The October 2011 Church Mouse

The Church Mouse Monthly newsletter for the members & friends of Community Congregational Church of Elburn

The Pastor’s Page…. Driving to work one morning recently, my heart was heavy with concerns about

one of our adult children. As I turned a corner, I was met with a most arresting sight. A

tangible mist was hovering over the green grasses. It was so thick, yet appeared so light

that it could easily float away. Tall trees in the distance framed the mist on the grasses.

Clouds of various hues shone through the skies. The moon was a glowing orange ball as it

sank lower and lower, to eventually hide beneath the horizon. As I drove along with this

scene in front of me, I felt myself become a part of it, like I could reach out and touch it

all. I wanted to stop, look, absorb. It was an experience of abundance.

Even though, at this writing, there is nary a leaf on the ground, we know that the

fall season is upon us – this season which we identify with abundance. Millions of acres

of farmland will yield their crops to eager harvesters. Indeed, we live in rich and fertile

land, and lots of it.

In our homes, offices, schools, factories, there is unparalleled technological so-

phistication, each piece of which is designed to make our life more abundant, more com-

fortable. We live amidst more opportunity than a human being can take advantage of in

one lifetime. It has been said that the level of the opportunity and abundance in our coun-

try can be ‗tyranny,‘ it is so abundant.

And yet this Fall, and for some time now, most of us do not feel abundant. We are

much more concerned about scarcity – of all kinds: of resources, of time, of money, of

rights, of relationships that matter, of politicians that can both count and care about peo-

ple. You name it, we are concerned about the lack of it, and the prospect of more lack of

it.

Let me encourage us all to keep perspective on things that are happening around

us and to us. Uncertain, yes. Challenging, yes. Painful for many, yes. Yet, 94% of the

rest of the world (outside Western Europe) lives on less, often much less. And frequently

also lives under tyranny, oppression, or poverty, or all three. I am reminded of an image

from my treks to Central America. When we delegates unload our backpacks, the native

children of Mayan villages stand around and stare in awe – because in each of those back-

packs is more ‗stuff‘ than these children have ever owned.

Abundance is one of the greatest promises of life in Christ, with God. And the

abundance that God offers is not contingent on a certain economic situation, or a certain

political situation, or when all of us live in the houses of our dreams. The earth is abun-

dant, human possibility is abundant, relationships can be abundant, God‘s love is immeas-

urably abundant. Let me encourage you to make a discipline of naming one new abun-

dant thing in your life for each of seven days – it will change the way you see. This is an

especially important exercise if you‘re among those who have suffered grievous losses in

recent times. Always, in the Kindom of God, the best is yet to be!

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

--Jesus in Gospel of John 10:10b

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Michelle

October 2011

Church Office Hours:

Monday through Friday

9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Phone: (630) 365-6544

[email protected]

INTERIM PASTOR

Rev. Michelle Prentice-Leslie

MODERATOR

Sharon Lackey

VICE-MODERATOR

Mary Royer

TREASURER

Tammy Eckstrom

FINANCIAL SECRETARY

Cindy Doede

CHURCH CLERK

Karen Baston

MINISTRY ASSISTANT

Linda Miller

+++

Please use our street address

when mailing anything to the

church office.

100 E. Shannon Street

Elburn, IL 60119

+++

Our website is constantly

being updated. Check it

out!

October 2011 Community Congregational Church page 2

Musings from the Moderator… The search committee has distributed surveys to members to help us in filling out the Church Profile and to understand what

we should be looking for in a pastor. Your input is very important to us! So, we hope that you will take your time, pray about it and fill out your survey. We need to have the surveys back by October 9th so that we can move on to the next step in the pro-

cess. There is a special box in the Narthex for you to drop off your completed survey or you can mail it back to the church if you prefer.

Also, if by some chance we have accidentally missed giving you a survey, it got lost in the mail or your dog ate it, call the

church office and we will get a survey to you.

See you in church!

Sharon Lackey

TAIZE Prayer Services The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.

We pray on Sunday, at Bible Study, before

meals, in times of joy and sorrow. Looking for a new—

or actually, very OLD—way to pray? Try a TAIZE pray-

er service. The first Friday of each month, Ascension

Church in Oak Park hosts a TAIZE service at 7:30p, and

Pastor Michelle invites you to join her. TAIZE is a quiet

service of meditation, reflection, readings and music.

