June 12 - a special Sunday

Everyone is invited to a special celebration service honoring Pastor Bob's 50th anniversary of his ordination AND Pastor and Beverly's 50th year of marriage! A special catered luncheon will take place following the Sunday service on June 12. Come one, come all! They are preparing for a large crowd.

Notes from the Synod

Upstate New York Synod

Assembly Update

Resurrection people who pray first, walk together and change lives.

May 12, 2011

Workshops and Educational Opportunities for June 6, 2011

On Monday, June 6th, we will have several hours for you to learn more about ministry on the local level, the synod level and the global church level.

These options include:

Mission Faire:

* Spend some time looking at the displays of the various ministries Extended Workshops:

* Two and a half hour long workshops with two options:

* Youth Ministry

* Preparing for disasters

Workshops:

* Two sessions with a variety of options Mini-Service Opportunities:

* Get involved in hands on opportunities to serve while attending the assembly

* FOODLINK- Help our a local food bank. Volunteers will help pack food for distribution to various agencies that are supplied by FoodLink, located at 936 Exchange St., Rochester. Max - 30 participants

* RAIHN(The Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network) - Wear your work clothes and come help paint, clean and wash the bus at RAIHN, a not-for-profit, non-denominational group of faith communities helping homeless families achieve sustainable independence.

(Space is limited for the Mini-Service Opportunities. Please sign up at the registration desk through Noon on Monday, June 6.)

Servant Conversations/Town Hall

* An opportunity for sharing beyond the workshops From genetics to stewardship, world hunger to the spirituality of older adults, there is something for everyone. The toughest part will be deciding which to attend.

A Recording to Help Prepare You for Assembly

Rev. Diane Wheatley (St. Paul's, Liverpool) prepared and recorded information

about this year's Synod Assembly. Click here to listen to this fifteen minute

recording to help you prepare for the assembly. You can download this

recording for playback on your mp3 player. (to download right click on Windows

or control click on Apple here and save this file)

Assembly Worship

"This year's theme, Empowered to Serve, calls us to be the church in our

communities, to live out our faith in our communities. It calls us to move out

of our church buildings and be the public church; to share our faith and the

love of God in service to our neighbors. Our Eucharist service will offer a

time of knowing God's presence in the midst of our work as we worship and do

our business in the same space. Congregations are invited to help us

transform our business space into worship space.

Each congregation is invited to bring a simple worship arrangement to put on a

table in Empire North. Tables measure 18 inches by 8 feet. We suggest an 18 -

20 inch square of cloth to which can be added anything from a flower in a vase

to a cross or other items. Please no lit candles and keep the arrangements low

so that people behind can see.

Voices are also needed to join the choir for our Eucharist worship. The anthem

will be How Lovely Are the Messengers by Felix Mendelssohn. Rehearsals will be

on Sunday, 6/5 at 4:00pm and Monday, 6/6 at 6:30pm just before our 7:30pm

worship. If interested please send your name & contact information along with

the voice part to our choir director and organist, Michael Unger,

at michaelunger@hotmail.com."

Synod Assembly Registration Now Open

Empowered to Serve

June 5 - 7, 2011

This year's assembly will again be held at the Rochester Riverside Convention

Center. The assembly will run from Sunday, June 5th to Tuesday, June 7th. We

are offering online registration through the synod website. Paper registrations

are available on the website here or by calling the Syracuse office at

315-446-2502.Your registration is not complete until payment has been received.

Preregistration ends on Friday, May 27, 2011. After that registrations will

only be taken at the assembly registration desk.

Once again we will be using the Radisson Hotel Rochester Riverside for hotel

accommodations. The room rate remains the same as last year at $98.00 per

night. Deadline to book at hotel is May 1st. You must call to book the

reservation and ask for the Synod Assembly rate. HOTEL RESERVATIONS MUST BE

MADE DIRECTLY THROUGH THE HOTEL AND ARE NOT INCLUDED WITH REGISTRATION.

Hotel Information:

Radisson Hotel Rochester Riverside

120 East Main Street

Rochester, NY 14604

(585) 546-6400

In This Issue

Workshops and Educational Opportunities for June 6, 2011

A Recording to Help Prepare You for Assembly

Assembly Worship

Synod Assembly Registration Now Open

CONVO Registration

The 2011 CONVO Registration is open. This event is open to youth in grades

9-12. Downloadand return the registration form by April 16th and the cost is

$260, $285 thereafter. A $50 dollar deposit is required. Pastors please

downloadand display the flyer.

For questions about CONVO and financial aid contact Pastor Laurie Carson-Nelson

716-799-4017 (Cell or text) or by email pastorlcn@gmail.com.

For questions about registration contact Rick Mollenkopf-Grill 716-465-1321 or

by email rick@nfclyo.org.

