THE PRESBYTERIAN

 

The Presbyterian Church of Garden City Newsletter 275-9141 February 28, 2007

 

Mission Statement

       As faithful members of the Presbyterian Church of Garden City, Kansas, we accept God’s call to be involved in the ministry of God’s church. Our mission is a twofold responsibility; to nurture and support our local church; and to follow Christ’s call to serve in the world, thereby proclaiming the Gospel to all.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

Sermons Ala Carte

Come join us for the community

Lenten services Thursdays.

Sermons begin at 12:00 pm

Lunch follows at 12:30 pm.

Cost of lunch $4.00

This week’s guest minister will be

Tony Striffler

from St James Lutheran Church. 

 

 

Emmaus House

    Emmaus House is needing help with

filling the Easter holiday baskets. They

anticipate handing out 200 baskets. 

The Menu for the Easter baskets is:

                                                           Ham/Chicken    Fruit     Corn     Beans

                                                               Potatoes     Eggs     Jell-o  Soup

                                                           Mac & Cheese     Cake Mixes     Bread

                                                                        Sliced/Diced Pineapples

Easter Baskets will be handed out on

Thursday, April 5  9:30 - 11:00 am

 and again from 1:00 - 6:00 pm.

 

 

Maundy Thursday

 Elders of the Class of 2009 will be

assisting with Communion

Thursday, April 5

Worship begins at 7:00 pm.

 

Good Friday Service

The plan for is for our Chancel Choir to share the ’Lenten Canticles’ 

Easter Cantata with St. James Lutheran Choir

at St. James Lutheran Church located at 1608 Belmont.

The service will begin at 7:00 pm.

Please show your support by attending.

 

Easter Sunrise Service

    Sunday, April 8th we will be

leaving the church at 6:30 am and

caravanning to Robert and Rosemary York’s farm. (if weather permits)

 

                                April 7th, 10:00 am Egg hunt and “What’s Easter really about?” activities,

                                            for kids age 2 - Grade 4. We would also like to encourage our kids to invite

their friends to come as well.

Mary will need donations of wrapped candy to fill the eggs.

 

 

Pastor’s Prose

     I have always suspected that when I get off on my personal tangents you all just shake your heads and say ‘here he goes again, swatting at butterflies.’ Well it’s true, here I go again and I just say suffer with me this one more time.

     I was leading worship at Freda Greathouse’s memorial service, and I invited the congregation to celebrate with me. We were being encouraged to celebrate Freda’s life and resurrection. As I said that I looked at the congregation and it was like deer staring into headlights of our cars. They couldn’t understand. What in the world was this guy thinking, how do you celebrate at a funeral?

        They couldn’t believe that I said what I said. This attitude goes way back to my first funeral ever. It was in Salina, Kansas. I wasn’t even a pastor then, I had been serving as a lay preacher for about seven years.  And my very best friend had asked me on his death bed if I would lead his funeral. I had agreed and he had said that he hoped his funeral could be a celebration. We had his service and it was a celebration. The people at that service all agreed. What’s more I even felt that we had celebrated. To this day I think of him once a day. We had a wonderful relationship. So the proof of the pudding is that one really can celebrate.

        I believe as a whole that most people can indeed celebrate at a funeral. And if the memories are happy and joyous I believe we can celebrate a life. The truth however is that our mourning goes on and we get mixed messages from our head and our heart. The assurance however of redemption and eternal life is such a bold message that it truly can and does make our hearts sing. My memory of Bob is such a happy experience.

        But today as I sat in Dr. Fry’s office awaiting my last eye exam prior to my cataract surgery tomorrow, I was struck by the fact that on Monday of next week I am to have an angiogram in Dodge City. While there isn’t much risk in an angiogram, there is some.  So my humanity was beginning to leak out a little bit. So I am aware that something could go wrong. When you are messing around with the circulatory system of the body its possible to break loose a large blood clot. So there is some risk. Am I frightened? No. Am I anxious? Yes I am a little. However, being afraid or anxious in the face of death does not mean that we don’t believe, it does mean that we are human. I am a little shaky on the notion that I might throw my hands out and say, ‘hey death here I am.’ And it surely doesn’t mean that I am a little slow on the uptake of having the notion of the resurrection and eternal life being a part of my faith.

        The reassuring thing about all this is, is that we are Presbyterians and we don’t take death lightly. We don’t take Christ’s death lightly and we don’t take our own death lightly. It is truly an important issue. It’s so important that once each year we take a seven week peek at death. We call this peek Lent. It’s this time in Lent that will enable us to truly celebrate. We are celebrating the resurrection (raising from the dead) and going to heaven (ascending). If that can’t make you a little happy I guarantee  nothing will make you happy.

                                                                                                    ~ ~ ~ Dave ~ ~ ~

 

 

 

One

great hour

of sharing

 

‘Who is my neighbor?’

