April 2015

The United Presbyterian Church at Whitinsville 51 Cottage St. (church) - 7 Spring St. (office), Whitinsville, MA 01588 Phone: 508.234.8220 Website: www.whitinpres.org Office E-mail: Office@whitinpres.net Pastor Aaron Email: rev.aaron.serna@gmail.com Pastor Renn E-mail: rev.renn.serna@gmail.com Office Hours: 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM Monday & Wednesday 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Thursday & Friday

News of the Family from The United Presbyterian Church at Whitinsville

Holy Week Worship Services and Events

March 29th The Passion of Our Lord - Palm Sunday - morning worship service at 10:30AM

April 2nd Maundy Thursday with the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper and Tenebrae at 7:00PM

April 3rd Good Friday – NAC Good Friday Service will be held from 12:00PM - 1:00PM at Trinity Episcopal Church. The public is invited.

April 4th Holy Saturday – Easter Egg Hunt – Church and property – 9:30AM until 11:00AM

April 5th The Resurrection of the Lord Sunday / Easter Sunday – The NAC Easter Sunrise Service will begin at 6:45AM, Whitinsville Town Common. The public is invited. Refreshments will be served after the service at Trinity Episcopal Church. In case of inclement weather, the service will be held at Trinity Church.

April 5th The Resurrection of the Lord Sunday / Easter Sunday – morning worship service at 10:30AM

Easter Festival Our Annual Easter Festival is coming up

on Saturday April 4th from 9:30 to 11am and we'd love you to join us. Whether you are young or old, we need your help! Every year our church hosts this fun event for children, preschool to sixth grade, and it includes an Easter Egg Hunt, cookie decorating, and egg dying. This year, we are opening this event up not only to kids from our church, but from our neighborhood and Peace of Bread as well.

INDOOR/OUTDOOR YARD SALE APRIL 18 FROM 8 AM - 2 PM

RAIN DATE April 25!

Huge Yard Sale, April 18, 2015, from 8 AM to 2 PM to benefit the United Presbyterian Church of Whitinsville. 51 Cot-tage Street, Whitinsville. Rain date is April 25, 2015.

Furniture, Tools, Household Goods, Toys , Books, and Collectibles for sale on the lawn and inside the church Fellowship Hall.

Drop off donations: April 4 and 11, from 10 AM - noon in the office basement.

Your service is very important. If you cannot serve on the date listed, please switch with

another person and inform the church secretary (508-234-8220) of the change.

Page 2

**Sunday Morning Worship Schedule**

Sunday School for all Ages 9:30AM - 10:20AM

Morning Worship Service 10:30AM - 11:30AM

Coffee Fellowship 11:30AM

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” Matthew 18:20

Ministries Apr 5 Apr 12 Apr 19 Apr 26

Worship Leader

G. Shannon V. Coakley Z. Morin A. Reichert

Greeter L. & N. Joyce K. Miedema S. Mateer J. Baker

Welcome Center

J. Baker M. Spalton S. Santoro B. Keeler

Offering Counters

M. Reynolds &

K. Redden

M. Reynolds &

G. Giemza D. & S. Mateer

G. Giemza &

K. Redden

Children’s Sermon

Communion

Sunday Thomas Family G. Shannon L. Reichert

Coffee Fellowship

Second Sunday

Social

L. Redden

H. Platt

L. Sabourin

K. Bilodeau

Ministry Volunteers for the Month of April

Birthday Corner

Al Henderickson 4/5

Zadok Emerick 4/9

Andrea Whitney 4/17

Elizabeth Kloczkowski 4/23

Anniversaries Aaron & Renn Serna 4/24

John & Carol Pilibosian 4/27

Attention, Church Women

You are cordially invited to a Bible Study

at Suzanne Santoro’s home, 31 Burdon St. ,

Whitinsville, on Tuesday April 14th at 1 PM.

It will be a time of prayer, Bible Study and

fellowship with friends.

The Mission Circle is studying 2

Corinthians 1 & 2 “Paul in the Context of

Ancient Corinth”. Suzanne will lead the

study.

