CONNECTED NEWSLETTER

St. Paul’s UCC, Swiftwater, PA 570-839-0730

www.stpaulsswiftwater.org

March, April & May 2013

May the glory of the first Easter Morn –

The promise of a new life – Fill your heart and soul with deep content

May God grant you health and happiness Any may the blessed assurance of

His constant love and guidance Be yours today and evermore

PASTOR’S WORDS FOR THOUGHT

Out of This World

The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, is perched over three

hundred miles above the earth's atmosphere. From this pristine vantage point

the photos it sends back to us are breathtaking in their scope, and stars

simply glow. Science has now revealed that it is the earth's atmosphere that

causes us to perceive the seeming twinkle of the stars.

So, how have you been doing in your pursuit of living peaceably since we

last met in this column? Have you been practicing viewing others without a

past, being non-judgmental with no condemnation? Now is a perfect day to

begin to see the uniqueness of the twinkle in everyone and everything;

seeing them as billions and billions of beautiful stars. Do not judge them,

merely recognize that it is only your earthbound perspective that makes

distortions, that is, it is the atmosphere of your ego's self-conscious mind

that believes it sees imperfection. That is the small picture-you want the

Grand view. By your own choice you may see the twinkle in others as

beautiful. Outwardly in form they may appear to be speaking and behaving

quite insanely, but the light behind the twinkle is the glow that is each of our

actual realities. It is Spirit behind the form.

As you become more habitual in your choosing to see only the good,

eventually you will discover you are rising above the little picture painted

with your ego's critical brush; your vision becoming clear, infinite and

eternal. Today sense your growing freedom to just Be yourself and follow

your heart; or as Joseph Campbell put it, "Follow your bliss". This ability

grows because you are allowing others to simply Be; you are accepting the

"isness" of life. Today whenever you have a free moment, quiet your mind

and picture yourself slowly ascending beyond this planet; see it covered with

a myriad of stars, and as you envision this, picture yourself gently covering

it with a soft glowing mantel of love and peace; realizing it is your very own

love and peace you offer, knit on the loom of your heart.

Respectfully submitted,

With Blessings of Love and Peace,

Kenn Cathcart

President’s Desk

As we enter March we can hopefully see spring coming just around the corner.

While this winter hasn’t been what we would consider a bad one I think it falls

under the “annoying” category. With the ice, freezing rain and sleet we have had

to deal with it seems like we were always dealing with a wintery mess.

Fortunately we only had to cancel services once this winter and our congregation

turnout has been great all year.

During our year end meeting I announced the establishment of a couple new

committee’s for the 2013 year. I’d like to take this time to review them.

First was the Pulpit Committee. This committee will focus strictly on our worship

service. It will be made of Deacons and Elders as well as the Pastor. It will advise

and coordinate anything involved with the worship service. It will work very

closely with the pastor and provide guidance for him and the congregation on our

worship service. It will also be responsible for orchestrating our special worship

service such as Christmas Eve and Easter. Kathy Leies, one of our Deacons, has

graciously offered to chair this committee. Other volunteers at this point include

Jill Teaford and Bob Lane. I would like to see a t least two more elders here to

complete this group so if you are an elder please consider serving on this

committee.

The other new group was a Renovation Committee. For those who were not able

to attend the year end meeting, we have decided to make some well needed

renovations to the church this year. The first project will be the modification of

one of our Rest Rooms to be handicap accessible. We will be expanding what

now is considered the Ladies room to a much larger footprint and adding larger

access door as well as hand rails. We may also be refreshing some of the fixtures

etc. The second project on the list is to modify the small area where the copier

and Choir robes currently reside, into a small church office. We hope that we can

make this an area that we can heat separately from the downstairs and

accommodate such things as committee meetings and Pastor counseling etc. Rich

Leies has offered to chair this committee and as the weather breaks will be making

plans to start the work here with the office being the first to be done. I know we

have a lot of handy people here so please see Rich to join this committee and

help make our church a better place!

Though small in numbers this church family continues to demonstrate the love for

each other and our church by donating their time and abilities to make us

stronger.

God Bless you all,

Ron Teaford

Ecumenical Lenten Service Schedule

"Hope Along the Roads to Life"

February 20 St. Bernadette Barbara Housley “Hope When Even Hope Seems Hopelessness”

February 27 Mountainhome UMC George Alt

“Hope When We Are Far From Home”

March 6 Canadensis UMC Ron Verkon “Hope When Temptations Challenge”

March 13 Canadensis Moravian Mert Shane

“Hope In the Face of Death”

March 20 Keokee Chapel Kenneth Cathcart

”Hope When Our Hearts Are Empty”

All services begin at 7:30pm and are followed by fellowship and refreshments.

Palm Sunday Brunch

Sunday, March 24th we will have our Palm Sunday worship, followed by Brunch and Fellowship. Please signup on the fellowship list

downstairs along with what food you can bring. Also, note how many members of your family will be coming so that we may plan

appropriately. Thank you!!

