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F.P.C MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
From Faith to Faith
AUGUST 2008

Pastor: Mark Scholten         Asst. Pastor: James Kobb
Church website

in this issue (click here for printable pdf format)

1. The Lord’s Supper

2. Vacation Bible School

3. MESS Hall and STING

4. A “Dinners for Eight”

5. Sunday, Sept. 7th

6. L.A.M.B.S.

7. W.I.C.

8. Life Chain 2008

9. Reformation Weekend Conference

10. Scholten News Update

11. Update on Chaplain Shannon Philo

12. From the Guardian

13. Prayer Requests

14. It’s time for coffee and a muffin.

15. Music and Worship

September Calendar

2. Vacation Bible School raised $286.21 to send to Calvin Taylor in India for the Children’s Home. The Junior Class (ages 10-13) brought in the most money and earned a special hayride as a reward. Thank You to all who donated money for the staff lunch fund!
 

3. MESS Hall and STING Activities:
MESS Hall:1) MESS Hall will meet at the Scholten’s home on Thursday, Sept. 4th at 7:00 p.m. 2) MESS Hall is going hiking! Join the Duffs at Gorge Metro Park on Saturday, Sept. 20th at 4:00 p.m. There will be a 30-60 minute hike and a short time of recreational activities at the park. Then at 6:30 p.m. Mess Hall will go over to the Duff home for food and games. Information on where to meet at the park will be forthcoming.

STING: 1) STING will meet once in September on the 13th from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Border’s Bookstore in North Canton (The Strip).

4. A “Dinners for Eight” night has been planned for Friday, September 19th, at 6:30 p.m. Adults may either sign up to host or attend the meal. The meal will be at different homes. The host home will provide the main dish and the guest will bring either an appetizer, salad or dessert. Your host will call you with more information. Please see the sign up sheet on the vestibule table. If you wish more information please contact Kathy Scholten.

5. Sunday, Sept. 7th, there will be a special joint opening exercise for all Sunday School classes at 9:30 a.m. We will be promoting students to new classes and acknowledging the efforts of our Sunday School teachers.

6. L.A.M.B.S. (Ladies AM Bible Study) will begin it’s fall session on Thursday, September 18th, at 9:30 a.m. All ladies of Faith Church and their guests are welcome and encouraged to attend. L.A.M.B.S. meets the first and third Thursdays of each month at 9:30 a.m. in the Fellowship room. Our new study book will cover the New Testament books of Colossians and Philemon.. Please see Kathy Scholten if you are interested.

7. W.I.C. (Women in the Church) will hold it’s fall meeting on Saturday, September 13th. Breakfast will be provided beginning at 9:00 am. followed by a book review. Come prepared to share a favorite book with the group. Myrna Best will lead us in a “Women of the New Testament” devotional and a missions update.

8. Life Chain 2008... The Right to Life of Akron has changed the date for the Life Chain to Saturday, October 4. They want to form a chain on Market Street to peacefully witness to the dignity of human life. The new location is between 692 E. Market Street and 839 E. Market Street. There are two shifts you can choose: 10:30 am. to 12:10 pm. or 11:50 am. to 1:30 pm. For more information please call (330) 762-2785 or visit www.summitrtl.com

9. Reformation Weekend Conference
Faith Church along with other area PCA churches will be participating in a Reformation Weekend Conference on October 24th beginning at 6:00 pm. and October 25th beginning at 9:00 am. There will be lectures, music and much more. Grace Presbyterian Church in Hudson will be hosting the conference. More information will be presented to the congregation when it is available. Mark your calendars!
 

10. Scholten News Update: Rachel Scholten is in Mexico for this school semester! Her address is: Miss Rachel Scholten c/o Ma. Luisa Davila Nova, Hacienda la Muralla, 115, Jardines de la Hacienda, C.P. 76180, Queretaro, QRO, Mexico (Sarah Scholten’s college address remains the same as last year...Messiah College, One College Avenue, Box 5578, Grandtam, PA 17027)

