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MESSIAH MEMOS Messiah Fairview Park Issue 3: May/June 2017

Ascension Service

On Thursday, May 25, we will celebrate the great event of Jesus’ Ascension at 9:10 am (a combined service with Messiah School), and at 7 pm. Please join us after the evening service for a reception honoring Ed Kirst on the 65th anniversary of his education commission; and Rev. Ronald Morgan on the 60th anniversary of his ordination.

Confirmation

On Sunday, May 21, Messiah will be confirming our eighth grade confirmands at the 11 am ser-vice. We encourage you to attend this service and support our confirmands with your presence and prayers.

Second Sundays: May 14

Please join us for our final Second Sundays of the school year on Sunday, May 14.

Children ages 3 through sixth grade are invited to the Messiah gym from 9:45-10:45 am for a creative and interactive hour together as we explore and experience “The Light of the World.”

Adult Education Hour “Islam 101: Learning About Your Muslim Neighbor”: We will wel-come guest speaker Isam Zaiem, Co-Founder of the Council on American-Islam Relations, and husband of Messiah member Trish Zaiem, from 9:50-10:40 am in the Commons. Zaiem is a Syrian immigrant and practicing Muslim who has lived in Cleveland since 1974.

Farewell From the Deaconess

As the end of my three-year term call as Pastoral Associate comes to an end on May 31, I give spe-cial thanks for the wonderful way you’ve shown your appreciation for my ministry among you. I have been privileged to share in the responsibili-ties of visitation, education with our children and youth, engaging people in ministries and partici-pating in worship leadership. I have been especial-ly blessed to work with Pastors Burce and Morgan, along with our dedicated church and school staff. Good members of Messiah, I have watched the way you carry out your baptismal callings to care for the sick, feed the hungry, teach the Word of our Lord and share the Gospel. You know the needs within our congregation, as well as our community and world. Keep on meeting those needs in this time and place!

As I move on to my “retirement” stage of life, Dave and I plan to keep our membership here at Messiah. We look forward to playing a bigger part in our grandchildren’s lives both in Ohio and Colo-rado. My heart is doing servant ministry, so my guess is that social service agencies in our area may be seeing me in the future. Together, as Christ’s disciples, we go out with good courage, not always knowing where we go, but only that God’s hand is leading us and God’s love sup-porting us. Thanks be to God!

- Deaconess Jeanette Rebeck

Please join us for a special retirement reception honoring Deaconess Jeanette on Sunday, June 4, after the 10 am worship service.

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From the Pastor—

Christ is risen indeed! We said that in church on April 16. We will still be saying it on the last Sunday in May. That’s how far the seven weeks of the Easter season will take us this year.

I hope each of you who reads this will say “Christ is Risen” to yourself and to your dear ones at least once a day while the Easter season lasts. It will re-mind you of a wondrous reality the world is blind to. Jesus rules. When I roll out of bed in the morn-ing, this person that the likes of Peter and Mary Magdalene got to see and know is waiting to lead me through the day with all the strength and pa-tience he displayed with them. Forgiveness is his specialty. Fearless love is his gift. Nothing the day might throw at me will be more than he can han-dle.

This, of course, is all that finally matters, that Christ is alive and in charge, with both the power and the heart to handle anything and everything that comes our way. So much of what we encounter is beyond our ability to manage on our own. His com-mitment to doing that for us is firmly in place. I was baptized. So were you. That’s tremendously good to know when breakfast is done and I'm sending my children through the door to face whatever is out there. It's also good to know in the day, sure to come, when something steamrolls me.

We belong to the person who punches Satan in the nose, pries his fingers off the screaming souls of God's children, and raises the dead. Good news in-deed!

Easter people are people with a purpose. Their lives count. When they use them well, as Christ intends, they help people around them to come alive with hope in God.

