DEVOTION: Philippians 1:2-11
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Over the years I've often used this greeting from Paul to the Philippians as a kind of template or form to use in letters that I have written to people I love and care for. It's not a letter you're going to write to someone that you don't like or someone with whom you are angry and fighting. It isn't a formal business letter either. You're not going to write all of that caring and flattering language to the person who does your taxes unless of course a loved one does them.
But maybe you should...... That's right, maybe you should greet everyone you know with "Grace and peace from God...." and "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy."
Can you really hate the person for whom you are praying? Can you wish grace to someone with whom you are fighting?
We are not called to hate anything but sin. We are to love the sinner even if that sinner has sinned against us. We are not called to fight with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to love them and care for them as He has cared for us.
As we are getting ready for Christ to come, especially in this season of Advent, one of the things we should be doing is reconciling all of our relationships. That means greeting those who have sinned against us with grace and peace, forgiving them of their sin against us as heinous as the sin was and as difficult as it may be for you to do so. There is nothing more freeing and relieving that forgiving and being forgiven. It also means asking forgiveness from those against whom we have sinned, regardless of what their reaction might be.
Take it from someone who knows..... Make all of your correspondence positive, loving, and caring. Talk with people only out of love in a spirit of reconciliation, discipleship, and fellowship. Care for people with your words and your actions! Make this an Advent to remember!
Prayer: Lord, make all my greetings positive and my dealings with people full of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Amen.
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CALENDAR:
Sat- Worship 5
Sun- Worship 8:30 and 11; Sunday school 9:45
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WORSHIP WORKERS:
Acolyte- Wed 6:30pm-- Lydia Miller; 8:30- John ezold ; 11- Jack Bunge
Ushers- Wed 6:30- Scott and Alex Heitgerd &Bob and Tom Linke
Altar- Set Up and Clean up- Terry McKenzie
Communion Assistants- Sat- Randy Sweet; 8:30- John Hachtel; 11- Steve Robine
Greeters- 8:30- Erv Yoder; 11- Mike and Naomi Johnson
Lay readers- Sat- Randy Sweet 8:30- Lois Boeger 11- Kailyn Blechle
Sat. Pianist- Barb Dreyer
Organist- Wed. and Sun. Rachel Fisher
Projectionists: Sat. Pam Bueltmann 8:30- John Pezold , 11- ??????
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DAILY BIBLE QUIZ: (Note: The rest of these for the rest of this year are in memory and in honor of Dianne Hance who faithfully answered this quiz daily!)
If your last name is on this list you are responsible to bring two of the three of the following (salad, vegetable or dessert) for our Advent Potluck on Wed, Dec 2 by 5:30pm
We also ask that as many as can help to clean up so that we can all worship together at 6:30!!
Thank you all for participating in this wonderful event again this year!
Adams
Aubuchon
Benke
Bentley (Stevens)
Bettlach
Colleen Bottorff
Brazee
Busby
Butler
Callies
Cunningham
Dreyer
Mim Dunn
Farris
Feldkamp
Figura (Charlie)
Frenzia
Frick
Gilkey
Hance
Hargrove
Hoelscher (Gary)
Hoelscher (George)
Hoelscher (Jason)
Howard (John Sr.)
Huster
Jacobsmeyer
Kessel
Ketterer
King
Kosters
Landwehr
Linke (Tom)
Linstruth
Luebke (Don)
Mauch
McAlister
McDowell
McKenzie (Bill)
McNew
McRae
Merx
Moore
Morris
Nolte
Nordwald
Pailer
Perricone
Peterson
Pezold
Rausch
Redecker
Robine
Ruth
Sayers
Schauer
Schulze
Scott (Gary)
Sherman (all of them)
Smith (Tim)
Speakman
Spiniolas
Sutherland
Sweet
Talbert
Tinnin
Toedebusch (Dale)
Toedebusch (Paul)
Vohsen
Vossen
Waller
Walters (Doug)
Walters (Lee)
Ladies Aid will serve a luncheon following Dianne Hance's funeral at St. John's on Thursday, December 3rd. Funeral,11 am, luncheon following. We need donations of salads, vegetables and desserts only. No hot dishes.
If you would like to donate a dish please call Lil Winter @ 636-585-2525; Joan Sexton, 636-456-5437 or Nancy Peterson, 660-619-8474.
We could use some help with clean up after the luncheon since some of our ladies are unavailable to serve. Perhaps 2 of our PALS would be able to volunteer. Please let me know by e-mail, lindacallies@centurylink.net or call me at 636-456-4228
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ORDER YOUR POINSETTIAS TO BE PLACED IN THE CHANCEL (ALTAR AREA) FOR CHRISTMAS IN HONOR OR IN MEMORY OF SOMEONE OR JUST AS A THANK YOU TO THE LORD FOR HIS CHURCH!!
$13.50 each
Sign up on the table in the narthex or call the church office.
Pay in the office or put your payment in the offering plate, but make sure it is CLEARLY MARKED "For POINSETTIA".
You can take them home with you after worship on Christmas Day!
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PROJECTIONISTS STILL NEEDED THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR FOR THESE DATES!!!!
At our meeting last night we went through quite a few concerns and how to proceed to the next step.
Before the next meeting Elmer Wind is going to put together a few different master plans for us to review and discuss. Once we get a master plan decided on by the majority of the people in attendance at the next meeting we will then bring it to a special voter's meeting and have the voters approve it. After the master plan has been approved we will move on to developing a finance committee that will research and plan exactly how much of the master plan we can afford to build at the current time. Once that is accomplished we will go to the voters assembly again to approve the building of what we can afford. After that we will make plans to begin the building process.
I'm getting excited as I continue to see progress. I see the wheels turning slowly and the rudder is moving this whole big ship!
St. John's is growing rapidly and is in need of upgrades to the current structure as well as more space! That' is what we are working on accomplishing in the very near future! Thanks be to God!
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THE GARMS FAMILY SINGERS WILL BE HERE FOR A CHRISTMAS CONCERT ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17 AT 6PM!!!
UNMARKED BLUE ENVELOPE CONTRIBUTIONS ARE GOING TO THE BUILDING EXPANSION PROGRAM
If you'd like it to go to the DCE fund you need to mark it for that! Please make sure you mark the ENVELOPE clearly for the DCE PROGRAM!
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DO YOU HAVE A KROGER CARD? ENROLL IT IN THE COMMUNITY REWARDS PROGRAM!!!
Register it online www.krogercommunityrewards.com and have it swiped each time you shop to earn money for Little Lambs.
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