November 28th, 2022

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

How was your Thanksgiving?  I hope you had a great time of restfulness, time with family, and plenty of food.  I had this.  Both of my daughter’s families were here along with some extended family.  Plenty of leftovers.  And a couple of games of UNO. 

But to be honest mine was a little of a rollercoaster of emotions.  It was great to be with family.  I don’t have to tell some of you this.  I get that families are messy at times, but they are family.  We certainly don’t all agree on many items.  We even needed some clarification on the rules of UNO.  But they are still family that I love.  I think of Jesus’ disciples who were his family for three years. Then they abandon him at his greatest time of need.  But Jesus would later seek them out behind locked doors.  And even some members of his own flesh and blood, who didn’t understand his mission on earth, later would play an important part in his mission after he left earth to be with his heavenly Father.  Both of these groups are the poster-child for messy.  Still, Jesus loved them all. 

Patty and I also celebrated our 38^th Wedding Anniversary on Thanksgiving.  That was a tough one to explain to our grandchildren.  “Grandpa, you were married on Thanksgiving?” My explanation of days and calendar and such did not clear things up.  So, I said “Yep.”  Charlee and Xavier thought that was pretty cool.

The truth was I had to wait for Patty to finish her high school coaching season in Madison, WI.  When the girl’s season was over, we pretty much got married the next weekend on the 24^th.  I think that year, Thanksgiving was late.  38-years later, we are still working on it.  I really believe that marriages, no matter how long, need to always be worked on.

A great day – Yes?  Then I got a call from my Dad.  He is 92-years old and doing well.  He has recently moved from his house of 30+ years to an assisted living center.  In 2013, he buried my mother.  They had been married for over 50-years.  He loved marriage so much that in his 80’s he got married again.  He buried her less than two years  later.  During our call, we started talking about past Thanksgivings and he commented that those days are gone.  He then said these words, “He has no family around.”  He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.  His statement is true.

At Trick or Treat, a member of our church said “this “sucks.” She recently had to make a decision to put her husband in an assisted care facility.  In my visits, I hear pain in voices of the reality of having to make tough decisions.  This was not what they were thinking when they were young and planning their future.  Then we have members who are divorced or have lost their loved ones.  We also have members who are consumed with health problems – either their own or another family member. Life is messy for a lot of people.

So, after this phone call, I felt down.  I also didn’t know how to fix it. The reality is the reality.  Sometimes it sucks.  And you know what?  Holidays bring out the worst in these times.  Please be aware of this.  This time of joy and happiness is sometimes a very depressing time for some.

And this is why I love church.  Not the building but the members of this congregation.  We are a messy group.  We don’t all agree with each other.  I know some of you don’t agree with me.  But, what our church does is rally around our family of members.  Let me share with you what happened on Thanksgiving.  One of our members' daughter-in-law is undergoing treatments for cancer.  His family has rallied around her and her family with support.  But all of them are running out of gas.  Thanksgiving Day is just another day of recovering from the effects of the treatment.  Certainly, no one is up to doing a traditional dinner.  One of our members said, “St. John’s will do it.” They put something out and St. John’s responded.  I think there were something like ten spots to volunteer. We had over that to help.  Can you believe this?  The person organizing it had to turn away volunteers.  What a great problem.  A meal with all the fixings, was delivered to this family on Thanksgiving.  Yay, St. John’s!

I know Gerlyn, who organizes the PADS dinner, also says, “Yay St. John’s.”  After Stewardship Sunday, her list was completely filled and she now has people to fill in, in case of emergencies.

Don’t worry, we will give you plenty more opportunities to help others.  Opportunities to bring a little joy and happiness to some special people in our congregation and community.

1)      Our Holiday Food Basket Drive for our elementary students will come to completion Monday December 5^th.  Will you please consider bringing in some of the food items requested?  You can donate money and the church will go shopping for you.  The cost is 50 dollars. If you cannot afford the whole amount, please consider a portion of a basket.  Any amount would be greatly appreciated.

2)      We have 22 homebound members.  On Sunday, December 4^th, we are going to be making and decorating cookies in the Fellowship Hall at 9:00 a.m. (before church service).  Can you help us out.  I already asked the Sunday Schoolers.  You can also bring in cookies that you made at home.  We also will be making cards and hopefully a Christmas ornament for each one of our homebound members.  Can you and your family help?

3)      Then we need people to deliver these treats.  Can you help out?

4)      We have a manger and a tree in the Narthex.  They need decorating.  If you have any extra ornaments at home, would you consider bringing them to the church?  The manger needs straw, but there is a rule:  You need to do something above and beyond to place ONE piece of straw in the manger. The more things you and your family do, the more straw you can add. 

Schedule:

            Advent Services - Wednesday November 30^th, December 7^th, 14^th, & 21^st. All at 6:30 p.m.

            Choir Music Program - Saturday & Sunday, December 10^th & 11^th – during service

            Children’s Musical Program – Sunday, December 18^th – during service

            Christmas Eve Service – Saturday, December 24^th, at 5:30 p.m.

            Christmas Service – Sunday, December 25^th, 10:15 a.m.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of November 28th   – 2^nd  Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 11:1-10                        Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19               Romans 15:4-13                     Matthew 3:1-12

November 21st, 2022

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I hope you have a great holiday weekend.  Wear elastic.

