St. John’s Lutheran Church December 2020 Church Bell From the Desk of Pastor Clark “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” - John 10:10 In just a few weeks, we will be celebrating the coming of God’s own Son to this world. Why did Jesus come? He came to fulfill prophecy. He came in obedience to the Father. He came to testify to the Truth. But, most of all, He came because He loves us and wanted us to experience life to the full! This life is intended to be a fulfilling gift from our Maker. Unfortunately, too many people never experience it that way. Things like worry, bitterness, illness, fear, bad decisions, and a sense of meaninglessness make this life seem less like a gift and more like a daily grind. Jesus’ life and death dealt in full with all those things so that we might get that abundant life back. (Continued on pg. 3) 1 St. John’s Lutheran Church 302 NE 2nd Street Buffalo, MN 55313 Phone: 763-682-1883 Fax: 763-682-1936 Noah’s Ark Preschool: 763-682-1883 [email protected] Sharing a changeless Christ in a changing world. www.stjohnsbuffalo.org Rev. Ryan Clark, Pastor Tim Vergin [email protected] 845-549-0730 Kelly Thole, DCE, Director of [email protected] Family Ministry Kyle Bjork, Head Elder [email protected] Tracey Anderson Bill Elletson Chris Ryan, Vicar, Director of Dave Haggerty Youth Ministry Gabe Licht [email protected] Peter March Katherine Clark, Dir. of Special Ministries, Ryan Rutten Assimilation, Small Groups & Youth Tony Sabraski [email protected] Mark Saunders Dave Teske Beth Peterson-Hane, Office Administrator [email protected] or [email protected] Noah’s Ark Preschool [email protected] Altar Guild: Dorothy Bowman Education: Open Jim Chapa, Treasurer Evangelism: Roger Strege Amy Klemz, Financial Secretary Fellowship: Marti & Lee Ryan [email protected] Library: Cheryl Olsen Memorial Endowment/Investment: Lori Mussell, Board Secretary Janice Marschel Project Compassion: Sandi Baert Decorating: Nicole Hills Stewardship: Tim Vergin Trustees: Scott Spadgenske Saturday 5:00 pm (contemporary) Women in Mission: Mary Bremmer Sunday 8:00 & 10:30 am (traditional) KRWC 1360AM broadcast at 8:00 am Newsletter Deadline: Deadline for the January newsletter is Monday, December 14th. Bulletin Deadline: Every Tuesday at midnight 2 (Continued from Pg. 1) Would you say your life is being lived to the full? It’s yours for the taking. Jesus came, lived, suffered, and died for you to have it by faith. Do you need forgiveness? It’s yours by faith. Do you need peace? It’s yours by faith. Do you need healing? It’s yours by faith. Do you need guidance and meaning? It’s your by faith. Hallelujah, this is why He came! Let’s celebrate the One who came to give us abundant and everlasting life! God bless you, Pastor Clark 2020 Holiday Schedule Mark your calendars… ¨ Christmas Lessons & Carols Service, Dec. 12, 5:00 pm ¨ Christmas Eve— Family Service 3:00 & 5:00 pm Candlelight Service 7:00 & 9:00 pm ¨ Christmas Day—Worship 10:00 am ¨ New Year’s Eve—Worship 5:00 pm 3 Christmas Lessons & Carols Service Saturday, December 12th, 5:00 PM in the Sanctuary Are you missing the joy of music?!?! Saturday, December 12th at 5pm we will have a Lessons & Carols service featuring a few choral pieces, handbell pieces, and Advent/Christmas hymns. Make plans to join us to worship our Coming King! Register for your seat on our website: stjohnsbuffalo.org As previously approved by the congregation for 2019, our Christmas Eve & Christmas Day offerings will be distributed as follows: 20% Love INC, 20% Noah’s Ark, 20% Mayer Lutheran High, 20% Christ Community-Watertown and 20% St. James School - Howard Lake. Please keep all of these groups in your prayers. St. John’s delivers Meals on Wheels in the month of December. We need you! If you are willing to take on one of the routes for Buffalo in December, please contact the church office. We still have a few shifts left to fill. The route is mapped out for you and takes less than an hour. Thank you! 4 Help Us Decorate the Church for Christmas! Poinsettias available in gold-foil-covered pots. (white or red available) *6.5 inch pot - $8.00 each Deadline: Order by Monday, December 7 Please fill out and make checks payable to St. John’s. Return form and payment to Church Office or put form and check in the offering plate. Please mark check clearly as for Christmas poinsettias. Name_______________________________________________ In memory, honor, or celebration of (optional): ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ You may take your plants home after the Christmas Day worship service. Unclaimed plants will be removed after January 2nd. Questions? Please contact Nicole