The KEMPTONNEWCHURCHNEWSLETTER – November 2017 page1
WHAT DO WE HOPE FOR OUR CHILDREN?
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.And God blessed them, and God said to them, Befruitful, and multiply….
Genesis 1:27-28
Because conjugial love is the fundamental of all good loves, and is inscribed on the very least parts of man, it follows that its delights exceed the delights of all other loves, and also that it makes all other loves delightful according to its presence and at the same time its conjunction with them….
That all delights from their first to their last are gathered into this love, is because of the excellence of its use above all other uses. Its use is the propagation of the human race, and thence of the angelic heavens. And because this use was the end of ends of creation, it follows that all the states of blessedness, happiness, delight, pleasantness, and pleasure which could ever be conferred on man by the Lord the Creator are gathered into this His love.
Conjugial Love 68:1-2
PASTOR’S NOTES
What do we hope for our children? We hope they will be happy, not just in this life but to eternity. We are blessed to have the Lord’s Word to show us what will really make our children happy. Following the Lord, keeping His commandments, and living a useful life are the keys. The Lord gathers all good things together in a good marriage, where the focus is raising children together.
This focus on raising children is not popular among the learned in our culture, but the Lord plainly teaches how essential it is. He begins in Genesis 1 and continues all through His Word, as above. Raising children is participating in the very purpose of creation! All other careers and uses are really supports to this “end of ends of creation.” Everyonecan participate, whether married or not, whether we have children or not. A widow, reflecting on her marriage, provides hope and guidance to younger people. A young man at the firehouse or another social situation choosing not to participate in certain jokes has a quiet, positive influence. An older couple, past the age of raising children, can be witnesses to lessons they learned both in marriage and in raising children. Everyone who does his or her daily work justly and faithfully is actually contributing to the strength of families, even if that is not the focus.
If children grow up seeing examples of marriages and of having children, the Lord can use these examples to lead them to a good marriage too. In setting a good example, the first step is to flee from evils that would defile marriage and denigrate raising children. The second step is to love marriage and raising children. We do this in a wide variety of ways, including prioritizing our marriage with date nights and mutual help and respect, and working together in caring for our children.
Since our hope for our children to be eternally happy comes from the Lord, we can turn to Him to find out what we can do and not do to help them become wise, useful, and thus happy forever. It will be their free choice, but partly through us, the Lord provides our children with remains, that is, with states of good loves and with truths, the tools for building a good life.
This doctrine, that the propagation of the human race and thence of the angelic heavens is the very purpose of creation, can change our whole approach to life and to our family if we reflect on it and apply it to our lives. In this way, the Lord will make our uses fruitful, and multiply our wisdom, and bless us.
Pastor’s Council will meet on Tuesday, November 14. A topic will be how to make the winter study accessible and useful to more people, especially couples with young children. Another topic will be how to have the best communication about the proposed school addition.
You are invited to take the Holy Supper at the evening service on Sunday, November 12, at 7:00p.m. It is a very good way to give thanks to the Lord, and also to prepare for His coming, which we celebrate at Christmas. “Let the field triumph, and all that is in it; then all the trees of the forest shall sing aloud before Jehovah.For He comes, for He comes to judge the earth; He shall judge the world in justice, and the peoples in His faithfulness.” (Psalm 96:12-13)
Thanksgiving Offering: You are welcome to bring an offering of the produce of the earth, fresh or canned, as an expression of gratitude to the Lord. We will contribute the food to the Friend’s Food Pantry in Kutztown for those in need, so your offering can be an expression of both love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor. There will be a procession near the beginning of the Thanksgiving service when you can bring your gift to the chancel.
At the Annual Meeting,we elected Mike Heiter, Bradley King and John Cole to the board of trustees, and Cade Cole to the school council.
The pastor’s report is attached to this newsletter.
