September 2015 - St. Paul`s Lutheran Church

September 2015
OUR
MISSION
Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of
Cumberland, Maryland is a
fellowship of believers in Jesus
Christ. This congregation is united by the preaching of
the Gospel and the administration
of the Sacraments.
INSIGHTS FROM PASTOR MARSHA
As the school year begins, there is always excitement in the air. I never cease to “want to register”, but I
channel that energy into the planning for our fall programs. Can you believe it? Our APPS Wednesday
after-school program begins its 5th year! Our puppet ministry begins its 3rd year, and our Bountiful
Blessings ministry will begin its 2nd year. Our long-standing music ministry will see our choir and hand
bells coming back to worship leadership on September 16th.
The purpose of Saint Paul’s Congregation is to continue supporting
an evolving community of worshiping, learning, witnessing, serving believers of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America.
Saint Paul’s will again host the joint Reformation Worship and luncheon on October 25th. This year, the
Reverend Beth Bergeron Folkemer, Pastor for Christian Education, Faith Formation and Witness at
Christ Lutheran Church in Gettysburg will be preaching. Pastor Folkemer will also be leading us in an
Appalachian liturgy, Of the Land and Seasons, accompanied by Appalachian instruments, which was
written by her and her husband, Dr. Steven Folkemer of Gettysburg seminary. We will learn a few
portions of the liturgy the first three Sundays of October, so as to be ready to jump right in on
Persons of all circumstances of life
Reformation Sunday.
are invited to share in this congregation’s fellowship.
Saint Paul’s Ahead of the National Curve
Just yesterday, I received a letter (by way of our synod e-letter) from our ELCA Bishop, the Reverend
Elizabeth Eaton. Bishop Eaton asks us to respond to a call to action from the bishops of our ecumenical
Washington and
partners of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, by joining in a “Confession, Repentance, and
Smallwood Streets
Commitment to End Racism Sunday.” The designated Sunday was September 6th, but as I was out of
Cumberland, Maryland
town that day, I will honor her invitation to preach on racism and racial justice on another Sunday.
21502
301/722-6604
Bishop Eaton also noted that she believes that “we are experiencing a kairotic moment. She states,
“Something is happening in our church and in our country. Many of us are hearing and seeing in ways
www.stpaulscumberland.com
we haven’t before, and we are motivated to take action.” Kairos is God’s time-keeping mechanism, as
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differentiated from our “chronos” or chronological time. Christians are being convicted that God is
moving in our time to spur us on to stand up in ways we have not stood up before to address and end
racism and racial injustice in our culture. Our bishop asks us as individual churches to reach out in
particular to nearby AME churches to begin to build relationships with them.
MARSHA GARRETT
Pastor
DAVID RANKIN
Music Director and Organist
DEBBIE SZYMANSKI
Parish Assistant
SHARON CLARK
Treasurer
MICK CANNON
Sexton
Hold on! This very thing is what Saint Paul’s has already been doing for over 4 years. Our local
Metropolitan AME Church has partnered with us in Vacation Bible School for the past 4 years. Saint
Paul’s has offered our Fellowship Hall for their Fall Fashion Show and Dinner for two years, AND just a
week ago, I met with their Pastor Alfred Deas and his wife, Carrie, to plan for our first ever joint worship
service! Metropolitan AME will come to celebrate All Saints Day with us on November 1 st. We will be
using our Welcome Table setting based on African American spirituals and our choirs will be joined
together. AND Craig Fraedrich will be with us again bringing his fabulous jazz trumpet.
I have to tell you that I could hardly contain my joy when I realized that our own Saint Paul’s is actually
out in front in our denomination by our relationship building with the local AME Church and the African
American community. Hosting various NAACP meetings and events such as their Freedom Fund Dinner
and the CommUNITY Gathering(s) on our lawn are corporate ways that Saint Paul’s is stepping up our
witness in Cumberland to end racism. Our APPS program and our Bountiful Blessings program also
embrace diversity and serve to tear down walls and build relationships. Saint Paul’s is moving out in
leadership.
This is cause for great celebration!
