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SUMMER WORSHIP
During the summer, Old Union worships at 10:00 AM. We are scheduled to worship half of the time in our outdoor pavilion, and half of the time in the sanctuary. However, we will worship in the sanctuary, if we’re scheduled to be outside, if the weather is rainy or stifling hot (now that we have air conditioning!). The worship locations for June are: June 5: Pavilion June 12: Sanctuary June 19: Pavilion June 26: Sanctuary Services will be livestreamed whether we are inside or outside. Please sign up in the lobby if you’d like to volunteer to weed one of the church’s flower beds this year. In order to cut down on expenses, the cemeteries will not be mowed as frequently as they have in the past few years. We request your patience and understanding, as we seek to maintain funds for use well into the future. Thanks to generous funds given in memory of Gerry C., we have purchased a new keyboard to use for our outdoor worship services. It will also enhance our music offerings in the sanctuary. The Helping Hands meet after worship on the last Sunday of each month. If you’d like to lend a hand for light maintenance work, or if you’d like to share your thoughts about larger projects for the church building and property, please join us! COMMUNITY OUTREACH Because of your generous giving, Old Union is in a position to reach out in new ways to our community to share Christ’s love. During our Lenten prayer vigil, we identified six possible projects. Please speak with the pastor or a session member if you’d take part in any of the following activities: A. Backpacks of supplies or food for children in need; maybe invite Logo Tournament kids to help with it. B. Give gift cards for first responders to give to people in immediate crisis situations. C. A food cupboard for Mars borough residents; perhaps cooperate with and support what St. Kilian Church is doing. D. Free community dinners or lunches, with optional activities (puzzles, board games, conversation) after. E. Provide money for Eagle Scout or school senior projects. F. Provide spiritual support for care home residents; perhaps build on what Sue C. is doing at St. Barnabas. FOOD FOR LONGMORE ACADEMY Longmore Academy, the school run by the Mars Home for Youth, serves students who need specialized care and attention. During their six-week summer session in June and July, Old Union will provide parcels of food to the students each Friday, to ensure that they have something to eat during the weekend. Each Sunday, we will package the food after worship; please join us in the fellowship hall so that many hands can make light work! If you’d like to help in purchasing or delivering the food, please speak with Mary Rae T.. The session has approved plans to replace the floorboards and railing for the back deck of the manse with composite materials. Work will take place later this summer. CEMETERY CLEAN-UP DAY Please join us on Thursday June 23 for a morning of work to spruce up the cemetery, starting at 8:00 AM. The main focus will be to put dirt on some low spots that have developed. Lunch will be served! If you’d like to join us, please speak with Ruth G. so (1) she will know how many people to expect for lunch, and (2) she will be able to contact you in case we need to cancel because of bad weather. |
Mark your calendar! We will have a church picnic following worship on July 10.
Looking Ahead: we will have a shared worship service and picnic with our friends from Crestview and Plains Presbyterian Churches on August 21. The event will take place at Crestview Church in Callery. If you are locking the church doors, please be sure that they are both key-locked and that the crash bar has been released. Please also give a push to make sure they “click.” Thank you! We extend our sympathy to the family of Peggy M., who died May 9. MISSION TRIP Thirty-four people from nine churches will take part in our church’s mission trip to Madisonville, Kentucky, to assist with the rebuilding work following last December’s devastating tornados. The team will leave after worship on Sunday June 26 and return Saturday July 2. Please support this work with your prayers:
Would you like to take a turn every five or six weeks to be our “clicker” to run the projectors during worship? You can do so from you seat in the sanctuary, and remote is easier to use than a TV remote. Speak with the pastor if you’re interested. We’ve been blessed by Maddie R.’s piano-playing for our worship services, but in August she will be leaving us to go to college. If you or someone you know are interested in taking her place when she leaves, please speak with Peter or Shelley Z.. PENTECOST OFFERING June 5 is Pentecost, and once again Old Union is receiving the Pentecost Offering, to raise funds for children, youth, and young adult programs. Your donations will be divided as follows: 25% to Presbyterian youth ministries 25% to support the Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer program 10% for child advocacy 40% to be designated by our church. Old Union’s session voted to have half go to Fishbone Ministries, which serves at-risk children in Butler, and half to the Mars chapter of “Sleep in Heavenly Peace,” which provides beds for children of families in need. THANK YOU! You contributed $848.04 in 2021 and $1,246.00 in 2022 to the One Great Hour of Sharing, to support the work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People. In 2021 you donated $315.88 to the Pentecost Offering, which supported denominational children, youth, and young adult programs and the Butler County Children's Advocacy Center. In 2022 you contributed over $600.00 on “Blanket Sunday” to support Church World Service’s ministry to refugees. LEARNING HOW TO SPELL “PRESBYTERIAN” Presbyterians trace their theological roots back to John Calvin, a French reformer who, along with other reformers such as Martin Luther, sought to bring the church back to its Biblical roots. In 1530 he broke from the Roman Catholic church and fled persecution in France to teach his understanding of the Christian faith in Geneva, Switzerland. Among his students was a Scot named John Knox, who brought the “Calvinist” faith to his homeland and established the Scottish Presbyterian Church. It was Scottish and Scots-Irish immigrants to the New World who founded the Presbyterian Church here. Because they settled primarily in the mid-Atlantic colonies, Presbyterianism was especially strong in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. To this day, there are more Presbyterians per capita in western Pennsylvania than anywhere else in the US. |
Old Union Presbyterian Church | 200 Union Church Road, Mars, PA 16046
724-538-8672 | OldUnionChurch@gmail.com
724-538-8672 | OldUnionChurch@gmail.com