06/23/04

Dear Ones –

Thanks be to God for the absolutely beautiful weather we have been having of late – a welcome change from some rainy days, and for me a welcome change from the hot and humid days we had down in Montreat.

The youth, Terry, Jim Watson, and I had a wonderful trip overall, and the trip home went smoothly – we arrived back at Beulah on Saturday by 2:30 or so – early!

Sunday was a wonderful worship service with a good crowd for a summer Sunday - 178 in worship. For those who could not be here, Doug sang a beautiful solo. My sermon was based on the “lost and found” Montreat youth conference theme, and the text of the man with many demons in Luke 8.

This Sunday, June 27th, the Rev. Judy Hockenberry (some of you remember her???) will be our “guest preacher” – and I hope you will be in worship to welcome and worship with her. Her sermon will be based on the text from Luke 9:51-62.

Tomorrow morning (Thursday) I leave for the General Assembly Meeting, and on Friday Nancy Leach, our Elder Commissioner, leaves. I do encourage you to keep the GA meeting in your prayers, and you can use the prayer that has been in the bulletin these past weeks. Here’s the announcement and prayer and how to learn what is happening at the meeting if you wish:

Nancy Leach, an elder of Beulah Church, Whit Malone, the Pastor of Springdale Church, and Creighton Bloyd, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church (Youth Advisory Delegate) will be our commissioners to the 216th General Assembly (GA), the national governing body of our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), meeting in Richmond, Virginia, June 26 – July 3. Also our Associate General Presbyter Peggy Owens, Stated Clerk Ken Hockenberry, and many others who work at the Presbyterian Center will be traveling to Richmond for this meeting.

Please remember the GA in your daily prayers. Here is a suggested prayer:

Almighty God, in Jesus Christ you called disciples and, by the Holy Spirit, made them one church to serve you. Make your presence known to the members and workers of our General Assembly. Help them to welcome new things you are doing in the world, and to respect old things you keep and use. Save them from empty slogans or senseless controversy. In their deciding, determine what is good for us and for all people. As this General Assembly meets, let your Spirit rule, so that our church may be joined in love and service to Jesus Christ, who, having gone before us, is coming to meet us in the promise of your kingdom. Amen. (Copied/adapted from the Book of Common Worship)

News about our 216th Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly (GA)meeting in Richmond, Virginia will be available this year by telephone and online. During the GA (June 26 – July 3), recorded reports on the GA by the Presbyterian News Service will be available each day after 8:00 p.m. (EST); call toll free at 1-800-872-3283. Telephone consultants will answer all questions about the GA, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Internet: Daily video, news reports, photos, discussions.

Please know that I will be keeping you and yours in my prayers while I am at this meeting. And to be honest, I am looking forward to 2005 when there will be no GA meeting, as we will be moving to an every other year meeting schedule! Especially since my wife reminded me that 2005 is our 20 year wedding anniversary, and once again, this year, I will be away for our anniversary (we were married on June 30, 1985).

About others we need to be praying for:

Jeannie Koerber is still struggling with pain from her back trouble, but her heart is healing well and the heart doctor is pleased. When we spoke this afternoon she was in some pain, but the medication is helping.
Paula Boston is recovering well from her kidney stone surgery, though she is having to hassle with IV antibiotics which she has to administer herself. A nurse only comes out if there is a problem (more cuts in medical coverages). Hopefully she will be off of these in the near future.
Karen James, married to Gary James, among our newer church member families (and Karen is one of our newly elected Deacons), has come down with a rather bothersome kidney infection, and is on some heavy medications to treat this.
Martha Stepro took an outing today to come to the Wednesday Book Club that meets every other Wednesday – and when we talked she said she was pretty tired. Still using the walker, but hopefully in the near future she will be able to cast it off.
Neva Poole continues her recovery and is struggling with her eye and hand coordination and perception.
Christie Tompkins has asked that we pray for her grandmother, Ruby Rice, who took a fall and had to have hip surgery – and the break was rather severe.
Jim Barbour, our Ramsey Building Custodian, is recovering from hernia surgery, and hopes to be back at work next week, though he is still on restricted duty.
As of today we have no one in the hospital or any planned surgeries that the church office knows about – so if you know of anybody please let us know. Our Deacons will be covering the hospitals and any other needs for the next week, and Judy is covering any emergencies.

Our Middle School youth will be going on a Mission Trip – but the trip is to Cedar Ridge. From Sunday night, June 27, through Wednesday, June 30, Terry Hargrave and Jim Watson will be leading the group as they do some mission work at Cedar Ridge, the Presbyterian Community Center, the Fern Creek / Highview Individual and Family Assistance Center, and some cleaning work in our Ramsey Building, to help keep that building clean while our custodian Jim Barbour is recovering.

You may have noticed we have some cut down trees around the property and a pile of wood chips – they are free for the taking. If someone out there does have some chain saws and a log splitter, some of the larger pieces need to be cut up – especially the wood around the circular driveway. Please come and get it all!

That the news from the pews for today – and as I did from Montreat, I will send a news from Richmond while I am away, and have Carol add any other prayer concerns to it. If you want to get a word to me on anything, please call the office. I do call in regularly using my cell phone.

Grace and peace to you all – and I’ll see you in Worship on July 4th – Doug Jones, Christie Tompkins, and I are planning a service of scripture and song based on the theme “patriotism and service” – and you won’t want to miss that either. And even if you do, then send in a request for a tape! (Send a request to Bill Flanigan at UK3279@aol.com )

Take care – and I remain,

Yours in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Ken H.

back to News from the Pews