The Grapevine. PCOB~Arise and Build To celebrate and serve Jesus Christ

Transcription

1 Pastor s Reflection May 2018 Greetings Church Family, The Grapevine PCOB~Arise and Build To celebrate and serve Jesus Christ The start of Lent probably feels like long ago. We began that journey marked with ashes, reminded of our mortality and our limitations. Hopefully we laid aside some of what weighs us down so that as we moved from the cross into resurrection, we could be more spacious and open to possibility. On May 20 th we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, that glorious final day of the season of resurrection. The apostles were together experiencing bewilderment over how to move forward when the Holy Spirit flows among them and breathes courage into their hearts. Scripture says that those who witnessed this event were "amazed and perplexed." Some were confused, others cynical. Peter reminds the crowds of the words the prophet Joel declared, that all will be called to dreams and visions, all will need to be attentive to signs and wonders. As disciples of Christ we are called to live and respond to the ways God is calling us and to new ways of being with God. Eugene Peterson describes it this way: "What we must never be encouraged to do, although all of us are guilty of it over and over, is to force Scripture to fit our experience. Our experience is too small; it's like trying to put the ocean into a thimble. What we want is to fit into the world revealed by Scripture, to swim in its vast ocean." Scripture challenges our ingrained patterns of belief, our habitual attitudes and behavior. The Spirit descends on those gathered together in a small room and breaks the doors wide open. We are reminded that practicing resurrection is not for ourselves alone, but on behalf of a wider community. Not only for those with whom we attend church services, but beyond to the ones who sit at the furthest margins of our awareness. Pentecost is a story of the courage that comes from breaking established boundaries. God immerses us in the brilliance of fire and the power of wind, calling us to trust in something bigger than we are, to remember that our imagining is always smaller than the divine reality. If when Pentecost arrives you do not find yourself perplexed or amazed, consider releasing the tight grip of your certain thoughts and make space for the Spirit to break those open or apart. Pentecost demands that we listen with a willing heart, and that we open ourselves to ongoing radical transformation. Come, O Holy Spirit, Come! Susan

2 Missions: Margaret Shaw Honduras Mission It has been several years since we held a fund raiser for the Honduras Children s Scholarship Fund. This fund allows students to continue their education beyond elementary school. Educating Presbyterian youth is arguably the most productive of our missions in Honduras. More information is coming but I hope to hold the event on June 10 th and have high hopes for a successful silent auction. SQUIRRELS!!!??? The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will. At the Baptist church the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week. The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist Church. Two weeks later the squirrels were back when the Baptist deacons' wives had their husbands take down the water-slide. But the Catholic church came up with a very creative strategy! They baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter! Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue; they took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven't seen a squirrel since Monday Movie Matinee May 7 12:30 pm - Lite lunch 1:00 pm - movie starts FREE and open to everyone

3 PCOB was the recipient of this Spotlight Certificate at the April luncheon! One member came to me after the luncheon and said; Congratulations! I have been attending these luncheons for 18 years and my business card has never been drawn. We will get a half page ad in the Greater Riverview Chamber of Commerce paper that will recognize PCOB. I will be meeting with the editor of the Chamber paper in a few days and will spotlight the wonderful ministries of this church. Susan

4 Hymns We Sing: David Bombaugh Beethoven first performed his last symphony in Vienna in May 1824, to immediate acclaim, having worked on it for the previous two years. It was the first time a composer used human voices in a symphony. The words sung in that symphony are from Friedrich Schiller s poem, To Joy, a rather lengthy work. Beethoven actually changed some words while maintaining the meter in the portion of Schiller s text that he used. The music, powerful and uplifting, brought great applause, but Beethoven, totally deaf at this age, never heard to exuberant audience response. One musical theme in that great work was edited and arranged for use by church congregations by Edward Hodges, an accomplished English organist. Hodges lowered the key, altered the rhythm slightly, and adjusted chords so congregations could more easily sing the tune, and by the mid 19 th century a number of hymn texts were being sung to his adaptation. None of the early religious texts survived for all seemed unworthy of so great a tune. That is until 1907 when Henry van Dyke wrote the text now known as Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. The Reverend Dr. van Dyke was a Presbyterian pastor who had served both as a minister in New York City and as an English professor at Princeton University. (He also later served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands and Luxemburg, served as a Chaplain [Lt. Colonel] during World War 1, and Served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church). Numerous sources describe the morning in 1907, while at Williams College in the Massachusetts Berkshire mountains where he had been invited to preach when Rev. van Dyke handed a piece of paper with his newly drafted hymn text to the college President saying, Your mountains were my inspiration. It must be sung to Beethoven s Hymn to Joy. The text proved worthy of the tune. It is an elaborate intertwining of visual observations and metaphor; the eternal and the finite; God and creation; the sounds of nature and utterances of our souls; eternal love and mortal strife. This hymn text is certainly worthy of Beethoven s tune; it clearly and succinctly captures the essence of Reformed theology and unapologetically demands our robust proclamation: Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of Glory, Lord of Love. Be a part of the happy chorus in May when we sing this magnificent hymn. We need more photos to update our directory! See Susan or come by the office