Thank you to all who worked at Stewardship Sunday.  I hope all of you found something you can do for your church.  We need all of you.  Thank you to all who worked at the event.  A special thanks to members of our Stewardship Committee – Stacy Newell, Kay Raineri and Chris Westphal.  Chris and his wife Crystal made all the chili for the event.  Thank you to all. 

"Don't forget that waking up each day is the first thing we should be grateful for" (Wonders Diary)

How many of us have a grateful heart?  I don’t think it is based on circumstances but to be honest, it sure does help.  I can’t help but focus on the word “first.”  I think of this as the very first thing to do, but not the only time we give thanks.  But I think it helps us set up our day.  If we are thankful first thing in the morning, I believe it will carry on throughout the day.  Why don’t we give it a try this season of Advent.

We have a gratitude board in the Narthex.  It has been pretty quiet for a long time.  Please, share with the church the things you are grateful for.  If you don’t come to church, physically, send me an email or a text and I will make sure it goes on the board. 

I also know many of you do things where you are not looking for a thank you.  During the season of Advent, Evangelism will set up a table that has a creche seen.  The one thing that is missing (besides the baby Jesus) is straw.  This is where you come in.  Anytime you go above and beyond what you normally do for others, we would like you to place one piece of straw (found near the table) in the manger.  Our hope, by the time of Christmas, it should look like what a manger should look like.  (If you remember, we sort of did a similar thing with marbles last year.)  All ages are welcome to add straw to the manger.  Could be a neat family event.

Sunday, December 4^th is an all-hands on deck type of Sunday.  St. John’s currently has 22-homebound people in our congregation.  What we would like to do for them is to bake and deliver Christmas cookies, write Christmas cards and possibly make ornaments for them.  If you walk into church that day, hopefully you smell fresh baked cookies in Fellowship Hall.  I am going to ask Sunday School to help decorate but they may be working on their musical on the 18^th.  If you normally drop off your children for Sunday school could you consider staying and helping out?  Can some of the congregation come early to church and help out also?  You can also bake cookies at home and either bring them to church or I can come pick them up.  Even the homebound can make cookies and I will pick them up. 

We will also have card making materials and ornament making materials.  Could you help us out with this activity?

We will also need people to deliver the cookies and other items.  Would you consider helping with this?

As you can see we need a lot of help on this day. 

Schedule wise:  Thanksgiving Eve Service – Wednesday November 23^rd at 6:30 p.m.

            Advent Services:  Wednesday November 30^th, December 7^th, 14^th, & 21^st. All at 6:30 p.m.

            Christmas Eve Service – Saturday, December 24^th, at 5:30 p.m.

            Christmas Service – Sunday, December 25^th, 10:15 a.m.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving. May the peace of the Lord be with you always.

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of November 27th   – 1^st Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 2:1-5                 Psalm 122                   Romans 13:11-14                    Matthew 24:36-44

November 14th, 2022

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I am excited about next weekend.  It is Stewardship Sunday.  The misconception of this day is we are only asking you for money.  I am not going to lie to you.  It is a time where we ask you to look at your giving to the church.  But you know what, I firmly believe that is between you and God.  As your pastor, I try to stay out of that business.  You know, just like your home, there is a cost to maintain your church.  There are salaries that need to be paid.  Etc.

But this is not what I am excited about.  I am excited about having one service.  It will be on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. (normal time). I seriously hope that the members of the congregation that come on Saturday will change their routine for a day.  Here is what I see the problem with having two services (No! There are no plans on changing it).  The Saturday people know the Saturday people and the Sunday people know the Sunday people.  The two don’t usually mix.  I am excited about the opportunity to mix this Sunday.

I am also excited about the “nuts and bolts” of that day.  The first thing is the service.  On page 92-93 of the ELW (red book) there is a list of everything that goes on in a worship service.  If you look at this page, some of these items are in normal print while others are in bold print.  The ones in bold are called essentials.  It does NOT mean that one is more important than the other.  What it does mean is these are the items that should be in a regular service.  On. This Sunday, we will only be doing the Essentials. 

After the service you will pick up your Time and Talent sheet and go out to the Narthex to explore what goes on at the church.  At last count, we have 15 tables (most of them shared) of programs/ministries that go on here at St. John’s.  One, it is their time to show off.  Two, it is a chance to recruit new members.  I have been honest in my preaching.  We need more volunteers. We need you.  I would really like you to prayerfully consider this week how you can participate in your church programming.  We need your help.  We really need your help. 

You will be given a “passport” which is a piece of paper with all the ministries present.  As you go visit the tables, they will stamp your passport.  After finishing your visits, you will place your name in the container and we will have a drawing for three Hy-Vee gift cards. 

Finally, we would love you to stay and share a bowl of chili with us.  In Lutheran fashion, fellowship and food.  We haven’t done this in a long time.  All of this is put on by the Stewardship Committee.  We hope you stay.

