Fellowship/CE .....................2-5
Mission ................................... 7
Youth ...................................... 6
Birthdays/Milestones .............. 7
A Publication of The Presbyterian Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia Lamp Led by the Holy Spirit, we glorify, nurture, witness.
May 2018
Pentecost “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one
place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a
violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Di-
vided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on
each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” (Acts 2:1-4)
Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day after Easter and marks the end of seven
weeks of jubilation; and yet, Pentecost is not a closing celebration – it is
the beginning – the beginning of a community being called and empow-
ered to testify to the Risen Lord in their world.
In the story of Pentecost, Acts 2:1-13, God gives to the community the
gift of the Holy Spirit to empower witnesses to the resurrection. Once
again we hear that through God ALL things are made possible – including
a faith community spreading across the continents. Pentecost is a call to
action – the gift of the Holy Spirit moves the disciples out of the comfort
of their meeting place into the world.
Our journey through Lent and our celebration of Eastertide has laid the
foundation and given us the tools we need, that we may be ready when
the Spirit rushes in to empower us and move us out of the comfortable
places where we like to be (and where we’d like to remain).
So where are you going? Where is the Risen Lord calling you to wit-
ness to the Resurrection? How is God calling the church today to break
down barriers that separate people and nations?
Let’s explore these questions together. See you in worship!
Yours,
Sunday, June 3. Everyone is
invited. Early worshipers may get
their food starting at 11:30 a.m.
with 11:00 worshipers to follow
when worship is over.
Chicken tenders and beverages
Education Committee. Members
salad, or dessert. Singles and
couples bring one dish and families
of 3 or more bring two dishes.
The Spring Gathering of PW in the
Presbytery of the James on May 5 will
be at First Presbyterian Church in
Hopewell, Virginia, from 9:30 a.m. to
1:00 p.m. Registration begins at 8:30
am. Ed Lyons, the Persecution
Project’s Director of Ministry
Advancement, will be the mission
speaker, and will share information
about Dignity Kits and other medical
services offered by this global
organization. Our church’s Spring
Gathering Offering in support of Dignity
Kits will be received during the Worship
service. For more information please
contact Patricia Langfitt, Area 8 Leader
Presbytery of the James (540-370-4489,
dplangfitt@aol.com). Several women
gathering.
May 14-17 Trip Info The Prime Timers & Empty Nesters
bound for Philadelphia, Winterthur,
BJ’s Wholesale, 3985 Plank Road, at
7:45 a.m. on Monday, May 14.
Please park in the lower parking lot
on the right side of the store. The
group will return around 4:00 p.m. on
Thursday, May 17. The trip will
include a tour and stops in historic
Philadelphia including the National
and a tour of Winderthur, the home of
Henry Francis du Pont.
draw to a close on Confirmation
Sunday, May 13, at the 11:00 a.m.
service. On Sunday, May 6, the
Explorers and their Covenant Partners
will have their last class. In this time
together, they will write and share their
own personal faith statements. In the
evening at 6:00 p.m., the Explorers will
meet with the Session in the Middle
House at 6:00 p.m. The Explorers and
Elders will be placed in small groups
to share about the confirmation
experience, thoughts and insights about
their Christian journeys, and what it
means to be a member of a church.
Parents and Covenant Partners are in-
vited to come at 6:45 p.m. for a small
reception in the Church House.
Please be in prayer for our explorers
as they come to the end of the Confir-
mation experience and begin a new part
of their Christian Journey. They are:
Nellie Kate Dameron, Kate Doherty,
Katie Fidler, Alex Fino, Grace Fino,
Evan Foresman, Stephen Gloyd, Eva
Lewis, Sam Lewis, Bailey Nance, and
Barbara Nance. Continue to pray for
our Explorers, their families, and Cove-
nant Partners.
Presbyterian Women
organized a church-wide outing on
Saturday, June 23. Come and enjoy a
day at the ballpark as the Washington
Nationals take on the Philadelphia
Phillies. The first pitch is scheduled for
4:05 p.m. and tickets are limited.
Please contact Scott Fischer to reserve
yours today! Cost of each ticket is $30. Know Your Neighbor All members are invited to the
Know Your Neighbor: An Interfaith
Gathering on Sunday, May 6, from
3:00-5:00 p.m. at Beth Sholom
Temple, 805 Lyons Blvd, across
from the Powell Library off of
Route 17.
will host our church and the Islamic
Center of Fredericksburg. We will
see the Scrolls, hear about faith
practices, have questions answered,
for youth only. During this time,
children will have guided activities
in the atrium. All are welcomed to
this time of fellowship and relation-
ship building. If you have
questions, please get in touch with
Jen Rowe, Anders Pedersen, Bill
Nix, or Bruce Harvey.