The KMHMC will be hosting a Bake Sale

at the Yard Sale on Saturday, April 18th—

Rain Date April 25th. Any donations would

be greatly appreciated. All proceeds will

benefit a variety of mission causes. Items

may be brought in on Friday evening from

6 PM—8 PM or the day of the yard sale.

Page 3

April 2015

The Pastors’ Piece By Pastor Aaron

Acknowledge the Changes Beneath the Surface

The Parable of the Growing Seed - Mark 4: 26-29 26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” When a seed is planted in soil and given water, many tiny reactions begin to take place. We know these reactions, changes and growth are happening because we’ve seen the fruits of gardening year after year in the form of delicious food, beautiful flowers, and shade-giving trees. When the seed is first planted, we don’t see any changes that are taking place because it all starts beneath the surface of the earth outside of sight. Until we see the first signs of life emerging from the ground, there is some uncertainty, patience, and faith we encounter while we wait. We can’t be certain anything will happen. Once we see the green bursting through the soil, we can retroactively come to the conclusion that all of the many tiny reactions beneath the earth that need-ed to take place happened. We know they happened even though we never saw it with our eyes because now we can see the stalk emerging from the ground. Jesus said this is what the kingdom of God is like. There will be many things happening among us, that we will not be able to see, but if we keep our eyes open and if we look for the signs, we will be able to see God working through seemingly quiet times. This month, many small things have been peeking up amongst us, and it is affirmation that God is at work and has been at work continuously. It is good to stop and appreciate these things. When we praise together, it builds us in spirit mutually. Rev. Virginia Coakley has had an incredible amount of interest and excitement in the upcoming church book study; I pray this is a sign of good things to come. Peace of Music has been in formation almost a month as I write this. New songs of worship are being heard for the first time; new faces are coming to hear the beauty and gift of Music God has given us. Even after only four weeks, I know several new people from Piece of Bread by name, and they know people from our church and mingle with us. God is doing great things through Chris Bilodeau, as he learns new songs, discerns what is needed to create the atmosphere of wor-ship, and reaches out to others to share their talents as well. It has been encouraging seeing Leslie Reichert work on promotional ideas for Peace of Music, but I think more important is the role she has taken on as an encourag-er, devoted servant, and the relational presence she brings to Peace of Music. In just a short period of time, I’ve seen many express their fondness and appreciation for Leslie. Last month we were able to enjoy the talent of Brandice who played her saxophone for us during worship. It was beautiful, and it was a result of our church investing energy into the local community, and I pray this is just a taste of what is to come. Like the illustration of the seed working beneath the soil, I’ve seen our Trustees doing many vital tasks to en-able our church to even stay open behind the scenes. I was excited as Greg Giemza single handedly beat the over thousand-pound sheets of ice off the church roof with a stick. I watched fascinated as Todd Schelin brought the large industrial machinery over so he could move the snow building up around the church, and I smiled as Eric Schelin eagerly learned to use the snow blower this year. Mike Reynolds blessed us with enough snow melt to get us through this tough winter, and there is enough left over to cover a winter or two to come. These are just things I saw with my own eyes, but I know many faithful people are doing things behind the scenes that rarely are appreciated. As we see the stalks of ministry shooting up from the soil, I pray we as a church are able to stop and give praise for what is going on all around us. Not just for the new things we see but for all the things God is doing among us, even the things beneath the surface outside of sight. Keep loving, continue praying, and remain hopeful as God reveals his work all around us.

Page 4

April 2015

To My Whitinsville Church Family: Words can not convey the depth of gratitude and appreciation I hold for you all. Thank you for welcoming me into

your church family, I have enjoyed worshiping and getting to know you over the past couple of years.

Thank you for the abundant generosity you've showered upon me, in particular during these last few weeks. I was beyond thrilled to have so many of you in attendance on February 8th at my ordination and for all the Choir members who volunteered to come out to sing! A special word of heartfelt thanks to Chris Bilodeau and all who participated, your medley of 'Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus and Jesus is the Answer was absolutely beautiful! I was also deeply appreciative for the Fellowship Hour you hosted in my honor on March 1st. The cake was beautiful and delicious, a great combination. Lastly, thank you for the beautiful new robe that you gifted me with on last Sunday. It will be a forever reminder of not only your love but also the your great celebration of my call and ordination.

