Carmel Christian Church • 463 East Main Street, Carmel, IN 46032 • 317.846.5033

January 2019

Here to Zehr On behalf of our staff I want to thank Ginger Pyatt, our Board Chair, and the congregation for the generous Christmas gifts we received. We have a great staff and I feel privileged to work with them all.

January 1st @10:00 the new congregation, St. Thomas Mar Thoma, is having a worship service in which they have invited me to bring the New year message. The service will be in both English and their home language in India. They would love people from our church to join them for this worship service to launch the new year. St. Thomas is a congregation that has been meeting at a Methodist church in Indianapolis for the last ten years, but that congregation closed their doors as of December 23, 2018. Since many of the families live in Carmel they came and asked if they could meet on Sunday after-noons from 2:00-6:00 for their worship and Sunday school. They have approxi-mately 25 families (all from India ) around the greater Indianapolis area, so our facility is fine for the size of their congregation. We look forward to sharing in outreach and youth activities together.

Please mark January 13th on your calendar. This will be my last Sunday before I go on my 10-week sabbatical. I received monies in the sabbatical grant for a going away luncheon, so the food will be catered. It is also Rev. Diane’s 70th birthday and I am flying in our daughter Lori and her quartet Luster to sing in worship and entertain us after the luncheon.

It has been over 12 years since I have had a sabbatical. The purpose of this time is for a minister to have time from the pressures and challenges of ministry to renew their physical, spiritual, and emotional self. I was for-tunate to receive a grant from the Lilly Clergy Renewal Program. These monies provide opportunities for ministers to do things that they could never afford to do but that would be life giving for their spirit. While I am gone Rev. Diane will be preaching and doing the ministerial duties at the church and I will return on Sun-day March 31, 2019.

My sabbatical will have three major activities. The first is a 9 day whitewater rafting trip down the Futaleufu River in Chili, which is one of the top 6 rivers in the world to white water raft. I will also be horseback riding and kayaking as part of the trip. The second part of my trip will be in Florida as I try to complete my book The 40 Day Interfaith Journey which explores themes which are central to all major religions. Many of us have not read scriptures that are central to the great religions of the world, yet to our surprise, we have many shared values. The six themes that I will explore are: The Spiritual Path, Prayer, Loving Ourselves, Loving Oth-ers, Sowing and Reaping, and Peace. Each day I offer a daily a mediation, scriptures from faith sources and a prayer from a faith tradition that will explore the theme. The third part of the sabbatical Diane will join me as we fly into New York and see a Broadway show and then fly from NY to Oslo Norway. After hanging out in Oslo we will fly to the northern part of Norway to see the Northern Lights and go for a Reindeer ride. Who knows what else we might end up doing.

I included monies for the congregation to go on a Day Mystery trip on Saturday March 23rd, to join me in your experiencing a new and exciting adventure. As I am experiencing my own new adventures, I wanted you to have an experience that connected with a part of my background. Don’t worry no white-water rafting, you’ll hear more about this later.

Sunday December 23rd, I invited people to dress up with their fun Christmas outfits. I think the most out-standing outfits were worn by Enos and his daughter but we all had fun. Thanks to everyone who joined in a celebrative way.

Be Courageous, Pastor Jerry

Sunday School

Sunday, December 30 8:30 a.m. - Chapel Service

9:15 a.m. - Sunday School 10:30 a.m. - Blended Service

Following the service: Fellowship Time

Monday, December 31 6:30 p.m. - PAL Meeting

Tuesday, January 1 10 a.m. - St. Thomas Service

Wednesday, January 2 9:30 a.m. - The Moms Club

Sunday, December 23rd we continued our journey on "The Road to Bethlehem" with Rev. Frank Hibbard telling the Christmas story from the perspective of Na-than the Shepherd. I didn't know shepherds had such a sense of humor.

It was nice to have Adam and Nicole Aasen and their new baby Madeline, pictured right, in worship last Sun-day.

The sanctuary was set for our Christmas Eve service. Thank you to Michael Erickson and Liz Efroymson for the beautiful music they brought to us.

Hiding the Obvious - Starting Sunday, Jan. 6th Rev. Frank Hibbard will be teaching a class on the Book of Revelation from 9:15- 10:15 a.m. You do not have to have a pre-vious knowledge of scriptures to enjoy this class.

