pine street life - april 2010

Check us out on the Web at www.pinestreet .org

As part of fundraising for their mission trip to Chicago in June, the youth of Pine Street are presenting Italian Bistro Night complete with a spa-ghetti dinner, entertainment, and a silent auction on May 1 beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Items being auctioned include original artwork, catered din-ners, crafts, a weekend at a lake house, massages, jew-elry, gift baskets, a week-long condo rental at the Hotel Casa Maya’s Imperial Fiesta Club in Cancun, Mexico, and a lot more!

The goal of the trip is to pro-vide our youth with the oppor-tunity to experience the reali-ties of life in the inner city and the many facets of urban ministry, with the expectation that they will return with a new vision for how they can serve the Harrisburg commu-nity.

The trip is begin handled

through CSM whose mission is to immerse youth in the inner city and transform their understanding of how their faith in Jesus Christ calls and equips them to reverse the trends of urban poverty.

So mark you calendars for May 1.

Ticket are $10 each and are on sale at the Welcome Center

Silent Auction will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Spaghetti dinner at 5:30 p.m.

Volume 30, Issue 4

SPAGHETTI DINNER, AUCTION HELP SEND YOUTH ON TRIP

Apri l 1 , 2010

PSL deadline

• Articles for the May issue of Pine Street Life are due by April 15. They can be emailed to:

[email protected]

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Summer education 2

Concert for youth trip 3

MAPS: Morrison 3

April scripture 4-5

Undesignated Gift Fund 4

DDB 6

April calendar 7

PINE STREET LIFE

P I N E S T R E E T H O S T I N G I N T E R FA I T H S E R V I C E

You can’t escape a basic fact of our world today – religious diversity is eve-rywhere. Not only has the economy gone global, but so also have world religions.

There are over 1,200 Hindu families in Harrisburg served by the local Hindu temple. There are at least four mosques in the greater metro area. There are several synagogues and a Buddhist organization. And Christianity itself is not monolithic at all; it too is

characterized by theological difference as well as unity.

We are one country, but we are many in terms of religion. Diana Eck in her masterful work “Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras” asks: “Are we now at the beginning of an era that will see the bridging of civilizations, indeed a crea-tive dialogue of civilizations? Or will

(Continued on page 2)

Looking ahead to May

• Silent Auction, May 1

• Kirkin’ of the Tartan, May 2

• Interfaith Service for the com-munity, May 3

• Evensong for Ascension, May 14

• Officer Installation, May 23

• Memorial Day (Church and Boyd offices closed), May 31

Rev. Russell Sullivan Jr.

By Cheryl Goode

and Russell Sullivan

There are many kinds of jour-neys. We journey to and from work. We journey to school or to a soccer game. We journey for vacations. We are a people constantly on the go! And still there is another kind of journey that is centered on faith. Chris-tian education is a big compo-nent of our faith journeys.

Christian education helps form and shape us in our faith and Christian life through many pro-grams: music, art, small bible study groups, worship and church school on Sunday morn-ings. During the summer we take on a more relaxed manner but still offer quality education.

Children’s education this sum-mer will include a combined class of grades preschool through fifth grade beginning at 9:40 a.m. June 20 in Room 108. They will be learning Old Testament stories.

Middle school and senior high youth may attend the adult fo-rums (discussed below) or sign

up to assist in teaching the ele-mentary age students. If you are interested in teaching you may sign up at the Welcome Center or contact Cheryl Goode at 238-9304 or [email protected].

Adult summer forums begin in McCormick Fellowship Hall at 9:40 a.m. on June 6. We have a variety of offerings this summer. Mark your calendar with these interesting courses:

June 6 and 13: “Reinhold Niebuhr: the President’s Theologian”, Dr. David True, Professor of Religion, Wilson College

June 20 and 27: “Mission Today” — Eric and Becky Hinderliter, Missionaries to Lithuania

July 4 and 11: “Christianity and the Religions: Interfaith Dialogue” -- Dr. Russell

Sullivan

July 18: “Chicago Youth Mission Trip” — Youth Mis-sion Trip Participants

July 25: “A Novel Presenta-tion: The Shack” — Dr. Lee Barrett, Professor of Theol-ogy, Lancaster Theological Seminary

Aug. 1 and 8: “The Presby-terian Pendulum: Seeing Providence in the Wild Di-versity of the Church” — Dr. Mark Englund-Krieger, Ex-ecutive Presbyter, the Pres-bytery of Carlisle

Aug. 15: “Eco-Ministry” — Pine Street’s Mission Com-mittee

Aug. 22: “Report on 2010 Arizona Mission Trip” — The Mission Committee

Aug. 29: “Exploring a Lat-via-Lithuania Mission Trip” — The Mission Committee

Sept. 5: “An Intergenera-tional Activity “

Keep on the journey of growing and learning this summer!

