St. John's Lutheran Church

WORSHIP OUTSIDE THIS SUNDAY LED BY ASHLEY TETER On Sunday, August 11 we will worship outside, weather permitting, and will be led in worship by Ashley Teter, a member of St. John's, Ringtown. Ashley is registered with the Candidacy Committee of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, which means she is in progress to become a pastor in the Lutheran Church. We are very happy to provide her with the opportunity to lead worship this Sunday as she grows into the future role she will... assume. We support her fully in this journey of faith and growth in the Spirit. Brandonville will worship at 9am at the Sekula Family grove about two blocks from the Brandonville Church. Ringtown will worship in the yard by the Ringtown Church, under the maple tree. Bring a chair and join our congregations for worship under Ashley's leadership.

CHRISTMAS IS JULY Invitation for all. ‘Twas five months before Christmas And all through the land... People relaxed at campgrounds Or swam near the sand. Mama had retired at Quarter to ten As I lay there watching a Good movie when The dogs started barking And ran to the door, So I stood up quickly To traverse the floor. I pulled on the handle, The dogs took to flight, Then I joined them promptly Out into the night. The dogs, barking, sped to The back of the lot, While I stumbled forward To their present spot I followed their gaze and Looked up to the sky And couldn’t believe what I saw with my eye. The full moon above gave A lustrous glow With rays flowing out Both above and below And across the moon I was Surprised to see What looked like a sleigh flying Quickly toward me. It was pulled by nine creatures And, as it came near, I recognized that they were Majestic reindeer. I looked at the driver, A jolly, old chap, Who called to the reindeer With whistle and clap, And suddenly lurching Earthward with a bolt The sleigh hit the ground With a bang and a jolt. Then out jumped a bearded Plump jolly old elf Whose appearance caused me To laugh to myself. His wardrobe was not what I thought I would see, No red suit or hat, nor black Boots to the knee. But rather a Hawaiian shirt Graced his frame With shorts and some sandals, Now forward he came And as he approached with A wink and a nod, I watched him in silence Transfixed, feeling awed. And laughing, he started to Reveal to me His plan that we share with The community, To celebrate Christmas Invite everyone, For food and some games And for just having fun. I looked at him, then, with A questioning eye Which he answered quickly With fullest reply. The best way to celebrated Christmas, dear friend, Is to share its love daily, To not let it end. So gather together this Summer to share The joy of God’s presence, God’s hope and God’s care. For Christmas is not just One day kept apart, But truly realized when its Held in your heart. So I will be back on the Twenty-fourth day To join with the town in A Yuletide display. And then with a wink he Turned quickly around And leaped in his sleigh With a swift, nimble bound. While pulling the reigns with A whistle and shout He summoned his reindeer To now turn about. Then suddenly defying Gravity’s law The sleigh took to flight And prepared to withdraw. While rising above me Higher in the sky Santa bade his charges To gracefully fly. On Dasher, on Dancer On Prancer and Vixen, On Comet on Cupid, On Donner and Blitzen, Then calling the reindeer In front of the team, On Rudolf, your nose will Lead us with its beam. Now quickly, like lightening, The sleigh took to flight And disappeared into the Dark of midnight, While I heard a voice from The moonlit night sky, I shall return soon for Christmas in July. See more

Worship Service Ringtown https://youtu.be/QTIA4t7VJts

Worship Service Brandonville https://youtu.be/n2v3Jg0gyog

Congratulations Aurora Ann Abdiroglu, daughter of Colin & Meggan, on your Baptism!

Advent Prayer To bring peace in our hearts and bring us your light Which lifts darkest shadows and takes away night, Come, Lord Jesus. To grant health and wholeness to all who are ill... And shape every day with your wonderful will, Come, Lord Jesus. To fulfill all our hopes and to take away fears And bind up the broken and wipe away tears, Come, Lord Jesus. To make us aware of your presence each day While at work or at school, at home or at play, Come, Lord Jesus. To watch over those who practice healing arts With patience and strength and such warm, loving hearts, Come, Lord Jesus. To hold in your hand those in need of our prayers, That your love dissolve all their fears and their cares, Come, Lord Jesus. To grant wisdom’s foresight to everyone who Is leading us forward, empowered by you, Come, Lord Jesus. To fix what is broken by your mighty hand And bring greater justice throughout our dear land, Come, Lord Jesus. To give us a rest which is calm, full and free, Unburdened from worries so your peace we see, Come, Lord Jesus. To grant us, this Advent, our greatest needs filled, Our deepest needs answered, our anxious hearts stilled, Come, Lord Jesus. To let our hope shine, one more candle we light, And pray for your coming, frail child, with God’s might, Come, Lord Jesus. To enable us to prepare your straight way To ready our hearts for you this Christmas Day, Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. Come. Amen. Pastor Jay Serafin

Advent 3 worship service. https://youtu.be/zVw8KPij4Qc

We are now happy to accept online donations through PayPal. You may use the link below to donate to St. John's with PayPal and a credit card. Thank you for your support. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

The next Advent Sunday School session is online. Thank you to Ashley for putting this together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsrU63Mwegg

ZOOM PRAYER CHAT November 13, 2020 Our next Zoom Prayer Chat will be held on Thursday evening at 7:30pm. You can join us by clicking the link sent in our previous Zoom Prayer Chat post. During our chat we will share in conversation, catch up with each other and join in worship, using the brief prayer service below. Please feel free to join us. If you can't join us, we encourage you to use the following readings and prayers for your personal or family devotions.... RESPONSIVE READING: Psalm 123 P: To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! C: As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, P: As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, C: So our eyes look to the LORD our God, until he has mercy upon us. P: Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. C: Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud. SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3When they say, There is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. PRAYER P: The Lord be with you. C: And, also with you. P: Let us pray. All: Lord God, we walk with you as the children of the light. In those moments when we stray from the path guide us back to you. In those moments when we have opportunity to shed your light upon the darkness of this world strengthen us in our resolve to witness to you. In those moments when we find ourselves confused or afraid, comfort and enlighten us through the presence of your Spirit so that we may be assured of your loving presence, through the one who wonderfully made that presence known, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. LORD’S PRAYER

Ashley Teter and the St. John's Sunday School have put together Luminary kits for families to assemble and use to light the way for Christ to your home. There are a limited number of kits available (10) so they will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. The kits include everything you will need to create 4 luminaries for you to place outside your house on Christmas Eve, including bags which you can decorate and 4 candles. If you would like to receive a luminary, please contact Ashley by call or text at 570-985-8085. Thank you, Ashley and St. John's Sunday School for making these available.

