YELLOWSTONE – ARGYLE/APPLE GROVE
   PARISH NEWSLETTER
Office Phone: 608-543-3088
Web Site: www.YellowstoneArgyleAppleGrove.com

Our Ministry Focus: "Sharing God's grace from a hopeful place​

 

Pastor's Letter

     Jesus tells this parable: “Listen, there was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 
   “Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 
   “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” The people said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time” (Matthew 21:33-4).
   This is not one of Jesus’ most uplifting stories. We find the tenants repugnant, easy to dislike due to their self-centeredness, thanklessness and hardness of heart. 
   But here is the thing: Jesus wants us to see that WE ARE THE TENANTS! God has blessed us with so much beauty around us in creation. Year by year, he blesses us with all that we need to live. Then to bless us now and into eternity, he sends his son to die for our sins – and how do we respond? Well, the parable says, far too often we live our lives thinking only about ourselves and what we can gain. 
   How often do we take all that we have for granted? Sure, we might pay lip service to thanking God, but we don’t acknowledge that we do need to give back to God and honor his Son. We want to do our thing and “own” all God’s gifts.
   But the beauty about parables is that Jesus tells us these things, so our eyes can be opened, and we can see and then live in a new way. 
    Jesus wants us to move from the selfish vision of the tenants, to a new vision of gratitude. So read the parable again, and celebrate all that God has given and is giving to us. And, in response to all God’s gifts, let us give back to God what he deserves – our worship each Sunday and our praise each day.
                                                                                                                                      ~ God bless, Dan

 

Attention women all ages: Argyle-Apple Grove, Yellowstone: The women continue to meet. Their new name is “Kind Hearts.” Their mission statement is: “We share kindness through our thoughts, words and deeds.” The next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 27th at 1:00 p.m. at Argyle Lutheran. Please join in developing and then being a part of this new ministry group. Joanne and Rita welcome all ideas. If a ride needed, call Rita @ 608-438-6958.

 

Upcoming Book Study: “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” This C.S. Lewis classic “children’s story” is anything but a children’s story. Yes, it is a fable, a tale that children can understand and enjoy, but imbedded into the story Lewis deals with the pillars of Christianity: spiritual journey, original sin, forgiveness, and Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and restoration of God’s created world. This book is easy to read, but takes reflection to get all the nuance out of the writing. To do that, we will be having a study on the book. 

    Twenty-five copies of the book have been ordered and should be here soon. The cost of the book is $6. The study itself will begin in July. Please be a part of this great journey that moves from the pages of the story and into our lives. Purchase a book and sign up in the narthex.

 

Joint Worship Services: Please keep a close eye on the calendar this summer. We are trying to implement more joint worship services. We feel with summer attendance being a bit lower, we could try to have a few more joint worship services in the summer.

    In June, we will be having a joint service at Argyle Lutheran at 9:00 a.m. on June 14th. We will have a coffee hour following the worship in the church basement. Please bring some goodies to share. 

 

The Quilters will meet on Tuesday, June 23rd at Yellowstone. Quilting begins at 9 a.m. Everyone is welcome. No experience necessary.

 

Cookies Needed for InterVarsity: Shannon and Scott Marion will be helping to host three InterVarsity meetings in June: June 5-6 is the Board of Trustees Meeting; June 11 is Orientation for New Campus Ministers; and June 16-18 is the National Leadership Team Meeting.
   We’re wondering if people would be willing to bake cookies for these meetings. The previous times our churches baked cookies, it was a huge hit! People keep asking us, “Where do you go to church?”!
   We can pick up the cookies on Sunday, May 31st  at both services, or anytime up to Wednesday, June 3rd  if you want to drop them off at the parsonage. We’ll have a sign-up sheet earlier in May. We will freeze the cookies and bring them out for each meeting. Thank you! We’ll have a sign up through May. 

