Glad Tidings St.
Matthew UCC/ (504) 861-8196
The Newsletter of Central St. Matthew UCC
Meet Our New Pastor
Christopher Jeffrey Mereschuk is currently an
Associate Pastor for Youth Ministries at First
Church of Christ, Congregational, UCC,
Glastonbury, CT.
Chris‟ duties carry him far beyond just youth
ministry as you can discern by reviewing the
following excerpts from his profile.
Worship leadership/preaching; weddings and pre-
marriage counseling; memorial and funeral
facilitation; On-Going and acute pastoral care with
all populations within the congregation. Collaborate
with clergy colleagues and a large and varied group
of both paid professionals and volunteer lay people
through governing and programmatic boards.
Youth Ministry:
Responsibility for all areas of ministry for 6-12
graders in an historic, program-sized, suburban
congregation. Weekly Senior High Fellowship,
biweekly Junior High Fellowship. Planning and
facilitation of retreats and events for both programs.
Plan several fundraising initiatives, budget creation
in collaboration with Board of Youth Ministry.
Plan and facilitate yearly week-long youth mission
trip with up to 50 participants.
Design and facilitation of Confirmation program
focused on faith exploration and service.
Recruit, train, nurture, and retain volunteers for
youth programs.
Other Ministry Functions:
Clergy liaison for Adult Education ministry, working
February, 2011
with lay team to offer faith formation opportunities.
Clergy liaison for Media Ministry, including
production of worship service public access
television, audio podcasts.
Clergy liaison for Safe Church training and
administration.
Activities Beyond the Local Church:
•Church & Ministry Committee, Hartford East
Assoc. (May 2010- present)
•Executive Council, CTUCC Delegate (2003-
2009).
•UCC 2030 Clergy Network
•Silver Lake Conference Center Board of
Directors (2006-2008)
•Silver Lake Conference Center, volunteer
chaplain & dean (2004 -present)
•Board of Directors, Office of General Ministries,
CTUCC Delegate (2003-2005)
•Board of Directors, Missionary Society of CT
(CTUCC) Ex-Officio (2003-2009)
•Emergent Worship Workshop Leader & Creator,
CTUCC Annual Meeting 2008
• “Stepping Stones to Youth Ministry: What‟s Up
With Our Youth,” workshop designer, facilitator
(January 2007)
+ several others
Ecumenical Activities:
Heads Up! Hartford
•Week-long camp with youth representing several
denominations from the Greater Hartford, CT
area.
Glastonbury Clergy Group
•Monthly gathering of local clergy from several
Christian denominations and the local synagogue.
Educational Background:
Andover Newton Theological School
• Master of Divinity (2007, with honors)
Chris is blessed to be the father of a 2 year
old daughter (Izzy) and the husband of an
incredible woman (Lila) - - both of whom have
a high degree of input into any prospective
call.

Statement on Ministry
Three things currently shape my view of
ministry: The Sacrament of Communion, the
words of Matthew 25:35-40, and the origins of
the title “Pastor.”
As a foretaste of the Kingdom of God,
communion is an opportunity for holy
relationship.
Through the radically inclusive and inherently
transformative call to the common table, we
are at once invited and included, served and
called into service, afflicted and comforted. I
experience this single sacramental act as a
rich symbol of unity, equality, reconciliation,
covenant, and hope - - even as it marks
betrayal, denial, suffering, and despair.
Perhaps it is this contradiction itself that
conveys this message of hope, this particular
feature of Christianity that calls us to lift up
these moments of despair and transform them
into moments of glory and grace. As the
elements are set before us and made ready,
we are called into this deeply meaningful time
of table fellowship.
To share a meal with someone is to see her or
him as an equal, as someone who is worthy
and valued, as someone who is loved by God.
This model of inclusiveness is foundational to
my call. I feel uniquely attuned to those who
find themselves on the margins of society,
those who are left out of communities. At the
same time, I seek to have my eyes opened
and my heart widened to welcome new folks
into the community to which I belong, all the
while examining where I, myself, might be
failing to honor someone as a beloved child of
God.
For life beyond the table, this same ethic - - a
commandment, even? - - is pushed further in
the verses of Matthew 25:35-40: Jesus
describes the Kingdom of God and the favor
of the “Son of Man” falling on those who have
fed the hungry, given a drink to the thirsty,
welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked,
and visited the sick and imprisoned. Through
Page 2 of 8
this service to others, one has served Christ.
At the same time, the question must be
asked: How am I (and how are we) working to
not only feed the hungry and welcome the
stranger, but to rectify the injustice that leaves
people hungry and casts out “others?” Both in
a literal and metaphorical sense, these tasks
are the work of the faithful disciple of Jesus,
and we would do well to examine the quality
of our faith lives through this lens. I have
come to view this bit of prophecy as both a job
description for a Christian and a
commissioning for one who is called to be a
pastor.
While we might go about these tasks as
individuals, I believe that authentic
transformation and deep discipleship is most
fully realized in community, through
relationship with others. In its role as the
beloved community, the congregation can be
a place for worshipful reflection and renewal,
a place of both quiet discernment and a call to
action. To be called as a pastor to such a
community is a privilege.
I view the title “pastor” as more of a personal
duty than an honorific. Much like the
“shepherd” at the root of the word, the pastor
is charged to lead and live with those
entrusted to the pastor‟s care, to nurture and
sustain, to be concerned for the health and
well-being of one‟s “flock.” However, the role
of the pastor-as-shepherd should not be
defined by dependence or paternalism, but by
the service of the shepherd to the flock. As a
“shepherd,” my call is to care for you and offer
you guidance, to help you find nourishment
and refreshment, to stand with you in times of
danger, and to share in the joy of the open
field on a sunny day.
Rev. Mereschuk received a unanimous
vote on Sunday, February 6, 2011 and
intends to start his covenant with us
on April 15, 2011.
Page 3 of 8