Hills at 763-607-4816 [email protected] 5 December Ushers 8:00 Fred Bonk, Al Buskey, Jan Larson, John Prigge 10:30 Curtis Smith & Confirmation Youth Technology Welcome Center Attendants The Spencer Anderson Sound Jakob Annis Holly Bode & Nicole Beckman Dan & Chris Husom YouTube Tim Berteau Kelly Jansson Team Dan Headley Kathy Klemz Trent Johnson Lorrie Lepinski Tom Kortisses Janice Marschel Jill Marketon Jen Meyer Ludovic Marquette Lynnette Smith Bill Morris Marlis Thomsen Melissa Morris Connor Spadgenske Contemporary Worship Team The Deb Chapa St. John’s Wish List Team Josiah Clark Pastor Clark Tables & Table Cart Lee Claseman Needed: $3,000 Aaron Kubasch Ongoing Areas: Julie Larson Noah’s Ark Preschool LeAnn March St. John’s Building Fund Melissa Morris St. John’s Scholarship Fund St. John’s Family Ministry Organists KRWC Radio Ministry The Sandi Baert St. John’s Women in Mission Team Deb Chapa St. John’s Music/Choirs Josiah Clark Vicar Chris Ryan St. John’s Technology Fund Penny Steele St. John’s Youth Ministry Organ Maintenance Fund 6 Women in Mission “Mites Sunday” Our Women in Mission will have a “Mites Sunday” once per month to provide monies for the mission grants voted on at the LWML Minnesota South District Convention. For December: The Timothy Project—Mayer Lutheran High School: The Timothy Scholarship provides tuition assistance to non-Lutheran families who are unchurched or nominally Christian, so that they will pay less tuition than a Lutheran family to attend Mayer Lutheran High School. This scholarship provides $1,500 to the first ten community students who enroll for a total of $15,000. This grant would expand the funds available to help even more families enroll their children in a Christ-centered school. Please consider giving an offering in our Mites Offering box as you leave worship or take home a box of your own and turn back in! Ever since the planned Warm & Fuzzy distribution event was COVID canceled, the MOSES Board has been looking for ways to successfully pair products with people. We will have a community distribution event when COVID regulations ease but have recently found alternate ways to help others. In the last month, Parkside and Northwinds Elementary Schools have called about socks, underwear and PJs for kids in need, and the leader of a winter clothing drive picked up all the knitted hats. A project we started with Wrapped in Love, the new free clothing store for Wright County Foster Children is ready to go, and we ask St. John’s members for assistance. If you have ideas and/or can help set up the Wrapped in Love Warm & Fuzzy nook, please call Beth Husom at 952-715-7281. On another note, WINTER IS COMING. Please call a MOSES team member for help getting your yards ready for this season change. After about a 6 month break from indoor work, last month MOSES decided to look at small projects inside residences if they are needed to keep you safe and warm, provided we can find the proper help and everyone involved follows state health mandates. Always remember volunteers: please pass on anything you aren’t comfortable with. St John’s is filled with caring members, and the MOSES volunteer list is long! Blessings, Beth Husom 7 If you are 70 ½ & own an IRA, this information is for you: Did you know that you can make a contribution to a charity like St. John’s Lutheran Church directly from your IRA to the Church and save paying some taxes? Qualified Charitable Donations automatically satisfy required minimum distributions for the year when the Qualified Charitable Donations is made. That’s a real advantage for a charitably minded IRA owner who doesn’t need required minimum distribution to live on. To make a contribution, contact your IRA trustee/Agent to make a transfer from the IRA directly to St. John’s Lutheran Church . Many trustees/agents already have forms and procedures in place to make this transfer. It won’t qualify if the check is made out to you. The Internal Revenue Service has said that a check from an IRA may be made payable to a charitable organization described in section 408(d)(8) and delivered by the IRA owner to the charitable organization.2 Be sure to obtain a letter of acknowledgment from the charity. Further questions, contact your IRA trustee/agent to see if your IRA qualifies for this. (This information provided by Janice Marschel). 8 December 2020 Lutheran Hour Sermon Topics Each Sunday morning at 7:30 AM before St. John’s radio broadcast at 8:00 AM, listen to the Lutheran Hour broadcast on KRWC 1360 AM Radio. In December, you will hear the following program broadcast topics: Dec 6 "Seek My Face" with Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler.