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

The Pilgrim - June 27, 2010

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

This Sunday’s service will give the congregational an opportunity to express our appreciation for those adults who provide music for our services. We will be honoring the members of the Sanctuary Choir, Una Voce and Bellissimo.

We will also celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion using intinction this time.

Built around the story of a nun who was a close personal friend, my sermon will consider the struggle to maintain a healthy balance between giving and receiving. Often churches focus heavily on giving and don’t really help us become good receivers as well.

SERMON: A Healthy Balance
The Rev. Jerry Stinson
READING: John 13:3-8
LITURGIST: The Rev. Libby Tigner

On July 4th, Jerry Stinson’s sermon will be “An Independence Day Sermon – The Two Americas.”

 

Music on Sunday

This Sunday, you are going to be treated to “Praise His Holy Name,” an original gospel song by Keith Hampton. It will feature Dr. Marc Dickey on keyboard, and we will be under the musical direction of Carver Cossey. Carver has been a regular visitor to our choir and he brings a great energy and knowledge of the traditional gospel style. He has really worked hard to get some of us, shall I say, more reserved singers to stretch our comfort level and “feel the spirit!” The song is memorized and, if all goes well, we’ll get all the claps in the right place! Carver was just hired as the new Music Director in Mission Viejo at the Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church and, while we will miss his musical gifts, we wish him all the best. So come, enjoy our anthem and, if so moved, feel the spirit with us!

- Tracy Halter-Balin, Interim Director of Music

 

In Sunday School

Theme: Pick Up the Mantle
Scripture Focus: II Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

 

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

Libby Tigner will lead the third session of “Religious Literacy,” based on Boston University Professor of Religion Stephen Prothero’s book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn’t (HarperSanFrancisco, 2007). It's not necessary to read the book to enjoy the class. If you are following the reading, we'll cover the introduction and chapter 1.

As always, coffee is provided, and you are more than welcome to bring your breakfast. And a friend! Please join us for learning, conversation and community building this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. You’ll be glad you did!

 

 

Special Forum After This Sunday's Service
By Jerry Stinson

Curt Cannon, the son of Joyce and Jerry Cannon, is a member of a unique church in Waco, Texas. Cross Ties is an ecumenical church modeled after the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. It is built around practicing radical discipleship. It is a church without steeples, pews or vestments. It is in fact a church without a church.

Cross Ties seeks to integrate an inward journey of faith with an outward journey of service. All members of the congregation are deeply involved with its various mission groups. The two most visible outreach efforts of the congregation are the Gospel Café and the Talitha Koum Institute.

The Gospel Café provides a meal for between 150 and 200 people Wednesday through Friday. It is not a soup kitchen; it is a home-style restaurant with delicious food, real dishes, cloth napkins and festive banners. Diners pay what they can, if they can. Diners are not only fed food, but love and respect.

The Talitha Koum Institute is an intensive care nurturing program serving children from the age of six weeks through kindergarten. It focuses on families mired in multi-generational urban poverty in a particular area of Waco.

Does is take a large church to carry out this outreach? Where do they get the money for these projects? Come and hear what Curt has to say about a really unique Christian faith community.

 

Books for Adult Education Course on Islam
By Jerry Stinson

Beginning on Sunday, July 4 for five consecutive weeks at the 8:30 class on Sunday mornings, I will teach a course on “The Heart of Islam.” This course will be based on the book The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity by world-renowned Islamic scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University in Washington, DC. Copies of the book are available from Libby Tigner or me for $12 each, or you can shop on Amazon via the church website -- First Church will receive a percentage of the sale,

 

Scholarships Awarded to Seven Worthy Recipients
By Sara Schoenfelder

At the service on Sunday, June 13, seven special young people received scholarships totaling $6000 from the Caskey/Merritt Scholarship program. This is an amazing supportive program enabling deserving individuals to realize their higher educational goals.

The seven awardees this year sent thank-you messages to the church for the support they received:

Collin Vail will attend Cerritos College and major in culinary arts.

One day I want to have my own restaurant … I’m excited about the scholarship opportunities through the First Congregational Church.

Martin de Jong will continue at Fordham University next year and is now in Zambia working with the State Department at the embassy.

Thank you for awarding me a Caskey/Merritt scholarship for 2010. … Please pass on my thanks to the entire congregation … have a fantastic summer.

Hoa Tran will attend Santa Ana College in the fall and intends to become an RN and perhaps return to South Vietnam.

I am so glad to receive the scholarship from the church. Thank you for giving to me … a wonderful chance in reaching my goal, and thanks to Caskey/Merritt for creating these opportunities.

Allison King will be a sophomore at Reed College next year majoring in arts and humanities and natural science.

Thank you church community for the opportunity to further my education and everything you’ve done for me over the years. It’s made every bit of difference to me.

Carl Glover will attend Long Beach City College and his goal is to become a medical health professional.

