Directory Changes
John Horn has a new phone number: 630-414-3518. Please note in your directory
Our
organist, Jeri Kellan, is now back
on the job! We welcome her and are
thankful for her recovery.
NEW
OFFICE HOURS for 2010
NEW OFFICE HOURS FOR 2010 AS FOLLOWS:
Monday & Tuesday 8:30 a.m. to Noon Wednesday & Friday 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Thursday By
appointment.
DEACON’S NOTE
My article
this month consists of brief musings on several topics.
Am I the
only one to be upset that fewer and fewer individuals seem to honor commitments
when they find it inconvenient to do so?
Am I the
only one who gets upset when individuals either do not make any effort to clear
the sidewalks around their homes after a snow storm or shove the snow over to their
property line so that in order to walk on the sidewalk I have to go out into
the street and re-enter the sidewalk at the next house?
Does anyone
else find that when the telephone/television/ internet service is “upgraded”
there is on an immediate basis trouble with the telephone and/or TV and/or
internet? I do marvel at the
communication advances; I, however, wonder about it when I observe two
individuals seated across the table from each other in a restaurant and texting
(I hope not to each other) rather than enjoying each other’s company and a good
meal. And I do have a concern that the
generation of my grandchildren are spending so much time on video games and
watching TV rather than participating in physical activity.
Well,
enough of my negative musings. Several
individuals have commented on the fact that we seem to have an early Lent. Well, yes it is. That’s because Lent is determined by the date of Easter which is
determined by the lunar calendar. (It
changes every year just like the observance of Passover by our Jewish brothers
and sisters). Don’t worry; next year we
have a late Lent. Of course the date of
Easter determines the length of the season of Epiphany and the season of
Pentecost... If we have a short season
of Epiphany we will have a long season of Pentecost and vice-a-versa. Aren’t you glad you asked?
May all of
us keep a holy Lent so that we can observe a glorious Easter.
Your servant in Christ, Deacon Tom
Smith
THANK YOU PAGE
From the February 8 Vestry meeting:
Thank you to…
Nancy Moran for the Spirit and Food series at
Adult
Formation
Gloria Sparrow and Joyce Crowe for
Wednesday
morning taxi service.
Linda DeVaun, Helen Sulzenfuss’s helping hand
for
communion.
Fran Cole for stepping in as organist while Jeri
Kellan’s
knee recovers.
Jack Holley, fearless leader of the ushers,
and unsung
member of the Altar Guild.
John Morrice, for the cleanup schedule without
which Coffee Hour would be a mess.
…Jim Adamson for finding and applying new plastic
feet for the parish hall chairs.
Sheila
Ferguson who found, and the
Altar
Guild and clergy who continue to supply
gluten-free
communion wafers.
Episcopal Church Men for sloppy joes, ham, and
more
at the Annual Meeting,
and for
leading our Lenten Outreach program providing school uniforms for children in
Africa.
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS
March already!!!! We are in the home stretch and
spring always brings to life the Sunday School ministry. There will be
fundraisers and trips being planned and painting and lock-ins and outreach
projects!
At the
Bishop’s request, the churches in the Diocese will participate in an outreach
project to provide school uniforms to needy children in Africa. In some
towns and communities, children may not attend school unless they have a
uniform. This outreach project will be adopted by Calvary and we are
planning on having the children in our Sunday School help their fellow students
in Africa by helping to raise money for uniforms. The J2A students will be
helping to run this outreach project for our younger students through Lent.
Communion
class is underway. The First Communion ceremony will be on Palm
Sunday, March 28th at the 10:15 a.m. service. Bread baking will take
place on Saturday March 27th in the morning; Time to be announced. The
Second Grade communicants are Rose Bonarek, Mason Ceplecha and Hannah Lombardi.
After
Lent, during the Easter Season, the J2A group will be having a fundraiser to
help raise monies to aid in their Pilgrimage. Tiffany Balsitis has graciously
offered to oversee this fundraiser. Please be on the lookout for more
info to come.
Page 2
The
Rite 13 class finished painting and putting their personal touches on their
room downstairs! Come on down and take a peek~ you may learn a
little something about these very cool members of Calvary!
March at a Glance
March 21st –Youth Sunday- J2A
March 27th (Sat) - Communion Class
Bread baking
March 28th – Palm Sunday – Communion Class
presentation
April 4th - Easter Sunday
Jennifer Ceplecha,
Sunday School Superintendent
630-424-1127
DOK
Saturday, March 27, 10:00 a.m.
Mary Hanahan, hanahanone@aol.com
OUTREACH
P A D S
Tues/Wed, March 23 – 24, 2010
WORSHIP
ADULT FORMATION - LENTEN STUDIES
Our 9:15 Adult Formation program in Lent
will be a study of Jesus’ last week: what the Gospels really say about what
happened in Jerusalem from Palm Sunday to Easter Day.
Sunday evenings at 5 p.m., beginning
February 21, Pastor Emily will lead a Lenten series on Holy Choices: living our
faith in our daily decisions. We’ll use resources from scripture, prayer
traditions, and the history of our faith to explore how we make decisions from
groceries to presidents.