On other news:

• -          Make sure you welcome Eloide back from her vacation.  There is no one that works harder in our church.  Finally, she took a vacation with Mark to Las Vegas.  You can ask her if she is a little lighter or heavier in her pockets.
• -          Members are already bringing food items for the holiday baskets.  This is something we have done for the last couple of years to help our elementary students who suffer food insecurity over the holidays.  Thank you to those who have already brought food in.  We can also do the shopping for you.  If you want to write a check to St. John’s, please make it out for 50.00 dollars and mark in the memo “Holiday Food Basket”.  Monday, December 5^th is the last day to contribute.
• -          It is with a sad heart that I inform you that Dallas Saferite lost his battle with his illness the past week.  I was able to perform the funeral service as well as having Marilyn and Wally performing the music.  He was surrounded by family during his final days. 
• -          For those who plan ahead, we will have a Thanksgiving Eve service at 6:30 p.m. Love to see you there. 
• -          Make sure you look at the church calendar for everything that is happening at church this week.  Council meets Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.  New guidelines were sent out to all of you. 
•  

May the peace of the Lord be with you always.

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of November 20th   – Stewardship Sunday & Christ the King Sunday

1^st Reading:  Jeremiah 23:1-6             Psalm 46         2^nd Reading:  Colossians 1:11-20       Luke 23:33-43

November 7th, 2022

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I know that none of us are promised tomorrow, not even our last breath, but I would never have guessed how close the words came to fruition this past week.  As some of you know, my son-in-law Alan, got seriously hurt at his place of work.  There was an explosion, and he was thrown off a ladder.  I am very thankfully he was wearing all the necessary safety equipment.  Still, the bones on the left side are shattered.  However, his eye is good.  They are waiting for the swelling to go down a little before they do surgery.  He will have plates put in to replace the bones on the left side.  It could have been a lot worse.  It still is pretty bad.  Please continue to pray for him, his family and the doctors who will be doing the surgery. 

Sort of an interesting observation.  Alan literally looks like someone beat him up big-time.  He has over 80- stitches on the left side of his face.  Their two-year old thinks nothing of it.  Continues to want to be in his lap and have a book read to him. The five-year-old is a little more cautious, a little more wary.  Not sure what to make of his dad. Sounds like him, but certainly doesn’t look like him.  I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere.

This whole episode ties into what I preached on last weekend and next weekend.  Bottom line:  We should live every moment to the fullest. As a follower of Jesus Christ, that means loving him and loving neighbor as if they were Jesus Christ.  When you leave for work, do you tell your spouse and children that you love them or do you rely on them knowing it?  Why don’t you tell them? 

We are in our second week of November.  That must mean meetings.  We have Music and Worship coming up on Tuesday.  We have already implemented some of the changes that we discussed last month.  We decided to move the Passing of the Peace right after announcements. We are also going to try to stand instead of stand-sit-knee-stand-sit during the beginning part of our service.  Both of these changes hopefully will help with the flow. 

We also have a Stewardship Meeting, Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.  We will be doing our last-minute planning for our Stewardship Sunday on November 20^th.  We will only have one service this weekend (no Saturday).  It is called Passport to Stewardship.  We will have a number of tables set up in the Narthex for you to walk around and talk to a member of many of the activities/committees that we provide at the church.  They will “stamp” your “passport” which you will be given at the end of service.  For those who visit all the activities/committees your passport will be placed in a drawing for three-HyVee gift cards.  Chili will also be made available for your eating pleasure afterwards

Finally, at the bottom of this letter, you will find the proposed agenda for our Church Council meetings.  They are always on the third-Tuesday of the month starting at 6:30 p.m. The last couple of meetings we have had members of our church visiting the meeting.  Personally, it threw me a little because we never had any visitors before.  We didn’t even know if it was possible. The answer is, it is possible and even encouraged.  It is a great way to get to know what is happening in the church.  There is two opportunities for non-council members to speak.  If we have a guest come in and give us further detail or direction, non-council members can ask questions of them, only after the council members are done with their questioning. If there are no special guests, then non-council members can ask questions after the old business of the council has been discussed.

We are not trying to hide anything from you.  Many things need to be discussed by the council and approved or disapproved by them before they are even brought to your knowledge.  If it was disapproved, most likely you would never know about it except by reading the notes from the last meeting.  These notes are made available for you to read but they need council approval which occurs at the next meeting.  They are also your representatives, your voice at the council meetings.  Remember, you voted for them as council members.  If you feel you are not being heard or represented (I am sorry), please consider running for council.  New positions are available every year beginning in January.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always.

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of November 12^th & 13^th   – 23 Week after Pentecost

Malachi 4:1-2a                        Psalm 98                     2 Thessalonians 3:6-13                       Luke 21:5-19

St. John’s Lutheran Church

Proposed Council Meeting Agenda Format

Call to Order and Prayer

Special Invited Guests – Presentation

Questions from Council Members

Questions from Visitors

Review & Acceptance of Minutes

Correspondence & Announcements

Treasurer

Ministry Reports: (10 minutes maximum)

-          Long Term Goals

-          Pastoral Report

-          Buildings & Grounds

-          Endowment Ministry

-          Worship & Music

-          Children’s Spiritual Life & Education

-          Stewardship

-          Youth Spiritual Life & Education

-          Evangelism

*Council representative need to decide if part of their report needs to be in Executive Session

Old Business

Questions from Visitors

Executive Session – (All visitors are excused at this time)

-          Further Ministry Report

-          Personnel Committee

-          New Business

Adjournment (8:30 p.m.)

