St. John s Evangelical Lutheran Church 910 Allentown Road Sellersville PA 18960

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1 St. John s Evangelical Lutheran Church Allentown Road, Sellersville PA Office Hours: Monday - Thursday 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Office Phone: stjohnsridgevalley910@gmail.com Web: Worship Schedule: 8:30 AM Traditional 10:15 AM Praise Service Adult Forum and Kid s Sunday School Forum weekly at 9:40 AM St. John s Council Members Don Graham - Council President Phyllis Kogel - Council Vice President Michele Walter - Financial Secretary Barb Klinger - Treasurer Cornell Hopkins - Council Secretary Nancy Esposito Vicki Guenst Doug Kemp Shirley Nase Chris Wall The Reverend Amy Hotter, Pastor (267) Ministers: The People of St. John s Office Manager: Heidi Link (Sept 4.) (215) Publications: Karen Quinn Mark Gottesfeld, Organist and Music Director Christine Nyce, Jesse Dorn - Sextons St. John s Evangelical Lutheran Church 910 Allentown Road Sellersville PA 18960

2 Scriptures for November 5th Rev 7:9-17 All Ps 34:1-10:22 Saints 1John3:1-3 Matt 5: th Amos 5:18-24 Ps 43 1 Thes 2:9-13 Matt 23: th Amos 5:18-24 PS 70 1Thes 4:13-18 Matt 25: nd Deut 8:7-18 Ps 65 2 Cor 9:6-15 Luke 17: th Ezek 34:11-16, Christ PS 95:1-7a the Eph 1:15-23 King Matt 25:31-46 ON OUR SIGN: Have an hour to spare? Come Back to Jesus. When we pray together, we storm the gates of heaven. Please pray with one another for healing and the well being of Members: Pauline Berndt, Ellen Croissette, Eddie Galgon, Laurie Hopkins, Arlene Kulp; Kathy Pegg; Linda Trauger, Harriet Woehr Friends: Kathy Barger, Ruth Barnaby, Glenn Herd, Mary King, Jay Moyer, Marvin Nase, Elizabeth Schmitt amd best friend Hula. Please pray for the family and friends of Doris Clayton who went home to God on October 26 th. Her funeral will be her at St. John s on November 4 th at 1:30p.m. The Homebound: Francis Allem, Claude Barndt, Edna Barndt, Pauline Berndt, Lucille Caruso, Richard Croissette, Ed Geiger, James Gotthart, Willis & Lorraine Heacock, Bob Kulp, Mark Trauger, Elaine Turner. The Military: Pvt. Cody Hotter & Steven Walter NOVEMBER 23 We host Thanksgiving Eve Service DECEMBER 3 Hanging of the Greens 9 Christmas Tree 17 Decorate the Tree 24 Christmas Eve 25 Christmas Day FEBRUARY Annual Meeting Office Notes from Heidi Link: the sign-up sheet to have your picture taken for the new directory are located in upstairs fellowship hall. The photographs will be taken in the downstairs fellowship hall on the following dates: Saturdays 9:00a.m. to 12:00p.m. 11/11 11/18 11/25 12/2 Sundays 9:40a.m. to 12:40p.m. 11/5 11/12 11/19 11/26 12/3 Please remember to use our new stjohnsridgevalley910@gmail.com

3 Dear Sister and Brothers in Jesus This year marks the 500 th anniversary of the influence and wisdom of Martin Luther. On October 31, 1517, MARTIN Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg. He had expected that this would create academic discussion and dialog and correct errors and practices he had identified. What happened was nothing short of a revolution for this was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was raised by a prosperous miner and a strict mother when it came to discipline. He was considered brilliant. His father wanted him become a lawyer, but a sudden thunderstorm came along and change his plans and church history too! He was returning to the university after visiting his parents when a lightening bolt knocked him to the ground, Save me, St. Anne! He cried out. I will become a monk. Martin never started out to create a new church. The church of his time taught that the punishments for sin in a place called purgatory (between heaven and hell) could be removed if people bought what were called indulgences. Martin studied the Bible but he could not find these words or concepts purgatory or indulgences- in its pages. He wanted to correct the problems of the Roman Catholic Church. Martin begun the reformation of the whole great Catholic Church from your little town in Germany. Along with Philip Melanchthon, Luther began writing the Augsburg confession. I will speak of thy testimonies before kings, and will not be put to shame. (Psalm 119:46) The confession contains the chief articles of faith, who is God, original sin, who is Son of God, of justification, of the ministry, new obedience of the church, of what the church is, of baptism, of the Lord s Supper, of Confession, of Repentance, of the use of the sacraments, and of Ecclesiastical order... At that time Cardinal Cajetan ordered Martin to be arrested. Luther escaped from danger one night by riding a horse bareback to safety in Wittenberg. However he never backed down. He entered into a great debate at Leipzig that lasted 18 days. Finally, Pope Leo X expelled Luther from the church. And Yet Frederick the Wise the ruler of Saxony (which where he lived) agreed that the church should be reformed. Eventually Luther appeared before Charles V, the emperor over much of Europe, at a city on the Rhine River called Worms. Here, the emperor, his court and the church leaders demanded that Luther take back what he had written. Martin refused. It was soon after that Charles V and the church leaders declared that Luther was an outlaw, and anyone could kill him on sight. At this, Luther was hidden in a castle at Wertberg and had the opportunity to finish translating the New Testament into German. In 1525, Luther married Katie. She was 26 years and Luther was 41. They had six kids, three girls and three boys. However many of students would live with them; and yet Katie had times finding food and beds for all of them. Martin was a brilliant, diligent, brave, and humorous man. One of Martin Luther s words were: Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death and the world. Martin was buried beneath the pulpit in the castle Church at Wittenberg. This my friends, gives you a look at the journey of Martin Luther in the Reformation we are celebrating. May the next 500 years be even more incredible than the 500 we are recalling. In the peace of Christ, Pastor Amy Hotter

