APC Weekday Preschool invites APC Congregation to its Silent Auction

APC WEEKDAY PRESCHOOL’S ANNUAL . . .

 

The Parents’ Group of Ardmore Presbyterian Church Weekday Preschool presents

FAMILY FUN DAY for our preschool children. It is an annual fundraiser which enables the Preschool to buy playground equipment, make Rainbow Room improvements,

purchase larger classroom teaching materials and bring special programs to the school.

A percentage will also be donated to the Eddie Kaier Preschool Scholarship Fund.

THIS YEAR WE ARE INVITING

THE CONGREGATION

TO PARTICIPATE IN A

FABULOUS & EXTENSIVE

SILENT AUCTION

Items in the auction will be on display in the

Mill Creek Room, Sunday morning March 4^th.

Advanced bidding for the Silent Auction will be held

Thursday, March 8^th from 9 - 11 am

Friday, March 9^th from 9 – 11 am in the Mill Creek Room

FINAL BIDDING is on Saturday, March 10^th, 3 – 4 pm,

during the event.

A list of items will be published & available

online for prior perusal.

Don’t miss this wonderful way to benefit the Preschool as well as acquire items you may normally purchase from the donor.  A Win Win Event.

For more information, contact Anne Foote at 610-642-6650 x13.

"Blessed Are Those That Mourn"

February 22, 2012 was the official beginning of the season of Lent.  At Ardmore Presbyterian Church we hold an evening "Service of Covenant Renewal."  The following are excerpts of Pastor James' remarks.  His texts for the evening was Matthew 5:1-10 and Psalm 126. 

After we first moved here, my wife signed up to receive text messages from one of the local television stations.  So a few times a day, her phone buzzes with the latest headlines in the Philly area.  More often than not, the texts are filled with bad news.  The media reports that someone did something hurtful or hateful or simply stupid.  Perhaps, it is another shooting or another flash mob or another scandal.  On occasion, Sara will forward a headline to me.  Sharing the news, even bad news, can be a comfort.  It’s nice to know we aren’t alone.

While recently reading one of those forwarded texts, I realized that I wasn’t angry or upset.  I just was saddened.  I grieved the waste of talent and ability.  I grieved the lost opportunities.  At the end of the text, the television station gave me an option, “Reply STOP NEWS to quit.”  If only it was that easy.  I would love to hit reply on my cell phone to stop the bad news from coming.  It would be great to push a button and know that no child would go hungry tonight, that wars would end, and that cures for diseases would be found. 

However, there is no app for that.  

We aren’t powerless.  Humanity is capable of great acts of compassion and sacrifice.  Each of us should do our part.  Nonetheless, it will never be enough.  Injustice, suffering and hatred will remain.  Despite our human efforts, death will always be an enemy.  The very things we wish to preserve slip through our fingers. 

For me, the worst part is when I discover that even our efforts are tainted.  Our actions are accompanied by selfishness, accommodation, and sin.  Exhausted by the magnitude of the challenge, we fall to our knees and cry.  And Jesus calls us blessed. 

For those of us who grew up reading Peanuts comics, “Good grief” was Charlie Brown’s cry of desperation.  It was meant to ironic, but Jesus means it seriously.  “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matt 5:4). 

On a certain level, those who mourn actually know the truth about this world.  If someone cannot feel the pain of another person, they are essentially alone.  There is something hellish about the one who walks through life surrounded by self-built walls, comfortably numb.

However, being blessed isn’t simply feeling another’s pain.  That’s not Jesus’ word to us.  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  Jesus declares that there is an end to grief.  Jesus stands with us at the grave.  He whispers into our ears.  Don’t worry.  This is not the whole story.  My love cannot be stopped by this.  I will never leave you.

The nails that pierced his hands are gone.  The cross on which he hung is no more.  But Jesus himself is not lost to history.  He is alive.  The grief we have today must be understood in that context.  Lent is not simply forty days of dreariness.  The empty tomb declares that our grief happens in the embrace of hope.  And God’s hope will never disappoint.

Charge to the Deacons - Sunday, January 8, 2012

Barry Jefferies gave this as a charge to the incoming class of deacons in 2012.  It is a great summary of who are the deacons and what they do.

-------------------------------------------------
It is the duty of Deacons, first of all, to minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to the friendless and to any who may be in distress both within and beyond the community of faith.” (Book of Order). All Christians are called to love their neighbor and be compassionate, but the Deacons are the church’s organized way to provide care and compassion for the congregation.

HISTORY 

The office of deacon has its roots in the early New Testament Church when the Apostles appointed the first deacons as the early church was undergoing growing pains. (ACTs 6; 1-7) As the church grew there was a need for people, “Full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” to care for the needs of the people.

DEACONS' TWO-FOLD MINISTRY

The mission of the deacons’ ministry of caring is two-fold. First God calls us and the Church ordains us to lead by serving others. To minister to those in need, to the sick, the friendless, the believer and the un-believer both within and beyond these walls. Second God calls us and the Church ordains us to lead by equipping members of the congregation to serve in the Ministry of Caring for others.

DEACONS QUALIFICATIONS

Qualities of deacons chosen for the office include: they should be persons of spiritual character, live honest exemplary lives, and be of brotherly and sisterly love. They should exercise humility, patience, and a willingness to listen.

DETAILS OF MINISTRY


The Deacon’s mission of caring is accomplished through a variety of ministries – transportation for those unable to drive to worship, emergency meals for young families, and visitation. Deacons visit members who are hospitalized, or homebound and unable to attend Sunday worship. Often included are the delivery the altar flowers, usually the visit results in lots of sharing of stories and prayer. The visits remind them of the Love of Jesus Christ and that the prayers of the congregation are with them. This shows our care and concern and helps maintain connections with members who might otherwise be isolated from the church family.

CONTINUING EDUCATION/STUDY 

We meet regularly for prayer, study and examine ways that we can better serve the Lord and honor his name at APC. “Deepening our faith” through prayer and study of scripture is central to the meeting the challenges of a Deacon’s journey.

This is a challenging calling which we might not consider ourselves worthy of or prepared to answer. It can be intimidating and sometimes God’s call may not make sense. Remember that God calls all of his people to greatness and we could never accomplish these tasks without the love of God.

REFLECTIONS 

Although there are many moving experiences when serving, my most memorable times are the opportunities to build relationships with people I may have otherwise never met. The experience has sometimes been sad with the loss of friends but the experience these past few years has been challenging, exciting and rewarding.

ENDING 

We are grateful for answering this call and our prayer is that is that as you fulfill your calling as a deacon you will also grow in your faith with God.

May we keep these new deacons in our hearts and prayers as they prepare to go out and participate in their ministry

For Once in My Life

Save February 26 for a light lunch followed by a 12:30p screening of "For Once in My Life", a heartwarming documentary here at Ardmore Presbyterian Church.

All ages youngest to oldest will enjoy seeing the triumphs of this Goodwill Industries band who have a wide range of physical and mental disabilities as well as musical abilities that are pure genius.

The film explores the triumph of the spirit, a celebration of overcoming the odds, and the healing power of music.

A footnote (pun intended) is that Amy Foote who grew up at APC is the film editor and creative director of "For Once in My Life".  Amy will be here to present the film and to Skype the music director of the Goodwill band shown in the film.

Check out the documentary's website, www.4onceinmylife.com, for more information about the film.

Information about the 2012 Offering of Letters

As the memory of some of us is long enough to remember, Ardmore Presbyterian Church has a history of fighting hunger, including the work of the Hunger Task Force, going back to the 1970s, and a relationship with Bread for the World, during those years.  This year, the Christian anti-hunger advocacy organization Bread for the World again offers an Offering of Letters topic, about which church members are encouraged to write to Congress, and the topic is to continue to call for a “Circle of Protection” around the vulnerable people who would be most hurt by budget cuts that have been proposed; but it is also a first-year sort of Offering of Letters, as it has four mini-campaigns, in a potentially busy year of Congress:  protecting U.S. nutrition programs; continuing improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit; protecting food aid to places of extreme need in the world; letting poverty-focused development assistance be effective in developing nations.

With Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania on the Senate Agriculture Committee, we here have a member of Congress, who is in a position to make a difference in a couple of these areas, and we, constituents, have a responsibility to hold him accountable, but we have other members of Congress, too, and we should be encouraged to write to all of them.

Next week [on Sunday, February 5], there will be an Offering of Letters table, here at Ardmore Presbyterian Church, appropriately on Souper Bowl of Caring Sunday, and I am going to suggest that we consider writing letters about federal nutrition programs.  These include SNAP (Food Stamps) and WIC.  These are vital programs, when someone hits a rough patch in their life, such as a job loss.  Think of some of the families that are housed temporarily in the churches of the Main Line IHN, or some of the people who may be served by our church food cupboard.

Our church is already helping, but the work of charitable efforts must be accompanied by federal efforts, as well.  A small cut to SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits would rival the amount of emergency food handled by Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network.

You can write a letter to a Senator or Representative next week [Sunday, February 5], during the soup luncheon after church.  May the letters be an offering to God, not of money, but of our voices.  This is what can make our campaign unique and powerful.  Please join me and other Christians to expand the Circle of Protection around programs that are vital to hungry people at home or abroad.

Rev. Schaunel Steinnagel

Hunger Action Enabler, Philadelphia Presbytery