HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 35127 Garfield Road, Clinton Township, MI 48035

Church Office (586) 296-8760 Website: Hopeuccmi.com

Email: hopeucc@sbcglobal.net Facebook Public Page: HopeUCCMacomb

The Hope Church Beacon

SEPTEMBER 2020

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access[b] to this grace in which we stand; and we[c] boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we[d] also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5: 2-5 A colleague of mine, Lillian Daniel, shared a devotion based on these verses from an amazing chunk of Paul’s letter to the early church in Rome found in chapter five of the book of Romans. I took Lillian’s thoughts and expanded them to help us think about our current reality. Currently, we are suffering due to massive changes in our routine and our lifestyle. Change happens. And hope continues. But here’s what hasn’t changed: We are still able to endure because, we know God’s love is bigger than any pandemic. We are still able to hang onto hope, because we remember those who went before us and persevered through terrible hardships, the likes of which we can barely imagine. We know that our community hasn’t changed it’s core reason for being: We’re still just trying to connect with each other and share God’s love. Paul sent hand-written letters to encourage the first generation of Christians. Later, the printing press allowed people to have their own personal copies of the Bible, in their own languages, which was revolutionary back in the 1450s. Today you can read the Bible online and compare multiple translations on the screen. And I can communicate this beautiful verse with all of you by email, which you can then share with others. …….. continued

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=clip%20art/church%20beacon&id=5FA5DDB109EBEE61581F2F1BF81B94A13B2E71D9&FORM=IQFRBAhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:1-11&version=NRSV#fen-NRSV-28034ahttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:1-11&version=NRSV#fen-NRSV-28035bhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:1-11&version=NRSV#fen-NRSV-28035chttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:1-11&version=NRSV#fen-NRSV-28036d

2

Change happens. And hope continues. So if there’s anyone you know who could use a little hope, forward the highlighted verse on to them. If there’s someone whose character you admire, send a note to that person. And if there’s someone who has endured hard times, and grown through it, let them know that you have noticed. We all need to be reminded of what this scripture offers. We all need to remember that change happens and hope continues. Prayer Thank you God for hope, endurance and character in hard times and the promise of better times to come. Amen. Blessings of Hope, Pastor Meg

THE LEADERSHIP OF HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST Rev. Meg Wilson, Pastor & Editor ~ Sue Robinson, Publisher & Editor

Church Office (586) 296-8760

BOARD OF TRUSTEES President - Nancy Burnham Jan Dolland Rev. Meg Wilson (248) 890-3264 Vice-President - Rick Col e Ida Eckert Administrative Assistant: Sue Robinson Secretary - Donna Canu Steve Nielson Organist: Patrick Baker Treasurer - Norm Nenninger Linda Parsons Accompanist: Denise Kildea Linda Rehm Music Director: Deborah Frontczak Lori Sarnowski Kirk Schoenherr Jim Wilson

3

4

5

6

HOPE CHURCH CURRENT NEWS

THANK YOU

Janet Brown and the Lusk family want to

express our appreciation to all of Hope

UCC congregation for the prayers and

support on the passing of John Brown. A

very special thank you to Pastor Meg who went above and beyond by coming to

the house to give communion and anointing John, along with grief support for

Casey & Sam. We are all honored to have a spiritual community like Hope UCC

by our side during this journey.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations on the birth of Juliana Grace Sarnowski,

born 7/27/20, 7 lbs., 2 oz., 20 ¾“ long; grandparents: Lori

and Alan Sarnowski; great grandparents: John and Shirley

Polzin

KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS PROGRAM

We now have an opportunity to participate in the Kroger Community Rewards Program. It's

easy...all you need to participate is an email address and a Kroger rewards card. Then all you need

do is shop at any Kroger store, swipe your rewards card, and a percentage of your purchase will be donated to

the Hope Church Operating Account. If you have access to a computer, you may enroll in the program by enter-

ing http://www.kroger.com into your browser and follow this path....Savings & Rewards....Kroger Community Re-

wards....I am a Customer....Account Summary....Community Rewards....our Kroger number (HS995). If you have

questions or concerns about this program, please call Susan Winters. THE LAST CHECK WAS $90.59,

ABOUT DOUBLE THE LAST CHECK. PLEASE SIGN UP ~ THANKS.

http://www.kroger.comhttps://www.bing.com/images/search?q=clip+art%2fmoney+to+church&id=9B7271C59B32AB933D77E9FB2B342F9BDAB12A8F&FORM=IQFRBA

7

HOPE CHURCH CURRENT NEWS (cont.)

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE, HOSTED BY DENISE KILDEA ON 7/22

The weekend of August 22-23 saw a van parked out at the end of the church driveway. The sign on the side of the van urged passers by to fill up the van with food. As you can see, the folks in our community were very generous. In addition to the food, we also re-ceived some monetary donations. Our deep thanks goes out to the employees of Resurrec-tion Funeral Home. As HOPE Food Pantry strives to continue to provide food to those in need during this difficult time, we are especially grateful to everyone who contributed to the Food Drive’s success. Christian Mission and Witness Council.

8

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX - OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS Is there anyway the church building could be helpful to stu-

dents and parents? Would it be helpful for your college or

high school student to come to church to do their online clas-

ses?

Would a couple of parents like to use a classroom and form a safe learning pod?

I don’t know if its at all viable or what details we would need to address to use

the church. I’m trying to think of ways our church building could be used to help

students be successful during the start of the school year. Let me know if you

have any creative ideas.

Please know we are praying for parents, teachers and students as you navigate

this challenging time. I am full of respect for all of you as you strive to be the

very best for our children and youth.

Blessings,

Pastor Meg

HOPE CHURCH CURRENT NEWS (cont.)

9

10

BLESSING OF STEPPING STONES EVENT, SUNDAY, AUGUST 23rd

11

HOPE CHURCH CURRENT NEWS (cont.)

DO NOT miss out on any news from

Hope Church. If you, a family mem-

ber or friend would like to be on the

Robocall list or the Email group,

please reach out to the church to be

added by calling or emailing the of-

fice. Thanks!

12

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

HELP WANTED - 2020 CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

Does it seem crazy early to be thinking about the

Christmas Pageant?

We are going to make a movie for this year’s Christmas pageant; that

way everyone can enjoy this tradition.

We will use some adults as readers, but our children and youth will be

the highlighted performers. The theme for the pageant is What Gift

Would You Share with the Newborn King?

You can video at home or make arrangements to come to the church to

record your gift. We want to include singers, dancers, tumblers, musi-

cians, joke tellers, skaters, cheer leaders - you name it we can film it.

Perhaps you have an excellent swimmer: you can record them swim-

ming with the caption “I’d swim the ocean to meet the Baby Jesus”.

This is an opportunity for your family to be creative! If your gift

doesn’t easily translate to a video, we will need additional people to

read the Christmas story.

Please start recording the videos this summer before school and that

way, we could have a stress-free holiday season. We want to include

college students too. Contact Pastor Meg for more information.

13

Dear Hope Family, We from the Christian Mission and Witness Council have been thinking of ways to be a benefit to our Hope members. We have been very blessed with our Pantry program and our shelves are full. So we are planning “A GIVE BACK TO OUR COMMUNITY”, but we need your help. The help we are seeking requires No money, No physical work, just some Thinking and Soul Searching. Now this is the part where we need you. CMWC is asking our church members to think of themselves, their friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers or ac-quaintances who could use a Helping Hand from our Pantry. Because of the Corona virus, there may be people who can’t get out for them-selves, maybe they are afraid to seek help or are embarrassed about their sit-uation. We are here for them and for you. All you have to do is contact the church office 586.296.8760, Karen Miller 586.246.9567 or Susan Winters at 734.678.3582 with a contact name and phone number or have that someone contact us. We will do the rest to make “A give back to our community”, a true opportunity to be a Helping Hand. Let’s start today! We from CMWC are committed to spreading the word far and wide of the abundant blessing Hope UCC has to share.

CHRISTIAN MISSION AND WITNESS

AN OVERLOOKED TRADITION Here at Hope UCC many special dates happen during the year and often become a “Tradition”. This year because of COVID-19 one such practice didn’t happen. It is called the “Blessing Bag”. We bring them to church on Easter filled with our gener-ous offerings. There are two groups that CMWC designated to benefit from these special bags. One is the Veteran’s group in Clinton Township and a Animal Organization in Australia caring for dying and injured animals caused by Australia’s horrific wildfires. When you find your lit-tle burgundy bag we ask you to drop it off at church into the brown chest by the front door. CMWC will make sure our two special groups receive your dona-tions. Thank You, for your help in keeping the “Blessing Bags” our Lent and Easter tradition.

14

FRACKING??? You may or may not have heard the term “FRACKING”. What it means is another way to get gas and oil out of the ground. How they do that is by drilling down into the earth than inject-ing water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to fracture the ancient rocks to release gas and oil out to the head of the well. This seems a simple enough way to put more gasoline in our cars. But at what cost? Of course, there is much controversy on Fracking. Listed below is some information to help you decide if “Fracking” is good or bad to our towns, communities and our environment.

CHRISTIAN MISSION AND WITNESS (cont.)

SEE MAP NEXT PAGE…….

15

16

HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST ONLINE GIVING

More and more, the way we pay our bills is changing. Electronic payments are everywhere, from

our monthly utility bills to on-line purchases. As a society, we are writing fewer and fewer

checks. We are introducing two new convenient ways to allow members and friends make do-

nations to Hope UCC.

On-Line – Visit the Hope UCC web site –www.hopeuccmi.com

Select the “Give a Gift” tab .

Select the “Give Here” button

Or from your cell phone

Text “HUCCF” to 45777. The site will respond with a link which you can use to route your donation to a specific fund. If you would like to donate to the “General Fund” you can simply text: “Gift Amount” followed by “HUCCF” to 45777. For instance to give $5 text “5 HUCCF” to 45777.

In both cases you will be directed to our secure payment processing center where you will be able to easily walk through

the steps to register and/or direct your donation (eg to the general fund or a specific mission).

Also: (Hint – if using the text method, save this phone number in your “Contacts” list to make it easier to access.)

You will be able to make donations from your bank account or debit/credit card. The donation can be a one time or recur-

ring (weekly, every 2 weeks, 1st & 15th, monthly) to make it more convenient. You will have the ability to designate where

your donation is going (Regular offering, Hope for the Future, etc.). Once you have set up a giving profile, you will be able to

edit and change it at any time. You will receive email and text confirmation of your donation each time it is made. Your on-

line donations will be recorded on your Annual Giving Statement from Hope UCC for tax reporting.

There is no charge for the on-line giving service. However, there are processing fees associated with each transaction that are

deducted from the amount Hope receives. The fees are as follows:

Bank Account = $.40 + .5% of donation

Credit/Debit Card = $.30 + 2.9% of donation.

Example = $10 gift by bank account – fee is ($.40 + $ .05) = $.45 – Hope receives $9.55

= $10 gift by credit/debit card – fee is ($.30 + $.29) = $.59 – Hope receives $9.41

Your Giving Statement will reflect the total donation. You may consider increasing that donation to help offset the fees being

charged.

Any questions can be directed to Jan Nenninger.

Of course, we will still be passing the plate every Sunday. If you prefer to continue making your donations as you have in the

past, please do. We appreciate the generosity of all of our members and friends, no matter what form it takes: financially or

volunteering your time and talents to help Hope UCC be a church of mission and compassion; of outreach and caring; of

vision and inspiration. For all you do, we thank you!!

http://www.hopeuccmi.com/

17

18

COMMUNITY

https://www.ivcinfo.org/events/annual-golf-outing to sign up by 9/10.

https://www.ivcinfo.org/events/annual-golf-outing

19

COMMUNITY (CONT.)

20

COMMUNITY (CONT.)

OPEN SUNDAYS

ST. MALACHY MEN’S CLUB CONEY SUNDAYS Beginning Sunday, September 20th, continuing for a few

Sundays depending on turnout. Drive up, place your order,

curbside pick up: coneys, fries, canned soda. Order just a

coney, many coneys, or a combos. Limited outside seating &

following all guidelines. Benefits springtime college scholarships.

14115 Fourteen Mile, Sterling Heights (north side of 14, between Schoenherr

and Hayes).

21

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

DECISIONS ARE MADE BY THOSE WHO SHOW UP,

REGISTER TO VOTE, TODAY! Clinton Township Clerk’s Office, 40700 Romeo Plank 48038, Phone: 586 286-9422; Email: clerk@clintontownship.com Fraser Clerk’s Office:, 33000 Garfield Rd., Phone: 586 293-3100, x106; Email: kellyd@micityoffraser.com Macomb Township Clerk’s Office, 54111 Broughton Rd., 2nd Fl.; Phone: 586 992-0710, x3; Email: pozzik@macomb-mi.gov Saint Clair Shores Clerk’s Office: 27600 Jefferson Ave., Phone: 586 447-3303; Email: marya@scsmi.net Sterling Heights Clerk’s Office: 40555 Utica Rd., Phone: 586 446 2420; Email: cityclerk@sterling-heights.net Warren Clerk’s Office: 1 City Square, Ste. 205; Phone: 586 574 4557; Email: sbuffa@cityofwarren.org

22

MEMORIALS

BONNIE BUMLER

By: Howard & Patricia Stroker

JIM CLIFFORD

By: Jean Frank

RON HILLER

By: Leigh Snyder

ANN MARSON

By: Steven & Mary Hadley Mike & Donna Kaiser Juliette Marson Romeo & Edith Marson Jo Jo Morang Judy Plevin Kathy Sitarek Sue Sobieski Tom & Carol Wolk

MARILYN & BOB RICHARDS

By: Jean Frank

MARVIN ROBINSON

By: Mary Jane Masinick

23

PLEASE REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS ...

The family of John

Brown

Nicolas Carrow

Joyce Clifford

Nancy Cole

Dolores Cowper

B.J. Essen

Sandy Felton

Mickey Johnston

Sandy Johnston

Linda Kaufman

Kristin Miyamoto

Audrey Moore

Huxley Rogers

Bev Scott

Jeff Wardford

Shirley Winship

HOPE CHURCH PRAYER LIST

Our congregation knows that prayer is our

tool for connecting to God. Together, we pray

in worship and we pray at home. Please check

the prayer list in both the newsletter and the

bulletin to help us keep our prayer requests

current. You may contact the church office

to remove or add a name. We also have a

prayer sculpture in the church lobby and you

are welcome to write a prayer request on a

heart and hang in on the sculpture. When we

lift our concerns in prayer, we will surely know

the presence of the Lord.

Please remember those on our Prayer List …

with a phone call, card, note and keep them

in your Thoughts & Prayers.

For those who are silent with your con-

cerns and needs, a special

prayer for ALL of you to have the

strength, courage and patience to deal

with your individual situation.

24

Birthdays for the Month of September

2 Lennox Roger 3 Debbie Emmons 4 Janet Frank 5 Bryce Patrick 6 Brad Lusk 7 Erin Drummond 8 John Bresnahan Cindy Malinowski Colin Cross Christian Legoas 9 Larry McCuen 10 Sammy Lusk 11 Jerry Hill Mylie Nielson 12 Gabrielle Almquist Karen McCuen 13 Jaden Miyamoto Susan Rogers 14 Stasi Gartin Amelia Hazelton Arya Hazelton Fay Snyder Rylinn Yousif 15 Joyce Clifford Kristen Lasecki-Webb Steve Nielson 16 Jeff Atwood 17 Andy Frank 19 Denise Geml Meghan Gill Susan Grimshaw 20 Connor Frank 22 Marilou Hill 24 Alan Sarnowski 25 Jim Wilson 28 Tyler Hess 29 Kim Atwood 30 Dick Nobis

September Anniversaries

2 Anthony & Andrea Luke 3 Evan & Lauren Yousif 12 Robert & Lois Allen 12 Tom & Nancy Fay 14 Eric & Lisa Mackey 17 Greg & Sara Patrick 20 Grace & Brian Winters 21 Kent & Linda Stonebreaker

Birthdays for the Month of October

1 Janet Dolland 2 Sarah Alger Margery Johnston 3 Pam Jennett 5 Patti Dib Ida Eckert Kevin Eckert 7 Tyler Nielson 9 Jordan Miyamoto 10 Ernest Scherf 12 Chris Reeser 13 Jeff Baker Jack Frank Jr. 15 Linda Sandula 18 Helen Rosnik 19 Parker Lasecki Matt Pipper 20 Jackie Frohriep 21 Linda Roehl 23 Nancy Kloska Linda Rehm Marilyn Jackson 24 Cliff Rupnow 25 Trevor Rosnik Michael Rosnik 26 Catelynn Woodham 29 Christina Butler Jean Frank Su Hess Herrick Steeves Kirk Schoenherr 30 Greysin Reinhardt 31 Austin Gill

October Anniversaries

6 Russell & Nancy Hornfisher 10 Nancy Michelson & John Bresnahan Tony Fortunato & Kirk Schoenherr 11 George & Sharon Betts 13 Ed & Ida Eckert 16 Michael & Valerie Rosnik

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ORDER ALTAR FLOWERS FOR THAT SPECIAL DAY?

Contact the church office for the availability. One arrangement per Sunday.

Cost is $20 per arrangement.

25

September 2020

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5

6 HOLY

COMMUNION Livestream Service

at 10; Hopeuccmi.com—

CLICK HERE Or Facebook, vide-

7 8 Special

BOT Meeting 7 p.m.

9

12-Person Service FH;

Sign up Required

1 p.m.

10 11 12

13 Livestream Service

at 10; Hopeuccmi.com—

CLICK HERE

14 15 CMWC

Meeting 6 p.m.

BOT

Meeting 7 p.m.

16

12-Person Service FH;

Sign up Required

1 p.m.

17 18 19

20 Livestream Service

at 10; Hopeuccmi.com—

CLICK HERE

21 22 23

12-Person Service FH;

Sign up Required

1 p.m.

24 25 26

27 Livestream Service

at 10; Hopeuccmi.com—

CLICK HERE

28 29 30

12-Person Service FH;

Sign up Required

1 p.m.