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Christian Reporter Mt. Lebanon Christian March 2015

An Unexpected Call

Pastor Billy Strayhorn tells the story of a store-front church which is called Almighty God Tabernacle. One Saturday evening, the pastor of this church was working late, and decided to call his wife before he left for home. It was about 10 PM, but his wife did not answer the phone. The pastor let it ring about two dozen times but she didn't answer. He thought it was a little odd, but decided to finish up a few things and try a few minutes later.

When he tried again, she answered right away. He asked her why she hadn't answered before, and she said that the phone hadn't rung at their house. They brushed it off as a fluke and went on their merry ways.

The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office, which was the phone that he'd used that Saturday night. The man that he spoke with wanted to know why he'd called on Saturday night. The pastor couldn't figure out what the guy was talking about. Then the guy said, "It rang and rang and rang, but I didn't answer."

The pastor then remembered the mishap and apologized for disturbing him, explaining that he'd tried to call his wife. The man said, "That's okay. Let me tell you my story. You see, I was planning to commit suicide on Saturday night, but before I did, I prayed, 'God if you're there, and you don't want me to do this, give me a sign now.' At that point my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID, and it said, 'Almighty God'. I was afraid to answer!"

God is still God. He uses us in many ways to reach out to others. Sometimes we're knowingly a part of that ministry. Sometimes we have no clue. With us or without our awareness, God still uses us to change lives.

Blessings, Art

VISION STATEMENT God's vision for Mt. Lebanon Christian Church

(DOC) is that we be a Christ-centered church; growing in faith through prayer, worship, and Bible study; growing in service through outreach; growing in

love through Fellowship.

ELDERS

1 - Sally Myton, Lee Ann Wahl 8 - Verna McGinley, Brad Montgomery 15 - Jeff Hawn, Laurie Sargent 22 - Brad Montgomery, Chuck Sargent 29 - Laurie Sargent, Lee Ann Wahl

WORSHIP LEADERS

1 - Chuck Sargent 8 - Joy Pajak 15 - Dan Wahl 22 - Lee Ann Wahl 29 - John McCarty

COUNTERS

1 - Janet Bowers & Jinny Plavetich 8 - Janet Bowers & Jinny Plavetich 15 - Duane Ready, Brad Montgomery 22 - Chuck & Laurie Sargent 29 - Ralph & Barb Scott

March 2015 Volunteers

NURSERY

1 - Mary Nicholson 8- Alice Lawson 15 - Janet Bowers 22 - Laurie Sargent 29 - Janet Bowers

SERMON - Reverend Art Mace

DIRECTOR OF MUSIC - Charles Bieri

GREETER - Joanne Houston

The Ring-tailed Monkey

Men who trap animals in Africa for zoos in America say that one of the hardest animals to catch is the ring-tailed monkey. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it's simple. They've been catching this agile little animal with ease for years.

The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. He can't get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.

A Different Day

An exciting ministry and opportunity for fellowship will begin in April. In a 15-passenger van, those desiring, will be picked up at home and treated to a “Different Day” once a month.

Whether it is the Bayernhof Museum, the Flight 93 Memorial or shopping at Pittsburgh Mills, we will spend the day together and enjoy a lunch out. Watch for further details.

Comforting Those Who Mourn

Words aren’t always necessary — or even beneficial — when people are hurting. In Killing Giants, Pulling Thorns (Zondervan), Charles Swindoll tells of a girl who went to comfort the mother of a deceased playmate.

“What did you say?” the girl’s parents later asked.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I just climbed up on her lap and cried with her.”

Joseph Bayly, who experienced the deaths of three children, shares a similar experience in The View From a Hearse (David C. Cook): “I was sitting, torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God’s dealings, of why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly. He said things I knew were true. I was unmoved, except to wish he’d go away. He finally did.

“Another came and sat beside me. He didn’t talk. He didn’t ask me leading questions. He just sat beside me for an hour or more, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left. I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go.”

“We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles

but for the grace to transform them…………….. Simone Weil

During a Confirmation service, referring to the new converts, the pastor asked the 5 new

"convicts" to come to the front of the church. He never knew what he said, but several people had to leave the building because they were laughing

so hard.

The Elders pray for those in our congregation who need prayers of healing and spiritual help. We pray for those on our prayer lists and others who have been mentioned to us or during our worship services. If you are in need of prayer and would like to be included in our private prayer list or in the newsletter prayer list, please contact the church office or one of the Elders. If you are asking for prayers for someone else to be listed in the newsletter, please get their permission. Please also pray for our church family and all who are in need of God’s healing, comfort and hope. Prayers for Members

Betty Archip Dave Koerber Jane & John McCarty Greg, Karen & Clare Newman Jack & Betty Rothermel Peg and Bill Samples Dan & Lee Ann Wahl Prayers for Friends and Family

Jesse Belcher (Anne Totin) Marty Hoofnagle (Jane & John McCarty) Kathy Comer (Jane McCarty’s sister) Howard Goff (Pastor Art’s brother-in-law) Betty Oros (Dan Wahl) Jim Powell (friend of Jane McCarty) Betty Sell (Joanne Houston’s sister) Allan Sparks (Alice Lawson) Jeremy Wallace (Audrey Houke’s nephew) Jason Wolling (cancer, Joy Pajak)

Also, please remember in your prayers our members who are homebound.

