The Family Times Family of God Lutheran Church

4770 Route 202

February 2009 Buckingham PA 18912
phone: 215-794-5973
email: familyofgodpa@yahoo.com

OUR MISSION:
From Pastor Kelly: Hearing, Speaking and
A Shared Conversation Doing God’s Word.
One of the great privileges for me over the last year has been
working with a great congregational council. I have had the joy of OUR CORE VALUES:
working with individuals who are faithful diligent and visionary. Faith, Love, Family, Prayer
One of the great pleasures for me within Council meetings over the
last year is when we have taken the time to do what we now call
“Big Think.” We try to spend time thinking beyond the day-to-day,
considering new ways of doing things and new things to do. In one
of these conversations, I asked some questions about what we had STAFF MEMBERS:
Pastor……………….…Rev. Bernard Kelly
learned over the last few years and what implications that had for Interim Director
the future. I wrote questions and responses on a white board in one Of Ensembles………....Michael Hillegas
of the classrooms, and then I took a picture of the white board. Director Of
Youth Ministry……..…Scott Nugent
Now I would like to share that conversation with the larger Admin Assistan…...…..Suzanne Fernandez
congregation. In the article below, I will use different fonts to Family Times Editors….Michele Koch
indicate different things: Katie Lekich
Intern ………………….Don Gleiter
This regular font = my insights from the conversation.
SMALL CAPS WILL INDICATE THE QUESTIONS I POSED
Bold + Italics will indicate Council’s Responses
The conversation started with this question, which I wrote on the CONGREGATIONAL OFFICERS:
top of the white board: President………………Jane Ellen Nugent
Vice President……....…Glenn Gracey
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SINCE JANUARY 1, 2005? Secretary………..……..Brett Hauber
We can stand on our two feet. Treasurer………………Ken Canham
There is a core community of people here. Financial Secretary……Dave Robertson
Indirect communication is not helpful.
God provides: no deficit in 2007, we lost many leaders but
others stepped up, the interim pastors helped us. COUNCIL-COMMITEE
I then asked, “Where do we see these themes in our life or in LIAISON ASSIGNMENTS
the Bible?” Someone shared that when Pr. Royer left, it forced the Christian Ed…………...Nancy Routhier
Evangelation……….….Maury Drum
congregation to grow up. I shared what someone told me once how Finance…………............Brett Hauber
they knew they were an adult: when she lived in a dorm room and Men’s Ministry…..……Terry Andree
dropped her hairbrush into the toilet and realized she couldn’t ask Parish Life…………..…Karen Skillman
Terry Andree
“Daddy” to get it out. Events happen in our lives that force us to be Property……………..…Glenn Gracey
adults, to be responsible, to act from our faith and principles. Social Ministry …..……Nancy Routhier
Whenever a pastor leaves a congregation, that is the challenge the Stewards………………..Dawn Irwin
Women’s Ministry……..Jane Ellen Nugent
congregation faces, and Family of God is no different. We then Worship & Music……...Amy Fell
talked about the “core community of people here.” Youth………………….Karen Skillma
(Continued on the next page)
 I was reminded of the Biblical term, “remnant.” Over and over God
promises to raise something wonderful up out of a remnant. In
Genesis 45, Joseph explains that God sent him to Egypt ahead of the
famine in order to preserve a remnant of the covenantal people; the
prophets Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Micah,
Family of God Zephaniah, Haggai and Zechariah all speak of a remnant. It seemed
Lutheran Church to us that there was a faithful “remnant” at FoG, and that God could
and would make this remnant flourish.
Then we talked about “indirect communication.” Indirect
Our Mission… communication takes many forms and most often occurs when one
Hearing, Speaking, and person does not feel comfortable telling another person something.
For example, person ‘A’ tells person ‘C’ something they should
Doing God’s Word actually tell person ‘B’ in the hope that person ‘C’ will do something
about it. This is not being honest about our feelings or genuine in our
Our Core Values… relationships. We need to learn how to be genuine with each other. I
Faith, Love, Family, thought of two Biblical statements: Exodus 20:13 “You shall not
give false testimony against your neighbor;” and Ephesians 4:15,
and Prayer “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up
into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” It seems that God is pretty
Our Vision insistent about honest and genuine communications among His
people. This is something I, the Council and the Mutual Ministry
for Mission… Team will work to achieve in this place. There will be sermons,
We believe God is teaching, writing, role-playing and accountability exercised in order
calling us to be a to make open, honest and genuine communications the norm here at
church where: Family of God.
• Vital, vibrant worship Then, we talked about how God provides. This was a wonderful
time of personal testimonies. We all shared how God had worked to
inspires people to live
bring us through difficult times in our personal lives and how God
out their faith. had done the same thing for the congregation. Who could have
• People work together to anticipated donations that would have prevented a deficit in a year
meet community needs when the congregation did not have a regularly called pastor? Who
in the name of Jesus could have seen the individuals who stepped into leadership roles
Christ. after established leaders left? And several Council members
• People of all ages are mentioned that even though the period with interim pastors was quite
spiritually nurtured and difficult, God used this time to bless Family of God. Then, I asked
grow in the Word. the next question:
• Youth are encouraged, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN GOING FORWARD?
WE need to pray and trust God (we being both as individuals and
supported, challenged,
as a congregation).
and appreciated. The core community is a gift to be cherished and nurtured.
• People joyfully invite Learn to speak the truth in love.
others to know the Lord We need to learn how to express our concern for “neighbors.”
and His church. As we elaborated on these thoughts, someone had me add
• People are Open to the something to the sentence: We can stand on our own two feet –
stirrings of the Hold holding God’s hand. This means that while we don’t have to
Spirit. depend on a pastor, we do have to depend on God. We talked
about how if we can’t be honest with one another than we aren’t
being honest with God either. None of us liked the prospect of
being dishonest with God. We also determined that we need to
celebrate the sacrificial gifts that are made at Family of God day
after day by a wide variety of people, not just the pastor. We also
determined that we need to start sharing our stories with the
broader congregation so others can see all the good stuff that has
happened, is happening and by the grace of God will continue to
happen at Family of God.
Finally, I asked, SO, WHAT IS THE TAKE AWAY FOR US?
Several folks answered, “It’s not about us.” And then another
person, added, “It’s not about us. Except that it is.” What I took
this to mean was that the Council was convinced that all that had Family of God Website
happened, good and bad God had been able to use and redeem in
order to bless His people at Family of God. And that ultimately Would you consider making
this is not the story of how a group of people moved through a www.familyofgodpa.org
tough time, but yet another story of how God acted to bring that your homepage? Then, you
people through their tough time. And yet, it is our story. This is the can easily be informed as
story of how God blessed Family of God in particular. A story of soon as things are added,
how we may have drifted away from God, gotten into a jam and and you are encouraged to
then God came and sought us out, restored us and redeemed our add your own ministry
suffering. It is the miracle of the Biblical narrative taking place in content and read the Daily
Bucks County, PA in the 21st century. It is our story about our Devotion. If you are not
God. And it is a very good story indeed. It is one that needs to be sure how to do this, contact
told. Pastor Kelly or Ken Gish at
-Pastor Kelly familyofgodpa@gmail.com

