ST. LUKE’S LUTHERAN CHURCH
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 2014
Vol. 167, No. 11
FROM THE PASTOR
Due to an extended illness, Pastor David Wright’s letter is
not available for this month.
MEN OF ST. LUKE’S
The Men’s group will meet at the church in Room 11 on Tuesday,
November 4 at 10:00 a.m. for their regular monthly meetings.
We welcome new members. Everyone is welcome to attend.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Finance committee of St. Luke’s will meet in the office on
Tuesday, November 4 at 11:00 a.m..
WELCA
The women of St. Luke’s will meet at 11:00 a.m. in the church
parlor Tuesday, November 4. Janet Graham and Carol Straw will
host the meeting. The theme will be Thanksgiving.
The ladies are asked to bring a sandwich for lunch. Refreshments
and dessert will be provided.
BIBLE STUDIES - EVERY TUESDAY
There are two Bible Studies at St. Luke’s every Tuesday. The
morning study with Ray Yount, will be in the parlor at 9:30 a.m.
(except the first Tuesday of every month it is at 9:00 a.m.). The
evening study with Bill Crabtree is at 7:00 p.m. in the parlor.
Both are open to the public and you are welcome to attend one
or both of our Bible Studies.
COUNCIL MEETING
The Council will meet on Monday, November 10 at 7:00
p.m. in the church parlor.
1
ELCA LUTHERAN CHURCHES OF ALLEGANY COUNTY &
DE/MD SYNOD WORKSHOPS
The ELCA Lutheran churches of Allegany County in cooperation
with the Delaware-Maryland Synod is offering a day of workshops
to be held at St. Luke's Lutheran Church at 1601 Frederick St,
Cumberland on Saturday, November 8 from 10 AM to 3:15 PM.
There will be four one hour workshops offered, with the first
one starting at 10 AM, the second at 11:15 AM, the third at 1 PM
and the last at 2:15. Registration will start at 9 AM. Lunch will be
from 12:15-1 PM.
The following workshops will be offered:
Bishop Wolfgang Hertz-Lane: Evangelism by door knocking
Pr. Kati Kluckman-Ault: Stewardship
Pr. Kati Kluckman-Ault: Church Renewal
Pr. Ron Schlak: Healthy Congregations
Pr. Chuck Erzkus: "Struggling to be Faithful - A look at church in
Allegany County"
Pr. Tormod Svensson: Care of Creation
In addition, we will have representatives from the Living Legacy
Foundations doing workshops on organ donations.
The workshops are free and open to the public.
STEWARDSHIP MEETING
The Stewardship Committee will meet on Monday, NOVEMBER
10 at 10:30.
STEWARDSHIP
The Stewardship Committee extends a big Thank You to all that
helped with our Consecration Sunday program by participating in
the events. We will keep you updated as the Estimated-Giving
Cards continue to be returned.
A special Thank You goes out to Renee Mason and her husband,
Mel Mah for catering the dinner on Consecration
Sunday. It was delicious! A lot of time and hard
work was put into this event and we really
appreciate all you do, Renee and Mel.
2
St. Luke's Parish Newsletter
ADULT BIBLE STUDY DAY
The WOMEN OF THE ELCA from both St. Luke’s Lutheran and Zion
Lutheran in Everett, PA., are jointly hosting another Adult Bible
Study Day at St. Luke’s Lutheran.
This one will be held at St. Luke’s on Saturday, November 22nd
beginning at 9:30 a.m. The topic will be “The Shepherds and the
Wise Guys” – exploring the Christmas stories in both Matthew and
Luke. The study will be led by Pastor David Wright.
St. Luke’s WELCA will provide lunch and Zion’s WELCA will provide
desserts. Bring a Bible – any translation – and a pen or pencil.
Dress comfortably. The study is open to anyone, men or women.
Please call St. Luke’s office to register so we can plan for
handouts and lunch.
WELCA CHRISTMAS PARTY
The Women’s group will have their Christmas Party at Hobo’s
Restaurant on December 2 at 1 p.m. Please bring a gift for a man,
woman, boy or girl. There will also be a money tree. Both the
gifts and the money will be given to the Salvation Army.
MEN’S GROUP CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY DINNER
The Men of St. Luke’s will have their annual Christmas dinner on
December 20, 2014 from 5 to 7 p.m in the Fellowship Hall.
The menu includes:
Roast Beef
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Cole Slaw
Desserts
The cost is $10.00 per ticket.
Please contact Ron Straw at 301-724-5017 if you have any
questions. You may purchase tickets from Ron or any of the men
in the Men’s Group. You must have a ticket to if you plan to
attend. For Take-Outs, you will also need a ticket.