Dale Smith reported on highlights for each classroom around the school. Just to include a few: First and second had a great field trip to Jan Cauffman’s bee hives, where they took turns wearing bee suits so that they could see the hives and honeycomb up close. Fifth and sixth grade have been studying the AncientChurch, and are working on some mobiles that feature prominent symbolism from the AncientChurch. Back in early October, the high school had a successful trip toBoston and the NewChurch in Concord,Massachusetts.
Peter Genzlinger, our new business manager, reported a surplus from last year of $24,875, most of which was added to our reserve fund. The budget for the current year calls for about the same amount of contributions as last year and the same payout from the school endowment. We approved it as presented. Peter also showed us a spreadsheet of the five years of our experiment with adding 11th and 12th grades, with two years completed and three to go. The actuals for this year were almost exactly as projected.
Chris Judson reported that we have $850,000 of the funding for the extension. He showed us the beautiful calendar put together by the committee with passages from the Word and photos by Renée Schorran, now on sale.
Dan Brown showed us the building permit. Now that we have an approved permit, the builders will put various parts of the project out for bid. In addition to the bid our builders are assembling, Stan Bauman, who built the middle school addition, will also submit an independent bid.
For the investment committee, Bengt Boyesen pointed out that our performance has been strong, in line with the strong equity markets. The payout was 3.9% in June, a little lower than forecast, which is good. He asked for more volunteers to serve on the committee. (After the meeting, three people expressed interest.)
Septic System: I reported in the October newsletter that we are required to upgrade our septic system whether we build an addition or not, and that the board had agreed to go ahead with the upgrade. Since then we have learned that we are not required to improve our septic system unless we build an addition. Therefore, the board put the septic upgrade on hold until the society decides whether or not to go ahead with the school extension.
Many thanks to Roger Schrock for being the Boss of Autumn Weekends, and to all the people who do the food-preparation, management and service that made this year such a lot of fun. Thanks also to all the folks who helped with cleaning before and after. AW is a good public service as well as a great picnic for the congregation!
Winter Study this year is on the Lord’s Prayer. “…While I read the Lord’s Prayer morning and evening, the ideas of my thought were then always opened toward heaven, and countless things flowed in, so that I observed clearly that the ideas of thought taken from the contents of the Prayer were filled from heaven” (AC 6619). The Lord’s Prayer is applicable to every aspect of life. Let’s open our minds toward heaven as we think about this Prayer.
NOVEMBER WORSHIP
Sunday, November 5, 10:00A.M. Sunday School Service. Usher/Setup:Doug Robertson.
Sunday School Teachers:
Nursery – Tamar and Leilah
4 years-K – Genta and Shannah
1st-3rd – Becky and Christine
4th-6th – Sarah Heiter
Sunday, November 12, 9:00 A.M. Young Child’s Service. Setup:Matt and Sheila
10:00 A.M. Family Service.
Usher/Setup:Matt Heiter
7:00 P.M. Holy Supper. Usher/Setup: Ian Keal
Sunday, November 19, 10:00 A.M. Sunday School Service. Usher/Setup:Ariel Powell.
Sunday School Teachers:Nursery – Tovah and Luke;
4 yrs-K – Eloné and Adele; 1st-3rd – Heather and James H;
4th-6th – Jen
Thursday, November 23, 10:00 A.M. THANKS-GIVINGService. Usher/Setup: Chris Judson
Sunday, November 26, 10:00 A.M. Family Service.Usher/Setup:Luke Heiter
NOVEMBER CLASSES
Tuesday, November 7, 9:30 A.M.Spirits and Men Class, pp. 75-86. Lawson’s office
7:30 P.M.Arcana Class.Nos. 8252-8309,first about genuine piety, and then an explanation of the first half of the 15thchapter of Exodus, which is about the song of Moses and the deliverance of the spiritual church from the infestation of falsities from evils. Sal and Joan Tuccio’s
Friday, November 10, 6:30 P.M. Feast of Charity; 7:45 P.M. Class: The Joy of Being Nothing.What protection and happiness flow from knowing that we are nothing apart from the Lord?