Volunteers Needed to Host Homeless: Once again this year Central Christian Church in Indianapolis will be hosting men from the Wheeler Mission’s men's shelter overflow during the coldest months of the year. Central is expecting about 70 men per night.

Central invites all Indianapolis Disciples congregations to share this in-formation with their members and invite them to sign up to volunteer as a host for one or more nights in Central's gym. Volunteers are need-ed December 31 through March 15. Two staff members from Wheeler will be present each night, but volunteers are needed in the following time slots:

An Opportunity to Serve

Elders: Myrna Dowden, Tom Scott

Deacons: Pat Scott, Kristin Miller,

Jayma Walters, Laurel Vowels

Scripture Reader: Myrna Dowden

Greeter: Karl Swain

Chapel Service: TBA

CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

Sunday School, Worship & Wonder:

Blanche Wright & Nancy Crume

Nursery: Maleesa Williams/

Amanda Wray

Serving this Sunday

December 30, 2018

Week of January 6 Isaiah 60:1-6

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12

Week of January 13 Isaiah 43:1-7

Psalm 49 Acts 8:14-17

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Reminder

COUNCIL MEETING

Sunday, January 6th,

immediately following worship.

Message from Pastor Blanche

Shift 1: 8:30pm - 11:30pm

Shift 2: 4:30am - 6:30am

Shift 3: 8:30pm - 6:30am (for those who prefer to stay all night)

Volunteers can sign up for one or more of those time slots at

https://booknow.appointment-plus.com/y734hkqy/.

(link at the end of newsletter)

Happy Birthday Jesus! Jesus did you get everything you wanted for your birthday! I hope we as your people touched someone heart and made them smile? I pray we fed someone who was hungry. I hope we visited someone who has no family. I pray we lifted up someone who was down and shared your love that you so freely gave us! Thank you Jesus for your birthday!

The Love 4 kids, Pastor Blanche

Merry Christmas church family! I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you all for your kindness, generosity and love! As well as al-lowing myself to care for your children. Again thank you.

May God continue to be a blessing to this community! Pastor Blanche Wright

Week of January 20 Isaiah 62:1-5

Psalm 36:5-10 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

John 2:1-11

Week of January 27 Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Luke 4:14-21

January Service Schedule

January 6 Elders: Andrea Boutselis, Jeff Price

Deacons:

TBA

Scripture Reader: Frank Hibbard

Greeter: Neal & Janet Randall

Nursery: Maleesa Williams/Amanda Wray

Sunday School, Worship & Wonder:

Blanche Wright & Nancy Crume

8:30 a.m. Chapel Service: TBA

January 13 Elders: Janet Randall, Joan Bubna

Deacons:

TBA

Scripture Reader: Kristin Miller

Greeter: Tom Scott

Nursery: Maleesa Williams/Amanda Wray

Sunday School, Worship & Wonder:

Blanche Wright & Nancy Crume

8:30 a.m. Chapel Service: TBA

2 Karen Fuller & Don Schutt 8 Terri & Mike Ainley

1 Ian Kimmel 10 Karen Fuller 15 Diane Zehr

29 Pam Berninger

January 20 Elders: Mark Carfagna, Judy Gest

Deacons:

TBA

Scripture Reader: Rick Phillips

Greeter: Ginger Pyatt

Nursery: Maleesa Williams/Amanda Wray

Sunday School, Worship & Wonder:

Blanche Wright & Nancy Crume

8:30 a.m. Chapel Service: TBA

January 27 Elders: Tom Scott, Myrna Dowden

Deacons:

TBA

Scripture Reader: Ginger Pyatt

Greeter: Frank & Alice Hibbard

Nursery: Maleesa Williams/Amanda Wray

Sunday School, Worship & Wonder:

Blanche Wright & Nancy Crume

8:30 a.m. Chapel Service: TBA

Wednesday, January 16 4 - 6:30 p.m. - IHC (RR)

Thursday, January 17 10 a.m. - Bible Study (RR) 4 - 6:30 p.m. - IHC (RR) 5:45 p.m. - Girl Scouts 4316

