The Parish Visitor
First Reformed
Church of Fishkill
February 2010
Dear Friends,
As I write this letter it is a rainy, windy and foggy day
and the temperature is in the mid-50’s. Someone reminded me this morning that
this is known as the January thaw. It seems to happen every year and yet every
year we are surprised! We know the temperatures won’t stay high for very long,
and they have probably plummeted by the time you read this.
But the one thing that will not have disappeared over
night is the devastation caused by the earthquake in
The magnitude of this event is enough to make us
become cynical or hopeless, and turn our eyes and our hearts away. But God
calls us to keep our eyes wide open and our hearts tender. On Wednesday night’s
we are studying, A Hole in our Gospel, by Richard Stern, the president
of World Vision. He quotes a prayer of the founder of World Vision, Bob Pierce:
“Let my
heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”
I believe God’s heart is broken by the devastation and
poverty of
And if our hearts are not broken by the things that
break the heart of God, than maybe we need to pray for a January or February
thaw.
Peace be with you,
FEBRUARY CALENDAR
|
3 |
Bible
Study – 10 am Book
Study – 7:15 pm |
17 |
Bible
Study – 10 am ASH
WEDNESDAY – Service 7:30 pm |
|
4 |
Choir
– 7 pm |
18 |
Choir
– 7 pm |
|
7 |
Sunday
School – 9 am Worship
– 10 am - Communion |
21 |
Sunday
School – 9 am Worship-
10 am |
|
10 |
Bible
Study – 10 am Book
Study – 7:15 pm |
23 |
Lenten
Luncheon – noon – 1 pm* |
|
11 |
Choir
– 7 pm |
24 |
Bible
Study- 10 am Women
to Hedgewood – 1:30 pm* Book
Study – 7:15 pm |
|
14 |
Sunday
School – 9 am Worship
– 10 am |
25 |
Choir
– 7 pm |
|
16 |
Consistory
– 7:15 pm |
28 |
Sunday
School – 9 am Worship
– 10 am |
*see
this Parish Visitor for information
LENTEN LUNCHEON SERIES
There will be a Lenten Luncheon series entitled Holy Friendship on Tuesdays, Feb. 23rd
through Mar. 23rd from noon to 1:00 in the Du Bois House parlor. Bring your
lunch. Coffee, tea, and dessert will be provided.
A sign up sheet will be outside of Fellowship Hall. We
hope to see all of you there.
The Women of the Church will be going to sing with the residents of Hedgewood Adult Home
in Beacon on Wednesday, February 24 at 2 PM. If you would like
to carpool, we will meet in the DuBois House at 1:30. We will be bringing
cookies to serve to the residents. If you are not able to join us but would
like to contribute cookies, you may leave them in the Secretary's office before
1:30.
COFFEE HOUR
I have taken on the enviable and much sought after
position of coffee hour coordinator (seriously, no one else wanted it). And seriously too, coffee hour provides an
important setting where members and visitors can spend time in fellowship, and
discuss a variety of concerns as well (
it’s not just coffee cake!). We
therefore thank everyone for their anticipated support and team-work in
continuing to offer this program.
In
reviewing last year’s lists, I found that most members were scheduled just
twice in the year. We expect it to be about the same this year; (a few of us will have to take three turns,
as some members have been removed from the list due mainly to health issues).
If you
are unable to be present for your scheduled Sunday, please switch with someone
else. If there are other concerns, please see me or call me at 831-5694.
Thanks
to all.
Karen Twohig
FEBRUARY MARCH
7 Scout Sunday 7 Kayson, Rodriguez, Skorewicz
14 Michaelis, Flayter,
Baron 14
Fellin, Crawford, Dachenhausen/Totino
21 Alexander, Perry,
Tucholski, Judlowski 21
Rush, Doerr, D. Hansen
28 Campbell, Hughes,
Rygiel 28 Van
Nostrand, Jones, Wynn
APRIL
4 (Easter) Sanders, Rudberg, Nolting, Minot
11 Harty, Houston,
Lanni
18 Twohig, Lane,
Carruthers
25 Vasquez, Teske,
McGann
To all our friends at First Reformed we
send our warmest wishes for a joyful Christmas and God’s blessings always!
The
Adirondack Kacurs
Dec. 29, 2009
I would like to thank all
the people of my church who have done so much for me this year. Jan and Maryann for our prayer times
together; the Women of the Church for the lovely Christmas care package and all
the flowers, cards and visits; the Christmas carolers who came out in the cold
rain to sing for me; Mary Lou who came over and helped me and took boxes of
books and lots of other things to the October sale at church; Barbara Van
Voorhis for bringing me goodies and taking me for rides. Barbara Moseman for all the good soup she
brings me.
God
bless you all!
Love,
Laura
“Dell” Buck
January
2010
Pastor Gloria and Congregation,
My mother, Gloria Hetzel, would like to thank you for her
Christmas blessings, presents and visit. We the family would also like to thank
you for the uplift in my mom’s spirit when you visit.
May God continue to bless all of you and may you have a
blessed and healthy New Year.
Gloria
Hetzel and family.
More…
Dear Friends,
Praise be to God!
I had my last, #12, chemo
treatment on Nov. 30. About a
week later, I had a full body CT scan to determine the effect of the chemo on
the cancer. The CT scan showed no trace
of the cancer anywhere! Praise be to
God!
However, the CT scan did show that I have a blood clot in my right
leg for which I am being treated with Coumadin.
