The Good News. Reforming Still

Transcription

1 The Good News LYONSVILLE CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST "A Home for The Spiritual Journey" Rev. Dr. Thom Bower, Interim Minister October 2017 Gary Boxell, Editor Reforming Still Inside this issue: Worship Opportunities Birthdays and Anniversaries Remember in Your Prayers Mark Your Calendars Thank You Notes 5 4, 5 General News 6, 7 Mission Board News 8 Join Us 8 Sympathies and Prayers 9 Our 174th Birthday 9 The custom of the day was to post items of interest on the church door: wedding announcements, livestock for sale, upcoming activities. So Martin made a list of topics he wanted to discuss and nailed it to the door. But Martin was not an ordinary villager; he was the local priest, moved there from teaching at the university. And it wasn t just any day, but one of the busiest days of the church year, All Saint s Day. And his list wasn t just conversation points: it was a list of criticisms of the church. And somebody took Martin s list to a printer and had it reproduced. Some of those copies made it to church leaders in Rome who were unhappy with the issues Martin was naming. That s how, 500 years ago, the protestant Reformation began. This month we celebrate that anniversary. It s a time to reflect on what has changed in the church, how God is still speaking, how the church needs to continue reforming to represent God s realm in our lifetimes, to be more effective in addressing faithfulness in our culture, to challenge us from our complacency to increase our daily discipleship. (Continued on pg. 2)

2 Page 2 The Good News Those are themes that will be with World-Wide Communion Sunday, run through the Stewardship Campaign, shape the congregational meeting, and lead us to Reformation Sunday at the end of the month and take us beyond into the upcoming year. It s a good time to be the church! - thom Date Scripture and Theme Lay reader Announcements / Joys & Concerns 01 Oct Ord26A World Communion Sunday 08 Oct Ord27A Stewardship (1/3) 15 Oct Ord28A Stewardship (2/3) CROP Walk No Choir 22 Oct Ord29A conclude stewardship (3/3) Matthew 21:23-32 Confronting Power Communion Servers: Doug Adams, Judy Birmingham WE NEED TWO MORE Matthew 21:33-46 Money and justice Matthew 22:1-14 Who dare refuse? (No choir) Matthew 22:15-22 Who you gonna pay? Congregational Meeting after worship Laurie Tsukuno Chuck Helms Nayna Byers Judy Birmingham Judy Birmingham 29 Oct Ord30A Reformation Sunday Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 46 Doug Adams Judy Birmingham

3 The Good News Page 3 Happy Birthday (click here for birthday wishes) Kathy Richel 10/1 Mikayla Bashor 10/2 Erika Wierdak 10/8 Lauren McSweeney 10/12 Jordan Taylor 10/12 Gabrielle Miller 10/13 Braden Matthews 10/16 Ryan Snell 10/16 Donna Prather 10/17 Vivian Kringlie 10/17 Nolan Snell 10/19 Barbara Loehman 10/20 Travis Weaver 10/20 Steven Nunez 10/21 Laurie Tsukuno 10/25 Patti Haigh 10/27 Chase Bashor 11/1 Bob Haigh 11/5 Darrel Bashor 11/13 Jonathan Begy 11/13 Joe Wierdak 11/14 Susan Mueller 11/18 Beth Smidt 11/18 Lillian Mueller 11/19 Andrea Brocken 11/20 Rom Stevens 11/20 Peter Cook 11/27 Donnie Smith 11/27 Cherie Doria 11/30 Happy Anniversary Ian & Keely Ann Hegner 10/27 Byron & Barbara Loehman 11/10 Please contact the church office if any information is missing or incorrect. Remember in Your Prayers Marvin Davis Jean Dawe Jamie Hankus Chuck Helms Chuck Holloway Mike Kelly Barbara Loehman Byron Loehman Kathy Loehman Jeanne Pierson Marion Randolph Beth Smidt Dee Wallace

