4150 Highland Avenue Butler, PA 16001

www.meridianpres.org 724-482-2630

JANUARY 2021

Pastor

Rev. Dr. Stephen Franklin

pastorsteve@meridianpres.org

Dir. of Youth & Family Min.

Mike Barton

mbarton@meridianpres.org

Secretary

Lori Davidson

secretary@meridianpres.org

Treasurer

Honey Royer

treasurer@meridianpres.org

Media Director

Laura Franklin

Choir Director

Vicki Georgic

Musician

Debbe Picerno

Custodian

Dave Fox

Nursery Coordinator

Sarah Murtha

The Lens & Mirror “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but

the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your

light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Isaiah 60:1-3 (NIV)

I love Christmas and I always have. It’s fun to see that same love for the season and

its meaning through my kids this time of year. One of my favorite parts of the season

are the lights. In a pandemic world, we’ve been driving around all the neighborhoods

looking at the lights and it is soul restoring, in the darkness of our world, to hear and

see the excitement in our children about the light in the darkness.

When Christmas ends the lights get turned off and put away, the world becomes

noticeably darker. When we drive through the neighborhoods, we’ll notice that the

light has diminished. The year 2020 can best be described as the year of darkness. It

appears, in many ways, that the light has diminished. We can all acknowledge that

the world is not as it should be and as we look to the beginning of 2021, it seems like

the night will get darker before the dawn.

However, we have the promise, as Isaiah says, “Arise, shine, for your light has

come.” Even though the darkness seems to be invading the world, our light has

come in Jesus Christ. That’s what Christmas is. “Darkness covers the earth, but the

Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” When we’re a light in the

darkness the world can’t help but be drawn to it. As NT Wright says, “Christmas is

God lighting a candle; and you don't light a candle in a room that's already full of

sunlight. You light a candle in a room that's so murky that the candle, when lit,

reveals just how bad things really are.” As we put away our Christmas lights this

year, may we reflect on how the light of Christ should shine through us all year long.

In Christ, Pastor Steve

Over the last few months the

trustees took on the project of

renovating the first floor of the

manse. By knocking out the wall

between the kitchen and dining

room, the kitchen has become a

large eat in kitchen, with a

countertop peninsula for extra

seating. Waterproof, wood look,

vinyl flooring was laid throughout.

Also new windows were installed

as well as painting. Thank you to

the trustees for their work and to

everyone who donated to the

project.

SERMON SERIES:

THE BASICS

1/3 -1/17 At the heart of the Christian life are 3 basic principles: Believe, Belong, Behave. Some times

we make it more complicated than it needs to be. If we believe in Jesus, we belong to his

body, and we are called to a life of obedience and service.

January 3rd

Title – “Believe”

Focus Passage – Hebrews 11:1-6

Secondary Passage – Psalm 28

Synopsis – Our story in Christ begins with faith, a

belief that Jesus truly is the Son of God. It is by

faith our ancestors walked with God and our story

is the same. The foundation for the life of faith is

simple, believe in Jesus. May we walk by faith.

January 10th

Title – “Belong”

Focus Passage – Ephesians 2:14-22

Secondary Passage – Isaiah 43:1-7

Synopsis – When we believe in Jesus we belong to

the Father. It is he who has made us and it is he

who has redeemed us. In a world of individualism,

we are reminded that the body of Christ is the

church at work in the world. We are fellow

citizens with God’s people and we are workers in

his kingdom.

January 17th

Title – “Behave”

Focus Passage – James 2:14-24

Secondary Passage – Exodus 19:1-6a

Synopsis – Faith requires action. As the church we

can often fall into the trap of a personal faith that is

simply about believing and belonging. The problem is

that these two things lead us to a different kind of life,

one lived in obedience to Jesus Christ and his Word.

We will not be made righteous by our works, but our

works will be the result of trying to live faithfully.

Series: Ruth – Ruin to Redemption

1/24 – 2/14

January 24th

Title – “Coming Up Empty”

Focus Passage – Ruth 1:8-21

Secondary Passage – Philippians 3:7-11

Synopsis – Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, loses

everything. Once her husband and 2 sons pass away,

she has absolutely nothing, and no one to care for her.

She decides to head back to her family in Israel in

hopes that maybe someone will care for her. But she

cannot ask her daughter in laws to come, the pain is to

great, the loss is enormous. Ruth refuses to leave her.

God will bless her faithfulness, not only through Ruth,

but for the nation of Israel.

Week 10

• Numbers 8-11;

Colossians 1

• Numbers 12-14;

Psalm 28;

Colossians 2

• Numbers 15-18;

Psalm 113;

Colossians 3

• Numbers 19-21;

Colossians 4

• Numbers 22-25;

Luke 1

Week 11

• Numbers 26-29;

Luke 2

• Numbers 30-33;

Psalm 35; Luke 3

• Numbers 34-36;

Luke 4

• Deuteronomy 1-3;

Psalm 36; Luke 5

• Deuteronomy 4-5;

Luke 6

Week 12

• Deuteronomy 6-9;

Luke 7

• Deuteronomy 10-14;

Psalm 5; Luke 8

• Deuteronomy 15-18;

Psalm 115; Luke 9

• Deuteronomy 19-22;

Psalm 6; Luke 10

• Deuteronomy 23-26;

Luke 11

Week 13

• Deuteronomy 27-31;

Luke 12

• Deuteronomy 32-34;

Psalm 13; Luke 13

• Joshua 1-4; Psalm 143;

Luke 14

• Joshua 5-8; Psalm 14;

Luke 15

• Joshua 9-13;

Luke 16

Week 14

• Joshua 14-17;

Luke 17

• Joshua 18-21;

Psalm 15;

Luke 18

• Joshua 22-24;

Psalm 116;

Luke 19

• Judges 1-3;

Psalm 16;

Luke 20

• Judges 4-6;

Luke 21

Readings Week - Week (Month of January)

November 2020

Giving $24,349.41

YTD Actual $257, 823.34

YTD Budget $260,503.92

Over (Under) ($2,680.58)

YOUTH ROOM

RENO UPDATE:

• Our new padded

chairs for our

worship/ talk area

have arrived!

