Phillips United Methodist Church Connection

Transcription

1 Phillips United Methodist Church Connection A bimonthly newsletter for members and friends September/October 2018 Issue #5 Sept-Oct 2018 Pastor Rick Haberland Office: 115 Center Avenue Phillips, WI Church: Parsonage: Cell: rickhaberland@yahoo.com Upcoming Events Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m. Collection for Food Pantry - First Sunday of month Noisy Can Collection for Special Sundays- Second Sunday of month Pastor s Sabbath Every Friday Leonard Sweet, a well known Methodist preacher, tells the story of a little girl who entertained herself while setting the table by bringing the utensils to life. Her mother listened as knives, forks and spoons carried on conversations and wrestled their way onto the table. Suddenly the girl looked over at her mother and declared, "If I had to choose, I d rather be a spoon!" "A spoon," her mother replied, now intrigued, "Why would you want to be a spoon? What would be wrong with being a fork or a knife?" "Well," the girl explained, "forks are too grabby, always stabbing stuff and taking it like its theirs. Like in school, I hate it when somebody takes a piece of my desert with their fork and eats it." "Okay," her mother agreed. "But what about the knife?" "No, knives are scary, like, they cut things, and you can t really eat with them, just slice stuff up. But spoons! Spoons can scoop Be a Spoon lots of stuff and even pass it around! They re just nice and round and smooth and friendly. I d rather be a spoon!" Do you know any forks? These are the folks who never seem to have enough, and so they are constantly looking for something more that they can stab their tines into. For a fork, grabbing all the "stuff" is what life is all about. Do you know any knives? These folks are control freaks. No matter what it is, it s never quite right. They ve got to trim, slice and dissect the heart right out of every idea. For knives, it s all about being in control. But, spoons...spoons are different. Instead of taking, spoons were designed to serve. The spoon doesn t stab everything in its path and claim it for itself, or trim everything down to fit its own cookie-cutter reality. For spoons, service is what it s all about. They can serve hot soup or they can serve ice cream. If you have to, you can eat steak or spaghetti with a spoon. Continued on page 5 1

2 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, With this newsletter comes the return of Autumn on September 22, While I am ready for the change of seasons I also think about all the things I have yet to accomplish in the remaining days of the summer: So many things yet to learn about the Phillips UMC. So many names and faces to still perfect. So many kayak sessions still to get in.not to mention training my new puppy Noah. Like any change of the seasons we find ourselves again offered many new opportunities-both for us as individual Christians and for us as a church. I am excited for the school year to begin and the return of the Church School on Wednesday nights; not so sure you would find that same excitement if you asked the confirmation students however. Please keep all the children in your prayers during this time transition back to learning and for the teachers who instruct them. God is still at work in the lives of all of God s children and I am confident the blessings will continue in this new school year ahead. The return to the school year gives us as adults the chance to ask ourselves once again, Am I ready to learn as well? Learning is not something just for students. I ask that you each take time to prayerfully consider signing up for a book study that the church will offer this fall so you too can continue to grow in your faith this season. Soon we will be beginning a study that will help us all dive deeper into our lives as Christians. I encourage all of you to attend. For as scripture tells us, A child who gathers in summer is prudent, but a child who sleeps in harvest brings shame. Proverbs 10:5 (NRSV) May God continue to bless us during this harvest season once again. I pray that we may we all be faithful in our spiritual journey this autumn and always. Blessings, Pastor Rick Page 2