Thank-You Notes

Excerpt from 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10

“How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because
of you?”

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

No one is born thankful. Gratitude is something that is learned, and perhaps the best way to learn
gratitude is by repeatedly expressing it. It is by offering thanks that we can come to something like
thankfulness. When our children were young we would often prompt them to express gratitude
(“Say „thank you‟ to the nice gentleman.”), not merely to teach them manners, but also so that ries
they
might learn gratitude. After all, thankfulness takes practice.

As adults we can easily fall out of the practice of gratitude. So I was intrigued by the new book by
John Kralik, 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life. During a
dark time in his life, Kralik resolved to write a handwritten thank-you note each day. When he had
written to all of his family members, friends and co-workers, he expanded the list. Once he wrote a
brief thank-you note to the barista at his local Starbucks. That one almost wasn‟t read because the
young man behind the counter assumed it was a letter of complaint. After all, who would write a
thank-you note to someone for making you a cup of coffee each morning?

Over time Kralik found that this practice was changing his life. He started viewing aspects of his life
differently, not as occasions for despair or complaints, but as a source of gratitude.

So, thanks to Kralik, this year I am resolving to practice gratitude by writing more thank-you notes.

Prayer
O God, the source of every good and perfect gift, thank you, thank you, thank you.

From the Daily Devotional January 7, 2011

 Page 4 of 8

Vital Signs
Financial Update: We were blessed to end the 2010 year with a slight surplus. The budget
passed for the year 2011 is $272,777 and therefore calls for us to collect an average of $22,731 per
month to meet our expense and outreach obligations.

As of the end of January, this would amount to about $22,731. Between our tithes, offerings and
rental income, we have collected approximately $21,954 for the month of January 2011.

Thank you for your generous gifts, tithes and offerings in support of our church‟s ministry and
outreach. By the way, please make all checks payable to Central St. Matthew UCC. Envelope
numbers are no longer necessary. Credit for cash donations will be given when money is in an
envelope, identified, and designated. Envelopes are provided on the Welcome Table and/or from the
ushers.

Should you require a check, please submit your voucher to the office by Wednesday morning for
Sunday availability. Our new procedures do not allow for checks on a same day basis.

If you have any questions, please see Carol or Dale.

Prayer List

Please continue to pray for:

-Wilfred J. Lodrig -Dr. Joseph Davis

-Ethel Creel -Melvin Chaix
-Eddie Gebhardt -Doris Kerner
-Verna Sileci -Lavera Kelly
-Kyle Carter -Rhonda Smith
-Nellie Crump -Gary and Karen Arndt
-Ben Johnson and family -Eleanor Laurer
-Loretta Smith -Birgitte Arwe

-The families of Jean Ogletree, Helen Smith Green and Shirley Adams
Page 5 of 8

Things We Can Do!

Lifting Every Child

“Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty...”
James Weldon Johnson‟s hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” describes a vision of unity we can apply to
American public education. Our country might be very different if we imagined a system of public schools
where all children‟s voices would be lifted together. Imagine!
Jonathan Kozol, a noted author on education, contrasts the kind of education for children of privilege with
schooling for poor children, and especially children of color in big cities. He interviewed a girl at Fremont High
School in California. “Why is it,” she asked, “that students who do not need what we need get so much more?
And we who need it so much more get so much less?”
Jan Resseger serves the United Church of Christ in the national ministries as the Minister for Public Education
and Witness. She calls the church to advocate for equal education in public schools. Pointing to the
opportunity to rectify the injustices in our schools, she simply states, “The choice is ours. Will we imagine a
future where all children in the United States can lift their voices to sing together?”

SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK

Our commodities for the rest of this year 2011 are as follows:

February Evaporated or dry milk

March Whole grain crackers
April Rice
May Canned tuna fish or chicken
June Canned bean soup and baked beans
July Diced tomatoes and tomato juice
August Peanut butter
September Canned vegetables
October Dried and canned beans
November Canned fruit (including pumpkin)
December Cereals (whole grain, low sugar)

2011 Calendar

The Governing Council is putting together a calendar of events for the year 2011. If you are leading
a committee or have an event that you want to schedule in the 2011 calendar year, please get the
dates you would like to use to the office immediately by calling 861-8196 or email at
office@centralstmattewucc.com. If you have any questions you can contact Arlean Fermanis at
866-8908 or via email at afermanis@sprynet.com.

From the Flock …
Hear our Prayer!
Communal prayer wraps us in God‟s
embrace and brings us closer to His throne. We
hear names read from prayer cards and names
called aloud, at times with specific calls for
healing or solace after a death, and we respond
together, “Hear our prayer”. The spoken names
surround us as we hear them called from the
right, from the back of the church or the balcony.
Sometimes only a whisper, sometimes almost a
cry, the names blend into a cacophony of sound.
Even if we don‟t fully catch the name,
nonetheless we respond, “Hear our prayer”. We
are one body at that moment.
During the week we think of those we
named and wonder about their situations, their
health, whether that one made it through rehab
or had a healthy baby. We breathe a small
prayer for them again, the unknown but now
family because someone from Central St.
Matthew spoke their names. May we all relish
this special moment in worship where we unite
our voices in each one‟s personal concerns and
magnify our cries to the Lord.
…submitted by Karen Wulff
Why go to Church?
If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read
it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!
Why Go To Church?
A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a
newspaper and complained that it made no
sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone
for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I
have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But
for the life of me, I can't remember a single one
of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the
pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at
all."
This started a real controversy in the "Letters to
the Editor" column, much to the delight of the
editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote
this clincher:
"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time
Page 6 of 8
my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.
But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the
entire menu for a single one of those meals.
But I do know this.. They all nourished me
and gave me the strength I needed to do my
work. If my wife had not given me these
meals, I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to church for
nourishment, I would be spiritually dead
today!" When you are DOWN to nothing.....
God is UP to something! Faith sees the
invisible, believes the incredible and receives
the impossible! Thank God for our physical
AND our spiritual nourishment!
…submitted by Andrea Lodrig Gibson
Holy Humor by Dr. Bob Rogers
“Fighting with the axe of the apostles”
Last week I shared some answers that
children gave to a Bible test. We saw some
humorous insights into the way children see
the Bible, such as the child who called the
epistles the “wives of the apostles” and called
Joan of ark “Noah‟s wife.” Here is part two,
again published exactly as it was written by
the children, including spelling errors:
1. Solomon, one of David‟s sons had
300 wives and 700 porcupines.
2. Samson slayed the Philistines with
the axe of the Apostles.
3. The first commandment was when
Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
4. The Egyptians were all drowned in
the dessert, Afterwards, Moses went
up to Mount Cyanide to the ten
amendments.
5. Moses died before he ever reached
Canada Then Joshua led the
Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.
6. Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule,
which says to do unto others before
they do one to you. He also
explained, a man doth not live by
sweat alone.
7. David was a Hebrew king who was
skilled at playing the liar. He fought
the Finkelsteins, a race of people
who lived in biblical times.
… submitted by The Women’s Guild
Page 7 of 8

