HILLSBOROUGH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Transcription

1 HILLSBOROUGH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 102 West Tryon Street Post Office Box 717 Hillsborough, NC (919) (Office) Rev. Marguerite Sirrine The Church Mouse November, 2018 Dear HPC Friends and Family, Our Stewardship Commission s Grateful Giving theme has done a marvelous job, with help from the Youth Group, to lead us into this annual season of thanksgiving. Even when we feel life is unfair, even when we re tired and don t know how to keep going, there s something to be thankful for. Even if we don t like what we have, or don t get what we want, there is something to be thankful for. And it isn t to deny the reality of unfairness or exhaustion or not getting what we want, but gratitude is a place God has prepared for us a place that provides respite from the constant drumbeat of I want, I want, I need, I need. Gratitude is one way God gives us a break from unfulfilled desire. And we are renewed when we take that break. That s how our stewardship season is inviting us to enter into the pledging process this year. If there is something you are grateful for about your church or your church family or your Presbyterian heritage or denominational work, give because of that gratitude. Be in that place of joy and give from there. Give because you re grateful that those called to serve on the Mission Study Team and the Session are willing to try to discern the vision God has for this church in this time of transition, and are asking you to catch that vision with them. In the absence of a called and installed pastor God has raised up leaders among you who are daring to chart a course during a time when America s churches have faced unprecedented cultural and political challenges. Instead of being daunted, your leadership teams have been inspired. The budget the Session drafted for 2019 shows the depth of that inspiration. The budget they re developing is just shy of $200,000. It s ambitious. It s hopeful. Over two-thirds of those expenses go into making Sundays a time of inspiration, growth, and connection for everyone who walks through our open doors, from 9:45 on. The other third opens our doors and sends people out to Fairview, to Habitat s Home Preservation projects, to New Hope Presbytery s outreach and support of the local church, to Justice United s work on affordable housing and racial inequality. Together every item in the budget should serve the mission of the church: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. How? By listening, learning, sharing and serving, journeying together with Jesus Christ, to nurture relationships that bring healing, hope and joy to all, in our church and beyond. Grateful to be part of a community that shares that vision? Me too. Let us give thanks and time, and ability, and money, and stuff (the right stuff!), as we are able. Blessings Rev. Marguerite Sirrine

2 CIRCLE #1 NEWS! Circle #1 will meet at HPC at 11:00 on Monday, November 12 th. All are invited to join us for our next lesson from the study guide Friendship. Bring a sandwich the hostess provides beverages and dessert. Visitors and guests are always welcome! Questions? See Ann Sebesan. 8 th ANNUAL HPC BONFIRE Mark your calendar and join us for 8 th Annual Bonfire and Camp Supper! Come enjoy the autumn leaves, stars, and Fellowship of our church community at our 8th Annual Bonfire and Camp Supper, at New Hope Camp and Conference Center, on November 4, Sunday. Meet at the bonfire area behind the pavilion near the swimming pool at 5:00pm. Daylight Savings Time ends that weekend, so it will be dark. Diaconate and Men's Fellowship will provide supper and S'Mores. Bring your camp chair, blanket, roasting fork, and smile! Questions? See Bob Wisniewski. PLEDGE DEDICATION SUNDAY November 11 will be our 2018 Pledge Dedication Sunday at HPC. If you will not be in worship on November 11, please pick up a copy of the 2018 pledge form from the foyer and place it in the offering plate, or mail or your pledge form to the church office. (P.O. Box 717, Hillsborough or hpchurch@hillsboroughpres.org). FROM THE WORSHIP COMMISSION Worship will be meeting on Thursday, November 1 at 6:30 pm in room 204. Come join the commission and help us start the Christian new year with Advent and Christmas planning! Mark your calendars for special worship services coming your way and stay tuned for the details: 11/4 - All Saints Day: we will honor our saints with the Ribbon Banner. Please tie a ribbon on the banner with the name of a special loved one. 11/18 - Hymn Sing: Warm up those pipes declare Alleluia with a voice of singing! - Thanks! Cheryl Maxey FINISH IT FRIDAY! You are invited to a new sewing/craft group, Finish It Friday, on the 3 rd Friday night of each month from 6:00 11:00 PM. This month on November 16. Bring your sewing or hobby project. You do not need to stay for the whole meeting time. There is no agenda. You will have plenty of time to work on whatever you choose, making it worthwhile to bring sewing machines, etc. We plan to order pizza for dinner or you can bring something different to eat, or bring something else to eat with the pizza if you wish. Come enjoy working with friends and sharing time and ideas with each other. Questions? See Ann Sebesan. YOUTH GROUP Youth Group meets on Wednesdays, 6:00-7:30 pm in room #204. This year we will have eligible participants. To provide a meal, use the sign-up sheet on the Mission bulletin board. Questions? See Eric Cathey. (Open dates for meals: November 25) HANGING OF THE GREENS Join us on Friday, November 30, at 6:00pm for a soup supper followed by decorating our Sanctuary, doors, and Strudwick Hall with Christmas trees and decorations.

