HAPPENINGS
First Presbyterian Church, 1601 Main Street, Murray, KY 42071
CHURCH STAFF From the Pastor:
Pastor:
Rev. Dr. Renee
Meyer
270-227-7714
Administrative
Assistant:
Dawn Boyd
Accompanist:
Christy D’Ambrosio
Choir Director:
Chris Mitchell
Clerk of Session:
Carol Allen
Treasurer:
Tim Belcher
Nursery:
Liz Wall
Youth Director:
Brittany Hesson
Custodian:
Monte Fisher
OFFICE HOURS:
Monday—Friday
9:00—12:00
1:00—3:00
Pastors Office Hours
Monday
9 a.m.-Noon
Personal Study
Noon-3:00 p.m.
visitation, office time
Tuesday
9 a.m.-Noon
Personal Study
Noon-3:00 pm visitation,
office time
Wednesday
office 9 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
Thursday
office 9 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Friday
Day Off
If you were able to be in worship on the First Sunday of Lent, then you also
got to experience an “Ash Wednesday” service of sorts. Although not liturgically
correct, I heard lots of comments about how meaningful the ritual was to many
folks. For this I am glad. Usually on Ash Wednesday I talk about the season of
Lent—its historical development, what it means for us today, its misrepresentation
as the season to “give up something” and so on. Since Mother Nature did not allow
us to have our Ash Wednesday on schedule, I am thankful that we were able to
incorporate the imposition of Ashes into the Sunday service.
So what is Lent all about? It is the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Holy
Saturday. In this 40-day calculation, you do not include Sundays because Sundays
are always considered feast days, as they are seen as “mini-Easters.” The forty
days of Lent commemorate Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness in preparation for his
ministry. During that time Jesus fasted and devoted himself—body, soul and mind—
to communing with God. We might imagine his days and nights consisting of prayer,
recitation of Scripture, meditation, and contemplation. He is our model for the
spiritual life and so it is appropriate for us to undertake some of the same spiritual
disciplines. There is a reason we call them “disciplines”—they do not necessarily
come naturally or easily. We sometimes have to really work at them. Including
them in our schedules on a daily basis may also be challenging. Do not scrap the
whole endeavor if you miss a day, or perhaps have to forego your day of fasting,
etc. Just recommit the next day. It is a time of self-examination and reflection.
The practices of course are not ends in themselves, but rather are the means by
which we are transformed more into the likeness of Christ.
According to Wikipedia on Lent: “It was the belief of the early church that
Jesus lay for forty hours in the tomb. This belief led to the practice of fasting for
forty hours preceding the Easter celebration. One of the most important ceremonies
at Easter was the baptism of the initiates on Easter Eve. The fast was initially
undertaken by the catechumens to prepare them for the reception of this
sacrament. Later, the period of fasting from Good Friday until Easter Day was
extended to six days, to correspond with the six weeks of training, necessary to give
the final instruction to those converts who were to be baptized.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent)
I really hope that you will plan to attend the Holy Week Services. Although
it is not set in stone, Pastor Ruth Ragovin has asked if we would like to do a joint
service on Tuesday of that week—a short 30-minute service that is based on the
story of Mary of Bethany and her anointing of Jesus shortly before he entered
Jerusalem. This service will take place at First Christian Church. We will have
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Services at our church. On Good Friday we will
be the host church and Westminster and Mayfield Presbyterian churches will also be
joining us. I really encourage you to include these services in your Lenten discipline
this year. I have been told that extra services like these are not very well attended
by this congregation—I hope we can turn that trend around.
I pray that you have a blessed and spiritually enriched Lenten journey!
Shalom,
Pastor Renee
Page 2
HAPPENINGS
Join us
each Thursday @ noon
for The Lunch Bunch
March 5, 2014
March 12, 2014
March 19, 2014
March 26, 2014
Jasmine
Applebee’s
Backyard Burger
Fazoli’s
New Presbyterian Women’s Circle
New PW Circle will meet March 5th @ 6 p.m. at Debbie
Burgess’s house 1710 Audubon Drive. This circle is for
anyone one who would like to join especially those who
work during the day.
Every Wednesday morning @ 7
a.m.
March 4th-Hih Burger
March 11th- Martha’s
March 18th- Mary’s
March 25th- Rudy’s
Presbyterian Women
PW Brown Bag Lunch: PW will be
meeting March 2nd at 11:30 at FPC
Clerk's Corner
Stated Session Meeting
02/09/2015
Session approved a Good Friday service at FPC with Mayfield
First and Westminster congregations invited; dinner will be
served prior to the service.
Lenten and Easter banners have been ordered for the sanctuary.
Session reviewed the 2014 mission contributions totaling
$20,387 including the Outreach committee budget, individual
donations, Alternative Christmas Gift Market, and Presbyterian
Women contributions.
Our Website is up and going!!
Check it out at
http://fpcmurray.com
New PW Circle will meet March 5th
@ 6 p.m. at Debbie Burgess’s
house. This circle is for anyone
one who would like to join
especially those who work during
the day.
Dorothy McKenzie Circle will
meet on March 9th @ 1 p.m. @ Joan
Adam’s home.
Dorothy Moore Circle will meet on
March 10th in the Session room at
FPC @ 10:30 a.m
Head & Heart
Meets March 19th @ 7:00. Check the
Church website under “Christian
Education” tab then “Classes” tab for
the
current
upcoming
study/
discussion.
Page 3
“KEEPING UP
WITH YOUTH”
Youth group meets at the MOTA
house Sunday afternoons from 4-5:30
p.m.