Monday, November 13, 7:15 P.M. Youth Group CL Class. Location: TBA
Wednesday, November 15, 7:30 P.M. Society Doctrinal Class: How the doctrines of love toward the neighbor and love of being useful affect the way we raise children. In the Library
Tuesday, November 28, 9:30 A.M. Spirits and Men Class, pp. 87-100. Lawson’s office
Wednesday, November 29, 7:30 P.M. Christmas Doctrinal Class. Tom and Carla Kerr’s
NOVEMBER MEETINGS
Thursday, November 9, 7:30 P.M. Autumn Weekends Debriefing and Planning-for-Next-Year Meeting. Schrocks’
Tuesday, November 14, 7:30 P.M. Pastor’s Council Meeting. Gid and Loretta Alden’s
NOVEMBER EVENTS
Saturday, November 4, Turn clocks back for DST.
Saturday, November 11.The high school is running in a 5K in Bethlehem.What fun it would be for you to join us! If you register by Tuesday, October 31, it’s $13, and you can add a shirt for $12. After this date, it’s $17 and you can’t get a shirt. To sign up, follow this link: – Jordan Cooper
Monday, November 13, KNCS goes ice skating
Friday, November 10, Hat Day at KNCS
Monday, November 20, KNCS goes ice skating
Wednesday, November 22, 12:45 P.M. Early KNCS Dismissal for Grades 9-12
Thurs. and Fri., Nov. 23 and 24, NO SCHOOL
Monday, November 29, KNCS goes ice skating
ATTACHED are the MINUTES…
for the May 18, 2017Semi-Annual Society Meeting. For approval at our next society meeting.
STILL TO COME IN OCTOBER
Friday, October 27, NO SCHOOL for Grades K-6. Parent-Teacher Conferences for Grades K-6
Saturday, October 28
11:00 A.M. toEARLY CLOSING at 4:00 P.M. Autumn Weekends
5:30 to 8:00 P.M.Halloween Party in Soc. Rm.Bring potluck finger-food for supper, bring no sugar, wear costumes! Suggested donation per family is $5.
Sunday, October 29, 10:00 A.M. Family Service. Usher/Setup: Seth Wyncoll.
11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Autumn Weekends(Booth does not close early.)
Early start at 2:45 P.M.for Family Soccer
4:00 P.M. Autumn Weekends CLOSING PARTY OF WORK(again, booth itself does notclose this early). We need a large crew to sort away the signs, tent, and banner, etc., and to put the kitchen to bed for the winter. See you there. The Boss says, “It’s a party!”
From Our AUTUMN WEEKENDSBOSS
[See the section above for additional A.W. information.]
Thank you for all the support you have given to A.W. this year, and please come out for our final weekend so we can end with a bang! We still need much help, so please sign up for the following slots at
Saturday
1. 9:00 to 11:00 A.M. Opening: 1 person
2. 3:00 to 5:00 P.M. Booth Help: 5 people
3. Second Soup
4. Grillmeister
Sunday
1. 8:30 to 10:00 A.M. Opening: 1 person
2. After church to 3:00 P.M.: 1 person
3. 5:30 to 8:00 P.M. Closing Help: 3 people
4. Grillmeister
And all are invited to our
Party of Work on Sunday at 4:00 P.M.
