From the Pastor

When I was 17, my teacher Dorothy Roos returned my first paper for my senior English class. There was red ink all over it. The grade was a D+ with these words underneath: “You have a gift. Stop doing as little as possible and rewrite this paper.”

I was so angry. But it motivated me.  And on the rewrite, she wrote A- along with, “ Now get your butt down to the journalism class and start writing for the high school newspaper.”

Roos was God’s gift of grace to me. I started writing a sports column for the newspaper. At graduation I received the school’s journalism scholarship to a college of my choice. To continue to “use my gift,” as Roos put it.

Sunday we’ll be looking at Matthew 25:14-30. It is a parable about using our talents for wealthy landowner, who is going away for a while. Theologians who talk about this parable say it is among the most misunderstood texts in the New Testament.

Join us on Sunday to find out why — and what Matthew’s Jesus was really getting at.

Grace and Peace,

Paul

Highlights of November 8 Session Meeting

At its November 8 meeting, the Session:

• Talked with Paul Seebeck and members of the presbytery Administrative Commission working with CHPC about expectations during Paul’s time as Bridge Pastor.
• Approved placing Erin and Chris Denny on the inactive list at their request.
• Agreed to a compromise proposal for clearing the garden, following a second meeting of Session representatives with Stephen Bartlett and another member of Sustainable Agriculture Louisville. Stephen will continue planting and maintaining the front part of the garden, next to the driveway, and holding garden camps there next summer. He and volunteers from the congregation will thoroughly clean out the back part of the garden and dispose of materials that have accumulated there. The goal is to have this completed in early December.
• Authorized Session clerk Polly Cushman to write a letter to Connie and Will Hobson, who live next to the garden, letting them know about plans to clean out the garden.
• Began discussing options for the back part of the garden and the grassy area next to it (pollinator garden? labyrinth? meditation area?). Session welcomes ideas from the congregation, along with the energy to carry out a plan.
• After initial Zoom interviews with three candidates for part-time pastor, agreed to follow up on two of them with reference checks and setting up in-person interviews if possible.
• Agreed to allow neighborhood resident Hope Beckner to hold a birthday party for her 5-year-old in the fellowship hall Saturday afternoon, January 6, 2024.

Youth Group in November and December

For this month, we'll gather in the church back parking lot at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, to head to Marengo Caves together. It's a 50-minute drive and we're hoping we may all fit in one vehicle to make it a fun trip together. Pick-ups we estimate will be between 6:30 and

7 p.m., depending on timing of the tours and stopping for a bite to eat at Subway, perhaps, on the way home. 

In December, we expect to have youth time together after church/around lunch and into the afternoon on Sunday, Dec. 10 (Build-a-Bed) and then again on Sunday, Dec. 17 (holiday-movie watching and baked potato/taco bar in the youth room.)

For questions contact Rebecca Barnes at 502-415-3339.

Guns to Gardens

November 18

The prophet Isaiah offers a vision of a peaceful world in which weapons of destruction are transformed into gardening tools. Guns to Gardens Louisville, an organization birthed at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church, is joining with other faith and community groups in a small step toward bringing Isaiah’s vision to reality by offering our third gun safe-surrender event.

The next Guns to Gardens event will be on Saturday, November 18, from noon to 2 p.m., in the parking lot of Westwood Presbyterian Church, 4432 Greenwood Ave., in the Chickasaw Park area. This is an opportunity for anyone with unwanted guns to dispose of them safely and anonymously, with the assurance that the weapons will not be resold or end up back on the street. At our first two events, a total of 48 guns were surrendered and cut into pieces with chop saws. The pieces are being forged into tools, art, and jewelry by local blacksmith Craig Kaviar.

If you have guns that you no longer want or need, or if you know someone who does, please bring them and help us “turn swords into plowshares” on November 18. Help us spread the word about this event! Here is a link to the flyer. For more information about Guns to Gardens, contact eva.stimson@gmail.com or soni.castleberry@gmail.com.

Build-A-Bed

CHPC and First Christian Church, December 9 & 10

First Christian Church

7700 US Highway 42

Please join CHPC in our upcoming Build-A-Bed event on December 9 and 10. CHPC is partnering with First Christian Church of Louisville in building 25 beds for children in our community, many of whom are sleeping on the floor, an air mattress, or a sofa. There's not a better way of going into the Advent Season than by providing 25 children a comfortable bed of their own. Please sign up in the narthex to volunteer or to donate. New standard twin sheet sets, new teddy bears, new pillows and new diverse children's books are also needed and can be placed in the narthex. See the attached flyer for more information.

Spanish/English books for La Casita children

For the second year, faith communities are joining in a holiday partnership with La Casita Center. CHPC folks donated lots of rice, beans, and cooking oil last year. This year we’re invited to donate children’s books, chosen from a list prepared by La Casita’s child enrichment team. The books will be given to families on December 12.

To participate: 

Option 1 – Order by December 1 using online registry with Carmichael’s Bookstore (20% discount). Book/s will go directly to La Casita Center. 

https://www.carmichaelsbookstore.com/wishlist/1029

Option 2 – Purchase from another vendor and have books sent to La Casita Center (P.O. Box 1844, Louisville, KY 40201) OR deliver them directly during regular donation times, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., to 223 E. Magnolia Ave. (enter through alley and ring back doorbell). December 6 is the last day to drop books off at La Casita Center.

Contact for questions/more info: Tricia Lloyd-Sidle, revtjls@gmail.com  

Responding to the Middle East Crisis

A big thanks to Don Mead for leading two prayer/study sessions on the Middle East and sharing his experiences and ongoing study about the region. Twelve CHPCers participated in one or both sessions. We agreed that short-term needs include cease-fires, end of U.S. military aid, end of blockade for emergency supplies, efforts to free hostages, and permission for internationals to leave Gaza. Long-term issues include new arrangements to provide justice, peace, and security for Jews and Palestinians, whether by one- or two-state solutions. Don reminded us that “movement in any of these directions will require changing many hearts and minds. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Below are some of the resources discussed or shared:

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s Statement on Israel and Gaza

https://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/presbyterian-peace-fellowships-statement-on-israel-and-gaza/

“The Words in the Middle East That Are Breaking My Heart,” a Nov. 1, 2023, article by Nicholas Kristof, opinion columnist for The New York Times, reporting from Jerusalem (Caution: it is a difficult read.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/01/opinion/israel-hamas-gaza-children.html

PC(USA)’s call for immediate ceasefire in Israel

https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/washington-office-of-presbyterian-church-u-s-a-calls-for-immediate-ceasefire-in-israel-palestine/?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=281110209&utm_content=281110209&utm_source=hs_email

PC(USA) Acting Stated Clerk’s condemnation of the violence in Israel and Palestine

https://pcusa.org/news/2023/10/13/acting-stated-clrk-condemns-violence-israel-palest/

Statement from the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

https://www.theipmn.org/blog/in-pursuit-of-a-just-peace?mc_cid=1e5eba80d8&mc_eid=6bcadc74d6

Call for repentance from Christian partners in Palestine for our complicity.

https://kairospalestine.ps/images/A_Call_for_Repentance__An_Open_Letter_from_Palestinian_Christians_1.pdf

Support relief efforts in Israel-Palestine

https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/presbyterian-mission-agency-ministries-authorize-funds-to-support-relief-efforts-in-israel-palestine/

“How to Be Peacemakers During a Time of Constant Combat” by Jim Wallis

https://jimwallis.substack.com/p/how-to-be-peacemakers-during-a-time?utm_source=substack&publication_id=517037&post_id=138727801&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=1hk6da

Five commitments which may provide hope

Google “Aims for Faithful Solidarity” from Enfleshed (contact Tricia Lloyd-Sidle if you can’t find them)

Google websites and support ongoing efforts by other organizations including:

Churches for Middle East Peace, Kairos Palestine, B’Tselem, Jewish Voices for Peace, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and Palestine Portal.

If you are interested in continuing to study, discuss, and participate in faith-based actions in response to the Middle East crisis or other issues, please send study suggestions and available times to Soni Castleberry at soni.castleberry@gmail.com.