Link. The. From the Pastor: St. Paul s Evangelical Lutheran Church July 2016

Transcription

1 The Link St. Paul s Evangelical Lutheran Church July 2016 From the Pastor: I am blessed. I thank God for all of you who have shared my journey as pastor of St. Paul s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pittsford, New York. As July 31 st nears, I know our time together will change as I look forward to the next chapter of my life. 15 years ago I received my AARP membership card. Now I have my Medicare Card, and fully embrace senior living. The senior years can be characterized by freedom, growth, happiness, a deepening spirituality, and productive living. There are boundless opportunities for Christian ministry through public service jobs, volunteering, and financial giving. I pray the choices I make will make a difference in the world. For 39 years (26 ½ at St. Paul s) my identity has been connected to my work as an ordained pastor. My identity will change on August 1 st, but like all members of St. Paul s, we continue to be ministers in daily life. Retirement is an event but not a state of life. I do not wish to withdraw from public life. I read that in Britain they speak of three stages in life. The first stage (from birth to age 25) is the preparatory stage. The second stage (25-55) are the working years. The third stage (55-85) is the giving back stage. The years of retirement should not be the stage of withdrawal from active life to a life of self-indulgence. I need to volunteer. God offers me whatever years I have ahead as years to appreciate the gifts of God s creation in music, literature, travel, friendships, and in remaining active in serving other people who are less fortunate. Those of us who claim to be followers of Christ need to give of ourselves. Our culture seems to focus on excessive individualism without concern for community. Volunteering is an option for me and you to participate in community. As Christians called into community in our baptism, we have a special ministry in and to our society. I have been blessed to be a blessing to others. It gives me joy to know that God is not done with me yet. Nor has God given up on the world around us. There are tremendous needs in our community brought on by poverty, illness, poor education, hunger, and hopelessness. The gifts God has instilled in me can still be utilized in new ways to give God the glory. I thank God for you and ask that you keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I take on this new stage of living. As Yogi Berra once said, It ain t over till it s over. Soli Deo Gloria, Pastor Jeff Hedin 1

2 MISSION STATEMENT St. Paul s is a welcoming Christian family. We are created by God, saved by Jesus Christ, God s Son, and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Through joyous worship and Mission Commitment, St. Paul s furthers the word of God s Saving Grace. SAVE THE DATES! Pastor Jeff Hedin - Retirement Celebrations Two opportunities to say good-bye to our Pastor and Ruth Hedin - Sunday, July 17th - Congregation 10:45 a.m. - Sunday, July 31st - Cake and Coffee 10:45 a.m. Both events will be held at St. Paul's. ATTENDANCE WE COUNT BECAUSE YOU COUNT Early Late Total Nursery May 22 nd th June 5 th th th Average Sunday attendance through May Average Sunday attendance through May Average Sunday attendance through May Pastoral Acts June 11 th Graveside - Betty Patterson and her daughter Pamela ALL ARE WELCOME! Please refer to the mailing that was sent to your homes regarding the July 17th Celebration Brunch. RSVPs are strongly encouraged. A sign up sheet is located in the church foyer for food items requested for this celebration. Sign up to bring your favorite brunch dish! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mara Berndt Summer Worship Schedule July 10 th will be the last Sunday with an 8:30 a.m. Devotional Service until further notice. Fall schedule of two full services begins on September 11 th, 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. 2

3 News from the Church Office This is my last Link article and I have been very undecided what to write. A list of thanks seems obvious, but it would go on several pages. There are so many people who have helped me enormously; especially fellow staff members, volunteers, and colleagues in the agencies we work with closely. One thing I would like to stress is that the new office staff members will not be doing the exact same job as I did. Many changes have been made to the job descriptions. So, please don t assume that because I did a certain task that it will continue to be done in the same way. If you are involved with an event, program or group, please introduce yourself and talk through what is needed of office support. My last official day in the Church Office will be Thursday July 28 th, so if you have any questions, please let me know in plenty of time. Depending on the need and my availability I have offered to help in the training of the new staff. So, you may still see me around after July. I will attempt to leave all supplies fully stocked to assist in the transition period. Help me out by letting me know of anything that is running low in the stationery cabinet, kitchen or sacristy supplies. Many have asked me what I will be doing next. The quick answer is that I don t really know! What I do know is that in September I will be traveling to England for an extended trip of three weeks seeing friends and family and I am looking for another job. What that will be I have no clue as yet. Please wish me luck! It s hard to think of life after July as St. Paul s has been such a big part of my life for so long. The staff and volunteers I have worked with here will make St. Paul s a hard act to follow. Reminders for July The challenge of printing a newsletter at the end of June to cover the next two months is that not all the details of our summer events are finalized yet. Please read your weekly bulletin inserts, look at the web site and notice boards, and check for s for up to date information on all our summer activities, especially Vacation Bible School, ESWA School Supply collection and the Annual Picnic. Recently we experienced several difficulties with the mailing out of our congregation group s. I am hopeful that by the time you read this all will have been resolved. Thanks to Ron Uhlig for his assistance. As we are at the half year point of the year this is a good time to check your financial giving for the year. Please let me know if you would like a financial statement printing. Thanks to Mara Berndt, Clara Firth, Barb Granger, Nancy Graser, Julie Huse, Elvira Lein, Alisa Piccirilli and Sandi Uhlig for providing the Church Office Volunteer Summer Sunday Fellowship in June. Janet Harris, Church Secretary 3

