FRESH START

Clean sheets. New car smell. A new wall calendar. Freshly sharpened pencils. Newly fallen snow. Ahhhhh… nothing beats that feeling of a fresh start.

Here we are in 2025. Jesus still has that “new baby” smell about him and church still has the shine of holiday preparations. January is a wonderful time to reconnect ourselves and recommit ourselves to our faith and our faith community. Better yet! It’s a great time to invite your friends, family, and neighbors to join you here for a Sunday morning or other activity happening at NVLC.

Speaking of guests and newness, let’s take 2025 as an opportunity to experience our church home with fresh eyes and the spirit of those who have never been to our church before. How would you get into our building if you hadn’t ever been here before?

Where would you park? What first impressions might you have if you didn’t know the stories behind our furnishings or pictures and signs hung on our walls? Where would you sit if you didn’t know anyone here and how do you feel when you sit there? Being new and learning a new community’s culture can be hard. How can we make that first visit easier, less awkward, and more intuitive? Join me in these efforts as we help Napa Valley learn about this beautiful community of joy, love, and acceptance brought together by Jesus Christ.

Happy NEW Year and may God bless it with good things for you and yours,

Pastor Stephanie

GIVING TREE GIFT CARD DELIVERIES

What a special treat as your pastor to deliver the gifts of your generosity in December! Between the gift cards you donated, additional money you gave to purchase gift cards, and some of the collection that arrived after our giving window ended last year we gave over $3000 in gift cards to V.O.I.C.E.S., NEWS, and ABODE! It was a very special gift you gave to your pastor that I experienced the wonder, amazement and joy when I walked up to the customer service counter at Target to buy over $900 gift cards for restaurants and Target itself, the woman working at the box office of the movie theater, and the person selling tickets at the Vine Transportation Center explaining to the service manager these were from our church to give to charitable organizations. Not to mention the opportunity this afforded me to meet with people working at these organizations and receive the gratitude from them for the astounding generosity of our congregation when I handed each a little over $1000 in gift cards. Your contributions will go a long way to providing gifts, joy, and humanity throughout our community.

Thank you!

Pastor Stephanie

WORSHIP CHANGES

You may have noticed a few changes to our worship service recently and you may notice a few more as we enter 2025. Some of these changes are being made because what we have been doing since returning from our COVID shelter in place can now safely be modified and other changes are because a new pastor is leading us and our worship. We want you to be aware of our intentional changes so you aren’t taken by surprise and to give some brief explanation.

First, praise God for the development of vaccinations that have helped to keep us from the most devastating effects of the Covid-19 virus. We recognize that some in our congregation remain vulnerable to even a mild case and so we are sensitive to everyone taking the precautions that they need to so they may remain healthy. You are free to mask, but are not required to. When you feel ill, you are encouraged to remain home and zoom our worship service using the link found on our website www.napavalleylutheran.org.

In this season when cold, flu, and COVID are likely to be passed along we will refrain from the common cup and intinction (dipping) at communion. We believe passing the peace in the traditional way with a handshake or a hug can be safe at this time, but again, please respect the wishes of others by first asking if you can give them a hug. We don’t want to stifle anyone’s welcome, but for the sake of time, we encourage you to greet the people near you during the peace and save conversations for our fellowship time after worship.

Though not a decision made at this time by COVID, the Worship Committee has chosen to return to the rail for communion during this Season of Epiphany. The servers will serve the “Zoomers” first before the rail is placed closing the chancel. Then the bread and a tray with individual cups will serve each person followed by someone to collect the empty cups.

You will have noticed that we are passing the offering baskets again. During COVID, we needed to limit contact between people and things, but it has been safe for some time to return to this practice. It serves a number of functions in our service including giving the pastor time to prepare for communion. You are welcome to continue to mail your offering to the church or use our online giving service, but we ask that each person take a moment to hold the basket, considering their offering of heart and wealth to God, before passing the basket along to their neighbor.

Announcements remain at the end of the worship service. We do want to keep this time from turning into a weekly congregational meeting, however. If you have an announcement to make, we ask that you let the pastor or assisting minister know prior to worship. If you prefer to make the announcement yourself, please also indicate that and make sure to make your way forward to during the sending hymn so you can make your announcement from the lectern microphone.

Beginning in January, speaking our Mission Statement will be seasonal or occasional not weekly. We will continue to print this statement in our bulletin to remind ourselves and others what we are about and who we strive to be.

Please feel free to speak to Pastor Stephanie or members of the Worship Committee regarding these changes.

SECOND MILE GIVING FOR JANUARY

Fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, even bomb cyclone storms – each year seems to bring new disasters, and, with a changing climate, more may be on the way.

The ELCA has a very effective Disaster Response Program which helps with recovery efforts whenever a disaster strikes.

This month, our Second Mile giving offerings will go to support the work of the ELCA’s program. If you would like to contribute, you can make a donation (checks payable to NVLC) this month – just mark your gift as “2^nd Mile Giving” and include it with your offering anytime during January.

PRAYER LIST

Prayer remains one of the deepest commitments and holiest gifts we can offer one another in time of need. To help us maintain an ever-growing list of prayer concerns and requests, we will begin a new cycle for keeping people on a prayer list. Those of you praying through the list faithfully, can keep praying for people as long as you wish, but our printed list will refresh each quarter (January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1). Families in mourning will remain on the list for 3 weeks unless otherwise requested. If you need someone to remain on the prayer list into a new quarter, please let us know.

