Print Version

Philipians 2: 13 God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.

You are evidence of the scripture. Your donation was timed perfectly to fill our needs. That’s why I’m reminded constantly of a song from my youth, “You can’t beat God giving, no matter how you try.” His generosity has no bounds. It’s awesome to watch how he uses his children to fill the needs of so many.

Thank you for being instruments of our Lord. You have helped to alleviate some of the basic needs, in which we are very grateful. May our loving Savior continue to keep you in his grace and mercy.

Signed:

Johnniest B. Henry
Walter V. Fraction

St. Johns UCC Church on North Grand

Dear Friends,

After spending eleven days in the hospital it was such a good feeling to come home and open all those get well cards. Thanks to all who showed their concerns and asked about me. Thank you also to Jim and Connie and Pastor Sue for their visits and Alice Noland for her calls. It’s good to be home and hope to see you all soon.

Audrey Brill

Thank you to the Evangelism and Stewardship/Finance Committees for hosting the reception on Sunday, November 19 th. It was a great way to celebrate the joining of new members and the closing of our Stewardship campaign.

Fellowship and Service Committee

P.S. The congregation thanks the Fellowship and Service Committee for the birthday party for Dorothea Holdener that same day. It was quite a day ! ! !

Dear Friends,

Thank, for the wonderful 90 th birthday party. God has been good to us, and we have a lot to be thankful for.

Thanks to all the ladies who helped. The cake, ice cream, fruit, and drinks were delicious. This was a day to remember.

Thanks again.

(signed Dorothea and Frank Holdener

I thank you dear friends for arranging my birthday party. It was wonderful. And thanks everyone for their prayers and the cards sent to me during my recent illness and for the visit from Pastor Sue during my stay at the hospital.

Ollie Lenz

Greetings in Christ:

Thank you for answering one of our pleas. The blankets you have donated will help keep some of our families warm this winter season.

This project has shown us once again how generous you are in sharing our Master’s love with our brothers and sisters in need. I’m sure our loving Savior is smiling at your response to this and other ways you help to support his mission work.

Remember whenever you wish to hear about the program, we’re just a phone call away. Please feel free to use the home number 385-5915. May our Lord keep you always.

In God’s grace,

(signed) Johnniest B. Henry ( St. John’s Community Services Ministry

KEEP IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

Wanda Reidel at Delmar Gardens South

John Schuette at Green Park Nursing Home

Elsie Frye at Delmar Garden’s South

Judy Hickman who fell and broke her hand

Jeanne Piffel who fell and broke her nose and arm

Ann Davis who fell and broke her hip

Lucille Brand who fell and fractured her hip

Audrey Brill home from the hospital

Rachel Hickman Kelly on the death of her father-in-law, Daniel P. Kelly, Sr.

David Jackson now home from Iraq and in Alaska

FAITHFUL READERS BOOK CLUB

We are reading Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This is part of her autobiographical series and deals with her experiences growing up as a southern black girl. This book speaks to many issues including the relationship between parents and children, child sexual abuse, and the search for one’s path in life. We will discuss it on December 17 th.

STEWARDSHIP AND FINANCE

Even though the drive is officially over it’s never too late to turn in your 2007 pledge card.

DAILY CALENDAR OF PRAYER

If you haven’t been using one lately be sure to pick one up in the gathering space. Each week Shirley copies and prints the coming weeks calendar. There is hardly a week when I don’t learn something new about our larger church family from around the world…for example when I read the message for Sunday, November 5 th (All Saints Sunday …All Saints Day was actually Wednesday, November 1), it said “ All Saints Sunday marks the beginning of a year-long celebration of the UCC’s 50 th anniversary….All Saints is the oldest Holy Day in the Christian calendar ----older even than Christmas and Easter. It’s a yearly reminder that we are ‘surrounded by a cloud of witnesses’ to the love of Christ… (see Hebrews 12:1 for the full “cloud of witness quote). If you remember back in May our intention was to get between 30 to 50 calendar of prayer books so each household could have one. They could tear out each weeks readings and use them as individuals or households. A huge printing error was found after the first batch was done. The cost to correct the errors to print the remainder was prohibitive so each Pastor only got one copy. (I think some of those errors have been showing up lately in some of the suggested daily Bible readings). In May we started putting a copy of each weeks calendar in every bulletin. We later realized they weren’t all being used so we cut back to providing copies for those interested to pick up each Sunday. Maybe we can figure a way to get those on our website too for you to print off. They add a lot to my week in many, many ways. Pick one up. The congregation of St. Philip’s is called to be, in its own time and place, a part of that “Cloud of witnesses!!!”.

