Seaview CONNECT 
 
 
 
 
ON-GOING EVENTS AT SEAVIEW 
 
 
Sunday Morning Worship Service 10:30 AM
 
 
In-person and live-streamed on FaceBook
 
 
Youth LifeGroup – Sunday, 6:30 PM
 
 
Seaview’s youth group  meeting on Sunday,  6:30 pm at the church. Bring a friend!
 
 
LifeGroups 
 
 
  • Sunday evening at the Flexer’s home at 6:30 PM led by Karen & Ned Flexer.
New series starting April 19.
 
  • Wednesday afternoon in Fellowship Hall at 1:00 PM
led by Pastor Mark and Susan Larimer.
 
If you are interested in joining a LifeGroup but the current dates and times do not work for you, contact Pastor Mark.
 
 
Lunch and Learn
 
The Lunch Bunch’s next meeting
Friday, April 21,
Crab Trap, Somers Point.
Contact Claudia Mars for reservation.
 
 
Servant Leadership Community
 
Our leadership team will be meeting on Sundays  immediately following worship.
Members and friends of Seaview are welcome to attend.
 
Fellowship and Member Care Ministry
The next Fellowship and Member Care Planning Group meeting TBA
 Contact Susan Larimer or Terri Thomas if you would like to be a part of a events planning group for Seaview that will encourage community fellowship and bring us closer as a family. 
 
 
SPECIAL EVENTS AT SEAVIEW
 
Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cook-Off
 
 
 
Chili Cook Off, Saturday, March 18, 4:00 pm. To enter your prize winning receipe of the “Best Chili in Town”,  you must register by Sunday, March 12. Fill out an entry blank and give to Andy Schaeffer. Entry blanks will be in the bulletin on Sunday and available by calling the church office. 609.927.5015
 
 
 
 
 
Coffee Hour
First Sunday of the Month
Baked Goods and donations appreciated
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Health Ministry
Last Sunday of the Month
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Game Night
First Friday of the Month
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Shoebox Packing Party
Sunday, May 21, 2023
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sharing
our Past Events
 
“Souper” Bowl Sunday 
Seaview enjoyed a great “tail-gate” party to kick-off Super Bowl Sunday. The delicious aromas of soups filled the air and the tasty treats provided a highlight to the events of the day. Thank you all who shared your favorite recipes and fellowship. Enjoy some photos of the day. If you have any other photos you would to share, send them to Terri Thomas.
 
 
 
 
 
“Souper” Bowl Sunday, Februaty 12 following worship service.
Everyone is invited to “tailgate” with us. Bring a pot of your favorite soup to share or any tailgate type treats, snacks and soft drinks. Get hyped up as a prequel to the Super Bowl Game. 
 
Quarterly Church Family Meeting – Sunday, January 29th following worship service.

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All church members and friends of Seaview are encouraged to attend. A lite lunch will be served.  We will be hosting discussions about our mission, vision, church bylaws, membership, facilities/property, and more. We hope you’ll join us!

 
Event Planning Group – Next Meeting February 26th following morning worship.
 
Thank you to all who attended this event group. Here’s what we can look forward to in the first quarter of 2023. 
 
JANUARY 29th   Quarterly Church Family Meeting. Lunch planning by Amanda and Susan
FEBRUARY 3      Game night with Doug Harvey.
FEBRUARY 12    “Souper” Bowl Sunday after church with tailgate food and team spirit.
MARCH 3           Game night
MARCH 15         Chili Cook-Off planning by Andy Schaeffer
 
 
We look to an exciting year full of different church and social events. Our next meeting will be in February.. Contact Terri Thomas or Susan Larimer if you have any ideas or would like to attend.
 
 
Pictures from Christmas MAGIC
 
 
 
 
Celebrate Emmanuel … God With Us.
 
Seaview is busy preparing for the Christmas Season. Sunday, The Lighting of the First Advent Candle was celebrated with the Harvey family leading. The Candle of Hope, also known as the “prophecy candle”.  The candle of hope for Advent assures us we can have hope that God will fulfill the prophecies declared in the Old Testament about Jesus. Hope doesn’t disappoint us – Romans 5:5. 
 
During the remaining weeks of Advent, Seaview will celebrate the Candles of Peace, Joy and Love with the final candle, The Christ Candle lit on Christmas Day. 
 
