Matthew 26: 36 Jesus said to His Disciples: Sit Here in the Garden with Me, while I go and pray. 
Dear Friends in Christ: Jesus is also calling to each one of us. He is offering us an invitation to sit with Him and pray. One Sunday morning this past fall, I was listening to one of Pastor Mark’s powerful sermons that ended with a call to action. As I listened, an inner vision began to present itself. It was the idea of a room somewhere in the church, that would be set aside, apart from the sanctuary, that could provide a space for quiet reflection. A place to sit, listen, pray and just “BE” with Jesus.
Soon after that Sunday, I made an appointment to share this idea with Pastor Mark. During our conversation he affirmed, that he too, has envisioned a room used for this purpose for sometime. Pastor Mark suggested that the current Library would be the perfect room that could be used, and that the name could be changed from the Library to The Garden Room based on the scripture from Matthew 26:36.
It is the hope and prayer for the New Year of 2026, that the Garden room will provide a place where all may go to, for solace, peace and quiet reflection. A place where we may seek rest, renewal and rejuvenation. And most importantly, a place to sit and BE with Jesus, to be still and feel the great love and care Jesus has for each one of us.
The Garden Room will open beginning on the first Sunday in Lent, It will be available for your use from 8 -12:30 on Sunday mornings. There will be resources laid out to guide you in prayer and reflection which can be used at your discretion.
There will also be a prayer box available for you to put prayer requests into. These requests will be prayed for each day of that week.
Please come to the Garden Room to pray, sit, and know that there is a friend named Jesus who wants to “walk with you and talk with you, and to tell you that you are His own, and the joy that you share as you tarry there, none other has ever know.” – Lyrics from In the Garden: By C. Austin Miles
Deacon Judy Rooney
2025
& More
The woman’s coffee group meets on Fridays at 10:00 am at the Huntley McDonalds near Walmart in Huntley. 
There is no need to register or let anyone know if you are coming or not and you can come any time.
We have also been going to lunch at 12:00 on the second Tuesday of the month at a variety of local restaurants. On Nov. 11 we went to DC Cobbs. We have also gone to Papa G’s and The Village Inn and continue to try new places.
This is a picture of the group when we participated in the Trunk or Treat activity for Halloween. We all dressed up
and decorated our car—we saw lots of kids and had a couple of games for the children. It was a lot of fun.
Please join us! See you soon!
Contact: Phyllis Thomson at phyllisthomson@aol.com
You Are Welcome to Join Us
Here we go again – we’re starting all over again. Slow but sure, we have six quilts done. 
After we had the quilts dedicated, packed up and driven to the warehouse, we took about seven quilts to Turning Point. They were thrilled to receive them and took our picture with one as seen here.
You can have fun and join us the first and third Tuesday of each month at 9:00.
Contact: Bev Kenny at krkbjk@comcast.net
Shawls are Free, Donations Appreciated
We hope you were able to attend the recent services where the Prayer Shawls were placed on the back of the pews. Thank you for giving them your blessing, and for keeping them from slipping & sliding! 
The shawls are knitted or crocheted in the shape of a triangle or rectangle in many different colors and textures. We make them for you to give to those who need some comfort and joy. Please help yourself to a shawl on either “shawl rack” or in the upper cabinet A at the end of the ministry hall. We don’t ask for anything in return, they are free for you to take and share.
We would like to invite you to come “Shawl” with us! If you’re a beginner, an experienced “needle meister”, or willing to learn, please join us!
We meet in the Library the 2nd Thursday each month at 9 a.m.
Contact: Elizabeth Trout etrout411@comcast.net
Baskets Needed
Your Artist Series committee is asking for your help with donations that we can use to fill baskets for our TWELVE BASKETS OF CHRISTMAS SILENT AUCTION which supports the Artist Series here at Shepherd of the Prairie. 
These baskets will be auctioned at our Christmas musical on December 7th. This is the only true fund raiser that the Artist Series does on a yearly basis. New items can be donated by contacting Carolyn Cuttle for additional information. Cut off date is November 25th.
We thank you for your support over the past seven years and look forward as we start our 8th year of entertainment here at SOTP.
Contact Carolyn Cuttle at ednca@comcast.net
February Gazette
What is the difference between a refugee, a migrant, an immigrant and an asylum seeker? 
