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Music Makers
Outdoors in springtime, bird calls fill the air with beautiful
sounds. After a long, mostly silent, white, winter, how wonderful it is
to hear these throaty songsters and their serenades. Music is one of
God’s gifts to his people. At worship hour, inside our hushed church
sanctuary, a chorus of blended voices sing rich music that reaches a
crescendo. And then that sound floats outward and upward toward heaven.
Ears hear, spirits are stirred and in this harmony God’s people come
together and give
thanks. From those who love to sing and the talents of director, Arlene
Kintz, we are all better bonded to our God.
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Music Appreciation Sunday is May 25th
in both the
Polson and Dayton churches. Come
and hear the voice and bell choirs in concert that day. Marilyn Coffee
directs the bell choir. Her choir ringers, numbering about fifteen, are
also rehearsed and ready to make a “joyful noise” for your hearing. As
is tradition in our church, these two choirs will sing and ring a
seasonal finale for our hearing. Afterward, they will all take a summer
recess until post Labor Day when these choirs will again be a regular
part of our worship services. Pulse has given assurances that even in
summer recess time, there will be special music in worship from solos,
duets, trios or quartets as summer music man, Mason Niblack, draws from
our musician talent pool. |
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Big
Sky Bell Festival, April 25th
and 26th
in Kalispell
Marilyn Coffee, director, took the Copeland Ringers from our
church for this annual western Montana event. Attending a bell
conference is a great bonding experience for choirs. Time is spent
rehearsing, eating, performing, attending classes, and facing new
challenges. Ringers have had a chance to build a legacy of memories
and traditions. The Ringers have come to anticipate and plan for
future events. Festivals also provide a chance to learn new
techniques and to
learn new music that they can use for our church services. Ringers
look forward to renewing friendships that they have made over the
years. The 2009 Conference will be held in Missoula. If you’d like
to learn the art of being a ringer and part of the bell choir,
Marilyn is a certified music teacher. Talk with her about that
secret yearning you may have to be a bell ringer. |
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The
Inspiration of Teachers Can Lead to a Career in Music
Polson schools can be proud that they offer excellent chorus and orchestra
training for our youth. One such person, now a sophomore at MSU in Bozeman, and
majoring in music education is Ruth Sheesley. Ruth plays violin and is a member
of the touring MSU forty voice chorale. On completion of her music education
at MSU, Ruth would like to return to teach music at a western Montana school.
Kim, Ruth’s mother,
regularly sings in our Polson church choir. When Ruth is home from MSU as she
was for spring break on April 13, Ruth joined our choir. The choir anthem that
day was The Lord’s My
Shepherd, which is the twenty-third Psalm
set to music. There is a difficult soprano obbligato part in this music and it
was beautifully sung by Ruth Sheesley and Diane Cummings.
It is fulfilling when
our young people grow up in our church and returned trained and ready to teach
skills they have learned to others. Gay Cochrane’s son, Richard, followed that
path and returned and is the orchestra teacher at PHS. |
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Polson
Building Repairs and Maintenance Plans
Spring is on the calendar and in the air (sometimes). With spring comes the
annual building assessment and chore list. This year a few of the support
committee did an inventory of necessary repairs around the Church Building and
grounds that will benefit from your talent, time and a willingness to
participate in a few hours of fellowship. We will be asking individuals and
families to “adopt” simple repairs and with the help of the support committee
and others to see those repairs to completion.
Repairs range from
washing a wall to weeding a flower bed; learning to repair concrete to scraping
some paint, step repair, porch post replacement and even includes a little
carpet repair. The list will be posted in the Fellowship Hall for sign up and
you’ll be hearing more about this on Sunday mornings. Some of you can expect a
call requesting you expert guidance in the best approach to a few of these
repairs.
Plan to bring your
talents, a few hand tools and some of your precious time to preserving and
improving the building we call our church home in Polson. |
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B.A.S.I.C.
Leaders Sean and Jan Walsh and the faithful but few young adults
will continue their weekly dinners on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. along
with, Bible study and recreation time through June 8th. Before
these young adults recess for the summer, they plan to do a mission
project in our own church by painting the children’s nursery, buying
new toys for the nursery room, and cleaning or discarding existing
children’s toys. |
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Education
Benefits Everyone – the Christian Part Included Below
After a fruitful fall-to-spring Sunday school year, the
Children’s Sunday school will meet for their last regular class on
May 4th. Then, children and teachers will go into
recess for the summer. And what did the children learn this year?
About Jesus, his birth, his life, his death and resurrection and so
much more. They learned songs, how to play together and have fun.
