WORSHIP and SUNDAY SCHOOL
To access live-streamed Worship and view Worship Folder please use:
Sunday Education Hour for Age 3 to Adult at 9am
Divine Worship at 10:15am
Advent Midweek Services
The News
Advent/Christmas Tree cutting and installation
TOMORROW!!!! Saturday, December 2nd, plan to meet at 9am at the Schroeder Tree Farm to help select and cut down this year’s tree AND/OR meet at the church around 10:30am to help install and secure the tree in the sanctuary. Please get directions and relevant information from John Schroeder (574-220-1530 or jschroeind@aol.com) and make sure he knows you’re coming.
Angel Tree for Emmons
We will be sponsoring an Angel Tree for four families at Emmons Elementary. Please take a tag and instruction sheet. Gifts are due by Sunday, Dec 17.
Donations for RLA Classroom Christmas
We have found it best to do Amazon Gift Cards for our RLA teachers to use in their classrooms; this is the easiest way to enable them to pick what they need over time. We need $900 to match the gifts we have given the past several years for all teachers. Please donate by Dec 17 in the Narthex as you are able. Checks to St. Peter, memo: RLA Christmas.
Call for SHEETS!
Do you have extra bedsheets you just don’t any more or that you feel embarrassed to put on the beds? Our Sewing Ladies can use them! Please bring flat or fitted sheets, any pattern/color, any size, (just no flannel, please) and see Helga Platz or Karen Waldron with your donation! Thank you!
Christmas Poinsettias
Altar Guild will order flowers to decorate our church for Christmas worship services. Place your donation in the clear box on the table in the back of the church. Please sign your name on the sheet so we may acknowledge your contribution.
Donations will be accepted through December 10th. Please make checks payable to Women of St. Peter and let Annette Winterrowd know if you have any questions.
Cookie Pantry
The Cookie Pantry to purchase yummy treats will be open in the Fellowship Hall on Saturday, December 9 from 9am-noon.
We need folks to BAKE yummy treats for sale at the Pantry! If you are willing to share your holiday kitchen talents, please deliver cookies to the church no later than Friday, December 8. If you have any questions, please see Jill Reedstrom.
Do You Have a Church/Braille Handtruck (or know where one is)?
We are still missing one of the handtrucks vital to the Braille ministry. If you know its whereabouts, please speak to or email Pastor Clark: adamclarknd@gmail.com
Offering Envelopes
Envelopes for 2024 are now available on the tables by the slat wall. Please pick yours up! If you visit shut-ins, feel free to grab their envelopes as well and deliver with the December packets when you visit. Any questions, see Cindy Matthews.
Children’s Christmas Pageant
Our children will invite us to LIVE CONNECTED in the story of Jesus’ birth with the Christmas pageant on Sunday, December 17 at 9am in the sanctuary. Details about rehearsal (Saturday morning, December 16) were emailed and handed out to families with children. See Krista Hunt or Renee Peggs with any questions or if you didn’t receive the information.
This year’s Advent devotional
Go deeper into our Advent theme with this devotional from Christianity Today: “The Eternal King Arrives.”
Contributors from around the world reflect on the prophetic announcement of Christ’s coming as an “eternal jubilee” for the people of God, on the divine coronation of this “King of Kings,” and on what it all means for our lives today.
Women of St. Peter: Advent by Candlelight 6:30pm Sunday, December 3
All Women of St. Peter (especially our high school aged young ladies as well!) are invited to Advent by Candlelight. This evening of fellowship and prayerful conversation is designed to help prepare our hearts to receive the Christ child—to take a holy pause amid the rush of holiday preparations and the challenges of our lives—all while enjoying delicious sweets.
As part of this event, we will again be collecting needed items for Hannah’s House, a faith-based agency offering support for pregnant women and single moms in crisis situations. Please bring cleaning supplies, baby clothes, or gift cards. Even if you cannot attend the event, please feel free to donate items! There will be a place for collection at St. Peter.
Please bring a dessert to share. We could use a few helping hands to assist with greeting, set-up and clean-up. Sign up by the slat wall to let us know you will attend and if you can serve. You can also click this link to sign up to attend and offer to help in some more specific ways. Thank you! Please see Kat Machado or Halrun Luppes if you have any questions!
Advent/Christmas in German at St. Paul’s South Bend
The 39th annual Weinachts Vespers (a Christmas worship service in the German language) will be held at 4pm Sunday, December 3 at St. Paul’s Lutheran (corner of Auten and Laurel in South Bend). A time of fellowship will follow the Vespers. Contact their church office (574-271-1050) for more information.
Compassion for those grieving during the holidays
Ministry Updates and Opportunities
Sunday Servants Gather Before Worship
All who help lead the Divine Service will gather by the font at 10 a.m. to prepare their hearts and minds for worship. If you are serving as altar guild, usher, crucifer/acolyte, lector, greeter, tech person, elder, musician/dancer, doorkeeper or other HEART member, etc. on a particular Sunday, please come together for 5-ish minutes of introduction, reflection, and prayer led by Deaconess Amy Smessaert. Together, we will ask God to bless our service to God’s people as we live connected in spiritual formation in Christ. All confirmands and parents are encouraged to participate, whether or not you are serving on that Sunday.
Sunday Morning Bible Study: Live Connected in Spiritual Formation – The Rhythm of the Word
Have you ever noticed that each Church Year walks us through one specific Gospel, as well as a specific selection of other Bible books? Do YOU have a steady practice for living into and out of the lessons for each week–and the way they are developed in each week’s sermon and liturgy? Join Pastor Clark as a new Church Year begins and enter more deeply into “The Rhythm of the Word” as a vital way to live connected in spiritual formation in Christ. [NOTE: on Sunday, Nov 19, our confirmands will join us to share some things they have been learning and also to learn from you!]
