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! MARCH 2014

ST. JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCH OF MELROSE PARK, PA

Shrove tuesday Pancake Supper

March 4 5:30-7:15 Come and eat!

Steve Brown and his crew will be cooking up great deliciousness on this last day before Lent. Enjoy the meal and each others company. Kids, help Pastor Donna convert last years palms from Palm Sunday into the ashes for this years Ash Wednesday (the next night).

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Energized!
That is how I describe the feeling after most of the transition events weve had at St. Johns. I come away energized also grateful for you who give your time and brainpower and to considering the three questions of the interim time:

Who are we? Who is our neighbor? What is God calling us to do?
One Thing I Learned
How we build on each others ideas. The blank sheets that stared at us at the start of our Feb. 23 gettogether were daunting but once one or two put down their ideas, the others seemed to come easier. I experienced this also in the Lenten and Holy Week worship planning events. The ideas were great and made better by what the next person added.

The Rev. Dr. Dee Littleton will be leading us in a workshop on Pastoral Attachment issues on Sunday, March 30, following worship. Pastor Littleton is a trained and practicing therapist and specializes in relationships with congregations and pastors. She is currently devoting her sabbatical time to studying pastoral attachment. We will benefit greatly from her expertise. The March 30 event will begin with a potluck in the fellowship hall, followed by Pastor Littletons workshop. By all means, come! ! ! !

Following are the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats identified during the Feb. 23 transition event at St. Johns. Strengths
Loving, caring congregation Sense of strong community within St. Johns Outreach to other communities through social ministry program Beautiful liturgy Beautiful music Small but active The physical building offers many possibilities Our small but active and friendly congregation Location on busy street Wonderful cooperation Strong support of each other Beautiful sanctuary Spiritual worship and blessed sermon Endowment
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Another Thing I Learned

I learned that while 11:30 on Sunday morning is a pretty convenient time to get together, especially when we have marvelous food, it is best not to gather then in the Hagan Room because it is then that our neighbors at Eglise Francophone are playing their music especially loud. So future events wont be in the Hagan Room at that particular time.

What We Need to Learn Next

How to improve relationships between members of St. Johns and pastors of St. Johns. This issue was identified in the history event and has become more apparent to me in conversations with many of the members (and, sadly former members) of St. Johns. Before you call your next pastor, this is a good time to address these issues. ! ! !2

Pastors Page

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Weaknesses
Space, building Parsonage Project PLAY, Chris Molnar, Eglise Francophone An opportunity to move forward in different ways under new leadership Improve, clear focus on social ministry Signs Change address from Melrose Avenue to Old York Road Book club Creekside Co-op Poinsettia Cleaners/Library

Not much parking Lack of families with young children Lack of consistent attendance Property problems Too many chiefs so few Indians Small web/social media presence Not having enough people to spread out responsibilities and tasks so we can prevent burn out Why wait for so long of a call committee

Opportunities
We could improve diversity Problems with Cedarbrook (and other communities difficulties) could provide opportunity for us to help More communication to our neighbors in the immediate neighborhood (re: our events, not just worship) Possibility of a space for community meetings or events Social media The Creative Arts Series Shared events with other churches and congregations

Threats
Lack of imagination Tethered to tradition Lack of young families for future growth Not being open minded enough to accept change for the future well being Fear of past Fear of future Endowment

From the Music Director

As we begin our Lenten journey together on Ash Wednesday, one of the most noticeable changes in our worship will be the music. The 40 Days are a time to mourn and repent of our sins, a time to strengthen our relationship with God, a time to meditate on the Passion of Jesus. All of this is reflected in the music of the liturgy as well as the organ and choral music chosen to support it. Music whose purpose, as always, is an offering to God that also serves to lead us in our meditations on this most essential part of our ! spiritual journey.
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Update:

Social Ministry News

During Lent, the Social Ministry Committee will be sponsoring a drive to collect rolls of toilet paper. This essential item is not covered by food stamps. We will once again have plastic eggs, each containing an item that will benefit a local organization that distributes food and other necessities to those in need in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. In addition to canned food, we will be including non-food items that are not covered by food stamps. We will also be continuing to collect tabs from aluminum cans to support the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. The collection container will be in the Hagan Room.

update our security system as far as the keys and fobs concerned. We are trying to find out how many keys/bobs are out there. If you have a key and/or fob please contact the office or me. Roberta cell 215-815-3713 or rfcoyle@verizon.net. Thank you for all your help with this project.

