CALVIN COMMENTARY

JOHN CALVIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

4201 TRANSCONTINENTAL DRIVE METAIRIE, LA 70006 504.888.1375 www.johncalvinchurch.org

April 2017

In This Issue:

In This Issue

THE STUDY WINDOW

MUSIC CORNER

SESSION

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

PLAYSCHOOL

BIRTHDAYS/EVENTS

Then Jesus cried again with

a loud voice and breathed his

last. At that moment the curtain

of the temple was torn in two,

from top to bottom. The earth

shook, and the rocks were split.

Matthew 27:50-51

He Has risen. Have faitH in Him…

And He will always be there for you.

Have a blessed and happy Easter!

From The Study Window

From the Study Window

Easter

Easter is the oldest festival of the Christian Church. As you are aware, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion. In the early Church, new converts sat in vigil during the night before Easter. Then they were baptized and received their first Holy Communion on Easter Day. According to tradition, the name Easter was derived from the Saxon spring goddess, "Eostre." As in the case of Christmas, the Christian observance of Easter took the place of an existing pagan ritual. The celebration of Easter is forever linked to the Jewish Passover. Since Jesus' Last Supper and crucifixion occurred during the feast of the Passover, Christ is seen as the Paschal lamb, the new sacrifice. In 325 AD the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the date of Easter depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. This means the date for Easter always falls between March 21 and April 25. Easter Lilies are often used to decorate for Easter. They have traditionally been used in Christian art connected to Mary, the mother of Jesus. She has often been pictured with the angel Gabriel and Gabriel is coming to her with a spray of lilies in his hand to announce that she will be the mother of the Messiah. It is also a sign of the resurrection. Lilies, like other flowers that come from bulbs seemingly die away then return with new life each year. Because they are white, they signify the pure new life that comes through the resurrection of Jesus. If we can say that any one aspect of the Christian faith is more important than any other, the resurrection is it. Without faith that Jesus rose from the dead there would be no Christianity. It was not the ethical teachings of Jesus, or his noble death, that gave birth to the Christian church and made it spread. It was the news of his resurrection. It was only because the first Christians believed that Christ was risen that they looked back to ask about the meaning of his birth life and death. As Paul said to the Corinthians “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” The earliest confession summarizing the faith of the first Christians was Jesus is Lord, a title conferred on him because of his resurrection. Sometimes the church has made the cross the center of its faith. This is not wrong, the risen triumphant Lord is none other than the suffering Servant who gave himself for us. But the cross is an appropriate symbol for the Christian faith only if it is an empty cross. The foundation and center of the Christian faith is not death but life; not tragedy but victory beyond tragedy; not a gloomy world denying fascination with a dead sacrifice, but a triumphant world challenging faith in a living lord; not a passive breast beating moaning about how sinful the world is, but an active, joyful moving out of sinfulness to obedient fellowship with him. Christ is risen! That is where the Christian faith begins, and for Christians it is the one event in history which gives meaning to all history, including our own. In Christ’s Service, Rev. Harry Brown

By: William R. Memmott, Organist/Choir Master

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FROM THE MUSIC CORNER

The Lenten Season is celebrated in many ways at JCPC. In addition to special music for Maundy Thursday and Easter, we focus on the Palm Sunday Lenten Concert. This year the music will be from Charles Gounod's iconic oratorio "The Redemption." This great work was first performed in Birmingham, England, in 1882. Gounod, one of the 19th century's most renowned French composers, was popularly

the composer of operas.

"The Redemption" which took some 14 years to compose, was con-sidered by Gounod himself as his most outstanding work. It displays his profound faith and most prolific melodic invention. At least three sections stand alone as signature pieces: "Lovely Appear," "Unfold

Ye Portals Everlasting" and "O Divine Redeemer."

Our choir will be joined by an orchestra from the LPO and our stellar soloists (Sandy Cranfill, Sharon Fortin, Kelly Kron and Ron Palmisano). We are fortunate to once again welcome tenor, David Bloom, to our celebration. On a personal note, this rendering has taken me almost a year of arduous work to edit, reorchestrate and prepare scores. It has been a task of personal devotion as well as a

high satisfaction of labor.

Easter Sunday will feature two special works for soprano soloists and choir (Sandy Cranfill and Sharon Fortin), "Rise Again" and "Alleluia to the Lamb," are two praise/worship songs that have been greatly

expanded and arranged for worship performance.

We hope that you will invite friends and family to join you for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday especially. They will be blessed. And

stay for fellowship luncheon following the Palm Sunday Concert.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

CONGREGATION LUNCHEON

Everyone is invited to join us

for lunch immediately

following worship service.

John calvin Presbyterian church

palm Sunday

Easter Cantata april 9, 2017

Presenting

At 10:30 am

“tHe reDemPtiOn” CHORUS, SOLOIST, ORCHESTRA

William R. Memmontt Conducting

Please bring a dessert to share

SESSION

RESENT ACTIONS

ORDAINED AND INSTALLED ELDERS TO THE SESSION CLASSES

OF 2017 AND 2019

APPROVED “HERO CENTRAL; DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTH IN GOD!” AS THE CURRICULUM FOR THIS YEAR’S VACATION BI-

BLE SCHOOL

RECEIVED THE DAVIS FAMILY AS NEW MEMBERS, AND AU-

THORIZED THE BAPTISM OF CONNOR AND CALEB

APPROVED THE USE OF THE FELLOWSHIP HALL ON APRIL 22ND

BY THE NEW ORLEANS CLUSTER OF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-

