Melfort United Church Newsletter

Transcription

1 Melfort United Church Newsletter Minister s Message Dear Friends, As we set our minds to what this year s Advent and Christmas have in store for us, I am sure and certain that these words by both Deacon Gregory and Rachel Naomi (Seasons of the Spirit 2012) will help us understand what the journey through this season entails. Advent is a love poem from God. Through the season of Advent we are exposed to the simultaneous push and pull of a dual reality. Advent reveals to us a harmony of tension between the ALREADY, and the NOT YET. If the season of Advent were a book I would file it or a shelf, right at eye-level, foremost among the great works of poetry. Advent is a poem of bright new beginning. Advent is a love poem written to us from God. This poem of the season of Advent is set to the metre of eternity, the rhythm of our hearts and in the cadence of now. In the poem of the season of Advent we are pregnant with Mary. We are filled with our hopes for future day carrying within our bellies the expectation and the reality of the divine. In the poem of Advent all words rhyme with love. Even already, even not yet. In the poem of the season of Advent, every line contains hope as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord. Advent is a love poem written to us from God. May that love poem find room in our hearts! May we find each other in the silence between the words. May we heal the loneliness of our expertise with the wisdom of our service. May we honour in ourselves and all others the deep and simple impulse to live, to find sacred space and open land. May we remember that the yearning to be holy is a part of everyone and the only hope for the next thousand years. May you all have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Christmas 2012 Contact Us 220 Burrows Avenue West Box 1064 Melfort, Saskatchewan Phone: Fax: melfortuc@sasktel.net Minister: Rev. Emmanuel Menyereye Office Administrator: Erin Norris-Pott Caretaker: Faye Greier Music Director: Andrew Elian Sunday Services 10:30 am Office Hours: Tuesday Friday 9am-3pm Rev. Emmanuel Menyereye

2 Worship Committee December 2, 9, 16, 23, & 24 Child/parent readings & candle lighting on the themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love December 2nd Confirmation Service December 16th White Gift Sunday Baptism Service Communion Service December 24th Christmas Eve Service 7pm Volunteers Wanted Volunteers are needed to provide leadership for worship services on Fifth Sundays. If you are interested, please contact a member of the Worship committee or leave your name at the church office. Choir Choir practice is every Wednesday at 7pm. New members are welcome. Bell Choir Thursdays at 4:15pm. Pastoral Care Meets the 2 nd and 4 th Fridays of the month at 10 am. If you know of anyone who would like a visit, please contact the church. Men s Group Meets the third Sunday of the month at 8:15. All men welcome! UCW Meets second Thursday of the month at 7pm. Women Alive - UCW Meets first and third Tuesdays of the month at 7pm. UCW Naomi Unit Meets third Monday of the month at 2pm. People News Funerals Our sympathy is extended to friends and family. Mary Alice McKendry Rowland LeBarre Weddings Best wishes are extended to: Adam McLean & Tamie Jack Baptisms Preslee Johnson When the Holy Child is born into our hearts there is a rain of stars, a rushing of angels, a blaze of candles. This is God burst into our lives. Love is running through the streets. Ann Weems From the Finance Committee What are the advantages of donating to a registered charity such as Melfort United Church? You can claim a tax credit or deduction for your charitable donation. For Saskatchewan residents, you will receive a tax credit of 26% on the first $200 you give in a taxation year. You will receive a tax credit equal to 44% for any donation amount you make of more than $200. The more you give, the greater the tax credit. The credit is applied directly against your tax owing, instead of being deducted from your taxable income. Example: A donation of $1000 for the year to a registered charity will receive the following tax credit: 26% of the first $200 = $52 44% of the remaining $800 = $352 The total tax credit applied against the income tax is $404. The donation of $1000 will save $404 in income tax. The out-of-pocket cost of the $1000 donation is only $596. Additional benefits of donating to charities include: donations between spouses can be combined and claimed by one spouse to maximize the tax credits; and, donations need not be claimed in the year they are paid. They can be carried forward for up to five years. To calculate the tax credits for another specific amount, you can go to the Canada Revenue Agency s website at and use their calculation. Submitted by: Bryan Wurtz Finance Chair

