News - St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church

Church: (847) 524-9746
stjohnevlutheranchurch.org
School: (847) 524-5328
EPIPHANY
SEASON
While the Epiphany season begins annually on a
fixed calendar date of
January 6th, commemorating the Magi’s visit to
the Bethlehem stable,
the first Sunday in Epiphany celebrates the
baby Jesus all grown up on being baptized
by John in the Jordan River. As the Gospel
of Mark records: (1:10 & 11) “And when Jesus came up out of the water, immediately
he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit
descending on him like a dove. And a voice
came from heaven, “You are my beloved
Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Now while “beloved” and “wellpleased” may appear to say the same thing,
the heavenly Father’s voice really proclaims
two distinct promises. “Beloved” as in son,
is the royal designation given by God in the
Old Testament, first to David and then all
David’s descendants, whom God promised
would always rule God’s chosen people. In
other words, the Lord was publically ratifying
that Jesus was the Anointed One (Messiah/
Christ).
As the voice of the Creator over the
watery depths created the heavens and
earth, so His voice over the dripping wet Jesus in Jordan’s waters, creates faith in human hearts that Mary’s son fulfilled God’s
1000 year old promise to raise up a King of
David’s line, to institute the Kingdom of God
on earth. The fact that God’s people hadn’t
had any genealogical candidates show any
sign of qualifying for the title in over 500
years didn’t mean they had stopped hoping.
January 2015
Schaumburg, IL
On the contrary times in the Roman
Empire were so desperate for the descendants of Abraham that their expectation and
anticipations were at an all-time high. So
having the right pedigree by earthly lineage,
God the Father divinely certifies Jesus at His
baptism as: “YOU (and only you) are THE
ONE!”
The “well-pleased” appellation is the
heavenly Father’s additional ratification as
much to say: “Everything YOU (Jesus) do
from here on out is just fine by me!” A kind of
‘carte blanche’ that the Son of Mary can do
no wrong when it comes to saying things
about God’s Kingdom and doing things that
reveal its presence on earth. So it’s no surprise Jesus goes on a 3 year tour of actively
preaching the Good News and doing miraculous works that affirm who He (King, Ruler,
Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, etc.),
and that He has the power and authority to do
the job of bringing the Kingdom of God to sinners, and making sinners to be citizens of
God’s Kingdom by faith in Him.
It’s ironic how human hearts are all a
’fluster over Christmas angels, shepherds,
wise men and baby Jesus in the manger. I
noticed a house in the subdivision on Jan. 8th
that still displayed a sign reading- “Keep
Christ in Christmas. ” While it meant something positive during the usual season, it’s
message seemed to be more negative, as if
to imply “Keep Christ in Christmas” (as in
Stop Jesus from getting out beyond the holidays!)
But that’s how the world would like it.
Celebrating Jesus’ mature wondrous words
and adult awesome deeds in the season of
Epiphany doesn’t get the time of day, (or
even a day of worship per week.) . It’s unfortunate sinners follow such a self-imposed restricted diet. There are so many of God’s
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St. John Newsletter
great promises to trust and covenants in which
to rejoice with thanks and praise.
It’s as
though some of God’s people purposely
choose to be spoon-fed strained fruits pureed
vegetables and drink from sippy cups.
Surely their faith is fated to remain infantile, immature, and childish, and their discipleship does the disservice of portraying Christianity as juvenile “kids stuff.” But at least they
prove one thing for sure.
Epiphany is for
growing-up faith and grownup discipleship. In
the water and word of our Lord’s Holy Baptism
our God proclaims its “adult swim” time in the
Kingdom of God.
VOTERS ASSEMBLY
JAN. 13 AT 7:30pm
All communicant members of SJELC 21
yrs. and older are asked to meet Tues. evening to review our financial status for 2014.
We shall also be looking ahead to consider
what the new year has in store, as well as invite feedback and sharing concerns that will
improve our work proclaiming the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and doing the work of God’s kingdom within our congregation and reaching out
to the world. Please plan to attend.
TREASURER
The Council would like all to consider
this next item as a priority. St. John Ev. Lutheran seeks a volunteer willing to fulfill the
Treasurer responsibilities of mission and ministry. While there is a fuller description in the
Constitution, the gist of the work would best be
handled by someone who has a modicum of
accounting abilities & a talent for financial
computing skills. If you are interested, or can
offer the name of someone who might be, a
more detailed description is available from
Pastor or President Brett Dallmeyer whom you
may contact at your convenience. The need is
crucial.
