My brothers and sisters in Christ,
I think I have come down from my sugar high. Our Trick or Treat activity was a huge success.
To put it in perspective, we ran out of hot dogs after 45 minutes. We also ran out of our first batch of popcorn, so Eloide and Missy had to make another batch. It is very hard to plan for this event. Where did all the children and parents come from? Maybe they made the circuit from HyVee to St. John’s and then to the park for the City of Peru’s event. I know if I were a child, this is what I would do. There were many familiar faces, but a whole bunch I had never seen before. That is actually what we want. Come and see what St. John’s people do. Thank you to everyone who helped at this event. Thank you also to all of those who supplied candy. We had enough so Jan Morse could fill up cups and give them to the people at PADS.
For those who are over 80 years old, don’t forget about the Senior Luncheon that will be served to honor you. More of this event will be talked about in our next letter.
Next week is All Saints weekend. We will honor all our church people who have passed away in our church over the past year. Their pictures will be placed on the altar along with a large candle. Then, the congregation is free to come up and place a tea light on the altar for remembrance of someone in our lives who has passed away. We will be doing this during our Hymn of the Day. We are all saints, but we have this great crowd of witnesses who have gone before us. We want to honor those who have.
November 8th & 9th, we will be celebrating those who have served. This weekend, we need your help. Could you please send us a picture of you, either in uniform or in some way that we know you served? You might want to make sure your name is included. Some of you have changed quite a bit since that time… for the better, of course.
November will allow you to share your monetary gifts. We will be having the Angel Tree, where you have the opportunity to purchase a gift for someone in foster care. We will also be collecting food or money for our food baskets for our children in elementary and junior high school. I know we are asking a lot from you. Listen to what is on your heart. Some of you, I know, can help out for both. Some of you might think that I can’t give this month. If this is on your heart, please don’t. We are united as a church, and we will give what we are able.
We also have a special event happening on November 15th. Halle Fransen and Francesco Messina will be getting married on this date. Always excited to do a wedding. I think this might be my 5th. I had to laugh at myself because I was thinking, “Who gets married in November?” Well, Patty and I will be celebrating our 41st anniversary on November 24th. Maybe November isn’t such a bad month to get married.
I want to take a quick peek at December. It will be here before we know it. Please mark your calendars for the following dates:
December 7 – Cookie decorating by the Sunday School children, and we will deliver them to the homebound on that same day. Could you help us? Could you plan on making a batch of cookies for us? Or, if you know someone who can’t come to our church, would you think about delivering to them?
December 13th & 14th – the choir will put on their annual Musical Cantata. Spread the word. Bring a friend. It is a magical event.
December 21st – will be our children’s program. If the choir didn’t put you in the spirit, the children will. Some of them will use very loud voices to share this spirit. Definitely an event that a grandparent wouldn’t want to miss.
December 24th – this will be the date when the whole church will celebrate Christmas. The time will be announced when we get closer to the event.
Again, Patty and I thank you for the cards as well as your prayers. As you can imagine, the whole side of Patty’s family is grieving as well as I. Sara’s husband’s name is Jason. We are playing off of him. We are looking for some sort of service either late November or the middle of December. Sara’s wishes were that Patty and I play a part in this service. I don’t know what that means yet. We are all letting Jason go at his speed.
Crossed marked and spirit sealed,
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for All Saints Sunday– Weekend of November 1st & 2nd.