The Beacon - uccmccbg.weebly.com

The Newsletter of

St. Paul’s UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST McConnellsburg, PA

Trinity UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST Fort Loudon, PA

The Beacon

APRIL 2017

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31

We are so glad that you worship with us! If at any time, you would like more information about our church, or becoming a member, please contact Rev. Bye, 717-372-7955, [email protected] or talk to a member.

The Fort Loudon-McConnellsburg Charge STAMP

of the

United Church of Christ

228 North 2nd Street

McConnellsburg, PA 17233

TRINITY PLANS A BUSY SPRING AND SUMMER

You are invited to attend the selection of upcoming Lenten and Easter events at Trinity and other churches in the Fort Loudon community. Please see your bulle-tin announcements for the full list. Our schedule is full all the way through the August 19 Peach Festival. Mark your calendars for these, today: April 22 – Potpie Supper, May 13 – Spring BBQ, June 19 – Picnic at Cow-an’s Gap, July 16-21 – Community Vacation Bible School at Freedom Lighthouse, and July 30 – picnic in the church pavilion. And don’t forget to put the on the Peach Festival, and plan to attend and volunteer. En-tertainment and vendors are already being lined up for this growing Fort Loudon event.

KIDS PAGE

So where do the Bunnies come in?

In olden times, Christian monks were very good at explaining their religion to those who hadn't heard of God or Je-sus. They almost always took symbols of significance of the people they were teaching and used those symbols to teach about God. The timing of Easter was such that it coincided with the spring festivals of many pagan reli-gions. (In northern Europe, the goddess of spring was Eostre -- some people say that Easter may have even gotten its name from this goddess). These spring festivals celebrated the wakening of the world after spring. Luckily, this "awakening" went very well with the monks teaching of Jesus' resurrection! The ideas of the rebirth of spring were merged with the Christian teachings of Jesus resurrection to form the Easter holiday most of us know today.

Easter Traditions: Easter traditions differ around the world. Here are just a few of them.

Children in the United States and Canada say the Easter bunny or rabbit brings eggs at Easter. In Germany and Eng-land, they say the hare brings them. The hare looks like a rabbit, but it's larger, with longer ears and legs.

In Australia, rabbits are quite a nuisance as they are not native to the land. For this reason, there is an attempt be-ing made to dub the Bilby as the the chief egg bringer of the land. For lack of a better description, the Bilby looks a bit like a cross between a mouse and a rabbit.

In Italy, Belgium and France, children say Easter eggs are brought by the church bells. There, church bells do not ring from Good Friday until Easter Sunday. Because of this, people say that the bells have flown off to Rome. As the bells fly back home for Easter, they drop colored eggs for boys and girls to find.

But there are more foods than eggs to enjoy on Easter!

People in Russia eat an Easter bread that is full of plump white raisins and tastes like cake. In some countries of Eastern Europe, people enjoy an Easter Cake called babka. It's shaped like a skirt -- babka means "little old wom-an". Easter cakes in Italy are shaped like a rabbit, which is a symbol of birth and new life and many other countries make cookies and cakes shaped like a lamb, a symbol of Jesus. Hot cross buns are another traditional Easter bread with icing in the shape of a cross.

TRINITY’S FINANCIAL UPDATE

Month Received Budget to Date Expended

Jan/Feb $8,514.77 $12,593.08 $7,008.92

March $3,760.77 $4,843.52 $4,874.74

Totals YTD $12,295.54 $17,436.60 $11,883.66

Note: The Lenten season special offering at Trinity this year will be sent to the Maranatha Shelter.

Special envelopes for this offering will be available at the church.

