ThiS week At st. peTer’s | 1-21-24
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
2169 74th Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19138
Church Office: 215-424-5122 Fax: 215-424-7841
e-mail address: stpetersinfo@yahoo.com
Revs. Gwendolyn Johnson-Bond & Neil A. Bond, Co-Pastors
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EPIPHANY 3 01-21-2024
You are most likely here because HE called you here. HE invited himself into your everyday life, into your busyness and burdens, into your comfort and convenience, into what you experienced and expected to be normal, and – yes! – into your fundamental uneasiness, your void that each of us has. HE invited himself into your life, touched you with love, and then invited you into HIS life, into the bold adventure of faith, into the challenging journey of mission. And you have realized that HE is what you have been looking and longing for over your entire life. JESUS CHRIST IS THE LIGHT IN THIS WORLD’S DREADFUL GLOOM. MAY YOU ALWAYS SEE, ACCEPT, AND BEAR THIS LIGHT!
JESUS has called you to send you… blessed you to be a blessing. If you have accepted the invitation, then you must “live on purpose”. Go! Leave your boat, drop your net. Go! Leave the old life of self-centered living focused on this world’s ways and values. Go, walk then as disciples of love and servants of light. Go, tell, and do and be! Tell the message with love. Deliver the message with grace. And be the message with power. Even among the Ninevites of your life.
Let go and go. Immediately. Lord, help us to let go.
TODAY
9:00AM All Saints Choir warm-up for worship.
10:00AM + EPIPHANY WORSHIP + (in person and online)
11:20AM All Saints Choir rehearsal.
The WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY occurs every year on January 18-25. This year’s theme comes from Luke 10:25-37: “You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself.” As you think of your “neighbors”, Pastors Gwen and Neil ask you to also remember in your prayers the Palestinian Christians who make up a tiny segment of the population of Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They have often been caught up over many decades in a conflict that’s framed as Muslims vs. Jews. They have often felt abandoned and forgotten by other Christians around the world. And – in the current violence of terrorism and hostage-taking followed by safety and revenge responses that include much destruction and displacement and hunger and starvation – they have suffered or died, persevered, and continued to pray for deliverance they have suffered.
ThiS week At st. peTer’s
Wednesday, 10:00AM Diane Hughes (volunteer office administration).
Wednesday, 10:30AM Senior Ministry “Games and Social Activity” in Rhoda Hall.
Thursday, January 25 WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY (January 18 – 25)
Thursday, 7:30PM AL-ANON PROGRAM. Find encouragement to end your own codependence!
Friday, 6:30PM Girl Scouts.
SHARE HIS LIGHT. + BEAR HIS WORD. + DARE HIS WILL.
M.L.K. DAY OF SERVICE AT ST. PETER’S. Like our 2020 “Day of Service”, right before that thing called COVID, this year’s event was another blessing! We had a total of thirty-three persons involved in the planning, preparation, and participation. We discarded old Rhoda Hall ceiling tiles (still left from the 2020 “Day of Service”), a broken piano, a dysfunctional freezer, and lots of assorted junk. We cleaned and discarded and reorganized in the church balcony, the church kitchen, the Chapel, the first floor hallway, the Foodshare classroom, and elsewhere. We swept the back stairwell and cleaned the three air conditioners and the other windows in Rhoda Hall. We donated and delivered kitchen items to a program that assists in immigrant housing. We worked together, had lunch, figured out the technology to pause for in-person and online devotions, and shared meaningful fellowship and conversation. We are grateful for every head, heart, hand, and foot that served before or during the event. We are grateful for Thrivent Action Team Project funding which helped provide food and supplies. And we are grateful for a Lord who inspires us to make use of our property as a resource for ministry. It was a good day to answer Nathanael’s question from last Sunday’s Gospel reading and sermon: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Some 2024 giving statistics (after 2 Sundays):
- ELCA World Hunger Appeal, $10.00 ($3,032.12 was received in calendar year 2023.)
- Lutheran Charities Appeal, $30.00 ($1,088.60 was received in 2023.)
- The 3 Lutheran-related local social ministry organizations that we support serve over 30,000 of our neighbors in need: KenCrest Services; Lutheran Settlement House; and Gemma Services.
- Mission Offering, $10.00 ($1552.20 total was received for Mothers in Charge, Inc. and for Covenant House of Philadelphia in 2023.)
Join our family, share God’s love.
Are you ready to stop, look, and listen to God? Are you ready to live large? Speak to our Pastors about Holy Baptism, church membership, and the new life of faithful discipleship. God knows the good, the bad, and the ugly about you. You can run but you can’t hide. And, when you tire of running, God is right there, ready to embrace and love you. No one is ever too good or too bad for God’s love. No one.
What’s Happening…
January 28… EPIPHANY 3. Hybrid Worship at 10:00AM. Pastor Clesha Staten will preach.
February… BLACK HISTORY MONTH. Discover. Celebrate. Commit to a brighter future.
You are invited to wear Afrocentric clothing or appropriately messaged shirts this month.
February 11… TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD. Hybrid Worship at 10:00AM.
93rd ANNUAL MEETING OF ST. PETER’S (in person and online) after worship. We will officially approve our 2024 Budget, elect Church Council, etc. We will need 50 adult “confirmed, communing, contributing” members of the Congregation to officially meet. (Alternate date: February 25 after worship). Please submit any reports to the Church Office by January 31. We are looking for candidates who are willing to be considered to serve on our Church Council. St. Peter’s is not governed by the Pastors alone, but by an elected twelve lay members of the congregation who seek to be faithful to the name, spirit, and mission of Jesus Christ as they lead and serve.
February 14… ASH WEDNESDAY, the first day of LENT. Return to the Lord!
In 2024, why don’t you:
seek to listen more than you talk,
try to give more than you take,
commit to love more than you hate,
or ask God to show you some other
fresh start, second chance, or new beginning?