It's going to be cold this weekend. Warm up with our Seminary Chorus Christmas Concert. If you don't live nearby, our 3 p.m. (CST) service will be streamed at www.wels.net/streams.
Annual Christmas Potluck Scheduled
Our annual Christmas Potluck will take place next Sunday, December 8, starting around 11am. All are encouraged and welcome to attend. There is a sign-up sheet outside the office if you want to bring a dish to pass.
Special thanks to Bernice Fuhrman for organizing this fellowship opportunity for the congregation.
Mid-Week Advent Worship
Mid-Week Advent Services
Prepare your heart for the Savior’s second coming and for a proper celebration of his first coming by attending mid-week Advent services. “The Covenant of the Coming Lord” serves as the theme of the three-week series that begins this coming Wednesday, December 4. These shortened services will begin at 7pm and focus on the prophecies of Christ recorded in Jeremiah 31.
Soup suppers will precede each of the mid-week Advent services. These suppers will start around 6pm. If you have any questions regarding these meals, please speak with Karen Petermann.
Thanksgiving Worship
Give Thanks to the Lord!
This coming Wednesday, November 27, we will celebrate another year of grace and mercy that has been showered down upon us by God with a special Thanksgiving Worship service at 7pm. All are invited and encouraged to attend as we reflect on the many gifts the Lord has given to us.
Reformation Celebration
This coming Sunday, November 3, we will celebrate the Reformation in our regularly scheduled worship service at 9am. All are welcome to join us as we praise God for giving us men and women who were willing to faithfully stand on His Word while others faltered.
Later in the afternoon, there will also be a joint-Reformation service held at Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton for all area congregations. Professor Mark Zarling from Martin Luther College will be preaching and a pastoral choir will begin the worship service. The service will start at 4pm. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend.
Christian Book Club
Do you like to read? Do you like to read religious books, but many times find yourself finishing the book with more questions than answers? Do you want to read more religious books, but never know what’s worth the read and what isn’t?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, St. Paul is starting something that you’ll hopefully be interested in. In October we will be starting a book club. The group will meet at least once a month to discuss materials the group has chosen to read.
If you’re interested, there is a sign up sheet outside the cry room/office at the church. Keep your eyes open for more information in the coming weeks.
If you have any suggestions for reading material, please speak with Pastor Schlicht.
Papers written on the WELS Practice of Fellowship
In response to discussions that we have been having in Sunday morning Bible Class as of late, I thought it would be nice to get some outside perspectives from distinguished men in our Synod as to this doctrine of Fellowship and Close Communion. Below, you will find a number of articles found on Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary's Essay File (www.wlsessays.net). If you would like even more material, all you have to do is search on that page under "fellowship ."
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/HoffmannCommunion.pdf
This paper was presented to the South-Central Pastor-Delegate Conference of the South Atlantic District meeting in Decatur, Georgia, on October 4, 1983.
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BarteltWith.pdf
Whenever we join in prayer with others it is a form of church fellowship. With this in mind, much of this paper is dedicated to examining the principles involved in church fellowship. We join in fellowship with others based on their confession and their practice. It is God’s will for his people to demonstrate their fellowship though worship and prayer, unless the one persists in error.
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/GehrkeFellowship.pdf
An essay delivered at the twenty-first biennial convention of the Western Wisconsin District, Northwestern College, Watertown, July 15, 1958.
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BraunChurch.pdf
Church Fellowship--Our Term, God's Teaching
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/MuellerFellowship.pdf
History of Fellowship Practice in the Wisconsin Synod
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/SchulzFellowship.pdf
Fellowship – How May We Celebrate Our Unity with All True Believers on Earth?
Recognizing that even Christians may feel alone among those with whom they worship, Pastor Schulz encourages his readers to promote real fellowship among the members of our congregations.
Church Picnic
To celebrate another year of the Lord's continued grace and mercy, we will be having a church picnic on Sunday, June 2. All are invited to attend. The picnic will follow our worship service (9am) and Bible Class (10am). Burgers, brats, and hot dogs will be provided, but everyone is asked to bring a dish to pass. We hope to see you all there!
Holy Week Services
Palm Sunday — March 24, 10:00am
On Palm Sunday, we see Jesus entering into Jerusalem triumphantly with great crowds of people calling out and praising him. They even went as far as to lay down their clothes and palm branches in his path as a sign of adoration, respect, and reverence. On this day, we sing Hosannas to our King who willingly entered into Jerusalem knowing what was waiting for him at the end of the week.
On this Sunday, we will have a procession of palms at the beginning of the service. All members of the congregation are invited to gather in the basement before church begins where they will be given palm fronds. At the beginning of the service, they will walk into church and lay their palm before their Savior at the front of the sanctuary. The children of the congregation will lead the processional. If you wish to participate, please meet in the basement at 9:45am.
Maundy Thursday — March 28, 7:00pm
On Maundy (originally from the Latin word for “command”) Thursday, we recall the command that the Lord gave his disciples—to love one another. We also think about how he commanded his disciples to eat his body under the bread and drink his blood with the wine. We heed his invitation to remember what he accomplished through his life and death and receive the forgiveness of our sins through the Sacrament of the Altar.
Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of a service that extends over three days, focusing on the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. Holy Communion will be offered at this service.
Good Friday — March 29
Two different Good Friday services are planned. The first, beginning at 5pm, focuses on the seven words Jesus spoke from the cross.
At 7pm, a Service of Darkness (Tenebrae) will allow worshippers an opportunity for quiet reflection on Jesus’ suffering and death for sinners. This service is intended to dramatize the suffering, death, and burial of the Lord Jesus.
- We will join in the shouts of the crowds, reminding us that we are equally responsible for Jesus’ death because of our sin.
- We will hear the sound of a hammer, reminding us of the nails being driven into the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus.
- We will hear the sound of a tomb closing, to remind us that the God-Man Jesus was buried.
- We will see the Christ candle return to remind us that though Jesus died, he lived.
In between the two services, there will be a light supper provided.
Easter Sunday — March 31
Easter Sunday we will have a devotional breakfast starting at 7:30am. Pastor Schlicht will offer a short devotion on the resurrection of our Lord before we join in a fellowship meal.
Following the devotional breakfast, we will have Easter worship at 9am to celebrate our Risen Lord who defeated sin, death, and the devil.
Daylight Savings Time
Don't forget that Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday. Remember to "spring ahead" an hour before going to bed on Saturday evening. Unless, that is, you want to make a grand entrance in the middle of the service on Sunday!