I encourage each of you this Easter to look for ways of doing this. Every one of us is in a unique place, gifted by God with a set of connections to other human beings that no one else possesses in exactly the same configuration. You are Christ's emissary to the people you know. Chances are strong that, for a few of these people, you are the only Easter mes-senger they have. Give some thought this Easter season as to who these people might be. Pray for them. Make a point in your encounters with them to honor them as people, dear to God, for whom the Son of God gave his life. Bear in mind that eve-ryone you meet as the days swirl by is a person that Christ lives to love and save. This includes the stream of strangers that each of us will brush by in passing. We can never know who of them we might affect, or how. It matters only to know and remem-ber who we are; that in every encounter with an-other human being, we are Christ's handpicked rep-resentative, dropped there by the Holy Spirit to re-lease some sparks of joy and grace and kindness. May God use us well. May all of us make a point of staying in touch with Christ, especially as we come together to meet him at church, so that he can keep each of us alive to our vital Easter mission.

--Pr. Burce

Pr. Jerome Burce

FAMILY NEWS

WEDDINGS

REV. RON MORGAN &

DOROTHY HELLEND

APRIL 19

BAPTISMS

AMELIA HANLON, CHILD OF

ROBERT & ABIGAIL HANLON

TROY SOTCAN, CHILD OF

MATTHEW & REBEKAH SOTCAN

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Pierstorf Memorial Loan Fund

The Pierstorf Memorial Fund is now accepting ap-plications for the 2017-18 school year. This minis-try provides interest-free loans to Lutheran stu-

dents who are or will be enrolled full-time in a four-year undergraduate program at any accredited college or university. For more information or to

apply, visit pierstorf.org.

Spring is always a time of

thanks and celebration at

Messiah School. God has

blessed our students with an-

other year of learning and

growing in mind body and

spirit. Many of our students

will be enjoying field trips

this spring, including locations such as the Hen-

ry Ford Museum, Lutheran Memorial Camp,

downtown Cleveland and the Cleveland Muse-

um of Art. These trips offer our students op-

portunities for rich learning “outside the box”

of our campus walls.

We’ve already enrolled new students to join us

next year. Help us continue to serve families by

spreading the word in person or via social me-

dia. If you aren’t following us on Facebook yet

(Messiah School of Fairview Park), you’re miss-

ing great pictures and stories of what happens

at Messiah on a daily basis.

God continues to bless Messiah School with

faithful and talented servants. As this school

year ends, we’re saying farewell to a number

of faculty members and praying them into a

blessed retirement. Kathy Neumann, currently

our second grade teacher, has taught primary

grades at Messiah for over 25 years. Lorene

Mihalko has been our school psychologist for

over 30 years. Susan Westcott, currently the

church coordinator of worship and parish edu-

cation, taught middle grades at Messiah School

for over 35 years, also contributing greatly to

music programs and leading parish Bible stud-

ies. All three brought unique gifts to Messiah’s

students and families, and will be greatly

missed on staff.

Mark your calendar to celebrate the following

events with the students and staff at Messiah

School:

Saturday, May 13, 8 am: Messiah’s annual 5K

Run & 1 Mile Fun Run (see page 7)

Thursday, June 1, 7 pm: Messiah’s Spring Con-

cert

Saturday, June 3: Messiah School’s annual golf

outing at Pine Brook Golf Links

Wednesday, June 7, 1 pm: End of Year Awards

assembly

Wednesday, June 7, 2:30 pm: Closing chapel

Wednesday, June 7, 7 pm: Messiah School

graduation

Sunday, June 11: Retirement reception for

Kathy Neumann and Lorene Mihalko

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Summer Schedule Summertime is on the horizon! Beginning May 28 through Labor Day, Sunday morning worship is at 8:30 and 10 am; Saturday evening services continue at 5:30 pm. Please join us each Sunday after both services for Lemonade on the Lawn, a time of fel-lowship on the front lawn. Education Hour will re-sume on Rally Day, the Sunday after Labor Day.

