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A monthly newsletter of
The Presbyterian Church of Okemos June, 2019; Volume 19, Issue 6
The The GrapevineGrapevine
Some Younger Thoughts on Faith
Each year, on a Sunday morning after Easter, our
congregation hands the Book of Worship and an outline
of worship to High School and Middle School students
and invites them to lead worship. I present some of our
high school seniors with a couple of choices of Scripture
lessons and write up a half page of questions for them to
consider, and then invite them to write a five to six minute
sermon.
This exercise provides something like a snapshot of
our youth ministry. We are almost always surprised to
recognize the Senior class because they have grown up in
the congregation. Three of our graduating seniors were
baptized in this church and have been involved in
education, activities, and service throughout their young
lives: Emma Francis, Jake Gierman, and Michael Corder.
Jacob Gierman reflected upon the words of Psalm 30
in order to frame his remarks: “God has not let my foes
rejoice over me.” Jake reflected on this word and applied
it to his own life:
“God does that through people, whether they be well‐known
or random people seen on any day. With every passing day, the
world seems to grow darker and our foes seem to grow in
number. Yet, through love, we will overcome. I am so grateful to
the people of this congregation for guiding me through my early
years, helping me to overcome all sorts of struggles—
everything from a bump on the head to a shaken
faith. The Psalmist says, ‘You have turned my
mourning into dancing.’ With your help, my faith
has grown and strengthened and guides me every
day…. Thank you for your role in forming me into
the person I am today.”
Jacob illustrated his point by showing us one of his
early drawings, created from the pew when he was quite
young, saved and cherished by his mother and father. He
poked some fun at himself and showed us his drawing,
but reminded us that he was listening to us even when it
appeared he was not.
Michael Corder reflected on the reading from John’s
Gospel. On a the Thursday night that Christians now call
Maundy Thursday, Jesus was arrested and taken to the
house of the high priest, Caiaphus. The disciple, Peter,
follows the arresting party at a distance and waits outside
the house beside a fire in the courtyard. There, Peter is
accused three times of knowing and following Jesus, and
three times Peter denies Jesus. When the cock crows in the
dark of the night, Peter realizes what he has done—how
he has abandoned his lord and master—just as Jesus said
he would. Peter breaks down and weeps at this
revelation.
In the passage from John’s Gospel, Peter meets the
risen Christ beside the sea, and Jesus asks him three times:
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Just as Peter once
denied Jesus three times, now he is given the chance to
declare his love and devotion three times.
Michael remembered before us how much he enjoyed
and valued his experience around the Lord’s Table as a
child. He remembers going back to the table as a child to
receive more bread after the service was over. Now, as a
young adult, Michael reflected on his experience:
“All of us can relate to what Peter was going through,
thinking that he had failed Jesus. Some of us feel as if time and
time again we fall short of following Jesus. Yet all of us are
invited to this table because this is where Christ wants to meet
us. The purpose of communion is to celebrate that Christ was
broken for us so that we could be fixed by him. I feel empowered
and ready to start fresh after every time we take communion.”
It is worth noting that Presbyterians are one of the few
denominations where the Lord’s Table has no restrictions
based on age, maturity, or any other external matters.
Michael reminded us of our words of
invitation: “This table is to be made
ready for all who love the Lord Jesus
and wish to love him more.”
This is the point of having a Youth
Service at least once a year: we are given
an opportunity to view our faith and our practices
through fresh eyes—younger eyes. Scripture makes it
very clear that “seeing” involves so much more than
physical and mechanical actions. Seeing involves the heart
and soul as well. If you missed the Youth Service on the
first Sunday of May, I hope that by sharing these thoughts
and words, you can now see something more about the
mission and ministry of our church. We believe that in
baptism all of us become brothers and sisters to one
another in Christ. Even our youngest brothers and sisters
have much to teach us as all of us strive to become
disciples of Jesus Christ. See you in church,
2
We celebrate Dick Stuart’s 103rd
birthday, May 10th.
