The
Newsletter Middle Country Lutheran Parish - November - December 2008
PREPARATIONS
UNDERWAY FOR
HOLY-DAYS
During the
months of November and December we have many events and special
services as part
of our celebration of the “Holiday Season.”
Nearly every
Sunday has a special theme during this important time of the year. We
celebrated
the Feast of All Saints on Sunday, November 2 and our Annual
Remembrance Sunday services
were held on November 9th along with our “Novemberfest,” a
celebration of the 525th
anniversary of the birthday of Martin Luther.
A Narrative
Communion Service was developed for the weekend of November 15-16. This
special service provides a running commentary on the meaning of the
worship service we use
every weekend, explaining why we do what we do in worship.
On
Christ
the King Sunday, the final Sunday of our church year, the
weekend of
November 22nd
and 23rd , we will hear a message given by Dr. Rick Bliese, President
of Luther Seminary (where
Pastor Hill was trained) who is in our synod that weekend for an
Evangelical Outreach Event
organized by Pastor Hill and members of our synod’s Commission for
Evangelical Outreach for
pastors and lay leaders on Saturday in Brooklyn.
A Thanksgiving
Eve service will begin at 7:30 on Wednesday, November 26th, and
the
following
weekend is the first weekend in the season of Advent, a time for
reflection on the great themes of
hope, joy, peace, and love that set the stage for the celebration of
the Feast of the Nativity of our
Lord on Christmas Eve.
AFTER
THANKSGIVING EVENTS
Other special
events and services are planned for this holiday season, and we
encourage members
to invite and bring along friends and relatives to them.
The annual
Adopt-a-Family program is beginning on the weekend of November 22-23.
If you
know of any needy families from our comm
unity who might benefit
from
this special giving
emphasis, please share that information with Pastor Hill.
Our annual
Christmas Caroling and church decorating day will be the Sunday before
Christmas,
December 21. All members are invited to join in these activities, and
suggestions of people to
visit are welcome. Please speak with Joyce Stahl or Pastor Hill if you
know people we might
visit and sing for.
WEEKLY
EVENTS
Sundays
8,9:30,
11:15 a.m. Worship
9:15
a.m. Sunday
School
9
a.m. Blood
Pressure 2nd
& 4th Sunday
Mondays 7
p.m.
Joyful
Ringers
7:30
p.m. Secret
Message
Tuesdays 7
p.m. Rejoice
Dancers
7:30
p.m. Grace Notes
7:30
p.m. Bible
Study Group
Wednesdays
4
p.m. Kids’
Choir Club
7:30
p.m. Evening
Prayers
Fridays 7
p.m. Bowling
League
Saturdays 4
p.m. Teen
Ministry*
6
p.m. Saturday
Night Alive Service
* not every Saturday
“Let’s Talk About the M-word”
I remember
vividly how every Sunday, as we sat down for dinner after coming home
from
church, my father would give a one-sentence summary of the pastor’s
sermon.
I was amazed
that it took only one sentence to sum up what was at least a half-hour
sermon (yes,
they were that long back then– you don’t know how good you’ve got it
today.) But what I found
even more amazing was that every Sunday, the summary would be exactly
the same as the week
before, and it would amount to only four words.
Mom would ask
“What did the pastor preach about today?” and Dad would reply, “He
talked
about ‘money’.”
When I think
back over those Sunday afternoon “non-discussions,” I have to smile. I
know that
my father was a good church member and a faithful Christian, and I also
knew quite well that he
listened to the whole sermon the pastor preached every week. Eventually
I realized that his
summaries reflected more what he was thinking than what the pastor had
said.
Although our
world today is much different from the world I grew up in, some things
never seem
to change. It is still true that one of the toughest things for us to
talk openly and honestly about in
the church is the notorious “M-word.”
Everyone knows
quite well that to be an active church with a full-time pastor, a
staff, a building,
and a host of programs for all sorts of people takes money. There’s no
way around that, at least if
we continue with certain assumptions about what it takes to be a
church. The problem is that we
just don’t know how to talk about how we, as individuals and families,
get and use the money we
have at our disposal.
