Experiencing and expressing God's unconditional love.
Featured Events
Souper Bowl Sunday - February 5, 2012
Lunch following worship: homemade soups, sandwiches & desserts
Service Auction following lunch
Familiar favorites along with new and innovative offerings will be available. Auctioneer Jim Claycomb will start the bidding for services provided by our talented, skilled and generous members who are gifting their time and energies in unique and creative ways. Plan to join us for an enjoyable (and amusing) time of fellowship and friendly banter between bidders. All funds raised will be divided between the children’s play yard upgrades and a mission project. If you have a service you’d like to donate to the auction, see Lisa and she’ll create a tag for the bulletin board displaying your service.
Fellowship Suppers at 6:00 p.m.
Adults: $4.00 Children: $3.00; Maximum per family $10.00
- January 25: Pizza, veggies & dip, dessert
Local Ministry Opportunities
DON’T FORGET THE FOOD BARREL
As you go about your shopping, please remember there are people in our community who are struggling just to put food on their table during these difficult economic times. You may bring any non-perishable food items and place them in the food barrel in Fellowship Hall. Several Immanuelites work at the Franklin County Emergency Food Pantry and are willing to transport our donated items to the Food Pantry for distribution.
INFANT RESOURCE CENTER
Just a reminder that these basic items are ALWAYS needed: bottles, baby wash, baby lotion, rash ointment, bibs, onesies, socks (small, medium and large, up to 24 montsh), standard size fitted crib sheets, diapers in size Newborn through size 5, and diaper wipes. Donated items are appreciated and can be placed in the purple tub in Fellowship Hall at any time. We also accept gently used clothing items in sizes up to 24 months or monetary donations. The families who receive our help are very appreciative. Thanks for your generosity!
Global Ministry Opportunities
THANK YOU for your generosity and the heart for missions you demonstrated in 2011. While over $61,000 of the 2011 budget was given to missions, other donations were given in special offerings and designations during the year. We thought you’d like to see some of the additional mission/designated giving, beyond budget giving:
- ACCESS Soup Kitchen $1,502.00
- Backpacks for Cameroon Children $500.00
- Cameroon Village Electricity $1,572.00
- CBF – Global Missions $2,550.00
- CBF – Japan Earthquake Relief $400.00
- CBF – World Hunger $207.00
- Coats for Kids $250.00
- Franklin Co. Emergency Food Pantry $2,193.00
- Kathleen L. Hutchins Infant Resource Center $9,266.90
- Partners in Development $364.00
- ROSM $50.00
- Study Buddies (IBC Tutoring Program) $70.00
- Turner Home Preparation $960.00
- After Care Recovery Program $200.00
- Children’s Camp Fundraisers/Scholarships $1,779.00
- Multi-media $155.00
- Office Roof $210.00
- Piano Fund $1,120.00
- Play Yard $1,109.20
- Television – Fellowship Hall $1,910.21
- Youth Camp Fundraisers/Scholarships $922.50
- Youth Ministry $320.00
From the Pastoral Staff
Chuck's Column
The more time I spend on this planet (the older I get) the more I am learning to simply flow with the river, rather than fight the river. Don’t misunderstand me. I firmly believe that disciples of Jesus are to be light and salt in the world. That is, the values we embrace, the decisions we make, the attitudes we adopt, and the lifestyle we live as followers of Christ mean that there are times we have to swim against the currents of injustice and ego inflation that dominate our culture. I am not talking about complicity in the consumerism and greed of our society. More
But I am talking about the general flow of circumstances and events. Hopefully, those of us in the second half of life are learning that life is not about “us.” There is a greater story that we are privileged to participate in. The river of life is too grand and large for any of us to control or manage. It is foolish to try to argue that my group is best, my beliefs superior, or my faith is the only one that counts. It is foolish to spend one’s days trying to collect more goods, consume more wants, acquire more power, or accumulate more rewards. In the grand scheme of life, in the flow of God’s grace and love, those things mean nothing. None of the things that we worked so diligently for in the first half of life—status, position, honor, power, more goods, more money, upward mobility, more and bigger this and that—mean anything.
All that really matters is how we live in the present moment. Our desire now is to give back to the world a little bit of what we have received. We realize that all the privileges and opportunities we have known have been gratuitously given—from God, from society, from the universe. We know that we do not have to prove anything, but just let God love us, and let God love others through us. We have learned to stand before one mirror for our identity, the one that reflects who we are in God.
I am not there yet, but when we have really grown up we will realize that flowing with the river brings tremendous freedom, joy, and a sense of sisterhood and brotherhood with all God’s children and God’s creation. As one spiritual writer puts it, we will learn “to live simply so that others can simply live.”
On Wednesday evenings we are studying and discussing the Lord’s Prayer, considering in some depth one phrase or petition weekly. If you sense the need to learn how to pray the Lord’s Prayer we would love for you to participate.
Naomi's Notes
Welcome to 2012. Unfortunately, too many people greet the new year with the "winter blues." Statistics show that more suicides occur in January, February and March than any other time of year. Christmas & New Year festivities are over; the bills are due; the weather is formidable; there is less daylight; people are cooped up, under-exercised and sicker; the lonely and depressed are even more isolated.
Getting the "blues"—whatever time of year—is normal. All of us struggle. All of us have times when we're overwhelmed, uncertain, lonely, fearful. Some of us deal with chronic health problems, including depression and mental illness. Others deal with chronic unemployment and poverty, abuse, family/relationship problems, devastating tragedies. None of us escape having problems repeatedly—it's all part of being human. It's why we have faith in a God who is bigger than us.
M. Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled, begins chapter one: "Life is difficult. This is a great truth...because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. ...Once we truly understand and accept [that life is difficult], then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters."
The good news is that there is a flip side to the darkness. Life itself is about ups and downs, full of both exhausting challenges and exhilarating rewards.
God promises us abundant life, that no matter how deep or endless our darkness seems, there is always hope for a delightful tomorrow, more wonderful than we can ever imagine.
As Chuck said last Sunday, without the darkness we can't fully appreciate the light. The caterpillar must embrace the darkness of the cocoon in order to be transformed into a soaring, beautiful butterfly.
Recently, a facebook friend posted: "The only difference between an ordeal and an adventure is attitude." The best technique for overcoming the "blues" is the discipline of seeing, looking at God's blessings with grateful eyes.
The lyrics of the last song of Count On Us, our Sr. Adult Choir's 1996 musical, stay in my mind:
"Looking back, I count the treasures,
Treasures God has given through His grace:
Life and love and joy and challenge;
All of these have had a place. Children and a house and family,
friends to make my life complete,
Strength to face the tasks before me;
Life is vict'ry and not defeat.
Because He's there I face tomorrow
With a zest for what it brings.
Each new day unfolds a morning;
Another day with Him begins.
No matter what the future holds now,
I will meet it joyfully,
Hand in hand with God, my Savior,
forever held, forever free.
Forever held, forever free!"