Spring has come. Flowers are blooming. Grass is growing. Babies are being born. We can see an Eagles nest from our back porch and have seen two eaglets that hatched while we were away on vacation. We ll be eagerly watching them grow and one day fly off. One of my favorite hymns is Hymn of Promise. In the bulb there is a flower,. in cocoons, a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free! Many have been asking, What are those things hanging around our sanctuary? Come Easter morning, you ll get your answer! As I write this Pastor s Corner, we re in the midst of Holy Week. Thursday evening (4/2/15) we ll gather at 6:30 for our Maundy Thursday communion service. This service will be in the fellowship hall. Friday (4/3/15) we ll gather for our Good Friday service in the Sanctuary. During this time we ll recall how Simeon helped carry Jesus cross and then how Jesus was crucified for all. Easter morning, we ll have our Easter Sunrise service at 6:45 am at Steve & Susan Woods house and then regular Easter worship service at 10:30 am. Each of these special services helps us realize the great gift given us through Christ s life, death and resurrection. Invite your neighbors and friends to these special services. They may be looking for a special place to celebrate these special times of Jesus life. In my devotions this morning, God s word called to me to set a goal for Eastertide; that time between Easter Sunday and Pentecost. Here is the text I read and what I see as a goal for Eastertide: Text: Philippians 3:1-14 - 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Those are great goals for all of us through Eastertide and through life in general. To know Christ and secondly to know the power of HIS resurrection. Friends it is Christ s resurrection that puts the wind in our sails of life and guides us in our daily living. Through most of April and May, may we seek to experience and put into practice the power of Christ s resurrection. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Christ is alive! Christ is alive, even today! Join me in celebrating and living out Christ s resurrection today and always. Dennis
Session Digest Because of scheduling conflicts, no session meeting was held in March. The next session meeting will be April 16 at 6:30 pm. At worship on Easter Sunday, we will be flowering the cross. Bring real or silk flowers to add to it if you would like to participate. Schedule for Holy Week Maundy Thursday, April 2 Service at 6:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall Good Friday, April 3 Service at Noon Easter Sunday, April 5 Sunrise Service at 6:45 a.m. Steve & Susan Wood s property at 379 Links Lane Worship at 10:30 a.m. Looking for a great Mother s Day gift for the women in your life? A Taste Of Heaven Cookbook! The book contains over 600 recipes submitted by members and friends of the church. Cost of the book is a very reasonable $12.50 each. Also, if you have friends or family out of town, they can be ordered online at http://www.cookbookshoppe.com/ataste-of-heaven-3/. (There is a small shipping fee when ordering online.) 2
Statement does not reflect all of the expenses through the end of March. Benevolence Fund Report: During March we helped 12 families: 6 with utilities, 3 with rent, 1 with transportation and 2 with prescription medicine. We also received several donations to the fund this month! Thank you! If you would like to make a donation to the Benevolent Fund, please do so by marking your check special gift - benevolent fund. Those who receive our assistance greatly appreciate your gifts! 3 Diabetic Focus Group Hello Everyone! Just a little reminder April 6 th is our regular meeting date at 10:00 am at Community Presbyterian Church. Ed Legge has asked Heather Tuck to be our focus speaker and we look forward to hearing good information on caring for our feet and what constitutes good footwear for diabetics. I look forward to seeing all of you at our April meeting if not before! John
Sunday lectionary Readings for April: Maundy Thursday (4/2) - Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Good Friday (4/3) - Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9 and John 18:1-19:42 Easter Sunday (4/5) - Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and John 20:1-18 April 12 - Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133:1-3; 1 John 1:1-2:2 and John 20:19-31 April 19 - Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4:1-8; 1 John 3:1-7 and Luke 24:36b-48 April 26 - Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23:1-6; 1 John 3:16-24 and John 10:11-18 The Bookies Book Club The next meeting of the Bookie Club is scheduled for Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 10:30 AM in the hospitality room at Forsyth Community Presbyterian Church. We will be discussing Still Alice by Lisa Genova. As she turns fifty and begins experiencing odd lapses of memory, Harvard psychology professor Alice Howland gets the life-altering diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Her lecturing and traveling for work, and her relationships with her scientist husband and grown children, morph along with the disease. Bestseller 2007. The May meeting of the Bookie Club is scheduled for Thursday, May 6, 2015. We will be discussing the nonfiction 2012 bestseller, Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. Please join us and bring a friend. 4
