MPC NEWS MAGAZINE December 2016
And then…
Next in December
Christmas Favorites
The Christmas Dinner
December 18th
Christmas Dinner 2015
Christmas Services
December 24 8 PM
Christmas Eve Service
Special Music
December 25 Sunday
Worship 11 AM
Very Informal
6:00 PM
Come one! Come all!
Enjoy the fellowship and
food. Sign up in the narthex or
online on the Google Doc
linked in the midweek update,
and let us know what you plan
to bring.
Set up for tables and chairs
will happen immediately after
worship on 12/18. This usually
takes about 45-60 minutes.
Please remember to bring a
bag or box to take home your
dirty dish as we will wash only
flatware. Guests are welcome.
You do not need to be a member of MPC to attend.
3rd Time is a Charm
Once again the talented
MPC choir and actors go
on stage to amuse and inspire
you, this time with dramas and
songs you may have seen/heard
before...twice!
The picture below, from our
2008 program, is meant to entice you. We will try to capture
this spirit again and I’m sure
you won’t want to miss this exciting evening.
Joy Brown
2016 Christmas Project
Serving Loch Raven High School Homeless Students:
Filling the School’s Room of Support
In the 2014-2015 school year, there were 2,742 identified homeless children attending Baltimore County Public Schools. Homeless children are at high risk of hunger and food insecurity. Studies have shown that hungry students do not do well in
school. After learning about homeless students attending Loch Raven High School,
literally right around the corner from MPC, the Mission Team has decided that our
annual Christmas Project this year will be to help with this problem so close to home.
Loch Raven High School staff has what they call the Room of Support filled with items to help homeless and
hungry students. This room contains, among other things, non-perishable lunches and dinners. Our goal is to fill
the shelves of this room with enough such meals to serve the needs of Loch Raven homeless students for the
remainder of the school year.
The Loch Raven school social worker estimates that this effort will cost about $1,450 so that is our goal for this
December project. We hope that all MPC members and friends will participate. (Should we raise more than this
goal, funds would go to send food home with homeless students over the Spring Break, another time of need when
subsidized school breakfasts and lunches are not available.) Use the pew envelopes for your contribution, making
your check out to MPC and indicate “Christmas Project” in the notes section. Here is what your donation will purchase for the Room of Support:
To help in other ways see page 4.
$35 provides 10 students one dinner a week
$140 stocks the room with 10 dinners a week for one month
$840 stocks the Room with 10 dinners a week for six months
$25 provides 10 students one lunch a week
$100 stocks the Room with 10 lunches a week for one month
$600 stocks the Room with 10 lunches a week for six months
Leslie Erickson
Sunday Brew
Theology and Coffee
Sunday 4 and 18 at 9:30 AM
Sojourner Sunday
Sunday 11 at 9:30
Led by Jocelyn McKeon and Darrell Wheeler
Page 2
A New
Those Were the Days...at MPC
Monthly
Advent
Column Keeping traditions is a big
part of the Christmas season
at MPC. It has been for a long time. Candles on the Advent wreath are lit each Sunday in succession prior to the 25th by couples and families. I wonder how many of
you have had the opportunity to lead the responsive
readings that accompany this tradition.
The Chrismon tree in the chancel with its ornaments
has always been a part of December at MPC. Chrismons are white and gold ornaments that come in a
variety of shapes that symbolize Christian principles.
One in the shape of a butterfly, for example, symbolizes the Resurrection. Since the early Christians were
often persecuted, symbols were a useful way of communicating their faith secretly. Many people have
helped decorate the tree over the years but for the
longest while the Flanigan family has always taken the
responsibility to make sure there has been a tree casting a warm glow in the sanctuary and reminding us of
our religious heritage. We are also on our second set
of ornaments…handmade by some of us.
And this season wouldn’t be complete without the
annual dinner and program afterwards. It has always
been a group effort as set-up starts right after morning
service. A tasty punch is available when people arrive.
Everyone hopes their table will be called first to devour the homemade goodies at the buffet table.
Afterwards, a program is held. Long ago, the plays
were performed by the church school as there were
many children around to take part. However, the
adults have had to take over given the fact that MPC’s
children and youth have left. For the last many years,
Jo Sack and Jane Schepfe have produced and directed
the performances. There is, however, an image that
stands out in everyone’s head who were there for one
particular Christmas program. Three wise men walked
down the aisle in full regalia carrying their gifts. Brad
Sack, Brent Mathews and Charles Hayes, in velvet
robes, fine jewelry, and crowns/flapper hats walked
Providence Press
A Report to the Congregation from
the Pastor Nominating Committee
The PNC members are meeting regularly and enjoying this process together, following the guidelines of the Presbyterian Church USA. For a few
weeks, we have been working on the Ministry Information Form (MIF) with guidance from our Presbytery liaison, Rev. Jeanne Gay. The MIF paints an
in-depth narrative picture of our church community and our core values, as well as the characteristics that we are seeking in our new pastor.