Please Hold in Prayer:
Jean Cymbalski
Lowell Ewart
John Geske
David Hoekstra
Jan Krebiehl
Wally MacLean
Harriet McDaniel
Mike Morgan
Doug Paterson
Phil Prygoski
Wayne Scott
Joys Concerns
Card Ministry
The deacons have begun a card ministry. You will
find a box in the library labeled “Church Family Cards.”
Inside are cards that can be sent to any of our church
friends for birthdays, get well, sympathy or thinking of
you. There is a form at the front of the box to fill out
when you take and send a card, as well as an address
directory.
1. Please list the date, whom it is for (recipient),
occasion, and your name. Return the form to the
front of the box. This will help ensure that
we don’t miss anyone who needs a note
from us.
2. Write your message inside the card.
Sign your name and also add “and your
friends at Okemos Presbyterian Church.”
3. Address the envelope. You can mail it yourself or
put it in Laurie’s mailbox (near the offices) for
mailing.
Thank you for helping with the card ministry for our
church family.
Dear friends,
Thank you for the prayers, visits, cards
and words of encouragement since my De‐
cember strokes. The road to recovery is long
and bumpy, but with your support we will get
there.
Mike and Lydia Morgan
Linda and I thank you for the cards and
well wishes during the past four months. The
support was overwhelming, and we are
eternally grateful for all the love, kind
thoughts and prayers that helped us through
this challenging time. The visits, phone calls
and multiple cards were special and helped us
realize how fortunate we are to be a part of
this church family. We have been richly
blessed and appreciate very much your
concern, encouragement and caring.
Jan and Linda Krehbiel
Congratulations to All our Recent Graduates!
Michael Corder from Haslett High School. Michael plans to attend
the Lyman Briggs School at Michigan State University in the
fall.
Emma Francis from Okemos High School.
Jacob Gierman from St. Johnʹs High School. Jacob plans to attend
the James Madison School at Michigan State University in the
fall.
Yusuf Sultani from Okemos High School. Yusuf will be attending
Western Michigan University and plans to study
cinematography and computer science.
Ben Baldwin graduated from Michigan State this Spring with a
B.A. in Music Education. Ben will be student teaching in the fall
and will continue to sing in our choir next year.
Luke Corder graduated from The Nursing School at Michigan State
University.
Sarah Mayhew earned her Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife from
Michigan State University.
If you know of other recent graduates whom we have missed,
please contact the church office and share that information with us.
Thank you Notes
3
Christian Education
Retirees Group meets the fourth Monday of each
month. Recent retirees, semi‐retirees or those who
wish they were retired are invited to attend the
lunch discussion. Bring a sack lunch and join us in
Fellowship Hall from noon to 1:00 P.M. June 24 we
will talk about our favorite books and theater
performances. July 22 we will share favorite day or
week‐end trips in and around Michigan. August 26
will be a discussion on caregiving issues, tips and
support. If you have questions, please contact Tom
Bobay at [email protected] or Jane Bobay at
(517) 505‐0211.
Men’s Group
meets each Tuesday
morning at 6:45 in
Fellowship Hall.
Writing Life Stories group
will meet at 12:30 P.M. on
Sunday, June 2, in Room 108.
Book Discussion Club
will gather to choose books
for next year and to discuss
when, where, and whether
we will meet. This occurs in
Room 108 at 11:30 A.M. on
June 16.
Women’s Supper Out: On Monday, June 17 we
will meet at Taste of Thai 2838 E. Grand
River, East Lansing [next door to Coral
Gables] at 5:30 P.M. All women are invited.
Please let Barbara Dorr know you’ll be
attending so she can make arrangements.
Youth News
Since 1980, Presbyterian teenagers have been gathering once every three
summers on the campus of Purdue University for the Presbyterian Youth
Triennium. The purpose of this gathering is to engage young people from all
over the world in worship, study, and fellowship in order to strengthen their
relationships with God and the Church. This summer, Triennium is meeting from
July 16‐20, and we are sending four of our teenagers: Olivia Meland, Jake and
Rebecca Stokes, and Grace Townley. They will be accompanied by other young
people and chaperones from our Presbytery.
