Sunrise Service Report

You should check by the church before heading to Rittenhouse Square for the Sunrise Service. If temperatures are near freezing (below 40 degrees), we will move inside. The Westminster Brass is unable to play their instruments when the temperature is that low. A decision will be made by 7:00 am. The service begins at 7:30. Paul Tripp will preach.

Job Hunt

I am looking for a part time position in accounting or editing/proofreading. Please contact Jonathan Beasley at 610-284-7934 or Beasley301@comcast.net.

Welcome, Joanna!

Michael and Jassamine Harris are pleased to announce that Joanna Suzanne Harris was born at 2:20 this afternoon, weighing 7 lbs., 4 oz.

Back Home Again

Cora is back in the states! She arrived last night. Look for her Easter Sunday.

With the Lord

Dr Mariano DiGangi, former senior minister of Tenth (1961-67), died today. There will be a memorial service this Saturday in Ottawa at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, 971 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, ON K2A 3G9 at 2 pm. There will also be another memorial service in Toronto later this spring.

Click here for a tribute to him.

Bible Concordance Sought

A man in the addiction recovery program at the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission is looking for a Bible concordance (preferrably Strongs Complete Word Study Concordance: Expanded Edition), but any good concordance would do. He is very interested in growing in God's word and is really soaking up things. This would be a great blessing to him.

If you have one that you would like to donate, please contact Laura McMillen at 215-922-6400 ext. 104

Report from Liberia

We have a report from Bruce McDowell in Liberia:

Our team is doing fine here in Monrovia. We have been getting a lot done and have enjoyed meeting people. Everyone is very welcoming and friendly.

The night before the three others on the team arrived ahead of me Mother Victoria Thomas' home burned down when a neighbor's house caught on fire during the night. A 7 month pregnant woman and her two young children burned to death in the fire. Her husband had been away on a trip. Victoria's house was around the corner from the orphanage home. Nothing is left of it.

When I came to the Kingsville orphanage I found that one of the boys had an accident last Wednesday where he was chasing another boy who closed the door on him and he smashed into it and hit his eye. His eye is very swollen up and has gone blind. This morning he is going to an eye clinic with Mother Victoria Thomas.

Yesterday I worked on repairing broken bunk beds while David and Jonathan worked on building the roof trusses for the orphanage school building. Elaine taught girls cross-stitching. We are hoping that two school rooms can be completed with this project.

Since I missed going to Rafiki last Saturday when the other three did, we will go there on Friday morning again. Saturday we are having a conference at Rock Spring Presbyterian Church for about 130 people expected. Last Sunday David Kent preached and Jonathan taught Sunday school. It was David's first time to preach. I heard it went very well. Pray for the conference Saturday, and for Sunday, as we will have about 20 or more baptisms, and communion after I preach.

We are also enjoying our Bible study together in the mornings as a team going through "On Mission with God", looking at the life of David.

Coming Home

Cora Hogue should be returning tomorrow night to Philadelphia. She leaves Seoul, Korea on March 19 at 5:25 pm and arrives in Atlanta on March 19 at 6:05 pm. Wow! a thirty minute plane flight! But then, it is a two hour flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia. Go figure.

Of Liberia

Susan Acerbo sent this in to me:

Because we support an orphanage in Liberia, I wanted to let you know that,tonight "Independent Lens" will focus on the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, in "Iron Ladies of Liberia."

Tuesday March 18, 10pm
WHYY Channel 12

Yet another ovation!

The Public Relations Student Society of America's spring assembly is now underway in San Diego. On Friday morning, PRSSA awarded their 40th anniversary scholarship to (drumroll, please)...Rebecca Timms. She was as surprised as anyone when the award was announced, and she received a standing ovation from those assembled.

Congratulations, Rebecca!

Less Than the Least

Tenth elder David Skeel, whose day job is being a law professor, has teamed up with yet another law professor to host a blogsite about anything that comes to their minds, which may or may not have to do with law. Yesterday, David spoke of his vision of heaven. Check out the site.

Observing St. Patrick's Day

For my birthday present (3/6), Sarah got tickets to hear the Irish band, Solas, tonight (St. Patrick's Day) at the World Cafe Live. I am wearing a green sweater and tie to properly observe the day.

Easter Singing

Hymns for all three services on Easter:

Sunrise:
277 - Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
266 - Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain

9&11:
286 - Worship Christ, the Risen King!
278 - That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright
277 - Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Evening:
270 - Good Christian Men, Rejoice
276 - Up from the Grave He Arose
273 - Jesus Christ Is Ris'n Today
523 - My Hope Is in the Lord
Hallelujah Chorus

Tenth's Air Force

Hi Marion,

I wanted to send you this picture of today's event so you can post it on your blog site. We had a nice turnout (73 people) and lots of fun. Paul Jones' talk was great and his casting skills are impressive. Breakfast was a feast, and Jim Baggs did a great job with that. We all had fun!

George Strohlein

Terminal Mind

We have a new Tenth member author - David Walton. David sent this in to me:

My first science fiction novel, called Terminal Mind, is coming out next month (it's actually available on Amazon right now). The story is actually set in a future Philadelphia (it includes a map of how Philadelphia has changed) and deals with questions of how new technologies affect people and cultures. It would probably be enjoyed by Tenth members who are interested in this genre of fiction. There's a lot more about it on my website.

