June Sunday Services and Activities 9am Worship - 10:30 Sunday School

Transcription

1 Sunday Services and Activities 9am Worship - 10:30 Sunday School Second Sunday Noon Special Alternative Worship June 2017 Pastor Suzanne Brooks-Cope Secretary Office Hours are: Mon., Wed., Fri. 9am to 1pm Phone: stmatts@ptd.net Website: stmattsucckunkletown.com Mr. Daniel Wunder Council President Mr. Daniel Smale Organist/ Choir Director Mrs. Tracy Buskirk Treasurer Mrs. Rose Arace Pastoral Secretary Mrs. Staci Gower Christian Education St. Matthew s UCC 102 Church Road Kunkletown, Pa NONPROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO 74 LEHIGHTON, PA DATED MATERIAL. PLEASE DO NOT HOLD

2 June 2017 Dear Members and Friends of St. Matthews, Every spring the Penn Northeast Conference has its Annual Meeting. This one was a special meeting it was the last meeting the Rev. Alan Miller would be attending as our Conference Minister. He will be retiring this summer. He has been a wonderful Conference Minister. His stories and sense of humor not only entertain us, but they help bring healing in the midst of struggles and conflict. Alan will be missed. This year s annual meeting was held at St. John Church in Laurie s Station. They offered wonderful hospitality to over 200 attendees. The guest speaker was Robert Naylor who helped us look at the need for Re-formation of the church as we continue in the 21 st Century. For many years now, we know that the way of doing church in the 1950 s and 1960 s just doesn t work any longer. The average age of a UCC church member who is here sitting in our church pews is 65 to 70 years of age. We are losing the younger generations. If we want to continue to be vital and relevant in the decades to come, we need to re-form ourselves into something new. We need to offer new ways of leading worship, communicating with each other and doing outreach in our community. For the last few years I have been told that we need to think outside the box. Rev. Naylor pointed out that there is no box. That statement made me pause and still does. We had two meaningful and fun worship services no paper worship bulletins were needed. All worship resources and lyrics were projected onto the sanctuary walls. The first worship service had us all playing with play dough and molding something that reflected our fears about the future of the church. During worship we then brought these fears up to the communion table where they were flattened into a colorful large heart. At the later communion service, we all went around the sanctuary and wrote our hopes for the church on old windows that were placed throughout the sanctuary. But the best part of worship was singing in a sanctuary packed with people who like to sing! That is always my favorite part of the day. It didn t matter if we were singing a new song with the guitar or an old familiar hymn; the voices of so many people rocked the roof. A few important motions were passed and information as given. A resolution was approved giving the go ahead to continue to be in conversation with Penn Southeast Conference about a possible future merger. With that in mind, we will be hiring a Designated Conference Minister for a three year term to help us work through that conversation. A budget was passed that looked exactly like last year s budget. We were informed that the building has begun and is proceeding for the multi-purpose/medical clinic in Monte Margarita, Guatemala. It won t be long before we are sending Mission Teams down there on a regular basis. The PNEC Disaster Relief trailers were back in the area for servicing and the refitting of tools. They are chocked full of tools and a generator that can be used in areas hit by natural disasters. It was a good meeting. The five of us from St. Matthews who attended learned a lot and enjoyed gathering with our fellow PNEC members. It is good to hear and know that together we can do more than we can do alone. Shalom, Pastor Suzanne

3 St. Matthew s UCC Prayer List (As of publishing date May 21, 2017) We Join In Christ s Prayer For Our Church Members at Various Personal Care Residences or Our Homebound and Friends Who Need Extra Prayers. Wilbert Hawk Brookmont Health Care Center PO Box 50 Effort, Pa Dorthea Kresge Mahoning Valley 397 Hemlock Drive Lehighton, Pa Mae Pearsol, Asher Smith And Maynard Sterner Getz Personal Care Home 1026 Scenic Drive Kunkletown, Pa Naomi Smith, Gladys Lindenmoyer And Latimer Eckhart Village Of Palmerton 71 Princeton Avenue Palmerton, Pa Joyce Smale Pleasant Valley Manor 4227 Manor Drive Stroudsburg, Pa Violet Kromer & Mary Correll Slatebelt Nursing & Rehab Slatebelt Drive Bangor, Pa Mary Kleintop Weatherwood Nursing & Rehab 1000 Evergreen Avenue Weatherly, Pa Lillian Kleintop Attleboro Village 290 E Winchester Ave Room 404W Langhorne, Pa Evelyn Smith The Summit Nursing & Rehab Center 211 North 12th Street Lehighton, Pa Other Prayer Concerns Lori George, Nancy Ratajczak, Donna Diehl, Gladys Lindenmoyer, Elmer Frantz, The Rev. Tom Albright, Brayden Wunder, Gerald Haydt, Margaret Hahn, Lee Byrne, Liz Arace, Lillian Kleintop, Shawn Everett, Shirley Smith, Kim Cope Our members send a big thank you for all your cards, calls and visits*

