First Presbyterian Church NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE 110 East Third Street PAID Dixon, IL 61021 PERMIT NO. 212 Phone: (815) 284-7741 DIXON, IL 61021 Fax: (815) 284-6725 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Website: www.fpcdixon.com

2012

MARCH BIRTHDAYS

03/02 David Hage 03/09 Stanley Weber 03/20 Judith Magdich 03/02 Andrew Dempsey 03/10 Marvin Speer 03/21 Abbey Schaefer 03/03 Jack Dempsey 03/10 Jon Dempsey 03/24 Erik Hopp 03/07 Char Hawbaker 03/11 David Coers 03/28 Julie Batorski 03/07 Alexandrea Barth 03/12 Cliff Rugh 03/28 Ashley Hawbaker

03/15 Mark Dempsey 03/29 Michael Barth 03/30 DeeAnn Wendt 03/31 Allen Cumberland

MARCH ANNIVERSARIES

03/04 Bruce & Carol Bennett 03/14 Dick & Cheryl Mills 03/29 Chuck & Vicki Jones

1 The Belltower A Monthly Publication of

First Presbyterian Church

Dixon, IL 61021 March 2010

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been following a book of devotional readings taken from the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer ( I Want to Live These Days with You, Westminster-John Knox Press 2005). I was especially struck by the reading for February 25, and I’d like to quote it for you.

Only those who are thankful for small things also receive great things. We keep God from giving us the great spiritual gifts he has for us because we do not give thanks for daily gifts. We think that we cannot be satisfied with the small amount of spiritual knowledge, experience and love given to us and always look greedily for greater gifts (Jer. 45:5). We then complain that we lack the great certainty, the strong faith, and rich experience God has given to other Christians, and we believe that our grievances are righteous. We pray for great things and forget to give thanks for the daily small (yet in truth not small!) gifts. But how can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive small things from his hand? When we do not give thanks daily for the Christian community in which we are placed—even when there is no great experience, no perceivable wealth, but where there is much weakness, little faith, and much difficulty—when we are always complaining to God that everything is so measly, so small, so unlike what we expected, then we keep God from making our community grow according to the abundance and riches that await all of us in Jesus Christ.

Bonhoeffer points out that when we think and pray and work for the church to grow, we can be prone to certain attitudes that are not only practically counter-productive but spiritually counter-productive, too. We can, for instance, become envious of churches that appear more “successful” than ours, or we can become nostalgic for the past, or we seek “success” because it makes us feel better about ourselves. But in the process we can lose sight of the truth about ourselves, that God is present with our church right now, and that his gifts and grace are sufficient. He warns us that if we fail to appreciate the gifts God has already given us, and worse than that complain about them, we have little reason to think that God would entrust us with greater gifts and blessings. 2

I realized this morning that as I write this, tomorrow will be the second anniversary of my call to Dixon. It serves as a good reminder of the reasons I came. This is a church full of gifted, loving, committed followers of Jesus, and I see evidence of that faith and love every day. In this past month when we were called up to host the Presbytery for their meeting on the 14 th and the community for the Lenten service on the 26 th I saw people receiving warm hospitality. I see it as people share in all the aspects of worship every Sunday, from the care taken in preparing the sanctuary, to the thoughtful preparation of the liturgists and musicians, to the care shown our little ones in the nursery. I see it in the many hours members of our church family devote, usually very quietly, to the community. I encourage you to give thanks for these simple blessings, and then ask how we can grow to be an even greater blessing to our community and world.

Grace and peace, David

Remember Newsletter information to be turned into the office by the 15 th of each month.

Don’t forget to SPRING AHEAD March 11!!

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

As Presbyterians, we embrace the Reformed tradition as we strive to support Christ’s mission within our church, our community, and worldwide, celebrating the life of Christ by reaching out to all people.

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The time is fast approaching for graduation. If you have a child, or a grandchild that will be graduating from eighth grade, high school, college, or graduate school, please let the church office know the graduate’s name, where they are graduating from, and also send a paragraph telling the church family about their future plans.

