Rhubarb Custard Bars

June 11, 2018
Filed under Uncategorized

Yield: 3 dozen.

CRUST:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cold butter

FILLING:
2 cups sugar
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 large eggs, beaten
5 cups finely chopped fresh rhubarb (or frozen, thawed and drained)

TOPPING:
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

1. In a bowl, combine the flour and sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into a greased 13×9 inch pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, for filling, combine sugar and flour in a bowl. Whisk in cream and eggs. Stir in the rhubarb. Pour over crust. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until custard is set. Cool.

3. For topping, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth; fold in whipped cream. Spread over top. Cover and chill. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Pentecost 17

September 11, 2016
Filed under Uncategorized

Pentecost 17
September 11, 2016
Our Savior’s Lutheran, La Crosse

Luke 15:1-10

While studying in preparation for my sermon, I found a story that illustrates the point of our gospel reading:God appeared to a hardworking farmer and granted him three wishes.
There was a condition—the condition being that, whatever God did for the farmer would be given double to the farmer’s neighbor. (So, if the farmer asked for a new barn, the neighbor would get two…)
Well, the farmer wished for 100 head of cattle. Immediately, he received the cattle and he was overjoyed. Then he saw that his neighbor received 200 cattle…
The hardworking farmer wished for a hundred acres of land. He was filled with joy when he received 100 acres of land, until he saw that his neighbor received 200 acres…
The hardworking farmer was jealous. He felt a little bit slighted. He didn’t like what was happening. Rather than celebrating his own good fortune and his neighbor’s, he was upset.
The hardworking farmer told God his third wish: he wished God would strike him blind in one eye.
And God wept. (The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 9, p. 298).

The parables we heard today speak of God’s joy when what has been lost is found. The lost sheep was found. The lost coin was found. Like the shepherd who joyfully carried the found sheep on his shoulders, and like the searching woman who invited her friends in to celebrate because she found the coin she lost—God celebrates when any one of us who has been lost to sin, repents—turning toward God rather than away.

As wonderful as God’s joy is in these parables—
There is more to the story.
The parables are about us, and how we respond to God’s joy. The stories remind us of those times when we, like the Pharisees, have felt jealous, when we have resented the blessings others have received.

The way scripture readings get chopped up for Sunday readings, only reading a set of verses each week, allows us to forget the context of the stories we hear.

In chapter 14 of Luke, the chapter before today’s reading, Jesus was eating with a leader of the Pharisees. He was eating at the table of someone who had power, who had privilege in the world of the Jewish people.

One chapter later we find Jesus at table with outcasts—with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was with the powerless. Jesus was with those lacking privilege. Jesus was with tax collectors—men most people despised because many of them were cheats. Jesus was with “sinners.” In those days, “sinners” would have been anyone breaking moral laws—living the wrong way, and anyone whose lives did not meet Jewish purity standards. Perhaps a leper, perhaps someone who touched a leper, perhaps a woman menstruating, perhaps a Samaritan who didn’t keep Jewish law…

In our day and age, who do we despise? In our day and age, who lacks privilege? A person recently released from prison? Someone who practices the Muslim faith? A single mother living in poverty who is pregnant? Someone on welfare who smokes?

In our day and age, who do we resent? Is it the LGBTQ community that rallies around a many-colored flag? Is it an African American person who believes Black Lives Matter? Is it a Native American protesting the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota?

Someone might think:
How dare Jesus gather with one of these—or should I say, one of “those?” How dare they be the recipients of God’s blessings?

I’m not trying to push any buttons this morning—I’m trying to be true to the gospel story we have at hand, a story that clearly calls us to celebrate with those most unlike us—to celebrate the blessings they receive from God, even when it appears to us like they are getting more attention, more blessing, more joy.

Like the Pharisees, anyone of us might think anyone of them deserves a little less attention, a little less praise, a little less joy. We would be wrong. We would be wrong, according to Jesus, because they are the ones Jesus chose to gather with, to celebrate with, because they—the lost in society—are always sought out by Jesus and found, and celebrated.

A scholar wrote that these parables “expose the roots of bitterness that dig their way into us whenever we feel that God is too good to others and not good enough to us” (IDB, vol. 9, p. 298).

God’s love is good enough for us all. God weeps when God sees us guided by bitterness and not by love. God weeps when God sees us guided by resentment and not by love. God weeps when God sees walls dividing us that we built— not God, because God loves us all.

When we are lost God searches each one of us out, even if what we are lost to is the sin of our own jealousies or dislikes.

God loves us all. God frees us all. And God calls us to love one another.

Amen.

Fashion Cornucopia on November 3rd

October 10, 2012
Filed under Uncategorized

Plan now on attending the fabulous Women’s Clothes Closet fashion show fundraiser entitled “Fashion Cornucopia” taking place on Saturday November 3rd, 2012 right here at OSLC!

