June 2019 | Volume 9 | Issue 6
Our Mission
Gathered by Christ. Growing in Faith.
Sent to Serve. Empowered to Witness.

Resurrection welcomes all individuals regardless of race, sex, gender identification, sexual orientation, economic status, age, disability, or family make-up. Child of God, you are welcome here!
 
We are pleased to present the June edition of our monthly e-newsletter.
We hope this publication is an informative supplement to the information found on our website. Submissions can be sent to office@lcr-yardley.org .

Pastor's Note

Dear Friends in Christ,

A family was heading on vacation. Two little ones were nestled in car seats. The van was packed. As Dad locked the house and Mom secured the garage, an adult neighbor the kids knew well walked up and spoke to the children through the open car window. "Where are you going?" The children shrugged, indicating that they did not know. "Well, what road are you taking?" the friend asked with a smile. Of course, they had no idea. "Do you know where you'll eat today, or where you'll spend the night?" Blank stares. Then the friend asked, "Who are you traveling with?" The children broke into grins and shouted, "Mommy and Daddy!"

On the journey of life, we don't know precisely where we're headed or how all our needs will be met. But, we do know who we're traveling with, our loving God who is fully aware of the twists and turns ahead. The loving Parent who promises to care for us wherever we go.

Peace,
Pastor Kristina
WORSHIP SCHEDULE

Sunday, June 9th
8:00 AM Morning Glory - Service of Holy Communion
9:30 AM Contemporary Worship Service with Children's Leadership and Service of Holy Communion
11:00 AM Classic Grace - Service of Holy Communion

Sunday, June 16th
10:00 AM One Service with Service of Holy Communion and Blessing of the Graduates followed by Congregational Meeting & Appreciation Luncheon

Sunday, June 23rd
10:00 AM One Service with Service of Holy Communion

Sunday, June 30th
FIFTH SUNDAY APPEAL
10:00 AM One Service with Service of Holy Communion

Please CLICK HERE  to view LCR's June Events Calendar.

SUMMER WORSHIP
We will continue with a single 10:00 AM service with Service of Holy Communion each Sunday throughout the summer months and begin our new, fall worship schedule after Labor Day. See details about our new worship schedule in the article to follow.
CARE CARDS
Please remember to take a few moments to sign the care cards that are located in the narthex. You can also add the names of those who could use extra thoughts, prayers or praise to the sign up sheet.
ATTENTION GARDENERS
Volunteers are needed to assist in weeding and watering the Welcome Garden about four times over the course of the spring/summer. Weeks are rotated among volunteers and there are no meetings! If interested, please contact Kari Ries at (215) 493-3291 or kariries@hotmail.com .

Fall Worship Schedule

The Gathered by Christ team of Council and Worship & Music have been working very hard on a new worship schedule for the fall based on the responses from our recent survey. We reviewed and discussed all of the survey responses at length. We would like to thank all that participated i n the survey. You are all very passionate about your worship and we appreciate that.

Worship & Music and Council have agreed on the following schedule:
8:00am - 8:45am Traditional Worship
9:00am - 9:45am Contemporary Worship with Arise! Praise Band
10:00am - 10:45am Christian Education for all ages
11:00am - 11:45am Traditional Worship

In this new schedule, we have redesigned the services to shorten the worship time to 45 minutes, allowing a 15 minute bre ak between services. The new schedule also allows for Christian Education for all members in the 10:00am time slot. This will also allow for Pastor to be in Sunday School classes with the children, which she has been unable to do with the current set up, or run her own adult class. You will begin to see some changes to the services over the summer as we move forward. Again, thank you for your participation.
Family Promise of Lower Bucks
FPLB Seeks Volunteers

Family Promise of Lower Bucks (FPLB) is open to Lower Bucks families experiencing homelessness. If you would like more information or would like to become a Family Promise volunteer, please contact Kathy Fitchett at ktfitchett1189@gmail.com . Family Promise is also in need of van drivers. No commercial license is required. If interested, please contact Maryanne at familypromise@gmail.com .
 
Shared Meal Update

We would like to thank all who helped to make our extra Shared Meal in May a huge success! Our guests were pleasantly surprised and thankful for the pizza, salad and ice cream we enjoyed on Memorial Day. LCR stepped up and added an additional meal when we learned that there was to be no meal for our neighbors on the holiday and many contributed funds to purchase the pizza and ice cream, provided a salad, helped to set up, clean up and serve, all while enjoying the meal with our guests. Special thanks to Vince's Pizza, on Main Street in Yardley, who delivered the pizzas and sold them to us at a discounted price. What a wonderful community effort!

