the epistle · 2020. 11. 25. · the epistle christmas during covid some of us may have suspected...
TRANSCRIPT
The Epistle Christmas During COVID
Some of us may have suspected back in March that we would still be in the middle of a pan-demic in December, but none of us wanted it to be a reality.
We are, all of us, weary of this pandemic. We miss feeling safe. We miss our friends, family, and one another. We miss the free-doms and traditions that are now on hold. And now, it is evi-dent that we will have Christ-mas during Covid.
Christmas is just what we need, for Christ was born precisely be-cause there are pandemics. As
we quarantine to protect our loved ones and our neighbors, and even when we can’t visit the sick, we remember that now that Christ is born, died, raised again, and ascended in-to heaven, no matter where we are, God is with us. Even when we can’t travel “home” or have others to our home, we remember that the Word became flesh and made His home among us. As we await test results and pray for those who are ill, we remember that Christ died for all, therefore all have died and will be raised to live again. Christ’s birth shows us that we have God’s love and favor.
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December 2020 St. Paul Lutheran Church
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Stewardship .......... 2
Letter from LWR ... 3
Youth Group ......... 4
Music News ........... 5
Celebrations .......... 5
Prayer Ventures .. 11
Prayer Requests... 13
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD UPDATE
As of Sunday, Nov. 22, St. Paul’s con-gregation has given 61 shoeboxes to this year’s Opera-tion Christmas Child campaign! Thank you for your generosity!
CHARITABLE DEDUCTION TIP FOR 2020
As you plan your year-end offerings, remember for 2020 you can deduct up to $300 single / $600 joint in chari-table contributions without itemizing. You can deduct 100% of charitable contributions (limited to 50% of adjusted gross in-come) if you item-ize.
You are an amazing, generous congregation! Once again you have shown your love for St. Paul and our many ministries. So far, we have received 55 Statement of Intent cards toward our goal of 60. Of the returned cards:
• 63% of our households have shown an increase in gener-osity for 2021.
• 22 households pledged for the first time.
• Total amount of pledges for 2021 is $184,819.80; this is $40,103.80 more than was pledged in 2020!
• In 2021 there are $863.45 per week more pledged than last year!
If you haven’t yet returned your Statement of Intent card, please fill out the card and mail it today to the church office. If you prefer, please complete our online form. Remember, a member has pledged $2,000 if we receive 60 or more State-ment of Intent cards. We only need 5 more returned cards to reach our goal of 60. Please help us reach this goal.
Your generosity will make a tremendous difference as we seek to strengthen our ministries.
Carole Replogle, Stewardship Team Chair
Christmas During COVID
We will witness to this good news through a Virtual Christ-mas pageant with our congregation’s children and young adults (look for more information in coming weeks!), Christ-mas Eve worship, and Lessons and Carols on December 27. It is uncertain whether we will be able to be in person for these worship services or whether they will only be online, but ei-ther way, Christ is already born and God is with you!
Do not be afraid; God’s good news of great joy is for you.
Merry Christmas, Pastor Emily Beckering
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Stewardship Appeal Results—Celebration!
Lutheran World Relief: Quilt Rescue
ELCA GOOD GIFTS
Are you weary of giving Christmas presents that your friends and family hide in a closet or drawer because they don't need them? This year, consider giving gifts in honor of your loved ones while making a difference in the world. Give a needy family a cow, a pig, a goat to help them be self-sustaining--those are gifts that won't end up in the attic. Visit goodgifts.elca.org to learn how. You could also give to ELCA World Hun-ger. Read page 9 to hear a story of how God ended hunger and loneliness.
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St. Paul recently received the following letter from the presi-dent of Lutheran World Relief. You may remember that some of the quilts that our Dorcas Circle created and donated to LWR in 2019 were sent to Lebanon for distribution. These quilts, along with supplies donated by hundreds of other churches, miraculously survived the warehouse explosion in Beirut last August - completely undamaged - and can now be used to help and comfort families affected by the disaster.
Dear Friends at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church,
As you all know, some of your congregation's Mission Quilts were in the port of Beirut awaiting customs clearance when the devastating August 4 explosion took place. As that situa-tion has continued to evolve, I want to make sure you have the full picture of the situation to share with those in your congregation who are involved in this critical ministry of love.
Six days before the blast, a shipment of three containers containing 22,500 Mission Quilts, 3,500 School Kits, 19,500 Personal Care Kits, and 2,250 Baby Care Kits arrived in the port of Beirut. Immediate reports from the port authority following the explosion indicated that the containers could not have survived.
A fourth container had been separated at the port in the United States and was still on the water at the time of the ex-plosion. It was rerouted to the port in Tripoli.
News of the destruction of the three containers generated our first call to you, as we wanted to be able to personally share the news. As we joined in our shared lament, we were deeply inspired and humbled by the determination of all of our quilters and kit- makers to keep going, keep creating, keep serving, keep sharing your love with our neighbors all over the world.
