Jon Cook; Millie Mutka, Zima family friends Cary Gramsch, Stefan Sladek, Dave Butschli, Mick, Steven and Marilyn Hummel; Gregory Bowens; Roger Jehnke; Amber Ross’s daughter Linda; Randy & Diane Niemczyk’s niece Sarah Joda, their dear friend Denise Hazel and Nancy Sexton; Valeria Hesselberg; Chris Markussen; Anne Verona’s sister/brother-in-law Pat & Woody Woodworth; Dawn Gonitzke’s brother Scott Premo; the Eberts friend Patricia Kulzick; the Ebert’s friend John Oliver; the Waggoner’s sister-in-law Cheryl Busse; Karen Engels’ niece Lisa and friends Bob and Dawn; Ann Carlson’s people Dwight, Stacy, Sarah, Ben, Staci, Dana, Curt, Troy and Janice; continued safe travels for all of us and our family and friends; and the people of Israel, Russia, Palestine and Ukraine.
PRAYER LIST PROCEDURE – Submit your prayer requests to the office in writing, by phone, by email or in person. If requesting prayers for someone other than yourself or an immediate family member, please obtain permission – unless the circumstances are public in nature. You may also submit a prayer request for events. For example – a family gathering and seeking prayers for safe travels to/from. We have a prayer request form – that works – on our webpage.
WORSHIP ON FACEBOOK – Live on Facebook on Sundays at 9:00 am and posted for later viewing.
GUESTS – if you are visiting us today, please sign our book at the entrance to the sanctuary.
A FAMILIAR FACE UP FRONT – a man who needs no introduction – well – if you’re visiting – maybe he does. Adam Matyska – ladies and gentlemen – is filling in today for Pastor Grant. Pastor Grant is currently OOTO (Out of the Oratory) [Oratory def: noun (oratories) (context, countable) A private chapel.] Okay, okay – it was a stretch. Adam lives with his wife, Krista, and son, Maddux in the Northwoods and is actively involved at Ascension Luther in Minocqua. He has been youth director, office manager, council president, congregation task force, and a lay preacher who has pulpit supplied many times in multiple congregations. Thank you for leading us in worship today!
MANY THANKS – to all of you who participated in putting together the personal care packets! Sounds like it was completed lickety-split (Speaking of which – Lick-A-Dee Splitz in Three Lakes is still open, but it sounds like they will be closing prior to the end of September). The spaghetti salad sounds like it was a huge hit!
GOD’S WORK – OUR HANDS – actually needs a hand. They will continue to host the first Sunday of the month coffee hour, but they are asking for assistance. They need members of the congregation to take turns bringing in homemade or purchased baked goods. (Except for Shayne Wilfer – she is obligated to bring in her almond yumminess). If you can assist, please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex or contact Betty Wright at basslakewrights@gmail.com.
NEW TIME! NEW DAY! Let’s Gather Adult Bible Study coming soon! The Christian Ed team is excited to share we have a new Adult Bible Study opportunity coming in October. It will be Wednesdays—October 2, 9, 16 and 23 at 5:30 PM. Snacks will be provided! Please bring a beverage of your choice. (Really? Our choice? This could end up being even more interesting) We’re bringing a variety of facilitators to lead the discussion as we explore scripture together. Mark your calendars! Let’s Gather! Questions? Please reach out to Pastor Grant, Rachel Strong or Shayne Wilfer.
BIRTHDAY AND ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION TODAY – the birthday and anniversary email did not get sent out this month. I’m winging it with names. If I have forgotten anyone, please let me know so I get it right next year. Birthday – we are celebrating the following birthdays! Dawn Gonitzke, Joyce Leander and Patty Rasmussen. Anniversaries – we are celebrating the following anniversaries! The Youngs, Martins, Hess’, Sharpees, and the Mehlhops.
COLD/FLU/COVID – if you aren’t feeling well, feel free to stay at home and join us on Facebook. If you are feeling well enough, but would like to take extra precautions, feel free to wear a mask and load up on hand sanitizer. During the Giving of Peace, feel free to bump elbows, air high five or wave from afar. Do what makes you feel comfortable and be safe with your health and the health of others.
ENDOWMENT GRANTS – Help the Endowment Team use our Endowment Fund as effectively as possible to enhance the mission outreach of Prince of Peace. As the fund’s custodian, the team is looking for ways to help the church ministry in the community. If you would like to offer a suggestion to the Endowment Team or financially contribute, get a request form from the narthex, the church office or the website. A donation of any amount will help immensely and be much appreciated. Recently our endowment made a contribution of $500 to Worship in the Wild and $250 to Northwoods Share.
EAGLE RIVER ROASTERS – if you are ever out and about and need a cup of coffee- please patronize Eagle River Roasters. They have donated coffee to Prince of Peace for all of our fellowship hours/events. They do this for numerous local organizations. Great people, great product and greatly appreciated!
SIGN UPDATE – We are live!!! Check it out! We promise timely information and bad jokes.
EGGS – there are a couple dozen in the frig.