3 Property Committee Bouquets: Garage Sale Report To Cheryl Sproule, Bea White, and Gale Strachan for a top-notch job organizing the fall supper. It always seems to flow smoothly. To the decorators who never fail to make our sanctuary beautiful! To Erin Norris-Pott for doing such a great job with our church website. Have you checked it out lately? To Anne McIntosh who made and donated a quilt to the Calling Lakes Centre fundraiser. It sold by auction for $850! To Jim & Noreen Trembley who after countless hours of service are stepping down as chairs of Pastoral Care. To Gail Forsyth for leading the refurbishing committee. The foyer and library look wonderful! We traditionally hold two garage sales a year one in the spring and one in the fall. Please note that with the storage we have we can take your items at any time, not just before the sale. Give us a call if you need assistance. We ask that the items you donate be in working order preferably clean and at the church by NOON on the day before the sale. We also need lots of help the week before and during the event. There is always a sign-up sheet. Don t hesitate to join us or just come check out what we do. In 2012 we raised over $5657 which certainly makes the effort worthwhile. Thanks to all who donate and help. Submitted by: Faye Greier and Garry Forsyth Fall Supper Report The annual fall supper was held on November 4 th. There were 520 meals served this included 73 take-outs. Although not the final number, the tentative profit is $4500. Thank you to all who supported this event. There are approximately 216 jobs that need to be done to ensure the success of the supper. The committee is planning for next year. Submitted by: Cheryl Sproule A special thank you to all of you who slaved away doing dishes and cleaning up for the fall supper! It s a big job. Thank you as well to Ken McKee who did some volunteer painting for us earlier in the year. He managed to cover all but one of the outside doors facing onto the alley. Good job! In hopes that our facilities might be used more frequently, the rental rates have been adjusted. These can be viewed on our church website. We wish to show that we are open to anyone in the community. To go with the new rates, a new rental policy was just passed at the last board meeting. You will soon be able to view it on the website as well. Submitted by: Gail Forsyth

4 Refurbishing Project The refurbishing of the foyer, library, etc. is now completed except for a few small details. It should now be easier to browse through the library books and perhaps find something of interest to you. If you d like to borrow an item please make use of the Sign out/sign in book that is sitting on one of the shelves. There are several devotional-type books, a nice assortment of children s books, a collection of Christmas reading, and also some historical items. Most of the heavy-duty theology books can be found in the office room downstairs just to the left of the stairwell. If a committee is looking for its box that was previously in the library, the boxes have also found a permanent home in the downstairs office. We ve been trying to educate everyone that the cloakroom is not a storage room. If you do wish to leave something there for someone else to have or pick up, please use one of the black boxes provided. One of them will also be designated as Lost and Found. The letter boxes for each committee and group in the church should not be used for permanent storage. Please deal with the contents regularly. It has been my hope that others in the congregation would get on the refurbishing bandwagon, and help out. Hats off to the UCW for the new paint job in the kitchen and to the Women Alive members who are planning to redo the big room at the north end of the basement, formerly the nursery, formerly the board room! Since there are other areas that need to be refreshed as well, more help would be appreciated. I would like to thank the others on my committee who have put in a lot of hours to make these improvements happen Pat Dolo, Eileen Brooks, Rachelle Heavin, Sharon Heavin, and Betty Pryor. Also, we need to thank Jean and Al Armstrong for their generosity. They gave us an excellent deal on the carpeting for the library and installation of baseboards and the carpeting. Melfort UCW Newsletter Report The U.C.W. General meetings are on the 2 nd Thursday of each 7:00pm, except for July and August. We delivered Meals on Wheels to approximately 15 people each day from October We offer this service again in February. Our Home-Based Show & Sale on October 13 th was a successful event again this year. Thank-You to the coordinators. Some of our members attended the Fall Presbyterial Meeting at Shellbrook United Church. Grace Wilton and Jeanette Stevenson spoke about their experience of attending the National UCW gathering. The 50 th Anniversary theme was Tapestry of Love. A big thank-you to the Women Alive unit. They organized a 50 th Anniversary Celebration evening in the CE centre, and presented pins to members who have been active in a unit since Jeanette & Grace once again shared their experience of attending the National UCW gathering. Thank-you ladies. Robin & Sharon will present pins to members that were not able to attend that evening. The painting of the Church Kitchen has been completed. It looks GREAT. Thanks to everyone who helped with the taking off and putting on of doors (all 62 of them). We are hoping to earmark some money in the future to complete some other refurbishing projects. We assisted in the serving of the Fall Supper. The annual Christmas Tea & Bazaar will be on December 1, 2-4 pm. We accept donations of baking, sewing and crafts. There is also our new to you table, gently used items are accepted. (no clothing articles please) We have three funeral lunch groups that provide a vital service to our faith community. As our groups are getting smaller in number, we would be grateful for some new helping hands. We have three Units Women Alive meet the 1 nd and 3 th Tuesday of the month, Naomi meet the 3 rd Monday of the month, Wide Horizons meet the 3 Wednesday of the month. Submitted by: Sharon Heavin

