Posted by Marvin on June 21, 2010 under Uncategorized
Friends,
This past week the Presbytery of South Louisiana met at its regularly called stated meeting. The attitude of the meeting was warm and pleasant. There was a great deal of information sharing, outstanding worship led by our Commissioned Lay Pastors, the sharing of Holy Communion, commissioning of Triennium Delegates and General Assembly participants, and much, much more. I cannot say enough about how this presbytery has changed over the past year. You all need to pat yourselves on the back over and over again.
MG
Posted by Marvin on June 16, 2010 under Uncategorized
Today I want to be a reminder of the need we all have in the event of a disaster. Should any portion of our presbytery face the need for evacuation we will want to be able to contact you and check up on you. This is especially the case for our pastors and other presbytery leaders.
To that end the Presbytery of South Louisiana has developed a form called “In Case of Emergency”. This form, which we call the iCE form is available on this web site in electronic format. You can fill in this form online and when you click on the submit button it will be emailed to our office.
If you prefer, the form is also available in downloadable format. If you use this form you will need to deliver it to the Presbytery Office, either by FAX, by the USPS, or in pers0n.
If we have this information we can and will contact you or whomever you name as a contact person in the event there is an emergency.
Thanks for your help.
MG
Posted by Marvin on June 8, 2010 under Uncategorized
This week marks the beginning of the storm season [the hurricane season] for the Gulf of Mexico. I am new at this so I don’t know what to expect, but I’ll bet the first hurricane will be memorable.
I have been told that Baton Rouge is far enough inland that the effects of hurricanes are not as great as they are on the shore. I do believe that, but I also believe that they are not storms to which I look forward.
The Presbytery of South Louisiana is busy preparing for what lies ahead. I would encourage each of our congregations to do the same.
MG
Posted by Marvin on June 1, 2010 under Uncategorized
This is a week that is shortened by a holiday. I find myself here in the office today working on a sermon and worship materials since I’ll be preaching at the First Presbyterian Church of Iberia Parish this coming Sunday. I have appreciated the opportunities to preach in the Presbytery of South Louisiana, beginning with the February Presbytery Meeting and continuing to this day.
Since I entered into Governing Body work at the presbytery level I have missed the opportunities to preach on a regular basis. In other presbyteries I have served the Personnel Committees have been hesitant to allow me to preach more than once per month, and in one presbytery even that was too much.
Here in the Presbytery of South Louisiana I have pledged to be available to meet with pastors and congregations in any way possible. For some of you, that has included leading worship, preaching, and leading in the sacrament of Holy Communion. I am grateful to all of you for these opportunities.
On another front, my prayers continue to go out to those who are affected by the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Current events tell us that this is a mixed blessing. The oil spill continues to spew out into waters that protect so very much sea life. That is the down side and we continue to seek ways to end that spill. But the up side is that BP has uncovered a huge cache of oil that was previously unknown to us. Once we have weathered the current disaster – and that may take years – we will eventually come to know the benefits that are there as well. I do believe that we will also have to invent new technology to reach these deep sea deposits of oil.
All in all, the situation needs a great deal of prayer and action.
MG
