CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT RENAISSANCE NEWS AND VIEWS A Bi- monthly newsletter with items of interest for our Renaissance Ministry and Families Published by: Renaissance Ministry Church of the Holy Spirit January – February 2015

A Prayer to the God Who Lives Within

Spirit of the Living God Move through my life with winds of blessing Breathe in me! Wash over me! Empower me! Fan the embers of hope hidden in my strife, Blow away all that hinders me from living an abundant life.

Bright Dawn of God Move through my life with winds of blessing. Reveal! Illuminate! Make Known! Unveil the treasures that are hidden from sight. Gift me stars in the clouds of my night. Usher me into the meadows of delight.

Heart of my heart, Move through my life with winds of blessing. Balance! Harmonize! Unify! Calm the warring factions in my life. Integrate me in all that has been torn apart. Merge the joys and sorrows of my heart

Oh God of loveliness, Move through my life with winds of blessing. Attend! Transform! Guide! Massage the places where I am stuck in pain Accompany me into healing spaces.

O Beauty, ever ancient, ever new Move through my life with winds of blessing. Remember! Evoke! Behold! Recall the gifts which you have given to me. Lead me to the gold in my memories……Amen

As always: a gentle reminder about things to think about for 2015

Enjoy the simple things Laugh often, long and hard, laugh until you gasp for breath Surround yourself with what and who you love Cherish your health Be ALIVE while you are alive Remember…God is everywhere The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love God is in heaven---all is right with the world! Take time for quiet moments of reflection Remember….Each new day that comes your way is blessed with promise God’s arms of love are around you, and He is only a prayer away Remember… I can’t do everything. But everything I do, I can do it with love. “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world” Mother Teresa Always Remember….Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

HAPPY NEW YEAR DEAR FRIENDS

Good Books Websites Movies

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Parish Health Ministry News:

NY Statewide Senior Action Council – a not-for-profit grassroots membership organization made up of individuals and organizations with an interest in improving the lives of Senior Citizens. Information is available on the StateWide Web site at www.nysenior.org E-mail questions to: [email protected] Helpline is toll free at 1-800-333-4374

With a Laugh and a Prayer

MEDICINE – Medicine is a concoction made to cure an illness or make you feel better. It often helps an upset stomach, a cough, a drippy nose, a sore toe – and many serious life threatening ailments. Some seniors are all too familiar with this word and have a fistful of prescriptions to prove it. They feel, just a bit of chocolate can make them feel much better. Once there was an Aztec ruler named Montezuma and evidently he did not stop at just a bit. It has been reported that the officials and people who lived in his palace drank TWO THOUSAND pitchers of chocolate every day! There is no report about whether this cured anything, but it must have made them all feel better. Does chocolate make you feel better? If it does, stop everything and eat a chocolate bar right now. OR do you l know someone who is sick or sad, or just feels bad and needs something to feel better? Send or take that person some chocolate as soon as possible! Dear Lord, there’s a song that says “just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,” and today they say that dark chocolate is very good for your health. So thank you Lord, for the first people who figured out how to grind cacao beans and add a few spoonfuls of sugar and keep changing the mixture until they came up with candy, cakes and cookies and hot chocolate to drink on a cold winter night. Thank you for this delicious way to make many people feel much better. Amen

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News on your Parish Ministry: Anything you want to share???

LIFT – Living in Faith together

Gathering 4 – Confess one Baptism - Jan 5,7, and 11 Gathering 5 – His Kingdom will have no end – Feb 2,4, and 11

LIFT is for all of US!

The Rosary is recited every Tuesday in the Church at 11am

Do you have 2-3 hours per month to help someone in your community?? Belonging to an Eddy Alzheimers Care Team, you only give the time you can when you can because there are several of you to share the roll of helping families who are caregivers for loved ones with Alzheimers and dementia. The average volunteer offers 2-3 hours per month of non-medical support and friendship. All volunteers are offered training and continued support from the Staff at Eddy Alzheimers Services. Please contact Sandy Monahan at 283-4167 or [email protected] ARE YOU A CAREGIVER or DO YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO COULD USE SOME HELP? PLESE LET US KNOW. WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. ______

Things going on in the surrounding area:

Dominican Retreat and Conference Center 1945 Union Street, Niskayuna, NY 518-393-4169 www.dslcny,org PLEASE CALL FOR RESERVATIONS

Jan 10 - Collage Workshop, Collage Making as Prayer 10am-3pm $30.00 – Sr. Ethel Detz OP Jan 17 – Gentle Spiritual Yoga 10am-3pm $30.00 Sonja Boesse Soup with the Saints 1/20 – St. Angel Merici – Barbara Ebner OPA 1/27 – St. Joseph of Cupertino – Maggie Wheeler OPA 2/3 St. Agnes – Ceil Amendolia OPA $15.00 per person or $40.00 for all three Jan 29 at 6:30pm – Chicken Soup for the Body – Sr. Eleanor Guerin $20.00 per person

Feb 4 – 7-9pm The Spirituality of Anger – The Rev. Tom Konopka MDV. LCSW $10.00 per person Feb 9 - 7pm-8:30pm Lincoln’s Religion Mr. Thomas Hoffman $15.00 per person Feb 10 - 10am – 11am Lincoln’s Religion – Mr. Thomas Hoffman $15.00 per person Feb 18 6:20pm Ash Wednesday Evening of Reflection “Our Lenten Journey” – Rev Bill Sheehan OMI $25.00 Feb 26 – Evening Presentation – Devotions on Devices: Art and the I=Pad 7pm-9pm $15,00

East Greenbush Library: Please call 477-7476 for Reservations and information

MUSIC Lark Strings Classical Concert – Sunday Feb 15 at 2pm

COMPUTER

Computer Classes Mondays Jan 5 – Feb 23 at 6pm Jan 5 – Introduction to Computers Jan 12 and 19 – Internet Usage and Security Jan 26 and Feb 2 E-mail, photo sharing and twitter Feb 9 – Application Security Feb 16 and 23 – Facebook Ask the Expert- Thursdays Jan 8 Feb 26 – Drop by the library to get your technology question answered by a expert.

