MAY 2018 ON THE ROTARY NEWS First Congregational Church East Longmeadow, MA Springtime Plant Sale, Craft Fair, Bake Sale and Tag Sale! May Meetings Mission & Outreach May 1, 7 p.m. Christian Education May 6, after service Deacons May 8, 7 p.m. Business & Finance May 8, 7 p.m. Annual Meeting May 20, after worship Cabinet May 23, 7 p.m. Inside this issue From your Pastor 2 Big E News 2 From the Moderator Pub Theology 3 3 3 Kensington Thank you 4 Corned Beef Dinner 4 Church Notes 4 Pilgrim Fellowship 5 Calendar 5 Advertising in Newsletter 6 Fair Committee help If you are planning to donate to our Spring Plant Sale, NOW IS THE TIME TO DIG! On Saturday, May 12, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Springtime Sale committee is planning to hold a plant sale as well as a tag sale and we need your help! We will need a good variety of perennials, ground covers, small shrubs, and flowering vines for our plant sale. As you divide perennials, if you could label each, that would save us time. If you know the color, that would be helpful, too. Please bring them to the church on or before Friday, May 11 so we may price them early. We also have planned a table with garden related accessories, like decorative pots, garden art, books, etc. If you have anything like that, we will be glad to take your donation. We will also feature crafters who make items such as garden signs, birdhouses, garden art items, etc. Also we are accepting items for our church "tag sale" (replacing the annual rummage sale). NO CLOTHES, but we will be accepting small appliances, dishes, small furniture and other treasures, which will be priced higher than the average "tag sale" items. Even jewelry is welcome. Leave your items on the stage in Fellowship Hall, anytime the church is open, preferably before Friday, May 11. We are planning a bake sale and free coffee in the gazebo. We again need your wonderful homemade goodies for this sale. Please drop off your baked goods on Friday, May 11 or early Saturday morning and mark those that include nuts. We will again raffle off a beautiful Gardeners Gift Basket and we will have tickets available after church. Just as an FYI: Herb and Elaine Stebbins will be selling hamburgers and hot dogs the day of the event. Yum... We had a great response last year and with your help, we look forward to having another successful event. All profits benefits the Gardens & Grounds Committee. Bible Trivia Join us for a new opportunity to win coffee and pastry with Pastor Bill this month with Bible Trivia! Thank you all who took part last month! Our question was, What did ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? Congratulations to Tammy Rozalski for being the first to answer a donkey. Would you like to win coffee and pastry with Pastor Bill? It s easy: be the first person to correctly answer the following trivia question from the Bible below. It s a fun and easy way to get to know each other, as well as the Bible, a little better. Here is the question: What day of the week did Jesus ascend back to Heaven? The first person to get the answer to me in-person, by e-mail, or phone will be the winner. So get your thinking caps on and let this month s contest begin. - Pastor Bill
ON THE ROTARY NEWS From Your Pastor Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! I hope that you all had a happy and healthy Easter celebration. On April 16th, we once again witnessed a great and exciting Massachusetts tradition: the Boston Marathon. I am very impressed by all of the hard work and dedication that the runners show as they run across the finish line after 26.2 miles of hills, turns and straight-a-ways. While only one person can be the first to cross the finish line, as far as I m concerned, anyone who finishes that race is a winner! They have accomplished something amazing and worthy of respect. This month, there are two church holidays that can be compared to a race. One is the end of the most amazing race in history; the other is the beginning of a race that we are still running today. The two holidays are Ascension Day (Ascension Thursday) and Pentecost. Ascension Day, on May 10th this year, is the feast where we remember Jesus return to Heaven. 40 days after Jesus rose from the dead and after several by The Reverend Dr. William Wildman meetings with his disciples and appearances to others, the time came for Jesus to return to his Father. This is the day that Jesus crossed the finish line of his earthly ministry: he had taught us his Good News, he had suffered through is passion and death, and had risen from the grave in triumph. Jesus was the first one across the finish line, beating Satan and winning the race of salvation and reconciliation with God for all of us. Now that his work had been completed, Jesus could finally go home, for he had won the race and gloried God. The second holiday is Pentecost, on May 20 th. Pentecost is the birthday of the church, and is where our race, as the church, begins. Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus disciples that were gathered in Jerusalem. This is considered the birthday of the church because, when the Holy Spirit arrived, they were given the abilities that they needed to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ all over the world. The constant guide and support PAGE 2 that they (and us today) would need to serve Christ had finally arrived. Now our race was on, the race of serving Christ and teaching his Good News to all ears that were and will be willing to hear it. This is the day that Jesus small band of followers became the church, the body that we are still a part of to this very day. That is why we is celebrate Confirmation on Pentecost at our church. It is a new beginning of life in Christ for those being confirmed. Looking forward to running into you soon! If you would like a visit, or to get together for a cup of coffee, or have some other way that I can be of help to you, please let me know. Also, if you know of someone who is sick, or in distress, or in the hospital, please let me know so I can pay them a visit. You can call me at the church office at 413-525-4121 or e-mail me at revwilliamwildman@yahoo.com. Hoping that you all have a bountiful and happy May! God bless you! In Christ s Love, Pastor Bill Big E News Once again, we will have the opportunity to work with the delightful folks in the Cabot Cheese booth at the Big E and earn some much needed funds for our Church. The Big E opens Sept. 14 th and runs until Sept 30 th. We are looking for energetic (can stand for 4 hours), enthusiastic, and friendly people to pass out cheese samples and sell cheese to customers. You do not have to be a member of our Church to volunteer, so you could ask a friend to work a shift with you and then enjoy the Fair for the rest of the day. All volunteers will get a ticket to the Big E and a free parking pass for the day. So pick a day (or 2 or 3), enjoy the Big E and work a 4 hour shift for your Church. We (Marge Atwater and Bev Steele) are heading up this endeavor this year and are looking forward to working with all of you to make this an exciting and profitable experience for our Church. We will begin sign-ups in May this year as we know many of you are away during the summer. You don t have to pick a time now, just put your name on the Will Work sheet. Look for the sign-up sheets in the Breezeway beginning May 6th or call us anytime!! Marge 596-9084 or Bev 525-2151 Sanctuary Easter Morning
ON THE ROTARY NEWS PAGE 3 From the Moderator Would you describe yourself as a glasshalf-full or a glass-half-empty kind of person? When a stressful event occurs, is your first reaction to fight or flight? These are questions that have been continually on my mind of late. I have been writing for months about the many changes and challenges that have been facing our church over the past year, from decisions about building transitions to becoming an open and affirming community, to facing a significant budget shortfall. Together (and not always unanimously), we have made some difficult decisions. The financial picture is not as strong as it became last year and some members question how action is being taken. Cabinet is your leadership team that represents the membership and the future of the church. Cabinet leaders are the stewards that are deliberating both the challenges and the options. These formal monthly conversations are followed by weekly informal conversations. Many ideas have been generated and discussed. These brainstorming sessions are productive and healthy. They will not yield quick decisions, nor should they. They will provide for a variety of perspective, reflection and solicitation of viewpoints. In the meantime, I hope that we will be able to challenge each other and grow together. We need to discern as a congregation how our mission still exists in East Longmeadow, whether our size and energy level are sufficient to propel us forward? The continued investment from the congregation including you is necessary to sustain this process in a healthy way. We need a glass-half-full perspective and a willingness to fight. Many of us make the decision to support organizations we care about based on the personal benefits or needs they provide. God also calls us to support his church and his call into our future. For those who have joined together in pledging support for our church this year, I ask you to follow through on that pledge. For those of you that have not pledged, I ask for you to dedicate some of your resources to continue the work that is underway to review and discern our options. If you can join us as partners, you will be warmly welcomed. Let s together serve Christ, Gail Holt, Moderator Fridays On The Rotary May 18th 7 pm - 9 pm Open to all Middle Schoolers! Craft Fair Committee Needs Help We are looking for someone to take over as the "Crafter Coordinator". I have been doing this job for over fifteen years and it is time for me to step back. The job entails basically being responsible for filling the crafter spots for the Christmas Collection Craft Fair. We solicit new crafters via a variety of sources and ads in local newspapers. A list needs to be