07MarchNewsletter

Sunday, Mar. 4
9:00AM Bible Study
11:00AM Worship/Communion, Rev. Powers preaching
SPECTRUM Teen Handbell Ensemble ringing

Sunday, Mar. 11
9:00AM Bible Study
11:00AM Worship, Rev. Powers preaching
12:15PM Session Meeting

Sunday, Mar. 25
9:00AM Bible Study
11:00AM Worship, Rev. Powers preaching
S.O.B.E.R. Sunday

Planning your summer vacation? That's what I begin doing this time of year. When I've had enough of winter, and the snow and ice begin to melt away, I look ahead to the warmer months of June, July, and August, and begin planning some time away.

One of the things I have most enjoyed is spending time at one of the three national conference centers of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Stony Point Center is in the Hudson River Valley just north of New York City. Montreat Conference Center is nestled in the mountains of North Carolina, near Asheville. And Ghost Rance Conference Center in New Mexico has sites in historic Santa Fe and seventy miles north in Abiquiu, where artist Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted.

At Montreat this summer, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program will hold its 2007 Intergenerational Peacemaking Conference on the theme "Jesus: Proclaiming Peace," July 3-8. More info. and registration materials are online at Peacemaking Conferences.

At Ghost Rance, there will be a Peacemaking Week, July 30-August 5, with eight different peacemaking seminars offered: Advocating for Justice & Peace; Building a Culture of Peace; The Presbyterian Church and the United Nations; Earth-Honoring Faith; Peacemaking 401; Speaking Truth to the Powerful and Not So Powerful; The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict; and Peacemaking as a Life-Long Commitment. More info. and registration materials are available at Ghost Ranch.

All three conference centers offer many other conferences and seminars (not just on peacemaking!) through the summer and year-round. Or you can plan your own individual retreat. Summer will be here before we know it! Happy vacation planning!

During this season of Lent, we will be offering a time of meditation and devotion, each Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m., beginning February 28 (Ash Wednesday) and ending April 4. We know this will be a speciaal and meaningful time for all who choose to join us. I hope to see you there.

On Sunday, March 4, joining us for our 11:00 a.m. worship service will be "Spectrum," the teen handbell ensemble from Massanutten Presbyterian Church in Penn Laird, Virgina. The six "ringers" will begin our worship with a Celtic prelude written by their director, Kath Wissinger, entitled "Welcome the Day." The offertory will be a very active, upbeat piece with a mesmerizing bass mallet pattern, entitled "Synergy." The ensemble will conclude our worship with "Exuberant Joy," a lively piece full of scales and syncopation.

It will be a very special Sunday at Light Street and a great opportunity to invite friends, relatives, and neighbors to come to worship with you. If every person who usually attends worship brings just one friend with them, we will have sixty people in our sanctuary!

A Christian Peace Witness for Iraq will be held Friday evening, March 16, 2007, in Washington D.C. The event will begin with an ecumenical worship service at the Washington national Cathedral at 7:00 p.m., followed by a candelight procession down Massachusetts Ave. to the White House, a distance of about two and a half miles. The event will continue with a late night peace vigil in Lafayette Park (and possibly encircling the White House). Also at the White House, some participants may risk arrest in a nonviolent act of "divine obedience" (civil disobedience).

Baltimore Presbytery is renting buses for church members and friends who want to go together. Check with Deb Milcarek at the Presbytery office (410-433-2012 or dmilcarek@baltimorepresbytery.org) to see if there are bus seats still available ($20 roundtrip). Also, you must register for the event and print out a ticket at www.christianpeacewitness.org if you want to be guaranteed a seat at the Washington National Cathedral. The Cathedral can accommodate 3,000 people, but an overflow crowd is anticipated.

This Christian public witness is timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. It is being planned by more than twenty Protestant and Catholic peace organizations, including the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, the Methodist Federation for Social Action, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, and Pax Christi USA. They have come together around five basic affirmations, which are, in brief: (1) End the Occupation, (2) Support the Troops -- Bring Them Home, (3) Fund an international effort to rebuild Iraq, (4) Say NO to Torture, and (5) Say YES to Justice.

Please plan to join us in Washington, D.C. on March 16, to participate in the ecumenical Christian Peace Witness for Iraq.

"Welcome Springtime" Tea at Light Street Presbyterian Church - Sat. Mar 24th

Please join us for our "Welcome Springtime" Tea on March 24, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Light Street Church fellowship hall. We'll be serving a delicious variety of sandwiches, scones, sweet breads, cookies, and, of course, several varieties of tea. Also, no tea would be complete without rich, sweet, clotted cream and berries. The cost is a minimal $7 per person to cover the cost of the food (most of the tea houses in town charge up to $25 per person for the same fare). For those who join us for a little work in the church garden that morning before the tea, the cost for the tea is $5 per person. Please call the church office at 410-539-0125 to reserve a spot, so that we'll know how much food to prepare. Children are absolutely welsome, and this is a great mother-daughter event as well. Invite all your friends and neighbors. Hope to see you there!

