August Newsletter
SUMMER NEWSLETTER
July 20, 2011
REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS
Please pray for our homebound congregants. Sally Scanlon (609-607-1003). Art and Oline Lowe (609-693-6136). Art and Carolyn Engelken. Norma Mathis, recovering at home. Please pray for Susan Donnelly. Her surgery is scheduled for Tues, July 26. Please pray for Nancy Stein who has lung disease and is on oxygen. Please pray for Betty Kurinsky, who is recovering at home after breaking her ankle.
Please pray for Billy, a 14 year-old boy, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. They have removed several lumps from his groin and now say that he has cancer in his ankles and lungs. Doctors are saying that the cancer seems to be traveling rather quickly through his body and they don't know how long they can give. He has recently started radiation and other treatment with the hope that the doctors can prolong his life. Please keep Billy and his family in your prayer.
BLUE CLAWS FAITH NIGHT: TUESDAY, AUGUST 16
If you haven’t paid for your tickets yet, please put a check payable to VLC in Wendy Magerowski’s mailbox. We had to send in the payment for our tickets this week, but we are still under the number that we have reserved. If you wanted to join us please call me and I will see if I can add more spaces! Adults are $24.95 kids under 12 are $16.95. This entitles us to a 2 hour dinner buffet and picnic seating behind first base. Wendy – 609 276-8290.
CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
A meeting will be scheduled during September for the reading of a proposed constitutional change. The time and date will be announced shortly.
HI ALL!
Just a quick note to let you know the surgery didn't happen on the 13th as planned. I developed an infection (cellulitis) and the doctor wouldn't operate till it was cleared up. So I'm into my fourth day of intravenous antibiotics. Surgery has been rescheduled for the 26th. For those of you not aware of the fun I've been having - I developed Cushings disease of which diabetes is a symptom - all this since January. So between blistered feet, falling over (using a walker), seizures, erratic blood sugar readings, insulin injections and not working - life has had its ups and downs. But, I look forward to the surgery and pray for skill for the doctors and nurses. I know Jesus is watching over me. Thanks for up all the prayers. Sue Donnelly
HOLY BAPTISM
Sunday, July 31 at the 10AM service
We welcome as a new Child of God through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism:
Leo Michael Hendriks, son of Leo and Michele Hendriks.
CHICKEN BBQ
SUNDAY, JULY 31
4PM
The Men’s Club is sponsoring a Chicken BBQ. Hot dogs will also be offered for those who do not care for chicken. The cost is $6/person and all proceeds will benefit the Men’s Group. There is a sign up sheet located in the narthex on the bulletin board. So come and join us at this very first MEN’S GROUP EVENT!!! BYOB.
STEWARDSHIP
THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER
by Tom Wilkinson, Vice President, Development
Florida United Methodist Foundation
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Have you ever wondered why July and August are called the “dog days of summer?” The answer is a bit of astronomy trivia. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, is in the constellation Canis Major, the big dog. It is most prominent in the southern night sky in January for stargazers in our part of the world. During the summer months Sirius rises and sets with the sun, and ancient astronomers thought it added its own heat to that of the sun, thus the hot, sultry “dog days” of mid-summer.
According to today’s New York Times, “A common theory holds that hot weather is more tolerable than cold. This fails to account for something meteorologists never refer to: Call it the Grumpy Factor, a phenomenon tied to humidity.” Well, if they’re grumpy in New York, we should be downright grouchy here in Florida.
The other “dog days” definition that Webster provides is “a period of stagnation or inactivity.” Does that describe your church at this time of year? Or perhaps you?
In many of our churches, attendance and giving fall off in the dog days. The attendance side of the equation is understandable as many vacationing Floridians flee the heat northward to the mountains or the lake. (I recall from my childhood the practice of bringing home a bulletin from a church we visited on vacation, a credit toward the coveted perfect attendance certificate. Does anyone still do that?)
But even though we may be absent, the work of the church continues. There are people in our communities who are still hungry and homeless. Hopelessness does not take the summer off. There is still someone searching for meaning and purpose that only the love of God in Jesus Christ can provide. The Holy Spirit does not take the summer off.
And as a year-round enterprise, the church still needs to pay salaries, electric bills and all the other expenses that don’t take a holiday.
“Pay it Forward” was the title of a movie from a few years back. How about that as a practical response to our financial commitment to the church? If we’re going to be away for a Sunday or two, how about paying our tithe, pledge or gift ahead of time? Commitment never takes a holiday, not even during the dog days.
PREACHING SCHEDULE
Saturday, July 30 5PM Mr. Stuart Knorr
Sunday, July 31 7:45 & 10AM Pastor William Qualman
August 7, 14, 28 Pastor William Qualman
August 21 Mr. Stuart Knorr