SU M M E R E D U C AT I O N: T H E J O U R N E Y C O N T I N U E S

Vacation Bible School

Mark your calendars for June 14-18. We will be

joining Faith United Church of Christ and Chapel Hill United

Church of Christ for Vacation Bible School

this year. We will meet at

Faith UCC on Drexel Hills Blvd. in New

Cumberland for Bible school. You have likely heard the saying: “There

is strength in numbers.” We will have great

numbers of children and great Christian learning

and fellowship!

More details to come next month.

Volume 30, Issue 4

PINE STREET LIFE (USPS 574-510) is published monthly by Pine Street Presbyterian Church, 310 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101.

PERIODICALS Postage paid at Harrisburg, PA 17105

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Pine Street Life, Pine Street Presbyterian Church, 310 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101

the decades ahead be marked by rigid and rivalrous adherence to religious, cultural, and national identities?”

I would like to answer “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second. Eck fundamentally be-lieves the critical question is whether we humans will come to understand and appreciate all of our religious diversity, while rec-ognizing that we are all deeply

related and dependent upon one another for our survival.

A journey to greater understand-ing can begin here in our very pluralistic backyard. We have the full range of religious expressions in our community, and finding ways to connect to people of other beliefs is a big step to bridging civilizations. To acknowl-edge and celebrate this great gift of diversity, Pine Street is hosting the Commonwealth Interfaith Prayer Service at 5:30 p.m. May 3 in our sanctuary.

Co-sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania and the

Pennsylvania Council of Churches, this event will feature prayers and fellowship with peo-ple from many religious tradi-tions. Protestants, Catholics, Jews, B’Hai, Buddhists, Muslims, Unitarians, and others — all will gather to pray together in ways unique to their belief and prac-tice. Following the service there will be a time for fellowship and food from many cultures in the Gathering Place.

Plan to attend, and sample our community’s religious diversity. The world will be a better place because of it!

(Continued from page 1)

PA R S O N

Pine Street Li fe

Music at Pine Street is pleased to present another Broadway and Holly-wood revue featuring the choir of Pine Street Church.

On three other occasions, we have presented music from the American Musical Theater and the great scores of Holly-wood to an enthusi-astic group. We hope to do the same again at 7:30 p.m. April 9.

The tickets will be on sale by the time you receive this Pine Street Life, and are limited to 120 persons. The cost is $25 and this includes the music, dessert and coffee, and a generous donation to the youth mission trip to Chicago

led by the Rev. Alex Lang. The youth who will be partici-pating in the trip will be the servers for the evening.

The program will feature fa-vorite songs from many dec-ades of entertainment from both coasts. Among the selec-tions are “Moon River,” “Let’s call the whole thing off,” “Over the rainbow,” “Give my re-gards to Broadway “and songs from “West Side Story.”

Many others are included with musical offerings from the

choir, Chamber Singers, our soloists and a

goodly number of our choir

members

whose talent

will charm

you and make you

realize why the Pine

Street Choir is such a wonderful or-ganization.

Also featured the piano art of Gail Foster and a selection from cellist, Estelle Hartranft. Tom Clark-Jones is your host for the evening and will ac-company at the piano.

M A P S P R E S E N T S C U R T I S O R G A N P R O F E S S O R

CH O I R H E L P S R A I S E S P I R I T S AN D M O N E Y F O R M I S S I O N T R I P

He is considered one of the finest accompanists working in America. In addition, he teaches at Curtis and at West-minster Choir College in Princeton. He is the college organist at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa.

Morrison has been a featured

soloist across North America and Europe for the past 15 years. His recitals have taken him to venues that include the great churches of New York, the National Cathedral in Washington as well as to Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas; the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the new Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

We invite you to join music lovers across central Pennsyl-vania who are sure to be at Pine Street for this concert. A suggested donation of $10 will be taken at the door. The South Street Garage will be open and free of charge for the event.

Music at Pine Street is pleased to announce the an-nual Great Artist Recital for 2010. This year’s concert features Alan Morrison, the recently appointed organ pro-fessor at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, at 7:30 p.m. April 23 in the Pine Street sanctuary.

Morrison stands in a line of distinguished organists to hold this chair at Curtis in-cluding the legendary Alexan-der McCurdy and Dr. John Weaver. Morrison is a gradu-ate of Curtis and also the Juilliard School in New York. He is a serious organist and pianist of great distinction and has played both instru-ments in concert.

Voted to change the date of the

Youth Mission Trip to

Chicago, from July 31

through Aug. 7, 2010, as

originally approved to June

26 through July 3, 2010.

Approved a recommendation

from the Evangelism

Committee to use $50,000

of the reallocated program

money from the Capital

Campaign, to fund an

intense advertising/

marketing campaign for

the period July 2010 to

December 2010, under the

supervision of the

Communication Team.

Approved Pine Street Church

to host the Commonwealth

Interfaith Service of Prayer

at 5:30 p.m. on May 3.

A new member class is in

progress, the first to

participate in the 12-week

training program.

Stewardship had a successful

year with the financial goal

reached for 2010. Credit

goes to the professional

staff and committee

members for organizing a

positive, inspirational drive

that resounded to the

congregation.

ALAN MORRISON

By Jack Shepley

The Administration and Finance Committee is seeking your appli-cations for grants from the Un-designated Gift Fund. Here are the application instructions: Select a committee or board who will be responsible for over-sight of your program/project, and to whom you will report on a monthly basis. You may choose from the following Pine Street Presbyterian Church commit-tees or boards (chair):

Administration & Finance Committee (Craig Kegerise)

Christian Nurture & Education (Bob Kerr)

Congregational Life Committee (Ted Dolbin)

Congregational Nominating Committee (Michael Buffington)

Board of Deacons

Evangelism Committee (Rich Brown)

Mission Committee (Deborah Olson)

Personnel Committee (Robert Atnip)

Session (Moderator, Dr. Rus-sell Sullivan)

Stewardship Committee (John Goodrich)

Board of Trustees (President, Anne Guenin)

Worship Committee (Ron Poor-man)

The application requires a signa-ture of the chair of the selected board, committee, or task force, so please be sure to provide information about your pro-gram/project to the chairperson prior to approaching him/her for a signature.

Complete the Undesignated Gifts Application, which can be found at www.pinestreet.org, but please do not limit your responses to the minimal space provided. Supplemental pages are welcomed and encouraged

to aid the Administration & Fi-nance Committee in selecting applications to forward along to Session for final decisions. If you have question about the process or how it works, please feel free to contact Jack Shepley by email [email protected] or call (M) 717-645-2254, (O) 717-761-5070, or (H) 717-728-5552.

Completed applications should be submitted with all supple-mental pages to Michelle Ken-nedy, Pine Street office man-ager, 310 N. Third Street, Har-risburg, Pa. 17101 or email [email protected]. She can be reached at 717-238-9304 or fax at 717-232-9341.

The Administration & Finance Committee will then serve as a clearinghouse for the applica-tions, and will make recommen-dations to Session for consid-eration at their September meeting.

The deadline is June 30.

By Bonnie Peckham

Why should I care? Change happens! Does it really matter if developers pave over large ex-panses of green for shopping centers or that trees are clear cut to reduce the cost of build-ing housing developments? What’s a little erosion or runoff going to hurt?

Progress is necessary; it boosts the economy and means jobs for people, but does it have to degrade our land, water and habitat for other living things?

As I read Genesis in preparation for the Lenten Angel series, I was struck again by Genesis 1:28. This passage, in context with the rest of the Bible, shows us that God has given humans dominion as stewards of His creation. We are not to be de-stroyers but caretakers of crea-tion for the benefit of all life. In

the beginning God gave us the Garden. Then Eve and Adam ate of the tree of knowledge, and they were turned out in sin to struggle and toil never to enter the Garden again.

In the New Testament Christ (the second Adam) comes and brings us life and restoration. We are to be Disciples of Christ and like Adam we are expected to return service to the earth (garden) that which sustains us and gives us life. Our work is to reconcile all things in Christ (Romans 5: 12-17). The ancient command to look after the Gar-den is reaffirmed as the new creation by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the gift of the spirit.

We are called to return crea-tion’s service to us with service of our own (1 Corinthians 15:22-45). So, get off your don-

key, and be about the work of creation care-the earth and its creatures need you.

Join the Eco team of the Mis-sion Committee as we honor God’s good creation on April 18. Please come to the Gathering Space after the 11 a.m. service to meet members of the Math/Science Academy — a Middle School in Harrisburg whose curriculum is based on service. Share our treats and help your-self to handouts that will be helpful in lowering your energy costs.

