Feb 2016 GN - Calvary Presbyterian Church

Happy Valentine’s
Calvary
Presbyterian
From Mardi Gras to Lent Already!
Church
13560 Hawthorne Blvd.
Hawthorne, CA 90250
310-676-1144
Fax: 310-676-2309
www.calvarypres.com
calvarypres@sbcglobal.net
REV. JASON E. GAMBLE
Pastor
KATHEE VAN HORN
Office Manager
STEVE CLAUSEN
Choir Director
DAVID HAWORTH
Organist
MARIA MARTINEZ
Custodian
JOSÉ MARTINEZ
Maintenance
Dig out your Mardi Gras
beads and mask and join us for
another fabulous Mardi Gras
Sunday this February 7th. Our
annual celebration of the
Transfiguration of the Lord
promises to be fat and fun.
Mardi Gras Sunday is the
Sunday on which we celebrate
the Transfiguration of the Lord
and it is the last Sunday before
Lent
begins
on
Ash
Wednesday. We will be blessed with special, festive music and recess
from the sanctuary with the annual umbrella dance as we laissons les
bon temps rouler. Get this fun Sunday on your calendar now and bring a
friend!
Keeping with the Mardi Gras theme and our annual Mission Trip to New
Orleans, a special offering will be taken to support our mission travelers
who journey to NOLA April 30th to May 7th. Please bring an extra check
or cash and use the special envelopes that will be provided for this great
cause.
Just one day after Fat Tuesday, Lent begins with our annual Ash
Wednesday service on February 10th. Please join us at 6:00 PM for a
simple, soup and salad dinner, and stay for worship at 7:00 PM as we
begin the solemn season of Lent with introspection, repentance, and the
forgiving and transforming grace of God. Lenten devotionals will be
available for kids, teens, and adults beginning that evening.
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R . Jas
E. G
, Past
Prayer List
Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Psalm 105:4
LORD, WE HOLD UP TO YOU FOR HEALING, RECOVERY, AND IMPROVED HEALTH
Javier had heart surgery & aortic aneurysm surgery on January 21. Hellwig’s friend.
Aunt Jean hospitalized with health issues, husband ill with lung cancer, and son died last month. LaVonne’s
relative.
Lucy Ann & Dave Bristol - Lucy Ann diagnosed with unresponsive cancer. Home on hospice. No calls or visits,
please as she is very weak an unable to answer phone or door.
Patty Cannova although arm not broken, her pain is aggravated by arthritis.
Ismael Carreon chemotherapy not affective and no treatments available. V. Reyes-Carreon’s husband.
Myra Cesmat diagnosed with heart problems. Hellwig’s handyman's wife.
Bill Cox and family diagnosed with stage 3 bone cancer and given 24 months to live. Loretta Ung
Curtis Ferguson recovering from fall and head injury.
Jan Ferguson release from pain and improved health, strength trying to give care to Curtis.
Alice Frautnick hospitalized for a heart attack. Karen Hellwig’s friend’s mother.
Andrew Hazzard broke his collar bone while snowboarding. Surgery Wednesday, December 30. Don and Alma
Hazzard’s grandson
Beth Howard improving from two extensive brain aneurysm surgeries. Currently at Kindred Hospital,
Los Angeles, bed 12a, 5525 Slauson Bl, Los Angeles.
Odilia Nwana knee replacement on December 18. Marie Fongwa’s friend.
Emily Pim Home on hospice. Very weak.
Jackie Shelhart barely able to walk due to severe tendon pain in ankle
Ann Stucci pancreatic cancer & has decided to not do chemo. Karen Hellwig’s good friend.
Rena Trapnel currently very weak - needs improved health and regained strength.
Loretta Ung fell and injured her knee.
Peter Unga suffering passing-out spells. Deborah Unga’s husband.
Joanie Worthen lost consciousness and fainted with an irregular and slow heartbeat. Heidi’s mother.
Lynn Zeman shoulder replacement surgery on Jan 6. Ann Stucci’ sister (above) and friend of K. Hellwig.
