News for the Church 1/28/22

Greetings on a sunny, winter day to you, Church! 

How are you holding up with the cold this month? The other day I heard someone say, “We’re having a real, old fashioned winter this year!” 

This is definitely the coldest it’s been in a few years. If you’re struggling right now, is there anything your church family can do to help? 

Here’s the news for this week: 

Headed to Beth-El Synagogue

Six of us are going to worship with the Beth-El congregation to offer our awareness, compassion, and care of our Jewish neighbors and friends in the wake of the latest anti-semitism in America. 

Rev. Rich Hinkle to Preach

This Sunday Pastor Rich will be leading worship and preaching. He will be joined by our regular cantors. 

Communion Sunday

February 6 (a week from this Sunday), I invite you to join in as we celebrate communion from home. Bring your toast and coffee, bread and wine, or chips and soda to worship with you and we will remember Jesus together. 

Annual Congregational Meeting

Right after worship on Feb. 6, we will all be hopping on a zoom meeting together to hold our annual congregational meeting. In the next few days I’ll send out an email with the annual report and a zoom link for you to be able to participate.

Trillium

Yesterday, for the first time since I’ve been pastor, I crossed the Community Center room and ventured through the door to experience Trillium Wellness Center for myself. Did you realize we have massage therapists, mental health therapists, a physical therapist, yoga classes, and tai chi classes happening in our church on a weekly basis? I knew all of this in my mind, but I’d never before experienced what that means in my body. Yesterday I had a massage with one of the massage therapists at Trillium, and I left not only feeling like a million bucks in my body, but with a sense of amazement and gratitude that all of this happens in our church building! We may not run any of these wellness opportunities, but creating access to them is a major gift we offer to the greater Potsdam community. Jesus was all about fostering wellness in both the lives of individuals and the greater community itself, and I am proud that we are part of this “Jesus mission.” 

If you ever wanted to take a yoga class, have a massage, or learn more about the mental health therapists and the PT who work in our building, you can check out Trillium’s website.

Red Cross Blood Drives

This last Thursday our church also hosted space for a monthly blood drive, run by the Red Cross. Every time we host one I get a warm feeling in my heart and I find a special smile crossing my face. Here’s why: 

Do you remember at the beginning of the pandemic, the Stauffer kids and I cracked open the history closet to see if we could learn anything about the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-1919 from our church records? Well, we not only learned that the flu epidemic shut down our church and the whole town of Potsdam for a while, but we learned that as a result of major cases of the flu sweeping through the military barracks at Clarkson, the minister of our church and a few session members took action to create a chapter of the Red Cross in the North Country. 

After getting the chapter established, some of our church folks then petitioned national Red Cross doctors to travel to Potsdam to convince Army captains and school administrators to start quarantining sick soldiers and students. And it was through the Red Cross that folks in our church were able to help set up two field hospitals in town to care for sick people!

Fast forward 100 years, and our church is still part of the wellness efforts of the Red Cross in our county. This last Thursday, 33 units of blood were donated at the blood drive set up at our church. During the pandemic, the country is experiencing emergency blood shortages, and so, just like in 1918, our church is again (and still) helping to create healing and wellness for people in our local community. 

How cool is that?! 

Dear Hearts, thank you for being a church that cares about the wellbeing of people’s bodies and minds as much as their spirits. Today I am overflowing with gratitude, joy, and pride at being part of our church. 

In its ancient language, Proverbs reminds us that our mental health is important to both our physical health and overall well-being. It says:

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

~Proverbs 17:22

Friends, right now is hard on everyone’s mental health. Whether you’re taking a yoga class, going to therapy, playing games around your dining room table, chatting with a friend on the phone, or going out on a ski in the woods, I pray that you’re making room to care for your mental health. However you create a “joyful heart” in your life… it’s good medicine for the mind, body, and soul. 

May you know the wellness of God’s great shalom today,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church. 1/22/22

Good Afternoon, Church!

How are you hanging in with this cold weather? Are your pipes still warm and cozy? I hope so. This morning it was -28 at my house! Yikes, that’s cold!

Here’s the news for the week: 

Invitation to the Beth El Synagogue, Friday 1/28 at 7 pm

In the wake of last week’s hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas, some of our Jewish brothers and sisters are experiencing fear and anxiety around anti-Semitism in America. Consequently, Renee Stauffer suggested that we reach out to our local synagogue, Congregation Beth-El, to let them know that we’re thinking of them right now and to offer that, if appropriate, some of us could join them at their next worship service as a gift of presence. They were really touched by our regard for them and have invited us to join them on Jan. 28 at 7 pm. 

If you would like to attend, their policy is that you must show proof of vaccination and wear a mask. If this is something you would like to do, and you are eligible, please email me a picture of your vaccination card and I will forward it to Sharon Williams, so that they know how many of us will be coming. 

Rev. Rich Hinkle will be preaching on Sunday, 1/30

Communion on February 6

It’s been a while since we’ve celebrated communion together, so we will be gathering around the bread and wine during our online service on Feb. 6. Bring a cracker, piece of bread, or chip to your living room worship that morning (along with whatever you have for a drink), and we will remember and give thanks for Jesus together.

Annual Congregational Meeting, Feb. 6

Following the worship service on Feb. 6, you are invited to jump on a zoom meeting for us to gather together for our annual congregational meeting. I will send out the zoom link closer to the actual day.

*For those of you who are responsible for sending in reports, and haven’t yet, please get them in to me soon!

Upcoming Poor People’s Campaign Activity

Raamitha, from the Poor People’s Campaign wanted us to know about this upcoming events: 

North Country Poor People’s Campaign Healthcare Rally 1/30

For the last two years access to healthcare and its cost has been at the forefront of many of our minds. Our healthcare system puts profits before people. Please join the North Country Poor People’s Campaign as we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and rally at your local hospital to highlight this plight. The event at each location will be about 30 minutes long and include quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. relating to healthcare followed by public comment and discussions. Also at this event, the North Country Poor People’s Campaign will launch their healthcare survey, a tool to gather testimony from North Country residents on their healthcare experience. These testimonies will be presented to elected officials as we fight for accessible, affordable, quality healthcare in the North Country. Join us in our fight for affordable and accessible quality healthcare on Sunday, January 30. We will rally outside the hospitals in Massena at 10 am, Ogdensburg at 11:30 am, Gouverneur at 1 pm, and Potsdam at 2:30 pm. See you at your local hospital! 

Covid Prayers

Friends, this has been a hard week for folks in our church family. Some of us have come down with covid and others are in isolation, awaiting test results. Please be praying for each other right now– not only for physical health, but for mental and spiritual well-being. 

Bald Eagle Fun! 

In the midst of all of the cold, Covid, and everything else going on in the world, it’s vital to our well-being (that is, maintaining a sense of shalom in our hearts) to find bits of joy and fun where we can. 

This week Bob Pickard emailed me a link to a live-feed cam that’s been watching a momma bald eagle sitting on a nest of eggs in Florida. Experts think that one of the eggs will hatch TODAY(!) and the other will hatch in the next couple of days. If you’d like to check out this spectacular miracle of birth, click on the link: https://hdontap.com/index.php/video/stream/nefl-bald-eagles

Dear Hearts, no matter the circumstances you’re going through today, I hope that the light of God is shining brightly in your heart. This Sunday we will be talking about the secret strength that joy brings to us when times are tough. I hope you’ll join us to sing Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee from the top of your lungs (in your living rooms, so you don’t have to be embarrassed that anyone is listening)! 🙂 

Find some joy today!
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 1/14/22

Good day to you, Church!

I hope you’ve been snug as a bug in a rug these past few days. Between the cold and the ice, we’ve been having a taste of old school January! Tonight, especially, is supposed to be brutally cold– so stoke up those fires and put an extra blanket on the bed! 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Going Remote This Sunday

If you haven’t already heard, we will be going fully remote for worship starting this Sunday. Please look for a bulletin and the hymns to be emailed to you from Claire on Saturday, and then plan to join us on the church’s Facebook page at 10am Sunday morning. 

Shalom Book Group via Zoom

Our new book group, facilitated by Monica Sandreczki, will begin this Sunday after our worship service. If you want to participate but didn’t receive the zoom link, just email me back and I’ll send it to you. We will plan to gather remotely around 11:25(ish). 

Lunch Groups

For the month of January, we will be putting our monthly men’s and women’s lunch groups on hold due to the recent spike in Covid cases. In a couple of weeks we can reassess the situation and decide whether or not it’s wise to meet up in February. Stay tuned for more details! 

Last Week’s Trans and Non-Binary Sunday

If you attended church last Sunday, you will know that the day was both educational and thought-provoking. Jamey Merkel did a wonderful job explaining to us about what it means to be trans, non-binary, or intersex, and they helped us to understand why it’s so important that those of us who are cis-gendered support these communities of people. We had 22 people in attendance at the church building for Jamey’s presentation, including a number of high school students, and 170 people watched online. 

