Bergstrasse Evangelical Lutheran Church June 2012

Worship

June, July and August is at 9:30 AM.

There is no

Sunday School.

Richard Sarker June 10

Richard Sarker is now home from Bangladesh after three months in which he supervised the construction of pastoral housing, a medical clinic, and a school. The work was done in his home village, a poor rural village, whose congregation Bergstrasse helped fund a new roof for their church several years ago. Funds for this project came from Bergstrasse and one other Lutheran congregation and from a fundraising dinner sponsored by Richard and his Akron Mennonite church. Our gift of funds to replace the roof on the village church several years ago resulted in a rebirth of the congregation. Now the completion of this ambitious project will expand and strengthen the ministry of this village church for many years to come. On Sunday, June 10, at our morning worship, Richard will be with us to tell us the story of this amazing mission project, and show pictures. Lives have been changed, and we had a part in that. Come, see, and hear how our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh have partnered with us in the gospel to change lives near and far.

June 9 7:30 AM

Lunch will be provided

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The Bell is published monthly (except a combined July-August edition) by

Bergstrasse Lutheran Church 9 Hahnstown Road Ephrata, PA 17522

(717) 733-7808 www.bergstrasselutheran.com

bergluth@dejazzd.com

Worship - 9:30 AM

The Rev. Herbert A. Lohr, Pastor 687-6460 (home)

Jean Wilhelm, newsletter editor

Due date for the July/August newsletter is June 17.

June 3 deodorant, powder 10 bars of soap 17 toothpaste and toothbrushes, toilet paper 24 cereal

Congratulations to those with June birthdays: 6 Brad H Madalyn A 9 Ron M 11 Naomi R 15 Donna H 17 Barry K 20 Jean Fr 22 Jean W 23 Grace M 26 Nicole W

Anniversaries 1 Neil and Vera S 10 Ray and Lydia M 12 John and Mary D 27 Jeff and Beth W

Community Meal June 28

Bergstrasse will be hosting the community meal at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Thursday, June 28 at 6 PM. Anyone willing to help with preparing, setting up, serving or clean up, please see Almanara B or Mary K. We will be accepting monetary donations to help with the cost of the meal. Envelopes for donations will be available at both entrances of the sanctuary and may be placed in the offering plates.

Strawberry festival Luther Acres

Saturday, June 9 11 AM—1 PM Rain or shine

$3 strawberries, shortcake

and ice cream

Friends of Luther Acres $3 hot dog, chips and

drink

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The Rev. William H. Willimon, a Bishop in the United Methodist Church, has become one of my favorite writers and preachers. In a recent sermon preparation journal he wrote: “A friend of mine—a pastor of an African-American congregation in one of the US’s dilapidated inner cities—was proudly showing me around his new church. His sanctuary had been built and just dedicated at an expense of two million dollars. He showed me the organ, his grand pulpit, the vast seating capacity. I was duly impressed. But after the tour I asked him, ‘Sam, are you at all bothered by the fact that your congregation has spent this much money, on this fine building, in the middle of the neighborhood where there is such terrible poverty?’ Sam shook his head in some chagrin and some aggravation, smiling to himself at the question. ‘You white people just can’t stand for people to have a good time, particularly if it’s black folk having a good time’, he said. ‘This is more than a building. This place is a sermon. That sermon says,

If there is ugliness, poverty, and despair around you, it’s not because God intended that way. Here, visibly before you, is what God intended. The world where you live is not the world as God created it to be. Come on inside here and discover what God meant for you. This church is free space where folk get a chance to stand up, to shout, and to move. This church is a sign, a witness, and act of defiance against the ugliness of the world as it is.’” I really like that statement, “This place is a sermon.” As a congregation known as “the church on the hill”, our Sanctuary, cemetery, and grounds are indeed a “sermon” to the rest of world. That’s why we have been working so diligently for years to upgrade, beautify, and care for them all. Worship at Bergstrasse is indeed a chance to experience some of what God intended “against the ugliness of the world as it is.” But there is another truth that should be equally visible at worship at Bergstrasse. We are also a sermon that gives folks a chance to see and experience God’s “alternate community” in a world where sin casts its ugly shadow on people and their relationships. Here we display what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We confess our sins to God and each other; we seek and

show forgiveness readily; we love one another as God in Jesus Christ loved us; and we sacrifice self in and for the needs of others near and far. We are part of God’s new creation as disciples of Jesus Christ. As such, we are a work in progress, always being transformed by Word and Sacrament, a “light to the nations”, what it means to be truly human, to be like Jesus. As we worship during these summer Sundays of the Pentecost season, we will have many opportunities to learn about following Jesus. With such guidance from God, our Father, we may be regularly transformed from sinners into God’s new community of love, a witness “against the ugliness of the world as it is.” O come let us worship the Lord! Worship regularly this summer. Be a good sermon to others. Pastor Herb

Pastor Lohr will be on vacation June 18—July 1. Pastor Martin Schwartz will preach June 24 and July 1.

