TRIVIAL QUESTIONS

Who was the most significant Bible person from Tarsus?
What place was Alan Shepard the first American to visit in May 1961?
What famous document begins “When in the course of human events”?

HUMOR
One morning a fellow finds himself standing at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter explains that it’s not easy to get into heaven. There are some criteria that must be met before entry is allowed. For example, was the man a churchgoer? No? St. Peter tells him that’s not good. Was he generous, giving money to the poor or to charities? No? St. Peter tells him this, too, is bad. Did he do any good deeds, such as helping his neighbor? Anything? No? St. Peter is becoming concerned. Exasperated, he says, “Look, everybody does something nice sometime. Work with me—I’m trying to help.” The man thinks for a minute, then says, “Oh—I did help this old lady once. I came out of a store and saw that a dozen Hell’s Angels had taken her purse and were shoving her around. I threw my bags down and got her purse back, then I called the biggest biker a coward and spat in his face.” St Peter is impressed. “When did this happen?” he asks. “Oh, about 15 minutes ago,” the man replied.
Taken from Laugh and the Whole Church Laughs with you!

INSPIRATION
He who grows a garden finds joy within his soul,
And wondrous peace through beauty in the splendor he beholds!
It may not be a garden, wide or one so great or grandee;
But it will always pleasure give if tended by one’s own hand.
We till the soil, where e’er the site, Then tiny seeds we sow;
We pray for God to bless them there and make our garden grow.
Eventually, tiny buds appear, Followed by blossoms sweet.
We’re the flowers in God’s garden—He planted--He nourished, we grew.
I pray He, too, will find pleasure in the blossoms of you and me.
Mary S. Chevalier

MEDITATION
God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57
There is a story about Martin Luther going through a period of discouragement and depression. For days his long face graced the family table and dampened the family’s home life. One day his wife came to the breakfast table all dressed in black, as if she were going to a funeral service. When Martin asked her who died, she replied, “Martin, the way you’ve been behaving lately, I thought God had died, so I came prepared to attend His funeral.” Her gentle but effective rebuke drove straight to Luther’s heart, and as a result the great Reformer resolved never again to allow worldly care, resentment, depression, discouragement, or frustration to defeat him. By God’s grace, he vowed, he would submit his life to the Savior and reflect His grace in a spirit of rejoicing, whatever came. When was the last time you praised God in the midst of despair? Don’t wait until you “feel like it,” or you’ll never do it. Do it, and then you’ll feel like it!
Billy Graham

No. 1 Saul or Paul No. 2 Space No. 3 Declaration of Independence

Walk for Life
Calvary is honored to host the annual Care Net Walk for Life on Saturday, June 18, from 9:00 until 11:00 am. Registration and breakfast begin at 8:00 am, with coffee provided by the Itasca Starbucks. We need volunteers to walk with Team Calvary and to help out on the day of the event. If you would like to register to walk or sponsor our team, please visit www.dupagelifesaver.com and follow the links. There are also signup sheets on the table in the Narthex. We need everyone’s support to make this a wonderful witness to the community of Care Net’s ministry. For more information, please contact Jackie Padgett or Dawn Leardi.

Thrivent News

Our SMKC is hosting a Confirmation Reception on May 1 at 10:15 am in the Fellowship Hall. Thrivent is sponsoring this event. Thrivent provides funds to Calvary for these events through its Choice Dollars program. Since August 2010 Calvary’s members of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans have directed $3625 in Choice Dollars to Calvary. Our Board of Directors is planning how to best allocate these funds. Thrivent members who have not yet directed their personal Thrivent Choice Dollars should call 1-800-THRIVENT and select Calvary or another registered charity.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Coins for Care Net collection. We raised $520 (including the SMKC offerings), which was matched by $300 from Thrivent for a total of $820. Calvary is also hosting the Care Net Walk for Life on Saturday, June 18, from 9:00 until 11:00 am. We need volunteers to help with setup and cleanup and to participate in the walk. If you would like to join the team, please sign up on the sheets that will be on the table in the Narthex. Thrivent will provide juice and water for the walkers.

The Northeast DuPage Chapter of Thrivent is holding a Kane County Cougars outing on Saturday, June 1; at 4:00 pm. Tickets for the picnic and game are $15 and must be purchased by May 9. Please contact Dawn Leardi if you are interested in attending. This outing is to raise awareness of the Thrivent Builds ministry in the area.

SMKC Update
There will be no SMKC on May 1, as we are hosting a reception for our confirmands in the Fellowship Hall at 10:15 am. Students are invited to attend. The last Sunday for SMKC is May 15. We will be singing an Easter song in church that morning, so families should plan to arrive at church before 9:00 am. We will do our regular lessons that day and conclude with a special recognition ceremony.

I wish to thank our dedicated teachers and helpers. They include Donna Delihant, Lynn Noren, Jackie Padgett, Ken Tente, Grace Newman, Sherri Lambton, Barbara Johanson, Sandy Antonucci, Ellen Newman, Terri Aylward and Nikki Higgins. We end our year with 16 students, including 4 students who are not members of Calvary and 6 students who were in our Preschool/Kindergarten class. This bodes well for stability and growth in our enrollment for next year.

