Overwhelmingly, Presbyteri-ans who participated in a sum-mer 2016 Presbyterian Panel survey agreed that the concept of God’s grace means that God loves everyone, no matter who they are or what they do. This is an important finding, because even though Presbyterians may disagree on immigration poli-cies or how we engage in social welfare, or even on what consti-tutes racism or sexism or any other “ism,” we agree on this: God’s love is available to every-one. No matter what.

Most Presbyterians also agree that Jesus is central to salvation. However, there’s a big difference in the way that mem-bers and teaching elders under-stand this tenet: Significantly more teaching elders than members believe that God chooses who is to be saved through Christ, while signifi-cantly more members than teaching elders believe that people choose Christ as their Savior.

An overwhelming percent-age of Presbyterians consider the sovereignty of God a very important Reformed principle, though this concept might not mean the same thing to every-one. One Merriam-Webster definition of sovereignty is “supreme power especially over a body politic.” Asking how that applies to one’s understanding of the sovereignty of God would make a great discussion starter

for a session meeting or small group.

Author Deborah Coe is coordinator of Research Services for the Presbyteri-an Mission Agency. To learn more, see: pcusa.org/theo-reflection

What are the key concepts of faith

As we approach Holy Week I wanted to give you an update on how music might help focus your attention on the latter stages of Christ’s life. The Sanctuary Choir has been preparing excerpts from George Fredrick Handel’s massive oratorial, Messi-ah. Handel composed Messiah in just three weeks and it remains one of the most inspired musical achievements ever created by humankind. The choir will sing selected choruses for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter Sunday.

Handel and his librettist Charles Jennings, con-ceived the oratorial in three parts. In a very brief overview: Part the First deals with prophecy and God’s plan to redeem mankind by the coming of the Messiah, Part the Second delves into the pas-sion and sacrifice of Christ and man’s rejection of the Gospel, and Part the Third gives thanks for our final triumph over death and the promise of ever-lasting life.

Choruses for Palm Sunday include the majestic Lift Up your Heads O Ye Gates and a delightful cho-rus of praise, Let All the Angels of God Worship Thee. Our Maundy Thursday service will feature three choruses that are obviously more somber in mood: Behold the Lamb of God, Surely He Hath Bourne Our Griefs, and the poignant, And With His Stripes We Are Healed. When we gather on Easter

Morning the choir will sing the resurrection chorus, Since by Man Came Death, followed by a beautiful chorus of praise, But Thanks Be to God. Our Easter service will end with both choir and congregation singing Messiah’s most popular chorus, Hallelujah! Indeed!

In addition to Messiah, The Sanctuary Choir is also preparing a performance of Sir John Stainer’s cantata, The Crucifixion, for Good Friday. Stainer was a beloved organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London during the early part of the 20th century. The Crucifixion follows the Pas-sion of Christ and features the choir and soloists Peter Tiggelaar, John Fattaruso, Chris Martinez, Mack Liening, and Shannon Talley. Organist Shirley Latham will provide the accompaniment. The cantata also contains one of John Stainer’s most notable anthems, God So Loved the World, which is well known to church choirs and congre-gations the world over.

The cantata’s libretto begins in the garden of Gethsemane and takes us through Christ’s last moments on the cross. It is a beautiful work with moments of great pathos and sadness, and mo-ments of deep inspiration and adoration. The work contains hymns for the congregation to sing at certain points throughout and they are designed to help you invest yourself in the drama taking place.

The Maundy Thursday Service and our Good Friday performance of The Crucifixion both begin at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary. I know you will want to make each a part of your Holy Week experience. It is when we force ourselves to relive the agony of Christ that the joyful resurrection message of East-er rings with greater truth, meaning, hope, and joy!

Grace and Peace, Ralph

What name? - a Lenten Poem by C.A. LeBlanc

What name—the one who, with deft fingers, held the nail and with the other powerful fist swung the weighty hammer— once, twice, thrice— swiftly, mightily, brutally, securing outstretched arm to cross beam?

Who, tools in hand, had the fortitude to

stride the oblate body and pierce the opposing wrist— once, twice, thrice— ripping flesh, tearing sinew, rupturing vessels to drip, drip, drip?

Who, deaf of ear, crossed ankle on ankle, struck the iron spike— once, twice, thrice—

bolting the feet of Christ to the upright stake— rending hearts, piercing souls, crushing hope?

I, the one. I wielded hammer. I drove nails. His name mine.

