November Worshiping God, Growing in Faith, Serving Neighbors--near and far. ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING Sunday, November 8

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1 The Messenger November 2015 St. Matthew Lutheran Ithaca, OH Worshiping God, Growing in Faith, Serving Neighbors--near and far ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING Sunday, November 8 following worship Your attendance is encouraged and appreciated! We have spent the past couple of months talking about a shared partnership with Gordon UMC sharing the services of Pastor John Gilmore and Director of Family Life, Travis Qualls. Our cottage meetings have gone well! Thanks for all who attended! We have heard your comments and answered many good questions! If you were not able to attend a cottage meeting, and you have questions before our annual meeting on the 8th, please see a member of our Executive Team Chris Stump, Rhonda Kress, Jane Brown, or Shannon McCullough. We will be voting on this issue at the meeting on November 8th. A Month to Give Thanks On Sunday, November 15th, we will give thanks for our blessings, by giving to others during our Annual Thank-offering Service. We will also be gathering food for the Castine Food Bank Holiday packages! Please see a list of needs on page 3. On Wednesday, November 25th at 7:30 p.m., please join us for our Annual Thanksgiving Eve Service Come, as we thank God together for our many blessings. COMMUNITY All are invited for a Home Cooked Meal Thursday, November 26, 2015 Franklin-Monroe School For more information or to make reservations Please call Dean a

2 A Note From the pastor: Fall is here, the leaves are turning color and starting to fall along with the temperatures. Thanksgiving is coming up and I feel we have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for how I have been received by the folks at St. Matthew who have opened up their hearts to me and welcomed me into their church family. I am thankful that we have taken this journey through The Story together and that by Nov. 22 several in our congregation will have met God s upper story and our lower story told in the Bible in new and life transforming ways. We are busy planning our Advent series with the worship design team. It will be called A Fair ly Good Christmas. In thinking about Advent and the excitement and preparation we are to make for the coming Christ Child we got to thinking, what do we prepare for and anticipate here in Darke Co? What do you think? We came up with the Great Darke Co. Fair. We are going to use the metaphor of the Fair as we go through the Advent scriptures in the Revised Common Lectionary (the Lutheran lectionary) that tell to be prepared for the Christmas birth. You might hear the mic tent voice calling the shepherds to come see the Christ child, or some allusion to the Sheep barn having a manger. Don t worry, while we will try to connect the lessons to something real in our lives our church and services will maintain the traditional Christmas feel. In this fall season we are also going to be voting on November 8 on whether or not to continue the shared ministry partnership with Gordon UMC. You will be voting to continue a relationship with Pastor John and begin a relationship with Director of Family Life, Pastor Travis Qualls. At one of the cottage meetings a question came forward asking just what a Director of Family Life does and why would this be something important to St Matthew Lutheran Church? Pastor Travis works with youth, children, and parents. At the churches he will be developing a Christ-centered family ministry that helps young adults, youth, and children grow in their faith journey and become Disciples for Jesus Christ. He will expand several of the ministries he has developed at Gordon UMC to include St. Matthew. For example he works with a Youth Advisory Team that helps plan and support youth activities. We will be inviting members of St. Matthew to participate on this team. Pastor Travis is also working on connecting both Franklin Monroe and Arcanum Schools bringing the Christ to children in our churches and outside of our churches. This connection not only helps build God s Kingdom but they also create relationships that often bear fruit in local church attendance. I believe that both Gordon UMC and St. Matthew Lutheran Church are embarking on a journey that will bring sustainability and vitality to both churches. That we will find ourselves being able to grow to the size we want to be, all the while remaining relational and family based. I believe that God has a plan for both these churches to be the light of Christ in their communities. Pastor John 2

3 OUR MONTHLY WELCA MEETING will be held at the home of Earlene Morris on November 11 at 7 p.m. We will continue with our bible study by Liv Larson Andrews, our session is titled Tempo Giusto. ONE Ministry Castine Food Bank item of the month: Canned Fruit Our project for November is the in-gathering of food for the Castine Food Bank. All donations are needed at church by Thank-offering Sunday, November 15. canned sweet potatoes chicken broth instant potatoes (no fresh) green beans corn jello/lite noodles fruit cocktail/lite evaporated milk Monetary donations for turkeys and perishables Baking items: sugar, flour, brown sugar, salt, Yellow cake mix, shortening, pumpkin Packing at the food bank will be Monday November 16 at 6 p.m. in the Life Center at the Castine Church of the Brethren. Dinners will be distributed between noon or 5-7 pm on Tuesday, November 17. Castine Area Food Bank 2015 Report Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus! This year the food bank experienced a slight reduction in calls at 141 from January 6 October 5. Our community support has been wonderful this year. We wish to thank you for supporting this ministry. From a ministry standpoint, more people were willing for us to pray with them and more are asking for prayer than others have in the past. There has also been more inquiries about Worship Services and times. They were referred to our Supporting Churches List which is included in every order for their convenience. We continue to give out Adult & Children s Bibles to new referrals and Thanksgiving/Christmas religious books to all children. At Thanksgiving last year we helped 131 families. At Christmas we helped 151 families. Due to the higher cost of turkeys, this year the board has decided to give turkeys for Thanksgiving and hams for Christmas. We are planning for 100 names for each - Thanksgiving and Christmas. 3

