A Liberal Church, Welcoming of All, Passionately Committed to Social Justice

 

The Pilgrim - October 18, 2009

Sunday Celebration Notes from Jerry Stinson
Celebrating God’s Love Every Sunday at 10 am.

This Sunday marks the eighteenth annual observance of Children’s Sabbath, a tradition begun by Marian Wright Edelman and the Children’s Defense Fund. We will join hundreds of other churches, synagogues and mosques in focusing our worship on justice for children.

Our liturgy will lift up the needs of children coupled with our pledge to give every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start and a safe start in life. Our hymns will reflect our hope for the future of all children. The Board of Christian Education will present the 2009 Dorothy Baker Award and Lisa Bode-Heard and All Seasons Choir Continued will provide the special music. Lisa Orr will offer this week’s Stewardship Moment.

My sermon will be the first of two looking at the women in the stories in the Torah about the birth of Moses. Today’s will look at women of defiance seeking to give birth to hope.

SERMON: Women of Defiance: Shiprah, Puah and Jochebed –
Giving Birth to Hope through a Love Willing to Let Go
The Rev. Jerry Stinson, preaching
READING: Genesis 1:8-2:10 (selections)
LITURGISTS: Rev. Libby Tigner and Mr. Lloyd Wright

 

Music on Sunday

This Sunday, the choir will sing “In the Year That King Uzziah Died” by Welsh born composer David McK. Williams (1887-1978). This is a setting of Isaiah 6:1-8, which is known as Isaiah’s call to service. We last sang this chestnut of a choral anthem at the installation of the Rev. Jerry Stinson as our new senior minister. The musical style is typical of the early 20th-century church music in America. McK. Williams came to the United States with his parents very soon after he was born. He was reared in Denver, Colorado where, at the age of 13, he became the organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s church. In 1908, he moved to New York, then in 1911 to Paris, France, where he studied organ and composition with d’Indy, Louis Vierne and Charles Marie Widor. Upon his return to New York, he was appointed organist for St. Bartholomew’s Church and conductor of a semi-professional choir, which was apparently very well received by church-goers and concert attendees. He also served as the head of the organ department at Juilliard and was head of the Organ and Choir Ministry program at Union Seminary until the early 1970s when changes in American church music caused a drop in those young musicians who might choose this sort of classical career. I am indebted to Church Music in America, 1620-2000 by John Ogasapian for the information on David McK. Williams. See you in church!

- Dr. Leland, Vail, Minister of Music

 

In Sunday School

Theme: Great Service
Scripture Focus: Mark 10:35-45

 

In Adult Education
Sundays at 8:30 am in the Klar Rooms, upstairs in Pilgrim Hall

We will continue our discussion of “First Light,” a DVD-based series featuring scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan which examines the beginnings of the Jesus movement. Filmed in and around Jerusalem and the Galilee, the course discusses life in first-century Palestine and the social and cultural world into which Jesus was born and on which his teachings made such a deep and lasting impact. Reading materials prepared by John Dominic Crossan, including study questions, and are available for $1. You can pick up your copy on any Sunday morning in class.

 

 

WHAT IF ... You Needed Half a Million Dollars???

Where would you get it? And how would you spend it?

FIRST CHURCH doesn’t have a STIMUL-US package or a CASH FOR CLUNKERS program! However, we do have YOU and many active members dedicated to providing the half million dollars needed to complete the top line of our 2010 budget!

Don’t panic! It is easier than you think!

JOIN THE 100 CLUB.
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS.

WE NEED:

100 GUARDIAN ANGELS pledging $1.00 each week to help support our music programs.

100 SOJOURNERS pledging $10.00 each week to support our Christian education and mMission endeavors.

100 TRUTH SEEKERS pledging $25.00 a week to help support our office and other expenses.

100 PROPHETS pledging $50.00 a week to provide thought-provoking sermons and our peace and social justice projects.

10 ARCHANGELS pledging $100.00 or more a week to ensure that those seeking spiritual inspiration will find it at FIRST CHURCH.

PLEDGE DOLLARS:

$5,200

$52,000

$130,000

$260,000

$52,800

PICK YOUR LEVEL OF PLEDGING AND
JOIN THE FIRST CHURCH 100 CLUB

See how easy it is to balance our budget:                                       $500,000

REMEMBER: When you fill out your pledge card on November 8, your charitable contributions may be tax deductible on your federal and state income tax returns. So the more you pledge the more you will save on your income tax returns!

YOUR PLEDGE CARD WILL BE MAILED TO YOU. Please return it on or before November 8.

