Shenkel United

Church of Christ

SHARINGS AND CONCERNS

February 2014

SHENKEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

1580 Shenkel Road

Pottstown PA 19465

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Shenkel United Church of Christ’s “The NEWSLETTER” is a monthly publication prepared, edited, and mailed by the leadership and staff to all members and friends of the church. It communicates news about our life, purpose, and mission as a Church of Jesus Christ. Information related to our partnership as a member of the United Church of Christ and wider church/community out-reach is included on a regular basis. The Church is located at Unionville & Shenkel Roads in North Coventry Township.

February 2014

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 Communion Choir after late worship

3

Home School Co-Op Resumes

4 5

BOCE: 7 PM

6

Community Lunch Bunch: 11:30 AM Music and Wor-ship Meeting: 7 PM

7 8

9

Choir after late worship

10

Home School Co-Op

11

Quilters: 9:30 AM Consistory: 7 PM

12 13 14

Work Camp at Old First in Philadelphia begins

15

Work Camp continues

16

Healing Prayers

Choir after late worship

Work Camp ends

17

Home School Co-Op

18

Mid-Day Dinner Club: Noon at a location TBA

19 20

Card Making Class: 10 AM

21 22

23

Choir after late worship

24

Home School Co-Op

Community Meal: Noon at Christ Episco-pal Church

25

Quilters: 9:30AM

26 27 28

1580 Shenkel Road, Pottstown PA 19465 610.326.3535

Email: shenkelucc@aol.com www.shenkelucc.org

PAGE 3

The Pastor’s Pen Pastor Bonnie L. Moore

484.524.8280

blmoore@comcast.net

Office Hours:

Tues., Wed., Thurs.

9 AM to 1 PM

CONSISTORY

OFFICERS

President

Lynne Moyer

Vice President

Chris Gray

Secretary

Bill Faust

Treasurer

Ken Bevan

Financial Secretary

Chris Gray

Assistant Financial

Secretaries

Doug Allen

Interim Director of

Music Ministry

Susan Royer

Elders

Sherry Mocarski

Bill Faust

Chris Gray

Rick Viti

Deacons

Lynne Moyer

Aaron Gray

Andrew Foss

Ann Hartzell

Newsletter Editor: Judy Embriani Assistant Editor:s: Bill Baseley, Erika Augustine and Carol Lykens

Then God said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet,

for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Exodus 3:5

Vincent Donovan, a Catholic missionary in Africa, wrote of working with the Maasai

many years ago. He said the people were all sitting very respectfully listening to him

as the priest, and he was teaching them about the Catholic understanding of seven sac-

raments. He described a sacrament as a physical encounter or event in which you ex-

perience the Transcendent or Grace or the Holy, and he could tell that the Maasai were

not very satisfied when he said there were only seven such moments – and that’s five

more than a Protestant missionary would have told them existed! One of the Maasai

elders finally raised his hand and said, “I thought there would be at least seven thou-

sand!”

At the end of the Renewal in the Wilderness trip I took while I was on sabbatical, our

group leader told us a story about a rabbi who observed an old man going out into the

woods every morning for about an hour and returning home empty-handed. Finally,

the rabbi just had to ask, “Why do you go out into the woods every morning?” The old

man answered, “To find God.” “Ah, but God is the same everywhere,” the rabbi re-

plied. “Yes,” the old man said, “But I’m not.”

I wonder if the moral of the story is not simply to remember to intentionally make time

to “go out in the woods” to encounter God, but like the Maasai, to remember to look

for God everywhere we are?

Epiphany blessings,

Pastor Bonnie

SHENKEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST PAGE 4

2/2

NEED SPONSOR

NEED SPONSOR

NEED SPONSOR

8:30: Carol Pearson

10:45: Sherri Mocarski

8:30:CUL:

Lynne Mover

10:45 CUL:

Ann Hartzell

2/9

NEED SPONSOR

Gary & Sue Stultz

NEED SPONSOR

8:30: Carol Pearson

10:45: Ben Mocarski

8:30: Ron and Carol

Pearson

10:45: Sherri and

Ben Mocarski

2/16

NEED SPONSOR

NEED SPONSOR

NEED SPONSOR

8:30: Carol Pearson

10:45: Cameron

Dushanko

8:30: Dick and Verna

Walters

10:45: Tootie and

Louise Hine

2/23

NEED SPONSOR

NEED SPONSOR

NEED SPONSOR

8:30: Jody Sweinhart

10:45: Kaleena

Sweinhart

8:30: Jody & Joel

Sweinhart

10:45 Samantha

Pennell and

Carol Lykens

* CUL = Communion Usher Leaders (will recruit members to assist in serving communion.)

