From the Pastor s Desk

Transcription

1 March 2018 THE SPIRE The Congregational Church of South Dartmouth United Church of Christ Reverend Emily J. Kellar, Pastor From the Pastor s Desk February is flying by us and I personally am dreaming of spring. This past Sunday I flung open the church doors after the benediction and birds were singing a hopeful sign of spring! Many thanks for those who helped the youth by purchasing chili or by attending the Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner! The next youth mission trip fundraiser will be on Easter Sunday, April 1 st. We will have a bake sale! So please think about buying some baked goods from our youth for your Easter meal! Confirmation class is going well! We have a nice group of seven youth who will be confirmed on Sunday, May 6 th at the 10 a.m. service! Every Thursday night during Lent we will have a short contemplative service from 6:30 7:00 p.m. We will be using Taize songs during our worship which are found in our hymnal. The Taize Community is an ecumenical Christian monastic community in France. The chants we will sing are from this community and they greatly enhance the peaceful atmosphere of our worship. All of the ministries at the church have been working so hard these past six months! I am very grateful for everyone who gives so generously of their time and talents to the church. This is a church with a very large volunteer base! It really is amazing to see how many members are active in the ministries! The pot luck dinners have been a huge success! It has been fun to gather and eat together with no agenda other than fun and fellowship! To go be love in the world we must first love each other! It has been a wonderful six months and I am very grateful for each of you! As we journey to the cross together in Lent, know you are prayed for.know that the Creator calls you the beloved.perhaps you chose to give something up during Lent perhaps you chose to take something on like doing a random act of kindness daily.may we all spend some time reflecting on our journey in this life during Lent! My favorite service of the year is the Easter sunrise service. It will begin shortly before Sunrise at 6:20 a.m. and then we will have our service at the church at 10 a.m. Blessings to all during this reflective time! Peace of Christ, Rev. Emily J. Kellar (Pastor Emily/Rev EK)

2 Page 2 Capital Campaign Update 200 Years: Make Your Cornerstone Promise Work Twice as Hard Every gift to the Capital Campaign promised by April 8 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $40,000 whether they are new gifts or increases to pledges already made. As an added incentive, if together we work to raise $40,000 by March 20, just a few weeks earlier, there s an additional $20,000 waiting in the wings! Thank you to the anonymous donors who have stepped forward with these generous challenges. And thank you to every church member and friend who has pledged already. Our goal is 100% participation. Every donation, no matter the amount, is critical -- it means we can all take pride in coming together to preserve and revitalize our church. Capital Campaign Committee Congo Quiz Night March 10: Sign up this Sunday - This Sunday (March 4) is the final day to sign up for Congo Quiz Night. We ll match wit and wisdom on March 10, 7:00-9:00pm at the Wamsutta Club in New Bedford. Rides will be arranged for anyone who needs them. The ticket price is $15, and light refreshments will be served. The emphasis is on FUN, with lots of silly and easy questions thrown into the mix, as well as some multiple-choice questions where you can hardly go wrong. It will be a group sport with everyone randomly assigned to a team at the beginning of the evening, the better to share the thinking. As for prizes.have we got prizes?! There will be awards for getting the correct answers, of course but also for answers that are creative, daring, goofy and more. Thanks to the artistry of Lee Murray, prizes include beautiful winter scarves, some with a Patriots theme (guaranteed for next year) and Disney theme (perfect for the kids and grandkids). We hope you ll join us for a fun evening of fellowship. Please sign up this Sunday. A Year of Fellowship Join Us! Sign up for any and all of these events during the Sunday social hour. Dine-Around, April 14: Second dine-around of the season. Let s Go Fly a Kite, April 29 & May 6: Let s Go Fly a Kite, April 29 & May 6: Put this one on the calendar for the whole family especially those who are young or young at heart. We re planning a special workshop on April 29th held at the church, where everyone can construct their kites; then kite-flying on May 6.

3 Page 3 Old Fashioned Potluck Dinner from 6-7 pm: Wednesday, March 21 st Please join us for an Old Fashioned Potluck Dinner together. All ages will gather and eat a meal together. Bring something homemade or run by the grocery store on your way home from work! And if you find yourself empty handed unable due to time constraints to bring anything, come anyway! Come and linger over the table together! Sunday March 25th 7 p.m. Youth Group Movie Night at the Parsonage! Lent Thursday Night Service Starting February 22nd 6:30-7pm During Lent we will have a service on Thursday evenings much like we did in Advent. Coffee with Pastor Emily Mondays from 9-10am at Sunrise Bakery. Come drop by and grab a cup of coffee with Pastor Emily and chat. Youth Mission Trip Nola 18 Team Building Fun Night Sunday March 18th 7-8:15 p.m. The youth mission trip team will gather for some fun to get to know each other better! We send our thoughts and prayers to the family of Jeremy B. Whitney Outreach Thank you all for the generous response to our coat drive. As many of you know, we collected over 100 coats. We also helped with an emergency delivery of snacks to Sister Rose s overflow shelter during the cold January days. Our food collection for the Council on Aging continues with a steady response from the congregation. Note that March is cereal month. Think spring and mark your calendars for Share the Harvest planting day, 9-12 on May 19. Everyone is invited and it is a fun, chatter filled morning for all ages. Thank you again, everyone, for your continued support for all our projects.

