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First Presbyterian Church is an inclusive community of faith called to proclaim the good news of the love of Jesus Christ for all people, and to join God in the building of a just, peaceful, and compassionate world..

First Presbyterian Church 1328 Griffith Avenue Owensboro, KY 42301

May the peace of Christ be with you!

2019 Community Lenten Service Schedule

DATE CHURCH PREACHER

Wednesday

March 6 @ 12:00 Settle Memorial UMC Rev. Karla Fullwood

March 6 First Presbyterian Church Rev. Chris Michael

Tuesday

March 12 Asbury UMC Rev. Jane Rothman

March 19 Unity Fellowship Rev. Betty Sivis

March 26 Century Christian Church Rev. Kathy Goodwin

April 2 Faith Lutheran Church Rev. Bob Coons

April 9 First Christian Church Rev. Christine Coy Fohr

Unless otherwise noted, all services are at 6:30 with a meal offered at 5:45. Please see page 3 for additional information.

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In this Issue

Page

1 From Christine

1 Quote of the Month

2 Birthdays/Anniversaries

2 Session Highlights

2 Committee Highlights

3 Meet Your New Leaders

4 Rwanda Mission Trip

4 Not So Newlywed Nite

4 911 Program

4 Lenten Meal Dates

4 Coming March/April

5 December Highlights

5 Guest Preacher

5 Pastor’s Book Group

5 Liturgist Meeting

6 Sunday School

6 Join a Group!

6 Fellowship

6 Weekly Prayer Meeting

7 February Calendar

8 Souper Bowl of Caring

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This January, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo premiered on Netflix. It fol-lows the journeys of people seeking to clean up the clutter in their lives. One episode features a couple overwhelmed with their children’s toys. Another shows a family trying to downsize after moving from a large house to a smaller home. In a particularly touching episode, a woman tries to clean out her house following her husband’s death. In each episode, Marie Kondo gently walks these people through the overwhelming task of cleaning out their lives. Kondo’s method, called the konmari method, is very intentional. She asks people to work in categories, dealing with clothing, books, papers, miscellane-ous household items, and finally, sentimental items. As people go through the process of tidying up, she encourages them to hold each item and ask them-selves the question: Does this item spark joy? If it does, you keep it. If it does not, you need to let it go. Her method has caused a sensation. Even before the show, Kondo had achieved a celebrity status with konmari followers the world over. With this show, though, thrift stores now find themselves at their max as people the world over embark on her method. But what’s most impressive is just how free people feel after going through the process. They feel free to move forward with their lives because they are unburdened by the “stuff” that had been holding them back. Maybe it’s just because I’m a minister, but it seems to me that there is a spiritual lesson in all of this. And I think Lent is a great time to explore it. This month we enter the season of Lent – a time when people of faith are invited into a deeper practice of intentionality. Some people give things up. Some take things on. Some add practices to their prayer life. Last year, during the season of Lent, many in our church embarked on the journey of reading the Bible in 90 days. This year, it just so happens that our lectionary readings for each Sunday invite us into a process of evaluating our faith lives – tidying them up – so that we can embrace the joy of Easter when it comes. Lent begins March 6th with Ash Wednesday. What would it look like for you to take on a Lenten discipline of tidying up? Maybe you would find renew-al by going through a konmari kind of process in your home. But what might it mean spiritually? Consider these questions:

• What in your spiritual life brings you joy & brings you closer to God? • What part of your spiritual life feels like a burden? • What might be holding you back from finding joy in your faith journey? • What part of your faith – maybe some fear, doubt or worry – is keeping

you from embracing God’s amazing grace? • What spiritual baggage is unhelpful or needs to be “tidied up” so that

you can welcome the good news of Easter? This Lent, consider how a little tidying up might help you find a deeper faith and with it, a deeper sense of joy.

“People of Grace” A monthly newsletter for First Presbyterian Church

March 2019

Christ beside me, Christ before me; Christ behind me, Christ within me; Christ beneath me, Christ above me.

