dog days or jesus filled days? - amazon s3 · dog days or jesus filled days? the month of july gets...

11
1 Presbyterian ‘Connection’ July 2016 Volume 23 Issue 7 DOG DAYS OR JESUS FILLED DAYS? The month of July gets its name from Julius Caesar, the month of his birth. Did you know that if the Roman Senate had not changed the name of the seventh month, we might be still calling it “Quintilis”? In the Northern hemisphere most of what is referred to as the “dog days of summer” fall in the month of July. That came about because our “ancients” spent a lot of time observing the stars and came up with names that we use for the constellations in the sky. They drew “sky pictures” linking bright stars together. You know those things in the night sky we call the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion, Hercules, Canis Major and Canis Minor, etc. Well, the ‘Canis’ are dogs (from which we get the word canine). The brightest star in Canis Major is Sirious. It was believed by the ancients to help the sun provide heat for the earth because in summer Sirious rises and sets with the sun. That added heat in the northern hemisphere during most of July and early August was thought to come from the bright star of Canis Major adding its heat. Thereby, they became known as the “Dog Days”. That’s enough for astrology. On Sunday, May 30 th , prior to our worship service, three young girls came to the church office area and wanted to know when Vacation Bible School is going to be this year and where. One of the girls, who may have been sisters, said “We had so much fun last year. We don’t want to miss it this year.” I wrote the dates on a piece of paper for them. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember at the time that it was going to be at the Baptist Church this year, but they will be able to see the sign advertising it. They joyfully took the note to their mother waiting for them on the drive through. This exciting experience the Lord brought our way got me to thinking about not being the “Dog Days” of our summer, but our JESUS DAYS OF SUMMER . Be prepared to participate in any way that you can to make them glorious days for the children of our community. Some of you may be able to help teach, be a teacher helper, or work in refreshment preparation. It is our annual opportunity to bring Jesus to our youth in a special way. Sharon Arra is again leading up the planning and recruiting of assistance. Be part of the JESUS DAYS OF SUMMER in any way that you can. It will be a blessing. God bless! Fred

Upload: others

Post on 25-Jun-2020

5 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

1

Presbyterian ‘Connection’ July 2016 Volume 23 Issue 7

DOG DAYS OR JESUS FILLED DAYS?

The month of July gets its name from Julius Caesar, the month of his birth. Did you know that if

the Roman Senate had not changed the name of the seventh month, we might be still calling it

“Quintilis”? In the Northern hemisphere most of what is referred to as the “dog days of summer”

fall in the month of July. That came about because our “ancients” spent a lot of time observing the

stars and came up with names that we use for the constellations in the sky. They drew “sky

pictures” linking bright stars together. You know those things in the night sky we call the Big

Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion, Hercules, Canis Major and Canis Minor, etc. Well, the ‘Canis’ are

dogs (from which we get the word canine). The brightest star in Canis Major is Sirious. It was

believed by the ancients to help the sun provide heat for the earth because in summer Sirious rises

and sets with the sun. That added heat in the northern hemisphere during most of July and early

August was thought to come from the bright star of Canis Major adding its heat. Thereby, they

became known as the “Dog Days”. That’s enough for astrology.

On Sunday, May 30th, prior to our worship service, three young girls came to the church office area

and wanted to know when Vacation Bible School is going to be this year and where. One of the

girls, who may have been sisters, said “We had so much fun last year. We don’t want to miss it this

year.” I wrote the dates on a piece of paper for them. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember at the

time that it was going to be at the Baptist Church this year, but they will be able to see the sign

advertising it. They joyfully took the note to their mother waiting for them on the drive through.

This exciting experience the Lord brought our way got me to thinking about not being the “Dog

Days” of our summer, but our JESUS DAYS OF SUMMER. Be prepared to participate in any

way that you can to make them glorious days for the children of our community. Some of you may

be able to help teach, be a teacher helper, or work in refreshment preparation. It is our annual

opportunity to bring Jesus to our youth in a special way. Sharon Arra is again leading up the

planning and recruiting of assistance. Be part of the JESUS DAYS OF SUMMER in any way that

you can. It will be a blessing.

God bless! Fred

2

Our Church Face Book page

https://www.facebook.com/presbyterian.shoals

Church phone # - 870-445-4622

Our church email address

[email protected]

Connection Online

If you would like to read the “Connection” newsletter

online, go to our website;

http://www.presbyterianchurchofbullshoals.com

Click on the ‘Info Center’ tab at the top, then on the

drop-down menu, click on “Presbyterian Connection”,

then choose the month of the newsletter you would

like to read. The most recent newsletter will be at the

top.

Coffee & Fellowship

Be sure to drop in for coffee, maybe a

Danish or cookies and wonderful fellowship on

Thursday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in Memorial

Hall!

May Income - $4,523.30

May Expenses - $4,626.74

THURSDAYS, FROM 11:00 A.M. TO NOON IN

MEMORIAL HALL. MEN & WOMEN WELCOME.

3

WORSHIP IN JULY

JULY 3rd

“PEACE”

Philippians 1:2

COMMUNION

JULY 10th

“GRACE”

Philippians 1:2

POT LUCK

JULY 17th “JOY”

Philippians 1:4

BLESSING OF THE FOOD PANTRY

JULY 24th

“CONFIDENT” Philippians 1:6

JULY 31st

“THE IMPORTANT THING”

Philippians 1:12-21 MINUTE FOR MISSION

5TH SUNDAY SING 6:00 P.M. AT OUR CHURCH

4

CHURCH USHERS/GREETERS COMMUNION SERVERS

July 3 - Irene Bere & Sandy Erickson Ed & Peni Lloyd

July 10 - Irene Bere & Elaine Miller

July 17 - Bob & Gloria Wiles

July 24 - Ken Hobart & Amy Johnson

July 31 - Roger & Celia Millard

PRAYER LIST FOR CONGREGATIONS, PRESBYTERY OF AR.- 2016

July 3 - Grace, Little Rock First, Malvern

July 10 - Barr Memorial, Norman Hopewell Church, Morrilton

July 17 - First, Mountain Home First, Newport

July 24 - First, Little Rock Presbytery Staff

July 31 - Trinity, Little Rock Spring River, Hardy

PLEASE NOTIFY PAT ERLEWINE IF YOU KNOW OF ANYONE WHO SHOULD BE ON OUR PRAYER LIST.

BIRTHDAYS

July August July 1 - Faye Brackett & Ed Lloyd August 3 - Peni Lloyd

July 4 - Amy Johnson August 7 - Ed Chapman July 7 - Dorie Ulmer August 20 - Bob Wiles July 16 - Ray Erlewine August 21 - Ken Hobart July 18 - Ciera Haefer August 23 - Irene Bere July 22 - Paul Smith August 29 - Celia Millard July 23 - Dr. Roger Simons July 30 - Vicky Bair

ANNIVERSARIES

July 9 - Bill & Mary Kerr No August Anniversaries

5

LIBRARY LINES - JULY 2016

We have a new non-fiction book entitled: JOHN THE BAPTIST,

PROPHET AND DISCIPLE by Alexander J. Burke, Jr. The following is a synopsis:

“For the first time in nearly 50 years, a casual yet informative method to learn about John the Baptist…

"Why did each of the four evangelists make John the gateway to the Gospel, the first preacher of Good News? What were the reasons for the early Church's intense interest in a desert hermit whose public ministry lasted two years or less? Why in early Christian tradition was John the Baptist accorded an exalted religious stature, almost equal to that of Mary? The irony is that most modern scholarship on John have missed the true sources of his religious significance…in his links to Christ and to the very earliest beginnings of the Christian religion." — from the Introduction

Alexander Burke pieces together the mystery of this well-known disciple of Jesus one chapter at a time, covering John's preaching, arrest and execution, his role in Eastern and Western Christian Tradition, and the many paradoxes surrounding him.

An excellent resource for group or individual study, John the Baptist offers questions for reflection at the end of each chapter.

Discover a fresh perspective of John the Baptist. Let him rise to the top of the beadroll of Christian heroes where Jesus believed he belonged. Step back and see the beautiful mosaic of mysteries that made up this fascinating saint's life.”

Faye Brackett, Librarian

6

MISSION MINUTE

JULY-2016

Arkansas Presbyterian Honduran Ministry

Congregational Covenant

"The mission of God in Christ gives shape and substance to the life and work of the church." (Book of Order, F-1.01) "The Church is the body of Christ. Christ gives to the Church all the gifts necessary to be his body. The Church strives to demonstrate these gifts in its life as a community in the world (I Cor. 12:27-28)." Book of Order, F-1.0301) Being called by God to serve others as Jesus Christ serves us, and as the Body of Christ with unique gifts and talents in each congregation, we commit ourselves to fulfill God's call. We understand that all are God's children, and that our responsibilities to serve lie not only within our own communities but around the world. Therefore, we commit to focus outside of our area of God's kingdom within the Presbytery of Arkansas, by partnering with the Presbyterian Church of Honduras. To facilitate God's work among us, and the greater world, we agree to engage in, and support mission through our sister congregations in the Presbytery of Arkansas, with Presbyterian World Mission (PCUSA), and the Presbytery of Honduras. Toward this end we covenant to: * To hold the ministry and participants in prayer. * To provide regular communication about the Arkansas Presbyterian Honduran Ministry to the congregation. * To annually budget for the ministry. * To welcome representatives of our mutual ministry to speak or present information, and offer hospitality when such representatives are in the area. * To participate in mission activities as God leads and we are able. * To be facilitators of mission in Honduras and not encourage dependencies on North American resources. * To encourage mutual ministry within our congregations with Spanish-language people who live in our own communities.