maintained of craft people and also a map with the locations of each. In an ideal world, we would find a volunteer to take this over soon so that they could work with me on my last year in this position. I sincerely hope we have a volunteer come forward because this is the biggest fund raiser for the church and we obviously need that income for future years. We usually make about $12,000 for the one day event. Unless we get someone to join the team, that income will end after this year. If anyone has any questions about this volunteer opportunity, please give me a call at 525-7511. Please think about it and consider if this is something you could do to help the church meet its financial goals. Thanks, Sandy Burns & the Craft Fair Committee The Pub Theology Don Campbell On April 2, seven members of the FCC Congregation gathered for the monthly session of Pub Theology. Mike Duffy, Ryan Duffy, Dave LaLiberte, Dean Johnson, Bill Wildman, Jerry Sprofera, and Don Campbell, all enjoyed an evening of lively and thought provoking conversation, laughter, some food and a beverages of their choice. The Pub Theology group is open to any adult interested in a chance for fellowship with other members of the congregation and their invited guests. The mission of Pub Theology is to connect more deeply and meaningfully with fellow members of our congregation in an informal way. We look forward to expanding the size of the group. So, if you would like to know more about Pub Theology, please ask any of the current participants. The next gathering of the Pub Theology group will be on Monday, May 7 at 6 PM. Hope to see you there!
PAGE 4 ON THE ROTARY NEWS Kensington Thank you Recently on one of our scheduled Thursdays at Kensington for the food pantry, we were invited to a second grade classroom for a surprise. The children had seen us coming and going with food weekly and one of the little boys suggested that they write us thank you notes. They had special seats set up for the four of us. They each stood up and read the thank you notes that they had personally written for us. They are very special children and their notes meant so much to us. I have put all of the notes on a bulletin board in the lower level at church so Annual Corned Beef Dinner Was a Huge Success The Luck of the Irish was with us on March 18th. Our annual corned beef dinner was a huge success due to the many helpful volunteers that assisted. The Youth Group again did a wonderful job serving our guests and making sure from the Business and Finance Board Cumulative Financial Summary Jan-Mar 2017 2018 Budget Jan Mar 2018 Total Revenue 63,973 50,535 46,859 Total Expenses 71,613 69,863 78,848 ($7,639) ($19,328) ($31,989) Deficit Women's Fellowship that they had what they needed. Herb and Elaine Stebbins were the chefs of the day with the very able assistance of Rick Rose. We had many other hands in the kitchen as well helping out with various tasks. So many people helped - Quarterly Financial Update everyone could feel the love and gratitude that these children expressed. One of the children asked how we could do this every year. I wrote them back and told them that we able to do this every year because of our very generous and loving church family here at First Congregational. They are truly thankful for our help at Kensington and I wanted you to know that you really do make a difference in the lives of these children. Thank you!! Peace, Sandy Burns from peeling vegetables, baking desserts, setting up tables, buying tickets and more. To all we give a heartfelt "Thank You". We really couldn't have done it without you. The profit from the evening was $1212. Thank you. Mission and Outreach News One Great Hour of Sharing raised $460. Open Pantry donations totaled $495 from Easter flower dedications. Mission and Outreach will be providing another mission opportunity. On Sunday, May 6, envelopes will be available for donations to the Church World Service event of Blanket Sunday. Please help others that are in need. Thank you. CHURCH NOTES and THANK YOUS Dear Friends, You certainly know how to make a person feel special! -Such a nice surprise when Roberta Guthrie showed up at my door on Easter Sunday with a beautiful lily plant that had been used at the early morning service; really have been enjoying it and I thank you so much. Also enjoyed Bobbie s nice visit. Love, Joan E. To the Congregation Thank you so much for the lovely daffodil plant you sent me for Easter. It is here in the living room with me and is beautiful. I m 95 years old. Thanks again. Sincerely, Hilda P. Thank you very much for the delightful vase of flowers delivered on Sunday the eighth in honor of my birthday. It sits in the kitchen where we can see it often. Thanks too, to Charlotte Kites for delivering them! Joan (and) Bob M. Dear Church Friends, We both want to thank you so much for the lovely flowers we received on our birthdays. We are still enjoying than and also the banner. It was good to see so many familiar names. Margaret and Bill S. Brittany Rose-Therapy Doll Next Doll Ministry Mtg. May 3rd @ 6 p.m.