High School Senior, Michael Corder, will go on a week‐long mission trip
with 35 high school youth and 10 chaperones from Haslett Community Church
from June 22‐29. The group is going to Rockford, Illinois, and partnering with
Rockford Workcamps to assist with home
repair/construction, as well as neighborhood
cleanup, and working with at‐risk
children as part of a summer program. This
is the 4th summer work camp that Michael
has participated in.
Vacation Bible School (VBS)
Shine! Living in God’s LightShine! Living in God’s LightShine! Living in God’s Light
July 9—12, 9:00 A.M.— 12:00 Noon
Sign up now in Fellowship Hall, or at
https://okemospres.org/vbs‐19/
4
Transportation needs are increasing as several in our church family are
no longer driving or don’t drive in the evening. There are a limited number of
volunteers who are available for Sunday transportation. Please contact Jane
Bobay at [email protected] or call (517) 505‐0211 if you would be able to assist
those in need of rides. Whether you can help occasionally, monthly or weekly,
your help is needed. There is also a sign‐up sheet on the kiosk in Fellowship
Hall for specific needs. Thank you.
Endowment Committee News
At the last meeting of the Endowment
Committee, we received good news about the
church’s fund, and we distributed some monies for
special projects this Spring and Summer. In 2018, our
congregation’s endowment grew by $36,000 so that it
now totals $369,000. Interest and dividends of
$16,000 are available to spend in 2019. In April,
Endowment Committee made the following
recommendations which were approved by Session
at the May meeting.
Money was spent to trim the tree in the front of
the building, dig out plants that had died and
replace them with new plantings. That project is
currently underway.
We used Endowment funds to pay the salary for
a temporary office worker while Laurie
Horstman was recovering from heart surgery.
Session had determined that the church would
pay Laurie’s salary through her recovery.
We bought a large screen “smart” television and
stand to use for educational events and other
functions that require a display.
We purchased a “Documents” safe in which to
store documents required by the Book of Order
for safe keeping. PC(USA) recommended that
every Presbyterian Church have such a safe in
order to maintain records.
We approved funds to be made available for
scholarships for young people to attend the
Youth Triennium at Purdue University this
summer, family camp and mission trips.
There are approximately $9000 still available for
special projects in 2019. If you have an idea of how
such monies might be spent, please share your ideas
with the appropriate church committee. The
Endowment Committee considers requests that have
come through the committee structure of the church.
. . and from the Session . . .
Elders approved using funds to install air conditioning in Fellowship Hall. That should be
competed this month.
Session also expanded Mission and Outreach giving to $40,000 in 2019. Thanks to the
congregationʹs support of the Roots and Wings Campaign.
5
Mission Committee Update‐ In April 2019 The Presbyterian Church of Okemos donated $4000 to
the Rachel and Michael Ludwig Literacy and Evangelism Mission in
Niger. A thank you email was sent to the church on May 20. In that
communication the Ludwigs included a connection to their blog. The blog
is very informative and well written and is a highly recommended read
for PCO members who may be interested in the details of the Ludwig
mission. The Ludwigs also have a PCUSA webpage that provides links to
the newsletters they publish about four times a year.
Blog: https://outofthedustandus.blogspot.com
PCOUSA: https://presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/rev‐michael‐and‐rachel‐ludwig
A Visit from a Young Friend
In 2008, Kawlar Dah was one of many refugees
who had been relocated to the greater Lansing area
from Myanmar. She and her family were of the
Karen, a people who had lived in Burma/Myanmar
for many generations and had a long history as
Christian people. In the 21st century, these people
suddenly found themselves persecuted by the
government of Myanmar, and many fled for their
lives. She and her family were housed in a refugee
camp in Thailand for many years. Then in the
summer of 2008, many of these
refugees were granted asylum
and relocated to the United
States. Many were found
housing in the Cedar Creek
Apartments on Okemos Road.
Our congregation reached
out to these new immigrants
who were living less than a
mile from our church. At our
Rally Day picnic, we hosted many children, teens and
families for food and a softball game across the street
on one of the Chippewa Baseball fields. Kawlar Dah
was one of those children.
