Dreamers and doubters, seekers and believers
Adult Sunday School: 9:30 am
Sunday Service: 10:30 am with Sunday School for kids from preschool to high school, followed by coffee hour
Professional nursery care is available free of charge for infants and toddlers
You can find us at 335 Cambridge Street in Burlington, MA. (Red church right at the crossroads with 62!)
Music Report
It’s that time again!!!
Choir rehearsals will resume on Thursday, September 7 at 7:30 pm.
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Claudia Waite. I have been active in the church life of Burlington Presbyterian since November of 2016. Professionally, I am an opera singer and my roots in singing grew from participating in church choir since I was a child. My first university degree was in choral conducting and I was the choir director at First Presbyterian Church in Bainbridge GA during my graduate school years. I have taught private voice lessons since 1991 and, over the decades of my career, I have worked with many different volunteer choral organizations. I was asked if I would provide my services until a new music director is found.
I truly believe that anyone can sing! It has been said before that you need no prior experience to join the choir and I REALLY mean exactly that!! What I am hoping for is folks who want to make a JOYFUL NOISE in a friendly, supportive, musical community! The direction we take as a group will really depend on how many folks volunteer. If you have ever wondered if you would enjoy choir, don’t let this opportunity pass you by!
What you need to know is this:
If you are on the fence or have questions or concerns about the time demands of participating, do not hesitate to contact me directly by email or talk to me at coffee hour: I’m the tall girl … in the orange glasses … You can’t miss me!
In Christ’s Love,
Claudia
Introducing James Myers
James will be assisting Claudia with the music for the Fall. He has been here a few Sundays during the Summer.
Justin VandenBosch of Chicago, and James Myers of Portland, OR, met in Denver in 2008, and moved to Boston in 2012 to marry on the South Shore, in Scituate. Justin completed his graduate studies at Endicott last year, and after five years with the MGH nursing team, is now a Nurse Practitioner with Commonwealth Care Alliance. As vocal coach/pianist, James is a member of the dynamic Boston Conservatory at Berklee opera department, and directs a substantial professional private vocal coaching studio. His students have secured roles with major opera houses, summer festivals, and prizes at international voice competitions. At Boston Lyric Opera he is coach and lecturer, coordinating collaborative projects with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Public Library, Boston Symphony, Beacon Hill Seminars, and Boston University. Justin and James enjoy outdoor adventures throughout New England and in the Colorado Rockies each summer white water rafting, fishing, boating, hiking, ATV, and camping. They are travel fanatics, having each visited 49 states, and countries in five continents. Justin speaks fluent Spanish having worked in Honduras, and James fluent German through studies in Hannover and Berlin. This summer they celebrated a friend’s 50th birthday at a villa on the Italian Amalfi Coast, toured Madrid and Andalusia, and James coached with Berklee’s Summer Opera Intensive through Placido Domingo’s Palau in Valencia, Spain. This passion is only matched by their enthusiasm for good food, drink, laughter, and natural beauty. Lifelong Christians, they seek spiritual nourishment in Presbyterian and Lutheran settings. Their home is a restored historic convent in Chelsea, with regal kitties Caesar and Octavia.
Food Pantry Needs
We receive donations for the Food Pantry on the 1st Sunday of each month. The donations have been dwindling. Please consider purchasing some 20 oz. dish detergent, individually wrapped bars of soap or bottles of shampoo. The Pantry is in desperate need of these items. Your help is appreciated. Thank you!
Deacon’s Corner
We are currently looking for drivers and people to prepare meals for some of our members that are experiencing the need for help at this time. If you can provide a meal or pick someone up for church please contact Linda Roscoe.
Starting on Sunday September 17th, we will be placing all different kinds of cards out on a table to send to anyone that is sick or just needs a kind word and a prayer. We hope to keep this program going on the third Sunday of every month. We will provide the cards, the stamps and we will mail them. You provide the message.
“So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”
Ephesians 2:17
The letter to the Ephesians tells us that Jesus came to proclaim a universal peace. While the earthly ministry of Jesus occurred in a specific age and place, the peace he shared is limited by neither time nor geography. As followers of Christ, our call to work for peace begins in our own neighborhoods and extends to the ends of the earth.
On Sunday September 3, we begin our annual Season of Peace. It culminates on Sunday October 1. On that day, we will be receiving the Peace and Global Witness Offering.
Path of Peace Daily Reflections
Subscribe to daily reflections that will be delivered directly to your inbox September 3 – October 1, or download the entire set of reflections as a single file. Choose Path of Peace under Advocacy and Social Justice. https://www.presbyterianmission.org/newsletter-subscription/
Worship
We have been blessed over the summer to have music provided for worship services by several different musicians, and appreciate the variety and each musician’s musical gifts.