4 Thanks to all who helped get our Parsonage to-do list completed. The team has been working hard this past month. Our focus has been getting the heating ducts cleaned, replacing the flooring in the office and stairs and doing some maintenance work on the handicapped ramp railing. JANITORIAL BIDS for 2016 are being accepted until November 29. Please contact Shannon at the office for a job summary and submit your bid to any council member. A new baby changing table has been donated to St. Matthews in honor of Zora Guinigundo and Thomas Daggett from their Grandma's - Anita, Jane, and Rhonda. BABY Blessings for Grandma Charlotte Delong Great s; Terry & Neva Birt Ben & Kim Smith welcomed Elijah James on October 6, lb 10 oz, 20.5" Many thanks to Tom Knick for perfectly sizing down the table to make it fit our space!!! We hope many future babies are able to use it at St. Matthew's in the future! Directory Updates Soon, we will be printing our 2016 Church directory. This directory has birthdates, addresses, phone numbers and addresses. If any of YOUR information has changed this past year, please contact Shannon at skmccullough@earthlink.net any time before the end of November with your updates. If you are not happy with your picture in our current booklet, or would just like an updated one, please one to Shannon or see Jane Brown after worship to have a new one taken. 4

5 Advent Series announced!! A Fair ly Good Christmas! Why would we associate these two totally different things together? What is the purpose of connecting something secular (like the fair) with something Holy (like Christmas)? The fair is OVER! What does it have to do with celebrating the coming of Christ? Advent begins on November 29. Join us, and you ll find out the answers to these questions, and why we think you ll not only be reminded of your memories of the fair at Christmas..but you ll also remember the story of Christmas next year at the fair. Christmas Poinsettia s Sign-up sheets are available for ordering your Christmas Poinsettia s. This year s choice is either red, white or pink, and the cost is $9 each. The deadline for ordering is Sunday, November 22. The idea is that you buy them, allow the church to beautify the sanctuary with them on Christmas Eve, then you are invited to take them home. Payment should be made through the offering. Please make sure you mark your envelope Poinsettia. Christmas is coming soon!! Please consider giving a Christmas gift(s) to one of the residents under the care of Wernle Youth & Family Center. Please consider making one of the residents just like a family member and give Christmas gifts just as you do your own family. Please see Jane Brown for a name to draw for your Christmas giving. On the list you can give one gift or all the listed gifts. It is entirely up to you. 5

6 November Birthdays 3 Katie Harman 7 Ruth Collins 16 Jim Castello 19 Tracey Clark 20 Karr Stump 21 Luke Herr Ron Rismiller November Anniversaries 24 Joel & Rhonda Kress October Prayer Concerns Neva Birt Sharon Pearce Pastor & Mary Piel Chris & Bill Taylor Dennette Kinnison Samantha Thomas Phyllis Fisher Father Eric Bowman Connie Adams Riley Cottrell Beverly Zimmer Paul Hoke Alice Mae Harleman Cindy Payton Emma Archer John Swihart Winnie Netzley Bonnie Tucker Dorothy Hunt Luke Schweiterman Annette North Deanna & Rick Jones Sandy Thompson Willodean Bruckner Tad Fitzpatrick Carolyn Marker Mark Mills Sherri Hart Prayers of sympathy and healing for the families of: Darlene Cook Myrl Lephart June Hutchinson Dorothy Rhoades Jerrie Smith Jeston Jake Smith Ellen Mast Margaret Miller Birth of Elijah James Smith Earlene Morris 95 years old Annette North 92 years old Faye Harman new job Blessings Gene & Sandy Thompson 60th anniversary Anna Stump no seizures Brad Lawry Jane Brown To reach us for the prayer chain, please call Rhonda Kress at or rhonda.j.kress@gmail.com Thanks to all you generous givers $ went to the Crop Walk this year! Our walkers were: Ron Fasick, Pam Yeomans, Sherry Marten and Anita Schneider. Thanks, also, to Pam Yeomans for coordinating our walk the past several years! Thank You Dear Friends at St. Matthew s, Thank you so very much for the beautiful prayer blanket that you tied for our Mom.she loves it and it is a real blessing and comfort for her as she recovers. The family of Alice Harleman 6

7 November 2015 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 All Saints Sunday 7 pm - Council Meeting 6:30pm Youth Group Lector: Julia McCullough Acolyte: Josie McCullough 8 24th Pentecost Communion 10:30 am Cong. Meeting 6:30pm Youth Group Lector: Donna Miller Acolyte: Anna Stump Bread: Joyce Knick 15 Thankoffering Sunday 6:30pm Youth Group pm WELCA pm - CAFB Packing Lectors: WELCA Acolyte: Hailey Pahl 22 Christ the King Communion Lector: Jessica Pahl Acolyte: Mickie Ary Bread: Linda Holt 23 December Newsletter entries due :30 pm Thanksgiving Eve service Lector: Ron Fasick Acolyte: Josie McCullough Bread: Donna Miller st Advent 30 Children s sermon schedule: 7 6:30pm Youth Group at GUMC Lector: Chris Stump Acolyte: Karr Stump Advent Wreath: Donna Miller Nov. 1 Pastor Travis Nov. 8 Anita Schneider Nov. 15 Sherry Marten Nov. 22 Linda Holt November 29 Pastor John November Greeters: The McCullough s

8 Church Address 6825 St. Route 722 Ithaca, OH Office Phone/Fax: Interim Pastor: John Gilmore Phone: Parsonage Phone: Wheelchair accessible + Elevator on premises + Holy Communion celebrated - 1st Sunday of every month- major church festivals We re on the web!! Facebook: St. Matthew Sunday Worship services: 9 am Traditional worship 10 am Coffee Break 10:15 am Adult / Children Sunday School St. Matthew Lutheran Church Ithaca 7820 State Route 722 Arcanum, Ohio Dated Material 8