Women’s Coffee and Fellowship

Join the women of Mt. Lebanon Christian Church for Coffee and Fellowship on Saturday, March 7th at 8:30 AM - Orbis Cafe in Mt. Lebanon, 675 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15228 Please call Jane McCarty at 412-527-4421 or at Jane.E.McCarty@gmail.com if you have questions.

Men’s Fellowship Breakfast

Saturday, March 7th at 8:30am at The Original Pancake House, 2229 Swallow Hill Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15220 - behind

Denny's on Greentree Road.

Please join us for good food and great fellowship.

Please bring cash to easily pay a single check. Come and enjoy breakfast and fellowship with the men of Mt. Lebanon Christian Church. This

is a great way to start the weekend by hanging out with the guys for some good fellowship and great food.

RSVP to John McCarty at 412-527-6027.

Tri-County Men's Fellowship On Thursday, March 19th, the Tri-County Christian Men's Fellowship will have their quarterly meeting at the First Christian Church of Carmichaels.

Registration begins at 5:30pm. The menu will be our famous Baked Steak, Mashed Potatoes

& Gravy, Green Beans, Salad, Rolls & Butter, Drinks and Desserts. The cost of the dinner will be $10.00.

Please RSVP to either Rev. Mace or Chuck Sargent if you will attend. We will setup carpooling for those who are going.

Most Needed Items:

Canned fruit (pears, peaches, pineapple, Applesauce, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail) •

Hamburger Helper products • Juice (non-refrigerated) • Canned chicken/chili/stew •

Jelly • Pasta sauce (glass or cans) • Cereal • Canned / Dried Beans • Specialty soups

(Progresso, Chunky, etc.) • Boxed potatoes

Join Mt. Lebanon Christian Church to SACK

HUNGER for SHIM. Please bring non-

Mt. Lebanon Christian Church March

You can purchase flowers to honor

someone or an occasion or in memory of

someone special in your life.

The flower calendar is on the bulletin board. Please fill

out a green flower slip that is attached to the calendar

and place it on the desk in the church office. Mark your

date on the calendar. Your donation will be

acknowledged in the Sunday bulletin. After service you

may take your flowers with you. The cost of the flowers is

38.00.

MUSICAL NOTES By Charles Bieri

SAVIOR, LIKE A SHEPHERD LEAD US Chalice Hymnal Page 558

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch you forever. (Psalm 32:8) Divine guidance is the very essence of Christianity. The Bible equates being guided by the Spirit of God with being a child of God (Romans 8:14). But even as our natural children can sometimes rebel against parental authority, so we too can forsake God’s leading in our lives and seek to go our own ways. God’s leading, then, doesn’t just happen. There must be the sincere desire and willingness to be guided. With implicit faith we must recognize that God has a planned path for each of His children, and we must deeply desire to follow that path wherever it leads. Scriptural promises such as Jeremiah 29:11 become our source of daily encouragement:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

Plans to give you hope and a future.

The author of this hymn, Dorothy Thrupp, was born and lived in London, England. She was a rather prolific writer of children’s hymns and devotional materials although she seldom signed her name to any of her works. When she did, she would use a pseudonym. For this reason it has never been fully proven that she is the actual author of this hymn. This hymn first appeared in her collection Hymns for the Young, in 1836.

It was put to the hymn tune BRADBURY by William B. Bradbury, 1859.

Walk the path one step at a time in the confidence of God’s leading and presence. Do not become burdened by the distant future.

Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015 - Traditional Palm Sunday Service, processional at 11:00 a.m. Palm branches will be handed out.

Maundy Thursday, April 2, 2015 - Holy Thursday with Tenebrae Service at 7:00 p.m.

Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, 8:00 a.m. Sunrise Service in the Chapel

Easter Pancake Breakfast, 8:30 a.m. Provided by the men of the Church. Includes pancakes, eggs, sausage and more!

Easter Morning Traditional Service, 11:00 a.m.

``

Good Friday-- April 3, 2015. 12 Hour Prayer Vigil from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. Participants may pray at their homes or at the church. A sign-up sheet, for your convenience, is in the Narthex.

