The Arkive: Ark and Dove's Newsletter | |
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5th Sunday after Epiphany
February 5, 2023
In-Person Worship at 9:00 and 10:30 am, every Sundays.**
Livestream Worship, 10:30 am, every Sunday.
**Mask required at 9:00 am Worship, Mask Optional at 10:30 am Worship
Child Care available for 9:00 and 10:30 am services.
Sunday School for Pre-K - 8th Grade during 10:30 am Worship, every Sunday.
Get your bulletin here.
*Register for Sunday School here.
You can connect on YouTube HERE.
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Message from Interim Associate Pastors | |
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Dear friends and members at Ark and Dove,
“Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894), is supposed to have said. Folks who worship in Presbyterian churches tend to think so. We take our cue from the challenging words of James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?” and the emphatic judgement of 2:17, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” If we are not doing our part to bring peace, justice, health, and freedom into the world and looking out for the needs of our neighbors, we feel we are shirking the work God has called us to do.
Being too heavenly minded is something like exposing ourselves too much to the sun. If we are over-exposed, we run the risks of sunburn, dehydration, heatstroke, and skin cancer. And yet, both the CDC and the WHO have also advised that a daily dose of sunshine has great health benefits, such as being the best source of Vitamin D and improving our overall sense of physical and emotional well-being. They recommend 15 minutes to half an hour daily, depending on how fair or dark our skin happens to be. Early morning and late afternoons are especially good times to take advantage of the sun’s benefits.
Likewise, it can be of enormous benefit to get a daily dose of being heavenly minded. While it is true that faith without works is dead, works without faith can lead to burnout, disillusionment, and busyness without purpose.
Being heavenly minded in the best sense means paying attention to our relationship with God and seeing our relationships to other people and the world in the light of that central, life-giving relationship. Setting aside some time each day for time with God, however little, can re-energize and re-focus our lives for the work God has called us to do each day. A regular time for some combination of Bible reading, prayer, contemplation, and/or devotional study, can work marvels. It is best to anchor our daily devotions with gathering with the community weekly for worship, for we are not alone in our need for a balance between our faith and works.
If this is something you would like to add to your life, or if you are looking to put some variety into your devotional practice, consider the several options you will be offered through the church in the approaching Lenten season, which will begin with Ash Wednesday, February 23.
See you in church,
Caroline and Stephen
caroline.pricegibson@arkanddove.org
stephen.pricegibson@arkanddove.org
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Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mathew 11:28-29
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Holy One, we come before you tired and weighed down by the mistakes we have made,
the burdens we have tried to carry alone and the burdens of others which weigh on our hearts.
We need your healing and forgiveness in our relationships with one another,
in the ways we have abused our bodies, in the ways we have been confused about priorities.
We give these burdens to you, mindful of Jesus’ promise that he will give us rest for our souls.
Help us to rest in the embrace of your love. Amen.
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Dear Friends,
I am away this week, visiting family in Florida, and am so thankful to have Jackie Scheer who is filling in for me on Sunday. This month of February, we will be featuring pieces written by Black composers and sung by Black musicians in observance of Black History Month. This week, we have guest soloist, Jeremiah Washington, baritone. Jeremiah sang last year, and I heard so many positive responses about his singing that I asked him to come back again this year. You can read more about him below.
Each service will open with Jeremiah singing an arrangement of Amazing Grace. The Offertory piece is a spiritual, called God is a God arranged by Jacqueline B. Hairston. Ms. Hairston has had an incredible career as a pianist and composer. You can read more about her here:
Jacqueline Hairston is a pianist, composer-arranger, and vocal coach. A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Hairston received her musical training at the Juilliard School and Howard University School of Music. She earned a Master's degree in music and music education from Columbia University in New York City. Her works have been recorded by the London Symphony and the Columbia Symphony. Among ensembles and soloists who have performed her works live are the San Francisco Women’s Philharmonic, Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, Kathleen Battle (with the Collegiate Chorale and Pro Arte Chorale at Carnegie Hall), the Metropolitan Opera, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, and the Orlando Opera Chorus and Orchestra. Ms. Hairston received a “Living Legend Award” from the California State University at Dominquez Hills and received Oakland's “Living Legend Award” by the Oakland Alliance of Black Educators. Her compositions include musical settings for the inspirational words of Howard Thurman, her chaplain at Howard University. In 2001, Ms. Hairston was artist-in-residence at Northern Illinois University. During this time, she conducted classes culminating in a choir concert that commemorated her famed cousin, the late Dr. Jester Hairston, who inspired her mission to create choral arrangements of spirituals. Her recent teaching posts have included Oakland’s New School for the Arts, the University of Creation Spirituality and the University of California at Berkeley’s Young Musicians’ Program.