We don’t believe
that churches should be like other organizations that collect weekly or
monthly
“dues,” and we also know that decades ago churches abandoned the
practice of publishing what
each family contributed to the church in their annual reports. And, as
active, busy people, we all
know that it would be much more costly in the use of our time for us to
engage in running a lot of
fund-raising events to support our church’s ministry. The church would
probably earn a lot more
money if the same people simply gave one full-day’s pay as their
offering instead of stressing
themselves out for months to prepare for a one-day fund raising event,
wouldn’t it?
As the new year
approaches, we will all be thinking a lot about money, especially
thanks to the
recent events on Wall Street. We would gain a lot as a congregation if
we were to spend some time
talking to one another about how we feel about our money, our church,
God’s mission, and our
partnership with God. Pray for the members of our Congregation Council
as they continue to
formulate their plans to encourage a healthy dialogue about the
“M-word,” and that they find ways
to encourage us to discuss openly the other “M-word,” the word
“Mission.”The truth is that we
cannot have the one without the other.
With
love,
Pastor
Hill
ADVENT - a joyful season
“The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;
repent,
and believe in the good news” Mark 1:15
“Believe
in the good news” We all need to hear those words especially in our
world
today.
Advent gives us a chance to begin again and turn our lives to God. It
is a time of hope
amid crisis, light in deep darkness, a growing sense of expectation, a
growing trust in the
promises of God. We watch, wait and prepare for God’s coming reign of
justice and peace but
even more we are hopeful, excited and even joyous as we see that reign
come to pass in our own
place and time.
ADVENT CANDLE
LIGHTING
Families,
individuals, groups are invited to light the Advent candles and read a
short
prayer during the Saturday night or Sunday morning worship services.
Sign up on the chart that
is posted in the narthex. Look for the appropriate reading for the week
in Advent you chose and
take a copy to practice.
'
STIRRING UP ADVENT—ADVENT
WEDNESDAY EVENING SERVICES
Our
Wednesday Advent evening services at 7:30 p.m. focus on Recipes for
relationships: Our relationships with God, our families, and each
other.
God’s
Covenant December
3 Calls
us into relationships of promise and hope
God’s
Grace
December
10
His
self-giving love—a grace that saves the beloved
God’s
Empowerment December
17
Encourages
us to empower those we love
On
Sunday, December 27th we will finish the series with “Intimacy” which
is found swaddled in the manger —Emmanuel come near.
ADVENT SOUP & SANDWICH DINNER AND
SERVICE OF LESSONS AND CAROLS
Sunday, December 14th at 5:30 p.m.
join us for fellowship around a simple dinner of
soup and sandwiches. Soup will be provided just sign up and bring a few
sandwiches to share. After shopping, decorating this simple time gives
us a chance to just relax and enjoy a meal
together.
At 7 p.m. we worship with a service
of Lessons and Carols for Advent. This service is a
special series of scripture readings, with hymns, songs, and special
music.
POINSETTIAS
Help
decorate our church for the Christmas Season by donating Poinsettia
plants. Forms
and donation envelopes will be found in the narthex. Cost will be
$15.00 per plant. After the 11
p.m. Christmas Eve service you are welcome to take your plant home.
SPECIAL CHOIR REHEARSALS FOR
ADVENT/CHRISTMAS
Besides
rehearsing in between the services on Sunday mornings, two short
rehearsals are
planned for Wednesday evenings from 8—8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays December
3rd and 17th.
CHRISTMAS DECORATING AND CAROLING
Sunday, December, 21st after the
11:15 a.m. service we will begin to decorate the
church for our Christmas celebrations of the birth of our Lord. All are
welcome to help!
Then
at 3 p.m. we leave the church to sing Christmas carols at homes of
those shut-in or
in need of cheer. It’s a fun time for all! We car pool and drive to the
various places – words
and music are provided.
CHRISTMAS
EVE SERVICES
4 p.m. A Family Service of Holy
Communion
7, 9 & 11 p.m. Candlelight
Services of
Holy Communion
10
a.m. Holy Communion Celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord
There
will be NO Saturday evening worship service on December 27th.
FIRST SUNDAY
OF CHRISTMAS—December 28th
Services
of Holy Communion at 8, 9:30 & 11:15 a.m.
FOLLOW THAT
STAR!
