Service Through Mission

Why Orange, God?” I asked as I hung up the phone. I had just been offered a job to teach English at Orange County High School and could think of nothing else than to ask why. “Surely the children and parents there don’t need to be served by this teacher. Isn’t there some place else you need me to go?” I thought to myself. I had driven down Selma Road and E. Main Street, through town on Madison Road. This seemed like a typical small town – churches, neat houses, small businesses, lots of lawyers. At first glance, I couldn’t see all the needs that were here. Divorce, poverty, do domestic violence, loneliness, I would discover, lived here behind manicured lawns and well-dressed professionals as well as in the woods and on back roads. God saw needs here I couldn’t.

“Why Emerald Isle?” the Mission Team has heard people ask. “It’s a resort community with golf courses and condominiums. What real need is there?” The truth is we don’t know really know why God called us there specifically. None of us has been there and could even describe the place, though most of us imagine it’s not much different from other beach communities – at first glance. Some people there have money, some people there have power, others are there only on vacation. Emerald Isle Baptist Church is a small church serving a seasonal population and whose own membership includes lots of children and youth whose parents are not involved. We believe that God has seen a need in that community for a VBS. Alone, that church cannot provide enough adult volunteers to staff such a program. The Mission Team from Orange Presbyterian Church has been called to help meet that need

What will we find? We don’t know really – other than this – it is a joy to serve where God has called us.

OPC Sunday School & Church Family Picnic -
All are Invited!

• When: Sunday, June 4th
• Where: Country Town Pool
• Time: 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Please bring a salad or dessert to share. Hot dogs & drinks will be provided. RSVP to the church office by June 1st.

Call Eric Frobom for more information 832-3032

THE PASTOR'S CORNER

Dear Friends,

At the end of his ministry on earth, Jesus said to his disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Our Coastal Carolina Mission Team will soon be teaching and telling the children (and some of the older adults!) of Emerald Isle, NC about God and about the good news of Jesus Christ. We give thanks for their willingness to serve God in this way. Please remember that we will be commissioning the mission team on Sunday, June 11. (To commission means that we are authorizing them to represent us and to act on our behalf.) They will be leaving for North Carolina on Saturday, June 17th. This congregation can be very proud of itself for sending a mission team to North Carolina and for supporting them so generously through prayer and our financial gifts. (To date, we have raised $5631.80!)

In Christ,
Beth

Orange FREE CLINIC

To repeat an old childhood joke, “orange” you glad you have health insurance??

Lots of folks in this country and in our community do not have health insurance, and that means they often don’t get adequate health care. They don’t go to the doctor when they are sick; and when a doctor or hospital is necessary, the costs are out of sight, resulting in debt and unpaid bills.

Many concerned people here in Orange have been working on the idea of a free clinic for the medically uninsured. Much of the paperwork (for 501 .c.3 status) has been filed now, and there will be an organizational meeting on Monday, June 12th at 5:30 p.m. at the Orange Health Department.

Should you be there? We need to form a small working board, and we also need to identify potential volunteers. Many hands will make light work. If your heart is called by this issue, then please join us on June 5th.

For more information, contact Cindy Reid, or Bob Lingo at the Department of Social Services.

Youth and Christian Education Committee wants YOU:

Do you love children? Do you want to share your faith? We need Sunday School teachers and helpers for next year. Teachers would plan and teach the lesson. Helpers would help the teacher with simple tasks and interact with the children. Helpers could volunteer on a monthly basis, for a semester, or for the whole year, whatever fits your schedule.

Please contact Sandy McLeod (672-2673) or the church office if you can offer your time and knowledge to the children of OPC.

Pray for Our Mission Team

Prayer is powerful, as you all well know. I think about how prayer has enriched my life by connecting me to the source of infinite energy, love, and abiding grace. As Christians we turn to prayer to help answer our deepest wishes, to sustain us in times of trouble, and to guide us in our decision-making. I found myself in prayer more often as my children were teenagers and out of my sight, praying for their safety and praying for God to hold them in his arms. As a parent I have tried to bring my children up to trust in the Lord and to do his will. I have sent them out into the world, trusting that they will. Still I pray for them that they do.

As a congregation, we have sustained each other in love and care. We pray for each other in times of need and hold each other up to God for his love. As a congregation we are like a family, and now as a family we are sending members of our congregation into the world to do his will. Our team of 12 missionaries will journey to Emerald Isle, North Carolina. There they will help a very small congregation host a Vacation Bible School for their members and vacationing families. We will also host a nursing home vacation Bible School in the afternoons.

