Shenkel United

Church of Christ

SHARINGS AND CONCERNS

March 2010

SHENKEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

1580 Shenkel Road

Pottstown PA 19465

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Shenkel United Church of Christ’s “The NEWSLETTER” is a monthly publication prepared, edited, and mailed by the leadership and staff to all members and friends of the church. It communicates news about our life, purpose, and mission as a Church of Jesus Christ. Information related to our partnership as a member of the United Church of Christ and wider church/community out-reach is included on a regular basis. The Church is located at Unionville & Shenkel Roads in North Coventry Township.

March 2010 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

Quilters 9:30 AM

3

Agape 7 PM

4

Community Lunch Bunch 11:30 AM Choir Practice 7 PM

5 6

7

Communion

8 9

Spiritual Council 7 PM Consistory 7:30 PM

10

Confirmation Class 7:00 -8:30 PM BOCE 7 PM

11

Choir Practice 7 PM

12 13

14

Healing Prayers

15 16

Quilters 9:30 AM

17

Prayer Shawl Ministry 9:30 AM

18

Healing Prayer Service 9:15 AM

Prayer Shawl Ministry 7-9 PM Choir Practice 7 PM

19 20

21

Peace Service 7 PM

22

Community Meal: Noon at Christ Episco-pal Church

23 24

Confirmation Class 7:00 -8:30 PM

25

Choir Practice 7 PM

26 27

28 29 30

Quilters 9:30 AM

31

1580 Shenkel Road, Pottstown PA 19465 610.326.3535

Email: shenkelucc@aol.com www.shenkelucc.org

PAGE 3

The Pastor’s Pen

Pastor Bonnie L. Moore

484.524.8280

blmoore@comcast.net

Monday—Sabbath Day

Office Hours:

Tues., Wed., Thurs

9:00 AM—1:00 PM

CONSISTORY

OFFICERS

President

Kimberly Yocom

Vice President

Barry Miller

Secretary

Sandy Rowe

Treasurer

Ken Bevan

Financial Secretary

Doug Allen

Assistant Financial

Secretary

Lori Scharneck

Elders

Glen Hoff

Carol Lykens

Barry Miller

Sandy Rowe

Wayne Klein

Deacons

Barbara Burhans

Richard Golden

Vera Hoff

Claire Faust

Kim Yocom

Secretary: Judy Embriani Newsletter Editor: Kim Metzger Assistant Editor: Betty Kreiger

“Let the little children come to me and do not stop them;

for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”

-Luke 18:16

Whenever children or youth participate in our regular Sunday services of worship, whether

ushering, singing, reading scripture or liturgy, sharing a “God Moment,” speaking up in

the Children’s Time, being baptized, drawing bulletin covers, serving as acolytes, or lead-

ing the entire service on Youth Sunday (that’s coming up on March 14th!), their parents,

grandparents, and Sunday School teachers often get nervous. What if they say or do

something “silly”? What if they drop the offering? What if they embarrass us in front of

the whole congregation?

We are blessed at Shenkel to have a congregation full of energetic children and youth who

don’t worry one bit about what “other” people think. They are delighted to participate in

worship and to share their gifts and their thoughts with us. They offer themselves joyfully,

generously, and unselfconsciously. They come up with new ways they can be involved;

they ad-lib and improvise in more “traditional” roles. We all have much to learn from

their wisdom and creativity. Our worship experience is so much richer because of their

contributions!

When Jesus chastised his first followers for keeping children from climbing onto his lap,

he surely wanted them to understand that God’s love doesn’t discriminate by age (or any-

thing else.) But when Jesus added, “for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God be-

longs,” I think he also wanted them to realize that even the youngest children have a lot to

teach adults about what it means to be a child of God.

Let’s not “worry” about the participation of children and youth in our worship, let’s cele-

brate and give thanks that they feel so welcomed and comfortable in our worshipping

community. And most importantly, let’s be open to what God may want us to learn from

them on Sunday mornings!