Saint Patrick

Christine

Quote of the Month

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Christian Education

• Safe Child Policy and Response Teams being formed

• Summer VBS will be June 10-14

• Easter Egg Hunt will be in the afternoon on Palm Sunday 3:00 –5:00

• Children’s Choir sang Feb 10th

Congregational Care

• Receptions/Meals served for four

funerals

Congregational Life

• Hosting Ash Wednesday Meal Mar 6

• Bowling Party March 17th

Finance

• Three volunteers needed for our internal audit

• Volunteers also needed for stew-ardship and budget planning

• Met with Lisa Longo, Ministry Relations Officer for the Presby-terian Foundation, in late January

Mission

• Service Worship March 24th

• Next Pitino Meal is March 31st

Outreach & Evangelism

• Visitors in January - 4

• New Members class being

planned for spring

• March 17 Extended Table will be

at Bar Louie

Personnel

• Staff goal setting continues with

new co-moderators

Birthdays

A

1 Larry Yates

4 Barbara Sharp

4 Reid Thomas

4 Flor Bravo

4 Brissa Gonzalez

5 Kristin Jansing

5 Matthew Griffith

6 Glenn Young

7 Linda Morris

7 William Harrison

9 Bill Duncan

10 Marisue Coy

10 John William Hall

10 Pei-Pei Lin

11 Nancy Kramer

11 Kellie Schmeal

13 Collin Jones

14 Mel LeClear

14 Grace Thacker

16 Pat Taylor

19 Bob Smith

20 Jane Stevenson

21 Elizabeth LeClear

22 Margaret Clancy West

22 Meredith Zengel

25 Jeanne Park

25 Karen Sanders

27 Doug Black

28 Pat Corkran

28 Allison Bates

28 Tom Payne

30 Edna Horrell

30 Emma Jane Kirkland

31 Alex Bates

Anniversaries

12 Esther & Bill Jansing

16 Delmi Bravo & Yimer Gonzalez

20 Anne & Bryan Leazanby

28 Patricia & Kevin Smeathers .

February Session Highlights

Committee Highlights

Property

• Approved placing restored stained glass window in Yunker

Chapel

Worship & Music

• Attendance in January: 6-119; 13-135; 20-canceled; 27-127

• Liturgist training held Feb 17

• Gifts of Women to be Mar 3

Deacons

• Home communion served on sec-ond Sundays

• Visits continue

• Next meeting is March 6

Pastor’s Report

• 20 pastoral care meetings

• Coordinated funerals for Wait-

man Taylor, Kay Hamby, Carol Norris, Jim Anderson and Betty Anne Taylor

• Participated in Prayer Service for Christian Unity service at Saint

Stephen’s Cathedral

• Led film discussion on racism in

America for MLK Day

• Hosted the Owensboro/Daviess

County Ministerial Association meeting at First Presbyterian

• Attended our Presbytery’s Com-mission on Ministry meeting

• Attended committee meetings

• Led Coffee Cup Theology, Prayer

and Spiritual Formation groups

• Session approved baptism of Ava Williams, Valerie & Chuck Holcomb’s granddaughter on March 24

• Session voted to have our second Service Worship Sunday on March 24

March

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March 2019

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1 2

3 Celebrate the

Gifts of Women Sunday

11:30 Worship & Christian Education Meetings

4 12:00 Congrega-tional Life Mtg

5 8:45 Staff Mtg

6 Ash Wednesday

9:00 PWS Board 10:00 Book Grp

3:00 Coffee Cup 4:00 Prayer Grp

5:45/6:30 Lenten Dinner & Ash Wednes-day Service

7 4:00 Finance Meeting

8 9

10

3:00 New Member 4:00 Spiritual Formation 4:15 Children’s Choir 5:00 Dinner 5:00 Youth 5:30 Tweens

