The Network … a Publication ofupcbuffalo.com/uploads/5-2016_Network.pdf · “breathes” on them...

The Network … a Publication of

University Presbyterian Church

May 2016

There are two Pentecost stories in the Bible. Each one gives us a very different version

of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. One version is our familiar Pentecost story found in Acts.

The Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples in a vibrant way, energizing way. Tongues of

fire rest upon the disciples, a strong wind blows, and they all begin to speak in multiple

languages. Crowds gather to witness this spectacle and the disciples began to preach

openly about Jesus. This experience of the Holy Spirit is public and dynamic.

The second story of the gift of the Holy Spirit couldn’t be more different. In John’s Gospel, we get a softer,

gentler Pentecost experience. It is a private moment between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus appears to

the frightened disciples who are hidden away in a room, and he offers them comforting words, and he

“breathes” on them and says, “receive the Holy Spirit.”

These two versions help us remember that there is no one “right” way to experience God’s spirit or activity.

At times, we need the Spirit of God to motivate us, energize us. These are those occasions we find

courage to live out our faith, to speak the truth, to take a risk.

At other times, however, what we may most need is the comforting presence of God’s spirit with us. When

our souls are troubled, when we are in grief, when we are afraid, we need God to breathe into us a calming,

peaceful spirit.

On Sunday, May 15, we will join Christians around the globe in celebrating the gift of God’s Spirit. As is our

tradition, we invite you to wear RED for Pentecost as we give thanks for the presence of God that still

moves among us and within us.

Shalom,

Tracy

2

Duffield News: Save these Dates!

~Sat., May 7th- Work Day at Camp Duffield. Come help us open the camp for the summer camps. Lots of

work to do!

~Sat., May 21st- Discover Duffield (2:00-10:00). Everyone is invited to Camp Duffield's Kick Start Open

House! Participate in fun afternoon activities, and enjoy free dinner and live music provided by Immanuel

Band.

~Summer Sessions: We are now taking registrations for our summer sessions. Get registrations in early

for early bird discount. Apply for scholarships early (based on financial need. Some scholarships are

available for camper whose parent volunteers their time as staff.

~Challenge Camp (July 3-9): For developmentally disabled adults

~Science/Music Camp: ( July 9-16) For children grades 1-8

~Chipmunks: (July 9-13) For first timers grades 1-2. Parent stay is required.

~Night Owls: (July 17-23): For teens grades 8-12.

~Family Camp (Aug 7-13): For single parent and blended families

We are still looking for campers, counselors, nurses, and program staff.

Wish List:

~work gloves, hand held power tools, dryer, washing machine, dorm size refrigerator, microwave, room

fans, towels, volleyball, soccer ball, dutch ovens, campfire utensils, bingo prizes, colored duct tape, used

store gift cards, 1 in. wooden dowels, cigar boxes, 20 foot extension ladder...

Questions? please call Pat Cookfair-Casseri at 440-9833

3

UPC Board of Deacons

Flapjack Fiesta

Sunday, May 1st in the kitchen and auditorium

Pancake Breakfast

Sunday, May 1st , 2016 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM

$5.00 per person ~ pay at the door.

Menu: Pancakes, Sausage, Fruit, Beverages (coffee, juice)

Proceeds will benefit the Board of Deacons’ General Fund.

Please join us for a morning breakfast filled with flapjacks and fellowship.

Donations will be greatly appreciated: butter, syrup, juice (apple or grape), sausage

(brown and serve links), fruit (melon, apples, and berries). Please see a Deacon

member with any questions. Hope to see everyone there.

4

Worship Column ~ May 2016

May 1 6th Sunday of Easter

9:00 am Worship Service with Communion

9:00 am Deacon’s Pancake Breakfast

10:00 am Education hour with Cindy Hickey

11:00 am Worship service with Communion

12:00 pm Coffee Hour ~ Holzwarth Room

Lectionary: Acts 16:9-15; Ps. 67; Rev. 21:10; 21:22-25:5

John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9

May 8 7th Sunday of Easter

9:00 am Worship Service

9:30 am Deacon’s Meeting

11:00 am Worship service


Lectionary: Acts 16:16-34; Ps 97; Rev. 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21;

John 17:20-26

May 15 Day of Pentecost


10:00 am Education hour for adults & youth



Lectionary: Acts 2: 1-21 or Gen. 11:1-9; Ps 104:24-34, 35b;

Rom. 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17 (25-27)

May 22 Trinity Sunday


10:00 am Education hour for adults & youth



Lectionary: Prov. 8:1-4, 22-32; Ps 8; Rom. 5:1-5;

John 16:12-15

May 29 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time

10:00 am Worship service—today begins our summer season with 1 service at 10:00 am


Lectionary: 1 Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39; Ps 96;

Gal. 1:1-12; Luke 7:1-10

5

University Presbyterian Food Panty

Needs Your HELP!

