November 2016 Page 1

Inside This Issue…

Harvest Dinner 1 From The Pastor 2 Calendar 3 Caring Ministry 4 Church Updates 5 Christian Education 6- 7 Seeking Wisdom 8 Presbyterian Women 8 Newsletter Deadline 8

Food Pantry Hours: Tuesday 11AM-12PM and 6:30PM - 7:30PM

Newsletter of the Marcellus First Presbyterian Church Main & North Streets, Marcellus, NY 13108

315-673-2201 November 2016

NOVEMBER 6th

HARVEST DINNER

Marcellus First Presbyterian Church

Saturday, November 12th 4-7 pm in Shinaman Hall

Enjoy a home cooked meal including: Turkey Mashed potatoes Dressing Gravy Squash Cabbage Salad Cranberry sauce Beverages Homemade pie

ADULTS $10.00 CHILDREN 5-12 $5.00 CHILDREN UNDER 5 ARE FREE

Church Families:

Please bring in your homemade pie(s) to the church anytime before 3:00 pm on Saturday,

November 7th.

Church School and Youth Group members may start bringing in cans of cranberry sauce.

Anyone interested in helping with prepara-tion, serving or clean up please contact the church office at 673-2201

All Saints Celebration will be Sunday, November 6. We will celebrate the lives of those who have passed away during the past year. If you would like someone special to be remembered that day, please contact Pastor Pam.

November 2016 Page 2

From the Pastor

Dr. William Bernard Stewart Grossman (1941-2016)

Bill left this earthly world on October 22 2016 unexpectedly from heart fail-ure at Blake Medical Center, Bradenton, Florida. Bill was born on February 2, 1941 to Marion Roberta Williamson Grossman and William Bernard Grossman Sr. in Grahamsville, New York. He was raised in a faith-based family, his grandfathers and father were ministers. He was the eldest of four siblings. Raised in upstate New York, he graduated from high school in Kingston, NY. Bill graduated from Wesleyan University in 1964. He was called to follow in his families’ footsteps and became a minister in the United Methodist Church. Bill received his Master of Divinity degree in 1968 and his Doctor of Minis-try in 1982; both from Drew University. Bill devoted his life to serving God and touched the lives of many with his ministry. He served as pastor of Millbrook Methodist, Scio, Friendship, Allentown churches, and Harvey

Memorial Community Church, Bradenton Beach Florida. He was also senior pastor of First United Methodist Church Jamestown, Williamsville United Methodist Church, United Church of Livonia, and Longboat Island Chapel, Longboat Key Florida. He was founding pastor of St Andrew’s United Methodist Church, Amherst NY. He returned from retirement to become interim pastor of DeWitt Community Church Dewitt, NY, Roser Memorial Church, and Marcellus First Presbyterian Church NY. He held many leadership board positions within the United Methodist Church, later becoming president of the International Council of Community Churches Ministerium 2005-2008. He retired September 30, 2014.

Bill was very active in Rotary International, having been a member for 48 continuous years; including serving as District Governor in District 7020. Bill served as Allegany County (NY) legislator, and super-visor of Town of Livonia and County of Livingston, NY, board of trustees member and president, Livonia Central School. President and director of ROMAH (Rehabilitation of Men and Housing) in Jamestown NY, his enthusiastic interest in social policy was ever present. Bill loved playing trombone, and was active in many community bands.

On April 4, 1981 he began a new chapter in his life marrying Laura Allene Stewart Grossman. Together they shared life, ministry and family.

Predeceased by his parents and his niece Cassandra Hunter. Bill is survived by his wife Laura Allene Stewart; his three children Kimberly D. Blake (Timothy), Dawn G. Durow (Michael), William B. Grossman III (Rebecca); his two step-daughters Laura R. Shone and Martha C. Pollard, grandchildren; Andrew (Sherrie) Jeff (Alysia), Kristen, Sean, Edward, William, Maggie, and David as well 5 great-grandchildren; his siblings Linda Hunter (John), Diane Barstow (Wade), Alan Grossman (Jane) and many nieces and nephews. Brother and sister in law are Larry Cox (Zella) and Carolyn George. A celebration of Bill’s life is planned for Sunday November 13 at 11:30 am at Harvey Memorial Community Church, Bradenton Beach, Florida.

