Our Interim Pastor’s sermons during the season of Epiphany will be as follows:

Jan. 6: “CATCH A FALLING STAR”

I wonder how it was with the Wise Men after leaving Bethlehem? Where was the star? Gone! Why had they come, what had they seen? How was it with them on their homeward journey under a fallen star? Read Matthew 2:1-12.

Jan. 13: “PEOPLE FOR THE FUTURE”

Have you ever felt caught up in some challenging vision for the future, but then contented yourself with plugging away at life satisfied with the way things are? Then read Acts 6:1-8 & 7:59-60 and be at worship this Sunday.

Jan. 20: “ON LOVING MYSELF”

Jesus said, “Love your neighbor the way you love yourself.” What in the world? How do you suppose this would work out in everyday life if we took this Commandment seriously? Read Matthew 22:33-40 and let’s find out together.

Jan 27: “ON BEARING BURDENS”

Who wants to bear burdens, anyway; our own, much less anyone else’s? Not a very exciting theme for a sermon. Sounds oppressive. Well, don’t be too sure. Read Galatians 6:1-10.

Bring someone to worship with you during this season of epiphany.

Sunday, January 6^th is “Epiphany Sunday”. The word “Epiphany” means “Manifestation of God”. On Christmas, God appeared in the world as a person in the baby Jesus. “Epiphany” celebrates the person Jesus being recognized as God.

The color for this season of the Christian year is WHITE, signifying joy, purity, happiness, light and glory. The season continues until the Lenten Season.

While the address and phone number of our Interim Pastor is in the church office, we have neglected to publicize it in THE LANTERN.

His address is:

2800 Roadrunner Parkway

Apartment #1002

Las Cruces, NM 88011

Phone: 532-7054

Gus is in the office Monday-Friday from 8:30 to lunch; then afternoons unless he is making calls and keeping appointments.

Saturday is his day off.

On Sunday, January 13^th, our church officers-elect will be ordained and installed in an impressive laying-on-of hands ceremony by the Session during Worship. Those elders being ordained will be Randy Farmer, Steve Harden, and Frank Yanker. Those already ordained and being installed are: Steve Loman, John Tomlin, Nancy French, and Bryce Brisbin.

Deacons being ordained and installed are Max Loman, Doris Gleason, Martha Mitchell, David Medina and Aaron Dinwiddie. Patricia Tomlin has already been ordained and will be installed.

Every member should plan to attend this special service, showing our encouragement and support to these new officers.

On Saturday, January 5^th, the church officers-elect will meet at the church from 9 AM until noon for a time of training and preparation to take office.

This training will include a brief history of the Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Beliefs, Worship and the Sacraments, and Church Government.

Present officers are invited to attend also.

Sierra Blanca Presbytery will meet at the First Presbyterian Church of Clovis on January 25 and 26. The Docket has not been received as of this writing, but we do know the Presbytery will be voting on amendments to the Book of Order.

Among those is the controversial Amendment A. Elders representing our congregation will be Tommy Matkin and Charlie Yaryan, with LaVerne Guice as alternate. Our Interim Pastor is to be “officially received” as a member of Presbytery.

Every member should be in prayer for this meeting of Presbytery.

A meeting of the congregation has been called by the Session to be held immediately following Worship on Sunday, January 6^th. The purpose of the meeting is to hear and act upon the report of the Congregation’s Nominating Committee.

That report includes the nomination of two persons to serve on the Congregation’s Nominating Committee for 2002. It will also recommend the size of the Pastor Nominating Committee be nine persons and will place in nomination the following nine persons: Randy Farmer, Aaron Gemoets, Margie Rankin, Patricia Tomlin, Howard Daniels, Hank Stephenson, Gene Hood, Marsha Topley and Robert Paul.

Written ballots will be provided with spaces for nominations from the floor. If you wish to nominate someone from the floor, please speak to that person in advance to get his/her agreement to serve if elected. Please be in prayer for this meeting.