This coming Sunday begins Holy Week, the most important days of our Christian calendar. Beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with East-er, these few days tell us more of the story about Jesus than any other of our holidays. This week is so dear to us because we will move through the celebration of Palm Sunday, to the shared meal of Maundy Thursday, to the heartache of Good Fri-day, and then to the awe of Easter morning. This Holy Week sustains me through the rough times, even long after the visible signs of the celebration have faded.

This year, FPC will hold a service on Maundy Thursday and a Choral Concert on Good Friday (both at 7 p.m.) to remember the days before Jesus died. These services help to reveal the depth of Christ’s sacrifice as they help transition us into the right frame of mind for Easter. I hope that you will come and bring your friends and family. We will also have a Sunrise Service at 7 a.m. on the front lawn on Easter morning.

As we move into this Holy Week, one thing that we can all remember to do is to pray for our rela-tionships with our brothers and sisters in Christ across the world. In our congregation, that may mean that we pray for those we know well and those that we have not seen in some time. Perhaps we can take this opportunity to reach out to those who we know and love, and let them hear a kind word of encouragement. Our homebound mem-bers especially appreciate conversations with those who are able to attend services on a regular

basis. Even a card or a phone call can be appreciated more than most would suspect.

In our community, we can pray for families that our congregation touches through outreach and mission. We can certainly be thankful for our First Friday program, and the relationships that continue to develop out of that ministry. We can also be thankful for the other denominations around us, and their participation in the church universal. I, for one, am very thankful for those congregations that are close to us. We share a common calling and ministry to our neighbors.

During this holy season, we should also keep our international brothers and sisters in Christ in our prayers. Please pray for the peace of Christ to be known wherever war and violence run rampant.

It is a good time to pray. In the Christian tradi-tion, there may be no better time to pick up the dis-cipline of prayer than Holy Week. We need it, be-cause our prayers open up a space for God to work within our lives. I know that there are many within our congregation who covet your prayers for health and restoration, for guidance and discernment, for rest, for peace, for relationships and for meaning. I hope that you will make some time in the coming days to pray for the others who you know, and to pray for your own development as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I will certainly be praying for you as well.

Blessings, Pastor David

Jo Ella Holman, PC(USA) World Mission’s re-gional liaison for the Caribbean, remembers dis-covering how different people experience the world on one of her first shopping trips when she began her mission work in the Caribbean.

“During my first year living in the Dominican Republic, standing in line at the local fruit and veg-etable stand to purchase food, I had my list, as usu-al. I watched and listened to those in front of me as they made their requests: ‘Two stalks of celery, one onion, one tablespoon of butter.’ One table-spoon of butter? How was that possible? Then I watched the merchant take a stick of butter from the refrigerator, cut off one tablespoon and wrap it in paper. This small episode shook my sense of ‘wealth’ and ‘poverty’ as well as my sense of justice

to the core. ‘Food for today’ became a real prayer.”

She says there will often be a disconnect between some U.S. citi-zens’ perception of poverty and how those living in poverty experience it.

“The things I’ve learned are simi-lar to the experience many of us have on an international mission trip. Often, we have a romantic no-tion about helping people who are poor and making the world a better place. But the reality is that rich, poor and what it means to help are all seen differently, depending on where you are from.”

Mission work isn’t just a Cinderella story

The Mitchell/Tufts Foundation Scholarship was established at The Dallas Foundation in 2014. The goal of the Fund is to make a college degree or vocational certification possible for members or persons active in the life of a Presbyterian church in the Presbyterian Church USA in North Central Texas, and who are students of promise and can demonstrate financial need. Renewals are not au-tomatic, but past recipients are encouraged to re-apply each year.

To be eligible applicants must: Be an active member or active in the life of a

Presbyterian church in the Presbyterian Church USA, in North Central Texas

Preference may be given to active members or persons active in the life of First Presbyterian Church of Richardson

Be accepted for enrollment or are currently en-rolled in a two- or four-year undergraduate pro-gram in an accredited college, university, voca-tional school or trade school

Demonstrate financial need Have work experience and/or community ser-

vice experience Application Deadline: May 15, 2017 How to Apply: Download the scholarship ap-

plication at https://www.dallasfoundation.org/scholarship-listing.aspx.

This scholarship is separate from the scholar-ships granted by the Permanent Funds committee and is not affiliated with First Presbyterian Church of Richardson. Please direct questions to scholar-ships@dallasfoundation.org.

