| MARCH EVENTS | APRIL EVENTS |
| SUNDAY WORSHIP | SUNDAY WORSHIP |
| USHERS Eric McPeak & Rick Koenig | USHERS Brad & Marshall Swearingen |
| GREETERS March 3|Todd & Megan Massey March 10|Stephanie Werner & Michele McQueen March 17|Chris & Ann Knabe March 24|Mike & Alice McQueen March 31|Mark & Lori Mueller | GREETERS April 7|Bill & Connie Rockey April 14|Bryce & Lora Brobst April 21|Darrin & Valerie Arment April 28|Charlotte Dickinson & Bev Sunderman |
| COFFEE/FELLOWSHIP Mar. 24th Bill & Carol Vonderschmidt Rick & Cathy Koenig Bill & Connie Rockey | COFFEE/FELLOWSHIP Apr. 28th George & Charlotte Hageman Wayne & Bev Albertson Charlotte Dickinson |
| CHURCH GROUPS Women's Guild: March 27, 7:00 p.m. Julie Blagg will be the guest speaker. Salad and pizza will be served. Consistory: Mar. 6th, 7:00 p.m. | CHURCH GROUPS Women's Guild: April 24th, 7:00 p.m. Lesson Leader: Clarissa Ross Hostess: Vonda Huerter Consistory: Apr. 3rd, 7:00 p.m. |
| OTHER Maundy Thursday Service, BUCC, 7:30 p.m. Good Friday Poverty Meal and Devotion, 6:00 p.m. Note: Communion will be served Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. | |
| Flowers for March: Leah McPeak | Flowers for April: Dorothy Hixson |
Julie Blagg will be the guest speaker at the March 27th guild meeting. Please note the time has been changed to 6:30 p.m. Julie is an inner-city missionary in the Kansas City area and works with the homeless. BUCC Guild has supported Julie through guild outreach for many years. All BUCC women are encouraged to attend. Also, consider bringing a friend . . . salad and pizza will be served! | |
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You can write this information on a scrap of paper and drop it in the collection tray, email it to me or any other means convenient to you. We really need this information.
Thanks for your help!!
Roger Rankin
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Recently, I had a humbling experience. I was invited to take part in a tribute concert at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City; to play a piece of music written by a Kansas City-born composer, who died on March 11, 1993. His mother and sister were in the audience. The house was packed: standing room only. It was cool and dark in the room, and very humid. By the time it was my turn to play, both my hands felt like dead lobsters hanging from my wrists. The piece starts out with a beastly difficult two pages of very fast sixteenth-note figures in both hands. I crashed through the first two pages like a wet, Irish wolfhound lumbering through a room full of china figurines. By then, I was warmed up, but it was too late. The rest of the piece was a rescue mission - it ended well, and his mother and sister were pleased. But I was humiliated. Today, I am still moping.
I started thinking about our Lenten journey, and how Jesus again and again asks us to "repent" - to turn again to God in prayer and to redouble our efforts to keep God as the focal point of our lives and our desires. Yet it seems so difficult to keep our intentions pure; in prayer, in life, in actions, thoughts, words and deeds. Many times, I feel defeated, humiliated, a failure in the work of holiness and personal devotion.
And then I think of the rejoicing in Heaven, each time a sinner repents his or her sin, and turns again to God. Almost like the mother and sister of the composer, who wept and hugged me and thanked me for playing their loved one's piece. It wasn't a perfect performance, by any stretch, but they appreciated the effort and the desire of all the performers there: to honor the memory of their loved one. When we listen to Jesus, we honor him, and God is pleased. And the more we listen and imitate Jesus, the more we become the men and women God has designed us to be. In our Wednesday even- ing Lenten Supper Bible studies, one person insightfully noted that God "may have accomplished more through Samson's failures than his successes." This lesson came home Sunday evening after the concert. I prayed that God would somehow work through my mistakes to bring comfort to this composer's mother and sister. From their reaction, I believe my prayer was answered.
In Christ,
Shane
The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world. Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice. But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice.
~Henry Knox Sherrill
March 13: Lenten Luncheon, First Christian
March 13: Bethany Lenten Supper, 6:00 p.m.
March 17: Lent V-John 12:1-8
March 20: Lenten Luncheon, First Baptist
March 20: Bethany Lenten Supper and Easter Caroling, 6:00 p.m. (Easter caroling to Vintage Park and Pines South)
March 24: Palm Sunday-Luke 22:14-23:56
March 28: Maundy Thursday Service, 7:30 p.m.
March 29: Good Friday Poverty Meal and Devotion, 6:00 p.m.
March 31: Easter Sunday-Luke 24:1-12
GPS members would like to invite you to come to our Sunday School class. If you've never participated in Sunday School before, it's OK. If you're not sure about our class, it's OK. Just come and try it out. We'd love to have you!
We've enjoyed discussing Max Lucado's book Outlive Your Life and are continuing to discuss it and related issues, such as poverty in our own community and what we can do about it. We are beginning small and the Poverty Meal is our first endeavor. Through the Poverty Meal, we hope to raise awareness within our group and within our church about how it feels to go hungry and also to raise money for the North Brown County Food Pantry. Some of you may have read in the Hiawatha World that the food pantry is working with Feinstein Fight for Hunger and monetary donations during March and April will be matched by this organization. (It might be coincidence, or might just be a little "thank you" from God.)
YOU'RE INVITED...
GPS would like to invite you to a poverty meal and devotion. Although you may have experienced hunger in your lifetime, this will be an opportunity to remember that time and/or experience it for the first time. Many people in the world and even in our own town go hungry. Reality is hard to face. But we believe in God and believe in using our own gifts to make a difference. Let's start by recognizing the feelings of hunger.
You may consider fasting* in preparation for the meal, which will be quite simple. Then respond by donating what you would have spent eating out one meal. Money donated will go to our North Brown County Food Pantry. *We recognize that not all will be able to, but we invite you to participate to the extent that you feel comfortable.
Our Poverty Meal and devotion will be held on Friday, March 29th in conjunction with Good Friday. We will begin at 6:00 p.m. All members and friends of Bethany UCC are invited to attend. Thank you to Carol Spangler for donating Grains for Hope for the meal. This is the product Carol's nonprofit foundation produces for developing countries. Read more at www.grainsforhope.org
"Let's be the people who stop at the gate. Let's look at the hurting until we hurt with them. No hurrying past, turning away, or shifting of eyes. No pretending or glossing over. Let's look at the face until we see the person" from Max Lucado's book Outlive Your Life.
The Hiawatha Elementary School is collecting receipts from Thriftway dated from September 1 to March 31. The subtotal of all the receipts are added up and sent into Apples for the Students. HES receives points that the school can use to purchase supplies. They are also collecting Box Tops for Education again through February 15. Please bring your receipts and box tops to the church and place them in the basket in the coat room.
Congratulations to Cristina Brown on the birth of her son, Levi Jude Brown born on Feb. 19, 2013!
Young children are invited to a Sunday School Easter Egg Hunt at 9 a.m. on Easter Sunday! Meet downstairs at Bethany UCC - Bring a basket and a great big smile!
The 2013 Relay For Life of Brown County will be Fri.-Sat., June 7-8 from 6 p.m.-6 a.m. at the Hiawatha High School Track. This year's theme is "Keep Calm & Relay On...ACS 100 Years Strong!"
In May 2013, the American Cancer Society will celebrate 100 years of progress in their effort to help create a world with less cancer and more birthdays! In May 1985, Dr. Gordy Klatt took the first step of his walk/jog/ run around a Tacoma, WA track to raise money to support the American Cancer Society, and the Relay For Life event was born.
Jessie Brintnall volunteers as a Team Captain for the local event. Teams help raise money to help fund research for a cure, services for those now fighting the disease, and programs aimed at prevention and early detection. Jessie and her peers chose the team name E.G.G.s (also known as Eighth Grade Girls!) They are accepting monetary donations, and have the following fundraisers planned:
For information on how to get involved as a cancer survivor or event volunteer, call Lora Brobst at 742-2385. For more information on cancer, call the ACS 24-hour help line at 1-800-227-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.