Prince of Peace Lutheran Church |
Where every person is important and Jesus Christ is Lord |
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Troy, New York The 36th Annual Meeting Booklet |
The State of the Church Report |
Meeting held on January 22, 2006 |
Prince of Peace is a Gospel-oriented people, gathered to hear God's Word and share in God's Sacraments. With open hearts and open minds, we open our doors to all, that together we might live God's Love and heal God's Children Mission Statement Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Adopted in February 2002 Wow 2005 where to begin? So much has happened God has been good to Prince of Peace and, hopefully, God would have reciprocal feelings about "the friends of the Prince of Peace" that is, our congregation. Still, much remains to be addressed and acted upon. For the past three years I've begun my "State of the Church Report" with our congregation's "mission statement." Some find mission statements to be bad religious "soundbites" having little meaning and even less results. It is my firm belief, however, that our mission statement isn't a call to specific action; rather, our mission statement imbues a sense of who we are and why we do what we do. God has wonderfully blessed us with a "Fellowship of the Fs" Faith, Friends, Food and Fun. In this report, I attempt to give you, the reader, an overview of our congregation's experiences, hopes and dreams of 2005. Membership: N3mbers is a new TV show on CBS on Friday nights quite entertaining actually but posited on the idea that everything in life all situations can be understood in light of equations. We, in the Church, know that there is more to the existence of both the Church and its members. Still, for the sake of order and planning, it's good to have an understanding of our statistics and so we examine them here. Active Adult Members 233 (subtract 3 deaths; add 2 confirmed; add 2 transfers in); Inactive Adult Members 48 (no change); Child Members 166 (subtract 1 death; subtract 2 confirmed; add 4 baptisms). Worship and Music: As a fellowship of the "friends of the Prince of Peace" nothing is more central to our existence than the worship of our Lord and Savior and central to that is our songs of "Thankfulness and Praise." I was told by a Roman Catholic priest that "one of the greatest compliments you can pay to a Roman Catholic congregation is to say that they sing like a group of Lutherans." As he finished he looked away, afraid that I would somehow be offended how foolish!! I took that as a high compliment, indeed! We Lutherans love to sing and singing God's praise is central to our existence. Oh my goodness oh geez come on now, pastor that is sooooooo booring!! Not!!! We have some fabulous hymns in both the "green" and the "blue" books and soon in the hmmmmm maroon (???) book! In any event we Lutherans do love to sing even if it isn't "on tune" but then God didn't say make a "tuneful noise," God said make a "JOYFUL noise" to the Lord!! And so, we do!! There are many ways to offer worship to our God some may include modern and hi-tech ways but in all we do God MUST be at the center of our activity or we are not true to who we are! We are who we are and who we are is God's children. As such, we gather together weekly to offer thanks to God and celebrate the power of the Resurrection. During the "school year" we worship on Sundays at two different worship opportunities 9:20 am and 10:45 am. Summer months offer a 10:00 am worship experience designed to allow for a full day of enjoyment for the upstate NY summer experience. Holy Communion is offered at every first Sunday of each month and at the special occasions of Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Easter and Christmas Eve. The Prince of Peace Corps is a fabulous group of folk who not only bring our worship alive but make our fellowship a fun place to be!! Our acolytes, altar guild and ushers bring to us a sense of what our worship experience is to be. Our counters provide us with a sense of what our fellowship has shared of its blessings from our God. Our "goody givers" provide us with the opportunity to share in a fellowship of compassion and laughter. Those who distribute the flowers to our "homebound" members are a wonderfully valuable resource for our congregation and I thank them on behalf of the entire congregation. Our altar care is primarily done by Carol Scheu and I am eternally grateful for, not only her efforts but her excellence in performance, as well. We are most fortunate to have our altar, banners and paraments taken care of by this servant of our congregation. For OVER 28 years, Norine Carpenter has made certain that our altar flowers have been ordered and placed. Little has been noted of her devotion to her congregation and I wish here to make certain that all of us take note of the love and joy with which she has performed her duty to her Lord and her fellowship here at Prince of Peace. Your Easter and Christmas flowers might be your only point of reference for this but, rest assured, that Norine has been taking care of our floral needs every month of every year and we are most grateful for her dedication. Our usher and acolyte lists are consistent in their fluency and I thank each and every one of you for the different services you have had the opportunity to provide. For all of those who have provided "goodies," I am very grateful, as well. Our little "Elf" (Bev) continues to help with the goodies and I thank her, as well!! Our worship experiences are not limited to those regular worship opportunities on Sunday mornings. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent a time of prayer and contemplation as to the sacrifice that God has made to make us his own. This is followed by one of the most moving worship experiences of the year our Maundy Thursday worship service the "Agape Meal." On Good Friday, we share with the entire community of Lansingburgh in an ecumenical recognition of God's love and sacrifice marching together from building to building behind the Cross of Christ for all to see for all to know that there are those who regard IT as the symbol of ALL that is good and that which embodies our hope for the future both here and in our life after life. Easter is a special experience for us all and is made even more special through the talents of both our choir and Jeremy Gordon who is our member/trumpeter! On May 29 we had the privilege to welcome, as adult members, Desirae Lynn Deegan and Jeremy Cole Gordon. These are "great kids" and I thank God that they have grown up as a part of our family!! One of the favorite Sundays of the year is "favorite hymn Sunday." Held in the middle of August, it is an opportunity to enjoy the best that our hymnwriters have given us especially those we enjoy the most. Pastor continues to lead the Veterans of our community in their annual Veterans' Day walk in downtown Troy. I feel very honored to be a part of this solemn occasion not a parade of sound and sight but a time of sense and insight. On December 18, one week before the Nativity, we were treated to our children's interpretation of the birth of Jesus. How blessed we are to have such a group of vibrant, talented and fun children and leaders. Christmas Eve was the cherry on the top of our worship-year cupcake! Both the 7pm and 11pm worship services offered us the story at 7 in the lives of our children; at 11 in the emotion of a candlelight communion service. Congregation Council: The members of our 2005 Congregation Council have been: Candi Ansel, Brian Barno, Pamela Barrett, Bill Clarkson, Darlene Gordon, Arlene Hunziker (president), Betty Madison, Jason Morrison, Stephanie Wagaar, Andrew Weyl, Michael Whalen and Marvin Zepf. We owe these 12 individuals our thanks I've been with them on their journey of faith, deliberations and frustrations believe me they deserve our thanks!!!!!!! Christian Education: How fortunate we are to have a group of folk who are willing to be the heart of our Christian education experiences. Our Sunday School staff Carol Scheu, Bonnie Hunziker, Pam Barrett attempt to bring God's love alive to our children on a weekly basis. Our confirmation class meets on a monthly basis and shares not only the doctrines of Martin but also addresses the subjects and problems of their lives, as well. We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the Lansingburgh public school system in our joint ministry to those children who need before and /or after school care. Though we do not (and, by law are not allowed to) make our religion a part of their official curriculum, we believe our very presence speaks God's love loud and clear. POPS Christian Day Care Center remains the finest opportunity for parents who aren't able to stay at home with their pre-school age children. Run by Bonnie Hunziker and Carol Scheu, this program continues to be a mark of excellence in pre-school education and care. Once again, our Hudson-Mohawk Conference Confirmation Camp was held at Camp SonRise (a camp of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) and we give thanks for the opportunity! Other Activities: There are precious few words that can describe the joy which I find in the joint ministry we share with the congregation of St. Paul's Missionary Baptist Church. These are a people of faith a people of God a people of our own community. Each of us are blessed by our opportunity to share our facilities with this people of God, led by a man of faith, conviction and joy the Rev. Ben Sturges. May God bless their ministry among us! We continue to share in a ministry to the people of Northwoods (Highgate) Nursing Home through pastor's monthly worship services there. Thank you to Anna Kavanaugh for her regular transport of our hunger (food) gifts to our local food pantry system. We continue to work hard to provide Christmas gifts for our local needy and regular greetings to our congregational homebound members. Though they might only seem to be fund-raisers for our congregation, our silent-auctions (organized by Billie Loomis), our dinners and our flea markets have proven to be opportunities to share God's message of reconciling love with the communities surrounding us. Thank you for your participation in these mission events. We continue to have a website: http://poplutheranchurchtroyny.homestead.com I attempt to keep it updated with the latest Prince of Peace news and information. I must mea culpa that this doesn't' always happen but I pledge to try to do even better in the coming year. 2006 The Future: If you would please give me the latitude to quote Bill O'Reilly "I believe that there's a right and I believe that there's a wrong what say you, what say you?" 2006 will be filled with "rights and wrongs" and it is up to us, as Christians to determine which is which. As I began this report WOW! In this age of political correct-ness no one wishes to either acknowlege this or allow it to meet its logical conclusion that we are flawed people of God. As such we are to do our best to make God's love alive in our world on a personal and a corporate level. God's love should guide us in our acitivities! The parsonage eaves have been repaired and appliances replaced and we should all be pleased with these but it is time for us to concentrate on those issues which might seem far away and yet are so close hunger! There are so many in our community and throughout God's world who need us and we will NOT fail to help them! We do need to address the question of the parsonage roof (shingles) being replaced sometime in the next 2 years. I wish to take this opportunity to thank all of you who help to make our congregational life such a wonderful pleasure from Bev making sure that all is plowed and ready on a Sunday morning to Bonnie who makes all things educationally run and prosper to Arlene who has been my "adopted-mother" for the past 28 years. Most of all, I wish to thank Carol, my life's partner, my mate, the one without whom life for me would be impossible. Carol is the intangible many of you do not see or hear. Carol not only empowers me and recharges me to do all I do for each of you; she is there for you on a daily basis herself selflessly giving her time and effort in order that our worship and corporate experiences might be the best!! I am so incredibly blessed to call her friend, fellow-member but even more to call her my wife every day I give thanks for her guidance and thought. I pray that each of you might have someone who might share such with you for if you do you will truly have reason to Rejoice!!!! Pastor Rich |
