Congratulations Graduates!

In this season of canceled and postponed graduations, our LPC family wishes to offer our “job well done” and “may God

bless you in your next adventure” to:

High School Graduate:

Alex Dampman - Neshaminy

College Graduates:

Beau Backhaus - Kutztown John Bilcik - West Chester

Mackensie Compton - Providence Angela Cook - Seton Hall

Andrew Dampman - Penn State Tim Odgers - Temple

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CROSS PURPOSES LANGHORNE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH // JUNE 2020 // VOLUME 6

IN THIS ISSUE

A Letter From The Pastor - Pg. 2

Monthly Giving

- Pg. 3

Children and Youth

Updates

- Pg. 5

Women’s Ministries

Events

- Pg. 7

Ours has become the “missed” world. Who hasn’t missed face to face and out and about? We’ve missed graduations and weddings, birthday parties and dinners with friends. We’ve missed corporate worship and church fellowship.

We miss those lost to the pandemic.

As the calendar turns to June, it looks as if Becky and I are going to miss a personal goodbye to the church that has been our family and our home for the past twelve and a half years. We are going to miss that last hug or last handshake, that last smile or last conversation.

June 28 will mark our last Sunday at LPC, though none of us knew at the time that March 8 would be our last Sunday together, voices raised in praise, ears open to the Word, hearts open to each other.

Many of you know that sometime around August 1 we will be moving to Auburn, Indiana, about an hour south of our daughter and her family. Yes, we are looking forward to a new season of life, a new adventure, but, LPC, you will be missed.

We will miss:

Worshiping together on the Lord’s Day

Table fellowship on a Thursday night or at a Sunday potluck

Opening the Word in the company of friends and listening as God speaks to us

A kind word shared or a life story told

The wall painted and the floors scrubbed at an HPCA work day

July 1 will mark the 45th anniversary of my time in professional ministry. From youth director to church administrator to pastor and preacher, from California to Oregon to Michigan to Pennsylva-nia, it has been an experience I could not have imagined when I said yes to that youth director search committee at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Cruz, California. While I don’t plan on retiring from ministry as God’s calling, I do plan on retiring from ministry as my profession.

I will miss:

Preaching as part of the church’s life of worship

Leading Bible studies as part of church’s life of discipleship

Encouraging mission partners and engaging in mission work as part of the church’s life of witness

Offering care and counsel in times of joy and sorrow

The friendships that grow in worshiping, studying, and serving together

The back and forth, ideas traded, ministry built, life on a church staff – thank you, LPC Staff.

We are going to miss a proper goodbye, but more than that we are going to miss you!

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A Letter From The Pastor

MISSED

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April’s Monthly Giving

Thank You! April giving was 104% of budget. We are grateful for the support in these uncertain times. For the year, giving is now at 89% of budget. While giving is off year-to-date, reduced spending on staff and programs has LPC income less expenses very close to the year-to-date budget. On-Line Giving is here! This will be another way to pro-vide financial support to Lang-horne Presbyterian Church and its programs. (Note – On start-up, this will be for contributions only.) Go to langhornepres.org/give/ for more information.

Milestones

Among The

Church Family

Ray and Gail Sullivan celebrated their 52nd

wedding anniversary on May 4th.

Tom and Jeanne Drake celebrated their 55th

wedding anniversary on May 15th.

Walt and Edith Downs celebrated their 67th

wedding anniversary on May 16th.

Tom Earley celebrated his 97th

birthday on May 2nd.

Congratulations!

Happy Birthday!

An Update From The Trustees

Maintenance Activities The fan in the restroom near the office has been fixed. Other small mainte-nance issues have also been taken care of. The church cleaning has continued during the building shutdown to make sure all is clean and in good shape for our return.

Spring Clean-up Day This has been cancelled this for this spring. Thanks to a small dedicated group, weeding has been done as well as other key plantings. We will be ordering mulch for some specific area and following up on hedge trimming when timing permits.

Routine Operations While the building may be closed, routine inspections and maintenance are still being done, Security checks the building each night, and contractors for the lawn, etc. have been covered. Activity on major projects is limited by the restrictions related to the COVID 19 virus. Timing will also be impacted by op-erating conditions.