11. Update on Chaplain Shannon Philo
Chaplain Philio has been sent a box containing twenty-five pounds of items donated by our congregation. He sends his thanks along with some information you may find interesting. He just celebrated his birthday on August 4th by having cake and ice cream with some of his men. He then flew to Baghdad on August 5th, then out of the country on August 6th, for some badly needed R & R. He has been working 15 to 18 hour days, 7 days a week, since arriving in Iraq in November 2007. Here is a direct quote: “My soldiers are on the roads every day hauling and retrieving resources and supplies. In fact, I just returned a few minutes ago from a forty-eight hour convoy. We experienced Improvised explosive Devices (IED’s) and Explosively Force Pojectiles/Penetrators (EFP’s), which are much more dangerous, not to mention the snipers and heat.” In a separate email he informed me that the heat index has been 160 degrees. No wonder he didn’t want any chocolate sent this time of year! Our box had not arrived at the time he was leaving the country for his eighteen day R & R, but he will let us know as soon as he returns to duty. He sends his thanks and blessings to all who participated in helping supply the troops with care items and encouragement. The WIC of Faith Church would also like to add their thanks to the families who so generously donated time, effort, and money to this outreach opportunity. THANK YOU.

12. From the Guardian : 3rd Quarter 2008
The Guardian is a publication of the Presbyterian and Reformed Joint Commission on Chaplains and Military Personnel (PRJC) and is part of Missions to North America. Their web site is: www.pca-mna.org/chaplainministries Garland Mason: Deployed in Iraq: “We are very busy here in Babil Providence, as my paratroopers are getting after the enemies of our country, and I am preaching, teaching, and counseling the gospel among them as they do it. I go out weekly on combat patrols, spend days in patrol bases, and am preaching on Sundays through the Gospel of John.”

13. Prayer Requests: “Pray for my paratroopers, that they will embrace Christ as their greatest treasure and true source of security. Pray for me that God will give me faith to believe the very gospel I exhort others to believe. And finally, pray that Christ would overwhelm my wife and kids with His sustaining grace and power.” (Email:garland.mason@us.army.mil)

Shannon Philo: Deployed In Iraq: “We’ve been deployed since Nov. 2007. I continue to pray out each convoy departing the wire and provide two large boxes of snacks for the soldiers. I preach every week at my worship service which my Battalion commander and other leadership attend. I occasionally visit local villages to pass out hygiene items, school supplies, food items and toys to Iraquis. My soldiers are edified in my weekly Bible study on character.” Prayer Requests: “Thank you for your prayers for our families, for safety, strength, and mission success. We return home in January 2009.” (Email: shannon.philio@us.army.mil)

14. It’s time for coffee and a muffin...for all the ladies who are ready to start baking here is a simple recipe that is extremely healthy. If made with sugar substitute and egg whites it is fat free and sugar free!

Banana Bread

1 cup unsweetened applesauce (smooth or chunky),1 cup sugar or Splenda Sugar substitute,1 cup eggs or just egg,whites (for fat free),1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas,3 cups white flour,1-1/2 t baking soda,1 t. salt,1 cup raisins
1.Combine applesauce and sugar. Add eggs and mix. Add bananas and mix well.
2.In a separate bowl combine flour, soda and salt. Gradually add dry mixture to wet. Stir in raisins.
3. Spray a 9X13" pan with Pam. Pour in batter. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (If you wish to make apple bread substitute chopped apples for the bananas and add 1-2 t cinnamon to the dry ingredients.) (If you want to make muffins use muffin papers and reduce baking time...use the toothpick method to determine when they are done.) If you cut the recipe in half use a 9 X 9 square cake pan.

