Trinity Lutheran Church Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. A Note From Pastor James Miller

Trinity Lutheran Church

Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Nashville, IL 62263 tlcnashville.org

Church & Council Senior Pastor,

Vacancy Assistant Pastor Rev. James Miller

Chairman: Lloyd Meinert Vice Chairman: Kurt Elsesser Secretary: Andrea Harre Treasurer: Martha Polczynski Board of Elders Matt Bierman Board of Trustees Steve Haertling Bd of Christian Edu Matt Meinert Cemetery Board Willy Spenner Bd Family Life Min

Dana Haertling Membership Board Carol Woker Board of Finance Amy Haertling Stewardship Board Lee Suedmeyer Mission & Outreach

Carol Meinert CORLHS Board Phyllis Pick Endowment Fund Ron Auld Board of Ushers Dave Haertling Inside this issue

Elder Letter/Meetings…...……...2

Principal/Serving……….……...…...3

PreK & K Registration………...4

Fundraising Event ….………....4

T-SJ News………...………..5

Diapered/Love/Mosaic…………...6

Ash Wed./Lent/Holy Week…….…..7

Committees/Wedding Ann….……..8

Housing Update……….…...8

Baptism Anniversaries……...9

TSJ/Back Cover...………...10

A Note From

Pastor James Miller

Lent

-“Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” Nehemiah 9:1-2 As Lutheran Christians, we look to the Bible for many things—certainly to learn about Jesus and God’s love in Him, to understand our history as Christians, to learn about God and what He desires for us. All that said, we want to measure up our lives—our thoughts, words, and deeds—to the scriptures. We strive to be biblical people. We Celebrate Easter be-cause it’s in Scripture and bebe-cause it’s a very important part of our faith. We cele-brate Christmas for the same reason, and Epiphany, and Good Friday, and the list goes on. But what about Lent? Nowhere in Scripture will you find an Old Testa-ment “Festival of Lent” like you would find “The Festival of Booths” or whatnot. (For that matter, nowhere in scripture do you find the word “Trinity,” but that’s a topic for another article!) But observing Lent as a 40-day period prior to Easter dates back to the fourth century after Christ—that’s an old tradition! And un-derstanding the purpose of Lent, the core practices date back to the first book of the Bible! At its core, Lent (which comes from an Old English word for “springtime”) is about preparation: con-fessing sins, mourning our sinfulness, recognizing our need for a savior, and prayer. All of those are strong biblical themes and activities that date back to the first chapters of Genesis. In the Nehe-miah passage above, as the People of Israel have returned from the Babylonian Exile, as they are rebuilding and rededi-cating the temple (preparing for their Lord), they pause to: confess, mourn, recognize, and pray. They even also wear special clothes (sackcloth and ashes/dirt) and do special preparatory things (fast). So this Lenten season, as we prepare for Easter—prepare for our Lord—I encourage you to do some prepa-ration. Maybe it looks like giving up something for Lent—but if you do that, think of why you do it. If you fast, don’t do it to show off, as our Lord bids us avoid in Matthew 6. But maybe this sea-son, read a special Lenten devotion, spend some more time in prayer, and in that prayer, confess your sins. Also, we can take a page from Nehemiah and also confess the sins of our fathers. Our family trees and our national history certainly has a lot of sin. If we don’t confess it, who will? And if God doesn’t forgive it, who will? God bless your preparation for the Resurrection of our Lord! In Christ’s service, -Pastor James January/February 20201 Volume 1, Issue 25

Meeting Dates:

4th Quarter VOTERS’ ASSEMBLY

MEETING Sun. Feb. 7th 10:45 am Board of Christian

Educa-tion

Wed. .Jan. 06 @ 7:00 pm Wed. Feb.03 @ 7:00 pm

Board of Family Life Min-istry

Wed. Jan. 06 @ 7:00 pm Wed. Feb. 03 @ 7:00 pm

Fellowship Club

-January –Winter Break - No Meeting Sun. Feb 7 @ 4:00 pm

Super Bowl Party TBD Board of Elders Wed. Jan 13 @ 7:00 pm Wed. Feb. 10 @ 7:00 pm Board of Trustees Wed.. Jan.13 @ 6:00 pm Wed.. Mar. 10 @ 6:00 pm Church Council Wed. Jan. 220@ 7:00 pm Wed. Feb 17 @ 7:00 pm Board of Stewardship Tues. Jan. 28 @ 6:00 pm Tues. Feb, 23 @ 6:00 pm

Board of Mission & Out-reach Tues. Jan. 26 @ 7:00 pm Tues. Feb, 25 @ 7:00 pm LWML Sat. March 20 @ 8:30 am TBD Widow's Group Tues. Feb. 2 11:30 am Restaurant TBA (Check

the Bulletin)

Willing Helpers Ladies Aid

Thurs. April 1st @ 1:30 pm

Quilting Room

A Letter from Head Elder, Matt Bierman

Even if you remove the COVID-19 Pandemic from the equation, we have a sad but true trend amongst us—I noticed it while working on the Congregational Self Study recent-ly. Our attendance at church is in a steady decline. This is not an issue with just Trinity but with many churches.

There are many different reasons for this but most are not good reasons. We know that in today’s society certain jobs keep people away on Sundays. This, although breaks one of the 10 commandments (Remember the Sabbath), is one that is easily forgivable as we have to work to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. There are many others, though, that well in my opinion are not as excusable.

 Sports (an occasional miss is one thing, but not going at all because of this is not an excuse)

 Services are not convenient. (too early, too late, wrong day…)

 “Pastor made me mad” (too many issues here to put in this small article!)

 We do not need Church as long as we believe, read the Bible, and live life accordingly. (This seems to be the #1 reason today, next to sports)

Children were once raised to go to church and Sunday school at an early age. They were held accountable by the parents in their later years. This practice is going by the way-side. Children are left to make the decision of what they wish to do, from going to Sunday school to being in the Children’s Christmas program.

Bottom line is that we have a major crisis in churches today and we need to fix this. It’s not just the responsibility of the pastor and/or church leaders to fix it. This responsibil-ity belongs to each and every Baptized and Confirmed member. I would like to leave you with a little story on how important going to Church is. And of course, we need some scrip-ture as well.

‘The Lonely Ember ,‘ by Dr. John MacArthur

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.

Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs.

After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burn-ing ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination.

As the one lone ember’s flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and “dead as a doornail.”

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.

Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.”

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one anoth-er—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25

In closing I will leave you with a personal question to contemplate. We all need Church and the Church needs us. Why are you not coming to Church?

In His Service,

Ushers & Elders:

January Ushers

Saturday 5:00 pm Glen Harmening, Ryan Harmening

Sunday 9:30 am Matt Harre, Ethan Engele, Elliott Engele, Jeff Rennegarbe

January Elders

Saturday 5:00 pm: Dale Droste Sunday 9:30 am: Devin Haertling

February Ushers

Saturday 5:00 pm

Todd Cox, Brian Thomas Sunday 9:30 am Greg Rennegarbe, Justin Harre

Shawn Kitowski, Steve Martin Ash Wednesday February 17:

Ushers: Ryan Harmening, Matt Storey Elder: Curt Harre (See page 7 for other Lenten/Holy

Week and Easter Services)

February Elders

Saturdays 5:00 pm: Tom Polczynski Sundays 9:30 am: Curt Harre

Acolytes:

(If we have open church)

Jan. 1: 9:30 am: Griffin Bochantin Sat. Jan. 2: Hudson Jones Sun. Jan. 3: Ethan Pinski Sat. Jan. 9: Katie Oelze Sun. Jan. 10: Jadyn Dees Sat. Jan 16: Bennett Pinski Sun. Jan 17: Patrick Kozuszek Sat. Jan 23: Sawyer Price Sun Jan 24: Marley Meinert Sat. Jan. 30: Kinley Povolish Sun. Jan 31: Calleigh Dees ************************** Sat. Feb 6: Owen Diedrich Sun. Feb. 7: Sawyer Price Sat. Feb.. 13 Palmer Renken Sun. Feb 14: Elijah Zimmerman Ash Wed. Feb. 17: Hudson Jones Sat. Feb. 20: Katie Oelze