VOLUNTEER VALUES
Did you ever think about how many hours are volunteered at St. Johns. Lets look at the month of January. Well start with Sunday morning. The acolyte, worship assistant and lector are all volunteers. Then we have the communion assistants, ushers and sound system people. Oh then someone has to count the offering and put together the coffee hour. I almost forgot my favorite the choir. This is just Sunday morning. On January 15 Joyce put together a great lunch for a meeting of pastors who used our church. They left having seen a wonderful side of St. Johns. Roberta has been working on cleaning and organizing the many rooms and little corners of the church. Barbara Lawson has been helping in the office two Tuesdays a month we could use more help with the office Tuesdays and Wednesday. Maybe you had an idea of something that needs to be taken care of. But you just didnt know how to start. If you just call and ask someone will help you get started. You could be in the VOLUNTEER VALUES next month telling us what project you have volunteered to get started. !
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New Generation Fund - 2013

Our total contributions for 2013 amounted to $5,886.00. Thank you for your support and please remember our New Generation Fund recipients for 2014: Lutheran World Relief and Laurel House in Norristown.
The members of the Social Ministry Committee are deeply grateful for the enthusiastic support that the work of the committee receives from the members and friends of St. Johns. Thank you all!

Congregational Life

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Worship in Lent
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Holy Week
Those of us on the planning team are very excited about our designs for worship during Holy Week. That is all we are going to say now, except note these dates:

Thanks to the St. Johns folks who devoted two evenings to the goal of planning deeply meaningful and distinctive worship during Lent and Holy Week.

Ash Wednesday Worship 7:30 p.m. March 5

We will begin our worship with King Davids great psalm of contrition, Psalm 51. Following that will be our Ash Wednesday confession and imposition of ashes. Note that in our worship on Ash Wednesday, there is confession, but no absolution. The absolution will be spoken at the beginning of our worship on Maundy Thursday the bookends of Lent. Holy Communion will also be a strong part of this worship. St. Johns chancel choir will sing.

Palm Sunday, April 13th worship at 10:00 a.m. Maundy Thursday, April 17th, worship at 7:30 p.m. Good Friday, April 18th, worship at 7:30 p.m. Easter Sunday, April 20th, worship at 10:00 a.m.
(Congregation invited to sing along on the Hallelujah Chorus at the end of our festive worship.)

Sundays in Lent
Our worship on Sundays in Lent this year will begin with confession, followed by the Kyrie. Kyrie is short for Kyrie Eleison which means Lord, have mercy. Because we will give up singing or saying the word Alleluia during Lent, as is traditional among Christians, we will be using a new gospel acclamation. In that gospel acclamation there is a part that the congregation will sing every Sunday and also a verse specific to the gospel for each day that the choir will sing. We will be adding a special prayer the worship assistant will pray as the offering is brought up to the altar. During Communion in Lent, Pastor Donna will speak the Proper Preface (the words that follow the Great Thanksgiving and that change every season), instead of chanting it. We hope you find these changes add meaning to your worship. ! ! ! ! Congregational Life

Study in Lent: Jesus Passion Through Poetry

During Lent, Pastor Donna will lead a study on Thursday evenings, 7:00-8:15 p.m. in the Hagan Room. Topic of the study is

Jesus Passion Through Poetry.

We will begin on Thursday, March 13. This is a great study for poetry lovers! Invite your friends and neighbors.
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From the Transition Event Feb 23rd

! ! ! ! Members Spotlight

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From the Council article for February 2014 Chimer

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The March 23rd transition event

The Church Council met on December 8th 2013. Here is a list of things that were done by the Council during this meeting. Officers were elected for 2014. President Bob Baetke Vice President Johnny Bruno Secretary Chris Suloff Treasurer Tim Terry Financial Secretary Josh Pinnel We created a committee that will manage the use of the parsonage during the interim period between pastors as well as examine the facts pertaining to the future use of the parsonage. Approved the Personnel Committees recommendation that David Lembo work a reduced employment schedule (3/4) time while he participates in his internships. We discussed if an updated Child Protection Policy is needed. This will be discussed further at the January meeting. !

