A Message from the Minister – It’s Time

"It’s time for your articles"

The church secretary said

Four days past the deadline

I better get out the lead

It’s time to do taxes

And financial aid forms

To keep kids in class,

Apartment and dorm

It’s time to "spring forward"

Before bed on March 8

Or you’ll make it to church

One hour early or late

That’s this month’s message

Compressed in a rhyme

I have much more to say

Than I really have time.

-Bill

March 2 – Rev. Schnell (Communion)

March 9 – Choralier Cantata

March 16 – Palm Sunday Cantata

March 23 – Rev. Schnell (Easter: Services at 8, 9:30 & 11))

March 30 – Rev. Horak

January 27 – 9:30 – 228

January 27 (Annual Meeting) – 94

February 3 – 9:30 - 151; 11:00 – 113; Total – 264

February 10 – 9:30 - 129; 11:00 - 104; Total – 233

First Time Visitors – (1-27) Karen Gertz of Aurora, Gary & Amy Rumskey of Aurora, Josh & Katie Trook of Aurora (2-3) Amy Barry of New York City

Memorials – Grace Buonpane, mother of Jim Buonpane; Jane Roth; John Kraus, father of Melissa Kraus; Edward Maulis, Sr., father of Jim Maulis

Baptisms – Anna Christine Lauzon, daughter of Martin & Joy (Kaskey) Lauzon, granddaughter of Dale & Anita Kaskey

Deanna Calder and Kyle Messner have starring roles in "Alice in Wonderland" at Harmon.

Hunter Flagg placed first in diving against Twinsburg.

Marc Wernecke has made the Dean’s List for the fall semester at Kent State University.

Justin Morrison has a winning record in wrestling at Harmon.

Lance Bell is a "gem" of a guy, which means that he is a Group Engineering Manager for Nestle USA.  Lance is into history and history simulation computer games, feeding and watching birds and golf.  He is married to Dorothy, who is a retired Registered Nurse with more recent experience in Elder Care.  She also occasionally does Pet Sitting.  Both were very active in their former Methodist congregation: he serving on the Administrative Board and Stewardship Committee, and she serving as Membership Secretary and Prayer Chain Coordinator.  Both love to sing in the choir.

Sandy Gerz is a part-time personal trainer with the Curves organization. She is married to William, and together they have two grown children (a son and daughter), and one granddaughter (Bryn) who now comprises Sandy’s main pastime. Sandy also enjoys golf, bowling, gardening and reading. She participates in Relay for Life and volunteers with the New Clevelanders program.

Laura Harrell is a fulltime homemaker who has a talent for picking up used furniture on the side of the road, using it as a canvas for decorative tole painting, and then offering the results to an adoring public.  She is married to Todd, who is a Sales Account Executive for Stopol, Inc.  His passions include golf and reading books about financial investing.  Both are huge OSU football fans.  The Harrell’s have two sons: Alex (2 ½) and Matthew (9 months).  The boys are regulars at Chuck E. Cheese’s and love to take road trips to visit grandparents in Columbus and Chillicothe.

Darla Braun is employed as a Sales Associate by K-B Toys.  She has been coming to church for about 6 years now.  Along the way she met and married Martin, and embraced daughter Hannah as her own.  Darla is a pioneer woman who enjoys raising 14 chickens, growing vegetables and cooking them (not the chickens).  She has been active in our Christian Education program and recently joined our Care Team Ministry.

Carolyn McVeigh, formerly employed in the field of Architectural Design, is now working on a Master’s degree in Humanities from John Carroll University.  Her favorite outlets include tennis and reading.  She is married to Mike, who is a Product Manager for General Electric Lighting.  He enjoys golf and fitness, and is a Cleveland sports fan in every way you can imagine.  The McVeigh’s have two sons, Michael (16) and Ryan (14), and a dog named Buddy who enjoys a daily walk.

Wendy Wilson joins her husband, Mitch, as a member of our congregation.  Mitch was confirmed here when he was in his early teens.  Wendy is a part-time nurse at Meridia Southpointe Hospital.  She volunteers at the schools attended by her two children, Bryce (7) and Alexis (5), and enjoys recreational swimming with her family.  Rounding out the family are 1 dog, 2 cats and three or more fish.  Her maiden name is Schmader of Aurora Schmader fame.

