THIS WEEK AT FAITH
September 8, 2024
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No matter who you are
or where you are on life’s journey
you are welcome here.
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FAITH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
5992 Route 378
Center Valley, PA 18034
610.282.3939
**** Office Hours ****
Monday (*Remotely) - 9 am - 4 pm
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (in office) - 9 am - 4 pm
Friday - Closed/Pastor's Sabbath
*Sandy will be working remotely but will check messages
on a regular basis. If you find yourself in immediate need,
call or text her at 610-967-6232.
faithchurchcv@gmail.com
www.faithchurchucc.org
MEMBERS & FRIENDS DIRECTORY
(Updated July 2024)
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Parish Administrator Sandy David will be on vacation
Thursday, September 5th.
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Join us for Worship the
16th Sunday after Pentecost
September 8, 2024
10:15 am Worship
Joyful Noise Collection
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Thanks to our Volunteers:
Cindy Talaber, Head Usher
Joan Hassler & Elaine Trexler, Ushers
Joan Hassler, Lay Reader
Bruce Torrence, Financial Secretary
Tootie & Donald Koch, Altar Flowers
Bruce Torrence & Wes Koser, Lawn Crew
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Sunday 9/8 - 10:15 am WORSHIP; JOYFUL NOISE
- Monday 9/9 - Sandy Works Remotely; 7 pm Budget & Finance Mtg
- Tuesday 9/10 - 2 pm Faith in Stitches
- Thursday 9/12 - 3 pm Mission Mtg; 7 pm Consistory
- Friday 9/13 - Office Closed; Pastor's Day Off
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Sunday 9/15 - BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY; 9:00 am SUNDAY SCHOOL; 10:15 am WORSHIP
| Faith Singers regroup this Sunday, September 8, 11:30 am for 60 minutes and will offer worship music September 15. Share your talents as we begin and celebrate a new season! Questions, concerns or inquiries - reach out to Dennis Duda at 215.361.8641 or email ddduda@verizon.net. All Singers and Instrumentalists are most welcomed! |
Help Wanted...
We received a phone call from LaVerna Diehl's son Tim who is looking to hire someone to help LaVerna out with general house cleaning. If interested please call the church office and we'll put you in touch with Tim.
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The Caring Place
We continue to collect donations of School Supplies for the Caring Place – markers, highlighters, pens, pencils, erasers, paper, construction paper, poster board, notebooks, backpacks, and any other school item you might find.
Donations will be taken until September 15th. All donations are appreciated and used by the students. Please help out if you can.
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Mark Your Calendars...
Join us Sunday, November 3rd for Faith's PENNY PARTY! There will be FUN and PRIZES for the whole family! Bring your change! Doors will open at 12 noon - lunch and desserts will be available for purchase. Games begin at 1:00.
Penny Party Planning Meeting
For all those who helped last year, or said you would be willing to help out this year with the Penny Party, there will be a planning meeting on Monday October 21st at 1:00pm in the conference room. Please plan to attend if you are able and join the fun. If you would like to help out but are not available on the 21st, you can contact Brenda Hovis @ 610-657-6287 or Cindy Talaber @ 610-282-4627.
Penny Party Donations
We need your help to make this fundraiser a huge success.
The Fundraising committee is looking for donations for the penny party. Items could include, but are not limited to, canned items (current sell by dates only please. We will not use any expired canned items), paper products, cleaning items, childrens items (crayons, coloring books, toys, etc.), or any items that you think people might want to take a chance on. There will be totes in the narthex to place your donated items into. The totes will be marked Penny Party, and will be to the left of the front doors.
The fundraising committee will also be accepting baskets for a basket raffle, or items to add to a basket for the raffle. all donations will be greatly appreciated.
Donations can be given to Brenda Hovis, Cindy Talaber, or left in the church office marked Penny Party.
Thank you, your support means so much to us.
The Fundraising Committee
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From Rev. Dr. Bonnie Bates
Conference Minister
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Dear Friends,
Sometimes I feel like I am walking a tightrope. That’s not an acceptable position for me to be in because as I age my balance is not what it used to be and I’m afraid of heights! Thankfully, I have a safety net – the Gospel and the words of Jesus.
