NEWS
WEEKLY UPDATE
October 13th 2024
Trunk-or-Treat
Help us fill the back parking lot with cars/trucks/mini vans decorated with a theme of your choice and candy to pass out. Last year we had 125 kids come thru! We need your help and creativity. If you are willing to decorate a trunk or tailgate let Tracey know!
Confirmation & Senior High kids will get community service hours for their time!
Chili Cook Off
Sunday, October 27th 10:30am-Noon
Prizes will be given to the top chili winners!
Crock pots of chili can be dropped off that morning by 10am in the kitchen.
Sign up in the blue folders during worship to enter your chili, bring a dessert, and/or bring corn bread.
Don’t want to make a batch of chili?
We could always use more judges! Come enjoy taste testing and fellowship.
Appreciation Lunch
The Church Council would like to invite the members of our congregation to the Annual Appreciation Lunch on November 10th at 11:30am in Fellowship Hall. Lunch will be catered by River Inn so please RSVP so we can get a count for food to order. You can sign up by calling the office, sending an email to the office or during worship in the blue folders.
We want to thank you for all that you do at St. Paul’s!
Poinsettia and Greenery Sale
Children’s Country Preschool is once again offering beautiful poinsettias in various sizes and colors, wreaths, spruce tips, etc. as a fund-raiser for the preschool. The colored order form is in the blue folders or sent out in Thursday’s email notifications. If you are interested in ordering a single RED poinsettia to decorate the sanctuary during the later part of December, please fill out the separate order form in the bulletin to indicate “In honor of …” or “In Memory of…” and place the payment and form in the offering plate or on Staci’s desk. Make checks payable to “Children’s Country Preschool (CCP).” All orders need to be prepaid. We will be taking orders until Sunday, October 20, 2024. The very latest to get orders in is Tues. Oct. 22. Personal orders will be delivered to the preschool on Monday, December 2, 2024 and a phone call will be made to let you know they have arrived. The church poinsettias will be delivered at a later date. Thank you for your continued support in our fund-raising efforts!
Congregational Sympathy
Sympathies to Stephanie Duda and her family on the death of her brother Eric. Please keep the Duda/Geers family in your prayers.
We love worshipping together!
We are so happy to be able to offer multiple worship experiences at St. Paul’s.
Our 8AM traditional services features our organ and the music and liturgy you have known and loved for years. Plenty of seating and great people to meet!
9:15 worship is bursting at the seams, the mix of inviting liturgy and newer, modern songs led by talented worship teams has us overflowing the sanctuary.
And good news, our 10:30 service includes the same music as 9:15, the same Sunday School options, and room to sit, even if you come in a few minutes late. Don’t worry, we always get people home before the game starts!
Whatever your fit, know that we have options for you here at St. Paul’s!
Last Week’s Worship Attendance
8:00am: 84
9:15am: 97
10:30am: 84
Online: 46
Total: 311
Last Week’s Offering:
Online Giving: $4,530
Offering: $ 5,116
Haiti: $245
Building: $190
Total: $10,151
PASTOR'S MESSAGE
October 2024
The cooler nights have me thinking of fall, of beautiful colors and crisp breezes and the sound of leaves as they skitter across the driveway and crunch underfoot. Eventually, the colors fade as the trees shed their coats and the stark branches reach into the sky as if frozen and waiting for spring rains.
And the wind has free reign with nothing to stand in its way. The breezes transition from crisp to cold to freezing as we go from long sleeves to sweaters to coats.
It makes me think about some of the situations we face in life. Every day there are forces that seem to work against us. Like ocean waves against the cliffs, like constant rain filling riverbeds near to overflowing, and like a cold wind that eventually chills us to the bone, we will also be overcome given enough time and isolation.
We’ve all found ways to deal with that constant pressure on our lives. While these pressures look different, everyone is facing them and finding ways to cope with or combat them – in both healthy or unhealthy ways. The shadow side of this constant battle is that too often we tend to fight alone. We do everything in our power, use all available resources, and still find ourselves lacking. Discouragement finds us as we exhaust our options.
This is so often the course of events when we are left on our own to navigate through life. But we are not left on our own to navigate through life.
“You will not be easily shaken because My enveloping Presence buffers the blow of problems.”
This was a line in my Jesus Calling devotional today. It immediately conjured up images of God standing between us and the cold wind, of God stacking sandbags against a rising river, of God calming the seas so the cliffs don’t crumble away. God has not and never will abandon us to the struggles of this world. We will always have him leading and guiding, protecting and providing. We, you and I, are beloved children of God, and he has a vested interest in our wellbeing. If you have ever had a child in harm’s way or struggling, you know that a loving parent wades into the mess to provide love and care and support. Why would our loving father act any differently?
So let us not be easily shaken, because our Father in heaven loves us and buffers the blow of any problems that come our way.
Pastor Luke
Psalm 16:8 (ESV): I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.