ST. PAUL S LUTHERAN CHURCH 371 Wolcott Hill Road, Wethersfield, CT 06109 www.stpaulswethersfield.org (860) 529-5397 MINISTRY LEADERSHIP & STAFF SUPPORT PASTOR Rev. Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer Office: (860) 529-5397 Cell Phone: (860) 966-7360 pastorh@stpaulswethersfield.org OFFICE MANAGER Janet Vasel janet@stpaulswethersfield.org COUNCIL PRESIDENT Jim Newmark: jnewmark@stpaulswethersfield.org COUNCIL VICE PRESIDENT Julie Perry jperry@stpaulswethersfield.org COUNCIL SECRETARY Sue Sonstrom suesontrom@stpaulswethersfield.org FINANCIAL SECRETARY/BOOKKEEPER Mary Procyk mprocyk@stpaulswethersfield.org MINISTER OF MUSIC Melissa Cheyney SUPERINTENDENT OF SUNDAY CHURCH SCHOOL Alice Ruppar October 2010 Volume 68, Number 9 It s all about faith What is faith? For Lutherans, faith is the key to our identity and existence. As Martin Luther reminds us, drawing upon St. Paul, we are justified before God by grace that is, by God s undeserved and unilateral love toward us which we receive through faith; and there s nothing we can do to earn it. But, we ask again, what is this thing called faith? When defining faith, dictionaries usually include words like trust or confidence. If I have faith in someone it is because I am able to place my trust or confidence in that person or in his or her abilities to fulfill the expectations that I have of them. Every day we live by a kind of assumed faith: for example, we trust that when driving down the road, the drivers around us will obey the same traffic rules that we do; when we eat at a restaurant, the chef won t try to poison us; when a spouse says he or she loves us, they actually mean it. When our experience clashes with that trust (as in when we are in a car accident, or get food poisoning, or are betrayed by a loved one) it can undermine, even devastate our ability to trust again. So what does it mean to live by faith in God? It is one thing to trust in something that we see, measure, or experience directly. Somehow our faith in God is different. With persons or things, we can have direct evidence, even objective proof to back up and support our faith. With God, our evidence is found paradoxically in the faith itself. In Hebrews 11:1 we read that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. [KJV] Faith is found in the living of our lives in relationship to God through Christ. It s all about being in relationship with God through Jesus. And while it is possible to grow in faith on one s own, isolated from others, it usually takes a community the surrounding communion of saints to get the best results. continued on page 2 Worship Schedule: 8:00 & 10:30am
This fall, St. Paul s is recommitting itself to spiritual growth and faith formation. We want to create new opportunities for our people to grow their faith together. On Sunday, September 26, we will have begun to give shape to these new things. This is where you come in. What are your needs? Where and when are you able to take time to intentionally grow your faith? How can we support this growth beyond the Sunday worship service? What can we offer that you would be able and willing to participate in? By sharing your specific needs and challenges with us, we will be able to shape our ministry of spiritual growth and faith formation to meet you where you are. Together our faith can transform our personal lives as well as the world around us. Pastor Hugh Haffenreffer Needed: Finance * Counters Needed Are you looking for another way to serve the church? If you like working with figures (or maybe just don t mind numerical calculations), this is an opportunity for you. On a given Sunday it requires one to two hours of time to open all of the envelopes, add the items up on the calculator and make the weekly deposit to the bank. I try to have enough counters so that each person has only four Sundays per year. If you will give it a try, you will be given as much help/instructions as you want until you are comfortable doing it on your own. If you would like to give it a try, please call or see me Mary Procyk, 860-257-4793 before the end of October. A huge thank you to my many faithful counters some of whom have been doing it for many years. Without you, it would not be possible!! God bless you. The report of your contributions from January through August 2010 is available in the Fellowship Hall. Please check it to make sure you are on track and everything is accurate before the end of the year. September 2010 pg. 2
