Author: Rev. Katrina Hebb

Good Day to you Church,

It’s officially a gorgeous fall day outside– we can finally say that! Happy fall y’all. 🙂 

Here’s the news for today: 

All-Church Potluck, Oct. 1st

When you come to church a week from this Sunday, plan to bring a dish to pass at our next All-Church potluck. We will enjoy food, fellowship, and camaraderie following our worship service. 

Yimei Zhu to be Baptized Oct. 1st

I hope you will be able to join us for worship on Sunday, Oct 1st, when Yimei– one of our newcomers– will be baptized. She is excited to share this moment with all of us.

Volunteers Still Needed to Help with our Star

We’ve had two people volunteer to help Dick Partch do some maintenance work on our giant blue star that shines brightly over the town of Potsdam every Advent season. Might you be willing to join them? It will take about 90 minutes to lower the star, replace some light bulbs, and then heave it back up into place at the top of the steeple with a set of pulleys and ropes. Please let me know if you’re able to help. When we get 6 people together for the job, we will find a day when we’re all available to meet. 

PIC Picnic was a Success

Thursday night, about 60 people from 8 different congregations in Potsdam and the surrounding area came together for food and fellowship at the annual Potsdam Interfaith Community picnic. I visited with people from the masjid, the synagogue, the UU Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Quaker Church, and the Russian Orthodox Church. In a time of political and theological divide, these dinners are an opportunity to remember that people we might otherwise disagree with are still our fellow brothers and sisters in God’s family. I hope that next year you might consider joining us! 

We’ve raised $600 for the Sanctuary Renovation

Last Sunday, Emmett Smith, the CEO of Northern Power & Light came to church to give us a presentation on the merits of switching our electricity from National Grid, and its natural-gas powered electricity, to this local company, which runs its electricity via sustainable hydro-power. 

NP&L is offering our church $100 for every person in our congregation (and beyond) who switches their electrical services over to their hydro-power services. So far, we’ve raised $600 through this fundraiser. Might you consider doing it too? 

The cost of your electricity will stay exactly the same. The only added requirement for you is that you will have to pay 2 bills each month, instead of one. (You will pay NP&L for your electricity and National Grid a small amount for carrying and supplying the electricity.) 

If you’d like to do something positive to fight climate change and help support the church through a $100 donation from NP&L, please go to their website and sign up. Use the promo code: SAVE THE SANCTUARY

Here’s the link: https://www.npandl.com/

Pastor Katrina Away for 2 Weeks

Friends, my family could really use your prayers. My step-brother is gravely ill and will likely not survive the coming weeks after a complicated heart surgery that did not go well. 

My step-brother, John, lives about an hour away from my mom in southwestern Missouri, and is currently in critical condition in the ICU in Springfield, MO. And my mom, who is his only support system and holding herself together as best she can, is in need of serious support herself.

I have made plans to fly out to be with both my mom and my step-brother in early October. I will be gone from Oct. 4th- Oct. 19th. 

Here is the plan for the 2 Sundays that I will be away:

Oct. 8th, Raamitha Pillay, who directs our local chapter of the Poor People’s Campaign and is teaching our weekly class called The Difficult Conversation Lab, will be a special speaker during worship. 

Oct. 15th, Jeff Mitchell will preach and lead worship. 

Please pray for both John’s health, and that God’s peace will wash over my family– no matter the outcome of the next few weeks. We don’t get to know if John is going to survive this or not, and more than anything we need God’s peace. 

The Spikey Church and the Star

I thought you might get a laugh out of an encounter I had last night at the PIC picnic. I got chatting with a family that lives in Potsdam and attends St. Olympus Orthodox Church in Norwood. The father asked which congregation I’m a part of, and I told him that I’m the pastor at the Potsdam Presbyterian Church. He asked which church that was, and I started to describe our church building and its location. 

“It’s the large sandstone building tucked in the triangle between Route 11 and 11B,” I said– trying to describe where our church building sits. 

“Oh!” he exclaimed, “You mean the Spikey Church?!” 

“The Spikey Church?” I asked, slightly confused. 

“Yeah, my 6-year old refers to your church as the Spikey Church because the spires are so tall and…. well, spikey! We drive by your church every day, and every day he says, ‘There’s the Spikey Church, dad!'” 

This father and I had a good chuckle. 