 

     In this season of Lent, we focus on what it means to live in righteousness. We can also focus on how we translate righteous living into acts of caring with our neighbors - near and far. By giving to the One Great Hour of Sharing we extend our reach to those whom we would never meet on our own.

                        From Jesus’ perspective, they are neighbors just the same.

 

      One Great Hour of Sharing divides the gifts into three programs - Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) receives 36%; Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) receives 32%; and Self-Development of People (SDOP) receives 32%.

 

     The Presbyterian Hunger Program, one of the recipient programs of the One Great Hour of Sharing, partners with others to improve the plight of children who labor long hours as child laborers and for those crushed by poverty and hunger in the United States and overseas. PHP transforms the gifts contributed to the One Great Hour of Sharing and funds projects that change lives and whole communities. It’s amazing what your gifts can do!

 

     How can we reach those who are really hurting in this world? Through the

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program you touch the lives of those whose lives have been turned upside down with tragedy. Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing brings Christ’s love to the darkest corners of the world at their greatest time of need and brings healing and wholeness to people of all walks of life. In places like Pakistan or Indonesia, Christ is exalted when we reach out in his name through PDA to victims of disaster regardless of their own faith tradition.

 

     Through gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing, new life is offered to individuals and communities through partnerships established with Self-Development of People. This work also touches the cynical corners of our own hearts that fail to trust in the transformative power of God’s love. Your gift enables the ministries of One Great Hour of Sharing to bring healing and wholeness to all God’s children

 

Jail Ministry Book Drive

   Clyde Jackson, the instigator and director of Garden City’s jail ministry, showed up at the office Tuesday with a banner for us to see and respond to. It reads. “Sowing Seeds of Hope, Jail Ministry Book Drive”. This banner has been on display at Garden Valley Church for five (5) weeks and they collected a little over 200 books. This is a book drive to gather up Christian books, preferably paper-backs (but they will

reluctantly take hard cover), for use in our jail. These men and women need to be reading. Right now all they have to do is watch television or play cards. Those that have them can read their Bibles, so Bibles are a good choice. This display will be in the atrium for the next five (5) Sundays. Thank you in advance for your support.

 

Have you signed up for 

Table of 8 dinners?

Lay Ministry is again organizing

Table of 8 dinners.

Participants will be divided into groups. Members will take turns hosting the group

and providing the main course, others will bring side dishes. It is

suggested each group have at least four dinners during the year.

 

Get acquainted with our

fantastic youth! 

You are invited by our Youth Group Sponsors to be part of a Wednesday evening program. 

We have a really  great group of youth and this would

be a way for our church family to get better  acquainted.

Contact any of the sponsors.

Don’t wait for them call you!

 

KUTLESS with Special Guests Stellar Kart

Monday, April 9 7:00 pm

Clifford Hope Auditorium.

 

Do you enjoy Christian Rock?

Several members of our Youth Group are looking to attend this concert.

Advance tickets are only $13.00 if we have a group of 10 or more,

so far we have 7 interested.

If you would like to join in for this evening of entertainment

please contact Mary.

 

                        Youth Mission News

                  Our youth, 5th grade through 12th , will be going to the San Luis Valley in Colorado to                                                              

                                                                                                work with the LaPuente Home Repair Service, May 27- June 2.   

                        To see where they are going visit:                                                                                     www.lapuente.net/homerepair.htm.

 

 

 

                        Hungry for good food after church? 

Have a yard full of limbs and tumbleweeds?

-The freewill offering for a Salad Buffet after worship on April 1st will support  

  the Youth Mission Trip.

-Our youth will accept donations for cleaning up your yard, or even taking your

  Christmas lights down!  If our youth could help you, please contact Mary.

 

To answer a good question:  Yes, we have funds in our Youth Mission account, and

we will use it to supplement what the youth raise in their efforts this spring. Working together on projects like the salad buffet and cleaning yards is not just fund-raising, but it’s also a team-building activity.

 

Thank You to those who have supported our Youth Missions Fund by purchasing

Dillon’s certificates and Wal-Mart gifts cards. (FYI, Wal-Mart is no longer doing this fund-raiser.)

 

Adult Opportunities –

Four Accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection, April 15, 22, and 29

The account of Jesus’ burial and resurrection is found in all four Gospels and

mentioned by Paul.  While all accounts affirm his resurrection they differ to various degrees.  What do Christians believe about these differences, and what do we mean when we affirm that Jesus was raised from the dead?

 

Dates to put on your calendar:

April 7th, Egg hunt and “What’s Easter really about?” activities

 

Vacation Bible School –  June 11 – 15

            We are looking for co-directors, and leaders of all kinds for this fun week!

