Westminster News. October 2018 at Westminster Presbyterian Church

Transcription

1 Westminster News WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH October 2018 at Westminster Presbyterian Church INSIDE: Oct. 7 World Communion Sunday/ Intergenerational Sunday School Genesis 2:18 24; Hebrews 1:1 4; 2:5 12; Psalm 8; Mark 10:2 16 Focus Text: Mark 10:2-16 Sermon: A Higher Standard. Scott Anderson preaching Intergenerational Event 11:00 AM - Pastoral Care Card Making News & Announcements Birthdays Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Fall Stewardship Campaign Kickoff Amos 5:6 7, 10 15; Hebrews 4:12 16; Psalm 90:12 17; Mark 10:17 31 Focus Text: Mark 10:17-31 Sermon: Testimonials from Westminster Members 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Isaiah 53:4 12; Hebrews 5:1 10; Psalm 91:9 16; Mark 10:35 45 Focus Text: Mark 10:35-45 Sermon: Life Beyond the Status phere. Scott Anderson preaching Session Highlights Worship Volunteer Schedule Joys & Concerns Oct. 28 Reformation Sunday Jeremiah 31:7 9; Hebrews 7:23 28; Psalm 126; Mark 10:46 52 Focus Text: Mark 10:45-52 Sermon: Seeing with New Eyes. Scott Anderson preaching Calendar Issue #555 #573 OCTOBER Issue #573 OCTOBER 2018

2 NEWS & Announcements A More Appealing Yuma Drive Entrance The Membership Committee, as part of its mission to make our church welcoming, is exploring ways to enhance the attractiveness of the Yuma Drive entrance. Our member Carol Birch, who has interior design experience, is assisting us. The sofa there was moved to the Nursery to replace the deteriorating one there, and the four wing chairs are being repositioned in a conversational grouping. The coat racks have been realigned. The Committee will explore raising the height of the bench for seating to see if that is an option. The plan is to paint the narrow hall to the outside door and panels in the room with the elevator in a warm peachy color to brighten the room. The green tablecloth will be removed, and the glass-top table will remain without covering. After the painting is done, what to hang on the walls will be explored. A mirror near the coatracks has been proposed, and the Church owns a nice one. The Committee knows that Westminster members are very invested in their church, so please feel free to contact me or other Committee members (Cynthia Bush, Lee DeSpain, Andrea Kenny, Judy Stone, or Barbara Vogelsang) with any ideas in this area. - Alice Appen, Membership Chair Our Adopt a School Our Adopt-a-School Partner, Cherokee Heights Middle School, is planning to hold a Crock Pot cooking class sometime during the fall. They are requesting donations of fully functional crock pots. Their vision is to instruct families in need on crock pot cooking and give away the meal and the Crock Pot at the end of the session. The more crock pots collected, the more families that can be served. A second need at Cherokee is for the donation of any type of fishing equipment. Your fishing donation will be kept at the school and used by multiple students. Please contact the church office and let us know what items you are willing to donate. CROP Walk It's the most wonderful time of the year: CROP Walk season! Westminster has a long history of participation in this effective and efficient fundraiser. Proceeds from the CROP Walk go to work around the world and in Madison to end hunger. The Madison Area CROP Walk happens Sunday, October 21 at 1:30 at First Congregational UCC. How can I get involved? -Join the Westminster walkers. Contact Kate Fletcher if you're interested. -Pray for Church World Service, Dane County food pantries, and all other recipients of CROP Walk funds -Make a donation. Drop a check in the offering plate any Sunday through October 21. Make the check payable to Westminster Presbyterian with CROP in the memo line. Or find Kate Fletcher in the narthex after worship. Rummage Sale Westminster s Fall Rummage Sale is proceeding and will be held on Sat. Oct 27th from 8 am to 2 pm. We need the whole church family to consider helping with the sale. It takes a whole village. We will be getting ready for the sale on Oct starting Wednesday around 5 pm with cleaning out Room 8 (with previous items). We will need folks to help carry all those items out to the tables setup in fellowship hall as well as a big pack-up, clean-up crew starting at 2:00 pm after the sale on Saturday. And of course, we need lots and lots of help organizing merchandise and pricing on Thursday and Friday, including all the Pink Poodle clothing donations. We, of course, need donations! Please remember that all donations should be gently used, free of rips and stains, and in working condition. If it's broken or soiled, we cannot sell it. We also CANNOT take appliances, exercise equipment, mattresses, baby equipment, and TVs. It would be most helpful if you could wait and bring your donations to fellowship hall on Wednesday 10/24, Thursday 10/25 or Friday 10/26. If you can t make those days for drop off, please call Katie in the office to inquire about other drop off times. Thanks for all the great support. Our sales are great opportunities to build community, provide low-priced items to people who need them and earn money that goes back into the Madison community. If you have questions, Ruth Hein at rich4parse@charter.net or phone Page 2