On the morning of August 26, LWR staff received an urgent update from our partner, Anera: they had been given access to the port, and against all odds, the containers appeared to be intact! LWR staff continued to raise concerns that the quilts and kits would need to be assessed for damage and
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When Sunday School picked up again this year, youth nights did as well. When the pandemic started all of us have had to make adjustments during these last nine months or so. Since September we have met virtually on the fourth Saturday of the month on Zoom. So far, we have dis-cussed topics like bullying in September and bravery in October. Themes are usu-ally chosen by one of the youth and an adult helping come up with icebreaker games, Bible verses to discuss, music, and sermon/testimony. Anyone 12 years old through high school, or just young at
heart, is welcome to join. (December’s meeting date is still TBA due to the Christ-mas holiday.)
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the group leaders:
Chelsea King - [email protected] Donald Harris - [email protected] John Cathcart - [email protected] Chrison Harris - [email protected]
From Lutheran World Relief: Quilt Rescue
chemical contamination. This incredible news spurred our second call to you, even-as we awaited final information about the status of the items.
Finally, we learned on September 22 that, upon closer inspection and despite the magnitude of the blast, the seal of the container containing the LWR Mission Quilts and Kits was not broken. The placement in the port, inside a concrete storage building and surrounded by oth-er shipping containers, protected the containers enough to even prevent chemical contamination.
As we awaited this last piece of infor-mation, the fourth container cleared cus-toms in Tripoli and travelled over land to join the other three in Anera’s Beirut warehouse, once again bringing the full shipment together.
We give thanks to God that the love of hundreds of Lutheran congregations con-tained in this shipment will be able to be shared with more than 24,000 of our neighbors in Beirut and across the coun-try of Lebanon - many refugees from across the region, and now also those affected by the blast in the heart of Bei-rut. From the ashes rises a beautiful ray of hope: your love, intact and powerful, in just the right place, at just the right time.
I continue to be inspired by your love, faithfulness and brilliant witness, in countless ways. May God continue to bless your ministry in your community and around the world.
In gratitude,
Ambassador Daniel V. Speckhard President and CEO
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Youth Group Continues “Zooming”
2 Alanna Cathcart
3 Larry Huber
8 Freda Faulkner
13 Olivia Lohmeier, Amy Flege Lorenz, Sarah Papin
14 Rachel Dean
15 Donny Cathcart
16 Ruth Lohmeier
17 Heather Segar
18 Linda Lawson, Robert Portmann, Jr.
19 Louise Barry
21 Barbara Moorhouse, Debra Roell
23 Chelsea King
27 Shaun Seals
27 Jean Nolte
27 Eric & Susan Bardes
28 Henry Beckering
30 Jason Hirt
31 Rhonda Kreiner
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Music @ St. Paul Lutheran Church for December, 2020
Hello, everyone,
Kate and I are so blessed to be a part of St. Paul's services. Thank you for your continued support.
As you may be aware, this past Sunday, November 22, the SPLC Bell Choir re-turned on Christ the King Sunday! We have been practicing social distancing and wearing masks, so we are taking all precautions regarding the ongoing pan-demic. We will be ringing again for ser-vices in Advent and Epiphany, so if you are interested in joining us, please contact me—there will be plenty of opportunities to play! Let us rejoice and ring!
We are very excited to be able to bring special music and musicians to St. Paul on December 24 for the Christmas Eve service, which will begin at 6:45pm this year. The special group consists of four saxophonists (soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone) and will be performing pre-service music, hymns, as well as a lively
postlude. We hope you will be able to join us either in person or online.
Is anyone interested in performing indi-vidually or with me and Kate during the December 27 service? Currently, Nick Huitger and Nancy Erbeck have volun-teered to perform. If you’d like to play an instrument (solo, duo, or trio) or simply sing with Kate (myself or solo), please let us know in the next two weeks (by De-cember 7) at the latest. Our hope is to fea-ture as many members of the congrega-tion as possible on several favorite Christ-mas carols.
In addition to this opportunity to partici-pate musically at St. Paul, we are putting together plans for a Virtual Children’s Christmas Choir. This will be similar to our Virtual Hymn Project back in September. More details coming soon.
Wishing you all good health and love.
In Christ, Kris & Kate
Celebrations in December
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Holy Spirit Sighting—Generosity Among Us
Several members whose intended in-crease in giving in 2021 are particularly inspiring, share with us why and how they came to this decision.
HOUSEHOLD #1: INCREASING GIVING BY 1698%--GROWING IN GENEROSITY
We know because of our problems we had not been giving as we wanted; we wished this year it could be more, to be honest. We are hoping for better next year.
