Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church

Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church Service of worship start at 11:00 a.m. each Sunday from late June through Labor Day weekend, with communion on selected Sundays. We are a welcoming church.

The mission of the Presbyterian Church of Rensselaerville is to offer summer worship services featuring voices from different faith traditions to help the congregation, as part of the world's family, serve our community and neighbors. Service is followed by a coffee hour of fellowship on the lawn and luncheon hosted by a member or friend of the church to which the congregation is invited. Whether

you are a person of faith, no faith or questioning faith, we are happy to have you attend our services.

08/30/2024

"Everything will soon come to an end. So be serious and be sensible enough to pray. Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins." (Peter 4:7-8)

Dear Friends,

Fall is coming on sooner than usual, it seems. The squirrels are, well, squirreling away nuts for the winter. The hummingbirds are drinking more sugar water than usual in preparation for their trek to a warmer climate. If you travel the long and winding road (catch the Beatles reference?) from Clarksville on the way to Rensselaerville you'll notice the leaves starting to change color as you climb higher.

Can't believe our summer services at the church will end this Sunday when they had hardly just begun. Thank you so much to all our wonderful preachers, everyone who helped set up and bake for coffee hours and our fabulous luncheon hosts. The church could not function without you!

Most of all, much thanks to everyone who attended worship services. It is a joyous occasion indeed when the pews are filled.

This is the last weekly newsletter for 2024. We will publish to announce when preachers' sermons are posted on our website, special events or services and at the holidays. Weekly issues will resume when services begin in 2025.

We wish you good health, happiness and. . .

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
August 29, 2024

08/24/2024

"You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely." (Leviticus 26:1-5)

Dear Friends,

These past two months we've been treated, if that's the right word--some would call it subjected--to a quadrennial political spectacle: the national conventions of the country's two major parties to nominate their candidates for president and vice president. Each side trots out celebrities, senior politicians, friends and family who wax sometimes eloquently and always effusively about the party's nominees while the candidates trash talk their opponents. Appeals are made to the electorate's religious, primarily Christian, values as if God favors one candidate over another and will descend from the heavenly throne to personally cast a vote. This year the choice of political philosophy seems to be between darkness and joy, media outlets endorsing one and accusing the other party of subscribing to the other depending on their political persuasion. While our inclination may be to tune out all the political razzle-dazzle, our responsibility is to listen to and consider each candidate's platform, promises and words in the context of our faith if we are believers, and of whether their aims would improve the quality of life for everyone, especially those in need.

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
August 22, 2024

08/16/2024

"Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice." (Proverbs 27:9)

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." (Romans 12:10)

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful servants of God's grace in its various forms." (Peter 4:8-19)


Dear Friends,

Joni Mitchell, in the song "Big Yellow Taxi", observed "you don't know what you got till it's gone".

Jan Bishop was educated, intelligent, brilliant, determined, stubborn, thoughtful, opinionated, well read, a superb musician, a lover of cats and dogs, a neighbor, a force within the Rensselaerville community...and my good friend. She died last week at age 86.

Jan bought a house on Main Street in Rensselaerville with her friend Helen Basilevsky 30 or so years ago and immediately set about becoming a fixture in the community, meeting everyone and attending events. She joined the library book club where she could indulge her love of reading. Each time they discussed a new book she described it in great detail and urged all of us to read it. I never told her I didn't have the time to read half of what she recommended. She became part of our community chorus, the Village Voices, and took over as director when Alan Wilson, its founder, stepped down. Ever trolling for recruits, she would accost every new person in the community with the question "Do you sing?". She was well qualified, having taught music at an exclusive girls school and been a member of a choir in Manhattan. She had a harpsichord in her living room that served as more than a place to put a wine glass during a party: she knew how to play it. After Helen died, Jan stayed on in the village; she had become too ensconced to move away. She had a dog, Chloe, that everyone knew as well as they did her, and two cats, Oliver and Dickens, who she cherished and adored.

She played the organ for Trinity Episcopal Church and organ and piano at Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church. As music director at the Presbyterian church, she employed her expansive network of contacts to engage excellent, sometimes unusual, professional singers and musicians to perform at Sunday services.

When Jan was in her late 70s, no longer driving and with health issues developing, I had the privilege of taking her here and there when she needed a ride. She kept on top of all the news and was a keen observer of politics. I was her captive audience as she expounded on the issues of the day; she had an opinion about everything. Conversations with Jan were never dull.

When her balance began to decline as a result of the Parkinson's disease that would overtake her later, she used ski poles as canes and a walker. Not a subscriber to I-don't-want-people-to-think-I'm-old, she was determined to remain independent.

That awful, ravaging disease dementia that had been stealthily creeping into her brain took hold and she was forced to leave the house and community she loved to be near her children. We would have hour-long phone conversations during which the only words I said were hi and goodbye. She filled in the rest: topics in the news, books she was reading, the plots of the British TV mysteries she loved.

Who we are, what we do, how we live our lives are the sum and substance of our being. Each person weaves a spider's web of those we touch. When we depart this earth one strand of the web falls away, the rest of us clinging to one another and all the richer for having known the weaver.

