Inside: Gingerbread House Contest, Christmas Giving Tree, Online Christmas Pageant

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.

Gingerbread House Contest

LAST CALL! 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 THIS SATURDAY, 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

LAST CALL! Gifts should all be turned in to First Lutheran by THIS Sunday, Dec. 13. 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. 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 THIS SUNDAY, December 13.

Knitters & Prayers Shawl Group

Our knitters and prayer shawl group are meeting once a month, on the second Monday at 1:30pm, currently via Zoom. For information about joining the group via Zoom, send email to kjwdrltr@gmail.com.

OWLs Christmas Zoom Party

The OWLs Christmas party is always considered the social event of the season. We are not going to let the Christmas fun be affected by the pandemic. The OWLs (our “Older Wiser Lutherans” at First that welcomes anyone, First Lutheran members or not, who are 55+) will meet virtually on Zoom to share thoughts on Christmas, play “Who is most ready for Christmas” and a variety of fun-filled Christmas games. This not-to-be missed event will take place at 1pm on Wednesday, Dec. 16, on Zoom. As per tradition, wear your favorite Christmas sweater for the group photo. Brian has a large monitor and can capture everyone’s photo. The Zoom information will be sent out a few days before the party. Please contact Brian Narveson at 630.816.5917 or owls@firstlu.org if you need help connecting using Zoom.

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 that day, 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!

Faith Alive! U: Reconciling in Christ; what other congregations have learned

In October 2019, Pr. Libby Howe led our Faith Alive U! talking about how our congregation can become a voice of unapologetic welcome, a community of blessing and inclusion, and a public advocate for justice alongside our LGBTQIA friends and neighbors. We asked for volunteers to lead First Lutheran in the process to becoming a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) congregation. Just as the team was gathering, Covid-19 struck, and our RIC activity never really got started. It's time for the restart. Join us Sunday, Jan. 10 at 6pm for an interactive conversation by ReconcilingWorks executive director, Aubrey Thonvold, about what it means to be a Reconciling in Christ Congregation. Together we will learn about the importance people of faith and the church have in supporting, caring for, and celebrating people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions. This will be a great time to bring your questions and an open heart and mind.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.

410 Prayers

Join Kathryn for a time of prayer, every Monday–Friday, at 4:10pm. Kathryn is posting prayers on both Facebook and Twitter.

AV Ministry

Our permanent live stream setup is now in place. Two leaders/volunteers are needed at each service on Sundays and Wednesdays: 1) to run projection (as we always have) and 2) to direct the live stream. If you know someone with these gifts, or if you are interested in being a part of this ministry, pass their name or your name to andy@firstlu.org.

Pray-ers!

Pastor Karyn is looking for people who are willing to be our pray-ers. If you are willing to offer up a prayer or let us know a way we can be praying, send me an email to karyn@firstlu.org. Thanks!