Youth Sponsorships
Looking for a way to support the
young people at FPC? How about
sponsoring students for the
Montreat Youth Conference or
Alabama
Mission
Trip
this
summer? There are 3 students
going to Montreat and 4 students
going on the mission trip. These
trips are great for students to grow
in their faith journey and give back
to others. The cost per student for
Montreat is $525 and $400 for
New Jersey. Any size sponsorship
is greatly appreciated ($5, $20,
$100,etc). Let's share the gifts that
God has given us so that our young
people may do the same. For
more information about youth
sponsorships, please see Brittany.
HAPPENINGS
Will begin the last week of February. There will be two
classes.
Tuesday, February 24th-March 31st @ 6 p.m.
Thursday, February 26th- April 2nd @ 10:30
If you would like a Lenten study book, the cost is $16.85
the signup sheet is on the podium in the Narthex.
If you wamt tp order it yourself you may get it for a
cheaper price: “24 Hours That Changed the World”
Holy Week
March 29-April 4, 2015
Palm/Passion Sunday, March 29, 2015
Worship Service @ 10:45
Maundy Thursday, March 2, 2015
Service @ 7:00
Good Friday, March 3, 2015
Meal 6:00
Service at FPC @ 7:00
Easter Sunday, March 5, 2015
Worship Service @ 10:45
Page 4
HAPPENINGS
UKIRK Murray State
a Ministry Open to All
Daylight Savings Time Begins
Sunday, March 8th
Pastor’s Discretionay Fund
We have helped in the following ways over
the past two months:
Electric Bill
Rent
Groceries for Family
Electric Bill
Total
$42.97
$59.00
$91.75
$100.00
$293.72
Join other college students for fellowship
on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
See Brittany for more info!!
GROUP EVENT
MARCH 2015
The Group event for March will be dinner at Los
Portales and attending The Diary of Anne Frank at
Playhouse in the Park on Friday, March 27, 2015.
A sign- up sheet will be available in the Narthex
soon. If we have ten or more people sign up in
addition to the season ticket holders, a discount
will be available. We will eat at 5:15 PM with a
7:00 PM show.
Contact Kathie Fleming with
questions. (270/759-1145)
HAPPENINGS
Page 5
Prayer Concerns
“Blessed be God, because God has not rejected my prayer or removed God’s steadfast love from
me.”--Psalm 66:20
Church Members
Mary Lynn Christensen
Kathie Fleming
Jean Lindsey
Sid Martin
Charlie Miller
Bonnie McNeely
Rosemary & Dan Moore
Barbara Simon
Mildred Valentine
Managing Alzheimer’s
Back problems
Spring Creek for rehab in room 209
Recovering from surgery
recovering from surgery to repair broken hip
She has Primary Progressive MS and is learning to cope with double vision
Health issues
Allergic reaction to medications on the road to recovery
At Spring Creek with dementia
Family of Church Members
Smith Broadbent
Anne Adams’ brother-Parkinson’s
Heidi Hedstrom
Gary & Justines Ostlund’s granddaughter, cancerous tumor on pancreas
Caden Hines
Great Grandson of Betty Shepperson, tests show changes in lymphatic system
that may lead to Hodgkins/lymphnoma
Bonnie Owen
Barbara Conley’s cousin, cancer
Pat Pittman
Son of Cheryl and Ralph, on-going recovery from addiction, loss of home
Joyce Tippie
Gary Ostlund’s sister, cancer
Rebecca Webb
Niece of Ralph & Cheryl Pittman, breast cancer & erythema multiforme
Friends of the Church
Virginia Black
Edna Davis
Friend of Betty Shepperson, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
Friend of Pastor Renee, breast cancer, recovering from broken hip surgery
Indulge for Lent?
Rather than sacrificing something for Lent — especially something easy and spiritually insignificant, such as
chocolate — Patty Kirk, in Guideposts magazine, suggests finding new ways to indulge in God’s presence. Surely
one can do this by having extra devotions or attending Lenten worship services. But Kirk offers these ideas:
• Spend time outdoors, sensing God’s magnificence.
• Spend time with others, extending generosity and compassion. Remember Jesus’ promise that when you
care for others, you care for him (Matthew 25:31-46).
• Pray for the “little things,” coming before God in childlike trust and feeling peace.
• Watch attentively for God’s answers to prayer, and receive them as reminders of his presence.
• Turn anxiety into prayer. As you frame concerns as prayers and entrust them to God, you “sacrifice” the
tendency to wallow in worry.
Forgive
yourself
Page 6
If the Lord Jesus Christ has
washed you in his own blood
and forgiven you all your sins,
how dare you refuse to
forgive yourself?
—Francis MacNutt
Special Dates
Second Sunday in Lent
March 1, 2015
World Day of Prayer
March 6, 2015
Third Sunday in Lent
March 8, 2015
Daylight-Saving Time Begins,
March 8, 2015
Girl Scout Sunday
March 8, 2015
Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 15, 2015
Easter is quickly approaching! Our
tradition here at FPC is to offer all
an opportunity to purchase an
Easter lily "in honor of" or "in
memory of" a loved one. The lilies
will brighten our sanctuary on
Palm Sunday and Easter morning
and then you may take yours
home. Look for sign-up sheets in
the narthex. The cost is $7.
HAPPENINGS
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1601 Main Street
Murray, KY 42071
HAPPENINGS
First Day of Spring
March 20, 2015
Gay McKinney
Lee Gore
Jean Lindsey
Maryann Mitchell
Terry Foreman
Wesley Howe
Donna Leigh
Carla Johnson
Dave Howe
Mary Ellen DeBoer
Jerry Stanley
3rd
5th
10th
12th
12th
12th
19th
20th
28th
28th
31st
Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 22, 2015
Palm/Passion Sunday
March 29, 2015
Holy Week
March 29-April 4, 2015
March 19th
Tim & Tonie Belcher