News for the Church 3/22/24

Good Day to you Church,

Well, it looks like winter finally decided to show up. My goodness it’s been cold! And we’re supposed to get a dump of snow to boot! March is definitely going out like a lion. 

Here’s the news: 

Palm Sunday Potluck Breakfast and Celebration in the Sanctuary this Sunday!

This Sunday is the day for celebration! We are moving back into the sanctuary for our first worship experience in our newly renovated space! Prior to that, at 8:45am, we will gather for a potluck breakfast. Please bring a breakfast item to share– eggs, bagels, fruit, yogurt, etc. (I’ve heard Dick Partch will be bringing French toast and maple syrup.) 

After we eat, we will each take a palm branch and a hymnal, and together we will sing as we process into the sanctuary. It’s going to be a special Sunday. I hope you’ll join us! 

Recital for Ivette This Wednesday Night

This Wednesday the 27th, at 7:30pm in Snell Hall, our very own Ivette Herryman-Rodriguez will be giving a composition recital. Ivette writes beautiful, stirring music and she will be presenting six of her pieces– some with a professional string quartet from Michigan that she was commissioned to write music for. 

Community Supper This Thursday 

This month, Community Supper will be taking place at our church, and Renee Stauffer is taking the lead. We will be serving baked ziti to our guests in the community center. If you’d like to help out or have any questions, please contact Renee. 

Good Friday Service in the Sanctuary at 7pm

 Next week during Holy Week, we will be taking a pause to rest with Jesus on his journey to the cross. Friday, March 29th at 7pm you are invited to join us in the sanctuary for a Tenebrae Service, as we reflect on the shadows and the silence of Good Friday. 

Lilies for Easter Sunday 

Thankfully, as Christians, our story does not end with Good Friday. As you know, death does not have the final word and we move into Christ’s resurrection at the end of Holy Week. 

Quite a few of us have purchased flowers to adorn the sanctuary on Easter Sunday, when we celebrate new life existing in the world. Between that and the choir singing, it’s going to be a special day! 

Marti Montovani to preach April 7 / Katrina on vacation 

The Sunday following Easter, our friend Marti Montovani will be preaching and leading worship. I will be on vacation that week, and I am grateful to Marti for joining us that Sunday. 

Brandon Rodriguez and Second Chance Scholars at worship April 14th

Brandon Rodriguez, the extraordinary young man who left prison in Ogdensburg last year in the middle of his college career, and is now finishing his senior year at SUNY Potsdam, has started a non-profit that hopes to buy the house next door to our church and turn it into housing for other men like him who leave Riverview Correctional Facility in the middle of their studies and want to come to SUNY Potsdam to earn their bachelor’s degrees. 

Brandon will be with us during worship on April 14th to tell us about this non-profit, Second Chance Scholars, and why it is important to our church and the Potsdam community. In addition to our regular offering, we will be taking a free will offering that day to go towards supporting Second Chance Scholars.

Festival of Sacred Music and Word in our Sanctuary on Sunday, April 14th at 3pm

Every year, the Potsdam Interfaith Community hosts a concert that celebrates the music and spoken word of our diverse communities in Potsdam. This year, our church will be hosting the festival in our sanctuary at 3pm. Last year it was held at the Methodist Church and over 100 people were in attendance!

New Church Directory

If you didn’t take one last week, we still have church directories to hand out. Look for the bright yellow packet next to the bulletins. It contains church folks’ contact information. 

A big thanks to Sue Waters for putting it together! 

Giddy with Excitement

Friends, I can’t tell you how excited I am for this Sunday. The newly renovated sanctuary is such an inviting space to be in, and I can’t wait for all of us to experience it together. 

I want to remind us, however, that it’s going to be different than what we’re used to. And that’s ok. The chairs are set up differently than they used to be. (And we haven’t yet incorporated the pews back into the mix.) The colors look different. The light looks different. The air smells different. The whole room feels different.

If you experience a moment of shock, or feel unprepared for the changes, be gracious with yourself. Remind yourself that even when something new feels good, it can also feel hard to accept. This is because our bodies like what is familiar. As humans, we are hardwired to seek out what feels normal to us– that which is recognizable. We like what we are accustomed to! 

Because change can be wonderful and hard all at the same time, I invite you to hang in there as we give our new space a chance to feel like home. Be gracious with yourself as we welcome in this change. Having multiple feelings all mixed together at the same time is normal. 

Looking forward to seeing you,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 3/1/24

Happy Friday to you Church!

What a week of weather we’ve had– from 72 and sunshine to 0 with windchill. Yikes! Today feels a little more normal, and I’m grateful. 

Here’s the news: 

Potluck THIS SUNDAY!

I hope you see this note in time to make a dish to pass for lunch this Sunday. We’ll be breaking bread together after the service on March 3rd. 

Youth Group to Meet Monday, March 4th

Our joint youth group will gather at our church this Monday from 6:30-8pm. 

Sanctuary Cleaning Days Saturday, March 9th and 16th

I have great news to share. We are planning to return to the sanctuary for worship on Palm Sunday, March 24th. In order to have the sanctuary ready for that day, we need a bunch of us to come together to do some cleaning. 

We’ll gather next Saturday, the 9th, as well as the following one, starting at 10am to dust the chancel, vacuum pew cushions, wipe down pew benches, re-install the sound system, and more. Even if you only have an hour or two to come volunteer, your help is important. 

If you have questions, please email Dave Wells at davewells31414@gmail.com

Communion Set for Sunday, March 10th

We will celebrate communion together during worship in a couple of weeks. 

Palm Sunday Breakfast and Worship in the Center

Sunday, March 24th is our big day! That morning we will kick off the beginning of Holy Week by having a potluck breakfast at the church before worship. Please bring breakfast food to share at 8:45am that day. We’ll share this meal together in the Center and then make our first communal procession back into the sanctuary for worship with palm branches in hand! 

Just you you know, Session is planning a big re-dedication Sunday this summer. We’ll have a special worship service to celebrate our renovation project then, invite the whole neighborhood, and hopefully offer some sort of musical concert as well. In the meantime, this will be our “soft opening.” 

Per Capita Update

I am delighted to report that 19 people have donated $33 each to help us pay our Per Capita bill to the Presbytery. A big THANKS to all who have contributed! To those members who are still considering supporting the church in this way, we will continue to accept these donations throughout the coming months; just indicate that the gift is to help cover “per capita.”

$16,300 Raised to Help Cover the Cost of the New Floor

I am also delighted to report to you that we have raised over $16,000 to help supplement the cost of our new $25,000 oak floor for the sanctuary! We’ve had a couple of donors who have given large sums, and others who have given smaller amounts. Friends, no matter how much we are able to give, all of it works together for the good of the church. THANK YOU! 

Taking the Pressure Off 

Session met in the sanctuary this past week with a daunting task. We gathered together to decide the exact layout for our pews and chairs, so that our carpenter could come in next week and screw the pews down into the floor. 

As we stood there looking at our 18 rows of pews and 110 chairs– discussing all of the possibilities for how to set up our seating– we were feeling intense pressure to get it perfectly right. Do we angle the pews in towards the middle? Do we leave them all facing straight forward? Do we set them up in the round? And where do we put the chairs to compliment the pews best? Should they go behind the pews? Or to the side of them? Or behind them? 

If we decided afterwards that we didn’t like the configuration we chose, or disliked the degree of the angles, or even the distance apart between the rows, rearranging the pews would mean making holes in our beautiful new floor. We were sweating bullets under this immense pressure until Renee Stauffer came up with a great idea. 

“What if we take the heat off and move slower?” she asked. “We could use the chairs for a template, and try different configurations with them until we decide on a layout that we like. After we’ve tested various setups and decided on which one works best, then we can insert the pews into the mix and screw them to the floor.” 

This was a brilliant idea. And so, we did just that. We set our 110 chairs up in a particular configuration, which we will test out for a few weeks. After that, we will move the chairs around and try a different configuration– until we find the layout that suits us best. We will keep experimenting in this way with the chairs until we’re sure about where exactly we want the pews to be anchored. And then we will have the carpenter come in and drill the holes into the floor to screw down the pews. 

All that to say– when we head back into the sanctuary for Palm Sunday, don’t be alarmed when you don’t see any pews up front. It’s not that we’re not going to use them. It’s that we need more time before we make any permanent decisions about where to place them. It may take us a few months to figure out our lay out, but it’s better that way than have dozens of holes all over our brand new floor. 

As Renee noted, it’s ok for this to be a process. And it might be fun even, to try different configurations. Maybe we will decide on a layout that no one has yet thought of!

Life is a Process

This whole situation with the pews reminds me of a bigger lesson: Life in general is a process, isn’t it? God doesn’t expect us to “get it right” the very first time. We learn as we grow, and we mature, and grow in wisdom. 

For those of us who are perfectionists, this lesson is an important one. I was just talking the other day with someone about the word we translate as “perfect” in our Bibles. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father in heaven is perfect.” The Greek word teleios, which we have translated as ‘perfect,’ actually means something more akin to ‘complete,’ or ‘mature.’ I’ve even heard the idea of “fully bloomed” or “fully ripened” to explain the concept of what teleios means.

“Be mature, as God is mature.” 

“Move into full bloom, like God lives in full bloom.”

Maturation, ripening, blooming– all of these things are, by definition processes. And they take time! When we expect ourselves to get it perfectly right all of the time, we’re denying the creative system that God has built for us. We end up missing out on the beauty of the journey– on the transformative process that has to take place in order to move into the bloom. 

May we all take a lesson from the pews this week. Whatever it is you fret about getting perfect, give yourself a break and let God move through the ripening process with you. When we let grace in, the process of coming into bloom is just as beautiful, and important, as the end result. 

Working on Ripening Too,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 2/23/24

Good Day to you Church,

It’s a balmy 50 outside, and since the sun is shining, I am writing to you from my back deck. I don’t often get a chance to spend time outside in the winter, so this is a treat! 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Jeff Mitchell to Preach this Sunday, Feb. 25 

This week I went in for an ablation of my SI joint, and I am so grateful to Jeff for taking the reins this week in worship so I can continue to rest and recoup. (The procedure went well, but I am slower to recover than I expected.) 

“The Gaza Crisis and the Debate about Genocide”

Wed. February 28, 7 PM

St. Lawrence University is hosting a spring lecture series called Israel/Palestine: Contexts and Perspectives. The February lecture, concerning the topic of genocide, will be presented by Elun Gabriel, in Hepburn Hall, 218 Auditorium.

All Church Potluck, Sunday March 3rd 

A week from this Sunday we will again be sharing a meal together after worship. I hope you’ll join us!

Youth Group Has Returned!

Our small but mighty youth group– a co-sponsored group between our church and the Methodist church– has been resurrected. Our next night for the youth will be Monday, March 4th at 6:30pm at our church. 

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Multifarious Contexts; Diverging Perspectives” Wed. March 6th
SLU’s March lecture on Israel/Palestine: Contexts and Perspectives will be presented by Oded Haklai of Queen’s University on Wednesday, March 6, 7 PM in Hepburn Hall, 218 Auditorium. 

Calls for Per Capita Giving 

As I mentioned last week, we are collecting gifts of $33 from those of you who are members, who might be willing to help the church offset our per capita bill to Presbytery. This year our bill totals $1,386. As a reminder, we are only required to pay per capita for folks in our congregation who are members. If you have not officially joined the church, this does not apply to you.

The Sanctuary Floor is Complete! 

Waylon Maitland and his 6-person crew came this last week and laid our brand-new oak floor down in the sanctuary– and boy does it look beautiful! At this rate, we should be able to hold our first worship service back in the sanctuary by Easter Sunday. 

Sanctuary Cleaning Crew

Before we can move back into the sanctuary, we’ve got some major cleaning to do! We don’t yet have a date for a work party, but might you be willing to spare a couple hours on a Saturday later in March to come and help clean the sanctuary? The pews need scrubbing, the pew cushions need vacuuming, the walls need dusting, the sound system needs to be re-installed, and the narthex needs a good tidying up. 

I’ll let you know the details for the date as they become available, but we’re likely looking at the 16th or the 23rd of March. 

Church Directory is Almost Complete

We’ve all been waiting for this– our updated church directory. It should be available in the next couple of weeks! 

God Doesn’t Give Up on Us, and Neither Should We

Last night I got a surprise phone call from our friend Daniel, who is currently in rehab. He’s proud to say that he’s getting healthy, feeling good about himself, and giving back to the community he’s currently living in. While we talked on the phone, his second batch of banana nut muffins were baking in the oven– which he was delighted to get to share with his colleagues in rehab. 

Daniel asks that we continue to pray for him, and thanks us for all of the support we’ve offered to him over these last few months. He explained to me that he had lost himself over the years, but he’s ready to come back to life and be a contributing member of society. 

Friends, you and I are not so unlike Daniel. We lose our way too– in our relationships, our resentments and our grudges, our untruths, our fears, our guilt and our shame, and our disbelief in ourselves and in God’s goodness in the world. 

But God is always waiting for us with open arms– for that moment when we decide to come back to grace. We may or may not need to go to rehab to find the light of Life, but all of us are invited to move into mutuality, love, respect, and delight– in ourselves, in each other, in our community, and in God. In truth, we move in and out of these markers of God’s kingdom throughout our lives, but when we slide into half-living, God never gives us up. No matter what, God holds space for us to return to the light. 

If you are feeling lost, my prayer for you is that you don’t give up. God hasn’t, and neither will we. Grace is always waiting with her hand outstretched.

In Faith,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 2/16/24

Happy Friday to you Church,

As I sit here gazing out my window this morning, a light snow is falling. Looks like we’re back to winter. It’s funny to me that it only took a week of warmer weather for me to feel shocked at the sight of snow once again! 

Here’s the news for the week:

Community Friendship Volunteer Program Presentation This Sunday 

This Sunday during coffee hour, Meghan Conklin will be offering a presentation on the Community Friendship Volunteer Program– a volunteer-based program that provides friendship and a helping hand to seniors in St. Lawrence County, whereby volunteers can assist a senior citizen through friendly home visits, phone conversation, light housekeeping, going on outings, help with errands, and more. 

Julie Miller Presents the Music of Keith Gates

This coming Tuesday, at 7:30pm in Snell Theater, Julie and a variety of other Crane faculty and students will be offering a special, free concert of music from Keith Gates, a former Crane professor who wrote beautiful, spiritually-informed songs and pieces. Julie has been working hard on this project for months, and it promises to be a powerful musical experience. 

Next Community Supper Slated for Thursday, Feb. 22nd

Our next joint Community Supper is being held at Trinity Episcopal Church. For those who want to volunteer, please see Sue Waters. 

Jeff Mitchell to Preach Sunday, Feb. 26th

I hope you’ll join us for worship next Sunday, as Jeff brings us a word from the Word.

Help with Per Capita

It’s time again to be thinking about per capita at church. For those of you who are members, I’d like to ask you to consider sending in a donation to help us pay for this. For each member on our rolls, our church is required to pay $33 to the higher-up governing bodies we belong to. We currently have 42 members, and at $33/per person, you can see that this is going to be a hefty bill for the church. That said, if some of us who are members are able to offer the church a special gift of $33, it will help offset some of what people sometimes refer to as a “head tax.” 

What do I mean by a “head tax?” Perhaps you already know what per capita means, but if not, let me explain. In the Presbyterian Church (USA), individual churches work together to help each other. In our denomination, individual churches in a particular region belong to a governing body we call the Presbytery, and Presbyteries belong to the next higher up governing body, called Synods. And Synods belong to the highest level of governance– the General Assembly. Together, all of these governing bodies help to support local churches with everything from Sunday School curriculum, to social justice resources, to real estate transactions, and hiring new ministers. 

Our church belongs to the Presbytery of Northern New York, which offers the most fabulous support I’ve ever encountered in our denomination. Our presbytery resource leader, David Bennett, was invaluable in helping our congregation navigate through the hardships of the previous 8 years, and was indispensable in helping to bring me on as your new pastor. What’s more, he’s always there to answer any questions I have, and gives the same helpful guidance to all of our local congregations. 

As you can imagine, however, none of this support comes for free. 

It costs money to pay David Bennett to serve in the position he does, and it costs money to run presbyteries, and synods, and the GA. This is why we have per capita. Each congregation is required to support these important governing bodies with their per capita giving, which is determined by the number of members we have. 

If you are a member, it is not mandatory for you to pay the per capita fee the church is charged to support your role in our church, but if you are able to help, it makes a difference for our congregation’s bottom line. If you are able to give, just write “Per Capita” on the memo line of your check. 

*Please note that if you have not formally joined our church as a member, per capita is not charged for you!

Sanctuary Renovations Continue

Well folks, we’re getting down to the end of our sanctuary renovation project! We have 3 more steps to go before we can move back into the sanctuary, and the next major step will start this coming Monday morning. Next week, Waylon Maitland and his crew will be installing our new oak floor. It’s going to be beautiful, and I can’t wait to see how it’s going to look! 

After that, the pews will need to be re-installed and our new chairs will need to be moved over to the sanctuary. And finally, the whole room is going to need a major, thorough cleaning before we can move back into the space for worship. We’re hoping that all of this can be accomplished before Easter Sunday on March 31st. 

This last week our custodian, Ron, started some of the initial cleaning. He also took down all of the plastic that had been keeping the organ’s pipes safe from plaster repair and painting. Doesn’t it look absolutely beautiful? 

Friends, that said– as beautiful as this room is going to be when it’s all said and done, it’s important to remember that our sanctuary is not our church. We are the church, and worship can take place in any space (no matter how ugly or beautiful). But if we’re going to have a designated space to bloom and flourish in as the body of Christ, this one certainly will make do, won’t it? 😉 

With Gratitude and Delight,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 2/2/24

Good Day to you Church,

We’ve got a gloomy, grey day for Groundhog’s Day this year, but a little elf told me that we can expect to actually see the sun for a few days beginning this weekend. Does anyone even remember what the sun looks like?! 

Here’s the news for the week: 

A Big Welcoming “Hello” to Andrew and Dee

Do you remember last January, a man named Brandon Rodriguez was released from prison in Ogdensburg and came to Potsdam because he had been enrolled in college through a program that SUNY Potsdam was running at Riverview Correctional Facility? Brandon is an exceptional student, and is closing in on graduating from SUNY Potsdam this spring, and now two other men who have been enrolled in SUNY Potsdam’s program are following in his footsteps. 

Andrew Francis and Dee Smith both started school this week, and there’s a welcoming party for them this afternoon (Friday, Feb. 2nd) at 311 Satterlee Hall, from 3:30-5pm. If you happen to be on campus, or live nearby and have a minute to drop in and welcome them to our community, I know they would appreciate it. 

Returning to the community after being in prison is hard enough, but these young men have come to a town where they don’t know anybody because they are committed to earning their degree and giving back to the world positively. I hope that we will be able to help support them on their journey in the coming months and years! 

All-Church Potluck This Sunday, 2/4

Bring on the mac ‘n cheese! After church this Sunday we will be gathering together at the table to enjoy a lovely potluck meal together after our worship service. Please bring a dish to pass!

Annual Congregational Meeting Set for Sunday, Feb. 11th

Instead of tailgating for the Super Bowl, we at church will be “pre-gaming” by holding our annual congregational meeting during coffee hour on Sunday, Feb. 11th. I hope you can join us! 

Jazz Night at the UU Church, Friday, Feb. 16th

If you enjoy jazz, you won’t want to miss this free night of live music at the UU Church. A quartet, including Tim Savage, John Danis, and James Galisinski, will be playing from 6:30-8:30pm. 

Community Friendship Volunteer Program Presentation on Feb. 18th

During coffee hour on Sunday, Feb. 18th, Meghan Conklin will be offering a presentation on the Community Friendship Volunteer Program– a volunteer-based program that provides friendship and a helping hand to seniors in St. Lawrence County, whereby volunteers can assist a senior citizen through friendly home visits, phone conversation, light housekeeping, going on outings, help with errands, and more. 


If you have questions, Meghan can be reached by email at mconklin@cpnorthcountry.org or by phone (315) 379-8346. 

Preparing for our Congregational Meeting: A Look at our Church’s Financials 

Alright folks, it’s time to pull out your reading glasses and take a look at our financials. I thought I’d share the details with you in this week’s newsletter to give you time to peruse them before we meet on the 11th for our annual meeting. 

To help you understand, here are our profit and loss statements from both 2023 and 2022 for you to be able to look at, because 2023 doesn’t fully make sense without knowing the backstory in 2022. 

If you open up these documents you will notice some crazy “yo-yo” numbers for our final totals. In 2022 we ended the year with a huge surplus: +$72,651 to be exact. And in 2023 we ended with a huge deficit: -$49,569. Both of these very large numbers have to do with our sanctuary renovation project. 

At the very end of 2022 we received $64,000 from Brotherhood Mutual Insurance to go towards fixing the damage to our roof and the sanctuary. This is why we ended with such a large surplus in 2022–we received the money, but didn’t have time in the calendar year to do the work and spend the money. 

Instead, the work started this past May, and as you know, is still ongoing. In 2023 we spent the majority of our insurance money– just shy of $50,000. Because we spent money in 2023 that we did not receive in 2023, our profit and loss statement says that we have a deficit of -$49,569 for the calendar year. 

I know it’s frustrating to look at these numbers like this, but profit and loss statements only look at money coming in and out of our accounts across a certain period of time, and because the insurance money did not hit our account in 2023– when the work was paid for– it looks like we have a huge deficit. But! If you look at both years combined– adding together the totals we have in both 2022 and 2023– you will see that we are actually in the black over this two year span of time. Adding the totals together, we actually have a surplus of $23,00 over that 2 year period. 

Now, $15,000 of this surplus is money still earmarked for the renovation project. We’re not done yet with the work. As I mentioned last week, we have decided to put down a new floor in the sanctuary in 2024, which will use up all of that $15,000 (plus another $10,000 that we need to raise to pay for the whole thing). But if you take out the $15k from the total surplus we had in 2023, we are still $8,000 above the board for 2022-2023! 

Friends, this is huge news for our little church. We have been in the black every year since I started at the church in 2020–something I’m astounded by. But again, I must also explain. 

Before I came, the church was regularly in the red every year. For years we have not had enough people coming to church and offering tithes and pledges to keep up with our expenses. So why are things different now? Part of it is that we are growing our little congregation, and you all are incredibly generous people! But the other reason has to do with the particularities of my life. 

I am on disability because of my health problems, which ironically, has become a huge gift to our church. At the present time, the PC(USA)’s Board of Pensions program pays for my disability, supplementing what the federal government gives me (which is not enough to live on ….but that’s for another story). 

Since I am not physically able to work full time, our denomination’s robust disability pension program pays for all of my health insurance and pension benefits, along with a chunk of salary. This is money that the church would otherwise be paying me in my salary package, and it amounts to nearly $30,000 a year. Thesehefty savings are a major part of why we have gone from being in the red every year to being in the black the past 4 years. 

Now, I am currently still on disability, but I am doing everything I can to try and get better physically. I am hopeful that I am finally getting close to finding a treatment that will relieve enough pain and give me back enough mobility that at some point I will be able to go off of disability. If that happens, the church has to be prepared to pick back up the parts of my salary that it has not had to pay while I have been on disability. 

Being prepared for this reality is the reason that every year our projected budget looks so grim. For 2024, we are projecting a -$87,000 budget. Gasp! But… but that huge negative number assumes that the church is paying for my full salary for the whole year (which it currently isn’t) and it includes payment for the new floor (which we have money set aside for from 2023, but is not reflected in the budget because the money did not arrive in 2024). Does that make any sense? 

I know that profit and loss statements are frustrating, as is our annual budget. They are not designed to give the whole picture of what’s going on, which makes it maddening to understand if you don’t know the fine details! But there they are– the finer details. Hopefully I’ve done a good enough job explaining all of these finer details so that you don’t have a heart attack when you read the final numbers from 2023 or when you look at our projected budget for 2024. If, however, you read through this explanation and look at the P&L statements, and you still have questions, please reach out to me. Or, wait until our annual meeting and we can discuss it all together then. 

All in all, I want you to know that Session and I take the church’s finances seriously and we are quite pleased with how well we were able to stick to the budget for our renovation project. It took a lot of effort, planning, researching, and prudence to not overspend, and I am proud of what we have accomplished this last year! 

Where From Here?

And now a final word about our finances: When I first came to our church to be the pastor, I was prepared mentally that within 5 years we would need to sell our building and move somewhere else because financially we could not afford to stay in such an expensive home any longer. We had many meetings to discuss what this shift might look like back when I first came, and you were ready to make that jump with me. 

As it is turning out, we probably won’t have to think about selling our building in the next 5 years. At some point in the future we might still have to, but for the time being we are bringing in enough money (and also not spending what we otherwise would have had to), to be able to stay where we are. 

All this to say– where do we go from here? I honestly have no idea what God has in store for us in terms of the finer details, but what I do know is that we are a beautiful, lively, and caring church community that has a lot of life in front of it! And I can’t wait to see what God will bring about, not only in 2024, but in the coming years as well. 

May God continue to guide us, teach us, mold us, and bless us! 

In Faith,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 1/26/24

A good Friday to you, Church,

Oh my! It might be Friday, but what crummy weather we’ve got today. 32 degrees and pouring rain. Blek! I hope you’ve got your yaktrax on, if you’re out walking around. 

Here’s the news for the week. 

Jeff Mitchell to Preach This Sunday

I will be away this Sunday to moderate the Ogdensburg Stone Church’s annual congregational meeting, and I am grateful to Jeff, who is willing to jump in and lead worship in my stead. 

All-Church Potluck Set for February 4th

It’s almost here– time to cook and feast together! Bring a dish to pass on Sunday, February 4th and we will enjoy fellowship together after worship. 

Putting In a New Floor

Well, folks, after a few hairy weeks of working on the floor in the sanctuary, Session has had a “come to Jesus” moment. Our plan, to date, had been to save the church some money and simply refinish the existing floor in the sanctuary. But for a whole host of reasons this option is becoming unrealistic. And so, Session has changed direction, to address our current situation. We have decided to have a new hardwood floor installed over the existing floor. 

Dave Wells has been doing some research, and a new hardwood floor is going to cost us $25,000. Thankfully, we still have $15,000 left in the sanctuary renovation budget, leaving us with a remainder of $10,000 to raise. Waylon Maitland, who will be installing the floor, is Presbyterian and is willing to donate $3,000 towards the cause. And Nathan LaFaver, the painter who repaired and painted the sanctuary walls and ceiling, is also willing to pitch in some. 

I know I’ve been asking you to donate to all sorts of small projects lately– for our Kenyan students, for postage to send winter wear to Ukraine, and for Christmas gifts for people in need– but will you be prayerful about what you might be able to contribute to our new floor? I know that not everyone is in a financial position to help, and that’s absolutely ok, but if a number of us can all pitch in a little, we can make this happen. 

When this is all said and done, we are going to have a magnificent sanctuary to worship in!

ReThinking January

I’ve been falling into the “January slump” lately. Have you? With so many grey days, the weather is starting to get to me. Thankfully, I have a number of craft projects to be working on to distract me from the winter slog. 

One of these projects is something I started years ago, but had to put away because my health wouldn’t allow me to work on it. I recently pulled it out though, and it’s nearing completion. 

Doing this project has made me think about January differently. Yes, deep winter is enough to drive anyone crazy, but this is also special time. There aren’t as many social obligations to tend to in January, and because the weather is often iffy, we don’t plan as many outings– leaving extra time to try things we haven’t done before. 

In all honesty, without the doldrums of January, I wouldn’t have picked this project back up. It would still be folded away in a box somewhere, uncompleted. Friends, if we allow it to be, winter can be a beautiful time to open the box on our creative energy– to try things that we otherwise wouldn’t make the time for. 

Is there something you’ve always wanted to try, but never made the space for in your life? January is a fabulous time to try making a new recipe, or to learn woodworking, or to read a juicy book. It’s a lovely season to write letters to old friends, or make special valentine cards for your grandkids. What creative corner of your brain can you move into during these grey days? If we sweep out the cobwebs and the dust from our creative places and allow the Spirit to move through us, our cabin fever can transform into a beautiful, and meaningful season of time. 

There is more to life than going to work and coming home to watch television in the evenings. Since we are made in the image of our Creator, we too have magnificent creative power. What beautiful, creative thing can you turn this time of year into? There are painters, cooks, musicians, potters, woodworkers, knitters, actors, and singers hiding inside of ourselves– parts of us we have not yet met. I encourage you to use this special season (otherwise known as January), to get to know those hidden parts of yourself!

In Faith,
Pastor Katrina 

News for the Church, 1/19/24

Good Day to you, Church! 

Brrrr! It’s a cold one out there today, and tomorrow will be even colder. I hope that you are staying warm. 

I’m currently sitting with my feet propped up next to the heat of my woodstove, which is gently creaking and whirring in response to the fire inside. It feels wonderful! 

Here’s the news for the week. 

“Take Two” to Celebrate Cynthia Coleman

As you know, we had to cancel our worship service last Sunday because of a major snowstorm, so this Sunday we will pick up where we left off and give thanks for Cynthia, who has served as our faithful treasurer for over 20 years. Did I mention that there will be cake?!

Jeff Mitchell to Preach Jan. 28th

I’m very excited to inform you that our very own Jeff Mitchell has heard God’s call to ministry and will soon be going under the care of our presbytery, to eventually become a Commissioned Lay Pastor. 

I hope that you will come support him on this path, as he practices his craft of delivering sermons on January 28th. Jeff has such a kind, loving heart and a passion for his faith. He will make a great pastor one day! 

Congregational Meeting Scheduled for February 11th

Session and I are busy preparing for our upcoming Congregational Meeting, and I have good news! Our year-end numbers are finally in for 2023, and if you read them in conjunction with our numbers from 2022, we’re actually in the black. 

As you know, we spent a lot of money this year on our sanctuary renovation project (which is still not yet complete), but we are currently under budget and still on track to stay within the amount we received from the insurance company. Huzzah! 

In a couple of weeks I will share our year-end numbers with you and explain how to read them. (It’s a bit complicated to understand without knowing the details.) 

Supporting Our Kenya Students

Do you remember that we have been sponsoring a handful of high school students in Kenya for the last few years? It started with Joanina Gichovi and her sister Juster (both of whom went on to graduate from Clarkson!). 

Now we are paying tuition fees for two young men– Linus Mukathe and Romney Murithi. They are both bright young men who would not otherwise be able to afford to attend school. The cost of tuition for each of them is $475. 

As we know from Joanina and Juster, these are students who have big dreams, and might be able to positively change the lives of many people in their communities as adults, if they only had access to education. 

Might you be willing to send in a donation to help with their tuition for the year? We’re hoping to raise $950. If you’d like to send in a special donation, write “Kenya Students” on the memo line of your check. 

Help from the Fellas at the Department of Public Works

I forgot to tell you the most amazing story last week– about what happened the day the semi pulled in to deliver our new chairs at church. 

Picture the scene with me: It’s early morning on a cold, snowy January morning in Potsdam. Six folks from our church are gathered together outside on the busy street, peering into the back end of a semi, discussing how best they’re going to lower huge pallets of chairs down from the truck without a lift. 

Each stack of chairs weigh hundreds of pounds, and they’re sitting on the floor of the truck, seven feet above the street surface. How are they going to muscle these chairs to the ground in order to haul them into the building? 

Our folks are in full discussion about the best way to lower the chairs down from the truck without taking out anyone’s aging back, when a couple of workers with the Department of Public Works walk up. It turns out our truck is blocking them from working on a sewer line. 

They wait for a while watching our crew of congregants and decide right then and there that something needs to be done. Without skipping a beat, they jump up on the truck, and together, they lower these unwieldy, heavy stacks of chairs down to the ground. No one asks or expects them to help, but they offered this amazing gift anyway. 

Later in the day, one of our congregants is so pleased with what has transpired, that they drop by the DOPW office with a gift certificate to buy the whole crew lunch at the diner. 

Friends, this is what unconditional love looks like. These fellas weren’t looking for a favor, or praise, or lunch at the diner. They just saw people in need, and jumped in to help! 

If there ever was an example of the Kingdom of God unfolding on the street, this is it. 

May we, like these strangers, find an opportunity this week to go out of our way to help someone we don’t even know. 

In Joy,
Pastor Katrina 

News fr the Church, 1/12/24

A Beautiful January day to you, Church!

Well, winter has finally decided to stick around. Are you enjoying the beauty of the snow on the pines? This morning I was mesmerized, watching the snow fall like powder from the trees in a small gust of wind. 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Jazz Night at the UU Church Tonight

Last year a few musicians at the UU church joined together to play jazz for folks during the dreary winter months. This year, they’re at it again! 4 All You Know will be offering a free jazz night and coffee bar tonight from 6:30-8:30pm. Drop in, have a coffee and enjoy their swing, bebop, cool jazz, Latin, and fusion sound!

Celebrating Cynthia Coleman’s Retirement 

This Sunday we will be recognizing Cynthia for her decades of service as our church treasurer with a cake during coffee hour. 

MLK Day Celebrations

If you’d like to be intentional about celebrating the advancements of the civil rights movement and the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, here are two opportunities:

Clarkson is sponsoring a leadership workshop called “So, You Want to be a Leader?” with Bakari Smith (’17), from 4:30-6pm in the Clarkson Student Center on Monday, Jan. 15th.

Also that day, from 7-8:30 at the Methodist Church, the Poor People’s Campaign will be discussing his legacy. 

Clarkson Prof to Discuss How to Motivate People to Care about the Earth, Jan. 25th

Clarkson University Professor of Psychology Dr. Lisa Legault will present the 2024 Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE) Keynote Lecture on Thursday, January 25 at 3 p.m. in the Student Center Multipurpose Rooms on Clarkson’s Collins Hill Campus and via Zoom. A reception will follow.

The title of her talk is “Using Motivation Science to Help the Environment, Promote Health, and Foster Diversity.” In this keynote lecture, Legault will explore strategies to motivate and persuade people to adopt healthier, more prosocial, and more environmentally sustainable decisions and behaviors.

All-Church Potluck Feb. 4th

Make sure to mark your calendar for the best Sunday of the month! I hope someone will bring mac ‘n cheese again! 🙂 

Annual Congregational Meeting set for Feb. 11th

If you are able to attend, your presence will be much appreciated at our upcoming congregational meeting. Session has been working on creating a budget for 2024, which we will present. 

The Annual Budget

I’m hearing about some confusion and frustration with how our budgets look– because they involve some rather concerning, eye-brow raising numbers. The short story is that our budgets (and our profit and loss statements) reflect the flow of money in and out of our accounts, but don’t necessarily convey the bigger picture of our financial situation. Consequently, the week prior to our meeting, I will devote a large portion of our newsletter to explaining how and why the budget is set up as it is. We’re actually doing well (enough) financially– in the big picture– even though specific details might make us wonder otherwise. 

Dale Hobson’s Latest Poem

Last Sunday was a particularly meaningful one for some of us, including Dale, who went home and whirrled and twirled, and whipped up our entire worship service– from a momentary celebration of the first real snowfall of the season, to the content of the sermon (about the nature of new beginnings)– into a beautiful poem. I thought you might enjoy reading it. 

Epiphany Snow

The first real snow falls on Epiphany, late,
after a dry fall and cool December. Six inches,
no big deal, but an epiphany nonetheless.

Snow boots are still in the closet, the shovel 
and salt tucked behind stuff on the back porch.
The inevitable finds me unprepared as usual.

I purged from memory the scraping of the plow,
forgot the way snow shines on sagging cedars,
how all things dull and dim can now be shining.

Out of the old year’s ending, this new beginning,
when what could be wrestles with what will be. Who
can say what may befall once the snow begins to fall?

Snow on cedars. Photo: Greg Marks, Creative Commons, some rights reserved

Happy Winter, friends!
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 12/22/23

A beautiful cheery sunny day to you, Church!

It turns out, winter finally decided to show up! We have cold temps, and just enough snow to make things look beautiful, and we have sunshine today! What more could you want for 3 days before Christmas? 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Sunday Morning, the 24th

In lieu of worship on the morning of Christmas Eve, you are welcome to come sing Christmas carols!

We will meet at the church at 10am to select and practice a handful of songs, and then we will take the show on the road. Those of us caroling are scheduled to sing our carols at Partridge Knoll at 11am. Afterwards we will have a few minutes to visit with residents there, including our own Vernice Church, before we then head over to Maplewood to sing for nursing home residents at 12 while they enjoy a Christmas lunch. 

After that we will swing by Ruth Kreuzer’s home and sing a few carols for her and her husband. 

You don’t have to have a beautiful voice to join the choir– just a willing heart to share Christmas joy with folks who aren’t able to travel to church. 

Christmas Eve Night

Then, the evening of Christmas Eve, you are invited to return to church at 7pm for a special Christmas worship service complete with trumpets, our Advent wreath lighting, and singing Silent Night sung by candlelight. It’s going to be a beautiful evening. 

Church Workday Scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 27th

As you know, the sanctuary is coming right along. Folks have been coming in all week to pull nails and tack strips from the floor, and to sweep. And next week, a group of our young, strong, able-bodied college kids are coming to help toss all of the floor debris into the roll-off that will be delivered early that morning. You are invited to come and participate if you like, starting at 10:30am. 

I don’t think it will take more than a couple of hours, and we will order pizza for all of our hard workers. 

Gifts for Friends

This last week I got to play the role of your Christmas elf! I brought two bags of gifts to our young friend Andre, who is trying to make a life for himself out of nothing. I delivered bath towels, toiletries, and his favorite chocolates. He was elated! 

And we have a box going for our other friend Daniel, who is also trying to make a way out of no way. So far, we have winter boots, gloves, bus tokens, and a few plates and bowls, and Beth Grace has offered to take him to Best Friends Thrift store to pick up other household goods he might need. 

Last night a bunch of his things were stolen, including his winter coat and all of his food. I *think he wears a men’s size medium, if anyone has a winter coat they’d be willing to share. And he will eat anything but seafood. 

If you’d like to help out with any of these things, let me know. I’m hoping he might be able to make it to church this Sunday evening, when hopefully we can give him his box. 

Jeff Mitchell has Begun Studies to Become a Commissioned Lay Pastor

I’m pleased as punch to announce that Jeff Mitchell feels the call to ministry, and has already taken up some of the classes he will need to eventually become a Commissioned Lay Pastor in the Presbyterian Church. He’s taking classes online through Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richland, Virginia, and is learning a lot. Every time we chat about school his face lights up and he shares about the many things he’s learning about the Bible and the history of Christianity. Let’s pray for Jeff, as he begins this journey. 

Covid is Once Again on the Rise

If you haven’t heard, Covid is going around again in our area. There was an outbreak at the hospital and I know more than a handful of locals who are currently down for the count. In addition to that, the flu virus is also going around, and this strain is a yucky one. 

As a reminder, you might want to consider getting a booster shot again, if you haven’t already. And it’s worth making sure to wash your hands frequently and consider wearing a mask in public if you’re concerned about getting sick. 

And as always, if you are sick, please offer your love to the world by staying home until you feel better. There are a lot of immuno-compromised people who can’t afford to get sick and the best way we can support them is to not share our illnesses with them. 

You can sign up for vaccines online either through Kinney Drug’s website, or Walgreens’ website. 

A Very, Merry Christmas to You

Dear Hearts, I am filled with joy today as I think about how happy I am to have all of you in my life. You bring joy and richness to my days, and fill my heart with gladness. Thank you for being such a loving, caring community of people. 

This last Sunday at church, I especially felt the joy in the room as we sang, laughed, prayed, shared, and learned together. We are a community who loves and supports one another, and I am blessed to be a part of who we are becoming. 

I feel that we are currently shining with the same grace and wonder as this Christmas amaryllis, which my aunt gifted to me a few weeks ago. May we continue to live in God’s great joy in this world! 

A Very Merry Christmas to you all!
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 12/8/23

A happy, snowy, winter-wonderland day to you, Church! 

What a beautiful land of winter wonder we’ve got this week. Without any wind, all of the trees are still frosted with snow. It won’t last much longer, but we will enjoy it today while it’s here. 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Potluck and Communion This Sunday

Bring your favorite dish to pass on Sunday and we will enjoy visiting over lunch after worship. Additionally, we will celebrate communion this Sunday as part of our “love feast”– the ancient way that the first Christians celebrated the Lord’s Supper. 

Christmas Eve Set for 7pm on the 24th

Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year, and Session decided that rather than have two services that day, we will skip our morning worship and gather in the evening instead– for a candlelight service filled with special music! 

I had really hoped we’d be able to have our service in the sanctuary, but as renovation projects always do, ours is taking longer than expected and it won’t be ready in time. 

This just means that our first Sunday back in the sanctuary is going to be that much more special!

Pledge Cards

Alright folks, the pledge cards are starting to trickle in. We’ve received 10 so far. 

I increased my giving for next year. Do you think you might be able to also? This year I am projecting that we are going to be at around $50,000 in the hole, so any extra you have to contribute would be a major gift to the church. 

The deficit will be especially high this year because of the renovation project. We are on budget– thanks be to God!– but all of the insurance money we received for the project came in the year 2022 (padding last year’s budget), and we are only now paying it out for the work to be done. 

Anyone for Caroling? 

Last year after coffee hour, a handful of us gathered around the piano to sing Christmas carols. I’m wondering if folks might want to go caroling outside this year. Is that something you’d be interested in doing? Perhaps the weekend of the 16th-17th? Or perhaps we could go to Maplewood and sing for the folks at the nursing home. What do you think? If this is something you’d be interested in, please email me back and we will get it organized! 

Food for the Food Pantry

A big thanks to Crane for donating half of the non-perishable food donations they received last Sunday at their Candlelight Concert! This will help stock the shelves through to the New Year. 

Sanctuary Update

I have big news to share today. The painting has been finished in the sanctuary! Nate LaFaver and his crew did an amazing job repairing the walls and ceiling, and then painting. We wanted to brighten up the space, so the side walls are white and the trusses are gold. And to pay homage to our history, we had the front and back wall painted in the same blue-green color that the sanctuary was painted back in the early 1900s. (*We happened to discover a drip of that paint on one of the pews when we were taking them out. It must have dripped when they were originally painting the ceiling that color, so we were able to match it exactly!) 

The next step in the project is to remove all of the carpeting and refinish the floors. We’re going to do this part ourselves to save money. If you’d like to volunteer to help roll and carry out carpet, to pull nails out of the floorboards, help sand, and/or paint a new coat of varnish onto the floor please let me or Renee Stauffer know! 

After that, we will re-install the pews that we saved, along with the upholstered chairs that will be arriving from the manufacturer’s in Florida. And then…. then we will celebrate! 

Come, Jesus, come! 

In faith,
Pastor Katrina