Connecting us with one another, our community, and the world...
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Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday,
March 10, 2019
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“Lent comes providentially
to reawaken us,
to shake us from our lethargy.”
Jorge Mario Bergoglio
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In worship this week:
March 10, 2019
Lent I
Pastor: Rev. Janie McElwee-Smith
Pianist: Ana Paula Simões
Liturgist: Carol Behrmann
Ushers: Mike and Connie Leonard
Hospitality: Mike and Connie Leonard
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"Be honest, be nice, be a flower not a weed."
Aaron Neville
Flowers and thought for this Sunday presented by Carol Behrmann.
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Awakening to God’s Beauty
Awakening to God’s Beauty: A Lenten Invitation to Pray with Art
is a full-color, glossy devotional featuring the thoughtful writing and stunning photography of Krin Van Tatenhove, a Presbyterian pastor for more than 30 years. Rooted in the poetry of the Psalms,
Awakening to God’s Beauty
invites readers to explore the spiritual discipline of
visio divina —
which means “divine seeing.” Similar to that of the Benedictine practice of
lectio divina —
“divine reading” — where a word or phrase of Scripture is pondered, visio divina uses an image instead as the focus for meditation.
While Van Tatenhove’s photography is featured throughout the devotional, each Sunday, a guided meditation accompanies the photo, helping readers to “see with the eyes of the heart” a phrase coined by Presbyterian pastor and author, Frederick Buechner. Throughout the week, various Psalms, capturing the beauty of God’s creation, are explored in short reflections, followed by a prayer. Van Tatenhove chose the Psalms for this year’s Lenten devotion because of how they “express a full range of human emotions” and “more importantly, how they magnify God’s presence in our lives.” “It was a joy for me to both write and photo-illustrate a Lenten journey through some of these timeless verses,” Van Tatenhove said. “I hope these devotions will enrich our experience of Lent, drawing us closer to God and each other.”
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This week in PCUSA Mission:
The Harvest of God’s Love
Pastor Juan Rodas, moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Honduras, loves to tell the story of how two remote churches, El Horno and El Sute, joined the denomination. The communities of these churches are at the top of a mountain in the department of Comayagua, Honduras. They are so remote, so small and so economically poor that the utilities that built electric transmission lines overhead, crossing the mountaintop, didn’t bother to connect the communities to the lines. Most people in the communities are of indigenous Lenca descent and are farmers, of coffee, mostly, and of corn, beans and other staples. There are roads, but not good ones, so most people walk, or if they’re well-off, ride mules or horses. It’s a five-hour walk to the nearest paved road.
When Pastor Juan began visiting, another denomination’s missionaries had evangelized in the area a few years earlier and established one small church in El Sute and then another in El Horno. The young, small churches were going strong, but they were hoping for more connection and were seeking to join a larger denomination. Pastor Juan and his colleagues had visited several times to assess the viability of the tiny com-munities joining the Presbyterian denomination. At a meeting of the denomination’s board, they had decided that the communities were, sadly, too remote and would stretch the small denomination too thinly. At the time there were only about 20 congregations nationwide. The denomination’s leaders couldn’t imagine committing to the pastoral presence needed in such a remote place.
Pastor Juan and his father-in-law, Pastor Edin Samayoa, arrived in El Horno after walking five or six hours with the intention of informing the congregations’ leadership of the decision. Some church elders sat and had coffee with the pastors and related the story of how their churches came to be. The missionaries who came to evangelize years prior had been from a larger denomination. They had spent the time they needed to preach the gospel in the towns, but when it came time for the churches to become independent, the missionaries left, saying they couldn’t join the larger denomination because the communities “no son rentables.” In English: The communities weren’t profitable. They wouldn’t be worth the investment of time and effort of a larger denomination. El Horno and El Sute were drains on the resources of the missionaries.
When Pastor Juan tells this story, he nearly always has tears in his eyes. He says that he changed his mind on the spot and couldn’t see his way to telling the dedicated Christians of El Sute and El Horno that they weren’t worth his time. Pastors Edin and Juan returned to the leadership of the denomination with the news that they had two new congregations.
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Immediate Church Family*:
Betty Bagent; Inez Geoghegan; Betty Lancaster; Mary Perry; Deanna Lewis Sklar; Brad Smith.
Extended Church Family*:
Brandon Behrmann (Carol’s nephew); Austin Casey (Jack and Betty Bagent’s grandson); Steve Dull (husband of Lynn Nichols Dull);
Dan Durway (former Pastor of Highland); Eva Fuller (Inez Geoghegan’s niece); Julius Fuller (Inez
Geoghegan’s brother); Randy Geoghegan (Inez’s son); Carol Harrison (Rob Stewart’s Mother); Claudia Hill (Connie Leonard’s sister); Phillip Lanier (friend of Rosemary John); the Miller twins (friends of Brad Smith); Aleta Pickholtz; Larry Wilcoxson (friend of the Leonards); the husband and family of Barbara Zeagler (friend of the Dyes.)
*
New names added to the prayer list this week are in italics.
Birthdays
March 10 - 16:
Bill Pfeifer (11)
Anniversaries
March
- none
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Monday, March 11:
12:00 p.m. AA
Tuesday, March 12:
9:30 a.m. WW Quilters
10:30 a.m. Tuesday Morning Study Class
12:00 p.m. AA
7:30 p.m. AA
Wednesday, March 13:
12:00 p.m. AA
7:00 p.m. Ladies’ AA
Thursday, March 14:
12:00 p.m. AA
8:00 p.m. Men’s AA
Friday, March 15:
12:00 p.m. AA
Saturday, March 16:
Yard Crew – Jack Bagent & Bill Pfeifer
Sunday, March 17:
9:30 a.m. Worship
11:00 a.m. Third Sunday Lunch/Congregational
Meeting
7:00 p.m. AA
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Upcoming Opportunities at HPC
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- Lenten Devotionals, Awakening to God’s Beauty, are available for pick up on the Narthex table.
- The Tuesday Morning Study Class will begin its Lenten Study, The Path to the Cross, Tuesday, March 12. The class meets on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in the Adult Sunday School Classroom. All are welcome.
- March Third Sunday Lunch, March 17, will honor the luck of the Irish with Corned Beef. A sign-up sheet for sides is posted on the bulletin board.
- The Annual Congregational Meeting will be Sunday, March 17 during the Third Sunday Lunch. This will be a special time for Highland as we begin to discern what the future might hold for us as a church.
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Highland Presbyterian Church
is a vibrant tree in God's grace-filled orchard. Deeply rooted in God's life-giving presence here on earth, this tree extends its branches to support one another in faith and reach into the world around it to produce fruit. Whether you are seeking God's presence through questions or service, discussion or fellowship, there is a home for you at Highland.
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Connecting with Our Pastor
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Rev. Janie McElwee-Smith
cell (call or text): 314.283.7596
office: 766-5775 (please leave a message)
blog: http://evenbefore.blog
blog: http://highlandtree.blog
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Highland Presbyterian Church (USA)
10024 Highland Road • Baton Rouge, LA 70810 • 225.766.5775 • www.highlandpresbyterian.org
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