Emmanuel United Church of Christ

This year’s walk was held on October 2 with about 15 walkers. A total of $775 was raised through your generosity and support. The breakdown is:

• Emmanuel                       $220
• Mt. Zion                            $200
• St. James                          $180
• Faith UCC (Hazleton)  $125
• St. Mark’s UCC               $50

Thank you for donating to the CROP Walk which also benefits the Wapwallopen Food Bank since a portion of the donations will be returned for local use.

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This has been an especially challenging year for most people, but God’s hand is still seen in the actions of the members of Emmanuel. For many years you have donated your time, talents and treasure to such undertakings as the Alberdeen Road Clean Up; hosting the men of Mother Theresa Haven (formerly V.I.S.I.O.N); assembling Thanksgiving dinners, making “care packages”, buying Giving Tree gifts, and wrapping Christmas toys for the families of the McKinney Clinic; raising awareness and funds for CROP Walk; purchasing gifts to ensure a Merry Christmas to children at Bethany Children’s Home; and fulfilling our budget promise of benevolence offerings to OCWM, Bethany Children’s Home, Lancaster Theological Seminary and Phoebe Devitt Homes.
You have always supported the mission projects of our Vacation Bible School which this year collected
Alabama, plus the Pre-Kindergarten special mission project of restocking the food bank (our theme was Shake It Up Café). You supported Kimmy and Allison Bernetski (along with Marc Davis and Pastor Penny) on their mission trip to North Carolina where they repaired an older woman’s home and made renovations to a mission clinic.
In response to the horrific devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake and tsunami, you gave your monetary gifts through a special offering. Again you responded when the spring tornadoes ripped through the southern states, but not only through our special offering. When challenged to fill five CWS clean-up buckets, you provided enough supplies for SEVEN. But the greatest challenge you undertook was the one coordinated by our Scout Troops – Cub Scout Pack 433, Boy Scout Troop 434, and Girl Scout Troops 3340 and 33369. Operation Shickshinny collected so much that the entire basement of Emmanuel was filled with furniture, clothing, bedding, towels, cleaning supplies, appliances, dishes, glassware, flatware, games, toys, TV’s, lamps, videos, books, strollers, stuffed animals, bikes, and all sorts of items. From the front office reception room, through the nursery, middle room and into the basement kitchen, there was only a path left wide enough to walk through. When this project started, we expected to have some donations, maybe enough for a couple of pick-up loads. Instead, more than enough was donated for a couple of tractor-trailers – yes, two trailers and one straight truck of donations were taken to Shickshinny on the morning of October 8.
All in all, this has been a demanding year, but also a very satisfying year. We can look back and thank God for the abilities and resources to radiate His love and strength throughout our communities and around the world. Let’s keep up the good work!

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The next Youth Group Meeting will be on Sunday, December 4, at 5 pm at the church. We’ll be discussing lots of stuff like:
1.
Cookie Fundraiser – We will be baking cookies on December 10 at the church. Then we’ll sell them after worship on December 11. See me so we can get an idea of how many cookies we’ll be able to make.
2.
Third World Country Living – this is our version of 30-Hour Famine. We want to plan this with all our new members, too, and get everyone’s ideas.
3.
Youth For Hire – We are still looking to help people around their homes/yards. This idea benefits our group and the people we work for so think of people who might want some extra muscle for fall chores.
4.
Next Outing – We’re planning when to go to the indoor water park we have tickets for.
5.
Mardi Gras Party – We need ideas and help to plan for this fundraiser.
6.
Next Summer’s Mission Trip – When and where to next???
Come and join us so we can plan bigger and more exciting ways to show what real teen Christians are like! If you’re 10 years old or older, we’ll be looking for you!! We’d also like some more adults to get involved with us. Show us what real adult Christians are like!!
Keep on believing
Marc

