ByronPresbyterianChurch May-June,2021

The Spirit

ReturntoNormal?

Return to Normal? The easy answer to that is a resounding “no!”. After

this past year ‘s pandemic challenges we know that there is no easy return

to what was. Masks, physical distancing, sanitizing and vaccines are still

very much on our minds, and have become ingrained in our daily

vocabulary! But we are making some changes at the end of May that we

want you to know about. Not a return to normal,, but taking our ministry to

a new level. Read on!

AsofMay30thwewillnolongeroffera“hybrid”Sundayworship

servicein-personandonZoom.Here is what will take its place:

(a)Wewillhaveanin-personworshipservicewithoutZoominthe

sanctuaryat9:45AM.

(b)WewillalsohaveaZoom-onlyserviceat11:00AM,followingthe

9:45service.

The Zoom service will not be a full-*ledged service, but it will include the

day’s Scripture reading, prayers and Rev. Renfrew’s message. Even better,

Rev. Renfrew will be able to interact with participants during the Zoom

service.

Zoom was never meant to be a permanent feature in our Sunday

experience, but it has been enormously helpful in keeping us together

during a trying time. With the distribution of vaccines we note that more

people are attending in-person worship, and the number of Zoomers has

been decreasing. The hybrid service has had some inef*iciencies, making it

necessary for the pastor to repeat things for the sake of Zoomers who

cannot hear voices from the pews. Music quality has been a continuing

challenge in our Sanctuary. Less obvious is that our Music Director is

severely hampered by copyright rules that limit the hymns we can include

on Zoom. The research to stay on track with the laws has added several

additional hours a week to his workload. Also, our music license allowing

for Zoom will be expiring at the end of May.

The Zoom service will not attempt to include live music, though we may

make use of pre-recorded music from time to time.

Recently, I heard a woman describe how Christians had been a

negative presence in her life, offering threat instead of joy. I responded that

“we are always a work in progress”. Sometimes we get things right,

sometimes wrong, but we do our best to keep moving forward, to get to a

better understanding of our faith and practice. May 30th will bring a

change, but we will keep learning and growing. [Rev.JimRenfrew]

TheBasics

Sunday Worship begins at

9:45 AM, in the church

sanctuary and on Zoom.

Sunday School and Nurse-

ry Care are currently on

hold due to the virus, ex-

cept for occasional gather-

ings in the Dining Room.

Contact Pastor Jim

Renfrew at 548-2800

or 585-813-2934. E-mail:

jim.renfrew@gmail.com

SundayWorship

9:45AM&11:00AM

The Byron Presby-

terian Church is

open on Sunday

mornings for 9:45

AM Worship, of

course with the

health precautions

you would expect.

On May 2,9,16 & 23

you can also Zoom

the 9:45 service, but

starting on May 30

we will have a Zoom

-only service at

11:00 AM. There

will no longer be

Zoom available at

9:45 AM. Please

look inside this

newsletter for more

information.

PAGE 2 THE SPIRIT

ByronPConFacebook

Byron Presbyterian Church is on Facebook.

We’re easy to *ind, just search for “Byron Pres-byterian Church” when you get to Facebook. You can also *ind a link to the Facebook page when visiting our website, byronfpc.org. Be-come one of our friends!

NewsletterInformation

The newsletter is usually sent bi-monthly, but sometimes more frequently in the fall. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, June 27 for the July-August issue We prefer to send the newsletter to you as an e-mail attachment. Please send your e-mail address to jim.renfrew@gmail.com . We will not give out your address without your permission. The newsletter is always posted to the church website, www.byronfpc.org, and pieces of it appear from day to day on our Facebook page. If you miss the Sunday worship service you can see each week’s Sunday bul-letin and most sermons on line, too.

ThankYou! We have received many positive comments from our newsletter readers, and we welcome your encourage-ment. We invite you to keep our Byron Presbyterian Church newsletter coming to you in months and years to come. If you are not already a church contributor, your contribution to help cover mailing and Internet costs would be wel-comed. Checks may be made out to "Byron Presbyterian Church". Thank you!

[ ] YES, I want to help support the cost of the Byron Presbyterian Church newsletter. I enclose $___.

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Note: we do not circulate or publish e-mail addresses.