Zoom Prayer Chat Please feel free to join us for our next Zoom Prayer Chat on Thursday evening at 7:30. Each Prayer Chat lasts about 30 minutes and includes sharing in conversation and worship. The link for this week's Prayer Chat is below. You can join us by clicking on the link or calling the phone number listed below. Hope to see you Thursday. Joseph Serafin is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.... Topic: Prayer Chat Time: Nov 12, 2020 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87682151855 Meeting ID: 876 8215 1855 Passcode: 329332 Dial by your location +1 929 205 6099 US Meeting ID: 876 8215 1855 Passcode: 329332

God’s Generosity/Our Generosity As we move through the season of Advent, we come closer to the celebration of God’s greatest gift to us as we go to the stable to witness the baby in the manger. God’s love comes to us at Christmas in its most profound form, and we rejoice in the God who loves us so much that this God comes to us in weakness to give us his strength. How generous this God is! Our response to God’s love and generosity matters. As followers of this Jesus, who firs...t came to us in a manger, we are bound to the promises God has spoken over our lives and are given a wonderful mission to pursue each day. Part of that mission is to be generous, just as God was and is generous with us. As we near the day we celebrate the amazing way God’s love comes to us, we ask you to consider how you may continue to support us in our ongoing mission to make this God’s love known. Realizing that it is more difficult during a time of pandemic and virtual worship to share of your resources with our congregations, we want you to be aware that we do provide several opportunities to make contributions to our ministry. You may mail a check to our church office, P.O. Box 261 Ringown, PA 17967, or make a contribution using our PayPal page. The link to our PayPal page can be found on our Facebook page, pinned to the top, or on the St. John’s website at www.ringtownlutheran.org or by going to PayPal and entering our church email address, [email protected], to the search box. Christmas also is a time for remembering and honoring loved ones through Memorial gifts and gifts in honor of others. These gifts will be recognized in our Christmas Eve bulletin which will be emailed to everyone on our email list and mailed to our members who do not have email prior to Christmas Eve, although we will need to have this information available by December 15 in order to create this bulletin. Information received after this date will be published in upcoming Sunday bulletin emails. For all that you have done to support our ongoing ministry of sharing Christ’s love over the course of this tumultuous year, we are deeply grateful. May God’s love, and the presence of the Christ child bring you joy and peace this blessed season.

Great job Ashley Teter we are proud of you!

This Week's Worship Service Once again this week our worship service will be by virtual gathering and can be found on our YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/ch/UC_fcGp7taToIojPKiwHfM0Q/videos. We hope to have the service available for your viewing by Saturday evening. Below is the Order of Worship we will be using for our virtual gathering. Please feel free to share this with others. For those of you on our email list, you will be receiving this liturgy and YouTube link a...Continue reading

Life Abundant life God’s abundant life By God’s abundant life Graced by God’s abundant life... Fully graced by God’s abundant life Live fully graced by God’s abundant life We live fully graced by God’s abundant life Daily we live fully graced by God’s abundant life We live fully graced by God’s abundant life Live fully graced by God’s abundant life Fully graced by God’s abundant life Graced by God’s abundant life By God’s abundant life God’s abundant life Abundant life Life. Promise God’s promise By God’s promise Blessed by God’s promise Be blessed by God’s promise To be blessed by God’s promise Always to be blessed by God’s promise Are always to be blessed by God’s promise We are always to be blessed by God’s promise Are always to be blessed by God’s promise Always to be blessed by God’s promise To be blessed by God’s promise Be blessed by God’s promise Blessed by God’s promise By God’s promise God’s promise Promise. Today Celebrate today To celebrate today Time to celebrate today Take time to celebrate today Faithfully take time to celebrate today We faithfully take time to celebrate today Together we faithfully take time to celebrate today Bound together we faithfully take time to celebrate today Together we faithfully take time to celebrate today We faithfully take time to celebrate today Faithfully take time to celebrate today Take time to celebrate today Time to celebrate today To celebrate today Celebrate today Today. Pastor Jay Serafin

A Monday Prayer Amidst the storms which come our way And bring us low by night, We pray for strength and courage to... Step forward in your light. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. As creatures of your gracious hand Give us the wisdom to See joy in each and every day Which comes as gift from you. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Help us to choose the wiser way In things we can control, And know that in your loving care You make what’s broken whole. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. We know your love shines brighter when We share it with a friend, So please empower us to care For others without end. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. In places where your presence seems Unable to be found Inspire us to share your grace To help your love redound. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. For all the lonely, lost, afraid, Who cry to you this day, We ask that you may hold them tight And love their fears away. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. In all our brokenness and pain, Our discord and our strife, We place our trust in your desire To grant abundant life. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Uplift us, Lord, and calm our hearts And guide us through each day That we may walk safely with you Along life’s bumpy way. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Pastor Jay Serafin

Ringtown Live recording November 8, 2020 https://youtu.be/SagSDiNGA6Y