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Good Day to you Church,

We’ve got a gloomy, grey day for Groundhog’s Day this year, but a little elf told me that we can expect to actually see the sun for a few days beginning this weekend. Does anyone even remember what the sun looks like?! 

Here’s the news for the week: 

A Big Welcoming “Hello” to Andrew and Dee

Do you remember last January, a man named Brandon Rodriguez was released from prison in Ogdensburg and came to Potsdam because he had been enrolled in college through a program that SUNY Potsdam was running at Riverview Correctional Facility? Brandon is an exceptional student, and is closing in on graduating from SUNY Potsdam this spring, and now two other men who have been enrolled in SUNY Potsdam’s program are following in his footsteps. 

Andrew Francis and Dee Smith both started school this week, and there’s a welcoming party for them this afternoon (Friday, Feb. 2nd) at 311 Satterlee Hall, from 3:30-5pm. If you happen to be on campus, or live nearby and have a minute to drop in and welcome them to our community, I know they would appreciate it. 

Returning to the community after being in prison is hard enough, but these young men have come to a town where they don’t know anybody because they are committed to earning their degree and giving back to the world positively. I hope that we will be able to help support them on their journey in the coming months and years! 

All-Church Potluck This Sunday, 2/4

Bring on the mac ‘n cheese! After church this Sunday we will be gathering together at the table to enjoy a lovely potluck meal together after our worship service. Please bring a dish to pass!

Annual Congregational Meeting Set for Sunday, Feb. 11th

Instead of tailgating for the Super Bowl, we at church will be “pre-gaming” by holding our annual congregational meeting during coffee hour on Sunday, Feb. 11th. I hope you can join us! 

Jazz Night at the UU Church, Friday, Feb. 16th

If you enjoy jazz, you won’t want to miss this free night of live music at the UU Church. A quartet, including Tim Savage, John Danis, and James Galisinski, will be playing from 6:30-8:30pm. 

Community Friendship Volunteer Program Presentation on Feb. 18th

During coffee hour on Sunday, Feb. 18th, Meghan Conklin will be offering a presentation on the Community Friendship Volunteer Program– a volunteer-based program that provides friendship and a helping hand to seniors in St. Lawrence County, whereby volunteers can assist a senior citizen through friendly home visits, phone conversation, light housekeeping, going on outings, help with errands, and more. 

If you have questions, Meghan can be reached by email at mconklin@cpnorthcountry.org or by phone (315) 379-8346. 

Preparing for our Congregational Meeting: A Look at our Church’s Financials 

Alright folks, it’s time to pull out your reading glasses and take a look at our financials. I thought I’d share the details with you in this week’s newsletter to give you time to peruse them before we meet on the 11th for our annual meeting. 

To help you understand, here are our profit and loss statements from both 2023 and 2022 for you to be able to look at, because 2023 doesn’t fully make sense without knowing the backstory in 2022. 

If you open up these documents you will notice some crazy “yo-yo” numbers for our final totals. In 2022 we ended the year with a huge surplus: +$72,651 to be exact. And in 2023 we ended with a huge deficit: -$49,569. Both of these very large numbers have to do with our sanctuary renovation project. 

At the very end of 2022 we received $64,000 from Brotherhood Mutual Insurance to go towards fixing the damage to our roof and the sanctuary. This is why we ended with such a large surplus in 2022–we received the money, but didn’t have time in the calendar year to do the work and spend the money. 

Instead, the work started this past May, and as you know, is still ongoing. In 2023 we spent the majority of our insurance money– just shy of $50,000. Because we spent money in 2023 that we did not receive in 2023, our profit and loss statement says that we have a deficit of -$49,569 for the calendar year. 

I know it’s frustrating to look at these numbers like this, but profit and loss statements only look at money coming in and out of our accounts across a certain period of time, and because the insurance money did not hit our account in 2023– when the work was paid for– it looks like we have a huge deficit. But! If you look at both years combined– adding together the totals we have in both 2022 and 2023– you will see that we are actually in the black over this two year span of time. Adding the totals together, we actually have a surplus of $23,00 over that 2 year period. 