I want to thank you all so much for this opportunity!

Sean Balin will attend Long Beach City College next semester and (for now) intends to major in arts and humanities and natural science.

Thank you Scholarship Committee. It is a great honor to receive this from the church. This will help me further my future education and strengthen the foundation that is the rest of my life.

Claire de Jong will continue at William and Mary School of Law pursuing her degree. She intends to “forge a career at the intersection of healthcare and human rights.”

I want to thank the…congregation for awarding me a scholarship this year….I’m very grateful that I’ll be able to use the scholarship to further my legal education. First Church has always been a wonderfully supportive community, and has always encouraged me to achieve my academic goals. I’m very grateful for the continued support this year.

Congratulations again to our scholarship recipients for 2010!

 

New Member
By Jerry Stinson

Fiorella O’Brien, who goes by Ella, joined the church on June 20. She was born in a small Italian town near the Adriatic Sea. She studied education, philosophy and psychology at La Sapienza Roma, the oldest of Rome’s three state-supported universities. After finishing at the university, she taught special education in an elementary school in Rome.

While a student in Rome, she met an American living there who would become her husband. They moved to San Diego in 1985. Ella did not speak English. She said the only thing she could say in English was, “My name is Fiorella; where’s the bathroom and the refrigerator?” So she took English and computer classes at Mesa Community College in San Diego.

She was eventually hired to work in the school’s computer lab and then was hired by that community college to teach computer skills, especially helping teachers learn how to use computers. Her marriage ended in 1994 and after some surgery, she retired from teaching at age 48 in order to return to Italy. She remained there for four years, but then decided to come back to California, this time living in Los Angeles. She went back to school again and pursued a new career as a certified nursing assistant.

She bought a condominium next to La Traviata, just a few feet from the church. In January, she began to attend our services.

Ella grew up in the Roman Catholic Church in Italy and had some negative experiences with that church – she says the nuns who were her teachers were cruel, and the theology was strict and dogmatic. So in her youth, she rejected that form of religion. In the 1970s she was a human rights and women’s rights activist and that further pushed her away from the church.

She was drawn to First Church because of the large anti-torture banner hanging from our bell tower and because our church sign says “A Liberal Church.” She went to our website and discovered that we were just what she was looking for. She was especially drawn to our interfaith emphasis and to notions of a God beyond theism. She felt a need to be a part of a community and she is finding that community at First Church.

She loves to read and she says that she is a “total nerd.” She loves philosophy and is already involved in a philosophy club with Chris Bobo. She loves teaching, computers and bicycling.

 

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.

 

 

July Birthdays

1 Kay Gault, Audrey Rose Hanna, Casey Scott
2 Terry O'Neill, Aiden Silva, Shelly Troup
4 Lauren Chambers
6 Clayton Heard, Jennifer Penner
7 Bill Severino, Kirsten Vangsness
8 Joanne Halley, Gary Shelton, Derrick Smith
9 Robert Cannon, Myrna Pappas, Amy Peer, Anne Simoneau
10 Perry Ellwood, Katie Handen Llopis, Kathryn Stevens, Bill Yochum
11 Dave McMillin, John Osteen, Marty Silva
12 Onetta Brooks, Brad Shore, Jim Watson
13 Heather Chambers, Cynthia Holt
14 Ruth Ann Borrero, Dorothy King
15 Denise Diener, Robert Kalayjian, Annamarie Macias
16 Glenn Agoncillo, Emma Jones, Evan Jones
18 Eleanore Choate
20 Gerard Billard
21 Brad Lara-Gagne
23 Brad Stevens
24 Joel Kemper
25 Helene Kennann
27 Matt Balin, Curt Barnett
28 John Kness
29 Paul DuNard
30 Gayle Connell, Eve Handen, Dean Solem-Kuehl, Peter Wright

 

July Anniversaries

2 Harold and Ellen Kameya, 44 years
4 Debbie Byrne and Rita Edwards, 17 years
12 Evan and Nan Nutt, 41 years
12 Claudia and Robert Orpin, 41 years
18 John and Billie Pownall, 69 years
21 Marty and Monica Silva, 9 years
25 Kathy Young and Kathleen O'Neal, 17 years
28 Gil Griego and Chan Brainard, 37 years
28 Bill and Iris Wells, 59 years
31 Barbara Smith and Janet Waggoner, 43 years

 

The Church Mouse has heard ...

... Benjamin Alexander Rose wasborn in Walnut Creek, CA to Marisa and Andy Rose, on June 17. Proud grandparents are Margaret and Walter Cherry.

 

Parish Concerns

Your thoughts and prayers are requested for George Nelleson (Georgette DeBruyn's uncle) and Gail Schwandner upon the death of her mother.

In the armed forces: 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 the 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.

 

To place an ad in this newsletter, please contact Ruth Warkentin in the church office.

 

Please reply to this email to be removed from our mailing list.

 

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