One Great Hour of Sharing

Immediately following WWII, Protestant churches in the U.S. made appeals for the relief and reconstruction of areas devastated by the war, primarily Europe and Asia. In 1949 the leaders of several denominations formed a committee to organize an appeal to support their churches’ separate campaigns. A radio program called One Great Hour was broadcast on March 26, 1949, over major networks and many independent stations. The broadcast closed with a request that listeners attend their local church the following morning and make a sacrificial contribution. No exact measure of receipts was possible, but it was estimated that more than 75,000 churches participated. The next year the offering was repeated, using the name “One Great Hour of Sharing” for the first time. At times, this offering was coordinated with both the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Fund Appeal for Overseas Aid and the Jewish Passover Appeal. From the beginning this has been an ecumenical effort. As denominations changed and merged. OGHS has varied from eight to 29 participating denominations. Each denomination allocates its gifts differently; all use their funds for ministries of disaster relief, refugee assistance and development aid. Today, projects supported by this major offering are underway in more than 100 countries, including the United States and Canada. In recent years Presbyterians have given about $10 million annually. PCUSA allocated approximately one third to each of three programs: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance; Presbyterian Hunger Program; Self-Development of People. There are currently eight denominations participating in One Great Hour of Sharing.

Presbytery Women

We are still saving Betty Crocker labels and also Campbell soup labels. There is a plastic container in the kitchen. We need only the little square bar code at the bottom of the label. If you don’t want to cut out the label just put the whole can wrapper in the plastic box. In past years we have given labels to the YMCA. This year we plan to give them to Kemmerer Village in Assumption, Illinois. Kemmerer Village is a Presbyterian home and school for wayward children. At this time they are caring for 36 families and 64 children.

4 Christian Education

In March we will be asking for an offering of loose change you may want to give. As usual we will have plastic eggs in the pews for your loose change. Donations will be given to PADS to help with the bills of the homeless shelter. Please don’t forget to bring your change in and help out those in need.

Thank you . . .

A grateful thanks for ALL the efforts and contributions put forth by all the volunteers on February 14 when First Presbytery of Dixon hosted the Presbytery meeting. Many hands do make light work and it was felt that everything went quite smoothly. A special thanks to Carolyn McBride and Paul Katner, who co-chaired the efforts with Mary Mobarak, chair of the committee, who fed 125 plus attendees. A number of us working that day had numerous comments on our beautiful facility and how welcoming it is. By the time you receive this issue of the Belltower Lent will be in its second week. We hope that you attended the Ash Wednesday evening service and or the Dixon Lenten service held in our church the evening of the 26 th . A thank you to all who helped with these two services and a special thanks to the choir for singing. Since we are now in the Lenten Season, that means that Palm Sunday and Easter are not far away. As in past years, we will be offering you the opportunity to beautify the sanctuary with Easter and spring flowers. Sign up sheets will be in the bulletins during the month of March. We hope you will take advantage to remember loved ones and to contribute to making Easter Sunday special.

The Worship Committee The Flower committee

Presbytery – February 14, 2012

The most significant aspect of our February Presbytery meeting was that it was here! Anybody who says our church is past its prime and can’t pull off a big deal like last Tuesday (the 14 th ) is off the mark because we really had a successful day and the two or three dozen local Presbyterians who pitched in and organized it and then carried it off are to be commended. Our church is too small and we don’t have enough parking so we can’t host Presbytery. Wrong. Our church is not too small, we had ample parking and we did a bang-up job of hosting Presbytery. During our morning worship service we had the chance to hear one of the relatively new pastors in our Presbytery preach. It was so well received by everyone that we have printed some copies for you to read. They are in the narthex beside some other sermons preached by the same pastor, David Spaulding. It’s insightful and inspiring and I urge you to read it. In other business we affirmed two young pastors in our Presbytery to new jobs, one in Dakota, Il., and the other to a job in Geneva. On a sad note, the Presbyterian church in Marengo had to let their pastor go and also asked the Presbytery to eliminate their pastor position. An example of a small church that just couldn’t afford to keep going the way they had been for who knows how long. Will we be seeing more of these types of actions in the future? (See above mentioned sermon.) The Presbytery budget was approved and the Stronghold endowment was discussed as it related to the operating expenses for Stronghold. A good day and we got everybody home early except for Laura and Betty. Paul Katner 5

Notes from the Session – February 2012

The Session met for its regular monthly meeting on February 21. Below are some highlights from the meeting:

Recordings: The Session approved the Annual Statistical Report prepared by Clerk of Session Cathy Anderson. The pastor noted the death of Florence Daehler on January 28.

