The Gift of Pause

Dear friends,

On Thursday, I joined Laura Lee for her monthly lunch with church members who live at Longview. They had a new staff person, who was incredibly friendly and gracious, albeit a bit slow. But that's to be expected with anyone who is learning something new and finding their way in a new environment. I was reminded of the gift of pause, and I chose to sit and enjoy the present moment with these wonderful people, rather than thinking about the next thing on my agenda, or the tasks that weren't getting accomplished while I waited for food.

As we move into this weekend and Laura Lee's last Sunday with us, I think this devotional from the UCC is worth our time and reflection. I invite you to breathe deeply and be in the present, to have patience with one another as we find our way through uncharted territory, and to listen with open minds and open hearts.

Blessings and peace,
Manda


Texts For This Week:
James 2:1-10, 14-17
Mark 7:24-37

Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.

The Monks Who Take Long Pauses

http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/the-monks-who-take-long.html

September 28, 2012

The Monks Who Take Long Pauses

August 24, 2012

Psalm 69:7

"Because of you, I look like an idiot."  (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

I had the chance to join some Benedictine monks for evening worship with a group of pastor writers at theCollegeville Institute. The Benedictines, well known for their hospitality to the stranger, asked our mostly Protestant group to meet with Brother John outside the chapel fifteen minutes before worship for an orientation. He spoke to us a bit about the striking modern abbey church, and then took us inside to our seats in the section next to the monks. 

There he explained which book we were to open and when. It was complicated and we needed all the help we could get. There were going to be all kinds of responsive readings where the leader would speak, and then the monks on one side of the church would respond as "choir one" and then the other side would respond as "choir two." "You're choir two," he told us, and then added this as an afterthought:

"The pace here at the abbey is slower than what you are used to," he explained. "The monks take pauses in the responsive readings, pauses that will seem long to you. So you might want to hold back at first and really listen to them, to get their pace before you join in."

I had no idea what he meant until the service began. Then, when it was choir two's turn to read several lines of a psalm, I heard my own voice and a few others from the visitor's section bleating out alone, as the monks took a long silent breath after each line. I am so used to finding my place and quickly saying my lines in a rush. But the monks said a line or a phrase and then all stopped to pause, as if to really listen to it, to take it in.

I was struck by how often I just barrel through readings in worship and how often I barrel through conversations in life. What a difference a few quiet pauses might make.

Prayer

Listening Lord, help me to listen too. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

Upcoming Meeting

Dear Members & Friends of FCC,

Our Church Council has invited you to an All-Church meeting following worship this coming Sunday. I plan to attend and encourage you to come and be a part of the conversation. Certainly, we will come with a wide range of feelings and our elected leadership wants to listen. We will come with many questions, which I believe the Council members will address as best they are able.

Last April, as the Church Council began to address various complaints, I  told them and the members of my Pastoral Relations Committee that I trusted they would work diligently to discern God's leading and would make decisions based on what is best for the whole church. I know that this decision-making process was truly difficult and that for some of them quite sad. I trust everyone honored their role as a church leader when they determined it was not possible for them to work with me to address the challenges facing our church. Thus, a change in pastoral leadership is best for the whole church.

This is not the decision I would have made. However, I have always trusted that the Holy Spirit moves among us all.  In our congregational polity, pastors are called to work with the elected leadership and the whole membership to strengthen the Body of Christ. If this is not a shared trust, it is not possible for us to move forward together.

Paul's encouragement to the Romans may stand us all in good stead: “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words."

Like Paul, I encourage you to join me in the hope that God is preparing someone to come here with whom your leadership can work to move FCC in different directions and that God is preparing a place for me where it will be possible for me to use my gifts and skills to build up the Body of Christ.

It is imperative for all of you to come to the meeting and share your thoughts, questions and feelings. Most of all, come to listen for the leading of the Spirit, as you prepare for an important journey of transition.

In Christ, Laura Lee 

Texts for This Week:

Psalm 15

Mark 9:30-37

Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.

The Feed My Starving Children

The Feed My Starving Children Mobile Pack was a great success! Thank you to everyone who participated and donated funds. With the help of over 1,500 volunteers we packed 334,368 meals.  That will feed 916 children for an entire year!

Continuing our focus on hunger, the special offering for the rest of September will go to our local Kitchen Cupboard.  Together we can truly impact the problem of hunger.  Many of you know that September is traditionally when we take a special offering for the School Nurses fund.  Happily, at this time, the fund is financially very healthy!  However, we have recently learned that our local Kitchen Cupboard, on the front lines of our local hunger initiative, is in dire need.  Did you know that our canned goods donations only account for 5-10% of what they need to operate?  As of the last ACT meeting, Kitchen Cupboard indicated that they have only $3000 on hand for buying food. They are now spending $4 to 6,000 each month due to increased local need!  To respond in a timely way to this urgent appeal, our September special offering will benefit the Kitchen Cupboard.  Thank you for your continued generosity which surely serves as witness to the local community!

