TIME VALUED MATERIAL MAILED CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED 4/22/15 Foster Memorial Church 1791 Wilbraham Road Springfield, Massachusetts Mailing Address: 36 Puritan Road Springfield, MA 01119 Office Telephone (413) 782-2112 Pastor s Study (413) 783-2907 Office hours: M,W,F 9a.m.-2p.m. Email: fostermemorial@msn.com Web: www.fostermemorial.org We also have a Foster Memorial Facebook page! Minister Rev. Barbara Schenk Choir Director & Organist Frank Jackson Sexton & Housekeeper Linda & David Peck Secretary Lorraine Ahladas Childcare Eneidamarie Gonzalez Non-Profit Org U.S. POSTAGE PAID Springfield, MA Permit No. 367 The deadline for submitting information or announcements for the June Chronicle is May20 Foster Memorial Church Volume 62, Issue 5 May, 2015 Dear friends, This month, the season of Easter continues and with it, a long-awaited spring season! Some of the highlights of this month include Peter Wells follow-up session called Let s Go Up River on May 3, a special dinner and program at the Islamic Center on May 4, Spring Clean-up on May 9, Relay for Life fundraising dinner on May 16, and much more. Even before the month begins, several of us will be attending a local Summit for Community Organizations Active in Disasters on April 30, with the intention of learning more about opportunities for our church to be utilized as an Emergency Rest Center in the future. In worship, we ll be celebrating Jesus Ascension on May 17 and Pentecost Sunday on May 24, the day we re-experience the disciples receiving the long-awaited gift of the Holy Spirit. Here s a prayer that combines the themes of spring, our lives of faith and the church seasons: Springtime is a season of optimism and hope and the Christian lives a faith centered on hope. Good Friday has passed to Easter and beyond. We live a resurrection life, reflected in the new life springing up around us. Thank you, Lord for the hope that you bring and the renewal that you bring, both to this world and to our hearts and lives. Adapted from a prayer by John Birch Blessings, Barbara
Happy Birthday to all of our members and friends who were born in May: 5/2 - Ruth Nicholson 5/19 - Kevin Withers 5/6 - Joan Barlow 5/24 - Steven MacKay 5/6 - Robert Shultz 5/25 - Nancy Piecuch 5/6 - Bev Weinhold 5/29 - Jim Cummings 5/9 - Richard Marceau 5/30 - Evelyn Sambolin 5/14 Shirley Wright 5/31 - Lori LaTaille 5/18 - Barbara Tardy Happy Anniversary to all our members and friends! 5/4 - Kaaren and Charles Trask 5/9 - Bonnie and Steve MacKay 5/28 - Dianne and Richard Marceau Please call Lorraine at the church office if your birthday or anniversary is not included. The Afternoon Fosterians will meet on Wednesday, May 20 at 12:00 noon for a Tea Cup Auction. Hosts are Rose Ann Durkee and Pearl Kaplan. Devotions will be led by Marge Kenney. SUMMER GOD TIME The Christian Education Board is looking for God Time volunteers for the summer months. An easy to follow curriculum will be made available to the guides for each Sunday. We ask that you ask a friend to assist you as we need two adults working together during God Time. This will be a richly rewarding experience working with our children and youth as they are a blessing for our church. See Dick Pond or Charlene Corris or sign up on the clipboard that is available during the coffee hour on Sundays. Thank you for your support. CHILDREN/YOUTH SUNDAY CE VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION SUNDAY JUNE 14 We will be celebrating Children s/youth Sunday on Sunday, June 14 th. Please join us as we celebrate this year s God Time Journey with our children and youth. During the service we will also recognize the many people who help with our children and youth ministries. Without their dedicated support and help this ministry could not function. The service will be followed by our annual Ice Cream Social on the front lawn. There will be more information in the June Chronicle. The Evening Fosterians will meet on Wednesday, May 13, at 7:00 p.m. for a Kevin Withers Adventure. Hosts are Dianne Marceau and Donna Griffith. Devotions will be led by Bev Weinhold. Page 9 Page 4
LENTEN/HOLY WEEK THANK YOUs GRADUTATION INFORMATION Please email or call Lorraine at the church office with graduation information by May 20 so that we can include it in our June edition of The Chronicle. PLEASE REMEMBER IN PRAYER Please help us to keep our printed prayer list as current as possible. If you have information about someone on the list whose name could be removed, or someone who needs to be added, please call Lorraine at the church office. Thank you for your help. Our Church, Bruce Breuer, Marilyn Breuer, Lynda Kinney, Lester Leonard, Rob Marinello, Adell Kenyon, Marjorie Kenniston, Ken Padden, Bonnie Flynn, Joseph Bevard, Malala Yousafzai, Mary Veraneau, Katherine Kelb, Karen Kelb, Marcia Iwanicki, Donna Martine, Joe Lea, Gay and Susan Kowinski SUMMARY FINANCIAL REPORT In an effort to keep everyone informed as the year progresses, the Executive Board voted to publish a summary financial report in each edition of the Chronicle based on the Treasurer s most recent report. The summary report of Income and Expenses