Read the entire article HERE
Rebecca
Director of Music
rechols@arkanddove.org
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Jeremiah Washington, baritone, was born to sing. Whether it be for a performance, or simply just in the shower. Jeremiah was born in Indiana where he began sharing his vocal talents in his church choir. He held leading roles in his middle school plays and in community theater musical groups. He is a two-time recipient of the Rising Star Awards for Best Male Actor presented by the Encore Awards Organization of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area, and three-time recipient of the Best Male Soloist at various show choir competitions. Jeremiah attended the Show Choir Camps of America located in Tiffin, OH where he was a featured soloist. Jeremiah later moved to the East Coast with his family where he attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. It was this chapter in his life where he found the love and passion for performing classical music. Jeremiah performed for the First Lady of France at the Strathmore Center for the Arts with the DESA Chamber Choir. Jeremiah is a former student of Dr. Echols, and is currently a Junior at Morgan State University, majoring in Vocal Performance.
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Message from
Interim Director of Youth Ministry
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We will be hosting an informational meeting about youth summer conferences immediately after the 10:30 service this Sunday, February 5th. Please contact Whitney Grimm if you have any questions. | |
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The youth are hosting the Souper Bowl of kindness. You can donate cans of soup by putting them by the signs in the sanctuary. The teams are middle school vs. high school, so make sure you put your soup by the sign for the team that you want to win!
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Whitney Grimm
Interim Director of Youth Ministry
whitney.grimm@arkanddove.org
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DONATE ONLINE! One-time and recurring!
TEXT your donations! 410-983-3481
Text give to get started. Text commands for more options.
ESTABLISH AN EFT
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7
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2023 Renewed in God
Stewardship Team
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Dear Members and Friends of Ark and Dove,
The 2022 Renewed in God Stewardship Team would like to sincerely thank everyone who has already submitted a pledge card for 2023. We are excited to share that 75 of 160 households have pledged so far and many have increased their pledges to help meet the needs of our church and community! If you have not submitted your pledge card to the church yet, either via USPS, in the offering plate, or giving@arkanddove.org, there is still time to do so! We are so grateful for your generous giving to support our mission and ministries at Ark and Dove.
Separately, we are all individuals. But together, we are connected in renewed and supportive community, and we flourish as one body of faith in Christ. With each gift we give, we multiply Christ's work in our world through our mission and ministry efforts. Every pledge counts, no matter how big or small, and every gift is sacred. If you are a regular giver through EFT or PayPal, we would like to invite you to fill out a pledge card this year. Our pledges are important because they help us plan how much of the vision put forth by our Elders and Deacons we can fulfill in the new year. As we embark on this journey of a new year, we ask that you pray for each other, our church, and all the good that we do together to bring hope and healing to each other and to those most vulnerable. Thank you!
-Tricia Gray from The 2023 Renewed in God Stewardship Team
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Bulletin - 5th Sunday after Epiphany | |
Healing Through Grief
Pastor Tim, Cathy Debus, and Linnie Girdner will be co-facilitating the next Healing through Grief group on Wednesday, February 8th from 7:30pm - 8:45pm again as a Zoom meeting. The Healing through Grief small group is open to anyone attending Ark and Dove, as well as family members, friends and neighbors, who have experienced the death of a loved one, whether it is recent or a long time ago.
Please let me know if you have the slightest inclination to attend on Feb. 8th, so that we can send you the link to the Zoom meeting. If you change your mind later, no problem. Also, let me know if you have not used Zoom before, so that we can provide you with some information in advance. Any questions, contact Linnie Girdner, at girdnerlinda@gmail.com or 410-999-7892.
Let's be there for one another in our healing through grief. If you need to talk with someone prior to that date, feel free to give me a call or contact your Deacon.
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31st Annual Meeting of the Congregation | |
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The meeting will take place on Sunday, February 12th around noonish after worship. Fellowship time after 10:30 worship will be a smorgasbord of finger foods. You are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting and the smorgasbord. To sign up to bring an item for the smorgasbord, please click HERE. Contact Elder Katie Nilson-Johnson at knilsenjohnson@arkanddove.org to RSVP---Healthy options encouraged, sweets not forbidden. And we need people to clean up too.
2022 Annuel Report will be emailed to members early next week.
Please contact admin@arkanddove.org if you have an updated email.
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During this Lenten season we will be offering a variety of ways to study during the Lenten season. Please see the descriptions of each below.
There are a variety of dates and times to choose from. Please indicate your interest in joining a group by filling out this form. Books will be purchased (for studies that require them) for anyone who indicates interest in joining by February 19th. Books may also be purchased by clicking on the link in the description.
