March 2, 2016

Page 1 of 8

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Worship Schedule 2

Choir, Church School, Wor-

ship & Book Club Schedules 2

Easter Flowers 3

Youth Group Schedules 4

Fun Things To Do 4

Youth Groups 4

Mission Opportunities 5

Church Family in Prayer 6

Pres Plus Outing 7

Adult Meetings & Events 7

Focus is available the first Wednes-day of each month.

Next issue: 4/6/2016

Deadline: Thursday, 3/24/16, 9am

PASTOR’S THOUGHTS

During this Lenten season, we have encouraged everyone in the congre-

gation to pray the Lord’s Prayer daily. For some, this is a long time cus-

tom. For others, it is a new spiritual discipline. We have provided books

for our families with young children about the Lord’s Prayer so that it

can become a daily prayer for our young ones, too.

Why does the Lord’s Prayer even matter? That may be a shocking ques-

tion, but it is a good one to ask! I recently read “The Prayers of Jesus”

by Joachim Jeremias to find some answers. He was a famous German

Lutheran biblical scholar who grew up in Jerusalem in the early 1900s.

Here are a few tidbits about prayer at the time of Jesus and then about

the Lord’s Prayer.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7, called the Shema, set a pattern for Jewish

prayer. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with

all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am

commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your chil-

dren and talk about them when you are at home and when you

are away, when you lie down and when your rise. Bind them as a

sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and

write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

The recitation at the time of rising and lying down was the start

of praying twice a day, at sunrise and sunset.

Later in the Old Testament, a pattern of prayer three times a day

developed that was still in practice at the time of Jesus. This

would have been his practice. It is referred to first in Daniel 6:11.

Daniel prayed three times, adding to sunrise and sunset an after-

noon prayer, at 3:00 when the afternoon sacrifice was offered at

the temple in Jerusalem. Even when the temple was destroyed,

the afternoon prayer continued, an offering of praise and thanks-

giving.

(Continued on page 8)

OF SPECIAL INTEREST IN THIS EDITION

■ World Day of Prayer March 4 (p3) ■ Dash Away 2016 Kickoff Meeting (p3)

■ Special Thank You for your generosity (p3 & 6) ■ Sunday Nigh Central Youth

Group Appeal for Art Supplies (p8) ■ Easter Worship Schedule (p2)

Pennington Presbyterian F A I T H C O M M U N I T Y S E R V I C E

Prayer before and after

each meal was also a

Jewish custom that Je-

sus and this disciples

would have practiced.

call “The Lord’s

Prayer” to the daily

prayers practiced by all

Jews.

REGULAR WEEKLY

SCHEDULE Sunday – 10:15 AM

FOLLOWED BY FELLOWSHIP HOUR

Childcare Available

Please sign up to provide refresh-

ments for Fellowship Hour. Sign-up

after church in Upper Titus.

Please keep current on your stew-

ardship pledge. It supports PPC

cash flow and is appreciated.

CHURCH STAFF/CONTACT

Pastor: Nancy Mikoski

Associate Pastor: David Hallgren

Music Director: William Alford

Office Administrator & FOCUS Editor: Eva Szakal

Financial Administrator Pam Paluzzi

Office phone: 609-737-1221 Fax: 609-730-9665

E-mail: office@pennpres.org

Web: www.pennpres.org

www.Facebook.com/pennpres

13 S Main Street Pennington, NJ 08534

Page 2 of 8

CHILDREN/ YOUTH/ADULT CHURCH SCHOOL

SUNDAY PREACHING SCHEDULE March 6 Rev. Nancy Mikoski

March 13 Shalom Women’s

Bible Study Group

March 20

Palm

Sunday

Rev. David Hallgren

March 27

Easter

Sunrise

Rev. David Hallgren

6:30 am

@ Rosedale Park

March 27

Easter

Worship

Rev. Nancy Mikoski

CHOIR REHEARSAL SCHEDULES

Kerygma Bible Study – Sunday at 9 am and Thursday at 6:55 pm

Shakespeare’s Comedies (Sundays 6:30 pm) concludes on March 20

3/6 “Twelfth Night”

3/13 “Measure for Measure”

3/20 “All’s Well that Ends Well”

“Thoughtful Christianity” – Sunday at 9 am (on hiatus until after

Easter – new program will be announced soon in This Week @ PPC)

Children & Youth Sunday School at 9 am

Bell Choir - Thursday, 6:45pm. All ability levels welcome. If interested,

contact Laura McMillan at lmcmillan@lawrenceville.org.

Adult Choir - Thursday, 8:00 p.m.

