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POP Preschool
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We're looking for your input to make POP the best it can be!
POP Question
of the Month
What kind of church-sponsored activity would inspire you to invite a friend?
Please email your responses to popquery@gmail.com
Thank you!
POP Questionof the Month
What kind of church-sponsored activity would inspire you to invite a friend?
Please email your responses to popquery@gmail.com
Thank you!
 
55 Years of ServiceIn 1955, a New York Post headline proclaimed, "Girl Chemist Finds new Calling: Will Be a Lutheran Deaconess". That chemist is our very own Hertha Fischer! CLICK HERE to read the story from the Lutheran Deaconess Association! Birthday? Anniversary? Another special occasion coming up? In lieu of yet more "stuff," how about asking people to donate to Prince of Peace in your name--A gift that keeps on giving. The Word on Wednesday Bible Study Barbara Fitzgerald & Pastor John Holliday will be leading the Bible study at area restaurants and pubs on the first Wednesday of each month . The next session will be Wednesday, February 1st at 8pm at Applebee’s in Northvale, NJ. We’ll continue our unit on Genesis with further conversation about "St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans" Please contact Barbara Fitzgerald or Pastor Holliday if you have questions. All are welcome! Annual Jr. High Trip to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for Nightwatch! Friday and Saturday, February 10th & 11th $60 per person Please contact the church office or Pastor Holliday HELP US MAKE OUR IGLOO! Our preschool kids will be making an igloo out of milk jugs, but we need your help. Please bring in clean, clear plastic gallon milk jugs. This will be an ongoing project through the end of March. Check out our progress each week as we complete our igloo. February Bible Studies at Prince of Peace! ASAPH - Adult Bible Study and Fellowship Wednesdays, February 8th and 15th from 1:00-2:30pm "The First Letter of John" Please contact the church office (201-768-8691) for more information Annual Lenten Soup, Study & Worship Wednesdays in Lent Beginning February 29th Dinner 5:30 pm — 6:15 pm Study 6:15 pm — 7:00 pm (Topic: Water Marks in Lent) Worship 7:00 pm—7:30 pm Volunteers are asked to provide dinner each week. Please sign the registration sheet in the Narthex (lobby). Quiet Contemplation: Making Space for Spiritual Renewal Time of Prayer and Community Conversation on the Sunday Readings Holy Communion will be Celebrated Saturday, February 25th, March 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th & 31st Adult Study And Phellowship (ASAPH) Prince of Peace’s Adult Study And Phellowship (ASAPH) will begin another year of study on Wednesday, October 12th! This year our study will focus on the Bible books of Jonah, 1 John and James using the materials from the ELCA’s "Book of Faith" initiative. Meetings for ASAPH will be held on Wednesdays from 1:00PM until 2:30pm. A $15 donation is asked for each semester to offset the cost of course materials. The dates of the sessions for the 2011-2012 course year are as follows: Fall Semester—"The Book of Jonah": 10/12, 10/26, 11/2, 11/16 Winter Semester—"The Letter of John": 1/11, 1/26, 2/8, 2/15 Spring Semester—"The Letter of James: 4/25, 5/9, 5/16, 6/6. Please sign the registration sheet in the church lobby or contact the church office if you would like to participate.  Social Action News - By Evelyn PassanteOn Feb 3rd, at 10 AM, we are delivering items to St John's Lutheran Church in Passaic. Only bring items to church from Jan 29-Feb 3. Leave them by the back door. They accept clean good used clothing, shoes, coats, knick-knacks, Christmas items ( no trees please), household items such as pots, pans, dishes, curtains, rugs, blankets, sheets, towels, appliances in good working order.. No TVs or computers. Any questions call Evelyn Passante at 201-768- 0355. During our November turkey/food drive, people gave me $60 cash, which I sent to the Center for Food Action. If you don't have the time to shop, I'd be happy to send any contributions to the CFA. Eventually, we'll put out a jar to collect any amount people would care to give. Every dollar counts! Here is the Center for Food Action's letter of thanks: Thank you for your recent contribution of $60. In the past few months, we have seen more and more people turning to the CFA for assistance. Many of these neighbors are seeking help from the CFA for the first time ever while others are finding it necessary to come for services more often. Donations such as yours will enable us to continue our emergency food program. Last year we distributed more than 53000 food packages and provided housing assistance to the most vulnerable members of our community. Without your generosity, we could not do this important work. Thank you on behalf of the staff and volunteers at CFA.  Council Highlights
