NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2016

EMMANUEL, ST. ANDREWS, & ST. MATTHEWS EPISCOPAL CHURCHES

From the Archivesby Jeanne Westcott
While sorting papers in the Archives Room, I came
across this poem. The New Berlin Library had Spencer
Popes obituary, so we can know a little more about him.
Spencer Benjamin Pope was born in the Town of
Columbus in 1865, the son of Lloyd and Mary Hopkins
Pope. His early years were spent in Columbus, but as a
young man, he came to New Berlin, There he was engaged
in the hardware business, for many years associated with
Burhams and Black Hardware Co., Syracuse as a salesman
and clerk. In the early 1930s he retired and went to live in
Oneonta. After the death of his wife, he returned to New
Berlin and was a resident at the Eagle Hotel until his death.
He was married to Hattie E. Myers in 1889. Mrs.
Pope was a milliner in New Berlin for many years. She
passed away in 1933. He was father to one daughter,
Theral Pope Southern (Mrs. Herbert). At the time of his
death he was grandfather to eight and great grandfather to
eleven.
His obituary states he was an ardent reader and
liked to write poetry. Many of his poems and stories were
published in the New Berlin Gazette and the Syracuse Post
Standard.
Mr. Pope died in March 1950 and is buried in
Fairview Cemetery. Barbara Beardslee Dundas wrote that
he was great uncle to Ann, Bill and her. She remembers as
a child talking to him in Herb Southerns hardware store.

St. Andrews
Majestic, calm and restful house of God:
Your buttressed walls of aged masonry,
Proclaim the strength He can bestow on us,
If we but place our faith and love in Him.
The ivy vine upon your walls, that clings
And climbs secure, een to the belfry roof,
So frail and fragile in its beauteous self,
Also a lesson give to us, of how
Secure support He can to us become,
If we extend our tendrils faith to Him,
The spacious lawn of pure emerald green,
Bids us to halt and say a prayer of thanks
For blessings, undeserved, which we receive.
And when we raise our eyes to gaze beyond,
Toward the west, we see from gentle slope
To rising eminence, the well kept graves
Of Kin and friends, that we have left with you,
To guard and keep, till we may join with them
And stand before our god, on Judgement Day.
Spencer B. Pope

A book recommendation from Joan Axtell

I am sharing with you a book that I have found helpful and inspiring. It is called
PATTERNS OF GRACE, a book of Devotions of the Heart. New York Times says, This
writer shares with her readers how a Bible verse has helped her simplify her life, how
she learned not just to pray but to listen, how she sees Gods fingerprints in her life
and many more. Youll be inspired by Debbies voice and encouraged by her insights.
In the chapters like Thank You Notes to God and Be a blessing youll begin to see
the patterns of Gods grace as they unfold in your own life. Youll be invited to reflect
on the grace God is showing you on special Gratitude Pages. And you will discover
simple reminders of the profoundly beautiful miracle that each day is a gift from God.
I have found this book inspirational and a blessing when the mountains seem hard to climb. It has
helped to get me through difficult times over the past few years. I have given it as a gift to several of my
friends, and will continue to do this.
It will be worth your time to take a look at this piece.

Lessons for December

4

1st Lesson
Psalm

Isiah 11:1-10
72:1-7, 18-19

2nd Lesson
Gospel

Romans 15:4-13

Matthew 3:1-12

11 1st Lesson Isaiah 35:1-10

18 1st Lesson Isaiah 7:10-16

Psalm

80:1-7, 17-19

2nd Lesson
Gospel
25 Isaiah

Romans 1:1-7

Matthew 1:18-25
9:2-7

Psalm
146:5-10
2nd Lesson
James 5:7-10

Psalm

96

Titus

2:11-14

Gospel

Gospel

Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]

