Registration is now open for Presbyterian Youth Triennium, the once - every three-year gathering of Presbyterian youth from all across the US! The theme for the 2019 event is "Here's My Heart". We'll get to explore this theme throughout all the activities of Triennium: in exciting Worship services, small discussion groups, our delegation meetings, super fun rec activities, and more.

Who can sign up? Current 8th graders through 12th graders and adult leaders.

 

When and where is it? Triennium is July 16-20, 2019 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. The Hudson River Presbytery Delegation will be departing in the evening on Monday, July 15 to travel by bus to the Purdue campus and we will return very early in the morning on Sunday, July 21 (Pick up and drop off spots TBD).

 

What's a Delegation? All participants to Triennium are register as members of a delegation. The Hudson River Presbytery Delegation includes youth and adults from any congregation in the eight counties of HRP. Our delegation will travel together, dorm together, and worship together. In short, we're going to get to spend a lot of time together!

Read on for info about cost, registering, and connecting with Steph Hare HRP's Youth Triennium Registrar.  

At the January 19, 2019 meeting of the Hudson River Presbytery, the Administrative Commission of the Stony Point Presbyterian Church presented, for a first reading, a proposal for the use of the property of the former Stony Point Presbyterian Church. The Administrative Commission proposed gifting the property for the creation of the Sweetwater Cultural Center, to "promote the education, health, and welfare of indigenous or native peoples and to preserve their cultures and ceremonial practices locally, regionally and around the world." The full proposal presented at the January Presbytery meeting can be read in this document, pp. 17-27.

The Presbytery meeting provided a forum for rich discussion, but we realize that many of our members, not able to be at Presbytery meetings, may nonetheless have questions, concerns, and suggestions. Further, new ideas may arise between the January meeting and the March meeting when the proposal will be offered for a vote. The Administrative Commission would welcome any communication from members of our Presbytery. Please do not hesitate to contact us at   [email protected], and we will reply as quickly and as fully as we are able.

Applications are being accepted now for the Wurffel-Sills Scholarship & Interest-Free Student Loan Program for the upcoming 2019-2020 school year.

 

The application is open to any member of any church within the Synod of the Northeast, for undergraduate and seminary studies leading to an M.Div. or M.R.E. Part-time studies and non-credit courses are not eligible to apply.  Learn more and apply today! 

The Synod of the Northeast continues to work with our sibling mid councils in Puerto Rico to facilitate connections between presbyteries and congregations around the ongoing recovery work and long-term partnerships.

Elder Michelle Muñiz serves as the disaster response coordinator for the Puerto Rican Presbiterio de San Juan. You are invited to a conversation with Michelle for an update of what is happening in Puerto Rico, especially in the San Juan Presbytery area. It will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Ossining, on Saturday, April 6, from 2:30pm-4pm.

From Susan DeGeorge:
The last two Synod of the Northeast assemblies have passed and then affirmed policies around climate change and divesting from fossil fuels. Their Stated Clerk, Nancy Talbot, has now written to presbytery leaders asking that we inform all congregations of this action and calling on each congregation in the synod to do the work of discerning their own calls to divestment. The presbytery has to report back on what has been done within 12 months. As you do this work, would you please share the process you've used and the decisions you've made with me so that I can include it in that report?  The synod letter can be found at this link.  It contains some starting resources for congregations as they focus on this issue.

It is healing for a woman in prison to have a relationship that is caring, honest, and trustworthy. Most have had very few, if any, of those.  You can change that.   
The next training session for Woman 2 Woman, Bedford Presbyterian C hurch's visiting program at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, will be held on Sunday, April 7th from 1:00 - 3:00 in the Chapel Room of Bedford Presbyterian Church.

Please note that in order to become a Woman 2 Woman visitor, you must attend a training session.  Read more about this program.   Contact Nancy Gernert with any questions, 914-763-0750 or [email protected]. 

Vegetarian Cooking Classes at FPC Chester

May 5th 5pm

The 13th Annual PresbyBuild Talent Show in support of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh will be held on Saturday, May 18th from 3-4pm at First Presbyterian Church of Montgomery in Montgomery, NY.  Refreshments will be served at 2pm.  Act submissions due by April 1!

We are seeking young and old, new and past performers. Many members of your congregation have donated their talents to this fundraising cause in the past and we would like to invite you and your congregation back so we will once again showcase a great afternoon of talent.

 

The Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Ac t, Senate Bill 3827, has reached a milestone!  It has 32 co-sponsors in the State Senate. This means that the majority of the New York State Senators have signed up as supporters of the Bill!  

 

We now need your help to push it through the final threshold!  Can we count on you?

 

There are only 35 Assembly Members signed up as co-sponsors.  We need more of them to sign up and get this through! Is your Assembly Member a cosponsor?  Find out here: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/a2750 

 

Online and Onsite Courses at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond

Bring your confirmation classes to Holmes for a weekend to explore faith and enjoy fellowship with youth from other churches!  Learn more!

Looking for a little piece of joy in your ministry?  

I'd love to make a stole that delights you and reminds you of what grounds you in your ministry. I work with both new and reclaimed fabrics -old tablecloths, blankets, sheets, clothes-turning something old and cast aside into something new and beautiful.  

Contact me if you are interested or for more pictures. Rev. Gretchen Larson-Wolbrink   [email protected].

For many people at midlife the pace of life is so frenetic and full that we do not take the time to "let the land lie fallow." But it is especially at this juncture that many want to ask some hard questions of God and of ourselves. Leonora Tubbs Tisdale presents this devotional book of reflections to help people at midlife reflect and navigate through some of these questions.

The fifty meditations in The Sun Still Rises take the reader on a journey through challenges that many people face at midlife, such as job loss, the quest for personal and vocational identity, illness (cancer), war, a parent's dementia, and the death of friends. It also traces the joys that come with rediscovering nature, relishing long-term friendships, and growing older. Each entry ends with a Scripture citation and questions for reflection.

Learn more about this book and order at Westminster/John Knox Press. 

Schulmerich Handbells for Sale (used; need refurbishment)

5 Octaves (C3 - C8); purchased between 1963 and 1977

Cases included

Six clear plexiglass music stands included

Handbell music included

$10,000 (brand-new 5-octave set would cost approx. $24,000)! Buyer to pick up or to pay for shipping. Photos available upon request.