Celebrating Triduum— the Great Three Days of Holy Week

Mitchell/Tufts Foundation Scholarship

If the term “liturgy” more or less translates from the Greek as “the work of the people,” then the all-consuming practice of celebrating Triduum, “The Great Three Days” of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter on Satur-day, are really a single liturgy in three acts.

Triduum challenges any pastor in any church. It’s a lot more work to do this liturgy. You have to consent to expending yourself in observing the three days, because the entire mystery of Christ’s incarnation, life, death, burial, resurrection and return to God is concentrated and celebrated in this brief time period.

The Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, associate for wor-ship in the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s office of

Theology and Worship, has called Triduum the heart of the Christian year. “The Great Three Days” is not historical re-enactment, but it does take into account that within these three days is the paschal mystery. “The ser-vices for the Three Days are one of the hidden treasures of our Book of Common Worship,” Gambrell said. “They are deep, rich resources, and unfortunately not very well known, well used or well understood. These services are designed to be a ‘total immersion’ in Christian

faith and life. When a congregation embraces Trid-uum, it can be an incredible opportunity for Chris-tian formation, renewed discipleship and spiritual growth.”

The Easter vigil is a multisensory and intergen-erational liturgy, around which can be centered a church’s baptismal practices, hearkening back to the early church when the vigil was the primary occasion for baptisms. Gambrell said the Easter vigil is an especially good occasion to engage chil-dren—gathering around a fire and passing out can-dles, telling stories from Scripture in a great pil-grimage around the church, sprinkling with water or anointing with oil, sharing Communion as a truly joyful feast.

Triduum is also a metaphor of what the church is called to become. The practice of foot washing on Maundy Thursday brings an intimacy to which some people have a natural reluctance, but foot washing is about the vulnerability of the communi-ty to one another and in service to the world. En-gaging the discomfort — as Peter did in John 13:1–17 — is part of the intention of Maundy Thursday. We have to negotiate our discomfort, getting out of ourselves, moving beyond ourselves. So Maundy Thursday — really the whole of Triduum — is about the church’s conversion to be more fully its servant self to the world. Every liturgy, Maundy Thursday included, is a service of wholeness, in the sense that any liturgy calls us to be more fully who we are created to be.

From an article by Emily Enders Odom, communications strat-egist for the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

High Tea Style Luncheon

WHAT?

AN OPPORTUNITY…

To enjoy Peach Blinis & Assorted Tea Breads while choosing items from the Silent Auc-tion – Art & Antiques, Food & Hospitality Items; Home Décor, Your choice of Services Offered, Jewelry & Collectibles, and Personal Pampering Items….

To enjoy Appetizers: Vegetable & Cheese Fritatta, Fruit Kebab, Sausage Wedge with Mush-rooms, Gazpacho Soup Shooter with Tomato Olive Pesto Crouton….

To enjoy a variety of sandwiches: Chicken Salad with Almonds & Pineapple Croissant, Turkey, Brie, Almonds and Cranberry Tart, Shrimp Salad on Herbed Spoon Bread, Pub Ham with Marmalade on Tea Biscuit and Cheese, Bacon, Pecans, Candied Pepper & Peach Preserves on Wheat….

To enjoy International Desserts: French Chocolate Truffles, Austrian Raspberry Linzer Cookies, Mexican Flan with Cinnamon Sopapilla Bar, Mediterranean Date Nut Cookies, Asian Almond & Plum Cake, American Apple Spice Tartlet, Starbuck’s Decaf Coffee, Peach Iced Tea & Earl Grey Tea.

To be entertained throughout by Talk Show Host Beverly Hughes and Musical Interludes by Soprano Lauren Carter and a Wandering Minstrel.

SATURDAY, MAY 6, 11 a.m.

First Presbyterian Church Richardson SUPPORTING MEXICAN MISSION PROJECTS OF WEST PLANO PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

AND FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH RICHARDSON

DONATIONS: $39 & GOING FAST Contact Frank Camp or Linda Yeager

SEATING IS LIMITED

This very special event is perfect for honoring loved ones on Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day and Graduations, while helping to further the education of many in the United States

and Mexico!!

WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY!!!!

Flowered Cross for Easter Sunday

“EDUCATE A CHILD…CHANGE THE WORLD”

The Worship Committee is inviting YOU to help create a flowered cross for worship on Easter by bringing flowers from your garden and putting them on the cross before the 7 a.m. sunrise service, the 8 a.m. chapel service, or the 10:30 a.m. sanctuary ser-vice. Please participate in creating a cross of joy, and beauty.

