The Summit

 Write them down and give them to John Linde or Karl & Deb Okeson. Come and celebrate Alpine’s 50 years at our current location on Sun., Nov. 8^th for a 50^th Anniversary/Stewardship Dinner, 5:00 p.m. for a social time and 6:00 p.m. for the dinner. Please sign up on the poster in the coatroom. There is no cost for this event; a free-will offering will be collected to help cover food costs.

Do you have any great Alpine stories you would like to share?

by Pastor Meier October 30, 2009

My favorite tandem of Sundays is Reformation and All Saints, whose exact dates fall on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Therefore, they are celebrated on consecutive Sundays. As we celebrate All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1 this year, we will remember in prayer those from Alpine Church who died since the last All Saints’ Day, and for whom we did funeral services. Also, it is appropriate for everyone to hold in remembrance faithful Christians from their past who are now with the Lord.

While we don’t think of our deceased friends and relatives as “holy people” necessarily, we have commended them to the mercy of God for eternal rest. And we believe in the resurrection of those who have been made righteous through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. As a verse from our second reading from Revelation 21:4 this Sunday declares, “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.”

Those who will be especially remembered in prayer this Sunday, in the order of their passing, are: Yvonne Johnson, Alvin Hemenway, Cora Smith, Fern Pearson, Jeanne Lindstrom, Carol Nelson, Arthur Carter, Ruth Moen, Marilyn Monson, Patricia Long, and Donald Krusemeier. Also, we will have an opportunity to light a candle in memory each person’s loved ones. May God’s blessing rest with them, praying for their eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Inside page

Youth Info

Those who serve

Ushers – Larry Graham, Lucas Hier, Michele Scott, Don Torgerson

Ambassadors – Ron & Jan Pauly, Craig & Barb Shelton

Elements – Matt & Debbie Hier

Acolyte – Rebecca Geeser

Lector – Roger Bastian

Lay Assistants – Roger Bastian, Sid Robinson

Altar Guild – Carol Nelsen

Ushers – John Gustafson, Rachel Parker, Michelle Turecek, Denny White

Ambassadors – Craig & Barb Shelton, Jan Galster, Alyce Krusemeier

Elements – Kelly Gustafson, Ashley Naleway

Acolyte – Cally Damken

Lector – Jari Sproule

Lay Assistants – Kim Gustafson, Wes Dundas

Altar Guild – Ardy Stevens

Praise Singers – Kathy Christiansen, Deb Detzner, Herman Johnson

Please meet at church Sat., Nov. 7^th at 9:00 a.m. to start our Good Neighbor Day. Please dress for the weather. We need the youth’s help in serving the 50^th Anniversary/Stewardship Dinner on Sun., Nov. 8^th. Also, coming up is a Youth Breakfast on Sun., Nov. 22^nd. Please mark your calendars to help.

Alpine Confirmation Class 2009

Pastor Meier, Cally Damken, Nathan Grider, Rebecca Geeser, Vicar Ryan

Jennifer Sproule, Ally Schulz, Zoe Zuroske, Dana Foor

Take note of a change to our normal schedule for Thanksgiving services. This year we will have services on Tues., Nov. 24^th instead of Wed. We will have a dinner with the Academy students after the 11:00 service and worship with our friends from Washington Park at 7:00 p.m.

Green Team Tip

Psalm 51:10-12 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit withinme. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Mark 4:37-41 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the seas, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Why is it so hard to MAKE IT SIMPLE? We face daily a complex world of our own making. We feel pushed and pulled by forces beyond our control. And when things feel like they are out of our control, we often feel afraid. We become like the disciples in the boat with Jesus. We are afraid that we are perishing, tossed about by the “wind and the waves” in our lives.

Imagine being one of the disciples in the boat. When you decide to wake Jesus up, what would you expect of him? What do you need from Jesus in the midst of the storms of your life? Can you hear Jesus’ question in the moments of calm in your life? “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

Jesus’ question can lead us to hear the words of the psalmist, “Create in me, O God…put a new and right spirit within me…Do not cast me away…do not take away…Restore to me…sustain in me…” Look at all that God does in our lives. Where do we focus? On the wind and waves? Can we focus instead on what God provides? And how do our choices matter for what we see?