Glad Tidings
Central-St Matthew United Church of Christ Newsletter
February 2008
BELONGER OR BELIEVER
A man had fallen away from his church. His friend decided to call him about a tennis match scheduled later in the week. The friend called from a phone at Christ the Lord Lutheran Church. The man looked at his caller I.D. which said, "Christ the Lord." He thought Christ was calling for him. This turned out to be a wake-up call. Four men, fishermen by trade, were toiling at the nets beside the Sea of Galilee when they received a wake-up call from Jesus. And their whole world was turned upside down.
Many of us think it would be great to earn a living doing nothing but fishing. Except, if we did it for a living, we would find it was like other jobs - repetitive, demanding, boring. But it was a way for these disciples to earn a living; it helped form their identity.
How many of us define ourselves by the work we do? We're told that leisure is becoming a thing of the past for many people in our society. Many of us are working harder than ever - and we're not sure why. A recent study indicates that we are working to keep up with the Joneses. If neighbor Jones can provide the latest toys for his kids, then we've got to find a way to provide them for our kids. Heaven help us if our offspring should discover that they can't have everything everybody else has. So we work harder and harder. And we wonder why something is missing from our lives. Could it be that work was never meant to be at the center of our lives? Could it be there is something more? Are we as wise as these four disciples who figured it out?
I pray that our church can be a place where people encounter Jesus. I don't want to be just another social organization, a club, a fraternity. These all have their place in society, but the church ought to be something different. It ought to be a place where people meet God. Some of you may be familiar with a man named John Wimber. Wimber was an extraordinary church leader who influenced many people in their faith walk. When Wimber was first introduced to the Christian faith, he became a voracious Bible reader. The Scriptures excited him. After weeks of reading about life -transforming miracles in the Bible but attending boring church services, John was frustrated. He expected great things to happen, but nothing ever did. Finally he asked one of the lay leaders at his church, "When do we get to do the stuff?"
"What stuff?" asked the leader. "You know," Wimber said, "the stuff in the Bible - multiplying loaves and fishes, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, raising people from the dead, and giving the blind sight." "Oh," said the lay leader. "we don't do that in this church. I want you to understand, though, that we believe those things, we pray about those things, but we really don't do those things." "You don't? Well what do you do?" asked John.
"What we did this morning," replied the man. In frustration, John responded: "For that I gave up drugs?"
Some of you will remember when Andrew Young was one of our most visible African-American leaders. Andrew, who grew up at Central, is a former congressman, former ambassador to the United Nations and former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. He is also an ordained minister. One day his daughter came home from college and said to him, "Daddy, I heard a missionary talking about ministry in Uganda. I've done a lot of praying about this, and I think God wants me to take a year and go to Uganda as a missionary."
"Well, honey," her father replied, "you know that's all well and good, but there's a lot of poor people right here in Atlanta that need you."
She said, "Daddy, I know that, but I believe God is calling me to Uganda."
"Honey, it's dangerous in Uganda," Andrew Young pleaded. "You could get hurt."
"I know that, Daddy," she said, "but I could get hurt right here."
He said, "But honey you could be killed there."
"Daddy, I could be killed at any time, anywhere. I really believe God is calling me to go to Uganda."
Andrew Young thought and prayed about it, and finally gave his blessing. "When my daughter walked onto that airplane," he said later, "I remembered that in baptizing her, I said I wanted her to become a respectable Christian. I just wasn't prepared for her to become a real one!"
Do you hear what Andrew Young is saying? There is a difference between being a respectable Christian and a real one. Pollster George Gallup calls it the difference between being a "believing" church member and a "belonging" church member. Anybody can belong to a church. That's different from believing in God's purpose in the world and seeking to be a part of achieving that purpose. Let me ask you a question: are you a belonger or a believer?
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Fred
Feb. 3 Pew Communion
2:00 P.M. German Service
Feb. 5 Mardi Gras
Feb. 6 12:00 Noon Ash Wednesday Service
7:00 P.M. Ash Wednesday Service
Feb. 12 6:00 P.M. Central Governance Board
Feb. 13 6:45 P.M. Mid-week Lenten Service
Feb. 17 Altar Communion
Food Sunday
March Newsletter articles due
Feb. 18 7:00 P.M. Film Series
Feb. 19 7:00 P.M. Church Council
Feb. 20 6:45 P.M. Mid-week Lenten Service
Feb. 21 7:00 P.M. Worship Committee
7:00 P.M. Recovery Committee
Feb. 24 After service - Slogan Sunday
Feb. 26 10:30 A.M. Women's Guild
Feb. 27 6:45 P.M. Mid-week Lenten Service
Wednesdays 7:30 - 8:30 P.M. Choir Rehearsal. All are welcome.