I am truly touched by the extent that my ordination has touched you all. Your words of congratulations and affirmations of your prayers means far more than you know.

Continue to pray for me as I you.

With Love & Appreciation, Reverend Virginia Coakley

The United Presbyterian Church at Whitinsville is having a FREE Financial Forum. It is a six week class where individuals can attend one class or all six. It will combine speakers from local institutions with videos and worksheets from David Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. Other speakers will include Attorney John Rexford – estate planner, a local banker and a debt consultant. We will take the principles we learn from the speakers and use them the next week to work on our personal budgets, debt reduction, and financial planning. Our goals will be to teach and educate people on how to make money work for them instead of working for their money. The class will be held at the church on Cottage St. in Whitinsville starting April 12 until May 17. The classes will start at 12:30 and last one hour. If you would like more information about the class, you can call the church office at 508-234-8220. Or visit our website at www.whitinpres.org.

Christian Women’s Book Discussion Group We are inviting all women to consider joining this group. We will be meeting once a month on Friday evenings. If you are interested, please contact Virginia Coakley @. vcginny6@gmail.com or speak to her at church!

Here’s how it works:

People will rotate signing up to facilitate the meetings.

It is the responsibility of the facilitator to select the location of the discussion, which can include her home,

a restaurant, library, asking to use church space etc...

The monthly facilitator will select three to four books that she would like to read and she will

give a brief blurb about each and then send/give to the participants to vote on, whichever book receives the majority votes will be the book read that month. For this month we will be reading, Miracle at the Higher Grounds Café by Max Lucado.

Virginia will lead the April discussion. Our first meeting will be April 17 at 6:30 at Holy Cross

in the Campion House Dining Room (white house near the Chapel)

Second Sunday Social April 12th

This month the Deacons are hosting the meal - Italian Theme. Deacons will be bring-ing main courses. Everyone can bring sal-ads, breads or desserts. (or main meals to share too) NOTE: There will be NO Second Sunday So-cial in May due to it falling on Mother’s Day.

April 2015

Page 5

Wednesdays at our church have been pretty won-derful for the last twelve years. Peace of Bread Community Kitchen is a happening place from 3:00 - 7:30 pm every week. Volunteer churches,

civic & individual groups from throughout the Blackstone Valley area faithfully donating, cooking, & serving free, nutritious meals to 100-150 people each week is an amazing gift of service to our community. Thousands of lives have benefited from the outpour-ing of friendship & love our volunteers have shown. We pray for one another weekly and share God's love with all who come to Peace of Bread. Our Food Pantry and Free Clothing Room offer further assistance to all who need the help we provide. God has blessed our efforts all along the way, and we offer Him all the praise and glory for inspiring our ministry outreach. Our mission statement, "United in Christ to feed His people, body and soul." has become even more meaningful recently with the addition of our weekly Bible Study at 4:30 and the Peace of Mu-sic service at 6:15. Seeing God speak to the hearts of our church family and watching His people step out in faith to answer His call to further serve His people, is a pretty powerful sight to behold! What an awesome, exciting time in the life of our church right now! YOU are welcome to join us any "Wonderful Wednesday" as we continue to reach out to our community sharing God's love and peace. Be a blessing and you will be blessed! Laurie Sabourin

Update from the Boards

Session has been working on some new and exciting things the last few months. Prompted by the New Beginnings findings, we have officially start-ed a new outreach ministry called Peace of Music which meets from 6:15 to 7pm on Wednesday nights. The goal of this ministry is to provide a safe place for people to connect with God and to reach out to those who might not have been in church for a while. Session is also encouraging the Stew-ardship Committee to prepare for our annual campaign this Spring and has approved a financial education forum in April and May.

The Deacons also have some new things brewing. Since Andrew Zuma, our Adopt-A-Soldier returned home a couple of months ago, they have been looking for a new way to serve in this manner. After much discus-sion, they have now decided to begin supporting an entire platoon that is serving oversees! More information on how you can get involved is to come. The Deacons will also be hosting our April Second Sunday Social in appreciation for all those who serve our church so faithfully. We hope you can make it!

The Trustees have been busy the last few months, getting the church through winter and making some much needed storm repairs. From broken heating systems to water damage, our Trustees can fix anything! The Trustees are also happy to report that Lisa Diotte, our new Sexton, began work in January. Please make sure to give Lisa a big UPC welcome if you see her cleaning around the church!

Attention: Church Women - Save these dates…

May 2, 2015 Secret Prayer Pal Luncheon

June 10, 2015 Katherine Huston Dine Out

November 14, 2015 “Homespun Holidays”

Calling all High School Seniors and College Students

Ruth P. Marshall Scholarship & Youth Excellence Award

Did you know our church of-fers two scholarships?

The first is from the Kathryn M. Huston Mission Circle. It offers a scholarship to a high school senior who plans on attending a fully accredited two or four year college. It is the Ruth P. Marshall Scholar-ship. Ruth was a teacher and a long time member of this church and the Mission Circle. The second is The Youth Excellence Award. This is available to students currently enrolled in a fully accredited two or four year col-lege, and requires a student to be willing to give three hours of service to the church. Contact the church office at 508-234-8220 for applications. All applications must be returned to the church office by Wednesday, April 29th.

Page 6

April 2015

Hello, Church Family!

While I have been here at college, God has been moving in some wild ways. For one, I have been accepted into a study abroad program in Uganda, Africa for Jan. 2016. But more relevantly, over the summer I have been given the opportunity to serve as a volunteer missionary in Puebla, Mexico from May 11th-23rd of 2015, with ILAM, a non-profit organization based in California. I will be on a team with approximately 10 people from my college and I am so excited! I have been dreaming about going to Mexico since the trips our church took with Tapestries when I was in middle school.

The Mexican people have an oral-tradition and because many of them are illiterate, they cannot read the Bible. This is where we come in... ILAM uses storytelling to share the gospel. Our job is to provide visual activities for the adults and children who can then have this image that goes along with the story, reinforcing the gospel message while building community. We will also be working alongside missionaries that will help us and support us every step of the way. We will also be working at an orphanage, teaching art to kids who have never seen or used such things in their entire lives. Through this we are sharing love, building community, and caring like Jesus.

It is the responsibility of each volunteer missionary to raise his or her own support for the cost of this trip as well as to solicit art supplies. I am confident that God, who has called me to go on this trip, will supply everything the team will need. The total cost of the trip is $700, plus my plane ticket and art supplies. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with me to further God's kingdom in Mexico by giving a gift of $100, $50, $25, or some other amount?

If you would like to make a donation (check, cash or credit card) that would be much appreciated. If donating by check, please put my name and (MXART15-DANIELLE) in the memo line, make your check payable to ILAM, and mail it to myself at college:

Danielle Redden 200 Manor Ave

Langhorne, PA 19047 If you are interested in donating art supplies for the trip, please call me, and I will make arrangements to pick them up. In the event that I receive financial support in excess of the amount needed to cover my expenses for this trip, any additional funds will be allocated to cover other general team expenses.

I just want to thank you in advance for partnering with me on this mission endeavor. You have been so supportive in the past, and I could not be more blessed to have you as my church family. I ask for your prayers as well as I prepare for this trip. Afterward, I look forward to sharing with you the great things God has done there because of the efforts of you and others who are part of this!

Much Love, Danielle Redden

Christian Education News for April:

Happy Easter everyone!

During the season of Lent, we have enjoyed learning about Jesus and his last week on earth through our story of Benjamin’s Box. The kids have created awesome treasure boxes!

There will be no Sunday School on Easter Sunday. Sunday School will resume on April 12 and we will start preparing for our Annual Children’s Sunday which will be on May 17 of this year.

It is never too late to start Sunday School, we have a class for all! Hope to see you on Sunday, April 12 @ 9:30 AM.

