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Millburn Congregational United Church of Christ MESSENGER

March 2020

SOUP’S ON!! MYLO’s Semi-annual SOUP & SALAD LUNCH

Sunday, March 1st

11:15 a.m.

Menu: 5 varieties of homemade soups, tossed salad,

bread, homemade desserts and drinks

$5.00 per person (including children)

Stay after worship to enjoy a delicious lunch and fellowship.

All monies raised will go to a future project of MYLO

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MYLO Celebrating 76 years

On March 15, 1944, MYLO (Millburn Young Ladies Organization) was organized in the home of Millburn Church minister, Rev. Lauren Messersmith. This group was composed of young ladies of the community, who, because of the work they were doing, could not attend day meetings of the Ladies’ Aid. There were 14 charter members: Alice (Denman) Bauman, Mil-dred Bonner, Thelma (Clark) Bonner, Carroll DeHaan, Margaret (Denman) DeYoung, Bernice Denman, Janet Diedrich, Lois (Bonner) Doolittle, Lucille (Clark) Engh, Berniece (Clark) Fountaine, Marguerite Messersmith, Ruth Minto, Louise Truax and Ruth White.

A Little Bit of History (From the book, The First Hundred Years Plus Forty, dated 1980)

Meetings were usually held in the homes of members, with the exception

of annual guest nights and the Mother/Daughter Teas which were held at the church.

Among many projects accepted by this group was the 1945 Year Book, the first ever to be published for the church. MYLO works with the Ladies’ Aid in many church activities. They had the honor of being the first to make a contribution to the church building fund, thus encouraging its beginning. The purpose of MYLO is that of enlarging the Christian outlook of its members, emphasizing the importance of the church to family life, and encouraging support of the larger Christian fellowship. Some activities and projects that MYLO has done over the past 76 years include: A shower for Marg DeYoung, first bride of the group; sewing items for the bazaar held at the Annual Chicken Dinners; started the building fund with a donation of $25; square danc-es; picnics; salad bars; ice cream socials; created cookbook of recipes submitted by mem-bers; and served roast beef luncheons. In 1971 we adopted a Navaho girl from New Mexi-co. We provided clothes, books and toys to her. In 1971 we adopted a Navaho girl from New Mexico. We provided clothes, books and toys to her. In 1997 we painted classrooms, built cabinets for the Sunday School, gave to the organ fund, helped with the remodeling of Holden Hall, purchased coffee pots and ceiling fans for Lauren Hall, purchased furniture for the fireside lounge, purchased the water conditioner, repaired the roof and parking lot. We also purchased the oranges and candy that used to be given out to the children at the Christmas Programs.

Continued on page 2

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MYLO cont’d

We assisted in the purchase of the 2 octaves of Handbells, given in memory of Choir Director Cecelia Komar. In 1991 MYLO purchased the fans for the kitchen and made the dinner for Richard Meltzer’s Eagle Scout celebration. In 1994 we purchased the blinds for the windows in Lauren Hall. In 1995 we helped renovate the ladies wash-room in Holden Hall, assisted in thrift sales and helped on the project for Eagle Scout Danel Franks. In 1999 saw the church celebrate 100 years of serving chicken dinners to the public. We helped serve this final chicken dinner. In 2005 we pur-chased 3 steel carts for the kitchen and made the curtains for the offices, class-rooms and great room in the new addition. And the list goes on….. Our most recent fundraisers (2017 – 2019) allowed us to purchase new outside doors for entryway to Lauren Hall, chairs for Lauren Hall and new blinds for Lauren Hall and kitchen. Over the years we have supplied Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to families in need, supplied school supplies and gifts for the Mitten Tree, purchase These Days devotional books for the congregation to enjoy, worked at Pumpkin Fests, Spring Into Green, church rummage sales, church auctions and cookie walks. We have held many Soup and Salad Luncheons on Sundays after worship, purchased containers to hold plastic silverware, helped with funeral meals, cleaned the Sanctuary, hosted coffee hours on the 1st Sundays and served as ushers for worship services. As you can see, MYLO has done a lot for the church over the past 76 years. We have also found time to have some fun. At our monthly meetings we have enjoyed presen-tations from members of the church on trips they have made throughout the world, enjoyed talks on the Bible with our pastors, had game nights, enjoyed the Vocalaires, learned many crafts, tasted lots of food, made jam and other items to sell at bazaar fundraisers and most of all enjoyed each other’s company. MYLO meets on the 4th Tuesday each month at 7 p.m., except June, July and August (on vacation) and November. We have a Christmas Party/meeting on the 1st Tuesday in December. MYLO is open to all women of the church. Dues remain $5.00. 2020 officers are: President, Sue Heinlein; Vice Pres., Nancy Tschannen; Secretary, Kris Franks and Treasurer, Ruth Young. We invite all women of the church to visit us at our meetings.

