Retracing steps of our trip to Europe, I’ve been living all the moments we paused to remember. In Auschwitz and Birkenau, we painfully remembered the innocents whose lives were snuffed out in the most chilling ways. Innocence lost…. In Amsterdam, we visited Anne Frank’s attic hideaway. We thought of the 8 people stuffed in those tiny quarters for two long years. Moved by their courage and faith, we prayed…. Perhaps, the most meaningful memory came from the “stumbling stones” we found outside Cherilyn’s cousin’s lovely home in Berlin. By their doorstep are small gold plaques woven into the brickwork that bear the names of Jews who had lived in that building and were taken to concentration camps to die. The thing that struck me was that these memorials were there to celebrate life, to call into one’s memory the lovely, vibrant people who had sung and danced and laughed through life. The simple reminders brought their stories to life!
What a precious gift are our memories, “stumbling stones,” that recall warm moments of shared love and joy. I can’t help thinking of you dear folk at Allisonville who have placed “stumbling stones” of memory along your shared path, so you can enjoy again the close moments of learning, serving, and loving you built with Pastor Diane. Still a bit difficult to see those “stumbling stones,” but so rich with memories that will remain. These same moments are preparing you for your next pastor who will walk with you, planting new seeds for tomorrow and will help you grow. The “stumbling stones” we encounter help us remember with thanks and move forward into new memories. God be praised!
This Sunday, we gather around the “stumbling stone” of Jesus’ triumphant entry into human life. With palms waving and hope abounding, we remember and celebrate and prepare for what is to come! Remember and give thanks!
Love, Pastor John
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You know that book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" (also a movie now)? Well, yesterday was one of *those* days for me. It started with a 4:15am fire alarm at my apartment complex, resulting in sitting outside in the freezing cold for about an hour with my panicking puppy. And while the Artistry did not burn down (and for that we are grateful), the lost sleep after a night I already had trouble sleeping really was not the best way to start the day... that went downhill from there. It was one of those days where I felt like I was working on a million things non-stop, and yet did not seem to complete half my to-do list. Then I had to go grocery shopping and as seems to be the case now at any store, the 65th and Keystone Kroger did not have half of what I needed. Then on my drive home, I discovered the hard way that the road I had been using to get home because my normal route was closed... was now ALSO closed for construction. I could go on, but I think y'all get the gist of it.
Even though I was feeling pretty down in the dumps last night, I went to the gym with a friend. He knew my day had not been the best, and at the end of our workout he asked if I wanted to talk about my day. I said no, but he insisted, and so we went up to my apartment and talked.
And wow, did I need it. Getting all of that out of my head and heart and sharing it with a trusted friend was really a weight lifted. What a reminder that we are not meant to carry the heavy, hard stuff alone! I hope that when you have those days or those times where things are hard, that you have someone to talk with. Know that you are never alone and that you have a community of love surrounding you in the good times, the hard times, and everything in between.
Peace and blessings,
Josh
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Joys:
- Kathie Meyer's son-in-law, Michael Smith, had a successful surgery
Concerns:
- We surround in prayer Sandy Zimmerman, whose brother Ron passed away last week
- We offer condolences to Marty Gran, whose brother David passed away
- Sue and Herb Feltner's son, Jeff, recovering from eye surgery
Continued prayers for:
- Bonnie Ross
- Carol Q. Cosby
- Betty Wright
- Cora King
- Dottie Lloyd
- Diana Moore
- Bob Hessong
- Ben Hinton
- Davis Goforth
- Lee Ridoux
- David Parker
For the people of Ukraine
For all who are grieving
For all who are affected by COVID
For our work and all work to be an anti-racist church and people
We pray with our Global Ministries partners this week for Japan.
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Special Easter Offering for DMF (Disciples Mission Fund) - April 10 and 17
We have a rich opportunity to assist the many branches of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) through our giving to the special DMF Easter Offering. We will receive gifts for this important ministry on April 10 and 17. Several times a year, special offerings help support the ministries of the larger church. Your Easter gifts support among many other things - college students in leadership development programs, global mission partners, health and social service ministries, the formation of new congregations, support for pastors and chaplains. When we share our gifts with other congregations across the US and Canada, we are able to help in much larger ways than we can alone. Your gifts make a real difference.
Your gift to the Easter Offering is part of God’s enduring love that creates:
- Bible studies that challenge and inspire
- Opportunities for clergy to gather in prayer
- Spiritual care for those in prison
- Resources for mental health and trauma care
Your gifts are part of God’s enduring love that inspires:
- Visionary leadership that calls us to imagine new ways of being church
- New congregations that worship in a variety of languages and worship styles
- Ministries of compassion and care
Your generosity is a part of God’s enduring love that makes a difference:
- Global ministry partners who work for justice, reconciliation and peace
- Colleges, universities, seminaries that nurture Christian leaders
- Collaborative response in the wake of disaster
- Support for congregational service ministries that serve hungry neighbors
Your gift to the Easter offering benefits general ministries, allowing us to do more together than we can do alone. More ministry! More impact! More of God’s love in the world. Thank you for supporting the special Easter offering on April 10 and 17, 2022.
One of our members has offered to add a special above and beyond gift as a percentage of our total Easter offering! We thank them for such a generous gift to increase the congregation’s usual generosity.
Gratefully,
Pastor John
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Food Pantry Update
Beginning in May, food pantry donations may be dropped off on the first Sunday of the month until 1pm. We will include a reminder as we look to food pantry collection on May 1.
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Nominations for Elders and Deacons - Due Sunday, April 10
The Nominating Committee is accepting names for people to serve as Elders and Deacons for the coming term. Please submit nominations to any committee member: Mindy Armstrong, Sue Shadburne Call, Cindy Coble, Gary Hume, Christina Martin, and Sandy Nagy. Nominations are being accepted from now until Sunday, April 10.
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Welcome Center Greeters
With the relaxing of COVID restrictions, we are starting up our Welcome Center again! If you would like to be a greeter on Sunday mornings to help welcome members and greet newcomers, please sign up here! You can reach out to Josh if you have any questions.
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Easter Egg Hunt Volunteer Sign Up
Saturday, April 16th from 10-11am ACC is hosting our Easter Egg Hunt. The Easter Egg Hunt is one of our most popular community events and we need lots of volunteers to help make it a great event! It is short and sweet and a great way to welcome our community. A few areas we need help are: Set Up & Clean Up Crew; people to run our game booths; people to run our crafts tables; people to play with our littlest hunters in the "Toddler Zone"; people to read or tell Easter Stories; people to hide Easter Eggs; and someone to be our "SWIM" / safety volunteer. You can sign up by clicking on the sign up genius link below or email [email protected].
We also need people who could donate Easter Candy (individually packaged & nut free) AND/OR Fill the Easter Eggs with donated candy prior to the hunt. You can grab a bag of eggs to fill from Pastor Josh's Office or bring the candy to the church.
Contact Josh or Liz Young with any questions!
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Volunteers needed for Coffee Cafe!
This is a mission that takes little of your time but is a fun and fulfilling way to serve your church. Providing Coffee Cafe, casual fellowship is an important part of our Sunday morning schedule.
We have six teams of hosts which means that you serve just once every six weeks. We will provide training and you get dibs on the first cup of coffee! If you are interested, please contact Toni Medlen at [email protected]
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Youth Group Meals for the Spring
We continue to have a signup to provide youth group lunch this semester. It is wide open, so please take a moment and find a day that you might want to bring lunch for the youth group. If you have questions, talk to Josh.
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Apr 10 | Youth Group
For youth group this Sunday we will begin planning Youth Sunday! Please make plans to be there (or make plans for your youth to be there). It is super important to start working on this now! Youth Sunday is May 15, and it will be here before we know it. Thank you so much to the Nelson-Mercers for providing lunch!
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Apr 10 | Lenten Study, 3pm via Zoom - Last Sunday Session
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Apr 11 | Lenten Study - Last Monday Session
Please note this is our last Monday session. We will review chapters 4-6.
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Apr 12 | Lenten Study - Last Tuesday Session
Please note this is our last Monday session. We will review chapters 4-6.
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Apr 13 | Prime Timers Lunch - RSVP by April 11
We are pleased to announce that our April 13 lunch, 11:30 AM, will be at Ginger's Cafe. We have been to Ginger's before and have gone in smaller groups. This restaurant has a small town feel, very casual decor, and some spectacular food. Prices are very attractive and the choices are many, Sandy and Jerry Zimmerman are the coordinators. You can see them at church, email at [email protected] or call 317-407-7936. Let them know by Mon 4/11 as we have our own dining room reserved.
Ginger's address, 1111 S 10th St, Noblesville, is straight up Allisonville Road. It is approximately 10 miles north of our church. Drive up Allisonville until you reach the round about and keep going straight. As soon as you pass the round about, turn left into the strip center on the west side of the street. Ginger's is located near the south end of that center. If you would like to carpool, mention to Zimmermans and we will try to combine rides leaving church at just after 11 AM.
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Apr 12 | Damaris Circle
Damaris circle will meet by Zoom on April 12 at 6:30 pm to catch up. Around 7 pm we will discuss chapter 7, "The Politics of Grace" in the book If God is Love by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland. If you would like to join us please contact Janet Cooper at [email protected] or Barb Burrell at [email protected].
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Apr 13 | Sarah Circle
Sarah Circle will hold its monthly meeting in person in room 14 at church on Wednesday, April 13, at 7:00pm. Karen Campbell is hostess, and Betty Kaiser is study leader covering “Forgiveness, Saviorism, and Internet” from our study book. Water will be provided, but feel free to bring your own beverage.
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Apr 14 | No Grief Group This Week
Note that there will not be a meeting on April 14, so that people are free to attend the Maundy Thursday service.
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Apr 24 | Anti-Racism Book Study and Club
The Anti-Racism Book Study and Club has finished our discussion of Waking Up White. For April we will be reading The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. This book will have a one-time discussion on Zoom on Sunday, April 24 at 5:00 pm. We encourage anybody who has read this book or wants to read this book to join us for this discussion.
The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin
A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation, gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement--and still lights the way to understanding race in America today.
“With clarity, conviction, and passion, James Baldwin delivers a dire warning of the effects of racism that remains urgent nearly sixty years after its original publication.
Penguin Random House Books
IndyPL has many copies of this in various forms - book, CD book, e-audiobook, ebook
We also hope to have pizza and a movie - look for details coming soon!
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Apr 26 | ACC Book Club
Our ACC Book Club will be reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz in April. We will meet via Zoom on Tuesday, April 26 at 7:00 pm. Amazon says: “ This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.”
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Exploring Worship and Worship and Wonder Volunteers
Would you like to be involved in our children's ministry? We are still in need of volunteers for both Exploring Worship and Worship and Wonder. Here are a brief description of the roles we are needing to fill:
W&W Greeter - The Greeter helps to welcome the kids to Worship and Wonder and assists the Storyteller in crowd control and keeping the ministry flowing.
W&W Storyteller - The Storyteller leads the lesson directly from the Worship and Wonder curriculum. We have access to the official W&W training.
EW Teacher - The Teacher leads the activity for the day, such as the sharing of joys and concerns, reading the scripture for the day, etc.
EW Shepherd - The Shepherd assists the Teacher in getting the kids to the EW space and keeping the activity going smoothly.
If you are interested in any of these roles or if you would like more information about them, please reach out to Josh!
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COVID Guidelines for Worship - UPDATED 3/2/2022
After careful consideration, our COVID team has updated our guidelines to move us closer to a
more “normal” use of our facilities. Beginning, March 6, we will observe the following:
- Masks are optional during worship and other activities. If you are more comfortable wearing a mask, please do so. Our number one goal continues to keep everyone safe, comfortable and healthy.
- Please seat yourself for worship; all pews are open. Be aware that some worshipers may still prefer a little space between them and their pew mates, so just do a quick check in with them about their space preferences.
- We will continue to observe our offering time and communion as we have been doing during the COVID restrictions. It was agreed that it was healthier to have limited contact with offering trays and communion ware until numbers are significantly down.
- Hymnals will be returned to the pews and ready to use on March 6.
- The Membership Committee will begin our Coffee Cafe after Easter.
- You may schedule groups or class meetings at the church. Please call the office to reserve a room or follow the link below. Zoom calls for meetings are still an option depending on the group’s preference.
- Greeting one another is encouraged, always respecting one another’s comfort. Instead of hugs and handshakes, fist bumps or elbow bumps are suggested. Social distancing continues to be encouraged.
- The Nursery is open each Sunday morning, along with Children’s Worship and Wonder and Exploring Worship which are in session each week.
We are moving closer to a sense of normal for our life at the church. It is our prayer that we can
continue to care for all among us with the deepest Christian care. These guidelines are subject
to change depending on need. Thank you for your patience and for participating fully in keeping
everyone safe and healthy.
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