April 2017 SPRING FUNDRAISING DINNER

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1 St. Paul United Church of Christ Mound Road Warren MI / Worship Service & Sunday School Sunday, 10 am Office Hours: M-Th, 9am-1pm The Good News April 2017 Thank you for letting me be with you during the past year. I appreciate your prayers, your presence, and your thoughtfulness. I wish you abundant blessings for your journey, and may you continue to grow in faith. Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite writers, and I share his words with you: "Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply." God speak to me. Open my eyes and ears. Open my hands so I may receive And then give to others. Amen. Blessings of Grace and Peace, Jacquie SPRING FUNDRAISING DINNER Friday, April 21, :30-7:00 PM Menu Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, St. Paul s Famous Cole Slaw, Rolls & Butter, Cake, and Beverages Tickets Adults - $10 Children under 10 - $5 To make reservations, please call the church office at 586/ by Monday, April 17. You may either send money in advance or purchase your reserved tickets when you arrive. Carry out orders will also be available. Please make plans to join us!!!!

2 Page 2 Consistory President s Report Erich Regier On March 14, we held our monthly Consistory meeting. Finances continue to look pretty good. We probably could still invest additional money into our investments. However, we are waiting until the parking lot is complete before we invest more. The downstairs men s and women s bathrooms are all complete. They look great after a volunteer from the AA group painted them. That same person will be asked to paint the Women s Fellowship room at a later time. Community Supper continues to be a great success. People continue to come in and enjoy a hot meal. Thank you to Barbara Stephens and her team for doing this outreach. The Rummage Sale was another great success. We had a really good turnout. Furniture and soup for some reason this time didn t sell as well as in the past, but we opened it up to the congregation and sold much of the soup and bread. I have reached out to a person that deals with helping churches find renters and others who are looking for some place to rent. I have asked this person to join our next Consistory meeting. Easter and Palm Sunday are coming up soon. We have those Sundays covered with Rev. Margo Allen. We have received interest from a minister who recently retired and is looking to be part-time. I have sent the Consistory his profile and we will be reaching out to this person soon. As always, if there is anything you see that needs attention, please let anybody on Consistory or me know the concern and we will do our best to fix the issue.

3 Dear Members of St. Paul UCC, Page 3 Brandon Ebel "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer, I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you." Revelation 2:10 It does not get any more clear than that. But what a way to be tested. I definitely see how this can line up with eventual purpose in many lives that encounter barbwire. And as the Easter season approaches, it is always uplifting to acknowledge the master plan God resurrected. I know we read the story of Jesus rising, but only God could have thought of that. What a beautiful way to work everything together. Now I really remember Easter as my mom getting my older brother and I huge baskets that we had to scavenge the house for. Those sort of memories are important. As I grow older, this master plan for my life is becoming more evident. This above scripture says that this whole experience is to test me. In the same book of Revelation, ten chapters later, it is written explaining how to overcome the accuser (devil). " They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony." (Revelation 12:11) These words say it all, I just want to put emphasis on the second part of this passage We overcome evil by sharing with one another what God has done in our lives. This only works if the other listening genuinely cares and is interested. So as Easter comes upon us, what is your testimony? Share it with others and be ready to listen to the many around you! If you would like to write to Brandon or send him a card, his address is: Brandon Ebel #752523, Thumb Correctional Facility, 3225 John Conley Drive, Lapeer, MI Mable Adamson Evangelical Homes Shoreline Dr Sterling Hts MI Phyllis Grant Tawas Ct Madison Heights MI Esther Hornyak St. Anne s Mead W 12 Mile Rd Southfield MI Virginia Park Sunrise of Troy 6870 Crooks Rd, #224 Troy MI Wally Paczkowski Garfield, Apt 115 Clinton Twp MI Anne Pyciak Cherrywood Nursing Ctr Ketsin Dr, C103-2 Sterling Hts MI Mae St Clair Hayes, #108 Clinton Twp MI Dorothy Zink Hope Landing Assisted Living 1252 North Cochran Charlotte MI 48813

4 Page 4 Barbara Stephens On Easter, we proclaim the power of life in the midst of death. We affirm our steadfast belief that the power of God was shown in Jesus Christ and his love, and by the power of the Holy Spirit that is infinitely stronger than the power of evil and death. During Holy Week, we celebrate Maundy Thursday: The word Maundy come from the Latin word meaning Commandment. Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you that you also love one another. (John 13:1-20) In recent years, the church has included foot-washing as Jesus did in the Upper Room to his disciples during the last supper. It is meant to symbolize humility and service. Good Friday: In the early hours of Friday, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to meditate. He was betrayed and was arrested by both Jewish and Roman authorities. Jesus died and was buried. Holy Saturday: Jesus went and preached to the dead, thereby liberating all the holy men and women held captive. Let us ponder a moment on Holy Saturday there is a great silence over the earth, and great stillness, because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled! Easter Morning: CHRIST IS RISEN! CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED. EASTER IS RESURRECTION DAY! Brandon crocheted this beautiful lapghan for me Beginning in May, we will only be ordering the regular sized Upper Room devotionals. If you would like to make a monthly donation toward the cost of these booklets, please drop it in the collection plate and mark it Upper Room.

5 The month of March has passed along with the first large event of the year, the Rummage, Soup & Bake Sale. In spite of the weather not being good, the day did turn out well. Our faithful early birds came, all 104 of them. Thank you ALL for your very hard work to make this a successful sale. A Big thank you to our donors who are always there for us. A special thank you to Maria and her family who come to help us. Maria does our advertising. It seems we always have an interesting incident that happens during or after the sale. We received many wigs and Styrofoam heads. They didn t sell. It was suggested we call Ronda s Hair Salon on Mound Rd. She was so very happy to receive them, and will wash and style the hair pieces and give them to cancer patients. She, also, goes to the nursing home and does hair for the residents! How wonderful is that! The Lord works in many ways. For the Spring Sale, we made $3,724 plus the donation. We are so Blessed! Sue & Betty Tuesday, April 18 at 6 pm Mark this date and time on your calendar. Rev. George from Trinity St. Marks is coming to pick up our leftover rummage. We need help to load his truck. Wednesday, March 29 at 9 am Diane and her helpers made soup for all of you and was taking orders. Page 5 Betty Wolgast & Sue Regier

6 Page 6 Gail Popyk Our team has not had any organized activities recently, although a number a members plan to serve shifts at Ferndale Pride with our friends from Salem United Church of Christ (in Farmington). Pride is on 9 Mile Rd. in Farmington on June 3 and starts at noon. If you would like to join in the fun (and it is fun) please contact Gail Popyk who will give you the name of the individual at Salem with whom to get in touch to arrange to spend time at the Salem booth at Ferndale. As you walk through the church lobby, check out the ONA bulletin board and you will see a new newspaper article. It details the story of a young woman participating in a major fashion show in Eastern Europe. Born a boy, this transgender young person had dreamed all her life of being a high fashion model, and had recently achieved her goal. Each of us has a dream. April 3 Mary Fritz 6 Richard Weiler 10 Janet Kolman 11 Darcy Sufnar 13 Gail Popyk 23 Krystal Wolgast 26 Mable Adamson 28 Dayton Regier APRIL 9 Rev Margo Allen 16 Rev Margo Allen 23 Nan Schrier 30 Rev Paul Kuntzman April 5, :30-6:30 pm