A
Christmas pageant for our children and teens is being planned for
Sunday, January 4th at the 9:30
a.m. service. Rehearsals are planned for Saturdays,
December 6, 13th
and January 3rd at 11 a.m. Sign up forms for the journey to follow the
star
will be handed out and posted.
EPIPHANY
SERVICE
On
Tuesday, January 6th Come and Adore Our Newborn Savior at 11 a.m. with
a
Service celebrating the Epiphany of Our Lord and then stay for lunch.
THANKSGIVING
EVE SERVICE
Three
Thanksgiving Portraits
Wednesday,
November 26th at 7:30 p.m. we give thanks to God for all the blessings
we
have received.
Our
Chimes group will lead us in worship and make us more aware of what we
should be
thankful for with three plays.
LUTHER
SEMINARY PRESIDENT TO PREACH AT HOPE
The
Rev. Dr. Rick Bliese, President ofLuther Seminary, the ELCA’s largest
seminary
(and Pastor Hill’s alma mater) will be our guest preacher at out
services on the weekend of
November 22-23. Dr. Bliese is
one of the world’s leading missiologists and an important voice
among leaders in the Lutheran tradition. He will be in our synod to
speak at an all-day conference
event on “The Evangelizing Church”sponsored by the synod’s Commission
for Evangelical
Outreach for pastors and laypeople in Brooklyn on Saturday, November 22.
Any
members of Hope interested in attending this event should speak with
Pastor Hill. Pastor
Hill is the chair of the Commission and will be hosting Dr. Bliese in
his home, so he invited Dr.
Bliese to preach here. Don’t miss this tremendous opportunity to meet
and hear this leader in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
BISHOP
RIMBO
IS INSTALLED
On
Sunday, October 12, nearly a thousand Lutherans gathered at Central
Synagogue in
Manhattan to celebrate the installation of the new bishop of our
Metropolitan New York Synod,
the Rev. Robert Rimbo.
The
beautiful worship space was filled with wonderful music including
choral anthems,
solos, and the great hymns of the Church.
ELCA
Presiding Bishop, Mark Hanson, presided at the service and preached a
message
based on the assigned texts for the day.
Bishop
Rimbo, who is still somewhat of a newcomer to our Metro New York Synod,
served as pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at Central Park West
in Manhattan before
being elected at last May’s Synod Assembly. But he is not new to the
office of bishop, having
served more than a whole term as bishop of the Southeast Michigan Synod.
FOCUS
GROUPS
PLANNED
FOR JANUARY
The Council is working on plans for
having
two “Focus Groups” during the month of January to
help us begin the process of discerning the future of our church.
Members of Hope will be
selected for invitations to serve by attending one of the two group
sessions being planned.
If you receive a letter inviting you
to
attend one of these groups, please consider the invitation
prayerfully and respond promptly. We will invite members because we are
looking for a
representative cross-section of our membership to attend these 90
minute sessions. Others who
do not receive a personal invitation may also attend if they can. Your
input will be very valuable.
As
the new year approaches the bishop will be working on developing his
staff. He has already
started meeting with individual conferences to become better acquainted
with our clergy and lay leaders.
Thanks to
the increased
giving of several
members of Hope in recent weeks, we have been able to
keep from falling behind on bills, but we are still trying to catch up
on the expenses we have already
incurred or expect to have before the end of this calendar year.
Although the fiscal year of our church
runs from July 1 to June 30, the calendar year is
significant because
as members look to file their
income taxes, the offerings donated prior to December 31 are what they
will be able to report for
2008.
Given our nation’s
current financial
crisis
and the anxiety many are experiencing because of the
uncertainties it causes, it is difficult to ask members to give
extraordinary amounts in their offerings
at this time. Yet it would be unfair and irresponsible to not inform
our members that if we would all
be able to give an increase in our offerings, our situation would
improve locally.
As in past years we
will be setting
up a
Christmas Giving Tree with envelopes for bills that are
currently due. If you take any envelopes, please use them and return
them in any regular offering
prior to December 31.
Make any checks
payable to our church
so your
donation can be counted as such and the treasurer
can pay the bills with a church check.
There may be some
confusion about
finances
caused by the impending sale of the property of St.
Mark’s in Ridge. Although the sale is being completed, there will
probably be some time before any
of the proceeds become available for our local ministry at Hope because
of the legalities involved
in churches selling property.
