E p is t l e

of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Nevada, MO

T
H
E


St. Paul Lutheran
15156 E. Pony Hill Rd.
Nevada, MO 64772


417-667-7209 (O)

Stpaulnevadamo
@gmail.com

Worship 11:00 a.m.


Office Hours
Tuesday, Wednesday, &
Thursday 9:00noon
June
2014

Vol. 14, No. 6
St. Paul Presence at
the
Farmers Market

Fair-trade coffee and juice boxes
are available at the St. Paul booth
at the local farmers market. Coffee
is sold by the cup or by the bag of
coffee beans. Thanks to Anna
Seewoester, those who purchase
coffee also get a home-made muf-
fin. Proceeds for the sale go to
support the St. Paul youth who will
be attending the national ELCA
Youth Gathering in 2015.
Thanks to Margaret Bond who has coor-
dinated the effort and to Mitchelle Hall
who is supplying the tent.
Volunteers are still needed to help
man the booth for the remaining Satur-
days. Check with the office or sign-up
on the bulletin board.

Caroline Phillips made sure she got
some of Kathy Abeles delicious ribs at
the Gobblers Roost stand.
Celebrating!!!
Birthdays, Anniversaries, Graduations
& End of 2013-14 Sunday School
After worship, June 1
Appetizer potluck; bring your favorite finger food to share
Sunday School kids bring ice cream for the 6 sundae
& a swimsuit for water games
Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint is the subject of
the St. Paul Womens Book Club. Heavily tattooed and loud-mouthed, Nadia, a for-
mer stand-up comic, didn't consider herself to be religious leader material-until the
day she ended up leading a friend's funeral in a smoky downtown comedy club.
Surrounded by fellow alcoholics, depressives, and cynics, she realized: These were
her people. Maybe she was meant to be their pastor.

Using life stories-from living in a hopeful-but-haggard commune of slackers to sur-
viving the wobbly chairs and war stories of a group for recovering alcoholics, from
her unusual but undeniable spiritual calling to pastoring a notorious con artist-Nadia
uses stunning narrative and poignant honesty to portray a woman who is both
deeply faithful and deeply flawed, giving hope to the rest of us along the way.

Its not too late to join in the discussion of this unusual book. The next meeting is
Thursday, June 12 at the Seewoester house at 7:00. We will be discussing chap-
ters 38. (Annas number is 667-3231 if you need directions).
Congratulations to our Graduates

Ron Johnson graduated
Summa Cum Laude with
a Bachelor of Science
with majors in business
administration and eco-
nomics. He will attend
Law School at the University of Arkansas this
fall working toward a combined JD/MBA degree
Katherine Kerbs graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
with an English major and history minor from
William Jewel graduating Summa Cum Laude.
She will attend Law School at the University of
Missouri.
Thomas Kerbs, graduated from Bronaugh High
School; enrolled at Pittsburg State University
with a major in Manufacturing Engineering
Technology.
Jennifer (Sitz) Doyle, Bachelor of Science in Psy-
chology with a concentration in psychology and
legal issues; working on a masters in psychol-
ogy at PSU.
Rebecca Sitz, Associate of Arts degree from Ozark
Technical Community College.
Thanks are in Order:

Carol Janes and Grace Harrold, congregational life
council representatives, would like to thank every-
one from St. Paul and St. Matthew who worked so
hard to make the joint service a success. Rain did-
nt keep us from having good food and a great time
together.


The world is becoming a better place - thanks to
you. Your recent gift of $301 to the ELCA Malaria
Campaign is helping to make a life-changing, life-
saving difference for neighbors in 13 countries in
Africa. Thank you. In Christ's service, Jessica Nipp
Hacker, Coordinator, ELCA Malaria Campaign



St. Paul received $160 from Thrivent thanks to:
Jack Lathrop, David McCullough, Daniel McLaughlin,
Mary Reinert, and Anna Seewoester.



Thanks to Dyke Kiel, our organists, and all the choir
members for the music provided this past year.
Their final performance will be on June 8 for Pente-
cost. The choir will take a summer break and will
be back in the fall.
Community Outreach Summer 2014

School is out means Sumner Hunger for many Vernon County students. Families struggle to replace
the breakfasts and lunches provided in school cafeterias. The Red Wagon returns to assist Community Out-
reach during one of their busiest times of the year. You can help by bringing breakfast and lunch items or
any nonperishable food and place in the Red Wagon. It will be taken to Community Outreach.
If you planted a garden this year and have surplus produce, place it in the Wagon and we will deliver it on
Monday morning. Thanks for sharing your gifts with others!

Salad Luncheon Coming Soon
June 18, 2014

Cooks and volunteer workers are still needed.
Recipes are available on the table in the foyer; there are still some blanks so your help is needed.

Tickets are available to sell in packets of 5.

Thanks to Kathy Abele and Kathy Poe for co-chairing the 2015 Luncheon

For those making salads, bring your salads to church before 11:00 on the 18th. The church will be
open at 7:00 a.m. Be sure to mark your name off the list posted on the refrigerator .