Soon after that picnic, with leadership from Iris
Horner, Judi Harris, Ann Rush, and Ellen Hoekstra,
our congregation was offering “English as a Second
Language” classes in our church building for a
variety of immigrant peoples. Our church members
volunteered to teach these classes two or three nights
a week. The Okemos School system was not prepared
for this influx of children who did not speak any
English, but the system insisted that these students
should be taught in the same classrooms with
children who had grown up speaking English.
Kawlar was 11 years old, and she was placed in
Ann Rush’s 5th grade classroom at Cornell School.
Ann encouraged her to come to the English classes
meeting in the evening at the church where Ann was
one of the many church members helping to teach the
refugees. After a few years in Okemos, Kawlar’s
family moved to South Dakota where they had other
friends and relatives. But Kawlar and Ann Rush
continued to write one another over the years.
When asked to write about an
unforgettable character in a college
admission essay, Kawlar wrote
about Ann and her experience in
this church. This Spring, she
graduated from Northern State
University in Aberdeen, South
Dakota with a degree in Business
Administration. Last month,
Kawlar and her friend, Ywa Pa
Moo, came back to Okemos to visit Ann, to see the
church 11 years later, and to say thank you to people
who had helped her make her way in the world. (See
the picture: Ann Rush, Ywa, Kawlar, Rev. Carlson).
Our Presbyterian Catechism teaches that the ties
that bind us in Christ are deeper than any other
human relationship; that all of us are in need; and
that we show our solidarity by declaring God’s
undying love to one another “as one beggar tells
another where to find bread.” What it doesn’t say is
that sometimes that makes all the difference in the
world.
6
Communicating with Your Legislator by Ellen Hoekstra
The past reports have dealt with policy issues rele‐
vant to the mission involvement of PCO—access to safe
and affordable housing, alleviating hunger, and refugee
policies to name a few. Hopefully, you will find the in‐
formation helpful in communicating with public offi‐
cials, whether at the national or state levels. This month,
rather than providing another policy update, let’s go
over some questions often asked about that communica‐
tion process:
What’s the best way to communicate with a legisla‐
tor? There’s no one correct answer. If you are ask‐
ing a fairly straightforward question, a simple email
or phone call will suffice. However, if you are hop‐
ing to persuade a legislator to support legislation,
face to face contact will probably be better. Like
most of us, legislators will pay special attention to
people whom they already know or who have ex‐
pertise on an issue. So it’s useful to attend coffee
hours or other events where you can get to know
your elected official a bit. And it’s always helpful to
be well‐informed on issues before meeting with a
legislator.
Since my legislator and I are members of different
political parties, won’t s/he just ignore what I say?
Well, presumably you will know not to go into this
meeting with a political lapel pin. Also, it’s as un‐
likely you’ll be asked who you voted for or what
your political party is as if would be to be asked how
much you weigh!
I don’t really have a lot of expertise on (pick a topic,
say “hunger in mid‐Michigan”), yet I’m really con‐
cerned about it. Will my legislator still listen to
me? Yes, you can ask what’s happening in the legis‐
lature regarding the issue, and you can share your
personal experience, whether it’s knowing a family
that’s struggling or your volunteer work at Advent
House or Loaves and Fishes. Sometimes legislators
will offer to keep you updated on legislation intro‐
duced on the subject you’re asking about.
When I’ve called before, I’ve only been able to reach
staff. Why is my legislator avoiding me? The more
people an elected official represents, the more likely
you are to be talking to staff. A governor or US Sen‐
ator, has to delegate a great deal of authority and
communications to staff. If you are not happy about
the response or attention you are getting from a par‐
ticular staff person, you can ask to talk to someone
else in their office who handles that issue. You can
also ask for a phone call from the elected official.
The letter I got back from my senator read like a
form letter that could be sent to reply to any in‐
quiry—e.g., “I always look forward to hearing
from people in my district and appreciate hearing
from you.” I’m so mad! What should I do? The
best approach is to wait till you’ve calmed down
and call the office. Be straight with them and say
that you were disappointed not to get an answer to
your question about how the senator planned to
vote on, say, the lead abatement bill you’d asked
about. Ask to talk with the legislator or a staff per‐
son who works on that issue.
Resources for more information:
The Michigan Legislature’s website contains a wealth
of information about legislation that’s introduced,
committees, and legislators:
www.legislature.mi.gov.
