Redeemer Announcements & Prayers of Intercession: Dec. 11, 2020

2021 MEMBERS’ BUDGET MEETING THIS SUNDAY, December 13th // Members! Please plan to join us THIS SUNDAY, December 13th, at 10:30am for our annual budget meeting to be held via zoom. Join here. After that, we invite ALL congregants and friends to join us for fellowship in smaller break-out groups!

WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Advent Wreath Lighting & Reading // Please register online or email Amy to sign up to record yourself and/or your family speaking the assigned lectionary readings and/or light Advent candles while speaking Advent blessings (3 for Dec. 13th, or 4 for Dec.20th) for our prerecorded worships during the season of Advent and Christmas. Know that you can speak aloud the readings linked on the sign-up or from a children’s or other translation in your home. Candle Lighting blessings are also linked on the sign up.

PRE-ORDER YOUR “REDEEMER BELIEVES BLACK LIVES MATTER 2020” TEES // Redeemer’s Service & Advocacy ministry (led by Holly De Souza) partnered with the Northside’s Juxtaposition Arts to create a brand new 2020 “Redeemer Believes Black Lives Matter” shirts. They are now available for pre-order for a suggested donation of $10 or more which will fund the ongoing work of the S&A committee! Please fill out the pre-order form, and if you choose to, you may pay online through our online giving portal! 

SUNDAY MORNING ZOOM FELLOWSHIP // Throughout this Advent season we invite you and your families to once again join us Sunday mornings via zoom for a time of fellowship and sharing. This Sunday we’ll host fellowship around noon after our Annual budget meeting. Beginning December 20th and thereafter, fellowship will begin at 10:30am. Click here to join! 

AUGSBURG ADVENT VESPERS // Redeemer and Pastor Babette invite you to a time of contemplation and worship through Augsburg University’s annual Advent Vespers. You may view Vespers here. 

EDU-YOUTH MINISTRY INVITATIONS // Along with lighting the Advent candles and speaking lectionary readings, Redeemer’s Edu-Youth team has some exciting opportunities for your families and children to partake of this Advent season! 
>> Holy Communion Instruction: Pastor Kelly has provided a short video for children, youth, and families on Holy Communion. Check it out!
>> Sunday Dec. 20th at 10:30am: Family Zoom Craft Time with ECLC -- Join ECLC and other congregations around the area for half an hour of fellowship and craft time. Join here.
>> Virtual Christmas Pageant -- This year, Redeemer is teaming up with ECLC and St Paul Lutheran (in South Minneapolis) to create a children’s Christmas Pageant for Christmas Even worship. Multiple scenes mean many families from different congregations can participate, and Redeemer is seeking at least four families to volunteer to do a scene from home! Please contact Anna or Lonna for more information and instructions! 

GRATITUDE FOR REIMAGINED 2020 CHRISTMAS STORE //Redeemer Lutheran Church and Redeemer Center for Life thank mission partners and congregational members for the Christmas Store Sharing tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 12.  Over 45 families will receive gift cards, Fairview Health Commons care kits, and other supports for this Christmas season as we live with the global pandemic. We shared with thanksgiving because we have received mercifully so much!

TUTORING ASSISTANCE NEEDED // Our Harrison neighbor Kathy is tutoring 3 Harrison children at Redeemer Lutheran on the mornings of Mondays, Wednesdays and the first two Saturdays of each month. Could you help? Please leave a voice message for Pastor Kelly at 612-886-1468.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DECEMBER MEMBERS! // Thanks to Bill Dexheimer Pharris for leading us in our Happy Birthday song to all Redeemer congregants and friends celebrating December birthdays! You may join in during this Sunday’s virtual worship.

DONATE YARN to MARY BOLL // Mary Boll crocheted and donated 212 baby caps to Hennepin County Obstetrics and Gynecology, all of which are sent home with newborns. Will you donate baby yarn to Mary Boll to help her continue this ministry during our long winter season? Arrange with Amy to bring baby yarn to Redeemer Lutheran marked Mary Boll and a family member will pick it up for her.

PROVISIONS for NEAR-NORTH HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT // A new homeless encampment has moved to near north within blocks of Redeemer and they need a lot of provisions: Firewood, consistent propane refills, winter gear, hand warmers, meals, and more. If you would like to help, you may visit the signup genius or text organizer Kristen (or contact her via Signal) for more information at 760-898-4004. (She responds quickly to text message but does not answer calls from unknown numbers.)

WEDNESDAY ADVENT PROJECT MEDITATIONS // During the seven weeks leading to Christmas, Redeemer is participating in the Advent Project which follows the early church’s seven-Sunday celebration of Advent. You may follow the meditations each week at www.redeemermpls.org/advent-project-2020, where you’ll find this and the coming weeks’ meditations set to the ancient Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

STEWARDSHIP BRAINSTORMING // Stewardship minister Kristin Gilbert invites each of you to join her for a meeting to dream and brainstorm about stewardship in the coming year, to align our stewardship plan with our values during this time of Covid, the Minneapolis uprising, and the election, as well as a pastoral transition. Do you or others you know want to be a part of this 1-hour conversation? If so, complete thisDoodle poll so we can find a time that works best for the group. Let her know if you have questions or would like to share your thoughts but can't make the meeting.