3 September 3 Char Taylor 7 Lindsey Obadal Vicki Lemke 13 Christina Hrad 15 Naomi Nyberg 16 Dennis Lemke Ben Edwards 17 Donna Lind 18 Steve Barnet 19 Jeanne Nyberg Mary Willett 24 Michelle Edwards Peace Garden Happy Birthday! October 2 Lettie Kosmer 7 Rose Tomlinson 9 Keith Trewyn 10 Lincoln Heinz 12 Kirk Bolles Jed Miller 18 Zach Lemke 27 Julie Olson Barb Nyberg Steve Wendt 29 Dave Olson 31 Gwen Parkinson September Happy Anniversary! 4 Josh & Lindsey Obadal 10 Mike & Lettie Kosmer 13 Peter & Kathy Dahlie October 1 Del & Gwen Parkinson The community garden continues to churn out vast amounts of produce for the food pantry participants and others. As you may recall, the purpose of the garden is to provide fresh produce for any resident. A huge thank you to a large group of volunteers from our church who weeded up a storm a few Sunday nights ago. Sally Nez surprised them all with refreshing root beer floats. Many pounds of tomatoes, green beans, peppers and beets have been donated in July and August. Beginning in September, tomatoes, potatoes and herbs (including basil for pesto) will be harvested by a high school horticulture class. The school lunch program will incorporate some of these into its menu. Stop by to check it out if you haven t already done so! 3

4 Noisy Can Our United Methodist Church wide Special Sundays collections are taken up on the second Sunday of each month, rather than a designated date for each of the six specials. In May and June, we collected $100 for Native American Ministries. This offering develops and strengthens Native American ministries within the annual conference and educates Native American seminarians. In July and August, we collected $132 for Peace with Justice. Gifts from this collection fund programs that advocate for peace and justice in the United States and around the world. These programs empower United Methodists to speak out for removing structures and systems that harm God s children globally. Thank you for helping to change lives. It is amazing how our spare change adds up. We don t miss it and others can definitely benefit from it. If you would like a container to make your collection and transportation of your coins easier, they are available at the church. It s nice to have a bank sitting out in the open where we are reminded to drop our coins in as we thank God for all our blessings. Thank you for your on-going generosity with this second-mile giving! Focus on Finances The church has been accomplishing great things this year completion of some much-needed renovations to the parsonage, another productive year of church school, Men s breakfast, a well-attended Bible study at Aspirus Pleasant View, a very successful youth plant sale, garage sale, and concession stand at the North Woods Players spring musical, not to mention great worship services every week! We are definitely a presence in the Phillips area. People know who we are and what we believe based on our activity in the community. To continue to be able to offer all that we do, it s essential to fully fund our ministries. Monthly tithes and offerings continue to lag behind expenses, eroding our fund balance. This update is provided to keep you current on our financial status, keeping in mind we have time to turn things around. It was erroneously reported in the previous newsletter that the monthly budget is $6722; however, it is actually $7846. While that is the budgeted amount, we do all we can to keep expenses below that amount. Tithes and offerings in July were $7298. Nearly each month our income has been approximately $1000 less than our expenses, requiring us to draw from our fund balance. Back in January our balance was $15,754; in March it was $11,676; in May it was down to $9575 and by July we had only $7371. Continuing with this trend, we could exhaust our fund balance by year s end. We operate on a very tight budget, so there s little we can cut to reduce our expenses. For example, volunteers perform nearly all other jobs at the church besides the pastor who serves as his own office staff. We appreciate all our volunteers who teach church school, provide refreshments for social hour, clean the church, mow the lawn, provide music and pulpit fill-in for worship services, assist the pastor with clerical duties, among other things. God has been good to us and we ask you to please prayerfully consider whether you can increase your financial support of our church and its ministries or offer a special offering in honor or memory of a loved one. 4 Page 4