You can call your legislator and ask for a copy of “A
Citizen’s Guide to State Government.” It contains
information about elected officials at the federal and
state level, including Michigan’s Supreme Court and
all state departments in the executive branch.
There’s also information about citizen participation,
including testifying before legislative committees.
An on‐line version of the “Citizen’s Guide” is availa‐
ble at www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/
publications/citizensguide.pdf .
Caring for Creation
In caring for recycling, the recycle bins are sorted monthly.
Please DO NOT put napkins, paper towels, paper plates or paper cups in the recycling
bins. These items cannot be recycled because of either food contamination on napkins and
towels or wax coatings on plates and cups. When in doubt, leave it out.
When a recycling load has too much contamination, the whole load has to be
discarded, hence the need to only recycle appropriate items. Questions? Check with Dorinda
VanKempen, her email, [email protected].
Thank you for your help in caring for creation!
7
BOOK NOOK: EDUCATED: A MEMOIR By Tara Westover
In January, 2004, Tara Westover, homeschooled at Buck’s Peak, Idaho, all her life, entered Brigham Young University. Ten years later, she earned a Ph. D. degree at Cambridge University. Westover, however, had paid a very high price for such higher education: the deep estrangement of her parents and four of her siblings. By 2014, she was “a changed person, a new self.”
“You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal. I call it an education.” Educated: A Memoir, published in 2018, is an original, absorbing, and fascinating story of genuine higher education.
What do “educated” and “education” mean to Tara Westover? In this fiercely honest and poignant memoir, she provides three answers. Part I focuses on the learning gained in being socialized, enculturated, even indoctrinated, by her family, especially her father, a Mormon sexist and survivalist. Part II adds what most Americans mean by education—formal schooling—in Westover’s case, at Brigham Young, Harvard, and Cambridge Universities. Part III combines those two elements with what John Dewey calls the “continuing reconstruction of experience” and others call “deep learning.” Here such learning consists of Tara’s intuitive insight, felt knowledge, and disciplined reconstructing of herself, her mind and heart, and her place in society. According to one observer, Educated “gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes, and the will to change it.”
Tara Westover never went to elementary or secondary school. For her first 17 years, she complied with what her parents asked her to do. They were Mormon survivalists—anti‐government, anti‐hospital, anti‐public school. Her father ran a scrap metal junkyard and construction business; her mother was a midwife and herbalist who relied on homeopathic remedies. “The jingle of corrugated tin, the short tap of copper wire, the thunder of iron” played constantly in Tara’s mind. It was quite dangerous work, injuring her, her brother, and her father.
She did read, however: the Book of Mormon and New Testament twice, the Old Testament, and works of the early Mormon prophets. But her father quashed her desire to go to school. Later, she realized that that reading “was my education, the one that would matter. . . . The skill I was learning was a crucial one, the patience to read things I could not yet understand.” She prepared for ACT testing, earning a 28 on her second effort.
At Brigham Young, she enrolled in the wrong class, missed every question on her first quiz, worried about studying on the Sabbath, did not know what the word “Holocaust,” meant, and wrote in a way more faithful to the King James version of the Bible. “I was a freak, and I knew it.” A classmate, however, helped improve her study of art; photographs of African‐American slaves mesmerized her; and the names of Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, and Martin
Luther King, Jr., captivated her. The next summer, when her brother called her the n‐word because of her dirty, greasy appearance in the junkyard, she knew she “had started on a path of awareness . . . . I had discerned the ways in which we had been sculpted by a tradition given to us by others. . . . We had lent our voices to a discourse
whose sole purpose was to dehumanize and brutalize others.”
Assaulted by her brother, Shawn, she felt confused but refused to let him narrate her life. Others helped her. The Mormon bishop counseled her weekly and helped her continue in school. She learned about bipolar disorder, which she applied to her father. Her estrangement with him deepened. “For nineteen years I’d lived the way my father wanted. Now I would try something else.“ Professors praised her
and encouraged her to stretch herself. At Cambridge, she wrote what she thought rather than what others told her. She found her voice. “The most powerful determination of who you are is inside you,” one professor told her.