Charlie Yaryan, the chairperson of the Buildings and Grounds committee, reported at the last Session meeting that the roofs of our church facilities have been leaking in each building. Additionally the heating units, most of which are now more than 35 years old are beginning to fail. The swamp coolers which are on the roofs of each building except the sanctuary necessitate multiple trips onto the roofs each year, contributing to the roof deterioration. Replacing the roofs will require removal of the heating and cooling equipment, so replacement of that worn out equipment at the same time seems to be advisable. Also the cross above the sanctuary is slowly leaning farther and farther toward the East.

None of our restrooms meet Disabilities Access Standards and other needs probably should be provided for in one coordinated project to protect our facilities, meet the required building code standards, and update our Church to year 2002.

To this end, your session voted to “move expeditiously to develop a Church Facility Renewal Project that would include all the needs for updating our church facility, with emphasis on our pressing current needs and to minimize expenditures that do not fit within the Facility Renewal Project.”

Furthermore, the Session appointed a Church Facility Renewal Committee consisting of Randy Farmer, Chairperson, with Art Garcia, Tommy Matkin, Barry Prahl, Yvonne Rawson, Marsha Topley, and Charlie Yaryan serving on the committee. The purpose of this committee will be to develop the Facility Renewal Plan, to propose plan to finance these improvements, and to execute the plan after appropriate approvals by the session and the congregation.

The Session also approved formation of a second committee, called the Church Facility Assistance Committee to provide advice, counsel, and assistance to the Church Facility Renewal Committee. The purpose of this open-ended committee will be to assist with gathering requirements, to reflect the congregation’s input, and to communicate with all parties. If you are willing to serve on this committee, please contact a Session member or Randy Farmer so that you can be appointed.

Please pray for all of us as we attempt to be good stewards of the First Presbyterian Church facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The members and friends of our congregation have responded to the challenge to be Christian stewards of their money by pledging over $300,000 to God thru our church in 2002. You are to be commended for this wonderful response.

Those who have not as yet made your commitment should do so as soon as possible to help us establish our budget for 2002. Mail or bring your pledge to the church office.

When we sit down to a fellowship dinner in Reeves Hall, we thank God for providing food for our needs, often the cooks who prepared the food, and occasionally the crew who cleans up. Some who have visited the commercial style kitchen are impressed by the equipment available for large-quantity food preparation and serving

It was several years ago that the church decided to remodel the kitchen in Reeves Hall. A large sum of money was spent. Some wondered if the top quality commercial equipment which was purchased was really necessary. But the women and men involved with the renovation strongly supported the plans and the results are well worth the time and money.

Large gleaming refrigerators, an ice machine, and stoves, that include a special low stove for cooking food in really large containers, make the cooking for large numbers of people relatively easy. The dishwashing equipment uses very hot water and has counters with the height especially calculated to make it easy on backs of the clean-up crew. Even special items like a movable trolley to hold many large #10 cans of food make life easier for the cooks.

One of the major users of the kitchen is the Salt & Light program. Hundreds of meals are provided each month by four rotating kitchen crews.

And presiding over all this is Jacque Parks. A visit after church one Sunday showed her alone in the kitchen surrounded by many trays of beans beside a large garbage bin full of empty #10 cans as she was preparing a chile supper for that evening.

Jacque prepares all the Salt & Light menus and heads up one of the kitchen crews. Just preparing the menus takes a lot of work. She makes a special effort to provide a variety of dishes which the children enjoy and which are also nutritionally sound. She keeps logs of amounts used and which items are particularly liked. Careful planning helps her meet her goal of producing meals for well under $2 per person. Trips to Sam’s Club every three weeks or so where from $500 to $600 are spent help with this effort.

Jacque says she enjoys this effort and she must, for she reads a lot about food, watches TV cooking programs, and has even attended large-scale food preparation workshops at the Disney World cooking school in California. She also applies her cooking and organizing skills in working with the youth mission trips, a local soup kitchen, and teaching Sunday School.

More pictures of Jacque at work and the kitchen in general can be found on the church’s web site at www.zianet.com/fpc. Click on the link for pictures of the church.