Easter Morning CAYA Service, 9:45 a.m. CAYA Praise music beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Potluck

Many congregations enjoy gathering for potluck dinners - meals largely unplanned, when people bring food to share. Usually, the main dishes, salads and desserts balance out. The fun is the variety mixing together on a plate and the surprise factor of what’s contributed. Churches and communities - even families - are potlucks of a sort too. When groups assemble, each person contributes something unique and sometimes unexpected. When all is mixed together, the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts. A beautiful balance often results: One is a good singer, the other writes well; some are strong leaders, others dependable team members, some are traditional, others innovative. Together, it’s delicious! Potlucks are sometimes called covered-dish dinners. But don’t keep your gifts “covered”! Share them because you’re a valued part of the whole.

MT. LEBANON CHRISTIAN CHURCH SPAGHETTI DINNER

Saturday, March 21, 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Tickets $10 (Adult) & $8 (Children under 12) Available in the Narthex beginning in February

Support the Capital Campaign and enjoy a great meal and fellowship! We are asking each member to sell five tickets to help support the Capital Campaign. Please invite your friends, family and coworkers. Dinner will include spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread, beverage and dessert. If you are able to donate a dessert, or volunteer to help make dinner, serve or clean up, please advise Jane or John McCarty.

Get Healthy-Stay Healthy Faith-Food-Fitness-Focus-Friends

Sermon Series: Sundays 9:45 AM Small Group: Wednesdays 7:00

I lied on my Weight Watchers list. I put down that I had three eggs…. but they were Cadbury chocolate

eggs.

BIRTHDAYS

2 - Clare Maree Newman 19 - Lee Scott 22 - Frances Skelly 25 - Peg Samples 28 - Janet Bowers 29 - Dorothy Green 31 - Janet Scott-Mace

March

ANNIVERSARIES

7 - Verna & Bernie McGinley 18 - Diane & Richard Ozanick 19 - Horst & Doris Riddler 25 - Frances & Jack Skelly

Dorothy Hawn 957 Bockstoce Avenue Apt. B106 Pittsburgh, PA 15234 New

Address!

Notes from the Secretary

If you would like to get the Christian Reporter Newsletter delivered to your computer’s inbox please contact me at the church office. Two benefits of an e-mail newsletter is that it is in full color and you can print anything you want and leave the rest.

Also, I am going to update our Church Directory with current changes. If you have any changes, such as address, phone number or e-mail address, please let me know so that I can keep everyone informed. Thanks so much, Joyce

On Tuesdays @ 7:00 pm, mid-week Bible Study is held at the church. We are studying the Apocrypha, those 15 books found in the Catholic Bible but not always in the Protestant Bible. Why not plan to join us?

Mt Lebanon Church Bible Study

Mt. Lebanon Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

A Church Alive with the Holy Spirit! Cedar Boulevard at Hollycrest Drive

Pittsburgh, PA 15228 Office: (412) 531-8554

Fax: (412) 531-4155 “Every Member Is A Minister”

Arthur Mace Minister arthurmace99@yahoo.com Jeff Hawn Board Chair jhawn.counsel@gmail.com Chuck Bieri Director of Music charlesbieri@yahoo.com Joyce Lackey Secretary churchoffice@mtlebocc.com

Lesson to be Learned

A Sunday school teacher was teaching her class about the difference between right and wrong.

"All right children, let's take another example," she said. "If I were to get into a man's pocket and take his billfold with all his money, what would I be?"

Little Johnny raises his hand, and with a confident smile, he blurts out, "You'd be his wife!"

To the congregation:

As board chair, I wanted to provide a short summary of an interaction the Church had recently with an outside group seeking to find a new location for their business. In mid January the Church was approached by The Mushroom Family Learning Center (http://www.mushroomfamily.org/) "an independent secular non-profit preschool" as they are soon to lose the spaces they occupy within the Unitarian Universalist Church on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon. They requested a rather immediate response as they were preparing at this time for the next approaching school year. In response, a motion was put before the board at the January board meeting to allow the Trustees and Property to enter into informal discussions with their representatives to determine the specifics of their needs and whether any type of arrangement beneficial to the Church might be possible. On January 26th, three representatives of Mushroom visited and met Dan Wahl, Greg Newman, and myself for a tour of our Church spaces that would be available after the departure of TDO and those that are currently used during the summer months by MLEDP. On January 28th, the representatives and their teachers group met with us again. With these meetings the Mushroom group presented a request of the spaces they were interested in and their requirements for storage and a separate play area outside and asked us to respond with our needs for compensation. Given their specific request, the trustees and property committee members met and deliberated over the various factors and impact of having a group of this size and nature within the church building full time. After dutiful consideration, the trustees presented the Mushroom group with a "contribution" number that represented what would be necessary to cover the costs of having their group as a "tenant". However, the Mushroom group was unable, even with follow-up negotiations, to come close to reaching that number. They offered their regrets and thanked the Church for entertaining their inquiry. I would like to thank those involved with working through this event as it will serve as a useful exercise for the future.

Jeff Hawn

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