Poinsettia Tree Dedications 2022

Every year, the poinsettias which are part of the Christmas Poinsettia Tree

and decorate the Chancel, are given to the Glory of God

in memory/honor/thanksgiving by members of our church family.

This year's dedications: 

Anonymous

In honor of Janice Dixon,

my secret sister,

and for her generous service

to all of us at Pax Pres!

 

Anonymous

In honor of Chrystal Godfrey,

my secret sister

 

Coralie Adams and Family

In memory of my husband,

John W. Adams

and my parents,

Raymond and Kathryne Whitham

 

Leon and Mary Anderson

In honor of the handbell choir

 

Deb Barton

In memory of Louise Barton

 

Kim and Gerry Bohrer

In honor of their parents

 

Diane Byers

In honor of the Schnake and

Byers families

 

Danielson Family

In loving memory of Jeff’s mother,

Marlene,

in memory of Jay and Jordon Paganelli,

and in celebration of Christ’s birth

 

Eschenbrenner Family

To celebrate Anabel’s birthday

on December 23rd

 

Brian and Lori Gallo

To celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ

 

Katherine Gausmann

To celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ

 

Jarod Grant

In honor of my parents,

Gary and Diane Grant

 

Rev. Robert Hardin

In memory of my parents

and grandparents

 

Harritt Goostree Family

In loving memory of Eilene Kimmell

and Phyllis Harritt

 

Carolyn and Dick Huff

In loving memory of Vivian Faith Bolling,

Dick’s mother

 

Sharon Johnson

For God’s glory and praise

for His wonderful gift of Jesus

 

George and Lynn Brandt-Keenan

To honor all our families

 

Agatha Lakin

In loving memory of Toby Lakin, Jr.,

his parents, Toby and Patsy Lakin

and Leonard and Bonnie Cochran,

Aggie’s parents

 

Lawrence Family

In memory of Ruth Jensen

and Julie Lawrence

 

Karla and Jim Light

In honor of the Connolly

and Light families

 

Glenda Lytle

In loving memory of my husband, Allen,

son-in-law, Ian Seely,

and my parents

 

Frank and Kathy Mazur

In memory of Bonnie Clark and

to celebrate the birth

of our Lord and Savior, Jesus

 

Christine Neurauter

In memory of my father and my sister

 

Donald and Debbie Patterson

In memory of our parents,

Don and Barbara Lanning,

and Merle and Elsie Patterson

 

David Porter

In memory of Beverly H. Porter

 

Rita Reeves

To the glory of God

 

Kathryn Rivers

In memory of my husband Jay Rivers,

My grandparents, Spencer Smith, Sr.,

Joel and Kathryn McCaa,

and Dr. Spencer Smith, Jr.

 

Laura and Jamie Rhodes

In memory of loved ones who have passed

and in honor of those who remain

 

Cindy Romano

In memory of Dave and Connie Oliver

In memory of my grandparents,

Karl and Louise Ross,

and James and Millie Danielson,

and in honor of my parents,

Robert and Emma Ross

 

Christy Schumacher

In memory of the fallen Marines

and Sailors of the 4^th Light

Armored Reconnaissance Battalion

 

Tom and Patsy Schumacher

In memory of the Schumacher and

Van Bloem families,

and in honor of Ken and Jean Reamy,

and the Pooley Family

 

Marilyn Sheldahl

In memory of two husbands in heaven,

Pastor Fred Illick and Rich Sheldahl

 

David and LuAnn Smouse

In memory of our parents, Lou and Ann Lakes,

and Bill and Hazel Smouse,

and David’s brother, Billy

In honor of our family

and the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ

 

Shawn and Nicole Thompson

To celebrate the blessing of our kids!

 

Bitsy Unangst

In loving memory of Kurt Unangst

 

VanMeter Family

In memory of Melody’s father, John Adams

and Tony’s father, Dale VanMeter

 

Tina and Mac Watts

In memory of Joan Hand

and our shared fellowship

 

The Wolfe Family

In memory of our family members,

Peter, Jane, and Megan Wolfe

and in honor of Grandma Patty

 

Don and Beth Wright and Family

In memory of Don’s parents

and Beth’s parents,

and in appreciation to

Pastor Matt, Diana, and family

A Letter from Our Operation Christmas Child Drop-Off Team Leader!

Greetings, Church Family!

 

We are less than two weeks away from the start of National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child (November 14th-21st). With upheaval in our world locally and globally, children are in need more than ever to hear the Good News and experience the Great Joy of Jesus Christ...and, if you feel called, you can be a part of that global effort right here in St. Mary's County.

 

If you are interested in helping as we undertake our fourth year as a Drop-Off location at Pax Pres, please keep reading! 