Christmas Services
Advent Sundays, November 27, December 4, 11, 18 – 10:30 AM
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Saturday, December 24, 7:00 PM
Christmas Day Morning Service = Sunday, December 25, 10:30 AM
 
ALL SERVICES ARE IN-PERSON AND LIVE-STREAMED ON FACEBOOK
 
 
Thank You
for all your donations to benefit the Angel Tree. The gift bags were picked up on Sunday, December 18 for distribution to the youth of Covenant House. 
Angel Tree 
 
Take an Angel or two off the Angel Tree in the sanctuary. Seaview is putting together Gift Baskets of personal care items for youth 18-21 facing homelessness or human trafficking. We need items such as shampoo, conditioner, hand cream, hand soap, deodarant, body wash, body spray for men and women. These baskets will be supplied to Covenant House of New Jersey who provide assistance and sanctuary for these young people.
 
Magic was all around our Christmas MAGIC Get-Together. What fun we all had with scrumptions food, desserts, games and a magic show. Thank you for attending and to everyone who helped make this evening of fellowship a good time.
 
Wednesday, December 14, Christmas MAGIC 
 
 
It’s not an illusion ,,, we’re dreaming of a magical
Christmas with you!
Join us in celebrating the birth of Jesus and time for friends, laughter, and reflection
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 5:30 PM,
ADMISSION:
Bring a can good or other donation for the Grace Place Food Pantry
 
We’ll start with sharing a time of feasting on your best recipes. Bring a covered dish to share. We invite you to see what Christmas MAGIC is all about. After dinner there will be some surprises, but you have to be there. 
 
Sign up sheets are posted on the Fellowship Hall Bulletin Board
 
Retired Ministers and Missionairies Offering
 
Every year in December, we collect a special offering from participating congregations of the ABCUSA. This offering is distributed to retired, ordained ministers, commissioned missionaries and surviving spouses who have devoted 15 years or more to our ABC churches and Missions. Please remember our retired ministers with love. 
 
 
Atlantic City Rescue Mission Collection Box
 
This box is located in the back of the parking lot, next to the shed. The Rescue Mission hands out thousand of articles of clean clothes each year to those in need. Recycle your clean, gently used or new clothes of all sizes for for men, women and children. Your donation helps the Mission care for the hundreds of homeless and needy people. This box is for clothing and shoes only. Please do not leave items outside of the box. Thank you.
 
 
 
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June 19, 2021

 

A woman and a man struck up a conversation watching their children play at a playground. Later, the man called out to his son on a swing, “tt’s time to go home.” The son pleaded, “Just five more minutes, Dad. Please?” The father agreed.

After a few minutes the father called out to his son again “it’s time to go home.” Again, the son pleaded, “Five more minutes Dad. Just five more minutes.” The father gladly agreed again.

Listening to the conversation, the woman complimented the man on his patience. He replied, “My older son Tommy passed away last year and I never spent much time with him. Now I’d give anything for just five more minutes with him. I’d vowed not to make the same mistake with Sam. He thinks he has five more minutes to swing. Truth is, I get five more minutes to watch him.”  Many dads have regrets. Wise dads learn from their mistakes.

We want to remind you that our Trustees are easing back into a more relaxed response to the pandemic. We have been advised that masks are now optional in our sanctuary unless someone is NOT fully vaccinated. The New Jersey guidelines then ask that you be understanding and continue masking and distancing. We are not yet back into our “in the aisle” greeting time. Please be patient. The day will come.

Joan Hofmeister’s great-grandson, Jeremey, has been moved to a rehabilitation unit. Then, a complication arose that landed him back in  the hospital. We continue to pray for his full healing. Charlotte Jones, part of our online congregation, tells us that her daughter, Lynn, is now in rehab at Bryn Mawr. Please pray for her to regain use of her fingers and for clear vision. Stefany Blyn Jacobs related the sad news that her cousin, Bobby, has succumbed to liver cancer. This is hard on his parents, Jill and Banks. He was 53. May God’s peace that passes understanding guard their hearts and minds.

Discipleship Training will return for the summer season as of July 7 at 11:00 AM. Still using zoom as our medium, we will be studying James Bryan Smith’s The Good and Beautiful God. Please let Pastor Frank know if you to be a part. He will send you a link.

