Weekly Witness for Facebook and Friends

May 15, 2025

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Sermon Text: Ephesians 3: 14-21

Livestream worship. Bulletin.

Liturgist and Psalmist: see bulletin

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Frank's Graduation From Seminary!

You are invited to Fellowship after worship this Sunday for a celebration of the graduation of Frank Yates and his classmate Dewey Johnson from Austin Seminary in May of 1975. 

After the celebration, we will be moving furniture around in preparation for removal and installation of flooring beginning Monday morning, May 19. The areas that will be inaccessible for about 10 days are: the Fellowship Hall, dishwashing room, kitchen, and Share Your Care's west hallway and bathrooms.

If you are able to stay around after fellowship and help with the move, many thanks.

A Note from Building & Grounds

As many of you know, we had a plumbing problem in and around the ladies' washroom on Sunday morning. With the help of many of our church family, we were able to clean it up very quickly. A special thank you to Reyes (with Mr. Rooter Albuquerque Plumbing Service) who was at church on Sunday and volunteered his services as a plumber. He agreed to come in early Monday morning to look at the problem. He did fast, efficient work, and cleared it up in less than 45 minutes. Reyes' generosity is outstanding; he charged us nothing to solve our major plumbing problem. 

On behalf of the Building and Grounds Committee and everyone at church, we owe these people a very special thank you! 

Pat and the Building and Grounds Committee

Pastor to People

This Sunday, May 18, during Fellowship hour, Meredith and the Fellowship Committee have graciously offered to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of my graduation from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In May of 1975, Rev. Dewey Johnson (the founding pastor of Sandia Presbyterian Church) and I received our Master of Divinity diplomas. It really was a memorable day, an occasion that launched us into 50 years of service to the PCUSA. And we are still "kicking"!

I would like to give thanks for the many professors Dewey and I had at Austin who shaped our faith journey. Eugene March taught us both Greek and Hebrew, and what an excellent instructor he was. Jim Wharton was our golden-tongued orator who taught us the Old Testament and brought us back to the "campfires where the stories of David were passed down." George Heyer taught us theology, helping us wade through Calvin, Barth and Tillich. And George did it with such an elegant style! Stuart Currie taught us the Gospels and also Kierkegaard. Dick Junkin taught us church history, especially American Church history with his emphasis upon "American civil religion." Ross Dunn taught us ethics, exploring many hot button issues. Ross brought to our class Sarah Weddington, the lead attorney in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade abortion case before the Supreme Court. What a discussion that elicited! David Ng taught us how Christian education forms the faith of people in the church. Bob Shelton taught us how to preach and whose words still ring in my ears when I step into the pulpit, "Now don't you go chasing after rabbits!" Maybe that is why I still use a manuscript, to keep me from chasing after rabbits! And finally, there was Prescott Williams who reluctantly served as president of our seminary while Dewey and I were there from 1972-75. Later he took a Sabbatical and spent a year at Columbia's Teachers College in New York City. When I came back for my doctorate, Prescott taught a course on the prophet Jeremiah, and he was simply brilliant. His transformation from a mediocre teacher to a great teacher taught me that "old dogs can learn new tricks." 

And time does not permit to give thanks for all our classmates at Austin Seminary. They were a wonderful group who became friends. Now the star of our class, the only woman in our class, was Rebecca Weaver, who went to do great things.

So many of our classmates have joined the church triumphant . For their memory and for their ministries, I give thanks.

So this Sunday, the sermon title is "What I Learned in Seminary." I look forward to celebrating this occasion not only with Dewey and his wife Cheri, but also to give thanks for our very own Russ Dykehouse and Margaret Crowl, two seminary graduates who have long served the church. Russ graduated in 1969 from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and Margaret graduated in 1978 from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.

For all these gifts from God, I am deeply grateful.

Peace and hope,

Frank

Thank You to our Ramp Builders!

Next week the Capital Campaign's flooring removal and installation starts. The areas getting new floors are the Fellowship Hall, kitchen, dish room, and Share Your Care's (SYC's) west entrance hallway. SYC will move in to the nursery/children's Christian Ed room starting Monday morning. For clients in wheelchairs to access the area from the outside, we needed a temporary ramp at the east-facing patio gate. When our superb 'construction crew', Craig and Chuck, were notified that we needed a ramp built by this coming Monday, they quickly responded last weekend to get it taken care of.

From Mission Committee

Hygiene Kits - Mission in Action

Please join us to assemble 50 Hygiene Kits (basic personal kits for disaster relief and homelessness) on June 8th after Pentecost worship in the Fellowship Hall! All the materials you'll will be provided! See you there!

Sandia Mountain Retreats Annual Meeting

Location: Las Placitas Presbyterian Church

Time/Day: 10am, Saturday, June 7

An update on the Sandia Conference grounds (owned by the Presbytery of Santa Fe) will be presented. All are invited. For more information, call John, 505.898.0334.

Children's Summer Music Camp at 2nd Presbyterian

Location: 812 Edith Blvd NE, ABQ 87102

Dates and times: June 9-13, 9-11am

Ages: 4-11

Read more about it. Or read a larger copy of the flyer posted here.

For more information/to register:

Karmen - 505.301.0033

Leon Lake, Music Director, First Presbyterian Church of ABQ

Calendar

May 17 — May 24, 2025

Prayer Concerns

Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer. ~Padre Pio  

For our country.

For Gaza, Israel, Sudan, Congo, and Russia.

For Israel and Ukraine.

For all victims of gun violence, war, and unrest.

 Rio Rancho Presbyterian Church

1004 24th Street, SE, Rio Rancho, NM 87124

505.892.6664

Office Hours

Monday – Thursday | 9am–3pm