St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church
2860 East Market Street, Warren, Ohio 44483
330-394-5741
Office email: stpaulwarrenoh@aol.com
Office Hours 11:30 am – 2:30 pm

March 28, 2021

Sharing in the ministry today:
Presider - Rev. Gail Zackrison
Live-stream Technician – Tom Mossor
Altar Guild – Debbie Groves & Ruth Sarko
Assisting Minister – Marty Maurice
Church Closing – Liz Chapin
Flower Delivery – June & Kelly Hutchison
Greeters – Marty Maurice & Grace Shiau
Lector – Marty Maurice
Sunday School – Trisha Mossor
Ushers – Terry Ceplecci & Kelly Hutchison

Our Mission:
Baptized in Christ and strengthened through Word and Sacrament, we seek to share Christ’s love and forgiveness, to live in the world as God’s humble servants, and to be a caring and welcoming church.

ATTENDANCE Sunday, March 21 = 46
Wednesday, March 24 = 14

GIVING Sunday, March 21, Deposit = $1,520.00
2021 Boiler Project = $18,238.00 (to date)

We are changing our prayer list guidelines. The names listed below will stay on the list for the month of March. If you want a name put on the prayer list, please call or email the church office.

MARCH PRAYERS
Praying for members with medical challenges: Elaine Benka, Ron Benka, Darlene Cesta, Jerry Groves, Carolyn Marsh, Jerry Wareham

Remembering those with special needs: Heather Breter, Ann Buch, Gini Cage, Dean Voye, Mark Voye

Remembering those who are home bound: David Baudo, Pastor Richard Bowen, Bill Cohol, Marlene Cohol, Geneveive Costello, Jim Illencik, Jean Maurice, Harriette Shaffer

Remembering those in the Military: Jonathan Benka, Kirk Groves, Michael Maradin

Announcement Page Articles: Please have your articles to the church office by Tuesday each week.

Visit us: On Facebook at: www.facebook.com/stpaulwarrenoh; on our website at: stpaulwarrenoh.org

FOOD OUTREACH: Delivery of hot meals continued on March 19. We also delivered boxes of shelf-stable foods to several families in need. We are thankful for the response from you. Our hope is to maintain the servant project, once a month, through the year, recognizing an essential need in the community and to keep communication with some of our members, too. The following suggested items are always appreciated: cereal, soup, pasta, canned meats (such as tuna, salmon, turkey, chicken), boxed potatoes, gravy, and peanut butter. The next scheduled delivery date is April 23. Monetary donations can be made to the church with FOOD OUTREACH on the memo line. Questions or suggestions, please contact Bonnie Thompson, Debbie Illencik, or Grace Shiau.

ART SHOW BASKETS: Our preschool is planning to have their annual art show sometime after Easter, and as many of you know, this is a very well attended event. They have graciously given us the opportunity to hold a basket raffle, with the proceeds going toward the cost of our new heating system. We are willing to plan and create these baskets as we have done in the past, but we will definitely need the help of our congregation. There will soon be sign-up sheets in the narthex with suggested items for these baskets, and we invite you to sign up to donate one or more items. We will also accept cash donations from those who prefer not to shop. No amount is too small as we are bargain hunters! Place your check in the offering plate marked “Art Show Baskets” on the memo line. Please have your monetary donations in by TODAY, in order to give us time to shop and assemble the baskets. You may also contact one of us if you have items that are not on the list but could fit into one of the basket themes. The proposed themes are: Italian/wine basket, gardening basket, men’s basket, laundry/cleaning supplies basket, family fun basket, children’s kitchen basket, and gift card/lottery ticket basket. We already have a children’s basket ready to go. This is an opportunity for everyone in the congregation to be involved in this fundraiser and help to contribute to the cost of our heating system. Please participate if you are able! If you have any questions, please contact Brenda Ceplecci or Kay Paajanen.

PASTA DINNER TO-GO: We will hold a Pasta Dinner To-Go on Saturday, April 10, from 4:00 to 6:30 pm. The cost is $8.00. Proceeds will go to the Boiler Project. For advance orders, please call Lorri Baudo. For questions, call Diana Bauman. There will also be a Bake Sale and Basket Raffle.

April 2021
1 – Maundy Thursday 7:00 pm Worship Service
2 – Good Friday 8:00 pm Worship Service
3 – DAR in Cassel Hall 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
4 – Easter Sunday
7 – Finance Committee Meeting in Parlor 5:00 pm
10 – Grand-families in Parlor 10:30 am – 12:00 pm; Pasta Dinner To-Go 4:00-6:30 pm
12 – Council in Parlor6:00 pm
18 – Newsletter Deadline
24 – Red Cross in Cassel Hall 9:00 am – 2:00 pm; Grand-families in Parlor 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

ST. PAUL YOUTH UPDATE FROM STACEY ALTIERE

Purse Project
Now – April 4
Ladies, the Masked Disciples need your old purses! You know, the ones that are buried in the back of your closet but still in good condition? Those purses! The Masked Disciples will be filling your gently used purses (please no small clutches or oversized bags/totes) with toiletries and hygiene products for distribution at local shelters, outreach programs, and ministries for women. Please place your donations on the table in the hallway marked “Purse Project”.

