Stone Ridge, NY Rev. Caroline Berninger, Pastor

RONDOUT VALLEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

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O From the Pastor

February 2016

a cantata for Easterome Touch the RobeC

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What is a Church?

Holy Week SchedulePalm Sunday March 20: 10 am worship--dramatic reading! "Maundy" Thursday March 24th 7 pm Holy Communion and "Tenebrae" (Shadows)—perhaps the most deeply moving worship experiences of the yearGood Friday March 25th : time and location to be setSaturday March 26th: Cantata "Come Touch the Robe", 2 pmEaster Sunday March 27th Son-Rise service at Rochester Town Park, 6:30 amEaster Sunday Worship at RVUMC: 10 am! Hallelujah!

n a cold, dark January Friday about 60 people congregated in our sanctuary

for a wonderful event: a piano concert! The Rev. Charles Ryu, pastor of St. Paul’s UMC in Middletown, played works by Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin. Despite the caliber of the musician and the seriousness of the program, admission was free…with voluntary donations to “Imagine No Malaria”, the UMC’s initiative to eliminate malaria in Africa--through education, prevention and treatment--in partnership with other groups. Nearly $600 was raised by this event—Hallelujah! A number of people observed that the Rev. Ryu’s commentary before he played the pieces helped them to appreciate the music more and understand what they heard, not only technically but also spiritually.How true it is that deeper knowledge leads to greater understanding and appreciation, sometimes of things we have always taken for granted. This year’s Lenten study, on sections 2 and 3 of Handel’s Messiah and the Biblical passages contained therein, aims to deepen our understanding and appreciation of both Handel’s music and the Biblical background. There promises to be “something for everyone” in these weeks of exploration—even if you haven’t leapt at the chance for previous study groups, this one might be for you! (see the info elsewhere in the newsletter for specifics)I look forward to everyone’s being able to grow in grace in this upcoming Lenten season. For some interesting background about Lent itself (and other suggestions of spiritual practices you may try) there is a good “page” put out by The Upper Room (the people who publish the daily devotional booklets we have at RVUMC): http://www.upperroom.org/lent101. Let me know if you don’t have Internet access and would like me to print it out for you. P.S. THANK YOU RVUMC for the donation in my name to Clinton Avenue UMC and the lovely cashmere cardigan…you warm my heart and my body!

uilding? People? Community? A Family? A Church is all of these things and more. A Mom was driving with her 5 year old on the way to Church one Sunday when the 5 year old

says “I wish God was still alive.” The Mom replies ‘why?’ The 5 year old answers: “then we wouldn’t have to go to Church.” Why do we go to Church? And how do we continue to make our Church grow and be a place that welcomes everyone no matter what religion they practice (and face it we are all ‘practicing’)? An age old question with many ideas and answers. We as a society have many distractions from Church, but do want to have faith. We want to believe that with all the madness that we see on a daily basis, there is still faith. Elaine Fiore and Maggie Colan are collecting ideas to try with the goal being to grow our congregation. If you have ideas of things to try, email them o Elaine (myantilane@gmail.com) or Maggie (magoo737@msn.com) or drop it in the mail to one of our attention: PO Box 295 Stone Ridge, NY 12484 or drop it by the Church at 25 Schoonmaker Lane. We will be collecting the ideas and presenting them to the Administrative Council at some point in the future. With 8 weeks until spring when we will see God’s world grow from tiny seeds, let’s find some tiny seeds of our own hopefully to grow.

Sympathy to Joe Kraft's family on the death of his sister:

Marjorie Stinson, died Jan. 23rd.

Grace and peace,Pastor Caroline

his year’s Easter Cantata will be Pepper Choplin’sbeautiful and haunting“Come Touch the Robe”featuring an orchestral accompaniment.

Saturday, March 26th at 2:00 pmRondout Valley United Methodist Church

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Please Don’t Forget. The need is ever presentand We can make a difference!