The Board of Stewardship and Finance

 

Annual Walk for Hunger This Sunday, October 18
By Dale Whitney, 2009 CROPWalk for Hunger Chair

For the 34th consecutive year, the South Coast Interfaith Council CROPWalk for Hunger will take place on Sunday afternoon, October 18. The event will begin and end at the Los Altos United Methodist Church at Willow and Woodruff, with registration at 12:30 and the walk itself starting at 1:30.

How does it work? Traditionally, individual walkers find sponsors before the event and collect pledges from them after they have completed the walk. These days folks usually give the walkers the money before the walk, since everyone recognizes this as a great cause. And of course there is an online giving option as well – see below.

As in previous years, the walk benefits Church World Service, with 75% of the proceeds, with the remainder going to six local charities, including Centro Shalom and Christian Outreach in Action. Those wishing to walk may sign up after church in the Kilsby Courtyward, even as late as the day of the walk. You can also go online and set up a personal account and sign up your friends and relatives all over the world if you want to. Just log on to www.cropwalkonline.org and follow the simple instructions there.

Those wishing to contribute can do so either by sponsoring a walker or walkers, or by going online to the above website and making a general donation to the walk.

 

New Board Members Needed
By Michele Wilson, Chair, Nominating Committee

Seth Parker stated that "one may not have saved a lot of money in life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich." We got off to an early start with Nominating Committee this year and are thrilled with the response from the congregation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 61.8 million Americans took the time to volunteer one or more times between September of 2007 and September of 2008. Even with those of you who have volunteered, we still have some large holes to fill. As of the date of this article, we still need many new board members to take us into a critical year. For 2010, the Board of Outreach only has seven members, the Board of Stewardship and Finance only has five members, the Personnel Committee only has three members and the By-Laws Committee has three members. David Thomas is quoted as stating that "unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls." As many of you know, we have reduced the hours of some of our staff positions; as a result, as congregants we are needed more than ever. This is the time to engage and get involved in one of the boards of our church.

The Board of Membership Development's responsibilities have been folded into the responsibilities of the Diaconate Board. Therefore, there is an opportunity for the members of the Board of Membership Development to serve in other areas.

The next Nominating Committee is scheduled for Sunday, October 25 at 11:15 a.m. The location of the meeting will be in the church bulletin that day. Feel free to contact me at mwilsonlawoffice@yahoo.com.

 

Who's in Your Pew? (Or Not?)
By Libby Tigner

We’re well into our fall season of programming, and it’s great to see folks finding their way back to church after their summer breaks. But it does take some people a little longer to get back into the swing of church life, and it could be that a call from a “pew partner” is just the nudge they need.

How can you help? Each Sunday you are in church, be sure to look around. Is there someone missing from your pew, or nearby? Give that person a call! Keep it simple – just say, “Hi, I haven’t seen you in church and I just want you to know that you are missed and I hope to see you soon!”

If we want to be a church family, we need to act like a church family, and that means letting people know that we care about them. So, go pick up the phone!

 

New Member
By Jerry Stinson

WAYNE HESTER was born in Portland, Oregon and grew up in Seattle. His father was a meteorologist for the weather bureau and his mother was a teacher and homemaker. Wayne attended Westmont College on a music scholarship and then received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and a master’s degree from UCLA. He taught history at Inglewood High School for thirty-three years.

Wayne and his partner Del were together for 23 years before Del’s death from AIDS in 1994. Wayne now lives in a little beach cottage in Manhattan Beach which he purchased in 1968.
Wayne grew up in a religious home; his father was a Quaker and his mother a Methodist. For several years, Wayne was very active in the Hollywood Presbyterian Church, but when the title of a Sunday sermon was “The Sin of Homosexuality,” he knew that he couldn’t remain in that church. Wayne first found our congregation when a neighbor asked him to come here with her. That was about ten years ago, and he has been attending regularly for the last three years.

A pianist, Wayne loves music and our music program is very important to him. He really appreciates the choir and the organ. He has season tickets to the LA Philharmonic, the LA Opera and the South Bay Civic Light Opera. He also loves all things outdoors. He likes to walk at the ocean and he has a cabin in Idyllwild where he loves to hike.here

 

Blankets for the Homeless - $10 each
By Brad Lara-Gagne

For the past three years the Drop-In Center has provided blankets to the homeless in our community. They are twin-sized, 70% wool, 30% synthetic blankets of high quality. The Friendship Blankets heat stamp makes the blankets identifiable so that when they are lost or confiscated they may be retrieved, cleaned and recycled. Our goal this year is to purchase 300 blankets.

