Pieces of the Rock

Pieces of the Rock

December 4, 2020

FROM MR. BRUNE

Parents and Friends,

I have lost count of the amount of events cancelled or changed this year, and it is exhausting! While listening to Pastor McDowell's lamenting message last Sunday I was quickly reminded of how truly blessed we have been here at St. Peter’s, even while dealing with this unusual school year. So I sat down and wrote a couple points of blessings we have had during the first half of the school year already.

We are blessed that even while we cannot show our parents and families quite like usual, AMAZING things are happening in our classrooms and school. Gingerbread house construction, class chapels, dissections in science and impactful lessons being taught...and that was just this week! Our teachers continue to adapt and deliver truly excellent content. 📚 🏫 🔬
Our teachers and students have done a great job to mitigate the spread of COVID within our classrooms/school and have allowed us to keep the larger interruptions to a minimum. 🙌
We have been able to safely have both Fall and Winters sports. While we have had to change times and procedures, our kids are playing! 🏐 ⚽️ 🏀 🏈
Along with sports has been the need to adapt and find ways to livestream our games. People who normally could not watch because of schedules or distance can now, in the matter of a couple clicks, watch grandkids and nephews/nieces from across the country live! 🎥
When a student is out for any reason we can bring them into our classrooms, whole school devotions and chapels with the blessing of new tools in the hand of our staff. 🎉

Our teachers continue to ‘roll with the punches’ and educate our kids the very best they can, and they are doing an amazing job! We have been forced to find new ways to connect with people both near and far which we can carry into the future. Even in a pandemic, the Lord is hard at work here everyday. Praise to Him that He continues to bless His school here at St. Peter’s!

In Him,

Chris Brune

WEEKLY WILDCAT UPDATES

Coffee Talk

Join Mrs. Ehle & Mr. Brune on Tuesday, December 8th in the lower level of the church (door #1) for coffee and learn more about what to expect in Kindergarten. They will share what makes St. Peter's so special and also give you the opportunity to ask questions.

Library Book Sale

Did you know our library owns over 15,000 books?!? Since the school year has started, our students have checked out over 2,900 books!! That averages out to around 15 books per student already! Next week is the final week to donate a book to our library in honor of your student.

Send the form back in with the letter provided or contact to the school office to help support our library.

Thank Your for Shared Blessings

Thank you to our entire school community for your participation in our church’s annual canned food drive around Thanksgiving. Your donations were able to impact 10 of our own families in our community and many more at the St. Matthew's food bank. Especially in a time such as right now where so many are experiencing job loss or loss in hours, being able to share Christ’s love to others is such a tremendous blessing. Thank you!

Advent K-4 Christmas Program

In preparation of our K-4 Advent Christmas program coming up on December 16th, we have consulted with the Board of Health and reviewed our church capacity. This is a great time for families to come together, and if you have been to this service before, it absolutely packs the church - which is usually great! With this great draw, and in order to abide by the newest state and county mandate, we need to adjust. We will have students perform this special worship service at 9am on this day and will livestream it on the church’s facebook page. We will also make a copy of this service on a DVD for each family to have as a keepsake of the service. We look forward to the time again where we can come together and celebrate these large events together!

Spirit Wear Sale!

Do you need Christmas gifts for your Wildcat family or need more spirit wear for your children to wear on Fridays at school? You are in luck! Next Saturday, December 12th at the conclusion of our varsity boys basketball game through 1pm our Boosters will be selling Spirit Wear. Enter through church door #1 and they will be set up right inside the door.

The boosters program is a great supporter of our athletic programs here at school and what better way to do that than to proudly wear Wildcat Spirit Wear!

7th Grade Chapel

Because of copyright laws we could not livestream the 7th grade chapel service on Wednesday. It is now edited and available on the church's Facebook page. Find the service by clicking the link below!

Watch 7th Grade's Chapel Message HERE

Parent Teacher League (PTL)

Sparkle Shop

Sparkle Shop is a great opportunity for students to do their own Christmas shopping for loved ones. Monday and Tuesday, December 14th and 15th, each class will have a special time to shop. All items will be $2.50. Additional information will be coming next week with students.

We are also looking for donations of Christmas gift labels and bags. If you are like us and have hoards of these items from previous years, and can spare some, we would greatly appreciate it! Send donations into the school office.

Don’t have any items to donate? How about time? We are also looking for volunteers to help at students shop and wrap their purchases. Use the link below to sign up and help.

Teacher Appreciation

It goes without saying that we are BLESSED, with the BEST OF THE BEST, here at St. Peter’s Lutheran. COVID has changed so many things within our school family, but ONE THING it cannot TAKE AWAY is the ability to shower our TEACHERS AND STAFF with the LOVE they so deserve. We have a some great opportunities in the future to share our APPRECIATION - Christmas, National Lutheran Schools Week, Valentine’s Day, JUST BECAUSE YOU NEED A PICK ME UP, and etc.. are just to name a few.

I would really like to put together a sub-committee to help coordinate our efforts. I will be LEADING the charge, but am seeking out a PARENT REPRESENTATIVE from each classroom to help be the liaison to the other parents in the classroom. It will take really very little time, but will be so beneficial to this great cause.

If you could please email or text me if you would be interested in helping support this ministry, I will then send further communication out. My email is rjmoher@gmail.com / cell is 466-6263. Thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you.

We LOVE OUR STAFF @ SPLS!

Jody Moher

WEEK AT A GLANCE

WORSHIP

Pastor's Sermon

Pastor Steve Ahlersmeyer is preaching this weekend. His sermon is titled "True Peace". Please take some time to prepare for worship by reading the Bible passages before attending church.

Old Testament - Isaiah 40:1-11

Epistle - 2 Peter 3:8-14

Holy Gospel - Mark 1:1-8

Please join us for worship on Saturday evening at 5:00, Sunday morning at 8:00 or 10:30, or Monday evening at 6:00. The 10:30 service will be live streamed on the church facebook page.

Stepping Stones Worship

In the video below, you can join Vicar Nate on a brief walk through of a Stepping Stones service. You will quickly see that Stepping Stones is something special. It's worship with a twist that is designed for families of all ages and stages. We'll see you Monday at 6:00 pm in the church gym. This week we will explore the topic of Peace, the second Advent candle.

Learn more about Stepping Stones HERE

Christmas Eve Worship

We will be using tickets for Sanctuary seating during our Christmas Eve services this year. You can request the number of tickets you will require for the service you wish to attend. The church office will assign seating and mail you tickets. The current plan is to offer worship at 3:00 pm, 5:00 pm, 7:00 pm, and 11:00 pm. As we fulfill ticket requests, we will know if we need to add additional worship times to accommodate everyone.

Paper ticket requests forms are available at the church, or you can submit a request online using this Ticket Request Form

Learn more about our Christmas Eve services from our pastors HERE

Prayer List

Please include these requests in your personal and family prayers.

The Nord family as the grieve the loss of Pastor Nord

SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL

The Lutheran Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO)

The SGO program is a true partnership between our schools, the State of Indiana, and supporters to provide scholarships to low to middle-income families to make Christian education more affordable. Due to the generous giving of our school supporters, we have awarded 33 scholarships this school year totaling $44,000 dollars. Thank you! Remember that you will receive a 50% credit of the amount contributed to reduce your state tax liability. Please call (222-1291) or email Tony Hunt for information on how to take advantage of this wonderful program.

Scrip for the Holidays

Consider purchasing gift cards for the holidays through the scrip program. Many vendors offer lower denominations during the holiday season. Check out shop.shopwithscrip.com. If you have not already enrolled, please email Tony Hunt for the enrollment code. The last day to order physical cards in time for Christmas is 2pm on Monday 12/14, please note this is one day earlier than our normal order schedule of noon on Tuesday. This program is a no cost way to support our school and earn credits to offset the cost of Christian education. Thank you to the many families that are currently using scrip!