St. Paul Lutheran Church
December, 2014
Carolyn Daniels, Editor
A Message from Pastor
Dear Friends in Christ,
As I write this it is 50 degrees out, brilliantly sunny,
and—we are in high gear creating our Advent and
Christmas services! On November 30 we began our
New Year—as a Christian community the First
Sunday of Advent marks our New Year’s Day.
I confess Advent is probably my favorite season of
the church year. A time of reflection and
preparation, Advent is also a season of deep
anticipation. It is a time of penitence and getting
things in order. It is also a season to be stopped in
our tracks and completely awed by the infinite love
of God. It is a season of surprises and unexpected
gifts of grace.
Advent is a season which calls us to make room
within ourselves and--amidst very busy lives--to
listen---really listen--to God breaking into our world
anew. Such listening and being with God takes time
and intentionality—during one of the most hectic-and for many people--stress filled parts of the year.
What a gift then this season is! Because it gives us
both permission AND the resources to slow down,
to be quiet, to meditate on God coming to US—and
to make time to be with Immanuel—God who came
to always be with us.
The great Christian educator John Westerhoff
reminds us that “it is difficult to wait in hope. Yet
Advent provides us with a moment to reflect on
where Christ is trying to break into our lives and our
world. It is time to ask, Are we watching, are we
expecting, are we ready to see it? Do we really want
it to come?”
There is a marvelous invitation made to us in and
through this season, for Advent is the time to focus
on, as Westerhoff writes, the “word of hope, the
possibility of birthing new life, a rekindled vision to
which we might give our lives. Advent focuses on
the paradoxes of longing anticipation and patient
watching; transforming the way we envision life
and yet living prepared; living out a wait for what
never seems to come and continuing in hopeful
trust; desiring to give up control and opening
ourselves to new possibilities.”
As the days grow shorter and shorter and the
darkness around us grows—as we come up against
the deep darkness of the brokenness of God’s world
and in our own lives, the season of Advent brings us
the chance to begin again. Advent brings growing
light with each candle lit, each heartfelt prayer said,
each still moment with God and with those we love.
Make time this Advent to have a cup of tea
regularly and quietly with God, make time to pray
and reflect—and to look forward in hope. Make
time to bake those Christmas cookies with your
children or grandchildren, bring joy to a stranger
simply by being kind, reflect on what keeps you
from the fullness of life God was born to bring
you—and then ask God to take that brokenness and
make you new.
In a tired, heartsick world—Advent invites us to
claim and to share Immanuel with the richest joy.
May God deeply bless you and yours in this holy
season.
Faithfully,
Katie
Sunday
December 21, 2014 @ 9:30 a.m.
The Joy of Christmas
Presented by our St. Paul Choir & Sunday School
Followed by Brunch and a Visit with Santa.
Please sign up in the narthex by Dec. 7, 2014 if you wish to stay for Brunch.
$5.00 per Person. $15.00 Max per Family.
And, please note: This special event is a combination of our Sunday School’s
annual Christmas Pageant and our Choir’s annual Christmas Chorale.
COMMUNITY HOLIDAY
HAM DINNER
Spiral Ham with Raisin Sauce
Scalloped Potatoes
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Green Beans with Garlic and Red Pepper
Rolls
Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream and Fudge Sauce
Beverages
Sunday, December 7, 2014
5 p.m.-7 p.m. (continuous serving)
St. Paul Lutheran Church
181 Elm Street
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Adults--$10.00 Children under 6--$5.00
Family maximum--$25.00
Proceeds to benefit Lutheran World Relief and St. Paul Lutheran Church
and sponsored by a Thrivent Action Team Grant
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
1
Wednesday
3
Thursday
4
Friday
5
Saturday
6
2
10:00 am Bible Study
December, 2014
7-8:30 p.m. AA
5:30-6:15 p.m.
Zumba
6-9 p.m. Scout
wreath & flower sale
7:00 p.m.
9 a.m.-5: p.m.
Scout wreath &
flower sale.
Scouts
7:15 p.m. Sr. Choir
7
(Blue)
8
9
8:30 a.m. Sunday Church School
8:30 a.m. Adult Fellowship
9:30 a.m. Holy Communion
4:00 p.m. Venture Crew
5:00-7:00 p.m. Community
Holiday Ham Dinner
7:00 p.m.
Women’s Group
Cookie Exchange
14
15
16
8:30 a.m. Sunday Church School
8:30 a.m. Adult Fellowship
9:30 a.m. Holy Communion
11:00 a.m. Set up for Lucia
3:00-5:00 p.m. Lucia Festival
7:00 p.m. Council
Meeting at the
Lindwalls
5:30-6:15 p.m.
Zumba
21
22
(Blue)
(Blue)
(White)
9:30 a.m. Worship Service
Lessons and Carols
No Sunday Church School
No Adult Fellowship
11
7-8:30 p.m. AA
10:00 am Bible Study
7:00 p.m.
Scouts
7:15 p.m. Sr. Choir
17
18
7-8:30 p.m. AA
10:00 am Bible Study
7:00 p.m.
Scouts
7:15 p.m. Sr. Choir
Busy Bees (use hall)
Busy Bees (use hall
Busy Bees (snow day)
23
24
25
Christmas Eve
4:00 p.m.
Candlelight Holy
Communion Service
The Joy of Christmas
Pageant/Chorals
9:30 a.m. Holy Communion
Brunch to follow service
28
10
29
30
7:00 & 10:30 p.m.
Candlelight Holy
Communion Service
31
7-8:30 p.m. AA
12
13
11:00-1:00
Open Pantry
19
20
Setting up the hall for
the brunch.
Busy Bees (snow
day)
26
27
Office Closed
DECEMBER 7, 2014
9:30 a.m.
Acolyte – Alex Maserati
Communion Assistant – Eric Lindwall
Lay Reader – Bill Pruyne
Ushers – Elke Simmons
Russ Wirtalla
Greeters – Betty Drumheller & Diane Donner
Nursery – Nancy Moisuk
Altar Guild –
Becky Johnson
DECEMBER 14, 2014
9:30 a.m.
Acolyte – Daniel Kronlund
Communion Assistant – Charles Dinnie
Lay Reader – Karen Welch
Ushers –Cheryl & Guy Williams
Greeters – Betty Drumheller &
Pamela Fant
Nursery – Nancy Moisuk
(Blue)
THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS
Presented by our St. Paul Choir & Sunday School
DECEMBER 21, 2014 – 9:30 A.M.
Holy Communion
Acolyte – Spencer Walker
Communion Assistant – Mike Shaw
Lay Reader – David Proctor
Ushers – Jim McKnight & Elke Simmons
Greeters – Bill & Joyce Donovan
No Nursery
Altar Guild – Becky Johnson (Blue)
DECEMBER 24, 2014
Candlelight Holy Communion
4:00 p.m.
Acolyte – Allie MacDonald
Communion Assistant – Dale MacDonald
Lay Reader – Vincent McPartland
Ushers – Volunteer Needed
Greeters – Volunteer Needed
Altar Guild – Becky Johnson
DECEMBER 24, 2014 7:00 & 10:30p.m.
Candlelight Holy Communion
Acolyte – Volunteer Needed
Communion Assistant – Charlie Dinnie
Lay Reader – Bill Pruyne
Ushers – Volunteer Needed
Greeters – Volunteer Needed
(White)
DECEMBER 28, 2014
9:30 a.m
Acolyte – Veronica Walker
Lessons and Carols
Ushers – Sandy Barbeau & Don Cheetham
Greeters – Betty Drumheller
Nursery – Nancy Moisuk
Altar Guild – Becky Johnson (White)
JANUARY 4, 2015
9:30 A.M.
Acolyte – James Anderson
9:30 A.M.
Acolyte – Alex Maserati
Communion Assistant – Mike Shaw
Lay Reader – Charles Dinnie
Communion Assistant – Eric Lindwall
Lay Reader – Jessica Melanson
Ushers – Elke Simmons
Russ Wirtalla
Ushers – Cheryl & Guy Williams
Greeters – Diane Donner
Betty Drumheller
Nursery – Nancy Moisuk
Greeters – Pamela Fant & Diane Donner
Nursery – Nancy Moisuk
Altar Guild - (White)
JANUARY 18, 2015
JANUARY 11, 2015
Mary Breeding
9:30 A.M.
(White)
JANUARY 25, 2015
9:30 A.M.
Acolyte – Ashley Corcoran
Acolyte – James Drake
Communion Assistant – Dale MacDonald
Lay Reader – Sandy Porcelli
Communion Assistant – Bill Pruyne
Lay Reader – Vivian Proctor
Ushers – Elke Simmons
Jim McKnight
Ushers – Sandy Barbeau
Don Cheetham
Greeters – Bill & Joyce Donovan
Greeters – Eric Raymond
Alex Maserati
Nursery – Nancy Moisuk
Nursery – Nancy Moisuk
Altar Guild – (Green)
Mary Breeding
(Green)
Helen Bickley
Nori Bliss
Michael Boyd
Diane Braden
Bill Clark
Jerry Davis
Sarah (Lindwall) Dazell
Donald Dorn
Betty Drumheller
Andrew Fant
Jim Fant
Robert Feathers
John Follit
Jim Gibbons
June Goewey
Shirley Jacobson
Inge Mahlo
George Mayer
Laurie Norris
Susan Peterson
Pat Picariello
Eric Pruyne
Carol Rubba
Cathy Runquist
Andrew Stark
WOMEN’S GROUP
COOKIE EXCHANGE
Monday, December 8th 7 p.m.
(This will be our December meeting.)
Linda Lindwall’s house
20 Overbrook Road
East Longmeadow, MA
Bring your homemade cookies to exchange
(If you prefer not to exchange cookies,
please bring an appetizer to share that night.)
Sign up on kiosk
This is our December Meeting.
Nursery Schedule—
December 7—Nancy Moisuk
December 14—Nancy Moisuk
December 21—No nursery
December 28—Nancy Moisuk
January 4—Nancy Moisuk
January 11—Nancy Moisuk
January 18—Nancy Moisuk
January 25—Nancy Moisuk
December--Holiday Dinner—canned gravy, yams,
cranberry,boxed potatoes, stuffing, canned fruit, rice,
cereal
January—Bright White Winter--Cleaning supplies such
as but not limited to dish soap, windex, toilet bowl
cleaner, multipurpose cleaner, laundry detergent,
sponges, etc.
Are you a Thrivent member? Have you used your
Thrivent Action Team grants yet? If you answered
no, what are you waiting for? Thrivent members at
St. Paul are doing some exciting things—assisting
Open Pantry, sponsoring Secret Santa children,
providing warm gloves for the Mitten Tree,
remembering our college youth, servicing various
parenting teen programs, supporting our community
dinners, helping launch Café Par-Tay, assembling
Thanksgiving Food Baskets for needy families-well, you get the idea. We are doing some great
projects!! What cause would you like to help? Sue
Winn is more than happy to help. Contact her at
413-519-7979 or [email protected] for
more information or help. This is a wonderful way
for Thrivent members to increase our community
outreach.
ability. Spencer will attend a leadership seminar in
May 2015.
02
06
09
13
14
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
26
27
28
29
31
Barbara Garten
Andrew Stark
Bill Donovan
Sandra Barbeau
Earle Hallstrom
Bob Dombroski
Diane Braden
Krista Traynor
Matt Vindigni
Daniel Kronlund
Ashley Corcoran
Inge Murphy
Connie Sessler
Marg Walz
George McHale
Wayne Bickley
Joan Corkum
Azi Akpan
Sue Winn
Holly Dinnie
Thank you to all who participated in Secret Santa!
Thank you to Cub Scout Pack 272 for donating several bags of food to the
St. Paul Open Pantry!
No Confirmation Class for December. Next class
will be January 8.
Also, Book Club, Evangelism, Stewardship, and
Women’s Group are not having a meeting in
December. Women’s Group is doing the Cookie
Exchange.
Milestone Ministry
Congratulations to Spencer Walker who was
selected to be the representative from Enfield High
School for the Hugh O’Brien Youth Foundation
Connecticut Leadership—a select group of high
school sophomores who demonstrate leadership
Oliver Orrin Melanson will be baptized at Faith Lutheran
Church (ELCA) in Valders, WI on Sunday December
7th. In addition to Jess, Annika, and I, he’ll be
celebrating with his maternal grandparents Lorin and
Linda Berge, his godparents/sponsors Matthew and
Jennifer Berge, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.
ZUMBA
I will only have 5:30 Zumba for everybody for
December. I would like to try Zumba Toning every
week at 4:30 for Jan and Feb. and see how it does. I'll
leave Zumba for everybody at 5:30 on the first and
third Tuesdays only. Please contact Kelly Phillips at
[email protected]. for any questions.
Book Club Schedule
St. Paul Book Club has created its reading list for
the next few months. Our next meeting will be
January 6, 2015 at 7:00 a.m. in the lounge. At that
meeting, we will be discussing a novel by Jess
Walter entitled Beautiful Ruins. Our selections for
the following months are the following. For
February, we will read Wonder by R. J. Palacio. In
March, we will discuss The Orphan Train by
Christina Baker Kline. We will follow that in April
with The Aviator’s Wife, a novel about Anne
Morrow Lindbergh, the wife of Charles Lindbergh.
We will wrap up the season in May with And the
Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, the author
of The Kite Runner. The book club meets on the
first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the
church. If you are interested, please join us for one
or more sessions. For more information, talk to
Nancy Janes or email her at [email protected].
MINISTER OF MUSIC
The Worship and Music Committee, with the support of the Congregational Council, is happy to report the
hiring of Jane Clark as our new, permanent Minister of Music, effective January 2015. With a degree in music
from Smith College and over 40 years of experience as a church musician, Jane has committed to us her
passion and excitement for the continued evolution of our music program as we engage in vibrant, meaningful
worship. This new hire was the culmination of a long, but well-structured process meant to lead us to the
right candidate:
1. Job description written by W&M and vetted through Council
2. Market research conducted for similar positions for representative compensation package
3. Suggested compensation approved by Council
4. Job posted with ALCM.org, (2) local AGO chapters, and NE Synod
5. Interview conducted by hiring committee: Bill Donovan, Marsha Akpan, Dave Proctor, Sandy Porcelli,
Dave Melanson, Katie Keene
6. Unanimous decision by hiring committee to extend offer to Jane Clark
We welcome Jane into the St. Paul family and look forward to this new partnership.
CONGREGATION COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS
At its meeting on Monday, November 24th the Congregation Council- Voted to accept monetary gifts to fund bookkeeping, payroll, and financial secretary services for one year. This will allow
the treasurer and the finance committee to focus on analysis and proactive financial planning and not on just keeping track
of the numbers.

