Scripture: John 6:56-69

"Can You Handle the Truth?"

Rev. Allen Mothershed

Masks are now requested for everyone while indoors at St. Matthew, regardless of your vaccine status.

The exterior of our church needs a little TLC before the start of the church year so we are planning to schedule a work day on Saturday, August 21st from 9am-12pm. Most of the work will involve weeding, trimming bushes, cleaning gutters, and clearing any debris. If you can help on that day, please bring work gloves or rakes if possible. No experience necessary. August 28th will be our rain date.

Betty Greer will be at church on Saturday, August 21st from 1-2:30pm collecting donations for People’s Resource Center and the Interfaith Food Pantry. Personal hygiene products, canned foods, and condiments are needed right now. See the sidebar on the left for a complete list. 

The Blessing of the Backpacks for all students and educators will take place during church on Sunday, August 29th. We hope to see you there!

Versiti Blood Center will be onsite at St. Matthew on Tuesday, August 31st from 2-7pm. 

To sign up, click here, scan the QR code or text Camille from Versiti at 847.305.9998.

Appointments encouraged; walk-ins welcome! Photo ID and masks are required. All COVID-19 safety precautions are being followed to ensure everyone's wellbeing.

DONORS WHO ARE VACCINATED MUST WAIT TWO FULL DAYS TO DONATE. IT IS NOT REQUIRED FOR DONORS TO BE VACCINATED TO DONATE.

Join us on Sunday, September 12th, for “Come Together” Sunday (formerly Rally Day). This will mark the official Fall kick-off to our exciting year at St. Matthew UCC. We will gather in Dobstaff Hall following church to enjoy coffee and an ice cream sundae bar. Ice cream at St. Matthew is always a kid favorite -- and a favorite for the kid-at-heart, too!

The nursery will not reopen as scheduled on September 12th. We are committed to keeping our kids healthy during COVID so we do not feel it is wise to reopen at this time. Please feel free to bring your child to the nursery and stay with them or you are welcome to gather toys from the nursery and sit in the narthex so you can enjoy the service. We will reopen the nursery as soon as we feel it is safe.

The Mission Committee is organizing a Feed My Starving Children event on Columbus Day, October 11th from 11:30am-1pm. Children should be off school this day so this is a great volunteer opportunity for families. This event is in addition to our annual Feed My Starving Children event on Martin Luther King Day as well. Please contact Erin Walsh (edbreit@hotmail.com or 630.660.4651) or Alex Johnson (alexanderjohnson30@yahoo.com) if you are interested in attending or have any questions. We have 30 spots available.

Beginning with Come Together Sunday on September 12th, St. Matthew is hoping to bring back some of our long-time activities.

• With indoor church services back, it would be nice to once again have a volunteer greeter/greeters at the base of the stairs at the church entrance.
• When the after-church coffee time returns, we will need a volunteer to set up the coffee, etc. and another couple of volunteers to tend to the clean-up afterward.

In the past, volunteers have signed up for one Sunday a month for a period of 6 months. Will this work for us again? It all depends on how many of YOU are willing to help!

Please notify the church office (office@stmatthewucc.org) if you/your family is interested in being a greeter or kitchen helper or call/text Wendy Fanning at 630.453.7057 with any questions or to volunteer.

Looking forward to the church year ahead!

Even though our trip is canceled, we would still like to send gift cards as a donation, so we would appreciate Walmart gift cards in any amount. Gift cards can be dropped off at the church office and we will send them to Back Bay Mission. You can also mail them to the church, leave them in the black mailbox hanging outside of the office doors, or place them in the offering plate during church. We hope to send a group down to Biloxi next year!

Per CDC recommendation, masks are now requested for everyone while indoors at St. Matthew, regardless of your vaccine status.

Please do not attend if you are sick or have recently been sick. As always, everyone's health and safety is important to us and we will adjust plans as necessary.

Please send prayer requests via the following link and we can share them (or keep them private, if you prefer). You can also email them to the office.

You can make a prayer request here: https://stmatthewucc.org/contact-us/

Requests received this week:

Prayers of joy for Steven, Al and Kathy Skwara's nephew, who is recovering from heart surgery. 

The St. Matthew worship service will be streamed every Sunday at 9:30am. The service will be available on our website after the service.

Access the service through the St. Matthew YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/StMatthewUCC

**Once you are on YouTube, you have the option to turn on closed captioning and resize the font. Once the video is playing, click on the setting wheel in lower-right of your screen, choose Subtitles/CC, then choose English.**

You can also go to the St. Matthew homepage (stmatthewucc.org) to access the online service. 

Go to our website for instructions on how to donate to St. Matthew. Thank you!