Announcements 4-9-23

Posted on Apr 5, 2023 in Announcements |

Announcements:

 DEVOTIONAL SPOTLIGHT: This week’s devotional is: Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals Designed to help individuals, families, and congregations pray together across denominations, this book of common prayer will help you and your community join together each day with the same songs, scriptures, and prayers. Composed under an advisory team of liturgy experts, these three influential and inspiring authors have created Common Prayer–a tapestry of prayer that will help the church be one as God is one.

OFFICE CLOSED: Pastor Aaron and Louise will be out of town April 10th – 14th. The office will be closed. If something urgent comes up please email us or call and leave a voice message and we will respond as soon as we are able. 

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING: Lent is a time to think about others, instead of ourselves.  Easter is a time for connecting friends, family, and those in need. ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING……is a time when people throughout the world come together and share what they have with others that have less!

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING is the single, largest way that Presbyterians connect every year to work for justice, resilience, and sustainability, providing relief from natural disasters, food for the hungry, and support for the poor and oppressed.

During the season of Lent, we celebrate that God connects with us through Jesus’ resurrection and connects us with “those who have least” – that’s how Matthew 25 puts it – and that’s what One Great hour of Sharing (OGHS) is all about.

We will be collecting the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering this Sunday.

POTLUCK LUNCHEON AFTER THE CANTATA!: On Sunday, April 16th the Presbyterian Women will host a potluck luncheon after our annual cantata. Just bring a dish to share with others. It can be homemade or store bought. Anything yummy you would like, someone else is sure to like too!  The Presbyterian women will be in the Fellowship Hall before the worship service to accept the food (and to have it heated or refrigerated, if necessary).The PW will provide the drinks. Plan to join us on April 16th. for beautiful music and wonderful fellowship as we join Chinese Presbyterian and Little Farms United Church of Christ as a community of believers praising God together!

EASTER EGG HUNT THANK YOU!!!: A Big Thank you to all those who came out and helped at the Easter Egg Hunt on the 1st. Julie, Christian, Joseph, Greg, Claire, Aaron, Asher, Ardis, Jermey, Brock, Sue, Ron, Cynthia, and Emily we could not have done it without you. Thank you for all your hard work. The kids had a great time and the parents were impressed with what we had to offer. 

HYMNS AND BEER We’ve also scheduled our next Hymns and Beer for Monday, April 24th at 7pm at Zony Mash! The brewery is child and pet-friendly, and there will be a food truck (Boils by Brad) serving up crawfish. In celebration of Earth Day, all the hymns will be nature-themed and half of the musicians’ tips will be donated to Glassroots, a New Orleans non-profit which turns glass bottles into sand for use in coastal restoration projects. See you there!

OUR NEXT CLOTHING DRIVE: We are looking for prom dresses and party dresses to take to the folks we have been working with in Lake Charles. Short, long, and all sizes. We will be collecting in April. Look for a clothing rack in the Narthex for this collection.

THANK YOU FROM EVERGREEN: Thank you to everyone who donated to Evergreen Life Services Last month. We collected 1,220. Check out the Thank you letter from Evergreen on the Bulletin board to find out more about how this money will be used. 

FLOWERS: The Flowers were given to the Glory of God by the Garlands. 

BIRTHDAYS: Chuck Corcoran 4/9

EVENTS AND MEETINGS THIS WEEK:

4/10 – 4/14 – Office Closed 

4/12 -6:00 PM – Worship Committee Meeting 

          7:00 PM – Cantata Choir Rehearsal 

4/13 – 10:00 AM – Game Day Sponsored by PW

4/16 – 9:30 AM – Canta Warm-up and Rehearsal 

         10:30 AM- Easter Cantata 

         11:45 AM -Potluck luncheon

February 2023 Finances

Revenues: $ 62,817  Expenses: $109,511.95 ($46,694.95)

Announcements 4-2-23

Posted on Mar 31, 2023 in Announcements, Uncategorized |

Announcements:

 Devotional Spotlight: This week’s devotional is: Awaken to Rest: Daily words of comfort and hope The Lord wants your freedom and for you to feel the joy in His heart for you. Listen to the words in this book to jumpstart a deeper relationship with Him. Sink into His vision of you. See that you are a canvas where He is creating a beautiful life. The finished work of the Cross secured your liberty into a radically new existence.