SessionNotes

At the April meeting Session discussed a plan to end the hybrid worship service at the end of May, and this was agreed to in a follow-up e-vote at the end of the month. So beginning May 30 there will be an in-person service at 9:45 AM, fol-lowed by a Zoom-only service at 11:00 AM. This later service will be managed by Rev. Renfrew, will allow for more interaction with Zoom partic-ipants, but will not include live music. The bur-den placed on our Music Director due to Zoom copyright restrictions has made the music plan-ning, not to mention the poor audio quality, a major weekly challenge. We are hoping to launch in-person Sunday School in September, partly because Superinten-dent Faline Tyler is recovering from surgery. Session has also discussed the Presbytery’s invitation to become a “Matthew 25” congrega-tion, along with other congregations in the Pres-bytery. To a great extent, Matthew 25 de*ines much of what we are already doing as a vital con-gregation. Session will discuss this further.

PrayerChain:

AGoodSign!

Here’s a sign I’ve never seen anywhere! But it’s a good sign for our Prayer Chain. When we add a prayer it’s al-ways a good sign. En-couragement is a good sign. Love is a good sign. Helping one another is always a good sign. Our Prayer Chain can help you *ind a good moment, a good spot, or a good reprieve during a dif*icult time. In the Gospel of John, Jesus offers many “signs” to help his followers *ind their way for-ward, so in that spirit we offer good signs in each church newsletter to help you *ind your way, too! Looking for your next good sign? Just text or call your prayer to Chrystal Britt(please don’t call during her work day at school) or send an e-mail.

PAGE 3 THE SPIRIT

VitalCongregationsInitiative

andPresbyteryNews

TheVitalCongregationsInitiative(VCI) is in

the process of ‘rebooting’. What was to be Year 1

started in January 2020 and was barely underway

when the pandemic hit and everything changed.

Here we are in May 2021 and we are still con-

cerned with the pandemic. Yet, we do hope to re-

boot with a chance to revisit the Seven Marks of a

Vital Congregation. Again, those Seven Marks are:

Deepening Faith, Sharing the Good News, Commu-

nity Mission, Servant Leadership, Spirit Inspired

Worship, Caring Relationships and Prayerful Dis-

cernment of God’s Calling. Each of these can be

applied to us as individuals in our faith journey;

but, even more, each is a way for the church to re-

view where we are strong and where we could

strengthen our vitality as a congregation. That

will be the focus of the reboot once we spend

some time refreshing our understanding of the

Seven Marks. There is no timeline. VCI is now

task focused. We accomplish the task and when

we are done, we move on. Each congregation sets

its own pace. Let us move together into new en-

gagement and new hope!

The most recent PresbyteryMeeting was April

24, 2021. At that meeting, the Presbytery voted to

become a Matthew25 Presbytery. This is a PC-

USA commitment that began a couple of years ago.

The *irst time I became aware of it was at the Jan-

uary 2020 Presbytery meeting when a speaker

talked with us about what this meant. It is based

on one of the best known parables of Jesus: The

Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25: 31-46) and will

ask us to take a look at what we are doing to “help

theleastofthesebrothersofmine”.

The focus has three fundamental efforts:

Buildingcongregationalvitality by challenging

people and congregations to deepen their faith

and get actively and joyfully engaged with their

community and the world.

Eradicatingsystemicpoverty by working to

change laws, policies, plans, and structures in

our society that perpetuate economic exploita-

tion of people who are poor.

Dismantlingstructuralracism by advocat-

ing and acting to break down the systems,

practices and thinking that underlie discrimi-

nation, bias, prejudice, and oppression of peo-

ple of color.

While these are lofty goals, we at the con-

gregation level are ask to think about any

ways that might exist for us to contribute to

the work on these goals. We are already doing

the *irst one by being a VCI congregation. We

do many things that help with the second one

(backpack program, North Bergen Presbyteri-

an Food Pantry, holiday baskets, Dignity Bags,

etc.).

The third one is more challenging for us

but there may be ways to address this one as

well. The point is that we are able to decide

what ones to work on and what we can do to

move the goals forward. There is an amazing

amount of material already available for us as

a resource: see www.presbyterianmission.org.

Being a Matthew 25 congregation says that we

see these goals as important in our work as

Christians and we are willing to look at what

we might be able to do. I hope we will be able

to join this effort and become a Matthew 25

congregation within our Presbytery. More in-

formation will be coming soon. Please pray

about it and let us know your thoughts.

Ruth Andes

Music&Choir

“Ye Shall Have a song…

and gladness of heart.” (Isaiah 30:29)

Whenever anyone asks me, “What’s your fa-vorite song?”, I always struggle to give an an-swer…there are so many fantastic songs out there in so many different styles and genres, it’s almost impossible to pick. A favorite song can reveal a lot about a person: a special time in their lives; a special relationship; a person’s gen-eral personality, etc. Recently, a friend of mine who is Christian also asked me this same ques-tion, saying, “Just name the *irst song that comes to your mind. Don’t over think it!”. The answer that came to the top of my head was a song enti-tled, “Life’s a Happy Song”, from one of the Mup-pet movies. The title sums up the song: a breezy little melody weaves among lyrics about simple, daily things that joy. My friend expressed that they were surprised that I hadn’t selected a hymn as my *irst choice. Indeed, there are a lot of hymns that I do love (ask the choir!) but I be-lieve that my choice, though a secular song, has just as much reverence and spiritual joy as a sa-cred one. After all, both are of God. So are the composers. And, if the song elicits total joy from your heart, who is to say that it can’t bring you as close to God as a hymn? My Muppet movie melody may not be directly praising God in words, but it recognizes all of the little things in life that the Lord provides us every day that we often take for granted. The fact that this song makes me “stop and smell the roses” means I’m taking the time to thank God for the joy in little things…and little songs like this. Take a moment and make a list of some of your favorite songs, hymns or otherwise. Re*lect on how or why they bring you joy and closer to God. I guarantee you’ll be listening to them with a whole new set of ears…your “Spirit ears”. Praise God for the gift of song and gladness of heart! [Laurence Tallman, Music Director]

PAGE 4 THE SPIRIT

CHOIR REHEARSALS

Weds., May 5: 7:00 rehearsal Sun., May 9: 9:00 AM rehearsal; Anthem Sunday Weds., May 12: NO REHEARSAL Weds., May 19: 7:00 Rehearsal Weds., May 26: 7:00 Rehearsal Weds., June 2: 7:00 Rehearsal Weds., June 9: 7:00 Rehearsal Weds., June 16: 7:00 Rehearsal Sun. June 20: 9:00 AM rehearsal; Anthem Sunday Weds., June 23: 7:00 rehearsal Weds., June 30: NO REHEARSAL

MissionNews

The Food Pantry at North Bergen Presbyterian Church distributes food Wednesdays, May 19 & 26, June 16 & 23, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays, May 15 & 22, June 19 & 26, 9:30 a.m. to noon. Our Mission Associate Jordan Sloat invites you to join him there. Patty Iamon invites you to con-tribute personal care items. Many, many thanks to Patty for producing hundreds of beautiful masks for our church folks as well as the North Bergen Food Pantry. Backpack Program: Food insecurity has been an issue in our community during continued Covid concerns. We always appreciate monetary donations to help keep the program running. We are now assembling the bags in our own church basement. For information, please contact Pam Kenward

NewsAboutMembers&Friends

Prayers for Ruth McCracken at home. Jean

Roda is at the Wedgewood. Jim Moore, eye treatment. Prayers for those in service: Matt &

Leanna Paine are with the Air Force in Ohio, Nicole Stanton is with the US Navy, and Sean

Holly is with the Air Force. Prayers for Lind-

say Stein and her family and for the progress she has made, for Jack and Bev Hillabush. Their son Tom Butler died in a recent ATV accident, Wendy Haywood, Nancy Clark, Nancy Curran,

and Linda Engle who suffered bad falls in the winter. Seth Quilliam, who had successful surgery in April, Prayers for Bernice and the whole family of Carl Yunker, who recently passed away.

ChurchInformation

Sunday Worship & Sunday School: 9:45 AM Sunday School is currently on hold.

