Bethany Congregational Church. Foxborough, Massachusetts

Transcription

1 Bethany Congregational Church Volume 5 April, 2015 Number 4 Foxborough, Massachusetts Holy Week Schedule -Tenebrae Service with Communion Maundy Thursday, April 2nd at 7:00 p.m. -Easter Sunday with Communion Celebrate the risen Christ! April 5 th 9:00 Traditional Service 10:30 Contemporary Service Invite friends and family to join you as we rejoice in Easter! Easter Egg Hunt April 5th at 10:15 Bring a Friend! We will have an egg hunt Easter morning in between our two worship services, for children up through 5 th grade. Among the many symbols of Easter, the most familiar to both children and adults are Easter eggs! As Christians we hunt Easter eggs not because the Easter Bunny brings them, but because they remind us of God s amazing gift of Christ Jesus. An egg means new life. It reminds us that Jesus gave us new life. An empty plastic egg symbolizes the fact that Jesus tomb was empty because he rose from the dead. A plastic egg filled with a surprise reminds us of God s wonderful Easter surprise the risen Christ! Please let Deb Byron know if you can help with this fun event! It s Baaaack! Mother-Daughter Tea This favorite event is back for 2015! Mothers, daughters, grandmothers, granddaughters you are all invited to our Mother- Daughter Tea on Saturday, May 9 th from 12 to 2 p.m. Is there someone who is special to you, just like a daughter, or just like a mother? Call her, and invite her to come with you! Find your favorite teacup, put on your prettiest clothes, and join us in the Fellowship Hall for a sampling of tea, punch, finger sandwiches, and desserts. We ll make a craft together and some wonderful memories! To sign up, contact Nancy Kaeser at (508) or kaeser@bethanychurch.org or look for the sign-up sheet in the Fellowship Hall starting April 12 th. We are also looking for people to help out with serving, sandwich preparation or cleanup. Please contact Nancy if you would like to help. 1

2 Upside-down ( A reading from Camp Berea's Deep Freeze Youth Retreat Weekend 2015) These days are hopeless And I will not accept that Healing and peace are possible Things can never change You can't say I don't have to feel anxious about anything Because every day I'm convinced Jesus doesn't know what is best for me It is crazy to think I can trust Him If my parents' marriage failed, mine is certain to fail also It has to be a lie that Families can survive Divorce is just the way it is Do not live like A servant to everyone I must live to be the greatest Make money to be happy It's stupid to try and Give to everyone who asks To love my enemies and To work hard instead of taking the quick fix The best thing is Just look out for number 1 And it's useless to think Things can change And all of that is true in this world troubled by evil, but Jesus has overcome the world; he's turned it upside-down. Now re-read this, from the bottom to the top begin reading with the line, Things can change, and work your way back up... Shared by Nate Parks Executive Director of Berea The Hofstra University Chamber Choir will be performing at Bethany Church on Thursday, April 9 th at 7 p.m. This is the fourth year the Hofstra students and their director, Dr. David Fryling, have taken their talent on the road. The repertoire of the Hofstra University Chamber Choir spans centuries of unaccompanied music from the Renaissance to the 21st century and covers genres from South African work and resistance songs to songs of Stephen Foster s America; folk songs from Scandinavia to folk songs of South America, and everything in between. A free-will donation will be accepted. Please join us! 2

3 Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It Your Mission is to join Bethany Church s elite team on Saturday, April 25 th for our fifth annual Mission Possible day. Bethany adults and families will be heading out as a church community to do all kinds of mission projects in Jesus name! Check out the Mission Possible bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall and SIGN-UP TODAY! Some of the serving opportunities: Veteran s projects, prepare and serve a meal in Boston; help in a residential community that supports people recovering from addiction, homelessness, transitional help; prepare and deliver lunch to Foxboro seniors; help at the Mansfield Food Pantry; raking and yard clean-up for Foxboro seniors, put together Birthday Boxes for area children; help LYNN Ministries with sorting at their Foxboro location, plus much more! We are collecting donations of clean, gently used adult clothing and accessories for area homeless outreach ministries men/women pants and shirts, sweatshirts, spring jackets, sweatpants, shoes and summer sandals, etc., socks (new) and underwear (new) leave in collection bins in the Fellowship Hall. For donations of food items for the Mansfield food pantry and Attleboro Area Council of Churches a list of items needed is posted on the Mission Possible bulletin board please leave in collection bins. Birthday Boxes will be delivered to the Foxboro and Mansfield food pantries, New Hope and the Foxboro Discretionary Fund. Check out the Mission Possible bulletin board for a list of birthday items to donate for the boxes. Get your kids to help you rid those drawers and closets of their out-grown clothing! Drop off donations of gently used, clean children s clothing in the brightly colored boxes in Fellowship Hall and by the elevator on the first floor. Families can sign up to help sort and package all the donations from 10 11:30 a.m. and/or work at Cradles to Crayons headquarters from 1 3 p.m. on Mission Possible Day, Saturday, April 25 th. Children age 5 and older may participate in these service activities if accompanied by a parent. Sign-up on the Mission Outreach bulletin board in Fellowship Hall. LYNN Ministries is in need of approximately a dozen people to help switch over from the winter supplies to the spring/summer supplies. As they prepare for their 6 th spring/summer season serving the homeless in both Attleboro & Brockton, we are looking for a Mission Possible team from Bethany to help clean out, sort, label & re-organize the supplies between the 2 storage locations in Foxboro (Green Street & Foxfield Auto 2 nd floor). This would not be for small children, but kids in middle school (with supervision) could help out. We will need at least one vehicle to help with moving the boxes between the locations. We will have the team split between the 2 facilities. Cleaning supplies will be provided but you can bring your own work gloves. I will be the lead on this project. Contact me, Angela Maynard at or Deb Snow at with any questions. Thank you! 3

