The Lamplighter is a monthly publication of

Ohio United Presbyterian Church

1236 Longvue Ave., Aliquippa, PA 15001

Church Office Hours-Mon thru Thurs 9:30 –2:30

Church phone (724) 378-3690

April 2019

What is the cross?

It is a

— Minus

Turned into a

Plus

†

2

Pastor Nick’s Page 2

Birthdays/Anniversaries

Volunteers/Holy Week

3

News from the Pews 4

Session & Deacon Mtg.

Highlights

5

Lenten Mission Project 6

Bookstore final words…

MHY Gifts for Girls

Children’s Library

7

The Story of Three

Trees in the Forest

8

You Took My Parking

Space at Church

9

Presbyterian Mission

Connection: Dennis &

Maribel Smith

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Church Calendar 12

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Matthew 13:31–33

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20

Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I hope this finds you well and growing in grace and gratitude this Lenten season. This month finds us ending one season as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ

on Easter Sunday and move into the season of Easter. But we are not there yet. We still have 3 more weeks of Lent. I want to spend a little time reflecting on the theme of our FEAST class this Lent.

Our discussions have focused on making a small change in our lives for the Kingdom of God. As Jesus mentions in the quotation from Matthew, small changes have large implications in the Kingdom of God. We have looked at hospitality,

finances and prayer. But perhaps, more importantly, we have looked at how we make these small changes in community. We live in an individualistic culture and that individualism has made its way into our faith as well. Faith is a personal deci-sion, we are told. But as Presbyterians, we believe that faith is best lived in com-munity. We need the community of faith in the church to help us discern God’s will, to help hold us accountable, and to encourage and challenge each other to grow in faith. And this is what we are challenging each other to do during FEAST: make one small change in order to have an impact, a large impact, in God’s Kingdom. I believe that if we each commit to making one small change in how we live out our faith, and we do that in the context of loving and supportive relation-ships within the church, we can truly have a massive impact for good in the world. We can change the world and make it a better place for our children and grandchil-dren. It begins with us, and it begins with us making small changes that free us up to love God and our neighbor more fully.

As we finish our 40 day journey through Lent at the empty tomb on Easter my encouragement and my challenge is for us all to adopt one small change to implement in our lives in order to move mountains. God is calling us to follow Him and move mountains.

Grace and peace—Pastor Nick

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Birthdays This Month:

4/1 Holly DiCicco

4/2 Donna Craig

4/2 Jeff Davis

4/9 Jason Cagnon

4/9 Evelyn Lawson

4/9 Logan Palochak

4/18 Donna Olexick

4/18 Lily Snatchko

4/20 Hannah Palochak

4/20 James Williams

4/21 Jason Arzberger

4/24 Nathan Burak

4/25 Donald Sanders

4/27 Paul Magee

Anniversaries This Month:

4/3 Everitt & Janet Laird

4/13 Michael & Crystal Saxon

4/14 John & Bonnie Martin

4/30 Patti & Ken Strominger

CHERUB CHURCH

4/7 NANCY HRIBAR

4/14 KORTNEY MARLATT

4/21 VOLUNTEER NEEDED

4/28 VOLUNTEER NEEDED

NURSERY

4/7 KASEY HOTH

4/14 VOLUNTEER NEEDED

4/21 VOLUNTEER NEEDED

4/28 CASEY HONESS

JR CHURCH

4/7 LIZ CAGNON

4/14 CASEY HONESS

4/21 VOLUNTEER NEEDED

4/28 PATTI STROMINGER

HOLY WEEK CALENDAR

4/14 2ND LENTEN MISSION PROJECT COLLECTION

PALM SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP

4/15 DEBORAH CIRCLE AT HOME OF SALLIE ALVIANI 6:30 PM

4/16 BEAVER ELDER CARE VISIT 1:30 PM

4/17 FINAL LENTEN F.E.A.S.T. 5:30-7:15 PM

4/18 MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE @ OHIO UP 7:00 PM

4/19 GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE @ CONCORD PRESB. 7:00 PM

4/20 EASTER VIGIL SERVICE @ HOUSE OF PRAYER 7:00 PM

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The Deacons would like to send cards

to the military family members of our

congregation. This will include holiday

and birthday greetings.

Please reply with their name, address

and birthday. Also, note in your reply if

we have permission to share this

information with the congregation after

a list is compiled. Please keep us

updated on address changes and/or promotions, etc. that are noteworthy.

Thank you for your help in remembering those who serve our country.

-Bev Abate

CONGRATULATIONS, AVA!

Congratulations to Ava DiCicco on her induction

into the Hopewell Jr. National Honor Society.

Ava is the daughter of Holly and William DiCicco

and granddaughter of Cherryl & Zbig Lachowicz.

SPRING FLING FAMILY DINNER: WEDNESDAY, MAY 1ST @ 6:00 PM

Join us for our annual Spring Family Dinner & Program. We will enjoy a delicious

dinner of baked chicken, scalloped potatoes, green beans, cole slaw & cupcakes.

