Larry's Notes
Transitional Lay Minister
“Easter is the only time when it's perfectly safe to put all of your eggs in one basket.” Evan Esar
It’s a funny parody on an old saying but there’s a lot of truth to this and remember – we are Easter people!
This year in Lent we put a lot of eggs into the Lenten Series, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter. Thank you to all who watched the Lenten Series and participated in the Wednesday night discussions. We had a lot of viewers and lively participants in the discussion.
Here’s some important events happening during Holy Week:
On Good Friday, April 2, we will be releasing a video for one week only of a performance of Franz Joseph Haydn’s string quartet, “The Seven Last Sayings of Christ” performed by the Spektral Quartet and featuring readings from members of our congregation. This will be a moving service in both music and word.
Easter Sunday will feature the music of the Northside Brass Quartet, and Carly Sinclair, soprano. We will celebrate an Easter Holy Communion with Reverend Jessica Scholten.
We have come through a year of many things, we have been physically distanced but not socially or spiritually distanced. I would imagine that is how the followers of Jesus felt on Good Friday and yet with little or no hope or faith the promise of God was kept and the gifts of hope, faith, and love were resurrected yet once again!
Keep the faith, keep in touch.
Peace,
Larry Dieffenbach
Transitional Lay Minister/Director of Music, Organist
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WE ACCEPT, EMBRACE AND AFFIRM THE DIGNITY AND WORTH OF EVERY PERSON, AS WE ARE ALL CREATED IN GOD'S IMAGE. |
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What's Happening at Church...
Get involved and join a group, an event, or a LHC initiative.
Explore / Belong / Learn
Worship Service - Sundays, 9:30 am - Tune-in to our YouTube Channel
Walk 'n Talk - Sundays, 9 am - Meet in the Church courtyard weather permitting
Bible Study - Wednesdays, 10 am - via Zoom
Good Friday Service featuring the Spektral Quartet - Friday, April 2 via YouTube
Men of LHC Monthly Breakfast - Saturday, April 10, 8:30 am via Zoom
Church Council Meeting - Monday, Apr. 12, 7 pm via Zoom
A Book & A Prayer - Book Club - Thursday, Apr. 15, 7 pm via Zoom
Sisters in Spirit - General Meeting - Sunday, Apr. 18, 11 am via Zoom
BTW Deadline - Mon. Apr. 19
Celebrity Chili Cook-Off - Sat. Apr. 24
CHURCH OFFICE HOURS - Monday through Thursday, 9 am to 3 pm, 630.584.4013
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Moderator's Message
Carol Berger
Hallelujah! The Lord has risen! Easter has come for 2021! The pandemic has become a year old. In 1947 (where I left off last month as we celebrated our 75th anniversary), LHC has endured the past two World wars, the challenges of losing most of the pioneer families as they scattered and newcomers became the majority, and new challenges lay ahead. However, with the help of a continuing core from the early families, the Little Home Church preserved in its struggles as an agent of God's love and challenge, just as it is today. In this Age, men and women would discover new wonders in God's universe, and Wayne would no longer reflect outside events like a far away mirror. The impact was imminent through the many new advances through technology, medicine, and the mobility of its old and new citizens.
In 1946 (back tracking a little), a ceremony took place in the churchyard, the symbolic ground-breaking for the long awaited Parish Hall. The total cost of the building was $23,005. The church was able to finance $20,195, which included $3,500 contributed by the Wayne Community Association. The remainder was raised rather ingeniously. The fundraising committee made an estimate that if each of the 143 congregates made a donation of $19.65, the total would be assured. And, as generosity would have it, they were soon able to report, the shortfall was covered, with thirty-six persons still to approach! On a Sunday afternoon, several years later, hundreds of friends and members of the Little Home Church from far and near, came to Wayne to view and dedicate the recently completed new parish hall. And in 1951 one of the largest crowds on record attended the annual meeting of the Northern Illinois Association of Congregational Christian churches held in our new parish hall!
And so, after 150 years, LHC continues to renovate, build, and provide for all those who seek the Glory of God!
"After a long time he Lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents, behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Matthew: 25: 14-21
Thank you all for contributing your gifts and talents to the Little Home Church. We have a strong and generous lay leadership today, as did our founders, and all the years in between in spite of the many years of challenges, including this past year with the pandemic. Let us continue to rejoice with our many blessings.
