Rejoice Voice Sept 2016 - Rejoice Lutheran Church in Hudson, Ohio
Transcription
Rejoice Voice Sept 2016 - Rejoice Lutheran Church in Hudson, Ohio
Rejoice is a congregation of the ELCA | September 2016 our mission “To rejoice in, and share the good news of Jesus Christ Rejoice! Lutheran Church 7855 Stow Road Hudson, OH 44236 pastor Mike Conklin [email protected] contact R e j o i c e ! 330-653-5980 330-653-5981-fax [email protected] www.rejoicelc.org parish nurse Mary Pat DeLambo [email protected] church council Jim Carr Dave Boehm Janet Juliano Monica Kreiberg George Arnold Connie Cichon Monte Peterson Jennifer Radel Mike Ramsey Chris Wisbar b u l l et i n a n d n e ws l e t te r [email protected] Sunday Worship at Rejoice! Lutheran Church Traditional Worship: 8:45am Sunday School: 10:00am Contemporary Worship: 11:00am Rejoice Voice From the Pastor... Why do people keep asking what do we need to do to grow? What are the common characteristics of growing churches? What are indicators of decline? Recently I saw a graph that showed churches that focused on survival or were inwardly focused were in decline. The same graph showed churches that had a vision for outreach and what goes on outside the walls of the building and Sunday morning, overall were the churches that are showing growth and vitality. Churches that are clear about why they exist and what they should be doing are most likely to be growing congregations. There is no substitute for a real and articulated mission that connects directly to proclaiming Christ and his Resurrection in word and deed. The escapist theology of waiting for Jesus to return, getting to heaven and staying out of hell, does not resonate with young people today. They see the results of that thinking and want nothing to do with it. Who can blame them? Who wants to live as if nothing they do matters except to save our skin? What kind of hope is there in thinking that our problems are so overwhelming that only the end of the world as we know it can solve them. People are looking for church that has somewhere to go and something to say and they say it, do it, and go. The bottom line is that churches with clear purposes are likely to grow. The Lord’s Prayer say’s “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.” God’s kingdom is coming here, God’s will is done here. That is what we do and that is the goal. Jesus says to, “Proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near!” Growing churches proclaim this goal clearly and it is laid out in public and easy to trace by the use of the people and pastor’s time and the use of the facilities, and most of all, the priorities of the budget. Money is a good acid test. That is why we have emphasized the ELCA Benevolence this year. We have almost reached out goal of $5,000.00 in August. We have done Backpacks for school kids, gifts for the Oasis youth in Akron, Quilts and School Kits for Lutheran World Relief, monthly 3 rd Sunday Projects to help others, the building is open to the Food Pantry, A.A. and Alanon, and Girl Scouts. As pastor, I have been involved in the Hudson Ministerial Association for years and now I am working with other faith communities and preparing a food drive for the November election to benefit the Akron Canton Food Bank. Because what goes on outside these walls is important, I will be taking on a leadership role in the Hudson Community Service Association, which runs the Food Pantry, Helping Hands (Assistance program), and the holiday lighting downtown. Our mission is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all people and our vision is to be love in the world. Have you noticed the question following these statements in the worship bulletin: “What have you done this week?” It isn’t just me that is out there doing the work of mission. It is you too! I know many of you are doing just that! N.T. Wright in his book, “Surprised by Hope” say’s “The church is called to a mission of implementing Jesus’ resurrection and thereby anticipating the final new creation. What might that look like?” Heaven on earth is such a wonderful image that we are in awe that this is going to happen here. We can only assume that there will be true justice and peace, no pain, no sin, and no death. This is our mission. This is what God has called us to do and this is what we pray God will use us to accomplish. Peace, Pastor Mike PAGE 2 REJOICE VOICE Rally Day T he Fello ws hip Team will provide tasty snacks for Rally Day, Sunday, September 11th during the Sunday School hour as well as after services. Come and join us for the kick off the fall Christian education