The Tidings. Wurstmarkt Time!!! Saturday, October 1 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. September Ministerial Moments

Transcription

1 The Tidings Ministerial Moments School is in session which means it is Wurstmarkt season and Fall cannot be far behind. I did notice that the Community Garage Sale has been slated for the same date, but it is over by 2:00PM. Who knows, maybe some people will come by who were in the area shopping or some of those who had garage sales will be too tired to cook and come on over for sausage. As we enter into our Fall months, we should remember that we are still in our 125 th Anniversary. I have mentioned some of our church history and cloud of witnesses in recent sermons and hope to tell more of our story between now and All-Saints Sunday as November is the month in which our first building was finished. Last year many of you donated pictures and newspaper clippings which Nancy and David Barbee put together in a slide show that was supposed to be available for our 125 th Anniversary celebration. We had technical malfunctions and by the time Ron got it up and running many people were getting ready to leave. It has been decided that the next best time to show these pictures will be before church on September 11 and 18. I do not know yet if the entire slide show will take 5 minutes or 10 minutes so it may be that some of you will see the same pictures both weeks. If the slide show takes longer than 10 minutes (which I doubt), we may show the rest of it on Sept. 25 or wait until a Sunday in October. You may have seen the newsletter from Cedarhurst on our bulletin board. Cedarhurst has an electronic baby grand in their lobby and Mabel quite often goes there to play after meals. I am told that she has amassed a following among the other residents who love to go hear her play. Often they call out their favorites and Mabel is able to play them. What a talent she is blessed with. How blessed this church was to share in her talent for over 42 years. Continue on page 5 September 2016 Inside this issue: Greeter/Ushers for September School Has Started 2 2 Mason Jars 2 Christmas Hymnals Birthday s and Anniversary s Conference Annual Meeting Blood Drive 4 Injuries and Surgeries September Calendar 4 5 Church Mouse 6 Ben Carpenter 7 Wurstmarkt News 8 Congratulations 8 Wurstmarkt Time!!! Saturday, October 1 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm

2 Page 2 The Tidings Greeter and Ushers for September 4 Ryan & Crystal Cathcart September 11 Carol Mercer, Susie Stewart, Sunday School 18 David & Evelyn Schneidewind, David & Mindy Schneidewind 25 Karla Hellsten, Ron Geisel, Mandi Schmierbach 2 Sandy Smith, Mandi Schmierbach 9 Kay Trotter, Mike Trotter October 16 Dave & Pete Dressel, Linda Jones 23 Carol Gladson, Susan Oyler, Carla Hellsten 30 Jay & Leslie Lehman SCHOOL HAS STARTED That means the Evangelical Daughters will be having one of their two annual potlucks. This year it will be on Tues. Sept. 6. We will use that as a planning time for Craft Store at the Wurstmarkt. The other thing the school start brings is Wurstmarts. One of my colleagues always said if you watch the bulletin board you won t have to cook for a month! Biddleborn has theirs on Sept. 11. Ours is early this year, on Oct. 1. PINT SIZED MASON JARS Marlene Karsten has requested pint-sized mason jars for canning for the Craft Store. CHRISTMAS HYMNALS When I put out the Christmas Hymnals for the singing of How Great Thou Art in July, I noticed that about half are missing. We have always stored them on the bookcase in the quilting room. If you know where the rest of them may have been put when we were putting away Christmas decorations last January, please let me know.

3 September 2016 Page 3 CONFERENCE ANNUAL MEETING We are still in need of delegates (we can take 2) for the Conference Annual meeting which will be held on Sat. & Sun. Oct. 22 & 23 this year. The hotel/conference center is very nice, but they also have camp sites. If you have a spouse who is not into meetings, they would find plenty to do while you attend the conference. They could then join you for the special banquet held Sat. night (special charge). I believe the church does have delegate fees budgeted so let me or Lori Selman know if you are interested. The Pre-Annual meeting is being held at Hecker this year on Thurs. Sept. 15 at 7PM. READING CLUB The Library has decided to continue the Reading Club for elementary students whether or not we get the Literary Grant from Deaconess Foundation this year. (We have applied.) The Reading Club will once more be on Mondays, but the time has changed to be from 3PM to 4PM. I am hoping that all those who helped us last year can do so again this year. September Birthday s September Anniversaries Alan & Susan Oyler 2 Mervin & Ruth Erb 3 David & Evelyn Schneidewind 6 Jeremy & Jessica Dressel 10 Ryan & Crystal Cathcart 11 Hope Geisel 2 Jessica Dressel 5 John Fauth 6 Lisa Humphrey 9 Nicole Sinn 10 Marlene Karsten 11 Pete Dressel 11 Todd Erb 13 Sherri Duffie 13 Donna Galle 15 Brandon Schmierbach 17 Melanie Rahlfs 21 Crystal Cathcart 27 Justin Raban 30 Larry Jones 30