Apri

l 2

01

5

Su

nd

ay

Mo

nd

ay

Tu

es

da

y

We

dn

es

da

y

Th

urs

da

y

Fri

da

y

Sa

turd

ay

1

2

3

Good F

riday

4

5

East

er

6

7

8

9

1

0

11

12

13

14

15

16

1

7

18

19

20

21

22

23

2

4

25

26

27

28

29

30

6:4

5 A

M S

unri

se S

erv

ice

@ W

hitin

svill

e T

ow

n

Com

mon

10:3

0 W

ors

hip

Serv

ice

11:3

0 C

offee F

ello

wsh

ip

9:3

0 S

unday

Sch

ool

10:3

0 W

ors

hip

Serv

ice

11:3

0 2

nd S

unday

Soci

al

5:3

0 Y

outh

Gro

up

9:3

0 S

unday

Sch

ool

10:3

0 W

ors

hip

Serv

ice

11:3

0 C

offee F

ello

wsh

ip

5:3

0 Y

outh

Gro

up

9:3

0 S

unday

Sch

ool

10:3

0 W

ors

hip

Serv

ice

11:3

0 C

offee F

ello

wsh

ip

5:3

0 Y

outh

Gro

up

7:0

0 P

M T

rust

ee M

tg

4:3

0 P

M P

oB

Bib

le S

tudy

5:3

0 P

M P

eac

e o

f B

read

6:1

5 P

M P

eac

e o

f M

usi

c

7:1

5 P

M C

hoir

Pra

ctic

e

4:3

0 P

M P

oB

Bib

le S

tudy

5:3

0 P

M P

eac

e o

f B

read

6:1

5 P

M P

eac

e o

f M

usi

c

7:1

5 P

M C

hoir

Pra

ctic

e

4:3

0 P

M P

oB

Bib

le S

tudy

5:3

0 P

M P

eac

e o

f B

read

6:1

5 P

M P

eac

e o

f M

usi

c

7:1

5 P

M C

hoir

Pra

ctic

e

4:3

0 P

M P

oB

Bib

le S

tudy

5:3

0 P

M P

eac

e o

f B

read

6:1

5 P

M P

eac

e o

f M

usi

c

7:1

5 P

M C

hoir

Pra

ctic

e

7:0

0 P

M S

ess

ion P

raye

r

Meeting

(Man

se)

7:0

0 P

M S

ess

ion

Busi

ness

Meeting

7:0

0 P

M D

eac

on M

tg

11:0

0 A

M W

ors

hip

Com

mitte

e M

tg

7:0

0 P

M S

tew

ardsh

ip

Mtg

7:0

0 P

M M

aundy

Thurs

day

Serv

ice

12:0

0 P

M G

ood F

riday

Serv

ice a

t T

rinity

Epis

-

copal

Churc

h

10A

M—

12PM

Yar

d

Sale

Dro

p O

ff

9:3

0 —

11:0

0 A

M E

aste

r

Egg

Hunt

10A

M—

12PM

Yar

d

Sale

Dro

p O

ff

8A

M-2

PM

Yar

d S

ale

6:3

0 P

M W

om

en’s

Book C

lub M

eeting

-

@ H

oly

Cro

ss

1:0

0 P

M K

MH

MC

Meeting

@ S

anto

ro’s

4:3

0 P

M P

oB

Bib

le S

tudy

5:3

0 P

M P

eac

e o

f B

read

6:1

5 P

M P

eac

e o

f M

usi

c

7:1

5 P

M C

hoir

Pra

ctic

e

NON-PROFIT

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Permit No. 27

Whitinsville, MA 01588

The United Presbyterian Church at Whitinsville

Church Office: 7 Spring Street Whitinsville, MA 01588

Winter Woes

There is no need for me to tell you that it’s been a long, hard winter. Even

as I write this, more snow is expected tomorrow. Our aching backs and

weary souls will tell you, that this winter has been harder than most. So

hard in fact, that our denomination has declared New England in a state

of emergency, and is doing a special collection around the country to

help churches in our area recover from the damage of the last few

months. Our church alone has suffered from water damage, a broken

gutter, excessive heating bills and low giving due in part to the fact that it has been too dangerous

for many of us to make it to church the last few months.

Because of this, we are extra thankful for the help of our denomination and the opportunity to apply

for a grant, both to help with some of the repairs that need to be done and to help keep our minis-

tries going. But the need is great and budget is tight. If you find yourself in the position to make an

extra little donation this year to help with our winter expenses, it would make a world of difference!

Please keep our church leadership in prayer in the next couple of months as we seek to be good

stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to us.

Many Thanks,

The Stewardship Committee