Pastor Marsha
THESPIRE 1
Reformation Sunday
October 25, 2015
WEAR RED!
Our annual Blessing of the Animals Service
will be held on Sunday, October 4th at 10:00
a.m. in fellowship hall. Please bring your pet (in
a carrier or on a leash) for a special blessing and
a treat. We will also collect items needed by our
local
animal shelter, their wish list is as
follows:
• dog food
• cat food (wet and dry)
• kitten and puppy food (wet and dry)
• kitty litter (prefer the plain, non-scoopable clay
type)
• blankets, towels and heating pads (to keep
mother-less kittens warm)
• Clorox wipes, bleach, air fresheners, fly traps
• HIGH-EFFICIENCY laundry detergent
ONLY
• collars, leashes, toys and treats
• crates, litter boxes or aluminum pans to be
used as litter boxes
• Cotton Balls, Q-tips, masks and gloves
• Baby food (chicken flavor for the kittens)
• L-Lysine supplement to help build
immune systems
• Probiotics
We will also collect a “noisy offering” during the
service benefitting the animal shelter. Checks
can be made payable to the Allegany County
Animal Shelter Management Foundation
(ACASMF). The shelter reminds everyone if
you’d like your donation to go toward a specific
need please note that in the memo of your check
(i.e. vet bills, food, building fund, etc)
Our Allegany Conference Joint Worship followed by a
luncheon. Appalachian music accompanied by
stringed instruments led by Reverend Beth Folkemer,
who will also preach. A joint choir will sing.
Our Celebration Luncheon will be fried chicken. The
churches will bring the following to complete the meal:
Christ –side dishes
Saint John’s - salads
Saint Paul’s and Saint Luke’s - desserts
November 1, 2015
A joint worship service with Metropolitan AME Church
followed by a Fellowship Luncheon.
Featuring
Saint Paul’s and Metropolitan AME Joint Choir
Guest jazz trumpeter – Craig Fraedrich
Special All Saints Remembrance and All Saints
Altar (Plan to bring photos and/or mementoes
for the altar) AND Remember to submit the
names of your saints who died since
November 1, 2014 so that their names may be
read during the All Saints Remembrance.
Fellowship Luncheon
Saint Paul’s will bring sandwiches and
desserts and Metropolitan will bring fruit,
salads and chips
**Please remember that fellowship following these
services is so important for fostering
relationships. As we are in the discernment
process, we are forming bonds with others in our
Allegany Conference and are continuing to build
a friendship with Metropolitan A.M.E.
THESPIRE 2
Story by Elizabeth A. Eaton, Presiding bishop
If God is enough
We can be free from attachments to our plans, self-will, success
From time to time I am invited to celebrate congregational anniversaries. It’s wonderful to see the church in
action and to meet members from all across the country.
It is also interesting to see the variety of sizes and architectural styles our buildings come in. Looking at
building additions in churches is like studying growth rings in a tree — one can see the periods of rapid
growth and contraction. Often the first unit was built one or two centuries ago, the expansion of the sanctuary constructed when the original one was outgrown, and the education wing added in the late 1950s or ’60s.
I have seen dozens of churches like this and recall that my last parish had a similar growth pattern.
Very often, however, the membership of these congregations has shrunk. A sanctuary built to seat 400 now
only sees 50 on a Sunday. Sunday school rooms and gymnasiums that rang with the sound of children are
now empty or, in more enterprising congregations, are rented out to community groups and social service
organizations.
In these congregations the anniversary celebration is bittersweet — for one glorious Sunday the sanctuary is
filled with current and former members and their children and grandchildren, stories of the congregation’s
heyday are shared, there is energy and enthusiasm and then everyone goes home. Next Sunday the 50 hearty
souls who are the remnant will gather in a now more obviously empty sanctuary.
There is the sound of lament in many parts of our church. Populations have shifted and people have drifted
away. Attitudes about religion have changed and the status of the church in our culture has diminished. This
makes us anxious and, in some cases, desperate. How do we stop the decline? Where is the next generation?
What happened? What does this all mean?
