st. luke presbyterian church · 1 3 6 6 8 lorraine kim* darcy madison donnie* 9 10 13 14 16 elanna...

Epistle~~- ST. LUKE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

NAN KEMP & MELISSA SHIELDS CO-EDITORS VOLUME 55, ISSUE 11 | NOVEMBER 2019

3001 Bell Street Amarillo, TX 79106-5037

806.355.6253 Office 806.355.0629 Fax

[email protected] [email protected]

Find Pastor Kati’s blog: www.revkaticollins.com

Pastor Kati’s podcast: The Sycamore Tree

Visit our website: www.stlukeamarillo.com

Find us on Facebook: @stlukeamarillo

get

1

Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. on November 3.

Remember to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night.

On October 13, a congregational meeting was held, and the following officers were elected: • Session, Class of 2022: Joyce Baughn, Donna Clopton, Mark Morey,

Jan Pennington • Nominating Committee, 2020: Tracye Farrar, Nan Kemp, Marcie

Robinson • Perpetual Endowment Fund Committee, 2020-2022: Barbara Taylor • Scholarship Fund Committee, 2020: Mary Graff, Cruse Messer

The new class of elders will begin their terms on January 1 and will be installed and ordained on January 12.

The church offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday,

November 28 and 29 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Pastor Kati will be out of the office from the 26th through the 29th.

We will celebrate All Saints’ Sunday on November 3. During the worship service, we will give glory to God for the ordinary, holy lives of believers in this and every age. As in previous years, we will light candles to commemorate saints in our lives and St. Luke saints who have passed away in the last year.

90th Birthday Party for

Jean Gunn

Saturday, November 23 | Come and go from 2 to 4 p.m.

No gifts please, but cards would be most welcome. 2

By Darcy Hargis

We have three great nights planned this month for LOGOS. On November 6, we will be having spaghetti and will celebrate October, November, and December birthdays. November 13 is pancake night, so you know it’ll be a great time. November 20 is the best night of the year – Mexican Pile On! We will have no LOGOS on the 27th due to the Thanksgiving break.

Remember, ALL ages are invited to join LOGOS this year. If you are able to attend only a few LOGOS nights, you are still welcome! The adult Bible study class will study different letters in The Screwtape Letters, so you will not be behind. There is also a study for younger adults. Please join us anytime that you are available. See everyone at 6:00 p.m. in the fellowship hall.

Have you been watching the numbers on our Faith Can Build finances? We are so close to completely paying off the loan that we took out for the building campaign! To encourage and help us get to the endpoint before the end of the year, we have received a challenge from one of our members. From November 1 to December 2, any donations that come in for the Faith Can Build campaign will be matched, up to $7,500. We need to get about $6,250 in additional donations to pay off the current loan + interest balance of approximately $12,500. It would be more exciting yet if we could completely meet the challenge; then St. Luke would receive $15,000, which would start a nice nest egg for the next projects! The donor has made it clear that donations need to come in during this time frame and be designated for Faith Can Build in order to be eligible for the matching funds. Come to worship on November 3, if you want to hear more details. Together we can make this happen!

We are invited to the Interfaith Thanksgiving Lunch hosted by Temple B’Nai Israel located at 4316 Albert Avenue on Sunday, November 17. This year’s theme is “Human Kind – Be Both.” The come and go lunch will be held from noon to 3 o’clock. We are asked the bring either bread for eight people or a dessert for eight. Canned and boxed food will be collected for the food bank if you would like to make a donation.

St. Luke’s annual congregational Thanksgiving Lunch will be held following the worship service on Sunday, November 24. The church will provide ham, turkey, dressing, rolls, potatoes, and gravy. People with last names that start with F – M are invited to bring desserts, and all others are invited to bring side dishes. Everyone is welcome!

Join the adults for a study of Acts at 9:30 on Sunday mornings. The location is last room on your right in the education wing.

PDA is responding to California wildfires. Please give directly to the PDA program in one of the following ways: (1) Phone 800-872-3283, (2) Send a check to PC(USA), P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700, or (3) Give online at https://pma.pcusa.org/donate.

St. Luke Women will meet on Wednesday, November 13 at 9:30 a.m. Kendra Jones will provide the brunch, with a devotional to be given by Donna Clopton. Lesson three, “Words of Love, Keep Sabbath” from the Horizons Bible study will be led by Nan Kemp. Kendra will lead the business meeting afterward.

The September/October issue of Horizons magazine has a Bible study resource on page 29, “Be Still and Know That I Am God” for use with lesson three. The article, “A New Perspective, Sabbath as Discipline, Invitation and Transformation,” pp. 12-15, may be of interest, as well.