Participate with us in giving service to a person in the com-munity who needs help to keep their property intact. The Mis-sion Committee is sponsoring a community rebuild project on April 24 along with Rebuild Har-risburg. Sign up in the Gathering Space.

CO M M I T T E E TA K I N G A P P L I C AT I O N S TO D I S T R I BU T E A N N UA L G R A N T S

W H Y E A R T H D AY ?

Volume 30, Issue 4

APRI L SCRI PTURE

Maundy Thursday, April 1 Lamentations 2:10-18 Psalm 27 Mark 14:12-25

Good Friday, April 2 Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-33 Psalm 22 John 13:36-38

Saturday, April 3 Lamentations 3:37-58 Psalm 43 Hebrews 4:1-16

Sunday, April 4 (Easter) Daniel 6:16-23 Psalm 118 Matthew 28:1-10 Luke 24:13-49 Sermon: The Rev. Russell Sulli-van preaching

Monday, April 5 Exodus 12:14-27 Psalm 97 Mark 16:1-8

Tuesday, April 6 Exodus 12:28-39 Psalm 98 Mark 16:9-20

Wednesday, April 7 Exodus 12:40-51 Psalm 99 Matthew 28:1-16

Thursday, April 8 Exodus 13:3-10 Psalm 47 Matthew 28:16-20

Friday, April 9 Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16 Psalm 96 Luke 24:1-12

Saturday, April 10 Exodus 13:17-14:4 Psalm 92 Mark 12:18-27

Sunday, April 11 Acts 5:27-32 Psalm 118:14-29 Revelations 1:4-8 John 20:19-31 Sermon: The Rev. Heather Sigler preaching

Monday, April 12 Exodus 14:21-31 Psalm 97 John 14:1-7) 8-17

Tuesday, April 13 Exodus 15:1-21 Psalm 98 John 14:18-31

Wednesday, April 14 Exodus 15:22-16:10 Psalm 99 John 15:1-11

Thursday, April 15 Exodus 16:10-22 Psalm 47 John 15:12-27

Pine Street Li fe

By Alexander Lang

It was about one year ago that the APNC called me to Pine Street. I cannot tell you how excited I was to have received that phone call from Gerald Miller. I shared with you all after my candidate sermon that, until Pine Street came knocking, I had reached a low point in my faith.

I saw my failure to procure a call as a reflection of my ability as a pastor rather than God wanting to me to be fit with the best church possible. Only in retrospect did I understand God’s plan and in the months since I have been at Pine Street, God’s plan has only be-come clearer to me.

You called me to this church for a number of reasons, but my primary focus was to revamp and build a youth group. I im-mediately split the youth into two groups — middle school (6-8th grade) and high school (9-12th grade).

Since this split, the youth groups have met on separate nights (high school on Sunday evening and middle school on Wednesday evening). We hired a worship leader for the youth, a freshman from Messiah, Jon Lampe. Jon is extremely tal-ented and comes to every youth group, providing 15 minutes of worship time so the youth can prepare and focus for our les-sons. To give you an idea of what we have been studying, for the last 12 weeks of 2009, I taught the high school about the Apostles Creed and the middle school learned about

the book of Genesis.

After Christmas we began a series with the high school called “Being Molded in the Image of God,” which deals with the ethics of the Bible and the middle school is learning 10 commandments and how Jesus changed those commandments in the New Testament.

The initial numbers for the high school have stayed very steady. We averaged about 10 people per week with our biggest nights bringing in around 14 youth. The middle school was a different story. The middle school was extremely small when we started in September. There were weeks where we had only 2 people attend. These were hard and tedious nights for me, Jon and all the advisors who assist with middle school. However, I put out a challenge to the youth: bring your friends to youth group. Slowly they be-gan to meet that challenge and thanks to the dedication of a

few parents who drive all over the greater Harrisburg area picking up middle schoolers, our program has grown to more than 12 youth.

I cannot tell you how truly joyful I feel when a parent of a youth comes to me and tells me how much their child and their chil-dren’s friends love coming to youth group. They look forward to it every week and would not want to miss it for anything! God brought me to Pine Street because it is where I belong.

Every time I enter the building to lead a youth group, I am re-minded of where I was and how far I have come thanks to God’s plan for my life. I love this com-munity and I love serving you all. I am especially grateful that you have called me to be a shepherd to your youth. Thank you for calling me to this church and thank you for supporting my efforts to provide your chil-dren with the light of Christ!

CA L L T O G U I D E C H U RC H’S YO U T H WA S WO RT H E XC RU C I AT I N G WA I T

APRI L SCRI PTURE

Friday, April 16 Exodus 16:23-26 Psalm 96 John 16:1-15

Saturday, April 17 Exodus 17:1-16 Psalm 92 John 16:16-33

Sunday, April 18 Acts 9:1-6 (7-20) Psalm 30 Revelation 5:11-14 John 21:1-19 Sermon: The Rev. Russell Sullivan preaching

Monday, April 19 Exodus 18:13-27 Psalm 97 Matthew (1:1-17) 3:1-6

Tuesday, April 20 Exodus 19:1-16 Psalm 98 Matthew 3:7-12



Friday, April 23 Exodus 24:1-18 Psalm 96 Matthew 4:12-17

Saturday, April 24 Exodus 25:1-22 Psalm 92 Matthew 4:18-25

Sunday, April 25 Acts 9:36-43 Psalm 23 Revelation 7:9-17 John 10:22-30 Sermon: The Rev. Russell Sullivan preaching

Monday, April 26 Exodus 32:1-20 Psalm 97 Matthew 5:1-10

Tuesday, April 27 Exodus 32:21-34 Psalm 98 Matthew 5:11-16



Friday, April 30 Exodus 34:18-25 Psalm 96 Matthew 5:27-37

By Elaine Strokoff

Downtown Daily Brad was one of the few locations that opened and oper-ated as usual during February’s snow storms. The men, women and children who ate lunch there were most grateful. They must have known instinctively that the kitchen

would be open because the din-ing room was filled each day. DDB clients wrote their thoughts in the soup kitchen’s guest book. These are their words:

“I was real glad you were open. I was grateful to have a meal in a bad time!”

“It was my meal of the day.”

“It was a blessing!” “I was grateful to have a meal in a bad time!”

“We all were glad. Thanks for being open.” “I was glad we had a place to feed the homeless for it was cold and nasty and

the Daily Bread is a beautiful place. Thanks.”

“Everything was great!”

Downtown Daily Bread was able to function as usual thanks to the dedication of our devoted cooks. Our part-time cook, Blon-die, walked to work so 97 clients could be served on Wednesday and Brenda made it to work for 100 clients on Thursday. We at Downtown Daily Bread are very proud of our record of never closing. Over the 13 years I have been involved with the kitchen, DDB has only been closed for one day. That was due to a bliz-zard in 1986. Open for 26 years, DDB continues to serve the hun-gry and homeless and homeless of Harrisburg. We all should be proud to be associated with “the kitchen that never closes.”

O U R F I N A N C I A L P I C T U R E

Volume 30, Issue 4

Downtown Daily

020000400006000080000

100000120000140000160000180000

January February March April May June

Income

Expense

April 17: Adopt-a-Highway. Sign-up in Gathering Place. Meet at 9 a.m. at the old Giant on Lingles-town Road. Gloves, safety vests and trash bags will be provided. Bring your smile and be ready to give us about two hours of your time.

April 24: Rebuilding Together. Sign-up in Gathering Place. Lunch and picnic dinner (5 p.m. at Fort Hunter) are provided by Rebuilding Together. We will be doing yard work and various

items of repair work on a home of a single, disabled, low income woman in Carlisle. Participants should dress for manual work, bring gloves and wear old clothes. Bring tools for yard work if that’s what you would like to work on that day. We will proba-bly meet for breakfast and ‘car train’ to the jobsite — further details will be provided nearer the work date.

Update on Epiphany offering collected in January – PSPC

members rose to the call, again, giving over $1,000. This money will be sent to Louisville, KY, to be used in world mission.

Arizona mission trip was again a success. Sixteen missioners worked on four properties of the Presbyte-rian church on the Tohono O’odham reservation. The short version is that we re-placed underground water lines, repaired a ceiling

where bees had built a hive, repaired some walls (inside and outside), painted, cleaned, repaired windows and doors, painted, caulked cracks in walls and around windows, painted, and painted!!! Several natives worked with us this year and we shared our faith and hope in Jesus in the process — this is what we hope for and this is why we keep going back.

Pine Street Li fe

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

1 Maundy Thursday service (Market Square), 7:30; Chanel Choir re-hearsal, 7:30

2 Good Friday (Church and Boyd Offices Closed)

Tenebrae Service, 7:30

3 Set up lilies, 9 a.m.

4 Easter

Children’s Choir practice, 9:30 a.m.