Our last 3 charter members: Lois Doolittle, Ruth White & Lucille Engh at our anniv. celebration 2009

2015 Dinner Out at Reflections in Lake Villa

See more pictures on page 10

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SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1 Holy Communion 2 3 4 5 6 7

8:30 Chapel Service 7pm BSA Troop 87 6:15pm Handbells 5pm Soup Kitchen

10 Worship and 7pm Tues Night Youth 7pm Confirmation

Sunday School 7:15pm Choir

11:15 MYLO SOUP 8:15pm Band

AND SALAD LUNCH

8 DAYLIGHT SAV. STARTS 9 10 11 12 13 14

8:30 Chapel Service 6:30pm BSA Dens 7pm BSA Troop 87 6:15pm Handbells 8am BSA Troop 87

10 Worship and 1, 2, 4, 5 7pm Tues Night Youth 7:15pm Choir Committee Mtg

Sunday School 8:15pm Band

11 Coffee Hour

MESSENGER ARTICLE

SUBMISSIONS DUE

15 16 17 ST. PATRICK'S DAY 18 19 SPRING BEGINS 20 21

8:30 Chapel Service 6:30pm BSA Den 5 9am Messenger 6:15pm Handbells 7pm Compassionate

9:15 Band 6:30pm Millburn Collating 7pm Confirmation Friends

10 Worship and Clovers 4-H 1pm Town&Country 7:15pm Choir

Sunday School 7pm BSA Troop 87

11 Coffee Hour 7pm BSA Den 6

1:30 Mission Club 7pm Tues Night Youth

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

8:30 Chapel Service 7pm BSA Pack 87 7pm BSA Troop 87 6:15pm Handbells

10 Worship and 7pm Tues Night Youth 7:15 Choir

NO Sunday School 7pm MYLO

11 Coffee Hour

ONE GREAT HOUR

OF SHARING

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8:30 Chapel Service 7pm BSA Troop 87

9:15 Handbell Choir 7pm Tues Night Youth

10 Worship and

NO Sunday School

11 Coffee Hour

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Pastor Phil’s Message

And, That’s a Fact!

What is a “fact?” Are facts important? Who gets to decide that a fact is in fact a “fact.” Once upon a time there was this notion that facts were solid indisputable pieces of information. We’ve always known that opinions could be fluid, they could change, they could be influenced, but facts were facts. They were reliable, didn’t change, and they were indifferent to feelings, indifferent to whether they were popular or not, they were simply the facts. Facts were the final arbiter of disputes between opinions. In the hierarchy of believa-bility, uninformed opinion was at the bottom, informed opinion was much much better, but facts ruled supremely at the top of the hill. Facts mattered. At that time, facts were established by a rigorous criteria. There needed to be proof. Evidence. Research. Peer review. Facts were not personal. For example, no one could say that water froze at say, 30 degrees Fahrenheit for them, while it froze at 32 degrees for everyone else. It seems that now we have entered a time where facts have outlived their value. Apparently, now, if you don’t like the facts, you can simply pull more desirable facts out of the air, no proof, no evidence, no substantia-tion. Just call it an, “alternative fact,” and these more desirable “facts" can claim the same authority as those other pesky proof based facts. I happen to really like this new creative fact based world. In this new world, here are my new issue facts: I am much better looking than Brad Pitt and I have considerably more net worth than that Buffett guy and there were over a thousand people who came to church last week to hear me preach! In the old world order I would be con-sidered delusional, but in this new world order my facts are as good as anyone else’s. The only problem I have found with this new edition of facts is that they tend to make my world a lot smaller. They are isolating. In the old days when facts were restricted by proofs and mutual verifiability, everyone in the world could share the same facts. They connected us across time and space. If something were true for one, it was true for all, and for all time. Facts could not be owned or limited or bent by the rich, the powerful or the well connected. Facts were the highest expression of democracy. They applied equally to all. The latest version of facts, where we are free to make them up without evidence or substantiation, means two things: 1. Since I may be the only one who regards these as facts, I am alone in my beliefs. 2. Now those with power and influence can promote facts that are desirable and beneficial to them, and can simply dismiss the ones that are detrimental to their desires. Where once they were the highest expression of democracy and connectedness now they can be tools of control and oppression. I for one would be happy to give up my wishful thinking Brad Pitt good looks and all my delusional Warren Buffett money to reclaim the former edition of FACTS. Soon we will be in the season of Lent. Lent is a time set aside to ask the hard questions, to face the big questions of life, to get real about the challenges and the possibilities of claiming to be children of God. Please plan to join us for all the special services that lead us toward Easter. As we embody the story it can be expressed through our living. Blessings and Peace, And, may the FACTS be with you, Phil

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Check the bulletin board in

Lauren Hall and consider signing up to help….