4 Page 4 Religious Education RE Happenings Re hosted a Puzzle Night February 9th. Six teams raced to complete a very challenging 300-piece puzzle! The Puzzle Parishioners won first place! The night was filled with friendly competition, lots of laughter and children of all ages! Thanks to all who attended!

5 Page 5 Religious Education Religious Education Dates to plan ahead: March 11 th &18 th : Knitting with Prayer Shawl Ministry. Join us after church in the library where our children/parents will learn how to knit face clothes! March 24 th : Our Sunday School families will volunteer at Gifts to Give in Acushnet from 10:00-12:00. April 1 st : Easter Egg Hunt after the 10:00 Easter service. April 8 th : Amy Wendell will come and share how she started two schools in Tanzania! She is awesome! We will be collecting spare change for a new project she is working on. She would like to bring water to one of her schools, and we can help!!! April 15 th : Our Sunday School children & the Prayer Shawl Ministry will create care kits for the homeless. We will include the face cloths we learned how to knit with our homemade signs that read You Matter! June 3 rd : Baccalaureate Sunday at 9:00 to honor our Amazing Graduates! June 10 th : Children s Sunday at 9:00. It is a beautiful service that is led entirely by our children! July 9-13: Vacation Bible School! Ages Save the date. Look for more info to come! Sunday School Happenings: Each week our Sunday School classes look up scripture verses in the bible, sing great songs, do awesome experiments, play fun games, and learn about how they can apply what we have learned in our everyday lives. Each week s bible lesson builds on the week before and gives our children valuable information that will help to guide them through their lives! Getting to church is sometimes hard, but so worth the effort! The scripture verse that has been our theme this month is: This is my command be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).

6 Religious Education Page 6 Youth Group Happenings: The Youth Group met on January 28 th. Jonathan led a great night of thought provoking games and fun! The youth will volunteer at Mobil Ministries on March 10th. They will help to feed, cloth and care for our homeless people of New Bedford. Baccalaureate Scholarship Reminder: Baccalaureate scholarship applications will be available in April in the church office. Firm dates to be announced in April, watch this space.

7 Page 7 Please join us for Easter Services Sunday, April 1st Sunrise Service 6:20 am Round Hill Beach 10 AM Service in our Sanctuary Men's Discussion Group Men's Discussion Group has started back up again. We will meet in Classroom 10, right upstairs on the third Sunday of the month at 8:30 a.m. We never run out of things to discuss, so bring your ideas about subjects. Bob Lytle Pastoral Concerns Please don t forget to call or the church office with information on any hospital admissions or pastoral concerns. We do not receive notification from the hospital so the only way we can be informed of anyone that may need a visit is if you let us know. Thank you for helping us stay in tune to the needs of our church family. The Flowers for February were given by: February 4th - Altar Flowers are given by Warren and Marcia Hathaway in celebration of Warren s homecoming, Luke s Birthday and a successful Super Bowl for New England. February 11th - Kathy Pappas in memory of Robert J. Pappas February 18th - The Stone Family in memory of Deborah L. Hancock and E. Warren Stone February 25th - Sally Lemelin in gratitude and celebration of the profound gifts of companion animals.

8 Page 8 Easter Memorial Flowers April 1, 2018 Please return your order form and your check or cash (please make checks out to The Congregational Church ). Nancy DeWolf will continue to oversee the Easter Memorial Flowers as she has always done. Lilies are $10.00 each and Tulips are $8.00 each. Orders must be in by Sunday, March 25 th. The check and order form can be placed in the collection plate or mailed or brought to the church office. Congregational Church of South Dartmouth 17 Middle Street South Dartmouth, MA OUR EASTER MEMORIAL ~ April 1, 2018 NAME IN MEMORY OF Flower Order: $10.00 per lily $8.00 per tulip Flower Distribution: I will pick up for Discretion of the Flower Chairman

9 Page 9 The Spring Rummage Sale will be held: April 27th and 28th Rummage Wish List Clothing Shoes Toys Household Items Furniture Linens, Bicycles Books -see below Glassware Finer Items for Heritage Room Rummage Drop Off Saturday, March 10th from This is a general Rummage drop off with the exception of the unacceptable items. Additional Drop Off Dates: April Listed are items we would love for you to donate and also a list of items we cannot accept. We are happy to receive your clean, gently used donations. We cannot accept textbooks, books which are damaged, mildewed, or have been written in. Please be considerate of our sorting staff and our customers. Items we cannot accept: Skis, Boots, Bindings Cribs Car Seats TV s Computers Monitors Printers Fish Tanks Please do not drop these at church as they add additional expense for us to dispose of. Please contact Cecelia Roberts or any member of the Guild if you can help with the rummage sale: before -to help sort and set up; during -either as a worker or cashier or after to help clean up. We would like to thank Lou Cabot for all her hard work through the year arranging Altar Flower Donations. March Anniversary Peter & Sarah Blatchford (64 years) March 27, 1954 Wedding Anniversaries are listed in the Spire every five years for the first fifty, and then each year thereafter!

10 Reverend Emily J. Kellar Church Telephone: Robin E. Lake, Office Administrator The Congregational Church of South Dartmouth United Church of Christ 17 Middle St., PO Box South Dartmouth, MA RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Please join us for Worship Service and Sunday School At 10am Rummage Sale April 27th & 28th Drop Off Begins April 16th