THE PLAIN FACTS a monthly newsletter of FIRST YARMOUTH PLAINS BAPTIST CHURCH 6071 Fairview Road, R. R. # 4 St. Thomas ON N5P 3S8 E-mail: plainschurch@rogers.com Website: www.plainschurch.ca Phone: 519-633-2883 Newsletter Staff Distribution: Barb Axford Technical Support: Phyllis Huffman Editor: Nancy Millman Contributors: Pastor Margaret Bell Rev. Malcolm Rust Plains family APRIL 2017 HOLY WEEK AT PLAINS PALM / PASSION SUNDAY WORSHIP SUNDAY, APRIL 09 AT 10:00 A.M. Sunday School participating with palm parade. GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE FRIDAY, APRIL 14 AT 10:00 A.M. A half hour Service of readings and prayer SUNRISE SERVICE EASTER SUNDAY APRIL 16 AT 7:00 A.M. at Dayna s Oak Tree Followed by a light breakfast EASTER SUNDAY SERVICE At 10:00 A.M. Special music by the Plains Choir The Special Easter Offering will be divided evenly between the General Fund and CBOQ Missions. Special Easter Envelopes are in the church pews or you can include your EASTER OFFERING on the other line of your regular giving envelope or include in PAR. Easter egg hunt for the children at Suzanne and Don Ferguson s after worship.
2 PRAYER CONCERNS To protect the privacy concerns of our families, friends, neighbours and church family, it is requested that before names are submitted to the Pastor for prayer, or are put on the Plain Facts prayer list, permission be sought and granted from the individuals to be named, or from family members who have been given express permission to speak on their behalf. Sylvia Lusted Patty McNulty Cathy Tredenick Myron & Kathy Cannady & family Jason and Michelle Eleanor House Earle Kipp Don Graham Ruth Dodds & family Janet Stewart Linda Axford Ray and Vera Martin Norma Griffin Jim Duffy Rev. Lee Tuson Jean Lammiman Family of Ed Warren Tina and Dave Penner Family of Jackie Mott Family of Bill Noble Eric Plaunt Pete DenBoer Family of Karl Perry Sunday Scripture Readings April 2 - Lent 5 April 9 - Palm Sunday April 16 - Easter Sunday John 11: 1-45 Matthew 21: 1-4 Matthew 28: 1-10 Romans 8: 6-11 April 23 April 30 May 7 John 20: 19-31 Luke 24: 13-35 John 10: 1-10 In Sympathy The Plains family extend our deep sympathy to the family of Bill Noble who passed away March 6th, 2017. He was husband of Pamela, and loved father of Todd Noble and Kathy, and cherished grandfather of Tori, Hailey, Spencer, and Gabrielle. He will be greatly missed. BABY BOTTLE CHANGE FUND RAISER Between Mothers Day May 14 and Fathers Day June 18, the Ladies Aid are offering the congregation an opportunity to join in a fund raiser for teen moms and their babies housed and supported at FRESH START. Empty baby bottles will be provided, and households are encouraged to take one home with the purpose of depositing loose change to fill it, during the time period outlined. Cheques and paper bills also accepted. This is a wide spread fund raiser with churches throughout St. Thomas and Elgin County taking part. Start now by saving your coins, in order to have a head start when you take your baby bottle home on Mothers Day. As you drop in your change, keep in mind that your donation changes lives and say a prayer for the moms and babies you are supporting. On Father s Day Sunday June 18th return the bottle (full or otherwise) to the designated box. Fresh Start will be picking up the donations, counting them and issuing tax receipts. The church will get a report on the total we raised as a congregation. Thank you for your participation in this life-changing ministry!!
