Mary sat quietly beside her husband’s hospi-tal bed and watched as the dawn light gentlycaressed the room. She pondered the newsfrom the physician given to her in the earlyhours of the day. As a nurse, she knew whatwas ahead for her husband and herself. Herprayer was a simple one, “Increase my faith.” Jacob was confused by the actions of histeenage daughter. She used to be loving,cooperative, and a delight. Now it was like astranger had taken over her body. His prayerfor wisdom was captured by a simple prayer,“Increase my faith.The world of Chris had been turned upsidedown again. How much more could be han-dled? Life seemed so overwhelmingly unfair.Chris was sliding into depression anddespair. Yet, in a final cry to God, Chrisoffered, “Increase my faith.”Our faith can increase as we are blessed bythe love of Christian community, inspired byGod’s word, moved through worship, as wellas other many ways. Yet our faith canincrease as we experience the trials andtragedies of life. In the process of beingstripped down, we can become open to Godin new ways.After the disciples hear about the expecta-tions of Jesus, the disciples want their faithincreased. They fear the millstone aroundtheir neck. They question if they can confrontthose who offend and whether they can for-give the repentant. Jesus expects them torespond as he would. They doubt if they arecapable of responding in such new ways.Jesus reminds the disciples that they alreadyhave enough faith. It doesn’t matter if theirfaith is small like a mustard seed. Ultimately,the new response is not about them ashumans and their own human ability to liveas Jesus describes. Instead, it is all aboutGod. Whether a disciple has a little or a lot offaith, God is at work. God is blessing. God isbringing the fruit. It also means the outcomeis not under the control of a disciple, but ofGod.PrayerMighty and powerful God, increase my faith.Amen.

ConnectionsSt. Mat thew Lutheran Church – Connec t i ng Fa i th W i th L i fe !

CALENDAR of EVENTS

SAT., OCTOBER 5FOOD PANTRY WEEKEND

10am-12pm Concord Room Reserved/Al-Anon Meeting

10am-1pm ECIRMAC 5:00 pm Worship

SUN., OCTOBER 6FOOD PANTRYWEEKEND

8:30 am Worship 9:45 am Coffee Fellowship 9:50 pm Sunday School10:45 am Worship 6:00 pm High School Youth Group

MON., OCTOBER 7 8:30 am Morning

Prayer Group

9:00 am Pastors’ Text StudyTUES., OCTOBER 8

9:00 am STM Quiltersin the Fellowship Hall

5:30 pm Executive CommitteeMeeting

7:00 pm Bell Choir Rehearsal 7:00 pm Gentler Yoga 7:00 pm Scouts

WED., OCTOBER 9 5:45 pm Bible Study 6:45 pm Choir RehearsalTHURS., OCTOBER 10

7:00 pm Community Choice Meetingin the Augsburg Room

FRI., OCTOBER 11 9:15 am Chairish Yoga 11:30 am “Let’s Do Lunch”

Ladies Luncheon at Bob Evans

SAT., OCTOBER 1210am-12pm Concord Room Reserved/

Al-Anon Meeting10am-1pm ECIRMAC 5:00 pm Worship

SUN., OCTOBER 13 8:30 am Worship 9:45 am Coffee Fellowship 9:50 pm Sunday School10:00 am Adult Forum 4:00 pm Daisy Scouts10:45 am Worship 4:00 pm Daisy Scouts 6:00 pm High School Youth Group

STMFOOD PANTRY

WEEKEND

STAFF OF ST. MATTHEW LUTHERAN CHURCHPHONE: 367-1189 www.stmatthewurbana.org

Pastor Robert J. RasmusOffice Manager Gayla PellumNursery Ruby Splittstoesser & Emma LacefieldParish Nurses Aziza Awate, Kathie Pound, and Beth Riddle

Connections Deadline: Submit announcements in writing to the church office or by e-mailto gayla.stm@stmatthewurbana.org no later than 9:00 a.m. Wednesday. Thank you!

Please note: Names on the list for prayers will be posted for one month unless otherwise requested.Please contact the church office with any updates or extensions. Thank you.

