Pastor's Corner
Ezekiel 37 is one of my favorite Old Testament stories. Ezekiel finds himself in the middle of a dry land full of bones. No life to be found, void of hope and a future. What a lonely place that must have been, and how depressing! I mean if we are honest with ourselves there are times in our lives and careers when we feel as if we also have been dumped into the valley. We sit in meeting after meeting at work with new, fresh ideas and all we get in response is “no way, that won’t work, you’re crazy, we have never done it that way before.” Or maybe your relationship has led you to the valley where you always do the same things over and over again, never trying anything new and exciting. It is a tough place to be when you’re looking for life, and want to live life. However, unfortunately, we are too often surrounded by those who would rather die in comfort, than live with change and uncertainty. For sure, life is often scary and out of control, and there is nothing more controlled than just lying there dead. God wants to show Ezekiel and you and me that there is nothing in that valley that glorifies Him. He has to come and breathe His Spirit into the dead bones to bring them to life, and then and only then is He glorified.
Brothers and Sisters lately we have seen God’s breath breathing new life into our church. We have seen many new faces in worship, we have seen many new programs proposed and started, and we have even seen a proposal for a new building. This is scary stuff for those who are happy with the status quo and the way things used to be. I mean new people sit in our seats and we may have to find a new seat or rudely ask them to move, in which case we won’t see many new people. New programs mean new ways of thinking and doing, and that is scary. On top of all that there are these crazy folks out there talking about a new building; don’t they know we are fine the way we are? I don’t mean to be flippant, but I think if you take a step back and look with Christ-like eyes, you will see Ezekiel’s story. We can choose to be bones or we can choose to be alive.
If we were to take a hard look at church history and our church’s history, we would see that our Christian ancestors had to make some radical changes in the way they did things or we wouldn’t be here today. When Sunday school was first proposed, the Church at large thought it was crazy and it would never last. When music was first introduced, the same reaction occurred. When single men and woman were allowed to sit together in worship, some thought the end had come. If we were to go back in time and worship and run church the way we do now, we would have been thrown out of the church. Make no mistake, things have changed over the years and they will continue to change. If we stop growing and changing, then we die. Is that what we want?
In closing I would like to quote theologian Richard E. Byrd, “give wind and tide a chance to change.” You may just find yourself liking the new ways, and in a few years they will be the old, comfortable ways.
Until Sunday, Pastor Dan
Stewards
• We are looking into the prices of the materials to build a platform for the praise band and their instruments.
• Another event in the works for Stewards is an after church dinner fundraiser to help cover the costs to re-vamp the bathrooms. We will be looking to repaint the walls, retile the floors, and replace the toilets.
• With spring just around the corner, weather-wise, we will be looking for help with cleaning the yard waste and soon we will be back to mowing the lawn.
• The copier in the office has been replaced. As many of you remember, we had no bulletins a few weeks ago due to the old copier finally dying of old age. The new copier can do what needs to be done, but we do ask that you ask for help in making copies as there are settings that need to be changed with each type of copy made.
Witness
• The Clothing Giveaway was on March 19th. We were pleased to serve 101 adults and 8 children. This is the most we have had for our one day giveaways. Blessings to all who helped.
• The next Community Meal is set for Saturday, April 16th from 4 to 7pm. The set up and cooking time will begin at noon that day. If you know of anyone who would benefit from coming that day, please pass along the information. Please ask them to call the church on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 8-11am to leave a name and number of those coming.
• We continue to have fundraisers for the Camp Scholarship Fund. We will be selling Easter Candy this month to build the fund. We will also be doing the Easter breakfast this year instead of the Youth Group. Our goal is for us to be able to send any and all of our kids to camp this summer, based on desire to go not on need of assistance.
Nurture
• Easter is soon with us.
• We will be soon passing out Flower Order Forms. We have always decorated the front of the sanctuary with beautiful spring flowers and this year will be no different.
• We have already shared the service of Ash Wednesday together and begun the season of Lent. The season continues this month as we head to Palm Sunday, April 17th which is the beginning of Holy Week. During Worship on Palm Sunday we will be having baptism of the Youth who have chosen to join the church family membership. On Thursday, April 21 at 7pm we will come together to celebrate Love Feast with feet washing and communion. On Friday there will be a Choir cantata and scripture readings with communion for Good Friday Service which is also at 7pm. There will also be a service on Holy Saturday, April 23rd at 7pm. This is a candle service of the extinction of the light.
• This leads us to Easter Sunday, the Service of Light! SonRise service will be at 8am followed by breakfast. Easter Worship Service is at 10:20.
Christian Education
• The CE commission has finalized the job description for the Youth Minister position. It is now posted both on the church website (brookparkbrethren.org) and in the narthex. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the position, please forward this information to them.
• We are looking for adults interested in helping out with planning and fundraising for the Jr. and Sr. High Youth, as members of the new Youth Support Team. This group will plan and direct the youth fundraising efforts (for NYC, trips, etc.), will coordinate transportation and chaperoning for youth events, and at least one representative from the YST will attend the second half of each of the Sunday afternoon youth meetings. Please let Matt, Meredith, or Tammy know if you are interested.
• The first few weeks of the new Sunday School schedule have gone very well, and overall attendance is up. Youth meeting attendance and Soteria service attendance are also increasing. Thank you to all of the teachers, helpers, and nursery staff for sharing your gifts.
• Bibles for the children and youth who had not yet received one were ordered and distributed. If you did not receive one and would like one, please let us know.
• Pastor Dan’s baptism class is currently underway and going well.
Deacons
• The book cart will be wheeled out weekly in to the vestibule. Check out the books for some great reading. Donations are accepted too.
• The Deacons are ready to start the process of nominations for new deacons. Every year three deacons come off and three new go on for a four year term beginning July 1st. Please take a few minutes and fill out a form with up to three names to call to be deacons. The forms must be completed by May 15th.
Other Important Tidbits
• Offering Envelopes-If you'd like your own box of offering envelopes, please call or see Margi Jay.
• Recycling-You know helping make the Earth a greener place is near and dear to my (Margi’s) heart. Perhaps you have noticed the green and yellow dumpsters in the school and city parking lots. You can put all your newspapers, junk mail, magazines, phone books, (yes, they take them now), and lightweight cardboard (ex: cereal boxes, granola bar boxes, anything not corrugated). The city has 2 dumpsters in the football field parking (across from city hall) lot where you can take heavyweight cardboard. They are marked cardboard only. You will notice your amount of trash drop significantly if you recycle all your paper and cardboard.
• Brethren Disaster Ministries is supporting Church World Service with its relief efforts in Japan. If you feel called to donate gifts of money you can go online at www.brethren.org/emergencydisasterfund or send donations to
Emergency Disaster Fund 1451 Dundee Ave
Elgin, IL 60120
From My Desk To Yours - Karen
I was out of the office most of the week of St. Patrick’s Day, and when I came for choir practice, imagine my surprise to see the whole flower bed outside the office window filled with purple crocuses already up and blooming. What a beautiful treat that was. Living in the Cleveland area, we have learned that Spring comes when it is ready, calendar or not. When it does finally really arrive, we are blessed to see the beauty of color and songs of birds. When it seems like we just can’t take anymore of the cold, and we are tired of being isolated from everyone, that small flower of faith pops up, and we are renewed. The change in us is as visible as the change in the earth around us. May the spring blessings find us all.
