Muskingum Valley Presbytery
Weekly Update

February 7, 2013

This week...
Save the Dates!
MVP News & Materials
Tax Guide for Ministers and Federal Reporting
Introduction to the Glory of God
Consider Detroit...
Debbie's Weekly Message
Lenten Holy Habit
Letter to MVP Session Clerks
Special Called Meeting of the Presbytery
Help with Hurricane Sandy Recovery
Free 1933/1934 Presbyterian Hymnals
Presbyterian News Service Press Release
For those engaged in Healing Ministries
Prayer Requests/Updates
Join Our Mailing List 

Save the Dates!

 

Wednesday March 13th, 5P

until  

Thursday,  

March 14th, 5P

   

Registration  

begins at 4:30P

 

Lenten Retreat/

Inner Shalom

 

Christ 

Presbyterian Church

530 Tuscarawas Street West 

Canton, OH 44702

  

Click Here to Register for the Lenten Retreat

*Please call the McKinley Hotel, 1-877-454-5008 to book your reservations. To receive discount, state that you are attending the MVP Lenten Retreat.
You must call to ahead to reserve room(s).
 

  -------------  

 

Saturday,

April 20th

 

9:00A-4:00P

 

Registration  

begins at 8:30A 

 

Ministry Options in the 21st Century

with George Bullard

 

Unity Presbyterian Church

130 N. 7th Street

Cambridge, OH 43725

  

  -------------

 

Questions?
Comments?
Corrections?

  

800.693.1147
330.339.5515

 

 

MVP 
Office Hours:
Monday thru Thursday
8:00A - 4:30P

MVP News:

 

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2013, the standard mileage rates will be:

56.5 cents 

per mile for business miles driven.

 

2011-2013
Book of Order
$9.00 each

*NEW*
2013 Mission Yearbooks
are now on sale at the
Presbytery office.
$15.00 each


Per Capita 2013
GA
 6.87
Synod
 3.25
Presbytery
18.36
Total 28.48
 




Now Available:




"Introduction to
Glory to God, the new Presbyterian Hymnal" is being held April 20, 2013 at Pittsburgh Seminary.

You can download, print and use however you want:

An introduction to...GLORY TO GOD (.PDF)

The designer of the brochure gives the following instructions:

"This brochure was designed to be printed on both sides of a legal sized sheet of paper. Please adjust your printer to legal and landscape so that the PDF will print as designed. If you don't have a printer that can do that, you will have a reduced size one which is usable that prints on letter paper."

 

Feel free to download the brochure and the PDF.  They are meant to be distributed to as many as possible.

 

Thank you for all you can do to support and publicize this regional event for our denomination.  We appreciate it.

 

Sincerely,

 

Barbara McKelway, President

Pittsburgh Chapter, PAM (Presbyterian Association of Musicians)

352 Hawthorn Court

Pittsburgh, Pa.  15237

412-366-4513

 


Consider
Detroit as a

Location
for your next

Youth or Adult Mission Trip

Detroit Presbytery Service Initiative is a program run by the Hands-On Mission Work Group of the Presbytery of Detroit, 17575 Hubbell, and Detroit, MI 48235.

Nature of Work:
A variety of service opportunities in partnership with area congregations, community agencies and social service organizations.
Work projects include and are not limited to demolition, construction, human services, Vacation Bible Schools, Habitat builds, nature conservancy and many others.



Dust and Delight

 

I was there when you were but a child, with a faith to suit you well;

In a blaze of light you wandered off to find where demons dwell.

John Ylvisaker

 

Dust and delight! That is what we are made of. Dust from the ground of creation. Delight from the heart of the Father. God breathed life into 'Adamah (the stuff of the ground) and we took form. And God said, "It is good... very good!"

 

A child is born and there is delight. All say, "It is good... very good!" Such is the joy of the grace-saturated embrace. But the time comes for us all when we must wander off to find where demons dwell. Each and every one of us must confront the darkness within and without.   It is then, we find ourselves in the wilderness. This is the context in which our characters are transformed by challenge and testing. Such is the depth of God's love that we are not expected to heed the call without first being prepared.

 

For most of us, it takes a firm push to move us into the wilderness. A disruption. Life throws us a curve ball we didn't anticipate. There is an unexpected loss. What worked, no longer works. Whatever form "the push" takes, we are brought face to face with our fears, our insecurities, and personal frailties. Only as they are made known can we learn and grow from them.

 

Jesus' wilderness time brought him face to face with three temptations: hunger, power, and safety. The wilderness confronts each one of us with the reality that our hunger cannot be satisfied by bread alone; we need God. Nor will power insulate us from this life's challenges; we need God. Nor can we avoid the pain of failure by seeking protection against risk; we need God. The invitation of the wilderness is to so fully align ourselves with God's ways that we will be able to discern between true life and false seductions. The question of the wilderness is will we become the people we were created to be, even knowing that there will be pain and challenge and failure?

