St. Andrews Herald The Monthly Newsletter of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church february 2015 VOL. 15, Issue 2 Johnathan and Laura Shuey coming Friday, February 13 See article on page 8 SOUP SUPPER & SERVICE February 18 An Agape Supper will be served at 6:00 p.m. in Snyder Hall Following supper we will begin our Lenten journey with a simple service of reflection with the imposition of ashes. If you are planning to attend, please contact the church office so adequate preparations may be made. Phone: 272-9933 or E-mail: [email protected] TICKETS for the LCCM LENTEN BREAKFAST are now available When: Sat., Feb. 28, 2015 Speaker: Rev. Andy Evenson, Pastor, Lebanon Lutheran Cooperative Ministry Time: 8:00 a.m. Music: The Greater Harrisburg Chorus, Sweet Adelines Place: Lebanon Valley Expo Ctr. Cornwall & The Lenten season is right around the corner. This year instead of “giving up” something for Lent, why not commit to something new. The WEBS Group will be beginning a 6 week Lenten Study on Wednesday February 25 at 7:00 pm in the Chapel. The name of the study is yet to be determined. Keep an eye on the Gathering Area and bulletin announcements for more information. All are welcome to join us during the Lenten season as we seek to grow closer to God by studying His word. For more information on the WEBS group, please contact Ken Gries [email protected] or 838-4936. Evergreen Roads. Cost: $10.00/each Obtain tickets by calling LCCM office at 272-4400, ext. 211 or by contacting your church’s delegate.* Deadline for ordering tickets is 2/23/15. A free-will offering will be received to help LCCM continue its Mission. THE HERALD is published eleven times per year at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 600 S. 12th Street, Lebanon, PA 17042 Movin’ On . . . Hello, brothers and sisters of St. Andrews! Time flies when you are having fun, the saying goes. It has been a privilege and a joy to serve as your temporary Commissioned Ruling Elder (Lay Pastor) for the last five months. Some of you have asked me what I am going to do with all my newly found free time. Not to worry; I have lots of deferred maintenance projects at the house that got deferred for an extra five months! I am back on the Carlisle Presbytery substitute preaching list and already have three dates booked, starting with February 8 and 15. I am ringing with the Carillon Bells again and plan to join the ranks of the Downtown Singers. Life is good! Thank you for all your support and encouragement, and your willingness to pitch in where needed. I am confident that you will do the same for Rev. Reilly as she joins us in ministry. I am expecting great things from us. In Christ’s love, Roz Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, By the time you read this, I will be with you. It was a joy to be with you in December, and it was an amazing confirmation of God’s call to have your congregational vote be unanimous! Since that great day in December, I have shared the story of this call with the congregation at Camp Hill, and said good bye to those I have been blessed to walk with over the past seven years. I am eager for this transition to be over, but there is still a great deal to do before I am settled. There is my ongoing move out of Harrisburg, to my sister’s home in Hummelstown for a few weeks, and then into an apartment here in town while I look for a house to make my home. But, even more, the transition becomes a season where I learn about you and about the traditions of St. Andrew’s. A few people have helped me understand that this has been a long transition for you here at St. Andrew’s, and I have heard about your energy and eagerness to move forward. I am so excited to be with you and to join with you in the journey of faith, but I need you to be patient, just a bit longer. Please, be patient with me as I get to know how things work, and more importantly to get to know you. Please tell me your name again, and again. Share with me what is on your heart and what you hope for. Let us gather together, pray together, experience God’s word together and get to know one another. I am grateful to hear of the wonderful leadership you had during this transition with Pastor Jon and most recently with Roz, one of your own who stepped in and served you and Christ so well. I have been personally blessed by the faithfulness and perseverance of the PNC, who searched and waited and prayed and acted. May God continue to bless all of the good work and use it to bless St. Andrew’s in the years ahead. My goals as I begin at St. Andrew’s are first to focus on worship, understanding your traditions and seeking to create a place where all of us can come, connect to God and to one another as we gather around God’s Word, and as we take God’s Word out into the community around us. My second goal is to get to know each one of you. The church is not a place. The church is the people of God, who by God’s grace, become the body of Christ. Each one of you are an important part of this congregation. If you have been at St. Andrew’s all your life or only one day; if you are in worship every week or not quite as much, you are an important part of what God is doing at St. Andrew’s and you are invited to be a significant part of what God will lead us to do together. As we begin to walk together on this journey of faith, know that I am here for you. If you need me, please let me know. Call or email. I am here to be your pastor. I will be here for you to listen, to pray, and to walk with you in the sorrows and the joys