Newsletter

March  

Sydney Roderick 3-2

Jade Reynolds 3-5

Rosie Salamacha 3-8

Callie Richards 3-10

Nathan Atherton 3-16

Matt Gardner 3-17

Ryan Kahle 3-19

Jessica Gallagher 3-23

Steve Goobic 3-24

March

Howard & Miriam Bariteau 3-1-57

  Flaws, Messes; Flawless and Mercy

That’s our 2020 Lenten theme here at Theresa Presbyterian Church. We will undertake a journey over the next six weeks to come to the roughness of the cross and the light and brightness of Easter morning. Our journey will take us through the Old Testament book of Judges in both our Bible study (Judges; The flawed and the flawless by Timothy Keller) and our worship. We will see and experience the flaws and messes in not only other people’s lives, as found in Judges, but reflect and see our own flaws and messes as well. We will experience some of the Old Testament heroes found in Judges like Samson, Gideon, and Deborah as well as some who are less well known like Othniel, Barak, and Jael and discover the messes of both heroes and non-heroes. Our worship will find us during our time of confession confessing the mess of our own life as each week we attach a piece of junk representative of the story and our messy life onto an old wooden door. On Maundy Thursday we will strip away the mess and leave it at the foot of the cross and on Easter morning during our time of assurance we will hang white lilies on the revealed cross on the door.

Why this different worship format; because it causes us to be real with ourselves, each other and most importantly with God. We will be able to touch, feel, and smell the messes that we make. Ultimately in all our human mess, it’s God’s mercy and Flawless Son that we meet by and with the work of the Spirit. God works our mess and transforms our lives into the people God means for us to be. 

The church is filled with messy and flawed people, as is the pastor who comes to serve with the congregation. Do we see God’s mercy in the ways a church’s congregation and pastor are transformed and made to be what God intends the church to be? I wonder how you will be transformed on this Lenten journey that sits before us. 

Peace be with you,

Rev. Betsy

  Hammond Food Pantry will be open on Thursday, March 26th from 9:30 to 11:00 at the Hammond Fire Hall. All income eligible families are welcome to come and receive free food, consisting of several meat offerings, cereal, cheese, margarine, canned fruit and vegetables, pasta, and fresh produce. New consumers may sign up the day of food distribution.

Also, the same day, the Food Sense program is held. Items must be ordered from a menu and paid for before the food is delivered on Food Pantry days. This menu includes meats and seafood, canned food, meal packages and fresh produce. There are no income guidelines for Food Sense, which is great way to stretch your food dollars.

For information on Food Pantry or Food Sense, contact Joan Hadlock 315/324-5517.

  News from our Mission co-worker in West Africa, Josh Heikkila, concerns agriculture.

He writes: In this part of the world, farming is especially difficult, using simple tools, still forged by hand. Due to lack of irrigations, crops grow at the mercy of rainfall. Agriculture is the main economic activity for 50 % of the population in Ghana, and for 80% of those in Niger. Even in the crowded cities, people keep chickens, goats and even sometimes a cow. Seeing farmers tending crops, growing them in places where it doesn’t seem easy, makes me appreciate their hard work and helps me realize that God helps make a way when there might not seem to be one.

In Ghana, they are working on plans to teach agricultural skills to women who have been accused of witchcraft, and who had to flee their homes and farms, often ending up in places with poor soil, where they struggle to make a living from farming.

In Niger, we are starting to build wells and grow tree seedlings to help stop the spread of the desert and provide firewood, cutting down on deforestation of the land. These projects will be pioneered in Ghana as well.

These projects are being undertaken by Presbyterian Church (USA) World Mission and partners in the region. Let’s keep our West African partners in our prayers.

Joan Hadlock

  I have been doing some much needed spring cleaning in my office. With my daughter going to school and not being my big helper at work anymore, it was bitter sweet taking all the toys out of my office and putting everything in the nursery for everyone else to play with. I scraped all the old stickers off the cabinets and scrubbed off all the crayon that accidently missed the paper that she would color on. I remember my first couple of weeks working in the office and how I went through everything and tried to organize everything to have things make sense. You know, putting all the paper together in one spot, envelopes with envelopes, folders with all the other folders, stuff like that. When I do this at home, my husband likes to joke and say that I “Taraized” something. The poor man comes home from work and tries to help me, only to be completely lost with where everything is in the house because I decided to Spring Clean. I like to tell him that I’m keeping him on his toes, but I’m slowly helping him go down the road of madness, as all people do to their loved ones.

God has a big “To Do” list when it comes to spring cleaning. Think about it. Snow needs to melt, grass needs to grow, flowers need to bloom, birds need to sing, the sun needs to shine, the temperature needs to rise, so much needs to be done and yet we all take this for granted. It’s going to happen sooner or later. We always hope it’s a lot sooner than later, but God will get to his list when the time is right. So we may have a couple more snow storms and more days when the temperature doesn’t go over freezing, but God will be Spring Cleaning soon and we will be rewarded. And while we wait for things to warm up, nothing will be out of place and we won’t be driven to madness looking for where Spring is being kept.

  Plans are underway for a New Membership Class to be held after Easter in April. If you are participating in the life of the Hammond Presbyterian Church and would like to officially join this congregation, please let our church secretary Tara know. Please stay tuned to learn the details of when this class will be offered and what it will include. 

  Anyone interested in assisting with church repairs and maintenance we will be holding a meeting of the minds of March 28th at 10am in the chapel to discuss needed repairs and making plans to make our church beautiful again. Contact Ann Root at 315-783-0831 with any questions. Hope to see you there. Thank you.

 Just a reminder that March 2nd will be our Last Mindfulness Meditation class (from 6-7pm) until further notice. Thank you to all who came and please keep your eyes peeled for when we will begin our classes again. 

  The annual Per Capita Assessment is based on the membership reported by each church. The 2020 Per Capita fee for our Presbytery has been confirmed at $30.00. Each per capita payment is divided, with $8.95 for General Assembly, $4.10 for the Synod of the North East, and $16.95 going to the Presbytery of Northern New York.

Many members of our church have already made their per capita payments. Our Church must pay per capita for each member, whether or not the member pays us. Your contribution helps Hammond Presbyterian Church cover our portion. Per Capita payments can be mailed to the church or dropped in the Offering with “Per Capita” written in the memo line. If you have any questions about Per Capita, please contact Tara in the church office. Thank you!