Easter Lilies Sunday, March 10th and 17th Joyce Schoch and her assistant Jill

Teaford will be taking orders for Easter Lilies. These flowers will be displayed on the altar for the Easter Service. You will find envelopes

in the back of the church and downstairs with which to place your orders.

Easter Sunday

Sunday, March 31st, we will have our Easter Communion Service where we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After the

service, we will have our annual youth Easter Egg Hunt. Everyone is welcome!

God loves variety and created each of us with difference shapes, interest,

and personalities; yet, just as all humans have foundational features, such as a common blood system, we all reflect the same Creator.

To say it another way, we are like stained glass and our difference personalities reflect God’s light in a variety of colors and patterns. Each

of us is a unique, one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated expression of Christ. There is a sacramental nature to our particular personalities and, within the family, the God-given freedom to be who we were created

to be.

Our uniqueness comes with a God-given responsibility to look out for one another in love, to know and to be known, to love and to be loved, and to

encourage each other to reach the fullest expression of Chris-in-me that we can be.

Our objective-in-Jesus is to help each other become the best picture of Jesus we can be.

Growing with Purpose, by Jon Walker

SPRING TALENT SHOW

Have you got talent?? St. Paul’s is going to present their second annual talent

show! Last year’s talent show was a great success. We would love to have your

support and / or participation for 2013! We are planning our show for Sunday,

April the 14th, at 4pm. After the show, we will follow with a Pot Luck Dinner.

This will be a great opportunity for you to invite your friends, neighbors,

extended family to enjoy a good show, a delicious dinner, and warm fellowship.

Jill Teaford will be organizing this event. Please see her, and register your act.

STAINED GLASS SAINTS It is God himself who had made us what we are and given us new lives from

Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:10

Bible Study/Discussion Group

Although our weekly gatherings are temporarily on hold so that we can attend

the Lenten services on Wednesday evenings, we plan to resume them after Easter.

We have been meeting in the homes of those participating and although the

location of the next meeting has not been determined it will be announced on

Easter Sunday during worship. Our topics are varied – a little bit of this . . . a little

bit of that . . . sometimes biblical, sometimes not. Please join us for some

interesting discussions and of course good food & fellowship.

Missions Report

Our 2013 mission drives are underway. We have just completed our February

mission collection, Blanket +; March is One Great Hour of Sharing; April will be

Strengthen the Church and May will be Phoebe Home. Mission drives will resume

in the fall. As always, we continue our weekly noisy offering collection which

helps support two local food pantries and other needs in the surrounding

communities as determined by consistory and several ladies from St. Paul’s remain

involved in the Family Promise mission four times each year. We are small but

missions, both local and worldwide, continue to be an important part of our

giving.

DID NOAH FISH? A Sunday school teacher asked, "Johnny, do you think

Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?" "No," replied Johnny.

“How could he, with just two worms!”

MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH After church service on mother’s day, May 12th, the men of the church family will be

cooking the ladies of the church family, a

yummy brunch! Don’t miss this treat!

The annual Red Cross Marathon will take place on Sunday, May 19th. The “RUN

for the RED” is now an official qualifier to the Boston Marathon. The race has a

cap of 1600 runners! It will start at Pocono Mountain West High School, in

Tobyhanna at 8am and process through 26.2 miles to its end at Stroudsburg High

School.

Its route will take the runners down 611, onto 315 / Upper Swiftwater Church,

right past our church, and a left down Carlton Road. As the road will be closed

to all traffic, we will not be able to reach our church for morning services, unless

of course, you are running the race.

SO, to accommodate this event, on May 19th, we will have an evening service.

Church will start at 5pm, and be followed by a Pot Luck Dinner. The sign up

sheet will be downstairs. It will be a nice change, and an opportunity to share

meal and fellowship with our church family.

As the annual event raises much needed funds for Red Cross disaster relief; we

wish the run to be a great success. Visit www.poconomarathon.org if you care to

donate.

MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE

DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL GIFT IN HONOR OF PASTOR BOB TUTRONE

St. Paul’s has received many donations in honor of Pastor Bob Tutrone. At our

last consistory meeting, we have decided to use these funds to purchase a gift for

the church, and dedicate it to Pastor Bob at the Memorial Day Service. We will

be inviting his friends and colleagues to attend the dedication. In keeping with

Pastor Bob’s passion for the veterans and first responders in our community, we

are considering a gift that would be in keeping of this nature. We have had a

suggestion for an AED (Automatic Electronic Defibrillator) device, a machine to be

used to restart the heart in the event of a heart attack, however this would require

us to raise a few hundred dollars more.

We are still at the point of taking suggestions. If you have a thought of something

that would suit a memorial gift for Pastor Bob, please contact Ron Teaford and let

him know. Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome, as always.