Now, $15,000 of this surplus is money still earmarked for the renovation project. We’re not done yet with the work. As I mentioned last week, we have decided to put down a new floor in the sanctuary in 2024, which will use up all of that $15,000 (plus another $10,000 that we need to raise to pay for the whole thing). But if you take out the $15k from the total surplus we had in 2023, we are still $8,000 above the board for 2022-2023! 

Friends, this is huge news for our little church. We have been in the black every year since I started at the church in 2020–something I’m astounded by. But again, I must also explain. 

Before I came, the church was regularly in the red every year. For years we have not had enough people coming to church and offering tithes and pledges to keep up with our expenses. So why are things different now? Part of it is that we are growing our little congregation, and you all are incredibly generous people! But the other reason has to do with the particularities of my life. 

I am on disability because of my health problems, which ironically, has become a huge gift to our church. At the present time, the PC(USA)’s Board of Pensions program pays for my disability, supplementing what the federal government gives me (which is not enough to live on ….but that’s for another story). 

Since I am not physically able to work full time, our denomination’s robust disability pension program pays for all of my health insurance and pension benefits, along with a chunk of salary. This is money that the church would otherwise be paying me in my salary package, and it amounts to nearly $30,000 a year. Thesehefty savings are a major part of why we have gone from being in the red every year to being in the black the past 4 years. 

Now, I am currently still on disability, but I am doing everything I can to try and get better physically. I am hopeful that I am finally getting close to finding a treatment that will relieve enough pain and give me back enough mobility that at some point I will be able to go off of disability. If that happens, the church has to be prepared to pick back up the parts of my salary that it has not had to pay while I have been on disability. 

Being prepared for this reality is the reason that every year our projected budget looks so grim. For 2024, we are projecting a -$87,000 budget. Gasp! But… but that huge negative number assumes that the church is paying for my full salary for the whole year (which it currently isn’t) and it includes payment for the new floor (which we have money set aside for from 2023, but is not reflected in the budget because the money did not arrive in 2024). Does that make any sense? 

I know that profit and loss statements are frustrating, as is our annual budget. They are not designed to give the whole picture of what’s going on, which makes it maddening to understand if you don’t know the fine details! But there they are– the finer details. Hopefully I’ve done a good enough job explaining all of these finer details so that you don’t have a heart attack when you read the final numbers from 2023 or when you look at our projected budget for 2024. If, however, you read through this explanation and look at the P&L statements, and you still have questions, please reach out to me. Or, wait until our annual meeting and we can discuss it all together then. 

All in all, I want you to know that Session and I take the church’s finances seriously and we are quite pleased with how well we were able to stick to the budget for our renovation project. It took a lot of effort, planning, researching, and prudence to not overspend, and I am proud of what we have accomplished this last year! 

Where From Here?

And now a final word about our finances: When I first came to our church to be the pastor, I was prepared mentally that within 5 years we would need to sell our building and move somewhere else because financially we could not afford to stay in such an expensive home any longer. We had many meetings to discuss what this shift might look like back when I first came, and you were ready to make that jump with me. 

As it is turning out, we probably won’t have to think about selling our building in the next 5 years. At some point in the future we might still have to, but for the time being we are bringing in enough money (and also not spending what we otherwise would have had to), to be able to stay where we are. 

All this to say– where do we go from here? I honestly have no idea what God has in store for us in terms of the finer details, but what I do know is that we are a beautiful, lively, and caring church community that has a lot of life in front of it! And I can’t wait to see what God will bring about, not only in 2024, but in the coming years as well. 

May God continue to guide us, teach us, mold us, and bless us! 

In Faith,
Pastor Katrina

A good Friday to you, Church,

Oh my! It might be Friday, but what crummy weather we’ve got today. 32 degrees and pouring rain. Blek! I hope you’ve got your yaktrax on, if you’re out walking around. 

Here’s the news for the week. 

Jeff Mitchell to Preach This Sunday

I will be away this Sunday to moderate the Ogdensburg Stone Church’s annual congregational meeting, and I am grateful to Jeff, who is willing to jump in and lead worship in my stead. 

