ST. ANDREW’S UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

NEWSLETTER

1004 Rock Road, De Soto, MO 63020 • PHONE: 636-586-2472 • EMAIL: standrews1004@sbcglobal.net

Adult Bible Study: 9:30 AM • Morning Worship: 10:30 AM • Children’s Church 10:30 AM

Web Page: www.standrewsumcdesoto.org

K. Darlene Payne, Pastor Marietta J. Martin, Ministry Assistant

Vol. 27, No. 1 January 22, 2014

SARAH DOREMUS

BAKE SALE

SUNDAY

AFTER WORSHIP

FEBRUARY 9

Greetings in the Name of Our Lord,

Special occasions are often connected with food—Thanksgiving, Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. Whenever there’s a special meal, we can’t wait to be told: “Come to the table!” I have been thinking about Holy Communion this week reading 1 Corinthians

10:14-22 and several things have come to mind. Jesus has set the table and is inviting us, “Come to My Table.” There are several things we need to “bring to the table”… 1. Before we sit down to a meal, we need

clean hands. You don’t work in the garden or garage and then come inside, sit down, and eat dinner. You wash up first. This is why the Bible tells us to examine our lives before receiving Communion. We may see something that needs to be confessed and cleaned up. When we were

kids, we occasionally had to go to bed without supper because we did something bad. When we come to Jesus with remorse and repentance, we find forgiveness, restoration, and an invitation to His table. Some people get so burdened by their sins, that instead of asking

forgiveness, they figure they’re too unworthy to participate. None of us are worthy, but if we’ve trusted Christ, we are eligible. He invites and authorizes us to come to the table. 2. Also before dining, we need a good appetite. What would happen if you were

invited to someone’s house for dinner, and an hour before the meal you ate a bag of chips, a Coke, and a package of Twinkies? After all this junk food, you’d have little appetite for the good stuff! Paul tells us, “you can’t drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you

can’t have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons” (vs. 21). God offers us a substantive meal—the Bread and Cup won’t fill us up physically, but they will satisfy our spiritual hunger. When we stuff ourselves with

CONFIRMATION CLASS

FEBRUARY 2 THROUGH MARCH 23.

CLASS IS OPEN TO ALL WHO WANT TO PARTICIPATE. WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU INVOLVED.

CLASS WILL MEET EACH SUNDAY AFTER WORSHIP FOR 2 HOURS WHICH INCLUDES LUNCH. SIGN UP NOW TO

PARTICIPATE. FEB 2nd MEET AND GREET. BOOKS WILL BE HANDED OUT.

the junk food of sin we lose our appetite for the banquet God has prepared for us. We need to “taste and see” the satisfying goodness of the Lord (Psalm 34:8). We are in the world, but we don’t have to be of the world. We are exposed to sin, but we can

resist temptation. Do we get an appetite for what God has for us, when we’ve been dwelling on things below, rather than things above? When our perspective is fixed on temporal things, we can get caught up in that which has no lasting value. Jesus promises, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” What does Jesus mean when He says we’ll be “filled”? I think a lot of people live their lives on EMPTY. They go day-to-day without much purpose or meaning, and when they reach the end they

wonder what the point was in living. They are starving spiritually. How much different to know that God loves us individually, and has a specific plan for our lives. Jesus fills our days with a sense of significance and satisfaction. 3. When we’re dining, we also need time to enjoy the moment. Sometimes we’re in such a hurry that we don’t enjoy our food; we inhale it and rush on to something else! When we partake in the Lord’s Supper, we come to savor the moment, to linger and reflect and remember. I have to

admit, that sometimes I’ve looked at the clock, and after my sermon, I’ve sprinted through Communion. When we come to the Lord’s Table, our spiritual meal should be the focus of why we’re here. 4. Harmony at the meal table is important. I heard about a family who got together for a meal, and before long the table conversation got controversial. They started talking about current events, but the discussion slipped into political differences. Not everyone shared the same

viewpoint, and the enjoyment of the meal got ruined as they argued. We can’t expect everyone in our congregation to agree on every issue, but we are expected to get along. In vs 17 Paul makes a point of saying that “we are one body” and we “partake of the one loaf.” Conflict, tension, disharmony, can all ruin a perfectly good meal. One thing we don’t bring to the table is divisiveness. What we did agree on was our unity in Christ. What united us was greater than what divided us. 5. We need to be grateful for this meal. I saw an apron in a gift catalogue that says: “Kiss