3
St. Luke's Parish Newsletter
St. Luke’s Goes to Bible Camp Again”
We took off for to Lutheran Camp Sequanota Bible School up
near Stroytown, Pennsylvania on October 2 from 9 a.m. untl 2:30
p.m. The camp is beautiful. They have a full-time pastor Camp
Director - Rev. Nathan Pile. He and his wife and one small girl live
at camp in a small house provided by the Camp. They also have a
young dog, which Carol had to go find on our break so she could
pet her.
Cost was only $10.00 and included lunch! Rev. Nathan Pile
led the study on Ecology and Care of Creation. All we had to take
was a Bible, pen or pencil and paper.
We met some really Lutherans and shared lunch with
them. The study was great with the discussions of our resources
and how God is helping us with all our problems. One idea of
Pastor Nathan was his idea that God may be pruning our Churches
just like we all do to our trees to get rid of the dying branches so
the new growth will be stronger and more plentiful.
Earlene Fradiska and Ron & Carol Straw went this year and
I’m looking forward to going next Year.
Ron Straw
Please have all schedules, events, and meeting information
for the DECEMBER Newsletter in to the church office on or
before Tuesday, NOVEMBER 24
4
St. Luke's Parish Newsletter
NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS!
NOVEMBER
3
NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER
4
6
8
12
14
15
17
NOVEMBER 22
NOVEMBER 26
NOVEMBER 28
NOVEMBER 29
Savannah Andrews
Thad Eirich
Gertrude Miller
Gary Geiger
Claire Bauer
Diana Robosson
Stephany Reynard
Andrew Brogan
David Ferguson
Jack Robinson
Cheryl Fradiska
Frank Imes
Tristan Landis
Bill Crabtree
Wilma Frick
Cheryl Weaver
5
St. Luke's Parish Newsletter
FINANCE COMMITTEE THIRD QUARTER REPORT
Offerings through the third quarter were about $8,500 less
than budgeted. Resultant total income was about $10,400
less than budgeted. Expenditures were about $6,400 over
budget. Major factors were increases in electricity and
natural gas costs. The resulting deficit through the end of
September was about $24,500 versus a budgeted deficit of
about $7,600. To cover this deficit and provide sufficient
funds to pay bills for the next several months, we withdrew
$5,000 from our Stifel & Nicolaus brokerage account,
bringing the total non-budgeted withdrawals for the year to
date to $30,000.
There will be an expenditure of about $1,000 in October for
repairing and updating the hot water boiler system. Earlier
this summer, we started a special Building and Maintenance
fund to cover unbudgeted expenses with a generous
donation of a $1,000. Please consider helping us to build up
this fund.
Due to the wet, hot summer, grass-mowing expenses for the
cemetery have exceeded budget by about $1,200. We thank
all those who have given special offerings to help meet this
extra expense. Our remaining cemetery deficit through
September is about $3,200.
Ray Yount, Finance Committee Chair
CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS
On the following page is the form for ordering your
poinsettias. Most of you have given your order to Carol
in the office. Please fill out the form, tear it off and send
it to St. Luke’s along with your check.
Thank You!
6
St. Luke's Parish Newsletter
Christmas 2014
Poinsettia Order
Time is here once again to order RED POINSETTIAS to
decorate our Sanctuary for Christmas.
They may be given in memory of, or in honor of your loved
ones. Please fill out the form below and return it to the
Church office along with your payment. Also, there are
envelopes on the table in the Narthex in which you can put
your order form and payment, and place in the offering plate.
Plants cost $9.25 each.
***************************
NAME: ___________________________________________
PHONE NUMBER: __________________________________
Number of plants ordered: _________
Amount enclosed $_____________
IN MEMORY OF:
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
BY: ___________________________________________
IN HONOR OF:
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
BY: _______________________________________________
If you haven’t already placed your order with Carol,
please call and let her know by Thursday, November 6
at noon.
Money and form can be sent later.
7
St. Luke's Parish Newsletter
ST. LUKE’S LUTHERAN CHURCH
1601 Frederick Street
Cumberland, MD 21502-1035
Telephone 301-722-4190
Sunday Worship Service – 10:00 a.m.
Sunday School – 9:00 a.m.
Website: www.stlukescumberland.org
Email: [email protected]
CONGREGATIONAL COUNCIL
PRESIDENT:
VICE PRESIDENT:
TREASURER:
SECRETARY:
Richard Graham, Jr.
Robert Lumm
Ray Yount
Grace Lewis
Additional Members:
Stanley Bowser
Liza Broll
Diana Graham
George Green
Rebecca Hostetler
Diane Johnson
Karen Parker
Wendy Upchurch
CHURCH STAFF
Interim Pastor:
Organist/Director of Choirs:
Maintenance Supervisor:
Secretary:
Bookkeeper:
Rev. David Wright
Lea Ann Martin
Kevin Carroll
Carol VanMeter
Eleanor Stotler
8
St. Luke's Parish Newsletter