Pastor’s Notes
Finally, the election campaign ads are
gone; the Thanksgiving turkey and/or ham have been consumed by the myriad of
family members and friends. Finally, the Advent season is here, the season of
hope and anticipation!
As much as I dislike the chilling
winds and cold air that takes my breath away when I’m walking the boys, our
canine family members, I do begin to anticipate the celebration of Jesus the
Christ’s birth.
There’s something about this time of
year, maybe it’s the words from the Scriptures, maybe it’s the decorations,
maybe it’s…my age, that gets me to thinking about what it is we’re all waiting
for, hoping for, looking forward to in this coming year in our individual lives
and…in the life of God’s church.
Have you thought lately what you’re
hoping for, waiting for, working for? What are you anticipating? What is it
that gets you excited and your heart racing?
A friend stopped in the other day and
gave me a book to read. It was about the experience of one pastor who was
declared dead but then came back to life. The whole book is about God, Jesus,
the Holy Spirit, heaven, angels, prayer, and those saints who have preceded us.
That’s part one. Part two was that God in that mysterious way that he has led
me to a Walter Wangerin, Jr. book, The Manger Is Empty.
Since the first Sunday of Advent was
close I thought, “Why not read it for inspiration.” So, I came upon this story
that I shared with the congregation this last Sunday, “Behold, the Day
Cometh.” What do you know, it was about
Christ coming again and the excited anticipation of the author for the arrival
of his friend, who we found out was, Jesus.
As if that’s not enough of a sign, the
first Sunday of Advent is also about the coming of Christ to the world a second
time. Jesus told his disciples this
wasn’t just for some future generation but for the one in which they were
living too. And so, in their lives, they were continually anticipating, waiting
for Christ to come again.
Did he come and they not know it? Is
Christ coming to us and we don’t know it? What do you think? If his words were
for that generation…and future generations doesn’t it sound like Christ is
always coming to us? It certainly gives us pause.
So, besides anticipating what may be
under the Christmas tree, are our hearts filled with hopeful anticipation for
Christ to come…again? I pray that they are.
May God’s grace, peace, and joy be
yours this Advent season,
Pastor David
The
Four Stages of Life
1.
You believe in
Santa Claus.
2.
You don’t believe
in Santa Claus
3.
You are Santa
Claus.
4.
You look like
Santa Claus.
Thank-you
Thank-you to everyone for making the Fall Supper/Bazaar a
success.
JoJane
Walter won the pots and pans, Adam Winterhof’s wife won the afghan and Nancy
Hullinger won the Fareway gift card (which she gave to Pastor David to give to
a needy family!). We served 199 people
in the church and had 110 carry-outs.
Thank-you to Linda Ploen and Kathy Hansen for hosting our
“Celebration
of Service”. Delicious cake was served
and Gloria Myers, Barb Eslick, Jim Tooley, JoJane Walter and Pastor David
provided the music.
If you don’t have Christmas in your heart
yet…you won’t find it under a tree.
Sunday
School Christmas Program
The
annual Sunday School Christmas program will be December 16th during
Worship
at 9:00 AM. Come and enjoy watching our
young people perform and sing.
Christmas is weird.
What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy
out of your socks?
BRIDAL SHOWER
All the church ladies
are invited to a “come & Go” bridal shower for Brittni Johnk. The shower will be held December 23rd
from 1-3 at Gwen Blum’s house (201
Country St
Brittni is registered
at Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Macy’s.
Brittni (and Ron)
Would love to have a
copy of your favorite recipe. A basket
is at the back of the church for you to drop your recipe in.
January Ushers
and Communion Servers
Ushers: Dennis & Dustin Jensen,
Allan Sievers & Shannon Griffith
Communion Servers: Allan Sievers - chm, Dennis Jensen, Linda
Ploen, Linda Woltmann. December ushers
and communion servers are at bottom of calendar.
Children don’t Need your presents, they need your presence.
Poinsettias
Poinsettias will be placed in the sanctuary in memory
of family and friends who
have passed on.
Please let me know who your poinsettia is in memory of.
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present
and not
giving it.”- William
Arthur Ward
Angel Tree
The Angel Tree is up at the
library again this year. If you can help
out a family this
Christmas pick out an angel
or two and buy the gift suggestion on it.
Bring the gift (with angel
attached) to Walnut December
14th. Linda Ploen, Margo
Matthies and Kathy Hansen will
collect them, wrap them and
distribute them. If you would like to contribute wrapping
paper,
tape or boxes for the gifts please bring them to the
church before December 14th.