ChurchOf@ice: 548-2800 [of*ice@byronfpc.org]

ChurchWebPage: www.byronfpc.org

Facebook: Byron First Presbyterian Church

ChurchWi-FiPassword:BYRONPC2020

(the “2G” option works best)

Pastor: James Renfrew (548-2800 of*ice)

[jim.renfrew@gmail.org]

ClerkofSession: Shannon Thompson

[]

Treasurer: Robin Glazier

[

Organist&ChoirDirector:

Laurence Tallman

[]

BoardofTrustees: Tom Nesbitt

[]

Sexton: Penny Kennett

PAGE 5 THE SPIRIT

ZoomAccessInfo

For those participating in worship from

home, here are your Zoom access codes:

SundayWorship:

CheckinviaZoom(video&audio) Go

to www.zoom.us, Open link to “Join a

Meeting”, Enter Meeting ID# ,

Password: .

Checkinbytelephone(audioonly)Call

1-929-205-6099, Enter Meeting ID#

, Password:

BibleStudy

Zoom Meeting ID # .

Password: ,orby telephone

1-929-205-6099.

Birthdays&Anniversaries

MayBirthdays

3 Benjamin Britt, Ryder Thompson,

Owen Glazier, Ed Ezard

4 Leanne Liles Paine

5 Kennedy Beverly

7 Susan Wilt

10 Taylor Stefaniak

16 Ryan Stein

18 James Vincent, Michael Curran

20 Emily Kwasniewski

26 Teagan Mathes

28 Mila Louis, Amy Ezard

MayAnniversaries

15 Nick and Katelyn Quilliam

18 Ron and Cheryl Toal

25 Christopher and Wendy Hilbert

JuneBirthdays

1 Jordan Sloat, Lacey Sloat, Larisa Sloat

2 Jim Renfrew, Tamara Hillabush Walker,

Tricia Davlin

3 Jeremy Thompson

5 Larry Tallman

6 Dale Shuknecht, Arlo Stein

10 Katelyn Quilliam, David Kent

11 Patty Welch, August Branciforte

12 Helen Moore

14 August Branciforte

16 Maverick Marquez

17 Kenleigh Stefaniak, Joe White

18 Elizabeth Shuknecht

22 William Tyler, Sarah Geissler, Beth Wilson,

Brock Cummins

24 Liz Weber

26 Connor Nesbitt

27 Elizabeth Ezard, Stella Scopano

28 Bella Devay

JuneAnniversaries

8 Marc and Pam Kenward

9 Pam and Twilly Lynch, Todd and Jeanie Sloat

10 Nancy and Michael Curran

11 Matt and Desiree White

14 Richard and Catherine Mathes

26 Doug and Laura Platt

Trustees

Spring is here, although when I mowed last

Friday there was still snow on the East side of

the building. Grass is growing fast and so are

the weeds. We would love to have some volun-

teers to help maintain the beds around the

church by adding some flowers and removing

weeds. This would also include the bed around

the sign. We will be adding fresh mulch short-

ly. We can find some money to assist in pur-

chasing the flowers. Trustees are also receiv-

ing quotes on several church projects.

[TomNesbitt,Chair]

Photos, from the top: Some of the Spring Yard

Clean-Up Volunteers. Mark Dewey with a Big Toy.

Pam Lynch & David Keller., Eric George & grandson

PAGE 6 THE SPIRIT

Church Leaders

Session: Rev. James R. Renfrew, Moderator

Shannon Thompson, Clerk of Session

Classof2021 Classof2022 Classof2023

Shannon Thompson Jim Welch Ruth Andes

Patty Welch Laura Bestehorn Chrystal Britt

Vicky Truax Ron B. Glazier Eliz. Weber

Deacons: Faline Tyler & Laura Platt, Co-Moderators

Sara Geissler, Treasurer Elizabeth Shuknecht, Secretary

Classof2021Classof2022 Classof2023

Linda Engle Faline Tyler Wendy Louis

Marilyn Britt Sara Geissler P.Iamon/L.Platt

Sue Hockey Eliz. Shuknecht Luan Riner

Trustees:Tom Nesbitt, Chair, Robin Shuknecht, Sec’y

Classor2021Classof2022 Classof2023

R. Shuknecht Lee Blair, Jr. David Keller

Eric George R. Hillabush Walker Marc Kenward

Mark Dewey Tom Nesbitt Kim Dewey

MissionAssociate:Jordan Sloat

Preaching Texts

MAY 2 I John 4:7-11 “God Is Love”

MAY 9 I John 5:1-5 “Lets Conquer the World”

MAY 16 Psalm 1 “Reimagining Happiness”

(Rev. Bill Hockey)

MAY 23 Ezekiel 37 “Vitality”

MAY 30 Isaiah 6:1-8 “Here I Am, Send Me”

JUNE 6 2 Cor. 4:5-12 “Clay Jars”

JUNE 13 2 Cor 4:16-18 “Renewal”

JUNE 20 2 Cor 5:14-21 “From Now On”

JUNE 27 2 Cor 6:1-3 “The Acceptable Time”

Bible Study

Our next Bible Studies will be Tuesday, May 25

and Tuesday, June 29th, 7:00 PM. It’s all on

Zoom, Meeting ID# , Password

.All are welcome! We are fortunate

to have a team of Bible Study leaders available

for each month’s Bible . We are going to continue

Bible Study through the summer as a way to

keep our best activities going strong. Bible Stud-

ies are currently on Zoom, but we may develop a

hybrid plan in coming months. Don’t touch that

dial!

May 25th will be a study of Isaiah 6:1-8, Isai-

ah’s Vision, June 29th will be a study of Isaiah

38, Hezekiah’s Song, Isaiah 38., sickness, healing

and celebration.

VitalCongregations

Initiative-Ruth’sStory

Note:DuringMayandJuneweareinvitingdif-

ferentpeopletoshareastoryaboutoneofthe

SevenMarksofaVitalCongregation.Our

thankstoRuthAndesforbeingthe;irst!If

youwouldliketotakeaturnpleasespeakto

Rev.Renfrew.

Lifelong Discipleship Formation involves a commitment to follow Christ all our lives. In try-ing to be clearer, I expanded Mark 1 to say that it is ‘living into and growing our faith each and every day’ which was a little clearer. Then I shortened it to ‘deepening faith’ so I could keep it in mind easily. In moving to make Mark 1 a part of my life, I increased my prayer time, con-sistently attended Bible Study, and did more spiritual readings. This was *ine and I did grow in my understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ but when I look back on the last year, the real growth has come from some-where else. The *irst part of this development came when I went to the VCI Conference in Atlanta in May 2019. This gathering was designed to kick-off VCI for the churches in the Northeast who were involved. There were about 10 of us that went from the Genesee Valley Presbytery. This was an inspirational and transformative trip. I came back committed and energized. The key element was that it was a feelinglevelchange not an intellectual (thinking level) change. I wish I had shared that but we moved right into planning for the upcoming year (2020) when VCI would start at the congregational level. The second part of my growth was the for-mation of the local VCI Cohort which is a group of people who are part of the nine churches within the Presbytery that committed to VCI. There are about 20 of us in this group and we have met monthly since October 2019, in person and then on Zoom. We shared what was hap-pening at our churches and we learned what was going on at the other churches. There is a strong camaraderie in the group and we genu-inely care about each other and what is

PAGE 7 THE SPIRIT

happening in our lives as well as in our churches. It is again something experienced at the feeling level. The third part came with the national VCI deciding that keeping VCI alive during 2020 required that the leadership meet each week on Zoom with anyone from the churches which were part of the First Wave. This went on for several months during the summer of 2020 at 3:00pm each Wednesday. Jim Ren-frew and I missed very few sessions. For me, it kept VCI at the forefront of my thinking. But that was not all. The leaders and the guest speakers often were able to touch that feeling level and this increased my understanding of what discipleship was about: loving God, lov-ing one’s self, and loving our neighbor. Lastly, I joined a Bible Study that a friend was forming. There are six of us and we meet each week. We have worked on better under-standing what God is calling us to do and what being a discipline means as we live out our lives. We have studied the 10 Command-ments, Matthew 5 where Jesus expands on the Commandments, and we are starting the Fruits of the Spirit. This group shares at the personal level and it has been insightful and emotional to be part of each person’s faith journey, i.e., the feeling level. So, what I have learned is that discipleship cannot be attained by reading, studying, and thinking. Genuine discipleship must also be at the feeling level, at the heart and soul level. We must get involved in peoples’ lives, shar-ing their pain and their triumphs. In short, we must go beyond ourselves and commit to step out into the world and bring the message and behavior of Christ with us. So, this is my new idea of what Lifelong Dis-cipleship Formation is:

LoveGod,

LoveYourself,

LoveYourNeighbor,

andputthosewordsintoAction!

RuthAndes

PAGE 8 THE SPIRIT

ChristianEducation&WorshipCommittee

The weather is improving, the *lowers are opening, and people are coming back to church! Wel-

come! We are so excited to see more and more people returning to the sanctuary. Every Sunday feels

like a mini family reunion!!

As you will read elsewhere in the bulletin, May 23rd, Pentecost Sunday, will be our last hybrid ser-

vice. We wish to thank everyone that has contributed to the Zoom experience for the last 14 months.

We look forward to the new arrangement that should allow *lexibility and better two-way communi-

cation for both the live and Zoom formats.

Here are the upcoming events:

May 9, 2021 – Mother’sDay– join us as we honor all women in our lives. We will have photos,

*lowers, and choir! Bring your mom, your sister, your daughter, yourself.

May 23, 2021 – PentecostSunday– special music, candles, dry bones…… I hear some rattling!

May 30, 2021 – MemorialDaySunday– patriotic music with Liz Weber!

June 6, 2021 – Children’sDay– a shortened family friendly service. Outdoor Games, prizes, and

snacks!

June 20,2021 – Father’sDay/BaccalaureateSunday/andabaptism– whew! (Communion will be

the previous Sunday, June 13th)

As the weather improves, we will also reinstate porch fellowship. Stay tuned!!

KimDewey/CEFellowshipCommittee

NeighborhoodMissionDay

“Country Neighbors” is what we call our neighborhood of Presbyterian Churches in Genesee Coun-ty. On Sunday April 25, we had a Neighborhood Mission Day at the North Bergen Presbyterian Church to assemble Dignity Bags for people released from the Buffalo Detention Facility in Batavia. These are immigration cases, and when released people have long distances to travel to reach loved ones with almost nothing in hand. The Dignity Bags are offered to help people on their way by a local volunteer group, Los Samaritanos. With our team of volunteers we assembled 53 Dignity Bags with essential supplies and snacks for travelers, and received contributions of $680. Among the volunteers were Shannon Thompson, Mad-ison Thompson, Ellieana Renfrew, Robin Dunnington and Rev. Renfrew from the Byron Presbyterian Church.

Photos:UpperLeft- in the North Bergen PC pavilion the whole team displaying Dignity Bags; Upperright - each Dignity Bag gets one toothbrush and one tube of toothpaste; Lowerleft- Rev. Renfrew’s car *illed with Dignity Bags at the end of the day; Lowerright- refection and prayer, speak-ing is Jennifer Blais of the YWCA.

PAGE 9 THE SPIRIT

Byron Presbyterian Church - May 2021 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9:45 AM Worship 7:00 PM 2:00 PM

(live and on Zoom) 5:00 PM T.O.P.S. Town Park Comm. Marilyn Kaiser Celebration

7:00 PM Choir on Zoom At Churchville Park

7:30 PM AA

9 9 AM Choir 10 11 12 13 14 15

MOTHER’S DAY 11 AM Country 9:30 AM - Noon

9:45 Worship Neighbors on Zoom North Bergen Food Pantry

(live and on Zoom) 5:00 PM T.O.P.S. 9:00 AM

10:45 AM Deacons 7:30 PM Trustees 7:00 PM NO Choir Camp Whitman Work Day

7:30 PM - AA meets

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

9:45 AM Worship 5:00 PM T.O.P.S. 9:30 AM - Noon

with Rev. Hockey 6:00 PM N Bergen Pantry North Bergen Food Pantry

(live and on Zoom) 7:00 PM Choir 6:30 PM

7:30 PM AA meets Session Meets

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

PENTECOST 5:00 PM T.O.P.S

9:45 AM Worship 6:00 PM N Bergen Pantry

(live and on Zoom) 7:00 PM Choir

7:00 PM Bible Study 7:30 PM AA meets

on Zoom

30 31 JUN 1 JUN 2 JUN 3 JUN 4 JUN 5

9:45 AM Worship MEMORIAL 5:00 PM T.O.P.S

(in-person) DAY

11:00 AM Worship 7:00 PM Choir

(on Zoom) 7:30 PM AA meets

Byron Presbyterian Church - JUNE 2021 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5

