Seeking to be a grace-filled family of faith

sharing Christ's love with all.

Our values:

Glorify God: Glorify and praise God through worship, discipling, sharing faith

and serving with love

Show Compassion: Compassion expressed as care and concern for all

Share Hospitality: Inclusive hospitality through welcome, acceptance and fellowship

Nurture Relationships: Nurture relationships through respect, support and communication

Steward God's Gifts: Faithful stewardship of all God's gifts

August 11, 2024

"God in the Psalms, Part 3:

God's Redemption"

In our Sermon Series “The Nature of God in the Psalms,” we’ve learned how, in Psalm 145:1-21, God is good and GREAT! Last week, we learned how King David, who broke at least half of the 10 commandments in his affair with Bathsheba, then turned to God with a penitent heart, writing Psalm 51. Psalm 51 captures David’s asking for and receiving forgiveness, and it teaches us God is merciful and gives forgiveness to the truly penitent heart.

On Sunday, we will look at Psalm 130, in the sermon “God’s Redemption.” Psalm 130 is understood as not only a lament psalm that protests and grieves calamity, but as a penitential psalm that admits to wrongdoing and seeks forgiveness. We will learn from the life of the late Chuck Colson, whose compelling story includes the prestige of being White House Counsel under President Nixon, to prison inmate, to founder of Prison Fellowship. When he died in 2012, Colson was known as one of the most influential evangelical leaders of the past half century, devoting his life to ministering to prisoners and sharing the Gospel’s message of mercy, forgiveness, love and hope to millions.



Come worship with us on Sunday!

Lisa

Sermons in the series “God in the Psalms”

July 28            Part I:  God’s Goodness [Psalm 145]

August 4         Part 2: God’s Mercy [Psalm 51]

August 11       Part 3: God’s Redemption [Psalm 130]

Online Services

Adult Forum and Sunday School - Room 204, 10:10 am

Adult Forum continues this week with our study of the New Testament. We start a new chapter titled "Luke - Jesus the Savior of the World." Come and discuss, come and learn! This class is for ages 18 to 99 - join us!

Youth Church and Preschool Sunday School will resume in September 2024.

Young Adults/Young Couples Lunch

Young adults, please join us on Sunday, August 11th, from 12:30 – 2 pm, in the Parlor. this is for ages 18-40. We would like to discuss the foundation of a new ministry gearing towards this age group. Please bring up to five ideas for us to consider. An electronic invite has gone out, but also please email Lisa at lisa@silverspring.org for more information. We will need a head count by Friday, August 9th, so that we can order food.

Hymn Sing Sunday - Both services on August 18th

VOTE for your favorite songs!

Want to help choose the Gathering Songs for “Hymn Sing Sunday”? Here’s your chance! We will be taking votes to choose songs to sing on August 18. Those with the most votes will get sung at the service. Remember, we will attempt to include as many as possible – this may mean that we only sing a verse or two of your favorite song! Click HERE to vote for your top five!

Vacation Bible School Thank You

Vacation Bible School 2024 at Silver Spring Presbyterian Church was a great week! We used Augsburg Press’s Operation Restoration, and incorporated a Mission (im)Possible theme, stressing that with God, All Things are Possible!

Over four days and evenings, approximately 80 children and youth learned about God‘s provision, care and love for us, and about God’s creation.. We heard from Moses, who recounted how God provided food for the hungry Israelites as they traveled to the Promised Land. Scott Pepperman once again was our wonderful Moses!

On Tuesday, we heard from Lyla, a much healed, upright, and energetic nonagenarian, whom Jesus healed of a very crooked back on the Sabbath, as she was walking to Temple. Finally, Jesus taught us about the importance of forgiveness and prayer on Wednesday and Thursday. Compellingly played by Jim Smith, Jesus mesmerized the participants by teaching them how to forgive not 7 times, but 77 times (!), and how to pray the Lord’s Prayer.

Tying in our mission’s outreach programs here at Silver Spring, we invited Brian Yeich to come speak to participants about Feed My Starving Children (Monday), Deb McLain with Beacon Clinic (Tuesday), and our own Stefan Karkuff (Wednesday), on how to care for God’s earth. Finally on Thursday, the participants enjoyed playing on a much-anticipated Bouncy House and Water Slide for their recreation time.

