NewsFlash fromEast Liberty Presbyterian Church
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
God looks beyond all we have done in the past and sees us with fresh eyes, washed of sin and brokenness, made complete by God's loving grace. This is true for each of us and all our relationships, thanks be to God.
News highlight
August Reaching Out
Read the August Reaching Out newsletter on the web. Rev. Bush's pastoral message is included in this Flash (see below.)
Sunday services and classes
August 2 Services (with Celebration of the Lord's Supper)
- 8:00 am: Good Samaritan Worship; the Rev. Patricia Frick preaching.
- 10:00 am: Courtyard Worship; the Rev. Dr. Randall K. Bush preaching.
- Contemporaries, Journey with Scripture, Parenting Circle, Seekers: Classes will resume on Rally Day, September 13.
Youth and Young Adults
- Youth Ministries: Trinity Youth Conference. This week-long conference is for youth who have completed grade 9, and will focus on spiritual and leadership development, discipleship, and evangelism. The Rev. Heather Schoenewolf is this year's Worship Leader. The conference will be held at Camp Living Waters in Schellsburg, PA (approx. 90 miles SE of Pittsburgh). Registration forms and deposits must be received by July 30.
Additional worship and prayer opportunities during the week
Taizé prayer service: Every Wednesday, 7:00 pm in the chapel. Childcare available from 6:45 pm to 7:15 pm. July 29 Taizé service will be followed by a special guest speaker discussing his experiences in Taizé, and signing copies of his new book. - Labyrinth Prayer Walk: Mondays, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm, and Wednesdays, 10:00 am - 9:00 pm.
- Centering Prayer: Tuesdays, 7:00 pm, room 250.
ELPC News
Yay, it's this weekend!
The first of two Board of Deacons' bake sales, benefiting the Deacons' Thanksgiving Basket Project, will be this Sunday August 2 during fellowship time. Stop by, enjoy homemade treats, and support a great cause.
Mission to Malawi Send-off, August 2
ELPC member Peta Harrigan-Cole has been selected to go on Pittsburgh Presbytery's Partnership Mission Trip to Malawi, August 6-20.The group will visit our sister church in
Balaka and other areas of the Synod of Blantyre. Help celebrate this event! Encourage and pray for Peta; participate in the commissioning service on August 2; see her off at the airport on August 6; make a financial contribution. The commissioning service will be held in the sanctuary of Bethany Presbyterian Church on August 2 at 7:00 pm.
Hope Academy Fall Term Registration Open
Hope Academy's fall 2009 term begins on September 19! Course brochure, registration form and scholarship applications are available online. Print them out and mail them in. The deadline for scholarship applications is August 15, 2009. Preference is given to previously enrolled Hope Academy students who are in good standing. Auditions are required for our new Hope Academy Theater Company - HAT Co (see Hope Academy page for more information). We continue to offer Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre dance classes (Creative Movement, Pre-Ballet and Ballet 1), Musical Theater, Shakespeare, Voices of Hope Vocal and Drumming Ensembles, private music instruction for piano, composition, violin, viola, cello, classical and electric guitar, bass, clarinet, flute, organ, percussion and voice.
Looking for lawn volunteers
Thanks to Darrell Bupp and Don Breitbarth, ELPC's lawn looks great. Can you help mow, too? Call Chuck Lukehart, (412) 782-6447.
ELPC in the Community
East End Cooperative Ministries Food Pantry
During the summer, families of children who qualify for school breakfast and lunch programs face the additional cost of providing these meals on limited budgets. The Poverty Committee and the EECM ask that we focus our summer offerings on items that can help the pantry provide lunch for children, such as: juice boxes, graham crackers, applesauce, raisins or other dried fruit. Thank you.
Pastoral Message
by The Rev. Dr. Randall K. Bush
Hopefully during this month, you'll be able to connect with family and friends. This might be part of your vacation plans or simply mailing a postcard. For the electronically-inclined, these acts of "connectivity" also may include e-mail, Skype (video calls), Facebook, Twitter,
and other outlets.
The question of connectedness is a growing spiritual issue. I ask you to consider the following pluses and minuses.
Plus: Technology can link us with family and friends over vast distances, allowing us to exchange thoughts, photos, and updates more
frequently than an annual letter.
Minus: Technology creates distance between people, through the gap between those who use it and those who choose not to (or don't have the resources), and in the loss of personal contact (substituting text for face-to-face conversations).
Plus: Our experience of the world is much richer through e-mails, videosharing, and Google connecting us with people and places across the globe.
Minus: Our understanding of the world is diminished because we encounter other cultures in less depth (sound-bite news stories) and through more haphazard (at times, unreliable) information sources.
Plus: Our spiritual lives are strengthened by the Internet when it allows us to keep in touch with a range of people, facilitate our prayer concerns being heard quickly by friends, and making available a variety of online devotional and church material right at our fingertips.
Minus: Our spiritual lives are diminished by the Internet with its demand of staying electronically connected 24/7, its blurring of "office hours" and "offhours," and the "busyness" that undermines true Sabbath rest for the soul.
Hear Paul's words of encouragement: "In Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away. Everything has become new! All this is from God, who is reconciled with us through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Remember this: Connectivity with Christ should precede all other connections. Newness of life is first spiritual, and then technological. To walk in nature, to breathe deeply, to hug a friend is a form of prayer. So this month, be people of prayer in a world of both natural and
technological wonders.
Randy Bush