Pastor`s Message

MARCH, 2014
Pastor’s Message
WHAT’S INSIDE
PASTOR’S MESSAGE 1
WE GATHER TOGETHER 2
OUR CHURCH FAMILY 2
FAMILY MINISTRIES 3
HAITI UPDATE 4
NEWS AND NOTES 5
MARCH CALENDAR 9
Have you noticed lately how many words surround us each day? Signs on the
road and in stores, websites, text messages, emails, newspapers (we still get
the paper kind), shows on TV where there is a constant ticker tape of words
scrolling at the bottom, radio programs, books and magazines.
Christians all over the world begin their observance of Lent on Ash
Wednesday, March 5. Lent is the season that invites us to embark on a more
intentional faith journey—to open our hearts, minds and spirits to the living
presence of the risen Christ. But how do we begin such a spiritual journey?
How can we as individuals and as a community of faith draw closer to God?
Are there practices that are deeply rooted in the Christian tradition that can
guide us?
The answer is YES.
On the cover: The Presbyterian Church
of Lawrenceville Women’s Missionary
Society, ca. 1890
The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
2688 Main St.
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
(609) 896-1212
www.pclawrenceville.org
The Adult Education Committee has prepared a devotional resource,
Pathways to Spiritual Growth, designed to help each one of us experience the presence
of God afresh. This devotional guide explores seven pathways—one for each
week in Lent. This makes Pathw ays to Sp iritual Gro w th ideal for use as a
Lenten devotional. Each pathway is introduced by a short narrative and
illustrated by passages from Scripture. Questions for reflection prompt us to
go deeper, followed by practical suggestions for experiencing God’s presence
in daily life. Additionally, each pathway includes resources for further
reading and study.
Pathways to Spiritual Growth is available in print as a booklet, in electronic format on
the church’s website (www.pclawrenceville.org/pathways)—and as an email
devotional sent to your inbox each week (sign up at
www.pclawrenceville.org/stay-in-touch.)
LAWRENCEVILLE LETTER
Pathways to Spiritual Growth will also be the focus of the Institute for Christian Living adult education sessions after worship
beginning February 23. Each week leaders will help us to experience a different pathway. We urge you to attend all
seven ICL sessions, though each session stands alone. Lent is a time find new ways to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, who
is the “way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
—Louise Johnson
We Gather Together
Lent Begins March 5—Ash Wednesday
March 5, 7:30-8:30am, 12:00-1:00pm, 7pm
For the first time, PCOL will have three services that
include the imposition of ashes. There will be
opportunities to receive the sign of the cross in the
morning and during lunch, ideal for those who work, and
a full service that is youth-led at 7pm in the
Meetinghouse.
Adult Education:
“A Path for Our Journey”
As we approach this season of Lent, we invite you to
embark on a journey to prepare our hearts, minds, and
spirits to receive the risen Christ on Easter Sunday. The
Adult Education Committee has prepared a devotional
resource, Pathw ays to Sp iritual Gro w th , that will be
available in print as a booklet, in electronic format on the
church’s website, and as a devotional sent to your email
box each week. Look for details to follow soon.
Pathways to Spiritual Growth will also be the focus of adult
education sessions offered after worship each Sunday in
Lent (February 23-April 6). Each week, our Deacons,
Elders, Trustees, Staff, Sunday School Teachers, Youth
and members of our church committees will introduce a
different Pathway. We urge you to attend all seven adult
education sessions, though each session stands alone. See
p. 8 for a complete schedule.
The “Fludde” is Coming!
On the weekend of May 31, 2014, PCOL will be putting
on an intergenerational production of the story of Noah,
titled “Noye’s Fludde” (Noah's Flood) by Benjamin
Britten. This is a play based on the style of medieval
miracle plays of England, performed by ordinary people,
crafts/tradesmen and their families, with minimal scenery
and props. This particular play is set to music, and there
will be a small orchestra made up of professionals
and amateurs from the congregation. Noah, his family,
and a large group of “animals” will be needed for this
production, as well as craftspeople for scenery, costuming
and other jobs—so adults and children alike should start
polishing your violin bows, practicing your animal
noises, and warming up your sewing machines.... Visit
www.pclawrenceville.org/noyes-fludde to volunteer, or
speak to Jim Moyer or Anne Lewin.
Our Church Family
Thank You from the Fearons
Dear Friends, the Fearon family (Dana, James, Mary) are
very grateful to our friends in the Lawrenceville church
and community for your expressions of love to Janett. For
months you provided hearty meals, lovely flowers, and
countless cards assuring Janet of your prayers. And the
family is thankful for the beautiful reception you
arranged after Janet's memorial service. Our thanks and
love to all. —Dana
Sympathy
The sympathy of the congregation is extended to Ruth
Gilman and her family upon the death of her husband,
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our member Fed Gilman; and to Jim and Kathi Morley
upon the death of Jim’s mother, Emma.