Are you looking for ways to stay active and help out? Are you a student

who needs volunteer hours? Would you like to meet new people and

help our community?

Volunteer

at the University Presbyterian Church

Food Pantry

Stop by on a Tuesday or Thursday between 12 pm and 4 pm and meet the current

volunteers and maybe some of the clients. See what it’s all about. Think about

helping out.

The 4 ½ hour shifts once a month will be interesting and worthwhile. Should you

want to help more (yes!!!) you are most welcome. PLUS, you will feel good about the

time you spend with us, helping our neighbors. Have a friend or two you would like

to bring with you, that would be wonderful.

We are in need of new individuals to help us with distributing food to our

clients. You might guide a client through our "store" to help them

choose their groceries.

You might help to stock shelves.

You could learn to work the check in desk.

Call the Church Office 836-7660 for additional information.

Many Thanks for your help!

6

Birthday Greetings

May 2016

1 Annette Arber

6 Jeffrey Grisante

6 Judy Betz

11 Shahnaz Morris

15 Geoffrey Burker

16 Lisa Patel

23 Cathy Siegel

24 Robert Hallborg

Join Rev. Stuart Buisch for his Bible Study Classes.

Held on Wednesday evenings beginning at 5:00 pm

in the Holzwarth Room. A light meal is offered at

each class.

Additional classes will be on May 4th, June 15th (June 15 is a new date from last month’s issue),

July 13th and August 31st.

Please join Rev. Stu for these informative bible studies.

Our Youth

9 Emily Waldron

16 Elizabeth Waldron

31 Karly Masters

7

The youth of the church will celebrate the end of the school

year by having a pizza lunch and testing their miniature golf skills at

Adventure Landing on Sheridan Drive. Immediately

following the church service on Sunday, June 5th, we will go to Olisi's Pizza Restaurant on Sheridan Dr in Tonawanda. After lunch we'll walk over to Adventure Landing and play 2 games of miniature golf.

Hope everyone can make it!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game! On Sunday, July 10th we are planning an outing

to see a Bison Baseball game as they play Leigh High Valley. We could leave from the

University subway station immediately following church for the game at

1:05.

The tickets are $10.00 for reserved seating. If you are interested in attending please

contact Amy Erickson at 876-6874. We will need 20 attendees for the group rate.

Wow! May 1st is this Sunday and the days are getting warm and sunny….

Let’s hope for a terrific summer.

A gentle reminder about our DONATE YOUR SOLE collection box. If you have winter shoes and

boots that you were thinking about donating, bring them to the church and drop them in the box.

Your generosity will go far with so many individuals who need slightly used (or new) shoes, boots

sneakers and of course summer items too. Sandals and flip-flops are the summer footwear of

choice for many adults, kids, teens. These items are super appreciated. You are certainly welcome

to bring items to the Church Office if that is easier or more convenient. Office is open 9 am to 4 pm,

Monday through Friday. Call me at 836-7660 to let me know you will be stopping to drop off items.

Thanks so much for your donations….

8

Listen

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done

what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I should not feel that

way, you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve

my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.

LISTEN! All I asked was that you listen - not talk - just hear me.

Advice is cheap; 10 cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the

same newspaper.

And I can do for myself. I'm not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but

not helpless. When you do something for me that I can, and need, to do for

myself, you contribute to my fear and weakness.

But, when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how

irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you and get about the business of

understanding what's behind this irrational feeling. And when that's clear, the

answers are obvious and I don't need advice. Irrational feelings make sense

when you understand what's behind them.

Perhaps that's why prayer works, sometimes, for some people, because God is

mute, and He doesn't give advice or try to fix things. He just listens and lets you

work it out for yourself.