Tee It Up! Annual Charity Golf Event

Register your foursome for this year’s Tee It Up Golf Outing on Saturday, June 3, at Pine Brook Golf Link in Grafton, Ohio. Registration begins at 8 am with a shotgun start at 9 am. Dinner, raffle and prizes con-clude the day. Contact Scott Straffen at 440.731.7125 or blessdby3@yahoo.com. Hole spon-sors and foursomes are needed. Proceeds benefit Messiah School Scholarship Assistance for all stu-dents. Registration forms available outside the church office or click here print a registration form.

Messiah 5K Run & 1 Mile Fun Run

Messiah Lutheran Church & School will be hosting its annual 5K Fun Run and Walk on Saturday, May 13 beginning at 8 am. With your participation and support, this event will raise money for Messiah Lu-theran School’s scholarship fund. Every student at Messiah School is a recipient of scholarship funds.

Would you like to join us this year? Click here to register online or mail in the registration form on Page 7 of Memos.

Vacation Bible School All children, ages 4-10 are invited to join us at Mes-siah for “Almighty Fortress” VBS, July 31-Aug. 4 from 9 am—Noon. Cost is $20 and the registration form can be found on the next page. Or click here to register online. To volunteer, contact Julie Bacon at jbacon@messiahfp.org.

Intergenerational Mission Trip to Detroit June 24-27

Messiah is heading back to Detroit for another mis-sion trip! Join us on this intergenerational trip June 24-27 as we partner again with Rippling Hope in service projects throughout the city. Last spring we cleaned vacant lots, boarded up houses, built bunk beds, fixed a porch, painted several rooms and more! Cost is $160. This trip is open to all, but we ask that if students are younger than 9th grade this fall, a parent or guardian attends with them. Come and share the love of Christ with our brothers and sisters in Detroit! Contact Kate Ilg or Darlene Waugh to join the team, or for more information.

Messiah’s Annual Trash to-Treasure Sale & Bake Sale Begin your spring cleaning and bring your items to Messiah for our annual Trash to Treasure sale. The proceeds from the sale are used to support various ministries at Messiah and support the fundraising efforts for our youth to attend the National Youth Gathering in 2018. Drop off begins on Sunday, June 11, from 9-11 am and continues June 12 and 13 from 9 am-7 pm. Your help is needed to make this sale a success! To volunteer, contact Kate Ilg at kateeilg@gmail.com. Do you have oversized items to be picked up? Call Brad Paton at 440.840.1861.

The donation that keeps on giving - after our sale, all the remaining items are donated to Common Threads Thrift Store, sponsored by Building Hope in the City.

Summertime Events

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40 Days/400 Bibles Results This Lenten season, Messiah raised funds to help purchase nearly 300 Bibles as part of our special Lenten Giving Project 40 Days/400 Bibles. The funds will be donated to the ELCA’s Good Gifts pro-gram and used by mission churches around the world. Written in the languages of the indigenous people, the Bibles will be used for preaching, teach-ing and the study of God’s promises by new Chris-tians who hunger for God’s Word. We thank the faithful saints at Messiah who contributed to this special project.

Redeemer Crisis Center Opportunity Would you like to help serve a meal to those in need? Join with members of Messiah to serve at the Redeemer Crisis Center on Sunday, June 11. Volunteers will meet at Messiah at 3:30 pm, and we’ll return around 6:30 pm. For more information or to sign up to serve, contact Deaconess Jeanette at 440.331.2405.

Eighth Graders’ Day of Service Eighth grade students from Messiah Lutheran School spent their Day of Service in April volunteer-ing at various local ministries. They began at Build-ing Hope in the City, where students spent time talking to adult refugees who are learning English. Next, they visited Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries to help staff sort food to be prepared for the nearly 2,000 meals sent to homeless shelters around the area each day. They also visited residents at the Men's Shelter at 2100 Lakeside. In the classroom, the students learn about faith and service, but leav-ing the classroom is another way to learn. "Today was all about getting a better understanding of the community we live in and what we can do to give back," said Principal Helen Casselberry. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Messiah Welcomes Children from the Hope Center Led by Amy Roman, Messiah welcomed a very spe-cial group of visitors in the Messiah School art room two Sundays in March -- refugee children and their family members! Messiah Church & School staff, members and Building Hope in the City volun-teers gathered with the children and their families to create art work out of clay, share a meal and en-joy the fellowship of one another.

