rev. mike bealla
TRANSCRIPT
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PASTORS LETTER NEW YOUTH GROUP
CHILDREN’S MINISTRY NEWS
THIS MONTH IN ELM PARK HISTORY
SOUP AND SERMON
HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE
LENTEN BIBLE STUDY
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
WALK WITH JESUS!
FAMILY EASTER EVENT
COMMUNICATION’S
TEAM NEWS
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Grace and peace to you in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ!
Here we are almost halfway through the Lenten Season as you receive this edition of “The Journey.” For the last week or so it looked like Spring was just around the corner but alas, as I am writing this piece for the newsletter the snow is falling and the wind is howling as win-ter reminds us it hasn’t given up yet.
So on this snowy day I want to brag a bit about our great church! I have just received a letter to the church family that thanks us for paying our Shares of Ministry at the 100% level.
Elm Park has always done so as we clearly understand our commitment and our covenant to be a connectional and mis-sional church! Someday soon I hope to put together some in-formation about the wonder-ful, life changing ministries you participate simply by being a faithful member of our church. Check out the www.UMC.org website to scan the many min-istries, local, regional and worldwide we are a part of through our connectional giv-ing!!
Our Church Council voted to become a covenant partner with our Susquehanna Confer-ence “Sierra Leone Initiative” this past January. Our commit-ment of $100.00 per month will pay the salary of a full time
pastor in the West African country of Sierra Leone. Our denomination is rapidly grow-ing in Sierra Leone and such funding is critically needed to continue our work there. We will actually be given a cove-nant partner congregation to partner with so that each con-gregation will benefit from this partnership. Thanks to Leigh Redmon for moving this pro-ject along!
Our Peace Meal continues to reach into the community and offer much more than a monthly meal. As folks gather to break bread and fellowship over a hot, freshly prepared meal, lives are connected and the presence of Christ is felt.
(Continued on page 2)
Rev. Mike Bealla Senior Pastor
Telephone: (570) 342-8263 Email: [email protected] Website: elmparkumchurch.org
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All are welcome to join us on the Second Saturday of each month for this wonderful outreach.
Carrie Granche, our new pastoral assistant has been busy calling our church members and families to update our in-formation and to introduce herself and her role on our staff. Thank you for your gracious response to her calling. She will be the contact for our shut-ins and homebound members to be sure every member is connected to our ministry. Car-rie will begin to focus on older youth ministries in the com-ing months as well after her initial work is organized. Carrie will be entering Drew Theological School this fall as she be-gins her theological education.
Finally, (at least for now), let me remind you to plan to attend all of our Holy Week and Easter services. They are listed in this edition of “The Journey.” I promise you a fuller and richer experience of Easter will be yours by attending Palm/Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship services…And of course we continue our “Soup and Sermon” Series at 12:10 pm on Wednesdays during the remaining days of Lent.
Until I see you next, Grace and Peace!
Rev. Mike Bealla!
(Continued from page 1)
March 25 - 31
PASSION/PALM SUNDAY
March 25, 2018 - 2 Services
HOLY THURSDAY
Maundy Thursday/Communion Service
Thursday, March 29, 2018
7:30pm - Sanctuary
GOOD FRIDAY
March 30, 2018
7:30pm - Sanctuary
EASTER SUNDAY
April 1, 2018
ONLY ONE SERVICE - 11:00am
We hope to see you there!
