THIS WEEK

Sunday, November 23rd –

At our Thanksgiving Worship service, Pastor Teresa will preach on “Promises of I will” from Ezekiel 34. Ruth`s Puppeteers will bring the Children`s Message. This year`s special Thanksgiving offering will go to support the ministry of Second Harvest Japan, one of WTUC`s outreach ministries http://2hj.org/ Also our “Socks and gifts for the children of `Nozomi No Ie`” annual giving opportunity begins. Please get your child`s information from Jim Sack.

After the worship service will be a our THANKSGIVING FEAST. All are welcome! Bring your treats to share to the cafeteria before the service. As you are able, bring place settings to decorate the tables. All are welcome!

We are also very thankful to those who help set up and take down the chairs and the sanctuary = ) *Interested/or know someone who is, in a paid position, setting up and/or taking down the chairs of our sanctuary? Contact Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com

MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL: 9:30AM – In the Cafeteria, God`s Gift of Wisdom.

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL: 9:30AM – In the Sack`s living room, “Swedish” Candle study on Ezekiel 34.

WORSHIP:  11:00 AM

FELLOWSHIP HOUR: after the service – a THANKSGIVING FEAST – come as you are or come with a place setting for you and friends! All are welcome! Invite a friend! 

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about our special Thanksgiving Offering recipient – Second Harvest Japan…

We are Japan`s first food bank. We receive donations from manufacturers, retailers, farmers and individuals and then distribute them to those in need. All of the food that we handle is unexpired and safe for consumption. We give this food a second life by distributing it to welfare agencies, orphanages, women shelters, people without homes, and those in need. Second Harvest Japan aims to create a Food Safety Net in Japan. In order to do so, we deliver food to children’s homes, single-mother shelters, centers for the disabled as well as many other welfare organizations and individuals in need. In order to deliver enough food to those who lack food security,¹2HJ cooperates with food manufacturers and other companies and hopes to use food to create new partnerships between corporations and the community. In our first year of incorporation we delivered 30 tons of food. In 2012 this number jumped to 3,152 tons valued at Â¥1.8 billion. That same year we helped companies save about Â¥310 million in disposal costs. Since 2002 we have have delivered over 8,000 tons valued at Â¥4.8 billion yen. Your support of Second Harvest Japan helps them achieve their motto, “Food for all People.”

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         58th Annual Women’s Conference – Inspired by Isaiah 58:11 “You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring,” the 2015 Women’s Conference is entitled Inner Gardening.  Here is also a link to a promotional video (on YouTube) that you can also share. It is only 1 minute 44 seconds long. http://youtu.be/egrWIelgD9E

         Registration is now open. We have online registration and also a PDF that can be printed out available at our website http://wocon.net There is a considerable discount if you register and pay before Friday, November 28, 2014. A number of women from WTUC attend every year, and we would love to see that number swell = )

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CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CORNER (we value your prayers & involvement in this vital ministry)  Any questions, please contact Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com, or Julie Rogers for HS; Amy Harbaugh and Steve Bennett for Upper ES and Lower MS, grades 4-7; and Carrie Bennett for Lower ES, grades K-3.

LITTLE KIDS during worship – after the children`s message you may go with Sara who has prepared a lesson on Daniel and the Lions.

ES & MS YOUTH Pageant Practice December 7th and 14th from 9:30am

HS YOUTH Pageant Practice December 7th and 14th from 9:30am

MULTI GENERATIONAL Sunday School in Cafeteria – Sunday, November 23rd from 9:30-10:30am; Next activities: Pageant Practice December 7th and 14th from 9:30am

NEXT ADULT Sunday Schools – in the Sacks` Living Room, Sunday, November 23rd and December 14th 9:30-10:30 am.

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Upcoming Preaching Ministry and Community Time

November 30th    Advent 1, Covenant Players http://www.covenantplayers.org/ – in worship, invite your friends!

December 7th     Advent 2, Youth Christmas Pageant practice, Rev. Dr. Jim Sack preaching, Mission Moment by Rev. Saito of Inochi no Denwa, special music by Ide Sensei & choir, Communion, after service: concert of Hiroko Ide & the Senzoku Conservatory – all are welcome!