Worship Services in February

February 1 Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
8:00 am Traditional Holy Communion
10:30 am Worship Service and Holy Communion
February 8 Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
8:00 am Traditional Worship Service
10:30 am Worship Service
February 15 Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
8:00 am Traditional Holy Communion
10:30 am Worship Service and Holy Communion
February 22 Transfiguration of Our Lord
8:00 am Traditional Worship Service
10:30 am Worship Service

Time for Children is every Sunday after both services.

Invite friends and neighbors to worship with you at Family of God!
 SUNDAY SCHOOL SCOOP!
January was a wonderful month at
Family of God. The kids have been
learning the rotation “Teach Us To Pray.”
We have been focusing on learning The
Lord’s Prayer and WOW are they doing
great. Encourage your child to help Pastor
Kelly lead the Lord’s Prayer during a
service. All they have to do is let him know
and he’ll take it from there. (Remember,
they won’t need to do the entire prayer by themselves. They’ll
get us started and the congregation will take it from there.) Ask
them to amaze you with their knowledge of the prayer that Jesus
taught the disciples.
February brings the exciting topic “Life In Bible Times.”
The kids will learn what life was like when Jesus walked the
earth. What things are the same and what things are very
different? Be sure to spend Sunday mornings with us so that you
can find out.

Calendar of Events for February 2009

February 1st 9:15 to 10:15 – Week 1
“Life In Bible Times”
February 8th 9:15 to 10:15 – Week 2
HOLD THE DATE! February 15th - Group Sunday School
February 20th –
The date has been set 6:00pm to 8:30pm - Friday Family Night
and we wanted you February 22nd – Week 3
to know right away!
th
Looking ahead, we will begin March with our 7th
Monday, July 13 – Rotation “Journey To The Cross.”
Friday, July 17th
9:30am to Noon Please do your part and sign up to help out as either a
Registration forms will be teacher or an assistant for one of the rotations. If you would like
to be a part of this wonderful ministry please contact Joella
sent out via email in April.
Grube (215) 230-4555 jpgrube@verizon.net or Marilyn Boucher
(215) 489-2764 rmboucher@comcast.net or sign up on the
bulletin board in the back of the Narthex
 Adult Sunday
School Programs:
Adults have the opportunity to
participate in two small group discussions
9:15am-10:15am on Sunday mornings.
John Detwiler and Bill Irwin are leading
a discussion on Rick Warren's “40 Days of Community- Better
Together: What on Earth Are We Here For?” There is an
instructional video, journal, devotional, and study guide available.
40 Days of Community teaches steps you can take in order to live
a healthy, balanced, purpose driven life.
Jane Ellen Nugent and Cindy Mahoney are facilitating a
discussion on Max Lucado's Life Lessons book which has you read
and study Romans over a 12 week period of time.
Both groups encourage new participation. You do not have to
commit to attending each week to participate. Join us!
55+/- Gang
The 55+/- Gang will
meet at the church on
Wednesday, Feb. 4th, at
11:30. We will be serving a
variety of homemade soups
2009 Tri-Annual ELCA National Youth Gathering
with Italian bread, dessert,
Every three years the Lutheran church holds a national rally open coffee and tea, at cost of
to all Lutheran Youth entering grades 9th through 12th. $2.50 per person. We will
This year the event is being held in New Orleans La and holds then be playing a game called
the theme of JESUS, JUSTICE, JAZZ. The event will focus on the Bago, for which you will
idea of what it means to live in relationship and service with each need to bring a $2.00 item in
other in the manner of Christ. What better place to bring this a plain brown paper bag.
understanding together under Christ than the city still reeling from Please call Karen Papandrea
the fury of Hurricane Katrina. at 215-598-3457 for more
Each day we will be on outreach missions focused on literacy information.
somewhere in the local community and each evening we will be
worshipping with 35,000 other youth in the Superdome. This is a
once in a life time powerful event!! We have currently about 10
youth and 2 chaperones registered for this event.
As you can imagine the cost is high and in the current economic
climate all that harder to raise capitol towards. While we are
working on different fundraising efforts and even hiring our youth
out for janitorial work, it will still take a lot to get them all there. We
are looking at ways to defray some of the costs and ask that you
consider the following-
IF ANYONE HAS CONTINENTAL FREQUENT FLYER
MILES THEY MIGHT DONATE TOWARD A PLANE TICKET
PLEASE CONTACT SCOTT NUGENT.
 Buy/Order or Support
Bulletin Board
Check out the bulletin
board in the back hallway
across from the bathrooms.
The Bulletin board may be
used to allow members of
FOG to complete outside
fundraising. For example,
girl scout cookies, wrapping
paper, pizza orders, and even
Lutheran Charities Bike Ride
sponsors may be found here.
The idea is to limit the face-
to-face selling on Sunday
mornings while allowing
fundraisers to have a place at
FOG. Any member who is
selling something can place
an order sheet on the bulletin
board, and anyone wanting to
purchase or support that
organization can simply place
their order on the form.
Finding Blessings in Sadness
As many of you know The Boucher Family experienced a
great sadness when Ross’ father passed away on New Year’s Eve.
He had been on dialysis for approximately 5 months, but was
otherwise in pretty good health for a man of 80. On Wednesday,
December 31, 2008 he had a big breakfast with his wife, walked
down to get the paper, drove himself to dialysis and about 2 hours
into the treatment he blacked out and was unable to be revived.
This has been a huge shock to our family.
Ross and I have been together since 1990 and have not
experienced any family deaths. Not an aunt, uncle, cousin, parent
or grandparent. Now that’s luck! Our children, Taylor (11),
Kelly (9) and Brian (6) have had to experience death and grief
which is difficult even for us as adults. They have done well as
we all have. What has shocked me the most is how many
blessings I have witnessed since New Year’s Eve. I’d like to
share them with my “family” at Family of God as a testament to
God’s unending love for all of us.
Ross and I met when we were in a wedding 22 years ago. The
wedding was held in a Catholic church. Now, being the “un-
churched” person that I was, this was very concerning. I was only
13 years old. During this very long mass one of the groomsmen
had a seizure and passed out. Well, you can imagine how that
frightened me and so with that I passed out during the “Our
Father”. And yes, Ross fell in love with me anyway! Years later
we started dating and years after that we married in 1995.
Needless to say the trauma of passing out in that church has
haunted me ever since. I have worked myself through it at FoG,
but put me in a Catholic church and watch my nerves go through
the roof.
The funeral for Ross’ father was at Our Lady Of Mt. Carmel
(you guessed it, a Catholic church). Well, when I gave thought to
the fact that not only was I going to have to sit through an entire
mass, but I was going to have to sit in the front row, I was sick
with fear. I spoke to Pastor Kelly about it and he told me to eat,
not think about it (which as much as I respect what PK has to say,
that one didn’t do me any good!), but mostly remember that it
shouldn’t matter which “house” we are in, but what we are doing
in that “house”. What I should be focusing on is worshipping
Jesus, not thinking about myself. I gave this great thought and
prayed a whole lot! I prayed that Jesus would give me the
strength to move beyond my fear and to remember that this church
is a place of comfort and peace just as Family of God is to me
every day. Well, I prayed and prayed, but BOY was I nervous. I
was shaky, clammy, nauseous…I was a mess and I was sure I was
going to pass out right in the middle of the mass. Right before we
walked into the funeral I went to the bathroom for a few drinks of
cold water, 4 to be exact. I nervously walked back out and as we
followed the casket in I had one more thought that I was
DEFINITELY going to pass out. As I crossed the threshold of the
sanctuary I instantly felt peace. It was awe inspiring to me. I felt
calm, warm and comfortable. I truly felt the supportive hands of
God comforting me. It is an experience that I will never forget.
God is awesome and will answer prayers if you just give it all to
Him. I had laid my fear on Him and He took it.
Aside from that blessing I witnessed so many beautiful
situations. Relationships that grew stronger because of the
realization that in an instant someone can be taken from you.
Taylor had spent every day since her Pop pop’s death telling me
that she wasn’t going to go into the viewing, which was her
choice, but when Brian went in and started to cry she didn’t
hesitate for a second before she came to his side to comfort him.
Following through on a suggestion from Kelly we let his
grandchildren release white balloons with messages for Pop pop.
It was a beautiful and tangible sight that I will never forget.
Experiencing the kindness of so many family and friends in the
way of food, help, cards and prayers was humbling.
From this I will take many things: grief, sadness, renewal,
peace and grace. I pray that this is not something that I will
experience again anytime soon, but I have faith that when I do go
through it Jesus will be right there with me. AMEN!
-Marilyn Boucher

