Here is the latest copy of the Pulaski Heights Herald, our NEWSLETTER:
JANUARY/FEBRUARY
2012 EDITION
“So God blessed the
seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the
work that he had done in creation.”
Genesis 2:3
Fellowship Group The next
meeting of Fellowship Group will be on Wednesday, January 4th. The
group gathers in room 303 (adult Sunday School classroom) at 11:30 a.m. The
study topic is the 2011-2012 Horizons Bible
Study, “Confessing the Beatitudes.”Bill May and Mark
Sullivan serve as study leaders. Everyone is invited to bring a sack lunch and
join the group any time. Drinks are provided, and a host or hostess brings a
dessert each month. This is a time of good learning, fun, and fellowship. The
group meets the first Wednesday of the month, from September through May.
Lunch Bunch The
Lunch Bunch gathers at 11:15 a.m., the first Thursday of each month, to eat
together in a local restaurant of the host or hostess’s choice. All are welcome
to come be part of this fellowship time. On January 5th, the Bunch
is eating at the Olive Garden, 10715 Rodney Parham (the K-Mart parking lot). Hostess
is Barbara Amsler. Call her at 663-3060
to make reservations. If you would like to caravan to the restaurant from the
church, please notify the church office ahead of time. The caravan will leave
the church at 10:55 a.m. Watch for
announcements regarding the February Lunch Bunch in the Sunday bulletin.
Presbyter Ordination and Installation
During
worship on Sunday, January 8th, a service of ordination and
installation will be conducted for incoming members of the session. Judy
Barfield will be ordained as a presbyter for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
She and Johnsye Campbell, Randy Gates,
and R. L. Qualls, each of whom already has been ordained, will be installed to
serve as ruling elders in the session class of 2014. Nancy Bateman, also
already ordained, will be installed to serve an unexpired term in the class of
2012.
Presbyterian Village Auxiliary Sunday
January 8th will begin with the Membership Drive for the Presbyterian
Village Auxiliary. The Auxiliary membership dues help support many
projects for the Village residents including holiday parties throughout the
year. Scholarships are awarded to Village employees so they may attend
training courses to become more proficient in their jobs. The Auxiliary
continues to contribute toward monthly birthday luncheons for independent
living residents, provide a "welcome" gift to new residents, hold
monthly teas, and purchase large print books for the Village
library. Special summer treats include a watermelon feast and a
free visit from the Ice Cream Truck. This also funds other needs that the
Village does not have in their budget (i.e. - a larger sized wheelchair for an
extra tall resident.) May we encourage you to support the Presbyterian Village
Auxiliary through one of the following membership options: Gold Membership -
$50+, Silver Membership - $25+ or Bronze Membership - $10.00+. Barbara
Amsler will be happy to sign you up, or you can mail your check (made out to
the Presbyterian Village Auxiliary) to PV Auxiliary, 6512 Westover Dr., Little Rock,
AR 72207-3444. Please
look for Barbara Amsler in the narthex.
Friday Bible Study The
spring session of Friday Bible Study will begin on January 20th and go through April 13th (with
an exception of February 17th, when there will be no study). Please
mark your calendars. Once again, Dr. David Dyer is teaching. This session will
be on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. It is always a delight to have Dr. Dyer
teach. Come at 9:30 a.m. for refreshments
and fellowship, with lesson from 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Bring a friend and join
the Friday Bible Study.
Attention All Session Members Outside
of the church office are mail slots for each person on the Session. Please be
sure to check your box every time you enter the church. The secretary receives
correspondence daily, and there may be something pertaining to your work on the
session. Remember that the stated session meetings are the 3rd
Sunday of every month following worship, in room 303.
Reaching Our Church Staff The Pulaski Heights Presbyterian church office is open
Mondays through Fridays, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office phone is 663-8361.
If you call during office hours and we are either temporarily away from the
office or already on the telephone, you will get the voice mail. Please leave a message and we
will return your call. Now that you know
how and when and where to reach our church staff, do stay in touch!