Easter flowers sign-up sheet

Rummage Sale sign-up

Coffee Hour sign-up sheet

Altar flowers sign-up sheet

Usher sign-up sheet

Lay Reader sign-up sheet

Information on upcoming events

THESE DAYS Magazine –

The new These Days is now availa-ble. These Days is a “Daily Devo-tions for Living by Faith” magazine. It is published especially for the United Church of Christ in the U.S.A. and Canada and the Presby-terian Church of Canada and U.S.A. It comes out quarterly and is pro-vided by MYLO, free of charge, to our congregation. The magazine is located on the welcome table in Lau-ren Hall and on the small table by the mailboxes. Pick up your copy today.

2020 Flower Chart The 2020 flower chart is up on the bul-letin board in Lauren Hall. Stop by to sign up to provide flowers for the altar on Sunday mornings.

If you want the church to get your flowers the cost is $28. Laura Dragin, Office Coordinator will contact you the week prior to see if you want special color(s) and any dedication you want.

You can also bring your own arrange-ment. Just indicate on the chart that you will provide the flowers.

Fresh flowers add so much to our wor-ship. Please consider signing up for at least 1 Sunday in 2020.

Our Annual Spring Rummage Sale will be held on Friday, April 24 and April 25 and we need your help! We are now sorting and pricing donated items each week so please bring your gently used items to church on Sundays through April 19! Please place your items (preferably boxed) in the marked storage room at the west end of Lauren Hall. We will be ac-cepting small furniture between April 19-22 only and request no undergarments or old TV’s please. If you would like to donate during the week, please contact the Church Office (847.356.5237) to sched-ule a time. Look for the sign-up sheets in Lauren Hall soon for your opportunity to help with this great event! Your Rummage Sale Team

Spring Rummage Sale

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WORSHIP COMMITTEE I am happy to be the chair of the worship committee again. We have a small dedicated group, who works on getting the ushers each Sunday, sets up communion, orders flowers and decorates the church. We also help with planning sermons and selecting music for the choir and band with our choir director. We have planned the Easter Season and the schedule is listed in the bulletin. There is a sign up sheet to order Easter Lilies or Tulips. Please consider purchasing flowers as it really help beautify our Sanctuary. Don't forget to bring or order flowers for special occasions like birthdays and anni-versaries. I am looking forward to a great year! Nancy Tschannen

MYLO

At our January 28th meeting we reviewed our 2020 yearbook, signed up to host upcoming coffee hours and dis-cussed ideas for meeting programs. We also worked on our upcoming Soup and Salad lunch (March 1st). We were honored to have Pastor Phil join us at this meeting. He provided us with several ideas on ways to increase our membership and program ideas. We provided him with a little history/background of MYLO. Thank you Pastor Phil.

Discipleship Needs You

The Discipleship Committee focuses on the life of the church--its people. We will work to help you meet the other, like -minded people of our church. What can we do to learn more about the person across the room? Are there activities a group could enjoy together? In March we will talk about the Discipleship Committee’s role in the church, and how you could participate. Not everyone will want to serve on the committee… but, would you take time to share your ideas? Attend an event? Host a Coffee Hour? Reach out to someone you’ve missed late-ly? Some will think of the committee as the “social committee,” and that’s part of it. I prefer to think of the Dis-cipleship Committee as the folks who will focus on the KIN-dom of God. Strengthening our ties while celebrating our common belief – where new friends are welcomed and comfort is found.

If you have ideas to share or an interest in joining this team, please contact Donna Zradicka, Tim Overrocker, or Pastor Phil.

