News for the Church, 4/21/23

Good Day to you Church!

It’s a sunny spring day out here on my back porch and I’m enjoying playing with the birds. If you don’t know this already, it’s possible to mimic cardinals and chickadees (and maybe other birds too?). If you’ve got them in your neighborhood, and you learn to speak a little chickadee, they’ll call back to you! I certainly don’t know what I’m saying in their language, but they’re quite chatty if you engage with them. 

Here’s the news for the week: 

The Roof Work is About to Begin!!

We’ve been waiting and waiting for the weather to turn so that our roofing contractors can get to work on our roof, and the time has finally come! At the beginning of next week, RSI will be bringing in a 66′ lift to repair holes in our slate roof, replace rotting soffitting and molding, and build a giant gutter system to keep rain water from splashing onto the bell tower doors (which then rots them at an accelerated pace). 

Some of this work is being paid for by insurance, but the majority of it is being covered by the $25,000 grant we received from the Northern New York Community Foundation and the Rock Charitable Grant! Thanks be to God! 

*As a side note, the interior work in the sanctuary won’t be completed until this coming November. At that time, however, the ceiling will be repaired, chipping paint will be scraped, and the entire sanctuary will be repainted. (Yahoo!) 

Session Meeting this Wednesday

For those who attend, our zoom session meeting will be on April 26th at 6:30pm. 

Community Supper this Thursday

A big thanks to all of you who volunteer each week to make our monthly community suppers happen! And good luck to you all with your first “in person” meal since the pandemic. 

Youth Group this Thursday

This week we will be meeting at our church at 6:30pm. I think we might need to crack out the ice cream this time too! 

Rich Hinkle to Preach April 30th

Retired Presbyterian pastor Rich Hinkle will be back with us next Sunday, April 30th to preach. 

‘Trio Crane’ in Concert in our Sanctuary on May 2

On Tuesday, May 2, at 5:30pm Brian Dunbar (professor extraordinaire of flute at Crane and husband to our beloved Keilor Kastella) will be playing a concert with two other Crane professors. You won’t want to miss this free concert being held right in our sanctuary! 

Senior Recognition Sunday, May 7th

It won’t quite be the end of finals on May 7th, but we’re going to celebrate our seniors that day with recognition in the service and a cake during our potluck. (Fortifying them with our love and some sugar might get them through their finals!) 

We will be celebrating with Juster Gicovi, Levi Stauffer, Terrence Summers…. and… anyone else? Am I missing anyone? Please let me know if I am! 

Tour of Riverview Correctional Facility on May 11th

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a prison looks like? Are you still considering possibly joining the crew getting ready to tutor incarcerated men earning their bachelor’s degree from SUNY Potsdam at Riverview Correctional Facility? If you answer yes to either of these questions, RCF, a medium-security prison in Ogdensburg is offering tours of its facility on May 11th. These open-to-the-public tours will take place at 10am and 1pm. If you’d like to sign up to attend, email Dr. Nancy Lewis at lewishnl@potsdam.edu

Collecting Per Capita

I will mention a quick line (for a few more weeks) about per capita. If you’re a member of our church and have an extra $32 to cover this annual cost that we are required to pay for all of our members, we would greatly appreciate it! Just note “per capita” on your payment. 

Interested in Joining the Church?

If anyone else is interested in taking a membership class at some point in May or June, please send me an email soon. We’re figuring out when to hold our membership class and your availability matters. 

Beautiful Flowers from the Potsdam Agway

A big thanks goes out again this year to Daryl and the Potsdam Agway, who again donated flats of pansies to beautify our church grounds! If you happen to find yourself at the Agway in the next few weeks, will you let them know that our church appreciates them? 

Also, another thank you to Joanne and Dick Partch who planted the pansies! 

A Word from St. Teresa of Avila

This week a friend shared a poem with me written by a nun who lived in Spain in the 1500s. Her name was Teresa, and she lived in a troubled world– both socially and personally. The reformation (and counter-reformation) were in full swing during her life, and Teresa suffered greatly from illness in her life. In all of this trouble, challenge, and turmoil, she came to understand the importance of personal introspection and surrender. And through this surrender, she found herself living in mystical union with God. 

Teresa wrote quite a few books, but she also wrote the following poem, which we will be singing as a hymn this Sunday: 

Let nothing trouble you;
let nothing frighten you. 
All things are passing; 
God is stable.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever possesses God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices. 

By Fray Juan de la Miseria – http://www.umilta.net/teresavila.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10363635

Dear Hearts, my prayer for us this week is that we might come to know the meaning of these words deep in our hearts, and not just understand them as words in our minds. 

What does it mean to you that ‘all things are passing and whoever possesses God lacks nothing?’ 

Holding you in the light this week,
Pastor Katrina

p.s. Teresa is also famous for saying, “It is love alone that gives worth to all things.”