Annual Meeting & Potluck Our
first potluck for 2012 will be held on January 29th, following
worship. During this potluck, we will
hold our Annual Congregational Meeting. At this meeting, the chairperson of
each of the session’s standing committees will provide a report on their
committee’s tasks, accomplishments, and hopes for the days ahead. The
minister’s terms of call for 2012, including financial compensation, will be
submitted for congregational consideration. This also will be an opportunity
for consideration of any other matters a member would like to bring to the
attention of the congregation. We ask members to bring a covered dish to the
Fellowship Hall to share with the multitudes.
Winter Weather Policy If, in the event of
inclement weather this year, the decision should be made not to open the
church, we will do two things: we will notify each of the local television
stations for postings on their respective winter closings broadcasts; and we
will modify the message on the church voice mail system to indicate that we
won’t be open. So, if you need into the church on an icy or snowy winter’s day,
please call first and/or check the local television broadcasts of winter
closings.
January Birthdays Marian Dyer-2nd Judy Barfield-5th Helen Hoke-7th
Wanda McConnell-11th
Charlotte Alexander-17th
Hazel Leslie-21st
Charles Harper-27th
Frank
Plummer-27th
Larry
Garner-28th
Randy Gates-29th
Rudy
Gates-29th
February Birthdays Jane
Moore-2nd
Paul
Mondy-9th
Johnsye
Campbell-17th
Anna
Cole-18th
Grace
Cole-18th
Neal
Cole-18th
Frances
Busch-22nd
Pam
Plummer-26th
The PHPC Choirs The children’s choir practices every Sunday
morning from 9:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m., then the children go to their Sunday School
class. The adult choir practices from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday
evenings. The adults also practice every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. in the
choir room. If you would like to join our choir, please just show up at the
church at the practice time. New choir members are always welcome.
Church Office Closings of 2012 The church
office will be closed the following dates in 2012:
New Year’s (Monday, January 2nd)
President’s Day (Monday, February
20th)
Good Friday (Friday, April 6th)
Memorial Day (Monday, May 28th)
Fourth of July (Wednesday, July 4th)
Labor Day (Monday, September 3rd)
Thanksgiving Day and the day
after (Thursday, November 22nd and Friday, November 23rd)
Christmas (Tuesday, December 25th)
If you
know that you will need to get into the church on any of these days, please
contact the church office ahead of time to make arrangements.
Sexual Misconduct Policy A recent
amendment to the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is
part of our denomination’s constitution, stipulates the following: “All councils shall adopt and implement a
sexual misconduct policy” (G-3-01). The
councils of the Presbyterian Church are: General Assembly, synod, presbytery,
and session. Which is to say, as of now,
our session is responsible for formulating and implementing a sexual misconduct
policy for our church. The session
approved such a policy at its November stated meeting. A copy of the policy in
its entirety can be found on the session bulletin board. Copies also are available
through the church office. What follows
is from the opening statement of the purpose of the policy:
The purpose of this policy is
to safeguard this church’s members, visitors, and staff from abuse through any
form of sexual misconduct; to protect persons against false accusations of
sexual misconduct; and to assure that appropriate measures be taken in dealing
with any incidents of sexual misconduct that might occur.
The aim is to preserve a safe
environment for friendship, fellowship, and work in the church, where every
person is respected as a child of God, where the image of God is honored in
each other, where no one need fear or feel intimidated by anyone else, where
all are helped to recognize and resist abuse and harassment whenever they’re
encountered, and where everyone is free to speak the truth.
LifeQuest Fall Classes Begin January 18 LifeQuest’s
Adventures in Learning 8-week winter program will begin
January 18. Remember, anyone of any age may attend! Classes are
held at Second Presbyterian Church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive.
Register for all the classes you want
for only $60. (Some
classes may require an additional fee.) Call
the LifeQuest office, 225-6073 for details or go on-line to www.lifequestofarkansas.org.
