Presbyterian Visitor
May 1, 2026
Our church will be hosting Soup on Saturday on May 2nd at the Methodist Church. Volunteers are needed to help provide the food and to work. Please see the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board to help our church continue to share God’s great love with others in our community.
Full Life Development’s Annual Potted Plant sales are going on now. The proceeds of this sale go to help support FLD’s ministries in Thailand. The flowers will be available for pickup on Friday, May 8th and Saturday, May 9th. The cost is $24 for a 10” pot overflowing with beautiful flowers and plants. There are a limited number of pots available, so reserve yours soon by contacting the church office.
The Bloomfield High School ROTC will be cleaning up the cactus in the yard and around the patio on Saturday, May 16th. If anyone has any shovels, rakes, hoes, or other lawn tools we could borrow, we would greatly appreciate it. Please label any items you bring so that we can get your tools returned to you. Also, we will be providing lunch for the kids. Donations of bottled water, sliced cheese, lunch meats, bread, chips, and cookies would be greatly appreciated. Please let Deb Cullison or the church office know if you would like to provide something.
On Sunday, May 17th we will be honoring our graduating seniors at a pitch in dinner following worship service. This year’s high school graduates are Braden Hendrix and Noël Jackson. Please bring a covered dish to share.
The Trustee have been busy at work and if you look around the church building, you might see evidence of several recently completed projects! These include:
putting a push bar on the exit door in the sanctuary to make it compliant with fire code;
fixing the loose outlet by the organ;
adding more lighting to the stained glass Jesus at the rear of the sanctuary;
installing a motion sensor light at the kitchen entrance to the church;
working on obtaining a grant to help finance a powered door opener for the front door and remodeling of the narthex.
as well as several smaller projects that aren't visible. The time, energy, and money put into these projects makes our building safer and more accessible for all those who use it, and enhances our worship.
Updates from Session
The following were discussed during the April Session Meeting:
* finalized dates and discussed plans for Vacation Bible School (July 20-22) and our Block Party (August 9, 4-6pm);
* approved Pastor Hana's vacation July 13-19 and July 27-August 2;
* discussed the acquisition of a TV and how best to make it available/usable;
* considered important steps to replacing our current hymnal (see Pastor Hana's article for more on this!);
* heard about a community initiative to feed local children this summer, and considered how to support it;
* agreed to move to a new broadband carrier; and
* scheduled the next session meeting for June 3 at 5:30pm.
Women’s Association
The next Women’s Association meeting will be held on Thursday, May 14th at 100p.m. at the home of hostess Melinda Hendrix.
The last of the Pre-Tasting Dinners have been held and the voting has been completed on the dishes that will be featured at this year’s Tasting Luncheon. The Tasting Luncheon committee will soon be asking for volunteers to help prepare the dishes, decorate, and to work. The Tasting Luncheon will be held on Friday, June 26th from 11:00a.m. to 1:00p.m. Tickets will be $12 this year and will be on sale soon.
Good news!! The Women’s Association will have brooms for sale again. The cost is $20 with broom available for sale from the church office and during the Tasting Luncheon.
Pastor’s Message
This is a photo of the hymnal I use to select copies of the hymns we sing each week:
From the binding that is torn and frayed in multiple places, you can see that it has had better days. Many of our hymn books have. Several of them have already gone to that great hymn sing in the sky. We have run out of spare copies to put in our pews, and this particular hymnal is no longer being produced.
Which means, it is time to start thinking about acquiring new hymnals.
Music, and particularly hymn-singing, is an essential part of our worship of God each week. It is also a vital part of our faith formation, as the words and theologies we sing become embedded in our hearts, alongside memorable tunes. Hymns can therefore be deeply personal, evoking strong feelings, both positive and negative. Different hymns can become connected to key events in our lives, making them all the more potent.
Our strong feelings about worship music can make it a source of controversy and conflict in our congregations. In our more passionate moments, we may struggle to remember that we sing hymns primarily to please God, not ourselves.
There are tens of thousands of hymns that have been written over the centuries. Many of them are very good. They cannot all fit in one hymnal. Nor can all the variations in word and tune that have been made to those hymns over the years. We must concede that it is impossible for a hymnal to be 100% pleasing to everyone, including those who may yet join our congregation.
The best we can hope to do is select a hymnal that is a good fit for our congregation, with music that appropriately worships the God in which we profess faith. We will not do this without your input! We will be asking about your favorite hymns and why they matter to you, so please be thinking about that!
The good news is that we are not limited by whatever new hymnal we choose. While the majority of what we sing would come from it, we still have the freedom to select and sing hymns from other sources, as the Spirit leads us.
“O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!” —Psalm 96
In hope,
Pastor Hana