Women of the ELCA SPRING GATHERING Planning Meeting at St. Paul s Saturday, Oct. 23 10am-12noon St. Paul s is hosting this event on April 30, 2011. Please come and share your ideas for a successful day of fellowship, workshops, and worship. Contact: Sue Sonstrom or Winnie Sawrun Sunday School / Pageant Planning Meeting Thursday, Oct. 21 7pm Anyone interested in helping with the Christmas pageant or Sunday school please join us. Sunday school teachers are always needed. Debbie Viola Save the Date Sunday, Oct. 17 12 pm A Stewardship Event for the Women of St. Paul s Church. The Stewardship Team has invited Rachael Donovan, CNM, MSN of the Balanced Health Center to give a talk on Integrative Women s Health Care. Rachel is a Certified Nurse Midwife and energy medicine practitioner. In her Glastonbury practice she encourages the health and wellness of the mind, body, and spirit, combining traditional medicine with alternative therapies: energy healing, nutritional and herbal supplementation, and bio identical hormones. Please join us on Oct. 17, after the 10:30 service for conversation and a light snack. The discussion will be guided by the group s interests. A sign up sheet will be posted in the Fellowship Hall or you may call Linda Anderson 860 659-4094 Some Key Information Recently an inventory of church keys was conducted and we are experiencing a key shortage for new team members and leaders. If you are currently holding a key that you no longer are using, please return your key to Janet in the church office. Office hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 am-12:30 pm. St. Paul s Property Team September 2010 pg. 3
ST. PAUL S NEWS OF PEOPLE IN THE PEWS Happy October-already!! Good grief, Charlie Brown. It s almost time for the Great Pumpkin to arrive. Are you ready to stroll through Old Wethersfield and view the scarecrows? There will a lot of opportunities to have fun and do service at St. Paul s this month. Make sure to watch the Sunday Epistles. Patty Bengtson has invited all the people of St. Paul s to her MFA Show on Saturday, October 16 at Cold Spring Brook Farm, 979 Deming Road, Berlin, CT. The show is from 1 to 5PM, with a preview from 1 to 2PM. Patty writes, I systematically fractured, altered, and ultimately destroyed an entire body of work. In remaking what was destroyed, I have reinvented myself. The work began against the background of the death of my oldest friend, Gladys Jones. In Glad s honor, all proceeds from the sale of my work will go to the scholarship in her name at Newington High School. I really need news for this column. Please call me or see me at church so I can get these things in here. Speaking of this, my doctor insists I start walking YUCK- but I have promised her I will. Now I am asking if anyone has an oldfashioned Walkman so I can listen to my music tapes. I have no idea what an IPOD is or how to use one. I would like to think I could do it without a diversion but listening to Alan Jackson sing will make walking to Wolcott Hill and back easier. Well, that s all I have for today. See you at the Harvest Fair and see you in church. Love, Emily Lourigan emilyandles@cox.net Pray for Peace H a p p y B i r t h d a y October Birthday s 1 Patty Bengtson 1 LeeAnne Creevy 1 Monica Hupfer 2 Michael Coyle 5 Lynne Matteson 7 Kathy Coyle 7 Susanne Farley 11 Danuta Turek 17 Penrose Wolf 20 Jody DiNatalie 21 Jack Leahy 23 Sara Preuss 23 Richard Bonds 23 Anthony Todara Jr. 26 Holger Lundin 27 Crystal Brozynski 31 Helen Hube Don t see a birthday listed here that should be? Please let us know if there are any omissions or errors in our information. September 2010 pg. 4
Service & Outreach Thank You... to those who have made donations for the Veterans residing at the Veterans home in Rocky hill. My plan is to continue making lap quilts, so any cotton material is welcome for that use. the collection box will appear again in the future. Peace and Love, Carole Hughes the following items were collected: 2 lap quilts, crossword & sudoku puzzle, soap, tissue boxes, briefs & t-shirts. OUTReACH HOLIDAy FAIR November 20, 2010 9am - 3pm Volunteers are needed to help. Please look for sign-up sheets in the fellowship hall. If you can t help please consider making a monetary donation. Bakers are need for the bake sale. Please contact Winnie sawrun by phone or email at your earliest convenience to let her know what you will be making. The Country Store is looking for homemade jams, jellies and relishes. Produce items (green tomatoes, tomatoes, peppers ect.) are also needed. Please contact Carol farley if you are able to help. Grandma s Attic is looking for your gently used treasures. Items can be dropped off at the church. No clothes, furniture or tools. The Book Nook is accepting new releases of books, CDs and DVDs. No encyclopedias, Vhs, cassettes or magazines. Café volunteers are needed to help prepare, set-up, serve