Salem United Church of Christ

Hello, I am Pastor Bob Witmyer and I welcome you to Salem UCC. Thank you for visiting our website. We especially enjoy welcoming new friends, and we hope you will visit us soon!

THIS WEEK @ CHURCH

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 21 — FEBRUARY 27

Thursday
5:00 PM – Choir Rehearsal (Optional)
Saturday
11:00 AM – Choir Rehearsal
8:00 AM – Men's Breakfast
9:00 AM – Worship Committee
Sunday
9:00 AM – Sunday School for All Ages
10:15 AM – Sunday Worship
Monday
8:30 AM – Quilters & Crafters


NEWS & NOTES
Confirmation Class
	Attention All Confirmation Students: Our Next Class sessions are scheduled for Sunday January 13th and January 27th ; February 10th and February 24th. Please remember to continue doing your Worship reports and attending Sunday School. Confirmands don’t forget to meet with your mentors (parents) to plan you projects and don’t forget your worship reports every week. Check out the newsletter and bulletin for possible ideas to complete your projects, such as mission, church project, or visitation possibilities.
Oley Food Pantry
	The Oley food pantry is in need of many items to help serve those in our community who need food. The churches of the ministerium have decided to make the pantry a priority this year. Here at Salem, we are going to list an item each month that you can donate to the needs of the pantry. For the month of January the item is “Peanut Butter” and February the item is “Jelly”. Please consider picking up a jar or two when you do your shopping and bring it to church. We hope to deliver the items to the pantry by the third Wednesday of each month. Please consider this important outreach to those in need.
Ash Wednesday
	Ash Wednesday services will be held on Wednesday, March 6th, at 7:00 PM. This service is an appropriate way to begin our Lenten journey. It is a service of repentance and remembering who we are as children of God. God expects our repentance; therefore, it is only right, in fact, necessary, that all Christians should begin the Lenten journey by remembering who they really are. This year, we will be again joining with Friedens UCC in worshiping on Ash Wednesday. Friedens will be hosting the service as our combined choirs lead us in worship. I look forward to seeing everyone at our service this year.
Soup & Word
	This year, I would like to again offer an opportunity for those who would like to spend some time in a Lenten devotional journey. The last several years, we have had a good response to this event. This year, it will again be held every Wednesday during Lent, starting with March 13th. Those attending would meet from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM for Soup, Bread and the Word. There will be a signup sheet to get a general idea about how much food to prepare. Please don’t hesitate to come if you didn’t sign up; there will be enough for all, I’m sure. If you can only come to one or two sessions, please come.