Noisy Change
Now – April 4
The children have already kicked off the “Noisy Change” collection for the ELCA World Hunger Project. Glass mason jars and coffee tins have been placed in the hallway to collect your loose change to donate to underdeveloped countries to purchase livestock, medicine, etc. This campaign will run during Lent, so please dump out those purses and look in the couch cushions to help those in need.

Lenten Offering Boxes
Now – April 4
The youth of all ages have also received their Lenten Offering Boxes to collect on their own to donate to our Helping Hands Ministry at St. Paul. They have been instructed to look around the house and fill them up before Easter as their gift to the church. Please take one from the table located in the narthex if your child did not receive one. ... See more

FROM INTERIM PASTOR GAIL ZACKRISON:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
These last few weeks have been a blur—my daughter’s hospitalization in Pittsburgh in the middle of January, starting as interim pastor at the beginning of February for St. Paul as well as St. John, then hospice care for Cindy and her death, then trying to restart with St. Paul, and getting myself back to some kind of a “normal” routine. And all of you have been part of this with me—so many cards and prayers and wonderful thoughts—thank you so very much!!!...And life goes on…

One of my colleagues in Erie made me aware of the daily Lenten devotions from the Washington National Cathedral. These are short, and anyone can sign up for them, they come right into your email. If you have only a cell phone, you can probably still sign up for them since most phones can handle email. Simply go to cathedral.org and search for “daily Lenten Meditation”. There will also be Easter meditations judging from what I saw when I “searched”. The one from last Tuesday, March 9, stuck with me, and I would like to share it with you.

The passage was John 7:37-52 about Jesus proclaiming that he is the living water, and that those who are thirsty should come to him and drink. Those who listened to him disagreed about what was meant, and for some this became another one of the things they didn’t like about Jesus and were willing to kill him for. What caught my attention in the meditation (by The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas) was:

“But in truth, as their argument revealed—they missed the real point of Jesus’ declaration. For the true shocker of Jesus’ words is the pronouncement: ‘Whoever believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’

Here is the point: Belief in Jesus as the Messiah is not about vociferously defending that claim against all others. Such is the seed of divisions and hostilities—and not the way of faith. The belief into which Jesus invites us is one in which we allow the water that Jesus offers us to flow through us so that we become at least a stream of living water to others; that is, a stream of change from hateful and unjust divisiveness to loving and just community.

Simply put, Jesus invites those who truly thirst for a change from the way things are, to drink from the waters that he is offering and, in doing so, to be the change that we hope to see. This is what faith is about—partnering with God to change the world. This is our Lenten invitation.”

I just finished a book about Badshah Khan (Abdul Ghaffar Khan, 1890-1988), the non-violent soldier of Islam by Eknath Easwaran. The title intrigued me, and I left it on my wish list until finally my niece got it for me this year. He was also called “The Frontier Ghandi”. He learned non-violence from Ghandi, and they worked together in the decades-long struggle for India’s independence from Britain in 1947-8. But the non-violence was more than just a strategy in a political struggle for freedom; this non-violence arose from love for all people which resulted in social movements. What connected me to the Lenten meditation was what Jesus would call “living water” flowing through people towards the rest of the world. Ghandi, a Hindu, and Ghaffar Khan, a Muslim, saw in each other the same spirit, the same “soul-force” in Ghandi’s words, that worked non-violently, sacrificially, and loving-the-neighbor-ly to help the larger community. They each saw each other as a “servant of God”. I see this as the “living water” flowing through people, daring to strive to “change things from the way they are; to partner with God to change the world”.

And then the resurrection comes, giving us the courage and gumption to strive to “partner with God to change the world”.

May the spiritual journey that is Holy Week lead you to Easter and new life.
Pr. Gail Zackrison ... See more

A Message from the President…
Did you know that jellybeans tell a wonderful story, all for the benefit of God’s own glory?

Red is for the blood He gave.
Green is for the grass He made.
Yellow is for His sun so bright.
Orange is for the edge of night.
Black is for the sins we made.
White is for the GRACE He gave.
Purple is for His hours of sorrow.
Pink is for our new tomorrow.

A bag full of jellybeans, colorful and sweet, it’s a prayer…a promise…and also an Easter treat.

May each day be Easter in your heart. May the joy you feel on Easter morning be the joy of each day of your life. That is the Easter Promise…the promise of Eternal Hope and Love.

Love and Peace,
Diana Bauman ... See more