LORD, FOR COMPASSION, STRENGTH, GUIDANCE AND COMFORT
Alex Ausberry back in Afghanistan until March 3 in a very dangerous situation. Frankie Ausberry’s son. Peace
and comfort for Alex and Frankie.
Family & friends of Richard Bryant who passed away on January 1 after illness and a stroke. K Benz friend.
Rosa Jaime for courage, strength, patience, & release from stress for personal issues. L. Ung’s tenant.
Roderick L. Randolph continued safety, health and strength in his travels and work. Tiffani Clark’s friend.
PRAISE THE LORD FOR ANSWERED PRAYERS. GOD IS GREAT.
Oliver Doubell 2-1/2 year-old son of Hellwig’s friends doing better after hospitalization for vomiting &
dehydration
Yxta Doubell intestinal blockage has cleared and she is much better. Hellwig’s friend’s daughter
Need Prayers: Contact your deacon or the church office to be added to the prayer chain. Requested prayers are generally
sent by email to the E-prayer chain, printed in the Sunday bulletins and the monthly Good News unless otherwise specified.
Email-Prayer Line If you like to pray for those in need, and you are not on our email prayer request line, please send your
email address to the church office (calvarypres@sbcglobal.net). When prayers are emailed, please stop what you are doing,
take a moment and pray for the requested needs.
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JAN 3
Kathee Van Horn
Tiffani Clark ............... February 4
Rhiannon Zermeno..... February 9
Roy Paraiso................. February 14
Ben Asare-Danquah .... February 19
Clinton Epuna............. February 20
Stanley Peck ............... February 27
Wally Blazicek ............ February 28
In love and memory of Jan
and our wedding anniversary
JAN 17
Alma & Don Hazzard
In honor of Dr. John Fowler, Jr.
JAN 24
John & Sandy Dye
In loving memory of our beautiful Michelle
JAN 31
Alma & Don Hazzard
In appreciation of Lucy Ann Bristol
for all her service to Calvary
Flower of the Month
Primrose modesty, distinction, virtue Seafarer Valentine’s Di er
Saturday, February 13 6:30pm Cowan Hall
Love is in the air - and food on the table!
You are invited to the first Seafarer event of 2016 - A dinner featuring Lomelli’s Fettuccini
and Chicken Alfredo hosted by Jim & Pam Wilson and dessert provided by Kathee Van
Horn. Donna Wilkes & Kathee will be raffling off gift baskets to augment the cargo account.
Seafarer’s have some wonderful goals this year - to supplement the Presbyterian
Triennium attendees from Calvary, and to help replace some of the old table in Cowan hall
with the lighter weight white ones - we really need more than the 6 we have!
Plan on attending! Only $7 Tickets are available from Betty Richards & Donna Wilkes.
Hey Jr. and Sr. Highs,
It’s Big Bear March Madness Time Soon!
It’s already time to prep for our annual trip to Big Bear! The theme this year will
be Equipped: Know the Word, Trust the Word, Live the Word. As always our
retreat will be blessed with the scenic beauty of our Presbyterian Camp and
Conference Center and the many friends we’ve made over the years from the
other churches who attend.
Get it on your calendar app now and go ahead and fill out the registration form
with your parents’ help. Download it at: http://presbyteriancamps.wix.com/bb1#!
winter/vstc2=forms
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Ash Wednesday Supper and Service
February 10, 2016
6:00pm Supper 7:00pm Service
Start your Lenten season with a simple
soup meal and service of ashes.
Q: Why Are Mardi Gras, Lent, and Easter So Soon this Year?
A: Blame It on the Moon?
Twice a year, around March 21 and September 23, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length
of day and night are nearly equal everywhere in the world. These two days are known as the vernal (or spring)
equinox and the autumnal (fall) equinox.
The vernal equinox also coincides with Easter and the holidays that are related to it. They are moveable
feasts that do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars. The dates of many Christian holidays depend on the Easter date, which falls on March 27th this year. Some of these holidays include Palm
Sunday, Holy or Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Ascension Day and Pentecost (also called Whitsunday).