I wanted to share with you a message we received on our Instagram page from someone we’ve never met before. They didn’t attend our Sunday events, but they had seen the message we’d written on our sign out front, which read “Non-Binary People are Beloved of God, Too.” After seeing the sign, this person went out of their way to look us up on social media and relay their gratitude. They wrote, “Hi! I’m a non-binary Jew who just moved to town recently and I wanted to say I saw your sign out front yesterday. Thanks for the love, neighbor! May the Eternal bless you and keep you. If there’s ever an opportunity for us to do some interfaith queer-affirming study together, I would love to come together.” 

Friends, if there’s ever a way to know if we’re following in the footsteps of Jesus, this individual’s message is it. To be non-binary, Jewish, and new to town is to live on the margins of our North Country society. Offering this quiet message to them might have been the most important way that we, as their neighbor, could have welcomed them to our larger community. Thank you for being the sort of congregation that is courageous enough to heed Jesus’ call to hospitality in such an unwelcoming world. 

*Also, if anyone is interested in coming together for an interfaith, queer-affirming study, please email me and let me know. If we have enough interest, we might be able to do something with the Synagogue at a later date!

Covid Concerns

Dear Hearts, how are you holding up this week? Has fear or anxiety crept into your house? I know that I am feeling alarmed at the state of Covid, and I would be lying if I said that waves of fear do not creep up on me sometimes. My dad caught the virus a couple weeks ago, despite being vaccinated and boostered. He’s been struggling with illness and having a hard time breathing, but I’m grateful to say that he hasn’t had to go into the hospital. When this starts to get the best of me, I have to remind myself to take a deep breath and find my spiritual balance. 

Even for those of us who are vaccinated, there’s still a decent chance that we will contract Covid. If this happens, I pray that, like me, you can work on turning yourself over to God’s peace. (There’s that shalom word again!) I pray that you can find this peace because you remember who you belong to. Friends, no matter how bad Covid gets, it’s never the end of our story. God’s ever-lasting love will always remain our story– it is the beginning of our story, this present moment of our story, and the end of it as well. 

This week I have had to root myself in Romans 8:38-39. The apostle Paul, writing to Christians living in Rome who were experiencing all sorts of trials and tribulations, wanted for them to keep their challenges in perspective. So he wrote saying: 

“I am convinced, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

May God’s peace, which passes all understanding, hold us together these next couple of weeks.

Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 1/7/22

Good afternoon, church!

Well, we’re fully into winter now, aren’t we? We’ve had below zero temps this week and right now the snow is falling outside my window. What do you love about this time of year? Anything? Everything? Does anyone actually enjoy shoveling snow? (I used to, but that was a long time ago.)

Here’s the news for the week:

Trans and Non-Binary Sunday

This coming Sunday is going to be a special one. Not many of us know much about the transgender and non-binary community, so this will be a chance to listen and learn. This particular community is one of the most loathed and despised communities in our entire society, and because of that, it means that we as Christians need to pay special attention to supporting them.

During the worship service I will be preaching about one of the places that non-binary people show up in our Bibles, and after the service Jamey Merkel will be teaching us more extensively about what it’s like to live in the world as a trans person. I know that we have a few guests coming to worship, and others who don’t normally attend our church plan to tune in on-line, so I hope that you will join us too!

This Sunday may really stretch our understanding of the world– mine included. The transgender and non-binary communities ask us to re-consider the stability of things we’ve always thought were unyielding. Because of this, you may find yourself feeling confused, frustrated, and/or uncomfortable, but I want to invite you to practice being comfortable with being uncomfortable.

At the end of the day you may or may not agree with everything that is said, but while we are together, I ask that we do our best job of listening and prayerfully consider what is said. We may not understand (or agree with) being trans or non-binary, but God loves trans and non-binary people as much as God loves us–and for that reason alone, it’s our job to love them too! (Well, that and because they’re pretty amazing people in their own right!)

Returning to Cantors for Singing

Friends, Omicron is now hitting the North Country hard. We’ve had record days of active Covid cases all week long and because of this, Session feels that it’s best to return to no congregational singing for the time being. There are a number of immuno-compromised people in our congregation and the best way that we can show them our love is by doing what we can to keep them safe.

With that said, I’d like to check in with you about our services. Do you feel safe enough coming to church in-person? How do you feel about the idea of returning to fully on-line worship? At least one other Presbyterian church in the area has shifted back to being fully on-line and Session is discussing whether or not it’s prudent for us to do the same at this time. I’d really love your feedback on this. If you have a moment to drop me a line, I’d appreciate it!

Shalom and the Community of Creation

It’s almost here! Starting next Sunday, Jan. 16th, those of us who are interested in joining our brand-new faith-based book group will be gathering together after worship to read and discuss this book written by Rev. Randy Woodley. Those who gather in person will meet in the conference room. If you plan to join us via zoom, please drop me a line so that I can send you a zoom link!