4 Page 4 The Good News Mark Your Calendars Reformation Roots Wednesday Nights, 7-8:30 At Burr Ridge UCC This fall we mark the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Come spend five weeks exploring the foundations of our religious heritage (1) 11 Oct: Medieval Christendom (2) 25 Oct: Martin Luther s Life & Thought (led by Gary) (3) 1 Nov: Calvinists, Jesuits, and French Civil War (4) 8 Nov: Zwingli & Communion Differences On Sunday, October 1, we will be collecting the Neighbors in Need (NIN) offering. This special offering supports UCC ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. One-third of NIN funds support the Council for American Indian Ministry(CAIM). Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries(JWM) to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects through grants. More information is available at LEADERSHIP COUNCIL October 10 at 7:15. Our next labyrinth walk is scheduled for Saturday, October 14 from 4:00 to 6:00. Please join us for the meditative walk. It takes about 20 minutes. One is also planned for December 2. CROP Walk 2017 will be held on Sunday, October 15th. Registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, LaGrange (100 Sixth Avenue). The Walk will begin at 1:15 p.m. There is a break for bathrooms and water at the half way point. We are putting together a Lyonsville team to walk and raise money for Church World Services. If you are interested, please sign up after church during fellowship hour or you can go directly to the website at to join the team, or to make a donation. Please note that we are asking all walkers to make a commitment to raise at least $ Each year, Lyonsville receives 25% of the money collected which is used to buy food for our food pantry. Last year, we received $ There were over 300 registered walkers in the 2016 CROP Hunger Walk and they are expecting to meet or exceed this number for 2017.

5 The Good News Page 5 FALL CONGREGATIOAL MEETING October 22 after worship. WHITE BEAR DANCE November 3 & 4. All Saints Day will be observed Sunday, November 5. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS November 5. HARVEST HOME TURKEY DINNER Saturday, November 11, 5:00-7:00 p.m. Watch for more details to come. Thank you to all who donated soup and canned vegetables to the Lyonsville food pantry in September. Thank you to all who donated money for the Ponca Indian Tribe. Barbara and Byron Loehman will travel to Oklahoma the first week of October and will purchase food when they get there. An update will be included in the November Good News. Thank you to all who donated hygiene kits (or provided the items or money) for the kits for Church World Service. A total of approximately 50 kits were put together.

6 Page 6 The Good News News from The Pews Confidentiality and the Pastoral Search Team These are some of the comments that were delivered by Thom in worship on September 17 th. The search team is committed to a process of discernment and has entered into a covenant to not speak about their work with people who are not part of the pastoral search team. They are praying, assessing, reflecting, discussing not only candidates but the future of Lyonsville. It is an intense and focused process. Those who are not part of the search team may know about the steps of the process and the current step they are working on that s why there is a poster in the narthex but we cannot know the details of the candidates. We can know the search team has been receiving profiles, they are interviewing candidates, but we cannot be told who those candidates are, cannot be told the qualities or experience of those candidates, not even how many candidates they are interviewing. I know you are curious I am curious too: but we need to honor their process as a group. This is central to congregationalism: God reveals not to individuals but to congregations to groups and for a short while you have created a small congregation given the responsibility of discerning pastoral leadership. Just as Lyonsville trusts that other UCC congregations will not interfere with Lyonsville s ministries, because Lyonsville has been through a process of discerning how to respond to God as God is known at Lyonsville, so we need to not interfere with the search team as they discern through their work. Harvest Home Dinner Raffle Table - We are collecting new or like-new items for the raffle table. The items may be raffled off separately or used as part of a gift basket. If you would like to put a gift basket together, please let Judy know. All donations are greatly appreciated. Please see Judy Birmingham if you have items to donate or questions. News From The Nominating Committee Work has begun on the 2018 slate of officers and boards/committee members. It takes all of us to be the church as Lyonsville moves into the future. Please prayerfully consider how your knowledge and skills can most effectively help Lyonsville, and let Doug Adams or Judy Birmingham know if there is a committee you would like to join. If you need further information about particular committee, please see one of us. We look forward to presenting a full slate at the October congregational meeting. There will be an additional Manna Fundraiser in November this year. Manna gift card order forms will be ready October 1 and will be in the Narthex. The orders will be due on November 4 and the will be distributed by November 11. The next Manna will be due December 3. Please see Cindi Fiandaca for more information.

