With the church's glorious Easter music and the strains of the youth choir musical still echoing in memory, we turn to a special season in the church's life this year. Part of the interim journey is a time to pause and reconnect with the church's history, to set recent years in the longer sweep of many decades of the congregation's life together.

During the month of April, we will be celebrating God's faithfulness to First Presbyterian over many of the decades of the church's nearly 140 years of history. This Sunday on April 6th will see both services using hymns, prayers, and a worship bulletin drawn from those used during the 1920s. You are invited to come and share in this enacted remembering; you may want to wear an item of clothing from the '20s, perhaps a bow tie or beaded handbag.

Services on the following Sundays will recall worship from the '40s, '50s, and '60s, and will give a sense of how the church has responded to the call of Christ to love God and to serve its neighbors in each of those compelling seasons in the life of the community and the world. Reflecting on God's faithfulness through each of these seasons will lead us on to consider where our church is being called to serve in the years to come.

Members of the Visioning Team are meeting with groups in the church to gather your thoughts on future directions for ministry and mission, and have been sharing with the Session your feedback through the brief questionnaires in the pew racks and online.

Strengthening our outreach to and support of students and families is emerging as a priority for the church's direction, as well as continued excellence in music and service to the community and wider mission. Amid all the priorities and directions that will emerge through the time of mission study, we will also keep faith with the needs of longtime church members. New programs and initiatives will be developed in continuity with the church's traditions and strong history of faith and service.

In this season of remembering, we recall with joy how God has been "our help in ages past." With the risen Christ beside us, we affirm the great good news that this same God will now and ever be "our hope for years to come."

In faith and fellowship,

Audrey Schindler

http://www.salemfirstpres.org/msgs/pp080406pf.htm

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