St. Peter s United Church of Christ 1 St. Peter s Net St. Peter's United Church of Christ office@atpetersstillerwater.org 111 East Orleans Street, Stillwater MN 55082 www.stpetersstillwater.org 651-439-2160 Inside this Issue 1 November Events 2 More of What s Happening 3 From the Pastor 4 From the Council 5 November Calendar 6 Christmas Bazaar Our Vision: At St. Peter s, we re building a strong, multigenerational faith community. November 2018 Community Leaders Conversation Thursday, Nov. 1st What significant and unique new serving could St. Peter s offer to our Stillwater community? What needs of the people around us (children or youth, older or disabled adults, people who are isolated or hurting) might we respond to with compassion and care? What other groups in our area might we partner with to do this kind of good? These are some questions we will be exploring at a Community Leaders Conversation at St. Peter s on Thursday evening, November 1st at 6:30 pm. Representatives from Stillwater and Oak Park Heights city government, Washington County Community Services and area social service agencies (with children and youth and people in poverty) will be present. Hosted by the Vitality Steering Team, this event is one piece of the Two Year Vitality Plan passed by the congregation at last January s Annual Meeting. All interested SPUCC members and church friends are invited to attend and listen alongside other faith leaders who have been made aware of this event too. This conversation should be an interesting exchange of information, insights and ideas between the community leaders themselves as well as between leaders and our Steering Team members. Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service, Tuesday, November 20th You are invited to an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service to be held at the JX Event Center (123 Second Street in downtown Stillwater) on Tuesday evening, November 20th at 7 pm. This special service of worship is hosted by four Stillwater churches (St. Peter s, Trinity Lutheran, Ascension Episcopal and First Presbyterian) and will include combined choir (open to all voices and rehearsing at 6 pm at the JX) and a Thanksgiving message presented by Pastor Nancy. A pie potluck with coffee will follow. Please consider bringing a pie (and/or Cool Whip!) Start your Thanksgiving celebration right by giving thanks to God in worship! All-Church Christmas Decorating and Pizza Party Sun., Nov. 25th The time is almost here for all our Advent and Christmas festivities. We will start by decorating the church after worship on Sunday, November 26th. It is a fun time and truly creates a Christmas spirit in the air. All are welcome and encouraged to stay and help - and bring new ideas too. We will enjoy a pizza lunch together after the decorating. Please join us!
St. Peter s United Church of Christ 2 More of What s Happening at St. Peter s... CROP Walk 2018 October 14th was a cold and snowy (yes, snowy!) Sunday this year. But a couple walkers from St. Peter s traveled to Summit Ave. in St. Paul and walked for St. Peter s in the Annual CROP Walk for Hunger sponsored by Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul. St. Peters contributions totaled $528, which will be used to supply the food shelf at IA s Department of Indian Work and for development projects to combat hunger by Church World Service. Our Neighbors in Need Offering Thanks to all who contributed by giving or walking! The month of October provided an opportunity for everyone at St. Peter s to participate in the annual Neighbors in Need Offering of the United Church of Christ. It is one of the four special offerings we collect during the year that connect us to the work of our denomination. Our offering of $315 will help support the 21 Native American churches of the UCC and fund grants for numerous justice projects in the national church and individual UCC churches across the US. Your gifts for our neighbors in need reach far beyond us and are very much appreciated. 63 pairs of socks and 44 pairs of undies - probably not enough to win back the Small Church Trophy but plenty to warm the bodies and hearts of those who will receive them were delivered to Valley Outreach in the week after Undie Sunday. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the comfort and health of so many of our neighbors. Will you help support the work St. Peter s will do in the world in the year ahead? Go Forth into the World Our 2019 Stewardship Campaign Go Forth into the World is the theme of our fall stewardship effort. An invitation to contribute to St. Peter s ministries in 2019 with a personal financial commitment will arrive in your mailbox this coming week. Please read the material, complete the 2019 pledge card and bring it with you to worship on Stewardship Sunday, November 11th. We ll dedicate our commitments that day then celebrate our hopes, our plans, our friendship and our church over Brunch. Please plan to join us as together we give and get ready to go forth! PICK-UP CHOIR SUNDAY, November 25th The Pick-up Choir is an informal group of singers (all ages, all voices welcome!) that sings one Sunday a month during the worship service. Come and add your voice to the chorus on November 25th. Rehearsal starts at 8:45am and we ll sing one song during worship.