 

Ancient liturgy reminds us that we are dust and to dust shall we return. It can sound ominous, unless we remember that returning to the dust inevitably means returning home to God. The Divine embrace awaits us and in that embrace is delight... even in the face of loss and failure. Such is the paradox that the greater the hollow carved out by challenge, the more room for joy to dwell therein.

 

Another Lent is upon us with Ash Wednesday falling on February 13th this year. The word lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for "spring." The early church intended the season of Lent to be a springtime for the soul. Even with snow on the ground, the days are growing longer holding forth the promise of spring.   May we together embrace this wilderness journey in which love and testing both refine and remind us of who and whose we are.

Lenten blessings to you all!



Debbie Rundlett, general presbyter
Deborah@MVPJourney.org
 

 

Lenten Holy Habit: Resting in Jesus

 

Menuha is the Hebrew word for "rest." Loosely translated, menuha means to "catch our breath." Over time, the failure to stop and "catch our breath" and breathe in the Breath of Life, results in spiritual death. From the beginning, physical breath and spiritual breath have been intimately linked. God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life and he lived. Even now God seeks to fill each one of us with that same breath of life. This week, take some time to stop and "catch your breath." A recent survey of 20,000 Christians around the world revealed that busyness and constant overload is a major obstacle to "catching our breath."   We have become enslaved to busyness. We live in bondage to overload. A diagnosis of our condition reveals:

  • Hurry sickness(said the Red Queen to Alice: "Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else you must run at least twice as fast.");
  • Multi-tasking (The illusion that we can do more than one thing at a time.);
  • Clutter (Our stuff: time saving gadgets, books we don't have time to read all reflecting a lack of simplicity);
  • Superficiality (The curse of our age; we need to exchange depth for breadth.);
  • An inability to love (Relationships take time; hurry doesn't allow time.);
  • Sunset fatigue (Giving our loved ones the "leftovers of our energy," always rushing, short tempered, loss of gratitude and wonder, indulging in self-destructive habits, including too much food and drink, TV, not enough time with God, others, self).

We have forgotten how to breathe in the breath of the Spirit... the Breath of life. One spiritual director's prescription: "Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." He then adds: "There is nothing else" (Source: John Ortberg).

 

Prayer for the Journey

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?

Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life.

I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.  

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message)

 

 

February 5, 2013

 

Dear MVP Session Clerks:

 

You will recall that I advised you a couple of months ago to hold off from submitting your 2012 statistical reports until I could share more with you about the Mission Council's review of alternate ways to report the missional activities and witness of our congregations. That work has not yet been completed so I am writing now to encourage you to complete and submit the existing 2012 statistical report for your congregation.  

 

Some of our clerks have already called Shauna at the MVP Mission Center and provided her with the 2012 figures and other required information so she can complete their report on line to ensure the report goes to our denominational office. She welcomes additional calls from those of our session clerks who would like her help in that manner. Others of you may decide to submit your completed reports on your own to Louisville directly by mail or email. If you do so, please let Shauna know that you have done so in order that she can track which session clerks have not yet been filed.

 

Before moving to Minerva ten years ago, I served as clerk of session at my Presbyterian church near Buffalo, New York, long enough to understand the many responsibilities that this position carries. Please don't see this 2012 statistical report as an optional or meaningless exercise in communicating with the PCUSA national staff. The information collected from our denomination's presbyteries provides national and local staff with valuable data. Our Presbytery's Mission Council and staff sincerely appreciate all that you do throughout the year as you serve God, your congregation and your presbytery. Please don't hesitate to contact Shauna by phone, 330-339-5515 or by email, Shauna@MVPJourney.org, if you need help.

 

In Christ's service,

 

Elder Paula G. Lane

MVP Transitional Stated Clerk

 

 

Special Called Meeting of the Presbytery


Monday, February 25th, 2013
at 10:00AM

Place: T.B.A.

Examination for Ordination
to the office of Teaching Elder,
Marcel (Marc) van Bulck
upon the call of the Seville Presbyterian Church.


 

 

 

 

Help with Hurricane Sandy Recovery

First Presbyterian Church in Wooster Ohio is sending a group to New York City to help with Hurricane Sandy recovery.  We will leave on April 28th and return on May 4th.  Individuals are responsible for their own travel.  The cost is $40 per person per night.  Please contact Jen Baer by email (jbaer@fpc-wooster.org) or phone (330-264-9420) for more information or to join the group.  You must be over 18 years old to join us on this trip.  

 

 

 

Westminster Presbyterian Church in New Concord is cleaning out closets! We have over 100 copies of the 1933/1949 Presbyterian Hymnal (dark green cover), free for the asking. Please email pastor Ellen Thomas at ellenthomas22@gmail.com if interested. Thank you.

 

 

January 4, 2013


Dear Presbytery Staff Members,

Grace and peace to you all.