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02 Mark Dallolio
03 Connor Kreig
05 Julieann Baum
05 William G Smith
06 Maddie Emick
06 Sarah Lester
06 Tyler Scotch
06 Robert Stemphoski
07 Dylan Anderson
07 Quinn Anderson
07 Andrea Daniels
08 Sean Eidenberg
08 Robert Griffiths
08 John Zumbach
09 Donald Dakin
10 Kelly Harron
10 Joseph Smith Jr.
11 Maryanne Pabst
12 Erik Anderson
13 Conor Dempsey
13 Georgia Granza
13 Jeff Moran
14 Patricia Atkins
14 *Thomas Brogan
14 Gary Powell
14 Virginia Rodriguez
14 Carole Thompson
15 Carly Griffiths
15 Ava Smolley
16 Katie Cooper
17 Emilee Butler
17 Edna Housley
17 Lois Schwalje
17 Sharon Wagner
18 Donald Fisch Jr
18 Jared Hill
18 Randy Wagner
20 Ceilia Severini
21 Edward Bugno
21 Ruth Curtis
21 Keith Davis
21 Kyle Kearney
21 Sally Thompson
22 Donna Dutter
22 Bradley Jones
23 Cheyenne Cortazar
23 John McDonald Jr
24 Melissa Luczak
25 Luke Andres
25 Pastor Bruce Gowe
25 Mark Kozik
25 Joe Lieber
25 Michelle Muro
26 Clara Davis
26 John Davis IV
26 Meredith Dempsey
27 Janet Campbell
27 Elaine Donly
27 Hong Van Nguyen
27 Julia Tucker
28 Karen Kowalski
29 Catherine Delguercio
29 Betty Jane Miller
30 Celestine Conrad-Kifer
31 Walter Knorr
31 Michael Serge
ELM PARK E-MAIL ADDRESSES
Rev. Mike Bealla - Senior Pastor
Marie Priblo
Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper
Carole Mason
Director of Family Life Ministries
Carrie Granche
Pastoral Assistant & Teen Ministries
Dale McCloe
Maintenance Supervisor
Wesley Bealla
Director of Communications and IT
George Simmons - Music Director
March 30th
April 2nd
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PLEASE JOIN US
SUNDAY MORNINGS
AT 9:45AM
Our Lenten Bible Study continues
each Tuesday with two study times;
1:00pm, and 7:00pm. Please join us
as we study “Christ Is For Us!” The bi-
ble study is held in the Library.
UNITED METHODIST WOMEN
The United Methodist Women are happy to report we have fulfilled all of obligations to be a Five Star Unit for 2017.
A "Big Thank You" to all of you who worked on projects during the year to make this happen. We will have a start-up meeting on Monday April 9th at 7 PM.
Please check the April Newsletter and the Sunday Bulletin for more updated information. Hope to see you there as we need to plan what direction we will be going in 2018.
In Christian Love, Louise Jones, President
Wednesdays at 12:10pm now
through March 21st in the Chapel.
A wonderfully prepared
soup meal will be served in
the dining room!
March 7th
Rev. Carole McCallum
Retired Elder NJ Conference
United Methodist Church
March 14th
Rev. Doug Posegate
Court Street / Embury
United Methodist Churches
March 21st
Pastor Eric Luczak
Daleville/Maple Lake
United Methodist Churches
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Written By Ed E. Rogers
Elm Park U.M. Chair of Archives &History
When the Rev. Dr. Harold Case arrived in Scranton in 1938, in addition to being regarded as an
excellent preacher, he was known throughout the country as Alf Landon’s pastor. Landon, the Republican
nominee for President in 1936, was a member of the First Methodist Church in Topeka, Kansas, where Dr.
Case was pastor before being appointed to Elm Park.
According to a story in The Scranton Tribune announcing Dr. Case’s appointment, he had traveled with
Governor Landon “a great deal” during his unsuccessful campaign. The frequent presence of a Methodist min-
ister on the campaign trail wasn’t enough to save the former Kansas governor from one of the most stinging de-
feats in history. President Franklin D. Roosevelt easily won re-election by garnering 98.49 percent of the elec-
toral votes.
Methodists apparently had a special place in Governor Landon’s life. His maternal grandfather, the Rev.
William Mossman, was a Methodist minister and Alfred was born in his parsonage in West Middlesex, Mercer
County, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 9, 1887. His mother had traveled to West Middlesex from the family home in
Elba, Ohio, to stay briefly with her parents in anticipation of the future presidential candidate’s birth.
Landon spent most of his childhood in Marietta, Ohio before moving to Kansas. After graduating from the
University of Kansas, he became an independent oil producer in Lawrence, Kansas. His business made him a
millionaire, and he became a leader of the liberal Republicans in Kansas where he was elected governor in
1932.
The 1936 Republican National Convention selected Landon as its presidential nominee. He proved to be
an ineffective campaigner and carried just two states in the election. After the election, Landon remained active
in Kansas politics and business for decades, helping his daughter Nancy Kirshenbaum, win a Senate seat. He
never ran for public office again.
He died at the age of 100 in 1987, shortly after President Ronald Reagan, who had won re-election in a
landslide in 1984, came to see him in Topeka. Dr. Case was a native Kansan, having been born in the little
town of Cottonwood Falls in the northeastern part of the Sunflower State in 1902. He earned degrees from
Baker University and the Boston University School of Theology and also studied at Northwestern and Harvard.
