Monday – tonight

• The Missions team will not meet tonight as previously announced. 
• Church Council meets at 6:45 pm in meeting room 1.  All who head teams and committees of the church are expected to attend.  Anyone involved and interested in the life of this congregation is welcome to attend.

Tuesday

• Active Listeners meet in the church library at 10:00 am.  New “listeners” are welcome!
• The Edith Allen circle of the UMW meets at Jan Hatt’s home at 11:30 .m. for lunch and visiting.  Please let Jan know if you plan to attend.

Wednesday

• Choir practice begins at 6:30 pm. in the sanctuary.  New voices are always welcome!

Saturday

• Grounds work at the church begins at 9:00 am.  The Trustees are scheduling these work days each month.  All who are involved in the life of this church are encouraged to come and help.  It is hoped that work will be finished by about noon.  If a lot of people show up, they could finish sooner –  OR get more projects finished!

What a wonderful Sunday we had yesterday!  First, we had a great worship service in the morning.  Jerry’s message was timely and important as we observed our 7^th anniversary as a Reconciling Congregation.  The choir had a wonderful anthem for the occasion and it’s always special to get to sing “The Reconciliation Song”. 

Many of us were here to listen to Ron Rassmusen tell about his efforts to have the U.S. military “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy repealed.  He is a wonderful speaker and brought us a great message.  Thanks to Ron and thanks to our own Robert and Gary for bringing him to speak to us.  If you missed the discussion yesterday and would like to show your support to this issue you can contact your government representatives and let them know you want them to support the following bills:  In the House of Representatives, HR-1283 and in the Senate, S-3065.  For more information on these issues on the internet, check out  VfHR.org  (Veterans for Human Rights)

What a good time we had Friday evening at the church auction!  The dinner was delicious and the company was beyond compare.  All that, and we raised a lot of money that will go a long ways to help our general fund.  About $2800 came in from the auction plus what the Mission team was given for the dinner.  It was a fun evening and profitable too!  I’m already hearing that we should do this again next year!

Pastor Jerry

• Worship committee meets at the church 6:00 p.m.
• S.P.R.C. meets at the church 7:00 p .m.

Tuesday

• Active Listeners meet at the church 10:00 a.m.
• Bazaar set up begins in the fellowship hall 10:00 a.m.
• Quilt & Sew (bring your project & join us!) 1:00 p.m.
•  First Light study at Christensen’s 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday

• First Light study at the church 10:00 a.m.
• Bazaar set up continues in fellowship hall 10:00 a.m.
•  Choir practice (starting work of Christmas music) 6:30 p.m.

Thursday

• UMW meeting 10:30 a.m.
• Trustees meeting 7:00 p.m.

Friday

•  Bazaar set up 10:00 a.m.

Saturday

•  Bazaar 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

“Our Passion for Justice” is coming up soon, November 14th. Ann Ford will have the sign up sheet next Sunday. It will be a wonderful day devoted to learning about the effects of poverty on Children. Our Bishop Hagiya will be here in our very own church! Cost of the event is $12.00 per person and includes lunch. I know you are hearing a lot about this, but it is really going to be a special event and I hope you will all plan to attend. If registration cost is a problem for you, speak to Pastor Jerry.

As most of you will already know, Pastor Jerry is on the sick list. He has been hit hard by the flu bug and is resting at home. I hear he hopes to be ready to lead the Wednesday morning study. Please pray for Jerry to return to good health and for his family to stay well.

More thanks to Ann Ford for being willing and able to step in at the last moment and lead the service and deliver a beautiful sermon on such short notice. 

A very special prayer request was shared in worship yesterday and has gone out on our prayer chain. One of our church families has asked me to share this email. It says so much about the power of prayer! Here are their words: Please put Chris on our prayer request email. Our prayers have been answered and Chris is in a rehab clinic in. He hit bottom and asked for help. He will be there 90 days. Chris needs mentors from our gay community. If people could write notes of encouragement and such it would be wonderful. We plan to visit Chris tomorrow after church, he can have visitors from 1-5 on Sundays. He would love notes from all our members but especially our gay members.  I know the prayers people in our church prayed when Cindy talked at our church two weeks ago helped make this all happen! God is so good! Love Janie I know it is very important that Chris hears from people in the gay community of our church, but I think he should know that all of us value him as a beloved child of God. He needs to know that we all are happy he is getting help, so please consider sending a note or card.  Sharon has his address in the church office.

It was another full and inspiring day in Wenatchee.  I want to share a story that was shared with us today.  It’s about a change in culture that the church in general hasn’t adapted to very well.

It’s 1959, you’re a high school football player and your team just won a game on Friday night.  Next Friday is the championship game and your coach says in the locker room, “If we only had time for one more practice.”  If you suggested to the coach that you could practice on Sunday morning he would have absolutely refused to do it.  The cultural norm was that you were to be in church on Sunday morning (whether you actually went or not).  Jump ahead to today where soccer and volleyball and swimming and tennis and softball and many other sports and activities are scheduled over weekends and suggest to your coach that you’re going to church and can’t make that Sunday morning activity.  Your coach would most likely inform you that you’re no longer a part of the team.