Our June Shared Meal with our neighbors will take place on Sunday, June 16th with set up beginning at 2:30pm and the meal being served at 4:00pm. Our menu will include sandwiches of all types (meatball, sausage, roast beef, etc.), side salads (potato, pasta, garden, veggies and dip), baked beans, and dessert. A sign-up sheet is located on the church bulletin board. Please consider joining us to help provide hospitality to our guests and/or providing a dish. Thank you for your caring hearts! 

Going Nuts About Fun and Fellowship Events

Good old fashioned nuts have experienced a rebirth as a popular snack, and we all know they are very healthy. At Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, fun and fellowship events such as Christmas Caroling, an excursion to a 13 scene nativity in South Jersey, bowling, and outings at parks are popping up on our church calendar. Like the rediscovery of snacking nuts, these “old school” fun and fellowship events benefit the health and wellness of our congregation. They help us grow together as well as grow out into our community as we share experiences outside church. Beyond the health and growth parts, these events are just plain FUN, which makes people happy. The events are sponsored by the Empowered to Witness team, and many of the ideas have been suggested by Ruth diDonato – three cheers to Ruth!!

Upcoming events include park and arboretum visits, kayaking, bike riding, Crystal Cave, Pearl Buck estate, and of course revisiting that amazing 13 scene live nativity. Keep one eye on Resurrection Connections, the other eye on the LCR Website church calendar, one ear on weekly announcements, and the other ear to your fellow members so you know about upcoming events. Finally, remember to invite friends to these fun and fellowship events!

Habitat for Humanity –
Faith Build 2019 Update

Lutheran Church of the Resurrection has raised $2,135 for the building of The House That Faith Built . Financed by a partnership between Thrivent Financial and over 30 houses of worship, it is the 4th house being built this year in Morrisville and the 119th home to built by Habitat in Bucks County. LCR currently has 9 members who have volunteered to be a part of our build team and 3 more who have signed-up to provide lunches for our team on our build days.

Build teams work in groups of 5-10 depending upon the task. We are hoping for 15-20 build volunteers. No previous skills are required, only a desire to learn and participate. All volunteers must submit a 2019 volunteer application to Habitat unless you have already done so this year. Applications are available near the mailboxes in the church. To join either team – build or lunch – or to get more information about this project, contact Hank Merritt at BucksRider@Live.Com or call (267) 907-4628.
Wall Build 2019

On Saturday, June 1st, over 100 volunteers assembled 53 wall sections for The House That Faith Built. Beginning at 8:00am, Woodside Church hosted a breakfast meeting to hear speakers from Thrivent Financial and Habitat for Humanity explain the build process. At 9:00am, after praise and prayer, 10 team leaders from Woodside Church went out to the parking lot, followed by all the other volunteers.

Each team leader would get a wall section plan that included a materials list and a diagram of the completed section. With hammers and lots of nails the plans were followed to create each section – some were door or window sections; others were just plain walls. As each section was finished it was moved to a staging area for the final build. Each team also had markers and we were all encouraged to write scriptures or blessings on the wood that would be in the walls of the finished house.

Each section had a plan number and all the lumber for that section had the same number. When all the sections were completed the construction boss explained the final build – where all the sections would be temporarily joined together to make the finished house. (They would be disconnected the following day and be transported to the construction site). He would call out two or three section numbers at a time and, as they were moved into the places he designated, the black shirt advisors would connect them together.

When all the sections were joined and the house was completed, just a few minutes after 12 noon, we joined hands in a 125-person circle around the house as Pastor Doug blessed the house.
Diakonia Program

T he two year Diakonia program provides spiritual formation and theological education for baptized members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or anyone wishing in good faith to study the teachings. The program consists of 12 subjects, each completed in five weeks, meeting once a week for two and a half hours. Taught at about a high school level, it is not necessary to commit to the whole program to enroll.

The Diakonia Program invites you to its 2019 Graduation Ceremony on Saturday, June 8th at 11:00am. It will be held at Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at 1000 W. Main Street in Lansdale, PA. We would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to our very own Hank Merritt as he graduates from this extraordinary program!

The program will resume in the fall. If you are interested or would like further information, please contact Hank Merritt at BucksRider@Live.Com .