the Cook”. Those who prepare meals appreciate being told that people enjoyed their meal. When we come to the Lord’s Table, we need to eat with gratitude, to not take it for granted. God provided manna, miraculous food, to the Jewish nation in the wilderness, and all they did was complain. We need to appreciate the cost of this meal. Jesus has prepared a meal for us that cost Him His life. We should appreciate the sacrifice of our Savior; otherwise we miss the whole point of this meal! 6. We also come to God’s Table with loyalty. We avoid the competition. If your family owned

a restaurant, you would come frequently, tell others about it, and you wouldn’t want to eat anywhere else. Paul is talking about how people try to eat at the devil’s table, yet also come to God’s. We serve a jealous God (vs 22), Who will not be replaced with substitutes. He demands our

undivided loyalty. The Christians at Corinth were tempted to revert to the idolatrous practices of their former lives. We don’t see overt pagan idol worship today, yet idolatry is still prevalent in our society…because trusting anything for what God

alone provides is idolatry. Eating at the Lord’s table means communing with Christ and identifying with His death. Our partaking of Communion indicates that we are undivided in our commitment to Christ. He is our top priority; He has preeminence in our lives.

As you “Come to the Table” for Holy Communion, think on these things.

2

I’M

LOOKING

FOR MY

SHADOW AT

119 S. THOMAS

DE SOTO, MO

COME AND SEE IF IT SHOWS UP

PASTOR DARLENE AND PADRE PAYNE

EVERYONE IS INVITED TO AN OPEN HOUSE AT THE PARSONAGE

SUNDAY February 2, 2014 2:00-6:00 P.M.

3

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES SERVING GOD

Liturgists: Jan. 26 Joe Wilson Feb. 2 Marietta Martin Feb. 9 Marsha Greenstreet Feb. 16 Stoke Wischmeier

SERVING OTHERS Fellowship Hosts/Hostesses: Jan. 26 Phyllis and Bob Fisher Feb. 2 Bob and Bryanna Alexander Feb. 9 Marsha Greenstreet Feb. 16 Fellowship Dinner

Communion Steward: Feb. 2 Lee Mahn

OUR STEWARDSHIP Weekly Offerings and Worship Attendance

Dec. 8 General Fund 1284.35 82 Designated 185.00 Dec. 15 General Fund 1652.21 107 Designated 53.04 Designated (p.m.) 188.00 145 Dec. 22 General Fund 2747.80 107 Designated 150.75 Designated (p.m.) 295.43 102 Dec. 24 Designated 435.46 79 Dec. 29 General Fund 5302.95 82 Designated 481.39 Jan. 5 (cancelled) Jan. 12 General Fund 4120.76 91 Building fund 25.00 Designated 575.60 Jan. 19 General Fund 1999.91 101 Designated 432.62

CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY To Mary Beth Reed whose brother, George Akers, passed on Tuesday, December 17.

To Barbara Hoelzel and Mary Courtois

upon the death of their cousin, Carol Eckert, who passed on December 28. To Irmalee Mahn, Mark Mahn, and Lee

Mahn upon the death of their nephew/cousin, Edward “Jimmy” Mahn who passed on January 6, 2014.

CONGRATULATIONS To Margie and Doug Urban , on the birth of their granddaughter, Lucy June Bergman, Dec. 27. Charles and Norma Hoelzel are

the great-grandparents. THANK YOU Dear St. Andrew’s Church Members: Many thanks for the Christmas gift this holiday season. It is my pleasure to serve as your organist. Peace and joy to each of you during 2014.—Maxine Jinkerson Dear St. Andrew’s Family: Padre and I would like to thank you for the Christmas gift. We appreciate all the cards and remembrances also. Have a great New Year. —Pastor Darlene and Padre

Dear Church Family: Larry, Marietta, Barbara and Mary all say thank you for our Christmas gifts.