“Flours” is a collection of pantry items or a monetary donation of your

discretion to the Cluster. If a cash donation to the Cluster is made, a

wheat arrangement will be placed on the altar. Altar flowers are

$30.00 and bulletin dedications are $6.50. Food Sculptures are also

gladly accepted.

You can also dedicate a Choir Anthem with a donation of

$30. With ever-increasing costs of choral music, this sponsorship will

help stretch our budget and continue to bring quality music to Shen-

kel. Dedicate your anthem to someone special, an event in your life, or

just to the fact that you love music. Thank you for this needed contri-

bution to Shenkel. Blue envelopes are in the Narthex for your sponsor-

ships.

The are many dates open for sponsorship and dedication during this

and the upcoming months. Please complete one of the special flower/

bulletin/anthem envelopes below the sign-up chart, enclose your pay-

ment, and either put it in the collection plate or in the Secretary’s box

by the office door. You should sign your name on the chart in the

narthex by the appropriate date after you have completed your enve-

lope.

HOLY COMMUNION

Shenkel UCC celebrates the

sacrament of Holy Commun-

ion at both services on the first

Sunday of each month. Each

time communion is served,

some of the bread and non-

alcoholic wine that has been

consecrated at the altar will be saved in a travel-

ing communion kit, ready to go to the homes or

hospital rooms of members who were unable to

be present, and would like to receive the sacra-

ment. Please let Pastor Bonnie know if you, or

someone you know, would appreciate “distance-

communing” with their Shenkel Church family!

January Consistory Highlights….

Elected Officers: Lynne Moyer, President; Chris Gray, Vice-President;

Bill Faust, Secretary; Chris Gray, Financial Secretary; Ken Bevan,

Treasurer

Received a thank-you from Bethany for donations and gifts received at Christmas

Finalized plans for the Congregational Meeting

Appointed Brenda Berriker and Lara Faust to serve on the Director of Music Ministry Search Commit-

tee

Complete copies of Consistory Minutes are available from the church office upon request..

ADMINISTRATIVE NEWS…. PAGE 5

DO YOU HAVE

NEWS FOR THE BULLETIN OR

THE NEWSLETTER?

Just a reminder that all bulletin an-

nouncements should be at the

church office by each Tuesday at noon to be included

in that week’s bulletin. Newsletter articles must be

submitted by the 15th of each month to be included in

the next issue.

SAVE-A-TAPE

PROGRAM

This is the easiest way to help

our church financially. Just ask

for a Save-A-Tape card at the

customer service spot at your

local Redner’s store. Show your card at the register

when you check out, then bring your register tapes to

church and deposit them in the box in the Narthex.

These tapes are collected routinely, presented to the

store, and Redner’s donates a percentage of your total

purchase to the church.

Be careful to bring your tapes in regularly instead of

saving them at home, as they do expire if not redeemed

within a certain time period. Also, please return the

entire register tape. Redner’s will not accept any regis-

ter receipt that has any part of it removed.

YTD Current Fund O.C.W.M

The complete financial report for 2013

was presented at the Annual Congrega-

tional Meeting on January 26. Copies

are available by request from the church

office.

Budget

Prayer Shawl Ministry

Shenkel UCC’s Prayer Shawl Minis-

try is happy to provide anyone in

need of comfort with a beautiful

prayer shawl. If you know of some-

one who would benefit from one,

please call the church office. They also make baptis-

mal blankets. Anyone who likes to knit or crochet is

encouraged to help with this wonderful ministry. If you

have any questions, please speak to June Hartung at

church, or call the church office at 610-326-3535.

PAGE 6 FOR YOUR INFORMATION….

