Charles Town Presbyterian Church

Last Saturday, I co-lead a seminar on how the Church can respond to the opioid crisis that is facing our nation. The seminar was part of the “Big Tent” event sponsored annually by our presbytery. The Big Tent is a day that begins with worship, ends with prayer, and has two modules for seminars. Over one hundred people attended this year’s event. To my surprise, our seminar attracted only six people.

We need to talk about this crisis. Our state leads the nation in opioid overdose deaths. Every one of us has been touched by the crisis – whether in our families or in the families of friends, we know people who have lost their battle with addiction. The opioid crisis is a public health crisis, and a spiritual crisis. We are quickly losing an entire generation to addiction and overdose. The crisis is exhausting our resources – real and emotional. It tears families apart, and it is exhausting our resources. Rural counties all over “small town America” are running out of money and resources because of the frequency with which emergency services is responding to overdose calls.

Twenty or thirty years ago, people thought of drug addicts as dirty, lazy and the very bottom of the social strata, hiding in the dark corners of the world, shooting up when no one could see. Addiction is very mainstream now, having conquered all parts of our society – rich and poor, every race, and so on. There are addicts holding respectable jobs, sitting in classrooms, and yes, hanging around on the streets. They are addicted to street drugs, like heroin, but they are also addicted to prescription drugs, like OxyContin.

We cannot simply watch and wait and hope this crisis ends, somehow. We need to engage with what is happening in the world. We must get involved. We are the ones bearing the image of Christ to the world, and the world needs to see him. I’m not sure what it means for us to get involved with this issue, and I’m not even sure what difference we will make. But I do know one thing we can and should do: pray.

Please pray about this – pray for addicts, for first-responders, for doctors, lawmakers, and everyone else who can help stem the tide. Pray for the families of addicts, especially those who have lost loved ones in this battle. And pray that churches will be brave enough to help those who need the comfort of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus.

Thank you,

Pastor John

What is the Meaning of Life?

This is a question all of us ask as we go through life. No matter who we are, from the time we reach the age where we start to
question the weightier matters of life, we start asking what life is all about it.

For the Christian, that question is answered when we hear Christ’s call to eternal life. We learn that we are created by God,
for God, and saved by God for God’s purposes. Question one of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, puts it this way, “What is the chief end of man? The glorify God and enjoy God forever.”

There is one book that approaches the meaning of life with incredible honesty and intentionality. The Book of Ecclesiastes is
a journey of one wise man, Solomon, who sought to once for all, answer the great question.

This fall, on the Wednesday night Bible study I lead is studying Ecclesiastes. We meet in the parlor, room 114 and we begin at
7:15. All are welcome! If you’ve ever wondered about the meaning of life, if you’re looking for a brutally honest book in the Bible that tackles the hard stuff, then I want to encourage you to join us on Wednesdays.

Blessings,

Pastor John

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor.
This also is vanity and a striving after wind.  -Ecclesiastes 4:4

Pledge Cards
This Sunday, September 10, we will collect pledge cards for 2018 as part of our morning worship. By now you should have received the letter from the stewardship committee explaining the stewardship emphasis for planning next year’s ministry/mission work. As you enter worship, your bulletin will contain an envelope and a pledge card. Hopefully, you’ll remember to bring the one you received in the letter earlier this summer.

When the time comes to collect our morning offering, take your pledge card, slip it into the white envelope, and place it in the offering plate as it is passed to you. And that’s it! We are not going to ask people to come up front since some people are not comfortable doing so. And if you are not prepared or not present Sunday, simply mail your pledge card in to the attention of our
secretary, Rebecca, or drop it off at the church office.

Sunday Schedule
We are returning to our two-service schedule this Sunday, with worship at 8:30 and 11:00, and the Christian Education hour from 9:45-10:45. I am also pleased to report that some folks have stepped up to lead the 2-4 year old class, and that class will begin in short order. Wednesday Bible Study I am beginning a Bible Study this Wednesday that will meet through the second Wednesday in November. We will be studying Ecclesiastes, a great Old Testament book that is all about the search for meaning and truth. The Bible Study will meet in the parlor at 7pm on Wednesdays.

Looking Ahead
In 2015, the session acted to have one service on the Sundays we have an activity after worship. This will allow us to have a more cohesive, unified approach to these activities. Two of those Sundays are coming up. The Fall Festival is Sunday, October 8, and the Holiday Dinner w ill be after worship on Sunday, December 3. On both Sundays we will have only one worship service at 11am.

