March Pastor s Notes

Transcription

1 March 2017 A Publication of FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 211 S. Avenue G Clifton, Texas phone (254) Church Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Rev. Clint Schofield, Pastor Brenda Robinson, Church Secretary office@fpcclifton.com Pastor s Notes March 2017 Have you ever thought of Lent as a yearly second chance? Each year the Church gives us six weeks to take a long look at our lives to see if our values and priorities are in line with God s desires for us. Since most of us find that we ve wandered from God s path, Lent becomes that second chance, or do-over, to return to God with our whole heart. Perhaps Lent is an invitation to be re-born, if you will. Perhaps it s about following the path of death and resurrection, about participating in Jesus final journey. To be somewhat more concrete, some of us may need to die to specific things in our lives perhaps to behavior that has become destructive or dysfunctional, perhaps to a relationship that has ended or gone bad, perhaps to an unresolved grief or to a stage in life that it is time to leave, perhaps to our own self-preoccupation, or even to a deadness within our lives. It is possible to change all these things so the journey of Lent is about getting a second chance, being born again about dying and rising, about mortality and transformation. On Ash Wednesday, we Christians are traditionally reminded of our own mortality in a very vivid way, as the ashes are marked on our foreheads in the sign of the cross. In the sign of the cross we hear the words spoken over us, Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. This is a reminder not just of our physical mortality, but of the very path of Lent itself. We begin this season of Lent not only reminded of our death but marked for death, and that path of death is about our transformation about second chances. The journey of Lent is about being born again by participating in the death and resurrection of Jesus, about that journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. The journey of Lent with its culmination in Good Friday and Easter is about embarking on the way of Jesus on that path of mortality and transformation that is at the very center of the Christian life. When you think about it, who among us doesn t yearn for this? Who of us doesn t yearn for a fuller connection to life? Who doesn t yearn for an identity that releases us from anxiety and self-preoccupation? To be given a second chance, to be reborn in the spiritual sense, seems to me corresponds to our deepest yearning. This Lent may we experience that internal spiritual transformation which is at the very core of the Christian life. Rejoice friends, our God is all about second chances. For those without hope, for those in despair, The body of Christ, though broken, is there with wine and with water, with bread and with tears; God s love washes over our moments, our years. Terry York,2010 Grace and Peace, Clint

2 MARCH MEETINGS LEADING WORSHIP IN MARCH 01 Morning Bible Study 10:00 am 01 Choir Rehearsal 7:00 pm 02 Johnny s Morning Coffee Klatch 10:00 am 06 Congregational Care Meeting 12:30 pm 07 Weekly Prayer Group 1:00 pm 08 Morning Bible Study 10:00 am 08 Birthday/Anniversary Luncheon at Johnny s 12:00 pm 08 Choir Rehearsal 7:00 pm 09 Johnny s Morning Coffee Klatch 10:00 pm 12 Second Sunday Lunch 13 Presbyterian Women Meeting 12:00 pm 14 Weekly Prayer Group 1:00 pm 15 Morning Bible Study 10:00 am 15 Choir Rehearsal 7:00 pm 16 Johnny s Morning Coffee Klatch 10:00 pm 21 Weekly Prayer Group 1:00 pm 22 Morning Bible Study 10:00 am 22 Choir Rehearsal 7:00 pm 23 Johnny s Morning Coffee Klatch 10:00 pm 26 Goodall Witcher Worship 1:30 pm 26 Youth Group 12:00-2:00 pm 28 Weekly Prayer Group 1:00 pm 28 Session Meeting 5:30 pm 29 Morning Bible Study 10:00 am 29 Choir Rehearsal 7:00 pm 30 Johnny s Morning Coffee Klatch 10:00 pm Scholarship Program The response from the congregation in supporting our College Scholarship Fund is greatly appreciated! Currently we have 8 students receiving scholarships. Your support will make a big difference in the future of these young people. Thank You! MARCH GREETERS 01 Charlie Blue & Wally Penberthy Ash Wednesday 05 Sue & Sherrod Fielden 12 Mullens Family 19 Laura & Driscoll Jenkins 26 Brian & Marcie Gillaspie MARCH LITURGIST 01 Steve Robertson Ash Wednesday 05 Shayne Embry 12 Linda Bracken 19 Punky Penberthy 26 Judy Blue MARCH ELDER OF THE DAY 01 Laura Baughman Ash Wednesday 05 Joe Borden 12 Deb Phinney 19 Carla Sigler 26 Elisabeth Montgomery REMINDER!! Continue saving box tops and soup can labels!! Year to Date Financials thru December Offerings received in December $39,308 Offerings received thru December $194,964 Expenses thru December $193,240 Budgeted exp. through December $188,801 THE FOOD DRIVE BOX WILL BE IN THE NARTHEX Sunday, March 12th Our work day is the 16 th