GUYS AND DOLLS

The Guys and Dolls Christmas Lunch Party will be:

• Date: Sunday, December 10th
• Time: 11:30 am – 3 pm
• Place: Helen Fitzgerald’s on S. Lindbergh
• Cost: $17.00 per person (this includes tax and tip)

Our menu will be: (choice of one)

• Chicken Mudega – chicken rolled in Italian bread crumbs, char-broiled with white wine sauce, topped with provel cheese, ham, and mushrooms.
• Eight Ounce Strip Steak
• Lemon Pepper Cod

Served with: House salad, oven roasted red potatoes, vegetable medley, bread, butter, coffee, tea and soda. Dessert will be provided.

Committee: Jan Freese, Alice Hillyard, Virginia Hladnick, and Betty Moore (reservations needed)

P.S. Each person please bring a $1.00 wrapped gift.

WISH LIST

If you have an item on one of these wish lists, a contact person is listed. Please call them.

Engaging Youth Committee

Contact: Terri Karcher

Children’s shoe boxes (or similar sized boxes)

 Early Childhood Center

Contact: Sarah Spencer

• New (or gently used) books appropriate for ages infant – 2 years old
• Children’s toy instruments
• Brio trains (or similar type)
• Little People toys
• Clothes/hats for dress-up
• Area rug (6 feet by 4 or 5 feet)
• Magnets set

PRAYER CHAIN AND UPDATE EMAILS

The Prayer Chain and Updates via email are up and running. Many thanks to Shirley Nottelmann for getting this together for us! If Shirley does not have your email address and you would like to be included in the Prayer Chain or Update list, please get your email address to Shirley.

ADVENT DEVOTIONAL

Thank you to all the members of the congregation who contributed to our Advent Devotional. The personal Christmas memories, hopes, and dreams truly make it special. If you didn’t get one at church last Sunday, be sure to pick one up from the credenza in the gathering space.

USHERS AND COMMUNION SERVERS

Is anyone interested in ushering or serving communion in the coming months? We have some open Sundays and we always need substitutes if our assigned ushers cannot make it. Please see Tom Nottelmann or Linda Kammerer if you are interested.

CANDLELIGHT DINNER – DECEMBER 8 TH

Our Candlelight Dinner and Worship Service will be December 8 th at 6:30 p.m. The sign-up sheet is on the easel near the bulletin board. Let us know how many are coming and what dish you will bring to share. Please bring a serving spoon with your dish. If you are decorating a table for the dinner, you will be able to start decorating about 1:30 p.m. after all the tables are set up in the gathering space. Silverware will be provided. This is an adult event, but you are welcome to bring your children. Kit is organizing a program especially for them in the MPR with games, activities, and pizza! Just sign them up so we know how many kids to expect! Any questions, please call Pat Siewing or Linda Kammerer.

ADOPT- A- FAMILY

Our 2005 Adopt-A Family Program was a terrific success. Hundreds of families were helped with Christmas

food baskets and bundles. With your help, our 2006 effort is anticipated to be just, if not more, wonderful than last year. We’re asking individuals, families, schools, organizations, churches, and businesses to provide boxes and baskets of food for our neediest clients. These packages normally include canned goods, non-perishable groceries, and a gift certificate to an area grocery store to cover the cost of meat and fresh foods for a holiday meal. You will be assigned a specific family as your “adopted” family. You decide the size of the family you wish to help. The age and sex of each of the family members are provided, should you wish to include extra items beyond the baskets of food. Instructions for the program and “your family’s” names will be provided (first names only, naturally).

On Monday, December 18, all Adopt-A-Family Baskets are dropped off by contributors at an assigned site, and, on Tuesday, December 19, “adopted” needy families will pick up their Christmas cartons.

The thought of someone being hungry, especially living here, is often hard to imagine for most of us. But, the poor and the hungry are with us. They are the elderly, alone and lonely, and often forgotten by the world. They are the children of broken homes. They are the disabled in body or mind. They are our neighbors. Maybe not next door, but maybe just down the road a little way. They are many.

Watch the bulletin board for details about how you can help.

BARBECUE UPDATE

The profit from this year’s bratwurst dinner was $1,677.00. Thanks to all who helped and ate with us.

