ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
If you haven’t already introduced yourself, please extend your warm hospitality to the Howard family: parents Joe and Julie, and their children Savannah, Trinity, and Jameson. The Howards have been active in the life of the church for several months, and last Sunday’s worship included a short liturgy to welcome them into formal membership. In celebration, the fellowship hour included sheet cake decorated for the occasion by Rhonda Stock of “Church Lady Bakehouse.” Rhonda’s bakery is located in the basement of the former Rossville Presbyterian Church. We give thanks to God for adding the Howards to our faith community.
This Lent, Pastor Grant is preaching a sermon series, “Tell Me Something Good: Grounding Ourselves in Good News.” Let us remember that the Good News of the Gospel really is good news. It is joyful — like fine wine saved for celebration. It grows like a mustard seed and smells like perfume poured from an alabaster jar. It tastes like bread passed endlessly through a hungry crowd. It sounds like laughter and feels like mercy. Indeed, the Good News is alive in the world. Read or listen to the messages at FirstPresWaukon.com/sermons.
A new church directory of member names and contact information is available on the high-top table in the Fellowship Hall. This project was several months in the making, and the church staff made a good-faith effort to ensure the accuracy of addresses and phone numbers. Still, with so much data to organize, mistakes can occur, and we apologize if there are errors. If your listing needs correction, please contact the church office at (563) 568-2981 or fpcwaukon@gmail.com. Corrections and updates will be published in the Sunday bulletins.
The freewill offering collected during the Presbyterian Women’s annual soup and sandwich luncheons in February totaled $1,827. Thank you to the women for doing all the preparation and serving and to everyone who enjoyed the meal and donated so generously. The PW will be giving the money to the church to help defray expenses associated with winter weather, including natural gas and snow removal. In 2025 our expense for natural gas, our primary heat source, totaled $2,740. The cost of snow removal, salting, and sanding of the sidewalks and parking lot totaled $4,525.
Please remember in your prayers and with words of encouragement the members of our latest confirmation class: Micah Benda, Cooper Cahoon, Ridge Curtin, Spencer Homewood, Remig Krueger, Lexy McNamara, Jace Regan, and Trinity and Savannah Wilkins. They will confirm their faith during worship on Easter Sunday, April 5. Pastor Grant and Lee Ann Knudson are co-teaching the class, and parents are welcome to attend with their children.
Calling all singers! The Worship and Fellowship Committee is looking to start a small vocal ensemble to offer occasional special music during our Sunday services. If you are interested in participating, please contact Jo Ann Sherman, who serves as our volunteer music coordinator. In that role, Jo Ann arranges all the special music for our worship services — singers and instrumentalists. Her offerings of time and talent are maintaining the vibrancy of our music ministry. We appreciate you, Jo Ann!
An ecumenical Lenten breakfast will be held at 7 a.m. Friday, March 27, in the Fellowship Hall. Cinnamon rolls, fruit, coffee, and juice will be served. Elder Lee Ann Knudson, our coordinator of congregational life, will be the guest speaker. The Presbyterian Women are hosting and organizing this event.
Here’s the schedule for upcoming Wednesday Church Night activities for children, youth, and parents. The evenings begin at 5:30 p.m. with a family-friendly meal in the Fellowship Hall. Faith-formation lessons begin at 6 o’clock and wrap up by 7. Elders Linda Mahr and Lee Ann Knudson lead the Faith Formation and Outreach Team. Reach out to either one if you would like to host a meal or help with a lesson.
March 11: Making Easter cards to share with our church family and friends
March 25: “Palm Sunday and Easter — A lesson in giving”
April 1: Filling plastic eggs for the Easter egg hunt
April 8: “Keeping our faith active — a lesson in how to pray”
April 15: Wrap-up celebration of faith formation
If you are hospitalized and would like a visit from Pastor Grant or one of the deacons, please contact the church office at 563-568-2981 or fpcwaukon@gmail.com. Due to privacy laws, the hospitals do not routinely notify the church when a member is admitted, so we have no way of knowing that someone is hospitalized unless you or a family member contacts the church. However, if you ask your nurse to contact the church, she or he can call us with your permission. In the case of a medical emergency, you may contact Pastor Grant directly at 563-568-2134 or 563-217-9171.
