ST. JOHN’S JOURNALwhether the saddle, too, were to be his in case he won the horse. In brief, he strayed so far with his thoughts that he soon had to stop and concede the victory

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From the Pastor ...

ATTENTIVENESS IN PRAYER Do you ever catch yourself with straying thoughts while you are praying, such that your mind is thinking about something other than what your lips are saying? If so, you are certainly not alone. Perfect attentiveness in prayer seems almost impossible for all us sinners, even when we are praying that perfect prayer, the Lord's Prayer. Consider the following words of Dr. Martin Luther. He uses an amusing little story to illustrate this sad reality.

Such a miserable, distracted thing is the human heart; it moves and wavers and weaves so much that no wind or water is as movable and inconstant. I must tell you an instance of this. We read it of St. Bernard, who had complained to a good friend that he found it most difficult to pray aright, and that he was unable to finish even one Lord's Prayer with-out having foreign thoughts. His friend was greatly surprised at this; he thought that praying aright was not at all a task or labor. So St. Bernard made a bet with him. His friend was to try it, and a good stallion was to be the wa-ger; but he was to tell him the truth. The friend presumed to do so without any trouble and began to pray, Our Father, etc. But before he had come to the end of the First Petition, he was wondering whether the saddle, too, were to be his in case he won the horse. In brief, he strayed so far with his thoughts that he soon had to stop and concede the victory to St. Bernard. In a word, if you are able to speak one Lord's Pray-er without any other thoughts of your own, I shall consider you a master. I cannot do it; in fact, when

thoughts come to me, I am glad if they go as readily as they come.

Which of us cannot place himself in the shoes of St. Ber-nard's friend?! Even though the Lord's Prayer is perfect, none of us can pray it perfectly. Perhaps part of the rea-son our thoughts drift so easily is because the Lord's Prayer is so familiar. Many of us learned it for memory in our early childhood, and we have prayed it so many times that our hearts and minds frequently give in to the temptation not to think about what we are really praying. For this reason I prepared some time ago a responsive adaptation of the Lord's Prayer, based upon Luther's Small Catechism. I did this with the intention and hope that we will all be reminded of what we are praying in the Lord's Prayer, and that we will remain more focused. I commend this to you for occasional use in your personal or family devotion. We may even use it sometime in church.

At God's tender invitation, let us address Him in prayer with all boldness and confidence, believing that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children: Our Father who art in heaven... Let us pray that God's name may be kept holy among us, namely, that His word may be taught in its truth and purity, and that we, the children of God, may lead holy lives according to it: Hallowed be Thy name. Let us pray that the kingdom of God may come to us, namely, that our heavenly Father would give us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy word and lead godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity: Thy kingdom come.

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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7

V O L U M E 4 3 , I S S U E 2

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S T . J O H N ’ S J O U R N A L S

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Sunday School Perfect Attendance

December 2016

Pre-School/Kindergarten Zander Hopping

First/Second Grades

Briella Hoover

Third/ Fourth Grades Ava Friedinger Ella Friedinger Bradley Hoover Zachary Webb

Sixth/Seventh/Eighth Grades

Zane Dobbelaire Audrey Driskell Brayden Hoover

Lainey Jensen Cooper Theleritis

Sydney Webb ______________________________________

Feb 01 Joseph Hillman Edward Hodgkins Vincent Thomason Feb 02 Nathan Barth Katie Bollinger Edward Gaitros David Justi Stephen Webb Feb 04 Gayle Gettman Ryan Hansen Feb 06 Richard Jarvis Feb 07 Jamie Hoover Feb 08 Emma Jones

Feb 09 Loretta Newman R. Michael Thompson Feb 10 Lia Huber Lorelia Huber Sarah Huber Sandra Morgan Candice Swift Barbara Theleritis Feb 11 Katherine King Feb 12 Viola Deppert Feb 13 Emma Canterbury Charles Diemer Carrie Schmidgall Feb 14 Steven Depew Belinda Frankel Barbara Thompson Feb 15 Nola Berger Ruth Keil Lori Sego Feb 16 Karen McCammon Patricia Proehl Feb 17 George Andrae Feb 18 Michael Becker Jeremy Garmon Emma Hicks Rosemary Peacock Barry Pool Gregory Swibold Shantel Tackmann Feb 20 Dean Cooper Marcille Frevert Shirley Williamson Feb 21 Kylee Alexander Stanley Ehmke Feb 22 Susan Waddell

