The National Presbyterian - Houston Presbyterian Pilgrimage
Transcription
The National Presbyterian - Houston Presbyterian Pilgrimage
April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 The National Presbyterian The National Presbyterian Volume 14, No 2 www.days3.com A News Magazine ofPage the1 National Council of Presbyterian Fourth Day Movements and the National Council of Presbyterian Cursillo www.days3.com/Day4.htm Hazael Campuzano, pastor of Dios es Amor in Mexico City attended a recent Austin weekend. Here’s what he had to say about it. It’s like we had returned to the times of our Lord Jesus God bless and guard you in his power each day. I haven't had enough time to savor the delicious moments which happened at Pilgrimage. For me Pilgrimage is: It's like we had returned to the times of our Lord Jesus and as if in a movie we saw his love, his actions renewing, caring, loving and sending his people to serve the world. I believe that it was an experience that my heart has been needing in order to continue feeling and living in the love of God. Each part of the program had its own purpose and reasons, and carried us from one peak to another, one surprise after another. The experience of the communion after a personal call (Samuel, Samuel) reminded me of that moment in which God called me to serve Him--a time in which I had nothing to offer to my Lord, without tools, without possibilities, but it occurred to Him to call me to serve him on this earth. I followed without understanding why, but I live gratified each day because of it. The experience of the foot washing brought to mind the humility of our Lord Jesus, his desire to cleanse us and remove from us whatever disturbance in order to achieve a deep and personal relationship with him. April, 2012 Each person's rollo left in front of us his/her heart, and the pastors and Maria have impacted my life. But the experiences of the transforming power of God in all of the rollo givers made me think about how all of us are special to our God. I can say with all my heart that Pilgrimage has left a deep imprint in my heart in such a way that I cannot continue being the same, the change prepared by God has begun in me to live in the 4th day, day after day. Each one of the leaders showed to us the love of God, the people who served at the tables were excellent, and their smiles and heart had me feeling like I was surrounded by family. Thanks to all the staff for their hard work and dedication to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, even though we know that we did not even see all the work that went on behind the scenes. As I commented to several (especially Jim and Mike), our dream is to begin Pilgrimage next year in Mexico. Next week I'm going to meet together with the participants of Pilgrimage to begin to pray and discern what the Lord wishes us to do in the future. We continue to believe that next year in November would be the date for the first Pilgrimage in Mexico. To that end, we covet your prayers, and God willing several of you can accompany us in the first offering of Pilgrimage, training and preparations. We also would love to sing with the songs you have developed, and begin in the ways you have come to practice. With much love, Hazael The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Contents 1. Testimony From Mexico City 2. Your Very Own Angel 2. Distribution of the Cursillista 3. & 4.Music For A Weekend 4. S P O N S O R 5. Editorial: But Why Should I? 5. Rita and Roy 6. Recruitment 6. Cartoon 7. to 10. Highlights Of The National Council Meeting 11. T h e T r i p o d 12. Speaking Of Three Legged Stools 12. Web Site Links 13. Weekends Currently Scheduled 14. Contacts. Please Note: My e-mail address is changing. From now on, it will be [email protected] Tom Fox Your very own angel says: Page 2 The National Presbyterian February, 2012 A Publication of The National Council of Presbyterian Fourth Day Movements and The National Council of Presbyterian Cursillo The Communities: Alabama Presbyterian Cursillo Arkansas Presbyterian Pilgrimage Austin (Texas) Presbyterian Pilgrimage Chicagoland Presbyterian Pilgrimage Colorado Presbyterian Pilgrimage Eastern Oklahoma Presbyterian Cursillo Eastern Virginia Presbyterian Pilgrimage Florida Presbyterian Cursillo Georgia Presbyterian Cursillo Houston Presbyterian Pilgrimage Indiana Presbyterian Cursillo James (Virginia) Presbyterian Pilgrimage Louisiana Presbyterian Cursillo Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo Nebraska/Iowa Presbyterian Pilgrimage North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage North Texas Presbyterian Pilgrimage Oklahoma Presbyterian Pilgrimage Palo Duro (Texas) Presbyterian Cursillo Peaks (Virginia) Presbyterian Pilgrimage Shenandoah (Virginia) Presbyterian Pilgrimage South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage Tennessee Valley Presbyterian Cursillo Distribution of the Cursillista God even loves you on April Fools Day! Distribution of the Cursillista is a bit ad hoc—that is to say, improvised—where it even exists. Each issue is sent to someone in each community whose name has been given to me as the e-mail distributor for that community. That person may or may not actually e-mail the current issue to the fourth day of the community. In at least one case, the Cursillista is placed on the community web site. There is apparently a problem that some communities have distributing an e-mail attachment of more than 1MB. For that reason, I send it out in sections of less than 1MB. as well as in a single file containing the full version. Please help this work get into the hands of the fourth day. Tom The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Tom Boehmer of North Texas is our national music coordinator. (Head music cha, to you.) He graciously shares this with us Music for a Pilgrimage/Cursillo Weekend If you haven’t been a Head Music Cha, you may have wondered why the Moderator asks you not to make requests of the music chas. The answer is that, just like the talks, the music for the