October 2019

The Good News LYONSVILLE CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

"A Home for The Spiritual Journey"

Inside this issue:

Thank You Notes 2

Birthdays and Anniversaries

3

Remember in Your Prayers

3

Mission Board News

4

General News 5, 6

Mark Your Calendars

7, 8

Worship Opportunities

9

Join Us 9

Rev. Sean Weston, Pastor Gary Boxell, Editor

PASTOR’S CORNER

Fall is here! I've never quite been able to say why, but Fall is my favorite season. Whether it's the weather or the leaves or something else, I can't say. But I find it to be a time of possibility and new-ness. I believe every season brings its own gifts (and challenges). I wonder what the gifts of Fall are for you. Can you find a gift in the shorter daylight hours? Cooler weather? Beautiful leaves? The excitement of Halloween? New seasons offer us the opportunity to pay more attention to what is going on around us. Paying attention to the Earth is an important part of being faithful. Our society encourages us to be disconnected from the Earth and its seasons and cycles. When we live this way we also grow distant from the God who made the Earth and all that is in it. The new season is good time to pay a little bit more attention to the Earth -- God's Creation. Can you notice one new thing about the Earth each day? The more we notice about the ways of the Earth, the more we notice about God's ways too. One definition of prayer could be "paying attention." So as you do this, you will be praying! May this be a meaningful Fall for us all. Blessings,

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We received a note from the LeaderShop thanking us for participating in the school supplies drive. Below is an excecrpt of the letter (the letter can be found on the bulletin board outside the church office):

Dear Lyonsville Congregational UCC, New supplies means a new start, a new chance to conquer the school year and a new chance to do your best. Thanks to supporters like you, over 300 local students were given the supplies they need to start the year off on the right food. At our annu-al School Supply Distribution and Resources Fair on August 15, in addi-tion to receiving supplies, families connected with various community organizations that are available to provide support throughout the year. From all of us here at The LeaderShop, I would like to thank you for your generous contribution to our annual School Supply Drive. We look forward to working together next year. Sincerely, Katie Wiseheart, Program Director

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE E-Newsletter of the I llinois Conference of the United Church of Christ by visiting their website at www.ilucc.org.

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Happy Birthday (click here for birthday wishes)

Happy Anniversary

Please contact the church office if any information is missing or incorrect.

Remember in Your Prayers

Brad Conrad Marvin Davis Paul Garrity Jamie Hankus David Havelka

Bob Hegner Mike Kelly Barbara Loehman Byron Loehman Kathy Loehman

Laura Miller Marion Randolph Larry Schurig Beth Smidt Dee Wallace

Kathy Richel 10/1 Mikayla Bashor 10/2 Erika Wierdak 10/8 Jack Wolf 10/10 Lauren McSweeney 10/12 Jordan Taylor 10/12 Gabrielle Miller 10/13 Braden Matthews 10/16 Ryan Snell 10/16

Donna Prather 10/17 Vivian Kringlie 10/17 Nolan Snell 10/19 Barbara Loehman 10/20 Travis Weaver 10/20 Steven Nunez 10/21 Laurie Tsukuno 10/25 Meghan Ferguson 10/26 Patti Haigh 10/27

There are no anniversaries in October. Byron & Barbara Loehman 11/10

Chase Bashor 11/1 Itzel Hegner 11/3 Bob Haigh 11/5 Karen Oberg 11/6 Darrel Bashor 11/13

Jonathan Begy 11/13 Joe Wierdak 11/14 Susan Mueller 11/18 Beth Smidt 11/18 Lillian Mueller 11/19

Andrea Brocken 11/20 Rom Stevens 11/20 Peter Cook 11/27 Donnie Smith 11/27 Cherie Doria 11/30

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News From Your Mission Board

The Lyonsville food pantry will be open on Sunday, October 27th from 11:30 - 12:15. If you are willing to help out, please sign up in the folder during fellowship hours or let Judy Birmingham or a member of the Mission Board know. The next time we will be open will be November 24.

GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY Please come join us to help volunteer at the Greater Chica-go Food Depository (GCFD) on Saturday, October 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. We also go every Wednesday from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. For more information go to http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org, or see/call Cindi Fiandaca or Judy Birmingham to sign up. The depository would like all volunteers to register in advance.

GOOD SAMARITAN FUND On Communion Sundays, donations are invited to the Good Samaritan Fund, which is used to provide assistance locally to persons in need. You may use the white offering envelopes in the pews, and indicate that the gift is for the Good Samari-tan Fund. Thank you for your generosity!

Thanksgiving Turkeys The Mission Ministry will be collecting money to purchase a turkey and a $10 Aldi gift card for 20 of our food pantry families. If you would like to donate money to help purchase the turkeys, please see a member of Mis-sion Ministry team during coffee hour. We will be collecting money until Sunday, November 17th and plan to give the food out the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

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News from The Pews

Update from Budget & Finance As of the end of August, we have been running a monthly deficit of $2,500. Alt-hough we would of course prefer to not be running a deficit, this deficit is $1,500 less per month than we had anticipated with our budget, which is en-couraging. Thank you. --Karen Oberg

HARVEST HOME TURKEY DINNER Saturday, November 9

5:00-7:00 p.m. Invite your friends and family.

If you have any question or would like to volunteer please

contact the co-chairs, Cindi Fiandaca and Judy Birmingham

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!

You may purchase tickets from Nayna Byers or the church office (708- 246-1255). We kindly ask that you purchase your tickets in advance of the dinner so that we order the appropriate amount of food. Raffles will be available at this

event too. We look forward to seeing you there.

We need help from the congregation to make

the dinner a success.

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News from The Pews

IT IS SCHOLARSHIP TIME! We are a bit into the fall school season and it is time to see if we have any candidates for the Karas scholarship. Our church is most fortunate to have had a couple of mem-bers who felt so committed to education that they bequeathed scholarship monies to Lyonsville for our use in awarding to worthy candidates who are continuing their edu-cation. Although we have two scholarship funds, Pavlus and Karas, we will only be considering awarding from the Karas Fund this year due to a minimum balance that must be maintained on the Pavlus Fund. Scholarship applications will be available in the church office or from Nayna Byers as of 9/22/19. The deadline for application submission will be October 10, 2019. Guide-lines are explained in the application. If you have any questions, please contact Nayna Byers. Nayna Byers and Sherry Suomi 2019 Scholarship Committee

BEDS Plus - BEDS Plus is looking for volunteers! BEDS Plus is committed to re-ducing and ending homelessness in our communities. Volunteers make their work pos-sible. Please join one of their volunteer orientation training sessions to find out how you can make a difference. Please sign up directly on their website: www.beds-plus.org or contact breitbarth@beds-plus.org (708-354-0858 x 137).

Past sermons can be heard on our website.

Harvest Home Turkey Dinner Raffle. If you have any new or like-new items that you could donate for the raffle, we would greatly appreciate it. You can drop things off in the church office. We will also be looking for people who would be willing to put to-gether some baskets. If you can help, please let Judy Birmingham know.

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Highlands Presbyterian Church will celebrate the installation of their new pastor, the Rev. Mark Zimmerly, on Sunday, October 6th at 2pm. Pastor Sean will be participating in the service and Lyonsville folks are all invited. Our presence is a good way to celebrate with our siblings at Highlands and continue to nurture our growing relationship.

Mark Your Calendars

We will celebrate World Communion Sunday on October 6

with bread from around the world. See our website to signup for a

bread to bring.

"Soul Kitchen" is a spirited dinner and discussion group that meets on Wednesday nights at 6:30pm. It is a ministry of St. Helena’s Episcopal Church and is organized by the priest there, Father Ethan. Lyonsville folks are invited to join -- and we hear they have a great time! The group chooses its own topics and locations as they go, generally via group text. If you’re interested contact the office and we’ll get you on the list. Pastor Sean will participate sometimes if there's enough interest.

On Sunday, October 6th, we will be collecting the Neigh-bors in Need (NIN) offering. This special offering supports UCC ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. One-third of NIN funds support the Council for American Indi-an Ministry(CAIM). Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries(JWM) to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects through grants. More information is available at http://www.ucc.org/nin.

DISCERNMENT NEWS: Council will develop a recommendation for next steps

during their upcoming retreat on October 5, from 10:00

to 1:00. At the First Congregational Church of LaGrange.

All are invited.

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Mark Your Calendars

CROP Walk 2019 - Due to a conflict with our congregational meet-ing on Sunday, October 27th, our team will walk on Saturday, Oc-tober 26th at 10:00 a.m. We w ill gather at First Congre-gational Church of Western Springs (1106 Chestnut Street). Please bring a canned food item to donate. There is a break for bathrooms and water at the half way point. You can register to walk or make a donation HERE. Please let a member of the Mission Board know if you are interested in walking. A mini-mum donation of $50 per walker is requested as we are celebrat-ing the 50th year of the founding of the CROP Walk.

There will be a Manna Fundraiser in October. Manna gift card order forms will be ready October 1 and will be in the Narthex. The orders will be due on October 20 and the will be distributed by October 27. The next Man-na will be due December 1. Please see Cindi Fiandaca for more information. Thank you, Cindi

All Saints Day will be observed Sunday, November 3.

FALL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING—October 27 after worship.

Daylight savings time ends November 3. Be sure to move your clocks BACK

1 hour the night before.

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10/6/2019 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9 Sermon: “It’s Not About Us!” Theme: Ten Commandments help us focus our lives on what is best for everybody, not just us. In the end, it’s all about love. 10/13/2019 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Scripture: Ruth 1:1-11a, 14-17 Sermon: “Love Across Borders” Theme: Instead of fear, division, and hatred, we can love across bor-ders and dividing lines. 10/20/2019 Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Scripture: 2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5 Sermon: “God at the Center” Theme: We can put God at the center of our lives by remembering and celebrating how wonderful God is. 10/27/2019 Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Scripture: 1 Kings 12:1-17, 25-29 Sermon: TBD Theme: Leading together

Join Us

MEN’S BREAKFAST GROUP meets on the second Saturday of each month at 9:00 a.m. at Willow Hills Restaurant, next to Walgreens at Joliet Rd. and Willow Springs Rd. in Indian Head Park. All men are welcome to join us for this chance to eat and talk! For more information contact Byron Loehman. WOMEN’S BABY BOOMER BUNCH (WBBB) w ill not meet in October due to a conflict with a Leadership Council retreat that morning. They will next meet Saturday, November 2. All boomers and their friends are invited. Contact Judy Birmingham for more information.

6871 Joliet Road

Indian Head Park, IL 60525

LYONSVILLE CONGREGATIONAL

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

Phone 708-246-1255 Email Lyonsville@sbcglobal.net Please return this form to update your contact information. ____ Please correct the information on the mailing label. ____ No thanks. Please remove from mailing list. ____ I prefer email delivery. Here’s my email address: ——————————————————————

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Visit us on the web at www.lyonsvillechurch.org The Good News is

produced monthly, except for a combined July/August edition. Please submit your articles to lyonsville@sbcglobal.net. The deadline for the next issue is October 20.