• A team of volunteers

and myself are busy

painting the youth

room walls!

• Another gracious

volunteer has begun

turning our former

bleachers into our

café food service

area.

• Things have slowed

during the Advent

and Christmas season

but we hope to have

the new youth room/

lounge ready by the

end of January.

IDENTITY -

With a new youth

wing to be unveiled

in 2021 I felt it was

worth our time to

give our youth min-

istry groups a new

identity. The Club

35 name has been

such a hit that I

wanted to give our

youth group the

same opportunity. I

am happy to an-

nounce that in 2021

the youth group will

have not only a new

name, but a new

logo, and the Club 35

logo is also getting a

professional look!

We hope to have t-

shirts and stickers

ordered to share

The season of Advent is about waiting. I have

to admit up until 2020 I was really bad at

waiting. However, I think as 2020 came to a

close and I reflected on how much I have been

waiting for and how long the waiting

continues I am doing pretty well, being dare I

say patient?

Both of our Club 35 and Youth Group Christmas

parties happened virtually this year. This was

extremely disappointing as I usually go all out

for a big fun and crazy night. Instead we went

fun and crazy online. Both groups had a blast

catching up, playing some games, and talking

about the birth of our Savior. I included some

photos below, but as you can see it was

difficult taking photos of a zoom meeting. We

will continue to be patient for when we can

meet together again.

2021 brings with it a sense of hope. I am sure

COVID will continue to dominate our lives for a

while but with a new year comes a new

beginning, even if its going to be different,

this time we are prepared for what that may

entail. So lets lace up our boot straps and

begin to think of ways we can reach our

community in the midst of these new

challenges. How do we continue to be a

beacon of hope, and love in this difficult time?

This is the first step into 2021!

Youth and Children’s

January 2021:

• Sun. 1/17: Youth Group

Meeting @12:30 PM

• Sun. 1/24: Club 35

Meeting @12:30 PM

• Sun. 1/31: Youth Group

Event Time: TBA Club 35 & Youth Group Christmas Party Zoom Meetings!

IDENTITY -

With a new youth wing

to be unveiled in 2021 I

felt it was worth our

time to give our youth

ministry groups a new

identity. The Club 35

name has been such a

hit that I wanted to give

our youth group the

same opportunity. I am

happy to announce that

in 2021 the youth group

will have not only a

new name, but a new

logo, and the Club 35

logo is also getting a

professional look! We

hope to have t-shirts

and stickers ordered to

share that vision with

the whole church!

Stay tuned next month

for the unveiling!

01/02 Luke Barton

Loraine Bowser

Richard McClean

Matt Wickline

01/03 Christina Monnie

01/04 Tarrah Freund

Zoe Woller

01/05 Barbara Swidzinski

01/06 Madeline Symonds

01/07 Jean Oesterling

01/08 Richard Bowser

01/09 Beverly Dambaugh

Tim Raley

01/10 David Boettner

01/12 Keith Rossman

Andrew Shiever

01/13 Michael Mlikan

01/01 Ed & Beryl Gilliland

01/05 Tim & Barbra Karner

01/08 Jeff & Melissa Olen

01/21 Wayne & Janie Myers

01/22 Keith & Sue Rossman

01/28 Robert & Nancy McCombs

01/14 Jake Longdon

01/15 Avery Gregor

Missy Shiever

Lois Young

01/17 Sue Boettner

01/18 William Allison

01/20 Doug McCann

Lori McCann

01/22 Michael Hibbs

Mary Jane McDowell

01/23 Andrew Tarr

01/24 Autumn Moore

Don Park

01/25 William Esper

01/27 Jason Cihonski

01/28 Leanne Cygan

01/29 Janie Myers

01/30 Ryan McGeeney

01/31 Ronan Kwiatkowski

If your birthday or anniversary

is missing or incorrect, please

call the office (724-482-2630)

or email Lori at

secretary@meridianpres.org

so it can be corrected.

Thank you!

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 9 AM Worship

11 AM Worship

4 5

6:30 PM Deacon

and Trustees

6

9 AM Coffee and

Conversation

7 8 9

10 9 AM Worship

11 AM Worship

11

6:30 PM Men’s

Bible Study

12

6:30 PM Session

13

9 AM Coffee and

Conversation

14 15 16

17 9 AM Worship

11 AM Worship

12 PM Community

Lunch

12:30 PM Youth

18 19 20

9 AM Coffee and

Conversation

5 PM Community

Dinner

21 22 23

24 9 AM Worship

11 AM Worship

12:30 PM Club 35

25

6:30 PM Men’s

Bible Study

26 27

9 AM Coffee and

Conversation

28 29 30

31 9 AM Worship

11 AM Worship

Youth Group Event

Time TBA

Meridian Presbyterian Church

4150 Highland Avenue

Butler, PA 16001

JANUARY

WORSHIP SERVICES:

9:00 AM

11:00 AM