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April 2002 Newsletter
    
Explorer Club
Celebrate Spring with Mr. Leo's Ark!
Explorer Club is thrilled to host Mr. Leo's collection of creatures on Sunday, April 7 and Sunday, April 14th from 9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Ages 3 years through 8th grade will get to participate.
Mr Leo packs the hour with loads of information on all types of creatures from huge insects to alligators. Of course, it's a hands-on experience! Come early - YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!
How is Explorer Club like a gift! Every Sunday, the leaders wrap a large present with fun paper and a big colorful bow. Inside the package is Christian education and understanding. The free gift belongs to your child. Help your child experience it and use it everyday.
EXPLORER SUMMER CAMP! IT'S BACK! AUGUST 12 - 16, 2002 9 A.M. - 1 P.M.
Have a bunch of fun before school starts! Vacation Bible School is where you can bring a friend, share the fun, and discover Jesus!
Faith Student Fellowship
YOU CAN GET PAID TO MEMORIZE THE CATECHISM
In Luther's Small Catechism, the Apostles' Creed is divided into three articles: the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. For each article, Luther answered the question What does this mean or What is this. High School Students have until May 19th to memorize and recite each of the three explanations.
The first 12 students to do so will receive a $20.00 gift certificate to either Best Buy or Borders Books and Music.
See John for a copy of the Small Catechism or for more details. Good Luck!
Confirmation 2001-2002
Spring Quarter
Word and Sacraments
April 7 - May 12 10:45 - 12:15, students meet in the Youth Room for Confirmation
May 19 Picnic and Awards
Youth News
Dear Congregation,
Your response to our first PARENT'S NIGHT OUT was positive and we received several requests to do it again. The team works hard at making these events good experiences. All we ask for in return is your continued support of our efforts to share the light of Christ with the Lakota people.
In July 2002, twelve members of our team will go to the reservation. We will volunteer time, labor, and talents at a humanitarian work camp for teens. The financial, mental, and physical costs are great. But, the spiritual rewards are far greater!
We continue to pray for the whole world and every people and culture. May the Lord bless you together with all creation.
The Youth on Mission Team
Parents Night Out
How about a night out with quality childcare?
On Friday, April 26, the Youth Mission Team will provide an evening full of activity for young children. Below is the tentative schedule. Feel free to drop off your children any time between 5:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.
Evening Schedule
5:15 - 5:30 Arrivals
5:30 - 6:00 Dinner (Mac n' cheese)
6:00 - 7:00 Craft/games
7:00 - 8:30 Movie
8:30 - 8:45 Departure
Please register prior to April 26. Forms are available at the Light Service or you can phone your reservation to the Church office (330-836-8811).
W-ELCA
Wednesday, April 10, 2002 10:00 a.m. Fellowship Hall
Program: Chuck Ayres Ruth Clinefelter and Russ Musarra, Celebrating Akron's History In Picture Postcards
Faith congregation and friends are invited to hear the three collaborators from the Summit County Historical Society make Akron's history live again through this extensive collection of post cards.
Did you know that Smith Road was built by the soldiers during the War of 1812? The Akron fire Department had "auto-mobile" hook and ladder equipment in 1909? A picture postcard of Hugh A. Galt's West Market Street home was mailed to Switzerland in 1913 for two cent postage? Can you visualize a 1950's aerial view of the University of Akron campus?
Join history buffs Chuck Ayres, Ruth Clinefelter and Russ Musarra (who continue to explore Akron's history) on Wednesday morning, April 10 in the Fellowship Hall. Guests are always welcome.
They will have for sale paperback copies of Celebrating Akron's History in Picture Postcards at $19.95 a copy. The hardcover volumes are already sold out.
Devotions will be given by Barbara Dillahunt. Vee Robinson will have a short business meeting. Hostesses are Mary Alice Boose and Kathy Zbinden.
Daughters of Faith Event for all Women of our Church
"Timeless Toys"
Thursday, May 9, 2002 6:30 p.m. - Punch bowl Dinner - Variety of Salads (rolls, beverages, dessert provided)
Cost: Adults - $3.00 Youth 6 - 12 - $2.00 Under 5 - free
Put together your favorite salad. Then locate that much-loved teddy bear, doll or toy from your past. Bring them along with your daughter, mother, sister, relative, friend or co-worker to our "Timeless Toy" party. Each child is asked to bring along her favorite toy to share and display, as well.
The tables will be decorated by Congregational Life and Nurture members in a toy theme.
John Shepherd of the Medina Toy and Train Museum will speak to us on the evolution of toys and share toys from the museum.