For Jan. 16th you won’t need to have read anything ahead of time. The plan is to read the introduction together the first week, and then read one chapter a week after that.

Annual Congregational Meeting

Our annual congregational meeting will be held after worship on February 6th. More details to follow.

Covid

Well dear Hearts, Covid is hitting us hard right now. According to St. Lawrence Public Health, over 11% of the county is experiencing an active case at the moment. That’s a lot of sick people. Thankfully, hospitalizations and deaths seem to be lower with the Omicron variant than with other variants. (Yesterday there were only 19 people hospitalized for Covid, which is 20% of the beds at CPH. This is down from 36% of CPH’s beds being Covid patients, which was the case a few weeks ago.) Because Omicron is so contagious, it’s extra important that we be diligent about mask wearing, social distancing, and getting vaccinated. (If you want to get a booster shot, here’s the link for how to sign up at Kinney Drugs: 
https://kinneydrugs.com/pharmacy/covid-19/vaccination-scheduling/

Friends, this is a good time to offer an extra prayer for our healthcare workers, frontline workers, teachers, students, and anyone who lives or works in a prison. It’s a stressful time for all of us, but particularly so for these specific groups of people. I went through the drive-thru line at the Taco Bell the other day, and a sign read “We are woefully understaffed at the moment. Our employees are doing their best. Please be kind.”

So here’s my challenge for you today: How can you offer an extra gift of kindness to someone today? If you know a nurse, can you drop them a note and tell them that you’re thinking about them? If you know a teacher, can you send them a virtual hug? When you’re in line at the drive-thru, can you think to look the person in the eye and tell them thank you for their work?

Let’s be the hands and feet of Jesus this week, ok?

Holding You in prayer, too,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 12/16/21

Good day to you, Church:

We had another hefty windstorm last night. Did you make it through it ok? Anyone have a downed tree in their yard? 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Christmas Eve 

For those of you too old to care about counting down, there are exactly 8 more days til Christmas! Which means our Christmas Eve service is one week from today. I hope you’ll join us at 7pm next Friday night for a cozy evening of carols and Christmas cheer. It’s going to be a wonderful night of special music, singing, and to top it all off, our young people have prepared a Christmas skit for us to enjoy! 

Are you excited to be able to sing on Christmas Eve? I am! As we prepare to sing together for the first time in almost 2 years, please be aware that we will once again be partitioning off the pews for social distancing purposes and, as always, requiring everyone to wear a mask. Science seems to be suggesting that it is safe to sing in groups as long as people are properly masked and distanced. (Crane’s choirs are proof of this!) Session’s plan is to give singing a try for a while and see how it goes. Covid is on the rise in St. Lawrence County, which is definitely concerning, but also, we have to figure out how to live with this pandemic in a sustainable way. 

Shalom and the Community of Creation

Monica Sandreczki is excited to facilitate a faith-based book group, beginning in January. As I mentioned the other week, our first read will be Randy Woodley’s book Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision. The book costs about $20 to order online, and can be purchased for your Kindle (slightly cheaper, I think.) If you’d like to join the book group, but can’t afford the book, just let me know and I’ll be delighted to order you a copy. 

Our former pastor, the Rev. Holly Haille-Thompson, will be joining us for this read. I look forward to hearing her personal insights as a Shinnecock woman of Christian faith. 

If you’re interested in joining us, please email me back and let me know that you’d like to participate. We need to figure out when to meet, but that depends on who will be attending. Some folks who will be headed down to Florida have mentioned wanting to join the discussion. Consequently, we will figure out a way to do a hybrid version of both in-person and zoom attendance, so that everyone can participate. 

Here’s a link to buy the book:
https://www.cokesbury.com/9780802866783-Shalom-and-the-Community-of-Creation

Priscilla Knodle Memorial

An old, dear member of our congregation has passed away.  Priscilla Knodle, who was part of our church family in the 1980s and 90s, died this last week.   She had lived in the Boston area.  

A memorial service has been planned for Wednesday, December 29, 11 am.

Old North Church
35 Washington Street
Marblehead, MA01945

For information on how to attend from home, call Alisa Knodle Manning, 1-617-792-3844

Covid

Friends, if you haven’t already heard, the Omicron variant is on its way to us. In the communities that it’s already settled into, Covid cases are once again sky-rocketing. The New York Times is reporting that in Denmark, cases are doubling every two days, and in Britain 200,000 people are becoming sick each day. 