According to the gospels, Jesus’ death and resurrection occurred around the time of the Jewish Passover,
which was celebrated on the first full moon following the vernal equinox. Early sources showed that this soon
led to Christians around the world celebrating Easter on different dates. At the end of the second century,
some churches celebrated Easter on the day of the Passover, while others celebrated it on the following Sunday.
In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full
moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. Easter is delayed one week if the full moon is
on Sunday, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover. This year, for
Christians who use the Gregorian calendar, which was established by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 for the purpose of making the calendar year synchronize to the solar year, the first full moon to follow the vernal equinox
will be just one day later than that full moon – March 22 – making it one of the earliest possible Easters in
years.
Meanwhile, our Orthodox Christian friends in LA and around the world observe a
different calendar, the Julian Calendar, first instituted by Julius Caesar in 46 BC,
which requires that they always celebrate Easter after the Jewish Passover. Since
the Jewish Passover starts on Friday, April 22nd this year, hundreds of millions of Orthodox Christians will wait until a very late May 1st to celebrate the Resurrection of
the Lord.
If you are now more confused than ever, blame it on the moon.
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OK, so what is the Presbyterian General Assembly?
Since $7.12 of our per capita goes to the General Assembly, I
thought I would tell you all about it … The General Assembly consists
of commissioners elected by presbyteries. Half of the commissioners
will be ruling elders, half will be teaching elders. Few will ever have
been commissioners to the General Assembly before, but most will
have served in one of the other governing bodies of our church: the
session, which provides care and oversight of a local congregation;
the presbytery, which provides care and oversight of a group of
congregations; or the synod which provides care and oversight of
several presbyteries.
It reviews the work of synods, resolves controversies in the
church, is responsible for matters of common concern for the whole
church, and serves as a symbol of unity for the church.
The General Assembly has several specific responsibilities
outlined in Chapter 3 of the Book of Order. The assembly seeks to
protect our church from errors in faith and practice, is responsible for
assuring that the expression of our theology remains true to the
biblical standards in our historic confessions. The General Assembly
presents a witness for truth and justice in our community and in the
world community. It sets priorities for the church and establishes
relationships with other churches or ecumenical bodies.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
First, reports and recommendations come from the various arms
of the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General
Assembly.
The Office of the General Assembly, headed by the Stated Clerk,
is the ecclesiastical arm of the church. The Stated Clerk and his staff
work to ensure that the Presbyterian Church maintains itself as a
church. The Office of the General Assembly carries out all
constitutional, and most ecumenical functions at the General
Assembly.
Mission programs are carried out by the Presbyterian Mission
Agency which supervises the work directed to be done by the General
Assembly, and can make certain decisions on behalf of the Assembly.
Overtures from synods and presbyteries are the second source
of General Assembly business. These governing bodies use
Overtures to bring recommendations and matters of concern before
the whole church.
Commissioners Resolutions are a third source of General
Assembly business. As a commissioner one is entitled to sign two
resolutions which will come before the whole assembly.
The meeting begins with an orientation on Saturday afternoon
and that evening the plenary, or whole General Assembly, meets
together to elect a Moderator from among the commissioners
assembled.
The Moderator presides over the plenary meetings for the rest of
the week.
Once a Moderator is elected, the assembly breaks up into
assembly committees to consider particular kinds of business. Each
committee is responsible for considering a number of items, and
reporting back to the General Assembly on completed actions or their
recommendations
The combined insights of all those on assembly committees
become the recommendations to the whole assembly. If they are
approved, they guide the church in the years to come.
Here's a look at what you need to know about leap year. This is a leap year, and the next leap
day is February 29, 2016.
► Every four years in the Gregorian calendar, an extra day is added to the calendar in order to
synchronize it with the solar year.
► Occurs in every year divisible by four and only in century years that are evenly divided by 400.
- Ex. 800, 1200, 2000 were leap years...BUT 1700 and 1900 were not because they are not divisible by 400, even
though they are divisible by four.
► In a leap year, the extra day is added at the end of February, giving it 29 days instead of 28.
► The extra day is called a leap day, or an intercalary day.
► It takes the earth a little bit less than 365 ¼ days (365.242 days) to orbit the Sun (solar year). For
this reason, the full day is only added once every four years. In the Julian calendar, there is
still an 11-minute, 14-second discrepancy each year.
► 46 B.C. - The practice of adding the extra day began with the creation of the Julian
calendar and a decree by Julius Caesar. The Julian calendar simply created an extra day
every four years, and did not follow the century-divisible-by-400 rule.
► 1582 A.D. - The 11-minute discrepancy in the Julian calendar adds up to ten days by this point.
Pope Gregory XIII creates the Gregorian calendar and drops ten days from the month of October. He also establishes
February 29th as the official date to add during a leap year, coined the term leap year, and created the rules for adding
the leap year.
► Currently the solar year is approximately 26 seconds shorter than the Gregorian year.
► Within a century, the fourth year is the first leap year.
► In the U.S., leap year coincides with presidential election years.
Aren’t you glad you asked?
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Come to the Waters
Women’s Bible Study
Esther Circle
Esther Circle will meet at 9:00am, Monday, February 1, 2016. Pamela
Wilson will serve a light breakfast and lead Lesson five from our study
book, Come to the Waters.
Rebekah Circle
Due to Ash Wednesday service, we will meet on Wednesday, February 17,
7:00pm in Cowan Hall. Joan Reiné will provide dessert for our group study of
Chapter 5 of the study guide. Please see Joan 310-676-5686 for information
or a study guide.
Letter from Dr. John Fowler, Jr.
Synopsis of Session Activity
January 2016
The Session members met for a retreat lead by General
Presbyter Rev. Linda Culbertson on Saturday, January 9,
2016. During the retreat we had a time of worship and then
considered the duties, functions, and leadership
responsibilities of the Session members and how we should
organize to fulfill our ministry.
At the Called Meeting of the Session on January 13, 2016 we:
♦ Elected the officers of the Corporation
♦ President – Katherine Clark
♦ Vice President – Al Richards
♦ Secretary – Pamela Wilson
♦ Treasurer – Scott Elledge
♦ Approved the extension of the Hawthorne Hardware lease
until December 31, 2016 at $5,000 per month
♦ Elected Elders Scott Elledge and Michael Ndipagbor to
serve on the 2016 Nominating Committee
♦ Instituted an Administration Committee to handle Finance,
Budget, and Personnel matters. These functions have
been handled by separate committees previously.
♦ Assigned Session members to various committee
♦ The Session will consider more organizational changes at
future meeting.
Pamela Wilson, Clerk of Session
December 9, 2015
Dear Family in Christ at Calvary,
Thank you very much for the gift of $1187.50 you
recently sent for our work in Turkey and the region.
In the past few weeks, Dianne helped project and
family members at the national tennis tournament
near Tarsus, she and I helped transport items (a van
full of things) for the church rummage sale. The
proceeds went towards sending local Turkish church
kids to the country-wide summer church camp. J
On Friday, I took two of my emergency docs to the
refugee camps nearby. One speaks Arabic (she
grew up in Antakya = Syrian Antioch). My translator
was an English woman who had spent 6 yrs. in Syria
as a missionary.
A new family came to church on Sunday mainly
because the father has neck cancer. They wanted
prayer. His niece also came… she’s a Christian
doctor who came to our national Chr. Med meeting in
September. J
I look forward to seeing you all on January 17!
Much love in Christ,
John
Deacons Food Assistance Ministry
January distribution went smoothly - on January 2, 43 grocery bags were distributed. During November, 26 lunch sacks
were handed out. A total of 168 persons were helped through your generosity.