So, please listen and hear me. And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your

turn, and I'll listen to you.

This essay was distributed at a recent workshop held for the Elders and Deacons of UPC. It is easy

to see that this has been around for quite some time, from the reference to the 10 cent newspaper!

But the sentiments seem timeless.

9

The Network Calendar

May 2016

Sunday, 5/1 6th Sunday of Easter

9:00 am Worship Service with Communion w/Rev. Bronwen Boswell

9:00 am Deacon’s Pancake breakfast in Kitchen & Auditorium or

make a plate and bring it to the education meeting

10:00 am room for Adult Christian Education Hour with Cindy

Hickey.

11:00 am Worship Service with Communion w/Rev. Bronwen Boswell

12:00 pm Coffee Hour

Tuesday, 5/3 6:00 am—9:00 pm Buffalo School Board Election

12:00 pm—4:00 pm Food Pantry

6:00 pm Network of Religious Communities Dinner

Wednesday, 5/4 5:00 pm Bible Study with Rev. Stuart Buisch. Held in the Holzwarth

Room on the Middle Level of the Church. A light meal is

offered. Everyone is very welcome.

Thursday, 5/5 12:00 pm—4:00 pm Food Pantry

7:30 pm Choir Practice

Friday, 5/6 5:30 pm—6:00 pm Taizé Service

Saturday, 5/7 9:00 am—1:00 pm UPC Clean up Day—please join fellow members and friends

to help spruce up our Church and surrounding areas.

Sunday, 5/8 7th Sunday of Easter


9:30 am Deacon’s Meeting

10:00 am Youth Education Hour



Monday, 5/9 12:00 pm Presbyterian Women’s Spring Luncheon—bring a brown bag

lunch. Tracy to lead a Bible Study.

Tuesday, 5/10 12:00 —4:00 pm Food Pantry

Thursday, 5/12 12:00 —4:00 pm Food Pantry


Sunday, 5/15 Pentecost Sunday

9:00 am Worship Service w/Patricia Townsend

11:00 am Worship Service aw/Patricia Townsend

12:00 pm Coffee Hour continued on next page….

10

The Network Calendar

May 2016

Tuesday, 5/17 12:00 pm—4:00 pm Food Pantry

Wednesday, 5/18 6:00 pm Ministry to Community

Please note the Session meeting has been changed to the 4th Wednesday for

THIS MONTH. The date is now Wed. May 25th at 7:00 pm


Saturday, 5/21 9:00 am—1:00 pm Plant and Seed Exchange—UPC Parking Lot (rain or shine)

Sunday, 5/22 Trinity Sunday





Wednesday, 5/25 7:00 pm Session Meeting (note different date)



Saturday, 5/28 10:00 am Men’s Breakfast group—at Family Tree Restaurant

Sunday, 5/29 2nd Sunday after Pentecost

Today begins our summer worship service hours.

There is only one worship service on Sundays at 10:00 am



Monday, 5/30 MEMORIAL DAY—the church office is closed



Friday, 6/3 5:30 pm Taizé Service

Saturday, 6/4 10:00 am Breakfast with Friends at Family Tree Restaurant…. call

Kathy Hallborg for questions or to confirm your reservation.

Sunday, 6/5 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time



11

Too many of us lead hectic lives.

Our communities are filled with violence and suffering.

Our personal pain and struggles can overwhelm us.

How do we respond? How can we cope?

University Presbyterian Church welcomes Christians from all traditions to unite in a

special contemplative worship experience as we seek spiritual strength for the living of our

days. Based on the style of worship practiced in the Taizé Christian community in France,

these services offered on the First Friday of each month provide an oasis at the end of the

week for all who are weary, troubled, or rushed. Special music from guest musicians,

meditative songs, prayers, candles, and scripture readings allow each of us to find a quiet

place of prayer and spiritual centering.

We invite you to join us on Friday, May 6, 2016 from 5:30 to 6:00 PM. University

Presbyterian Church is located at 3330 Main St., Buffalo (across the street from UB South

Campus) with parking available in the church lot off Niagara Falls Boulevard. The church

is also conveniently accessible using public transportation by taking bus or train to the

University Metro station. Questions can be directed to the church office at 836-7660.

A Taizé Service of Prayer, Music, and Meditation

www.upcbuffalo.org

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