Want Chili????It's time for the annual chili sale on Souper Bowl Sunday, February 7, 2016. Chili will be on sale from 1pm-4pm and is $8.00/qt. All proceeds go to youth missions. Proceeds from previous years have gone to such places as the Children's Home in Binghamton and to benefit local families with children at Christmas time. Hope to see you there!

Where Have All the Children Gone?

Maggie ColanYouth education coordinator

SOUPER BOWL

t the direction of the RV Administrative Board, the Trustees are meeting on Jan. 31 to discuss preliminary ideas for renovating the kitchen. Many of the cupboards

are showing the result of over forty years of use as is the countertop. Funds from a bequest to the church from the estate of Peg Carro will be used for this project

RV TRUSTEES REPORT

MISSION REPORT

A T t the Administrative Board meeting on November 17, 2015 we voted to use our mission funds to help the following organizations: $100.00 to Hospice, $100.00 to

our local food pantry at Christ the King Church, $300.00 to Clinton Ave. United Methodist Church toward their outreach programs, $1000.00 ($500. from the general mission fund and $500. from the youth mission fund) to the Children's Home in Binghamton, and $100.00 to the Marbletown Elementary school for gifts for needy students. Along with the money donated to the Children's Home, the congregation donated many much needed items and $505.00 in additional money. Thank you one and all. A special thanks to Arnold Jones for transporting all of the gifts and money to the school.Please remember to continue to bring in donations for the food pantry. Hunger is not just just on the holidays.Elaine and Beckie have set on a quest to take 100 health and hygiene kits to Annual Conference in June. Please grab a list of items from the back counter during coffee hour and let’s make this happen.

t’s not too soon to start to think about RVUMC’s annual “In the Garden Tea & Plant Sale”. Propagation of indoor plants can be started now so by May you will have lush greens with

a good rooting system ready for potting and selling. I have started to propagate Aloe, and Spider Plants and I will root Jade and Hoya and a few others next week by using a clean jar with about 2” of water. Cut healthy sprigs from he bottom of the plant with a sharp knife and insert into the water. Place in a diffused light setting and watch it grow. Root starting is easy and rewarding. In the next few months vegetable and flowering plant seeds may be started indoors using peat pots in drainage containers under glass or clear plastic covers. Do not place in direct sunlight as the seedlings could burn.Questions? Call Elaine at 845 687-9061

Plants, plants, plants by Elaine FioreMondays at 9:30 a.m; Weds. or Thurs. evenings (evening time & day to be determined by participants) beginning Feb. 8th at RV United Methodist Church

Contact Pastor Caroline to join:pastor@rvumc.org 845-687-9090

Resource Book is available directly from Kerygma 800-KERYGMA (537-9462)http://kerygma.com/products/hallelujahFor $17 plus shipping; or try Amazon.

You may love the music, but do you know the Scripture?

Appreciate Handel’s Messiah More Deeply

...and Have Fun!!

Think Spring!

he Rondout Valley United Methodist Church congregation misses the sounds of children in Church. We have a nursery if your child gets too fidgety; we offer

youth Christian classes(Feed Your Faith) for pre-school through High School; we offer a children's time during the service that often even includes our Pastor's unique twist on things. Hope to see you all on Sunday morning at 10am.

Thank you,Judy

SUPER BOWL SUNDAYFebruary 7, 2016

from 1pm-4pm Rondout Valley United Methodist Church

proceeds to benefit Youth missions locally and globaly

(corner of Schoonmaker Lane and 209)