All-Church Potluck Set for February 4th

It’s almost here– time to cook and feast together! Bring a dish to pass on Sunday, February 4th and we will enjoy fellowship together after worship. 

Putting In a New Floor

Well, folks, after a few hairy weeks of working on the floor in the sanctuary, Session has had a “come to Jesus” moment. Our plan, to date, had been to save the church some money and simply refinish the existing floor in the sanctuary. But for a whole host of reasons this option is becoming unrealistic. And so, Session has changed direction, to address our current situation. We have decided to have a new hardwood floor installed over the existing floor. 

Dave Wells has been doing some research, and a new hardwood floor is going to cost us $25,000. Thankfully, we still have $15,000 left in the sanctuary renovation budget, leaving us with a remainder of $10,000 to raise. Waylon Maitland, who will be installing the floor, is Presbyterian and is willing to donate $3,000 towards the cause. And Nathan LaFaver, the painter who repaired and painted the sanctuary walls and ceiling, is also willing to pitch in some. 

I know I’ve been asking you to donate to all sorts of small projects lately– for our Kenyan students, for postage to send winter wear to Ukraine, and for Christmas gifts for people in need– but will you be prayerful about what you might be able to contribute to our new floor? I know that not everyone is in a financial position to help, and that’s absolutely ok, but if a number of us can all pitch in a little, we can make this happen. 

When this is all said and done, we are going to have a magnificent sanctuary to worship in!

ReThinking January

I’ve been falling into the “January slump” lately. Have you? With so many grey days, the weather is starting to get to me. Thankfully, I have a number of craft projects to be working on to distract me from the winter slog. 

One of these projects is something I started years ago, but had to put away because my health wouldn’t allow me to work on it. I recently pulled it out though, and it’s nearing completion. 

Doing this project has made me think about January differently. Yes, deep winter is enough to drive anyone crazy, but this is also special time. There aren’t as many social obligations to tend to in January, and because the weather is often iffy, we don’t plan as many outings– leaving extra time to try things we haven’t done before. 

In all honesty, without the doldrums of January, I wouldn’t have picked this project back up. It would still be folded away in a box somewhere, uncompleted. Friends, if we allow it to be, winter can be a beautiful time to open the box on our creative energy– to try things that we otherwise wouldn’t make the time for. 

Is there something you’ve always wanted to try, but never made the space for in your life? January is a fabulous time to try making a new recipe, or to learn woodworking, or to read a juicy book. It’s a lovely season to write letters to old friends, or make special valentine cards for your grandkids. What creative corner of your brain can you move into during these grey days? If we sweep out the cobwebs and the dust from our creative places and allow the Spirit to move through us, our cabin fever can transform into a beautiful, and meaningful season of time. 

There is more to life than going to work and coming home to watch television in the evenings. Since we are made in the image of our Creator, we too have magnificent creative power. What beautiful, creative thing can you turn this time of year into? There are painters, cooks, musicians, potters, woodworkers, knitters, actors, and singers hiding inside of ourselves– parts of us we have not yet met. I encourage you to use this special season (otherwise known as January), to get to know those hidden parts of yourself!

In Faith,
Pastor Katrina 

Good Day to you, Church! 

Brrrr! It’s a cold one out there today, and tomorrow will be even colder. I hope that you are staying warm. 

I’m currently sitting with my feet propped up next to the heat of my woodstove, which is gently creaking and whirring in response to the fire inside. It feels wonderful! 

Here’s the news for the week. 

“Take Two” to Celebrate Cynthia Coleman

As you know, we had to cancel our worship service last Sunday because of a major snowstorm, so this Sunday we will pick up where we left off and give thanks for Cynthia, who has served as our faithful treasurer for over 20 years. Did I mention that there will be cake?!

Jeff Mitchell to Preach Jan. 28th

I’m very excited to inform you that our very own Jeff Mitchell has heard God’s call to ministry and will soon be going under the care of our presbytery, to eventually become a Commissioned Lay Pastor. 

I hope that you will come support him on this path, as he practices his craft of delivering sermons on January 28th. Jeff has such a kind, loving heart and a passion for his faith. He will make a great pastor one day! 

