We gave: DEATH, ASH WEDNESDAY, AND LENT S QUEST

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1 Vol. III, No. 13 (February 2018) DEATH, ASH WEDNESDAY, AND LENT S QUEST Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, comes early this year: Feb. 14. In our 6:30 p.m. service you ll be invited to come forward to receive ashes in cross-mark on your forehead. And perhaps you ll tremble a bit as you hear again the solemn words of the LORD to fallen Adam: You are dust, and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:19). Most modern Americans don t like to be reminded of death. In fact, our multibillion-dollar cosmetics industry for men as well as women and our sometimes desperate, expensive attempts sometime to combat aging can be ways of denying that which is inevitable for all of us. Sadly, even Christian services honoring the dead, as practiced in this 21 st century, often seem efforts to disguise human mortality. At every Christian funeral, says PC(USA) minister Thomas G. Long, professor of preaching at Emory University s Candler School of Theology, are two preachers. One is Death, who loves to preach. His sermon is always the same: Damn all of you!.... I have claimed another victim. Look at the corpse. Look at the open grave.... I always win! (from Long s Accompanying Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral, written with mortician Thomas Lynch, p. 188, Westminster John Knox Press, 2009). But, Long continues, always a second preacher holds forth at a truly Christian funeral. He/she is all of us our combined forces and voices: singers, instrumentalists, conductors, composers, clergy and the congregation including the bereaved. Thanking God for the life of the deceased, lamentation with the family and close friends, hearing promises of Scripture, praying, singing, observing traditional interment ceremonies all are our collective sermon proclaiming the glorious news that In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died! (I Corinthians 15:20). During Lent especially it s so helpful to us to follow Jesus path as he faces his own death! Come not only to the Ash Wednesday service but, weekly, Feb. 21 through March 21, also to 6 p.m. Lenten suppers each Wednesday in the fellowship hall, followed by informal study/discussions of the conflict and Passion narratives of Luke s Gospel, chapters 9-23, led by pastors Diarmuid O Hara, Bill Westmoreland, and me. Our text will be The Journey to Jerusalem: A Story of Jesus Last Days, by John Pritchard. The book includes daily readings for you as well as thoughtful questions, poems, and stories. You may own and use a copy yourself for just $10 in cash or in check to New Hope Presbyterian Church. Our Lenten journey with Jesus will end with the special, solemn services of Holy Week, but climax on glad Easter Day, our joyous proclamation to this world of death that Christ has forever conquered the grave and its terrors! --Dwyn M. Mounger, Interim Pastor In the Church Triumphant: BARBARA JEAN PRATT (January 1, 2018) WILLIAM E. (EDDIE) CARNEY (December 30, 2017) His memorial service will be at New Hope Church February 4, 2018, at 3:00 p.m., with interment at East Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery, Knoxville, at 2:00 p.m., February 5. We gave: $ to MagiMeals, equally divided between New Hope s Clothes Closet Ministry, FISH Pantry, & Presbytery Hunger Ministries; and $102 to Christmas Joy [for retired servants of the church and their survivors plus the many racialethnic schools and colleges of the PC(USA)].

2 FEB. 4, IS SOUPER BOWL OF CARING SUNDAY. Right after 10:45 a.m. worship we ll enjoy a delicious soup lunch in the fellowship hall. Freewill donations of money will go to the FISH Pantry Ministry. Please, too, this year bring a can of soup for FISH. According to New Hope s major FISH representative and leader Judy Smith, soup is greatly needed by this fine organization, committed to feeding the hungry and needy of Knoxville. The Presbytery of East Tennessee meets Saturday, nd Feb. 10, at 2. Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga. Join our Session s Commissioner (voting delegate) Jim Burkins, Lucille Sweet (alternate), and Dr. Mounger. Your only expense will be lunch. See one of them. Watch your teaching and ruling elders seek God s will for the Body of Christ! LUNCH BUNCH, open to all members and friends of New Hope Church, will meet Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 11:15 a.m. (to beat the crowd), O Charley s Restaurant, 117 Cedar Lane. Come for good food, and to get to know better your brother and sister members and friends of New Hope. See or call coordinator Joan Funkhouser ( ), so she ll know how many reservations to make and what size table(s). Need a ride? Contact Joan or Lucille Sweet ( ). YOU are needed Saturday evening, Feb. 10, to help serve dinner to homeless families at the Family Promise shelter, First Presbyterian Church, 630 State St., in downtown Knoxville. Please see or phone immediately Judy Smith (865) or (865) (cell) for details. The mission of nationwide Family Promise is to help homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence through a community-based response. New Hope congregation has been greatly involved in past years with Family Promise. However, the shelter at First Church has just reopened after about 36 months when the buildings there were undergoing extensive renovations. MANY THANKS TO THESE VOLUNTEER ADULTS, and one mature teen, who are staffing every Sunday, during 10:45 a.m. worship, the church nurseries in teams of two each time: Jim Burkins, Pam Burkins, Bob Coffield, Debbie Coffield, Jeni Hicks, Donna Pingle, Jayde Miller-Rogers, Vi Miller, Kay Mounger, Lucille Sweet, June Wariner, and Connie Carter (substitute if a volunteer is suddenly ill). Infants and small children are most welcome each LORD s Day! WORKERS COMPLETE GREAT NEW SHED FOR NEW HOPE S CLOTHES CLOSET MINISTRY Up to 150 men, women, children, and infants who need clothing come each month, usually on the fourth Saturday, to our church buildings to pick out donated clothing. Volunteer members and friends of New Hope work most Wednesdays to sort, divide, and hang the garments. And, on distribution days, they welcome them all in the name of Christ. This vital ministry, which will be seven years old in May, boldly came forward after the disastrous Smoky Mountain wildfire of November, 2016! Until now Clothes Closet clients had to line up in rain, snow, and blazing summer s sun. But thanks to the generous donations of Bob and Nita Jones and Van Badgett, a mud-proof slab and an all-weather shelter (at left, nearing completion) will protect them! If you ve never witnessed your congregation s Clothes Closet Ministry in action, come at 9 a.m. next distribution day, which is February 24. Even better, arrive earlier and help our volunteers set up the tables where clients can pick out clothes of lesser value and also small household items. Still better, bring a soccer ball to play with the waiting children and youths. Guard them on the church playground. And greet all the clients, God s precious family, with the assurance of Christ himself, If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you...? (Matthew 6:30).

