Brookville Church

N E W S L E T T E R

REV. VICKY L. EASTLANDPastor of Congregational LifeRev.Vicky@verizon.net

2 BROOKVILLE ROADBROOKVILLE, NY 11545

516-626-0414Brookvillechurch@gmail.comwww.facebook.com/BrookvilleChurchwww.BrookvilleChurch.org

Where the doors are always open!April 2014

Most know about the story of Jesus and the woman at the well found in John 4. The scene unfolds by a deep well that provides the thing most necessary for our physical survival: water. The hungry disciples have all gone into town for food, and Jesus, tired from his travels, sits there, with no bucket, needing some help to quench his very human thirst. A woman walks up to the well, there at the noon hour when no one else is around. This was an unusual time of day to visit the well. The other women would have visited during the cooler hours of the day. This woman had no companionship to ease the burden of her work. Now, when thirsty Jesus asks this woman for a drink of water she is amazed. But then Jesus says even more amazing things about Living Water which must sound really good to someone who carries that heavy jar back to her home each day. We can hardly blame her for thinking in concrete terms when he offers such an incredible possibility. He's talking about a "water" that will satisfy the deepest longings of her soul, and she, understandably, is thinking about how heavy that clay jar is each day on her way home. She asks him how he is going to get this “living water” without a bucket because she knows how deep that well is and how far down you must go to get any water.

We too need that Living Water that Jesus is offering. As we go through life we are challenged every day, and these challenges make us “thirsty” for a cool drink. Maybe you have just been given more responsibility at work and wonder how you are possibly going to be able to fulfill those obligations. Your well is deep and you have no bucket. Maybe a loved one is struggling with an illness and you feel helpless in the face of it. Your well is deep and you have no bucket. We see the suffering of children undergoing abuse, people without healthcare, the homeless who live a hidden existence even in affluent communities. The well is deep and they have no bucket.

The thing that stands in the way of recognizing Jesus and the Living Water he offers is our tendency to look only as deep as appearances, to stay at the literal level rather than go deeper with Jesus to the spiritual level.

This week I spoke with Gail Mahoney whose job for over 17 years has been to make sure that homeless kids in the Huntington school district get the services they need. Gail told me that when she started this work, no-one realized that there were homeless students in the school, not even their teachers. When Gail began informing the teachers which students in their classes were living in shelters, she was met with shock.

The number of homeless on Long Island has grown significantly over the past decade. When Gail first started her work, there were only a handful of students who fit in the homeless category. Today, Huntington school district is servicing nearly 100 homeless kids this year alone and when you look at the numbers across the island it is astounding! There are 875 families who are currently residing in homeless shelters in Nassau and Suffolk counties combined.

Jesus offers us Living Water - spiritual sustenance so that we in turn can offer a cup of cold water to others. AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE DOING! Thanks to your generous giving and the donations of others, last summer we were able to send 10 kids to Camp Warwick on scholarships whose families could not afford this expense. 4 of the 10 we sent were homeless. To have a week away from the pressures of their everyday lives at a place where they are safe, loved, and nurtured makes all the difference in the lives of these young adults. Gail was nervous at first to offer these scholarships to homeless students for fear that they would not enjoy the experience. In all the years she has been sending kids (through our scholarship program) not ONE student has come back unhappy with their time at camp!

We are accepting donations now for this coming summer. Let’s double the number of underprivileged youth we send to camp this summer. Speak with me if you’d like to contribute in the investment of a child’s life by helping to send them to camp. It may just be the bucket they need to fill their lives with the Living Water.

~ Rev. Vicky

Providing Living Water when the well is deep!

Annual Women’s DinnerThe Reformed Church of Locust Valley Women’s Ministries cordially invites all women to join them on Friday, April 11th at 6:00 p.m. at their annual Women’s Dinner.

This year the guest speaker is Wendy Wolff, author of The Letter Writing Project. This is a moving book that will change your life and relationships forever. After the tragic loss of her sister in a car accident, she started the idea for the Letter Writing Project, and her goal is to get the world around her writing letters again...for the purpose of healing and dealing with the joys and tragedies of life. Don’t miss this brilliant author as she shares her beautiful letters with all of us. Bring your friends and loved ones for a night filled with special women, great food, gorgeous raffles and wonderful conversation.

Cocktails, Hors d’oeuvres and shopping - 6:00 pm

Dinner - 7:30 pm

Price: $25 per person

$20 Senior Citizen (64 & over)

$15 Children (12 & under)

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Lorrie Latzen 516-484-0678 or Ardis Mercer 516-759-3463.