Specialist Sean Splittstoesser,grandson of Ruby & Dan Splittstoesser

Nathan Koplinski & 3rd Battalion India Company,

son of Beth KoplinskiRita, aunt of Cheryl Light-ShrinerCarmen, aunt of Cheryl Light-ShrinerSharon, aunt of Cheryl Light-ShrinerJohn Light, father of Cheryl Light-ShrinerPastor Tom HillertzZewdi Habtes, mother of Aziza AwateGregory Hedin, grandson of Jimmie Hedin

& son of Richard & Laura HedinJim Lyons,

son-in-law of Gary & Cyntha HedgeConnie, friend of Chris BedfordSandy, friend of Jill & Dann Daly****************Bill Marshall, brother of Jim MarshallJeff Tatman, friend of Diana & Jim Marshall****************Agazit Seyoum, friend of Aziza Awate****************John, father of Beth KoplinskiColleen & family, friends of Beth KoplinskiKaryn, daughter of Dorothy GrahamLoscalzo & Cavera families,

friends of Garris GrahamBill Valentine, brother-in-law of Liz SchwartzJeff Slade, friend of Liz SchwartzIlene, sister-in-law of Margo RichardsonAnn, sister of Margo Richardson****************

Terri, friend of Chris Bedford****************Ken & Ann Krejci,

friends of the Warriner, Carter,Cheely, and Prosser families

****************John Gantz Isabella GonzalezDanielle Deck Bruce CarrollGerald Smith Kathryn HarumGarris Graham Don SaupeLana Wegeng Randy AlumbaughBrad Hedrick Rick RiddleDorothy Graham Judi SmithNancy Schneider****************Remember our shut-ins:Elaine Ebeling Leona Saathoff

In loving memory of ˜Tom,

friend of Chris Bedfordand

Kenny Richardson, brother-in-law of Margo Richardsonand

Dennis Hansel, brother of Ruby Splittstoesser

Please include their family & friendsin your special thoughts & prayers.

May God welcome theminto the kingdom of heaven.

PrayerRequests

Welcome!St. Matthew Lutheran Church

is a fellowship of Christian believers called to: grow in Christ,

share the Gospel, serve God’s people.Do come again

to St. Matthew Lutheran Churchwhere you are always welcome.

Worship with UsSaturday, 5:00pm • Healing Service on the 3rd Saturday of the monthA relaxed & informal worship held in the Christ Chapel.Sunday, 8:30am Spirited traditional worship that focuses on participation through the liturgy, the great hymns of the Church, & corporate confession of our faith. Sunday, 10:45amPraise & worship in an open & accessible style. Christ ChapelThe chapel is always open for individual or group prayer.

A Word from Stephen MinistryStephen Ministers are here for you in your time of need. We aretrained to listen without judging and to let God do the healing.If you would like to meet with a Stephen Minister please contactPastor Bob.

ALTAR FLOWERSThe flowers on the altar this weekend are given by KarlKoenke in loving celebration of his wife, Joyce’s heav-enly birthday. Beautiful memories of Joyce live with usevery day.Help make our altar beautiful! Celebrate a birthday,anniversary, someone’s life or just because. The sign upsheet is located on the bulletin board in the narthex.

WEDNESDAY ADULT BIBLE STUDYOur outstanding Adult Bible Study continues on Wednesdayevenings. “Short Stories by Jesus, The Enigmatic Parables of aControversial Rabbi” looks at Jesus’ parables through the lens of the1st century Judeans who heard them first. Vanderbilt Professor ofNew Testament and Jewish Studies, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, leads oursix-session conversation through the unique and beloved form of the parable. Joinus at 5:45 in the Augsburg Room.

STM QUILTERS THIS WEEK!We are starting to make the quilts for our 2020 Senior High Schoolgraduates. This is a big class with 6 graduating. We also continueto make Project Linus Quilts. If you would like to join us we meetthe 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month from 9–12:00 inFellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome. For more informationplease contact Peg Warriner 217-369-5433.

“LET’S DO LUNCH” LADIES LUNCHEON THIS WEEK!Join us on the second Friday of each month at 11:30 am at a differ-ent restaurant each month. No age limit, no jobs to do, no coloredhats to wear, nothing to study, strictly social & fun. Come whenyou can whatever months you can. The next lunch will be heldFriday, October 11th at Bob Evans on North Neil Street inChampaign. The sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board in the narthex. If you for-get to sign up... come anyway! Women of all ages are welcome!

MEN’S COFFEE – MEETING AT A NEW LOCATION!Our Men’s Coffee group has decided to meet twice a month! Allavailable STM men are invited to gather for a cup of coffee & con-versation on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Our nextmeeting will be Tuesday, October 15th at 10:00am in the corridoroutside Common Ground Food Coop at Lincoln Square in Urbana.Men of all ages are welcome & encouraged to join our discussions.

