GREENSTONE GAZETTE Nottingham Presbyterian Church PC (USA)

497 W. Christine Road

Nottingham, PA 19362-9760

December 2019

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Phone: 610-932-0556

E-mail: office4npc@gmail.com

Website: www. nottinghampc.org

We the people of Nottingham Presbyterian Church strive to be Christ-centered, friendly and faithful followers of Jesus Christ. We are called to surrender our individual desires in order to do God’s will. We are led by God to be a light in this world by: • Bringing the love of Jesus to our community with an accepting, nurturing and compas-sionate environment. • Expanding our missions and wor-ship experiences to meet the needs of the community and the world. • Passionately and enthusiastically developing opportunities for personal and spiritual growth. • Seeking to develop partnerships with local and global organiza-tions in pursuit of God’s vision.

Worship at 10am Sundays Come and invite a friend!

Passionately and enthusiastically developing oppor-tunities for personal and spiritual growth

NPC Winter Closing Procedure: The Pastor will make the call by 8:00 a.m. the morning of the ser-vice. A message will be sent via e-mail. If you wish to be notified by telephone, please place your name and telephone number on the list located on a clipboard near the little table as you enter the small room at the back entrance.

End of Year Contributions If you wish to make an End of Year financial Contribution, and have tax credit for 2019 tax year, please be sure to have it TO THE CHURCH by December 29, 2019 or POSTMARKED by Friday December 27.

Join us Sunday December 8 at our 10am Worship Service as we dedicate our new organ and piano! A reception will follow the service.

Impromptu Children’s Christmas Pageant Sunday Dec 22 during Worship—please bring your children to church at 9:30 to get dressed for the pageant. FUN FOR ALL

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Nottingham Presbyterian Church

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On the Lighter Side:

Friday December 13 at 7pm Open to all!

Because of licensing agreements, we can NOT name the movie, but here’s out hint:

A Donkey what’s in the sky:

Youth Study December 15 is the next youth study (ages 9-16). The study meets at 10am in the Church House. Join us for an hour of lesson/prayer/music/activity time.

Our thank you to Herr’s corporation for all the support they give to our Church. They mow the lawn, plow the parking lot, put up Christmas

lights and allow us to use their bucket truck to fix parking lot lights and inspect our bell tower.

Scrip Update Scrip is a program where we can purchase gift cards at face value and the church receives a percentage of the purchase. There are over 700 retailers in the pro-gram. From Amazon, Duncan Donuts, Wendy’s, LLBean, Lands End, Redner’s, Giant to name just a few. Last month the program had one special day called ThankScriping day. Folks registered to order online participated and the church made $150 for that single day! Get your gift card list ready…. An order will be put into Scrip December 5. The gift cards will then be available at church Sunday December 15. Give your order to Nina Hansen or call/text her 302-690-9804 or email her: sewinghansen@gmail.com

Always pray

to have eyes that see the best in people

A heart that forgives the worst

A mind that forgets the bad

And a soul that never loses faith in God

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Nottingham Presbyterian Church

GREENSTONE GAZETTE

Follow us on Facebook or at our website: NottinghamPC.org

Giving, other than “writing a check” By—Nina Hansen Financial topics are usually hard to talk about, whether it’s church budget planning or estate plan-ning. I’d like to take some time to cover topics that you may have questions about. In the March 2019 newsletter, we talked about donating mandatory IRA withdrawals and avoiding income tax while doing it. This month’s topic is naming an heir for your IRA or 401(K). IRAs inherited are subject to PA inher-itance tax depending on the relationship of the heir to the person that died. Right now, it’s 5%* for di-rect descendants (children and grandchildren), 12% for siblings and 15% for non-spousal beneficiaries. *some exceptions about this rate based on age of the beneficiary. Charitable organizations (Like NPC) are exempt from the inheritance tax. What this means, if you name NPC as the heir to your IRA (whole or part) the total amount will come to NPC vs your other heirs having to pay inheritance tax on their amount. Other ways gifts can be made: In Kind Gifts—Gifts of stocks, bonds and similar, offering special tax benefits to the donor. Gifts under Will—adding a paragraph to your will Life Insurance/Retirement account—free of inher-itance tax to the church Charitable Remainder Trust—provides income to yourself and/or others during your lifetime, followed by a gift to the church. Charitable Gift Annuities—makes a gift to the church while retaining a regular income to yourself, often at a higher rate than the assets might otherwise earn. Donor Advised Funds– Set up a fund that is imme-diately tax deductable. Fund grows tax free. Support the church out of those invested funds. HAVING SAID ALL THAT—Tax laws change of-ten and there is a bill in the Senate right now that may change some aspects of inherited IRAs. If you’re interested in more information about any of this, let me know and I’ll try to get some. If it’s making your head spin, mine too! It’s wise to con-sult a Pennsylvania Estate Planning Attorney.

