Pastor s Ponderings. Pastor Janet. Oct. 2015

Transcription

1 The Herald Janet L. Saddel, Pastor St. Paul s United Methodist Church 2131 Palomino Drive Warrington, PA stpaulsumcwarrington.org Nancy Mongelli, Admin. Assistant Doug Tester, Organist Ray Washam, Handbell Choir Director Pastor s Ponderings Oct In the movie, Six Degrees of Separation, one of the main characters, Ouisa Kittredge remarks to her friends, I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. The premise of this concept is that we are all connected to each other through other people. For instance, I met Bart Campolo when I worked for Ichthus Ministries in Wilmore, Kentucky. Bart is the son of Tony Campolo who is a friend of former President Bill Clinton. Therefore, there are 3 degrees of separation between myself and Bill Clinton. In this day and age we often think and live in individualistic terms, rather than community. We shuttle back and forth to work in our cars, not making any human contact. The people we encounter on the roads and in the stores appear to us as strangers, people we know we won t encounter again. This gives us a feeling of complete separation from the others we brush past. And yet, have you ever considered that a person with whom you have a brief encounter may actually know someone else that you know? Perhaps there are just six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. When you hear a siren or see an ambulance pass you, do you consider that you may know the person in trouble? I have developed a practice of praying for those for whom the siren blows when I hear it. This practice hit home while I was a student in seminary. I was driving into Lexington when I passed a serious car accident on the road. I prayed for the passengers and for the EMTs who had arrived on the scene. I prayed for the doctors who would be working on these people and for the family members who would be receiving a distressing phone call in a matter of hours. I prayed as I drove further and further away from the scene. I later learned that I did indeed know the occupants of the car. The passenger of the vehicle was a colleague of mine, a fellow seminary student. She had been seriously injured, but her greater pain was in the loss of the life of her fiancé who had been driving the car. We never know for whom we may be praying! In the New Testament letter of James (5:16b) we read, The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Powerful and effective - we can make a difference in the world around us! We often complain about what is wrong with our country and its politics and policies. Yet, how often do we try to do something about this? One way is to pray for our leaders, asking God to give them wisdom and guidance. Too often we protest, hoping to be heard by others, yet fail to pray, knowing we will be heard by God. Let us pray then, for the leaders of our country for our President and his staff, our state and local community and those in church leadership. And the world at large desperately needs our prayers. The people of the Middle East need our prayers for peace. The firefighters and police officers in our community need our prayers. And the people for whom the siren blows need our prayers. Remember then, pray the next time you hear a siren it might just be for someone you know or love. In God s Great Grace, Pastor Janet

2 What s St. Paul s... Standing Meetings, Groups & Programs Sunday s... 9:00 am Adult Sunday School 10:30 am Worship 10:40 am Children s Sunday School Noisy Can Collection, the second Sunday of every month Next collection: October 11. There are jars on the table in the Narthex if you need one. If you forgot your jar on the second Sunday or will not be in church you can drop it off at the church office. All donations are gratefully accepted even bills and checks. Thank you!!! Monday s... Trustees 7 9 pm October 19/Pastor s office St. Paul s Book Club..third 7:30 pm in the Library...will be meeting again on October 19 to discuss THE POSTMISTRESS! Please come to share your thoughts and any ideas about new reads! All are welcome! Tuesday s... Covenant Bible 6:30 pm/cozens MINISTRY in MOTION 7 pm/cozens: October 13 Church 7 pm: December 8 Thursday s... Handbell Rehearsal 6:30 7:30 pm Choir Rehearsal 7:30 9 pm every Thursday/Sanctuary Thursday s & Saturday s... Food Pantry Drop-Off Program continues on the first and third Thursday nights and Saturday mornings each month. We need you to spread the word among your friends and neighbors that we are a convenient local location for accepting food for the Bucks County Housing Food Pantry in Doylestown. Take a few flyers and pass them out to others who may be interested in helping the less fortunate in our community! First and third Thursdays 6-8 pm and first and third Saturdays 10 am-12 noon The food pantry is now accepting pet food donations, please put your donations in the box in the Narthex. Thank you! Saturday s Charge 11 am: Oct. 24 Men s Bible Study and Breakfast 8 10 am first, third & fifth Saturday/Cozens Keeping Us In Stitches The October meeting date is the same as the Charge Conference, therefore, it may be changed or cancelled. Please watch for more information regarding this. Occasional St. Paul s Widows and Widowers Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 1, for an afternoon movie and something to eat! More information will follow! Like us on Facebook St. Paul s UMC, Warrington