The third section of Westover’s memoir is the shortest but most impressive part of her education. Tensions, conflicts, ambiguities, and divided loyalties increased. She was in deep grief, having lost much of her own family. Her dear friend, Drew Mecham, stood by her. Recovering healthy relationships with two brothers, two aunts, and an uncle helped. So did studies in feminism, liberty, and Enlightenment philosophers such as John Stuart Mill. In her Ph. D. dissertation she treated Mormon ideology as “neither spiritual nor profane,” but as part of a larger story about family and social movements in the 19th century. Such an intellectual perspective spoke to her own experience. Who writes history, anyway? Historians such as Tara Westover do.
A climactic moment came in the fall of 2010, when her father came to Harvard to give her a “priesthood blessing.” She rejected it. “What my father wanted to cast from me wasn’t a demon: it was me. . . . What has come between me and my father is more than time or distance. It is a change in the self. I am not the child my father raised, but he is the father who raised her.” All her years of study had prompted her to “to see and experience more truths than those given to me by my father, and to use those truths to construct my own mind.”
Tara Westover is multi‐layered: socialized by unyielding Mormon parents, formally schooled in 21st‐century institutions of higher education, and reconstructing her own experience in fierce and fresh ways. She possesses a strong will and intellect. She has not only found a place in the world but also contributed her share in society. In the process, a chasm between her and her family has deepened, a split between those who remained on the Idaho mountain and those who left, between the four siblings without high school diplomas and three with Ph. D.’s. Being educated means losing something as well as gaining something.
Review by Ron Dorr
8
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF OKEMOS
2258 BENNETT RD
OKEMOS, MI 48864-3233
The Grapevine is a monthly newsletter of
The Presbyterian Church of Okemos
Sunday Worship 10:00 A.M.
Staff
Rev. Dr. Robert T. Carlson, Jr., Pastor
Rev. Alice Fleming Townley, Assistant Pastor
Sue Schnackenberg,
Director of Children Youth Ministries
Laurie Horstman, Administrative Assistant
Edward Ennen, Sexton
Office Hours
Tuesday ‐ Thursday: 9:00 A.M.‐2:00 P.M.
Friday: 9:00 A.M.‐Noon
Contact us at:
Phone: 517‐349‐9536
https://twitter.com/okemospres
https://www.facebook.com/OkemosPresbyterian/
Website: https://okemospres.org
Email: [email protected]
Dave Bennett Returns! By popular demand, jazz clarinet virtuoso
Dave Bennett will be returning to PCO on the
weekend of June 8th and 9th.
On Saturday June 8th, the church will host a
community picnic at 4:00 P.M. with food,
entertainment, and childrenʹs
activities –‐a bounce house,
an “air baseball” game, face
painting, and more— followed by an
evening concert at 7:00 P.M. in the sanctuary
featuring the Dave Bennett Quartet.
The quartet will return Sunday morning at
10:00 A.M. for a Pentecost jazz worship service.
Please bring family and friends to this very special
weekend of great music, community outreach, and
Sunday worship.
201920192019
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY
1 9am Spring
Cleanup 12:30pm Recital 4:30pm Recital
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10:00am Worship 11:30am CE Hour 12:30pm Life Stories
group
5:45pm CE Staff
meeting
6:45am Men’s Group
7pm Parish Life 7pm Personnel
6pm Adult
Ed Committee meeting
1pm Prayer Shawl 4pm Picnic 7pm Dave Bennett
Concert
9 - Pentecost 10 11 12 13 14 15 10:00am Jazz Worship &
Communion
6:00pm Mission
Committee
6:45am Men’s Group
6:00pm Admin Committee
meeting 7:30pm Session
16 – Refugee Sunday 17 18 19 20 21 22 10:00am Worship 11am Birthday Cake 11:30pm Book Discussion
5:30pm Women’s Supper Out
6:45am Men’s Group
6pm Deacons’ meeting
Grapevine Deadline
1pm Prayer Shawl
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 10:00am Worship
12N Retirees Lunch
1:30pm PeaceQuest meeting
6:45am Men’s Group
30 10:00am Worship