BHITC Training Classes at Messiah Are you interested in becoming more involved in the refugee ministry at Messiah through Building Hope in the City? Sign up to attend a training ses-sion at Messiah on Tuesday, May 9, or May 23. Ref-ugee 101 from 6-7 pm, and Refugee Mentor Train-ing from 7-8 pm. Building Hope 101 is a prerequi-site training class for these classes.

For more information or to register for these clas-ses, visit buildinghopeinthecity.org.

Mission & Ministry

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Mission & Ministry

Laundry Love

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,

how can the love of God be in that person?” 1 John 3:17-18

Several members of Messiah Lutheran Church & School read an article in the June 2016 issue of Thrivent magazine about a Laundry Love outreach in the Boston area. The Laundry Love initiative con-sists of regular opportunities to help people who are struggling financially by assisting them with do-ing their laundry. For those living below the pov-erty line, washing clothes presents both a logistical problem and a financial hardship.

After prayerful consideration, Laundry Love Messi-ah was formed! Our mission is to assist people with a simple need; clean clothes. Others who have par-ticipated in this program have discovered that Laundry Love is about much more than the clothes. It's about being a listening ear, praying whenever the opportunity or need is there, and letting our friends and neighbors know that we love them. We want to do what Jesus would do in the community.

We are partnered with Leo’s Laundromat, less than a mile away from our campus, at 20210 Lorain Road. Our Laundry Love effort at Leo’s is registered on the national Laundry Love site map. This allows people to find us as a guest or as a volunteer.

Since beginning Laundry Love Messiah in January 2017, we have found that the cost of doing a guest’s laundry ranges from $10-20, and to-date we have provided 2,260 pounds of free laundry! Our prayer is that we're giving hope--by donating something practical, basic and dignifying. Simply by alleviating the financial burden of washing and dry-ing clothes, families can spend their money on food, medicine, utilities and other necessities.

Our ministry team is accepting tax-deductible funds to sustain our Laundry Love effort in the communi-ty. We are developing and building local business partnerships that will help us care for Laundry Love participants. Dominic’s Santos Restaurant, next door to Messiah, and Herb’s Tavern in Rocky River have generously donated casual dinners for this outreach. Thrivent Action Team members have do-nated laundry supplies, beverages and kid’s activi-ties.

Laundry Love happens on the last Thursday day of each month from 6 to 8 pm at Leo’s Laundromat. Volunteers and financial sponsors are needed to help make this new outreach ministry a success. For more information, contact Laundry Love team lead-er Janice Snyder at jsnyder@messiahfp.org.

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May 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

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7p Joy Ringers 7:30p Basket-ball

2 7a Faith at Work 7p New Mem-ber Class 7p Boy Scouts

3 9:10a School Chapel 10a Bible Study 8p Pints with Pas-tor

4 7p Choir Rehearsal

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6 CityServe 1p Tolowitzki/Fabritius Wedding 5:30p Holy Communion

7 8:30a Holy Communion 9:50a Education Hour 11a Holy Communion 7:30p AA

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7p Church Council 7p Joy Ringers 7:30p Basket-ball

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6-8p BHITC Training 7p New Mem-ber Class 7p Boy Scouts 7p Cub Scouts

10 9:10a School Chapel 10a Bible Study 8p Pints with Pas-tor

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7p Choir Rehearsal

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13 8a Messiah School 5K & 1 mile Fun Run 5:30p Holy Communion

14 8:30a Holy Communion 9:50a Second Sundays Education Hour 11a Holy Communion 7:30p AA