A “migrant” is a worker who comes over to work temporarily and returns to their home country each time.
An immigrant is technically some who comes to work permanently (i.e. green cards etc.)
Asylum seekers are when people flee their own country and seek sanctuary in another country, they apply for asylum – the right to be recognized as a refugee and receive legal protection and material assistance. (what is commonly now in the US referred to as immigrants.
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.
Refugees apply to a country and are vigorously vetted before arriving and accepted into the country they have applied for.
THAT SAID, COULD YOU HELP the mission team supply a newly arriving refugee family with an EXODUS welcome pack?
We have many items already, but still need Plastic Wrap, Set of 8 glasses, Twin Comforter, Dishwashing soap, Broom & Dust Pan and more. Please go to www.bit.ly/SOTPrefugee24 to register to purchase an item.
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What else is the mission team a part of this month?
The Lenten offerings have been designated for AARK Gardens, Exodus World Service, Food cards for homeless in tent city and CRE-Reentry.
On Monday Feb. 19th , 4 t0 8 PM CULVERS’ FUNDRAISER to support local Habitat for Humanity.
Contact: Sandy Hupert at sandyhupert@gmail.com
Start the New Year with Us
Would you like to begin the new year in a meaningful way? Come join us in a time of meditation and prayer. 
Release & Renew, a self-guided practice of meditation, practice and prayer, will take place in our Fellowship Hall in an open house format between 7am and 8pm
on Tuesday, January 6th. For more information contact: Donna Kelly through the church office 847-669-9448.
Contact: Donna Kelly at donna@sotpmail.com
From Tanzania
The All-Africa Youth Congress gathers in Nairobi, with the theme “Africa: My home, my future.” A delegation of 11 African diaspora 
young adults from the ELCA will attend. To show what it means to bring young people together like this, I talked with a friend, Ola Mohamed (pictured), who attended the 2022 event. To read more on this, go online to: www.bit.ly/SOTPmission102025
Church Cooperation:
ELCA is not alone among Lutheran mission agencies from the global North. Several northern European countries also have them. In this era, mission agencies who are engaged in working with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania pool some of their funds for common interest in serving with the Tanzanian church. Much of those funds go to pastors’ scholarships and vehicles for dioceses. Another function is as a clearinghouse for bilateral funds so that we can know who is funding what. This transparency is like an alarm for inequitable partnerships, where a few churches would get most of the external funding.
In Tanzania, one of the biggest such meetings of the year happened Oct 2-3 in Shinyanga. It is called the Lutheran Mission Cooperation Roundtable, where the European partners, ELCA, ELCT national staff, and bishops from all 28 ELCT dioceses get together. Since 2024 I have held ELCA’s spot on the LMC board, which makes policies for fund usage and oversees the secretariat that handles the daily administrative work.
For the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church, Joint Mission Cooperation Kenya has a similar function, though since KELC is a much smaller church, JMCK is a much smaller operation. Together with Kenyan and German partners, we had our annual meeting in Nairobi the last week of September.
Pray for us! Also pray for the lives and ministries of our dear companions in East Africa and beyond.
(Taken from Msseemmaa’s Mission Update as ELCA East Africa Regional Representatives)
Contact: Steve Legel at sjvet@yahoo.com
We had a great weekend of fellowship and learning at Lutheran Outdoor Ministry Center the weekend of November 22nd!
The theme of the weekend was “The World Around Us” and we discussed the natural area around LOMC and also talked about our global neighbors in faith. Saturday was filled with worship, team building games, an Eco of the Cross hike, a campfire worship with smores…and a little bit of stargazing!
Video Tutorials
Come along on a journey to learn sign language and make it a part of your devotional life. 
Beginning in November the Daily Devotions will include videos imbedded to help those wishing to learn sign language.
Thanks to Annette Kandell and Dennis Houghton for their hard work on the production of these videos. The use of sign language has be shown to increase cognitive learning, supports literacy skills, promotes empathy and inclusion and builds confidence in expression. Come along on the journey of learning and when comfortable feel free to use your new found skills in worship!
In the Sanctuary
Ask your hearing care professional how. Some hearing aids are set up where they might have an app on your cellphone that says “telecoil mode”, and you’ll activate that. 
You might have the ability to adjust the volume up and turn down for the microphone level. But again, talk to your hearing care professional, they should be able to show you all those options, and then play around with it, when you’re in church.
