JACKSBORO PARISH NEWS April 2016 Newsletter SERMON SCHEDULE: April 3: 1st Sunday of Eastertide: Acts of Easter: Practicing Faith April 10: 2nd Sunday of Eastertide: Acts of Easter: Practicing Compassion (special guest preacher: Rev. Caroline Hamilton Arnold) April 17: 3rd Sunday of Eastertide: Acts of Easter: Practicing Resurrection (special celebration of Baptisms & Confirmations) April 24: 4th Sunday of Eastertide: Acts of Easter: Practicing Community In this issue: 8 ATE Nursing Home Ministry Guest Speaker: Rev. Caroline Hamilton Ladies Ministry Fish Fry Student Ministry A Special Thank You MDO News A Note From Rev. Dr. Suzanne Castle March Attendance March 6th 42 March 13th 40 March 20th 44 March 27th 65 March Giving & Expenses Giving - $ 23,665.07 Expenses -$34,670.42 CONTACT US Give us a call for information about our Worship Service. Jacksboro Parish 115 N. Knox St. P.O. Box 716 Jacksboro, TX 76458 (940) 567-3735 jackparish@att.net Visit us on the web at www.jacksboroparish.com First Presbyterian Church & Memorial Christian Church A combined ministry for over 40 years.
APRIL 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 MDO 6 7 8 9 Xtreme Youth MDO Xtreme Whirlwind Cluster in @ 6pm Parish Fellowship Hall @ 11am 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Week of Compassion / Youth @ Baptism One Great Hour of 6pm Lock In: 16th & Sharing 17th 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Parish Council 12:15pm Baptism Food Pantry 2:30-6:30 Session Mtg. Youth @ 6pm Newsletter Articles Due Confirmation @4pm Soul Support @ noon Mission & Stewarship Graceists @ @5pm 7pm 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Parish Fish Fry 5:30pm Youth @6pm Men s Jacksboro ISD Schools are closed Breakfast @7am
8 ATE Submitted by: Roxanna Maddox To say that the March 8-Ate was a SUCCESS would be an understatement indeed. A very heartfelt thank you to Tom and Pat Loftin, Lanna Moxley and Liz Spears, as well as Craig and Karen Atkins who were all gracious enough to open their lovely homes and serve as host/hostess for our very first 8-Ate dinner. All who participated had a delightful time of fellowshipping and becoming truly engaged with their fellow Parish members. The Nurture Committee has announced that the next 8-Ate dinner will occur on Sunday, May 1 at 5:30 pm. The Nurture Committee will be structuring this dinner a bit differently to make it even more interesting! All we need from The Parish is your unique and unwavering participation. A sign up list will be distributed during each of the morning worship services in April. Be BOLD, be DARING.. just sign up, and be prepared to be nourished with good food, awesome fellowship and more importantly, a strong and unifying Christian bond with your fellow Parish members. Nursing Home Ministry The Worship Committee of the Parish invites you to participate in our nursing home ministry during the month of April. Each Sunday of the month we will gather at 1:00 at the Jacksboro Healthcare Center, 211 E. Jasper, to provide worship time for the residents. If you have participated before, you know what a blessing it is for them and for us. If you haven t, please consider joining us. You don t have to sing a solo or preach! It is your presence as we sing along with the residents and pray with them that is the statement that we care and that they are important to us. They always give us a warm welcome. You will be blessed! Submitted by: Martha Salmon THANK YOU The Parish Worship Committee says a special thank you to: All those who provided lilies in memory or in honor of friends and loved ones Lanna Moxley who refurbished our cross for our flowering of the cross Grace Peterson of Woodshed Works and her supplier who donated the flowers for the flowering of the cross The children and youth who par cipated in our Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter services.