After his ordination, he led congregations in Glencoe, Ill.; Pasadena, Calif., and Topeka before being named to
the Elm Park pulpit.
At Scranton he filled the vacancy created when the Rev. Henry Hitt Crane resigned after serving 10
years to become pastor of Central Methodist Church in Detroit. The war clouds were beginning to form over
Europe when the Case family moved into the Elm Park parsonage. Germany had taken over Austria and the
next year invaded Poland. From then, it was all downhill.
In his history of Elm Park, Henry Reed VanDeusen wrote of Dr. Case: His term covered the war years
which gave rise to many problems in our church…He proved to be an able administrator and handled all the
situations well.” The war was over when Dr. Case left to become pastor of the First Methodist Church in Pasa-
dena. He remained there until January, 1951 when he was named president of Boston University. During his
16 year tenure there BU developed into a leading research institution and completed extensive construction
programs, including the university's 10 largest buildings and its medical center.
Dr. Case left Boston in 1967 and became acting president of Whittier College in California for a year. Af-
ter that he traveled to Africa and Asia, giving talks on educational problems facing new schools. He died at his
home in Annisquam, Massachusetts on Feb. 20, 1972, aged 69.
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MARCH
CHAPEL READERS SANCTUARY READERS
04 Bill Miller 04 Carole Mason
11 Ed Rogers 11 Elm Park Youth
18 Cindy Fisch 18 Carrie Granche
25 Marianne Wolfe 25 Joan Pilosi
CHAPEL USHERS/GREETERS SANCTUARY GREETERS
04 Doug Allen & Conrad Bosley 04 Ron Stewart and Joan Pilosi
11 Cindy and Don Fisch 11 Elm Park U.M. Youth
18 Conrad Bosley & Alan Cunningham 18 Jill Eidenberg and Meghan Eidenberg
25 Liz Swartz & Nacy Yasinskas 25 Sarah Cooper and Volunteer
SANCTUARY USHERS
04 Joan Pilosi, Bill Miller, Betsy Miller, Jane Miller, Leigh Redmon, Ron Stewart, Sarah Cooper
11 Elm Park U.M. Youth
18 Jason Miller, Julie Miller, Camden Miller, Coen Miller, Jill Eidenberg, Sean & Megan Eidenberg
25 Harold Hiller, Dave Walker, Dawn Redmon, Sarah Cooper, Tina Kohanski, Leigh Redmon, and
Volunteer
ACOLYTES March 4th - Carolyn Burke & Elaina Barron, March 11th - Luke & Ethan
Warring, March 18th - Carolyn Burke & Kiera Brogan, March 25th - Mandy Magnot
& Kiera Brogan
RECEPTIONIST
04 Marcy Jesse / Elizabeth Swartz
11 Lacey Stanton / Marcy Jesse
18 Marcy Jesse / Tina Kohanski
25 Andrew Sucheski / Renee Aston
HOSPITALITY HOST/HOSTESSES
04 Tina Kohanski / Eileen Grassi
11 Betty Lee, Kim Lee, Betsy Miller / Barb Peters and Liz Calianno
18 Jill Luczak / John & Marie Warring
25 Marianne Wolf / Martha Butler and Mary Gordon
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COMMUNICATIONS
AND MEDIA TEAMS
Over the past year both the Com-
munications team and the Media
team has been focused on trying
to bring you better ways to know
and see what is going on in our
church. We have worked hard to
revamp our website to be a better
and up to date place where you
can watch videos, find church
news, register for upcoming events,
view and download this newsletter,
and to see our church calendar.
We updated the church logos to
better show that we are proud to
be a United Methodist church. We
helped the staff rebrand the
Monthly Newsletter to be called
“The Journey”, and we helped cre-
ate Rev. Mike’s weekly email called
“The Weekly Journey”. The Media
team has been hard at work with
the help of our wonderful Trustees
to get the equipment and the soft-
ware to be able to live stream the
service each week and we have
begun to slowly upgrade our audio
equipment so all of us can hear
better during the service.
I know some of you have been
missing our weekly video series
called “Announcements with Diana Howe” but we are working hard on creating a brand new se-
ries in a brand new interview style format. This new series will be geared more towards explaining
what is going on in the church and will feature a different guest each episode. We are hoping to
unveil this new bi-weekly web series in the coming weeks and we are sure you will enjoy it!
We are hoping that all of these little changes and ideas we have in mind for the near future help
you better understand who we are, what we believe, and what is going on in the church.
Wesley Bealla
Communications Committee Chair
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c. 1770 Mary Evans Thorne is appointed class leader by Joseph Pilmore in Philadelphia; she is probably the first woman in America so appointed.
1768 Barbara Heck, known as the mother of American Methodism, urges Philip Embury to start preaching in New York and designs John Street Chapel in New York City. 1787 Despite objections of some male preachers, John Wesley authorizes Sarah Mallet to preach as long as “she proclaimed the doctrines and adhered to the disciplines that all Methodist preachers were expected to accept.” 1827 Isabella Bomefree, a slave who later changes her name to Sojourner Truth, is emancipated when slavery is abolished in New York State. That same year, she co-founds Kingston Methodist Church. In 1843, she feels "called in the spirit" and begins to travel and preach. She becomes involved in the abolition-ist movement, and her public speaking combines her religious faith with her experiences as a slave. 1834 Sophronia Farrington, the first single missionary, arrives in Liberia. 1835 Phoebe Palmer, evangelist and mother of the American holiness movement, conducts weekly prayer meetings in her home. 1837 Ann Wilkins is appointed missionary to Liberia by the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society. 1849 Charity Opheral is granted a preacher's license by the United Brethren Church. 1851 Lydia Sexton is recommended as a "pulpit speaker" by the United Brethren General Conference. 1856 Clementina Rowe Butler and her husband William arrive as the first Methodist Episcopal Church missionaries to India. In 1872, they establish a Methodist Episcopal mission in Mexico. 1857 The United Brethren General Conference passes a resolution that no woman should be allowed to preach. 1862 Amanda Hanby Billhelimer becomes the first United Brethren in Christ woman to serve as a mission-ary when she begins service in Sierra Leone with her husband. 1863 Fannie Crosby, a lifelong Methodist blind from infancy, writes her first hymn. She writes more than 9,000 hymns, many of which remain perennial favorites (for example, "Blessed Assurance," "To God Be the Glory" and "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior." 1866 Helenor M. Davisson is ordained deacon by the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, making her the first ordained woman in the Methodist tradition. 1869 Margaret Newton Van Cott is the first woman in the Methodist Episcopal Church to receive a local preacher's license. Isabella Thoburn and Clara Swain leave for India where Thoburn launches a college in Lucknow that bears her name. Dr. Swain begins medical work in Bareli, and a hospital is later named in her honor. FOR THE FULL TIMELINE OF WOMEN IN METHODISM, PLEASE VISIT http://www.umc.org/who-we-
are/timeline-of-women-in-methodism.
Timeline of Women in Methodism
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Family Life Ministries Carole G. Mason
Director Of Family Life Ministries
570-342-8263 ext. 17
The Son Seekers is a children’s
ministry for children ages 6-12
years old. They meet twice a
month on the second and fourth Tuesdays.
The March meeting dates are as follows:
March 13th at 6:00pm
Destination Unknown Activity
March 27th at 6:00pm
Parent Night!! ATTENTION PARENTS
& CHILDREN
The Wesleyan Choir will be singing dur-
ing the 11am worship services April 1st
(Easter), and May 13th (Mother’s Day).
We practice Sundays at 9:45am prior to Sunday
School. We hope all of our children will be present to
enliven our worship services as we praise God togeth-
er! If you have any questions, please contact the direc-
tor Janet Muse-Burke
at [email protected]. Thank you!!
CAMP REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT available until May 1, 2018. Receive a $25 decrease in camp fees. Gain additional savings with Sibling Discounts and Bring-A-Friend Dis-counts. Financial assistance is available through the campership program; print an application at www.susumcamps.org. You will also find the camp brochure, forms, and additional information at this site or contact the camp office at 717-766-7395.
A Confirmation Class will be forming this fall for children aged 12 or older who have not yet been confirmed.
Please contact either Rev. Mike Bealla, Carole Mason, Cheryl McDonald, or Jill Brogan to be placed on the list for the upcoming Confirmation Class! Thank you! The office number is 570-342-8263.
