Messenger. The Falling Waters

Transcription

1 The Falling Waters Messenger Issue Six June 2018 Volume XXXIV Pastoral Punderings No, that isn t a typo. You are definitely reading that title correctly. I like the word punder (or in this case, pundering. The word has its roots in the mind of the pastor of one of the churches where I was a member. During the fellowship hour, one of his parishioners asked his thoughts on an issue and he accidentally replied with, I m going to have to punder (he meant to say ponder ) that and get back to you. The rest, as they say, is history. Personally, I like the word - it s like putting the word ponder and thunder together. And frankly, it sure seems like there s thunder rolling around in my brain when I m pondering something important. So, I bet you re wondering what I m pundering. Well, I ll tell you! The Stated Clerk (the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson II) of our denomination (The Presbyterian Church USA), shared a vision with the commissioners of the 2016 General Assembly. Nelson asked himself, What would happen if Presbyterians from around the world worked together? He also asked himself, What marks our General Assembly gathering as different from other groups who come to a town for a large convention? As he pundered, the two questions merged into a vision of what would become known as the Hands and Feet Initiative. On the denomination s website (PCUSA.org), you ll find the following statement. Hands & Feet is a new initiative to highlight and strengthen local and national efforts by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to facilitate change and communicate God s love. The project builds upon the grassroots, community work congregations, mid councils, and the national office are already doing; and dovetails with the biennial General Assembly gathering. Work already is underway via Hands & Feet and the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy to engage with mission and ministry projects on the ground in St. Louis, Missouri, site of the 223rd General Assembly (2018) scheduled for June 16 23, As many of you know, I ll be attending this year s General Assembly in St. Louis, MO. I m eager to participate with the Hands and Feet initiative. I ve been pundering what it will be like to work alongside folks I don t know, but can claim as a brother or sister in Christ. What will it be like to set aside political, racial, economic differences and focus on helping to paint the walls in a newly built home for a family I ll probably never meet. What will it be like to set aside theological and doctrinal differences that threaten to pull us apart, and instead pull up weeds from a community garden? I imagine the work will be difficult and challenging. I imagine the work will be satisfying beyond my wildest dreams. I punder the difficulties and the challenges just as I punder the joys of being part of the body of Christ, visible in the world, visible on the St. Louis evening news, visible on the pages of local newspapers. I wonder what God can do with us, through us. How might God use us to spread the Good News of Love and Grace to others. St. Louis, a city that is still dealing with the aftermath of what happened in Ferguson, is a city in need. And while it s good news for the downtown economy that the Presbyterians are coming to town, its even better news that the Presbyterians plan to take breaks from the business of governing in order to leave the convention center and be about the business of loving God and neighbor.

2 One article s headline, Dirty Hands, Tired Feet, and Elevated Spirits sums up for me the hope I hold in my heart for my time in St. Louis. I hope to come home with stories to share about how I got my hands dirty, and how my poor feet got so tired. I believe those stories, along with others, will indeed elevate my spirit. I can hardly wait to get home and share the stories with all of you. I pray, as a result of the sharing, you ll join me in pundering how we might, together, continue a ministry of hands and feet here in our own corner of the world. Proverbs 3:27 says, Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it (the Good News Bible). While I m away, I ll send updates about what s happening at the Assembly gathering, and I pray you all will be pundering what good we can do together upon my return. Grace and Peace, Pastor Debra Pray Without Ceasing Bill, Ruth & Billy Berg Gladys Burcker Kenny Cushwa Susie Cushwa Mary Hodges Irvin Horst Ruth Linton Pete & Scott Mekkelson Virginia Snyder Bill Zombro June 3 June 10 June 17 June 24 June Birthdays 1 Pam Arvon 1 Adam Collis 2 Lacy Linton Tory Henry 11 Bill Zombro 16 Deborah Chambers 27 Bob Ruqus 28 Lyn Hansen June Greeters Kate Lewis Brown- Head Elder Kate, Marge and Richard Chamblin Kate, Brenda and Robert Cloud Kate, Becky and Larry Brown Kate, Sharron and Joe Reel Join US! We will celebrate Independence Day with a picnic in the pavilion following worship on July 1st. Please bring a covered dish. Hot dogs, sausages, buns, drinks, ice and tableware will be provided. June 3 June 10 June 17 June 24 Beth Henry, Tiffany Henry Bill and Judith Lawrenson Audrey McDonald, Lyn Hansen Kathy Goodell, JR Sloan

