Bethany Christian Services Partnership Orientation (zoom)

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If you would like to participate in the welcome we are extending to a refugee family arriving in Grand Rapids this week, let us know! We are now a partnering church community. The first family we will help to welcome will arrive on Thursday, December 9. The family will stay in a residential hotel for several weeks after their arrival in Grand Rapids.

An orientation for partnering church community members will occur on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 6:00 PM. If you would like to join this zoom info session, please let Barb Huitema or Brenda Tooley know - we'll send you the zoom link. That's THIS WEEK!

Please let Barb know if and how you would like to participate in this church community effort! There will be more opportunities in future, as well. Stay tuned :)

Just as a reminder: Bethany Christian handles all aspects of the families’ welcome and ongoing support – from the airport welcome to securing housing to kitting out the house to helping with school placement and job-seeking to the family’s transition to full independence. We are not responsible for all of the family's resettlement needs. Instead, we partner with BCS to provide a warm welcome, support in the form of advice about things like dental services and schools, car rides to appointments (SSN, DMV, doc appointments, etc.), and a neighborly, caring presence as the family begins its new life in the States.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://bethany.zoom.us/j/92727724308?pwd=amNsSXliNmE1ZW5mczV2L0E4VVptQT09

Meeting ID: 927 2772 4308
Passcode: 693805

Welcoming New Families - We're Moving Forward

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As you know, Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids is now welcoming refugee families from Afghanistan to the Grand Rapids area. We are now a partnering church community. The first family we will help to welcome will arrive on Thursday, December 9. The family will stay in a residential hotel for several weeks after their arrival in Grand Rapids.

There are several things we can do to help welcome this family of four (parents and two daughters):

  • We can purchase a hot meal from a restaurant providing cultural appropriate meals for the family for immediately after their arrival (BCS has details about the meal possibilities).

  • We (any and all who are available) will definitely want to be present at the airport when the family arrives to help welcome them to Grand Rapids! BCS will soon inform us of the arrival time on this coming Thursday.

(We already have a volunteer who will purchase car seats for the daughters and another who has offered to purchase grocery items for the family from a list provided by BCS - MANY thanks to both people!)

An orientation for partnering church community members will occur on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 6:00 PM. If you would like to join this zoom info session, please let Barb Huitema or Brenda Tooley know - we'll send you the zoom link.

Please let Barb know if and how you would like to participate in this church community effort!

Just as a reminder: Bethany Christian handles all aspects of the families’ welcome and ongoing support – from the airport welcome to securing housing to kitting out the house to helping with school placement and job-seeking to the family’s transition to full independence. We are not responsible for all of the family's resettlement needs. Instead, we partner with BCS to provide a warm welcome, support in the form of advice about things like dental services and schools, car rides to appointments (SSN, DMV, doc appointments, etc.), and a neighborly, caring presence as the family begins its new life in the States.

BCS has a number of informative webpages. Here is a good place to begin:

https://bethany.org/get.../donate/support-refugee-efforts

This Sunday, December 5, 2021

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Dear St. John's Family,

Welcome to Sunday morning!  This is the day that God has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it!

While we are deeply grateful for the four months of wonderful outdoor worship we enjoyed this summer and fall, the weather has now turned too cold to gather in person outdoors for worship on Sundays and our positivity rates and hospitalizations remain far above the guidelines adopted by our pandemic task force for a return to in-person worship in the sanctuary.  Therefore, starting this Sunday, November 7, we will return to virtual worship services.  A small team of worship leaders (pastor, music director, liturgist, cantor, and tech) will broadcast the service from the sanctuary via our website, Facebook, and YouTube.  Please plan to participate from the comfort and warmth of home and know that as soon as it’s truly safe to do so, we’ll return to in-person worship together in the sanctuary.

To celebrate Holy Communion, please have some bread or a cracker and some juice or wine (whatever you have will work and God will be OK with it). To participate, you may watch via our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/stjohnsuccgr/, via our YouTube channel at http://alturl.com/etrte , or via our website at https://stjohnsuccgr.org/ .

There are links below this message to the order of service, the weekly Journal, a children's bulletin for the week's lectionary readings, a youth Bible Study, an Adult Bible Study, and a devotional guide for the week. Please share these resources with your family and friends and know that we are joined together across any distances or difficulties that might separate us.

We will resume after worship fellowship by Zoom immediately following the worship service.  You can join from any digital device by clicking this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/192123229?pwd=Z203SlNXWmRmdnFFWDg4RlltZlVqdz09

Our weekly Bible Study class that normally meets on Sunday mornings at 9 am is on hiatus for the summer and will resume in the fall.

We are able to provide all of these wonderful services because of your continuing generosity and support.  If you are able to give to support our ministries, please so do.  You can make a donation or set up regular giving by clicking here:  http://www.stjohnsuccgr.org/give .  You can also simply mail your check to the church. 