On Saturday November 26, there will be a memorial service in Marcellus, New York at Marcellus First Presbyterian Church at 2 pm, followed by a brief reception. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the charity of your choice.

Celebrating the life and ministry of our former pastor, Bill Grossman; please join me in prayers of thanks-giving for Bill, prayers of love and support for Allene and his family, and prayers for everyone - members of our church family, Presbytery, community, all the organizations in which he served, and all the people whose lives Bill touch. Grace and peace, Pastor Pam

November 2016 Page 3

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 All Saints Day 2

9am Finance Mtg

8 pm AA Meeting

8 pm Al Anon

Meeting

3

10:30 am

Coffee hour at

First Cup Café

7:30 pm Choir

Rehearsal

4

5

9 am Zumba

6—Communion

All Saints Sunday

10:00 am Worship

10:30 am Church School

7

7 pm Mission

Interpretation

Meeting.

8

10 am—Noon

Open Office

Hours

9

8 pm AA Meeting

8 pm Al Anon

Meeting

10

10:30 am

Coffee hour at

First Cup Café

7:30 pm Choir

Rehearsal

11

Harvest Dinner

Preparation

12

10-11:30 am

Seeking Wisdom

4-7 pm Harvest

Dinner

13

10:00 am Worship

10:30 am Church School

14

7 pm Board of

Deacons Meet-

ing

7 pm Building

& Grounds

Meeting

15

10 am—Noon

Open Office

Hours

16

11:30 am PW

Luncheon

8 pm AA Meeting

8 pm Al Anon

Meeting

17

10 am Finance

& Stewardship

Meeting

10:30 am

Coffee hour at

First Cup Café

7:30 pm Choir

Rehearsal

18

19

9 am Zumba

20-Newsletter Deadline

10:00 am Worship

10:30 am Church

School

21

9 am Decorate

the Church

22

10 am—Noon

Open Office

Hours

7:30 pm Choir

Rehearsal

23

8 pm AA Meeting

8 pm Al Anon

Meeting

24

Happy

Thanskgiving

Office Closed

25 .

Office Closed

26

9 am Zumba

2 pm Memorial

Service for Bill

Grossman

27

10:00 am Worship

10:30 am Church

School

28

7 pm Session

Meeting

29

10 am—Noon

Open Office

Hours

30

8 pm AA Meeting

8 pm Al Anon

Meeting

November 2016

November 2016 Page 4

Communion To Shut-Ins

The Deacons coor-dinate the offering of the Sacrament of Holy Communion to the homebound on Sundays that we celebrate the Sacrament in worship.

The next opportunity for them to deliver Communion will be on November 6. If you are home-bound and would like to receive Communion, please call the Church Office, 673-2201, or Deb Swankey, Moderator of the Deacons, at 673-1403.

CONNECTIONS

Connections is published the first of each month by the Marcellus First Presbyterian Church. Deadline for materials is the 20th of the month preceding the month of publication. Submit materials and address changes to Church Office.

Marcellus First Presbyterian Church

PO Box 147, 1 East Main St. Marcellus, NY 13108 Phone: 315-673-2201

e-mail: office@marcelluspc.com website:

www.marcelluspresbyterian.com Worship: 10:00 AM Church School 10:30 AM

Views expressed are those of the authors and not official positions of the Session, unless noted.

