Welcome to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
Ireton, IA
Worship Schedule
Sunday Services 8:45am
Sunday School Sunday’s 10:00am (Fall, Winter, Spring)
Sr. LYF 2nd Sunday 10:00am (Falls, Winter, Spring)
Communion 1st, 3rd & 5th Sunday
Pastor Todd Bunge
Church Phone: (St. Paul’s) 712-278-2324 or (Trinity) 551-2743
Pastor’s email: pastorbunge@gmail.com
St. Paul’s email: secretarystpauls@aol.com
St. Paul’s website: http://stpaulsireton.blogspot.com
Second S.in Advent-December 6, 2015
BLESSED BY THE MEANS OF GRACE LAST WEEK
Divine Service 155 Sunday School 32
Organist:
December 6-Jean Bertram, December 13-Jeanna Negaard, December 20-Jeanna Negaard, December 24-Jean Bertram, December 27-Jeanna Negaard
Acolytes:
December 6-Ryan Ping & Gracie Rens
December 13-Seth Salker & Grace Schuller
December 20-Zach Steckelberg & Levi Koopmans
December 24-Brenna Reinking & Kamryn Rus
December 27-Addisyn Van Oort & Parker Kruid
Greeters:
December 6-*Bud & Delma Vreeman, Scott & Deb Van Den Berg, Mark & Shelley Rus
December 13-*Robert & Gail Vander Hamm, Scott & Deb Van Den Berg,
Greg & Genise Vreeman
December 20-*Mark & Nikki Van Oort, Robert & Cheryl Ten Napel, Scott & Gina Vreeman
December 27-*Richard & Ashley Steckelberg, Don & Dorothy Van Wyhe,
Ryan & Tia Ten Napel
Elder of the Month: December-Randy/Arven Koopmans
January- Mark Wells
Altar Guild: December-Connie Koopmans, Missy Eilts, Kathy Heuer
January-Gloria Ping, Denice Ping, Marilyn Rostermundt
THIS WEEK WITH GOD
Sunday: 8:00 a.m. – Elder’s Meeting
8:45 a.m. – Divine Service/Communion
10:00 a.m – Sunday School
Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – Hillcrest Communion Service
11:30 a.m. – Pastor Mike Boothby Visit
Wednesday: 5:30 p.m. – Confirmation Meeting at Pizza Ranch
6:00 p.m. – LWL Christmas Party, Crooked Fence
7:00 p.m.- Advent Service-Trinity, Lunch to Follow
Next Sunday: 8:45 a.m. – Divine Service
10:00 a.m. – Sunday School
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In Our Prayers:
From our congregation: Jacob Hoogland, Phyllis Winterfeld (shoulder surgery), New Pastor for St. Paul’s
Other requests: Jesse (Sonichsen) West, Sandy Gregg (brain tumor), Shirley Cain (brain tumor), Curtis DeVries (cancer), Janet Brown (cancer)
Servicemen: 1SG. Mike Shannon, TSgt. Jesse Richardson, HM3 Rodrigo Banda, CPL Aaron Hoogland
Missionaries: Shaun Daugherty: Missionaries in China, Rev. Henry Witte: Missionary to Hispanics
Announcements
CALL EXTENDED: A call was extended to Pastor Mike Boothby at our call meeting. He is married and has 3 children. He will be coming to St. Paul’s on Tuesday at 11:30am to visit. Please keep him, his wife and family in your prayers.
SERMON NOTES: The sermon notes can be found on the back page of the service insert today.
POINSETTIA ORDERS: Today is the deadline if you want to order poinsettias in memory, honor or thanksgiving of loved ones. The order forms can be found in the Narthex and the cost is $15.00 per plant. Please fill out a form and give to Gloria Ping or put in her church mailbox along with the payment.
ALTAR GUILD TODAY: The Altar Guild will meet today after church to set up for Christmas.
CAROLING: We will be going caroling today. Cookie trays will be made up at 2:00pm and everyone is welcomed to bring baked items. We will leave at 2:30pm from St. Paul’s to carol. Soup and taverns will be served in our fellowship hall following. Contact persons are Missy Eilts & Denny Hulshof.
