Summer 2000
June, July, August
Summer Worship Due to the heat in the sanctuary, summer worship is held in the [air conditioned] multipurpose hall. Please join us for worship and the eucharist at our normal times in this cooler environment!
Soup Kitchen Holy Spirit Lutheran Church is hosting the soup kitchen at The Church of the Brethren in Westminster on a regular basis. Donations of food, time and money are needed to make our hosting days a success. Contact Cathy Klimovitz or the church office for more details or to volunteer.
Congratulations to our Graduates:
Tom Harney - He will graduate from South Carroll High School. He plans to pursue an acting career in New York in September.
Michael David Holiman, Jr. - He will be graduating on June 9, 2000 from the McDonogh School, McDonogh, Maryland. He will attend James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia in the fall.
Emily Viggiano - Emily is graduating from Glenelg High School. She will be attending Howard County Community College in the fall of 2000.
Ted Dickens
Melissa Jensen - She will be graduating from Liberty High School in Eldersburg with honors. Melissa will be attending Catonsville Community College in the fall and then transferring over to either York College of Pennsylvania or Kutztown College in Pennsylvania with a planned major in elementary education.
Martha Louks - Martha will be graduating from Liberty High School In the fall, she will be attending Albion College in Michigan.
Danielle Rowley
Brandi Jason - She will be graduating from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia in December 2000 after completing her student teaching this fall She is majoring in Music Education and Performance. Her senior clarinet recital on 4/8/00 was attended by 120 people from four states (New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia). She plans to attend graduate school.
Summer Sunday School: The First Disciples - Each Sunday through the summer, a different one of the original 13 disciples will be studied in depth. Vicar Pat hosted the first few of these classes before her departure from HSLC. Volunteers from the congregation are teaching the other disciples. Please come to our multi-generational class during the 9:45 a.m. Sunday School hour and learn about these fascinating men.
Carroll Lutheran School is online! Visit the Carroll Lutheran School online to learn more about this new Christian educational opportunity. They are located at www.qis.net/~clschool.
Mar-Lu-Ridge is a Christian Conference & Educational Center in Jefferson, MD. They offer overnight camp for kids (aged 6-16), for families (all ages) and adults (55+). For more info on Mar-Lu-Ridge camp opportunities, watch the bulletin board or contact the church office. You can also call Mar-Lu-Ridge directly at 800-238-9974 or see them online at www.mar-lu-ridge.org.
Summer Cookout - The Service Ministry team will be hosting a summer cookout at Holy Spirit on Sunday, August 13 from 4-7 p.m. Check out the sign-up sheet in the narthex or contact the church office or the Billheimers for more information.
Electronic Transfer of Funds is Here! - Holy Spirit has enrolled in a new program to allow our members to give their offering electronically. Many of us use a similar program to pay our mortgages, car payments and utility bills. Now your gifts to God can be made the same way. The program is called "Simply Giving" and is offered to us by Lutheran Brotherhood at no cost to Holy Spirit or our members. For your convenience, some information on this program has been placed in each family's mailbox in the narthex. Details and applications are also available by contacting the church office.
Thought for the Summer: Are You Busy?
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.
So let them go to their churches, let them try to have godly lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day.
"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.
"Tempt them to spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk-mail, mail-order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what’s important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Ha! That will fragment those families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusements parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion."
"Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"
It was quite a convention. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and to rush here and there. I guess the question is this: Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge!
B - Being
U - Under
S - Satan's
Y - Yoke
Are you BUSY?