Advent: Expecting God To Show Up

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Advent is about waiting. The Advent season’s themes — expectation, hope, anticipation — don’t really resonate with our open 24 hours, you can get it now culture. We might well ask: What are we waiting for? What do we expect?

We are waiting for God to show up! Not as a vision or a pious emotion but as our own flesh and blood, in our own history, addressing all the realities of our world.

Being a Christian means proclaiming that God has indeed shown up in Jesus. For some, this is a fairy tale with no truth value. For others, Jesus takes a back seat to those activities that so many now call “the holidays” — parties, eating too much, buying too much stuff.

For us? We take our stand with those who witnessed Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. We take our stand with all those who have put their faith in him and have been freed from sin and promised eternal life. We take our stand with those who share his death and resurrection in baptism and remember his sacrificial offering in Holy Communion.

In spite of so much evidence to the contrary, we keep Advent to remind us that God’s Messiah has come, in the person and work of Jesus. We keep Advent to remind us that the Messiah still comes, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to comfort and inspire, to push us to live for his Kingdom. And we keep Advent to remind us that the Messiah will come at the end of time to establish his justice and bring us to live with him forever. Let us keep a holy, joyful and expectant Advent, and prepare our hearts to celebrate his coming.

                                                                    ~ Pastor Steve Mindrup

Christmas Worship Schedule

We hope you will make plans to join us for Christmas Eve worship at either 5pm or 10pm.  Beautiful worship services are being planned for this Holy Night when we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child.  Holy Communion and candlelight will be included in both services.

Help Yourself...

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Our quilting ladies have been working on “Walker Bags” for residents of area nursing homes.  They are also making them available to members of our congregation.  You will find a basket full of these colorful and handy fabric bags in the Narthex.  Please feel free to take one for yourself or someone you know.

Join Us For
Our Annual Spaghetti Dinner

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Our annual Spaghetti Dinner will be held on Sunday, December 8th from 4:30pm to 7pm.  We will be serving a delicious dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce, breadsticks, salad, dessert, and beverages.  Our junior high and high school students are looking forward to serving you at your table again this year.  Please invite your family and friends to join you for this freewill offering meal.  All proceeds will go to support the 2020 Mission Trip to Gatlinburg, TN and many other youth activities.
 
During the dinner, our talented group of St. John’s Quilting Ladies will be holding a Silent Auction of a variety of handmade quilts.  We hope you will take some time to enjoy the beauty of these quilts and place bids on your favorites.  Proceeds from the Silent Auction will be donated to the Youth.  Following dinner, we invite everyone to the Sanctuary where local musical group, We The Least, will entertain us with a beautiful vocal performance.

Angel Tree Information

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We invite you to come to the Fellowship Hall to see the return of the Angel Tree.  Once again, you can help brighten the lives of residents in the Mendota Lutheran Home and Heritage Health with gifts listed on the Angel Tree tags. 
 
Items needed include:  hand lotion (must NOT say “keep out of reach of children”), soft candy (regular and sugar-free), circle word puzzles, large print books or magazines, stamps, stationery, diabetic socks, sweatshirts (adult XL, XXL, XXXL).  Instructions are by the tree.  Please bring your unwrapped items to the large box marked “Angel Tree” in the Fellowship Hall by December 17th.  And then count yourself as a Christmas angel.  Thank you!

Pastoral Care

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If you find yourself in need of pastoral care while we are without a full-time pastor, we ask you to confidentially speak with our Interim Pastor, Youth Director or office staff.  We will connect you with a pastor or appropriate ministry person to assist you.