Part of Something Big – As a Stephen Ministry congregation, The Church in Aurora is part of a big network of care.  There are thousands of Stephen Ministry congregations representing more than 90 Christian denominations across the US, Canada and the world.  The Stephen Ministries Headquarters is based in St. Louis, Missouri, and can connect our Stephen Leaders with Stephen Ministry congregations virtually everywhere in the country.  So if you have a relative or friend far away who is in need of care, talk to one of our Stephen Leaders.  They may be able to connect your friend to a Stephen Ministry congregation in his or her own neighborhood.

Workcampers can help.  Need boxes or furniture moved about?  Have closets to rearrange?  Have odd jobs youths can help you with?  Need extra childcare helpers?  Due to popular demand, the Workcampers will continue assisting church attendees on as-needed basis during the winter months.  Please contact Jenni Ticer at 330-995-9318 to set appointments.  Thank you!

Book Study Group - In preparation for their monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 5, the Book Study Group will be reading the New York Times Bestseller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace...One School At A Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. For more information contact Bonnie Niebuhr (330/995-5084).

Thank you for your continued support of the Workcampers!  Our Sub-sandwich/Bake sale added $1182.28 to the Workcamp Fund.  Add that to the $350 made from the sale of Valentine candy that Circle 3-H lovingly prepared for us and the $94 from the used ink cartridge/cell phone project (keep saving them!).  Thank you for helping us on our journey to Wilmington, NC, July 5-12, 2008.  (Please remember to frequent the Aurora Farms SUB-WAY which donated our veggies and discounted our meat and cheese.  Mention you are from the C.I.A. and thank them for their support.)  Thanks!

3H PM – Please join us for fellowship on Thursday, March 13, from 6:30-8:30 in the Stephen Ministry Room. We will be sharing Chapters 13 and 14 from Beth Moore’s book, Believing God, as we continue working on our afghans and prayer shawls. ~ Kathleen Horak, 330-562-1930

SAVE THE DATE! The annual C.I.A. WORKCAMP SPAGHETTI DINNER/SILENT AUCTION will take place Sunday, April 20, 2008, at the Aurora High School Commons. Tickets will be available in late-March. Even if you can't go to Workcamp, you can help u by donating crafts, jewelry, art or other creative items you make.  Please contact Alyssa Hilliard at 440-503-2255. THANK YOU!

Wanted! Used Ink Cartridges and Cell phones – Don't throw away your old cell phones!  Please save them for the Workcamp Fund.  A drop-off basket is in the Great Hall. Large quantity pick-ups of laser print cartridges are available. Contact Kim Williamson at 330-562-4930 for information. HELP SAVE OUR LANDFILLS while providing financial support for Workcamp!

Women’s Guild – We will meet on March 12^th at 11:30 in Fellowship Hall. There will be no program this month as our attentions will be turned to the Nutcracker Wish List requests. Please be sure to attend as we want everyone to be involved in these important decisions. Lunch will be provided by the Non-Circle Ladies. We’ll see you there!

CARE TEAM offers parking assistance during Sunday services to those in need.  Please contact Flip Eavenson by the Saturday before if you desire this "service with a smile"!   If you would like to learn more about or donate some time to the CARE TEAM, please contact Flip Eavenson at 330-995-6268.

CARE TEAM NEWS!  Thanks to the 22 NEW volunteers, as a result of Bill's recent sermon, the Care Team is fully staffed.  Your response was overwhelming!  Some "newbies" have already been put into action.  If you find yourself in need of the urgent, temporary services of the Care Team, or would like to become a volunteer, please contact Flip Eavenson at 330-995-6268.

Mission of the Month – The Mission of the Month for March is The Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland.  This is an organization serving inner city (Cleveland) "at risk" youth by offering after school services.  The Mission Statement of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland is: To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible adults.