STEWARDSHIP Dear Friends, It’s Stewardship time! That is, it’s that time of year when we try to understand and respond to God’s expectations of us as stewards and when we reflect on what our church, Prince of Peace, means to us. When we come together at Prince of Peace to hear God’s word, to share the sacraments and to worship God with joy and thanksgiving, we are strengthened and blessed. At the same time, we need to examine prayerfully what we can give back to the Lord. Out of love for God, we give, and as we grow in love toward God, so, too, we want to grow in our commitment to our church. Pledging is an opportunity for us to commit some of our gifts to God. We pledge of our time, of our abilities, and of our money as an expression of our love to God and of our commitment to following His ways. I would ask all of you to prayerfully consider how you can best share your gifts with God and complete a pledge card and return it to Prince of Peace either via mail or in the collection. Pledge cards are available in the Narthex. By Dr. Andrea DeCapua The Giving Tree On our Christmas Giving Tree, this year, we’ll be asking for Target gift certificates which will be distributed to homeless families in the Family Promise Program. We’d like to have these Target certificates by December 18th. Checks can also be given and made out to “Holiday Gift Fund” (on the re: line add Family Promise) Thanks for your support! Pictures of Peace Preschool Enjoying the Fall     Preschool Students enjoying a Thanksgiving Meal    Learn Sarver Heart Center's Continuous Chest Compression CPR Every three days, more Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest than the number who died in the 9-11 attacks. You can lessen this recurring loss by learning Continuous Chest Compression CPR, a hands-only CPR method that doubles a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest. It’s easy and does not require mouth-to-mouth contact, making it more likely bystanders will try to help, and it was developed at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Don't Forget your Church Family 
Your Church Family Attention POP Musicians!  Mix It Up With Moses, Jam With Jesus, Or Just Play While You Play... Prince of Peace is still looking for people to join the Band of Peace! If you are interested, please contact Pastor Holliday or Barbara Fitzgerald. Want To Learn To Knit, Or Renew Your Love Of Knitting?Prayer Shawl Ministry is open to anyone interested in this art --youngsters, teenagers, adults of all ages. Prayer Shawl Ministry will continue to meet over the summer on Mondays at 10:00 am. You are most welcome to join us for an hour and a half of handwork and fellowship! For more information contact Doris Baumann at (845)359-5311. Keeping Your Bills Down 
The State of New Jersey has several programs to help homeowners with their electric and home heating bills. If you have an income of $18,000 or less you may receive up to $1,800 in aid. For moderate income individuals and even middle income folks aid of up to $1,000 per year is available if you qualify. This program is designed for the winter season. To learn more and determine your eligibility call 1-888-337-3339.In addition, the State offers a Senior's Property Tax Freeze for those seniors with incomes of $53,000 or less. In a year this amount will increase to $60,000 and in two years to $70,000 and in three years to $80,000. The Senior Freeze has nothing to do with the property tax rebate you receive annually which you will continue to get. To learn more about the Senior Freeze call 1-800-882-6957. 
STEWARDSHIPStewardship at Prince of Peace: What does my church mean to me? This year we are focusing on asking members to reflect upon what Prince of Peace means to them. As we reflect, let us think about how we can use our gifts and talents in the service of our church and our Lord. One member writes Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (one of those letters – I’m not very good with Chapter and Verse notations) tells us that we each have gifts. The trick is recognizing these gifts in people and then allowing them to use them. We have those who are gifted in business and can tend to the "business" side of church; those gifted in giving who see that our mission work continues; those who are gifted in prayer who watch out for each other -- there are more gifts to talk about - but you get the idea. POP has the ability to see these people and recognize their gifts and better yet, the vision to support them. That is not to say that life at POP is perfect. It can’t be, it is, after all, filled with sinners and so there will always be room for improvement. It will always be that some of us are blind to visions and gifts to others, and that some of us will have the wrong vision in mind. As members of POP we must find ways to continue to support each other and encourage each other even when our ideas conflict. Overall, POP is a place to find peace (well, most of the time) encouragement, friendship and so much more. It’s a place where opportunities to grow spiritually and explore one’s gifts abound. Too often I hear someone saying they "don’t get anything out of worship". Worship is NOT a spectator sport! You "put in" to worship – you don’t come expecting to "take out". When we did the NCD survey and found that "spirituality" was our low point, the immediate reaction was "change worship". But the NCD program had forewarned against that, pointing out that churches that score low on spirituality will do so regardless of what form their worship takes; the same holds true for those churches that scored high on spirituality. It isn’t about the worship "presentation;" it’s about our personal relationship with God. So get to know Him better! The best way to do that is to read and DISCUSS His Word. Dive in! If POP doesn’t have a Bible Study that works with your schedule, start one that will – talk to Pastor. He is always eager to talk/teach the Word – as we all should be! A strong personal relationship to our church is what makes our faith stronger. Please share your thoughts with me and/or the rest of the congregation. Hearing your voices helps us all reflect and realize the many ways the Lord gives us strength, support, and shares His love in our community here at Prince of Peace. By Dr. Andrea DeCapua  Local Heroes Of The Christian FaithWe are looking for leaders in the congregation who would be willing to share stories of their vocations and God's presence in life with our confirmation class and other youth of the congregation. If you are interested, please contact the church office or Pastor Holliday. Questionnaire
