The Parish Visitor
The First Reformed
May 2008
Dear Friends,
Arbor Day in
My neighbor recently cut down several trees and topped off
some beautiful evergreens for fear that they might break off in a storm and
knock out his cable or power.
As I spoke with him, trying to understand his actions, I was
saddened by his view of nature and his view of neighbors. He seems to see
nature as “messy”, something that needs to be “cleaned up.” And his view of
neighbors is one of suspicion and wariness. He shared some stories of former
neighbors and I bluntly asked him if he thought I was that same type of person.
I’m not sure our conversation will help us be better
neighbors, and I know it won’t bring back those trees, but I do know that it
stirred some things in me. I was challenged to not complain to others unless I
am also willing to speak to the one whose actions I don’t agree with. I also
know that I must back up my words with actions.
I need to work at being a better neighbor – to watch out for
those who share this earth with me and extend common courtesy and kindness. I
need to talk with, (not at) them when their actions offend me and others. I
need to thank them for words and acts that bless me. And I need to do things
that are good for all creation.
And so, for Arbor Day this year, I will plant a tree and
thank God for “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful: The Lord God made them all.”
With hope and prayer,
MAY CALENDAR
|
1 |
Choir - 7 pm |
16 |
Set up for Everything Sale* |
|
3 |
Visitation and Communion Workshop for Elders 9 – 12:30pm* |
17 |
Everything |
|
4 |
Sunday School - 9 am Worship – 10 am Communion Chime Choir 11:30 am |
19-25 |
Calvin’s Cleaners Team 5 |
|
5-11 |
Calvin’s Cleaners Team 3 |
18 |
Sunday School – 9 am Worship – 10 am Chime Choir – 11:30 am |
|
6 |
Bible Study - 7:30 pm Finance Committee – 7 pm |
21 |
Bible Study – 10 am |
|
7 |
Bible Study – 10 am Book Study – 7:15 pm* |
22 |
Choir – 7 pm |
|
8 |
Choir – 7 pm |
23 |
Deadline for June Parish Visitor |
|
11 |
PENTECOST* Sunday School – 9 am Worship – 10 am Mother’s Day Brunch Chime Choir – 11:30 am |
25 |
Sunday School – 9 am Worship – 10 am Chime Choir – 11:30 am |
|
12 - 18 |
Calvin’s Cleaners Team 4 |
26-6/1 |
Calvin’s Cleaners Team 1 |
|
13 |
Consistory – 7:15 pm |
27 |
Bible Study – 7:30 pm |
|
14 |
Bible Study – 10 am Book Study – 7:15 pm |
28 |
Bible Study – 10 am Women of the Church picnic* |
|
15 |
Choir – 7 pm Set Up for Everything |
29 |
Choir – 7 pm |
*see this Parish Visitor for information
CALVIN’S CLEANERS:
Team 1 – Jay Wright
Team 2 – Worship and Music
Team 3 – Tom Schmidt
Team 4 – Linda Baron
Team 5 – MaryLou Aranow
WEAR RED ON PENTECOST
In celebration of the birth of the Church, everyone is asked to wear
something RED to worship on
Pentecost, May 11.
Coffee Hour Hosts
For March and April
2008:
Please note that the first name listed each
Sunday should contact the other hosts regarding food share and as a reminder of
the date. If you are not available on the assigned date, it is your
responsibility to find a substitute or trade dates, put the change on the list
in the
When it is your turn to bring food, you make
the decision whether it is something elaborate or simple, store
bought or homemade. Just
make sure you speak to the head host first to avoid duplication.
If you are unable to participate in coffee hour, please call Ronnie Badowski at
724-3499, leave a message and spell your name please.
May June
4
Corwin, Baron,
11 Mother’s Day Brunch 8 Byrne, Wynn, Rudberg, Heroy
18 D. Hansen, Lanni, Harty Hawkins 15 Michaelis, Potter, Aronow, Hughes
25 Covell, Hoffman, Lane, Merritt 22 Vasquez, Perry, Wesley, Alexander
29 Skinner, Beaudway, Cook, Grassick
The
Everything
Your donations of usable attic treasures, small household items, toys, books,
cds, etc., baked goods and clean usable clothing (please no shoes) are
appreciated. A sign up sheet and schedule for donation drop-off will be posted
in early May.
Tell your friends, come enjoy the sale and have a great lunch.
Please forward any suggestions to John Twohig, at 831-5694, or email at twigman52@hotmail.com.