“RUN for the RED” on May 19th, means a

change for St. Paul’s Church Service!

Submitted by Jill Teaford

St. Paul’s Recipe Corner

If you have been very lucky, you have had the opportunity to taste one of Kathy Watto’s “YUMMY BARS”. For years it was a secret recipe

that only a few held, but finally Kathy was able to get a hold of the recipe, and has graciously shared it with us. Thanks Kathy!

YUMMY BARS

Prepare a 13” x 9” pan

Take 1 box of family size brownie mix Prepare as directed on box, and spread in pan

Next

Combine in another bowl

1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1 cup chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk Then spread mixture over brownie batter

Bake for 30-35 minutes in a 350 degree oven

After brownies are cool, spread with frosting

Either a can of prepared frosting, or with the recipe for frosting below:

Frosting 3 cups 10x sugar

6 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons milk or cream

1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

After they are frosted

Next Melt together

1 tablespoon of butter 1 square of unsweetened chocolate

And spread over frosting

Then refrigerate (Now we know why they are so yummy!)

I am grateful for many things, including winter , but I can’t tell you how

thankful I am that it’s almost over. I heard thru the AUH (Animal Underground

Hotline) that back on February 2nd

, Phil said there would be only 6 more weeks

of winter. I’m keeping my toes crossed (no fingers) that he is correct. I am so-o-o

ready for spring. My food cache is dwindling, I’m tired of leftovers and I’m

looking forward to some fresh groceries.

Daylight savings is March 10th (I just checked the calendar to be sure I don’t

give out the wrong information again) so that means you have to set your clocks

one hour ahead before going to bed on Saturday, March 9th. You wouldn’t want

to miss the fellowship, the music and of course Pastor Kenn’s sermon. I’m lucky –

I have an atomic clock that automatically re-sets itself.

I’ve heard talk of some renovations in the downstairs rooms. I’m not crazy

about change, especially when I don’t know what’s coming, but I know that we

have to make our church one that is comfortable for everyone - some of my

friends and family have special needs too. Hopefully it won’t start until I’ve

moved back out to the cemetery. All that noise and dust is unsettling and I have

to worry about my kids playing too close to the construction area.

Although there are many folks who do lots of things to keep our little

church moving along, we are especially appreciative that Richard L has taken on

the job of snow-plowing and shoveling the walks. There have been no ‘really big

ones’ (at least not yet) but there have been quite a few of what they are calling

‘nuisance snows’ and our parking lot, the walks and the driveways in the cemetery

are ‘ship-shape’. Thank you Richard!

Don’t forget to check the church calendar and the newsletter articles –

there are some very good things planned for the coming months. It’s hard to

believe that it has been two months since Christmas. We are already into the

Lenten season and soon we will be celebrating Palm Sunday and Easter. I’m

looking forward to the Palm Sunday brunch and the Easter Egg hunt in the

cemetery on Easter morning (I hope no one hides an egg in my newly built nest).

It’s nice to look forward to these activities and our time together in worship and

fellowship but the most important thing about the Easter season is its message for

us as Christians. Easter Blessings to you all.

Flu Update: What is the difference between Bird flu and Swine flu?

For Bird flu you need tweetment

and for Swine flu you need oinkment!

Molly’s Page

A report from the Church Mouse

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

March 6 7:30 pm Lenten Svc at Canadensis UMC March 10 Daylight Savings – Turn your clocks ahead – Before

church! March 12 7pm Consistory Meeting at Church

March Pulpit Committee Meeting – day to be announced March 13 7:30 pm Lenten Svc at Canadensis Moravian Church

March 17 Order your Easter Lilies March 20 7:30 pm Lenten Svc at Keokee Chapel

Speaker: Kenn Cathcart

March 24 Palm Sunday Svc followed by Brunch March 31 Easter Communion Svc followed by Easter Egg Hunt

April 3 7pm Bible Study (future schedule determined at meeting)

April 9 7pm Consistory Meeting at Church April 14 4pm St. Paul’s Talent Show followed by Pot Luck

Supper May 12 Mothers Day Svc followed by Brunch service by the

Men May 14 7pm Consistory Meeting at Church

May 19 Evening Service 5pm followed by Pot Luck Supper May 26 Memorial Day Service and dedication of memorial

gift for Pastor Bob Tutrone

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Smith climbs to the top of the mountain… to get close enough to talk to God.

Looking up, he asks the Lord.

"God, what does a million years mean to you?"

The Lord replies, "A minute."

Smith asks, "And what does a million dollars mean to you?"

The Lord replies, "A penny."

Smith asks, "Can I have a penny?"

The Lord replies, "In a minute."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECTED NEWSLETTER

St. Paul’s United Church of Christ

PO Box 161

Swiftwater, PA 18370

My mouth shall be filled with Your praise

And with Your honor all day.

(Psalm 71:8)