Gloria Deo Choir (grades 6-12) - Thursday, 6:45 pm to 7:45 pm

Cherub Ensemble (pre-K-1st grade) Sunday, during worship and after Time

for Children.

Genesis Ensemble (grades 2-5) - Sunday, after worship at 11:45 am

(Call Bill Alford about adult or youth choirs: 609-333-0131)

SUNDAY WORSHIP SCHEDULE

■ PER CAPITA – The Church needs your help. Per Capita is a fundamental way

that nearly 11,000 congregations and mid-councils of the Presbyterian Church

(USA) participate in the work of the wider church. In 2016, we are paying

$32.50 per confirmed member of PPC. (2015 was $30.) The Per Capital is split

between the New Brunswick Presbytery, the Synod of the Northeast, and the

General Assembly. If you receive envelopes, there is an envelope marked Per

Capita. If you don’t use envelopes, please submit your $32.50, and mark Per

Capita in the memo line. Thank you!

Wednesday Morning

Meditation & Com-

munion Services

@ 7:30 am 3/9 Gordon & Nancy

Mikoski

w/ Jane Simpson

3/16 David Hallgren

w/ Pat Coats

Special

Holy Week Schedule 3/24

Maundy Thursday

@ 7:30 pm

3/25

Good Friday

@ 7:30 pm

3/27 Easter Sunrise Ser-

vice @ Rosedale

Park

3/27 10:15 am Easter

Worship Service

■ THE PPC BOOK GROUP - The PPC Book Group will meet on Monday,

March 21 - My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor; April 18 - Being Mor-

tal by Atul Gawande; and May 15 - The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas C.

Green for May 15. Contact Jane Simpson at 609-466-4075 with questions.

Page 3 of 8

Remember to order Easter

flowers in memory of a

loved one or to honor those

you love. Orders due by

3/11. $10 each. Find an or-

der form in February FO-

CUS or at the church office.

Special March 4 Event

World Day of Prayer 2016

Locally Hosted by PPC OAM

Join in.

Invite the community.

RSVP by March 2 to PPC Office:

609-737-1221, X-10

There will be a light lunch served at

12:15 am in Upper Titus Hall,

and Worship Service at 1 pm

in the Sanctuary.

This event takes the place of the monthly

Older Adult Ministry Brown Bag Lunch for March.

The ecumenical worship service will feature prayer, meditation

and music by The Middle School Singers from The Pennington School.

World Day of Prayer USA promotes justice and equality for women

through prayer, partnerships, service and celebration.

(Learn more at http://www.wdp-usa.org)

A special thank you from

the Deacons to all who do-

nated snack items and

contributed toward the

cost of postage for the col-

lege care packages. In

mid-February, 38 care

packages were sent to

PPC college students.

Please keep our college

students in your prayer.

2016 Dash Away 5K Kick-Off Meeting

Wednesday, 3/9, 7 pm, Upper Titus

It’s time to kick-off planning for the 2016 Dash Away 5K and One-

Mile Walk/Run. By getting an early start, the committee hopes to

build on the success of the 2015 race. Anyone who is interested in

serving the church by participating in this project is welcome to at-

tend. Come hear about our experience and lessons learned during the

church’s first 5K and help organize the 2016 race!

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News and Updates (cont’d)

The cost is $10 per person for three games. You

may purchase food at the alley on your own. Sign

up by sending an email to Clark McAvoy: Clark-

Music@hotmail.com or call him at 609-882-5201.

Live, Free Concert at Princeton Theological

Seminary, in Miller Chapel, on March 4, Fri-

day, 7 pm: Celtic Psalms - the Lord's My Shep-

herd. Performing: Kiran Young Wimberly (an

alumna of the PPC family & a Presbyterian minis-

ter) & The McGraths from Northern Ireland. (Go

to www.celticpsalms or www.Face-

book.com/celticpsalms or see the poster on the

bulletin board near the Sanctuary.) In post-con-

flict Northern Ireland, "Celtic Psalms" builds

bridges between divided communities, unifying

people through the moving melodies of Irish and

Scottish traditional music, and the uplifting, com-

forting, healing words of the psalms set to tradi-

tional Irish and Scottish airs.

SUNDAY NIGHT CENTRAL JR. HIGHS (6-8 GRADE) & SR. HIGHS (9-12 GRADE) Join with new friends and old.

FUN THINGS TO DO FOR YOUNG AND YOUNG @ HEART!

