NORTHMINSTER Grapevine November 2019 Vol. 35 Issue 8 November Worship November’s Second Mile Offering is for Valley Interfaith Phone: 931 - 0243 e - mail: offi[email protected]website: northminsterchurch.org October 27 - November 24 Sermon Series Grit Sunday, November 3 Communion & All Saints Day Hebrew 12:1-2 “Grit: Face to Face with Loss” Sunday, November 10 Ruth 1:15-19a “Grit: Face to Face with Adversity” Sunday, November 17 Esther 4:9-17 “Grit: Face to Face with Challenge” Sunday, November 24 Luke 22:54-62 & John 21:15-19 “Grit: Face to Face with Failure”
Hi friends, My desk is a disaster! Pret-ty soon the sta2 will wrap my desk in caution tape like the last time it got this way. But before you judge, please know my desk is also a witness – to the tangible grace of God and the work to which I am called. Right now I am smiling, be-cause God is speaking loudly to me, through the seeming chaos on my desk. Maybe I’ll wait for the caution tape before I clean the desk and quiet God’s voice. Spread about be-fore me are evidences of a life lived and just beneath the sur-face - evidence of a grace ex-perienced. Most obvious, are the books scattered across the surface of my desk like rubble at a con-struction site. It appears ran-dom – the work of some hid-den wrecking ball - but there is an organizing principle for those that have eyes to see and ears to hear. A thread that ties all together. A commen-tary on Matthew lays open at 1 o’clock reminding me that Sun-day is coming; Ezekiel rests at 3 o’clock reminding me that last Sunday’s work is past. At 11 o’clock is a toppled stack of ?ve books I plan to read, at 10 are the books I have read and are reading now with others. Barely discernable under a scattering of papers is The Book of Order. I ?nd irony the most playful kind of humor. Dead center on my desk is the Bible and a hymnal on top – both open. They all whisper to me grace, grace beyond belief. They almost shout I am alive, I am a child of the King, and en-gaged in His mission. My high
school friends would call my current life a freak
occurrence, an impossibility – but then again we didn’t know God back then. My life is re-deemed by the Savior, and I get to proclaim good news! There are also on my desk too many brightly colored fold-ers and newspaper clippings peeking out from stacks of oth-erwise mundane administrative detritus. The folders contain years and years of pastoral notes, the clippings are almost all obituaries. This seeming mess, points to other lives. We are never alone and it is never just about us. Other lives mat-ter in our God’s kingdom. These folders and clippings call me to be grateful for those in my life who made a di2er-ence, they remind me of our shared mortality, they make me wonder about the eternity that follows mortality, and they prompt me to value the tem-poral moments we have in this place to make a di2erence. There are papers for at least ?ve ongoing projects spread about the working sur-face before me. They are
taunting me right now. Things in our lives that, at least for now, remain unfinished . . . We all have them and they niggle at us. The unfinished projects are not nearly as worrisome as the neglected relationships: a for-giveness withheld, the phone call not made, the words not said – they call to us. There is also a bit of art on my desk which reminds me to make some music with my life. I am a bit sad to think my mu-sic will never be of the classi-cal sort, but it can be music none-the-less. Probably more like Jazz – syncopated, unre-solved and a little bit messy with improvisation – music of the soul, if not quite the mind. Where are you reminded of the grace that pervades your life? Where are you encour-aged to make music with your life? What does your desk say to you? God Bless and see ya Sun-day, Greg 2222
Bible Believers Adult Study meet Sundays in the Library at 9:15 A.M. For questions contact Harry Stone (563-8266 or [email protected])
Men’s Bible Study meets on Fridays at 6:15 A.M. in Room 5 for Bible Study and breakfast. Men’s First Thursday Lunch Group will meet on November 7 at 12 noon at Manor House in Maple Knoll. For questions contact Gordon Jewett at 782-6437 or [email protected].
The November 21st 50+ Pro-gram will be presented by our Spring?eld Township Police K-9 handler, O�cer Jim Scheeler and his furry part-ner “Pako”. We’ll learn how Pako helps keep our community safe by tracking suspects, doing building searches, locating evi-dence and detecting illegal narcotics.
Lunch will be served at 12 noon in Disciples’ Hall fol-lowed by the program. The cost is $6.00. RSVP in the Commons on Sundays, No-vember 10 or 17, or contact the church – 931-0243 or [email protected] – by Monday, October 18.
