Devotional for the Tenth Day of Christmas

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

– Calvin Coolidge

On the Tenth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me:

Ten Lord a Leaping

Nine Ladies Dancing

Eight Maids a Milking

Seven Swans a Swimming

Six Geese a Laying

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

Three French Hens

Two Turtle Doves

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Matthew 1:18-25 (Complete Jewish Bible) - Here is how the birth of Yeshua the Messiah took place. When his mother Miryam was engaged to Yosef, before they were married, she was found to be pregnant from the Ruach HaKodesh. Her husband-to-be, Yosef, was a man who did what was right; so, he made plans to break the engagement quietly, rather than put her to public shame. But while he was thinking about this, an angel of Adonai appeared to him in a dream and said, “Yosef, son of David, do not be afraid to take Miryam home with you as your wife; for what has been conceived in her is from the Ruach HaKodesh. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘Adonai saves,’] because He will save his people from their sins.”

Philosophy of Religion discussion class

Philosophy of Religion discussion class led by Scott Glancy and Claudia Mills begins the week of January 11. We will use the book Philosophy of Religion: A Very Short Introduction by Tim Bayne. We will choose the meeting time according to the availability of the participants. 

If you are interested, please contact Scott at scott@glancys.net.

Devotional for the Ninth Day of Christmas

“Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white.’”

– Bing Crosby

On the Ninth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me:

Nine Ladies Dancing

Eight Maids a Milking

Seven Swans a Swimming

Six Geese a Laying

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

Three French Hens

Two Turtle Doves

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

John 1:1-14 (21^st Century King James Version) - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and that life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came as a witness to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.

The Covenant Service

At the start of the new year Methodists make a distinctive resolution

The covenant service, often celebrated on the first Sunday of the year, is at the heart of Methodists' devotion and discipleship, and their dedication in working for social justice. In the service the Church joyfully celebrates God's gracious offer to Israel that "I will be their God and they shall be my people".

This offer is then extended beyond Israel to all women and men in Jesus Christ, who also provides the supreme example of what it is to live in such a relationship with God.

That relationship primarily involves the corporate life of the community of God's people (i.e. Israel; the Body of Christ). It is concerned with individuals within that group.

What God offers is a loving relationship. The Covenant is not a contract in which God and human beings agree to provide particular goods and services for each other! It is not something that we have to do to create a relationship with God. God has freely and graciously already made it possible.

Rather, the Covenant is the means of grace by which we accept the relationship and then seek to sustain it. It is therefore not so much about getting in to a relationship with God as it is about staying in it. It is not about acquiring a relationship with God, but living within the loving relationship that God has already offered us.

God's gracious offer to us is therefore simultaneously a challenge. If God is committed to us, are we prepared to accept that as reality and commit ourselves in return to God? Even if we do choose to accept it, how can we manage to live out our commitment adequately, frail and human as we are?

The New Testament suggests that as we join the group of those seeking to follow the way of Jesus, we respond to God's challenge with him and begin to share his relationship with God as Father. Within the group of disciples, this leads to his Spirit bubbling up in us as individuals, encouraging and enabling us to live out our side of the relationship (i.e. "writing God's ways on our hearts" as Jeremiah 31 describes the Covenant).

Read more at this link.

St. Paul's UMC Leadership for 2021

Ministers                                     All members of the congregation

Pastor                                           Rev. Dr. Charles Alkula

Church Council:

Council Chair                               Scott Glancy

Lay Leader                                   Joey Vander Vorste

Lay Member to Annual Conf.       Belinda Alkula

Finance Chair                               Bob Muckle

Staff/Pastor Parish Chair             Claudia Mills

Trustee Chair                                Peggy Fritschel

Membership secretary                   Michele Matthews

Financial Secretaries                     Martha Batch / Molly Nunnery

Worship  Co-chair                         Amy Abshire / Judy Waller

Fellowship  Co-chair                     Pat Cleveland / Louise Cook

Service Chair                                 Scott Glancy      

Communications Chair                  Tim Cook

Recording Secretary                      Rebecca Glancy

(The United Methodist Church Book of Discipline (2016) paragraphs are shown with a ¶)

Lay Leadership Committee (¶ 258.1): 

2021 Sandi Cook

2022  Joan Cooper 

2023

Staff/Pastor Parish Relations (¶ 258.2): 

2021  Dennis Hult, Marcy Roberts

2022 Claudia Mills (Chair), TBA

2023 Larry Esposito, Angela Baker

Trustees (¶ 2524):

2021     Bobby Dahlstrom, Don Fritschel, Steve Matthews

2022     Dan Clark, Peggy Fritschel (chair) 2023    

Jerry Beaber, Austin Cooper, Suzanne Polacek

Memorial Committee (Sub-committee of Trustees) (¶ 2533.5):

Louise Cook, Joan Cooper, Melanie Muckle

Finance (¶ 258.4):

Belinda Alkula (Lay Member to Annual Conference), Martha Batch/Molly Nunnery

(Financial Secretaries), Louise Cook, Austin Cooper (Trustees), Scott Glancy (Church

Council), Etta Levitt, Claudia Mills (SPPRC), Bob Muckle, Jr. (Chair), Joey Vander Vorste

(Lay Leader). *Rebecca Glancy (Secretary), *Melanie Muckle (Bookkeeper). *Non-voting

Program Areas:                                 

Fellowship Team: Pat Cleveland/Louise Cook (Co-chairs), Amy Abshire, Marcia Hult, Michele Matthews, Myrle Myers, Judy Waller

Service/Missions Team: Scott Glancy (PATH Fund), Rebecca Glancy (STEMrev), Brenda/Gary Smith (Food Panty), Melanie Muckle (Community Table), Judy Waller (EFAA)

Learning Team: Tim Cook, Scott Glancy, Claudia Mills

​Worship Team: Members: Amy Abshire/Judy Waller (co-chairs), Angela Baker, Martha Batch, Don Berlin.

Music: Wally Cleveland, Tim Cook, Lorie Courier, Hannah Gu, Suzanne Polacek, Ron Revier, Christopher Wahl

Devotional for the Eighth Day of Christmas

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

― Norman Vincent Peale

On the eighth day of Christmas

my true love sent to me:

Eight Maids a Milking

Seven Swans a Swimming

Six Geese a Laying

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

Three French Hens

Two Turtle Doves

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Today is the dedication (naming) of Jesus in the Temple.

"Simeon and Anna" by Jan van‘t Hoff 

Luke 2:22-24 (1599 Geneva Bible) - And when the days of her purification, after the Law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord, (As it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every man child that first openeth the womb, shall be called holy to the Lord) And to give an oblation, as it is commanded in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."

A Prayer for the New Year

Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future.

We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us-but You alone know what it holds for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year.

In the midst of life's uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love.

In the midst of life's inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need.

In the midst of life's temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost.

And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: "Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end" (Psalm 119:33).

We pray for our nation and its leaders during these difficult times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace and justice to our dangerous and troubled world. We pray especially for Your protection on all those who serve in our armed forces, and we thank You for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even at the cost of their own lives. Be with their families also, and assure them of Your love and concern for them.

Bring our divided nation together, and give us a greater vision of what You would have us to be. Your Word reminds us that "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" (Psalm 33:12).

As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us-far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You the foundation and center of our lives this year.

And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the name of our Lord and Savior, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come.

- Billy Graham