Announcements for April 6: Fifth Sunday in Lent

Lenten Small Group Study Guide

Weekly study sheets are available in hard copy every Wednesday evening for the following week. You may also download them below:

Card for Kahlers

Please sign the card on the back table for Wenzel and Linda, who have moved to StoryPoint up in Granger, and will celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary on April 14!!!

Easter Preparations

The children’s Easter party and egg hunt will be held again this year on Saturday, April 19 from 9:30-11am. We need lots of help!

1. Please grab a plastic bag (or a few!) of 100 eggs from the tables under the slat wall, fill each egg with candy, and return the full bags of 100 eggs to an EMPTY BIN, no later than Palm Sunday. Instructions for egg-filling are on the tables.
2. Please sign up to help with the party itself. There are lots of roles, of various commitments and time frames. See the pink board on the slat wall table for more information. See Pastor Clark with questions.

We will also enjoy brunch after Easter Sunday worship. Please sign up to bring a dozen (or more!) eggs and/or muffins, a coffeecake, cinnamon rolls, etc. Eggs MUST be dropped off to the church no later than Good Friday (in the fridge, please!). Baked goods can be brought morning-of. Questions, see Paula Ryan.

If a family or several eager volunteers would like, it’d be great to have the outside grounds picked up after the party on Saturday the 19th (trash, large limbs, etc.). No trimming of plants or shrubs, or digging, is required! Just make the property look nice, out to both streets. See Matt Rockwell or Renee.

Interested in Becoming a Stephen Minister?

A couple weeks ago on “Noticer Sunday,” we mentioned Stephen Ministry. In response to the ongoing growth of the faith community here at St. Peter, our Stephen Ministry program is in need of additional Stephen Ministers – both male and female. Want to learn what being a Stephen Minister is all about? Check out the literature in the Stephen Ministry section of the slat wall. Have questions? Do you feel that God might be calling you to join this mutually beneficial ministry? Then just talk to one of our Stephen Ministry Leaders. Applications must be submitted by May 1 and are available from Vickie Hess. Our next Stephen Ministry training class will be starting on August 8. Stephen Ministry is truly “God’s Love in Action!”

Sunday Adult Bible Study, 9am: Confessional Lutherans in the Wider Body

We continue our pilgrimage into the Protestant traditions. After our second Confirmand Exam (on April 6), we will continue the theology of church, state, society, peace, and mission from the four principal Protestant streams: Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Anabaptist. Never too late to join us!

Call for Christmas Trees!

We are STILL LOOKING for artificial Christmas trees for our VBS program in the summer of 2025. If you have one that you are ready to get rid of, please let Krista Hunt know. We’d be happy to collect it now or anytime before summer if you don’t plan to keep it for next December. Another option would be if you have a tree you would be willing to loan us for the week during VBS, consider packing it up and leaving in an accessible location to make a quick grab from your storage area in June. Green trees in all sizes, styles, and shapes would be welcomed. Thank you for keeping us in mind!

Thank You – and Thanks be to God!

• For Jill Reedstrom and Paula Ryan, who have done “double duty” for several weeks with food hospitality, preparing several funeral meals as well as Wednesday Soup Suppers, and for Nancy Kroll, who faithfully leads Sunday hospitality week in and week out.
• For Anne Mangelsdorf, who returned to helping lead our worship through the use of her musical gifts this past Sunday.
• For Brian Reedstrom, that we have such an incredibly willing and capable MLT president who lately has been handling a number of unplanned challenges.
• For Mike, Alex, and Ryan Germann and Matt, Evan, Cooper, and Ayden Rockwell, who gave significant time this week to cutting and cleaning up two trees that fell into our parking lot during the storms.
• For the Waldrons, Annette Winterrowd, and Helga Platz, who helped Joseph Peggs lay out his first quilt entirely by himself in sewing this week, and for Joseph, who served the Lord and his neighbors in this way, which requires extended focus and concentration.  

Thanks be to God for these servants and their service!

Resurrection Lutheran Academy (RLA)
News, Info, and Ministry Opportunities

Bible Studies & Ministry Updates and Opportunities

Sunday Servants Gather Before Worship

All who help lead the Divine Service gather promptly at 10:05am to take 3 minutes 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 quick introductions and short 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.   

Winter Mid-Week Bible Studies

THURSDAY MORNING, 9am at church: we meet in the “library area” of the narthex. We are studying the book of James. We’d love for you to join us! Connect with Paula Ryan or call Renee in the office (574-255-5585).

FRIDAY NIGHT: 1st and 3rd Fridays 6:30pm: we meet in the fellowship hall. Hosts offer dinner from 6:30-7pm, with study beginning at 7pm and lasting an hour or 90 minutes, usually. We are studying Isaiah! If you would like to know more, please see John Schroeder or Mike Fonck.

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.

Offerings
General Fund: $4694
SPY NYG: $3293
Pastors’ Discretionary: $100

Worship Attendance
Sunday 3/30: 105
Midweek Wednesday: 37

M.A.C. Food Pantry
• 34 pounds this week
• most needed right now: TOILET PAPER and PAPER TOWELS, feminine hygiene products; CRACKERS; jelly/preserves; Jello-O; Rice-a-Roni; bags of rice; pasta: noodles, bow-tie, elbow, spaghetti; boxed potatoes; canned tuna; toilet paper; feminine hygiene; adult diapers; Jiffy; side dishes
Contact Cindy Matthews (574) 855-3504 for more information.

Braille Bible Team
• Braille did not meet this week
Contact Sharon Csaszar (574) 904-1411 or Sandy Ellis (574) 220-3636 for more information.

Sewing Quilt Team
• sewing did not meet this week BUT several eager and committed volunteers did quite a bit of prep work for next meeting!!!
Through the program year, 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.

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