Parishable Items

Denmark Congregational United Church of Christ

October October 2nd at 1:30 there is a meeting of Sawyer Circle. October 11th Plymouth Circle is making Cranberry Relish The choir will practice every Wednesday, on the 3rd, the 10th, the 17th, the 24th and the 31st at 7:00 pm.
This month, on October 7th, there will be communion at the service. It is also World Communion Sunday and the collection for the Neighbors in Need special mission offering.

Those of you, who are going to the Chicken & Noodle Dinner, on Saturday, please enter through the Sanctuary/Main Church entrance and wait in the sanctuary until directed to the food line. The accessible entrance is ONLY through the north doors. New reading materials in the Library!!
* Daily Guideposts 2012 The theme for this edition The Things that Make for Peace those people, places and things that can help us let Jesus peace grow in our lives. * Iowa Heritage Illustrated The Underground Railroad, Iowas Antislavery Movement, Freedom Seekers, John Brown * Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. A little boys astounding story of his trip to Heaven and back. And we have a new DVD: Veggie Tales Heroes of the Bible! Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, Joshua, The Good Samaritan Scrapbooking on October 27th, 2012 from 9-5!! To order Cranberry Relish from Plymouth Circle please call Irene Hoskins at 528-6273.

2012

The Trustees will meet on the 9 at 7:00 p.m. Christian Ed will

meet on the 17th at 6:30 p.m.

The Wedding of Jake Blint and Renee Nafziger will be celebrated on the 11th of October. October 12th is the set up for Gods Portion Day.

Parishable Items

October 2012 teenage kid in here sitting next to you at this experience, this is going to be awkward, alright, lets just not lie about that. But if you have, like, kids thats like, younger than that, youre a bad parent and we need to move on from that, because this is gonna get, its just the truth, we warned you about that.1 Heres my point. If worship contains few to no elements that are appropriate for a non-member to participate in, then worship was ill-conceived and poorly executed. If worship requires a warning that it will not be appropriate for certain people, then that is not worship at all. When considering a message (homily, sermon et al), it is wise to consider that someone may be coming that has never been to church before. Therefore, if one is going to do something radically different, it must still be done such that everyone can participate. This is harder to do for the Catholic church because of their history and tradition. That being said, a financial report, no matter how positive, is not Good News. Age appropriateness is something to be concerned about in terms of education. Sunday school should be separated by maturity because different age groups require different levels of understanding. Worship, however, should never be limited by age or maturity. There may be elements that a child will not understand, but they are still able to attend and be a part of the worshipping community. In the end, I think all of this was written down so that I can say that I am proud to be a part of the United Church of Christ, where anyone can worship with us, on any Sunday, coming from any faith (or no faith). I dont care what color you are, what orientation you are, what gender you are, what age you are. If anyone comes to the church where I hold the pulpit, they will be welcomed as the beloved child of God they are, and will be able to participate at whatever level they feel comfortable. As my 2012 calendar says, Jesus didnt reject people. Neither do we.

Greetings, I am one day back from vacation and it is time to write the newsletter article. Elizabeth and I had a fine time visiting with family on the East coast. We spent time visiting, walking, relaxing, eating and those various other things that one does while visiting family. After a week of visiting, we went to Washington D.C. for a couple of days to see the sights. I can tell you that after driving in D.C. for a couple of days, I dont think that I will be going back anytime soon. I dont think that either one of us has been so relieved to be leaving a city as we were to leave the Nations Capitol. That being said, we went to a couple of the Smithsonian museums. I turned into a 6 year old for a bit as I saw dinosaur bones for the first time. All of that was to say that vacation was great; the only thing it lacked was a good worship experience to re-charge my spiritual batteries while we were away. On Sunday, we went to Mass with my grandparents. I have no problem celebrating mass. I avoid taking communion out of respect for the traditions of the Roman-Catholic Church and focus on the rituals of confession, affirmation and scripture. Usually, I am able to leave mass feeling spiritually fed in some way. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case on that particular Sunday. As I said, I dont take communion in the Catholic Church out of respect. Therefore, I must take meaning from the homily (sermon, message...choose your term). This particular Sunday, however, the homily was not an interpretation of scripture, but was a financial report of the church. This meant that outside of the first verse of 2 songs and 4 readings of scripture, there was nothing in that worship for me. I left feeling as spiritually empty as when I first went in. Ill tell one more story and then get to my point. Elizabeth and I got home on Wednesday afternoon. I mowed; Elizabeth did laundry...typical Wednesday stuff to get back into routine. Afterward, we were reading some posts on Facebook and there was mention that at our friends church, their message was regarding sex. I have no problem with sex as a topic in church. Quite honestly, we should probably be talking about it a bit more than we do based simply on the amount of misinformation there is in the world. My problem came from the pastor saying, from the pulpit, Listen, lets just be honest. Yeah you might have your

Pastor Shane Munn. Ignite Church September 16, 2012. Joplin, MO. www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cfyzAs10&feature=youtube_g data_player 1:46 into the video

Parishable Items

October 2012

October 1st Corbin Vanniewaal October 1st Bill Kuntz October 1st Dalton Gregory October 2nd Lucille Smalley October 2nd Rhonda Boeddeker October 2nd Leonard Harvey October 4th Anna Hasenclever October 5th Kayleen Kuntz October 5th David Fincher October 6th Megan Dochterman October 7th Sawyer Hasenclever October 8th Carol Newton October 8th Travis Fincher October 10th Eula Beach October 12th Allen Martin October 14th Amber Houston October 15th Hannah Ross October 16th Eric Miller October 18th J.R. Menke October 20th Bruce Thuleen October 21st Buddy Davis October 21st Shane Blanchard October 21st Jerry Kester October 22nd Ray McKee October 23rd Rick Goldie October 24th Jill Roxberg October 25th Eric Houston October 31st Jessica Davis October 2nd Bruce & Tara Thuleen October 6nd Leonard & Sylvia Harvey October 8th Merle & Betsey Hasenclever th October 15 Sean &Tracy Blanchard October 16th Drew & Traci Weisinger October 19th Marcus & Dawn Todd October 21st Don & Marie Wolfskill October 30th Jerry & Jennifer Kester

October 7thJob 1:1; 2:1-10; Ps 26 or Gen

October 14thJob 23:1-9, 16-17;

October 21stJob 38:1-7, (34-41);

October 28thJob 42:1-6, 10-17;

\ The last two months have been very busy for the 175th Anniversary Committee. The committee collected, prepared, and ordered the cookbooks so that they are available for Gods Portion Day, served a salad luncheon, collected weekly donations, provided the Historical Moment at the beginning of each worship service, assisted the Standing Committee with taking appointments for the church pictorial directory, and continued to plan the events for the anniversary. A special thank you goes out to those of you who helped the committee by submitting recipes, typing, and proof reading, or bought an ad in the cookbook, attended the salad luncheon, donated change in the
3

Parishable Items

October 2012

jar, or helped with any way with any of these projects. The committee is planning to have a float in the Gods Portion Day parade watch for it! We still need your help. Please turn in pictures and/or videos of church activities over the years. We are looking to put together a historical CD of pictures and videos but we cannot do this without you. We also need names and addresses of people who should be invited to this celebration. Please turn in these items to the church office as soon as you can. TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 14, 2012 The trustees met on August 14, 2012 at 7:00 pm. Present were David Houston, Laurel Klopfenstein, Ben Heckart, Scott Weisinger, Joel Bobb, Chad Savage, Ray McKee and Deb Ireland. Minutes of the previous meeting were approved on a motion by David and seconded by Scott. Ray McKee reported that the books were balanced. Reports: David Houston reported on the cost of seal coating for the parking lot to be approximately $8000.00 A meeting of the congregation will be called for September 2nd to discuss this option. Ben reported on the cost for new doors on the east side of the church from Standard of Beaverdale to be $677.00 primed and &1016.00 primed and painted. These are steel doors with no windows. Joel will get a bid from Pioneer Glass for comparable doors. New Business: Pastor Chad reported the cost of the Wi-Fi for the church to be $200.00. On a motion by Joel and seconded by David the cost was

approved. Deb Ireland, representing the 175th Anniversary Committee, asked for the trustees to help in paying the initial fee of $600.00 to order the Cookbooks. A motion was made by Scott and seconded by David to approve; the motion carried. Pastor requested the trustees help in going through old files to decide if some could be removed. Pastor Chad will be on vacation from 9/9/2012 to 9/19/2012. The Womens Coordinating Committee will do the service on September 16, 2012. The next meeting will be on September 11, 2012 at 7:00 pm. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 pm. Pastor Chad led us in the Lords Prayer. Respectfully submitted, Laurel Klopfenstein

Advisory Committee Meeting 8/27/12 Meeting opened at 5PM Present were Chad Savage, Robert Koepcke, Carl Vass, Martha Wolf, Cheryl Lang, Elaine Vass & Jonna Jensen and guest Kathy Hohl. The meeting was opened with a prayer. Treasurers ReportThe treasurers report showed a total of $15,022.94, of which $3742.11 was in the designated account. Treasurer has received Association dues from every church but one. Possibility of scholarships
4

Parishable Items

October 2012

from our Association for those within it for Pathways and other ministerial programs was discussed. Cheryl said the budget had money available for the old CENTER/LEARN. We just need to change the designation to Lay Education. Robert moved to approve up to $500 per year per person enrolled in a lay education program. Martha seconded and it passed. Communications none ACMESearch and Call report. Kahoka church continues to receive profiles. Kahoka will have a second interim, and may need some pulpit supply to fill in. St. Luke, Burlington is receiving profiles. Mark Schowalter is serving as interim, and they have an open agreement with him. The deadline for Pathways is Sept. 4. Committee on Ministry no report Board of Directors had their retreat this past weekend. Main issues discussed were a new church start with interest by Chuck Kelsey, and possible a new mission program for local churches, and Pathways. Pathway is replacing LEARN. It is started with cooperation from 4 groups, including the Iowa Conference. The first 2 years, section 1, will be for general knowledge. Section 2 and 3 would include going into discernment with the COM. Each year has 2 face to face weekends, and then the rest of the coursework is online. Conference Office see Board of Directors report. Rich talked about plans that he has for implementing the necessary budget cuts. Nominating Committee There are no empty spaces as of now. Old Business The Fall Association meeting is scheduled for Sept. 23 at First UCC in Burlington. 25 Posters were approved by

consensus and will be given to each Association church. Chad and Robert will also do a press release and notice to conference and pastors. One part of the program will be on OCWM and where our dollars go. The rest of the time will be used on local church mission from field to table. Kathy Hohl was introduced and she explained that our best resource would be Jan Swinton from Fairfield. She is an expert in the Resource Conservation and Development field. She has a history of overseas mission and knows the theory of local food and community organizing. Kathy stated that Jan would be willing to be a part of our meeting. Robert said he would speak to Jan and give her the ideas that we would like to see presented and also convey that we would be interested in whatever she felt was important for us to know. Robert moved that we give her an honorarium of $250 plus mileage to and from Fairfield and Burlington. Cheryl seconded and it passed. Cheryl suggested that the refreshments be something fresh and Martha volunteered to roast some vegetables. New Business out of time Next MeetingOct. 22, 2012 at 5PM meeting adjourned. Closed with prayer. Elaine Vass Recording Secretary

YOU are invited to hear about Water! Sunday, October 7 after church service. The SHPF invites the congregation to hear
5

Parishable Items

October 2012

about one of their mission projects of 2012: Water Walk. This past April hundreds of people gave and gathered at Water Our Thirsty World's 2nd annual fundraising event, the Water Walk, in Mount Pleasant. Participants walked 1 mile carrying two 1 gallon jugs of water, mirroring the hardship millions of people around the world endure every day as they walk for water. The SHPF group donated the money raised from Easter breakfast (over $300) to the Water Walk. Rachel Sugars and Maria Hardin along with Kjrsten Bobb participated in the walk. Todd and Marcia Baldridge (directors of Water Our Thirsty World) are excited to relay stories and photos from countries (Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria, Cameroon) where thousands are now receiving the gift of clean water that YOU made possible! Please join us after Sunday church service on October the 7th to celebrate how TOGETHER we are watering a thirsty world.

school. We get together frequently (usually about twice a month) to do a wide variety of activities: pizza, movies, canoeing, paintball, BBQs, mission projects, bonfires, and more! Check out this months calendar for October events. Teens do not have to be members of Denmark church or live in the Denmark area and you do not have to attend all meetings to be involved. We understand that teens are busy with many activities. We invite any and all to come and participate! For more information, talk to any current SHPF member or call Kjrsten Bobb at 470-2316.
Please call Sue Watson at 528-4494 or the church office at 528-4465 with any prayer concerns. We are praying for: Patty Dochterman Tony Haeffner Sandra Parrish Chris Jackson Clayton Whitmarsh Mike & Carol Smith Ralph Evans Rick Goldie Babe Grossman The Family of Dora Horn Elsie Crabtree Ryan Parson The Family of Mike Horn The Family of Jan Kester Britney Todd and Family

Who is SHPF? Senior High Pilgrims Fellowship (SHPF) is for all teens in high school, or nearly in high

Please check the newsletter for the latest dates of activities. Several things changed after the calendar was printed.