There are so many people to thank – it truly takes a “village” to pull off a successful VBS event. A heart-felt thank you to the following individuals:

VBS Children and Youth Shepherds: Meri Beck, Claudia Brown, Kris Carpinello, Bethany and Chris Kavulich, Chris and Holly Lawrence, BJ Lopez, Heather McCarthy, Susan Neville, Jean Smith, Jim Smith, and Barb Wiggin

VBS Preschool Leaders: Tonya Ake, Emily Cocores, Becky Montney Kocher and Connie Wagner

Crafts: Cheryl Moore and Melanie Pepperman

Food Service: Scott Pepperman, lead; Kackie Barnhart, Jenny Bell, Ellen Frey, Jackie Hall, Mary Jane Jones, Gail Kreitzer, and Roy McLain

Music: Chad Hall, Kate Hall, also Kyle Weary and Ryan Edwards

Decoration and Concept Design: Ty Headley

Decorations: Kackie Barnhart, Karen Karkuff, Holly Lawrence, Melanie Pepperman, Barb Wiggin

Youth Leaders: Honor Bixler, Courage Bixler, Kyla Callahan, Brynn Hipp, RJ Holt, Lilly Taylor, Nathan Wieseman, Jayme Whittle, and "Xavier"

Recreation: Bryan Corbin

“Elliott Hall” Character: Don Wahlig

Special thank you to Priscilla Biller and John Clegg for all of their help prior to VBS and week of!

New Phone System at the Church

We want to make you aware that a pending date of August 14th has been set for installing a new phone system at the church. If you encounter a problem when calling into the church office that day, please email Priscilla at priscillab@silverspring.org. The new phone system has been in the works this past year as our current phones are no longer able to be maintained due to their age.

Manna Visits

When a guest has attended our worship services three times, we take him/her/or family a welcoming loaf of bread, a Guest Information Packet, and talk to them about the special place that SSPC is to all of us. We are in need of more people to sign up to make these manna visits. We have openings for August, October, November and December. Please see the sheet to sign up in the Gathering Place. Many people are here today because of a Manna visit in the past. Thank you for helping out! If you would like more information about the Manna Project, please contact Shannon Leary at shanlear17@gmail.com.

Worship/Ushers

If you can smile, say good morning, and count, then you qualify to usher at the 9:00 am worship service. Worship Committee appreciates our volunteers to the extent that we would like to expand the list in order to share the responsibilities. Please contact the office with a positive response. Thank you from the Worship Committee.

Lunch Bunch Outing

Please join us for lunch at 11:30 am on Monday, August 19, at CC’s Kitchen, located at 710 West Main Street in Mechanicsburg. CC’s is located just south of the intersection of Main Street (Trindle Road) and Simpson Street. Use the sign-up sheet in the Gathering Place or contact Joan Bretz at 717-657-3645 or jbretz1@earthlink.net. Hope to see you there.

End-Of-Summer Brunch on Sunday, August 25th

Your fun-loving Fellowship Committee is hosting an End-of-Summer Brunch between the two services on Sunday, August 25th in the Gathering Place. There will be a selection of finger sandwich bites, cheese stick bites, and other goodies, including frozen treats.  There is no cost and no sign-up for this event, but donation baskets will be available.  Please come and enjoy some social time together, as we savor the last few days of summer.

Dining Out Group

For a fun evening, please join us for pizza and more - 5:30 pm on Thursday, August 29^th, at The Pizza Grille, 3817 Gettysburg Road in Mechanicsburg. Please let us know by signing up in the Gathering Place at church or by contacting Joan Bretz, 717-657-3645 or jbretz1@earthlink.net.

URGENT MESSAGE -

We are Returning to see Daniel!

Many folks have approached me about setting up another trip to see "Daniel" at Sight and Sound because they missed the first trip. Some of our friends from South Africa will be going with us and some friends from Bethany Village as well. Here are the details: the planned trip is for September 10th. We will leave from the church at 9 am and travel by bus to Lancaster. After the show we will again travel to Shady Maple Buffet (voted best buffet in Pennsylvania!) for a late lunch. We will be back at the church before 6 pm. The total cost is $160, for the entire cost of the bus, show and meal. Several folks have already signed up and seating is limited, so don't delay. You have until August 10th to reserve your seat. Our seating at Sight and Sound is on the ground floor in what is called the orchestra section, excellent seats! Any questions contact Scott Pepperman at 717-389-5100 or send an email to puppytrainer52@aol.com. Ask anyone who went to the first show, it is not to be missed!

