PALM LEAVES. Pastor s Pause A Little Reminder VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 AUGUST Special Points of Interest: Inside this issue:

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1 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 AUGUST 2018 PALM LEAVES Palm Schwenkfelder Church Special Points of Interest: Youth News Senior Choir Senior Bell Choir Junior Bell Choir Pastor Nick s Birthday Pics Washington Meeting House Service Confirmation Pics Relay for Life Pics Caspar s Corner Flower & Bulletin sponsorship Trustees Tidbits Chow-Chow Making Brown Bag Lecture Summer Music Lineup Gedächtnestag at Kraussdale Pastor s Pause A Little Reminder Before I write my newsletter articles, I often look back at previous years, and today had a lovely reminder from an article I had written in It also happens that I just came off the Perkiomen Creek with my paddleboard in a bit of a heat wave in the first week of July. In and on the water was refreshingly pleasant, but getting out and into the sun, and especially on blacktop was a vivid reminder of those hot summer days growing up in North Carolina, when you could see the heat radiating up from the roadways and parking lots and just wanted to get out of the heat. And as soon as I was out of the water, and the shade of the trees beside the Perkiomen, I wished I was back in! So let me share with you the little reminder from a couple of years ago in these hot days of summer. I don t think it is a coincidence that most of the activities I choose for my regular exercise have me in or around water, where I also find that same sense of calm and refocus. It turns out that I am not alone in that experience, and there have been some studies done on the phenomenon. Wallace J. Nichols, in his book Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do (Little, Brown and Company, 2014.) explores the remarkable effects of water on our health and wellbeing. Washington Post writer Nicola Joyce comments that Blue Mind refers to the neurological, psychological, and emotional changes our brains experience when we are close to water. In my own experience, I would describe it as that thing that happens when I get out on the paddleboard, go for a bike ride around Green Lane Park, hit the pool at the YMCA, or am at the beach. At first there are a million and one things on my mind, a sense of feeling overwhelmed and stressed clouding my ability to be fully present. But when I get out on the water or in it, that sense of being overwhelmed and stressed, the million and one things filling my mind, after about five minutes, stop being overly present, so that I can breathe and be more Inside this issue: Youth News/Pastor Nick s Birthday Pics Choir News 3 Calendar 4 Trustees Tidbits 6 Relay for Life Pics 7 Caspar s Corner 8 Washington & Confirmation Pics 2 11

2 Page 2 PALM LEAVES Y O U T H N E W S Save the Date!! September 9 th Is Rally Day!! What s Your Favorite Bible Story? Bring a Covered Dish to Share and an Item for Open Link Welcome back to Sunday School!! We re looking forward to another amazing year at Palm! C o l l e g e C a r e P a c k a g e s If you know of any Palm youth who have graduated high school and are continuing on to higher education, such as College or Trade School, please submit their name and school address to the church office (or home address if they are commuting) and they will receive cards and treats throughout their school year. August Birthdays A Very Happy Birthday to Jovia Kinsler (8/13), Nicholas Pence (8/19), Job Kinsler (8/30) Happy 18th Birthday to Kaitlyn Mundy (8/22) Please notify the church office if someone has been missed or if a date is incorrect. P a s t o r N i c k s B i r t h d a y A Special Date to Remember Photos by Lee Schultz September 23rd Day of Remembrance Combined Sunday School - Meet at Kraussdale Meetinghouse

3 One Ringy Dingy The Junior Bell Choir is looking for a few new ringers for the season. New members are always welcome, youth in 3rd grade and older. We start practices promptly at 6:00 on Wednesday evenings and play in church on the 3 rd Sunday of each month. Practice will begin Wednesday, September 5 th. No previous musical experience is required. Contact Beth Croll (bethcroll@comcast.net) if you have any questions. Page 3 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 S e n i o r H a n d b e l l C h o i r The Senior Handbell Choir will start again on September 5th. We welcome new ringers. Our practices are generally Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:15 PM and we share our music in worship on the 4th Sundays of the month September through April. S e n i o r C h o i r Do you find yourself humming along with the car radio?? Do you sing to yourself in the shower?? Can you carry a tune in a bucket?? Would you like to learn how to carry a tune without a bucket?? If you meet any of these requirements, you belong in the Senior Choir!! Come join the fun. Rehearsals every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., beginning August 29th. UNITED S C H W E N K F E L D E R CHOIR The United Schwenkfelder Choir will begin rehearsing for its 89th season on Monday evening, September 10th at the Central Schwenkfelder Church in Worcester, PA. This nondenominational choir, representing membership in over 30 churches from Montgomery and Bucks Counties, will present a program of traditional and contemporary Christmas music at 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 2nd. The Choir is always ready to welcome new members.