This program is for all ages. Sign up sheet in the Narthex.
The Triennial Gathering of the Women of the ELCA will be held in Philadelphia July 8-14, 2002. this is the opportunity for women of the ELCA to see their Churchwide Board in action and participate in the wide variety of diverse opportunities. Faith Lutheran has been the recipient of a substantial grant for the use of a woman of Faith Lutheran to attend this Gathering.
If you are interested in participating, call Vee Robinson, president of Faith W-ELCA, 330-666-6301, or Elaine Johnson, president NEO-SWO, 330-666-6949.
A bus is available for the NEO women to travel to Philadelphia with an overnight stop in Lancaster, PA. the bus will depart July 9 and return July 14. This will permit time for some sightseeing in the Philadelphia area. Total costs are not definite but it is estimated that the total cost will be approximately $500.00 which includes travel, housing, convention registration and meals.
This GRANT will be an asset to defray the expenses. The theme is "Listen, God is Calling." Why not respond and be a part of this exciting time?
The Triennial Gathering is an opportunity to enrich yourself through study and fellowship with your sisters in Christ throughout the ELCA. Come join with us.
"Listen, God is Calling"
The Gathering theme is a joyous call to gather as a community of women created, called and empowered by God. Listen to the "cry of your heart" and respond by studying the Gathering scripture, Ephesians 4:4-5. These verses offer many concepts which will enrich our interconnectedness: unity, giftedness, diversity and maturity. Paul tells us that we must grow up in Christ. This is applicable to us as Women of the ELCA. We can be enriched and blessed by our participation at the Triennial Gathering in Philadelphia. Each day will begin with praise, prayer and Bible study led by three of the ELCA's women bishops. Workshops will continue to deepen the power of these studies. the day will conclude in a mass gathering celebrating and uplifting the ministries of the ELCA. Also available will be the "Convention without Walls" offered in the surrounding communities enabling first-hand experiences with model programs and ministries. Three areas will be available for this enrichment:
1. Hearing God's Call-Growing in Faith and Wisdom
2. Experiencing God's Call: Learning How to Build Healthy Families
3. Living God's Call: Using Gifts and Skills in Service to Neighbor
The Northeastern Ohio Synodical Women's Board has created a "Grant for Triennial Gathering" which will assist our sisters in Christ to attend this Gathering. First of all we want you to attend this Gathering but if that is not possible perhaps you would like to assist a woman from the Northeastern Ohio Synod to attend by contributing to the "Grant for Triennial Gathering." The form for this is printed as an insert to this newsletter.
Adult Sunday Learning Life
1) ADULT SUNDAY LEARNING LIFE GROUP meets once a week at 9:15 a.m. in the Library. "Honoring Out Neighbor's Faith" is their subject through May using a book by the same title as their primary discussion guide. In April, they plan to discuss the beginnings of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam).
April 7: "Judaism before Islam began" - Jewish history will be traced beginning about 2000 B.C. with Abraham and Sara to about 610 A.D. Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage, King David capturing Jerusalem and making it his capital, Soloman's temple destroyed, the Babylonian captivity of the Jews and writing down of the Torah (Law), the Maccabean revolt, Herod rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, that second temple destroyed by the Romans, dispersion of the Jews, and writing down of the Talmud (prayers, quotations by rabbis, legal rulings, explanation of the law, and commentary on them) will be discussed.
April 14: "The Interaction of Early Christianity and Islam" - The History of the Christian Church will be traced from the turn of the first century to a century after Islam was founded in 610 A.D. approsimately. Heresies including the belief that Jesus was not full God and Momophysitism (the belief that Christ is only God and has no human nature), the doctrine of the Trinity, Emperor Constantine, and the Nicene Council will be discussed. The rise of Islam posed a tremendous threat to the Christian Church. The followers of the Prophet Mohammed fanned out from Arabia in a series of violent holy wars capturing much land including the Christian/Jewish cities of Jerusalem and Antioch. Within a hundred years of Mohammed's death, the Muslim empire stretched from Spain to India.
April 21: "Islam" - Based on the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, who received his first revelation from Allah via the angel Gabriel about 610 A.D., the Muslim faith is built around the five Pillars of Islam. A discussion of those Pillars, Islam's major beliefs, the Islam's history will be prompted by videos describing them. Allah's revelations to Mohammed were collected and became the Koran, the Islamic holy book. Each member of the group will receive a Koran to review and discuss certain passages. Differences between Muslim and Lutheran beliefs will be enumerated.
April 28: "Judaism Today" - The modern movements of Judaism (Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reconstructionism) will be discussed.