3 Working Together to Help Our Neighbors Westminster Presbyterian Church members are generous with their time and talents when it comes to hearing a need and helping others in our neighborhood. This was the case yet again when we heard the call from our Adopt-a-School Partners at Cherokee Heights Middle School (CHMS) for the startup of their new food pantry on September 4th. What follows is the story of how we helped and the result of our efforts. One thousand Westminster dollars from our mission budget helped with the purchase of professional refrigeration equipment for CHMS so that it could be in place for the start of school. Many of our generous members are giving additional donations to Westminster marked with the word food pantry, so that additional funds can flow to the food pantry to get items such as milk, etc. We also learned that just eighteen cents could procure approximately one hundred pounds of food from places such as Second Harvest. Westminster s leadership helped secure 368 food items from our congregation and the neighborhood to stock the shelves at Cherokee. For a complete itemization, please see the list posted on the Kiosk. We stepped up when we learned that the food pantry would not be able to accept the requested food donations before August 30, yet wanted the items to be available at the start of school. Our location was ideal for collection and sorting. We also provided plastic and paper bags by primary recycling in numbers too numerous to count. Four Westminster volunteers are currently completing the paperwork needed to be cleared to staff the food pantry. For all issues with the CHMS Food Pantry we are working with the Food For Thought Initiative and their volunteer director, Beth Bookland, Ph.D., who was kind enough to present an Open Forum on their work in Madison here on August 26th. It is with grateful hearts that we work together to strive to better our neighborhood. Thank you for your part in writing this story of love for others. Walter Pridham Memorial A reminder that Walt s memorial will be Saturday, October 13 at Westminster. Visitation is at 1:00pm and the service is at 2:00pm with desserts and coffee to follow in Fellowship Hall. Please continue to keep Karen and the Pridham family in your prayers. Did you know Westminster has opportunities for fun and fellowship? Join Us! Circle s: Two groups of women (all ages), called circles, meet once a month at Westminster for a current events and bible-centered discussion. The Esther-Naomi Circle meets the 3rd Tuesday at 1:00pm, and Mary- Elizabeth Circle meets the 3rd Thursday at 6:00pm, both at Westminster. (We are exploring starting a men s group as well, so please let us know if you re interested!) Young Adult Fellowship: Every other month our young adults meet at a local pub for fun, support and fellowship. Times and locations will be posted in the weekly announcements and bulletin. Bible : Wednesdays 12:30-2pm This weekly in-depth Bible study class which meets during the school year is led by Rev. Jessica Salt. This fall the scriptural focus will be on the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. Class participants include both church members and participants from the community. No previous knowledge of the Bible is required to join this weekly discussion! Book : Thursdays 9:30-11:30am The lively Thursday morning book group meets weekly with Pastor Scott Anderson for a hearty portion of fellowship, conversation, and an enjoyable, faith-based discussion of a commonly read book, usually lasting several weeks. Recent books include: I Am Malala, Eleanor: A Spiritual Biography, Silent Spring, and Chosen? Sunday Mornings 9:45am - Worship 9:55am - Children s Message (during Worship) followed by Children s Chapel 10:45am - Coffee in the Narthex 11:00am Sunday School- K-5 in Room 12, Youth (middle & high school) in Youth Suite downstairs, Adult Bible or Forum in the Mary Jean Bartholomew Lounge Issue #555 OCTOBER 2018 Preschool and younger are welcome in the nursery Issue #573 OCTOBER 2018 Page 3