Food Pantry Hours Tuesdays

11 am - 12 noon & 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Caring Ministry

IN OUR PRAYERS…

...Family and Friends of Bill Grossman ...Family and Friends of Margaret Scherer ...Gwenn Rice ...Lynn Rice ...Shirley Gooden ...Hank Bartholomew and family ...Linda Ball ...Jan Linderman ...Roger Hakes ...Mike Caster ...Tony Lombardo ...Our Armed forces worldwide ...Our friends & loved ones in need

The Deacons

Happy Birthday... Robert Snyder 11/01 John Stalker 11/02 Zack Barner 11/05 Geneva Hayden 11/07 Mark Oberlender 11/07 Maryilyn Lautenslager 11/08 Betty Black 11/10 Allene Grossman 11/12 Matthew Winoski 11/19 Jack Scherer 11/21 Thomas Heil 11/21 Diana Marocco 11/21 Amy English 11/23 Gladys Nelson 11/27 Jane Amidon 11/27 Carolyn Rice 11/30

Worship Attendance

October 2 73 October 9 77 October 16 77 October 23 77

Manse 2-bedroom apartment on sec-ond floor level will be available for rent after Nov 30. If you know of someone that you could recommend as a ten-ant, please call the church office at 673-2201. Details will be supplied by phone.

November 2016 Page 5

UPDATES

Results from the 2016 Marcellus Crop Walk The good news from this years Crop Walk is there were 68 walkers and $3289.00 was raised. The bad news is the Golden Sneaker Award was won by St. Francis Catholic Church. Locally the good news is that our three local organizations:Meals on Wheels, CNY Food Consortium, and the Marcellus Ecumenical Food Pantry will each receive a check for $265.00.

Here's the final tally: St Francis Catholic Church $1169.00 United Methodist Church $1085.00 First Presbyterian Church $1035.00 Total $3289.00 Thank you to all the walkers and their sponsors and the volunteers who made it a success. You make a difference in our world.May God Bless. Your CROP Walk Committee

Coffee Hour Resumes!! Hallelujah! After much discussion, feedback, and a bit of reorganization, our coffee hour will resume after worship beginning on November 6. Since it has become necessary to simplify things a bit, we will be having only coffee and cookies each Sunday, unless there's a special event or celebra-tion. If anyone has a favorite sweet treat or cookie recipe they'd like to share, please feel free to sign up on the easel in Fellowship Hall. Otherwise, the committee will be providing the cookies. If you do choose to bake something, please bring it on a plate all ready to serve and take any leftovers home with you to enjoy after the coffee hour. This will help simplify our cleanup. Your Fellowship & Outreach Committee

I would like to thank everyone who supported our Alzheimer’s team by walking or sponsoring us. The team raised a total of $2,930. As of October 17th,. the total raised was $237,633.49. Thank you very much Jamie Johnston

November 2016 Page 6

Christian Education

Upcoming Youth Events

Our youth group calendar is very full this year. Some of the fun things we have coming up, in addition to our regular weekly lessons, include: “Escape the Mystery Room” (10/29/16) Harvest Dinner (11/12/16) Dinner and a Movie at the Movie Tavern (11/18/16) Advent Event (12/4/16) Christmas Pageant during service (12/11/16) Pizza and Holiday Painting at Everyday Art (12/17/16) SU Mens Basketball game vs. Boston College (1/14/17) Silver Knights Soccer Game (2/26/17) Additional spring events will be scheduled in early 2017. Our Sunday lessons have incorporated entertaining object lessons and games that illustrate how we discern the most important voices we need to listen to when making choices, how we persevere and support one another through challenging times, and what we can learn from the geese about how to be a member of our church community. It’s been a great start to the year and we look forward to more fun with this great group of kids!

Harvest Dinner Staffing

The Harvest Dinner will take place on Saturday, November 12th, from 4-7pm. Organizers have asked that all available youth plan to help during the dinner with clearing and setting tables, working in the pie room, serving beverages and assisting with takeout meal assembly as needed. Please mark your calendars so we have plenty of helping hands to make this well attended dinner a great suc-cess again this year.