Poinsettias
This month the Book Discussion Group will read “Submerged” by Janice Hisle. Join the group on Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00 P.M. in the Lounge.
50+ Group
Barbara Biggs
Jim Bowles
Carolyn Brandt
Hazel Crosset
Bill Falhaber
Marlene Falhaber
Elaine Geis
Jack Geis
Mary Gibson
James Golan
Don Haas
Joe Hamilton
Fay Harris
Joan Jester
Don Lincoln
Ruby Loucks
Phyllis Martin
Audrey McMillen
David Merriman
2019 Northminster’s Saints
Sandy Phillips
Mary Frances Roll
Velma Jean Schuster
Tom Speckman
David Switzer
William Troy
Connie Valerio
Jane Wall
Helen Wood
It’s time to think about Poinsettias that will decorate the sanctuary during the up-coming holiday season. They will decorate the sanctuary on Sunday, Decem-ber 15 & 22 plus Christmas Eve. The deadline to order is Mon-day, November 18th. To order – look for the Oower envelope in the pew rack or call the church o�ce (931-0243). Be sure to let us know what you want printed in the bulletin and whether you plan to take the poinsettia with you after the 11:00 PM Christmas Eve worship service or leave it for the Deacons who will deliver them to members and friends who can no longer get to wor-ship or who are hospitalized
Journey to Hope
All support and coaching groups at Journey to Hope are open to the greater Cincinnati community. Please share this information freely with anyone who could bene?t from any of our programs. You will ?nd details about each group on our website: www.jtoh.org Your pre-registration is es-sential for us to plan for materi-als and group leadership. We would prefer that you register at Eventbrite: jtoh.eventbrite.com, but you may also still register by calling or e-mailing Diane Kinsel-la (931-5777 or [email protected]) MONTHLY GROUPS Caregivers’ Support Group Sunday, November 3 from 3:30 – 5 PM. Join us if you’re in-volved in any aspect of care-giving for a loved one! Chronic Pain Support Group Monday, November 4 from 7-8:30 PM. Our group is for any-one dealing with chronic pain who would also like resources for managing/handling it bet-ter. Crohn’s Colitis Support Group Thursday, November 7 from 7-8:30 PM. Dr. Laurie Jahnke from Apex Chiropractic & Wellness Center is going to talk about the functional medicine model
of nutritional care. She’ll also share about 4
some connections research has found can help Crohn's & Colitis patients, including the vagus nerve, acetylcholine, and phosphatidylcholine. Dr. Jahn-ke will also discuss how the neurotransmitters are impact-ed by gut health. There will be some self-assessment tools you can use in the discussion to get some immediate feed-back about if these things could be useful for you. Crohn’s Colitis Support Group Thursday, December 5 from 7-8:30PM.Cathy Rosenbaum PharmD MBA RPh CHC CDP will be our speaker. Her focus is In-Oammatory Bowel Disease: Whole Person Wellness. At-tendees will brieOy review in-testinal and extra-intestinal symptoms and their manage-ment with prescription medica-tions, nutrition, and holistic mind body spirit wellness ap-proaches. Please Note: November and December 2019 are our �nal two meetings of this group, which has been meeting for 11.5 years! Diabetic Support Group Wednesday, November 20 from 1:30 – 3 PM. Registered Dietician Jan Weber shares di-etary and exercise strategies for managing diabetes. Diabetes Education Class We will resume these classes after the New Year, since our regular meeting dates are holi-days! Enjoy your holidays, eve-ryone!
NOVEMBER GROUPS Coping with Grief through the Holidays Tuesday, November 5 from 7-8:30 PM (Single Ses-sion) Celebrating the holidays following a loss can present new challenges. Learn how to honor your grief while support-ing your well-being during the holiday season. This single ses-sion covers coping strategies developed through lived expe-rience. Grief to Joy Tuesday, November 12 from 7-8:30 PM (Single Session) Cost: $10. This interactive workshop, which focuses on empowering you with intentional tools and strategies to help you in your way back toward joy. We all enter into moments of sad-ness, some linger there longer than others. The goal of this workshop is to help you to quickly move away from sad-ness back into joy. It’s not a matter of not feeling your feel-ings, but rather setting speci?c goals on how you want to feel instead, and inching your way back toward greater joy at your own pace, in your own time, using a variety of tools and tac-tics of your choice along the way. You will walk away with a variety of concepts and skills that you can access at any time to help move you toward greater joy. If you know someone who is feeling “stuck”, please suggest they join you or attend so that we may support as many peo-ple as possible in reaching their highest level of joy. Joy is possible again. (continued on page 5)
JtoH (cont.)
On Sunday, November 10 stop by Fellowship Commons be-tween services to meet Sue Wagner and Gay Volz.
Sue Wagner Zone: A-Bah
Sue Wagner has been a mem-ber since mid-1970’s. I have so many cherished experiences of growing in Christ and raising our family in this special fel-lowship
Gay Volz Zone: Did-Ek
My family has called Fin-neytown home for many years – my two sons are Finneytown grads and I am a retired Fin-neytown teacher. To stay busy during retirement I volunteer, continue to teach children and adults sewing and quilting skills, belong to several book groups and most important en-joy time with my 3 grandchil-dren.
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Meet the Deacons
Our annual mission project of writing Holiday Cards for deployed US Troops and Vet-erans began October 13. This year we are missing some of our dedicated card writers, so more than ever we need your help. When picking up cards, take a couple extra to help reach our goal this year. Cards (without envelopes)are available in Fellowship Commons. Just add your per-sonal message (examples pro-vided) and return the cards to the display in the Commons. We’ll do the rest. Whether you write 5, 15 or 25 cards or more,
your HELP is needed! Our Troops and Veterans past and present ?nd them most sup-portive and rewarding. The deadline to return the cards to church is Sunday, De-cember 8. This allows needed time for subsequent delivery before Christmas. Our goal, as usual, is 1000 personalized cards. Any questions contact Howard Krueger at 821-8284.
Holiday Cards for Soldiers
Session Highlights
In October, Your Session:
• Reviewed Michael Steel’s plan to pursue (on-line) a Master’s Degree in theology from Fuller seminary. Mi-chael will receive a scholar-ship from Northminster’s Semester Fund to help de-fray tuition costs.
• Recognized Mike Steel’s excellent work in develop-ing the new Northminster cell phone App. If you haven’t already done so, please download the free App from your App Store. You’ll like it.
• Reviewed plans to replace two aging pumps in our air conditioning system at an estimated cost of $30,000 to be paid from our capital projects fund.
• Reviewed plans for this year’s Stewardship Cam-
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Save the Date for Bricks & Breakfast Bites!
Help us celebrate and dedi-cate the new patio on Sunday, November 17th, from 10 AM – Noon! Come, ?nd your brick and enjoy a few breakfast bites with us. If you haven’t been in our home for a while, come see what’s happening! JOURNEY TO HOPE E-NEWS
The best way to know what is happening at JtH is to sub-scribe to our e-newsletter, which is sent out on Wednes-days. Please email Diane [email protected] to subscribe OR subscribe by texting “subscribe me” to 22828.
Financial Report Through September YTD actual YTD Budget % of Total Previous Year % of Total Budget Budget YTD YTD previous year Revenue $ 727,942 $ 706,728 65.81% $ 724,621 68.05% Expense $ 765,517 $ 855,550 67.60% $ 758,130 69.53% Surplus/(De?cit) ($ 37,575) ($ 33,509)
Angel Tree Northminster Children’s Co-Op 8th Annual Breakfast with Santa
Saturday, December 14 9:30-11:30 AM
• Visit with Santa • Breakfast Goodies • Christmas Craft and Activities • Plus RaUes Baskets
$3.00 . . . children 12 & under $5.00 . . . Adult $25.00 family maximum
Through An-gel Tree, you can connect a child with their parent behind bars and offer Christmas joy and hope to a prisoner's family. It's simple. Northminster volunteers con-tact families, you buy and wrap Christmas gifts, and vol-unteers deliver them - along with a message of love and the Good News about Jesus - in the name of incarcerated par-ents. A Christmas tree with An-gel Tree tags will be in the Church Commons on Novem-ber 24 and December 1. The congregation is invited to take a tag, buy and wrap gifts for the children, returning them to the church by December 8.... Our goal then is to deliver these gifts to the children be-fore Christmas. Discover the joy of serving a prisoner's family. Our Angel Tree team is headed by Keith and Chris Needham. “It starts with a gift, and it leads to fami-lies restored and lives trans-formed."
In order to receive credit for your stock contributions towards your 2019 Giving Statement, the
transaction must be completed by Saturday, December 7, 2019
THANKSGIVING BASKET PROJECT Saturday, November 23 from 9 am. - 12 pm.
at Wyoming Presbyterian Church (225 Wyoming Ave.)
