Midweek 3-8-23
In This Issue:
- Music Notes
- Live and Learn
- Support Disaster Relief for Earthquakes
- Ordination & Installations
- Daylight Savings Time starts Sunday!
- Reminders &
Celebrations
- Lebanon Lent Soup Supper
Series!
- Bring Soup for March 15
- Missions: “Dignity for
Women”
- March 12 Missionary Lunch
with Special Guest Speaker!
- Adult Sunday School &
Nursery
- Zionsville Banquet!
- Easter Flowers
- Pray for PPM
- Nearer, Ever Nearer
“. . . that we may be mutually
encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:12
Music Notes: Choir rehearsal Thursday, 7pm.
Live and
Learn on Saturdays: Live
& Learn, Saturday March 11th, Luke Ch. 6 with Pastor Je. 11:30am lunch and
study.
Support Disaster Relief for Earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. Checks can be made
out to First Presbyterian Church. Please add in the memo line that your
donation is to support the disaster relief in Syria and Turkey. All funds given
will go towards the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). In addition,
session has voted to match all donations given from the congregation, up to
$5000.
Ordination & Installations: Sunday, March 12th there will
be an elder ordination of Sigmon Myers as well as an installation of both Sigmon
Myers and Arlene Quinn to serve on Session. We thank God for these two, as we
do for each individual who serves at FPC. We look forward to celebrating what
God is doing in their lives and what He has led them to right now.
Daylight Savings Time Starts Sunday! Don’t forget that Daylight Savings Time
Starts Sunday! Fall Back, Spring Forward: so set your clocks an hour forward. Coo-coo
clock? Wind-up clock? Big giant clock that takes up a whole wall? Miniature
clock you carry on your wrist (otherwise known as a watch)? Prime them all!
Reminders:
Liturgist for March will be Margi McConnaha. No “treat” in the lobby/sanctuary
after service since you are all invited to a splendid fellowship lunch in the
fellowship hall. If you want to be thinking ahead – treats are needed yet for
March 19th. A friendly reminder that it does not have to be home-made,
store bought is fine! And it does not have to be baked goods if you have an
idea for a different snack.
“Congratulations to you! We celebrate with you! Know that we love you, and God loves you
too!” Happy birthday to Caleb Reynolds, 3/13; Steve Shaw, 3/17; and Kerry Kries, 3/18!
Lebanon
Lent Soup Supper Series! Come worship with our local community
during the season of Lent. The series kicked off last week with a supper and
service at St. Joseph Catholic Church. For the next three weeks, on Wednesday
evening there will be a dinner and worship service at a local church. The start
times will be the same each week. The soup supper will begin at 6pm. The
worship service will begin at 7pm. All are encouraged to attend and to invite
friends, family, and neighbors to join in the experience. Trinity Lutheran will
host the second supper of the series, today
- March 8th. Their address is Elm Swamp Rd here in Lebanon. FPC
will host the meal next week - March 15th.
St. Peter’s will host March 22nd. There is no formal service planned
for March 29th, so is open for your own personal worship experience.
Bring
soup for March 15! March 15th First
Presbyterian Church will host the Lebanon Lenten Soup Supper Series. The dinner
will start at 6 in the fellowship hall. The service will start at 7 in the
sanctuary. We look forward to fellowshipping with and worshipping with others
from our community. However, there is a catch: we need soup to serve for the
soup supper! Can you help? Do you have a favorite soup? Potato? Vegetable beef?
Chicken Noodle? Spicy chili? Please consider sharing a pot! Contact Gretel in
the office so she can add your delicious creation to the menu! You can also
contact Mary Frances Meyer, as she is helping with the meal portion of the
March 15th event. We will also need folks to help set up tables
before the event and then take them down after the event. We have a couple
folks but would love some more help. Please let Gretel know about your
willingness to help and she will add you to this list.
Missions:
“Dignity for Women”: The spring missions’ campaign, "Dignity for Women", starts March 12 and will
run for 4 weeks. We will be collecting adult women's cotton briefs in sizes
small and medium. There is a blue box in the lobby to deposit these items.
These will be sent to Malawi as part of the Little Dresses for Africa ministry.
March
12 Missionary Lunch with Special Guest Speaker! The
fellowship meal for March is this Sunday, March 12th! There will be
a missions’ theme. It will serve as the kick-off to FPC’s spring missions’
campaign: “Dignity for Women”. There will be a special guest speaker at the
luncheon: Rev. Dick Stephens. Rev. Stephens has served with The Malawi Project
in Malawi for decades. He will come and share from a place of compassion and
experience on the life and conditions in Malawi. The Malawi Project is a 501c
charity headquartered out of Indianapolis. Debbie Crouse and her missions’ team
are organizing this event. You may share questions or information with them or
with Gretel in the church office. Come and learn more, share a meal with
friends, and be encouraged to be the hands and feet of Christ. This will be a
wonderful experience, and we hope you are all able to attend!
