APRIL 2015 Peace-Tohickon Evangelical Lutheran Church 100 Old Bethlehem Road, Perkasie, Pa 18944 Office: 215-257-3294 Fax: 215-257-9143 Website: www. peace-tohickon.org e-mail: [email protected] The Mission of Peace is to invite, encourage, and equip all people to love God with all our heart mind, soul, and strength and to go love our neighbors as Christ loves us. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, In my childhood I would wrack my little brain every April Fools Day to come up with some kind of prank that would give me a “gotcha” moment. With an older brother and sister, I was often the one who was fooled, but there was a great deal of satisfaction when I could defy expectation and pull the wool over their eyes. In more recent years I have listened with interest to some outrageous stories on public radio, with an “ah-ha” moment as I glanced at the calendar. (It’s always a real whopper, but sometimes they string me along for a minute). But this April we begin with an April fools on a cosmic rather than a comic scale. On April second we join Jesus as he gives a final lesson to his disciples before they all abandon him. He shows them that God doesn’t use his power to control, but to serve. He gives them a new commandment, a new way to live a fulfilling life when he instructs them to love as he has loved them. When Jesus goes into the Garden of Gethsemane we see a man in turmoil. The stress of his situation is unbearable – in one of the gospels he sweats blood. He prays that he might escape the pain that he knows is coming, yet he submits to human cruelty in order for God’s love to be seen. After a secret trial with trumped up charges and a hostile group bent on conviction, Jesus is condemned. The Roman authorities are called in by the Temple authorities to give the order for a humiliating execution. After a brutal beating, and mocking by his captors, Jesus literally carries his cross – the cross on which he will be nailed, tortured, and killed. Then death wins. Death doesn’t almost win. Jesus doesn’t come close to death. Jesus is killed. We know that death is not a temporary condition. Although in shock and grief it is common to “forget” and imagine that the one who isn’t home is running late, or might pick up the phone if we call, that brief illusion comes crashing down again and again until we wrap our mind around the truth. Once dead, our loved one is not going to return. Life is temporary. Death is permanent. It is only because his death was real that Christ’s resurrection matters. In the resurrection, the most elemental truth of life and death is turned on its head. Death is shown to be temporary. Life is shown to be permanent. Abundant, eternal life becomes the dependable truth which casts a new light on everything. St. Paul writes about the incredulity of those who hear this great good news in the first chapter of I Corinthians 1: “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.” This April God reveals the trick, death is not the victor. God loves us enough to overcome the power of death. Happy Easter indeed! Love, Pastor Sellers April at Peace Apr. 5 - EASTER Apr. 10 - 12 Bear Creek Youth Retreat Apr. 18 8:00am Dawn Herrmann 5k Cancer Run Apr. 19 – New Spirit Worship 3:00pm Concert. Main Street Brass Apr. 22 – 4:00 – 7:00pm Bloodmobile Apr. 26 - 12:30pm WELCA Spring Tea Parish Nurse Coming up in May May 3rd – Jim Heckman to preach May 10th - Mother’s Day Confirmation Day Seth’s last day. Deadline for Geraniums May 17th – Music Sunday HOLY WEEK PALM SUNDAY, March 29 8:15 am Brief Order of Communion 9:00 am—Sunday School 10:15 am—Congregational Reading of the Passion According to Mark Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and journey to the cross. Come share in the retelling! MAUNDY THURSDAY, April 2 FLOWERS AND BULLETINS FOR APRIL 9th - Marcia & Joe Kramer in honor of our new grandchild, Harper Wrigley 7:30 pm Service of Communion and Last Supper Tableau All Night Prayer Vigil, 9 pm – 6 am “Could you not watch with me one hour?” GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 3 Community Service to be held at NOON St Andrew’s UCC, Perkasie 7:30 pm TENEBRAE SERVICE (Service of Diminishing Lights) At Peace Lutheran Church ANNUAL EASTER EGG HUNT Saturday, April 4th at 10 am All Elementary Age Children are invited to attend! Prize Eggs! EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 5 7:00 am—Holy Communion Service 8:00 am—Pancake Breakfast 9:00 am—Sunday School 10:15 am—Holy Communion Service 12th – Open 19th – Sparango’s in memory of our grandparents 26th – Peter & Cheryl Moyer in honor Cheryl’s mom, Delores Scalese’s 80th Birthday BACKGROUND CHECKS Pennsylvania now requires all volunteers that work with children and youth (18 and under) to have background checks every 36 months. The following checks are now required: Report of criminal history from the PA state Police: http://www.dhs.state.pa.us/finda form/childabusehistoryclearanc eforms/S001769 Child Abuse History Clearance from Dept. of Human Services: http://www.dhs.state.pa.us/finda form/childabusehistoryclearanc eforms/S001762 If you don’t have access to email it can be done in the church office. You will need an appointment. Undesignated Bequest Idea Proposals Explained A couple years back, the congregation approved a Council proposal to enable our church to better fulfill its mission by allowing it to take advantage of bequests of over $20,000 of no specific designation. Furthermore, the congregation was invited to participate by offering their ideas for what purpose this money could be used. Shortly afterward Peace received the Buck estate and we were able to put this plan into action. After contributing a tithe from this amount, ideas submitted by the congregation were reviewed by Council. These proposals are outlined in the 2014 Annual Congregational Report. Council elected to move ahead with hiring a Director of Christian Education and a nursery attendant. However, the DCE position was never filled and we had a paid nursery attendant with us for only a short while. (On a side note, we are deeply indebted to Elaine Miller who is graciously serving in the nursery on Sunday mornings – without pay. Thank you, Elaine.) So we never spent the money from the Buck estate that was intended to be spent in 2014 and Council began looking over some of the other ideas. Eventually approved were a fellowship area, a projector, and funds for promoting lay leadership. Council is again sharing this information with the congregation so that you     are reminded of the history and purpose of this program may be encouraged to think of ways to invigorate worship and outreach activities realize there is a means to turn these ideas into actions and understand the steps in doing so understand what is happening with the approved ideas As mentioned, we had approved funding of a DCE. Filling this position was more difficult than we expected. With hindsight, we suspect that our job description was a bit too daunting, so the job description is being re-written. In short, we are still hoping to find a DCE and fund this position for three years through the Buck estate. Another approved idea is to encourage members in our congregation to enroll in lay leadership courses. If you are interested in learning how you can be more effective in a ministry at Peace, please contact a member of Council or Pastor with a description of the course you want to attend. Once Council has the details, we will review the merits of that training and decide whether it qualifies as a means for fulfilling our church’s mission. There is $1,500 available for this opportunity. The most contentious of the ideas that Council approved concerns our after service coffee fellowship. The vision was to build on the success of our coffee fellowship by providing a bit more space and a lot more convenience (especially to those setting up and tearing down the coffee table). The planned renovations were modest and would blend into our worship space. However, several congregants expressed concern over social activity noise from the rear of the church interfering with quiet contemplation and voiced worries over potential clutter and spills marring the beauty of our worship space. This activity is on hold while Council and Property work together to look at how to best use all the space on the nave level to enable the functions of invitation, worship, and fellowship. Council hopes this brief description provides a clearer picture of how we are using these gifts. If you have other questions or concerns, please contact a member of Council. APRIL BIRTHDAYS 1 Sherry Dulsky Jennifer Gabel Jacob Stranick Susan Poust Paige Souder Lisa Grim Emma Lemon David Landis Robert Propsner Judy Hamilton Cyanna Penn Barbara Bachman Courtney Michener Andres Susi Daniel Grace Kimberly Stassi Jessica Winn Joelle Doherty Nichole Wilfong Dawn Lutz Daniel Saint-Pol Luke Stranick Kolby Kramer Edward Harris Carmine Camerlengo Brianna Gerth William Roeger, Jr Harold Swartley Courtney Steiner Julia Wisler Robyn Burton Aidan Marascio Evelyn Fretz Ashley Propsner Deborah Bagg Madeline Barnes Alexandra Souder Yvonne Thomas Herb Laird Curt Gerth Scott Dages Shirley Slozer 2 3 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 29 th 4 William & Ellen Roeger Aloysius & Cheryl Shanley Gordon & Lilli Benner th 9 Garry & Julia Engelmann th 17 Robert & Diana Long th 18 Shawn & Janet Hughes th 24 Matthew & Denise Wrigley th 28 Randall & Donna Lemon th 7 ALTAR GUILD will meet on Saturday, April 4th at 8:30 am to decorate the sanctuary and narthex for the Easter services. Tuesday Group “Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love” Join us April 7, 14 & 28th at 7:30 p.m. at Peace to explore experiments in practicing faith! WELCA (Women of the ELCA) News Once again the ladies of WELCA have decided to collect donations for Swaziland. There is a great need for WARM children’s and adult clothing (no pants for women longer skirts and dresses preferred), sweaters, sweatshirts, coats, shoes, blankets, comforters, bedspreads, towels and sheets. These folks sleep on mud floors, so we would like to make them warm and more comfortable. Khara Woehr and family will collect the items from the coat room, and deliver them to be shipped for this summer's mission trip. We are asking for the entire congregation's help with this project! Please clean out those closets and place your donations in the coat room. Thank you! April 15th is the deadline for these donations. Join us at our next meeting on April 20 at 7:00 PM. All Women of Peace are invited. Bring a friend. The Peace Men’s Group meets on Saturday, March 14 at 8:00 am in the Church Library Join us! Thirsty Thursday Bible Study Becker’s Corner (originally Cappies), located at 110 Old Bethlehem Rd. and Rt. 563 in Quakertown. Bring your bible, your friends, your questions, and your thirst for biblical knowledge to this informal gathering! Our next session will be on Thursday, April 16 at 7:30pm. Please contact Bruce Bachman call 215-2575319 or bbbachman [email protected] Call the Pastor When… A member is hospitalized or shut-in Someone you know needs prayer You are having a baby You have spiritual questions you want to explore You are curious about God’s call to you You need to talk something through Church Office: 215-257-3294 Cell: 267-377-6138 (Emergency only) SPECIAL ENVELOPE DESIGNATION Ash Wednesday – Bear Creek Lutheran Camp, Wilkesboro. (Used each year for our Confirmation retreats.) Mid-week Lenten Services – F.I.S.H. Lenten Quarter Cards – Seamen’s Church Institute (Advocates the wellbeing of seafarers) Easter – 2/3 for current funds and 1/3 for Building Maintenance. Our Shut-ins Anna Bishop Rockhill Mennonite Community Personal Care – Room 105 3250 State Road Sellersville, PA 18960 Richard Bradish Lutheran Community – Healthcare Pavilion 12 Lutheran Home Drive Telford, PA 18969 Arthur & Mary Dunlap 401 Three Mile Run Road Sellersville, PA 18960 Evelyn Fretz 521 Arch Street Perkasie, PA 18944 George Heverly 482 Covered Bridge Drive Quakertown, PA 18951 Leon Miller Solana of Doylestown, Rm 216 Warrington, PA18976 Blood Drive – Wednesday, April 22nd from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm Severe weather caused the cancelation of many blood drives throughout our community, but the need continues to be great. Dawn Herrmann Memorial Cancer Run 5K Run