A newsletter of Kanawha United Presbyterian Church CONNECTIONS November 2015 Celebrating the Tiffanys! (See page 3.) Photos from www.kanawha-church.org MY COMMENTARY by Steve Payne A note from our Pastor IN THIS ISSUE Writing the November newsletter message can be a challenge when it Pastor’s Note ……………..1 comes to deciding what the theme should be. Of course, there is the Spirituality Corner….…...2 Thanksgiving holiday, which always pro- KUPC and the Great War..3 vides many possibilities. And then there is the end of the liturgical year and the The Tiffanys ………………..3 beginning of Advent, similarly replete Church Election ………..…4 with avenues for exploration. This year, however, I decided to take the advice of All Saints Day …………..… 4 one of our Adult Sunday School lessons 2016 Stewardship ……….4 and go in an unorthodox direction, at The Rev. Patterson Lyles least by the standards of the liturgical/ CE and Mission ……………6 secular calendar. Picnic Pics ………………….7 Not that I have ever had much trouble doing that, but I was prompted by my recent blood donation – and as an editorial Calendar..…………………..8 aside, if you can give blood, please consider doing so, because the need is always great. Lying there on the cot, waiting for the 1009 Virginia St., East unit to be completed, I was reminded of the title of an old hymn Charleston, WV 25301 once sung with regularity, “There is Power in the Blood.” To be (304) 342-6558 www.kanawha-church.org honest, I’ve never much cared for it, but there is an undeniable “Like” us on Facebook truth in the title. (Cont’d. on page 2.) Follow @KanawhaChurch on Twitter A note from our Pastor (cont’d.) There is power in the blood, for it is a vital ele- different components coursing through our veins ment of the human body, watering all our cells and was shared by the man we call Jesus of Nazareth. organs with its life-sustaining essence. Like the rest He was human just like us, something that is of our bodies, we usually don’t pay it much atten- often eclipsed by our affirmation that he was God tion, until you get a paper cut, or slice a finger in from God, Light from Light, in the beginning with the kitchen, or some other minor accident occurs. the Father. Of course, our worship of Jesus as Lord As a common phrase puts it, we all bleed red, a is an irreducible part of our faith, yet that affirma- reminder that beyond all the differences of skin tion cannot be separated from his humanity. Be- color, nationality, etc., at heart (no pun intended) cause Jesus was one of us, he knows our struggles the human race is one. and temptations, the joy of friendship and the pain Some well-known lines from Shakespeare’s The of betrayal, what it is to sweat and bleed, to feel Merchant of Venice give voice to this truth: “I am a tired and alone. He can help us at all times and in Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, all places, not just because of his “Godness,” but organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? also because of his humanness and the power of the fed with the same food, hurt with the same weap- blood that unites us, now and in the life to come. ons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the “For we do not have a high priest who is unable same means, warmed and cooled by the same win- to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have ter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, one who in every respect has been tested as we do we not bleed?” are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the While the aforementioned hymn focuses on the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may re- blood shed by our Lord on the cross, there is an- ceive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” other meaning that I think is equally profound – – Hebrews 4:15-16 the fact that the same combination of some 4,000 Grace and Peace, Patterson EVANGELISM CORNER People are tired of words, especially now. They hear them all the time, filling the airwaves with demagoguery and denunciations. So remember that there is nothing as powerful and convincing as the truth in action, and let us then live in such a way that our very lives serve as an invitation to the gospel. A life transformed by the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest witness of all. “For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us from birth to death guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet.... Shall we think of the day as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who has fed us so long?” ~Rebecca Harding Davis Spirituality Corner ~~~ We are here to do, and through doing to learn; Fruiting of the Table - Sunday, November 22 and through learning to know; You are invited to bring fresh fruits and vegetables and through knowing to experience wonder; to be donated to Manna Meal, as we express our and through wonder to attain wisdom; gratitude for God’s bountiful gifts and share our gifts and through wisdom to find simplicity; with others. and through simplicity to give attention; ~~~ and through attention to see what needs to be done.... Advent Begins Sunday, November 29 ~Ben HeiHei Watch for information on an Advent Study. 2 The Kanawha Presbyterian Church and The Great War by Richard Hartman The Great War began one hundred years ago last year. America’s direct involvement would not occur until 1917. The Kanawha Presbyterian Church would join churches throughout the country to pray for peace but also saw many of their young men enter military service. After our entry into the war in April 1917, the Kanawha Presbyterian Church’s Sunday service program contained the list of members who had joined the military. Beginning with the January 13, 1918, program and every program thereafter an Honor Roll list was headed by the military base in which they were training, followed shortly by a much longer list of congregation members under the ambiguous and ominous heading of “Somewhere in France”. On May 19, 1918, Mr. William E. White delivered a “four minute speech” at the church on why we were fighting. The Four Minute Men were groups of community men nationwide who were provided short speeches on various war-related topics provided by President Wilson’s Committee on Public Information. Also serving at the Kanawha Church were the Ladies Society and the Young Women’s Guild perform- ing War Relief and Red Cross work. The church set up a War Fund and the Women’s Missionary Society pledged to support two Armenian children for the duration of the war. The May 5, 1918, program included a portion of a letter from 1st Lieutenant Daniel K. Flynn, sta- tioned in France. “We are close to the first lines now, and at evening and in light of the morning, the great guns can be distinctly heard. How strange we mortals are – the nearer we draw to the actual battleground the less we think of it as being anything very terrible. It seems to me to be just what we should be doing, that it is just a part of life, to be met just as we meet other problems.” Fatalism or just words to ease a mother’s mind, Lieutenant Flynn survived the “battleground” and did return home. Two of our own did not. On November 17, 1918, six days after the Armistice a memorial service was held at the Kanawha Presbyterian Church for Captain Timothy Lawrence Barber, Medical Re- serve Corps and 1st Lieutenant William A. Riheldaffer, U.S. Infantry. Both died of wounds on October 10 and 21, respectively. A plaque was mounted on the wall beside the west portico. November 11 is Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day. This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the Louis Comfort Tiffany established his Tiffany installation of the Tiffany windows in the beautiful Glass and Decorating Company in 1892. He initiat- and historic sanctuary of Kanawha Church. The ed new techniques to give his creations an irides- Tiffany windows were celebrated in a public pro- cent glow, depth and texture. The window art gram presented Saturday, Oct. 24, as part of Festi- produced for KUPC is registered with the Morse Gal- vALL Fall Charleston, and were rededicated during lery of Art in Winter Park, Florida. The church’s win- the worship service Sunday, Oct. 25. At Saturday’s dows represent some of the finest ecclesiastical art event, Richard Hartman presented a history of the of any period in America. church and the windows, and Ron Neal introduced In 1966, the church contracted with the Willet the audience of about 75 to the Rieger-Kloss organ Stained Glass Company to create art for the six re- made especially for the church and gave a short maining lancet windows in the sanctuary. These concert. also were made possible by contributions of families In 1915, the church asked the Tiffany Studios of in the church. New York City to design appropriate images for four A booklet detailing the features of the Tiffany lancet windows (now located on the west wall of the and the Willet windows, “The Windows of the Ka- sanctuary), and the tripartite windows and the Rose nawha United Presbyterian Church” was created window (located on the Virginia Street wall).