Parish Prose

April 2017

From the Pastors Desk

There is a story of a Sunday School class in Tennessee made up of 4 year olds. The teacher looked at the class and asked: “Does anyone know what today is?” A little girl held up her hand and said, “Yes, today is Palm Sun-day.” The teacher exclaimed, “That’s fantastic, that’s wonderful. Now, does anyone know what next Sunday is?” The same little girl held up her hand and said, “Yes, next Sunday is Easter.” Once again the teacher said, “That’s fantastic. Now, does any-one know what makes next Sunday Easter?” The same little girl re-sponded, “Yes, next Sunday is Easter because Jesus rose from the grave …” The teacher was so delighted but before she could con-gratulate the young girl out of the mouth of babes came, “but if he

sees his shadow … we have seven more weeks of winter.” Yes, Easter is almost here but no it does not mean seven more weeks of winter. Easter, for

us, is synonymous with spring. There is a reason that it finds itself in a unique place in our calendar. Spring represents outdoors; a change of seasons; a prelude of summer events; new growth in our plants. Easter represents hope that our life will be not be shackled to the past but something new will occur. The season of Easter means the past is the past and we can start over. For the Christian Church it is a momentous event that signifies that the church will not die, our faith does not rest, and that God is still active and alive in all that we do. Yes, Easter is a big deal and we invite you to participate in any and all of our Easter activities.

Thursday, April 13th: Maundy Thursday service in the Fireside Room

Communion service and a lesson on Broken Pieces

Sunday, April 16th – Easter Sunday

6:15 a.m. – Sunrise Service at the Scotts Bluff Monument Amphitheatre Approx. 7:00 a.m. – Youth led breakfast in the Fellowship Hall

8:00 / 10:30 a.m. – Easter celebration “Who Are You Looking For?”

11:30 a.m. – Easter egg hunt on the church lawn

Seth

PRESENCE

ATTENDANCE AT WORSHIP

AND SUNDAY SCHOOL

Date Worship Sunday School

Mar 5: 151 35

Heritage 25

12 136 30

19 155 47

26 148 23 NFV 5

Email address to reach the church staff:

Pastor Seth Leypoldt: sleypoldt@greatplainsumc.org

Church office: geringumc@gmail.com

Web site: geringumc.org

HELPING HANDS

MINISTRY

Do you need some assistance with a chore around your home? If so call Shane Cripps, 436-8055; Chuck Richter, 637-4067; or church office, 436-2320.

Car Stickers

The Committee on Witness and Evangelism is making available a new static sticker for the inside of your car. This item replaces the magnet that many of us put on our cars and then were lost to the streets and car washes of

Scottsbluff and Gering. The static-cling stick-er is 3x3 and will attach to the inside of any window. A larger 5x5 window decal are also available.

MAILING ADDRESS CHANGE

We will be changing the church mailing address to

900 “O” Street.

You can start using the street address immediately. We will no longer have a P.O.Box as of Jan

Prayer List As you are praying would you please

especially lift up the following members

and friends of our church.

Don & Meredyth Gentry Jean Harris

Taylor Johns Gollas Cindy & Brad Hayden

Robin Gomez Hunter

Payton & DiMaggio Annie Hecht

Andrae & Allison Graesser Colton

Lincoln Etta Marie Henley

Kent & Beverly Greenwalt Marian Hill

Troy & Lorraine Greenwalt Phyllis Holmead

David & Rhonda Groshans Mollie Howard

Jean Hamburger Nancy Huckfeldt

Nancy Haney Alvena Hughes

Mary Ann Hanny Virginia Hughes

Marlene Huston

EASTER

LILIES

The Worship Committee wants to try something different this year in re-gards to the Easter Lilies. Anyone wanting a Lily at church can purchase their own Lily and still have it in Memory or in Honor of a Loved One. Bring them to the church on Thursday or Friday before Easter. We will have the trays for you to put them in. There will be a card to put your name on and stick into the plant, so you can take your own plant home after Easter. Please inform the office by Wednes-day, April 12th if you will bring a Lily, so it can be recognized in the East-er bulletin. We will have forms for you to fill out available at church beginning April 4th. You may also bring a white carnation to be included on the cross located in the Narthex. Thank you.

Committee on Worship

Sermon Series

This month is unusual in that we have three sermon series’ stacked upon each other. This is what happens when Easter falls in the middle of the month. The first two Sundays we will conclude our Lenten series called JUDGES – Broken People / Faithful God. On Easter Sunday is a lesson based on John’s version of the Easter event and focuses on Jesus’ first words after the Resurrection, “Who are you looking for?” The final two Sundays focus on our summer series on the journey of life; we are call-ing it Route 66.

JUDGES – BROKEN PEOPLE / FAITHFUL GOD

April 2nd: “Jephthah Vs. Jephthah” based on Judges 10.6-8; 11.29-40 April 9th: “Samson – Haughty Vs. Humility” based on Judges 16

EASTER

April 16th: “Who Are You Looking For?” based on John 20.1-18

ROUTE 66 April 23rd: “Riding in Montana for South Africa” based on Acts 9.1-19

April 30th: “Inch By Honkin’ Inch” based on Acts 9.23-30

All past sermons can be accessed on-line at www.geringumc.org and clicking on the sermons tab.

SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASSES

TIME: 9:00-10:00 A.M.

We have classes for everyone from 2 years old to adults.

We invite you to come and join us in the study of God’s word.

Classes and Teachers

2’s & 3’s-Marie Ross & Cherie Loose

Pre-K & Kind.-TBA

1st & 2nd grades-TBA

3rd & 4th grades-Anne Bowman

5th-8th grades-Pastor Seth

Young Adult-TBA

Jesus & Java (Ladies)-Kathi Yost

Upper Room (Adult, mixed)-Alice Kenitz

The Questers (Men)- Bruce Yost

Coming In April: Work Day At Camp Norwesca.

When: April 22

Alternate Date: May 13th

Time: 9:00 am-5:00 pm

Where: Camp Norwesca

Bring: Paint Scrapers, Gloves, Window Cleaner, Squeegees, Power Washer, Eye Protection, Chainsaws, Trailers, Mules/4-wheelers, buckets, rakes, shovels, hammers, paint brushes,

left over white paint, skidsters.

We do have some shovels and equipment.

If you have any questions call 308-432-3872

HOLY WEEK SERVICE

April 9th-Palm Sunday

April 13th-Maundy Thursday Service: 6:30 pm

April 16th-Easter Services

6:15 am Sunrise Service-Monument

7:00 am Breakfast @ Fellowship Hall

8:00 am Chapel Service

9:00 am Sunday School

10:30 am Worship Service

11:30 am Easter Egg Hunt

NEW MEMBERS

March 5, 2017

Andrea and Colt Peterson

Children

Annabelle, Cheridyn, Rory, Colt

WELCOME TO OUR

CHURCH FAMILY

Youth Trip to Mexico Plans for our youth group trip to Mexico are going well. We will be leaving on Sunday, May 28th after a commission service in church. It will take us two days to travel to Weslaco, Texas where we will be staying at the First Presbyterian Church. On Tuesday, May 30th, Felix will start us in on building a casita in a section of Nueva Progresso in Mexico. After several days of work, the youth head to South Padre Island for some R&R then return home arriving safely on Sunday, June 4th. We still have room on the van for you. We are finalizing the costs of the trip but through fund-raising efforts coordinated by the Committee on Out-reach & Mission it should not be cost prohibitive. We are also committed to making sure that if you want to be in mission to the people of Mexico scholarships are available. If you do not have your passport you do need to get one before we leave on May 28th. Please re-member that it takes six weeks to process the paperwork. If you have questions, please visit with the pastor.

MISSION NOTES

First off-a very special Thank You to everyone who helped with and attended the Potato Bar. We raised just under $1200 with less than $250 in expenses. There will be anoth-er fundraiser before the Pastor and youth leave to build a ca-sita in Mexico. We will keep you posted.

As God blesses us with another beautiful spring, it’s time for us to start thinking about Conference and UMCOR. During April and May we will be getting items for school, health and flood buckets.

Bruce Yost

The church family wishes to extend deepest condolences and pray-ers to the families and friends of the following deceased members or friends.

Arlene Grassmick

ALTER COMMITTEE

The Alter Committee is a spe-cial committee that is respon-sible for the traditions and beauty of the sanctuary.

They change the paraments

(cloths on the altar and lec-tors) as the seasons of the church calendars change.

Flowers on the alter and the special flowers of Christmas and Easter are part of their responsibility. They care for the candles including the Ad-vent Candle and Christmas Eve candles. Please consider

VOLUNTEERING

for this important ministry in our church. Thank you.

COOP RECIEPTS

We are still collecting Coop receipts, groceries and flowers. For every $100,000 we turn in we get back $1000. The col-lection box is located adjacent to the coffee bar.

Also on that same table are the pop can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House and the Box Tops for General Foods and Betty Crocker for Epworth Village.

900 “O” Street Gering, NE 69341

Gering United Methodist

Phone: 308-436-2320 E-mail: Pastor: sleypoldt@greatplainsumc.org Office: geringumc@gmail.com Web site: www.geringumc.org

Nonprofit Organization

U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 5

Gering, NE

“we love him, because he first loved us’ 1 john 4:19

United Methodist Women Meetings

April 1st 8:30am-2:30 pm District UMW meeting @

Gering United Methodist Church

April 4th 9:00 am Morning Circle

Hostess: Daily Grind

Program: Jan Scripter

1:30 pm Afternoon Circle

Hostess: Rhoda Smith

Program: Jean Hamburger

April 18th 1:00 pm General UMW

Hostess: Tapestry Circle

Program: Sue Maxcy

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Our Church has a Web-site We are still working out a few kinks but we are live on the internet at www.geringumc.org. At our web-site you will find pictures, a daily calendar of activities, past sermons, opportunity for on-line giving, and more. Check us out, bookmark the site, and tell your friends to visit us at www.geringumc.org.