Annandale Reformed Church New Life Community CONNECTIONS Web Site: www.annandalereformedchurch.org Our Mission Statement We are a family in Christ called together by the Holy Spirit to serve God in our community. We are placed here to worship, to nurture and serve, and to make the joyous life in Jesus Christ more accessible to our neighbors.

April 2016 Vol 26, No 4 Ladies Society Sunday School The next meeting will be Monday, April 11th at 12 noon in Fellowship Hall. Lunch will be served prior to the meeting to complete the plans for their upcoming Tricky Tray which will be held on Friday, Sunday School classes are going great! We nd are seeing new faces and that makes us very April 22 happy! We learned a lot about Jesus during Doors open at 5:30 and the drawings will Lent. Palm Sunday brought an awesome begin at 7 pm. Children's Sermon from Mrs. Exley that reinforced our Lent Lessons and The The ladies are still looking for donations of Children's Choir sang beautifully with Mr. gift cards, service donations, new or un-used Hughes. items that they can use for the sale. They want this to be an extra special event in April will have us continuing our important celebration of our 150th anniversary. Please Bible studies and begin work on Childen's bring all your contributions to church the Day. next couple of Sundays, or call Peg to make arrangements for getting them. Look for more information through email about our Spring Service projects. Please support this untiring groups of ladies. So many of the projects we have been able Please make sure your children are doing to accomplish in and around the church have their Bible reading at home! It is very been funded or partially funded by the manageable and should not be any longer proceeds of their many events. than 5 minutes a day!

Come out on the 22nd and bring a friend. It Happy Easter! is always a lot of fun. They will also be holding a 50/50 in conjunction with the I've learned.... That a smile is an Tricky Tray raffle. inexpensive way to improve your looks. See you then???????? Annandale Wedding Photos

1

As part of our 150th anniversary events, we We will continue to have our Sunday are celebrating the many weddings that have morning Bible Studies through the month of taken place in our church. We will be April led by Craig Hughes. displaying wedding photos from past weddings during coffee hour on June 5. Come have a cup of coffee and join us at 9 am. Photos can be in a frame and/ or an album. If you are bringing a single photo, you may want to put it in a protective sleeve for Missions display. Please include a label to identify the couple as well as the wedding date if In April we will be supporting the Life known. Choices, Inc. in Phillipsburg. Life Choices is a non-abortion Women's Health Center If you have an Annandale wedding photo to that offers medical and counseling services put on display for the event, please e-mail related to pregnancy and family planning. Lynn Hughes at [email protected] They seek to open a women’s shelter - with the couple’s name, wedding date, and "Grandma's House" - to aid pregnant or the color theme of the wedding if known. homeless women with children. It is intended to be a place reminiscent of grandma's house where compassion and direction go hand in hand, and all residents Clinton Township Seniors Club can grow, learn, and achieve independence. However, the facility needs renovations and The Clinton Township Seniors Club they would like to open it this summer. cordially invites the Annandale Reformed Since the home is funded entirely through Church Family to attend a special grants, corporate donations, personal performance by Jim Barone - A Tribute to contributions and fundraisers, donations are Elvis Through the Years on Wednesday, critical to reaching this goal. Plastic baby April 13th at 10 am in the Fellowship Hall bottles will be available in the Narthex at the church. There is no admission and throughout April. Please fill one (or more!) light refreshments will be served with coins, bills or a check made out to Life Choices - and return to the basket by May Hope to see you there. 1. Written instructions and further information are inside each bottle. The mind replays what the heart can’t delete! As of March 26, we donated 35 pounds of groceries from ourApril "late Ushers winter" March collectionApril to3 theNancy Open Hoffman Cupboard & Food A pretty face is nothing is you have an Pantry. Thanks toBetty all thoseMaxwell that contributed, ugly heart! and theApril bin will10 beJeannette out all yearBetza long. April 17 Lebbing Family Be someone that makes you happy! April 24 Porambo Family

Relations are like investments, The Lord,Please keep rememberYour arm around to insert my shoulder one of the envelopes for the mission of the month if more you put in, the greater your return and Your hand over my mouth. the box is on the table

Please remove old bulletins, etc. after the Bible Study service. (See Usher Guidelines on door to closet in narthex and on bulletin board outside of the office downstairs). And 2 please don’t forget to take the count when the service begins (it is easier to do when the children are sitting up front for the children’s sermon) Add half a teaspoon of baking soda to the water when hard-boiling eggs to make the shells incredibly easy to peel off.

“ Not Angie’s List”, but Today at 7AM, I woke up feeling “ ARC’s List” ill, but decided I needed the money, so I went into work. Notary Public: Lisa Zambito: 908-268-5340 At 3PM I go laid off. On my drive home I got a flat tire. When I went Auto Repair: into the trunk for the spare, it was Quality Auto Service Center, flat too. LLC All makes & models autos (and A man in a BMW pulled over, boats and planes) gave me a ride, we chatted, and Contact Owner/Operator then he offered me a job. I start Rick Lebbing: 908-806-6014 tomorrow.

Avon Representative: Peg Weightman  908-832-2246

Spectacular accomplishment is never preceded by less than spectacular preparation!

3 An incredible way to look at Amazing. GOD -The waves of the sea roll in on shore twenty-six to the minute in all kinds of weather. When GOD solves our problems, we have -All grains are found in even numbers on the faith in HIS abilities. When GOD doesn't stalks. solve our problems HE has faith in our abilities. God's accuracy may be observed God has caused the flowers to blossom at in the hatching of eggs. -those of the canary certain specified times during the day. in 14 days; Linnaeus, the great botanist, once said that if -those of the barnyard hen in 21 days; he had a conservatory containing the right -eggs of ducks and geese in 28 days; kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he -those of the mallard in 35 days; could tell the time of day or night by the -The eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch flowers that were open and those that were in 42 days. (Notice, they are all divisible by closed. seven, the number of days in a week!) The lives of each of us may be ordered by God's wisdom is seen in the making of an the Lord in a beautiful way for His glory, if elephant. . . . we will only entrust Him with our life. If we -The four legs of this great beast all bend try to regulate our own life, it will only be a forward in the same direction. mess and a failure. - No other quadruped is so made. - God planned that this animal would have a Only God, who made our brain and heart, huge body too large to live on two legs. can successfully guide them to a profitable - For this reason He gave it four fulcrums so end. that it can rise from the ground easily. -The horse rises from the ground on its two When you carry "the Bible" Satan has a front legs first. headache; when you open it, he - A cow rises from the ground with its two collapses; hind legs first. When he sees you reading it, he loses his How wise the Lord is in all His works of strength, and when you stand on the Word creation! of God, Satan can't hurt you! -Each watermelon has an even number of stripes on the rind. Life without God is like an unsharpened -Each orange has an even number of pencil - it has no point. segments.

-Each ear of corn has an even number of rows. -Each stalk of wheat has an even number of STAY HEALTHY. grains. -Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one, so that one row has an even number and the next row an odd We want you all to keep healthy. Don’t number. forget we have the hand sanitizer on the back table for your

4 This represents the wrapping of Jesus’ body after death. Place all in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Recipe of the The over represents the tomb… while you are waiting for the rolls to bake, Month! read Matthew 27: 62-66. Remove rolls from oven and let them cool Resurrection Rolls slightly. Source unknown Now the children can then open Great Way to Explain the Story to a small their rolls (cloths) and discover that Jesus is child! no longer there! HE IS RISEN! Ingredients needed: (The marshmallow melts and the crescent Crescent rolls roll is puffed up, but empty.) Melted butter Large Marshmallows Now read Mathew 28: 1-10 Cinnamon Sugar Enjoy your warm rolls as you rejoice at the Preheat Oven to 350 degrees good news of Easter! ********************************* * * * * * * * * * * Give each child one triangle of crescent rolls. Walnut Bread Explain that the crescent roll represents the Shared with us by Martha Sandstrom cloth that Jesus was wrapped in. Read Matthew 27:57-63 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts Give each child a marshmallow. 1 cup granulated sugar This represents Jesus. 1 egg, beaten 4 tsp. baking powder Have him/her dip the marshmallow in 1-1/2 cups milk melted butter. 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla This represents the oils of 3/4 cup shortening embalming. Into mixing bowl, sift flour with sugar, Now dip the buttered marshmallow in the baking powder & salt. cinnamon and sugar. Cut in shortening. Stir in 3/4 cup walnuts. This represents the spices used to Add egg, milk & vanilla. anoint the body. Mix just until ingredients are blended.

Then wrap up the coated marshmallow Turn into greased & floured loaf pan. tightly in the crescent roll (not like atypical Sprinkle remaining walnuts over top. crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and Bake at 350 degrees.for 60 - 70 minutes or seal the marshmallow inside.) until loaf tests done.

