ordinary time brings extraordinary change he …
TRANSCRIPT
JUNE , 2018
ORDINARY TIME BRINGS EXTRAORDINARY CHANGE
We often count our lives by major events. Our photo scrapbooks are usually filled with pictures from parties, vacations, holidays, celebrations, but rarely do we have pictures of "regular days"--working, eating routine meals, puttering around the yard, or reading a book. It’s strange that we spend the majority of our days doing ordinary, routine tasks, yet we don’t tend to think about them as making up our life.
Church life is kind of like that too. We tend to associate church with Christmas and Easter. And while they are certainly important holy days/seasons in the Christian year, most of the year is spent in another liturgical season called “Ordinary Time.” We are in Ordinary Time now, stretching from late May to late November.
“Ordinary,” as it is used in Ordinary Time, does not really mean mundane or commonplace. It actually refers to “Ordered Time,” and is a reference to the way we mark the liturgical calendar. “Ordered Time” is the time marked by ordinal numbers (the first Sunday, the second Sunday, etc). It is interrupted by major liturgical holidays and seasons, but the majority of the church year is in Ordered Time. Week by week, as we study the scriptures and worship together, we hear how God is at work in the world.
The liturgical color of Ordinary Time is green. The children at my church refer to Ordinary Time as “Growing Time.” Green is the color of growth, of vegetation, of God’s good earth, of health and vibrancy, and of the hope of new life. Farmers and gardeners - people who patiently and regularly till the soil, prune and nourish plants, and reap a harvest --understand this analogy. Ordinary Time is a time when we grow in our faith, steadily hearing, learning, and applying the stories of God. It is a time to nurture faith along.
Church life, just like our lives, is made up of peaks and valleys and long periods of level plains. Our individual lives in-clude high points (marriages, births, celebrations, “firsts”) and low points (deaths, broken relationships, disappointments, tragedies). But most of life is the time in between. We go about our daily routines, making decisions, interacting with people, and doing what we do, and isn’t this what life is really about?
I would venture to guess that my family could count on one hand the memorable meals I have prepared over the years. (Truth be told, the ones that they would name would be the memorably bad ones!). But I still know that, day in and day out, they were nourished by those meals whether they remember them or not.
Church is like that too. I might recall fewer than a dozen sermons in all the years I’ve attended church. And yet, I know that I have been nurtured in my faith all along by hearing the word of God read, explained, questioned, and proclaimed each week, not just in sermons but also in classes, readings, and conversations. And for the most part, this all took place on “ordinary” Sundays.
And of course, spiritual growth doesn’t only happen on Sundays. As we live our daily lives, we put our faith to work. What good would our faith be if it were only exercised for an hour on Sunday mornings? Where the rubber meets the road is in our day-to-day lives - making ethical decisions at work, loving the people who are hard to love (or even hard to like), putting the needs of others before our own, choosing service over selfishness.
Jesus was a carpenter. The disciples were fishermen. The early apostles were regular folks who were transformed by the experience of God in their lives. Their days were filled with dusty roads, eating meals together, talking with others in homes and in the marketplace, and sharing God’s love with everyone they met.
So too, does the spirit breathe in us in every moment of our lives. The irony is, that as we cherish and treasure the ordinary moments, we will come to see the extraordinary power and beauty of God’s love. And that is the gift of Ordinary Time. by Jill Fandrich - 6/21/2016 re-printed with permission http://www.westminsterauburn.org/blog/ordinary-time-brings-extraordinary-change
THE BREEZEWAY VOL.MXVIII ISSUE 6
SPECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST:
Mission Garden
Coffee House, 6/2
Children’s Day service, 6/10
Church Picnic plans
10th Annual Choral Festival
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
BIRTHDAYS &
ANNIVERSARIES
3
BULLETIN
BOARD
4
CALENDAR 8
JUNE , 2018
HELPING HANDS FEEDING OUR COMMUNITY
Thank you to all who helped with our initial planting to get our Mission Garden under way! The rain has been plentiful to help establish the seedlings and we pray Mother Nature will continue to keep our plants flourishing. We especially want to thank some very special local businesses who go out of their way for us year after year, donating seedlings and supplies to allow our to Mission Garden to continue to grow:
Retail & Service Establishments Cierech's Greenhouse - 23 Winters Road, Pohatcong Rustic Acres Greenhouses - 200 County Road 519, Phillipsburg
Wholesale/Private Establishments Harmony Greenhouses - 822 Harmony Station Road, Phillipsburg
We hope you'll consider patronizing these very generous local retail businesses. They are very instrumental to our success in helping to feed our neighbors in need. We wish to extend a very special thank you to Greenwich Cemetery Association Board of Trustees for providing us with the land necessary to make this all possible. Thank you to Nancy Schmidt from Harmony Greenhouses, as well as Ralph Jiorle, Joan Pursel and Henry Riewerts for their very generous donations of time, services and supplies to help the garden thrive. There is still plenty to do, so please consider “digging in” with your support! Sign up in the Green Room to be a Weekly Mission Garden Tender, assist with the Summer Sunday School or to help deliver produce to the Norwescap Food Bank in P’burg. Want to help but not sure what to do? See a member of the Mission Garden Committee or email them at [email protected]. Everyone can help feed our local community and support this very important mission. Thank you in advance for your support in helping this mission continue to grow!
“Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” - Genesis 1:29
PAGE 2
Rev. Freebairn blesses the seedlings which will be planted in the Mission Garden (above); members of the Mission Gar-den Committee wheel out the plants (right)
PAGE 3
THE BREEZEWAY
1 Barbara Cappelletti Eliana Hixon Jillian MacKinnon 2 Brenda Schofield 6 Bridget Beacht Melyssa Csiszlak 8 George Bradlau 9 Barbara Repko Eric Nagy Regan Aloisio Alyssa Curtis Maya Slaven 10 Jackson Bradlau 11 Raimon Jones Sean Smith Madison Brown Samuel Snyder Amanda Mrotek 12 Michael Graham Julian Ricci 13 Deacon Hill
14 Weston Voorhees Robert Winter 15 M. Forest Sulla 18 Becca Visone Sean Curtis 19 Eve Hart Kristen Todd Tyler Shappell 20 Glenn Snyder Joseph Rodriguez 22 Sherri Brown 24 Henry Riewerts 25 Ashley Kiyonaga 26 Charles Slamp Joan Holloway Abraham Frey 27 Laurie Werfel 29 Sharon Rimmler 30 Tricia Bartholomew
CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS IN JUNE:
CELEBRATING JUNE WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES:
John & Martha Grazul 06/01/1985 Jack & Marcia Taylor 06/05/1971 Tom DiGiovanni & Amy Ahart 06/09/2001 Charles & Barbara Frinzi 06/10/1972 Bruce & Betsy Gaston 06/10/1989 Phillip & Trish Millon 06/10/2000 Cynnie & Rev. Richard Gibbins 06/12/1953 Eric & Candace Nagy 06/12/1994 George & Amy Perkins 06/13/1981 Jeffrey & Jennifer Long 06/19/1993 George & Susan Bradlau 06/20/1970 Don & Maria Hannis 06/20/1982 Micha & Jamie Fell 06/20/2014 Debora & Jerry Smith 06/24/1978 Mike & Missy Lemons 06/24/2000 John & Linda Oakes, Jr. 06/30/1962 Sharon & Anthony Ciavarella 06/30/1990
Thank You to: Jim Todd, Jim Shook
and Bill Hart for their emergency bathroom clean-up on May 6; Carol Lee Doeringer for her weekly assistance at the church with cleaning and organizing, as well as her assistance in the office with getting out the Breezeway; Stephanie Welwood, Sue Tintle and Brad Tintle for volunteering and planting flowers; Bill Lee and Brad Tintle for mowing grass; Susan & George Bradlau for indoor and outdoor work at the manse.
MEMBERSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP NEWS
The victims and their families of school bus crash on Rt. 80; victims and their families of Texas school shooting; Dawn Yale and family; Sue Beacht’s
friend, Agnes; Lisa Gray’s relatives; Kathleen Scala’s grandson, Quaid; Debbie Mowrey’s hus-band, Henry; Barbara Snyder; Katie Bowers; friend of the Reinhard’s, Rosemarie Abrams; Sean Con-nors; Edith & Charles Slamp; Sue Snyder; Carol Lee Doeringer; Kathleen Scala’s friends, Mark Zawadzki & family and Loraine and Diane; Dick & Cynnie Gibbins; Geraldine & Earl Ihrie; Jack Rein-hard; Marie Smith; Shirley Sloyer; Phyllis Dietz; Mary Laubach; Shelly Papp & family; those serving in our Armed Forces: Will Rimmler
JUNE , 2018
PAGE 4
BULLETIN BOARD
The General William Maxwell Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, based in Belvidere, NJ, joined with the Stevens Point Chapter of DAR from Wisconsin to conduct a grave marking ceremony at Greenwich Cemetery in Stewartsville, NJ on April 29. Members and family came from New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Alabama to honor and recognize the contributions of Patriot John Barber during the American Revolution with a bronze plaque at his grave site. John Barber was born circa 1719 and died December 13, 1777 in Greenwich. He was the Commissioner of Forfeited Estates (from the Loyalists) for Sussex County during the Revolution. Judy Newell Mason, Wisconsin DAR State Regent, Member of Stevens Point Chapter, NSDAR and direct descendant of John Barber, participated in the ceremony, concluding with the laying of a wreath along with her granddaughters Anna Elisabeth, age 10, and Emilie Grace Mason, age 5. New Jersey DAR participants included Janice P. Humbold (Regent for General Maxwell Chapter, NSDAR), Karen F. Stroever (NJDAR State Regent), Katherine Bowers (NJDAR State Chaplain), Carolyn S. Schwender (NJDAR State Flag Chair), Patricia C. Sanftner, NJDAR State Historian). The Greenwich Cemetery Association is located at 15 Greenwich Church Road and has other American Revolution
patriots buried there, along with participants from every major conflict since then. Information about the cemetery
may be found at greenwichcemetery.org and visitors are always
welcome.
COFFEE HOUSE AT OLD GREENWICH
Let us entertain you! The Chancel Choir is hosting a Coffee House on Saturday, June 2, 7 - 9 pm
There will be music! There will be comedy! There will be unbelievable, eye-popping talent on display! There will (hopefully!) not be too much drama. There will be mouth-watering food and hit-the-spot drinks!
Attendees should plan to be entertained and nourished (light refreshments and beverages included with admission).
The Coffee House will benefit the Old Greenwich PC Chancel Choir in its continuing mission to provide musical ministry and community outreach.
Cost: $10/Adult; $5/Child (12 and under); and no more than $25 for a family
For further information, contact Kathleen at the church office: [email protected] or 908-479-4449.
JUNE , 2018
PAGE 5
BULLETIN BOARD -
Greenwich Nursery School is currently enrolling students for the 2018-2019 school year in the 2+, 3, and 4 - 5 year old programs. Please contact Diana Mallory at 908-479-6886 or email her at [email protected] for information.
Alexa MacKinnon is presented the 2018 RBG Scholarship by Deacon Sue Rutan.
Children’s Day is June 10! We look forward to ending our Sunday School year with a service based on Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Children’s Day rehearsal is Sunday, June 3. Any Sunday School children who would like to participate in the service, please be sure to join us on this day! Any questions, please contact Melissa Hixon, 862-812-9636 or Jennifer Miller, 908-213-8640.
JUNE , 2018
10th Anniversary Choral Festival Joseph Martin & Patti Drennan
November 3, 2018
You are invited to come and be part of making a JOYFUL NOISE!
Adult choirs from both sides of the Delaware River will have the opportunity to work with the acclaimed sacred and contemporary music notables, Joseph Martin and Patti Drennan. Individuals are also welcome to participate in this exciting event, whether or not they have a church or chorus affiliation.
Sheet music cost is extra. The list and where music may be purchased will be sent upon registration. Estimated cost is $12. Workshop begins promptly at 1pm (registration is noon -1 pm) Refreshments will be provided. Concert attire: white shirts/blouses and black slacks/skirts. Dinner will be provided or bring your own.
Invite your family and friends to the culminating concert at 7:30 pm, which will be open to the public at no cost. A free will offering will be taken.