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Group A*: Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent, Richard Rohr
Paperback $11, Kindle $7, Audiobook too
We will be reading Richard Rohr's Wondrous Encounters, Scriptures for Lent. Father Rohr wrote this devotional during a Lenten time of silent and solitary retreat, (hermitage). Rohr often writes about the paradoxes in and the mysteries of faith. With these short readings, one for every day of Lent, he invites us to examine our assumptions about the life of faith. Given his blessing of 12 step groups, I am not sure Rohr would appreciate that these words come from the song Closing Time: "Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" but they fit. We will meet in-person on Thursday evenings at the home of Tim and Kelly Stern. The first gathering on 2/23 will be soup and salad at 6:30PM thereafter 7:00 PM. For more information, contact Pastor Tim at Tstern@arkanddove.org.
Group B: Inward Work for Outward Living-Daily devotionals
Participants will receive a daily devotion in their email each morning that invites them to explore the connection between internal contemplation and outward action. Although these meditations will focus on the Prayer of Examen, we will meet in-person Saturday mornings at the church at 9am to check in with one another, to discuss the readings, and to practice examen and other forms of contemplative prayer together as a small group. For more information, contact Kim Champagne at kim.champagne@arkanddove.org.
Group C*: A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent, Walter Brueggemann
Paperback $13, Kindle $8
We will be reading from Walter Breugemann's daily Lenten reflections in A Way Other Than Our Own. Lent recalls times of wilderness and wandering, from newly freed Hebrew slaves in exile to Jesus' temptation in the desert. God has always called people out of their safe, walled cities into uncomfortable places, revealing paths they would never have chosen. We too are called to walk an alternative path--one of humility, justice, and peace. We will meet in-person after church on Sunday at 12:00. For more information, contact Richard Greydanus at richard.greydanus@arkanddove.org.
Group D: The Poetry of Lent - online study
Walk through Lent with a short weekly devotional that includes Bible passages, the poetry of Mary Oliver, meditations, and practices. An online discussion group led by Achsah Callahan will meet Wednesdays at 7:30pm on Zoom. For more information, contact Achsah Callahan at achsah.callahan@arkanddove.org.
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Christian Education for Children and Youth | |
Sunday Mornings for Children and Youth | |
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9:00 AM
Childcare
Middle School Chimes and Percussion Ensembles (9:00 to 9:45)
9:45 AM
Children’s Choir (9:45 to:00 to 10:15)
10:30 AM
Childcare
Godly Play Sunday School Pre-K through grade 4
Middle School Sunday School grade 5 through 8
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Leaders and Helpers Needed
To ensure that we can continue to offer the above Christian Educational opportunities we NEED leaders! Currently we do NOT have enough to fully staff any of these programs. Please consider offering your gifts and talents to help these programs thrive. You will need to complete a background check and training. Curriculum and materials are provided. Please contact CE Elder, Sara Fox at christianed@arkanddove.org if interested.
Thank you to those of you who’ve already made a commitment to help out this year!!!
Nursery Helpers: If you are already a CE leader or a high school student please consider signing up HERE to help in the nursery. You will be assisting Cara Moody as needed.
As always, any questions or concerns please reach out to me at christianed@arkanddove.org.
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The Ark and Dove Library is pleased to announce the addition of the highly acclaimed All That She Carried by Tiya Miles. An excerpt from Amazon website describes the book beautifully:
“In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman named Rose faced a crisis: the imminent sale of her daughter Ashley. Thinking quickly, she packed a cotton bag for her with a few items, and, soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold. Decades later, Ashley’s granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the sack in spare, haunting language. [In All that She Carried,] Historian Tiya Miles carefully traces these women’s faint presence in archival records, and, where archives fall short, she turns to objects, art, and the environment to write a singular history of the experience of slavery, as well as the uncertain freedom afterwards, in the United States.”
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In “Silencing White Noise: Six Practices to Overcome Our Inaction on Race” author and pastor Willie Dwayne Francois III calls us to engage in six “rhythms of reparative intercession” to silence white noise and to develop lifelong Christian anti-racist practices.
Please view our online catalog at for more details about these books, as well as other great books in our church’s library. For more information about the library, contact Kim Champagne (kim.champagne@arkanddove.org).
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Yarn Donations Requested for Guatemala Partnership Trip
Ark and Dove have participated in many trips with the Presbytery of Baltimore throughout the years. The type of Intercultural Encounters that Ark and Dove have participated have changed since we first started participating. We began through the Immersion-Work Groups, a time of study of a certain topic with work experience where we would participate in mutual learning and interaction with Central American people and groups. We later stared participating in Partnership Strengthening Visits which helps solidify relations with local groups and/or churches. We learn about the realities in which their partners live day to day.