The singing is repetitive, until the song sings YOU, as

Pastor Michelle points out. Contact the church office if

you are interested in attending on Friday, October 2.

St. Charles Episcopal Church on north Fifth Avenue

also offers Taize worship on second Sundays at 7:30p.

Lazarus House Dinner Our friends at Lazarus House continue to be in our thoughts and prayers as we provide the occasional dinner for them. As a church we provide the evening meal on the fifth Friday of every month that has 5 Fridays, which means that our next op-portunity is December 30. The sign-up sheet will be on the easel in Schneider Hall, ready for you to fill in the part of the meal you’d like to provide. Remember, Lazarus House has a stockpile of frozen foods from which to choose when planning/preparing a meal. Contact Lazarus House in ad-vance (630-587-5872), visit and select food, and store food in church freezers until needed. Disposable pans are availa-ble at church for delivering the meals. Won’t you sign up to help? Thank You!


Just from Jessie…. On September 18 some of our congregation had the privilege of serving at Feed My

Starving Children. This was a special Sunday opportunity, focused on packing food

to benefit starving children in the Horn of Africa. Together with other volunteers, we

fed 61 children for an entire year! This service shows just how a little effort goes a

very long way. We were only there working from 1-3 and we made a huge impact on many children's lives. I

encourage you to come out with us on Wednesday, October 26 to serve at our next FMSC packing event. We

will be serving once a month on a Wednesday evening from now until Spring.

Blessings,

Jessie

Please Let Us Know! Do you know of a special event being planned for the hol-

iday season? A craft show or bazaar? Maybe a Christmas

program or play at a nearby theatre, school or other

church? An open house at a local historical site? Please

let us know in the church office. We‘d love to offer details

of these events to our congregation, in the Sunday bulle-

tin, the MOUSE and on our Narthex bulletin board. We‘d

be happy to help you spread the word, but you have to tell

us first!

Advent Boxes Need Filling! October is THE month for craft fairs and

bazaars—the perfect time to be on the lookout

for those special little ―somethings‖ that could fill the Ad-

vent Boxes. We usually fill about 20 boxes and deliver

them to our homebound friends at the end of November.

The Sunday School children and their families help to

wrap the big boxes, but it is the congregation that supplies

all the goodies.

Questions about the Advent Boxes? Just talk to Stevie

Bateman. She‘s got all the answers for you!

MISSION: 1 11.1.11—11.11.11

November 1-11, 2011...ONE UNITED CHURCH on a shared mission for 11 powerful days to feed the hungry and confront food-related injus-tice. Here’s how you can help:

+ Send 111 letters to Congress about better distribution of food benefits to other countries + 11% increase giving to the church + 11 new or revitalized ministries of the church—what could they be? + 11 pieces of trash picked up each day + 11 acts of kindness per week + 11 smiles per day. Count them! Smile at more than 11 people! + 11 compliments to people each day + 11 pennies saved each day. Or nickels or dimes; then donate what you saved. + $1111 to our local food pantry

Thanksgiving Eve

Ecumenical Worship

November 23, 7p

We are the hosts this

year! After worship,

we will offer a time of

fellowship. While do-

ing your fall baking,

put aside some cookies

or sweet bread or pie

to offer our visitors.

Sign-up sheets will

appear soon. Thanks!


Happy Birthday

Best wishes to these members and friends who are celebrating October birthdays.

October 3 Katherine Lacart October 4 Scott Thompson October 5 Ellie (Eddington) MacFeeley October 10 Jim Gillett October 12 Tommy Whitney October 14 Amanda Eckstrom, Anastasia Kurth October 16 Stephen Butler October 17 Jared Lackey October 21 Cameron Clark October 23 Kaitlyn Marie Luxbacher October 24 Zach Miller October 26 Ruth Clark October 29 Lucille Swan

Happy Anniversary

Congratulations to these celebrating October wedding anniversaries:

October 1 Jim & Sharon Lackey 34 years October 8 David & Suzy Ray 5 years

If you know of birthdays or anniversaries that are missing from the calendar or listed incorrectly, please call the office so they may be added/corrected. Thank you.

