The Federated Church of East Arlington

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1 The Federated Church of East Arlington Meditation, Meanderings and Musings from Pastor Kathy Cell Parsonage phone: April2018 Inside This Issue I am writing this at the start of Holy Week and as I think ahead to all that will happen this week, I am reminded that among the most important tasks is to remember to get the beautiful Alleluia! banner created so lovingly by Janet Umlauf a few years ago out from where the children hid it on the last Sunday before Lent began. I m guessing a few of you may have spotted it rolled up and covered in plastic but you were careful not to let on. This Easter Sunday the children will help unfurl it and we will hang it up for all to see and take to heart. In a world with so much pain, injustice and struggle, getting to Alleluia (from the Hebrew for Praise Yahweh or Praise the Lord) can seem like more than we can muster some days. But then St. Augustine was supposed to have said something like, We are Easter people, and alleluia is our song. Easter is the ultimate story of hope and, boy, could we use some right about now! Our Lent this year began on Valentine s Day, the same day as the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Over the course of these six weeks of Lent, there has been more concentrated conversation and proposed legislation at the state and federal level about gun violence, an issue that is far from new, than any such period in memory. Hope, throughout this time, has been given voice by young people - the ones who feel most vulnerable, the ones who go through active shooter drills at their schools, the ones who are seeking a safer future for themselves and their friends and their communities. The sadness and suffering in these young lives is palpable. Again on Easter we will remember another set of tears of grief those of Mary Magdalene as she stands in front of the tomb where Jesus body is supposed to be but isn t. Easter the new thing in our midst filled with possibility is cause for Alleluia and that Alleluia is intended to carry us through the saddest and hardest of days, the deepest of losses and the everyday hurts that make our lived experience ache so deeply. The Easter resurrection event, a story we know by heart and yet so quickly forget, offers us the word we go out bearing to a hurting world Alleluia. We can sing it, say it, whisper it, wear it, breathe it and hold it for the hard times. It gives shape to our lives and is ours to share. It is time to bring out our ALLELUIA! Peace and blessings, Kathy Financial Secretary s Report Church Attendance Church Council Reader Comments Mission and Outreach Adventures in Reading Hitler s Children documentary Birthdays & Anniversaries Helping Hands Fellowship/Coffee hour Altar Flowers Lectionary Readings SW Assoc. Prays for churches Interfaith Laughter for Puerto Rico Prayer Shawl Ministry Grange Breakfast Lists need names Thank you for stamps Habitat for Humanity Potluck Status of Immigration Law Resilience Stress and Hope Parish Paper-Small Church Parish Paper continued Electronic Giving Website News From the Office Clipboards Need Names Scholarships April Calendar insert Please submit your articles for the May 2018 issue of the newsletter by April 20th Thank you for your anticipated cooperation!

2 Page 2 The Federated Church of East Arlington Report of the Financial Secretary, Sandra Grover 2018 Congregational Giving Budgeted: $ 65, Congregational Giving Received 1/1-2/26 $ 10, Building Use 1/1-3/28 $ 1, One Great Hour of Sharing $ Thank You! Church attendance (including children) 3/ Children 3/ Children-Girl Scouts 3/ Children 3/ Children 3/29 15 Maundy Thursday Our Church Council Chair Susan Congdon Treasurer Alyson Grzyb Clerk Tammy Lang Ex Officio Pastor Kathy Clark Building & Grounds Charlie Jenks 1. Olavi Wirkki 2. Education Anne Marie Webber 1. Bernice Gaudette 2. Fred Kerner Finance Brian Allen 1. Herb Taylor 2. Raebeth Hitchcock Worship & Ministry Fred Kerner 1. Linda McDevitt 2. Phyllis Warren Missions & Outreach Sandy Grover 1. Wendy Bahan 2. Jen Rosenthal Reader Comments This space is reserved for you to make comments regarding informa on found in the newsle er.

