April 2020 Newsletter
Pastor’s Message
Friends in Christ,
Grace and Peace to you from the One who will rise again in our midst. These unprecedent times continue and we are trying to keep you updated as we can. The situations we find ourselves in change daily. The church has not been shut down; but has been deployed at this time. Our prayers are continually being sent up and lifted up to our God, to the One who is our help in all times of trouble. If you are in need of anything during this time please do not hesitate to reach out to any of the leadership of Dreisbach for help and support. If you need food, medicines, someone to talk to, or anything else during this time please reach out. That is how we are and can be the church in this time of separation and struggle.
We continue to worship together remotely. That can be done via facebook live during the worship time or via the phone line number, 570-518-0013. We are concerned that the phone system is maxing out, so if you have access to a computer we ask you to leave the phone line connection for those without an internet connection. If you miss the live time of worship it can be found on facebook on our church page anytime after and it is also uploaded to www.youtube.com for viewing at any time after too. We thank you for your feedback on how this is working out and we continue to do our best to offer worship experiences at this time.
At this point consistory has cancelled any in person worship and events through the end of April. We will evaluate anything beyond that point during our April meeting. We will then communicate with you about what is next for a time frame for in person gatherings.
I am so very thankful for the leadership who has stepped up in very helpful ways. A big thank you to our praise group, our visual and audio techs, our staff, and countless others who have played a big part in continuing the good work. Please take part in the picture book experiences on weekdays on facebook and the devotional messages a few times each week.
As part of our April 12th worship I am going to try and offer a time of communion, but we are asking you to gather your own elements and prepare them in a way that is comfortable to you. I will lead us in the communion liturgy and invite you to commune with me from home. God’s Spirit will certainly be present and with us in this experience of community and connection, even though we are separated. Until we meet again, in person or through the Spirit of our God.
Blessings and Prayers for the journey,
Pastor Nate
Worship Schedule this month:
April 5th – (“Words That Last Forever”: Behold) Palm Sunday. Proverbs 23:22-25; 1st Timothy 5:1-8; John 16:16-24. Facebook Live Worship. Able to watch on Youtube after it is posted.
April 9th – (ToW: For You, Human) Maundy Thursday Service @7pm. Exodus 12:1-14; 1st Corinthians 11:23-26; John 3:1-17,34. Facebook Live Worship. Able to watch on Youtube after it is posted.
April 10th – (ToW: Hands) Good Friday Service @7pm. Isaiah 53:1-6; Romans 14:7-9; Luke 23:33-49. Facebook Live Worship. Able to watch on Youtube after it is posted.
April 12th – (ToW: Alleluia!) Regular Worship at 9:15AM. Exodus 15:1-11; 1st Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18. Happy Easter! Facebook Live Worship. Able to watch on Youtube after it is posted.
April 19th - (ToW: Holy Language) Acts 2:14a, 22-32; 1st Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31. Facebook Live Worship. Able to watch on Youtube after it is posted.
April 26th - (ToW: Breaking Bread) Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35. Facebook Live Worship. Able to watch on Youtube after it is posted.
Look Further Ahead
May 3rd - (ToW: Powerful Witness) Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10: 1-10. All other activities are TBD.
May 10th - (ToW: Enduring Witness) Mother’s Day. Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2: 2-10; John 14:1-14. TBD.
May 17th - (ToW: Witness of Love) Kids Day. Acts 17:22-31; 1 Peter 3: 13-22; John 14: 15-21. TBD.
May 24th – (ToW: Spirit of Witness) Mem. Day Wknd. Acts 1:6-14; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11. TBD.
May 31st – (ToW: Pentecost Sunday) Confirmation Sunday. Axts 2:1-21; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23.
Offering
Even though the church is currently closed the expenses still continue. You can mail your offering to the church at 875 Dreisbach Church Rd. Lewisburg, PA 17837 or set up an E-Giving account by going to dreisbachucc.org. and clicking on the E-Giving button to set up your account. You can also send a text message to 570-491-1377 and you will be prompted to set up an account. If you have been laid off due to the shut down we ask that you first take care of yourself and your family. If you need help call Pam and we will try to meet your need.
Easter Flowers
For those who ordered Easter flowers from the youth. We are contacting the greenhouse to determine when we will have the flowers. Someone will be in touch to determine how we can safely distribute the flowers to our members.
Mifflinburg Backpack Project
A big thank you to all those who took part in the backpack program!!! Whether it was purchasing products, monetary donations, saving your plastic bags and/or helping on Wednesday evenings - all is greatly appreciated! A special thank you to Don and Nancy Bowman for delivering the backpacks and then when we got word about the Coronavirus a huge thank you to Pam Pfirman and her family and to Pastor Nate and his family for making sure each week the 170 plus bags were filled was an enormous undertaking! Plus shopping to make sure we had what was needed! Thank you all for your dedication!!
Dine & Donate at Larry’s Pizza
A big thank you to everyone who supported the Youth by getting takeout from Larry’s. The youth raised $440.00 towards Harvey Cedars. Huge thanks to Larry’s Pizza and Subs for your generosity to our youth!
Easter Egg Hunt news
Unfortunately, this year’s Easter Egg Hunt has had to be cancelled. It is our hope to still have an egg hunt for the kids either on Children’s Day, May 17th, or whenever we can again gather at the church.
Mother-Daughter Banquet
Our apologies but the Mother-Daughter Banquet has been canceled for 2020.
Rocky Railway – Jesus’ Power Pulls Us Through
June 15-19 (6:30 – 8:30pm)
June 21 (9:15am) Closing Program
Climb aboard for mountains of fun at Rocky Railway! On this faith-filled adventure, kids discover that trusting Jesus pulls them through life’s ups and downs.
Many helping hands are needed to make VBS a memorable experience for the kids once again! Volunteers needed to help make and place decorations, teach, assist with crafts, games, and serve as class leaders each evening.
Contact Judy Willow (570-966-0721) or Pam Pfirman (570-898-9774) for more details. Registration forms are available on our Facebook page.
Thank you to everyone contributing recycled items for our VBS crafts. We are good with toilet paper rolls. Please continue collecting cardboard egg cartons. We need about 30 more. Our greatest need at this time is bottle caps. I estimate needing about 250 milk jug caps and at least 1000 smaller water/soda bottle caps. A bin is located at the back of the overflow area for the collection of these items.
We are watching the situation closely and at this time are still going forward with our plans for VBS. We will make a final call on this in May.
Spring Rummage Sale
The Disciples Wanderers Sunday School Class has made the difficult but prudent decision to cancel the spring rummage sale. We are following the recent recommendation from the CDC to cancel all gatherings of 50 or more people for the next 8 weeks. If you have ever been to the rummage sale you know there is no such thing as social distancing on Thursday morning! We will miss the shared time with you all.