First Presbyterian Church of South St. Paul Page 1 Volume 30, Issue 12 December 2018 We strive to be a vibrant Christian community that is loving, nurturing, open, sustainable and renewing, and one that inspires people of all ages to live in the Christian faith and serve the world. Happy 125 th Anniversary! On December 9, 2018, from 2-5 p.m., we are gathering at the Historic Concord Exchange on Grand and Concord in South St. Paul for a celebration of our congregation s 125 th anniversary. Deadline for purchasing $25 per person tickets is Sunday, December 2. Tickets can also be ordered at www.fpcssp.org by clicking on the donation button and charging your purchase with your debit or credit card by December 2. You will then have a ticket held for you at the December 9 event. PLEASE NOTE: We have no flexibility in changing the numbers after December 2 and are not able to accept walk-ins or last minute reservations. Parking and Elevator Entrance There is a parking ramp across the street from the main entrance to the Exchange Building as well as on-street parking along Concord Exchange. Access to the elevator or handicapped entrance is on Concord Boulevard, the four-lane road that is at the back of the Exchange Building. Parking is available along the street there as well. For those who find it difficult to walk or if it s snowing or icy, people are welcome to park in the parking ramp on Concord Exchange and then watch for Jim Vasseur and Tom Brazill who will shuttle folks around to the handicapped entrance. Jim and Tom will be in the ramp looking for riders by 2 p.m. and will take people back to their cars at 5 p.m. Check-in & Sales Slip Be sure to bring your ticket to the event and check in at the registration/payment table right inside the main entrance. Your ticket stub will be your entry into a drawing for the main door prize at the end of the day. You will be given a shopping list when you check in. Everything you purchase during the afternoon (except your bar tab and wine wall raffle tickets, which have to be paid in check or cash) will be noted on the slip and you will pay as you leave with one payment of cash, check, debit or credit card. Food and Beverages A buffet of nine different appetizers will be served beginning at 2:30 p.m. and will remain open during the event. Tables for seating and eating are located on the main floor and on the floor above with a clear view down to the main floor area. Pop, juice, water and coffee are included at no charge. Cash bars on both floors of the Exchange will be open all afternoon. At 4 p.m. there will be a live auction of desserts contributed by FPC s finest bakers and confectioners. You ll want to check out the cakes and pies which will be on display in the main floor bar so you can decide which dessert your table would like to bid on and share together as the event draws to a close. continued on pg. 2
Page 2 Volume 30, Issue 12 For Your Information Office: (651) 451-6223 Fax: (651) 451-3866 www.fpcssp.org All Are Welcome Here Eleta s Office Hours: Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Pastor Katie off on Mondays; Pastor Tom off on Fridays Email Addresses: Pastor Katie Estes katie@fpcssp.org Pastor Tom Watson tomw@fpcssp.org Eleta Pierce Church Administrator eleta@fpcssp.org Linda Kachelmeier Director of Music & Hand Bells lindakachelmeier@yahoo.com Cynthia Mortensen Organist Eli Sanchez Youth Director continued from pg. 1 Entertainment, Raffle, Sales and Silent Auction Paul Eger s Red Rock Swing Band will be providing music during the event. There will also be a dance floor where you can swing to your favorite tunes. Raffle tickets for two lucky winners of a wine wall drawing are $10 each. One prize is 15 bottles of wine; the other is 10 bottles. Silent Auction bidding sheets and items will be on display and include: A backstage tour of the Guthrie Theater Four tickets to a Gophers basketball game A Coffee Tasting for a OCTOBER group of six-ten people at 7 The Black Sheep Coffee Café Tickets for two at the Orpheum on January 27 to see On Your Feet, a musical about the lives of Gloria and Emilio Estefan Three-day stay at the Cumpston's beautiful log cabin retreat. And even a couple more high ticket items that you will love! Holiday Treats Christmas cookie trays, spiced pecans, caramels, toffee, white chocolate peppermint candy and other treats will be sold in holiday gift bags ready for you to give away (or simply enjoy!) Gift Card Tree - $20 chances will be sold to first come, first served buyers who then get to take one of the unidentified gift card holders off of the Christmas tree. Guaranteed value of each gift card is $25 and could be much more! Table Centerpieces. Every table will have a different holiday centerpiece which will be available for purchase at the conclusion of the party. Finally, the whole purpose of this year s 125 th Anniversary celebration is to honor and commemorate the legacy of FPC-SSP and your own legacy in this place. Whether you are from a family that been a part of the church for generations or you re a new attender who has only recently found a church home at First Presbyterian, we ask you to consider a major donation to the Legacy Fund. That fund is used to supplement the regular operating budget of the church each year and has traditionally included bequests from individuals in their wills. It also is a perfect place to make a donation in honor of a special birthday, wedding anniversary or any other event or accomplishment that is part of you or your family legacy. Our goal is to raise $25,000 for the Legacy Fund in December. Thank you for your generous and thoughtful donations to this fund. The church office will be closed on the following dates: December 25, 26 & January 1 First Presbyterian Church in South St. Paul Like and Share our page! Additional to these dates church administrator, Eleta Pierce, will be out of the office December 27-31. The church office will be open from 9:00 am Noon on December 27 & 28