Join us for Advent Events! December 1—First Sunday in Advent*

December 7—10am Decorating the Sanctuary (wear comfortable clothing)

December 8—Second Sunday in Advent*, dedica-tion of the new organ and piano during Worship

6pm Christmas Caroling at Herr’s December 13—Family Movie Night 7pm –bring

friends! December 15—Third Sunday in Advent*

December 22—Fourth Sunday in Advent*, Impromptu Christmas Pageant, (children come at

9:30 to get dressed) December 24—Christmas Eve 7pm service

* Worship Service at 10am

January 3-10am Undecorating the Sanctuary (wear

comfortable clothing)

Where did the tradition of Poinsettias come from? The reason we associate poinsettias with the holidays comes from an old Mexican legend. A young girl named Pepita was sad that she didn’t have a gift to leave for the baby Jesus at Christmas Eve services. Her cousin tried to comfort her and said that Jesus would love any present from her, even the smallest one. With no money to buy a real gift, Pepita picked a bouquet of weeds that she walked past on the way to church. (Other versions of the story say an angel came to her and instructed her to pick the plants.) When she got there, she left the weeds at the bottom of the nativity scene. All of a sudden, the weeds trans-formed into beautiful red flowers. (From that day on, they became known as “Flores de Noche Buena,” or “Flowers of the Holy Night.” (continued on page 6)

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Nottingham Presbyterian Church

GREENSTONE GAZETTE

Update from the Congregational Meeting November 17

The purpose of the Congregational meeting was to elect officers, the 2020 Nominating Committee and the 2020 Memorial Committee. The congregation was also asked to vote on the change of position of Pastor Merritt from 3/4 time to full time and to ap-prove her terms of call. Session presented the 2020 Budget (the budget is approved by Session)

Pastor Merritt was moved to a full time position and 2020 terms of call were approved. Officers and Committees elected: Elders: Class of 2022 Jean Bender Nina Hansen No Nominees from the Floor Deacons: Class of 2022 Brian Dewees Eric Hansen Chris Ulrich No Nominees from the Floor Memorial Committee: Members at Large: Roger Moran Jane Walker No Nominees from the Floor Nominating Committee: Members at Large: Gerry Davis Yvonne Herr Dave Pohlig No Nominees from the Floor

Jim Lewis presented the 2020 proposed Budget to the congregation; and, he explained how the budget is derived from “expenses” based on “last year’s spending.” He en-couraged all to pay their yearly per capita. He also dis-cussed Pastor Merritt Schatz’s change in salary and its effect on the proposed budget. Ruthann Sumner suggest-ed anyone with Required Minimum Distribution of IRAs donate to the church vs. regular weekly/monthly dona-tions (a savings on income taxes!). Jim also emphasized the final page of the budget—stating an “income” instead of a “deficit” as in previous years.

Poinsettias continued:

Poinsettias get their American name from Joel Rob-erts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, who brought them to the states from Mexico in the early 1800s. They didn’t become traditional holiday decorations until the entrepreneurial Ecke family started promoting them a century later. Paul Ecke Jr. sent free poinsettia plants to TV studios across the country, including “The Tonight Show” and Bob Hope’s holiday specials. (continue on next column)

2019 Poinsettia Order Form

An opportunity to honor or memorialize our loved ones to the Glory of God!

Through Sunday, December 15th, the Board of Deacons will accept orders to purchase Poinsettias to beautify the Sanctuary for Christmas. These flowers may be placed in

honor or memory of your loved ones, with the names listed on a special bulletin insert on Christmas Eve.

After the Christmas Eve Service, the flowers may be

taken home or directed to others whom you designate on the form. Please fill out the bottom of this sheet, detach it,

and place it in the offering plate with your check.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wish to order: 4 to 6 Blooms @ $5.50 each. My check is enclosed.

Color: _ Red _ White _ Marble Total Amount $ * Your Name: __________________ Phone/email: ________________________________

Given in, _ Honor _ Memory of (check one): ______________________ Designated Recipient of Flowers: Me _____ Name of Recipient if other than me ____________________________________________________ *Please make your check payable to NPC, order must be re-ceived by Sunday, December 15th. Please include payment with your order and note poinsettias in the memo area of your check.

Poinsettias continued:

Eventually, the trend caught on, and now poinsettias are among the most popular plants sold in the U.S. Congress even declared December 12 to be National Poinsettia Day, the anniversary of Poinsett’s death.

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Nottingham Presbyterian Church

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Nottingham Presbyterian Church—Bringing the love of Jesus to our community with an accepting, nurturing and compassionate environment.

December

Birthdays

December

Anniversaries

None

December

Volunteers

Readers:

1 Cindy Sudnikovich

8 Bill Moore

15 Dar Gray

22 Gerry Davis

29 Natalie Meixell

Greeters: 1 Roger and Kay Moran

8 John and Marlene Lloyd

15 Kim and Ed Squires

22 John and Anna Durbano

29 Bill and Cindy Sudniko-

vich

Deacon of the month:

Mark Roney

Communion Prep Team:

Dar Gray

Donna Davis

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

My son Jacob and his fiancée Emily came home for Thanksgiving, and just left this morning. It was good to have them back in our house. This morning after they left I began thinking about what makes a home. My thoughts were ex-panded as I enjoyed my breakfast using a beloved pottery mug and plate from my parents’ home. Home is not neces-sarily limited to time and space. The physical aspects of home change over the years - even if we remain in the same house. Carpets and paint can change. There may even be more substantial changes. Yet the foundation and framework usually remain much the same. This usually is also true of our emotional life. The same is also true of our spiritual life - and our church home. Our physical surroundings may change over the years. We may change church buildings as we move around, or our church building may change along with the needs of the congre-gation. Even our theological understandings and our order of worship may experi-ence changes as we mature in faith. However, our foundation of faith - the triune God revealed most fully in our Savior Jesus Christ - sustains us through all changes. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit who inspires the best shifts in our understanding of God’s Holy Scripture and in what God is calling us to be and do as we share God’s ministry in our community and in our world. While we may sometimes be uncomfortable with some of the changes, this solid foundation and continuing guiding Spirit allows us to feel at home - and at peace - as changes take place. The recent addition of a new organ and a new digital piano to our worship experience can help us to remember that not all changes are uncomfortable! Many thanks to John Steele and Jean Bender for their time spent learning the ins and outs of these instruments! What a joyful change this has been! We give thanks indeed for our generous benefactors who gave the organ to us, and to those in whose memory gifts were made to the Greenstone which made possible the acquisition of the piano. The future is looking bright for NPC as we continue the path of ministry to persons, the community, and the world which was laid down by the faithful members long ago. As we enter the season of Advent, we do well to consider all these thoughts. We celebrate the infant Jesus, God Incarnate, born in a borrowed “home”. God came in Jesus Christ to shake up and mend a broken and beloved creation. Nothing would remain the same - except God’s gracious love and call to repentance and redemption. As Eugene Peterson paraphrased this gift in The Message - God came in Christ to make his home in the neighborhood. Even as we welcome this homecoming of Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem, we also look forward to Christ’s coming again as prom-ised. We are called to prepare Christ’s home for his arrival which will come at a time we cannot predict. When we are faithful to God’s calling in Christ we will find that some things change. Yet our hope and peace come in that which does not change - God’s holy love for all creation! May this Advent and Christmas season be one of hope and joy for you and your families! May it also be a time of listening for God’s ongoing call to believe in God’s vision and to live in ways that proclaim this won-drous future!

In Christ’s love, Pastor Merritt

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Nottingham Presbyterian Church -Expanding our missions and worship expe-riences to meet the needs of the community and the world.

Thank you!

Nottingham Presbyterian Church

GREENSTONE GAZETTE

We collected 601 food items and $423.00!!! The Deacons would like to thank the congregation for their generous donations to our Food Drive for Divine Sent Food Cupboard!! We delivered 601 items and a check for $423.00 on Tuesday, Novem-ber 19th!! What an exciting and emotional morning, as the Director of the food cupboard and Pastor Don-na were overwhelmed with all the food and the check! Thank you again for supporting us and help-ing feed so many people this Thanksgiving.

Organ Delivery

Old Speakers

Out!

New Speakers

In!

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