PARISH NEWS
Heather Zimmer
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Spotlight on Service: Heather Zimmer
Honoring our members who have gone above and beyond in nourishing our local community in body, mind and soul. Every two months when our Congregation Council discusses and votes on who will be honored in our Spotlight on Service, it's often a difficult decision... there's so many wonderful volunteers and leaders here at Messiah! This month however, there was NO QUESTION that we needed to honor our Parish Administrator and lifelong Messiah member Heather Zimmer. Getting ready for Holy Week is one of the hardest times of the year on church staff on a good year, but heh, this year was a bit more complicated... Heather is still learning the ins and outs of Lutheran liturgy! We were bringing our NINETY Worship Assistant roles to fill for the first time since 2019! Heather was dealing with a certain very stressed pastor! And she NAILED IT. By all accounts we've heard, Holy Week 2022 was one of our best yet, and huge part of that was Heather's careful, cheerful work. Heather serves her faith community at Messiah in a wide variety of other ways as well. In addition to getting involved with the Altar Guild, she also supports her family members Krista Russo, Emily Russo and Cheryl Borski in the essential work of rebuilding our Children's Sunday School programming. She also helped Latisha Jones in revitalizing our children's busy bags in the sanctuary for this Easter Sunday. Thank you so, so much Heather for all you do! |
The sort of Upstate NY mushrooms we see on our hikes.
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Caring for Creation
News on all things green at Messiah from our Creation Care Chair Nancy Stuebner. Now that the weather is getting warmer we would like to let the congregation know about our exploring creation hikes starting this spring! Every other Monday starting at 10:00 a member of the Creation Care Committee will lead a walk through a local natural area. You never know what we'll find! Last year there were mushrooms as big as skulls on one trail, and beautiful waterfalls well into autumn! If you are interested please email Jean Jones at dodgerjones@yahoo.com to be put on the mailing list for directions to the preserve or to make arrangements for carpooling. |
The one, the only, Bill Ellis.
Bill's grandfather and two uncles, along with Betsy Ryan at a fundraising dinner.
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Messiah in Your Lifetime: Bill Ellis
A semi-monthly interview of one of our longtime members at Messiah provided by our Archives Committee. Bill Ellis is another of our Vintage Messiah Members. He has lived in his house, one block from the church, for 65 years. He started his life at Bellevue Maternity Hospital, then Draper Schools until his graduation. He graduated from Schenectady Community College with a degree in Criminal Justice. Bill became a Building Guard for NYS and then worked in Computer Operations, retiring after 35 years. He enjoys golf, woodworking and gardening. Bill’s family legacy at Messiah goes back 90 years! His mother’s family joined a couple of years after it started in the Odd Fellows Hall on Broadway. His mother, Lore, and her twin sister, used to deliver the church newsletter by bicycle. In the historic photo with Betsy Ryan in the bonnet, the two people at the far left are Bill’s grandfather and his two uncles. Those were fundraising dinners and Bill thinks that the women were cooking. Bill was raised in the church, from his Baptism to Karen Kreischer’s Kindergarten Sunday School, to Vacation Bible School with Laura Underkoffler, to Boy Scouts, to Luther League, to Bible Study, to Acolyte, to Crucifer, to Usher - Bill has done it All! His older brother, David became a pastor. Bill’s parents, Lore and David Ellis, were the first to get married in the old building on January 3, 1953. Bill remembers riding his bike to watch the progress of the construction of the new building. When they closed the old church building, there was a ceremony to close it, followed by the ceremony to open the new one in 1965. Bill is very happy with the Accessibility Project, which he says is overdue. He is hoping that everything goes smoothly. Bill will be at the Church watching a new construction project very soon. Bill continues to stay involved, especially with the Property Committee. Bill and Allison Bode were the church gardeners for years, following in his parents’ footsteps, as they were the gardeners for many years. Bill has a deep and rich history at Messiah, and he considers Messiah’s members his family. When you sit in the Narthex next time, be sure to consider the stained glass picture of Jesus there. It was once above the altar in the original church, and was donated by Bill’s grandfather in memory of Bill’s grandmother. We recently noticed that Pastor was trying to recruit Bill to be a Crucifer. I found out today that Bill’s Uncle Jack made the cross that is carried by the Crucifer. |
Penny Incitti
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Stewarding God's Gifts
A semi-monthly update from Mission Support Chair & Financial Secretary Penny Incitti Our 2022 Annual Time & Talent Mission Support Campaign kicked off on April 24th with a brief introduction from Penny Incitti. We plan on having a Temple Talk each week explaining some of our ministries. Rebecca Bliss has created a brochure for each of our five ministry teams explaining how the committees that fall under these teams helps our church family. Our committee hopes with more detailed explanations about our committees we can encourage more involvement. You should have recently received a letter describing our campaign and you will see on the back of this letter a list of the people currently involved. We need your help to increase the number of members carrying the load of ministries. This campaign will continue until the Feast of Pentecost on June 5th when we celebrate more members becoming involved in our ministries and also the groundbreaking for our new construction! |
Sarah Olochnowicz and Willard E. Bear at CROP Walk 2017.