Sun. Feb. 21: Emma Kurtz Wed. Feb. 24: Siena Popejoy Sat. Feb. 27: Lexi Welte Sun. Feb. 28: Logan Roesener **************************

EMPOWERED TO SERVE

Praise God that we have been able to have in person learning for

the entire first semester! Our teachers, pastors, students, and families

continue to work very hard through this pandemic. When a student needs

to be quarantined due to exposure or illness, they have been able to

"attend" school virtually! I am so thankful that we already had the

technol-ogy in place to make this happen, but also to the teachers who are going

above and beyond to teach a classroom full of students and students on

Chromebooks at the same time! We are constantly learning, adjusting,

and praising God for new challenges.

How is God empowering us to serve Him during this pandemic?

We are uplifted daily through His Word and the support of those around

us. We are so blessed to be able to meet together daily to be in His

Word. As we continue to serve God at T-SJ this school year, I ask you to

pray for us. Pray for health, energy, and that technology would cooperate.

Your continued support of God’s ministry at T-SJ is greatly

appre-ciated. Since we are not all able to be in church together at this time, I

challenge you to send a note of encouragement with a Bible verse to any

of our teachers and staff and pray for them daily! This would be a great

way for our congregation members to help our staff to recharge as the

power through this second semester. Notes can be mailed or dropped off

in the school and church office and are greatly appreciated.

In Christ,

-Mrs. Amy Kurtz

T-SJ Teachers and Staff

Rev. Tim Mueller

Religion & Chapel

Rev. James Miller Religion & Chapel

Mrs. Dawn Mueller Pre-K & 4

th

Grade

Mrs. Jennifer Harre Pre-K Aide

Mrs. Dana Haertling Teacher Aide

Mrs. Lindsey Langenfeld Teacher Aide

Mrs. Janice Lange Kindergarten, Music, Scholar Bowl Coach

Mrs. Laurie Eubanks 1

st

& 2

nd

Grade

Mrs. Amy Kurtz

2

nd

Grade

Mrs. Deb Lange IT Support and Yearbook

Mrs. Diane Backs 3

rd

_{& 4}

th

_{Grade & Music}

Mrs. Tabatha Wessel 5

th

Gr. Homeroom, 4

th

-8

th

Gr. Science

Mrs. Jennifer Kozan 6

th

Gr Homeroom, 5

th

-8

th

Language Arts

Mr. Shaun Renth 7

th

/8

th

Gr. Homeroom, 5

th

-8

th

Soc. Studies & A.D

Ms. Cheryl Zapp Office Administrator

Mrs. Connie Kwiatkowski Cook

Mrs. Amanda Kozuszek Cook & Librarian

Mrs. Michelle Boester Custodian

Watch the bulletin for

information on the

T-SJ Pre-Kindergarten and

Kindergarten

Open House and

Registration

Sunday, February 21st

10:30 am—4:00 pm

Sign up for your reserved time

at SignupGenius.com

Join us for an afternoon of

Information and Fellowship.

Light refreshments served.

T

-

SJ DONATION FUNDRAISER:

T-SJ will be

ac-cepting donations of “soft” items for a fundraiser.

Another charitable organization will accept

dona-tions of gently used clothing, shoes, purses, bedding,

towels, curtains, and any soft textile goods. All items

need to be in white 13-gallon trash bags only; no

boxes or bigger bags are accepted.

We

cannot

accept

anything hard or heavy like books,

furni-ture, small appliances or décor items, etc.

