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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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From Our Pastors
FFNiters
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Deadline for the February
newsletter is January 20
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FROM OUR PASTORS 
Church Epiphany party! On Sunday, January 5, we will gather in the Seminary Building at our usual worship time, 10 AM for a special catered Epiphany brunch and informal worship. With us will be special guests, Johana and Daniel, a wonderful young couple who are members of our partner church, the Seventh Presbyterian Church, in Barranquilla, Colombia. They will bring greetings and share a visual presentation on our partner church's ministries as we worship together. Besides the brunch buffet and presentation, worship will also include Epiphany hymns (like "We Three Kings") and prayers and communion around our tables. Come and join the celebration! CONTINUE TO WHOLE ARTICLE Return to Top _________________________________________________________ |
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Christine Garton, Director of Christian Education, can be reached at cgarton@OxfordPresbyChurch.org or you can call or text her cell phone at 850-276-3231. Christine Garton will have thyroid cancer surgery on January 14 and will be out of the office recovering for 2 weeks. She should be back in the office January 29 if all goes well. Everyone stop reading right now and say a prayer for the quick and complete recovery of our dear friend Christine. -ed. THANK YOU to our December 2nd-5th grade Sunday School teachers Marilyn Curry, Amy Kraushar, and Christine Garton.
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CARES, CONCERNS, JOYS AND THANK YOUs
IN OUR PRAYERS
Keep these friends in your prayers:
MaryLee Keebler, John Woodruff, Adele McLaren, Stacey Winn, Joyce Trump, Helen Martin, Cathy Fey, Marilyn Rettig, Brian Hitsman
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THANK YOU
To: Mary Jo, Deanna, Sara, Jennifer and children, Mark & Barbara, Sandy & Rich and their daughter, Joe, Karen, Carol, and Becky:
Thank you for helping to decorate Safe Haven Farms for Christmas on Sunday December 8. We at Safe Haven Farms greatly appreciate this !!! It will be enjoyed by all the farmers and their families this Saturday when they have their Christmas Party, and again for their New Year Eve's party, and of course during the Day Program for the month of December.
Dave & Sue Wilson
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THANK YOU to Oxford Coffee Company for donating 2 airpots of coffee and coffee supplies to the Youth Mission Trip bake sale fundraiser at the Oxford Community Arts Center December 7
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Congratulations and THANK YOU to those newly elected folks who will be serving as
Trustees: Chris Adryan, Joe Simpson
Deacons: Janet Holmes, Deanna Maxwell, Lawretta Clum, Cornelia Browne, Molly Todd, Jay Baird
Session: Pam Deahl, Lynn Cronk, Pat Gifford, Tom Poetter, Rich Drewes.
And of course thank you to those who are continuing on in service as Trustees, Deacons or Session Members.
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DEACONS
Deacon shoppers spent $150.31 after checking with the Oxford Community Choice Pantry to see what was needed. Masterly marketing as our goal each month is to spend $150.
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Do you know someone who needs a Prayer Shawl? We have all shapes, sizes and colors available. If you have a friend or relative to whom you would like to give a Prayer Shawl, please call Sue Skillings 523-3120.
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Oxford Presbyterian Church Women
THE TUESDAY AFTERNOON CIRCLE will meet January 21 at 1:30 p.m. in the Knolls of Oxford Country Kitchen. Lynn Cronk will do the 4th lesson, Sarah Soika the Mission Yearbook and Lawretta Clum the Least Coin. For circle members who wish to eat lunch together at the Knolls, please email or call Lawretta Clum by January15. The cost is $6.
THE TUESDAY EVENING CIRCLE meets January 7 at 7:30 at the home of Jane Baer. Nancy Sturgeon leads the Devotions and Sue Wilson handles the Program ____________________
 HELP WANTED: We need two people to Co-Chair the Spring Rummage Sale. The purpose of the sale is to raise money for Missions. The side benefits are recycling of household goods and clothing, and fun and fellowship among the many workers. We have an experienced workforce ready to sort, set-up, price, and sell. The dates of the sale will be May 1-3. For more information, or to volunteer, call Sue Wilson, 523-8848.
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ANNOUCEMENTS
OPC's per capita contribution for 2014 is $26.77 per member ____________ Please note a new address: Helen Martin 100 Knollwood Oxford, OH 45056 _________ First Friday Niters will meet Friday, January 3 at Phan Shin's Restaurant at 6:30 p.m. Everyone is WELCOME ________________ The answer to this month's question is: 12 (yikes) ____________________
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Help spread the news-share what's happening with you and your family by sending info to Nancy Moeckel, your newsletter editor. (moeckenj@miamioh.edu)
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MISSION AND OUTREACH COMMITTEE
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Hear Them Walking!