ADULT PROGRAMS REGISRATION IS REQUIRED FOR THESE PROGRAMS – CALL 477-7476

Arthritis Foundation Tai-Chi Class – Jan 5-April 6 at 6pm Coping with Anxiety and Depression – Wed. Jan 7, 7pm Zumba Gold – Wed. Jan 14 and Feb 18 at 3:45pm Tracks Trails and Treasures Sunday – Jan 18 at 2pm Mavens of Mayham Author Event – Sat. Jan 31 at 12 noon

Life Speeds Up: Robert Fulton and a Changing NY Sunday Jan 11 2pm Greenbush Historical Society Presents – Living History – Sunday Feb 1 at 2pm Heart Beat: Native American Musical Instruments Sunday Feb 8 at 2pm Edibles in your garden: Tuesday Jan 6 6:30pm History of Fort Crailo – Tuesday Feb 3 6:30pm American Red Cross – Blood Drive – Monday Jan 5 AARP Smart Driver Course – Monday Jan 12 or Feb 9 – 9:30 – 3:30

Movie Wednesday 6:30 Jan 21 – Guardians of the Galaxy

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OTHER NEWS AND MUESINGS

At birth we board a train and meet our parents. We believe that they will always travel by our side. However, at some station, our parents will step down from the train, leaving us on this journey alone. As time goes by, other people will board the train, and they will be significant, siblings, friends, and the love of your life, children and many others. Some will step down and leave a permanent vacuum. Others will go so unnoticed that we won’t realize they vacated their seats. The train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbys and farewells. A successful ride requires having a good relationship with all passengers. We must give the best of ourselves. The mystery to everyone is, we do not know at which station we ourselves will step down. So we must live in the best way, love, forgive, and offer the best of who we are. It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life. I wish you a joyful journey on the train of life. Reap success and give lots of love. More importantly, thank God for the journey.

P.S. Thank you for being one of the passengers on my train.

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LAUGHTER

A Child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible Here is what was written: The children’s Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The bible says: The lord thy god is one, but I think he must be a lot older than that. Anyway, god said, give me a light and someone did. Then god made the world. He split the Adam and made eve. Adam and eve were naked, but they weren’t embarrassed because mirrors hadn’t been invented yet. Adam and eve disobeyed god by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden…not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn’t have cars. Adam and Eve had a son, Cain who hated his brother as long as he was Abel. Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something. One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but said they would have to take a rain check. After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son Joseph who wore a really loud sportscoat. Another important bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel lights out of Egypt and away from the evil pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on pharaoh’s people. These plagues included frogs, mice, bowels, and no cable. God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti, then he gave them his top ten commandments. These include: don’t lie, cheat, smoke, dance or cover your neighbor’s stuff, oh yeah I just thought of one more: humor thy father and thy mother. One of Moses’s best helpers was Joshua who was the first bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of geritol and the fence fell over on the town. After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound very wise to me. After Solomon there was a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up upon the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don’t have to worry about them. After the Old Testament came the New Testament. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me ‘Close the door! Were you born in a barn? It would be nice to say As a matter of fact I was.’) During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worse was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a horrible vegetable after him. Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn’t stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the Book of Revolution.

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Anything you would like to share

“When I get old, I don’t want folks saying ‘What a lovely old lady’ I want them saying “Oh no! What is she doing now!’

A Pillow: One of the small comforts we take for granted in our lives is the pillow beneath our heads as we seek our rest for the night.

REFLECTION

A pillow represents softness, quiet comfort. And a kind of contentment. It is completely passive. It lets us push it, twist it, fold it, turn it, squash it – anything in order to give us comfort. We who take pillows for granted may forget that Jesus once told His followers: ‘The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” We, in our comfort, rarely think about the constant discomfort of Jesus, who by His daily example, taught us that we cannot rest in total comfort as long as there are people who are unjustly deprived of the same opportunity A pillow is a symbol of comfort and rest. We usually don’t share our own pillows, but as we reflect on our own good fortune, we can always find ways to be “pillows for others”

PRAYER

Help me, God, to share what I have for the less fortunate. Remind me that I cannot rest peacefully at night if I have not been a “pillow” to someone during the day. Amen

ACTION: Think about your friends and neighbors. Who among them is in need of comfort right now? Give a call, send an e-mail, or visit this person and offer the kind of comfort that Jesus might offer. Be a pillow against his or hers pain.

Simple Gifts by Patricia Kluepfel ______

PRAYER: He is Never Far Away

When we are hurting, God doesn’t stay on high ---- He brings His majesty to earth on the wings of love. When we encounter trials and tribulations, it is God who will help us face whatever Is happening in our hearts. He pours His peace into the moments, holds our hands And calms our fears, He walks with us and talks with us along the way. When we need the ultimate in compassion----- the greatest caring, true concern----it is God’s love that wipes each tear away and brings tomorrow’s hope. God isn’t far away…… He’s always by your side. Amen

What can we do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.

Mother Teresa

Everyday Holds the Possibility of a Miracle