Palm Sunday April  13  ~  10:00  am

Maundy ThursdayApril  17  ~  7:30  pm

Good FridayApril  18  ~  7:30  pm

Easter Sunday BreakfastApril  20  ~  8:00  am  -­‐  9:00  am

Easter Sunday Worship Celebration

April  20  ~  10:00  am

Easter Egg HuntApril  20  ~  11:00  amOn  Front  Lawn

Easter Sunday isApril 20

There is still time to order your Easter lilies or hyacinths!

Please use the enclosed order form or call the office by April 8th.

Choir News by Carol Goglia, Minister of Music

The Adult Choir is working very hard preparing music for the Holy Week. I hope you will attend all the services of Holy Week, as they are all amazing and help us prepare for Easter morning. On Good Friday, April 18, the choir will present the poignant cantata entitled 'Come Walk With Me'. You do not want to miss this. Please tell everyone you know to come to this service.

The kids are about to launch into an amazing project. Our play for this spring is called, 'The Bridge'. All faiths of our campus have been invited to join us. I am happy to announce that there will be 21 actors involved in this play. Please mark June 8 at 10:00 a.m. on your calendar. I will write more about this next month.

Remember to pray for our partner in peace and education, Rev. Justin

Meyers and family in Oman.

Second Night Passover Seder: Interfaith Community Annual Event!

All Are Welcome!Tuesday, April 15, 4:00 pm

Led by Rabbi Paris and Cantor David Schaefer of The New Synagogue of Long Island. Join the Interfaith Community as we come together for this very special event. All RSVP's are due by April 8th. To help support this event there is a suggested donation of $10 per person.

The donation can be made online at:http://www.interfaithcommunity.org/donate_now.html.

COMMON GROUNDS COFFEEHOUSE

NEW DATE!

The Common Grounds Coffeehouse has experienced some exciting changes, & will now be taking place on September 19th at 7:30 pm!For the first time we will have performers from the Interfaith Community (IFC) joining us! Stuart Racey, a Jewish parent and guitarist from IFC and Irene Failenbogen, a Cantor and musician originally from Argentina also from IFC will be joining me, Mark Coffey and BJ Worsham for a night of folk music that will raise funds for Long Island Cares the Harry Chapin Food Bank and Long Island Harvest.Our first collaborative Coffeehouse is an exciting development that I hope many will attend, & I will be writing more about it in the months to come.

Although the date is months away, donations for raffle baskets are always being sought, as well as people who will plan to help out, bake, serve and set up/clean up. I c a n b e c o n t a c t e d a t l d e n i s o n @ o p t o n l i n e . n e t o r 516-695-1123 anytime, & hope to hear from many volunteers.Keep watching this space for more news to come! ~ Lisa Denison

We’re right on target: this month on Sunday March 23rd we started the Loom and Friendship Bracelet project. I must confess I’m not a “crafts person”, therefore instead of me leading the kids, the kids actually taught me how to make the bracelets. It was quite fun and such a great experience because we worked as a group sharing our talents. As a matter of fact it was so much fun, that we are going to continue making bracelets through Sunday March 30th. I’m still working on finding an institution in Ecuador where we can give the bracelets we have made.

The second part of the project is to have a bake sale to raise funds to take to the institution that we select in Ecuador. I believe the kids feel very proud to be part of something that is going to make a difference somewhere else in the world.

Our tentative date for the bake sale is Sunday April 27th. Please mark your calendars, contribute something if you can, and most importantly, make sure you invite a friend!

Sunday School Corner By Martha Worsham

ReflectionsReflections

I recently heard a writer say, “You have to live a life to write it.” I don’t have an argument with that. Over the years this column has been a narrative of a displaced Minnesotan living in the fantasyland of the east. My mother traveled to Brooklyn in 1928 and forever after told stories about the things they do in that big city. I can imagine, now, how she must have relived that adventure every time she showed me her pictures.

Mother’s six younger brothers might never have had such a trip except for World War 2 scrambling the future forever. When they came home on leave, in uniform, they were, in our small town, heroes, as were all of the men who eventually came home to stay. They matured in uniform, but came back to do a lot of catching up on one of the things Minnesotans love most – fishing. Here is where I benefited so much and came to love fishing and my uncles. For about five or seven years, on many weekends, summer and winter, they would leave their new jobs in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul—usually just called ‘The Cities’) and come back ‘up north’ to the lakes and boats that had been unused during the wartime. There was always room in the boat for my brother and me. One, Uncle Andy, stayed closer to home and, before he married, would often take us out fishing on a weekday evening. Just writing that sentence brought back a rush of memories of the three of us silently gliding along (we rowed instead of trolling with a motor) and just fishing as the sun drifted down.

The effect those aunts (five) and uncles had on me added a dimension of family values that has never diminished. White Christmases at home with family must have been missed so much that they made that holiday as a must do occasion. As they began to have a little extra money, something a family of twelve never had, Christmas became a time to make up for what they did not have growing up. Those Christmases forever after influenced how we felt a Christmas should be celebrated. For starters - the ever after question, “Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?”

