CONNECT ...in Worship
Palm Sunday
Sunday, April 5, 2020
"Red Letter Challenge: Going"

Preacher: Pastor Ben Roberts
Worship Leader: Pastor Mark Stapleton

Old Testament: Isaiah 52:7-10
Epistle: Romans 10:9-15
Holy Gospel: John 20:19-23
Palm Sunday begins with unbridled joy as we recall how Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, while being acclaimed by the crowds with loud shouts of “Hosanna” and boisterous waving of palm branches. So today we begin with songs of praise and waving of palm branches as we hail Jesus as the One worthy of all glory, laud, and honor. But then the solemnness of Holy Week also begins. With a time of silence, the service shifts our focus to Jesus’ path to the cross. As foretold by prophets long ago, Jesus was stricken and afflicted, beaten and spit upon, crucified, and He died. He did this out of divine love for all of humanity, taking on Himself the sins of all people for our forgiveness. Today’s worship reflects the pattern of our lives. At times we experience unbridled joy and celebration. And then, sometimes in the next moment, we experience heartbreaking suffering. Jesus is there with us—in the joyful celebrations, in the heartbreak and suffering. He alone can transform it all into deeper love for God and neighbor. The hour of Jesus’ death on the cross is the hour of our life and salvation.
PLEASE VISIT OUR CHURCH WEBSITE FOR UPDATED LINKS
TO ALL OF OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT ST. JOHN'S

505 Worship Service 5:05 p.m.
(Held on the 1st and 3rd Saturday)
(No 505 Worship in April)
Missed a sermon from a past Worship Service?
Catch up by listening to the audio here:
Holy Week Services

Maundy Thursday on April 9th
Good Friday on April 10th
Easter Sunday on April 12th
2020 St. John's Lenten Devotional
"Red Letters Invitation and Challenge in the Words of Jesus"
The 2020 Lenten Devotional is available by clicking the button below and on the Church Website.
SHARE ...with Your Service
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope that everyone is staying inside and feeling healthy. Please remember to check in on your friends and family members!

As you know, in an attempt to control the spread of COVID-19, we have suspended our in-person worship services. As of Wednesday night, our services are now online. Please go to the Church’s website (www.sjlagrange.com) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sjlagrange/).

Since these services are now online, we are prayerfully asking that you continue making your usual offerings and contributions. During this time, we will continue to pay our staff. We also have other recurring expenses that require payment: utilities, interest on our loan, lease payments on our equipment and cleaning service to name a few. In order to reduce some expenses, we have canceled our normal cleaning, but we will need to have the building deep cleaned before we resume school and in-person worship services. We have also reduced the temperature in the building while it is mostly unoccupied.

Offerings and contributions can be sent by mail (505 South Park Road, La Grange, IL 60525) or by dropping off a check at the church. If no one is in the church or school, just drop the check in the mailbox on the west side of the building, to the left of the doors as you face them. Secure contributions can also be made electronically using Vanco. This is a very easy system to set up! You can use this link: www.vancopayments.com/login" www.vancopayments.com/login to set up your account. Or you can visit our website:


You can set up the amount and frequency of your payment and it can be stopped once we begin in-person Worship services again.

We know that the shut-down of the economy is affecting many people. We are asking only those people who are employed and can afford to make donations to continue their offerings and contributions. We do not want to put any additional pressure on anybody in an already stressful time. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

If you have any questions on this, feel free to contact either Pastor Ben, Pastor Mark or anyone listed below.

God bless everyone. Continue to pray and we will be back worshiping our Lord together face to face!
 
Thomas Braun
President
 
Adam Fuller
Treasurer
 
Marty Haugen
Chairperson Board of Finance
mph9773@gmail.com
St. John's Meals TO-GO!
 
Due to an overwhelming response and continued COVID Care need, we will be doing our 3rd round of Meals TO-GO on Wednesday, April 8th.

In this time of caution, we are committed to providing a safe environment while cooking these meals and are taking extra precaution and sanitary measures. 
 
