Message ~   The Whistle Blower      Scripture ~ Luke 19:11-27                               

Speaker ~ David Hansen

Message ~ Building Blocks for PVCC      Scripture ~ Luke 18:1-8

Speaker ~ David Hansen

Five Questions that Churches Need to Answer

On Sunday afternoon, June 30^th, from 3:00-4:30 our Disciples Region is hosting a worship that will offer practical insights and powerful stories of congregations that are making a mission leap into the 21^st Century. The workshop will include: Practical tips on how our church can grow relationships in our community; Skills in initiating healthy change in our congregation; a self-assessment tool to help our congregation determine the right next steps; a preview of a powerful demographic tool available to our church; and an overview of ministry planning resources provided by Hope Partnership. Matt Rosine, a DOC pastor and on the staff of Hope Partnership will lead the program. You can check this program out on www.HopePMT.org and learn about Matt at www.mattrosine.com.

This seems like an excellent opportunity for us. I would be delighted to go with a car full of folks to Topeka, the site for this event, on Sunday afternoon, June 30. Please let me know soon so that I can tell Renee our plans. Thank you, David

Do you have some favorite hymns you would love to sing? Songs you would like to introduce to the congregation? Sunday, June 30^th we will have a Worship Songfest. The entire service will be created around music you suggest. So let Jeff or Judy or myself know your favorites and we will start planning for a spirit-filled Hootenanny (a Scottish word for celebration)! We already have one suggestion, “Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore,” #342.  Sing On, David

This Sunday, June 9, after worship I will be meeting with persons who have expressed an interest in becoming members of PVCC. If you are interested or if you know someone who is interested in learning more about PVCC please invite them to join us. We will meet in my office.

Receiving new members into the life of the congregation is a time when members of the congregation extend a formal welcome and affirm our mutual ministry. The Order of Service for welcoming new members reads in part: We welcome you with joy in the common life of this church. We promise you our friendship and prayers as we share the hopes and labors of the church of Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit may we continue to grow together in God’s love and be witnesses of our Risen Savior.

Peace, David Hansen

Message ~ What Did Jesus Say?      Scripture ~  Matthew 20:1-16            

Speaker ~ David Hansen

Memorial Day weekend is past, school is out, summer programs have begun and vacation schedules and plans are in full force. Nine children and youth from the congregation will be attending camp this summer.  In the word’s of George Gershwin’s musical Porgy and Bess, “the fish are jump’n and the cotton is high.” It’s summer time and the liv’n is easy.

The other day I helped my daughter plant her garden, and my son-in-law came to help me start a compost site, so that next summer I can have garden. This morning I watched a video on TED (Technology, Education, Development) featuring the guerrilla gardener in South Los Angeles.  He lives in a “food desert” in Los Angeles. To combat the over abundance of fast food places and the scarcity of grocery stores, he has started a movement to covert open spaces (vacant lots and boulevards) into gardens. He is practicing and teaching sustainable agriculture. The produce does not cost any money but it isn’t free–people have to sustain it. Check it out on TED.

It’s summer time. Travel safe. Enjoy the pace of these warm days. Give thanks to God for the beauty of the earth, and for the gift of beautiful people.

Peace, David Hansen

Message ~ A Time For Peace      Scripture ~ Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13               

Speaker ~ Rev. David Hansen

We had a wonderful Agape Feast last Sunday. My deepest thanks goes out to members of the Ministerial Search Team who planned and led the event and to everyone who participated in the discussion. To one and all, Thank You!

Thinking about last Sunday, looking ahead to Memorial Day this next Sunday, and reflecting on the storm that passed through on Sunday evening, I found myself reading the following meditation:

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone. Therefore we are saved by love.

–Reinhold Niebuhr, 1951

In our worship on May 26^th we will take time to pay tribute to those who died on battle fields in wars past and present, and recall the words of President Kennedy who warned, “If mankind [sic] does not put an end to war, war will put an end to mankind.”

Peace, David Hansen