First Presbyterian Church50 Main StreetEnglishtown, NJ 07726Rev. Cynthia Ritter ParkerChurch Phone 732-446-9506

Website: http://www.fpcenglishtown.org/

THE MESSENGERFIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ENGLISHTOWN

Hospitality Ministry Team

Enjoy good food, and good company!Join us for Fellowship (Coffee Hour) after Worship every Sunday.

Coffee HourMay 4 Nida HaddadMay 11 DeaconsMay 18 Norma TothMay 25 Vera Musser

LiturgistMay 4 Kelly HaddadMay 11 David MusserMay 18 Norma TothMay 25

CelebratingCraig & Elizabeth Atwater’s50th Wedding Anniversary

A HUGE “Thank You” to everyone who cooked, served or cleaned upat the meal provided for theCalhoun family following thefuneral on Tuesday April 22, 2014.

We could not have done it without you! The Board of Deacons

Prayer RequestsArmstrong Family (death of grandfather),Calhoun Family (John’s death),Fred Ingram and Alison (upcoming wedding), Elizabeth Cunningham Fortel (complications), Marvin Fortel (lung cancer), Mary’s friend Paula (cancer), Mary’s Susan (failing health),Kathleen’s friend Debbie (MDS cancer),Helen Granozio (cancer treatment),Helen’s twin sister Sally (death of her son),Barbara Kwaak’s Ali (healthy pregnancy),Vera’s mother Olga (hospice),George McLaughlin’s sister Bonnie (stage 4 breast cancer), Joe McLaughlin (military service),Lil’s sister Doris (health), Lil’s nephew Tim (cancer), Family of Scoutmaster Sue, Rudy Rucker and his Family (stroke), Sharon Russell (hip replacement), Allan Russell (heart procedure), Judy Soden (health), Ruth Stiles (homebound),Helen Strong (homebound),Gloria’s granddaughter Jennifer,Norman Thompson (health),Harold’s son Burke (metastatic cancer),Thomas A. Zak (military service)

By order of the Session, there will be a Called Congregational Meeting of the First Presbyterian Church of Englishtown, held in the sanctuary immediately following the Worship Service on Sunday, June 1, 2014.The purpose of this meeting is toreceive the report of the Nominating Committee, elect officers, and hear any other business that may come before the congregation.

Spring Church Calendar Sunday, May 11 Tues., May 13 Wed., May 14 9:30 AM - Bible Study 10:00 AM-2:00 PM 7:00 PM9:45 AM - Sunday School Pastor’s Office Hours Meeting of the Ruling11:00 AM - Worship 7:00 PM Elders (all are welcome) 4th Sunday of Easter A.C.A Meeting (AdultNoon - Fellowship Children of Alcoholics)Monthly Session Reports Due

Sunday, May 18 Tues., May 20 Wed., May 21 9:30 AM - Bible Study 10:00 AM-2:00 PM Noon 9:45 AM - Sunday School Pastor’s Office Hours Lunch Bunch at 11:00 AM - Worship 7:00 PM Longhorn’s 5th Sunday of Easter A.C.A Meeting (Adult Noon - Fellowship Children of Alcoholics) No Men’s Lunch 5:30 PM - Sunday Night Praise in May

Sunday, May 25 Tues., May 27 Wed., May 28 Sat., May 319:30 AM - Bible Study 10:00 AM-2:00 PM Summer Messenger Celebration9:45 AM - Sunday School Pastor’s Office Hours Submission Deadline of Eagle Scout 11:00 AM - Worship 7:00 PM Anthony Giancaspro! 6th Sunday of Easter A.C.A Meeting (Adult Noon - Fellowship Children of Alcoholics)

Sunday, June 1 Tues., June 3 Wed., June 4 9:30 AM - Bible Study 10:00 AM-2:00 PM 2:00 PM9:45 AM - Sunday School Pastor’s Office Hours Knit & Crochet11:00 AM - Worship - Ascension 7:00 PM of the Lord! - Lord’s Supper A.C.A Meeting (Adult Noon - Annual Meeting to Children of Alcoholics)Elect OfficersHomebound Communion

Our Sunday morning Bible Studyis growing like crazy!Be part of the wave! We are studying Women in the Bible Bring your Curiosity

Not able to come to worship on the 1st Sunday of the Month?We will bring the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper to your home!Contact Pastor Cynthia (609) 977-2325

Big thanks to Louis Roros of Sayrewoods Florist located at 985 US Highway 9 North, South Amboy, NJ for donating the palms for Palm Sunday, April 13, 2014. Everyone enjoyed the palms and paraded with them during the church service.