HOUSEHOLD #2: INCREASING GIV-ING BY 196%--PAYING IT FORWARD
We believe that the Lord has blessed and watched over us this year. We are still employed and have been the whole time. We also have had very few friends and/or family members affected by the pandem-ic.
Pastor Emily has been a great inspiration to us, as well as the whole congregation. We believe with the Lord's blessing, we need to “Pay it Forward”.
HOUSEHOLD #3: INCREASING GIVING BY 650%--BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN LOVED
We feel that it is our responsibility to give to the church when we are able. We trust that the church will use the money as is needed to both support the church and support the community. When we haven’t been able to give financially, we've always tried to give through shar-ing the gifts that God has bestowed upon us. We believe that God expects us to share the talents we've been given for others’ benefit. We are not the models of selfless giving. We try, but we are human; we err.
With every challenge we face, we try to see the blessing behind it. It's not always easy to find, but the blessings are there if we trust in God to provide for us. We could tell you a million little (and big) things that we gripe about, but in the end (well, really from the beginning!), God comes through! We were concerned about work this year in light of COVID. God answered our prayers about work, just like God answered our prayers for a church home.
We give because we have received; we give because we have been loved; we give because we feel it is our responsibil-ity; we give because we can.
Share your story of why you give with someone else or with Pastor Emily so that others may see the Holy Spirit at work!
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From the Presiding Bishop: “At the Table Together” Editor’s note: In keeping with this month’s theme issue, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton is sharing her favorite food and faith story, which originally appeared in her September 2017 column.
Old recipes are precious things. They give in-structions about how to prepare a dish, but they are so much more. They are filled with memories. They connect families as they are passed from one generation to the next. They bring events and people from long ago right into the present.
I am looking at a recipe card that has that effect on me. It’s my mother’s recipe for stuffing for tur-key. It’s written in her neat hand—a skill I never mastered. It’s a basic recipe, just bread and but-ter and onions and celery and poultry seasoning. I don’t even have to read it now when I make stuffing, but I like to look at it because it puts me right back into Thanksgivings past.
Thanksgiving in our family was an event. The Eatons have been gathering for Thanksgiving dinner for nearly 70 years. We traded off between our house and my aunt and uncle’s home. When it was our turn we got up early and started cook-ing.
Out came the recipes and equipment. There were no food processors in those days. We had a cast iron food grinder that clamped on to the edge of the kitchen table. It was kept in its own special box. It only made an appearance once a year and its emergence signaled that Thanksgiving had arrived. Grinding the celery was no problem. On-ions were another story. My brothers and I
spelled each other at turning the crank until we were overcome by the fumes.
My parents and my aunt and uncle established this tradition shortly after World War II. We have always had three and sometimes four genera-tions present. A lot has gone on in our family and in the world these past decades. Marriages, chil-dren, moves, deaths, war, recession, elections, the ’60s. We are a lively bunch and none of us lacks an opinion or the ability to express it. Con-versations were spirited and sometimes heated. My father and my uncle served in the army during World War II. My older brother and older male cousins didn’t support the Vietnam War. We be-long to different political parties. We are Luther-an and Catholic and members of the Unification Church and unchurched. We are liberal and con-servative.
But no matter what, when my mother or my aunt announced, “Supper’s ready,” we all came to the table together. We were family, we shared our lives, we loved each other.
A lot is going on in our church and in the world right now. We are a changing church, which brings its own tension. We live in a wired world where news is instantaneous and continuous. We don’t agree on everything. We belong to different political parties. We have varied ethnicities. We’re liberal and conservative and everything in between. We’re in an “either/or” world. And we are contending with cultural forces that exacer-bate division. But by the tender love of God, by this ceaseless pursuit of the Spirit, we are mem-bers of the body of Christ. We are family. We share our lives. We love each other.
Here is another simple recipe: flour, water, wine, the body and blood of Jesus. A meal of healing, forgiveness and thanksgiving. No matter what, when our Lord tenderly and urgently invites, “Supper’s ready,” we all come to the table. There in our common brokenness we meet each other in Christ.
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
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For emergency pastoral care, please call the after-hours line at 513-760-5884.
If you have requests for the Prayer Chain, call Penny Huber, 513-931-6420. To remove people from the list, contact the office.