One Great Hour of Sharing: Together We Make a World of Difference!

Our neighbors are everywhere from Louisiana to Sudan. We know people all over the world are hungry. We know about AIDS, street children and epidemics. About tsunamis, earthquakes, wars and famines. We despise suffering - and desperately want to alleviate it.

Together we are. We're improving nutrition through better food storage in Uganda and the Dominican Republic. We're providing care for refugees in Sudan and expanding access to fresh foods in inner-city Chicago. We're helping recovering alcoholics build new lives in California, supporting job training for AIDS victims in Kenya, rebuilding quake-ravaged villages in Pakistan, and restoring tsunami-damaged coastal mangroves in Indonesia. And we're supporting thousands of our members as they volunteer to help rebuild communities on the Gulf Coast.

Christ has commanded us to love our neighbors. On Easter Sunday, April 8, join millions of other Christians who are loving their neighbors by giving wholeheartedly to the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering. Together we make a world of difference.

SAVE THE DATE(s):

The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! ... AGAIN!
For the third consecutive year, LYRA, the Russian Vocal Ensemble from St. Petersburg, Russia, has agreed to come to Light Street Presbyterian Church during its Fall Concert Tour. The concert will be on Thursday, October 4, at 8:00 p.m. Tell your friends, relatives, and neighbors to save the date. Dont' miss these fantastic singers!

Next Cuba Partnership Delegation
There will be a mission partnership trip to Cuba November 23-30, 2007, to join in the celbration of the Centennial of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cabaiguan. Interested? Let Roger know, or contact John Walter at johnwalter57@comcast.net.

Members and friend of Light Street Presbyterian Church are welcome and encouraged to participate in activities of our sister church located at 210 W. Madison St. in Baltimore. Here are some of the events going on there in the coming weeks. If you would like more information about any of these events, ask Roger (our pastor, their associate pastor).

Movie Group to Watch/Discuss "Chocolat"
Join us for free popcorn and a movie! On Sunday, March 11, at 3:30 p.m. in Backus House, we'll watch and discuss the movie "Chocolat" (2000), starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, and Judi Dench. "Vianne Rocher and her young daughter are drifters who are met with skepticism and resistance when they move to a conservative town in rural France and open a chocolate shop during Lent. As Vianne begins to work her magic and help those around her, the townspeople are soon won-over by her exuberance and her delicious chocolates - except for the mayor, who is determined to shut her down. When a group of river drifters visit the town, Vianne teaches the townspeople something about acceptance, and finds love for herself along the way." (Summary by J. Lake) Rated PG-13.

The Reverend Linda Loving, accomplished actress and Pastor of The House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, will perform her unique one-woman show based on the life of Julian of Norwich on Sunday, March 18, at 3:00 p.m., at The First & Franklin Stret Presbyterian Church, 210 W. Madison St., in Baltimore. Julian, a contemporary of Chaucer, was a 14th century Christian mystic who is belived to be the first woman to write a book in Middle English: "Revelations of Divine Love." In the midst of great turmoil, Julian spoke words of comfort, hope, forgiveness and revelation. She speaks to our time as well. The play invites viewers to encounter such themes as the motherhood of God, the forgiveness of sins, the exquisite beauty of creation, the reality of suffering, the hope of healing, and the ultimate mystery and meaning of life. As Ron Magers of WLS-TV, Chicago, sai: "The words may be 600 years old, but the message is as current as this morning's headlines." You may read more about this fascinating show at: www.julianofnorwich.com. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in Backus House.

S.O.B.E.R. Sunday - March 25
Please bring your offering of non-perishable food and/or personal hygiene items to church on the last Sunday of the month to be contributed to S.O.B.E.R. (South Baltimore Emergency Relief). Flip-top cans are especially helpful for homeless persons who don't have access to kitchen facilities. Checks made payable to Light Street Presbyterian Church should be clearly marked for SOBER.

ROGER'S SCHEDULE
Roger is generally at Light Street Presbyterian Church (410-539-0125) on Wednesdays and Thursdays and at the First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church (410-728-5545, ext. 12), where he is associate pastor, on Mondays and Tuesdays. Roger also can be reached by email at lightstreetchurch@cavtel.net.

SERMONS
Copies of Roger's sermons are available on the downstairs hall table. Please feel free to pick one up if you missed a Sunday. Or, pass one on to a friend!

DEADLINE FOR APRIL NEWSLETTER: March 15
Send all newsletter material to John Ginovsky at jginovsk@aba.com