Congregational Meeting Scheduled for February 11th

Session and I are busy preparing for our upcoming Congregational Meeting, and I have good news! Our year-end numbers are finally in for 2023, and if you read them in conjunction with our numbers from 2022, we’re actually in the black. 

As you know, we spent a lot of money this year on our sanctuary renovation project (which is still not yet complete), but we are currently under budget and still on track to stay within the amount we received from the insurance company. Huzzah! 

In a couple of weeks I will share our year-end numbers with you and explain how to read them. (It’s a bit complicated to understand without knowing the details.) 

Supporting Our Kenya Students

Do you remember that we have been sponsoring a handful of high school students in Kenya for the last few years? It started with Joanina Gichovi and her sister Juster (both of whom went on to graduate from Clarkson!). 

Now we are paying tuition fees for two young men– Linus Mukathe and Romney Murithi. They are both bright young men who would not otherwise be able to afford to attend school. The cost of tuition for each of them is $475. 

As we know from Joanina and Juster, these are students who have big dreams, and might be able to positively change the lives of many people in their communities as adults, if they only had access to education. 

Might you be willing to send in a donation to help with their tuition for the year? We’re hoping to raise $950. If you’d like to send in a special donation, write “Kenya Students” on the memo line of your check. 

Help from the Fellas at the Department of Public Works

I forgot to tell you the most amazing story last week– about what happened the day the semi pulled in to deliver our new chairs at church. 

Picture the scene with me: It’s early morning on a cold, snowy January morning in Potsdam. Six folks from our church are gathered together outside on the busy street, peering into the back end of a semi, discussing how best they’re going to lower huge pallets of chairs down from the truck without a lift. 

Each stack of chairs weigh hundreds of pounds, and they’re sitting on the floor of the truck, seven feet above the street surface. How are they going to muscle these chairs to the ground in order to haul them into the building? 

Our folks are in full discussion about the best way to lower the chairs down from the truck without taking out anyone’s aging back, when a couple of workers with the Department of Public Works walk up. It turns out our truck is blocking them from working on a sewer line. 

They wait for a while watching our crew of congregants and decide right then and there that something needs to be done. Without skipping a beat, they jump up on the truck, and together, they lower these unwieldy, heavy stacks of chairs down to the ground. No one asks or expects them to help, but they offered this amazing gift anyway. 

Later in the day, one of our congregants is so pleased with what has transpired, that they drop by the DOPW office with a gift certificate to buy the whole crew lunch at the diner. 

Friends, this is what unconditional love looks like. These fellas weren’t looking for a favor, or praise, or lunch at the diner. They just saw people in need, and jumped in to help! 

If there ever was an example of the Kingdom of God unfolding on the street, this is it. 

May we, like these strangers, find an opportunity this week to go out of our way to help someone we don’t even know. 

In Joy,
Pastor Katrina 

Good Morning to you, Church,

Here’s the news for the week: 

Sunday, December 3rd

This Sunday is Buzzing with Activity! This week we will begin celebrating Advent– the season leading up to Christmas when we wait and prepare for the coming of the Christ child. As funny as it sounds, we will kick this year’s advent season off by digging into understanding better the war between Israel and Hamas– in light of Jesus who comes as the Prince of Peace. 

Christmas Wreaths Have Arrived

If you ordered a wreath from Roberta, you can pick it up at church this Sunday. The hospital ordered more than they sold, so if you didn’t get an order in and you’d still like one, there will be some extras available to purchase. 

Food Festival at Beth-El Synagogue

If you’re interested in supporting our neighbors across town, and enjoy delicious food in the process, stop by the synagogue after church this Sunday for a delicious meal and the opportunity to take home some goodies. Their food festival will run from 11am-2pm. 

Crane’s Candlelight Service at 3pm

After you’ve filled up on delicious food, you are then invited to head over to Hosmer Hall for this year’s Candlelight service at Crane. Many of our folks will be participating in the concert, and from what I understand, this year’s music is going to be particularly special.

All Church Potluck and Communion, Sunday Dec. 10th

Bring a dish to share next Sunday, the 10th, and we will enjoy a festive Advent meal together. We will also be celebrating communion on the 10th as the early church did, which they called a Love Feast. We will do this by incorporating the Lord’s Supper into our mealtime. 