Wednesday Fellowship Make plans to join us on May 9,
for the 2nd Wednesday Fellowship.
We will have an Outdoor Party with
Energizers, Games, and Circle
enjoy sub sandwiches from
Wednesday fellowship of the year.
All are invited to our
birthday celebration of Presbyterian
catered luncheon in the Fellowship Hall
at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 22. Our
guest speaker will be Peggy Jones who
will speak on her mission work with
World Gospel Outreach (WGO). WGO
has a three-fold purpose to serve and
reach the poor for Christ in Honduras
and Belize, to provide care for
displaced or abandoned children, and to
provide opportunities for the North
American Church to experience the joy
that comes through serving. Contact
your circle leader, or Debe Garrison,
898-0253, (garrison.debe@gmail.com)
to contribute to the 2018 Birthday
Offering in support of mission projects
not included in on-going General
Assembly mission support.
Tiny-house Community for Low-
gon: Cottage Village will provide qual-
ity, affordable housing and a safe,
structured social community for
very low incomes. The grant will be
used to help build 13 tiny houses and a
central shared-use area that will serve
as a compassionate and protective
community for vulnerable rural citizens.
Village of Grace Center for Physical
and Spiritual Health, Tegucigalpa,
to purchase the Village of Grace Center
for Physical and Spiritual Health near
Tegucigalpa. Originally established by
Presbyterian mission co-workers, the
Presbyterian Women in Honduras. It
will offer international hospitality for
retreats, workshops and mission teams
from the PC(USA), Solar Under the
Sun and Living Waters for the World.
The Dwelling Place, located in
Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota,
was established in 1998 to provide for
the physical, emotional and spiritual
needs of women and their children
following their escape from a violent
partner. Transitional housing,
will construct a multi-use building with
spaces suitable for large and small
group programming, one-on-one case
staff offices. With the additional build-
ing, The Dwelling Place will be able to
serve even more women and children
who are seeking safety.
Mark your Calendar - A Women’s Re- treat at Camp Hanover will be held
September 21-22. “Do you need to gain
a different perspective of the path on
which God has placed your feet?”
Patricia Boord, a former FBI agent and
2017 World Classic Bench Press
Champion, will share her story of her
physical and faith transformation that
steered her toward a higher perspective
of God’s hand in her life. In this Faith
Journey Workshop, Pat creates
the question above. The cost is $60 per
person and includes lodging and three
meals. Call (804) 779-2811 for more
info and you may register online at
www.CampHanover.org/register.
Gail McGhee’s home, leader Trudy
McNatt, 373-2852
Parlor, leaders Kathryn Hower,
361-7435 & Gale Kehoe, 371-4570
Parlor, leaders Patti Kerns 786-2861 &
Susie Davis 656-2055
Conference Room, leader Jeanne
Johnson, 639-4700 & Barbara Gary,
ers Heather Eland, 737-4449, Robin
Joel, 229-1421, Rachel Hole, 903-0677
Spring PW Mission Lunch 2018.
A fun morning of sewing and
fellowship followed by a soup
lunch was held in March. A
video was shown which explained
the santi-panty mission project
completed.
Page 4 The Lamp The Presbyter ian Church
Rise Against Hunger ~ Update It is with great pleasure that we announce the destination of the Rise Against
Hunger meals you helped package on February 4, 2018. A shipping container,
holding 285,120 meals, has been sent to Haiti for our partner Hopestart
International, Inc.
Hopestart International, Inc. is an organization that nourishes lives through
food assistance and other services in Haiti. To learn more, please visit our part-
ner/country spotlight on the Impact Stories tab and click and drag on our World
Aid Map at https://www.riseagainsthunger.org/world-aid/.
Rise Against Hunger Richmond
Pentecost Offering The Pentecost Offering helps our youth begin life with a strong start—a solid
foundation of faith formed in the first third of life, from childhood through
youth adulthood.
Each year on Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and
the birthday of the church. The Holy Spirit remains with us still, connecting us
with the church of the past, continuing to inspire the church of today, and
pointing us to the church of the future. Each year, this celebration is marked by
receiving the Pentecost Offering, which nurtures the faith of those who are the
church to come—children, youth and young adult.
Psalm 71 testifies that a foundation of faith established during childhood
helps ensure lifelong faith and service. The patterns and lessons established
during these formative years continue to bear fruit throughout a person’s life.
By giving to the Pentecost Offering, our congregation participates in helping
children, youth , and young adults grow up to proclaim with the Psalmist, “O
God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous
deeds.” (From Pentecost Offering booklet).