February 2, 9 "Heaven"

Leader - Rev. Wanda Craner

February 19, 26: TBA

Everyone is invited to join the

class at 9:30 a.m.

in the Social Room.

Hope to see you all there.

Designated Gift and Offerings….

Consistory adopted the following policy on 12/10/13:

“All designated gifts and offerings will be applied to their designated purpose. However, if the designated pur-

pose of the offering becomes impossible to fulfill, a re-direction of the funds received may be approved on the

recommendation of Shenkel’s Consistory with a 2/3 majority vote at a duly called congregational meeting.”

In other words… any contributions you make towards a designated purpose (think Bethany Children’s Home,

Stained Glass Windows Restoration, the North Coventry Food Pantry, etc.) will be used solely for that purpose.

However… to avoid another problem like the one we ran into when the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference de-

cided to sell Mensch Mill after we had received an offering for the camp and before we had forwarded it to the

Conference (we had to individually contact all the donors to ask permission to re-direct their contributions) this

policy was approved.

In the future, if the designated purpose of an offering becomes impossible to fulfill, a re-direction of the funds

received may be approved on the recommendation of Shenkel’s Consistory with a 2/3 majority vote at a duly

called congregational meeting.

Some hypothetical examples:

A. We receive an offering with the designated purpose of purchasing the pastor a Lear Jet

Contributions are generous, and we get a great deal on the jet, so there is $20, 000 of desig-

nated contributions left over. On the recommendation of Shenkel’s Consistory with a 2/3

majority vote at a duly called congregational meeting, that $20,000 may be re-directed for another use – perhaps

to build a hanger for the jet, or for any other purpose the Consistory recommends and the congregation approves.

B. We receive an offering to buy the pastor a Lear Jet, but we don’t receive enough money to do

that. However, we DO receive enough to purchase the pastor a kite. On the recommendation of

Shenkel’s Consistory with a 2/3 majority vote at a duly called congregational meeting, the money

designated for the Lear Jet could be re-directed for the kite, or another agreed upon purpose.

C. The camp we raised funds for is sold, the organization we raised funds to support is no longer

receiving financial gifts, etc. This policy will allow any funds received for these kinds of

“impossible to fulfill” designations to be redirected for another purpose on the recommendation of Shenkel’s

Consistory with a 2/3 majority vote at a duly called congregational meeting.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact any member of Consistory!

SHENKEL LOVES TO GIVE….

REMEMBER TOO….

The Pottstown Cluster Food Bank col-

lection at Shenkel is the 1st Sunday of

each month. Please place your items

in the large plastic bins in the narthex.

AND...Please bring in your used cell phones and empty

ink cartridges and place them in the box across from the

nursery, or in the box located on the coat rack shelf

across from the office. The cartridges are

recycled to Staples, and the church re-

ceives credits toward the purchase

of office supplies. The used cell phones are

given to the police department to be distributed

to abused women.

Pottstown Cluster News – February 2014

The Cluster welcomes all cash, food

and clothing donations between the

hours of 8:30 am to 12:00 pm on

Monday through Friday. Please

come to the back door off the alley. Parking spaces at

the rear of the building are reserved for people drop-

ping off donations.

Pantry: Oatmeal, juice, jelly , boxed potatoes, canned

fruit, canned soup or stew, spaghetti sauce, dry cereal, soy

baby formula, gentle baby formula.

Please contact Sherrie at 610-970-5995 for more informa-

tion

Dry Goods: Winter clothing - URGENT need for children's

winter clothes and coats

Sheets and Blankets (cleaned), pots and pans, and small

appliances

Toiletries - toothpaste, soap/bodywash, deodorants and

shampoo/cream rinse

Cleaning Products: Clothes detergent, dish detergent, toilet

cleaners, multi-purpose cleaners (Mr. Clean or Spic/

Span)

Diapers (sizes 3, 4, 5 ONLY Please)

Please contact Victoria at 610-970-5995 for more informa-

tion.

We would like to thank everyone who donated food, toys

and their time for another successful Holiday Food and Toy

Program. Over 200 families received boxes with turkeys, all

the trimmings and desserts. Toys, gift certificates and gift

bags were distributed to 400 children. Your support and

contributions demonstrates your belief in our mis-

sion. Warm regards to everyone and their families!