4 Page 4 PALM LEAVES

5 Page 5 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 (Yeakel Road and Hosensack Road, Palm, PA)

6 Page 6 PALM LEAVES June 2018 June Year to Date Operating Cash on Hand Start of Month/Year $18, $ 64, Operating Income Received $20, $134, Operating Expenses $20, $179, Operating Cash on Hand - 6/30 $18, $ 18, T r u s t e e T i d b i t The Trustees take the security of our Church very seriously and we are working on an upgrade to our current security system, including the ability for certain key people to unlock the church doors remotely. While making this change, the Trustees feel it is prudent to tighten up who has the ability to unlock the church. Our church incurs an expense for each swipe card and fob issued used to unlock the two main doors of our church. We are asking everyone who currently has a swipe card or fob to contact Dan Ferry, our Church Administrator, before September 1 st. You can either return your card or fob to Dan, or ask to continue to have user access via your current card or fob. Please understand that having had a swipe card or fob in the past does not automatically guarantee that you will be granted the same permission going forward as we will now have the ability to remotely unlock. In early September we will be deactivating any unaccounted for swipe cards or fobs. In advance we thank you for your assistance with the changes in our church security, and please feel free to speak with any of our Trustees should you have questions.

7 Page 7 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 A Little Reminder (Cont.) fully aware of God s presence. I have always felt drawn to water, and I do not believe that it is a coincidence that the sacrament of Baptism uses water as its symbol of claiming, blessing and cleansing. I also don t believe it is a coincidence that Jesus refers to himself as Living Water. I hope that we might all find some time to reconnect with our Blue Minds, but even more that we all may drink deeply from the Living Water of Jesus Christ. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it? Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. R e l a y f o r L i f e Photos By Lee Schultz Mark Your Calendar! It s Time to Make Chow Chow August 24 th & 25 th The Ladies Aid will need many hands to help wash & count jars & to chop fresh vegetables on August 24 th, 9:00AM noon. The monumental task of canning will start at 8:00AM on August 25 th. This endeavor is no small task and will take many hands. Please save these dates and consider helping with this Ladies Aid sponsored project. Contact Carol Carlin-Woodward if you are available to help. Donations of new or used pint canning jars are needed (no wide mouth or mayonnaise jars).

8 Page 8 PALM LEAVES Schwenkfeldianna, volume 1, number 2, goes into detail about 5 early Schwenkfelder Ministers: George Weiss, Balthasar Hoffman, Christopher Kriebel, Christopher Schultz and Christopher Hoffman. The first Schwenkfeldianna, volume 1, number 1, was dedicated to Christopher Schultz. This Caspar s Corner begins an occasional series about other Schwenkfelder Pastors, some with much we know about them, some with very little information we know, at this time. Some of the information we know is from the 1923 Genealogical This Caspar s Corner begins an occasional series about other Schwenkfelder Pastors (it) will look at the Schwenkfelder Pastors chronologically and will not include those covered extensively elsewhere. Caspar s Corner Schwenkfelder Ministers, Part 1 Record of the Schwenkfelder Families (GR), some from the 1879 Genealogical Record (1879), some from the minutes of General Conference meetings, some from Schwenkfeldian, some from other sources of information. This series will look at the Schwenkfelder Pastors chronologically and will not include those covered extensively elsewhere. Most of the Pastors to be presented were pastors of Schwenkfelder churches, a few served other churches in other denominations. George Kriebel, born November 3, 1732; died December 1, 1805; son of Caspar and Susanna (Wiegner) Kriebel; married by Rev. Balthasar Hoffman October 11, (or possibly April 4), 1758, to Anna Anders, born April 8, 1736, died June 4, 1822; daughter of Balthasar and Anna (Hoffrichter) Anders. George Kriebel came to Pa. in 1734 with his parents. He bought land in Lower Milford Twp., in He was naturalized April 10, 1755, and is buried in Kraussdale Schwenkfelder Cemetery. George Kriebel was well educated and was chosen to serve the Schwenkfelders as a spiritual leader, or what we could call a Minister today. We do not have record of the year he was elected as Minister, but we do know he was well respected and filled the position very acceptably. He served as a trustee of the George Kriebel was well educated and was chosen to serve the Schwenkfelders as a spiritual leader, or what we could call a Minister today. Schwenkfelder parochial schools for a number of years and subscribed $30 to the agreement to support the schools when first established in When some of the teachers in these schools began to teach doctrines contrary to the Schwenkfelder tenets, Rev. Kriebel was selected to act as teacher, in which capacity he served from 1781 to He was imprisoned for a time in the Easton Jail for not complying with the Test Act (see Caspar s Corner #71 for more information). He was frequently engaged as a conveyancer and in settling differences in his community. After retiring from the school room as a teacher, he continued his interest in education by visiting the schools from time to time to give words of encouragement and advice, sometimes delivering sermons to the pupils, copies of which are still in existence, and also writing letters to the pupils commending them for their industry and scholarship. That Rev. Kriebel was a man of great influence in the affairs of the Schwenkfelders, especially after the death of Rev. Christopher Schultz, Sr., is shown by the many papers and letters written by him that are still preserved. He participated in nearly every Gedächtnistag celebration from 1788 through His years of service as pastor of the Upper District are listed in different places beginning as early as 1787 and ending as late as In the General Conference minutes of October 26, 1798, George Kriebel mentions that he is the only Pastor in the Upper District, but not enough persons from the Upper District are in (cont. p. 10)

