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Pastor Gregory Laska can be reached at Cell # 715-350-9741, email address is: grlaska@yahoo.com, or at church office on Mondays 9 am till Noon.
“St. Paul’s is Committed to Encouraging Growth and Fellowship by Sharing the Word and Gifts from GOD and by living our Christian Beliefs Everywhere and Always.” Information for newsletters needs to be sent to loriloug@yahoo.com before the 20th of each month for the next month’s newsletter. This allows for planning, editing, layout, printing and available to members by the last Sunday of the month in Church. If you would like your newsletter by email please send your request to loriloug@yahoo.com so we can add you to the list of members getting this newsletter by email. January Worship Schedule January 6: Communion Worship Service at 9:00 am January 13: Worship Service at 9:00 am January 20: Communion Worship Service at: 9:00 am January 27: Contemporary Service Saturday evening worship services are offered at Luther Memorial-Gleason at 6 pm. All are welcome to Worship Services at St. Paul's 9:00 am or at Luther Memorial -Gleason 10:30 am on Sundays. January Usher Schedule January 6: Heather & Zoey Olivotti, Tim Duley, Dale Erickson January 13: Christine Baumann, Valerie Isaacson January 20: Ernie Voigt, Nathan Meyer, David Duley, Dale Erickson Janaury 27: Deb Sadowski, Gary Erickson Volunteers, please come 20 to 30 minutes before worship time to prepare the building for the Worship Service. Please take head count of attendance and write it on the clip board posted by the last pew on the east side of church each and every worship service. Please wear your Sunday best clothing, you are serving in the King’s house. Thank You for your service to our Lord and our Church Family. Meeting the Budget: As discussed at the Voter’s meeting in October, funds for balancing the budget are running short. There is no special monies to fall back on. All members are asked to help meet this short fall with just a few more dollars a month. A2O: We are in need of some tanned deer hides for a project. Lori’s group has graciously donated 9 untanned skins to A2O. We are looking for help trading for some tanned hides or with the expense of tanning 4-5 hides. Next meeting is Tuesday January 15th at 6:00 pm. Sunday School: We will resume our regular lessons on January 6 following church service. We will also plan and start practicing for our next musical presentation to the congregation. Please come and join us for fun and bible learning. Evangelism Training Event - Everyone His Witness: Hosted by St. Paul’s on Saturday, January 19 - 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM. Join us for an approach to evangelism that helps us witness in the course of our daily lives. This resource was developed by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and uses video and discussion and a presentation by Pastor Greg. This method emphasizes some basic aspects of witnessing: listen; ask; seek; share; invite; and encourage. You can expect upon completion of this one-day workshop to be better equipped to share your faith with friends, co-workers, neighbors and family. Because we need to order workbooks, registration should be confirmed before Christmas. Please contact Pastor Greg at 715 350 9741 or grlaska@yahoo.com for questions. Cost per person is $15 which covers a workbook and lunch. This event is open to confirmation students, high school youth as well as adults. To register we need your name, address and phone number. Payment of the $15 can be made in advance by mailing it to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, W2604 County Hwy P, Merrill, WI 54452. SAVE! SAVE! SAVE!: Please save your cancelled postage stamps for Missions. Also box tops, points, milk caps & labels, and bread loaves for education. They are collected on table in back of the church for St. John’s School Parable of the Glitter The cousins from Nebraska had finally said their goodbyes and their van headed down the road. The pile of dishes and pots and pans loomed large in the kitchen. What had once been an elegantly decorated home for Christmas looked like a total mess. Molly and her Mom were not about to let an opportunity for cleaning to go by without a genuine effort. After two hours the house began looking more like its normal setting just as Molly’s Dad awoke from his nap in the recliner. “My goodness!” He said. “I told you that I would help in the cleanup. You should have woken me up.” Molly responded, “We knew how exhausted you were. If you recall, you said you were just going to take a five minute break. Soon we heard you snoring. Consider the last two hours an extra Christmas present. We were hoping you would volunteer to take out the garbage.” Five stuffed bags of wrapping paper and boxes were lined up near the back door. Molly suddenly gasped as she pointed to the living room carpet. “Mom, have you seen how much glitter is all over the room. Some of those Christmas cards and plenty of the wrapping paper must have left their mark. How are we going to get this clean?” Her Mom laughed, “Actually this happens every year and even with repeated efforts to vacuum that glitter, some will always remain. If you look closely, there are traces of glitter in every room of our house, even in the bathrooms.” “So what do you do to get rid of it?” Molly asked. Her Dad hoisted two of the garbage bags over his shoulder and looked at Molly’s Mom. “Why don’t you tell her how you came to terms with the glitter in our house?” He stepped out the back door with the garbage. Molly’s Mom took a deep breath as she began to unwind the cord for the vacuum cleaner. “What your Dad is talking about is that I used to curse the post Christmas glitter. I even thought that friends and relatives were rude to give us things that had glitter on them. But then one day in July, as I was cleaning, I saw that some glitter still sparkled in our home and it made me think about Christmas. I secretly wished that Christmas was not just a once in a year event. Then I began to think of how Jesus is watching over us all year long. That stupid glitter served an important purpose on that July day. Now I don’t mind the glitter so much because it makes me think about God loving us so much that he sent His Son not just to be born but to die in our place.” Molly began to giggle which made her Mom frown at her. “I didn’t see it as a humorous story, why are you giggling?” Molly composed herself and then answered, “I will always be thinking about Jesus as long as that one tiny sparkle of glitter stays right where it is on the end of your nose!” Her Mom wiped the speck of glitter off and then they both laughed and returned to their cleaning with glitter all around. It was a good idea to be reminded of Christmas every day of the year. |
