Sunday, June 4, 2023

Trinity Sunday

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Father's Day

Monday, June 19, 2023

Juneteenth

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

1st Day of Summer

Wednesdays June 21, 28, July 5, 12

Vacation Bible School

Intergenerational VBS at West Campus

Re-Reading List

Summer is a fabulous time to go exploring. I love hiking through the Flint Hills, a good cross-country road trip, and especially getting lost in a good book. Often, I find myself cultivating reading lists with great aspiration, only to find myself drawn back to old favorites and/or captivated by a recent read that I’m just not quite done with (or that isn’t done with me), yet. 

What books are on your “Must Read” list this summer? What titles do you find yourself returning to or mulling over long after the final chapter closes? Here’s a snippet of what’s currently active in my biblio-world. Within these pages, the authors explore churchy topics, life topics, kids’ topics, and, yes, naps. (If I can’t get “nap” as a star word, at least I can read theological reflections on our need to Rest! Dream! Resist! Imagine!)

The only thing I love more than reading a good book is discussing one. So, let me know if you want to work through one together, chat about something over coffee/tea/lunch, or have a recommendation to add to my “Must Read” pile this summer. Let’s go exploring!

“I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.”

 ~Charles Dickens

On Sunday, July 30, we will celebrate Christmas in July, bearing witness to the incarnation of Christ and the guiding presence of our Lord that is with us all year and not just during the winter holidays. For the “sermon”, Session elders plan to focus on our Star Words and how these words have led us to this point of the year. If you would be willing and able to share a short story about how your Star Word has impacted your journey of faith from Epiphany to now, please let Pastor Phyl know no later than July 9. If you still need a Star Word – good news! Christ’s light can never be extinguished, and Star Words are still available in the office.

Downtown: The property committee has been very busy these last couple of months. Spring brought the need to clean up the landscape around the church. Dead winter plants needed to be removed. Some weeding has been done but now more weeds are really growing with all the sun and all the rain. Susan Severin and her Sunday school class planted a few annuals on May 7^th. Lois Schrock put some petunias out along the west side of the Downton building before Easter. George Durler trimmed the hedge along the playground fence. The mats at the doors and elevator were power washed.

There have been many phone calls and much behind-the-scenes work going on, but now we can see things are starting to happen with the basement remodel, and the cracked plaster repair around the windows in the sanctuary. The asbestos group started work on Tuesday, May 9. Their plan is to be finished by June 2. They started with the ceiling, then plan to do the pipes, and last the floor.

The Heartland Stucco group will chalk the outside of the two windows on the north and two windows on the south of the sanctuary, and repair the cracked plaster inside on the north and the south. That work will begin in late May.

West: Many bags of soil were brought in and grass was planted along the sidewalk to the west entrance. After the side walk was leveled by Thrasher, the soil needed to be leveled where it had washed away over the years. Kathy Weaver brought in several buckets of soil and put them around the building where the spots had washed soil away. (She was working on a project at her home and didn’t need the soil.) We had Roto-Rooter fix the sewer lines due to backed-up bathroom drains downstairs.

Tammy and Michael Cheeseman are mowing and trimming the yard at West Campus. Leonard Rhoads is mowing and trimming the Downtown Campus.

Here is a trivia question for you: Do you know what the total number of toilets are in our bathrooms at both of our buildings?

The adult Sunday school class ended group meetings May 14. The curriculum remains in the conference room, and individuals and small groups are welcome to watch lectures during the summer as they wish. We will evaluate the next class offering when we return in the fall.

The Presbytery’s annual Education Day typically offers a day-long event including sessions on a variety of topics for members to take back to spiritually strengthen their congregations. For example, in 2022, Amanda Cunningham offered a session during Education Day on mental health challenges for churches, how congregational leaders can learn to recognize mental health signs and symptoms, and how the church can best respond to those in need. 

For 2023, Breakthrough Prayer will be the sole focus of Education Day, led by guest presenter Rev. Sue Nilson Kibbey. Sue is a nationally recognized trainer, consultant and author of multiple books and resources, each aimed to equip and fuel the spiritual and missional renewal of pastors, leaders, and congregations. Her greatest passion is igniting church-wide congregational momentum with what she terms a “Breakthrough Prayer Initiative.”

The Presbytery Meeting and Events Committee shares, that every church recognizes prayer as important. But what happens when a congregation unites to pray collectively and consistently for God to break through in new and miraculous ways? Members can launch their congregation into the kind of churchwide breakthrough prayer initiative that fuels the atmosphere of possibility, and the entire focus begins to shift from inward to up-and-outward. It's easier than you think, and the results will make spiritual history right in your own community and beyond.  Breakthrough prayer is an additive prayer component that can be incorporated into what already happens in the daily life of your congregation, and this workshop will equip your team, plus it will provide many stories, creative practical examples, and ideas from other congregations across the country that have done so with innovation and miraculous impact. Additionally, learn how you can utilize breakthrough prayer through key aspects of your weekly worship service, and develop your church's heart to reach its neighborhood with the message and love of Christ.

EPC is recruiting a team of at least five members to attend this daylong event that will include a morning session, lunch, and an afternoon session geared toward providing valuable information and resources within the framework for the Breakthrough Prayer Initiative. Watch for more specific information (program details, schedule for the day, etc.) in the July newsletter along with information about how Westminster Presbyterian Church in Topeka is using Breakthrough Prayer and ways the initiative has been meaningful for their congregation.