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
August 15, 2024

08/09/2024

"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16)

"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

Dear Friends,

If you saw the movie "Dead Poets Society", you may remember the English teacher, John Keating, played by Robin Williams, tell his students: "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary". Actually, the Roman poet Horace said it first: "Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow". In ancient times when lifespans were pretty short that was practical advice. These days, it's something we don't do often enough.

How many times have we put off taking that dream vacation because, well, we don't have time this year, we'll do it next year. Or resolved to volunteer at an organization for people in need but there's too much to do right now, we'll do it next month. Or planned to take children or grandchildren on a special trip but work and other responsibilities got in the way. Or promised to visit a friend who lives far away and just never could find the time.

A reader once wrote to Ann Landers, the famous advice columnist, that she was 70 and never went to college but wanted to get her degree. I'll be 74 when I graduate in four years, she observed, aren't I too old to go back to school? Landers replied that she would be 74 in four years whether she went to college or not so why not do it?

Life happens. Sometimes unexpectedly. All our plans go out the window and we may never be able to retrieve them. Do those things that give you and others joy now because you never know. Carpe diem.

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
August 8, 2024

08/03/2024

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)


Dear Friends,

Remember when you were a kid and the days seemed to pass so slowly during the school months and so quickly during the summer? All of a sudden the new school year loomed and it was no more picnics, camping, vacation, swimming, going to the playground, being with friends all day. Remember when you couldn't wait for your next birthday so you could do the things older children were allowed to do? My mother would tell me not to wish my life away, it would pass fast enough. I had no idea what she meant.

Our sense of time tends to be defined by what period of our life we're in. During young adulthood and middle age there are so many activities and responsibilities that there's never enough time. As we come into our 60s and 70s we begin to take stock of our lives. Did we have a life plan and was it accomplished? Did our life take unexpected twists and turns? Would we have done things differently if we could do them over? In our 80s and 90s we are very aware that we are on the downhill side of life. How do we want to be remembered? What legacy have we left for friends, family and our community?

Time is a precious gift. There are ways to employ it wisely at every stage of our life. It's our responsibility to use it well for ourselves and others.

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
August 1, 2024

07/26/2024

"There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God." (Psalm 86: 8-10)


Dear Friends,

On Sunday, congregants from the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches in Rensselaerville will share the same pews and break bread together afterward. In our small hamlet, we may worship different gods or the same god or no god, be enrolled in opposite political parties or no party, be retired or still working, be married or single, be a parent or childless. What we all have in common is that we are neighbors. Would that the rest of the world could remember this.

Politics in this country has driven friends and family members apart. The age-old hatred between Israelis and Palestinians kindled a war that may have extinguished all hope of peaceful co-existence. Russia's thirst for hegemony is wreaking pain and suffering on a country, Ukraine, that for almost 70 years has been free of domination by the old USSR. In South America and Africa dictators oppress their citizens while would-be usurpers plot to overthrow them. Social issues are the impetus for attempts to restrict rights and freedom.

We can't make the world right although there are those who are trying. But we can create community by treating everyone with respect and compassion and lending a hand to our neighbors who need one.

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
July 25, 2024

07/19/2024

"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
(John 9:5)

"You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light." (Psalms 18:28)

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)


Dear Friends,

If you go outside after dark you'll see hundreds of miniature blinking lights appearing, disappearing and reappearing. Fireflies, which we called lightning bugs when I was a kid, and some call glow worms ("glow little glow worm, glimmer, glimmer" a popular song during my chiildhood) are actually beatles--2,200 different species of them all over the world except Antarctica. They emerge from hibernation at the onset of summer when the weather warms.

The Mills Brothers, who sang "Glow Worm", wanted these insects to light the way to love. There is a kind of romantic aura to watching fireflies while holding hands in the dark. We used to catch them to put them in a jar so we could watch them flash furiously in a vain attempt to escape. More than lovers' encouragement or a child's play thing, however, they're another example of God's handiwork: a tiny bug in over 2,000 varieties that existed over 100 million years ago. Like others of God's creatures, they're threatened by light pollution, habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change. Appreciate them as a symbol of God's beauty around us.

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
July 18, 2024

07/13/2024

"There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain."
(Isaiah 4:6)

"He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:45)


Dear Friends,

Is God sending us a message with this weather? Just as we thought the glorious warmth and gentle sun in May was never going to end--Bam!--hellfire and brimstone. Flooding on the east coast, triple digit temperatures in the west. When it rains, it's torrential.

In ancient times, it was commonly thought that rain, thunder, heat, hail and earthquakes were the work of the gods. The Ancient Greek philosophers, however, attributed these elements to cycles of nature; Aristotle's work "The Mythology" is his theory of natural weather phenomena. A 2021 study by scientists at Harvard discovered the ancient earth experienced long periods of drought followed by massive rainstorms that could dump a foot of rain in an hour.