Thanks to all who took part in the November holiday auction. Over $1,421 was raised, and $400 of that has already gone to John Hyson School. The rest of the funds will be divided between WORD, a program of Wycliffe Bible Translators, medicine kits to be sent to African hospitals, and a fund to defray the expenses of our Presbyterian Women members who will be attending the 2003 Churchwide Gathering.

Approximately 30 turkeys were roasted, boned, frozen, and taken to Hands of Luke in El Paso, with the help of Presbyterian Women members of Northminster Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church. It turned out to be exactly what was needed for the meals served in Juarez on Thanksgiving Friday. Thanks to all who donated time or turkeys.

January events

Tuesday, January 15, 9:00 A.M., Coordinating Team meeting, Jones Hall library.

Thursday, January 17, 9:30 A.M., Parlor in Reeves Hall: Book review, with Beverly Briggs leading. THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, by Barbara Kingsolver, will be discussed. Pick up your copy in the church office, for $11.20.

Sunday, January 27, 3:00 PM, slide presentation on Kenya by Janet and Robert McPherson.

Our congregation members were generous in supporting the Deacons' annual project of making Christmas brighter for deserving Hospice families. Many brought wrapped gifts or gave money.

There was over $1,000 contributed and gifts of a value of at least $2,000. The Deacons organized, shopped, and distributed, and each family received a beautiful wreath made by Patricia Tomlin.

La Casa received a bountiful number of toys, clothing, and necessities filling a whole car from In-Betweeners, as did the Community of Hope from Presbyterian Women.

It has come to our attention that La Casa de Peregrinos is in need of donations if that organization is to continue to distribute food and other emergency supplies to people in need in Las Cruces. Remember that the food from the baskets placed at each door of our Sanctuary is taken there. La Casa de Peregrinos also needs blankets, and will make good use of any monetary assistance you would like to give. (This can be done through our church.)

This national program, the "Souper Bowl" seeks to "love the Lord our God and love our neighbors" by encouraging people to give one dollar each and a non-perishable food item as they leave worship on Super Bowl Sunday. Our young people from the congregation will stand at all exits in the sanctuary and receive the donations in large soup pots. All the money and any food collected is then sent directly to a charity selected by the group.

The annual meeting of the congre-gation will be held on Sunday, January 27^th. All church committees and organizations are urged to turn in their annual reports to the church office as soon as possible.

Cynthia Anne Watkins received a Master of Science Degree in Horticulture from New Mexico State University in December, 2001. Cindy is Access Services Librarian at NMSU

Every church in the Presbyterian Church (USA) is apportioned a share of the expenses of the presbytery, the synod, and the General Assembly for ecclesiastical purposes. The apportionment is based on church membership. The amount varies with the needs of these entities and is a regular annual expense payable by our church. The amount to be paid in 2002 per communicant members is $20.00. If each member were to pay their apportionment separate from their pledge, it would save $8711.00 from the church expenses.
NAMI Education Course

The local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, which meets in our church, is offering a free 12 week education course. It is a peer family education program designed to foster learning, healing, and empowerment among families of individuals who have been diagnosed with serious brain disorders. The course starts January 28 in our church and runs until April 15. It meets from 7:00 to 9:30 PM.. For more information contact Terese Smullen at 526-4610 Michaela Mattes at 650-0583 or visit their web site at http://www.zianet.com/nami.

The New Church Development Task Force of Presbytery will meet at our church on Thursday, January 17th, at 7:00 PM. Any interested person is invited to come.

Our Wednesday program for children and teens will begin its second semester and celebrate its tenth anniversary on January 9, 2002!

The bible study strand will include Ephesians for High Schoolers, “Why be a Christian?” for Middle Schoolers, and “The boyhood of Jesus” for the Disciples' Avenue children. Recreation and Worship Skills (choirs or drama) will continue, and the FOG (Family of God time) dinner hour themes for January are:

Jan 9 S&L Anniversary

Jan 16 Hot Potato

Jan 23 Crazy Sweatshirts

(Bring a Friend!)

Jan 30 Dinner at the Ritz

Please join us for dinner any Wednesday. We always set a guest table, but call the church office if you can so we will know you're coming.