ON THE ROTARY NEWS Pilgrim Fellowship What a fun month!! The Hunger Games started out on the 8th by playing an awesome game with Nerf guns, followed by a delicious meal of grilled cheese and soup. We talked about hunger and were required to bring in an item of peanut butter, jelly or rice to be distributed at Kensington Elementary School. On the 22nd, we had a Progressive Dinner. What a great time we had eating and socializing with some folks from the church that cooked us a magnificent meal. First we went to Walter Polchlopek and Karen Krustapentus where we had salad, meatballs, shrimp and crackers and cheese. Next, we had the main course of meat lasagna, homemade macaroni and cheese and bread at Marilyn and Mike Duffy's. Finally, we went to Bev and Bob Steele's for whoopy pies, ice cream cake and cookies. We were surprised when we pulled into the Steele's driveway to find Walter and Karen greeting us! We were one big happy PF! We are so grateful to all of the hosts for inviting us into their homes. Progressive Dinners are a blast, we highly recommend them!! In the month of May, we will be going on a hike and cleaning up in front of the church to help prepare for the Plant/Tag Sale. God is Great!! ~ Tracey, Nick and Dean May Calendar PAGE 5 Tuesday, May 1 7:00 p.m. Mission & Outreach Meeting- Library Wednesday, May 2 5:30 p.m. Autism Network Meeting 7:00 p.m. Bell Choir Rehearsal Sanctuary Thursday, May 3 6:00 p.m. Doll Ministry- Fellowship Hall Sunday, May 6 Communion & CWS Blanket Sunday 9:15 a.m. Choir Rehearsal Sanctuary 11:00 a.m. Fellowship hour Fellowship Room 6:00 p.m. Pilgrim Fellowship Meeting- Fellowship Hall Monday, May 7 6:00 p.m. Pub Theology Meeting Tuesday, May 8 7:00 p.m. Business & Finance Meeting- Library 7:00 p.m. Deacons Meeting Youth Room Wednesday, May 9 1:00 p.m. Ecumenical Quilting Mtg. - Fellowship Hall Saturday, May 12 9 a.m. 2 p.m. Plant Sale, Craft Fair, Tag & Bake Sale Sunday, May 13 Neutral Pulpit 9:15 a.m. Choir Rehearsal Sanctuary 11:00 a.m. Fellowship hour Fellowship Room Monday, May 14 Tuesday, May 15 7:00 p.m. Vesper Service Reeds Landing Wednesday, May 16 Friday, May 18 7:00 p.m. Fridays On The Rotary - Fellowship Hall Sunday, May 20 Annual Church Meeting 9:15 a.m. Choir Rehearsal Sanctuary 11:00 a.m. Annual Church Meeting Sanctuary 6:00 p.m. Pilgrim Fellowship Meeting- Fellowship Hall Monday, May 21 Tuesday, May 22 Wednesday, May 23 7:00 p.m. Cabinet Meeting Fireside Room Thursday, May 24 12:00 p.m. E.L. Garden Club- Fellowship Hall Saturday, May 26 3:00 p.m. Loaves and Fishes Kitchen Sunday, May 27 Joint Church Service @ St Mark s Episcopal Church Located at 1 Porter Road, East Longmeadow Monday, May 28 Church offices closed Memorial Day Holiday Tuesday, May 29 Wednesday, May 30
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