April, 2011
Happy Easter!
The Lenten season
concludes this year in mid April. We then observe the passion of our Lord, the
events of Holy Week, and the festival of the Resurrection which continues for
forty days, corresponding to the period Christ was manifest upon earth before
the Ascension. In the Bible you won’t
find the term “Easter” or “Easter Sunday.”
The word Easter comes from Eastre,
the name of a Teutonic goddess of Spring. It is a season of joy and
triumph. The traditional “happy Easter!”
greeting between Christians on Easter day
reflects that joy.
“Happy Easter!”
is an interesting greeting. I wonder what we mean by it. I suppose it’s like
saying to someone, “merry Christmas” or “happy birthday” – it’s an “event
greeting.” We probably don’t actually think much at all about what the greeting
means – it’s just the appropriate, the traditional, thing to say. But if we did think about it, what would make
Easter happy for us? According to the scriptural account Jesus’ resurrection it
wasn’t considered by his family, friends, and followers to be a happy day at
all. The way it is reported, it was an unsettling day, a fearful day, a day of
confusion. It wasn’t a “happy day” for
those who were responsible for Jesus’ death, those who wanted to silence him
forever. When did it become something to
be happy about, and “happy” for whom?
What makes it a joyful and happy event for us today?
Maybe the Lindenwald
Baptist Church
in Hamilton, Ohio,
found what makes Easter “happy,” at least for a few folks. As reported in the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wednesday,
March 23, 2011), the Hamilton
church gave away $1,000 last Easter Sunday in an attempt to fill more pews. It
plans to repeat that cash giveaway this year. There is a drawing of names. One
church member and one visitor each receive
Volume 3
$500. The pastor of the church said that
the hope was for an attendance of 1,000 worshippers, however
1,140 showed up which was more than double the usual Sunday attendance.
According to the pastor, in addition to increasing the attendance, the giveaway
is “to provide a financial as well as a spiritual blessing on the Christian
holiday.” I bet those whose names were
drawn and who received $500 had a happy Easter.
It could be that
some people find Easter’s happiness through finding a lot of hidden items to
fill their Easter baskets -- colored
eggs, chocolate bunnies, peeps, plastic eggs filled with money; or maybe it’s
getting new clothes for Easter; or it is a brunch that goes well when the
family is together; maybe Easter’s happiness comes when the church message for
the day is truly a “meditation” and not a long sermon.
How about you,
what is Easter happiness for you?
Happy Easter!
Rev. Roger
The Deacon on Call for April is Art Reimer 262-679-9226.
If you know or hear of a prayer need and would like to have one started
on the prayer chain, notify the Deacon on Call for the month (see above) to
initiate your request. If you cannot
reach that Deacon, call the Church Office and speak to Pam, or leave a message
on the answering machine to be retrieved by her or Roger.
Not many of us have
probably heard of Lancelot Andrewes, but he is the author of the text of an
anthem that our Adult Choir will be singing the first Sunday of this
month, “Open My Eyes,” by K. Lee
Scott. He was born in Sussex, England, in 1555 and died in London in 1626, putting him in the post Reformation
period (Luther died in 1545, Calvin in 1564).
He was appointed dean of Westminster Abbey in 1601 by Queen Elizabeth I
and under James I was appointed to various prestigeous positions. He mastered 15 languages, moved the Church of
England away from both Roman Catholicism and Calvinism toward a distinct
Anglican theology, and was a translator of the King James Bible. It is said that most of the Books of Moses
and the historical books of the Old Testament are his work. His Manual
of Private Devotions, an English translation of prayers written in Greek
and Latin, was published in 1903. His commemoration
day in the Episcopal church is September 26.
Here is the Andrewes text the choir will sing:
Open my eyes, and I shall see;
Incline my heart and I shall desire;
Order my steps, and I shall walk
In the ways of your commandments.
O God, be my only Lord,
And beside you let there be none else,
No other, none else with you.
Teach me to worship you
And serve you in all my undertakings
With truth of spirit, with honor of body,
With blessing of mouth
Both in public and private.
The Gospel reading
for this Sunday is an answer to Andrewes’ prayer-- Jesus’ healing of the blind
man (see John 9): “though I was blind,
now I see.”
-Roger Meyer
We are pleased to announce that we have begun a
short session of the Choir School, meeting for just a half hour after bell
rehearsal on Saturdays. So far, we have eight eager and talented boys and
girls in lower to middle grades. Emphasis is on reading music and the
singing of the Psalms, but we hope that an outcome of this instruction will be
a few offerings to the worship services between now and Easter.
-Roger Meyer
OFFICE HELP NEEDED
Please contact the church office
if you can volunteer your time to answer phones any day, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., from April 18th to April 21st and
April 25th to April 29th while Pam is on vacation.
Thank You!
RED LOBSTER RESTAURANT
2801 NORTH MAYFAIR ROAD
APRIL 15,
2011
The
Daylight drivers are off to the Red Lobster Restaurant at 2801 North Mayfair Road for their April 15th
meeting. We have invited Pam Acker, our ever so helpful Administer Assistant,
to be our guest. So come with us and say thank you to Pam for all she does for
us. {The Red Lobster is one of our participating Scrip restaurants, so be sure
and see Lee Tan for their coupons.} We will meet at the restaurant at 12:00. Please sign up in the narthex.
Call Sally Daugherty at 262-786-6041 for more information.
Remember our members at home in our prayers and expressions of concern
Elizabeth Joye Todd
Jim Feldhusen
Bill Haynes
John Ellingen
Ginny Kring
Mary Delwiche
If you know of someone who should be added to this list, please notify
the church office.
WOW! NEW CHAIRS!
It is
getting close to the time for the Building and Grounds Committee to order our
new chairs if we are to have them by Easter. So far, enough money has been
donated to buy 47 of the 150 new chairs that are needed. That’s a great start,
but at $50 a chair, the remainder is still a big dent in the Building and
Grounds Committee’s budget. The date for
giving has been extended beyond the 20th of March, and your
contribution would be most welcome. There are envelopes marked CHAIRS in the
pews. Thank you to all who have contributed to the fund.
New Life
On Palm Sunday you
will notice a lilac branch in wet sand.
As the buds develop they show us new life, as Jesus showed us with the
resurrection. May its growth help us to
develop a “budding” faith in our future with hope, peace and love in our lives.
Happy Easter
Maundy Thursday
A Maundy Thursday
service will be held at Greenfield Avenue Presbyterian Church on Thursday,
April 21st at 7:00 p.m. Greenfield Avenue Church is located at 1455 S. 97th Street in West Allis.
MARY MOTHER OF JESUS
In the sanctuary
at Forest Park Presbyterian Church on Good
Friday April 22, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.
There will be a special biblical
dramatization by Ms. June Bjorklund entitled "A Woman of Prayer" which
is program of "Mary Mother of Jesus."
June has been doing biblical dramatization in the Milwaukee area for the thirty plus years.
Please
plan on
attending. I'm sure you will find the program interesting and inspiring.
Refreshments following the presentation in
the hospitality room.
Thank you
Joan Van Able
Easter Flowers
Donations are being sought to cover the
cost of our Easter flowers. The flowers
purchased will grace our sanctuary for the Easter season and will later be
planted on the grounds of Forest Park. If you look around the yard,
you will be able to see the flowers (tulips, daffodils and hyacinth) from the
past few years coming up already.
Donations
of any amount will be appreciated.
Please label a pew envelope “Easter Flowers” and place in the offering
plate. Thank you.
EASTER SUNDAY CONTINENTAL
BREAKFAST
Please join us for a
continental breakfast before the Easter Sunday church service on April
24. You, your family and friends may
come for food and fellowship between 8 – 9:15 am. There will be a variety of
home-baked pastries, coffee cakes, muffins, fresh fruit, hard-boiled eggs,
juice and coffee.
Please contact Linda Koszuta
(262-442-6572 ) via phone or text message if you are able to contribute by
making a food item or are able to help set up, serve or clean up on that
morning.
April Psalm Program
During the summer of
1990, two items were always on my piano:
the delightful three volumes of piano preludes by contemporary composer
Robert Vandall and a Bible turned to the Psalms. The project was to study the various psalms
and match selected verses to the piano preludes. The result was a program of piano music and
narrated psalms that has been performed numerous times, but never at Forest Park—until this month! Please plan to return to the sanctuary after
coffee time on April 10 and hear Lois Fitzgerald read the selected psalms
accompanied by piano preludes played by Roger Meyer. As we have worked on this program, these
selected psalms have impressed us in many ways.
To me, they are lofty expressions of our relationship with God and our
relationship with friends as well as enemies.
It is our hope that this program will bring us all closer to God’s word
as written in the Psalms of the Old and New Testament.
-Roger Meyer
Thank You!!!
Thanks to all the choir members who pitched in to make the
event a rousing success and thanks to everyone who showed up to eat all that
food. With everyone's effort we raised over $550 to offset
some necessary repairs to the organ console. Thanks again and we are
already looking forward to next year!
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STEP-UP (Part 2)
IT'S
COMING (Again!)
TIME
AND TALENT STEWARDSHIP COMMITMENT
WATCH
AND LISTEN FOR MORE DETAILS
START
THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Banner Scheduling Form Calendar
WHAT Goes UP must
Come DOWN – Does your committee or program want to display a banner at various
times throughout the year? If so, you
now need to complete a Banner Placement Scheduling Form and turn this in
to Sheryl Dolan. These forms are located
in the Banner Book in the church office.
Upon receipt of the form I will notate this in the master calendar (also
located in the Banner Book). Feel free
to refer to the calendar as you schedule your event. Note you will need to complete a separate
form for each banner and need to DESIGNATE A PERSON RESPONSIBLE TO PUT
THE BANNER UP AND TAKE IT DOWN. Any further questions, please feel free to
contact me – Sheryl Dolan
$1,000 Chair
Challenge!
As you know, Forest
Park is in the process of fund-raising to improve the
quality of seating in Fellowship Hall (and wherever else it’s needed):
We have a donor who is challenging
the congregation to a
$1,000 “MATCHING GIFT”
for purchasing chairs!
- This
challenge means that, if you buy a chair between now and the deadline, your
donation will be matched. You will
actually be buying two chairs!
- All
donations between now and “Tax Day” (April 18th) will be
matched…..to a total of $1,000….towards the goal of purchasing 150 chairs
at $50/each.
Consider how your gift will be helpful to the quality of
parish life and the ministry of Forest Park Presbyterian Church….
and take advantage of this opportunity to
double your
contribution!
Offer ends at midnight, Sunday April 17th.
July 23-30th,
2011
New Wilmington Mission Conference
The conference is for ages 1-100.
Emphasis is on Junior High – College age youth. The conference is held on the campus of Westminster College in Western
Pennsylvania. Join us
for a week of fun, fellowship and learning about mission in our area and around
the world. For more information, call
Jodi Godsell 262-895-7609. Scholarships
are available.
Pilgrim Center Camp/Moon Beach Camp
Although Forest Park will be sending a group of members to the
New Wilmington Mission Conference in Pennsylvania from July 23 through July 30,
2011, this article
is to share information about other camps and other dates available to our
children, youth and/ or adults.
These
camps are located at Pilgrim
Center in Green Lake, WI, or Moon Beach Camp in St. Germain, WI. Moon Beach is nestled in the Northwoods, between Eagle River and St. Germain on the shores of Moon Lake. Pilgrim Center is located on the southeast shore of
beautiful Green Lake. For most camps, activities begin with
registration on Sunday afternoon and camp ends at 10:30 a.m. on the following Saturday.
There are
camps for Pre-school through Second Grade, Intermediate, Junior, Junior High,
Senior High and Family & Specialty Family. There is also information
regarding adult retreats and year round site rental. There are multiple weeks
of some of these camps. Those dates, costs, other general information and
registration information can be found in the brochure, 2011 Camps and Retreats
Catalog, provided by United Church Camps, Inc.
There is
also information on camp scholarships that are available to encourage
attendance at these camps. Talk with Rev. Woehl about information regarding the
scholarship applications.
For more
specific information please take one of the catalogs located in the shelf of
the podium located in the narthex. You may also contact Rev. Roger Woehl or see
the Web site at www.ucci.org/faq or call the Managing Director at: Moon
Beach: 1-715-479-8255 or at Pilgrim Center: 1-920-745-4746.
A word of thanks to
all of you for your support and prayers over these last few months as a waited
for my hip replacement. It is with great
relief that I have finally received a new hip and look forward to being with
you all again soon.
Peace and love,
Steve Dolan
April is
Autism Awareness Month
http://webmail.wi.rr.com/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Faction.autismspeaks.org%252Fpage%252Fm%252F5ecb3dc0%252F5ea0b49a%252F667e4ca7%252F2c1398fe%252F1272763984%252FVEsE%252FOn the
evenings of April 1 and 2, 2011, prominent buildings around the world --
including the Empire State Building in New York City and the Sydney Opera House
in Australia -- will turn their lights blue to raise awareness for autism and
to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day on Saturday, April 2.
Lighting the Domes Blue!
Apr 1, 2011 8:00 PM CDT
Mitchell Park
Conservatory, the Domes (Milwaukee, WI)
or
Apr 2, 2011 8:00 PM CDT
Mitchell
Park Conservatory, the Domes (Milwaukee, WI)
The Mitchell Park
Horticultural Conservatory, 524 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee, WI 53215, will light up "blue" to recognize
the Autism Speaks celebration on
April 1st (2-blue
domes) and April 2nd (3-blue domes).
APRIL
BIRTHDAYS
4/4 Michelle Loberg
4/8 Richard Fiedler
4/10 Bob Wall
4/12 Art Lange
4/13 Ann Marie McLeod
4/13 Paul Neymeyr
4/15 Dawn Schulz
4/17 Jonathan Todd
4/18 Jon Ellingen
4/18 Amanda Mason
4/19 Cindy Barbieri
4/19 Gail Butka
4/21 Sue Hoover
4/24 Harley Frakes
4/24 Nathan Tan
4/26 Irene Long
4/30 Joyce Fiedler
4/30 Bea Piering
4/30 Zach Reuteler
4/30 Jake Reuteler
Session Summary: Notes from Forest Park Session on Sunday, March 20, 2011
1. Report of Presbytery meeting of February
22, 2011 –
Walt Piering
2. Next Presbytery meeting will be March
31, 2011 at
Faith- discussion & vote on amendments to the Book of Order
3. Finance – F.P. is frugal with
spending; looking for ideas for more revenue;
The manse has new
occupants; rental deposit & rent received in Feb.
4. Play & Learn Task Force –
discussion with Lee Tan representing Play & Learn
5. Building & Grounds – heating
system is finally working properly
Replacing light switches in
progress; Hearing impaired system in the
sanctuary is functional (paid for by Deacons Fund)
Update on the funding for
new Chairs
6. Parish Life – see Sheryl Dolan for
details
A Big Banners Placement
Binder (outside banners) - located in office
June 18,
2011-
Repurpose to Renew to Inspire at Forest Park
7. Worship & Music – review dates
for serving communion
Continental breakfast for
Easter Sunday – Fellowship Hall
8. Christian Education – on March
20, 2011 the
Sunday School classes
used lessons from “Feasting
in The Word” curriculum;
seeking volunteers to serve
on a CE curriculum committee
9. Mission – Bake sale proceeds from June 18th
will go toward NWMC
The proceeds, $235, from
March 18 Talent Show went to NWMC
10.
Membership – email blast about church events
Invite members to submit
their emails
Do more advertising of
Play & Learn and Extended Care services
Bookmarks, updated with
seasonal information, are available in the pews for people attending
worship to take with them
11.
Stewardship – It’s Coming! In May, time &
talent sign ups
12.
Deacons
Meeting Report – May 7, 2011 – outside clean up day, 9-11 a.m.
7 bags of clothing and 6
bags of food were distributed;
Care groups are calling to
remind members of church events
Next
Forest
Park Session Meeting – April 17, 2011 at 11 a.m.
April
is an invigorating and motivating month.
All the renewed life outdoors just drives my creativity up and
encourages me to cultivate new ideas. Sam
is quick to remind me, however, as we plot out any new ideas, it is always
helpful to remember what we’ve learned from our prior experiences.
This
brings us to the planning of the June 18th
event. We clearly wanted to recapture
our previous attendees this year, but
how do we entice or motivate a new crowd?
We hope by promoting this as flea market, art, craft event and adding
the work INSPIRE to our title we will accomplish just that.
We
are curious, however.......Are you ready to do a spring purge to sell on your
own or donate items to the rummage sale? Do you have an idea for a vendor, a
community or Forest Park Booth? Do you have a creative idea you wish to “test
market” to sell at on your own booth or donate to the Forest Park sale?
We
know those of you who attended the March 13th service received the
list below because you all raised
your hands. To date, we have a handful
of helpers, bakers and cooks, but this project requires the inspiration and
work of many to make this a success.
Please consider the many ways you can support this project and raise
your hands soon!
•
Help plan and organize •
Donate rummage items •
Help with advertising
•Help
price rummage •
Assist the day of •
Donate bakery
•Organize
game booths • Assist with set
up or take down • Anything else
we forgot!
Most Sincerely,
Sam and Sheryl Dolan
ASSISTING
IN WORSHIP
If you
cannot serve on your assigned date, please arrange a substitute and notify the
church office.
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5/1
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4/3
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4/10
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4/17
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4/24
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Liturgist
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Sally Daugherty
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Jeff Krogmann
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Maureen Wise
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Sara Grant
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Head Usher
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Mike Marr
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Ron Reuteler
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Gary Stigler
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Mike Marr
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Ushers
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Denine Dulde
Bob Wall
Linda Koszuta
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Pat Janecek
Frank & Ann Marie McLeod
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Cindy Stigler
Howard & Sally Hasselkus
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Mike Bellek
TBA
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Hospitality
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Koszuta/Bozosi
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Reuteler
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Daylight Drivers
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Helpful Hannahs
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5/1
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5/1
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5/8
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5/15
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5/22
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5/29
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6/5
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Liturgist
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Sylvia Larsen
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Kristen Tan
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Paul Peterson
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Betty Marr
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Peg Woehl
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Betty Marr
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Head Usher
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Ron Reuteler
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Gary Stigler
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Mike Marr
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Ron Reuteler
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Ron Reuteler
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Mike Marr
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Ushers
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Sara Grant
Sue Mihelich
Art Reimer
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Cindy Stigler
Cindy Barbieri
Bob Wall
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Pat Janecek
Gordon & Marne Willey
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Linda Koszuta
Mike & Sue Washic
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Denine Dulde
Howard & Sally Hasselkus
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TBA
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Hospitality
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Simpson
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Stigler
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Marr
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Godsell
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Deacons
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Koszula/Bozosi
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