 

 

Westminster Woods

2007 Camp Dates

 {Dates are for year completed}  

Grades 3 & 4 May 29 - June 1

Grades 5 & 6 June 4 - 8 (#1), June 11 - 15 (#2) 

Grades 7 & 8 June 18 - 22 

High School  June 24 - 29

High School retreat  August 3 - 5

 

 

 

Kathy Freer, RN, MSN - Parish Nurse at First Presbyterian Church

The parish nurse concept has a long tradition of health and healing. Documentation

appears in early recorded history in both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. The first record of the concept appears in the book of Romans 16:1-2 and the story of Phoebe. The Apostle Paul admonishes the Romans to welcome Phoebe, "a servant of the church and to assist her in her business of aid, help and rescue to its parishioners."

The need for a parish nurse program today is the result of many forces of change active in the health care system. Health care delivery is fragmented and dependent on the

client's ability to navigate the system. Health promotion and support of mind and spirit are often pushed aside as traditional health care providers are challenged to keep up with paperwork, expectations of HMOs and other governing bodies. Our vision is that the parish nurse will work collaboratively with the current system and resources, with an emphasis on spirituality and compassion.

The role of a parish nurse is defined in the acronym C.A.R.E.S.: C = a Consultant,

A = an Advocate, R = a Resource, E = an Educator, and S = a Support.

Below is a general guideline as to when to call the parish nurse:

When someone you know has been diagnosed with a serious illness and you have 

     questions and need support.

     When you need help accessing insurance, home healthcare or hospice.

     When you need a compassionate listener during a life transition.

     When you need help communicating with your physician or other healthcare

     professionals.

     When you’re exploring nursing home or other congregate living arrangements.

     When you’re caring for a loved one at home and need support.

     When you’re facing surgery or have started a new medication.

     When you’re dealing with anxiety, stress or depression.

     When you’re caring for a new baby and have no family locally to call on for support.

     When illness/lifestyle choices have you trying a new diet, and you need information/

     support.

When you’re sorting through treatment or end-of-life options for yourself or a family member.

 

Nonetheless...

    The parish nurse does not have all of the answers. 

    The parish nurse cannot always help everyone who asks.

    The parish nurse cannot be on call 24 hours a day.

    The parish nurse cannot be accountable to everyone.

    The parish nurse is not a pseudo minister.

    The parish nurse does not do invasive procedures.

 

Brenda Watson - Parish Nurse

 

 

Pray healing for  Dave Sweley, Anna McVey, Yvonne Allman, Pat LeClerc,

Susan Brookover, Bob Whippo, Dale Meadors, Marge Williams, Linda Friesner, Ruth Powell, Caroline Sundquist, Jim Hamlett,  John Lechliter, Nancy Stegman, Eden Raine, Belinda Fouse, Chris Inderlied.

 

(Please call the church with your personal prayer request).  God Bless All Of You.

 

 

The following families have recently lost loved ones.

Please pray for the family of Freda Greathouse, Carty York on the death of her father, Les DePew on the death of Helen.

 

 This week’s prayer families are Robert and Anne Jones.

 

Please pray for the First Presbyterian Church in Lakin, KS.

 

WORSHIP ASSISTANTS FOR SUNDAY 

March 18, 2007

Greeters - Ruth Richards and Carol Hodgkinson

Lay Leader -  Kathryn Ochampaugh

Ushers -  The Sterling family

Fellowship - Marilyn Peterson-Rundell

 

                       Birthdays

      Judy Ackley                         3/19

      Linda Mueller                      3/19

      Carolyn Ochampaugh        3/20

      Jeff Sanders                         3/21

      Kathryn Ochampaugh       3/22

      Sean Sweley                        3/22

      Amy McVey                        3/23

      Molly Meschke                    3/23

      Blanche Larson                   3/27

      Kendall Golay                      3/28

      Lauren Jones                     3/28

      Chelsea York                       3/28

      Howard ‘Dude’ Summers  3/29

 

 

This Week’s Activities

Sunday, March 18

Bell Choir @ 8:30 am, Sunday school @ 9:30 am, Worship @ 10:45 am

Monday, March 19

COMMITTEE MINUTES DUE

Tuesday, March 20

Celebration Team @ 7:00 pm

Wednesday, March 21

BBBS @ noon, Choir @ 7:30 pm

Thursday, March 22

Sermons A La Carte @ noon, Ladies Bible Study @ 7:00 pm

Friday March 23 - Saturday, March 24

Sleep ‘Less’ in Sterling

Sunday, March 25

Bell Choir @ 8:30 am, Sunday school @ 9:30 am, Worship @ 10:45 am  

Monday, March 26

Session @ 7:00 pm

Tuesday, March 27

Celebration Team @ 7:00 pm

Wednesday, March 28

BBBS @ noon, Celebrate Kids! @ 5:00 pm, Youth Groups @ 6:00, Choir @ 7:30 pm

Thursday, March 29

Sermons A La Carte @ noon, Ladies Bible Study @ 7:00 pm