Blessings,

 

Pastor John

Dear Friends,

This week I’d like to give you information on several fronts:

• Helping Houston
  The devastation in Texas following Hurricane Harvey is unbelievable. Each day seems to bring more devastation than the day before. As of this writing, we are still developing a specific response from the church. Please continue to pray for this situation. For now, the most practical way to help is with financial donations. You can monitor the response of the denomination, as well as make a donation by clicking here: https://pda.pcusa.org/situation/tropical-storm-harvey/
• Sunday Morning
  The unofficial end of summer is here which means we will return to our two-service schedule for Sundays starting September 10th. We will worship at 8:30 & 11, with Sunday School at 9:45am.
• Stewardship
  Earlier in the summer, every household received a letter from the stewardship and vision committee with testimonies from the congregation regarding personal stewardship and what that experience has been like. That letter included the date of Sunday, September 10, the day we will collect pledge cards during both services. Hopefully, you’ve had the chance to review your stewardship commitment to CTPC. Please be in prayer in the week ahead about how you can support the work of God in and through our congregation, and plan on bringing your card to worship next Sunday.
• Bible Study
  Beginning Wednesday, September 13, I will be leading a weekly Bible Study that will meet in the parlor beginning at 7:00pm. We will be studying Ecclesiastes, which speaks to our time in a very profound way, for the author of the book documents the search for meaning and authenticity. The study will meet in the church parlor.
• Ministry Fair
  What a great event! Last Sunday, every committee and ministry showed their stuff by holding an event to inform the congregation about the needs and mission of their particular ministry. It was a wonderful time of education, fellowship and fun!
  

Blessings,

Pastor John

This coming Sunday we are joining together two important events in the life of the church. During the Sunday School hour, the children will be celebrating Rally Day. Now if that seems a little early, it’s because…well…it is! School is usually in session by the third week of August, but historically, Rally Day has been held on the second Sunday in September. That’s three weeks after the school year starts for the students, and so it always felt a little weird. This year we are attempting to be part of the kick off to the school year, and perhaps it will help the kids realize how important Sunday School is for their faith development.

We are also having a ministry fair after worship. This is critically important, too. It may even be life-changing. Allow me to share a story… I came to faith in Christ when I was sixteen. For three years, I studied, grew and worshiped. As I started college, I began looking for a college-age Bible study. I found one at a Presbyterian Church and started attending with friends. About six months later, the youth director enlisted the help of the college fellowship. That began my journey into ministry – first as a youth group volunteer, then as a youth director, then seminary followed, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But here’s the point: Outside of the direct providence of God, I’m in ministry because someone asked me to help with the ministry of the church. All the committees and ministry areas can use more help. No area of ministry is overstaffed. The ministry fair is an opportunity to enjoy a time of fellowship and to learn more about the different ministry areas of the congregation. Perhaps God is calling you to serve in a new area. Pay attention to what excites and ask God to give you direction during the ministry fair.

God may not call you into full time ministry, but God does expect his people to serve him by giving of themselves by engaging in ministry. The ministry fair this Sunday is your chance to open yourself up to God’s leading and partner with God’s people in the work to which God has called all of us.

See you there!

-Pastor John

Dear Friends,

The last couple of weeks have been nothing short of surreal. If you had told me even six months ago, that white supremacists and other hate groups would be the focus of our news cycle, I would never have believed you. We were supposed to be past all this. Racial tensions and misunderstandings were supposed to be solved by the activism of the 1960’s. We put laws into place to cement our understanding of the wrongness of our past ways.

So what happened?

The simple answer is this: Humanity happened.

I can’t remember where I read it, but years ago I came across a quote that basically said that if you take away what we fight about in the morning, by lunch we’ll be fighting about something else. The Bible puts it this way, “As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).

Every single day, we who call on the name of Jesus for salvation, must also daily carry our cross and submit ourselves to God. It is the greatest of challenges. People have been violent, murderous, mean, ugly, and all manners of sinful, in a great many ways and places. This past week I read an article from NPR that reported that since 9/11, more people have died at the hands of white supremacists than at the hands of terrorists. And yet, we know very little about that, do we?

God’s answer for humanity is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus, God the Son, gave his life for us as an atonement for sin (and yes, even the sin of racism), and God raised him up to life on the third day. The grace of God that is now available to all who believe by faith.

But that grace does not mean that we are suddenly changed and perfect. We will make mistakes. We will need to repent. We will struggle. So, each day, and sometimes even each moment – we must actively seek God’s help to live in a way that allows us to love God and love our neighbor. As scary as these days are, the world needs to see us live out our faith more than ever, that we would point people to the One capable of reconciliation.

Sincerely,

Pastor John