St. Paul s United Church of Christ Rev. RaeAnn Beebe 1250 Leonard Point Rd. Oshkosh, WI 54904 920-231-3080 stpauls@ntd.net JULY 2016 Tidings Pray then in this way: (Matthew 6:9a) On a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Danielle Shroyer, a woman I met at Faith Forward earlier this year, prayed the Lord s Prayer at each of the sites she visited. She said it was amazing how different it sounded depending on where she was. Different lines in the prayer drew her attention at the various sites and other stories from scripture connected to the prayer in ways they never had for her before. Upon her return, she wrote her thoughts down and the book Where Jesus Prayed Illuminating The Lord s Prayer in the Holy Land was born. The Lord s Prayer is very important to us. We pray it every Sunday. We teach it to our children. Sometimes it is the one thing we remember as other memories escape us. What is it about this prayer that draws us in and holds us tight? Is it just because it was the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray or is it something more? I was moved by Danielle s reflections and wondered what this beloved prayer would sound like in the different places I find myself. What would stand out for me if I said this prayer at the beginning of my day or at the end? Would I hear the same things if I prayed it in the grocery store as I do when I pray it in church? What if I was sitting on a beach or visiting someone in the hospital or in a prison cell? In August, I will be doing a sermon series on The Lord s Prayer. I thought it might be fun and interesting if I tried praying The Lord s Prayer in different places to see what might happen. Then I thought, wouldn t it be fun if all of us tried this! So, I am inviting and encouraging all of you to pray The Lord s Prayer in different places: in the middle of your work day, as you are bicycling, while you are on vacation, as you volunteer somewhere, in the park, playing with friends, sitting at home all alone, even at a crowded sporting event. Wherever you find yourself this summer take a few moments, clear your head, pray the prayer Christ taught us, and let that prayer speak to you. I will share my experiences with you and I would love to have you share yours with me and the rest of the congregation during August. Give me a call, tell me in person, send me an e-mail, post it on our Facebook 1
page, or send me a note. I won t share anything you don t want me to share. If you are willing to share your story in person with the congregation let me know that as well and we will plan it into our worship. Blessings, Pastor RaeAnn Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, Forever and ever, Amen. Summer is finally here! It s time for vacations, cookouts, weddings, etc or just plain doing nothing! You need supplies for all of these occasions and SCRIP has all the cards you will need. Order NOW so you have a supply when needed! Next order due Sunday, July 3 rd! NOTE: Aeropostale cards have been discontinued. They are closing stores and filing for bankruptcy. If you have any of these cards, they are still good, but please use them immediately! Scripture Texts for July - Sermon Series titled The Genius of Jesus 7/3 Luke 16:1-15, 19-31 Balancing Power 7/10 Matthew 26:48-54 Promoting Peace 7/17 Luke 13:10-17 Crossing Lines 7/24 Luke 15:11-32 Showing the Sacred 7/31 Matthew 13:24-32 Holding Heaven Emmanuel UCC s Food Pantry Thank you to all who have been contributing food items to the Food Pantry. Your generosity helped to feed 166 families in April. 29 of those families were new to the Food Pantry. 326 were adults and 199 were children. Imagine all of those people going without food if it weren t for the Food Pantry! All of this food translates into 4,980 pounds of food! Great White Sharks and adult Black Rhinos can weigh that much. Please continue to bring non-perishable food items for the food pantry during the summer months. As Jesus said, for I was hungry and you gave me food. (Matthew 25:35a) 2
Habitat for Humanity has started their next building project at 1434 Grove Street. If you are looking for ways to use your talents or learn some new ones, check out the schedule for work opportunities on the bulletin board by the water fountain. Open dates and what work needs to be done are highlighted. If you can help, contact information is on the sheet as well. Anne Fogtman at Habitat will let you know if dates are full and any other information you will need to know. You will need to fill out a volunteer application with Habitat. I have indicated the days I am volunteering on the sheet as well so feel free to join me. They are also looking for groups or individuals to provide lunch. If this is something