4 Keeping Up with the Hayes s We have been in Schönebeck for over a month now (I forgot to post this this blog was from Sept 11, 2018) and reflecting back on our first stop of this year journey, the Matthew 18:1-5 continues to be a constant reminder for reflection and inspiration. At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? He called a child, whom He put on among them, and said, Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes such a child in my name welcomes me. (Matthew 18:1-5). This verse has brought me a lot of encouragement over this last month, as I have had to rely on the help of so many different people (children, adults, strangers, family, friends, etc.), just like a child. Since the beginning of our time here in Germany, I have felt many times just like a child and I must share with you that it is a very humbling experience; I have felt lost, confused, isolated, alone, and completely helpless at times. When I have felt most like a child during this time, I try to remember this passage in which Jesus tells us that it is important to become like a child. Maybe this is not entirely what he meant, but I think there is truth to the idea that when you put yourself in a situation where you are having to rely on others, you are opening yourself up to being vulnerable and must learn to accept the help and love of another. Now for someone like me, this is not an easy thing to do. I know that I am not the smartest person in the world, but I do feel like I am competent and well educated. I have my Masters in Social Work and while it has been a while since I have worked in the field (for those that don t know, I was blessed to be able to stay home with our children for the last 11 years), I do have a level of competence that helps me to feel like I can help those with basic needs. I have been volunteering in an elementary school here in Schönebeck, specifically a 1 Klasse (this is the first class children attend in elementary school). The students are learning their colors and shapes, their alphabet and numbers (and how to write them), and starting to put letters together to make a word (for those in the US, this class is comparable to our Kindergarten classes). So given my education and background I felt that I could be of help when I was asked to help out a special needs student, basically to help keep him on track and help him with the assignments as he needed it. The first several weeks was quite trying and extremely humbling. As I sat in class with these children, I realized that I was not there just to help, but to also learn right alongside them. I was learning my numbers, letters (and the sounds they make in German), my colors and shapes, etc. I was a 1 Klasse student and helping a student with whom I couldn t speak to because of the language barrier. The simplest of tasks became quite difficult (ie. write your number one from the top down not the bottom up I don t know how to say this in German, so I have to try to show it through action). Now the language barrier is challenging enough with adults who are patient and willing to help and learn alongside of you, but a language barrier with a child who already has difficulty learning and paying attention.sigh. I was starting to wonder how helpful I actually was until the teacher I am working with asked me to stay and continue to help (of course knowing that we had plans to change locations at the end of September). Now this job is nothing like the high stress job I had before and there are many times I still feel pretty useless, but I know that I am helping both the teacher and the student. And it may be a small way in which I am helping, but this journey is about just that, helping people where and how they needed it. Right now, this teacher and this student needed me to help in this way, and even though I may not always feel effective and competent, I know that I am giving them something that is making their life just a bit better for this moment, and that is wonderful. The really amazing thing about this time in Germany and in the school is that not only am giving to others, but I am getting so much from them. I have been given an opportunity to learn how to laugh at myself and how to accept the help of others. I have learned that sometimes conversations and meanings just get lost in translation and when it happens, laughter seems to bring everyone back together. The people here in Schönebeck have shown our family so much love, patience, and acceptance that I can t help but hope and pray that we all learn to show the same to others who don t speak our language. Page 4

5 A Reason to Celebrate A BIG congratulations to the Kornetzke family as they celebrated the wedding of Aaron Kornetzke and Leah DiPalma, right here at Westminster! We wish you a life full of love, humor and happiness. Thoreau Summer Reading Program - Judged A Success Twenty seven interested Westminster congregation members gathered on Rally Day to hear Kelly McCann, reading interventionalist at Thoreau Elementary School recount her experiences leading the Westminster sponsored Thoreau Summer Reading Program. We learned how Kelly, using her personal and professional skills worked with students in need, their siblings, and caretakers to enhance and preserve their reading skills over the summer. Kelly has returned to Thoreau this Fall as a first grade teacher. During this summer, Kelly made 60 home visits during June, July and August to 20 students and 15 siblings. She gave out 520 books, establishing libraries where there were none in families homes. Her visits established a trusting relationship between the families and the school, making them more receptive to future interactions. She helped parents to know how to help their children who struggled with reading by giving them very simple guidelines to follow. Members concluded after hearing Kelly speak that she was a key component of this program. The congregation of Westminster thanked her in person for her expertise and passion for this project. We on the Mission Committee wish to thank our congregation for saving this program from termination when other funding sources could not be found. We particularly wish to thank Dave and Kathy Granquist for their lead gift than ignited others giving so that the program can have at least another year of life. Kelly said, None of this would have continued but for the simple, kind, generosity of our wonderful friends at Westminster Presbyterian Church. I will forever be grateful. Thank you so much. Photo of Kelly McCann (in green) at work OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS Nizar Jarjour 10/01 Nathan Wilke 10/04 Karen Hansen 10/05 Mary Lathrop 10/06 Julie Madden 10/09 William Butler 10/11 Tom Buchhauser 10/11 Karen Osborne 10/13 Thatcher Root 10/13 Donna Norton 10/15 Hannah Kwiatkowski 10/15 Joyce Buseman 10/19 Michelle Zebrowski 10/19 Marcy Braucht 10/20 Aaron Kornetzke 10/22 Kimberly Pedracine 10/26 Jeff Hayes 10/27 Issue #555 OCTOBER 2018 Issue #555 #573 OCTOBER 2018 Issue #573 OCTOBER OCTOBER Page 5