Spring is in the air and the early flowers are in full bloom. Lilacs are my favorite flower of the spring. I have loved them since I was a kid. The fragrance of a bunch of lilacs is, in my opinion, heavenly. The most fragrant lilacs I have ever had were actually white lilacs. The bush was given to me by a Parish Nurse in Lost Nation, IA when I completed my internship there. For a long time, it did not bloom, but when it finally did, you sure knew it. Even though it was a small bush, the fragrance overpowered the larger purple one next to it. I really hated to leave it behind when we moved from Pittsburg, but I know that the new owners of our house enjoy it as much as I did. Enjoying fragrance of lilacs is short lived.they are spring flowers and so it is important to savor them while you can. I used to make the most of my lilacs by cutting new bunches of blooms every week or so until they were gone. That gave me time to appreciate what I had for the short time it was available. Life is a lot like that. We have to appreciate what we have for the time that we have it. Speaking of short-term, I will begin a short-term (3 months) call with Southminster Presbyterian Church in Springfield, MO on Easter Sunday. This will be in addition to my call as the Pastoral Presbyter of JCP. During this time, I will not be available for pulpit supply on Sunday mornings. I am already starting to appreciate the discipline of preaching every Sunday because it causes me to think more about the Word of God. I also will appreciate getting to know a lot more people in the church and in the community. I believe it will be a wonderful time for all of us. While I look forward to the change, I continue to be excited about serving JCP. The traveling Presbytery office is really fun. We have come up with a few things to make it more connectional so I encourage you to come and visit when it is in your area. A schedule can be found on our website. Have a wonderful Easter. Susan Rosenbaum 5
April 19, 2015 11:30 a.m. This will be a true potluck, bring whatever you would like to share! The Jelly Bean Meditation Green is for the grass you made. White is for the grace you gave. Yellow is for the sun so bright. Orange is for the edge of night. Red is for the blood you shed. Black is for the sins which fled. Purple for our hours of sorrow. Pink is for our new tomorrow. Amen. An egg full of jelly beans, colorful and sweet, Is a prayer, a promise, a small child s treat. -First Lutheran Church Temple City, CA 6
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BIRTHDAYS 4 Leslie Wyman 6 Dennis Winzenried 7 Margie Berry, Joe Carmack 9 Edd Riley 14 Nancy Czerniak ANNIVERSARIES 3 Jim & Kathy Weeks, 33 years 15 Jim & Nancy Czerniak, 49 years 26 Ron & Joy Frostman, 29 years Thank you so much to those who provided delicious meals, cards, calls, and especially prayers during my illness. February was a blur and things are looking a lot less fuzzy. Our church family is an immeasurable blessing. Delpha and Edd Riley Quote of the month: Life isn t about getting and having, it s about giving and being. Kevin Kruse 8
Ushers/Greeters Charles Baker Pat Knudtson Marilyn Parsons Sue Reis Liturgist Juanita Elders Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Every Sunday: Sunday School 9:00 am Worship 10:30 5 Sunrise Svc 6:45 am 12 13 19 Potluck! 11:30 am 6 Diabetes Focus Group 10:00 am Lectionary Bible Study 3:00 pm Esther Circle 11:00 am Lectionary Bible Study 3:00 pm 20 CHIMES Deadline Lectionary Bible Study 3:00 pm 7 Yoga 9:00 am Vanishing Grace Study 5:30 pm 14 Yoga 9:00 am Exercise Chamber Lunch 11:30 am 21 Yoga 9:00 am 1 Wmn s Breakfast Men s Breakfast Hannah Circle 1:00 pm Choir 7:00 pm 8 Wmn s Breakfast Men s Breakfast Calico Cutups 10:00 am Choir 7:00 pm 15 Wmn s Breakfast Men s Breakfast Choir 7:00 pm 22 Wmn s Breakfast Men s Breakfast 2 The Bookies 10:30 am Bar Assoc 11:30 am Maundy Thursday Service 6:30 pm 9 16 Session Mtg 6:30 pm 23 3 Good Friday Service Noon 4 10 11 17 18 24 25 26 27 Lectionary Bible Study 3:00 pm 28 Yoga 9:00 am Choir 7:00 pm 29 Wmn s Breakfast Men s Breakfast Choir 7:00 pm 9 30 Mentor Celebration Dinner 4:30 pm
COMMUNITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH P.O. Box 486 Forsyth, MO 65653-0486 C O M M U N I T Y P R E S B Y T E R I A N C H U R C H PO Box 486 271 Main Street Forsyth, Missouri 65653 (417) 546-2584 Dennis Winzenried, Pastor Website: www.compresby.org Email: compresby@centurytel.net Community Presbyterian Church Staff Members Pastor...Dennis D. Winzenried Secretary...Denise Carr Choir Director.Arliss Stillings Organist.Linda Stillings Custodian....Paul Weeks Sunday School Sunday Worship Service 9:00 am 10:30 am 10