4 150th Year Anniversary Committee Annual Church Picnic The 150th Anniversary Committee meets at church on the first Sunday of each month at 11am (10:45 during the summer schedule). We encourage you to be a part of our planning sessions! Our next scheduled meetings for the summer are July 10th and August 6th at 10:45 in the Dorcas Room. We also need a note taker, if interested!! Items currently in progress: - Finalization of 150th Anniversary Logo - Deciding on venue for our July 2017 Celebration Event - Developing 'Save the Date' reminder cards - Preparing for a Semi-Formal Silent Auction for fall Brainstorming ideas for monthly, sponsored events, leading up to the July 2017 Celebration Event Our Committee needs your ideas, and welcomes your presence! Please join us on July 10th for our next meeting, or contact Mara Berndt or Trish Blake-Jones to contribute in other ways. Vacation Bible School Visit Norway at Vacation Bible School from Monday August 15 th to Friday 19 th. See Holley Haynes with questions. Registration is online at for children and volunteers. Bring a friend. At North Lodge, Kings Bend Park, Jefferson Road, Pittsford on Sunday September 11 th. 8:30 a.m. service at the church building. 11 am service and picnic to be held in the park. Don t miss out on worship in the open air followed by good food, fun games, and great fellowship. Please bring your own place settings and a dish to pass. Hot dogs, hamburgers and drinks will be provided. Cost: Family $12.00/Individual $4.00. Look for sign sheets and a list of volunteer needs coming to the Foyer in August. If there is anyone interested in helping to coordinate the Picnic, please see Mara Berndt. Most of the work is already done for you. At the picnic we will once again support our vision to build a strong community, St. by participating in God s work. Our hands. As part of this world-wide day of service sponsored by the ELCA, we are collecting food to fill 100 grocery bags for Loop Ministries Food for the Soul program. Please see page 6 for more information. 4

5 Volunteer Ministry of the Month Each month we will take a little LINK space to highlight a ministry in need of help. This month s ministry is OPENER. What is this ministry? This ministry opens the church on Sunday mornings. Opening the church involves unlocking the doors in the parking lot and on Lincoln Avenue and Washington Avenue. Most of these doors can be unlocked with a traditional key. The 2 sets of doors in the foyer require an Allen Wrench. This hex key is extremely easy to use and will take less than 30 seconds to learn if you are unfamiliar. Opening the church also involves turning on the sound system up in the choir loft and turning on lights. Pastor also appreciates a glass of water being placed on his pulpit. Seasonally, turning on fans, opening windows and shoveling snow is sometimes necessary. Coffee urns are usually filled and ready to roll, needing only to be plugged in on Sunday mornings. How long does it take? This ministry takes between minutes on Sunday mornings. Why do we need more volunteers? We have very few Openers. If you are an early riser or a regular attendee of the early service, please consider opening the church once in a while or even once a year. Every small commitment you make is valued. ****This is an excellent ministry for families who can divide and conquer. With everyone taking on one task, opening the church can be done in a matter of minutes. Volunteering News/Updates We now have a mailbox located in the stacked trays outside Janet s office. Please feel free to drop us a note anytime. We will check them regularly. We now have s associated with St. Paul s. Please begin using these addresses to communicate with us about volunteering. We d love to hear from you at: eileen@stpaulspittsford.org AND mara@stpaulspittsford.org. STILL in Need of Phone Tree Callers PLEASE consider being a part of the St Paul s phone tree and help make calls to our congregation. It s an important part of our communication tool for many reasons. Example: Holiday Church Services Hours, Change in Church Services hours (summer hours or back to fall/winter/spring hours), Special Event reminders (Annual meeting/special Celebrations and etc.) and most Important: Winter updates if there is no church the morning of Sunday Service due to mother nature. The need is there. So please consider trying it out. The best part is that your calls are done on your time and you only have one card with 4-5 names on it. Try it out! Call or Eileen Whitaker to discuss how you can help! 5