Opportunity to Serve in Honduras

Our Presbytery's next work-trip to Honduras is scheduled for Sunday, October 24, through Saturday, October 29. We will be working alongside our Honduran brothers and sisters building homes near Copan. For this trip we will spend one night at the home in Trinidad de Copan where our groups have stayed for most of their visits in the past, and visit with representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Honduras and the Mayor of the region of Trinidad. Then we will travel to Copan for the work part of our trip, staying in a hotel. Our last day will be spent visiting the Mayan ruins and playing the role of tourist. There will be no overnight stay in San Pedro Sula. We will be escorted in a van for all of our travels and will only be staying in safe communities.

Submitted by the Mission Committee

7

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN & MEN

General Meeting of PW&M

Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - Memorial Hall

Eleven members of PW&M met for their monthly meeting accompanied by coffee and snacks hosted by Teri Morrow, Jewell Riley, Amy Johnson and Irene Bere. Moderator Steve Broskovak opened our meeting with prayer and a blessing for the food at 9:30 AM. After a short fellowship time, Amy Johnson gave the devotion – her Christian testimony. Steve then brought the business meeting to order.

Reports:

Secretary, Amy Johnson asked for any changes or additions to the May meeting minutes. There were none so they were approved as written and will be placed on file and on the PW&M bulletin board. Amy also read several correspondences: 2 thank-yous from Kaitlyn McLeod and Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Services that we supported monetarily earlier this year, and a note from Joann Kahm with her new mailing address. Steve volunteered to present the next meeting's devotion in September.

Treasurer, Mary Kerr is out of town and asked Irene Bere to fill in for her for presenting the May treasurer's report. The beginning balance on May 1 was $916.26, with $348.29 in receipts and $50 in disbursements, to leave an ending balance on May 31 of $1214.55. There were no changes so the report will be placed on file and on the bulletin board.

Announcements: Pastor Fred presented us with the new church brochure and handed them out to those present. Irene noted that these were originally created by Pastor Fred at the time of the 50-year anniversary of Presbyterian Church of Bull Shoals. He has updated them and had 500 printed and gave a small stack to Amy to take to the local Chamber of Commerce to be disbursed there. Another announcement is that the all-church picnic is coming July 10 with burgers and hot dogs being provided to go with pot luck dishes. This will be held at Brown's Beach city park at the reserved pavilion from 11 AM to 2 PM. In case of rain, it will be held at the church.

Missions: Linda Allensworth, chairperson, filled us in on a busy season. She lacks only a few Best Choice bar codes to have 1000 to send in for a $30 redemption. She also reports that at the end of May $350 had been donated to the No-Bake Bake Sale fundraiser and another $45 has been collected since.

The next event on our docket is the Ice Cream Social fundraiser being held Saturday, July 16 from 2-4 PM in our Memorial Hall. She and her co-chair of the social, Celia Millard, reported that everything is on schedule for the event. Celia has used her computer skills to prepare sign-up sheets for foods, workers, bakers and flier locations. Those will be posted for sign-up beginning this Sunday. The tickets are being printed by Faye Brackett and will be for sale on Sundays through July 10. Vicky Bair is in charge of the banners and advertising through the local media and the bulletin announcements.

NEW BUSINESS: Pastor Fred announced that Ms Dawn DeVoracek with the U. of the Ozarks at Clarksville, AR will be our speaker at our first fall PW&M meeting Sept.13 to present to our members and all invited from the congregation and community an up-to-date profile of the college's campuses and what they offer. We will welcome her with a breakfast that morning in conjunction with the monthly meeting and her presentation. There will be advertising to the congregation in advance and sign-up for attendance so we'll know how much food to prepare. Those details will be finalized at the next PW&M team meeting on Sept.1. Thank you to the ladies who have today already volunteered to provide much of the food ! (Celia-baked goodies; Norma Taylor-egg casserole(s); Elaine-whatever is needed). We will ask Vicky to publicize this well as the time nears for attendance sign-ups and to encourage monetary donations for anyone who wishes to help that way.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Next general meeting is after a two-month break, on September 13, 2016 at 9:30 AM at Memorial Hall with a full breakfast and speaker. The hosts will be the team members and devotion by Steve B.

Steve adjourned the meeting at 10:40 AM with Pastor Fred closing in prayer.

Respectfully submitted by Secretary, Amy Johnson

8

Evangelism For Today

I had talked about letting God’s light within us shine out to others last time and that brought up

these thoughts; Forgiveness and Understanding -

These are two very hard things to achieve all the time; forgiveness takes work, a lot of work. How

do we forgive terrorism, killing, war? I, myself, find this very hard to achieve sometimes, and then

I turn to God and ask for his help, because I don’t want to carry around the burden of hate. None

of us can be perfect and forgiving in everything without help, God’s help, and when we reach out

to God we also reflect goodness and forgiveness to others.

Understanding can also be difficult; understanding different beliefs, ideas, political affiliation or

even color. Sometimes to understand is easier because we can research and learn about another

belief or idea and gain some insight to help us to have a better understanding of a certain thing,

but again, without God’s help it can be a struggle.

The reason I mention these two items (other than it is something I work on a lot), is because with

forgiveness and understanding we are, in God’s way, reaching out to others.

Blessings, Peni Lloyd, Evangelism moderator

BULL SHOALS COMMUNITY VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

JULY 11 - JULY 15

9:00 A.M - 12:00 P.M.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF BULL SHOALS

AGES 4 YEARS THRU 8TH GRADE

“CAVE QUEST” - FOLLOWING JESUS

“THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

CALL SHARON ARRA (870)-736-1922

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP

9

Till We Speak Again

“OH lawdy”, now I know how them poor Israelites felt traveling about in the

wilderness. I’ve never been so glad to get home in all my born days. I went on

vacation with Bernice and Emma. First mistake was letting Bernice drive. She

drives like a raving lunatic, and has no sense of direction. She won’t listen, and

Emma is the worst back seat driver in history. They were at each other’s

throats the whole trip. To top that off, it rained like the sky was a fallin. Ya

couldn’t see the road or the lines. It really didn’t help when you were already

lost. Looking for road signs was like looking for a needle in a hay stack. We

saw places I’ll bet God forgot about. They sure were pretty, but when you’re

almost out of gas, it looks a whole lot different.

Motels were few, far between, and thank goodness cheap! Most were old, run

down, had seen better days, but were clean and had all that we needed. What

do you expect when you are that far off of the beaten path. There were no big

chain restaurants, only little mom and pop diners serving regular food. Nothing

fancy, just plain fare at a reasonable price.

Come to think about it, we sound like we were wondering around lost in the

wilderness for 40 years instead of roaming the back woods and mountains of

Tennessee. Our needs were provided for. God was watching out for us. At the

same time we sure could have used a GPS. We have decided 3 old women are

vacationally challenged, but are ready to do it again next year. Life is an

adventure.

Luv, Millie

Thought For the Day; Be careful what you ask for, you just

might get it.

10

RECIPE FOR JULY

HOBO DINNER

"Ground beef patties, carrots, potatoes and onions baked all together for an easy dinner."

May be cooked in oven or on grill.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

5 potatoes, peeled and cut into steak fries

4 large carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise

1 onion, peeled and sliced into rings

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

garlic salt to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with

aluminum foil.

Shape the ground beef into patties and place in pan. Layer the vegetables on top of the

beef patties, starting with the potatoes, then carrots and finally onion rings. Season with

salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste.

Cover with aluminum foil and seal edges. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, (or on grill)

or to desired doneness.

11

THIS WE BELIEVE FOR JULY “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.”

“1 John 4:7-8”

~MISSION STATEMENT~

“We will be scripture-based to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ

and spiritually led to guide all people to be active doers of the Word”

Approved by Session on November 16, 2007

CHURCH STAFF

Pastor: Fred Taylor, Clerk of Session: Vicky Bair, Church Treasurer: Ken Hobart,

Secretary: Christi Partee, Financial Secretary: Elaine Miller

DEACONS

Class of 2016 Class of 2017 Class of 2018

Sandy Erickson Ed Lloyd Pam Hobart

Pat Erlewine Amy Johnson Vacancy

ELDERS

Class of 2016 Class of 2017 Class of 2018

Vicky Bair Meg Simons Ken Hobart

Vacancy Peni Lloyd Steve Broskovak

Presbyterian Church of Bull Shoals

P.O. Box 305

Bull Shoals, AR. 72619