The Beacon
Newsletter
May 10, 2024 Volume 66, No 19
This SUNDAY: To be fearfully and wonderfully made
We are divinely designed to need and want intimacy, yet we are afraid of how vulnerable intimacy is! Can our intimacy with God be the safe foundation of intimacy that equips us to have intimacy with others? Can God’s delight in us empower us to delight in ourselves and others? When we are told to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves,” we must be able to love ourselves to fulfill this command. This Psalm is one of the most intimate passages of scripture - it can sound threatening, comforting…or both. Psalm 51 is the best-known psalm of forgiveness. The accurate translation could be: “According to the mercy of your womb, blot out my transgressions. The psalmist is appealing to God's mother-love, that eternal connection rooted in creation and compassion. The psalmist is confessing to God in the context of an eternal, steadfast, womb-like connection.” (Dana)
To prepare, please read: Psalm 139.
Pastor Anna Lisa Gross
Sunday, May 12
9:30 a.m. Meet & Eat
10:30 a.m. Worship
Monday, May 13
6:30 Witness Commission
Office Closed
Tuesday, May 14
7:00 p.m. Nurture Commission
9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Office Open
Wednesday, May 15
9:30-11:30 a.m. Food Bank
9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Office Open
Thursday, May 16
11:30 a.m. Worship Preview meeting
6:30 p.m. Choir Rehearsal
9:00-2:00 p.m. Office Open
Friday, May 17
11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Preschool Picnic
Pastor Paula’s Day Off
Office Closed
Saturday, May 18
9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Spring Work Day (Rain Day)
6:00 p.m. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner
Sunday, May 19
9:30 a.m. Meet & Eat
10:30 a.m. Worship
Remember to check the Breeze calendar for upcoming events and activities!
Worship on 5/5/2024:
In-person attendance 67
Offering 4/28 $880.00
————————————
Food Bank on 5/1/2024:
Individuals served: 54
Families served: 18
Please note that the pastors will be away May 13-16th for the
Festival of Homiletics
***Please note the change in summer office hours: Tuesday-Thursday
9 a.m.-2 p.m.***
Meet & Eat
We support Just Neighbors (Interfaith Hospitality Network) with regular meals for the family shelter (around the corner from Beacon Heights) and through our Witness budget. Shirley Rork from IHN will share about their ongoing work to house families (and keep people from being evicted) in Fort Wayne during May 12 Meet & Eat. Learn more through this video.
Baptism
On May 12 we'll celebrate Maya Koczan Flory's baptism during worship. While the Koczan Flory has been away for a period after Brian concluded his pastoral ministry with Beacon Heights, they've found a rich faith community with Plymouth UCC. Maya's faith has been formed in the Beacon Heights community, and she wishes to join both BHCOB and Plymouth UCC as a member. We celebrate Maya's communities! Brian and Kimberly will join Maya in the baptismal by her request, and we will receive Maya as a dual member.
We look forward to seeing the Koczan Flory family for special events, like memorial services and Love Feast, understanding that they spend Sundays often with Plymouth UCC.
Seeking Assistant Office Manager at Beacon Heights
Please consider applying or spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested and would be great for this position. Requirements include:
Regularly working one day a week in the office for 6 hours at $16 per hour.
Serving as a substitute for Alexis when she is away for vacation, etc.
Becoming familiar with our regular office routines and creating the bulletin and slide show every week.
Computer skills (Microsoft Suite – Word and Publisher, and Google Slides).
Please speak with Dave Wysong if you are interested.
Check out the article and YouTube video from Welcome Corp. about
our refugee family!
Article: https://welcomecorps.org/stories/with-hope-for-their-future-refugee-family-settles-in-indiana/
YouTube Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0X3MDF6k14
Spring Clean Out!
As the exciting ReFRESH efforts continue to unfold, we have items to remove to allow for better use of our space.
The youth room (downstairs below the parlor) has many items for which we'd like to find a new home. We've attempted to communicate with those who have used the items and believe these things are no longer needed. If we've overlooked a use, please let us know.
The pool table (with Ping Pong table cover), chairs, tables, couches and more are available! (Our ping pong table will be relocated to the adjacent youth room).
You are invited to visit the room and take any items you can use by May 20th.
No charge for the items, but feel welcome to make a donation to the ReFRESH fund.
Find your treasure and help us clean out!
Contact Mary Wysong with any questions.
Also Available:
Be the only one to have your very own, 15 foot
Beacon Heights pew!
Green Team
Beacon Heights has green efforts throughout our shared space - collecting compost on the kitchen, solar panels, etc. We know we could always do more! In order to explore some grant opportunities and discern possible priorities, we invite you to consider joining a Green Team which would meet as-needed to research and study together. This is not a 3-year commitment of monthly meetings, but it's not simply a place to have a loud opinion - we want to think hard together!
Contact Pastor Anna Lisa and/or Witness Chair Steve Myers to volunteer
or to learn more.
Weekly Food Bank Update
Thank you for all your donations! Currently, the most needed items are pancake mix and dried rice. Monetary donations are also appreciated.
Shoppers are needed for June 12th 2024, if you would like to sign-up! The sign-up sheet is located on the office countertop.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner!
Come join the fun of meeting at someone’s home for dinner on Saturday, May 18 at 6:00 p.m. Sign up to be the place people come to and furnish the main course and drink. OR just sign up to bring dessert, or a side dish, or a dessert. Meet new people, join old friends! It’s so much fun! Just sign up! The form will also be emailed to you.
Please sign up using the bulletin insert on April 21 or 28, email to ruthann.bever@gmail.com or text her at 260-341-2965 by MAY 5. Please sign up as soon as you know your schedule as Ruth Ann is out of town May 1-9. You will receive your assignment on Sunday, May 12 in your box. If you don’t pick it up, you will get a phone call. Hope you can join the food and fellowship!
B.I.C.Y.C.L.E.
Here is a list of the Beacons Intergenerational Cycling (Yes Cycling) League of Enthusiasts rides for this spring and summer.
Saturday, June 1st, 11 AM - ride from Life Bridge Church along the Pufferbelly Trail followed by picnic at the trail head
Saturday, July 6, 11 AM - ride the Pumpkinvine Trail starting in Shipshewana
Saturday, August 10, 1:30 PM - meet at Swinney Park and ride to the Bever's for ice cream
Put these dates on your calendar. More info to come!
Summer Picnic Opportunities
Nurture has chosen some casual picnic dates after church through the summer months. If interested, simply bring a picnic lunch and join others after church to eat at nearby Lion's Park (3299 Carew Street address for parking). Lion's Park has a nice playground and picnic tables--only a 2 minute drive from church.
Picnic Dates: June 9, July 14, August 4.
Next SUNDAY: may 19, 2024
Theme: While I Wait
The Spirit dwells in our hearts so that it can minister beyond itself, so it can ‘matter’ in the life of another. (Gertrud Mueller Nelson in To Dance with God) Heidi Ramer will share the vulnerable wisdom of a mother and daughter waiting with and for one another. Our most precious relationships can be our most tender and complex. Through processing her mother’s struggles (before and after she died) Heidi brings profound, relatable insight to Beacon Heights. On this Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the mysterious powers of the Spirit to connect us through and beyond words, time, and place.
To prepare, please read: Romans 8:24b-28.
Published by Beacon Heights
Church of the Brethren
Editor: Alexis Shoda
Phone: (260) 482-8595
Email: office@beaconheights.net
We have two email lists for news: the Beacon (which you're reading) and the Local Congregation (which includes worship information and other announcements). Contact the Office to be added or removed from either list. We also have a private email prayer chain (active participants may contact the Office to opt-in.)