Be God’s,

Pastor Bonnie

PAGE 4 SHENKEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

MARCH

EARLY

LATE

3/7

Ray and Sandy

Rowe

Gary and Sue

Stultz

Ron and Carol

Pearson

Barry Miller

Richard Golden

Vera Hoff

Clair Faust

3/14

Lori Davidson

David and Diane

Reinert

Jody and Joel

Sweinhart

Lori and Morgan

Scharneck

3/21

NEED SPONSOR

NEED SPONSOR

TBA

TBA

3/28

Ron and Carol

Pearson

Ron and Carol

Pearson

TBA

TBA

In church each Sunday, you can sponsor altar flowers, bulletins, or “Flours.” “Flours” is a collection of pantry items or monetary donations to the pan-try. If a cash donation to the pantry is made, a wheat arrangement will be placed on the altar. Altar flowers are $30.00 and bulletin dedications are $6.50. Food Sculptures are also gladly accepted.

Look for the pretty new envelopes in the narthex for you to use to make your dedications. The yellow one is specifically to order altar flowers/”flours” or to announce the donation of a food sculpture. The green one is to be used only for bulletins. Hopefully, this will simplify the process.

But please, do not submit payment without an envelope. This makes it difficult for proper bookkeeping. When your envelope is completed, you should then sign your name on the chart in the narthex by the appropriate date and put your envelope either in the collection plate or drop in the secretary’s mailbox on the wall next to the office door. Thank you!

Healing Prayers

We have healing prayers during both services on the second Sunday of each month. It is our hope that you will use this opportunity to participate. During the collection of the offering, anyone who desires prayer for themselves or on be-half of another is invited to go to the back of the church, where a prayer team will join you for prayer. A prayer team will also be available in the front of the church at the conclu-sion of the service. Healing prayers are also offered the third Thursday of every month at 9:15 a.m. in the sanctuary. Anyone in need of prayers for themselves or on behalf of another is welcome !

PAGE 5

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW.….

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL Every Sunday at

9:30 a.m. in the social room

March 7 — “A Tree Full of Angels”

by Pastor Wanda Craner

March 14 — “Art Appreciation 101” Part 1

March 21 — “Art Appreciation 101” Part 2

March 28 — “Art Appreciation 101” Part 3

By Yvonne Strom

All are welcome!

World Day of Prayer, a worldwide ecumenical movement, will be celebrated on Friday, March 5th, at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, corner of Grace and Franklin Streets at 2 p.m. sponsored by Pottstown Church Women United. The theme is "Let everything that has breath praise God". The women of Cameroon, West Africa invite us to their coun-try through slides, worship and song. They remind us that, with every breath, we renew the gift of life, and for this we praise God! Everyone is welcome!

Accompanying Him with Singing

Lent 2010

During Sunday worship this Lent, we

will be using Psalms, the church's old-

est hymns, to accompany Jesus from

the time he shares his final Passover

meal with his disciples to his solo

prayer on the Mount of Olives. We

will have the opportunity to reflect in

greater depth on portions of the passion

narrative that we normally hear only on Palm Sunday,

Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday as we pair portions of

Luke 22 with the ancient words of the Psalms.

During the month of March, we will be accepting offer-ings for One Great Hour of Sharing. The OGHS supports interna-tional programs of

health, education and agricul-tural development, relief and refugee assistance. Please give as generously as you can.

Thank you.

2010 LENTEN OFFERING : HAITI

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, report-

edly killing more than 150,000 people. Haiti was already one of the

poorest and least developed countries in the world with a population of

over 9 million people.

Our Lenten offering this year will be added to the more than $650,000

already raised by the UCC Haiti Relief Fund. These funds go directly to

support basic supplies such as food and blankets as well as medicine,

tents and construction of temporary water systems. It is anticipated

that the UCC will be responding to this disaster for the next 5 to 8

years.

