Seeking Wisdom. AUGUST WORSHIP 9:30 am at Marcellus First Presbyterian Church. Inside This Issue

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1 Newsletter of the Marcellus First Presbyterian Church Main & North Streets, Marcellus, NY August 2018 Seeking Wisdom SEEKING WISDOM BIBLE STUDY A Gathering for EVERYONE SEEKING to DEEPEN THEIR RELA- TIONSHIP WITH GOD And DISCOVER MORE About Being a JESUS FOLLOWER September 8, :00-11:30 AM - Fireside Room Led by Dr. Ginny Smith Please join us Saturday, September 8, 2018, for another enthusiastic and enlightening discussion of God s Word and how it applies to and can be lived out in our lives today. Brian D. McLaren's book entitled We Make the Road by Walking is an excellent guide in helping us dig deeper into what can often be unfamiliar territory. On September 8, we will be exploring chapter 12, Stories That Shape Us, exploring Second Kings 2:1-15; Psalm 23; and Acts 1:1-11; and chapter 13, The Great Conversation, exploring Isaiah 1:1-2:5, Romans 5:1-13, and Matthew 9: Here is a teaser that will be a part of our discussion. From Genesis to Job, the Bible is full of conversations like these with differing viewpoints making their case, point and counterpoint, statement and counterstatement. Sadly, throughout history people have often quoted one side or the other to prove that their view alone is biblical. That s why it s important for us to remain humble as we read the Bible, not to seek ammunition for the side of an argument we already stand on, but to seek the wisdom that comes when we listen humbly to all the different voices arising in the biblical library. Our next gathering times include October 13, November 10, and December 8; 2019 January 12, February 9, March 9, April 13, May 11, and June 8. Hope to see you on September 8. PEOPLE OF ALL AGES ARE ENCOURAGED TO COME. AUGUST WORSHIP 9:30 am at Marcellus First Presbyterian Church Inside This Issue Seeking Wisdom 1 Caring Ministry 2 Worship Committee 2 Calendar 3 Christian Education 4-5 Summer Office Hours 8 Falling Upward 6 Food Pantry Hours: Tuesday 11AM-12PM and 6:30PM - 7:30PM August 2018 Page 1

2 Communion To Shut-Ins The Deacons coordinate the offering of the Sacrament of Holy Communion to the homebound on Sundays that we celebrate the Sacrament in worship. If you are homebound and would like to receive Communion, please call the Church Office, , or Deb Swankey, Moderator of the Deacons, at Caring Ministry IN OUR PRAYERS...Lyn Rice...Lou Marble...Jan Linderman...Linda Ball...Roger Hakes...Mike Caster...Julie Becker...Vicky Clark...Tom Brown...Tobey Casler...Kathy Robinson...Hank Bartholomew and family...our Armed forces worldwide...our friends & loved ones in need Russell Gooden 8/01 Herbert Gooden 8/05 Lisa Vaughn 8/10 Faith Seeley 8/13 Tyrone King 8/18 Samantha Gates 8/26 Charlies Smith 8/27 Alan Beyel 8/29 Mary Heil 8/31 CONNECTIONS Connections is published the first of each month by the Marcellus First Presbyterian Church. Deadline for materials is the 23th of the month preceding the month of publication. Submit materials and address changes to Church Office. Marcellus First Presbyterian Church PO Box 147, 1 East Main St. Marcellus, NY Phone: office@marcelluspc.com website: Worship: 9:30 AM Views expressed are those of the authors and not official positions of the Session, unless noted. Food Pantry Hours Tuesdays 11 am - 12 noon & 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm The Deacons Worship Committee Stu & Nancy Holden 8/04 Greg & Debbie Quick 8/11 Jim & Beth Seeley 8/11 Martin & Sue Wegman 8/18 Ed & Gladys Nelson 8/21 Al & Geneva Hayden 8/23 Tim & Deb Swankey 8/26 Karl & Mary Barner 8/28 Patrick & Jane Tobin 8/31 In August, we will be worshiping in the Marcellus First Presbyterian Church building. Many thanks to the Methodists for hosting worship in July. The Worship committee wishes to let folks know we have working hearing devices for folks who need an enhancement that facilitates hearing the service clearly. All one needs to do is ask Larry Marocco for the unit. They are easy to use!!! The only requirement for the user is when they return their unit please do not wrap the cord around the device. Enjoy the rest of your summer! Mary Heil, Worship committee chair August 2018 Page 2

3 August Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat am Zumba 6-8 pm MUMC 6-8 pm MUMC 6-8 pm MUMC 5 Communion Sung Ah Choi 6pm Master s Touch Chorale rehearsal 7pm Mission Interpretation Mtg 6:30pm Falling Upward Ginny Smith 10:45am Samaritan Center Sandwiches 7 pm Fellowship & Outreach Mtg 9 am Zumba 19 Food Pantry Sunday Sung Ah Choi 6:30pm Falling Upward 9 am Zumba Sung Ah Choi 7pm Session Mtg August 2018 Page 3