“We make a living by
what we get, but we make a life by what we
Give.” - Winston Churchill
Golden Oldies
No Golden Oldies in
December. The next meal will be at our
church on January 15th.
Love is what’s in
the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
Food Pantry
The
Food Pantry has no special requests for December since the drive in November
filled their shelves to overflowing. Whatever you’d like to donate is
appreciated. A new list of needs will be coming in January.
Session Minutes
November 13, 2012
The session of Walnut First Presbyterian church met in
regular session on November 13th, 2012 at 7 pm in the Sunday School
south annex. Those in attendance were:
Margo Matthies, Jim Tooley, Linda Krueger and Linda Ploen. Absent were: Jim McDermott, Jack Ploen, Kathy
Hansen, Allan Sievers and Michelle and Mike Mertz.
Moderator David Krueger opened the meeting with prayer. Scripture readings were from 2 Corinthians
3:18, 5:17. Our reflection was on Font
& Table (Baptism).
The minutes of the October meeting were read and approved.
There was no Treasurer’s report, as it was not available.
The pastor’s report was approved as given. David traveled 135 miles.
Linda Ploen reported that we had received our Theological
General Mission Pledge. It was moved and
2nd to give $1300 for mission support and $200 for the Theological
Education Fund. Motion carried. There were no deaths or membership
changes.
Stewardship &
Mission
Linda K. and Margo reported that the Christmas Joy offering
will begin the first Sunday of December and will be received on December 23rd. We will have “Bring a Friend” Sunday on the
first Sunday of the new year. David also
continues to encourage us to choose and support a mission project. Linda P. will get supplies for the children’s
and adult’s Christmas goodie bags. We
also approved the Christmas gifts of $25 for Sunday School teachers, helpers,
janitor, Sunday School Superintendant, Financial Secretary, Treasurer, Clerk of
Session, $50 for the pianist and $250 for Pastor David. David also told us of a couple mission
opportunities, one from Foley, Mn. First Presbyterian Church. A group of young people are wanting to come
to our Presbytery to do any kind of project.
Also the Presbytery of Transylvania in Kentucky is looking for groups that would be
willing to come down and help with some projects. They were some interesting ideas for some
mission trips for our church.
Christian Education
Since Kathy was unable to attend the meeting, David read a
report from her. She has delivered three
more “Welcome Baskets” to new Walnut residents.
There were 19 children that attended a fun Halloween party. She also has donated a $100 food gift card to
be raffled off at the church dinner to help a needy family at Christmas. The 2013 Presbyterian Youth Triennium will by
held in Lafayette ,
In. on July 16-20, 2013. David also
asked about ordering an adult course called “Animate Faith”. We decided to discuss this later to see if
there is any interest in this.
Worship
Communion was served to 5 residents at Peace Haven on
November 4th. Kathy Hansen
served as elder. Plans are being made
for the “Celebration of Service” on November 18th. Thanksgiving Eve service will be at Trinity
Lutheran in Avoca at 7:00 pm. Advent
begins December 2nd.
Permission was given to David to purchase a new Advent wreath if our old
one can not be fixed. There will be no
Saturday night service in November. We need to get some feedback on our
contemporary service. Do we want to
continue this?
Finance &
Property
David received word on the new policy to update our bulk
mail. We have to have an endorsement on
each piece of mail. David chose “address
service requested”. We have to mail out
200 items and we are charged $1.12 for each piece returned. We need to know when members move. Jim t. reported that we need a new tarp for
the Antique Walk. He will check into
purchasing this. He will also check with
Gene Larsen about renting some tables for the Walk so we don’t have to buy new
ones. He also stated that we need a
brighter light in the back of the church, as it is so dark. He will talk to Allan Sievers about
this. Another concern is the floor in
the kitchen. We should maybe think about
replacing it. We need to check with a
flooring company to see about our options.
Personnel
The 2012 nominating committee is: Chuck Ploen, Greg Mertz
and Jim Tooley.
New Business
Gloria Myers was given permission to use the church basement
on December 4th. We then
worked on the 2013 budget. The per
capita this year is $33 per member, so our per capita budget will go from
$3,967.48 to $4620. We need to encourage
members to help pay their per capita.
The meeting was closed with the Lord’s Prayer.
Next meeting will be December 11th at 7:00 pm.
Linda Ploen
Clerk of Session