SAVE THE DATE

We will be having a church cleaning day on Saturday, June 4th starting at 8am. Additional details to follow, but volunteers and supplies will be needed to freshen up our church. I hope you can help!

Penny Hinze

BABY BANK

Thanks to everyone for their support of our Baby Bank! We had one mother attend the first day and it is anticipated that many more will follow. Please continue saving your coupons – those can be placed in my mailbox-no need to cut them out.

Additional volunteers are still needed, so if interested, please contact: Penny Hinze at 224-659-6893
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

The church will again be participating in the Wood Dale Memorial Day Parade. The starting point will be at the Junior High at 10am. The Parade will start at 11am. Candy donations (no chocolate please) and participants to walk will be sought – more details to follow
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
That time of year is here… almost but not yet. We will have are first membership meeting on May 22nd after the church service. All voting, members are encouraged to attend. The meeting will be held in the fellowship hall. The next voters meeting will be on November 13th so please mark your calendars! More details to follow as the meeting date draws closer.

Ray Schaefges

FROM THE LOFT
Greetings from the choir loft,
First and foremost I would like to thank all of the members of Calvary's choir for all of their hard work this season in enhancing the worship services of Holy Week. They are Sandy Antonucci, Donna Delihant, McKenzie Kern, Sherri Lambton, Remi Lill, Donna Miller, Mark, Ellen and Monica Newman, Ellen Newman, I GREATLY appreciate ALL of them! Choir will begin again sometime in October 2011 for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season. Watch for announcements as they come. We are very low on numbers in the choir so any additional members will help us greatly! If you have sung with us before…come back! We miss you and we need you. If you have never sung with us, please, try something new in the name of the Lord! You are welcome here. Thank you all so much for your support and compliments. I certainly work as hard as I can to provide the best music possible for our church! I am hoping we will always have a choir to enhance our festival seasons.
If anyone is willing to play a solo this summer, either as an instrumentalist or vocalist, please let me know and we can definitely work something out. Thanks!
In other musical news, if you and your children and/or grandchildren are looking for something fun and musical to attend this summer, Do-It-Yourself Teen Theatre of Elmhurst is performing their 3rd musical production this summer. I have been rehired to be the piano accompanist again for this (meaning I sit with the piano below the stage and play all of the songs for them during the show). This summer, they have chosen the musical, "Alice in Wonderland". The kids involved are anywhere from 9 to 15 years old and they are extremely talented. It is directed by high school students and managed by the parents. The dates of the show are Friday-Sunday, July 15th through July 17th. I will advertise this with times and location (it will be in Elmhurst) when it comes closer. Thanks!

-Sean Newman, organist/choirmaster

THOUGHTS

This life is often just too hard for me…I am far too human, weak and sensitive to witness the hurt, pain and disappointment that hounds me nearly every day I spend here on this imperfect planet. My heart breaks on a regular basis and I can’t fathom why God would allow such suffering and torment to exist among the people that He loves so very much. I do realize that it is not as much my responsibility to understand it as it is my duty to pray for change and resolution but that does not make me feel any less upset or vulnerable when life’s storms swirl around me. It is in those moments (when I should look to the Father first) that I find it the most difficult to pray.
I have almost always looked to prayer as a refuge. That is, somewhere to “go” for peace and forgiveness; a place to wash off the guilt and shame of the day and a place of hope to make all things new. Prayer is the only place in which I am truly able to communicate with God. I am not shy and if I need a miracle, I ask for a miracle. I truly believe that all things are possible when we come to the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. Why then, when I should believe that the most and pray the hardest, am I unable to ask for help and guidance from the only One who can offer that to me? It could have a lot to do with who speaks the loudest and whose will is most important.
Matthew Fox, the writer of Creation Spirituality said that “Prayer is essentially about making the heart strong so that fear cannot penetrate there.” When we are at the height of despair, we are most likely to find ourselves more susceptible to doubt and apprehension. The enemy finds his largest portal at those times. He sees our trepidation as a way to block the path to peace through our relationship with God. Satan wants to distract us and will do whatever he can to interrupt our conversations with God because he knows that if we turn to God in prayer, our hearts will become stronger and fear will be diminished. If we are strong, we feel able to fight fear, doubt and anguish. Satan is no match for our all powerful Father but he just keeps on trying. It is up to us to stay close to God in prayer no matter what the obstacles.
Sometimes God answers prayers in ways that do not please us in the least. We are more interested in our own will for our lives and sometimes miss the ultimate destination.
Here is where I (and I believe most of us) struggle. When we don’t get the job we pray for, the boyfriend/girlfriend we long for, the house we bid on, or whatever may be our heart’s desire at that moment, doubt may creep in and Satan takes a little step closer. I don’t mean to trivialize what we pray for because I know that often those prayers are to save a life or diminish suffering. Whatever the case, God is there with comfort and with a reason that we may not see right now. I have a lot of questions for Him when I meet Him in heaven but for now I have to just trust that He knows what’s best for me no matter how painful the situation may seem. I also have to remember that my pain is miniscule compared to what our Lord and Savior suffered so that we might have eternal life.
Thank you for that, Jesus.
Ellen Newman

Pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances. 1Thessalonians 5:17