This PC (USA) offering supports Young Adult Volunteers (25%) who serve
around the world in many different ministries each year. We have had several
from our church serve in this way. It assists in Guiding Youth (25%) by
supporting a number of youth ministry programs in the PC (USA) including the
Youth Triennium. The offering goes to support “Educate a Child, Transform
the World” an initiative of the PC (USA) to help motivate and inspire over 1
million youth by 2020 through child advocacy (10%). Locally, 40% will go to
support Stafford Food Security, which provides the bags and food supplies for
the school feeding program. They assist 43 schools in Stafford County, 9 in
Spotsylvania, and 2 in the city of Fredericksburg.
Your prayers and support for the Pentecost Offering are very much
appreciated. Envelopes for the offering will be in the pews during May, and in
your offering envelope boxes.
dates are: April 21, May 19, and
June 16. Contact Karen Johnson
if you would like to help,
(540) 621-5685,
contributed to the One Great Hour
of Sharing Offering - $6517.00.
Haiti – A Land of Challenges,
A Land of Opportunity When we count our blessings, most of us do not usually
include some of the simplest of life’s commodities among
them – things like clean water, sanitary waste systems, a
morsel to eat, basic transportation, a safe and clean place to
live and sleep, a government to protect us. Yet for most of
the people of Haiti, each day is filled with challenges to
obtain just these most basic of life’s necessities.
Americans, even the most needy among us, rarely if ever
face the day to day challenges to simply survive that many
Haitians do. When Jesus saw the people around him in
need, both those of his own culture as well as those of
foreign cultures, he had pity and compassion on them
(Matthew 9:36). He helped them.
Since 2012, our church has been an active supporter of
our Presbytery and their sponsorship of a missionary,
Cindy Corell, to Haiti. This past February, our Presbytery
sent a delegation to Haiti to witness firsthand the work that
Cindy and our church has undertaken there. Barry Jones of
our congregation was part of this delegation. Being able to
experience alongside the Haitians not only their challenges
but also their hopes and aspirations is a transformational
experience. One cannot avoid being moved by their
resilience and their determination to make a life for
themselves, in spite of the challenges. Part of their hope
stems from projects that we have sponsored and supported:
home gardens to provide not only subsistence food but
also crops to sell in the local markets; cisterns to collect
rainwater for both drinking and irrigation; seed banks to
securely store seeds for upcoming seasons that are immune
from the ravages of both pests and storms; and relief
efforts to restore normalcy after severe weather that
disrupts their homes and crops. These are some of the
ways that we, the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg,
have helped to provide hope and have shown compassion
and Christ-like mercy to those in need in Haiti.
Our work in Haiti is important. Each of us is encouraged
to pray for all of those in need and to consider how we (the
“haves”) can help them (the “have nots”). We can each
look for ways to learn more about Haiti and its challenges
and opportunities by reading, by listening, by studying and
by visiting them. Our Presbytery sends delegations to Haiti
frequently and extends a welcome to others who wish to
learn more about Haiti on a personal level. Consider being
a member of a future delegation. Meanwhile pray and
learn. To learn more about what our church is doing in
Haiti, talk to Bill Nix, Barry Jones or any member of the
Mission Committee.
“When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne…..
34 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come,
O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry
and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and
you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in
prison and you came to me.’ ... ‘Truly, I say to you, as you
did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to
me.’” (Mat 25:31,34-36,40 RSV)
YOUTH Fellowship @ TPCYOUTH Fellowship @ TPC Youth Fellowship Events Middle School Youth
May 6 - It’s that time of year again. Join us as we walk
to Carl’s for a sweet treat!
May 13 - No Youth Fellowship (Mother’s Day)
May 20 - You’ll want to join our Scavenger Hunt,
featuring a very special Guest Advisor!
May 27 - Congratulations to all our graduates! We’ll be
saying “farewell” to all of our 8th graders!
June 3 - Join us as we welcome all rising 5th graders to
Middle School Youth Fellowship! This will be our
last regularly scheduled Youth Fellowship meeting
until September.
Recent Visit to PC(USA) Office of Public Witness By David Peterson
On March 7, seven of us including Pastor Tamminga, traveled to Washington DC to meet with Rev. Jimmy Hawkins
and other staff at the PC(USA) Office of Public Witness - Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministries. Located next to the
Supreme Court building and immediately across the street from the US Capitol building, the Office heads our denomina-
tion’s presence and witness to our national government.
This was a follow-up to last year’s Lenten series on The Church in the Public Square -Racism in America, at which
Rev. Hawkins was one of the primary speakers, and the continuation of explorations in a fall semester Adult Church
School class led by Alexandra Spaulding and Pastor Tamminga. That class utilized two books: Between the World and
Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Waking Up White by Debby Irving.
