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

The Pilgrim - February 21, 2010

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

On this first Sunday of Lent, we will celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Our children will receive their One Great Hour of Sharing calendars – and adults can get one too. Una Voce will be singing and Libby and I will talk with the first of this year’s five confirmation students – Shelby Johnson.

This Sunday churches around the world will be participating in a Freedom Sunday sponsored by the “Not For Sale” Campaign. From India to Australia, Myanmar to San Francisco, Costa Rica to New York, churches around the globe will collectively ring the Freedom bell to call for an end to human trafficking and declare that no one should ever be for sale.

In my sermon I will talk about the huge problem of modern slavery and what we can do to help bring it to an end. I will also talk about John Newton’s amazing journey from a slave trader to an ordained Anglican minister who wrote the famous hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

SERMON: Amazing Grace and Moral Outrage
The Rev. Jerry Stinson, preaching
LITURGIST: The Rev. Libby Tigner
On February 28, Rev. Jerry Leggett will offer a sermon in song about peace.

 

Music on Sunday

We are now in the season of Lent, the forty days of meditation and preparation for Passion Week, then Easter. The anthem that the Sanctuary Choir will sing is “O All You Who Pass By” (O Vos Omnes) composed by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611). This is a setting of Lamentations of Jeremiah (1:12) and is translated from the original Latin into practical English by the Rev. Eugene Lindusky O.S.C. This is one of a number of Renaissance motets edited by the Saint Joseph’s Summer School of Liturgical Music at Saint Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, Indiana in 1964. These English translations paid careful attention to the textual underlay of the melodic lines so as to avoid unwanted accents in the linear motion of the line. These were done in direct response to the directives of Vatican II which allowed the mass to be conducted in the vernacular instead of Latin.
In this text you will see how the season of Lent incorporates scripture of the Hebrew tradition and parallels this with the life of Jesus. “O all you who pass by, all who pass along the way, attend and see, and behold me; See if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.” Jeremiah is not speaking of Jesus, but one can visualize passing the cross on the day of his execution.

- Dr. Leland, Vail, Minister of Music

 

In Sunday School

Theme: Wilderness Companions
Scripture Focus: Luke 4:1-13

 

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

For the last two Sundays in February we will continue our exploration of “Eight Points of Progressive Christianity.” Using a study guide from The Center for Progressive Christianity, we are fleshing out what each of these points might mean for us as individuals and as a congregation.

The class meets at 8:30 a.m. in the Klar classrooms. Coffee is provided, child care is available, and you are welcome to bring your breakfast and a friend!

 

Parent Book Study Continues

The Parent Book Study meets Sundays at 9 a.m. in the Pownall Room to discuss Making a Home for Faith: Nurturing the Faith of Your Child, by Elizabeth Caldwell. The book study will meet each week through February 28 (please note the addition of an extra week). All parents and those interested in children's faith are invited. Childcare provided in the nursery.

 

 

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
First Congregational Church
Annual Meeting
February 21, 11:30 a.m.
Patterson Hall
Soup & salad lunch
$6 suggested donation
Musical entertainment
Ralph Pillsbury Award
Don't miss it, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

 

Supporting Our Neighbors at Temple Israel
By Jerry Stinson

Temple Israel is the Reformed Jewish Temple that has held its High Holy Day services at First Church on many occasions. Sadly, they are targeted for picketing this weekend by a hate-group disquised as a church. Here is part of a message from their Rabbi Steve Moskowitz:

Dear Temple Israel Family,

As you may already know, an anti-gay, anti-Semitic group, the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kansas, is scheduled to come to Long Beach to engage in a series of protests at various locations February 19-21. Among those places to be picketed are Wilson High School, the Alpert Jewish Community Center, and Temple Israel. Specifically, the group’s schedule states that it will picket Temple Israel on Saturday, February 20, 10-10:30 a.m. Westboro is a small group, which typically has a small number of picketers displaying hateful and offensive signs, engaging in vocal demonstrations but refraining from any violent or unlawful activities.

After giving the matter much thought, I approached the South Coast Interfaith Council and proposed that we host at our synagogue that morning a unity prayer service as a way to refocus the story of the day away from Westboro’s message of hate to our community’s message about love, diversity, and unity. I invited clergy and congregants from this interfaith community both to attend and to contribute to such a service with prayers/readings/songs which speak of the sacred power of love and unity. I am delighted to say that the SCIC was very enthusiastic about this invitation.

I will be one of the Christian clergy participating in the service on behalf of our congregation. Temple Israel would be delighted if other members of our congregation attended. The service will be 9:30-11 a.m. on Saturday, February 20 at Temple Israel which is located at 269 Loma Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90803.

 

Don't Forget - Special Service on February 28
Focus on Peace

Jerry Leggett, Singer and Song Writer
The Hymns: Blowing in the Wind – Let It Be – If I Had a Hammer
Sermon in Song
Forum about the Peace Bubble Journey

 

One Great Hour of Sharing Offering: Sunday, March 14
By Lloyd Wright, Board of Outreach

One Great Hour of Sharing is the special mission offering of the United Church of Christ that carries God’s message of love and hope to people, our brothers and sisters, in more than eighty countries. The UCC works with international partners to provide sources of clean water and food, education and health care, small business and micro credit, emergency relief and advocacy, and resettlement for refugees and displaced persons. The OGHS also supports domestic and international ministries for disaster preparedness and response.

The One Great Hour of Sharing has affected and changed the lives of untold millions of people and is needed more than ever due to the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti and the gargantuan rise in global food prices. We will receive the offering on Sunday, March 14. Please be as generous as your circumstances permit.

 

Urban Community Outreach Drop-In Center to Honor Patricia Benoit
By Brad Lara-Gagne

On March 13 at 6 p.m. the Drop-In Center will be having a dinner fundraiser. There will be a cocktail reception, dinner and live entertainment. The UCO Drop-In Center will also take this time to honor Patti Benoit for her work with the homeless in downtown Long Beach.

Patti has been a long time advocate and volunteer in the fight for the rights and welfare of homeless people in Long Beach. Having taken on many roles she is perhaps best known for her work establishing The Village Mental Health America (MHA). The purpose of MHA is to help homeless people with mental health issues to get off the streets and gain personal dignity. Most recently Patti has been the chair of the Homeless Coalition of Long Beach, an advocacy group comprised of 72 agencies working to find ways to improve the lives of homeless people in Long Beach.

Tickets will be $35 per person or you can sponsor a table for $280. A gourmet dinner will be served by Bootstrap Catering including salad, entrée and dessert. If you are interested in attending please contact Brad Lara-Gagne at bradg63@aol.com or call 562-607-4006.

Check out our opportunity drawing offering at coffee and conversation after church. You can also inquire about tickets.

 

Resources for Lent
By Libby Tigner

The Daily Examen
At the end of each day, reflect back, asking yourself two questions:
     “For what moment today am I most grateful?”
     “For what moment today am I least grateful?”
You might also word the questions this way:
      “When did I give and receive the most love today? When did I feel most alive? What was today’s high point?”
      “When did I give and receive the least love today? When did I feel life draining out of me? What was today’s low point?”
Spend some time journaling or talking with someone else about your responses to those questions. The examen will lead you into a place of deeper gratitude and perspective. Learn more about the examen in the book Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life.

Reconnect
Seek out someone who you have not seen or communicated with recently. Make a date to visit or meet them, face to face. Be sure to spend more time listening than talking. Don’t let gossip enter into the conversation.

Expand
Seek out a new opportunity for service. A few ideas: visit someone who is sick or confined, volunteer at a shelter, offer transportation or to run errands for someone who doesn’t have a car, do yard work for a neighbor.

Say “Thank You”
Write three thank-you letters to people for things that they do for which you usually do not express appreciation. It might be a clerk in the store, a teacher, a neighbor, or a family member.

Encourage
Write a note of support to someone who is ill or someone whom you know to be having a rough time.

Forgive and Seek Forgiveness
Forgive someone who has wronged you in some way, even if they haven’t asked for it or even acknowledged the hurt. Think of someone you have wronged, and apologize.

Go Online
You will find a Lenten daily devotional, as well as Lenten prayers and meditations, online at www.explorefaith.org. Email the link to a friend.

 

Feeling Friendly? Join Team Aloha!
By Alison Mitchell, Moderator

We are a group of people who want to make ourselves visible and available to folks visiting the church who may have questions. You don't need to be a fountain of knowledge, just have a willingness to talk with people who may want to know a bit more about the church (and perhaps need to know where the bathrooms are!). There are two steps to becoming an Aloha Team member: First, bring a Hawaiian lei from home to wear, or don one from our handy dandy bag o' leis stored in the umbrella cabinet in the entry way of the church at the corner of Third and Cedar. Second, after worship service, make yourself conspicuously available to visitors. Hang out for a while in the narthex, or circulate in the Kilsby courtyard and in Patterson Hall using that special visitor vision with which lei-wearing has gifted you. Aloha!

 

Members of First Church Invited to the Bay Shore Community Church Friends Potluck and Program: Friday, February 19

The Bay Shore Community Church Friends Potluck and Program in the Church Concert Hall on Fri day, February 19 is open to ALL Church Members and Friends! The potluck starts at 6 p.m. with the program starting at 7:15. We will also have the opportunity to taste fabulous Middle Eastern food courtesy of the Open Sesame restaurant in Belmont Shore – shawurma, hummus, babaganouge, taboule, grape leaves and shish tamonk!