Each mission team member has a job. Lynne Clements is the VBS director. Suzanne Sherwin is leading the music. Margaret Thompson is leading the mission activities associated with the VBS curriculum. Ted and Dean Sherwin are in charge of recreation activities. Lavinia Phillips heads up the Bible Study. Alice Crane is taking care of crafts. Claire Crane, Kelsey Gillan, Martha Clements, and Betsy Reid are each assigned a specific group of children to shepherd through each day. Susan Anson is planning the nursing home VBS activities. They need your prayers as they plan their work. You will see that they will be meeting each Sunday after church for the next 5-7 weeks in preparation for the trip.

This mission team is also asking for your prayers while they are on the trip. To help support them, we are organizing a prayer wheel. Buckshot Clements has designed this for us. What we would like to do is to have someone be in prayer for the team every hour that they are gone—from the minute they leave on Saturday, June 17 until they return to Orange one week later. Please think about how you can participate in this. I’ve been thinking that I might sign up to pray for the team every morning from 5 am to 6 am. That is my slow time of day, a time that I use to wake up. That week, I’ll have to wake up and drink some extra coffee, but I’ll use that hour to pray for the team.

Will you join us in our prayers? We will be asking that you sign the prayer wheel for the hour or hours that you will pray for the team. We need prayers during the overnight hours and the daytime hours. Can you pray on your lunch break, while you are cooking dinner, driving to work, sewing, running or exercising? Be creative and think about how you can help pray for this team while we as a family send them out to do God’s work. Only twelve will go—but through prayer all of us can be there, transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Carole Sue Graves

March Meeting of the Presbytery of the James

At the March meeting of the Presbytery of the James several issues were discussed and several actions were taken concerning two important issues.

The first concerns an Overture, "A Call to Say No to Torture", which was submitted by the Bon Air Church. This Overture calls upon the congregations and members of the Presbytery of the James to:
"PRAY for those who are detained and their families, and for our troops and their families. We should pray for ourselves and our nation. We must strive to create a climate of religious tolerance and respect, rather than perpetuate a cycle of fear and vengeance. Requesting an end to torture in all its forms is the first step.
STUDY: Abuse and torture are complex and difficult issues therefore the Public Ministries Board is requested to design and lead a study opportunity for the Presbytery at either an upcoming POJ meeting or at an-other venue.
DIALOGUE: We are called to be in thoughtful, respectful dialogue with one another, seeking common ground and listening carefully to one another when we disagree. In so doing, we know that our witness as followers of Jesus Christ becomes ever stronger and more faithful."

This Overture goes on to encourage members to correspond with our elected officials to advance the goal of eliminating torture. A complete copy of the Overture can be found in the narthex, and at PresbyteryOfTheJames.pdf, with the addresses of our Representatives and Senators.

A Presbyterian New Service paper provides additional information on this important issue.

The second issue deals with the nation in which our missionaries, Mike and Nancy Haninger serve, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC) and a Senate Bill S-2125. This bill calls for a free election in the Congo. This bill makes several findings about the importance of a peaceful and prosperous DROC to the United States and Africa. A summary of this bill is also in the narthex and attached to PresbyteryOfTheJames.pdf. You are encouraged to read this and if so moved contact your congressional representative about this issue as well.

Preparing for Hurricane Season: Health Kits Needed

It is once again time to put to gether Health Kits for struggling families thru Church World Services. Please include:

• 1 metal nail file or nail clipper w/ file
• 1 hand towel
• 1 wash cloth
• 1comb
• 1 toothbrush
• 1 tube of toothpaste (4-7 ounces)
• 1 barofsoap(bath size)
• 6 band-aids

Seal all items in a one-gallon plastic bag with a zipper closure.
Return kits to OPC and place in the box in the narthex.
Or you may donate $12.00 to Church World Service. Please in clude $2.00 for processing & shipping.
We will send these off on July 1st . For more information or question contact Elinor Vasquez at 672-3292.

Honoring Our Graduates

• Stewart Cruickshank - The Covenant School
• Elsa Haberland - Madison County High School
• Betsy Reid - Foxcroft School
• Sierra Richardson - Orange County High School.

From college we will be saluting the achievements of:

• Ellen Graves - Warren Wilson College
• Leighton Reid - University of the South - Sewanee.

Bell Concert to
Benefit Piano Project

The Orange Presbyterian Church Handbell Choir will present a concert on Sunday, June 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary. The concert is free, with a free will offering taken to benefit the piano restoration project. The concert will include music by Cynthia Dobrinski, Howard Starks, Mary McCleary & Michael Hellman. In addition to the handbell choir, there will be some solos & a bell change.

We really need your support for both the bell choir as well as the piano restoration project. I know we are stretched in many ways, but please try to attend this program. Thank you very much.

The Bell Choir

Lynn Clements

Richard & Thelma Sanford

Lynne Clements

Susan Clore