When: Sundays, 9am; Nov 19-Dec 10 | Where: Church Fellowship Hall
Friday Night Bible Study
The FNBS next meets TONIGHT, December 1 at 6:30pm for dinner, followed by study beginning at 7pm. This year’s focus is Chad Bird’s book, Limping with God: Jacob and the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship. Anyone is welcome to join; no previous bible study experience needed!
Jacob seems to be anything but a model disciple. And yet he is also “Israel,” the namesake of the Old Testament community of God, chosen and blessed. In Jacob’s life we see our lives, our struggles, our failures…but most especially, the God who loves us and chooses us as his own. Come explore Jacob’s story as we learn more together about ourselves and about the God of Israel, who is with us and for us in Jesus the Messiah.
Book: Check it out or order here (the church will cover the cost if needed)
Time: Meal, 6:30pm | Study 7-8:30pm
Dates: 1st and 3rd Fridays [Dec 1 and 15, Jan 5 and 19, Feb and 16, Mar 1 and 15]
Where: Fellowship Hall
Sign-up: Please contact either John Schroeder (jschroeind@aol.com) or Mike Fonck (mfonck@comcast.net) to let them know you’re interested.
Dunes Hospice Community Grief Share: 3:30-4:30pm Second Monday of Each Month
St. Peter hosts this group for people journeying together through grief after the loss of a loved one. The regular leaders are Chaplain Matt Barker and a social worker, both from Dunes Hospice. But importantly, the loved one you lost does not need to have been in hospice for you to participate. The group is free and open to the public. Before attending, please contact Chaplain Barker at mbarker@duneshospicellc.com.
Upcoming Dates: Dec 11, Jan 8, Feb 12, Mar 11, Apr 8, May 13
Pick Your Next Usher Date!
Thanks to everyone who has served as an usher or part of an usher team. It’s time to pick another date to serve! Please sign up on the Sunday Servants sheet on the slat wall. You can see the specific list of duties, with video demos, here. A veteran usher will assist you and teach you one extra duty beyond communion each time you serve.
Church Set-up
If you are using the church for any reason and need the church set up a certain way, please contact Matt Rockwell rockwellmatt87@gmail.com.
Coffee Hour/Hospitality
We need volunteers for hospitality on Sundays. Pick up some treats from the store such as mini rolls, strudel, fruit, donut holes, small cinnamon rolls, or similar. Total cost is no more than $20 (3-4 packages). There is a sign-up sheet and instructions on the table by the slat wall. Please contact Nancy Kroll if you have any questions at (574) 229-9496.
This Week in the Lord’s Service
Week of November 26, 2023
Offerings
General Fund 11/26: $7,829
MAC Food Pantry: $185
Pastors’ Discretionary: $1240
Worship Attendance
Sunday 11/26: 107
M.A.C. Food Pantry
• food collected last week: 461 pounds
• this week’s shopping list: soup, Rice-A-Roni, cereal
Contact Cindy Matthews (574) 855-3504 for more information.
Sewing Quilt Team
• 7 quilts this week
The Sewing Group meets Tuesdays to cut squares, size sheets, assemble backs and fronts of quilts, iron sheets, sew and pin quilts. Participants of ANY skill level from the least to the greatest are welcome. If you are interested in this human care ministry, contact Helga Platz (574) 514-3751 for more information.
Braille Bible Team
• 22 books of II Chronicles in Unified English Braille
Contact Sharon Csaszar (574) 904-1411 or Sandy Ellis (574) 220-3636 for more information.
Links and General Info
Prayer Requests may be submitted by:
- Using the convenient on-line Submit New Prayer Request Here Link
- Adding written prayers to the “Our Gathering Prayers” form on Sunday morning
Announcements may be submitted by:
- Using the online form: https://splcm.org/forms/submit-announcement/
- Filling out an announcement form from the left of the slat wall in the Narthex and placing it on the pastor’s chair to the right of the Cross at the front of the sanctuary.
St. Peter Members Website Page
Did you know that we have a dedicated page just for members of St. Peter? This page contains monthly celebrations for birthdays, baptisms, and wedding anniversaries; annual Kingdom Spending Plan (budget); monthly financial reports; MLT and Voter Assembly minutes and announcements; church Constitution, and more. NOTE: Password is the same as “prayers” password; call the church office with questions, 574-255-5585.
Zoom Videoconferencing
Changes have continued. If your group needs to use Zoom, please email PC at adamclarknd@gmail.com.
Your St. Peter Leadership
- Mission Leadership Team (MLT)
Brian Reedstrom (President)
David Seitz (Vice-President)
Alex Homann (Secretary)
David Luster-Bartz (Treasurer)
Andrew Deliyannides (At-Large member)
Elizabeth McGrath (At-Large member)
Dylan Bergstrom (At-Large member) - Elders
Chuck Ryan (Head Elder), Marty Orlowski, Brian Reedstrom, Mark Waldron, David Gurnee, John Schroeder, Jeff Rockwell - Pastors
Pastor Bryan Borger, Senior Pastor
Pastor Adam Clark, Associate Pastor
Office Hours:
Mon: “flex” (call to see)
Tue: 11:00am-3pm
Wed: 11:00am-3pm
Thu: 10:30am-3pm
Fri: “flex” (call to see)
Pastors’ Day Off: Mondays
*Otherwise, call, text, or email to set an appointment. See contact below.
Sunday Schedule
- Education Hour: 9am
Ages 3-Adult - Divine Worship: 10:15 am
(stream: splcm.org/worship)