PAGE 7

The Special Offering

for February will benefit the

Camp and Retreat Scholarship

Fund.

This fund will continue to provide op-

portunities for our children and youth to be in-

volved in church camping programs and retreats

wherever and whenever available.

Please Consider Leaving Your Footprint

Last summer we rolled out a beautiful new brochure

prepared by the Stewardship Committee inviting

members to consider including a bequest to Shenkel

UCC in their wills. What is a bequest? Why should

you consider doing that? How will Shenkel benefit?

These and other questions are answered by the

“Leaving Your Footprint” brochure! If you weren’t

here to receive one, they are still available in the nar-

thex as well as from the church office. We hope you

will consider this way of making a statement that you

believe in and care about the mission of Shenkel

UCC!

If you have decided to include Shenkel in your will,

please let the church office know. You do not need

to share the amount or percentage you have in-

cluded, and your names will not be shared with any-

one except Pastor Bonnie. Thank you!

What better way to celebrate

Valentine’s Day…

…than to “share the love!” The Valentine’s

Weekend work camp is full, but we will be

happy to transport any MEN’s winter cloth-

ing to Old First’s cupboard. Especially

needed are sweatshirts, hats, gloves, warm socks,

new underwear, and travel toiletries. Please leave

any items you can contribute in the narthex before

February 14th. Thank you!

BULLETIN BOARD…. PAGE 8

Mid-Day Dinner Club

Shenkel's Mid-day Dinner Club meets at 12 noon on

the third Tuesday of each month – and you’re invited to

join us! The next meeting date is Tuesday, February

18th , and we’ll be eating at a location to be an-

nounced, Watch the Sunday bulletins for further infor-

mation. The Mid-day Dinner Club is open to young-at-

heart adults of any age who enjoy eat-

ing out and would like to get to know

other Shenkel members a little better.

Call the church office if you’re able to

join us!

SHENKEL

QUILTERS

The Shenkel Quilters

have been snowed-in

or without power just like most of

you! Hopefully we will have good weather

to meet and work on our beautiful

quilt. We are nearing the final stage of put-

ting it all together. What fun it will be to

see what our hard work will look like when

completed. Then comes the professional

quilting and the selling of the raffle tick-

ets....with which we will need your

help. This is an original design that grew

out of an idea. No other quilt in the world

will be quite like it! Again, we welcome

new members from the community. The

part I like best about our group is, of

course, the friendships, but every time we

meet someone brings in something they

have created...be it sewing, knitting or just

an antique quilt they have held on to. We

all just love seeing all these beautiful crea-

tions! We will meet in February on Tues-

day(s) the 11th and 25th at 9:30 in the

Church Social Hall. Take care and enjoy

the beautiful winter months!

Margie Allen

CARD MAKING CLASS

The card making class meets

on the third Thursday of each

month at 10 AM. The cost of the class is

$8.00 which will provide all participants with

three beautiful cards.

In February, the meeting date will be Febru-

ary 20th. To insure there will be enough ma-

terials prepared for everyone, please call

Connie Armbruster at 610-326-6516 if you

plan to attend.

Hope to see you on February 20!

YOU SHOULD KNOW….

Sunday worship is never cancelled due to snow or

inclement weather. If possible, though, please plan to attend

the 10:45 service to give the snow removal crew time to clear

the parking lot and sidewalks. The choir directors and Sun-

day School teachers will contact you if there is a cancellation

of any programs. Of course, you should always use your judg-

ment as to whether it is safe enough to drive.

COMMUNITY LUNCH BUNCH

Thursday, February 6, 2014

11:30 AM

Bob Brown will be presenting a program

on having the Lititz Post Office installed

in his home, now known as "Brown's Postal Museum." Transparencies will be shown, and we will see how the instal-

lation evolved from a "hobby" for Bob and Barbara to living

with a piece of postal history in their everyday lives.

All participants are asked to contribute $6.50 to cover the cost of the lunch and the program. Please sign up on the

sheet in the social hall or call Ruth Klein at 610-326-4520 or

the Shenkel UCC church office at 610-326-3535 by the Monday prior to the program to reserve your spot.

YALE SPIZZWINKS (?)

