March 2013 Newsletter

Jessica Herrera, Secretary hours: Tues &Thurs. 7:45am-2:45pm as work demands

The Reverend Debbie Measells, Pastor: Office hours: M-Thurs 8:30am-12& 1-4pm;Friday-day off

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The Lent Season is a time of prayer, fasting and self- evaluation.Paul writes to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5:13 saying this, “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” As we prepare our hearts for the celebration of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ let us not stop on Easter Sunday, but continue to draw close God on a daily basis. Just a reminder we have a daily prayer and devotional guide available called “Learning from Jesus” if you are interested in having one you may pick one up at church on Sunday or come by the office during regular hours.

  • The church would like to thank Charlie & Katherine Phillips for bringing in grapefruit off of their trees, and also to Bill & Sandra Clarke for sharing with us the grapefruit they have received from their wood carving friends.

CURRENT EVENTS

  • Five youth, along with Phoebe and Brian will be attending Conclaves at Camp Cho-Yeh March 1st-3rd.
  • Please attend the Maundy Thursday worship at First Methodist this year. Bring a covered dish of your choice. Meal will be at 5:45pm and Service at 7pm.
  • Saturday, March 30th is our Easter Egg Hunt here at the church from 10am -12pm. If you plan on coming, please bring a dozen filled plastic eggs and either fruit, dessert or chips. The hunt will begin at 10am and afterwards there will be games and activities for the kids to enjoy. Lunch will follow at noon.
  • Join us for the Sunrise Service Easter morning at 7am on Sunday, March 31st and worship at 10:30am. Following the 7am service, there will be a breakfast provided by Biff & Lynn Slater. Volunteers are welcome to help prepare breakfast, such as cutting up fruit.
  • Easter Lilies will be $15 this year. This is an increase of last year due to Brazoria Florist closing down. We will now be going through the Flower Cottage and the dead line to order them is March 3rd. If you would like to order some lilies, a signup sheet is in the sanctuary, or you may email or call the office.

SESSION REPORT

The First Presbyterian Church in Brazoria was organized in September of 1913. We will begin our Centennial Celebration on September 14 & 15, 2013. The Sanctuary was built some time in 1916 and is 97 years old. In honor of this historical event, our church will be getting a Historical marker. Ginny Raska has been working very hard to complete this process and the church has been approved. We would like to thank Ginny for her time and efforts to make this possible. We thank the Memorial Fund Committee for paying for the cost of this marker.

WORSHIP REPORT

  • Elders serving communion for the month of March are Biff & Lynn Slater and Richard & Nancy McLaren. Usher Captain will be Jerry Measells.
  • Volunteers are needed for Usher Captain and serving communion for the months ahead. Please notify Melvina if you are interested in helping in this matter.

SERVICE REPORT

Church dinner on February 17th was soups, sandwiches and desserts for a $5.00 donation. It was a big success bringing in $250. Session decided to give it to Feed My Lambs. Thanks to all of you who brought food and stayed to eat.

TREASURER’S REPORT

February 2013

Monthly Offering $8,509.00

Monthly Spending$8,733.24

YTD Offering$17,626.00

YTD Spending$19,566.67

YTD Budget Spent$18,938.32

YTD Budget$23,364.16

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION REPORT

  • Vacation Bible School this summer will be on June 24th- 28th. The theme has not yet been decided. There will be a meeting after worship on March 10 for all teachers or volunteers that want to be involved in VBS this year.
  • We invite you to join us for Sunday school each Sunday morning at 9:15am. There are classes for all ages.

MISSION REPORT

  • You gave a total of 81 food items and $195 towards Souper Bowl of Caring. These items were placed in our church Food Pantry and the money will be used to purchase food. Your support in this mission is greatly appreciated.
  • Mission Brazoria has moved its dates to June 18-22. The help of any able bodied persons who are willing to volunteer are greatly appreciated. One thing they have talked about doing different this year is having a Food Team who will be in charge of lunches for the workers. Jessica Herrera will be a part of that team. If you are interested in joining her, please give her a call.
  • The office is seeing some young able bodied folks in need of assistance who do not have jobs. Jessica is working on having current job opening applications available in the office for those who have had trouble finding work.
  • Please bring in your January, February and March Stewart’s receipts during the first week of April.
  • The Hospice Care Team is asking for the help of Veterans. “At this time we are recruiting Veterans to be volunteers andmatch them up with Veteran patient at the end of life. HCT volunteers make calls and visits, assist with errand, provide respite assistance for caregivers”, as well as other tasks. They have offices in Lake Jackson and Texas City. If you are interested you may call Judy Wilson at 1-800-545-8738 or visit