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Give Hope at Messiah this Easter: CROP Walk
An opportunity to make an impact every season of the church year identified by our Social Action Ministry Team. This season of Easter, we're prioritizing the 2022 Phil Grigsby Memorial CROP Walk for our Give Hope at Messiah campaign! Beginning as the dream of a teenager on the way to youth group meeting in North Dakota in 1969, the CROP Walk has grown into the largest benefit walk in the world. 75% of funds raised goes to support Church World Service in their work of supporting hungry people and refugees around the world. 25% of funds raised goes to support local anti-hunger organizations like Schenectady Community Ministries (SiCM) and for the first time, THE TRINITY COMMUNITY CENTER! We hope to raise $1,500 as a congregation this year and as of this writing, we are 25% of the way towards our goal! Donate now through the Feast of Pentecost on Sunday, June 5th at https://bit.ly/CROPWalk2022MLC. |
Worship & Music Chair Emily Russo (right) along with fellow cantors Sophie Coleman and Jill Becker.
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Life Among God's Faithful People
An update from our Worship & Music Committee Chair Emily Russo. The long anticipated return of Mr. Doug is here! Mr. Doug returns to us for our May 15th service. Welcome back Mr. Doug! We have missed you! We will be restarting choir as well! Rehearsals start back up on Thursday June 2nd at 7 pm. Please join us if you would like to join our amazing choir. Our very first Sunday will be a special one indeed. June 5th will be the groundbreaking for the construction of our church and our choir will be singing for this very special service. Please join us for our next Worship and Music Committee meeting on Monday, May 2nd at 7:00pm: https://zoom.us/j/96341841016. |
Rev. Dustin G. Wright
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Pastoral Letter
A semi-monthly article on the state of our congregation from Pastor Dustin I write this right after getting back from moving day for our Bread of Life Food Pantry into the Trinity Community Center and I just can't stop thinking how far we've come since before lockdowns began, serving folks our neighbors out of that tiny old kitchen space to soon being the only weekly HPNAP certified food pantry in Rotterdam, New York. I think of the roughly ninety families that show up at our Friday Produce Pantry as well. I think of all the leaders who have contributed so much time and effort to mission of our Spirit filled congregation, even many folks who had never physically stepped foot in our building until recently! And I am thankful. Thankful for how God has indeed been so hard at work through so many of you. I say thanks and then I look ahead. Towards a full service weekly HPNAP food pantry in a neighborhood so in need of it. Towards the groundbreaking on our Accessibility Project on June 5th. Towards a Volleyball Party at Hannah Borski's, Schenectady and Capital Pride, an amazing presentation on indigenous theology from Vance Blackfox and our Summer Concert & Ice Cream Social featuring The Midnight Anthem on June 15th. We have SO much to celebrate friends! SO much to be thankful for! Join us, as new life breaks forth, at Messiah! |
The Rev. Jonathan Vanderbeck Mental Health
Last June, as part of our commitment to prioritize mental health as a congregation in 2022, our Congregation and subsequently our Congregation Council voted to create the Rev. Jonathan Vanderbeck Mental Health Fund. This fund is designed "to support members in paying for necessary mental health care" and currently has $1,039 in contributions but has not yet been used. If you are someone struggling to pay for mental health care, please contact Pastor Dustin for a confidential conversation. If you are someone who would like to contribute to this fund, please visit our Donate & Volunteer page, click "Give" and select "Mental Health Fund" in tithely's "Give To" box.
Beautiful Your Community as a Landscaping or Gardening Volunteer!
Now that we're in the warm weather months, we need volunteers to keep both our Worship Center and Community Center grounds warm and inviting to all! We also need volunteers to tend our Rev. Richard Rieger Memorial Harvest garden and grow fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs for our Produce Pantry! With many thanks to Steve Friebel and the Dunda-Martin family (and to Bill Olochnowicz for donating a mower), we thankfully have lawn mower covered, but help is still needed! If you're interested in trimming hedges this summer, please reach out to Property & Grounds Chair Steve Friebel. If you're interested in tending to our harvest garden, please reach out to Jean Jones!
Last June, as part of our commitment to prioritize mental health as a congregation in 2022, our Congregation and subsequently our Congregation Council voted to create the Rev. Jonathan Vanderbeck Mental Health Fund. This fund is designed "to support members in paying for necessary mental health care" and currently has $1,039 in contributions but has not yet been used. If you are someone struggling to pay for mental health care, please contact Pastor Dustin for a confidential conversation. If you are someone who would like to contribute to this fund, please visit our Donate & Volunteer page, click "Give" and select "Mental Health Fund" in tithely's "Give To" box.
Beautiful Your Community as a Landscaping or Gardening Volunteer!
Now that we're in the warm weather months, we need volunteers to keep both our Worship Center and Community Center grounds warm and inviting to all! We also need volunteers to tend our Rev. Richard Rieger Memorial Harvest garden and grow fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs for our Produce Pantry! With many thanks to Steve Friebel and the Dunda-Martin family (and to Bill Olochnowicz for donating a mower), we thankfully have lawn mower covered, but help is still needed! If you're interested in trimming hedges this summer, please reach out to Property & Grounds Chair Steve Friebel. If you're interested in tending to our harvest garden, please reach out to Jean Jones!