LWL CHRISTMAS PARTY: Lutheran Women’s League Christmas party is Wednesday, December 9 at The Crooked Fence in Ireton, beginning at 6:00 PM. We will have a “white elephant” gift exchange – so wrap yours up nice and pretty and bring it for the exchange. We will assemble fruit plates for our shut-ins. Officers need to know by today if you plan to attend. All members are encouraged to come for an evening of food and fellowship.
MISSION FUND: Our mission fund is $-947.84 in the red. So as of now we will not have enough funds to pay our quarterly mission pledges in December.
VETERAN STOCKINGS: 50 Veteran Stockings were filled with all of the donated items! $250 from Thrivent will be used to purchase coffee, stamps, popcorn and other things that were on the list of “needed items”. Thank you to everyone for your generosity for this great project!
CHILDREN’S PROGRAM: The Children’s Christmas Program will be Sunday, December 20th at 10:00am. Lunch will follow the program with sandwiches, chips and goodies. Everyone is welcome to donate sandwiches and help out serving and with clean up. Contact Missy with questions.
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE: St. Paul’s Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service will be at 5:00pm.
CARING TREE: The LWL are again doing the Caring Tree for Ireton Christian-Kids of the Kingdom Preschool, West Sioux Elementary-Ireton Center and the Daycare. Useful items needed are mittens, gloves, caps, snow boots, crayons, books, toothbrushes and sizes can be from 12 months to 8-10.
2016 OFFERING ENVELOPES: Those that signed up for 2016 offering envelopes can find them in your church mailboxes.
2016 GREETER’S & PRAYER CIRCLE LISTS: The 2016 greeters and prayer circle lists can be found in your church mailboxes. Please discard your old prayer circle list after January 1, 2016 as it has changed.
CHURCH CANCELLATION: Please check Trinity’s Facebook page or listen to KSOU 93.9FM if church would be cancelled due to the weather and Pastor Bunge being unable to make it to St. Paul’s.
BONNIE’S CELL: We no longer have a home phone, so if you need to get a hold of me, my cell number is 712-441-4702. I am in the office Monday-Friday from 8-12 so try to get a hold of me there unless you need something after hours.
‘BETHLEHEM REVISITED’: You are invited to attend ‘Bethlehem Revisited’ on Sunday, December 6, 2015 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, ELCA, 201 First Ave., N.W., Le Mars, Iowa. Come and experience the little town of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus birth. Free Admission. The Gift is Forever.
Church newsletter articles for December usually focus on Advent and the upcoming celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas. There are also mentions of special worship services, thoughts on gift exchanges and family gatherings, reminders not to get all caught up in the commercialism of Christmas, as well as an encouragement to remember the best gift of all… the baby Jesus in the manger, born with a purpose: to die and rise again to save us.
Well, I’m not going to do that this December. (Wait a minute, I think I just did!) What I am going to do this December is focus on the theme for our Advent midweek services: The Nicene Creed.
I have a picture in my mind that every winter night, you sit down with a warm cup of cocoa, turn off the TV or your smart phone, and curl up with a copy of The Nicene Creed and read and reflect upon it for hours upon end. Am I right? No, of course not!
The Nicene Creed is something we ramble through in church, rarely reflect upon it and probably never get our questions about it answered. Questions such as, “What does ‘Nicene’ mean?” Or, “What does it mean to be ‘very God of very God… begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father?’”
A while back a question in Sunday morning Bible study prompted us to go through The Nicene Creed so that we can better understand it when we recite it in church. I am fairly certain everyone else probably has the same questions about it, too. Therefore, we will hopefully answer them during our midweek services as we go through The Nicene Creed.
The services will begin with a Christmas hymn sing, followed by our service and devotion, all of which will last about a half an hour. Immediately following, we’ll have goodies and fellowship hosted by our Ladies’ Aid. (The Ladies’ Aid will have a free-will offering for a particular church project in exchange for their services, too).
See you in worship!
Pastor Todd Bunge
Church Calendar Web Link
http://www.MyChurchEvents.com/calendar/calendar.aspx?ci=G1O9F0H2M7F0O9L6I3