From Beyond Our Pews …

Stewardship Message
Raising Up Tomorrow’s Clergy
Here am I; send me! Isaiah 6:8
If you own a UCC Desk Calendar, you will notice that
every once in a while the Church has designated Sundays
for special emphasis. At the end of February, the Calendar
calls us to observe “Seminary Sunday/Church Vocations
Sunday.” It‟s not one of those top ten Holy Days that many
observe, but in the long Epiphany Season this year, you
might want to take a moment to think about this one.
I am the second child and first daughter of my home
church. I still give thanks for all the support, both financial
and spiritual, that my congregation gave me many years
ago when I heard God‟s call and went to seminary. If your
church has a student in discernment, preparing for
ordained ministry, you are honored indeed, and they need
your care. If you don‟t, there are probably students
somewhere in your Association or Conference who also
need your care, for someday your church may be seeking
a new pastor and you will rely on qualified candidates
being available!
There‟s one more step you might take. When was the last
time you encouraged a high school or college student in
your congregation to consider ordained ministry? Is there
someone in your congregation feeling a call mid-career
who needs encouragement and support? It takes a local
congregation to raise up tomorrow‟s clergy. Give thanks for
your pastor; give help to those who will serve the next
generation of your congregation!
Rochelle A. Stackhouse is the Senior Minister of The
Church of the Redeemer, United Church of Christ, New
Haven Connecticut.
February 2011 God is still speaking,
Conference Minister's Musings...
Generosity: I often say I don't have many regrets in my
life but looking back I sometimes regret in certain
situations I was not more generous. I read an article once
in which the author wrote about the times in which he
really stretched to be generous and looking back he never
had to say to himself that he regretted being too generous,
but only regretted when he had not been generous
enough. I know it is a tough economic climate and
churches are faced with many demands upon its finances.
The natural inclination is to pull back, be cautious and
count the cost when making financial commitments to
support ministry and mission.
My home church, Plymouth United Church in
Spring, TX, engaged a Stewardship Consultant, Mike
Durall, who has met with the congregation twice to talk
about the challenge of being better stewards, having a
better understanding of stewardship and sharing
congregational views to encourage us to be faithful and
committed stewards. The conversations with Mike
Durall have covered a wide variety of topics but one
simple thing that came out of these conversations was
to instill in the life of the congregation a spirit of
generosity.
How does a congregation show its
generosity?
One could look for generosity of spirit
...generosity of welcome ...generosity of hospitality
...generosity of pastoral care, etc. But Mike challenged
the congregation to consider a weekly "give-away"
offering in addition to the regular on-going offerings of
the church. The mechanics are simple: all loose
offerings and all non designated offerings go to the
designated mission of the week. If you want your
offering to go to your pledge or church's General Fund,
it is marked as such. Since mid October the
congregation has given away each week whatever is
collected for the weekly designated mission. Some
weeks the offering is astounding (several hundreds of
dollars), some weeks modest (a hundred dollars or so)
but each week the congregation is asked to give away
a portion of its offering in support of ministry and
mission beyond its door.
I know that The Gathering UCC-San Angelo,
TX (Karen Schmeltekopf-Pastor) does the same
thing. There may be other churches in this conference
that do a weekly give-away offering (let me know).
The importance of such an endeavor is not so much
how much money do we give away but rather a weekly
reminder that the church is not all about us, that church
is mission, that mission is important and that mission is
not something "leftover" that we give away but
something that is part of us we give away each week.
Certainly there can be all kinds of objections
to giving offerings away each week. Some may argue
it takes money away from the General Fund. Some
may argue why are we giving money away when we
are struggling financially? Some may argue that
mission is more than giving money away. So far, it has
worked well. Offerings are consistent and from my
limited viewpoint, it doesn't seem to have taken money
"away" from the ongoing needs of the church.
It's still early to tell whether this will become
something permanent at Plymouth United Church in
Spring, TX. But one thing is for sure ...it has created a
spirit of generosity (whether the monetary offering that
week is large or small) in which people are reminded
that by giving away some of the congregation's
financial resources we are creating a community of
generous stewards.
I am not sure exactly how a congregation
creates a spirit of generosity but a weekly give-away
offering is one small step in starting that spirit of
generosity. Congregations, like people, I think will
never regret being too generous, only regret not being
generous enough.
 Central St. Matthew UCC Page 8 of 8

Mailing Address: CALENDAR

1333 S. Carrollton Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70118
Phone: Saturday, Feb. 12th AA meeting
(504) 861-8196
Central Church Office: Sunday, Feb. 13th Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
(504) 861-9980 New Orleans Society of Musicians Inc. will sing
Fax: during the service.
(504)861-8197
Tuesday, Feb. 15th Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:00
E-Mail:
Board of Christian Education Meeting, 6:30
office@centralstmatthew.com
Office Hours: Wednesday, Feb. 16th Choir Rehearsal, 7:30

Church Secretary: Friday, Feb. 18th Movie Night/Game Night

Ms. Brandy Perez
Mon., Wed., and Friday Saturday, Feb. 19th AA meeting
9 am to 2 pm
Tuesday, Feb. 22nd Governing Council Meeting, 6:30
Interim Pastor:
Rev. Cheryl Q. W. Cramer
Wednesday, Feb. 23rd Choir Rehearsal, 7:30
504-288-2607
504-920-1035
cqwcramer@bellsouth.net Saturday, Feb. 26th AA meeting

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CENTRAL ST. MATTHEW UCC

1333 S. Carrollton Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70118

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