We write with concern about proposed benefits and dues plan changes announced by the Board of Pensions after their October 2012 meeting, and to urge reconsideration. We ask that you share this letter with the pastoral leaders and clerks of session of your Presbytery, to encourage congregational conversations toward the hope that more faithful and constructive options might be explored as all of us consider how to respond to the funding crisis for the health care benefits of the Plan.

The reasons for our concern begin with our sense that the proposed changes are counter to the values of the Presbyterian Church (USA), including those of the Board of Pensions. Among our concerns are the following:

1. No suggestion was made in written reports by the Board of Pensions to the 220th General Assembly (2012) that a
significant change in the structure of medical benefits was contemplated, nor was any suggestion offered that perhaps
the plan was facing a deficit situation. A deficit of the level the Board has announced seems unlikely to have emerged
between July and October 2012. Although there was a small hint of a change in the financial outlook for the medical
plan in the report to the 2012 General Assembly, the concern was not clearly stated.

2. The proposed turn away from the historic communal nature and the call neutrality aspects of the plan are troubling. These two aspects have been central in the Board's reports and interpretive pieces, which does not surprise, as both are highly valued by Plan members and congregations. Indeed, the communal nature of the Plan was emphasized in the Board's Agency Summary to the 220th General Assembly. These aspects are understood and lived as spiritual values by Presbyterians across the church. Changing the essential nature of the Plan would damage the church and render faithful ministry more difficult in many places.

3. Further, the proposed changes may well exacerbate existing divisions in the church. Increasing costs for Plan
members with dependents puts Plan members on opposing sides. It places members with dependents, a group that
includes many of the younger members of the Plan, out of parity with members without dependents, a group that
includes the majority of older and/or retired members. It also could result in increasing division between Plan members
who serve smaller, less-resourced congregations and those who serve larger, wealthier congregations. In many cases,
members who are financially better off will get a break, while members who are already experiencing financial stress will be under increased burdens if the proposed changes are enacted.

Finally, the Board's report to the 220th General Assembly on Amendments to the Plan notes that amendments "that are
in the nature of a benefit reduction...are only effective upon approval of the General Assembly". We suggest that a
benefit reduction is part of the proposed change, and thus, we believe that the Board must submit these proposed
changes to the 221st General Assembly (2014), which would allow the church time for a full conversation about the
potential benefits and costs of the proposed changed to the medical benefits of the Plan.

We urge the Board of Directors to reconsider these changes and offer the church the opportunity to consider all the
implications of the proposed changes at the 221st General Assembly.


John Fife, Moderator                Deborah Fortel, Moderator


204th General Assembly, PC(USA) (1992) GA Task Force on Theology of Compensation, 2008-2010

NOTE: The Presbyterian News Service press release on proposed changes is one place to find more information.
http://www.pcusa.org/news/2012/11/2/board-pensions-unveils-new-2014-healthcare-dues-st/



A summary and FAQ about the changes. These changes especially affect small churches and pastors with families.

 

 

For those engaged in Healing Ministries:  

 

Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church  

presents Lynn Eib,  

author of When God and Cancer Meet who will be the guest speaker at the church 

on Saturday, March 2, 2013

8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. 

 

Lynn's hope-filled message is for anyone who has ever been touched by cancer: patients, survivors, family members, and health care professionals. The day begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration and a Continental Breakfast, and ends at 1:30 p.m. with a lunch and book-signing by the author.


There is a $5 cost for this event. Please call the church 330-695-2511 by February 22 to reserve a seat.


The founder of The Cancer Prayer Support Group,
Lynn is a cancer survivor, a journalist
and a cancer patient advocate. 


www.fredericksburgpres.org 

  

 
Prayer Requests/Updates

 

Please pray for Ross and Cincy Gooch regarding their health.

 

 

Praise: Kathy Adams, lay pastor of Mansfield East Hills, recently returned from Haiti stating they got a lot more done than expected.  

Anyone interested in a Haiti teaching mission? 

Contact Kathy Adams 

     

 

 

A Prayer Request from Presbytery of the Miami Valley:
Please pray for Ruling Elder Dennis Piermont, Executive Presbyter.  Dennis was hospitalized on Monday with chest pains and is undergoing tests at Sycamore Hospital, including a heart catheterization on Wednesday. Dennis is married to Teaching Elder Julia Wharff Piermont, pastor of Sugar Creek church in Kettering.


   If you or someone you know has a prayer request

please send them to:
Shauna at Shauna@MVPJourney.org
   

  

      

  

Journeying with Jesus to touch the world...
Empowered by the Spirit to:
Make Disciples, Nurture Our Faith, and Serve the Needs of the Community! 
 

Shauna Engeldinger, Administrative Assistant

  

Muskingum Valley Presbytery

109 Stonecreek Road NW

New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663 

330.339.5515

1.800.693.1147

Fax: 330.339.6225

 

 Visit our website: www.MVPJourney.org

 

 

Regular Office hours

Monday - Thursday

8:00A to 4:30P