The Parish Visitor
First Reformed
January 2010
Dear Friends,
As we throw away the old 2009 calendar and search for the special one we got for Christmas, or pull out the advertisement one from the local store, it always causes me to pause when I look at the new year. 2010.
How can it possible be? Could it really be that long ago that I graduated from high school? We can all rattle off dates of years that were marked by significant events--events that changed our lives, and helped define who we are.
But I also know that sometimes we can get caught in a year. What I mean is that we allow a year and the events of that time to define us. It can be something as crazy as a haircut or as radical as a war. And even though many years have passed and things have definitely changed in our lives, there are parts of our lives that continue to be deeply influenced, for good or not so good, by yesteryears.
It was in 1975 that the veil was pulled back and I suddenly heard and understood the Good News, and with fear and trembling said “yes” to God. And as wonderful and amazing as that year was, God hasn’t allowed me to stay in that year, but has repeatedly called me to say “yes” again and again, as Jesus Christ has opened to me the depth and glory of the Good News and what it means to be his disciple.
As we begin this New Year, I pray that the light of Jesus Christ, that entered the world and embraced our humanity on the first Christmas, may shine in our lives and show us how God has molded us over the years. And then may we boldly pray that the Light of Christ will guide us into the future, so that as Christ’s disciples, we may become all that God has created us to be.
May our New Year be blessed with all things good.
Happy New Year!
JANUARY CALENDAR
|
3 |
Sunday School Worship – 10 am Communion |
20 |
Bible Study – Book Study – |
|
5 |
|
21 |
|
|
6 |
Bible Study – |
24 |
Sunday School – Worship – |
|
7 |
|
27 |
Bible Study – Book Study – |
|
10 |
Sunday School – Worship – Lecture- Soup Supper will follow |
28 |
|
|
13 |
Bible Study – |
31 |
Sunday School – Worship – |
|
14 |
|
|
|
|
17 |
Sunday School – Worship – |
|
|
|
19 |
Consistory – |
|
|
*see this Parish Visitor for information
New Year Book Study
The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, urges readers to ask the question,
What if?
What if all followers of Jesus looked beyond the walls of their churches and worked together in reclaiming the world for Christ’s kingdom?
What if we actually demonstrated God’s love for the world instead of talking about it?
What if we embraced the whole gospel of loving God and loving our neighbors?
Two thousand years ago, twelve people changed the world. Rich Stearns believes it can happen again. “Imagine a world in which 2 billion Christians embrace the whole gospel – each doing a part to complete God’s stunning vision of a reclaimed and redeemed world, the kingdom of God among us. Picture armies of compassion stationed in every corner of our world, doing small things with great love. Can you imagine this different vision for our world?”
Study starts Wednesday, January 20th,
WINTER
WHO? ME?
YES, YOU…YOU
CAN SAVE COFFEE HOUR!
Serving our church as List Maker for Coffee Hour has been a
rewarding experience. I
In January, I will pass on the gauntlet to the next List
Maker. Please seriously consider whether this person will be you.
You’re qualified to volunteer
for this job if you have about one hour a month and can do the
following:
1) Pick 3 names from an established
rotating list, and place those names next to each date in the month.
2) Email the list to
Celeste Rudberg by the monthly deadline for the Parish Visitor
3)
Keep the rotating list organized with the dates when couples or singles
served last.
Any questions: Ronnie Badowski 724-3499
JANUARY FEBRUARY
3 SUPAN, Gorba, Albra 7 SCOUT
SUNDAY
10 BOLGER, Badowski, Diyeso 14 MICHAELIS,
Flayter, Baron
17 DENEU, Hansen, J. & H., Hoffman 21 JODLOWSKI, Alexander, Perry, Wright*
24 LANDANNO, McCoy, Simmons 28
CAMPBELL, Hughes, Rygiel
31 BYERS, Suggitt, Chao *note: there are 4 hosts on the 21st
for the Congregational Meeting
ííí
Lunch N Listen Free Concert Series
Favorites from Yesterday and Today
Golden Age Singers
At
At the corner of Mill and Catharine Streets
Light refreshments at
In Fellowship Hall
For more information call 452-6050
The
Family of
Linda Rush & Jeff Smith
I would like to thank my church family for the prayers, cards and
flowers for my mother following her accident resulting in a broken hip.
After 2 months going between the hospital and rehab centers, she was released.
She is finding it hard to have to rely on a walker and realizing that things
she would automatically do cannot be done. I think that being 94, she is
doing as well as can be. It
Blessings to all in the coming New Year.
Judy Michaelis
Dear
Friends,
My
heart felt thanks for the wonderful Christmas Gifts that you blessed me with on
December 20th. The hankies are lovely and will be used since my
collection is starting to wear thin. The beautiful gold cross and chain is a
reminder of our calling together to be the body of Christ on this wonderful
corner in the village and to the ends of the world. The gift certificate to
Cibo’s Restaurant will be enjoyed in the very near future. (In fact, it may be
gone by the time you read this.)
And
the gift of money will be set aside for a bit as I ponder how God would have me
use this most gracious gift.
Thank
you. My life is indeed richer because of your presence and presents, and my
faith deeper because of your blessings and prayers.