St. John’s UCC
1934 Bridge ST NW
Grand Rapids, MI  49504

Thank you for your continued faithfulness in supporting St. John's.

Let us continue to hold each other and the entire world close to our hearts and to the heart of God in prayer.

With love and hope,

Pastor Wes

 

Sunday Bible Study

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/61aa1fab66479414ef5e7de3/1638539179373/Sunday+Bible+Study+12052021.pdf 

Youth Bible Study

https://blogs.elca.org/faithlens/

Children's Activity Sheet

 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/61aa20c3b9c23540d47c2926/1638539459628/Children%27s+bulletin+12052021.pdf

Weekly Journal

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/61ab767d10e1b8281bd9ce7d/1638626942417/Journal12052021.pdf

Order of Service

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/61aa216655be574b7c2f54f1/1638539624450/Order+of+Service+12052021.pdf

Weekly Devotional

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/61aa21bc13f8006da4cab0a7/1638539708559/Weekly+Devotional+12052021.pdf

Confronting Racism Class TONIGHT at 8 pm

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Please join us TONIGHT, Wednesday, December 1, at 8:00 pm for our Confronting Racism class.
The class will meet for about an hour and focus on Chapter Ten and the Conclusion of Jemar Tisby's book How to Fight Racism:  Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice.

Please read Chapter Ten and the Conclusion in preparation for tonight's session.

The between session journal pages are posted here:

https://stjohnsuccgr.org/s/JP-Session-10.pdf

To join the discussion with any digital device, simply click here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84551334188?pwd=VDhxY3BsdC8yVmdtMVd3NUsyREg3UT09.

If you would rather just call in by phone, dial (312) 626-6799 and enter 845 5133 4188 when prompted for a meeting ID and then 947736 when prompted for a passcode.

Additional resources for the class are posted on our website under the "Confronting Racism Resources" section at the bottom of the front page of our website at www.stjohnsuccgr.org.

The class will normally meet at 7 pm, but moves to 8 pm on the first Wednesday of the month due to our mobile food pantry.

Join us for Evening Prayer and Fellowship tonight at 7:30!

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Join us tonight, Wednesday, December 1, via Zoom at 7:30 pm for a brief Service of Evening Prayer.
It's an opportunity to see each other’s faces, hear each other’s voices, and catch up with each other and it's a great time to pause and reconnect during the middle of the week.

You can join from any digital device by clicking this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84551334188?pwd=VDhxY3BsdC8yVmdtMVd3NUsyREg3UT09

If you'd prefer to call in, you may do so by dialing (312) 626 6799, entering 845 5133 4188 when prompted for a meeting ID, and 947736 when prompted for a passcode.

The liturgy for evening prayer can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AO3X7R1XjvhHSAeBTGhC51ns-WhG_sJT/view?usp=sharing

The special presentation from Feeding America will follow Evening Prayer at 8 pm and utilize the same Zoom link and meeting information.

Evening Prayer and Fellowship normally happens at 6:30 pm each Wednesday but moves to 7:30 pm on the first Wednesday of the month due to our Mobile Food Pantry.

Help with our Mobile Food Pantry Today

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St. John's UCC will join with the Sudanese Grace Episcopal Church TODAY (Wednesday, December 1, 2021) to distribute food through our mobile food pantry. Volunteers are needed at 5:00 pm at 1550 Oswego ST NW to unload groceries, pack boxes, direct traffic, register clients, distribute groceries, set up and teardown work stations, and to deliver surplus groceries to local charities. Drive thru distribution begins at 6:00 PM. Feel free to contact Teresa Markoski at (616) 690-4566 or email her at tmarkoski2004@yahoo.com for more details. Donations to our mobile food pantry are welcome by selecting Food Truck on the Church App Give tab or by mailing a check to St. John's UCC, 1934 Bridge Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504. Thank you for your efforts in supporting our community.

This Sunday, November 28, 2021

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Dear St. John's Family,

Welcome to Sunday morning! This is the day that God has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it!

While we are deeply grateful for the four months of wonderful outdoor worship we enjoyed this summer and fall, the weather has now turned too cold to gather in person outdoors for worship on Sundays and our positivity rates and hospitalizations remain far above the guidelines adopted by our pandemic task force for a return to in-person worship in the sanctuary. Therefore, starting this Sunday, November 7, we will return to virtual worship services. A small team of worship leaders (pastor, music director, liturgist, cantor, and tech) will broadcast the service from the sanctuary via our website, Facebook, and YouTube. Please plan to participate from the comfort and warmth of home and know that as soon as it’s truly safe to do so, we’ll return to in-person worship together in the sanctuary.