YOU CAN HELP IN THREE WAYS
1. Contribute to the purchase of the food baskets. $50 covers the cost
of one basket, although any amount is welcome. (Put Thanksgiving
Baskets on the memo line of your check made out to NmPC). Please
make your donation by Sunday, November 12th.
2. Help pack food into the baskets starting at 9:00 A.M. at Wyoming
Presbyterian Church. An assembly line will be set up to pack the
baskets. We will pray over the baskets.
3. Deliver 3-5 baskets to local families. Names, maps and information
will be provided.
If you would like to volunteer to help pack the baskets
Sunday Morning News This fall we will be fo-cusing on faith and
how that can be lived out in our lives. In December we will begin our Advent lessons and follow those with the teach-ings of Jesus. The signup sheet for elemen-tary teachers is posted out-side Room 5. Parents please take a look and volunteer to teach one Sunday.
Children’s Choir We meet every Sunday morning from 9:45-10:15 with Ms. Ray in our children’s music room, Room 5. This is for children in 1st-5th grades. Families who typically worship at 10:30 are encouraged to come early so your children can participate in Children’s Choir and you can enjoy co2ee and fellowship in the Commons.
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starting Wednesday, November 6 (through December 4)
5:00-6:30 P.M. for students in 1st – 5th grades Learn about Christmas tra-ditions from 4 di2erent coun-tries. What do other children do to celebrate Christmas? Is it really di2erent from yours? Come and explore Christmas around the world. The evening will include music, crafts, tast-ing and learning stories from other countries. The cost is $3.00/night to cover the cost of pizza for din-ner. We will not meet the Wednesday before Thanksgiv-ing (November 27). To regis-ter go to Northminster-church.org
Christmas Around The World
Saturday, December 14th 3:00 - 5:00 P.M.
You, your family, friends and neighbors are invited to join us in Disciple’s Hall. Houses are $10.00 each. Keep in mind, they must be reserved and paid for in ad-vance. Bring extra decorations to share, white frosting and a few candies will be provided. The afternoon will also include carol singing, accompanied by our youth bell choir, PYRE, the telling of the Christmas story and Baby Jesus birthday cake. Please complete the reser-vation form on line at www.northminsterchurch.org or pick up a form outside Mary’s o�ce in the Children’s Wing. Question??? Contact Mary Hensey at 513-931-0243 ext. 1018 or [email protected]. Deadline to reserve your house is December 2nd.
Nursery We have a lot of openings in our Infant/Toddler Nursery during the 9:00 and 10:30. Please consid-er blessing a young family by volunteering to help once a month. The schedule is post-ed outside Room 8 in the Chil-dren’s Wing. Speak to Diane or Mary if you have questions. We would love to have you join us.
Ways to keep informed about Upcoming Events at Northminster
Did you know that you can get the monthly Grapevine emailed to you? Save a tree and some postage for the church. Just send your email address to
Subscribe to the e-newsletter which appears in your emails on Thursday mornings. The e-newsletter contains events for the up-coming weekend and beyond and pray-er concerns of our members. To sign up for the e-newsletter go to our website: https://www.northminsterchurch.org/contact.
POSTMASTER : DATED MATERIALPOSTMASTER : DATED MATERIALPOSTMASTER : DATED MATERIALPOSTMASTER : DATED MATERIAL DO NOT DELAYDO NOT DELAYDO NOT DELAYDO NOT DELAY NORTHMINSTER GRAPEVINE: NORTHMINSTER GRAPEVINE: NORTHMINSTER GRAPEVINE: NORTHMINSTER GRAPEVINE: (USPS 601070) is published monthly by Northminster Presbyterian Church, 703 Compton Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45231. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 703 Compton Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45231.
Family News
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Birth
Deaths
Session (cont.)
Miles Brian Simpson born September 27, 2019
The parents are Leah and Jeremy Simpson. The grandparents are Stu and Lou Koeppe
Sallee Ann Ruibal and J.T. Harrison were married
Saturday, October 3, 2019
Don Lincoln September 29, 2019
Wedding (continued from page 5) paign. The campaign will be well underway by the time you read this. It’s time to prayerfully consider how you will support Northminster. You can place your completed pledge card in the o2ering plate on Sunday morning or turn it in at the church o�ce.