Some exciting plans are in the works for the fall for our ministry of music and you will read about them in another article.
In addition to those plans, we invite Middle School and High School age students to participate in Sunday services as worship assistants. Assisting in worship this way involves leading the congregation in reading the Call to Worship and Prayer of Confession, and reading one of the scripture lessons and the Assurance of Pardon. Rev. Trina and the class teachers are available to help guide worship assistants, and Kathleen Stegall always provides the written materials that the assistants need each Sunday. Please sign up on the sheet in Fellowship Hall and/or contact a member of Worship Committee or Rev. Trina.
Another way for older students to be part of the service on communion Sundays is to help take the offering and to bring it forward to Pastor Trina during the singing of the Doxology.
A new schedule for communion servers is in the works and will be included in the next issue of Crossroads and posted in Fellowship Hall in September.
~ Jennifer Dewar, Worship Chair
Worship Committee
Cathy DiCenzo, James McIninch, Annette Chapman-Adisho (Deacon Rep.)
Trustees Report
The trustees have been active during the summer months with attention to the following areas:
Remember, if you open a window, make sure YOU close and lock it when you leave the building. Same goes for the playground door.
Christian Education
On September 10th our Sunday school classes will start afresh. Our classes for children and youth meet during the worship service after the “Word for Children”. To kick off the year on September 10th, all our classes will meet in Fellowship Hall for a special mission activity. This year we will be focusing on local missions. We will be putting together some activity/learning bags for the twelve pre-school children whose families use the Burlington Food Pantry. We already have some supplies for the bags, but we need some additional items and hope that you will donate them. Here is what we would like to provide (appropriate for ages 3-5). Everything should be new.
On Sunday, October 29th Anne Boyden will be here after the service to lead Safe Child training for teachers, assistants & Elders. If you haven’t had the training in the past 3 years, you will need to attend. We’ll do it right after the worship service – lunch will be provided. The training should last about 1 1/2 hours.
Women’s Bible Study
Womens Bible Study will begin with a brunch on Sept. 14. The following week, Sept 21, we will begin the Horizons study of Hebrews called “Cloud of Witnesses: The Community of Christ in Hebrews”. Please join us. We meet on Thursday mornings at 9:30.
Pumpkin Patch Volunteers Needed
St. Marks’s Episcopal Church, 10 Saint Marks Road, Burlington, will hold their fourth annual Pumpkin Patch event during the month of October. Our church, along with many other churches and civic organizations, has been asked to help with the selling of pumpkins during the month. Our staffing dates are Friday, October 6th and Friday, October 20st. The patch opens at 12 noon and closes at 6pm. We need volunteers to sign up for two hours or more on each day. The hours are 12-2, 2-4 and 4-6pm. Please refer to the sign-up sheet in Fellowship Hall if you can commit to helping out. A percentage of the sale proceeds go to support People Helping People. Please speak to our church coordinator, Ken Dewar, if you have any questions.
The Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is now available online for free at https://www.presbyterianmission.org/yearbook/. Printing costs became prohibitive so they switched to a digital format. This also allows them to keep current and to provide videos. Check it out and keep in touch with what the church is doing around our nation and the world.
Tony Triglione Memorial Walk
For Mission of Deeds
DATE: September 17, 2017
TIME: Registration at 10:30 am; Walk at 11 am
LOCATION: Lake Quannapowitt, Wakefield, MA
STARTING LOCATION: Wakefield Lower Common near the Gazebo
REGISTRATION: $20 per walker / $40 per family
FREE T-SHIRTS TO THE FIRST 200 WALKERS TO REGISTER!
Raffles of Patriots vs Falcons tickets (valued at $1000); Red Sox vs Blue Jays tickets (valued at$230); Celtics tickets (valued at ~$620); Capitol Grille Burlington – a night of wining and dining for 6 (valued at $1000); Entertainment Package-Retail & Restaurant gift cards, Stoneham Theatre performance, one year AAA membership (valued at $250); Professional Stylist Forum- Hair Salon in Andover, Gift Basket of five (5) $200.00 gift cards with products (valued at $1000.00)
Details & forms available in the office.
6 Chapin Avenue, Reading, MA 01867 Tel: 781-944-9797, email: missionofdeeds.org
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Give today to help Presbyterian Disaster Assistance bring hope & healing to Texas families impacted by Hurricane Harvey.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is in touch with Presbyteries affected in Texas to offer assistance. We are standing by with resources and National Response Team members ready to deploy upon invitation and when it is safe to do so.