Outreach Again Permitted. The Russian government has renewed permission for our Mission Partners in Russia, the First Church of Zlatoust and the Chelyabinsk Mission, to serve in the orphanages of their communities.
One of the ways that the Oxford Presbyterian Church worked  with these Mission Partners in their service was to provide as many shoes as possible for the children (over 400 pair to date). The Mission and Outreach Committee will again ask the Oxford Presbyterian congregation to join with our Mission Partners in this timely effort. For new and review, on January 12, 2014, there will be envelops on the pew seats that have a shoe print. Every $12 that we collect will help an orphan in the Zlatoust area to have a pair of shoes or slippers. The shoes-January 12, 19, and 26!
January 26, 2014. Please join the discussion on a possible visit and work opportunity with our Mission Partners in Russia. The destination, often called "the other Russia" is the lower Europe/Asia region of Russia. The meeting is January 26, 2014; 11:15 am; at the sanctuary front.
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DID YOU KNOW?
Zlatoust is a town in the Chelyabinsk Region. It is located 140 km westward from Chelyabinsk and 1400 km eastward from the capital of Russia - Moscow. The town stands on the border of Europe and Asia, on the banks of River Ai and its tributaries. The town is surrounded with Southern Ural Mountains from all sides.
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SEMINARY OPTIONS TEAM
The Seminary Options Team is a new column that will be in every newsletter until the charge to the Team is complete.
The seminary options team last met on December 3rd and will meet again on December 17.
James Wilson, an area contractor with special expertise in wood frame buildings spent several hours examining the seminary with Rich Drewes and Steve Flee. The team just recently received his written report and will discuss it further on the 17th. James's proposal includes work to stabilize the roof trusses that have caused the second floor to be closed and advice on abating the moisture problems. In addition, the team is trying to identify an appropriate engineer/contractor who can conduct a study that would identify issues and fixes for present or emerging problems, including costs estimates. We would expect such a study to employ non-invasive technology as much as possible to be thorough yet avoid undue damage to the Seminary. Of course references and relevant experience will be considered when making a hiring decision.
We've also done some looking on or own!!!
(name the owner of the legs for bonus points)
The future of the Seminary is an important decision and needs YOUR participation.
Seminary Options Team Members
- Rich Drewes (chair) 664-6919 drewesra@gmail.com
- Brad Cronk 524-8574 bcronk@woh.rr.com
- John Curry 523-3598 jcurry1@woh.rr.com
- Steve Flee 523-4037 sflee@woh.rr.com
- Pat Gifford 523-2227 gifforp@miamioh.edu
- Tom Holmes 523-3857 holmest2@frontier.com
- Mary Lee Keebler 524-7464 keebleml@miamioh.edu
- Nancy Moeckel 523-6003 moeckenj@miamioh.edu
- Tom Poetter 664-8226 poettets@miamioh.edu
- Joe Simpson 523-8363 simpsojc@miamioh.edu
- Barbara Barnes 523-6364 bbarnes@oxfordpresbychurch.org
- Mark Barnes 523-6364 mbarnes@oxfordpresbychurch.org
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ANY MEMBER with your comments, questions, concerns, ideas and support.
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January Birthdays
4 Jane Baer
5 Angela James
7 David Scotford
7 Deanna Roberts
9 Tom Fey
9 Jessica Stephenson
10 Cindy Satkowski
11 Jean Butterfield
11 Amber Beal
12 Marty Miller
13 Don Harrington
14 Ann Imhoff
15 Mary Quigg-Caspar
15 Judy Herold
15 Kali Satkowski
15 Gwyneth Wilson
16 Cora Friede
19 Judy Cross
19 Dolly Thomas
19 Sara Bailer
22 Scott Walter
24 Mickey Preston
25 Marilyn Rettig
26 Steve flee
27 Glenn Rymer
27 Cathy Fey
27 Jane Jackson
29 Steve Snyder
29 Cameron Hay-Rollins
30 Kim Logsdon
30 Emily Snell
31 Andy Farler
January Jubilations
The word "Olympics" originally meant not the Games themselves, but
the four-year gap between them.
January is National Blood Donor Month, National Braille Literacy Month, National Hobby Month, National Soup Month and National Staying Health Month
January 16,1909 The magnetic South Pole is found.
New Years Eve is noisy for a reason. Fireworks, cheering, singing and noisemakers are believed to scare away evil spirits.
 The New Year's Eve kiss is a symbol that your affection and closeness will last all year. So don't just grab some weirdo and kiss him/her/it, find a friend and give 'em a hug.
Australia is the only continent on earth without an active volcano.