Annual Appointments: Session appointed elders Cartwright, Katner as Lago as trustees for the year 2012, and reappointed Cathy Anderson as Clerk of Session, and Toni Vella as Treasurer. Elders Phil Vella and Pat Hughes were appointed as Session representatives on the Nominating Committee; Phil Vella will chair the committee.

Stated Meetings of Session: The regular meetings of Session will be held on the third Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Social Hall.

Observances of the Lord’s Supper were approved for the new year.

Worship Committee shared information about the Ash Wednesday and Feb. 26 Community Lenten Services. The committee is working with our administrative assistant to both expand and keep accurate the duty rosters for Sunday morning. Presbyterian Women will lead a Women’s Sunday service on March 11.

Buildings and Grounds reported on repairs made in the past month, a change in garbage contractors, and on emerging issues with the west tower and sanctuary lighting that are being investigated.

Christian Education shared that the proceeds of the Pancake Breakfast on Feb. 19 were $350, which will be used to provide Stronghold scholarships to children from the community who attend VBS. The Sunday School will collect loose change in March to benefit PADS. Plans are underway for a shared VBS with First Baptist Church early in June.

Finance: After review by the congregation at the Annual Meeting, the Session adopted the 2012 budget. The committee noted the difficulty in estimating the income side of the budget as pledges have declined while unpledged offerings have been increasing. They will monitor income carefully.

Innermission is making progress on the photographic directory.

Mission-Witness reported that $292 was received in the Souper Bowl of Caring offering which will benefit Meals on Wheels. The committee is researching the history and intent of the Malcolm Ludy Scholarship Fund. No money from the fund has been expended in recent years. The committee has planned this year’s One Great Hour of Sharing emphasis.

Pastor’s Report: There will be Session Retreat on March 10. The focus will be on developing a visioning and strategic planning process. Rev. Spaulding will be on vacation, March 24-30. The COM liaison from Blackhawk Presbytery this year will be Rev. Munn Hinds from Rochelle.

6 What I’ve Been Reading Pastor David Spaulding

Dead or Alive by with (Berkeley Books, 2010)

Since Tom Clancy retired from the presidency after The Bear and the Dragon (2000), Clancy has been at a bit of a loss to keep his Jack Ryan franchise going. In The Teeth of the Tiger (2003) he passes the baton on to the next generation of the family as Jack, Jr. goes to work for an organization based in the Washington suburbs, simply known as The Campus. We learn that while the public business of The Campus is trading in stocks and bonds, its real purpose is espionage, funded by its investments in the markets and protected by a pile of blank presidential pardons signed by Jack Ryan, who is a silent backer of the organization. Jack, Jr. is originally signed on to work in the financial business, but finds his way into the spy business, too, which includes assassinations of enemy agents outside the eyes of the law.

Dead or Alive continues this move into private-sector national security. Along the way, Clancy bolsters his cast of characters by bringing back stalwarts from the Jack Ryan series, John Clark and Domingo Chavez, who have been retired from active CIA service by the new (naïve and soft-on- terrorism) administration. In a typical Clancy plot, with story lines running in parallel around the world until they all converge, the team from The Campus uncovers a major terrorist attack being planned by the Emir, a thinly disguised Osama bin Laden-like figure. Because they operate free from government oversight (and with the safe full of pre-signed pardons) these private sector agents murder and torture their way through their investigation and keep America safe.

As a side story, Jack, Sr. also comes back. Convinced by his loyal advisors that he’s the only one who can rescue America from the policies of the current (vain and liberal) president, Jack throws his hat in the ring for another run for the White House. (That story has now been published as ).

I’ve read all the Jack Ryan novels, and I found this one the least satisfying. While it has all the elements of a Tom Clancy story, the world he creates beginning with The Teeth of the Tiger is very disturbing, particularly the idea that the only way that democracy can be preserved is by violating its most basic principles, such as the rule of law and respect for human rights. On the other hand, unlike many thrillers, this one opens a lot of doors for pondering some deep and fundamental questions. I’m still wondering if I’m up for following Jack’s further adventures.

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