With
love and thankfulness,
The Twelve
Days of Christmas
There is one Christmas Carol that has
always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming
swans, and especially the partridge who won
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics
in
-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming
symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles
Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone
ííí
We will host the Mid-Hudson Classis on January 10th, at 4pm. Dr. Gregg Mast.
President of New Brunswick Seminary will speak on Reformed Worship. A light
soup supper will follow. Please sign up in the
What is My Life
"Everything
got started in him and finds purpose in him,"
Colossians 1:16b
(Msg.)
I
asked the mountain. Then
I asked God who made my
There
was only majestic silence. utterly unique, molecule by molecule.
I
asked the ocean. Next
I studied His Word,
There
was only the roar of waves. watching
Him paint pictures of me,
I
asked the birds, the bees, the trees. on
the paths where I am led.
None
could answer.
I
read volumes, (This poem was
inspired by the first
gaining
incomplete results. Chapter of Rick
Warren’s book, The
I
looked into my secret shelf, Purpose
Driven Life, What on Earth
still
needing guidance. am
I Here For?)
I
asked teachers, preachers, seekers,
receiving
partial answers.
If you are a caregiver or know
someone who is a caregiver, this blog may help encourage them.
Ronnie
http://treadingwater-rb.blogspot.com/
Notes from December
Ü
Deacon
Ü
Ü Treasurers Operating Report for November shows revenues totaling $23,924.96 and expenses totaling $15,027.23.
Ü Food Pantry requests for the month of November were 195, for a total of 9,215 meals.
Ü
The
Ü
Ü $600 from the Thanksgiving Dinner will be put towards the furnace fund.
Ü The annual Congregational Meeting will be held following worship on Feb. 21st.
Ü The consistory retreat will be held either Feb 20th or 27th.
Ü
Pastor Gloria is serving on a Worship Taskforce
for the RCA which meets in
Ü
Next regular
Croatia
Update
Titus family
returns to
By Nancy Titus
Our hearts are full as our family prepares to head
back to Croatia on Jan. 4. We are full of your well wishes and warm embraces,
and truly content in the knowledge that you, our partners, are covering us with
both financial support and prayer so that whatever this new year and new decade
bring to us, we know God is already at work orchestrating everything that
concerns us.
We have been so fortunate to have received warm
hospitality and loving prayers across the country from Rochester, Minn., to
Zellwood, Fla., from Lawton, Okla., to Clifton Park, N.Y. We also were the
grateful recipients – again! – of the many kindnesses of the Pultneyville (New
York) Reformed Church, as we were once again allowed the privilege of living in
her lovely Koinonia House during our stay in the United States. Words cannot
begin to convey our gratitude!
As we have had the honor of sharing with many of you
in person about our work in Croatia, we have been strengthened by your
response. Your questions show genuine interest in our work and also in the
human side of living abroad, as you graciously have asked about our children,
their school situation, our health and other matters that are not strictly
work-related. Your care came through in every encounter, and we are so honored
to be your missionaries.
Though we were not able to visit all of our supporting
churches, we did visit 12 churches, one classis, and two schools as well as our
extended family. That travel included two cross-country drives from New York to
Oklahoma and Texas and back, which works out to about 3,000 miles for each of
those trips in addition to the four airline trips and numerous shorter car
trips.
In and around all that traveling to churches, we spent
some quality time with our parents and siblings and watched as our son, Samuel,
was confirmed at our home church in Fishkill, New York, in December. The
celebration was doubly meaningful because it was held in the midst of people
who have cared for us for more than a decade. It was quite emotional as we
talked with members of the congregation who recalled the precocious
four-year-old Samuel they first met when Eric became their pastor. They talked
of how Samuel had grown over the years, beaming with pride right alongside his
proud parents.
Since so many of you asked, I can assure you that we
were able to do some relaxing during our time in the States. We will always
remember fun times with the five of us at DisneyWorld as well as playing jokes
on my sister in Oklahoma and Samuel’s tall Texas tale of eating two T-bone
steak dinners! (That came about as a result of a familial challenge which he
easily met with the possibly unfair advantage of a teenage hunger. I’d be hard
pressed to say who was the most proud when the story was related to me
afterwards: son, father, or grandfather.) Penny got to sing in the elementary
school musical, and all the kids have enjoyed making new friends and rejoining
old ones at school.
We look forward to our return to Croatia and are
anxious to catch up with colleagues and students at the Evangelical Theological
Seminary and in the Reformed Christian Church in Croatia.
Thank you for your prayers for safe and smooth travel
for this whole venture. We don’t take that lightly as we know the many details
that can go wrong and as we have many more miles to travel in the future.
We also ask for
your prayers as we re-enter Croatian life, from remembering our language skills
to not allowing the many tasks of pressing ministry to overwhelm us. We ask you
to pray that we would have wisdom in the way we approach our work, being
sensitive to the culture while also speaking clearly God’s word. And we
especially ask for prayers for Eric as he works to finish his dissertation and
that his rib that was broken would heal completely.
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
Cancellations: If Sunday morning worship is cancelled, the closing will be posted in 3 locations:
(1)The church phone answering machine greeting – 896-9836
(2) Radio station WHUD – 100.7 FM or www.whud.com
(3) Website - www.cancellations.com