Later in the evening, this same man and I were sitting with some young men from the masjid, who also asked which church I belong to. I began to say, “The Presbyterian Church,” when this father piped in.

“It’s the spikey church just a few blocks down Elm St. from your masjid.” 

All of the men at the table began to laugh and nod their heads in understanding. They knew exactly what The Spikey Church meant! 

One of these young men chimed in, “And you have the big blue star that shines brightly in the winter. I look at that star every time I walk from Clarkson, all the way down Elm St. to the masjid for daily prayers. It’s beautiful and it brings a smile to my face.” 

May the blessings of autumnal grace belong to you today, 
Pastor Katrina

Good Day to you, Church!

It’s a gorgeous, early fall day and I’m sitting out on the porch watching a monarch butterfly flit and float across the grass. It’s landed on a goldenrod, stopping to eat a snack on its way south to Mexico. I hope you’re enjoying the beauty of this day with me! 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Sunday Sept. 17th

So much is happening this Sunday, you won’t want to be late for church. 

Firstly, starting this Sunday, we are meeting for worship in the CENTER, as further work is being conducted in the sanctuary. Secondly, we will be welcoming 6 new members to our congregation– Susan Dillon, Arthur Freehart, Cyndy Hennessy, John Hubbard, and Jeff and Susan Mitchell! 

Thirdly, we will be sending Heidi and Keith Jamieson off to their new adventure in Seattle with prayer. 

And fourthly, you are invited to stick around during coffee hour to listen to a presentation by Northern Power & Light about the merits of switching to local, sustainable electricity. 

I spoke with Northern Power & Lights this week, and they are setting a goal of raising $5,000 for our church in donations! For every new customer who signs up with their company (and donates their promotional gift to the church), NP&L will give us $100! Do you think we can get 50 people across Potsdam to do this? I think we can! 

Difficult Conversation Lab to Begin THIS Monday

For those of you who have signed up for this 8-week class, we will have our first class on Monday, the 18th, from 4:30-6:30pm. For this one week, we will be meeting in the conference room (as the Center had already been reserved.) Please feel free to bring snacks and drinks with you. I will do my best to buy some healthy snacks to share with everyone. 

PIC Potluck Picnic This Thursday, Sept. 21st, 5-7pm

The Pic picnic, which is held every year under the pavilion in Sandstone Park, is the best kept secret in all of Potsdam! Bring a vegetarian side dish, dessert, or drink to share. We will indulge in grilled fish kabobs, our potluck side dishes, and the fellowship of local brothers and sisters of varying faiths. 

The Star Needs Help

 Our beautiful blue star, which graces the top of our steeple is in need of some maintenance. Dick Partch is up to the task, but he needs a handful of strong people to help him– to lower the star, check the lights and then raise it back up. In addition to 3-4 people on the ground, Dick needs 2 strong people to climb up the inside of the steeple with him. (A day can be selected after volunteers reply.) Might you be willing to help? Please send me an email if you are! The whole process should take about an hour. 

Dave Wells’ Update on the Sanctuary Renovation

Here’s the latest from Dave Wells, who is overseeing the sanctuary renovation project: 

“The sanctuary will continue being prepared for plaster repair and painting by removing the remainder of the pews in the next few weeks. 18 single pews (about 9.5 ft long each) have been prepared, and will be re-fastened to the floor after the ceiling work has completed. The remainder of the pews will be removed from the sanctuary during the next several weeks. I will be removing hymnal trays and communion cup holders from some of these pews so that we have a supply of extras for repair, etc. 

Some have expressed interest in having access to hard wood that may be available from these extra pews. If you are interested, please let me know your needs and your ability to retrieve it by the end of October. A fair amount of the wood is being donated to the St. Lawrence County Arts Council, some is being used in trade for assistance in removing the pews and carpeting by a local Amish farmer, but some hardwood is still available. The portions of the pews that are hardwood include the seatbacks, which are made of ash (approximately 9.5 feet long, by about 30″ high, by about an inch thick, if I recall properly), and the pew ends (which I believe are made of 2 laminated 1″ planks. 

There are nails along the edges of the wood, but the wood is generally in good condition. The seat bottoms are of pine, or some other softwood, and they split and splinter easily, so they are not really useful now for much other than firewood – for which the Amish have use. If you have questions or comments regarding the availability of wood, please let me know by email at davewells31414@gmail.com. 