We pray for Mary and her granddaughter Kyra (friend of Paul Pieper); Berkeley (Carol Curless’s great-grandson); Pr. Lisa Bernheisel; Louise Barry; Teresa Bell (former member); Stephen Black (Kim Coulehan’s nephew); Bobby (Christian Lohmeier’s friend); Nancy Bose (Kathy Hirt’s friend); Brett (Kings’ step-nephew); Jodie Calhoun; Christian; Frances Clemons (Portmanns’ friend); Kathy Curless; Katie Demo-poulos (Diana Hawkins’s niece); Dick (Linda Mil-ler’s brother); Jeremy Doan (Jean Winkle’s grandson); Jerry Doan (Jean Winkle’s son-in-law); Lee Erbeck; Larry Faulkner (Freda’s son); Justin Feldman (Bess Sturgill’s father); Micki Ford (Fords’ niece); Jeanne Fuller; Scarlett Gal-ly (Beth Wernery’s great-niece); Clara Garcia (Cindy Mayhugh’s sister); George and Sherry (Shirley Harbaugh’s cousins); Nathaniel Gibson (Les Eckerle’s step-nephew); Hannah; Matthew Harrison (Seals’ neighbor); Sandy Hatcher (Linda Holt’s sister); Elain Heskamp; Richard Hoffman (Cindy Mayhugh’s brother); Andrew Horton; Mary Ann Hudecki (Linda Miller’s sister), Ellen Hunter (Jeni Cathcart’s grandmother); Jo and her daughter (Jeanne Fuller’s friends); Joan (Penny Huber’s friend); Kate (granddaughter of Dennis King’s friend); Dennis King; Jay King (son of Jamie King); Loretta Kombrink (Marilyn Port-mann’s aunt); Lewis Laine (Chet Laine’s brother); Richard Lane (Elinor Schieman’s nephew); Nel-son Langefeld; Yvonne Lowery (St. Paul Play-ers); Carroll Mayhugh Sr. (Carroll Mayhugh’s fa-ther); Samantha Mersch (Mayhughs’ daughter, Sarah Papin’s sister); Jessica Mink (Donald Har-ris’s cousin); Doris Minton; Barbara Moorhouse; Jean Nolte; Ervin Oerther (Portmanns’ brother-in-law); Ann Ohr (Barbara Moorhouse’s cousin); Richard Osborn (Betty Pack’s brother); Rosie Os-born (Betty Pack’s sister); Eric Papin; Christian & Suzie Pereira (Carolyn Koehl’s granddaughter &
grandson-in-law); Richard Peterson (Shirley Har-baugh’s brothers); Don Pflieger (Kings’ brother-in-law); Ginny Pape; Linda Perin (Moorhouses’ cousin); Paul Pieper; Faith Pirrmann; Pat Pop-plewell (Dennis King’s friend); James Savoy (Jean Winkle’s great-grandson); Shawn Schnet-zer (Sturgills’ cousin); Sheila Schultz (Betty Pack’s friend); Brenda Schumacher (Marilyn Portmann’s friend); Shannon and Dane (friends of Riddle family); Kate Sheridan (Kings’ family friend); Keith Shupe (father of Kelly Shupe); Ja-son Simpson (Freda Faulkner’s grand-nephew); Patricia Smith (Teresa Bell’s mother); Scott Songer; Judy Songer (friends of Jean Winkle); Crosley Spelman (Spelmans’ grandson); Frank Sturgill (Jim’s dad); Britney Jean Teems (Jean Winkle’s granddaughter); Teresa (friend of Marty Lohmeier); Randy Thaman (friend of Marie Cal-houn); Michael Theiss (Cindy Mayhugh’s cousin); Geri Toland (Carole Replogle’s neighbor); Treas-ure (Les Eckerle’s cousin); Ralph Turner (friend of Dennis King); Tereasa Vogel (Freda Faulkner’s friend); Jack Wagner; Jeanne Wagner; Daryl Wesselman (Betty Pack’s granddaughter); Jean Winkle; Susan Winkle (Jean Winkle’s daughter-in-law).
We pray for those with ongoing health concerns who are unable to come to church every week: Louise Barry, Barbara Moorhouse, Jean Nolte, Heather Segar.
At the death of: Jack Moorhouse
We pray for our armed forces members: Graham Barton (Fords’ neighbor); Paul Cordes (Elinor Schieman’s grandson); Victoria Derry (Elinor Schieman’s great-granddaughter); Jared Forst (Jim and Loretta’s grandson); Beau Glenn (Karen Koehl’s son-in-law); Kylie Hahn (Gretta Hahn’s granddaughter); Donald Hosea (Karen Koehl’s son); Samuel McLoughlin (friend of Cindy Sieckman); Scott Minton (Doris Minton’s son); Jobeth Ramirez (friend of Karen Koehl); Joshua Rodriguez (friend of Karen Koehl); Trent Schwegman (cousin to the Erbecks and Fords); Dustin Silvey; Mack Thompson (Freda Faulk-ner’s grandson); Alex Wisecup (son of Nadine and Barry Wisecup).
Our Life Together
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St. Paul Lutheran Church
Mission Statement:
Christians using God’s gifts
helping others know him.
PLEASE PLACE STAMP HERE
St. Paul Lutheran Church
106 Maple St. Reading, OH 45215
Phone: 513-821-0987 E-mail: [email protected] Web: stpaulreading.org