We also have two headsets to use while you are in the sanctuary. These are in our Welcome Center desk if you don’t have a compatible hearing aid.
Contact: your hearing aid professional
Thank You!
Oregon, IL
Northern Illinois Synod Women of the WELCA Retreat 2025 “Walking the Ancient Path” Saturday, April 26, 2025 9:00 AM-3:00 PM 
Program and worship led by PATHWAYS staff from Christ Lutheran Church, Belvedere, Illinois.
Registration fee includes coffee, snacks, lunch and materials.
Registration form available at: www.bit.ly/SYNODretreat0425reg
Half scholarships are available, to request a scholarship, go to: www.bit.ly/SYNODretreat0425scholar
For Thrivent Members
Matt & John Drafall will be at church on Saturday March 9th and Sunday March 10th to assist you with directing any Choice Dollars you may have accrued. 
They need to be directed by March 31st, or the money will be lost.
In the past 10 years, Thrivent Financial has sent SOTP an average between $5,000.00 & $6,000.00 each year.
Contact: Ralph Wehnes ralphwehnes@sbcglobal.net
And Giving Numbers
We have heard from many members that are on electronic giving, that they don’t want or need envelopes. 
We have implemented a new system, where there is an opportunity to opt out of receiving offering envelopes.
Besides electronic giving, if you are on annual or semi-annual giving, you also can opt out of envelopes. Contact Michelle Rankin to get set up.
With this change, many of you will have new envelope numbers for 2024. The 2024 envelopes will be issued sometime in December.
Contact: Michelle Rankin michelle@sotpmail.com
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at SOTP
John and Carol Sturz have been training their 5-year-old golden retriever, Rosie, to be a Therapy Dog. 
The first step in her training was to pass the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizenship test, a 10-skill test that teaches good manners to dogs and responsible dog ownership to their owners. The next part of her certification will be to make visits to schools, hospitals, nursing homes as well as to Shepherd of the Prairie Church and anywhere she is welcome. So far Rosie has been with us at many local restaurants and at SOTP Saturday night services.
Therapy dogs are not service dogs. Service dogs are dogs that are specially trained to perform specific tasks to help a person who has a disability. An example of a service dog is one that guides an owner who is blind, or a dog who assists someone with a physical disability. Therefore Rosie is not given the same duties and privileges that a service dog has.
Since many people are familiar with the Lutheran Church Charities Comfort dogs, we want to clarify that Rosie is not part of that organization. LCC K9’s places dogs with assigned handlers and the dogs live in homes with assigned caregivers. Rosie will continue to live with us and we will be her handlers. Our plan is to take her for visits to nursing homes, hospitals and other places like libraries, since we have both worked as school and college Librarians. John is also a retired Lutheran pastor.
John and Carol Sturz
At Shepherd of the Prairie
Christmas blessings to you and your family! We are looking forward to worshiping with you this weekend.
A reminder there are no morning worship services on Christmas Eve Day.
Please consider joining us for worship on Saturday night, December 23rd at:
- 5:00 pm, we will be using the Gospel reading for the 4th Sunday in Advent (Luke 1:26-38) for this service and light the 4th Advent Candle.
On Christmas Eve we hope you are able to join us for worship at:
- 3:00 pm: Acoustic carols, candles & communion
- 5:00 pm: Contemporary carols, candles & communion
- 11:00 pm: Traditional carols, candles & communion
For more information on the Christmas Eve services please CLICK HERE
- Also, a reminder of the community carol sing in the Huntley Square on Christmas Eve at 8:00 pm. Father DiTomo (St. Mary’s Catholic Church) and myself will be leading the carol sing this year.
We look forward to welcoming you and your family in worship and so thankful to you all for your partnership in ministry through this past year.
Merry Christmas!
Pastor Mark
2024
VBS will be
July 8-12, 2024
Contact: Jill Gillming at Jill@sotpmail.com
For the Grafton Food Pantry
February 24th from 9am-1pm is the Community Outreach’s first Grafton Food Drive of 2024. 
Help us fill the shelves at the Grafton Food Pantry. Whether you choose to donate items or give monetarily, all donations are greatly appreciated.
Contact: Tara Mackey rtmackey10@hahoocom
February 2024