After dinner we will be entertained by Faerie Grace. She will be presenting a fun

interactive balloon twisting story. You will meet 3 fun characters (audience volun-

teers) who go on a journey and learn a great message at the end. Fun for all ages.

At the end of the story, children will receive a balloon of their own!

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MARCH DEACON MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

Cards: Deacons mailed out 40 cards in February.

Little Free Pantry: Alexis, a seventh grader from

Hopewell, donated school supplies for the pantry.

Thank you, Alexis!

After Church Fellowship: Next fellowship is Palm Sun-

day after church

Greeters for April: Chris Hurni and Bev Abate

March Session Meeting Highlights

† A motion was made, seconded, and approved for the following Girl Scouts

fund-raising requests:

† Yard sale in the parking lot on some Saturday date.

† A night of community babysitting. The objective being to gain a percentage of

sales at two participating local restaurants so parents can have a dinner date

night while the girl scouts babysit the children.

† A motion was made, seconded, and approved

to accept with regrets the resignation of Melissa

Byer from the Session.

† A motion was made and seconded to allocate

$600 out of the general fund for the purchase of

bins and shelves to store kitchen supplies in an-

other room instead of the lift room. Approved.

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LENTEN MISSION PROJECT

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.

[a] The water

that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” -John 4:14

The Missionary Support Team has been challenging the congregation to raise

enough money to help fund two water projects this year. Water is necessary

for all humans to survive. Our access to clean water is taken for granted by

many Americans. One in nine people lack access to safe water in the world.

UNICEF estimates that women and girls spend 200 million hours everyday

fetching water. We began this on Sunday, March 10th with a special

collection by our children during worship.

The first goal was to raise $1500 for the Presbyterian Mission Agency that

digs wells and provides communities with hand pumps that provide clean

water for drinking, washing and irrigation for an entire community in a

developing country.

Thanks to your generosity we have already achieved that first goal!

The second goal is to raise $1500 for people of the Woodlands in Butler County

who have lost clean water due to fracking by the gas companies. Their water

looks like iced tea or worse like motor oil and it smells. The White Oak

Springs Presbyterian Church serves as a water bank for 50 – 60 families.

Each week a family is given 20 gallons of water. Reverend Lee Dreyer orders

200 – 400 gallons of water from Crystal Springs every week and would be

very thankful for any money we raise. Can you imagine having to worry

about not having enough clean water for your family?

The children will be collecting from the congregation again on April 14th. This

will be the last day to donate to our water projects. Anyone can place money in

the well bucket on any Sunday up to Palm Sunday, April 14th.

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LITTLE FREE PANTRY: We are blessed to have the support of our community who are

often seen helping to fill the pantry! Thanks to Alexis, a Hopewell

student, for donating school supplies. Thanks to the Girl Scouts for

donating some of their tasty Girl Scout cookies, too!

OHIO CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE: A BRIEF HISTORY

During the pastorate of Rev. Sam Mateer, a commercial bookstore

was established in the Ohio United

Presbyterian Church as the “Ohio

Christian Bookstore” for the ministry

of its members and the community.

Sue Berry did all the paper work needed for the December 1,

1973 opening. The Bookstore has been serving the congrega-

tion of Ohio Church for 46 years. On December 31, 2018, the

bookstore officially closed. The inventory was given to the church and any monies raised

(over $400) during the inventory sales were given to the Building Fund. After March 31,

2019, all remaining inventory will be boxed and contributed to a charity in the area.

A big THANK YOU to all who supported the Bookstore throughout the years.

MHY CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR GIRLS Ladies-it’s never too early to start thinking of

Christmas. I am in need of makeup bags for my

Mars Home for Youth Giving Project. Mascara, lip

glass, nail polish, nail files, etc. are included for

the girls and I only have a few bags for this year.

If you take advantage of the spring and fall free

gifts at the cosmetic counters, would you consider

sharing your makeup bags with the kids? A black

basket will be located near the Salvation Army and

Pantry collection spot in the Cry Room. Thank you!

Bev Abate

CHILDREN’S LIBRARY NEWS

The Children’s Library is now open Monday evenings

during Girl Scout meetings (4/8, 4/29, 5/6, 5/20) and

Fridays from 11:45-12:30 (4/12, 4/26, 5/17) in addition

to Sundays between 8:45 am and 11:45 am. If you

have any questions you can talk to Nancy Lucas or

Lynn Smith.

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9

You Took My Parking Space at Church

One day, a man went to visit a church, He got there early, parked his car and got out. Another car pulled up near the driver, got out and said, ' I always park there! You took my

place!'

The visitor went inside for Sunday School, found an empty seat and sat down. A young lady from the church approached him and stated, 'That's my seat! You took my place!' The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing.

After Sunday School, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat

down. Another member walked up to him and said, 'That's where I always sit! You took my place!' The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment, but still He said nothing.

Later as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell

among them, the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change. Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and

called out, ' Hey, what happened to you?'

The visitor replied, as his hat became a

crown of thorns and a tear fell from his eye, 'I took your

place.'

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