Lord’s Prayer.

December 27th

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Crazy.  The weather this past weekend was just crazy.  Thank you to all those who braved the temperatures and made it to either worship service.  It was just plain cold.  But the saying goes, if you don’t like the weather just wait a little while and it will change.  Next weekend it may be in the fifties.   Crazy.

I hope your Christmas was a merry one.  However, remember we worship a God who not only knows your joys but also your heartaches.  For those who did not have a merry one, Jesus came for you also.

One of the things you probably have noticed is Monica has been the lay leader for all of the All-age worship services.  Monica and I would like to open it up to other adults (young or old) in the congregation.  One of the things I believe is important is that it is a women’s voice.  They see me all the time as their Pastor.  I would like to believe that  maybe some of the young girls in our congregation, after seeing a woman helping lead the service, say to themselves, “I can do that.”  My hope is that all voices have the opportunity to be heard.  One of the prerequisite is to be able to work closely with me to plan the sermon.  Please let me know if you are interested.

Just a reminder, we only have one service next weekend and it is on Sunday, News Year Day.  It will be held at the normal Sunday time at 10:15 a.m.

The church office will be closed on January 2nd.

Patty and I are going on vacation from December 27^th to January 2^nd.  We are going to visit some dear friends in Texas.  Some of you know them from Bridging the Gap – John and Celeste Gladych.  I actually swam with John in our high school and college days.  Our friendship has continued ever since.  If you need anything, pastoral wise, please call Paul Baker. 

If you have forgotten, please turn in your time and talent sheets and your commitment cards by the end of the year.  You can mail them or drop them off at church.  We are in the process of putting together the budget for 2023 and having this information will help.  Mark your calendars for January 22^nd.  We will be having our Annual Congregational Meeting after our Sunday service that day.  One of the things we do at this meeting is to approve our annual budget.  We need you there to approve it. 

We are pushing our book study on Rabbit Trail until March 13^th .  Again, the book is High Conflict by Amanda Ripley. All are welcome to join us. 

Happy New Year’s everyone.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of January 1^st – 1^st Sunday after Christmas

Isaiah 63:7-9               Psalm 148                   Hebrews 2:10-18                     Matthew 2:13-23

December 19th

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

If you came on Sunday, you would have heard much joyful singing from our Sunday School children.  What a blessing they were, with their voices filling the church.  Thank you to all the teachers who helped prepare the children for this concert.  Thank you also to Missy Pinter for her leadership.  I hope everyone enjoyed the musical program as much as I did.  Thank you.

I am going to invoke a soft rule.  I know things come up at all different times.  I get that.  Let me tell you when I am not at my best – before and after worship. There are all sorts of reasons for this in which I won’t attempt to explain.  I just know I cannot give you my undivided attention during these moments.  Probably not good at all before service.  Maybe just say “Good Morning, Pastor.”  Afterwards might be better.  Best to give me a heads up.  Might want to say, “Can I talk to you after service?”  I probably won’t be able to get to you immediately, but if you wait a little bit, I will come around to you. 

I am not sure about the final count for our Holiday Food Baskets.  With the money received, we were able to place nineteen orders at Aldi. Kay Raineri and her husband picked the order up and delivered it to Parkside.  I am not sure how many baskets were on the altar – a lot.  Thank you to all of you who helped with this cause.  Great work. 

Down the Rabbit Trail is going to start a book study on January 9^th.  The book we will be working on is called High Conflict by Amanda Ripley.  The book deals with conflict, how we get trapped in it and how we get out of it.  We meet on Zoom at 7:00 p.m.  Everyone is welcome. 

Travel mercies to all those who are making a migration to hopefully warmer weather.  We have a number of families who will be leaving us for a period of time.  You will be missed.  Be safe and enjoy.  Don’t forget that we are on-line.

Let me explain the schedule below.  Don’t forget our last Advent service on Wednesday.  We have a small group attending.  You don’t have to have come the weeks before.  Feel free to check it out.

We will have two Christmas services.  It is fortunate that they fall on Saturday and Sunday this year so we don’t have to figure things out.  They will be held at our normal church service times.  Please be aware that there will be no Christmas Eve service at 11:00 p.m. We decided not to have it as an option due to poor attendance in the prior years.

We will have no New Year’s Eve service on Saturday, December 31^st.  There will only be one service on Sunday, January 1^st at the normal time. 

Church Council meets Tuesday, December 20^th, starting at 6:30 p.m.  All are welcome.  If you want to speak in the future, please call Eloide before Friday of council meetings so you can be put on the agenda. 

Schedule:

            Advent Services – Wednesday, December 21^st. All at 6:30 p.m.

            Christmas Eve Service – Saturday, December 24^th, at 5:30 p.m.

            Christmas Service – Sunday, December 25^th, 10:15 a.m.

            New Year’s Day – Sunday, January 1^st, 10:15 a.m. (1-service only)

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I am so proud of being the pastor of St. John’s.  You are an awesome congregation.  Please continue to live out our mission statement. 