Page 4 of 8

Sunday Night Central

6:30 pm in Heritage hall

(unless otherwise noted)

Senior High

7:30 pm in the PIT

(unless otherwise noted)

3/6 Easter Baskets for

HomeFront

3/6 Dinner @ Hallgrens @

6:30 pm

(9 S. Main Street) 3/11-

13

Retreat

3/13 No Meeting 3/13 The PIT – you decide ac-

tivity

3/19 Service Day @ Crisis

Ministry in Trenton:

meet at church at 8:30

am

3/19 Service Day @ Crisis

Ministry in Trenton:

meet at church at 8:30

am

3/20 No meeting 3/29 No meeting

3/27 No meeting 3/27 No meeting

4/3 Mini Golf – Pine Creek 4/3 Mini Golf – Pine Creek

March 5 Bowling

Outing organized by

the Deacons The event will be at

Curtis Lanes in Ewing

on Saturday, March 5,

7 pm to 9 pm.

Page 5 of 8

MISSION OPPORTUNITIES – WAYS TO SERVE GOD & COMMUNITY FOOD FOR CHILDREN’S DAY

SCHOOL FOR SPRING BREAK

The Mission Committee is collect-

ing items to fill food boxes for the

30 children served by the Chil-

dren’s Day School in Ewing and

their families over their weeklong

spring break. These students eat

most of their meals at school and of-

ten don’t have enough nutritious

food when school is closed. Please

visit the display in Upper Titus Hall

after worship and take one or more

tags. Please bring items on your tags

back to the display by Palm Sunday,

March 20th. We will pack and de-

liver the boxes to the school on

the Wednesday before Easter. Thank

you for helping us share God’s love

with our neighbors in Mercer

County! (http://www.fgccorp.org/)

PALM SUNDAY OFFERING

This year’s One Great Hour of

Sharing offering, received on

Palm Sunday, March 20th, will

support Presbyterian Disaster

Assistance. We are asking

PDA to use our donations to

help with PDA’s response to

the water crisis in Flint, Michi-

gan. PDA is working directly

with the Presbytery of Lake

Huron (where Flint is located)

to provide a variety of relief

services. For more information,

you can visit their website

at https://pda.pcusa.org/situa-

tion/flint-michigan-water-cri-

sis/.

EASTER OFFERING

This year’s Easter offering will

be divided into two. Three hun-

dred dollars will go to Isles in

Trenton (www.isles.org) to sup-

port their efforts to reduce lead

poisoning affecting children in

Trenton. The poisoning mostly

occurs because of lead paint, but

water flowing through old pipes

is also a concern.

The remainder of the Easter of-

fering will pay for specific parts

of the water system we are in-

stalling with partners in Tahdziu,

Yucatan this summer. These

parts include a reverse osmosis

system, water storage tanks,

pipes, filters, an ultraviolet sani-

tation piece, pumps, and

more. Please check Upper Titus

for a photograph of a water sys-

tem for full details.

EASTER CHALLENGE

Spend the remainder of Lent in gratitude.

Give thanks for the times Jesus has called your name.

Tell someone about your Christian life every day.

Let Us Pray as We Prepare for Easter

Lord, enlighten the shadows of my heart, and grant me the faith,

hope, perfect charity, sense and understanding,

in order that I may accomplish your holy and true command. Amen

Based on a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi

PRAYER CHAIN

Did you know that our church

offers the services of phone or

email prayer chain for those with

a need or for those who wish to

lift up a joy?

We welcome all to be a part of

this meaningful program. If you

are interested, kindly contact Bob

Fletcher at iamfletch@com-

cast.net or Barbara and Dick Pratt

at 609-737-2767.

KEEP OUR

CHURCH FAMILY IN YOUR

PRAYERS

Lehman-Borer Family; Manzer

Family; Greener-Pedersen Fami-

lies; Dee Wilson & Family; Fin-

layson Family; Ruth Morewood;

Wayne Fuller, Ben Cranston,

Charles Bryan; Al Wensley;

Gopa Khandwala; Adrian-Hage

Family;

Willever Family; and Beth Hut-

ton & Family

Page 6 of 8

Our world needs peace.

Add your prayers for the peoples of

the world - one country at a time.

3/6 Bermuda

3/13 Bhutan

3/20 Bolivia

3/27 Bosnia-Herzegovina

4/3 Botswana

Information about the countries is at

http://pennpres.org/pray-for-our-

world/ on Thursday, in time for a

summary to reach you in

“This Week @ PPC”.