If you would like to learn more about the Partnership, please visit the Baltimore Presbytery website under the Relationships tab.
On March 25th Lori Kronser, Sher Atkinson and I will be traveling to Guatemala for a week of reconnection with CEDEPCA after a few years off due to Covid-19. We will be taking with us yarn for the women who create beautiful scarves that help to support them and their families. A box will be placed near the collection area by the nursery. Any type or color of yarn will be greatly appreciated.
Blessings,
Cheryl Walcutt
Leader of CEDEPCA Team
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CAP Food Pantry
The January Items of the Month are shelf milk (like parmalat®) and juice. We have bins marked for CAP food in the cabinet across from the lobby coat rack. Food can also be taken directly to the pantry at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Odenton, on Tuesdays 10:30am-1:30pm and Thursdays 1:30-5:30pm. Or contact Greg Makar (GLMakar@juno.com) to make other arrangements.
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The Fellowship Table Wants You!
With more people visiting Ark & Dove, we want to make sure they feel welcome. We are looking for people to help with bringing the snacks, setting up, and cleaning up on a regular or periodic basis. This can be a great opportunity to get children involved in the life of Ark & Dove! They can help choose the "menu", set the table, and get to meet more folks in our faith community. Please contact us at Outreach@ArkandDove.org to sign up or want more information.
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Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:
The Love and Sympathy of the congregation is extended to the Connally and Lewis Families upon the death of Reggie Connally
PRAYERS OF HEALING AND SUPPORT for Eric Echols' broken foot; Dick Eckersley's granddaughter; Ebenye Ade for the death of her brother; Amy Tardiff's mother; Nikol Sahai who finished chemo; Laura Talbert; Aunt Teri in home hospice care; family of boy who died in fire; Layla Tyus; the Seon-Buchner family dealing with ongoing challenges and preparing for upcoming surgeries; a niece who was diagnosed with breast cancer; Denise Bartgis; Ardith Johns; Laura Willoughby's father; Mandie Kuhl, the niece of Steve and Kathy Debus, who is battling cancer; for the Asian community in Montgomery Park after recent events; the Marsh Family; for family members suffering from addiction; Herman's next door neighbor - open heart surgery; Sarah, Brenn Budge's sister; Doris Fields in the hospital; Colleen recovering from a stroke; Knight Family; a friend facing brain surgery; Deb Saylor; Ramin Abawi; a mother in the hospital; Don Clark; a friend having medical issues; Linda Walcutt; Daryle Echols; Kathie Brownie, who lost her husband; Crystal Evans on the death of her mother; Ann Hirschy; Carole Wilson; a friend of Kathy Emmert, Natalie Fenwick who is in the hospital; Karen Dodson; MaryAnn Buckley; Sue Miller, Laura Willoughby-Perry’s mother, after hip surgery; Audrey Miller, daughter of Kathy Miller; Neal Frick in the hospital; Shannon Graf, and for her family; a wonderful teen facing the challenges of an eating disorder; The mother of Sara Yotter; Dotty Kaufmann; Mary Elizabeth Nay; Bri Lapp; a teen struggling with peer concerns at school; Holly Folk, friend of Laura Willoughby-Perry; Carol & Henry Saylor; Rose having health issues; Deb Saylor's grand-nephew, Jordan; Christy Hipchen's Great Uncle, Steven Stanko; Chantel Seetram; Debbie and Bruce Arey's Daughter, Allison; families impacted by gun violence; Dr. Jesse Nicholson, Connie Batts' brother-in-law; Danni Johnson, fighting cancer; the family of Gavin Hurley; Amanda Welford; Bruce Arey's sister; Helen Jarkiewicz; Dee going through breast cancer; Doug Dehaven; Karen Judeich; Marie, Nikol Sahai’s Mom; Irina Lee, Jan and Al Jank's daughter-in-law; Fran; Dot Forloines; Vaughn Brown; Dick Paronto; Julie Devers' friend Zenia Dacio-Messina; Hope Sutphin; Emily Wehage; Jeff Miller, Kathy Miller’s brother-in-law; Freyja Hartzell; Rebecca Echols friend, Lauren Douglas; Andy, friend of Karen Dodson; Ghazal Abawi; Cara Moody’s father-in-law, Gary Moody Sr.; Carly & Chris Taylor, Friends of Michelle Schoonmaker; Debbie Saylor's Friends: Carlene Printy and Helen Rossum;
If you have prayer concerns or blessings that you would like to share, please contact Deacon Patriceo Green at patriceobgreen@gmail.com and he will add your concern to the prayer partners email chain.
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Ark and Dove Presbyterian Church | 410-674-6400 | admin@arkanddove.org | www.arkanddove.org | 8424 Piney Orchard Pkwy. Odenton, MD 21113
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