Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I want to thank all of you who have destroyed the chalkboard. The board is now empty. I tell you that one of the things St. Johns does a great job of wiping out beautifully made boards. Thank you. This is awesome.
I also appreciate our council president’s letters. Dave does such a good job of explaining what happened at our council meeting. One of the things we are striving to be is more transparent. This letter helps explain what is going on at your church. One thing for some to consider. We have three people coming off the council. One of them is going to re-up and do three more years if elected. If you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you in this direction, please let any of the council members know.
I want to make sure you know what is in the plans for opportunities to give and/or participate in through Christmas. I know it is a long time away, but like everything else, these things usually come up very fast. So here is what is happening:
- Trick or Treat on October 26th. We are doing this in a new location. Hopefully we will be more visible. As always, we would like a couple of things: a) You and a friend sponsor a table. Anyone can do this. Mostly you are handing out candy and talking to the people who go by. You can sign up in the Narthex. b) We can also use candy donations. When you buy your candy, would you mind buying an extra bag for this activity? They can be dropped off in the tub/container in the office.
- In November, we have two activities going on. a) Collecting food for the food baskets for our elementary children in Peru. We will get the list off to you soon. This is something we have been doing for the last couple of years. b) There will also be a giving tree in the narthex. The gifts brought will go to foster children. All you need to do is to pick an angel off the tree and purchase the gift that is listed.
- In December, we will be making containers of Christmas cookies for our homebound. On a Sunday in December, during Sunday school, we will ask the student for help decorating cookie cut outs. I will let you know the date, but we certainly can use additional cookies and/or help decorating. If you have children in our Sunday school, it might be a good time to share this time together.
If you add all of this up, it is a big ask for the congregation. Here is the thing: We are not asking you to do everything. Some of you can. Great! Some of you can’t. Great! If this is the case, just pick and choose the ones that touch your heart. Do you think the Holy Spirit knows your situation? Just pray and listen to the Spirit’s guidance.
Patty & I had the chance of celebrating our youngest grandson’s 4th birthday. Remember when we said our children are growing up so fast. The same is true for grandchildren. Or oldest, Charlee, will be celebrating her 8th birthday in the middle of October. Yikes. I remember holding all of them. One day, I might be writing to you that she is taking driving lessons or starting college. Don’t want to even think about it. But you know, it will happen quicker than we think. Better enjoy them now!
We had a swimming friend pass away a little bit ago. Patty had the chance to go to his memorial on Saturday. He was a couple of years older than we are. Am I getting to the age when this is going to start to happen? I read somewhere that a psychologist said, your greatest decade will be in your seventies. Your next greatest decade will be your eighties and then your nineties. I am wondering if that is true. The problem with these ages is you are going to have to be used to your friends passing away. I am glad we have faith. I am glad we have been baptized (If you haven’t, please let me know.). We will be baptizing two children next Sunday. Two more welcome to God’s kingdom as children of God. I would love to know if some of you who are living in these times find the above statement true.
You are dearly loved !
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for 20th Week after Pentecost – October 5th & 6th
Genesis 2:18-24 Psalm 8 Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 Mark 10:2-16
Reading the Bible in a Year- Monday, September 30th to Sunday, October 6th
Day Job Psalms Proverbs Matthew
Monday Ch. 8-10 3:11-20 Ch 19:16-30
Tuesday Ch 11-14 17:6-12 Ch 20:1-19
Wednesday Ch 15-18 17:13-15 Ch 20:20-34
Thursday Ch 19-21 18:1-6 Ch 21:1-17
Friday Ch 22-24 3:21-35 Ch 21:18-32
Saturday Ch 25-27 18:7-15 Ch 21:33-46
Sunday Ch 28 & 29 18:16-24 Ch 22:1-14
Job It feels to me that we are racing through Job. A couple of thoughts: 1) The common thought during this time period is if something bad happened to you, you were being punished by God because you have sinned. All through this book, Job proclaims his innocence. 2) The power of presence. His three friends came and sat with Job for an entire week. The biggest mistake they made was to start talking. 3) The question you need to ask yourself is did this really happen? Was Job a real person? Or was it a book of Wisdom. Something that really didn’t happen but we can learn so many lessons from it. I am going to let you decide.
Psalm I heard something I think is very true. The Psalms teach us how to pray. There is every kind of emotion. Some praise and thanks. Others are begging and pleading. Some of my favorite psalms are when the psalmist gets mad at God. The Psalms teach me that this is okay too. Our God can handle this also. Most importantly, it teaches us to be honest with God in our prayers.
Proverb Maybe 3:5-6 is a passage we need to commit to memory. Some very good wisdom.
Matthew Probably the biggest thing to know is Jesus now sets his sights on Jerusalem. No more traveling around the countryside. He is on his way to Jerusalem. In this section, Jesus proclaims for the third time we get the Passion prediction of Jesus. Afterwards, we immediately get the mother of James and John making an unbelievable request. Not only does Jesus respond to this request, but it makes the other disciples mad. They still don’t get it. A lot of teaching is sometimes using parables. We also get the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus going ballistic, and I think a major item is the religious leaders