7 The Good News Page 7 Fall Stewardship Campaign We ll be focusing on Stewardship on the Sundays in October 8th, 15th, and 22nd. Look for information coming to you soon. Meanwhile, pray about your 2018 pledge, how you ll support the Ministries of Lyonsville, and your hopes for ministries with the incoming pastor. CONGREGATIONAL PROFILE The congregational profile has been posted on the national website! Congratulations Pastoral Search Team this is a milestone to celebrate! You can see the snapshot (a brief introduction to Lyonsville) by following this link: id=2669&keepthis=false&tb_iframe=true&height=&width= Thanks to the Pastoral Search Team for their ongoing work. Now that the Congregational Profile has been posted, they have begun receiving Ministerial Profiles. The next phase of their work is to read these documents, prayerfully consider this applicants, and discern which candidates to interview. This is an important phase of the process, so your prayers supporting them in this service are appreciated. UCC Disaster Ministries The Retirement Housing Foundation is matching donations to UCC Disaster Ministries Harvey response up to $50,000. See the following link and give before September 30 so that the full $50,000 match can be utilized for a total of $100, UCC Roots About twice a month you ll get about UCC heritage and history. utm_campaign=aug16_roots&utm_medium= &utm_source=unitedchurchofchrist

8 Page 8 The Good News News From Your Mission Board GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY Please come join us to help volunteer at the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) on Saturday, October 21, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:45. We will meet at church to carpool at 12:15. We also go every Wednesday from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. (meet to carpool at 5:15). The GCFD, Chicago s food bank, is a non-profit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 678,000 adults and children in Cook County every year. They rely heavily on their volunteers to help repack bulk products, assemble boxes with assorted food, check expiration dates, glean produce, etc. Participants must be at least 14 years old. For more information go to or see/call Cindi Fiandaca or Judy Birmingham to sign up. The depository would like all volunteers to register in advance. Please see our website (Volunteer Opportunities post) or contact the church office for a link to their website where you can easily do this. Household items/clothing for Food Pantry - We have set up a few shelves to display household items (pots, pans, small appliances, etc.) and a rod for clothing for items to be donated to our food pantry guests. They are welcome to take whatever they can use. Linda Hankus is monitoring this and if an item sits too long, she takes them to the Good Will store. If you have gently used household items or clothing that you would like to donate, please bring them to church and give them to a member of the Mission Board or Linda Hankus. Join Us MEN S BREAKFAST GROUP meets on the second Saturday of each month at 9:00 a.m. at Willow Hills Restaurant, next to Walgreens at Joliet Rd. and Willow Springs Rd. in Indian Head Park. All men are welcome to join us for this chance to eat and talk! For more information contact Gene Martin. WOMEN S BABY BOOMER BUNCH (WBBB) will meet for breakfast at Willow Hills Restaurant at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 7. They will also meet Saturday, November 4. All boomers and their friends are invited. Contact Judy Birmingham for more information.

9 The Good News Page 9 OUR SYMPATHIES AND PRAYERS Clarence ( Larry ) Beutel, husband of Doris Beutel, passed away September 12 th. Our thoughts and prayers are with Larry s family and friends. Lyonsville 174 At the May Council meeting, while we were discussing finances, it was mentioned that Lyonsville is very good at giving to our mission projects, whenever we are asked, we dig deep and give generously. Someone asked, why can t we ask for money for Lyonsville for once. So we did, we asked everyone to give the church a 174 th birthday gift. We asked for a symbolic $174, but asked everyone to give what they could. For each $174 received we lit one candle on our birthday cake. We wrapped up this giving campaign on September 17. We lit 28 candles; that is a total of $4, During this 4 month period we continued to give generously to our regular mission projects, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Feed My Starving Children, the Night Ministry, baby supplies for Church Women United, hygiene kits, and our own food pantry. We were able to give above and beyond by looking at ourselves and prayerfully considering what more we could do. Please keep this extra giving in mind as we prepare for our annual Stewardship campaign in October. Our them for this year will be Journey to Generosity. On Sunday October 8, 15 and 22 we will be discussing stewardship and asking the congregation to make a covenant with God concerning their level of giving for the coming year. Pledges will be collected on Sunday October 24, and will help us determine our budget for the year of our 175 th anniversary of Lyonsville Congregational UCC. Thank you to all who gave, and continue to give, from their hearts, Doug Adams, Stewardship Committee, Assistant Moderator

10 Contact Lyonsville The Good News is produced monthly, except for a combined July/ August edition. Phone Lyonsville@sbcglobal.net Visit us on the web at Please submit your articles to lyonsville@sbcglobal.net. The deadline for the next issue is October 22. Please return this form to update your contact information. Please correct the information on the mailing label. No thanks. Please remove from mailing list. I prefer delivery. Here s my address: LYONSVILLE CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 6871 Joliet Road Indian Head Park, IL 60525