june 2016 the - new hope united church of christ · liz will & debbie kurtz alicia halfmann...

June 2016

THE 4360 Jackson Drive, Jackson, WI 53037 262.677.2345

email: [email protected] website: www.newhopeucc.com email: [email protected] or [email protected]

SUMMER HAPPENINGSSUMMER HAPPENINGS

Sun., June 5 Worship Time Change to 9:30 a.m.

Sun., June 19 Father’s Day

Sun., July 3 Worship Time Change to 10:15 a.m.

Mon., July 4: Independence Day

Sun., Aug. 28 at New Hope, following the service

Mon., Sept. 5: Labor Day

Sunday Worship Services - 9:30 am June 5 through June 26

SUNDAY SCHOOL STAFF APPRECIATION!

We extend a heartfelt “Thank You” for all the time, effort and talent you have put into each week’s Sunday School lesson! Our children have been blessed by your participation in our Christian Education program.

Coordinator: Angel Buettner

Pre-K, K, 1st & 2nd Grade: 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th: Liz Will & Debbie Kurtz Alicia Halfmann & Brydie Hill

VACATION SCHEDULE

Rev. Jim will be on vacation from Thursday, June 9 through Wednesday, June 22. For Pastoral Care while he is gone, please contact Rev.

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June 2016

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Pastor’s Message

GIVE IT AWAY Before you throw something away, think about if some-one else might need it. Either donate to a charitable organization or post it on a web site designed to con-nect people and things, such as Freecycle.org.

GO TO A CAR WASH Professional car washes are often more efficient with water consumption. If everyone in the U.S. who washes their car themselves took just one visit to the car wash we could save nearly 8.7 billion gallons of water.

“GOING GREEN”

“Daddy, God’s everywhere, isn’t He?” the little boy asked.

“Yes son, God’s everywhere,” his father replied.

“We can’t see God, can we?”

“No, son— we can’t see God.”

“Well, daddy— if God’s everywhere, and we can’t see Him—

then how come we don’t bump into Him?”

Summer is a time in which we “bump” into God quite often. Perhaps you and I have “bumped” into God…..

— watching a colorful summer sunset

— walking in one of the county/state parks

— listening to marriage vows in June, July, August

— the early morning hours in a fishing boat

— watching children fly a kite

— listening to the bands in parades

— a late night campfire

— the laughter and joy of a picnic

— the occasional silence on a long trip

— worshipping in a different church while on vacation

— running for water when the brats catch fire on the grill

We “bump” into God in many new ways and places during our “summer break.” And you know what? God loves nothing better than for us to bump into Him as often as possible.

This summer enjoy your family time and do new things and travel to new places—

but watch out —

You’re going to be “bumping” into someone special every day!

Rev. Jim



June 2016

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1 Darryl Kranz, Doris Schmidt &

Ed Forrester 3 Braxton Jahn 4 Joshua Jahn & Jason Oliver 5 Pat Herbst & Erica Fairbrother 8 Tim Smiley 9 Jim Lenz

10 Jenny Weyer 12 Mackensie Pauers & Mckenzie Will 15 Sarah Endlich & Emmett Gross 19 Katie Meier & Cheryl Phetteplace 21 Emma Evert 23 Neal Hernandez & Sue Lenz 26 Amy Schneider 29 Jenny Bateman

21 Jeff & Kimber Wiedmeyer 23 Steve & Kimberly Ingram 30 Bruce & Cindy Endlich Paul & Christine Shelsta

Member News

The Prayer Shawl Ministry will not be meeting during June, July or August. They will resume their meetings in September.

Enjoy your summer!

Mission & Outreach

Remember in Prayer… Please take a moment out of your busy day to say a prayer for healing in the lives of people in our community, and around the world, who are in need of spiritual, physical or emo-tional healing and support, that they may feel God’s comfort and love!

Especially:

John Blanchard— hospitalized

Gary Kranz—death of his mom, June Day

SHAWLS & HATS

If you know of someone in need of a Prayer Shawl or is going through chemotherapy and could use an adorable hat to keep their head warm, they are available in the sanctuary for the taking.

PLEASE let Karel Bretsch know who the item is for so she can add it to her records or put a note on the desk in the office with your name and the name of

the person you will be giving it to.

Our deepest sympathy goes out to Gary Kranz, and family, on the death of his mom, and long time member of New Hope, June Day. June was a valued member of New Hope and we will miss her.

On May 22,

Hudson William Meier,

son of Andy & Katie,

was baptized into our family of faith.

His sponsors were Amanda Buettner and Hayley Zubke.

"Let the children come to me, and do not stop them because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these"

-Mark 10:14



June 2016

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Fall 2015 to Spring 2016

This Sunday school season was a challenge. With attendance decreasing over the past several years, it has been difficult to plan weekly lessons. So, we combined the classes this season into two, Pre K through 2nd grade and 3rd through 6th grade. This helped significantly. It also decreased the need for as many teachers. I was fortunate to have two amazing primary teachers- Liz Will for the preK-2nd grade class and Alicia Halfmann for the 3rd-6th grade class. Brydie Hill was helpful during the fall season as the curriculum organizer and Christian Education wing decorator. She also provided some assistance to Alicia helping her co-teach. I’m thankful for Debbie Kurtz’s early childhood devel-opment/education expertise. She graciously helped co-teach with Liz. I am also thankful for the kids who attended regularly. Regular atten-dance is key to continual learning and growth of Christian faith for our children.

I enjoyed being the New Hope UCC Christian Education Director for the past 2 years , however, I am stepping down for several personal reasons. I plan to substitute teach next season. Alicia Half-mann has agreed to take over the position. God bless her and thank you all for your support!

In the words of Alicia, “the most meaningful les-son the children learned this year is that God will always provide and while we can’t see or hear him, he is always with us”.

See you this Fall. Enjoy the summer!

Sincerely,

Angel Buettner

New Hope UCC Christian Education Coordinator

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL YEAR

Christian Ed.

HABITAT BUILD FOR NEW HOPE

As many of you know, Habitat for Humanity is building affordable homes and hope for families who meet the qualifications of home ownership based on need, ability to pay and willingness to partner with Habitat. Habitat has been building homes around the world for many years in an effort to break the cycle of poverty and build long term financial security for families.

Last summer there were 15 volunteers from New Hope that worked on a home in Jackson. This year Habitat for Humanity in Washington County is building a home in West Bend, located at 610 Bender Road. We are on the schedule for Saturday, August 20th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

We are again looking for 15 volunteers to sign up from New Hope church. There will be a sign up sheet on the Scrip table. You do not need to have any special skills and will be assigned to tasks that you may be interested in doing or able to perform.

If you have any questions, please talk with Roger Kissinger or Karel Bretsch. You may also visit Habitat's website to read about the various pro-grams in Washington/Dodge counties - hfhwashco.org.

BED IN SUMMER by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894 In winter I get up at night and dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people’s feet Still going past me in the street. And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?



June 2016

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USHERS

*5 Steve Ingram, Kirk Krueger, Donna Poole, Chelli Rettmann

12 Sheila Smiley, Angel Buettner

19 Matt Doedens, Andy Gross

26 Aaron Halfmann, Steve Ingram 7-3 Kirk Krueger, Donna Poole, Chelli Rettmann, Angel Buettner

COUNTERS

5

12 Sue Lenz

19 Bruce Endlich

26 Gary Kranz

7-3 Russ Dobberpuhl

Schedules

GREETERS

5 Sue Lenz

12 Doug & Laurie Alfke

19 Jan Bargenquast & Karel Bretsch

26 John & Joanne Blanchard

7-3 Russ & Pam Dobberpuhl

MUSIC TECHS

5 Andrew Haese

12 Andrew Haese

19 Lexi Fait

26 Kelsey Oliver

7-3 Lexi Fait

A NOTE FROM THE OFFICE

If you have noticed that you are not listed on the birthday or anniversary lists each month,

please call or email the office with the missing information!

677-2345 [email protected]

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress replaced the British symbols of the Grand Un-ion flag with a new design featuring 13 white stars in a circle on a field of blue and 13 red and white stripes – one for each state. Although it is not certain, this flag may have been made by the Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross, who was an official flag maker for the Pennsylvania Navy. The number of stars increased as the new states entered the Union, but the number of stripes stopped at 15 and was later returned to 13.

In June 1886 Bernard Cigrand made his first public proposal for the annual observance of the birth of the flag when he wrote an article titled “The Fourteenth of June” in the old Chicago Argus newspaper. Ci-grand’s effort to ensure national observance of Flag Day finally came when President Woodrow Wilson is-sued a proclamation calling for a nationwide observance of the event on June 14, 1916. However, Flag Day did not become official until August 1949, when President Harry Truman signed the legislation and pro-claimed June 14 as Flag Day. In 1966, Congress also requested that the President issue annually a proclama-tion designating the week in which June 14 occurs as National Flag Week.

The President is requested to issue each year a proclamation to: call on government officials in the USA to display the flag of the United States on all government buildings on Flag Day; and to urge US residents to observe Flag Day as the anniversary of the adoption on June 14, 1777, by the Continental Congress of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States.

Be sure to check the bulletin boards in the Narthex for information on church and community activities!




June 2016

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A Summer Blessing

May you walk with God this summer in whatever you do wherever you go.

Walking with God means... walking with honesty and with courage. Walking with love and respect and concern for the feelings of others.

May you talk to God this summer on every day and in every situation.