Adult Sunday School: Sunday School is now in
session and going great! Sundays in the church library from 9:00 to 10:15 a
group is going through the book Meeting Jesus at the Table. This study
will continue through the Lenten season. Imagine yourself going on a glorious
and nourishing progressive dinner. Learn how to love, serve, and expand the
hospitality of God's grace to others. Come join the feast and the sweet
fellowship.
Nursery: We
have space for a nursery for ages infant to 3 yrs. but would love more volunteers
to take care of the children during the 10:30 service. Please consider sharing
your love, compassion, tenderness, and joy with these little ones. If you would
like to help out, please notify Gretel in the office.
Zionsville
Banquet! The
Zionsville Spring Great Banquets began last weekend. The Men's Banquet is next
on the calendar, running from March 16-19. If you are still interested, you can
check out the guest application at this link: www.zpc.org/great-banquet/. Or contact Zionsville
Presbyterian Church for more info as they are hosting this event.
Easter Flowers! Yes it is that time of the year
again – aren’t you encouraged? Easter flower orders means that spring is indeed
on its way!
Palm
Sunday is coming up on April 2nd. Easter Sunday follows on April 9th.
We will have flowers this year coming from Mounts Florists here in town, with
options for the following 4 kinds.
- Tulips
- Lilies
- Hyacinth
- Daffodils
$15 each
There is also an option for:
- Azaleas
= $35 each
- Hydrangeas
= $45 each.
Those
last two are more expensive, but they are lovely flowers and so we wanted to
extend that option to you. There will be a sign-up sheet for the next two
Sundays. You can also:
- come in anytime you’re in town and
sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board
- or call or email Gretel in the
office and she will sign you up.
Checks
should be made out to: “First Presbyterian Church” - with memo line note of: “Easter Flowers”.
If you
call or email in your order to the church office, please identify which type of
flower/plant you wish and how many.
The
flowers will be used to decorate the church Easter Sunday. After the Easter
Sunday service, you can take them home and grace your home with their delightful
fragrance and beauty.
Pray for PPM: Thank you for
keeping PPM in your hearts and in your prayers. The education of our little
ones is our investment in the next generation. Only God knows the
transformation in these young lives that is brought about by the consistent,
loving, and intentional efforts of the teachers and staff. Each kind gesture,
each instruction in discipline, each instigation to laugh and sing and play has
an impact on these young souls, like ripples on the surface of a pond from the
casting of one small stone. It may look to us like one small stone, but the
ripples keep going. Scripture tells us to cast our cares on the Lord for He
cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Let us here at FPC be intentional about taking
under our wing the cares of the Presbyterian Preschool Ministry for we care for
them. Who knows, one of these young ones may be a future seminary student, or
church secretary, or teacher or . . . .
Lord, You take us by the
hand and lead us on;
You keep us by Your side and
give us a song.
When our little legs tire,
You carry us forward;
When our little heads nod,
You lean us on Your shoulder.
You instructed us to care
for the least of these;
You set the little ones on
Your knee for all to see.
In keeping with Your heart,
let us lend our hand
And set on our knee the
little ones in our land.
Lord, You take us by the hand
and keep us by Your side,
So let us take these
children in our hands and lead them to Your side. Amen.
Nearer, Ever Nearer.
"And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing
in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to
Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near . . ."
Esther 5:2
“So Esther drew near.” "Nearer,
my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee . . ." That is the cry of my
heart today, Lord God, that we would draw near.
When we come nigh to the Lord, we find Him already there. The
king didn't move from his throne; it was Esther who moved closer to him. Our
God invites us closer to Him. Our God is actively involved in our lives. He has
given us His Holy Spirit to guide and direct us. He speaks to us through His
living Word. Jesus Christ rose from the grave and is alive, working among us
even now. God is not set apart from our lives, but we can be set apart from Him.
He can call us near to Himself and we can look the other way. Oh God, I pray
for Your forgiveness for the distance we allow to come between us.
We can praise God for making a way through His Son that we can
come near to Him. We can approach His throne of grace. We can praise Him that
we don't have to wait for a golden scepter to be held out to us: we can come to
Him at any time, for any reason, and He will not turn us away. We approach Him
with awe and reverence for He is a Holy God. He is the One and Only God. We are
so far from holy. We are so far from matching up to His standards of
righteousness, but still He does not turn us away. He holds His hand out to us,
beckoning us to come closer.
Interested in joining the
prayer chain? Contact Phyllis Duff at
(765)482-1485/
raduff2@att.net.
Dear
Heavenly Father, I pray that each
precious soul here today would draw near to You. I praise You that they will
find an audience with You. You will listen. You will heal. You will guide. You
will comfort. May we leave our burdens at Your feet, for they are not too heavy
for You. When we leave this place of prayer, may we leave our burdens there.
When we draw near, draw us closer still, my Lord. Thank You.
". . . E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me, still all
my song shall be, nearer my God to Thee. . . .
Or if on joyful wing cleaving the sky, sun, moon, and stars
forgot, upward I'll fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer my God to Thee. Nearer, my
God, to Thee, nearer to Thee."
(Hymn "Nearer my God to Thee" by Sarah Adams, 1841) Amen.
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