24 24 25 25 30

Resa Steve Brenda Eldon Dean

19 19 19 20 20

*

Becky Helen Stacy Susan Jean Friend of St. Luke

20 21 23 23 24

Erin Barbara Robbie Patrick Lois

3

1 3 6 6 8

Lorraine Kim* Darcy Madison Donnie*

9 10 13 14 16

Elanna Barbara Cathy Kati Kaity*

November Birthdays

Following is the Clerk’s Report for the session meeting held on October 20: 1. September 2019 average attendance for worship – 78 2. Active membership as of September 30, 2019 – 166 3. Communion was celebrated on Sunday, September 15

and World Communion Sunday, October 6, 2019. 4. Mick and Judy MacDonald were accepted into

membership of First Presbyterian Church, Amarillo on September 22, 2019.

Commendations: Margaret Heyde, for teaching children’s Sunday

school in October. Volunteers who have led the adult Bible study. Robbie Collins for his Minute for Mission in October.

The Christmas sweater was a nice touch. Mary Holmlund, Marilyn Shillings, Mila

Abbasova, and Lucille Dunn for visits to church members.

Mary Holmlund, Barbara Taylor, Nona Fulton, and Tom Heyde for taking Donna Phipps to her doctor appointments.

Nona Fulton, Sallie Amason, Lorraine Mains, Barbara Taylor, Dannette Baker, Mary Holmlund, Susan Burnette, and Kim and Tim Lacey for volunteering during Lifetouch picture days.

Entire Congregational Care Committee for all they do. Kindergarten through fifth grade children who sang

If I Were a Butterfly for church October 6. Woodwind quartet musicians, Alice Cooke, Helen

Thorsheim, Cathy Weber, and Mary Holmlund for their special music on September 22.

Members who read parts of the World Communion Service responses in different languages – Bob Hansen, Steve Weber, Mila Abbasova, Margaret Heyde, Phillip Periman, and Nan Kemp.

Margaret Heyde and Bob Hansen for the special decorations on the altar on World Communion Sunday.

Phillip Periman and Jim Allison for researching, planning, and leading the workshop on the Apostle Paul on October 4 and 5.

Kary Wingo, Mark Morey, and Pastor Kati for leading small group discussions during the seminar, and those who arranged for the luncheon.

Strokes of Grace With Rev. Kati Collins

““Words have power.“ - Toni Morrison

Recently I traveled to El Paso, with the hopes of finding some language to pray for and communicate the situation at our southern border and to volunteer my abilities for service. Volunteering for a few days was harder than I

thought. Whereas four months ago, Border Patrol was receiving 1,100 asylum seekers a day, with the new policy requiring applicants to wait in Mexico for their appointment before a judge/officer, only 50-100 people are being received each day. Earlier this year, the churches of El Paso united together in a network of care for all of these vulnerable individuals and families arriving in our country. Some churches provided food pantries, others provided shelter and showers, and clothing was donated from several sources. Extra volunteers were recruited to help with the organization of so many people and transportation to the bus stop, train station, and airport.

Asylum seekers do not receive any assistance from the government, not even a translator or legal representation in their interviews (both are required). Frequently, family members send money for them to travel and stay with them until the interview. Under the regular process for asylum application, you must be present in the U.S. and therefore the only way to apply for asylum is to arrive at the border and apply. With the overwhelming numbers of people coming in this season, the new policy was accepted. The news outlets covered the challenges we were facing as a country to shelter these people while they wait for their interview, but there doesn’t seem to be American reporting of the struggle these people are facing while waiting in Mexico. The churches do not have the same resources and, in the words of one of the pastors I met, the Mexican pastors and church leaders are “exhausted physically, emotionally, and literally”

meaning they are using everything they have to provide for the neighbors showing up at their door.

Learning all of this left me asking, “What is asylum anyway? Aren’t these people doing everything in the proper order? Why are we treating them like criminals?” Again, this turned out to be much more complicated than I thought. Asylum status was created for people who

were being persecuted by their government in their home country based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The pilgrims traveling north from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador are mostly seeking shelter from persecution by the drug cartels. Parents share stories about being approached by a cartel member who asks for their son’s membership and threaten his life or their other children if the parents refuse. So, their “credible threat” on their life or children’s lives is not coming from their government, and not easily proven, but they are also not being protected by their government. And now that they are waiting in Mexico, the cartels are coming after them there.

So, the organizations on both sides of the border are not interested in short term relationships; they are looking for partnerships and long-term volunteers who are willing to undergo training and walk alongside them as this situation continues to develop and change. Our border crisis is not unique. Other world leading countries are also overwhelmed by asylum applicants, and we cannot expect these challenges to change anytime soon.

I will be taking reservations for a different kind of mission trip this March to Juarez/El Paso. We would not be building walls to a building, but we would be building relationships with our hearts/hands of service. I will be sharing more information on Sunday, November 10, during worship, and information sheets will be available then.

Walmart memorial, El Paso

Border wall

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2

All Saints’ Day

World Community Day

9:30 am Church Women United @ Salvation Army Chapel

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Daylight Saving Time ends

All Saints Sunday

Collins Baby Dedication

Peanut Butter Sunday

7:30 am

Yoga Class

10:00 & 11:00 am

Adult Piano Class

6:00 pm - GSA 8:00 pm - AA 8:00 pm - Al-Anon

Election Day

10:00 am

Exercise Class

6:15 pm

Outreach Com. Mtg.

6:00 pm

LOGOS 10:00 am

Exercise Class

2:00 pm

Threads of Love

2:00 pm

Quilt Group

6:30 pm - ACA 8:00 pm - AA 8:00 pm - Al-Anon

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

5:00 pm

Mission Com. Mtg.

Veterans Day

7:30 am

Yoga Class 10:00 & 11:00 am

Adult Piano Class 5:30 pm

C.E. Com. Mtg.


10:00 am

Exercise Class

5:30 pm

Property Com. Mtg.

5:30 pm

Worship Com. Mtg.

9:30 am

St. Luke Women

6:00 pm

LOGOS

10:00 am

Exercise Class 12:00 noon

Finance Com. Mtg. 2:00 pm Threads of Love 2:00 pm Quilt Group 6:30 pm - ACA 8:00 pm - AA 8:00 pm - Al-Anon

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Noon - 3:00 pm

Interfaith Thanksgiving Lunch 4:00 pm

Stated Session Mtg. 5:30 pm

Silent Meditation Service and Communion

Epistle deadline

7:30 am

Yoga Class

10:00 & 11:00 am

Adult Piano Class


10:00 am

Exercise Class 6:00 pm

LOGOS 10:00 am

Exercise Class

2:00 pm

Threads of Love

2:00 pm

Quilt Group


24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Christ the King

Communion will be celebrated.

following worship

Thanksgiving Lunch

7:30 am

Yoga Class

10:00 & 11:00 am

Adult Piano Class


10:00 am

Exercise Class

7:00 pm

Farkle Night

6:00 pm

No LOGOS

Pastor Kati will be out of

the office. (26th - 29th)

Thanksgiving Day

Church offices will be closed.


Church offices will be closed.

November WEEKLY SCHEDULE

for SUNDAYS

9:30 am - Coffee & Fellowship

9:30 am - Sunday School

9:45 am - Choir Rehearsal

11:00 am - Worship Service

5

Gifts of Nona Fulton: • Bowie, Walter Russell, The Living

Story of the New Testament (1959). • Bright, John, The Kingdom of God:

The Biblical Concept and Its Meaning for the Church (1953).

• Corbett, J. Elliott, The Prophets on Main Street: Old Testament Prophets Speak to Our World Today (1965).

• Howie, Carl G., You Too May Be a Presbyterian (1971).

• Keyes, Nelson Beecher, Story of the Bible World in Map, Word and Picture (1959).

• May, Herbert G., Oxford Bible Atlas, Third Edition (1984).

• Mays, James L. (editor), Harper's Bible Commentary (1988).

• Metzger, Bruce M., Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation (1993).

• Presbyterian Church (USA), The Communicant Member [no date].

• Presbyterian Church (USA), The Constitution, Part I: Book of Confessions (1983).



More in the next Epistle.

Dear St. Luke, Thanks so very much for all the cards, prayers and food from St. Luke members since my hip replacement surgery. Especially thanks to the Congregational Care Committee members for the wonderful desserts that Kim Lacy and Lucille Dunn brought to us.

Thanks again, JoAnn Jolley

Due to the holidays, the deadline for the December edition of the Epistle will be November 17. The newsletter will be mailed on November 27. As always, please send your news to editor Nan Kemp.

Sept. Finances

Year-to-Date

Detailed financial reports are always available for review by church members. Stop by the church office during

regular hours and request to examine the previous month’s financial documents.

By Margaret Heyde

Church Women United will meet at the Salvation Army Chapel on Friday morning, November 1, at 9:30 a.m. for coffee. The general meeting will begin at 10:00 and will include election of those candidates for openings in the board. At 10:15 a.m., we will celebrate World Community Day. “The Time Is Now – Resolve to Love,” with Helen Laughter as the coordinator, is the theme. The Chapel is located at 2101 South Van Buren Street in Amarillo.

6

Bob, Mila, and the choir are enjoying thoroughly the piano that Dorothy Baggerly donated to the church.

Her gift is appreciated and pitch perfect.