One of their last lessons was about taking care of God’s house, the
grounds and the church building. Outside they weeded, raked up
trash to make the grounds more beautiful. Thank you, children and
teachers for your labors of love.
As always,
new Sunday school classes will start up again in September.
Minister Dave will continue his worship service time with the
children each week, but there will be no classes for the children
until fall. Pulse expresses thanks, on behalf of the congregation,
to all the young parents and volunteers who this year, again, made
Christian education an exciting reality in our church. |
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Adult Christian
Education
Tricia Campbell has every Sunday class study in May, 9:15- 10:30
a.m. planned. Their continuing topic is:
Troublesome
Passages in the Bible .
Attendance holds steady at 14+ each week with good discussions being
generated. |
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Plan Now for
Vacation Bible School June 30-July 4th
Tricia Campbell, the long serving Presbyterian representative to
the Polson collective four-church VBS group, states that our church
this year again will be responsible for some food and support
services. She always needs volunteers. Call her and tell her you
will be available. |
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Celebration of
the Children
April 20th was the date of this long time, annual tradition in
our church of honoring new born and young children and their
parents. Minister Dave, on behalf of the congregation, presented
each young child in our congregation with a gift wrapped story book
appropriate for their age group and with their name on it. The
ladies who did the book purchasing, wrapping and name tags were
deacons, Zina Swanson and Adell Hansen. No small task, Pulse
expresses thanks on behalf of the congregation to the deacons and
these ladies for their labor of love. |
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Yard Care at the
Church
When Francis Davidson blew the "assembly" call on his bugle for
Yard Care for summer work at the church, these stalwarts rushed
forward and volunteered; the Campbell/Ofstad families, Jack and
Diane Cummings, The Gary Dupuis family, Gary Collinge and Warren
Hommas, Francis Davidson and Al Suneson. That's five teams that
will weekly rotate the work of lawn mowing and air blowing the
sidewalks clean from May through September. A big thanks to the
above which well shows that volunteerism is alive and well in the
Polson Presbyterian congregation. |
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Pulse Copy for
June Issue Due May 19
With a Memorial Day near the end of May, those who contribute
news articles for Pulse should have their copy into minister Dave’s
hands on or before May 19 so that the publishing/mailing/delivery
can be completed by May 31st. |
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Standing for
Election
Montana House Dist. 12 has a vacant seat and Carol Cummings will
be on the primary ballot, June 3rd. You can call her at 883-1619
and talk with her about platform “issues” and see if she qualifies
to get your vote. That’s how public service works. |
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Session
Activities
Session clerk, John Cummings, reports on behalf of the property
committee that “we have a [new] roof over our heads again”. The
failed, leaking rock/tar roof over the Fellowship Hall and hallway
area of the church has been replaced with all new materials.
Workmanship and materials have been accepted by session and
contractor payment ordered. Elders Judy Shostak and Earle Shafer of
the Property Committee along with Warren Hommas and minister Dave
recently made a “walk through” of our buildings and grounds. They
compiled a nearly two and a half page list of individual jobs, large
and small, needing attention. In the near future, members of the
congregation will be invited to join the “fix it” brigade to begin
tackling the most pressing items listed. |
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Synod of the
Rocky Mountains Meeting in May
What’s the Synod? It’s the governing body made up of all the
Presbyterys in the northern Rockies. They coordinate certain
regional ministries and provide a wider range of mission and
educational opportunities to Presbyterians throughout the west. Don
and Mary Patterson, each with responsibilities in that body, will be
attending the May meeting. |
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Men’s Fellowship
Breakfast – Saturday, May 3rd.
This popular monthly bonding event, 8:00 – 9:30 a.m. for men will
include the traditional “wood choppers” breakfast of sausage,
scrambled eggs, hot biscuits and gravy along with fellowship and
perhaps a surprise. Francis Davidson, our lead man, will be looking
for you there. |
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3rd Annual
Glacier Presbytery Men’s Conference held April 26th
Thirty-one men, coming from six churches (including eighteen from
Polson) were at this now popular and worthwhile one day springtime
event. This year’s topic was
Forgiveness
and there were two dynamic
Presbyterian clergy presenters; the Rev. Kirk Kestler from Conrad
and the Rev. Brian Marsh from Missoula. The Rev. Scott Anthony
again handled music and group singing. Our men’s quartet for
Polson, made up of Mason Niblack, Dick Kintz, Randy Stuber and
Warren Hommas, also sang in four part harmony, inspirational hymns
for the group at the opening and closing of the conference.
Glacier
Presbytery’s camp conference facility was a perfect setting and the
food served (breakfast and lunch) showed off their always excellent
food service too. Each attendee on arrival had a pre-printed name
tag, a table assignment, the sheet showing the topics and hourly
program for the day, the presenter’s bio’s and paper on which to
write notes. Now into our third year of these men’s conferences,
the Polson/Dayton men are meeting old friends again attending from
Hamilton, Kalispell, Whitefish and Seeley Lake churches. |
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New Missionaries
The McCarty family will be staying in the U.S. with their new
baby, so we have selected new missionaries who we will be supporting
with our Dedicated Dimes – Bruce and Lora Whearty. They will also be
working in Ethiopia, but will be stationed in Addis Ababa. Both Lora
and Bruce are educators who have also taught in Montana schools. The
Whearty’s have also served in other mission posts including
Vanuatu. Please include them in your prayers as they start this new
service to our Lord. |
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Summer Care
Package
On May 18, we will be having the sign-up for items for our Summer
Care Package for the children in Glacier Cottage at Intermountain.
The items will be due back on June 1. Intermountain is nationally
recognized and specializes in nurturing, therapeutic environments
for children who have suffered severe emotional and physical
distress. Intermountain is sponsored by several churches including
the Presbyterian Church. |
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Graduation Lunch
Each year for over 30 years our church has provided lunch for
Polson School District’s seniors after their graduation practice.
In the past we have had to raise the funds for this event. This year
we will not have to raise any funds – Howard Pickerell will be
donating the cost of the event in memory of his mother Josephine,
who was a long-time member of our congregation. Thanks Howard! |
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Community Dinners : Dare to Make a Difference
What is one thing the Polson Presbyterian Church is good at?
w COOKING!!!
What is another thing
the Polson Presbyterian Church is good at?
w We are a
COMPASSIONATE, LOVING, CARING, CONGREGATION!!!
Now put these 2 assets
together and what do you get?
w A
DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT VISION FOR OUR CHURCH.
The Heritage of
Faith Christian Church serves a hot meal for people in need as well
as providing an opportunity for them to socialize together and to
get to know the church members. They serve the meal on the last
Friday of every month. Our church will be serving this meal for the
community the second Friday of every month starting May 9th in the
Fellowship Hall.
Our church needs to
provide a variety of entry points for people. Programs for people
who aren’t sure what they believe or who are new to the Christian
faith, as well as for those who are well versed in the Bible,
worship and discipleship.
Our goal is to try
to be a place that invites people of all types into a place where
they can see the heart of Jesus on display. We are here for all
people. We are called to love people. It all goes back to Acts 2
and learning to be a community. |
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New Church
Directories Available
Laurie Miller, our church secretary has placed new updated Parish
phone directories on the kitchen counter in Fellowship Hall. Pick up
your copy there. Please, one per family. |
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A Gathering of
“WE”
No doubt some of you English “professors” will groan at this
incorrect grammar, and you would be correct – if I were using the
pronoun. Such is not the case however. “WE” is short for “Women
Exploring”. This is what we hope to be on Saturday, May 17th. We
will be exploring what the women in our congregation want and need
from a women’s fellowship. We are calling it a “gathering” as that
is much less formal sounding than a “meeting”, and we invite and
encourage every woman to come and give their input on what they
might be seeking. Each Sunday we worship together, but the question
often arises of whether we really “know” each other. We have
watched our men come together in fellowship and learn about many
subjects. We have a wealth of knowledge and expertise right here
in our own congregation, and we would like to hear from all of you.
Some may be
seeking more spiritual studies, and some would simply like the
support and fellowship of their sisters in Christ. So plan on
meeting at the church at 9 AM on May 17th. Child care will be
provided, and we promise to be conscious of your valuable time and
end promptly at 10:30 AM . |
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Notes from
Worship and Music
Easter has come and gone, spring has sprung, and it is still
snowing outside. Will it ever end?? Fortunately we have good
things to look forward to in the month of May!
On the second
Sunday, May 11, we will celebrate not only Mother’s Day, but it is
also Pentecost Sunday. This marks a high point in the early
Christian church, and Pastor Dave has hinted that he has a special
idea for that service. Then on Sunday, May 25th,
we will enjoy both the bell choir and the singing choir as we
experience Music Appreciation Sunday. This event always marks the
end of the regular choir season as we move into summer, and both
choirs are gearing up for lots of great music. Throughout the
summer we are favored with special music from folks in our own
church family and sometimes guests. Please take a moment to thank
Arlene, Gay, Marilyn and Mason for all their hard work in organizing
and leading us in music this past year. |
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