program! New Men’s Group I am looking for a group of guys who would be willing to get together at least once a month and share some time together and have breakfast. I am hoping that something more may come of this gathering. I am suggesting that we gather at Perkins Restaurant in Hudson at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 24th. This gathering will be just a brainstorming session and to see who has the desire and the motivation to represent the men of Rejoice. Please let me know if you can make it or if that date isn’t good for you. Peace, Pastor Mike Dinner for Eight A new season of Dinner for Eight has begun! Thank you to the Giannettis and Versers for co-hosting the kick off barbeque. Dinner for Eight is an adult fellowship opportunity. Individual dinner groups meet approximately 5 times per year and we have two events per year that we meet as one large group. Individual group assignments along with which part of the meal you bring are emailed every other month. Each group decides amongst themselves what date works for them. Groups, hosts and which part of the meal you bring changes with each rotation. You need not be a couple or volunteer to host in order to participate. Dinner for Eight is a great opportunity to get to know fellow Rejoice! members and meet those who might attend a different service than you. It’s not too late to get in on the September rotation. Pick up a sign up at the Welcome Desk or contact Michelle Conklin at [email protected] by September 11th to be included in the September rotation. Annual Clam Bake Raffle Items Needed! The annual Rejoice! Clam Bake will take place on Saturday, October 1st at 6:00 pm at the church. Thanks again to chef Dave Boehm for volunteering his services in cooking the delicious meal! Dave is currently working on the menu and pricing and we’ll have more details and order forms soon. There will be a choice of two soups, entrée (an entrée without clams will be available for those who don’t eat seafood), potato, vegetable and dessert. This will be a fundraiser for youth attending the 2018 Gathering in Houston. All proceeds, after the cost of food will go toward expenses to attend the Gathering. The past couple of years we have offered several baskets for raffle during the annual clam bake. We are in need of items to raffle! Past donations have included Cavs or Browns tickets, themed baskets or even items we may bundle together with other donations to make a basket. Proceeds will benefit youth attending the Gathering in Houston. Please contact Michelle Conklin if you have any questions. Donations should be dropped off at the church by September 26th. Thank you! Watch for order forms soon! All meals must be ordered and paid for in advance. The last day to order will be September 26th. PAGE 3 REJOICE! VOICE From Community Wellness Coordinator, Mary Pat DeLambo, RN, BSN, MEd September 2016 Please contact me whenever I may be of assistance at email address: [email protected] or my cell phone 1- 330-356-2559. I am available by appointment to meet with you. Website: www.cwchudson.weebly.com September is Healthy Aging Month and the NIH National Institute on Aging celebrates this month with its Go4Life Program. The message is to be healthy and keep moving! Here are Four Ways to Be Active to get us all started. I also invite you to join my walking and hiking groups. On Wednesday, Sept. 7th I will begin a “Hike Hudson” series at Cascade Park, the Monday walks at Barlow Community will resume Sept. 12th at 9:30. See details in the events section below. Four Ways to Be Active To get all of the benefits of physical activity, try all four types of exercise— (1) endurance, (2) strength, (3) balance, and (4) flexibility. 1. Try to build up to at least 30 minutes of activity that makes you breathe hard on most or all days of the week. Every day is best. That’s called an endurance activity because it builds your energy or “staying power.” You don’t have to be active for 30 minutes all at once. Ten minutes at a time is fine. How hard do you need to push yourself? If you can talk without any trouble at all, you are not working hard enough. If you can’t talk at all, it’s too hard. 2. Keep using your muscles. Strength exercises build muscles. When you have strong muscles, you can get up from a chair by yourself, you can lift your grandchildren, and you can walk through the park. Keeping your muscles in shape helps prevent falls that cause problems like broken hips. You are less likely to fall when your leg and hip muscles are strong. 