5 The Christmas Story For the Young and Young at Heart Once upon a time, A long, long time ago. Begins the story of a baby, That most of you should know. His daddy's name was Joseph, And Mary was His mom, This babe was very special He was God's only Son. Some angels came from heaven, And they began to sing. To the shepherds in the fields below, "Glad tidings do we bring!" A bright star lit the heavens, To light the magi's way, To the baby in the manger Who was born on Christmas day. And all who gathered round Him, Rejoiced and praised His birth. For the babe, the King, named Jesus, Is our Saviour here on earth! by Leanne Guenther Retrieved from: November 23, 2012

6 A Good Book for Christmas Children s Books A Perfect Day for It Jan Fearnley Stick Man Julia Donaldson Muriel s Red Sweater Dara Dokas Don t Wake up the Bear Marjorie Dennis Murray A Stranger in the Woods Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick Stuck Oliver Jeffers The Invention of Hugo Cabret Brian Selznick Books for Teens I am Number Four Pittacus Lore o Fans of the Hunger Games will enjoy the first book in this series. Between the Lines Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer o Bestselling author Jodi Picoult and her teenage daughter present their first ever novel for teens, filled with romance, adventure and humor. The Bite of the Mango - Mariatu Kamara o The astounding story of one girl s journey from war victim to UNICEF Special Representative. A World Away Nancy Grossman o At age 16, Eliza feels trapped by the conservative traditions of her Amish Community. During her rumspringa, a time when Amish teenagers are allowed to step out of the plain world, she has an opportunity to be a nanny for a family in the Chicago suburbs. Delirium Lauren Oliver o Volume 1 in a trilogy that is set in dystopian America. Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green and David Levithan o One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens, both named Will Grayson are about to cross paths. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful. Code Talker Joseph Bruchac o A novel about the Navajo Marines of W.W. II Submitted by: Rene Redman Men s Group We meet at 8:30 am on the 3 rd Sunday of each month. At our November meeting we had a very interesting presentation, by Cec Bergren, on the workings of the Melfort Food Bank. We try to have a different presenter at each of our meetings. Anyone is welcome to attend. On November 11 th, Ron Nielsen laid a wreath, on behalf of the Men s Group, at the Melfort Remembrance Day Service. The Men s Group will be delivering Meals on Wheels for the month of December (We do this every year). Note: We will forego our December meeting so our next meeting will be on the 21 st of January. Please consider joining us at that time. Camp Tapawingo Submission by Ron Nielsen The Camp Tapawingo Board of Directors approved the following dates for the 2013 camping season: Maybe this would be a good Christmas gift for someone you know. Registration forms for 2013 will soon be available online at camptapawingo.net. #1 July year olds #2 July year olds #3 July year olds #4 July year olds #5 July Family Camp #6 August year olds #7 August year olds #8 August year olds This year all campers will receive a free green t shirt when they arrive at camp. Having campers wear these is a great way to advertise Camp Tapawingo. After the huge project of replacing the foundation under the dining hall, the maintenance and repair of other parts of camp have been carried over until next spring. Some of the repairs needed include: new water pump, repair/replacement of washroom floor, toilets and sinks, light sensors, installation of industrial sinks in kitchen. Any help with these projects is always appreciated. A variation of a Black Tie Bingo with supper and silent auction is being planned for April 13/13 at one of the Prince Albert churches as a fund raiser for these projects. Thank you to all the members who have been especially generous with donations this year. The camp and campers are lucky to have your support. Submitted by: Jean Senecal