 Learning About God's Love at VBS

I would like to start with a quick story. My oldest grandson, now in 2nd grade, is growing his faith at home with his parents and here at church. Well, in the beginning of the school year, the neighborhood kids were talking while while waiting at the bus stop and God came up in the conversation. One of the children announced they did not believe there was a god. This disturbed Lukas enough that I got a version of the story. My perception is that this is becoming more common.  I looked down at Lukas and told him – next time tell them “but God still believes in you!” 

Fast forward to the end of the school year as Lutheran Church of the Resurrection prepares for Vacation Bible School with “Step by Step” as this year's theme. To my surprise, the first day’s lesson uses Psalm 139 to teach how much God loves us. In it there is a line that is written, "Where can I flee from your presence…if I go up to the heavens, you are there…if I make my bed in the depths you are there." Yes, God still believes in us...God sticks with us all! I wish all the children in our community could have a chance to be a part of this VBS!

We have once again partnered with Bear Creek Camp, who will provide day camp fun with a wonderful faith foundation for our children. I hope that you recommend it for your own children, grandchildren or neighbors. VBS is scheduled for the week of June 24th through June 28th. We will be offering full day camp from 9:00am - 3:00pm for children entering K-6 this fall. A half day session will also be available from 9:00am - 11:45am for 3-5 year old preschool children. Registration forms with further details are available in the Narthex or on the LCR website.

We are also asking for volunteer support during this week.
  • Karla and Berni will be teaching the preschool, Candy and Susan and now Patti Woodward will be helping in the kitchen with the snacks. 
  • We would appreciate the support of our youth in assisting the counselors from Bear Creek Camp and our preschool teachers… and their time would be eligible for school community service hours!
  •  And lastly, we are looking for host families that would be able to house some of the 4 counselors – which would be from Sunday night the 23rd through Thursday night the 27th. If you are interested and would like to discuss this further, please see Pastor, Elaine Zimmerman, or me – Peggy Gould. Last year the Elwell’s hosted counselors, and well as Liz!...and it was most appreciated.

Your prayerful consideration is greatly appreciated! 

IFA June Donations

The Interfaith Food Alliance (IFA) is a coalition of faith communities in Bucks County, PA who seek to alleviate food insecurity within our neighborhoods. They accomplish this through advocacy, service, and education.

They believe that together we can accomplish more than any one individual or organization can alone. Their partnerships include civic organizations, businesses, individuals, elected officials, and other non-profit foundations. As a grassroots volunteer-based organization, they have no paid staff, so all contributions support the mission of IFA.

The IFA operates the Family Backpack Center. This Center provides a supplemental food source for children and their families in the Morrisville School District who have been identified as food insecure. The shelves are stocked with food donated by our partner faith communities, local farms, grocery stores, and financial contributions from individuals, businesses, and organizations.

In addition to food, there are many important and necessary items which the families the IFA serves are in need of. For the month of June, t hey are collecting donations of toilet paper, paper towels and tissues as their highlighted items. Donations can be dropped off in the gray tubs in front of the church office. CLICK HERE if you would like to make a monetary donation. Please call (215) 595-5623 or email ifabuckspa@gmail.com for more information on how you can help fight food insecurity. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by those in need! 

Sonshiners' June News

Sixteen people joined us for a wonderful day in Bristol on May 15th when we attended the play at the Bristol Riverside Theater preceded by lunch at the King George Inn. We had a private room at the King George and were treated royally by the servers. As always, the food was delicious. The production at the theater, “The Christians,” was quite controversial - taking place in an unnamed mega-church and addressing how people handle challenges to their deeply held beliefs. It was very well presented with both humor and seriousness that kept us mesmerized throughout the production. Everyone enjoyed the play, which stirred up quite a bit of discussion among us.

Our worship service at Pickering Manor was cancelled for May due to another event taking place at the facility on the day we were scheduled. The next service is scheduled for Wednesday, June 19th at 10:30am.  Because of the building construction at Pickering, and the lack of parking space, we are still not certain whether or not we will be able to continue these visits. We will keep you informed.

Our final event until the fall will be on Thursday, June 13th, when we will tour the Bowman’s Hill Wildlife Preserve. The walking trail at this historic sanctuary is paved and accessible for walkers and wheelchairs, and has several benches along the way. The trail features a wide variety of wildflowers, birds and mammals and culminates in a pond stocked with tadpoles and turtles. We will meet at the church at 10:00am to carpool. The tour begins at 10:30am and the cost is $7 per person. Following the tour, we will have lunch at 12:30pm at Bowman’s Tavern. Please sign up on the bulletin board at church to let us know if you are coming, or you may contact Betty Berner at (215) 750-3955 or via email at bettyberner@comcast.net .