5 baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, Let stand in pan for 10 minutes. what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 Turn out onto wire rack to cool. years.” Don’t Widen the Plate Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the In Nashville, Tennessee, during the first room. “Do you know how wide home plate week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 is in Little League?” After a pause, someone baseball coaches descended upon the offered, “Seventeen inches,” more question Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual than answer. “That’s right,” he said. “How ABCA convention. about in Babe Ruth? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house? ”Another long pause. “Seventeen inches? ”came a guess from While I waited in line to register with the another reluctant coach. “That’s right,” said hotel staff, I heard other more veteran Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches rumbling about the lineup of coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds speakers scheduled to present during the of hands shot up, as the pattern began to weekend. One name, in particular, kept appear. “How wide is home plate in high resurfacing, always with the same sentiment school baseball?” “Seventeen inches,” they — “John Scolinos is here? Oh man, worth said, sounding more confident. “You’re every penny of my airfare.” Who the hell is right!” Scolinos barked. “And you college John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter, I was coaches, how wide is home plate in just happy to be there. college?” “Seventeen inches!” we said, in In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old unison. “Any Minor League coaches here? and five years retired from a college How wide is home plate in pro coaching career that began in 1948. He ball? “Seventeen inches!” “RIGHT! And in shuffled to the stage to an impressive the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is standing ovation, wearing dark polyester in the Major Leagues?” “Seventeen inches!” pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around “ SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his neck from which home plate hung — a his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what full-sized, stark-white home plate. do they do with a Big League pitcher who Seriously, I wondered, who in the hell is this can’t throw the ball over seventeen guy? inches?” Pause. “They send him After speaking for twenty-five minutes, not to Pocatello!” he hollered, drawing raucous once mentioning the prop hanging around laughter. his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice “What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, the snickering among some of the coaches. ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. You can’t hit a Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it to wonder exactly where he was going with eighteen inches, or nineteen inches. We’ll this, or if he had simply forgotten about make it twenty inches so you have a better home plate since he’d gotten on stage. chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let Then, finally …“You’re probably all us know so we can make it wider still, say wondering why I’m wearing home plate twenty-five inches.'” around my neck. Or maybe you think I Pause. escaped from Camarillo State Hospital,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed “Coaches …” along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “No,” he continued, “I may be Pause. old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you

6 ” … what do we do when our best player myself and others accountable to that which shows up late to practice? When our team I knew to be right, lest our families, our rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up faith, and our society continue down an unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? undesirable path. Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him, do we widen “If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, home plate? “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: if we fail to hold The chuckles gradually faded as four ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting what we know to be right; if we fail to hold as the old coach’s message began to unfold. our spouses and our children to the same He turned the plate toward himself and, standards, if we are unwilling or unable to using a Sharpie, began to draw provide a consequence when they do not something. When he turned it toward the meet the standard; and if our schools and crowd, point up, a house was revealed, churches and our government fail to complete with a freshly drawn door and two hold themselves accountable to those they windows. “This is the problem in our homes serve, there is but one thing to look forward today. With our marriages, with the way we to …” With that, he held home plate in front parent our kids. With our discipline. We of his chest, turned it around, and revealed don’t teach accountability to our kids, and its dark black backside. “… dark days there is no consequence for failing to meet ahead.” standards. We widen the plate!” Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of Pause. 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches, including Then, to the point at the top of the house he me. Meeting him at my first ABCA added a small American flag. “This is the convention kept me returning year after problem in our schools today. The quality of year, looking for similar wisdom and our education is going downhill fast and inspiration from other coaches. He is the teachers have been stripped of the tools they best clinic speaker the ABCA has ever need to be successful, and to educate and known because he was so much more than a discipline our young people. We are baseball coach. allowing others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?” His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players — no matter how good they are — Silence. He replaced the flag with a Cross. your own children, and most of all, keep “And this is the problem in the Church, yourself at seventeen inches. where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate!”

I was amazed. At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curveballs and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold

7 Send contributions for Connections to Joyce Murphy at [email protected]

Next Issue May 1st Contribution Deadline April 24th

Caring

Remember, if you have information about someone sick, in need of some sort of 04-02 Nathan Weldon assistance, celebrating a very special event, 04-05 Jennifer Exley suffering from the loss of a loved one, or 0406 Joseph Lotito someone who needs our prayers and/or help, Brinley Rose Theesfeld call Shirley Waldeck if a card is appropriate. 04-10 Ryan Mulligan (908-835-1371), Peg Weightman (908-832- 04-12 Ethan Hsiao 04-13 Julie Carvatt 2246) or Jill Meyer (908-545-4818) for any 04-18 Roxanne Weldon of the following: 04-19 Lauren Porambo  Meals for someone who is sick, 04-27 Christina Vogel  Transportation to and from Kirsten Appolina appointments 04-29 Nancy Hoffman  Run small errands 4-30 Pat Farley  Or any other need that we can help with. or Joyce Murphy (908-963-3346) to request prayers and/or clergy needs.

Gift Certificates for Shop Rite are on sale downstairs following worship each Google Group Email for Prayer Sunday or call Sherry Howe at Concerns 638-6391 Nancy Gasparetti and Sharon Riddle are To access the Google Group email, the helping sell the certificates. address is [email protected]

8 Church Office: 908-735-7218 Church Email: [email protected] Church Web Site: www.annandalereformedchurch.org Pastor: Kenneth Lobb: 610-837-1330 Email: [email protected] Elders: Joyce Murphy 908-963-3346 Cheryl Mulligan 908-638-0008 Lynn Hughes 908-638-8887 Deacons: Rick Lebbing 908-713-4789 Barbara Vogel 908-552-6000

9 10