The Women of the Church will meet on Wednesday,
May 28, for a picnic, location to be announced at a later date. Please keep the date open and watch for
further news.
Notes from
April
Ø
Deacon John
Twohig led devotions about how gravity keeps us in place and how God holds us
in place. The scripture reading was Psalm 40.
Ø
Treasurers Operating Report for March shows revenues totaling
$18,357.27 and expenses totaling $20,505.03.
Ø
The restaurant owners have paid the property taxes.
Ø
Research is being done on purchasing a new copier as our current lease
has expired.
Ø
A Child Protection and Abuse Prevention Policy was presented to the
Ø
Rev. Roger Leonard will preach May 25th.
Ø
Victor and Michael Chao are taking pictures of the consistory, for use
on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall.
Ø
The special Easter offering totaled $1,767.00.
Ø
VBS - “Love your neighbor as yourself” will be held
Ø
Next
+ + + + +
Thank you to all that helped make our Spring
Clean-up a huge success. We had a great turn out on a beautiful Saturday Spring
morning. I thank our members, the Boy-Scouts and a special thank you for the
Lannis in coordinating this successful work session. On top of us all
completing a lot of yard work and painting projects, Don Van Nostrand found $20
which went into Sunday’s offering!!!!
Kits
for Church World Service
We assembled a total of 70
kits altogether…28 school kits and 42 hygiene kits. In addition, donations of $53. were received
to help defray the $2.00 per kit cost for processing. The kits were delivered to Hurley Reformed
Church on Monday, April 21, where they will be loaded on a truck that will take
them to the pick-up point in
Thanks to a very loving and generous congregation here at First Reformed of Fishkill.
The Deacons
Thank you to all who contributed to the
bag lunches for the homeless in March.
We will be doing it again the end of May. Watch the Sunday bulletin for details. We will
be needing volunteers to make sandwiches, donate celery and carrot sticks, and
cookies. Also help in assembling the
lunches would be appreciated.
See JoAnn Supan for details and watch the
Sunday bulletin.
From the House of Faith Ministry Domestic Violence Shelter:
Women who leave domestic violent situations leave with
just the clothes on their back.
We need your support; you can help by contributing one of the items
listed below to:
House of Faith Ministry, Inc. Items
that are needed:
-Standard
pillows
(or speak with JoAnn Supan) -Towels
COME JOIN US FOR OUR 4th
Annual
Golf
Tournament
September
22, 2008
McCann
Memorial Golf Course
$120.
per golfer will include golf, cart, goody bag gifts, lunch & Dinner
(Christo’s),
prizes
for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place team finish,
longest drive, closest to the pin & hole-in-one prize! great raffle prizes,
too!
You
don’t play golf? then consider a
sponsorship of tee or green signs at $75. each.
(other larger sponsorships also available).
For
more information see Ray VanVoorhis
845-452-2268
or rvanvoorhis@lmvarchitects.com.
Proceeds
support frc’s capital projects.
Congratulations to Gary VanVoorhis,
Barbara’s son, who was recently promoted to Division Chief of the
Confirmation
Class
Plans are underway for our
2008 Confirmation Class. If you are a teenager who will be in at least 9th
grade in the fall of 2008, and would like to be a part of the Confirmation Class,
please let the church office know so that we can be sure everyone is contacted.
Questions? Please speak with Pastor Gloria. More
details coming soon!
WEDNESDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
It’s not too late to join us in our book study group. We are reading Good Intentions: Nine Hot-Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of Faith, by Charles North & Bob Smeitana, Moody Publishers. Discussions will range from gas prices to education, CEO compensation to family values. If you can’t attend them all, you are welcome to come when you can. We meet on Wednesdays at 7:15 in the DuBois House parlor. Questions? Talk to Pastor Gloria.
LABELS FOR EDUCATION
We
are still collecting
Dear Intercessors, Partners and friends,
By the grace of God and your faithful
prayers and gifts Susannah and I are able to continue ministering here in
The evening Genti called to invite us to speak to the Church’s young married couples on “Communication in Marriage”, Susannah and I were still sulking over the fight we had had the day before. I told Genti that we probably were not the right folks for this job. I confessed that we were still on the edges of a “therapeutic discussion” of our own, and felt especially unqualified for such a ministry opportunity. Genti laughed and said, “How many years have you been doing this?” “Huh,” I said, revealing my confusion. “How long have you and Susannah been married?” he clarified. “Oh …almost 49 years,” I said swallowing the end of my statement. Genti laughed and said, “You two are who we want. Please pray about this and get back to me as soon as you can.” We talked and prayed and we accepted the opportunity. The truth about our own recent conflict proved to be a healthy opening for an enjoyable evening. Below is the outline we put together from a prayerful remembering of our own experience.