Sunday Night Praise!

Families Fellowship

Sunday, May 18

5:30 PM Potluck Supper

6:00 PM THE GAME

6:30 PM Sunday Night Praise

7:00 PM Mission Project

Small Group Ministry

Knit and Crochet 1st Wednesday of the MonthMay 7, June 4 2:00 PM Lunch BunchWed., May 21stNoon at Longhorn

Men’s LunchNo Men’s Lunch for May

Outreach Ministry Team

A.C.A.Adult Children of Alcoholics

All are Welcome!Tuesday Nights @ 7:00 p.m.

A.C.A. is a program for those whogrew up in alcoholic

or otherwise dysfunctional homes. We take positive action,

finding freedom from the pastand a way to improve our lives today!

Contact: Bonnie McDonald(732) 320-7198

Comingthis summer!

Vacation Bible Schoolwith Old TennentPresbyterian Church

Age 3 - Grade 6Youth & Adult Teachers

July 28 - August 15 PM - 7:30 PM

2nd Annual MonmouthYouth Mission Experience!

Restore Hopeto the Shorepainting, dry wall,demolition, siding,landscaping.

Work at the shore during the day(optional overnight)

High SchoolMontreat Conference

Center

July 26 - August 2

Mind-Blowing, Faith-GrowingWeek of worship, song, adventure

and bonding in the beautifulmountains of North Carolina

Theme: Rooted and Reachingcurrent 8th - 12th graders: $475(includes housing, transportation, t-shirt,

conference fee, and meals)Scholarships Available (see Pastor Cynthia)

Christian Education Ministry Team

Sunday Morning Bible Study 9:30 AM in the Library

9:45 AM Sunday School

Youth Ministry Team

Youth

Mission

JULY 14-18

Spring is a Great Time to Be a Scout!We enjoy fun outdoor activities such as hikes and campfires.Cub Scout Pack 154 is a family oriented organization that is alwaysready to welcome new members! Families with boys currentlyin Kindergarten through Fourth Grade are invited to comeand learn more about our scouting program at our:

New Scout Information Night that is scheduled forFriday May 30 at 7PM in the church hall.

Pack 154 See our website www.154scouts.orgor call 732-851-3150 for more information.

Mission Ministry TeamOne Great Hour of Sharing is an offering that makes the love of Christ real for individuals and communities around the world who suffer the effects of disaster, conflict, or severe economic hardship, and for those who serve them through gifts of money and time.

Today, projects are underway in more than 100 countries,including the United States and Canada. In the 1990s, receipts have exceeded $20 million annually. While specific allocationsdiffer in each denomination, all use their One Great Hour of Sharing funds to make possible disaster relief, refugee assistance,development aid and more.

In Rehab: Communications Ministry Team

Elizabeth Cunningham If you would like to receive this newsletter732-765-5731 by e-mail, please contact:Marvin Fortel Victoria House Room 131 Elder Bob Musser at:40 Freneau Ave. robert_m_07728@yahoo.comMatawan, NJ 07747

Stewardship Ministry Team What is Per Capita?Per Capita is the money we give to Monmouth Presbytery to support the ministries of our denomination. Per Capita provided immediate care for Belmar Presbyterian Churchin the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy and then a long-term loan!

Please send in your $35.20 Per Capita payment or put it in the offering plate!Write “per capita” on the memo line. In 2013 our church only paid $1,453 of our Per Capitaassessment, leaving an unpaid balance of $1,032

Our Special Offerings:Instead of taking a 2nd (Silver Plate) Offering every Sunday, there is an Offering Envelope in your pew rack. Put your donation inside, check the correct box, and write your name on the outside (so Norma can includeyour gift in your end-of-the-year tax letter).

1st Sunday - Deacons’ Fund - support our ministry of care and compassion, such as Thanksgiving Basketsand Christmas Gift Cards for friends & families that might need a holiday boost2nd Sunday - Ceiling Fund - repay the money we borrowed from our annuity. We still owe about $18,000.3rd Sunday - Cents-ability - make a Joyful Noise; drop your coins into the plate!

A strategy for raising awareness — and funds— for the fight against hunger

Cents-Ability is a small first step in the battle against hunger and poverty.Congregations invite every member — of all ages — to contribute a few centsat every meal. This simple act is an expression of thanks for what we have received.It is also a commitment to share with others in response to Jesus’ command“You give them something to eat.” When members bring their offerings to churchon the appointed Sunday, all of those coins “make a joyful noise unto the Lord”as they are received and dedicated.