EVENTS FOR APRIL April 02 Sun 10:00 A.M. Sunday Service - Communion Sunday April 03 Mon 9:30-3:30 Plains Knotty Quilters quilting in Oak Hall. April 05 Wed 4:30-6:30 PLAINS CHURCH SPRING CHICKEN BARBEQUE April 06 Thur. 10:30 A.M. DVD STUDY GROUP Making Sense of the Bible April 09 Sun 10:00 A.M. Sunday Service - Palm Sunday April 11 Tues 1:30 P.M. Ladies Aid- Speaker Kelly Franklin from Farmtown Canada-offering faith based Equine Therapeutics. April 12 Wed 8:30 A.M. After8's Breakfast at Sunset Café April 14 Fri 10:00 A.M. Good Friday Service April 16 Sun 7:00 A.M. Easter Sunrise Service - at Dayna s oak tree, front lawn of church, followed by breakfast in Oak Hall 10:00 A.M. Easter Sunday Service April 17 Easter Monday April 19 Wed 7:00 P.M. Trustees Meeting April 23 Sun 10:00 A.M. Sunday Service April 30 Sun 10:00 A.M. Sunday Service 11:30 A.M. Congregational Meeting following service and bring your own bag lunch. 3 May 07 Sun 10:00 A.M. Sunday Service - Communion Sunday 2:30 P.M. Elgin Baptist Association Spring Communion at Centre St. Baptist Church. Churches are asked to share a brief historical answer to the question: What was your church like/doing 150 years ago? This theme is to mark Canada's 150th Birthday. All are welcome to join us for refreshments followed by a brief business session, theme presentations, and communion. End time 5:00 p.m. or thereabouts. We will also vote on a revised EBA Constitution. NOTE: NEW DATES... FAMILY CAMP OUT at Springwater. The dates are June 08 11, 2017 (Thursday to Sunday) APRIL BIRTHDAYS ANNIVERSARIES 7 TH Brenton Axford 19 th Lillian Hartford 5 th Don & Edith Norton 7 th Ryan Ruddock 20 th Donna Limon 14 th Margaret Bell, Ordained in 1991 8 th Brian Plaunt 21 st Cassidy Proctor 23 rd Malcolm & Donna Rust 9 th Tiffany Graham 21 st Sally Paul 11 th Mary Smoke 26 th Evan Jackson 13 th Madge Barrett 26 th Troy Dale 13 th Malcolm Rust 28 th Pauline Duffy 14 th Lillian Bell 30 th Michael Johnson 18 th Jack Cummings 18 th Diane O Brien Congratulations to Paul O'Drowsky on his retirement the end of March. He was a nurse at Parkwood Hospital in the Brain Injury unit. His last official day was 31st March but with vacation days etc he got to leave earlier.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT (Articles submitted to the St. Thomas Times Journal for publication) Plains Church News 12 th March 2017 Have you ever tried to measure the love of God? That was the question Pastor Margaret Bell asked the children at Plains Church. They were given some suggestions. She had a measuring pitcher like the children used recently for making 4 pancakes. But to measure the love of God their pitcher would be running over! A tape measure was borrowed from the tool box but the love of God is as high as the heavens, so that did not work. We measure time with our clocks and watches but we are told the love of God is from eternity to eternity and no clock helps us measure that! In fact, the love of God is so vast there is room for us all to live in God s love. Jim Cartwright and Floyd Axford took part in the service. Wendy Lessard was at the piano and Sherry Graham at the organ. Judy Burgess was thanked for the flowers in the sanctuary and the foyer. Tickets for the Spring Chicken Supper are now on sale by people at the church. The 200 tickets have to be purchased in advance of the supper. Taking a fresh approach, Pastor Bell spoke About the World according to God. She asked how people demonstrate their love to each other with words and actions and spoke about those 3 little powerful words, I love you. God s loves all of creation and in helping to care for the world we share his love for all things. We live in a world where there are competing choices and it can be hard to know what best achieves clean air, water and how to protect the land, all wildlife and vegetation. Our shared hope is to leave the world a little better than we found it. We are challenged to believe that God loves everyone. Moslems, Jews, Isis fighters, transgender people, gays and lesbians, those who don t believe or those who might be called God-haters. Jesus clearly believed in God s forgiveness for all and wants the broken world he loves to be united in peace and love. Malcolm Rust Plains Church News 19 th March 2017 With Wendy Lessard at the piano and Sherry Graham, organ, everyone knew the music of worship would be the best! Pastor Margaret Bell spoke to the children about a TV show in which the judges turn their backs to the performers at a singing audition. Why? One child explained it was so the judges were not influenced by the look of the person. They would just judge the talent alone! When Susan Boyle entered Britain s Got Talent in 2009 she may have looked like your favourite aunt baking cookies in the kitchen. But when she began to sing, Wow! She was awesome. As we meet people who do not look like we think they should maybe they have zits, their hair is a mess or they are too heavy, stop before you judge them. When you look in the mirror and see someone who does not look like you want to be take a second look. That person may have talents we would never have expected. Try to accept people for who they are. There is good in all of us, waiting to be discovered. In the sharing time we learned about good things happening in people s lives. Prayers were offered for those we know who need comfort, healing, hope and courage. Barbara Axford, Malcolm Rust, Phyllis Huffman, Dan Dale and Pat Kennedy shared a reading from the Bible. Carol Maes and George Lidster also took part in the service. Pastor Bell, with the help of the readers, spoke about a conversation Jesus had with a Samaritan woman at a water well. Jews and Samaritans usually avoided each other. This woman had been married five times, may have been regarded as a sinner, had more than her fair share of bad luck and came to the well at noon time perhaps avoiding other villagers. Over the years many have regarded her as a loose woman, shamed and shunned. But perhaps some of her husbands had died and others divorced her. Jesus knew of her losses. She needed protection. She needed to
5 find a new man and shepherds usually came to the well at noon. She was devoted to her religion and spoke confidently about places of worship. Her speech was direct, she was honest and very curious about this Rabbi. Impacted by their conversation she returned to her village to share her news. In the tradition of the Orthodox Church she was given a name, Photini, (meaning equal ) a brave and bold disciple equal to the Apostles. Years later the Roman Emperor Nero was persecuting Christians. She was put under house arrest because she wanted Nero to be converted! Later the church called her Saint Photini. She had understood the message of Jesus and accepted it. Malcolm Rust Plains Church News Mar 26, 2017 People like wearing uniforms and children love colors. There were lots of answers when Pastor Margaret Bell asked the colors worn by their sports teams. The Bible often describes people on God s team as being children of light. The other team is known as children of darkness. The kind of friend we are and the choices we make show if we are on God s team. The team colors are love, kindness, acceptance and standing up for what is right. Fake News or Good News was the title of a skit cleverly written by Margaret Bell with lots of humor. Breaking news from Station WORD in Bethany was that a local man, blind from birth had been healed and now could see and will be looking for a job. Many locals were calling it a miracle. The man, known as Beggar Joe, was a distant relative of the Mayor of Bethany, who confirmed on-air that Joe had been healed of his chronic eye condition. Joe s father, Judah ben Judah, was interviewed and said Joe was blind from birth. The story was carried by JNN news. But another network, SLY-FOX news, reported that Rabbi Simone, a Pharisee visiting from Jerusalem, called the claim of a miracle completely bogus. We know, she said, that miracles rarely happen and certainly not to roadside beggars. He has lived with a curse from God since birth. No, it s a plot meant to fool us into thinking a Messiah has arrived to save the world. He was just wanting to grab attention for himself. Maybe he was in cahoots with Jesus. She called the miracle fake news. Now the little town will be busy with other sinners looking for the faith-healer from Nazareth. Station JNN signed off saying that they would leave it to their viewers to decide if this alleged miracle was fake news or good news. If it was true, it might change their nation and the world. Performers included Margaret Bell, Phyllis Huffman, Pat Martyn, Floyd Axford, Danial Dale, Donna Limon and Edith Norton. Malcolm Rust See more Plains Church News Articles on the Church web site at www.plainschurch.ca Volunteers are needed for coffee/tea for April, May and June 2017. Please sign the list on the church bulletin board located by the office. A warm THANK YOU to those who staff the kitchen for coffee and tea duty. You are appreciated!!! Singular or Plural? We ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, but the plural of ox is oxen, not oxes. Then one fowl s a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a mouse, or a nest full of mice, yet the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn t the plural of pan be called pen? If I spoke of my foot and showed you my feet, then I gave you a boot would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn t the plural of booth be called beeth? We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the feminine she, shis and shim