Births
Congratulations to parents Jessica and Keith Cincotta and
siblings Anna and Matthew upon the birth of Nicholas
Connor Cincotta on January 21; and to parents Vickie and
Drew Harrelson, to grandmother Holly Hafner, and to
great-grandmother Delores Burke upon the birth of Drew
Michael Harrelson on February 5.
Baptism
Myles John Eldridge, son of Catherine and Blake
Eldridge, was baptized on January 26.
MARCH, 2014
Elections Held at Annual Meeting
At the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, held on
January 19, Bob Blazer, Maia Hughes, Jim Kroll, and
Andrea Rabitz were elected to the Board of Trustees
(Class of 2016). Also at the meeting, Jim Campbell, Adam
Heide, and Len Koch were elected to the Auditing
Committee (Class of 2014). We thank the following who
have completed their service on the Board of Trustees:
Matt Hullfish, Beverly MacDonald, Chris Maurer, and
Linda Myers; and the following for their service on the
Auditing Committee: Jim Campbell, Adam Heide, and
Janet Madison.
Special Meeting of the Congregation
At the Special Meeting of the Congregation held on
February 9, the installation date for The Reverend
Matthew Pigman was approved. The installation will
take place on Sunday, April 6 at 5 p.m.
Birthday Endowment Fund
Contributing to the Birthday Endowment Fund is a great
way to provide for the long-term needs of our church.
This fund helps to ensure that the church and its ministry
will be here for those who come after us. Only five
percent of the contributions will be used for current
expenses, with the rest set aside to grow and sustain the
church for years to come. Through this fund, all of us
together — young and old — can make a real difference
in the work and ministry of the church. Contributions to
the fund to date total more than $33,100.
Gifts to the church’s Birthday Endowment Fund were
made in celebration of the following persons who had a
birthday in January: Roberta Gernhardt, Suzy Dwyer,
and Jasper Harrison.
Remember, if your birthday is coming up, you are invited
to pick up a Birthday Endowment envelope from the
church (or send a check with a memo that it’s for the
Birthday Endowment) and make a gift of $1 for every
year of your life. All ages can take part, and you help to
build the endowment that will support the church far into
the future. You may also make Birthday Gifts in memory
or in honor of others. If you would like the gift
acknowledged to someone, please be sure to give the
church office the person’s address.
Family Ministries
Christian Education and Worship News
Nursery Care is provided every Sunday in the nursery, Rm.
103 during worship. Cara Taylor is our permanent
childcare provider. Silent beepers are available. Childcare
is provided for all children nursery-grade five prior to
worship for scripture meditation and during forums,
adult education, and new member classes. Volunteers are
needed!
Preschool Sunday School is held each Sunday for children ages
three through pre-kindergarten. Class begins at 9:45 and
is held in the classroom located at the bottom of the stairs.
Each Sunday free play, Bible story time, crafts, music and
snack will be provided. Volunteers are needed!
Sunday School: We continue to use the
PC(USA)’s We Believe workshop curriculum for children
in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Children will have
the opportunity to learn one Bible story for four weeks in
a different rotation each week! Our rotations include art,
drama, computers, and audio-visual learning. Our second
unit, Jesus Teaches: Build on This Foundation, Matthew
7:24-29, continues during the month of March.
March Sunday School Schedule
 March 2: Children in Kindergarten and 1st grade
will be in the drama rotation, Rm. 104. Children in
grades 2-5 will be in the computer lab rotation, Rm.
105.
 March 9: Kindergarten and 1st grade will be in the
audio-visual rotation, Rm. 106. Grades 2-5 will be in
the art rotation, Rm. 102.
 March 16: Kindergarten and 1st grade will be in the
computer lab rotation, Rm. 105. Grades 2-5 will be in
the drama rotation, Rm. 104.
 March 30: No Sunday School. Children will remain
in worship for Youth Sunday.
Mission News. During the month of February, the children
collected vitamins, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and
washcloths for the children in Haiti. They made cards
and assembled care packages. They also collected money
for the Haiti Sponsor-a-Student campaign.
Thank you to our Sunday School teachers who taught the first
rotation, the Good Samaritan: Tran Kim-Senior, Tom
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LAWRENCEVILLE LETTER
Roper, Lindsay Sanford, Kalpana Shrestha,
Wendy Simpson, Kimmy Stokesbary. Thank you
to Laura Reebe and Amy
Maurer for teaching
preschool for the month of
February!
LOGOS
LOGOS is a midweek
enrichment program for
children ages three through
grade five. Each week the
children will have the
opportunity to build
relationships with their
peers, youth, and adults in
the congregation and
nurture their relationship with God through
music, playtime, art, family dinner hour, and
Bible study.
