THE CRIER Inside this Issue: Worship Services 2 Prayers 3 Birthdays/ Anniversaries 3 Ushers/Greeters 4 APRIL 2015 From Our Senior Pastor: Dear Colchester Federated Church Friends, This year April begins with Holy Week. What a dramatic emotional ride it is! We begin our Maundy Thursday service commemorating the 9-10 Youth News Last Supper, with the special communion celebration for our third grade class. We end in darkness, with the readings for Ministries 5-6, 8 Tenebrae (a Latin word for shadows) telling the story of Jesus’ Fundraising 10 trial and crucifixion. Dinners On Good Friday April 3rd, we will read all four Gospels, starting in our sanctuary at 10:00 a.m. You are welcome to enter and listen any time during the day. We usually finish at about 6:00 p.m. If you would like to help read, we have a some available times. Call me or Tom St. Louis. Hearing a continuous reading of the Gospel can help you receive its message in a new way. Special Events: On Holy Saturday, while we are waiting for the resurrection, our Church † Easter Sunday, 5th Life Ministry folks will pick up the flowers that we’ve ordered, and decorate our † Rev. Caronna’s farewell sanctuary for our festive Easter celebration. Thank you to 12th everyone who contributed flowers. This year we will especially appreciate them. On Easter Sunday we begin our celebration of Christ’s resurrection with our Sunrise Service at 6:30 a.m. at First Beach, Lake Hayward—remembering the Ministers: women went to the tomb at sunrise and were met by All of the Members of the the risen Christ. We will have festival services in our Church are called to serve in sanctuary at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Both services will daily life feature our Senior Choir, and Kevin Jesmonth on Staff: trumpet. The second service will also include our Rev. Dr. Linda U. Barnes, church bell choir and our Children’s Choir. Senior Pastor The Sunday after Easter, April 12th will be Rev. Cheryl's last Sunday as our Rev. Cheryl A. Caronna, Associate for Children and Youth. We are all deeply grateful for her faithful reAssociate Pastor for Youth Tom Evans, Treasurer sponse to Christ’s call to service, and for her pastoral ministry among us! This is Dave Hock, Custodian her home church—the place where she was baptized, confirmed, married, and Kimberly Lewis, Music ordained as a Christian minister. While her specific time of service as Associate Director Pastor will end, this CF church community and sanctuary will always hold a unique Susan Skoglund, Office place in her life, and in her heart. In worship on April 12th we will give thanks for Manager her ministry and what we have shared, and together invoke God’s abundant Email/Website: blessings on her life and her continuing journey in ministry. We will have a recepcolchesterfederate@ sbcglobal.net www.ColchesterFederatedChurch.org tion following the morning worship services. Gratitude 4, 7 Blessings and peace, VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 APRIL 2015 Page 2 April Worship Services Thursday, April 2— Maundy Thursday Revs. Barnes and Caronna preaching. † 7:00 p.m. worship and communion service Friday, April 3—Good Friday † 10:00 a.m.—6 p.m. Gospel Readings in the Sanctuary All four Gospels will be read, from the beginning of each through the Death of Jesus. In lieu of a set service, this will give congregants and members of the community an opportunity to come and worship on Good Friday whenever and for however long they are able. Sunday, April 5—Easter Sunday † 6:30 a.m. Easter Sunrise Service, First Beach, Lake Hayward † 8:30 a.m. worship service and communion † 10 a.m. worship service and communion Revs. Barnes and Caronna and our senior choir leading worship. Scriptures: Psalm 118:1-2, 1424; Mark 16:1-8; Theme: Resurrection Life! Communion Elements Steward: Donna Wink; Communion Servers: Jen Clarke, Deborah Howard, and Lynn Stefanowicz Sunday, April 12 † 8:30 a.m. worship service † 10 a.m. worship service † 11 a.m. Farewell reception for Rev. Cheryl and Jim Caronna On this day, Rev. Cheryl concludes her work as our Associate Pastor for Youth. We will be celebrating her ministry in worship and fellowship! Rev. Barnes preaching. Scriptures: Matthew 19:13-15, Psalm 118:1-6a, and Psalm 121; Theme: Celebration of Rev. Cheryl’s ministry as Associate Pastor for Youth. Sunday, April 19 Rev. Mobby Larson, guest preacher. Lectionary Scriptures: Psalm 4, Luke 24:36b-48; Theme: Christ Among Us. † 8:30 a.m. worship service † 10 a.m. worship service Sunday, April 26 Rev. Barnes preaching; Scriptures: Psalm 23, John 10:11-18; Theme: Enfolded by Love. † 8:30 a.m. worship service GOOD FRIDAY GOSPEL VIGIL We are looking for 2-3 individuals (adults as well as kids who are old enough to be proficient readers) per hour (or part of an hour) to handle