Please remember to send the office any notifications of content that needs to be included in Westminster Weekly. Please send to office@crescenthill.church or call the office at 502-893-5381.

Please come and join us for Fun and Games!

How would you like to spend Tuesday afternoons surrounded by a group of friends having a great time playing games and just enjoying life? We will host various game opportunities (Mahjong, Hand and Foot, Bunco). Or you can bring your own game to share. All are welcome!

The group had a fun day this past Tuesday learning Mahjong!

Our next meet-up is Tuesday, February 24 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

How do we pray? How could I pray? How do I cultivate a more prayerful life?

During Lent on each Sunday morning (except Palm Sunday) at 9:30 am, we will gather to talk about prayer . . . and to pray. Phil Lloyd-Sidle will facilitate this time in which we share from our lives, look at different kinds of prayer, and devote some time to praying. Over the five weeks we look forward to a generative time together that hopefully will help us on our Lenten journeys and lives. We’ll begin on Sunday, February 22, meeting in the Gathering Room. Coffee, tea, and light goodies will be provided. Open to all, of course!

Putting Faith into Action: Seeking Justice for Palestinians

At its January 28 meeting, the Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church Session approved two overtures to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly on Israel/Palestine. Session had invited Mark Barnes to introduce the overtures. In a lengthy discussion before the vote, Session members reaffirmed the commitment of CHPC to love God and neighbor. This means putting words to action when we see injustices in the world, whether they affect us directly or not. It means seeing misery and suffering in the world and acting on it, in addition to praying for those suffering.

The first overture approved was the Peace and Justice Through Just and Peaceful Means: Overture on Embargoing Israel. (Click https://1drv.ms/b/c/c4f61227bf898c0f/IQCvEOcmwk7vQ40bg4_rJamOAXlhWRx-ZmogpCK7yulQ__w?e=Ex0MBZ to read) An embargo is an official ban on trade or other commercial activities with a particular country. This overture asks the U.S. Congress and the President to enact a full trade embargo until specific conditions are met. These conditions include withdrawing the Israeli army from Palestinian territory, abolishing apartheid policies, destroying walls that separate Palestinian from Israeli land, and offering Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homeland without harm.



The second overture, Recognition that Israel has Violated the International Law Prohibiting Genocide, (Click https://1drv.ms/b/c/c4f61227bf898c0f/IQBno7eluls4QLQXEUHRu-nlAUeo60p__PX004F36YX0eBI?e=omagsD to read) has already been supported and submitted to General Assembly by the Presbytery of the Redwoods. Session affirmed concurrence with this overture, which condemns the Israeli government for violating the United Nations Convention on the crime of genocide in its war against Gaza. The overture defines “genocide” and encourages specific actions to stand against all forms of racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia.

On February 6, following the actions of CHPC’s session, the Church Administration Committee of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery voted to recommend the two overtures for deliberation and vote at the presbytery’s meeting on February 21.

CHPC will engage in further education and prayer opportunities regarding these overtures.

If you have trouble accessing these links, please reach out to Tricia Lloyd-Sidle at Revtjls@gmail.com

Prayer Group for the Middle East

Feel free to join us Thursdays on Zoom, in-person, or both. This group has enabled such support for one another as we all struggle to cope with the tragedies in the Middle East and the on and off cease fires and prisoner releases. The first Thursday of each month the group will meet in person. Please each out to Soni for locations.

We would be grateful to have others join us. Email Soni at soni.castleberry@gmail.com to get the Zoom link and be added to the group email list for regular communication.

Did You Know?

What Presbyterians Believe...

from PC(USA) Book of Confessions:

Why This Book of Confessions? 

The most immediate explanation for the content of the Book of Confessions is that it is the result of the combination of doctrinal standards that came with Presbyterian reunion in 1983. This amounted to adding the Larger Catechism from the three Westminster documents that were standards in the former Presbyterian Church in the United States to the Book of Confessions already adopted by the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. But the question remains, why this selection from the great number of authentic Reformed confessions that could have been chosen? The answer is that the Book of Confessions contains a cross-section of ecumenical and Reformed confessions with wide geographical and historical representation.

The Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds from the ancient church come as close as any other confessional statements to expressing the faith of all Christians, of all traditions, throughout church history. Their inclusion points to the ecumenical character of our church.

The Scots Confession (1560) was written mostly by John Knox, student of Calvin and father of English-speaking Reformed Christianity.

The German Heidelberg Catechism (1563) and the Swiss Second Helvetic Confession (1566) are, as we have noted, probably the two most widely accepted confessional statements among Reformed Christians throughout the world.

The original British Westminster Confession and Catechisms (1647) have been the primary standard for the Presbyterian branch of the Reformed family not only in our country but wherever Presbyterian Churches have sent missionaries.

The Barmen Declaration (1933), written by Lutheran and Reformed Christians working together (and thus another ecumenical document), confesses the lordship of Christ especially in relation to political issues that are critical for all Christians in the modern world.

The Confession of 1967, the only specifically American confession in the book, addresses critical issues of Christian faithfulness in our time and place.

The Book of Confessions as a whole enriches our understanding of what it means to be Reformed Christians, helps us escape the provincialism to which we have been prone, and expresses our intention to join the worldwide family of Reformed churches that is far bigger and more inclusive than our particular denomination.  

https://pcusa.org/sites/default/files/boc2016.pdf 

February Birthdays

Please remember these wonderful folks in prayer and, if possible, reach out to them with a card, phone call, text, email or however you choose to honor them.

Feb 2 - Brooke Yeager

Feb 9 - Nick Paliewicz

Feb 10 - Beverly Bartlett Turner

Feb 17 - Judy Steer

Feb 22 - Kate Husk, Jerry Van Marter

Feb 23 - Richard Myers

Feb 25 - Allen Bridgman

Feb 27 - Stewart Bridgman, Sr.

To double-check your listing, contact the office at office@crescenthill.church or call 502-893-5381.