lower valley presbyterian church parish happeningslowervalley.org/newsletter/oct19.pdf · —...
TRANSCRIPT
FROM PASTOR CHAD
Contemporary Prophet
When careful readers of the Hebrew scriptures spend time with the prophetic writings they often come away with the feeling that they have been reading a love story. The writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah, Hosea and the others are a classic story of a a wounded lover lamenting the loss of their first love.
The emotion, the deep feelings of brokenness, and the passion communicated by the Hebrew prophets is much like what the singer Jewel communicates in the chorus of her song “Foolish Games”.
Well in case you failed to notice In case you failed to see This is my heart bleeding before you This is me down on my knees, and These foolish games are tearing me apart And your thoughtless words are breaking my heart You’re breaking my heart — Jewel, Foolish Games (if you are reading online follow the link above and you get and even better idea of the way we might hear God speaking to us through the prophets)
Our scripture is the story of God crying out to us with a broken heart over our inattention to the relationship and our continued failure as God’s people to do the things God cares about: namely seek justice for the poor and oppressed. Or as Abraham Heschel has said, “[People] may not drown the cries of the oppressed with the noise of hymns, nor buy off the Lord with increased offerings.”
Hear now the voice of Amos speaking for God with the passion and emotion of Jewel:
Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate…. I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
LOWER VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
ParishHappeningsOctober2019
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. —Amos 5:11-12 and 21-24
Or take the word of God as brought to us by the prophet Isaiah:
Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. — Isaiah 1:15-17
Today we still have the cries for justice of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other Hebrew prophets. We also have the voices and writings of more modern prophets like Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King Jr. who fought for economic and racial justice. Prophets put everything on the line to speak God’s love and longings for a world of injustice to be righted by God’s people living as God intended.
In the last 6 months we’ve heard the powerful voice of a new prophet for our time. Greta Thunberg did not claim to speak for God, but I couldn’t help but hear her words, this week at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, as the words of our God whose heart is broken over the environmental destruction caused by our greed and selfish use of God’s incredible creation and our lack of action to change. The emotion and sadness in this brave young woman’s voice is exactly how God would cry out to God’s people gone astray:
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!
You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.
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We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not. —United Nations Climate Action Summit 9/23/2019
Every time I listen to her speak those words I begin to weep for in her voice I hear God crying out for us to turn away from evil and turn toward God. Just as the prophets called for Israel and her leaders to turn away from obscene wealth to care for the poor and oppressed Greta Thunberg is calling for the world to turn toward caring for creation and seeking justice for the poor and oppressed most affected by climate change. Her words are the words of a biblical prophet if I’ve ever heard them. Her voice is the voice of God weeping over every species that goes extinct because we have mistaken God’s good gifts as things to own and consume.
‘How,’ you ask, ‘do you know she’s a prophet?’ Well, just like God’s prophets suffered for speaking truth to power (Jeremiah was abandoned by his friends and tossed in a pit, John was beheaded by Herod, Jesus was crucified, and Martin Luther King Jr. was shot) Greta is already being attacked by the trolls of our age. This week along, she was referred to a mentally ill on a major cable network, was the subject of a dismissive tweet by our own President, and has been mercilessly attacked on the internet.
So, what do we do with this powerful 16 year old prophet? I’ll leave you with her words spoken at the World Economic forum last January:
‘Adults keep saying: “We owe it to the young people to give them hope.” But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.’ — Davos 2019
May we weep over the things that break God’s heart, acknowledge how we have wronged God’s good world and ignore the injustice is causes, and find the courage to faithfully take action.
OCTOBER 2019 PAGE 3
MISSION NEWSReborn DonationThe Mission Team donated $1,000 from the Local Action Account to support Reborn, a nonprofit organization based in High Bridge, NJ that focuses on suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Maggie Rose the President and Co Founder of Reborn met with the Mission Team and spoke to us about their mission and vision. The donation will be used to help them fund their trip to attend the Forbes 30 Under 30 Program, where Maggie will be able to promote her mission with Reborn to over 100,000 people.
Giving FairThe Giving fair will be held on Saturday, December 7th. We need lots of helping hands. Contact Lisa Coffaro to help out with food for the day and Marilyn El-Zahr for helping with cards, payment, set-up, and clean up for this amazing event,
Family PromiseLVPC is hosting Family Promise from October 6-20 at our church. Renee Ollerenshaw is organizing dinners, day hosts, and overnight hosts. Please contact Renee to help with this mission to help our community members in need.
