Due to the recent spike in COVID cases in Hamilton county, we will worshiping online only for the next 2 Sundays, January 16 and 23rd. Thank you for your patience as we love our neighbors by trying to keep each other and the surrounding community as safe and healthy as possible. Please reach out to the pastors if you have special needs during this time.
Worship services are available by livestream on our Youtube channel or Facebook page at 11:00 am on Sunday and anytime afterward. The video includes the readings and hymn lyrics, but if you prefer to see a bulletin as you follow along, you can find it online here.
This Sunday the Rev. Jonathan Vanderbeck will join us as our guest preacher during this series on mental health. Jonathan is a PC(USA) minister as well as a licensed clinical social worker and therapist, and he will be using his skills to help us walk through the challenges of depression and despair within the context of faith. Jonathan will also host our Encounters education hour on Zoom (password is mapc) at 9:30am with the topic, "Ask the Shrink (Almost) Anything." Submit your questions anonymously in advance here!
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JANUARY SERMON AND EDUCATION SERIES ON MENTAL HEALTH
For the next 3 weeks in worship, we will be talking about mental health and mental illness. During this time we work to unpack some of the stigma around mental health, through exploring who we are as beloved people of God (broken bones, mental illness, and all) and how God calls us to care for one another regardless. Our hope is to help our community recognize that we are not alone in our struggles, make space for our community to talk openly and honestly about what they might be dealing with and provide resources as we learn and grow together.
January 16 - The Rev. Jonathan Vanderbeck will be with us for the Encounters education hour and worship.
January 23 - Pastor Stacey will be preaching about coping with stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges within community. The annual Congregational Meeting will follow the service on Zoom.
January 30 - Encounters education hour with the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI).
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REFLECTIONS FROM THE PASTOR
Dear friends,
If you've been online much in the last two years, you've probably heard a lot about self-care - and we certainly have needed it in this endless Groundhog's Day loop of outbreaks, quarantines, precautions, vaccines, rinse and repeat. At a certain point, all the self-care advice in the world starts to ring a little hollow, and I found myself resonating recently with an article titled "I Can't Self-Care My Way Into Feeling Better Anymore," in which wellness editor Lindsay Holmes writes, "I can’t journal away 800,000-plus COVID deaths. I can’t meditate away the endless uncertainty. I can’t exercise away the anti-vaxxers and misinformation putting all of us at risk. There comes a point where the methods we’ve been told to rely on feel more insulting than helpful." Pardon my poor grammar, but ain't that the truth.
Holmes does ultimately make a few suggestions for how we can, if not make it all better, at least live with our sadness, rage, and/or apathy and do the best we can while it inhabits our lives. Her biggest takeaway is simply to be real about what we're feeling. Unfortunately, sometimes that's the hardest self-care tactic of all. We're under relentless pressure to present a positive attitude. And while it's true that finding only the worst in everything tends to have an overall negative impact, so does suppressing our struggles.
The month of January was named for the Roman god Janus, who was presented as having two faces. January seems an apt time for this image, when so many of us try to launch hopeful resolutions and renewed outlooks on a new year - and yet we may find ourselves with another "face" that those around us can't see: the face of doubt, grief, continued isolation.
This is exactly why Rebekah and I thought it was so important to offer this month's series on mental health. It can be hard to open up to others when Winter can be rough in the best of times and this is not the best of times. But the one thing that does genuinely seem to help is knowing that we are not alone, that what we feel is valid and often shared by others, that we are surrounded by a community that is willing to see and know both faces.
Janus did not represent a hidden or suppressed side; he represented transition, with both faces visible, one looking into the past and one into the future. And Jesus never asked his followers to hide their pain; he was there to hold both joy and sorrow. I wonder what might happen if, instead of hiding the less pleasant of our faces, we allowed both to be seen and known? Not every concern can be soothed with self-care, and not every wrong can be solved by community, but all of our burdens become a bit lighter when they are shared.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Stacey
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NEW YEAR, NEW WAYS TO GET INVOLVED!
Have you been looking for ways to connect to the MAPC community? Are you hoping to shift your involvement in the coming year and try something new? Now is the time! The committees are beginning to schedule their first meetings of 2022 and would love to have you on board.
Finance and Stewardship is meeting Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 6:30pm; contact Susan Ingmire if you are interested in participating.
Other committees will be meeting soon so stay tuned, and contact the pastors or committee chairs if you'd like more information.
