Kinderhook Reformed Church Celebration of Worship, November 26, 2017
“To Know Christ and to Make Him Known”
Rev. Derek DeJager, Visiting Pastor
A warm welcome to visitors.
We invite you to fill out a visitors pew card and place it in the offering plate.
Thanks to today’s ushers, Ted Call, Bob Dreier, Jerry Flansburg.
Thanks to today’s greeter, Joy Bertram. Nursery facility available downstairs.
10:00 A.M. CELEBRATION OF WORSHIP
Following worship today, all are invited to enjoy refreshments and fellowship
downstairs in the Fellowship Hall.
Prelude I Exalt Thee Pete Sanchez, Jr.
Welcome, Announcements, and God's Greeting
Drawing Near to God
Call To Worship (Responsive) Based on Psalms 96 and 97
LEADER: The LORD is King!
PEOPLE: Let the earth rejoice!
LEADER: The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
PEOPLE: and all the peoples behold his glory.
LEADER: Say among the nations:
PEOPLE: The LORD is King!
LEADER: For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
PEOPLE: you are exalted far above all gods.
LAEDER: Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!
PEOPLE: For the Lord is King! Let the earth rejoice!
*Hymn #92 Crown Him with Many Crowns
Prayer of Confession (Responsive)
LEADER: Loving God, we gather today, rich in blessing, somehow believing that we merit the wealth and comforts we enjoy.
PEOPLE: Forgive us, our God, for comfortably closing our eyes to the faces of the poor that stare blankly in our direction.
LEADER: Lord, in your mercy,
PEOPLE: hear our prayer.
LEADER: With bellies full of grain and meat, we offer token gestures to the hungry in our world and we feel we have done enough.
PEOPLE: Forgive us, our God, for keeping a distance between “us” and “them,” for closing our ears to the cries of the hungry.
LEADER: Lord, in your mercy,
PEOPLE: hear our prayer.
LEADER: With hands tightly clasping our treasures on earth, we cannot reach out to our oppressed brothers and sisters around this world.
PEOPLE: Forgive us for clinging to our own possessions rather than to you. Unite us with hearts of thanksgiving, that we may serve in the kingdom of your Son, Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.(Reprinted by permission from The Worship Sourcebook, © 2004, CRC Publications.)
Assurance of Pardon (Romans 8:31, 38-39)
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hymn (On screen) Glorify Thy Name
Coming before God’s Open Word
Children’s Invitation to Sunday School and Prayer of Blessing (Unison)
Lord, lead our children to trust only in the grace of Jesus, the very image of God the Father, for their salvation; assure them that, through faith in Jesus’s work on the cross, their souls are secure in your hands for all eternity.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Readings Colossians 1:11-20
Message “In Memory Lies our Salvation”
Prayer of Blessing
Silent Prayer for Those Seeking to Accept Christ as Their Savior:
"Dear Jesus, I confess that I'm a sinner, and not right with you. I repent and ask forgiveness. I believe that you died on the cross to take my punishment and to pay the price for my sins. I believe that you rose from death to give me new life. Wash me clean from all sin, shame, and guilt, and come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. In your name I pray. Amen."
Celebrating God, His Abundance, and His Care
Offering/Offertory
*Offertory Prayer
God of glory, receive these gifts and the offering of our lives. As Jesus was lifted up from earth, draw us to your heart in the midst of this world, that all creation may be brought from bondage to freedom, from darkness to light, and from death to life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Reprinted by permission from The Worship Sourcebook, © 2004, CRC Publications.)
Prayer Requests, Pastoral Prayer, and The Lord’s Prayer
*Closing Hymn How Can I Keep from Singing?
*Benediction, Blessing, and Response Hymn My Friends May You Grow in Grace
Postlude
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Celebrate the Season |
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Donations for poinsettias to decorate our pulpit area are now being accepted and are greatly appreciated. Contributions may be placed in the offering plate clearly marked for this purpose. |
~KRC SANCTUARY DECORATION NEXT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1~
Decorating the church for the Christmas Season will be done beginning at 9:00 am THIS COMING FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, under the direction of Jim and Bonnie Dunham. All are invited to offer their services to the ministry of beautifying our sanctuary in celebration of the birth of our Lord.
~MUITZESKILL REFORMED CHURCH CHRISTMAS BAZAAR DECEMBER 2~
The Reformed Dutch Church of Schodack at Muitzeskill will be holding its annual Christmas Bazaar on Saturday, December 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The church is located at the intersection of Schodack Landing Road & Muitzeskill Road in Schodack Landing. The Bazaar will include new and gently used Christmas decorations, cards, gifts, books, and a Luncheon Cafe and Bake Sale. Hope to see you there!
~CCRM WOMEN’S GIFT PROGRAM CONTINUES~
Capital City Rescue Mission has let us know that they have more than enough Christmas gift packages to share with the homeless men they serve, and would like for us to focus our giving this year on bringing some warmth and caring to the women housed at the mission who might not otherwise have much “Holiday Cheer”. CCRM has suggested that we send winter hats, gloves, socks, body and hand lotions, toiletries, perfumes, jewelry, and non-perishable snack items. YOUR UNWRAPPED CONTRIBUTIONS MUST BE PLACED IN EITHER OF THE LABELED RECEPTACLES IN THE MAIN OR SIDE ENTRANCES OF THE CHURCH BY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17. Gifts will be taken to Albany on Monday, December 18, where the mission will sort and distribute them to the women.
~KRC TO SPONSOR AN ANGEL TREE PROGRAM AGAIN THIS YEAR~
Gift needs for KRC’s Angel Tree children are now displayed on angel cut-outs on the Christmas tree in the church’s main entrance. Each angel contains very specific age, size, and gift-request information for a particular child to assist donors as they gift-shop. Please consider taking an angel from the tree and returning it, together with your wrapped gift, to the church by the Sunday, December 10, deadline. Your generosity will bring Christmas joy to those Christ blessed and of whom he said, “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Volunteers will also be needed to participate in the delivery of the gifts to local Angel Tree families. Anyone volunteering to deliver gifts will be partnered with another volunteer, and will receive an orientation to the family before the delivery visit. Please contact either of the Angel Tree program co-chairs, Janet Smith (518-859-6591) or Maureen Mooney (518-210-6079) if you would be willing to participate in the gift-delivery ministry.
~HISTORY OF ANGEL TREE~
Mary Kay Beard was a safecracker, a bank robber, and one of America's Most Wanted. Arrested in June of 1972, she quickly collected 11 federal indictments and 35 charges against her. She was told she would serve between 75 and 180 years. Instead, she served just 6, at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. While sitting in an Alabama jail cell, Mary Kay gave her life to Christ.​
During that time, Mary Kay noticed how her fellow prisoners would collect toothpaste and soap - gifts from local church groups - and wrap them up as presents for their children at Christmas.​ "Most children wouldn't think much of such small gifts, but in prison there was such joy on their faces!" says Mary Kay. "It didn't really matter to them what they got; it was from Mama."
After Mary Kay was paroled, Chuck Colson invited her to become Prison Fellowship’s first Alabama state director in 1982. One of her first efforts was coming up with a Christmas project for prisoners.​ Mary Kay recalled the toiletries that the incarcerated women gave their children on Christmas. So she and a crew of volunteers began creating a program to provide real gifts for prisoners’ children.​
Their plan was to erect a Christmas tree at Birmingham's Brookwood Mall, encouraging shoppers to buy presents for specific children. Then someone suggested writing the children's names on paper ornaments shaped like angels - creating an
"Angel Tree"!​ Mary Kay helped cut out 100 paper-angel ornaments and then visited prisoners to invite them to sign up their children. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, all 100 angels were taken by shoppers. Mary Kay made more angels, and that year 556 Alabama children were served. ​
The next year Angel Tree expanded to 12 states, and eventually became a nationwide program. In total, more than 10 million gifts have been given to children on behalf of their incarcerated parents.
~CANDLELIGHT NIGHT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8~
KRC will sponsor its annual Candlelight Night Open House 6 – 8:30 p.m. Friday, December 8, in conjunction with Kinderhook Village’s Candlelight Walk celebration. KRC’s Open House will feature tours of our beautiful sanctuary - decorated with lighted garlands, candles, poinsettias, the lovely Chrismon tree, and the nearly-life-size Fontanini Nativity - together with Christmas music, cookie decorating, refreshments, and community fellowship in the Fellowship Room. Co-chairs of this year’s open house, Jane Deane, Deb Spaulding, and Joy Bertram, are looking for volunteers to assist, as well as donations of desert-buffet items. Your contributions will be much appreciated, and a sign-up sheet is available on the back table if you are able to help with this ministry.
Please Note: KRC’s Annual Candlelight Night Annual Open House December 8 will be held in place of December’s First Friday free community dinner.
~LESSONS AND CAROLS 4 P.M. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17~
Directed by David Smith, Lessons and Carols is a worship service celebrating the birth of Jesus, and will be presented at 4 p.m. Sunday, December 17, at KRC. A Christmas gift to our community from the KRC family, Lessons and Carols is open to all. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus are told in nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books, and the Gospels, along with choir music and the singing of Christmas carols and hymns. The first Lessons and Carols was held on Christmas Eve, 1918, at King's College, Cambridge, England, and has been broadcast from there by the BBC to millions of listeners around the world each Christmas Eve since 1931. The order of worship was adapted from an order prepared 38 years earlier by Edward White Benson, Bishop of Truro. Tradition says that the bishop organized a 10 pm service in Cornwall on Christmas Eve, 1880, in a temporary wooden shed serving as his cathedral.
~KRC's OUTREACH MINISTRY THANKS YOU~
Many thanks from the Outreach Ministry for your generous donations to the Valatie Food Pantry’s Thanksgiving Basket Program and to those who delivered them. We collected 39 overflowing bags of groceries that truly helped to make a "Happy Thanksgiving" for those in need.
Outreach Ministry is asking that those who submit a prayer request to KRC’s family and friends also inform us if they know of any additional material or physical needs, beyond the initial prayer request, that we might be able to meet. For example - a prayer request was received not long ago for a woman whose husband walked out on her when she was 8 months pregnant; in addition to prayer support, the KRC family provided this mother-to-be with meals to help ease the difficulties and stress of her circumstances. We would love the opportunity to engage with those in need of prayer in tangible ways as well, such as with meals, emergency monies, a ride, a listening ear, a visit, childcare - to name a few.
REMEMBER TO PRAY FOR
- those who do not know Christ or who are struggling in their faith journey. Pray also that God will provide opportunities for us to witness for Jesus, and give us the courage and winsome words needed to make the most of these opportunities.
- Pastor Rudy and Rev. Paige Convis, KRC’s associate pastor, as they fulfill their ministerial duties.
- KRC ministries, programs & projects and those planning & administering them: KRC’s Consistory; KRC’s administrative ministries; KRC’s Youth Group; Sunday School; KRC’s small group ministries and Bible studies; Community Prayer Group; 1st Friday; and other outreach programs.
- our state, national, and world leaders, especially President Donald Trump and all of the government officials now in office, that God will grant them the leadership skills, wisdom, and the personal protection needed to govern effectively and safely.
- our military men & women, their families, and friends, that they may know God’s presence, protection, and peace, especially Jason Lansing serving in S. Korea.
- victims world-wide suffering natural and other hardships and tragedies: economic instability; poverty, hunger, and poor health; political oppression, unrest, terrorism, war, displacement.
- Families and friends grieving the death of loved ones, especially those grieving the recent loss of Donna Scalera.
- those who, even after many years, still hurt from the void left by loved ones who have passed on from this world.
- reassurance, peace, and dignity for loved ones nearing the close of this life.
- those battling or recovering from cancer or in hospice care: James Morse, brother of Kay Haber; Terri; Christine; Michael, brother of Mary Jane Haywood; Connie Witkowski; Michael; Don Morse; Jill; J.B.; Jen; Bill, Janet Smith's brother; Ronny; Ron Dick; Carol Nel; Jeff Peter; Mark; Ann; Steve; Dorothy Wheeler.
- those awaiting test results or surgery; recovering from surgery, injury, or illness; or chronically ill: Asha and her baby; Connie; Esther Baker, Jim Baker’s mom; Lesley Haywood; Ruth Edge; Barbara Vosburgh; Virginia Rothermel; Art Gross; Harriet Stockhoff; Jean Skipper; Floyd Haber; Paul Varga.
- those facing challenges, stressful circumstances, and difficult decisions: Merrill Johnson, dealing with a number of unspoken issues; our students, especially Stacey Baker, as they deal with the challenges of higher levels of education in this school year, career choices, and job searches; Greg Clause Jr.; Libby Little-Saxton, working with Afghan refugees; the epidemic of addiction to life-threatening drugs.
- residence-bound KRC family, George Clowe, and those caring for the elderly, displaced, disabled, or ill.
REMEMBER TO THANK & PRAISE GOD FOR
- Pastor Rudy Visser, our Spirit-filled minister and leader of vision, and for the Christ-centered messages God gives to Pastor each and every Sunday for the spiritual nourishment and growth of our church family.
- the inspirational ministries of our guest preachers, Perry Jones, Tom McCrossan, John Bowen, Derek DeJager, and others who lead worship at KRC from time to time.
- those men and women who have served or are now serving our country, and those who have sacrificed their wellbeing and lives for the peace & liberty we enjoy.
- the encouraging report that Virginia Rothermel is now home from Whitter following a recent mobility issue.
- all those of KRC's family and friends who volunteer their time, talent, and energy so generously and so selflessly to the various ministries and programs of our church, and who often do this quietly behind-the-scenes with little notice or recognition.
Regular updates are needed on the progress or condition of all individuals on our prayer and praise lists, especially those whose names are in bold type. Please forward this information, as well as new praise/prayer requests, to krc@fairpoint.net or call 859-4158.
HAPPY NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY!
Fred Hickman (3rd), Ted Call (11th), Joy Bertram (14th), Claudia March (22nd)
PLEASE KEEP IN YOUR PRAYERS OUR MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES
Dave and Char Alexander, RCA missionaries, Taiwan;
Alight Pregnancy Center, Hudson
Perry Jones and Capital City Rescue Mission, Albany
Compassion International, KRC-Sponsored Children:
Evelin Chuquinia, 15, Bolivia
Alex and Fran Knauss, Trans-World Radio
Maureen Menard, Youth with a Mission
Dick and Carolyn Otterness, RCA missionaries, Hungary
Brian and Bea Post, Wycliffe Bible Translators
Seth and Melissa Rogati, missionaries, Young Life Ministry, St. Thomas
Betty Ann Stedwell, Christar International Mission
PLEASE TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO READ THE THANK-YOU NOTES N THE MISSIONS BULLETIN BOARD
I N THE FELLOWSHIP ROOM FROM SOME OF OUR MISSIONARIES.
Last Sunday, our offering of $2,152 again fell well below the $3,000 needed weekly to meet daily operating expenses. From past experience, we know that continued shortfalls result in budget deficits that become difficult, if not impossible, to make up without dipping into our very limited general reserves. Regular contributors are asked to “double up” on their giving if they miss a Sunday, and Stewardship Ministry urges that everyone give prayerful consideration to how they might adjust their giving to help keep income at a level that will meet daily operating expenses.
Inspired by the abundance with which the Lord has blessed us, let us continue, as his faithful stewards, to be ever mindful of the need to maintain a weekly offering sufficient to cover our commitments.
Stewardship Ministry urges that everyone give prayerful consideration to how they might adjust their giving to help keep income at a level that will meet daily operating expenses.
All of us from time to time, as members and friends of the KRC family, have had concerns and issues about church policies; Consistory decisions; order and times of our worship services; the preaching ministry; and sometimes even issues and concerns related to our interpersonal relationships within the church family. We would like you to know that the Elders are available to speak with you about any concerns you may have and invite you to contact them at any time.
KRC 2017 CONSISTORY
Pastor Rev. Rudy Visser, President of Consistory
Deacons
Jane Deane – ’17 Outreach, Cemetery. . . . . . 758-7051 jdeane1943@gmail.com
Noreen Dick – ’18 Church Family . . . . . . . . . . 758-6640 noreend122@twc.com
Patrice Lyons – ’17 Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758-8400 patricelyons50@gmail.com
Beth Anne Rippel – ’18 Stewardship . . . . . . . 392-5044 barippel@yahoo.com
Elders
Merrill Johnson – ’18 Worship . . . . . . . . . . . 828-6726 docjohnson36@gmail.com
Dawn Van Buren – ’18 Pastoral Relations . . 758-7564 dawnandleo@fairpoint.net
Patti Varga – ’17 Christian Education, Outreach,
Consistory Vice President . .755-3054 patvarga66@gmail.com
Barbara Vosburgh – ’17 Personnel, Clerk. . . . 758-6512 vosburgh1@nycap.rr.com
KRC TREASURER
Derick LaTorre – 376-1882 derick.latorre@gmail.com
Paul Clause – 859-4158 Courtney Wood – 852-7172
KRC Sexton KRC Cemetery Supervisor
Steven Green – 505-4918 Greg Clause – 369-8472
COMING EVENTS
Today, November 26 Rev Derek DeJager, Guest Pastor
10:00 am Combined Worship Service and Children’s Sunday School
Mon, November 27
6:30 pm Outreach Ministry meets
Tues, November 28
7:00 pm KRC Youth Group meets
Thur, November 30
9:00 am Small Group Bible study @KRC.
Group continues a new study: Grace, by Max Lucado – Please join us!
10:00 am Community Prayer Group @KRC
7:00 pm Bible study, 1 and 2 Peter, KRC main floor Conference Room
Fri, December 1
9:00 am Christmas decoration of KRC’s sanctuary
Sat, December 2
10:00 am - 2 pm Muitzeskill Reformed Church annual Christmas Bazaar
Fri, December 8
6:00 - 8:30 pm KRC’s annual Candlelight Night Open House
Please Note: There will be no First Friday dinner in December.
Instead we will have our Candlelight Night annual open house December 8.
Sun, December 10 Deadline for Angel Tree gifts to be delivered to KRC
8:30 am Early Worship Service
9:45 am Bible study, Book of Genesis, main floor Conference Room
10:00 am Worship Service and Children’s Sunday School
Sun, December 17 Deadline for CCRM women’s gifts to be delivered to KRC
8:30 am Early Worship Service
9:45 am Bible study, Book of Genesis, main floor Conference Room
10:00 am Worship Service and Children’s Sunday School
4:00 pm KRC’s Annual Lessons and Carols Worship Service
Servers Next Sunday, December 3
Ushers: Ted Call, Bob Dreier, Jerry Flansburg
Greeter(s): Jeannie and Stacey Hurst