It used to be that ‘culture’ was pushing people through the doors of the church.  Today ‘culture’ is like a giant vacuum sucking people out the doors of the church.  The church can’t grow or even survive if we stick to the passive idea that “They’ll come to us.”  We live in a world where we need to “go to them.”  What does this look like?  That’s the key to the future of the church.  It can and will look like many things but one thing is for sure, it will be a change.

Shalom,

Jerry

I’m in Wenatchee at a Conference-wide clergy gathering.  Our keynote speaker is Bishop Robert Schnase talking about his book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.  Our opening lecture described these five practices:  Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission & Service, and Extravagant Generosity.  He stated that for a church to thrive it must excel in all five of these areas.  My favorite statement of his so far was, “If next year was 1959, the church is ready for it.”  Most Methodist Churches still pattern their worship, educational programs, and outreach ministries on a 1959 model. 

Radical hospitality in 2009 means that every aspect of the church should be welcoming.  Have you ever considered paint color a hospitality issue?  How about the appearance of plants or are the windows washed?  We all laughed when he told the story of driving up to a church he’d never been to before.  They had a playground there that was overgrown with weeds, the paint was chipping off and there was a lock on the gate.  This is like a giant billboard to every family with children DON’T COME HERE!!! 

I’m happy that we’ve been working on making our church a hospitable place and I know we won’t quit until we’re ready for next year to be 2010!

 Shalom,

 Jerry

Monday

• Mission Team meets at the church at 6:00 pm
• Church Council meets at the church at 7:00 pm. This is an important meeting as the 2010 budget will be discussed, along with other business. As always, the elected officers are expected to attend and everyone involved in the church life is welcomed to attend.

Tuesday

• Active Listeners group meets at the church at 10:00 am
• Edith Allen Circle meets at 11:30 am at the Carousel restaurant (formerly Henri’s at 4545 Ocean Beach Hwy.
• The Quilt and Sew group meets at the church at 1:00 pm. All are welcomed.
• “First Light” study will meet at the Christensen’s home at 7:00 pm.

Wednesday

• “First Light” study meets at the church at  10:00 am.
• Choir practice meets at the church at 6:30 pm.

Thursday

• Bazaar planning meeting at the church at  10:30 am.
• “Our Passion for Justice” planning meeting at the church at 7:00 pm.

If you have not heard, Florence Covel passed away late Saturday night.  Please keep her family in your prayers as they make her final arrangements.

Pastor Jerry is away through Wednesday.  He is attending an annual meeting of all Conference clergy with the Bishop.

Monday

• Worship team meets at thr church at 6:00 pm
• SPRC meets at the church at 7:00 pm

Tuesday

• Active Listeners meets at the church at 10:00 am
• Quilt and Sew meets at the church at 1:00 pm

Friday and Saturday

• The UMW rummage sale will be in the fellowship hall.  Friday the hours are 9:oo am to 4:00 pm and Saturday the hours are 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

Next Sunday

• The campfire service will be at 5:30 pm

Pastor Jerry continues his vacation this week but will be with us next Sunday.

I hope that you are all staying safe and warm on this fourth Sunday of Advent. As we were unable to gather in church today, I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

Love – the “theme” for today’s worship.

Do you remember the story of Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father? After being told by an angel that he would have a son, which he didn’t believe because he and his wife were getting along in years, he was unable to speak until John was born. On the day of John’s naming his tongue was loosened and he prophesied that his son, John, would bring many of the people of Israel back to God through prayer and repentance. John would be the one to “prepare the way” for the Messiah. Zechariah’s son, John, dedicated his life to God and to the love that God has for all people. He demonstrated the dual nature of love: it is dynamic and it is relational.

God loves us, each and every one of us. But how can this love be realized and shared if we have turned from God and gone our own way? Repentance, John’s message, literally means “turn around.” John invited people to turn toward God and in so doing open themselves to what God was doing. And what was God doing at the time? Oh, yea, something about the “Son of God,” the “Messiah.” John’s love was dynamic in that he was DOING something, he was inviting people to seek God. His love was relational in that it was focused on the relationship (or lack thereof) of people with God.

We can look at God to see the same two nature’s of love. God actively reaches out to us in this story by sending John the Baptist and Jesus into the world so that we can establish or renew our relationship with God and each other. Jesus displayed these same characteristics, and so should we. When we examine how we experience Christmas we see these same characteristics displayed. Isn’t the quest for the perfect gift an active way to show the intended recipient that we care about them and doesn’t this strengthen the relational bonds we share?

Christmas is about love. It originated with God’s love for us (“for God so loved the world . . .”), was celebrated in the event of Jesus birth, and has been shared by all who celebrate this birth from that time to today. May your Christmas celebrations bring love and renewed relationships to you as you share your love with others.

Shalom,

Jerry

This article provides a rational argument for Biblical support of same sex unions.

Shalom,  Jerry

Gay Rights Are

Human Rights

Wednesday, December 10, 2008, is the 60th Anniversary of International Human Rights Day.  I want to encourage you to prayerfully consider the issues of human rights and how they impact each of us as world citizens. 

Listed below are several links that I’ve found to be meaningful as I contemplate the importance of this day.

 
United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Day Without A Gay

Why Should We Care?

Shalom,

Jerry