As you read these messages daily, let them awaken you to truths that are liberating. Awakening to His rest is the key to fulfillment and peace. Striving and anxiously trying to control your life is a dead-end that leads nowhere. Come into the open pasture and lean against the heart of your Creator. Allow Him to show you a new and better way.

One Great Hour Of Sharing: Lent is a time to think about others, instead of ourselves.  Easter is a time for connecting friends, family, and those in need. ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING…

…is a time when people throughout the world come together and share what they have with others that have less!

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING is the single, largest way that Presbyterians connect every year to work for justice, resilience, and sustainability, providing relief from natural disasters, food for the hungry, and support for the poor and oppressed.

During the season of Lent, we celebrate that God connects with us through Jesus’ resurrection and connects us with “those who have least” – that’s how Matthew 25 puts it – and that’s what One Great hour of Sharing (OGHS) is all about.

We will be collecting the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering this Sunday and on Easter Sunday.

FOR A POTLUCK LUNCHEON AFTER THE CANTATA!: On Sunday, April 16th. the Presbyterian Women will host a pot luck luncheon after our annual cantata. Just bring a dish to share with others. It can be homemade or store bought. Anything yummy you would like, someone else is sure to like too!  The Presbyterian women will be in the Fellowship Hall before the worship service to accept the food (and to have it heated or refrigerated, if necessary).The PW will provide the drinks. Plan to join us on April 16th. for beautiful music and wonderful fellowship as we join Chinese Presbyterian and Little Farms United Church of Christ as a community of believers praising God together!

Events and Meetings this Week:

4/2 – 11:45 AM – Choir 

4/5 -11:00 AM – Staff Meeting  

          6:00 PM – Handbells 

          7:00 PM – Cantata Choir Rehearsal 

4/6 – 7:00 PM – Maundy Thursday Service at Chinese Presbyterian 

4/7 – 8:00 AM – Good Friday Drop In  Prayer Vigil 

4/9 – 10:15 AM – Choir Rehearsal 

         10:30 AM- Easter Sunday  Worship Service

         11:45 AM – Choir

HYMNS AND BEER We’ve also scheduled our next Hymns and Beer for Monday, April 24th at 7pm at Zony Mash! The brewery is child and pet-friendly, and there will be a food truck (Boils by Brad) serving up crawfish. In celebration of Earth Day, all the hymns will be nature-themed and half of the musicians’ tips will be donated to Glassroots, a New Orleans non-profit which turns glass bottles into sand for use in coastal restoration projects. See you there!

Our Next Clothing Drive: We are looking for prom dresses and party dresses to take to the folks we have been working with in Lake Charles. Short, long, and all sizes. We will be collecting in April. Look for a clothing rack in the Narthex for this collection.

Love Offering For Olga: Olga, our long-term cleaning help, is retiring this week. Her husband, who has been battling mouth cancer for the last several months, started radiation treatments last week, and then will undergo chemotherapy. She needs to retire to be able to care for him. We would like to take up a love offering for Olga in recognition of her time with us and to support her in her time of need. Please put “Love Offering” in the memo line.

Birthdays: Lorraine Weindel 4/6, Chuck Corcoran 4/9


Announcements 3-26-23

Posted on Mar 24, 2023 in Announcements |

Announcements:

 Devotional Spotlight: This week’s devotional is: Come, Holy Spirit : A Daily Discipleship Travel Log for Easter to Pentecost. Learning to Pray, “Come, Holy Spirit!”