Meal Choices this week will be as follows: Meatball Sandwiches, Pulled Pork, Homemade Chicken Tenders and Mac and Cheese.

This week we are also blessed to offer "Kid's Meals" TO-GO, and also have a limited number of "Homemade Dog Treats."
 
Pick up in the St. John's Parking Lot Wednesday, April 8th from 1-3PM.  
  
If you are not able to pick up and need to make alternate arrangements or delivery please contact Katie Pece. k.pece@sjlagrange.com
630-247-8516

A reminder that if you are unable to get to the grocery store, please email Dave Thomas @ southbranch0604@gmail.com (or, if emailing is not an option, call Dave’s mobile at (312)576-9421. Given our state’s shelter-in-place situation, one of our members will do their very best to shop for you SAFELY if a detailed grocery list is provided. Members who are willing and able to shop for you will wear gloves and masks when shopping and will only purchase packaged goods (e.g., only fruits and vegetables that are wrapped.) Groceries can be delivered to your home and a receipt can be provided so you can reimburse with cash or check upon delivery (we will try to phone you in advance). In your email or phone call to Dave, please provide your email address, mobile and/or home phone number and home address. Be as specific as possible in your item descriptions and let us know one store where, ideally, you would like us to shop.
Thank you to all who were able to participate in our food drive this past week for School Dst. 105! SJLG provided food for some of the 150 families needing food for their families. Because of our successful contributions, we will extend our mission one more week with another drop of at SJLG on Wednesday, April 8 th between 1pm – 3pm . If you have items in your home pantry that can be donated, please drop them off with Rebecca Schiltz at the church parking lot. If you are able, please consider putting together a donation from the following list:

Cereal
Pasta/Mac and Cheese
Spaghetti Sauce
Fruit Cups
Soups
String Cheese
Breakfast Bars (Granola/Nutrigrain/etc)
Goldfish and other crackers

Please check all expiration dates on any canned foods.
Dear Members of St. John's and St. John's School Families,

We are all aware of what is going on around us as COVID-19 has affected areas around us whether locally, nationally and globally. Our focus during this time of lent is how we can be challenged by Jesus' words through our Red Letter Challenge. This particular theme could not have come at a better time as we are dealing with our current events. As you may have heard, our country is facing a blood supply shortage during this crisis and we have a great opportunity to "serve" others by donating blood. Our challenge is to make sure we have 20-40 volunteers before the American Red Cross will schedule a date. They practice safe social distancing and adhere to the guidelines set forth to us all by the CDC in regards to social distancing and cleanliness. We have created a sign up genius so that we can see if people are interested in helping out and then we would send you the date shortly thereafter. We hope to have the date set within 2 weeks.

If you would like to help out, please go to the sign up genius attached. We will need your phone number and email. 

Thank you,

Rebecca Schiltz and Katie Pece
The Lutheran Women's Missionary League is an amazing Christian outreach, in support of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, throughout America and also all around the world! Our St.John's church is a supporter of this mission work. Last year, in 2019, we donated $3,318.14 to the current projects. Thank you to all who have donated! But, since the current 2 year projects actually add up to more than $2,000,000.00, I would like to encourage you to donate even more.

In the theme of the "mustard seed", which Jesus talks about in Matthew 13:31-32, I wrote a song, and I would like to share its wordswith you : "When you plant a seed, a tiny little seed, it is very, very, very, very small indeed! In the soil with the sun and water, though, God can help that little seed grow. The seed grows up to become a tree, much, much bigger than you and me. In the branches high, where the leaves are green, nesting birds can soon be seen! A tiny little seed becomes a tree! What a miracle this must be! So it is with our faith, if we have just a bit, God can accomplish a lot with it! "

I would like to encourage our congregation to donate even more to this marvelous ministry, by using your church envelope, or by using a Mite Box that can be picked up on the table in the church narthex, and then put into the large Mite Box when your small box is full. This will be a wonderful help to the LWML Christian outreach. Thank you!
 
