Spirit of Hope Weekly Newsletter

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Phone: 480-396-8300

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.spiritofhopelutheran.com

Office Hours are Monday to Thursday 9:00 to 1:00 pm

All in person services are cancelled until further notice.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

CHRISTMAS EVE

We will worship together as an online community on Facebook. The prerecorded service will be uploaded to the YouTube channel for you to enjoy anytime on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

2020 Contribution Deadline

Checks and cash must be mailed and received at the Spirit of Hope Office on or before Sunday, December 27^th in order to be credited to your 2020 giving statement and claimed as a charitable contribution deduction for 2020. 

Due to the challenges of COVID and mail pick-up, we are asking for an earlier cut-off this year than the normal December 31 deadline, so that we have time to process all of the end of year donations. Online gifts are subject to business hours processing and must be processed prior to December 31. Envelopes may be dropped in our mailbox outside of church for quick delivery. Thank you for your support.

12/23/2020 Church update

As some of you have heard, we recently had some church members diagnosed with COVID19. Pastor Tony was the most severely affected by the virus. Pastor is currently in the hospital and is feeling much better. He will be in the hospital for a few days yet making sure he is in good health before returning to church. Please keep Pastor and Carol in your prayers as they go through this trying time.

While we had planned 2 Christmas Eve services, obviously we need to change our plan. We will be doing a pre-recorded service for Christmas Eve at 4:30 PM. Each participant is filming their own part of the service, and Jake will be creating the video for release. Please plan on watching the video at 4:30 PM on Christmas Eve.

To make sure the church is safe to reopen for services, we have closed the office and done a deep cleaning of the work areas of the church. After the new year we will look at when we will start having services again.

Please pray for all the members of SOH, and the people of the world affected by COVID. The disease is very unpredictable, and the symptoms vary dramatically from person to person.

Jake -

Thanks for all you do to keep the services going and coordinating everything. I think you have the most labor-intensive role of anyone in preparing the services - especially now. You do a beautiful job on the slides & putting everything together - plus your beautiful music! So blessed you are at SOH! Am sure it’s a comfort to PT. Just want to acknowledge all of that to you and thank you again! Hi to Lizzie! (Note from Pianist Donna Miller)

It is the behind the scenes people like Jake and Donna that get lost in the 'thank you' list. Thanks to all of you musicians for making our services better. We, the Church Council and congregation, truly appreciate all of you and we wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

Welcome to our friends and family at the Summit

Our Spirit of Hope weekly newsletter will be distributed at the Summit each week and help share the love of Christ with all who read our articles. We have added a few messages from our small groups such as the Seniors Rock group and the Women’s Afternoon Bible Study. Special thanks to Wendy and Dar for your input each week! We invite those of you to attend any event you might be interested in here at Spirit of Hope! We look forward to meeting more of you!

A Word from the Women's Bible Study

By Dar Stucke

The candle of PEACE and the Perfect Gift of Jesus

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and earth PEACE, to those on whom his favor rests.” LUKE 2:13-14

Every good and PERFECT GIFT is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

“It’s just what I wanted!” “It’s perfect!” Those are the words we like to hear on Christmas morning. But how often do we hear, “It’s um...what is it?” Or “You, uh, really shouldn’t have” or that disheartening “Oh.” Sometimes even our best efforts at gift giving come up short because our gifts are imperfect.

But JESUS is the perfect gift. And Christ has come! He is here! It is time to rejoice. As we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating Jesus—not just His birth as the Christ child but also His life, death, resurrection and eventual coming again. Jesus is the ultimate gift of life. He is HOPE, LOVE, JOY and PEACE. He is the gift that leads to all others. He is Immanuel which means God with us. He is God made flesh. He is God’s best and most PERFECT gift. He is the healing and forgiveness of humanity. And He is given to you and to me, and to every person on earth.

Do you want to unwrap this gift today? It has your name on it. What joy it is to experience life with Jesus. Just ponder, this miracle of God’s life given to you eternally. Today we need to pause and reflect on and truly appreciate this gift of Jesus.

Joy to the world the Lord has come!

Dear God, How we thank and praise You for the gift of Jesus. This gift is perfect. This gift is a miracle. This gift gives me the assurance of eternity spent with You. This gift gives me the perfect peace only You can give. In Jesus name, Amen

Prayers –

Please pray for Pastor Tony and Carol Scheer as they struggle with Covid-19

We pray for those church members who are struggling with many health issues this week.

Please pray for healing for Frank Salazar who is struggling with Covid-19 and Don & Sandy Bethkye who are struggling with health issues.

Prayers for Herb Rauworth and family on the loss of his wife Sharon.

Please keep Larry Wilox, Butch Schleiher, Alice Lundquist, Barb Kearns, Frieda Pyles, Vicky Kuehl, Kevin Hicks, Marilyn Flood, Mary B, Brian and Diane in your prayers

Prayers for Debbie Traynor's son-in-law's aunt Carol Villareakl and also Nick who is struggling with Covid-19.

Prayers for Bonnie Gunderson's brother, Dwight MacMonagle,fighting the corona virus and Hodgkins.

We pray for the spouses and families of those church members who have passed into the church triumphant this past month.

May the God of good health and happiness restore all who are struggling this week with the many situations people in our lives are struggling. Thank you for your presence and give us the joys of everyday life!

AMEN

Grocery cards

Needed!!

It’s that time of year again where we find many people in our community that are without the basics to get through the holiday season. If you are able please pick up a few cash cards and bring them to Pastor Tony to distribute as needed.

Fry's Community Rewards

Did you know you can support nonprofit organizations in your community just by shopping at Fry's? It's easy when you enroll in Fry's Community Rewards. To get started, sign up with your V.I.P. Card and select Spirit of Hope as the local organization you wish to support. Once you're enrolled, you'll earn rewards for your church every time you shop and use your V.I.P. card.

www.fryscommunityrewards.com

SOH Organization number is 80606

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