St. Peter s United Church of Christ 3 From the Pastor... It may seem a bit odd, thinking about lessening one s possessions in a month of noticing and celebrating our gratitude for all the good things that have come our way. On the other hand, though, it makes sense. It s less than two months until Christmas, the season of gift-giving when more stuff (some useful, some less so) will likely be added to our pile of possessions. Perhaps it s time to re-evaluate it all... After seventeen years living in one house, I ve begun to think about moving along more of what I own to other people and other places. But that task feels rather overwhelming at times given all the books, papers and clothing I have (and enjoy). A sweet Swedish lady named Margareta Magnusson (who charmingly admits she is somewhere between eighty and one hundred ) wrote a book titled The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. Apparently death cleaning is a Swedish tradition. Magnusson says its timing is not necessarily tied to either your age or death (though it often is) but is more often related to the time when you can t close your drawers or shut the closet door and realize you are tired of living in crowded spaces with stuff that requires a lot of cleaning and managing. (And again, here comes Christmas and more to clean and manage!) So, where to start? First, Magnusson says don t start with photos, personal letters or papers. (You know what happens then; you get stuck in memory lane.) Start with a category of things that will be easy (maybe ties if you re not working anymore or athletic equipment if your knees will no longer handle skiing). Sort into piles to 1) toss, 2) recycle and 3) give away. Then go to the next. After a few categories you ll realize the satisfactions of creating more living space around yourself, responsible disposal of your excess or unusable stuff and sharing with others. (You might also be convinced to talk with loved ones about cutting down on the December gift-giving.) Magnusson reassures her readers that death cleaning becomes easier and faster as you do it longer; you become better at letting go. (Which is also a life project to work on, isn t it?) So in these days of gratitude, do look around yourself and count your blessings and the comforts you enjoy. (And maybe see if more of them aren t about something other than stuff.) Think a little bit about doing a bit of death cleaning - if not before the holidays than maybe after the first of the year. In the meantime live well, live thankfully, live joyfully in this wonderful season of the year. Blessings, Pastor Nancy Stillwater Area Theological Discussion Group Tues., Nov. 27th The next bimonthly gathering of the Stillwater Area Theological Discussion Group (sponsored by St. Peter s) will take place in November. Group participants have expressed interest in discussing predestination, so our topic for this gathering is What Can we Know about Predestination? All interested individuals are invited to join in this discussion. We gather at 5:30 pm at Pearl and the Thief, 112 Main St. North in Stillwater. You are welcome to order a beverage and/or a meal if you would like, then join us in the upstairs space for the discussion. We finish around 7:15 pm. Questions? Please contact Pastor Nancy (651-366-9093 or wiswans@comcast.net). Celebration of Life for the Friends of Mary Gunderson Around this time last year we received news of the death of SPUCC member, Mary Gunderson. Mary was home-bound but a much-loved and supportive member of St. Peter s Church. Mary s family has asked if they might have a Service of Celebration in honor of Mary at St. Peter s on Sunday afternoon, December 2nd. They invite all her fellow SPUCC members and friends to attend the service and reception to follow. The exact time has yet to get set but when it is it will be communicated through the Weekly Update and posted at the church. Please plan to attend this special event to remember and honor Mary on the 2nd.
St. Peter s United Church of Christ 4 From the Church Council... Highlights of the October Council meeting 1. The Council gave their approval of a 3-person Endowment Fund Committee; they will serve until our 2018 Annual Meeting on January 27, 2019 and focus their work on completing the Application and Endowment Policy Statement required by United Church Funds to invest the WI Land Sale funds. 2. Estimates on repairing the church and garage roofs are being obtained and we re looking into new stall dividers for the Day Care bathrooms. 3. There will be an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service at the JX Event Center in Stillwater on November 20 th. 4. Decorating the church for Christmas will take place following worship on November 25 th. 5. There will be a service in honor of Mary Gunderson on the afternoon of December 2nd at St. Peter s. A light meal will follow the Service. 6. Two of the furnaces that heat the daycare downstairs were not working and need to be replaced. The Council took action to replace (or repair if not within the bid price offered.) 7. The Vitality Steering Team is hosting a Community Leaders Conversation at St. Peter s on November 1 st to help us learn our neighbor s needs. All interested members are invited to attend. 8. Pastor Nancy will be on vacation November 12th through 18th. Treasurer s Report SPUCC income and expenses January 1, 2018 through September 30, 2018 Submitted by Jenn Lanz (Bookkeeper) Actual Budget Change Income $100,436.18 * $71,959.00 $28,477.18 Expenses $ 93,831.61** $76,406.94 $17,424.67 Net $ 6,604.57 ($ 4,447.94) $11,052.51 *These numbers are inflated with money from the Land sales (Bike Trail and the rest of the parcel) in 2018. $15,000 from Land Sale money was placed in the General Fund as a General Fund Reserve and the remaining land sale funds repaid loans and/or continues to be in the SPUCC Memorial Fund. 2018 income-to-date, exclusive of the landrelated additions, is $57,888.19. **The extra expense above was to pay off, in full, our OPH assessment and LED project loans, a total of $14,740.43. Special Offering Envelopes for November Communion/Community Celebration Your contributions in that envelope not only buy Communion supplies but also build a fund to support the All-Church Family activities at St. Peter s (like lunch after Christmas Decorating on November 28th). Fuel The cold months of winter lie ahead of us and, with them, significant heating costs. St. Peter s total gas and electric bills in 2017 totaled $9,143.25 and, through September of this year are at $8,701.22. Could you help us by making a contribution in this special offering envelope so we can keep St. Peter s warm and ready for all the church activities that take place throughout the week? Gifts in these envelopes as well as all your gifts to St. Peter s are valued and much appreciated. Thank you! And One More Giving Opportunity. On occasion we have folks who stop by St. Peter s and are in need of a small amount of assistance. We check the grocery cart for donated food items they might be able to use but wonder if we might not be able to do a little more Do you have one or two of those $5 gift cards from Target that come when you take advantage of a Buy Two or Three deal? Would you consider donating them so we can provide that small extra to help a person or family in need? Just drop the card in the offering plate on a Sunday and we ll put them aside for those times when they would be a welcome gift to someone who comes to us in need. And thank you for your generosity...