5 Be a Spoon (cont d from front page) Spoons are also adaptable. Have you ever noticed that there is always more spoons than anything else in a silverware set? A service for four includes 4 knives, 4 dinner forks, 4 salad forks, and 8 spoons! The makers know that the spoon gets used in more ways than grabby forks or scary knives. But a spoon is simply a tool. It can only serve if it is used properly. One vision of hell might be a huge banquet hall full of people sitting at tables overflowing with food. Everyone is wailing and gnashing their teeth, because they can see and smell the food, but can t taste it. You see, in this vision of hell, everyone has huge spoons strapped to each arm, making it impossible to bend the elbow. Those at the banquet in hell can scoop up the food with their spoons, but cannot bend their arms to reach their mouths. A vision of heaven might be the same banquet room, the same heaping tables, the same giant spoons, but we hear laughter and singing as the people enjoy the feast. In heaven, they don t need to bend their arms. In heaven, they feed one another. Let us commit ourselves to the servant ministry of Christ. Let us be good spoons, instruments of God s grace in the world, scooping out generous helpings of love and compassion for a hurting world. ~ J. Volunteers in Mission trip to UMCS submitted by Julie Olson I recently returned from my third mission trip to United Methodist Children s Services, UMCS. I keep returning to this worthy ministry because I m so inspired by the wrap-around programming they provide. Since there are only 22 affordable housing units available for every 100 families, they begin by providing safe, quality housing. They also offer a childcare center, emergency food pantry, clothing center and a community health worker. Rent is based on income and the daycare is available for working parents inside and outside of the Washington Park neighborhood. For a little more information on UMCS, I include the following excerpt from their annual report: The United Methodist Children s Services located in Milwaukee works to address the basic needs of families living in poverty. Based on the fundamental belief in God s love, we value the dignity, potential, and worth of each individual, and create a nurturing environment and sense of community in which miracles happen. We understand the interconnected nature of poverty and use a multi-faceted approach to address the struggles families face. We reduce barriers to basic needs so that families can focus on developing roots in the community, building capacity to overcome challenges, and meeting their individualized goals. Through housing, childcare, resources, and community engagement, we act as a stepping stone for families on their way towards stability. We had the second-largest ever group to UMCS this year. I was joined by veterans and first-timers aged 10 to 83 from around the state! A huge number of middle and high school students were in the mix, accomplishing many labor-intensive tasks. Some of the many jobs completed were weeding around both of the main two office buildings and housing complexes, cleaning out the storage facility and basement of the main building, painting several accent walls in the entry areas of each floor of the main apartment building, power washing and staining numerous decks of the townhouses, building clothing sorting bins and laundering mountains of clothing. It s always a very rewarding experience for all participants and is much appreciated by the staff and residents. The tasks we carry out are ones that would not otherwise get done because of their tight budget. I d love to have some teens and adults join me next year for the 28 th annual trip to UMCS! Page 5 5

6 Scriptures for September & October 2018 Sept 2 Scriptures: Song of Solomon 2:8-13, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, Sept 9 Scriptures: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23, James 2:1-10, 14-17, Mark 7:24-37 Sept 16 Scriptures: Proverbs 1:20-33, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38 Sept 23 Scriptures: Proverbs 31:10-31, James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a, Mark 9:30-37 Sept 30 Scriptures: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22, James 5:13-20, Mark 9:38-50 Oct 7 Scriptures: Job 1:1; 2:1-10, Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12, Mark 10:2-16 Oct 14 Scriptures: Job 23:1-9, 16-17, Hebrews 4:12-16, Mark 10:17-31 Oct 21 ***Laity Sunday*** Scriptures: Job 38:1-7, 33-41, Hebrews 5:1-10, Mark 10:35-45 Oct 28 Scriptures: Job 42:1-6, 10-17, Hebrews 7:23-28, Mark 10:46-52 Please remember to update any changes in address or phone numbers with the church. It is very important to keep our records accurate Phillips Fall Festival Our United Methodist Church will once again be offering Cranberry Creations at the Fall Festival on Saturday, September 22 from 9-3. Once again, we will be set up in front of the Birchland Realty building. A sign-up sheet for workers and bakers will be going around in early September. All edibles with cranberries or craisins are welcome. This is a great opportunity to be the face of our church in the community and to raise funds to help our church. Contact Julie Olson at for more information. Income from this fundraiser will go into the general fund to help reduce the budget deficit. Together we can make a difference! Page 66

