712 S. Columbia Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74104
918.592.5800
Church Office Hours:
Mon - Th, 9 am - 3 pm
Closed on Fridays
Rev. Freeman is now working from home on Mondays.
Worship Schedule:
11:00 am Sundays
Worship services have resumed in the sanctuary.
Services are also live streamed.
Church Email:
Pastor Email:
Website:
YouTube Channel:
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It has been another month filled with agonizing grief and deep anger over continuing gun violence and mass shootings in our country - in Buffalo (grocery store), Uvalde (elementary school), and just this week here in Tulsa on the St. Francis medical campus (doctor's office). The excuses of those seeking to blame literally anything rather than engage in reasonable common sense gun violence prevention measures is infuriating in its insensitivity to human life. It's obvious that our prayers alone are NOT enough, they must lead to action! We must make our voices (and votes) heard! (I'm taking a deep breath now.)
The first Sunday in June is Pentecost Sunday, a very special day in the life of the church. (Wear red.) The liturgical focus of this season deals with how we are called to “be” the church. And as always, that includes how we put our “being” into “doing” as a community of faith and as individuals.
I want to mention what a special month we had in May, including the High School Graduation Reception for Parker Brobston, the 16th Anniversary Reception for Dr. Kim Childs as our Director of Music Ministry, and being able to resume the tradition of holding a Memorial Day Weekend Worship & Picnic at my home. I have no idea that the "new normal" will be like for us, but it is indeed a blessing to have the opportunity to engage again in meaningful fellowship together - a hallmark of College Hill.
Have a blessed and safe summer! And give yourself permission to find much needed rest and renewal.
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Blessings,
Rev. Todd
"There is something deeply hypocritical about praying for a problem you are unwilling to resolve."
- Miroslav Volf
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Memorial Day Weekend
Worship & Picnic
at Rev. Todd's
Sunday, May 29
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16th Anniversary Reception
for Dr. Kim Childs
as Director of Music Ministry
After a year-long delay due to Covid precautions, our planned 15th Anniversary celebration turned into a 16th. Thank you to the Personnel ministry team for planning this meaningful event!
College Hill is deeply appreciative of Kim and blessed by the remarkable gifts he brings to the life and ministry of our community of faith!
Thank you, Kim!!
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Vivian Zerger, with the watchful eye of her older brother Matthew, serving as our acolyte for the very first time!
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2022
Birthday Endowment Fund
A meaningful way to ring in the New Year and celebrate your Birthday, is to donate an amount equal to your new age to the Endowment Fund.
This donation is also a wonderful way to honor others such as children, grandchildren and friends and allows the church to have funds available for special projects.
Checks can be made payable to College Hill and marked "Birthday Fund" on the memo portion of the check.
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2 - Jerry Fuller
3 - Mark Thurston
6 - Bryan FinckWard
6 - Lupe Tovar
7 - Jacque Maxwell
10 - Wilce Williams
12 - Melanie Brennan
12 - Andrew Campbell
12 - Lee Johns
15 - Patrick Ohlson
16 - Datha Zimmerman
17 - Evelyn Olson
17 - Charlotte Burton
19 - Martha Brown
19 - Walter Z. Echols
20 - Jan Williams
21 - Mary Fitzgerald
23 - Elyse Jensen
23 - Audrey Fox
23 - Glen Olson
24 - David Matthew Zerger
25 - Bobbe Hornback
Remember the
BIRTHDAY ENDOWMENT FUND!
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One of the meaningful elements of our ministry that has been missing for so long is the causal gathering around a cup of coffee, etc, in the Fellowship Hall before the service of worship.
We are looking for volunteer(s) to help setup and prepare the coffee each Sunday morning before gathering around 10:30 am. There are many options to help make this happen, depending on the availability of one or several volunteers taking turns.
If interested, please contact/text Emily Oldham at 918-237-9592. THANK YOU!!!
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More Graduation News!
Joseph Wright
Joseph earned a Master’s Degree in Nursing - graduating at the top of his class! Congratulations!
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The Christian Education Ministry Team would
like to recognize those who
have assisted in our educational ministry:
Susan West
Kye May
Nancy Gammie
Wyneth Roulet
Trinna Burrows
John Gammie
Rev. Todd Freeman
Please thank our teachers!
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Multigenerational
Vacation Church School
June 21-23, 2022
(new dates)
6:00-8:00 pm
Theme: What the Bible Says About Kindness
We will be packing the cabin crates for New Hope summer camp.
We will have a short lesson and snacks.
The kids will go to the park and the adults will play games with Marilyn.
Questions or offers to volunteer,
(click name to) contact:
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Tulsa Pride Parade
Saturday, June 25
Volunteers Needed!
Come march with us in the 2022 Tulsa Pride Parade! College Hill will have a truck in the parade and we need volunteers who can be riders, lots of walkers and a large, supportive crowd for those who cannot make the entire parade.
We will also have a booth in the Equality Center and need volunteers to staff it throughout the day.
The parade begins at 6:00 pm and we will meet at 5:30 pm at the line up location at 13th and Boston (in the north parking lot of Boston Ave United Methodist Church). The parade route will continue north on Boston to 4th Street, then east on 4th Street to the Tulsa Pride Celebration at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center!
