Announcements for the week of August 24, 2008

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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 NEWCOMERSYou 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.

Pastoral Ministry: Those interested in the Pastoral Care Class please meet at 9:45am in the meeting room.

YOUTH

Happening Weekend for youth in grades 9-12 will be Labor Day weekend at St. Luke’s in Kearney.

CHRISTIAN ED OPPORTUNITIES

Sunday School starts Sunday, September 7, at 9:30am. Registration forms are in the basket on the table in the undercroft. It will be an exciting, memorable God filled year. Teachers are always needed and helpers are always needed. If this is your calling please see Kristi Smith or Mother Ruth. The adult class will begin on Sunday, September 7, also.

Education for Ministry, affectionately known as EFM, will resume in September. You will find that EFM teaches you how to think theologically, deepens your faith and your understanding of our Christian heritage, and provides you with a new confidence to be Christ’s minister. For more information please speak with Mother Ruth or the co-mentors: Marian Barnett and Joan Wood.

Wednesday Journeys
Wednesday Journeys starts again on August 27, at 6:30pm at St. Martha’s in Papillion. Second stop this year will be at Church of the Holy Spirit, and the Spring will find us back at St. Luke’s. Youth, grade 6 and up are welcome. If you are not already a part of Journeys and would like to join us for food, fellowship and fun every Wednesday during the school year, see Kristi Smith or Jan Sinram. We also need teachers. Training will be offered in mid August. Please pray about this and speak with Mother Ruth or Jan Sinram if you would like to know more.

COMMUNICATIONS

We will not have Wednesday morning Eucharist on August 27. The Eucharist will resume on September 3.

Search Committee Update: The first round of rector candidate interviews is almost complete, and will be wrapped up early next week. These interviews have been very informative and have increased our confidence both in the quality of our applicants and in the direction God is leading us. By Labor Day, we will narrow the field to the best prospects and will begin a second round of more detailed interviews, along with visits to the current home parish of those priests. From that process, we hope to trim the field to 2-3 finalists. We are still on track for a final recommendation to the vestry in September. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask Vic Culp, Helen Moffett, or any other member of the Search Committee.

Prayer Chains: There are three ways you can ask for prayers: write your request on the biddings list which is kept in the rear of the sanctuary before each service or call it in to the church office, call Mary Ruth Sullivan (temporarily) 291-7416 to be put on the telephoned list of prayers, or call Toby Wingert (291-6257) to be on the Daughters of the King prayer list. Do all three, if you’d like. We want to be able to pray for your concerns. All we need is a name (first will do) and a category (ill, other concerns, etc.). You need not go into detail.

The Wednesday Morning Bible Study: The book of Psalms was the hymnal of old Israel. These poems represent about a thousand years of history and just about every religious feeling a people could have. Written by many different poets, they cover everything from inexpressible anguish to unspeakable joy. Jesus knew them well. The Wednesday Morning Bible Class will begin studying them September 3. We hope you can come and join us at 10:15, after the Eucharist on Wednesdays. A study Bible will be helpful but not necessary.

Please Support Our Annual CHS Open House and Parish Picnic!
Please invite your friends, family and colleagues to our Annual CHS Open House and Parish Picnic, and share the love of Jesus Christ and the joy of your Episcopal faith with others We’ll hold our Annual Open House the weekend of September 13 and 14, 2008, at our regularly scheduled service times of 5 pm Saturday, 8 am or 10:30 am Sunday. Then, we’ll hold our fun and food filled Parish Picnic beginning at 12 noon Sunday the 14, that will include a potluck, a face painter, bounce house, and more. Watch the bulletin and your weekly e-mails for information regarding formal printed invites you can use to share with others, the potluck “letter” assignments, and we’ll also pass a sign up sheet during services to help us determine our headcount to purchase chicken as our main course for the picnic. If you’re interested in providing assistance to this important effort, which involves almost every aspect of our parish to prepare for, please see Lynda Wyant or email her at lwyant@cox.net. We look forward to seeing you there! Judy Darrell and crew will be preparing their delicious Francis House Chicken for our picnic! Please give donations to cover the cost to Lynda Wyant or Jan Sinram or put a check in the collection plate with the notation “picnic food fund” CHS will provide chicken, beverages, cutlery, and plates. The following is a list for the rest of the meal.
If your last name begins with:
A - F Desserts Q - R Bread, Muffins, etc.
G - L Salads S - Z Veggie or Potato
M - P Chips, Fruit, or relish tray CasserolesTables will be set up indoors; there will be a canopy outdoors as well. If you have questions, see Lynda or Jan. Come share this time to laugh and play with our church family.

If you like to demonstrate leadership and make a difference, then a position on the CHS Vestry is for you! The Vestry meets one evening per month for two hours, as well as participates in 1-2 retreats per year, and is a wonderful group of leaders to work with. We currently have two ministries in need of Vestry representation and leadership. The Building Commissioner oversees planning and is the Vestry member liaison for the team of volunteers who currently takes care of CHS building needs. The Communications Commissioner position is open now that Amy Denman and her husband Brian, and children Abby and William are relocating to Virginia in early September. The Communications Commissioner oversees and updates the church calendar and website, and (directly and indirectly) participates in the communication efforts of the church. You may have noted that Pastoral Care was listed as open in previous bulletins-Kim Culp has volunteered to take over as our Pastoral Care Commissioner from Karen Sterzer in the coming months. In the meanwhile, Kim is serving as our transitionary Communications Commissioner until a new Commissioner is appointed. Please see Chris Darrell, Dean Olander, Kim Culp or any other Vestry person for more information.

Calling all bakers, candy makers and crafters Do you have a special craft, special holiday cookie or sweet you would love to share, then please contact Karen Sterzer with your recipe or volunteer to help with our first “Holiday Express” to be held at the Church of the Holy Spirit on November 1. We will be making Christmas cookies, candy bark, fudge, fruitcakes, breads, and many other holiday sweet treats, as well as treats for the pets using our “new kitchen”. I am hoping this will be a great fund-raiser for our church and I will be advertising with pictures of our volunteers. More information to follow as we get closer to October, but please let me know if you would like to participate in the baking or have recipes to share. Contact Karen Sterzer at 597-8779.

Younker’s Community Day is November 15. Our church is going to continue with the fund raiser sponsored by Younkers at Oakview Mall. We can start selling the books now! The books which we sell for five dollars, has a ten dollar coupon in it for the purchaser and the church gets to keep the entire five dollars. So, if anyone would like to take some to work or have neighbors or friends who might be interested in buying them, let Karen Sterzer know. Younkers also allows us to sell in the store and if we sell over fifty books, we can receive a percentage of the money from the books sold by Younkers up to the event. P.S. you can shop early and pick up your packages any day on or after Novermber 15, when Christmas will be right around the corner! If we sell just 200 books, the church will make $1,000.

3D (Diet, Discipline, Discipleship) Program
The 3 D group meeting has been postponed until Saturday, September 6, at 10am, in the conference room. Anyone interested please contact Pat Tarleton at 292-8684. This is a wonderful way to have fun and fellowship and is also a great learning experience!

Our prayers of thanksgiving are offered with those who are celebrating birthdays this week, especially: Ruth Richter (Aug 24), Ora Burlingame (25), Bev Oltman, Pauline Parsons (27), Christine Lesniewski, Jim Stevens, Grace Wilson (30)