These small acts of faithfulness can add up: One hundred persons in a congregation will contribute $180 a month at two cents a meal. That’s $2,160 dollars a year. A 30,000-member presbytery has the potential of raising over $1.6 million annually at a nickel a meal.

Cents-Ability originated in 1976 as “Two-Cents-A-Meal,” a project begun by Presbyterian Women to involveindividuals and families in a corporate response to world hunger. Over the years, presbyteries have developed similar programs entitled Pennies for Hunger, Nickel-A-Meal, etc. Many of these programs benefit local hunger ministriesas well as the national and international projects of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. (PHP).

The weeks in this season of the church yearembrace events and festivals that are at thecenter of our Christian faith. We move fromTransfiguration Sunday through Lent, Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter and into the sixth Sunday of Easter. So much is packed into these weeks and the focus scriptures in ourcurriculum. In this concentrated period, the church focuses on its core Christian beliefs about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We participate in and celebrate the stories that give us our distinctive Christian identities. They orient us as disciples of Jesus Christ to the lives we are called to live as the people of God in the church and to the new lives we receive by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lordand Savior. The somberness of Lent gives wayto celebratory joy at Easter and the freshnessof life in Christ in the post-Easter season.

Transfiguration Sunday occurs on the Sunday prior to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The close calendar connection of these events points us toward Jesus Christ, who appears in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration as the fulfillment of God’s promises spoken of old, highlighted with the appearance of Mosesand Elijah with Jesus on the mountain. The OldTestament law and prophets join Jesus, whobecame “dazzling white” (Matthew 17:2), and the divine voice said: “This is my Son, the Beloved;with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (v. 5). This divine ratification of who Jesus is forms the center of the church’s confession in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, [God’s] only Son, our Lord.”

On Ash Wednesday, the church bows inpenitence before its Lord and prepares to listen in humility and repentance to Jesus’ voice speakingto us. The six weeks of Lent provide a period of self-examination to gauge our Christian lives inthe church. The people of God seek to hear and obey the voice of their Master. We want to find more clearly where Jesus calls us and whatJesus would have us do or cease from doing.

Sometimes the church says that in Lent we may “give up” some action or practice and/or “take on” some action or practice to which God in Christ is calling us. What we do or do not do in Lent should emerge from our commitment to following Jesus Christ and our theological convictions about whatdirections our ministries should take. The church listens corporately, as a whole, to Christ’svoice in Lent. We listen within our ownlives to the voice of the Holy Spiritwho guides us. So Lent is a significanttime in our Christian experience as wegive concentrated attention to whowe are and who we should be asChristian disciples.

The entrance to Holy Week is Palm/Passion Sunday. This Sunday marksthe last week of Jesus’ earthly life.It begins with his triumphal entry intoJerusalem on Palm Sunday, when he wasgreeted by crowds proclaiming him the Sonof David “who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 21:9). Yet the crowds whohailed Jesus on Sunday sought to “nail”him by the end of the week as Jesuswas betrayed, appeared before Pilate,and was sentenced to death by crucifixion At the Last Supper with his disciples,he shared bread and wine as his bodyand blood, while anticipating thefullness of “my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29) as a coming reality.

Jesus’ death on the cross is central to Christian faith as the means of our salvation, ourliberation, and our new lives as reconciled children of God. This is the astounding message of the New Testament: that in love God sent Jesus into the world and gave him over to death “so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). This means, as John Calvin wrote, that “the whole substance of our salvation is not to be sought anywhere else than in Christ.”1 Good Friday discloses God’s heart of love in the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Church Year CalendarFeasting on the Word, Donald K. McKim

The Church Year Calendar (continued)

The resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday is the church’s glorious message that Christ is alive! The death on Friday gives way to theresurrection on Sunday. The cross is now empty because the Lord is risen! The Easter message is that “[Christ] was raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25) and that we now are justified by faith so we have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Sin is forgiven; relationships with God and with others are made new. We have died to the power of sin, and our lives are now “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). This is our deepest joy and our wonderful message to share with the world!

The period after Easter stretches toward the Day of Pentecost, when the churchcelebrates the Holy Spirit’s permanent accompaniment in and with the church (Acts 2). In the Sundays after Easter in our current Feasting on the Word Curriculum period, we celebrate the risen Christ, who is with his people and in whom there is a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

T The Thursday following the sixth Sunday of Easter is the festival of the Ascension of the Lord (Acts 1:6–11). Although this day is not celebrated frequently in our churches, it is an important day, theologically. It marks the return of Jesus to God in heaven and his taking his place at the right and of God (Apostles’ Creed), where he intercedes for us as believers (Romans 8:34).