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of December 24^th & 25^th    – Christmas Readings

Christmas Eve:   Isaiah 9:2-7              Psalm 96         Titus 2:11-14               Luke 2:1-14[15-20]

Christmas            Isaiah 62:6-12         Psalm 97         Titus 3:4-7                   Luke 2[1-7]8-20

December 12th

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

`Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you didn’t miss it. The musical program put on by the choir was outstanding.  I hope you enjoyed it. It is definitely something you need to hear.  Don’t forget that we record the service on You-Tube.  If you missed it, go take a listen. 

I am not sure why I did it but I did.  I counted all those who were involved in the program.  There were a total of twenty people, not only sharing their musical voices but also a gift of speech and instrument.  I want to thank Barb for bringing all these people together and sharing their gifts with us.  I also want to thank all of those who took part in the program.  Gold star for all of you.  Well done!

But, I also hope you didn’t miss the thank you letter from the Jacobsen family.  We have been praying for Emily (Pete & Debbie’s daughter in law) who is undergoing cancer treatment.  They are worn out and had no plans for making Thanksgiving dinner.  Your church stepped up and provided the meal.  We received a thank you letter from them this week.  They started it out by saying, “To the incredible congregation of St. John’s.”

I hope you read that again.  You are incredible.  Not perfect, but incredible.  Thank you to all of you. Please continue to keep Emily as well as all those in her family in your prayers.  Unfortunately, we have many others that your church is praying for.  Please consider being part of the Prayer Chain.

So, my question is how are we doing?  Is this Advent season the same as any other time?  Is it better?  Is it worse?  First of all, I want to invite you all to our Wednesday services.  It is approximately a half hour in length.  However, it is a chance to pause just for a moment and get re-grounded in God.  We have two more Wednesdays before Christmas.  All are welcome to attend.

But I also want to give you space for those who find this season tough to get through.  Maybe it reminds you of someone you have lost.  Maybe it is just hard to find joy and happiness during this time because of your circumstances.  For some it is a very hard season to get through.  I want to acknowledge your feelings.  I hope you can find a space at St. John’s.  I just want you to know you are not alone.

Don’t forget, next week the children will sing on Sunday.  Very much looking forward to this.  Please plan on attending to support their efforts.

You will see the worship schedule up through Christmas.  Please take part in these services by attending or visiting us on-line. 

Schedule:

            Advent Services – Wednesday, December 14^th, & 21^st. All at 6:30 p.m.

            Children’s Musical Program – Sunday, December 18^th – during service

            Christmas Eve Service – Saturday, December 24^th, at 5:30 p.m.

            Christmas Service – Sunday, December 25^th, 10:15 a.m.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of December 18^th   – 4^th   Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 7:10-16             Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19                Romans 1:1-7              Matthew 1:18-25

December 5th

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The St. John’s Elves were busy on Sunday.  They were up early making cookies.  Then they were joined by our Sunday School children, teachers and parents.   Cookies were frosted, ornaments were made and cards were created.  Then when church was over, many people returned to pick up plates of cookies to be delivered.  Twenty-four in all.  The word I heard was excitement.  There was excitement in the air.  Thank you all who were part of it. 

We will continue this excitement next week with our choir performing their musical program at both services.  If you are still not in the holiday mood, plan on attending.  I think you will enjoy it. 

Enough?  Then the following Sunday our children will put on their musical program. 

Then of course the next weekend is Christmas. 

Hold on to your Christmas stockings St. John’s.

A giant thank you to all who contributed to our food baskets.  They will be packed up and dropped off on Monday.  We will be placing an order for seventeen baskets at Aldi’s.  Your generosity is outstanding.  Thank you to all who bought or donated to this great cause.

I’m not sure about you but I’m a little worn out.  I am so thankful for all the people who are helping with everything we have going on.  I want to remind you again that this is your church.  There is so much to be proud of and I hope you are.  I am not saying we are perfect in any way.  We are not a perfect church – good luck finding one.  But I love Isaiah’s prophecy of the Peaceable Kingdom (Google it).  Isaiah, John the Baptist and Jesus all tell us that the kingdom of God is near.  I am hoping that God’s kingdom looks like what Isaiah prophesied.  Where the wolf and lamb will hang out together and the cattle and lion will graze together.  And creation will be transformed.  But before this can happen, each one of the men above said Repent.  We all need to repent, to ask for forgiveness and turn back to God.  Two parts: Ask for forgiveness and physically “turn back” to God.

Schedule:

            Advent Services – Wednesday, December 7^th, 14^th, & 21^st. All at 6:30 p.m.

            Choir Music Program - Saturday & Sunday, December 10^th & 11^th – during service

            Children’s Musical Program – Sunday, December 18^th – during service

            Christmas Eve Service – Saturday, December 24^th, at 5:30 p.m.

            Christmas Service – Sunday, December 25^th, 10:15 a.m.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the week of December 11^th   – 3^rd  Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 35:1 -10                        Psalm 146:5-10           James 5:7-10               Matthew 11:2-11

January 30th, 2023

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Have you ever felt off … just not right…spiritually right?  I sort of felt this way last week.  Usually I can’t pinpoint the reason, but I was able to figure it out this time.  I really try hard to have a spirit of gratitude.  Hopefully, it starts with my prayer life, but I also hope it spreads to all of you.  I find when I am not thankful, I tend to draw inward.  Not a good place for anyone but especially a child of God to be.  I know some of you will argue that faith is a personal thing but my faith walk improves when I share it with others.  One of the more tangible ways is to be thankful.  I can’t remember the last time I wrote a thank you letter (I took care of that this week).  In the Beatitudes, we get permission to take action.  Can we give a little more grace to people?  Can we try to reconcile instead of lashing out? How would our lives change if our one goal is to please God?  I am so thankful I don’t need 1000 rams or 10,000 rivers of oil.  Will you join me this week to be more Christ-like?

