G L E A N I N G S. Vol. 23, No. 3 Fall Erica Dreabit, editor

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1 The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer G L E A N I N G S Erica Dreabit, editor ericadreabit@gmail.com Message From the Pastor: Does God Change? Exodus 32: 9-14 God changed his mind I have grown weary of party politics. Too much he said/she said; too much oversimplification; too much shame/ blame of one side for the other; too much name calling. The unwillingness to show compassion, forgiveness and grace to others. This is not behavior befitting those who follow Jesus, but it seems that even Jesus gets pulled in to one side or the other. It s disturbing: the uncertainty and lack of trust, lack of giving others the benefit of the doubt, the lack of dignity and human kindness. We are suspicious of our neighbors, suspicious of strangers, and are encouraged to be hostile to people from other countries. We live in anxious times with no certainty. We must look to our past, and the scripture for some direction. The demand for certainty in times of anxiety carries consequences for Church. Our Lutheran history of the church in the United States arises from European immigrants who arrived desperate and hungry, seeking a new beginning. Immigrating to this country was an opportunity for survival and possible prosperity. These immigrants (like my grandparents) faced many challenges in this. The one place where life didn't change or threaten was in the Church, in a local congregation. Many years passed before the language of the mother country was put aside to worship in English; many congregations still struggle as ethnic enclaves that defy a changing world. For immigrants, Church was a refuge, a reminder of home in a new world. Their view of God upheld this: The world changes, but God never does. It seemed that the Lutheran church was a place more interested in how God didn't change than how God was changing in order to reveal and fulfill God's promises to all people, even and especially those not like us. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 1

2 The ways that we change are ways that God does not; God literally goes through hell and high water to keep his covenant with Israel, and yet he extends love to all who draw near to him, even those foreign to Israel that includes us. Jesus literally goes through hell so we may know that nothing can separate us from God. This fact causes some conflict because we can t imagine God loving the people that we hate. Like Jonah, we easily turn from people we personally despise, and in that act, we turn from God. That also has consequences for the church: our fear of anxiety, and our inability to see God s love for other impacts our mission as The Church. The church has a Holy Spirit driven mission to share the story of God s love to the world, to the local community and to all who come seeking a new path. We cannot allow bitter political divisions to impact our work for the gospel. The Bible reveals a relationship between God and a people, fulfilling the promise of mercy and love. God's faithfulness to his promises do not change. God's resolve to keep his promises does not change. We are part of the remarkable changes ushered in my Jesus resurrection. Lo, I am doing a new thing.. wrote the prophet Isaiah: Jesus changed the history of the world, and continues to change it through our participation our ministries and missions for the good of the world that s the power of our Lord. Come to church: work for God s changes to make this world a better place.. See you in Church, Pastor Donna Mission Accomplished! Since our heating system had an actual melt down last February, Redeemer Church faced many challenges in getting our climate control system...under control. With the support of our Guide One insurance company, HT Lyons company, and Support Missions, church council and staff, we are ready to embark on a new chapter! This summer the air conditioning was repaired, and as this newsletter goes to print, new carpeting is being laid in the Worship Center. The congregation has been holding worship service all summer in the Chapel and in the Fellowship Hall, but on Sunday September 9 th, God s Work, Out Hands (Rally Day) we will bless the new carpeting, and process into our refurbished Worship Center for a new learning year! Please join us for this new beginning. 9 am- We will assemble School kits for the kindergarten classes at Muhlenberg Elementary School; we ll hear from the Principal, Mr. Sizemore, and pray for the students. 10:15 am Worship, dedication and blessing of our SCS students, and have a backpack blessing for all children who bring their backpacks! See you in church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 2

3 Sunday School - Come Grow in Faith Train up a child in the way he shall go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 Each Sunday morning from September thru May, Redeemer offers Sunday School classes for all ages. Our new year begins on Sunday, September 9, Rally Day. All members are invited to join us that morning to assemble school kits for Muhlenberg Elementary School. Then beginning on September 16, join one of the following classes and grow in God s Word. Ages 3 Grade 6 SPARK Sunday School Begins in sanctuary Grades 7 9 Confirmation Room 8 Adults Adult Discussion Group Library Save The Dates - Education Ministry September 9 at 9:00 Rally Day Meet Muhlenberg Elementary School s principal and help prepare 75 School Kits for the 3 kindergarten classes or sign Christmas cards for the military Bring your backpack for Blessing of the Backpacks during the 10:15 worship service Installation of SCS staff during worship September 16 Installation of acolytes during worship October 14 Crop Hunger Walk October 21 SCS children sing during worship December 1 Advent Breakfast and Crafts (9-11:30 A.M.) December 16 & 23 at 9:00 Rehearsal for Children s SCS Christmas Program December 23 at 10:15 SCS Christmas Program December 30 No SCS Confirmation Class Fall 2018 Redeemer Confirmation class meets on Sunday mornings at 9 am. This year the class will study Martin Luther, the Small Catechism, and what it means to be Lutheran. There is a possibility of a winter Confirmation retreat in late March of next year with other congregations. CONFIRMATION PARENTS MEETING IS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 16 TH AT 9 AM IN THE CONFIRMATION CLASSROOM. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 3