5 6 Staff Worship, 8:45 a.m.; Staff meeting, 9:10 a.m.; Session meeting, 7:30

7 JYF, 6; Stephen Ministry training, 6:30; Adult Hand-bell Choir, 7:30

8 Chamber Singers rehearsal, 6:30; Chanel Choir re-hearsal, 7:30

9 MAPS: Broadway Cabaret, 7:30

10 Men’s break-fast, 8 a.m.; Shawl minis-try, 10 a.m.

11 Children’s Choir practice, 9:30 a.m.; Congregational meet-ing, 12:15; New mem-bers class, 12:30; Officer training, 4; Youth Handbell Choir, 4; SYF, 5

12 13 Staff Worship, 8:45 a.m.; Staff meeting, 9:10 a.m.; Program Committee meet-ing, 7

14 JYF, 6; Adult Handbell Choir, 7:30


16 17 Stephen Min-istry training retreat, 9 a.m.; Progressive Dinner

18 Children’s Choir practice, 9:30 a.m.; Youth Handbell Choir, 4; Officer training, 4; SYF, 5; Taize Service, 7

19 20 Staff Worship, 8:45 a.m.; Staff meeting, 9:10 a.m.; Trustees meeting, noon; Dea-cons Adm. Meeting, 6:30; Deacons meeting, 7

21 JYF, 6; Stephen Ministry Training, 6:30; Adult Hand-bell Choir, 7:30

22 Chamber Singers rehearsal, 6:30; Chanel Choir re-hearsal, 7:30; Per-sonnel comm. Meeting, 7:30

23 MAPS: Alan Mor-rison, organist, 7:30

24 Teachers pic-nic, 1

25 Children’s Choir practice, 9:30 a.m.; New Mem-bers Class, 12:30; Officer training, 4

26 27 Staff Worship, 8:45 a.m.; Staff meeting, 9:10 a.m.; Presbytery meeting, 6:30; Admin. & Finance meeting, 7

28 JYF, 6; Stephen Ministry Training, 6:30; Adult Hand-bell Choir, 7:30


30

April 2010

By Debbie Olson

Read John 21: 15-17. Jesus is with seven of the disciples after His resurrection. They had been fishing and had eaten breakfast. Repeatedly Jesus asked one or the other of them, “Do you love me?” Repeatedly they told Jesus they did. And each time, in one way or another Jesus told them, “Feed my sheep.” This was Jesus’ last encounter with his disciples — the message he leaves with them is “feed my sheep.”

One Great Hour of Sharing began more than 60 years ago, in re-sponse to the devastation of World War II. A Saturday evening nationwide broadcast asked Americans to give generously the next morning in their churches. More than 75,000 churches re-sponded — churches of many denominations.

Now each denomination decides how their contributions will be dispersed. PC(USA) divides our contributions into three programs — Self-Development of People

(32 per-cent), Pres-byterian Disaster Assistance (32 per-cent), and the Presby-terian Hun-ger Pro-gram (36 percent).

Four per-cent of the Presbyte-rian Hunger Program money is used for its work on homelessness and affordable housing. None of the One Great Hour of Sharing offering stays at Pine Street Church — it all goes to help those who have much less than any of us.

One Great Hour of Sharing contin-ues to offer hope for those most hopeless. It works toward recov-ery and wholeness with those whose lives have been shattered

by disaster (as in Haiti recently). It stands with communities facing the slower crises of hunger, dis-ease, unemployment, and envi-ronmental degradation that make them vulnerable even before disasters strike. In sharing re-sources with people in need around the world, we not only witness God’s love in action in their lives — we also feel it mov-ing in our own lives.

Please, actually read the bulletin inserts. These stories are about real people. People who none of us will probably ever meet. But they are God’s children, just like us. By chance many of them were born into poverty, into countries where there are no policies or infrastructure in place to provide for them. And they need us to reach out to them.

We, as members of Pine Street Church, are Christ’s disciples in today’s world. And as such, we are ALL charged with ‘feeding His sheep’ to show our love for our Lord. This is done by giving of our time, talents, and money. YES, I’m again asking for money — not for Pine Street Church, but for God’s people in the world. Each one of us has so much more than any of the people this offering will help. Please give generously — again. God loves the cheerful giver!!! Thank you. And those who will receive the benefit of this offering thank you.

ONE GREAT HOUR HELPS OTHERS

Check us out at pinestreet.org

Pine Street Presbyterian Church 310 North Third Street Harrisburg, PA 17101

pine street life - april 2010

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