St. Paul's United Church of Christ February 2016 Newsletter Church Office Hours Monday-Friday: 9:00am-4:00pm Pastor Mike Roth: Tuesday-Friday Pastor Erica Roth: Tuesday-Thursday Pastor Gail Robins: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday Erica Faust: Tuesday-Thursday St. Paul s United Church of Christ 5508 Telegraph Road St. Louis, Mo 63129 314-892-3332 officemanager@stpauloakville.org Website: stpauloakville.org
Dear Friends, As I sit to write this I am reminded that it is February and that brings with it the celebration of our next big holiday, Valentines Day. For many of us one of the earliest memories we have of Valentines Day is that of exchanging Valentines in school, small notes of friendship and affection which are shared with our classmates and usually adorned with the most popular culturally relevant characters of the day. Minions from the Despicable Me and Minion movies are popular this year. Their Valentines Day Cards might read something like, You are 1 in a Minion, or I Have My Eye on You. (For those of you who don t know many of the Minions have only one eye.) In any case, those little notes hold both fond and anxious memories for many a kid. In fact there was a whole television animated special many of us grew up with entitled, Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown whose sole purpose was to talk about those little notes and their impact on a young kids life. At my house my daughter Ripley, who is 8, goes to school with a packed lunch every day and in that lunch she will find a little note from her mother. They are reminders as to how much she loves and appreciates her. Sometimes they have words of encouragement, sometimes words of affection, and sometimes words commemorating a special moment the two have shared together. It made me wonder how old will Ripley get before she no longer feels the need to get those notes in her lunch from her mother? With that in mind, I encountered the following story and thought I d share it with you. From the time each of my children started school, I packed their lunches. And in each lunch I packed, I included a note. Often written on a napkin, the note might be a thank-you for a special moment, a reminder of something we were happily anticipating, or a bit of encouragement for an upcoming test or sporting event. In early grade school they loved their notes they commented on them after school, and when I went back to teaching, they even put notes in my lunches. But as kids grew older they became self-conscious, and by the time they reached high school, my older son, Marc, informed me he no longer needed my daily missives. Informing him that they had been written as much for me as for him, and that he no longer needed to read them but I still needed to write them, I continued the tradition until the day he graduated. Six years after high school graduation, Marc called and asked if he could move home for a couple of months. He had spent those years well, graduating Phi Beta Kappa magna cum laude from college, completing two congressional internships in Washington, D.C., winning the Jesse Marvin Unruh Fellowship to the California State Legislature, and finally, becoming a legislative assistant in Sacramento. Other than short vacation visits, however, he had lived away from home. With his younger sister leaving for college, I was especially thrilled to have Marc coming home. A couple weeks after Marc arrived home to rest, regroup and write for a while, he was back at work, having been recruited to do campaign work. Since I was still making lunch every day for his younger brother, I packed one for Marc, too. Imagine my surprise when I got a call from my 24-year-old son, complaining about his lunch, "Did I do something wrong? Aren't I still your kid? Don't you love me any more, Mom?" were just a few of the queries he threw at me as I laughingly asked him what was wrong. "My note, Mom," he answered, 'Where's my note?" This year my youngest son will be a senior in high school. He, too, has now announced that he is too old for notes, but like his older brother and sister before him, he will receive those notes till the day he graduates and in whatever lunches I pack for him afterwards. Antoinette Kuritz
My friends in Christ, if you don t anticipate getting a Valentine this year I would like to give you some from the one who cares for you above all others. May they remind you how much you are loved: I pray that you never get too old to receive God s love notes! Happy Valentine s Day and God bless each of you! Pastor Mike
UPCOMING SALT (4th-5th grade youth) EVENTS Sunday, February 21st: We will have a mystery event at the church all afternoon. Lunch will be served and fun shall be had by all. Stay after church, bring a change of clothes and prepare to get comfortable and crazy! Ends at 3:30 pm. Sunday, March 13th: We will be having a Progressive Lunch by visiting several food places in the area and partaking of part of our meal at each stop. We will gather at noon and be back around 2:30. Please RSVP for SALT events to Pastor Erica (call, text or e-mail: 812.798.0327 or spekr@stpauloakville.org) Friends are always welcome but we need to know ahead of time too! Volunteer Opportunities Nursery Volunteers are needed at the following services: 1st Sunday 9:00 2nd Sunday 9:00 3rd Sunday 10:30 Please see Erica Faust if you need more information or would like to volunteer for any of these activities. Middle School Youth Group meets (most) Sundays at 5:30 p.m. for a meal together followed by games, group time, God time and goofiness. ALL 6th - 8th graders are welcome! No youth group on Feb 7th (Super Bowl) or Feb 14th (Presidents day weekend) but we