Voted to extend the covenant of our Intentional Interim Pastor Katheryn Keene by 6 months from March 16, 2015September 16, 2015.

Based on the interview and demonstrated musical proficiency, the hiring committee of the Worship and Music Team
unanimously agreed to offer Jane Clark the permanent position of Minister of Music and she has accepted, effective
January 1, 2015. The Congregation Council voted to accept this recommendation.

Voted to accept a monetary donation for directed funds to go into the Worship and Music budget 2015, to go into a new
Communications Team budget 2015, and to be tithed to the Synod as soon as possible.

The new church sign has been ordered and will be ready the beginning of December.

Boy Scout Troop 275 will be helping with the Community Holiday Ham Dinner on Sunday, December 7 .

The report on the Cottage Meetings was reviewed and is available for the congregation.

The Property Committee is actively pursuing replacing our Sexton, John Sessler, who retired from that position on
th
November 30 .

Voted to approve the Mission Endowment Committee’s recommendation for disbursement of funds as follows—
th
Community Outreach
o
$500—Food Bank of Western Mass (Hadley)
o
$300—Springfield Rescue Mission
o
$500—New England Synod—Ascentria Care Alliance needs (Ascentria Care Alliance was formerly known as
Lutheran Social Services)
o
$200—Heifer Project (Café Par-Tay)
Mission Outreach
o $600—Camp Calumet
o
$500—Lutheran World Relief
o
$400—Mission to Liberia

Began working on the 2015 budget and will complete this work at a Congregation Council meeting in January that will be
held before the Annual Meeting and before the regular January Congregation Council meeting.

Accepted reports from Pastor Katie, Community Holiday Ham Dinner, Finance, Stewardship, Evangelism/Social Ministry,
Worship and Music, Property, and Mutual Ministry.