St. John's Reformed Church

    FOOD BANK NEEDS SYRUP, PANCAKE & BAKING MIXES

The Northern Bedford Food Pantry at Woodbury is asking for
pancake mixes, Jiffy baking mixes and cookie mixes, as well
as syrup for on those pancakes.

Donations may be left in a box at the back of the sanctuary.

Fresh garden produce is welcome if harvested and delivered
in advance of the monthly distribution.


                                        Treasure Sale Nets $656

A successful Discarded Treasure Sale was held on June 24 and 25 at the church sponsored by the Womens Guild. The committee thanks all who contributed items for sale, and all those who came and shopped. Total proceeds — $656 — will be used by the Guild as needed.


                     Consistory Approves Re-Sealing Parking Lot;
                     New Carpeting for SS Rooms, Hall and Stairs

The Consistory met on July 7, 2022. at 7 p.m. in the copy room of the
church.

On August 5 and 6 the Sunday School is sponsoring a bounce house at
the Sothern Cove Vol. Fire Company’s annual Ox roast. The theme of this outreach mission is, “What Would You like to Say to God.” See a separate story in this newsletter.

On August 7 we will be having the annual Church Picnic. Remember,
church starts at 10 a.m., and there will be a Children’s Sunday School
opening from 11 until 11:15, while final preparations are made for the
meal. The feast begins at 11:30. To date 66 people have signed up for the picnic and we have ordered enough meat that if some family or friends want to come at the last minute that will be great!

We have received an estimate of below $5000 to have the parking lot
resealed and painted. This project will be done in the near future. The hole that was out by the drain in the parking lot has been fixed. Also on the maintenance side of business, we are currently receiving bids to have the carpet in the upstairs classrooms and hallway as well as the stairway carpeted again. We are also looking at bids to replace the ceiling tiles upstairs.

The audio/visual committee will meet again soon to work on the next
step of the upgrade project. At the last meeting we decided that the best
location for a booth to hold the equipment is in the back of the sanctuary where the coat rack is. This, however will probably require the removal of the display case.

There are some other details we are looking at to make that happen and
the first order of business will be to add new receptacles at the back of the church.

The Consistory also decided to open up ushering for the offering to the
congregation. If you would like to volunteer to participate let Matt or Joel know. We will hopefully have a signup sheet ready by August.

The Consistory is taking their annual vacation month in August, so the
next meeting will be on September 8 at 7 p.m. in the copy room.
See you at the picnic. If not sooner!

                                  --Submitted by Joel Ritchey, Consistory president




 

                 74th CCCC Annual Gathering Delegate's Report
 

Your prayers for the CCCC Annual Gathering were answered in ways far beyond what I had hoped for or imagined. We welcomed new pastors and new churches into the CCCC. The many new, young pastors impressed me with their heart for Christ and for Gospel ministry. One led a workshop that touched on some controversy in society today. When someone "pushed back" on his position, I was impressed by his humility and interest in listening to understand and reconnect with this Brother-in-Christ. He truly modeled spiritual maturity.

I got to meet and sit down with pastors serving churches in settings more rural than Loysburg, as well as others serving in urban, multi-racial communities. A CCCC Pastor in Philadelphia shared with me how 23 immigrants from The Republic of the Congo showed up for worship one Sunday morning (!). Their congregation is about our size, which made me marvel all the more at their response. They found an interpreter and have worshipped together – with interpretation into Swahili, for the past 18 months. They are now ready for this Swahili congregation to begin meeting on their own with a trained pastor. There are several other ethnic churches meeting in their building each week.

On this 402nd anniversary of the Pilgrim's landing in North America, Pastor Nick Granitsas, who taught Congregational history and church polity for decades, shared how Congregationalists planted over 5,000 churches in the 1800's. Many of these churches were not English-speaking, since their outreach was often to refugees and immigrants. Later, when 300 Congregational churches deviated from the true faith into Unitarianism, the people prayed and started new Trinitarian churches and schools and ministries. God can use us in the challenges we face today – not because we're so wonderful, but because He is so wonderful! Our goal is not to be clever or strategic, but to discern the move of God's Holy Spirit and align ourselves with His leading.

Our CCCC Treasurer, Greg Wilcoxon reported we are on sound financial footing, with increased giving and stewardship of our resources. Our proactive, conservative long-term (9 year) financial plan does not invest in holdings that go against conscience (such as gambling, tobacco or alcohol). Most peoples' equities lost 12-15% in the last 16 months; the CCCC lost less than 5%. Our Regional Pastors (Tim Dubeau covers our Western PA area) have done much to strengthen ties between clergy, churches and the CCCC. Even so, while most denominations spend 10-30% of their budget on administration, only 3% of our CCCC budget goes to administration.
 

I attended helpful workshops on "Youth Ministry for the Rest of Us" (in small churches with no paid youth ministry staff), Interim Ministry, and "The Biblical Connection between Justice and the Gospel". There are a number of new initiatives in global missions, including church planting in Albania and Mongolia, as well as continuing a new work in Malawi where the spiritual harvest is ripe – hundreds come to Christ, churches are planted and faithful workers are needed. There is also an effort to equip persons sensing a call to the mission field.
 

I have so much more to report. God's mercy is evident in the CCCC. I am grateful to be a part, and to have this opportunity for Christian growth, service and fellowship.

In Christ,

Dave Meckley, Pastor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 Carol Hartman Remembers Her Time in Loysburg

Ed. Note: Perhaps as much as a decade ago Jottiings carried a story about the pastorate of Rev. A.A. Hartman in Loysburg. At that time his daughter, Carol Replogle, contributed some of her memories of moving to Loysburg and living in the parsonage and about her father. Not all of her memories were used in that story, since it focused on her father’s work at St.  John’s and the other churches of the Hickory Bottom Charge.

Here are some of her memories that were omitted at that time:
                                                         - - - - - - -

In June, 1948 my father changed pastorates and my folks and I moved from Phoenixville, PA to Loysburg where he became pastor of the Hickory Bottom Charge. This was quite a dramatic change for me. Phoenixville is a
large community compared with Loysburg. I had walked to both elementary school and junior high school which was only half a block away. I also walked home for lunch each day. Shopping was easy and within walking distance. 

Moving was new to be because I had never moved before. We arrived in
Loysburg and stayed our first night with the John Dittmar family. The
Dittmar twins, Caryl Richey and J.P. Furry were on hand to help unload
the moving vans (there were two).

Here the parsonage was next to the church. The kitchen had been remodeled prior to our arrival and had a window over the sink which provided a wonderful view of the meadow, a stream and the mountain. Cows were generally in the meadow and it was fun to watch them trying to convince the calves to cross the stream.

We were more interested in what was happening in the meadow than
we were in whether the dishes were clean or not.

We enjoyed the two porches and the big yard where my father planted
a garden. A cousin we recently visited reminded me that they had stayed
in a very cold bedroom in the parsonage.

I had many new experiences while living in my new home:
  • a telephone that had a hand crank – our number was a long and two
      short cranks
  • walking to the Post Office for mail
  • riding a school bus – a bench on each side under the windows for
      the older kids and back to back benches in the middle for the
      smaller kids
  • living next door to the church
  • hearing the sermon twice each Sunday
  • being a part of three congregations – Loysburg, Mt. Pleasant and
      East Sharpsburg
  • being the “new” girl in Loysburg and at school
  • accompanying all the music groups at school
  • hunting a Christmas tree on Snyder’s hillside.

                                    Music Always a Part of My Life

Music had always been a big part of my life and that of our family. My
father was a high tenor and loved to sing. He had a great interest in
enhancing the music in the worship service. This interest resulted in
encouraging the purchase of organs for both the Loysburg and Mt.
Pleasant churches. My sister used to think that it was a requirement for
every minister’s daughter to play the piano. I met that requirement and
played for many services in each of the churches. After Lizzie Detwiler
retired, I became the pianist/organist full time. I still play the keyboard
at our local church.