6 Food 4 Soul List In support of our vision to build a strong community, St. Paul s will be once again collecting food to fill grocery bags for Loop Ministries Food for the Soul program. Purchase one of each item to complete a bag, or choose to buy many of your favorite food! Pears, Peaches and Tuna are all 2 each per bag, the rest are 1 each per bag. Beef Stew 19 oz. Cereal oz. Jug of juice (any kind of 100% juice) Canned Tuna 6 oz. Peanut Butter oz. Chunky Soup 18.8 oz. Canned Peas 15 oz. Canned Corn 15 oz. Canned Carrots 14.5 oz. Canned Green Beans 14.5 oz. Canned Fruit Cocktail 15 oz. Canned Pears 15 oz. Canned Peaches 15 oz. See Reid Cunningham, Jen Canning or Sandy Fitzsimmons with questions. School Supplies There are often fantastic deals on School Supplies in the stores in August so later this summer we will put a collection box in the Dorcas Room. If you are able to buy items such as back packs, pens, pencils, crayons, rulers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, and writing pads, please do so. The items will be donated to the Eastern Service Workers Association for distribution to low income families. New and gently used children s clothing (all sizes) is also needed. Summer Fellowship The Church Directory The Church Directory will be updated this summer. A draft copy is in the Dorcas Room. Please check your entry and make any changes with the red pens provided. addresses are only included with your specific permission. The phone number that is listed for you will be the one used for Phone Tree updates. Thanks to all who have signed up to provide a Summer Sunday Enhanced Fellowship hour. Just a few Sundays later in the summer are available for sponsorship. Please remember to take your containers home with you. If there is any food leftover please take that home with you too, or let the sponsors of the following Sunday know it is in the fridge available for use. 6

7 Come and work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours are long and the pay is low. But the retirement benefits are out of this world. To Everyone at St. Paul s, Thank you for the beautiful flowers. They mean so very much to me. Love, Evelyn Parsons Lutheran Youth Organization News By the time you get this, we ll have celebrated our Fathers Day with root beer floats, said goodbye to another school year, and began work on the upcoming LYO season. This will include a couple of events over the summer with the GFL-LYO (Greater Finger Lakes LYO groups), specifically a day at Seabreeze on August 2 nd (others still TBD). There is also a great Christian concert/speaker event (called Kingdom Bound) at Darien Lake July that we are hoping to be able to have a group attend for one of the days. We are also determined to find a more effective communications tool other than s (which the school-age set doesn t seem to use) but one that is secure/private and easy enough for the parent-set to use. We wish our Seniors well as they graduate and move on to the next phase of their lives. We pray that you will take your God-given light with you and share it wherever you can! Keep it lit by finding other like-minded friends, joining a college campus ministry, or staying in The Word through your bible or a bible study group. May God Bless all of you on your travels this summer! Alisa & Tiffany To St. Paul s, This is a very sincere note to thank everyone at St Paul's for their interest and concerns regarding my recent health issues and related hospitalizations. After surgery to remove fluid around my heart and associated blood transfusions plus close monitoring of my kidneys and liver I am now home and on the way to, hopefully, a complete recovery. Thanks again, Clyde Stephens Congregation of St. Paul's: A very big thank you for your support, prayers and thoughts in the past year. We have not been able to get to know each other well but with the Lord's blessings and your prayers I hope this will be changed soon. Thank you again it means a lot to me. SuzAnne Grenci Thanks to you in May Members took a Stand Against Racism by donating personal care items, Volunteers assisted with the worship service at St. John s Home, (our next day to assist is Sunday November 6 th.) 7

8 RAIHN (Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network) Thank you to everyone who helped with our RAIHN rotation June Whether you cooked, served, visited with guests, played with the children or slept overnight. We appreciate your help! Our next rotation is 9/4-9/11/16. The next training session is 8/18/16 at St Joseph s Catholic Church. 43 Gebhardt Road, Penfield. If you have any questions please contact: Jen Canning at Jennifer.canning@urgrad.rochester.edu or Roberta Fitzsimmons at fitzsimmons@rochester.rr.com Elderberry Express Elderberry Express needs additional drivers! Can you help? Our need for more volunteer drivers comes from the fact that more and more people are living longer and a number of them are no longer able to drive. Thus, our need for additional volunteer drivers has become a greater concern than ever before. Call to offer your assistance! Sincerely, Gilbert P. Landry Executive Director SAINT'S PLACE ANNUAL SUPER SALE 64 South Main Street, Pittsford July 12TH PREVIEW EVENING 5-8 PM $25 ADMISSION Wednesday July 13 th 9am - 6pm Thursday July 14 th 9am - 4pm Friday July 15 th 9am - 4pm 1/2 price Saturday July 16 th Bag Sale 9am -11am $7 one bag, $10 two bags, $13 three bags NEW THIS YEAR, CHECK OUT OUR FURNITURE ROOM For more information please call , visit or saintlady@saintsplace.org Saint's Place is a volunteer organization, based on Christian values, that provides household goods, clothing and education to legal refugees of all races and creeds who settle in the Rochester, NY, area to escape violence, discrimination and poverty. Habitat for Humanity House St. Paul s will partner to build a house this summer. Volunteer spots will be available from Tuesday-Saturday each week. If you are interested in volunteering to help, please talk with Trish Blake-Jones. 8