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8 Flood Victim Clean Up Buckets Drive This past Sunday St. John s Lutheran - Ridge Valley collected money to purchase items needed to support the flood victims. Liberty Lutheran ran this project through Christ Lutheran Church in Kulpsville. Many churches have supported this effort. Here at St. John s we collected $ to be used to purchase (30) 100 foot sections of clotheslines. I purchased all thirty at Lowes and the total cost was $255.40!!!! So we contributed to the Clean Up Bucket Project. Thanks to everyone who participated! Marianne Yeakel Pennridge FISH David Schirk delivered 322 pounds of food to FISH the end of September. Please continue to remember FISH as you do your weekly grocery shopping and pick up an extra can of food or breakfast cereal to help put food on someone else s table. Nutritious meals help children learn in school! Quakertown Food Pantry Shirley Schirk delivered 114 pounds of fresh produce to the pantry following the beautiful Harvest Home Sunday. These fresh apples, potatoes and other vegetables are so appreciated. We hope to begin making soup for the pantry after we receive the necessary training, in the near future. Chris Wall is working on this project. Silver Springs Martin Luther School In the November church newsletter you will find a Christmas Wish List for the children that are served by the school. Please try to purchase something from that list and bring it to our coffee fellowship area so we can help those children have a wonderful Christmas. There will be a box in the coffee fellowship area to put your unwrapped gift in. Also, save the date Tuesday, December 5 th St. John s will host the North Penn Auxiliary meeting of Silver Springs School. We will supply desserts and something to drink for the attendees. Please try to attend from noon until 2 ish. There is always an update about the school and the children who are served by the school and also you can meet members of other churches nearby who also support the school. NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY LIST To all who have Birthdays in November We wish you every blessing. Birthdays are not included in the or web posting version of the newsletter - feel free to come in and pick up a printed copy when next you are at St. John s. Thank you. The Altar Guild needs help!!! We are short several people to work with the Altar Guild! What works really well is to have two people scheduled per month (or per week if we can get enough volunteers to help). It is helpful to have one volunteer for each service. The following months are where we need the most help: January: A volunteer who attends the first service to set up & clean up. February: A volunteer who attends the second service to set up & clean up. March: A volunteer that attends the second service. May: A volunteer that attends the first service. June: Volunteers that attend first and second services. October: Volunteer that attends the first service. December: Volunteers that attend first and second services. If you have any questions on altar guild please contact Brenda Wall. Please prayerfully consider stepping up and helping our church. Please let Brenda Wall or Marianne Yeakel know you are willing to help. Thank you in advance!

9 2017 PENNRIDGE FISH CHRISTMAS DONATION INFORMATION The Pennridge FISH Organization is grateful to receive donations from the community, churches, school and scouting groups, businesses and organizations for its annual Christmas program. Each year we serve more than 300 families with the fixings for a Christmas meal, including chicken, ham or turkey, and a dessert. We serve more than 400 children ages 0-15 with new, unwrapped toys/gifts and/or gift -cards, hats, scarves and gloves. We will be giving only gift-cards to parents with teens ages this year. We find it is too difficult to collect gifts for teens. We are looking for teen-oriented store gift cards, or Walmart or Target gift cards in the denominations of $20 - $25. Please mail or hand deliver gift cards to FISH no later than December 11th. Thank you! You will receive a receipt for your donation. The deadline for Christmas toys, gift cards, etc. is Monday, December 11, Donations should be dropped off at the pantry during our hours of operation: Mon and Wed 3-5 pm, Thurs 6-8 pm, Fri and Sat 9-11 am We are located at 800 W. Chestnut St. in Perkasie. Donations should be brought to the back kitchen door where a volunteer will assist you. (Please do not leave donations after hours.) Financial donations may be mailed to: Pennridge FISH PO BOX 9 Perkasie, PA FISH is now accepting turkeys, roasting chickens, hams and large ham slices for the holiday meal bag program. Please check out local stores for good sales on these items. Holiday Food Donation Suggestions: Boxed mashed potatoes Stuffing mix Canned fruit Canned vegetables Canned yams/sweet potatoes Cranberry sauce Applesauce Gravy Durkee type fried onions Cream soups Muffin mixes Canned string beans

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13 Memorials were received in loving memory of: Joanne Heffendrager from Sara Jane & Douglas Fraley; John Kibler; Christine Lambert; Grand Officers of the PA Order of Eastern Star; M.J. Rohl; Donald & Dorothy Edmonds; Joseph & Marcia Holland; James Marshbank & Kenneth E. Clymer; Fred & Shirley Schirk A memorial was received in loving memory of Charles Marx from Patricia James

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