Matthew 11:2-11

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

December Birthdays & Anniversaries
2 John Sayko, Benjamin Dye,
Nancylee Gridley, Richard Lindner
3-Trevin Cruz
4-Geroge Denning
5-Holly Sullivan
7-Cody Gebo, Ian May
8-John Shepler
9 Morgan Rogers, Dave & Kai Loomis
10-Thomas Mason
11 Nancy Dye
12-Connor Suspensky
14 Helen Donahe
17-Michelle Campbell
18-Sarah Prindle, Vaughn Labor
19 Saralyn Reynolds
20Patricia Brookins
22 Gina Denning, Peter Miers
24 Patricia White, William Hitchcock, Scott
Campbell
25 Joseph Harris, Lorraine Jenkins
27 Marshall Morris
29 Deborah Hitchcock, Jennifer Fink
30 Shaun Zampetti
31 Pete Smith

St. Andrews ECW

Meeting
December 11, 2016
Right after the
Church Service.

December 17, 2016

9:30 AM
St. Andrews Hanging of
the Greens
January 9, 2017
St. Andrews Pampered
Chef Show
6:008:00 PM
All are welcome

The Unadilla Valley Food Pantry would like you to begin to think
about fall food donations. We could use the following:
For the month of December:

December 4

Fruit

December 11

Beans pork & beans, dried beans, baked beans

December 18

Spaghetti Sauce

Stations of the Cross

Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at
7:00 PM at
St. Andrews Episcopal Church,
New Berlin, NY

Our Daily Bread Food Pantry continues to see a high level

of need. Thank you for your past, present and future support! As the holiday season approaches, our monetary
needs are particularly important. If you wish to make a
contribution, monetary contributions may be sent to
Our Daily Bread Food Pantry, P O Box 813,
Norwich, NY 13815
Food Items for December:
Canned chicken or tuna, canned fruit, canned vegetables,
boxed macaroni and cheese, potato flakes, etc, & Juice.
Thanks for your continued support and caring.
Barb and Gary Tompkins, Volunteer Coordinators,
Our Daily Bread

December Schedule
Dec 4 Morning Prayer at all three
churches
Dec 11Eucharistic Service at all three
churches
Dec 18Joint service at St. Matthews at
9:30 Lessons and Carols
Dec 245 PM St. Andrews
7 PM Emmanuel
Bishop De De will officiate at both of the
Christmas Eve Services

All three churches will be decorating with poinsettias. Please consider helping beautify the
church this Christmas by donating poinsettias. Send a donation to the church office in
memory or thanksgiving of someone you have lost or cherish. Fill out this form and include
it with your donation. We need this information by DECEMBER 12. Thank you.
Name:________________________________________________________
In Memory of: __________________________________________________
In Thanksgiving For: ________________________________________________________________
Church Designation: ________________________________________________________________

St. Matthews and

St. Andrews
December
Birthdays &
Anniversaries
2

Joey Friedel

Tom Moore, Linton Wainright

Linda Slentz

10 Nicole Anderson
11 Pauline Smith
12 Brian Prentice
15 Ralph Malloch, Matthew Slentz
16 Ken Slentz
18 Robert & Beverly Fagan
19 Jack Lawton, Melissa Friedel
20 Jamie Norwood
21 Barb Berdzinski
22 Dana Clarke, John Ahern
25 Jennine Palmiter
26 Bev Carpenter
27 Andrea Perkins Miller

Joy to the World by Cheryl TenWolde

In the Season of Advent, we are invited to look both back
in time with the incarnation of Jesus in history, and look forward
into the future of his coming in righteousness to judge the earth.
We await the celebration of his coming as a baby born in
Bethlehem. We ponder his presence coming in the Holy Eucharist,
as we pray for every heart to prepare him room. Advent is a
penitential season that was first developed to lead into the
Baptismal season of Epiphany. It started out being seven weeks
long. Some churches are again lengthening the season from four
weeks to seven as an antidote to the secular culture we are
surrounded with today. They are trying to keep a meaningful
Advent Season by beginning preparations right after All Saints
Day. Advent in our tradition is a quiet period of waiting, hoping,
and preparing for the Messiah. Our culture bombards us with very
different messages. Joy to the World, the Lord is Come, we will
sing soon. But even now we know that Emmanuel, the Lord is
with us. How does this joy to the world become known? In a turn
-about-play, Bishop-Elect DeDe has a question for us, What
brings you joy in living the Gospel? How will you be the Gospel of
Christ in action? We are challenged by the words of St. Teresa of
Avila:
Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ looks with compassion into the world.
Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good.
Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world.
As we are filled with blessings, we can bless others. Our
three churches are joyful when we fill our Food Pantries, when we
serve Community Thanksgiving Meals and monthly Soul Kitchen
Meals, when we have Stations of the Cross Devotions, Morning
Prayer Services, visitation to shut-ins, Tasting Teas, Joint Services,
and Pot Luck Suppers. We are joyful when we give Outreach for
heat and other necessities. All these efforts and more are the
wonders of Gods love as he comes to make his blessings
flow. Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Lessons and Carols