The condition of the church cemetery on the other side of Mollie’s house
(which is now the parking lot) bothered my father to the point that he decided to do something about it. That is when he helped organize a cemetery association.

I was the youngest of five children and the only one at home at the time
of the move to Loysburg. My two sisters and a brother would make the
trip to visit us at least once a year. I remember my brother’s delight in
shopping at Ebersole’s store. He could find items there that he could not
find elsewhere. One of his finds was a pair of boots. He was so pleased
with them. It was always a delightful time for my nieces and nephews to
come to the country.

                                   Ice Storm of 1950 a Vivid Memory

One very vivid memory that I have about living in the parsonage was the
ice storm that we had in 1950. Our Thanksgiving dinner had been delayed
until Saturday so that the families of my PA sister and brother could be
with us. They arrived on Friday evening just as the storm was beginning.
I had to sleep on the sofa in the living room and all night long I heard tree
limbs hitting the ground with a thud. The electric went out and did not
return for a week. The telephone took longer to restore. How do you cook
a Thanksgiving dinner with no electricity? We could stay warm because 
we had a coal furnace but you can’t cook on a furnace. We had wonderful neighbors who came to our rescue. Mollie Snider still had a cook stove so the turkey went there. The rest of the dinner went to the house of the neighbor who lived across the street whose name I don’t remember. (It
would have been Ellen and the late Boyd Rupp and family) It turned out to
be a great Thanksgiving and one that remains in my memory. 

I have fond memories of being part of the youth group at the Loysburg
church. We were a close-knit group and had a lot of fun together. One
Sunday afternoon fun activity was to go down to the gap, cross the swinging bridge and climb the mountain. I recently hoped to have our grandchildren have that same experience but the swinging bridge doesn’t look very safe.

I am the only surviving member of my generation. My roots are in the
Southern Cove. I found it to be a great place to live and attend high
school. Home since then is really wherever Jim and I are living.

I married my high school sweetheart, Jim Replogle from New Enterprise.
We were married in the Loysburg church. It was so nice to have it newly
remodeled and to use the organ. Jim was a year ahead of me in high
school and went to Shippensburg State Teachers College (now
Shippensburg University). I followed him after I graduated and we both
became teachers. Jim started as an elementary teacher in the Hanover
School District and I taught business education in the Spring Grove
Consolidated School District, both in York County.

He became an elementary principal and then superintendent of the
Boyertown PA school system. He “retired” but then joined the faculty at
Salisbury (MD) University, where he again retired before we moved to a
retirement community in New Oxford, Adams County.

My parents moved to Martinsburg while I was in college. They left the
Cove in 1968 and moved to Norristown to be closer to three of us children.
Daddy died Feb. 11, 1979 and Mother on June 25, 1979.

UPDATE ON JIM & CAROL (HARTMAN) REPLOGLE

                                                                                                  July 29, 2022
Hi, David

I am a little slow in answering your recent email. I seem to get slower with each passing day.

We are aware that Harold and Betty Bowser were living here. They had moved into a cottage and eventually Betty was moved to Personal Care and sometime later Harold moved there also. Jim and Harold were in an octet in high school. That was before I moved to Loysburg.

Jim and I are doing well except for the aches and pains that come with getting older. It is hard to believe that we are as old as we are. Jim had his 90th birthday on May 24. That is getting old.

We moved to Cross Keys Village, The Brethren Home Community in June of 2013. We felt that it was time to make a decision about our location. We had a property that we really enjoyed but it required a lot of yard maintenance. Without Jim, there would be no way that I could have done what was required to maintain it. We really got serious in determining what was the next step. Children in these days generally do not live near their parents. That is the case with our sons Mark and Joel. Mark lives in Georgia and Joel is in Indiana. We also decided that we wanted to make our own living decisions for the future. Both sons thanked us for making the move. It took a possible burden from their shoulders.