you might be interested in, contact Anne at Habitat as well. CAMPital Campaign Rummage Sale The Rummage Sale brought in around $700 for our commitment to the Outdoor Ministries of the WI Conference UCC! Thank you to everyone who donated items for the sale. So much was donated that it was decided to hold the rummage sale an additional weekend. Lots of hours were put into making this happen. Thank you to Jenny Borgmann for organizing the rummage sale and to Annette Reichard, Debbie Wriedt, Sherri Landig, Lynn Rollmann, Kris Schafer, Bobbi Reepsdorf, Val Trampf, Nachelle Nabbefeld, and Pastor RaeAnn for all your help setting up, working the sale, and cleaning up after. Items that were not sold were donated to Habitat for Humanity and Second Chance. Watch for the Christmas in July tree in the Narthex. Pick your tags and start shopping for donations for the Back to School Fair. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of St. Paul s SCRIP program since gift cards are accepted, too. Clothing, cash and gift cards will be picked up starting July 10 th with the final cutoff date on Sunday, August 7 th. Thank you for supporting this great cause that helps children in our community start off the school year in a positive manner. WISH LIST OFFICE AND CUSTODIAL SUPPLIES We want to thank everyone who contributed items or contributions for St. Paul s Wish Tree for office and custodial supplies. If at any time you are able to contribute to either of these funds, your gifts would be greatly appreciated and help the church s budget. 3
SPECIAL GOSPEL SERVICE SUNDAY, JULY 10 TH 9:30 am here at St. Paul s The choirs of St. Paul s along with the choir of Peace Lutheran Church will present the music for this service with Ginny Kippa at the organ and Larry Klausch at the piano. The congregation and choirs will sing together some great old gospel songs like Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, Standing on the Promises, Onward Christian Soldiers and others. The choirs songs will include When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, Do Lord, Since Jesus Came into My Heart and others. This will be a regular church service in which the music will consist of all gospel tunes. We hope you will be sure to put Sunday, July 10 th at 9:30 am on your calendar and plan to be with us for this special event. Larry Klausch Organist/Choir Director AUTOMATIC TRANSFER Thanks to the folks who are now taking advantage of the Automatic Transfer option that St. Paul s and our bank are able to offer members. By having your weekly giving automatically transferred from your accounts to ours, you do not need to be concerned about your church pledge not being fulfilled if you re away during the summer. St. Paul s is also able to plan on the necessary monies becoming available to us during the summer when giving is down. This better helps the Council work within their budgeted amounts. If you are interested in joining with those who already use this method of automatic giving, contact the church office for more details and the simple form that you need to complete and return to us. MUELLER, RAY & KIM (#12) 07/03 BOERNER, RYAN & KASEY (#13) 07/19 JOACHIM, BILL & ELIZABETH (#51) 07/24 4
BETTCHER, TELENE 07/02 RUDY, SHARON 07/02 BOERNER, CASSIDY 07/07 BOERNER, KASEY LINSLEY, HARLAN 07/15 MARKS, MARCIA 07/17 SCHNEIDER, CRISTY 07/17 BOERNER, MASON 07/24 KAUFMAN, KAIDEN 07/27 BETTCHER, BRINLEY 07/30 07/11 Weekly lawn mowers: Lowell Reepsdorf, Paul Gassere, Tom and Nachell Nabbefeld, and Bruce Loomans Van drivers: Dennis Krause and Paul Gassere June communion preparation: Lynn Rollmann Coffee Hour always welcomes donations of cookies, donuts and/or juices for everyone s enjoyment. We appreciate the cash donations as well! Special thanks to the Panochs for coffee hour supplies. If you have a special event you d like to share with us during coffee hour, please feel free to contact Hiedi Sheldon. Help St. Paul s when you shop! When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to St. Paul s. Bookmark this link and support us every time you shop http://smile.amazon.com/ch/39-0102565 June 5 - Honored St. Paul s graduates (Brynna Loomans, Madi Cline, Carley Robinett) given by the Loomans family June 19 Honored the wedding anniversary of Barb and John Jones given by Jack Petersen Empty coffee cans are greatly needed for delivering altar flowers. Irv Tesch 631 Hazel Unit 2R Room 245 Oshkosh WI 54901 June 26 Honored the 59 th anniversary of the UCC and the 34 th wedding anniversary of Pastor RaeAnn and Rory Beebe given by their children So why is a car s WINDSHIELD so large and the REAR VIEW MIRROR so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. So, look ahead and move on. 5