EPIPHANY STAR SERVICE AND
DOOR CHALKING – JANUARY 11TH
It’s that time of year again! Some people say the Christmas Eve service is their favorite of the year, others are aflutter over Easter Sunday, but I am absolutely in love with the Feast of Epiphany. Technically, this is a feast day that falls on the 13th day after Christmas, January 6th, every year. But we will observe it on Sunday, January 11th as we begin the season of Epiphany prior to Ash Wednesday. Epiphany is a season with many traditions, including Kings Day celebrated by cultures that have remained predominantly Catholic on the day of Epiphany and Carnival, a time of feasting and jubilation leading up to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) the day before Ash Wednesday when all the world once took on a Lenten time of fasting, penance, and reflection on sin.
Yeah, those aren’t the reasons I love Epiphany.
I love this feast day and the season for the stories it tells and the message of Good News being broadcast to the world in unexpected ways through unexpected people. I appreciate this as a time when we are surprised about where and how God shows up in our world. I enjoy the visual image of being guided by a star through a sometimes perilous journey to find exactly what we were looking for presented in an unconventional way. In other words, it’s a season to PONDER ANEW not only what the Almighty can do, but what they ARE doing.
Be sure to join us January 11th for our Epiphany Star service (remember the stars you got a year ago?!). We’ll share stories of how God has shown up in new ways through the words we held on to in 2025 and will grab hold of new star words to guide us through 2026. We will also have a special moment for “chalking the door” to the church and the parsonage.
Pastor Stephanie
SPEAKER SERIES THIS JANUARY
On Wednesdays from 11: 00am – 12:30pm a group of about twelve from our congregation have met to discuss Roland Martinson’s book, Elders Rising: The promise and peril of ageing. In our time together a few topics have arisen that we want to explore further or have realized it’s time to revisit. We hope this will inspire another set of presentations later in the year, but a new year is a great time to take care of some things you haven’t gotten around to or have forgotten to get back to. Join us for the following dates and presentations. Even if you haven’t been able to join us for the book discussion, please come. All are welcome! Bring a friend!
Wednesday, January 7 Pastor Stephanie How to help your loved ones celebrate and remember you at your funeral
Wednesday, January 14 Providence PACE Writing or reviewing your advanced directives, making plans for aging in place, navigating a change of place to age
Wednesday, January 21 Dexter Cypress the Associate Transit Planner with NVTA will give us information about using public transportation services available to people with varying needs including accessibility needs, availability and how to arrange transportation for yourself.
Our discussions of the book will resume with chapter 11 in February.
SAVE THE DATE
January 19th – Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration hosted by the Napa Valley Interfaith Coalition – more details to come.
Starting a new book group in February – February is Black History Month. If you are interested in reading and discussing Dear Church: A love letter from a Black preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US by Lenny Duncan, please reach out to Pastor Stephanie so we can set a day, time, and format that is best for meeting during February.
February 7th – Napa Valley Black History Month event at Crosswalk Community Church.
February 18th – Ash Wednesday
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 “2nd Mile Giving” and include it with your offering anytime during January.
COUNCIL UPDATES
The church council met on December 18. Pastor Stephanie reported on worship happenings and her plans to attend a conference in late January. Ellen Wulf distributed financial reports and presented a preliminary budget for 2026. She also reported that the Endowment Committee recommended that all requests be fully funded for a total of $36,000 and this recommendation will be taken to the congregation at the annual meeting. In property matters, the council authorized funds to install fencing at the parsonage, and to follow up on pest control and water pressure concerns. The council voted that NVLC sponsor the Napa Valley Black History Month event on February 7 at Crosswalk Church, authorized the signing of a contract with Sun Source Solar, and set the date for the annual congregational meeting on February 1, 2026. The council decided to meet on the second Thursday of the month will have a strategic planning session on Saturday January 10. The minutes of council meetings are posted on the bulletin board in the narthex for more details.
THRIVENT CANV FOOD BANK DRIVE A GREAT SUCCESS!
Denise and David Hamilton signed up for a Thrivent Action Project for November to help collect food for the CANV Food Bank and it was a huge success! Anyone who walked in the narthex during November and the first Sunday of December could see that the food cart had overflowed all over the floor with bags of food. A BIG THANK YOU! to all who brought in food to support this project! On Dec. 2, Denise & David, with the $250 gift card from Thrivent, went shopping at Trader Joe’s. Once the cashier took a look at our 2 carts full of food, he knew this was not a typical shopping outing, so we told him our story – he was impressed! We spent the entire card + 55 cents out of pocket on 85 items. We loaded up the car with the groceries, headed over to church and packed up all the bags and headed over to the Food Bank warehouse. They quickly unloaded the car and put the bags on the scale – 275 pounds of food! They were truly grateful for our gift of food (and also for two most-generous checks from members) that helps so many. Thank you for your generosity in serving our community!
Also, a letter from Community Action of Napa Valley (CANV) …”would like to thank you for your support and donation of $200, which we received for our agency on 12/10/2025. Your support and generous contribution enable us to lend a helping hand to families and individuals in our community that are struggling.”
A letter from Abode …”We would like to thank Napa Valley Lutheran Church for their recent in-kind donation of personal care items and clothing valued at $1,600 to Abode’s for the South Napa Shelter. Your generous gift will fuel our mission to find sustainable solutions to homelessness. Indeed, your support will greatly aid Abode’s commitment to help people in need in the Napa Valley, where we manage 21 programs that provide housing and wraparound services.” This was Carol Holmes Thrivent Action Project.
Pastor Stephanie delivered gift cards to ABODE, NEWS, and VOICES in December.
Our total Giving Tree gifts were $2,600! This was the result of our second mile giving from November.
Generous: Sharing what God has entrusted to us.
DEVOTIONAL RESOURCES
CHRIST IN OUR HOME: The January, February and March 2026 booklets are available now. If you would like to have one of these delivered to your home, please contact the church office at secretary@napavalleylutheran.org or 707-226-8166 to make arrangements.
THE WOMEN OF NAPA VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH are invited to meet together the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 1pm – 3pm in Luther Hall. Our next meeting is Wednesday, January 21. If you are interested, please notify Pastor Stephanie so she can make sure you are mailed your own copy of Gather, the quarterly magazine published by WELCA. During our meetings we discuss the themes presented in the magazine along with projects we may be interested in supporting or undertaking ourselves. Gather with us for community, prayer, and partnership in the Gospel. Please also let Pastor Stephanie know if you wish to be included but are unable to attend our monthly meetings.
LUNCH BUNCH will be on Thursday January 22 at 12:45 PM at Filippi’s Pizza Grotto, 645 First St. Call Carol Holmes for reservations.
A word of thanks to the congregation for all the cards, thoughts, and prayers following my mother’s death in October. She had a long (100 years!) and blessed life. She was always appreciative of all the church members who were “watching over” her son throughout his 37 years of ministry! So thank you for your expressions of care and sympathy.
With love, David and Denise Hamilton
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 the 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!
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