This Sunday our Children and Youth programs resume.  We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.

Blessings,
Laura Lee and Manda


Texts for Sunday

Romans 14:7-12

Mark 8:27-43

Summer blog posts

During the "program" (school) year, Laura Lee and I offer 2 blog posts per week. Starting this week and through the summer, we will only post one reflection per week, which you can find and follow at Ithaca UCC Reflections. Hope to see you over there in the blogosphere, and here in worship and around Ithaca as well. Have a great summer!
Manda

Fear of Spiders

I've always had a bit of arachnophobia...when I was a little girl, I would have nightmares that my bedroom floor was teeming with spiders and scorpions, and I would have no way to escape. I was terrified of killing a spider, for fear that its relatives might come after me while I was sleeping! As I grew older, my fear became more manageable - except for the several months after I made the mistake of watching the movie Arachnophobia when I was 16!

Syed will probably tell you that I still get a little freaked out by spiders - especially the ones that like to feast on all the summer bugs that come into our house. But overall, I think I've found ways to live with my fear without it overtaking me. One thing that helps me is just observing the fascinating nature of arachnids. Many of them spin breathtaking webs, only to have to start again when strong winds tear them down. But I still have no desire to hold a tarantula!

Fear, in and of itself, is neutral. It can save our lives by "raising our hackles" to alert us to dangerous situations (like spiders crawling on you!). But it can also hold us back and keep us from moving into an uncertain future. And sometimes our fear becomes all we know - so that we imagine danger even where there is none.

This Sunday, I invite you to step back and observe the things that frighten you - is your fear telling you to take a different path? Or is it an opportunity to find new trust in God?

Have a great weekend - hope to see you on Sunday!

Blessings, Manda

Texts for Sunday:
Job 38:1-11
Mark 4:35-41

Anticipating Miracles

An old tv ad invites us to long for the rich taste of  super thick ketchup as we watch it slowly ooze toward the mouth of the bottle.

The Gospel text this week invites us to long for the Realm of God as we ponder the mystery of tending the seeds of the Spirit that have been planted among us. It also invites us to expect miracles in this garden of faith - huge bushes from tiny mustard seeds!

The ketchup ad and the parables of Jesus acknowledge that waiting can be frustrating as we bang on the bottom of the bottle or keep scanning the garden for new shoots, we aren't always able to be patient. And so, we are called to live in the mystery of growth that is happening, even when we cannot see it. 

So it has been over the past few months, we have been tending the seeds of our commitment to Feed My Starving Children and tomorrow, I expect we will see the miracle of abundant fruit in our Strawberry Festival. All of this has taken patience and faith and really hard work. And just as the text says, we are called to expect the miracles of abundant growth from the tiniest of seeds. For all things are possible in the Realm of God, the realm we anticipate this day and every day!

Blessings and hoping to see you all tomorrow at the Strawberry Festival and on Sunday,

Texts for This Week:

+Ezekiel 17:22-24

Psalm92:1-4, 12-15

IICorinthians  5:6-17

*Mark 4:26-34

Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.

"You're Being Called

 My dad used to tell this great story: One of his golfing buddies, Joe, was given a cell phone for Christmas - a gift from his son in California. A few days later, they were on the golf course and Joe's phone rang. He took it from his pocket and said, "Hello." Apparently it was the son who had given him the phone because, the next thing he said was, "Hey, you're all the way in California, how did you know I was on the 12th green?"

The whole thing was a mystery to Joe!

Sunday is Celebration Sunday at FCC, a time to celebrate a year of ministry with our Children & Youth (and theirs to us)! And, we will focus on the calling of the prophet Samuel - a child. The call came in the middle of the night and Samuel thought his guardian, Eli was calling to him, but it was God - a mystery.

A mystery that God would call a child, would know where he was, would know his potential to become a leader of his people......

The truth is that God calls each and every one of us, knows we are in the kitchen, in worship on Sunday or on the 12th green! God knows our potential to become people who sow love instead of hate, people who are always seeking and granting forgiveness, people who work for peace instead of divisiveness.....

The truth is, you are being called this Sunday - to celebrate with all of us. So come, celebrate the children & youth and the adults who make our ministries with them and their families so rich. Come, celebrate your own calling to build up the body of Christ and to celebrate the good news of the gospel with all you meet. Come and respond to God's call in your life and celebrate the mystery!

Hoping to see all of you on Sunday,   Laura Lee

Texts for This Week:

+Psalm 92:1-4,12-15

*I Samuel 3:1-10

Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.