A Word From Ruskin Much of
the work of the session is carried out by its standing committees. For many years, the Pulaski Heights
session has made use of seven committees.
At its December stated meeting, session voted to combine the
Congregational Life and the Mission/Outreach committees into what now is called
the Blessings Committee. The other
standing committees are: Worship, Christian Education, Property, Personnel, and
Accounting & Budget. A full
description of each committee’s responsibilities can be found on the session
bulletin board downstairs. Since the Blessings Committee is new, though, I’d
like to provide its job description here:
Blessings
The aim of this committee is to enhance the
congregation’s life together as a church family by promoting fellowship
opportunities, organizing congregational celebrations, and providing personal
Christian care to individuals; and to develop and nurture opportunities for the
church to extend an evangelical and compassionate Christian hand to the
community and world around us.
The committee should:
– promote congregational involvement in social witness
work, including support for the social witness work of the Presbytery of
Arkansas and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and
support for the work of local social agencies;
– make recommendations to session regarding the receiving
of PCUSA special offerings and the extending of financial support to other
social causes and agencies;
– organize and provide a food
pantry for those in need;
– promote church involvement in the Hillcrest
neighborhood and church participation in the Hillcrest Merchants Association;
– organize the Presbyterian Village Tea on the 4th
Monday in April of each year, procuring volunteers to be hosts or hostesses and
to provide the centerpiece and goodies;
– reach out to homebound members in personal ways and on
special occasions;
– organize fellowship meals, receptions, and special
celebrations in the life of the church; – organize volunteers to work at Stewpot the third
Tuesday of each month;
– coordinate the gatherings of the
Once-a-Month-Lunch-Bunch;
– arrange for the provision of a meal to a church
member’s family at the time of his or her death;
– identify and extend welcome and hospitality to visitors
to our services of worship and other congregational gatherings;
– promote knowledge of and
familiarity with our church in the community.
A
blessing is something that contributes to and furthers the well-being of
individuals or groups. Now, rather than
having one committee focused on activities within the congregation and
another committee focused on persons and groups outside the
congregation, we will have a single committee focused on leading us in spreading
the blessings that are ours, as a church, to know, enjoy, and share.
Of
course, the Blessings Committee isn’t charged with doing all the spreading of
blessings itself. Its responsibility is to see that the spreading of blessings
indeed does happen in viable, good, and important ways. Committee members will work prayerfully together
to plan, promote, organize, kindle, instigate, provoke, encourage, and
facilitate meaningful opportunities for us as a church to spread to
individuals and groups, and to draw individuals and groups into, our
gospel blessings. So, when committee members come calling on the rest of us to
help with this or that project, task, festivity, challenge, or adventure, let
us all be ready to say Yes!, and to do what is ours to do for the sake of what
Martin Luther called, “A glad new year to all the earth” (Presbyterian
Hymnal #54).
“Being the Church God Is Calling You to Be” March
1-3, the Congregational Care & Development Committee of the Presbytery of
Arkansas is sponsoring an annual spring retreat at Ferncliff. All are invited
to attend. There will be 4 seminars to choose from: A New Form of Government-A
New Vision of Church, led by Dr. Robert Lowery; Evangelizing with Social Media,
led by Rev. Anne Russ; The Theology of Pastoral Care As Story Listening, led by
Rev. Al Henager; and Evangelism-A natural part of our Life, led by Rev. Eric
Hoey. This will be a very informative retreat for all. Please pick up a
brochure in the narthex or outside the church office.
Previous newsletter:
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011 EDITION
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you
will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to
you.” Luke 6:37 & 38a
Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service Our
Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service will be at 5:00p.m. on Saturday
December 24th. Bring your family and invite your friends to this
wonderful worship service.
Christmas Day
Worship Schedule
Christmas
Day, there will be no Sunday school class for the children or adults. Worship
Service will begin at 10:45a.m.
Shoe Box Christmas Sunday
December 11th will be the November/December combined potluck
luncheon. Each year the Mission/Outreach Committee chooses a non-profit
organization to benefit as a mission project.
This year, the committee has decided to make Sober Living the recipient.
Sober Living is a non-profit provider of residential substance abuse services
that helps the homeless/veterans face up to drug and alcohol addictions, deal
with anger management, find jobs, and get back in to the real world. They are
asking for a “Shoe Box Christmas”.
You ask what is “Shoe Box Christmas”.
We are hoping church members will “adopt” a plastic shoe box and fill it. Within
the next couple of weeks, these shoe boxes will be in the narthex for you to
“adopt”. The committee will provide a list of items in each shoe box that is
needed by Sober Living residents. You do not have to fill the entire list, but
anything you feel would be appropriate would be great. Please come by and
“adopt” a shoe box.
Poinsettias to Decorate Sanctuary Poinsettias will adorn our sanctuary again this Christmas
season. If you would like to contribute with a dedication in honor or in memory
of someone special, the dedications are $8.00 each and will be listed in our
Christmas Eve bulletin. Orders need to be made by December 16th.
Poinsettias will be placed in the sanctuary on December 18th. Order forms will be included in upcoming
worship bulletins.
Goodies for Our Shut-Ins On Friday December 16th, we will be delivering
poinsettias and goodies to our shut-ins. We will need volunteers to help make
goodies, and to package and deliver the goodies and poinsettias. Please contact
Jane Anne in the church office if you can either furnish goodies and/or
deliver.
Christmas Joy Gift Offering In December, one of our special offerings for 2011 is the
Christmas Joy Gift Offering. Gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering support the
unmet needs of families who have given their lives to serve the mission of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), some of them after retirement, others while they
continue to serve. They also help students at racial ethnic schools and
colleges to develop their gifts and find their calling. As we celebrate Jesus’
love flowing into, through, and beyond our lives this Christmas, our gifts bear
joyful witness to the power of that unconditional love to change lives. So when
you see the flyers in the bulletins and special envelopes in the pews, please
give prayerful thought to giving to this wonderful offering. Fellowship Group The next
meeting of Fellowship Group is Wednesday, November 2nd. They meet in
room 303 (adult Sunday School classroom) at 11:30a.m. They will be studying Horizons Bible Study:Confessing the Beatitudes. Mark
Sullivan will be leading the study. Please bring a sack lunch and join this
group. Drinks are provided and a hostess will bring a dessert each month. They
have a lot of fun and “fellowship”. The
next lesson will be December 7th and Bill May will be the study
leader.
Lunch Bunch Thursday
November 3rd, the Lunch Bunch is going to Woodland Heights
at 8700 Riley Drive.
Fran Bower is our hostess. Please call her at 492-3121 with your reservation. Lunch
is $10.00 per person. Fran needs your reservation by October 31st. We
will meet at Woodland
Heights at 11:15a.m. If
you would like to caravan from the church, please be at the church by 10:55a.m.
that morning. Also please let the church office know that you would like to
caravan so that no one is left behind. For the December 1st gathering,
Sara Meeks will be our hostess. We will be going to Parkway Village.
Watch the weekly Sunday announcements for more information.
Daylight Savings Time Ends
It’s
time to “fall back” with the hour that we lost in April. Daylight Savings Time
comes to an end on Sunday, November 6th at 2:00a.m. If you don’t set
your clock back, you will be way early for church. If you do show up early,
there is a Sunday School class that begins at 9:30a.m.
The PHPC Choirs The children’s choir practices every Sunday morning
from 9:15a.m. – 9:45a.m., then the children go to their Sunday School class.
The adult choir practices from 7:00p.m. – 8:00p.m. on Wednesday
evenings. The adults also practice every Sunday morning at 10:00a.m. in the
choir room. If you would like to join our choir, please just show up at the
church at the practice time. New choir members are always welcome.
Stewardship Season Sunday, November 6th, is Stewardship
Commitment Sunday. All church members should already have received a letter from
the Stewardship Committee and a pledge card. All members that pledged in 2011
were mailed a giving statement of church giving as of September 2011. If you
did not pledge in 2011, a giving statement was also mailed to you. Church
members are encouraged, and everyone is welcome, to give prayerful thought to
the level of church giving that should be yours at this time, and to make a
commitment to our church for the calendar year 2012, by pledging an amount now.
Additional pledge cards are available in the Narthex and through the church
office. Please put your pledge card in an envelope with “pledge 2012” on the
front. Pledge cards may be sent to the church office or placed in the offering
plate at any time. All are particularly invited to place them in the offering plate
during worship on Stewardship Commitment Sunday, November 6th.
Hillcrest Community Thanksgiving
Worship Service
The annual Hillcrest Community Thanksgiving Worship
Service will be held Tuesday, November 22nd at 7:00p.m. This year we
will be the host church. There will be a small reception after the worship
service in fellowship hall. We will need volunteers to help serve and also to
make “goodies”. The plan is for “light” snacks, punch and coffee. Please
contact the church office if you can help serve or would be able to bake
something. Please make plans to join this community worship service. Monetary
contributions received at the service, as well as, contributions of
non-perishable foods, will go to the Arkansas Foodbank.
Advent Pancake Breakfast As a special treat, the Congregation Life Committee has
decided to have an Advent pancake breakfast on Sunday November 27th
to start the Advent season. Mark Sullivan has graciously agreed to cook the
pancakes and sausage. This wonderful meal will be served starting at 8:30a.m.
and end at 9:15a.m. This is so everyone will be able to make it to their Sunday
School class. Invite you friends and family to attend.
Reaching Our Church Staff The Pulaski Heights Presbyterian church office is open
Mondays through Fridays, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office phone is 663-8361.
If you call during office hours and we are either temporarily away from the
office or already on the telephone, you will get the answering machine. Please leave a message, and we will
return your call. Now that you know how
and when and where to reach our church staff, do stay in touch! Presbyterian Village Auxiliary January
2012 will begin with the Membership
Drive for the Presbyterian Village
Auxiliary. The Auxiliary membership dues help support many projects for
the residents including holiday parties throughout the year. Scholarships
are awarded to Village employees so they may attend training courses to become
more proficient in their jobs. The Auxiliary continues to contribute
toward monthly birthday luncheons for independent living residents, provide a "welcome"
gift to new residents, hold monthly teas, and purchase large print books for
the Village library. Special summer treats include a watermelon
feast and a free visit from the Ice Cream Truck. They fund other needs
that the Village does not have in their budget (i.e. - a larger sized
wheelchair for an extra tall resident.) May we encourage you to support the
Presbyterian Village Auxiliary through one of the following membership options:
Gold Membership - $50+, Silver Membership - $25+ or Bronze Membership -
$10.00+. Barbara Amsler will be happy to sign you up, or you can mail
your check (made out to the Presbyterian Village Auxiliary) to
PV Auxiliary, 6512 Westover
Dr., Little Rock, AR 72207-3444. .
Please look for Barbara Amsler in the narthex during the month of January.
Church Office Closings of 2011 The
church office will be closed the following dates:
Thanksgiving
Day and the day after (November 24th and November 25th)
The day after Christmas (December
26th)
If you
know that you will need to get into the church on any of these days, please
contact the church office ahead of time to make arrangements.
Attention All Session Members
Outside
of the church office are mail slots for each person on the Session. Please be
sure to check your box every time you enter the church. The secretary receives
correspondence daily, and there may be something pertaining to your work on the
session. Also remember that the stated session meetings are the 3rd
Sunday of every month following worship service in room 303. November
Birthdays R.