Wearing masks makes a major difference in the spread of Covid, but the most important tool we have at our disposal for avoiding getting sick is through vaccination. If you haven’t already gotten your booster shot, the CDC is highly recommending getting one. I myself am going this afternoon to get mine. An easy place to get one is at Kinney Drugs. Here’s their link to sign up, if you’d like to look into it: https://kinneydrugs.com/pharmacy/covid-19/covid-19-vaccinations/

Right now, without knowing what Omicron is going to do in our area, it’s easy to fall into hyper-fear mode, isn’t it? The part of me that lives in fear of Covid is telling me to hole up in my home and never come out again! But for those of us who are relatively healthy, we can’t go on living in isolation forever. It wreaks havoc on our mental health and prevents us from, well… living. So, we have to figure out how to function in the midst of this pandemic. But this is no easy task. 

The reality of our current situation is– if Omicron is as contagious as they say it is, some of us are going to get sick. Even some of us who are vaccinated. That’s scary to wrap our minds around. We’ve spent the last 21 months living in fear of getting Covid. Thankfully, the evidence so far seems to show that vaccinated people tend to get mild cases with Omicron, so most of us who are vaccinated will be ok even if we do contract the virus. 

But it’s our job as Christians to care both for ourselves and each other. So how do we balance the reality of our situation with our Christian calling to love one another? There’s no clear road map for this, and it’s challenging to constantly have to reassess the situation, but thankfully, every day we get to reassess things. If perhaps on one day an activity feels ok to engage in, we have the ability to decide on the very next day that that decision is not a wise choice for today. 

Friends, we have the power to pivot. God has given us the creative ability to reassess! Every day you and I get to make fresh choices for how we’re going to live. 

Right now we don’t get to know what’s going to happen in the next few months, but we have helpful tools for figuring it out as we go along—like vaccinations, mask wearing, and social distancing. And that, along with our faith, is going to carry us through. 

So keep breathe in the Holy Spirit, and stand tall in your courage and in your faith.

In Christ,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 12/10/21

Good Afternoon Church!

We’ve been having real winter lately– colder temps, gray days and on and off again snow flurries. Are you enjoying it? I’m not able to be outside in it, but it sure looks lovely from the window! 

Here’s the news for this week: 

Care Packages for Nurses

This Sunday you are invited to stay after church to write notes of encouragement for nurses at the hospital and to put together care packages, to be delivered later in the week. 

Lunch at Jake’s

This Wednesday the men’s group will be meeting up for lunch at Jake’s at 11:30am. Please let Bob Pickard know if you’ll be attending. And on Thursday the women will do the same– same bat time, same bat channel! 

Last Sunday’s Big Shift Convo

Last Sunday after church we met to watch a short, humorous video about what change can feel like. It was called Who Moved My Cheese?! After the movie, we discussed what it’s like to be each of the characters in the story– those who sense when change is coming and adapt right away (in the story these were two little mice named Sniff and Scurry), those who refuse to change at all (this was the little man named Hem who couldn’t get past being upset that his cheese was gone), and those who take time to come to the realization that change is ok and slowly learn to adapt (this was the little man named Hah who leaves his friend Hem to look for new cheese when they find that their cheese is all eaten up). 

We had a good discussion, and people shared about some of the changes they’ve had to make in their own lives. After that we moved into talking about change at our church. The big thing took away from our conversation was that most of us have already moved past the roadblock of not wanting to change our church situation. Much to my surprise, we did not have a single Hem in the room last Sunday! We might still be fearful of needing to change when the time comes, but everyone was aware of the fact that change is coming, and accepted our reality. I was quite surprised by this. It means that we are further along in this process (psychologically and spiritually, speaking) than I had assumed. 

None of us– including me– knows what our next chapter is going to look like, but it felt like we were all on the same page of acknowledgement and acceptance. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but awareness and acceptance are the most important ingredients that we can add to the soup pot of whatever it is that God’s got cookin’ up for us. It means that we will survive. 

In the last few years, our church has lost quite a number of people from our congregation. I know that this saddens many of us, but in some ways, this reality works to our advantage. The people who have chosen to stay at our church have intentionally decided to stay on board, even with the trajectory that we’re headed towards. Those of us in the room the other day– we’re committed to this project. And we’re going to do it together. Being united in this effort is going to serve us well. 

Near the end of our discussion, Marty Weitz told a story about attending a class in seminary taught by Abraham Heschel, the influential Jewish rabbi. In this class, Heschel was of the opinion that building a temple in Jerusalem was possibly the worst thing that ever happened to Judaism. He pointed out that prior to that, God’s presence traveled with the people in the Arch of the Covenant in a tent. It traveled in the wilderness with them, and went wherever they went. Marty pointed out that if we end up selling our building, we will be going back to the way that the Israelites used to know God. And he suggested that this might end up being the best thing to happen to our church in a very long time. 

When we left the room last Sunday some people said they felt hopeful, while others felt worry and concern. All of these feelings are natural and normal. They mean that we’re human! The helpful thing to remember is that we can be both at the same time: It’s possible to be confident that God will take care of us but also hold some worry for how it’s all going to turn out. And it’s also possible to be worried, but still decide to move forward with change. The key thing is to stay open-hearted and not let our fears overrun us. 

There are many stories in the Bible of God asking people to change how they live, or to trust God in the midst of great change. The story of Abraham and Sarah is one of these stories. In the midst of moving to a land they’d never seen before, and uncertain of how God would give them descendants (since they were childless):

“the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.’”

~ Genesis 15:1

Like Araham and Sarah, we don’t know what’s going to happen to us next, but like them we can also choose not to be stifled by fear. 

During our very own season of Advent– of waiting for what comes next— let us lean into God along our journey of hope and worry. 

May God be our shield and our greatest reward!
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 12/3/21

Good morning, Church!  

The sky was dropping snowflakes this morning but now the sun is shining and the sky is blue!  I hope you get a moment to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors today.  

Here’s the news for the week: 

Images You’ll Need for Sunday’s Kid Sermon

We don’t have a way to project images in the sanctuary, so I thought I’d send you the images that I’ll be using to talk with Isaiah and Levi about in the Kid Sermon.  You can pull this email up on your smartphone while we’re chatting, to be able to look at the pictures yourselves. 

Haitian Madonna and Child by Ismael Saincilus.
Madonna of the Moon, by Sister Teresa, a Japanese Carmelite nun
(North American) Indigenous Mother and Child, by Fr. John Giuliani

Big Shift Conversation

This Sunday following worship we will meet in the Center for our next Big Shift conversation. We will be watching a short animated movie (15 minutes) called Who Moved My Cheese?After that we will discuss what we watched and how it applies to our current situation.  

Game Night

This Thursday, Dec. 9th at 6:30 pm we will gather in the Center with friends from other PIC congregations for a game night.  If you have a game you’d like to share, feel free to bring it (although, we’re asking folks not to bring games like Twister, that involve close physical proximity.)  Masks will be required by all attendants. 

Making Care Packages for Nurses

Next Sunday, Dec. 12th, we will gather after worship to compile Christmas care packages for the nurses on the Third Floor Med Surg unit.  If you have items to donate, please let Sharon Pickard know. 

Looking ahead…

Christmas Eve Joy

I’m absolutely terrible at keeping surprises, so I thought I might as well tell you about the Christmas Eve fun that’s being planned for this year!  Maddie Gravelin is directing a short skit that her husband Dedan, Sabrina Petrie, and Levi and Isaiah Stauffer will be performing in that night.  And Mark Lyon, a local musician will be playing guitar for us as well.  It’s shaping up to be a very special Christmas Eve, and I hope you’ll be able to join us at 7pm! 

A Spiritually-Focused Book Group Coming in January

Monica Sandreczki is excited about starting a new book group after the holidays.  We will kick this group off by reading a book called Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision by Randy Woodley, a Cherokee pastor. This book examines how indigenous culture can inform our Christian spiritual life.  Woodley looks closely at the Biblical concept of shalom, the ways that native peoples already live that out, and how their wisdom can bring dimension to our own understanding of both Jesus and our Christian practice.  If you’d like to participate, let me know! 

Jamey Merkel to Visit on Jan. 9th

After our impromptu conversation in worship a few weeks ago about our collective ignorance of the transgender and non-binary communities, I’ve invited a local non-binary individual named Jamey Merkel to come and talk to us about what it means to be transgender (a person who switches their gender) or non-binary (a person who does not identify as either male or female).  Jamey will teach us about what it’s like to live this life and will help us to become more aware of how we as Christians can care for these particularly vulnerable populations among us.

Covid on the Rise

This last week St. Lawrence County had its biggest record of new Covid cases since the pandemic began, and the numbers just keep going up.  This is an important time to stay thoughtful about your public outings and diligent in your mask wearing.  It’s also time to be in prayer for our frontline workers, medical staff, and teachers.  

Friends, it’s a strange season right now.  We’re trying to figure out how to balance important holiday traditions with our Covid reality in healthy, meaningful ways. But it’s hard, isn’t it?  Do we go to that holiday party? Do we invite extended family over for a meal?  Is it safe to go to a restaurant?  I don’t have any better answers to these questions than you do, but I do want to acknowledge that figuring out what choices we will each make for ourselves is stressful.  How do we balance caution and concern (both for ourselves and for others) with the need to live our lives?  Let’s continue to be in prayer for one another in these trying times.  