weekend is structured to develop over the weekend in a planned manner. The Head Music Cha takes a lot of time selecting and arranging the music for the weekend. Those who are unaware of the “master plan” may be surprised that the music team will not honor a request to do a specific song that may be an excellent song on its own. It just may not fit into the time and place for which it is requested . . . that and the fact that the music team may have been working with the existing playlist for some time and rehearsing for quite a while. You should understand their reluctance to do an impromptu version of an otherwise excellent song without adequate preparation. You might notice that the songs you are singing in the first few sets are very different from the ones you are singing Sunday afternoon. The music is selected so that initially it is familiar and nonchallenging, at least in the spiritual or emotional sense. I personally like to use a few hymns, like How Firm a Foundation or Be Thou My Vision to develop some comfort for the participants. In terms of lyric content, the songs that make some demands or ask for a commitment are best left to Sunday, or late Saturday. Initially, the songs should present non-challenging statements about or to God and/or Jesus and progress with the talks to that commitment by the end of the weekend. Songs that the music team knows (or may expect) that the staff will be raising their hands and/or using many expressive gestures might be minimized until after we have a “Hand Raising” talk on Friday evening. Immediately following that particular talk is when we do Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Lord I Lift Your Name on High and a few others that are hand -raisers or songs involving expressive gestures. Page 3 Songs like Weave Us Together should be left until late Saturday or Sunday, after the group has become comfortable touching each other. In North Texas we have visits from Dr. Huggy on Friday and Saturday afternoons; by Saturday evening, most of the reluctance to embrace one another has been reduced. Before weaving is introduced, I like to use the song Look All Around You which contains the line “Touch someone near you in love if you can”. This gives participants permission to simply touch someone else while they are singing . . . experienced staffers often find a way to work the entire room, touching as many people as they can. In North Texas we have our playlists in PowerPoint slides for projection with a digital projector. Changing the content or sequence of the music is no longer as easy as changing overhead transparencies, or choosing another song from the songbook. This also pertains to requests to repeat a favorite song during the weekend; the time may be right to do it early in the weekend, but even if it fits later, it might have to replace another more appropriate song. Song selection is also often made on the basis of the talk about to be presented. It is easy to see the connection between the song Thy Word and the Study talk, or Amazing Grace and the Grace talk. Other connections are not so obvious, but the head music cha might be looking for these subtle things. If you are or will be a head music cha, here are some more things to think about. Another criterion for song selection is the time of day. For example, the first set after lunch should have some up-tempo tunes that get folks moving to offset the quantity of food they have just consumed. Early morning is not the time to sing songs that are in too high a key, or have too many high notes. Most groups of non-professional singers do not have treble voices (soprano and tenor). The most frequently sung note in a song should be no higher than C above middle C. An occasional note above The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Page 4 this is acceptable so long as it is not prolonged. For those of you so musically inclined, the Presbyterian Hymnal generally follows this guideline. Check it out. People are not singing comfortably and worshipfully if they are straining to hit those high notes that sound so good on the CD by the tenor songwriter. Sometimes a song will have to be transposed to a key more comfortable for the group. Music team members should always remember that the top of their priority list is the experience of singing for the staff and participants. The music is not a performance, but an accompaniment. Eye contact and engagement is very important in encouraging everyone to worship through song. I make it a point to look at each person in the room as often as I can. Obviously, spending too much time looking at lyrics or chords or musical scores will prevent you from engaging the entire group. This why rehearsal is important: the team should be familiar enough with the music that they are free to spend less time looking at their music stands. It is OK if you don’t get all the lyrics right or miss a little of the melody now and then; this is not nearly important as modeling worship through song. So now you see that the music on the weekend is not spontaneously or haphazardly thrown together merely to entertain or provide an opportunity to sing all of our favorite tunes. The flow of the music should fairly closely follow the flow of the talks, reinforcing the development of that commitment we want all of our participants to take home with them. Following is stolen from His Light, the newsletter of South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage. S PONSO R You may recall the Music Box video. An ordinary man discovers an attractive box. When he opens it, glorious music explodes from it and a jazzy quartet serenade him with joyful HALLELUJAHS. Our hero closes the box and returns to his family. They see a new man full of joy and love and he shares his new discovery. Clearly this metaphor is an illustration of our need to share the joy and love of Jesus after we have received them. We are commissioned to pass on this transformation to those who are in our environments—family, friends, associates. It is the ACTION leg of the Tripod of