and sell tickets. Please sign up. Crafts please let Ellie bengston know if you are making crafts at home to donate. any questions please contact bill fischer @ 860-721-9031 or Debbie Viola @ 860-529-5051. BAKERS FOR THE OUTREACH HOLIDAY FAIR attn: Holiday fair Bake Sale Saturday, nov. 20th 9am - 3pm Can you help out by baking some goodies for the fair? If so please label if your item containes nuts. have baked goods at the church by friday November 19th. someone will be there until 7 PM. You can call Winnie sawrun 529-7588 or ann french 529-3245, or email Winnie at w1034saw@netzero.net to let us know what you will be making. Thanks Again... once again the outreach Committee wants to thank the members of st.paul s for their generosity in giving to the food pantry, a ministry that is increasingly busy. Your contributions have helped us in providing some of the basic items that foodshare, our primary supplier, doesn t always have available. It looks like by the end of the year the cost to our church for 2010 will have been less than $200 for over 1,500 lbs of food. More important than the money, however, is the fact that we have food available to serve those in need. If you or someone you know needs help to feed themselves or their family, let us know. september 2010 pg. 5
St. Paul s Members In Service for October 2010 AC O LY T E S : Linda Anderson, Coordinator, 659-4094 Oct 3 - Kaitlin Anderson 10 - Angela Mihalick 17 - Cameron Cheyney 24 - Celia Cheyney 31 - Jared Christensen F E L L O W S H I P H O U R H O S T S : Winnie Sawrun, Coordinator, 529-7588 Oct 3 - Joanna & Allen Piscitello 10 - Debbie & George Howe 17 - Winnie Sawrun 24 - Mary Procyk & Tracy Newmark 31 - Debbie & Amanda Viola A LTA R G U I L D : Linda Anderson, Coordinator, 659-4094 Oct 3 - Linda Anderson & Sue Sonstrom 10 - Ann French & Winnie Sawrun 17 - Mary Procky & Cindy Seip 24 - Jennie Dotts & Betty Lamo 31 - Linda & Kaitlin Anderson A S S I S T I N G M I N I S T E R S : Oct 3 - Emily Lourigan...8:00 Mary Procyk...10:30 10 - Art Bruce...8:00 William Fischer, Jr...10:30 17 - Jim Newmark...8:00 Jerry Vaillancourt...10:30 24 - Art Bruce...8:00 Mike Coyle...10:30 31 - Jim Newmark...8:00 Mary Procyk...10:30 C O M M U N I O N A S S I S TA N T S : Oct 3 - Sue Agne 10 - Mike Coyle 17 - Jim Newmark 24 - Dick Agne 31 - Patty Bengtson N u r s e ry: Oct 3-10 - Kathy & Mike Coyle 17-24 - 31 - F I N A N C E : Mary Procyk, Coordinator, 257-4793 Oct 3 - Helen Peterson 10 - Lois Woy 17 - Betty Lamo 24 - Cindy Seip 31 - Bob Bowman L E C TO R S : Lillian Doerschler, Coordinator, 529-1939 Oct 3 - Sue Agne 10 - Louise Stoetzner 17 - Kaitlin Anderson 24 - David Bayek 31 - Carol Bruce U S H E R S : Brian Beckwith, Coordinator, 8AM, 563-4066 Oct - Brian Beckwith Louise Lostocco, Coordinator, 10:30AM, 529-3079 Oct 3 - Walter Ruppar & Dick Agne 10 - Walter Ruppar & Dick Agne 17 - Walter Ruppar & William Fischer, Sr. 24 - Walter Ruppar & William Fischer, Sr. 31 - Walter Ruppar & William Fischer, Sr. September 2010 pg. 6
OCTOBER 2010 EVENt CalENDaR SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT. 1 2 aa 10am aa 7:30pm 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 stewardship Meeting 9am Ed Gentino 6pm PE Downstairs outreach Meeting 7pm oa 7:30pm bible study 10:30am aa 7pm Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm thurs. Grp. 10am aa 10am aa 7:30pm 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Women s health seminar after 2 nd service Clergy appreciation Day Ed Gentino 6pm PE Downstairs oa 7:30pm bible study 10:30am aa 7pm Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm thurs. Grp. 10am epistle deadline aa 10am Pierce & hartman Wedding *held elsewhere aa 7:30pm 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Ed Gentino 6pm PE Downstairs oa 7:30pm bible study 10:30am aa 7pm Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm Men s breakfast 7:30am thurs. Grp. 10am Pageant & s.s. Meeting 7pm aa 10am WElCa Meeting: PE downstairs 10am-12pm Mercy house - Dinner aa 7:30pm 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Ed Gentino 6pm PE Downstairs Parish admin. 6:30pm Council 7:30pm oa 7:30pm bible study 10:30am aa 7pm Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm thurs. Grp. 10am aa 10am Cindy seip 5pm PE Downstairs Mercy house - breakfast habitat for humanity aa 7:30pm 31 Reformation sunday notes:
Saint Paul s Ev. Lutheran Church 371 Wolcott Hill Road Wethersfield, CT 06109 www.stpaulswethersfield.org What s inside: October 2010 Volume 68, Number 9 A Message from the Pastor pg 1 Finance - Counters Needed pg 2 Announcements pg 3 People in the Pews/Birthday s pg 4 Service & Outreach pg 5 Members in Service pg 6 Calendar pg 7