L. Qualls-6th
Rebecca Barfield-7th Dorothy Dinwiddie-13th Charles Gray-17th
Charlotte Abernathy-21st
Alex Gray-23rd Louise
Walthall-26th
December Birthdays Fran
Bower-1st
Jim
Ryals-8th
Bunny Harper-9th
Anne
Ryals-17th
Bettye
Johnson-21st
Brent
Sodman-22nd
A Word From Ruskin Some
thoughts regarding money, and regarding Advent and Christmas.
Most of
you are aware that we’ve established a Building Fund to raise the money
we need for making long-overdue repairs to our facility. One reason the costs
have become so high (over $100,000), is because—especially after the heating
and cooling system were replaced a number of years ago, but also as membership
numbers were dwindling—this congregation didn’t have the money for making
repairs on an ongoing basis. And we
still don’t have as much as we need. However, a stronger-growing-stronger
membership marked by generosity and commitment to what we’re doing at Pulaski
Heights Presbyterian, has raised the money needed for the work now at least to begin.
We’re starting with our worn and leaky roof. The next project will be to
replace the sanctuary ceiling with one without holes. Then, with a little work
around the windows, we should actually have a sanctuary that, while letting in
the light, keeps out the rain. (By then, it might even be time for some
refinishing to the pews that have been growing worn and water-damaged. Of
course, while protection against water damage is important, I welcome all the
wear and tear the pews must suffer, if it’s wear and tear from regular use by
lots worshipers!) In short, I ask us all
to keep prayerfully on our hearts, the need we have for money to put into
fitting this building as the place of our service to Jesus Christ. The Building Fund needs your
contribution.
There
also are other bills to be paid! They get paid from the General Fund of
contributions to our church. And, while we invite everyone to contribute to
this church in whatever way they find themselves moved to contribute, our hope
is that serious consideration will be given right now to making a pledge to
give at least a certain amount in 2012. Pledging involves giving prayerful
thought ahead of time to what you anticipate being in position joyfully to
contribute to the work of the church the upcoming calendar year. Pledge cards
have been sent out. (If you need one, please let us know!) We hope for their
return by November 6th (though a pledge is gladly received anytime
the Spirit moves someone to make it!) A
pledge doesn’t mean you can’t give more next year than you promised. It
also doesn’t mean the temple guards will come after you, should you give less.
We simply trust you to take your pledge prayerfully seriously. However,
starting out with an amount pledged by the congregation as a whole, helps the
session and, in turn, the rest of us, better to pray over and plan and prioritize
what we hope to be able to undertake and be about in 2012 and beyond, at
Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church. Moreover
(and don’t underestimate this truth): pledging also is a personal spiritual
exercise. It’s a way of offering a sign and daring to be an example of faith in
the future that God is calling into being through Jesus and through the
community of his Holy Spirit which we call the church.
On, now, to Christmas. In my October 9th sermon,
“Christian and Cultural Christmas,” I shared the following quote from Stephen
Nissenbaum’s Battle for Christmas (p. 8): “From the beginning, the
Church’s hold over Christmas was (and remains still) rather tenuous. There were
always people for whom Christmas was a time of pious devotion rather than
carnival, but such people were always in the minority. It may not be going too
far to say that Christmas has always been an extremely difficult holiday to Christianize.” My point in the sermon was this: Even if
Christian Christmas and cultural Christmas can’t be separated, it
nevertheless is important that we keep before us that the two are to be
distinguished. As mixed, as interwoven, as the two unavoidably are,
Christians need vigilantly to observe and take to heart that Christian
Christmas and cultural Christmas still are not the same. I hope, during the
season of Advent, the time of the four Sundays preceding Christmas, to work at
helping us make that distinction. I fully expect many aspects of the
celebration of Christmas to begin the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I hope,
however, as preacher, to use the Sundays of Advent the way they traditionally
were meant by the church to be used: as time and place for preparing to
celebrate Christmas aright. I hope to help us ponder the mystery and meaning of
Jesus Christ in ways that allow us, come Christmas—the Twelve Days of
Christmas!—to celebrate his coming in a spirit that understands how unique
the joy is, that Christians are called and blessed to sing to the world.