ES FOR ELDER TRAINING

AUTHORIZED ALICE BIRNEY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION TO USE OUR OPEN, GRASSY AREA ADJACENT TO OUR PLAYGROUND, ON MAY 4

TH – THE YOUNGER STUDENTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO

PLAY OUTSIDE, SO THAT THE OLDER CHILDREN MAY TAKE

THEIR TESTS IN A QUIETER ENVIRONMENT

AUTHORIZED “CASUAL-DRESS” FOR SUMMER SUNDAY WOR-

SHIP

ENCOURAGE PRAYER FOR THE MISSION OF THE GOOD SHEP-

HERD IN BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA, FOR THE CHILDREN,

AND FOR THOSE HELPING THEM

THE YOUTH CORNER By: Julie R. Hebert/Christian Education Leader

Christian Education

By: Julie R. Hebert/ Christian Education Leader

The Youth Corner

Spring is here!!! March was a fun and busy month for the children in the church. We had a great day

on March 5th at the LA-SPCA. The children enjoyed touring the facility and completing a service

project to SPCA.

March 1st we had a youth bible class during the Ash Wednesday service. The children learned about

Lent and participated in a quiz at the end of class.

March 24th and 25th we had a great time at the Art and Fun fest with the playschool. We had 6 youth

helpers for the set-up and 9 youth helping on Saturday for the fair. It was a huge help and very much

appreciated to all who helped out.

UPCOMING YOUTH CORNER EVENTS

In April

Easter Egg Hunt

John Calvin Presbyterian Church

April 8th, 9am-11am

Crafts, Bunny Pictures, and Singing

Candy Donations accepted outside of the playschool and church offices.

Individually wrapped candy, and please no peanuts or chocolate.

Questions: Julie.hebert@johncalvinchurch.org

Youth Game Night

Fellowship Hall

April 28th

6:00-9:00pm

Details to come

We are WILD about learning through PLAY at John Calvin Presbyterian Playschool.

Thank you again for your help and support of our biggest fundraiser, our Art & Fun Fes-

tival!!

A couple important Playschool dates to note:

April 5- summer camp registration

April 13-21- Easter holidays

May 1-5 – teacher appreciation week

May 3- Big Red Barn farm tour in parking lot

May 15- tk graduation in the sanctuary

May 12,15-17- playschool graduations

Logan Laporte

Chuck Corcoran

William R. Memmott

Debbie Russo

Brooks, Frost

Mary Antill

Christina Thomas

Linda Laporte

Carol Fourmaux

04/06

04/09

04/16

04/20

04/23

04/25

04/25

04/26

04/27

APRIL

THE BIRTHDAY THAT SPARKLES

Designer may be bias to April

1st: P/S Teacher Appreciation Week

>Worship CM @ 7:00p (CR)

2nd: PW Council Mtg 10:00-noon (Lbry)

3rd: P/S Big Red Barn Farm Tour

4th: National Day of Prayer

>PW Fun & Games 10:00-noon (Lbry)

5th: C/E: Youth Service Day/SPCA @ 1:00p

6th: 2nd Harvesters 8:00-11:00am

8th: P/S CM @ noon

9th: Lydia Circle Mtg @ 7:00p (Lbry)

>Resource CM @ 7:00p (CR)

12, 15-17th: P/S Graduations

14th: MOTHER’S DAY

>C/E: Service

>C/E CM after Worship

15th: Outreach CM @ 6:30p (Lbry)

16th: Grace Circle CM @ 9:30 (Lbry)

>P/S Last Day T/TH

17th: P/S Last Day

>P/S Teachers’ Luncheon

18th: PW Fun & Games 10:00-noon (Lbry)

21st: C/E: Teacher’s Appreciation

>Summer BBQ/Kids Funday (FH)

22nd: Teacher’s Work Week

>Session Mtg @ 7:00p (Lbry)

29th: Church Office Closed-Memorial Day

Note: Committee Mtg. time changes may not be reflected,

above times are based on a reoccurring schedule only.

1st: April Fools Day

2nd: Choir Set-Up for Cantata after Worship

>Easter Lilies, order by 4/9 @ ea.$13.75

>C/E CM after Worship

3rd: Worship CM @ 7:00p (CR)

4th: PW Council Mtg 10:00-noon (Lbry)

5th: P/S Summer Camp Registration

>Wednesday Night Live @ 6:00p (FH)

6th: PW Fun & Games 10:00-noon (Lbry)

8th: Easter Egg Hunt 9:00-11:00a

>Choir Practice & Set-up for Cantata Lunch

9th: Palm Sunday– Easter Cantata

>Cantata Lunch (FH)

>Don’t forget to bring desserts!

10th: P/S CM—noon

>Outreach CM @ 7:00p (Lbry)

11th: Lydia Circle Mtg @ 7:00p (Lbry)

>Resource CM @ 7:00p (CR)

12th: P/S 1/2 day Start Easter Break thru 23rd

13th: Maundy Thursday Worship @ 7:00pm

14th: Good Friday—Sanctuary Open for

Med- itation

16th: Easter Sunday

17th: Church Office Closed—Easter Holiday

>Session Mtg @ 7:00p (Lbry)

18th: Grace Circle CM @ 9:30 (Lbry)

20th: PW Fun & Games 10:00-noon (Lbry)

22nd: EARTH DAY

23rd: C/E: Service Practice @ 9:15

28th: C/E: YG Game Night 6-9p (FH)

30th: C/E: Service Practice @ 9:15

Note: Committee Mtg. time changes may not be reflected,

above times are based on a reoccurring schedule only.