May 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 continue to change daily. The church has not been shut down; but has been deployed at this time. Our prayers go out to one and all. 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.
In this time of many unknowns the church is grateful for your continued support; in the ways of giving with your prayers, treasures, and participation. Especially when, for some among us, this is turning into a financial crisis. Dreisbach continues to be blessed by your generosity. As we continue in this time I believe that we are in for a marathon of a recovery and the needs of those in our communities will shift as we go from unemployment needs and food needs to long term recovery needs. Our plan to be a support and blessing to our community in this time of need may cause to us to need to have resources on hand to offer to those who are struggling. Only you know your situation and your giving is certainly between you and God, but one way that I want to encourage those who have received a stimulus check is to think about if you are able to give a portion of it to the church for our continued work with our communities near and far. If you are in a stable financial place maybe you could give a tithe of the money you received, or maybe more of it if your position allows and you feel moved to do so. This gift or offering could be given to our general ministries fund or it could be given to the CARE fund which is given out to local communities and our neighbors further away. If you will need the resources that you have been given I want to encourage you to try to spend as much of the money at local businesses in our area, which certainly helps families and neighbors close to us.
There are other ways that we can be the church in this time too. The backpack program for the Mifflinburg School District will continue through the summer and there will also be hot meals provided to those families who are in need throughout the summer. So our support of those ministries and of food pantries and food banks on the area. Since we have some extra time on our hands and we will be close to home I want to encourage you to put in a garden this year and eat freshly grown veggies yourself, but also give away or share the fruits of your labor with others. I also want to encourage folks to bring in some of their produce to the church and invite others to give a donation for purchasing later in the fall.
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. ALSO, The earlier you get on the better chance you have of getting a spot. There are many other churches using the system that we are utilizing, so it is helpful to get on before 9am and simply have the phone on until we begin at 9:15am. This way you can get a spot before others who have similar worship times. 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. Please help us out by subscribing to the Dreisbach UCC youtube channel. This will help us be more visible and easier to find on the website. If we get to 100 subscribers we get our own URL address on the site.
At this point consistory has cancelled any in person worship and events through the end of May. We will evaluate anything beyond that point during our May meeting. We will then communicate with you about what is next for a time frame for in person gatherings.
I Continue to be grateful for the leadership and helpers chipping in time and energy for the good of all. The parade that was put together by the Vision committee was wonderful and a great sign of the fun loving spirit of generosity at Dreisbach. I hope we can keep up that spirit as this continues on and may it help us be creative and resp0onsive to the needs that arise among us.
As part of our May 31st worship I am going to try and offer a time of communion again, 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:
May 3rd - (Theme of Week: Powerful Witness) Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10: 1-10.
May 10th - (ToW: Enduring Witness) Mother’s Day. Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2: 2-10; John 14:1-14.
May 17th - (ToW: Witness of Love) Kids Day. Acts 17:22-31; 1 Peter 3: 13-22; John 14: 15-21.
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.
May 31st – (ToW: Pentecost Sunday) Communion. Acts 2:1-21; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23.
Look Further Ahead
June 7th - (ToW: This is Good) Genesis 1:1-2:4a; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28: 16-20.
Important Updates
Help us say thank you and honor our heroes at this time. We are encouraging everyone to make “Hearts for Heroes” and display them on windows in your home, as well as, create some for us to hang up on the church’s glass doors and windows. This is a great way to amplify our support for these special dedicated folks who are giving completely of themselves in this time of need. We give thanks for the healthcare folks, for first responders, for grocery store workers, gas station workers, transportation workers, truck drivers, food workers, and any other essential business workers that are keeping us fed, healthy, and going during this time.
ZOOM Bible Study
We are gathering on Wednesday Mornings at 9am for a Bible Study online together. We will send out the numbers and passwords via email or special message if you need it so all can join us. This can be done through a free zoom account or through your cellphone. The zoom account will allow you to video chat with the group and your phone will allow you call in and hear the conversations and allow you to participate with us that way. We will see where our conversation is led and the topics we cover. Thanks for your interest and participation in this.
Thank You
Thank you to the Prayer Shawl Group for adapting their ministry a little in this time in order to create and give out masks for those in need. These are available for free at the church for pick up or call us and we can make arrangements to deliver. These are for anyone in need.
CARES Fund
In response to the current COVID-19 stresses, Dreisbach CARE Fund committee distributed $440 to the Central PA Food Bank and $440 to Doctors Without Borders. The Food Bank serves 27 local counties and Doctors Without Borders cares for medical needs in more than 50 countries worldwide. Each year, 10% of the CARE Fund endowment is used to meet humanity's needs for food, water, shelter, clothing, healing, and support. During the coming months, the committee will be considering how best to distribute the remaining 2019 funds ($880).
Initial funding for the CARE Fund was earmarked from church investments, but continuation of the endowment fund depends on subsequent gifts from individuals beyond regular offering responsibilities to grow the benevolent fund. If you would like to contribute to the CARE Fund endowment beyond your normal giving, mark donations as Dreisbach CARE Fund, choose Dreisbach CARE on the e-giving site, or make the Dreisbach CARE Fund a part of your will or estate planning. If you are familiar with specific needs that the CARE Fund distributions might help address, please contact any member of the CARE Fund distribution committee: Barbara Buchholtz, Bonnie Dodge, Jesse Hackenberg, Pat Hartzell, or Tony Noll.
2020 Graduates
Please contact Pam Pfirman (pam_adminsec@dreisbachucc.org) if you or a member of your family will be graduating in 2020. We would like to recognize and honor their accomplishments at some point in the coming months.
Strengthen the Church Offering
You will find an envelope in your newsletter this month that is for the Strengthen the Church offering of the United Church of Christ (www.ucc.org/stc). This is one of the special offerings of the UCC and this one is split between the national setting of the denomination and the Conference setting of the denomination. Meaning half of the money goes to the national setting in order for them to give out grants to local churches doing new and creative ministry and also makes possible for leadership training of local pastors and curriculum creations that are for the local churches. The other half of the offering goes to our conference, the Penn Central Conference, which allows for them to support our area local churches with programming and support to us and the churches in our area. This offering is vital to the creation of meaningful and transforming ideas and programs that make a difference in the lives of our neighbors and our local churches. We will be collecting this offering during the month of May. Please mail or drop your envelope at the church.
VBS
We are sad to announce that we will not be hosting VBS this summer. As we all know large groups are not permitted at this time and it is uncertain when they will once again be allowed therefore we have decided to cancel VBS for the summer of 2020. If you’ve been saving recycled items for crafts they will not go to waste. We will gladly still accept them. We plan to do Rocky Railway next summer bigger and better than ever!
New Opportunities to Stay Connected
Story/craft/activity time weekdays at 11:00 AM on Facebook live
Young adult support group
Time: Wednesdays @ 6:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://csiu.zoom.us/j/7909030985?pwd=WlM1aEdCZllvUlZZT0RvSndRZ3JQQT09
Meeting ID: 790 903 0985
Young Family Game Night
Monthly on Sunday evenings @ 7:00 PM (next date TBD)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://csiu.zoom.us/j/7909030985?pwd=WlM1aEdCZllvUlZZT0RvSndRZ3JQQT09
Meeting ID: 790 903 0985
Moving your bodies for all ages.
Thursdays at 7:00 PM on Facebook live starting April 30. Bring some water and comfy clothes.