EMANUEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 16 EASTERN RD. DOYLESTOWN, OH 44230

WWW.EMANUELHIGHCHURCH.ORG 330-658-2301 - EMANUELUCC@OHIO.NET

REV. GAYE SANTORO, DESIGNATED PASTOR

December 2013

Dear Friends,

Thank you for the warm and loving welcome you have all given me. What a wonderful new church

family!

I love that I officially begin my journey with you on the first Sunday in Advent. The word Advent

means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus

the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second

Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is

celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be

reconciled to God. I am thrilled and honored to begin my journey with all of you at the joyous start

of a new Christian year, as we participate together in the task of welcoming Christ anew into our

hearts, homes and relationships.

If we are attuned to the spirit we will experience God inside ourselves, in each other and in our

relationship with all of creation. I am here first as your newly called designated pastor, to be in

relationship with you, to know and love you. I once heard a brilliant idea that gets to the heart of

the matter of relationship between pastor and the church family from a retired United Methodist

pastor. He asked everyone to write him a letter whenever he arrived in a new church--a letter

about themselves, their lives, everything and anything they want the new minister to know. I

immediately loved the beauty and profound meaning of this practice and decided to adopt it as my

own. Please write me a letter (or send me an email) and let me know about your life, dreams, past

experiences, passions, losses, children, marriages, divorces, where you grew up, heartbreaks,

philosophies--what is most important to you, anything and everything your heart wants to express

and share. This will be held confidential and not take the place of the actual time I will be spending

getting to know you in person, but it will speed up the process and give me soulful information I will

cherish, as your new pastor. I also would like to meet with all of you in person. I invite you to call

me (330) 807-9201 to set up a time to come to my office for a visit, get together for coffee, a

walk, lunch, have me come to your home, or whatever feels right to you. Having a one on one with

each of you, will of course, take some time, but eventually I hope to have time together with all of

you. This is where God lives, in relationship, in the creative exchange of souls meeting souls,

intertwining, in the dance of aliveness and sharing.

And then of course there is death. At the center of our Christian faith is the assurance that love

is eternal and the resurrection symbolically expresses the truth that love is the most powerful

force in the universe. It transforms and survives all suffering and death. But often, especially

during the holidays, we experience the loss of loved ones profoundly, even if we believe we will be

reunited one day. That is why our Blue Christmas service has been created. I ask that you bring a

photograph of your loved one who has died to place on our altar on Sunday, December 22, 2013 at

this 6:00 pm service. Also, if you like, please bring a favorite food of your loved one who has died

to share at the fellowship time following the service. Celebrating the natural rhythm of life,

death and rebirth invites us to be more fully alive and close with one another as we heal and begin

to feel joy once again.

Rejoice! For the season is upon us. God is waiting to be born anew within us!

Blessings during this most holy season and always,

Pastor Gaye

OCTOBER 2013 WEEKLY OFFERINGS & ATTENDANCE

DATE WEEKLY OFFERING

(budget) / (church) ATTENDANCE

TOTALS

Oct. 6, 2013 $ 2,500.00 / $ 3,962.36 74

Oct. 13, 2013 $ 2,500.00 / $ 1,310.00 67

Oct. 20, 2013 $ 2,500.00 / $ 3,368.00 75

Oct. 27, 2013 $ 2,500.00 / $ 1,868.00 77

Total Offerings – Oct. $10,000.00 / $10,508.36

Weekly Averages -

October

Weekly avg. $ 2,627.09

$ + 127.09 per week

$ + 508.36 for the month

73 weekly average

attendance for October

GRAND TOTALS

FOR THE YEAR

Weekly offerings

$ - 4,244.02 for the year

79 yearly average as of

10/31/13

BUDGET 2013 Offering needed each week to meet budget…. $ 2,500.00

2013 Should have What we have Year-to-date

Budget as of (10/31) as of (10/31) (10/31/13)

SOURCES OF REVENUE: (October – 43 weeks)

Offerings…(Current Exp., Benevolences & Loose)……....... $ 130,000.00 $ 107,500.00 $ 103,255.98 $ - 4,244.02

Parsonage Rental…($900.00/mo. x 12 months).……… 10,800.00 9,000.00 8,677.00 - 323.00

Use of Church…………………………..……… 100.00 100.00 300.00 + 200.00

Swiss Steak Dinners…(3 @ $1,500.00 ea.)……….... 4,500.00 4,500.00 4,407.29 - 92.71

Other..(Recycling and RADA sales)……………….…. 300.00 250.00 298.64 + 48.64

TOTALS..………………………………….…. $ 145,700.00 $ 121,350.00 $ 116,938.91 $ - 4,411.09

2012 2013

Receipts Expenses Receipts Expenses

September $ 17,378.53 $ 16,195.01 + 1,183.52 $ 14,838.55 $ 14,171.26 + 667.29

October $ 15,214.00 $ 11,527.48 + 3,686.52 $ 21,047.68 15,160.48 + 5,887.20

November $ 15,736.81 $ 15,679.19 + 57.62 $

December $ 16,151.13 $ 19,458.98 - 3,307.85 $

Andrea S. Sammons, Church Treasurer

Stewardship Corner

Increase your gift giving the year without breaking the bank! Ponder the following scripture with a special ear to how it might apply to gift giving... "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded." (Luke 12.48) Reflect for a moment on all the gifts that have been given (or entrusted) to you. Consider:

your health and access to health care

shelter to keep the rain, snow, and heat of the day off your back

enough food to not go hungry

enough clothing to not be cold Choose one of the two options below. The idea behind both of these options is “One in – One out.” As I get another piece of clothing, tool, toy, etc., can I give one away?

Option 1: Take a quick inventory of what you have around your home – a quick glance around is

sufficient. This isn’t a tax audit. Can you identify duplicates of any household goods? Are there any items in good shape that you no longer need? Which of these items would be useful to a family in need? Find that family in need and give them one your items. (The challenge here may not so much be to your of generosity, but rather the effort it takes to identify the person/family to whom to give the gift. Ideally your Church has names or collects such items to give away. If not, you might try the radical and scary strategy of going to a poor area of town, the bus station, or a homeless shelter and just walk up to someone with your gift. It’s a risk, but sometimes random acts of kindness are required.)

Option 2: Assess what you usually spend on a Christmas gift for your spouse or for your whole family. Consider whether

you would be willing to spend that same amount on a gift to an unknown person in need. Donate this amount either directly to a needy person or through the Church or other charitable organization. (This also might serve the purpose of moderating how much you spend on family gifts this year.)

Some families encourage their children to choose one of their current toys to give away at Christmas time since they know that they will get at least one new toy. The best loved gift? It often is the gift received by someone who wouldn’t have the money to buy a needed item for him or herself. Those who have little, appreciate even a small gift more.

CONSISTORY MINUTES– October 8, 2013

Present: Carl Hummel, Amy Wagner, Rachael Weigand, Tom Blanar, Ralph

Lengacher, Cara Beth Richardson, Helen Tritt, David Cial, Karen Foster, Chris Formet, Jean Holden, Andrea Sammons

Absent: none

Correspondence: none

Secretary’s Report was reviewed and accepted.

Treasurer’s Report for September was reviewed and accepted. Discussed

the monthly budget and how the amount to date and budget amount shows a deficit. This deficit does not reflect expenses. For the newsletter, we may report

amount to date vs. last year’s amount to date.

Pastor's Report: Karen Foster wrote a poem for Pastor Larry.

Old Business:

Search Process: looking at other candidates & using supply pastors for now, but looking for a new interim.

New Business: Letter of Concern: In Dec. of 2011, the consistory changed the profits from the

yard sale to the mission projects. The letter would like the profits to go back to the building fund. After discussion, the profit from the food and bake sale at the

yard sale back to the building fund beginning in 2014. The profit from the yard sale items will remain with the mission project. The profits from the bake sales at

the Swiss Steak dinner will rotate between the mission project, care fund and building fund.

Sam’s Club: The church has an account at Sam’s club and the church is adding Greg Foster as a secondary member.

Pastoral Relations Committee: An organizational meeting of this committee is being planned before the November consistory meeting, and this committee will

meet quarterly.

Standing Committees:

Stewardship & Missions: The change for change collection brought in $355.50 for

Share-a-Christmas. Property: The septic system is working at parsonage.

Music - currently practicing CVG and Bell Choir.

- Dec.8th- The Bell Choir will play at Stan Hywet. Elders: met and reviewed the communion kit and procedure.

Christian Education, Evangelism, Pastoral Relations: Did not meet

Respectfully submitted, Helen Tritt, Secretary

christmas post office Do you want to send Christmas cards to other church members, but not to pay the high postage? The Emanuel Youth Group has the solution! Once again the youth group will run the Christmas post Office. For a donation of 10¢ per card. We are also offering pre-printed labels with church member’s names for your convenience for a $3 donation. Please directly mail cards to homebound and out-of-town members; they’d love to hear from you! You may bring your cards for members of the congregation on December 8, 15, & 22 for delivery on December 15, 22, & 24th. Donations will be used towards next year’s Operation Christmas Child. Please put cards in alphabetical order and rubberband them together. Celebrate Christmas & support our youth!

Dear Emanuel Members,

The Pastor Search committee would like to

thank you for your support over the last

several months. We are pleased to welcome

Pastor Gaye to Emanuel. As she has agreed to

stay with us for the next year, the Search

committee will meet on a limited basis as

needed. A heart-felt thank you to those

members who have dedicated countless hours

to the search process.

Sincerely,

Ernie Lyons, chairperson

Carol Blanar Sue Dietrich

Greg Foster Jean Holden

Alex Huckriede Carl Hummel

Harriet Neiser Brian Sammons

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: Alexandria Renee Grigalunas,

great-granddaughter of Jean Grigalunas,

daughter of Jeremy & Renee Grigalunas,

was born October 25, 2013. She weighed

7lbs. 8ozs & 21in long. Congrats!

CONGRATULATIONS to Greg Foster for receiving the

EXCELLENCE AWARD from the

Wayne County Career Center. Greg was

recognized and presented with this award

for being an Outstanding Member of the

WCSCC Team on October 16th at their

Board of Education meeting.

Emanuel Bells Ringing at Stan Hywet Hall Dec 8th:

The Emanuel Bells will be providing music during open house tours held Sunday evening Dec, 8th.

In preparation for this event, we will hold an “open rehearsal” on Saturday Dec 7th at 4:30 so that members

of the congregation may come to hear the Christmas music that we are preparing.

Please join us so that we may have an opportunity to perform the program, before guests, start to finish, in

preparation for this event. We are preparing a mix of both sacred and secular music. Many of you may recognize songs rung in the past during

our Christmas Bell Concerts. Please join us as you are able.

Paul Cordray Greg Foster Erin & Nate Miller Sherrill Minor Bill Neiser Cal Tritt Barb Tori Benak Brandy & Matt Susan Cullman Dexter

Ed Julie Gatts Gillentine Family Alexandria Grigalunas Betty Harold Val Kinney Izzy Mary Lou Larko Brandy Mooney Melissa Orum Casey Reeder

Missions

Thank you to all of our wonderful church family for filling 72 shoeboxes and contributing money for shipping to this year’s Operation Christmas Child collection. This will help less fortunate children have a much nicer Christmas.

New this year: As part of our Doylestown Share-A-Christmas involvement, we decided to collect small items for stockings for our family of 5 girls: ages 16, 12, 11, 7, & 11months. Please donate little goodies such as chapstick, toothbrushes, accessories, etc. in the box in the narthex by Dec. 8th. See Helen Tritt with questions.

On December 24th (Christmas Eve service), we will be collecting our annual Christmas Fund (Veterans of the Cross). The contributions help supplement low pensions, health benefits, provide other direct assistance to retired clergy and lay employees, and provide Christmas gift checks to low-income retires. This gives us an opportunity to help and honor those who serve and have served our churches. These are gifts given by God to God’s people.

Over 50 Fellowship

Thank you to the Minors for hosting our October meeting. We had a fun time of conversation and voted to suspend meetings from November to March. Have a blessed winter!

Chapel Hill News

Calendar & card collection will begin December 1 - February 9, 2014. New/used calendars & occasional cards can be dropped off in the box by the elevator. The pictures are used for activities at the Chapel Hill Home. Any questions, please call or see Lucy Rich.

OUR CARE COMMITTEE NEEDS HELP!

Why? It has been several years since our last Time and Talent Survey. We need to update our list of volunteer drivers for members who need help to medical appointments, to visitations, to church, etc.

You? Sure 'nuff! Remember that you set your own boundaries! (examples: week-ends only, daytime only; can do Wadsworth & Akron, cannot do Cleveland) Remember that when called, you may accept or decline. Gas money could be provided by the Care Fund.

If you think you can be of any assistance, call Marge LaRoche (330.658.3480).

FOR SALE: A burgundy bariatric lift chair

with 2 motors. Weight capacity:

700 pounds. Like new.

Paid $2.500, will sell for $2,000.

Lynda Rutherford: 330.825.5357

THANK YOU: We want to thank Our Church Family for

their prayers, cards, and phone calls. We

want to give a special thanks to Marge

LaRoche.

-Hugh & Janine Gottwalt

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

1 Worship 10:30am

Communion

1st Sun. of Advent

2 3

4 Ladies lunch

Noon

Crafting 2:30PM

5 6 7

Bells Open Rehearsal 4:30PM

8

Worship 10:30am

2nd Sun. of Advent

9

10

Consistory

7PM

11 Ladies lunch

Noon

Crafting 2:30PM

12

13 14

15 Worship 10:30am

3rd Sun. of Advent

Youth caroling

16

17

18 Ladies lunch

Noon

Crafting 2:30PM

19

* Newsletter Deadline

20 21

22

Worship 10:30am

4th Sun. of Advent

Blue Christmas 6PM

23

24 Christmas Eve

Service 7PM

Veterans of the Cross Collection

25

Merry Christmas

Office Closed

26

27 28

29 Worship 10:30am

30

31

Doylestown Pantry Item

of the Month:

Paper Products

1 Wendy McEndree 3 Ty Smith 5 Zachary Lyons 8 Alexandra Sammons 10 Carol Blanar 11 Jean Holden 12 Jill Smith 14 Wanda Wintrow Rick Lyons 15 Megan Richardson 16 Dave Jacobs 17 Darline Pirman

18 Holly Poetter 20 Roth Swain 22 Kenneth Rich 23 Peter Rich 25 Ernie Lyons 26 Nancy Wunderlich 27 Robert Rutherford 28 Karla Seifert 30 Jessica Barnes Claudia Casey 31 Alison McEndree

2 Greg & Kelly (Warren) King 3 Jerry & Ruth Hazeltine 8 Steve & Kristen (Kun) Robison 13 Hugh & Janine Gottwalt 22 Mark & Jordan (Stecz) Perry

Church Office Hours

Rev. Gaye Santoro, Pastor Tues. thru Thursday: 9 am - noon

May Sweet, Secretary Tuesday thru Thursday: 9 am - noon

In case of an emergency, you may contact Rev. Santoro at home (330) 807-9201.

Sunday Schedule

9:15 am CIC Adult Class 9:30 am Dialogue with Christ Class

10:30 am Worship

(Kids Sunday School during worship)

EMANUEL U.C.C. 16 Eastern Road Doylestown, OH 44230

Liturgists: December 1: Dave Jacobs

December 8: Kristen Robison

December 15: Ernie Lyons

December 22: Karen Foster

December 29: Holly Poetter

Acolytes: December 1: Cory Kather

December 8: Christina Kinney

December 15: Jaime Sammons

December 22: Josie Robison

December 29: Alexandra Sammons

CHURCH CANCELLATIONS – In the event that worship is cancelled due to the weather, it will be announced on 104.5 WQKT, and the church website emanuelhighchurch.org.

ANNUAL REPORT SUBMISSIONS are due Tuesday, January 7th. It’ll be here before we know it!

BLUE CHRISTMAS

This year, our Blue Christmas service will be held on Sunday, December 22nd at 6:00 p.m. This service is meant as a source

of comfort and recognition that Christmas might not be as joyful due to grief, stress, loneliness, or a host of other

reasons. During this service, those who wish to acknowledge these feelings will be invited to light candles, to hear words of

hope, and to have fellowship with others. Members are encouraged to invite friends

whom you believe may benefit from this service.

Advent: Sunday worship 10:30AM December 22: Blue Christmas 6PM December 24: Christmas Eve 7PM

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