To contribute, you can find us in the courtyard after church, put checks in the Drop-In Center box upstairs near the offices or mail them to the church. Checks should be made out to UCO Drop-In Center with "blankets" on the memo line. Or check out our website and pay with Paypal – make sure to note it’s for blankets: www.urbancommunityoutreach.org.

Make sure to provide us with your name and address so we may thank you. You can also give these in someone else’s name if you like! Please contact Brad Lara-Gagne at bradg63@aol.com with any questions.

 

Local Peace Events

WHAT: The Afghan Women's Mission and Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock present "Resisting the US Occupation of Afghanistan," featuring Zoya, a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), acclaimed activist, writer and analyst Tom Hayden, and Afghan war veteran Rick Reyes.
WHEN: Wednesday, October 21, 7-9 pm
WHERE: Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles CA
FOR MORE INFO: Call 626-676-7884 or visit www.afghanwomensmission.org.

WHAT: Code Pink presents "Resisting the US Occupation of Afghanistan," featuring Zoya, a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), Afghan war veteran Rick Reyes and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans.
WHEN: Thursday, October 22, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
WHERE: Venice United Methodist Church, Peace Hall,1020 Victoria Avenue, Venice, CA
FOR MORE INFO: Contact whitneycodepink@gmail.com, or call 310-827-4320, or
visit the Code Pink website.

 

South Coast Interfaith Council 31st Annual Interfaith Benefits Concert - November 1

The 31st Annual Interfaith Benefit Concert will be held on Sunday, November 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. at California Heights United Methodist Church located at 3759 Orange Avenue in Long Beach. Musical choirs and a variety of artists will delight the audience, playing a range of music inspired by their diverse faith traditions.

Confirmed performers include:
• Faith Rivera
• Karrie Hillery
• International Peace Choir
• California Heights United Methodist Church Choir
• MTO Sufi Association & Drums Group
• Aloha Friday
• Diamond Chorus (SGI)
• Affinity (Center for Spiritual Living of Redondo Beach)

Members of the interfaith community will also be honored during this concert for their excellence in addressing matters of social concern. This year's honorees include:

• Carl Farrington, former chair of the SCIC Social Concerns Committee & former SCIC Vice President
• Amelia Nieto and Centro Shalom
• CLUE - LA (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice)
• Pacific Unitarian Church, Rancho Palos Verdes

This concert is free to the public and all are welcome to attend! There will be a freewill offering. We hope you will join us for this truly interfaith concert! To find out more information please email the SCIC at scic@charterinternet.com.

 

SCIC Sixth Annual Interfaith Unity Awards Dinner & Silent Auction -
November 15

The Sixth Annual SCIC Interfaith Unity Awards Dinner & Silent Auction will be held on Sunday, November 15 at the Center for Spiritual Living in Redondo Beach from 5 to 7 p.m. This awards dinner will be an opportunity for members of our interfaith community to gather and celebrate the diversity existent right here amongst us! This will also be a time to honor four of our friends who have demonstrated excellence in cultivating effective interfaith relations and unity. They are:

• John Ishvaradas Abdallah, South Bay Sufi
• Rabbi Howard Laibson, Congregation Shir Chadash
• Steve Gilliland, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Gretchen Krutz, Baha'i Community of Long Beach

We hope that you will join us for dinner and meet people of diverse backgrounds and faiths in a pleasant yet informative setting, and in doing so, not only establish new dialogue, but also celebrate diversity and honor the accomplishments of these great individuals!

To make reservations for dinner, please send a check for $60 per person to SCIC, 759 Linden Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90813. If you have questions, please email the SCIC at scic@charterinternet.com or call us at 562-983-1665.

 

 

In Memoriam

First Church member John Baney died on Monday, October 12. Arrangements for the memorial service are pending.

 

Parish Concerns

Your thoughts and prayers are requested for Kenia Casarreal and Lowell Johnson.

In the armed forces: Daniele Ware (Karen Miller’s granddaughter, stationed in Iraq).

Names on the Parish Concerns list appear in two consecutive editions of the newsletter. Those in the armed forces serving in combat zones are listed until they come home. To put someone on either list, put a note on the Parish Concerns board on the Third Street landing or contact Ruth Warkentin.

 

Becoming a Member of First Church

Whether you have been attending for a few weeks, a few months or several years, we would like you to consider becoming a member of First Church. When you are ready to take that step, please call or email Rev. Jerry Stinson at 562-436-2256, ext 230 or revjstinson@verizon.net.

 

Online Calendar

Don’t miss out! Check the online church calendar at www.firstchurchlb.org/calendar.html for details about all church events. You can use the online calendar to email invitations to friends to church events and to set up emailed reminders to yourself. Just click on any event to see information about it.

 

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