5 May 29th through Aug 3rd Weekdays 8:30am to 4pm For Ages 5 to 12 BullseyeLearning.com $95.00 Per Week! + $25.00 One Time To Enroll. This summer, Bullseye Learning will host Camp Exploration & Adventure with every week a new exploration and every day a new adventure. Experience adventures throughout the world and even in outer space with super heroes, spies, detectives, world travel, animals, chemistry, electricity and more creating super heroes that save the cities they built, dusting for fingerprints to catch villains, exploding two-liter bottles like mad scientists and racing across the globe to unwrap real-life mummies. Camp Themes & Dates Super Heroes Week One - May 29th to June 1st. Around The World Olympics Week Two - Jun 4th to Jun 8th. Amazing Animals Week Three - Jun 11th to June 15th. Outer Space Week Four - Jun 18th to June 22nd. Secret Spies Week Five - Jun 25th to June 29th. Week of 4th of July NO CAMP! Mad Science Week Six - July 9th to July 13st. Building The Future Week Seven - July 16th to July 20th. Pioneers and settlers Week Eight - July 23rd to July 27th. Shipwrecked/Pirate Week Nine - July 30th to Aug 3rd.

6 Sunday, May 20, 2018

7 VALUES CLARIFYING WHAT S IMPORTANT FOR US AS A CONGREGATION Our Session attended a retreat in February focused on leading the congregation into the future. Each session member was tasked to do three things with their committees - put together a wall of values of the committee, write a mission statement and write a vision statement. The Session elders are focusing on our values, those behaviors and ideas we value not merely as individuals but in our committees and then as a congregation. Our values state what we do. They reflect our actual behaviors. They identify those traits and qualities we are willing to go to the mat for : the ministries and issues to which we are willing to devote our time, talent, treasure, and testimony. Values say to our friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors: This is what s important to us, this is what we do around here, this is what you ll find here, this is what you can count on from us, this is what makes us different from other congregations. Values touch our hearts and bring out emotion. Keep in mind that there is a difference between values and ideals. Ideals are those values to which we aspire but they likely are not evident in our congregation. Our Values are already in place. Clarifying our values allows us to prioritize and say no to some of the many ideas, desires, and thoughts we comprise as a congregation. The Session will meet to narrow those values down to the four or five values evident in our congregation. Clarifying our values not only leads to better, more focused planning; it is an important part of the foundation that will help us to more easily and accurately identify Why we are who we are. Please keep our Session Elders in your prayers as they engage in this work.

8 Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays Thursdays Monday 7 Tuesday 8 Wednesday 9 Saturday 12 Wednesday 16 Sunday 20 Wednesday 23 Sunday 27 Tuesday 29 Wednesday 30 Thursday 31 Calendar of Events May :30 am Monday for Me AFG 6 pm Boy Scout Night 6:30 pm Today s Serenity AFG 7 pm Sister in Sobriety AA 11 am Seeds of Hope food delivery 8 pm Wednesday night AA 10:30 am Casa de Fuego Prayer 5 pm Seeds of Hope 7 pm Choir 7 pm Overeaters Anonymous 12:30 pm Movie Matinee 10:30 am Women s Bible Study 7 pm Bible Study Women s Day brunch 7 pm Bible Study 10 am CPR Class 12 nn Session Meets 7 pm Bible Study 2 pm Praise at Superior Residence 7:30 am Bullseye Learning Camp - starts continues till August 3 7:30 am Bullseye Camp 7:30 am Bullseye Camp From the Treasurer: David Bombaugh April offering: $15, April expenses: $11, YTD offering: $52, YTD expenses: $44, Thank you for your commitment to PCOB ministries and missions in Please prayerfully consider continuing your support and give generously; the need is always great. Carol Bowles 2 Kent Jr Gain 7 Wendy Dorey 17 Tom Noethiger 20 Janet Ormsby 20 Mary Bryan 21