 

Our Schedule

Please let me know if you (or your youth/teens) are available to help during any of the following shifts:

Monday, November 14th – 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 15th – 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, November 16th – 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Thursday, November 17th – 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Friday, November 18th – 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 19th – 8:00-10:00 a.m.

Sunday, November 20th – 12:00-2:00 p.m.

Monday, November 21st - 8:30-10:30 a.m. (UHaul Driver: Robert Hardin)

Some of you have already let me know your availability and I have you on the schedule. Once the schedule is filled, I'll send it out, along with more specific information and this year's game plan.

 

How can you help?

The ultimate goal of the Drop-Off is to collect, count, and carton shoeboxes from community donors, while thoughtfully engaging every visitor in a transformational manner. For each shift, we need greeters, paperwork-ers, and cartoners. Some shifts are very quiet and some are pure mayhem, but your willingness to serve during both the calm and the chaos is much appreciated.  

 

Who can volunteer?

ANYONE - youth helpers to seniors! Supervised youth of any age can be of service alongside a parent, but youth should be 13 or older to serve without a parent. Service hour letters will be provided for our middle and high school volunteers. For our more "seasoned" volunteers, we have less physically demanding jobs for you and would love to have your help, experience, and company.

 

Friends, last year was simply amazing. We had 29 volunteers put in 146.5 hours of time at our Drop-Off, where we handled 2,352 shoeboxes. That's 2,532 gospel opportunities starting on their journey from our back door! I'm excited to work with you and to watch God work through Patuxent Presbyterian Church during National Collection Week!

 

Susan McKinley

Drop-Off Team Leader

Operation Christmas Child Southern Maryland Area Team 

Contact: churchoffice@paxpres.org 

 

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

- Mark 10:14

A Special Invitation from Rev. Matt Pooley

Are you hurting and weary from things going on in your life, in the lives of loved ones, and in the world in general? On September 10th, at 6:30 p.m., come to a special worship service at Patuxent Presbyterian Church to sing, reflect, and pray together for healing, wholeness, and endurance in the midst of pain and weariness. Bring a friend. Following the service, we invite you to stay for dessert and coffee in the Narthex.

Midyear Report 2022

Greetings Pax Pres! I want to share a few ways God has been at work so far in 2022 to encourage you about the remainder of the year and beyond. God was definitely at work in our recent Vacation Bible School, with 85 children participating and 58 volunteers, 27 of those been teenagers. 16 high schoolers and 9 middle schoolers recently returned from their retreats where God was at work. God has brought 12 new members into our fellowship, not including other numerous new visitors every single Sunday. We’ve celebrated 6 baptisms this year. Total worship attendance is harder to gauge now with livestream, but we’ve seen an average of 152 people in person for worship with a recent peak of 185, while also maintaining a steady ministry to people worshipping via livestream both near and far. We continue to disburse our monthly support to devoted missionaries locally and abroad. And among many other outreach efforts, we’ve already prepared 350 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child to bless that same number of children overseas this coming winter!

All these numbers are of value to our Lord. But every number is a person that God longs to reach with the call of Jesus. For example, two of those 85 VBS children are part of a family who are brand-new to our church because of a decade-long friendship with a fellow Pax member named Steve. Every one of those numbers is an individual who other individuals are ministering to in some meaningful way like Steve. That’s a ton of bridges built for the Gospel!

If I told you the unique way only God could have orchestrated that VBS family’s friendship with Steve, you would see that, no exaggeration, all of the ministries of our church each played a part in building that bridge for the Gospel.

This summer, our Session launched a Stewardship Committee. This committee’s purpose is “develop a creative, consistent strategy to make church members aware of the many gifts God has given us, and how we can commit those gifts in service to God’s mission for Pax Pres.” One way the Stewardship Committee will do that is by sharing stories throughout the year, like Steve’s, to encourage all of us to grow as disciples in however we can contribute to build bridges for the Gospel too. That includes our time and skills – this brand-new worship banner right here beside me is a visible reminder of time and skills that build bridges: it was lovingly quilted just in recent months by one of our members to keep our eyes centered on Christ every Sunday. Building bridges for the Gospel includes our time and skills, and it includes our finances. 

Speaking of finances, here’s a midyear snapshot of where we stand at Pax. The Pax Pres annual operating budgeted income for 2022 is $687,200. As of June 30, our actual income stands at right around $350,000. In that sense, we’re on schedule for making our budgeted income, thanks to your generosity by God’s grace. Our annual budgeted expenses for 2022 are just over $808,000. Year-to-date actual expenses as of June 30 are also just over $350,000. However, we did approve an annual budget that planned for use of roughly $121,000 of reserves, which are there for extraordinary times like our current world!