the reading duties. If you are interested in helping, please contact Tom St. Louis at (860) 537-6314 or Rev. Barnes. Remember, even if you can’t help with the reading, please stop by if you can to hear the Word and join us in worship. The Crier Page 3 Contact a Church Life member if you would like to donate Sanctuary flowers. Please notify Susan Skoglund in the Church Office as to how you would like your memorial or thanksgiving flowers noticed in the bulletin. Those who are Ill or Recovering: Kaitlyn Accola Chester and Alberta Anderson (Rev. Cheryl’s parents) Evelyn Barr Barbara Bosse Austin Christiansen Jason Clarke (son of Jen and John) Bernie Erickson Joan Frantzen Maureen Granato Athena Grey (cousin of Deborah Howard) Joseph and Mary Hamel (parents of Shelly Hirsch) Mitch Koziol Wildred Marvin (Deborah Howard’s mother) Claire McCune (Mike McCune’s mother) Tiffany Nielson and her family Dottie Olson (mother of Barb Bosse) Martha Paty Clarence Schiebel (father of Evelyn Plecan) Hattie Turner Friends in Assisted Living and Convalescent Homes: Bob Fletcher and Bob Miller (Apple Rehab) Evans Griffin, Emily Grundy, Elizabeth Hageman, Betty Koes, and Cecilia Rogers (Harrington Court) Mike Keller 4/03 Carri Archambault 4/05 Jake Poulios 4/06 Evelyn Plecan 4/08 Chester Anderson 4/13 Wendy Moores 4/17 Allison Kyser 4/18 Jason Clarke 4/22 Valerie Furman 4/22 Cora Rago 4/22 Rosie Bosse 4/26 Sara McCarvill 4/26 Barbara McKelvey 4/26 Nancy Knapp 4/27 Allison Capasso 4/28 Patience Collins 4/28 Children’s Day will be held on Sunday, May 31, during the 10 a.m. worship service, with a Picnic following, to be held on the Church grounds. If you know someone in need of spiritual help, a hospital or pastoral visit, please tell Rev. Barnes or call the Church Office. Rev. Barnes will be on a Holy Land pilgrimage April 14 to 23. If you have pastoral need you can call Deacon Karen Monteleone at 860-537-5580 and she can help you or direct you to Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals or Rev. Mobby Larson. Rev. Sara (from Park Church, Norwich) will be on-call for pastoral emergencies April 14-19 and her cell phone number is 860-287-4196. Rev. Mobby Larson (from Gales Ferry) will be on-call for pastoral emergencies April 19-23. You are also welcome to call Rev. Sara or Rev. Mobby directly. Rev. Barnes will return on Thursday, April 23. VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 Page 4 APRIL 2015 February Total Income February Total Expenses February Net Checkbook Balance Current Liabilities Year-to-Date Net $10,957.55 $11,887.41 $(929.86) $9,617.90 $17,021.90 $(7,404.00) 2/28/2015 Pledging: Pledged: $9,019.17 Received: $5,745.00 Difference: ($3,274.17) % Received: 64% April 5 8:30 10:00 Volunteer TBD Joey and Steve Bradstreet April 12 8:30 10:00 Volunteer TBD Jim Caronna and Rich Hosford April 19 8:30 10:00 Volunteer TBD Tom St. Louis April 26 8:30 10:00 Volunteer TBD Frank Tomlinson April 5 The Stillwell Family April 12 Jim and Rev. Cheryl Caronna April 19 The Ministry of Christian Education Members April 26 The Ministry of Stewardship Members Thank you to everyone who helps Colchester Federated Church every day, including… ...all of our parishioners who made donations for the Food Bank and paper goods for our Church! Thank you!!!!! ….Donna Wink, for donating copy paper. ...everyone else who empties trash, closes windows, locks up, and generally helps to care for our building and our church family; we appreciate your efforts and couldn’t survive without you! The Crier Page 5 The Ministry of Stewardship is looking forward to spring as we are sure a lot of you are too. If you have a keen eye, you can see that we have a little bit of winter damage to the exterior of our building. We will be repairing this soon. We will soon be announcing a Spring Clean-up Day so we can get all of our beautiful gardens in order and do some much-needed clean-up of our grounds. We did not settle on a firm date yet but it should be in April or early May. Please try to assist with this much-needed work. We have scheduled a financial meeting for May 3rd. We will re-evaluate our current budget as discussed at the January financial meeting. In January we agreed to work with the proposed budget but to look for additional changes and re-evaluate it in a few months. The Ministry of Stewardship has been working with this budget and it is time for us to make a decision as to pass it or make some changes. Please come to this meeting and be involved with the life of our church. At our last Stewardship meeting, our present profit/loss deficit was approximately ($5,000.00). We would ask that each and every member contemplate the possibility of increasing their pledge if at all possible. If you have not pledged in the past, we ask you to seriously consider doing so. We realize