Our Condolences….

We offer our condolences to the family and friends of

two long-time members of our church who passed

away recently.

Mary Gee, 87, passed away August 5, 2011 at the

Homebridge Healthcare Center in Belvidere where she

had recently made her home. Mary could always be

counted upon to help in the kitchen, whether it was for

a funeral lunch or making snacks for VBS. Sorting for

the rummage sale was also a task she did with a sunny

smile, with her granddaughter at her side.

Irene Baker, 87, passed away Septem-

ber 6, 2011 at Oak Hill Care Center in Wa-

terloo, Illinois. She and her husband, Bob,

were very active in the life of our church

until they moved into senior care housing.

Never one to beat around the bush, Irene

had her own unique sales pitch when searching for

greeters or hosts for coffee hour: ―So, what date can I

sign you up?‖

Both Mary and Irene were long-time, active members

of our church and they will fondly remain in our mem-

AMEN Group The AMEN Group continues to meet

faithfully on the second Tuesday (note

the new day) of each month at 6pm in the

Nursery. The group meets for an hour and

continues to pray for the special needs of individu-

als, our church, the community, and the world. It‘s a

big job! Won‘t you come and add your voice and

heart to the good works of this group? All are wel-

come.


Sunday School News

………from Theresa Biddle

As our children grow older, we have found

that we need to provide them with different

learning environments. The Elementary aged

children meet in the Sunday School wing.

Our Middle School children meet on the third

floor on Sunday morning. Our High School group meets

on Wednesday evenings.

The Middle School group is being taught by Jessie. I am

currently teaching the children, but I am unable to teach

each Sunday. Some of the dates that I am unavailable to

teach have been filled, but there are still some to fill. In

mid October, I will be posting a list and asking for volun-

teers to teach. The lessons are already prepared. You just

need to come in and have FUN with the children.

Women’s Fellowship!

All women of the church are wel-come to attend the next meeting of the Women’s Fellowship on Friday, Octo-ber 14 at 1:00pm in Schneider Hall. This month Anise Wright of the Gideon Auxiliary will speak about the Gideon ministry. Bring a friend! There’s always room around the table for one more! Because we’ve been enjoying the “healthier” menus for the past few months, everyone is encouraged to bring some sort of salad or healthy side dish: fruit, veg-gies, hearty bread, light dessert. One month, we had about 14 people around the table, so plan accordingly and join in the fun and fellowship.

Save the Date: November 5, 2011

12noon We are planning a baby shower potluck for

Suzy & David Ray! Save the date & see the sign-up sheets in

the narthex to RSVP. They are registered at Target and Ba-

Usher Teams for October

October 2—Team #5 Captain: Jessie & Youth Group

October 9—Team #1 Captain: Karen Baston

October 16—Team #2 Captain: Kurth Family

October 23—Team #3 Captain: Merfeld Family

October 30—Team #4 Captain: Pangborn Family


October 2 ~ Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost 9:00 a.m. Sunday School

9:20 a.m. Bible Study

10:30 a.m. Worship with Holy Communion

11:30 a.m. Fellowship

5:00 p.m. Hope Anglican Worship Service

October 9~ Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost 9:00 a.m. Sunday School


10:30 a.m. Worship



October 16 ~ Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost 9:00 a.m. Sunday School


10:30 a.m. Worship



October 23 ~ Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost 9:00 a.m. Sunday School


10:30 a.m. Worship



October 30 ~ Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost 9:00 a.m. Sunday School


10:30 a.m. Worship

11:30 a.m. Linger Longer Potluck Meal


Illinois Conference UCC

Women’s Retreat

A Playdate with the Spirit!

October 7-8, 2011

Pilgrim Park UCC Retreat Center

Princeton, IL

Stressed out lately? Always there for others but no time left for you? Then this is a retreat you will love! Jesus said: “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3)

Enjoy the benefits of inspirational leadership, personal meditation time, song, prayer, dance, leisurely walks, good food, just plain fun, or just sitting and relaxing.

Registration forms and information are on the bulletin board in the Narthex. Contact Pastor Michelle or the church office if you’d like to organize a group to attend this retreat together.