Prayer Chain

The Family of God prayer

Chain invites your requests.
Praying for one another is a
vital ministry of care and
support. To add a name or
concern, please contact
Nancy Routhier at
215-267-7919 or
routhier341@juno.com
 Intern’s Corner
This month we will begin our lay home communion ministry. I
would like to thank the following members of Family of God who
have volunteered to be a part of the lay home communion ministry
team: John and Victoria Flint, Donald and Barbara Howard, Dawn
Irwin, Karen Kelly, Carole Mahnken, Jane Ellen Nugent, Lisa Pitts,
and Anita Zaketa. We are blessed to have so many who are willing
to volunteer their time to this ministry, and I know they will be
blessed in return through this ministry.
Wednesday nights in February, beginning Feb. 4 at 7:30, we will
meet at the church to study The Book of Faith – How Lutherans Read
and Understand the Bible. This is an initiative of the ELCA to help
increase bible literacy among Lutherans. We will be learning to read
the Bible from four different perspectives: devotional, historical,
literary, and Lutheran theological readings. We will examine several
Bible passages from each of these perspectives to learn what each
approach can teach us. If you plan to attend, either call the church to
let us know you will be there or put your name on the sign-up sheet in the narthex so we can be sure to
have enough materials for everybody. Give it a try – you are guaranteed to learn something new about
the bible.
-Don Gleiter