Feb 23 Alison Burris Feb 24 Vernice Funk David Sego Feb 25 Tyler Widby Feb 26 LeaAnn Becker Feb 27 Christine Neumann Feb 28 Carl Beal Carol Becker (Leap Year B-day) Ava Friedinger Sandra Gay Carl Whitlatch Rose Marie Williamson

Feb 01 John & Allison Gillespie Feb 02 Gerald & Paula Norman Feb 14 Colby & Ashley Jones Thomas & Cheryl Ivey James & Julie Widby Barry & Katherine Wright Feb 20 Pastor Glenn & Laura Niemann

Christian Education

Sunday School

FEBRUARY

BIRTHDAYS

FEBRUARY

ANNIVERSARIES

Transferred To The

Church Triumphant

Joseph N. Hoerr, III 11/29/1996 12/18/2016

Marilyn R. Moll

10/20/1934 12/31/2016

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Acolytes

Feb 05 8:00 Zane Dobbelaire 10:30 Cailin Wilson Feb 12 8:00 Sydney Webb 10:30 Audrey Driskell Feb 19 8:00 Kethry Whitlatch 10:30 Cooper Theleritis Feb 26 8:00 Lainey Jensen 10:30 Daden Ruder

February Greeters

Feb 05 8:00 Vince & Sandra Tennell 10:30 Rev. Bruce & Deb Lakamp Feb 12 8:00 Velma Widby 10:30 Debby Dant & Sydney Webb Feb 19 8:00 Vince & Sandra Tennell 10:30 Howie & Pat Proehl Feb 26 8:00 Brian Fuelberth 10:30 Barb & Julie Wagner

A big thank you to all our Service Volunteers.

We appreciate the time and dedication you give to

our Church community.

December Y-T-D

INCOME 47,482.43 618,757.27 EXPENSES 30,660.85 474,959.26 INCOME- 16,821.58 143,798.01 EXPENSES LIABILITIES Note Payable 149,230.75 Payroll Liabilities 1,987.72 Misc LCMS Orgs Fund 0.00 TOTAL LIABILITIES 151,218.47 General Fund -34,724.79 Schwab Cash Account 0.02 Cat Stock at FMV 74,099.26 Pekin Life Ins. Stock 10,876.80 General Fund Total 50,215.29 Ed Grant Fund Checking 4,726.56 Ed Grant Fund CD #1 102,444.36 Ed Grant Fund #2-Vanguard 67,392.48 Educational Fund Total 174,563.40 East Bluff Property-Vanguard 92,032.54 East Bluff Property Fund CD 106,210.05 East Bluff Property Fund 198,242.59 Building Fund Checking 47,606.30 Sunday School Fund Checking 9,085.93 Memorial Fund Checking 32,291.83 TOTAL ASSETS $512,041.34 Checking Account Balance 58,985.83 FUND BALANCE Building Improvements -299,680.34 Net Income (Loss) 143,798.01 Capital Accounts 516,705.20 TOTAL FUND BALANCE, 360,822.87 TOTAL LIABILITIES & FUND BALANCE $512,041.87 Nov Budget 50,756.93 Nov Income 31,257.59 Net Income 19,499.34 YTD Budget 507,147.77 YTD Income 475,556.00 Net Income 31,591.77