Choir to Sing on the 10th

If you’d like to join our pick-up choir, which will be singing in the service on the 10th, rehearsal will be happening next week. See Keilor for details. 

Giving Tree Gifts

If you picked up a Giving Tree tag this year to buy a gift for a local child, don’t forget to bring your unwrapped present and the tag with you this Sunday. We are collecting our gifts under the tree in the Center. If you still want to participate, grab a tag off the tree and try to get your gift in later next week. 

Pledging Season

You should have received a pledge card in the mail this last week, asking you to prayerfully consider your giving for next year. If you are able, please fill out the form and bring it to church with you in the next couple of weeks. As always, we need everyone’s monetary support. Whether you can only give a little, or you are able to offer a lot, this is yet another way we all come together as the body of Christ.

One More Volunteer is Needed for January’s Community Supper

I’m delighted to hear that a few of you have stepped up to help run Community Suppers in January and March. We still need one more person to sign up to help organize in January. You will have a partner to work with, so the task will be shared. If you’re willing to help please let Sharon Pickard know. 

Trillium to Donate $8,000 to the Church

When Trillium folded as a not-for-profit at the end of last year, the church took on the responsibility of coordinating and overseeing all of Trillium’s activities– from yoga and tai chi classes to renting out office space to the massage therapists, mental health counselors, and physical therapist who practice in our building. As we near the end of our first year in this new role, I am delighted to say that Trillium is thriving. 

I am also delighted to say that the old not-for-profit Trillium had some money leftover in their coffers and they have decided to donate all of their remaining funds to the church! Half of their $8,000 donation will go to help pay for the new ramp and handrail we installed at the parking lot entrance last month, and we will save the other $4,000 for further building repair work. 

This is a beautiful gift that Trillium is giving to us, and I am thankful to Terry de la Vega and the rest of the Trillium folks who decided to pass this gift along. 

If you’d like to learn more about the classes that Trillium offers– from exercise classes, to a variety of yoga and tai chi classes– visit the church’s website:

 http://www.potsdampresbyterian.org/trillium-calendar/

Giving to the Red Crescent Society

As I mentioned above, this Sunday we will be learning about the war in Israel, and my challenge to us is to consider what our response should be as Christians. I’m going to offer some suggestions on political action we can take, but today I’d also like to suggest another option for helping those who are currently being ravaged by war. 

This last week Session met, and realized while looking over the budget, that we still have $720 left to give away in our world mission budget. Given the situation in the Middle East, your elders determined that the best use of this mission money would be to support the people being hit the hardest by the destruction of this war. Consequently, we will be donating this money to the Red Crescent Society, which is the Middle East’s version of the Red Cross. It is a humanitarian organization bringing food and medical supplies into the worst damaged parts of the Gaza Strip, where people have been without necessary supplies for weeks now. 

If you’d like to add to our church’s giving, please feel free to drop a check into the offering plate this week with ‘Red Crescent Society’ written on the memo line. 

Update on Winter Wear Being Sent to Ukraine

Our boxes are now overflowing with hats, scarves, mittens, sweaters, socks, and warm winter jackets! Thank you to all who donated items. What’s more, you have graciously donated $475 to help pay for the postage of all of these items. A big thank you to those who have given. It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be living through war in the cold of winter, and so we offer these gifts to those affected as our prayers for safety and warmth. 

Continued Thoughts on PTSD (and War)

Following our worship service a couple weeks ago about mental health challenges and PTSD, I shared with a veteran friend of mine who served in Iraq about how trauma shows up in the life of King Saul because of his war experiences. 

My friend, who still struggles with the traumas he experienced at war, felt a kindred spirit with Saul and all that he struggled with. My friend Adam had this to say in response, which I received permission to share with all of you: 

“For many veterans returning from war, there is a fear that civilians will think of us as having ‘something wrong with us’– as though we are cursed with an evil spirit, like people imagined had happened to King Saul. But when we label those with PTSD as having “something wrong with them,” we lack the path to understand what is really going on; which is that the person is broken. 

