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Parish News
To Glorify God
To Grow in Faith
To Give In Service
Together in Christ
A Letter from Pastor
May
2015
"It's Time!"
Dear Members and Friends in Christ,
Inside this issue:
One of my favorite Scripture passages to be read at a funeral is this one. It reminds us of the fullness and circle of
life. Part of the passage is:
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every
matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to
die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is
planted; 3a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to
break down, and a time to build up; 4a time to weep,
and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
dance"
-Ecclesiastes3:1-4
I have thought about that passage as I have witnessed part
of what Grace has gone through over the past four years. It
has been an amazing time as I have served as your pastor
for the last year and a half; I can only imagine the full journey many of you have lived. You have had a number of
persons serve as your shepherd-leader, as called pastors,
interim pastors, and bridge pastors. Each of us have
brought our own gifts of ministry in our time of service.
Each of us also have areas of weakness and growth.
You have also been a part of a devastating fire and years of
building transition. There was the insurance settlement,
demolition work, the dreaming and planning for a new building, blueprints and sketches put on paper and altered again
and again, a feasibility study, government and financing approvals, and a successful capital campaign. There has
been hard work by many people, especially your building
team who has logged in over 100 meetings. Over $300,000
has been pledged to be given to our "Growing in God's
Grace" capital campaign with over one- third of that goal al-
Pastor’s Letter 1,2
Fellowship
Gatherings
2
Carnation
Form
3
Prayers;
4
Finance Team
Update
Shepherd
Schedule;
Mother’s Day
Carnations;
Thanks
5
InReach;
Summer
Schedule
6
Golf Outing;
7
Rice Bowl ;
Pastoral Acts;
Council Highlights
Calendar
8
Aging Parents?; Music
Ministry
9
Music Ministry 10
Serving
Schedule
11
Page 2
Pastor’s Letter continued; Fellowship Gatherings
ready received, and other members who did not pledge are also contributing.
As the Ecclesiastes scripture reminds us, in relationships and a building there
has been death. There has been tearing down. There has been weeping and
mourning. Thank God, we have been able to laugh too! A building of faithful
memories is missed. Members have come and gone, and they are missed. But I
believe now is the time to build up and we have started! A congregational
meeting will be held on May 3 after a combined service at 9:15 am with a proposal from the building team and congregation council to build. Letters have
been sent to inactive members in the last month asking how Grace could help
them and gently inviting them to participation in our life together. New folks are
coming to this church and we are gathering a second group of new members now
since my arrival. There is a quiet Spirit-filled building-up going on and it's hard
work, but driven by our love of God and one another, a building of a church home
and a Christ-claimed people.
I invite you to be a part of this special time at Grace. Come to worship. Participate in the congregational meeting on May 3. Think about how you might be a
part of the ministry of this congregation. We will be stronger with you than without you. Pray for this congregation at this time!
Together in Ministry,
+ Pastor Dave Lutcher
Summer Wednesday Evening Fellowship Gatherings
Our Summer Gatherings on Wednesdays at Grace begin in June. Consider
hosting one of our five Wednesday gatherings. We begin our time together with
dinner and fellowship. Dinner is at 6:30 pm. As hosts you provide the main
course and invite others to bring side dishes. This is a great time to catch up
with Grace Friends during the summer when our schedules are busy with traveling and family activities. If you would like to be a host for one of our Wednesday
Evening Picnics, please contact Kay Stone at 215-368-3725 or email [email protected].