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6:00 Session

12 8:45 Staff Mtg 10:30 Lydia Circle 5:45/6:30 Lenten Dinner & Service 7:00 KWC Choir Concert

13 10:00 Book Grp

3:00 Coffee Cup 4:00 Prayer Grp

6:30 Choir

14 6:00 SpiritLifters

15 6:00 Church Night Out

16 8:30 - 11:30 Church Work Day

17 St. Patrick’s Day

10:30 Celtic Service 11:30 Extended Table 1:30 - 3:00 Bowling @ Diamond Lanes Midtown 3:00 New Member

18 19 8:45 Staff Mtg 10:30 PrimeTimers 5:45/6:30 Lenten Dinner & Service

20

10:00 Book Grp

3:00 Coffee Cup 4:00 Prayer Grp 6:00 Healing & Wholeness Ser-vice

6:30 Choir

21

10:00 PW Coor-dinating Team 3:00 Personnel Mtg

22 23

6:30am Meet @ church for Ani-mal Shelter

National

Puppy Day

24 Service Worship Sunday 10:30 Sanctuary for Service Worship 4:00 Spiritual Formation 4:15 Children’s Choir 5:00 Dinner 5:00 Youth 5:30 Tweens

25 26

8:45 Staff Mtg 4:00 Property Mtg

5:45/6:30 Lenten Dinner & Service

27 8:30 Outreach Mtg 10:00 Book Grp

3:00 Coffee Cup 4:00 Prayer Grp

6:30 Choir

28 4:00 Finance Mtg

29 30

31 Pitino Meal

Every Sunday

9:00 Nursery Available 10:00 Fellowship 9:00 Spanish Worship 10:30 Worship 9:30 Sunday School

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Join One of our Study Groups!

Children’s Sunday School (preschool - 5th grade) Begins at 9:30 in the first floor Kindergarten Room.

NEW Youth Sunday School - Beyond These Walls Meets at 9:30 and will travel to a mystery spot each week for breakfast, learning & fellowship.

The Adult Sunday School Class Meets at 9:30 in the Gardenside Parlor to look at topics related to church, Bible, and current events.

The Men’s Bible Class Meets at 9:30 downstairs and uses The Present Word literature.

Spanish Language Worship Group Meets at 9:00 in the Chapel. All are invited.

Sunday School

SpiritLifters - an adult dinner group Thursday, March 14, 6:00 pm Restaurant: Niko’s Italian Cuisine 2200 E. Parrish Ave. RSVP to Jerry Price (502) 553-9126, kyprice@outlook.com

PrimeTimers - an older adult (50+) lunch/program & activities group Tuesday, March 19, 10:30 am

Program: Obi Todd will speak about nature RSVP to Charlotte Puckett Charlotte214050@yahoo.com 270-926-2532

Church Night Out - a younger adult dinner group Friday, March 15, 6:00 pm Restaurant: Famous Bistro RSVP to Christine Coy Fohr ccoyfohr@gmail.com

The Extended Table - an all-church lunch Sunday, March 17 after worship Restaurant: Bar Louie 234 Frederica St. No RSVP needed

Fellowship

Spiritual Formation This group meets the 2nd and 4th Sunday and is open to all women. They discuss topics of interest from books, videos, and other resources. Usually meets 2nd and 4th Sundays Dates: March 10, 24 Reading: Love Wins by Rob Bell

Lydia Circle This is our Presbyterian Women’s (PW) Group also open to all women. They meet monthly from Sept. to June and use the PW bible study each year. Meets Second Tuesdays at 10:30 Date: March 12 Reading: God’s Promise: I Am With You Lesson 7

Wednesday Book Group This weekly book group, led by David Searles, selects books to read and discuss one or two chapters a week. All are welcome. Meets Wednesdays at 10:00 am Dates: March 6, 13, 20, 27 Reading: The Last Week by Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan

Coffee Cup Theology This group discusses the coming Sunday’s lectionary scriptures. All are welcome. Meets Wednesdays at 3:00 pm Dates: March 6, 13, 20, 27 Discussion: Sunday Lectionary

Pastor’s Study Group Each month, Christine selects a book that is timely yet not too long. We then meet on the 4th Thursday of the month to discuss. All are welcome. Meets: Thursday, April 11 Reading: The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan

PW Coordinating Team Meets 3rd Thursday every other month at 10:00 Date: Thursday, March 21st

Weekly Prayer Meeting

As a community of love and care, we gather to be in prayer for one another on Wednes-days at 4:00 in the Gardenside Parlor. Just come if you would like to pray with us. We lift each person up in prayer and sign prayer cards to be mailed. Email Christine and your per-son or request will be included. March 6, 13, 20,27.

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Community Lenten Services

Ash Wednesday Help

On Wednesday evening, March 6th, our church will again be hosting Ash Wednesday dinner and service. This means the Congregational Life Committee will be needing some assistance. This year the meals will be lighter and we will be serving to-

mato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. The Con-gregational Life Committee asks members to bring homemade bakery style cookies for the meal. In addi-tion, the committee could use some additional help in setting up, serving and taking down. Please contact Ellen Sweet if you are interested in helping.

This year we are happy to again be part of the Owensboro Communi-ty Lenten Series with nine other congregations in our community. Each week in Lent, we will travel to another congregation to break bread and participate in worship together. While services have previously been held on Wednesday evenings, this year the services (apart from Ash

Wednesday) will be held on Tuesdays. The first services will be held on Ash Wednesday, March 6th. Settle Memorial will host a noon service with lunch following. The evening service will be hosted by our congregation, with dinner at 5:45 and the service at 6:30. Please see the note below from the Congregational Life Committee about ways you can help with this service.

The remaining midweek services will be on Tuesdays, with a light meal served at 5:45 and a service at 6:30. Please see the back cover (p. 8) for location and preacher for each week.

It is very helpful to churches to know how much food to prepare, so please be sure to RSVP to Sasha by the Friday before the service for each week. Cost will be $5.00 per person, with the total never to exceed $12.00 per family.

A Service for Healing and Wholeness will be held on Wednesday, March 20th at 6:00pm in the chapel. These ser-vices offer a space where every-

one can bring their longings and pains before God, knowing that God is always at work in the world for reconciliation and wholeness. We hope that everyone will feel welcome to attend, whether bringing prayers for themselves or on behalf of a friend or loved one.

Service of Healing & Wholeness

Gifts of Women - March 3rd

On March 3rd, Presbyterian Women will mark Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday, which is an annual service to honor the contributions of women to the church. This year, the theme for

the service is “The Grace of God Has No Bounda-ries.” Throughout the service, we will honor women who exhibit the grace that knows no boundaries, celebrating women—both of the present and of the past—who have helped to broaden our knowledge of God’s grace and goodness. Let us come together to celebrate those women who have and who continue to teach us about God.

Celtic Service - March 17th

This year, St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday. Because of this, our worship leaders have decided to plan the service for that Sunday with music and liturgy that comes from our

Irish and Celtic Christian traditions. Plans are still being made, but we are hoping to have a few guest instrumentalists who will help make the service com-plete. Be sure to mark your calendars and wear your green!

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February Highlights

Guest Pastor Ken Dick Children’s Choir Not So Newlywed Game Night Malcolm Coy Baptism

The Pastor’s Book Group will be reading The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan for the season of Lent. Everyone is invited to read the book and join for discussion just before Holy Week on April 11th at 11:00 am.

Using the gospel of Mark, the authors present a day-by-day account of Jesus’s final week of life. These top scholars begin their story on Palm Sunday with two triumphal entries into Jerusalem. The first entry, that of Roman governor Pontius Pilot leading Roman soldiers, symbolizing military strength. The second heralded a new kind of moral hero who was praised by the people as he rode in on a humble don-key. The Jesus introduced by Borg and Crossan is the new moral hero, a more dangerous Jesus than the one enshrined in the church's traditional teachings.