BIBLE STUDIES AND FELLOWSHIPWomen’s Bible study meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, from 7:00-8:30 in the library. Please join us as we study the book of Matthew using N.T. Wright’s “Matthew for Everyone.” and together learn more of who Jesus was, his teachings, and what this means for our lives. Join us!
Men’s Fellowship: There’s plenty of bible study, but that’s not all. Join us on Saturdays at 8 a.m. in the church library. We share food and life and wrestle with scripture together. At the present we’re spending time in the Gospel of Matthew.
FAMILY PROMISE We’re hosting Family Promise for the first time ever! Mark your calendars — October 6-20. Lots of discipleship opportunities for overnight hosting, providing meals, set-up and more. It’s not too late to sign-up. If you didn’t receive the sign-up genius and would like to help, see Renee Ollerenshaw or if you have received this newsletter via email you can just click on a link below:
Family Promise - 4 Hour Hosting
Family Promise - Overnight Hosting
Share a Meal- Family Promise
NEWSLETTER OPTIONSIf you would like to see the newsletter in full color, consider receiving it via email (and help save money on postage), or if you would no longer like to received the newsletter, please call or email Claudia at 832-2933 or [email protected]. Thank you.
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CHURCH BELL RUNG FOR CONSTITUTION DAYConstitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who are born in the U.S. And on, September 22, some of our children rang our church bell in recognition of Constitution Day. Liam Newbold led the charge (see photo below), just as his uncle, Paul Kipp, did in 1987 (see article below).
or by naturalization, have become citizens.
THANK YOU TO BOBBI SLIKER AND KAREN NEWMANPlease take a moment to thank Bobbi and Karen if you see them for painting and sprucing up around the building especially around the office entrance.
ASP ASP/BYG Clothing Drive There will be a clothing drive on October 19th from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Community Presbyterian Church in Chester. ALL proceeds will benefit our mission trip with Appalachian Service Project. We will be collecting wearable + useable (for all seasons) clothing, belts, hats, ties, scarves, gloves, handbags, backpacks, briefcases, blankets, bed sheets, pillowcases, quilts, comforters, table cloths, curtains, and shoes. Thank you, as always, for your support!
It’s BYG/ASP Time again! Isabel would like to get a rough estimate of who is interested in attending our ASP trip in 2020! Please email her if you are! (if you have a friend who might be interested please include them as well)! This is just a rough estimate and not a commitment! We are hoping for a big turn out! Start spreading the word! Email: [email protected] Phone: 908-319-0249. Isabel will be able to answer any questions or concerns.
OCTOBER 2019 PAGE 5
Pastor Chad’s Contact info: Cell phone: 908.892.0044
E-mail: [email protected]
Church Info: Claudia Gilbert: Church Administrator
Phone: 908-832-2933 E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.lowervalley.org
Office hours: W-F, 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Session Members Lisamarie Boehm: 432-3414/[email protected]
Marilyn El-Zahr: 392-0934/[email protected]
Kyle Garcia: 867-7186/ [email protected]
Krista Jenkins: 328-8967/[email protected]
Renee Ollerenshaw: 832-7250/[email protected]
Karen Newman (clerk): 763-9483/[email protected]
Warren Newman: 763-6094/[email protected]
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We are looking for church members (of any age) who would like to
contribute something to our newsletter. Share your experiences, your memories and your hopes for LVPC. We want to hear from you.
E-mail Claudia at [email protected].
OCTOBER 2019 PAGE 7
Date Liturgist Ushers Communion Servers
October 6 Karen Newman OPEN and OPEN Renee OllerenshawOPEN OPEN OPEN
October 13 — Family Worship
Warren Newman Lisa Coffaro and Isabel Roppolo
October 20 OPEN Marilyn and Al El-Zahr
October 27 Dick Kline OPEN and OPEN
November 3 Warren Newman OPEN and OPEN OPENOPEN OPEN OPEN
November 10 — Family Worship
OPEN OPEN and OPEN
November 17 Al El-Zahr Karen and Warren Newman
November 24 OPEN Madeleine Argue and Jennifer Hoffman
Upcoming Servers
If you are able to serve in one of the OPEN spots, please let Claudia know. Thank you!
Lower Valley Presbyterian Church 445 County Road 513 Califon, NJ 07830
October 2019
The Vision of our Church
Lower Valley Presbyterian Church is a community of believers who worship God in word and deed, nurture each other through prayer, friendship, and education, and seek to
serve others in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Our four areas of ministry are faith development, caring for each other,
outreach ministry and supporting ministry.