Sunday, January 20 8:30 a.m. - Meditative Chapel Service 9:15 a.m. - Sunday School 10:30 a.m.– Blended Worship Service Following service: Fellowship Time 2 - 6 p.m. - St. Thomas Mar Thoma Service

Monday, January 21 6:30 p.m. - PAL (FH)

Tuesday, January 22 6 - 8:30 p.m. - IHC (RR)

Wednesday, January 23 1 p.m. - Crafter’s Group (WR) 4 - 6:30 p.m. - IHC (RR) 6 - 8:30 p.m. - Girl Scouts 1380 (FH) 7:30 p.m. - Choir

Thursday, January 24 10 a.m. - Bible Study 4 - 6:30 p.m. - IHC (RR)

Saturday, January 26 8:30 a.m. - Elders Meeting @ The Egg and I

Sunday, January 27 8:30 a.m. - Meditative Chapel Service 9:15 a.m. - Sunday School 10:30 a.m.– Blended Worship Service Following service: Fellowship Time 2 - 6 p.m. - St. Thomas Mar Thoma Service

Monday, January 28 6:30 p.m. - PAL (FH) 7 p.m. - Girl Scouts 906 (RR)

Tuesday, January 29 6 - 8:30 p.m. - IHC (RR)

Wednesday, January 30 4 p.m. - IHC (RR)

Thursday, January 31 10 a.m. - Bible Study (RR) 4 p.m. - IHC (RR) 5:45 p.m. - Girl Scouts 4316

Tuesday, January 1 - New Year’s Day 10 a.m. - St. Thomas Mar Thoma Service

Wednesday, January 2 9:30 a.m. - Mom’s Club (FH)

Thursday, January 3 10 a.m. - Bible Study (RR)

Sunday, January 6 8:30 a.m. - Meditative Chapel Service 9:15 a.m. - Sunday School 10:30 a.m.– Blended Worship Service Following service: Council Meeting 2 - 6 p.m. - St. Thomas Mar Thoma Service

Monday, January 7 Noon - DWM Luncheon at Dooley O’Tooles 6:30 p.m. - PAL (FH)

Tuesday, January 8 6 - 8:30 p.m. - IHC (RR)

Wednesday, January 9 1 p.m. - Crafter’s Group (WR) 4 - 6:30 p.m. - IHC (RR) 6 - 8:30 p.m. - Girl Scouts 1380 (FH) 7 p.m. - Boy Scouts 131 (RR) 7:30 p.m. - Choir

Thursday, January 10 10 a.m. - Bible Study (RR) 4 - 6:30 p.m. - IHC (RR)

Sunday, January 13 8:30 a.m. - Meditative Chapel Service 9:15 a.m. - Sunday School 10:30 a.m.– Blended Worship Service Following service: Luncheon for Jerry’s Sending Off and Diane’s 70th Birthday 1 - 3 p.m. - LGBTQ group meeting (WR) 2 - 6 p.m. - St. Thomas Mar Thoma Service

Monday, January 14 2:30 p.m. - Girl Scouts 4304 (RR) 6:30 p.m. - PAL (FH) 7 - 8:30 p.m. - Girl Scouts 906 (RR)

Tuesday, January 15 6 - 8: 30 p.m. - IHC (RR) 7 p.m. - Crafters Group (WR)

FH=Fellowship Hall, WR=Worship Resource Room, RR=Renewal Room

A phone call, card or visit can mean so much!

Ginny Luzader Allisonville Meadows 10410 Allisonville Rd., #255 (317) 436-6444 Fishers, IN 46038

Elnora Osler 751 Hawthorne Dr.

(317) 844-4282 Carmel, IN 46033

Jim & Nancy Schulz Bridgewater Rehab 14751 Carey Rd. # 3018

(317) 573-2397 Carmel, IN 46033

Please remember these folks and their families in your prayers.

Prayer Concerns

Khloe Hilton (from our Christmas Family), surgery scheduled for January 9

Myrna Dowden

Romelle Schoff

The Family and Friends of Emir

Patty Shelton

George Beck

Cindy Wondra

Anna Sleeper, Nancy Timmon’s daughter, who is 19 and struggling

Diane Neely, as she continues her chemo treatment