In the past twenty or so years those relatives continued to pass on to me lessons about sibling affection. They would travel across the continent just to visit briefly, but do it frequently crisscrossing the country to get together. I did not really comprehend the depth of their affection until just in recent years. They were inseparable by blood and nobody could relieve the ache of longing except a brother or sister. Now I realize that I feel the same way about my brother. The bond of family has only grown stronger as time passes.

The uncles are gone now and just two dear aunts remain. Their memories and gifts are always with me whenever I see a fisherman in a boat, or hear a loon call, or celebrate Christmas.

Branch Worsham

End Word: Written on a chalkboard in a locker room. “Football is Game, but fishin’ is serious.”

I Proposed To Ida Ida Refused Ida Won My Ida If Ida Used

In every conceivable manner, familyis link to our past, bridge to our future.

~ Alex Haley

RECALL NOTICE:The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been identified as "Subsequential Internal Non-morality," more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed. Some of the symptoms include: 1. Loss of direction2. Foul vocal emissions3. Amnesia of origin4. Lack of peace and joy5. Selfish or violent behavior6. Depression or confusion7. Fearfulness8. Idolatry9. Rebellion The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect. The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required. The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R. Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component.No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with: 1. Love2. Joy3. Peace4. Patience5. Kindness6. Goodness7. Faithfulness8. Gentleness9. Self control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (BEST Instructions Before Leaving Earth), for further details on the use of these fixes.

WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list, and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on Jesus.

DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility.

Thank you for your attention! - GOD

P.S. Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important recall notice, and you may contact the Father any time by 'Knee mail'! Source: Jessie Surig

Please let us know if we can add your name to the list of volunteers. Contact us via email - brookvillechurch@gmail.com or Kris (krisbaggelaar@yahoo.com; 671-0694

ORFill Out This Form and Include with Your Offering at Sunday Worship Service

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YES!! I would be happy to help with Together We Serve meal ministry:

Name ___________________________________________________________

Phone ___________________________________________________________

Email ___________________________________________________________

Growth and Development written by Kris Baggelaar, Chair

A creative approach to dealing with the challenge of our work at Brookville Church is to put ourselves in the spiritual space of Jesus and the early founders of Christianity, asking a fundamental question anew: What are the needs of our church and our community, where are we needed most, and where and how can we serve best? I would ask you to ponder, for a few moments, to contemplate, with what intensities and in what directions would we run, if we were founding Brookville Church in today’s world? Every generation has to re-create the faith, the journey, and the initiatives. If we forfeit the capacity to re-create, we have lost the spirit.

Growth and Development has been brainstorming ways to grow not only our congregation but also our ties with all the faith communities that share the Brookville campus.

Our current focus is on developing a framework for a meal ministry, with the intention of accomplishing a fundamental goal: caring and providing for our Brookville family. We also are inviting the other faith communities that worship on Brookville’s campus to be part of this initiative. Working in conjunction with the other faiths would augment the resources of our small congregation; but, regardless of whether or not we get help from the other groups on our campus, Brookville Church wants to offer a helping hand to them whenever there is a need.

Designed to help ease daily burdens, this ministry, tentatively called Together We Serve, would provide ready-to-eat meals to those in need, carried out by volunteers from Brookville Church and hopefully from all the tri-faith communities.

The ministry would meet the practical need of food preparation for those experiencing a variety of circumstances, for example: birth of a child, death of a family member, emergencies, hospitalizations, serious injury, caretaker relief, and more.

All the details for implementing Together We Serve will need to be worked out, but it might go something like this: A sign-up system would be created most likely through email and possibly a website, allowing individuals/families to make their need known; additionally, a coordinator periodically will reach out to the different faith leaders for their advisement of where they feel a need could be met. When a need arises, a Together We Serve coordinator would contact a predetermined list of volunteers with information regarding the family in need.

Before the meals are scheduled and delivered, recipients would be given the opportunity to provide a list of allergies as well as food dislikes and dietary and religious requirements. Family size, duration of meal preparation/delivery as well as delivery times and places would also be taken into account.

Volunteers could provide meals often or seldom depending on their own personal circumstances. Meals could be purchased, homemade and/or frozen.

Before we can implement Together We Serve, we will need to know how many of you are willing/able to participate—regardless of how much or how often—in order to make this viable ministry.

Easter Plant Order

Each plant costs $ 19.00 . All checks should be made payable to: Brookville Reformed Church. Orders due by April 8th.

Name of Donor: ____________________________

Number of Plants:

Lilies:____________ Hyacinths:____________

__ I will take the plant (s) after 10:00 a.m. worship.

__ I will leave the plant (s).

AMOUNT ENCLOSED: $_______________

Clearly list if plant(s) are in memory of or in honor of:

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_______________________________________2014