The staff and I wish you
the most joyous Easter.
Be grateful for all the ways that you experience newness
each day. Be grateful for all you have and all that you are.
Being grateful is the first
and most critical step to the fullness of joy that is the Easter promise. May
this season be filled with God’s Love for you and yours.
Peace,
Rev.
Bill
All Sunday Services
begin at 10:30 a.m.
4/2 “Joy Includes All”
Holy Communion
4/9 “Entering Love”
Palm Sunday
4/16 Easter
8:30 a.m. Holy Communion
10:30 a.m. “New Life Omelette”
4/23 Sabine
Boots Preaching
4/30 “Body
of Christ”
Deacons’ Notes
As Emmaus UCC celebrates
its 40th anniversary, the Board of Deacons is off to a propitious
start with
new and returning members. Emmaus welcomed interim music director Greg Bloy on
February 19 with a reception after church.
Laurie Barber is chairing the search committee for a new choir director.
Beginning on Sunday, March 19, the search committee’s music survey appeared in
the Sunday bulletin. It is an opportunity for church members to express their
opinions and preferences about music at Emmaus.
Tom
Frazier is the new chair of the flower committee, replacing Rev. Bill. Tom is
also in charge of the Christmas Potluck dinner held in December at the Vienna
Community Center. If you would like to offer your assistance in either of these
areas, please contact Tom.
A special thank you is made
to Ron Habegger for having the altar Bible rebound.
There
was a conversation on membership on February 26 at Skip and Joan Wolfe’s house.
New members will be received in April, with a reception following the service.
Welcome to our new members.
A
new HUGENS list has been generated for April–June 2006. Please contact Kim
Engmann to receive a copy.
The
Deacons are continuing to interview companies concerning the creation of a
photo directory of Emmaus members. A new edition of the conventional Emmaus
directory will be published in April.
Deacons is still looking
for a photo archivist. We would welcome anyone in the congregation who has an
interest in gathering photos of Emmaus events and who would like to put them in
an album to speak to Marsha Komandt. In the meantime, we’d like to encourage
congregation members to take photos of Emmaus events.
And
the Board is exploring ideas for Emmaus 40th anniversary celebration
on May 14. If you have an idea or want to be part of the committee for this
effort, please contact Kim Engmann.
Beth
Slucher
Board
of Deacons
Christian
Education Notes
In
the Road to Emmaus Workshop Sunday School, the children have been studying the
story of the Woman with the Alabaster Jar. They enjoyed meeting the woman
who told her story to them, shared refreshments, and then helped them to make
drawstring bags in which symbolic objects were placed to remind them of the
story. In the Creation Station, the children made their own jars and also
created marbled paper. The kids had fun pulling taffy (some homemade and
some store bought!) in Divinity Diner and playing games to reinforce the
concept of doing kind things for others. Thanks to our wonderful workshop
leaders: JoAn Post, Julie Holec, Jennifer McGunnigle, and Michel Miller.
And thanks also to our ever-present class shepherds. A final thanks to
our parents; we had terrific attendance this month and really enjoyed having
all the kids in our Sunday School!
Our youngest class, the Bumblebees, studied Loving One Another
this month. They heard stories about giving to others, played with sand
toys, built towns with blocks, and created many different works of art.
At the end of the month, they joined our preschoolers for the Children's Day
rehearsals. They will continue to attend class together until May.
Hopefully, you have been
well-informed of our upcoming Children's Day performance on May 7th.
Rehearsals have begun and we'll be working with the children each Sunday during
the regular Sunday School hour to get them ready for the big show. Our
musical this year is The Tale of the Three Trees and it will feature all
ages of children. As usual, we rely on the parents to make sure that we
have steady attendance for these important rehearsals. Of particular
importance are our final Sunday rehearsal on April 23rd and our dress rehearsal
on Saturday May 6th at 10 am.
Our Jr. High continues to
meet during church time in the Sr. High room.
They have plans for an overnight at the church on the 31st of
March.
Thanks to the Senior High and their advisors for the wonderful Shrove Tuesday
Pancake Dinner that was enjoyed by many. The Senior High also enjoyed a
trip to the Holocaust museum at the beginning of March.
We currently have two adult education classes in progress. Doug Norell’s class on the Abrahamic faiths
will meet two more times over the next couple of months. Feel free to drop in on one or both of the
remaining classes. They are from 7:00
to 9:00 on Sunday nights and will cover the following topics:
We also have Jeff Lange, a
friend of our congregation, leading a class on the book, The Four
Agreements. The first class was held on
the 12th of March, and classes will continue to meet through April.
The
Board of Christian Education will host its Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt on
Tuesday April 11th at 10:00 am. Please bring a baskets for your children,
and a dozen filled plastic eggs. We will meet in the parlor for bagels,
crafts and a puppet show before the actual hunt. If you have any
questions, please direct them to Wendy Cardany. There is no need to
RSVP. We hope to see you there.
The Bagels
Playgroup continues to meet twice a month. Usually they meet in the
parlor on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 1:30, and the 4th Thursday of the
month at 9:30. Since the 2nd Wednesday of the month falls during Spring
Break in April, this month they will meet April 5th at 1:30, and April 26th at
9:30. Newcomers are always welcome. If you have any questions, please direct
them to Julie Holec.
The annual spring cleaning
of Emmaus’ buildings and grounds was held on Saturday morning, March 25. Almost 20 members pitched in to get our
grounds in shape for the Easter season.
Many thanks to all who raked, moved mulch, planted flowers, and trimmed
hedges. Special thanks go to Corky
Hanna and Lynn Higgs for organizing the day.
There’s always more work to be done.
If you would like to volunteer to work on the grounds, contact Rob
Gibbs.
Rob Gibbs
Property Management
Sunday, April 16, Noon