Montauk Community Church

PO Box 698

Montauk, NY 11954

850 Montauk Highway

(631) 668-2022

Address Correction Requested

The Montauk Wind is a newsletter of the Montauk Community Church, a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Editor: Susan Raymond & Suzette Harrel Sunday School Editor: Noelle Hear Newsletter email:TheMontaukWind@gmail.com

Church email: montaukcommunitychurch@gmail.com Website: www.montaukcommunitychurch.org Pastor: Rev. Bill Hoffmann Music Director: Lydia Shaternik-Burns Secretary/Bookkeeper: Susan McDonough

Sexton: Igor Solano Treasurer: Gail Murphy Women’s Guild President: Iris Mitchell W.G. Vice President: Aster Stein W.G. Treasurer: Christine Herbert

Session Board of Deacons Class of 2016 Class of 2016 Iris Mitchell Donna Etzel, moderator Gail Webb Edie Mancini Evan Harrel Trina Wallace Class of 2017 Class of 2017 Karen Rade Christine Herbert Susan Raymond, clerk Mayela Vargas Carlos Vargas Daz Winter Class of 2015 Class of 2015 Jean Masin Gail Gregorio Joe Nye Michelle Lotufo Edna Steck Kate Ryan

Palm Sunday March 20 10am Worship with communion and the procession of palms. One Great Hour of Sharing Offering Received

Maundy Thursday March 24 6:15pm Pot Luck Dinner in Guild Room followed by worship in the sanctuary with communion. The service will start at 7pm for those unable to attend the supper. Good Friday March 25 7pm Tenebrae Worship in the Sanctuary In addition, the Sanctuary will be open for Silent Prayer from 1-3pm Easter Sunday March 27 6:15am Joint MCC/St. Therese Catholic Church sunrise worship at Montauk Point

Easter Worship in the Sanctuary 10:00am

Holy Week Services

February 2016 Volume XV Issue 1

Montauk Community Church

T h e M o n ta u k W i n d

“A Wind From God Swept Over the Waters” Genesis 1:2

A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” (John 21:16) The Mission Committee at MCC is small but active. One project started this fall in partnership with St. Therese is the Community Outreach Program which provides assistance to Montauk residents in need of help. This includes, but is not limited to, transportation, care-giving relief, shopping and small home repairs. Gert Murphy of St. Therese coordinates the Program. Eleven MCC members are now volunteering to provide several of the services needed and monitoring its hot line. The Mission Committee has begun discussions with Family Service League in East Hampton about how we may be able to support their work in Montauk. If you are interested in being involved with this, or if you have new ideas for Mission, talk to Edna Steck, Linda Norris, Jean Masin, or Bill Hoffmann for more information.

Mission at Montauk Community Church

page 2 The Montauk Wind

A PARSONal Note

It is the season of Lent, traditionally a time in the church for self-reflection, penitence, renewal of Christian commitment, and preparation for the coming celebration of Easter. For many, both in the Roman Catholic and some Protestant traditions, it is also a time of fasting – of letting go in the hope that, in so doing, we might discover something new worth holding on to. Which of us at one time hasn’t asked or been asked, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Answers vary from meat to television, swearing to chocolate.

One of the Ash Wednesday readings from the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) suggests a different type of fast. In Isaiah 58 God looks upon the people’s religious observance – their fasting and ashes – and God finds it lacking. God looks into their hearts and sees them hungering for something more than a ritual letting go alone can ever provide.

Through the voice of the prophet, God suggests an expanded fast; one which is as focused outwardly as it is inwardly - one through which we might move closer to our own spiritual healing by attending to the wholeness of our neighbor.

“Is this not the fast I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice, and undo the thongs

of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke. Is it not to share

your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless into your house; when you

see the naked to cover them, and to not hide yourself from the needs of your own family,” – Isaiah 58:6-7

Perhaps part of our Lenten fast can including letting go of being silent in the face of other people’s struggles or inactive in the face of other peoples’ needs. Perhaps our fast this year can include things such as volunteering at the Food Pantry or Maureen’s Haven homeless shelter. Perhaps it can mean not turning away from someone who needs a listening ear even if we don’t have the time, or speaking up when someone else is being put down, shut out, or stereotyped. Perhaps in can involve an increasing willingness to share the struggles of neighbors known and unknown even when there is a cost to doing so.

Martin Luther King Jr, once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Perhaps its corollary is that our lives truly begin to be lived fully the day we engage the world around us in the things that matter.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious

talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry…then your light will rise in

the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.”- Isaiah 58:9a-10

Blessings to you throughout this season of Lent.