The purpose of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland is to promote the social, educational, health, leadership, and character development of girls and boys during critical periods of their growth.  They do this by providing:

The Samaritan Woman at the Well is a story of exclusion and inclusion, outsider and insider, reconciliation and transformation.  It is steeped in centuries of tradition, customs, laws and prejudice.  Everywhere the woman looks, she is an outsider.  Jesus will embrace her with the love of God, offering her the living water of full communion with God.

Many thanks to Kay Oxford, who returned to teach our Faith Today workshop.  In this lesson the contemporary story of a Mayan woman was shared, as she was transformed by the love of Jesus.  Kay and the children created heart-shaped frames for love scriptures.

Mary Thomas was back to teach Created by the Spirit, our art workshop.  The children made Mardi Gras masks while learning this celebration is really an anticipation of Lent, the time when Christians contemplate their relationship with Jesus Christ.  As they enacted the story with their masks, the children began to understand this is a metaphor for the Woman at the Well.

Ruth Wise taught our Bible Improv class by enacting the story and creating vignettes based on real-life experiences of inclusion and exclusion.  The children pondered how Jesus would have reacted to the situation and how that could guide their own behavior.

Kristen and Fritz Mayer returned to teach our story telling workshop, Mary & Martha’s Bed & Breakfast.  The children heard the Samaritan woman tell her own story and then they performed science experiments about transformation.

Currently in Promiseland

The Story of Zacchaeus

The story of Zacchaeus is a small story in the scriptures.  It only takes up ten verses.  And yet, it is a story that most of us learn as children.  Perhaps it is because Zacchaeus was a short man and children identify with him as he hangs from a tree in order to see Jesus over the crowd.  Perhaps it is because Zacchaeus doesn’t have to answer any questions in order to receive forgiveness.  Or maybe it’s just that we would all love to have the opportunity to sit at a table with Jesus.  For whatever reason this story charms us, the final sentence lets us know that this is no little fluff item stuck into the Gospels.  In answer to why on earth Jesus would be a guest at the house of a sinner, he replies, "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

Zacchaeus was indeed lost.  He was a tax collector for the Roman Empire in Jericho.  The Romans had occupied the country of Palestine since 67 BC.  To pay for the empire, they would take a census (as happened during the nativity story) and then assess taxes based on that count.  A Jew was chosen for the task.  He would pay a set up fee up front to Rome; anything he collected beyond that, he could pocket.  The more money he accumulated, the more his lifestyle served as evidence of his corruption.  He was friendless and faithless.

Apparently, his spirit had reached some kind of juncture when this story begins.  He has heard that Jesus was coming through town on his way from Galilee.  Jesus and his disciples were making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover; it would be the last week of his life.

What did Zacchaeus know about Jesus?  Perhaps he had heard the rumors about miracles and healings.  Perhaps he had heard about how Jesus prays to his "father" or about parables that reveal the Kingdom of God.  Maybe he had heard Jesus say that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.  That would give him pause to reflect.  (Some people say that there was a gate into Jerusalem through which caravans would pass.  If a camel were too laden with goods, it couldn’t pass through the gate - the eye of the needle – without relieving itself of all burdens and passing through on its knees.)

Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, just as so many of us go to parades to see someone famous.  He was short and couldn’t see over the crowds, so he climbed a sycamore tree.  As Jesus approached him, he called Zacchaeus by name and said, "hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today."  Everyone in the crowd grumbled that Jesus was associating with a sinner.

Zacchaeus, perhaps in response to the grumbling but surely revealing a change of heart, declared publicly that he would give half of his possessions to the poor and would return four-fold to all who were defrauded.

Jesus proclaimed, "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."  Jesus had seen Zacchaeus, knew that his heart was ready to be transformed, and declared him worthy of God’s love simply because he had been found.  Zacchaeus’ quest for identity opened the door to a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus once again acknowledged that he was the Son of Man.  The circle is complete, offering a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Our teachers this month in Promiseland are Dana Shively in Bedouin Encampment, Stephanie Tutkovics in Created by the Spirit, Kris Conces in Faith Today and Christine Shock in Where in the World Is.

Coming in March…….