News & Notes 10/29/09
Blessings to you, my Friends,
There are a number of things to share with you this week. I’ll try to be economical with my words.
We had a GREAT Public Supper last week - great food, great crowd, incredible workers, sold a lot of food on Sunday, produced significant income for the budget!! Thanks everyone!
In last week’s News & Notes, I mentioned the “Cents makes Sense” offering for last Sunday, and you responded incredibly! That offering, which is usually under $5 for a month, received $61.70!! That’s great! Thanks.
When you go to bed this Saturday, be sure to turn the clocks in your house back an hour - as daylight savings time will come to an end!! But the good news is that we get an extra hour of sleep this Saturday night! Can I expect, then, that no one will fall asleep during the sermon? Keep hopin’, Mark, eh?
Our United Methodist Men’s group will gather for our monthly breakfast meeting this Sunday, at 7:30 AM. All the men of the church are more than welcome!
Sunday is a very special day around St. John’s Church. It’s “All Saints Sunday.” To begin with, when you come into the church building, you’ll see a white cloth on a table to your right. If you have a friend or family member who has died during the last twelve months, the Worship Committee invites you to write their name on the cloth. This cloth will then become the Communion Table cloth for the service. It’s a way to remember and honor the saints in our lives who have died.
And as the church “marches on,” we’ll be welcoming six new members (one of whom will be baptized), and one Associate Member into the life and ministry of St. John’s Church. It’ll be a great day. I hope you’ll make a point of welcoming all of them - especially during Coffee Fellowship, which our Witness Committee is organizing in honor of our new members.
This Sunday is also Communion Sunday - when we traditionally receive a special offering for the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund. We have done some significant things with the fund the last couple of weeks (I wish I could tell you of them, but I would be breaking confidences. But you’d feel good about the support you’re giving to folks in our church and community). The fund is getting lower than it’s been in over two years. I share this with you, because I know some of you like to know when the fund is low, so that you can go an extra mile with your giving. The “Communion Offering” envelopes will be in the bulletin. And thanks, ahead of time, for your generosity!
Our Holly & Harvest Fair and Silent Auction are fast approaching - nine days away!! I’m getting all the materials together to put up my display for ordering Christmas wreaths - hope you haven’t ordered your somewhere else!! What are you planning to do for the Fair - make some handcrafted items? Bake something for the food table? Gone through your books or jewelry or white-elephant-type possessions to see what you no longer need - that you can donate? Found some nicer women’s clothing to donate to “Hannah’s Boutigue”? Or have you gone to one or two businesses that you frequent, to ask them for a donations to the silent auction? You see, there’s something for everyone to do - and if we all did a little, then we’d have a great fair!! You can start bringing your donations to church anytime after the close of Sunday School this Sunday.
Lenny Colongione was planning to sharpen knives again at the fair - but as you may have heard, he’s injured his right thumb, and won’t be able to do that right now. He HAS said, though, that he’ll be doing the knife sharpening at a later date, and will donate the money that he charges for this service to the church. So, watch for the big announcement!!
One more thing about the Fair/Auction: the sign-up sheets are on the rolling bulletin board in Hartford Hall. It’s great to see the folks who have signed up already, but I’ve noticed that no one has signed up for the clean-up. This is another terrific way to help out with the fair. It doesn’t put any more money in the bank, but it is a VERY necessary task nonetheless. Please consider helping with the clean-up - especially if you’re not able to do something earlier in the day!
In a meeting that Jinny Scott had with our Sunday School teachers, they came up with the following guideline (that I would offer to all the families of our church): “If you notice that any child seems sick or has a runny nose…please ask the parent not to leave him/her in the class room. Any child that has a fever of over 100, should not be in your classroom. All of the parents will understand and appreciate our concern. We have asked Pastor Mark to share this in the News and Views this week.” This is really important, so that we can all be as healthy as possible.
Looking ahead, let me mention something about our fall stewardship emphasis. Our Commitment Sunday will be on November 15th. There’ll be one worship service - at 10 AM - followed by a catered (by our friends at the Exeter UMC) meal. “Reservations” are needed, and we’ll begin seeking those this Sunday in worship. Our Finance Committee really hopes that everyone will stay and enjoy the fellowship and the excitement of the day.
Ruth Miller shared this with us: While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):
1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).
3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at using a Neti pot, but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton swabs dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*
5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C. *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.
Let me end with two stories: At Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam’s ribs. Later in the week his mother noticed him lying down as though he was ill, and she said, ‘Johnny, what is the matter?’ Little Johnny responded, ‘I have pain in my side. I think I’m going to have a wife.’
And then two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing a strong preaching on the devil. One said to the other, ‘What do you think about all this Satan stuff?’ The other boy replied, ‘Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It’s probably just your Dad.’
Blessing on the rest of your week. See you in church!! Peace, Mark