Parkway United Church of Christ  E-news
March 23, 2017

 
Worship with Us this Weekend!

Join us this Sunday for our 9:30am Traditional Worship Service and/or Informal Worship Service at 11:00am.

It's the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Our scripture passages are Psalm 23 and John 9:1-41 with a sermon entitled Advocacy. Jesus advocates for the man born blind and his parents as he is questioned by the disciples, neighbors and Pharisees. The parents advocate for their son and he advocates for Jesus. Who advocates for you and for whom do you speak up?
 
 
We continue our 2nd Mile Lent Offering with a Mission Moment on Eden Seminary by Florence Simonson.
 
We will light our Lenten Candles of vulnerability, courage, receptivity, advocacy, patience, flexibility, generosity and extinguish one additional candle each time we worship this season - all the way to darkness on Good Friday. We will light each of them again on the morning of halleluiahs - Easter!

 
2nd Mile Lent & Easter 2017 - Go the 2nd Mile with us !
The Christian Services Commission is pleased to announce that Parkway will again support four worthy organizations with its Second Mile Giving for Lent and Easter. We believe this blend of support will help Parkway create a local, national and international impact with its gifts. Please remember that Second Mile Giving is over and beyond the Operational Budget and donations will be divided evenly among the organizations listed below. Please be generous as these organizations depend on our gifts.
 
Lydia's House in St. Louis
Lydia's House works in faith to end domestic violence by being a place of healing and a voice of hope for abused women and their children. The agency provides safe, confidentially-located furnished apartments for up to two years, assists women in creating and implementing goal plans that will help them live independently, and increases community awareness of domestic violence. For more information, please visit lydiashouse.org
 
Neighborhood Houses
For more than 100 years, Neighborhood Houses has loved children in St Louis. Currently, there are three main facets to their mission:
 
Early Childhood Education - Caroline Mission is a licensed and accredited Early Childhood facility operated by Neighborhood Houses. Our Mission is to provide quality affordable child care for children from 6 weeks to 5 years of age. Caroline Mission is a "home away from home."
 
Girls' Night Out: Neighborhood Houses and Parents as Teachers collaborated together in the design and execution of a program dedicated to supporting and assisting young mothers, ages 13-22.Girls Night Out  is designed to promote healthy individuals and families.
 
After School Programs : Neighborhood Houses is the #1 provider of after school programming with the St Louis Public Schools ... fun & creative activities,   homework assistance, character education, cultural awareness, health & fitness focus, arts & crafts, supervised recreation, and much more! For more information, please visit neighborhoodhouses.org
 
Heifer International
Heifer International does so much more than put food in the mouths of hungry people. Heifer helps people to feed themselves. The goal of every Heifer project is sustainability - project partners achieving self-reliance. And year after year, as partner families "pass on the gift" of knowledge and one or more of their animals' offspring to others in need, they become links in a network of hope, dignity and self-reliance that helps hundreds of others care for themselves. For more information, please visit heifer.org
 
Eden Seminary
Eden Theological Seminary is a graduate school preparing women and men for ordained Christian ministry. One of the six seminaries of the United Church of Christ, Eden is a community that seeks God's justice and peace in the world. Eden is welcoming, inclusive and ecumenically diverse.
Eden was established in the summer of 1850 at Marthasville, Missouri. It was established because a European education was not adequate to prepare pastors for Evangelical churches on the North American frontier. From its beginning, Eden has embodied an ecumenical spirit. Its first graduating class included six Evangelicals as well as a Methodist and a Mennonite. 
 
Eden admitted its first African American student in 1933. In 1965, the late Joseph Cardinal Ritter of the Saint Louis Archdiocese became the first Roman Catholic Cardinal to address a graduating class in a Protestant seminary.
 
Today, students from many different denominations are engaged in theological education at Eden. Eden remains committed to educating faithful and effective leaders for church and society. The seminary counts among its distinguished graduates Reinhold and H. Richard Niebuhr and Walter Brueggemann.
 
Eden Theological Seminary is committed to the study of theology in the context of the ecumenical Christian community and the contemporary world.
For more information, please visit eden.edu.
Please be sure to clearly mark your 2nd Mile gifts throughout the season of Lent/Easter. Thank you!

Inclement Weather Policy
If we need to cancel church on a Sunday morning due to wintry weather, we will communicate with you in a variety of ways:
  • Church wide email.
  • Facebook/Twitter post.
  • KSDK.com listing.
  • Voicemail at church.
Judgment whether to come to church rests with the individual. If you feel it is unsafe to drive, please don't risk it. Stay safe. Stay home.

