First Presbyterian Church 418 West Coolidge Borger, TX 79007 ~March 2018~ First Presbyterian Church 418 W. Coolidge ~ Borger, TX. 79007-4818 Phone: (806)-274-5331 Email: firstpresborger@att.net Secretary- Silvia Rivera Pastor: Rev. Janell Blair Pianist: Marilyn Pearce Hosanna! that is, LORD, save us! (Psalm 118:25, NIV). We need your salvation not only from sin but from fear, hatred, despair, worries, apathy, fatigue. Through worship, may we sense your saving power.
FOR HEAVEN S SAKE First Presbyterian Church Newsletter March Borger, Texas 2018 What can I say that I have not said before? So I ll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is the face of patience. Inside the river there is an unfinishable story and you are somewhere in it and it will never end until all ends. Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce but take it also to the forest. The song you heard singing in the leaf when you were a child is singing still. I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four, and the leaf is singing still. ~ What Can I Say from Swan by Mary Oliver ~ March has come around again. We have all lived Marches many times before. No doubt March 2018 will be windy and dusty. Perhaps it may also be wet? Between the fluctuations of thermometer, trees will bud and flowers will bloom. We will pray that our blossoms will not suffer a hard freeze. March has come around again, and we will continue our Lenten journey together. We will journey through the stories of Christ s ministry and trials. Our spirits will travel with him into times of prayer and long hours of caring for others and, ultimately, on March 30 th, to the foot of the cross. We have all lived this Lenten season many times before, but never with exactly the same wounds and strengths, hopes and fears as this year. Poet Mary Oliver urges us to listen to the leaf singing still. In the same way, we faithfully travel with Jesus again this Lent,
perhaps covering the same territory in scripture as all the years past, but experiencing it anew. That old, old story of Jesus and his love sings to us of its ancient truths, but it will come to us in ways that will meet us wherever we are this year, this month. And so we will listen to Lent. Come to worship if you can during the last weeks of Lent. If you cannot come to worship with us, then read the scriptures (listed in this newsletter) along with us. Hear anew God s Word of this journey of faith. Come to our ecumenical Lenten Lunches with our Methodist neighbors (listed on the calendar). Watch for more information about our Holy Week seder meal. God is at work, in each of us, in all of us. Let us prepare our lives for all that God is doing now. Thanking God for each of you, Janell STATED SESSION MEETING FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MILLER ROOM, BORGER, TEXAS January 14, 2018 A quorum was established and the meeting was called to order at 11:47 a.m. by Rev. Beverly Cook, Moderator. Elders present: Margaret Edgington, Sue Hooten, Don Thompson. Also present: Rev. Beverly Cook (Moderator), Treasurer, Pam Nicholas. Julia Kasch. (Clerk of Session) Previous Worship service served as Devotional Clerk Report: Minutes from previous Session meetings were accepted. (Motion: Sue Hooten, second: Margaret Edgington) passed Treasurer Report: The Financial Report was accepted by acclamation. Margaret Edgington made a motion to allow treasurer to move Sue Sharpe money as needed to cover expenses, Second: Sue Hooten, passed. April Davis of Helping Hand gave a presentation of services offered to their clients. Pastor Report: No Pastor s report due to Pastor attending Presbytery meeting.
Committee Reports: Worship Session discussed having a Brown Bag every week during Lent. No additional action. Presbytery Meeting at St. Luke s on January 26 & 27, 2018. Property Security cameras cleaned, one camera will need replacing. Administration: Session members attending Amarillo Area Foundation s Annual Meeting, Elders: Don Thompson and Margaret Edgington. Christian Education: Old Business: Evacuation plans in progress, an exit route will be posted in Sanctuary and nursery. New Business: Next Session Meeting will be held February 18, 2018. Adjourned at 12:40 p.m. with prayer. Submitted: Julia A. Kasch, Clerk of Session Special dates World Day of Prayer, March 2, 2018 Third Sunday in Lent, March 4, 2018 Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 11, 2018 Daylight-Saving Time begins, March 11, 2018 Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 18, 2018 First day of spring, March 20, 2018 Palm/Passion Sunday, March 25, 2018 Holy Week, March 25-31, 2018 Maundy Thursday, March 29, 2018 Good Friday, March 30, 2018
March 3 Sandy White 26 Pat Hester Anniversaries No Anniversaries this month God s mysterious ways God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. These oft-quoted words, from a hymn by English poet William Cowper, come with an unsubstantiated yet powerful back story. Cowper, who struggled with depression, decided to commit suicide one night. He called a cab to go to the Thames River, planning to drown himself. Such dense fog arose that the driver got lost and finally stopped to let his passenger out. To Cowper s surprise, he was at his own door! He concluded that God had sent the fog to spare his life. The hymn he wrote in response continues: Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
Day by day Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close. Then let every one of these short lives leave its sure record of some kindly thing done for others, some goodly strength or knowledge gained for yourself. John Ruskin Wind of God Tiny breeze or mighty wind, swirling round as God commands. Hats go flying. Branches bend. Little seeds spread through the lands. God Almighty makes the wind; great big gusts can shape the sands. Awesome is the power of God, when even wind obeys his plans. MaryAnn Sundby Set free Christ s death becomes the rod, the cudgel that breaks the necks of the fears that are the enemies of my peace; his Word becomes the staff by which he holds on to me and rescues me from danger. Sinclair B. Ferguson, Deserted By God?