POLISHING TOOLS ANYONE?????

We have someone able to polish our big food warmer. It is made of aluminum and over time it can get pretty dingy looking. Recently we found a metal polish that restores dingy looking aluminum. It has only been used on smaller items here that are polished by hand. However, the warmer is a very large flat surface. We were wondering if anyone had an electric hand held buffer to lend to us to do some polishing. We would also need the cloths that usually come with them or at least where we could get one or two of them. If you have the cloths, we will see that they are washed before returned. If you care to lend the polisher and or a hand call the office and let Shirley know. Thank you.

SCRAP IRON

Scrap iron from around the property has been being accumulated out behind the shed. It used to be you had to hire someone to haul it off. Now scrap iron brings a price and we will be hauling ours to the scrap yard sometime in the next month. We are not really sure at this time how much its worth per pound but it is worth enough to haul it over. We can just add what we earn from that to our recycle income. We still have another roll of cyclone fencing to add to the pile along with some pipes. As soon as we finish up repairing the parsonage fence with the good roll of fencing we still have, we will add the three separate pieces of fencing tied there temporarily some time ago to the scrap pile and haul it away. If you have some scrap iron, copper, brass, etc. at your house and would like to have it taken to the scrap yard, contact the office and we will have the person hauling ours in pick yours up to take with them.

DONATED BLANKETS, ETC.

Many thanks to the members of the congregation who donated blankets (about 25), winter clothing (coats, jackets, caps, etc.) for St. John’s UCC Church on North Grand. They were most appreciative of the donations. There is a big need there for these items as well as food. If you would care to donate anything to this organization, please bring it to church and let Barbara Barnes know that it is here.

CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS

Enclosed with the Crier is an order form for Christmas poinsettias to decorate the church altar on Christmas Eve. You have your choice of red, pink, white, or marbled at $8.50 each. Please fill in the order form and place it in the offering plate or give to Carole Armistead or Nancy Krenning by Sunday, December 17 th along with a check made out to Walter Knoll Florist.

BLUE CHRISTMAS SERVICE

On Thursday, December 21 st at 7 pm there will be a Blue Christmas Service at St. Philip’s. This is a thoughtful worship for those who have difficulty this time of year. It is especially for those who have lost someone and for whom the season brings painful memories. This is a time to reflect on the meaning of Christmas for everyone.

Have you borrowed something from the church office lately? If so, have you returned it? As of now we are missing the flashlight and I use it fairly often to check the thermostat in the sanctuary. If you have it will you please return it as soon as possible. Thank you.

SOUP LUNCH

On Wednesday, December 13 th at 12 noon we will have a soup lunch. Come and meet our church neighbors, get acquainted, and enjoy the soup and fellowship.

Call the office for reservations 314-843-5100.

PAPER GIFTS NEEDED FOR CHRISTMAS EVE

On Christmas Eve Sunday we ask that you bring paper products to church for the food pantries. They cannot buy these products with food stamps so there is a great need for these items: Kleenex, paper towels, toilet tissue, diapers, feminine hygiene products, etc.

You can bring them to church Sunday morning and let the children bring them forward and place them by the manger or you can bring them Sunday evening and place them by the manger on the altar before the service. The food pantries will greatly appreciate your assistance with this.

CHRISTMAS FUND OFFERING

Enclosed with the Crier is the Christmas Fund offering envelope.

The Christmas Fund Offering (formerly Veterans of the Cross), one of four Special Mission Offerings of the United Church of Christ, is an important way of sharing our joy at God’s renewing and life-giving grace. The offering, which is administered by the United Church Board for Ministerial Assistance of the Pension Boards on behalf o the UCC, is an expression of joy and gratitude to, and for, those who serve the church. Gifts to the Christmas Fund help provide pension and health premium supplementation to low-income retirees, emergency assistance to the families of clergy and lay employees and Christmas Gift checks to hundreds of annuitants.

Hear the words of three who benefited from the generosity of persons contributing to the Offering:

“Thank you for the very generous gift check at Christmas time…It is always nice to be remembered any time, especially during this blessed season…”

“It brings special joy into my soul to be remembered in fellowship of UCC. I appreciate very much all the ways the Board has found to help us – me.”

“I want to thank you so much for the Christmas check that I received this morning. Your thoughtful concern for the needs of retired United Church of Christ pastors means so much to all of us.”