Further, after the
initial
reimbursements and
payments are made from the proceeds, the merger
agreement we made with St. Mark’s requires that the balance remaining
be used to create the “St.
Mark’s Mission Endowment Fund.” After that is done, we will be able to
use any interest received
for mission projects (not to replace member offerings).
The simple fact is
that the bills we
have
right now need to be paid now, and later on we will have
a chance to think together about what we could do with the funds we
will receive from the
endowment.
MEMBERS
APPROVE SALE OF ST. MARK’S PROPERTY
A large
crowd gathered for
the November 2nd
Special Meeting of the Congregation to discuss
and vote on a proposal to enter into a contract with the Temple Baptist
Church of Middle Island
who wished to buy the property formerly used for the ministry of St.
Mark’s Lutheran Church on
Smith Road in Ridge.
Pastor Hill led
devotions and shared
with
members the importance of the action taken by the
members of St. Mark’s and Hope back in 2003 in forming a merger between
the two
congregations. Back at that time the members of both congregations
hoped that the plans to build
32 high-quality subsidized senior citizen apartments would be approved
by the Town of
Brookhaven, making use of a grant of more than $4 million to Catholic
Charities from the
U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Political elements
prevented that
plan from
coming to fruition, so in succeeding years the
building was rented out to Pastor Robert Dickerson who tried to start a
ministry he called the
“Capernaum Apostolic Christian Life Center.” The congregation did not
develop as he hoped, so
in the fall of 2007, in spite of the fact that we had just put together
a formal lease agreement with
the assistance of an attorney, he simply stopped paying any rent. Our
Council made many
attempts to collect the rental payments, but finally decided that their
only course of action was to
contact a realtor, ask Pastor Dickerson to surrender the keys to the
church, and put the church
property on the market.
Following the advice
of an attorney,
the
Council gave proper notification that the building was to
be vacated by the end of August and the property was listed for sale.
Almost immediately we had
a solid offer and several additional inquiries. By the beginning of
November Pastor Dickerson
finally surrendered the keys. We had discovered earlier that the power
had been shut off in the
spring of 2008, so we made arrangements with LIPA to have power
restored.
The congregation
voted unanimously
(105
votes)to approve the contract and allow the sale to go
forward, and we are now waiting for the closing on the sale. We have
requested approval from
the Synod Council, and we will need to have the sale approved by the
office of the New York
State Attorney General. We hope that the closing takes place soon.
The net proceeds from
the sale will
be
invested in a Mission Endowment Fund that we will set
up. Members with expertise in financial matters will be asked to apply
to serve on a board to
oversee the investment plan. The Council will keep members apprised of
the developments.
PLANS FOR A MEMORIAL
GARDEN AND TRAIL
UNDERWAY
A
long time ago some members of Hope had a vision of converting the
overgrown “jungle”
which occupies the northwestern corner of our church property into a
beautiful garden trail designed
with specific locations for personal and small group reflection. That
area includes almost one third
of all church-owned property here in Selden. Various ideas are being
discussed already, so former
Council President, Chris Geiger, has agreed to head up a Design Team
that will develop plans and
begin organizing our resources to make the project a reality. After the
land is cleared, we will be able
to plan out how to use the space.
Funds
for this project will come from Thrivent financial and through
donations in memory
of friends and loved ones, and labor for the project will come from us.
Anyone wishing to join the
design team should contact Chris Geiger at 736-2177 or
cgeiger@supermarvin.com
FOOD PANTRY PREPARES FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Preparations
are underway to help families in need with Thanksgiving food baskets.
Each
Thanksgiving and Christmas season, we average 35 - 40 baskets. We hope
that we will be able to
help even more families this year. Members of Hope, our Girl Scout and
Boy Scout troops, Teen
Ministry, and Anchor Nursery School have always been very generous when
donating items to
the food baskets and we are very grateful. We continue to need your
help with this project for this
year.