15. Music and Worship
by Dr. Robert Godfrey

Of all the battles in the worship wars, the battle over music probably has been the most evident and the most emotional. Changes in the style of music have divided, frustrated, and even angered worshipers. Should we sing old hymns or praise choruses? Should the music be classical, traditional, folk, rock, contemporary, country and western, or what? Should we use organs and pianos, or guitars and drums? Is music exclusively for praise in the service, or does it have other functions as well? The amount of time given to music in many services has increased greatly. Some services begin with a lengthy time of singing called “praise and worship,” as if singing alone were worship and the rest of the service were something else. What are we to make of these matters? A change in music — whether to something older or newer — is difficult because most worshipers are not musicians and simply like what is familiar to them. Most worshipers are not motiated by some aesthetic theory, but by the emotional links they have to their familiar music. Because music so powerfully engages and expresses our emotions, it is not surprising that it is an emotional minefield for individuals and congregations. As with all ways of worship, we must evaluate music in the first place biblically. We must stand back from our own experiences and preferences and ask again, “What pleases God?” We should recognize that not all music and praise pleases him. Think of the worship and praise that Israel offered to God in the wilderness at Mount Sinai. They made a golden calf, called it the Lord, and danced around it (Exod. 32:4-6). Such praise was an abomination to God and evoked his wrath! We must carefully seek what the Bible says about how we should praise the Lord and make music to him. When we think of music in the worship of God, we are really thinking of three issues: 1) the words that we sing, 2) the tunes to which we sing those words, and 3) the instruments we might use to accompany the singing.
The Words We Sing
Of these three issues the first is the most important. The words we take upon our lips to sing to God must be true and pleasing to him. The Cambridge Declaration reminds us that one of the problems we face today is what we sing: “Pastors have neglected their rightful oversight of worship, including the doctrinal content of music.” How can we be sure that the words we sing please God? God has given us direction by giving us in the Bible a whole book as a model for what we are to sing. The Book of Psalms (which in Hebrew is entitled the Book of Praises) provides us with songs that God himself has inspired. The Psalms should at least function as the model for what we as Christians sing to God.

The Songs We Use:
What do the Psalms teach about song? First, they remind us of the rich variety of songs that we can and should present to God. The Psalms contain joyful praise and thanksgiving. The Psalms are called the Book of Praises because they not only contain but also culminate in the praise of God (see especially Pss. 146—150.) But the Psalms contain more than praise. Some Psalms reflect on creation (for example, Pss. 19 and 104); others recount the great saving work of God in Christ (Pss. 2, 22, 24, and 110); still others meditate on the perfections of God’s revealed Word (especially Ps. 119). There are Psalms of lamentation and repentance (Pss. 32, 51, and 137) as well as Psalms that express the confusion and frustration that God’s people sometimes experience living in this fallen world (Pss. 44 and 73). John Calvin rightly observed about the Psalter, “There is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here presented as in a mirror.”

In some churches today it seems that only happy, joyful songs are sung. But joy is not the only emotion that Christians experience. Christian worship needs to provide times when sad or reflective emotions are expressed as well as happy ones. A variety of song texts, as we find them in the Psalter, are crucial for that purpose.

Second, the Psalms also model for us the substance of our singing. A few Psalms are short and have repetitive elements, but most are full, rich, profound responses to God and his work. Singing praise to God, the Psalter reminds us, is not just emotional expression, but a real engagement of the mind. Songs that are very repetitive or shallow and sentimental do not follow the model of the Psalter. The command to love God with all our mind must inform our singing. Mind and emotions together are the model of praise presented to us in the Psalms, and the modern church must work at restoring that union where it has been lost.

Once we recapture a proper sense of the texts we ought to sing, the other two issues about singing are relatively easy to resolve. What tunes shall we sing? We may use any tune that is singable for a congregation and that supports the content of the song. The tune should reflect the mood and substance of the song in light of the joy and reverence that are appropriate to worship. With those guidelines in mind (and a sensitivity to the congregation’s difficulty with change), the issue of tunes for songs should be resolved smoothly. What Kind of Instruments? What kind of musical accompaniment is biblical? In Old Testament worship a wide range of instruments was used in the worship of the temple. Yet in the worship of the church it appears that for almost the first thousand years of its history no instruments were used in Christian worship. Today most churches use one or more instruments. But where instruments are used, the instruments should aid the singing of the congregation, not overwhelm it. They should contribute to a deep spirit of reverence and joy, not undermine it. Nowhere in the New Testament church are instruments clearly used for worship. They certainly have no central or independent role in worship. At most they should support the singing that the congregation is commanded to do. If that is their purpose, rock bands would be clearly inappropriate for Christian worship, but either an organ or a guitar might be used. Music is a powerful and vital element in the worship life of God’s people. But precisely because it is so significant, we need to give careful thought to it. We must be sure that we are pleasing God and not entertaining ourselves. The temptation to turn worship into entertainment is great because as sinners we are much more inclined to be self-centered than God-centered. We are much more inclined to amuse ourselves than to serve God.

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Faith Presbyterian Church
2540 South Main Street Akron, Ohio 44319-1137 (330) 644-9654

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