A Special Thank You to Pennington Presbyterian Members

for Support of the Children’s Day School

Mission, Peacemaking,

and Justice Committee

Welcomes

New Members

Meet Every

2nd Tuesday at 7:30 pm

in Room 206

Adult Meetings and Events

Mar. 4 10:00 am Older Adult Ministry

Mar. 4 12:15 pm Light lunch provided by OAM prior to World Day

of Prayer (RSVP by March 2 to church office)

Mar. 4 1:00 pm Ecumenical World Day of Prayer worship service

with music by The Pennington Middle School //

Mar. 5 7-9 pm Bowling @ Curtis Lane in Ewing (see p4 for details)

Mar. 9 7:oo pm 2016 Dash Away 5K Kick-Off Meeting (Upper Ti-

tus) (See article on page 3)

Mar. 14 7:00 pm Disciple Team Leaders meet

Mar. 14 7:30 pm

Stephen Ministers, Christian Education, Member-

ship, Mission, & Worship and Music Committees

meet Mar. 15 7:00 pm Support Team Leaders meet

Mar. 15 7:30 pm Facilities, Communications, Personnel, & Steward-

ship Committees meet

Mar. 17 10:30 am Pres Plus outing followed by lunch (details on right)

Mar. 17 3:30 pm HomeFront Meals

Mar. 28 10:30 am Parish Callers

Mar. 28 7:30 pm Session Meets in Upper Room Apr. 1 12:30 pm OAM Brown Bag Lunch Apr. 1 1:00 pm OAM Speaker: Laurel Reid from PEAC (see below)

Apr. 5 7:00 pm Care Team Leaders meet

Apr. 5 7:30 pm Deacons meet

Page 7 of 8

Schedules

that Repeat

See Choir, Church

School (youth & adult) &

Kerygma schedules on

page 2 of this FOCUS.

Shalom: 9:15 am,

Wednesdays in the Up-

per Room.

Pres Plus March Outing

The church senior group

will meet at 10 am on

Thursday, March 17th, at

the church and carpool

to Doylestown to visit

the Michener Museum.

Following this we will

have lunch in the

Doylestown area.

For further information,

contact Ellen or Don

Wright @ 609-737-1723

or aa2f@arrl.net.

April 1 Older Adult Ministry Event

Bring your own lunch and a light dessert, coffee and tea will be provided

for 12:30 lunch. At 1 pm, Laurel Reid from PEAC Health and Fitness will

share some tips for healthy living: “Staying Active as We Grow Older”.

Wear sneakers and prepare to have some fun!

Let Us Pray as Jesus Taught Us

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom

come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our

daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead

us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

What is Love? Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is

not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not

easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight

in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts,

always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Prayer before and after each meal was also a Jewish custom

that Jesus and this disciples would have practiced.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, it wasn’t

as if they didn’t already pray. They prayed all these prayers

each day. Asking Jesus for a prayer was a way of asking for a

prayer that would distinguish them as followers of Jesus. They

added what Jesus taught them and what we call “The Lord’s

Prayer” to the daily prayers practiced by all Jews.

The Lord’s Prayers is unique in several ways: This is the only

prayer that prays “Our Father.” The word literally means

“Daddy,” a child’s term of endearment for a father. It is very

personal and expresses love and trust from the start of the

prayer. The Lord’s Prayer also prays for the coming of God’s

kingdom in the future, for current needs, and for strength to re-

main faithful in hard times.

I hope that all of us will grow in our life of prayer. We can add to the

frequency. If your only prayers are in worship on Sundays, begin to

pray on your own during the week. If you aren’t currently pausing to

pray at meals, add that in so that you can express gratitude to God

throughout the day. If you aren’t praying the Lord’s Prayer, begin to

do that every day, praying the prayer that is uniquely Christian. If

your only prayers are memorized prayers, try speaking to God as you

would a loving parent, expressing love and gratitude, sharing your

needs, lifting up others, seeking forgiveness and forgiving others, and

giving God honor and praise. Having fixed times and traditions forms

us as praying people and allows us to add our own prayers throughout

the day. What a wonderful gift prayer is and how blessed we are to

have a prayer that Jesus taught!

Our Lenten Journey ends with Holy Week and Easter. We have pow-

erful services planned so I hope to see all of you in worship on

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter morning as we lift our

prayers to God with one voice!

Grace and Peace,

Nancy

The Sunday Night Central

Youth Group Needs Your

Help Collecting Art Supplies

for HomeFront to Use in Art

Therapy

Deadline: March 6

SNC will be putting together

Easter packages for HomeFront

children to use in therapeutic

art. The SNC children are

making donations but they

need the congregation’s help

too! Please bring items and put

them in a box outside the

church workroom – SNC Ap-

peal for Art Supplies for

HomeFront marked “Art Sup-

plies for HomeFront Chil-

dren”. Thanks so much for

your help!

Here is a list of items that

Home Front requests:

Paint brushes

Paint

Watercolor & acrylic

paper

Small Canvases (packs

are welcome)

Beads

Pastor’s Thoughts (cont’d from page 1) Special Appeal

Page 8 of 8

Bring donation no later than

5 PM, Sunday, March 6