Midweek, Wednesday, October 12th, 2022

MIDWEEK 10/12/22

“. . . that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:12

In this issue:

• Reminders
• Faith Circle
• Per Capita
• Special thanks for your help
• Pictorial Church Directory
• Music Notes 
• License Plate
• Celebrations 
• PPM Update
• Little Dresses For Africa
• Live and Learn with us on Saturdays!
• P.R.A.Y.E.R. R.E.Q.U.E.S.T.: S for Surrender 

Reminders:  

This Sunday’s after-service-treat will be provided by Debbie Crouse. We have no greeter lined up for this Sunday. If you are available and interested in being a greeter October 9, 16, 23, or 30, please contact Gretel in the office or fill out the sheet when you are in the building. Whether you’re here to greet or to share a treat, the real treat we enjoy is you! Would you like a printed copy of the sermon series 101? Contact the church office. 

Faith Circle: The last Faith Circle meeting of the year will be Wednesday, October 12th, church library

Per Capita: We are accepting Per Capita contributions for the 2022 year.  The donation amount suggested by the Presbytery of Wabash Valley this year is $42.03 per member, the same as last year.  These donations are sent to the Presbytery and support their mission and ministry, as the Presbytery helps, trains, cares, prepares, and supports congregations, pastors, candidates for ministry, and more. Please submit your Per Capita payments sometime between now and the middle of December.  You may pay by check in person on Sunday morning, or mail it to the church office, or you may donate on-line with a credit card by using the Give Now button on our website. If you are able to include any amount in excess $42.03 per member, that too would be appreciated, since FPC otherwise will cover the remaining amount due not paid directly by members.

Special Thanks for Your Help Last Weekend: There were wonderful contributions of time and talents this last weekend. Thank you to Margi McConnaha for helping with the beautiful sanctuary decorations. (Margi helps regularly with decorations and does a beautiful job. Thanks so much!) A lovely little group of folk helped in the kitchen with the refreshments on Sunday afternoon. Thanks also to those who attended the installation service and shared your congratulations and kind words with Pastor Je and his family. Thank you to Janet Landon who was upstairs with young Samuel. There was a banner in the fellowship hall with a word in Korean – if you wondered what it said – it says “Congratulations”. 

Link to the photos of the installation service:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/csiQACuvVDwns45f6

Pictorial Church Directory:

 FPC is preparing for the publication of a new pictorial church directory. Pastor Je is taking pictures before and after services. You may also submit your own photo if you prefer. Please send it to Gretel in the office.  

Music Notes: 

Choir rehearsal: Thursday at 7pm in the sanctuary. Presbyterian Ringers: Thursday at 6pm, Sanctuary.  

License Plate: 

License plates have now been ordered. If you would still like 
one but did not mention it before, it’s ok – extra were ordered just in case.
If you have not paid for your license plate, you can write a check to the church
and include in the memo that it is for the license plate. The cost is $17.52.
Contact the church office with any questions. 

 

“Congratulations to you! We celebrate with you! 

                 Know that we love you, and God loves you too!”   

Happy birthday to: Al McConnaha, 10/13; Bess Wilkes, 10-15.

PPM Update: 

Please keep our Toddler and Preschool 1 classes in your thoughts and prayers this month as well as their families.. Miss Ashton and Miss Kelly are very busy with this group of little ones. Currently Miss Ashton has 3 toddlers with 2 more to join her in January and Miss Kelly has 4 friends in Preschool 1. These are our smallest group of children at PPM and they are eager and excited to learn and play. Daily, I am amazed when I hear them trying to sing "God Our Father" at snack and lunch time. Miss Ashton, Miss Kelly and the children in their classes are such a blessing to our program.  We are still looking for 2 full time teachers; please continue to pray that God will send the right person to PPM.