3 April 2018 Page 3 Mission and Outreach The Mission and Outreach team continues to be available to consider requests that come into the church. In March we helped one family with utilities and promoted the OGHS (One Great Hour of Sharing) offering that lets us be part of God work and see more than we can imagine. Thanks to all. To date the total for OGHS is $ As we celebrate Easter let us pray about ways we, as resurrection people can love one another as God has loved us. Sandra Grover, chair Wendy Bahan Jen Rosenthal Hitler s Children explores the legacy of names What s in a name? What if your last name was associated with some of history s most vilified war criminals? That s what Hitler s Children, an Israeli- German documentary (2011), explores as it looks into the lives of the descendants of the Hitler's inner circle. Israel Congregation of Manchester (ICM) will be screening this powerful and thought-provoking film at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, April 11 as the Jewish community acknowledges Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Ha Shoah). Hitler's Children portrays how descendants of Nazi leaders Himmler, Göring, Höss, Göth, and Frank have dealt with the burden of carrying the surnames of and/or family ties with the masterminds and perpetrators of the Holocaust. They describe the conflicted feelings of guilt and responsibility that they carry with them in their daily lives; and they talk about the varied ways they ve come to terms with their despised family histories, including sibling reactions to how they ve chosen to handle this burden. The public is invited to this one-hour screening and encouraged to stay afterwards to share thoughts and reactions. Admission is free of charge. ICM is located at 6025 Main Street (Route 7A) in Manchester Center, Vermont. For information, call the office at Adventures in Reading Your reports for the READING YEAR are due by June 1st. You may give your report directly to me or mail it to P.O. Box 479, Arlington, VT at any time before June 1st. With the help of Nancy Schoerke and Phyllis Warren the total results will be put together, verified for category and the new List should be available to you in early July. Your goal is to be a Qualified Reader. This means reading at least one book from the list in each of the categories (I, II, III, IV) as shown in your blue paper listing. You have been supplied with a Reading Report (white paper) to enter the authors and names of books you have read in each of the 4 categories. When filling out the suggested books for next year, be sure to include author s name, a brief statement about the book s subject and which of the four reading categories (I, II, III, IV) the book should be placed in. If any of you have questions, do not hesitate to call me at If you have lost your Reading Report paper, please obtain one from our church secretary, Sandy Grover. Kudos to our Church Secretary, Sandy Grover, for typing up our monthly reports in the Church Newsletter throughout the year and for always providing appropriate pictures to highlight our message. HAPPY EASTER Janet Wilson, Coordinator

4 Page 4 The Federated Church of East Arlington When Where Friday, April 27, 2018 at 9:30 AM Lake Morey Inn -to- 1 Clubhouse Road Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 4:00 PM Fairlee, VT We are excited to welcome Susanne Schmidt as our keynote speaker/facilitator. In addition to the important work of the Conference, we have an abundance of workshops for learning, spiritual renewal and living out our faith in actions of justice. Worship will be woven throughout the meeting and incorporate what we learn as telling the stories. Join us along the beautiful setting overlooking Lake Morey for another memorable Annual Meeting. Workshops Speakers Fellowship Music Worship Good food For more information or to register: call the Vermont Conference, UCC at or robinsonc@vtcucc.org or register online at VTCUCC.org or see Pastor Kathy for information, registration, ride.

5 April 2018 Page 5 April Birthdays 1 Megan McKeever Sarah McKeever 4 Mike King 6 Al Clayton 9 Raymond Grover 13 Phyllis Warren 15 Christopher Daniels 20 Annie Howard 21 Ward Wilson 25 Arianna Barrios April Anniversaries 2 Virginia & Francis Wilkins 5 Ginny & John Mehle April Helping Hands Lay Reader: Council Member: April 1: Usher: Phyllis Warren Communion Servers: Karen Underhill, Ginny Wilkins, Greeter: Michelanne Sylvester April 8: Usher: Wendy Bahan, Ginny Wilkins Greeter: Karen Underhill April 15: Ushers: Greeter: Ginny Wilkins April 22: Ushers: Ginny Wilkins Greeter: Linda McDevitt April 29: Usher: Greeter: Linda McDevitt Altar: Sandy Grover April 1: April 8: April 15: Fellowship/Coffee Hour Bring a goodie to share April 1: April 8: Altar Flowers Easter flowers Linda McDevitt April 22: Ginny and Wendy April 29: Tammy, Scott and Kelly Lang April 15: Brian Allen April 22: Diane and Jeff McConnell April 29: Brian Allen Southwest Association, UCC Prays for their Churches Each week one of the churches in the Southwest Association, UCC, will be prayed for by the other churches in the association. April 1: First Congregational Church of Fair Haven April 8: First Congregational Church of Hubbardton April 15: First Congregational Church of Manchester April 22: Congregational Church of North Bennington April 29: Pawlet Community Church Lectionary Readings for March April 1: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18 April 8: Acts 4:32-35; Psalm John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31 April 15: Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36-48 April 22: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18 April 29: Acts 8;26-40; Psalm 22: John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8