One Great Hour of Sharing

The annual One Great Hour of Sharing offering gives us an opportunity to reach out to those people worldwide who need our help with education, agricultural resources, or emergency relief. The United Church of Christ provides a fund specifically targeted to international assistance, and we can be a part of it. Just set aside a bit of extra money between now and March 22 to help reach beyond our country and provide hope to someone far away. Your dona-tion will help with refugee ministries, health services and more. We’ve seen the pictures and heard the stories that are hard to fathom. When we think of our conveniences and our daily safety – our homes, our cars, our resources, our refrigerators, our medical care – it is hard to imagine life differently. One Great Hour of Sharing can help reach across the seas and make a difference. Please consider spreading hope and giving generously to this offering on Sunday, March 22.

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Joys/Concerns

Janele Overocker Congratulation on her Masters Degree

Deb and Jim Grandos’ brother-in-law Jerome

Carol Rossi Recovering from knee surgery

Lew McGuire Recovering from rotator cuff surgery

Mourning

Toots Bennett, family and our church Passing of Vi Miller

Keep in your thoughts & prayers

Sonja and Lynous Jones

Judi and Ron Smith

Milt Anderson

Norma Welch

Don Kenimer

Donna Geiger’s niece, Jennifer

Stacy Messner’s brother

If you wish to have someone added or removed from our prayer list, fill out a card on Sunday mornings (place in offering plate) or call the church office.

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Laura Dragin 01

Mara Tanneberger 02

Alicia Rayner 04

Steve Strang 04

Scott Messner 07

Wayne Nowack 07

Joan Stewart 08

Sarah Warren 08

Mark Denman 09

Ruth Holst 12

Jenna Lobberscht 13

Ron Bratzke 15

Carly Kraft 15

Evan Zaloudek 16

Al Sommer 16

Donna Geiger 16

Sue Heinlein 17

Emily Monahan 21

Landin Majerowski 24

Laura Petroff 24

Mark Messner 26

Char Myers 26

Chloe Etienne 27

Lorel Chichester 27

Join Date # Years

Kevin Gniadek 03/05/1995 25 years

Dawn Revenaugh 03/05/1995 25 years

Congratulations Kevin and Dawn on your anni-versary as a member of Millburn Church. We are so glad you are one of us.

February Flowers

2nd-

9th-

16th– Char Myers

23rd-

Thank you Char for providing flowers on the 16th.

As you can see, we need your help decorating the altar with flowers on Sunday mornings. The flower chart is posted on the bulletin board in Lauren Hall.

February Lay Readers

2nd-

9th– Deb Morrissey

16th– Sr. High

23rd—Penny Smith

Thank you all for assisting in the 10 a.m. worship services this month.

A sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board in Lauren Hall. Please consider being a reader.

February Coffee Hours

2nd– MYLO

9th– Ruth Young

16th-

23rd– Chili Cookoff

Thank you for hosting this month.

If you or your group has not hosted a coffee hour in a while, please consider doing so. Coffee, tea, plates, cups and utensils are pro-vided by the church.

Sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board or call the church office. Thank you!

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Bridal dress show for 70th Anniversary 2014

2015 made chemo caps

Feb 2019 cookie decorating with Vicki Szpylman

2011 made dresses for girls in Africa

2018 ornaments

for bazaar

2011 Toots & Vi talking with members of Vocalaires

2018 making jam

2011 hosted Sunday Brunch at Hwy 45 Diner

2010 Vocalaires entertaining us at March meeting

2017 Christmas party

2013 made shorts for boys in Africa

MYLO

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Messenger Team/Information

Editor/Publisher—Kris Franks psychokittie53@hotmail.com Collators:

Ron Bratzke, Lynnette Bratzke, Ruth Young Deadline for article submission is the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Next deadline is Wednesday, March 11th . Email your articles, comments, kudos, etc. to Kris Franks, Editor or to the Church Office Coordinator. You can also drop off your submissions at the church office.

Church Staff Pastor Phillip Price

pastor@millburnchurch.org

Laura Dragin, Office Coordinator

secretary@millburnchurch.org

Mon, 9:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m.

Tues, Wed, Fri—8:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m.

Becky Fuller, Music Director

Beckyfuller03@gmail.com

Worship 8:30 a.m. Chapel Service

10 a.m. Sanctuary Service Handicap accessible

Sunday School at the 10 a.m. service

www.millburnchurch.org

T: 847-356-5237 F: 847-356-5669

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How many Leprechauns can you find hidden inside this Messenger?

Answer on last page .

Picture to color

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Millburn Congregational United Church of Christ

19073 W. Grass Lake Rd. Lake Villa, IL 60046

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we worship God as a spiritually alive church, welcoming all and reaching out with love as Christ’s disciples.

Please recycle...save our earth. How many? 19