Piety, Study and Action. We are also called to action as we serve as the hands and feet of Jesus to deliver the invitation from Holy Spirit to those called to make a Three Day Weekend. Is God asking you to ACT? Ask for guidance. Check out the tips for recruiting and inviting found on page 6 and under ACTION on page 11 of this issue and go to work. It is easier than ever to register [just be sure that you are well aware of how the pilgrim’s weekend experience is to be paid for under the standards set by your community—pilgrim fee, scholarship support, etc.] The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 An editorial But Why Should I? God has given us many, many precious gifts. He gave us the wonderful gift of his love, just as we saw in the movie “The Music Box”. We are hesitant to share God’s love, just as was the man who found the music box. God gave us the gift of Cursillo… for us to share God’s love with others. There was a time when we didn’t have much of a problem getting people to come to our weekend retreats and share God’s love. That time has passed. Whether it’s the economy, or the confusion within our denominations, or whether we simply won’t share it, or whether we’re somehow just being tested – we don’t have as many pilgrims with whom we can share the precious gift of Cursillo as we used to. Much has been written about the “How To” of getting people to attend our weekend retreats. The pages of past and current issues of the Cursillista are filled with ideas about that. Little has been written about the “But Why Should I?” aspect of it, however. Surely God understands that we might be embarrassed or rejected if we really tried hard to recruit folks. The last Cursillo I worked had 19 pilgrims. We were prepared to accept 36 As a result, seventeen of God’s children will never know the wonder of God’s Cursillo. (Even if every future Cursillo fills up, the grand total of all the pilgrims we’ve served will be seventeen fewer than we could have served.) That’s because my friends of the Fourth Day and I couldn’t be bothered, or couldn’t take the time away from more important (?) things, or couldn’t risk rejection or looking foolish in order to do an effective job of recruiting pilgrims. There appears to be a tendency to convert some of our weekends to other purposes when we don’t recruit enough pilgrims to hold a weekend. Whether they are ‘pilgrim free’ retreats, or service projects or simply extended Ultreyas, they are fine—but they are not getting the ministry of Cursillo done. Cursillo has thrived worldwide for over sixty years. Why have we all of a sudden reached an impasse in recruiting pilgrims? Why can we not understand that we need to get face to face with prospects and explain why we believe God is calling them to attend Cursillo; that it’s between two of God’s children, one on one— person to person? Tom Rita, what’s it mean to ’Evangelize Our Environment’? Surely God doesn’t want us to look like fools by expressing our religion in front of other people. Surely God understands that we simply don’t have the time to spare from the important things we have to do to sit down with people and help them become aware of the Holy Spirit’s call for them to attend Cursillo. Surely God doesn’t expect us to spend a lot of our own time and resources trying to help people understand the benefits of attending our retreats. Page 5 It means to reform our communities after the Kingdom of God, Roy! The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 RECRUITMENT In the previous issue of the Cursillista, Editor Tom Fox identified ten possible topics for consideration in ways to revitalize flagging communities of the Presbyterian expressions of Cursillo. He correctly listed the first one as, “How can we make actual, effective recruitment of participants a mainstream ongoing effort of our movement.” I say correctly because Pre-Weekend is the most important of the three phases; PreWeekend, Weekend, and Post-Weekend. Our agreement with the National Secretariat of Cursillo says, The Presbyterian Cursillo Movement must be … operative in its three phases of Pre-Cursillo, 3-Day Cursillo, and Post-Cursillo, following the guidance of The Fundamental Ideas of the Cursillo Movement and the Manual of Presbyterian Cursillo. Our natural inclination is to identify the Weekend as the most important of the three phases, because of the excitement and euphoria that Holy Spirit generates during those three days. Later as a community matures, it begins to appreciate the value of the Fourth Day (Post –Weekend), not as a support for the mountaintop Weekend, but as a time of perseverance in PIETY, STUDY, and ACTION in the valley of drudgery, disappointment, disease, despair, depression, debt, dirty diapers, and the devil. This is where the action is among the factories and farms and football fields and fellowships and friendships and family and fraternities. This is where we are called to live and to witness to the love of Christ. Group Reunion and Ultreya provide us with encouragement and accountability to combat the deadly D‘s listed above. Through the empowerment of Holy Spirit, we persevere to become personally bold in putting the purpose of the movement into reality. Armed with the connection to God through PIETY and the knowledge of God and His Word through STUDY, we are equipped to be His ambassadors in APOSTOLIC ACTION, the purpose. But, without an effective application of the Pre-Weekend phase, we handicap the PostWeekend phase. Candidates haphazardly recruited or recruited for the wrong reasons will be ill equipped to apply the experience and lessons of the Short Course in Christianity. The Weekend is rigorously structured and we all Page 6 know of its effectiveness. Why do we neglect to structure the Pre-Weekend with the same diligence of documentation, training, and practice that we apply to the Weekend? Literature (documentation) is available. (See Fundamental Ideas of the Cursillo Movement and its companion The Leaders’ Manual.) Other denominational expressions of Cursillo have good