Instead of the Lenten boxes and envelopes that are normally distrib-

uted, this year there will be a large jug in the Narthex where ALL may

place their donations and see our progress!

The February Consistory meeting was cancelled due to one of the historic snow

storms in our area last month. Consistory will meet next on March 9th.

ADMINISTRATIVE NEWS…. Page 6

DO YOU HAVE

NEWS FOR THE

BULLETIN OR THE

NEWSLETTER?

Just a reminder

that all bulletin

announcements should be at the

church office by each Tuesday at noon

to be included in that week’s bulletin.

Newsletter articles must be submitted

by the 15th of each month to be in-

cluded in the next issue.

SAVE-A-TAPE

PROGRAM

Keep up the good work! Just ask for a Save-A

-Tape card at the customer service spot at your

local Redner’s store, show your card at the register when you

check out, then bring your register tapes to church and de-

posit them in the box in the Narthex. These tapes are col-

lected routinely, presented to the store, and Redner’s donates

a percentage of your total purchase to the church. Be careful

to bring your tapes in regularly instead of saving them at

home, as they do expire if not redeemed within a certain time

period. Also, please return the entire register tape. Redner’s

will not accept any register receipt that has any part of it re-

moved.

Thank you.

as of January 31,

YTD Current Fund O.C.W.M

Actual 12,508.74 1,139.00

Budget 12,398.59 916.67

Over/Under 110.15 222.33

If you have a computer, you can

save paper and trees…..Just ask

to have your church newsletter

e-mailed! Please call Judy at the

church office at 610-326-3535 or e-mail

her at shenkelucc@aol.com to request the

change.

AND DON’T FORGET….

The Pottstown Cluster Food Bank

collection at Shenkel is the 1st Sunday of each month. Please place

your items in the large plastic bins in the narthex.

AND...Please bring in your used cell phones and

empty ink cartridges and place them in the box across from the nurs-

ery, or in the box located on the coat rack shelf across from the of-

fice. These cartridges are re-cycled to Staples, and the church re-

ceives credits toward the purchase of office supplies. In December

and January, the credit from your donated cartridges paid for all the

office supplies we need for the next couple months.

Thank you!

The used cell phones are given to the police department

to be distributed to abused women.

Fund…. Do you know that Shenkel has a Help Fund that is specifically for

helping members and neighbors with emergency needs? In the past, funds

have been used to help with mortgage payments, medical bills, utilities, food

and clothing. If you, or someone you know needs financial assistance, please

don’t hesitate to contact Pastor Bonnie. All requests and disbursements are

held in strict confidence.

MORE INFORMATION….

The Pottstown Cluster Outreach Center is now open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM -12:00 pm for client services and to accept donations.

News from the Pottstown Cluster – March 2010

Pantry Needs: Butter, Tuna, Lo-Sodium Soup, Paper Towels, Toilet paper, Personal Care Items, Baby Wipes, Diapers - Size 6 & 7, Plain Oatmeal, Cereal in Individual Serving Boxes, Laundry Detergent and Dish Detergent.

Clothes Closet Wish List: Towels, Sheets - Full, Queen and King, Silverware, Women’s

Underwear Size 7-10, Hangers for Baby Clothes, Sizing Tags for Racks, Boy’s PJs - Large, Boys Winter Clothes Size 10-12 and Winter Clothes for Boys and Girls Size 2T. Book Shelf: Children’s Bibles

Page 7

Palm Plants will be needed for Palm

Sunday through

Easter to deco-

rate the sanctu-

ary. If you have a

plant you would

like to loan to the

church for this

special season,

please contact

Louise Hine at

610-385-3716.

Easter flowers will be available for pur-

chase from Shenkel UCC. Please

check the narthex for information and

a sign-up chart.

On Easter morning, between worship services, we

will enjoy an Easter “breakfast.” The Fellowship

Committee will provide the coffee, juice and hot

water for tea and we would appreciate any finger

foods and/or breakfast item that you would like to

donate. Please see Tootie or Louise Hine for more

information.