Thankfully, broken can be worked with, fixed, and improved upon. Brokenness can be healed. But when society sees us instead as having “something wrong with us”/perceiving us as having an evil spirit, that path to healing collapses. We start to believe that we are beyond repair. 

I would encourage anyone like me who struggles with PTSD to remember that there is nothing ‘evil’ or ‘wrong’ about us. We are simply broken people who suffer. But also, we are also people who can be healed. Our brokenness can be repaired.” ~Adam

In the book of Jeremiah, the people of Israel feel that they are beyond all hope. They are broken in body, mind, and soul, because they have been living in exile for generations. But God does not let them stay in that place forever. ‘”But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the LORD.’ ~Jeremiah 30:17

Friends, let us remember that we serve a God of restoration and redemption. There is no brokenness too big for God to heal. 

In Faith,
Pastor Katrina

Happy Thanksgiving, Church! 

Are you wearing your stretchy pants today? I know I am! At my house, the smells of bone broth are wafting from the kitchen, and I’m hankering for another piece of pumpkin pie. Are you eating leftovers today, too? 

Here’s the news for the week: 

Jeff Mitchell to Preach this Sunday, the 26th

I’m grateful to Jeff, who will again be bringing our church a word from the Word this Sunday. 

Moving the All-Church Potluck to Dec. 10th

Betsy Tisdale noted something important the other day. We were scheduled to have our all-church potluck on the same day that Beth-El hosts their annual Food Festival at their synagogue. This is the first time they’ve had their fundraiser since 2019, and it’s an important opportunity for some of us to show up and support their community– especially in light of the fear and the sorrow that they’ve been living with this last month. 

So, we’re going to move our potluck from Dec. 3rd to Dec. 10th in order to allow some of us to go to support Beth-El. I’ll remind us again next week, but don’t bring a dish on the 3rd. We will break bread together on the 10th, instead. 

Beth-El’s Food Festival, Sunday, December 3rd

The Food Festival runs from 11am-3pm and will feature matzoh ball soup, kugel, bagels, falafel, blintzes, potato latkes, baked goods, bread sale, gifts, and a raffle. 

Pledge Time

Our congregation might be small, but we do some amazing things in the life of our church. This life we create, however, costs money. It costs money to pay our custodian and heat our building. It costs money to pay the pastor, keep the lights on, fix the boiler when it breaks, and support our missional activities. 

This coming week you should be receiving your pledge card in the mail for the 2024, and I pray that you will be prayerful about your giving. At the end of October of this year we were $20,000 in the hole, which is neither unusual, or unexpected. (We simply do not have enough money coming in to cover all of the church’s expenses.) Thankfully, we have an endowment that we can pull from to stay afloat, but the less we tap into it the longer it will last. 

Friends, might you be willing to increase your pledge for this coming year? Might you have something extra to contribute for this year, to help make up the balance? 

I know that for many of us, money is tight and we have to balance our own livelihoods with our giving. But also, if we care about our church, its important to give. 

Thanksgiving Day Joy 

Yesterday I attended the Community Supper Thanksgiving meal that our church and Trinity Episcopal put on for people in the community. I’m not much help in the kitchen, so I spent my time visiting with guests who had come to the feast. I sat with a 90 year old man named Jim who recently lost his wife of 70 years, and choked up on tears telling me about how much he misses her. I visited with a man named Jonathan who never married and whose mom passed away 2 years ago. He lives all alone and commented that if it weren’t for this dinner, he would have no Thanksgiving to celebrate. I joked with two college students who weren’t able to go home for Thanksgiving break. They were enjoying pumpkin pie before heading back to their dorms to write papers. And then I met a Bangladeshi family who recently moved here for the husband to go to Clarkson. Their two little children attend HeadStart and pre-K, and they had never had a Thanksgiving dinner before. We laughed together about how different food in the US is from Bangladesh. 

In all of this time, I saw you giving and serving– your time, your food, and your hearts. And it brought me such joy! Thank you for being the sort of church that comes together every month to feed folks who need love and attention. Thank you for being a church of action. This is the way of Christ. 

With gratitude,
Pastor Katrina