Has been changed to March 30th.

We have also selected dates for the first 3 meetings of 2014. These meetings will be on Sunday January 19th, Sunday February 16th, and Sunday March 16th. They will be all held after worship and all members of the congregation are welcome to attend. If anybody has any issues that they wish to raise with Council, they can bring it to any member ! of the Council at any time. ! !8

From the Council

Diary of a Mad Artist:

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Art And The World I Live In

Digital Artwork by Joan Myerson Shrager

Reception:
St. Johns Creative Art Series 2013-14
1224 Melrose Avenue, Melrose Park PA 19027

March 30th 1:30 to 3:30PM

March 30th to April 27th 2014

Self-Study for Lent

In the Hagan Room is a pile of devotional books that Pastor Donna has found helpful during Lent. The ones with her name may be borrowed and returned after Easter. The others you may keep. Blessed praying & growing in faith during the season of Lent!
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CHIMER Deadlines for the next year

March 19 for April 2014 April 16th for May 2014 May 21st for June 2014 June 18th for July/August 2014 August 20th for September 2014 September 17th for October 2014 October 22nd for November 2014 November 19th for December 2014 December 17th for January 2015 ! Your voice is welcome in the CHIMER. Material submitted beyond the deadline may or may not be included. !
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Welcome
from the staff of St. Johns
Donna Wright, Interim Pastor prdonnawright@gmail.com David Lembo, Parish Administrator atchair@gmail.com Chuck Griffin, Jr, Director of Music Sibyl Weidner, Design Specialist

Volunteer Staff
Sunday School Coordinator: Norajean Flanagan Office: Roberta Coyle Parish Activities: Steve Brown !"#$%&&"'()%**+,,""-!Allison Nguyen, Bob Baetke, Joyce Rasmussen, and Marcia Boraas Financial Resources: Tim Terry Property Resources: Tim Terry Social Ministry: Norajean Flanagan

Congregational Leaders

Fellowship
Philly FOSNA is proud to announce a Philadelphia Sabeel/ FOSNA Conference
Friday and Saturday March 28-29, 2014
Friday registration opens at 11am, sessions begin at 1pm and end at 8:30pm. Saturday conference opens at 8am, sessions begin at 9:15am and end at 5:45pm. The purpose of this two-day conference is to examine the role of the United States in Israel-Palestine. It is sponsored by Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA). It is hosted by the American Friends Service Committee. The conference will be held at Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, near historic City Hall and national shrines. The intention, design, and spirit of this FOSNA Conference is to galvanize advocacy for justice in Israel-Palestine. This groundbreaking conference will spotlight what is happening in the US with regard to Israel-Palestine through plenary sessions and workshops. Distinguished plenary speakers will address current realities such as US foreign policy, the media, political discourse, and religion. Interactive workshops will engage participants about relevant historical realities, offer timely updates regarding facts on the ground, and provide ample time for lively discussions about creative responses opportunities for involvement in specific areas of advocacy such as campus organizing, US military aid, educating through Steadfast Hope and Kairos USA, Difficult Conversations, Palestine as a civil rights struggle, and BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).

Coffee Hour: Sue Kershner & Steve Brown St. Johnsmen: Steve Brown & John Kopyar Ruth Circle: Joan Seader

Worship & Arts

Worship: Joyce Rasmussen & Bob Baetke Arts: Cindy Raff Altar Care: Fran & Roger Pinnel Sacristan: Roger Pinnel Flowers: Johnny Bruno

Officers of the 2014 Church Council

Bob Baetke - President Johnny Bruno Vice President Chris Suloff Secretary Josh Pinnel - Financial Secretary Tim Terry - Treasurer Other Council Members: Roberta Coyle, Janet Leech, & Peter Rasmussen, Pr. Donna Wright

The CHIMER
Editor & Design: Sibyl Weidner Photographer: Bert Glenn CHIMER Copyright 2014 St. Johns Lutheran Church of Melrose Park, PA Whos Who at St. Johns

! Conference participants can expect to leave with a wealth of specific avenues for action. ! ! ! 10