On November 17 at 5:30pm, we will have the final Silent Meditation Service for the year. Our first service was modeled after a Celtic tradition with prayers by John Philip Newell. The second featured a Quaker practice, writing messages in silence on a blank canvas. Join us for another style this month, and deepen your spiritual practice of prayer and silence, listening for the still, soft voice of God. Each service includes scripture from the Bible alongside modern poetry as Holy words, an opportunity for Christ, The Word of Life, to speak to us.

Spirit of the Season!

This Advent we will be having a workshop for families and individuals who want to make some presents or decorate Christmas cookies for yourself and our neighbors on Saturday, December 7. Plus, there will be pancakes. The Outreach team needs your help to make this happen! First, we need plain sugar cookies. Whether you would like to make one dozen or three dozen or more, you can bring them to the church and store them in the freezer with the label, “Spirit of the Season”. Second, from November 17-24, we will be having a silent auction to cover the cost of supplies; winners will be announced during the Thanks-giving Lunch. This will allow us to make the morning a free event for the community, and we will have guests from Family Promise (a new opportunity to help homeless families with children) and receive donations for this ministry. The silent auction will feature services such as raking leaves or housework; if you would like to donate your services, please inform Pastor Kati or Ashley Denham. Pastor Kati is “donating” the privilege to choose all of the hymns for one Sunday as one item and the privilege to ban one hymn of your choice for a whole year as the second item.

This event is a way to invite your neighbors and friends who don’t have a church home to enjoy our church in a casual way. Adults and children will have fun and beautiful crafts to take home, so mark your calendars now.

Saturday, December 7 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Spirit of the Season (Advent workshop)

Saturday, December 21 5:30 p.m.

Blue Christmas Service (solemn and joyful with an offering of grief during this season)

Sunday, December 22 Beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Brunch followed by the Christmas cantata at 11 a.m. Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio

Tuesday, December 24 6 p.m.

Christmas Eve service with candle lighting and Communion

7

The Community Garden Committee is looking for a chairperson. If you are interested, please contact Krista Berry. Her email is

and phone is . If you call, please leave a message as she teaches and is in class from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Next Sunday, November 3, you are encouraged to bring jars of peanut butter to contribute to High Plains Food Bank. Non-perishable grocery items, empty egg cartons, and paper sacks are also accepted every week. If you would like to make a monetary donation, please indicate “HPFB” on the memo line of your check to St. Luke.

The next

event will be held January 4th at Edwards Laundry.

➢ Love and prayers are extended to Joe and Lorraine Mains and family upon the death of Lorraine’s mother, Juanelle Amburn Taylor on October 13.

➢ Love and prayers are extended to Lee Persefield and Bob Hansen and family upon the death of Lee’s mother, Jackie Persefield on October 24.

Continue to remember:

the people of Johnson Chapel A.M.E. Church; and the students, teachers, and staff at Mesa Verde Elementary School.

Fourth Thursday Lunch Bunch will not meet in November due to the Thanksgiving holiday. We will meet the next month on Thursday,

December 19 at 11:30 a.m. at Cheddar’s.

Doug Tanner just completed his fourth coast-to-coast virtual lap swim at the age of 77. This one was 3,016 miles from San Francisco to Virginia Beach. Another 150 miles will take him to Seattle from Boston, the good Lord willing. He hopes to finish that one by mid-2020. He started all five swims back in 2009. Perseverance!

Travis McBride, a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas A&M, recently received an honorary membership in the Chancellor’s Century Council, a great honor. Congratulations, Travis!

On Sunday, November 24th, at 6:30 p.m. on 89.9 FM, in honor of the new film, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, starring Tom Hanks as (former Presbyterian minister) Fred Rogers, Travis Kemp will be presenting a special mini-collection of jazzy sound clips from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”. You can also listen online at www.kacvfm.org.

AC CONCERT Helen Thorsheim invites us to a free guest artist concert at Amarillo College concert hall theatre on Saturday, November 9 at 7:30 p.m. Performing will be Todd Yukumoto, saxophone instructor at the University of Hawaii and AC’s residence sax ensemble led by Dr. James Barger. BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER Also on the November calendar is the Amarillo College Conservatory Theatre production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. The show will run November 22-24. One of St. Luke’s kiddos will be in the cast. TOWN AND GOWN Alice Cooke invites us to the first Town and Gown of the season on Monday, December 2, 7:30 p.m. The venue is the newly remodeled Mary Moody Northern Theatre on the WTAMU campus. Admission is free. CHRISTMAS MUSICAL It's that most wonderful time of the year again! The Amarillo Community Chorale will present its Christmas musical, A Thrill of Hope, on Friday evening, December 6, at 7 p.m. at Washington Avenue Christian Church. St. Luke's Robbie Collins will contribute a solo vocal. All are invited, free of charge. Arrive early for best seats.

8

st. luke presbyterian church · 1 3 6 6 8 lorraine kim* darcy madison donnie* 9 10 13 14 16 elanna...

Documents