This ongoing ministry of Jesus on our behalfis our great comfort and joy, giving us theassurance that God hears and answers our prayers and is always present with usthrough the Spirit.

From transfiguration,beholding the Lord of glory,

to the risen Christ ascending to gloryand the eternal life of

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the weeks ahead are breathtaking

in their wonder and power!

They devoted themselves to the apostles’teaching and fellowship, to the breaking ofbread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed weretogether and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods anddistribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

NOW WHAT is God’s word calling us to do? Certainly stewardship, the use of our resources, is an important point of examination. If we are not called to sell off all of our possessions, how exactly are we called to use our resources and, in particular, our money? Consider the causes to which we give: Do they heal? Do they bring hope? Do they remake a part of the world sothat people can rebuild their lives? Do theyinvite us to participate in God’s work oftransformation? Of course, these questionsaren’t simply limited to an examination of ouruse of money. They might also be used to focus the congregation’s priorities and ministries andmore deliberately to align them with God’s will. (Timothy B. Hare)

How do you and your congregation devote yourselves to the apostles’ teaching?

How does the apostles’ teaching cometo us today?

What “wonders and signs” have you seenGod do in your life and in the life of yourcongregation?

Paper Newsletter: You Tube We Are MarshallEmail Newsletter: Click On or Paste intoyour web browser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmH61rvDQxU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkyMbgKtCAshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEL8PYu4RR4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEm8IXm88Tw

Compare the transformation of the Marshall University community to that of the early church after the resurrection and Pentecost.

Prayer: Spirit, you bless us with glad and generous hearts. We go from this moment ready to transform this world. Amen.

Life Among the Believers Sunday, May 11Acts 2:42-47 4th Sunday of Easter

But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed intoheaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But theycovered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.

NOW WHAT is God’s word calling us to do? Stephen’s story may prove helpful in guiding Christians to consider the ways in whichfaithfulness to God may clash with the common assumptions and practices of modern culture.For example, what does Christian faith have tosay about rampant consumerism and ourcomplicity in it? What does Christianity haveto say about our nationalistic impulses and the self-interest that guides the foreign policies of many nations? What does our faith have to say about environmental stewardship and ourcurrent patterns of living? Though many of us may never be asked to die for our faith, our faith still calls us to measure our priorities, to take a stand, and to express our beliefs through action. (Timothy B. Hare)

Name some things that Christ calls us toquestion about our culture. Why shouldwe question those things?

Stephen’s faith had dire consequences for him. What are some ways your faith might have consequences?

How can we express our beliefs, our faith through action?

What are some ways we can be morefaithful Christians?

Paper Newsletter: You Tube the final sermon of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Email Newsletter: Click On or Paste into your web browser:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6GTwiSdB0o

How are Dr. King’s words similar to Stephen’s in Acts 7:55–60. What do the examples ofpeople such as Dr. King mean for your lifeand faith?

Go out into the world to bear witness to Jesus, knowing that God goes with you: working in you, giving you strength and inspiration, and putting words of truth in your mouths.

The Stoning of Stephen Sunday, May 18Acts 7:55-60 5th Sunday of Easter

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give youanother Advocate, to be with you for ever.This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love themand reveal myself to them.’

NOW WHAT is God’s word calling us to do? What if we were to understand Jesus’ words this way? What if we were to recognize that Christ is truly present among us when we keep hiscommandments to love and serve one another? Look around you in your community—your church community as well as the greatercommunity in which you live and serve—and see where you can discern that outline around the picture of Jesus on the move. See where, in thefamiliar life of this group of people, you candiscern the presence of the Spirit of truth.(Linda Lee Clader)

How can loving and serving othershelp us see Jesus?

How can we show our love for Jesus?

What are some ways your churchloves others?

How do you support or participate in that ministry?

What are some ways you can show your love for others?

Download the 11-minute video, “Rhythm,” from Nooma.com. Imagine your relationship with God.

Pay attention to the friendly presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. Be mindful of the Spirit’s comfort and counsel, and seek ways that you can bearwitness to the gospel each day.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit Sunday, May 25John 14:15-21 6th Sunday of Easter

Sunrise Service at Boxwood Farm

Easter Sunday April 20th

Decorating Cross of Flowers

Resurrection of the Lord

First Annual Pancake Breakfast March 29, 2014

Worship During Lent