St. Peter s United Church of Christ 5 November 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 6:30 8pm Comm. Lders Conversation 4 9:30 am 10:30 am Coffee Cindy/Kathleen 5 9am Yoga 6 7 8 6:30pm Council 9 10 11 STEWARD- SHIP SUN- DAY 9:30 am 10:30 am Brunch Pat M./Brunch 18 9:30 am 10:30 am Coffee & ConversationCon Gina/Joan 25 8:45 am Pick- Up Choir 9:30 am 10:30 Xmas Decorating Dave/Kaira 12 9am-Yoga 19 9am-Yoga 26 9am-Yoga 13 14 20 7pm Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service, JX Event Ctr 27 5:30pm Theo. Disc. Gp, Pearl & the Thief 7pm Women s Guild 15 16 17 PASTOR NANCY WILL BE ON VACATION THROUGH NOVEMBER 18TH 21 22 23 24 For Each Sunday: Usher in Blue Treats in Green 28 29 30 DECEMBER 1 10am 2pm Christmas Bazaar Pastor Nancy will be taking a week of vacation in November. If you have need of a pastor while she is away, please call Rev. Bryan Olson, pastor of Cottage Grove UCC, at 651-261-7125. He will be glad to be of assistance to you. After mailing off a boxful of shoe kits to SoleHope, Willing Workers 2 is now on a winter sabbatical. Our thanks to Helen Stoltz-Wood and Joselle Rosengren for their hard work on this worthwhile project, which promotes foot health for children and work opportunities for craftspeople in Ghana, Africa. WW 2 meetings will resume in the spring. There are some ButterBraids available for sale at $12/each. They re a special treat to go along with coffee, hot cider or cocoa. Talk to a member of the Women s Guild to purchase them. Just a reminder that the Coffee Kitty is out on the counter on Sundays to accept your contributions to buy coffee for our Sunday morning gatherings.
St. Peter s United Church of Christ 6 And In December... All-Church Holly Hall Bazaar Sat., December 1st How can it be time to plan for our all church Christmas Bazaar already! The time sure flies by. Our all-church Christmas Bazaar will be on Saturday, December 1st, from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. We need everyone's help and participation to make this a successful event! Please help us by baking especially the traditional Christmas cookies and breads and candies. Our bakery is well known in the community and we want to continue with our wonderful baked goods. If you don't wish to pack up your cookies, some church members will be at the church the Thursday before the event, November 29th to set up and put cookie plates together. Please get your cookies to us by then and we will add them to the plates we put together. We also need some people to help at the Bazaar in the bakery, craft, White Elephant and kitchen areas. There will be a sign up sheet in Kress Hall to sign up for your preferred area. Another popular area is our Silent Auction. If you have an item you would like to donate please contact Gina (ginabuberl@yahoo.com or 651-430-9480). We have received some very fun and generous donations for the silent auction in the past, so please consider helping out in that way. Finally, if you have any leftover Christmas decorations - or ones that you no longer need or want please bring them for the White Elephant area. It is a very popular spot for shopping for that special decoration. Household items are also appreciated. The Bazaar is a really fun and festive event for the church, so please plan to join us. Come to help, if you can, and to shop and enjoy our delicious homemade sloppy joes and wild rice soup lunch. - Gina Buberl St. Peter's United Church of Christ 111 Orleans Street East Stillwater, MN 55082