3 Dinner and A Movie Night Please join us on June 17 at 5:00 for dinner at Trula B s at Berkeley Plaza followed by Sahara starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz at 7:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. We will have refreshments and door prizes. Attention Ladies The Ladies of the Church will host coffee hour on Father s Day, June 17. There is a signup sheet posted in Fellowship Hall. Paula s Community Day Our next planning meeting is scheduled for Sunday, June 10, during Coffee Hour; please mark your calendars. Here are some details to date: Saturday, September 22, 2018, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Mark your calendars. *We have sent letters to the local churches again this year asking them to join us. *Flyers and vendor registrations are ready for distribution. Please feel free to get a form and invite anyone you know who may be interested. *We are seeking a face painter, as well as new ideas for game booths for the children. Please see Renee with your suggestions/ideas. *We are also seeking entertainment for the event; please give any information and/or suggestions to Kristi Redding. WE NEED YOUR IDEAS AND IMAGINATION!! Rolling River Rampage Experience the Ride of a Lifetime with God VBS is scheduled for June from 9:00 - noon. Our theme this year is Rolling River Rampage. Rafters discover that life with God is an adventure full of wonder and surprise, and that they can trust God to be with them through anything. The color of the day is: Monday -blue Tuesday - green Wednesday -orange Thursday - purple Friday -yellow The students will get a point each day for their attendance, bringing their Bibles and wearing the color of the day. They are asked to bring canned food for the Kidz Power Pac program and toilet paper to be given to a local charity and a small offering each day which will be sent to our missionary, Nadia. Our goal is to raise $ to help her with her work with preschoolers in the Ukraine. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. To register, call the church office at or see Fawn. VBS is in need of monetary donations for snacks, paper towels, and toilet paper. If you can help with any of these, please see Fawn. Flock Notes Congratulations to Tiffany Henry who won the following awards at the Spring Mills FFA Banquet: Participation Award in Food Science and Chapter FFA Degree. Michael, Katie and Lily Campbell have moved. Their new address is : 93 Grindstone Dr., Hedgesville, WV,

4 Community Day in the Park The Outreach Committee has signed FWPC up to have a booth at the 6 th Annual Community Day in the Park scheduled for Saturday, June 16, 2018, at War Memorial Park from 12:00 to 6:00 pm. This is an excellent opportunity for us to be part of our community, as well as an advertisement for Paula s Community Day at FWPC scheduled for September 23. Community Day in the Park is hosted by Community Combined Ministries (CCM), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which was created in 2007 with a primary focus to serve our area schools with meals for children who would otherwise go without on weekends, during breaks and throughout the summer. CCM currently serves many schools in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties through their meal package program, Kidz Power Pacs (KPP). Members of FWPC routinely help with the monthly packing for this service. All of the KPP recipients and their families are invited to Community Day, as well as the public at large. Approximately 500 people are expected to visit the event, including 300 children, and everything at the event is free, from hot dogs to the Moon Bounce to swimming for the KPP children after 6:00 p.m. We are in need of volunteers to help out at our booth for 1-2 hours during event, handing out bags to the visitors and playing various games with the children, as well as volunteers to bake cookies in advance to give out at this event. One of the big draws to our booth are the cookies we have available. Please check your calendar and let Renee know if you can volunteer for an hour or two (or all afternoon) on Saturday, June 16, or if you can make cookies. We need cookies prepackaged in snack bags of 2-3 cookies, depending on their size. Choir News Gary and I have enjoyed our second full year here at Falling Waters Presbyterian Church. The choir had a very successful Christmas Cantata, and continues to work hard. We have many very dedicated choir members and have thoroughly enjoyed working with them. The choir is in the process of winding down for the summer. We have three more rehearsals, and an end of year picnic for all choir members and their spouses/families. We will reconvene in September and are always looking for new members, so please consider singing in the choir. We are planning to start our new fall season with some sort of a kick-off, so stay tuned! We are also looking for people to sign up for summer music each Sunday in July and August. There will be a sign-up list on the bulletin board starting in June. If you would like to sing, but don't have an accompanist, Gary or I can play for you. Please consider sharing your talents and signing up so that we have special music each Sunday through the summer. Respectfully submitted, Radonna Mullenax Choral Director

