My brothers and sisters in Christ,
Sorry about being slow getting this out to you. This is our church schedule through the end of December:
Schedule
November 29 & 30 – First Weekend of Advent – New members’ recognition on Sunday, November 30.
December 6 & 7 – Second Weekend of Advent– Blood Drive on Saturday, December 6. Cookie decorating on Sunday, December 7.
December 13 & 14 -Third Weekend of Advent – Musical Cantata, both Saturday and Sunday
December 20 & 21 – No Saturday Service. Children’s program on Sunday
Christmas Eve Service – 3:00 p.m. (New time)
December 27 & 28 – Normal worship schedule
We need to catch up with recognizing new members: Some of them are brand new, while others you’ll ask, “How can they be new members? They have been around forever.” We will be doing this during the worship service on Sunday. Plan on coming to Fellowship Hall to celebrate their joining St. John’s with cake.
If you are planning on donating cookies to our homebound, please make sure they are here by 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 7. We still need drivers to deliver these cookies to the homebound. Sign-up is in the Narthex.
One of the special moments during the holidays is when our adults and children will be sharing their musical gifts with us. The Musical Cantata is always a must to hear, and it is a great opportunity to invite others.
You can also invite friends and neighbors to our Children’s Musical Program. But it is also a perfect opportunity to invite grandmas and grandpas and uncles and aunts. Just like last year, we will only have one service this weekend so we all can honor the children’s work.
One thing I hope you noticed is our new time for the Christmas Eve service. Our worship service will start at 3:00 p.m. The church council is trying this time to alleviate some of the hurriedness of this night. Would love your feedback about this new time after the service.
Some of you might be wondering, what happened to our tree carving? First of all, I was told Linda Hoelter had way too much fun. What they are doing is trying to preserve the carving for as long as possible. It is an Oriental method of preserving wood. The first thing they do is to burn the wood. Then they will sand some of the burnt parts off and stain the remaining tree.. The staining will occur sometime in the spring. We love our tree carving, and we hope it will be around for a long time. This is how we hope to preserve it.
One of the highlights of this time leading up to Christmas is seeing the work and generosity of the church. Gifts and food collected will be up on the altar to show the sacrifices we make for our community. Quilts hanging all over the church show the work done by our quilters. All of it won’t be here for long. The quilts will be boxed up and shipped out. The food will be gathered up and given away so it can support the needs of our school children. Well done!
Patty & I traveled to Brookfield, Wisconsin, for her sister’s Memorial service this weekend. It was emotional. Sara’s husband did such a great job planning the event, which honored his wife. One of the best things about a funeral is that it becomes a family/friend reunion. Unfortunately, it takes such an event to bring everyone together. Patty enjoyed reuniting with family. What was very special was that we both had friends who traveled a long distance to support us during this time.
The issue is how we continue to be a generous church, as well as keep up with the expenses that we incur running our church. You’re going to hear much more about this, but the bottom line, our church is no longer able to keep up with our expenses. It has actually been happening for a while, but the church has been borrowing money from other accounts to meet daily & monthly expenses. Money coming in is less than money going out. Like I said, you will hear about this from our finance committee in the weeks to come. What I would like to do is to call your attention to this and ask you to take a look at your pledge for the year. If you are behind, please prayerfully commit to catching up with your pledge. If you can, please consider an end-of-year gift to the church.
Crossed marked and spirit sealed,
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for 1st Weekend of Advent– Weekend of November 29th & 30th
Isaiah 2:1-5 Psalm 122 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44