Ben Harvey has stood out from the crowd as he approaches graduation on Monday evening at Mainland Regional High School. He has been notified that he will graduate summa cum laude. We are so happy for you, Ben.

Many of you know that Pastor Frank is moving towards retirement from his role as lead pastor. The pastoral search committee is meeting regularly and is currently putting together a congregational profile to share with prospective candidates for Seaview’s new lead pastor. A prayer calendar has been placed on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall. You are invited to sign up for at least a day each month to pray for the committee while they do this very important work of discerning new leadership for Seaview to lead us into the next season of our mission.

Pastor Frank celebrates a significant milestone on Monday, June 21. It was on that date 40 years ago, that he was consecrated to serve as an ordained minister by Berlin Baptist Church and the American Baptist Churches of NJ. 

Drop Off Saturdays
 where we have partnered with Northfield-Linwood Kiwanis have brought lots of items to help the under resourced people of our community. Our next drive is for toilet tissue, baby wipes, tissues, bottled water on July 24 from 11:00 to 1:00. You can bring items in early if you like and leave them by the tan bin in Fellowship Hall.
 
ADORE GOD  |  LOVE ONE ANOTHER  |  SERVE THE COMMUNITY
 
 
 
 

June 12, 2021

American culture has almost entirely fragmented the extended family. As a result, we experience a deep longing for the things the extended family used to provide… The church as a family can be a way of incarnating an answer to these longings.”

-Hal Miller, from “Brothers, Sisters” in Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People, p. 25

Last week, our scripture focused on the way Jesus redefines family. He says his family (Mother, sister, brother) are those who do the will of his Father. He is not doing away with our nuclear or extended family. He is expanding it. 

Tomorrow we begin to do what so many have longed to do. If anyone is fully vaccinated, those persons can come to worship without masks. Our brother, Dr. Larider Ruffin, has counseled us to remain cautious yet begin to relax some of the mitigation rules per Governor Murphy’s executive order. If you have not et been vaccinated, we ask that you follow the executive order and remained masked the entire time you are in worship. Distancing is relaxing as well. Also opening is our prayer room. Marguerite Heaton Colella will be glad to meet with anyone desiring prayer after the worship service in Room 115. It has been a long slog, and we are not out of the woods. Let’s keep working together until we are in the clearing. We don’t want to go backwards.

In our prayers has been Mike Carney who had a procedure yesterday to protect him from blood clots becoming dangerous. He was able to come home and is on the mend. Along with Mike, we have been intensely praying for Joan Hofmeister’s great-grandson, Jeremey. He was hospitalized  last week and on a ventilator. The prayers have been fervent and he has regained consciousness as well as beginning to talk. And we are givjng God the glory. Charlotte Jones, part of our online congregation, had a scare this week as her daughter, Lynn, had a stroke after leaving a dental appointment. For a few days she did not know where she was, but has been located at a Philadelphia hospital. We lift Lynn before the Lord for healing. 

Discipleship Training and Prayer wraps up on Wednesday evenings this week with our final study in Transformed Through Love. God is the ultimate source of love. How do you sense God’s presence? Sometimes we need to five up our preconceived ideas and just make ourselves available. Then the love flows. We meet by Zoom at 7:00 and you can come without having been part of the group previously. Let Pastor Frank know so he can include you in the Zoom link as it is sent out.

It’s graduation time again. This year we have Ben Harvey graduating from Mainland Regional High School and LeiLoni Carney DeLeon graduates from Jordon Road School in Somers Point. Cassie Parsons takes her final bow at Ventnor Middle School. We pray God’s blessing on each as they move towards the next season.
 
ADORE GOD  |  LOVE ONE ANOTHER  |  SERVE THE COMMUNITY
 
 
May 29, 2021
 

Tomorrow is Trinity Sunday. Observed the week after Pentecost, it became popular as a result of a heresy taught by Arius, a church elder from Alexandria in Egypt. Arius believed that Jesus, the Son of God, was subordinate to the Father and therefore not equal. Athanasius, also an Alexandrian elder, opposeed this teaching, holding to the traditional doctrine that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are eternally co-existent and co-equal with each other. The triune God we worship is the same throughout the year. Yet this is the day we set aside to make special note of this doctrine. Perhaps the most poignant hymn that emphasizes this truth is Holy! Holy! Holy! written by Anglican Bishop Reginald Heber in 1826. Based on the worship scenes of Revelation 4&5, it can be found in almost all Christian hymnals. We will sing it this Sunday. Our guest organist, H. Ray Hunsicker, will also be offering a prelude and postlude based on this wonderful hymn.