Additionally, we are working on the possibility of having Matt McKenna available for anyone who would like to have one of the pews refurbished for your home. You would be responsible for the cost of his time and labor to take a pew apart and size it to your desired length, but I think this is a possibility. If this is of interest, please also get into contact with me. 

Work items to complete prior to plaster repair and painting include:
1. Removal from floor and disassembly of the remaining pews.
2. Transporting all but the 18 single pews off site (current plan is to an Amish family in exchange for their help).
3. The 18 unattached single pews, already assembled, will be stored out of harm’s way until the plaster repairs and painting are complete.
4. Carpeting will be left in place until after all overhead work is complete. 
5. Plaster repair and painting should occur starting in late October and last for about three weeks.

Once all painting and overhead work is finished, the next tasks will include:
1. Remove & discard all carpeting.
2. Remove and discard all carpet nailing strips.
3. Install wood pieces in slots left by removed pews.
4. Sand the entire sanctuary floor.
5. Stain and finish the entire sanctuary floor.
6. Mount single pews. 
7. Lay down floor runners along the aisles.
8. Dust.
9. Be thankful

Sincerely, 
Dave Wells

The Last Days of Summer

Friends, it’s that time of year again– when the seasons are changing. The air feels different. We start off in the mornings wearing long sleeves and sweaters, shed them by mid-day, and put them back on again by the evening. The aroma of fresh apple sauce and tomatoes cooking on the stove fill the house. A few trees are beginning to change colors. Butterflies and moths float through the air and the sounds of honking Canadian geese can be heard high in the sky. The children have returned to school. Pumpkin spice lattes, apple cider, and apple fritters begin to appear in coffee shops and grocery stores. 

The rhythms of life are beginning to shift.

I wonder what this time of year feels like for you? Do you love this time of year? Does your subconscious send you into a panic because winter is coming? I feel a mixture of both elation for these warm, late summer days and a sense of dread, knowing that soon enough snow will be on the ground. 

What are your favorite fall memories? What are your favorite fall traditions? 

These are the days that God has made, and I pray that we will rejoice and be glad in them! 

With gladness in my heart for all of you,
Pastor Katrina

Good Day to you Church! 

What a soggy, wet day we had yesterday. The rivers are full, cold, and running swiftly on this hot, late July day. 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Jeff Mitchell to Preach this Sunday

I will be away this weekend for my family reunion in New Hampshire. I hope you have a lovely Sunday of worship together without me. 

Concert Featuring Adirondack Songs and Tunes, Aug. 11th

Join us in the sanctuary for the 3rd in a 4-part series of concerts being sponsored by the Orchestra of Northern New York on Friday August 11th at 7pm. Peggy Lynn and Dan Duggan will be playing Adirondack tunes on guitar and hammered dulcimer respectively. 

This Week’s Sanctuary Renovation Update

I spoke with Brian Baker this week, the contractor out of Connecticut who uses scaffolding to work on sanctuary renovation projects. His son happened to be in the area at the beginning of the week, so he stopped into our sanctuary to put together a ballpark estimate of what it would cost for them to do our project with scaffolding. After running some numbers, Brian said the price for using scaffolding would start at $150,000, but would likely be higher than that. This is because scaffolding is so time-consuming to set up, and because insurance costs for scaffolding are high. 

We received $75,000 from the insurance company to fix the roof, repair and repaint the ceiling, and buy new pews or chairs. Given this reality, Session has decided to stay with our original, local contractor, LaFaver’s Painting, whose estimate for the ceiling work is less than $30,000. Given our financial situation, Session feels that it would not be a faithful use of our church funds to hire Brian’s company in order to save our existing pews.

As I noted previously, however, going with our local contractor means that we will have to remove our pews to bring in the scissor lift. And because the pews splinter when taken out, we are going to have to (….gulp…) let go of our current pews. 

After you take a deep breath, and let all of that settle in, let me now tell you about where we’re at with our seating situation: 

Renee Stauffer has started contacting Amish builders this week to get quotes for having new pews built. We have our fingers crossed that perhaps they might be able to reuse the endcaps of our existing pews with these new pews, but we will have to wait and hear the verdict on that later. 

We’re also still scouring the internet to see if we can find historical used pews to purchase and have transported here. 

In the meantime, Dave Wells has contracted with a local Amish builder to come and remove our existing pews (in preparation for the ceiling work). The pew removal will happen slowly– with 2 rows of pews being taken out each week. They will start sometime in August with the back rows of pews and move forward with their removal. 

Then, sometime into late September or early October, when we start to have fewer and fewer rows of pews to sit on, we will bring in the black chairs from the Center to use in the sanctuary. And when the repair work begins in November, we will shift back to worshiping in the Center until the work is completed. 

Friends, I know that this is a lot to take in and process. Big changes–both temporary ones and long-term ones– are coming our way. But we can do this. We can adapt and change! And when it’s finished, we are going to have a beautiful, bright, clean sanctuary to worship in. It will be a different sanctuary experience than the one we currently have, but it’s going to be lovely. 

Now, with that said, we will still need to grieve the loss of our faithful pews. They have been our trustworthy companions in worship for over 150 years– literally bearing the weight of our burdens and sorrows and echoing out our songs of praise and gratitude! 

I hope to spend one of our Sundays together in August really looking at our pews, and offering gratitude for their presence in our lives. Will you be thinking about any stories you might have to share that have something to do with our pews? Maybe you remember long-lost friends who used to sit in a certain pew. Or perhaps you have a funny story to share about your kids sitting in our pews. I hope that we can take a moment during a Sunday service to share some of these memories and stories. 

To draw this letter to a close, I’d like to share with you Dawn Bartow’s thoughts about all of this change in the sanctuary. In her wisdom, she emailed me this note last week: 

Katrina…I’ve been meaning to write to you about the pews. When I read your message last week my first thought was “Ohhhh. The sanctuary and worship won’t be the same!” 

Then, I stopped and thought…what am I thinking? The reason Gary and I selected the church was the people that attended the worship services. We felt at home! It wasn’t the building, or beautiful windows, or the location…it was the people! And that hasn’t changed! The service of worship has changed over the years, but it’s the people that make us what we are in the community.

And then I began to think…why do I like our winter services so much? They are in the Center and we are relaxed! Could it be that the sanctuary is too formal??? Something to think about.

So back to the pews… the padded chairs sound great! Yes, it would change things from a formal setting to a somewhat informal one. Perhaps one that would lead us to worship in today’s world a bit more meaningful to those who now worship with us? A change of scenery might bring with it renewed interest in updating other areas and bring some folks back.

So, this brings me to say…the pews are only a wide chair that will seat four people!

Dawn 

As I stated earlier, Session is going to try its best to make (new) pews work in the sanctuary, but no matter what the seating ends up being, Dawn is right.

Our church is not the building. Our church is the beautiful people who come together each week in worship and service. Our church is held together by friendship, and through our faith in God. Friends, WE are the church! 

Even as we sort through our feelings and take in all of this change, let’s keep in mind the bigger picture. God does not require a beautiful building in order to receive our worship. In fact, God made it clear to his people– when they were crying out that theywanted a fancy temple to worship God in– that God actually preferred tents to a fancy building. For God, it’s not what’s on the outside that counts. It’s what’s inside that matters: Our faithfulness. Our love. Our kindness. Our humility. Our work towards justice. These are the things that matter to God. 

This does not mean that pews and buildings don’t matter. They do. We still need a place to gather together, don’t we? But let’s keep “first things first” in our priorities. 

Being the body of Christ comes first. 

Remaining faithful in our call to serve God’s people comes first. 

Living into the hope of God’s kingdom comes first. 

Remembering the first things first (even at the same time as we care about the “second” things too),
Pastor Katrina

Good Day to you Church!

Looks like we will be getting some big rain again this afternoon and into the night. Here’s to praying we don’t have major flooding that takes roads out again. 

Today’s newsletter is going to mainly be dedicated to discussion around the sanctuary renovation project. But first, the news.

Community Supper Next Thursday

Our next Community Supper will be held Thursday, July 27th. If you’d like to help out, contact Sharon Pickard. 

Jeff Mitchell to Preach Sunday, July 30th

I will be away at my family reunion next weekend and I’m grateful that we have an in-house preacher. Thank you Jeff for your service!

Sanctuary Renovations

Last week I reported to you about where Session was at with the sanctuary renovation plan, and explained that scaffolding has fallen out of favor with both insurance companies and contractors alike because scissor lifts are so much more economical. 

I also explained that because of using a scissor lift, the pews would have to be taken out, and because they were cheaply made, it’s not going to be possible to put them back in again once they’re taken out. (Did I mention that when we took out the back two pews to make the “kid corner” a few years ago, in the process of taking them out as carefully as possible, the seats–which are made of rough cut pine–splintered into pieces?) 

Because of this, our insurance company has given us extra money to replace the pews, and up until last week, Session had been leaning towards replacing the pews with comfortable padded chairs. 

A number of you were distraught at the idea of getting rid of our pews however, and so this week at our Session meeting, we circled back to looking at different options. 

Here’s where Session is at this week: 

1. We are looking harder at what it would actually cost to have a contractor use scaffolding. I’ve made phone calls to other churches around who have had their sanctuaries painted in the last 10-15 years, and it looks like the main contractor people use, who is willing to use scaffolding, is based out of Connecticut (because no one locally will do it with scaffolding). From what I’m hearing, he’s quite expensive, but I don’t know what this means exactly. I’m working to find out exactly how much more scaffolding would cost. Once we know the cost difference, we can decide if it’s worth the extra money to be able to keep the pews we already have. 

2. We’re looking at the possibility of having the Amish build us new pews. In our dream world, we’d like to keep the end caps on our existing pews and have them used to make new pews. 

3. We’re also looking at purchasing used pews from other churches and having them shipped here. (We priced out having brand new pews made from a company that builds them and it was going to cost $34,000 for what is equivalent to 5 of our current rows of seating. We have 17 rows at the moment, so you can see that this is not a viable option.) 

Session is eager to make sure that whatever we end up choosing (in the case of new seating), that it be movable.  Last week I mentioned that this will give us versatility in the sanctuary, but I forgot to mention another very important reason for selecting movable seating. If and when we can no longer afford to stay in our building, choosing seating that is not nailed down to the floor means that we can take it with us when we move. This will save us big money in the long run, and will give us some of the “comforts of home” when everything else will be new and different. 

Friends, that said, I know that no matter what decision Session makes about the seating, someone is not going to be happy. I want to assure you however, that Session cares deeply about our sanctuary. We’re doing our best to weigh options, take in the big picture, make sure we’re being good stewards of the money we have been given, honor the historic beauty of the building, and keep in mind both our present and future situations. 

This week we received the (free) sample chair that the chair company sent to us to look at. It’s currently in the sanctuary for people to both sit on and examine. Even if you’re dead-set on us keeping pews, I hope that you will at least sit in the chair out and try to imagine what it would look like to have chairs in the sanctuary.  Being able to see things from a different perspective is an important skill for all of us to practice (even if we’re going to do our best to make pews happen).

Once we have as much useful information together as possible, we plan to have a meeting after church at coffee hour some Sunday to make sure you are up-to-date on where things are at, can give us your thoughts, and walk through this process with us. 

What’s YOUR Favorite Hymn

The other day I got an email from Heidi Jamieson. She was reaching out to request that we sing her favorite hymn some Sunday. Having her send in this request made a lightbulb go off in my brain. 

I’d love to learn what your favorite hymns are and incorporate them into our worship services when they fit thematically with a particular Sunday’s scripture reading.  So…. lay it on me! Email me back and tell me what songs you love best (and even why, if you’d like to explain.) 

There are so many beautiful hymns in our hymnal, but they’re extra special when they mean something to us. 

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Katrina 

Good Day to you, Church,

I’m writing to you from my back porch again today, but we shall see how long it lasts. The haze from Canada’s wildfires is definitely in the air, and I hear we might see more of it in the coming days. (Can you even imagine 30,000 square miles of fire burning across their country? That’s like the entire state of South Carolina burning up.) We definitely need to be praying for our neighbors to the north! 

*Addendum to my back porch sitting: about halfway through writing this newsletter, I had to come inside. My throat is burning and my eyes are watering. 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Membership Class This Sunday

For those participating, we will meet again this Sunday following worship. 

Pastor Katrina Away for Continuing Ed Next Week

I will be headed to Rochester this coming week to visit with colleagues from seminary and attend worship at various churches, as part of my continuing education time this year. I’m looking forward to visiting with other pastors to learn about their struggles, hear their good ideas, and spend quality time pondering church life together. 

A big thanks to Rev. Rich Hinkle, who will be filling the pulpit for us on Sunday, July 9th while I am away! 

FREE ONNY Concert in our Sanctuary Friday, July 7th

If you enjoy live music, and love a free concert, you’ll want to come to church next Friday, the 7th at 7pm. 

Sebastian Buhts will be playing with Adirondika Pro Musica. Here’s what Sebastian’s website has to say about him: “Buhts is a percussionist and conductor based in St. Louis, MO, and was recently appointed as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Lindenwood University. He also serves on the percussion faculty at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Charles Community College.

In addition to teaching, Sebastian maintains an active and diverse performance schedule. Recent highlights include performing percussion with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducting the St. Charles County Symphony Orchestra, and performing solo marimba for the Orchestra of Northern New York.” 

Second FREE ONNY Concert, Friday, July 14th

Then, the next Friday, our sanctuary will host ONNY’s next free concert in this 4-part series. On the 14th, Peggy Lynn and Dan Duggan will play songs from Adirondacks on guitar and hammered dulcimer, respectively. 

Help with Helen Brouwer’s Memorial Service, July 14th

We will be holding a memorial service for Helen Brouwer on July 14th at 2pm, with a reception to follow in the Center. 

Beth Grace is looking for people to help provide light refreshments for the reception. Might you be willing to bring a veggie tray, small sandwiches, cookies, or other finger foods? 

You can contact Beth at bethgrace75@gmail.com. 

Missing Sunglasses from Last Week’s Picnic? 

Last Sunday afternoon, about 25 of us ventured out to Lazy River Playground with a handful of folks from Trinity Episcopal Church. We had an absolute blast playing shuffleboard, corn hole, putt-putt golfing, forest bathing, and roller skating. (Make sure you ask Ling Zhang about her first time on roller skates! 🙂 

Turns out, our novice shuffleboard champs, Isaiah Stauffer and Henry Hebb are ready to take any of you on in a shuffle board contest! (The idea came up that perhaps we can put a shuffle board game down in the Community Center. …What if we have a shuffleboard contest this fall and invite other college students to come play?!) 

Anyway, I digress. Someone left a pair of black sunglasses at Lazy River. If they belong to you, contact Sharon Pickard. 

Big Thanks to Dirt Movers! 

This morning a dump truck delivered 6 yards of soil to the church, to fill in ruts left by the lifts that came in to fix our roof last month. And a number of you came in the muggy haze to spread it. A big thanks to Bob and Sharon Pickard, Brian Wilkinson, Dale Hobson, Renee Stauffer, Neil Johnson, Dave Wells, and Dave Powers who came and spread the soil into the appropriate places! 

Got Plants (to Share)? 

Bob Pickard is putting out a call for native flowers to add to our pollinator garden at church. If you’ve got an overgrown clump of flowers you need to separate in your garden, we would love to add them to our collection! Just contact Bob to set up the details. 

Prayers for Cyndy Henessey

Cyndy Henessey came through knee replacement surgery yesterday with flying colors and will be heading home tomorrow. Cyndy’s family is taking care of her while she recovers, but you can still send her a card in the mail! 

Her address is: 
PO Box 345 
Colton, NY 13625 

What Are You Doing to Help with Climate Change? 

Last week, our sermon was about earth care– about recognizing that the actions we take to care for our planet are a form of worship we make to God. At the end of the sermon, Diamante Maya had a great idea. She suggested we start tallying a list of ideas to share with one another about what we each do to contribute. 

If you want to participate, please send me a list of things you do intentionally to help cut down on plastic consumption, fossil fuels use, or anything else you can think of. In addition, what areas do you know you need to work on? (For me personally, 1) I need to work on reducing how much I drive my car. Do I really need to make that extra trip to town this week? Can I find a way to share rides? and 2) I could stand to pay better attention to how far I turn the water on when I’m washing my hands or doing the dishes. Do I really need the water on full blast? A smaller water stream won’t make it any less hard to wash my hands.)

If you want to email me your contributions, we will write them all down on the list we’re keeping in the Community Center, to spark ideas and help us to see that we’re all in this together. (All submissions will be anonymous, so there’s no judging going on.) 

Finding Good News These Days

A couple of you have mentioned to me lately how hard it is to turn on the news these days. There is so much negativity happening everywhere– war, fires, floods, tornadoes, extreme heat, mass shootings, political turmoil, etc, etc. It’s enough to bring us to our knees, even when these things aren’t happening directly to us! 

Sometimes, when you find yourself being overwhelmed by the news, it’s good to just turn it off for a while. Taking a break from the news can help cleanse our souls and realign our spirits. But here’s another idea to help us, too: Find good news to learn about! 

Diamante shared some good sources with me. Check out this website:https://www.goodgoodgood.co/

And there’s this too: CBS Uplift: https://youtube.com/playlist…

I just clicked on the “goodgoodgood” site and found all sorts of amazing stories, and I feel hope in humanity once again. 

Friends, for every horrible thing happening in the world, there are also good people doing beautiful, uplifting things too! This is because, even while evil and hardship live everywhere, so does God!

Near the end of his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds the Christians there to keep up their hope. They, too, were living in heavy, dark times, and they needed the same sort of assurance that God was present. Paul writes to them:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” 

~Romans 15:13

Together, we build and hold hope for one another, through the power of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives! 

Holding space for you to find hope today,
Pastor Katrina

Good Day to you Church! 

Did you survive yesterday’s extreme heat? Thankfully the temps will drop this weekend to more seasonal weather patterns. 

Here’s the news for this week: 

Church Ground Clean Up This Saturday at 9am

If you’re able to swing by the church tomorrow at 9am, there will be a group of people gathering to weed the flower beds, toss grass seed on open ground, and work on stumps. Might you be able to join? 

Kicking off Pride Month with a Special Sermon

Please join us this Sunday for a particularly important sermon that reflects on the LGBTQ community. We will be looking at the story of Jesus healing the slave of the Roman Centurion in Matthew 8. I’m going to leave you in suspense with this and hope you decide to show up to listen in! 

Youth Group on Thursday, June 8^th

This will be our final meeting for the season. We will be going to the Indian restaurant for dinner at 6:30 to celebrate the end of school! 

Presbytery Meeting on Saturday, June 10^th

I’m proud to let you know that our church will be hosting the June presbytery meeting. If you’d like to come get a taste of what happens at presbytery meetings, this is your chance! We will be meeting from 10am-1pm with a catered lunch starting at noon. 

A big thank you to those helping to pull this off—Sharon Pickard, Dale Hobson, Ivette Herryman-Rodriguez, Renee Stauffer, and Terry de la Vega! 

Free Piano Recital Concert Sunday, June 11^th, 5-7pm

We will be hosting a Crane piano recital the afternoon of June 11^th and it’s free and open to the public! Come enjoy the fun. 

Juneteenth—June 17^th from 4pm-8pm

You are invited to participate in Potsdam’s Juneteenth Celebration at Ives Park on Saturday, June 17^th. 

They also need volunteers earlier that day to set-up the event, staff a variety of positions, and a few people to stay after to help break-down. Might you be willing to help out? If so, please contact Laurie Lavine at (281) 639-6548, or email her at lklavine@gmail.com

Jeff Mitchell to Preach June 18^th

I will be going to Missouri for a week to visit with my family, and I am so grateful to Jeff for being willing to fill in the pulpit. 

Church Picnic Planned for June 25th

Our picnic party is growing closer! Save the date!

Finding Time for Rest

Friends, as summer draws closer, I want to encourage you to find time for rest. Not just relaxation, but rest. 

Choosing rest in our crazy, busy culture is counter-cultural for sure, but for us as Christians, it is also a radical theological pursuit. Thousands of years ago, God taught his people the importance of rest– making sure to teach us to care for our mortal bodies, so that we would be strong to see another day. 

But theologically, there’s more to the idea of rest than just physical rejuvenation. Setting our work down and bringing our bodies to a stand-still is also an act of faith. It’s a song of confidence in God, believing that our Creator will continue to provide for us that which we are not producing for ourselves– even as the chaos of the world swirls around us. 

Choosing rest is to trust that God will cover for us– that God is big enough to keep the chaos monsters at bay while we refill our empty tanks. 

This summer, I invite you to consider what faithful rest might look like for you. Setting down our physical work is one thing, but what about setting down our non-stop thinking for a while? Perhaps real rest means turning off the news too (will the world really fall to pieces if you are not in the know of what is going on?) And what about our relational worrying? Perhaps choosing rest means taking a break from trying to change someone or something. 

When it comes to faith, rest is about relinquishing our need to stay in control. It means opening ourselves up to believing that God is big enough to stay vigilant on our behalf, so that we can rejuvenate our minds, bodies, and souls for a time before coming back to our responsibilities. 

What might rest look like for you this summer? I dare you to try it on for size and see what happens! 

Looking forward to my own summer rest,
Pastor Katrina