I have a theory. We are experiencing God’s judgment. Oh, not in a fire-and-brimstone-plague-of-locusts
kind of way, but in the tenacious, fearsome, loving claim that God has on all of us. The church does not belong to us. The church is not a vehicle for our convenience, status, success or even comfort. The church is
the living body of Christ, breathed by the Spirit and called into deep communion with God. Everything else
is at best supplementary and at worst a distraction.
God might be calling God’s people to examine what has a claim on our attention. Where is our energy being
drawn?
If the answer to our desperate questions is anything else than to the intimate and complete love of God
shown in the crucified and risen Christ, then we are being drawn away from the source of our life as a people
and as a church.
There was a provocative article in the December 2012 Christian Century magazine about the “dark night of
the church.” In it the authors suggest that what I am calling a time of judgment is actually God at work freeing us from attachments to our plans, our self-will, our success.
The authors asked: “What is the church relearning about itself in its dark night? The church is relearning that
its essence lies not in its programs and accomplishments, its activities and accolades, but in the truth that
‘she on earth hath union with God the Three in One’ and that God is enough. Coming to this knowledge
means being weaned from the glamorous results-oriented American culture of production, measurement and
unlimited growth.”
So, dear church, is God enough? If not, then we are consigned to an endless, exhausting and empty quest for
meaning, relevance and purpose. If God is enough, then we have everything we need. If God is enough we
are free to love in return and give our lives away for the sake of the gospel and in service to the neighbor. If
God is enough we can unclench our hands and our lives. If God is enough we can even let go of the church
knowing that it is Christ’s church and not ours.
And, if it is God’s will that there will be an ELCA witness to the gospel, there is no force on earth, not even
our own, that can stop it.
THESPIRE 3
The Power of Group Prayer
Ownership
God owns everything because He created everything.
Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains,
the world, and those who dwell in it.” Pretty straight
forward and clear about God’s ownership.
God created us, but He also redeemed us, through the
death of His son, Jesus Christ. We belong to Him –
twice – He made us and He bought us back.
We have been called by God to be stewards, to carry
out His wishes for His property! We are only managers and not the owners, so each day the question for
us is “Lord, what do you want me to do today with all
that you have entrusted to me?”
It is no longer, how do I spend my day, my money,
raise my children, treat my neighbor, but what does
God want me to do in these areas?
Each Sunday our service bulletin includes the offering
received the previous week. That is one aspect of
managing what God has given us, but should that be
the only listing of our stewardship for the week? How
about showing how many families we have assisted
that week with trips to the Food Pantry, through Bountiful Blessings, through our APPS program?
Those numbers matter as well.
Is there really more power in a group of people praying
than in individuals praying alone? The Bible tells us
this is so: “When two or three are gathered in my
Name”; “Carry one another’s burdens and so fulfill the
law of Christ.”
What is the “law of Christ”? “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” When we pray for other people, we are loving our neighbor as ourselves. When others pray for
us, they are loving us as themselves.
Often we need others to pray for us. The St. Paul’s
Intercessory Prayer Team is ready and committed to
doing just that – praying for you, your loved ones, your
friends.
Is God calling you to become a member of St. Paul’s
Intercessory Prayer Team? Is God calling you to
share your burdens with the Team?
Please prayerfully consider if this ministry is something God may be calling you to join.
Kathleen Ball
Prayer Team Coordinator
[email protected]
Stewardship: Loving God with Our Time, Talent,
and Treasure
“For where your treasure is, there also will your
heart be.”
Matthew 6:21
THESPIRE 4
The Ramblers will meet for a noon lunch at the
Cumberland Country Club on Thursday, September 10th.
If you would like to attend and need a ride, please call the
church office so that can be arranged. A head count will
need to be given to the country club by Sunday, the 6th so
please sign up prior to that day.
St. Paul’s Puppet Ministry Team News
Wednesday, August 19th was a kick-off day for the
puppet team. They met from 11am until 4pm for Bible
study, honing puppet skills, and giving black-light
puppetry a try. It was a day full of energy and ideas
for the coming school year. Parents and grandparents
joined the team after the 5 hour practice for dinner,
fellowship, and water fun.