Governor Murphy has signed an executive order that New Jerseyans may now go without masks in many settings as long as one is fully vaccinated. However in many places, such as public transportation, transportation hubs, summer camps, children’s care centers and schools, the CDC guidance continues to call for masking. Churches may continue to require masking if those responsible deem it prudent. Our Trustees have counseled with Dr. Larider Ruffin, who has advised we indeed continue using masks for a few more weeks. The Trustees concur and will be asking our attendees to use masks for at least the next two Sundays. We realize what an inconvenience this is, but hope our people will see the value of being cautious since the pandemic is far from over. We thank you for your understanding.

Monday is the day our nation remembers and honors those who have given the ultimate gift of devotion to the nation and world. Women and men of all wars who fell in the line of duty are revered and given special attention. On the wall of the World War Two Memorial on the mall in Washington, DC, you can read many thoughts about those who served. One such quote that stands out is by Admiral Chester M. Nimitz. “They fought together as brothers-in-arms. They died together and now they sleep side by side. To them we have a solemn obligation.”  Please remember that many who fell in the may wars fought were civilians and soldiers of other nations as well. Those communities and families also feel the pain of loss, many who fought alongside our US troops. One person has written that we must never consider this day as a celebration day and do nor wish one another a “happy” Memorial Day. It is a day of thoughtful and thankful remembrance.

Since Monday is Memorial Day, there will be no Women’s Bible Study group. The youth will not meet together on Sunday evening, either. There will be a Discipleship Training and Prayer meeting by Zoom on Wednesday at 7:00.

ADORE GOD  |  LOVE ONE ANOTHER  |  SERVE THE COMMUNITY

 
 
May 22, 2021
 

Pentecost, which we celebrate this week, is often associated with speaking in tongues (Acts 2), but in John’s Gospel, the promised Spirit is more about wisdom and discernment, about unfolding truth and the prospect of spiritual growth.* In John 16, Jesus promises his frightened disciples an Advocate, a Counselor, a Spirit of Truth who will continue to teach them how to live in this world. “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now,” he says. It sounds like a wise Elder to me: “I have more to say, but not yet.”

As we watch the news and face the harsh realities of systemic racism and climate change in our world today, let us pray for the renewal of that kind of Pentecost, so we can bear the truth of our time and place – because that’s what will empower us to act.
– Majorie Zoet Bankson, Church of the Savior in Washington, DC

Yes, tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Church. It is the only Sunday that the pulpit paraments turn to red to symbolize the fire of the gift of the Holy Spirit. While hardly obligatory, it has become a tradition to wear some red to mark this special day. We will also be using a praise song that is new to us, Holy Spirit by Torwalt. You can find it at the following link to YouTube. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jZOu7oM7KQ ;   Feel free to take a listen and be ready to sing a new song.

Another May celebration is Paula and Andy Schaeffer’s 10th wedding anniversary. It was that long ago on May 28, that they walked the aisle and took vows of love and commitment to one another. It was their prayer then that God would fill their home with his presence. We celebrate God’s faithfulness to that prayer and their continued witness to that presence among us at Seaview.

Graduations are in the air. Just a few weeks ago, Anthony Chong walked to receive his Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Temple University. It was a long and demanding course. Bianca Trenard is also celebrating after 2 years of study at Yeshiva University in NYC. She is receiving her Masters Degree in Speech Therapy. Both of these accomplished students grew up in our midst at Seaview. And now they flap their wings and fly. Warmest congratulations and prayers for the work the God has done and will do through them. More graduations to come in June.

Today was giving Saturday. Many people brought non-perishable goods between 11:00 and 1:00 to help stock the ecumenical pantry at Grace Lutheran Church as well as the Volunteers of America office in Egg Harbor Township. This outreach is done in partnership with Northfield Linwood Kiwanis Club. There is still time to bring something in tomorrow and place it in the tan bin in Fellowship Hall.
 
ADORE GOD  |  LOVE ONE ANOTHER  |  SERVE THE COMMUNITY