March 2018 Newsletter

It’s March and the signs of spring are almost upon us. Thank goodness!!! The new growth we witness in creation is a sign of new opportunities and new beginnings. What will be made new or renewed in you? Our call as disciples is a call that should be renewed from time to time. Whether it be renewed through a new area of service and ministry or just a recommitment or rededication to your relationship with our God and Christ’s church. Take the time in the midst of the blossoming of the trees and the maturing of the flowers that have pushed through the softening soil that not too long ago was a frozen solid mass to reflect on how God is calling you and bringing forth new growth in you.

With the welcoming of spring, we look forward to being outside and opening our windows, and dare I say, “Spring Cleaning”? Another sign of spring is the delivery of the new summer camp schedule for Hartman Center and all that they have to offer in the area of outdoor religious education. I encourage our young people to take a look and sign up for a camp that may interest them. I know that when I was a youth, camp was a place that I always looked forward to every summer. It was a place of new friendships, fun activities, being outside, and meeting God in a different and comfortable setting. Camp truly was a place of seeing and meeting God, in the people I met and through the creation that I was a part of. www.hartmancenter.com Take a look and don’t forget that Dreisbach is willing to make this happen by helping financially. Please don’t hesitate to ask how the church can help your child.

Blessings and Prayers,

Pastor Nate

Messy Church Events on Wednesday Evenings

On Wednesday evenings in Lent everyone and anyone is invited to join us as we worship using an activity that is called Messy Church. What this means is that we will be taking part in worshiping God with our whole selves. We will have food as part of our time together, we will share in crafts and hands on activities, we will share in conversations, and we will have a time of prayer. Each week we will be experiencing our connection to God with a different sense that we possess. So join us as we look at the 5 senses.

We invite you to join us at 6pm for a meal together. You are invited to bring your own sandwich while the church will provide soup, drink, and dessert for all to share. Each week this will occur. Then, at about 6:45 we will move into our worship time together and be done by 8:00. This will be fun and relaxed. It may be something that you would want to bring a friend to too. We will also pack the backpacks with food for the weekends after many of the times together.

Worship Schedule this month:

March 4th – (Theme of Worship: By My Hand, For My Sake: Barabbas) Isaiah 12:1-6; Psalm 38; Romans 5:6-11,18-19. No First Sunday Fellowship to follow worship or Sunday School due to All Church Retreat.

Wed. March 7th – Messy Church Worship. Begin at 6pm in Fellowship Hall with Soup, Sandwich and Dessert. Worship Experience to follow (about 6:45 start). Theme: Meeting God with our Senses: Smell.

March 11th – (ToW: By My Hand, For My Sake: Pilate) Isaiah 2:2-5; Psalm 46; Romans 8:1-4, 12-18. Normal Sunday School following worship.

Wed. March 14th – Messy Church Worship. Begin at 6pm in Fellowship Hall with Soup, Sandwich and Dessert. Worship Experience to follow (about 6:45 start). Theme: Meeting God with our Senses: Hearing

March 18th – (ToW: By My Hand, For My Sake: The Thief’s Father). Isaiah 55:6-11; Psalm 25; Romans 8:26-30. Normal Sunday School to follow worship.

Wed. March 21st – Messy Church Worship. Begin at 6pm in Fellowship Hall with Soup, Sandwich and Dessert. Worship Experience to follow (about 6:45 start). Theme: Meeting God with our Senses: Taste.

March 25th – (ToW: Into Jerusalem) Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 11:1-11. Palm Sunday. Normal Sunday School to follow worship.

Thurs. March 29th – Maundy Thursday Service beginning at 7pm. (ToW: By My Hand, For My Sake: Peter) Exodus 24:3-11; Psalm 116; Hebrews 10:19-25.

Fri. March 30th – Good Friday Service beginning at 7pm. (ToW: By My Hand, For My Sake: Centurion) Psalm 22; Hosea 6:1-3; Hebrews 4:14-16.

Looking Ahead a Little Further:

April 1st - Sunrise Service lead by the Youth and Praise Group at 7am. Breakfast served at 7:45.

(ToW: By My Hand, For My Sake: Mary Magdalene). Acts 10:34-43; 1st Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8. Happy Easter, No Fellowship Time or Sunday School.

Lenten Breakfast Schedule

3/4 All-Church Retreat – No Breakfast

3/11 Rev. Tammy Gessner – Pastor at Richfield UCC Singing Ding-a-lings

3/18 Darin Koss – Financial Advisor w/Koss Financial Group Friends-N-Faith

3/25 Rev. Joseph Lingenfelter – Retired Pastor UCC Mifflinburg Disciples

Breakfast will be served at 7:30 followed by the guest speaker.

Consistory Summary

February 18, 2018 meeting

Pastor Nate shared the past few weeks he has been extremely busy with pastoral care with many members being hospitalized or recovering from illness.

Music director position description has been completed and posted in numerous places but no responses have been received yet. Please keep this in your prayers that we find someone to help lead us in this position.

The Backpack Project will begin in March. Plan to fill backpacks after Wednesday nights’ Messy Church services.

Membership Committee update noted the church’s new website is up and running, plans are being made for an event later in the year to celebrate the 230th Anniversary and a Cowboy Church event will tentatively be held at Ard’s on April 28 with True Heart that we hope to help promote.

A Movie Night will be held April 14 & Mother Daughter Banquet will be May 12.

Souper Bowl of Caring Event was well received and a big thank you to Leroy Gabel who delivered the food items to Haven Ministries.

Marianna’s Hoagies and Pizza Fundraiser

In order to continue to bring new, different, and fun events to Dreisbach, the Membership Committee will be taking orders for Marianna's Hoagies & Pizzas in March to help offset the costs of such events. Hoagies will be $8 per 14" Hoagie and $9 per 12" pizza. There are 10 types of hoagies and 5 varieties of pizza to choose from. More details are available on the order forms or the church’s facebook page. Please see a member of the committee to place your order. Orders are due by March 25th. Pick-Up at the church will be Saturday, April 7th. More details on pick-up coming soon.

Backpack Program

Dreisbach is sponsoring the month of March for the Mifflinburg School District. Children in the elementary and intermediate schools who meet the criteria are given a backpack with food items for the weekend. We will be in charge of gathering the items, packing the backpacks, and returning them to the school for distribution on Friday. March has 5 weekends in it this year, so we will do this 5 times for the 110 kids in the district who receive these backpacks. Your help will be needed to donate items or funds to purchase items and we will need help to pack the bags during the week each week. We will fill the backpacks following “Messy Church” on Wednesday evenings. This is a very helpful program and Dreisbach has a great opportunity to help those in need. Items needed are:

# Mini macaroni & cheese (microwaveable) # Granola bars

# Mini chef Boyardee or similar microwaveable food products # Fruit Snacks

# Snack-pack puddings # Mini Cereal Boxes

# Pop Tarts # Drink boxes/pouches

Vacation Bible School

Warmer temperatures are on the way and so is Vacation Bible School. This year we invite you to get Shipwrecked with us June 11th thru the 15th. Closing will take place Sunday, June 17th during worship. Registration forms are available in the back of the sanctuary. As always lots of help is needed to make the week run smoothly. We will be planning some decorating parties a few evenings during April. Please contact Judy Willow or Pam Pfirman to see how you can help.

Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Egg Hunt will take place on March 31st at 10:00am. We will have it rain or shine so come prepared with rain gear if necessary. Children ages 1-10 are welcome to attend. We just request they be signed up ahead of time so we can prepare appropriately. We are in need of candy donations and volunteers to help prepare and hide the eggs. Sign Up sheets are in the back of the sanctuary. A donation box will be under the table for the drop off of Easter Egg Hunt items. Monetary donations are also accepted. Contact Pam Pfirman 570-898-9774 if you have any questions.

Mother Daughter Banquet

The annual Mother Daughter Banquet will take place on May 12th at 6:00pm. Tickets will be $11.00 for adults and $5.50 for children ages 4-10. They will be available to purchase starting April 1st from Sue Leitzel, Samantha Kratzer or Joy Catherman.

Spring Rummage Sale

The spring rummage sale is still two months away but its never too soon to start setting aside rummage for the first week in May. May 3rd, 4th and 5th are the dates to remember. This will be an opportunity to raise several thousand dollars for missions. Carol Willow will direct the project. Connie Bastian will do publicity. Judy Willow is our “go-to person” for volunteers. We welcome new volunteers. Please consider helping when Judy calls.

Collage Picture Board

We hope you will help the church in replenishing a portion of the dollars that were utilized to make the visual technology system possible in the church Sanctuary. It is the leadership’s hope to have generous contributions from you help to replace half of the funds used. So we are hoping to collect $12,000 and put it back into the investment account. To this point we have collected nearly $6,000 of the $12,000 we have as our goal. As a way of keeping you up to date on our progress there is a tv board in the church that is pixilated and needs your help to make the pictures come into focus. For every $25 that is donated, a little 2 in square will be removed; revealing the picture that is behind it that shows someone hard at work with Dreisbach.

Save the Date

April 29th will be our Spring Adopt-A-Highway Cleanup event on Dreisbach Church Road.

Gathering of Wreaths

We will collect the wreaths that were placed on the Veterans graves March 18th following the worship service before Sunday School.

Meetings

The next meeting of the Prayer Shawl group will be Monday, March 19th at 6:30pm. All are welcome.

The Dreisbach UCC Prime Timers will be meeting at the Old Turnpike Restaurant, Thursday, March 15th at 12:30pm. Come and enjoy lunch and a time of fellowship. Lunch will be Dutch treat. Anyone 50 or older is welcome to join the group. A signup sheet will be located in the back of the sanctuary.

The next meeting of the Membership Committee will be on April 9th at 7:00.

March Birthdays & Anniversaries

Remember the following people in your prayers as they celebrate special days this month.

1 Joyce Ruhl 9 Shana Ruhl Wigo 17 Robert Maurer

3 Rodney Hepner 10 Kristy Sones Allison Stup

4 Carter Mensch 11 Jake Leitzel 19 Greg Chamra

5 Garret Enders 12 Richard & Grace Noll 20 Seleca Robenolt

Deb Hallock Louis Druckenmiller 21 Kyle Pletcher

Betty Paul Chelsea Mensch 22 Dean Paul

6 Leonard Manbeck 13 Neil R. Moyer Jesse & Diane Hackenberg

Gerald & Joanne Lloyd Bethany Romig 23 Tyler Wiand

Rob & Sue Enders 14 Neil Robert Moyer 27 Annette Metzger

Robert Childs 15 Diane Hackenberg 29 Richelle Finerghty

7 Jacob Humphrey 16 Mike Romig 30 Sandra Catherman

8 Barb Manbeck Kathy King

If you know of any additions or corrections to the birthday and anniversary list, please give or email them to Pam Pfirman.