Y'ALL Registration

The 2011 Y'ALL Registration is open. This event is open to men and women ages

18-35. If you are interested please Download and return the registration form

by April 16th and the cost is $260. A $50 dollar deposit is required. Pastors

please download and display the flyer.

For questions about registration or if you are interested in coming only

Friday - Sunday or financial aid please contact Pastor Joe McGarry at

315-935-7240 (Cell or text) or by emailpastormcgarry@gmail.com.

Assembly Service Project

Helpus make Military prayer squares for Fort Drum servicemembers. Bring them

with you to assembly. Directions can be found on the website.

Quick Links

ELCA.org

Upstate New York Synod

Follow Us on Twitter

For the latest synod information be sure to visit our website,

http://upstatenysynod.org. Also, follow us on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/upstatenysynod.

Posted for Pastor Bob

Bishop Hanson on recent events

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Responding to the May 1 news of Osama bin Laden's death, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said bin Laden's death "is an occasion for solemn remembrance."
Hanson addressed his May 2 statement to ELCA members. He focused his comments on those who died because of bin Laden's choices "of hatred and violence," and those who continue to mourn the deaths of loved ones.
Hanson also said "joy finds its fullest and deepest expression not over a human death, but in God’s promise to unite all things in heaven and on earth, to reconcile the human family and to bring God’s reign of peace."
The full text of the ELCA presiding bishop's statement:

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

The death of Osama bin Laden is an occasion for solemn remembrance. We remember the lives of all whose deaths resulted from his choosing hatred and violence. We stand with those who continue to mourn the death of loved ones while giving thanks for their lives, their love and their faith. We also continue to hold in prayer all whose service in the military, in government and in humanitarian and peacemaking activities contribute to a safer and more prosperous world.

At the same time we also recall who we are: people baptized into Christ, freed to serve our neighbors. We are people called as Christ’s ambassadors of reconciliation with our neighbors, serving God’s work of restoring community. We engage our neighbors of other faiths, including our Muslim neighbors near and far, in respectful, searching dialogue and shared commitment to build a world that reflects God’s will for peace with justice. We pray for our neighbors, even those who are our enemies.

Most of all, in these 50 days of celebrating Christ’s resurrection, joy finds its fullest and deepest expression not over a human death but in God’s promise to unite all things in heaven and on earth, to reconcile the human family and to bring God’s reign of peace. Confident in what God has promised, we witness our resolve against any act of violence in the name of religion and our renewed commitment of service to the neighbors and world God so deeply loves.

In God’s grace,

Mark S. Hanson

THE STAGES OF FAITH

by John Westerhoff III in Will Our Children Have Faith
A simplified outline by Brian Stoffregen.
Stage 1: RECEIVED FAITH has two parts:
(1) EXPERIENCED FAITH (preschool & early childhood) -- imitating actions, e.g., a child praying the Lord's Prayer without understanding the meaning of all the words -- "This is what we do. This is how we act."
1. AFFILIATIVE FAITH (childhood & early adolescent years) -- belonging to a group, which still centers on imitating what the group does -- "This is what we believe and do. This is our group/church."
Stage 2: SEARCHING FAITH (late adolescence) -- asking questions, "Is this what I believe?" This stage of faith is adding the "head" to the "heart" of the earlier stages. Westerhoff comments:
It appears, regretfully, that many adults in the church have never had the benefit of an environment which encouraged searching faith. And so they are often frightened or disturbed by adolescents who are struggling to enlarge their affiliative faith to include searching faith. Some persons are forced out of the church during this state and, sadly, some never return; others remain in searching faith the rest of their lives. In any case, we must remember that persons with searching faith still need to have all the needs of experienced and dependent faith met, even though they may appear to have cast them aside. And surely they need to be encouraged to remain within the faith community during their intellectual struggle, experimentation, and first endeavors at commitment.
The questioning stage can lead into the two directions. -- Will the questioner become unbelieving or move onto the next stage of faith? This age-level of "questioning faith" is also the age-level when most cult groups recruit their members and when many "drop-out" of church.
Stage 3: OWNED FAITH (early adulthood) -- this stage comes only through the searching stage. After exploring the question, "Is this what I believe?" one discovers a Christian answer that declares: "This is what I believe." This is the strong, personal faith that one witnesses to and one is willing to die for.
Posted for Pastor Bob

Donations for Doug

Doug would like to be reimbursed for his expenses for putting the directory together. He says $100. I think it should probably be more . . . but whatever you would like to give you can include in your "directory donation" envelope or in a separately marked one.
I intend to make an executive decision and write him out a check for $100 as Master Treasurer WebMaster - well unless I hear from you guys who tell me otherwise.

Maybe you could weigh in - agree or disagree? Do we have to complicate matters and make this a council matter?

See what happens when you hand the checkbook over to me? Your turn soon. Belly up!