In order to finish our originally budgeted year strong and in the black would require prayerful generosity on all of our parts. Our Session has led by faith by launching the search for an Associate Pastor of Families, Children, and Youth. In fact, if you hear the echo of my voice in this recording like I’m coming from any empty room, I’m filming this in our vacant associate pastor’s office. Can you partner with me in following God’s lead to fill this chair for the sake of families and students who need the Gospel in our community?

Apart from any other new expense needs in 2023, if you combine projected salary with required benefits percentages in our denomination, that associate position will add roughly another $100,000 to budgeted 2023 expenses. In order to fill that staffing addition in 2023 without depending on reserves will require a stretch in faith from each of us personally. I know God can empower us to reach this goal, because I know you share God’s heart to reach more people of all ages with the Gospel, like that one story about Steve and a VBS family. This stained glass behind me in our sanctuary is a reminder of the names in memory of the glass who are the saints upon whose legacy of faithfulness our current worship and mission are built – how can we do any less than follow in their footsteps of giving generously for the sake of future generations long after us?

With my own household to manage, I know this time of inflation and many other world concerns is an anxious time to draw attention to the time and finances needed to fulfill God’s mission at Pax Pres. But if we entrust to God his first fruits to us, God can make and grow disciples of Jesus through us by building bridges for His Gospel. Our neighbors in Southern Maryland and our global neighbors need the rescue of a Savior in the midst of all the despair and hopelessness around us. God is not just at work in the positive and encouraging numbers and stories – many siblings in Christ in our church and our wider community are being struck by illness, loneliness, financial insecurity, anxiety, and more. So I encourage, even urge you, to join me in asking God how he is calling you to grow as a selfless, generous disciple to serve others with the hope of Christ. As Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

"Glorious Suffering" - A Poem by Katie Mead

Glorious Suffering

Son of Man, Lamb of God,

did you despise that Thursday night?

Did the cup’s bitter taste

tell the secrets You wished weren’t true?

Did it whisper of all things to come undone,

unraveled within

Your earthly eternity?

For not Your will but His was done.

You told of Your soulful sorrow

that begged of the cup to pass,

but You received a scarlet robe,

a crown of thorns,

as the power of darkness mocked and beat.

You walked into the hands of those

who accused such perfect innocence

to release the guilty man

whose heart and soul

and bloody hands

resemble so closely what used to be mine.

Mysteriously, Your work

of the life I refused to live

receives the payment in full

of what I chose instead;

for You loved me in mercy first

so that in justice I trust your death

to be gifted with such eternal life

and imparted with true righteousness

from Your meritorious splendor.

You did not save Yourself,

instead yielding up Your spirit

for the earth to quake and the rocks to split

as such evil believed its victory.

The voices that shouted to crucify,

some familiar when they shouted “Messiah,”

so insistent now upon Your death,

demanding the defeat of the Savior.

Dedications for Easter Flowers

The Easter Azaleas and Lilies 

are given to the Glory of Almighty God by:

Donald and Deborah Patterson                      

In memory of Donald and Barbara Lanning, and Merle and Elsie Patterson

 

Rita Reeves                                                    

To the glory of God

 

Kathryn Rivers                                              

In memory of Jay Rivers, Michael Laiche and grandparents

 

Cindy Romano                                               

In honor of my parents, Robert and Emma Ross

 

Les and Shirley Schnake                               

In honor Diane, Liam and Caden Byers and Dan, Derek and Brandon Schnake

In memory of David Schnake and Robby Byers

 

Patsy and Tom Schumacher                          

In memory of Paul J. and Peter S. Van Bloem

In honor of Debbie Boyd and her work around the church.

In honor of the Garden Club and all their hard work.

 

Stephanie Thomson                                       

In memory of my mother, Diana Back          

                                                                       

The Unangst Family                                      

To celebrate the glory of God

 

Mac and Tina Watts                                      

In memory of our sister in Christ, Joan Hand

 

Don and Beth Wright                                    

In honor of our long time member Nancy Royalty, greeter and member of the original First

Presbyterian Church of St. Mary’s County.

In memory of Don parents, Helen and Don Wright Jr. and Beth’s parents, Dorothy and Walter

Frazier.

 

Anonymous                                                    

In honor of Janice Dixon, my secret sister

 

Anonymous                                                    

In honor of Patsy Schumacher, my secret sister

 

Adams/Van Meter Family                             

In memory of John Adams

 

Leon and Mary Anderson                              

To the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ

 

Gloria Brady                                                  

To celebrate our risen Christ

 

Danielson Family                                          

In memory of Jeff’s mom, Marlene

 

Patsy Davidson                                              

In loving memory of my husband, Bruce Davidson.