Delayed one day because of

snow, Shenkel made over 60

dozen Fastnachts! It was truly

a great team effort from the

dough makers, cutters, fryers

and packagers.

Thank you all!

BULLETIN BOARD…. PAGE 8

The Community Lunch

Bunch

Unfortunately, the bus trip to The

Dutch Apple Theater in Lancaster to

see the Broadway show Rent in

March has been cancelled due to

lack of interest.

Instead, a regular Lunch Bunch event will be held on

Thursday, March 4th at the usual time, 11:30 a.m. Bill

Baseley will present a program, “All about Teddy Bears.”

Please look for flyers and the sign-up sheet in the narthex

and tell all your friends in the community to join us for

this fun time. For any questions about this event, please

call Barb Sweinhart at 610-326-1644.

THE SHENKEL

QUILTERS…. The Shenkel Quilter's held a small

party on Feb. 2nd to celebrate our

finished quilt top. We invited

Takako Pike, a friend and profes-

sional quilter, to explain how she

would like to quilt the top. Takako

had wonderful ideas and left with

our quilt in tow. Now we just have

to wait before we add the final

step, the binding. In the mean

time, we will finalize the plans for

the raffle of our quilt. We also have several practice blocks

that we would like to incorporate into a small work of

art. Shenkel Quilters are excited to begin looking at new

patterns and ideas for our next project. If you would like to

join our group, this is a good time. Contact Margie Allen at

601-326-1519 for more information.

We will meet in March on the following Tuesdays; the 2nd,

16th and 30th, at 9:30 a.m. in the Church Social Hall.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

The Prayer Shawl Ministry meets

every third Wednesday morning at

9:30 AM and every third Thursday

evening of the month from 7-9

PM. The dates for this month are

March 17th and 18th. Our labors

of love are available to anyone of any age or

circumstance who requests a shawl. If you

know of someone who would benefit from

having a prayer shawl for any reason, or if

you are interested in joining us, please con-

tact June Hartung at 610-323-5617.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

The U.S. Census Bureau is currently

recruiting for Census Taker Positions

in Chester County to work on the

2010 Census. These positions offer

an hourly rate of $17.75.

In the Spring of 2010, the Census Bureau will mail

Census forms to every household in the Country.

Only about 60% of those will be completed and re-

turned. Census Takers go out into the community

and interview/record the responses of the remaining

30%. This will occur during April. The Census Takers

are assigned to their Township or surrounding com-

munities. Work hours are generally flexible, but

some work is required during evening and weekend

hours. The Census Bureau reimburses for mileage

and pays you for training.

To start the application process and schedule a test,

you should call 1-866-861-2010. Tests are given

throughout Chester County. Also, you can visit

www.2010censusjobs.gov for more information.

SAY “SHENKEL CHEESE!”

Don’t forget, we now have a digital camera available

to document events here at church. If your group

would like to use the camera, please call the church

office for information regarding its use.

Mark your Calendars… Saturday, April 2nd 1:00—3:00 PM

PAGE 9

STEWARD’S CORNER

Did you know there are “Needlers” here in Shenkel Church? Two groups of them!

You probably heard about the group of ladies that meets regularly to do their

“needling”, calling themselves The Quilters. They have been at work on their pro-

ject for over a year and are soon ready to display their marvelous quilt and put it

in a “lottery,” with proceeds going toward relief in Haiti.

The second group is known as the Prayer Shawl Ministry, and these seven ladies

create beautiful shawls to distribute to families at their babies’ baptisms and children and adults in

need, as well as to the sick and shut-ins of our congregation. They even made a prayer shawl for a dog!

It happened that one of these lovely shawls was given to a cancer patient — but her little dog claimed it

as his own. So accommodating and considerate that they are, the ladies made a prayer shawl in the

color of the dog’s fur and gave it to him. He loves it, and now his owner gets to keep her own shawl.

(Are they going to the dogs?)