3 BOOK CLUB NEWS! Please plan to join us on November 11 th to discuss the next selection, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr. Nicholas Carr has written a Silent Spring for the literary mind. Michael Agger, Slate Book Club meets at HPC at 7:00 on the 2 nd Sunday most months of the year. Please bring your recommendations for a Holiday Selection to the November meeting. Guests and visitors are always welcome, and refreshments will be served. MISSION STUDY TEAM REPORT The Mission Study Team has been working hard two hour meetings four out of the past five weeks to finish their report so Session can review it. That review process is important: the Session must carry out the vision, goals and objectives identified in the MST s work with the congregation in this coming year, so to do that the Session needs to understand everything behind those goals and objectives in the report. We ve tentatively scheduled our report review for Nov. 4. Once Session accepts the report, it goes to Presbytery s Commission on Ministry for their approval. When that happens, the MST will present it to the congregation and HPC can form the Pastor Nominating Committee. The Mission Study Report will help the PNC write the Mission Information Form for Hillsborough Presbyterian Church. The database matching service in Louisville will take the information from our form and match it to candidates who are looking for a call with similar vision, goals, and objectives. Candidates for your installed pastor position will read the form to get a sense of whether they share the vision for ministry that HPC has at this time. They may even request a copy of the Mission Study Report to see the details of your vision for ministry. Those that get swept up by it, who can t go to sleep without thinking about it, will hopefully make it through to the interview stage with the PNC. It IS a process. It IS work. We know that not everyone agrees with this approach to pastoral transitions. I don t think everyone on the Mission Study Team would say this is the only way or that it couldn t be made better (that includes the interim pastor!) But we have grown through the work and it s transformed our understanding of who and what the church, and our church, are. And for that, and for all the work you did to help get us here, we are thankful. Katherine Cathey Hervey McIver Sam Nesbit David Remington Lisa Watts Marguerite Sirrine CHRISTIAN EDUCATION HPC's Christian Education program has had a busy and exciting start to the year. All Sunday School classes are now at the 9:45 hour and the Joyful Noise children's choir is practicing and preparing for the anthems and Cantata on 2 Sundays a month. The curriculum for all Sunday school classes is lectionary-based. We invite children, youth and adults to come at 9:45 to provide a better understanding for the content of the worship service. The children's curriculum is age-appropriate and will help them understand the basic concepts of the sermon. HPC welcomes the family-centered worship experience. We love to have our children in the worship service! There are worship bags for the younger children to use during worship that have many faith-based activities that will help them to make connections to the scriptures. Nursery is also available to infants through pre-k. CE commission has recognized that our church is growing and that this growth brings about changes in the structure of how we present Christian education to all members. The Mission Study Team results has given our commission "food" for thought on how to begin to meet some of these educational/spiritual needs of the congregation. CE commission presented the budget to session in October. We've asked for an increase in budget to reflect the growth of the church and the future plans for the CE curriculum, fellowship activities and youth group. As you consider your stewardship pledge, please remember the growing Christian Education needs for the children, youth and adults. -- Blessings to all, Cynthia and Stephanie

