Sharon Presbyterian Youth (SPY) Sunday

Youth Sunday at Sharon Presbyterian was several weeks ago and we have been blessed again by the faith shown by our future leaders. We as a church are very proud of how our young adults have progressed. It is a testament of the love and caring of the our church, our community, loved ones and most of all, parents. We celebrate with them.

One of the young adults that lead us on Youth Sunday was Ally Butler. We thank Ally for her service and her dedication. A copy of her sermon is below:

~ God Is Love ~

Good morning and happy Valentines Day.

• Jimmy Hendrix once said that “when the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”
• Paul McCartney wrote “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."
• An anonymous writer wrote “if love is the answer then can you please repeat the question?”

My Dad says he learned a lot about love at a youth group retreat one April at Camp Grier. He said there were about 150 kids standing around a huge bonfire that the camp counselors had been stoking for about two hours. Red embers from the fire were rising up into the black sky. Even though it was April, it had started to snow; so the white snow falling provided a contrast to the rising red embers. It was almost as though the songs of praise to the Lord sung around that campfire were raised to the heavens within the embers; only to be returned as blessings by God in the form of the snow flakes. My Dad remembers looking around at the 10 or 15 kids from Sharon that had become such good friends and feeling a type of Christian love that transcends all other types of love. John Alexander used to stand in this pulpit and preach about “agape” love, which is the “top of the mountain” type of love that we all strive for. My Dad says he found it for about 30 minutes at Camp Grier, and that he’s only experienced it a few times since.

We all think we know what love is. Most kids have experienced the love they have for their parents; a love that is engrained naturally for those that nurture and provide for us. We usually find out about puppy love in Middle School. Anybody can find out about lust; just spend about 10 minutes on the internet. After that, however, love gets a little more complicated. If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend for more than a few months when you’re in high school or college, love starts to involve things like commitment and communication; and it gets pretty hard. And if things go South with this kind of relationship, it can really hurt. If we’re lucky, one day we find our “true love”, or our soul mate, and we make a lifelong commitment. Obviously, I don’t totally understand marriage, but there is definitely love involved; but it’s just mixed in with a lot of other emotions and things that some couples figure out and some don’t. But that’s another topic for another day. Finally, you parents out there have experienced the unconditional love you have for your children. I hope to experience that kind of love someday, the kind of love where your children become a part of your very being; where their joys are your joys and their pain is your pain.

But what about God? Where does he fit in to this discussion of love?

I think we would all agree that the love God has for us is stronger than any love we will ever experience. But what about our love for God? Can we safely say we love God more than we love our family? Or money? Or what about our cell phones? Is god really more important to us in our day to day lives than our cell phones?

I mentioned Agape love earlier. Agape love is the most common form of love in the Bible. It might be likened to the sacrificial love a parent has for their child regardless of whether such love is reciprocated. But it may be even more than that. Agape is love which is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself. The first letter of John in the New Testament, chapter 4 verse 8, says “whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.”

To me, that means that true love has to involve God. I discussed some of the different types of love earlier, but those types of love are like watching a good movie on TV. But when that love is in the name of God, it gets amped up several notches; like watching that same movie on a 42” high definition TV with surround sound. Aren’t marriages better when God is in the picture? Doesn’t the love a family has for each other hold up better when Church and God are part of its foundation?

Thanks to the members of this congregation, our high school youth group goes on a Mission trip every Summer. We work hard and sleep on the floor in hot classrooms, but we also have two Christ-centered programs and two devotions every day. Not coincidentally, at the end of this week the love we have for each other is greater than at any other time during the year. We also come to love the crew members we work with that week. The crews start the week as complete strangers and by Friday night we have six new loving relationships built on Christ. If you asked any of the participants of the adult Mission trips to Peru, I’m sure they would tell you the same thing. The trips are centered around God and the work is done in God’s name. So at the end of these trips, the Christian love we feel for each other and for those we are serving is greater than any of the “Imposter” types of love the media says we should be seeking.

So the next time you see a magazine ad telling you that flatter abs will improve your love life, or the next time a night of watching TV makes you believe you are the only person in America without a steamy love life, or the next time you’re about to just give up on love entirely, don’t believe any of it. Instead, work on the love you have for God. After all, God’s first Commandment is to love him with your whole body, soul and mind. Romans Chapter 5, verse 5 says: “God has poured out his love into our hearts”. Perhaps it is time for us to pour some of that love back towards God. Amen

Audio link to this sermon

Sharon Presbyterian Youth Programs

2010 Mission Trip to Peru

Hola Mission Trip Participants!In just a little over 4 months, we are scheduled to arrive in Lima, Peru for a week of work and fellowship alongside members of the Presbytery of Huanta. It is my hope that in taking us so far away from our familiar surroundings, God will bring us closer to Him, to each other and to our precious brothers and sisters in Peru. I am so looking forward to the spiritual journey that awaits us.