Kierra Brogan
Katie Cooper
Joseph Smith
Ben Warring
Ethan Warring
Luke Warring
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MARCH 4 - The flowers for the worship services have been given to the glory of God in
loving memory of Joseph Bandru by Jason, Julie, Camden, Coen & Carsen Miller.
MARCH 11 - The flowers for the worship services have been given to the glory of God
and in loving memory of Loved Ones by the Curtis Family.
MARCH 18 - The flowers for the worship services have been given to the glory of God
and in memory of Benjamin H. Lee, Karen, Lee, and Karri Lee, and in honor of Betty Lee by Kimberly Lee.
MARCH 25 - The palms for the worship services have been given in loving memory of Ben Lee, Karri Lee,
parents Harold Lee, Elmer & Martha Green and Gladys Carlton by Betty Lee.
The flowers for the worship services have been given to the glory of God and in loving memory of Bill Jen-
kins by Mary Gordon.
OPEN DATES FOR ALTAR FLOWERS: May 27th, June 3rd, July 1st, and July 8th. Please call Marie Priblo at 570
-342-8263 if you are interested in any of these available dates. Thank you.
World Day of Prayer
Friday, March 2, 2018
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Don’t be late for Church!!
Move your clocks forward Saturday
night before going to bed!
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Join Us for the 2018
MILES FOR MISSIONS Walk/Run-a-Thons
There will be a Walk/Run-A-Thon held in each of the 7 Districts from April - May 2018!
100% of the donations will go to Bishop’s Partners in Mission to support:
Imagine No Malaria and Mission Central
Dates in each District: Altoona – April 7, 2018 York – April 15, 2018
State College – April 29, 2018 Lewisburg – May 5, 2018
Williamsport – May 6, 2018
Scranton Wilkes-Barre – May 12, 2018
Harrisburg – May 19, 2018
If you would like to be a part of the Elm Park Team,
Please contact Carole Mason or Carrie Granche!
If you haven’t already, you will
be receiving a phone call from an
Elm Park Staff Member to update
your information; phone number,
address, and email address. If you
know your information has
changed, please call the office at
570-342-8263. Thank you!!
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The Son Seekers along with the Youth Group and members of Elm Park visited the United Methodist Archives and
History Center at Drew University on Saturday, February 24th. This was an enlightening trip as we were afforded the
opportunity to visit areas normally closed to the public. We learned a lot about the History of the United Methodist
Church, viewed artifacts, and handled a bible and hymnal from the early 1800’s. Our host and guide, Dale Patterson
was very gracious and informative.
Chair used as a Pulpit
by John Wesley when
he preached on the
Green at Stockport,
England
September 25 1765
A Wall hanging celebrating
the Bicentennial of the Unit-
ed Methodist Church. High-
lights of Methodist history
are portrayed in the four
quadrants created by the
central cross.
Wesley death mask, 1791 -
Copy of original plaster
facial cast made in his
casket by Nicholas Ridley.
Tip of a human thumb be-
longing to Rev. George
Whitefield (1770).
Whitefield died suddenly
in New England in 1770.
Portrait of
John Wesley
Key to Wesley’s
Prayer Room and his
spectacles.
Initial Start of Tour
Guide - Dale Patterson
One mechanism used to pre-
serve artifacts and materials.
Communion Set typically
used by Methodist
Churches at the turn of
the 20th Century.
To read about these and many more treasures found at the United Methodist Archives and History Center, please
visit http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/commission-on-archives-history for additional information!
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Tommy Brogran achieved and was
awarded his Bear rank in cub scouts at the
Blue and God Banquet last weekend!
Ben Warring was cho-
sen to attend the Junior National Young
Leaders Conference based on his aca-
demic achievement and leadership po-
tential!
I am pleased to join the Elm Park United Methodist Staff. Part
of my responsibilities will be to organize a youth group for ages
13-18. I will be contacting parents to discuss my plans to begin
a teen bible study held twice a month beginning in April. The
curriculum chosen is “Can I Ask That?” The group will initially
meet twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 7:00-
8:00pm. Teen members of our church joined the Son Seekers
on their visit to the United Methodist Archive Center at Drew
University as well as attended the Youth Rally in February. We
will also be partnering with St. Paul's U.M. Church in an effort to
expand our youth groups. Please consider this an invitation to
join us and feel free to contact me with any questions you may
have at the office; 570-342-8263. -CARRIE GRANCHE