5:00 PM T.O.P.S

7:00 PM Choir

7:30 PM - AA meets

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

CHILDREN’S SUNDAY 11:00 Country

9:45 AM Worship Neighbors on Zoom

(In-person) 7:30 PM Trustees 5:00 PM T.O.P.S

11:00 AM Worship 7:00 PM Choir

(on Zoom) 7:30 PM - AA meets

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

9:45 AM Worship 9:30 AM - Noon

and Communion 5:00 PM T.O.P.S. North Bergen Food Pantry

(in-person) 6:00 PM N Bergen Pantry 6:30 PM

11:00 AM Worship 7:00 PM Choir Session Meets

(on Zoom) 7:30 PM AA meets

20 FATHERS DAY 21 22 23 24 25 26

BACCALAUREATE 5:00 PM T.O.P.S 9:30 AM - Noon

9:00 Choir 6:00 PM N Bergen Pantry North Bergen Food Pantry

9:45 AM Worship 7:00 PM Bible Study 7:00 PM Choir

11:00 AM Worship 7:30 PM AA meets

(on Zoom)

27 28 29 30

9:45 AM Worship 5:00 PM T.O.P.S.:

(in-person)

11:00 AM Worship 7:00 PM NO Choir

(on Zoom) 7:30 PM AA

Trustees

Spring is here, although when I mowed last

Friday there was still snow on the East side of

the building. Grass is growing fast and so are

the weeds. We would love to have some volun-

teers to help maintain the beds around the

church by adding some flowers and removing

weeds. This would also include the bed around

the sign. We will be adding fresh mulch short-

ly. We can find some money to assist in pur-

chasing the flowers. Trustees are also receiv-

ing quotes on several church projects.

[TomNesbitt,Chair]

Photos, from the top: Some of the Spring Yard

Clean-Up Volunteers. Mark Dewey with a Big Toy.

Pam Lynch & David Keller., Eric George & grandson

PAGE 6 THE SPIRIT

Church Leaders

Session: Rev. James R. Renfrew, Moderator

Shannon Thompson, Clerk of Session

Classof2021 Classof2022 Classof2023

Shannon Thompson Jim Welch Ruth Andes

Patty Welch Laura Bestehorn Chrystal Britt

Vicky Truax Ron B. Glazier Eliz. Weber

Deacons: Faline Tyler & Laura Platt, Co-Moderators

Sara Geissler, Treasurer Elizabeth Shuknecht, Secretary

Classof2021Classof2022 Classof2023

Linda Engle Faline Tyler Wendy Louis

Marilyn Britt Sara Geissler P.Iamon/L.Platt

Sue Hockey Eliz. Shuknecht Luan Riner

Trustees:Tom Nesbitt, Chair, Robin Shuknecht, Sec’y

Classor2021Classof2022 Classof2023

R. Shuknecht Lee Blair, Jr. David Keller

Eric George R. Hillabush Walker Marc Kenward

Mark Dewey Tom Nesbitt Kim Dewey

MissionAssociate:Jordan Sloat

Preaching Texts

MAY 2 I John 4:7-11 “God Is Love”

MAY 9 I John 5:1-5 “Lets Conquer the World”

MAY 16 Psalm 1 “Reimagining Happiness”

(Rev. Bill Hockey)

MAY 23 Ezekiel 37 “Vitality”

MAY 30 Isaiah 6:1-8 “Here I Am, Send Me”

JUNE 6 2 Cor. 4:5-12 “Clay Jars”

JUNE 13 2 Cor 4:16-18 “Renewal”

JUNE 20 2 Cor 5:14-21 “From Now On”

JUNE 27 2 Cor 6:1-3 “The Acceptable Time”

Bible Study

Our next Bible Studies will be Tuesday, May 25

and Tuesday, June 29th, 7:00 PM. It’s all on

Zoom, Meeting ID# , Password All are welcome!

We are fortunate

to have a team of Bible Study leaders available

for each month’s Bible . We are going to continue

Bible Study through the summer as a way to

keep our best activities going strong. Bible Stud-

ies are currently on Zoom, but we may develop a

hybrid plan in coming months. Don’t touch that

dial!

May 25th will be a study of Isaiah 6:1-8, Isai-

ah’s Vision, June 29th will be a study of Isaiah

38, Hezekiah’s Song, Isaiah 38., sickness, healing

and celebration.