9 Report from the Church Council Council met on June 20th with Pastor Frank Hanrahan, Dean of the Genesee Finger Lakes Conference, who is helping to guide us through the next stage of filling our pastoral vacancy. Because an Intentional Interim Pastor is not available at this time, Council was guided toward making connections with a short-term pastor followed by a transitional pastor in January who Pastor Frank feels would be a good fit. Arrangements are underway. The financial summary through May 2016 was approved unanimously. Capital Appeal receipts are a little behind last year s pace. Janet submitted a well-received report with suggestions for improvements to office procedures as she leaves her post. In Pastor Hedin's last report he left us with words of encouragement toward keeping our congregation healthy and strong, through supporting one another, recognizing and using our strengths, and being willing to try new things. Council's next meeting will be August 15 th. Synod Assembly reflections (edited) By Robin Lancaster Highlights for me, Abba. Get to go with Pastor Hedin and Reid!! My favorite part: the service on Monday night and getting to hear everyone raise their voice in song. Amazing to hear!! Hope you enjoyed Abba! Had tears in my eyes when we watched a reading of Letter from Birmingham Jail by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jesus had open arms when he was on the cross. Let everyone know that they are welcome and that we are to imitate Jesus in that approach. It opened me to what was happening. Dr. Pero said, Racial justice is not for the faint of heart. She is right Abba. We were introduced to a resource for congregations to help begin talking about racism. Questions like, What does it mean to love our neighbor and What does it mean that economic disparity creates its own milieu of segregation? are not easily answered, but are worth our attention. Monday, I went to the Racism and Youth work shop. Our presenter started us out by having us role play. Also discussed how different age groups view racism and how it was passed on to the next generation. My favorite part of the whole Assembly was the Monday night service: Plenty Good Room. It is an African American spiritual saying. It is a statement about the inclusiveness of God and the simple refrain ends: Plenty good room in my Father's kingdom. Message by Rev. Dr. Cheryl Pero. She talked about the story of the Samaritan woman at the well using this as an example of racial justice. This story Jesus teaches us that true worship happens not on Jewish territory or Samaritan territory but in the heart of each believer. He transformers spaces of exclusion and privilege into spaces of where all are included. Abba great two days but happy to get back to work so I could rest, Synod Assembly tired me out. Thank you, Abba!!! The Rev. Dr. Cheryl Pero began Sunday evening by reminding us all whose we are. 9

10 The Most Deadly Time Teen driving and summer can be a bad mix. Give this to a teen driver you know. Dear Teenage Driver, As summer vacation starts, so do the 100 deadliest days of the year for you and your friends. A lot of other people are going to be killed by teenagers like you during the next three months or so, too. So, please take just one minute to read this letter. Perhaps your parents or grandparents have clipped it out of the newspaper and handed it to you, or hung it up on the fridge. We want you to have a memorable summer, but not because it was a tragic one. We are wondering, if we put a camera on your dashboard and took videos of you behind the wheel, what would we see? We already have a pretty good idea, based on the results of a new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Researchers found a whole bunch of teen drivers who were part of a program that recorded video whenever there was some high g-force happening in their cars. Sounds kind of cool, we know, but that often meant the teens were in a car crash. Distracted drivers are dangerous drivers. Especially when they don t have very much experience, are overconfident of their abilities, and feel social pressure to do things in a car that they wouldn t do in front of, say, their parents. It s no secret that teens sometimes engage in what grownups like to call risky behaviors. This one, however, kills more than 2,000 of your peers every year most often during the summer. Many others die because they were riding with a teen driver, or were struck by one. So drive like tragedy could be just six seconds ahead of you. Because there is a world of difference between fond summer memories, and those that will haunt you, or the people you love, for the rest of your lives. Take our online teen driving quiz at DemocratandChronicle.com/Opinion This article appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and Nancy Graser asked that it be shared with the congregation. The researchers watched the last six seconds of each video that was taken just before a bad crash, more than 2,200 videos in all, to find out what was going on behind the wheel. You know what they saw during those six seconds? In more than 60 percent of the crashes, the driver was distracted. The teen was looking at a passenger talking, arguing, fooling around. The teen was using a cell phone talking, texting, looking at Snapchat. The teen s eyes were off the road in front, and turned toward something inside the car fiddling with Pandora, reaching for a soda, looking at the GPS. You get the picture. 10