Both groups are rendering an outstanding ministry through these projects, as they offer their time and

talent. I like to sit quietly in my obscure corner and look and listen. They sometimes have me in stitches

as they spin their yarn about what happened in their lives. It is sew interesting, except when they men-

tion “putting the thread in the eye,” I get nervous. But they can’t pull the wool over my eyes, I just hud-

dle deeper in my corner — it’s really immaterial to me! Then they refer to a “square” and I haven’t fig-

ured out where that is in this neighborhood. And where is that patch they talk about so often? Anyway, I

am happy when gather here and share this part of their lives together (and with me, even though I stay

quiet as a mouse.) Now I want to share with them this inspiring and meaningful article entitled LIFE.

Shenkel UCC celebrates the sacrament of Holy Communion at both ser-

vices on the first Sunday of each month. Each time communion is

served, some of the bread and non-alcoholic wine that has been conse-

crated at the altar will be saved in a traveling communion kit, ready to

go to the homes or hospital rooms of members who were unable to be present, and would like to receive the

sacrament. Please let Pastor Bonnie know if you, or someone you know, would appreciate “distance-

communing” with their Shenkel Church family!

AS ALWAYS AT SHENKEL…

LIFE

Life is like a patchwork quilt

And each little patch is a day

Some patches are rosy, happy and bright

And some are dark and grey.

But each little patch

As it’s fitted in and sewn to keep it together

Makes a finished block in this life of ours,

Filled with sun and rainy weather.

So let me work on life’s patchwork quilt

Through the rainy days and the sun,

Trusting that when I have finished my block,

The Master may say, “Well done.”

Your undercover agent,

03/01 HARRY ALDERFER

03/01 DIANE REINERT

03/01 Jeffrey Graef

03/01 JESSICA MOSER

03/02 Karl Metka

03/02 KATHLEEN SNYDER

03/03 JOAN GRANGER

03/04 Faye Pedrick

03/05 Sue NYE

03/05 RANDY GERBER

03/05 Stephen Wanner

03/06 Brenda Berriker

03/06 MAGEN PERELLI

03/08 JOAN CHRISTMAN

03/10 ADELE KLEIN

03/11 Clayton Brewer

03/12 Angela Haslett

03/12 Kyle Miller

03/13 SANDRA WELLER

03/13 Seth Flaxenburg

03/14 THOMAS KLEIN

03/15 Steven Craner

03/18 JOHN FAHNESTOCK

03/18 NICOLAS ALTENDERFER

03/19 Lynne Moyer

03/19 CHRISTIAN GERBER

03/20 Jacob Eames

03/20 Lilly Keim

03/22 Cara Bevan

03/22 Emily Sakal

03/23 RICHARD SNYDER

03/23 ERIC KLINE

03/23 MATT BILINSKI

03/23 Madelyn Murphy

03/24 ROBERTA ELLIS

03/24 Ethel Miller

03/24 Kim Metzger

03/25 Josh Rice

03/30 STAUFFER KUTZ

OUR CHURCH FAMILY AND

FRIENDS….

3/7 Robin and Mike Martin

Angela, Van and Katie Hudick

Freda Wanner

Jared Reid

Alyson Painter

3/14 Terry Raimondo

Cindi, Rick, Aimee and Julie Rohrbach

June Helfrich

Lori and Frank Brewer

Jean Munion

3/21 Maryln Rohrbach

Kyle Hudick

Lisa Roberts

Stacey, Bill, Lilly and Aurora Keim

Jeff Luckenbach

3/28 Diane and Dave Reinert

Nicholas Iezzi Sue and Michael Kulp

Brenda and Randy Berriker

Adele and Wayne Klein

Page 10

CHURCH HUMOR….

SAY A PRAYER

Little Johnny and his family were having Sun-

day dinner at his grandmother's house. Every-

one was seated around the table as the food

was being served. When Little Johnny received

his plate, he started eating right away.