Lectionary Readings for March

March 3rd: Isaiah 55:1-9, Psalm 63:1-8, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9

March 10th: Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

March 17th: Isaiah 43:16-21, Psalm 126, Philippians 3:4b-14, John 12:1-8

March 24th: Luke 19:28-40, Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 22:14-23:56

March 31st: Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 65:17-25, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 or Acts 10:34-43, John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-12

Prayer Request

Barbara Patterson had eye surgery, Sandy Tinnon with strep throat, family of Mrs. Larsen at her death, Jamie LeBouef had surgery, family of Ed Baisch at his death, Richard McLaren’s great nephew returned to hospital, William & Mary Clarke & family are sick, Carolyn King, Heather Wilcox got a job, Gary Hyer is recovery from cellulitis and returned to work on February 25th, Nancy(James) McLaren had surgery, Shane Ezell as well as Heather’s other boys, Bob Galiley having cancer treatment, Chase Richburg and his mom Crystal.

“An Interesting Fact”

The following was listed in the Sessional Report on March 31, 1923. “We have no regular pastor; Rev. Marsh Calloway of West Columbia, supplying our church three Sunday afternoons each month and he has raised the standard of spirituality in the church since here”

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Sunday, February 10, we celebrated Boy Scout Sunday by having Cub Scout troop 503 lead us in placing the flags and saying the pledge of allegiance to the American flag. Here is the pledge to the Texas flag and the Christian flag.

Pledge to Texas flag :

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Pledge to Christian Flag:

“I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe.”

John 6:40“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day”.

We would like to welcome the visitors we have had within the past few weeks:

  • Roger, Laura and Clayton Lackey
  • Tony, Emily and Steven Windham
  • Cole Polk
  • Jean Rhoton

Invite a friend or family member to church this month.

MarchBirthday Wishes to:

1-Malia Herrera

6-Vera Whitmarsh

7-Cynthia Hopwood

Shane Ezell

8-Savannah Levesque

11-Iola Cannedy

12- Barbara Patterson

19- John Matheson

22-Cole Buchanan

25- Sandra Barnett

29-Josh Buchanan

Kevin Levesque

30- Debbie Measells

Brian Knapp

31-Philip Ezell

Happy Anniversary To:

14-Vic & Barbara Tumlinson

19-Floyd & Iola Cannedy

21-James & Tiffany Giddions

Easter Trivia

  • The name Easter owes its origin from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg.
  • Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25.
  • Pysanka is a specific term used for the practice of Easter egg painting.
  • From the very early times, egg has been considered the most important symbol of rebirth.
  • The initial baskets of Easter were given the appearance of bird's nests.
  • The first chocolate egg recipes were made in Europe in the nineteenth century.
  • In the catalogue of kids' favorite Easter foodstuff, Red jellybeans occupy top most position.
  • Easter is now celebrated (in the words of the Book of Common Prayer) on the first Sunday after the full moon, which happens on, or after March 21, the Spring Equinox.
  • In medieval times, a festival of egg throwing was held in church, during which the priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choirboys. It was then tossed from one choirboy to the next and whoever held the egg when the clock struck 12 was the winner and retained the egg.
  • Some Churches still keep up the old tradition of using evergreens - symbolic of eternal life - embroidered in red on white, or woven in straw, but most now prefer displays of flowers in the spring colors of green, yellow and white.
  • The custom of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back to Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.


March 2013

Sunday / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday / Saturday
Every Sunday
SS 9:15AM
Worship 10:30AM / 1
Youth at Conclaves / 2
Youth at Conclaves
3 Holy Communion / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9
Youth coming home / 10am prayer gr. 7-m “42” / NO Choir Practice
10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16
Men’s Breakfast 7am
PW 4pm / 10am prayer group
7PM “42” / Choir Practice 6:30pm / Presbytery Meeting
17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23
Church dinner and Session meeting / 10am prayer group
7PM “42” / Choir Practice
6:30PM
24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 Maundy Thurs / 29 / 30
Palm Sunday
31 7am
Sunrise service / 10am prayer group
7pm “42" / Choir Practice
6:30pm / Worship at First Methodist meal @5:45pm Service @7pm / Easter Egg Hunt
10am-12pm