The Good News July 2016 St. Paul United Church of Christ 31654 Mound Road Warren MI 48092 586/264-4777 Worship Service Sunday, 10 am Rev Jacquie Patt, Pastor Office Hours: M-Th, 9am-1pm www.spuccwarren.com email: stpauluccwarren@gmail.com Pastor Jacquie Patt The Dog Days of Summer those hot sultry summer days, are upon us. It seems to me that the hot sultry days came earlier this year. Even so, the summer is upon us; thank goodness! Summer can be a wonderful time to enjoy those activities that can bring us refreshment, fun, and relaxation. In many ways, summer provides a way of Sabbath - a time to get away from our normal routine, to relax, and to be restored in the gifts and beauty of God s creation. Molly Baskette writes in the Stillspeaking Daily Devotional, of a practice called Pow! Wow! and How? It is a new twist on an age-old spiritual practice called the Ignition Examen. Ignatius of Loyola was a saint in the Catholic Church, known for his deep devotion and dedication to God. He developed a daily prayer of examen, in which we can: become aware of God s presence, review the day with gratitude, pay attention to our emotions, and choose one feature of the day and include it in prayer. Pow! Wow! and How? is a way the kids in Molly s church, check-in with each other and with God. Pow! reveals a recent struggle. Wow! tells of something for which they are grateful. And How? tells the group how the speaker saw God at work in their life, that week. We can know release and peace, through sharing our gratitude and concerns; verbally with at least one other person. The Bible is filled with people, speaking their joys and concerns to God, and with others. And we are invited to do the same! During your activities and your normal routine; I invite you to take Pow! Wow! and How? along with you. This is a wonderful time to enjoy the beauty of God s creation. Thanks be to God! Wednesday, July 6, 2016 4:30-6:30 pm
Page 2 Consistory President s Report Erich Regier On June 14, St. Paul held its monthly Consistory meeting. Consistory reviewed finances and are doing really well. Suzanna and Maria received a small increase for their great work and talent. We also re-invested the majority of the parsonage dollars. Those investments did very well as added income for us. As time goes on, we still have a small portion in our checking account that, when things settle and insurance premiums are paid, we will look at investing another portion. Building maintenance has been going well. The plumbing issues have been resolved. One thing we may need to start looking at is the lighting around the church. A lot of the lights in the Fellowship Hall are getting old and should be replaced. We continue to do well with the Rummage Sale, and the Consistory and Women s Fellowship are working together and have decided to try a turkey dinner in October. It will be our first one and getting the word out is key. Everybody knew about the fish dinner, but this one is new. Also, all money for this fundraiser (food, plates, drinks, etc.) will be paid by the church. Donations after the fact are always welcome. We need an accurate count of profit to make sure the dinner is worth the effort. The cleaning of the church is going well. The floors were all mopped thanks to Gary Miller. The curtains upstairs in the educational building were removed and all washed by hand and hung out to dry. They look great and thanks to all who helped that day it was a lot of work. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to let me or any of the Consistory members know, and we will try to answer them. 9 Erich Regier 12 Mackenzie Regier 18 Marilyn Dopp 20 Don Kolman 26 Stacey DeMarco Our Spring Soup Fundraiser was a huge success, due to your help and purchases. We want to express our appreciation by making a contribution of $329 to the church. Thank you! Women s Fellowship
Page 3 Brandon Ebel Dear Members of St. Paul UCC, This month I want to paraphrase an amazing proverbial story. I wish I knew who first shared it, but it has found me and brought me so much. I hope you enjoy it and I hope I state it right! "A young boy in the 4th grade dreads the exhaustion he receives from the long days at school. In his daily activities, he lacks motivation. Although very much capable, his laziness over-shadows his wit. On a typical afternoon, this young boy is asleep during the classrooms' math session. The bell rings and abruptly wakes the boy and he notices two math problems on the board. He hurries and copies them down assuming they are homework. That same night he opens his notebook and figures the first problem out relatively easy, but the second one has him stumped. On the verge of solving it, he falls asleep. The next morning he takes the problems to his teacher, eagerly awaiting how to solve the second problem. To her (the teacher) absolute amazement and utter shock, she says how both problems are supposed to be impossible!" Imagine if that boy would've heard that originally. That seed of doubt would have never allowed him to attempt and discover his potential. So inspiring to not place limitations on another. We are all capable of so much. If you would like to write to Brandon or send him a card, his address is: Ebel, #752523 Thumb Correctional Facility 3225 John Conley Drive, Lapeer, MI 48446 Thank you to our Curtain Cleaning Crew for washing the curtains, cleaning the windows, etc. A special THANK YOU goes to Don for setting up the clothes lines outside and rehanging the curtains.
