Dear Friends,

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!  Thank you to everyone who joined us for in person worship on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  I know the roads and the temperatures weren’t the best this year. Thank you for those of you who worshipped with us on livestream on Christmas Eve!

The Office is open tomorrow morning until noon for those of you who want to drop off offerings or pick up items from the church. I am available on cell for those of you who need to visit tomorrow or for any emergency.

This coming Sunday, New Year’s Day, worship is at 10:00 am and is in person. This service is not being livestreamed, as I am having my staff take the weekend off to be with their family and friends. I hope you can join us. Special thanks to Neil Overby for providing music on Christmas Day and also this coming Sunday!

Next week, we will return to regular staffing and office hours. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 8:30am-noon. We are staffed until 4:30 pm each of those days. If you want or need to come in the afternoon, please call the Church Office and let Julie know that you will be stopping in. If you desire an appointment with me during the afternoon, please call my cell and we will set something up. Circles and small group meetings during the day are welcome; please calendar your meetings with the Church Office. The Church Office is open to your needs; please let us know your scheduling needs!

Confirmation classes resume on Wednesday, January 11, as does the Wednesday morning Bible Study.  We celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord on Sunday, January 8^th at 10:00 am.

For those of you who have been contacted, please be working on your Annual Reports, these are due on Thursday, January 5.  If your report will not be available on that date, please reach out to the Church Office, and get them in as soon after the 5^th that you can. We understand that the Finance and Budget information will not be prepared by the 5^th, as the team is still working on the numbers and budget for the Annual Meeting.

If you are willing to serve on Church Council, Endowment, Synod Representatives, or any of the elected teams, please contact our Vice President, Bill Schmidt, or myself, and we will take your name and visit about your interests. Remember, to be elected to a position, you must be a member of Peace Lutheran.

The Annual Meeting is on Sunday, February 5^th, following the 10:00 am worship service. This will be a fun and interesting meeting this year, so please mark your calendars and plan to attend worship and the meeting.

Because of the special services, we have not had occasion to review our prayer list in the Sunday prayers. Please keep the Ann Schoenoff family in your prayers at her death. Please keep Kyle Young and family in your prayers at the death of his brother, Eric. Please keep Pam Whitney and family in your prayers at the death of her husband, Walter.  There are also members who have been in and out of the hospital with illness who have been added to the prayers for Sunday, January 8^th. Continue to pray for all of our members and friends who may be going through difficult struggles this season.

We will be publishing a newsletter in January and the goal is to have it in your homes by the end of the month. The newsletter will highlight upcoming Lenten worship services, events and activities for the next quarter. If you have an article for the newsletter, please submit is by Thursday, January 12^th.

I hope you have a wonderful week, and a great New Year!  Take Care… be safe….

Pastor Valerie