In 1 Peter, the author tried to encourage his early church believers who were dealing with persecution and immense social stress.  He wrote to them:

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

~1 Peter 5:10)

We are not dealing with the same sort of stress that those ancient believers dealt with, but we definitely know what it’s like to suffer.  And we also hold onto that hope for God’s strong, firm, and steadfast presence in our lives.  

May you know the restorative power of God’s love in your life this Advent Season!

Praying for Your Wellbeing,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 11/19/21

Good evening, Church family!

Today has been a lovely fall day, offering the full array of possibilities— sunshine, a brief smattering of snow, and a spectacular full moon. Did you get excited to see snow falling from the sky? I must admit that I did!

Here’s the news for this week.

Pledge Cards

Pledge cards were mailed out to your homes this week. Please be praying about what God might be asking of you, as you consider your finances for the coming year. A church functions financially on the giving of its people, and we are no exception. Every dollar counts! And so do you! 

To return your pledge cards to the church, you may either drop them in the mail or in the offering plate on Sunday. We ask that you send them in by December 15th.

Learn to Sing

For those of you who showed up to PIC’s zoom event “Learn to Sing” only to find it had been canceled, not to fear. It was postponed due to illness. More details will be forthcoming.

Singing in Church

Since returning to the sanctuary for worship in May, many of us have still felt a partial emptiness in our hearts. The reason being? No singing. One of Covid’s cruelest consequences has been that singing has been a dangerous form of viral spread. 

Some have wondered, however, why we have continued to refrain from singing even while most of us are vaccinated. We have kept to our rule this long because we have a number of immuno-compromised people in our congregation. But both science and lived experience seem to be showing that masked singing in smaller groups is less dangerous than once thought. Session met last night to discuss all of this, and after talking with the most immuno-compromised people in our congregation, we have decided that the risk is worth taking to begin singing once again!

We will hold off a few more weeks, just to be sure Covid numbers aren’t going to spike through the roof with this more recent uptick in numbers (our county is still at at 6.48% infection rate), but barring any massive new transmissions in our area, we will begin to sing again starting on Christmas Eve.

Won’t that be wonderful?! Just in time to sing Silent Night! 

Giving Thanks 

Friends, this next week is Thanksgiving, and I wonder what you will be doing to celebrate. Getting together with family? With friends? Staying home for a quiet, restful day? No matter how you spend your day, I pray that you will nurture an awareness of gratefulness in this time. Life is still hard for many of us right now, but God’s presence remains with us– offering us hope, joy, and peace. 

Psalms reminds us: 

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

~Psalm 100:1-5

May we revel in the goodness and the steadfast love of our God this week. 

In Joy,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 11/12/21

Good Morning, Church!

It’s a soggy, wet morning today, but it comes at the end of a full week of sunshine. I hope you enjoyed the string of sunny days we had. I have to admit, every morning I woke up this week, I couldn’t believe that we had yet another day of blue skies to enjoy. It’s funny how our bodies grow accustomed to the usual rhythm of cloudiness. But I love it when the sunshine interrupts “business as usual!” 

This is going to be a busy week! Here’s what’s ahead: 

Thinking about Pledging

This Sunday, Dale Hobson will be talking to us about deciding what we are able to pledge to our church family for the coming year. Following that, pledge cards will be sent out to your home. Please be praying about what God might be calling you to give in this coming year. If you have means to give, we’re hoping that you can turn in your pledge card by Dec. 15th.

Men’s Lunch

This month, the men will be meeting at Jake’s in Hannawa Falls, this coming Wednesday, the 17th at 11:30am. If you plan to attend, please let Bob Pickard know so that he can make the reservation.

Women’s Lunch

The very next day, Thursday, Nov. 18th, at 11:30am, the women of the church are invited to meet up at Jake’s as well. If you plan to attend, please let Sharon Pickard know so that she can make the reservation. These lunches are a chance for us to visit and socialize together. 

*If you need a ride, please either email me back or get in touch with Sharon Pickard, so that we can arrange for someone to come pick you up. 

Learn to Sing Like a Professional

A one-hour online program featuringDr. Colleen Skull, assistant professor of voice at the Crane School of Music, sponsored by the Potsdam Interfaith Community.

Many faith traditions provide opportunities for congregational singing, but most congregations don’t sound like the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square, or the Sistine Chapel Choir. For any individual who sings in a congregation or a choir, or for those who want to learn to sing, Dr. Colleen Skull, assistant professor of voice at the Crane School of Music, will provide you with the tools necessary to develop or improve your own singing voice.

Join Dr. Skull online on Thursday, November 18 at 7 p.m. for “Learn to Sing Like a Professional,” for a one-hour, interactive program that will be held via Zoom.

The program is sponsored by the Potsdam Interfaith Community as part of its online learning series. It is free and open to the public.

 ZOOM LINK: https://potsdam-edu.zoom.us/j/84183265650?pwd=V2o3d3VtZXh2NnRhaXFKL0JUSWJRQT09

Last Call for Books for Kenya

If you still planned to bring in a book to donate to Rev. Enoch’s children’s library at his church in Kenya, this is the Sunday to bring it in. We’ve got a nice cache of books to send, and Sue will be packaging them up next week to ship off. 

Looking Ahead: 

Our next Big Shift Conversation will take place after worship on Sunday, December 5th.We’ve been meeting on the third Sunday of the month, but since Thanksgiving is coming, Session decided to move it to after the holiday. 

PIC Game Night: We will be hosting a game night at the church on Thursday, Dec. 9th at 6:30pm. 

Care Packages for Nurses on the 3rd Floor Med Serg Unit: On Dec. 12th, following the worship service, we will be gathering to put together Christmas care packages for our nurses one more time. We will need to bring granola bars, dried fruits, nuts, candies, and crackers to put together these small gift bags. If you plan to donate items, please either let me or Sharon Pickard know. (Each bag has a $5 cap for goodies.) 

Praying for Each Other

Friends, there are many of us who are struggling right now– in our bodies, our minds, our relationships, and our circumstances. As a church family, we are called to care for one another, and that includes lifting each other up in prayer. Will you spend some time this week praying for someone you know? Will you take a moment to reach out to this person with a kind word or deed? (Our actions are as much a part of our prayers as our thoughts are.) 

Ecclesiastes tells us that:

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

~Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 

So let us care for one another this week! 

Holding You in the Light,
Pastor Katrina

News for the Church, 11/05/21

Good afternoon, Church!

It’s a beautiful sunny day outside. Are your cats laying in the sun beams? Are you sitting in the sun beams? 

Here’s today’s news: 

Daylight Savings Time

Tomorrow night daylight savings time ends. Make sure you turn your clock back an hour– otherwise you’ll be an hour early for Sunday worship! 

2022 Pledges

It’s time to start thinking about your pledge for the coming year. Next week Dale Hobson, our trusty stewardship chair, will be sending a letter to you in the snail mail asking you to consider your giving for 2022. Will you be in prayer about what God is calling you to give this coming year? 

We’re hoping that you’ll be able to return these pledge forms by the end of November. The reason being– Session will be putting together a budget in December for the coming year, and we need to know what we have to work with financially. 

PIC Game Night

The Potsdam Interfaith Community, which we participate in, will be hosting its annual Game Night at our church on Thursday, December 9th at 6:30pm. Folks from the congregations that participate in PIC are invited to come and play board games in the Center. Would you like to join in the fun? We’re going to spread tables out across the room and have different games going on in all the corners. 

*Masks will be required. 

Another Round of Care Packages for Nurses at CPH

Remember the wonderful care packages we put together for the 3rd floor Med Serg unit at the hospital last month? PIC has decided to do one more round of appreciation for nurses and janitors at the hospital for the holiday season. Would you be able to bring in a few more granola bars, nuts, candies, chocolates, and dried fruits on December 12th? (There’s a $5 limit per bag, so we don’t need to go crazy on items.)

We will stick around after the service that Sunday to assemble the care packages and write our notes of appreciation. 

If you remember, one of the nurses from our unit actually came to church the next Sunday to say how much they appreciated this gift– so we know that we’re bringing joy to their lives! 

Holiday Blues? 

Friends, the holidays are growing near. Sometimes this season is welcomed in our lives, and other times it’s not. If you’re one of those folks who isn’t looking forward to celebrating the holidays, just know that you’re not alone. This is a time when our greatest sorrows often rise to the surface. And it’s a time when our family conflicts can start to rub in uncomfortable ways. 

Today I invite you to consider what you need to do to help care for yourself in the next six weeks. Do you need to work on a relationship? Do you need to say “no” to an invitation? Do you need to say “yes” to doing something different? If your current holiday traditions don’t serve you or the needs of your family, you have the opportunity to do something that does. God gives us the ability to make changes for ourselves when we need them. God created us to be adapters! So put some thought into what would be life-giving this holiday season, and then may God give you the courage to seek it out. 

I hope to see you at worship this Sunday!

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Katrina