One inch of rain is equal to 10 inches of snow
Marie Curie's notebooks are still radioactive (friends often described her as having that certain "glow"-ed)
Cleveland is the 2nd Snowiest Big City in the United States With 59.3" each winter on average over the last 50 years, The first snowiest place? Denver
If you'd like to know two easy Miami Native American words--"aya" (pronounced ah-yah) means "hello" and "niihka" (pronounced nee-ka) means "friend."
Question of the month: 
Some armadillos give birth to duodecuplets. How many offspring is that?
Books to read this month include:
Long walk to Freedom: the autobiography of Nelson Mandela and
I am Malala the memoir of Malala Yousafzai, the youngest person ever to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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From Our Pastors
Full Article
Johana and Daniel will be in Oxford January 4 - 8. The Colombia Team and the Mission and Outreach committee have planned activities each day to introduce them to our ministry and mission here. If you would like to share a dinner with Johana and Daniel there will be a potluck dinner at Mark and Barbara Barnes' on Tuesday, January 7, 6 PM. Chicken and drinks will be provided. Bring a side dish to share. And let us know that you're coming. (mbbarnes@frontier.com, 524-6219). If you would like to join in other activities with Johana and Daniel, Mark will be glad to send you the itinerary.
Sharing Memories: Epiphany Parties!
As we linger in the 12 days of the Christmas season, I (Barbara) want to share some personal Epiphany memories with you. Yes, I know it's unusual to have memories of Epiphany! Epiphany was not an important or even a very familiar day in the church year as most of us were growing up - at least if we were American Protestants. Yet Christians celebrated Epiphany before they began celebrating Christmas. (Christmas was a rather late addition to the church's liturgical year, in the 4th century.) Even today, in much of the Christian world, the Christ event is celebrated on Epiphany (January 6) rather than on Christmas day (December 25).
Epiphany is closely linked with the coming of the Magi to worship and bring gifts to the Christ child. Since the Magi followed the light of the star in the East, Epiphany celebrates Christ as the light of the world. Since the Magi represented the far reaches of the known world of the time, Epiphany celebrates the broad love of Christ for the whole world. Epiphany completes "the 12 days of Christmas."
Even though my family was Methodist, a denomination which did not observe Epiphany, one winter my mother surprised us with plans for a special Epiphany celebration. She was always creative about finding ways to turn any possible day into a special day. She had read an article about Epiphany, which included descriptions of how it was celebrated throughout history and around the world. One such tradition was an epiphany cake. An epiphany cake contains particular small items baked into it, each item representing one character in the Epiphany story from Matthew's gospel. Whoever gets that item in their slice of cake acts out their part later in an Epiphany drama.
So Mom announced that we were going to have a family party that evening, with an Epiphany cake and play. We all enjoyed it so much that it became a tradition.
As I remember it, the epiphany cake was basically an ordinary yellow cake. I can't remember all the items and their meaning, but I know one of them was a penny, standing for the wise man who brought "gold." We four children were always excited about the process of washing and cleaning the items, and then stirring them carefully into the batter. When the cake was served, ideally each person around the table would find at least one of the items in their slice of cake. If not, there had to be a bit of creative arranging so everyone got an item and all the crucial parts in the drama were covered (if not by family members, some doing double duty, then by dolls and stuffed animals). There were the three Magi, of course, along with Joseph and Mary and Jesus. Other items stood for Herod, an angel, even camels and donkeys! After we finished eating, we had 10 minutes to scour the house for materials for our costume, a suitable gift (if you were a wise man), and other props. When we reassembled, my dad read the story from Matthew, and we each acted out our part, ad libbing a bit when we felt inspired. It was great fun, and over time, some of us got quite creative and extravagant with our costumes, considering we never knew from year to year which role we were going to play!
I have two other Epiphany memories of cherished celebrations, both from my young adult years. Soon after we moved to Louisville, we received an invitation to an Epiphany dinner and carol sing - of Epiphany carols! Our hostess was from the Netherlands, where there was a tradition of celebrating Epiphany. She had collected a great variety of ancient and contemporary Epiphany carols, most of them new to us. Some of them were extraordinarily beautiful. After a wonderful dinner together, we assembled in the living room, where some of us played instruments and all of us sang the carols together. The first year, we stumbled a bit, sight-reading, especially if we were singing a harmonizing part (like alto or bass). But year after year, we got better and better, and by the year we moved away, the group sounded quite good!
The other Epiphany party was a moveable feast, not on Epiphany itself but some time during the 12 days of Christmas. It also began with a good dinner together (an important element of so many celebrations!). Afterwards, we gathered to read, in parts, W. H. Auden's great long poem, "For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio." Our focus was the section where each of the Magi tells why he follows the star. The first says, "To discover how to be truthful now is the reason I follow this star." The second says, "To discover how to be living now is the reason I follow this star." The third says, "To discover how to be loving now is the reason I follow this star." Then all three Wise Men speak together saying, "To discover how to be human now is the reason we follow the star." When they kneel at the manger, they say, "O here and now our endless journey stops." There is much more, of course, and I encourage you to read the poem yourself!