Mother’s Day Carnation Order Form
Page 3
Mother’s Day Carnations
Single Stem Carnations
$2.50 each
Orders due Sunday, May 3rd
Please place orders in the offering plate or the basket in the narthex
YOUR NAME ________________________
White Carnations
(in memory of): Number ordered_____ x $2.50 = ______
Pink Carnations
(in honor of):
Number ordered_____
x $2.50 = ______
TOTAL= $______
__cash __check
Checks should be made out to Grace Lutheran Church – memo carnations
Flowers may be taken home after either service on May 10th
PLEASE FILL IN:
In memory of: ________________________________________
___________________________________________________
FROM: _____________________________________________
In honor of: __________________________________
___________________________________________________
FROM: _____________________________________________
Proceeds benefit the women and children of Nehemiah’s Way
Page 4
Prayers; Finance Report
Please keep the following people in your prayers:
John Fischer
Sherry Peck
Giana Campbell
Sandy Kohr
Bob Lutcher
Alyssa Oxenford
Melissa Kane
Lewis Fluck
Harold Hummel
Dave Krum
Carol Capanear
Alexis Picon
Lynda Deutsch
Peg Weaver
Rev. Greg Dimick
Michael Day
Don Roeder
James Matthews
Bryan Walter
Beryl Souders
Cameron Thompson
Makayla Bancroft
The Family of Dolores Lockner
The Family of Ray Schiavone
The Family of Noon-Joo Kim
Finance Team Update
As of March 31, we have a deficit of $10,226. However, there needs to be an adjustment to
the revenue of $3.1K. This revenue consists of the Stepping Stones Fair Share from the Fire
Recovery accounts and utilization of the Thrivent Funds. Once these transactions are made
our deficit will be reduced to $4,976. Last year at this time we were running a deficit of
$1,765. Our overall General envelopes are down by $1.4K over last year’s levels and our expenses are up. Our property expenses are over budget by $7.4K mainly due to building repairs, snow plowing and a one-time lease charge for the Post Office.
Year to Date Analysis as of 31-Mar-2015
Income
General Envelopes
Mortgage
Other Giving
Rental Income
Other Income
Special Receipts
Expenses
Mission
Staff
Property
Administration
Programs
Mortgage
Suspense Account
2015 Actual
$
46,008
$
$
1,557
$
5,100
$
464
$
930
Total $
54,060
$
$
$
$
$
$
2015 Budget
$
45,618
$
$
1,500
$
5,246
$
251
$
6,375
$
58,990
5,363
31,654
16,169
3,714
3,395
3,990
Total $
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
64,286 $
Surplus/(Deficit) $
(10,226) $
5,925
33,781
9,784
3,321
2,711
3,990
59,512
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
2014 Actual
43,737
3,787
1,390
3,400
11
4,815
57,140
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
5,363
29,784
11,549
2,938
6,782
2,490
58,905
(522) $
(1,765)
If you any questions about our current finances please contact me or any member of the Finance team.
John Stangl
Finance Team Lead
610-584-6090
SCS Shepherds; Mother’s Day; Thank-you
Page 5
Thanks for all of those that have volunteered to Shepherd during Sunday
School for this season. The last day until September will be May 17. he Sunday School Shepherds for May are:
5/3
5/10
Pre-K
No SCS
Bonnie Stangl
K&1
No SCS
Kay Stone
2&3
No SCS
Anna Walter
5/17
Ginny Williams
Tom Lewis
Jamie Snyder
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10th
A Grace tradition is to remember our Mothers on Mother’s Day by
purchasing carnations. Pink Carnations honor our mothers and White Carnations remember our mothers who are no longer with us. The funds from the sale
of the carnations are used to support Nehemiah’s Way, a local women’s shelter
for those who are victims of domestic violence. Nehemiah’s Way has joined
Laurel House, a Montgomery County organization that works to end domestic violence and provide shelter and education for those victims of domestic violence.
Our gifts to Nehemiah’s Way will help to provide shelter for women and their
families in our area. The Giving In Service Team would like you to consider honoring or remembering your mothers by helping others in need. See the display
in the narthex for forms to fill out. Orders are due by Sunday, May 3rd.
An order form is included in this newsletter. Place your order in an envelope marked Mother’s Day Carnations. Place in the offering plate or the
basket in the narthex.