6 FIRST YARMOUTH BAPTIST CHURCH FINANCIAL STATEMENT as at March 31, 2017 Gen. Fund Missions Communion Sun. School Totals Income 24,506.87 551.01 862.52 45.00 25,965.40 Expenses 21,336.39 551.01 720.13 45.00 22,652.53 Net Gain(Loss) 3,170.48 0.00 142.39 0.00 3,312.87 Balance end of 2016 43,925.35 0 371.77 0.00 44,297.12 Balance as at 3/31/2017 47,095.83 0.00 514.16 0.00 47,609.99 Notes: 1. The General Fund shows a net gain of $3,170.48 at the end of March, 2017. 2. Total Missions income at the end of March, 2017 was $551.01. That amount has been forwarded to CBOQ and CBM. This amount is made up as follows: CBOQ - General Budget $260; CBOQ Local Missions - $60; CBM - General Budget - $115.01; CBM SharingWay, undesignated - $116. 3. The Communion Fund shows a net gain as at 31st of March 2017 of $142.39. There is an amount from previous years of $371.77, for a total of $514.16. 4. The designated Sunday school amount as of March 31, 2017 was $45.00. Those funds have been paid to the Sunday school treasurer at the end of the first quarter. 5. Memorial funds are as follows: Wayne Hartford - $253.68; Mary Lou Greenslade - $1,700; Helen Munroe - $20.00; Peg Springer - $50.00; Mildred Chant - $730.00; Karen Johnson - $20.00 ; John Satchell - $50.00; and in memory of the late Dennis Wilson - $1,975.00 to date. There is also an amount of $125.00 to honour Jim and Marion Maynard, giving a total of $4923.68 Respectfully Submitted, Shirley E. Dale, Treasurer Those wonderful Church Bulletins! - The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals. - Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children. - Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands. - Don't let worry kill you off let the Church help. - Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation. Submitted by Malcolm Rust.
7 Dear friends; April has arrived and with it comes Easter celebrations! I am very thankful that my mother is with me, now just counting down the days until she reaches her 97th birthday in May. As I think about her and the many Easters'we've spent together I'm reminded of a childhood story that she has enjoyed telling about me. When I was a little girl my mom made my clothes. I was never one to fancy wearing fancy dresses, but my mother loved making dresses and outfits for me. Needless to say, she made me a dress for Easter every year. In my younger years it was customary for little girls to wear Easter hats with their new outfits to church. And so it was that as Easter Sunday approached, my mother took me to town to shop for a hat. Regrettably, we found several that she insisted I try on. I tried this one on and that one on and I must confess,i soon became frustrated with the exercise. F'inally, we found a white straw hat with some pretty tiny silk posies attached and ribbons to tie around my chin. I think I surprised my mother when I suddenly declared o'i like this one." My startled mother asked, ooare you sure?" And I told her again, ttyes, itts finet'. So the transaction was made andwe came homewith my brand new Easterchapeau. I'm sure I looked resplendent. Somewhere there is a snap shot photo of me donned in a pretty little dress and wearing my Easter hat. And I'm smiling all over my face at the camera. Mother says that on Easter Sunday and through that Spring season I contentedly wore my hat every Sunday without complaint or caustic comment. The next year when Easter was approachingr my mother fished through my chest of drawers to recover this hat which by this time shoved to the back of one of the drawers. She pulled it out, fluffed up the flowers and ironed the ribbons. And then she asked me, "Are you going to wear your hat to church this Easter?"..NOl" declared her darling little ungrateful munchkin. "Why not?" Mom asked me. "Because I Hated It When I Buyed It And I Hate It Yet!" I pronounced. Mother was flummoxed. "Why then did you say you liked it when we were in the store?" Since I was on an 'honesty-roll' I told her the truth. 66I was sick and tired of looking at hats so I told you I liked it so we could Just Go Home." To my mother's credit, she was not angry. Why would she be? She now had a comical story to tell to my grandmother, two aunts and her best friend, Norma and countless others who have heard the story since. Again to her credit, Mom did not make me wear that despised head covering ever again. To my credit' if I get anyr l've turned into a better shopper...but I Still Don't Like Hats. My friends, I hope that your Easter celebrations are punctuated with special moments with the people you love, and decorated with precious memories which you'll savor and share for years to come. And I hope that Easter worship will be part of your celebrations. For after all, without a risen Christ there would be no Easter to celebrate! So on Easter Sunday I hope you'll join us to celebrate the real reason for this Holy Season! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! (Need I mention it? Easter hats are not required.) Blessings! wr-{