DWSN June Event

Plan to join us for some food, fun and games as the Disciples with Special Needs gather for a picnic on Friday, June 21st from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. The event will be hosted at the home of Dave and Cheryl Smith, located at 2330 Lakeview Drive in Yardley. If there is heavy rain this day or night, we will have an indoor picnic at LCR instead. If just a drizzle, we will still be at the Smith’s house. The cost is $5 per person. Please let us know if you will be attending so we can plan for food by emailing lcrdwsn@verizon.net or call (215) 493-2018 by Friday, June 14th. Thank you!

Missions Update

LCR's Missions Team will meet for their quarterly meeting on Wednesday, June 19th at 7:00pm and YOU are invited! This team coordinates various outreach ministries to the community and welcomes new ideas and voices. We encourage you to join us!

A Woman's Place has been designated as the recipient of our 5th Sunday Appeal for the month of June. Founded in 1976, A Woman's Place is the only domestic violence community benefit organization in Bucks County. At our single service on Sunday, June 23rd, we will welcome Rosemary Katz, who will tell us more about this important organization and their mission. We encourage you to consider making a donation to this worthwhile cause, we ask that you use your blue trimmed envelope for the month of June. Don't worry, though, if you have forgotten this envelope. You may use your regular offering envelope or the ones provided in the pew. If you do this, please remember to designate the amount and write in 5th Sunday Appeal.

Merciful Mondays

As a reminder, Merciful Mondays will be on a summer hiatus from June 17th through September 9th. Do plan to join us from 7:00 - 8:30pm in the Library for our final session of the season taking place on Monday, June 10th. The topic of discussion will be Relationships. We encourage you to invite a friend who may need to share their story. Please contact Barbara Merritt at (215) 519-7499 with any questions.

A Mother’s Mutterings… By Christie Paton

 I Can Only Hope…
 
Well, it’s deep into spring and that means we’re deep into softball, soccer, concerts, end of school, etc. etc. etc.
 
So, what did we do? Well, on Memorial Day we got 2 kittens!!!  Our beloved cat Bessie (actually my first pet), died 3 years ago (I didn’t realize it was so long ago) and I’d been saying we’d get kittens for awhile, and we finally did.  In my head, I wanted 2 kittens, preferably a boy and a girl, to match our 2 kids.  And that’s what we got.
 
We’re still working on names, but the boy is a silver tabby about 3 months old.  The girl is a tuxedo who is a little over 2 months.  They are not from the same litter, but grew up together in foster care for a month and a half.  It’s so much fun to just watch them and frankly, they are not just a little distracting!
 
But we’ve been observing them and it’s very interesting.  The girl is much less skittish…she just puts herself out there…she’s very curious and is not afraid to just go for it…whatever it is.  The boy is a little more reserved and watches things for a little bit before getting involved.  But he does get involved.  They both love playing with shoes and sitting in the shoe box (for whatever reason).  They seem to enjoy watching each other playing with whatever the toy of the moment is, and either “take turns” or “steal” from each other… I’m not sure exactly which.  They wrestle a lot and clean each other off a lot, and I’m no expert, but they seem to get along and like each other a lot.  But they also antagonize each other, chasing each other around the room and up the cat tower.  And sometimes, she just waits for him and pushes him right off the ledge of the cat tower, just as he’s about to get on the same one she’s on.  Huh.
 
So it’s interesting to notice the similarities between kittens and children.  And as much as Daniel and Megan antagonize each other in their own human ways, I hope that somewhere deep down as well as down the road of life, they also have that caring love for each other…I can only hope!

Audit Volunteers Needed

Resurrection's Audit Committee is seeking two new members to begin the 2018 audit. No experience in bookkeeping or accounting is required. The time commitment is between 5 and 10 hours per person per audit year. For more information, contact Hank Merritt at BucksRider@Live.Com or call (267) 907-4628.

Pinecrest Lutheran Leadership Ministries

Enjoy a life changing experience of faith formation and leadership development with leaders in the Lutheran Church. Since 1927, Pinecrest has been gathering youth and young adults (ages 15-26) of the ELCA in a summer camp setting, providing them with access to strong faith community and an opportunity to develop their strengths as leaders in the church. This exciting and interactive camp takes place on August 11th -19th at Camp Nawakwa in Biglerville, PA. Deposits are due by July 1st! To learn more, please visit pinecrestllm.org.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION