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First Week of Classes Down – 35 More to Go!
There is always room in EL CEO (East Liberty Community Engagement Orchestra) for young musicians of all ages and ability levels, and their musically-inclined parents. A few spots are open in Voices of Hope Jr, our free Wednesday after school music class for 5 to 8 year olds (from 5 to 6 pm) and Boys Dance! for 8 to 12 year old boys (from 5 to 6 pm); as well as in our Saturday Ballet I class for 9 to 12 year olds (from 1:30 to 2:30 pm). We will accept students into these classes on a first-come, first-served basis until they are filled.
Welcome to Michael Chapman – Hope Academy’s Music Director
Congratulations to HAT Co and HAT Co Rock Band Members
After auditioning in August, 24 students were selected to be part of the Hope Academy Theater Company (HAT Co) and HAT Co Rock Band. The group met for the first time last Saturday.They will be performing on Friday, OCT 15 @ 6 pm before the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Community Engagement Concert at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
EL CEO in Preparation for PSO Concert on Oct 15
The first day of EL CEO (East Liberty Community Engagement Orchestra). Over 40 young musicians, and their musically-inclined parents, are getting ready to perform in their first concert on Friday, Oct 15 prior to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, here at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Join us as a musician or an audience member, and support music education in our community.
For more information about joining the orchestra or buying tickets for the concert, call 412-441-3800 x11.
Pastoral Message, September 2010
September: the month when children go back to school and when church school classes for all ages start again. School teachers know that you do not begin the first day of class with new material, but that you go back and review material already covered. For us too, as we enter another season in the life of the church, it is good to review some material already covered.
“In the beginning…” So begins the famous opening to the book of Genesis (a word which means “origins,” as in the English word “genealogical”). The first line is a statement asserted without any compulsion to offer other proof: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.” How it occurred, out of what materials, in what geological timeframe–none of those questions is addressed or felt to be a particular matter of concern. All that is important is the establishment of two actors in the grand drama of life–a creator, God, and a created stage for life consisting of heavens and earth.
Immediately, those few words cause people to part company. One group moves to the other side of the room, self-identifying themselves with a variety of titles: skeptic, scientist, rationalist, atheist, doubter…and then they insist that all that exists can be explained in non-religious terms. The universe has always been, or at least emerged on its own after the Big Bang. Human life evolved from simple life-forms. Human emotions and so-called spiritual inclinations (be they altruistic virtues or creative visions or instinctual, sacrificial love) are just the byproduct of hormones and genetic impulses. Smaller and smaller the conversational focus becomes, moving away from talk of heaven and hunkering down in lectures on genomes and pheromones and natural (“No God needed”) selection.
The other group self-identifies with their own variety of titles: believer, person of faith, trusting soul, churchgoer, religious philosopher…and in their own way, simply insists that all that exists cannot be explained in non-religious terms. While the other group talks about evolution and science and reason; this group nods approvingly and adds in talk about wonder, surprise and hope that is stronger than death. And the place where the scales tip in the direction of belief vs. doubt is that spot when we ask the question: Why? Why is there something instead of nothing? What is the “why” behind an atheistic, impersonal, chance-driven creation?
There is no “why” without God. But by going back once more to Genesis 1 and saying quietly to ourselves, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,” then a “Why” and a “Wherefore” emerges. It takes the shape of love, of hope, of a yearning guided toward a promised completion–all of which we humbly attribute to God and then happily spend a lifetime exploring what it means to say “Yes” to that beginning phrase in the book of Genesis.
It’s September. Time to review, to remember our foundations of faith, and then to continue the lesson plan set before us.
Pastoral Message, August 2010
A recent issue of Presbyterians Today offered a snapshot of what it means to be a Presbyterian. In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), there are currently 2.1 million members who belong to 10,700 congregations. The highest concentration of Presbyterians is in Pennsylvania (over 215,000 members). Nationally, the average weekly worship attendance is 1.1 million, or just over half the available members. Over $3 billion is given to church congregations each year, with the median household contribution (2007 data) being $2,520 or about 3% of after-tax income. Areas of concern are the fact that half of all Presbyterian congregations have fewer than 100 members, and the denomination has lost over 60,000 members each of the last several years. Areas of pride include the 296 mission co-workers and volunteers who serve the Presbyterian Church in more than 50 countries, including our own member, Chenoa Stock, who has just completed three years in Sri Lanka and is off to an assignment in South America.
Similar statistics can be cited regarding ELPC. We are a church whose rich history dates back to 1819. We ended 2009 with 659 active and affiliate members, plus another 126 Friends of ELPC; and the ratio of female to male members is about 2:1. Each week, we average just under 400 people in attendance at our Sunday and Wednesday (Taizé) worship services. For 2010, 229 pledges were received, with a median pledge amount of $2,328. While we want the number of pledges to increase, the amount pledged by our congregation has increased by 84% since 2004. Other areas of pride include the recently completed Vacation Church School, which averaged 74 children per day in the week-long program.
Statistics are one way to talk about churches, but at best they only offer facts for quick comparison. No statistic can capture the true spirit of a congregation: the way that people minister to and pray for one another, the nurture of mind and body provided by worship and education, the life-giving choices made each day as a direct expression of one’s faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is where so much
begins. From it flows programs (whose volunteers hours we can compile), worship (whose attendance numbers we can record), and mission (whose charitable contributions we can track). But more importantly, from faith also flows prayer (whose impact we never know for the Spirit intercedes for us in countless ways), hope (whose trajectory can never be traced for it extends far beyond us into future generations), and love (whose depth cannot be measured for it is the foundation of who we are and everything good that emerges from us). For the time being, let us set the numbers aside. When we walk by faith, act with humility, and love with generosity, everything will add up to the glory of God.
Alia Musica Recital Tonight
Duo Paginas (mezzo Raquel Winnica-Young and oboist Lenny Young) are joined by guitarist John Arrigo. Music by Corigliano, Joaquín Rodrigo, De Falla, Hindemith, among others. With premieres by Lenny Young and Federico Garcia (Hope Academy teaching artist and artistic director of EL CEO).
7:30 pm – Frick Fine Arts Auditorium
Pastoral Message, July 2010
As many of you already are aware, my father passed away in late May after a short battle with lung cancer. For his memorial service, my brother, my sister and I each composed a few paragraphs to capture a few memories of our father. I am sharing my thoughts with you, both as a bit of pastoral “personal privilege” and as an opportunity to model ways that we each can faithfully express how we feel about those we love.
There is a two-fold lesson here. First, we need to seek out ways to share our thoughts with those we love while they are with us. A short note or a few lines added to a greeting card can do so much to keep us connected in bonds of love. Second, our faith in the risen Christ reassures us that even interrupted conversations in this life will have an opportunity to be completed in God’s heavenly realm. Trusting in Christ’s victory over death allows us to see life in its fullest continuum–something that moves from the dawn of creation through the wonder of our earthly life, through the transitional reality of death itself, and on toward a completion shaped by God’s love and promised restoration. That is why we do not grieve as those who have no hope (I Thess. 4:13). Thanks be to God!
F. Richard Bush (Dec. 12, 1927–May 29, 2010) It takes more than words to describe my dad. You need the scent of menthol shaving cream; the feel of rough, hardworking hands; the sound of a tractor coughing and starting up; the sight of a truck kicking up a cloud of dust coming down a gravel road after a long day of work. You need the feel of a wingback chair as Dad launched into a story about Indians, about a current Habitat for Humanity work project, about his time in the Navy, or about any recent trip taken with my mom.
On these occasions, though, people encourage me to describe my dad in words, as one way to respond to their words of condolence: “I’m sorry; we’ll sure miss your father.” Yes, I’ll miss him too. I’ll miss his presence in our family–his role as Suzi’s chauffeur, gardener, handyman, and devoted, loving husband; his role as our father who always wanted to pay the bill when eating out and insisted on driving his car wherever we were going; and his role as the grandfather fretting over the little ones, just sure that whatever they were doing was going to lead to a broken bone or trip to the emergency room.
But there are things I won’t miss for the simple reason that they are still here with me. I won’t miss his example of hard work, of helping a neighbor or friend before they ask, of keeping a promise, of boasting about his family to anyone who’ll listen, or of avoiding the spotlight so that he might clap all the louder for others’ accomplishments. I won’t miss those things because he made sure that Rick, Amy and I learned them from him and that we are to be guided by those same values.
To whatever extend we can live up to his example, we too will have left a legacy that will be hard to put into words–one that will cause others to say “I’ll miss him” when we’re gone. For that, we have my dad to thank.
This Friday – STAYCEE PEARL dance project SPdp
Featuring dance works created by choreographer/artist/Hope Academy teacher, Staycee Pearl, and six dancers, ranging in inspiration from the lighthearted to the weighty and worldly. Collaborator, Herman ‘Soy Sos’ Pearl offers up innovative sound design and original music.
Hope Academy students and their families should come to the 10 am matinee performance. Tickets are only $2.50 each and there will be a question and answer session afterward. See you there!