COMMUNITY
OUTREACH CONCEPTS
Back in November we asked you to
consider how SJELC might help our neighbors
realize God’s love at work in our hearts by a
list of activities put together by Elder Mike
Waddell and a group of SJELC members. As
the holidays may have interrupted this process, we represent that list and ask for your
comments and suggestions. These may be
placed in the green box on the narthex ushers
desk.
1. Bike tune up day with bike shop assistance
2. Have a booth at community concerts, carnivals to distribute church info.
3. Participate in community parades (Labor
Day, Memorial Day)
4.
Friend/Visitor Sunday (sermon about
friends)
5. Charity work – Rake, yard cleanup
(Schaumburg Township list of senior svcs.)
6. October Fest – Games, bingo, buckets,
hoops, popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs, face
painting, decorate pumpkins, storytelling,
bounce house, pony rides, hayride, etc.
7. Activities in Gym – Guest speakers, movie
night, Bears game, etc.
8. Welcome to the neighborhood packet –
Find new residents to contact
9. Chili Cook Off – Sponsor with a pub
10. More activities for all ages at church functions.
11. Free breakfast on weekends for community and homeless.
12. SJELC send cards to help others.
13. Child Safety Program – Car set installation, medical protection, input from Fire and
Police
14. CPR certification
15. English as Second Language classes
16. More use of facility by community groups.
Please give serious prayer and thought
about the above, and how these or your own
recommendations will convey the best witness
of Christ Jesus’ lordship in our midst.
St. John Newsletter
Page 3
PORTALS OF PRAYER
The new year brings new devotions,
but all still available in three sizes of large
print, readers digest and pocket edition.
They all offer the same high quality, brief
meditation of God’s Word promises a
deeper faith and greater discipleship. They
are available on the table next to the secretary’s office window of the narthex. Please
pick your quarterly issue up today.
OFFERING
ENVELOPES 2015
Please pick up your multi-purpose
box of stewardship tools as soon as possible. You will enjoy helping our congregational mission at St. John as well as various
local, national and international ministries of
the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
In
addition each individually numbered box
provides a confidential way to record your
offerings that provide an annual document of
charitable giving acceptable for tax purposes. Please contact our council Financial
Secretary Beth McGonagle if you have further questions.
FLORAL
OFFERING
CHART 2015
Chancel flowers to
add beauty to the worship
services also can observe
OUR LORD'S TREASURY
NEEDED
Received Sept.
$20,847.67
Received Oct.
$20,847.67
Received Nov
$20,847.67
Received Dec.
$20,847.67
special personal events or family anniversaries. A chart is posted on the narthex bulletin
board throughout the year. Add your last
name and phone number to a specific Sunday so Mrs. Bobby may contact you the
week prior to the chosen Sunday. She’ll inquire what bulletin announcement you would
like and inquire what floral arrangements you
prefer. PLEASE be mindful that others may
want to share the same Sunday, so try and
leave room on the signup sheet for their request as well.
SJELC orders from Deptula on
Schaumburg Rd, who can delivery fresh
flowers on Saturdays before worship; or use
your own florist, (ask about delivery specifics); or create your bouquet, and arrange to
drop them off prior to Sunday morning services. If you have questions about ordering
or delivery info, please call Mrs. Bobby in the
church office.
2015 ORNAMENT FROM
MONDAY NITE CRAFT
CLUB
Thank you to Karen Flaxman, Michelle Friede, Dawn Hinz, Cindy King, Nancy
McVay, Beth McGonagle, Tina Reitz, Len
and Jean Flaxman, who spent many cold
nights designing, cutting, painting, sparkling
and labeling the “Jesus-Cross” keepsakes
offered to Christmas worshippers to decorate
household Christmas trees. May these symbols remind hearts of the power of salvation
in the name of Jesus, and inspire us to believe in the steadfast grace and mercy of our
heavenly Father throughout the coming
days of 2015.
RECEIVED
$17,596.76
$17,234.56
$21,595.75
$21,893.25
MISSIONS
$ 1,165.00
$ 1,659.00
$ 1,087.00
$ 688.00
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St. John Newsletter
SERVICE GUILD
A fantastic “year in review” of our ladies mission work is available in the Gazette
included with this newsletter. Perhaps a
great resolution for 2015 would be to keep
the Guild’s work in your prayers, and be on
the lookout for events in the coming year,
where you could share your sacrifices of
time, talent and treasure doing the work of
God’s Kingdom through our women’s fellowship at St. John.