literature on the Pre-Weekend as well. Presbyterian Cursillo in Houston has prepared a wonderful Sponsor Booklet which covers recruitment. I have Presbyterian adaptations of the PreWeekend discussion of The Leaders’ Manual that can be emailed to you. I can also email the Houston Sponsor Booklet, but you may want to get permission from them to copy it, though it does not list a copyright. If you wish copies of the above or a number of other Cursillo Movement issues, email me at [email protected]. Ultreya, Tom Bullock, SCPC9 Sure you can pay your taxes with palanca—just file Form 1040PAL. The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Many thanks to our national secretary, Kerry Goldmeyer, for letting me have her notes from the March 30 and 31 National Council meeting, hosted by our North Texas community. I didn’t even give her time to sort thru her notes before nagging her for them. Kerry works very hard at keeping our movement connected and informed. In case you wonder, SD apparently means Spiritual Director, which is sometimes used to mean spiritual advisor – that’s clergy to you! Highlights From The National Council Meeting Extracted from Community Reports: Scholarships and weekend financing: South Carolina is increasing scholarships for their weekends…Peaks on its weekend #45 rediscovered themselves by using the dates of their canceled weekend number 45 as a community retreat for the fourth day. They are seeking a new retreat facility since Camp Hat Creek has closed… Arkansas is holding its first pilgrimage weekend later this month. Concerned about the weekend, SD & Staff decided that if not enough pilgrims they would do a weekend for themselves. They now have a plan, struggle with enough participants. Council is going through their roster and calling asking for them to get reengaged, reconnecting with folk have not seen in a while. Sent letter with budget to fourth day before they did phone Calls…Georgia Moderators commit to 3 weekends but pay for 1, have to have experienced table, cha & Talk to be qualified. Georgia Moderators are allowed to scholarship two staff members … Tennessee Valley does not scholarship staff, only pilgrims, but encourages community to support folks who need $$. Take collection at all meetings for scholarships. They have renegotiated camp fee to a flat fee. ... Eastern Oklahoma provides 1 scholarship for staff unless it is paid back then can ask again. …North Texas is passing the boot for scholarship contributions…. Peaks pilgrims are paid for by their sponsor, do not have specific staff policy… Palo Duro as publicity gave all pilgrims $10 from scholarship to remind folk….Georgia subsidizes the weekend…. Arkansas has raised staff fee, but still subsidizes... North Texas usually absorbs about $1500 of the Page 7 cost per weekend. Most communities say they are subsidizing the weekends to some extent. Other Community Reports: Louisiana Taste of Cursillo is a pulpit supply opportunity, This Louisiana promotional activity uses church’s bulletins, gives regular music personnel a day off, uses volunteers for worship services, - typically a ‘sermonette’ with two short witness testimonies. They’ve done this about six times in the last year. Getting the word out, seed planting. Are reinvigorating fourth day, receive some regularly monthly donations. Was initially dependent on Houston for musicians, now growing their own music chas. Louisiana was concerned about one weekend – they had elected a Moderator with strong charismatic background, also very artsy, though not as organized as some. She had one of the most diverse set of pilgrims ever seen, one of the most powerful weekends ever. They had a huge ultreya after phoning the fourth day. North Texas By word of mouth, people see a difference in people and a difference in the churches being affected. Have had a couple very ecumenical, very ethnically diverse weekends. Started to pass the boot - have a ‘Pay it forward’ philosophy. For transition from Cursillo to Pilgrimage, not making any wholesale changes. Weekend trainer is working with both the Moderator and Observing Moderator. Trainer to contact heads. The heads get a leaders manual now and a trainer too; making a difference in the team. They feel that secrecy may be a problem – so they’ll tell whatever the enquirer wants to know. They feel it’s okay to change the videos they use, but urge that we remember the message it replaces: does the new video give the same message or would an exercise be a better replacement. It is not just a video for a video. Young people have had a lot of trouble with both “Alfredo” and the “Music Box”, miss the message, and or can’t get past the quality or “age” of the video. Peaks gives each pilgrim a mug with their name on it, it is part of the Palanca for the weekend. It is green but also a great reminder. Team brings own mugs to weekend. Table guides wash cups. Re- The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 freshments are available in the talk room, but are served only on request. The screen is not where the musicians are – emphasizing that the music is not performance. There is a need to change staff. The concern is to stop doing weekends and get the 4th day in order and weekends will take care of selves. Houston recently held its first Pilgrimage weekend. Had some discouraging ‘come to Jesus’ moments, reminders that it is not ours; had to call off/postpone a weekend. Moderator brought to council, did not have a drop dead point, no process. Made painful decision to postpone, have had two weekends since, but still painful. Decided 12 was the minimum number of pilgrims to hold a weekend - 3 tables of 4 needed for robust conversation. They are working on the top five recommendations from Kristin Huffman’s doctoral thesis: Change to Pilgrimage, simplify food (gluttony, interrupting), music, (sets 5-6 songs ), secrecy is part of the difficulty, thinking of publishing schedule outline. They are looking at why younger folk are not attending their weekends. People who have attended their teen celebration