4 2017 Income Vs Expenses As Of April 2017 Income for April 2017 Income for April /2/17-9am 140 Attending- $3, /9/17-9am-64- $1, /9/17-12pm 96- $824.00/$ Outreach 4/3/16-9am-110 Attending-$2, /10/16-9am-39 Attending-$ /10/16-12pm-100 Attending- $1,862.00/30.90-Outreach 4/16/17-6:30am-49 Attending- $1, Easter Sunrise 4/17/16-9am-78- Attending- $1, /16/17-9am-147 Attending-$2, Traditional Easter 4/24/16-9am-84-$1, /23/17-9am-68- Attending-$1, /30/17-9am-77 Attending-$2, Totals General Fund- $13, Outreach-$ June Benefits Garden Of Giving 2 Emmet Fonte 3 Lori Bently 3 Ellen Kresge 4 Violet Kromer 5 Christopher Bently 6 Marlene Long 7 Lillian Kleintop 10 Lloyd Borger 11 Larry Bonser 12 Virginia Anthony Cemetery Reminder Please do not leave any flowers or items on the grave during the mowing season. Please keep all items on the tomb stone itself and out of the way 12 Shirley Smith 13 Holly Green 13 Darryl Smith 14 Tracy Brotzman 14 Kayla Wolf 15 Sandra Kresge 18 Jeanna Borger 19 Glenn Smith 20 Linda Miller 21 Brenda Sheckler of the mowers. Totals General Fund- $12, Outreach-$ Marlene Prutzman 24 Rodger Eldridge 24 Ashley Stankovich 26 Daniel Barankovich 26 Jeffery Keiser 28 Alton Kleintop 28 Barbara Snyder 29 Jalene Keiser 29 Mary Kleintop 29 Judith Lantosh June Usher Schedule June 4 Leslie, Pat, Lynn, Leon & Lee June 11-9am Lynn & Tony Noon-Pat & Lynn June 18 Penny & Dan June 25 Tony & Dean 29 Adam Smith 29 June Smith 30 Cody Borger

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6 See what all the Buzz is about at VBS! July a.m. to Noon In the Grove Ages 4-12 (Younger kids may be accompanied by an adult for a Mommy and Me type experience.) Recipe: Hot Water Sponge Cake Ingredients: 4 eggs 2 cups sugar 2 tsp. Baking powder 2 tbsp. Margarine or butter 1 pinch Salt 2 cups Flour 1 cup Boiling water Summer Starts a New Social Hour Social Hour started on Sunday, May 28 th and brought some changes as to how we supply it. The fellowship we all enjoy after the summer Sunday services will continue throughout the summer. However, whereas previously we had the various church and Council committees scheduled to bring the baked and bought goodies, Council wants to try to supply it through basket donations made at the Social Hour. Designated members of Council with help from members of the congregation will purchase the baked goods and supply the coffee on a regular Sunday basis. All you need to do is come down stairs to the Social Hall after a Sunday worship service and enjoy the fellowship and help by making a basket donation so we can supply the goodies for the following week. We will see how this goes and modify it if we need to. See you downstairs! Beat eggs and salt for a full 5 minutes. Add sugar and continue beating. Sift together 2 cups flour and baking powder. Dissolve butter or margarine in 1 cup of boiling water. Add dry ingredients and boiling water alternately to egg/ sugar mixture, beating after each addition. Bake at 350 degrees in greased 9x13 or 2 square baking pans for 30 minutes or until done.

7 Staci s Stuff By Staci Gower, coordinator of Christian formation Cue the Pomp and Circumstance, because we had six pre-school students and eight elementary students graduate Sunday School this year. They are: Bailey Burger, Logan Burger, Molly Gower, Kaylee Hawk, Abram Pozza, and Andi Pozza; Allison Borger, Lydia Borger, Madison Borger, Angie Frable, Beckie Frable, Katie Fritz, Peyton Knecht, and Hailee Snyder. We presented certificates, played Bible trivia, made a craft, enjoyed snacks and saw a photo slideshow at our party on May 21. Thank you to the teachers and parents who were in the classrooms throughout the year: Joanne Fisher, Dora Tartar, Dawn Barankovich, Connie Moretz, Leanne Sitler, Heather Knecht, Dawn Borger, Lynn Witt, Katie Delbertis, Staci Gower, Penny Hawk, Amy Burger and Norm Burger, Erica and Bruce Pozza, and Joyce Gower. I hope to see you all in the fall for another year learning about Jesus and the Bible. The nursery will be staffed for 9 a.m. and Noon Family Table services during the summer, except June 18 (Strawberry Festival). The nursery is getting a few new adult faces this summer. They are folks you know from worship and longtime service to our church family. Dear Parents: Send your kids on an imaginative, impacting adventure! At Maker Fun Factory VBS, kids discover not only that God made them the way they are, but for a purpose too. Maker Fun Factory is filled with Sciency-Fun Gizmos, team-building games, cool Bible songs, and tasty treats. Kids might get a little messy, so send them in play clothes and safe shoes. Plus, we ll help kids discover how to see evidence of God in everyday life something we call God Sightings. You ll hear that phrase a lot! Kids will participate in a handson mission project to raise money for a water purification system in Guatemala. You may recall, we fund-raised for the Amigos de Guatemala two years ago. The group is so close to their goal. We will also collect non-perishable food items for PVEN, which helps to feed local families. VBS week is July 10-14; 9 a.m. to noon M-Th and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday. Be sure to visit me at the VBS info table at the Strawberry Festival on June 18. Our next VBS planning meeting is Monday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m. Are you crafty and would you like to help us make tin can robots and other decorations? Join me from 10:30 a.m.-? on June 4, 11, and 25 to get our hands gluey and glittery! We need help cleaning out the shed at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 30. We will then need helpers to transform the shed into our Gear-riffic Factory classroom on July 6 and 7, starting at 10 a.m. both days. Camp Grove is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of July Youth, their friends and parents are invited. See Pastor Suzanne or myself for more information and to help plan.

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