My brothers and sisters in Christ,
Wow, in a matter of eight days, there will be three funerals of people we knew and loved from St. John’s. Friday, we celebrated the life of Kent Wicks. I didn’t know him, but many in the church did. When I sat down with the family on Wednesday, I quickly fell in love with them. I loved what I saw, how the children protected their mom, Joan. And then at the viewing, it was the first time since I have been here that we had to delay the funeral. This man and family were well-loved.
I mentioned at the funeral that I keep a running list of records in my head. The oldest person I met was 106 years old. The youngest person was 20 minutes old (think about that). But I now have a new record in my head. Joan and Kent were married for 71 years. For me, it is really hard to put this number in perspective. My children sometimes think I am old at 64 years of age. They had already been married for 7 years when I was born. Unbelievable but true.
Lorretta Phelps, I did know, and most of our church knew her well also. She passed away last week. I remember I danced with her at my first Senior Luncheon. As one of our members would say, “She was a hoot!” Her funeral will be at St. Valentine’s Church in Peru at 11:00 on Tuesday, January 20.
We will be celebrating Bernice’s Celebration of Life on Saturday, January 24. The service will take place at 11:00 a.m., followed by a gathering for treats afterwards. I have said it many times lately, I just don’t think her family knows how special she was to our church. Let’s show them by trying to attend this celebration. My sermon is blank right now. I was hoping to share some memories of Bernice’s life at St. John’s. Would you please share them with me? I will give just the memory and not the name. Please email, text, or call these memories to me or St. John’s by Friday
I hoped you marked your calendars for Sunday, January 25. Right after service, we will be hosting our annual meeting. You can expect several things to happen, including voting on our new members of our Church Council, approving our Constitution, and approving our 2026 Budget. It is so important for all of you to attend. First, if we don’t have a quorum, we can’t do business. Second, you actually have a say in these matters by asking questions and then voting on these items. Finally, you will hear about some of the things that occurred in the past year.
It takes me a little bit, but we are going to try to solve the communion issue at our service. Right now, we ask you, when you take the cup, to walk all the way around if you are sitting on the right side. We are going to fix this by having a communion cup distributor on both sides of me. This way, you can go either right or left, depending on where you are seated. I may ask you to help during this process. All you have to say is, “The blood of Christ shed for you.”
Looking forward to seeing you all there on Sunday. If you are Saturday worshippers, please plan on coming before 11:30 a.m.
Crossed marked and spirit sealed,
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for the third Weekend of Epiphany – January 24 & 25.
Isaiah 9:1-4 Psalm 27:4-9 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Matthew 4:12-23