4 Christian Education Fall Jewelry Sale! Benefitting Children of the Father s House and the MFPC Youth Activity Fund As you probably know, our church sponsors a little girl named Joan in Kampala, Uganda. She lives at Children of the Father s House orphanage and is thriving with roughly 26 other youngsters and their caretakers. CFH is always finding innovative ways to support itself and to connect to the community in which CFH operates. One of their new fundraising initiatives involves working with local craftswomen in Kampala who make beautiful jewelry items. CFH has partnered with these women, contracting with them to produce handmade jewelry creations and establishing a business called Adorn With Love. The sale of these items provides income for these women, helping to break the cycle of poverty, and also supports the cost of care for children at CFH. It is a wonderful partnership and we at MFPC are excited to be a part of it. We have obtained a wide assortment of jewelry items from Adorn With Love and will be offering these items for sale this fall after services in Shinaman Hall. A display will be set up, with prices clearly marked. Your purchases will provide income for these talented craftswomen, support the children at CFH, and provide a small contribution to the youth activity fund for the children at MFPC. In September, look for a display in Shinaman Hall and come prepared to support this special effort whether you find something beautiful for yourself or a gift for someone else as the holidays approach, your purchases will make a real difference! August 2018 Page 4

5 Call for Volunteers!!! It s that time of year again. Fall is around the corner and we are once again looking for volunteers to teach our elementary Sunday school class, and weekly volunteers for the nursery. If you are interested, even if you have never done it before, please let Allison Ray know. The Christian Education Committee is also looking for new members. Our numbers have dwindled considerably in the last year and we would like to invite anyone who is interested to join us to share your ideas and input to enhance our educational programming! A Powerful Week of Service At the end of June, over 300 teens descended on Syracuse to participate in Group s WorkCamp, cosponsored by Onondaga Hill Presbyterian Church. This event was possible thanks to countless hours of work and volunteering by hundreds of local folks and the staff at Group, and provided life changing experiences for both the volunteers and the Syracuse residents for whom the kids spent the week working. Housed at West Genesee High School, the teens and volunteers would start each day with breakfast and morning worship, where they would prepare themselves for the day and connect with their work crews. Then they were off to over 60 work sites throughout the city of Syracuse, where they painted, built fences and decks, did basic home repairs, landscaped, and just about anything else you can think of! The work crews returned to the school in the late afternoon for free time, dinner and evening worship, then devotional time with their home church crews. Abby Ray was fortunate to have been adopted by OHPC for this incredible experience, and had a great week connecting with the adults and teens from that local church. Her work crew consisted of teens from all over the country, brought together in their desire to serve and grow in faith. MFPC was an important player in Work- Camp, collecting items for the campers and residents, and volunteering on closing night to coordinate the refreshments. The final night of WorkCamp included a moving evening worship to which Work- Camp site residents and the general public were invited. It was an incredibly powerful night of first hand accounts about how much this experience means to the teens, the adult volunteers, and the community members who welcome the volunteers into their homes. The connections made are undeniable, and everyone involved is changed for the better through this experience. Abby loved the experience and is looking forward to participating again in the future. August 2018 Page 5

6 MARCELLUS FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH P.O. Box 147 Marcellus, NY Address Service Requested Thru August 12th, the Church Office will be open Monday thru Wednesday, from 8:30am to 3:30pm and closed Tuesdays and Fridays. August 12th-August 31st, the Office will be open Tuesdays thru Friday 8:30am to 1:30pm. The Office will be closed Mondays. Please use P.O. Box 147 when corresponding with the Church FALLING UPWARD A SPIRITUALITY FOR THE TWO HALVES OF LIFE Led by the Rev. Dr. Ginny Smith Tuesday evenings, August 7 and 21 6:30 8:00 PM Fireside Room We have begun our conversations around growing spiritually and deepening our relationships with God using Richard Rohr s book, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life to guide us on our journeys. Even if you have not been able to be with the group up to this point, please plan on being with us when we meet the two Tuesdays in August. The discussions have been enlightening! In my life and ministry, I have discovered, with the help of people like Richard Rohr, that in the first half of life, we are so preoccupied with establishing our identity climbing, achieving, performing, being who and what others want us to be that we lose the person God created us to be in the first place. Then we come to that point in our lives when we begin to realize that these concerns are not serving us as well as we had been led to believe they would, particularly when we are confronted by losses, challenges, mistakes, loss of control, broader horizons, and necessary suffering. We re caught off guard and shocked out of our comfort zones. Unfortunately, we get stuck and don t know how to deal with what is happening in our lives, let alone know how and where God is present in all that is going on. If this rings true for you, or if you re intrigued by what falling upward is all about, please join me at the Church on Tuesday evenings, August 7 and 21, from 6:30 8:00 PM in the Fireside Room. Perhaps you know someone who might also want to be a part of the conversation. Check with them and invite them to come along. And then me at ginnys3444@twcny.rr.com, see me at church, or call me and let me know if you will be coming. My August 2018 Page 6 phone number is in the directory.