We encourage you to read the Bible stories for this upcoming Sunday
Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15
in preparation for worship.
Of David.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
do not let me be put to shame;
do not let my enemies exult over me.
Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!
Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Mark 1:9-15In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Pastor Mark
This next week we continue our Lenten journey exploring The Power and the Promise of our Laments, as we look at some of the Individual Laments in the Psalms. These are the faithful cries of God's people, obviously very important for our faith since over one-third of the 150 psalms are, in fact, hymns and prayers of lamentation. So join us by going to our website, www.sotp.org and looking under New Content, or wait for the blast email, or check us out on our Facebook page. Looking forward to you being with us!
Pastor Bill
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Although all non-perishable items are appreciated, these are the items currently greatly needed for the Grafton Food Pantry:
- Paper Goods (toilet paper & paper towels)
- Feminine Care Items
- Hand Sanitizer
- Maccaroni & Cheese boxes
- Warm Drinks (hot chocolate, coffee & tea)
- Hot Cereal Packets (Oatmeal, etc)
- Cash
Thank you for helping our neighbors in need.
Click
here
for more information on the
"Open Your Hearts, Fill The Carts" drive-through Food Drive
Let There Be Flowers
Joyfully, we will begin to meet in person for our worship services as well as doing our online services. We continue to ask you to please consider signing up to donate flowers to brighten up the sanctuary. As normal, each arrangement is $50.
We will not be taking orders for the Sundays in Lent.
Orders are welcome for any time after Easter.
The bouquets are delivered from the florist for the weekend worship services. If you do not attend the church services in person and are unable to pick up your arrangement, I would be happy to deliver the flowers to your home after the Sunday services or on the Monday following.
If you are interested in donating flowers, please contact Diane Mollis at dem910@outlook.com . Provide your name, address, phone number, for whom the flowers are dedicated to or in memory of, and which Sunday you are interested in displaying the bouquet. If you have any questions, you may call Diane at 224-654-6677.
Thank you for saying yes to flowers for the sanctuary!
We will be ordering six-inch Lilies at a cost of $15.00 each for our Easter services this year. Ordering forms will be available in church beginning on Ash Wednesday. All orders and payments will be due by Sunday, March 14th. If you would rather order and pay through your online donation, that will be available also. Please remember to fill in all the requested information including for whom the Lilies are dedicated to or in memory of.
Thank you for ordering Easter Lilies to grace our sanctuary Easter Morning.
You will be able to take your Easter Lily home after the 11:00 a.m. Easter service on April 4. Lilies will be removed on the Tuesday after Easter.
HELPING THE HOMELESS THROUGH AGRICULTURE
WE ARE COLLECTING Clean, pint sized STRAWBERRY type FRUIT CONTAINERS.
AARK Gardens, Hebron IL grows organic strawberries and uses the containers to sell the berries.
During February and March there will be a box on the blue tables in the church hallway. The Church building is open midweek from 9AM – 2PM and, of course, on Sunday mornings.
SOTP supports Habitat for Humanity in two different ways, both of which need volunteers. One, is to participate in the construction process. The second is to help at the Elgin Restore.
The Restore has implemented safeguards such as wearing masks, distancing, and limiting the number of customers/workers. If you would feel safe enough under those conditions, join us as we go once a month on the third Thursday, from 9:30 AM until noon.
The outside construction during the winter months had been put on hold (in the Fox Valley area) for January and February. If you are interested, or would be, once the weather clears, contact me at carlhupert@gmail.com . Or 224-569-6041.
Carl Hupert
Students in grades 9 through 12 are invited to join us on Thursdays from 7:00PM to 9:00PM in the Youth Room! During our time together, students can expect opportunity to participate in community building, a lesson from Youth Intern Kurtis, as well some form of activity. All High School students are welcome to join us!
In February of 2021, our HSYG will be jumping into our next lesson series, "The Arc: The Story of Genesis to Today". This lesson series will involve a fun image that students will draw each week as they explore the question of "How does the entire Bible tell one story and how does that story connect to me?" The image will serve as a tool for teaching and for fun. Each week, students can also expect to be doing some type of game or activity as well.
If you have any questions, please reach out to kurtis@sotpmail.com .
Friends Bible Study
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” —Mark 10:45
Members of Friends Bible Study have completed the study of Genesis and will now move to the New Testament and learn from the Gospel of Mark. This will allow us to follow along with the Gospel readings for the year 2021.
Come with us and Be Diligent; see how the characteristics of a servant drew people to Jesus. Jesus had a willingness to help others first, meet others’ practical needs, and gave sacrificially to others. Our study guide is "Be Diligent" by Warren Wiersbe.
Friends Bible Study will resume on Monday, January 11, 2021. We meet from 12:30-2:00 in the Willow Room at Shepherd of the Prairie. This room is large enough for everyone to be a safe distance apart and we always wear masks.
For information contact:
Linda Dungey
lindajsd88@gmail.com
Any member can submit a prayer request to our prayer chain group. There are two methods to do this:
- Send an email directly to sotp-prayer-chain@gaggle.email as shown above
- Use our Prayer Request Form link available on our website under"New Content"
Members of Shepherd Of The Prairie, we have identified a new exciting volunteer opportunity! Our Community Outreach ministry is in need of a Public Relations Coordinator. This person would help ministries and staff gather information about ongoing activities that could be used for press releases and advertisements in news papers and Digital advertising on the Internet. The PR Coordinator would be a member of our Community Outreach team and responsible for sending this information to our church’s newly obtained publicist. If this sounds like an interesting way for you to serve your church and the kingdom of God, please contact Our Community Outreach Chairman, Mike Yndestad by email, mike@sotpmail.com
With the intent to provide our church members with additional information and encourage open dialog, our monthly council report will be posted on our website each month. This document will show minutes of the past council meeting, full financials, attendance charts and various ministry meeting minutes. Check out the January, 2021 Council Report . We've also designed a simple feedback form to share your questions, concerns or comments. Let us know what you’re thinking.