Certain native cultures centuries after the Greeks believed gods control the weather. Tlaloc, "he who makes things sprout", was the Aztec god of water responsible also for thunder and flooding. According to the Navajo there are two kinds of rain: female--quiet, calm, gentle and soothing, and male--unpleasant and rough.

Perhaps this weather is a reminder that our time here on earth is ephemeral. We never know what will happen so let's make the most of it. Use it to do good, combat evil and make a difference in the world.

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
July 12, 2024

07/05/2024

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Corinthians 3:17)

"But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." (James 1:25)


Dear Friends,

In the spaces between picnics, gatherings with family and friends, barbecues, fireworks and vacation, we remember that our forebears once were ruled by a potentate in a foreign country who cared only for the revenue his taxes would bring. Like many oppressed peoples, they took only so much and then initiated a revolution that startled the world. This was not the first uprising ever but it was of such importance because it established a new country that would someday be a beacon to other subjugated people and help liberate nations from tyrants during two world wars.

While this country was settled by immigrants who, among other reasons, wished to escape from the religious requirements of monarchs and governments, the beliefs they carried with them became the foundations for a patchwork of churches, synagogues, temples and meeting houses that have enabled successive generations to worship as they wish.

When we celebrate America's independence, we're really recognizing the genius of those who created two seminal documents that have guided our country for over 235 years: one, the Declaration of Independence, that made the case for freedom from a foreign power, and the other our Constitution, the world's longest surviving written charter of government, that provides a roadmap for governance.

The Constitution has withstood challenges, criticism and violations. It's been poked, prodded and amended. Still it stands, a testament to the founders whose vision it enshrines. Happy birthday, America!

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
July 5, 2024

06/29/2024

"So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:21)

"For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:16-17)

Dear Friends,

There is a farm not far from Rensselaerville that serves as a final home for those who have been abused, neglected and abandoned. Here they live out the remainder of their lives in peace receiving the love and care they were denied as they aged and were no longer considered productive. The residents are Thoroughbred horses, elegant, intelligent creatures who were raced until they couldn't run fast anymore and then used as brood mares or studs until they couldn't produce offspring any longer. They did everything that was asked of them without complaint and at the end of their careers were sent to kill pens where they were left to starve and fend for themselves while awaiting transport to a slaughterhouse.

The farm is a sanctuary for these rescued animals. Compassionate staff and volunteers restore them to health from near death, tend to their ailments and injuries, some of them permanent from abuse during their racing days, treat their arthritis and sore joints, pet, love and cherish them.

Why do humans treat beings who have no voice as if they have no souls? How someone cares for animals is a reflection of how they see their world: as something to be dominated, ignoring and abusing whatever or whoever they consider beneath them or as a vessel for the infinite love they have to offer everything and everyone around them.

Pope Francis, in his letter to the Catholic Church on caring for the environment, said "[W]hen our hearts are authentically open to universal communion, this sense of fraternity excludes nothing and no one. It follows that our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings. Every act of cruelty toward any creature is contrary to human dignity."

Peace and blessings,

Diana Hinchcliff
Elder
June 28, 2024

06/28/2024

New Members Needed For Church!

The Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church needs You! Members make a special commitment to participate in the life of the church: voting on issues of importance to the church and our congregation; through their donations as they are able; and as an elder, serving on the Session, the governing body of the church, and assisting with Communion at worship services. Members ensure that our church will continue for another 200 years!

If you would like to explore membership, please send an email to [email protected]. There is no obligation associated with having a conversation about becoming a member.

06/10/2024

2024 Worship Services

Theme: Finding Common Ground

Services will begin Sunday, June 23 and conclude Sunday, September 1 (Labor Day weekend).

June 23 "Word One"
Rev. Dr. Richard Spalding, retired chaplain, Williams College, MA.

June 30 "If What You Fear Does Not Exist"
Rev. Stephen H. Phelps, retired interim senior minister
Riverside Church, Manhattan

July 7 "The Fallacy of Unity and the Truth of Divergency"
Imam Genghis Khan, Muslim Student Advisor
Union College, Schenectady, NY

July 14 "Draw the Circle Wide"
Rev. Alison Miller, Senior Minister, First Unitarian Portland
Portland, Oregon

July 21 (Sermon title to be announced)
Rev. Dr. Amaury Tanon-Santos, Executive Director/CEO
Schenectady Community Ministries, Schenectady, NY

July 28 "Finding Common Ground: Lessons From
Church History" (joint service)
Mother Jennifer Dorsey, Supply Priest
Trinity Episcopal Church, Rensselaerville

August 4 "Considering the Other Side"
Rev. Dr. Shaun Whitehead, Chaplain
St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY

August 11 "What Are We Looking For?"
Rabbi Norman Mendel, Temple Beth El, Glens Falls, NY

August 18 "What's Love Got to Do With It"
Charles F. Seifert, Ph.D., President
Siena College, Loudonville, NY

August 25 "Reclaiming the Sacred Art of Pilgrimage"
Rev. Barbara Becker, author and interfaith minister

September 1 "Live Into Hope"
Rev. Dr. Viki Brooks, Moderator
Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church

Address

1454 CR 351
Rensselaerville, NY
12147

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