 Help Our Soldiers Overseas!Let's not forget to HELP OUR SOLDIERS. It's hot, dangerous and lonely overseas! I especially need donations of: instant packets of hot chocolate; individually wrapped pieces of hard candy; beef jerky; packs of gum; chap stick; small snacks, e.g. cookies, crackers, pretzels; moist toilettes (water is at a premium in the desert!) Please leave items in the labeled box in the narthex. One of the soldiers you have been helping me support with your generous donations and cards asked me to pass this message to our congregation: "I received all the boxes that you had sent, and of course I shared with my fellow troops. Will you please do me a big favor and thank all the nice people that sent me the encouraging cards, I can't possibly address all of them, but I do appreciate it very much. Tell them that I post everyone of them on my wall in my little tiny room. We do make a difference and I thank all of you, too. Contact Andi DeCapua if you have any questions: 201-263-9552 or adecapua@optonline.net  Curbing the exodus of Christians from Jerusalem is vital for peace and stability in the Holy Land Christians represent a natural and stabilizing presence in the Holy Land and with their churches, schools and healthcare facilities provide vital humanitarian services to all the residence. In addition, they often play an unexpected peace keeping role between the Israelis and Palestinians. Unfortunately, do in large part to a lack of affordable housing, the Christian population has dwindled down to approximately 10,000 people or 2% of the population in Jerusalem. Completion of the separation wall will likely further reduce this figure to less than half that. Enabling Christians to continue to live in Jerusalem is crucial to the larger goal of realizing the vision of Jerusalem as a city of peace shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims and an example of reconciliation for the world. The Mount of Olives Housing Project (MOHP) will provide 84 affordable housing units for Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem with a spirit of ecumenical and inter-religious openness. While serving only 500 or so Christians, this project is symbolic of a larger international effort committed to peace and stability in the greater Middle East. The major cost of purchasing land for the project is avoided because the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria Foundation and the Lutheran World Federation agreed to dedicate 15 dunums (3.75 acres) of land for it. The total financial requirements for this project will be $8M broken down as follows: US Donations $2M, European Partners $4M and $2M in Financing. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran World Federation and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land are sponsoring a Holy Land Summit on the MOHP in October of 2008. The purpose of this summit is to provide participants with an understanding of the issues and challenges faced by Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem and the urgent need for affordable housing. The group will meet with the leaders of the project in Jerusalem and key figures from the Israeli, Palestinian and Muslim communities in Jerusalem and Palestine to talk about the historical and modern day role of Christians in the Holy Land and to gain broad cooperation and support for the MOHP. Participants will experience day trips around the Old City of Jerusalem, around the Mount of Olives and to some of the historic and biblical sites nearby including the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square. They may also add on elements to extend their visit to include travel to Galilee, if their time permits. If you would like more information about the Mount of Olives Housing Project, and/or the Holy Land Summit, please contact Jim Hooker at jhooker@mtofoliveshousing.org or Susan Hooker at shooker@mtofoliveshousing.org. You may also reach the Hookers by phone at 815.353.5032. You may also support the project by raising awareness of Christians in the Holy Land, by praying for them, or by making a financial gift to the Mount of Olives Housing Project. Website: www.mtofoliveshousing.org ELCA Mount of Olives Housing Project P.O. Box 71764 Chicago, IL 60694-1764 Phone: 1.800.638.3522 x 2970 Worship, Music & Art Ministry Focus What the aims and/or goals of this ministry? How will it accomplish these in the coming year? What opportunities are there for volunteers?
Prince of Peace Preschool Site Online! Special thanks to Arp Laszlo and Joann Kitlas for putting this informational site together! Click the logo below to check it out...  |
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