3 Scores of Knoxville Presbyterians of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, including UKirk students from the University of Tennessee, turned out amid arctic-like temperatures to march in the city s annual Martin Luther King, Jr.Birthday Parade January 15. Above, a view of part of the crowd of hikers on the two-mile journey. A poem for Lent: Meditation As I walk down life s ever changing path And ponder over death s eternity, And ask if God s love might be turned to wrath, Provoked by man s unfounded enmity; And as I think of God s great love for man, So great He d sacrifice His only Son; And wonder if He d do it all again, Despite Man s sins against the Holy One; Katina Sharp, above, will be ordained and installed as Pastor of our sister north Knoxville congregation Powell Presbyterian Church in an inspiring service on Sunday, February 18, at 3 p.m. If you have never witnessed in person the ordination of a PC(USA) minister, by all means, try to attend. The address is 2910 West Emory Rd. Dr. Mounger is a member of the special commission of the Presbytery of East Tennessee that will ordain and install her. Do remember Katina in your prayers and wish her God s continued blessings on her ministry. By church law the Presbytery commission for this purpose is made up of both ruling elders and pastors, who will ordain her with the apostolic ceremony of the laying on of hands with prayer (I Timothy 4:14). And as I wonder how He can forgive The many times His Man has done Him ill, And try to comprehend why we still live And how our God can want and love us still; I realize he taught true charity And promises eternal life to me. --by Kathy McGibbeny Houston, in Anthology: Poems from Memorial Presbyterian Church, St. Augustine, Florida

4 LOOKING AHEAD TO Fri., Mar. 2 World Day of Prayer. 3 rd Sun. in Lent, Mar. 4 Holy Communion, Prodigal Parent (Luke 15:1-24). 4 th Sun. in Lent, Mar. 11 Temptation In High Places & Low (I Corinthians 10:1-13). 5 th Sun. in Lent, Mar. 18 The Peril of Politeness (Ephesians 4:11-16). PALM/PASSION SUN., Mar. 25 (Palm Procession; reading of the Passion narrative of Mark). Church noon dinner, egg hunt for children. MAUNDY THURSDAY, Mar. 29, 6:30 p.m. HOLY COMMUNION & SOL- EMN TENEBRAE (Service of Darkness). GOOD FRIDAY SER- VICE WITH THE SEVEN LAST WORDS (with one or more other congregations; time TBA). Calendar Continued next page è

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6 New Hope Presbyterian Church 1705 Merchant Drive - Knoxville, Tennessee (865) Dwyn M. Mounger, M.Div., Ph.D., Interim Pastor (865) , cell: (904) dwynmounger@gmail.com Sarah Davis, Choir and Music Director Debbie Moore, Organist Jennifer Lane, Administrative Secretary/Treasurer Missy Smith, Custodian/Sexton THE SESSION (Governing Elders): Class of 2017 Class of 2018 Class of 2019 James Burkins Connie Carter Sandy Hodsden Pamela Burkins Cathy Forester Judy Smith Deborah Coffield Lucille Sweet Sessional Responsibilities Moderator Dwyn Mounger Clerk of Session Cathy Forester Building & Grounds Connie Carter Christian Education Debbie Coffield Congregational Care Lucille Sweet Hospitality, Church Life Sandy Hodsden Music/Worship Missions Judy Smith Jim Burkins Stewardship/Personnel Pamela Burkins