December 2021

Monthly Messenger
Saron Lutheran Church

From the Pastor’s Desk Events in December

Advent is probably my favorite season of the liturgical 12/1 Holden Service and Soup Supper
year. The beautiful blue paraments in the sanctuary remind 12/8 Holden Service and Soup Supper
me of the beauty of the cosmos that God has created, the 12/12 Commitment Sunday
hymns remind us of the promise of the coming savior, and 12/12 Bible Study
the familiar symbols and rhythms remind me that no matter 12/15 Holden Service and Soup Supper
what the year has brought, Christmas will indeed come 12/16 Council Meeting
again. 12/22 Holden Service and Soup Supper
12/24 Christmas Eve
Each year, during the four weeks of the Advent Season we 12/25 Christmas Day
have the opportunity to reflect on themes of HOPE, LOVE, 12/27-31 Office Closed
JOY, and PEACE. In worship we HOPE together for the
coming of the kingdom. Through jubilant gatherings of Mark your Calendars
friends and family we share LOVE. We feel JOY when we
engage in beloved Christmas traditions. We feel PEACE as 1/1 New Years Day
we reflect on the many ways that God has blessed us in the 1/6 Epiphany
past year. 1/17 Martin Luther King Day
(Office Closed)
This season feels “pregnant” with opportunity. As I am 1/23 Annual Meeting & Breakfast
learning through my own pregnancy journey, it’s not
always a pleasant experience; it can be full of aches, Join us for Worship!
changes, preparation, and uncertainty. However, as we join
Mary in her wait for the birth of her child as the world waits Sundays at 9:30 am
for the birth of Jesus, we can anticipate that there is indeed In the Sanctuary or
something good coming! on the Saron Lutheran Church
Facebook page
May your lives be filled with For those attending in person, face masks and
HOPE, LOVE, JOY, and social distancing are strongly recommended
PEACE in this season as we to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
all prepare for the coming of Bulletins are sent via email every Friday.
Christmas!

In Love and Peace,

Pastor Callie Torres Saron Staff
Rev. Callie Torres, Pastor
Louise Spurgeon, Secretary

Office Hours
Saron Lutheran Church Monday through Friday
1742 North Street, Escalon, CA 95320 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
saronlutheranescalon.org
209-838-7695 | saronlutheran@att.net
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Saron Celebrates 112 Years of
Ministry
November 15th is a special day in our church’s
history. November 15, 1909 was the day that we
became Evangelical Lutheran Saron Church. This
year we celebrate our 112th anniversary.
Around the beginning of the 1900’s Swedish
families began to settle in the Escalon area. Many
came from the Midwest from states including
Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota. These
immigrant swedes brought with them their
language, traditions, and faith to their new home in
Escalon. They began to meet together to pray and
share the word of God. Services were held in the
home of Nels and Bengta Bjornson on McHenry
Avenue, where the Escalon Community Ambulance
is located today. Services were conducted in
Swedish (into the early 1930’s). It is said that
Bengta had a pump organ which was used for hymn
singing and she always served the children cookies
after church. They continued to meet at the
Bjornson home until our church building was
finished 4 years later.
President’s Message
Dear Saron Family,
At this holy and sacred time of year, I would like to
wish you a Christmas full of peace and joy.
As I reflect upon this past year, though we
continued to deal with pandemic restrictions, we
have accomplished so much. We have proven to be,
with God’s help, incredibly adaptable, flexible and
resilient. We have managed to stay connected and
continue our ministry. God is good! We have a
bright future awaiting!
May you be filled with happiness as we celebrate
the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
The California Conference president, Dr. Phillip
Andreen, was asked to meet with us to “inspect the
field.” On November 15, 1909 a meeting was held
at the Bjornson home and it was decided to form a
congregation. So the “Swedish Church” became the
Evangelical Lutheran Saron Church that we call
“Saron.” We were the 12th congregation in the
California Conference.
We give thanks for the 20 faithful people who
signed the charter roll 112 years ago:
 Charles M. Carlson & Esther Victoria Carlson
 John Bengston & Martha Bengston
 Fred C. Homsten & Julia Marie Holmsten
 Nels Petter Nelson & Anna Albertina Nelson
(Wally Nelson’s aunt)
 Malcom Gustafson
 Nels Bjornson & Bengta Bjornson
 David Magnuson & Helma Magnuson (led
services rom 1909-1912)
 Ole A. Twedt, Sara Twedt, Amund Ole Twedt
 Otto Peterson & Anna Peterson (grandparents of
Ruth Cohagan and Jackie Johnson)
 John Olaf Bengston
 Nelly Miller
Saron is the 2nd oldest congregation in Escalon.
The Methodists were established in 1893, 16 years
before us, and the Presbyterians came 4 years after s
in 1913.
Submitted by,
Rosemary Schulz
Blessings,
Lisa Alessi
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Message from Ann
THANK YOU!
Please accept my sincere appreciation for the
retirement party that was planned for me and the
wonderful food, gifts and good time that we shared
together.
I want to say a special thank you to Lisa, Pastor
Victor, Pastor Callie and Karin for the song that
they sang. You make a great choir.
It has been my pleasure and joy to serve as your
Secretary. I am especially grateful that I have had
the privilege of working with Pastor Victor, Pastor
Sheri, Pastor David and Pastor Callie and that I
have had so many wonderful years of fellowship
with the entire congregation.
I look forward to continuing to worship and
participate as a member of Saron.
Have a beautiful holiday and again, thank you!
Ann Shaddix
Holden Evening Services and Soup
Suppers - Wednesdays
Holden Evening Services and Soup Suppers are a
Saron Advent tradition! Please join us for beautiful
services of song, scripture and prayer on December
1, December 8, December 15, and December 22.
Supper will begin at 6:00 pm in Fellowship Hall
and the service will begin at 7:00 pm in the
Sanctuary. Volunteers are needed for suppers! If
you are interested in signing up to bring soup,
bread, or a dessert please contact the office or sign
up on the sheet hanging on the bulletin board in the
Fellowship Hall.
Christmas Eve at Saron
Christmas Eve worship with a candlelight sending
will be at 5:00 pm on Friday, December 24th! You
and your family and friends are welcome to come
and celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus. “O
come let us adore him!”
Lessons and Carols - December 26th
On Sunday, December 26th, you are invited to
come to a service of Lessons and Carols for worship
at 9:30 am. This lay-led service includes nine
readings and hymns that tell the story of the fall of
humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth
of Jesus. If you are interested in reading one or
more of the lessons for that service, please contact
the office or speak with Pastor Callie.
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 Women’s Breakfast - December 4th
Mark your calendar for a special Christmas
Women’s Breakfast on Saturday, December 4th at
8:30 am at Mimi’s Cafe in Modesto. Please let us
know at the church office or call Delores or Ann as
we will need to let the restaurant know how many to
expect.