that the weather the past couple months has been rather bad and we even cancelled services at times. We have seen rather low attendance at services when we have inclement weather. Please try to catch up on any missed weekly pledges as soon as possible. We are in a very serious situation and it will take assistance from everyone to keep our church functioning. We have new fundraisers being planned and new and exciting opportunities coming up this year. Please support these opportunities the best you can. Please consider getting involved with the fundraising committee. The one thing we are sure of is that like always, we will work together to keep CFC providing much-needed services to our congregation and our community. Jim Caronna, The Ministry of Stewardship Mother/Daughter Banquet coming soon!! May 2nd is the date for this year's Mother/Daughter Banquet. This is an event for all women of the church to gather and enjoy dinner, fellowship, entertainment and honoring a woman for her service to our church. This year we are hoping that the women (young and not so young), will step forward and entertain the rest of us. We plan to have a talent show for the entertainment portion of our program. We are looking for singers, dancers, poets, storytellers, comedians, sharing a family story, or whatever your talents may be. We are looking forward to your participation and presence. Please call Nancy Dooley @ 537-2979 to let us know if you would be willing to share your talents at our dinner. VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 APRIL 2015 Page 6 WARNING The members of the Colchester Federated Church are hereby warned to meet for the Annual Election Meeting to be held Sunday, May 3, 2015, immediately following the 10:00 a.m. worship service for the following purposes: 1. To hear and act on the annual reports of the Officers, Ministries and Missions of the Church for the year 2014-2015; 2. To elect officers for the year 2015-2016; 3. To hear and act on the budget for the year 2015-2016 as presented by the Ministry of Stewardship; and 4. any other business suitable and proper to come before said meeting. Dated this 23rd day of March, 2015, by Mark E. Bosse, Church Clerk The Ministry of Stewardship The Ministry of Stewardship shall consist of six members, a Chair and Vice-chair, including UCC, ABC, and whenever possible, Federated members. The Ministry of Stewardship shall be responsible for oversight of all the financial affairs of the Church. 1. It shall conduct special fundraising events, as it deems appropriate, and shall have oversight of all fundraising activities. 2. The Ministry of Stewardship shall have supervision of all properties owned or used by the Church. 3. The Ministry of Stewardship shall prepare annually, a Church Budget to be presented to the Diaconate and shall be responsible for dispensing Church monies in accordance with the budget approved by the congregation at the Annual Budget Meeting. It shall review all bills and authorize payments by the Treasurer in accordance with its own published procedures. Said procedures to be approved at an Annual or Special Church Meeting. 4. It shall receive bequests and administer them in accordance with the terms of the bequests and the procedures of the Church for endowment or permanent funds. 5. The Ministry of Stewardship shall maintain a list of all pertinent decisions made by the ministry throughout the year. Prior to the Annual Election Meeting, this list shall be given to the Church Clerk to be recorded in the Church records. So that’s what our bylaws say about the Ministry of Stewardship. Here’s the way it really works. The members of the Ministry of Stewardship are Jim Caronna, Marycia Malloy, Jim Ringuette, Paul Goodwin, Chris Wink and Deb Howard. We meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 7 pm at the church. Sometimes dealing with the finances of the church can seem daunting, but we all do the best we can; and our meetings are generally very informal and we have a lot of fun. Generally, the maintenance aspect of this ministry is more fellowship and fun than it is work. We welcome input from everyone and we can always use more folks to help. Please consider being part of our team. The Ministry of Stewardship members will be greeters on April 26 and will host Coffee Hour. Join them! The Crier Page 7 Thank you to the Mission Ministry members and the Colchester Federated Church family for your efforts in making our Empty Bowl luncheon a success. We raised $1,103 with additional donations still pending! All monies raised will be sent to my Indian Christian friend, Raju George, who reaches out to the “untouchable” slum children in New Delhi, India. His goal is to reach about 200 children, providing education as well as daily milk and biscuits for each child. Most importantly, Raju will be sharing his love of Jesus Christ with these deserving children. Again, I thank all of you who made soup, baked bread, sold tickets, set-up and cleaned-up, attend and/or made a donation. Please continue to support the beautiful people of India by lifting and holding them in prayer. With love and gratitude, Melinda Karchner Congratulations Brady! Page 8 The Crier Celebrating our Ministries: The Ministry of Christian Education The Ministry of Christian Education at Colchester Federated Church celebrates all people as children of God embarking on their own faith journeys. We strive to offer safe and comfortable Christian experiences for everyone at all stages of development to experience God by connecting real faith to real life through the messages of the Bible. We work to provide resources and support that help all members of our congregation to grow in their faith. Guiding us in our mission are our core values Embracing diversities of faith and life; Worshiping and learning together; Growing in our relationship with God; Growing in our relationship with each other; Making a connection between church and home; And relying upon our faith in dealing with the challenges of everyday life. The Ministry of Education consists of six members plus a Chair and Vice-chair, including UCC, ABC, and whenever possible, Federated members. It has general oversight of the entire field of Christian education and shall advise and coordinate the various groups under it. Responsibilities of the ministry include adult Christian education, Christian education for children and youth, confirmation classes, and youth ministry. The ministry also consults with other ministries on their educational programs. Ministry of Christian Ed members are: - Carolyn Marvin, chair Megan Stilwell, member Lynne McCune, member The Ministry of Christian Education will be hosting Coffee Hour on Sunday, April 19. Please visit! 17th Annual World Tai Chi & Qigong Day, Saturday, April 25th from 10:00-3:00 on Colchester Town Green. More than 20 tai Chi & Qigong teachers will present 30 FREE classes in these ancient Chinese martial and healing arts. You’ve heard about the benefits of these practices before and here’s an opportunity to find out what all the excitement is about. Bring your family, bring your friends and make a day of it. (If inclement weather, classes will be held at the Colchester Federated Church. For details, class and demonstration schedule go to: http:// www.connecticuttaichi.us/ VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 Page 9 APRIL 2015 Children & Youth Programming APRIL 2015 Adventures Club & Teen Time will be held together this month due to scheduling around school vacation and the Easter holiday. Families are invited to Pizza & Movie Sunday April 26th 11:30-1:30 Pizza, chips, dessert and a movie Communion Classes for 3rd Graders No Sunday School classes on April 5th. Families are invited to worship together to celebrate Easter Sunday. Happy Easter -Rev. Cheryl The children in this year’s class received their Holy Communion at the Maundy Thursday service. Avery Wrobel Maya Goodwin Natalia Vernali Neil Malloy Nathaniel Alexander Frank Gu Samuel Ringuette A celebration of their Holy Communion will be held on May 3rd following the 10 service. VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 Page 10 APRIL 2015 Bacon Academy has announced their Honor Roll for the Second Quarter of the school year. Honors with Distinction: Erica Cordatos and Kristen Delzell, Grade 12; Colin Hiscox and Delaney LePage, Grade 11; Addey LePage and Collin Maynard, Grade 9 High Honors: Madeleine O’Neil, Grade 9 Honors: Laura Marvin, Grade 11; Caroline Lovering and Cassidy Tellar, Grade 10; Rachel Marvin, Luke Sanford, and Anna Sullivan, Grade 9. W.J. Johnston Middle School’s 2nd Quarter Honor Roll: High Honors, Grade 8: Samantha Lovering and Ethan Moores Honors, Grade 8: David Ashley Honors, Grade 7: Hannah Benoit, Victoria Benoit, Emery Lewis, Jules Myers, and Jade Totten High Honors, Grade 6: Honors, Grade 6: Rachel Alexander, Luke Maynard, and Emily Tellar Ian Domeika, Griffin Sullivan, and David Wyatt Congratulations to these outstanding students! Office Volunteers Needed While Rev. Barnes is in the Holy Lands, April 14 – 23, church office coverage will be needed on Thursday—April 16 and 23. Coverage includes answering phones, greeting visitors, etc. Please contact Rev. Barnes if you are able to help out for a few hours on either day. Thank you! Throughout the year, Bible study is held in Rev. Barnes’ office Monday morning at 10:30 to read and reflect on the scriptures listed for the following Sunday. We encourage each of you to read the biblical passages each week as part of your daily devotional, and in preparation for our Sunday worship time.
© Copyright 2024