Secretary - Pam Carmack

[email protected] (717)-485-4795

St. Paul’s UCC

228 N Second Street, McConnellsburg, PA 17233

(717)-485-5554***[email protected]

Facebook & www.uccmccbg.weebly.com

Trinity UCC

P.O. Box 253

13189 Main Street, Fort Loudon, PA 17224

(717)-369-4773***trinityuccftloudon.webs.com

www.pccucc.org (Penn Central Conference)

www.ucc.org

www.mercersburgassociation.wordpress.com

PEACH FESTIVAL T-SHIRTS IN MEMORY OF ANNA ROTZ

Hi my name is Cayla Richards, grand daughter of Anna Rotz, I would like to do 2017 Peach Festival t-shirts in honor-memory of my grand mother and proceeds will benefit peach festival. Shirts are $12 for size SM to XL. $15 for XXL or bigger. They are 100% cotton and universal fit. The peach color is for adults and green is in youth sizes. Please advertise these at your church, I know she knew many people and just hope this fundraiser is a way to honor her on August 19. Any questions please let me know. thanks- just let me know names and sizes and would like money collected at time of order. Cayla [[email protected]]

To the Mercersburg Association: You will find information on our Spring

Meeting, Sunday May 7, 3 PM at First Carlisle on the News tab of our web-site: https://mercersburgassociation.wordpress.com/news/ Please RSVP to me for the meeting at [email protected] by Sunday April 30.

APRIL

2 Mark Washabaugh

Shaylee Kuykendall

6 Cindy Armstrong

Jenna Armstrong

8 Lori Rotz

Gary Shives

9 Theo Arwood

10 Amanda Daniels Neal

12 Jo-Ann Sheffield

4 Gene Bricker

17 Dody Hopkins

20 Denny Carmack

21 Tamela Mellott Bard

Jillian Lassen

23 Heidi Myers

26 Reanna Jo Richards

27 Meril Fetters

28 Hayes Alexander

29 Glenn Crouse

Cathy Buterbaugh

Betty Daniels

Dorothy Stevens

Gary Stevens

Gene and Barb Bricker

Joyce and Thurman Hassler

John Hornbaker

Military and families

Zeis family

Jean McLucas

Diane Baxter

Tom Hamil

Nancy Barmont

Darlene Hannon

The Family of Anna Rotz

Korbyn Rotz

Nancy Lawyer

Sawyer Bye and Family

Meril Fetters

The family of Bobbie Long

The family of Cindy Mellott

The family of Dick Buterbaugh

All individuals and families affected by

cancer

All Sunday school classes

Our Church & ministries

If you have any additions or corrections to the prayer list or the birthday list, please contact the church office.

Trinity’s Ushers:

Corinna Rotz and Patrick Hennessy

St. Paul’s Ushers:

Denny and Pam Carmack

St. Paul’s Flowers:

Donna House

2017

Sunday, April 2 Trinity Blended worship, 9:00 AM, Sunday School, 10:30 AM

Joint Lenten Study at Trinity, 6:30 PM

Sunday, April 9 Palm Sunday Trinity Blended Worship, 9:00 AM, Eldercare Collection Sunday School, 10:30 AM Joint Lenten Study at St. Paul’s, 6:30 PM (last one)

Tuesday, April 11 Trinity Consistory meeting, 7:00 PM

Wednesday, April 12 Trinity Choir practice, 6:30 PM

St. Paul’s Church Women United meeting 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 13 Maundy Thursday Service at St. Paul’s, 7:00 p.m. Holy Communion around the table

Friday, April 14 Trinity Community Good Friday Service at United Methodist Church, 7:00 PM

St. Paul’s Good Friday, community service at 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 16 Trinity EASTER Community Sunrise Service at Freedom Light-

house, 6:30 AM, Worship with Holy Communion, 9:00 AM Building Fund Envelope Collection, Sunday School with egg hunt, 10:30 AM

Tuesday, April 18 St. Paul’s Consistory meeting 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, April 22 Trinity Potpie Supper at the Community Center, 3:30-6:30 PM

Saturday, May 6 Trinity Ladies’ Event at Freedom Lighthouse, see Linda for details

Saturday, May 13 Spring BBQ at Trinity