WILL have youth on Feb 21, 28, March 6, & 13. No Youth on Feb. 20th or 27th because it is Spring Break and EASTER! We have started a new group for Developmentally Disabled Adults. We will meet on Sunday, February 28th at noon. We will have lunch together, games, praise and so much more! We will be done 2:30 p.m. We will also plan to go bowling as a group on Saturday, March 12th. More details soon. Contact Pastor Erica with any questions or to RSVP for events All-Church Game Night Sat., Feb. 20th Potluck Dinner followed by games for all. Some games will be provided. Bring a favorite game to play. Childcare will be provided for children up to age 5. (Must RSVP for childcare by Feb. 18th) We began 2016 by learning about Jesus as a young boy. Jan. 24-Feb. 7, our lessons will focus on John the Baptist. Feb. 14-March 13, our lessons will focus on- Parables. March 20--Palm Sunday March 27--Easter Sunday Kingdom Bucks Program will be returning, beginning Feb. 7th. Kids earn a buck every time they attend Sunday School. Bucks can be redeemed for prizes and gifts 3 times per year (Palm Sunday, Rally Day and Advent Fest)
We will be participating in the Souper Bowl of Caring on Sunday, Feb. 7th. Bring your extra change and we will collect it in big soup pots on the way out of worship! All donations will stay at our local food pantries (St. Paul s diabetic pantry and Feed My People) to help feed the hungry. Previews of the Promise: What would the world look like if we only listened Sr. High Youth will be hosting a CHOCOLATE BAZAAR on Sunday, February 7th! Come prepared to tickle your tastebuds at our Chocolate Fountain and to purchase some seriously chocolaty treats between services and after 2nd service. We will have take home options this year! Pastors Mike & Erica will be preaching a series throughout Lent that focuses on what the world (God s Kingdom) would look like, can look like, when we learn to live out the words of the Prophets, Apostles, and the teachings of Jesus. St. Paul's Night @ SkyZone in Fenton Feb. 25th 4:00-8:00 p.m. *Fundraiser for the Sr. High Youth Group Misison Fund Regular pricing applies: 30 min. $10 60 min. $14 90 min. $18 120 min. $22 Mention you are with St. Paul's group and we get credit for your participation. Lenten Soup Suppers and International Programs: Throughout Lent we will be having Lenten Soup Suppers and International Programs on Tuesday nights. Soup Suppers will be from 5:45-6:30 p.m. followed by a time of worship led by International Students from Eden Seminary. Each student will lead us in a short worship followed by a presentation about their home countries and their ministries there. We should be wrapping things up by 8 p.m. Offerings taken on these evenings will be divided equally towards supporting the International Students through Eden and Flood Relief. The students are from Sri Lanka (Feb 16 & 23 different ministries), Mynmar (formerly Burma March 1), Tanzania (March 8th) and Indonesia (March 15).
Pastors Mike & Erica will be offering a Lenten class on The Risen Christ which will take a close look at the resurrection narratives in each of the Gospels. We will have class on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m or on Wednesday afternoon at 1-2:30 p.m. We will meet for 4 weeks on the weeks of February 21st, 28th, March 6th, (skip week of the 13th) and March 20th. Ash Wednesday Service of Prayer and Ashes Wednesday, February 10th Soup Supper: 5:45 p.m. Worship: 6:30 p.m. Confirmation News VBS 2016 June 13-17 9:00 a.m.-noon For kids age 3--5th grade 6th grade and up can volunteer to be part of our team. Volunteer to be part of our team. It's a great way to connect with our church family and it's LOADS of FUN! A BIG thank you to Jan Bridges, Julie Blanchfield and Shelley Waller for providing meals for us in the past month. The Confirmation Class attended the potluck dinner and Imam presentation at St. Phillip s UCC. Plans are underway for our Confirmation Retreat to Chicago on April 22-24. Confirmation Sunday is May 15 th. Child registration begins April 1. Friendship Club will be February 9 at Rizzo s on Lemay Ferry at 11:30. Please call Birdie for reservations 314-846-0810 Family Camp Sept. 24-25 Camp Mo-Val, Union,MO Ladies Day Out will be at Cracker Barrel on February 17. Please call Alice Carpunky for reservations 314-487-3254 Easter Egg Hunt Sunday, March 20 11:45 a.m. Age-level egg hunts Pictures with the Easter Bunny Easter crafts
TreeHouse News February 2016 Ms. Patty and Ethan flying down the hill. What a wonderful wintery January we had! While some stayed home, TreeHouse kids and staff had a SNOWDAY! WE LOVE the hills of St. Paul s Don t have a sled? Grab a pool!
We are so excited! If you haven t noticed, we have been gifted another playground. We are waiting on our fence to be installed, and a safe ground cover. It was so much fun to watch the men install it! And we can t wait to play. Science experiments are so much fun! This is how we learn how the world works!
Dane is absorbed in a book, while his friends carry on in the background. Learning so many new things in music! Centers in a classroom are wonderful! Baby House Fun! Too little to go outside and play, teachers brought the outside in! And yes, there is more than one use for socks! As we turn the corner from one year to the next, we anxiously greet all of the challenges and opportunities that 2016 will bring; the rest of this school year, making plans towards a successful summer camp and the 2016-2017 school year. A successful future lies in the hands and the hearts of our little ones. Tree- House has the potential to be even bigger and better if we work together and have the courage to DREAM BIG.