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.