If you would rather discuss the book chapter-by-chapter, consider joining the Wednesday Book Group, which will also be reading this book for Lent. They meet each Wednesday at 10:00 am, and will begin this book on March 6th. Please consider joining one or both of these options.

Pastor’s Book Group

Coming in April

Service Worship March 24th

April 14 Palm Sunday & Easter Egg Hunt

April 18 Maundy Thursday

April 19 Good Friday

April 20 Easter Vigil

April 21 Easter

Our next Service Worship Sunday will be March 24th. Once again we will gather in the sanctuary at 10:30 where we will have a short service before our commissioning to go out into the community and continue our worship through service. While several of the service pro-jects will be the same as last summer, a few added projects include yard clean-up and a new packaging project to replace our school supplies for the start of the school year. A few projects will be available outside of the Sunday morning hour, so even if you are unable to attend on March 24th, you can still participate. These include cooking at the Pitino Shelter, which will take place the following Sunday (March 31st) and working at the Daviess County Animal Shelter (see note below). Sign-up sheets will be available at the church in the coming weeks. If you have any questions, you can contact Bill Jansing.

Note for Saturday Animal Shelter Service

Our service to the Daviess County Animal Con-trol Shelter will be on Saturday, March 23rd (because they are closed on Sunday). We will meet first at the church and then will go together to the animal shelter.

The shelter requires that all volunteers must complete a volunteer registration form. Those un-der 18 must have their parents sign it. All forms need to be completed and returned to the church of-fice before the work day. Forms are available on the hallway table. If you have questions, contact Steph-anie Dube.

Service Worship

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Plan to come to this special opportunity to hear our Music Director, Dennis Jewett, lead the Wesleyan Singers in a special one-night only concert.

Tuesday March 12th 7:00 pm

First Presbyterian Church Sanctuary

In Memoriam

KWC Wesleyan Singers Concert

Youth Mission & Retreat 2019

Bowling on St. Paddy’s Day!

On Sunday, February 17th, our Youth hosted a spaghetti dinner and the “Not So Newlywed Game” where they raised $320 for two trips this year:

Cedar Camp and Con-ference Center, Lithia FL June 16-24: Located

southeast of Tampa, FL. They will work with Beth-El Farm workers Ministry which supports 500-700 families weekly with fresh food and other products required for healthy living. They will also help lead a vacation bible school and do some home repairs for area families. The conference center has swim-ming, climbing wall and zip line to enjoy and even-ing group worship. Their last day will be a beach trip on the Gulf of Mexio!

Let Love Lead, Montreat Youth Conference July 7-

13: The conference includes keynotes, small groups, worship and recreation, all designed to equip our youth to make tangible changes within themselves and the community. They will hear their peers’ voic-es and use their own. This affirming atmosphere will enable them to embrace the unknown and further develop their faith.

The Congregational Life Committee invites everyone to come out for an afternoon of bowling on Sunday, March 17 from 1:30 –3:00 at Diamond Lanes Midtown (1901 Triplett

Street).

The cost to bowl is free, apart from $1 for shoes. Children 8 years old and under may bowl with bump-ers. Please call the church office to let Sasha know if you can attend and how many in your group are 8 or under. Skill is not important - this is all about fun!

Carolyn Sue Hamby

November 23, 1933 - February 4, 2019

Betty Anne Taylor

December 14, 1929 - February 15, 2019

Dr. James Edgar Anderson

September 16, 1931 - February 15, 2019 Carol Ann Norris

December 3, 1937 - February 15, 2019

New Member Class

A New Member Class will begin this month for anyone interested consid-ering membership in the church. Meet-ings will be at 3:00 on March 10th and

24th in the parlor. We will learn about our denomina-tion and our particular church, and will answer any questions people might have. If you are interested in attending, please contact Christine to let her know.