PRAYER REQUESTS: Bart Barnard, Bill and Lorraine Bay, Mary Bethel, Steve & Carol Brown, Joe and Alice Bryant, Chaplain Jim Carter, Marlene “Molly” Chapman, Amy Clark, Beverly Clark, The Tom Clark family, Ann Costello, Kate Crawford, Douglas Crocker, Marge Cope, Donald Davis, Matt De Clue, Ardy De Mers, Ralph and Betty Doyen, Mary Drake, Leta Duf-fin, Carol Easter, Renee Evans, Mike Farris, John Freeman, Merrill Garland, Jay Geideman, Rachel Gibbs, Bonnie Graves, Betty Greenlee, Cheryl Greenstreet, Joe Greenstreet, Barbara Hanna, Jeremy Haegele, Zachary Handy, Barbara Helms, Rich Hessler, Geral Hill, Sarah House, Michael Hudanich, Doris and Herbert Hubbard, Mary Jinkerson, Maxine Jinkerson, Geraldine Johnson, Mike Klaus, Dixie Klein, Mike Klomfas, Peggy Levall, Evelyn Lewis, Malinda Luebbers, Macunhe UMC, Gene Martin, Keith Mason, Carolee Matheny, Pat Masson, Harold McAl-pine, Marion McKenna, Vaughn, Tiny, and Mike Medcalf, Darin Medley, Patty Melton, Bob Miller, Betty Mueller, Bar-bara Myers, Thomas Estus Nicholas, David Nuckols, Faye Owen, Brian Parmeley, Margaret Pillen, Cole Propst, Tom Pruitte, Glenn Randall, Zach Rasse, Betty Ray, Dennis Reynolds, Marie Rhodes, Shelley Robinson, Syria Romano, Tommy Scharfenberger, Michelle Schott, Laura Schweitzer, Matthew Scott, Patsy Shy, Jim Smith, Lucas Smith, Laura Souders, Sherri Souders, Nancy Stichling Thuer, Mari Anne Sutton, Linda Thompson, Charlotte Thorn-ton Family, Linda Twomey, Shorty Valle, Margie Walker, Kevin Warden, Erin Weber, Barbara Weston, Megan Wheeler, Rosemary White, Mary Lou Whittemore, Addie Wiggins, Norma Wiley, Merrilee Williams, Boytt & Marian Willis, June Wilson, Chuck Wintermute, Mary Winterton, Carolyn Wolfe, Mary Zimmermann, unspoken request. Our service personnel: Paul Case, Eric Hinch, Caleb Huskey, Michael and Sherri Monroe, JP Parkin and fam-ily, Keith Wakeland, Chris Weaton, Dereck Wilson

SUGAR MOON Featured At

Fountain City Grille February 8

Coyol

.February 13

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Hours: Lunch on W, Th, F 11 to 2

Supper Th, F, S 4 to 9

Sunday, 1 to 5

Larry Bay is featured on February 7. Call

now for reservations. 636-586-0040

We have gathered 60 items for the Food Pantry in December. Collected for De Soto Ministerial Alliance $50. —Thanks, Bobby & Phyllis Fisher

PECAN PIECES and HALVES ARE STILL AVAILABLE IN THE CHURCH OFFICE.

FELLOWSHIP DINNER

AFTER WORSHIP

FEBRUARY 16

4

MISSION CORNER We will be collecting valentines the first

two Sundays in February—2nd, 9th. They

will be given to students in the De Soto

School system who are not able to afford

valentines to share.

Please open your heart to these children.

—Frances Deaton, Missions Chair

A BUG IN YOUR EAR

From Sarah Doremus Circle

Just as a reminder, if you are in the mood for cleaning or clearing out things around the house, the spring TRINKETS TO TREASURES rummage sale will be happening again this early April. This is a church-wide sale, meaning we welcome items from all who care to donate. We believe this has been a quality service to the De Soto community and look forward to providing good usable items again this year. Please remember us when you run across items for which you no longer have a use. We will reserve the month of March for the collection time and preparation and will have the sale the mornings of Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5. Thanks so much. Sharron Moore and Jan Stichling

STEWARDSHIP CORNER Is There Such a Thing as a Good Snowball Effect?

I dislike cold weather. I see winter as bleak and cold, so it may not come as any surprise to you that I feel the same about snow, sleet, snowballs, and the like. However, snowballs are an interesting stewardship topic.