Little Dresses for Africa:  There is a box in the church library in which you can put fabric or outfits for LDFA. There are also patterns available to use for sewing clothes for the children; they are attached to the poster-board sign leaning behind the box. These resources will remain available for you for the duration of this project. Donations are accepted and encouraged to assist in purchasing fabric, t-shirts, and other sewing supplies. Please make checks out to the church, with “LDFA donation” added to the memo line. Questions? Contact Debbie Crouse at (224)622-6383, or Gretel in the office. You can access the LDFA website at:  littledressesforafrica.com   

Live and Learn with us on Saturdays! For those who ordered a study book for the Psalms bible study, it should be in soon. If it comes in before Saturday then it will be here for pick up on Saturday morning. Je’s Bible study does not require a book, so just come and offer your brilliant, insightful, and fun thoughts. Room for more in the exercise and lunch group! Good time being had by all. 

P.R.A.Y.E.R. R.E.Q.U.E.S.T. 

We are continuing our consideration of the acrostic poem: S for Surrender

Pause Request/Release

Reflect         Entreat

Adore Question

Yield Unite

Extol Enjoy

Remember Surrender

        Thank

The first week we began in the middle of the word “prayer” with Y for Yield and talked about yielding to the Lord, ceasing from our activity to give Him the right of way. Last week we touched on P for Pause. Taking time to stop is hard for us in our culture and in the modern world, and it is entirely possible to pray while on the go. There is also a part of prayer that resonates with our spirits when we pause. Pause from worry. Pause from activity. Pause from our will and our way. Today is S for Surrender and it combines both the P and the S.  

There is a sense of pausing as we surrender. There is also action. To surrender is a verb – it is an act we decide on and follow through with. But to surrender means we have to let go of something. We have to cease from something. I see a direct connection to yield in this sense: when we stop on the road to yield to another car, we are giving the other driver the right of way. We are surrendering our place on the road to them. When we yield to the Lord, we are also surrendering the right of way to Him. We are saying, “You go first. I’ll wait here. You go and when it is time for me, I will take my turn. I will follow Your lead.” Surrender is perhaps more uncomfortable for some people than pausing. Webster’s dectionary says surrender means “to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand.” I admit that description sends up red flags for me. It’s the part about yielding to someone else’s power or control that gets me. However, if we are going to surrender, then the following questions must arise: 1) Who are we surrendering to? And 2) Why are we surrendering? When I pray, I am surrendering to my Heavenly Father. I am doing so because I trust Him, I love Him, I need Him, I enjoy Him and I know He loves me – for starters. Living life as His child, I surrender to Him daily. When I trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior for the very first time, confessed to Him that I was a sinful mess and recognized I needed Him to restore, renew, and redeem me; I surrendered to Him in a way I had never done before. But that was not the one and only time for surrender. As a child of God and a follower of Jesus Christ, we need to surrender continually – don’t we? Can any of us do this life thing on our own? Are any of us capable of taking the lead and forging a path successfully and brilliantly without any problems or struggles all by ourselves? I’d wager not. 

Must we surrender on our knees? Nope. Must we surrender with our eyes closed? Nope. But must we surrender? Yup. And what happens on the other side of that surrender? Remember the stained glass window in the sanctuary - of Jesus knocking on the door? What if we were to consider that when we surrender, He is waiting just there on the other side of the door. We surrender and we open the door . . . and there He is, full of joy and love to receive us, to come in and fellowship with us. Surrender may close the door to self but it opens the door to Jesus. 

Interested in joining the prayer chain? 

Contact Phyllis Duff at (765)482-1485/ raduff2@att.net. 

The following prayer is inspired by the worship song “Majesty”.

Dear Heavenly Father, 

Majesty, I worship Your majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise! Majesty, Kingdom authority, flow from Your throne, unto Your own, Your anthem I raise! 

No matter the reasons we may come up with to not surrender, to not yield, to not pause, none of them hold a candle to the greatest reason to surrender, to yield, to pause, and especially in prayer. That reason being that You are Majesty itself. Unto You is due all glory, honor and praise. Jesus Christ sits at Your right hand and to Him, and to You, and to the Holy Spirit, we yield this day. We pause and we surrender. May our simple, albeit faulty, acts of surrender display to the world Your worth, Your might, and Your majesty. Amen.