Installation of Pr. Kristin-Luana and Pr. Olaf Baumann on February 24, 2024
As members of the body of Christ in this place and time, we are a welcoming congregation of people who gather to worship God, to share life together, to grow in love for each other and to be shaped by God’s Word, with the purpose of living out God’s love and being a sign of God’s loving and forgiving presence in our community and world. We hope you will join us!
Sunday, December 15, 2024 – 3rd Sunday of Advent
10:00 am Worship
This Sunday, Pr. Kristin-Luana is the presider, and Pr. Olaf is the preacher. Here is Sunday’s Sermon News:
Image Credit: Daniel Csörföly (from Budapest, Hungary), Luther Rose, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
Luke 3:7-18: What Do I Have to Do?
It is the age-old question: What do I have to do? What do I have to do to get blank?
What do you have to do to please your father? This can be a difficult enough question to answer with our earthly father. How much more difficult is it with our Father in heaven?
Over the centuries, many people had various ideas about what you had to do to please God. Martin Luther, when he was no Reformer yet, lived in a monastery. In the Middle Ages, a monastic life was seen as a highway to heaven. People had to live without sin to please God. Living in a medieval monastery removed the monks from the temptations of daily life. Their rap sheets would be shorter than those of regular people. Additionally, they spent their lives doing holy things, which would give them more credit for good works in the eyes of God, than a regular person could hope for. Hence, the assumption was that less sins and more good works would work in the favor of the monk when it came to God’s judgment.
Martin Luther had just one problem with this system. He did not know how many good works were enough. There really is no way to tell. You never know when you have all your ducks in a row. So, when you believe your eternal soul depends on you getting your ducks in a row, you have a problem. Martin Luther suffered greatly because he did not know if he pleased or angered God.
Luther’s struggle birthed Lutheran theology. Would you like to know what liberating insight helped Luther understand what he needed to do to please God? Come and hear this Sunday, 10 a.m., at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Issaquah and on YouTube.
– Pr. Olaf
Click the “Worship With Us Live” logo above to worship online with us, and click the button below to view the bulletin and follow along.
11:00 a.m.: Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting
During the Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting at Coffee & Fellowship Hour, OSLC members will vote on two new Council members and thank the two members whose terms end on December 31. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.
Final Day of Christmas Giving 2024
TODAY, Sunday, December 15 is the final day that Community Outreach Committee is collecting $20 gift cards for two purposes:
- Vine Maple Place, an organization that breaks the generational cycle of homelessness by working with single parents and their children, is asking for $20 gift cards from Safeway and Fred Meyer for parents to gift their teens to use to go out and visit with friends.
- Secondly, OSLC is collecting $20 Target, Safeway, and Fred Meyer gift cards to use when we get requests from our church members and the community for a little extra help. They can help purchase food, gas, medications, etc.
Please place your gift cards in the box next to the Christmas tree in the Narthex. Thanks for your generosity!
Church News
All Mondays in December, 4:00-6:00 p.m.: Knit-Ins (Community Knitting for Art Installation)
Do you like to knit? Would you like to learn? Bring your yarn and needles and gather on the couches and chairs of the Narthex for knitting and companionship. Knitters will create colorful covers for some of the tree trunks along Front Street South (to prepare for the Winter Art Activation).
Monday, December 16, 7:00 p.m.: Men’s Group
The Men’s Group meets on Monday, December 16, 7:00 p.m., Levitate Gastropub, 185 Front Street N, Issaquah. Thanks for your survey responses. This is the first meeting.
Tuesday, December 17 and Wednesday, December 18: Police Dept. Training
Both Tuesday and Wednesday, the City of Issaquah will be holding Police Dept. testing and training at OSLC all day. They will be located in Anderson Hall, the Library, Education Room, Children’s Room, and Pr. Kristin-Luana’s office.
Tuesday, December 17 at 4:00 p.m.: Beer and Carols
Our second annual “Beer and Carols” gathering will take place at Formula Brewing in Issaquah. We will gather outside to sing Christmas carols and you can pop inside to buy your own beer or food. We will have carol books and a keyboard. There will also be outdoor heat lamps and umbrellas, but dress warmly! This event grew out of the Issaquah clergy gathering and is a wonderful opportunity to build ecumenical relationships across the community. It’s casual and fun. All are welcome, bring a friend!
Sound Bowls and Candlelight: Opening Night of the Winter Art Activation – Saturday, December 21, 7:00 p.m.
Save the date – more details will be forthcoming!
Christmas Eve Worship – Tuesday, December 24, 7:00 p.m.
Please mark your calendars to worship with us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Musicians from Issaquah Suzuki Strings will play during the service. Hope you can make it!
String Teachers Using OSLC Classrooms Downstairs
You will see Issaquah Suzuki Strings and other string teachers and their students around more often in the months to come, as they lost their teaching space at Hammond Ashley Violins because of the bomb cyclone. They are teaching in the classrooms in our basement now.
Becoming Better Stewards: Composting and Recycling
Please check out the bulletin board in Anderson Hall that shows what items are good to go into recycling and compost bins, and what items need to go into the garbage. Please use the bins below the bulletin board—blue for recycling, green for compost, and black for garbage to dispose of items correctly. Also, green compost bins are now in the bathrooms for paper towel waste. Thanks!
Sunday December 15
10:00 a.m. Worship (Sanctuary and online)
11:00 a.m. Coffee and Fellowship Hour
11:00 a.m. Semi-Annual Congregational Meeting (Anderson Hall)
Monday December 16
3:00 p.m. Companions Bible Study (online)
4:00 p.m. Knit-Ins (Community Knitting for Art Installation) (Narthex)
Tuesday December 17
9:00 a.m. Police Department Training (Anderson Hall, Library,
Education Room, Children’s Room, Pr. Kristin-Luana’s office)
4:00 p.m. “Beer and Carols” Caroling Party
(Formula Brewing, 1875 NW Poplar Way)
7:00 p.m. Council Executive Committee (online)
Wednesday December 18
9:00 a.m. Police Department Training (Anderson Hall, Library,
Education Room, Children’s Room, Pr. Kristin-Luana’s office)
Thursday December 19
1:00 p.m. Community Meal Prep (Kitchen)
7:00 p.m. Finance Committee (online)
Saturday December 21
7:00 p.m. Sound Bowls and Candlelight:
Opening Night of the Winter Art Activation
Sunday December 22
10:00 a.m. Worship (Sanctuary and online)
11:00 a.m. Coffee and Fellowship Hour
Each time you give your regular offering, you are ensuring support for your church community and the work Jesus calls us to do. Whether making offerings when you worship each Sunday, or with a check via postal mail, or giving online using the “Electronic Giving” tab above, together we move forward as God’s generous, caring, supportive people—doing the work Jesus calls us to do! Warmest regards from your Stewardship Committee.
Prayers Your prayer requests are important to us. Requests for prayers can be taken by email or phone, and will be added to the weekly worship bulletin, Prayers of the People, and staff prayers. Email [email protected], or call 425-392-4169 and leave a message with your prayer.
Emergency Pastoral Care
For emergency pastoral care, please contact Pr. Olaf Baumann at 360-912-1830 or [email protected] or Pr. Kristin-Luana Baumann at 360-912-1245 or [email protected].