Blessings,
Carol Berger, Moderator
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Worship & Spiritual Growth
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Thank you to the children who came out to participate in our early Palm Sunday parade! Additional thanks (and apologies?) to those adults who came to do Walk 'n Talk but got talked into participating in the parade as well.
In thinking ahead, we plan to do a Mother's Day service similar to how we did our Father's Day service last year. If you recall, we invited you to submit photos of your fathers, grandfathers and the like that were then included in the service. We know it was a very heartfelt service. We would like to do the same for our Mother's Day. Please submit any photos of you with your mother, or grandmother, or you as a mom so that we might include them in the service. You can email them to the Church Office. If you need any help just reach out to us. We would like the photos by May 1!
We also invite you to try your hand at being Pulpit Associate. It's a very un-intimidating experience. We film during the week and it is an easy and simple way to help. Please consider volunteering. It's so fun to see everyone on screen!
In the meantime, we appreciate your continued support and viewing of our worship services via our YouTube Channel each week. Send us your photos of your everyday life that we might include them in a service. It helps us stay connected and does our hearts good to see our LHC family.
Samantha Prang
WSG Ministry Chair
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Joyful, Joyful Progress Continues
Just in time for Easter, I am excited to announce that the Wayne Village Board approved our plans for Phase 2 of the Joyful, Joyful campaign on Tuesday, March 16! (Phase 2 encompasses demolishing the existing Guild House and building the Wayne Community House.) Going forward, we will be working with our architect Lisa Sharp (and her design team) and Schramm Construction Corporation as Construction Manager. We expect that a budget will be determined within the next month, which will enable us to review loan options with the State Bank of Geneva and the UCC Building and Loan Fund. Construction will begin this summer. The JOY in the Joyful Campaign remains HIGH because of your encouragement and commitment to our team and the project. Thank you for your ongoing prayers and financial support.
Anne Bouchard
Chair, 'Joyful, Joyful, We Restore Thee' Team
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Congregational Life
Secret Saints - Who Might It Be?
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We are approaching the end of the Lenten season with the anticipation of the Easter celebration. It is also time to wind down our successful and fun Secret Saints activity in preparation of revealing just who we are. Hopefully, those of you on the receiving end, while kept in suspense, have also tried to guess the identity of your Secret Saint. And those of you who are Secret Saints have had fun thinking of ways to connect and show your kindness to a fellow member. Please reveal yourself on or in the days immediately following Easter Sunday. However you choose to do this is entirely up to you...a phone call, note in the mail or a masked face to masked face reveal, any way you wish! We hope you have had fun giving and receiving, all in the spirit of Christian friendship and the wish to remain together while apart!
A BIG shout out and thank you to Ann McLaughlin who so graciously volunteered her time and effort to providing courier services.
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Celebrity Chili Cook-Off
Saturday - April 24
Look forward to a NEW 'Celebrity' and COVID safe Chili Cook Off on Saturday, April 24! Our celebrities will include 8 to 10 Wayne community groups and organizations. So far we have lined up the following 'Celebrities':
- Wayne Public Works
- Fox River & Countryside Fire & Rescue
- Wayne Community Association
- Wayne Village Board
- Wayne Garden Club
- Town House Cafe
- Wayne-DuPage Hunt
- Dunham Woods Riding Club
- LHC Sisters in Spirit
- Men of LHC
$25 will buy you a box with a cup of chili from each 'Celebrity' group along with a single vote. Additional votes may be purchased. Voting will take place online. Instructions will be included with the box of chili. The Event committee will tabulate the votes and the winner notified via email and shared on our website and social media pages.
The Men of LHC group will help coordinate the safe pick up of the sample boxes to people in their cars the afternoon of the event. Look for an email blast with all the final purchase & payment details. For now please mark your calendar for April 24 for the 2021 Celebrity Chili Cook-Off!
We'd love help so please contact Mary Roach, if you're able to.
Mary Roach
Evangelism Ministry Chair
630.544.1881
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Outreach Ministry
Eat More Bread
Did you know that something as small as a plastic bread tag can make a difference?