4 Discipleship Opportunities Contact Deb Byron at org for more info. Angels In Maine last year I spotted a shelf of fairy tales and Bible stories in Spanish at a local store. I bought them, and thanks to Ann Conaty, we shipped them to our mission school in Juarez. They were happy with the Bible stories but they gave the fairy tales to another school because ogres and witches were deemed unsuitable for youngsters in the Harvest Hands School. On our next trip I visited the store s warehouse in Winslow, Maine. They had a ton of books in Spanish that they were happy to sell and ship to Foxboro. Having an arrival date, I asked in church for help unloading the books. The books arrived, and so did five angels disguised as the Bryant family: Oris, Dawn, Tristan, Channing, and Brynne. They unloaded and moved the ton of books to the Chapel. Other angels arrived: Shawn Sanford with a hand cart, and Joyce & Rick Lewis, but the Bryants did the brunt of the work, they were the Archangels. Pastor White also became an angel when weeks later, he moved the book boxes so that the pews would be available for The Book Nook at the Fair. My final angel is Charlene Hobel. Through her company, and with the approval and help of her boss, Eric Delong, the Bible books were shipped to our missionaries in New Mexico, for distribution to the children in Juarez. ABBA, the great Swedish singers have a song with the line: I believe in angels. I do also - - I believe we have them here at Bethany. Al Papianou Book Discussion Group Held on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. in the Parlor. Contact Jane Michelmore at or Deb Byron at byron@bethanychurch.org. Basket Cases A mission-minded group who support New Hope, which provides shelter for families of domestic violence, through monthly gift baskets of donated items from our church members. Contact Cindi Bell at or cynthiacbell@msn.com to find out the monthly meeting schedule. Upper Room Devotional Study Join Carol Fraser every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. to read and discuss teachings and insight from The Upper Room devotional. All are welcome! Coffee & Chat Are your kids getting to the stage where you re doing less mothering and more worrying? Do you want to talk with others experiencing the challenges of parenthood and find Christ-centered support? Join Libby Carter at the Commons Eatery in Foxboro before church Sunday mornings from 7:45 until 8:45. Missed a Service? Our Worship Services are taped and are scheduled to air each week on Foxboro Channel 08 and Verizon FiOS Channel 39. Check cable listings for times. Stay in the Know! We have an service in which you can receive weekly Bethany updates on events. You can subscribe to The Bethany Buzz, by ing the Church Office at office@bethanychurch.org. 4

5 WORSHIP VOLUNTEERS Ushers/Greeters 4/5 Dorothy Vosburgh, Roland Demers 4/12 Ann and George Conaty 4/19 Lynn and Dave Burns 4/26 Penni Jenkins, Rick Lewis 4/5 Deb and Phil Graham 4/12 the Rogers family 4/19 ** 4/26 Lois and Bill Sullivan Deacons 4/5 Deb Graham 4/12 Tom Garcia 4/19 Pat Scagnoli 4/26 Bill Hughes 4/5 Mark Hawrylciw 4/12 Dave Fisher 4/19 Alin Pop Vicas 4/26 Jim McKinney Nursery Volunteers 4/5 Janet See 4/12 Mary Lou Pike 4/19 Lily Marszalkowski 4/26 Aurora Pop-Vicas 4/5 ** 4/12 Lily Holloway 4/19 Brenna Murphy 4/26 ** Service Readers 4/5 Laurel DeCoste 4/12 Terry Becker 4/19 Devan Tierney 4/26 Mark Hawrylciw 4/5 Michele Rogers 4/12 Sarah Murphy 4/19 June Carlsen 4/26 Ron Sullivan ** We have an opening, could YOU help? Junior High meets from 5-6:30 and Senior High meets from 6:45-8:15. This year s theme is One Voice. We hope to see you there! Our program schedule "The Fridge Flyer" for the Spring Season of BYG will be out soon. Contact Anne Marie Holloway, our Director of Youth ministries at Holloway@bethanychurch.org. Mission Outreach News Mission Outreach s Community Dinners have been a great blessing for our community, and we thank all the cooks and servers and cleanup crew that have volunteered. If anyone is interested in being a volunteer at any of the dinners that are served the second Saturday of each month, please contact Jane Michelmore at Our next serving date is Saturday, April 11 th. Book of Life Chancel Flowers -March 1 st, given to the glory of God and in celebration of First Communion Sunday by the Children s Ministry Committee. -March 15 th, given to the glory of God and in loving memory of Jane Emilie Taggart by her family. -March 29 th, given to the glory of God and in loving memory of her husband, Phil; his parents, and her parents by Penni Jenkins. Death Our sympathy is expressed to the family and friends of Alan Read who died on March 14, Alan was the son of Carol and the late Wally Read, former Scout Master of Troop 7. Alan s sister is Holly Read. 5

