First Presbyterian Church
of
Polson

Newsletter for May 2008

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

  

   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.

   

 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.

   

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.

     

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.

   

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.

    

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.

     

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.

   

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.

  

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.

   

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. 

   

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 31
st.

  

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.

   

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.

 

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.

  

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.

   

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.

  

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.

  

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. 

   

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!

   

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.

   

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.

 

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 . 

  

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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