 

Stewardship: We thank everyone for your generous support of the ministries of our congregations. If you are unable make it to church to give your offering, you may mail it to the following address: Yellowstone/Argyle-Apple Grove, Box 217, Argyle, WI  53504.

 

April Treasurers’ and Pastor’s reports:                 
                Yellowstone                                     Argyle-Apple Grove 
  Beginning balance: $13,630.66       Beginning Balance:   $14,209.09
                 Income:       $ 7,477.12                       Income:         $5,325.00
                 Expenses:     $7,008.22                      Expenses:      $4,875.17
        Ending Balance: $14,099.56            Ending Balance:    $14,658.92

 

A/APPLESTONE YOUTH    *Summer Retreat at Dan and Ann’s lake house, July 19-21: Some of you may remember a similar event we held years ago; it was a wonderful time filled with connection, spiritual growth, laughter and tons of fun together. We’ll have time for Bible studies and conversation and lots of time playing in the lake, fishing, boating, roasting marshmallows around the campfire, and more! We’ll have a sign-up in late June, but for now, save the date.

 

Pastor on vacation: Pastor Dan will be on vacation from June 22nd and returning on July 6th. In case of a pastoral emergency, please contact Pastor Chris Strohm (Blanchardville Parish) at 608-341-5032. 

 

Yellowstone Council Hi-Lites
*The new roads signs have been designed and will be set up soon. 
   *A six foot light-weight ramp will be purchased that can easily be put down to help people get up the step for communion or to go to the fellowship room. 
   * “Geek Power” came out to the church. They will bid on putting speakers in the basement, back room, fixing one speaker in the sanctuary and possibly putting in a new sound board. They will also find a sound system for us to use for our outdoor services.
*We will look at putting in a system to help those hard of hearing 
   *We will be putting in a smart key lock on the front of the church. The lock uses a code, so a key will no longer be needed. 
   *We will be getting bids to resurface the roof above the new fellowship room and also fix the leak by the steeple.
*The old stoves have been removed from the basement back room. 
   *Evangelism:    We will be asking members to put up lawn signs in August/September to promote our church. We will ask people to sign up if they are willing to put one up in their lawn. 
       *We talked about having a couple soup dinners prior to the Lenten services. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Argyle-Apple Grove Council Hi-lites
   *$3,500 will be taken out of the memorial account to help pay for the new clavinova at Argyle Lutheran. 
*$10,000 will be taken out of our reserve account and put into a CD.
   *Tim and Joann Rucker will paint the wall where the old shelves were and then put up the Defibrillator. They will also fix and repaint where the new electrical panel was added in the coat room.
*Diane and Marsha will work on cleaning out the attic space. 
*The Reading Academy is closing at the end of May.
   * A woman’s ministry group has begun – refer to the newsletter for  more information. 
   *Rita Stanton, Jim Hanson and Neale Tollakson will take care of the flowers around the church
   *This is Argyle Lutheran’s 150th anniversary. We will begin plans to have a Sunday to honor this great achievement. 
*Evangelism plans:
    *The rebuilding of Apple Grove is a wonderful time to invite and encourage people to come and be a part of the new church. We will look at ways to promote this. 
         *Pastor will meet with Diane Schlafli to begin a Facebook page
         *We will look at putting up posters in our communities with a  QR code on it that will take people to our website. 
         *Postcards were mailed out to people for Holy Week

 

Both Churches
   *A “Befriending” course has begun. The goal is that this will spark some new ministries in the church.
*Later this summer, there will be a book study on C.S. Lewis’ book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” 
   *The youth group will be having their first meeting in preparation for the National Youth Gathering in Minneapolis next summer. 
   *Pastor Dan will be taking a Hybrid Sabbatical in August. A Sabbatical is to help the pastor renew, work on his spiritual life and take a fresh look at his ministry. 
   *He will be gone during the week in August, but returning on Thursday night or Friday to prepare for the Sunday worship and deal with any specific visits that need to get done. 
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