October at Pine Street
A Great Month of Faithful Mission and Witness
Important events centered on mission and witness will fill the month of October. On World Communion Sunday, October 2, we will celebrate our unity with Christians around the world in the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:21, Paul the Apostle tells us to “discern the body” when we partake of the sacrament. In doing so, we remember our connections to Christians everywhere and others who are especially in need. That’s why it is so appropriate to collect an annual offering, the Peace and Global Witness Offering, during the Season of Peace which ends on World Communion Sunday.
Formerly known as the Peacemaking Offering, this offering has significant global outreach, enabling the church to promote the Peace of Christ in areas of the world plagued by injustice and violence. A significant aspect of the offering is that Pine Street retains 25% of what we collect to use on a local initiative that promotes peacemaking in our community. Our recipient this year is The Teaching Peace Initiative, an outstanding effort of the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg to teach non-violent methods of conflict resolution in our Harrisburg public schools. If you were at Bagels and Belief on September 4, you heard Dr. Joyce Davis, the President of the World Affairs Council, talk about this initiative. She will be giving a focus talk in worship on October 2. Worship that morning will also feature a new hymn written for this occasion by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, “O God, the Things That Make for Peace.” Plan to attend and give to this important offering!
On that same day at 9:40 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall, our Bagels and Belief forum will feature one of our members, Dr. Jeremy Kauffman, speaking about a recent medical mission trip in which he participated. Of course, the bagels will be outstanding. So plan to enjoy an excellent presentation with great fellowship and food!
And please be sure to put on your calendar the Downtown Daily Bread Soup Showdown at The Harrisburg Country Club on Sunday, October 23, at 5:30 p.m. DDB is our mission outreach to the poor and homeless of Harrisburg. Enjoy this great fundraiser and a great opportunity to witness to Christ’s love for the poor.
On Sunday, October 30, Reformation Sunday, we will worship with our fellow Presbyterians from Market Square Presbyterian Church. This is our second year of worshipping together, and that service will take place at Pine Street at 11:00 a.m. that morning. (There will be no 8:30 a.m. service). Our guest preacher will be the Rev. Dr. Fred Anderson, the former pastor of Pine Street. What a fitting way to end this month of faithfulness! Our Reformation heritage reminds us that we are a reformed church that is ever being reformed by God’s Spirit that calls us to witness in new ways to the world! Make your witness heard and known through worship and giving this month! See you in church!
The Rev. Dr. Russell C. Sullivan, Jr.
DDB Soup Showdown
Who Will Get Your Vote?
Come “vote” for the Best Soup Chef 2016, on Sunday, October 23, 2016, at the DDB Soup Showdown at The Country Club of Harrisburg from 5:30 p.m. 8:30 p.m. This benefit for Downtown Daily Bread will feature dueling Central Pennsylvania chefs from some well-known area restaurants as they compete against one another for the title of Best Soup Chef 2016. ABC 27’s Valerie Pritchett will be the emcee for the evening.
Downtown Daily Bread’s own chef, Kobie White, will compete for the title along with chefs from Char’s, Vrai, the Hotel Hilton, and The County Club of Harrisburg. Each chef will be given a list of mandatory ingredients, which comprise a typical DDB meal, to incorporate into his or her own creation. Every attendee will have the opportunity to taste all of the soups and vote for his or her favorite.
The evening will also feature a silent auction, which will include bidding on vacation condos in Aspen, Cabo San Lucas, and Fort Myers. Raffle items will include jewelry, original art, gift baskets, and more. The Katie Rudolph Trio will provide background music as wine and other beverages are enjoyed along with heavy appetizers. A lite dinner will be served followed by dessert and coffee.
Tickets to the DDB Soup Showdown are $125 each, or two for $200. Sponsorships are available and include tickets to the event. Tickets can be purchased online at www.downtowndailybread.org or by mailing a check to Downtown Daily Bread at the church. All proceeds will benefit Downtown Daily Bread. Come and enjoy a great evening for a great cause. See you there!
