St. Paul's United Church of Christ December 2017 Newsletter Church Office Hours Monday-Friday: 9:00am-4:00pm Pastor Mike Roth: Tuesday-Friday Pastor Erica Roth: Tuesday-Thursday Doug Gilliland: Monday-Thursday Erica Faust: Tuesday-Thursday St. Paul s United Church of Christ 5508 Telegraph Road St. Louis, Mo 63129 314-892-3332 Website: sp4u.org
Shine On Us! Join us this Christmas Season as we prepare for the light of Christ! Shine On Us Advent Preaching Series at 8:30 & 10:45 a.m. Worship Dec. 3rd: You Come Running Luke 15:11-20 Dec. 10th: Shadows Scattered Matthew 4:12-16 Dec. 17th: Into a Prism 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 Dec. 24th: Skies Illuminated! Numbers 6:25-26 Christmas Eve Worship Then I Saw You Matthew 2:11a 5:00 p.m. Family Worship (Very child friendly!) 9:00 p.m. Worship with Choir, Bells, Candlelight & Communion 11:00 p.m. Worship with Special Music, Candlelight &Communion
Middle School Youth Group meets on almost every Sunday evening. 5:30 is a meal together, 6:00 is program time and 7 is free time. We will end most nights around 7:30 p.m. Look for schedules outside the main office on the bulletin board! Dec. 3rd No Youth group but come to the all church AdventFest 5-7:30 p.m., Dec. 10th Decorating Ginger Bread Houses to auction for Lydia s House, Dec. 19th Come and see!, Dec. 24th Come worship with us at 5, 9 or 11 to celebrate Christmas Eve, Dec. 31st No Youth group enjoy break! Jan. 7th Come and see! We need meals for our Middle School Youth Group! We meet on Sunday evenings and eat around 5:30 p.m. There are usually about 25 of us total. If you can help out with a meal contact Pastor Erica OR to sign up on-line go to takethemameal.com and in the find box enter Group as the last name and Youth as the password. Several options will appear just make sure Erica Roth is listed as the contact! Christmas Eve at Trinity (Hot Lunch Program) We were not originally scheduled to serve lunch on December 24th, although it would be our normal Sunday to do so. Lola, Lynn, and the people at Trinity decided we would serve. Lola has found a delicious chicken and Broccoli Casserole recipe which we will serve with green beans, tossed salad, dinner rolls and butter, and assorted desserts. Please would you consider making a dessert for us to serve? We are also giving out stockings. A lively group has made stockings and many, many people have donated stuffers. We will be filling the stockings on Sunday, December 3rd at the Advent Event! Please come and help! AND THERE WILL BE MUSIC!! We are so excited to have a piano player to lead us in some Christmas carols, and just musical fun. There will be a joyful noise at Trinity! For those who wish to be servers, we will leave SPUCC at 12:30 and should return by 3:30 or 4. We welcome any who would like to join us. It will be a very special Christmas Eve. Lynn Schmittgens 314-329-6999 merryschmittgens@gmail.com (3rd-5th grade youth) NEWS: We will gather on Thursday, December 14th at 6 p.m. and will head to Dan s Emerald Forest and out for ice cream! Come experience the LIGHT of Christmas with us! We should return by 8:30 p.m. In January we will be doing a mission project of some kind. TBD The Sr. High Youth Food Pantry is once again up and running on the 4th Wednesday of every month from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Contact Mark Carter at 314.585.8526 for more information. DOG (Disciples of God) News: Tuesday, Dec. 19th: CRAZY CHRIST- MAS SWEATER PARTY! 6-8 p.m. at St. Paul s in the Heritage room. Wear a crazy Christmas sweater or shirt or just come ready to play some Christmas games, eat some snacks and have a lot of fun! Family welcome! We will be playing the chimes, a few Christmas Carols, at the opening of the St. Paul s Christmas Concert on Sunday, Dec. 10th at 6 p.m. We will have a practice on Saturday, Dec. 9th at 11 a.m. Contact Pastor Erica if you have any questions. Trinity Hot Lunch Wrap UP While we don t have exact figures, we share our best guestimates here. Number of people served 550-700 Number of SPUCC Sundays 6 Number of volunteers 100 plus Dollars spent Unknown, so much is donated Number of lives touched Countless Value of time spent Priceless We are so very thankful for this opportunity to serve, to extend this greeting of God s love with our neighbors. Tree Lot The tree lot is off to a good start after the first weekend. Many thanks to all who responded to the appeal for help in the Tree Lot. If you have not taken advantage of the opportunity to sign up and help us the board is outside of the Sanctuary. Gather your friends and family, find an open spot or two, and fill all the slots!