When was the last time you prayed for the Holy Spirit? The person and work of the Spirit sometimes seem mysterious, if not confusing. We pray to the Father and the Son while the Spirit often remains behind the scenes, a silent partner in God’s Work in the world. But the Scriptures envision so much more.

Over the course of 40 days, this Discipleship Travel Log explores the role of the Spirit as a sculptor who shapes us to look more like Jesus. The daily Scripture readings, devotions, and prayers help you lean into the work of the Spirit in your everyday life. Custom-made Faith Experiments will help you: try something new, find the next step, and get into the groove. The Spirit is already working in your life. The Father gladly gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Today is a good day to pray, “Come, Holy Spirit! Help me take a small next step.”

Bigger isn’t always better: Have you been wondering why the Bulletin is getting smaller? As we continually assess our call to be good stewards of both the earth and the financial resources that God has given us, we are working on reducing our footprint. Using smaller paper, and printing less of the service is both less expensive and better for the environment. While sometimes we need to use creative spacing, nearly everything that was on the larger paper fits on this smaller version and with a font that is only .5 smaller then we were using. Also everything that is in the paper bulletin is also on the slides or available online, so you may find that you don’t even need the paper version. We will have a QR code available to scan that will take you to the online version, on our website, or you can go completely hands free and just use the slides.We will also have copies of the announcement page for those who opt out of a bulletin but still want the prayer list and announcements to take home.  We will of course keep providing a printed version for those who prefer it, but the less we print the better for the earth and our budget. 

Love Offering For Olga: Olga, our long-term cleaning help, is retiring this week. Her husband, who has been battling mouth cancer for the last several months, started radiation treatments last week, and then will undergo chemotherapy. She needs to retire to be able to care for him. We would like to take up a love offering for Olga in recognition of her time with us and to support her in her time of need. Please put “Love Offering” in the memo line.

Good Friday Prayer Vigil: We cannot experience the glory of Easter if we do not first experience the pain of Maundy Thursday, the loss of Good Friday and the sadness of Holy Saturday. Setting aside specific time in church to wait and pray with Jesus, to reflect on the events that led up to his death and resurrection, to speak to God and seek his guidance and listen to his heart, is essential to preparing our hearts for the Joy of Easter. To that end we would like to host a Prayer Vigil on Good Friday. This will be a time to blanket our church, our community, our parish, our state, our nation and the world in continual prayer. Please take a moment to consider what time you would like to come in and pray for yourself and our community. Our hope is to have an extended vigil with at least two people in the sanctuary throughout Good Friday. Use the sign up sheet in the Bulletin to let us know when you would like to come in and pray. 

Birthdays: Beverly Ross 3/28, Tracy Wayne 4/1, 

Events and Meetings this Week:

 3/26 – 11:45 AM – Choir

           5:00 PM – Egg Stuffing & Pizza Party  

3/22 -11:00 AM – Staff Meeting  

          6:00 PM – Cantata Handbells 

          7:00 PM – Cantata Choir Rehearsal 

4/1 – 9:00 AM – Noon – Easter Egg Hunt

3/26 – 9:30 AM – Sunday School 

          10:15 AM – Choir Rehearsal 

          10:30 AM- Worship Service

          11:45 AM – Choir


Announcements 3- 12

Posted on Mar 12, 2023 in Announcements |

Announcements:

 Devotional Spotlight: This week’s devotional is: A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal It’s no secret that we are overworked, overpressured, and edging burnout. Unsurprisingly, this fact is as old as time—and that’s why we see so many prayer circles within a multitude of church traditions. These gatherings are a trusted space where people seek help, hope, and peace, energized by God and one another.

This book, curated by acclaimed author Sarah Bessey, celebrates and honors that prayerful tradition in a literary form. A companion for all who feel the immense joys and challenges of the journey of faith, this collection of prayers says it all aloud, giving readers permission to recognize the weight of all they carry. These writings also offer a broadened imagination of hope—of what can be restored and made new. Each prayer is an original piece of writing, with new essays by Sarah Bessey throughout.