THANK YOU TO OUR
Our ministry is the first Saturday
JANUARY
VOLUNTEERS
of each month. The next day for
Don Hazzard
the grocery give-away is February Alma Hazzard
Scott Elledge
Virginia
Elledge
6. The truck is planning a trip to the
Joan Reiné
Helen
Kingdon
food bank on Friday, February 5. If Betty Richards Emma
Johnson
you can come to the parking lot
De’Quan Hooper
Janet Guibor
around 2:00 to help unload, your
Donna Wilkes
John DeGange
Allen Richards
assistance is greatly appreciated.
Fred Guibor
Freda D. Moore
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OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
Calvary Presbyterian Church is a welcoming people of faith and hope in Christ Jesus, inspired by God’s word and led by the Holy Spirit. We serve God, each
other, our community, and the world, through worship, study, teaching, fellowship and outreach; demonstrating God’s love, justice, compassion and grace.
sun
mon
tue
thu
fri
7:00pm Session
9:00am Esther
Circle
1
wed
2
3
sat
9:30-12:30
Deacon Food
Ministry
4
7:30pm AA
5
10:15am WORSHIP &
Communion
11:30am Fellowship Reception
6
6:30pm Seafarer
Dinner Cowan Hall
6:00pm Soup supper
6:30pm Service
♪♫ CHOIR REHEARSAL
7
10:15am WORSHIP
12:00pm Deacon Meeting
8
9
10
Presidents’
Day
9-3 Head Start in
Cowan Hall
7:00pm Rebekah
Circle - Cowan
Hall
11
7:30pm AA
12
13
Kathee on vacation to 2-18 to 2-24
♪♫ CHOIR REHEARSAL
14
15
16
10:15am WORSHIP
12:00 Worship Com Mtg
17
18
7:30pm AA
19
20
26
27
9:00a.m. Good
News Deadline
Kathee on vacation to 2-24
11:30a.m. Ladies
Lunch @ Spires
21
22
23
24
25
7:30pm AA
10:15am WORSHIP
9:30-12:30
Deacon Food
2:00p.m. unloading Ministry
the food truck
♪♫ CHOIR REHEARSAL
28
29
7:30pm AA
1
2 7
3
4
5
February Juice
February Reception
Thank you to the Seafarer members providing
juice for our after-church receptions:
Thank you to the Deacon, Emma
Johnson and her flock for our
reception goodies on February 7
February 7 Mary Haag,
February 14 Herb Hammer,
February 21 Faye Hart,
February 28 Alma & Don Hazzard,
Teens & Parents -- Triennium is near ...
What an opporuntunity! And it’s only once every three years! That’s right! The Presbyterian
Youth Triennium will be held next summer, July 17-23 at Purdue University near Indianapolis, Indiana. This
week-long gathering of teens from across the US and around the world is a deeply spiritual, life-changing
event, with memories to last a lifetime. Fundraising and scholarships are available, so don’t let cost be a factor.
Check out the website http://presbyterianyouthtriennium.org/, talk to your parents now and get it on your calendar!
Good News Friend of Calvary
FIRST CLASS MAIL
Good News Friend of Calvary
Christ's Peace and Blessings
to you and your family
Presidents’ Day
Ladies Luncheon
Wednesday February 24, 11:30am
Spires Restaurant
Alma Hazzard is the coordinator of the February
luncheon. Please let her know if you can or
cannot attend 310-542-4055
hazzard27@verizon.net
The US federal holiday is on the third Monday
of February each year, but records show that
George Washington's birthday is on February
22. Washington's Birthday officially honors the
life and work of George Washington, the first
president of the United States. The day commemorates past presidents
of the USA as well. Washington's Birthday is sometimes known as
Presidents' Day because, while most states have adopted
Washington's Birthday, some states officially celebrate Presidents' Day.
Some states pay particular attention to Abraham Lincoln, as his
birthday was also in mid-February. In the weeks or days leading up to
the holiday, schools often organize events and lessons for students
about the presidents of the United States and George Washington in
particular. It is a popular day for stores to start their sales.
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