Announcements for the week of April 20, 2008

Thank you to all who have worked together this week to help with the funeral for David Rice, Sandy Vassar's father. The service will be at 11:00am Saturday morning with a luncheon to follow. "May angels surround him and saints welcome him in peace."

The 3D group that meets in the conference room at 10:00 will not meet this week due to the funeral.

Bishop Burnett's visit is coming up on Pentecost, May 11th. We will have one service that weekend at 9:30am. Don't forget the parish cleanup day next Saturday, April 26th to get ready for Pentecost!!

Mother Ruth

Fifth Sunday of Easter

MISSION STATEMENT

The Church of the Holy Spirit (Episcopal) shares the love of Jesus through being a friendly community, participating in liturgically rich worship experiences, and by empowering individual ministries.

WORSHIP NEWS

WELCOME NEWCOMERS
You are welcome to join us at the communion rail when it is time to receive Holy Communion. Our ushers and any member are happy to assist if you have any questions during our worship. Jesus loves you! We are glad you are here.

CHRISTIAN ED OPPORTUNITIES

The Sunday School children have done some creative art work lately
and it has been displayed in the undercroft. If there is a problem with having it displayed, please notify Kristi. Please don’t remove it yourself without explaining why it was removed. It upsets the children. Thanks. Kristi

Parents: Our new Sunday School plan was developed to make sure all children could get to Sunday School on time and have a meaningful Sunday School experience. One session starts at 9:30 and one at 10:15. At 10:30 every child present should be in church or Sunday School or if under 3 years old in the nursery. There are three new signs posted today; 1. Asks that no one plays the piano. 2. Asks that no one goes into the Christian Education office without first checking with Kristi. 3. Asks parents to make sure the children clean up when playing with the toys. Please work with us to make sure these requests are met.

YOUTH

Youth Tri-Faith Tour, next Saturday, April 26: Have you ever wondered about how the different faiths worship? Join the CHS Journeys Group, Youth of All Saints, Temple Israel, and the Muslim Youth Alliance as we tour Temple Israel, and All Saints from 2-5pm. We will start out at Temple Israel with mixers and then load a bus for our tour. At each worship space a religious leader will explain about the faith and worship service. If you are an adult and curious contact Jodie Emerson about being a chaperone (415-6340). If you are a CHS Youth and/or member of Journeys, please see Kristi Smith for more information. Don’t miss out on this great learning experience!

Wednesday Journeys is about over for the year. We plan to have a couple activities this summer. We will start up again on Wednesday, September 10, at St. Martha’s. We are losing at least one and possibly two of our teachers. We will need replacements for them and then we also need a whole new team. A new team will be started for incoming sixth graders, which requires two new instructors. Training will be offered this summer. Please start praying about this and considering it as a new project. Please feel free to contact Jan Sinram or Kristi Smith for more information.

On April 25-27, 2008, Women’ Ministries of the Diocese of
Nebraska is sponsoring a retreat to be held at Saint Benedict Retreat Center in Schuyler, NE. The retreat leader is Deacon Diana Champagne. “The Way, the Truth and the Life” is the theme of the retreat. All women of the diocese are invited to participate. The registration forms are on the bulletin board in the undercroft.

Wednesday Morning Bible Class: Will continue the study of our prayer book. Please join us after the 9:30 Eucharist.

An amazing Vacation Bible School will take place June 23-26, 9am - Noon.

COMMUNICATIONS

Daughters of the King: Please come to a short business meeting after the 10:30 service today. We need you but won’t keep you long. Thanks!

Fellowship is in the process on taking inventory of all the tablecloths. Please refrain from buying any tablecloths unless you check with Linda Wyant. Once the inventory is done, a list will be posted notifying the parish of what colors and sizes we need. Thanks!

CASDA (Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse of Sarpy) presents The 8th Annual Pancake Feed & Silent Auction Sunday, April 27- 2008- 8:30 am to 12:00 pm-Bellevue volunteer Fire Department-District 4 Station-13501 South 25th Street (25th & Capehart)-Featuring “The Pancake Man” See bulletin board in undercroft for more details.

Alleluia Fund in 2008: Your Gifts in Action Statewide:
At their February meeting, the Executive Commission of the Diocese of Nebraska awarded several Alleluia Fund grants that will help a wide variety of ministries.

• A grant to St. Paul’s in Arapahoe and St. Elizabeth’s in Holdrege will help support revitalizing ministries’ within the two parishes.
• St. Martin of Tours, Omaha received a grant to help the church continue to recover and reach out to the community of South Omaha.
• A grant for Natural church Development is sending out “coaches” to help revitalize parishes throughout the state.
• The Fresh Start Program received a grant to help parishes and clergy who are in a time of transition.
• A grant to the Diocesan Commission on Stewardship will provide materials and help send representatives to the TENS Conference for training. (TENS is an acronym for “The Episcopal Network for Stewardship.)
• Another grant is sending Deanery Youth Coordinators and other children and youth leaders to a faith formation conference.
• St. Monica’s Home is getting help with a funding crisis for its important Adolescent Girls Program.
All of these grants were made possible by the generous giving of parishioners from across the diocese. Please consider making a gift to help the Alleluia Fund grow the Diocese of Nebraska. Remember, your gift automatically doubles in value because of a special grant from the Bishop Clarkson Episcopal Foundation. For more information, visit www.episcopal-ne.org.

Can you help? The church needs to replace its’ aging phone system and phones. Our current system was installed in 1984 and we are living on borrowed time until it totally fails on us. We are looking for donations to cover the $2300 it will take to purchase and have a new system installed. The point of contact is Phil Scarbrough.

YOU CAN HELP! All foods donated to food pantries in the months of March and April will be counted, and the Feinstein Foundation will divide $1,000,000 in proportion to the number of donations each pantry receives. Bring your goodies here! We’ll see that they get to the Bellevue pantry. This is too good to miss!

The Church of the Resurrection presents
“The Wesley Dean Memorial Fish & Spaghetti Dinner!”
Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 12:00-6:00pm.
Adults: $9.00 - Children 10 & Under: $4.00.
Dinner includes: whole catfish, spaghetti, cole slaw, cornbread/roll & dessert. Eat in or take out!
3004 Belvedere Blvd., Omaha, NE 68111 phone: 455-7015

GROUNDS

The Church Spring Grounds Clean Up is scheduled for Saturday, April 26. Questions? See Phil Scarbrough.


Our prayers of thanksgiving are offered with those who are celebrating birthdays this week, especially: Jaime Rivera (Apr 21), Michele Hagen (24).

Our prayers of thanksgiving are also offered with those who are celebrating wedding anniversaries this week, especially: Cam & Katie Cameron (26).

Terry and Diana LaCrosse
invite you to a
Celebration of their marriage
Saturday, May 3, 2008
at
Confluence
505 Cornhusker Road
Bellevue, NE
Anytime between 7-9 P.M.

Earth Day is on Tuesday, April 22nd!

On April 22, 1970, 20 million people across America celebrated the first Earth Day. It was a time when cities were buried under their own smog and polluted rivers caught fire. Now Earth Day is celebrated annually around the globe. Through the combined efforts of the U.S. government, grassroots organizations, and citizens like you, what started as a day of national environmental recognition has evolved into a world-wide campaign to protect our global environment. (To learn more about the EPA and the history of Earth Day please visit http://www.epa.gov/earthday/history.htm.)

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, people around the world have been creating their own ways to celebrate Earth, to observe the beauty and vitality of nature-and to renew their commitment to saving our living planet. We at the Church of the Holy Spirit (CHS) have a strong commitment to Environmental Stewardship and are being responsible to recycle the paper, plastic, aluminum and glass waste we create. As Nebraska citizens, we also recycle our home waste.

New Recycling Receptacles at CHS

Thanks to Phil Scarbrough for arranging to have Sterrett Brothers pick up our recycling waste produced here at the church. The two large black containers outside the fence near the parking lot doors are now strictly used for recycling materials.

Please be sure to use the recycling receptacles we have dedicated for recycling waste, located inside the church: the paper bin is located next to the copy machine, two others are located outside the kitchen door under the mail boxes: one for paper, tin and plastics and the other for aluminum cans. These recycling materials are now picked up by our refuse service and should be emptied in the two large black receptacles outside located near the parking lot door. All glass should be set next to the kitchen-receptacles as it will be taken to an off-site recycling center.

Reminder: Papillion Sanitation stopped picking up household glass for recycling on 1/1/07 (joining Omaha who stopped 1/1/06) and they do not recycle plastic grocery bags!

Most of Bellevue has our household waste picked up by Papillion Sanitation. They will pickup most plastics (noted as 1 thru 7 in the triangle), aluminum, tin and paper that is placed in a recycling bin. They do take motor oil if you put it in a container next to the recycle clearly labeled “USED MOTOR OIL.” If you do not have a recycling bin, or need more than one, call 293-3135. They do not pick up glass, plastic grocery bags or all other hazardous waste.

Since Papillion Sanitation stopped picking up glass for recycling on 1/1/07 (joining Omaha who stopped 1/1/06), you are encouraged to collect your glass and take it to the recycling center. The following are recycling centers for Bellevue residents that accept glass. The closest to Bellevue is South East Drop Off Site called River City Recycling located at 6404 South 60th Street just north of Harrison Street on 60th Street. They are open Monday–Saturday: 8am–4:30pm, in Winter they close at noon on Sat. For directions, take Cornhusker to 48th and take a right, go to Harrison and take a left to south 69th and go right. As an alternative with more flexible hours, you can go to the South West Drop Off Site called Firstar Fiber that is open M-F from 7am to 7pm, located at 10330 I Street. Take 80 W to 84th street exit 448 and go left on 84th. Turn right on F Street to 102nd. Turn left on 102nd and quick right on I Street. A good resource for more recycling information is www.wasteline.org.

To recycle grocery bags you can take them to Wal-Mart-Bellevue and Bakers. Some elementary schools are also recycling grocery bags.

Hazardous Waste

To dispose of paint, batteries and other hazardous waste, take them to Under the Sink located on 4001 So. 120th Street. They have restrictions and limited hours on Wed. – Fri. so be sure to call 444-7465 or go to www.underthesink.org for details.