Your generous contributions can and do make a difference in the lives of many. Please bring your offering to church on December 17 th or 24 th. Thank you for your generosity.

EVANGELICAL CHILDREN’S HOME

On Sunday, December 10 th there will be a special offering envelope available on the credenza. The proceeds from this offering will benefit the Evangelical’s Children’s Home. Please watch for this and keep in mind that they have been sharing Christmas with children, youth, and families, for 147 years. Thank you.

ENGAGING YOUTH COMMITTEE

A big “thank you” to the congregation for supporting our project to send Halloween “care packages” to our church members who are out-of-town at college! The committee appreciates all of the sweets and snacks that were donated, plus the cash that helped defray the postage expense. The senior youth put the packages together on a crazy assembly line (!), and those with an older sister on our mailing list enjoyed being the person to seal up that particular package. This on-going experience will not only help us keep a closer connection with a part of our church family who are unable to worship with us regularly, but hopefully also benefit our senior youth as they gain a new perspective on church outreach.

After sending the packages, we started hearing back from some of the collegians. One specifically asked for her note to be included in “the Crier” –it’s good to hear her news!….

Hello!

This letter is for Terri Karcher, the awesome kids who helped put this basket together and the church family back home I miss so much! First of all I would like to say thank you so much for the amazing present I received for Halloween! It really brightened my day! I was bragging to all of my friends and they continued to say, “so, your church made that for you?” I was very proud. It really is a blessing to know that us college kids aren’t forgotten. I hope you all know I think of you very much and sure miss home! I cannot wait to see you during the holidays and you are in my prayers. I think you would be proud to know that I am also in the process of starting a Habitat for Humanity Club here at SEMO! I love and miss you all.

Sincerely,

(signed) Leetah Nickel xoxoxo

WOMEN’S FELLOWSHIP

Women’s Fellowship is ending a wonderful year. Lots of lunches out, many domino games and great fellowship at every meeting. Plus we still have our Christmas luncheon to look forward to!! Our main goal is to do a lot of mission projects. We have accomplished that.

We furnished Neighborhood Houses with baby supplies and Boo Bunnies. For the Festival of Sharing we gave 25 backpacks and 12 school supply kits. We thank the congregation for helping us do that! The Evangelical Children’s Home have been given 50 St. Nick gifts for their children. This was candy and small toys. $50.00 has been given to Neighborhood Houses for their children. $50.00 was given to Joint Neighborhood Ministries for personal care items. We are helping with the Plowshare sales. We have given to Lydia House also.

Our meetings are the 3 rd Tuesday of the month and we invite all to join us. You will meet a lot of wonderful and caring women.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER UPDATE

It seems like the school year just started, but we are already abuzz with holiday activities! Recently, Linda Kammerer asked her students what they were thankful for. Typical answers were “Mommy” and “Daddy”, but one child who will become big brother in the spring answered “my brother who is coming.” However, we are still trying to figure out why another child is thankful for “garages.” The teachers and I would like to thank all of you for making the Early Childhood Ministry a part of St. Phillip’s ministry. As you read this, the children will be busy working on Christmas surprises as well as updating their wish lists for Santa. It is an exciting time to be at the center!

DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS

COMING EVENTS

COMMUNITY EVENTS (for more information check the bulletin board at church)

 LITURGISTS, USHERS, ACOLYTES AND CHILDREN’S TIME FOR DECEMBER

 Liturgists

December 3 Abby Hodges

December 10 Bob Leber

December 17 Gary Karcher

December 24 Frank Holdener

December 31 Ellen Disseler

Children’s Time

December 3 Patty Siewing

December 10 Frank Holdener

December 17 Barbara Barnes

December 24 Sandy Stevenson

December 31 ---

 Ushers

December 3 Church Council

December 10 Guys and Dolls

December 17 Fellowship and Service

December 24 Women’s Fellowship/Council

December 31 Family

 Acolytes

December 3 Bradley Knoll

December 10 Scott Karcher

December 17 Emily Mikusch

December 24 Nick Balzer

December 31 Carley Nickel

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Thanks to Bob Kammerer for this e-mail.

The Difference Between Rich and Poor People

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh, yeah,” said the son.

“So tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father. The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.

Appreciate every thing you have, especially your friends!

