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From Progressive Dinner Committee: Ellen de Jong, Louise Fang, Tim Chin and Ruth Deemer

Spring Clean-up:

We had an excellent turnout for the Spring Clean-up on May 18^th. The weather was superb and we completed most of our planned tasks both inside our facilities and outside.

Volunteers are needed for a couple of hours for the following tasks which did not get completed: 1. Cleaning of Nursery, 2. Washing of office windows, 3. Cleaning of seating furniture in Library, 4. A couple of windows in preschool & Fellowship Hall.  If you can spend a small amount of time helping to finish these items, please let Deanna know and she will coordinate the work.

As soon as more mulch can be obtained from Yorktown Recycling, we will address a couple of beds that didn’t get finished. If you can volunteer on a Saturday morning to help with mulching a few of the beds, please let me know and I will coordinate this work.

Thanks to all who participated on May 18^th for a really great job! Also, thanks in advance for anyone who can volunteer for the few remaining tasks!

Improvements:

Our program of improvements is on-going. We specifically devote time each week to improvement projects. New progress has been made in the following areas:

-Jose has made excellent progress with the refurb of the South Door Entrance as well as the greeting table in the Narthex. Both of these projects are complicated and somewhat dependent on the weather. The south door has been sanded and a coat of primer applied. The weather has pretty much stopped that project at that point.

-The table in the Narthex is a very old and intricate piece of furniture. It is very worthwhile to save it. This project is taking a lot of detailed work in getting the old finish off and readying the table for new stain and finish coats of polyurethane. Jose is very diligent in this preparation work and is to be commended for his excellent and painstaking work.

-We recently discovered some significant peeling of paint on the outside of the Sanctuary; especially, on the East side of the building. Also, several spots of severe peeling of paint on the underside of the gutters gave us evidence of a significant problem.  Tom Clemmens of Clemco Construction reacted immediately upon receiving my call. Tom is standing behind the redo of the general paint peeling. He has sanded all of the spots showing peeling and primed those and repainted the entire east side of the building.  The gutter issue was a case of old seams in the copper gutters opening up and letting water drain into the wooden soffits. That part of the restoration is the responsibility of the Church.  My thanks go out to Tom for his quick response to my call for help and for an excellent job in correcting all issues. As soon as the wooden soffits under the gutters dries out, Tom will repaint the entire wooden parts of the gutters.

Maintenance:

-Routine maintenance continues as usual.  We regularly replace light bulbs and recently had to replace an electric-ballast in one of the hallway fluorescent fixtures.

-I recently found the source of a leak that was wetting the inside wall in the cross hallway. Portions of drip molding on the outside wall of Fellowship Hall had rotted away and let water in. Repairs are underway. We will be adding painting of this molding to our annual maintenance schedule. The sun is very hard on the wood in that area of the building and results in bleaching the paint and wood.

-All A/C units have been exercised and are working properly.

-This is the season where we start turning off the furnaces to conserve on oil consumption. On occasion, we have to turn them back on for a day or two if the weather turns cool. This spring has been one of warm days and cool days & nights so we monitor this area closely. Should any of the rooms feel too cold, please let me know and we will immediately adjust our actions with the furnaces.

Our goal is to keep our facilities and grounds in first-class condition. If you see something that needs repair or improvement, please do not hesitate to bring it to the attention of the Operations Commission. You may contact any member of the Commission or me.

Thanks to all for helping us to keep things in good shape and for volunteering when we call for assistance. Everyone’s effort is very much appreciated!

Thanks!

Dick Seymour, Chair of Operations & Facilities Coordinator

Circle of Grace; praying with—and for—your children, by Gregory and Suzanne Wolfe (248.8 W) is truly a gift for families interested in their spiritual well-being.  With a wealth of practical insight and wisdom rooted in faith, part one discusses family prayer, including pointers on how to get started and how to overcome various obstacles (especially kids who don’t want to pray).  Part two contains prayers from various cultures, Native American, Jewish, African and Muslim traditions, as well as Christian.

A related title with a broader perspective is Real kids, real faith; practices for nurturing children’s spiritual lives, by Karen Marie Yust (248.8 Y).  Grounded in solid theology and child development theory, the author provides parents practical ways to help their children grow in faith.  In addition, the whole family can work toward a more fulfilling spiritual life.

Carol Jensen, Church Librarian

What does this mean to you?  It means you can volunteer to cook or drive or visit and your help would be most gratefully welcomed.  In fact, one recent recipient of Loaves and Fishes meals has happily volunteered to give back and cook meals for another who needs our support.  I personally find that “paying it forward” is not only a gift to the community, but also a gift to George and me, because we get so much pleasure out of seeing the grateful smiles when dinner is delivered.  I just cook extra servings on the day when the meal is needed, divide it up, deliver it in time for dinner, and then go home to our own meal.  We may not all be at the same table, but there is still a feeling of community when sharing the same meal on the same evening.

Our Food Pantry serves residents of Beaver Ridge, an apartment complex that caters to low income seniors.  Deacon Kathy Winsted has visited and reached out to this community, with the hope that interested residents might be in offered rides to church services.  This is an example of how an outreach ministry can expand into the community.  Someone might be looking for a church family, but not have transportation to get there.

The Food Pantry item of the month is oatmeal.  We also ask you to keep your eyes open for school supply sales.  The older children need pens, pencils, notebooks and paper.  They are above the age served by the school kits we buy, but have just as great a need for basic supplies.  Anything you bring in will be divided up and distributed to grateful kids.

Many thanks to you for reading this news and caring about the work we do.  The Deacons serve as a point of contact for you, whether you are in need of solace or are volunteering to give to the community.  We are just a call or email away.

May you feel the generosity of the Lord’s love surrounding you every day.

Angelyn Forbes-Freeze for the Deacons

Fran  Schiel,  Rene Brown  Terri Froelich and I were the beginning of the Prayer Shawl Ministry here at Yorktown Presbyterian church.  Later, Gail Roell, Aloha Hicks, Trish Dineen, Lynda Spring, Barbara Darragh, Lorraine Ustine and Anne Defeo came to make up our group.  We share our joys and concerns with each other along with our prayers and our knitting and crocheting.

We have seen the Holy Spirit working in our midst by showing us the people we give shawls to, praying with them and for them.  Even the colors of the shawls given have been inspired by the Spirit’s leading. To give a shawl is an emotional experience and it spurs us on to keep on knitting.

We are part of the Linus group of Westchester which makes blankets for children from months old to teen age years.  Inspiring stories get back to us about how these blankets have given comfort and peace to people we do not know and will never meet.  These stories inspire us not to waver in our craft.

We celebrate the sacrament of baptism by giving shawls to the newest in our midst.  We want them to feel our church family ties of love, care and support.

We are working on blankets for the Amani orphanage in Africa.   When Dick Seymour    shared this joy on Creativity Sunday, I was moved to volunteer our group to stretch ourselves and make blankets for these children.  Again, children we will never meet but we can support them with our stitches, love and prayers.

In May of 2006 I did not know the extent of  the mission that awaited me but I did trust the Spirit whose presence I felt in this idea.

~ Marianna Sherman

If you crochet or knit and would like to join us, OR if you have any yarn or know of a source for yarn, we would be happy to get those donations. For information, call Marianna Sherman at 737-8294. We’ll meet next on June 19 at 10:30.

I once saw a church sign that said: Every home is a school: What are you teaching?

The truth of this statement has stuck with me ever since I saw it. Regardless of whether school is in or out, our children and youth, even us adults, are learning, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And the most influential location of all this learning is our homes.

From the time we are born, our homes are the first and most important place of learning. In addition to basic concepts like shapes and colors, we learn just about everything at home first – how to tie our shoe and ride a bike, how to take care of ourselves (brush teeth, take a bath, get dressed), what foods make up a healthy diet. Maybe even more important, we learn how to be in relationship with other people – how to respect and share with others, solve problems and resolve conflicts, and be a contributing member of a larger family unit. And home is the first place we learn about faith and God.

Our kids spend far more time at home than they do at church, so most of what they know and understand about God and the importance of faith in their lives comes from home. We are teaching them through our daily conversations – Why did God make mosquitos? Why did Grandpa have to die? We teach our children what it means to love God and one another by how we treat other people both at home and in our daily living. We teach our kids that faith is important when we adults make it important, by attending church regularly, reading the Bible at home, praying together, sharing our gifts and resources, helping out with Sunday School and mission projects.

One of the lessons that I hope we will not teach our kids this summer is that summer is a time to take a “vacation” from God and our faith. We would never think of taking a vacation from feeding our bodies because we need to eat to stay alive. So too, our spirits need a steady diet of spiritual food – worship and prayer, nurture and fellowship – to stay healthy and alive. Church is open all summer long and God invites us to join together as a family of faith to worship and serve, to practice our faith every day. Even when you are away on vacation, I would encourage you to keep faith in your life – try a different church, take your Bible out into nature and read it, keep on praying.  Who knows? You may spark some interesting conversation with your kids, and you will be teaching them that loving God and following Jesus is something we do 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

See you in church!

Since January, while Kelly was organizing youth activities, the Youth Design Team has been working to develop a plan to build a sustainable youth ministry. This is a concrete follow-up to one of the mission study goals of our church which is to engage youth. The team has met frequently, from monthly to bi-weekly, to discern through prayer, Bible study and conversation next steps for our church to live the goal we have set for ourselves. What can we build that will engage our youth in an organized and faithful way that draws on the strengths of who we are as a church and continues to invite our youth to practice the presence of God with us, knowing God in their lives and in our life and ministry together? Our hope is to design a plan that will allow us to live our baptismal covenant together.

The Design Team is preparing to share with the congregation on Sunday, July 14 what has arisen from its work and next steps the church can take. Two congregational conversations have provided listening opportunities to hear from church members about their experiences of youth ministry and what God is saying to us about our ministry now. What we heard is being incorporated into what will be presented July 14 to the congregation for further conversation and discernment. We believe something new and sustainable is emerging that will allow us to live our mission as a church to “connect with God, one another and the world.”

Until July 14, here are some ways you can help the Design Team now:

Pray for the team that what is being developed will build on the faith and spirit of our church;

Plan to be present at the July 14 Mission Celebration Service to engage the first draft of the work;

Make space to listen for how God is inviting you to be involved as we work on connecting to God, one another and the world

While our ministry may be gearing down for the summer, the work continues as we discern God’s future for us and take concrete actions to live into that future. Thank you again for your faithfulness as we practice our faith and live the presence of God in our life together.