 

Adult Education
Sundays | 9:30am & 11am | Heritage Room

March 26: PUCC Faith Journey  - Greg Schmelig.
Come listen to Greg and feel the Spirit as he shares his faith with us. While PUCC is in Greg's bones from his great-grandparents, he officially became a member less than two years ago when he said-"I am dad to three (almost) grown daughters. I like going to or watching Cardinals' baseball, playing cards with my buddies and playing the piano. I have an English bulldog, Brody, who is my best bud. Some other favorites include cooking, dining out and attending the St. Louis Symphony during the winters. My favorite hymn is actually from the Catholic tradition: Shepherd Me, O God. My favorite Bible verse is Job 19: 25-26."

Prayer Updates
Rosanna Hogarty's mother - celebrating her 95th Bday this weekend!
Greg Schmelig's grandmother, Altheda Schmelig, celebrating her 107th Bday on April 1
Steve Barnes - in and out of the hospital again this week.
Audrey & John Nourse   - as she is hospitalized after a mild stroke in TX (where they have been visiting their daughter)...   Audrey was moved to a nice rehab room late this afternoon. She may be there for a week.  
Sue Moellering - preparing for another hernia surgery on March 30.
Jim and Karen - his extensive health issues and her Alzheimer's (Peggy Mohl's bro and sis-in-law).



Into the Mystic is the Rev. John C. Dorhauer's weekly podcast on UCC.org. 



Announcements

NJFM Outing: International Photography Hall of Fame & Museum; Say "Cheese!"
Friday, March 24, 2017| 11:00am | Carpool from church at 10:30am
The Not Just for Men Group will visit the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, Friday, March 24 at 11:00am. It is located in the Grand Center on Olive near the St. Louis University campus. Admission is $5.00 or $3.00 for seniors. 

Call Harold Cobb at 965-4147 with questions. 
 
Prayer Corner
Fri, Mar 24 | 11:00-3:00pm| Sanctuary
Pastor Kevin is available to pray with you during this time. The Prayer Corner-with a perpetual candle-has a current prayer list, prayer books, journal, kneeler and chairs.

New TED Book this Tuesday, March 29
2nd & 4th Tuesdays | 6:00-8:30pm | Heritage Room | Potluck & Discussion
Paperback copies are sold out! Check your favorite online or local bookseller.
 
Coffee & Conversation Wed, Mar 29| 10:00am | STL Bread Co
Located at Manchester & 270. Join us! Questions? Contact: Pastor Kevin: 314-872-9330 or [email protected].
 
Youth Night March 29: Backwards Night
Wednesdays | 6:30-7:30| Fellowship Hall | Snacks & Door Prize
Everything will be turned around, upside down! Come and find out what this night is all about. Bring your friends!
Contact Barb Kuhlmann: [email protected] | 314-872-9330

AWOL Gathering
Thursday, April 6 | 6:00pm | Dream House Boutique
15452 Clayton Road, in the Claymont shopping center, Ballwin
Dream House Boutique is hosting a cocktails/appetizers/shopping event with proceeds to support the Circle of Concern. Look for PUCC friends at this informal event. Best to "register" with the Boutique in advance by calling 636-220-9590. No cost to attend, but canned and boxed goods are being collected!
Karen Boyd ([email protected]) or Lana Biondo ([email protected])





Community
The Women's Fellowship of St. Mark United Church of Christ in Arnold, Missouri cordially invite the Missouri Mid-South Conference and the St. Louis Association to the Annual United Church of Christ Communion Brunch on Saturday, March 25th at 10:30 am. A fellowship reception will follow worship. Please call 636-296-6636 for reservations or more information. All are welcome...please join us!"
 
Women's Fellowship
St. Mark United Church of Christ
1861 Missouri State Road
Arnold, Missouri  63010

Sustainability Seekers & Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is sponsoring a talk called Fracking 101
T hursday, March 30, 2017 at 7:30-9:00 in the Heritage Room.  

Community Easter Egg Hunt April 8
Saturday, April 8 | 9:30am crafts & refreshments | 10:00am hunt | ages 0-11


Please consider speaking your faith
on issues that matter to you! Reach out to our government as they use their power and influence...Text your zip code to 520-200-2223. You'll get an immediate text back with the phone numbers of your US Senators and Representative and your State Senator and Representatives. Call them to thank them for their service and to give them a piece of your mind, heart and spirit.
 
Read our Missouri Mid-South Conference publications to find out what is happening around the Conference:



VIDEO of the Week
Thanks to Marsha Peek for recommending this brief video - Eating Twinkies with God. Enjoy!

 
Joke 

You hear the one about the three holes in the ground filled with water?
No?
Well, well, well....



Inspiration 
Going out to another in love means risk - the risks of self-disclosure, rejection, misunderstanding. It means grief, too, from the temporary separations, psychological or physical, to the final separation of death. Whoever insists on personal security and safety as the nonnegotiable conditions of life will not be willing to pay love's price or find love's enrichments. Whoever shuts himself or herself up in the cocoon of self-protective defenses, keeping others always at a safe distance and holding on tightly to personal possessions and privacy, will find the price of love far too high and will remain forever a prisone r of fear. 
~John Powell