Understanding
One of my favorite quotes comes from St. Augustine, Do not understand in order that you may believe,
but believe so that you may understand. I like it because it is counter cultural in our world today. Think of the
saying, You have to see it in order to believe, it supposes that you must know in order to believe. Its in-
grained into our culture. In school you must know to move forward, you must understand how to not only get
the answer right, but to prove it by showing your work. We are tested at so many points in our lives that we
start to believe that we have to have knowledge or understanding for something to contain truth or believe in
something.
It is different in our lives of faith. And the quote by Augustine is talking about the mystery of God. The
other day I led a graveside funeral service and I read this scripture from 1 Corinthians Listen, I will tell you a
mystery! We will not all die,

but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. It is truly a mystery, hard to explain, understand, and believe. We know the promise of eternal life
through the cross of Jesus Christ. We have some utopia that can maybe define heaven, but its still a mys-
tery. Sren Kierkegaard, Theologian and philosopher once said Life can only be understood backwards; but
it must be lived forwards. It is in the end that we can begin to understand, that final moment when we are
changed in the twinkling of an eye. That death has lost its sting, death has been swallowed up. We grow in
our understanding of who God is when we think about these final moments, the end, because this is not the
end. And that is the foundation of our belief, and thus our understanding. That is how we know God!
We know God on a cross, God in Jesus who died, and rose again to give us the promise of eternal life.
That is the basis of our understanding of who God is for us and for this world. We gain knowledge through
scripture and we gain understanding through our lives, through where we see God present and active at
home, work, school, and at the lake this summer. So, perhaps we begin to let go of trying to understand eve-
rything about God and believe in the mystery, because we wont know everything, we wont understand com-
pletely until the twinkling of the eye when we see God face to face.
Peace,
Pr. Chris
You are never too old to learn Card Making! Join the growing number of people who want
to improve their card making skills, or learn something completely new. This session will fo-
cus on generic cards, thank you cards and thinking of you cards.

St. Paul Lutheran Church will be hosting a Card Making class on June 24thfrom 6:00pm to
8:00pm or later, at Bloesser Hall, for anyone who would like to attend. Feel free to invite a
guest! Supplies will be available and youre welcome to bring your own supplies as well. We
hope to have classes 2 to 3 times this year so please try to attend if you are interested! Con-
tact Mitchelle Hall if you have any questions.
Chamber Meets at St. Paul

The Nevada/Vernon County Chamber of Com-
merce luncheon meeting was held at St. Paul on
May 9. The Vernon County Cattlemens Associa-
tion provided the delicious meal which was pre-
pared by Kent and Kathy Abele. It was great hav-
ing members of the community visit St. Paul.
Shown above are members of the Cattlemens As-
sociation along with Pastor Chris.
Stewardship Reflection
Earlier this year the stewardship committee sent a
letter to each of us. It reminded us that Steward-
ship isnt about the church; rather it is an act of
thankfulness to God for all that he has given us.
Our time, talents, and finances are gifts from God to
steward in response to Gods generosity.
The letter reminded us of our faith journey; a walk
with God. We are gifted Gods grace forgiven of our
sins and made new in the life, death and resurrec-
tion of our Lord Jesus Christ. This grace is freely
given, there is nothing we have to do. However, we
do live in response to this grace, living in the grace
of God, giving back to God. This can be our time,
talents, and finances. We respond faithfully to God
who is the source of life, healing and forgiveness.
Just as we read the Bible, say prayer, do our devo-
tions, Bible study, worship, and share our faith and
love of God, we also give our time, talents and
money as spiritual practice. It is a way to center our
lives on Christ, fully giving of ourselves as we grow
closer to God. This spiritual practice of giving back
to God is how we steward our lives in this world.
How are you doing? At the first of the year, did you
make a commitment to study the bible, to pray more
often, to share your faith and your love of God?
Use this summer to pray and reflect on your gifts
and how you can give back to God. Each of us has
gifts which used collectively strengthens the minis-
try of the church.
Thank You for your partnership in the mission and
ministry of St. Pauls!
Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a trans-
fusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man.
Dwight L. Moody
St. Paul Lutheran Church
15156 E. Pony Hill Rd.
Nevada, MO 64772
June Birthdays

Angie Landoll June 2
Julie Sitz June 3
Nancy Kerbs June 5
Ann Koeplin June 7
Jenny Berry June 10
Joseph Fulton June 13
Randy DeLaney June 16
Joyce Gundy June 18
Keagan Skaggs June 19
Joe Cherry June 19
Caitlyn Skaggs June 20
Anna Fulton June 23
Amy Diehl June 27
Sid Fulton June 29

June Anniversaries

Eric & Angie Landoll June 1, 1996
Emily & John Borzillo June 3, 2006
Bethany & Geoffrey Stewart June 4, 2005
Amanda & Kyle Wolf June 7, 2003
Cara & Patrick Skaggs June 10, 2006
June Congregational Life Committee:

Gregg & Kathy Poe 667-2423
Jim & Vicki Liley 667-4605
Dave & Patsy McCullough 667-3805
Wayne & Mary Reinert 667-5303

Coming up in
July
Vacation Bible School
Sunday, July 20
At St. Matthew in Butler
Fun, Games, Food, and Swim Party

Make sure all our St. Paul kids are there!
Purchase your fair-trade coffee at the Farmers Market!