9 Page 9 Flowers and Bulletins VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 There are several upcoming dates open for sponsorship of our Sunday flowers and bulletins. Dates available for flower sponsorship: One Bouquet Still Needed October 14 th ; November18 th Two Bouquets Available September 16 th Remaining dates available for bulletin sponsorship are: August 5 th, &19 th ; September 9 th, 16 th, & 30 th October 7 th ; November 25 th ; December 2 nd & 30 th The cost of bulletin sponsorship is $15. The cost for sponsoring one flower arrangement is $25, and the cost for sponsoring both arrangements is $50. G e d ä c h t n e s t a g a t K r a u s s d a l e Due to inclement weather in July, the worship service for Kraussdale had to be changed. We will now have our Day of Remembrance worship at the Kraussdale Meetinghouse. Combined Sunday School will be held at 9:00am, and the worship service will begin at 10:15am.

10 Page 10 PALM LEAVES S L H C L E C T U R E S E R I E S The Tragic Story of Bill Howe: Local Civil War Deserter Presented by Bob Wood August 8, noon In 1863 Bill Howe, a laborer living in Perkiomenville, enlisted in the Union Army and rendered heroic service at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Through an unfortunate chain of events, within a year he was hanged by the Federal government and buried in a farm field in Upper Frederick Township. Caspar s Corner Schwenkfelder Ministers, Part 1 (Cont.) attendance at the conference that day to have an election for an additional person to help him, so no action was taken at that time. John Schultz was eventually elected in 1804 or possibly as early as 1802, as a pastor of the Upper District. In the Schwenkfeldian, 1934, supplement to 1931 volume, pg. 25, in the article Unveiling of Ministers Tablet at Palm Church, Rev. Dr. Elmer E.S. Johnson was quoted as saying, George Kriebel, a scholar, set apart as trustee and later, too, a teacher in the Schwenkfelder parochial schools, possessed of lands and wealth nevertheless of an humble and contrite spirit, beloved and honored by his fellowmen, a Christian statesman and gentleman of pronounced conviction and fortitude, a recognized pacificator at home and farther afield, a preacher acceptable to young and old, in school and church, he faithfully served as minister in the congregation [This ending date of service is an obvious error as he died in 1805.] Caspar s Corner is provided monthly to The Schwenkfelder Church by the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center.

11 Page 11 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 6 Confirmation Photos By Lee Schultz Wa s h i n g t o n M e e t i n g H o u s e

12 PALM SCHWENKFELDER CHURCH 833 Gravel Pike P.O. Box 66 Palm, PA RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Dated Material Please Do Not Delay Administrator/Office Phone: Fax: SAVE THE DATE! August 19th Hosensack Meetinghouse August 26th Combined Worship New Goshenhoppen UCC August 29th Senior Choir Rehearsal September 9th Rally Day Rev. Nicholas L. Pence, Pastor Barbara Master, Youth Director Dan Ferry, Church Administrator Kevin Master, Sexton Ed Bieler, Director of Music Peg Jacob, Organist