Congratulations to Collin Gray on a great performance with the

Yale Spizzwinks (?) at Owen J. Roberts High School on Friday,

January 10th. The Spizzwinks (?) is an renowned A cappella

group from Yale University. The whole gang invaded the Gray

home and then put on a fabulous performance that was enjoyed

by many, including lots of proud Shenkel folks. Great job, Collin!

GOOD NEWS AROUND TOWN….

Congratulations, Lilly Keim!!

Our very own Lilly Keim won the Fifth Annual Christmas in Birdsboro

contest. Lilly drew a wonderful picture of a Christmas tree and submit-

ted her picture and an essay about her favorite memory of going to the

Chirstmas ih Birdsboro celebrations in the past. Lilly’s won 1st prize and

had her submission displayed at the Birdsboro Community Center over

the holidays. She also got to light the Community Christmas Tree this

year. Wow, how fun! You can see her handiwork on the bulletin board in our social hall.

Good work, Lilly!

Many thanks to those people who helped decorate wreaths and the church for the Ad-vent season. Also, thanks to those people who came out on Saturday, January 10 to un

-decorate. Over the last few years the Advent Decorating Com-mittee has been purchasing things that will help the committee with time in future years as well as things that are safer. In-stead of using wax candles, oil filled candles were purchased. This past year the decision was made to purchase artificial wreaths so that those decorating them can do them at their lei-sure and not spend one whole day at church decorating live ones. This past year we discussed purchasing an artificial tree. After Christmas, Louise and Tootie Hine found a fantastic bar-gain on such a tree. An almost $1,000 tree was purchased for $200.

If you are one of the many people who enjoy seeing the beautiful transformation of our church, would you consider making a donation to the new Christmas tree that will be used for Christmas 2014? Simply put your donation in an envelope and mark it “Christmas Tree” and place in the offering plate.

PAGE 9

BACK TO LIBERIA….

January 6, 2014

First Mission Letter 2014

We pray this letter finds you have had a Merry Christmas and a great start to your New Year 2014! Now pic-

ture a living room full of various piles of suitcases, clothes, Bibles, student profiles, camera equipment,

mosquito netting, letters to students, just to name a few, and you will know it must be time for God’s Pre-

cious Children to head back to Liberia, West Africa!

This year we have a team of four going to help take each student’s picture and update their profile. Barry

Fehnel, a member at Community United Church of Christ, (where Deb just finished as their interim pastor),

is going along and will be our picture expert this year and Chu-Chin Chen, a recent graduate of Palmer Theo-

logical Seminary and one of Deb’s students will be helping fill out the student profiles as she also gains first

-hand experience of what it is like to be in the mission field.

By the grace of God and your help we will be adding 200+ students to the program this year which means

1500 pictures need to be taken and 1500 profiles need to be updated in the sixteen days we will be on the

ground in Liberia. We have a lot of work ahead of us and we appreciate all your prayers to help us get it

done!

Gary is hoping this year to be able to video tape some of the graduates of the Tuition Sponsorship Program

so we can hear first-hand what an education has meant for them and what they are doing now that they

have graduated the program.

As we prepare to head out we are thankful for our dear friends who house-sit our home. We also ask for

your prayers for Barry’s wife and Chu-Chin’s husband who will be patiently awaiting their return. And we

give praise to God for your prayers and support and the privilege we have of doing this ministry in the name

of Jesus and sharing God’s love.

We fly out on Tuesday January 8, 2014 so look for our next letter at the end of that week as we keep you

posted on what wondrous things God will be doing through all of our lives in Liberia, West Africa.

Your friends in Christ,

Gary & Deb

PAGE 10

32 Vinemont Rd. Reinholds, Pa. 17569

GodsPreciousChildren@comcast.net

WWW.GodsPreciousChildren.com

Below is a letter from Rev. Deborah Spink Winter who spent time here with our congregation during

Pastor Bonnie’s Sabbatical. Pastor Deb shared her passion for educating the children of Liberia, West

Africa. Many of you contributed to her Tuition Sponsorship Program for God’s Precious Children. And

thanks to Shenkel’s combined donations, 92 seniors in the Tuition Sponsorship Program of God’s Pre-

cious Children will graduate in the spring of 2014. Praise God!