BINS WITHOUT LIDS – FOR THE TAKING – The Weekend Backpack Program has bins without lids free for the taking downstairs. Use ‘em for storing firewood. Use ‘em for kids to sled down a hill. Use ‘em for kids to go down – carpeted – stairs. Use ‘em to make a giant igloo this winter. So many uses other than landfill material.
WEBSITE REFRESH – we also had a website refresh. Take a tour of it and let us know if you see anything that needs fixing and/or if you would like to see more of something. We are still in the growing pains stage – so bear with us.
FUN FACT: (Try this again) On Wednesday, the internet and phone system went out. Cable cut by somebody – somewhere. I did some filing. Got a lot of it done until I got bored. Broke out “The Daily Prayer of the Church”. Which was about as easy as finding something as the HazMat Emergency Response Guide (once you figure it out – it is pretty cool because you can look things up about five different ways and it is all cross-referenced). But – I could not break the code of “The Daily Prayer of the Church”. While I was perusing it I saw the name Thorlak of Skalholt. And you know – I just had to find out more. So I did.
Thorlak Thorhallsson (1133 – 23 December 1193) is the patron saint of Iceland. He was Bishop of Skálholt from 1178 until his death. His status as a saint did not receive official recognition from the Catholic Church until 14 January 1984, when John Paul II canonized him and declared him the patron saint of Iceland. His feast day is 23 December, when Thorlac’s Mass is celebrated in Iceland.
Born in 1133 at Hlíðarendi in the see of Skálholt in southern Iceland, Thorlak was from an agrarian family. He was ordained a deacon before he was fifteen and a priest at the age of eighteen. He studied abroad at Paris with the Victorines, where he learned the Rule of Saint Augustine from roughly 1153 to 1159, and then studied canon law in Lincoln. Returning to Iceland in 1165, Thorlak founded a monastery of Canons Regular at Þykkvabær after refusing to marry a rich widow. There he devoted himself to a strictly religious life, refusing to marry (many other Icelandic priests were married) and devoting himself to reciting the Our Father, the Creed, and a hymn, as well as fifty Psalms. Thorlak was consecrated a bishop by Augustine of Nidaros and worked to regulate the Augustinian Rule in Iceland, as well as eradicate simony (Simony is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. It is named after Simon Magus), lay patronage, and clerical incontinency (which doesn’t mean quite what you think it might mean. This is a family show -so I would ask you look it up yourself).
Thorlak’s life and dozens of his miracles are described in great detail in the Icelandic saga Þorláks saga helga (the Saga of Saint Thorlak). The only known remaining relic of Thorlak is a bone fragment contained with other saints’ relics in a lead box in sanctuary’s end wall (“The Golden Locker”) of the St. Magnus Cathedral, Faroe Islands.
The Mass of St. Thorlak is an Icelandic holiday celebrated on December 23. The celebration honors Saint Thorlak. Fish was usually eaten on Þorláksmessa since 23 December was the last day of the Catholic Christmas fast. In the remote Westfjords, it is customary to eat buried and fermented skate (Skates are cartilaginous fish similar to stingrays) along with potatoes on Þorláksmessa. This pungent dish is eaten as a continuation of tradition. The skate is usually served with boiled or mashed potatoes, accompanied by a shot of brennivín. Brennivín is considered to be Iceland’s signature distilled beverage. It is distilled from fermented grain mash and then combined with Iceland’s very soft, high-pH water, and flavored only with caraway. A clear, savory, herbal spirit, the taste is often described as having notes of fresh rye bread. It is considered to be a type of aquavit and bottled at 40% ABV (80 proof). (Kind of think you would have to chase skate with a shot of this stuff to cleanse your palate)
If you want to find out more about Thorlak and his miracles, check out the website via the button below.
Once again – I shamelessly used and edited information found on Wikipedia.
NOTES: Well – getting this out today was certainly a hot mess. I had everything done – the formatting, the color of the text, the Fun Fact (which had more than a few searches) and the side remarks in the announcements. I went to delete a table that I had used to bring in names for the birthdays/anniversaries and everything went blank. It said I had all of the pages. I couldn’t use the ‘undo’ button. It wasn’t an accidental ‘cut and paste’. There was no revision to go back to. It was lunch time. I shut everything down, went home and had lunch and came back after a couple of hours to start over again.
There was no use getting mad. There definitely wasn’t any benefit in trying to do it over right away. When I came back – I thought for sure it was going to take me a long time. It did, but it didn’t.
First picture is one from the Bishops from their trip to Switzerland. My favorite one so far. More to follow next week.
Then we have a picture of St. Thorlak.
Finally a picture with a quote from Sandy Dahl. She is the wife of the pilot of Flight 93 – Captain Jason Dahl. He was 43 years old.
Yesterday was September 11th. With the 24/7 news cycle, we all were deeply impacted by what happened that day. I am continually moved by the heroics of ordinary people and people who were trained to handle a crisis. None of us were ready for that day. I remember Sep 12th. And how we weren’t worried about different anthems or flags or days. That day we were all citizens of the United States of America and we stood tall and together. I remain hopeful a day comes again when we can stand together like that without a tragedy to bind us.