Page 1 December 2020

Confirmation Congratulations:

It is with great joy that even during a pandemic St Luke Union Church is still added numbers to Jesus’ flock. On Tuesday November 17th, Lillie Keeton and Robin Stevenson presented their Statements of Faith and Faith Stories to the Vi-sion and Ministry Council. After several questions and comments on these ladies offerings they where unanimously voted into membership at St Luke Union Church. There will be a time when they are publicly welcomed into church member-ship when we return to regular in person worship. Please take time to welcome the newest mem-bers of St Luke Union Church.

Staff Message: As a reminder, I will be out of the office and on maternity leave for two months starting the week of December 7th. Katie Verplaetse will be filling in for me while I am gone and can help you with anything you need. Thank you all for the kind words and best wishes!

-Brittany (Office Manager)

Christmas Cantata

As we enter Advent, Christ’s coming will be celebrated in song by the St. Luke Union choir at the Sunday, December 6th livestream ser-vice. The choir will be performing our annual Christmas cantata entitled Noel Masterworks. This cantata presents traditional Christmas carols entwined and accompanied with classi-cal music works. Selections of the cantata are: A Prelude to Advent, Angels Suite, The Heav-ens Declare Joy, March of the Three Kings, and Silent Noel. Pastor Andy will read narra-tions between the five sections.

Page 2 New Directions

Pilgrim Park and Tower Hill were able to keep their doors open this year to provide relief from the business of life where God’s presence provided mo-ments of warmth, hope, and joy. As we continue to close the gap in our budget the extended rental activity has been ef-fective but is still short of our needed funds.

We are asking you to help us make sure our camps will be here tomorrow, giving campers the opportunity to hear God’s voice in the wind, the waves of Lake Michigan, the babble of the creek, and in the laughter of other campers. There are “3 ways to save” our camps. We appreciate your support and know that your gift will change a young per-son’s life, take the opportunity to do-nate today at: https://outoutdoorminis-

Poinsettias

You can help to beautify our sanctuary for Christmas by purchasing poinsettias. These 4-6 blossom plants are $7.00 each.

Payment must accompany each order. The deadline to order is Sunday, December 20, 2020.

You can order your poinsettia to be put in the church or proceeds will be shared with the Community Health Care Clinic.

The Community Healthcare Clinic located in Normal is the foundation of healthcare access in Mclean County. Their mission is to provide efficient, high quality care through a free clinic model– maximizing resources, vol-unteers and community partners. “Our patients’ health and well-being is our priority!’

Mitten Tree

The Mission Team is again sponsoring a Mitten Tree during Advent. You may bring children’s mittens, hats, gloves, scarves, underwear, and socks and place them on the tree during Advent through the last Sunday in December. Items may be purchased for all ages, but we will need more for tod-dler, pre-school, and grade school-age children. We will also be collecting books for the Prison Storybook Project in which several of our members participate. We are in desperate need of baby board books. Please do not include any books with stickers, CDs, tapes, or any electronics, as these are not allowed to be brought into the prisons. A basket will be placed near the mitten tree for books. All will be col-lected during Advent through the last Sunday in December. Children’s gloves and mittens, etc. will go to Bloomington Day Care. The Mission Team will also be collecting “necessities” (men’s and women’s undergarments, long underwear, etc). It would be nice to see the tree and basket overflowing!

Youth Mission Trip

The youth are all set to go on their mission

trip next summer to Cedar Springs, Michigan.

From June 27th-July 3rd.

We will be attending a Group Mission Trip

doing home repair, sharing God’s love, and

growing in faith.

We Need Your Help!