Well, most of you know by now that Jeff and Lori Whalen are leaving our church.  We have lost other families/people. Each person lost, for whatever reason, has hurt your Pastor.  Jeff and Lori are no exception.  They have done so much for St. John’s.  I imagine many of us will grieve in some way.  But here’s the thing, they are leaving to do God’s work.  In our grief, there needs to be joy.  They have received God’s call to do ministry at First Lutheran Church in Ohio. They will take over as SAMs (Synodical Authorized Ministers) in a new partnership between rural ministries who struggle finding regular rostered ministers.  Jeff will probably start seminary in the fall while Lori will follow sometime in the future.  You will see them around still (They will finish Affirmation of Baptism).  Make sure you thank them for everything.  They will be missed.

But here is the question that I find exciting about Lori & Jeff’s absence.  Who will take their place?  Will one person be able to fill their shoes (maybe)? Or will it take five people (possibly)?  The fun part is to see who steps up and continues the work God wants St. John’s to do.  Not for one minute do I believe that God was taken by surprise by this.  I think God was preparing Jeff & Lori  for this position by all the many things they were involved with here at our church.  This is actually our calling as a church.  To equip people to do ministry.  This church has a history of doing this (Dale Vlastnik & David Msseemmaa).  Well done St. John’s.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in the All-age service on Sunday.  A shout out goes to all our greeters and ushers.  Another shout out goes to Chaz Thrasher who was our reader and Madisyn Korter who helped lead the service.  Well done everyone.

Have you bought your sweetie a Valentine’s card yet?  Why don’t you buy an extra (one or two), and bring it to church.  We will deliver it to State Senator Sue Rezin who will deliver it to the area seniors.  What a great cause.  They need to be in her office by February 6^th.

February is not only for Valentines but also for sausage.  With the help of Jim Scarpaci and all of you, we will be getting ready to make sausage starting February 22^nd through the 25^th. Saturday 25^th will be the actual day to make and sell.  We need everyone to help.  All hands-on deck.  Sign-ups are in the Narthex.  No experience necessary.  Please place your order in advance.  $4.00 per pound in 5 lb. packages.  Rope only.  Pick-ups will be only on Saturday, the 25^th from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Profits will go to our Youth Ministry.

Quarter wars will start in February.  With the NCAA Basketball Tournament starting next month, Evangelism thought they would get your competitive juices going early.  It will be males vs females.  The jar with the most quarters wins.  There is a little twist.  Paper money counts as a subtractor.  So, if Pastor places a dollar bill in the female jar, it will subtract four quarters from that jar.   On Saturday, March 18^th & 25^th we will go to a laundromat and pay for laundry for those who visit the facility.  We need volunteers to help.  Our goal is to have a couple of sets of at least two or more people helping at the laundromat.  We will probably work from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  Sign-ups will be in the Narthex.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the weekend of February 4^th & 5^th      – 5^th  Weekend after Epiphany

Isaiah 58:1-9a[9b-12]              Psalm 112:1-9[10]                   1 Corinthians 2:1-12[13-16]   Matthew 5:13-20

January 23rd, 2023

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Highlights of the Annual Congregational Meeting: It was rather easy-peasy.  The budget was approved.  We elected new council members:  Sandy Baumgartner, David Kromphardt and Sue Flaherty.  Dave Kromphardt and hopefully Barb (checking schedule) will be our lay voting leaders at the Northern Illinois Synod Assembly in June.  Other than that, our annual meeting moved right along. 

Some of you know, we are working on our constitution.  One of the items that the constitution addresses is the need for an annual meeting.  It also talks about how many council members are needed.  Some people have come up and talked to me about this item.  I am not sure if we will change any items in the constitution, but if we do, we have to bring it forth to our voting members. Regardless, when we are ready to present the constitution, we need your approval.  Therefore, when we are done and you  have had time to look at it, we will meet again and ask your approval on St.  John’s Constitution.

Important date; Sunday, February 5^th at Sunday’s worship service.  We will be installing new members into our church.  It has been my fault.  We have included six new families/individuals into our rolls without formally installing them as members.  We will do so at this service.  If there are others who want to officially join our church, please let Eloide know. 

This is not to be confused with officially installing our new Church Council Members.  This will be done on Sunday, February 19^th during worship service.

Sausage making is back.  We are looking at February 25^th for our day of making and selling.  There is so much work to do beforehand to get ready for this event.  It will start Wednesday with the measuring out of spices and bringing up the equipment from the basement.  Thursday will be spent on cleaning the equipment.  We will also start getting Fellowship Hall ready.  Friday will be the cutting up of the meat.  Saturday morning is the actual making of the sausage.  We would like to have able body members of our church to help.  This is going to take a lot of volunteers. Please let us know if you can help.

