April 8, 2009

We hope you will join us for these Holy Week services and activities:

• Maundy Thursday, April 9: Worship service at 7:30 p.m. Tennebrae with communion.
• Good Friday, April 10. Worship service at 7:30 p.m. The Seven Last Words of Christ.
• Family Easter Party, April 11: Come at 9:30 a.m. for breakfast, crafts, games (weather permitting), the Easter story, and the egg hunt. Bring friends and neighbors! Extra hands would also be appreciated that morning, for crafts and games (contact Chris Kozich), or for breakfast (contact Betsy Rogers).
• Easter/The Resurrection of the Lord, April 12: Worship service at 9:30 a.m. Children join the Adult Choir in singing the Introit. Deacons host continental breakfast after the service.

Please have children Preschool-7th grade in the sanctuary and ready to warm up with the Adult Choir by 9:00 a.m. on Easter morning. Thank you! Darlene

Reminders from Christian Ed.: Come rain or shine!! Saturday, April 11 at 9:30 a.m. is the annual Easter Eggstravaganza Family Party. Spread the word among your family and friends. (More information above.)

Preschoolers through seventh graders will be singing the Introit on Easter Sunday. (See preceding note.) Also, there will be no Sunday School this day so families can worship together.

We’ve raised $60 from Sunday School for the spring Heifer Project. That is a total of three flocks or thirty chicks! And kids, if you still have Heifer money at home, please bring it with you on Easter Sunday. We’ll add it all together with the Heifer donations from G.I.F.T. and dedicate it during worship.

Pennies 4 PADS: Our children are attempting to collect a mile’s worth of pennies (84,480) to donate to our PADS mission. We collected another 3,124 this past week. That brings the total to 52,611, or 62.3% of the total! (Special thanks to the person who brought in the coffee can that had 1,974 pennies in it!) Please keep bringing in your extra pennies; there is a collection box in the narthex.

Our Adult Education class will not meet on Easter Sunday. If you would like to read the lectionary passages for Easter, they are: Jeremiah 31:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8.

There are lectionary passages for every day of Holy Week. If you’re interested, the readings for Maundy Thursday are: Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35. For Good Friday: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42.

Our gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing support ministries of disaster response, refugee assistance and resettlement, and community development that help people find safe refuge, start new lives and work together to strengthen their families and communities. Recognizing that the hope we have in Christ is lived out in our hope for one another, we respond with gifts that help our sisters and brothers around the world find the hope for a brighter future. As you travel through Lent, will you prayerfully consider making a donation to support the least franchised in our world- the poor, the hungry, the homeless? Donation envelopes are in the pews. Please give generously. It is remarkable what your gifts can do! The One Great Hour of Sharing Offering will be dedicated on Easter.

Come, eat, and be entertained at Southminster’s Pasta Dinner and Talent Show! April 19th. Dinner at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $5 per adult, $3 for youth ages 4 to 17. No charge for children 3 and under. QUICK! Sign up to perform in the show before someone else takes your 15 minutes of fame! Sign up if you’re coming for dinner so we’ll know how much food to prepare. Both sign-up sheets are posted in the narthex under “Youth Events.”

The Women’s A.M. Circle is planning its own version of Antiques Road Show. All women are invited to join us on Friday, April 17, at 9:30 a.m. in the parlor. If you’d like, bring 3 of your favorite antiques to be identified and appraised by our resident experts, Marie Shepherd and Betty Pitts.

Fellowship Event: The Deacons are planning an outing to hear the Wheaton College Gospel Choir on Saturday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. at Coray Auditorium. There is a sign-up sheet in the narthex, but it is only to indicate who might be attending the concert. Tickets can be purchased at the door the night of the concert. Tickets are $7 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. Those who attended last year’s concert are looking forward to hearing the performance again this year. (Coray Auditorium is in the Beamer Center on the Wheaton College campus.)

Every year we spend the last Saturday in April rehabbing the home of a needy family in Aurora through Rebuilding Together Aurora (formerly Christmas in April). No special skills are required because there are always many basic cleaning and yard care things that need to be done. However, if you happen to have any special skills, our House Captain Norm Ellsworth would like to know about them in advance for planning purposes. We are also anxious to know your job preferences ahead of time, so look for our sign-up sheets in the narthex. Norm is gathering a team to do preliminary work on April 18, and there may be some follow-up work to do after the 25th, so even if you can’t come on the main work day, contact Norm – there may be another day or way that you can help.

As you do your spring cleaning and come upon things that you no longer want or need, SAVE THEM for the Rummage Sale the weekend of May 16. Our youth will be happy to recycle your stuff in another fundraiser for the summer mission trip. We have no place to store things here at church, so please hold on to your donations until after worship on May 10. Please, no clothing or items that require costly recycling or disposal if not sold (i.e. computers). Questions? Ask Blair Nelson (email smpcyouth@ameritech.net or call 630-917-6035.