 | Newsletter If pastoral care is needed at any time, please contact Rev. Tanner at: Home: 570-586-8162 or Cell: 570-430-2793 Sue: 570-954-5846 Please always leave a complete message if no answer we may be on the other line or away from the desk and will return your call ASAP. Church directories are always available. If you would like one please see Sue or call the church office.
The Board of Deacons continues to collect canned goods and non-perishable food items for the Safety Net in Scranton.
The Board of Deacons will host a coffee hour on Sunday, October 27th Can you help set-up, clean-up, provide refreshment?? The kitchen is always open to helpers.
Corey Bartel, CP has officially become commissioned as a pastor for Lackawanna County. He was granted his commission on September 17th at the Stated Presbytery meeting and he is very excited to be able to now celebrate communion and our other sacraments but more importantly ……pastor a Presbyterian church!!!!
The Merger Team continues to work on the various aspects of the merger with a vote to approve the plan at the May 2025 meeting. The effective date will be January 1, 2026. A major step in the process is selecting a new name for the merged Presbytery. The team is asking for suggestions from congregations and individuals in each Presbytery. Names are to be submitted by the end of September for approval in November. The Committee on Ministry approved a 3% cost of living increase for the minimum terms of call .
Pastors Appreciate Your Prayers October is Pastor Appreciation Month, an observance that some clergy don’t publicize. It’s an ideal time to thank pastors for their dedication to God’s people and the ministry. But if you were to ask pastors what they’d like or what they need, most would probably reply, “Pray for me.” That’s what the apostle Paul requested throughout his letters. To the church at Rome, he urged, “Join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf, that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company” (Romans 15:30-32, NRSV).
The First Presbyterian Church of Lackawanna Valley will hold a Roast Beef dinner on Saturday, Oct. 14th from 3 PM to 6 PM or until sold out. A limited number of tickets available at door. Dinners are take-out only -- $15.00 Pick-up at the Kingsbury Masonic Lodge, Delaware Ave. Olyphant To reserve a dinner please call John at: 570-906-5360
God’s Gift Of Music
Albert Schweitzer, a pastor, musicologist, physician and more, said, “Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter — to all these music gives voice, but in such a way that we are transported from the world of unrest to a world of peace, and see reality in a new way, as if we were sitting by a mountain lake and contemplating hills and woods and clouds in the tranquil and fathomless water.”
Redeeming ‘wasted’ time In Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado writes that the average American spends a total of six months waiting at stoplights, eight months opening junk mail, 18 months looking for items we’ve lost and five years standing in line. All the while, many of us grumble: “What a waste of time! I could be doing something much more important! Where are my keys?” But Lucado suggests that we give these moments to God. Rather than whispering to ourselves, we can speak to God in prayer. “Simple phrases such as ‘Thank you, Father,’
‘Be sovereign in this hour, O Lord,’ ‘You are my resting place, Jesus’ can turn a commute into a pilgrimage,” he writes. “You needn’t leave your office or kneel in your kitchen. Just pray where you are. Let the kitchen become a cathedral or the classroom a chapel. Give God your whispering thoughts.” When we do this, “the common becomes uncommon,” Lucado adds. What’s more, “wasted” time becomes valuable; boring waits become meditative; the lost — your time, if not also your keys — is redeemed.
GODWINKS During times of trouble, we should be on the lookout for Godwinks. That’s one way for God to communicate with us. In fact, one of the best things about Godwinks is that they are like a handrail along your way, giving you hope when answers are not forthcoming . . . assuring you that everything is going to be okay.
A POSITIVE PRAYER “Please help me with NOTS that are in my mind, my heart and my life. Remove the have nots, the can nots and the do nots… erase the will nots, may nots, might nots that may find a home in my heart. And most of all, Dear God, I ask that you remove from my mind, my heart and my life, all of the AM nots that I have allowed to hold me back… especially the thought that I am not good enough.” Author Unknown
Would you not agree that NOT is not a word we should choose to employ… unless utterly necessary? May every positive prayer be answered this week, Godwink, after Godwink, after Godwink!
Both the regular and large print editions of Our Daily Bread are now available – if you you would like one, contact the office and we will be sure you receive it.
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