Good
News
March 2009
From the Pastor’s Study
The season of Lent extends through the forty days before Easter. This custom began
about 300 AD as a time of penance and preparation. Many centuries have passed since
that first Lenten observance, but the soul’s need for meditation, study of the scriptures and
prayer continues to be just as necessary for us as it was for those Christians so long ago.
One of my favorite preachers is Ernest Campbell, for many years Minister of Preaching at
Riverside Church in New York. Not long ago Dr. Campbell made this observation:
“Does it ever bother you that the denizens of Madison Avenue can make the
introduction of a new cereal seem more important than a sunrise? The dynamics of
our economic system are such that we come away from an evening of television thinking that the kind of jogging shoes we wear matters more than the God we serve.
Misplaced magnitudes hit us from every side.”
Ernie is on target and this is why there is an ever-increasing interest in spiritual growth
and development across our nation and certainly within this community. People are
weary of “misplaced magnitudes” and want to change this disturbing fact of modern life.
The season of Lent is a great opportunity to establish soul-satisfying, soul-saving priorities
in a world where confusion and conflict reign. Such soul work takes discipline: the
discipline of regular participation in corporate worship; intentional study of scripture
and Christian literature; sharing in small groups; and prime time set aside each day for
meditation and prayer. These disciplines of mind and heart will help keep our priorities in
order and lead us in the way of spiritual growth. Here and elsewhere in this issue of the
Good News are opportunities for the practice of spiritual disciplines. I will provide leadership for a seminar for adults during this season of Lent. (See page 2 for details.)
Please call the church office if you plan to attend so we can have an enough materials on
hand to distribute.
I do look forward to our worship and learning together during my second season of Lent
at PPC.
continued on page 2
A BELATED THANK YOU
At the end of the second service celebrating the 10th anniversary of Contemplative Prayer, I was so
surprised and taken “off-guard” with Roger's presentation that I neglected to give credit and honor to
Cindy Carlton, the one individual who makes music “happen” at our annual Advent service (Evening
of Quiet and Reflection). She came to the first one, ten years ago, where I used taped music, and asked if
we would like “live music” the next year, which she has generously provided. And what a gift that has
been! Also, this celebration service could not have come together as it did without her help in planning.
She is not only a gifted soprano but also a sensitive leader and most caring friend.
Ann Kulp
A BIG BEAUTIFUL BOUQUET OF THANKS ...
… to the members of the Flower Guild who contribute their time and talents to beautify the sanctuary
for worship services.
Betty Marshall, Chair
Mary Mykell Brewer
Brigitta Feinberg
Pat Flowe
Kathy Moss
Jean Reid
Carmen Roberts
Paula Rogers
Catherine Van Aken
From the Pastor’s Study
continued from page 1
LENTEN SERIES
Wednesday evenings of Lent, 7:30 – 9:00 pm, Parlor
A Lenten Evening with the Pastor
(a video group discussion series entitled “Wrestling with Angels”)
March 4
March 11
March 18
March 25
April 1
April 8
“How Do I Know What to Do?”
“If You’re So Good, Why Are Things So Awful?”
“Why Don’t My Prayers Get Answered?”
“How Do I Forgive and Get On with My Life?”
“How Can I Question and Still Believe?”
“Why Is Loving So Hard?”
Church office: 703-978-3934.
Grace and Peace,
Roger
March 2009
Providence Presbyterian Church Good News
Page 2
KidsQuest
Lent
We are now into the Season of Lent. Children’s Devotionals are available outside
the Sanctuary and in Lower Williamson. The Devotionals consist of a booklet
with daily Lenten Devotions based on Jesus’ parables along with a game board.
In order to play the game you cut out the dice, game pieces and question cards.
We hope you enjoy this family activity during this season as we walk through
Jesus’ teachings, His death and His victory in the Resurrection of our Lord.
We serve a living Lord.
Also part of this season is the One Great Hour of Sharing. Sharing fish banks and a daily
sharing guide are also available next to the Lenten Devotionals.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
As we look towards Spring and Summer, KidsQuest has many activities in need of a strong
volunteer force.
Easter Eggstravaganza
Held the Saturday before Easter Sunday, April 11. A morning filled with fun
KidsQuest activities followed by an Eggstravagant Easter Egg hunt. Plus lunch is
served. We need people to take the lead and help with:
Easter Banner
Outreach Activity
Making and serving lunch
Donating candy/stickers for eggs
Pretzel Making
Stuffing Eggs
Face Painting
Vacation Bible Camp
Scheduled for July 27-31. A week filled with KidsQuest fun activities including crafts, recreation and
action packed music for grades Preschool - 6. This is a community outreach event welcoming all to
Providence. We need people to lead and help with:
Teaching
Recreation
Decorations
Friday Night Program
Arts & Crafts
Snack
Music
Contact Holly Marcario at the church, 703-978-3934, ext. 17, or [email protected]
to see how you might be able to help. Or talk to John Caldwell, Helen Burvis, or
Monica Cameron.
Ongoing Concern of the Church
Members of the Pastor Nominating Committee:
Doris Bates
Harvey Doerksen
David Ranowsky
Chris Becker
Nancy Jones
Paula Rogers
Leigh Burke
David Kepley
Maralee Syers
Rose Clark
Rob Moss
Robert Porter
(Presby. Liaison)
Page 3
Providence Presbyterian Church Good News
March 2009
Youth Sunday is March 22 and the youth are busy preparing
for that worship service. But worship involves the whole
community, not just the worship leaders on any given
Sunday. What should we as a congregation be doing to
prepare for worship each week?
“We can prepare for worship through prayer. We can pray for the
worship leaders. We can pray that God will meet us in worship and
speak a personal word to us. We can pray for our hearts to be open to the
movement of the Holy Spirit. We can prepare for worship by spending time
with the Scripture text. We can prepare for worship as we engage in other spiritual
disciplines. As we weave Scripture reading, prayers, acts of hospitality, and bearing
witness into our daily lives, we will find our minds and hearts open to receive God’s grace.
As we prepare, we can be made confident that God will be with us in common worship
and that we will be made one with the body of Christ, the church.”
Soul Tending, Abingdon Press
So as the youth prepare to lead worship, I ask the congregation to prepare for worship as well.
Pray for our youth, that God will give them words to speak that are not their own, by God’s
words to our community. Pray for the congregation, that we will come ready to hear God’s
voice speaking through the youth, ready to meet God in worship. Exercise hospitality and
invite someone to worship with you. See what Scripture is listed in the weekly e-mail and
look them up before you come to worship on Sunday. Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish Christian
philosopher from the 1800s, reminds us that worship is not a performance, but if it were, God
would be the only person in the audience. Let’s all be prepared for worship and remember
that all our hearts should be “yearning in the same direction,” as Mark Yaconelli says!
Immediately following the second worship service on Youth Sunday we will begin accepting
donations for this year’s Rummage Sale & Pancake Breakfast!!! The morning of Saturday,
March 28 is a great time to invite your friends and
neighbors to Providence to have breakfast with lots of
friendly church members and folks from the community!
If there are people in your life who haven’t yet experienced the energy and joy of the Pancake Breakfast, this
is a good year to invite them! The proceeds from this
fundraiser benefit Youth Mission events, and all youth
involved in mission activities throughout the year need
to be involved. Here’s a brief list of mission events past
and present to jog your memory: 3 Days of Mission,
Hosanna, Juarez, Help the Homeless Walk, Trick or
Treat for UNICEF, Souper Bowl of Caring, and the 30 Hour Famine. Families, please sign
up on the Volunteer Sign Up Sheet on the youth bulletin board to sort donations, feed hungry
volunteers, or help with the sale through presence or clean-up!
Many thanks in advance to the youth and parents for all the hard work they will be putting in
this month!
Mary Ellen
March 2009
CORNER
Providence Presbyterian Church Good News
Page 4
WHERE IS YOUR TREASURE?
One Great Hour of Sharing
The One Great Hour of Sharing offering this year asks us to think: As we share our
resources, we are changing lives through the Self-Development of People program,
the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Fund.
We have been part of the OGHS offering for sixty years. Yes, it is also ecumenical as many Christian
denominations work together cooperatively to create the resources that interpret the offering. Each
denomination decides how the gifts will be used. We Presbyterians divide the offering roughly into
thirds.
Providence has been able to see the dollars at work up close
when our teams head to the Gulf to help in rebuilding.
They stay in space provided by the Presbyterian Disaster
Assistance and work on projects identified by PDA.
The Hunger Program is working here and around the world. Gifts to the OGHS have
helped to strengthen local agricultural food production. We are engaged with our
sisters and brothers in addressing the most basic of human challenges: We want all to
have enough to eat. Through this offering we are working in a small way to address
the Global Food Crisis.
The offering dedicated to the Self-Development of People does just
that: It provides resources and education so that people can learn to
help themselves.
Watch for the weekly bulletin inserts to learn more about how your One Great Hour of Sharing offering
is changing our world. Be sure to take home a copy of the Lenten Prayers which can be used on a daily
basis as we enter this time of year in our church calendar.
REBUILDING TOGETHER
Christmas in April
Could you spend a day painting, helping repair a wall, cleaning up a yard or
garden? Saturday, April 25 is the day of this annual event. All helpers are welcome!
Providence will partner with others to help a local elderly or disabled person get
needed home repairs completed. Call Mary Lee Di Spirito to let her know of your
interest in this event.
ANNUAL FRUIT SALE
Fruit Pick-up March 8th
The fruit ordered from the Men’s Group will be ready for pick-up
on Sunday, March 8th. Please pay at the table in the Commons Area
and then pick up your fruit at the door at the end of Williamson Hall.
As a reminder, the cost is $32 per case or $17 per half case.
Thank you for supporting the Men of the Church!
Page 5
Providence Presbyterian Church Good News
March 2009
HYPOTHERMIA SHELTER PROGRAM UPDATE
Providence has responded to the urgent need to help our homeless population. You
provided more than 100 pieces of outerwear, coats, shoes, hats, gloves and wonderful
hand-knitted scarves.
Guests in the overnight shelter program received 300 food bags containing healthy and tasty breakfast
and lunch items that had been assembled here at Providence by Girl Scouts, Youth, Women’s Circle, and
other small teams
The Providence Chefs prepared extra helpings of food for the shelter on the 2nd Wednesday of each of
the Hypothermia months (December, January, February, and March). This food was in addition to
the usual hot meal which is an ongoing monthly event. The shelter guests look forward to this terrific
lasagna dinner each month.
The coordinating organization (Volunteers of America at the Baileys Shelter) sends thanks and gratitude
for the support of the Hypothermia Sheltering Program this year.
I was homeless, cold and hungry and you cared for me…
ONE YEAR/ONE MILLION PENNIES FOR PEACE!
Game On!
The Pennies for Peace
PPC Youth Challenge!!
January Tally:
Children + Congregation
Men of the Church
Youth
Annandale Preschool Co-op
$206.43
$169.10
$101.25
$34.23
GRAND TOTAL TO DATE SINCE RALLY DAY: $4,179.57
582,043 pennies to go!
Please bring in your donations every week and help us raise
one million pennies in one year!!
ALL money raised supports Pennies for Peace, a service
learning program of the Central Asia Institute which
provides community-based education and literacy programs
for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A penny
in the U.S. is virtually worthless, but in Pakistan
and Afghanistan a penny buys a pencil and can transform
a life!
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
March 2009
Providence Presbyterian Church Good News
Page 6
Save Your Stuff!
for the
Youth Mission Rummage Sale
& Pancake Breakfast
March 28, 2009
Donation drop off begins Sunday, March 22.
NOTE: WE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING COMPUTERS AND/OR PERIPHERALS.
TVs, computers and peripheral electronic devices can be recycled at the Electric Sunday event
being held at the I-66 Transfer Station March 8 from 10 am - 3 pm. The Transfer Station is
located at 4618 West Ox Road in Fairfax. There is no cost to Fairfax County residents for this
service. This event is sponsored in part by Covanta Fairfax, LLC.
LOGOS
K through 8th graders: 4:30-7:30
Sr Highs: 5:15-8:00
To volunteer or to get more information,
contact Vicky Hayes, Mary Rodgers, or Mary Ellen Moss.
March Themes
Hippie Fest 03/04
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling 03/11
Caribbean Beach Spring Break 03/18
[Last LOGOS for 2008-2009!]
CONTEMPLA TIVE PRAYER
Monday, March 16, 2009, 7:30 - 9:00 pm, the Parlor
This is a drop-in group composed of different people each month. Give it a try!
GOD IN AN APRON
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments again he went back to the table. “Do you
understand,” he said, “what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I,
then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other's feet.” (John 13:1-14)
At the Last Supper Jesus engages in foot-washing and gives us a command to do likewise.
How have our feet been washed and how do we do the same for others?
How does Christ come to you? Probably not in an apron.
“ ... And then suddenly
the One we loved startled us all
He got up from the table
and put on an apron.
