February 2014 Fol lowing Jesus: I sha l l not want — Pasto r Ron de Groot

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall

not want." - Psalm 23 I have often

reflected on the phrase "I shall not

want". I think because it so inti-

mately connected to the testimony

of the poet who says "The LORD

is my shepherd." It speaks to me of

the believers' state of mind. There

is a movement from the daily "I

want, I want, I want." to a place of

"I have enough" .... because the

LORD is my shepherd. There is

something about faith that leads to

a place of being delivered from "I

want" to "I shall not want".

In a recent Op-Ed column in the

New York Times David Brooks

invites secular people who are cu-

rious about how believers experi-

ence their faith to consider the authen-

tic struggle between "I want" and

"enough". He cites the life of musi-

cian songwriter Audrey Assad as a

window into the soul of believers. In

particular he points to her song, "I

shall not want". You can view her

performance of the song on YouTube

at http://youtu.be/LjGExaRTCvA . The

lyrics are as follows:

"I Shall Not Want"

From the love of my own comfort

From the fear of having nothing

From a life of worldly passions

Deliver me O God

From the need to be understood

From the need to be accepted

From the fear of being lonely

Deliver me O God

Deliver me O God

And I shall not want, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

From the fear of serving others

From the fear of death or trial

From the fear of humility

Deliver me O God

Deliver me O God

And I shall not want, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

No, I shall not want, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

I sense that Audrey touches on

what it means to "follow Jesus". It

is a path that releases us from our

"wants" and allows us to love with

a grace that over comes our fears

and desperate "I wants". I pause at

every line because it is so reveal-

ing of my daily struggle to follow.

She so poignantly sings "I shall not

want, when I taste Your good-

ness". That's the struggle and the

tension isn't it? Deliver me from

my fears and insecurities .... let me

find the way to taste your good-

ness. Jesus holds out the invitation

to taste the goodness of God and

he is the place where we find the

faith to say "I shall not want" and

"enough".

JAZZ Sunday—March 2: Great Music Inspiring Worship Good Food

Sunday, March 2, is the last Sunday

before Lent begins. It is the Sunday

we lead worship with some fine

Jazz musicians and spirited song.

The 2013 edition of the Calvary

Resurrection Jazz Band will be

back in full force. These are musi-

cians who love to play at Calvary

and their enthusiasm shows!

We can look forward to a great

pancake and sausage lunch with

more from the band in Fellowship

Hall after worship.

Invite your friends and neighbors

to join our celebration. The ser-

vice will begin at 10:30 a.m. with

some great pre-service music, so

come early.

A video of 2012 and slides of 2013

are available at our church web site

www.calvarytodaylive.org on the

“Live This Month” page.

Singer / Songwriter Audrey Assad

Page 2

A Gentle Reminder

Included in the church pledge

envelopes is an envelope marked

COMMUNION ENVELOPE.

There is no explanation or in-

structions as to it’s purpose or

use, and many parishioners do

not know what that special offer-

ing is used for. The money col-

lected in the Communion enve-

lopes is strictly designated for

assistance to members of the

congregation and others in need

of spiritual or financial support.

It is used to provide food, assist

in paying bills, pay rent or give

other financial assistance. The

percentage of parishioners using

the Communion envelope is rela-

tively low. Since the money re-

ceived in these envelopes is the

only money ear-marked for

emergency assistance The Dea-

cons prayerfully ask that each

church member consider greater

use of the Communion enve-

lopes.

LENTEN WORSHIP: Fasting? Why? How? –Pasto r de Groo t

faint. I’ll collapse." This was

ridiculous, of course, since there

have been hundreds of mornings

that I have not eaten before 8

am, and never once felt dizzy or

weak. Instead, what I seemed to

be experiencing was something

akin to withdrawal from an ad-

diction. As I meditated on that

panic throughout the morning, I

could see all the ways that I used

food for comfort, to assuage

boredom, to ease fear in social

situations, or to compensate for

feelings of loss. I could see that

food was a drug for me, and that

I was addicted to it. I began to

see fasting as a way to help me

learn about this addiction and to

invite grace in to free me from it.

By experiencing my addictive

relationship to food, I became

aware of other addictions and

compulsions leading me away

H ave you ever wondered

about the spiritual practice

of fasting?

Johnson Frykholm comments on

his introduction to the practice of

fasting noting that “In beginning

I started the practice slowly with

one day a week, I quickly be-

came aware of a new problem.

By 8:00 of the morning I had

decided to fast, I was in a panic.

"I feel dizzy," my brain was say-

ing. "Oh, I am weak. I’ll never

make it through the day. I’ll

Ash Wednesday Services March 5

Ash Wednesday is a day of re-

pentance and it marks the begin-

ning of Lent. Ashes were used in

ancient times, according to the Bi-

ble, to express mourning. Dusting

oneself with ashes was the peni-

tent's way of expressing sorrow for

sins and faults It marks the start of

a 43-day period which is an allu-

sion to the separation of Jesus in

the desert to fast and pray. During

this time he was tempted. Matthew

4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke

4:1-1

This year we will join our Luther-

an brothers and sisters for Ash

Wednesday Services on March

5. We will gather at Good Shep-

herd Lutheran at 12 noon and at

Calvary Presbyterian at 7:30 in

the evening.

Both services will be led by Pas-

tor’s Wendy and Ron. We begin

the Lenten journey in all humili-

ty together.

from love and filling up the

spaces in me where grace might

flow. Fasting creates a space

where I can acknowledge spiritu-

al freedom as my greatest desire,

greater even than my desire for

chocolate.”

You’re invited to a 5 week ex-

ploration of this practice during

the Lenten season. In this gather-

ing we will explore the history

and meaning of fasting. We will

look at the many ways of fasting

and discovering what will effec-

tively work for our particular

living patterns. Our group will

gather once a week on Tuesday

evenings at 7:00 pm in the

Crossroads Gathering Center.

The sessions will begin on

March 11 and end on April 8.

LECTIONARY for February 2014

Page 3

Observing Lent in Your Family— Janet R. Knight

and clothing.

Turn off TV one night a

week and play family

games.

Plant spring seeds. If it's

still too cold outside, start

them in a pot. On Easter

Sunday transfer some of the

seedlings outside.

Tell I-remember-when fam-

ily stories.

Help children decide on one

small thing to give up (to

"fast" from, even though it

may not be food) to help

them focus on the purpose

of Lent.

Practice the ancient custom

of "burying" (putting away)

something for Lent and tak-

ing it out again with great

joy on Easter Sunday. You

could put away a particular-

ly decorative household

item, or your family could

Practice simplicity. An em-

phasis on simplicity is cus-

tomary during Lent both to

reflect gospel values and to

be in solidarity/sharing with

those on the margins. Alt-

hough children won't neces-

sarily understand these rea-

sons, just growing up in a

home where simplicity is

practiced is in itself spiritual

formation. Here are some

ways to practice simplicity:

Plan to eat one simple

meal each week, perhaps

a soup supper or a rice-

and-beans meal. Put the

money you save by eat-

ing simply in your shar-

ing box to donate to a

cause of your choosing

after Lent.

Go through closets and

donate gently used toys

make an alleluia banner to

put away until Easter Sun-

day.

Take on an act of service

as a family. Suggestions

include adopting a grand-

parent, visiting a home-

bound neighbor or church

member, serving in a soup

kitchen, or collecting blan-

kets for homeless shelters.

Each week let each person

draw the name of someone

in the family to do some-

thing nice for. That some-

thing nice can be as simple as giving someone a hug.

February 2 (4th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Micah 6:1-8

Psalm 15

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Matthew 5:1-12

February 9 (5th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)

Psalm 112:1-9 (10)

1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)

Matthew 5:13-20

February 16 (6th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Psalm 119:1-8

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Matthew 5:21-37

February 23 (7th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18

Psalm 119:33-40

1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Matthew 5:38-48

Calvary

Habitat for Humanity

January 2014

Madison, NJ

Page 6

Briefly Noted

SYMPATHY

Our sympathy is extended to

John Alderton and Family up-

on the death of Joan Alderton

on February 1, 2014. A memo-

rial service was held at Calva-

ry on February 8, 2014.