SCRIP SAVERS GIFT
CARD RESPONSE
Thank you to the Bd. Of Stewardship for
sponsoring this successful opportunity making our Christmas ‘gifting’ a little easier.
$9,256 worth of cards were ordered (2x
more than last year!), which returned back to
our congregation’s mission and ministry a
benefit of $537.95. We appreciate Lynn
Bobby and Tina Reitz for compiling, ordering
and delivering the cards in a timely matter to
make great stocking stuffers for our friends
and family. Your participation has given us
encouragement to do this again next year.
‘SHOEBOX
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS’
We are grateful to all
congregational members, Bd. Of Christian
Ed., Youth Group and
Service Guild who
gave time, offerings and donations to assist
our monthly ongoing Project Compassion
work at Abbington Rehab & Nursing Home.
Filled with items requested by staff
and recommended by residents, over 60
plastic shoe boxes were wrapped, ribboned
and placed under the congregation’s Christmas tree until Christmas Day. They were
delivered and distributed to the people following a worship service of carols and
hymns conducted by members of St. John
who shared their Christmas morning with
the residents.
In the words of one resident: “This
gift is a present from the Lord.” When the
hands of God’s people are transformed into
the Lord’s hands in the eyes of those who
are blessed by such sacrifices, the true
Spirit of Christmas has been realized. “God
with us” - “God in us” - God through us.”
ELDER
ASSIGNMENTS
The Elders of SJELC are servants for
members who have personal spiritual needs
or material requests that the Pastor and
congregation may address, but in a private
and confidential way. To best help, the directory is divided alphabetically and assigned an elder. Here is the list for 2015
Matt Stearns: E. Anderson – K. Bruns
Mike Waddell: M. Buchholz – E. Fondel
Ed Piepenbrink: R. Franklin – K. Hinz
Chris Kolupa: H. Hitzemann – B. McGonagle
Karl Hinz: E. McVay – B. Scholinsky
John Darrow: D. Schroeder – R. Yunker
THRIVENT CHOICE
GIFTS
Thank you to all Thrivent members
who designated SJELC congregation and
preschool respectively, as recipients for the
benevolence funding by this insurance/
financial adviser organization. $1,199 were
received because of your care and concern
for our young family mission and our ongoing ministry to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus
St. John Newsletter
Christ. Those funds made a positive difference in our work together as God’s people.
Thank you.
PASTOR AND KATHY’S
PERSONAL NOTES
We thank the members of St. John
for their extremely generous Christmas gift
this year. With the extra trips to MN in recent months, your thoughtfulness was a
blessing that helped ease our financial concerns in a time when it was important for
our family to be together. We pray God will
extend His gracious and merciful hands
over all of you in the coming year, to guard
you from every danger and bestow all spiritual abundance and earthly bounty on you
and your families.
THANK YOU
To My St. John Family,
Thank you so very much for all of
your cards, prayers and expressions of
sympathy since my father’s death. It is truly
comforting to be surrounded by so many
kind and thoughtful people. God bless you!
God bless us all with a very happy New
Year in 2015!
Kathy Brockhoff
RICCARDO’S
PROGRESSIVE
DINNER
The fellowship, food and service
were so fantastic last year, we’d like to get
together again for our SJELC unique version of progressive dinner. We meet at
church for appetizers, then drive to the Riccardo’s Family Restaurant at Wise and Roselle Rd. for some fine dining. Then return
to church for desserts. This all cuts down
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on the travel time so we can spend more time
together sharing and conversing. The $25/
plate cost covers the meal (choice of entrée off
the menu), non-alcoholic drinks and tip.
You’re invited to prepare an appetizer or dessert to share. A signup sheet will be on the
narthex bulletin board later this month.
MONDAY NIGHT CRAFT
CLUB DONATION
An offering of $557.00 has been made
to the glory of God by the Monday Night Craft
Club, from the 2014 Harvest Days sales proceeds towards a prepayment on the mortgage
principle.
SERVING GOD’S
PEOPLE IN
WORSHIP IN
JANUARY
ELDERS:
8:00 a.m.— Ed Piepenbrink
10:30 a.m.— Chris Kolupa
ALTAR GUILD:
Dawn Hinz
Laura Sutherland