Visitors: We're delighted you are here. Please complete a Welcome card (at the Welcome Table), and we invite you to introduce yourself during the sharing time.
Call to Worship [unison] Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care. Psalm 95:6,7
Gathering
hymn
Joyful,
joyful, we adore thee,
HWB
72
Scripture
reading
Ephesians
1:1-14
Poetry
reading
Mystical
poetry
Hymn
of prayer
The
love of God
SJ
44
Children’s
teaching
God
is like a grandparent
Teaching
Hymn
of response
God
is working his purpose out
HWB
638
Offering
[unison] Our offerings declare
that
our work and our worship are one,
that
life is undivided.
We give our
gifts for
God’s work
of
reconciliation, service, and mercy.
Sharing,
announcements and prayer
Sending
hymn
The
Lord bless you and keep you
SJ 76
Benediction
Leading us in worship today: Worship
Leader: Ruth Shantz, Speaker: Paul
Versluis, Pianist: Anita Toews,
Song leader: Shelly Weaverdyck, Poetry
Reader: Sara Versluis
If you
have congregational concerns, contact
the pastor or the
Congregational Life Committee:
Roxanne Cross at;
Curtis
Weaverdyck at,; Arlene Seelbach, a_
Peace and Justice Interest Group
Oct 12, 7:30
Weaverdyck
· Gertrude Warkentin
Readers’ Group, Frankenstein, by Shelly, Oct 25, 7PM @ Versluis
· Priscilla Chamberlain
Slow Cookers
· Gertrude Warkentin
Folk Music Oct 22, 7pm Chamberlain
·
Jan Hallberg
Committee Meetings:
Finance Committee:
Nurture Committee: Oct 2 9:15am
Worship Committee: Oct 26 7 pm Shantz
Congregational Life Committee Nov 12 7pm Cross
Service
Outreach Committee
Oct
20 7pm
Warkentin
Hi-way pickup
See
you next year
The Nurture Committee is interested in the important happenings in your life as they are also important to our Shalom community. Please let us know of graduations, weddings, births, deaths or major illnesses in your family.
Joy Versluis, Norene Kanagy, and Su Hansen
A second try resulted in enough volunteers to pick up both sides of the highway way last Sunday afternoon after a first attempt on Saturday morning. Thanks to Don and Sherry, Nelson, Christa, Mark, Marty, Hollis, and Paul.
SCHOOL KITS. Over 90 School Kits are on their way.
As of October 1, the Kaufman family will be in need of food. Nofzigers are up and running and so we can start to help our next baby family. Let me know when you are available so I can coordinate the efforts. Thanks, Betsy Harvey
Washtenaw/Ann Arbor
CROP Hunger Walk, Sunday, Oct. 18th at 2pm
–Please
consider being a CROP walker this
year. The hope is that the
IHN/ALPHA House. At our coordinators meeting last night, Julie Steiner (Director of Alpha House/IHN for Wash. Co.) spoke about the probable funding decreases from the county for this next fiscal year. They are looking at possible 20% cuts for this coming year, and an additional 20% the next year. The community has been very vocal to the commissioners, asking that the funding cuts to human services be minimized as much as possible.
IHN/Alpha House's
biggest private
fundraiser of the year is Gimme Shelter, scheduled for Saturday,
October
17th. Tickets are $45 in advance, $50 at the door, children 6 and
under
free. It's a nice dinner, entertainment, and silent auction held
at
Budget Counseling:
If you are facing a difficult financial situation or
need questions answered about a mortgage, your credit report, or even
your budget, Mennonite Mutual Aid offers free, confidential budget and
debit counseling. Contact 1-800-348-7468. Gertrude Warkentin,
Sept 26, 7PM Friday night at the Versluis home, pizza and a discussion about health care resulted in the following suggestion regarding our participation in the “Corinthian Plan”.
A small group including Marty and myself [Hollis],
Danny Hollander,
Leland Ropp, Tim Smith, Gertrude Warkentin, and Curtis Weaverdyck met
with Paul
and Joy tonight to discuss the possibility of our congregation
participating in
the Corinthian Plan. Recall that
this is a mutual-aid program designed to provide health care access for
The group debated and discussed two aspects of the Corinthian Plan - its health coverage versus our current congregational plan (underwritten by Blue Cross-Blue Shield) and the concept of providing mutual aid.
Based on the rather sparse details provided, we determined that with respect to health coverage the Corinthian Plan offers some apparent improvements, especially hospitalization, but would come at a significant overall increase in cost to the congregation. That boost in cost is primarily to cover the mutual aid component of the plan. We also identified some inherent risks in the plan.
One of the options offered Shalom is a "waiver", which allows the congregation to continue using its current health plan, yet participate in the mutual aid component of the Corinthian Plan. Thus our congregation would still be counted amongst those Mennonite Church USA congregations enrolled in the plan, while providing the flexibility to pick up the health coverage component at any point in the future. It also comes at a significantly lower cost, but one that would still have to be added to the budget. Due to the paucity of many details of the health coverage by the Corinthian Plan and the potential financial burden placed on the congregation to fully enroll in it, the small group tonight felt this is the right path forward for Shalom. And it would allow the congregation to participate in a very tangible way in a justice issue. This is the position we endorse for the congregation. We also hope that individuals and families who agree with this position will be able to help in the increased gifting required for our level of congregational participation.
Several of us in attendance tonight will be available in the auditorium following worship service this Sunday if you have questions or wish to provide further input to the discussion.
Many thanks, Hollis Showalter, Chair, Finance Committee
Julian of
Norwich
[1342] [untitled]
Because of the great,
infinite love which God has for all humankind,
he makes no distinction in love between the blessed soul of Christ
and the lowliest of the souls that are to be saved . . . .
We should highly rejoice that God dwells in our soul
and still more highly should we rejoice that our soul dwells in God.
Our soul is made to be God's dwelling place,
and the dwelling place of our soul
is God who was never made.
St Catherine of
I first
saw God when I was a child, six years of age.
The cheeks of the sun were pale before Him,
and the earth acted as a shy
girl, like me.
Divine
light entered my heart from His love
that did never fully wane,
though
indeed, dear, I can understand how a person's
faith can at times flicker,
for
what is the mind to do
with something that becomes the mind's ruin:
a God that consumes us
in His grace.
I
have seen what you want;
it is there,
a
Beloved of infinite
tenderness.
What keeps us alive,
what allows
us to endure?
I think it is the hope
of loving,
or being loved.
I heard a fable once
about the sun
going on a journey
to find its source, and how the moon wept
without her lover’s
warm gaze.
We weep when light does
not reach
our hearts. We wither
like fields if someone close
does not rain their
kindness
upon
us.
[“The
mystery of God hugs you in its all-encompassing arms."- ]