God’s peace,

Bill

February 2016 page 7

I have given up different things for lent: choco-late and computer games are good ones for me. I have tried taking on something new: meditating every day, or reading the bible. When Easter comes, I am back to my old habits and I always feel like I didn't do Lent right. I will-powered my-self through Lent, but my life was still quite com-fortable and I hadn't changed anything, includ-ing myself. I heard the scripture readings for Ash Wednes-day a little differently this year, and combined with Bill's sermon, I realized that all my effort for Lent was to be successful without ever thinking about what I was trying to be successful at. 6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and sustain in me a willing spirit. From Psalm 51 (NRSV) Somehow I had missed that Lent was a time to draw closer to God, a time to focus on what it means to live with the knowledge of God's Grace. In conversation later, Bill pointed out to me that we give something up in Lent to remind ourselves of God's gifts every time we miss it. The obvious had eluded me in my effort to get it right. This Lent I am taking something on: stopping whenever I notice that I am anxious, or obses-sively caught up in something and looking to my heart. Listening for that small, still voice that tells me what would nourish my spirit rather than the more superficial appetites that are so easy to satisfy. I have been trying this for the last week and I find it is very hard. And when I can actually do it, a great joy. I want to finish with the opening verse of Psalm 51 as translated by Robert Alter: Grant me grace, God, as befits Your kindness, with Your great mercy wipe away my crimes.

From the Editor by Susan Raymond

In 1524 Martin Luther published a hymn for Easter, “Christ lag in Todes Banden” (Christ lay in the Death's bondage). The melody was based on one written for the Easter Eucharist in the 11th Century. The words celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ, with particular emphasis on the struggle between life and death. It is a hymn with seven verses, each ending in the Easter Hallelujah. Luther alludes to the Passover (“See His blood doth mark our door, Faith points to it, Death passes over”), and calls Christ “the Sun that warms and lights us all.” In 1707, Johann Sebastian Bach took this hymn

and wrote an Easter Cantata. Each movement of the Cantata uses the words of the appropriate verse. The music develops out of Luther's melody; he uses different musical forms and techniques to bring variety and to intensify the meaning of the text. I The Choral Society of the Hamptons will be

singing this Cantata and Fauré's beautiful

Requiem on Sunday, March 20th at the First

Presbyterian Church of East Hampton. For more

information, speak to Evan Harrel or Susan

Raymond.

Music For Easter on Palm Sunday

page 6 The Montauk Wind

All churches are organized, but the Presbyterian church has a unique form of government developed by John Calvin during the Protestant Reformation. Calvin took seriously the destructive reality of human sin, and rejected a church government run by hierarchies of bishops as too open to tyranny. Instead, Calvin proclaimed God the head of the church, and ministry given to the entire church and distributed among officers who hold office by the election of the people whose representatives they are.

How does this particular organization work here in Montauk? Our church is part of the Presbytery of Long Island. This Presbytery is formed by all ministers in Long Island, together with one or more elders appointed by each of the congregations of Long Island. The Presbytery meets several times a year and has responsibility for ordaining and installing ministers, and has religious, financial, and legal authority over all the congregations. It serves as a court of appeal for cases coming from the congregational sessions.

At the national level is the General Assembly, an annual meeting of commissioners, ministers, and elders, elected by all the presbyteries who as a group has charge of all the general concerns of the church’s faith, order, property, missions, education, and the like. The missionary, benevolent, educational, and

publishing work of the denomination are under boards elected by the General Assembly.

This government, as minimal as it is, must be funded. And that is what per capita does. Per capita dollars pay for the costs of holding the meetings and activities of the Presbyteries. Per capita dollars fund the costs of holding an annual General Assembly. In short, per capita provides the money through which commissioners and delegates can gather to do their work.

The church asks that all members share in funding this government, and the way this is done is by paying the per capita. This year the total per capita expense is $31.02 per active member of the church.

So please make your per capita payment, either in the special envelope included in your church envelope box, or you can drop the offering in the plate, just by making an annotation on the check or envelope that the offering is to fund per capita.

Our church has to pay the per capita amount for each member. Please remember that if you don’t pay, the church will still have to pay for you. We Presbyterians have a unique form of government built upon shared power and mutual accountability. Per capita literally makes it possible for Presbyterians to govern ourselves the way we do.

Per Capita Explained

Worship at the Point, Easter

Sunday, 2015

February 2016 page 3

Once again MCC and St. Therese will go to the Heifer Farm in Rutland, MA. Last year our group of 17 learned that we are responsible for under-standing the scope of world poverty and hunger and that the choices we make in our lives can improve the lives of others. Heifer International's Mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for our earth. It empowers families to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity. Heifer helps to bring sustainable agriculture and commerce to areas with a long history of pov-erty. The animals donated provide both food and reliable income. When families gain a sus-tainable income, it brings opportunity for building schools, creating agricultural cooperatives, forming community savings and funding small business. The core of their model is 'Passing on the Gift'. This means families share the training they receive and pass on the first female off-spring of their livestock to another family. This extends the impact of the original gift, allowing a once impoverished family to become donors and full participants in improving their communi-ty. The goal of every Heifer project is to help families achieve self-reliance by giving them the tools they need to sustain themselves. Our trip this summer will be from August 12th to August 14th.We have chosen the 2 night Global Gateway program where participants experi-ence the struggles people in poverty face every day. They form small groups that are assigned to a village typical of a particular place in the world. Meals are cooked using only the basic foods appropriate to the area over a fire they build themselves. The challenge continues into night as they sleep in simple housing, such as a Peruvian clay house. This program fosters a deeper understanding of sustainable agriculture and life on the farm as the participants do farm chores and tour all of the farm facilities. Living the lesson of poverty helps us to understand the complications surrounding hunger and poverty.