HARVEY TO LEAVE ON MOUSE-ATICAL (but will return)

I wasn’t sure I would be able to get a “Mouse-atical” but it’s going to happen. It caught me by surprise and I am rushing to take care of some last minute odds and ends. One of the things I got to wrap up is the Tee Shirts. We had orders but when the seamstress was checked out it was learned that “more than once in her life she had baited, set and, caught a Mouse in a Mousetrap (ugh). Yes, I said mousetrap!!!!! I just could not do business with a human that would do that so I think I will have to let that Tee Shirt “Fund-raiser Idea” drop for now…sorry. Thanks to Harry and Shirley for their help.

While I am away on my Mouse-atical you will have no resident Church Mouse. If a need arises that only a Church Mouse can address contact the (CMA). Church Mouse Academy. They may be able to send someone by to help out. I am not sure yet what studies I will be pursuing in my time away. There are many subjects to pick from (I’ll let you know later). There will be room in the Crier each month now for an “EDITORIAL” to fill the space I normally use. All good papers have an Editorial section and writers. Here at St. Philip’s we have a lot of writers. I am going to be sending out letters and asking some of you provide an editorial for the Crier for a certain month.

Like most Editorial pages there are a few basic rules we need to follow. No attacks on anyone or issue….just share your thoughts/feelings about the subject you choose. It would be good if we could present them from a “Christians Point of View”. Realize there will be some people who do not agree with your views – or who could expand on them, don’t argue about them, just listen to each other and learn from the exchange...and if that exchange is printed we all can learn from it. If you have other thoughts on the subject of an Editorial you might want to write an “Editorial Response” with another “Christian Point of View”.

You can sign your Editorial or leave it unsigned. The office will have to know who you are in case there is something that needs to be clarified. Of course we will have to add what is called a “Disclaimer” to the end of each Editorial or Editorial Response that kind of says “The ideas stated here do not represent..bla,bla,bla. I asked Bob Leber (he talks to me) to write a sample of a “Layperson’s Editorial” for this edition of the Crier to give you an idea of what one might be like. Bob gave me the names of people in the congregation I could ask for future months Editorials knowing that there were many more out there who could make an Editorial Response. This idea came to me after I saw the depth and insight (from a Christian Point of View) that so many of you displayed in writing for our Lenten and now, Advent Devotional Booklets. Let’s keep it up by getting into sharing The Faith in the Crier. I’ll try to drop a note once in a while but we will be depending on you Editorial Writers/Responders to fill up this space each month. Take good care of each other and remind Sarah to get the Crumbs from the ECC packaged up for shipment to the “Mouse Mission” by the 10 th of each month and tell the Scrubby Dutch Lady to save all the change she vacuums out of the pew cushions until I get back. Have a blessed holiday.

Your faithful Church Mouse,

Harvey

EDITORIAL

HANNAH, THE WIDOW, AND VETERANS

At worship, Veteran’s Day weekend, we heard a message about generosity, extravagant generosity! It was based on two stories from scripture. One story was how Hannah dedicated her only son, Samuel to a life of Priestly Ministry. The other was the story about the widow who put her last cent into the “Charity Offering Box” at the temple. Both were illustrations of extravagant generosity. Then I felt I was being asked to lay that kind of generosity alongside of what a veteran has offered when they go off to defend our way of life. It was even pointed out that, yes, there were some veterans who didn’t want to go but they did. For the first time in my life I realized that the generosity of sharing the love of God we are called to share is not something that always pours out of us willingly or joyfully. And when I feel that reluctance to share I have a tendency to back away from that sharing because “I am not offering it in the real spirit of Christ” and that’s wrong, so I might not pass it on or share. I need to pay more attention to that and when I sense my sharing is not an overflow of thanksgiving I need to grit my teeth and go ahead and do it anyway…the joy or thankfulness may come later!

That message also stirred a memory later in the week. I recalled how years ago in a class the leader asked “What’s the first thing you should do after hearing a good sermon (message)?” The answer that eventually came was “GO OUT AND PREACH ONE JUST AS GOOD!” using your own words and your own ways, in your own time and in the places you frequent. Across the years I find that to be tough at times but if that’s how we are called to share (even if reluctantly) that’s what we need to do and we need to try to do it like Pastor showed us that morning. Take the word (scriptures) read or listen to it, reflect on it, then apply it to what’s going on in our everyday life (something like Veteran’s Day) was a good connection for that Sunday wasn’t it? How many other connections can we make during the week wherever we find ourselves. In that message Pastor included a quote from author Fred Buechner about generosity, it said “To sacrifice something is to make it holy by giving it away for love.”

Print Version