The visit was also an outgrowth of a need identified at the conclusion of the Lenten series, to be better informed about
actions and positions of our larger church, expressed through votes of our General Assembly and actualized by our de-
nomination’s offices and agencies. Reverend Hawkins emphasized that the Office of Public Witness takes positions and
advocates only as authorized by the positions taken by our General Assemblies (223rd General Assembly meets in St.
Louis June 16-23, 2018).
I would encourage you who wish more information to contact the Office of Public Witness at bit.ly/PCUSAOPW.
To sign up to receive Action Alerts: capwiz.com/pcusa/mlm/signup
To read a recent posting regarding the death of Stephon Clark: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/opw/2018/03/29/justice-for-stephonclark/.
Art Exhibit Sophie Pineda will be having her first art show at Chil-
dren’s National Medical Center on Saturday, May 19, from
2:00 - 5:00 p.m. in the main atrium. Thirty pieces of her art
will be exhibited in their “gallery” space for 3 months.
High School Youth
May 6 - Warmer weather is finally here! We’re going
to soak in the evening sun with games in the park!
May 13 - No Youth Fellowship (Mother’s Day)
May 20 - It’s that time of year again. Join us as we
walk to Carl’s for a sweet treat!
May 27 - Congratulations to all our graduates! Don’t
miss saying “farewell” to all of our Seniors!
June 3 - Join us as we welcome all rising 8th graders to
High School Youth Fellowship! This will be our last
regularly scheduled Youth Fellowship meeting until
Chuck Penick, Gina Whitticar
4. Sarah Hancock
Elizabeth Turner
9. Anna Carelock, Mary Lou Cramer
10. Eva Lewis, Samuel Lewis, Frank Miraglia
11. Mary Kate Herndon, Gordon Nash, Willy Werner
12. Garrett John
Morgan Veil, Cole Young
Thomas Ellis, Connie Gibbons, Rebecca Hamlett,
Jakob Hughes, Alexis Loder, Jamie Loder
15. James Campbell, Caeden Ribel
16. Erin Godshall, Peg Langdon, Jessica Nix
17. Carole Green
18. Ken Leimer
Phil Miller, Ryan Sweet
Benjamin Smith, Katie Werner
24. John Fartro, Jane Johnson, Becca Mahon
25. Gale Kehoe
Jerry Zekert
Karoline Rheborg
Will Toler
31. Matt Bohmke, Jim Gaines
Marjolijn Bijlefeld Matt Bohmke Kurt Chewning John Conway Steve Davis Erik Fino Piper Foresman
Vanessa Huffman Ralph Lewis Brian Liska James Luckett Sammy Merrill Nils Pedersen Diane Peterson
Ashley Raska Jen Rowe Beth Valasko Jeremy Vaughn Joel Young
2017-2018 Session
Moderator – Rev. Allen H. Fisher, Jr., Pastor Associate Pastor – Rev. Brittany Tamminga Clerk of Session – Tamie Pratt-Fartro
Milestones Capsule of Concern: Amanda Hild,
Clark Hower, Doris Johnson, Billie
Plank, Paul Ludwig, Bob Piersall,
Kay Roscoe
Barbara Howe and family on the death of her sister,
Diane Portner, who died on March 28, 2018;
The Rev. Allen H. Fisher, Jr. and family on the death of
his mother, Helen, who died on March 29, 2018.
Page 7 The Lamp The Presbyter ian Church
Elders
School Dressing Days SDD is coming in August. This program assists families
in our community with new clothes, school supplies, and
toiletries for the new school year.
Our church has been asked to donate new and gently used
hoodies, tennis shoes of all sizes for boys and girls, flats for
teenage girls, and 3-ring binder notebooks. You may bring
items to the church and place them in the bins outside the
Sanctuary or in the Lobby in the Education building.
Monetary donations are also welcomed. If you would like
to volunteer to help sort through inventory as preparations
are made for the event dates in August and/or volunteer for
the event, please be in touch with Becky Paul at
bcmrpaul@cox.net.
School Dressing Days Fundraiser A fundraiser for School Dressing Days will be held at
Harry’s Ale House, 5737 Plank Rd, Fredericksburg 22407
(Harrison Crossing Shopping Center) all day Monday, May
7. We will get $2 from each Charity Steak dinner sold that
day. The cost of the dinner is $7.99 and includes steak,
mashed potatoes, and vegetable. Last year we raised $400
from this fundraiser.
Can You Help?
We are looking for people who would like to help in one or more of the following ways. Please check
all activities in which you would like to become involved, and provide your name, phone number and/or email, and
return to the church office. You may also call the office to let us know where you would like to serve.
Preparing the Sanctuary for Worship (Sanctuary Guild)
Greeter 1st Service 2nd Service
Usher 1st Service 2nd Service
Elevator Assistant 1st Service 2nd Service
Be a lay reader/liturgist
Help in the nursery