In case you didn’t receive his announcement sent via postal mail, Pastor Grant plans to retire later this year. “For more than 14 years now, my ministry in this blessed place has felt both fruitful and rewarding. You are a devoted congregation with a caring heart and generous spirit, and I expect your faithful witness to the Gospel will continue in the years ahead,” he wrote in the letter. “With the new year bringing my 65th birthday in late summer, I sense God calling Julie and me to a new place in life, and after months of prayerful thought and conversation, I have shared with the elders of Session my plans to retire on August 31, 2026. … Yes, you and I will be writing our final chapters together, but for all of us, there indeed are more chapters of God’s grace to be written in the book of our lives. The Lord is not ‘done’ with any of us!”
The annual meeting of the congregation and corporation is scheduled for Sunday, March 8. It will be held in the Fellowship Hall after a potluck dinner hosted by the Presbyterian Women. Worship that Sunday will include the ordination and installation of new deacons and elders. The church’s annual report will be available in mid-February.
SAVE THE DATES
Sun., Mar. 8 ~ Ordination and installation of new elders and deacons during worship, potluck lunch and annual meeting of the congregation after worship
Fri., Mar. 27 ~ 7 a.m. Ecumenical Lenten breakfast in the Fellowship Hall
Sun, Mar. 29 ~ 9:30 a.m. Palm/Passion Sunday, special “Way of the Cross” liturgy during worship
Thurs., Apr. 2 ~ 6:30 p.m. Ecumenical Maundy Thursday service in the Sanctuary
Fri., Apr. 3 ~ Time TBA. Ecumenical Good Friday service at St. John Lutheran Church
Sat., Apr. 4 ~ Time TBA. Community Easter egg hunt at Waukon City Park
Sun., Apr. 5 ~ 9:30 a.m. Easter Sunday and celebration of confirmation
Sun., May 17 ~ 9:30 a.m. Graduation Sunday
REGULAR EVENTS
Every Sun. ~ 8:30 a.m. Continental breakfast. Fellowship Hall. ~ 9:30 a.m. Worship. Sanctuary. ~ 10:30 a.m. Continental breakfast. Fellowship Hall.
First Sun. ~ Kwik Star gift cards on sale in the lobby before and after worship. ~ Monthly visit by Berkley, our in-house therapy dog.
First Mon. ~ 6 p.m. Property Committee meeting. Fellowship Hall.
First Tues. ~ 2 p.m. Presbyterian Women’s Ruth Circle meeting. Gathering Room. ~ 7 p.m. Presbyterian Women’s Lydia Circle meeting. Gathering Room.
Second Sun. ~ 11 a.m. Worship Committee meeting. Gathering Room.
Second Mon. ~ 1 p.m. Presbyterian Women’s executive board meeting. Gathering Room.
Second Tues. ~ 5:30 p.m. Finance and Stewardship Committee meeting. ~ 7 p.m. Session meeting. Gathering Room.
Third Tues. ~ 9 a.m. Mission sewing circle. Gathering Room.
Last Sun. ~ 10:45 a.m. Deacons meeting. Gathering Room.
CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Sun., Mar. 15 (mid-Lent)
Thurs. Apr. 2 (ecumenical Maundy Thursday service in the Sanctuary
Sun., Apr. 26 (mid-Easter season)
Sun., May 24 (Pentecost)
Sun., June 28
Sun. July 26
Sun., Aug. 30
Sun., Oct. 4 (World Communion Sunday)
Sun., Nov. 1 (All Saints Sunday)
Sun., Nov. 29 (beginning of Advent)
Thurs., Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve)