PARSON TO PERSON: “At the Controls”
On my way to the church each day I drive past Costanzi’s - a heavy crane company. Some of them weigh close to 40 tons, with booms stretching as high as 80’ in the air. Some have attached a large steel ball used in building demolitions. The crane operator jokingly calls them “headache balls.
A crane can be used to set new buildings in place, or used to tear down buildings in days that took months or years to build. You want to make sure the right person gets behind the controls.
The Church (people, not bricks and mortar) takes a long time to build, and can also be torn apart quickly.
Each of us is like a crane operator - sitting at the controls - with the power and capacity to build up or tear down. Building up requires commitment; patience; prayer; forgiveness; love, and a lot of hard work. All it takes to tear down are such things as: a jealous heart; an unforgiving spirit; a critical attitude; a tendency to have hurt feelings; an “I’m more spiritual or knowledgeable than you” conviction and attitude; or a tendency to repeat something that might not be completely true, etc….
We’re at the beginning of a new year in an active, alive, involved and caring church. It will be filled with many opportunities to build up or tear down. It’s my prayer that we will all want to be a part of the building team. All it takes are such things as: understanding; forgiveness; sensitivity; words of encouragement; patience; thinking more of the overall future and growth of the church than our own feelings or pet projects and preferences. May such things as dissension, animosity or cliques not rear their heads for fear of encountering the “headache ball.”
Let the Hurley Reformed Church be a building place each Sunday, and every weekday of this new year.
Pastor Bob
MEET OUR NEW MEMBERS:
At worship on December 30th , we received the following members into our church family:
Ron Chrisey: Ron joins by transfer of his membership from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Kingston. He was born in Hurley, grew up in Kingston, graduating from Kingston High, and now lives in Sawkill. Ron was a part of the Navy Seabees from 1953-61, spending half that time in the South Pacific and Aleutian Islands. He is retired from work as a heavy equipment mechanic, which included 20 years as a Bldg. Maint. Coord. for Ulster County Dept. of Bldg. & Grounds. Ron holds offices in his Seabee Veterans group as well as helping with their numerous projects. He is an active member in VFW Post 1386. Ron says his hobbies are anything he can fix, working with wood, joining the "Berm" crew this summer, and cooking/baking. (He is known around the church as the "banana nut bread" man). Ron recently built a model of the church which is, on display on the glass case at the top of the entryway.
Beverly Chrisey: Bev joins by reaffirmation of her faith. Born in Saugerties, she grew up in the Tillson/Rosendale area, and graduated from Kingston High School, and then Sheddan's Beauty Academy. Bev worked for 3 years as a beautician, then married Ron, moved to Canajoharie for 5 years, then back to Kingston. She worked 5 years for the Town of Kingston as a secretary/bookkeeper/court clerk, then 23 years for the Country of Ulster as Senior Account clerk. Now retired, Bev spends her days as a homemaker, helping with family members, the Navy Seabees Veterans with numerous projects, and the Town of Kingston seniors. She lists as hobbies: crafts, reading, camping, and computer work. Bev has some physical disabilities which limit her coming and going.
Dawn O'Brian: Dawn joins by Confession of her faith. She is the daughter of Ron and Bev Chrisey. She grew up mostly in Kingston/Sawkill, but has lived in upstate NY, as well as a short time in San Jose, Calif.. Dawn worked for the county in self insurance. Now retired she keeps house, keeps the family records, watches her grandchildren. Dawn does plastic canvass, flower arrangements for relaxation.
Marilyn More: Marilyn joins by Transfer of her membership from the Fair Street Reformed Church in Kingston. She grew up in Ramsey, N.J., and moved to Kingston in 1966. Marilyn works for Commercial Mutual Insurance Company in Kingston as an administrative assistant for a small company which includes many jobs. She enjoys working on the computer, especially with photos as well as different crafts - sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc... Marilyn has 8 grandchildren ages 9 and under. Her comment was: "Oh, what fun."
Sr. High Church School News
from Jennifer Macarille and Carla Paton
We are extremely blessed to spend each Sunday morning with the great group of Sr. High students whom you see in the front pews each week. About a month ago we completed a curriculum called “Discover Your Faith”. For the last session, we split the class into two groups and asked each to put together a “Confession of Faith” based on what we had just studied about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible and the Church. We thought you might like to read what they wrote: “We the people of the Christian community believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and that God is the creator of heaven and earth. Our holy gathering place is the church and our book is the Holy Bible. We believe that the Bible contains guidelines that show right from wrong and how to live a good life. It documents the whole history of God and earth. We the people believe that the Church is a place to bond with our faith and apologize to the Father. We believe Jesus died to forgive our sins.”
“We believe…
…God is our guiding light.
…His Son, Jesus is our Savior; He loves us and will forgive our sins.
…Jesus rose from the dead.
…The Holy Spirit lives inside everyone.
…The Holy Spirit never leaves us: He, as well as the Father and the Son is the eternal God.
…The Bible is the living Word of God.
…The Church helps give a better view of God; it’s the family of God.
…It’s a place we can all come together and worship.
…The church makes us more charitable.”
A special thanks to all of the faithful parents and grandparents for bringing us such a wonderful group young people to work with each week!
The Sr. High Church School students would like to extend our thanks to all who supported our Alternative Holiday Market in December. We are happy to report that our class collected over $1,000.00 in gifts for Church World Service – Tools and Blankets Program!! Thank you for your support.
Good news
I would like to share the good news of a special gift my family has received this Christmas. My mother got the results of the most recent MRI of her brain. As you know, there were 5 brain tumors discovered last February and she underwent radiation treatment. In a side by side comparison yesterday the doctor saw that 4 of the 5 tumors have disappeared and the larger tumor that remains has shrunk considerably and is dormant. The tumor is no longer pushing into the brain.
She is truly a miracle and it is because of the many prayers that you have all offered on her behalf. What more can I say but, Halleluiah, thank you Lord! And thanks to each of you for the many prayers and kind words through these past months.
Debbie Decker, Secretary
Hurley Reformed Church
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THANKS FOR ALL THE PRAYERS AND CARDS.
IT WAS GREATLY APPRECIATED
THANKS JERRY WYNCOOP 
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Consistory Corner - Dec 2007
. Ordination / Installation of Bonnie Dumas as Deacon will be held during
service on 1/13/08. Thank you, Bonnie.
. The directory is still in the works and should arrive in early 2008.
. Pastor Bob has a group of new member ready to join and will also
be exploring the interest in a Confirmation Class.
. Approval has been given to the Columbarium Committee to get information
out to the congregation.
Bottle Returns
Thank you to everyone for bringing in your empty cans & bottles. The response to this has been overwhelming and I really appreciate your support. Please continue to put these empties in the box in Schadewald Hall. All of this benefits my WISE project for the American Cancer Society.
Thank you!
Katie Emrich
LAST CALL FOR THE MUSEUM
If you have signed up for this Albany NYS Museum over night trip on Friday, 1/25/08 we need your payment in full on or before 1/6/08. The cost of this trip is $30 a person. If you didn’t sign up there is still room so please contact Amy Sirni at 338-4960 or Sandy Emrich 687-4006 as soon as possible. This trip will enable you to enter the museum at 6:45pm on 1/25/08. Dinner we will have pizza, a craft will be made, a snack will be served, tour the museum without a crowd of people, and then sleeping in the museum. We need to exit the museum by 9am on Sat, 1/26/08. We will have the whole museum to ourselves.
Youth Group
Thank you to everyone for bringing in a mittens, hats, gloves, &/or a scarves for our mitten tree. The tree is loaded with these items and will be delivered the first of the year to the area schools to assist in keeping the kids warm this winter.
The December/January food pantry item(s) are toiletries. Please bring in shampoo, soaps, razors, band aids, first aid cream, lotions, etc. Thank you for your help.
A very BIG thank you for everyone that brought in items for our soldiers. We shipped 4 very big boxes over to them in the beginning of December. What a feeling it was to send these boxes knowing to whom they were going to and how much the items will be appreciated, needed and used.
In December we went caroling. A caravan of vehicles took us too many area homes with our Santa hats on & holding candles while we sang carols. We enjoyed doing this for the community & the people that we sang to were very appreciative as well. One person to whom we sang to said that he did this when he was younger & never been sung to until we did it. What a great way to bring in the holiday season.
We also did babysitting. During this babysitting we put together boxes for the cookie walk, decorated gingerbread men, played games, watched movies and just hung out together. We did all of this while having a great time!! Thank you for bringing your children to this event for us to watch while you had a night out. We will appreciate you doing this.
Our upcoming events: 1/13/08: meeting
1/20/08: Bowl-a-thon at Hoe-Bowl on the Hill
1/25/08: Night at the Museum in Albany, NY
2/3/08: Chili Sale for a Souper Bowl fund raiser
2/17/08: meeting
3/4/08: Brooks bar-b-que
3/16/08: meeting
We are hoping that you and your family have a happy and healthy New Year!!
Cookie Walk
In spite of "Old Man Winter", a modified cookie walk was held the week after the original date. This would have been our 12th annual event with no weather casualties, so I guess we were due!
Many thanks need to be given to the bakers, the buyers and especially our Youth Group who set up the tables for us, put together over 100 boxes and decorated them too. They even found time to bake and trim dozens of gingerbread men. (Ahhh, the energy of youth .... and their leaders!). Also a special thank you to Wayne and Frank for the break down part of the nonevent and to the women who returned the following week to box assorted cookies for sale on Sunday.
We are truly grateful for the support the church community gives to this fundraiser as well as all the activities sponsored by the Women's Guild. Hopefully, next year we will once again return to our traditional Cookie Walk!
Christa Conlin and Joyce Pinckney, CO-chairs
Thank You
: Pastor Bob and June wish to say thanks to the congregation for all the gifts, cards, and other remembrances they received during the holidays. Last year we celebrated Christmas with a group of new friends. This year it felt much more like celebrating Christmas with our church family. We look forward to continued ministry with you in 2008.
BUDGET HELP
Last year many of you responded to our call for help by paying your "denominational financial responsibility" (Classis dues) in addition to your regular weekly giving. We are again asking you to consider making this commitment.
We currently have 340 people listed as "active members." This number includes both adults and children who have been confirmed. If you use weekly envelopes, you will see $82.70 as the suggested amount per person for "dues." There is a special envelope in your box for this expense. If you do not use envelopes, you can simply make your contribution by check (or cash) and designate it for "Classis dues." Last year, about 70 of you made some commitment toward this.
We thank you for your prayerful consideration to help with this annual expense. Any amount you give toward this will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Frank Pinckney, Chair for Finance
Bowl-A-Thon
WHEN: January 20, 2008
WHERE: Hoe-Bowl on the Hill, Kingston, NY
WHAT: Bowling
TO BENEFIT: The American Cancer Society
Do you like to bowl but, you haven’t done this in a long time. Well, now is your chance to dust off your bowling ball and shoes and join us for this fund raiser. Even if you haven’t bowled in a while, own a bowling ball or shoes, we still want you to join us. The bowling alley has enough of these for everyone.
This is a fund raiser so come and get your sponsor sheet as soon as possible so you can start raising money. Prizes will be given to the 3 top fund raisers.
This fund raiser is open to everyone and anyone. So, spread the word and get your friends and family in on this as well. The more the merrier!!
Thank you for your support!!
Katie Emrich
We’re
getting ready……
For a Brook’s BBQ!!!
The Youth Group is sponsoring a Brook’s BBQ here
at the Hurley Reformed Church.
March 4th 2008 from 4:00pm to 7:00 pm.
Mark your calendars now and watch the bulletin for more details.