FOOD PANTRY WEEKEND IS THIS WEEK!October 5 & 6

The need for food never goes away. Donations are always most welcome.The first full weekend of every month, we ask members todonate to our food pantry. Our food pantry provides a weeksworth of groceries to families in our community. This is anemergency supply of food and is coordinated through EmptyTomb. You can pick up a full list of the items to donate in thenarthex following our weekend service. A basket for yournon-perishable food donations will be placed in the narthex on Food Pantryweekend. Cash donations are also welcome. Please indicate St. Matthew FoodPantry in the memo line of your check.Thank you all for your continued support to STM Food Pantry. We need torestock several items on our shelves. Please remember to take along this list ofour needs. The following items are most needed at this time: canned vegetable soup,canned peaches, pineapple, applesauce sauce, pears, chili beans, corn, pork& beans, boxed mashed potatoes, Hamburger Helper, rice, spaghetti sauce ,saltine crackers, pancake syrup, cold cereal, salad dressing , canned tuna andcanned or bottled tomato juice.You are welcome to place items in the food box at any time throughout themonth also. If you have any questions about the Food Pantry or would like tobecome a volunteer to help make deliveries call the Church office at 217-367-1189 or Doris Gebauer at 369-6772.

STMFood Pantry

CROP WALK ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13THGet your walking shoes ready, theChampaign/Urbana CROP Walk will be Sunday,October 13th. CROP Walk is great way to raiseawareness and money to help solve local, nationaland international hunger problems and improveyour health in a fun way in fellowship with other members of St. Matthew and areachurches. We are looking for someone to coordinate walkers for St. Matthew. If youare interested helping organize St. Matthew you can talk to Jon Gunderson or KathyOberdeck. 25% of the funds raised stay right here in Champaign county and will beused to support Sola Gratia Farm, Eastern Illinois Food Bank, Daily Bread SoupKitchen and Wesley Evening Food Pantry.

PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRYThe next meeting of the Prayer Shawl Ministry willbe Wednesday, October 16th at 9:30 a.m. in theConcord Room at church. We welcome all who knit.If you know of someone who would be comforted bya prayer shawl, please contact Joan Peterson (384-7415), Mary Anderson (896-2061), Pastor Bob or the church office (367-1189). Thestories from the recipients are beautiful & filled with gratitude for the prayers & lovethat goes into making them.

RELIT The ReLit group has kicked off the new reading season and you areinvited to join us. First on the list is Sacred Ground: Pluralism,Prejudice, and Promise of America by Eboo Patel. We will discusshow suspicion and animosity toward American Muslims hasincreased since 9/11 and that this prejudice is not just a problem forMuslims but a challenge to the very idea of America. Interfaithleader Patel offers insight into how interfaith work “can be a bridgeof cooperation rather than a barrier of division by sharing stories from the frontlinesof interfaith activism.” Join us October 18th at 7pm in the Concord Room to be partof this discussion.Contact Nancy Schneider, nancyschneider@hotmail.com formore information. (By the way, no one is required to lead a discussion. Just comeand share dessert. You'll be welcome.)

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN RESTARTING OUR WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY?

The WELCA Bible Study formerly met on the last Thursdayof the month at 9:00am. The group has met here at church andalso at Prairie Winds. Would you be interested in having aWomen’s Bible Study again? Would you perhaps be interestedin leading the group? Do you have a thought on where the group should meet?Please let Gayla in the church office if you are interested or if you have any ques-tions. Let’s try to get this group going again!

PRAYER AROUNDTHE CROSS

JOIN US ONOCTOBER 17THAT 7PMIN THE SANCTUARY

IT WILL SOON BE TIME TO SAY GOOD-BYE!

Join us at services on Saturday,October 26 and Sunday, October 27 tocelebrate with Pastor Bob as he com-pletes his time as Pastor at St MatthewLutheran Church

Saturday, October 26, 2019 join us as we celebrate with PastorBob using Holden Evening Prayerto mark his final Saturday service.

Sunday, October 27, 2019 join us for a final single service at9:30 am followed by a reception tobid Pastor Bob farewell as he com-pletes his ministry at St. Matthewand retires.

Celebrating our time withPastor Bob

Friday, November 1st 5:30-8:00pm

Everyone is welcome to stop by and wish Pastor Bob well.Light snacks will be served.Food truck(s) and beverages will be available for purchase.

Hope to see you there!

@

1901 S HIGH CROSS RD.URBANA