THIS WEEK:

Monday            7:00 p.m.          Environment Group Meeting         Room 126
Tuesday           7:00 p.m.          DRT Leaders Meeting                  Room 127
                      7:30 p.m.          VBS Planning Meeting                  Room 126
Wednesday      10:30 a.m.         Soldiers’ Angels                          Room 126

Bowie Food Pantry Fund Raiser here at St. Matthew’s TODAY at 9:30 and 12:00 in Fellowship Hall. Come see Dick Arnold’s exhibit of nature oriented, framed, photographs that he has taken locally (many of them in his backyard!) All proceeds of this sale will directly benefit the Bowie Food Pantry.

WHICH FIVE PEOPLE WILL STEP FORWARD TO JOIN OUR VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL TEACHING STAFF? We need about 45 (teaching teams and support staff) to provide a Vacation Bible School (VBS) this summer. Please join us in helping kids have fun while they learn some of the biblical truths. You can volunteer by signing the clipboard in the Tower of Opportunity in the narthex. We also need assistance with snacks, crafts, drama, and recreation. VBS will be held July 13-17, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

FYI. Dick and Lois Stetler and family will be on vacation until July 2. Sharon Heidenreich, Office Administrator, will be back on Monday, June 29. Barbara Rooney will be manning the office while we are gone.

Rita’s Ice, discount cards will be available for sale outside Fellowship Hall after the 8:30 service and in the parlor after the 11:00 service.

URGENT! URGENT! URGENT! URGENT! URGENT! URGENT!
St. Matthew’s gardens need your immediate help! We are being attached by weeds. We also need help with shoveling and laying of mulch. Please contact Jessie Smith  for more information and to set up a date to help. Families welcome!

Soldiers’ Angels - Wednesday, June 24, 10:30 a.m., room 126. At the most recent Missions Committee meeting, a church wide-effort to support our soldiers was established. Soldiers’Angels is in support of a recently deployed platoon in need of many items, including reading material, snacks, and personal hygiene items (including sunscreen!). We will also be supporting the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, Adopt-a-Platoon, and Welcome Home Maryland. Please RSVP to Jenny Garmon if you are interested in supporting our soldiers!

Ladies’ Cruise on the Bay - All women of St. Matthew’s are invited to go on a cruise to Tilghman Island for a delicious buffet dinner on Sunday, June 28. The cruise will leave Chesapeake Beach at 3:00 p.m., returning at 7:00 p.m. Carpools will leave the church at 1:30 p.m. Tickets cost $50 and cover the cruise, dinner, tax, and tips and can be purchased today after services near Fellowship Hall. We are limited to 49 tickets so don’t delay. For more information, please contact Jody Rudd. (Sorry guys–ladies only!)

NOW IS THE TIME TO REGISTER KIDS FOR VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL. WE WANT YOUR CHILD TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT GOD AND HIS WORD FOR US THROUGH OUR VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL. Children ages 3 (by December 30, 2008 and potty trained) through 7th grade (by the end of June) are eligible for VBS. It will be held July 13 - 17 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Kids can have fun as they explore CAMP E.D.G.E: WHERE YOU EXPERIENCE AND DISCOVER GOD EVERYWHERE. Each Bible trek is supported with crafts, games, snacks, and worship. Registrations may be completed on the narthex table or on our web site.

A Summer Book Discussion entitled “SERVE GOD SAVE THE PLANET” by Dr. Matthew Sleeth begins TODAY, 9:40 a.m., in room 125. For more information contact Elizabeth Buckner.

VBS planning meeting for teachers and committee chairs will be Tuesday, June 23, 7:30 p.m., in room 126. The make-up meeting will be Monday, June 29, 7:30 p.m. in room 125.

YOUR INPUT IS NEEDED IN ONE OF TWO FOCUS GROUPS WHICH WILL MEET ONLY ONCE to brainstorm for what kinds of adult classes should be offered to help you grow in your faith. Are there topics you’d like to explore as a seeker? Or as a follower of Christ? One group will meet for one hour Sunday, June 28, 9:35 a.m., in room 127, and the other group will meet Tuesday, June 30, 7:00 p.m. in room 125. For more information contact Shirley Bickel.

Thank you fourth and fifth graders for those wonderful cards you made for us to use in the goodie bags for Welcome Home Maryland. Your cards will bring cheer and smiles to the troops as they read them. Mrs. Walton, Mrs. Gilbert, Mrs. Poinsett and Mrs. Tipton.

Operation Welcome Home - Operation Welcome Home Maryland is an all-volunteer organization started in March 2007. The organization’s goal is to make sure troops returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait have the welcome home they deserve when they arrive at the BWI Airport. Since most of the troops will have a layover before their next flight, the volunteers make up “goodie bags” for the troops containing bottled water, chips, cookies, candy and granola bars. Contact Carol Walton if you are interested in donating food items for the goodie bags.

Join St. Matthew’s E-mail Alert List! If you are not receiving the e-mails that are sent out with breaking news, information, reminders, and requests about the people and activities at St. Matthew’s, please send your e-mail address to Lorri Meadows or contact the church office. The e-mails are text only (no pictures) and the only time you will receive an attachment is when the monthly newsletter is sent. All recipients are blind-copied so that your e-mail address is not viewed by others.

Life Line Screening will be at Grace Baptist Church on July 1 to perform a day of preventive screenings.

 

Interesting Facts from Isaac on Father’s Day
 

Since the third Sunday of June is observed in the USA as Father’s Day (this commemoration happens on other days in other countries: in Italy, father’s day is celebrated on 19 March, the feast of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary the Mother of Jesus; in Germany it is observed on Ascension Thursday, since Jesus went home to visit his father on that day), and since this day has also become the traditional end of the “music season” at St. Matthew’s, I thought it would be fun to celebrate fathers and commemorate several important anniversaries.

Two hundred years ago, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were both born on the same day. Darwin’s famous Origin of Species was published 150 years ago this year. In the world of music, we celebrate the 350th anniversary of the birth of Henry Purcell. On Good Friday, 13 April 1759, George Frideric Handel died in London. And two hundred years ago, Felix Mendelssohn was born in Germany, and Joseph Haydn died in Austria. This being Father’s Day, it is perhaps appropriate to point out each of these composers is sometimes know as a father (although none of them sired children!): Purcell is sometimes know as the father of English opera. Handel is the father of the oratorio, even though he did not create the form. Joseph Haydn, even during his own lifetime, was know as “Papa”, as he was the teacher and encourager of many musicians (including Mozart & Beethoven); he is also called the father of the symphony and of the string quartet. And finally, Mendelssohn is the father of the baroque revival, having almost single-handedly rescued Bach’s choral music from almost total oblivion. (Bach’s organ music had always been a staple of the organist’s repertoire, as it remains even to this day.)

Mendelssohn is also credited with helping to transplant the chorale, or congregational hymn, to England before Mendelssohn’s visits there, and despite the work of such worthies as Isaac Watts & the Wesleys, hymn-singing rarely figured in church services. Most of the music in English churches was sung by the choir and/or soloists. Since I am a great believer that people should not just sit there during services, you are condemned today singing more hymns than is customary here at St. Matthew’s. I hope that you will find today’s service to be a fitting celebration of fathers.