Dear Friends of Grace,
We would like to thank you for the many cards and words of encouragement after the sudden passing of Chris's mom. Your thoughts and prayers meant a lot to us and were of great
comfort. Thank you again.
Love, Gail and Chris
Page 6
InReach Update; Summer Worship
Tomato Project Update
The tomato plants are rapidly growing and will be ready for distribution at Hatfield’s Roll and Stroll event on May 18th. The plants will be blessed at the May
17th, 8 am service and then distributed to the Sunday School children at 9:15
am. Patio tomato plants will be given to members that would like fresh tomatoes
but do not have a garden to tend.
Tomato recipes are still needed by May 3rd, so Kay Stone can put the finishing
touches on our tomato recipe cookbook that will be given out with the tomatoes.
Volunteers will be needed for working at Grace during the Hatfield Roll and Stroll
on May 18th between 5 pm and 8 pm. We are looking for members that can give
an hour to welcome the community to Grace. Sign-Up sheets are available in
the narthex or you can tell any member of the Inreach Team. If you can not
make it, we also are looking for snack donations. We had a delicious sampling
of goodies last year and we would like to have the same again this year.
Clean and Green
In celebration of Earth Day, the Inreach Team has developed a Clean and Green
Bag in order to provide some of our members with healthy and environmentally
friendly cleaning supplies. The bags contain baking soda, white vinegar, clean
and green cloths, Epsom salts, essential oils, hydrogen peroxide, a squirt bottle
and recommendations on how to use them. This will enable our members to
have a healthier and safer home environment.
Summer Worship Schedule begins on Sunday, May 24th
One worship service at 9:15 am
Bible Story and Craft Time for Children
During our 9:15 am Summer Worship Services the children are invited to participate in
the Bible Story and Craft Time. Kay Stone is
organizing our volunteers to lead the Bible
Story and Craft Time. If you would like to
volunteer please contact Kay (215-368-3725
or [email protected]). Helpful hints will
be provided to assist you in planning this fun
event for our children.
Our first Bible Story and Craft will be Sunday, June 7th.
Golf Outing; Rice Bowl; Council Highlights; Pastoral Acts
Page 7
Heidelberg UCC, Emmanuel EEC, and Grace Lutheran Annual Golf Outing:
Calling all golfers! The annual golf outing fundraiser that supports Vacation Bible School will be held on Saturday May 9, 2015 at Mainland Golf Course.
Create your own foursome or sign up and we'll put you with a team. The cost is
$80.00 per golfer and includes dinner at Heidelberg following the outing. If you
don't golf you can still support Bible School by sponsoring a hole for $25.00.
Please sign up on the sheet in the Narthex. All checks should be made to Heidelberg UCC. For more information contact Jeff Krout at 267-253-9939. Thanks!
Rice Bowl 2015 UPDATE
The Giving in Service Team would like to thank the congregation for supporting
our Rice Bowl project during the Lenten Season. Your gifts as of April 19th totaled $3112 and will be shared with The Food Cupboard at Emmanuel Evangelical Congregational Church in Hatfield, Manna on Main Street in Lansdale and
the World Hunger Appeal through the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
Many lives of people in our area as well as around the world who are in need of
food and shelter will benefit from your generous gifts.
Church Council April Highlights

Joanne and Barry Moyer will attend Synod Assembly in May

Stair-climber was gifted to Silverdale Brethren Church and Grace received a
thank-you note and donation. Donation will be deposited into the building fund.

Letters have been sent to inactive families.
Council approved movement of the organ a few feet in the sanctuary if there are no
technical issues or cost


Cemetery board gave the Calvary Church Minister a discount on the lot purchased
Recent Pastoral Acts:


Pastoral Acts: Funerals- Richard Sipes (non-member) died on March 21 and a service was held at the Huff-Lakjer Funeral Home on March 27.
Raymond Schiavone (non-member) died April 2 and a service was held at Williams
Bergey Koffel Funeral home on April 6. I
Page 8
May Calendar
May is a transition month when Grace moves from 2 services (8 am and 10:30am) to one
service at 9:15 am. See the details for each week below. Calvary Korean Church uses the
building from 1 pm until 4 pm each Sunday and on Friday evenings at 8 pm.
Sun May 3, 2015
Tue May 5, 2015
Wed May 6, 2015
Fri May 8, 2015
Sat May 9, 2015
Sun May 10, 2015
Mon May 11, 2015
Tue May 12, 2015
Wed May 13, 2015
Thu May 14, 2015
Sun May 17, 2015
Mon May 18, 2015
Tue May 19, 2015
Thu May 21, 2015
Sun May 24, 2015
Mon May 25, 2015
Tue May 26, 2015
Wed May 27, 2015
Thu May 28, 2015
Sun May 31, 2015
Fifth Sunday of Easter
9:15am
Worship
10:15am
Congregational Meeting
7pm
Stitcher's
10am
WELCA
Synod Assembly
Synod Assembly
Sixth Sunday of Easter
8am
Worship / Communion
9:15am
Sunday Church School
10:30am Worship
7pm
Communications Team
7pm
Stepping Stones Team
6pm
Confirmation Class
7:15pm
Worship and Music Team
11am
Bible Study
7:30pm
Bible Study
7pm
Bldg. Team
7pm
Mutual Ministry
Seventh Sunday of Easter - Newsletter info. due
8am
Worship / Communion
9:15am
Communion Class
10:30am Worship
5pm
Roll and Stroll
6pm
Confirmation
7pm
Church Council Meeting
7pm
Choir Practice
Pentecost
9:15am
First Communion
9:15am
Worship
Memorial Day
10am
Newsletter Mailing
11am
Bible Study
7:30pm
Bible Study
7pm
Bldg. Team
The Holy Trinity
9:15am
Worship
Aging Parents?; Music Ministry
Page 9
Talk to your aging parents before it’s too late
Talking to your parents about caregiving, end-of-life decisions and their wishes is important, but many people put it off because they don’t know how to begin the conversation. Reduce the stress by starting the discussion with something nonthreatening, like
the location of important information and documents, rather than talking about their
contents.
Start by taking a financial inventory, which should be updated annually, that includes:
Legal documents: property deeds, wills, trusts, living wills, health care and financial
directives, and birth, marriage and military discharge certificates.
Contact information: attorneys, accountants, financial planners, physicians and anyone else who provides financial, legal or medical advice and care.
Current account information: type, number and institution for all financial accounts,
including checking, savings, retirement, investment, plus loans and insurance contracts.
Get financial guidance to help you prepare for the future. Contact David Kratz at 215362-3801- today, or visit Thrivent.com. There, you’ll find helpful information and resources, including a checklist to help start “the talk” with your aging parents.
For more than 100 years, Thrivent Financial has been helping members be wise
with money and live generously.
Words from our Music Minister
Job 42:5 “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye
sees you.”
In a poem entitled “Church-Music”, the English poet and priest
George Herbert writes “But if I travel in your company, You know the way to
heavens door.” We who also travel in the company of church music know that
Herbert was right on !
The worship of our remote ancestors gave birth to all the arts, Music,
dance, and the visual arts were first of all sacred exercises, the human response to the numinous. And today, music continues to be an integral part of
our worship, for it opens us---heart, mind, body, and spirit---to God. My organ
Page 10
Words from our Music Minister (continued)
teacher, Ed, has long studied the relationship of music with liturgy and had told
me that he thinks that it becomes “heaven’s door” in a variety of ways.
Music sets words apart, rather like a “consecration of the sonic
world.” It strengthens the emotional content of the liturgy. It echoes the order of
the cosmos and unifies our worship. And finally, in Ed’s words, it gives us
knowledge of God “in whose creative play the singing worshipper can claim a
share.”
I love the idea of God’s creative play. It makes me think that, even though
the derivation of the word “liturgy” suggests that it is “the work of the people”.
Perhaps considering it “the play of the people” would be more accurate. The
child psychologist Jean Piaget called child’s play “the herald of the arts.” When
we were young children, our play was like a door through which we investigated
the amazing world into which we had been born. Now that we are adults, the arts
are the door through which we glimpse most vividly the world within us and beyond us. And both of those worlds are unseen; they are mystery. We can’t see
that part of us we call our heart or soul, but that part of us is definitely there, controlling the way we feel, the way we think, and the way we act.
And we can’t see god. We don’t have video of Jesus’ life or recordings of
the Sermon on the Mount. No spaceship can reach the Creator’s dwelling; no
scientific instrument can measure the power of the Spirit. We need another way
to know god, another “door”.
I remember a wonderful conversation I once had with a beautiful young
woman, a cellist raised in a nonreligious household, who told me “ I can’t understand how anyone who loves music could not feel the presence of something beyond us” ( I once played my flute as 2nd violin in a string quartet)
I think that the door that is opened by music is the door to our inmost
selves, and that God is always waiting there for the door to open. When we sing,
we not only begin to open this door within ourselves, but also enable those who
hear us to open it within themselves. What greater blessing, what greater privilege, could God give us in our ministry as choir singers ?
Being a member of our choir has the benefit of learning additional religious melodies that can run through the mind; implementing
ones repertoire of hymns. Please consider joining our choir;
open the ‘door’ for others, and learn these beautiful anthems!
Ken Delmar
Minister of Music
May Serving Schedule
Page 11
May
3
10
9:15 Service
17
24
31
9:15 Service 9:15 Service
Communion
Assist early
N/A
David
Kunkel
Joanne
Moyer
N/A
N/A
Communion
Assist. late
Dan Sarm
N/A
N/A
Joyce Salter
Frank Stone
Lectors early
N/A
Kitty
Heckler
Charlie Roney
N/A
N/A
Lectors late
Laura Slugg
Kerry Stone
Josh
Cottom
Betty Murray Frank Stone
Acolyte early
N/A
David
Kunkel
Charlie Roney
N/A
Acolyte late
Tara Clegg
Lindsay Stone Bob Kaler Fam- John Stangl
ily
Liana
Murphy
Ushers early
N/A
Chris Lockner Peggy & Bruce N/A
& Bob Smyrl
Schmidt
N/A
Ushers late
Bob Reilly &
Kay Stone
Harold
Schaefer &
Jeff Krout
Bonnie &
John Stangl
Chris Lockner
& Bob Smyrl
Greeters early
N/A
Don Capanear Don Capanear
N/A
N/A
Greeters late
Lisa Veit
Dale & Mary
Jane Moyer
Dale & Mary
Jane Moyer
Dale & Mary
Jane Moyer
Lori Pluda
Flower
Delivery
MC Reilly
Carol
MacDonald
Kay & Frank
Stone
Betty Murray Kathy
Stawasz
Tami & Dan
Sarm
N/A
Nursery 10:30 Kerry & Frank Laura & Matt
Stone
Slugg
Alter Guild for May early services:
Alter Guild for May late services:
Council for May:
Communion Bread for May:
Bob Kaler
family
Janice Swartz
Rich and Emily Woltmann
Al Lund & Tom Lewis
Kitty Heckler
N/A
N/A
Parish News May 2015
The Reverend David Lutcher
[email protected]
(h) 215-723-5754
Office Phone: 215-855-4676
Church Office Secretary
Patti Kennedy
[email protected]
Stepping Stones –
Glenda Wismer
steppingstonesoffice@
verizon.net
Grace Lutheran Church
PO Box 57
25 W. Broad St.
Hatfield, PA 19440-2905
Address Service Requested
May 3
Congregational Meeting on Building
May 13
Bible Studies
May 18
Hatfield Roll and Stroll
May 27
Bible Studies
See More Important Information Inside