For those who wish to support PDA’s emergency response and recovery efforts, gifts can be designated to DR000169-Harvey. We need your help. Please give generously.
If you prefer to mail a check, you may send it to:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
PO Box 643700
Pittsburgh, OPA, 15264-3700
Please join us in praying for courage for those who are suffering; wisdom and diligence among agencies and individuals assessing damage and directing relief efforts; and for generosity to flow as powerfully as rivers and streams, as we respond to the deep human needs left in the wake of the storm.
Welcoming Our Neighbors
As we look forward to resuming many of our regular activities in our church life together, and in our communities, it is also a time of new opportunities to be a place of welcome for friends old and new alike. One such opportunity is that our church is opening its doors to the Boston Grace Korean Presbyterian Church, and providing space for them to hold worship services during the month of September.
Pastor Shi-Chang Wooh approached me earlier in the summer about looking for a new place for his congregation to worship, as the church where they were meeting in Lexington had grown and needed to expand its own use of the church building. After an initial conversation with the session, we have agreed to shared use of the church for the month of September, and possibly for a longer-term basis. The Korean Church will worship on Sunday afternoons at 2:00, and hold a Wednesday evening Bible study and Friday evening prayer meeting.
Many of the people who come to the Korean Church are here as students, doctors, or other professionals who are in one- to two-year training programs from Korea. The church has grown in the last three years from 12 adults and one child, to about 45 adults and 30 children! Please make our new friends feel welcome and share your hospitality with them, should you be in the building when they are here!
Looking forward to Sunday, October 1st, World Communion Sunday, I have invited their congregation to join us for worship at 10:30 to celebrate communion together. Friends of mine, Kurt Esslinger-Lee and Hyeyoung Lee, who are mission co-workers in South Korea serving as the site coordinators for the Young Adult Volunteer program in Daejon, will be leading us in worship that day and it seemed an ideal way to bring our two communities together. Please join me in welcoming our siblings in Christ to the Presbyterian Church of Burlington!
Peace,
Pastor Trina
Just a reminder that this Sunday, the 23rd of July, there will be no morning service at our church. We will be joining with the Kenyan congregation at the Gateway Church in Beverly, who worshipped with us earlier this summer. The service begins at 12:00 pm. They are located at 300 Cabot Street. Directions are below:
Take route 128/95 North. Continue on 128 N when 95 breaks off. Take Exit 20B (1A Beverly). This exit will put you onto Cabot Street. It is about 2 mi. At the first set of lights, bear to the left. (There are 4 or 5 streets intersecting there.) Stay on 1A. There will be a few more sets of lights. The church will be on your right. There is are two signs on the side of the building, one says “Pilgrim Church”; the other says “Jesus Lives”. As far as I know, it is all on street parking. There is a laundromat next door, but I don’t think you can use that lot.
There is a lot of roadwork going on. There was a detour. If that detour is still there, you would take a right turn follow to the end of the street, turn left at the end onto Elliott Street. Stay on Elliott St through a red light. Ate the end of the street, turn right onto Cabot. The church is a short distance on your right. This detour may be different on Sunday or may be gone.
While the disciples were gathered in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit filled the house where they were staying with the sound of rushing wind and divided tongues of fire, which rested upon each of the disciples. And then, in verse 4 “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” The crowds gathered there were from every nation, and they were amazed to hear the disciples speaking in their own native languages asking, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?”
The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost is like a reverse Tower of Babel story, where rather than separating people from one another based on different languages and cultures, God brings the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone, in their own native languages, so that all may hear and understand. The Good News is not for one race or people; it is for all people, everywhere, as is made clear at Pentecost. We are living in a time of great division between people; a time when deep fears and hatred toward “the other” have been stirred up and encouraged to fester. Pentecost reminds us that God calls us all to be one; to love one another; to share the Good News of God’s love for the world through Jesus Christ through our words and actions.
This poem, written by Jan Richardson, is a beautiful reflection on the blessing that Pentecost offers us, to look beyond ourselves and our own limited world-view, and to be open to the gift of the Spirit at work in our lives and in the world.
This Grace That Scorches Us
A Blessing for Pentecost Day
Here’s one thing
you must understand
about this blessing:
it is not
for you alone.
It is stubborn
about this;
do not even try
to lay hold of it
if you are by yourself,
thinking you can carry it
on your own.
To bear this blessing,
you must first take yourself
to a place where everyone
does not look like you
or think like you,
a place where they do not
believe precisely as you believe,
where their thoughts
and ideas and gestures
are not exact echoes of
your own.