March LOGOS Schedule
 March 5: Ash Wednesday—We will have a
special service as we begin Lent.
 March 12: !THGIN SDRAWKCAB—
Backwards night.
 March 19: Saint Patrick’s Day—Everyone is
Irish today, so wear your green!
 March 26: LOGOS Camp Night—A camp
out under the stars!
 April 2: Awards Night Banquet—
Hollywood style! You are all shining stars!
Easter Volunteers Needed! The preschool and nursery
need six volunteers for the 9:00 and 11:00am
Easter services. Please contact Robyn Campbell
to volunteer.
All of our programs are open to the community.
Please feel free to forward information to other
families that may be interested in participating.
The Children’s Ministries Team will be gathering on
Monday, March 3, at 7pm in the Computer Lab
(Room 105). If you are interested in joining the
Children’s Ministries Team, please feel free to
come to our meeting!
If you are interested in volunteering or would
like more information about any of our
programs, please contact Robyn Campbell at
[email protected], or 609-8961212x107.
Haiti Update
Hope and Joy
In the past six weeks, we have had the good
fortune to experience the hope and joy of the
Haitian people. What a wonderful gift they have
given us. On January 12, at the service to
commemorate the fourth anniversary of the
devastating earthquake, five Pennington School
students spoke of their experiences in Haiti. All
of them spoke about the hope and joy they saw
in the Haitian people who lived in the most
difficult circumstances.
Our mission affiliate Pastor Luc Deratus visited
us in early February. He reported that life in
Haiti has improved, but a quarter of the people
are still living in tents. The new school in LaSalle
is flourishing. Last year, its first year, there were
about 78 students, and this year, there are over
130 students. The new church in Port-au-Prince
is nearing completion. The final major project is
to lay the tile floor. Church members from Port4
au-Prince have done their own missionary work
by visiting and taking food, medicine and
clothing to a mental hospital, a prison for
women, and a nursing home. The evangelism
team has traveled to a remote visit to convert
villagers to Christianity. As of mid-February, our
church collected over $2,200 in the special
offering for rice, beans and medicine, and nearly
100 students will be supported via the Sponsor-aStudent campaign. If you would like to help
with these areas, it is not too late, just send your
check to the church office with a note designating
its purpose.
A mission trip is being planned for October. The
Task Force is especially interested in recruiting
members of the congregation who have not
visited Haiti in the past. To learn more about the
trip, please contact Robyn Campbell at
[email protected].
MARCH, 2014
The dedication of the new church in Port-auPrince will be in September or November; Pastor
Luc will set the date by July 1. A team of people
from PCOL and other consortium members are
planning to attend. The trip will most likely be
from Friday through Sunday. If you are
interested in attending please contact Ann Wiley
at [email protected]. This would be a great way for
those who aren’t ready to commit to a week-long
mission work trip to see the work we have
helped complete in Haiti.
Supplies Needed
PCOL’s Rich Levandowski, Logan Campbell, &
Robyn Campbell will be heading down to Haiti
on March 11 with a team of students and adults
from the Pennington School. Pastor Luc will host
them while they are there. The team will visit all
four churches and schools and will provide
medical assistance, distribute beans, rice,
toiletries, and school supplies as well as paint the
church and school in Thoman and LaSalle. We
are in need of antifungal
cream, vitamins, iron pills,
powdered baby formula,
pain relievers, reading
glasses, clean sleeping bags,
canes, antibiotic ointment,
oragel, antacids, and
painting supplies! Most of
these products can be
purchased at the DOLLAR
STORE! There is a marked
donation bin located in the
fellowship center. Donations
will be accepted through
March 8. Mesi!
News and Notes
Exploring Membership Classes
Are you or someone you know considering
membership here at the Presbyterian Church of
Lawrenceville? If so, we hope you’ll join us for
our Spring Exploring Membership classes. We’ll
get to know each other better, learn about the
Presbyterian faith and this church community,
and get the answer to the question, “Which
famous person’s name can be spelled with the
letters in “Presbyterian?” Each class covers
different material, and they will be held on
Sundays March 16, 23, and 30, from 11:30am1pm in the Youth Room. Childcare is available.
For any questions or to sign up, please contact Jill
Cifelli, 896-1212x103, [email protected].
Lawrenceville Presbyterian Preschool:
Here Come the Ducklings!
Our wings are aflutter as we are so excited about
the news: In addition to our Owls and
Chickadees, the Ducklings will be coming this
fall! LPP is now enrolling for the 2014-15 School
Year and we have added a 2’s program. It will
be two days a week, Monday and Friday, from
9:00 a.m. to noon. Also, the Owls will have a
five-day program, and our Chickadees will have
a 3 to 4 day program. The fourth day would be
our fly up Friday, where they can join the Owls
for a rich, multi-age classroom day. For more
details and open house dates, please contact our
director, Alison Young, at
[email protected] or (609) 844
-0022. You can also check us out on Facebook
and our website at:
www.lawrencevillepreschool.com.