5 Picnic In The Pavilion T is the season for family, friends, food and fun, and the FWPC pavilion is the perfect spot to make it happen. The pavilion is a wonderful facility that is available for use by our church family, that being, either members of the church or individuals who attend on a regular basis, and will be in attendance of the event. Summer gatherings for families, an organization you belong to or just a group of friends wanting to gather, are typical summer events. The pavilion is open June through September. A reservation for the pavilion is required, and that can be made by contacting Fawn Fleagle at the church office ( ). Please see any member of the Maintenance committee for a key to allow you to get into the pavilion. The consideration of a donation, for the use, is appreciated to enable the continued maintenance of the pavilion. ENJOY!! Our Graduates Tyler Henry is the 18 years old son of Jason and Beth Henry and brother to Tiffany, Trevor and Tory. He is an active member of Falling Waters Presbyterian Church and has faithfully attended all his life. He served on the maintenance committee helping with snow removal, remodeling bathroom, install outdoor hand rails, helped build the playground, Christmas caroling to shut-ins and ringing bell for Salvation Army He graduated from Spring Mills High School this Spring. He graduated from James Rumsey earning a welding certification. While at Rumsey he earned 5 welding certificates and the AAA award (attendance, achievement, attitude). He is a faithful member of the FFA were he has participated in making/selling apple butter and Ham/Egg/Bacon show. He provided tractor transportation for school dance hay-rides and till/worked up practice fields for sport activities. Organized/participated/provided farm owned animals for Petting zoo for local schools and Church Community day. This past year he received the following FFA awards: 2018 Beef Production Proficiency Award in Entrepreneurship, 2018 Agricultural Mechanics Design & Fabrication Proficiency Award in Placement (the first SMHS student to receive 1 st place in the state- now going on to Nationals), 2018 Chapter Star in Agribusiness Award and Outstanding Achievement as a Member of the Spring Mills FFA Chapter. As an active 4 year 4-H member, he participated in the Berkeley County Youth Fair and provided community serves. He helped decorate/transport the 4-H Christmas float, help to mulch playgrounds at local elementary and intermediate schools. Also provided snow removal for elderly neighbors. He is currently overseeing his dad s business, Panhandle Used Equipment and plans to become more actively involved now that he has graduated. Katie Lynn Fallon-Berrera Campbell graduated on May 12, 2018, from Shippensburg University with a degree in Psychology, after a long and arduous journey transfer of schools, lost credits, changed majors, motherhood and marriage. She has worked long and hard, through discouragement and having to adjust her dreams due to life, but she made it through and her family is so very proud of her. While Katie is currently looking for employment, she plans on obtaining a masters in forensic and legal psychology, working more in criminal behavior and what the connection is between children and their development into adulthood, then hopefully a doctorate in clinical psychology. She is also looking at PTSD and chronic illness therapy. Tyler and Katie will be recognized during worship on June 10. Join us as we celebrate their achievements.

6 Evening Vespers and Picnic at War Memorial Park Sunday, June 24, 2018 Sponsored by Eastern Panhandle Mission Community The evening will begin at 5:30 in the main pavilion at War Memorial Park in Martinsburg, WV with a covered dish picnic. Mountain Chapel will graciously be providing tea, water, chicken, paper products and ice. All are invited and encouraged to bring a favorite casserole, dessert or vegetable dish to share. The worship service will begin at 7:00 pm and will be led by Bunker Hill PCUSA. All are invited to participate in the evening worship service. Folks can participate by passing out bulletins, reading scriptures, singing, call to Worship, taking collection, etc. If interested or you have a different idea, please contact Rev. Ron Potter Pastor at Bunker Hill. His is potterplace@comcast.net Anyone who has a choir, or special music to share, practice time will 6:30. All are invited and welcome. Music is a wonderful ministry! Directions: From Tennessee Avenue turn into the main entrance, the pavilion is on the left across from the snack bar. There is ample parking and after the picnic, it is an easy walk to the seating area for Vespers. Shared Thoughts As June is Bustin' Out All Over, I am grateful for the nice weather and I am sure you are too. Rain is a good thing, but I mean, really?? As some of you may know, I subscribe to several magazines and I always have. I love that glossy mag in my mailbox and I faithfully read each one. They have mostly featured cleaning and reorganization strategies for their Spring issues, but Summer is something different. Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, and even Woman's Day say relax and rest now that summer is here. I don't think so. I feel really energized by the nice weather, my growing garden and the ability to go out with no jacket or umbrella. I did my spring clean and re-org and all of that and now I am ready to go. Since that is all done, what about a little mental shaking out. We have shaken out all of our rugs and cobwebs, so let's think about taking our faith outside for a good cleansing shake in the fresh air? Often, that means it is a good idea to just sit quietly for a bit and rethink some of the things that are not working for us. Perhaps an old quarrel that has festered for too long or a complaint that has not been answered can linger to cause bitterness? Often forgetting to pray can lead to forgetting what we need to pray for. Connecting with other people is good for your health both physical and mental. I often forget that and wait for that phone call or invite rather than making it. Do you? Maybe together as church family and a Christian congregation dedicated to loving Christ Jesus we can look to each other for not only hope and love, but also for ways to show how our love of Christ shows us how to be with each other. When Bill and I first came to Falling Waters, we left a church torn by many external conflicts from gay marriage to budget issues. When I asked a member here what this church was doing about some of those issues, I was met with a blank stare. Oh, he said, we don't worry about those kinds of things here. To each his own opinion. We just try to love Christ and live it out. We knew right then that this was the church we wanted to join and we were right! Judith Lawrenson