weekends in the past are part of that “youth”. They held a very successful covenant weekend. They are experimenting with movies. Michigan Has two different communities, splits – one Grand Rapids and western Michigan, the other, newer - Detroit. Could people be on the team, head chas some left and have a good number of SD, problem with music only on main guitar person who has a medical issue, schedule is crammed with too much fluff. The camp they use has an upper and lower camp so time used up moving. Detroit side had 4 guests, smaller team, shortage of SD, a new church development church dropped out, had 3 SD talk by outside experienced SD. Had more individual reflection time. Michigan having problems with getting community and regular prayer banner palanca. Palanca site register to send to or get send www.3dayol.org Bradley Wong. Can send to secretary (Kerry) and she will forward. Alabama First Presbyterian Church, Pensacola, Florida is involved in the Alabama community (3 churches in Florida are). One of their pilgrims is Page 8 to be the moderator of Presbytery. Weekend #28 has 20 pilgrims signed up. Staff fee is $250, with some flex in cost. Having benefitted from an estate gift, pilgrims are asked for $100. Each fourth day person is asked for $25/year. Raising SD number to 4 on weekend staff has been a good thing – they are more spread out. Using as Woodie Allen movie (?)… in Barcelona, have substituted Tin Man for this weekend. (Georgia has used Tin Man very successfully for several years instead of “Alfredo”.) Palanca rule: if it is not in an envelope it is given privately. If so, must also provide for roommate. Eastern Oklahoma has an active Cursillo council, have had to cancel 3 weekends over the years they need at least 10 pilgrims to be cost effective. Now they will have a work weekend instead to support the camp. Tennessee Valley located mostly in north & central Alabama, with some in Chattanooga area. They are committed to Cursillo. They had a small weekend #16, and #17 was postponed. Have better active leadership on Council and dedicated themselves to communicate to the 4th day that this is serious stuff. They are resolved not to cancel another weekend. Moved pilgrim application deadline 90 days, so know pilgrims before staff. Spring Cursillo has the maximum number of pilgrims, with 2 on the waiting list, staff apps are in as well. 4th day folks are located in pockets, each church has someone to be the key. They ask 4th day group by church to do party, or serenade. They ask them to get active in some way. They will do almost anything to get pilgrims to come. Have some trouble getting Pastors to serve. Will send Pastor & Spouse to go to another community as pilgrims if they prefer. Got Presbyter to attend a weekend and that helped with camp negotiation. Hard spots Emmaus was in area long before they were. Will have cooking chas this weekend. Arkansas’ Ultreyas are open to all and especially to possible pilgrims Austin Have been discouraged, weekend #31 had 22 pilgrims, #32 had 30. Numbers seem declining. Talked to SD who has served 4-5 week- The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 ends, but now hesitates to send to a weekend… had new divorcees, addictions.. had dominated the table conversations. Took Houston sponsor book and added to it a section on Shepherding. Give the shepherds guidance re their responsibility to pilgrim; this seems to work much more smoothly. Ultreyas not much excitement except for welcome home; summer one and holiday one will begin to have/be a service project open to families and church members, Thanksgiving side by side kids worship with and pot luck. APP#30 had 4 participants from Mexico. Minister would love to have Pilgrimage in Mexico City on tap for Summer 2013. See page 1 of this issue. Georgia is living through a difficult time. Postponed 40th weekend since no pilgrims signed up. Weekend scheduled was Palm Sunday. This made it hard to recruit Music Chas. Already have beginnings for summer weekend. Renewal groups monthly are to many too high a level of commitment. Council is working on moderator development, reaching out to folks and asking them to get specific experience over time. Have changed bylaws so a 4th day folk from other tradition could lead a weekend. Had gone to training “light”, so are training more intentionally. Hold three weekends a year. Relationship with Camp got rough 2/3 GA fault so are working to fix the relationship, just with personality change. Mississippi Weekend #8 had 35 pilgrims. It was held at a different camp, very experienced in hosting Walk to Emmaus weekends. Fee went from $150 to $250 for staff. The staff fee covers Pilgrims and Staff. Weekend is a gift to Pilgrims to get them invested in the weekend. Folk very excited about the facility as it was designed for Walk to Emmaus so worked better. Have Scholarship fund - need varies from weekend to weekend. Some churches from Presbytery have them in budget so can scholarship if need arises. Several people over the last 2 weekends from the Presbytery north of Jackson. They want to have their own community. Looking at getting TV< MS < AL to share national training. Adv Cursillo have core group of musicians that go out to various churches. Attendance at Ultreyas averages 50 to 60. Oklahoma They have struggled with making 4th day energized, as with other communities. Have a Page 9 th quarterly newsletter that is emailed to the 4 day. Council built a face book page. It has not taken off but it does allow folk to keep in touch (big space) Special thing celebrating 20th at First Presbyterian Church, Edmond, OK funded since started to a degree. Never not able to do something. Cay Wright is the RSVP. Moved serenade to closing to get 4th day at the very last thing at the end just before closing. Chicago Is revitalizing the 4th day one weekend each year. Advent gathering like going to morning chapel. Hold discussion after. May be adding doing a mission project. Renewal group formation meeting to get them connected. Palo Duro The first night, the staff