3. Do things to help your balance. Try standing on one foot, then the other. If you can, don’t hold on to anything for support. Get up from a chair without using your hands or arms. Every now and then walk heel-totoe. As you walk, put the heel of one foot just in front of the toes of your other foot. Your heel and toes should touch or almost touch. 4. Stretching can improve your flexibility. Moving more freely will make it easier for you to reach down to tie your shoes or look over your shoulder when you back the car out of your driveway. Stretch when your muscles are warmed up. Don’t stretch so far that it hurts. Sources: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/exercise-and-physical-activity file:///C:/Users/DeLamboM/Downloads/exercise-and-physical-activity-agepage.pdf http://healthyaging.net/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/ https://go4life.nia.nih.gov/ Upcoming Events & Programs Walking Group Mondays 9:30 AM Sept. 12 – Oct. 31 Barlow Community Center (Across from the Fire Dept.) 41 S. Oviatt St, Hudson Hike Hudson Group Wednesdays 9:30 AM Sept. 7th – Oct. 26 Sept. 7: Cascade Park, 130 Lynn Drive (off E. Case Dr) Sept. 14: Wood Hollow Park Sept. 21: Hudson Springs Sept. 28: Barlow Farm Park Lunch & Learn 12:00—1:00 PM Christ Church Episcopal 21 Aurora Street Sept. 15: Express, Urgent or Emergency Care? Jeff McCullar, NP Cleveland Clinic Akron General Wednesday Morning Yoga 9:30 AM St. Mary Church Wednesday Evening Yoga 7:00 PM at Hudson United Methodist Church 330-6502650 Biking 10 AM Tuesdays Contact Lori Joseph [email protected] 330-653-8118 ext 233 PAGE 4 REJOICE! VOICE Pastor Mike’s Wednesday Evening Bible Study Pastor Mike’s Wednesday Evening Bible Study on the Book of Isaiah will resume on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 7:00pm. Acme Cash Back Program The Acme Community Cash Back Program began August 11 and runs through December 31, 2016. Check the bottom of your receipts for the “Community Cash Back” amount listed. Turn these receipts into the box at the Welcome Desk and we’ll receive 5% back of the total submitted. Cash Back dollars are earned by purchasing participating Acme brands. These brands include: Acme Fresh Market, Food Club, Top Care, Paws, Full Circle, Buckley Farms, Notstimo, Domestix, Cape Covelle, Wide Awake Coffee Co., Over the Top and ValuTime. Funds received from this program will go toward expenses in attending the 2018 Gathering in Houston. Check your receipts before tossing them! Rejoice! Directory Update We are in the process of updating the Rejoice! Family and Friends directory. We haven’t done this for a couple of years, so some of the information is out of date. Please check the copy at the Welcome Desk and update any information. If you are a newer member that was not included in the 2014 copy, please pencil in your contact information (name, address, phone and/or cell phone, email(s) and children’s names and birthdates if applicable) to the church office at [email protected] or Michelle Conklin at [email protected]. Cell phone and email information for family members may be added if they wish it to be listed. If your information is correct, please initial the Welcome Desk copy so that we know there are no changes. Volunteer Fair The Fellowship Team will be hosting a Volunteer Fair on Sunday, September 25th following both services. Each committee/team/group at Rejoice! is asked to make a poster about what their group does, along with sign ups to join or help (i.e. people to clean, altar guild, youth volunteers, quilters, committee members, group participant, Sunday morning hospitality). Groups are also asked to provide a plate on snacks (one per group) for hospitality. Please let Michelle Conklin know which service you will be providing snacks for. Hospitality Now that summer is over, we’d like to make sure that we have Sunday morning hospitality covered each week. This is an important ministry of welcome to our visitors and also provides a reason for people to stick around for a few minutes after worship. We have asked that each family at Rejoice! volunteer for at least one Sunday during the year. It only take about 15 minutes of your time and a plate of snacks of your choice— store bought or homemade, healthy choices encouraged! See the sign up sheet at the kitchen pass window, there are lots of opportunities available. Oktoberfest In celebration of the Reformation, the Fellowship Team is planning an Oktoberfest meal on Sunday, October 30th, following the 11:00 am service (approximately 12:30 pm). Bratwurst, hot dogs and drinks will be provided. Watch for sign up sheets to bring sides, salads and desserts. REJOICE! VOICE