Announcements for the week of August 31, 2008

Sixteenth 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 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.

YOUTH

Attention Youth: We’re gearing up for our fall activities and our first is a focus on service! On Saturday, September 20, we will serve dinner to the homeless at Sienna Francis house. We’ll meet at the church in the late afternoon (4pm) and head downtown as a group. Youth grades 5 through 12 are encouraged to attend and we can always use adult drivers and servers, too. Let us know if you can serve – Jen Wilson 933-2991 or Jan Sinram 291-8235 or we’ll pass a sign up sheet soon. See you there!

CHRISTIAN ED OPPORTUNITIES

Journey to Adulthood training will be held on Sat, Sep 6 from 9am - 1pm at St. Martha’s. If you are interested in learning more about the program that we use every Wednesday night, please attend. For more information please see Kristi, Jan or Mother Ruth.

Sunday School starts next 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.

COMMUNICATIONS

Judy will be on vacation next week, so Karen & Ruth will fill in for her. Also, Monday the office will be closed in observance of Labor Day

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.

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.
Formal printed invites are now on the secret sister table in the undercroft so you can use to share with others. Judy Darrell and her crew will be preparing their delicious Francis House Chicken for our picnic! We will pass a sign up sheet beginning this Sunday to determine how much chicken to purchase. Please sign up and, if you can, 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. We look forward to seeing you there!

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.

Meals on Wheels is a very important outreach program that CHS has been helping with for many years. We are looking for volunteers to help out with this program. CHS serves meals in the Bellevue area every Thursday. We have volunteers for the first four Thursdays of each month but are looking for volunteers to take the fifth Thursday of each month. That is only four Thursdays per year. You need to arrive at the Bellevue Senior Center just before 11:00am to pick up the meals and they send you to several homes and senior living centers in Bellevue to deliver those meals. You return to the senior center about noon or so, depending how much chatting you do with the recipients. If you feel this is a mission you are called to help with, please contact Kathy Buser at 298-7224.

3D (Diet, Discipline, Discipleship) ProgramThe 3 D group meeting will start 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: Carole Beran, Michael Howard (Sep 1), Hank Austin, Myrt Kunkel (2), Jacob Byrne, Brian Denman (3), Janet Posekany (5), Carrie Feingold, Sandy Vassar (6).

Our prayers of thanksgiving are also offered with those who are celebrating wedding anniversaries this week, especially: Robert & Jean Cook, Jim & Cathy Johnson (Sep 1), Steve & Betsy Johnson (2), Ron & Cathy Westman (4).