Bring your sorrow. Bring your grief.
Bring your fear. Bring your weariness,
your pain, your disgust at how broken
the world is, how fractured,
how fragmented
by its fighting, its wars,
its hungers, its penchant for power,
its ceaseless repetition
of the history
it refuses to rise above.
I will not tell you
this blessing will fix all that.
But in the place
where you have gathered,
wait.
Watch.
Listen.
Lay aside your inability
to be surprised,
your resistance to what you
do not understand.
See then whether this blessing
turns to flame on your tongue,
sets you to speaking
what you cannot fathom
or opens your ear
to a language
beyond your imagining
that comes as a knowing
in your bones
a clarity
in your heart
that tells you
this is the reason
we were made,
for this ache
that finally opens us,
for this struggle, this grace
that scorches us
toward one another
and into
the blazing day.
Holy Week
The season of Lent leads us to the joyful celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, April 9 with a procession led by the church school children carrying palms. There will also be celebratory music as well as a look ahead to what we call Holy Week.
On Maundy Thursday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m. we will remember the Last Supper with communion received by intinction around the Communion Table.
Good Friday evening, April 14, come at 7:30 p.m. for our traditional Service of Shadows, or Tennebrae Service. It will be a time of prayer, readings and quiet vigil remembering the dark day of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Then at last comes joyous Easter Morning on April 16. Easter Breakfast at 9:00 a.m. precedes Easter worship at 10:30 a.m. and culminates in the choir singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”.
If you would like to join the choir to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus”, please speak to Nancy Timmerman and arrange to get the music and come to practice with the choir.
If you are used to only worshipping on Palm Sunday and Easter, this year consider making Maundy Thursday worship and the Good Friday service part of your observation of Holy Week.
It will add to the meaning of Easter celebrations to walk with Jesus through the darker days of his journey to the cross and then his glorious resurrection. Also, we will need readers for the Good Friday service and please speak to Jennifer if you would like to participate.
As always, you are invited to sign up to be a worship assistant on a given Sunday. Kathleen and Rev. Trina provide the printed words you will need to assist in worship and can answer any questions you may have about helping in this way. If you would like to give a Word for Children some Sunday, sing in the choir or play an instrument please speak to James McIninch, Rev. Trina or Nancy Timmerman.
Thank you!
Jennifer Dewar, Worship Chair
Looking ahead…
On May 7th, we will share a joint worship service with Gateway Church, a new Presbyterian fellowship of Kenyan Christians in Beverly. Members of the Gateway congregation will join us here at our church for worship at 10:30, followed by a potluck lunch so we can get to know one another better. Led by Rev. Dr. Lawrence Mgbara, who will be our guest preacher on that date, the Gateway Church seeks to be a Presbyterian witness to Christ on Boston’s North Shore. We will find a date in the summer when we can join the Gateway Church to worship at their church also. We encourage all to stay for lunch, and bring a dish to share that represents your own cultural identity. Sign-up sheets will be in Fellowship Hall during the month of April.
Are you looking for a church home? Are you considering joining the church or transferring your membership from another congregation? Would you like to know more about what it means to be a Presbyterian? If you are interested in exploring these and other questions, please join us for an Inquirers’ Class on May 21st, following worship. For those who are interested in becoming members of the church, we will set a date to receive new members in June. Please speak to Pastor Trina if you would like more information about how to become a member of Burlington Presbyterian Church.
Christian Education
The Christian Education Committee, in conjunction with Pastor Trina, is hosting a Communion Workshop on Thursday, April 13th at 6:15 p.m.
We will start with a simple supper of pizza, then learn about the meaning of the Sacrament of Communion. After the workshop, we will attend the Maundy Thursday worship service, where participants will have the opportunity to partake in Communion. This workshop will be geared toward 2nd – 5th graders, but people of all ages are welcome. Please contact Ann McGrath (annrmcg@juno.com) if you plan to attend so that we can plan for enough pizza.
Something to keep in mind for the future – in the Fall, we plan to hold a confirmation class for youth who want to know more about church membership.
Have you heard about Camp Wilmot? It’s a Christian overnight summer camp program in Wilmot, New Hampshire for children entering grades 3-8. They have two one-week sessions, July 9-15 and July 16-22. Some of our youth have attended in the past and loved it. You can find out more about the camp from their website, http://www.campwilmot.org/youth-camps/. Registration is now open.
This year, thanks to a bequest from Duncan Cruickshanks, our church is offering parents a $200 per child scholarship to attend the camp. For more information, see Ann McGrath.