3 Second Sunday, March 12, Mamma Mia that s a lot of pizza!!! Congregational Care will be serving up pizza and salad for lunch. We ll have all kinds of flavors and toppings to choose from. If you re not a pizza fan, not to worry, we ll have salad available for you. So bring your best pizza eating technique and join your church family for lunch, right after service. Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest! ~ Mark 11:9-10. On The Road To The Cross Experience Easter With Those Who Were There by Rob Burkhart is this year s Lenten Study. Simon the Leper, Malchus, the Centurion at the cross, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Barabbas, Simon of Cyrene, and Mary Magdalene - they witnessed one of the greatest events in human history, and yet their stories are often overlooked. Experience Lent and Easter through the eyes of the everyday people who witnessed the triumphal entry, saw Jesus drag his cross to Calvary, and cried through Christ s last words. Each new perspective opens the door to a fresh consideration of Easter and its impact on their lives and ours. Our study begins the evening of Ash Wednesday at 5:30pm. We will share a simple meal and at 5:45pm we will begin the study concluding at 6:45pm. Please prayerfully consider attending this very meaning filled and insight full study of God s Word. Thank You.

4 Senior version of Jesus Loves Me 92 YEAR OLD PREACHER While watching a little TV on Sunday instead of going to church, I watched a church in Atlanta honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. He was 92 at that time and I wondered why the church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age. After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause quieted down, he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gait to the podium. Without a note or written paper of any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he began to speak... "When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me. The only thing that would comfort was this verse. "Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, We are weak but He is strong... Yes, Jesus loves me... The Bible tells me so." The old pastor stated, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose the children's hymn 'Jesus Loves Me' (for the children of course) during a hymn sing, and it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew it the best."

5 "Here for you now is a Senior version of Jesus Loves Me": JESUS LOVES ME Jesus loves me, this I know, Though my hair is white as snow Though my sight is growing dim, Still He bids me trust in Him. YES, JESUS LOVES ME. YES, JESUS LOVES ME. YES, JESUS LOVES ME, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO. Though my steps are oh, so slow, With my hand in His I'll go On through life, let come what may, He'll be there to lead the way When the nights are dark and long, In my heart He puts a song... Telling me in words so clear, "Have no fear, for I am near." When my work on earth is done, And life's victories have been won. He will take me home above, Then I'll understand His love.. I love Jesus, does He know? Have I ever told Him so? Jesus loves to hear me say, That I love Him every day.

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8 SESSION MEMBERS Class of 2017 Class of 2018 Class of 2019 Joe Borden Driscoll Jenkins Laura Baughman Bryan Davis, Clerk Jim Lemon Brian Haenisch Deb Phinney Carla Sigler Elisabeth Montgomery TREASURER Shayne Embry TRUSTEES PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN Linda Bracken Linda Bracken, Moderator Brian Gillaspie Joy Williamson, Vice-Moderator Steve Robertson Frances Seljos, Secretary-Treasurer Linda Bracken, Historian Ann Wiland, Least Coin Laura Jenkins & Joy Williamson, Coordinators for NH parties Sunday School Bible Study All Ages 9:30 a.m.; Fellowship 10:30 10:50 a.m. Worship 11:00 a.m. Sunday (Communion on 1 st Sunday of month) Presbyterian Women 2 nd Monday of month 12:00 p.m., location announced (Sept.-May) Session Meets 4 th Tuesday of month, 5:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall Adult Choir Practice Wednesday evenings 7:00 p.m. First Presbyterian Church 211 South Avenue G Clifton, Texas 76634