Guidelines
for Communication in Marriage
1. Communicate with God:
a. About God: praise, thanks, your need of God
b. About your spouse: for blessing; that God help your spouse become the person God created your spouse to be.
c. About yourself: that God help you become who God created you to be, for God’s glory, for your spouse and for your children; that God show you what you need to see about you and what you need to change.
2. Listen:
a. Not thinking about what you want to say next.
b. For feelings; communicate what you sense and ask if you have heard correctly.
c. For now, do not try to fix problems; just try to be present to hear about them.
3. Communicate that you care:
a. I love you.
b. Verbally appreciate efforts of your spouse, made because of you and for you.
c. Remember, it is more important to be loving than to be “right.”
d. Affirm; do not shame.
4. Fight fair:
a. Take responsibility for your own feelings; use “I statements.”
b. Do not use past confessed sins against your spouse.
c. Never threaten or invite divorce.
5. Find ways to communicate (verbal is best; but if not possible find other ways) about:
a. What is good in the relationship.
b. Struggles you are having in the relationship.
c. Love and sex.
d. Finances.
6. Timing:
a. It is important to consider the most appropriate, available time to communicate.
b. Avoid the “gangrene hour” (when preparing dinner & blood sugar levels are low)
c. The dinner table is probably not the best time.
7. Humility – God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
With
love and appreciation, - Jack and
Susannah Dabney April 4, 2008
Exploding
landmines punctuate theological point
By Rev. Eric Titus
I was giving
my lecture a couple of weeks ago, on the presence of God. It was about mid-way
through the lecture in my Intro to Systematic Theology class that the doors and
windows of the classroom were shaken by a distant explosion. It is not a common
sound in
The two blasts
had the effect of stiffening some of my students. Others closed their eyes, and
still others acted as if nothing had happened. One wonders how many memories
from childhood come back as the task of the detonation of discovered landmines
goes on in this region.
For my part,
after stopping the lecture to open the door to see if anything was going on in
the hall (what was I thinking?), I reflected for a brief moment on my topic and
the explosion. The presence of God. It brings questions such as where is God,
and more specifically where was God when war broke
We were
discussing the thesis of Swiss theologian Ingolf Dalferth that God is present
in the present to all presences (people). Yet God allows for human freedom,
that is, as Dalferth says: “God is the poet of the possible, not the author of
the actual.” This means in short that God places possibilities before us and
that in the arena of creation humanity authors its reality. God is aware of the
possibilities and is not caught by surprise by our choices. It is a thought
that has rather sobering realizations.
God is present
yes, but we are responsible for the possibilities that we choose, and the
realities that become the places within which we must dwell. More than this,
our choices are not made in isolation but have communal implications.
From the
lecture on the presence of God, we took a brief break before going into chapel.
It was communion chapel. The bread and wine were at the front of the
sanctuary. I was looking at this scene
with the students who had just left the class on the presence of God. Then it happened again: a few more explosions rattling the windows as
we worshipped and prepared for communion. The long chain of choices amid the
possibilities set out by a good and gracious God were set in contrast. The possibility of communing with God, and
the possibility of breaking communion with each other were both powerfully
present, the sign and sound of their realities both present.
But above this
was the reality that in signs of communion, God was present to each presence in
that present moment. That presence is really the possibility for humanity among
all the possibilities before us, if our human reality is not to be grounded in
possibilities that end with impossible circumstances.
Landmines are
loud, but they are not the only signs that humanity in the presence of God
freely chooses possibilities that lead away from God and thereby ourselves. It
is Dalferth’s contention that God wishes for humanity to freely choose to love
God, but in order for this to occur we must freely choose to love each other as
well. If in the end we cannot love that
which is like us, (humanity) how can we love that which is wholly different
from us (God)?
In the signs
and symbols of communion we see a God wholly other becoming radically present
in order to love us. On this particular day in a chapel at a seminary in
Eric and Nancy Titus are RCA missionaries in
Prayer and
Praise:
We thank you for all your prayers, especially for
Valerie and her migraines. She is feeling much better after some sinus therapy
and reduction in some stressors. Her headaches are both fewer in number and
less intense.
Please also pray for us as we try to work out many
details for our summer as we balance Eric’s need to study German with our
family’s need to be together.
First
Reformed
When
the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like
the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were
sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire,
appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Acts
2:1-4