PAGE 11

STEWARD’S CORNER

I have not written to you since last year! The New Year started up before I was ready, and

Shenkel Church is active with a few changes I heard about.. The nicest change is that Pastor

Bonnie now has a cute little puppy with a boy's name -JIMMY! She is raising him to be trained

as a Seeing Eye guide dog.

Also, I finally learned what “M & W” stands for; “'Worship and Music” committee! They just

had a meeting a few days ago, and JIMMY” was there, just listening to the people making

plans for the church.

One thing I overheard was that the choir is going to get started again and rehearse at a new time; right after

the second worship service, and that nice lady who sometimes comes to Shenkel to play the organ for us,

Susan Royer, will be the interim music director. So maybe some of you would like to join them. I'll keep out of

sight, but I will be around, enjoying the singing.

Steward

Healing prayers are offered on

the third Sunday of each month

at both services of worship.

The Prayer Chain list is continually

being updated. Request for prayers

should be placed in the prayer box in

the Narthex, or get in touch with any

member of the Wholeness Commit-

tee. If anyone has a special prayer

request, please contact Ann Baccari

or Freda Wanner. Prayer requests will

be carried for one month. If anyone

is interested in ministering on the

Prayer Chain, please contact Ann

Baccari or Freda Wanner. Members

of the Wholeness Committee are Ann

Baccari, Ted

Gray, Tootie and

Louise Hine,

June Hartung,

Carol Stubbe and

Freda Wanner.

INTERIM DIRECTOR OF MUSIC MINISTRY….

Beginning on Sunday Jan 26th, I will be returning to Shenkel for an

interim period. It is always nice to be back at my home church and I

will be glad to be among you regularly. Generally speaking, you can

expect to see me three out of four Sundays a month for the time be-

ing.

All singers are welcome in the choir and we encourage you to share

your musical gifts. There are a few slight changes to the routine:

Rehearsals will be after church on Sundays for about an

hour, instead of on a weeknight. We will meet in the social

hall immediately after the second service.

We will be exploring a new UCC resource for music devel-

oped specifically with a contemporary slant: Sing! Prayer

and Praise.

Our choir does not need to be limited to the faithful core,

nor does it need to be only adults. Spread the word!

We can be flexible about participation so if you are free

one Sunday but not the next, no problem.

We hope you will join us whenever you can! I am excited about some

new musical projects!

Serving with you,

Susan Royer

02/04 Jesse Painter

02/04 Barry Miller

02/05 Sandra Peterman

02/08 Ronald Christman

02/08 Anna Shenk

02/10 Nicole Miller

02/11 Doug Allen

02/12 Georgina Heimbach

02/15 Lori Skulski

02/15 Rachel Lloyd

02/17 Sherri Dushanko

02/18 Seth Dawicki

02/25 Emily Lloyd

02/26 Gary McDermit

02/26 Americ McCullagh

02/26 Isheunesu Chidawu

02/27 Kathy Iezzi

SHARING WITH OUR CHURCH FAMILY AND FRIENDS….

During the month of February, Shenkel will be praying for these randomly selected members and friends of our congregation :

2/2 Kim Yocom and Barry Peterman

Louise Hine

Kurt Kutz

Cara Bevan

Ariel Royer

2/9 Patti Hughes

Olivia Dushanko

Gary McDermitt

Tesia Craner

Brenda and Randy Berriker

2/16 Betty and Robert Reiff

Rick Brewer

Sherri and Mark Dushanko

Maryln Rohrbach

Tami and David Bade

2/23 Susan and John Pennell

Faye and Ed Pedrick

Lisa and Barry Yocom

Margie and Doug Allen

Taylor Baker

PAGE 12

Just look at this face!! Meet Jimmy, Pastor Bonnie’s 12 week

old golden retriever Seeing Eye Puppy. You may have already

seen him at church, hanging out in the church office, or per-

haps attending a meeting or two. He’s a sweet little boy with a

wonderful and important future ahead of him. He is ex-

pected to be here with Pastor Bonnie (and Shenkel’s members)

for about a year, and then he’ll be off to the Seeing Eye to be

trained to be the eyes of a blind person. Welcome Jimmy!!