13 Jan Friends of St Paul Newsletter – Jan 2023
Introduction
Happy New Year to all friends of St. Paul. May you have the gift of faith, the blessing of hope, and the peace of His love always!
“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint..” – Isaiah 40:31
Reminiscing on St. Paul – Rich Mahler
For most everyone who attended St. Paul from 1980 to 2013, you know Rich Mahler – the husky voiced, relatable, caring, 7th grade homeroom teacher with a large presence. He has described his path to becoming a Lutheran educator as one guided by God.
Born in Illinois to parents who met at a Lutheran dance, Mahler’s parents farmed land in central Illinois for a doctor that his mother nannied for. When Mahler’s grandparents were ready to stop farming in Nebraska, his parents bought the land and farmed it themselves.
Mahler moved to Nebraska in 1961 and gravitated to vocational education in high school. After graduating, he considered attending the University of Nebraska, but changed his mind because of the size of the school and because of the draft going on for the Vietnam war. Simply due to proximity, he instead chose to attend Concordia Seward, only 35 miles from his family home, and received a religious exemption from the draft.
“If my mom hadn’t worked for that doctor and my dad farmed his land, we may never have considered moving to Nebraska,” Mahler said. “If there wasn’t the Vietnam conflict, I might have attended and got lost at Nebraska and I would not have attended Seward. God works in mysterious ways.”
Rich’s First Call
He received his first call in 1969 at Zion Lutheran in Detroit to teach 5th/6th grades, coached and be the youth leader. The principal at the time was Gary Priskorn, a native Detroiter teaching 7th/8th grade who became a long-time friend to Mahler and his family to this day. He said he learned more from those children, their families and Gary, than he ever could have taught them that first year. He stayed at Zion for 3 years.
Next, Mahler was called to Redeemer in Flint. He taught 5th/6th grades, coached and worked with Rev. John Stein and what he described as an extremely gifted faculty.
He earned his Masters degree from Wayne State in Adolescent Psychology while serving at Redeemer. At Wayne State, Mahler heard many stories of the issues and frustrations many of his classmates were having being teachers in the Detroit School District, and said it gave him the perspective that the things he thought were challenging in Lutheran Schools seemed minor.
Mahler was at Redeemer for 10 years, during which he met, sang in the choir with, and married his wife, Jan. They are celebrating 46 years of marriage on December 28th this year.
The Call to St. Paul
In 1980, Mahler received the call to St. Paul to teach 7th grade homeroom, 5th-8th grade reading and literature and School of Religion.
Rich and Jan’s first year at St. Paul was not without hardships. They had moved to St. Paul just two weeks after the birth of their oldest child, Jared. Then, Jan’s father passed away in January of 1981. They both recounted how Rev. Ronald Guettler visited them in their home that night and ministered to them.
“It was one of those visits that you never forget from that man,” he said. “It was special.”
Mahler recounted how he was positively influenced by Ron Koch (the principal at the time), Bruce Kischnick (who also started in 1980 at St. Paul, teaching 6th grade and science) and Eric Pittman (8th grade teacher).
Eventually, his responsibilities grew to where he was working with Sunday School, Adult Bible Class on Wednesdays, Men’s Saturday Breakfast/Bible Study and VBS.
Mahler shared many anecdotes about teaching methods, his growth as an educator, challenging students and gifted classes, and memorable experiences from Outdoor Education, Confirmation Retreats and “mini classes” (where kids would go to a business or office and see how real-world work happens).
One memory that stood out was in Mahler’s history class, he split the class into two teams to answer questions. When questions were answered correctly, the kids would throw paper airplanes across the room, trying to get them to go through the opposing teams’ hanging hoops. The other team could disperse “anti-aircraft” projectiles (aka paper-wods) to defend. If an airplane got through a hoop, it was an extra credit point for that team.
“The kids really learned and they really had fun,” Mahler said, and noted any normal person walking by his classroom who saw the airplanes and paper would think they were going crazy.
It took time, other teachers’ input, classes at Wayne, prayer, trial, and error, and the Lord’s direction to help him become the personable and engaging teacher many students at St. Paul recall.
“I was fortunate not to have screwed up too many kids along the way,” Mahler said jokingly. “…St. Paul became our whole church. Not only for worship but it was the center of our lives. It became our home, not just a place of work. Our children were both baptized there, confirmed there, educated there, one of them was married there. It was our spiritual home, the center of many of our activities. Our friendships were there; our family grew up there. It was a place that we contributed to its ministry and a place that we received ministry from. We love St. Paul.”
With Mahler’s many years of experience teaching junior high, he reinforced the need for those kids to have someone they could truly talk to who would listen. He was inspired by a fellow teacher, Valerie Winston, who he said older kids easily related to and could talk to about almost anything. He emphasized how Valerie, the product of a Lutheran Education, positively influenced the young people she taught and who confided in her.
“It is rewarding to see faith in action through the young adults who have passed through St, Paul School and Church, demonstrating their faith and flourishing with their God-given gifts,” he said. “…That is what teaching the faith is all about and that is what I hope I did. You know the teachers are there and the pastor is there, but it is the Holy Spirit working and the Spirit does it.”
Rich and Jan live in Ohio now, near their daughter Megan who has followed in her father’s footsteps and is a 2nd grade teacher and preschool director for Bethany Lutheran School.
The Mahler’s Story, and Rich’s in particular, is one where every step along the journey, he gave glory and thanks to God for the people and situations he was put in, and for the faithfulness, he still witnesses in the people he has influenced every day.
School Christmas Ornaments
Every year since 1996 between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the classrooms of St. Paul Lutheran School transform to accommodate a different type of learning – the learning that comes from creating Christmas ornaments to be gifted to those who come worship with the students at the yearly Christmas program.