4 Box Tops for Education These box top logos are found on hundreds of products we purchase. Each one is worth 10 cents to the school participating in the program. The school can use the money to purchase anything it needs. Please help us support our three Kindergarten classes at Muhlenberg Elementary School by clipping the box top logo from each package you purchase and depositing it in the can labeled Box Tops for Education in the narthex. SCS Outreach - Food Bank Our SCS children are encouraged to bring a donation for the Lehigh County Conference of Churches Food Bank each Sunday. Please join our efforts to share with those less fortunate. You may bring the designated monthly item or any non-perishable food item. Your donation can be placed in the wagon in the narthex. September pasta, canned sauce or complete mac & cheese kits October canned fruit and vegetables November peanut butter and jelly To meet the needs of the families needing assistance, please consider purchasing the larger size quantities of these items. You Can Be a Church Lady Too! Part of Redeemer s partnership with Muhlenberg Elementary School includes classroom volunteers. During the school year, Dottie Dilliard, Erica Dreabit, Linda Fisher, Jane Helwig, Cyndy Hillegass and Mary Richards volunteered in the three kindergarten classrooms and Dottie Beazley and Barb Lindenmuth organized the math workbook pages. The children called them the church ladies! The classroom duties varied from working with a small group of children to preparing materials for the next day to working individually with a child. If you are interested in assisting in the classroom, you will need your PA Child Abuse History Clearance, the PA State Police Criminal Record Check, the FBI Fingerprint Clearance and proof of a negative TB test. You can volunteer once or twice a month or weekly. The rewards are boundless! For more information, talk to one of the church ladies or call the church office. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 4

5 Midweek Bible Study Beginning Wednesday, September 12th, a midweek Bible study for adults will be held in the church library at 11 am. Please bring your Bible, and a brown bag lunch. The topic for this Bible study is Bible Stories You Won t Hear in Church. The classes will continue on Wednesdays through October 24th. A schedule of readings will be distributed at the first class. Guest Preacher: Rev. Kurt Garbe Sunday, Oct. 7, the Rev. Kurt Garbe will be preaching at the 10:15 service. Pastor Garbe is an assistant to Bishop Samuel Zeiser, of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod. He comes bringing greetings from the synod, with information about how our mission support helps the church here, and around the world. Please come and join us! Rally Day Sunday, Sept. 9 AM Since 2013, the ELCA has dedicated a day of service known as God s Work Our Hands. This day is an opportunity for Lutherans to explore what it means to serve with a joyful heart and to do God s work with our hands! Thousands of ELCA congregations have dedicated a day to serve communities in ways that share the love of God with all of God s people. This year, Redeemer s Education Ministry needs your assistance as we continue our partnership with Muhlenberg Elementary School in the Allentown School District. You are invited to participate in our Rally Day activities on Sunday, September 10 at 9 a.m. God s Work Our Hands Sunday is your opportunity to use your hands in service to our neighbors at Muhlenberg Elementary School. Many hands are needed to assemble the 75 school kits for Ms. Chaiko s, Ms. McNeil s and Ms. Hankee s kindergarten classes. Come meet the teachers, serve with your hands and celebrate Redeemer s generous spirit to make our community a better place. An additional opportunity that morning will be signing Christmas cards for the military. Keystone Military Families, a volunteer organization that supports military families and is located in Shoemakersville, PA, will distribute the cards. Please join us at 9 A.M. in the sanctuary. May we be a blessing as we have been blessed! The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 5

