Greetings

I don’t know why I make so much more noise moving through the leaves that the dog who leads me into the pile. If you don’t know that awesome sound that I’m talking about…step away from the monitor…go on now…make “the noise.” It is a vibrant sound, distinctive and full of motion. There is a depth to this sound and it is a fleeting sound that crashes on your ears and can only be repeated for a short time each year. Don’t miss it.

But the original question was why do I make so much more of this noise than the dogs? I would expect that the aggressive movement of the dogs in to the piles would make a big noise. They often thrust themselves nose first into the mountains of windblown leaves. Still I make more noise.

I would think it would be the four legged creatures that would cause the biggest rush and rustle, but no, for consistent volume you can’t beat a human walking in the fall. You see the dogs walk on top of the leaves. The ones holding the leashes get under the leaves and disturb the piles. You get more action when you dig in and move things. The longer your stride the higher the leaves fly. The more uumph you put into your kick, the more leaves get swept up.

So it is in our Christian lives. Real impact eludes us when we stay on the surface. Whether you have two legs or four the key is to dig in. The Spirit flourishes in those who are bold to step out. All around us we see piles of opportunities – golden as the leaves. As little children, we are called to jump into the piles and spread the leaves to every corner of the yard. And sure enough, we can count on fresh piles when a new day arrives.

We have been called to make big noises. We have been called to live with a flourish. We have been called to change the landscape around us and not just in the autumn. The winter is coming and then, snow shovel in hand, we will have new paths to clear. Get ready.

School News

With Thanksgiving comes the food drive! This year Walther students collected an average of 22 items each and delivered them to the food pantry at the Cosmopolitan Church on 9th Avenue in Melrose Park. This past weekend the pantry distributed food to 197 families and ran the cupboards bare. Our kids know that hunger is not only a tragedy on Thanksgiving and so they will continue their food drive.

Congratulations to the Walther Forensics Team for an excellent job done at the Lake Forest Forensics Festival on Saturday. Taniesha Prell received a 2nd place medal in the event of Wretched Interpretation, an experimental event that pokes fun at all the rules in other events. She also placed 6th in Radio Speaking. Benjamin Lamey and Chelsea Volk tied for 7th place in Prose Reading and Erica McLin placed 6th in Verse Reading. Way to go team!

The winter sports season is in full swing. You can track the Broncos at Walther.com. You will weekly game schedules on the home page. Player profiles and results will be in the athletic section.

Speaking of Walther.com...A grant from Thrivent will allow us to make some changes that will better represent the new direction of our Association. As we explore new ministries that extend God’s Kingdom we will be looking to make the most winning presentation of our message as possible. It would help us a lot if you dropped a note and told us what you like about Walther’s digital outreach through eNews and our web page.

Speaking of Walther’s new direction, we are happy to announce that the first Regional youth event sponsored by Walther was a great success. God was praised and relationships were both built and strengthened during our Girls Only “Sleep” Over. More than 50 girls took part, including young women from Walther, junior high students from thirteen area Lutheran schools and even some young ladies new to the Walther scene.

Speaking of area Lutheran grade schools, fifteen of them competed in the Grade School Girls’ Basketball Tournament at Walther this past weekend. Immanuel/Palatine took top honors in the large school division. Concord/St. Luke, a co-op team from the western suburbs, took the small school division.

Wow! We filled up the new Walther mini bus for the first time. The Price is WRONG (as opposed to “The Price is Right”) at $173.09. Please remember us as you make out your yearend giving budget.

Alumni News

Congrats to 2002 grad Bo Flowers and the University of Illinois football team. Bo and the boys will be headed to a New Year’s Day Bowl game after building a 9-3 record and defeating number one ranked Ohio State.

Speaking of the Grade School Girls’ Basketball Tournament…It is always good to see grads come back to school supporting their own children. We want these kids to be leaders in the next generation of the Walther Family. In the small school division Lisa Cox Hahn ’85 and Ken Schlotfeldt ’82 were the coaches of the Championship team. We hope to see their daughters Alexis and Elizabeth here next year.

Speaking of the next generation of leaders, congrats to Maggie Homeier, daughter of dad Steve ‘80, who had the third highest score recorded in our Grade School Social Studies Competition. Maggie is an 8th grade student at Immanuel Lutheran School. Elmhurst. John Bouman, son of Mark ‘74, recorded the top score of all 5th graders. John attends Grace Lutheran School in River Forest. Grace placed number one among the fifteen participating schools.

We are one in the spirit. The more we realize we are one in the Walther Family, across the years and the zip codes, the more our joy will be compounded. If you want to be one with this year’s baseball team you can order team wear, for practice or games by going to Walther.com.

Welcome home to Walther “Top Grad” Rev. Steve Bouman ‘65. The Reverend is currently serving as the Bishop of the Synod of Metro New York in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. His new position will be to direct the outreach efforts of the church whose International headquarters are in Chicago. (He’s also the uncle of the aforementioned top-scoring John B!

Drop us an enote and let us know where you are headed for the holidays. eNews serves best when it spreads the word on what is happening in the Walther Family.

God’s blessings

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