7 Our church/charge conference this year will be held on: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at 6:15 PM. Our new district superintendent will join us that evening to lead our conference. Again this year forms for the conference are online; pastor has received an with links and instructions. This will be shared soon with those who have responsibility for completing the forms. Committee chairs, if you don t hear from Pastor Rick regarding your forms, please remind him. Vacation Bible School 2018 Vacation Bible school was held at St. Therese on July th. This year s theme was SonWest Roundup. Children grades 4k-5 th grade participated in Western themed activities such as basket weaving, wood burning, outside games, singing, and snacks. On the last day, the children performed at Duroy Terrace, Regency, and Pleasant View. The culminating event was a performance for parents and grandparents at St. Therese. A special thank you to Tanner Miller, Jada Eggebrecht, and Kacy Eggebrecht for acting as VBS youth leaders. Page 7 7

8 SPRC met in July and in August. As a committee we are meeting monthly for Pastor Rick s first 6 months. Small group meet and greet house visits are being planned to help welcome and get to know Pastor Rick. The small group format will allow for more personal discussions and will help Pastor Rick get to know the members of Phillips UMC. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns please contact a SPRC committee member. Members of the committee are: Kyrstin Gabay, Peter Dahlie, Kathy Schilling, Brent Edwards, Bonnie Japuntich, Jed Miller, Julie Olson, Donna Lind, and Vicki Lemke. Church School officially starts on Wednesday, September 19 th from after school until 5:00. We will have a small kickoff on that day. We will be using the Deep Blue curriculum again this year. Deep Blue focuses on being with God, loving God and your neighbor, understanding yourself as children of God, and exploring faith and the Bible. An information letter and calendar of events is being sent out to all children grades Kindergarten to 6 th grade. If you have any questions please contact Kyrstin Gabay at or kgabay@phillips.k12.wi.us to help welcome Pastor Rick to Phillips. Parsonage Repair Fundraising Update Phillips United Methodist members and friends faithfully continue to provide blessings of financial support to repay a loan for the much needed updates to the parsonage. During the transition time between pastors this past June, new carpeting was installed both upstairs and downstairs. Four bedrooms and a living room were painted to give the home a fresh look and feel. A huge thank you to several dedicated members of our congregation who volunteered to scrub, mow, clean the garage, paint and more The cost of these updates was estimated at $4,500. The carpet and installation from Ken s Carpet totaled $4,300 and paint costs were approximately $200. As is often the case when doing home improvement projects, there was an unanticipated issue in the upstairs bathroom. When the old linoleum was removed, part of the flooring underneath was badly damaged due to a water leak. The leak was fixed, the floor repaired and new linoleum installed. At this point the additional expense has not been billed. As of August 12, financial contributions to the Parsonage Repair Fund totaled $2,950 of the $4,500 needed to repay the loan from the Ad Council. This leaves a $1,550 balance. The goal of the trustees is to raise the rest of the funds needed to repay the loan by September 1. If you have not already made a monetary donation and feel called to support this effort, please mail a check to Phillips United Methodist Church 115 Center Avenue Phillips, WI with Parsonage Repairs on the memo line. Or even better, put it in the offering plate this Sunday. 8

9 Tips & Bits Maple Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash Servings 4 servings Ingredients 1 large butternut squash about 3 lbs, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon salt and black pepper to taste Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. 2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. 3. Spread butternut squash cubes out on the baking sheet. Drizzle evenly with olive oil then sprinkle with ground cinnamon, salt, pepper and maple syrup. Toss all the ingredients together, using tongs or your hands, ensuring all the cubes are coated. Place in the oven and roast for minutes (rotating pan if necessary half-way) until squash is tender. Remove from oven and serve immediately or allow to cool. Blessing of the Pets Saturday October 6 th at 11AM All pets are welcome. Please bring your pet on a leash, in a crate, or cage. Also bring along bags for waste removal if needed. Invite your family, friends, and neighbors to bring their beloved pets. 9 Page 9

10 Phillips United Methodist Church 115 Center Avenue Phillips, WI The Laughing Circle: Jokes and Stories to Brighten Your Day The Correct Assumption A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, Naturally... I assumed you had stolen the car." Page 10 10