The Good News. The Pastor s Pen. Northfield Presbyterian Church March 2019

Transcription

1 The Good News Northfield Presbyterian Church March 2019 The Pastor s Pen I m really looking forward to spring. It is a time of newness, new birth, new creation and it lifts us all up. I am not against winter but by March I ve had enough of snow and cold. But with spring, I never tire of the flowers, the buds, the new leaves and yes, the warm temperature. That is how we live in the Northern Hemisphere, how the seasons progress for us. Then there will be summer and fall, then comes winter again. It s our way of life. But what if we lived in the Southern Hemisphere. The seasons are reversed. Our winter is their summer and vice versa. The reversal would be at first shocking. Ninety degree days at Christmas. How does Santa Claus land his sleigh with his reindeer in Bolivia? Or as an expatriate, how does one fire off rockets in the snow on July 4 th. It is all rather confusing for us to contemplate The Gospels are full of Jesus teaching about an upside down world. He reverses things. Like the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He reverses the culture in all of his Beatitudes in Luke. You know how that goes, the poor shall inherit the earth, the mourning shall laugh and so on. We don t pay a lot of attention to the reversals that Jesus proposes mainly because we tend to be the privileged, those with a good status. What is it that Jesus seems to be proposing in his Good News reversals? It seems that Jesus would call us to a radical love of others. His Good Samaritan story is perhaps a template for us. As we know, the Jews of that time and the Samaritans were not on friendly terms, so for Jesus to use a Samaritan traveler to be the one who gives care to this Jewish victim of a roadside robbery is shocking in itself. That some pious ones pass by without stopping is also a bit shocking to first century Palestine. Is Jesus speaking to us when he talks about the religious types that pass by the victim? In some ways we are complicit with the tragedies that seem to litter our vision. But we do have a history of attending to the least of these. Our community meal is one way we don t ignore the neediness that is in our community. Over the years the anti-trafficking group attended to another need. When Art and Jan left some others in that important group also left. Then we were down to a precious few and the group disbanded. We do continue to support Rahab financially and that is wonderful. Last month a representative from Rahab came and made a presentation to Cheryl Emch, Alan Gruber and myself. From that meeting, we scheduled the Executive Director from Rahab to come to bring a message to us on March 17 th. I am hopeful that after that Sunday presentation a new group of folks will get involved and we can reactivate the Anti-Trafficking group. We can make a difference and that is what Jesus commands us to do with his political shocking statements of reversals. We are called to be radical followers of the one who commands and demands that we love one another. So be sure to come to church on the 17 th to meet Suzanne Lewis-Johnson the executive director of Rahab. She will be at our coffee hour to answer questions. This is another way to have a hands-on mission experience and to model the love that Christ calls each of us to live out. See you in Church, Pastor Wally

2 Easter Flowers Order Form Spring will be here soon and with it the season of rebirth and renewal. Easter is on April 21st and it is time for the Deacons to place our holiday order for Flowers. The Easter Lilies and other varieties of flowers listed below are available for purchase. The cost is $9.00 for a 6 ½ foil wrapped pot. All orders must be received in the church office by Sunday April 7. The order will be placed with the greenhouse the following day to assure pricing and delivery dates. Please indicate your choice of flower, circle color preference where necessary, and mark the number of plants desired. Checks should be made payable to Northfield Presbyterian Church and marked for Easter Flowers. Cash payments should be placed in an envelope and also marked Easter Flowers. Payment must accompany all orders. Easter Lilies Daffodils Tulips (red, pink, or yellow) Hyacinths (Blue or Pink) Pansy Baskets (Assorted Colors in one basket) Your Name(s) Phone # In Memory of In Honor of Taking flowers home? Yes No Cash ( ) Check ( ) Total $ Flowers marked for take home should be picked up after the 10:15am service on Easter Sunday. All other flowers will be distributed to those who are ill or shut-in. Please mark your order form appropriately. Anti-Trafficking Update On Sunday March 17 th, Rahab Ministries Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Lewis-Johnson will be speaking to the congregation about the role RAHAB Ministries has in the battle against human trafficking in Akron. It is time for us to renew our affiliation with this mighty group and to refresh our minds with the ground-breaking work that their teams are doing in the community. Please plan to attend and hear the way the Lord is changing lives through this amazing organization. Search Committee Update The search committee has posted a progress chart in the Narthex delineating where they are in the search process. As of this writing, they have written the Ministry Information Form and Session has approved it. It should be going to Presbytery Committee on Ministry soon for approval then posting to the outside. Keep the process in your prayers! On February 17th we had a special service in the style of Taize. The church was darkened and lit only by candlelight. It was a beautiful and serene service.

3 Women s Association to Meet The next meeting of the Women s Association will be on Monday, March 11 at 10 a.m. in the Family Living Area of the church. Kathy Moore will lead the discussion Strength in Weakness based on 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 as we continue our study from the booklet PAUL, His Life and Teachings. All NPC Women are welcome to join us for lively thought provoking discussion and Christian Fellowship. booklets are available for anyone who needs one. Teresa Van Der Meulen Scott Williamson Carol Metz Brandon Van Der Meulen Kirk Louis 4-Mar 5-Mar 12-Mar 12-Mar 27-Mar Thank You! Thanks to all who contributed money toward the College/ Military gift certificate program hosted by the Deacons. We received $ & a gift card in donations. Four college students and one military family received gift cards. Day Care children and families donated 68 children s pajamas to the Emergency Assistance Center in their recent drive. Congratulations to them for a successful mission endeavor. Stewardship Report PANTRY ITEMS CONTINUE TO BE COLLECTED February 2019 Income: $13,369 Expenses: $ 13,444 Year to Date Income: $ 25,959 Expenses: $ 29,174 The Women s Association will continue to collect food items for the Macedonia Emergency Center. They need dry, boxed nonperishable food items such as: Spaghetti noodles and all other types of pasta either in a box or bags as well as rice, instant potatoes, cereal, hamburger or tuna helper, etc. There is a container in the narthex where church families can drop off their donations on Sundays or any other day they are in the building. Thank You!

4 March 2019 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 6:30 pm VBC Choir 3 COMMUNION :30 pm Cub Scouts :30 am Deacons 11 10:00 am Women s Association :30 Cub Scouts 7pm VBC Bible :30 VBC Worship 18 7pm Session :30pm Cub Scouts 7pm VBC Prayer pm VBC Bible :30 pm Community Meal 30

5

6 Northfield Presbyterian Church 7755 S. Boyden Rd. Northfield, OH