serenaded pilgrims with ‘servant song’. This set the tone before going to chapel. ‘Hear what I am not saying’ was done by a person dressed in black with a mask on. Covenant weekend arose because we needed the 4th day to persevere, more than staffing…. spiritually to enhance the discipleship. Looked at Palo Duro renewal, will do a third one in September had wide range of folk, long table discussion time. Lots of video clips, short music sets on pick up music team no specific musician, used follow up survey`1/3 re spiritual renewal. Relaxed pace, contemplative Taize service Friday.. highly recommend for any community for 4th day. Suggestion re article in Cursillista PD has renewal weekend scheduled May 4-6. Palanca: Tennesee Valley struggles to cut back on individual palanca gifts, as does Chicago where they discourage gift giving to avoid having pilgrim roommates who get none. Staff prayer partner and pilgrim you prayed for get notes. David Hupp sponsored a friend to Walk to Emmaus, where they rationed palanca and sent the rest with the sponsor to be given to the pilgrim. . Mississippi puts their palanca in a big paper bag. They feel a need to cutback. Other Business: Discussed possibility of having a booth at the General Assembly in Pittsburgh this year. Do we want to try to do this? Can we man the booth? The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Who would be point of contact – Bill? Dave Hupp can round up about 5 to help man the booth in PA. Regional Training recap report . Bart Henson reported on Colorado training – had 32 from Colorado, 4 from Oklahoma. Evaluation average rated high. Engagement exercise with stickers, find energy in community and added it to tailor to their needs. A longer history than some. Used mail outs before and after via email to get some reading done, making a covenant to read so could have more time to meet face to face. Lots more table and face to face time, used short video to change pace. Notebook materials need to be reordered to be chronological & bullet point sequential outline. Need to take leadership out of title so a turn off to prospective folk, nor imply that the community is in trouble. Maybe add music, add some successful Pre and Post activities. Have no trainings set yet for 2012, several in conversation, can have fee, there is support no cost to the host community, host housing & Local transportation for trainer, food and facility actually getting printing done though National will pay for copying this is training for 4th day that need an understanding of the overall method of the program and purpose of weekend. How do we strengthen the pre & post? Program has grown. Younger people How to get more younger people involved. Described what Cursillo is and then talked about how to make more interesting to younger folk, De-emphasize the Presbyterian tiein, young folk are less denominationally tied, many young folk at their church might not be members so could have other background, push back by re community. The older people are the folks who are denominationally tied Spiritual Advisor list needs to be revised. Please give updated information to Kerry. Status reports on new and prospective communities: Oklahoma is working with a group in Wichita, Kansas. Mississippi is working with a north Mississippi group. Austin is working with a group in Mexico City. [Note: North Carolina’s work continues in devel- Page 10 oping the Oregon community. I presume Houston continues trying to help start a Southern California community. Two large churches in upstate South Carolina may be ripe for development of a new community there. Tom] Newsletter the Cursillista needs lots of input from many sources. Lots of work, Tom needs help getting all the dates for weekends—he needs community information. Keep a positive attitude Glenn sharing with new pilgrim found it discouraging. Dave Hupp sent to Tom today, sympathizes with need for others to write new /news for the news letter wide audience suggestions for what is working can talk about challenges. Status Report of National Music Committee Tom Boehmer. There is a need for a musician data base. Tom is working w/ Tom on a page for musicians page on website. Tom Fox, Tom Bullock proposed Cursimage forum. They offered to host/edit an e-mail forum to evaluate problems facing our movement and proposing solutions. The forum would include national roster and community council members, plus anyone else who is interested. Each monthly (?) edition would deal with a particular problem, and would solicit input from fourth day leadership as well as review our basic documentation on the subject. A motion was made to endorse this. The motion was defeated. The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Following is also stolen from His Light, the newsletter of South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage. T h e Tr i p o d of Piety, Study, and Action is the fundamental message of Pilgrimage. This trinity of spiritual disciplines provides a foundation of our faith walk. We connect with God's Spirit in Piety; we learn of Father God and His plan and love for us in Study; and then, equipped with relationship and understanding, we serve in place of God's Son as we reach out in love to others through Action. This page of your newsletter offers observations and suggestions for exercising these three spiritual disciplines: Piety, Study, and Action. For comments for publication: Send to Tom Bullock at [email protected]. P I E T Y If you are like me, you have suffered through a worship service on Sunday morning and saw all of the flaws. The sermon was boring, the choir was off key, the organist missed a note or two... Besides that it lasted too long and changes were made that broke the accustomed tradition. I left saying I was not filled. We often come on Sundays expecting to be entertained. We see ourselves as an audience with the music of the choir and the sermon something that should be pleasing to us. Indeed, our architecture encourages this, because it is much like a theater with rows of seats, a