Bible Study - December 12th

The next Bible Study meeting will be after worship
on December 12th beginning around 10:30 am. We
will be continuing our study of the book of Esther.
Bring your questions, your ideas, your perspectives,
and, most importantly, yourselves as we continue to
learn about the life of this Biblical heroine. W e plan
to continue meeting on the second Sunday of every
month. All are welcome!

Women’s Prayer Meeting -

December 8th
Incredible things happen when women get together
to pray for one another, for the church, and the
world! Join for an opportunity to talk about the
power of prayer, share prayer requests, and pray
together. The next prayer meeting is scheduled for
December 8th at noon. W e plan to continue meeting
on the second Wednesday of every month.

Choir Rehearsals
All are invited to come to choir practice Sunday
mornings at 8:45 am. The ability to read music is
not required to participate. Hope to see you there! If
you have any questions please contact Karin or
December C.A.R.E. Donations Pastor Callie.
This month, Community Action Resources of
Escalon (C.A.R.E.) is collecting maple syrup and
pancake syrup of all kinds to support those in need
in our community. There is nothing quite as
comforting as a warm stack of pancakes with syrup
on a cold winter day. Other non-perishable food
items (cooking oils, seasonings, pasta, rice, canned
goods, etc.) will joyfully be accepted as well. If you
would like to make a financial donation please
make your check payable to Saron and write
“C.A.R.E.” in the memo line or put a cash donation
in an envelope marked with “C.A.R.E.”
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Commitment Sunday
Please bring your commitment forms to worship on
December 12th for Commitment Sunday. For those
that will not be in worship that Sunday, please
submit your forms to the office before that date. If
you did not get a pledge card in the mail, please
pick one up on Sunday morning at worship or
contact the church office.
Offering Envelopes
2022 offering envelopes have arrived! They will be
made available to everyone later this month once all
of the envelope numbers have been assigned for the
new year.
Directory Update
The office is working on putting together an
updated directory for 2022. If you would like to
update your address, phone number, email address,
or birthday for the new directory, please let the
office know.
Pastor Callie Vacation
Pastor Callie will be on vacation from December 25
through January 2nd. If you have any questions
please call the office or Louise, our secretary, on
her cell phone. For pastoral emergencies, please feel
free to contact Pastor Callie on her cell phone.
KKM Thank You
Witness and Service would like to extend a big
thank you to all who supported this year’s Kris
Kringle! Thanks to your generosity we are able to
send $500 in food vouchers to the needy, $500 to
Lutheran Disaster Relief which supports California
fire victims, $500 to Lutheran Social Services,
which among other things, supports the homeless,
and at least $6,500 to Thankoffering to support our
own church!
This was a year long event which included many
events. Our mosaic group led by Chris Holck
worked tirelessly from spring to fall. This was
followed by our participation in the citywide yard
sale. Then we pivoted to a holiday succulent
pumpkin production which included Chrissy,
Jenlane, Karen, Alex, Jerry, and some non member
friends who generously donated their time. For the
actual Kris Kringle we would like to thank all who
donated items to sell, especially Julie Rose, who
made the beautiful quilt for our raffle and brought
several other items. Our appreciation to Jenni
Spears, Julie Zamora, Sylvia McGowan and Pastor
Callie for being our cashiers. A huge thank you to
our small but mighty team of Chrissy, Crystal,
Karen, Laurence, Jenlane, Joe, and Pastor Callie
who did all the set up and take down this year.
Finally, thank you to Alex and Karen and their
Bank Ladies for supporting us at a small off site
sale which generated approximately $700 after our
actual Kris Kringle sale.
Blessings to all,
Becky, Jenlane, and Karen
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Livestreaming Worship on Facebook
Greetings to everyone! We are still Livestreaming all of our worship services on Facebook and thought it would
be a good idea to share how to log on and worship with us, even when you can’t make it to worship in person.