and 1Mile Fun Run/Walk - Saturday, April 18th Registration Opens at 8:00 am 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk 8:30 am, Volunteers needed! Together we can continue to the fight for the cure to cancer! For more information call the church office at 215-257-3294 Harold Myers Clare Bridge of Dublin 160 Elephant Road Dublin, PA 18917 Helen Poust 4596 CR # 305 Lake Panasoffkee, FL 33538 Jean Scholl 2301 North Fifth Street Perkasie, PA 18944 Marlene Shilling The Birches 691 Main Street, Room 28 Harleysville, PA 19438 Pauline Texter Atria Woodbridge Place P.O. Box 879 Kimberton, PA 19442 BUDGET PATCHWORK NEEDED Indeed, spring is at our doorstep -- a re-birth, an awakening, an anticipation of better times ahead. Still, you may have noticed that winter, in its icy wake, has left behind a trail of destruction as potholes, some the size of baby walruses, pockmark our roads and threaten to swallow us whole as we go about our daily commutes. The frequent snowfalls of January and especially February have done their damage as well to the income side of our church budget. Sunday worship attendance was pockmarked which resulted in less giving. Only two months into 2015 and the pothole in our income is ~$2000 deep. A hole this deep makes for treacherous driving, at the very time we begin to prepare for celebrating the joy of Easter and in moving forward in our mission. Please do what you can to patch up this hole and to enable us, as a congregation, to smooth our path so we can provide meaningful worship and life-changing service. Keep in mind, that although you may not have been able to get to church on those snowy Sunday mornings, our expenses do not take snow days. In fact, heating bills go up as the temperatures drop and snow removal from our parking lot doesn’t come cheap. You may also consider enrolling in an automated giving program, either through Thrivent’s Simply Giving or through your own bank, as this action will help smooth out the rough spots in our cash flow. Let’s welcome spring and set a course for rejoicing in the spirit of the season. In peace, Philip Deck Council President FISH NEEDS Current needs at the food pantry: Pancake mix, pancake syrup, toothpaste/shampoo/soap, detergent, sugar, flour, cake, cookie & brownie mixes, canned potatoes, canned beans (all types), canned sweet potatoes, pudding & Jell-O, cream soups, canned pineapple, spaghetti & spaghetti sauce, diapers& wipes (sizes 3-6) PEACE CONCERT SERIES Mainstreet Brass Quintet April 19th 3:00 pm Mainstreet Brass formed in 1986, inspired by a musical camaraderie, a passion for brass quintet literature and performance and a goal to present interesting and entertaining music to its audiences. The quintet has performed for enthusiastic audiences at arts festivals, colleges and concert series in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New England, the Midwest and the United Kingdom. The concert is a MUST-SEE! Learn more at Mainstreetbrass.com -Paul Stever for fifteen years of service as the head counter at Peace! - Our soup and salad makers for our Sunday night supper worship: Linda Gonet, Dottie Ritter, Joyce Burkett, Serena Sellers, Kathy Lindsay, and Janice Propsner. -Everyone who supported our Stop Hunger Now fundraiser at Friendly’s Restaurant and Cheryl Saint Pol for putting together the “Dinner and a Movie” raffle basket - Sandy Miller for digging out the septic vent from mounds of snow in preparation for servicing. - Elva Groff and all who participated in arranging our fabulous hospitality following the Wednesday Night Lenten Service hosted by Peace. - WELCA and all who baked or purchased delicious baked goods for raising over $500 toward Stop Hunger Now! - The Sunday School for wrapping the prizes for our Lutheran Community at Telford game day. - All who contributed to the Lutheran World Relief “Baskets of Promise“. Many refugees and disaster victims will be blessed by your generosity! - Cheryl Moyer for preparing our palm crosses and sharing the tradition of making them, and all who helped with the reading of the passion story. - All who contributed candy and prizes for our annual