Care & Healing

Mission Statement of Jehovah Lutheran Church

A community of joy – gathered around word and sacrament - celebrating, learning & sharing the love of God in Christ Jesus!

Care and Healing: Sharing the love of God in Christ Jesus!

Health Notes

March

March is National Nutrition month as well as the observance of Lent.

Lent is a time for reflection on our lives, and as we prepare our hearts for Easter, it is a good time to reflect on how we care for our bodies. Food is essential to sustain life and what we eat directly affects our quality of life.

Research has shown that eating the Mediterranean Diet lowers the risk of both heart disease and cancer. The main components of the Mediterranean diet are:

Generous portions of fruits and vegetables
Healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil
Eating small portions of nuts
Drinking red wine, in moderation, for some
Eating very little red meat
Eating fish on a regular basis

The USDA recommends that we eat 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. For example, add fruit and nuts to your cereal and carrots and celery to your spaghetti sauce or chili. Green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, bok choy and mustard greens are all high in iron, calcium, potassium, vitamins A, K & C and folic acid. Include different colors for a variety of vitamins and minerals. Eat whole grain bread and cereal and avoid prepared foods made with white flour, sugar and hydrogenated fats. Limit sweet and salty snacks and carbonated beverages, which contribute to weight gain without providing nutrients. Try a handful of nuts instead of chips for snacking.

God has graciously provided food to nourish our bodies, and invites us to share our food with others. Jehovah Lutheran Church is coordinating with the BoyScouts to gather food for the Keystone Foodshare Center.

If you have questions, call Lydia Volz @ 651-644-7241

Lydia Volz, Care Team Leader
In partnership with Lyngblomsten

February

In February, many of us observe Valentines Day. It is also American Heart month and a good time to review how we care for our hearts.

Heart disease continues to be the primary cause of death for both women and men. Risk factors for women are estrogen depletion, elevated blood triglyceride levels and being under evaluated. For both men and women, the risk factors are age, smoking, overweight, high blood pressure, inactivity and family history of heart disease. A higher risk is also associated with diabetes.

Some risk factors can be reduced by:

increasing our level of physical activity to a total of 30 minutes a day,
reducing our intake of processed foods, which are often high in fat, sugar and salt and
increasing our intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Keep stress at a manageable level and do Not smoke. Monitor your blood pressure regularly and follow your doctor’s recommendations for treatment along with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

To learn about the symptoms of heart attack and specific information on heart disease, access the following websites: www.nhlbi.nih.gov and www.women.americanheart.org

The Bible reminds us, “…A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit” Proverbs 15:13

If you have questions, call Lydia Volz @ 651-644-7241

Lydia Volz, Care Team Leader
In partnership with Lyngblomsten

Lyngblomsten Care Team Partnership

Jehovah’s Care Team offers the gifts of friendship and faith to homebound and others needing a visit, help shopping, a bit of cheer or a caring touch. Sometimes members bring communion to the shut-ins. The Care Team meets quarterly under the direction of Lydia Volz, and meetings include topics helpful in care ministry, often presented by the partnering Lyngblomsten representative. In 2008 nine Jehovah Care Team members visited 21 homebound members and served a total of 545 hours. Learn more about Care Teams at www.lyngblomsten.org. Jehovah Lutheran Church is a corporate congregation of Lyngblomsten with three delegates to the board.

To learn more about receiving services from Jehovah Lutheran's Care Team Ministry or about becoming a Care Team Ministry volunteer, please contact: (651-644-7241)

PRAYER TEAM MINISTRY

The Telephone prayer chain is a group of intercessors(praying for others) with prayer requests that have been phoned to the prayer chain coordinator who then passes the prayer request along the chain. If you have a prayer request or would like to be a pray-er, contact Iris Raths at 651-645-1057.

Human Care Committee: Love in Action

The Human Care Committee facilitates events throughout the year which help people in need in the church, the neighborhood and the world.

Two projects continue throughout the year – namely gathering of food shelf gifts and taking a meal every third Monday of the month to Rezek House, center for homeless youth. The food shelf donations of food and money are given alternately to Keystone Community food shelf on University Avenue and to Concordia University food shelf on Marshall Avenue. (See Neighborhood page for details and links.)

Other Human Care projects are seasonal and have included a February “Caring Hearts for Homeless People” ingathering of toiletry items for homeless as well as Oct/Nov offerings to alleviate world hunger. Recent world hunger projects were “Greenhouses in North Korea at Tuberculosis Hospitals” in 2008, a “Joy to the World” gaggle of animals sent to families overseas through Heifer, International 2009, and most recently in the spring of 2010 the congregation responded generously to a “Helping Haiti” offering, sending funds to Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and preparing Health Kits for LWR’s distribution to the homeless in Haiti and elsewhere.

Each Christmas the congregation sponsors families or homeless youth through Lutheran Social Services by buying requested gifts and food cards for their joy at Christmas. The congregation also takes part in the Spirit of Giving Christmas program at Lyngblomsten Care Center, helping to provide small gifts for residents there.

In May the Human Care Committee plans the “Celebrating Jehovah Seniors” event on the first Sunday of May to honor those in our fellowship who are 80 years or older. The seniors are remembered during worship in prayer and song followed by a noon luncheon.