Watch the Sunday bulletin or the Calvary
website for more details about these programs.
FELLOWSHIP/COFFEE HOUR
Bagel Pickup
Schedule
March
07 Ruth
Ann and Brian Pfohl
March 14 Linda
& Nick Arnold
March 21 John
Morrice
March 28 Marilyn
Stein
April 4 Ross
Kellan
April 11 Donald
George Castle
April 18 Sue
& Ron Seger
April 25 Katie
& Greg Pardue
May 2 Sandy
Hitchin
As always, if you run into a problem please call
me. Sally McClure has volunteered to be
an emergency backup if the need arises!
Coffee Hour Cleanup
Check
Posted Sheets in the Parish Hall.
Many Thanks to all these Helpful People!!
John Morrice, Coordinator
ECW NEWS
We had our annual
Valentine’s Day dinner in February. A big thank you goes to Mary Hanahan for
her delicious gourmet cooking. Also,
thank you to Maggie Nolan, Maureen Elliot, and John Horn for all of their help
in making this a fun evening.
On
Saturday March 13th we will be hosting a family St. Patty’s corned beef dinner at
7:00 p.m. in the parish hall. This event is in place of the Beer Tasting party
that was previously announced. This fun filled family event is only $3.00 per
person or $10.00 per family. This is a "bring your own beer or wine"
evening. There will be items raffled
off at our St. Patty’s Day dinner.
Maureen Elliot is chairing this fun family evening. She will need some volunteers to help.
Mark
your calendars for our next SAMS bake sale on April 18th. This is held between church services and
after 10:15 am service during coffee hour.
We will need bakers to donate baked goodies. We will also need hungry
buyers to purchase these yummy baked goods to support this ministry.
In Christ,
Tiffany Balsitis, Secretary
SPECIAL
PROJECTS!
Have you heard????
Isn't it fun to tell people about good
stuff? – A new store in town, a one day sale, a nifty movie, a funny
story? We all love to share information and we are good at it!
There will be two opportunities in the
next few months for fellow Calvarians to brainstorm about sharing the good news
about the church community that we have. THIS WILL BE FUN! Get your
thinking cap on and your creative juices flowing because we need you in our
lively discussions.
Put one or both of these dates on
your calendar - Sunday March 21 after the 10:15 service/Sunday April 18th
during formation at 9:15.
Nancy Magurno
& Pastor Emily
ECM
NEWS
See
next page for Lenten Outreach Article!
This is an exciting opportunity!
TIME,
TALENT, & TREASURE
“PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM
ALL BLESSINGS FLOW….”
We
sing these words every week at the 10:15 service when the offering comes up the
aisle to the altar.
Page
3
This
is an acknowledgment that everything we have, and everything we are, comes to
us by the grace of God. Our very lives
are gifts from God. As Christians, we
are called to take these gifts and use them wisely and return with thanksgiving
a portion to God and God’s work in the world.
We are called to be God’s Stewards.
Stewardship
is an intentional act. In order to work
a Saturday clean-up, cover a shift at Pads, or make a prayer blanket, we have
to plan it out. We have to set aside a
portion of our week to do the work of God.
In order to provide songs for the service every Sunday, the choir must
plan to meet and practice the songs. In
order to put an offering in the basket on Sundays, we must budget our other
expenses. These are also examples of
the stewardship of Time, Talent, and Treasure.
We
will concentrate on each of these areas over the course of the next year. The first area I want to talk about is
Treasure. Treasure means money. Money is a subject that people often feel
should not be talked about in church because it is such a material topic for
such a spiritual place. But, Jesus
talked about money more than anything else.
He recognized that “where your treasure is there shall your heart be
also.”
It’s true that we always pay more
attention once we have put some money into something. Several years ago I decided to invest in some stock on the advice
of a broker. I had never heard of the
company before; I didn’t know how to read the stock pages in the
newspaper. You can be sure that I
quickly began to care a great deal about this company. I learned to read the stock pages. I started reading the business section of
the paper and listening for news about the company. I cared about this company.
My fortunes were tied up with the company’s fortunes. When I sold the stock, I ceased to care
about the company. My heart followed
my treasure. My depth of concern about the company lasted only as long as my
investment did.
As
a Lenten discipline, you may want to take some time to think about the choices
you make with your time, talent and treasure as an expression of your
faith. This goes beyond what you put in
the plate on Sundays.
Pastor Emily’s 5:00 pm Sunday night Lenten
series: Holy Choices: Decision Making and Our Faith is a great
opportunity to explore why and where you redirect God’s flow of blessings of
time, talent and treasure.
Ruth Ann Nelson, Stewardship
ECM and J2A outreach project for Lent.
2010 Bishop’s
Challenge for Achieving Universal Primary Education
Donate a School Uniform!
Over 75 million children are barred from attending
primary schools every year; two thirds of them are girls. Bishop Jeffrey Lee
wants to change that and issued a challenge to the people of the Diocese of
Chicago at Diocesan Convention in November: Send kids to school! To help
us achieve universal primary education, we must provide children with the
mandatory uniforms that they cannot afford to attend the “free” public schools.