Encompassing the full breadth of the emotional landscape, these deeply tender yet subversive prayers give readers an intimate look at the diverse language and shapes of prayer.

Work Day Thank You!!!!: A Big Thank you goes out to all the amazing people who came out for our work day on Saturday March 4th. Look at all we were able to accomplish together with Little Farms. 

  1. Cleaning The Sanctuary: Emily Garland, Sue Crawford, Evelyn Tobey and Charlotte (LFUCC). 
  1. Painting Classrooms in the Fellowship Hall: Linda Lowry, George Cowand, Susan (LFUCC), Chole (LFUCC), Steve (LFUCC), Gwen Nolan, Julie Hebert, 
  2. Youth Space Projects: Aaron Ochart, Deborah Nolan, Jeremy Moore, Jacob Russo 
  3. Various Gardening Projects and Trash Pick-up: Matthew Freudenthal, Sam Garnet, Kelly Cuppett, Ann Trapani, Amy Cardinale, Linda (LFUCC), Scott (LFUCC), Asher Ochart, Ian Nolan, Jeremy Moore, Adris Moore, Brock Moore, Aaron Ochart
  4. Re-striping the Parking lot: Kelly Trail, Jonathan Zea, Caleb Hebert, Jacob Russo, Andrew Nolan, Asher Ochart, Ian Nolan, Gwen Nolan, Aaron Ochart, Kate Russo
  5. Cleaning Gutter:  Linda (LFUCC), Scott (LFUCC)
  6. Fixing Sinks and Lights in Food Pantry: Gary Lowry, Mike Trapani 

We are already looking forward to the next work day on April 22nd to spruce up the garden beds for Earth Day. 

Congregational Meeting: Join us on Sunday March 12th for a congregational meeting for the purpose of electing elders for session.

Liturgy Lagniappe! In the reflective season of Lent, we are asked to listen more carefully. A voice cries out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. Our acappella processional hymn responds to that voice with conviction of faith, forming the Church Body which breathes and sings together even when our supports are lacking. 

Events and Meetings this Week:

3/12 – 10:30 AM- Worship Service – Congregational Meeting

          11:45 AM – Choir 

3/13 – 12:15 Am – Playschool committee Meeting 

          6:30 PM – CE Committee Meeting

3/14 – 10:00 AM – Outreach Committee Meeting  

3/15 -11:00 AM – Staff Meeting  

                       6:00 PM – Cantata Handbells 

          7:00 PM – Cantata Choir Rehearsal 

3/16 – COM Nola Cluster Meeting 

3/17 – Church Office Closed 

3/19 – 9:30 AM – Intergenerational Sunday School 

          10:15 AM – Choir Rehearsal 

          10:30 AM- Worship Service – Congregational Meeting

          11:45 AM – Choir 


Black History Month Recommended Reading list

Posted on Feb 20, 2023 in Announcements, Youth |

February is Black History Month, a time that has been set aside to honor African Americans, who have contributed so much to society and the church. We celebrate the history and contributions of African Americans and we continue to be inspired by those who have worked to ensure that equal opportunities are offered to all people, regardless of the color of their skin. This is also a time of studying and reflecting on racism, as well as learning the important role the church is called to play in anti-racism. Each book explores the black experience in America and calls each of us to repentance, redemption, and reconciliation in response to Jesus. Most books can be found on amazon or Christianbooks.com: 


Announcements 10-23

Posted on Oct 19, 2022 in Announcements, Uncategorized |

Announcements:

Pledge Cards and Time and Talent Survey: It’s the time of year to reconsider the gifts we have to offer the church. Thank you for being a vital part of the John Calvin family. Know that, together, WE CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens us! Please return your pledge cards by the end of October. 