I am currently going through blood tests with dosage changes to
determine the appropriate level of Coumadin for me.
Throughout my six months of treatments, the Congregation of First
Reformed Church have been wonderful! They have provided constant and overwhelming
support for Jean and me through calls, prayers, cards, offers of help,
provision of transportation, provision of meals, personal visits, delivery of
flowers, as well as tapes of worship services.
Jean and I are most appreciative of this support and extend our
most sincere thanks to everyone.
Once six months of chemo has left my system, I hope to feel well
enough to attend church.
Thank you all once again!
Yours
in Christ,
Jean
and Bud Corwin
Dear Church Family,
Thank you for the cards, carolers, flowers, and Women of the Church bag
of goodies, and all the hugs.
With
love and appreciation,
Mary
Magee
We would like to thank everyone
for all they did for us after Dons' recent injury: The women of the church
who provided the turkey dinner, the great "goody bag ", the carolers,
Pastor Gloria & everyone who called, sent cards, emailed or visited. We
are truly blessed to have such a great church family.
Don & Judie Van Nostrand
Notes from
January
Ü Elder
Ü
Ü Treasurer’s Operating Report for December
shows revenues totaling
$30, 555.01 and expenses totaling $29,321.45.
Ü Food Pantry requests for the
month of December were 158, for a total of 7,095 meals.
Ü Stewardship Committee
reported that the total amount of money pledged for 2010 is $201,304.00.
Ü Ash Wednesday is February 17th
and a Luncheon series will be held on Tuesdays beginning February 23rd.
Ü The Vision Team met with the
consistory to answer questions and discuss their report. The consistory will
continue this conversation at their retreat on February 20th.
Ü The cost of paint and window
dressings in Fellowship Hall has been paid for with a designated gift and the
memorial funds.
Ü Next regular
The Christmas special offering totaled $3396. This money has been sent to FINCA Village
Banking, which provides micro loans to small businesses run by very poor
families. Village Banking empowers them
to create their own jobs, raise their incomes, build assets and increase their
families’ well-being.
Croatia
Update
Croatian
re-entry met with refreshed minds
By Nancy Titus
Even after only
two and a half weeks back in our field of service, I can say that the
months-long home assignment in the US was successful in one of its key
functions: giving us the chance to look at our adopted culture with fresh minds
and renewed spirits.
When
we first came to Croatia, we were full of excitement and yet a bit apprehensive
over the unknown of forging a life in a place where we didn’t speak the
language, didn’t know the way things were done, and weren’t sure how we would
be received by others. Now, we return to familiar routines of daily life that
differ from our US routines but are no longer foreign to us. Our fresh eyes
help us to see what progress that in itself is.
For
example, when we first came in 2006, laundry was one of the biggest hassles for
me. I was at a loss to know how to take care of this practical need for my
family of five when each load, already less than half the size of a US load,
took an incredible two and a half hours to wash! It literally took me months to
get over the shock of that reality. Then I was left with the dilemma on cold
and wet days of how to get it all dry before the necessary next load came out.
Three years of coping with that situation has made me less bothered by it. My
time in the US made me oh so appreciative of the ease of doing laundry whenever
it was convenient for me, but coming back to the way it is done here has not
been a shock or the cause of consternation – even when we realized on our first
attempt that we needed a new machine. (In fact, we knew our old one was on its
last leg when we left in July, so we were prepared for that probability.
Thankfully, the new one has a variety of cycles, including one that takes only
37 minutes!)
In
addition, we return to relationships we have made here that have depth and
meaning. It is good to have friends, both nationals and fellow Americans,
welcome us back. For missionaries who can easily fall into the trap of
sometimes believing that our presence doesn’t matter, that can be a deep
encouragement.
Already
in our short time back, Eric has preached twice and I have had one English
class at the seminary in addition to meetings with individual students and
faculty. Eric has also renewed with gusto his research on his dissertation. (To
date, we have received eight of the nine boxes of books we mailed. Thanks for
your prayers for them, which we are sure helped to smooth the meeting at
customs which we had last Friday. We trust that last box will come in shortly.
It contains some homeschool books as well as an important piece of Eric’s
personal research notes.)
The
children also are making the adjustment back to Croatian life. The home school
is up and running, and they have all had time with Croatian friends. Samuel,
especially, has received approving remarks on his Croatian language skills, as
his increasing maturity and confidence in his abilities help him to overcome a
natural shyness so that he can interact in both English and Croatian more easily
with those around him.
As we
begin anew our ministry here, we are deliberately trying to hold off the many
tasks that come rushing toward us as we try to strike the right balance between
work and family. This is one of our biggest challenges, as the workload is
great and the needs never end. Your prayers that we would be wise in how we
negotiate this constant dilemma are so important and a daily strength to us. On
my end, I have emphasized my homeschool over seminary work for now as the
children and I get into a routine. As I go, I am easing back into teaching at
the seminary in preparation for the coming second semester.
We
thank you, our partners, for your feeding of our spirits while we were
Stateside, and for your prayers for our transition back to Croatia. You are
such a blessing to us, and we pray for God’s continued blessing on your lives
as well.
Eric and Nancy Titus are RCA missionaries in Osijek, Croatia, where they
work at the Evangelical Theological Seminary and with the Reformed Christian
Church in Croatia. They have three children: Samuel, 15, Valerie, 12, and
Penny, 10.
First
Reformed Church of Fishkill
1153
Main Street
Fishkill,
NY 12524