Pastor Renee and Pastor Nathan will be out of town attending a workshop from October 23 through 25. If pastoral care needs arise during this time, please contact Rosalind Andreas at kenda4302@aol.com or 316-804.4218 or Carolyn Penner at clpenner@bluestemmail.org or 316-804-4535.
The BCMC 2020 Directory is now in your mailboxes here at the church. The south automatic (glass) doors and the northwest door (the door closest to the office) are open at the church every day from 9 am to 5 pm. The office can mail (and would be happy to mail) you the directory but it does cost $1.40 to mail each directory. If you wish to have your directory mailed to you, please email or call the office. Maybe you are coming to the church to pick up your directory and/or visit the church library and you could pick up a directory for a neighbor or a friend!
P & M Pumpkin Patch
Faith Formation Commission has purchased 50 tickets for families to visit the P & M Pumpkin Patch on October 18th. If you are interested in picking out a pumpkin, playing some outdoor games as a family, and possibly running into a few other BCMC folks, please contact Deb Georing at dgering@bethelks.edu for tickets.
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day
Thursday, October 15, marks the International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. We grieve with all those who have lost little ones. May all who have experienced this loss not feel alone in their pain, but find support in solidarity, awareness, and remembrance.
From the Finance Committee:
The annual BCMC pledge drive is now called the bcmcXpress! Multiple factors were involved in the name change, including that this is more in tune with our common purpose statement: “Our faith in a God of love leads us by the power of the spirit to follow Jesus in doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God.” We know that to some extent the Pony Express played a part in the decimation of the Native American population in our country. So, it was time for a change!
There will be no door to door handing out of the envelope as in the past. Those of you that have email contact from the church will receive an email with a “Giving Intent Form” that is fairly simple to fill out. If you do not receive email from the church, the information should come to you via regular mail.
November 8 is Stewardship Sunday. The theme this year is “Where your treasure is, there is your heart” – taken from Matthew 6:19 to 21.
In his sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes a connection between our treasure and our hearts: Not only do the possessions, money and property we accumulate tell the story of what we value; Jesus seems to suggest that the treasure we possess has the power to shape our values, priorities and lives.
Our congregation’s upcoming bcmcXpress process provides us with opportunity to reflect again on the role of money and wealth in our lives. How might generosity—our willingness to share what we have with our congregation and beyond—help free us from the power that treasure holds over our lives?
According to the latest numbers, we still need $1,466.12 to cover the elevator repair. Based on the estimate from Regier Construction, we need $35,886.03 to cover the kitchen/fellowship hall renovation.
Contributions from January 1 through September 30 were $327,680 and expenses were $352,897, leaving a shortfall of $25,217.
The family of Frank Nachtigal wishes to thank the congregation for the many expressions of sympathy including cards, prayers, food, memorial donations, and other sincere condolences following his sudden death on August 17th. All were comforting during this sorrow in our family. A Rembrance of Frank’s life will be held on the Bethel College campus at Memorial Hall on October 25, 2020 at 1:00 pm. Friends and family in attendance will be required to wear masks and socially distance before, during, and after the service. In addition because of Covid, no food will be served and no large group singing will take place. Weather permitting, any informal greeting of family and guests will take place outside on the plaza following the service. We look forward to your presence with us as we mourn our husband, father, brother, grandfather, and friend.
The Hesston College Nursing program is partnering with Slate Creek Elementary, and looking for reusable mask donations from local businesses and organizations. There are 200 students total who need pediatric sized masks. The goal Hesston College Nursing has for the school is to promote mask hygiene, and the students will need another mask while they wait for theirs to dry after washing. We understand that 200 masks is quite the undertaking, so any number of masks that you would be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. If you would like to donate some child-sized masks, you can bring them to the BCMC office and the office will see to it that these masks are delivered to the Hesston College Nursing Program. — Noah Miller, Hesston College Nursing Program
The Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale is conducting an Online Quilt Auction. The Quilt Auction begins on Monday, October 12, 2020 and will run through Monday, October 26, 2020. There are 25 quilts that have been selected by the Quilt Committee. The Quilt Auction is on the Auctria website at https://charityauction.bid/KMRSQuilts The link is now live and there are pictures of the quilts with a complete description of each quilt that would be in the MCC Sale Quilt booklet. This includes title, dimensions, as well as the individual that donated the quilt if known. These are lovely quilts that are a representative of the more than 200 quilts that were donated in April.
Mennonite Mission Network Prayer Request: Mennonite communities in Guatemala are suffering from COVID-19, many people have died. Deb Byler of Mennonite Mission Network requests prayer for all, but especially for the pastors who pray with sick people. Pray for wisdom and God’s protection so pastors can care for others without exposing themselves to the disease.
Western District Conference Prayer Request: Pray for youth and children’s leaders in WDC congregations, as they give support and nurture faith formation for young people in the midst of our changing and uncertain world.
Western District Conference Announcements:
· The WDC Immigration Task Force offers its next installment in a series of thought pieces, mindful of immigrants among us without a voice this election season. They seek to make visible what is too often invisible with regard to immigrant lives and immigration issues.
· An Immigration Detention Center Attorney Speaks Out, by Anali Looper The months since the COVID-19 outbreak began have been trying for all of us. But for the thousands of people locked in immigration detention centers, trying doesn’t even begin to describe the situation. As a nonprofit immigration attorney in central Texas, I work inside detention centers helping people apply for asylum and other immigration benefits, and I can tell you that even before COVID-19 health care inside these facilities was suspect at best. Early this year one of my colleagues told me she spoke with a detained man who explained how he’d had to use a shoelace as a makeshift catheter because he was unable to get adequate healthcare. Even inhalers or widely available medications are sometimes withheld from those detained. (To read the full length article, go to: https://mennoniteswithoutborders.org/blog/an-immigration-attorney-speaks-out/)
Camp Mennoscah announcements|
· Camp Mennoscah volunteers will be removing the Camp Mennoscah dam on October 18 beginning at 3pm (after a morning baptism). You are welcome to come watch the process (please bring a mask and/or expect to stay at least 6 ft. away from others). If you would like to help in the removal process, please contact Camp Mennoscah at 620-297-3290. Physical distancing and mask wearing may not be feasible for those in the water.
· Camp Mennoscah’s Scrapbook and Crafts Retreat on October 30-Nov. 1 has only a few spaces available. (Nov. 6-8 is waitlist only.) Participants will stay in the Retreat Center with their own bathroom and scrapbook/crafts tables will be set up in the dining hall to provide more space and better ventilation. Mask and distancing guidelines followed. Register at campmennoscah.org! Call 620-297-3290 for more information.
· Camp Mennoscah is a year-round campground! Ask about winterized facilities or conquer the prairie wilds in a tent. It’s a whole new world in the winter–and available for you! Contact Camp Mennoscah at 620-297-3290 to make a reservation.
Bethel College Announcements:
· 2020 Menno Simons Lectures at Bethel College – For the first time in 68 years, this annual series will be delivered virtually. The speaker is César Garcia, general secretary of Mennonite World Conference, Kitchener, Ontario. The series title is “Towards an Anabaptist Catholicity.” Lectures are Sunday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m. (live online with Q&A to follow); Monday, Oct. 26, 11 a.m. (pre-recorded); and Monday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m. (live online with Q&A to follow). To register, go to https://forms.gle/t55EqQjrttWn4md8A All registered participants will receive the Zoom link a day or so before the series begins.
· Virtual events from Bethel College’s Fall Festival, Oct. 2-4, can still be viewed on its YouTube channel, including No Cross, No Crown: Covid Edition, an original play by Karen Robu, based on the life of Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman to be ordained in a mainline denomination in the United States, and an outspoken anti-slavery, temperance and women’s suffrage advocate. You can also see the 2020 alumni awards presentations to Doris Bartel and Barry Hieb and Todd Flory’s Young Alumnus Award convocation (after Oct. 9). Go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYk8Gp04MBoPIO2NUap95ug and click the “Videos” link.
· Bethel College Women’s Association has worked to raise money for Bethel for many years. This August we are opening our first online store, www.bcwamarketonline.com. We invite you to help us support Bethel by checking this online market for crafts, jewelry, Bethel-themed items and much more. Our inventory will change over time so please check in to find that special gift or item for your home.
· Now in the Regier Gallery in Luyken Fine Arts Center at Bethel College: “Forthcoming,” photography by David Long, through Oct. 30. Gallery hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon.-Fri. Face coverings must be worn on the Bethel campus.
KIPCOR’s 2020-2021 Peace Lecture Series. KIPCOR will be live-streaming “Bridging the Cultural Divide in Difficult Times.” with speaker Sarah Smarsh, Thursday, November 5, 7 pm. Sarah focuses on socioeconomic class and rural America. Her book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Award, examines economic inequality through her upbringing among the working poor on a Kansas farm. Sarah has reported on socioeconomic class for The Guardian, the New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s, and other publications. Heartland was named a “best of 2018” by NPR, Fresh Air, the Boston Globe, Amazon, Buzzfeed, Barnes and Noble, and Publishers Weekly. In addition to being short-listed for the National Book Award, Heartland was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, the Lukas Prize, the Indie Choice Award, and an Audie Award for Smarsh’s reading of her audiobook. Actor-producer Sarah Jessica Parker selected the title for the American Library Association’s Book Club Central. Sarah is a regular political commentator in national media and has spoken internationally on poverty, rural issues, and cultural divides. She was recently a Fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. In 2019, Sarah released a podcast entitled The Homecomers, which focuses on how a national blind spot toward rural and working-class America is driving misleading headlines, broken politics, and dangerous fissures in our social fabric. The podcast showcases stories of people who, as residents or advocates, remain committed to their complex, embattled homes. This event is a fundraiser. Registration (to be included in the November 4 emailing of the Zoom link), and a donation button if you want to help offset the cost of the event, are available at the website, www.KIPCOR.org.