Sunday, September 13th there will be a meeting for
the puppet team and families following Fellowship
time at 11:45am. We will meet in the Chapel to discuss dates for presentations and ideas for outreach to
the community. If you’d like to join the team or know
of someone who would like to join us during this
school year, please contact Debbie at 703-303-7255
or [email protected].
The Righteous Belles will return to practice
on Wednesday, September 16th at 6:15 p.m.
Our Sanctuary Choir will resume practice on
Wednesday, September 16th at 7:15 p.m.
Come Join Us!
The Ramblers will be attending the Maryland
Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Home for the
Holidays. The performance is on Sunday,
December 13 at the Hagerstown Theater. Our bus will
leave St. Paul’s at 11:30 and we’ll stop for lunch before the
3:00 show. The cost of the trip is $32.50 which includes
your ticket and bus fee and must be paid in advance.
Please make checks payable to Elva Barry. This trip is
filling up quickly so reserve your seat today, we have
24 tickets.
Bountiful Blessings is continuing to grow. Our most
recent session, held on August 27th brought us 45
recipients, 27 of whom were new to the program. I would
like to thank our new volunteers, Debbie Streicher, Debbie
and Erica Metheny, Patti Squires and Tiffany Gulick. Thank
you also to Diane Rhoads for tackling the task of crocheting
strips cut from plastic grocery sacks into mats for the
homeless and managing that part of the program with our
recipients. Please continue to bring your grocery sacks to
the church so the making of these mats can continue.
As Bountiful Blessings grows, our needs do as well. We
will begin to collect items to use as emergency inventory
when we have depleted the items received from the
Bountiful Blessings warehouse. Any cleaning or personal
hygiene items would be greatly appreciated and can be
brought to the church office.
Our sessions are held the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each
month from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Come check it out!! It is such a
blessing to all that receive items. Church members are
greatly needed to pray with recipients or just to offer friendly
conversation while they wait for their turn to shop.
Please contact me if you have any questions or would like
to volunteer.
Beth DeShaies (301) 697-7060
THESPIRE 5
Pineapple Salad
Made by Dot and Diane Rhoads
for Loaves and Fishes fellowship
Crunchy Veggie Casserole
Made by Jane Roderick and enjoyed at a
meeting of the Cumberland Discernment
Team at St. John’s
½ C chopped celery
½ C chopped onion
½ C chopped green pepper
1 can white shoe peg corn
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can cream of celery soup
1 8oz sour cream
1 ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese
½ box or less of cheesy crackers
Blanched almond slices or slivers
1 stick butter or margarine
Sauté celery, pepper, and onion in butter.
Drain canned goods; mix canned goods with chopped
veggies,
sour cream, and cheddar.
Put in 9x13 dish.
Crush crackers and crumble over top.
Add almonds as garnish. May top with pats of butter.
Heat together:
1 #2 can crushed pineapple, undrained
½ C. sugar
1 3 oz. lemon jello
½ C. water + 1/3 C. water
Add 1 8oz. cream cheese to above mixture and let
cool. Once cool, add 2 C. Cool Whip and spread into
An 8x8 or 9x9 pan.
Frick, Feeser, Bowersox Scholarships 2015
The following students were recipients of the
Bowersox scholarship: Allie Simpson, Beth
Szymanski, Dan Wade and Nick Wade.
The Frick scholarship is awarded to the graduating
high school senior with the highest GPA, there
were no applicants for this year. The Feeser
Scholarship is awarded to a seminary student for
which there wasn’t an applicant for the 2015-2016
school year.
Bake uncovered at 350˚F for 45 minutes.
Mandarin Orange Jello
Made by Sabra Isom for the Carpenter
funeral luncheon.
Mix 6 oz. orange jello with 2 cups boiling water to
dissolve. Add 1 cup cold water and chill until the jello
wiggles and blend in 1 prepared package of Dream
Whip. Add 1 can drained mandarin oranges.