Page 3 December 2 1st Sunday of Advent Watch 8:30 a.m. Education for All December 9 2nd Sunday of Advent Turn 8:30 a.m. Education for All Saturday, December 15 Light Into Darkness This worship service will help us acknowledge the darkness we may be experiencing while at the same time bearing witness to the light of God that has already entered and continues to enter our world. 4:00 p.m. Worship Service 4:45 p.m. Meal December 16 3rd Sunday of Advent Wonder Communion 8:30 a.m. Education for All 1:15 p.m. Timber Hills Worship December 23 4th Sunday of Advent Believe 8:30 a.m. Education for All December 24 Christmas Eve 5:00 p.m. Family Style Worship This casual worship service will feature an all-ages musical titled Light of the World 10:00 p.m. Candlelight Worship This is a traditional worship service with candlelight, communion and familiar hymns. December 30 Deacons Service Project On December 23 we will receive the Christmas Joy Offering, one of four special offerings designated by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Fifty percent of the receipts of the offering are distributed to the Board of Pensions for assistance programs that provide support to retired and active church workers and their spouses and families. The remainder of the offering supports racial ethnic education through the General Assembly Council. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Board of Deacons sponsored mission through Adopt a Family program through Neighbors, Inc. A reminder to those who took ornaments gifts should be wrapped and returned to church with the ornament tag on them by Sunday, December 9th. Your generosity will make Christmas much brighter for the 2 families/9 kids we ve adopted from Neighbors. Thanks!
Page 4 Volume 30, Issue 12 Caring for Our Building 8:30 a.m. Sundays, Knox Room Advent is a time of waiting, of reflection on the year, a time to cherish the feeling of the Christmas Season. But this has become difficult even at times impossible in the commercialized, frantic atmosphere of sales, sales, and more sales. December begins and, in what feels like a millisecond, it s gone. Let s take a step back and remember what this season is about, by slowing down and being mindful of the present. Jane Johnson presents Mindfulness in a Distracted World in a three-part series beginning December 2nd: Have you ever driven somewhere and not sure how you got there? Or have you ever been sitting listening to a friend and been thinking about something else? In this class, we will do activities and meditate to learn about mindfulness. We will discuss and learn about how mindfulness can create quality experiences in your life and build connections by learning to be fully present in the current moment. December 2: Introduction to Mindfulness December 9: Loving Kindness, and Mindfulness and Religion December 16: Gratitude, Mindful Eating, and Curiosity December 23 The Star of Bethlehem From producer Stephen McEveety (Passion of the Christ) comes an amazing documentary on the Star of Bethlehem. This presentation explores the exciting truth of scripture and reveals the evidence for God s existence as seen in the stars above. December 30 No Class see you in 2019! If you attended the turkey dinner on Stewardship Sunday, October 28, 2018, you learned of a new five-year plan that Session has approved for the care of our facilities. In order to accomplish the projects in the plan, we hope to raise $186,700 from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2023. Projects in 2019 include parking lot repairs, boundary survey of our property, updated controls for our heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems and continued payments on the roof loan. In 2020, plans include new carpeting for the main floor, additional parking lot repairs and loan payments. From 2021 through 2023, specific repairs or maintenance are not known but we will continue to pay loan payments. Every year of the proposed plan includes raising $10,000 annually to put into a contingency fund so we have the resources available when they are needed. Details of the proposed plan, along with cost estimates, will be sent out early in January along with a pledge card where you can indicate what your own contribution to the fund will be over the next five years. We plan to collect the pledge cards at the Annual Meeting of the church on Sunday, February 3. Please consider your level of participation over the next few years as we address improvements and repairs to our facilities. UGM Thanksgiving Food Drive Update FPC-SSP members and friends gave 118 bags worth of Thanksgiving fixings to Union Gospel Mission last month! Thanks to the efforts of our church, and other faith communities and businesses, approximately 20,000 people in the Twin Cities metro area had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Way to go!