Thursday Evening Circle

Because of Holy Week, we meet a week earlier on April 6, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. in the church library. The Horizons Bible Study, Who Is Jesus?, by Judy Yates Siker, Lesson 7: According to Non-canonical Gospels, will be discussed. All women are invited to join us. For more information, contact Ginger (Bob) Anderson.

Sunday Book Club

We meet on Palm Sunday, April 9, at 5 p.m. in the church library to discuss Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. All are welcome. For more infor-mation, contact Ginger (Doug) Anderson.

Shufflers

Join us in the office commons at 1 p.m. on Wednes-day, April 26, for casual bridge. To reserve a seat, contact Barbara Chapman or Frankie Markham.

Monday Book Discussion

This group meets the last Monday of the month, except for July and December, to discuss books of all types chosen by members, all of which are avail-able in paperback. We welcome any and all who enjoy reading, lively discussions about plots and characters, and good fellowship. Our book for April is A Mountain of Crumbs, by Elena Gorokhova. The author tells of growing up in Russia in the 1960s, dealing with hardships, and yet receiving an ad-vanced education. Join us on Monday, April 24, at 2 p.m., in the church library, as we discuss this in-teresting book. In May we'll read The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, with Barbara Rich leading our discussion. Questions? contact Anne Healy.

Wednesday Morning Circle

It’s the last meeting before summer. Help us cele-brate on May 3, at 9:30 a.m.

Wills Emphasis Sunday

News You Can Use

Personal anecdotes and professional research reveal that individuals who have experienced the death of a loved one discover surprising benefits by:

connecting with others in similar circumstances

sharing stories about loved ones

learning the nature and dynamics of grief

practicing daily exercises that promote comfort

Faith & Grief Ministries has designed curriculum, Comfort and Hope for the Journey of Grief, that provides these components. Register for an upcoming workshop at

info@faithandgrief.org

Mondays, April 17-May 22, 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church Richardson

Faith & Grief Ministries Gatherings are open to all persons of faith. Our time together is about embracing the truth that grief hurts - however, it hurts less when it is shared. And to have it shared within the arms of a broad, all encompassing faith gives strength for tomorrow.

New 6-Week Workshop Scheduled

A will represents a person’s final wishes and intentions. After providing for your loved ones, one might properly consider one final testament of faith through a bequest in your will that provides enduring sup-port for the vital work of the church. The Texas Presbyterian Foundation is well prepared to assist donors and congregations with gift planning and permanent funds ministries. Learn more at: http://www.presbyterianfoundation.org/Resources/Ministry-Resources/Wills-Program.aspx.

Wills Emphasis Sunday is April 30, and we will have a Minute for Mission given by Rick Rickman.

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April 5, 2017

“Hidden Figures”—the movie about a group of brilliant female African-American mathematicians who aided NASA during the space race—features the story of Katherine G. Johnson, a longtime Presbyterian and 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee. Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, the film tells the true story of Johnson and her colleagues, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, who worked as “human computers” with the burgeoning space pro-gram of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

A member of Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Virginia, for more than 50 years, Johnson served the church in several leadership roles. The Rev. Dr. Brian Blount, former pastor at Carver Memorial and now Union Presbyterian Seminary’s president and professor of New Testament, called Johnson “a true space heroine, but one of the people you rarely hear about.” Blount spoke of Johnson’s humility, saying he had been the pastor at Carver Memorial for three years before he ever heard about her early work at NASA.

A NASA mathematician and aerospace technologist from 1953 until 1986, Johnson’s computations have influenced every major space program beginning with the Mercury launches. Johnson is known especially for her calculations of the 1961 tra-jectory for Alan Shepard’s flight as the first American in space and for her 1962 verification of the first flight calculation made by an electronic computer for fellow Presbyterian John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth.

She is also famed for her trajectory calculations of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the first human voyage to the moon, and on-the-fly computations that enabled the Apollo 13 astronauts to return home safely from space. In her later NASA career, Johnson worked on the space shuttle program and the Earth Resources Satellite and encouraged students to pursue careers in the science and technology fields.

In addition to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Johnson co-authored more than 20 important scientific papers for NASA. On May 5, 2016, the 55th anniversary of Alan Shepard’s historic rocket launch and splashdown, the new Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility was formal-ly dedicated at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Real-life ‘Hidden Figures’ mathematician

Katherine G. Johnson is longtime Presbyterian