I have some mild arthritis that, in my mind, I’m too young to have. It is effectively controlled with medication, and that keeps all my joints moving…most of the time. There are times though when that just isn’t the case. I can’t move like I’d like or I’m extremely slow at it. That’s pretty depressing (especially since I feel that I’m too young to have arthritis in the first place). Then I don’t feel like do-ing anything, even the things that I am still physically able to do. You know what happens then, right? If you’re not moving arthritic joints, they tend to work even less. Then I get down in the dumps because I can’t do the things I’d like. Because I’m not moving as much, my joints hurt more...Then I get down in the dumps...It’s a vicious cycle! I’m sure you get the picture.

The same thing happens with our financial health. A person might pay most of their bills but let one float because there’s simply not enough money to pay them all. So they skip one bill one month and two bills the next month because they’ve devoted a larger sum to the bill that they skipped the previ-ous month. (That, and the company adds on a not-so-pleasant fee.) There’s never enough money left at the end of the month to pay them all. Down the road, only essentials are paid, which means the water, mortgage, electric, and luxury cigar shop are happy. (Just kidding; I wanted to make sure you were paying attention. This person even skipped paying their cigar shop tab.) Things just fall apart from there; that unexpected doctor’s bill, a brother needing to borrow a little money, etc. It’s a vicious cycle.

Vicious cycles appear everywhere. Things just snowball, and usually we consider that a bad thing...you know, things rolling downhill and getting bigger and bigger. (Imagine small cartoonish arms and legs sticking out if that helps.) What if there was a positive snowball though? Enter Dave Ramsey and his debt snowball concept. It works like this:

Build up an emergency fund while paying the minimum amount on all bills. Make a list of all debts in order from the smallest amount to the largest amount. Work to pay off the smallest debt first, paying as much as possible each month. After that one is paid off, pay as much as possible on the next larger debt along with the amount

you’d previously been paying to the smallest debt. Keep working down your list diligently because each time you pay off one debt, you’re that much

closer to paying off another.

Eventually, you might be able to pay off that cigar shop tab, but it might take several years. For more information about the debt snowball, visit Dave Ramsey’s site at www.daveramsey.com. Use the search feature to find “debt snowball”, and that should get you to the information and even some worksheets for working down your debt.

Psalm 37:21 says “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously”.

Melissa McAlpine

Stewardship Chair

5

6

February 2014

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

DFM Healthy Cooking Class 12:30 to 2 pm

Registrations needed

Frances Deaton (b

Katie Peters (b

2

Holy Communion Marilyn Graves (b

3

John Nuckols (b) Tony Scauzzo (b)

4 5

Chancel Choir 7 pm

6

Hardees Bible Study 7:30 am

Joe & Charla

Wilson (a)

7

Amy Hickman (b)

8

9

Sarah Doremus

Bake Sale after worship

Jake Hertenstein

(b)

10 11

Andrea Brown (b) Paul & Marilyn

Graves (a)

12

Chancel Choir 7 pm

Rich Costello (b) Mary Beth Reed

(b)

13 14

Andrew Huffman (b)

15

Bobby Fisher (b) Randall Fears (b)

16

Fellowship Dinner

after worship

Robt & Cathy Davis (a)

17

Newsletter item

due

Lauren Ray (b) Grace Ray (b)

Mike & Kim Kingsland (a)

18

P.E.O. IX meeting

7 pm

Kevin Smith (b)

19

Newsletter mailing

Chancel Choir 7

pm

Betty Greenlee (b)

20

Janel Malan Tucker (b)

21

Mike & Terry Neckermann (a)

22

Iris Gansert (b)

23 24

Logan Neckermann (b)

25

Paul Bradford (b) Kelley Guertzgen

(b)

26

Chancel Choir 7 pm

27

Hardees Bible Study 7:30 am

Deb Richardson

(b)

28

St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church 1004 Rock Road

De Soto, MO 63020 www.standrewsumcdesoto.org

Thanks to all who participated in our Mission Cook-off at Hematite Christian Church on January 12.

We had a lot of great food, and it was great to be able to taste each entry. The greatest part of the contest was getting to meet fellow Christians and have fellowship together. We collected $570 at the event.

St. Andrew’s cooks won in each category.

The winners were: Soup—Terry Neckermann, Cauliflower Cheese Soup Main dish—Judy Propst with Sweet Potato Casserole Dessert—Jim Foster with Lemon Trifle.

Our share of the monies $324.00 will go to our Imagine No Malaria challenge.

We are participating in the MO Annual Conference Faith in Action campaign. We are collecting for this project until June 1.