Mennonite Church USA Announcements:
In his blog, “Sharing our stories at Mennonite conventions,” Curt Weaver, pastor of children and youth at Portland (Oregon) Mennonite Church, compares the Mennonite convention to a family reunion, where deeper intergenerational and faith formative conversations happen. Read more at https://www.mennoniteusa.org/mennocon-stories
· What does radical hospitality mean? Pastor Ulises Arenas of Iglesia Buenas Nuevas in San Juan, Texas, demonstrates the challenges immigrants face through three stories from his own South Texas community and asks us to dig deeper (más allá) to find understanding and answers. Read his blog, “Think ‘más allá’ about the immigrants in your midst,” here: https://www.mennoniteusa.org/mas-alla
· Richard R. Aguirre, an administrator at Goshen College, talks about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Latinos and challenges Mennonites to do more to help immigrants and refugees stay healthy and safe. Read his blog, “Like Good Samaritans, we must help immigrants through COVID-19,” here: https://www.mennoniteusa.org/immigrants-covid-19
· Tune into Mission Network’s Facebook on Mondays at 1 p.m. (EST) for the Hope Series and let us help you dwell in the hope that is the love of Christ. Be sure to tune in on Thursdays at the same time for Hope Around the World, a check-in time with our international partners.
· November is mission month. Racism harms the body of Christ and God’s reconciling mission. But God has made a way to receive forgiveness — repentance that leads to life! Our mission month materials invite MC USA and everyone to engage God’s plan for reconciliation.
Mennonite Central Committee’s Seed program has positions available now in Colombia, Guatemala and El Salvador! The Seed program is perfect for young adults (18-30) who value service, community, and cultural exchange addressing systemic issues like food insecurity and climate change through grassroots, community-based initiatives. For more information, visit mcc.org/seed or email abbyendashaw@mcc.org.
Mask ask! MCC is responding to a request from people on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in southeastern Montana for cloth face masks to help stop the spread of COVID-19. If you would like to sew masks, please use the following guidelines:
-Adult sized
-Use at least 2 layers of good quality cotton fabric (solid colors preferred)
-Elastic ear loops
-Nose wire/filter pockets optional
Please ship purchased or completed masks to the MCC Central States Material Resources Center (Attn: Kate Mast) at 121 East 30th Street, North Newton, KS 67117, or drop off in the 24 hour donation room at MCC by November 15th. They will all be collected and transported to Montana in time for the winter season. Questions? Please contact katemast@mcc.org.
Everence will host a Social Security and retirement income planning webinar, on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. Attendees will learn about Social Security strategies, risks that can impact retirement savings and strategies to help income last throughout retirement. This online workshop is free. Register soon by contacting our office at 316-283-3800, 877-467-7294 or central.kansas@everence.com.
MEDA Convention 2020: Towards an equal world Join MEDA for 2 days of inspiration, information and networking online November 6-7, 2020. MEDA Convention is an intersection of faith and business where you can explore what it means to be faithful in daily work and learn about MEDA’s business solutions to poverty. Go to www.medaconvention.org for more information.
Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church, 43 13th Ave, Inman, annual Mission Supper
There will not be a dine-in experience in the church basement, but they will offer a carry out meal featuring a traditional menu of homemade sausage, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed peas, zwiebach, applesauce and pie on Sat. evening, Oct. 24. Orders will be accepted from October 4-October 18; call/text Barb Reeves (620-543-6863) or Teresa Schrag (620-242-2357) to let them know how many meals to have ready and prepared for you. Meal pick-up will be at the church from 5-6:30 pm, October 24. There will be a free-will offering benefit with all proceeds going to support the Buhler Omega Project, a Christian addiction recovery program. Checks can be made out to “Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church” and cash donations will also be accepted that evening.
The Tabor, 891 Chisholm Trail, Newton, Mennonite Men’s annual chicken BBQ will be Nov. 5. However, unlike the last 50 years there will be no in church dining. The meal will be a drive-by to-go meal. The menu will be the same, bbq chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, dinner roll and ice cream.