We also see steps that can be taken to bring possibility and hope to millions around the world. Sleeping quarters are rustic and bathroom facili-ties communal, so the minimum age to go is ris-ing 6th grade. Community Service can be given to those who need it. Please join us for an Infor-mational Meeting at MCC on March 6th at 12pm to see if this Mission Trip is a good fit for you and your child. Several participants from last year will be there to walk you through the pro-gram and answer questions. The deadline for Registration is March 15 with a $50.00 deposit due. Scholarships are available and fundraising events are planned to offset the cost. As we get closer to the trip date MCC will host another In-formation BBQ to tie up loose ends and discuss itinerary details. As a returning participant I can say that my ex-perience at Heifer exceeded all expectations. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and provided a wonderful opportunity to 'get out of myself' for a short time. Personal and spiritual growth comes when one recognizes not only how fortu-nate we are, but what we can do to make a dif-ference in the world with even the smallest of changes. I hope to see you on March 6th.

Heifer Trip, August 2016 by Linda Norris

page 4 The Montauk Wind

The four church-wide Special Offerings of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) are a col-lective witness to Jesus Christ’s love for the whole church. They bring together the diversity of PCUSA to focus and take faith-based action on shared concerns; they offer opportunities for partnership, learning and witness—profoundly affecting the life of the church as a collective wit-ness to the love of Jesus Christ. Over the years, these offerings have provided ways for individu-als and congregations to join together to re-spond to a variety of concerns and needs local-ly, nationally and globally. During Lent we prepare to receive the One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) at worship on Palm Sunday, March 20th. Through our gifts, those in most need are finding hope and help through the work of Presbyterian Disaster Assis-tance (PDA), the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP), the Self-Development of People (SDOP) and their partners in ministry. One Great Hour of Sharing has enabled the PDA to aid and support 15 countries after cata-strophic events including the earthquakes in Ne-pal, flooding and drought in Malawi, religious minorities fleeing ISIL, the Syrian refugees and internally displaced people remaining and re-turning to Syria, those in West Africa in the wake of the Ebola crisis. At home, PDA provid-ed assistance to churches in Boston and North-ern New England which sustained damage in the 100 feet of snow in the Northeastern snow-storm and to communities in New York and New Jersey devastated by Superstorm Sandy. Internationally, the PHP helped over 308,000 people in more than 30 countries living in ex-treme poverty to have secure food and liveli-hoods. As much as $1.6 million was leveraged for local, national and international hunger work, building stronger leadership and organization through international development work. Nation-ally, 65 grant partners help maintain safety nets

such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assis-tance Program) and WIC (Women, Infant and Children assistance), and address worker and immigration issues for the working poor and de-velop healthy alternative food systems that im-pact rural and urban poverty in sustainable ways. The Presbyterian Committee on Self Develop-ment of People celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2015. Through the generosity of Presbyterians giving to OGHS, SDOP has entered into part-nerships with communities of poor and op-pressed people with 4,964 projects in the United States and 692 globally. It works with low in-come communities across the US to overcome oppression and injustice, including focus areas in New Orleans, Detroit, Baltimore, and Los An-geles. It entered into partnerships with 20 self-help projects in the US focusing on literacy, hu-man rights, rehabilitation, and skill development. In India more than 1,000 families increased their income 52% by obtaining full-time employment and running their own enterprises, school at-tendance increased to 100%, and the voices of women were no longer suppressed. In the Do-minican Republic more than 10,000 children and their families gained access to clean water, helping to alleviate water-related diseases, a major cause of death. Feeding the hungry, helping people build up their own livelihoods, responding to disasters—OGHS changes lives, communities, and the world. There is more information at the website (www.presbyterianmission.org/oghs) and look for bulletin inserts and Minutes for Mission throughout Lent to learn more. Join Christians across the country who generously support the One Great Hour of Sharing, witnessing tangibly the abundant love of God. With your help the work of PDA, PHP, and SDOP will continue and increase to meet growing challenges of our world.

One Great Hour of Sharing – Opportunities for Partnership, Learning, and Witness Worldwide

February 2016 page 5

Bill and Rachel Hoffmann, Iris Mitchell, Susan Raymond and Mayela Vargas will be joining with a group from First Presbyterian Church in East Hampton to travel to Cuba March 8-15. They will be bringing medicines, clothing, educational and stationery supplies, linens, and other things that are hard to acquire in Cuba. Iris will be collecting donations of goods and packing them up in the weeks before the trip. There will also be a special offering on February 28. The most important thing that the travelers will be taking with them is the friendship of our congregation for theirs. Cuba has long been isolated from the rest of the world and its poor inhabitants feel unseen by the outside. These visits bring material blessings, but more important are the spiritual blessings of a shared faith and friendship.

Going to Cuba, 2016

And Photos From the 2014 Trip