The mission of DHPC includes celebrating God’s work in the world.  Today we celebrate the ways in which God has been at work in preparing member Jessica Chancey as she explores a potential call to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. At the Presbytery meeting on February 11, 2012, Jess moved into the candidacy phase of preparation (after serving as an “inquirer” for more than a year).   

Jess first came to DHPC as a soprano soloist, and we have enjoyed her considerable musical talents.  Thereafter Jess became a member of DHPC, came under the care of our session to explore the possibility of ministry, and is now in her second year as a student at Columbia Theological Seminary.  Last summer Jess served as a pastoral intern in a Presbyterian church in Fairhope, Alabama.  This coming summer Jess will pursue Clinical Pastoral Education as a chaplain at St. Joseph’s Hospital here in Atlanta. 

We celebrate all these milestones with Jess.  Please continue to hold Jess in your prayers that she might continue to attend to God’s leading in her life.       

We also celebrate the faithful service of member Paula Thweatt as Jess’s liaison.  Paula has provided important support and guidance to Jess through prayer and conversation during this journey of exploration and preparation. 

by Jane Fahey

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.“

We hear these sobering words each Ash Wednesday. It is sobering to hear them as a cross of ash is smudged on our foreheads. And it is sobering as a pastor to say them. They name the mortality we all share. They are even more poignant reminders of that reality when you must look into the eyes of someone struggling with a terminal disease and say, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

I recall the comfort I tried to render decades ago to a friend who had been diagnosed with AIDS. He quipped in reply, “We’re all dying--some of us just more quickly than others.”

from Eric Dusenbury

For close to 30 years Druid Hills Presbyterian Church has operated a men’s night shelter out of McIver Hall. In 2010 the church created the Shelter Transition Task Force to discern whether the shelter was fulfilling its mission and, if not, what should be done to better meet the needs of homeless men in our community. The task force completed its work in 2011 when the shelter was set up as a separate non-profit with its own board and a paid full-time executive director; BreNita McCord.

As BreNita evaluated the organization she came to the conclusion that the name of the organization should change. The name Druid Hills Night Shelter tied the organization to a particular church and also expressed a limit to the type of services that are offered. She proposed and the board agreed on the name Journey.

Intown Food Pantry is a ministry DHPC supports through food contributions and with volunteers. The following story is from Gene Lewis, the Pantry Leader.

A few Saturday’s ago, after pantry time was over …….  

I was preparing to leave, along with two volunteers from one of our sponsoring congregations,  when there was knock on the window.   It was one of our pantry regulars who explained that they were completely out of food.   They asked if I would  provide food even though the pantry was then closed.   We agreed  to provide food.

During the interview our guest explained that they had difficulty sleeping because they were sleeping on a thick pad in an apartment that had no other furnishings.