REGISTRATION FORM Patti Drennan/Joseph Martin
Choral Festival - November 3, 2018
Name __________________________________
Address __________________________________
__________________________________
Phone Number __________________________________
Email __________________________________
Church or Community Choir Affiliation __________________________________
No affiliation at this time _______________
Voice Part __________________________
PAYMENT INFORMATION
______ Enclosed is a $40 check payable to Greenwich Presby. Church Choir
______ $35 if received by Sept. 15, 2018
______ $15 for high school or college student
check number _________
If you require a receipt, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Detach this form and mail to: Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church Attn: C. Ahart 17 Greenwich Church Road Stewartsville, NJ 08886
PAGE 6
BULLETIN BOARD - CONT’D
JUNE , 2018
PAGE 7
BULLETIN BOARD - CONT’D
The Pentecost altar
2018 CONFIRMANDS
On Trinity Sunday, Evan Cichone, Robby Donnelly, Eliana Hixon, Sam Jagiello and Jacob Miller were confirmed and welcomed as new members of Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church.
The Congregational Life, History and Christian Education committees are all working together to make this year’s ANNUAL CHURCH PICNIC a wonderful fellowship celebration. The picnic has been moved from June to September 9, in conjunction with Rally Day. This will be a great way to kick off the 2018-19 church year. This year, the picnic will have a carnival theme. There will be cemetery tours, a baked goods contest and much, much more. Volunteers are needed to assist that day. You can also volunteer if you have a “carnival- like” talent, such as face painting, caricature artist, photographer, etc. If you’d like to assist in any way, please reach out to Heather Todd: [email protected] or 908-619-0681.
JUNE , 2018
Registration Form (One form per child)
Child’s name: __________________________________________________________________________
Last school Child’s gender: M F Child’s age: _______ Date of birth: ___________ grade completed:___________
Name of parent(s): ______________________________________________________________________
Street address: _________________________________________________________________________
City: _________________________________________ State: ________ Zip: ______________________
Home telephone: (_______) ______________________________________________________________
Parent/caregiver’s cellphone: (_______) ____________________________________________________
Home email address: ___________________________________________________________________
Home church: _________________________________________________________________________
Volunteers are still needed for certain areas- Please indicate your availability below (childcare for volun-teers under age 3 can be arranged)
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
PAGE 8
Allergies or other medical conditions: ___________________________________________________
In case of emergency, contact: _______________________________________________
Phone: _________________________________________________________________
Relationship to child: _______________________________________________________________
When: August 6 - 10, 2018 9 am - 12 Where: Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church Who: Pre-School (age 3) to 5th graders (older kids can volunteer) Cost: Please include $20 registration fee with form ?’s: Contact Jennifer Miller [email protected] or OGPC office – 908-479-4449
PAGE 9
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
2 Coffee House
7 pm
3
Communion Worship 10 am
Children’s Day Rehearsal - following Time With the Young
Church
Home Comm. - 12
AA Meeting - 3 pm
4 GNS - 10 am
Boy Scouts - 6 pm
History - 7 pm
5 Primary Election
6 am - 8 pm
6 GNS - 10 am
7
Safety Team Training - 7 pm
BS Vent. Crew 7 pm
8 GNS - 8 am
9
10
Children’s Day Worship Svc. - 10 am
AA Meeting - 3 pm
11 Boy Scouts - 6 pm
Congr. Life - 7 pm
Deacons - 7:30 pm
12 Deborah
Circle Bible Study - 11:30 am
Daisy Troop 5:45 pm
13
14
15
16 Eagle Scout Ceremony 11:30 am
17
Worship Svc. - 10 am
AA Mtg. - 3 pm
18 Boy Scouts
6 pm
Session - 7:30 pm
19
20
21 BS Vent. Crew
7 pm
22
23
24
Worship Svc. - 10 am
AA Mtg. - 3 pm
25 Boy Scouts
6 pm
26
27
28
29
30
JUNE, 2018
THE BREEZEWAY
Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church Non-Profit Org. 17 Greenwich Church Road PRSRT STD (A) Stewartsville, NJ 08886-2515 U.S. Postage PAID
Phillipsburg, NJ 08865 PERMIT NO. 400
Dated Material
Address Service Requested
The Breezeway
The Breezeway is published monthly by: Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church 17 Greenwich Church Road Stewartsville, New Jersey 08886-2515 Contributions deadline is the 15th of each month.
W E ’R E ON THE W EB !
www.ogpc.org