In other classroom news, we had a bit of a delay
with our chick eggs hatching due to our cold,
snowy weather and power outage. Nevertheless,
our preschoolers are very excited and anxious to
see the chicken eggs from Quiver Farm hatch
into adorable, fuzzy baby chicks. The children
had fun as they shared Valentines with each
other and filled their Art Gallery and classrooms
with new pictures. They are learning all about
the Winter Olympics and exploring the many
countries and different winter sports. They are
even having their own Preschool Olympics with
activities such as hockey, floor skating and a mini
luge. LPP is very busy this month and has plans
for a trip to the Big Apple Circus on March 7.
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LAWRENCEVILLE LETTER
Registration packets are now available for the 2014-15
Home Communion
school year. For more information, contact Alison Young,
We will celebrate Lenten Communion during our
worship service Sunday morning, March 9. If you are not
able to join us that day, please know that deacons and
elders would like to extend the table and share this
sacrament with you in your home. We visit in teams of
two in members’ homes for about half an hour. Contact
Jill Cifelli for more information, 896-1212 x103.
Director at LPP.
Clowes Music Scholarship
The Clowes Music Scholarship was established in 1966 to
support the music endeavors of our congregation’s youth
and children. The scholarship does not support regular
instruction, but is applied to special instruction such as
summer music camps, workshops, etc. If you are
interested in applying for the scholarship, please write to
the Worship Committee describing the music program
you are proposing to taking part in and why it is
important to you. Please send the application to the
church office attention of the Worship Committee.
Deadline for applications is May 1, 2014.
Lawrence Township Meals on Wheels
Do you know someone whose physical, mental or social
condition makes it impossible for them to prepare a hot,
nutritious meal for themselves or a loved one? Lawrence
Township Meals on Wheels can help by delivering a noon
-day meal to their home Monday through Friday at a
nominal cost on a temporary or long-term
basis. Financial assistance is available to those in need.
Call (609) 392-0001 for further information.
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Fat Tuesday Pancake Supper
March 4, 6-7:30pm
Don’t worry about dinner that night. Come share hot-offthe-griddle pancakes, syrup, and beverages with your
church family! These will be provided by the Board of
Deacons, and they invite you to bring your favorite
pancake topping to share! There will also be a brief
"Looking Towards Lent" educational time.
Peacemaking Movie Night
February 28
February’s movie is “Good Bye, Lenin!” A dedicated
young German boy pulls off an elaborate scheme to keep
his mother in good health in this comedy drama from
director Wolfgang Becker. Suffering a heart attack and
falling into a coma after seeing her son arrested during a
protest, Alex's socialist mother, Christiane, remains
MARCH, 2014
comatose through the fall of the Berlin wall and the
German Democratic Republic. Knowing that the
slightest shock could prove fatal upon his mother's
awakening, Alex strives to keep the fall of the GDR a
secret for as long as possible. Keeping their
apartment firmly rooted in the past, Alex's scheme
works for a while, but it's not long before his mother
is feeling better and ready to get up and around
again. Pizza served 6pm ($5 donation); film begins
6:45pm.
Stay in Touch!
Would you like to be on our eNews
list for weekly emails? Get info about
our Men’s Ministry events? Receive
the monthly newsletter by email?
Sign up for any of these lists at our
website, www.pclawrenceville.org, or
using the QR code to the right. You can also find us
on Twitter @pclawrenceville.
Our Church Staff
Pastor: Rev. Jeffrey A. Vamos—[email protected]
Associate Pastor for Congregational Life: Rev. Louise Johnson—
[email protected]
Associate Pastor for Youth, Young Adult, and Worship Ministries:
Rev. Matthew Pigman—
[email protected]
Associate for Pastoral Care Ministries: Jill Cifelli—
[email protected]
Director of Music: James D. Moyer—
[email protected]
Organist: David Hogue—[email protected]
Director of Children’s Ministries: Robyn Campbell—
[email protected]
Nursery Childcare Provider: Cara Taylor
Church Administrator: Jeanne Aicher—
[email protected]
Office Manager: Beverly Mills—[email protected]
Communications Coordinator: Aaron Sizer—
[email protected]
Administrative Assistant: Ruth Conover—
[email protected]
LPP Executive Director: Alison Young—
[email protected]
Office Volunteer: Linda Myers
Custodian: Victor Rosado
Pastor Emeritus: Dr. H. Dana Fearon, III
Parish Associate: Dr. Thomas Baker
Visiting Parish Associate: Rev. Robyn Whitaker
Mission Affiliate: Pastor Luc Deratus
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LAWRENCEVILLE LETTER
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MARCH, 2014
March Calendar
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LAWRENCEVILLE LETTER
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