ALSO from The Boss…
Please come to a debriefing and planning meeting at my house at 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, November 9. We will discuss the future of Autumn Weekends. Do we need to take a break for a year or two? Do we want to expand? This is my last year as Boss, and Kit Cooper has agreed to take over as Boss next year. She would love to have input from you as to what you would like to see happen with A.W. going forward. Come help us decide what to do. Thank you – Roger
Coming in DECEMBER
Saturday, December 2,10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.Craft Show.As always, both children and adults are invited to take part as crafters. $5 fee for vendors over the age of 20. Questions? You can contact me at or 610-756-4021. – Jen McQueen
Monday, December 4, KNCS Ice Skating
Tuesday, December 5, 7: 30 P.M. Arcana Class
Monday, December 11, KNCS Ice Skating
Wed., December 13, 7:30 P.M. Christmas Doc Class
Fri., Dec. 15, 11:00 A.M. KNCS Christmas Program, after which the holiday break begins
Sunday, December 17, 4:30 and 6:00 P.M. Tableaux
Sunday, December 24, 5:00 P.M. Christmas Service
Tuesday, January 2, KNCS classes resume
From the
CONTRIBUTIONS COMMITTEE
Banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories an hour. The Contributions Committee thinks your time would be better spent writing a contribution check to the KemptonNewChurch for the first two minutes of the hour, and then spending the remaining 58 minutes coming up with
a better way to lose weight.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The 2017/2018 Yearbook Seeks Sponsors. A $25 donation will help defray the overall cost of this project and allow you to have a special message to a class or student printed in the book—that includes your name, too, if you wish. Sponsor forms can be found at the church office or after church. Attached here, too. Thank you – The Yearbook People
Thank You to Jeremy for Ten Years as Our Business Manager.We acknowledged his service after church last Sunday withappreciative remarks from Roger. We also heard some doggerel for Jeremy’s retirement, as follows:
An intelligent fellow is Jeremy;
So he said to his girl, “Will you marry me?
“Raising girls and boys
“Will be our chief joys,
“And I’ll help the church when you can spare me.”
He’s a mind like an Einstein or Fermi.
One day the church said, “Please take care-a-me.”
(He said) “I’ll pay all of the bills,
But there must be no frills!”
“Thanks,” said the church; “you don’t scare me.”
A mind for the money has Synnestvedt.
He reported the facts without spin-nestvedt.
He did lots of extra projects
And for him the only objects
Were to make the church budget a win-nestvedt.
So thanks to our good business manager,
Spot on with both fraction and integer.
He gave us ten years
Not once in arrears;
And to Judy, whom we may call “wo-manager.”
Thanks to Peter Genzlinger for being our next business manager. It was clear at the annual meeting that we’ve been placedin another pair of good hands.
Thanks toJordan Cooper and Family for leadinganother year of soccer. We had a real – ball!
At KNCS: Heather King has been teaching music to Grades 3 through 6 since the beginning of the year, and in the second semester, Simon Daum will be traveling up from Bryn Athyn to be our music teacher for Grades 7 through 12. We are excited to have Heather and Simon bringing theirparticular skills and enthusiasm to KNCS. Thank you and welcome to both of them. – Dale Smith
The 2018 Kempton Calendars are Here – to benefit the school expansion, you, and your friends and loved ones. Each month again features a photographtaken in Kempton by Renee Schorran, accompanied by a quote from Scripture or the Heavenly Doctrine.Available at Autumn Weekends this weekend. $20. Questions? Feel free to contact any member of the School Expansion Fund Committee (the Judsons, the Bradley Kings, and the Buicks). Thank you for your support.
WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES
Regarded from its origin and correspondence, love truly conjugial is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, aboveevery love which is from the Lord with angels of heaven andmen of the church. Conjugial Love 64
Congratulations and Best Wishes to:
Gordon and Jen McQueen
on the 10th- 15 years
Lawson and Shanon Smith
on the 18th - 39 years
Doug and Zanna Robertson
on the 26th- 24 years
Bjorn and Anna Volden
on the 26th - 18 years
Lou and Aileen Synnestvedt
on the 27th - 43 years
* * * * *
ANNOUNCEMENTS cont.
Society Phone Directory and Address List: Your 2013 copies not serving you so well anymore? Feel free to ask for fresher ones at any time. – Carla (610-756-6140 or )