Lot s of Great things going on in our Adult Ed Sunday School Classes! If you haven t already check one of them out! 1) Foundations class: meets weekly and has a stand alone topic each week that works us through the Biblical story. This class meets in the adult lounge West. Upcoming Classes: Dec. 3rd: Jesus Foretold in Old Testament Dec. 10th: Birth of Jesus in Luke Dec. 17th: Birth of Jesus in Matthew Dec. 24th: No Sunday School Join us for an All Church Pancake Breakfast! Dec. 31st: Wise Men Digging Deeper class: are short (4-6 week) classes that build around a theme. This class meets in the East. Upcoming Classes: Dec. 3rd-31st: The Shack: Led by Mike Sharimitaro No Class on Dec. 24th: Pancake Breakfast! Jan. 7-Feb. 25th: The Book of Revelation: Led by Pastor Mike No Class on Jan. 21st: Congregational Meeting Adult Lounge Our Lady of the Snows December 19 We will be going to Our Lady of the Snows for a buffet dinner and then a beautiful ride through the Christmas light display. The menu includes a salad bar, chicken, pork, bratwurst, 3 veggies, ise tea or lemonade and assorted desserts. The cost is $20.00($10 for children) and will be collected as we board the bus. We do have the option of cancelling for inclement weather. Final sign up date is December 10th. We will leave the church around 5:00pm. Dec. 10 "The Story of Christmas" A Musical with Choir, Soloists, Orchestra and Narration. 6 p.m. Christmas Cookie Fellowship afterward. Dec. 27 No Sanctuary Choir Rehearsal No St. Paul's Ringers Rehearsal (Rehearsals Resume Wednesday, January 3, 2018 --- Palm Sunday is March 25 and Easter is April 1 - We will begin learning music for lent/easter)
Sunday School Info. & Update 9:45-10:30 Sunday School for Nursery--Adults Nursery (Birth-age 2) Pre-K/K Class (3 yr. olds--kindergartners)* School-age class (1 st grade--5 th grade)* Middle School/High School Class (6 th --12 th grades, will meet in The Gathering Place) Adult Education classes (See class schedule) *Drop-off and Pick-up your child at the marked tables in the Social Hall. We will escort them to and from the Sunday School classrooms. 10:45-11:45 (Connection Worship Service, Children s Church, Nursery) Children s Church will be for kids Pre-K through 2 nd grade. Drop-off and Pick-Up your child in the Social Hall before heading into the sanctuary. We will escort them to and from the movie theater, where kids will participate in a child-oriented worship service with song, dance, prayer, learning about sacraments, and extending the Sunday School lesson. Children in 3 rd grade High School will worship with the church family in the Connection Worship service. Confirmation News Confirmation kids and other middle school youth will be auctioning off Gingerbread Houses on Sunday, Dec. 17th. Proceeds from the auction will go to Lydia s House. We have 17 7th & 8th graders in our Confirmation Class this year. We meet on Sundays, 4:30-5:30 for class, 5:30-6:00 for dinner, and 6:00-7:30 for Middle School Youth Group. Middle schoolers who are not enrolled in the Confirmation Class are invited to join in for dinner and youth group time every Sunday. A BIG Thank You to The Clobes Family and Ginny Van Horn for providing delicious meals for us in the month of November. We appreciate you! Advent Fest Sunday, Dec. 3 5:00-7:30 Chili Cook-Off (Fundraiser for Senior High Youth) Advent crafts and activities for all ages, mission project, Christmas carol sing-a-long in the sanctuary. Sunday School Curriculum for Nursery 5 th Grade We re super excited to be offering Dig In! The Life of Jesus this church year. All year long, kids in nursery-5 th grade will be learning about the life and love of Jesus in fun, engaging ways. This month s lessons: Advent and The Nativity Story We look forward to a wonderful church year of teaching your children biblical truths and grace-filled lessons that will help them grow in faith. Middle School/High School Sunday School Class Meets on Sundays mornings at 9:45 in The Gathering Place. Class consists of relevant weekly lessons and sometimes some treats! Nov. 26, Dec. 3, Dec. 10, Dec. 17--The Nativity Story- --a 4-part class exploring all the details of the Christmas story and watching the movie The Nativity Story together. Ladies Day Out Wednesday, December 20, 2017 @ 11:30 A.M. Rich & Charlie s Call Carol Trauth 314-604-1383 Greeting Card Sale Dates: Jan. 7, 21 Feb. 4, 18 Ronnie s Theater has movies for $5 on Tuesdays. We are planning to meet at Ronnie s on Tuesday, December 5th for the 6 p.m. showing of WONDER. This is a wonderful (pun intended) movie and we hope to have fun watching it together. Contact Pastor Erica with any questions. Adult Recreational Volleyball The adult recreational Volleyball will restart after Jan 1. The schedule will be posted on the bulletin board outside the social hall when it becomes available. Feel free to show up to any scheduled game. We will be happy to have you. All skill levels are welcome. Play will end before Easter. Play usually starts the first Friday in January. Please call Mike Abendroth at 846-6497 with any questions. Jewelry Sale Sunday, December 10th In the Social Hall To benefit Emmaus Home
TreeHouse December It was all turkeys and pilgrims at our TreeHouse Thanksgiving Feast! December is such a joyful month for us at TreeHouse! Fresh from celebrating all that we are thankful for, we plunge right into Christmas. Our Cookies and Cocoa with Santa event is on Friday December 8th, and our annual Christmas program to be held on Sunday Dec. 17th! If you ever wonder what the season is about, please come by and listen to the echoes of our little children singing their joyful hymns! Merry Christmas to all!