as of March 31, 2015 is as follows: % of INCOME: 3/31/2015 YTD Budget Budget TOTAL RECEIPTS $15,824.94 $27,882.13 $162,175.00 17.19% TOTAL EXPENDITURES $19,294.67 $35,952.44 $171,022.78 21.02% YTD DEFICIT/SURPLUS $8,070.31 -$8,847.78 91.21% Page 3 Thank you to everyone who helped with worship services over the Holy Season. The Visual Arts team created beautiful altar designs, the Choir sang beautiful and meaningful anthems, and so many people served as readers and helpers. Thank you to our church staff, who works harder than ever during this time of year and to everyone who helps behind the scenes. I am most grateful. --Pastor Barbara The Foster Memorial softball team is happy to announce that the 2014 season will be opening on April 28 th. Schedule details can be found at www.interchurchsoftball.com. If anyone is interested in playing and has not contacted Mike Naglieri (525-1801), please do so and you will be added to the roster. All are welcome to play- members, friends, relatives, men, women, all skill levels (within safety limits). The schedule will also be posted on the Church bulletin boards. We appreciate all of the support from fans and spectators last year, and we re looking forward to another fun season in the sun! Page 10
Easter Flowers Were Given in Loving Memory Of: Loved ones from Vivian George Joe & Kay Gumlaw and Moe Lehouillier from Connie Gumlaw Loved ones from Joe Rosati Loved ones from Rebecca Crampton-Kamukala Loved ones from Dick Pond EASTER SUNDAY! We had two wonderful services on Easter Sunday. Thanks to our youth for helping to lead the service at 7 AM. Thanks to our choir, deacons, readers and ushers for helping with the 10 AM service and to everyone who donated Easter Flowers. THIS JUST IN WEIGHT LOSS HYPNOSIS Thursday, MAY 28 at 7:00 8:30 pm COST: $50.00 Includes a double session and a CD to take home FOSTER MEMORIAL CHURCH 1791 Wilbraham Road Springfield, MA CLAIRE TATRO, CERTIFIED HYPNOTIST **Eat Less and Lose Weight **Stop Overeating and Snacking This Program is 90-95% Successful! For Registration: Call 788-6025 Register Early Space Limited! Proceeds will go to the ministries of Foster Memorial Church Page 1 Our parents from Lori and Ricky LaTaille Loved ones from Dave and Linda Peck Loved ones from Pamela and Bruce Corey Loved ones from Ed and Anne Smith Loved ones from Stanley and Jeanne Millot George & Katherine Poulos and Joanne & Frank Wells from Peter and Joanne Wells Loved ones from June Pike Donnie and Donald Kenyon from Dorothy Kenyon Loved ones from Sandy and Bob Moore Chuckie and Curtis from Phyllis Wilkes Loved ones from Shirley Wright Dot and Russ Weinhold from Bev Weinhold Loved ones from Charles and Carol Shultz Grandma Rose and Alice from Alice Kempf Charles and Dorothy Corris from Charlene Corris Loved ones from Jim Cummings Page 12
LET S GO UP RIVER: TURNING CONCERNS INTO ACTION You are invited to join Peter Wells for a continuation of the discussions we had during the Lenten program Going Up River: Working for a Just Society. During those sessions we affirmed the importance of charitable actions and direct services such as the Open Pantry and our work with Rebecca Johnson school. But we also recognized that we are called to do more. We acknowledged God s call to go up river in order to address systemic issues that create the need for our charity and direct service. PANCAKE BRUNCH: APRIL 12 We had a wonderful Post-Easter Mardi Gras Pancake Brunch hosted by our Christian Ed. Team, youth, and many friends. Thank you so much for everyone s support! We raised over $200 for our partnership with the Rebecca Johnson school. Our friends in Florida, Ben and Brian, provided party beads for us! They looked great on everyone, including SophiaRose, Sadie and Ellie (pictured here). We now want to pick up on that conversation. We want to work together to discern ways members and friends of our church can become engaged in systemic change. Our current mission work will be used as a focus for our discussion. The goal is to learn from each other how we can become more effective advocates for justice and peace while continuing our acts of mercy. Together we will strategize how justice may be incorporated into the life and ministry of our church. SUNDAY EVENING DATE CHANGE Because of Mother s Day, our May date will be May 17. Everyone is welcome to join us from 7-8:30 for a time of reflection and sharing and faith exploration. Spring is here again and it s time for the annual Foster Memorial Spring Cleanup. The date will be Saturday, May 9 th at 9am (rain date to be May 16th). The Trustees are asking for volunteers with rakes, shovels, wheel barrows, etc. to help with raking, spreading mulch and general grounds cleanup. We hope to continue the great turnout of the past few cleanup events. More people = easier work! Page 11 Page 2