7 Suffer the Children In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to his disciples, Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these (Matthew 19:14 - the Good News Bible). I ve spent many hours studying, praying, teaching, and modeling the concept of welcoming children in worship. There are a bounty of books and articles on the subject. That bounty, and my experience as a Christian Educator and Pastor, make it clear to me that it s a topic of great importance to congregations of all shapes and sizes. It is a topic of great importance to me for personal and professional reasons. I ve been a teenager who fidgets during worship. I ve been a parent of children who fidget during worship. And I ve been a member of the church staff seeking to help parents who are sitting with fidgeting children during worship. None of these roles have been without their challenges. However, all of these roles have provided countless joys, too. In her book Parenting in the Pew, Robbie Fox Castleman writes, In many of our modern, sophisticated congregations, children are often viewed as distractions. We tolerate children only to the extent they promise to become "adults" like us. Adult members sometimes complain that they cannot pay attention to the sermon, they cannot listen to the beautiful music, when fidgety children are beside them in the pews. "Send them away," many adults say. Create "Children's Church" so these distracting children can be removed in order that we adults can pay attention. [Professors at Duke University [note], Interestingly, Jesus put a child in the center of his disciples, "in the midst of them," in order to help them pay attention... The child was a last ditch effort by God to help the disciples pay attention to the odd nature of God's kingdom. Few acts of Jesus are more radical, countercultural, than his blessing of children. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989, p. 96) And a little child shall lead (focus?) them! I know children in worship can be distracting. When they re behaving, we want to watch them because they re adorable. When they re misbehaving, we can t help but watch them because...well, I don t know why, but we watch then, too. Here s the thing - I believe that just as children belong at the dinner table, so too do they belong in worship. Why, you may ask. There are several reasons. Children remind us to be joyful in our worship. They remind us that we (parents and the entire congregation) promise in their baptisms to raise them in the faith of our parents and grandparents. And they remind us that worship is work (liturgy means: the work of the people). Our Sunday worship services are designed to help people of all ages, in all stages of life, to draw closer to God. While worship may nourish and strengthen us for the week ahead, that s an added benefit, not its main purpose. The main purpose is to gather together in order to glorify God, to express our gratitude, to confess our shortcomings, and ask for forgiveness and guidance. In other words, worship is all about focusing on, listening to, and praising God. I invite us all to think about the following when we think about welcoming children to worship: Daddy, I d like you to meet my children. Children, I d like you to meet our Father. Castleman embraces this attitude about inviting children to worship. Elsewhere in her book, Castleman reminds us that Sunday morning isn t a success if all we do is manage to keep the children still and quiet. She also reminds us that there s more to worship for children than trying out their new crayons and coloring books. She reminds us that children are in worship for the same reasons as their parents: for the privilege and delight of joining with their church family in worshiping their Creating, Redeeming and Sustaining God. Let the children come! Grace and Peace, Pastor Debra

8 Spirit and Science Albert Einstein suggested that, Science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. If you re someone who has considered how science and religion connects, then you ll want to mark your calendars! Beginning Sunday, June 10, the Sunday School group that meets in Fellowship Hall will begin a six-week course exploring what it means to be a Christian in this time in history when scientific breakthroughs and knowledge have made, and continue to make, great leaps forward. Eleventh century theologian, Anselm is credited with being the first to declare that we humans are created to be creatures who have faith even while we seek understanding (knowledge) to support our faith. Christians have historically sought, through science and other means, to prove God exists and miracles can be understood (known) through scientific reasoning. We definitely have a lot more questions than answers, but we trust the Spirit to bless our time as we explore together. Who s invited? High School youth and all adults are welcome to join this group. You don t have to be a scientist to join this journey. All we ask is your presence, your thoughts and questions, and a Bible (we have plenty of Bibles at the church to use). The discussions will be facilitated by three leaders: Pastor Debra, Elder Steve Tamplin, and young adult FWPC member, JR Sloan. If you have any questions, feel free to be in contact with any of these folks.