Some particulars about the sale.  Sausage will be sold for four-dollars a pound in five pounds increments.  We are only going to sell sausage rope this time.  If you like it in bulk, you can always just cut the sausage.  Orders must be made in advance.  Please call Eloide at the church to place the order.  This way, we will know how much meat to buy.  Pick up will be on Saturday only from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Evangelism is going to start a contest called Quarter Wars.  It has come to our attention how hard it is for some of our community to simply do the wash.  Most of us may have a washer or dryer in our home and we don’t even think about doing a load.  Others might have a washer or dryer in their building.  But then there are others who have to lug everything to a laundromat.  Did you know that it costs between four-six dollars to wash and dry one load of wash?  This hurts many of our families living in our community. So, we are going to love and serve our neighbor. We are looking for your help.  We will set up two water jugs for you to place your quarters in.  One jug will be males, the other will be females.  Just a little friendly competition.  There is one twist.  If someone adds any paper money it will act to subtract the number of quarters.  Therefore, if you are going to contribute paper money, you may want to put it in the opposite water jug.  For instance:  A one-dollar bill will subtract four-quarters from that jug’s total. 

On Saturday, February 18^th and 25^th, we would like to go out to a laundromat (One Saturday in Peru and one Saturday in LaSalle) and from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. pay for the laundry that is being done.  This also includes all the detergent.  If they would like our help folding we will offer to do so.   The money collected during our quarter wars will pay for the event.  Our goal is to go out in groups of 2-3 and do an hour shift.  Please sign up at church or let me know if you can help.  If you can’t come to church but you have a donation for this event, give me a call.  I will come and get it.

Don’t forget: Long Term Planning Committee  will meet Tuesday, January 24^th at 7:00 p.m.

Also, our next all-age worship service is Sunday, January 29^th. 

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the weekend of January 29^th & 30^th     – 4^th  Weekend after Epiphany

Micah 6:1-8                 Psalm 15                     1 Corinthians 1:18-31             Matthew 5:1-12

January 16th, 2023

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Thank you to all who helped with Advent and Christmas services.  A special shout out goes to Altar Guild, who not only had to put up with my changes but also helped decorate the church and then took them all down.  Thank you.

Please don’t forget to mark your calendars for our annual Congregational Meeting right after church on January 22. Many things are going to be covered including approval of a yearly budget as well as voting for new council members. 

It has been a rough couple of weeks for our church body.  Many of our congregation are battling with either their own health issues or family members.  We have had a couple of deaths in our extended church family.  I am asking if we as a church can extend an extra amount of grace to all our members.  Many of them are hurting. 

We are in the beginning phases of writing a new constitution.  I want to personally thank Alice Mueller and Jan Delvallee  for their efforts.  You might be thinking, why are we doing this?  First of all, our constitution is eight-years-old. You can think about that as “middle” age.  However, with all the things that have changed during that time, it doesn’t take much for your document to get significantly older by the year.

However, the major reason we are working on it is because our National Church’s constitution has changed.  Most of the changes deal with wording based on inclusivity.  In the constitution there is a designation such as *C2.01.  The “*” is very important.  What it means is it comes from the National Church and cannot be changed. Therefore, if the National Church changed their constitution, that makes every church’s constitution obsolete. At the last National Assembly, the National Church did just that.  Thus, the need to work on our constitution. Again, thank you Alice and Jan for taking on this project. It will be a long haul.

We have a Church Council meeting Tuesday, January 17^th at 6:30 p.m.

Evangelism meets Wednesday, January 18^th at 6:30 p.m.

Long Term Planning Committee  will meet Tuesday, January 24^th at 7:00 p.m.

Our next all-age worship service is Sunday, January 29^th.  Through this letter, I have put a call for help to lead the worship service which Monica does currently.  I have asked for help among our women of the congregation.  I have received no replies.  I like having a woman with me because I believe it models well for our young girls in our congregation.  I now will open it up to men.  If anyone is interested in helping me lead the service and the sermon, please let me know. 

Listening to the voices of the Stewardship Committee, you will not be receiving any phone calls.    

I want to piggy-back a little on what I wrote in the second paragraph.  I am your Pastor.  Part of my job is to help those who are struggling, especially within our church.  I am trying to remember if I ever received a call from someone saying, “I am in the hospital, can you come and visit.”  I have received calls from family members who have let me know if something like that has occurred.  However, most of the time, Eloide or others have let me know.  Bottom line: I will not know if someone does not tell me.  I respect your privacy.  If you don’t want to say, then don’t.  But my hope is that you let me know, that I can come visit and pray with you.  This is my hope. 

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the weekend of January 22^nd & 23^rd    – 3rd Weekend after Epiphany

Isaiah 9:1-4                 Psalm 27:1, 4-9                       1 Corinthians 1:10-18             Matthew 4:12-23 

January 9th, 2023

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Please don’t forget our annual Congregational Meeting at 11:30 (after Sunday service) on January 22.  First, we need to have a quorum of our members.  The other thing we need to do is to go over our budget for the year of 2023.  The annual meeting is a good place to ask questions about this budget as well as what is going on in the church.  You will also have a chance to vote and approve our new council members.  Please make plans on attending this very important day in the life of the church.