stage, and what may be seen as performers, the musicians and the preacher. Our perception is flawed. The choir and preacher are not performers. They are the directors of the drama. We, sitting in the pews, are the performers and God is the audience. You might say that we are there to entertain Him. He is waiting to hear and see us perform His praises. The next time you come to Sunday worship, ask God to help you t o be a good performer, led by the directors, for the benefit of the audience, the Trinity. See if you can get an Academy Award for best performer. See you Sunday. S T U D Y A couple of years ago Rick Warren became a very popular author in the church community and even captured a sizable segment of the secular community as readers of his best seller, The Purpose Driven Life (PDL). This easily read text is an excellent study for all of us, as it focuses on the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, corollaries and an expan- Page 11 sion of the Tripod of spiritual disciplines. PDL uses scripture extensively to help the reader discover what Father calls us to be as His children. These quotations are from a variety of translations to make the point more vivid and more relevant to our place and time. The forty short chapters may be seen as meditations with a reflection question at the end of each. A chapter a day is recommended, but a slower pace may be adopted. Just be consistent and diligent. This book is an excellent resource for group discussion. One group met weekly, opening and closing with prayer. Each person was given two minutes to share his or her observations from the readings, while the others withhold any comments. After all have shared, the floor is opened for free discussion. A convener opens and closes the grouping and exercises gentle discipline. A C T I O N This `apostolic action' includes discipleship. Recruiting for a Pilgrimage Weekend is truly discipleship. The following is a possible procedure for recruiting. Our guiding principle is prayer and planning. Ask God to lead in each step of our project. Make a plan. If we fail to plan we plan to fail. A proposed plan: Pray to be led to those Father has chosen. Select 3 individuals and/or couples from your church directory. Pray, then call the first on your list and invite to lunch or a quiet meal at home. If that is not successful, try the next on the list. Pray. Prepare for the meeting. Get an application and fill in the information known to you. Check for available Weekend dates. Review your Pilgrimage experience. Rehearse your presentation out loud. Tell about the format and the people of the weekend. Tell about the joy. Tell about the change in your life. Answer objections. If possible give two solutions to the objection and ask which is best for them. First ask if you can be their sponsor. Then ask them to make a Pilgrimage. Invite questions. Answer honestly, hiding nothing about the Weekend. Secrets are destructive. Get the completed application and send to the Registrar. Thank God for whatever the results. The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Speaking of Three Legged Stools Known by some as John Knox’s three legged stool, it resides in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, where I took this picture. It is really thought to have belonged to a woman by the name of Jenny Geddes—who is said to have thrown it at John Knox—’tho many historians say she hurled it at the Dean of the cathedral, James Hannay, in 1637. Other historians claim that the whole story was made up in the nineteenth century. Regardless of the actual history, it seems unlikely that Jenny Geddes shopped for her clothes in the petit department of her local dress shop. One thing that is clear is that the dispute was over the imposition by the King of England of a new prayer book on the Church of Scotland. St. Giles is regarded by many as the ‘mother church’ of Presbyterianism world wide. It was ranked as a cathedral before becoming a part of the Church of Scotland. Since we Presbyterians have no cathedrals, that is only a courtesy—or historic—title today. It is now a parish church, just like all our other churches. St. Giles holds five services every Sunday and a total of about 14 services each week. My son-in-law, John Hurkmans made a replica of this square three legged stool for my wife and me to give as a gift to our new Florida Presbyterian Cursillo group. Tom Page 12 Web Sites About Presbyterian Cursillo and Pilgrimage in General www.days3.com - for prospective pilgrims www.days3.com/Day4.htm - for the fourth day www.cursillo.com - of general interest Web sites of specific communities: Alabama www.alpresbyteriancursillo.com Arkansas www.pilgrimage-arkansas.org Autin www.austinpresbyterianpilgrimage.org Chicagoland www.chpilgrimage.org Colorado www.coloradopilgrimage.org Eastern Oklahoma www.geocities.com/eopcursillo *** Eastern Virginia www.days3.com/EV.htm Florida www.floridacursillo.org Georgia www.georgiapresbyteriancursillo.com Great Plains Omaha) www.gpppilgrimage.org Houston www.houstoncursillo.org Indiana www.ipcursillo.org James Virginia www.PJPilgrimage.org Louisiana www.louisianapresbyteriancursillo.org Michigan www.mppilgrimage.org Mississippi www.mspresbyteriancursillo.com North Carolina www.ncpilgrimage.org North Texas Adult: www.ntpp.org Youth: www.northtexascelebration.com Oklahoma www.days3.com/OK.htm Palo Duro www.paloduropresbytery.org Peaks Virginia - www.peakspresbytery.org/ pilgrimage.html Shenandoah Virginia - www.math.jmu.edu/ ~sanders/SPP.html South Carolina www.scpresbyterianpilgrimage.org Tennessee Valley www.cursillo.com/tvpc.htm *** The community does not yet have it's own separate web site. This will take you to the community web page in our national web site. The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Page 13 Weekends Currently Scheduled Adult Weekends College Age Weekends High School Age Weekends Dates Weekend Lay Leader Apr 12 to 15, 2012 Alabama Presbyterian Cursillo # 28 Ames Yokel Apr 12 to 15, 2012 North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 