The ornaments are designed so that every student, all the way down to the kindergarteners, can contribute. Everyone, regardless of their artistic ability or academic performance, has an important role. While making the ornaments, they learn about teamwork, being part of something bigger than themselves, and crafting skills. Most importantly, they learn different ways to represent the Christmas story and show how God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to save us.
Each year’s Christmas program is a worship service, led by the students of St. Paul, to honor God and share the Christmas story. The ornaments serve as a reminder about the key message of each year’s program. They are also used to spread God’s Word beyond those who attend the Christmas program – extras being given out to non-church-goers, shut-ins, nursing home residents, and other Lutheran churches and missions.
The tradition of students making Christmas ornaments to accompany the Christmas program began 26 years ago. According to Tina Eising, Greg Paul first got the idea after hearing of another school giving gifts to people who attended their Christmas program. From there, Susie Wlotkowski had the idea of making a wreath out of puzzle pieces. Rich Mahler was interested in helping, so together, the first ornament from the St. Paul school children was created (“God’s Christmas Puzzle,” 1996).
While some years the theme of the Christmas program is the inspiration for the ornaments, other thought starters – like a book or an art technique – might generate an idea for the ornament that then guides the theme of the program.
This year’s 2022 ornament idea was inspired by a craft done at St. Paul’s Vacation Bible School last summer. People had so much fun making stones with swirling paint, and the result turned out so well, that this year’s ornament is using the same process.
Quality and Precision
Most years, the target number of ornaments to make was 600 ornaments. In more recent years, the target has been 400. Despite the large numbers of ornaments being made, quality and precision are not sacrificed.
Julie Thomas, who made ornaments as a student at St. Paul and now makes them as one of the St. Paul teachers, remembers working on ornaments fondly. As a student, the ornament that stood out the most featured a star with Jesus in the manger (“Chapters of Christmas through Poetry and Song,” 2001). She recalls having a “star quality control hospital” for shaping the pipe cleaners into stars and ensuring that they met their standards.
Some of Our Favorite Ornaments
Throughout the years of ornament making, students and teachers have had many favorites. One of Eising’s favorite ornaments was a baby Jesus in a manger (“His Name Is Jesus,” 1999). She had noticed packaging for AA batteries that would make the perfect manager, so she called the battery company in Ohio. The manufacturer sent a box of 1,000 little packages for the students to use when making the ornaments. A video was filmed of the students assembling the ornaments and was then sent back to the company, allowing the message of the Christmas program to spread far beyond St. Paul’s walls.
Paul said that one of his favorite ornaments was the bird made for the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” 2013 program. This bird was made using a felting technique, which allowed all the students (and teachers) to learn a new skill outside of those used in previous years.
As Eising explained, making ornaments allows the students to take something humble and use it to worship God by transforming it into something that honors Him and helps to spread the message of His love at Christmas.
Thanks to a suggestion from Rita McClatchy, former teacher, and principal at St. Paul, the school has a record of each year’s ornament and more importantly, has an ornament from each year that gets displayed on a Christmas tree near the main entrance of the school. The hard work from over 26 years of St. Paul students is on display and continues to represent each year’s message.
A Catalog of Past St. Paul Lutheran School Ornaments
If you were unable to attend the Christmas Program in person this year and would like the 2022 ornament, please email us at stewardship@stpaulroyaloak.org.
What’s coming up at St. Paul
2023 is a milestone year for St. Paul as we celebrate 150 years as a congregation in Royal Oak. St. Paul is in fact the oldest Lutheran congregation in Oakland County. One of the ways we’ll celebrate is by having guest pastors preach to us each month starting in January. Former St. Paul Pastors, Vicars, Students, Teachers, and LCMS Leaders will all share God’s message with our congregation, recognizing God’s work through this special congregation. What a great opportunity for other friends and former members to visit St. Paul in person and connect with some tremendously faithful and memorable men.
Our first three guest preachers are:
Reverend David Davis, is serving as the 13th President since the founding of the Michigan District, LCMS in 1881. He was elected president in June of 2022. He will be the first guest preacher in celebration of St. Paul’s 150th year on January 22, 2023.
Reverend Trevor Sutton, current pastor at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Haslett and former St. Paul vicar from 2010-2011, is coming to preach at St. Paul on February 19, 2023.
Reverend Ronald Guettler, current Pastor at Historic Trinity in Detroit, former Pastor at St. Paul from 1970 to 1996, will once again take the pulpit at St. Paul, preaching on March 26, 2023.
Dear Lord, thank you for working through St. Paul to touch the lives of so many people through our teachers, pastors, students, members and friends of the St. Paul Lutheran family. Help us to remember your greatest gift to us this Christmas season, the gift of your son, Jesus. Help us to look for opportunities in our lives to share the good news about your Son.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
What Story is Next?
For all who subscribe to this newsletter, we encourage you to become an active part of this outreach opportunity! Please invite anyone you may know through St. Paul who may not be regularly engaged with St. Paul to subscribe. We also encourage feedback and ideas on what content works and what you would like to learn about.
If you have anyone (even yourself) who has a story to share or a picture or a memory, send us an email. We would welcome any historic pictures of events, baptisms, marriages, plays, retreats, or anything to bolster our historic picture album.
We Need Your Help!
We are looking for pictures or favorite memories from Lutheran School Week, Confirmation retreats, or Easter at St. Paul from the past to share please send your stories and photos to us.
Help Continue St. Paul’s Ministry
If you are interested in donating to St. Paul’s Capital Campaign, visit https://bit.ly/3ecOtgR