A Teaching Supper about Communion:
Maundy Thursday, April 17, 6:30
The Christian Education Committee and Pastor Trina will offer this opportunity for families with young children. There will be pizza and learning activities about the meaning and practice of the Lord’s Supper in our church. This event is planned primarily with elementary-age children in grades 2-5 in mind, but is open to families with children of all ages. All who come are welcome (but not obligated) to stay for the church’s Maundy Thursday communion service – which is typically briefer than most services, and is one of the times when we gather around the communion table for the sacrament.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order states “Baptized children who are being nurtured and instructed in the significance of the invitation to the Table and the meaning of their response are invited to receive the Lord’s Supper, recognizing that their understanding of participation will vary according to their maturity.”
Join the 49th annual Walk for Hunger
Join tens of thousands of people on Sunday, May 7th for the 49th annual Walk for Hunger, a Boston tradition of neighbors helping neighbors around the Commonwealth. The Walk for Hunger is a 20-mile Walk, which begins and ends at the Boston Common and weaves through Boston, Brookline, Newton, Watertown, and Cambridge. Walkers do not need to walk all 20 miles to participate. There are checkpoints approximately every two miles along the course, with complimentary shuttle buses back to the Common.
Why Walk?
We strongly believe that good food is a basic right! Although you may not always see it, there are nearly 675,000 people in Massachusetts who can’t reliably predict where their next meal is coming from. Among them, children are some of the most vulnerable to hunger.
The Walk for Hunger is a vehicle for people of all ages to make a real difference in people’s lives and take action against the local issue of hunger. Donations from money raised by Walkers, Runners, and Volunteers provide the funds for grants awarded to hundreds of hunger relief programs across the state, helping to ensure that people and families of all income levels have access to nutritious food throughout the year. Your fundraising and participation in the Walk is critical for the continued support of these programs.
What’s the connection to BPC?
Project Bread supports our local food pantry and more than 430 other community food programs. For many years now, our church has sent a team of walkers and volunteers and raised thousands of dollars.
How can I get involved?
If you would like to walk with this year’s team, contact Linda Roscoe, the team captain.
All are welcome, young and older, whether you walk 1 mile or all 20.
Volunteers are needed at registration and checkpoints. Make a pledge to one of our walkers or to the whole team. We’ll have a team pledge sheet posted.
How can I get more information?
There will be pledge/registration sheets on a table in the narthex.
Much more information is available online at http://www.projectbread.org
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Godself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ…”
(2 Corinthians 5:17-20a)
Throughout the season of Lent, a small group has been meeting to discuss the Confession of 1967 and the Belhar Confession, in both their historical context and their meaning for us in the church today. One of the things I appreciate most about these two confessions is their unflinching stance against all forms of discrimination and injustice, and the church’s responsibility to resist injustice wherever we encounter it. When we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, it means that all earthly powers and principalities are secondary to Christ’s power in our lives.
The predominant theme through both confessions is reconciliation, both in terms of God’s saving act of reconciliation through Christ’s death and resurrection, and in terms of how we are to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world. The word, reconciliation, can be defined as 1.) the restoration of friendly relations following a disagreement or 2.) the act of making one view or belief compatible with another. It feels quite relevant to our present moment in history to be discussing reconciliation.
At a time when many of us have a hard time discussing opposing points of view, even with some members of our own family or circle of friends, it is important to remember that we have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, as we read in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. We are ambassadors for Christ, and that is an incredible responsibility. The Confession of 1967 states “The members of the church are emissaries of peace and seek the good of all in cooperation with powers and authorities in politics, culture, and economics. But they have to fight against pretensions and injustices when these same powers endanger human welfare. Their strength is in their confidence that God’s purpose rather than human schemes will finally prevail.” (C ’67, 9.25)
Acknowledging that we may have differences in how we respond to the social, political, and economic issues of this present moment in history, we must also ask ourselves how we can be ambassadors of Christ’s ministry of reconciliation in and for the world. Not just for those who think as we do, who agree with us on the issues we think are most important, or who share our same belief system; but even with those from whom we feel most distant or divided, by ideology, religion, race, or socio-economic circumstance. As we prepare to walk with Jesus down that road to the cross once more, let us remember that it is through Christ’s sacrificial love that we find wholeness, and are empowered to be agents of God’s reconciling love in the world.
In Christ,
Pastor Trina
Pastor Trina talks about Abraham and Sarah, an unlikely couple to become the root of the the religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In a world that divides itself by it’s ideologies, it is important to remember that collectively we are one extended family.