Elaine Strokoff
The Drop-In Center
First Anniversary
Two hundred twenty-four (224) homeless or near homeless individuals have received services at Downtown Daily Bread’s Drop-in-Center since we opened our doors one year ago. The Drop-in-Center, located in the third floor of the Boyd Building, first opened its doors on September 8, 2015. Every Monday through Friday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (except holidays and emergency/snow days), it has been a “home away from home” to the area’s neediest citizens.
The Drop-in-Center is a place where the homeless can go during afternoons to find a warm, dry, friendly, and peaceful gathering place. After eating lunch at Downtown Daily Bread, clients can visit the Drop-in-Center and use a laptop computer to search for jobs, check their email, look for housing and other services, charge their phones, connect with family on Facebook, read newspapers, magazines, and books, do crossword puzzles, and play board games. Most days a movie is shown, so they can just relax and socialize with a caring staff person. Sometimes clients simply want to take a nap and know that no one will harm them as they sleep, and no one will take their belongings. The counselors help with job applications and updating resumes, and provide a listening ear and direction to set clients on a path to end their homelessness.
The Drop-in-Center has a few community partners, including Dress for Success and Tied to Success, programs which give clients an interview outfit and five days of work clothes upon employment, and Sound Community Solutions, which helps individuals clean up their records and eliminate barriers to employment. In addition, a registered nurse and a medical social worker from Pinnacle Health System’s Community Health Network are periodically on site to provide screenings and medical health support.
The Drop-in-Center would welcome volunteers and would greatly appreciate financial support to help with the purchase of cell phone minutes, computers, coffee and snacks, postage, bus passes, and housing application fees. One year after opening its doors, the Drop-in-Center has had a significant influence in the lives of homeless men and women. Please contact me if you would like to contribute to this important component of Downtown Daily Bread. Thank you for your support.
Elaine Strokoff
Pine Street: Partners in Ministry
Locally Regionally Nationally Worldwide
I recently sent Pine Street staff some information regarding churches in the Presbytery of Carlisle, and signed my email “Ms. Connectionalism.” The response I got was to be asked to write an article on what it means to be a partner in ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
This will be a personal view of how we as a congregation at Third and Pine are connected to our brothers and sisters in Christ as members of the Presbyterian Church (USA). First, we are connected to one another here at Pine Street. I personally am connected in many ways: through the chancel choir and bell choir, as an officer of the church (on Session), as a coffee drinker on Sunday morning, and especially as a participant in regular worship. Over the years, I have been the recipient of meals after surgery, birthday calls, celebrating the lives of saints who have gone to the Church Triumphant, celebrating church and members’ anniversaries and birthdays, and the list goes on.
But we are connected in a profound way to hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters in Christ locally (The Presbytery of Carlisle), regionally (The Synod of the Trinity), and nationally and throughout the world (The General Assembly). Each layer of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is an expression of ministry and mission that insures we are present both here and abroad. A presbytery is the council serving as a corporate expression of the church within a certain district and is composed of all the congregations and teaching elders within that district. Pine Street is one of 46 congregations in the Presbytery of Carlisle. Each church in the Presbytery weekly prays for one of these congregations. I would invite you to go to the Presbytery of Carlisle website http://carlislepby.org/ each week and look at the information about the church we are lifting up in prayer.
The Synod of the Trinity is our synod. The Synod is a regional intermediate council that consists of at least three presbyteries. Its charge is to support its member presbyteries. The Synod of the Trinity has 16 presbyteries that cover all of Pennsylvania, most of West Virginia, and a sliver of Ohio. I have served as the Treasurer of The Synod of the Trinity for more than ten years. I’d invite you to explore the website http://www.syntrinity.org/. This fall the Synod is beginning its 300th anniversary year!
The General Assembly is the highest governing body of the PC(USA). The General Assembly meets biennially in even-numbered years. It consists of commissioners elected by presbyteries, proportioned with parity between elders and Ministers of Word and Sacrament. There are many important responsibilities of the General Assembly. Among them are setting priorities for the work of the church in keeping with the church's mission under Christ, and establishing and administering national and worldwide ministries of witness, service, growth, and development.
So, just know you are partners with the worldwide ministry and mission of the Presbyterian Church!
Chantal Atnip