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Our Senior Pastor welcomes you to our weekly Friday
Blessings update for January 22, 2010.
In This
Issue
Annual
Meeting
Chili
Fest
Haiti
Earthquake Relief
Preaching
Pastor Wells is preaching at all worship
services this weekend.
Traditional Services are held in the
Sanctuary. All other services are in the Parish Life
Center.
Join us for worship at St.
John's!
For More Information
St. John's Website
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THIS WEEKEND AT ST.
JOHN'S
This
weekend is our Annual Meeting of the congregation
- beginning at 11:30
AM
in the Parish
Life
Center.
Each year, at this time, we adopt a ministry budget, based on the
pledges and commitments of the members of the congregation. This
year we are also recommending some changes in our Constitution in
order to be in compliance with the ELCA model constitution for
congregations. We will have reports and some staff recognitions.
Annual Meetings are about doing "the business of the church,"
as an organization. They also have to do with our understanding
of what it means to be "a member of a congregation" and what it
means "to participate in the life of a congregation." I hope to see
you there!
In a healthy congregation, everyone
has a role or a task to do. Everyone is needed, and everyone has
certain gifts, talents and abilities that are uniquely given,
in order to be a fully functioning part of the church. One of our
Core Values here at St.
John's is "Every Member in Ministry." If you
have not discovered your ministry here . .. if you are still
searching for that role or task that God is calling you to do . . .
we want to help! It's about being part of "the body of Christ." Our
New Testament Lesson this week from I Corinthians 12:12-31a reminds
us . . . "For just as the
body is one and has members, and all the members of the body, though
many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body . . ." Join us for
worship this weekend and share the experience of community and faith
together as one.
Your financial support for relief to the
victims of the earthquake in
Haiti can be directed to either "Lutheran
World Relief" or "ELCA Disaster Response-Haiti Relief". Either
agency receives your gifts and every dollar goes directly to the
victims of the earthquake, with no administrative costs, as is the
case with many other agencies. To make your donation, go directly
to:
https://community.elca.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=538
You may also write a check to St. John's
and designate Haiti Relief
on the check.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans also
provides a match of $1 for every $2 donated. You can
access their website at:
https://www.thrivent.com/helpinghaiti/index.html
Our Annual Chili fest takes place on
Sunday, January 24th, in support of our senior high
Youth Workcamp which this year is in
China
Grove,
North
Carolina.
Chili will be served on the following
schedule in Fellowship Hall:
10:30 -
11:30
AM
BREAK FOR ANNUAL
MEETING
12:15 -
1:30 PM
PRAYER: Gracious God, you continue to
bless your people with your presence. In the midst of tragedy
and loss, you provide for your people in ways that are beyond our
expectations. You join us together in the unity of your spirit so
that we become members one of the other. In the words of
St.
Paul,
"If one member suffers, all
suffer together with it. If one member is honored, all rejoice
together with it." Be with those who
have lost everything and help them to come to you, who can provide
them with all that they need. Be with those who minister to the
suffering and dying. Enable us to help those who need our support
and our care. Encourage both the helpers and the
victims who have experienced this disaster in
Haiti. As we focus on ministry, may your will
be done. We pray always in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Alive in
Christ,
The Reverend
Knight Wells
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