April 2021
HOLY WEEK and EASTER JOY
Palm Sunday, March 28, 10:00 a.m. in the sanctuary and on Facebook begins our Holy Week celebrations. Mission Committee and Worship and Music have a remembrance for you in lieu of palm branches.
Wednesday, March 31, 7:00 – the concluding study from The Grace of Les Miserables. God’s grace reaches beyond walls of resistance and into our broken hearts. To join our last study please email Kathy or Jane for the zoom link. This study is a collaborative experience with Valencia Presbyterian Church and Jim Kirk.
Maundy Thursday, April 1, 7:00 – Our Maundy Thursday service will incorporate Good Friday. Our service will be hosted by Zoom and the link will be sent to the congregation on Thursday morning. The service will come from our sanctuary and though we will all be on zoom together the church as host will mute all participant’s audio. You are invited to keep your camera on so that everyone can see their sisters and brothers in Christ and wave the greeting of the Peace of Christ to their friends. Communion will be served, and hands washed, so please bring a small bowl of warm water and a bit of bread/cracker and juice/beverage to your home sanctuary spot as we follow the liturgy of washing and eating together. The service will end in darkness and silence. Feel free to meditate during the darkness, which will last about 10 minutes.
Good Friday, April 2 – Friday Club 5:00 – 7:00. There is no Good Friday service other than on Maundy Thursday. However, the children of the church will be celebrating with a more somber opening than our other Friday Clubs. Together we will observe Good Friday with reminders, as well as crafts, about ashes and what God can do with dust.
Easter Sunday, April 4, Communion Sunday – What a joy to celebrate the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation Jesus gave us from his resurrection on the day of Resurrection. Our worship service will be in the church sanctuary and online for the sanctuary of your home. It is a festive day of joyous music, trumpets, and praise. Our children’s message will be back and there shall be bubbles.
Opportunity
It started with a door. The Christian Century Magazine invited readers to submit a first person narrative on given topics. The topics were published in advance and were just one word. The first of these short contributions I read began with the word: door. The six different entries were different reflections and aspects of opportunities opened, closed; challenges to overcome or that overcame; access, entry, a mystery; different stories arising out of one word.
The Caller invites the participation of church families and friends in offering a 500 word narrative of your experience and response to a given word. Reading newsletter perspectives and information from your staff and committees in The Caller is a given; reading personal reflective stories/narratives from each other will be a blessing. Your name will be included with your submission.
Please submit your narrative to Kathy Kirk by the 15th of the month for possible publication in The Caller. We may have to be selective due to space available. The first of these narratives is a combined narrative by Jane Esterline, pastor, among other things and David Esterline, President of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, among other things, in response to the word:
LIGHT
By the light of a Christmas star my sister gave David a handheld battery-operated florescent light for his workshop. We brought it to Cameroon because electricity was by generator and only 3 hours at night. That light saved our son’s life.
During the light of a midnight moon in Nyososo water broke, followed by a knock at our door. Our neighbors stood outside in the light of their kerosene lantern with lovely smiles asking if the baby was coming, a month early. They were not asking as much as sharing the light of hope that indeed the baby was coming early, a new journey was beginning and our efforts to resist the journey were pointless.
Labor began by the light of a kerosene lamp. At dawn, by the light of a new day our hope for a home birth dimmed so we traveled a couple of hours to be near the closest hospital. The light of birth was still far off. When the light of day waxed into moonlight once again baby Kirk was no closer to the light of day.
Kirk was born by the light of yet another new day but needed a different sort of light, an incubator. David had to build one using my sister’s gift of light turned into the source of light that gave Kirk’s premature lungs more time to grow. The light of hospitality from Swiss colleagues in ministry sheltered us when they gave us their home near the hospital while everyone recovered.
The light of welcome that we three received upon our eventual return to Nyososo was almost blinding with love and warmth. Kirk was carried into church the next Sunday in light and loving arms which welcomed him in yet another light, the Light of Christ.
You too are invited to response to the word: Bloom or Mom for our next Caller.
Facemasks
I rejoice with you over the number of vaccines given so far but want to remind everyone that masks continue to be required for all attending worship. We are so close to erasing this pandemic so patience a little longer still saves lives. Many thanks and abundant blessings over your diligence and caution.
Children’s Ministry
From the Cross to the Empty Tomb: Good Friday and Easter Celebration at Friday Club
Friday Club has been meeting weekly through Lent and it has been such a blast to play, cook, sit around the table, learn around the fire, and make s'mores together!
Our last Lenten Friday Club gathering will be on Good Friday. Together we'll explore the Holy Week and Easter story. Everyone will have the opportunity to create their own resurrection character set to take home and share with their families. Through the facial expressions of their characters, the kids will learn about the many emotions at play in the Easter story.
On Easter Sunday, we invite our families to use the Sunday school hour as an extra hour of time to be together. We will have Easter at home kits available for any and all families. You can pick up your kit at the church on Easter, or if you would like it delivered to your home ahead of time, please let Faith know.
From sorrow To Joy!
SCOUTING FOR FOOD - Boy Scout Troop 877 and Mission Committee
Boy Scout Troop 877 is partnering with our church for their Scouting for Food project in April. Donations will be accepted at our pavilion on Saturday, April 24 from 8:30 am to Noon. Please considering stopping by to donate canned goods or other non-perishables for this worthy cause.