“Johnny! Please wait until we say our prayer,”

said his mother. “I don't need to,” the boy re-

plied. “Of course, you do,'“ his mother in-

sisted, “We always say a prayer before eating

at our house.”

“That's at our house,'“ Johnny

explained. “but this is Grandma's

house and she knows how to

cook!”

SHENKEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

PASTORAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES

2009-10 EVALUATION PROCESS/CYCLE

The congregational and pastoral evaluation process for 2009-

2010 is getting underway and is described below. The PRC has es-

tablished a new information gathering process for the current year

and committee members hope each of you will fully participate to help open lines of communica-

tion toward consistent improvement of our total church ministry. Small group meetings organized

around the six considerations chosen for evaluation will be the primary information gathering proc-

ess. The time, topic, and location of each small group session are listed below:

DAY/DATE/TIME EVALUATION TOPIC LOCATION

Sun. April 11, 2010; 2-4:00 PM Pastoral Care Randy/Brenda Berriker

Sun. April 11, 2010; 7-9:00 PM Facilities/Grounds Ministry Tim/Christine Durham

Tues. April 20, 2010; 7-9:00 PM Wholeness Freda Wanner

Sat. April 24, 2010; 3-5:00 PM Christ. Ed./Spiritual Nurture Keith/Tammy Baker

Sun. April 25, 2010; 2-4:00 PM Stewardship Barry/Lisa Yocom

Wed. April 28, 2010; 7-9:00 PM Worship Barbara/Bob Brown

Beginning on Sunday, March 21, 2010 and carrying through Sunday, April 11, 2010, a sign-up

chart for each small group session will be posted in the narthex. You may sign-up for one or more

groups. Also, at the end of each session, groups will spend time choosing the two “secondary con-

siderations” for evaluation in 2010-11.

For persons unable to attend a small group(s) of their choice or who wish to have input on sev-

eral evaluation topics, an e-mail or hard copy evaluation questionnaire will be provided and will be

a part of the April Newsletter. Additionally, look to the April Newsletter for a full description of the

six areas of consideration we are currently evaluating so you may come to your small group ses-

sion more fully knowledgeable about the topic being discussed.

Page 11

WORSHIP SCHEDULE

March 28 8:30 AM and 10:45 AM

Come sing "Hosanna!" with the crowd and par-

ticipate as our Lenten journey culmi-nates in this joyful celebration of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Communion will not be served on Palm Sunday.

April 1

7:00 p.m. This experiential re-membrance of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples will conclude with his betrayal and arrest, leaving us with the uncertainty Jesus’ followers felt as they faced the un-knowable events of the days ahead. Holy Communion will be served at this service.

April 2

7:00 p.m. The drama continues as we recall, with traditional tene-brae service, Jesus’ painful march to Golgotha, his suf-fering and death on the cross, and the darkness that hung over the earth.

Easter Vigil –

Following the Good Friday Service, April 2, the vigil begins, and ends on Satur-day, with a closing service at 11:30 AM. This is a time of solitude and meditation. It is suggested that at least two people be present for one hour all through the night. Materials will be provided on which to meditate, or you may bring your own personal meditation to read. It is a time of quiet reflection. Anyone is welcome to attend the closing service at 11:30 AM on Saturday, April 3.

For two weeks prior to Easter, there will be a sign up chart in the Narthex for people wishing to participate in the Vigil. If you would like more information, contact Ann Baccari, Joan Palubinsky or the Church office.

April 4

Come sing "Alleluia!" as we celebrate Christ’s victory over the grave, and are assured, once more, that NOTHING can separate us from God’s love. 6:30 a.m. – Community Sunrise Service in the field across from Temple United Meth-odist Church at the intersection of Temple and Unionville Roads, Pottstown. Breakfast will be served following the service – all are welcome! Our 8:30 AM and 10:45 AM services of worship will include joyful, inspiring music, a celebratory message, and Holy Communion. Refreshments will be served in Fellowship Hall between services; no Sunday School will be held that morning.

Page 12