These specific characteristics include those that you,
the congregation, identified in October's survey.
Soon, the MIF will be reviewed and approved by
the Session, then sent to the Baltimore Presbytery
for approval.
Although the completion of the MIF is just the
beginning of our congregation's progress toward
finding a new, permanent pastor, we are moving
forward, staying open to the guidance of the Holy
Spirit each step of the way.
In your service, dear Friends,
Danell Gill, Carol Mason, Rick Dezes, Kim Ward,
Bill Breakey, Joe Wright and Linda Koch
P.S. To help us understand the demographics of
our church family, (albeit incomplete) here are
some statistics. The results of the MPC Age survey with 78 respondents out of 88 members and
15 active members:
51-60-------8
Under 21---3
61-70------29
21-30-------2
71-80------12
31-40-------4
81 plus----20
41-50-------1
solemnly to the altar. Their resplendency was not
lost on the audience who had never seen such a
sight. Solemnity was temporarily postponed. But
that’s MPC. We may not take ourselves seriously,
but we do take our traditions seriously.
Rick Dezes
Providence Press
Page 3
Providence Press
Published for
the members and friends of
Maryland Presbyterian Church,
1105 Providence Road,
Towson, Maryland 21286.
(410) 825-0719
Editors: Jo Sack, Rick Dezes
Production and distribution
Dale Salah, Alma Smith,
Other Contributors to this Issue: Leslie Erickson,
Carol Mason, Mary Jo Zimbro, J. Wright Witcher,
Joy Brown, Linda Koch
Editorial Comment
Yippie
To end the Year, let’s feature XYZ.
Youngsters say the X is Xylophone,
The Y’s a Yak and Z a Zebra, Yes?
Yoyos are their toys when they’re alone.
Address Changes
Branch Warfield
Broadmeade Hallowell Hall HH245
13801 York Rd.
Cockeysville, MD 21030
410-785 2090
David and Ellen Rebstock
2205 2nd St. SW Apt. 339
Rochester, MN 55902-2450
Vicky Sjolander
PJ Widerman
26280 Bayside Dr.
Millsboro, DE 19966
Ann Mathews
The Maples
7925 York Rd. #220
Towson, MD 21204
410-512 4447
You and I might say that X is Xerox,
Y is Yacht, and Z a Zipper on your pants.
X a mathematical unknown number, Yeah
Any from Zero to Zillions, high finance.
Yolanda was X-rayed for pain in her rib Zone.
It started while she was in Yokohama.
And she Yawns all night, no ZZZzzz’s.
Doc says count llamas, pronounce Yamma.
Zelda likes Yogurt, Yams and Zucchini a lot.
Thinks Yorkshire Pudding is Yummy, too.
Yet she Yearns to make Yeast bread,
And spends a lot of time at the Zoo.
Zachariah couldn’t read so signed with an X.
“Oh, dear,” he Yelled, “I have a Zit.”
Dr. Yen, spread on some egg Yolk,
Said avoid Yellow jackets, don’t get bit.
Can You Yodel or speak Yiddish and do Yoga?
Have You a Yorkshire Terrier that Yips and Yaps?
Did You have a lot of Zeal when you were Young?
Do you watch the Yankees and wear a cap?
Yesterday You used a Xwalk on York Road
To go to YMCA to watch Zorba the Greek.
You treated Yourself at Yogoya Frozen Yogurt,
Then home to plant Zinnias under the Yew tree.
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.
Jo Sack
Laugh of the Month
Lexophiles
Words that describe those that have a love for words.
...When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
...A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
...When the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A.
...The batteries were given out free of charge.
... A will is a dead giveaway.
...With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
... A boiled egg is hard to beat.
... When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
... Police were summoned to a daycare center where a threeyear-old was resisting a rest.
... A bicycle can't stand alone; it's just two tired.
...When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
...Those who get too big for their britches will be totally
exposed in the end.
Providence Press
Page 4
Mission Update
ACTC received a total of $2,249 for the Detention Center/ACTC project which was the September mission focus to be used for bus fare for released men and women who need to get home or
to a shelter. $1,500 is from the budget and $949 is
what you generous MPCers put in the envelopes.
The Greeting Card Sale on Oct. 23rd raised $300
for Child health Foundation.
Twenty-six thanksgiving bags were delivered to
ACTC, down some from last year because of difficulty with the stores, so folks donated $ instead
and that totaled $245.
Thank you
A Big Thank You to Habitat Volunteers
Christmas Joy Offering:
An Advent Tradition
Each year during the Advent and Christmas season,
we turn our eyes to Bethlehem and celebrate the
wondrous gift of Jesus Christ, our Savior. By giving to the Christmas Joy Offering, you honor this
gift by providing assistance to current and retired
church workers in their time of need, and by developing our future leaders at Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges.
Visit:
http://specialofferings.pcusa.org/christmasjoy.html
to learn more.
This Related to Article on Page one
A new 501c3 non-profit organization called the
Loch Raven Network has been set up to provide for Loch Raven High School students with
a variety of needs (from lunch to a Prom tux). If
you would like to be a part of this network and
it’s good work in our neighborhood, email Laurie Taylor –Mitchell at [email protected]. She will contact you to let
you know of needs as they arrive.
Six members/relatives from MPC took part in a
Habitat workday on Saturday, November 19, at
McCabe Avenue including Bill Breakey, Joe Wright,
Jane Pennington, her son Parker Pennington, Alan
Bricker and myself. We joined seven volunteers from
the Havenwood and Roland Park Presbyterian churches as well as 20 additional volunteers from various
schools and businesses in and around Baltimore. To
say that it was an enthusiastic crowd is an understatement! Furthermore, it was a picture-perfect 65ᵒF Indian-summer day.
After a brief orientation, the 12 Presbyterians were
led by Kristin, a red-hat Habitat volunteer, to our first
job assignment...preparing a basement floor for concrete. Half of us transported gravel by buckets and
wheelbarrows to the basement windows where the
other half used the gravel to fill the trenches housing
the sump pump system and cover the dirt floor. We
completed this job so efficiently that we moved on to
another house where we cleared the foundation so that
others could begin digging the trenches for the sump
pump system. Needless to say, this was not work for
sissies! But everyone gave 100% knowing it was for
a good cause. Again, thank you for participating in
this important work.
Mary Jo Zimbro
With permission
Page 5
Providence Press
Book Review
Forsaken
by Ross Howell Jr.
When I chose this book, I thought I would be
reading the case history of a Virginia black girl who was electrocuted
for killing a white woman in 1912,
when she was sixteen years old.
The novel does, in fact, relate Virgie Christian’s story. It tells how
she lost her temper when her white
employer assaulted her. She killed
her and took some money, a definite case of manslaughter and robbery by an illiterate teenager. She was arrested, but
not informed of the charge, indicted for first degree
murder within days, tried within the month, not allowed to testify on her own behalf, found guilty after an hour of deliberation by a jury of white men
and executed days afterwards.
Virgie’s story is one of a terrible warping of the
justice system. Her execution was viewed as necessary to prevent unrest, possibly rioting and lynching.
However, it is only the framework for so much
more included in this realistic picture of Hampton
and Norfolk, Virginia at the turn of the century.
Charlie Mears was a young reporter who covered
the Virgie Christian story and interviewed her at the
jail. Sit with Charlie in the courtroom and Virgie’s
cell. Learn how he became sympathetic to her
cause and what that cost him. That assignment
changed his life in so many ways. As the reader
follows Charlie through the story with its vivid descriptions and continuous action, there are so many
issues to contemplate. This is racism at its ugliest,
while witnessing heroism of the first order.
There is much to learn here about white/black relationships which can deepen our understanding of
today’s racial strife. The images of everyday life
are poignant. Find out what “nickel” babies were
and that a premature baby could be placed in an incubator made out of a paper bag, a light bulb, and a
blanket.
Other parts are enlightening and horrifying. At
that time a law was passed mandating that members
of Indian tribes would be considered Negroes. The
final insult to the American Indian; it wasn’t enough
to take their lands and their livelihood. We tried to
force them to deny their race. Eugenics is described
here along with one of its methods. A “cure” for
degenerates was castration and cutting off the ears.
Forsaken is a powerful book that I would highly
recommend to anyone seeking a greater understanding of the history behind today’s racial tensions.
Carol Mason
Baltimore County’s
New Solar Projects
ECO-Info
Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz is
pursuing a cleaner, greener Baltimore County with
new energy conservation plans. On August 29, 2016,
the County Executive announced plans to reduce
electricity consumption by 15 percent within five
years in County government buildings, pumping stations, and streetlights. He also established a goal to
use renewable energy sources to generate or displace
at least 20 percent of the County’s electricity demand
by 2022.
County Executive Kamenetz simultaneously announced a partnership with SolarCity to introduce groundmounted solar
power systems
at four Countyowned properties and to purchase the electricity from these panels at reduced rates. The solar
energy systems, which together total 21 megawatts,
are estimated to offset more than 20 percent of the
County government’s annual electricity needs.
SolarCity is the nation’s largest solar power provider with Baltimore regional ties. In addition to a
Hunt Valley operations center employing 200 people, SolarCity also opened a 30,000 square-foot distribution facility in Baltimore City last year to supply
solar panel parts to nearby states.
The four new solar power systems in Baltimore
County will be located at the closed Hernwood Sanitary Landfill in Woodstock, the closed Parkton Landfill in Parkton, a portion of Mount Vista Park in Kingsville, and a portion of Southwest Area Regional Park in
Landsdowne. The systems at three of the four sites are
expected to be completed by fall 2017 and at the last
site by spring 2018.
From the Resource
Page 6
Providence Press
Highlights from Session Meeting - October 11, 2016
* The Session was joined by the Pastor Nominating Committee at the beginning of the meeting for a conceptual
discussion regarding the pastor being sought.
* All Saints’ Day will be November 6th. Four people will read names of those to be remembered.
* Christmas Eve service will have some changes regarding music.
* Christmas Day Service (on Sunday!) will be very informal.
* A Stewardship letter and pledge card for distribution to the congregation was approved. The initial stewardship
sermon will be October 16th and the concluding one will be November 13th. The Pledge Cards will be returned
during the offering on November 20th, which is Harvest Sunday.
Carol Mason
I Promise. I Won’t Chew Your Slippers Anymore
Page 7
Providence Press
Finance and Administration Summary October 2016
MPC operated with a sizable and surprising loss in October of ($9,451), reducing year-to-date Operating
Funds Available to ($14,628). By comparison, October has usually been one of three end-of-year
strong months. (In October 2015, e.g., MPC operated with a $5,300 gain). Although total income for
the month was nearly $15,000, about one third of that income was restricted to specific funds. Expenses in October were mostly normal and well within budgets, with the exception of a non-budgeted
expense of $3,380 for boiler and heating system repairs.
Year-to-date expenses for operations are about $4,500, or 3%, above budget and all denominational and
Mission commitments have been met (and of course Staff).
Income through ten months is 12%, or $19,080 under budget and 2015. Congregational support is off by
9%, or $10,890, while rental income is off by about $8,800. We expect that recovery of a missing
Bridges payment and receipt of a few other rental payments late in the year will reduce that shortfall
in rental income to about $5,800, mostly due to Bridges inadvertent double payments in 2015. That
anomaly has been addressed through adoption of EFT payments.
There is a broader, important and somewhat discouraging financial reality here. If we combine the surplus carried over from 2015 due to our pastoral vacancy - $19,640 – with the current deficit in Operating Funds - $14,628 – and further recall that MPC has so far withdrawn $9,600 from the General
Endowment in support of operations this year, we must accept the reality that MPC has lived
nearly $44,000 “above our means” through ten months of 2016.
We are confident that November and December giving will recover at least a good portion of these losses, but certainly not all of them. Both the Session and the Pastoral Nominating Committee have been
briefed on these matters, and both are looking closely at ways to reduce our expenses while also energizing membership and giving as we move forward.
YTD 10/31/16 Income and Expense, Balance Sheet and Fund Highlights
Statements Available on Request
Operating Income:
$ 140,699
Operating Expenses:
$ 179,473
Operating Funds Available: $ (14,628)*
Reconciled PNC Balance: $ 44,993
Restricted Fund Balances:
Mission:
$ 3,264
General:
$ 12,131
Memorials:
$ 44,098
Total Endowment: $ 374,525**
*Operating Funds Available (OFA) is our reconciled bank balance, minus both payroll liabilities and the sum
of restricted fund balances. MPC started 2016 with operating funds available, carried over from 2015, of
$19,640.
**This balance reflects an end-of-year update to actual market value on December 31, 2015, less Endowment
withdrawals as the year progresses.
J. Wright Witcher
For Your Interest
MPC News Magazine
Maryland Presbyterian
Church
1105 Providence Road
Towson, Maryland 21286
[email protected]
Right and Below:
Harvest Sunday
November 20th
Christmas Program
2000
Anne and Sam sang the
offertory on Nov. 27th
Mission: To be a welcoming, progressive faith community,
nurturing inquisitive Christians for life and service in the twenty-first century.
Thursday Choir rehearsal 7:30 PM
Sunday Worship 11:00 AM
Communion First Sunday of each month
Church Staff
Rev. Bill Sitterley, Interim Minister
Greg Metzler, Director of Music
Dale Salah, Administrative Director
Anne E. Culbertson, Choir Section
Leader
Kathy Ramirez, Custodian
December 2016
Sat 3 Christmas Tree Decorating
Sun 4 Coffee and Theology 9:30 AM; Worship 11:00 AM
Sun 11 Sojourner Sunday 9:30; Worship 11:00 AM;
Mon 12 Finance 6:30 PM
Tue 13 Session 6:30 PM
Sun 18 Coffee and Theology 9:30 AM;
Christmas Dinner and Program See page 1
Thu 24 Christmas Eve Worship 8:00 PM
Sun 25 Christmas Worship 11:00 AM
Visit our website at www.mpchurch.org
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