Please (click name to) contact Mike Gibson (or call/text: 918-630-0340) to volunteer to participate in the parade. For more information about this year’s event, go to
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Adult Church School Class
Sunday mornings at 9:00 am
"If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk: Finding Faith That Makes Us Better Humans"
by John Pavlovitz
We will continue our weekly study of this important book. One of 18 chapters will be discussed each Sunday. Each begins with a video introduction of that chapter by the author.
You can join at any time during the study because each chapter is self contained enough that you don't need the previous chapter to understand the next. SO.. PLEASE JOIN US. Look for the weekly email with the zoom link.
John Pavlovitz, author of A Bigger Table, was our Harold E. Hill Lecture Series in 2018.
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A special visit with Cam McKenzie, who is sadly progressing with Alzheimer's.
Photo: (standing) Rev. Gordon Edwards, Jan Swafford, Rev. Todd, Kathy (Cam's sister); (seated) Betty Coleman, Cam McKenzie
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Rev. Todd having a nice visit with Pat Lucy! |
Phase III
Plans are to remain at our current status. The Re-Union ministry team will meet on June 12 to assess the current situation and the Session will meet on the 14th to review/approve their recommendations.
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COLLEGE HILL
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC MINISTRY
Dr. Kim J. Childs, Director of Music
Mike Gibson, Organist
The Chancel Choir of College Hill Presbyterian Church rehearses Wednesdays at 7:00 pm in the second story choral room (next to the church office) for singing, fellowship and fun!
Chancel Choir rehearsals cease for summer June 1; they will be in recess for service singing beginning June 19 and will resume August 14.
BELLissimo Handbell Ensemble of College Hill Presbyterian Church rehearses Wednesdays at 6:15 pm in Fellowship Hall (1st floor).
If you would like to sing with the Chancel Choir, or are interested in joining our Handbell Choir, (permanent member or substitute),
we are welcoming new members!
BELLissimo will be in recess from June 1 until August 14.
Please (click name to) contact our
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SUNDAY MORNING MUSIC OFFERINGS
June 2022
JUNE 5 ~Spirit of Jesus, Come -Timothy Dudley-Smith
Chancel Choir
JUNE 12 ~ Holy Lord of All - Frances Williams
Chancel Choir
JUNE 19 ~ Diane Bucchianeri, Cello
JUNE 26 ~ Machele Dill, Soprano
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Next Step in our Help for
Afghan Neighbors:
The vast majority of our Afghan neighbors have arrived in Tulsa (nearly 750 of our 800). College Hill has donated a Narthex and van full of food, clothes and supplies to help.
Now though, our neighbors need core volunteer “wrap-around” groups to help them orient to Tulsa and through whom to report needs as they come up. Pursuant to Session approval,
Outreach & Mission invites you to participate in a College Hill “wrap-around” group to support an Afghan family in a number of ways that range from minimal time commitment to nearly a part time job.
Our service might not be needed for months, or it could be needed in days. Having a “wrap-around” group ready to deploy will let us meet the call when it comes.
Click here to learn more about “wrap-around” group roles.
After that, click on this link to sign up to join a group.
If you want to know more about this initiative, please (click name to) reach out to:
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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) Emergency Response to Ukraine War:
To support emergency relief for those fleeing Ukraine, you may designate monetary gifts via text, online, or by phone:
You may also pick up a flyer on the table in the Narthex, that provides all the details.
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To be a field of poppies
Viking burial. Sky burial. Cremation. Green burial. All alternatives to embalming, coffins and over-crowded cemeteries.
Then along comes Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) – that is, conversion of human remains into soil.
Two years ago, a bill legalizing NOR passed in Washington state, and since, similar bills have been introduced in California, Vermont, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon and Colorado (the latter two have already passed).
The body is placed inside an 8-foot-long steel cylinder called a “vessel,” along with wood chips, alfalfa and straw. Over the next 30 days, the vessel is monitored for moisture, heat and pH levels, and occasionally rotated until the body is transformed into soil. The soil is then transferred to curing bins, where it remains for two weeks before being tested for toxins and cleared for pickup.
And it all started with a master’s thesis: “Of Dirt and Decomposition: Proposing a Resting Place for the Urban Dead”– a solution to the problem of overcrowded cemeteries and the environmental costs of conventional burial and cremation offered up by Katrina Spade at UMass Amherst.
Fast forward: Spade founded a company called Recompose and opened the Greenhouse south of Seattle, the world’s first NOR facility.
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She imagined transforming human remains into soil, “ready to nourish new living beings.”
Half of the first batch of NOR soil would wind up in a forest on Bells Mountain in southwestern Washington to repair land degraded by logging. The rest was reclaimed by relatives and transported elsewhere.
Note: A composted body produces approximately one cubic yard of soil, which can fill a truck bed and weigh upwards of 1,500 pounds.
Recompose has gained a large following on social media, and its mailing list has grown to 15,000 subscribers.
Said Spade: “By donating your soil, you have the chance to be productive one last time, providing biomass and nutrients to a forest that truly needs them.”
Or, as a series of her promotional cards printed on recycled stock informs:
I could be a pinecone.
I could be a forest grove.
I could be a field of poppies.
(This column was drawn from an excellent article by Lisa Wells in the October 2021 edition of Harper’s Magazine.)
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Flower Chart
Sign Up
If you would like to bring flowers to decorate the sanctuary for an upcoming worship service, please sign up on the Flower Chart on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall.
There are many open dates available for the new year. Your dedication will also be announced in the worship bulletin.
Flowers can be purchased from any store or brought from home. Please bring them in two containers the morning of the service for which you have signed up.
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