Sixteen (16) members of Bryson City Presbyterian Church ("BCPC"), Port Orange Presbyterian Church ("POPC") and Sharon Presbyterian Church ("SPC") have committed to the trip. We are blessed to have several youth joining us this year. I hope that our team covenant will include a statement that our youth will be heard on this trip.

We are also blessed that Brenda Paredes, a member of Amen Presbyterian Church in Carabayllo, Peru, will also be joining us.

The trip will be lead by Sara Armstrong and Rusty Edmondson, the PC(USA) delegations coordinators in Lima. Sara and Rusty are serving at the invitation of the Evangelical Presbyterian and Reformed Church of Peru (the "IEPRP").

As I write this, Sara and Rusty are on their way (via an overnight bus) from Lima to Huanta for a series of meetings with the Junta Directiva (the governing council) of the IEPRP. They will also be working on our behalf during this trip to finalize some of the many details (transportation, meals, accommodations, project work, etc.) associated with our mission trip. As details start to emerge and our itinerary begins to come together I will share the details with you.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or need additional information about the trip, please let me know.

Peace,
Randy

Mission El Savador

Dear Friends,

On Friday, March 26th, I will be leaving Charlotte along with a team from Myers Park Presbyterian Church to go to Ahuachapan , El Salvador on a mission trip. We will be spending Holy Week with our brothers and sisters in Christ working in the Getsemani neighborhood. We will also deepen relationships with the Getsemani neighborhood that have been developed by previous groups from Myers Park Presbyterian. You can find more information about the Myers Park Presbyterian endeavor in Getsemani at the following web site: http://www.myersparkpres.org/www/docs/10930.3424 .

As part of the project in the Getsemani neighborhood, a total of 90 new homes will be built, in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity El Salvador, over a four year period. Habitat for Humanity El Salvador has developed a blog site for this project at the following web site: http://Habitatelsalvador.wordpress.com/

You can follow our team activities through our blog site which we will attempt to update daily:
http://mppcelsalvador.blogspot.com/

I would appreciate your keeping our team in your prayers as we go forth to serve in God’s name.

Peace,
Dennis Grills

A Note For The Month of March

Very soon we all will be planning and packing for our July trip to Peru. We hope this blog will be a good way to spread the information that will be coming. The calendar at the bottom of this page has a tentative itinerary for our July trip. Check back often for changes and updates!

Alissa King, one YAV (Young Adult Volunteer) is now serving in Huanta and in the Cristo Rey church that we will be visiting in late July and early August. Sadly, we will arrive a week or two after Alissa has left Huanta after completing her year long tenure. We do recommend that you take time to read the insights of Alissa and other YAVs that are serving in Peru. You will be blessed by their dedication. Link to Alissa's Peruvian Adventure.

Thank You, Brenda

Brenda Paredes returned home to Lima, Peru, March 20, 2010. During her three months with us, Brenda has served as a junior advisor for Sharon Presbyterian Youth, participating in the Sharon Presbyterian Youth Ski Trip and other Sharon Presbyterian Youth activities, spoken at a Men’s Breakfast and Sunday School classes, assisted with the children after Children’s Worship, assisted in the Sharon Church Office, served as an usher and attended Worship and Sunday School regularly. Brenda has also participated in the preliminary planning for the 2010 Mission Trip to Huanta, Peru. She has also served as a substitute teacher at the Sharon Weekday School and tutored students at Carmel Middle School and South Mecklenburg High School whose second language is English.

Brenda also traveled to New York City to visit a high school friend and to Sacramento, California, to visit her great aunt and other family members who immigrated to the United States over ten years ago.

We thank God for the time that Brenda has spent sharing her faith and culture with us. We wish her safe travels and hope that she will visit us again.

Randy

Brenda's three month visit to the U.S. went by way too fast! Brenda's love, patience and courage have proven that she is a perfect representative for the wonderful Peruvian people. Those that have met Brenda either last year in Peru or on her recent trip to the U.S. have been very fortunate. Those that will meet Brenda in Lima for the first time in July, will quickly understand and agree that we are the ones that have been blessed for knowing her.

wvd

Kentucky Update

Greetings from Mt. Vernon, Ky. Two months have passed since I arrived in eastern Kentucky to work with the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) and what an experience it has been. CAP is a wonderful organization that offers many programs to help the underprivileged people of the Appalachian mountains. I work in the food pantry where we serve about 40 different families a day with food. What good and appreciative families they are! Even though they have many needs, they are happy for the most part and have a tremendous amount of love for The Lord and their families. CAP’s philosophy is to offer a hand-up not a hand out so that the Appalachians can have more opportunities to better their living conditions. The Lord is definitely hard at work here.

I live in a volunteer house with 9 other ladies ranging from the ages 17 - 67. Community living is a new and fun experience for me where we share in the cooking and house keeping. Kentucky is a beautiful state where the snow falls are awesome. I have been introduced to a lot of the local customs and culture which have been interesting and exciting. Since I am only 3 hours from our Gatlinburg house, I get to go “home” on week-ends.

I miss all my friends and family in Charlotte but October will be here before we know it. Take care! Love, peace and good health.

Nancy Tabor