Page 5 August Becca Rachel Brady Grace R. (& friend) Willard Courtney Grace EC. Jacob Lee Lauren Stephanie
Page 6 Volume 30, Issue 12 Kids Club to Youth Performance Company Sunday, December 16 2 pm show Join us on Sunday, December 16, for a theatrical Kids Club event! We will go to Youth Performance Company (Howard Conn Fine Arts Center, 1900 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis) to see their production of A Year With Frog & Toad. The show is appropriate for all ages. Tickets are $10 per person, all ages. We will meet in the lobby of Steppingstone Theater at 1:30 pm to receive our tickets for the 2 pm show. Sign up on the kiosk or call the church office. Confirmation & Senior High Youth: Adopt a Family Shopping Sunday, December 2 We will gather after worship and head over to Target to shop for our families after we have lunch. After shopping we ll come back here to wrap the gifts. Please bring a contribution to the shopping task lunch is provided! Clearwater Forest Snow Camp January 4-6, 2019 Watch for more inf0rmation and mark your calendars for frozen fun and fellowship! On sale Sundays after worship, now through December 16! ON SALE IN THE CHURCH OFFICE Make Great Gifts, Helps Support Small Farmers AND Missions of FPC-SSP! Are you interested in fair-trade coffees, teas and cocoas? Our church sells (and serves) Equal Exchange products and your purchases of these fairly-traded items not only give more to the small farmers who grow the products by dealing directly with them and their co-ops, it also gives to our church s mission budget, allowing us to give more to our own outreach efforts. Stop by the office on Sundays, or weekdays during office hours, and see our flavorful selection of coffee, tea and cocoa! There is a variety to choose from: organic, spicy, decaffeinated, flavored, whole bean and ground. Prices range from $4 to $8.50.
Page 7 Prayers for those who have had surgery, been hospitalized or ill in recent weeks, including: Joan Maze, John Marien, Pete Veldman, Glennys Reynolds, Becky Kalbler & baby Carter. Blessings on the birth of Carter James Fisher, born on November 22 to parents Becky Kalbler and Dustin Fisher, and proud grandparents Linda & Jim Kalbler. In this section we recognize those who go the extra mile for the church family. Often that effort goes uncredited beyond the church office walls, but their contributions are an enormous part of what keeps this family and house functioning well. A special thank you from the Session to the Replenishing Our Resources Task Force: Gene Demko, Lisa Eiden, Bill Francomb, Neal Hubbard, Jason Johnson, Ruth Krueger, Rochelle LeTourneau, Joe Rassmusson, and Melissa Rossow for your nine months of hard work and prayerful consideration of the future of our congregation. Their report has now been sent off to the committees for their consideration. Copies of the report are available on the counter in the church office for anyone who is interested in reading it. Thank you to Joe Rasmusson for all of the work you did to make the Union Gospel Mission donations as easy as possible through CobornsDelivers. Thank you to Gene Demko for putting together and posting the worship videos each week. Thank you to Rochelle LeTourneau for keeping our Facebook page up to date with posts, pictures and videos. Thank you to Karen Anderson for being our favorite substitute Sunday School teacher. Can Trailer Moved to South Lot Thank you to everyone who donates their aluminum cans to our youth and bell programs, it helps a lot! To accommodate our snow plowing needs, the can trailer has moved to the South parking lot next to the shed. The trailer will go back to it s usual spot in the Spring.
Page 8 Volume 30, Issue 12 First Presbyterian Church of South St. Paul All are Welcome Here 535 20th Avenue North South St. Paul MN 55075 Phone: (651) 451-6223 www.fpcssp.org Education for All at 8:30 a.m. Worship Celebration at 10:00 a.m. Coffee and Fellowship at 11:00 a.m. Address Service Requested Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID South St. Paul, MN Permit No. 156 is a monthly publication of the First Presbyterian Church, South St. Paul, MN Rev. Katie Estes Rev. Tom Watson Pastors Eleta Pierce Church Administrator Deadline December 15 For events taking place in January 2019.