of life. My hope and my prayer is for God to gather us together, for Christ to be seen in this place, and for the Spirit to lead us forward that we may live into God’s dreams for the church in this place and in this time. In the joy and the hope of Christ, Rev. Reilly SessIon notes Session held its regular meeting January 6, 2015 at 7:00 PM in the Chapel. The meeting was attended by the regular Session members, newly elected members, Trustee Barry Kohr and pastor-elect Rev, Robin Reilly. It was noted that this is the last meeting for outgoing members Robert Hearson and Joy Eubanks. They were thanked for their years of service to God and the church. The meeting was opened with the lighting of the Christ candle and devotions and prayer by Elder Presby. A Mission giving report was received showing St Andrews was second in giving to General Missions in the Presbytery. The year-end Clerk’s report was received showing St Andrews active membership at the end of 2014 was 324. Presbytery meeting dates were announced for 2015 with the next meeting being February 24th, a special meeting March 3rd to vote on General Assemble overtures and other meetings May 26, September 22, and December 1. Christian Education Committee announced a youth event on January 22, 2015 in the WJTL radio studio in Manheim, which was approved. The new nursery attendant started December 14th. There are now two paid staff persons in the nursery on Sunday morning. The Nominating Committee reported one Trustee position in the 2017 class remains vacant. They hope to find a nominee to bring to the January 25th congregational meeting. There have been 39 members moved from the active to inactive roll. The Membership and Outreach Committee will contact these people to encourage them to return to active membership or to become active in a church where they live. The use of the sanctuary by the Downtown Singers for rehearsal on Tuesday evenings starting January 13, 2015 until mid May and a concert on May 10 or 17, 2015 was approved. The March meeting of Session was moved from March 3rd to the 10th because of a conflict with the special Presbytery meeting. An officers retreat was announced for January 17, 9-12AM and a reminder of the congregational meeting on January 25th after the one 10AM service when new officers will be installed and ordained. TRUSTEE NEWS We would like to welcome to the board: Fred Jones, Bob Capobianco, Bill Hoover, and Karen Fedder. The new president will be Rob Lowrie. Just a reminder...the codes for the back door will be changed by the first of February. Peace...Barry Kohr EPYC Expectations For Christmas and Ray’s Birthday, Ray always gets a lot of Lego sets. Lego is an amazing toy for kids and yes adults. I will admit that I still play with Legos, and Mel has even on occasion bought me Nano Blocks, a smaller challenging version of Lego. As Ray and I began to unpack his Lego kits from Christmas and his birthday and setup to build them. I decided we should also learn a little about Legos, so I pulled up a documentary on Netflix about Lego, hit play, and we began our build. As the documentary was going through how Lego is made and the history, I heard the presenter give a little interesting fact. Six bricks (2x4) can be combined in 915,103,765 different patterns. If I were to sit down and try and combine the bricks in 915,103,765 different ways, I’m not sure that I could. I may come up with a hundred or so, but nearly a billion, probably not. It is amazing to consider the potential of just six bricks! But I had to also ask this, what is the potential of just one, two, three (etc.) people? What kind of potentials do we unlock when we add to those we have fellowship with? With the start of Rev. Reilly, I personally have been asking what kind of potential exists, and I am excited! I look forward to all that I can learn from her as well as the potentials for our youth, church, and community! Students who have interacted with Rev. Reilly are excited as well! This is an excellent time in our church and I am excited for the potential that we have here! Blessings Rob It’s Coming……This Summer!!! Krislund Traveling Day Camp!!! July 20th – 24th K through 8th grade 9am – 4 pm ***** Are you ready for a week of day camp??? At St. Andrews !!! There’s a bonus …. It includes an overnight to Camp Krislund!! PLAN YOUR SUMMER SCHEDULE NOW!! JOIN IN THE FUN!! BRING A FRIEND!! Information and applications are available through the church office or contact Perry Latshaw APPLAUSE...Memorable Music at St. Andrews On Friday, February 13, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., our Applause series brings Johnathan and Laura Shuey. They will perform a program of love songs, secular and sacred, in celebration of Valentine’s Day. "The Shueys" are a husband and wife music duo consisting of Johnathan and Laura Shuey. Both have been involved in music most of their lives. They formed this music duo back in 2001... 