In thanksgiving for my family and the birth of McKenna Shay Hart.

In honor of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

 

Carolyn Graessle                                           

In memory of Molly Martin

                                                                       

Carolyn and Dick Huff                                  

In loving memory of our loved ones who have gone before.

 

Agatha Lakin                                                 

In memory of Leonard and Bonnie Cochran and Toby and Pansy Lakin

 

Lawrence Family                                           

In memory of our loved ones

 

Karla and Jim Light                                       

In honor of our families

 

Glenda Lytle                                                  

In loving memory of my husband, Allen Lytle, our son-in-law Ian Seely, and my parents

 

Frank and Kathy Mazur                                 

To celebrate our risen Lord!

Two-Year Anniversary of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Message of Encouragement

Rev. Matt Pooley

March 10, 2022

Greetings Pax Pres! If you’re encouraged by this message, please share it with others.

I composed this message and filmed a video of me sharing the following thoughts on Thursday, March 10, 2022. It was on March 13, 2020 that President Trump officially declared a national emergency related to the spread of the novel coronavirus that we all now know as Covid-19. Not to mention its endless variant names - have you enjoyed learning the Greek alphabet the last two years?

A lot of other milestones unfolded day by day in early 2020 - school shutdowns, travel bans, and so forth. But as we approach what would roughly be the two-year anniversary of the explosion of Covid-19 in our country, I want to offer some reflections and encouragement from God’s Word to you on such a sobering occasion.

Psalm 40 says:

“I waited patiently for the Lord;

    he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

    out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

    and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

    a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord

    and put their trust in him.

Blessed is the one

    who trusts in the Lord,

who does not look to the proud,

    to those who turn aside to false gods.”

“I waited patiently for the Lord.”  Two years of a global pandemic will test anyone’s patience. And for some of us, even after two years, the waiting continues - maybe on something related to the pandemic or something else in your life circumstances like a broken relationship, a loved one dying, job uncertainty, or more.  Jesus Christ came offering “life to the full” (John 10:10) to those who look to Him for rescue and not, as Psalm 40 says, “to the proud or to false gods.”

That doesn’t mean all our suffering will go away tomorrow. But it does mean that in the two years of a pandemic or the years still ahead of you, submitting to trust and obey Him offers us qualities from the Holy Spirit to get us through each day no matter how muddy, slimy and dark the days are – as the psalmist says. Qualities like the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth; the perseverance described in Romans 5, and more.

Jesus offers life to the full in the present-day sense. He also offers life to the full in the sense that there’s a long-term promise: one day, He will come again. Even if the struggles - pandemic or otherwise - don’t end anytime soon. Even if, as the psalmist says, he doesn’t lift you out of your slimy pits and mud and mire this year or next. One day he will wipe away all tears, reveal a new heaven and earth, and offer eternal joy and rest in His presence to those who confess Jesus as Savior and Lord.

I need these encouragements too. So join me in holding onto the hope of God’s daily provision to shape our character to persevere beyond the first two years of a global pandemic. Join me in holding onto the hope that, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Paul says “our light and momentary troubles.” He is not at all downplaying the severity of life’s suffering: six million deaths to Covid-19 worldwide. Employees of so many industries burned out: hospital staff and medical professionals; business workers; teachers; housekeepers in hotels; and more.  Constant questions of “How long, O Lord?” “What will the new normal be?” Beyond the pandemic itself, we’ve had tension around race relations and systemic injustice, ever-increasing anxiety about our global climate, a divisive presidential election season, and now a new war incited by Russia. Or just on the ordinary, daily scale, I read an article a couple months ago about “decision fatigue. We’re all tired of the constant pivoting, calling audibles, and rethinking one decision after another because of Covid-19.

Paul’s point is not necessarily that, in themselves, these are light and momentary troubles. His point is a comparison and contrast — if you could add up the physical weight of all these sources of pain, and then imagine a source of glory, goodness, and joy that far outweighs them all, I can’t even wrap my head around how much goodness and joy that is. Yet Paul says it is coming. It is coming for those who hang onto Christ, and when we can’t muster up the strength to hold onto Christ, that HE will hold onto us. 

I realize that even in two years of a pandemic, we’ve seen ordinary moments of unsung grace and resilience too, and we can give thanks to God for the way we see that in each other. But even then, God is preparing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs it all. If we wait patiently for the Lord, He will once, finally, and for all pull us out of the slimy pit of sin and suffering and set our feet in the presence of the rock, the glorious, loving, powerful, holy, compassionate King Jesus. Let’s cling to that hope together no matter what the rest of this pandemic or anything else in this world continues to bring. God bless you.