RELAY FOR LIFE: FUND RISING DINNER SATURDAY, MAY 16 at 6 PM For many years, our church participated in Relay for Life at Springfield College. Over the years, this became very expensive and harder on the volunteer coordinators. So for the last two years, we tried something new and received positive feedback so we re back for a third year! Everyone is invited to come together on May 16 for a delicious pasta dinner. The cost will be only $5.00, just enough to cover the food costs. In addition, we ll collect donations: checks should be made out to AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY. A group from the church will take our donations to the Relay, which will be held this year at Central High School. As a treat, Frank Jackson will provide piano music for the dinner. Thanks, Frank! During the dinner, those among us who are cancer survivors will be honored and there will be a moment of silence for loved ones who have died from cancer. We are looking for people to help prepare, serve and clean up for this event. There will be a sign-up sheet soon for youth and adults who can help. Hope to see you there! If you are unable to attend the dinner and would like to make a donation, please mail to the church office or put your donation clearly marked in the offering plate on Sunday. Thanks so much for your support! Page 7 My afternoon session was Testing Your Congregation s Vital Signs with Don Remick. Churches who are living God s vision for themselves are healthy. A healthy congregation is one that is alive and pursing the purpose for which God created them. He used lots of Power Point slides to show the many facets of determining vitality and began with a Church s Life Cycle. He divided it into four quadrants with a new church moving forward with dreamers and a dying church concentrating more on management. The status quo won t allow a church to live beyond the present. A dying church is concentrating on maintaining the building, retaining the by-laws, and getting bogged down in budgets. In an ideal world there would be 100% pledges to cover costs with all else going to mission. A compelling God vision is to Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly with God. We must work to be healthy, faithful, and effective and not just to maintain. During the lunch break I took a short class on Beyond the Offering Plate that looked at how churches can procure additional income through rental of the facility, hold a rummage sale, sell ads in church newsletter, lease a vacant office, Vacation Bible School, rent to community groups, etc. The focus of the session was to assess what activities and income might be liable for IRS taxes. Any regular unrelated business income must relate to the church s mission. --Charlene Corris * * * I attended a workshop titled Anti-Racism/Open & Affirming Ministries: First Congregational Church in Amherst refers to their congregation as POGM meaning People Of Global Majority. One of their perspectives is this: We believe that all human beings are children of God. We value the diversity of the human family and we affirm the oneness and equality of all humanity. We believe that we are called to be instruments of justice and love, removing the walls that divide us and the structures of oppression. --Gerri Thompson Page 6
SUPER SATURDAY - MARCH 21 Fifteen folks from our church participated in Super Saturday, hosted by our MA and CT UCC Conferences. We went to workshops on many different topics. We ll be highlighting some of these in this and future editions of The Chronicle: * * SUPER SATURDAY SEMINARS My morning workshop was entitled Who is Our Neighbor/Be Good News to Them. This session concentrated on how we can learn more about our neighbors through demographics. The instructor was Wendy VanderHart. She used the tool Mission Insite from the UCC (www.maucc.org/missionsite) from which we can learn about who lives in our neighborhood so that we can determine our Clarity of Mission/Purpose. She suggests that we discern the responses to three questions: 1) Who Are We Now? can be determined by a survey, listening forums, looking for threads in the church s history, and identifying our strengths. 2) Who Is Our Neighbor? Use the Mission Insite to look at demographics, meet with town and school officials, hold coffee shop interviews, do neighborhood walks, investigate Global Mission Partners (where our church can help make a difference beyond our commuter borders. RUMMAGE SALE Thank you to EVERYONE who helped make our Fosterians Rummage Sale a success! We had great volunteers during the day and at night and for the event and afterwards for cleanup! Special thanks to Connie and Judy, our Co-Chairs. This is a church that really pulls together to make things happen!! Approximately $1841.00 was raised from this sale and things that didn t sell were donated to Grace Union UCC s Thrift Shop and Big Brothers. ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING OFFERING Thanks to everyone for your support. We raised $879.00! This money will help with emergency and development needs in our country and throughout the world. 3) Who Is God Calling Us To Be? What is our possible role in the community, create a prayer team, examine our leadership structure, host house meetings, use coaching (our Seeds team has been doing this with CPR), and articulate and commit to a vision and mission. Mary Caron and I are going to work on using the Mission Insite to see what information we can find to help us move forward. Page 5 Page 8