December 14th     Advent 3, Adult Sunday School at the Sacks`, Youth Christmas Pageant – invite your family and friends! Caroling at orphanages and Christmas treats at the Sacks in the afternoon – all are invited!

December 21st     Advent 4, Rev. Dr. Timothy McKenzie preaching, Communion

December 24th     Christmas Eve Service from 6:30pm. Christmas cookies and refreshments

December 28th     Pastor Teresa preaching,Year end worship service

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MULTIGENERATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL!! ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL!!

This fall again we will have Multigenerational Sunday School from 9:30 in the cafeteria the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Who is welcome? All ages. We will be creating, discussing, playing games, acting out bible stories and more. 

The Sacks will host the Adult Sunday School, also at 9:30 am in their living room. The method for looking at the texts for the service is called the, “Swedish Bible study method,” interacting with  the text through our own life experiences. Their home is right across the Lutheran Campus from our sanctuary. Best coffee in town = ) Come and enjoy! (At times Adult Sunday School is held in the Upper Room, on the 2nd floor above the Sanctuary.) All are welcome. Need more information, contact wtucrev@gmail.com any time = )

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Socks and gifts for the children of “Nozomi No Ie,”an orphanage in Mitaka.

The tradition of collecting socks and gifts for the children residing at Nozomi No Ie goes back well over 20 years. Members of WTUC are asked to select a child (or children) and buy them both some socks and a present for Christmas. This year please feel free to accept more than one child. We ask each giver to sign up for a child by writing their name on a master list. The names of the children are also placed on a slip of paper that is given to the gift giver. It lists the name of the child, their sex, their age and sock size. The slips of paper have been color coded in case you forget their sex, with boys being blue and girls being red. If you happen to lose the piece of paper, ( which I am sure will never happen) you can call me at 0422-34-4266 to be reminded of who it is you are buying for.

Presents should not cost more than Yen 2,000. We want to get them something that is meaningful but we don’t want this to become a contest between children. Nozomi No Ie has asked that coupons, money and gift cards NOT be given. The orphanage would like each child to be able to open the gift and immediately be able to make use of it. If the socks and the gift are wrapped separately that gives each child the opportunity to open up two things. Please make sure the name of the child is SECURELY attached to each gift. If the name comes apart from the gift it is difficult to know who should receive the gift. The name of the giver may or may not be written on the gifts. That is up to each individual to decide.

They can be placed under the Christmas tree at the church. I take the gifts home each Sunday and put them in a secure place until they can be delivered to the orphanage by Christmas Eve.

This project continues to be a very concrete example of sharing the love of Christ during the Christmas season. Thank you to all who support this ministry.

Jim Sack

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WTUC Announcements:

*Questions or concerns? Feel free to email wtucrev@gmail.com anytime.

*Please enjoy and refer our website https://wtuc.net/ and FB page (West Tokyo Union Church) to others. Please make any suggestions for additions to the Pastor Teresa and/or Steering Committee.

*If you’d like to be added to the WTUC church email list, please contact Gene Witt ewitt@asij.ac.jp

*If interested in joining the WTUC Prayer Chain, let Pastor Teresa or Prayer Chain Coordinator, Kayo Ozawa, know of your interest. Please submit prayers to wtucrev@gmail.com or Kayo Ozawa.

*Sign up for snacks for fellowship time with Ann or on the list on the white board for next year. We appreciate your contributions to our community life!

*Each week we will be setting up the chairs for worship and preparing the sanctuary, anyone around at 10:30am is invited to be involved in the fun = ) Each week we will also return our sanctuary to it`s classroom style after the fellowship time.

*Interested in baptism or membership, please contact Pastor Teresa.

*Interested in a paid position setting up and/or taking down the chairs of our sanctuary? Contact Pastor Teresa at wtucrev@gmail.com

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Ezekiel 34 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Israel’s False Shepherds

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 4 You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.

7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep; 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.

God, the True Shepherd

11 For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

17 As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?

20 Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, 22 I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

25 I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild animals from the land, so that they may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely. 26 I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27 The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the insults of the nations. 30 They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture[a] and I am your God, says the Lord God.