A new, digital article is available online! Pastor Tim hosts “Church Explained”, a monthly feature video that includes discussions and brief educational summaries on topics related to CtK and our Lutheran Church, traditions, and faith. This month’s edition is all about Paraments. Enjoy!
Sunday, 9:30 AM – INDOOR & LIVE STREAM
We hope you’ll join us in the CtK Sanctuary and online. All are welcome!
Wednesday “Behold!” 6:00PM – IN-PERSON – CtK Community Hall
We are having dinner before Behold! Come and join us for food and fellowship @ 5:26pm prior to the Wednesday evening service.
Thank you for your help in making in-person worship a safe experience for all. If you have any questions, please contact Deacon Mandy.
We are calling on everyone to prayerfully consider how you might use your time and talents to help propel CtK forward in this new hybrid in-person/techno-based way of doing church. We have the technology. Now, we need YOU! Currently, we are seeking to fill ALL categories of worship volunteers:
If you feel you might be interested in any of these volunteer positions and/or if you have any questions, please give Deacon Mandy a call (970-247-5310) or touch base with him between Sunday services. Training will be provided for all volunteers. Thanks for your consideration.
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The Chancel Choir is filling the Sanctuary with their melodious voices. The choir meets for rehearsals on Monday evenings from 6:30pm – 7:30pm.
Please contact Jared Wright, Choir/Music Director if you would like to sing. Jared can be reached at 970-759-1834 or email chancelchoir@ctkdurango.org – All are welcome!
The CtK Handbell Ensemble is ringing out the good news and praises!
This group practices on Sunday mornings @ 8:30am. Please contact Jared Wright, Choir/Music Director or Anita Ashby if you would like to ring. Jared can be reached at the church office or email chancelchoir@ctkdurango.org – All are welcome!
Sunday, January 8th – Birthday Sunday! Join us after our 9:30am service for fellowship and cake as we celebrate the CtK January Birthdays! Cheers!
For all events and activities, please check the CtK website for the most current updates.
Please keep the following Military men and women in your prayers…
(To add or remove names from this list, please contact Jared)
(To add or remove names from this list, please contact Jared)
To add or remove names from this list, email Jared in the Church office or call: 970-247-5310.
The CTK quilting group meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 10:00 A.M. in the community hall. We make Baptism and prayer quilts for members of our congregation as they are needed. We also make quilts for our local nursing homes and the Navajo Nation through NELM.
We have had a very successful year with our quilters:
2022 quilts donated:
Baptisms – 3
Comfort – 5
NELM – 15
Graduation – 3
Parament sets delivered to Altar Guild – 8
Christmas stockings sewn, filled and donated to LPFCC and VOA – 286!!!!
If you would like to work on the paraments but not quilt, contact Carol Orlowski at 248-245-3541. If you are interested in quilting, please join us. If you would like to quilt, but don’t know how, join us and we will teach you.
judy_olson @yahoo.com 651-303-8450.
This past year members of the Altar Guild and Piecemakers Quilting Group have collaborated to create new altar and baptismal paraments and banners to enhance our worship experience. So far, 6 sets of paraments have been completed with plans for additional sets to come. Each set has been purposefully crafted following guidelines from the ELCA. As each new set has been presented, an explanataion of the meaning of the colors and symbols has been included in that Sunday’s bulletin. But if you worship online or missed the week that a new set was used, you missed reading that explanation. Therefore, we are reprinted the colors and symbols for you.
The Days after Pentecost: The Tree of Life growing from the Father’s creating hands recalls the tree of life in the garden of Eden, (Genesis1:9) Italso recalls the tree made into a cross on which Jesus was crucified. By His death our sins are forgiven and we receive new life in Him. The words “COME BE MADE NEW” recall Revelations 21:5 where John writes of his vision of anewheavenand earth andGod proclaims”Behold,I ammakingallthingsnew.!The predominate color si green symbolizing growth.
Reformation Sunday: Red is the color for this day as we celebrate the Holy Spirit’s reforming power at work in the church not only in the middle ages but also today. The Luther’s Rose is composed of several symbols that Luther himself used as his personal seal but has come to represent the Lutheran Church globally. In a letter to Lazarus Spengler, written on July 8, 1530, Martin Luther explained what each element of this seal meant to himself.
“Grace and peace from the Lord. As you desire to know whether your painted seal, which you sent to me has hit the mark, I shall answer most amiably and tell you my thoughts and reason why my seal is a symbol of my theology. The first should be a black cross in a heart which retains its natural color, so that Imyself should be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us.
