This Week 2/13-2/19/2022

St Pauls GoodNews

This Week

  • Today @ 11: Making Peace Seminar
  • Monday @ 5:30 p.m.: Girl Scouts
  • Tuesday Bible Study: @ Jeremiah’s, 2 p.m.
  • Wednesday @ 11: Spiritual Council; @1:00 p.m.: Church Events
  • Thursday @ 6:30 p.m.: Consistory
  • AA Meetings: in the Parish Hall:
    • Tuesdays, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Discussion
    • Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Big Book
    • Fridays 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Discussion

Making Peace Seminar Today!

We will have a 12-week video series by Jim Van Yperen based on his book, Making Peace: A Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict. Meetings will be Sunday mornings, 11:00 a.m. beginning February 6, 2022. Please make every effort to attend.

Who We Are

A Short History of St. Paul’s Church: What is now St. Paul’s Evangelical Church began as the German Religious Society in 1838, serving new German immigrants arriving in the area in increasing numbers. The Society served people from all the Protestant groups the immigrants had left behind in their homeland. In 1839-40, the congregation was organized and chartered as the German Evangelical Church, and built its sanctuary at the corner of Fifth and Scammel Streets in 1849. That sanctuary has been in use by this congregation to the present time.

In 1872, the Narthex, balcony and chancel were added to the church building and ‘Saint Paul’s replaced ‘German’ in the church’s name. In 1879 the church became affiliated with the German Evangelical Synod of North America. In 1909 English was adopted as the official language of the congregation.

The Parsonage at 403 Fifth Street was constructed in 1914. In 1932 the stained glass windows, pews, and Pipe organ were added to the church building along with an addition for the pipe organ chamber, Pastor’s study and choir room.

In 1934 the church’s name changed to St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed Church reflecting the merger of the Evangelical Synod of North America and the German Reformed Church.

The Parish Hall was erected in 1960. In 1961 the church’s name changed again to St. Paul’s United Church of Christ reflecting the merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church with the Congregational Christian Church.

In 2004 the church’s name changed to St. Paul’s Evangelical Church reflecting their disassociation from the United Church of Christ. In 2007 St. Paul’s Evangelical Church became a member congregation of Lutheran Congregation’s in Mission for Christ (LCMC). And in 2009 the church disaffiliated from the (LCMC) and joined the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Churches. St. Paul’s has had 41 pastors since 1839, with an average pastorate of 3.9 years.

We understand that the best way to do effective evangelism is to actually be who Christ has called us to be, to understand outreach and sharing Christ as a natural product of our love of Christ and our walk of faith. Rather than pass the responsibility for evangelism to a particular committee or program, we make an effort to integrate it into the ordinary responsibilities of church membership.

–Phil

Jesus Our Hope

By David McLemore

(…continued…) The Bible is riddled with hope. Open it, and like a spring tightly wound, it jumps. Even the darkest moments glimmer with something better coming quickly from heaven. It seems that for the saints of Hebrews 11, every day was like Christmas Eve. By faith, they followed the Lord where he led. As a child waking too early in the morning, not all their steps were sure, but they knew something great was coming.

Every Christmas we celebrate the coming of King Jesus. But the hope of the world did not end 2,000 years ago on the cross. The hope of Christmas was not only that Jesus came into the world back then but that he’s coming again very soon. It is that great hope to which the New Testament points. Yes, Jesus accomplished our salvation on the cross. That’s the “already” of the gospel. But the “not yet” is out ahead. So Christians serve the living God today because, as Paul tells Timothy, “We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior” (1 Timothy 4:10).

As the prophets of old grounded the hopes of Israel in the certainty of God’s promises, so Jesus grounds the hopes of Christians in the certainty of the same. Jesus grounds our hope in the certainty of God himself. Jesus, our hope, has more than the shifting winds of circumstance and chance. Jesus, our hope, has the firmness of the promises of God. What God has said surely will come to pass (Joshua 21:45, Isaiah 14:24, Ezekiel 12:25). Christian hope is a certainty, even if he in which we place our hope cannot be seen. As the apostle Paul said, we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

When the world gets dark, as it did that day on the road to Emmaus, we say things like “it’s hard to keep hope alive.” But we don’t have to keep this hope alive. Our hope isn’t a vague self-willed determination. It’s a person. And Jesus is alive. If he is our hope, it matters not how you feel about your hope. Jesus died and rose again so that even when our hope fades, his resurrection glory burns all the brighter.

“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Placing our hope in the promises of God apart from the person of God ensures disappointment. Misplaced hope is a terrible thing to live with. But placed in the crucified hands of Jesus, hope holds us up because Jesus holds us up. The one we hoped would be the redeemer of Israel is the redeemer of Israel. Hope proves himself. Hope becomes a solid foundation rather than a wobbly anticipation. (To be continued….)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *