GOD’S PURPOSE & PASSION FOR US:
‘To Make God Known Through Our Love
Towards All.’
The
Pastor’s Pen
2012
LENTEN WORSHIP, SERMON & SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY THEME:
“Loosen
Your Grip – Living a Life of Surrender to Christ”
Sunday,
February 19 – Sunday, April 8
Some
years ago, I was golfing with one of my brothers. He noticed I wasn’t hitting the ball as well
as I could (nothing new there!) and offered a suggestion. He noticed that my grip on the golf club was
way too tight. This caused me to swing
the club awkwardly causing my ball to go off line with less distance. He told me I needed to loosen my grip on the
club. He then showed me how to loosen my
grip and swing more smoothly. When I
tried it, I did indeed hit the ball much better. By loosening my grip I could actually hit the
ball longer and straighter.
Surrender
to Christ is like our grip on a golf club.
So often in the Christian Church we speak about surrender to Christ as
if we are to drop the golf club all together and let God swing the club for
us. We often say ‘let go and let God’ as
if it means we step out of the picture and expect God to do all the work. But Christ has created, redeemed and called
us to be His instruments to be used by Him for His kingdom and glory. As I understand surrender, or ‘letting go and
letting God’ it means loosening our grip so God can guide us and use us. By loosening our grip we can improve our
service to Christ and the Kingdom.
As
Christians, like my golf grip, we often hold on too tightly areas of our
life. We can have such a tight grip on
our lives that God is inhibited from freely working in us and using us for
God’s Kingdom. In this series we will
learn from Jesus how to loosen our grip on different aspects of life including:
our future; our security; our control; our money; our vocation; our
relationships; our time & leisure; our past failures; and our fear. We
will learn from Jesus how to hold on to these aspects of our life in such a way
that God has freedom to use these and us for our benefit and His kingdom and
glory.”
Pastor
Gary or I preach on the week’s theme, then the Small
Group Bible Studies will dig deeper during the week that follows. Below is a
list of each week’s sermon and study theme. Each week for Sunday Worship & Small Group
Bible Study you are encouraged to bring an object representing that particular
area of your life. We will learn to
loosen our grip in this area and surrender to Christ.
LENTEN
SERIES SERMONS & BIBLE STUDY WEEKLY THEMES
Sunday, February 12 –
Pastor Chuck “Loosening Our Grip:
Living a Life of Surrender to Christ”
Luke
10:27; Luke 9:23, 24
Sunday, February 19 –
Pastor Gary “Loosening Our Grip On Our Future” James 4:13-17; Luke 12:15-21
Sunday, February 26 –
Pastor Gary “Loosening Our Grip On Our
Security” Mark 4:35-41; Mt 14:22-36
Sunday, March 4 –
Pastor Chuck “Loosening Our Grip On Our Time & Leisure” Luke 9:57-62
Sunday, March 11 –
Pastor Chuck “Loosening
Our Grip On Our Money”
Matthew 19:16-36; Luke 21:1-4
Sunday, March 18 –
Pastor Chuck “Loosening Our
Grip On Our Control”
Luke 10:38-42
Sunday, March 25 –
Pastor Chuck “Loosening Our
Grip On Our Relationships”
John 2:1-11; 19:25-27
Palm Sunday, April 1
– Pastor Chuck “Loosening Our Grip On Our Past
Failures” Mark 14:51, 52
Easter Sunday, April
8 – Pastor Chuck “Loosening Our Grip On Our Fears” John
19:38-42
7 WEEK
LENTEN SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDIES
Groups will begin
meeting in homes or at the church the weeks of February 19 – March 25. Groups will meet at various days and times of
the week. All groups will meet together
on Holy Thursday, April 5 at 6:00pm for a Share-A-Dish Dinner, Bible Study, and
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper around the tables. Sign up sheet for the groups is on the table
by the office. Pick the group that will
work best for you. No cost for taking
part except the cost of loosening our grip and learning surrender to
Christ.