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Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Archie and I got together with some of his family and some of mine on the Friday after turkey day. But of course we were fed turkey and all the trimmings just the same. It was all wonderful and especially to go out and play ball with the kids and take a little time to relax.
Now – ADVENT – what a wonderful time set apart for preparation and looking forward to what is to come. We are to be preparing our hearts for the coming of the Christ child. Also we are to be preparing our hearts for the second coming of our Lord. As we look around the parking lots at the shopping centers it seems that many folks must do all this preparation by shopping. My lament for December – O that we would see the parking lots of our churches as full as those at the mall.
I received a wonderful email today with a song called “Where’s the Line to See Jesus?” It’s about a little boy who has been brought up in church. As he sees all the kids lining up to see Santa in the mall he asks the question, “where’s the line to see Jesus?” Another lament – O that all the children raised in church would ask that question. You can listen to the song here.
It seems that I have several laments for this time of year and I try to do all I can to turn them around. I smile a lot. When I go shopping I try to encourage folks to be nice to those around them. If there is going to be pushing and shoving – O that the pushing and shoving would be in order to find a pew and have a seat in church. Yes, we will see folks here on Christmas Eve that we don’t see any other time of the year so let’s greet them with open arms and make them feel especially welcome.
The kid’s pageant is always a wonderful way to celebrate the coming of Jesus. It peaks the excitement of young minds to learn about the birth of the Savior. Hopefully to have them light the Advent candles this year will bring more meaning into the significance of the light – that Jesus truly is the “Light of the World”, and then hopefully that light will never go out for them.
I am excited about our goings on at Emmanuel during the month of December. The church looks beautiful all decorated for the season. Bring your friends along to feel the hope, peace, joy, and love that’s in the air during this Christmastime – and hopefully all year long.
Christmas Blessings to all,

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CHS MUSICAL

– The Crestwood High School musical will be presented on Friday and Saturday, December 9 and 10, at 7:00 pm. This year’s play is “Fiddler On the Roof”. Join Tevye and his family as they celebrate life, cherish love and learn survival in Tsarist Russia. Here’s “To Life”.

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Copies of the 2011 Christmas Wish List are on the table in the Narthex. Please note that the children at Bethany are between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. Specific gift items are included on the Christmas Wish List or if you prefer, the children love to receive gift cards to department stores, craft stores, area malls, etc. Please choose age-appropriate gifts with consideration for parental warnings, modest clothing and safety. The gifts should not be wrapped since Bethany’s staff will do that. Just drop them in the box wrapped in Christmas paper in the Narthex.

picture perfect

Check the front door bulletin board
for these mug shots!
Some of the Scouts who helped with the Turkey Supper are pictured clearing off a table. Their help is really appreciated by the servers and clean-up crew. We have a great relationship with these young men and their leaders.
The Crestwood Field Hockey team made it to the State Championship Playoffs but were unfortunately eliminated in the first round. The team makes it to the playoffs almost every year. So let’s hear it for Autumn Atkinson and the rest of the Lady Comets!!
The flooding in Bloomsburg was felt personally by one of our members, Sharon Moyer. Sharon’s mother, Anne Williams who is a former member, lived in the Tenny Street Apartments which everyone thought was outside the flood zone. Like so many other areas, it was not. While digging through the muck, Sharon found the American Flag from her father’s funeral, covered in mud and debris. She couldn’t get it clean herself and so took it to Elegant Cleaners in Mountain Top. They cleaned it and charged nothing because it is their policy not to charge to clean American Flags. Sharon is pictured with the beautifully cleaned flag outside the cleaners.

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Here I sit – in a room at Lodge of the Ozarks in Branson, MO.  It’s a fine room as hotel rooms go.  Even if it were a terrible room I think I could fall asleep tonight just fine.  I drove 1,155 miles to get Archie and me here.  He made it pretty well.  He rode without too much pain.  Part of his pain was having to listen to the book on CD that I listened to on the way.  But if I have to drive I have to do what it takes to keep myself awake.  We spent the night in Zanesville, OH last night waking up bright and early today and getting on the road this morning at 6.

What beautiful scenery I have seen today – mountains, flat land, acres and acres of corn fields.  The farms that appeared on the flat lands in Illinois were like little cities where the clusters of silos rose in the air like skyscrapers dotting the skyline. The rock formations coming into the city of Branson were just spectacular to my eyes.  And maybe the most unusual things I saw today was gasoline for $2.97!!!  What a bargain!