6 The deadline for the next edition of The Bethany Bell is Friday, April 24th at 8:30 a.m. Material may be submitted to Thanks! The Bethany Bell is now posted on the Bethany website, bethanychurch.org the last week of each month, for the following month. To have the newsletter ed directly to you, go to the website and click on the link at the top of the homepage to subscribe. The Bell will be ed to you as soon as it s done -- and you don t have to remember to go out to our website to read it! Christmas Fair News Save the Date! Saturday, December 5th, 2015! I know it s only March, but here are some things we need to keep in mind for the 2015 Christmas Fair: -Start a pile in your closet, garage, attic, or cellar, of gently-used items for Gramma! -Pick up an extra souvenir of anyplace you visit this year, and donate it to the Fair! -Keep an eye out for cool ideas for crafts, or new recipes for the Bake Table and Candy Table. We now have a Chair for Gramma s Attic! A big THANK YOU to Linda Marszalkowski! VBS 2015! August 3 rd 7 th Children in Preschool through Grade 5 will want to be a part of this! Here at Bethany, we have been inspired by the abundance around us an abundance of SNOW! And this snow has certainly presented some challenges for us. This is why we chose EVEREST Conquering Challenges with God s Mighty Power! to be our VBS 2015 program theme. We are holding fast to the hope of knowing Summer will be here before we know it! Please mark your calendars for August 3 rd 7 th and be sure to save some memories of these snowflake filled days!! Registration information will be available soon. Contact Anne Marie Holloway at holloway@bethanychurch.org for information. We are in need of a new resident Bookworm. If anyone who has a love of books would be interested in taking over this very important section of the Christmas Fair please contact Dale Andersen, huddlehous@comcast.net or Knit Goods Wanted! Got Cabin Fever?? Knit something for the Christmas Fair! Any item would be very much appreciated hats, mittens, scarves any size, color, or style. Baby sweaters and sets are good sellers! Nell Yahmarkt would be happy to pick up your items when the snow melts perhaps in July! Call her at

7 News The Foxboro Food Pantry is in need of non-perishable food items and especially diapers, baby wipes, toilet paper, paper towels, and health and beauty products (ie shampoo, conditioner, soap). Donations can be left in the red bin located in the breezeway area. Thanks! The Food n Friends Kitchen at First Baptist Church in Mansfield will be run by our wonderful team of Jen and Maureen on Tuesday, May 5 th. They are looking for people who can help out. Call Jen Murray at , Maureen Driscoll at or sign-up in the Fellowship Hall. He is Risen! W.E. Sangster ( ), a well-known pastor in England, contracted a progressive, incurable muscle disease. He lost the ability to move his legs, and eventually his voice faded away. Because Sangster wanted to continue serving God even though he could no longer preach, he became a prolific writer and organized prayer cells throughout England. On Easter morning, shortly before his death, Sangster wrote a note to his daughter in an unsteady hand. It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, He is risen! he wrote. But it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout. 7 Things to Add to Easter Baskets The following ideas are from a post by Jerusalem Jackson Greer entitled How to Build a Better Easter Basket. Her entire article can be found at Bubbles - Joy Comes in the Morning Because of Easter Morning, we can celebrate new mercies each and every morning! Celebrate the miracle of the resurrection with bubbles. Watch them disappear just as Christ disappeared from the tomb. Fringed Party Blowouts - Alleluia He is Risen Death could not keep Jesus in the grave, and nothing can keep us from God's love! Make a joyful noise about this amazing gift with party blowouts, just as if the angel had told you on that first Easter morning that Christ had risen. Glow Sticks or Bracelets - Let Your Light Shine Christ has risen and now our job is to shine His light in the dark places of the world. Glow sticks and bracelets are a good reminder that we take Christ's light with us wherever we go, sharing it with everyone we meet. Small Flower Pot Kit - Grow with God Spring is the season of new life! What better way to begin a conversation about spiritual disciplines than by planting seeds that must be watered, weeded, fed, and cared for daily? Small flower or herb kits are a great way to begin this practice and teach the value of nurturing growth, both physical and spiritual. Wind-up Chick & Donation of Poultry in Your Child's or Family Name - Birds of Heaven God cares for all creation. God cares for creatures big and small. He cares for our families and those on the other side of the world. We manifest that care when we help one another. A donation of a flock of chickens or ducks to a family in a developing country is one way of entering into the great love that was shown to us on Easter! Spring bursts today, for Christ is risen and all the earth s at play. -Christina Rossetti