FEBRUARY
EVENTS AND SERVICES
Wed 1st 12noon UCC Pastors Lunch
Sunday 5th
10:00am Communion Sunday Worship
12noon Administrative & Visiting Deacons
Dinner & Meeting
Sunday 12th
10:00am Mid-Winter
Celebration Sunday
Wear
Colorful Clothing to Worship
11:00am
Free
Will Offering for the Teddy Bear/Prayer Shawl Ministry
Monday 13th 7:00pm Executive
Ministry Team Meeting
Wed 15th 7:00pm Community
Cantata Rehearsal Begins
Sunday 19th 10:00am Associate
Lay Pastor Gary Schooler to preach
Wed 22nd 7:00pm Community
Ash Wednesday Worship
At
Sunday 26th 10:00am First Sunday of Lent
Associate
Lay Pastor Gary Schooler to preach
ANNUAL
MID-WINTER CELEBRATION
Sunday,
February 12
10:00am Wear Colorful Clothing to Worship
11:00am-12:00pm
Free
Will Offering for Teddy Bear/Prayer Shawl Ministry
LAST SNOW
PLOW CONTEST
Usually I offer a Snow Pile Melt Contest. With this winter being warmer than usual our
snow pile often isn’t. Not that I’m
complaining. So, this year we will have
a Last Snow Plow Contest. Give me your
best guess on what will be the last day the church parking lot gets plowed this
winter season. Winners will receive a
gift certificate for ice cream.
PASTOR
CHUCK & CONNIE ON VACATION
Monday,
February 13 – Monday, February 27
Connie & I will be taking two weeks to go south for vacation
and to visit our snowbirds. I will lead
an Ash Wednesday Service for our snowbirds, and take part in the
MY
CONTACT INFORMATION UPDATE
Connie and I have made changes to our phone service.
Pastor Chuck’s Cell Phone:
(the same) 517-522-8335
Our Home Phone is Connie’s old cell phone number: 517-748-1058
Please contact me either at the cell phone, home phone, or at the
office, 517-522-4480.
We also have internet service at our home so we will be better
able to manage and reply to emails.
“WHAT
WONDROUS LOVE”
Accompanied
& Directed by Andy Mead, Amy Hamburg-Mead & Wendy Walz
Rehearsals
begin on Wednesday, February 15, 7:00pm at the
Cantata
will be presented on Palm Sunday, April 1, 7:00pm at the Federated Church
COMMUNITY
ASH WEDNESDAY WORSHIP
Wednesday,
February 22 7:00pm
At
Worship
will be led by Pastors Andy Scheller & Dave Cornwell
READ
THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Our scripture readings follow the reign of Solomon, King of
A LITTLE
WINTER HUMOR
I just heard from a colleague living in the Plains of the
Here’s a true story: One
cold winter night last week I went out to get the paper and mail. Connie didn’t realize I stepped out (or so
she said) and locked the door. I had to
bang on the door to get her attention.
She finally let me in. Lesson
learned – take your cell phone and keys with you to the mail box.
COMING IN
MARCH
Adult
Membership Class
Sundays,
March 11, 18, 25 11:15am-12noon
Adults desiring to become a member of the church are invited to
join this 3 week class. Please contact
me.
Scout
Sunday – March 11
Our Church supports both Girl & Boy Scouting Programs. This year is the 100th anniversary
of the Girl Scouts. Our Scout troops
will take part in our worship. We will
also recognize all those who participated in scouting growing up. Wear you old scout uniforms or sashes. Let’s show our support for our community
youth programs like scouting.
In Christ,
Pastor Chuck
MINISTRY
TEAM NEWS
“To
Make God Know Through Our Love Towards All”
January 9, 2012
Call
to order
7:05 meeting called to order by Yvonne
Beerens.
Roll
call
The
following persons were present:
_x__ Pastor Chuck McNeil
_x__ Yvonne Beerens
_x__ Sheryl Decoster
_x__ Sue Culbert
_Ab_ Doug Souder
_x__ Larry Barnhill
_x__ David Dorr
_x__ David Sherwood
_Ab_ Roger Mahlmeister
_Ab_ Roz Chorkey
v Reflection Questions:
What stands out for you from 2011
from our church?
§ We have seen more young couples come
into church.
§ More babies that have been born or
come in with the young families.
§ Gary Schooler has joined us as Lay
Pastor.
§ Our choir has grown.
§ We are seeing more music with the
Youth Choir.
(Suggestion to have the kids be up higher so people can see them and use microphones so
people can hear them.)
§ People seem friendlier.
§ Our Ministries are growing –
Parsonage, water wells, teddy bears, bandanas.
§ We have had more weddings than
funerals.
v Thinking ahead to this year – what do we need to pay
attention to?
§ Take a more pro-active role in issues
that seem to come up regularly rather than addressing issues once they have
become a crisis.
§ Other churches seem to look to our
church as a leader. They depend on us to
supply the leadership, choir, and message.
Recognize this is good and therefore, how do we maintain?
§ Look closer to home, serve
§ Pay attention to the young families
and make sure we are providing the ministry that they need and want. Bring in more contemporary music and messages
about what is happening in today’s world.
§ Make sure we have good programs for
the young children as they grow.
§ Represent our church at community
organizations.
§ How
can we expand this?
Idea: get to know our
neighbors such as hosting a Block party.
Once a month have a
babysitting night so the couples can go out for a date night.
Open the church for
others to see what our church looks like and what we do.
Have a potluck.
§ Marketing – website – keep updated. Develop
a slideshow of some of the activities we do and have on the website.
Ministry
Teams Needs and Reports
Nothing to report
Clerks
Report
Accepted as
written
Financial
Report
Accepted as
written
Old
Business
Ø Endowment Fund – Pastor Chuck passed out
the Article 8 – Standing Ministry Teams – Endowment Fund guidelines. There was a discussion that we need to be
careful and conscious of what the fund was set up for and that we should not depend
on the fund for capital improvements but instead we should be going to the
congregation for fund raising and funding.
We do not want to depend on this – if we do, the congregation will not
look to themselves for funding. A
suggestion was made that when the project cost is very large, we should go to
the congregation first and use matching funds from the Endowment Fund. Pastor Chuck will gather what projects we
have used the fund on and how much we have spent and present to us within the
next couple of months.
Ø Carpets in Eastman Chapel and
Fellowship Hall – the stretching and cleaning have been completed and they look
great.
Ø The laminator was moved back to the
Library due to a space issue and the inability to open the cabinets where it
had to be stored.
Pastor’s Notes
Students
from UM UCC Ecumenical Center & International Residence would like to use
the church van for their Spring Break Mission Trip to UP. They have insurance for the trip and they
would also be covered under our policy. No
objections.
There
is a program at the
On
January 22, Andy and Amy will be celebrating their 10th anniversary
of being with us. We would like to
celebrate the occasion
and
show the congregation’s appreciation by providing a cake during fellowship and
honoring them with, a gas card for $100 and
card from the congregation. Yvonne will get a card, Sheryl will order the
cake and Pastor Chuck will get two gas cards at $50
each.
We
are hosting the ABC Central Area Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 28. Connie is in charge of lining up volunteers
for
greeters, the registration table and with
refreshments.
This
year’s Pulpit Exchange will be with Pastor Esther Barton on January 29th.
Our
Mid-Winter Celebration will be held on Sunday February 12, from 11:15 am to
12:30 pm. We will encourage everyone to
wear colorful clothes and our theme will
be – A Michigan Luau! We will have Tacos,
Salad, Ice Cream and Desserts. A
free-will
offering will go to help fund The Teddy Bears/
Prayer Shawls Ministry. A suggestion was
made to put out coffee cans for the
donations and not have someone
take them. This way people can give as
they can and not feel inadequate or embarrassed that
they cannot give what the person in front
of them was giving. This works very well
for the Methodist church when they have their
dinners.
Pastor
Chuck will be heading down to
February
27. He will visit all the snowbirds in
The
Lenten Theme and Bible Studies are in the process of being developed. Pastor Chuck will be meeting with the
Experiencing
God
groups on Sunday, January 15. The Lenten
Theme will fall under our Purpose and Passions Statement.
Music
and Worship Hold Conversations.
Our
hymnals are 30 years old and our Praise Chorus books are nearly 20 years old.
Pastor
Chuck would like have a series of Holy Conversations with the congregation and
leaders to discuss what our music should
look like for the future. The music we are using now is 30+ years
old. Twenty years ago when the Praise
Chorus books were
purchased, these songs were
popular. If we want to encourage and
retain our young people, we need to bring our music up to the
present and to be able to build on this as
the times change. We do have copyright
to reproduce
music.
One idea would be to copy the music we are using for that Sunday and
incorporate into the bulletin.
Yvonne
suggested that we also look at updating the pew bibles. Pastor Chuck and Pastor Gary no longer use
these and we
should look at bringing these up to date as
well. We will begin to have a series of
Holy Conversations around this in the spring
when the snowbirds are home. We want as much of input from our
congregation as possible.
New
business
Sheryl
suggested that we actively recycle the Sunday bulletins rather than having
people leave them in the pews or throw them in the wastebaskets. Pastor Chuck already has a recycle tub and he
will put out on Sundays so that we can recycle bulletins instead of throwing
away and leaving them in the pews.
Yvonne
questioned the condition of the flag poles as two of them are broken. Pastor Chuck said the VFW are aware of this
and will be taking care of it as they are in charge of them.
Next
meeting – Pastor Chuck will be gone – Yvonne will coordinate.
Preparation
for next meeting – Agenda Items
Next meeting: Monday, February 13,
2012 7:00 pm
Pastor Chuck will be gone and Yvonne
will chair the meeting.
Evaluation
of our meeting:
All felt good about our decisions and
how they were arrived at.
Adjournment
of Meeting
A motion was made by Sue and seconded
by David Sherwood. Meeting was adjourned
at 8:25 pm.