PAGE 5 School Supplies Needed We continue to collect supplies for school kits which will be sent to Lutheran World Relief. Imagine having to choose between a meal or purchasing a notebook. Project Promise School Kits are sent to places where even the few required school supplies may be more than a family can afford. Pencils and paper can help write a positive future! Our goal is to have enough supplies to assemble 50 school kits. Donations need to be dropped off by September 18th. Many of these supplies are currently on sale and will soon be on clearance. Monetary donations will be gladly accepted if you are unable to shop, please see Michelle Conklin. Please only purchase items as listed as all kits must contain similar items, please do not include larger boxes of crayons, pencil top erasers, sharp scissors or sharpened pencils. Note—be sure that rulers include metric measurements. Each kit contains the following items: 4 70 sheet notebooks, wide or college ruled 1 30 centimeter ruler or ruler with cm and inches 1 pencil sharpener 1 pair blunt scissors 5 #2 pencils, unsharpened 5 pens, black or blue ink (no gel pens) 1 box 16 or 24 crayons 1 eraser 2 1/2 inches INCOME: General Revenue Capital Revenue Total Income EXPENSES: General Expense Capital Expense Total Expenses VARIANCE Total Variance Benevolence Giving Jul Budget Tim Yanda Tracy Thomas Millie Carr Paige Giannetti Nick Ramsey Bethany Bryant Moira Ackerman Ashley McLelland Jill Wisniewski Drew Delgross 11 Drew & Michele Delgross 18 Tom & Linda Freborg If you do not see your birthday or anniversary listed or it is incorrect, please help us update our info. Contact Carla Maurer at [email protected] July 2016 Financial Report Jul Actual 4 6 11 14 14 19 20 25 26 29 September Anniversaries Thank you for your support of this cause! 2016 September Birthdays Jul Variance to YTD Actual Budget YTD Budget YTD Variance 2016 Budget to Budget $17,744.91 $14,416.75 $11,180.00 $5,476.67 $28,924.91 $19,893.42 $3,328.16 $5,703.33 $9,031.49 $102,723.75 $36,616.00 $139,339.75 $100,917.25 $38,336.69 $139,253.94 $1,806.50 $173,001.00 ($1,720.69) $65,720.00 $85.81 $238,721.00 $16,999.52 $16,129.81 $5,247.34 $5,199.92 $22,246.86 $21,329.73 $869.71 $47.42 ($917.13) $109,500.97 $36,223.64 $145,724.61 $112,908.67 $36,399.44 $149,308.11 ($3,407.70) $193,557.00 ($175.80) $62,399.00 $3,583.50 $255,956.00 ($6,384.86) ($10,054.17) ($17,235.00) $4,117.34 $2,916.69 $6,678.05 ($1,436.31) $2,280.72 $416.67 $1,864.05 $1,200.65 $5,000.00 REJOICE! LUTHERAN CHURCH 7855 Stow Rd. Hudson, Ohio 44236 Phone: 330-653-5980 Fax: 330-653-5981 E-mail: [email protected] We’re on the web! www.rejoicelc.org God’s Work, Our Hands—ELCA Day of Service God’s Work Our Hand’s Sunday is on September 11th. We will be at Hattie’s or people can do other service projects on that day. https://www.elca.org/dayofservice College Student Addresses Needed We’ll once again be sending care packages to Rejoice! college students in November. Please update your students’ address with the office so they are sure to receive a package. A donation list for items to include in the packages will be out toward the end of October and we will also need monetary donations to pay for postage. Paying it Forward Rejoice has been so blessed by many mission partners. Let us pay it forward to others who need our blessings! September’s 3rd Sunday of the month loose offering will be given to LAOS (Lutheran Agencies Organized in Service). Many thanks to those who contributed in August to ELCA World Hunger. We collected $241.69. Teenage Mutant Jesus Praisers (Youth Group) Things are back in full swing after a summer break. Due to sports and band schedules we’ll be meeting the fourth Thursday of each month from 7:00-8:30, unless otherwise noted. Our next meeting will be September 22nd at the church. We’ll be assembling school kits for Lutheran World Relief and play some games. All youth in grades 6-12 are welcome and encouraged to attend. Youth who will be attending the 2018 Gathering in Houston should plan on helping at the annual Rejoice! Clam Bake on October 1st. This will be a fundraiser for the trip. Please let Mrs. Conklin know if you will be helping. We are looking at going to a more challenging corn maze this year. If you are interested in attending please let Mrs. Conklin know if you are available on any of the following dates: 9/10, 9/17, 10/8 or 10/22. The youth would like to do a lock in sometime in October. We’re looking for a brave adult volunteer or two who would be willing to stay overnight. Please let Michelle Conklin know if you would be up to the challenge.