Sundays 9:00 A.M. Choir Rehearsal
Thursdays 6:00 - 7:00 P.M. Bible Study in the library.
ALTAR FLOWERS GIVEN IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY
Feb. 03 In memory of Louis Gogreve by Friends
Feb. 10 In memory of Hilda Goll by Nancy Marks
Feb. 17 Florence Kraus by Evelyn Pittman
PRAYER LIST: Jane Ayrst, Mario Berger, Sr., Robert Brown, Marc T. Carter, Baby Catan, Melvin Chaix, Pinky Garic, Ann Marie Giles, Nell Gremillion, Brian Hulse, Carolyn Jefferson and family, Edna Kaufman, Lavera Kelly, Beverly Porte, Kenneth Sneed, Fay Wallace.
THANK YOU to everyone who helped with the meal before the annual meetings of Central and St. Matthew. Thanks to Nancy Marks and Ellen Bentz for their organization. Thanks to those who prepared the delicious jambalaya: Noel Braning, Faye Kaufman, Marie Weatherspoon, Karen Wulff, Ethel Creel, and Lucille Gebhardt. As always, thank you to Mike Duplessis for the set up and clean up. The free will offering was dedicated to the Hume Center. So far, $1,000 has been collected.
THANKS to the Worship Committee for their idea to provide quiet activities for children during the worship service. Karen Wulff has put together a packet with crayons, bible story pictures to color, and simple crossword puzzles for our young children. You may pick up a packet from the large basket on your way into church.
Upper Room Lenten devotional materials are available in the literature rack in the lobby.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
100,000 for Peace: Join Protest to Prayer
From Advent through Epiphany members of the United Church of Christ have observed the incarnation in many ways through fruitful works pleasing to God. I am particularly grateful for the generosity that has surpassed our $100,000 goal of support for Iraqi refugees forced to flee their homes by sectarian violence. To date we have received $141,594, which will be shared through our ecumenical partners to help provide humanitarian aid to these displaced persons. Contributions can still be made online if you still wish to make a gift. Our members have also been generous with their prayers for U.S. servicemen and service women, many of whom face danger and were unable to be with family and friends during the holiday season. You may read some of those prayers posted online.
Bringing the war to an end and restoring health and wholeness to Iraq remains our urgent goal. To that end, many UCC members have visited their Congress persons or senators in district offices during the recess, delivering the Pastoral Letter on Iraq. That advocacy effort continues and I urge you to join your fellow members in scheduling these visits. A step by step information packet is available on-line.
Make us worthy, O Lord, to honor Your birth. Through our generosity, our prayers, and our protest for peace, may Your light shine forth in our souls. And may the prayers of all our Iraqi sisters and brothers, of whatever faith, be met by the One who has come among us to make this world worthy of its Creator.
God Bless You,
The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President, UCC
"The Work of Christmas" by Howard Thurman
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the Kings and Princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins –
To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To teach the nations
To bring Christ to all
To make music in the heart
A NOTE FROM YOUR SEMINARIAN
Dear Spiritual Family,
I wish to thank everyone for your continued support of me on this journey. I cannot tell you how much your encouragement means. I want to keep you informed about my path to possible ordination. I am in the process of completing my final semester of theological education. The studies fill me, keep me on my toes, and are quite transforming.
As you know, the last two major requirements are to meet with the Church and Ministry Committee and the Ecclesiastical Council. The meeting with the Church and Ministry Committee is set for February 12, 2008. After reading my ordination paper, and asking me questions, this committee will decide whether I should or should not continue on to the next step. If their answer is in the affirmative, we go on to the Ecclesiastical Council. I use the word "we" because I will gather with my spiritual family at St. Matthew/Central for a presentation of my ordination paper followed by questions.
So, you will all have a part in whether or not I am ordained.
I must confess to my Community that I don't think I would be human if all of this doesn't give me some anxiety. However, I also know more importantly, that a calling, for all of us, comes from God and is discerned by His people. By God's Grace, I place myself in God's Hands and the hands of my spiritual family. Please keep me in your prayers.
With love and love in Christ,
Maggie
IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE
During the month of February, there are so many opportunities to celebrate - Mardi Gras, Lent, and Valentines Day. In the African American community, the month of February is also a time to celebrate and reflect on the contributions of African Americans to the building of this country and the continual contributions being made today. Therefore, during Sunday worship in February, you will hear about an individual or individuals with perhaps some surprising information to many. We will attempt to share some thematic sermons that encouraged African- Americans to press forward during those times of hardship as we sought equality as citizens of this great nation.
We look forward to a great celebration of God's gift to this country and the world through the African American community.
Peace on the journey,
Pastor Wil
The Lenten Season
Ash Wednesday Service Feb 6th, 2008
There will be two Ash Wednesday Services at Central/St. Matthew. The first one will be at noon and the second at 7:00 pm. All the local UCC Churches and First Christian Disciples of Christ are invited
to attend. You may join the choir at 6:00 pm for rehearsal. Please bring a dessert to
share for the fellowship time after the evening service.
Following Ash Wednesday, every week including Holy Week there will be a midweek Lenten service beginning at 6:45pm. The services will last from 30 to 45 minutes. Each Wednesday night the sermon topic will focus on a particular emotion and how that emotion plays out in the spiritual life in helpful and not so helpful ways.
Wednesday Night Lenten Themes
February 13th, Rev. Clinton Crawshaw - Guilt
February 20th, Rev. Wilmer Brown - Anger
February 27th, Vicki Weeks - Peace & Self-Control
March 5th, Susan Banks - Joy & Despair
March 12th, Dr. Rodney Plummer -Fear & Loneliness
March 17th, Rev. Fred Meade - Beyond Emotions
Slogan Sunday with Fellowship Meal
Sunday Feb. 24th, 2008
On Sunday February 24th we will be having a pot luck which will focus on fellowship and figuring out ways to tell the community of New Orleans about us.
After the pot luck meal ministers Brown, Meade and Rota will guide us though a series of questions designed to help us get to know one another and think about our church. In preparation for our fellowship time, please bring a photo of yourself to share with a small group. The photo can be from any time in your life. Following the discussion, we will be asked to come up with some slogans that can be used in an ad campaign to spread the good news about us in the community.
It is really important that we get full participation from all in our church community. Please mark this date on your calendar!
New Preston Congregational Church
New Preston, Connecticut 06777
January 8, 2008
Dear Arlean, {Fermanis}
I am writing to you as a member of St. Matthew because you were so helpful to our small mission group prior to our visit in mid-October. So this is a request for your help on a small but important matter.
Our Pastor here in New Preston, Connecticut, Rev. Dr. Stuart C. Brush, has a nine-year old nephew that gave him a dollar some time ago. This young man, named Dillon, gave this dollar to Stuart and asked Stuart to do something special with it. Stuart gave it to our group as we left for New Orleans. In the busyness of our trip there and back, we did not do anything with it during our stay, but we did talk about it. Upon our return home we decided that we wanted to do something with this dollar that would help children in your area. My wife, Ginny, remembered that during our worship service with you folks on Sunday, October 12, there was an impassioned Moment for Mission regarding an African American child-care center that was being re-built in your area. Hopefully you will remember and know the organization that I am referring to. It is only a dollar, but an important dollar, and it is to offer up "Dillon's Dollar" as a motivation perhaps for others to give their "Dollars," to continue to help rebuild this center. We plan on making this a mission project in our own church, and as we go around our community talking about our trip, make others aware of "Dillon's Dollar." Hopefully it will continue to grow.
Thank you for helping us with this small but important request. We continue to hold your congregation in our thoughts and prayers; we look forward to a time when we can return and continue to participate in the important recovery work that you are leading.
Yours in Christ,
Bruce W. Reinholdt
Co-Chair Board of Trustees
FILMS THAT SPEAK - A Documentary Film Series Designed To Make You Think.
Coming Monday, February 18, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Trembling Before G-d
All films in this film series are free and open to the public.
Please Join Us
More information may be found on our website, www.stmatthew-nola.org
VOLUNTEERS FOR COMMUNION
We now have volunteers to serve communion on the first Sunday of each month. However, we would like to have additional members, so please call the office and add your name to the list. (504) 861-8196
Those who will be serving on February 3 are:
Shirley Carambat Carol Etter (We are looking for two more, are you
Nancy Morris John Etter interested?)
ST. MATTHEW UCC
P. O. Box 850527
New Orleans, LA 70185-0527
Contact Numbers and Office Hours:
Church Mailing Address: P.O. Box 850527
New Orleans, LA 70185-0527
Church Phone Number: (504) 861-8196
(504) 861-8197
Church Secretary: Pat Godfrey
Wed. and Thur. from 8:00am-4:00pm
Pastor Fred Meade: (504) 615-1634
Office hours on T, W, and Th – 10am-1pm
Fredmeade@aol.com
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