We hope to get the budget out to you very soon.  One of the things we need is your help to turn in your Time and Talents sheets along with your commitment cards ASAP.  The Stewardship committee will start making calls this week and next.  One, we want to thank those who have turned their materials.  Second, we would like to give you a friendly reminder to turn them in. 

It was nice to settle back in this week.  Thank you to all those who came and sat down and talked or just poked your head in to say hi.  I hope you always feel free to do so. 

I want to thank Paul Baker for stepping in for me and preaching God’s Word.  Thank you.  This night was planned well in advance.  For those who do not know, I was inducted into the Downers Grove North Athletic Hall of Fame.  Along with me was a Super Bowl Champion and a Para-Olympic multi-medal winner.  Both of them attended the same high school that I taught at (We are also the high school home of Matthew West, Christian songwriter.). Trust me, I was thinking the same thing that most of you are probably thinking, “Why Tom?”

I think it has to do with longevity.  I coached for over twenty years.  Some of you know what that is like.  A teacher can have tremendous impact on a student, for sure, but a coach, in some cases, may be able to have a greater impact, probably due to the fact that you spend more time with them.  After the awards ceremony, we had a chance to go over to an old swimmer’s house and get acquainted with one another.  I had a chance to meet two people who I coached my very first year.  I had to ask them how old they were?  They said fifty-two.  Fifty-two, can you believe that?  I stopped asking that question.  But my joy was to see these goofy young high schoolers turned into mature young men.  Most were now married and some were raising families while others were just beginning.  I can’t wait to tell them stories about their dad.

But to be honest with you, even though I had a great time, that was a different part of my life.  It has helped me be who I am, but it does not define me as it did before.  I have been out of teaching and coaching for over ten years now.  I was not able to retire on my own terms.  I had to retire because I could no longer do my job because of my illness.  I was on no medicine except large quantities of ibuprofen to get me through the day.  Now, I have medicine that helps. 

But this is how our God works.  I am going to steal Jan Morse’s quote, “God has a way of taking our crap and making fertilizer with it” (Jan did not use the word “crap”).  I know some of you are going through a rough time.  Some of you are hurting physically and/or mentally.  For others, some of you are grieving due to the loss of someone or something. Maybe a dream?  I wish I could wave a magic wand over you and your family.  I wish I could say that everything will be alright.  But more me, this quote is very appropriate.  I have seen God’s faithfulness, not only in others, but in me.  It may not take away the hurt.  It may not take away the situation.  But our God is a faithful God that will never leave you alone.  God loves us so much that God did not even hold back his Son.  I pray that you too will witness his faithfulness in your life.  May you be a source of good fertilizer.

One final note:  Looking for a few people to help lead the All-Age Worship service the last Sunday of the month.  We hope to open it up to others, besides Monica, but I have received no interest so far.  Please let me know if you would like to help me lead service.

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the weekend of January 14^th & 15^th   – 2^nd Weekend after Epiphany

Isaiah 49:1-7               Psalm 40:1-11             1 Corinthians 1:1-9                 John 1:29-42

​ 

January 3rd, 2023

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”

John 13:35

Proclaim the Gospel

Grow in Love

Serve One Another

St. Johns’ Mission Statement

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Happy New Year!

I know you have heard me say it but it is worth saying again.  I feel blessed to have people in our congregation who can step in and preach when I am on vacation.  This time it was Lori Whalen.  Thank you so very much.  It is a great blessing to have you share your love of God with others.  Thank you.

It was a very nice vacation.  I was able to relax and get some well needed rest.  Thank you to all those who honored my vacation.  I also want to thank Eloide for all the work she continues to do in my presence and/or absences.  Thank you Eloide.

Most of you probably know more of what went on at church this week than I do.  That’s good.  I just want to make sure you know what will be happening in the month of January.

The major item is our annual Congregational Meeting right after worship service on Sunday, January 22.  We will let you know about those plans in the upcoming communications but we need you to be there to vote on our annual budget.  We will get the budget out to you in a week or so, so you can take a look at it. 

In order to plan our budget using the best information, we need everyone to turn in their time and talents sheets as well as your commitment cards.  The members of the Stewardship committee will give you a call either to thank you or remind you to turn them in. 

We will also have some turnover on our Church Council.  Three of our council members will be stepping down after serving their commitment – Dave Hunt, Linda Parsons and Karen Sohl.  Thank you for your leadership over the last three years.  For the rest of the congregation, is it time for you to step up?

One last thing.  We need some help looking at our constitution.  Part of our constitution works in conjunction with the National Church.  They changed their constitution thus changing everyone’s constitution.  It is also time to look at parts of our constitution that deals with our local church, St. John’s.  If you would like to help or need more information about it, please let me know or Alice Mueller.  We will need to come back and meet again for our congregation to ratify it.  Also, if you would like to change some of the items that are currently in the constitution, this is the time  to do so.   

Back to normal for this month in terms of meetings.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know or someone on the committees. 

May the peace of the Lord be with you always,

Pastor Tom

630-334-1771

pandtredig@gmail.com

Readings for the weekend of January 7^th & 8^th  – 2^nd Weekend after Christmas

Isaiah 42:1-9               Psalm 29                     Acts 10:34-43              Matthew 3:13-17