carol event! Grab a warm beverage, put on your favorite Christmas sweater and join Todd, Gabe and other musicians at 5pm at 1stlu.org/live as we sing our favorite Christmas carols!

Blue Christmas Online Worship

There’s an Advent tradition within Western Christianity of inviting people to come together for the Longest Night, a night around the time of the winter solstice, when there are more hours of darkness than light. It’s a time to come together for prayers and laments, to mourn the losses and griefs of the year, to let the tears flow for the hurting places in our own lives, as well as for our country and our world. Known also as “Blue Christmas,” this worship is a safe and sacred space to share anguish, to plead with God to remember us, to pray for justice and restoration, even to hope against hope, through our doubts and tears and fears, that “God will set things right all over the earth.” All are welcome to join us for our Blue Christmas worship, via Zoom, on Dec. 21 at 6:15pm. Sign-up to receive the Zoom link and your Blue Christmas box, which will include all you need to participate in worship fully. Boxes can be picked up at the church on Dec. 20 from 9am–noon. To sign up for one, go to 1stlu.org/bluexmas.

No Worship on Dec. 23 & Dec. 25

In order to allow better preparations for Christmas Eve, there will be no worship — neither in-person nor live streamed — on Wednesday, Dec. 23 and Friday, Dec. 25.

Christmas Eve Worship

This year we will be offering a parking lot worship service at noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm so that we can gather together (even if we are in our cars) and give praise for the birth of Jesus. We will also be offering a online broadcast of Christmas worship at 2pm. To reserve a spot at one of the on-site worship services, you can sign up at 1stlu.org/christmas. Worship services will be 30 minutes in length and will include communion, singing of Silent Night and a sermon from Pastor Stanton. Details will be available on the sign-up and will be emailed out the week of Christmas.

Serve On Christmas Eve

In order to have worship on Christmas Eve, we will need people to help with worship. Click here to sign up to help in the parking lot, signing families in, handing out worship bags, directing and parking cars, cleaning candles and restocking them into worship bags. All Christmas worship assistants must be able to practice COVID safety measures: stay home if you have any symptoms the day of, stay masked at all times, and respect a safe social distance.

Office Closures

The office will be closed on these days in December and January:

• Thursday, Dec. 24 at noon

• Friday, Dec. 25

• Thursday, Dec. 31 at noon

• Friday, Jan. 1

• Monday, Jan. 18

• Wednesday, Jan. 20

Double Your Gift to Lutheran World Relief

It may be early in the season, but Christmas will be here before you know it. Send your best gift during LWR's 2020 Christmas Matching Gift Challenge when it will be DOUBLED — dollar for dollar — until the match is met. Your generosity will reach and lift up families living in some of the harshest, most remote locations, facing famine in one of the driest regions of the world.

Snow Birds

Are you heading out? Travel safe! And please let us know if you'll be spending the winter somewhere else. If we know your seasonal address, we can keep in touch by sending you the monthly newsletter. Call or email the office with your winter address: 608.783.2236, office@firstlu.org.

Second Grade Faith Building Block: What’s Fair?

• Sunday, Jan. 3: parents/guardians only

• Sundays, Jan. 10: parents/guardians with children

• Sundays, Jan. 17: parents/guardians with children

• Sunday, Jan. 24: Faith Building Block lifted up in worship

Throughout the year each age group will have a special “Faith Building Block” session in which parents or special adults are asked to attend class with their child on Sundays at 9:15am, sharing in conversation and growing together in faith. The session lasts for three weeks, and afterwards, the Faith Building Block will be lifted up in worship in celebration of what the students have learned. Gatherings will meet via Zoom; pastors will send out meeting codes to parents & guardians of youth in each grade before the first meeting.

Applications Open for Young Adults in Global Mission

In these three new videos, Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) alums reflect on their international service year. Tony Yang, a YAGM Central Europe alum, learned what it means to work in a spirit of accompaniment. “You just show up and you share what the people around you ask of you,” Tony said. Watch the three YAGM videos here:

• My YAGM Year: Deja

• My YAGM Year: Renee

• My YAGM Year: Tabby and Tony

If you are a young adult ages 21 to 29, you can apply for an international service year with YAGM. The deadline to apply is Jan. 15, 2021, for service beginning in August 2021. Spread the word! Learn more and apply for YAGM here.

The Doctor and the Apostle Book Study

Doctor Who and St. Paul fans unite! Join Pastor Karyn on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021 at 9am for a discussion of the book The Doctor and the Apostle: Intersections Between Doctor Who and the Letters of Paul by Jeffrey A. Nelson. This book is a fun and insightful book for anyone who loves when pop culture and scripture collide or for anyone who needs one more reason to love Doctor Who or the Apostle Paul. We will meet via Zoom, the link being publicized the week of the event. Grab your companion and come join us!

Warming Center

The La Crosse Warming Center will be open beginning through April 30. The Warming Center provides a place for individuals who are living in homelessness to have a warm place to sleep overnight, shower, do laundry, and get a meal. As was done last year, the first two Fridays of each month are "Lutheran Night." A number of local ELCA churches are working together to staff those two Friday nights, and provide food for dinner. Orientation and training is provided. Click here for more information. Questions? Contact bridget@firstlu.org.