Sincerely, Pamella Christensen, LWML president.   
STAY CONNECTED
Believers in Back Yards, Basements (& Beyond) Getting Beer Zoom

“3 Cheers!” to all our attendees of our first ever "Believers in Back Yards, Basements (& Beyond) Getting Beer.” Last Saturday we had friends nationwide join our call… from St. Louis, Michigan and Connecticut! Because of our inaugural success, we will enjoy each other’s company again and hope to attract new friends from the Virgin Islands, New York, Boston, CA, Florida and more!
Day / Time: Saturday, April 4, 2020 4:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
We look forward to seeing you Saturday!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/233264615
Meeting ID:  233-264-615
YOUTH GROUP ZOOM PARTY!

Join us this Saturday Evening from 7-8:30PM for a Youth Group Zoom Party!

Dress comfy, bring a snack to enjoy,
and come hang out with you friends from Youth Group!

We will have a game to play and a devotion to share with you!

Hope to see you then!

Katie Pece is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: St. John's Youth Group
Time: Apr 4, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 769 772 410
E-SUNDAY SCHOOL AT ST. JOHN'S
IT'S PALM SUNDAY - WE WORSHIP KING JESUS!
Come and join the big parade on the road to Jerusalem. Why is everyone shouting?
The cheers are for King Jesus! "HOSANNA! PRAISE TO OUR SAVIOR, JESUS!"
 
Our e-mail Bible lesson, including some fun activities and another installment of The Winds of Redvale adventure story, will be sent to all Sunday School and Wednesday Bible School children automatically. For anyone not receiving these materials, please send an email to dalyne.shinneman@gmail.com or call 630.772.1688.  
UPCOMING EVENTS
          SAVE THE DATE: JULY 27 – JULY 31
9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
 VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
        ST. JOHN’S LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL 
     47th and Brainard, LaGrange, IL 60525
Phone: 708.354.1690

Planning for St. John's Vacation Bible School is underway, and we are excited about this year's program:   "TIME LAB - DISCOVERING JESUS" . We are sending this "SAVE THE DATE" email message to be sure you have our schedule in mind as you plan your summer. We invite you to register your children on our VBS Website:  vbspro.events/p/461270 . There is no fee to attend.  

Our week for VBS is July 27 through JULY 31, scheduled daily from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., with extended care and early drop-off available for each day's session. We're planning some great games, crafts, stories, skits, and songs for a fun-filled week.  We'll also do some great science experiments and make a cool Time Capsule.

Please feel free to contact Dalyne Shinneman at dalyne.shinneman@gmail.com  or 630.772.1688 if you have any questions about our Vacation Bible School program.

Dalyne Shinneman 
St. John's Vacation Bible School 
SCHOOL OFFICE
Click on the TRIP logo above for more information!
Donate gift cards to families in need during COVID-19
Purchase gift cards through our school’s fundraiser for essential goods such as groceries, gas, restaurants, and cleaning supplies, to donate to those in our community.

As COVID-19 widens and families are impacted by hardships related to closed schools, limited access to childcare, work limitations, and more, we have a unique opportunity to help support our community and families.
St. John's Boon Supply Fundraiser is here! 

Here is your chance to support St. John's by purchasing attractive,
durable and fun bags and items that will give back to St. John's School.
Please visit boonsupply.com/57322 to shop online store. Have fun shopping!!!
St. John's Annual Plant Sale
Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9

Many helpers are needed! There are time slots for a variety of jobs from 6:30 am - 5:00 pm on Friday, and from 8:00 am - 11:00 am on Saturday. Please sign up via the button below:

Saturday Schedule (online)
505 Worship Service 5:05 p.m.
(Held on the 1st and 3rd Saturday)
(No 505 Worship in April)
 
Sunday Schedule (online)
Traditional Worship Service 8:00 a.m.
Traditional Worship Service 10:45 a.m.

Church Office
Office: (708) 354-1690 x210
r.suarez@sjlagrange.com