Parking lot Sealing

Trustees are working on getting estimates and moving forward with plans to seal both parking lots. Trustees will be presenting a proposal to Session for approval with a target to do the work in late July or August. This is a preventive maintenance project.

Coming together to help those in need The last couple months have presented many challenges for all of us with limited to no in-person gatherings. Some of us are confined to not leaving the house at all while others are out on the front lines in various medical, food service or other “life sustaining” support jobs. Trying to sort out what the Deacon Board could and couldn’t do has seemed a little confusing at times. Fortunately, thanks to Zoom meetings, phone conversations, votes conducted via email and lots of other emails, the Deacons were able to work together and adapt quickly to what seems to be the “new normal”. For example: the food pantry is open but the method used to provide groceries has been modified to limit human interaction; additional items were delivered to shut-ins with limitations due to cur-rent PA state restrictions; the “Deacons Handbook” was updated so new policies are in place to better serve the community; additional monetary donations were prayerfully considered and sent out as seemed appropriate; and those new to the Deacon board were ordained via Zoom. We have also all rolled into new positions to fill open slots due to the standard annual rotations. These are a few items that come to mind that we thought should be shared for those who are in-terested. I hope the message here shows that we care about our Church family and surrounding communi-ties near and far. Thanks to all of you for the many food and monetary donations as well as sup-porting the virtual Easter flower campaign. There have been plenty of new opportunities for out-reach in the recent months and the donations are greatly appreciated and put to good use. Also, please let us know if you have a concern for someone that may be struggling or see a special need where you think we can help. You can reach us by contacting Melynda in the office, sending a letter into the Church with a note “ATTN: Deacon Board” or contacting any of the Deacons directly. I hope you are all doing ok and a special level of care and compassion to those who have recently dealt with a major loss or are in the midst of a situation that seems impossible to get through. Please don’t feel like you have to go through this alone. Reach out to someone today. Yours in Service, John Bilcik

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Deacon’s Corner

From Joyce and Brad Oltman:

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Bad news and good news to report! NO, Rocky Road VBS will not be happening on site this year. The virus has derailed the train for safety reasons. Stay tuned for the good news as we explore how we can connect with VBS activities online. Casey and Melanie have and will con-tinue to give families excellent resources for each age member of your family. Please let us know if you are having trouble getting these resources.

Please also use music as a way to infuse the Word of God into the daily life of your children—get them moving to the songs of prior VBS years—you will be surprised who remembers what actions. These songs are available on You Tube.

We are praying for you. Please be praying with your children. This is a great time to build habits—we are certainly in a routine now so make prayer and Bible time part of your routine—you are building a life time good habits and that is GOOD NEWS!

Children’s Ministries

Remember to check your e-mails and the LPC website for bible activities and resources.

A huge thank you to Casey and Melanie for providing valu-able resources to assist in teaching our children!

Youth Ministries

What exciting times for LPC and the youth ministry here at LPC! This month we wel-comed in Eric Jacobs, our new Director of Youth Ministry, and what a joy it has been to get to know him and watch him connect with our teenagers. Each day Eric has contin-ued our daily devotionals and has exhibited his great teaching ability in expositing the scriptures and answering hard questions. n addition, our ministry has continued to grow in both number and spiritual maturity even in this time of zoom. We have found that Zoom has allowed us to connect with new students that we may have otherwise not connected with. At youth group each week, we have continued to maintain strong numbers on Wednesday nights, and while we look forward to connecting in person as soon as possible, we are grateful for the ability to stay connected though physically apart. Continue to pray for our teens and for Eric and Jess as they prepare to move, get married, and transition into life at LPC. -Tyler

Missions Corner

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The LPC Mission Summit met at the end of May 2008. Dare we say that the outcome of the Summit was world-changing? We might. In announcing the Summit we said, “The purpose of this meeting is to help re-define, renew and re-energize our church’s mission outreach.” Dare we say, modestly, that we succeeded? We might. We opened the Summit with the words of Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

And we heard the words of the Swiss theologian Emil Bruner, “The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.” Then we got to work re-defining, renewing, and re-energizing LPC’s mission outreach. We discovered that some of our then-partners did not share our vision of Christ-centered, word and deed focused, relationally-involved mission. And we found that some causes that had been receiving nominal support were a perfect fit for what we hoped to do. Following our evaluation we re-built the mission budget to reflect our vision. PLM in Guatemala and HPCA in North Philadelphia became focus partners. In time we would add John and Jess Cropsey and the Kibuye Burundi team to our list. Soon Igreja Presbiteriana in Brazil and A Couple of Christian in Guatemala City; Brown and Giselle Caldwell in the Philippines joined the group of LPC mission partners. As we continue to grow and develop our mission program, those values of Christ-centered, word and deed focused, and relationally-involved drive our decision. Along the way, we have discovered a particular calling as a “Tychicus” church. The name comes from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, “Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.” (Ephesians 6:21-22) Wonderfully, LPC has become a great encourager for the hearts of Jorge, Jess, John, Pat, Kevin, Jen, Michael, Sara, Brown, Giselle, and others. First names because they are friends for whose friendships we give thanks. Twelve years ago a group of LPC people gathered for a Mission Summit. A vision was cast and values de-clared. Decisions were made and budgets changed. And then the God whose very nature is relational time began to build friendships between LPC folks and our mission partners that have helped change the world from East Africa to North Philadelphia. One of these days LPC people may gather for another Mission Summit. For now, I count it my privilege to have been there twelve years ago and to have had a small part in helping LPC become a Tychicus church. Pray that the flames of mission joy keep on burning bright at LPC! Pastor Bill

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Upcoming Events:

Due to this time of social distancing and the uncertainty of the days ahead, please continue to check your e-mail and the church web-site for event up-dates in the weekly E-pistle and on the Church Calendar. You can find the calendar at www.langhornepres.org/news/calendar.cfm If you are not sub-scribed to the weekly E-pistle and would like to be, please sign up at the bottom of the news page of the LPC website or let us know by e-mailing us at office@langhornepres.org

Women’s Ministry

Let’s Talk … Babies!! LPC Women’s Continental Breakfast & Baby Shower

Special Guests: Choice One Saturday, September 26th

8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Fellowship Hall

The baby shower scheduled for May will be celebrated at our next Let’s Talk breakfast with guest speakers from our mission program, Choice One. In re-sponse to needs for their clients – young women facing unexpected motherhood – we are hosting a baby shower. Any contributions will be appreciated. Suggested items: Baby bath towels, bibs, receiving blankets, onsies, socks, clothes in sizes from 0 to 9 months, diaper bag, pacifiers, brush/comb, rattles, cups, bowls, spoons, plastic bottles, stroller toys (all items must be new). So let’s shake the drearies of the past few months and bring about some smiles and heartfelt thanks. It’s a party!!

Women’s One Day Retreat

Saturday, October 17th 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Sheryl Vasso Joy Makers / Joy Takers

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

Jeremiah 31:13 NIV Jesus calls us to the abundant life – discover how to live out that call with great joy. Though we cancelled our spring retreat with regret, Dr. Sheryl Vasso has gra-ciously accepted our invitation to lead our one day retreat instead – focusing on joy in any situation.

The $25 cost includes a continental breakfast and full luncheon.

Registration forms will be available on the LPC website (print and mail to the church office attn: LPC Women); deadline October 4th. Bring a friend!

June 2020 Volume 6

Affix label here

The Reverend Wil l iam A. Teague, Pastor

Church Office hours: M-F, 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. 215-752-3200 langhornepres.org

LPC Langhorne Presbyterian Church 125 East Gillam Avenue, Langhorne, PA 19047 A Congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Covid-19 Face Masks

Congratulations Graduates!

It is the LORD

who goes before

you. He will be

with you; he

will not leave

you or forsake

you. Do not

fear or be dis-

mayed.

Deuteronomy

31:8

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Diana Scott has offered to make masks

for anyone in the congregation who

needs one. She can make them for

men, women/teen, or child.

E-mail the office at

langhornepres@outlook.com

and your request will be forwarded to Diana.