Our family is widely scattered. Mark who I mentioned lives in Georgia, has recently retired as a software developer. Even though he lives in Georgia, his employment was with a company in Massachusetts where they lived before moving to Georgia several years ago. He is presently enjoying his retirement but we don’t think not working will not last long. Joel is working for Linkedin as a computer engineer and also works from home. Joel and Andrea have four children who are all amazing. (Doesn’t that sound just like a grandparent). Sarah is their first child and on Aug. 1 will start her new job in Sanya, China, which is on the Hainan Island. She is extremely excited about it. She is very fluent in Asian languages and has spent time in both Japan and China. We, of course, would prefer that she not be there but gave her our blessing. The youngest grandchild will be a junior at Ball State University but has spent the summer as an intern in Barcelona, Spain. The other two are employed in Indiana. They are all very musical as are their parents. It is very difficult to get the whole family together but it was possible for Thanksgiving, 2021. That may be the last time it will happen since we are so scattered. It is hard to get schedules to coordinate.

Cross Keys Village is a very active community with many opportunities offered. It provides memory care, nursing care, assisted living (personal care) and many apartments and cottages which provide independent living. We live in a cottage which includes a two-car garage, 1800 sq. ft. living space, thus giving us plenty of room both inside and outside. Opportunities are offered if you are athletic, artistic, musical, a woodworker, etc or you can be a hermit if you choose. Recent construction has included a pickle ball court but we at not eager to participate in that activity. There are dining facilities but most of the time we eat at home. Maintenance is a big issue. There is no maintenance required of us. When something goes wrong, we just call maintenance. Does this sound like a sales pitch? This all tells you that we are very happy living here. I am more and more realizing that if I am left alone, there is a large support system of friends living right around me. We care for each other.

We have become part of the Hanover Church of the Brethren. Jim refers to it as Morrison Cove East. We have found it interesting that seven of the congregation are from the Cove area. Several years ago Ben Van Horn, Jr. was also part of the Hanover congregation. It really is a small world. One of the members before her marriage belonged to the Mt. Pleasant Congregation and mentioned that I had played the organ for her wedding and my father had performed the ceremony. We looked in my father’s diary and discovered that Jim had attended the wedding also. We both had forgotten all about it. When we are no longer able to drive, we will become part of the congregation here at Cross Keys.

We had hoped to attend the Smith, Replogle, Woodbury reunion on Oct. 8 but have a family wedding in Pottstown, PA the same day.

Our mailing address is: 516 Grace Terrace, New Oxford PA. 17350

Cell phone: Carol - 717-688-1351. Jim - 443-859-4952.
Home - 717-624-3830

Enjoyed your note.

Keep in touch.
Carol






                                         LIONS SUNDAY BRUNCH

The Cove Lions Club hosts a Sunday Brunch on the first Sunday of each month at the Lions Building in Loysburg. Items served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. include pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, fruits, drinks and more.

Church members Scott and Molly Shirk are among those active in the
Lions Club


                                              EYE ON THE PRIZE

DAVID LONGABERGER didn’t complete his high school education until he was 21 — both a learning disability and a speech impairment held him back. But Longaberger later prospered as an entrepreneur, founding basket manufacturing firm the Longaberger Co.

What propelled him from a struggling schoolboy to a successful business leader?

A transistor radio!

During seventh grade, Longaberger and his classmates were charged with selling magazine subscriptions for a school fund-raiser. But Longaberger was a chronic stutterer and didn’t believe he could sell anything to anyone. So he decided not to participate until he learned that the top salesperson would be rewarded with a radio. He had always wanted a radio to share with his pals in a clubhouse they built on the edge of town. Owning a
radio would raise his peer standing, A powerful determination to win the prize began to override the ridicule and rejection he’d anticipated earlier.

He hit the pavement selling door-to-door all over town. The more excited he became during his sales pitch, the more he stuttered — and the more he stuttered, the harder he tried to convince folks to buy magazines. And buy they did: Longaberger sold the most subscriptions and won the radio.

You could say that a childhood desire for a transistor radio laid the groundwork for an unwavering perseverance and confidence that would guide him throughout his life. But Longaberger also realized that achieving success has more to do with focusing on what you are capable of doing rather than on the things that hinder you.

                                                                            Adapted from Longaberger:
                                                                            An American Success Story
                                                                                           Harper Business