Page 4 FALL RUMMAGE SALE, SOUP AND BAKE SALE & CHRISTMAS ROOM SATURDAY, SEPT 17 Just a reminder the rummage room is open for your discarded treasures. July 3 Dick Schuster 10 17 Cindy Weiler 24 31 Marge Murrell Gail Popyk & Shirene Cece-Clements On June 4 th, members of the ONA team conducted an extremely successful street fair at Ferndale Pride. Much of this success was due to the efforts of Salem United Church of Christ in Farmington. John Wagner, of Salem of UCC, went above and beyond the call by ensuring that we had a much more beautiful display than we have had in previous years. John generated signage for all three churches which participated in the event. Unfortunately, Trinity-St Mark s had a funeral that day and so could not staff the booth with volunteers. Salem more than made up for this lack, however, both by providing individuals who staffed the booth and by having amazing giveaways, not just water, but small rainbow crosses. The turn-out of Salem volunteers was especially impressive given that June 4 th was the date that Bonnie Meek-Miller was graduated from the Ecumenical Theological with her Master of Divinity degree. Our congratulations to Bonnie who is not only a member of our team, but also a member of our congregation. Quite an accomplishment! On a much sadder note, we extend our condolences to the friends and families of those affected by the tragedy in the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida. Lest anyone think that that can t happen here, we were worried about friends of ours living in Florida who might have been in Pulse. Thankfully, they were not. Worse, there was an incident, deservedly less publicized, in which an individual was arrested on his way to LA Pride, armed to the teeth and carrying explosives, with the avowed intent to kill as many queers as he could. Had he been on his way to Ferndale Pride a few weeks earlier and not been apprehended, some of your fellow congregants might have been lying dead on the pavement. I realize this is a depressing subject to include in this article, but should we conclude this type of hate has been eradicated from our enlightened society, we must continue our efforts to stop the hate.
Please Pray For Gail Popyk Chuck Calabrese Jo Rhoads Matt Sufnar Ruthie Kuntzman Vigna Family Reva Prosnitz SPUCC Community Supper Those Serving our Country Washington Decision Makers Michigan s People & Economy People Who Seek/Need a Community of Faith Safety for People of the World Seminarians and Members in Discernment PFLAG/Ruth Ellis Center The Warming Center Sacred Conversations on Race Middle Eastern Conflict & Refugees Flint Water Crisis Detroit Public Schools Cancer Bonnie Fagon Barbara Delmoral Shirley Jean Donna Eugene Hardy Lynn Tom Carol Anna Nancy Page 5 Lillian Howard Dubois Irene Marian Yaeger Hannah Rachel James Karen Powell Mary Fritz Sandra Smith Shirene Cece-Clements We continually strive to keep our prayer lists updated. If you know someone on this list, please take a moment and let us know how they are doing. New additions will be lifted up during our community prayer time in worship. Each Monday, updated copies will be available on the black countertop and sent by email. Emergency requests will continue to be called down the prayer chain as they are received. The names on our Cancer list is ongoing. The names on our Please Pray For list will remain on for one month. If a name is removed and you would like it to continue on the list, please let Maria know. Mable Adamson Marilyn Dopp (hospice) Esther Hornyak Wally Paczkowski Virginia Park Joan Pinegar (hospice) Anne Pyciak Mae St Clair Dorothy Zink
Page 6 Our Condolences are Extended to the Family of Madeline Goldstein Camp Talahi Retreat & Nature Center CT is currently in the process of raising donations for their scholarship fund. Each year, during the traditional summer camp sessions, they serve hundreds of children ages 5 through 18. Many of these campers attend on scholarship. Please consider donating to this scholarship fund and give a special child or children a chance to have a life changing experience at this incredible summer camp. You may send your donations to CRTNC c/o St Paul UCC, 26550 Cherry Hill Rd, Dearborn Heights MI 48127 Barbara Stephens Our community dinners give us an opportunity to meet and welcome people in our area. Some come alone, some come with friends, and almost every month we see new faces. Many come and stay the whole time too. They are always so grateful, thankful and enjoy themselves. How beautiful is this a young lady came and brought her Mom & Dad who were quite elderly, the Dad was dying and didn t have long to live. She was from out of town and mentioned she had a guitar in her car and asked if we would enjoy having some music she played some old hymns and we all sang and had a great time. What a pleasant surprise that was!!! So do you have a special talent you would like to share? Come and join us for a great evening of fellowship and food on the first Wednesday of each month.