Hello. I’m JoAnn Fabie, the Interim pastor. An interim is a pastor who serves in the interim, that is, the time between one pastor leaving and another being called. I was here before, in 1994 between Pastor Kathy Grunewald (nee and now Franzenburg) and Pastor Paul Markquart. But I’m older and not quite as new at this as I was then and you have added new members and lost some dear ones as well so - we begin again in between time.
My husband, John, and I live in Waunakee. We will have been married 49 years at the end of this year. He didn’t marry a pastor and I had hopes he would become one. Funny how God works. Really strange. We have three grown children, along with two son-in-law’s and a daughter-in-law and six of the most wonderful, brightest, most beautiful grandchildren in the whole world. Just ask me, I’ll tell you all about them.

I have served interims at Norway Grove, then Trinity, Lake Mills; Grace, Cambridge; Immanuel, Mt Horeb; Redeemer, Rio; as well as calls to Rockdale Lutheran, in Cambridge and Peace Lutheran, in Waunakee.

I was ordained at Trinity Lutheran, Madison on Epiphany, January 6, 1995. The weather was wicked and I didn’t expect anyone but the necessary participants. I thought “If I didn’t have to be there I wouldn’t go.”  It was a glorious night. Honestly - Angels were there, people from Norway Grove and Trinity and all around.I’ve had the humbling privilege of being a pastor in the Lutheran Church, ELCA for soon to be 16 years. It never gets old but we do. I am so very grateful for the presence of Dr. and Mrs. Durwood Buchheim (aka Bud and Dona) But they are also dear friends, seminary professor and listening ear at the Wartburg BookStore while I was the student there. Their talents are deeply valued.

I’m not a pure Norwegian and I’m not a Wisconsin native. I’m not even a born and bred Lutheran but like you, I am, by the Grace of God through the love of Christ sustained by the Holy Spirit and set out to be here, your pastor in the between time.

In, with, under and through the Peace of Christ,
Pastor JoAnn

Dear Companions in Christ,Church language is really weird. We don’t use ordinary “church” words in our ordinary life. ”Justification” might be used in a court room or in legal matters but the meaning is a lot more involved when we use it to describe what Jesus Christ has done. And who ever says “Sanctification”? Nobody I know of, outside of a seminary classroom or catechism class. We don’t even say “Sin” except if we are praying the contemporary version of the Lord’s Prayer but that’s in church or meeting together doing church stuff, common usage is, “mistakes were made.”  Ho hum.But, quite enough of this. My point is that November 28^th is the first Sunday in Advent. (There’s another one of those weird church words. Who uses “Advent” in normal conversation? Well, Advent isn’t “normal.”) Advent is the time for anticipation, breath-holding, non-blinking, get-readiness. The word comes from the Latin word Adventus which means “coming.” Someone -Something- Some Wonder is coming and we don’t want to miss out. We want to be ready. Ready to “Walk in Jerusalem, just like John,” ready to “Fly Away”, ready for the wolf to lie down with the lamb, ready to find our enemies, our dearest friends. Ready for the Peace of the presence of Christ, God With Us, … Ready for Christ’s Mass.
And so we live in this “all ready-not yet” world, fully aware that what we do in “church” may not be understood or even desired by the world in which we work and live. But this is the most important work we can do. We are learning to run a three legged race in partnership with God who keeps us and the world and all that is.So we watch and wait and wonder again when visited by grace and peace. We watch and wait and ponder our path. As Paul writes in Romans chapter, 6; “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! [AWK! How could you even think such a thing!]  How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?  Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ comes…. You don’t want to miss Him!

Love,
Pastor JoAnn

Musical Greetings, Friends!While most of the world is celebrating Christmas already, we are moving into the season of Advent, four weeks of preparation and anticipation. We are waiting not only for our celebration of Christ’s birth, but also for his second coming.  In the early days Christians considered Advent a somber time of penitence and fasting, the way many believers observe the Lenten season now. Today, Advent is characterized by themes of watchfulness, preparation, yearning, and expectation. We will emphasize HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE this Advent season, and we’ve planned music that supports each of these themes. Our music department is hard at work preparing for several upcoming musical performances throughout the holiday season. Just before Advent approaches, Norway Grove is participating in the DeForest Area Ecumenical Thanksgiving service on Nov. 24^th at 7:30.  Several choir members are attending choir rehearsals for the ecumenical choir on Tuesday evenings and we are thrilled to be performing with choir members from St. Olaf, Windsor United Church of Christ, and Christ Lutheran during this service.  Elaine and I are serving as accompanists for this performance. On December 5^th, Norway Grove invites you to take part in a “Hanging of the Greens” Service at 5:00 p.m. The custom of decorating churches and homes with evergreens at Christmas time began in ancient times. Enjoy the beautiful music of Christmas and the timeless message of Jesus’ birth as we decorate our church together with traditional decorations and hear the stories of their origins. A soup supper hosted by the Worship & Music Committee will follow. This is a service you will enjoy taking part in!The children will be performing “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at 9:00 on Sunday, December 12^th. The Peanuts gang is trying to put on the best ever Christmas pageant, with the best costumes, music and decorations. However, they keep running into problems as they disagree on just about everything. In the midst of this, Charlie Brown is having a hard time seeing how any of this has anything to do with Christmas. He talks about the commercialism and wonders if he is the only one who sees all of this as a problem. Then, in an effort to recapture the Christmas story, Linus recites the Gospel from Luke. He does so proudly, solemnly and with simplicity to help people remember the true meaning of Christmas. It is the turning point for all as they begin to realize that they had lost sight of what the story was really about. On Sunday, December 19^th, the chancel choir will be performing, “The Birth of a King” at the 9:00 service. This is a 13-minute musical drama that provides the perfect alternative to a full Christmas cantata using inspired, scripture-based narratives and four songs that set the mood for prayerful anticipation of Christ’s birth, to move tenderly toward the manger scene and dramatically conclude with “O Come, All Ye Faithful”.Students of all ages are invited to sign up to play preludes and offertories throughout December. I am sure several of you are hard at work on Christmas pieces and we would love to hear your performances! You can catch me at church to schedule your performance.

Jill Buchheim, Music Director

In celebration of the 60^th Anniversary Year of Norway Grove Memorial, you can purchase  a brick for only $60 per brick - through December 2010 only.(Don’t put off any longer … the price goes back up in January!)

These bricks can commemorate anything you wish – and are available for everyone to purchase. Personalize a brick as a memorial to a loved one, or to honor a birthday or an anniversary. Brick Personalization Forms are available at the usher’s table at church.

Norway Grove’s 60th Anniversary Concert is available on CD. You can play it in your CD player or copy it to your computer. The 2-cd set is available free to anyone who wants a copy. Just ask Rick Johnson or let Laura in the church office know. Donations are also   welcome, if you’d like. Please designate them to Technology, as we are hoping to make some improvements to the Computer Memory and Hard Drive.

 The new “Love” banner for Advent is completed and ready to use with the rest of the Advent banners. THANKS go out to Jan Homuth and Carol Potter for making this!