6 August & SEPTEMBER Session highlights Aug: -Westminster and Covenant will continue to hold joint services at Oakwood West on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and alternate leadership for worship. All are welcome to attend the services. The Committee on Ministry has asked Westminster to be a neutral pulpit for the Monroe Pastor Nominating - -Committee. Session approved the request to be a neutral pulpit and have their candidate(s) as guest preacher(s) -The Budget Committee, made up of the chairs of committees, met prior to the Session meeting to plan for next year. -Education and Personnel shared Amy Poland's resume and were enthusiastic about the meeting with her and reported that she will be a very good fit for Westminster. Amy will start work in September. Funds have been designated to purchase a laptop for her. -Session approved Stewardship Committee's motion to put $25, from the Memorials and Trusts dedicated account and $15, from the Music Fund dedicated account into the Endowment Funds. -Membership Committee shared the new Time and Talent form with Session and the revised Friendship pad form that will soon be in the pew pads. -Erin Nass has agreed to moderate Westminster's Facebook postings. Sept: -Session approved David Hayes online popcorn sales (Boy Scouts). -Session approved preliminary church budget and reviewed stewardship letter. UPDATED Worship Volunteer Schedule Liturgists Ushers Greeters Communion Servers 10/7/2018 Karen Stephens Paul Bishop Erin Nass Linda Bishop Garrett Fletcher Judy Graham Karen Osborne 10/14/2018 Bud Smith Kathy Key Dave Granquist Julie Madden Kathy Granquist Doug Halls Juanita Halls 10/21/2018 Juanita Halls Dorothy Hujik Dale Rohde Rhea Schultz Marian Rohde Judy Stone Doug Kornetzke 10/28/2018 Andrea Kenny Ed Cothroll Judy Graham Garrett Fletcher Len Van Ess Kathy Key Ken Sadeghian Andrea Kenny Thatcher Root Bill Tanke Linda Tanke Page 6

7 Joys & Concerns Please keep the following members and friends in your prayers for health, peace and wholeness: Jack Browning, Shirley Toomey, Vern Forsberg, Wade Waggener, Marjorie Hamann and son Jack, Ann Friedley, Jan Browning, Newt Roberts, Donna Chandler, Karen Pridham and family, Hannah Kwiatkowski, Karen Stephens and the loss of her aunt Carol OCTOBER 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 30 Blessing of the Animals Food Sunday 11 AM Intergenerational event - Pastoral Card Making 8 9:30 AM Knitwits :30 PM Oakwood West Worship :30 PM Shelter Dinner 13 5:00 AM Shelter Breakfast 2 PM Walt Pridham Memorial :00 PM Esther- Naomi Circle 7:00 PM Stewardship :00 PM Mary- Elizabeth Circle 19 7:00 PM Doin R Thing Dance Just Bakery Sale! 22 9:30 AM Knitwits 23 7:00PM Session RUMMAGE SALE 8AM-2PM WESTMINSTER PICTURE DIRECTORY DAYS (10/31-11/3) 3 Issue #555 OCTOBER 2018 Issue #573 OCTOBER 2018 Page 7

8 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 4100 Nakoma Road Madison WI Call: Fax: We are especially thankful for : Westminster Mission Ever seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit, we strive to follow Jesus Christ by being Attentive to the Word, Faithful to our covenant with God and each other, and Diligent in ministering to the needs of the world. The Rev. Scott Anderson, Pastor Office Hours: by appointment scott@westminstermadison.org Amy Poland, Christian Ed. Coordinator Office Hours: Tues & Thurs mornings amy@westminstermadison.org Joe Chrisman, Minister of Music westminstermusic@sbcglobal.net Westminster News PWW OCTOBER STAFF Dorothy Blotz, Accompanist dblotz@charter.net Vern Forsberg, Pastor Emeritus westminstermadison.org Worship Schedule Worship Service: 9:45am Sundays ~Child Care available~ Katie Bencze, Church Administrator Office hours: Mon-Thurs / 8am-4pm info@westminstermadison.org Search for: Westminster Presbyterian Church