The program will be by Dr. Bruce N. Fisk, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary and currently Professor of Religious Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. Bruce has taught the New Testament and Greek at Westmont since 1999. He regularly leads student trips to the Middle East to help them explore the roots of their faith and see firsthand the modern Middle East, including both Israel and Palestine. He is regularly asked to speak about the modern Middle East because his perspectives are thoughtful and personal, not marked by policies and polarity.

Members of First Church do not need to bring food for the potluck. You will be the guests of Salwa Morris. If you want to attend, phone Salwa Morris at 562-430-2700.

 

Board of Outreach News

On Saturday, February 27, there will be a human trafficking symposium at Mount St. Mary’s College, Doheny campus, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The keynote speaker will be noted expert E. Benjamin Skinner, the author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face With Modern Slavery. There will also be seven high quality workshops and a screening of the film “Trade.”

I am attending in order to more deeply cultivate an informed empathy with the estimated 27 million of our brothers and sisters who are enslaved by human trafficking. I am going to expand my knowledge about what we, as a church, can do to abolish this horrific evil. I cordially invite any of you to attend with me. More information is available at justice@csjorange.org, or call me at 714-527-5330.

Finally, this Sunday, February 21 is Freedom Sunday, when the liturgy and Jerry’s sermon will be molded around the theme of modern slavery. Please plan on attending church that Sunday and stopping by the Board of Outreach table for pertinent articles. More literature will be available after the 27th.

- Lloyd Wright, Board of Outreach

 

Blessed by Benevolence
Anonymous

During the storms around the end of January my street experienced some severe flooding. So bad in fact that water got into the tailpipe of my car. This is the same car I would need to get to class come the first week of February and my partner would need to get to work. A relative was due to send me some money soon, but not in time for the first week of class. So I started making arrangements to take the bus to class, which would turn a 30-minute one-way trip into a two-hour one-way trip. I told a friend at First Church about my predicament. She suggested I request money from the Benevolence Fund. At first I resisted. I said, “The Benevolence Fund is for people who really need it, people who have children or parents depending on them. I’m on my own.” My friend wisely said, “Why don’t you let the Benevolence Fund make that determination?”

So I contacted Libby and requested some funds. I was incorrect in assuming that my level of need did not rise to the level needed to be worthy of assistance. I let Libby know I’d be able to pay the money back in thirty days. I assumed any money someone received from the Benevolence Fund was in the form of a loan that had to be paid back so the fund could be replenished. This assumption was also incorrect even though I felt blessed to be able to pay back the money. But the blessings didn’t end there. People outside of church who knew about my predicament were impressed to hear about the Benevolence Fund. My experience was a testament to the caring of my church community.

My assumptions almost kept me from getting the help I needed from a loving group of First Church congregants who’d taken the time to make attractive and useful crafts just so they could help co-congregants like me. It was a blessing to them to give the help, it was a blessing to me to receive the help. I’m glad my friend discouraged me from allowing my pride or my feelings of unworthiness to block this circle of blessings.

 

Labyrinth on Souper Bowl Sunday
Pictures courtesy of Wally Hoeger

 

Pilgrim Deadline

The deadline for submitting items for inclusion in the newsletter is Friday at 12 noon for the email going out the following week. Due to the new email format, it is no longer necessary that items be submitted as attachments; they may simply be included in the text of your email.

 

 

The Church Mouse has heard ...

... Wally Hoeger's sister Katherine Hoeger will be getting married on April 17 at the First Congregational Church of San Bernardino.

... Jim Lumen has a number of his photographs on display at the $1 Bookstore which is located next to Starbucks at the intersection of Pine Avenue and Third Street, about two blocks from the church.

 

Parish Concerns

Your thoughts and prayers are requested for Art Brewster (Teri Brewster's husband); Elaine and André Condon (Pat Kalayjian's sister & brother-in-law); Louise Wiggins (Yvonne SaMarion's aunt); Veronica Wiggins (Yvonne SaMarion's cousin); Tabetha and Tristan Faux (Todd Faux's relatives); Cathy Flynn; Dave & Vickie Lunden (Ed & Judy Reeves' friends); Lisa Pryor (Aida Porteneuve's friend); and Cindy Ross (Marion Hinze's friend). Lisa Pryor (Aida Porteneuve's friend); and Cindy Ross (Marion Hinze's friend).

In the armed forces: Daniele Ware (Karen Miller’s granddaughter, stationed in Iraq) and Laura Anderson (Kathy Young's niece, stationed in Bahrain).

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 in the church office.

 

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.

 

The following information is paid advertising. To place an ad in this newsletter, please contact Ruth Warkentin in the church office.

 

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First Congregational Church - 241 Cedar Avenue - Long Beach, California 90802
562-436-2256 - Fax: 562-436-3018 - E-mail: office@firstchurchlb.org