Each of the above faiths will be compared to the ELCA. The comparisons will be made based on their teachings, types of worship, governments, and other characteristics. In addition the the book, "Honoring Our Neighbor's Faith," which was published by Augsburg-Fortress, they are using several other resources to prompt discussion including videotapes, audiotapes, and internet sites. On future Sundays, the group plans to learn about many other faiths including the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and various Protestant denominations and to compare each of them with the ELCA.
This Life Group is led by Sara and Jim Shook. Join then for one hour on Sunday mornings. All adults aare welcome to attend.
2) Women's Beginnings Prayer Group: Denise Henkel is gathering this women's prayer and study group around the kitchen table on Mondays or Wednesdays, depending on member availability. They have coffee and bread or muffins. Children may come too. They are currently meeting around the topic "The Measure of A Woman," by Lisa Bevere. This group is especially for women who have flexible work schedules or are at home with children. Call her for details at 668-4039 (Denise) or 867-5469 (Cherli).
What's new for the 7th/8th grade group? A new Life Group, that's what! At 9:15 a.m. each Sunday, the 7th/8th graders meet at the courtyard windows, near the church office. This Life group connects Bible scripture to everyday life. It's an interactive, informal gathering that helps kids connect to God and to each other.
We have been blessed with volunteers that change monthly: Beth Strimple, Pat Gsellman, Randy Cole, Tim Bullock, John Dietrich and John Daily, Bruce Lightle. Thank you all for making a difference!
Night Out at Canal Park
Akron Aeros Night Out
SATURDAY MAY 18, 2002 - 7 PM $3.50 PER TICKET
One dollar from every ticket sold will benefit "OPEN-M"
Sign up in the Narthex or See Don Dillahunt
Deadline for sign up - April 22
Sponsored by Lutheran Brotherhood
Let's fill the stadium with lutheranS and help "open-m" feed the hungry!
OPEN-M
We just received a letter from Rev. Timothy Crouch, Resident Missionary and CEO of OPEN-M. A portion of his letter is as follows: "Last year, our volunteers
* served nearly 13,000 meals,
* assisted more than 5,500 people (over half of them children) with emergency food supplies,
* provided life-saving medical care during 1,700 patient visits,
* maintained a safe and caring place to be for hundreds of neighborhood children,
* offered Christmas food and gifts for over 1,400 people.
Let me share with you how our covenant churches and their members made a difference with their support: George lost his job because his company closed. With no income and a wife and two children to support, he had no choice but to return to Akron. They all moved in with George's mother, just down the street from our neighborhood center on Princeton Street. His baby daughter caught pneumonia and received emergency Room treatment only, because they had no insurance.
When time came for follow-up treatment, they had nowhere to go until a neighbor told him about our free clinic. With his daughter wrapped in a couple of small receiving blankets and everyone else dressed in threadbare jackets, they braved the icy wind and came into the clinic asking for help. The baby was wheezing. According to the nurse who greeted them, a hospital would have designated this child "urgent" had they come into an emergency room.
During the visit, the baby received aerosol breathing treatments while her older brother got caught up in his immunizations. They were sent home with medicine and a follow-up appointment. The next day they received several bags of groceries from our food pantry.
Over the next couple of days, OPEN-M staff and volunteers gathered up warm winter coats for all the members of the family and delivered them to the family's temporary home. Some extra food came with it to help meet the demands of four extra people living in the household.
Within a week, George, who had received support from our Moving Families Out of Poverty program, found a job. Within two weeks the baby had received additional medical care and was able to breathe freely for the first time in her seven-month long life."
Will you help assure that our doors remain open, and that our volunteers will have the tools they need to meet the needs? Will you join me and others in making a gift of $100 - or even $150 - to the Annual Fund? It can do so much! $100 will:
* Buy 909 pounds of food for the hungry,
* Provide life-saving medicines for patients for a month,
* Vaccinate 5 children against polio, chicken pox, and all the childhood diseases,
* Sponsor a child for summer day camp and summer learning classes,
* Give 25 children a backpack and school supplies.
For a year now we have seen the fallout that hits hardest those who have the least resource. Every day more people - the invisible people- come to OPEN-M for help to make it through the week...or even the day."
- NORM SCHMIDT
Summit County Children Services
Recently we toured and visited with the Executive Director of Children's Service on Arlington Street and several of his staff. As members of Faith Lutheran's Service Committee, we felt it prudent to learn about the agency and determine how we, as a congregation, might better serve them. We all need to know more about some of our less fortunate citizens. In the ensuing months we will share with you, the congregation, some of the things we learned about the organization.