The challenge comes just as we head into gift-giving season. If each of the 40,000 Episcopalians in the
Diocese of Chicago would donate one school uniform ($12 each), more than
$400,000 would be raised toward Goal Two of the Millennium Development Goals:
achieving universal primary education.
[African] Children who never attend school will never find a
place to establish a voice at the world’s table. They will not learn to work
collaboratively or to live into their God given potential. Schools are being
built, but the only way a child can attend is if they have the money to pay the
fees and to buy requisite uniforms. Each uniform costs $12.
Last fall, deacons of our diocese created a gift card that will
be given to every person who donates a uniform. Think how such a card can
simplify your Christmas shopping. These cards can be sent to everybody on your
gift list: nieces, nephews, teachers, clergy, and service providers – even that
person whose name you draw for the office gift exchange! People receiving that
card telling them that a child will attend school next year because of a
donation you made in their honor. Imagine their pleasure. All monies for
uniforms and fees are fully tax deductible.
ECM and J2A
groups are sponsoring this challenge. During Advent and through Lent, Members
from each group will be available to tell you more about this project, and can
help you to make a donation that will save a life.
Together, the funds collected
for the Diocese can provide uniforms and fees to send 40,000 children to school
next year. Each parish will have gift cards available for purchase. These cards
will be distributed to donors, while the monies collected are documented and
disbursed in a timely manner.
Monies collected will be sent
to Episcopal Relief and Development after Lent. (cont.
Page 8)
Page 4
We
are waiting for additional materials from the Diocese and will have
announcements in the future.
VESTRY
Proposed Minutes from 1/11/10 Vestry
Meeting.
Present: Grant
Ianelli, Ruth Ann Pfohl, Lisa Pardue, Gloria Sparrow, Hester Bury, Emily
Mellott, Jim Adamson, Nancy Moran, John Jaska, Nicki Jaska, Patty LeBlanc, Jan
Bruesch
After opening prayer, the meeting was
called to order at 6:37 p.m.
The minutes of the previous meeting were
submitted and approved.
The Treasurer’s Report was received as
submitted.
Pastor Emily discussed the upcoming
Leadership Day to be held on February 20, 2010 here at Calvary. The new church
brochure contains a revised Mission Statement that will be used starting in
Lent.
Senior Warden Jim Adamson made note that
Opening prayer will be rotated amongst Vestry members.
Jim also asked the various Vestry liaisons
to identify their various constituents and/or teams, review and revise position
descriptions and form one concrete, measurable goal to achieve in 2010 for the
next meeting.
Committee reports:
Building
& Grounds- Frank Samela’s request to move cost of security system from
this budget line to utilities was noted.
Congregational
Development: – Jan Bruesch pre-sented a possible “self-discovery” workshop
at Calvary for the benefit of both Calvary and the community at large.
Fellowship-Lisa
Pardue said the annual picnic will be June 13, 2010. Gloria Sparrow mentioned
the dinners for the Hocks are scheduled through April.
Formation-Lent
Formation schedule – Grant Ianelli noted 9:15 am will be lead by Deacon Tom
Smith and Pastor Emily noted she will be conducting the Sunday 5 pm series on
Holy Choices.
Outreach-
Patty LeBlanc and John Jaska reported on the possible fundraising for the
School Uniforms for a child in Africa program. Patty will also look into
possibly working with our sister Lutheran church to help with a Habitat for
Humanity project.
Worship-Pastor Emily advised that
Ash Wednesday services will be held at 9:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Stations of the
Cross will be held on Friday evenings during Lent.
Old Business- A discussion
on the annual meeting format with a possibility for a committee to enhance
attendance for next year. Hester Bury brought up the subject of how to increase
the feeling of connection as a community in our church and to reach out to
those that may need us.
New Business Annual
Parochial Report was reviewed, required signatures obtained, and submission of
report was approved. Election of treasurers, Nancy Moran and Dennis LeBlanc was
held for 2010. Lynn Honiotes was elected Vestry Clerk for 2010. Jim Adamson
asked for input on anything that needed to be changed or fixed at Calvary,
including how and who to do it.
After Compline, the meeting was adjourned
at 8:13 p.m. Lynn Honiotes,
Vestry Clerk
March
Vestry Meeting
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.
ALL are welcome to attend these meetings!
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 07 5 p.m. Lenten Studies
March 13 SET
CLOCKS FORWARD 1 HR
March 14 5 p.m. Lenten Studies
March 20 First
Day of SPRING!
March 21 Youth Sunday- J2A
March 21 5 p.m. Lenten Studies
March 27 (Sat):
Communion Class Bread
baking
March 28 Palm/Passion Sunday
Communion Class
presentation
April 01 Maundy
Thursday
April 02 Good
Friday
April 03 Holy
Saturday
April 04 EASTER SUNDAY
CROSSROADS PUBLISHING INFORMATION
Items
for the April, 2010 issue of CrossRoads must be submitted by March
15th. They may be left in the
Newsletter mailbox, e-mailed to LMMCEWEN@up.com
OR
Dottie Cain dotcain1@comcast.net
If you have any questions,
please call Dottie Cain at 629-8863 or Linda McEwen at 295-9972.
Page 8