“Feed My Starving Children” Schedule A number of us have had the joy of doing some ―hands on‖ work to package food for hungry children around the world. Here‘s the sched-

ule for the rest of the year. Join us for a spiritual boost!

October 26 6:30-8:30p

November 9 6:30-8:30p

December 7 6:30-8:30p

January 4, 2012 6:30-8:30p

February 8, 2012 6:30-8:30p

We usually meet at church to carpool.

Beef Dinner and Bazaar Kaneville United Methodist Church,

46W764 Main Street, Kaneville, will

hold its annual Beef Dinner and Bazaar

on Saturday, October 15. Dinner: 5-7p, Bazaar: 4-7p

Adults $10, Children K-6th grade $5,

Preschoolers $1. Carry-outs available.

October 2011 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2

Team 5 ushers

9:00a Sunday School

9:20a Bible Study

10:30a Worship with

Holy Communion

11:30a Fellowship

5:00p Hope Anglican

3

6p Girl Scout

Registration

4

9a Crafty Crafters

7p Ministry

Meetings

7:30p Scouts in

Schneider Hall

7:30p Parents Mtg.

In Sanctuary

5

11a Bible Study at

the Meadows

5:15p Confirmation

6p Youth Group

6

9:30a Kane County

Lectionary

6p Cub Scouts

7p Choir

7 11a Knitting

8

9

Team 1 ushers

9:00a Sunday School

9:20a Bible Study

10:30a Worship

11:30a Fellowship

5:00p Hope Anglican

10

11

9a Crafty Crafters

6p AMEN Group

7:30p Scouts

12

11a Bible Study at

the Meadows

5:15p Confirmation

6p Youth Group

13

9:30a Kane County

Lectionary

6p Girl Scouts

7p Church Council

14

11a Knitting

1p Women’s

Fellowship

5:30P Den Mtg.

15

5-7p Beef Dinner &

Bazaar at Kaneville

UMC

16

Team 2 ushers

9:00a Sunday School

9:20a Bible Study

10:30a Worship

11:30a Fellowship

5:00p Hope Anglican

17

18 9a Crafty Crafters

7:30p Scouts

19

11a Bible Study at

the Meadows

5:15p Confirmation

6p Youth Group

20

9:30a Kane County

Lectionary

6p Cub Scouts

7p Choir

21

11a Knitting

22

23

Team 3 ushers

9:00a Sunday School

9:20a Bible Study

10:30a Worship

11:30a Fellowship

5:00p Hope Anglican

24 MOUSE deadline

25

9a Crafty Crafters

7:30p Scouts

26

11a Bible Study at

the Meadows

5:15p Confirmation

6:30p Feed My

Starving Children

27 9:30a Kane County

Lectionary

28 11a Knitting

29 HARVEST

DINNER

5-7p

30

Team 4 Ushers

9:00a Sunday School

9:20a Bible Study

10:30a Worship;

Reverse Offering

11:30a Fellowship

5:00p Hope Anglican

31 HAPPY

HALLOWEEN

NOTES FOR NOVEMBER:

November 5—Set your clocks BACK one hour!

November 6—All Saints Day observed during worship

November 13—Veterans’ Day observed during worship

November 23—7p Ecumenical Worship at CCC, special music, fellowship

November 26—9a Hanging of the Greens and breakfast

Autumn is a celebration of nature,

its rarefied air tugging at our senses,

begging for praise to the Creator. ~ June Masters Bacher

Ill. Conference Women‘s Retreat at

Pilgrim Park (see page 6 for details)

Mission Statement

The Community Congregational United Church of Christ

of Elburn is called by God

to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ

to our community and beyond by serving as

His heart, hands and feet through worship, prayer, Christian education and

Community Congregational Church 100 E. Shannon Street, PO Box 308 Elburn, Illinois 60119

October 2011

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

God is still speaking,

MAILING LABEL

Please use our street address when

mailing anything to the church office:

100 E. Shannon Street

Elburn, IL 60119

Member of the Elburn Chamber of Commerce

Harvest Dinner Saturday, October 29, 2011 5-7p

See the sign-up sheets in the Narthex.

Opportunities for everyone!

The October 2011 Church Mouse

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Transcript of The October 2011 Church Mouse