4 PW Women s Evening Group Our group completed our study of No Innocent Bystanders Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice. Those of us who attended the October 17 th meeting discussed how we might want to move forward, and how we see this group evolving. We all felt that we wanted to continue learning more about becoming allies for justice, and discussed several of the resources the authors Shannon Craigo-Snell and Christopher J Doucot used in this book. The two we focused on were Dear White Christians For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation by Jennifer Harvey and America s Original Sin Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis. We decided to look at the Dear White Christians book next. We will use this book for the next 3 meetings, and will be discussing the first section, called Part One: Reconciliation? Where We Are and Why. A used copy of this book can be purchased on Amazon.com for $12.50 plus tax and shipping fees. We can place a group order, so contact Linda Jaubert ( ) or at Jaubert.linda@gmail.com if you want a copy of the book. We want to look at what PCUSA has to say about these issues, so are looking at a 6-session study called Facing Racism: A Vision of the Intercultural Community Antiracism Study Guides, put together by Racial Ethic & Women s Ministries. We also want to study Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community put together by the 211 th General Assembly in 1999, and Facing Racism: A Vision of the International Community Churchwide Antiracism Policy put together by the 222 nd General Assembly in We will be putting together a list of books written by minority authors, to help us walk in their shoes. If you have read a book that helped you to see the struggle of another in a new way, please pass the name and author to Jane McIver, jane.mciver54@gmail.com, who will be putting this list together for us. We do not just want to be a book study group, so we are looking at ways we can be more involved as allies to the minority groups in our community as they work for justice. We discussed ways to get to know people from other churches working for justice in our community so we will be looking for opportunities to visit and engage with our neighbor churches. Those of us in this study group hope that other women in the church will want to join us as we continue to learn together how to work toward justice for all in our community. We will meet again on Wednesday, November 28 th at the church, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm (date change due to holiday). All women of the church are welcome. GREEN NOTES! This is a reminder that HPC has banned the use of Styrofoam at our facility. Styrofoam is composed of Benzene and Styrene, both of which are known human carcinogens. Exposure can cause a variety of mutations to the central and peripheral nervous systems, and have been linked to both Parkinson s disease and leukemia. The production of Styrofoam is energy intensive, creating large amounts of greenhouse gases. In addition, 25-30% of landfills are dedicated to plastics, including Styrofoam, which takes at least five hundred years to decompose. As Kermit said, It s Not Easy Being Green, but HPC is trying! Please help us by avoiding Styrofoam products at home AND at church. We can all pitch in to wash glassware and mugs. If paper products are your best choice for an event, please reuse, recycle or compost. Together we are proud to be an Earth Care Congregation, striving to be ever-better Stewards of God s Creation. Questions? Contact Robin Bedingfield. (Green Notes are provided by PCUSA s Environmental Ministries and your Stewardship Commission.)

5 Grateful Giving 2019 STEWARDSHIP SEASON Each year, the HPC Stewardship Commission provides an opportunity for the members of our congregation to prayerfully consider and renew their commitment to the financial operations and community outreach initiatives provided by HPC. Members are asked to carefully consider how they are best able to dedicate themselves in the support of the mission of HPC in the upcoming year through Grateful Giving. God has blessed our congregation with diverse vocational, religious and denominational backgrounds. The goal for our congregation is to take these personal experiences and perform God s work within our church and in cooperation with other Christian communities. Together with God, we will promote youth and young adult ministries, ecumenical unity within our town, and a deeper commitment to our local community s spiritual and material needs. Building upon the strength we receive from God, we seek to serve God through programs of education and outreach, and to provide opportunities for fellowship and care. We open the doors of this historic church to this community of faith and to the community at large. We encourage one another to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those around us through expressions of Christian faith in our daily lives Many great things have happened in The financial and service commitments of our congregation have supported HPC's mission by providing for the church's operations, assisting with community needs and completing long-term projects for the vision of the church. Our church family is growing and the contributions we all make greatly influence the Hillsborough community and far beyond in service for our Lord. For this we give thanks to the Glory of God. Grateful Giving 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. This Stewardship Season we want to draw attention to the excitement in the church. Session is working to develop the budget for 2019, developing a common financial language and create transparency. We also want to celebrate all we have achieved and thank the HPC Family for supporting the church s mission, vision, community outreach, and funding of the church s activities not just in 2018 in the life and future of HPC. With God we do Great Things! Jesus taught us, all that we have is given to us by God. We do not give our gifts; we share God s gift on God's behalf. We must remain connected to the vine, and his blessings will come through the vine to its branches to produce fruit to be shared with others. The remaining calendar dates for Grateful Giving and the 2019 Stewardship Season are as follows: November 4 th : Moment for Stewardship HPC Commission Moderators (Worship, Building & Grounds, Treasurer) November 11 th : Dedication Sunday If you have questions please contact Eric Cathey (Moderator, HPC Stewardship) or a member of the Stewardship Commission.