You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. (NLT Matthew 22:37-39)
You likely know I serve on a variety of ecumenical and interfaith groups. The challenge in these days is to maintain the tightrope of relationships with my Jewish, Christian, and Muslim colleagues in the face of the war in Israel and Gaza, Russian and Ukraine, the Sudan – not to mention the political divides within our own nation. How do I love my neighbor in these troubled times? The answer is the same as it was for Jesus with the Israelites, the Gentiles, the Romans, the Pharisees, the scribes, the high priests, the common people – all the differences that divide people. First, we love God. Then we love our neighbors. For me that means all our neighbors, no matter the differences of belief or opinion, no matter the political stance or the approach to the world, no matter the theological approach to scripture or the progressive or conservative labels we might apply to each other. The answer is always love.
I am not one of those people who speaks out that they love the sinner and hate the sin. I do hate sins – but I focus on my own sinning. The sins of others are for God to address. Rather, I move forward in love, to seek understanding, to seek respect, to acknowledge the pain and suffering others feel and to love them. I continue to speak for justice and peace, to seek rebuilding relationships, but I do not want to walk away from interactions just because there are myriad sides to an issue and myriad opinions among colleagues. I want to love my neighbors, my colleagues, no matter how challenging that is. If it means I am silent about my opinion to an issue so that I can love my neighbor or my colleague, then I learn to be silent. If it means I stand up for justice in another way, I stand up, but I act first in love.
The tightropes don’t go away. I still walk them in fear and trembling every day. And I love first, depending on God to strengthen me and for Jesus to lead me, and for the Holy Spirit to empower me so that I may love. That is my prayer for you as well.
Blessings,
Bonnie
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Time to Notice
by Martha Spong
Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good, for God’s steadfast love endures forever. – Psalm 106:1 (NRSVUE, adapted)
This summer, I tagged along on my wife’s sabbatical, and on the day you are reading this, she will be back to work with the congregation she serves, and I with my coaching clients. Just like a kid going back to school, my spirit says “Yay!” to exciting things like sharp pencils and a new schedule, but it also says, “Mmm, yes, well, wasn’t it nice not to have to hold so many things in mind at the same time?”
Our summer included a month in a house in western Maine surrounded by birch trees and pines and moosewood maples. I spent hours watching the birch trees chatter in the breeze, drawing leaves and branches with colored pencils in my journal, or simply listening to the rustle of God’s steadfast love expressed in creation.
I had time to notice.
I almost wrote, “For once, I had time to notice.”
Home now, I wonder what stops me from noticing here? In her song, “Invisible String,” Taylor Swift describes time as curious, mystical and wondrous, and that’s how it felt in a treehouse in Maine. Here at home time can feel blunt, fleeting, and utilitarian.
Or do I let it feel that way?
Because I remember how I have stared out the window at the Japanese maple tree in our front yard, watched its green-to-red leaves wave at me. Communing with the tree becomes prayer and praise, a practice that is not a routine but a revelation…
…if I take—if I make—time to notice.
Prayer
Slow me down, Lord, to see and hear and delight in the steadfast love you show right outside my window. Amen.
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FOOD ITEMS DESPERATELY NEEDED:
Cereal
Spaghetti Sauce
Macaroni & Cheese
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SEPTEMBER
05 Pauline Kemmerer
06 Nathan Smith
06 Paul Stebbings
09 Patti Shelly
10 Carol Beck
10 Olivia Muth
12 Donna Schudel-Barone
14 Donna Kuhns
14 Howard Barrick
17 Cindy Talaber
17 Kate Jellison
18 Donna Herndon
21 Carrie Fosbenner
23 Diane Talaber
26 Susan Roberts
26 Erin Gollie
27 Abby Muth
28 Michael DiSanto
28 Damyn Allison
29 Ruth Smith
29 Eric Fosbenner
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A Special THANK YOU to all who continue to financially support our ministry as you are able. We'd like to remind you there are several ways you can do this:
- Mail your offering directly to the church
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Make an electronic donation through Tithe.ly on our website's Giving page
- Use your bank's Bill Pay service
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