3 Shopping Boutique... November Now is the time to offer your help in any way you wish to the Committee planning our November Boutique for our second year! There are many jobs for a two or three hour time slot that can be active or even sitting. Talk to a committee member about volunteering on Friday night for set-up Saturday during the Boutique or Saturday after 3:00 pm when it must be cleaned up! We are excited about having some crafters return and some new ones joining! Mark your calendars now for NOVEMBER 14 and help our Church provide a venue for the community as well as grow profits for our Church. BOUTIQUE CORE COMMITTEE Sharon Crawford and Jenny Danolowicz, Co-Chairs; Betsy McCormick, Joan Bowen, Pat Nickett, Cheryl Ward, June Kulp, Georgia Ford, and Judy Snyder Baskets, Baskets, Baskets! Once again the women of St. Paul s will be selling tickets to raffle baskets at our November 14th Shopping on Boutique Row event. How can you be part of this event? It is our hope that everyone at St. Paul s will be able to contribute something toward these raffle baskets. You can donate an item (s) for the baskets or cash/check or gift cards. The theme s for the baskets include, but are not limited to the following: tea/coffee, Christmas, dog/cat, baking, Italian, bath/spa, childrens, movies and antique/vintage. We will have one basket exclusively for gift cards. Donations of medium to large size baskets are also needed. Donations can be given to Betsy McCormick, Gwynne Bee, or Judy Snyder.

4 St. Paul s Preschool News October 2015 How come the end of Summer is cooler than the beginning of Fall? My bear brain has a hard time understanding that every year! This year my friends were happy to have Fall arrive because it meant the beginning of another year of school. Everyone has enjoyed the dry weather and being able to go out on the playground. Last week when the children arrived, they were surprised to see some changes outside. Have you noticed? Some strong people helped us lay out and secure new borders for a digging area and two villages. We had new mulch delivered and spread and now there are three new places to play. I hear that we are also going to fence in a big grassy space for sports, games and other activities where we can enjoy lots of room and be safe. (My little friends don t know about that yet--- don t tell!). September brought new bulletin boards, cleaned floors and carpets and rearranged classrooms. It also brought new friends who had to wait until the middle of September to start school. Some were a little apprehensive about leaving mom, but they are all settled in now and having a wonderful time. They know this is a fun, safe place to be. Regular classes, lunch class and some enrichment classes are underway. The Mom s Group has started again and our parents came to Back-to-School Night. We have had our first restaurant fundraiser at Chick-fil-A and our Fall Consignment Sale. Thanks to all who came to either to support us. October will bring school pictures, trips to the firehouse or a visit here from the fire truck, trips to the pumpkin patch and collecting for UNICEF. The month will end with the day everyone is excited about Halloween. What are you going to be for Trick-or-Treat night? Happy Fall! Hugs and kisses from Paul. E. Bear

5 Corner Nurse s The first aid kit is in the room off of the church office, on the shelves in a bright red State Farm bag. It s been updated and replenished. If you use a single-use item, please let Gwynne know so that it can be replenished. There s medical equipment in the Nurses office: 2 wheelchairs; 3 sets of crutches; 2 walkers with adjustable height; 1 cane ('Petunia' adjustable height). If you need any of these please leave a note on the desk for the Nurse to keep track of. Please include who is using and date taken. Prayer shawl/hats are stored in the closet in the Nurse s office (please sign out in quilted book on Nurse s desk who is taking (even if not from St. Paul s) and when given. This is so duplicates will not be given. Thank You! Gwynne Bee RN, Parish Nurse A reminder...the Endowment Fund is a nice way to honor or memorialize a loved one. It s an especially nice time to honor someone for whom you are very thankful to have in your life. Have you included St. Paul s in your will? Always write ENDOWMENT on your check please! Thanks for sharing in the perpetuity of St. Paul s! MISSIONS A Woman s Place became the focus of a Mission project after a plea from Doylestown UMC to attend a meeting in the early Spring. Judy Anderson, Pat Nickett, and Judy Snyder attended and learned of the needs of A Woman s Place, a solace for abused women in Doylestown. The project began with a gathering of items for Busy Bags for the children accompanying these women residents. They asked for journals for the women and teens so Rosanne Vassalotti made beautiful covers for these. The third part of this was to make a hot dinner for 20 residents to culminate with a pickup on September 16 and that was prepared by Joan Bowen, Marsha Young, Pat Nickett, and Judy Anderson. Thanks to all of you who contributed in any way to make this project most successful! We committed to three times a year for our contributions of a meal, journals and Busy Bags, so you will hear our plea again in the future! Thanks to God that we could share our talents and resources at a time of need for A Woman s Place! SAMARITAN S PURSE OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD SHOEBOXES again will be our focus for October/November. Last year we contributed 100 shoeboxes for the needy children of the world! Last year a friend remarked that she read elsewhere about this project and said she wished she had known about it and would have filled a box. This year, why not take an extra box and ask a friend beyond St. Paul s to fill it! I will be sure to give a box to my friend and maybe find a few more! The boxes will be distributed on the weekend of October 24/25 and are due to be returned anytime before November 15 to the first row of pews in the Sanctuary. They will be dedicated that Sunday. Let s aim to increase our number to aid the children this Christmas who are in such unfortunate conditions mostly in third world countries. Items sought: a WOW item is suggested, small toys, jump ropes, balls, school supplies, toothbrushes, bar soap, washcloths, socks, sunglasses, hair clips, finger puppets, jewelry, T-shirts, scissors, wet wipes, etc. Do not include: used or damaged items, war related items, food, liquids/lotions, vitamins, breakable items, aerosol cans, yoyos, or pocketknives. You may include a note to the child and a photo of yourself or your family. If you include your name and address, the child may be able to write back. If you are able to help with this project by checking boxes, packing for delivery, etc., please contact Judy Snyder at: smoothsail@aol.com or

6 Sky by Rosanne Vassalotti When one looks up to the Heavens- The sky is there giving its salutations There are many shades of blue Which array this great expanse Light blue like a baby s blanket- The sky s encompass Medium blue can be seen on an artist s palette Especially with long white clouds Splashing across as in tears of lament Dark blue depicting a storm, hovering When people should be reaching for a covering These three shades are all around us. Rosanne Vassalotti, our Church Librarian, and some others have worked hard to bring more organization and less clutter to the St. Paul s Library. Please try not to store any items unrelated in that space and come in to enjoy the selection! If you find any book you'd like to read, please take it home without any checkout & return or pass on to someone else! Narthex Beautification Committee With an aim to make our Narthex as welcoming as possible to all who enter St. Paul s, the Committee met on September 20 to talk about sprucing up the area. The table covers are being cleaned, Bibles are being placed on the side tables, upholstery cleaning is being checked, and plans to do some cleaning are being made. We are asking anyone who moves furniture to return it to the original positions to keep the area as tidy as possible. If you have any concerns or suggestions for the committee, please contact Judy Snyder.

7 50th Anniversary of St. Paul's... The ideas are flowing and planning is beginning for the 50th Anniversary of St. Paul's at this site. It will be 50 years on June 26, 2016 so we are hoping for some exciting ideas for the celebration! Put on your thinking caps and give us a written memory of something that is significant for you about St. Paul's! Each month in our newsletter, we'll publish one or more of these special memories during the year leading up to our anniversary date in Please take the time to write your memory and give it to the church office or look for the basket in the Narthex! 50th Anniversary Groundbreaking Commemoration NOVEMBER 1 will be at the end of our Worship Service that Sunday. The Groundbreaking of St. Paul s was on October 31, 1965 so we will be planting a tree to honor and remember that exciting beginning of our present building. It is also a memorial to Dave and Ruth Ballentine, former active members whose sons, Keith and Kevin, have been invited. Mark your calendar now so you won t miss this milestone in our history and be sure to bring along any family or friends from the past! Invited to participate from the original congregation in 1965 are Judy Anderson, Pat Daubert, Scott Schwebel, Phil Fisher, and Millie Laing. A reception in Cozens Hall will follow. Thanks to Scott Nickett for the planting and to the committee for their planning: Nickett s, Kingsley s, Judy Anderson, and Brenda Hermann!

8 50th Anniversary of St. Paul's... Memory: Katrina Relief Trip to Bay St. Louis 3/24-4/2/06 A group of 7 St. Paul s UMC members (Dave Weaver, Carol Dimmler, Ed Boger, Deb Rhodes, Karl Wetherbee, Bob and Jayne Jacobus) joined 15 members of Doylestown UMC who traveled to Bay St. Louis to help rebuild homes after Hurricane Katrina during the last week of March Bob and I joined some of the group who were driving down who met at St. Paul s before leaving. Pastor Dick Sarley, Martie Severin and Peggy Smith met and prayed with us before sending us off. At about 113 miles from Bay St. Louis we started seeing blue tarps on the roofs of houses. Then as we got closer to where Hurricane Katrina had hit we saw FEMA trailer villages and trees knocked over. The closer we got to Bay St. Louis we saw the destruction of houses and cars, trees knocked around, houses collapsed and piles of junk at the road. Once we got close to the coast it was like a war zone! We stayed at Main Street UMC in Bay St. Louis which was still standing but the steeple was toppled and it sat on the ground with a sign on it to save it. We walked down Main Street to the beach seeing an office building across from the church that looked like it had been blown up by a bomb. The windows had been shattered, blinds were tangled around broken glass, furniture, paper and equipment were strewn all around. As we walked down Beach Blvd. we saw more sights that will forever be burned into our memories. Stairways with entrance gates to former mansions that had been washed away, a church property that had a quonset hut with a steeple and cross and by the road a cardboard sign that read Christ Episcop. next to a wooden cross with crown of thorns hanging on it with a drape of red fabric on it. (A sign of hope.) A tree stood along Beach Blvd. that had a huge sign nailed to it that reads God Bless This Tree. We later discovered that 4 people had ridden out the storm by holding onto this tree. As we learned from talking with locals everyone had a story to tell of how they survived the storm. It is hard to believe that it was 7 months since the storm and there were people who were still living in tents. Some homes and businesses still looked like they did immediately after the storm. We helped clean out a house that still had dead fish in their pool that had been under 90 feet of water when the storm surge came and the water from the bay met the river. Every day when we traveled on a different road we saw different images that will stick with us forever such as pews that were blocks away from the church, boats lodged in trees that had moved from one side of the house to the opposite side, and houses without roofs that had furniture dangling off the second floor. In Waveland as we drove down to Beach Blvd. we saw unbelievable destruction where there is nothing but piles of destruction and slabs where houses once stood for many blocks before reaching the beach. It was such a contrast to see that stretch of devastation before reaching the beautiful blue bay/gulf waters lapping on the sandy beach. This experience impacted us in so many ways. To know that the church where we stayed had opened their doors to house volunteers every week since the storm hit seven months prior to our arrival was amazing. To see the struggles that the folks were still experiencing such as the director of the church s child care center who had lost her house, her business and still didn t have the keys to her FEMA trailer and had to stay with different people was sad. To see the hope that people had and how appreciative that they were to all of the church groups that sent mission teams to help inspired us to be thankful for the opportunity to minister to these resilient fellow Christians. This is a memory of such visible destruction by mother nature that is such a contrast to the hope and faith that is expressed by the people of Bay St. Louis that I will never forget! Jayne Jacobus

9 Editorial Page by a Church Member You are encouraged to submit articles to the church office for future issues I read with great interest the editorial written by Andy and Melissa Chapman in the September edition of the Herald and I agree with much of what they wrote in the article. However, I found some aspects of the editorial troubling. It's certainly true that in many ways we do live in an "upside down world." Sometimes we lose sight of what is "right" and "true". Placing God in the center of our lives is surely a noble goal and building a greater sense of family and community is, without doubt, a good first step in doing God's will. Yet, even though many Americans are "tired" of the way things are in this country, I'm not sure exactly what is meant by the phrase, "they want their homes and country back." I've been hearing this phrase quite often lately and it concerns me. I can't help but wonder-back from whom...back from where? I understand that much dissatisfaction centers around our duly elected public officials in Washington- from the President on down. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction should never turn to disrespect. Our elected officials, including the so-called "wacko-birds" and "crazies" in Washington D.C., deserve our respect. We need to remember that they have the responsibility and right to govern in accordance with our Constitution. Most importantly, we must keep in mind that just because we may disagree with specific policies our officials are attempting to implement does not mean they are trying to destroy what is right and true in America. In recent years, I've also heard much about going back to what our "founding fathers" intended. Just what that is isn't always clear to me. Remember, most of our "founding fathers" were slaveholders and segregation was once the law of the land. Change is a hallmark of a dynamic thriving society whether it is a church or a nation. Though it is true that not all change is necessarily good, we must pray for discernment to recognize positive change when it presents itself, and pray for the ability to implement it as well. Tradition indeed, helps hold our nation and our church together, but we should never fear necessary change. To say there is much trouble in the world today is the ultimate understatement. Our country has its enemies, but it is important to recognize clearly, who exactly our enemies are. To say we must deny "Islam" is to miss the point. Islam is a world religion. Those who perpetrate evil deeds of destruction are the enemies-not those who follow the Islamic faith. We must guard against failing to make that distinction. All nations and all peoples are capable of evil. We should take care to remove the plank from our own eyes before we look for the spec in others. Finally, we must recognize the fact that not all Americans are Christians and that our political traditions have embraced the concept of separation of church and state. We may or may not like the direction our laws are taking us, but we are bound to abide by them. When religious convictions conflict with the law we must do what our consciences dictate, but we must also recognize that there may be consequences to those actions. Our laws cannot be expected to conform to this or that particular religion. Choices will be made and citizens will debate the wisdom of those laws. According to the Constitution, we do have the freedom to worship. It is our inalienable right. An individual's religious conviction, however, does not trump the law. This is a thin line to walk, but walk it we must. The diversity of this nation demands it. In conclusion, no matter how different our views may be from one another, we must remember that God is working his will throughout the world. We can only pray that we at St. Paul's are doing our small part to help fulfill His will in our homes and in our community. Nick Hiser