14 years and going strong in marriage and music. Johnathan plays and programs the keyboard and they both sing songs from the 20's to the present. They both won the Lebanon Idol contest in Lebanon, PA. Laura won in 2011 and Johnathan won in 2013. They have performed at over 120 gigs across Central PA, including singing the National Anthem for the Reading Phillies. They have worked together as Music Worship Leaders, performed in local community theater, and presented programs at weddings, other social and benefit events, and local churches. Laura has also worked in Gretna Theater and at the Timbers Dinner Theater. Currently, Johnathan is the Contemporary Worship Leader for Zion United Methodist Church in Myerstown. Laura is a second grade teacher in the Cornwall Lebanon School District. They run a recording studio in their home, offering professional music services to the community. There is no charge for the concert, but a free-will offering will be received. A reception will follow the concert. The third concert in the series is on Friday, April 24, at 7:30 pm. Quintessentially Brass, will present a program of brass music, baroque to jazz, sacred to secular. A Presbyterian woman is a dreamer and a worker, dreaming great dreams for her children, her church and her country and she is working to make those dreams come true. She is a link with the past, a powerful force in the present and an investment in the future. We sew, pray, attend Bible Study and support missions. We take time to work together, talk together and build our P. W. Community in love and fellowship. Remember P. W. is for all women of the Church Our heartfelt thanks to Karen Shalters for being such a dedicated and excellent treasurer for Presbyterian Women. “A job well done”. She is stepping aside, and we welcome Sue Mechura as our new treasurer. February 8th will be Church World Service Blanket Sunday. Each $5.00 donation provides a blanket for victims of disasters, disease and poverty throughout the world. Your gift will bring warmth and comfort to many in need. Envelopes will be available in the pew racks and included in a P. W. mailing. Please make all checks payable to St. Andrews Women. They may also be mailed to the church. During March we will be collecting items for the Agape and Domestic Violence shelters. More information next month. In closing, God gave us an abundance of love. The more we give, the more others will know we belong to God. P. W. Planning Team Financial Update as of December 31, 2014 Collections Expenses Actual Budget $358,744.12 $384,834.17 $341,300.00 $425,981.00 2 3 8 10 11 13 15 18 19 Richard Hofman Benta Samuelson Richard Dowd Margery Zakian Barbara Hains Ruth Ann Fenton Jill Kreiser William Orr Nancy Loser Sue Fisch Jesse Salahub 20 21 22 24 26 27 28 Bradley Allen Sarah Hamme Dorothy Bliss Ray Dorsch Samuel Shiner Liz Ehrgood Chuck Mackey Rick Borger Kaitlyn Mulligan Carol Smith-Kilgore Ken Gries A Grief Support Group of St. Andrews Church For everything there is a season... a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3: 1-4 If there is one thing grievers know, it is how changeable our moods can be. One moment we are relatively calm, in control, keeping our grief at bay. The next moment we are overwhelmed, our equilibrium shattered. Anything can set us off – a fragrance, the words of a song, the first sign of spring – and our loved one is not here to share it. Other times we are carefree, relishing the moment, and we then wonder why we are susceptible to such mood swings. We wonder – “When will my moods be more measured so I am not always in danger of being swept away with the feeling of despair?” Those questions and many others are things we talk about when the St. Andrews Grief Support Group meets together. We have discovered that we are not alone with these feelings, that others have exactly the same thoughts and feelings. The sharing of these experiences with other people who are going through the same grieving process, has become a valuable tool for many of the folks who attend our meetings. Through our conversations we realize that these sudden feelings of being overwhelmed are actually very normal among people who are grieving. And these emotions even occur to those of us for whom the grieving has been a continual journey for a number of years. Finding out that others experience the same kind of feelings and emotions can be a comfort to us. For these reasons, I have always found great comfort in the scripture from Ecclesiastes that is quoted above and continues at the end of this article. It lets me know that in time and with God's help, I will be OK and feeling more comfortable with my grief. Anyone is welcome to come to our meetings, regardless of how recent or how long ago the grieving process began. If you know of someone who might benefit from coming to our meetings, please encourage them to come, even if they are not St. Andrews members. A better idea would be to let them know about our group and offer to come with them for the first time. Our meetings are usually held on the 2nd Thursday of each month, at 2:00 PM, in Cassel Chapel, unless we plan something special. The dates for the next few months are: Thursday, February 12; and Thursday, March 12. If you have any questions about our group, please feel free to contact our Advisor, Diane Pomeroy, at 454-0756; Jane Juppenlatz, at 272-0218; Pat Yates, at 273-9297; or the church office, 272-9933. Our lives have been shattered by loss. Of course it will take time for the pieces to come together in any coherent pattern. For some it takes longer than others. But with God's help we all will reach “the time to build up, the time to laugh, and the time to dance”. I will be patient with myself, honoring the seasons of my grieving, trusting I am on my way to being healed. ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED St. Andrews Presbyterian Church 600 South 12th Street, Lebanon, PA 17042 (717) 272-9933 FAX (717) 272-1526 [email protected] Www.StAndrewsLebanon.org Nonprofit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Lebanon, PA 17042 Permit No. 252
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