You can sign up in the Gathering Place or click HERE to sign up online with Realm.

Support the SSPC Youth - Shop at Giant!

A reminder that each month, the Youth sell gift cards for Giant Food Stores. Five percent of every dollar goes to our Youth Ministry. If you shop at the Giant sign up and receive a gift card at the end of each month. You can use them just like cash or a credit card and help our Youth. We currently have 6-8 participants each month, earning around $150.00 for Youth programs. For additional information or to order gift cards, contact Cindy Corbin at cindav92@verizon.net.

Earth Care - Think about this:

Americans buy 300,000 tons of candy and 90 million pounds of chocolate every Halloween. Candy wrappers are not eligible for recycling bins. What to do?  You could not buy candy [not a feasible option at Halloween] or save wrappers and return them in a prepaid box: https://shop.terracycle.com/en-US

South African Friends visit September 5-16!

We just learned that three travelers from our sister church, The Uniting Presbyterian Church of New Castle, have finally gotten clearance to come to Mechanicsburg! They will be traveling here September 5-16 as a reciprocal visit to our trip there this past February. We hope to show them as much gracious hospitality as they gave our travelers and share in God’s love for both congregations. 

We are putting together an itinerary now and we will need the help of the congregation to house them, prepare meals for them, escort them as a driver to events and join in on making them feel at home. If you have time to help out with one or more responsibilities, please let one of the South Africa Task Force members know! We will be visiting many of our Mission outreach ministries like Downtown Daily Bread and Good Hope Ministries, will participate in Rally Day and another church service and will enjoy fun activities like the trip to see Daniel, a Senators game and much more!

We will introduce you to them in a future announcement, but for now, MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP OUT!



Pastor Lisa Chase, Susan Neville, Sarah Neville, B.J. Lopez, Nancy Gawlas, Mike Gawlas

Karen Karkuff, Stefan Karkuff, Lisa Janson, Russ Janson, Dan Henderson, Nancy Kauhl

New Hope Ministry

Needs for August include body wash, pasta sauce and cereal. Please place items in the bin outside the Chapel. Thank you for supporting this local ministry!

From Krislund

Save the Date for "Chip in for Krislund” Golf Tournament - September 6

Join us for a fun day on the links for our “Chip in for Krislund” Golf Tournament at Nittany Country Club in Mingoville, PA. So get your foursome together and join us on the links. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Proceeds from the tournament are used to provide financial assistance to those campers who might otherwise not be able to come to Krislund. Click HERE for the registration form.

August 11, 2024: Thank you event, 6-8 pm, for helping with VBS

August 18, 2024: No CORE

August 25, 2024: CORE Banquet and Calendar Meeting 6-8

September 1, 2024: No CORE. Happy Labor Day!

September 8, 2024: No CORE (Rally Day!)

Prayers of healing and comfort: Betsy Neilson, Jim Shoop, Margaret Glockner, Jeremy Miller, Suellen Ledvina, Elizabeth Bentzel, Debbie Bitting, Betsy Eichelberger, Ron Kutz

Prayers of sympathy: Lisa Janson and family upon the death of her sister; family of Steve Wetzler - Winnie Wetzler, Karen, Jeremy, Brady, Max and Evie Miller

Prayers for our military members: Olivia Chase, Justin Ledvina, Josiah Scandle, Wyatt La Pointe

GIVING OF YOUR TITHES AND OFFERINGS ELECTRONICALLY:

1- Direct Link to our Website:

https://onrealm.org/silverspring/-/give/now

2- If you’d like the church to set up contributions for you, please complete and return the attached form by clicking here. For questions, please email Diane Rabold, Business Manager, at dianer@silverspring.org.

Please Note:

To submit information for the weekly announcements, please email Priscilla in the church office by Thursday morning. Please note that we reserve the right to edit articles due to space and can only publish information directly related to church-sponsored events.