7 A Stewardship Thought A member of the local Church board often heard the groaning questions, Why is the church always asking for money? Why does it always cost so much? In response, this man told about his son, James. He told about how excited he and his wife were when they heard about the coming of their first child. Things weren t easy then, he recalled, My wife and I started with a bunch of dreams and little else. Then he went on to say, Right from the time we knew our baby was coming, he began to cost us. There were bills for his mother s check-ups. We had to pay the doctor and the hospital where the baby was delivered. He needed clothes and the right kind of formula. Later, he needed hockey equipment and we paid for him to go to hockey camp. When he needed braces for his teeth and glasses, we bought them. And as you know, nothing comes cheap! Then he would pause before he began talking about his boy registering for University. How proud they were and how anxious to do what little they could to help him. Then, when Jim was in his last year on campus, he went to a doctor to see about his headaches and blurred vision. They ran a few tests and soon found he had an inoperable tumor. Our Jim died 15 years ago! And you know what? That boy hasn t cost us a cent since his funeral! Then, looking his listener in the eye he would add, That s the difference between having something that is living and something that is dead. And, he would continue, I find it the same with the church. If it s alive and growing like a teenage boy, sure it s going to cost us. It s going to cost us in terms of dollars and cents, and in terms of our commitment and involvement. It s going to cost because it s alive! But my God, it s terrible to have it dead! - Joyce Sasse M&P Report The M&P committee is responsible for overseeing the work of the staff and dealing with any problems that may arise between staff members and congregation members. On the whole, the life of the church is progressing well. However, no one can please everyone all of the time. Because of our differing expectations and needs, there are bound to be some irritations. The proper procedure that should be followed in case anyone has a complaint is as follows: 1. Speak to the staff person involved. 2. If you do not want to speak to the person on your own, would it help if an M&P person would go with you? 3. If you do not want to speak directly to the person involved, would you give the M&P committee permission to do so on your behalf, using your name? 4. If no is the answer to all of the above, then the M&P committee will forget we heard the complaint and will not speak to anyone about it. If you want to deal with it at a later date the committee would be willing to help that happen. It is best to put your complaint in writing. Any issues that are brought to the M&P committee are taken very seriously. We bring them to the attention of whoever is involved and try to resolve them as amicably as we can. Usually all it takes is communication or learning all the facts. Occasionally, a problem is harder to resolve may come up. Although we deal with all concerns to the best of our abilities, it is not always in our power to have things improve quickly or at all. We need to work together with understanding, patience, thoughtfulness, and some give and take in order to have a rewarding and fulfilling church life. Submitted by: Jeanette Stevenson

8 STEVEN PALMER CONCERT/DESSERT EVENING October 23 we held a coffee house concert in the sanctuary with guest guitarist Steven Palmer. Steven gave a very wonderful performance with fabulous music, humor, a fantastic voice, and great audience interaction. I think we could have listened to him even longer! 51 tickets were sold at $20.00 per ticket. Children 12 and under were free. The initial flat rate of $ was reduced to $300.00, and a 50/50 ticket sales split. In total we had a clear profit of $ This is fine for our first time with a very different fund raiser. Sometimes we just need a little break and enjoy ourselves and not always worry about money. Of course our church women helped work and provide a lovely desert reception. We served angel food cake, varieties of fruit toppings, cool whip, tea, coffee and punch. Thank you ladies. Also a big thank you to the volunteers who helped sell tickets, usher, run the power point, and especially Ron and Dianne for billeting Steven. After the performance, everyone stayed for desert and a wonderful time of socializing in the CE hall. Many compliments were received, even the next day at the office. Especially the desert Erin said. So we were very pleased with the turn out and feedback. Some of us felt we should have Steven return next year for a coffee house evening in the CE hall. This will be discussed and possibly booked. Once word gets out how wonderful he was and what people missed, we are sure to have a full house. So thank you to everyone for your contributions and help. We greatly appreciated your help. Respectfully submitted by Eileen Brooks and Marion Heavin. A Hug The Universal Rx No moving parts, no batteries, no monthly payments and no fees; Inflation proof, non-taxable, in fact, it s quite relax-able; It can t be stolen, won t pollute, one size fits all, do not dilute; It uses little energy, But yields results enormously. Relieves your tension and your stress, Invigorates your happiness; Combats depression, makes you beam, And elevates your self esteem! Your circulation it corrects without unpleasant side effects, It is, I think, the perfect drug: May I prescribe, my friend,...the hug! (and, of course, fully returnable!)