To include a name on the prayer list, please secure the consent of the person first and then contact Linnea Laufer ([email protected]) or the church office ([email protected] or (707) 226-8166).

CHURCH COUNCIL NEWS

At the regular meeting of the church council on December 10, the council expressed appreciation for Bill Parks coordinating the work being done on the parsonage by himself, Bob Shepersky and multiple contractors to make it more livable for Pastor Stephanie. The council has approved expenditures for the removal of both vinyl and transite siding. After necessary repairs have been completed, the exterior of the house will be restored and it will look much better than it has in years. The council also reviewed the recommendations of the Endowment committee, which will be presented at the annual meeting for congregational approval. They reviewed a draft budget for 2025 and agreed to expand the church staff by recruiting a music director and bookkeeper in the next year. They also agreed to move the next regular council meeting to January 16, and may remain on the third Thursday of the month going forward.

ANNUAL MEETING

The Annual Congregational Meeting will be held on Sunday February 2 following our worship service. Reports from the teams and committees will be due on January 10, to allow time for the staff to review and produce the written reports prior to the meeting. The meeting agenda will include approving the budget for 2024. For those interested in reviewing the budget that has been developed by the treasurer and church council, there will be a forum on Sunday January 26, following our worship service. This is your opportunity to ask questions and have input into how we plan to use our financial resources to further the vision and mission of Napa Valley Lutheran Church.

SHARE US. LIKE US. REVIEW US.

Do you have a Facebook account you use from time to time? Do you keep up with your grandkids by looking at pictures of them on Instagram? Do you ever decide where to eat or who to hire for a service by looking at reviews online? One simple way you can help Napa Valley and visitors to our area know about our church is by helping our Church’s Facebook, Instagram and Yelp accounts get some traffic. Be sure to like our pages and accounts. When we post something you enjoy or invite you to an event, make sure to share it on your own account and invite your friends. Take a quick minute to go to yelp.com and write a short review of what you like about NVLC.

NAPA INTERFAITH COUNCIL NEWS

The Napa Interfaith Council invites you to a community-wide commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. January 19th at 4:00. The program entitled “Continuing the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Building Bridges Together” will be hosted by Congregation Beth Shalom. The program includes a variety of speakers from various organizations and spiritual communities along with opening music from students of American Canyon High School. You are encouraged to include this commemoration as part of your observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year

DEVOTIONAL RESOURCES

CHRIST IN OUR HOME: The January, February, March 2025 booklets are available now. If you would like to have one of these delivered to your home, please contact the church office at [email protected] or 707-226-8166 to make arrangements

Hope Circle remains suspended for the time being.

LUNCH BUNCH will meet at Fume Bistro, 4050 Byway East, on Thursday, January 23 at 12:45 p.m. Contact Carol Holmes to make reservations.

ABODE SHELTER PROJECT –

Congratulations NVLC! This year has brought even more items for the Abode Shelter. With the help of $250 from Thrivent Financial and the generosity of Dorothy, Bill, Joyce, Leanne, Carol, Carolyn, Ellen, & Carol, the following items were delivered: 72 pr. Men’s socks, 13 pr. men’s gloves, 33 pr. women’s socks, 18 pr. women’s gloves, 102 toothbrushes, 29 toothpaste, 11 mouthwash, 60 bars soap, 63 razors, 7 shave cream, 31 Shampoo, 2 body lotion, 8 deodorants, 7 combs, and 2 hairbrushes. Check the bulletin board to see how much that was, and the back seat was also filled.

REMINDERS FROM THE CHURCH SECRETARY

It is time to update the church membership directory. If you have had an address change, or wish to update your preferred telephone number or e-mail address, please send your changes in as soon as possible. Are you getting your newsletter via snail mail &/or email? If your preference has changed, please let me know. As my time in the office is limited, the best way to get a message to me, and ensure that the spelling is accurate is to email to [email protected]. You can also leave a voice mail on the church phone # 707-226-8166.

Thank you to the members of our congregation that have been sending in your contributions to the church office. It is much appreciated. Your financial giving to NVLC is still necessary for us to maintain needs of the congregation. Remember, that although we did not provide boxes of offering envelopes, as in past years, we still have the opportunity to make special offerings for special occasions, any occasion that is special to you!

NAPA VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH IS ONLINE!

Yes, we do have a website, and for the past several months, we have been working with a consultant to make it more useful. Have you checked it out? You can find it at:

https://napavalleylutheran.org/

We hope that the site will make it easy for folks in the community and visitors find out who and where we are, and we want it to be helpful for members, as well. If you have misplaced your NVLC newsletter, you can find it on the website, as well as the calendar. The Servers can find their schedule under the “resources” tab. If you are joining the Sunday worship on Zoom, there is a link on the home page, and you can even make your offering online with Tithe.ly! What else would you like to see on our website?
Please let us know and we will try to make it happen.
We have also established some new email addresses.
So if you want to contact the Pastor, you can email to: [email protected]
If you have news for the Secretary, You can email to: [email protected]
And, the Treasurer email is: [email protected]
The general email, [email protected] still works, too, for general communication with the church office.

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