First a brief history of the agency. In 1887, the Jewett farm, located at 264 Arlington Street, was purchased as the first Children's Home in the county, caring for orphaned, abused and neglected children. By 1910, a new larger facility was built on the site and remained in use until 1997, when the current administration building was dedicated. The agency reached the height of its residential program in the 1960's when over 350 children were in care on Arlington Street, Power Street, and Springfield Township campuses. Beginning in the late 1970's both federal and state laws changed, with more services provided to children in their own homes.
The mission of Children's services is to protect the abused, neglected and dependent children of Summit County and promote their well-being. The agency shares the community's belief that each child has a right to be reared in a safe, permanent family and strengthening families is society's most effective way of preserving this right. Children Services values and depends on its partnersships with community agencies and private citizens to protect our county's children. Working within its mission, the agency respects the dignity, integrity and uniqueness of each family and adheres to the philosophy that governmental intrusion is warranted only when children are thought to be at risk.
- NORM and JUDY SCHMIDT
Thank You
An appreciative THANK YOU to all who helped prepare and serve for the UPPER ROOM. It was a very nice evening! Thank you.
Jean Butler
To all the Carolers of Faith Lutheran Church,
I want to thank each and every one of you for giving me and my brother a Christmas together that I'll always remember.
You see, he was dying that night at Hospice Care Center when you were there. We hadn't spent Christmas together for a long time. He came home sick to spend it with me.
He couldn't tell me that he was sick, but I knew. Three months in and out of the hospital and care center.
That night he asked me three times to open the door - each time I opened it a little. I didn't see you all in the hall, but he kept asking me to open the door. The third time I saw you in front of his door and asked you to come in to say something to him. You did better than that and came in and sang three carols for him.
How did he know you were out there - I don't know - but he knew. You gave him the peace that helped him on his way to be with his wife who had also died on Easter morning - also telling me goodbye.
Thank you all for those three Christmas carols and giving me a Christmas to remember. Please accept the check to help you give someone else to believe that there is a hereafter and someone is waiting for us. Thank you.
Sincerely, Elizabeth B. (My Dad also left his world by telling St. David to light the candles for he was ready to go - and he went peacefully.)
PRAYERS
IMMEDIATE PRAYERS OF HEALTH FOR
Pat Preston, Vanessa Wondra, Nicole Schwan, Audrea Woodall
PRAYERS OF HOPE FOR
Betty Shepherd, Margaret Riggenbach The Children of the world living in troubled areas
SPECIAL PRAYERS FOR
Kay Hill, Faith Lutheran Church Men & Women in the military The Wisdom of our President
Sara Dorsett, Lucille Loos, Lavern Unspoken request for the Greenwood Family
Amelia Britton Our search committee
CONTINUING PRAYERS OF CONCERN FOR
Florence Anderson, Mike, Nate Ashley Robinson as she searches for employment
John Maroni on his journey in the seminary
PRAYERS FROM OUR WEBSITE
Ann, Alan, Toby, Owen, Ted and Meline For the people of the world to start loving one another
Ease and safety for American and British troops and the refugees in Afghanistan
Amy, Steve and Ryan
And a Special prayer of "Thanks" to God for bringing us Pastor Deborah
INTERCESSORY PRAYERS FOR FRIENDS/RELATIVES OF MEMBERS
Lois Esterle (Wanda Hare's daughter and Linda Weidrick's sister)
Veno Savell (Irene's son) Basil Richmond (Ivan Richmond's father) Jill Reyes (Patti White)
Lydia (Lynn Rich) Anthony Dalessio (Karen Bach's brother)
Karen Gerber (Diann Sullivan) Mary (Ed and Ruth Simpson) Elmer Smith (Kit Scheetz)
Dan Kmet (Robert's brother) Joe Paparone (Bill Evan's brother-in-law) Kay LeMaster (Ron Garman's aunt)
Ged Schweikert (Eleanor Schweikert's son) Sally Dalski (Terri Dalski) Andrew Leffler (Kelly Lockhart)
Kitty (Vee Robinson) Margo Shields Steve (Dave Rich) Michael Fredrick and Richard Lee (Dana Singer)
Anastasia Baker and Jay (Chris Sears)
Deaths
Willis Pope, Jr. died on January 23, 2002 in Springfield, Missouri; and
Douglas Winslow, Jr. died on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 and was buried at Rosehill Burial Park on Friday, March 29.
We join in Christian Sorrow with Bill and Shirley Pope and Douglas and Esther Winslow and their families and pray that the Lord will be them at this time of loss.
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