egg hunt, and our confirmands for assisting with the filling of the eggs. Geraniums for Pentecost We invite you to order a geranium in honor or remembrance of loved ones for Pentecost, Sunday May 24th The price is $3.50 per plant. Cash or checks made payable to Peace Lutheran Church along with this order form. Please place your order in an envelope clearly marked for flowers. Then return your order to the church office or place it in the offering plate. Deadline for Orders is Sunday, May 10th Your Name__________________________________ In Memory of________________________________ In Honor of _________________________________ Number of Plants ___________ Total Paid _________________ ______ I wish to leave my flowers to be planted on the church property. Paid Check # ____________ Paid Cash____________ CHURCH COUNCIL FOR 2015 President – Phil Deck Vice President – Kolby Kramer Secretary – Elaine Keckeissen Treasurer - Teresa Kramer COMMUNITY: Janice Propsner [email protected] Beverly Azzalina - [email protected] Paula Richards - [email protected] OPPERATIONS: Elaine Keckeissen - [email protected] Cheryl Moyer- [email protected] Nate Ritter - [email protected] SPIRITUAL GROWTH: Barbara Bachman - [email protected] Kolby Kramer - [email protected] Barbara May [email protected] Unassigned: Darryl Smith - [email protected] Sabbatical – Randi Schaeffer BEAR CREEK YOUTH RETREAT April 10, 11, & 12. All middle and high school student are welcome to attend. We’ll leave Peace on Friday at 6:00 pm and be back at the church Sunday around 2:00 pm. This will be a fun weekend camping event (cabins with heat & indoor bathrooms!) with friends, worship, hiking, games, study and good food! Please sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board in the vestibule or by email at [email protected]. You may also call at 215-257-3294. Thank you. PALM CROSS WORKSHOP Saturday, April 4TH 9:00 amCheryl Moyer will be instructing how to fold crosses and hearts from palms… a family tradition that she is sharing with members of Peace. Please bring scissors. DONATIONS NEEDED: for the Easter egg hunt. Please drop them off at the church Palm Sunday or by Thursday night, April 2nd. Thank you. APRIL 2015 Peace-Tohickon Lutheran Church 215-257-3294 (Office) 215-257-9143 (Fax) [email protected] SUNDAY MON TUE WED THUR 1 Choirs 6:45pm Youth 7:00 Bells 8:00 SC 7:00 Confirmation FRI 2 7:30 Maundy Thurs.Service All night Prayer vigil, 9pm – 6am Daisies 6:30 5 6 Easter 7:00 & 10:15am Communion 7pm Outreach 8:00 Breakfast 6pm Brownies 9:00am Sunday school 7 7:30 Tues. Grp. 8 1:30 Staff Mtg 3 4 9 – 10am 10am Egg Hunt confirmation Noon Community 8:30 Altar Guild Service St. Andrew’s UCC 7:30 Good Friday service. 10 9 Youth Retreat Bear Creek 7:30pmN/A SAT 11 8:00am Men’s Study Group Youth Retreat 6:00pm N/A 12 2nd Easter 8:15am Communion 10:15am worship 9:00am Sunday school Hymn Sing Bear Creek return 6:00pm N/A 13 19 3rd Sunday of Easter New Spirit 8:15,Communion 10:15 am worship 9:00am Sunday school 20 14 6:30pm Daisies 7:30pm Tues. Group 7:30pm N/A 7PM WELCA 21 7pm Church Council meets 16 7:30pm Thirsty Thurs Group 15 Choirs 6:45pm Youth 7:30 New Spirit 17 18 1:30pm To Live Again Dawn Herrmann Cancer Run 24 25 6:30pm Daisies 7 pm Confirmation 22 Bloodmobile 4 – 7pm 23 7:30pm N/A 7pm Bells 8pm Senior Choir 6pm Brownies 6:00pm N/A 26 27 4th Sunday of Easter 7pm PageTurners 8:15am Communion 10:15am worship 9 am Sunday school WELCA Spring Tea 12:30pm 6:30pm Daisies N/A 6pm Parish nurse GREETERS Apr. 3 Good Friday Apr.5 Early: Teresa Kramer ACOLYTE 28 7:30pm Tues. Group 29 Choirs 6:45pm Youth 7:30 New Spirit 30 7:30pm N/A 7pm Confirmation CRUCIFER LECTOR Sophia Hughes Sophia Hughes John Woehr Pete Moyer Apr. 5 Late: Nancy & Holly Grace Courtney Steiner Luke Stranick Melissa Yates Apr. 12 Ruth Lewis Kari Beck Nathaniel Barnes Jillian Dages Dana Caporaletti Apr. 19 Jayne Kramer Apr. 26 Gary & Roxane D’Aprile ASSISTANT MINISTER Bill Markland Chip Kramer Bruce Bachman Tom Smith NEW SPIRIT SERVICE Jan Abate Joe O’Donnell Head Usher –Gary Schott Nurse – Sharon Bagg Altar Guild – Jan Abate and Sue Keen Nursery - Elaine Miller