Talking with God means... praying words of praise for the beauty of creation. Saying prayers of thanks for friends and good times.

Asking God's help in all your decisions. Expressing sorrow when you have failed. May you talk with God every day. Amen. © BeliefNet

Okay. I confess that I play two games on my iPad. It is utterly embarrassing to admit, but there you have it. I started playing Bejeweled Blitz after I read an article that said games that are timed, special, and strategic help to stimulate parts of the brain that might impede Alzheimer's disease. I figured my brain needed all the stimulation it could get, so, when I'm waiting for a plane to take off, or at an appointment, and I don't have my laptop, I whip out my trusty smartphone and play Bejeweled. The other game I play is Words with Friends. It is a game of strategy, spelling, and vocabulary, though I should ad-mit my greatest skill is making up words and then being shocked when the game actually lets me play them. I limit myself to no more than three opponents because I just don't have that much free time, and I don't want to make my opponents wait for days for me to play. Well, with that embarrassing confession off my chest, I feel a little better. Like all confessions, though, it is made easier by being able to out other colleagues. Those I compete against in Bejeweled and Words with Friends are almost all clergy colleagues. Sharing my secret "vice" with them makes me feel a little less shame because several of them are highly successful and otherwise totally functional pas-tors. I say all of this with tongue in cheek ... at least partially, because I am a little embarrassed. What I have discovered is that these games are gifts of sorts. I'm not sure they will help me stave off Alzheimer's, but, for a couple of minutes, several times a day, they keep me from working and force me not to think about church, my sermon, the next book I'm writing, the church I'm consulting with, or the new seminary course I'm teaching. Sleep doesn't get me out of work because my dreams are often church-filled, but these games keep me from working for a minute or two. The other odd gift is that I feel connected to my "friends" who play the games with me or against me. That is just the weirdest thing to me, but the only time other than Christ-mas that I have seen my middle brother has been on Be-jeweled. Last week he beat me, but this week I'm beating him. Who knows where you might find a brother or have a word with a friend? It is a new day, and life's gifts come in the strangest packages ... some of them embarrassing. Open them and relish them anyway.

BEJEWELED BLITZ By Rev. Michael Piazza

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't,

you're right." ~Henry Ford

Excerpt from: “Amazing Grace”

By: Kathleen Norris God will find us, and bless us, even when we feel most alone, unsure if we’ll survive the night.

God will find a way to let us know that he is with us in this place, wherever we are, however far we think we’ve run.

And maybe that’s one reason we worship, to re-spond to grace.

We praise God not to celebrate our own faith but to give thanks for the faith God has in us.

To let ourselves look at God, and let God look back at us.

And to laugh, and sing, and be delighted because God has called us his own.”



June 2016

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MEMORY AND PERSONHOOD By Martin B. Copenhaver

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands." From Isaiah 49:14-18

When my father died we went to tell my grandmother the news, news she was not able to comprehend. In a sense, dementia saved her from grief, so there was some comfort in that. Yet, still, her only child had died and it seemed unspeakably sad that she could not recognize his name, or mark the loss. The prophet Isaiah, asked, "Can a woman forget her child?" In the case of my grand-mother, the answer would have to be, "Yes."

When my grandmother herself died a number of years later, we said things like, "She left us a long time ago." Our memories are so much a part of who we are that it can be hard to imagine who we would be without them. In some sense we are what we remember.

But, just as surely, we are more than our memories. We do not say of an infant, living in those early months be-fore memory, "Well, she's not yet arrived. She's not yet a person."

A loss of memory does not make us any less a per-son. So those who no longer can remember the prayers of the church, or the Bible stories, or the hymns, have a special place in the church because it is a community that remembers the prayers and stories for you, and sings the hymns on your behalf when you no longer can. In the end, what ensures our personhood is that we are remembered by God. Isaiah asks, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?" And the answer is, "Yes. Tragically, sometimes yes." But Isaiah quickly adds these words, which he takes to be God's very assurance, "Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands." Prayer God, remember me, even when others forget, or when I may forget your promises. Inscribe me on the palms of your hands.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." ~Wayne Gretzky

Hope is always available to us.

When we feel defeated, we need only take a deep breath and say, “Yes,”

and hope will reappear. ~Monroe Forester

SMILE!

A little girl walked to and from school daily. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning. The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she feared the electrical storm might harm her child.

Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did, she saw her little girl walking along.

At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile. Another and another flash of lighting followed quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother's car drew up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her, 'What are you doing?'

The child answered, 'I am trying to look pretty because God keeps taking my picture.'

May God bless you today and everyday as you face the storms that come your way.

Just have a good day!



June 2016

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Kid’s Korner



june 2016 the - new hope united church of christ · liz will & debbie kurtz alicia halfmann...

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