Church Attendance

Dec 2016— 967—15 services Dec 2015—1,157—18 services Dec 2014—1,310—18 services

Sunday School

Attendance Year-to-Date

Dec 2016: 2,645 Dec 2015: 2,868 Dec 2014: 3,052

Videographers

Jim Lonergan

Worship Committee

Lisa Pool

Communion Assistance

Feb 05

8:00 Dan Rees

10:30 Joe Szadkowski

Feb 19

8:00 Dave Drockelman

10:30 Steve Depew

February Ushers

PARISH NOTES

8:00

Jerry Bohannan

Darrell Hansen

Steve Kesselmayer Noah Kesselmayer

Terry Norman

10:30

Ross Gould

Jacob Gould

Mike Nauth

Howie Proehl

TREASURER’S REPORT

DECEMBER, 2016

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President Tom Ivey called the meeting to order. A quorum was present. Pastor Bishop opened with devo-tions. A motion by Ray Barnes, seconded by Randy Couch, was made to approve the December 2016 Parish Report – motion carried. There was one correction to the De-cember 2016 Minutes under New Business. The se-quence of the sentences should read - A motion was made by Randy Couch, seconded by Tom Ivey to close the nominations – motion carried. A motion by Bob Oliverius, seconded by Jack Hall, to accept the 2017 Church Officer Slate by acclamation with the exception of the TLSA Board – motion carried. A motion was made by Dan Rees to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by Dave Drockelman – motion carried. Treasurer’s Report – Nancy Drockelman presented the December 2016 Treasurer’s Report. Bob Oliverius moved, seconded by Howie Proehl, to approve the De-cember 2016 Treasurer’s Report – motion carried. Board of Trustees – Dave Kesselmayer expressed thanks on behalf of the Trustees to Gary Pool for all his efforts serving on the Board of Trustees for the past six years. The Trustees would like to work with the other committees to clean out storage rooms around the church. Garret Kesselmayer volunteered to serve on the Board of Trustees. A motion was made by Dave Kesselmayer, seconded by Dave Drockelman, to nomi-nate Garret Kesselmayer to fill the vacancy on the Board of Trustees – motion carried. Board of Finance – No report.

Board of Elders – Dave Drockelman reported that there are two potential new members attending the Adult Confirmation Class so far, with two more possibly to join the class. (5 people actually attended the first ses-sion.) Board of Worship – Jennifer Kesselmayer reported that the Board of Worship received many good comments about the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Board of Christian Education – No report. Board of Stewardship – Howie Proehl reported that a new Chairman was not selected, as two new members are needed for the Board of Stewardship. A letter has

been drafted and will be mailed to members of St. John’s in the next few weeks. Board of Evangelism – The Board of Evangelism has not met since the last Voter's Meeting. Thanks to Nancy Swearingen for her time on this Board and welcome to Sandy Tennell. Greeters are still needed, especially for the 10:30 service. Long Range Planning Committee – The Long Range Planning Committee will meet after the Voter’s Meeting tonight. Educational Grant Fund Committee – No report. East Bluff Property Committee – No report. Constitutional Review Committee – A short meeting will be held after the Voter’s Meeting. Unfinished Business – There was no Unfinished Business. New Business – There was no New Business. A motion was made by Daryl Dagit, seconded by Dan Rees, to adjourn the meeting. Respectfully submitted, Cheryl Ivey Secretary

HI-LITES OF ST. JOHN’S VOTERS ASSEMBLY

January 9, 2017

HOSPITALIZATIONS AND HOME COMMUNION

VISITS If you or someone from your family is hospitalized or scheduled to go into the hos-pital, please contact the church office, so that Pastor Bishop knows about it and can visit you in the hospital. The hospitals do not contact us. Sandy calls the Peoria hospi-

tals on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to find out if there are any St. John’s members there. If you tell them when you are admitted that you are a St. John’s member, you will likely be on their list, and we can usually find out. Pekin Hospital does not give us this information. So please help us stay informed so Pastor can serve you. If you or someone else you know in the congregation has difficulty getting to church and needs to be on the Home Communion list, even if just for a while, please contact the church office, so that Pastor Bishop can visit you. This is an important part of his pastoral work, and he wants to do his best to serve everyone in need. Thank you for your help with this.

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continued from the cover page Let us pray that the good and gracious will of God may be done among us, namely, that God would break and hinder every evil plan of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature; and also that He would strengthen and preserve us steadfast in His word and faith until we die: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let us pray that God would give us everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, and that He would lead us to receive these things with thanksgiving: Give us this day our daily bread. Let us pray that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, nor deny our prayer because of them, even though we daily sin much and deserve none of the things for which we pray; and also that we who have received God's forgiveness may sin-cerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us: And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Let us pray that God would guard and keep us when the devil, the world, and our sinful nature attack and attempt to deceive and mislead us into false belief, despair, or other great sins; and that we may finally overcome and obtain the victory: And lead us not into temptation. Let us pray that our Father in heaven would deliver us from every evil of body and soul, and that final-ly, when our last hour comes, He would give us a blessed end and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven: But deliver us from evil. Let us glorify our Father in heaven, and add our heartfelt “Amen” to these petitions He has com-manded us to pray, certain that they are pleasing to Him, that He hears them, and that it shall be so: For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

- Pastor Bishop +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests." I haven't any new books to report on this month, but would like to invite everyone to come into the library and check out all the wonderful books that are available.

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Mark your calendar for February 11th - 6:30 p.m.

Pastor Kesselmayer will be taking the members of St. John's Fellowship Club on an enjoyable trip thru Germany and Bel-gium. "Tickets" are FREE!!!!

Come and join us for this fun evening. Hostesses for the evening will be Leon & Eileen Tiona and Linda Turney. The Ladies' Guild will meet on Thursday, February 23rd at 6:30 p.m. Our hostesses for the evening will be Vi Deppert (chairperson) and Nancy Swearingen. Please bring personal hygiene items (soap, shampoo, tooth-paste, deodorant, etc.) for Bethesda Group Homes. All ladies of the congregation are invited to attend.

FEBRUARY LIBRARY CORNER

By Eileen Tiona

ORGANIZATIONS

FELLOWSHIP CLUB By Veva Martin

WOMEN’S GUILD By Jackie Nauth

THE YOUTH GROUP

will meet on Sunday, February 19 at 4:00 p.m.

This month we will have wacky gym games and enjoy tacos.

Watch bulletins for more information and

please bring a friend to enjoy the fellowship.

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GOOD SHEPHERD NEWS Dining Night Out will be held on Tuesday, February 9th at Papa John's in Pekin. GSLS will receive credit for orders placed for lunch or dinner. All you have to do is mention GSLS while ordering! Friday, February 12th is a half day. Pre-K will dismiss @ 12:00 p.m./K-8th will dismiss @ 12:30 p. m.. Monday, February 15th, there is no school in honor of Presi-dents Day! Aiden Foreman in 6th Grade was the All School Spelling Bee winner! Second place went to Mason Garlisch in 5th grade and third place was taken by Wilson Hunter in 8th grade! Congrats to all students who participated! Tickets to attend Good Shepherd Lutheran School's 10th Annual Benefit Auction, "A Decade of Reflections with Ewe!" on Saturday, March 19, 2016, at the Par-A-Dice Ho-tel Ballroom are available! Please check the SCRIP tables at the churches, or ask at the school's office for a form to make your reservation. For reservation questions, call Ann Fuel-berth at 347-9027. Our menu has been finalized: Beef Chuck Filet-5 oz. and Chicken Breast-5 oz. with a Dijon Mustard Cream Sauce, Whipped Potatoes, Green Beans, Salad, Chocolate & White Cake. The Special Live Auction Item #1 will again be the "First Din-ner" which will feature: Beef Filet-6oz. and Crab Cake-6 oz., Julienne Vegetables, Custard Potatoes, Caesar Salad, Turtle Cheesecake, Coffee, Tea, and Water. Talk to your ta-ble mates and be ready to bid on this delicious "First Dinner"! As in the previous years, we have Table Sponsorships avail-able for our Live Auction--$200, Silent Auction--$100, and Dinner--$50. These sponsorship ads are great ways for businesses to advertise and support our auction! Please talk to any Auction Committee member if you have questions.

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IN OUR PRAYERS If you know of anyone who needs to be added, please let the church office know. All our shut-ins Adam Jackson—member of Armed Services (grand- nephew of Lila Lisenbee) Pastor Niemann Tom Street Dale Schott Bob Morrison Gina Marlar Rhonda Zimmerman Carl Beal Mike Ferguson Joe Nizzia Maxine Oliverius Sonny Mack Rosemarie Williamson

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Bringing Christ to people around the world More than 120 years ago, the Missouri Synod sent its first missionaries to India, and our church has been active in international witness ever since. Though our witness and message are the same, much has certainly changed since then, and the 21st century brings even more new opportunities and challenges as we continue our international witness by the power of the Holy Spirit: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). As the LCMS focuses on international witness, we thank God for our partnerships with brothers and sisters around the world in carrying Christ’s rich gifts to the ends of the earth! Join us in lifting up international witness this month. To help you do so, we have put together information and worship resources, including bulletin inserts, prayers, Scripture references and more for your use.

lcms.org/focus/international-witness >>