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FRIENDLY MESSENGER
December 2008This Month's Contents:
Beloved people of God at St. Peter’s, |
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The November meeting of St. Peter’s Church Council opened with a visit from mayor Janice Allen who presented us with some information on the new state requirements for pre-school. It seems that with the new requirements, North Plainfield does not have sufficient classroom space for all the students we will need to provide for. St. Peter’s was asked to consider offering space for one or two of these classrooms. Since there was not a lot of definite information, especially regarding the starting date, the council did not feel it was feasible to consider the request at this time.
Financial status: No money had to be taken from the money market accounts to pay the bills last month. Twenty pledges have been received so far, including four new ones. Total amount pledged equals only about half of the probable expenses, based on last year’s budget.
A Town Hall Meeting will be held on Sunday, November 23, to discuss options for the future of St. Peter’s in view of our difficult financial situation.
The choir will be taking the Sunday School room for rehearsal and storage. Plans are being made to move the piano up from the basement.
December 21st will be the date for the Blue Christmas service. Time will be 7:30 p.m.
On December 6, Bishop Hansen will be at St. John’s, Summit, to speak on his vision for the ELCA. See Pastor for details if you wish to attend this forum, which will be held from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
We will support WELCA’s adoption of a neighborhood family for Christmas again this year.
Finally, Irene Plitz and Bill Shebey were appointed to the nominating committee and charged with securing nominees for council for the January congregational meeting.
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This service will be a time of quiet, of lament, of prayer, of hope and of comfort. We will gather to be surrounded by God’s presence which will never leave us and to name the light of Christ which shines into our darkness and despair.
Please invite friends, family and others to this service of hope and healing.
God works in amazing ways through the generous and humble service of faithful people. In our newsletter each month we are going to share gratitude for the people who have done so much for our congregation in the past month. The purpose of this is for us to give praise to God for the many gifts and generous work of our community. If there is something or someone you want to thank and give praise to God for, please let the office know and we can include them here...
We thank God for:
All of our young people for their wonderful art work displayed in Fellowship Hall,
Everyone who donated socks and underwear for the New Vision Ministry in Camden,
WELCA members who shared worship and fellowship at the Piscataway Community Residence,
Barbara and Jan Henriksen, who worked the polls on Election Day,
All sponsors who gave support to the CROP Walk to help fight World Hunger,
Odessa Lemley and Barbara Henriksen for attending the Thrivent dinner.
We give thanks to God for you, and for your willingness to share your many gifts!
Synod is going to pull together the key persons of congregations in our geographic area to have a conversation about regional mission strategy. This meeting will take place in early December. A number of options for St. Peter’s are before the committee at this time. They will be discussed at an open Town Hall Meeting on November 23rd. Additional ideas and input are most welcome.
The next meeting of the committee will be held at the home of Pat Klatt, Church Council President, on December 11th. All interested members are invited to attend. Your input in this discernment process is very much needed and appreciated.
The next time you shop, remember to buy a couple of extra cans for our food table in the narthex.
Thank you,
Ken Troy, LMM
A portion of the recycled phones are programmed to dial only 911 and donated to domestic violence survivors, elder and low-income people at risk, for use in emergencies.
So save your old cell phones as we will be collecting them starting in January.
Monetary donations are gratefully accepted, which go mainly toward the purchase of filler material.
We can always use helpers. Please see any Katie’s quilter. Who are our quilters? Here is the list: Lynn Blenderman, Pia Grant, Barbara Henriksen, Chris Zehrfuhs, Clara Jencik, Barbara Shebey, Ann Kircher, Odessa Lemley, Mary Ann Schwarz, and Judy Ziccardi. We are most fortunate to also have the talents of Ginger Smellie from Trinity Reformed Church and Betty Garguile from Dunellan Presbyterian. You do not need sewing experience, as our helpers fulfill lots of different jobs, from cutting squares, sorting them into patterns, sewing squares into tops, sewing backs, assembling tops, backs and fillers into quilts, and tying the quilts together with embroidery thread knots.
You will discover that the experience is not only rewarding, but also a lot of fun, too. And the quilts that are produced are just beautiful! These are wonderful things that will brighten up the life of an individual a world away, while also providing some much needed warmth, comfort, and protection from the elements. Why not talk to a member of Katie's Quilters today?
While it is true that we host the annual Palm Sunday Breakfast and the lenten Soup Fellowship, as well as sponsor fellowship once a month, we also actively support many other worthwhile causes. Some of these are financial, such as our contributions to Habitat for Humanity, Lutheran Social Services, Lutheran Association of Missionary Pilots (LAMP) and the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. We also collect food for FISH, and labels for the Rock Point Navajo Lutheran Mission School.