If you don’t know why we came to Branson, it is the National ARMM (Association of Retired Ministers & Missionaries) Retreat.  It’s Archie’s denomination.  It starts tomorrow afternoon and goes through Fri. morning.  Hopefully he will see some clergy folks that he has known from years past.  We are both looking forward to our time here.  We do have lots of free time to do whatever we chose.

I hope to be well rested when I get home next week.  When we leave on Friday we will be coming back through Virginia to visit a friend of mine who has been diagnosed with very serious cancer.  I will see some other friends too while I’m there.

God has really been good to us as we prepared to get on the road to come here and I thank God for that.

Know that I will continue to pray for our church family while I am away.  We are coming up on some very busy times with Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas.  I would ask you to keep Archie and me in your prayers too.

God bless!

PASTOR ON VACATION – PASTOR BECKY COVERING

Pastor Penny will be on vacation, leaving after worship on October 30 and returning the evening of Nov. 6.  During this time, Rev. Becky Broyan will be available if you need pastoral care.  Her home/office number is 520-4195 and her cell number is 332-2421.

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There was a spectacular outpouring of generosity and compassion in response to the Scouts’ appeal for donations for the flood victims of Shickshinny.  There’s so much that we take for granted, like that morning cup of coffee or sleeping comfortably in our bed, choosing just the right outfit for today or relaxing in front of the TV.  All these things and more were lost to the people who live in the flood’s path, but through your donations, many will enjoy that cup of coffee, experience a restful night in a comfortable bed, have an assortment of clothes to choose from, and check out the game or their favorite show on TV.  The people of our communities took the appeal to heart, searched high and low, and donated so much that the entire basement of Emmanuel was filled with furniture, clothing, bedding, towels, cleaning supplies, appliances, dishes, glassware, flatware, games, toys, TV’s lamps, videos, books, strollers, stuffed animals, bikes, and all sorts of items.  From the front office reception room, through the nursery, middle room and into the basement kitchen, there was only a path left wide enough to walk through.  When this project started, we expected to have some donations, maybe enough for a couple of pick-up truck loads.  Instead, you donated enough for a couple of tractor-trailers plus a cube (or straight) truck – yes, two trailers and another smaller truck of donations were taken to Shickshinny on the morning of October 8.  Thank you for proving that the spirit of generosity and kindness is alive and well in Mountain Top.

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We offer or sincere and heartfelt sympathy to Cindy Heller and her entire family on the passing of her mother, Joyce Moyer.  Our thoughts, prayers and love go out to Cindy and Brian, her children and grandchildren, her sisters and brothers, and to all touched by Joyce’s spirit.  May God support you through your grief.

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Cindy Heller would like to thank everyone for their cards, prayers, calls and food which she received after her surgery.  You are a wonderful family.

We received a card from Bernadine Smith who is a recipient of Operation Shickshinny.  Bernadine expressed her thanks for the generosity of everyone involved.

Thanks to everyone who supported the CROP Walk.  Even without much preparation (most of us were involved with Operation Shickshinny), we had four walkers from Emmanuel:  Marc Davis, Hunter Rinehimer, and Sam and Autumn Atkinson.  This mission project not only raises awareness and funds for disadvantaged people in other areas of the United States and around the world, but also benefits our own area as we receive back a portion of the money raised to supplement the Wapwallopen Ministerium Food Bank.

The Youth Group would like to thank everyone for supporting them through the Weis and Carone’s Gift Card fundraiser.  If you would like to purchase cards, please see Marc Davis.  They are $25 or $50 each.

The following letters are posted

on the bulletin board in the bell tower.

Thank you letters were sent by Phoebe Devitt Homes, Bethany Children’s Home and Lancaster Theological Seminary for our continued support of their missions and by The UCC Justice and Witness Ministries for our support of Neighbors in Need.

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The Cub Scouts are having a hoagie sale on December 3 with the last day to order November 28.  They are 8” Italian hoagies for $4 each, with or without onions.  A sign-up sheet is in the Narthex.

To go along with your hoagie, the members of Emmanuel will have a soup sale on December 3.  Details of what flavor soups and the cost will be on a sign-up sheet on the table in the Narthex shortly.

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