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Balance as of 4/30/12 General Fund $ 6,774.65 Improvement Fund $ 6,616.80 Mission Plus $50,609.44 Mission Plus 2 $ 2,657.47 Parsonage Secty Dep/ Memorial Fund $ 1,738.12

Handicap Accessible $ 745.00

Organ fund $ 107.92 YTD Deficit - $1,639.41

Bonnie G Lyman H Terry H Shirley M Deb P Alex R Dennis R Polly S Jerry T Clarence W Richard A Nancy A(Mildred W’s daughter) Connie A (Lisa C’s aunt) Doris B John B Clyde B Joe C (Lisa C’s husband) Sandy D (Ron D’s mother) Theresa D Rachel E (friend of Annalin B) Naomi G (Jane P’s mother) Samuel H (Lyman and Ron H’s brother) Addison H (Wendy H’s granddaughter) Henry K Tim K (co-worker of Chris A) Jeorjette L (Peggy R’s friend) Don L (Pastor L’s father) Wanda L (friend of Deb B) Lucas M (Mary D’s neighbor) Will M

“The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.” —Ralph W. Sockman

Dianne M (friend of Deb Burkholder) Ruth M(Darlene K’s sister) Martha R (Mary Ann S’s mother in Bangladesh) Susan R Terry S (Polly G’s nephew) Roxanne S Thelma S (Jean F’s sister) Patrick S (Peggy R’s brother) Lori S Dolores S (friend of Susan and Brad H) June S Lauren T Ruth T (Darlene K’s aunt) Gladys W

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Worship participants for June

Ushers Communion Ushers June 3

Altar Guild

June

Curt H Nevin R Jane P Darlene K

Chad L Brad H Darlene K

Mary K Jane P

June 3 10 17 24

Greeter Cleone R Mabel B Sandy S

Lector Deb B Anne L Chris A Bonnie G

Acolyte Blake R Justin C Brandon R Jordan C

Nursery Kathy L Megan A Wanda and Kendall M

Lisa and Brooke S

Counters Dave and Jean W Bonnie G Chad L

Bonnie G Chad L

Lyman and Selma H

Organist Gail S Anne L Gail S Anne L

Flowers Ella Mae S Lyman and Selma H

Bulletin Neil and Vera S

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Why Not (save) Minot?? By Peggy R

Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” My recent trip to Minot, North Dakota provided new eyes for me. Minot is a small town, population about 45,000, in the north-west corner of North Dakota. Last June, about 12 inches of rain fell in two days, on top of 100 inch snow melt. This caused the Sourie River, which winds through the town, to overflow and massive flooding swallowed the town. Minot is situated in a lower plain surrounded by hills, giving the effect of a bowl in which Minot is the bottom. The resulting floods left water rising and then standing over five and a half feet high for over three to five weeks. The miracle of Minot is that there was no loss of life, but the horrific damage has only begun to be repaired. Even now, along the river, furniture, children’s tricycles, and other household items can be seen high in the tree tops. I traveled with the North Lancaster Conference of Lutheran Disaster Relief. We were among the first volunteers to stay at Hope Village; a camp just opened the week before, to house volunteer groups. It is situated on a large property owned by Our Savior Lutheran Church, whose congregation generously agreed to allow it to be used to shelter and feed volunteers. Hope Village is a truly Ecumenical effort, wherein Presbyterians run the camp; Methodists do the casework and interview homeowners; Lutherans and Mennonites oversee the actual demolition/construction, and Baptist Disaster Relief, up from Mississippi, provides the food and all the cooking. (A REALLY GOOD CHOICE!) The camp facilities are, at this point, pretty primitive. I shared a cargo container, the women’s side about 9 x 20 feet, had three lockers and six bunks and no heat or cooling. Very cozy. Shower and toilet facilities were provided in additional trailers about 200 yards away from the housing. This only became an issue after three and a half days of rain accompanied by 45 mph winds fell on an already muddy plain. A night trip to the toilet facilities in the dark was a bit tricky. We did our best to navigate with flashlights on plywood strips laid down as walkways. Our work details were divided into five groups. Our group did everything from painting, wallpaper scraping, hazmat cleaning of mold and mildew, mudding drywall and removing carpet stripping with hammers and “wonder bars.” Each house we worked retained its own “watermark” of damages sustained. All but one were still in FEMA trailers. Everywhere was ruined vegetation and mold lines over my head. I was able to meet three of the homeowners where I was working. An 80 year old man, who as a young contractor had built his own house; an elderly single woman, and a widow whose son had taken a one year leave of absence from his teaching job in Alaska. Every one of them, including the young man, cried when we came to them; it meant so much to know they were not forgotten. It was incredibly moving.