112 Scott Carr Apr 19 to 22, 2012 Peaks Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 48 TBA Apr 19 to 22, 2012 Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 11 Chuck Shafer Apr 19 to 22, 2012 Tennessee Valley Presbyterian Cursillo # 18 Laurel Blackwell Apr 19 to 22, 2012 Houston Presbyterian Cursillo # 67 Elizabeth Reaves Apr 26 to 29, 2012 Arkansas Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 16 Madeleine Middleton Apr 26 to 29, 2012 Chicagoland Presbyterian Pilgrimage #22 Karen Bregman Apr 26 to 29, 2012 Colorado Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 25 Jim Chamley Apr 26 to 29, 2012 Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 21 Carol Pierce Apr 26 to 29, 2012 Eastern Virginia Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 15 Jim White Apr 27 to 29, 2012 South Carolina Celebration # 35 Jacob Woelke May 3 to 6, 2012 South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 62 Steve Brown May 3 to 6, 2012 Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 9 Linda McDowell May 17 to 20, 2012 North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 113 Ann Hooker Jun 22 to 24, 2012 Oklahoma Celebration # 32 TBA Jul 13 to 15, 2012 Houston Area Celebration #13 TBA Aug 3 to 5, 2012 North Texas Celebration #14 (Tentative) Blake Howell Aug 16 to 19, 2012 Georgia Presbyterian Cursillo # 40 Bob Gilbert Aug 23 to 26, 2012 Louisiana Presbyterian Cursillo # 8 Greg Roch Sep 1 to 3, 2012 North Carolina Presbyterian Arise # 37 East TBA Sep 1 to 3, 2012 North Carolina Presbyterian Arise # 38 West TBA Sep 20 to 23, 2012 Alabama Presbyterian Cursillo # 29 Lacie Maynard Sep 20 to 23, 2012 North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 114 Hal Hester Sep 27 to 30, 2012 Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 10 Jim Chaney ? Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 22-Detroit TBA Oct 4 to 7, 2012 South Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 63 Adair McCoy Oct 4 to 7, 2012 Oklahoma Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 48 TBA Oct 11 to 14, 2012 Shenandoah & James Combined Weekend (Tentative) TBA Oct 11 to 14, 2012 Tennessee Valley Presbyterian Cursillo # 19 TBA Oct 11 to 14, 2012 North Carolina Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 115 Doug Brinkley Oct 18 to 21, 2012 North Texas Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 33 Carla Szafran Oct 18 to 21, 2012 Arkansas Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 17 Janice Ray Oct 18 to 21, 2012 Peaks Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 49 TBA Oct 18 to 21, 2012 Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 12 Carol Rudesill Oct 18 to 21, 2012 Michigan Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 23 TBA Oct 19 to 21, 2012 South Carolina Celebration # 36 Bailey Lane Oct 25 to 28, 2012 Colorado Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 26 David Conway Nov 1 to 4, 2012 Florida Presbyterian Cursillo # 7 TBA Nov 1 to 4, 2012 Palo Duro Presbyterian Cursillo # 26 Earlene Pike Apr 18 to 21, 2013 Peaks Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 50! TBA Apr 18 to 21, 2013 Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 13 Dave Bennett May 2 to 5, 2013 Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 11 Lea Ann McElroy Sep 26 to 29, 2013 Mississippi Presbyterian Cursillo # 12 John Willett Oct 24 to 27, 2013 Nebraska/Iowa Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage # 14 TBA The National Presbyterian April, 2012 Volume 14, Number 2 Page 14 Contacts Alabama Sissy Crowe [email protected] Terry Skinner [email protected] Arkansas Sandra Phillips [email protected] (870) 688-9189 Debbie Cordell [email protected] (501) 209-1841 Austin Texas Brenda and Chris Grafft [email protected] (512) 263-8670 Chicagoland Eleanor Ehresman [email protected] 847-724-6205 Laura Jones [email protected] Colorado Kathy Upton [email protected] Eastern Oklahoma Janie Blake [email protected] (918) 367-9714 Co Edwards [email protected] Eastern Virginia James T White [email protected] (757) 459-8220 Florida Neely Inlow [email protected] (904) 891-6000 Georgia Debi Elkins [email protected] (770) 458-6415 Houston Adult: Walter Hill [email protected] (713) 661-8488 Youth: Trish McElroy [email protected] (281) 277-1706 Rene Murphy [email protected] Indiana Holly Stoiche on the website - www.ipcursillo.org Jay Farlow [email protected] Doug Anderson [email protected] James Virginia - Claudia Dickerson [email protected] (804) 550-0841 Mitch Rowland [email protected] Louisiana Joyce Sasser [email protected] Sandy Broussard [email protected] Michigan George Davidson [email protected] (616) 656-2782 David Andrus [email protected] Mississippi Janet McIlwain - [email protected] (228) 875-1249 Tom Mcilwain [email protected] (228) 875-1249 Nebraska/Iowa- Great Plains Jan Nordlund [email protected] (402) 289-4810 Shelly Story [email protected] (402) 586-2634 North Carolina Adult: Jim Mason [email protected] (336) 491-9970 Arise Youth: Nancy Alderson [email protected] (910) 515-4170 (cell) Mary Ann & Bill Kopp [email protected] Chip Todd [email protected] North Texas Adult: Karen Harris [email protected] (903) 235-6763, Kris Turner [email protected] Youth: Melvin Turner [email protected] (972) 618-4809 Oklahoma Adult: Sheron Davis [email protected] Youth: Kay Denneny c/o First Presbyterian Church, 1000 S. Rankin, Edmond, OK 73034 Bob Bentley [email protected] Palo Duro Texas - Shannon Brooks [email protected] (806) 872-6333 Chuck Nester [email protected] (806) 655-1971 Peaks Virginia - Bill Cowen [email protected] P O Box1024, Buchanan,VA 24066 Susan Caldwell [email protected] Shenandoah - Virginia - Jeanette McCloud [email protected] Linda Mohler [email protected] South Carolina Adult: J C Simmons [email protected] (843) 871-3944 Youth & Cross Training: Mike Allen [email protected] (843) 200-1899 Tennessee Valley Mary Snyder [email protected] (256) 558-5956 Keith Johnson [email protected] (256) 751-4392
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