Among the labels we collect are the following:
Campbell soups and beans
Franco-American pasta and gravy products
Mrs. Paul’s frozen seafood products
Pepperidge Farm products
Prego spaghetti sauce
Swanson frozen foods
V8 products
General Mills “Box Tops for Education”
You can all help us by saving these labels and putting them in the kitchen or handing them to a WELCA member.
So bottom-line, please help us help others by saving the above. And please join us at our meetings so that we can contribute even more to our community.
Irene Plitz
President, WELCA
In June, 2007, our women delivered an additional 85 quilts to Lutheran World Relief center in Maryland. Food items for FISH, the local food bank, are continually collected and delivered. Thankoffering Sunday is held in November. Many other opportunities for fellowship and service are coming along. As you can see, our women are very active.
To find out how you can join in, and to find out what’s happening when, please talk to an active member, watch for announcements in the Sunday bulletin, or call the church office (908-754-0530) for further information and/or the name and phone number of the proper contact person. Our Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America look forward to welcoming you!
Work days at the church are also scheduled when a need arises. Each month, the men collect and deliver many bags of food to the local FISH program. Many other opportunities for fellowship and service are coming along.
As with the Women's Group, to find out how you can join in, and to find out what's happening when, please talk to an active member, watch for announcements in the Sunday bulletin, or call the church office (908-754-0530) for further information and/or the name and phone number of the proper contact person. Our Lutheran Men in Mission look forward to welcoming you!
Upon returning to the U.S., Karen founded AHA to help continue the support of EPES in Chile. At this time, EPES needs our support, as the declining U.S. dollar is having a devastating effect on organizations like EPES that receive much of their funding in U.S. dollars. The dollar is barely worth 450 Chilean pesos today, compared with 650 pesos 2 years ago.
There are Sundays available on the EPES chart, across from Pastor's office, for you to honor a loved one's memory, or someone's birthday. All of your donation of $20 goes directly to EPES in chile. Please remember to mark your envelope clearly for EPES.
Evelyn Troy, C.M.I.
ELCA World Hunger Appeal “In 2004, our church’s World Hunger Appeal celebrated its 30th anniversary - 30 years of bringing help and hope to people in need.” These are the words addressed to us in a letter from Mark S. Hanson, presiding Bishop of the ELCA. He goes on to say, “In this anniversary year, our church will be celebrating the work of the Appeal...Through your giving, you have been part of this mosaic of hope that comes through merging relief, sustainable development, advocacy, and education. Your gifts are part of a picture - of a church that is responding faithfully and effectively to its Lord’s command to feed those who are hungry and to seek justice for those who are oppressed.”
Please continue to be a part of this picture by giving generously to our church’s World Hunger Appeal.
Gifts can be given through St. Peter’s, or sent directly to ELCA World Hunger Appeal, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.
One simple way to read these texts is to ask yourself the following questions:
1. What does this piece of scripture tell me about God?
2. What is God up to in this text?
3. What does this text call me (or us) to do or to be?
These are some of the questions I pray and ponder as I prepare for my sermons each week, and perhaps as you begin to ask them with me. We can grow in deeper conversation and connection with God and God's mission in the world. And you might even have a deeper experience of worship on Sunday morning.
Week before November 30, First Sunday of Advent:
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 (7)
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37
Week before December 7, Second Sunday of Advent:
Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 (13)
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Week before December 14, Third Sunday of Advent:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11>BR>
Psalm 126 (3)
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Week before December 21, Fourth Sunday of Advent:
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26 (1)
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38
Christmas Eve, December 24:
Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96 (11)
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-20
Week before December 28, First Sunday of Christmas:
December 28, 2008
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 148 (13)
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:22-40
“Saint Paul that it is ’together with thanksgiving’ that we should make known our petitions to God. Over and over again he says ’and be thankful.’ It goes without saying that we should be grateful for all the various blessings we receive in life - the blessing of health and friends, of sunshine and birdsong, of faith and freedom to worship. But Paul seems to be saying more than this, in bidding us actually join thanksgiving to all our petitions. Ge is not just telling us to be grateful when we have received what we were asking for, but to say ’thank you’ at the very time of asking...” (Simon Tugwell)
“Everything to which we’ve said hello to in life, we are meant to say goodbye to - not to deprive us but to enable us to move on. Every arrival foretells a leave-taking, every birth a death.” (Joan Chittister)
“The year hastens to its close. What is it to me? That I am twenty-five or fifty-eight is as nothing. Should I mourn that the spring flowers are gone, that the summer fruit has ripened, that the harvest is reaped, that the snow has fallen?” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” (C.S. Lewis)
Here are a few scripture passages I found particularly meaningful this month. They might make good prayer-starters for you:
Psalm 34
Isaiah 12
Isaiah 30:20-21
Ephesians 3:14-19
Romans 8:31-39
1 Corinthians 3:9-17
Yours in Christ,
Linda Nietman