Christmas Cantata: Our Christmas Cantata rehearsals begin November 2nd at 7pm. The cantata will be sung at a joint service with the Chinese Presbyterian Church on December 11th; anyone who wants to sing in the cantata should plan to be at the 5 Wed. rehearsals between Nov. 2 and Dec. 11 (no rehearsal the day before Thanksgiving). Let Sam and Kelly know if you’d like to participate! 

Flowers: The flowers in the sanctuary were given by Cheryl Emery  in loving memory of her Mother and Father, who would have celebrated their 81st anniversary this year.

Wrapping paper and cookies: There is still time to shop. Register at https://www.shopfund.com/ select no student code and enter the name of the school when asked, then put CHURCH for the first and last name of Student. All orders for Church members will be sent to the office for easy pick-up. Thank you for making our fundraiser a success!

Devotional Spotlight: Do you want to grow deeper in faith with a Daily Devotional but don’t know where to start? Each week we will highlight a devotional book you might like to try. This week’s devotional is: Our Daily Bread. It is a calendar-style devotional booklet published by Our Daily Bread Ministries. The booklet is one of the most widely read Christian devotionals in circulation today. Each day gives you a short bible passage to read and highlights a main verse from that passage. This is followed by thoughts on the passage. It is written by a different author each day, and also features additional Bible passages for people following Our Daily Bread’s “Bible In One Year” reading program.So if you looking to dip your toes into the devotional waters this short pocket size booklet may be for you. Bonus, it’s available right outside the church doors. 

Birthdays: Barbara McHan 10/23. Louise Fuller 10/28


Announcements from October 16th, 2022

Posted on Oct 17, 2022 in Announcements |

Announcements

Pledge Cards and Time and Talent Survey: It’s the time of year to reconsider the gifts we have to offer the church. Thank you for being a vital part of the John Calvin family. Know that, together, WE CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens us! Please return your pledge cards by the end of October.

Heritage Sunday is coming up on October 30th, bring a picture, heirloom, or other item to share from your family of origin to share with your church family.

MUSIC UP   DATE:

Choir is Back!!: You may have noticed that the choir is back! If you’re interested in adding to our small but mighty number, let us know! No previous music experience is required. All we ask is that anyone wanting to sing on Sunday attends rehearsal on the previous Wednesday.

Christmas Cantata: Our Christmas Cantata rehearsals begin November 2nd at 7pm. The cantata will be sung at a joint service with the Chinese Presbyterian Church on December 11th; anyone who wants to sing in the cantata should plan to be at the 5 Wednesday rehearsals between Nov. 2 and Dec. 11 (no rehearsal the day before Thanksgiving). Let Sam and Kelly know if you’d like to participate! 

PLAYSCHOOL UPDATE: 

Wrapping paper and cookies: This JCP Playschool fundraiser ends 10/21. Register at https://www.shopfund.com/ select no student code and enter the name of the school when asked, then put CHURCH for the first and last name of Student. Now you’re ready to shop online. All orders for Church members will be sent to the office for easy pick-up. On behalf of the staff at JCP Playschool, thank you for helping to make our fundraiser a success!

Trunk or Treat: Get your Costumes and trunks ready for Oct. 21st. Sign up to do a trunk or donate candy for this fun event. Candy can be dropped off in the narthex, at the church office, or playschool office. 

Events and Meetings this Week:

10/16 – 11:30 AM – Deacon Meeting 

10/17 – 12:15 PM – Playschool Committee meeting 

             6:30 PM – Session Meeting 

10/18 – 10:00 AM – Grace Circle 

10/19 – 6:00 PM – Worship Committee Meeting / Handbells 

            7:00 PM – Choir  

10/21 – 6:00 PM Playschool Trunk or Treat 

10/23 – 9:30 AM – Intergenerational Sunday School/Kids Sunday School  

            10:10 AM – Choir warm-up

            10:30 AM – Worship Service

            6:30 PM – Youth Group Jackbox Party Game Night
 

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