If
you would like to make donations for the food baskets, the following
items are needed:
Turkeys (please no coupons)
Stuffing mix
Canned mixed fruit
Peaches
Canned gravy
Large can/jar applesauce
Cookies Instant
potatoes
Coffee
Canned
carrots
Peas
Sweet
potatoes
Cake mix and frosting
Non-perishable
food items may be dropped off at the food pantry box at any time. Items
to be frozen should be placed in the food pantry freezer located in the
back of the Fellowship
Hall. Monetary donations are always welcome and will help to purchase
items still needed for the
baskets.
All
donations should be in by November 21st.
Your
donations will help to give a family in need a wonderful dinner for
Thanksgiving
As always, thank you for your help,
support
and donations!
ANCHOR NURSERY SCHOOL
We still have openings in our nursery
school
for 3 and 4 year olds. Call the church for enrollment
information.
DO YOU RECEIVE THE ANCHOR NOTES?
ANCHOR
NOTES is a newsletter sent out almost weekly on the
internet to all who wish to
receive it. If you have not received it or if you have not been
receiving it recently, please send a
note with your e-mail address to Pastor Hill at his own e-mail address:
rohill@optonline.net.
The
ANCHOR NOTES includes
advance notices and timely reports and pictures of
recent events around our church.
Cruzando
News
2009
Youth
Gathering New Orleans
July
22-26,
2009
TEENS
REGISTERED FOR NEW ORLEANS
We
now have 10 teens registered to go to New Orleans for the 2009 Youth
Gathering.
They are excited about this journey. They will be preparing for the
journey through Bible studies
and service projects. They will also be participating in many
fundraisers before the trip. We hope
you will continue to support them generously. There is still room for
teens who wish to register.
If you wish to register, speak with Laura Laza at 642-7429 as soon as
possible.
TEEN NIGHTS
ARE BEGINNING
Join
us on December 16th for a Christmas Concert with Agape, Lost and Found
and
Justin Vetrano at The Life Church in Old Westbury. Tickets are $7.00
each. Money is due by
November 22.
On Saturday, December 20th, following our
Saturday Night service, we will have a Grab Bag
Christmas Party from 7:00—8:30 Everyone should bring a gift to exchange
worth no more than
$10.
XTRA
YEARS
OF ZEST
FELLOWSHIP
CHRISTMAS PARTY
We
will have our Christmas luncheon on Wednesday,
December 10th.
We
will have bible study, promptly at 11 a.m. with Pastor Hill. We will be
studying the
book of Ruth.
Our
Christmas luncheon will begin at 12:30 p.m. There is a sign up sheet on
the bulletin
board so we can know how many people to expect. Also sign up for what
you will bring to share
for our luncheon. If you need suggestions call Jean Shaljian, 732-6893.
We
also do a grab bag. Bring a gift for no more than $10 to take part in
the grab bag.
Everyone
is welcome. We have a happy Christmas celebration!
“CRISIS
RESPONSE TEAM” CHANGES ITS NAME AND ITS
PERSPECTIVE
During
the month of October our Crisis Response Team announced to the
congregation
that it is changing its name and broadening its mission to include a
wider range of needs and
situations that arise in the lives of members of our congregation. This
came about as a result of a
review of the work that the team has done over the past two years and
dialogue about the needs
of members that we have become aware of.
The
change of name reflects the broader mission of the team. It is now
called the “Caring
Resources Team.” The new name indicates that the team is gearing up to
be able to assist people
with a larger variety of needs that may not be considered as “crises,”
but which clearly should be
addressed by fellow members of the congregation. When a member comes
home from the
hospital and has a time of recuperation, they may require some
assistance or support from others.
Or when a difficult situation arises in a family where outside help
would be beneficial, the team
can assist in finding and providing caring resources.
Sometimes
there is simply a need for more specialized information or for
assistance with
problem-solving, and the coaching of another member may be all that is
needed.
The
team is seeking participants to offer to assist with a variety of areas
such as providing
transportation or emergency babysitting. Some members may wish to be on
call to put together a
meal for a family in a particular situation where that would help. Some
may have expertise in
dealing with legal, medical, or
governmental programs or agency-related matters. The team
would like to know who is available to offer such thing.
Likewise
the team wants to spread the news about what they are setting out to do
so our
members are able to find resources that can help them with their
specific needs. Please let others
know about the team.
Contact
the Caring Resource Team by calling the church office and leaving a
message.
The office is open Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and messages
on the answering
machine are checked regularly.