In our church, we have been developing some Epiphany traditions for our worship together. They've included three of our young men playing the part of the wise men, and singing Epiphany carols, and sometimes sharing a phone call with one of our partner churches. Recently, we've developed the tradition of worshiping informally at the Seminary church around tables, while sharing a catered hot brunch buffet, and ending with sharing communion around each table. This year that will be January 5 at 10 a.m.
This year, two friends from our Colombian church, Johana and Daniel, will visit us in person for Epiphany weekend! See the above article for other opportunities to meet and share a meal or activity with this winsome young couple!
So let's continue to celebrate Christmas throughout the full 12 days, rejoicing in the awesome wonder of God's gift to us in Jesus Christ!
Barbara and Mark
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Christian Education Full Article
THANK YOU to everyone who donated Christmas wrapping paper, gift bags, gift tags, and gift boxes for the 2014 Youth Mission Trip gift wrapping fundraiser!
THANK YOU to the Adryans, the Lykins, the Friedes, and the Gartons for lighting our Advent wreath one Sunday in December.
HELP!!! SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS NEEDED for the 2nd-5th grade workshop rotation classes. Teachers commit to teaching one workshop for 2 Sundays in a 3-Sunday block. If you are willing to teach Sunday School, please contact a member of the Christian Education Committee or Christine Garton ASAP.
SUPER BOWL SUB ORDERS WILL BE TAKEN THROUGHOUT JANUARY. SUBS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PICK UP IN THE MOLYNEAUX LOUNGE AFTER WORSHIP ON FEBRUARY 2. PLEASE SEE THE SUB ORDER FORM IN THIS NEWSLETTER OR IN THE BULLETIN FOR MORE INFO.
CHILDREN'S NEWS
NO SUNDAY SCHOOL will be offered January 5 due to the Epiphany Brunch at the Seminary at 10 AM. Children are welcome and encouraged to come to the brunch!
YOUTH NEWS
CONFIRMATION CLASS FOR 8TH & 9TH GRADERS STARTS IN JANUARY! An overnight retreat January 19-20 and a Confirmation meeting January 5 after the Epiphany Brunch at the Seminary for the whole family are among the activities planned to kick off confirmation. If you would like your 8th or 9th grader to be part of the 2014 Confirmation class, please contact Pastors Mark or Barbara Barnes or Christine Garton. Class will meet weekly from sometime in January until May.
MIDDLE SCHOOL YOUTH GROUP will meet January 26 at 11:15 AM with Emily and Cassidy, our youth interns. There are no other youth group meetings in January.
HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH GROUP will meet February 2 at 11:15 AM in the youth room with high school intern Jenn Burns.
HIGH SCHOOL SUNDAY SCHOOL will not meet again until January 26.
ADULT EDUCATION NEWS
"A BIOLOGIST'S STROLL THROUGH THE BIBLE: PIGS &  DOGS" will be led by Dr. Paul Russell on January 12 at 11:20 AM in the Molyneaux Lounge. The congregation is invited! Even though this is a series, this is a stand alone presentation, so come even if you haven't been to any of Dr. Russell's previous presentations.
Amazing Grace hymn study will continue at The Knolls Country Kitchen starting Monday, February 3 from 2-3 PM and will run through February 24. Everyone is welcome to attend! Come learn more about some of your favorite hymns and maybe learn a new hymn or two. Christine Garton will lead this study.
KIDS CORNER Luke* Find him in the Bible: Colossians 4:14 Call him Dr. Luke. He was a medical doctor. And he traveled with a missionary named Paul. They went to places like Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Luke probably used his medical skills many times to treat sick people along the way. Luke is most famous for writing two history books. One is about Jesus: the Gospel of Luke. The other is about how the church got started: Acts of the Apostles. Actually, those two books never identify their writer. But church leaders many years later said Luke wrote them. And there are clues in the books that suggest he did. The books sound like a doctor wrote them. The Gospel of Luke tells us about more healing miracles than any other book in the Bible. And remember hearing about the Baby Jesus wrapped up in cloth and lying in a manger? That's Luke talking. Luke wasn't a Jew. And that comes across in his writing. He makes sure readers know that Jesus came to save everyone, not just the Jews. "People will come from all over the world to take their places in the Kingdom of God" (Luke 13:29). Luke was also a brave man. He stayed with Paul to the end when the Romans killed Paul. When Paul wrote his last letter from jail, he said everyone else had left him. "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11). *Taken from Who's Who & Where's Where in the Bible for Kids by Stephen Miller. TRIVIA QUESTION: What 2 books of the Bible did Luke write? Luke and Acts. | |
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