Joint Service at St. Matthews December 18 at 9:30 A.M.
The Advent Festival of Lessons and Music was first created by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1880 and
is now found in the Book of Occasional Services. Persons from the three churches will take part in reading
scriptures which tell the story of the fall of humanity and the promise of the Messiah, interspersed with
singing of carols and hymns. This lovely service will be followed by a Festive Coffee Hour.

KIDS CHRISTIAN FORMATION

Emmanuels Sunday School class will be meeting at 4:15 p.m. for 45 minutes on Sunday for Christian
Formation and fun. The classes will include stories from the Lectionary Lessons while building a model, making gifts,
and learning about loving all of Gods creation. Refreshments will be served; like juice, pizza and cookies. All children
in the Greater Norwich Area as well as those already in the Episcopal Parishes are cordially invited to join in the
excitement and fun in learning about God, Jesus, and being an Episcopalian.
The Sunday dates for the 2017 season are:
January 29, 2017 4:15 5:00 PM in St. Andrew (New Berlin) Parish Hall - Snow creatures
February 26, 2017 4:15 5:00 PM in Emmanuel Parish Hall - Painting tapestries
March 26, 2017 4:15 5:00 PM in St. Matthew (So New Berlin) Parish Hall - Psalm 23 tableau
April 30, 2017 4:15 5:00 PM in Emmanuel Parish Hall - Painting floor canvas Labyrinth
Parents are welcome to stay and participate.
Lynne A. Walton, Christian Education Director, is the Sunday School leader. She was retained
especially to expedite faith development at Emmanuel. Lynne is a Cradle Episcopalian from our sister parish, St.
Andrews in New Berlin, NY. She attended New Berlin High School and Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. After 32 years
working as an industrial hygienist and safety engineer for Proctor & Gamble, she retired in August, 2010. Lynne taught
a fourth grade class for 9 years at St. Annes Episcopal Church, West Chester, OH. She has attended Christian
Leadership School , Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, Rochester, NY.
Please register your student, any age from 5 to 18, by calling 334-8803, so we have contact
information in case events change, and to get supplies needed for each age group. Thank you.
If you have any question or need additional information, please, telephone Lynne at 334-8803 or 334-8801
(Emmanuel office), or email emmanuelmission@frontier.com.
This year's Tasting Tea was very successful with ninety one
visitors from all over the area. The winner of the Christmas
Food Basket was Elaine Clum of South New Berlin and the
winner of the Angel and tree skirt was Jane Clement of
Norwich.

Chit, Chat & Chew

January 21, 2017St. Andrews, St. Matthews
February 18, 2017St. Theresa
March 18, 2017United Methodist
All are at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in New Berlin
11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Newsletter

NON-PROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PERMIT #8
NORWICH,
NEW YORK

MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS:

We Worship Together
Remember the Church in Your Will!

The Church Office &

Food Pantry will be
CLOSED
on December 23
for the
Christmas Holiday

EMMANUEL SOUL
KITCHEN
Thursday, December 8
Good Free Meal for
Body & Mind
All are welcome to come
Eat, Talk, Make Friends!
Only one seating
STARTS AT 5:30 P.M.
Parish Hall,
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
37 West Main St.
Norwich, NY

If you no longer wish to receive this Newsletter, please let the church know. You can email us at
emmanuelchurch@frontiernet.net or call 334-8801 and leave a message.