CELEBRATING ADVENT and CHRISTMAS: Seasons of Gratitude // Given that we are gathering online (live and pre-recorded) rather than inside of Redeemer Lutheran for celebrating the seasons of Advent and Christmas, here are some invitations for sharing your household faith expressions with Redeemer Lutheran (and visitor viewers) in quarantine:
>> Send your online (video recorded) Advent and Christmas songs, poems, devotionals, and greetings to Redeemer that we can include in our pre-recorded worships. Maybe we will receive enough videos to make a montage!
>> Share gratitude with greetings and making ornaments. We welcome your biodegradable ornaments for the ornamental tree of gratitude at Logan and Glenwood. Take a snapshot for sharing on Facebook.

THANK YOU to Dr. and Mrs. Linda Jacobson for providing us with a nativity from their beautiful Tanzanian collection!

IRA CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTION // We invite you to prayerfully consider sharing with Redeemer Lutheran Church your qualified charitable distribution from your Individual Retirement Account. Basic requirements and limitations for a Qualified Charitable Distribution include: The donor must be at least 70½ years of age at the time of the distribution; The distribution must be from a Roth or Traditional IRA; And the distribution must be made directly from the IRA administrator to a qualifying charity such as Redeemer Lutheran Church. Qualified Charitable Distributions are limited to $100,000.00 per individual per year (a spouse who qualifies may give a similar amount from his or her IRA). Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) benefits include: A QCD from a traditional IRA uses pre-tax dollars; Generally, a QCD is excluded from taxable income*; and a QCD can be applied to required minimum distributions, if applicable.*

THRIVENT MEMBERS: Are you a Thrivent member? Consider sharing your Thrivent dollars with Redeemer Lutheran Church ministries! Contact Amy or Pastor Kelly for more info! 

YEAR-END GIVING // With thanksgiving for you and your end of the year gift to Redeemer Lutheran, we would like to acknowledge and receive your 2020 financial gift by December 30.

HEALTH COMMONS at the LIVING ROOM currently offers Zumba in Redeemer’s backyard, Book Club Discussions, and Health Q & A's online or in-person -- all with social distance and masking. Follow them onFacebook to get current schedules, events, and other resources: Health Commons at the Living Room.

MENTAL HEALTH CONNECT is a local non-profit based out of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis offering free, non-biased support for anyone seeking mental health resources. Visit MHC’s website to learn more or contact Mali, Redeemer's MHC ambassador.

*The SECURE Act, which became effective January 1, 2020, raised to 72 the age for beginning required minimum distributions, but retained the age of 70 ½ for making QCDs. It also authorizes tax-deductible contributions to IRAs after age 70 ½ if the IRA owner is still working. If a tax-deductible contribution is made to an IRA after age 70 ½, the amount that may be excluded from income for a later-made QCD may be affected. Please consult your tax advisors for more information about this and other questions regarding IRA QCDs.

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Third Sunday of Advent  Readings & Gospel:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11,  Psalm 126,  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 & John 1:6-8, 19-28

This Sunday we light three candles on the Advent wreath. While our society goes crazy with Christmas preparations and the northern hemisphere grows darker each day, we gather to wait for God to bring us into peace and light. In the gospel reading, John the Baptist calls us to make a pathway for Christ. The poem from Isaiah likens us to a bride or bridegroom dressing for our wedding day.

God of power and might, shine your radiance and come quickly to this weary world. Hear our prayers for everyone in need--

God of preachers and messengers, you have entrusted your church with the work of proclaiming good news. Strengthen the witness of Redeemer with new member Joniqua Ankerfelt as we contribute our prayers and presence in calling our next pastor as you embed your word in every heart. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.

God of exiles and wanderers, you repair what was once destroyed, in being present with the leaders of every nation as they govern by caring for one another,  for people who have been displaced from their homes by fire, flood, earthquake, or storm inHonduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. Support the work of Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Disaster Response, and all disaster relief organizations in their recovery efforts. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.

God of the powerful and helpless, you clothe us with strength when our spirits are weak and weary by bestowing your spirit upon this congregation and its communities by empowering us to comfort Ione, Mary, and Sarah, our local and global siblings living with surging COVID-19 and accompanying lockdowns with quarantines, for first responders as well as disaster volunteers, the unsheltered campers at 2nd Ave North and Van White Memorial Blvd, brothers James and Bobbie, Cheryl, Cindy, Linda, Samantha, Shoonie, Edina Community Lutheran Church and the family of Pastor Jeff Sartain . . . Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.

God of sinners and saints, you offer joy even in the midst of our grief. We are grateful for the beloved, imperfect people whose lives testified to your radiant love, especially Lucy, martyr of the church,  Nicholas of Myra, Arlene, Bill, John, Kathy and Mary.  Anoint the mourning with the oil of gladness. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.
                         
Draw near to us, O God, and receive our prayers for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen