NORTHMINSTER NEWS - NOVEMBER 2021

Dates to Remember

Sunday at 10am Worship in person or on Zoom

Monday at 7:30am Prayer Team

Tuesday at 6:30pm Unity Group

Thursday at 7:30am Prayer Team

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News from Pastor Jay

            “Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”    Psalms 150:1-6 NIV

Giving thanks to the Lord is something we do every Sunday, and we should because that is the reason we come to church.  We are called to gather as the people of God to give praise to Him who is worthy of all glory and praise. The Westminster Confession reminds us that is the chief reason humanity was created. It should not surprise us that there is a national holiday to pause and give thanks to our Creator for all our blessings.   It may just be me, but I feel over the past 30 years, Thanksgiving has become less about saying thank you to God and more about football, a day off and opportunities to get some great bargains for Christmas.   

I would like to suggest several reasons for this shift:

  1. As Church has become less a part of the American family, so has the attitude that every good gift comes from God. While people are just as grateful for good things that happen, the source of these things is less clear.

  2. Just as Church has become less a part of the American tradition, so has the gathering and connecting of families for a Thanksgiving meal. While friends and families meet to share wonderful food, the focus is more about being together than acknowledging God as the source of every good gift.

  3. The day has moved away from a sacred holiday where everyone gets the day off to a day when entertainment options compete for consumers. Retail stores are closed only to busily prepare for Black Friday. Families are fortunate if their working children get the day off because of a lack of seniority.

All this is simply to say that secular cultures are less likely to give thanks to God that they do not believe in. But before we judge anyone for not putting a greater emphasis on giving thanks to God, we should examine our own motives for thanksgiving. 

What should give thanks mean to a follower of Jesus?  Scripture tells us: 

  • It means giving praise for all things, both good and bad believing every part of our life is to bring glory to our Heavenly Father.

  • It means not complaining because that would not be trusting God is @ work bringing about his glory in all things.

  • It means not holding grudges or bitterness in our hearts because that would not be forgiving others as we have been forgiven.

  • It is believing God is intimately involved in every aspect of life, shaping us to look and sound like Jesus.

  • I would guess you could think of a few more examples, but my hope is that we all think about giving thanks to God this Thanksgiving in deeper and intentional ways, setting an example for family & friends we love. 

I am thankful for so many things, but especially for being able to journey the past 4 years with the Northminster Church family. You have been a wonderful example of thankfulness in all situations and a huge blessing to my life. Praise the Lord.
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From: Gladys Sarno, Sunday School Teacher

Welcome to Northminster’s One Room Sunday School. We teach children ages 3-13 about God’s Word through Bible verses and stories, arts and crafts and interactive play. The children learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus and serve as disciples by the Bible stories we read and the opportunities to discuss the stories with each other and how they apply to our daily lives. 

Each Sunday, the children get to take home a packet of about 7 reproducible sheets for the day’s lesson. The packets include the Bible story, a take-home parents’ page and a variety of activities (word scramble, follow the maze, color pages, etc.). On Communion Sunday, the Sunday School class returns to the sanctuary to participate with the congregation in the breaking of the bread and taking of the wine (grape juice). Our current curriculum is “Deep Blue Kids, Learn & Serve” by Cokesbury.

Also, I would like to send a BIG shout-out to our WONDERFUL DEDICATED teachers, Paula Cunningham, Lynn Norton, and Alison Wolfe. They taught in-person before the pandemic, via Zoom during the pandemic shutdown and back in-person in the classroom when we started back up on June 20, 2021. Thank you for teaching our children that God LOVES them!

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From Olive Thompson, long time church member

            Northminster Presbyterian Church first organizational worship service was March 21, 1954, with 123 members. Sheila Mura is one of our charter members and continues to worship with us today. Howard Congdon was our first Pastor. Howard was not made a doctor until many years later. There were no buildings such as we have today so church services were held in what is now called Congdon Hall. There were two services each Sunday, the first at 9:30 am and the second at 11am. The choir was seated on the stage with the organ down below. We had many children in Sunday School and classes were scattered throughout the facilities, including the kitchen, pastors’ study and even a rented duplex on Dubois, just a block from the church. The four rooms at the rear of the church were added many years later. We had quite a large congregation and if you were late to service you might find yourself standing! Sometimes our Sunday School classes would have over 100 children attending. 

Olive has worshipped at NPC for over 60 years and is amazed at all the changes that occurred during this time. She looks forward to attending each Sunday and greeting old and new friends. Olive recently celebrated her 94th birthday! We all wish her well and hope to help her celebrate many more birthdays.

From Johanna Smith, Outreach Committee Member

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) enables congregations and mission partners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) to witness to the healing love of Christ through caring for communities adversely affected by crisis and catastrophic events. PDA is the emergency and refugee program of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. They partner with presbyterian churches to provide assistance for natural disasters both nationally and internationally. Right now, they are mobilized and are delivering aid to those impacted by Hurricane Ida and are requesting support to continue that aid. The assessment of the damage is staggering. The needs of those affected is changing daily because of lack of access to power, refrigeration, water, and housing. This will be a long-term commitment to the people impacted by this catastrophic destruction. PDA will continue to work with Presbyterian leadership to help victims of Hurricane Ida and will remain engaged in the recovery efforts that will arise during the hurricane season of 2021 and 2022, during which several named storms are expected to impact the region. After initial needs are addressed, PDA will remain — providing emotional and spiritual care and long-term recovery to address unmet needs. At their October meeting, our Session voted to give the NPC congregation the opportunity to prayerfully support the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in their effort to provide aid to victims of Hurricane Ida, as well as other storms. A special offering will be received on Sunday, November 7. We hope you will join us in supporting this important mission.

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Nancy, Carol, Bea Lilian, Gladys, Marni, Peggy

Bea and Gladys, a friendly clown

From Peggy Belliston, Deacon Chair

It’s been a while since we Deacons have kept you informed on our ongoing mission. We had 2 exciting events this last month. On October 24, we hosted our first congregational potluck since the beginning of the pandemic. It turned out to be a great success. We had a variety of foods and some extraordinary desserts. It was such a gift to be sitting, eating, and enjoying conversation in person. We hope it was the first of more to come. The next event was later that week on October 29. We provided a Halloween treat event for the preschool. Deacons and helpers, Bea Shelby, Carol Weckman, Lilian Rios, and Vance Belliston decorated tables, wore costumes and handed out treats as the preschoolers marched by with their parents. Safe distancing and other precautions were maintained. Of course, the other work of deacons has been maintained such as making contacts with their Sub parish, offering support in the form of visits, emails, phone calls, rides given, meals provided, cards, and most importantly prayers. If any of you need these services, please let your deacon or the church office know. If any of you would like to reach out to help other members of our church family, please let the church office or one of the deacons know. It may be fixing a meal, phoning someone, providing transportation to a church event, or offering extra prayers. There’s no long-term commitment, just a fill-in sometime. Please feel free to call on the deacons if you or someone in the church family you are aware of has need of assistance. We will do our best to help. The deacons are Gladys Sarno, Nancy Riggs, Marni Vigil, Donna Shirley, Rechelle Mojica, Peggy Belliston.