THESPIRE 6
Our fifth year of this afterschool program will
begin for the 2015-2016 school year on Wednesday,
September 16th at 3:30 p.m. APPS (A Place People
Share) is a program of nurture for children from
kindergarten through 5th grade on Wednesday
afternoons from 3:30-6:00 p.m. Each session includes
a healthy snack upon arrival, planned games and
physical activities, music, crafts, Christian-based
teaching and prayer as well as homework/reading time
and a healthy dinner. If you’d like to volunteer
for this school year please contact Stephanie Wade or
Debbie Szymanski.
The Cumberland Church Community
Bridge Group will play on Tuesday,
September 15th from 1:00-4:00
at Christ Lutheran Church in Lavale.
St. Paul’s received donations in memory
of Gene Andrews from Nancy Lohr,
Gregg Mazzone, Dennis and Cindy Read
and Joy Zembower.
Gathering by the numbers
Thank you to Kathleen Ball, Joyce Eror, Nancy Lohr,
Cindy Read and Patti Squires for providing salads and
desserts for Gene Andrew’s funeral luncheon on
August 1, 2015. Many thanks to Dennis and Cindy
Read and Joy Zembower for helping with the
luncheon.
Thanks go out to Kathleen Ball, Nancy Lohr, Pastor
Marsha, Barbara Roser, Leslie Roser and Jane Ross
for providing salads and desserts as we hosted a
youth group during the weekend of June 25-26.
Thanks also to Glenn Kline and Nancy Lohr for
assisting with the luncheon after worship. The youth
group was from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Old
Saybrook, Connecticut heading for a week of mission
work in Logan, West Virginia. Many thanks to this
youth group and their leaders for donating $300 to the
Bountiful Blessings ministry.
The many ways Detroit impacted Gathering participants
and participants impacted Detroit cannot be counted.
But there are some parts of the Gathering story that can
be expressed in numbers. Here are some Gathering
statistics:
 1 million diapers collected
 1,425 backpacks distributed
 3,200 vacant lots cleared of debris
 4,000 hats constructed for local churches to give a
away
 319 vacant homes boarded
 2,976 square feet of boards painted for abandoned
houses
 36 urban gardens installed
 99 picnic tables built
 26 dumpsters filled
 600 neighborhoods engaged
We extend our sympathy to the family and friends
of Gene Andrews who died on July 29 and Sara
Catherine McFarland Myers who died on
August 29.
THESPIRE 7
Dear Lutheran Friends,
Being a Blessing to Others
I have the freedom to approach God at any time. I am
invited, and it is expected, that as a believer, I will do
so. I have heard often that God will only accomplish
His purposes on earth with my help, and that of my
brothers and sisters. I may be limited because of a
lack of special skills or training in some situations, but
one of the ways I can work with God is to call on Him
through prayer.
Martin Luther’s phrase, “the priesthood of all believers”
strikes at the very core of how we are to respond to
God’s salvation. We are to share in the role of “priest”,
as a lay person. Praying for and on behalf of others, is
not relegated to church on Sunday morning by the
prayers of the pastor.
I know that Christ intercedes for me before God, so
what possible impact can my prayers have to add to
His intercession? The objective in praying is not in the
“getting” what I pray for, though that happens, but it is
to draw me closer to God and to join with Him to work
for good in our fallen world. I can turn any radio, TV
newscast or newspaper article into a call to prayer,
and even messages on Facebook!!
I am called: Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and
glorify your Father in heaven”; Ephesians 2:10: “For
we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to
do”; 2 Timothy 3:17: “so that the servant of God may
be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.
There are many who need our prayers that we may
not come into contact with in any other way. Praying
for the leaders of our nation and the leaders of our
church, the poor, the needy, and the suffering is a
blessing to each of them. Prayer equips us for the
work God needs us to do. God will act.
THESPIRE 8
Thank you all so much for the prayer
shawl, chemo bag and most especially
the prayers! This cancer road is a tough one,
but made so much easier with support like
yours! With much gratitude,
Rhoda Montgomery
*Rhoda is an Episcopalian pastor in Texas who
was a classmate of Pastor Marsha’s in seminary.
Thanks to everyone for the care
package and card sent to Vincent. He loved it
and we truly appreciate it. Thanks for keeping
him in your thoughts and prayers!