Can you imagine how we felt?
God in an apron!”
The above quotation is part of a poem by Macrina
Wiederkehr that we will allow to speak to us. We will also
view the famous picture of “Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet” by Ford Maddox Brown.
Page 7
Providence Presbyterian Church Good News
March 2009
MUSIC & ARTS AT PROVIDENCE
La Bohème
Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 7:00 pm
La Bohème, Giacomo Puccini’s most beloved and popular opera, will be the next offering in the Music
and Arts Series here at Providence Presbyterian Church. This thrilling love story is packed with passion
and soaring melodies. Linda Kiemel will be singing the role of Mimi, and Rolland Stoneberg will sing
the role of Marcello. They will be joined by Jennifer Jellings as Musetta, Alvaro Rodriguez as Rodolfo,
Jose Sacin as Schaunard, and David Brundage as Colline. The accomplished pianist, Danielle DeSwert
will accompany. Our own choir will be singing the chorus parts under the direction of Terry Stoneberg,
and Gene Kaye will take on double duty as Benoit and Alcindoro.
If you’re already an opera lover, you know how opera can touch the heartstrings.
If you are not yet an opera lover, you will not want to miss hearing this amazing
work, which portrays human emotion with deep candor, and which inspired the
Broadway musical Rent. Hear the original on Sunday, March 15 at 7:00 pm at
Providence Presbyterian Church, 9019 Little River Turnpike, Fairfax, VA. Tickets
are $20 in advance, $10 for students and seniors, or $25 at the door, $15 for students
and seniors. Tickets will be available for purchase between Sunday services, or by
calling the church office at 703-978-3934.
FINAL CHANCE FOR PEANUTS ...
… until November. The Men of the Church will be selling peanuts on these
Sundays: March 15, 22 and 29. All proceeds will go to the Capital Improvements Campaign. The men have raised $18,659 toward their pledge of $26,000
so far. Thank you for your continued support of our Peanut, White House
Ornament, and Citrus Fruit sales.
The men will sponsor the annual Easter Brunch between services on Easter morning.
Please plan to join us.
EASTER FLOWERS
Contributions are now being accepted for special Easter flowers. If you
wish to contribute, please complete the form below (please print) and
return to the church office.
NAME
Phone / E-mail
Amount
In Memory/Honor of
March 2009
Providence Presbyterian Church Good News
Page 8
GOOD NEWS DEADLINE SCHEDULE
Please note these remaining deadlines for submitting Good News articles and notices
for 2009. You can send your submissions to Kathy Knorr at [email protected].
THANKS!
*
**
Issue
Deadline
Mailing date
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January, 2010
March 15
April 13*
May 15
June 15
July 15
August 15
September 14*
October 14
November 9**
December 7**
March 26
April 23
May 28
June 25
July 30
August 27
September 24
October 29
November 19
December 17
earlier deadline due to short turnaround time for Editor
earlier deadline due to holiday
This schedule is subject to change.
SESSION
Session did not meet in February. Session will meet next on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 7:30 pm.
Tommie Curtis, Clerk of Session
Don’t forget to move
your clocks forward
before going to bed
March 7!!
Providence Presbyterian Church
9019 Little River Turnpike
Fairfax, VA 22031
703-978-3934 Office
703-978-4306 Fax
www.providencechurch.org
STAFF
Interim Pastor: Roger Shoup
Associate Pastor: Mary E. Rodgers
Director of Youth Ministries: Mary Ellen Moss
Children’s Ministry Coordinator:
Holly Marcario
Director of Music: Terry Stoneberg
Organist: Jane Kaye
Music Leader & Technology Coordinator:
Rick Thiele
Providence Singers: Gene Kaye
Business Administrator: Joe Moss
Executive Secretary: Kathy Knorr
Sexton: Richard Mudd
Good News Editor: Kathy Knorr
Red Poppy by Clare's Creations
March 2009
Sundays
Traditional Worship, 8:45 am & 11:15 am
Contemporary Service, 11:15 am
Christian Education for All Ages, 10:00 am
Communion: March 1
Music & Arts at Providence
La Bohème,
Sunday, March 15, 7:00
Contemplative Prayer
Monday, March 16, 7:30 pm
Youth Sunday
March 22, 8:45 & 11:15
Both services in the Fellowship Hall
Traditional & Contemporary combined
Rummage Sale & Pancake Breakfast
Saturday, March 28
Doors open at 8 am