To celebrate Holy Communion, please have some bread or a cracker and some juice or wine (whatever you have will work and God will be OK with it). To participate, you may watch via our Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/stjohnsuccgr/

via our YouTube channel at

http://alturl.com/etrte,

or via our website at

https://stjohnsuccgr.org/

There are links below this message to the order of service, the weekly Journal, a children's bulletin for the week's lectionary readings, a youth Bible Study, an Adult Bible Study, and a devotional guide for the week. Please share these resources with your family and friends and know that we are joined together across any distances or difficulties that might separate us.

We will resume after worship fellowship by Zoom immediately following the worship service. You can join from any digital device by clicking this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/192123229?pwd=Z203SlNXWmRmdnFFWDg4RlltZlVqdz09#success

Our weekly Bible Study class that normally meets on Sunday mornings at 9 am is on hiatus for the summer and will resume in the fall.

We are able to provide all of these wonderful services because of your continuing generosity and support. If you are able to give to support our ministries, please so do. You can make a donation or set up regular giving by clicking here: https://stjohnsuccgr.org/give You can also simply mail your check to the church.

St. John’s UCC
1934 Bridge ST NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Thank you for your continued faithfulness in supporting St. John's.

Let us continue to hold each other and the entire world close to our hearts and to the heart of God in prayer.

With love and hope,

Pastor Wes

Sunday Bible Study
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e43c885c150090a254bf7/1637761992977/Sunday+Bible+Study+11282021.pdf

Youth Bible Study
https://blogs.elca.org/faithlens/

Children's Activity Sheet

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e43fe3965e53f6e1fc868/1637762047164/Children%27s+bulletin+11282021.pdf

Weekly Journal

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e4452bba7e82c7f72c7e9/1637762132083/Journal+11282021.pdf

Order of Service

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e448d9114284208f6c819/1637762190860/Order+of+Service+11282021.pdf

Weekly Devotional
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e44c7911b9156c16c5eda/1637762248016/Weekly+Devotion+11282021.pdf

This Sunday, November 28, 2021

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Dear St. John's Family,

Welcome to Sunday morning!  This is the day that God has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it!

We are so grateful to be able to gather for worship in-person outdoors at the church this morning at 10 am!  Please plan to join us!

Masks will be required for those who attend in-person, regardless of vaccination status, as a way of keeping the most vulnerable among us safe.  (Remember, those under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated yet and are increasingly more vulnerable to the disease, as are those who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons and those who have certain preexisting conditions.)

Participants are asked to bring their favorite folding chair, sunscreen, and an umbrella (to provide shade from the sun and in case of inclement weather).

Holy Communion will be offered using prepackaged elements.

We will continue livestreaming the service for those unable to attend in-person services.  To celebrate Holy Communion, please have some bread or a cracker and some juice or wine (whatever you have will work and God will be OK with it). To participate, you may watch via our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/stjohnsuccgr/, via our YouTube channel at http://alturl.com/etrte, or watch on our website at https://stjohnsuccgr.org/.

There are links below this message to the order of service, the weekly Journal, a children's bulletin for the week's lectionary readings, a youth Bible Study, an Adult Bible Study, and a devotional guide for the week. Please share these resources with your family and friends and know that we are joined together across any distances or difficulties that might separate us.

Our weekly Bible Study class that normally meets on Sunday mornings at 9 am is on hiatus for the summer and will resume in the fall.

We are able to provide all of these wonderful services because of your continuing generosity and support.  If you are able to give to support our ministries, please so do.  You can make a donation or set up regular giving by clicking here:  http://www.stjohnsuccgr.org/give.  You can also simply mail your check to the church.

St. John’s UCC
1934 Bridge ST NW
Grand Rapids, MI  49504

Thank you for your continued faithfulness in supporting St. John's.

Let us continue to hold each other and the entire world close to our hearts and to the heart of God in prayer.

With love and hope,

Pastor Wes

Sunday Bible Study
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e43c885c150090a254bf7/1637761992977/Sunday+Bible+Study+11282021.pdf

Youth Bible Study
https://blogs.elca.org/faithlens/

Children's Activity Sheet

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e43fe3965e53f6e1fc868/1637762047164/Children%27s+bulletin+11282021.pdf


Weekly Journal
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e4452bba7e82c7f72c7e9/1637762132083/Journal+11282021.pdf

Order of Service
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e448d9114284208f6c819/1637762190860/Order+of+Service+11282021.pdf

Weekly Devotional
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51294ee7e4b03f854ee99725/t/619e44c7911b9156c16c5eda/1637762248016/Weekly+Devotion+11282021.pdf

Favorite Christmas Movies

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The Christmas season is a wonderful time to gather with family and friends to watch Christmas-themed movies. No doubt we can all quickly name a number of favorites, holiday traditions for our families (A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life come immediately to mind).  However, there are some less-well-known treasures out there to add to your list in future years. Here is the set of movie recommendations we’ve received from our Church Community (with a link to a longer list of Christmas-themed movies at the end) 😊  Enjoy!

Fun list of Christmas Films (great fun to browse) -  List of Christmas films - Wikipedia