SYMPATHY

Our sympathy is extended to

Beverly McLaughlin and Fam-

ily upon the death of her son,

Thomas McLaughlin, on Feb-

ruary 2, 2014. A memorial ser-

vice was held at Burroughs,

Kohr & Dangler Funeral Home

in Madison on February 7,

2014.

PLEDGE CARD REMINDER

This is a reminder to those

members who have not re-

turned their pledge card for

2014. We would appreciate it

if you would return them to the

office at your earliest conven-

ience so that we can finalize

the results of our pledge cam-

paign. Thank you for support-

ing the mission of the church.

FELLOWSHIP HOUR HOSTS

Preparing a place for people to

gather for food and conversa-

tion is an offering and we

would like to thank “Just Us”,

The Deacons, and The “Just

Us” Book Club for hosting

Fellowship Hour in January.

PRAYER CHAIN

Would you like to join us in

our prayer chains? A Prayer

Chain is a group of volunteers

who are willing to answer a

request to pray for a person or

situation. The request is usual-

ly phoned to me or to the

church office. I in turn call the

first person on our roster and

each one phones the next per-

son and gives them the infor-

mation. If they can not reach

the person they go on to the

next one and call that person

later, or leave a message. The

last person then calls me and we

know that all are praying. We

welcome any new callers.

-Jeanne Zange

THANK YOU

I want to thank all the Calvary

family for the wonderful Christ-

mas they gave my family. You

have been there for us in many

ways through out the last few

difficult years. I don’t know

what we would have done with-

out your help and concern.

-Peggy Walk

JUST US BOOK CLUB

The “JUST US” Book Club will

meet on Wednesday, February

5th at 7:30 p.m. at the home of

Ethel Weissmann. The book for

February is “DEFENDING JA-

COB” by William Landy.

Please call Ethel at 377-7838 or

Ann Ritzer at 377-1840.

MARTHA CIRCLE

The Martha Circle will meet on

Monday, February 17th at 7:00

p.m. at the home of Jean Clel-

land. The study will be the fifth

chapter of “The Noticer” by

Andy Andrews. For more infor-

mation , please call Jean at 887-

8119.

CALVARY MEN’S BOWLING

The Calvary Men’s Bowling

Group meets every Friday at

10:00 a.m. at Plaza Lanes in

Madison. After bowling, at ap-

proximately 12:15 p.m., they go

to Charlie Brown's in Chatham

for lunch. All men of Calvary

are welcome to join them at

either bowling, lunch or both.

Any questions, contact John

Wright at 377-9337 or Russ

White at 377-0107.

FLOWER DEDICATIONS 2014

If you are interested in dedicating

flowers to a loved one please see

the 2014 Flower Chart in the Link

for available dates. Complete a

flower dedication form for the

date you have selected and drop it

off in the church office mailbox

or you can mail it in to the church

office “Attention: Rebecca Wil-

son-Legendre”. Sanctuary flowers

cost $30.00 per date and checks

should be made payable to Calva-

ry Presbyterian Church

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS

Ghias Moussa 1

Sam Mantone 2

Alban Kellogg 7

Nancy Ebeling 10

Matthew Keel 12

Ryan Stevens 13

Shirley Mauzy 14

Helen Newick 15

Kristen Jensen 18

Daniel Merkel 18

Robert Newhouse Jr 23

Anne Davidson 24

FEBRUARY ANNIVERSARIES

Brenda & Dean Marelli 18

144 Ridgedale Avenue

Florham Park, New Jersey 07932

Phone: 973-377-4837

Fax: 973-377-3204

E-mail: calpresfp@verizon.net

Website: calvarytodaylive.org

Calvary Presbyterian Church

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was

thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind

JAZZ SUNDAY

March 2, 10:30 am

Pre-service music come early

Great Food * Music* After Worship