January 2023 From Your Congregational President – Declaring & Teaching – Jesus is Lord !

John 14:1,12-15 – Jesus Comforts His Disciples
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 12 Truly, truly I
say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater
works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in
My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me
anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Holy Spirit Come
There must be a message that He wants us to hear in Chapter 14, it feels like the
spiritual center of John’s Gospel to me. It follows 13 where the disciples had just shared
the last super with our Lord and Savior and He washed their feet and instructed that they
ought to wash one another’s feet. He then lays out the things that are to come and
repeatedly instructs them and therefore us to follow His commandments.
He continues with that instruction into Chapter 15 and explains why this is, “These things
I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater
love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends.”
The Work of the Church
We have been blessed, in December we had a dozen people come forward to serve as
trustees of the church, Lord knows we need the help. Many of the projects that need to
be worked on are the painting projects that are carry overs from 2022. We have a voters
meeting scheduled for Sunday January 22 at approximately 12:15 where we will hold
elections and have some annual reports. The church’s finances are much improved and
we have not needed to withdrawal any of our reserves this fiscal year. Praise be to God
and our faithful parishioners, the giving, other income and preschool tuition has been
adequate to cover the expenses this past six months.
Blessings,
Tim Grace

Before being called as your pastor, Jill and I were members of Faith Lutheran Church in Mtn Home Idaho, Resurrection Lutheran Church in Cambridge, England, Fountain of Life Lutheran Church in Tucson, Arizona, St. John Lutheran Church in Ellisville, Missouri, and Messiah Lutheran Church in Weldon Spring, Missouri. All these churches had traditional midweek evening services during Advent, like those during Lent.

When I came to St. Paul in 2009, I discovered the midweek Advent services here are not like they are elsewhere in the LCMS—at least in the churches where I had been a member. Instead of three Wednesday evenings of worship based on a sermon series leading up to Christmas, the first one was occupied by the Yamhill Cantata. The second Wednesday consisted of a school Christmas program led by teacher Charlotte Brandt. The third one was a preschool program titled “Unwrapping the Manger.” This lineup has continued, except for the school program which ended in 2015. To replace it, I introduced a service of readings and carols led by our youth group.

Over the years I’ve noticed while the Yamhill Cantata is usually well attended, there aren’t many people from our church in the pews. Most of those who typically attend it seem to be with members of the ensemble. Second, those who attended the preschool programs are mostly family members of the students. The youth group service also seems to be mostly attended by parents of the youth.

As if our Advent Wednesdays aren’t oddball enough, Advent 2022 showed itself to be unlike any I can remember. This year the Yamhill Cantata had the largest choir in its history and couldn’t fit in our sanctuary. For the second Wednesday, I prepared a service of lessons and carols like the ones at our Concordia University chapels. In attendance was myself, my wife, one son, and Frannie. The preschool program almost didn’t happen due to the flu, and the youth-led service was slightly better attended, but again, mostly by parents of the youth.

I did some digging into what the other churches in Sherwood are doing for Advent and guess what, ours is the only one offering anything like a worship service on Wednesday nights. St. Francis doesn’t count because they have daily mass anyways, and only in the afternoon.

If St. Paul Lutheran Church ever had traditional evening midweek Advent services, they didn’t stand the test of time. Compared to the rest of the synod, we have an alternative version which came into being for whatever reason and is not generally supported by the congregation. Perhaps you went to the first Yamhill Cantata and figured, “seen one—seen them all.” Maybe the little children singing Christmas carols won’t get you off the couch either because your kids or grandkids are not little children anymore. Along with that it’s dark, cold, and wet at 6:30 PM; the lines on the road are hard to see and you pray you don’t veer off into the wildlife sanctuary. For younger families, dinner, homework, and bedtime are a priority over church events. I’ve noticed the same trend happening during Lent.

Thankfully, for those who don’t drive at night, there is the opportunity for midweek worship in the afternoons with the seniors during their Wednesday meetings. But as far as the evenings go, if the Yamhill choir has moved on to larger pastures, we should offer the first Wednesday night of Advent to the Firm Foundations Academy who are using our classrooms. Perhaps they might want to have their own Christmas program. There’s plenty of room in our sanctuary for families of 34 students. Our own preschool and youth group services will always draw in a handful of family members too. I welcome your thoughts on this possible change to next year’s Advent services.

Greetings in the Name of Jesus

Happy New Year and a blessed Epiphany!   I hope your Christmas celebration was meaningful for you.  What a miracle that God was willing to give us His son to take our place as our sacrifice.   Wonderful that God accepted it for our salvation.  All our sins and failures are covered.  We can look forward to 2023.  No matter what the year brings, we have a loving God to guide us.  You are valuable.  God loves you.  On January 6, we celebrate Epiphany, the good news that Jesus was for everyone.  Wisemen from the East came to worship.  No matter what your past, Jesus is here for you! 

The Senior Saints are looking forward to the new year.  In January we are meditating on the Old Testament song book, the Psalms.  We invite you to join with us and explore the joy of worship using the Psalms.

Maxine and I wish all of you a great new year.  May Jesus shine bright In Your lives.

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Rich

Greetings from your friendly Basset Hound,

 Hi folks,   I heard that 2023 is the year of the Basset Hounds.  Is that true?  All rabbits should take note.  In case you didn’t know, we were bred to hunt rabbits.  In my retirement I gave that up and now do security and at the Senior Center. It is my responsibility to bring smiles to you for good health.  Ready?

• What is a New Year’s resolution? Something that goes in one year and out the other.
• Youth is when you are allowed to stay up on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you are forced to.  Old age is when you sleep through it.

• What did the ghost say on January 1? Happy Boo year!
• What did Adam say to Eve on December 31? It is New Year’s, Eve.
• Why stand on one leg at midnight on December 31? To start the new year on the right foot.

If you have any complaints about any of these smiles do not contact me.  Complain to Reader’s Digest.

Happy New Year!

Love,

Bingo your Friendly Basset hound