Plastic bread tags are those square clips commonly used to seal bags around a loaf of bread, bagels, or even produce. If you are trying to reduce your plastic use, they can be hard to avoid. Further, plastic bread tags are not recyclable in your curbside recycling bin. Recycling equipment simply isn’t able to sort them out. Second, they are made of #6 plastic a.k.a. polystyrene which is not recyclable in any form in Illinois’ curbside recycling programs. Millions end up in landfills each year, just adding to our disposable plastic problem. Danielle Cares for Chairs is a 501(c)(3) non-profit in Indiana that collects and recycles plastic bread tags for funds to purchase wheelchairs for those in need. It was started by high school junior, Danielle Rothchild, after an up-cycling challenge got her working with bread tags. She found an organization in South Africa collecting them to raise funds for wheelchairs. She was inspired to take action. According to Danielle, it takes about 260,000 bread tags to purchase a basic wheelchair—so every bread tag counts! SCARCE (https://www.scarce.org/), a local, award-winning environmental education non-profit dedicated to creating sustainable communities. SCARCE is now collecting plastic bread tags for recycling in partnership with Danielle Cares for Chairs. LHC Outreach Ministry is collecting bread tags for delivery to SCARCE. As we work on our collection process, make a sandwich, toast a bagel, eat an apple, and save your tags. Watch this space for more information.
Be well! Karissa James
Outreach Ministries Chair
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Bible Study
Wednesdays - 10 am & Virtual
Our weekly Wednesday morning Bible Study continues with a good group of participants. They would love to have you join them. Rev. Ron Purser leads the study via Zoom and the group continues to studying the book of Matthew. No preparation is necessary. The Bible Study meeting begins at 10 am.
Meeting ID: 814 1245 7155
password: biblestudy
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A Book & A Prayer
LHC Book Club - Via Zoom
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Meets 3rd Thursday, 7 pm
NEXT Meeting is April 15
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver is the April selection. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career.
Meeting ID: 891 0088 0154
password: bookclub
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Flowers, Fellowship,
Ushers & Pulpit Associate
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If you'd like to provide flowers to dress up our altar table for the YouTube worship services we'd love it! You would need to get the flowers here by the Tuesday of that week so they're there when we film. Contact Office
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April Birthdays
Apr. 1 - Anne Bouchard
Apr. 2 - Kay Brynelsen, Alex Karwowski
Apr. 8 - Trevor DaRin
Apr. 12 - Ron Dippner, Gerry James
Apr. 14 - Joe Sterner
Apr. 15 - Rik Alex
Apr. 17 - Cooper Hadfield
Apr. 20 - George Bouchard
Apr. 23 - Spencer Christiansen
Apr. 24 - Peg Schramuk
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To those recently ill or hospitalized...
Ruth Lishamer
Congratulations...
Sydney & Jeremy Neukirch on the birth of Genevieve this past January 20. Genevieve is welcomed by big sister Madden & big brother Heath.
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Help us celebrate your graduate. If you have a student graduating high school or college this Spring let us know. For high school graduates, let us know which high school and what their plans are for after school. For college graduates, let us know the college or university and what degree they earned. We will honor them in an upcoming issue of By the Way and during a worship service.
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As more of us get vaccinated against COVID-19 we'd like to pass on some great tips we read on how to keep your vaccination card safe!
-Make a photo copy of it (both sides) and keep the original in a safe place.
-Take a photo of both sides with your cell phone. You can also email yourself the image so you have it stored on your laptop or desktop.
This is all still new to us and as we begin to venture out more, there may be some venues that ask for proof.
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THANK YOU TO OUR CHURCH STAFF, COUNCIL, AND ALL VOLUNTEERS |
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Transitional Lay Minister and
Director of Music - Larry Dieffenbach
Pastor Emeritus - Rev. Ronald Purser
Office Manager - Lori Prang
BTW Editors
Lori Prang and Kathleen Sullivan Kaska
Graphic Design
Kathleen Sullivan Kaska
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CHURCH COUNCIL
Moderator - Carol Berger
Moderator-elect - Bob Kaska
Christian Education - Jane Shelton
Congregational Life - Mary Emily Anhalt
Evangelism - Mary Roach
Facilities - Kit DeWitt
Outreach - Karissa James
Stewardship - Peter Connolly
Worship & Spiritual Growth - Samantha Prang
Members at Large - Chuck McDonough and Jennifer Harmon
Financial Treasurer - Susi Winquist
Financial Secretary - Ann McLaughlin
Clerk - Kristen Thornton
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Thank you...
for continuing to remember Little Home Church by the Wayside.
Your support is greatly needed and appreciated.
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