Want to help out but committees aren't your thing? We're also looking for people to be trained on the live-streaming system, office volunteers, ushers, and a variety of other one-time and regular jobs around the church; just talk to one of the pastors.
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ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING and
2021 ANNUAL REPORT
The annual meeting of the congregation will happen by Zoom on January 23 immediately after the worship service. This meeting is for the purpose of reviewing the 2021 Annual Report and 2022 budget, and approving the terms of call for Pastor Stacey. The 2021 Annual Report is available online here. I f you would like a printed copy, please let Nori know whether you would like to pick it up or have it mailed to you.
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OPEN STACKS BOOK CLUB
A Message About our February Book Group Gathering (Friday, February 4, 2022, MAPC Geier Room from 7:00-9:30). We continue to meet in the Geier Room, however, if Church services are only via Zoom, we will likely reschedule this event. Please watch for emails and church announcements. A Special Book Discussion: Book: Hiding In Plain Sight by our own Teri Miles. If you do not yet have Teri’s book, you may purchase it through this link Cost: $25.00 If you have any questions, please check with Bill Bogdan or Nan Costello. We will see each other soon.
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CONNECTOR ART GALLERY
Inside Out, An Affirming Epiphany
Trans Art and Poetry
SOS Cincinnati, Saad Ghosn, Editor
January - March 2022
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WAYS TO HELP SETTLE AFGHAN IMMIGRANTS IN CINCINNATI
The local nonprofit, Heartfelt Tidbits, is assisting in the relocation of Afghan refugees to Cincinnati. You can go to their website to see a full list of ways to help. Some tasks require a large commitment. For example, there is a need to transport people to appointments, to help people move into new living spaces, and to furnish household items. There is an especially easy way to help. As these families arrive from Afghanistan, there are many basic items they require. Most of the items cost far below $50. Heartfelt Tidbits is preparing “welcome kits” that incorporate these simple items. If you want to help fill welcome kits with some of these items, please go to the following SmileAmazon site to make a purchase.
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SOME GOOD NEWS FROM PAAD
On January 9, 2021 Governor DeWine signed SB 136, which prohibits imposing the
death penalty for aggravated murder when the offender had a serious mental illness at
the time of the offense. On June 9, 2021 David Braden was the first inmate on death
row to have his sentence changed to life in prison without parole. On August 30, 2021 the Ohio Controlling Board voted unanimously to award $1 million from the state to ex-death row inmate Joe D’Ambrosio, who was wrongfully imprisoned for more than 2 decades due to prosecutorial misconduct. The unanimous decision marked the final hurdle in Joe’s years-long effort to get state compensation for his time behind bars. Some of you may recall meeting Joe and Father Neil Kookoothe here at our church in January, 2013 when PAAD sponsored a Day of Witness Against the Death Penalty. They shared their story of how Joe came to know Father Neil while on death row and how Father Neil was able to assist Joe in gaining his freedom
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3 Nina Thomas
Cynthia Brown
7 Dan Parsley
8 Pat Basler
Rachel Timm Holmer
10 Marcia Alscher
Nan Costello
11 Chris Basler
Christine Montefiore
Keith Syler
16 Rick Sowash
Debbie VanKuiken
17 Jane Carter
Bill Porter
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20 Amy Beegle
Deb Carle
Ella Mae Thigpen
21 David Nash
22 Harold Porter
Joaquin Leavitt-Alcántara
23 John Tallmadge
25 Dustin Didier
26 Pat Lefeld
Nori Muro
27 Judy Rhodes
28 Chap Sowash
29 Lisa Foster
31 Kathleen Downey
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Ohio Death Row Inmates with January Birthdays
Cards have been sent to the following inmates. (Remembering Jesus’ words, “I was in prison and you visited me”, please, take time to read the list and offer a prayer for each of them.) Iman Siddique Abdulla Hasan, James Were, James Frazier, Danny Hill, David Myers, August Cassano, James Goff, Jerome Henderson, Samuel Moreland, Calvin Neyland, Damantae Graham, James Tench, George Brinkman, Christopher Whitaker, Austin Myers
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If you want to see something on the prayer list,
and note how long it should remain on the list.
- Prayers for Amy Grady.
- Prayer's for Ruth Anne Van Loon's husband who had surgery for a brain tumor that was diagnosed recently.
- Mary Carol Melton's sister Maureen Conlan had a stroke and is now at Llanfair for rehabilitation.
- Gwen Ramgobin was discharged from the hospital December 9. She is home and will be receiving PT three times a week. Cards may be sent to her home: 1349 Thomwood Dr. Cincinnati, OH 45224.
- Cathy VanHorn remains non-weight bearing for the last 2 months. Starts PT in January with hopes for a full and complete recovery so she can again, hit the Tennessee hiking trails in the Spring with Laurie and their 3 dogs. Please keep her in your prayers for overall strength, patience, perseverance, optimism and positivism. Notes can be sent here: PO Box 189 Townsend, TN 37882
- Sonya Harry (spouse of Alison Perkins) is recovering from her spinal surgery on 11/8/21, but her cancer diagnosis is devastating. She has "medically incurable" type of rare sarcoma. Her Oncologist can't venture a guess about how long she will live. Prayers appreciated 9321 Streamview Ct., Dayton, OH 45458
- Daniel Addai asks for prayers for healing.
- Prayers requested for Susan Ingmire’s mother, Marlene, who has chronic heart problems and is 90 years old and for Susan’s brother, Steve, who continues to struggle with alcoholism.
- Prayers for Frank Burdick who has been diagnosed with cancer and is in treatment.
- Diane Myers thanks everyone for prayers for her mother, Jeanette Longworth. After a recent setback, her mother has been able to resume breast cancer treatment.
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MAPC OFFICERS
The new elders and deacons will be installed on January 23. Session has their first meeting on January 26.
The Session is: Sara Bick, Sandee Ernst, Amy Grady, Julia Malkin, Marlene Muse, Sequoia Powers-Griffin, Dave Simon, Susan Thomas, Yana Keck, Carl Ward, Ellen Muse, and Lisa Foster. Faye Burdick serves as stated clerk.
The Deacons Board is: Elizabeth Marsh Singh, moderators. Linda Vaccariello, Earl Apel, Lynn Hailey, Patty Muhlemann, Bonnie Bohn, Nan Costello, Rick Sowash, Deb Carle, Van Ackerman, Deborah Ramey, and Amy Beegle.
The committees of the church are:
Operations
Finance and Stewardship
Worship
Education and Spiritual Nurture
Justice-Seeking
Congregational Engagement
Outreach
Personnel
Nominations
Earth Care Leadership Team
Please contact any of these people or Stacey or Rebekah if you have questions about the Session, Deacons, or Committees of MAPC!
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MAPC HAPPENINGS!
All gatherings and worship services are virtual unless otherwise noted.
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Sunday, January 16
9:30 AM, Encounters, Zoom
11:00 Worship, YouTube
Tuesday, January 18
9:30 AM Preacher Bible Study, Zoom
Noon Bible Study, Zoom
6:00 PM Treehouse, Geier Room
Wednesday, January 19
11:00 Staff Meeting
2:00 St John's Seniors, Geier Room
Sunday, January 23
9:30 AM Encounters, Zoom
11:00 Worship, YouTube
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DONATE ONLINE
Now you can participate in the mission and ministry of Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church through convenient online giving! Scan the QR code with the camera on your phone and it will bring you directly to our donation website. Thank you for your generous support.
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MAPC ONLINE DIRECTORY
Updated as of January 2022
You can find the online version here. Please note that this is an ever-evolving document, and it's been especially hard to keep track of people over the last couple of years. If you notice any changes or errors, pass any updates on to Nori!
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OFFICE AND PASTORAL COVERAGE
At least one of the pastors is normally "on call" every day. Stacey is off on Mondays; she can be reached the rest of the week at 518-533-8000 or [email protected]. Rebekah is off on Fridays; they can be reached at other times at 717-476-6297 or [email protected]
CPS has gone back to remote learning until at least January 24th. Therefore, Nori will be in and out of the office while she works from home and monitors remote learning for her daughter, Nina. If you need anything, please send an email, Nori am always happy to help!
VOLUNTEER NEEDED IN CHURCH OFFICE
I am still looking for a volunteer to answer phones, greet visitors and attend to any vendors coming in. Wednesday, January 26-Friday, January 28 from 8-3. Email Nori if you would like to help!
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IMPORTANT CONTACT INFO UPDATE
Please take note! Dan Davidson has new contact info. Should you need him for anything Church related after hours, please note the changes to his contact info. Cell is (513) 808-6010 and his email is [email protected].
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If you would like to add anything to this weekly e-newsletter, please email Nori [email protected] by Thursday morning. This includes ALL events, prayer requests, and other items of interest. If you want to see it in the e-newsletter, email it to Nori!
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