6 Shipwrecked!!! Our week in Shipwrecked was a fast-paced and busy experience. Through stories during Bible Discovery, music in Castaway Sing and Play, recreation in Ship Rec Games, art and science in Imagination Station, real life scenarios in Kid Vid, and tasty snacks in Tropical Treats, VBS participants learned that we are all rescued by Jesus. As we heard the parables about lost things in Luke, Chapter 15, we grew to understand that the Lord will hold us close.always. The story about Martha worrying and complaining in Luke, Chapter 10 reinforced the idea that the Lord comes to the rescue each and every time. When friends of Jesus tried to rescue him in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew, Chapter 26, we learned that as he faced his trials, Jesus knew to trust his father Be still and know that I am God! As Peter and John healed the lame man in the name of Jesus in the book of Acts, Chapter 3, we, too, now know that this is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead. Whether we are lonely, or we worry, or we struggle, or when we feel powerless, Jesus is always there for us. The Lord holds us close..always. Through his comfort and strength, he rescues us! Special appreciation goes to the following mates who helped to make our Shipwrecked week a successful experience: Opening Worship: Pastor Donna Imagination Station: Judy Mahar and Niki Richards Ship Rec Games: Cyndy Hillegass and Heidi Hartman Tropical Treats : Kay Dilliard, Dottie Beazley, and Darcie Wolf Bible Discovery: Dottie Dilliard and Mary Richards Castaway Sing &Play: Noreen Clark and Michelle Fister KidVid Cinema: Debbie Stewart and Aubree Wolf Lifeguards: Tracy Garrett, Shea Hartman, Abby Mahar, and Aubree Wolf Closing Worship: Cyndy Hillegass Directors: Cyndy Hillegass and Mary Richards The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 6

7 VBS Outreach Project One aspect of our VBS Shipwrecked program was to have an OUTREACH project. We, once again, chose the Sixth Street Shelter as the recipient of this endeavor. The Sixth Street Shelter in Allentown is the largest family shelter in the region and has been providing housing and casework services for homeless families with children since The Shelter has 25 units and provides intensive programming for up to 60 days. During their stay, families work with staff to set and achieve specific goals. Among those goals are a search for permanent housing, life skills education, and a budget plan. The guiding principle is to help families achieve these goals through intensive case management, in-house programs, and referrals to appropriate services. VBS participants as well as members of Redeemer contributed to our collection of items for the Shelter. We gathered Clorox wipes, dish soap, garbage bags, all-purpose cleaner, Comet cleanser, Dove soap, Kid s Tylenol, and Neosporin. Our VBS coordinators delivered these items to the Shelter on Tuesday, August 7th. Our daily offering together with donations from our Redeemer family which totaled $ will be used to assist the Shelter in the purchase of uniforms for the school-age children living there. Redeemer Comes to the Rescue In late May an was received by Erica Dreabit in which a need for VBS supplies for the themed program Norway was expressed. Domina R. Popa, the VBS Director for a church in Lawrenceville, GA, saw pictures on the Redeemer website from 2016 when we did the Expedition Norway theme. Mary Richards and Mary Anne Weiss gathered numerous materials and shipped them to this church in need. Recently a letter of appreciation was forwarded to Redeemer. Dear Mary, Thank you so much for all the Expedition Norway VBS supplies that you so graciously donated to Buford Family Seventh Day Adventist Church. It was truly God s providence that made it all happen and our VBS program was richly blessed because of your generosity. Enclosed please find a check in the amount of $40.00 to cover shipping costs. My apologies for not mailing this sooner. I hope you have a blessed day. Sincerely, Domina R. Popa VBS Buford Family SDA Church The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 7

8 West End Collaborative Ministry Announcement On Sunday September 30th, there will be an airing of the Documentary Fix It: Health Care at the Tipping Point. This Documentary includes interviews from doctors, nurses, caregivers and advocates who are trying to change the health care industry. We will gather at Christ Church 433 Hamilton St. Allentown, between 12:00-12:30 and lunch will be provided. At 1pm we will show the Documentary. From 2-3pm we will have discussion lead by a trained volunteers who are familiar with health care and this series of documentaries. Please join us for this important opportunity to discuss one of the significant issues of our time. More information can be found at RSVP by September 26 to Christ Church at so we can plan out lunch. IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS EVENT AFTER WORSHIP ON SEPTEMBER 30, SPEAK TO PASTOR DONNA! Outreach Ministry Update Garden Update So as you may have noticed our garden project never fully took off this season. While we prepared the soil, our seeds were never sewn. The good news is the ground is still there, ready for another chance. Our plan is to reevaluate the project in the Spring. Stay tuned. Visitor Greeters Wanted As was mentioned in the past, we are looking for help welcoming visitors and guests to our congregation. While we know all of you do excellent work being a friendly and welcoming church, we need volunteers willing to take on the task of offering visitors to sign our guest book and to hand out a welcome bag. If interested, please contact the church office. New Choir Members Welcome Do you like to sing? The Senior Choir needs you! Teenagers and adults who enjoy singing are invited to join the Senior Choir. Rehearsals are held on Wednesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Chapel. The choir leads the congregation in singing the worship liturgy and hymns every Sunday at 10:15 a.m. and also prepares and offers gifts of special music to enrich our worship. For further details, please call or the Choir Director, Martha Taremäe ( , redeemer2@rcn.com), or speak to her after worship. First rehearsal of the Fall: Wednesday, September 5 at 7:00 p.m. Please join us! The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 8