There will be two shows with the doors opening at 11:00 am and 5:00 pm for the luncheon and dinner shows respectively. Tickets are available at the church office for a minimal cost of $30 (or a table of eight for $200, which is $25 per person). The shows will feature fall and winter women fashions from local area businesses including Dale’s, Kick, Lillian’s, Three River Outdoors, Touch of Class, Moonglow, Jobaflat and Scott Joseph Menswear.

Also, a “What to Buy Your Man” segment has been continued for this year. An exquisite meal will be provided by our own CFS Team. Live music will be featured by Josh & Kim Shively and Company and the WCC will be open for tours the day of the show.

A table outside the fellowship hall will be set up every Sunday to buy your tickets. Tickets are going fast, so be sure to get your ticket as soon as possible!

For more information, view the Fashion Cornucopia Flyer.

May 2012 Book Club Selection: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

May 11, 2012
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All are welcome to join in reading Unbroken, the amazing life story of Louie Zampereni. From the 1936 Olympics to WWII Japan’s most brutal POW camps, author Laura Hillenbrand’s heart-wrenching book is a pageturner. Louie is a disciplined champion racer who ran in the Berlin Olympics, he’s a wit, a prankster, and a reformed juvenile delinquent who put his thieving skills to good use in the POW camps.

Our discussion will be held on Thursday, May 24th at 6:30 in the Fireside Room and we hope to see you there!

New Horizons Spaghetti Supper Fundraiser on May 5th

May 1, 2012
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A benefit for New Horizons Shelter and Outreach Center will be held on Saturday, May 5th, 2012 at VFW Post 1530 in La Crosse (630 S. 6th Street). The cost is $8.00 and includes spaghetti and meatballs, fresh garden salad, dessert, and coffee. This event is sponsored by the Korean War Veterans Association and New Horizons. Meals will be served from 5‐7 p.m. All are welcome!

Donations Needed For Palm Sunday Breakfast

March 2, 2012
Filed under Uncategorized

Orange juice, syrup, butter, milk, eggs, chocolate milk, monetary donations for egg bake and sausages are just a few of the needed items. If you are interested in donating some much needed supplies, please stop by the sign-up sheets in the Welcome Center.

Please have all donations to the church by Wednesday, March 28th. There will be a labeled “Youth Breakfast” box in the refrigerator and on the counter in the kitchen for donations.

Contact Jessica Zinniel to volunteer to help, donate needed supplies or for more information. Thank you for supporting our youth!

March Book Club Selection: Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

March 2, 2012
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“Moving seamlessly from psychological drama to courtroom suspense, Plain Truth is a fascinating portrait of Amish life rarely witnessed by those outside the faith.” Read more at the author’s website!

We will plan to meet for our discussion on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. Please see or call Sandra Hansen for details.

November Book Club Selection: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

October 15, 2011
Filed under Book Club, Uncategorized

Our book for November will be Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman. In Hoffman’s charming debut, Cecelia Rose (CeeCee) Honeycutt tells the story of her tragic life and the strong women who stepped in to save her. At age 12, CeeCee realizes her mother, flouncing around Willoughby, OH, in prom dresses and matching shoes, is crazy and the town’s laughingstock. Her father is never home, and nothing is going to change so CeeCee buries herself in books as an escape. But her true liberation comes after her mother’s tragic death when great-aunt Tootie sweeps CeeCee off to Savannah. There, a group of powerful, independent women offer the young girl love, laughter, and a new chance at life. Readers who enjoy strong female characters will appreciate CeeCee, a survivor despite her heartbreaking childhood, and Aunt Tootie and her friends, all of them steel magnolias…(From Library Journal)

Please see or call Sandra Hansen with any questions!

World Community Day at Our Savior’s on Nov. 4th

October 14, 2011
Filed under Uncategorized

Church Women United invites all women to attend the annual World Community Day at Our Saviors Lutheran Church. World Community Day relates the goals from Micah of justice and mercy to Jesus’ demand that we re-examine our own hypocrisy. Only then can action be unlocked. Past actions will inspire the women of today towards future action. We are invited to examine our approach to “unlocking action” in our communities.

Come join us on Friday, November 4th at 9:30 am. For only $5.00, you will be served a delicious meal from the superb “cooks” of OSLC; followed by a meaningful presentation on “Living Our Faith, Unlocking Action”. Reservations are appreciated so either call Esther Harman, Nancy Winberg or the church office. Bring a friend or two; we hope to see you there!

Boy Scout Meatball Supper on October 22nd

October 1, 2011
Filed under Uncategorized

Boy Scout Troop 13 will have its 31st Annual Meatball Supper on October 22nd. Serving will be 3:00 to 7:00 and it will be served family style with the boys from Troop 13 as your waiters. Cost is $8.50 and tickets will go on sale October 9th during coffee fellowship. If you have any questions please call Rich Pitz.

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