4 Page 4 The Tidings MINISTERIAL MOMENTS CONTINUED The Bible Study group has been studying One Thousand Gifts on DVD and discussion group. The story is of a young woman who had a horrible experience as a child and how she has battled to come out of it, at least partly through her faith and looking for 1000 gifts which God has given her. Sometimes it is very difficult when we are in a dark place to feel God s presence, let alone what gifts we may be given by God. Sometimes years later we are able to look back and say, Oh that s where God was leading me. Sometimes we can t. I ve been told, at the end of every day to find five things I can be thankful for. That s a lot less than 1000, but sometimes even five can feel difficult. I know that I am always thankful when the sun shines, particularly after we have had days of rain. I am thankful every spring when I see the flowers bloom. I love the scent of cinnamon (I don t know why, but I do). Almond is a close second and vanilla probably close to that. I am thankful for any kindness shown me and for when I am able to pass that kindness on to others. When we are able to approach life with an attitude of gratitude we find our lives a bit lighter and ourselves a bit closer to God. Our next study will also include a DVD, but is based on the book of Genesis and Love. Please remember that anyone is welcome to join us before church at any time. INJURIES AND SURGERIES Blessings, Pastor Gail We are once more the church of the walking wounded. Kathleen Robert just got her cast off and Ruth Erb fell and broke hers. I have also been told that Blanche fell. Lorrie Lehman has had a partial knee replacement and Sheryl Jones has had one surgery and will soon face another. Please keep all these people and their families in your prayers. BLOOD DRIVE - September 12!!! If you can t give blood, please help us out! There will be a sign-up sheet in the vestibule. Please sign up your help is needed! Please give blood! SEPTEMBER FROM 2:30-6:30 P.M.

5 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 4 5 Labor Day 11 Slide Show before Church Choir Sings! Biddleborn Schlachtfest 18 Slide Show before Church 12 Blood Drive Reading Club 3-4 pm 6 Evangelical Daughter s Potluck 6 pm 13 Pastoral Relations 6 pm Council Mtg 7 pm 6 Spiritual Council 4:15 pm Choir 7:00 pm 14 Choir 7 pm Choir 7:00 pm Choir 7:00 pm Conference Pre- Annual Heacker 7 pm September 2016 Page Oct. 1 SEPTEMBER 2016 Wurstmarkt

6 Page 6 The Tidings Comments from the Church Mouse School has started again. Summer went by fast. I saw a lot of big kids coming down North Hamilton after school was out for the day. They seemed pretty chipper, so it must be agreeable for them. What wasn t agreeable to me was the death of two of our members this summer Irving Schickedanz and Dorothy Dressel. Both were really special people and seemed to pretend they didn t ever see me. I have fond memories of Irving telling stories of his years at Friedens. I remember when he would keep the antique clock in fellowship hall running, and showed Larry Matzenbacher how to deal with it. He also had a wonderful sense of humor. I recall Dorothy helping with the Wurstmarkts and working on the books for Sonshine Corner. Dorothy was one of the original mashers of potatoes for the Wurstmarkts. They were both beloved and will be missed. In July we had a very successful blood drive and the next one here will be Monday, September 12. If you can t give blood, please ask someone else to be sure and donate. The American Red Cross is always in need of blood. Besides, in September I think there will only be the blood drive and an Evangelical Daughters meeting where I can restock my food supply of dropped morsels. Maybe I should leave a note for Susie Stewart to give the Sunday School kids snacks because when they do have them, they leave fallen tidbits for me. The choir started practicing on August 17th, but they don t have food either. I still enjoy them, even without the possibility of crumbs, and will be glad for rehearsals and for their anthems on Sunday mornings. I enjoy music. I appreciate Nancy Barbee s organ preludes. She s going to fill the pulpit the last Sunday of August. What an adaptable lady. Sonshine Corner will soon have change-over for the fall and winter season, I hear. I also hear that they are in need of more customers. They do such good work for our community, and I hope more people will stop by and buy. Since the Corner has such a wide variety of goods, there will be something for anyone who stops. That Ruby Lehman does a wonderful job of managing the Corner. She does the work of ten people. Oh, another worker is Ron Geisel. Someone left a newspaper on a table downstairs, and I saw a picture of Ron and Pastor Gail s grandsons helping him with lawn maintenance last week. It was a cute picture. As the church gears up for the October Wurstmarkt, be willing to volunteer before Susan 0lyer, Bobbi Duffie, Peggy Dierks, or someone else on the Funds and Fellowship Committee has to ask directly for help. We will all work together.

7 September 2016 Page 7 Ben Carpenter I will not do this article justice, but I wanted to let the congregation know about Ben Carpenter. He is the son of Tari and Jim Carpenter. Tari is the daughter of Ken and Joyce Fitch. They use to go to our church years ago and lived just on the other side of the pavilion out side. Ben is 20 years old and has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Ben is such an inspirational young man. I follow his accomplishments on Tari s Facebook page. Recently he and the family had a chance to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina as part of the US National Power Soccer team. They were there to train the national team of Argentina, their coaches, referees and classifiers. His team got to play the Argentina national team in front of a packed house which included the U.S. Ambassador and his entourage. The final score wasn t important. What was important was the passion, friendship and joy that this incredible game brought to the players, coaches, referees, families and all those who participated from both North and South America. Ben is part of the Team USA that will be competing in the 2017 World Cup. Below are a few pictures of Ben in Argentina. Go to for more information about Team USA. Tari said It s hard to believe when he was diagnosed 20 years ago they told us he wouldn t survive another year and now look at all he has done. ~ Lori Selman Above: Ben in his Power soccer chair Below: Ben at the U.S. Embassy in Argentina Above: Ben with an Argentina player Above: Ben is pictured here with 3 players from Argentina.

8 October Wurstmarkt - Saturday October 1 It s that time again... What time you say.. It s Wurstmarkt time!! Pick up your apron, dust off those pie pans, get your potato peeler oiled and stretch those legs. Come one come all to the help at the Wurstmarkt. The Funds and Fellowship are in need of workers and lots of those wonderful pies and cakes. They can also use fresh bodies to help clean up at 7 pm. If you have any questions please contact Bobbi Duffie or Susan Oyler See you at the Wurstmarkt!! Listen at church for set-up night. CONGRUALTIONS To Susie and Gary Stewart for being named Yard of the Month by the Chamber of Commerce. Friedens United Church of Christ 820 North Main Marissa, IL 62257