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Weekly News — May 24, 2023
Contents
News
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Kids Programming this Sunday - new
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Office Hours - new
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Staff Contacts - new
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Sound System Update - new
- Church Picnic Celebration
- Speakeasy Summer Series
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Women's Book Study
- New Member Class
- New Instrumental Group
- Blood Drive
- Vacation Bible School
- Summer Book Discussion
- Music Ministry Trip
- Sing a New Song
Preaching and Prayers
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Kids Program Breaks This Sunday
The Nursery will be closed and there will be no kid programs during either service this coming Sunday. Families who attend worship are welcome to make activity bags in the Worship Center. We hope all of our regular kid program volunteers and Nursery workers enjoy a restful Memorial Day weekend!
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Church Office Hours
From June 1-13, church office hours will be shifted due to the Music Ministry trip to Europe. During that time the church will be staffed from 9-2, Monday-Thursday. There will be staff in the church in addition to those hours, but the front entrance will not always be unlocked so please plan to coordinate with a staff member if you need to come in at other times.
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Staff Contacts from June 1-12
Sandor Kádár, Caroline Cupp, Nolan Prochnau, and Pete Galloway will be with the choir in Central Europe during the first two weeks of June. All will have access to their First Pres emails, though response times may be delayed. To reach them by phone, leave a message with the church office (please note that messages left on their personal church voicemail boxes cannot be accessed abroad). Pastor Tara Woodard-Lehman will be providing worship and pastoral care coverage, and Claire Kramer will cover the church office while Pete is away. Thank you for your patience during this time.
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Sound System Update
Thank you all for your patience as we navigated a disruption to our sound system last Sunday. The likely source of the issue has been determined, but the part we need to fix the system is only available through a single company and backordered until the end of June. Nolan has made some temporary adjustments that will minimize disruption, though you may notice some changes in how worship is led. Thank you for bearing with us as we wait for a fix to this issue.
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Church Picnic
A great time was had at the church picnic last week; thank you to all who brought dishes and helped with set up and clean up. Live music by Sandor Kadar and Brian Claeys was an added treat!
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Women's Book Study
Spiritual Connections starts a new book on Monday, June 5, 6:30 p.m. and is returning to a popular book discussed several years ago. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World shares the remarkable insights of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. They came together in 2015 to talk about how we can find joy in the face of life’s inevitable suffering. All women are encouraged to join the discussion to consider and reflect. Meetings are first and third Mondays via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. Contact Ellen Endslow with questions or to obtain the Zoom link.
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New Members Class in June
We’ll be holding a New Members Class in early summer for those who are interested in joining First Presbyterian, or if you’d like to know more about the church and what membership means. If you’re interested in attending, please contact Elizabeth Hess. The class will be held Wednesday, June 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel.
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New Instrumental Ensemble
Looking for String Players
A new string ensemble called Miner Street Stringers will start rehearsing in September under the direction of Adriana Park. This intergenerational group will be made up of church members and members of the community with the goal of playing at church services a few times per year. The registration is open to all ages and technical levels. The first rehearsal will be at 3 pm on Sunday, September 17 at First Pres. For more details, please contact Adriana Park.
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Blood Drive
First Presbyterian Church is hosting a Blood Drive on Monday, June 12 from 12 to 5 p.m. Call 1-800-733-2767 or click the button below to make an appointment.
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VBS is Coming Soon!
This summer’s VBS program, Hero Hotline, will lead kids on an adventure through the Bible as we learn about how to love our neighbor through God’s grace and love. VBS will be offered as the Summer Sunday School program on Sunday mornings from 9 – 10 am, June 18 – July 30. The program is designed for children ages 4 years old through rising 6th graders. There is no pressure for children to attend every single Sunday (although we hope some will!) They are welcome to attend as their summer schedules allow.
VBS can’t happen without many helping hands. We need people to help lead and play with the kids, as well as people to prepare and serve snacks. If you are willing to spend a Sunday morning or two having some VBS fun with Ms. Sara and the First Pres kids, please sign-up to help by clicking the button below.
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Summer Book Discussion
This summer, the Justice Ministry Team is offering a congregation-wide book study of How To Be a Patriotic Christian by Richard J. Mouw. The publisher summarizes the book this way:
“Some Christians see loyalty to America as central to our faith and identity. Other Christians are skeptical that our nation warrants such devotion or attachment. But Richard Mouw encourages Christians to have a healthy sense of national peoplehood that promotes civic kinship and responsible citizenship. He navigates between Christian nationalism on one hand and cynicism about country on the other to avoid the perils of both idolatry and disengagement.”
A limited number of copies of the book will be available for purchase in Fellowship Hall, or people can order a copy of the book on their own. The Justice Ministry Team will host a one-time event to discuss the book in Fellowship Hall on Sunday, June 25 from 11:30 am – 1:00 pm. In acknowledging how his own understanding of how to be patriotic as a Christian is a work in progress, the author writes, “The closest I can come to giving how-to advice about relating faith to patriotism is this: keep wrestling with the questions.” We look forward to a thought provoking, grace filled conversation with one another as we faithfully wrestle with our thoughts about the intersection of our faith and civic identities.
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Music Ministry Heading
to Europe
From June 1 – 12, an intergenerational group of forty-six people from First Pres and West Chester University will be traveling through Europe on a trip led by Sándor Kádár and Caroline Cupp. We have performances scheduled in Vienna and Budapest, and will also explore Dresden, Leipzig, and Prague. While we are away, Pastor Tara will be on site for pastoral issues and Sándor has a full slate of talented musicians covering worship on June 4 and 11. We’ll make sure to post our adventures to the church’s Facebook page and plan to share some beautiful German and Hungarian music with you when we return.
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Sing a New Song
Each week, we provide links to songs which will be sung in the Contemporary Worship services in the upcoming Sundays. In May we will repeat the song I Shall Not Want by Audrey Assad, and Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli. In June we will focus on All the People Said Amen by Matt Maher and Seek First. Click the song titles for a preview of each.
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Upcoming Preaching Schedule
May 28 - Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman
June 4 - Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman
June 11 - Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman
June 18 - Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman
June 25 - Rev. Ann Dickey
The 9:00 service each week is broadcast over WCHE at 11 a.m. each Sunday at 1520AM and also at 95.3FM.
The Church Office will be closed Monday, May 29 for Memorial Day.
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Thursday First Pres Prayers
This month our focus of prayer is Congregational Life – a ministry that seeks to engage and connect attendees through visitor engagement, and church members with activities that strengthen their faith and engage them in ministries that use their gifts to reach out into the community and build up the body of Christ.
This Week’s Prayer:
Pray with the PNC this prayer: Dear God, we continue to pray that whomever we call as Head of Staff will also hear Your call and desire to shepherd our church. We continue to seek your will, nothing more, nothing else, nothing less. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Each week we pray for our congregation at 12:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
Set an alarm or schedule it in your calendar to join us! You don’t need to only pray for the topic of the week, but you can continue to pray for previous topics as well or anything that God lays on your heart.
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Prayer Requests
If you would like to add a prayer (in joy or in time of need) to our Prayer Band, complete the website form, send an email, or call the church at the number below.
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