The Treasurer reported the following figures for January, 2018: Total Income $ 10,070.75 Total Expenses $ 10,153.71 Total $ (82.96) Year to Date Total Income $ 10,070.75 Total Expenses $ 10,153.71 Total $ (82.96) Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire. St. Catherine of Siena DUTY ELDER FOR MARCH Care of Members and Friends Malnor Arthur Teddy Buckland Phyllis Harmony First Presbyterian Church of Dumas, our prayer partner. MARGARET EDGINGTON MARCH 4 TH AND 25 TH DON THOMPSON MARCH 11 TH AND 18 TH SESSION MEETING April 22, 2018
Session Connection: Julia Kasch Sue Hooten Don Thompson Margaret Edgington Clerk Of Session/Administration/Christian Ed. Fellowship Property Worship HI-PLAINS HELPING HAND DONATION: First Presbyterian Church has increased its financial donation to the agency and will no longer gather food or hygiene products. Lenten Luncheon and Evening Dates: Tuesdays 3/6 Noon Lenten Lunch @ Wesley Methodist 3/13 Noon Lenten Lunch @ 1 st Methodist 3/20 Noon Lenten Lunch @ St. Andrews March 26-27 6:30pm Living Last Supper @ 1 st Methodist Thursday, March 29 6:30pm Seder Meal @ 1 st Presbyterian
Third Sunday in Lent March 4 Exodus 20:1 17 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 1:18 25 John 2:13 22 Fourth Sunday in Lent March 11 Numbers 21:4 9 Psalm 107:1 3, 17 22 Ephesians 2:1 10 John 3:14 21 Fifth Sunday in Lent March 18 Jeremiah 31:31 34 Psalm 51:1 12 or Psalm 119:9 16 Hebrews 5:5 10 John 12:20 33 March Revised Common Lectionary for Sundays and Festivals Year B Passion/Palm Sunday March 25 Liturgy of the Palms Mark 11:1 11 or John 12:12 16 Psalm 118:1 2, 19 29 Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 3 Liturgy of the Passion Isaiah 50:4 9a Psalm 31:9 16 Philippians 2:5 11 Mark 14:1 15:47 or Mark 15:1-39 (40 47) Monday of Holy Week Monday, March 26 Isaiah 42:1 9 Psalm 36:5 11 Hebrews 9:11 15 John 12:1 11 Tuesday of Holy Week Tuesday, March 27 Isaiah 49:1 7 Psalm 71:1 14 1 Corinthians 1:18 31 John 12:20 36
Wednesday of Holy Week March 28 Isaiah 50:4 9a Psalm 70:1 5 Hebrews 12:1 3 John 13:21 32 Maundy Thursday March 29 Exodus 12:1 4 (5 10) 11 14 Psalm 116:1 2, 12 19 1 Corinthians 11:23 26 John 13:1 17, 31b 35 Good Friday March 30 Isaiah 52:13 53:12 Psalm 22:1 31 Hebrews 10:16 25 or Hebrews 4:14 16, 5:7 9 John 18:1 19:42 Easter Vigil March 31 Genesis 1:1 2:4a Psalm 136:1 9, 23 26 Genesis 7:1 5, 11 18; 8:6 18; 9:8 13 Psalm 46:1 11 Genesis 22:1 18 Psalm 16:1 11 Exodus 14:10 31; 15:20 21 Exodus 15:1b 13, 17 18 Isaiah 55:1 11 Isaiah 12:2 6 Proverbs 8:1 8, 19 21; 9:4b 6 Psalm 19:1 14 Ezekiel 36:24 28 Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 4 Psalm 42:1 11 and Psalm 43:1 5 Ezekiel 37:1 14 Psalm 143:1 12 Zephaniah 3:14 20 Psalm 98:1 9 Romans 6:3 11 Psalm 114:1 8 Mark 16:1 8 Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)2
+Christian Symbol+ Torch The torch primarily represents the Passion of Christ, perhaps because he was arrested and tried during the night, when the Temple guard would have used torches for light. The torch also can symbolize spiritual enlightenment, or martyrdom for the sake of the gospel. Making the common sacred First Corinthians 10:31 (ESV) reminds us, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Author E.M. Bounds describes this mind-set as a spirit of devotion that puts God in all things not merely in our praying and churchgoing. He writes: The spirit of devotion makes the common things of earth sacred and the little things great. With this spirit of devotion, we go to business on Monday directed by the very same influence, and inspired by the same influences, by which we went to church on Sunday. The spirit of devotion makes a Sabbath out of Saturday and transforms the shop and the office into a temple of God. Hell's lament Today Hades tearfully sighs: Would that I had not received him who was born of Mary, for he came to me and destroyed my power; he broke my bronze gates and, being God, delivered the souls I had been holding captive. Today Hades groans: My power has vanished. I received one who died as mortals die, but I could not hold him: with him and through him, I lost those over which I had ruled. I had held control over the dead since the world began, and lo, he raises them all up with him! O Lord, glory to your cross and to your holy resurrection! from a Holy Saturday liturgy in Byzantine Daily Worship