PARISH FISH FRY SPRING IS ALMOST HERE.. and what better way to celebrate its arrival than with a PARISH FISH FRY! Mark your calendars for Sunday, April 24 at 5:00 PM. Jim and Martha Salmon and John and Anita Hackley will be jointly hosting the fish fry in their back yard(s). Bring your croquet sets, volleyball net, horse shoes and/or bocce balls and join us for a day of Fish, Fellowship and Fun! Fish, fries and hushpuppies will be provided but if you would like to bring coleslaw or a freezer of ice cream and/or cookies, please call Bob Maddox at (940) 507-0068 or Roxanna at (940) 507-0102. Please bring a couple of extra lawn chairs. See you on the 24 th! The Nurture Committee
Rev. Caroline Hamilton will be in the pulpit on April 10th. She is the new Associate Director for Week of Compassion. Caroline s passion is connec ng people with the crea ve, re-crea ve power of the living God through stories and faithful ac on, and she believes a life of faith is about becoming part of God s ongoing work in the world. Inspired by the poet Ranier Maria Rilke s image of wholeness cascading into many shapes, Caroline celebrates the varied shapes held in our selves, our communi es, and God. She holds a Master of Divinity from Claremont School of Theology and a BA from Texas Chris an University, where she studied English, religion, and poli cal science. She and her husband, Jeremy, are in the middle of moving to Ohio. Don t miss this opportunity to connect around ministries of compassion as she shares with us! SOUL SUPPORT is a luncheon-based women s group that will meet in the Fellowship Hall on April 20th at noon. Join in the fellowship and study as Rev. Dr. Suzanne Castle leads us this month! Bring a friend along for this unique gathering of faithful women. If you are planning on attending, please contact the church office. GRACEISTS is a small group of women that meet in homes from time to time. Join us as we celebrate at the MADDOX HOME on April 20th at 7p. Snacks and beverages are provided. This month, we will be focused on the summer coming up and talking about FLIP FLOPS. All are welcome!
STUDENT MINISTRY Submi ed by: Kris ne Tisinger Our twelve tickets to Las Vegas have been booked! Ten youth and two sponsors will spend June 13-18 volunteering in food pantries, women s shelters, clothing distribution lines, and other sites. We ll also have an evening of fun in Vegas. We will start fundraising on April 3rd in both churches to lower the final cost of the trip. The youth are starting a new 5 week series on Superheroes and Villains of the Bible on Wednesday nights. As a tie in, we will go see Batman vs Superman later this month. Details are to follow. This month we have four gracious sponsors who have signed up to provide food for the youth on Wednesday nights. Food will be prepared by Lois Paschal on April 6, Debbie Colbert on April 13, Cindy Hackley on April 20, and Lanna Moxley on April 27. On April 16 the youth from the Parish and FUMC are invited to participate in a lock in at the Parish. We ll start at 4pm with games, food, and movies. Baptism candidates from the Parish will complete their preparation and be baptized the following morning in the worship service. We will not have Sunday school on April 17 so that everyone has time to get ready for church services. Volunteer sponsors are needed, and are welcome to stay the whole night or part of the night. An air mattress is available for a sponsor willing to spend the night with us in the church. We hope you ll join us in this exciting event!
APRIL 2016 NEWSLETTER MDO Xtreme
From Suzanne s Desk Senior Minister He is risen! He is risen indeed! And now the work begins to live life as the Easter People! But sometimes our expectations and routines keep us stuck in places we don t have to be. They keep our head bent downward and our gaze at our feet. Routine can often mean we don t have to pay attention, we can function on automatic pilot. But this year, Mother Nature decided to stir the pot, to waken the earth and all creation with a blast of warmth, color and an invitation to do March differently, after not much of a winter to speak of. Some of us have jumped up and joyfully entered into the moment while others of us lament the loss of the familiar. All too often we think of the new life that Christ gives as being external. We look for the signs of external change like the buds on the trees or the breaking of the ground. But before the external changes can come, we have to be open internally, deep within our heart and soul to the possibility of surprises, to the breaking forth of joy and new life. We have to let God be at work within us even in the dormant season of life. We have to remain confident that when we least expect it...the veil will lift and we will once more be surprised by the joy of creation and of our God. Living a life of faith as Easter people means we live with our eyes wide open, with hope on the brim of everyday and willing to respond to Gods invitation for a different kind of living, ready or not. My favorite poet, Ann Weems, died a few weeks ago. She was deeply connected to my work, and I am forever in her creative debt for her inspiration and her support of my creative endeavors. She penned a poem Easter Morning. EASTER MORNING From: Kneeling in Jerusalem, By Ann Weems The stirring wildness of God Calls brittle bones to leaping And stone hearts to soaring. Old women dance among the stars. Keeping in mind the Eastertide season, the wild and star-flinging God, we will be focusing on several passages from Acts in which the early Christian community formed itself as the Resurrection People. We will not bask in complacency, but instead find joy, hope and meaning as we join in the community of Christians around the world shouting: HE IS RISEN! I hope you will find time to join us as we, too, live out the Easter message in April.