(Continued on page 7)

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The last house I worked on was still in the worst condition. Walls and windows still all boarded up—no water or electric. Shannon, the young man from Alaska, had told us that the wait time for an electrician is between two to four months. I witnessed such determination to survive. None of these people, or most people in Minot, had flood insurance. The FEMA allowance could help purchase materials, but they looked to us, gratefully, to provide labor. The devastation here is not only physical damage and loss, but emotional damage as well. The two most important things we brought to these homeowners were hope, in the knowledge that their plight is not forgotten, and an opportunity for each to tell their story. There are openings in our lives of which we know nothing. Having faced a flood alone last year, I understood the bewildering circumstance that leaves one so vulnerable. Given the opportunity to go, I was ready to pull on my boots, and go to work. But nothing prepared me for the overflowing, genuine gratitude and life-infusing hope I witnessed there; simply because I walked in to help. Going to Minot was an opening of heart, spirit and vision for the lives we touched, as well as for myself. Thank you for your most generous support in allowing me to travel to Minot. God is Great!

(Continued from page 6)

This is Bergstrasse

People often ask where Bergstrasse Evangelical Lutheran Church got its name. In his 1977 “History of Bergstrasse Evangelical Church”, Dr. Henry Snyder Gehman gives several local ideas of the source of the name, but he concludes the name probably came from the southern part of Germany, the area where many of our forefathers had lived before settling here. When the site for the church was chosen, it reminded the founders of the Die Bergstrasse (The Mountain Street), a road along the western slope of the Odenwald mountain range east of the Rhine River leading south from Darmstadt. Die Bergstrasse actually dates back to the second century A.D. when the Romans built their Strata Montana (Mountain Street) on the slope of the Odenwald, which later became Die Bergstrasse. Next month: The Founders

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Vacation Bible School Volunteers At Salem Lutheran Church Needed And Appreciated!

July 8—12, 6:15—7:30 PM If you are between the ages of 9 and 109, we are hoping you will sign up to be a Bible School assistant one or more evenings from 6:15-7:30 p.m., Sunday-Thursday July 8-12 at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in “Lincoln.” We need extra hands to help our students (especially the youngest students who are 3) with games and other activities.

Contact Sharon G jsegoodman@yahoo.com , Connie K ckirby@dejazzd.com, Salem at office@salemephrata.org or call 733-6646.

We have chair persons planning the stories, games, snacks, and other activities, but the more help we have, particularly in helping the youngest children, the better! Some of the activities where we need volunteers include:

Transitions “Shepherds”: Volunteers are needed to escort their group through each of their activities so the children always have familiar faces with them even though the activity and activity leaders will change. These shepherds are also needed to carry a bag from activity to activity to keep any of the children’s prizes/handouts/crafts they have acquired from getting mislaid.

Story time: We are choosing short Bible stories and need people to volunteer to read them to the children! There will be three different classes (we will split the age 3-8 participants into a younger class, an older class, and a mixed ages class) so each story will be read three times.

Snacks: Our snack leaders could use extra hands in serving and cleaning up. Snack time is during the story time slot, so you can sign up as a reader and also be a snack assistant!

Outdoor games: The games leaders would appreciate volunteers to assist with active games! (We are also looking for game ideas!)

Bible Bingo: “Transition shepherds” are especially needed for the younger age group who will need help in locating the pictures on the bingo boards, placing markers, and selecting prizes.

We hope all volunteers can participate in whole group activities (songs, prayers) at the beginning and end of each evening.

If you are interested in helping with any of these activities on any or all of these evenings, mark these dates on your calendar and let us know! Watch for registration information for the age 3-8 participants closer to the summer.

We hope to see you there! Salem’s VBS committee

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ST. PAUL’S LUTHERAN CHURCH is sponsoring a bus trip to

NEW YORK CITY & BROADWAY!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2012

Prepare ye for Godspell, the beloved classic from Stephen Schwartz, the Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer of Wicked and Pippin. Enjoy all the good gifts of one of the most enduring shows of all time as it comes to Broadway in a brand new, intimately staged, one-of-a-kind production. Raise your spirit with the Tony-nominated score filled with the popular hits “Day By Day,” “Learn Your Lessons Well” and “Turn Back, O Man.” This timeless tale of friendship, loyalty and love has touched the hearts of countless theatergoers all over the world—and now you can join the celebration as a spectacular ensemble of Broadway’s best performs the greatest story ever told. So come sing about love—at Godspell. Tickets for the show & bus: $135.00 Tickets for the bus only: $50.00 Call 484-4885 for seating availability but seats will not be guaranteed until full payment is received. Deadline for show tickets is August 1. (No refunds issued after deadline.) If available bus seats will continue to be sold but after August 1 there will be no refunds. Confirmation and board-ing information will be mailed once payment is received. Drop off/pick-up location will be near the Circle in the Square Theater at 1633 Broadway. Checks can be made out to: St. Paul’s Lutheran Church 80 East Main St. PO Box 385 Adamstown, PA 19501 Please include names, address, phone and e-mail (if available). Departing from St. Paul’s @ 8:15 AM and returning around 9PM