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St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
January 2020 Newsletter W2604 Cty Hwy P, Merrill, WI 54452 715-536-8459 Please leave a message Pastor Gregory Laska can be reached at Cell #715-350-9741, e-mail address is grlaska@yahoo.com or at church office on Mondays 9am 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 the monthly newsletter 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 availability to members by the last Sunday of the month in Church. If you would like your newsletter by e-mail, please send your request to loriloug@yahoo.com so we can add you to the list of members getting this newsletter by e-mail. January Worship Schedule January 5: Communion Worship Service @ 9:00 am January 12: Worship Service @ 9:00am January 19: Communion Worship Service @ 8:30 am January 26: Contemporary Worship Service @ 9:00 am Saturday evening worship services are offered at Luther Memorial-Gleason at 6pm. All are welcome to Worship Services at St. Paul’s 9:00am or at Luther memorial-Gleason 10:30 a.m. on Sundays. December Usher Schedule January 5: Matt Stenberg, Gary Erickson, Keith Duley January 12: Kevin & Jessica Erickson January 19: Robert & Lori Giese, Dale Erickson January 26: Matt & Tanya Robl Volunteers, please come 20 - 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. Events Upcoming & News Dart Ball: Played on Monday nights @ 7:00 pm. Come join the fun and fellowship. Schedules can be picked up in the Narthex of the church or by contacting Dale Erickson. Sunday School: Meets immediately following church in the Sunday School Building. All children are welcome. We have song time, Story time, Craft time, and a snack each week. We will also be working on our next song to be sung in church. Ladies Aid: Meeting in is January 12th at 10 am in the fellowship hall. Join us for a short devotion and business meeting. Planning the Dartball Banquet in February and the Sauerkraut dinner. Please be prepared to be in a photo for the Foto News. Food Pantry: The Ladies Aid has a basket the back of the Church to accept your gifts from the heart that go to the food Pantry at Trinity Lutheran Church, Merrill, Please consider giving to the families struggling to put food on the table by buying 1 item a week to help out. SAVE! SAVE!SAVE! Please save your cancelled postage stamps for Missions. Also box top points, milk caps & label and bread loaves for educations. They are collected on the table in the back of the church for St. John’s School Installation of Officers, board Members and Teachers: January 5 during service we will acknowledge and swear in all the new and continuing officers, board members and teachers. Bible Study: I am so thankful for your blessings and support in starting up and facilitating a bible study at our church. The study will take place on Sundays starting Jan 12th right after the service in the Sunday school building. The study is geared toward families which goes along with Pastor’s sermon series on family. The Biedermans have purchased 8 books for people (1 book per couple if coming with a partner) that would like to join and they will be free of charge. If anyone beyond the 8 would like to join books can be purchased through Christian Book Distributors or on Amazon. Any extra books that aren't used we will put in our church library. Lord willing that won't be the case :) The study picked is: Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Family by Christian counselor: Michelle Anthony The study is a 10 week study which should take us right into spring. Anyone & or all is welcome to join! We can all relate to family issues, young or old, and this is just a great way to help build our church not only in the small family aspect but in the "Church family" aspect. Like they say "it takes a village to raise a family!". I will have the 8 books with me after next weeks service to hand out to those interested and plan on starting the study on January 12th. If anyone has any questions they can feel free to reach me 715-536-0036 0r via email @ biedermanjen@gmail.com. In Christ - Jennifer Biederman Bethesda Workday: December 31, 10:00 – 3:00. Please bring a sandwich and something to share with the group. We look forward to our December work day. If you would like to join us talk to Lois Oestreich at 715-536-6965 Scrip: St Paul’s Scrip program is a wonderful way to not only purchase your cards for daily shopping such as gas, groceries, entertainment and restaurants, but also to purchase gift cards for your family and friends. These cards make great birthday, wedding, anniversary, and just because gifts. When you purchase the scrip card, you purchase the amount on the card which the church purchases for a discounted price. This allows the church to earn the difference to help with expenses that the church incurs. We have many cards in stock but there are many cards that can be special order, such as specialty shops, restaurants, motels and even cruises. Please see our table weekly in the narthex of the church. If you have questions about the program, please contact Lori Giese 715-536-6746 or e-mail loriloug@yahoo.com Parable of the Airplane While playing in their backyard, little Jeff and his twin brother Adam began arguing. Their mother normally let them work things out for themselves but the arguing went on for nearly ten minutes. She decided to intervene with her eight-year-old sons. “What is the problem boys?” she asked as she stood between them. Jeff spoke up first, “We were arguing about God!” “Oh, my goodness! Why would you ever be arguing about God?”, their mother replied. Adam began to shout, “I said that God must be tiny because we can’t see Him.” Then Jeff shouted back, “God must be big! He made the whole world!” Their mother settled them down while explaining that they were both right, especially in the way they explained it. She wondered how she might help them. She gazed up into the sky while silently praying that God would help her. While gazing up, she saw a jet airplane flying overhead. She had an idea. She pointed up at the airplane, “Boys, see that airplane? How big does it look to you?” They both finally agreed on something as they said the airplane was so small, you almost could not see it if not for the streak of smoke behind it. She then told them that after lunch they were going on a special ride. As they rode along in the car, their mother kept the destination a secret. They were excited as they tried to guess where they were going. Finally, she pulled into the airport parking lot. She told them they were going to look at an airplane up close. Inside the airport terminal the boys were very excited to see a jet land and then begin to taxi to its gate. She asked her boys, “How big is that airplane?” They both agreed that the airplane was very big, even bigger than the trucks they saw on the road on the way to the airport. Then their mother explained. “That airplane outside the window is the same size as the one that you saw flying high up in the sky. The closer you are to the airplane the bigger it is to you. That’s how it is with God, our Father in heaven. If we stay close to Him, He will always be big. He is so big that He made heaven and earth. He is so big that He can help you with all your problems. His love for you is so big that He took away your sins by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for you on the cross.” Her boys were happy to go to the airport and they were happy to hear that God is so big! Later that afternoon, they were again playing in the backyard when their mother heard them screaming again. In frustration, she went out to settle them down. But they were not fighting. They were screaming in joy and pointing up to the sky. Two airplanes were flying overhead. The jet stream of one had crossed over the jet stream of the other. Little Adam exclaimed, “Look, God is showing us the cross in the sky. It is so big! The cross is big enough to carry all our sins away.” Their mother smiled. Her boys had learned some good lessons about God. |
