Monthly Newsletter: October 2023
From The Narthex News
Library
NARTHEX
NEWS:
October
2023
Produced by
Staff:
Rev. Je Lee, Pastor
Gretel Magnuson, Administrative
Assistant
Lori Rowe, Presbyterian
Preschool Ministry Director
Narthex
News – October
Table
of Contents
Chapter
One: Picture Pumpkin Patch
Chapter
Two: Bulletin Board
Chapter
Three: Nothing Better Than Bundt
Chapter
Four: Across the Span of Time
Chapter
Five: Per Capita
Appendix
A: Events Calendar
Appendix
B: Celebrations
Calendar
Appendix
C: Mission of the
Church
~
CHAPTER ONE ~
Picture Pumpkin Patch
(Available
in the pdf and word document formats of this newsletter.)
~
CHAPTER TWO ~
BULLETIN
BOARD FOR SEPTEMBER
Downtown
Events in Lebanon and street closures for the month of October:
October
14th – Klooz Fall Festival – 4-8pm
Streets
closed during event:
Meridian St from
Washington to Main, Washington St from Meridian St to East St with Washington
and Meridian Street intersection closed to traffic; 1-11pm
October
28th – Mischief on Meridian – 4:30-8pm
Streets
closed during event:
Meridian St from Alley north of Jail to South St, Main St from Lebanon St to Alley west, Washington from Lebanon to East; 2-8:30pm
New
Flooring Going in
on first floor:
New
flooring will be installed on the first floor of the church building in
October. The white flooring will be demolished and replaced with new flooring.
Once done, this will be lovely. However, the process will require some work and
a bit of mess. The demolition work will begin the evening of Thursday, October
19th. The demolition work will
continue through Friday, Saturday, and possibly Sunday. That Sunday morning,
there will hopefully be access to the downstairs bathrooms, but limited access
is to be expected in the vicinity of the hallways, kitchen, and fellowship hall
for that Sunday morning. The following week, the new flooring will be installed
– October 23-27. PPM will be on Fall break from Friday the 20th,
through Friday the 27th. Due to the noise, smells, and dust
associated with this work, Gretel will be working from home that week. Pastor
Je will be on leave that week. Therefore, the church office can be contacted
via email, but the office itself will be physically closed from October 20th
through October 27th.
Carol
McDonald’s Party:
This
information has gone out via the weekly newsletter, but is included here again
for your convenience and information.
Occasion:
to celebrate Carol’s work at Northminster Church.
Furniture
to Share!
The church
library is going to be spruced up and beautified with new furniture in the very
near future. On Wednesday, October the 18th, some of the current furniture
will be removed from the library, including the sofas and the chairs. Would you
be interested in any of those pieces? If so, please contact Gretel in the
office asap: (gretel@lebanonfpc.org or 765-482-5959) Or connect
with someone after a Sunday morning worship service to arrange pick up before
the 18th.
Live
for Life Sunday: Living well
Live
for Life Sunday in October will be recognized on the third Sunday (October
only), in honor of a guest speaker. Michelle Standeford will visit on Sunday,
Oct.15th. In addition, Fellowship Luncheon in October will also be
on Oct.15th, rather than the second Sunday. Please come and support
Live for Life on October 15th.
~
CHAPTER THREE ~
Nothing
Better Than Bundt!
~ CHAPTER FOUR ~
From 1901 to 1906, Reverend W.C.
Work resided over the congregation at Salem (Mud Creek) Church. W.C.’s great
granddaughter contacted me from Pennsylvania to see if I had any connection to
records for that church during the time period her great grandfather would have
served there. Searching through our materials, I was able to locate a thin,
brown, leather-bound journal which was used as the secretary’s book for the
Ladies’ Missionary Society of Salem Church for the years of 1902 through 1915.
Lo and behold, there on the second page was the name “Mrs. W. C. Work”. Turns
out she was quite active in the missionary society and had relatives that
served as missionaries in other parts of the world. She served in leadership
roles of the society for the entire stint of her time with that congregation.
She often opened the meeting with prayer and led the bible study time. For some
meetings she would assign different members to write a paper on a particular missionary
topic. The resulting paper(s) would be read at the following meeting. The
papers were not included in the minutes for the meetings (much to my disappointment
because wouldn’t that be neat!), but other details were there.
I learned such things as how
much money they raised, (and they raised a fair amount!), how they raised it, how
the funds were spent, which missionaries they were supporting, and which
country or region they were learning about. I read the Bible along with them
during the Bible study portion of the meeting because they listed what passage
they read. These ladies felt so alive to me that several times I almost began
to pray for them! I wondered: How were they
dressed? What was their transportation to and from meetings? Did they serve
refreshments (sometimes that was listed but not every time)? What were they juggling at home along with
what they were doing for the church? What were their thoughts on missions? They
must have been interested, since they were a part of the society, but it’s
possible some came for the social aspect rather than the topic. Did any of them
long to be a missionary? Had they been one themselves?
I’d like to share with you the
scripture they studied in the first meeting recorded in this book. They met on March
27th, 1902. The Meeting was called to order by Mrs. Titus. (I’m
still checking to see if this is the Titus as in “Titus Bakery” here in
Lebanon.) They opened the meeting with prayer (each offered a one sentence
prayer), singing from their Bible Songs book. (No.137. Does anyone know what
book that would be? And does anyone have that book?) They read Second Samuel,
as well as the second chapter of Philippians, paying special attention to the
seventh verse of that chapter. That verse reads as follows (King James
Version):
“But made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:7)
This is not only a beautiful
verse but a verse which holds truth crucial to the Christian faith. You could
say it is one of the pillars of our faith. Christ was fully man and fully God.
He did not come as one of the Greek pantheon of Gods. He did not come to seek His
own glory but only to give glory to God. He did not come to flaunt his own
reputation but rather to relinquish His reputation. He left the seat of Heaven
to occupy a seat of humility here on earth. In fact, He literally washed the
feet of His disciples at one point, one of the dirtiest and most humbling tasks
of the time. He who created the Heavens and the Earth would come to dwell on earth
in the likeness of men. In the first chapter of Genesis, God said, “Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen.1:26) And yet here Jesus would be
born in the likeness of man.
To make ourselves “of no
reputation” goes against almost everything this modern world stands for. Was it
so much different in 1902? Human nature is human nature, no matter what century
it is living in. To choose to be a servant and to serve others rather than to
ask to be served is, again, contrary to not only our human nature but much that
is promoted in our world today. Yet something about the picture of Jesus, the
Son of God, choosing to walk this path, to take this painful journey, to humble
Himself so completely, this grabs our attention.
I consider this verse, and I
picture the ladies gathered together in someone’s home praying, singing, and
studying. They were serious about what they read and discussed. “Special
attention was called to the seventh verse of this chapter,” records the
secretary Lizzie Morton. I read this on the third page of the journal/ record
of minutes. Perhaps you can see why my attention was arrested. What character
these women had, what heart! I was hooked: to spend such time on such a
thought, such a picture, is a beautiful thing.
What follows, as recorded in
this journal, proved to me that these women took Jesus’ example to heart. For
they too chose to serve rather than be served. They chose the humble position
of behind-the-scenes work. Only God knows their heart, but by the example they
set it would appear that they prayed, sang, absorbed scripture, studied, and
served not to prove anything to anyone, but instead to grow, to learn more of
their God, His Word and His World, to support ministers around the world
sharing the message of hope and salvation, and to support one another. There
was no way they could ever know that one hundred twenty-one years and five
months later, in August of 2023, I would join their meeting. Perhaps they
recorded minutes from their meetings much as you record meetings today - to
keep a faithful record, to be diligent, to keep yourselves accountable. And yet
their minutes would represent to me so much more than just the record of a
meeting. They had no way of knowing that this ladies’ missionary society would
become, one hundred and twenty years later, missionaries, in a sense, to me. Through
the veil of time, their words spoke to me, and speak still. They minister to me
and encourage me towards faithfulness, devotion, diligence, purpose, perseverance,
and brotherly love.
So the next time you sit in on a meeting, and you wonder why
in the world you are there and what is it all worth anyway: you have so much
else to do, and why bother taking down all these minutes anyway . . . take a
moment and remember. Remember the ladies from the Salem (Mud Creek) Church,
meeting in March of 1902 – Mrs. Titus, Mrs. W. C. Work, Lizzie Morton, among
others. Think of their faithfulness. Think of their presence. Their presence
likely ministered to others that very day, and today, it minsters still – to
me, and now to you as well. God has placed you where you are; He will use you,
and He will use what you are doing – in His way, in His time. Possibly, He will
use it again and again and again.
A humble brown journal, pages yellowed with time, creases and cracks on the exterior, binding holding firm while the outer covering chips away. Inscribed on the inside of the front cover is the name “Mrs. Lizzie Burns.” The first secretary to record minutes (on March 27th, 1902) was Lizzie Morton; the last would be Laura Swope (on August 26th, 1915). They wrote for every woman present. They wrote for the ministers of their congregation. They wrote for their husbands and their children. They wrote for themselves. But their voices did not stop there. There voices would be heard across the span of time.
I plan to continue my journey
through time with the Ladies Missionary Society of Salem Church. I expect to
learn, to be encouraged, to be challenged, and to be inspired. And who knows,
maybe something more will come of it besides archiving these treasures. Perhaps
there will be some event or experience in the future by which these insights
can be passed on, our own time machine, as it were. Study on, dear brothers and
sisters in Christ! Persevere, and be encouraged!
~
CHAPTER FIVE ~
As we do each
fall, we are now accepting Per Capita contributions for the 2023 year.
Each year, the
Presbytery “invoices” us for Per Capita based on the number of registered
members we had on record at the beginning of the previous year. This year’s
“invoice” is for $5,705.70, and is based on our reported membership of 133
times $42.90 per member. The money supports the Presbytery’s mission and
ministry, as the Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly help, train, care,
prepare, and support congregations, pastors, candidates for ministry, and more.
We will pay
that full amount at the end of this year to the Wabash Valley Presbytery, and
we ask our members and regular attenders to help us by paying their share of
this amount. It would be $42.90 times the number of members of your family.
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. You may also 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 $42.90
per member, that too would be appreciated, since FPC otherwise will have to
cover the remaining amount due not paid directly by attenders.
Thank you for
your faithfulness and your contributions.
Appendix
A: Friendly
Presbyterian Calendar
OCTOBER EVENTS
|
SUNDAY |
MONDAY |
TUESDAY |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY |
|
1 Communion
Sunday |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 Live &
Learn, 11:30, Church Library |
|
8 |
9 Counters |
10 |
11 Faith Circle,
1:30pm church library; PPM Staff
mtg. 5:30pm, Fellowship Hall |
12 |
13 |
14 Live &
Learn, 11:30am, FPC Library |
|
15 Fellowship
Lunch after worship service; Live for Life
Sun. Michelle
Standeford visits from Live for Life |
16 |
17 Time for Tea;
11am, Church Library Session mtg.
6:30pm church library |
18 |
19 Flooring work
begins: all white flooring on the first floor will be removed and replaced
beginning this evening. |
20 Flooring
work: demoli-tion of first floor, white flooring; PPM Closed |
21 Flooring
work: demolition of first floor, white flooring |
|
22 Flooring DemolitionWork
continue as is needed by construc-tion crew; Caring Sunday |
23 PPM Closed
for Fall Break, all week Church Office
Closed all week due to flooring work |
24 Pastor Je on
study leave until Oct.31st |
25 |
26 |
27 Gourmet
Seekers: |
28 |
|
29 |
30 Counters |
31 |
|
|
|
|
Appendix B: Friendly
Presbyterian Calendar
OCTOBER CELEBRATIONS
|
SUNDAY |
MONDAY |
TUESDAY |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY |
|
1 Ben Piper
(bday) |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 Bob &
Phyllis Duff (anniversary |
6 Pam Dies (bday) |
7 Doris Hayden (bday) |
|
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 Bess Wilkes
(bday) |
14 |
|
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
|
22 Rob &
Donna Bevington (annivers.) |
23 |
24 |
25 Echo Nunley
(bday) |
26 |
27 Phyllis Duff; Bruce
McConnell (bdays) |
28 Mary Beth
Pauley (bday) |
|
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
|
Appendix
C: Mission of the Church
The
following is taken from “The Guiding Vision”, the mission statement of First
Presbyterian Church(FPC). For past sermons, newsletters, and more, please visit
the website for First Presbyterian Church: https://www.lebanonfpc.org
FPC
is a part of the denomination of PC(USA). More information on the doctrine and
abiding principles of First Presbyterian Church can be found at the website for
PC(USA):
“In
his life, death and resurrection, Jesus Christ reveals the fullness of God’s
love and demonstrates God’s desire for reconciliation among all people. Through
Christ, we are called together to be the church -proclaiming God’s love to all
and participating in his mission of healing, reconciliation, and transformation
to all of creation.
The
work of the church is not of human effort, but is a reflection of our obedient
response to God’s love at work within us.
By
the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is equipped and empowered to join
Christ in his mission.
At
the same time, God’s perfect love insists that we not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may discern
what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans
12:2)
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