“For one who believes from the heart will be justified” (Romans 10:10). Although it is indeed a black cross, which mortifies and which should also cause pain, it leaves the heart in its natural
color. It does not corrupt nature, that is, ti does not kil but keeps alive. “The just shall live by faith”(Romans 1:17) but by faith in the crucified. Such a heart should stand in the middle of a
white rose, to show that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace. In other words, ti places the believer into a white joyous rose, for this faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives ( J o h n 14:27). That is why the rose would be white and not red, for white is the color of the spirits and the angels. (Cf. Matthew 28:3, John 20:12). Such a rose should stand in a sky-blue field, symbolizing that such joy in spirit and faith is a beginningof the heavenly future joy,which begins already, but is grasped in hope, not yet revealed. And around this field is a golden ring symbolizing that such blessedness in Heaven lasts forever and has no end. Such blessedness is exquisite bevond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable, most precious and best metal. This is my compendium theologian [summary of theology]. Ihave wanted to show it to you ni good friendship, hoping for your appreciation. May Christ, our beloved Lord, be with your spirit until the life hereafter. Amen”
For Al Saints Sunday: The paraments for Al SaintsSunday are solid white.
The color white represents light, joy, and celebration of our Lord. These paraments may also used for other festival Sundays. On All Saints Sunday we remember those who have completed their earthly journey among us. We also recall John’s vision and recounted in Revelations 7 of the saints dressed in white robes who nowappear before the throne singing their praises to our God.
For Christ the King Sunday: Our new paraments for today, Christ the King Sunday, feature a symbol very familiar to us as Christ the King Lutheran Church members, the Cross and the Crown. Onthis last Sunday of the church year we celebrate the Kingship of our Lord Jesus.
ForAdvent: The first Sunday in Advent is the beginning of a new church year. The background color of dark blue is used to represent hope. Advent is the season when we anticipate the arrival of the long awaited Messiah and hope for his reign of peace. During Advent we are encouraged to prepare for the coming of God’s Son at Christmas just as the Old Testament prophet Isaiah encouraged the people of his time to prepare themselves for the coming of God’s kingdom in Isaiah 40:3, ” A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the Lord, make straight a highway for our God.” Years later, Matthew echoes Isaiah’a quest in Matthew 3 when he identifies John the Baptist as the voice calling to the people of his time that Jesus is the long promised Messiah.
Our Book Club meets in the Community Hall at 3:00 PM on the 2nd Thursday of the month. We will not be meeting in December but will have a Christmas luncheon.
The following months we will be reading:
January 2023 – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
February – We Begin at the End by Chris Whitker
March – Ladies Midnight Swimming Club by Faith Hogan
April – Mesa Verde Victim by Scott Graham. (Scott is a local writer)
If you like to read and discuss books, please join us. We would love to have you.
Judy Olson at judy_olson@yahoo.com or 651-303-8450.
The Circle of Contemplative Prayer meets each Monday from 5:30pm-7:00pm. Silent meditation and prayer sessions are followed by a book discussion. Currently, the discussion topics delve into the ways the contemplative path calls us to connect our inner search for transformational growth with the external realities of how we live and act, what we eat and wear, etc.
NOTE: Meetings are currently being held via Zoom. For the Zoom link and other pertinent information, please text Sharyn Butler at 970-759-6355. Thank you.
GoBoGs invites you to join them in study and fellowship each Monday from 4:00-5:30 pm. Share the Care, GoBoGs’ outreach mission, is addressed upon requests. our new study is on Julian of Norwich, a 14th century English anchoress and mystic. We will be using readings, videos, the book “Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic- and Beyond” (Matthew Fox) and discussions to guide our study. For more information contact: Sharyn Butler csharynb@yahoo.com and/or Dian Jenkins jenkdian@gmail.com
*NOTE: During the health crisis, they are conferencing via Zoom at 592-847-8387; the password for this meeting is Testify. The Zoom meeting ID is 966-5642-4190. Please join them for study sessions that are deeply rewarding. For more information, contact Kayla Hefner at 970-759-1636.
Bible Study class meets on Thursdays from 12:00-1:15 PM. Attendees can choose to meet for class in-person OR via Zoom. The link to access these meetings via Zoom is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83113251991
If you ever misplace this link, you can also find it on our website at:
https://www.ctkdurango.org/worship
The “regular password” is needed to access the meeting via Zoom. If you need the password, contact the church office at 970-247-5310. We gladly invite and welcome all to join the class. I look forward to seeing each of you!!!
We are a group of ladies that get together every Thursday at 1:15 P.M. in the community hall. We start a check of how everything one is doing and say a prayer for all of those in need with our group, our congregation, and friends. We are currently discussing “How to Be Here” by Rob Bell. If you can’t meet on Thursdays and would like to know more about the book, please contact Judy Olson judy_olson@yahoo.com or 651-303-8450.
Currently, the Spiritual Study Group meets on Thursdays from 3:00pm – 4:30pm on-site in the Chapel. (Unless Covid case numbers rise, in which case we will go back to Zoom). We’re studying “The Difficult Words of Jesus” by Amy-Jill Levine. For more information, or the Zoom link, contact Aurora Rose. (970-382-1848)