There are a couple of different sets of instructions, so please read the sections that apply to you. If you do not
have a Facebook account, you will not be able to get the notifications of when we go live on Facebook with live
videos. If you miss a live video, you can always watch the service later on the church’s Facebook page or on
our YouTube channel “Saron Lutheran Church Escalon.”

TO GET ONTO FACEBOOK LIVE WITHOUT AN ACCOUNT

1. Go to google.com
2. In the search bar type in Saron Lutheran Church Escalon CA
3. Click on “Saron Lutheran Church - Home | Facebook” (it will be the second link available)
4. Click to the right side of the screen and start scrolling down. The video will pop up as a rectangular screen
5. It will ask you to log in or create an account, just click on “Not Now” just below that
6. You may need to scroll slowly down the page, but you will see LIVE in a small red box in the top left
corner of a video, meaning you will be watching it live
7. You can click on any of the videos that are not live to watch at any time
8. You are invited to create an account and follow our page to keep up with livestream worship,
announcements, and other posts!

INSTRUCTIONS TO GET TO OUR LIVE VIDEOS IF YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT

1. Go to facebook.com and log-in to your account
2. On a tablet or smartphone, click on the magnifying glass/search button at top right hand corner and type
“Saron Lutheran Church Escalon CA”
3. On a computer or laptop, type “Saron Lutheran Church Escalon CA” in the search bar on the top right of
your screen
4. Click on the account that shows a photo of the front of our church and you will be directed to our Facebook
page
5. If you want, you can push the thumbs up/like button to follow our page and receive notifications of our live
videos at the time we are filming the service, as well as updates and announcements the church may have
posted
6. You may need to scroll down a little ways down the page, but do this slowly as I have tried to go too fast
and just past what I needed. The live video will be down shortly below all the information of the church
with our address, phone number and other contact information

If you are having trouble with the video it may help to close any other applications, programs, or tabs that are
open on your device to help with streaming.

We hope these instructions are helpful for everyone. Again, if any of you have questions on how to get onto
Facebook or have any feedback please do not hesitate to contact the office, Krista, or Pastor Callie. We all want
to help you stay connected!

God bless to all of you, and we hope you all enjoy the videos!

The Church Office will be closed December 27th - December 31st

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas with friends and family!

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We are a congregation called to faithfully follow Jesus Christ by sharing the inclusive love of
God with our neighbor using our gifts joyfully in worship and service.

Together we use our gifts to move into God’s future inviting all we encounter with the hope
of the Gospel

December Birthdays Saron Lutheran Church Council

02 Josef Peters Lisa Alessi, President
03 Tony Adametz Louise Spurgeon, Vice-President
03 Lori Armstrong Becky Emery, Secretary
05 Sarah White Dave Strand, Treasurer
06 Bobo Gonzales Krista Adametz
06 Chris Holck Laurence Peters
07 Kathy Pendleton Gary Thomasser
10 Doreen Bookwalter
16 Steve Pearson
19 Grace Olson January Messenger Deadline
21 Suzanne Tengelsen If you have any news or announcements that you
22 Jackie Johnson would like included in next month’s messenger
28 Trevor Thomasser please submit it to saronlutheran@att.net by
Monday, December 20th.

Find Us On
Facebook
Search for
@SaronLutheranEscalon
and look for the photo of
our church. Follow for
Sunday worship, news from our church, and more!

Contact Pastor Callie

If you have any questions, suggestions, or prayer
concerns please feel free to contact Pastor Callie at Saron Lutheran Church is part of the
pastorcallie.saron@gmail.com or 209-425-3390. Evangelical Lutheran Church
(text/call). She is eager to hear from you! in America