15 7p Trustees 7p Monthly Women’s Bible Study 7p Joy Ringers 7:30p Basket-ball

16 7p New Mem-ber Class 7p Boy Scouts

17 9:10a School Chapel 10a Bible Study 8p Pints with Pas-tor

18 7p Choir Rehearsal

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20 11a Confirmation Rehearsal 1:30p Bevins/Koza Wedding 4:30p Skoda/Buynak Wedding 5:30p Holy Communion

21 8:30a Holy Communion 9:50a Education Hour 10a Confirmation Photo 11a Holy Communion: Service of Confirmation 7:30p AA

22 7p Joy Ringers 7:30p Basket-ball

23 6-8p BHITC Training 7p New Mem-ber Class 7p Boy Scouts 7p Cub Scouts

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10a Bible Study 8p Pints with Pas-tor

25 9:10a Ascen-sion with School Chapel 6-8p Laundry Love 7p Ascension Worship & Reception

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27 5:30p Holy Communion

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8:30a Holy Communion 10:00a Holy Communion 7:30a AA

29 Memorial Day Church & School Closed

30 7 Boy Scouts

31 9:10a School Chapel 10a Bible Study 8p Pints with Pas-tor

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June 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 7p Messiah School Spring Concert

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3 8a Tee It Up Mes-siah’s Golf Outing 5:30p Holy Communion

4 8:30a Holy Communion 10:00a Holy Communion 11a Retirement Recep-tion for Jeanette Rebeck 7:30p AA

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7p Joy Ringers 7:30p Basketball

6 7a Faith

at Work

Messiah School Field Day 7p Boy Scouts

7 Last Day of School! 9:10am Closing School Chapel 7p School Graduation

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Summer Break Begins

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10 5:30p Holy Communion

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8:30a Holy Commun-ion//New Members 10:00a Holy Communion 11a Retirement Recep-tion for Kathy Neumann & Lorene Mihalko 7:30p AA

12 7p Church Council 7p Joy Ringers 7:30p Basketball

13 7p Boy Scouts 7p Cub Scouts

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17 3p Sachs/Peskorski Wedding 5:30p Holy Communion

18 8:30a Holy Communion 10:00a Holy Communion 7:30p AA

19 7p Trustees

20 7p Boy Scouts

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23

24 5:30p Holy Communion

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8:30a Holy Communion 10:00a Holy Communion 7:30p AA

26 7:30 Basketball

27 7 Boy Scouts 7 Cub Scouts

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29 6-8p Laundry Love

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Trash to Treasure Sale @ Messiah (Gym)

Synod Assembly

Intergenerational Mission Trip to Detroit, MI

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Non-Profit Org. US. Postage

PAID Cleveland

Ohio 44126 Permit No. 3829

Messiah Lutheran Church

21485 Lorain Rd,

Fairview Park, OH 44126

Phone (440) 331-2405

www.messiahchurchfairview.org

Dated Materials

Issue 4

May 2016

Drawing in to Christ . . . Building up in Christ . . . Sending out for Christ. . .

To the glory of God, through the strength of the Spirit.

Messiah Memos

Insert Label Here

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Thank You Sunday Morning Education Leaders Preschool-4th Grades: Jason Epperson, Colleen Parrott, Abby and Jacob Pierse, Nancy Richter, Alli Zaremba, High School Teens on Second Sundays

High School – Kate Ilg

Sunday Morning Adult Education Set-Up, & Fel-lowship – Don Braun, Ron Coulter, Sharon Foote, Dave Janetzke, Ruth King, Dianne McDonald,

Adult Forum – Pastor Burce, David Kukelhan, Lynn Schlessman, Susan Westcott and Guest Speakers

Confirmation Leaders

5th & 6th Grades – Joe King, Tim Neumann, Lind-say Rados, Sharon Ratvasky, David Ressler, Tharasa Szabo

7th & 8th Grades – Pastor Burce, Deanna McLeeson, Tim Rosenberger, Peggy Schauer, Bonnie Thiel