Donation

deadline is April 21

st

. Items will be accepted into the

TRINITY - ST. JOHN

LUTHERAN SCHOOL

Congratulations to the following T-SJ 5th-8th graders who earned a

level of Honor Roll for this second quarter! We are very proud of their

hard work and dedication.

Principal Honor Roll

(4.00 GPA)

Fifth Grade

Zhisheng Wen

Sixth Grade

Marley Meinert

Seventh Grade

Lucas Dunn

Mackenna Wesseln

Eighth Grade

Ethan Pinski

Alexandra Welte

Honor Roll

(3.50

-

3.99 GPA)

Fifth Grade

Austin Downey

Steven Faught

Sixth Grade

Anderson Engele

Jenna Kujawa

Bennett Pinski

Seventh Grade

Evan Kroeger

Makayla Winka

Eighth Grade

Griffin Bochantin

Will Diedrich

Savannah Harrison

Bennet Witte

Merit Roll

(3.00

-

3.49 GPA)

Fifth Grade

Estes Bochantin

Sixth Grade

Samantha Brinkmann

Summer Brinkmann

Owen Diedrich

Palmer Renken

Brock Schuessler

Alexys Spratt

Elijah Zimmerman

Eighth Grade

Rhyse Kwiatkowski

Mission & Outreach

DIAPERED WITH LOVE PROGRAM:

The

Board of Missions and Outreach would like to

ex-press our sincere gratitude to church members

who have contributed to the mission of the

con-gregation by providing for the daily needs of

chil-dren through the Diapered With Love Program in

2020. You have shared the love of Christ with

many families and the gratitude they express is

heartwarming.

This program has been successful as a

re-sult of the generous donations of families and by

those assisting with Thrivent Action Team grants.

Please join us again in 2021 to continue the

program as the need continues to grow.

You can help in this way:

--Thrivent Action Team grants are needed each

month of the year. Please contact any

member of our Board, or leave a message

with Cheryl, if you are willing to help in this

way. We can help with the application

process if desired.

--Donations of diapers can be placed in the cradle

in the back of the church. A small container

is also available there for monetary

donations.

--Donations can be made directly to the program

by directing funds to Trinity Lutheran Church

Diaper Program by mail or during offering

collections at church services.

We are excited to continue this program in the

new year and are thankful to all who assist in any

way.

Carol Meinert

(314-2545),

Kate Cox, Sarah Starks,

Pat Holtgrewe, Carol Woker, Joe Goodrich

Next diaper distributions:

January 23, 2021 and February 27, 2021

Bottles are located in the back of

church. Please return them by

2021 Lent, Holy Week & Easter

Services Schedule

Ash Wednesday, February 17 7:00 pm

Elder: Curt Harre

Ushers: Ryan Harmening Matt Storey

Lenten Service February 24 7:00 pm

Elder: Matt Bierman

Ushers: Brian Jasper Shawn Kitowski

Lenten Service March 3 7:00 pm

Elder: Devin Haertling

Ushers: Ethan Engele Alyssa Lohmann

Lenten Service March 10 700 pm

Elder: Dale Droste

Ushers: Matt Harre Jeff Twardowski

Lenten Service March 17 7:00 pm

Elder: TBA

Ushers: Justin Harre Clint Harre

Lenten Service March 24 7:00 pm

Elder: Tom Polczynski

Ushers: Greg & Jeff Rennegarbe

Maundy Thursday Service April 1 7pm

Elder: Curt Harre

Ushers: Dave Haertling Brian Jasper

Good Friday Service April 2 7:00 pm

Elder: Matt Bierman

Ushers: Steve Lange Todd Cox

Holy Saturday Service April 3 5pm

Elder: Curt Harre

Ushers: Wayne Rueter Allen Witte

Easter Sunrise Service April 4 6 am

Elder: TBA

Ushers: Dave Haertling

Easter Service April 4 9:30 am

Elder: Tom Polczynski

Ushers: Clint Harre Justin Harre

Alyssa Lohmann Matt Storey

Ash Wednesday Worship Service

Wednesday, February 17, 2021 7:00 pm

An Explanation of the

Imposition Ashes for

Ash Wednesday

For more than 19

centu-ries the Christian believer’s

Lenten journey has begun

with a reminder of our

mortality and a call to

re-pentance through the

plac-ing of ashes on one’s head (Genesis 18:27, Job

42:6, Jeremiah 6:26, Matthew 11:21). Ashes are

a sign of spiritual cleansing and repentance.

Thus, the first New Testament believers

adopt-ed the use of ashes as a symbol of sorrow and

repentance over sin. This has been the normal

practice of the Christian Church from the 1

st

century onward.

It is this ancient practice of placing ashes on

the heads of the faithful that gives Ash

Wednes-day its name. The ashes are a strong reminder

of the need for God’s mercy, forgiveness, and

the redeeming grace of Christ. Indeed, we

re-member well the words from the Christian

buri-al service: “. . . earth to earth, ashes to ashes,

dust to dust . . . ;” words that will someday be

spoken over us all.

The ashes for this ceremony are taken from

the palm branches of the previous year’s Palm

Sunday service. These palms are gathered,

burned, and then sifted, and placed in a shallow

dish for the imposition. After a brief

introduc-tion, the minister marks a cross of ashes on

each person’s forehead as they stand or kneel

at the entrance to the church’s altar area.

The Imposition of Ashes will be available for

those wishing to receive them in the Ash

Wednesday Service.

May the Lord bless us this Lenten season

as we prepare ourselves for the joyful day of

Easter.

Committees for January and February

January

01/01 Jerry & Barb Frieman

01/02 James & Aubrey Green

01/04 Josh & Shannon Provart

01/12 Dennis & Linda Whitener

01/20 Josh & Rebecca Fark

01/23 Tim & Peggy Haggerty

01/24 Charles & Kara Blumhorst

January Committees

:

Altar Guild

:

Joyce Sheridan, Pattie Smith

Flower Committee:

TBA

Cheer Guild:

Suspended Due to Covid

-

19 Virus

Bulletin Assemblers:

Suspended due to the

Covid

-

19 Virus

February Committees:

Altar Guild:

TBA

Flower Committee:

TBA

Cheer Guild:

Suspended Due to Covid

-

19 Virus

Bulletin Assemblers:

Suspended due to the

Covid

-

19 Virus

Please Pray For

…

Prayer is a very important

part of the life of our

con-gregation. We ask that all

brothers and sisters in

Christ hold up one

an-other in prayer before the

Lord our God. Each

month in the newsletter,

we will attempt to list

those who cannot

regu-larly worship with us and

would like prayers. If you

know of prayer concerns

that should be included,

please let Pastor Kotila or

Pastor James know.

Shut

-

Ins:

1.

Betty Quirin (Vill. Apt.)

2.

Betty Reinkensmeier

(Village Apartments)

3. Norman & Berniece

Roesener

4.

Frank Sachtleben

5.

Irwin Woker

9.

Friendship Manor:

1. Neil Diedrich

2. Dennis Wernecke

Skilled Care:

February

02/06 Dale & Gloria Blohm

02/08 Skip & Jackie Underwood

02/11 Kurt & Susan Kesel

02/20 Brad & Rhonda Thomas

02/24 William & Carol Jack

02/27 Paul & Mary Stegman

Housing Update:

Pastor James and family has moved into the new

par-sonage and their address is now 633 W. Walnut.

Mrs. Kurtz and family has moved into the original

parsonage and their address is 614 W. Walnut.

The Teacherage at 747 W. Vernor Street is being

prepared to be sold.