6 HAPPY NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY TO: 01 Cliff Younger 03 Linda Nesbit 06 Sarah Summers 07 Harrison Flinn 07 Ron Taitt 10 Reid Wolfe 12 Annette Jurgelski 14 Karyn Nesbit 16 Tom Brown 23 Claire O Connor 25 Tommy Leonard 27 Daniel Ely HAPPY NOVEMBER ANNIVERSARY 2 Zach and Virginia Drill To update the Birthday List or Anniversary List please contact JoAnn in the church office ( ) or hpchurch@hillsboroughpres.org). NOVEMBER LECTIONARY READINGS 4 Ruth 1:1-18; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:11-14; Mark 12: Ruth 3:1-5, 4:14-17; Psalm 127; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12: I Samuel 1:4-20; I Samuel 2:1-10; Hebrews 10:11-25; Mark 13: II Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132: 1-18; Revelations 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37 VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE November 4 All Saints Sunday Liturgist: Robin Bedingfield Children s Sermon: Karoline Mathewson Acolyte: Caitlin O Connor Flowers: All Saints Flowers Youth Meal (11/7): Stephenson Family Nursery: Robin Barnhill Greeters: Brenda Morgan, Caitlyn O Connor November 11 Liturgist: Alicia Gonzalez Children s Sermon: Alicia Gonzalez Acolyte: Ben Stephenson Flowers: Remington Family Youth Meal (11/14): Mathewson Family Nursery: Brenda Morgan Greeters: Mark Sirrine, Alden Cathey November 18 Hymn Sing Liturgist: Hymn Sing Children s Sermon: Hymn Sing Acolyte: Anna O Connor Flowers: Ely Family Nursery: Karoline Mathewson Greeters: Brenda Morgan, Vernon Cooper November 25 Liturgist: Rich Erdosy Children s Sermon: Marguerite Sirrine Acolyte: TBD Flowers: Fox Family Youth Meal (11/28): TBD Nursery: Robin Bedingfield Greeters: Brenda Morgan, Mark Sirrine Morgan and Vernon Cooper Nov 25 Brenda Morgan and Mark Sirrine Save the date! A baby shower for Jordan Wolfe on Saturday, January 5, 2019 from 2-4 pm in Strudwick Hall. Stay tuned for details. Questions? Contact Judy Brown or Barbara Younger.

7 November, 2018 SUN MON TUE WED THUR FRI SAT Join us on Sunday mornings! Sunday School for All Ages at 9:45 AM Nursery for Children at 9:45 and 11:00 AM Traditional Worship at 11:00 AM Worship 6:30 PM (#204) Daylight Savings Time Ends 2 AM turn clocks back one hour! All Saints Day Communion 4 12:15 PM Called Session & MST (Strudwick) 5:00 PM HPC Bonfire at NHCCC Youth Group 6:00 PM (#204) 8 CE 6:30 PM (#204) HPC Choir 7:00 PM (#221) 9 10 Dedication Sunday 11 9:45 AM Joyful Noise Choir (#221) 12:15 PM Stewardship Reception 12:30 PM Mission (#204) 12 Circle # :00 AM (HPC #204) Youth Group 6:00 PM (#204) HPC Choir 7:00 PM (#221) Finish It Friday Sewing/Craft 6-11 PM (Strudwick) 17 7:00 PM HPC Book Club (#204) Hymn Sing 18 9:45 AM Joyful Noise Choir (#221) 11:00 AM Hymn Sing 12:30 PM Session (Strudwick) 19 Deadline for HPC Newsletter 1:00 PM HPC Choir 7:00 PM (#221) NO Youth Group Church Office closed for Thanksgiving Christ the King Sunday 25 9:45 AM Intergenerational Sunday School (Strudwick Hall) 12:00 Noon Congregational Meeting (Elder Nominees for Class of 2021) Food for All 5:00 (Strudwick) 28 Youth Group 6:00 PM (#204) PW Women s Circle 7:00 PM (Strudwick) HPC Choir 7:00 PM (#221) Hanging of the Greens and Soup 6:00 PM (Strudwick) NOTE: If you have any November calendar dates or articles that you would like included in the newsletter just send an (hpchurch@hillsboroughpres.org) or call the church office ( ) by 1:00 PM on the 19 th of November!

8 New Hope Camp and Conference Center Camp has been busy for many weeks with Intersession students joining us from Hillsborough Elementary and The Expedition School. This year our campers went to school with Harry Potter, journeyed on a Magic Quest and decided that Pokemon does go to camp! Thank you to our amazing afterschool staff for organizing great activities for our campers. There is still time to register for Winter Intersession camps..in search of the Abominable Snowman and Unplugged Video Games (yes no fortnite video game!) hurry now and do not miss out on these fun weeks. Afterschool campers have been enjoying themselves this season especially with the rain turning our camp into one large mud puddle. We now have openings for campers who are enrolled in The Expedition School. The holiday season is just around the corner but now is the time to start planning for your event. Book now before it is too late. As the end of the year approaches please think about making a tax deductible donation to our scholarship program. The need to support low income families within the area has increased. Your donation would help make summer camp a possibility for a child who may have only dreamed of attending. For all information on our programs and rental facilities please go to our website or contact the office at for more information. *************************************************************************************************** Hillsborough Presbyterian Church 102 West Tryon Street Post Office Box 717 Hillsborough, NC (919) HPChurch@hillsboroughpres.org Web page: SUNDAY WORSHIP SCHEDULE Sunday School 9:45 AM (for all ages!) Childcare/Nursery 9:45 AM (for children) Traditional Worship 11:00 AM A nursery is provided for children 4 and under downstairs; there are Worship Bags (coloring pages, stories, etc.) available for Children in Worship