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7 April 2018 Page 7 Prayer Shawl News Saturday, April 21, :30 a.m. Bring your knitting, crocheting, or needlework and join the fun. Also bring your lunch - coffee and tea are provided. We pray that God will continue to bless this ministry, its participants and the shawl recipients. Our Church Family Needs Help These lists need names: Sunday School Ushers Fellowship Time Altar Flowers Altar Communion Servers GRANGE BREAKFAST Sunday, April 15, :30 9:30 a.m. The Federated Church of East Arlington Bailey Hall THANK YOU A huge thank you goes our to all the people who have contributed stamps for the stamp project. You are doing a great job. When Tom Weakley was getting ready to leave Arlington and move to Bennington, he asked me if I would like to take his place doing the part he volunteered for the project. I said yes, as I had given him stamps for quite a while myself. I enjoy the fun of going over the stamps because some are old, unusual and interesting. Thank you again to all of you who fill that stamp container in Bailey Hall and to Sandy for collecting the stamps and leaving them in the mail box by the office for me to pick up. Sincerely, Fern Snow Pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, sausage gravy, biscuits, home fries, juice, coffee, tea.

8 Page 8 The Federated Church of East Arlington 2018 ANNUAL POTLUCK Please RSVP to our Habitat Office We hope you can join us! We are deeply grateful to you for your commitment to making affordable homeownership a reality here in Bennington County

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13 April 2018 Page 13 We, the members of the Federated Church of East Arlington, declare ourselves to be an Open and Affirming and Reconciling congregation. With God s help, we include all persons in our fellowship, embracing and celebrating differences of gender identity, marital status, age, mental and physical ability, and sexual orientation, as well as racial, ethnic and socio-economic background. We welcome into our community everyone who seeks to share in the work and worship of the church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Consider automating your regular donations with our new electronic giving program. The Federated Church of East Arlington relies on the financial support of the congregation and donations electronic giving offers an easy way to give on a recurring basis. Visit the church office for more information or go to our webpage at or scan the qr code. Thank you! FROM THE OFFICE If you know of a prayer request to add or change in the bulletin, please let the office know by Thursday. Arlington Area Food Shelf 287 pounds collected WEBSITE NEWS federatedchurchofeastarlington.org If you would like to add anything (pictures, articles) to the website or have suggestions, contact Sue Wirkki, sue@wirkki.org Like the Federated Church of East Arlington on Facebook. CLIPBOARDS NEED NAMES Choir Ushers Communion Servers Fellowship/Coffee Hour Altar Sunshine Flowers Ride Share Sunday School Share the Love We are a family, we love each other, we need each other, we are loved by God.

14 The Federated Church of East Arlington 102 Ice Pond Arlington, Vermont Visit us on Facebook The mission of The Federated Church of East Arlington is to welcome all, follow Jesus Christ together, and live God s Word with compassionate service. April 2018 Newsletter Scholarships Available to Arlington, Sandgate and Sunderland Students The Federated Church of East Arlington will once again be offering "Bentley Family Scholarships." The Bentley Scholarship Fund was established by the Trust of June A. Bentley who taught both music and business in Arlington schools and who believed in developing the potential that each of us has within us. Anyone who lives in Arlington, Sandgate or Sunderland, or who went to Arlington Memorial High School, and will be attending college or graduate school in the Fall of 2017 is welcome to apply. Scholarship applications (different for college and graduate school) can be found on the Federated Church's website, under the scholarship info tab. Scholarship applications are due to the church office by April 15th, 2018, at which time they will be reviewed by the scholarship panel. The scholarship panel will contact potential recipients to schedule faceto-face interviews. Scholarships funds will be awarded after transcripts depicting a successful semester have been submitted to the church office. Any and all who meet the requirements should apply!