2021 Altar Flower Chart is in the foyer. Sign up soon to

JANUARY

01/01 Daniel Wolf

Rev. James Miller 01/04 Larry Harre Ramzey Provart Kru Hardin 01/05 Christopher Engele 01/06 Jenna Harris 01/07 Gina Boester 01/08 Aubrey Green Caitlin Kirgan Garrett Malawy 01/10 Sarah Bartling Dora Mierkowski Katherine Baunach Mason Niedbalski 01/11 Rachel Holtgrewe 01/12 Barb Frieman Janice Lange Morgan Groom Keeghan Ryterski Alex Lohmann Madi Reuter Tricia Figura Annalee Morgan 01/13 Daniel Harre Hayden Price 01/14 Seth Dinkelman Fred Endres Charlene Rybacki 01/15 Carolyn Stiegman 01/16 Daetynn Droste 01/17 Diane Backs 01/18 Carol Jack Wade Wilson 01/19 Corine Engele 01/22 Mary Stegman 01/23 Darryll Droste 01/24 Danita Frederking Barbara Mill 01/25 Karen Droste Camdyn Buescher Kyle Rybacki Baker Wolf 01/26 Kourtney Engele Lydia Kurtz 01/27 Noelle Shirley Vaughn Vallett Richelle Rennegarbe 01/29 Angela Lisk 01/30 Britt Simmons Tammy Eigenrauch Seldon Kozuszek

FEBRUARY

02/01 Martha Polczynski Everett Carson 02/02 Merle Darnstaedt Greg Harre Maci Ingram 02/03 Sarah Draves Clarence Harre Sarah Loftin Ashley Wilson Dwayne Brink 02/04 Kanon Povolish Archer Hardin Hadleigh Ryterski 02/05 Kylie Davis 02/07 David Schuette Spencer Schmale 02/08 Karlie Hart Bryar Kurwicki 02/09 Mitchell Holtgrewe

Mary Lou Holzhauer 02/10 Glen Woker 02/11 Judy Morgan David Droste Kristine Kollman 02/12 Andrea Renken Ty Aschermann 02/13 Crystal De Fend Brinna Thomas Justin Reinkensmeier 02/15 Alyssa Lohmann Ashlyn Frazier 02/16 Jayleigh Cooley Jocelyn Cooley Jaxon Pflasterer Justin Beckner 02/17 Joshua Povolish Griffin Bochantin 02/18 Kylie Kozuszek Jennifer Kujawa Layla Groom 02/19 Roy Dinkelman Katie Rennegarbe Halle Rueter Rebecca Fark 02/20 Nicole Clark Nathan Decker Greg Engele Mark Funke Steven Faught, III Tyler Haertling 02/21 Tyler Frazier Micah Rincker 02/22 Hanah Grzegorek 02/23 Aaron Dinkelman Carlos Woker John Wesseln 02/24 Brantley Harre 02/25 Eunice Stiegman Britney Thomas Shawn Rennegarbe Jordan Harre Brecken Baum Kellan Kobus Collins Harre 02/26 Sawyer Price Calleigh Dees 02/27 Greg Darnstaedt Cameron Parker Aspen Fark 02/28 George Engele Wayne Harre

This information is what we have on file in the office. If you notice an error, please let us know so we can correct our records. Thanks!

9

COKE REWARDS

: Keep collecting the

bottle caps!! Trinity St. John School is

now registered to receive Coke

Re-wards. You may go to

http://www.mycokerewards.com/

to set up

your personal account in your name and donate the points to

benefit TSJ!

BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION SCAN YOUR BOX

TOP AND RECEIPT!

Thank you for supporting this

project!

SCRIP GIFT CARDS:

Purchase any gift card at face value and a

portion of your purchase comes back to the PTL. Orders with

payments (checks made out to TSJ-PTL)

are due the 15

th

of every month.

Pre-planning can benefit everyone. Buy gift

cards year-round if you frequently shop

in a certain store.

Scrip is not just for

Christmas.

TSJ—PTL FUNDRAISING PROJECTS

Trinity-St. John Lutheran School

Trinity Lutheran Church

680 W. Walnut Street Nashville, IL 62263 Phone: 618-327-3311

E-mail: trinitystjohn@gmail.com

Address Service Requested

Worship Services: Saturdays 5:00 pm Sundays 9:30 am

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid

Nashville, IL Permit No. 1002