$8.00/qt

STONE RIDGERONDOUT VALLEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCHBox 295Stone Ridge, N. Y. 12484

visit us at: www.rvumc.org

Thank you to Tom Fiore and Dick Mullen for replacing the kitchen sink faucet!At end of 2015, the RV Church had paid all its bills and is ready to move on to 2016. If you need to catch up on your pledge, please do it as soon as possible. We are very grateful to several significant and unexpected gifts which have helped us a great deal. We are very fortunate that we are remembered financially by those who are no longer a part of our congregation. If anyone has a clever idea for the theme for our fund drive this spring please pass it on to Mary Jones. We owe thanks to our Financial Secretary, Shirley Gilliland and our Treasurer, Robert Taylor. These are important and sometimes time consuming jobs which are little noticed.Thanks to all those who baked and then baked some more for the cookie sales. The Thanksgiving sale brought in more than $800 and the Christmas one more than $1,100. Only crumbs for the church mouse remained after the Christmas one. We are lucky to have many who bake and do it so well. Tom Atkins was accosted by a customer as he walked in the door with cookies his wife had made. They were sold before they reached the table!Also thanks to Stephen Shirak and Nancy Taylor who picked out and cut a beautiful Christmas tree – no artificial stuff for us! Beckie Lowe created all the remembrance angels and it was meaningful to look at them and recall some of the people they represented. Those still among us are waiting for their halos to float by. Among the angels was the name of Bob Elston.Without Bob we would not have had a piano and, therefore, not a concert in January. Before Bob died he put his funds in the NY Conference Program which assured him an income and would leave something to his church if funds remained when he died. This happened and a portion of his bequest was used to purchase the present piano.Thanks to Bob & Dick for the installation of a new walkway at parsonageThanks to Arnold Jones for preaching Jan. 3Thanks to Jordan Scruggs, for preaching Jan. 17

Please remember that RVUMC is registered with two services that provide a donation to the church when you make purchases from various retailers. They are:

Both Goodshop (part of goodsearch) and UMCMarket work with many retailers: big box stores, department stores, but also specialty retailers and hotels and travel. Just make sure you go to whatever "store" you are purchasing online from by going through Goodshop or UMCMarket and that Rondout Valley United Methodist Church is entered as your "cause" BEFORE you start to fill your "cart"

Please continue to use Goodshopwhen shopping online?

www.goodshop.com www.umcmarket.org

ookies

Create&

Sunday February 21st

at RVUMC1-4 pm

Come and create a beautiful springtime painting.

Fantastistic for Gifts !!!

$35 Artist Jill Obrig will guide you through an easy step by step process.

All profit goes to RVUMC

No Artistic experience required!!

Take home a Beautiful Original painting !!!includes All Materials (and cookies) !!

See the painting and sign up at the church or callJill at (845) 687-4110

(845) 687-9090(845) 687-4868

CHURCH PHONE:PASTOR’S HOME:

e-mail for newsletter: bartok@braxtonh.com

Upcoming Calendar Events through Easter

January 10 - Second Sunday Supper 5:30 PMJanuary 19 - Ad Council meeting 6:30 PMJanuary 19 - Newsletter articles dueJanuary 24 - Newsletter distributedJanuary 31 - Souper Bowl Sunday food collection bags distributed at ChurchJanuary 31 – Trustee meeting after Church February 7 – SPRC meeting after ChurchFebruary 7 - Souper Bowl Sunday food and donations collected at ChurchFebruary 7 - Chili Sale (take out)– Youth fund raising for missions project 2-5 PMFebruary 10 - Ash Wednesday Service TBDFebruary 14 - Second Sunday Supper 5:30 PM February 16 - Ad Council meeting 6:30 PM March 13 - Trustee meeting after ChurchMarch 13 - Second Sunday Supper 5:30 PMMarch 15 - Ad Council meeting 6:30 PMMarch 15 - Newsletter articles dueMarch 20 - Newsletter distributedMarch 19 - Easter Cookie Sale Saturday 10-2March 20– Palm Sunday Service 10:00 AMMarch 24 - Maundy Thursday Service 7:00 PM at RVUMCMarch 25 - Good Friday Service 7:30 PM (location TBD)March 26 - Easter Cantata Community Performance 2:00 PM at RVUMCMarch 27 - Son Rise Service 6:30 AM Rochester Town Park Easter Service 10:00 AM