Page 3 December 2020

Happy Anniversary!

``````````````

Paul & Stephanie Dehner-

12/31/2003

17 years!

Contact us! Rev. Dr. Andrew Gifford

Pastor

agifford@stlukeunion.org

Brittany Kelch

Office Manager

bkelch@stlukeunion.org

Website

www.stlukeunion.org

Facebook

Like our Facebook page for daily updates on church news, events, & Reginald’s whereabouts! Sunday Wor-ship will go Facebook LIVE at 10:30a!

www.facebook.com/

stlukeunionchurch

YouTube

Search: St Luke Union

Church

Sunday Worship will be posted Monday by noon.

Church Office Hours

Monday: 9a-3p

Tuesday: 9a-3p

Wednesday: 9a-3p

Thursday: 9a-3p

Friday & Saturday: closed

Worship

In-Person & Online

Sunday: 10:30a

Happy

Birthday! Caroline Fleming–

12/1

Abigail Baker-12/3

Chris Allison-12/4

Rev. Bud Roberts-

12/5

Darlene Trower-

12/5

Lonnie Dunaway-

12/8

Sarah Luna-12/11

Robert Hinthorn-

12/12

Samantha Allison-

12/16

Patricia Felan-

12/16

Sara Ireland-

12/16

Daniel Ferrier-

12/17

Lynne Wright-

12/19

Larry Maffett-

12/20

Kim Feicke-12/21

Clara Moore-

12/22

Keith Jean-

Baptiste-12/24

John Belletete-

12/28

James McClure-

12/30

Financial Corner Thank you for everyone’s continued generosity toward supporting the ministry

and mission of St Luke Union Church! We have been doing well at keeping our

expenses to a minimum and we are currently below the expected spending. Of-

ferings are taken in person through the church office or mail slot on the north

side of the building or via PayPal; the PayPal link is available on the home page

on the website. Thank you, again!

Page 4 New Directions

We usually collect the Joy offering in December. This year we missed contributing to

the One Great Hour of Sharing offering & the Peacemaking offering due to the

Covid interruption of our usual schedule. However, we will be collecting the Joy of-

fering during all of the month of December instead of one special Sunday.

During the past several months, many of us weren’t (or still aren’t) able to be togeth-

er in person but have been together in spirit & faith. We’ve missed seeing each oth-

er in person, but the virtual church services have helped us worship together. Physi-

cal distance has revealed the importance of the relationships we have with each oth-

er & God. The theme for this year’s Joy offering is “God is with us.” We know this

through His gift to us in Jesus Christ.

This offering is used to support the needs of our church leaders--retired, currently

serving if in need or when an emergency happens or sometimes for those in our

church-related colleges. We invite you to join us in celebrating the birth of Jesus by

helping those who have served us.

As is our custom, this offering is split between our denominations. This year, we will

not be sending special envelopes, have special envelopes in the pews, or have bulle-

tin inserts, in keeping with our Covid-related policies & practices. However, we sug-

gest that you contribute by the same method as you do your weekly or monthly

pledges or contributions but note the amount that is for the Joy offering. If you

have questions, please contact the church office.

The Mission Team thanks you for your contributions.

ADVENT SEASON CANDLE

LIGHTING

& CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE

It has been decided that on Christmas Eve St Luke Union Church will host two candle light worship services. Services will be held at 5:00pm and 7:00pm, each with Holy Communion and limited to 50 persons. A few weeks before Christmas Eve all who plan to attend worship will need to re-serve a spot. If it is determined that a third ser-vice is needed accommodations will be made.

Annual Reports Due:

In an effort to construct the 2020 annual report it

is time to submit committee and team reports. If

you Chair or are the Council Lesion reports are

due before the end of the year. Please submit

your reports to

Brittany Kelch - Office Manager,

bkelch@stlukeunion.org and myself

agifford@stlukeunion.org these reports may also

be dropped off at the church office but digital

version are preferred. It is important that these

reports be submitted as not to delay the Annual

Report before the Congregational meeting in Jan-

uary. Thank you each for your time and efforts.

Page 5 New Directions

SCRIP ORDERS

Scrip orders will be accepted in the

church office through December

13th; the order will be placed De-

cember 14th,

What is Scrip? Scrip is a no-selling

fund-raising program that allows the

church to raise money toward next

summer’s youth mission trip. The

money raised will help lower the

cost per participant, as well as cov-

er the van rental, gas, tools, etc.

With Scrip, you purchase gift cards

from the Scrip program at face val-

ue and the church receives a re-

bate.

Questions? If you have questions

concerning Scrip, please email the

church office at

bkelch@stlukeunion.org

Virtual Worship

In response to the increase of COVID-19

cases here in Bloomington/Normal, St

Luke Union Church will suspend In-person

worship services November 22, 29 and

December 6. Worship will continue to be

live streamed on Facebook at 10:30am

Sunday mornings and then be made avail-

able on YouTube Monday morning. Please

join us for worship from home while re-

maining safe and healthy!

Holy Communion at home participation:

Many have asked if the communion ele-

ments are available for this who are partic-

ipating in worship from home. Yes they

are! Elements can be obtained through

the church office and can either be picked

up or there are people who are willing to

deliver the elements. Just let us know how

many you will need.

Psalm 62: 5 For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

Page 6 New Directions

On November 7th I was asked to lead a wedding ceremony. I really enjoy leading wed-dings because they are a time of great happi-ness and celebration. There are only tears of joy and I have an opportunity to share the love of God through God’s blessing and the creation of covenant. On this occasion all was wonderful until I was informed the groom had tested positive for COVID-19. So began my 14 days quarantine primarily in my bedroom. My story is typical of what many have faced throughout this year and following a test six days after my exposure, with no symptoms, it was shown I was negative for having contract-ed the virus. Thanks be to God! Personally in this difficult time, I looked for something I could hang onto for strength of faith and just then in walked God’s provi-dence. Last Thanksgiving Sandi and I lost our black lab Grace. She had been with our family for 15 years and was not easily replaced. In early October we brought home our new pup-py, Hope. Every day when I see this fun loving puppy, I am reminded that in our faith there is always hope. For 15 years the common mes-sage in our home was that of grace. Today that message has been converted to hope. Hope is what carries us forward to eventually eradicate the world of this heinous virus that has disrupted and claimed so many lives. Hope is what will take us to a time when our government functions and works together for the good of all. Hope is what will allow for our children to learn and experience the offerings of God’s creation. Hope is the looking forward

to how humanity can creatively put their minds to any task and solve its mystery.

The Psalm I have begun this article with is a one that teaches in the midst of adversity we are to declare our faith in God. To understand God is our rock, our salvation, and the mighty fortress we stand within. The psalmist is calling us to trust God alone for our salvation. In this Psalm one word jumps out, “tigwah” in the original Hebrew it simply means, to hope. When I read of hope in this Psalm I find it expectant, optimistic and forward looking, but the message found in these verses isn’t just that the psalmist is hopeful. The message is that his hope stems from our relationship with God. It is our faith in God, and that gives us strength and great hope for the future. I encourage you each to read Psalm 62 in its entirety, get a sense of the writer’s faith in God that always leads to grand hope in what lies in God’s plan. In faith resides all our hope. Blessings Pastor Andy