From the Publisher:
Years in the future, the U.S. is a splintered country. The city-state of Philadelphia is ripe for revolution. Mark McGovern, the son of a rich politician, lives in a world of expensive parties and frivolous biological mods, a sharp contrast to the poor underworld of his best friend, Darin Kinsley. When the two accidentally release a sophisticated virus called a 'slicer' into the net, Mark must try to stem the tide of casualties before the charged political situation explodes. But the slicer is more than a virus. To destroy it, Mark must first sort truth from lies, not only for himself, but for the mind of the child who holds his fate.

What other people are saying:
"David Walton's Terminal Mind is a fast-paced thriller that slices across the landscape of a darkly imagined future."~Judson Roberts, author of The Strongbow Saga

"Terminal Mind is a fast-paced SF-thriller with a very human heart. Walton creates a believable world, full of high-tech innovations that excite the imagination, but what hooked me were the characters: a varied cast of fully-fleshed individuals, conflicted and engaging. I didn't want to put it down."~Elaine Isaak, author of The Eunuch's Heir

"If you like distinctive character voices, cool science fiction gizmos, and a dozen plot threads that weave together into a dazzling whole, you need to read Terminal Mind."~Mike Shultz, frequent contributor to F&SF

"...a gritty, fast-paced, page-turning read"~Ian Creasey, frequent contributor to Asimov's

Prayer Request

Dr. Mariano DiGangi was Senior Minister of Tenth in the 1960's between the terms of Barnhouse and Boice. He recently has been placed in palliatave care. He is 83 years old. The family sent this prayer request:

The family of Dr. Mariano DiGangi, retired minister of The Presbyterian Church in Canada and long-time labourer in prayer and in preaching for the renewal and advance of Christ's Church, request us to join in prayer for the peace of the Lord to be graciously multiplied to him as the time of his pilgrimage among us draws to a close and he is drawn into the nearer presence of the Lord of glory. Dr. DiGangi is in capable and loving care at the retirement residence where he has
resided for the past few years. Let us especially uphold him and his wife Ninette and their family at this time, entreating for all of them God's mercy, grace, and peace.

The congregation he's attending in Ottawa, St Paul's Presbyterian, is pastored by his son-in-law, Jack Archibald. There's a fitting tribute to him in their December 2007 newsletter.

Early Easter

You may have noticed that Easter comes early this year. In fact, this is earliest Easter Sunday for the next 152 years.

For Western churches (Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations) Easter is the first Sunday after the first calculated full moon following the Spring Equinox. Easter can occur anytime between 22 March and 25 April, a total of 35 days - 28 days for the lunar cycle plus 7 days in a week.

The current method for determining Easter was established by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. For purposes of calculating Easter, the Spring Equinox is fixed as 21 March. The 'full moon' is determined by prescribed calculations rather than actual astronomical observation. The calculated 'full moon' can vary from the actual full moon by as much two days.

Eastern Orthodox churches follow a different set of calculations based upon the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar. Meanwhile, Passover is based upon the Jewish lunar calendar. Occasionally, Eastern Orthodox Easter and Passover will coincide with the same weekend as Easter but, generally they do not.

Easter was last celebrated on the earliest date 22 March back in 1818; this will not occur again until 2285. Easter won't be celebrated again on 23 March until 2160. The cycle for Easter dates repeats every 5.7 million years, with 19 April being the most common date.

For more information, go to the Wikipedia and US Naval Observatory websites. Click here to view the rather involved formulas used to calculate Easter.

Prayer Request

Please pray for Kathy Kunkle and family as they mourn the death of her father last Sunday evening.

Our Place in the Universe

You are invited to attend a Veritas Forum this Thursday, March 20 at Haverford College. Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will be speaking about the role of faith in science. The event begins at 7pm in Stokes Auditorium. For directions and parking information click here.

About the forum: A Marvelous Universe, and Our Place In It
In the last few decades, we have learned more about the universe than humanity has known in all other centuries combined. How have these discoveries affected our view of ourselves? Our human significance, or insignificance, in the universe? The possibility of an omnipotent yet personal God? Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will present some of the most fascinating recent discoveries in astronomy: planets around other stars, new stars information, the most powerful explosions in the universe, remnant light from the Big Bang, evidence from billions of years past that the expansion of our universe is accelerating, and theories that our universe may be one of many. We will then explore how these discoveries may shape our view of human existence, and the place of faith.

Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is an astronomer, author, and speaker. She has studied star-forming regions of our galaxy using radio, optical, and infrared telescopes, and currently serves as Chief of the Laboratory forExoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She studied physics at MIT for her bachelor's degree, discovering comet Wiseman-Skiff in 1987. She then earned a Ph.D. in astronomy at HarvardUniversity in 1995. In addition to research, Dr. Wiseman is also interested in public science policy. She was selected as the 2001-2002 Congressional Science Fellow of the American Physical Society, and served on the staff of the Science Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. She then served from 2003-2006 as the Program Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Dr. Wiseman has also authored several essays addressing the relationship of astronomy and Christian faith.