Confirmation Class

It has been brought to my attention that some folks were wondering if we still offer confirmation classes. We do, and we will be offering one in early 2017 for eligible students. Sandy Manciocchi has offered to teach again and any students in or beyond 8th grade who have not already taken the class will be invited to do so. We don’t offer the class every year because our numbers do not warrant it, but we do try to of-fer it every other year, or every third year, to catch any students who are of the appropriate age. If you have any questions, about confirmation or any other Christian Education matters, please don’t hesitate to speak directly to Allison Ray or anyone on the CE committee. Thanks very much!

November 2016 Page 7

Christian Education

Advent Event is ON! In wonderful news, Beth Seeley answered the call for volunteers and has offered to lead the organizational efforts for this year’s Advent Event!! It will be held on Sunday, December 4th, immediately follow-ing the regular church service. We will have the traditional soup bar, along with bread, desserts and beverages. If you are willing to pre-pare soup or baked goods for this holiday event, please get in touch with Beth or Allison Ray. We hope to see you all there. If you see Beth, make sure to thank her for her willingness to continue this wonderful holiday tradition at our

Apple Pie Sale a Huge Success! Many thanks to all who ordered and purchased an apple pie or two through our annual pie sale this fall. We were able to turn a decent profit, all of which will be put toward youth group activities this year, and we had lots of fun while doing it! We particularly appreciate Don-na Costa, Nicki Arnett and Lisa Gates, all of whom volunteered their time to help the kids with the pie making, and Sue Bird for setting up in Shinaman Hall, distributing the pies and collecting payments. We hope you all enjoy your pies if you haven’t already gobbled them up!

Memorial Tree Planting and Dedication On Sunday, October 9th, a small gathering was held at Marcellus Park to plant and dedicate the Memori-al Tree that the youth group purchased in hon-or of Carmen Costa. Donna, Trevor and Justin were able to be there, along with current and past members of the youth group and their parents. We planted a “Fat Albert” Blue Spruce in a lovely spot just inside the lower park entrance along the creek. A memorial plaque has been ordered and will be installed at the base of the tree in the coming weeks. We hope this will serve as a beautiful remind-er of Carmen Costa for the many people whose lives he impacted in Marcellus and beyond. If you are near the park anytime soon, please stop over and admire it and smile as you think of Carmen! We youth leaders want to thank the kids for coming up with such a touching tribute to Mr. Costa and all of the youth group families for their monetary support.

November 2016 Page 8

MARCELLUS FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH P.O. Box 147 Marcellus, NY 13108 Address Service Requested

Presbyterian Women

P.W. will meet on

November 9th at

11:30 am in the

Fireside Room.

Bring your

lunch. Beverage will be provided.

We will be receiving our “Thank”

offering.

Jackie Davis

CONNECTIONS

Please submit all material you would like in the newsletter to the office no later than the 20th of the month preceding the month of publication. Please send to Sue

Cramer at office@marcelluspc.com or call 673-2201. Thank You

SEEKING WISDOM

A Group for Those Seeking to Deepen Their Relationship with God

Saturday, November 12, 2016 - 10:00 - 11:30 AM - Fireplace Room Led by Dr. Ginny Smith

On Saturday, November 12, we will continue our conversations using Chapter 3 Bri-an D. McLaren's book entitled We Make the Road By Walking: A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation, and Activation. The topic is "A World of Meaning," which will include a focus on Psalm 145:1-16, Proverbs 8:1-36, and John 1:1-17. Please join the conversation, which is always lively. Bring a copy of McLaren's book and a Bible. If you need a copy of either, Ginny will be very happy to get them for you. To derive the most out of our time together, it is recommended that you read the chapter for the month and the assigned Scripture passages. Looking forward to seeing you. For those who like to plan ahead, future meeting dates for 2016-2017 include: December 10, January 14, February 11, March 11, April 8, May 6, and June 10.