First Presbyterian Church at the heart of Anaheim

A prayer and cartoon to begin the new year. BY KATYANDTHEWORD Irresolute: A Prayer for the New Year God, I’m praying here because I sense this is not the year for resolutions.... Self-improvement does not feel adequate for all that is going onand it certainly isn’t appropriate when survival has been the first and primary goal. God, I am trying to practice being thankful for my body. Because thought the ups and the downs my body has gotten me through the year. And am working to process and absorb the trauma that has hammered down. I’m trying to practice gentleness, with the flesh that envelopes me. Did Christ look at his body and struggle with gentleness and thanksgiving? God, you know I have other things to absorb too. The lessons of economies and ongoing structures of neglect and violence. The rawness of the human condition has been made plain, which is why an individual resolution won’t do this year. A prayer is more fitting God, because resolutions are about certainty, and prayer is about all the places I’m floundering and trying to figure out. After all God, it’s been the year of flexibility and pivotry and other bendy things. So here I am God, praying for the New Year, for the new things. On the things that are unresolved, the things we are working on, the things that are not just about me and now but are more communal and complex in nature. So, God, help me as I’m irresolute this year. Help me to be okay with it. Or, maybe not. Not everything is ok. So here’s to an irresolute yearof community and mutual aid and epiphanies and a way to be present. Let me be as present as I safely can. And let it not be not a resolution or a goal, but rather a way to strive for I pray. Amen.

Check out this week's E-blast https://conta.cc/2KKY2F9

The first meeting of First Presbyterian Church on March 6, 1870. While we don't know the exact location of the service, we can guess that it took place in a parlor similar to this one. The service that morning saw a congregation of nine people. This is the story of some of them. Patrick Campbell and Ann K. McKinnie Patrick McKinnie wrote the letter that led to the founding of First Presbyterian Church. Having been previously ordained as an elder he was one of the two first ...elders of the church. He was a contractor and built the first building of the church, as well as the first building of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. His wife, Ann, was from Scotland and taught music. John Youell and Virginia C. Anderson John Anderson joined the 14th Virginia Cavalry as a corporal during the Civil War, and left as a Junior Second Lieutenant, having served under Stonewall Jackson. He was one of four men in Company H to survive the Battle of Petersburg. Like many southern soldiers, he moved to California after the war, settling in Anaheim, then moving to Westminster where he purchased the first lot in the town and built the first house. The Andersons joined First Presbyterian Church of Westminster and were the only charter members of the Anaheim and Westminster churches. Alexander and Susan Gardiner Alexander Gardiner was born in Scotland in 1838 and became a machinist when he was twelve. His family emigrated to America in 1855, settling in Tennessee where he me Susan Reeder and they were married in 1864. In 1869 the Gardiners boarded a Union Pacific train and settled in Anaheim. They grew walnuts on a 160 acre ranch northeast of the city, where they lived out their lives and bore seven children. #tbt #stillshining150

In honor of November being gratitude month, here is Carrie Newcomer reading her poem "Three Gratitudes." (Today you might consider including our veterans among your 3 things) https://youtu.be/VID1hARDtmg #wednesdaywisdom #veteransday2020 #3gratitudesdaily

Check out this week’s E-blast! https://conta.cc/36qwrQe

Monday November 9 Pause and Pray

With the weather turning colder here is a #mirthfulmonday that has nothing to do with pandemics or elections.

Come worship with us!

Picture is from Nolan's adoption by Topher and Rick, but look at them now! [featured in a video by their adoption agency] Hope this brings a smile to your face on the #feelgoodfriday. http://raiseachild.org/

Session meetings are always all business, but sometimes a little humor unintentionally finds its way in. Here is Part I of some examples, direct from the Minutes of the Session: February 1, 1955 It was moved. . .that the Clerk be instructed to write a letter to the Cub Scout organization reminding them that no smoking is allowed in the church buildings. (Attitudes towards smoking have changed in the last 60+ years, but the thought of a bunch of eight to ten-year-old boys sm...oking in church is outrageous.) March 17, 1967 Elder Gardner stated that several of the Session members had mentioned to him that smoking in the Session meeting was objectionable to them and suggested that smoking be limited to the break period only. (I guess some of the Cub Scouts grew up to be elders.) February 17, 1976 VOTED that there be an adult in charge of the baby nursery at all times, when in use. (First the Cub Scouts are smoking, now the babies are on their own. . .Does Child Protective Services know about First Presbyterian?) June 18, 1985 . . .erect "no parking of unauthorized cars" signs. The California Vehicle Code No. 22658, requires signs in the parking lot before the removal of abandoned cars. (If you're going to abandon your car, please don't do it at church. Unless it's a nice car, then hand me the pink slip and the keys first.) July 16, 1986 Founders Day luncheon will be held Sunday, October 26. . .Someone will be asked to give a brief, not more than 10 minute history of the church. (Let's see, 1986, the church was 116 years old. Ten minutes times 60 seconds a minute is 600 seconds, divided by 116 years. . .that's 5.17 seconds a year. The first month might be covered in ten minutes. Or how about "We started in a bar. Nothing’s changed. The end. Amen.") #tbt, #stillshining150, #elderssaythedarnestthings