9 A Note from the Council President Summer is my favorite time of year. I enjoy not having to fuss with putting on 18 layers of clothes before leaving the house. I enjoy the extra-long periods of sun. I like the fireflies and all things outdoors. It s the perfect time of year to pause and recharge, and this summer was no exception. Of course, we still kept busy around the church. The staff and worship ministry did a great job transforming our chapel and Fellowship Hall into fantastic places of worship, while our sanctuary underwent some much needed maintenance. Even sanctuaries need a recharge sometimes! Education ministry once again invited the neighborhood children into our church and shared the Good News. And we continued to gather and worship and join in fellowship. Like all things, summer came and is now about to leave. And so we look to the coming fall with recharged batteries. As usual, we will certainly be busy. The big event that we are all really excited about is our first annual yard sale, which is guaranteed to be a happening. I m sure there will be many announcements and calls for help as we get closer to that, so be on the lookout! Actually, as you will read in the other pages of this issue, we have many exciting things happening around the church. Once again, I invite you all to get involved. We can always use the help and I am certain you will find the experience rewarding. So with that, I will sign off for now. Do enjoy these last few days of warm nights before we have to start pulling those sweaters out of the closet. Yuck, it s too soon. See you in church, Bob Relics and Reuzits Sale Mark your calendars! Pitch in to help! Redeemer will be having a big yard sale on Friday, Oct. 5 and Saturday, Oct. 6, from 8:00 until 2:00 each day. Many of you have been bringing items to sell, and our stage is filling up quickly. We have limited space so, please, evaluate what you have before you bring it. We will be accepting items through the end of August. A total of $17.00 has been made already thanks to members purchasing items that they have seen on the stage. If you have any questions about the sale, please contact Craig Long at or chief41@ptd.net or Vaughn Shappell at or Shappellv@enter.net. Relics and Reuzits Plus! In addition to our Relics Sale, we are going to hold a Bake Sale, a Produce Sale and a Fellowship Lunch featuring BBQ and accompaniments. Would you be able to bake an item or two? If you are a gardener, would you share your overabundance of produce? Would you like to work with our fantastic lunch crew for a few hours? Would you like to support us by purchasing lunch? Please, drop off any items you wish to donate at Redeemer Fellowship Hall on Thursday, Oct. 4th 3-5 pm or any time after 7 am on Friday or Saturday (Oct 5th or 6th). Any questions, call Paulette Cramer at The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 9

10 September Shut-In Birthdays 9/23: Erna Svoboda, Fellowship Manor #232, 3020 Fellowship Drive, Whitehall, PA October 10/8: Joyce Weidner, C314 A, 350 S. Cedarbrook Rd., Allentown, PA November 11/1: Reniea Peters, Devon House Rm 110, 1930 Bevin Dr, Allentown, PA /3: Jean Lory, Room 309 Miller Building, 1925 W Turner St, Allentown, PA /22: Jane Bellesfield, Devon House Rm 304, 1930 Bevin Dr., Allentown, PA /23: Lois Gerhart, C 206 B, 350 S. Cedarbrook Rd., Allentown, PA Thank You!! Thank you to all who donated school supplies and gave monetary donations for the 75 school kits for the three kindergarten classes at Muhlenberg Elementary School! Special thanks to Barb Lindenmuth for counting and organizing the supplies and to Marianne and Dave Rodgers for donating the Dr. Seuss bags to hold each child s supplies. Because of your generosity and a very generous donation from one of our members, we also gave a monetary donation to the kindergartens towards a wireless listening center for each classroom. Office Manager s Hours Please note that Michelle Fister s office hours will be changing slightly beginning Aug. 27. Her new schedule will be M&W 9:30 5:00, T&Th 9:30 2:00, and F 9:30 3:30. If you see her on Sunday, remember that she s with us as a congregation member for worship and fellowship! Scheduler Needed A special Thank You to Joyce Weidner for her many years of service as our Greeter Scheduler. Joyce enjoyed her many years talking to everyone on the telephone but is no longer able to be our scheduler. If you would like to take on this very meaningful and rewarding task, please call the church office for more details. October Joint Council Mtg. at Redeemer The church councils of the West End Collaborative are meeting at Redeemer for meetings and dinner on Tuesday October 9th at 6:30 pm in our Fellowship Hall. All members of council are urged to attend. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer 822 N. 19th St, Allentown, PA redeemer1@rcn.com 10