Melissa Seib
Dear Pastor Marsha,
Just a note to thank you for hosting the
NAACP Community Unity Day! As a Catholic
woman of German-American heritage, I must
salute your action in the spirit of the great
German Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer!
He also took a strong stand
against racism!
In the words of my Native American friends “Mikakye Oyasin- we are all related”-Lakota
Tribe.
“Red, yellow, black and white we are all
precious in his sight.”
Thank you for helping to heal the hoop in the
Circle of Life!
Sincerely, Ms. Daren Smith
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Wednesday
9:00 AM Community Sewing Group
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
Sunday
10:00 AM Worship
11:15 AM Loaves and Fishes fellowship
7:30 PM Potomac Concert Band rain site
Monday
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
Wednesday
9:00 AM Community Sewing Group
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
5:00 PM APPS planning meeting
Thursday
12:00 PM Ramblers lunch at the Cumberland Country
Club
4:00 PM Bountiful Blessings
Sunday-God’s Work,Our Hands Sunday
10:00 AM Worship
11:15 AM Loaves and Fishes fellowship
11:45 AM Puppet Ministry Team planning meeting
Monday
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
Tuesday
1:00 PM Church Community Bridge at Christ Lutheran
6:00 PM Council Meeting
Wednesday
9:00 AM Sewing Group
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
3:30 PM APPS
6:15 PM Righteous Belles practice
7:15 PM Sanctuary Choir practice
Sunday
10:00 AM Worship
11:15 AM Loaves and Fishes fellowship
Monday
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
Wednesday
9:00 AM Sewing Group
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
3:30 PM APPS
6:15 PM Righteous Belles practice
7:15PM Sanctuary Choir practice
Thursday
4:00 PM Bountiful Blessings
Sunday
10:00 AM Worship
11:15 AM Loaves and Fishes fellowship
Monday
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
Wednesday
9:00 AM Community Sewing Group
9:30 AM Heavenly Bodies Aerobics
3:30 PM APPS
6:15 PM Righteous Belles practice
7:15 PM Sanctuary Choir practice
The Red Birds Book Club is reading Go Set a
Watchman by Harper Lee. The club will meet at 4:00
p.m. on Sunday, October 4th for discussion at the
home of Kathleen Ball.
Please bring suggestions for our next selection!
The Allegany County Department of Social Services
Is holding their 15th annual Safe and Snug Program
from September 28 through October 30, 2015. They
will collect new coats, gloves, hats and scarves for
children in need of warmth in our community. In 2014,
over 670 new coats were given to children, thanks
entirely to community support. St. Paul’s will collect
items during this time and deliver them to DSS.
Monetary donations should be made payable to
ACDSS, Attention Finance, One Frederick Street,
Cumberland, MD 21502. Please note Safe and Snug
in the memo section of your check.
THESPIRE 9
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT #932
CUMBERLAND, MD
Duty
September 6
September 13
September 20
September 27
Head Ushers
Terry Hostetler
and Ari Isom
Mark Seib and
Bob Davis
Terry Hostetler
and Art Isom
Mark Seib and
Bob Davis
Crucifer
Rena
Christopher
Christine Miller
Linda Zeller
Sean Wade
Communion
Assistants
Diane Rhoads
& Jane
Roderick
Jim and Patti
Squires
Charlie and
Sharon Clark
Brenda Marvin and
Becky Stafford
Greeters
Jean and Roy
Lee
Dennis and
Cindy Read
Nancy Lohr
and Joy
Zembower
Mary Ann Hiester
and Jane
Roderick
Children’s Church Debbie
Teacher
Metheny
Beth DeShaies
Stephanie
Wade
Christine
Miller
Counters
Sharon Clark
Debbie Sz
Gerald Arthur
Debbie Sz
Jay Cochrane
Terry Hostetler
Debbie Sz
Joy Zembower
Technicians
Debbie Sz and
Connor M.
Debbie Sz and
Patrick Robb
Rick Metheny &
Debbie Sz and
Connor Mantheiy Dave Hartman
THESPIRE 10