3. Gift of fellowship through an unexpected food

Part of our 2011 SSCP Annual Advent Devotional — “The Best Christmas Gift”
BY LINDSAY DOLIN

On Christmas in 2006, I had been in Thailand serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer for a few days shy of one year. I was aching for home and familiarity. A group of my fifth grade hill tribe students had invited me to celebrate Christmas in their Akha village. After understanding fragments of the service, conducted in the Akha language, the congregation had a potluck lunch to celebrate. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly eat another bite, the poorest woman that I have ever seen approached me. She had one baby strapped to her back, another to her chest and one in each hand. They were all wearing rags with dirt smudged on their faces, bodies and clothes. The woman asked me, through broken Thai, how I was enjoying the party. I explained that I was having a wonderful time celebrating, but that the food was significantly spicier than Thai food. Her face lit up! She had made something that was not spicy, something that my foreign tongue could easily eat. She took my hand, led me over to her platter, and proudly presented me with a bowl. It was a dish of cubed congealed pork blood garnished with scallions and cilantro. I have no idea how it tasted, because while I was chewing and swallowing, my heart was filled with Christian love. Even though my family was on the other side of the world, I was right at home with Jesus. My students, their community and this particular woman had opened their hearts over the past year, and on this holy day, they invited me into Christian fellowship. Her joy in sharing this unexpected gift of blood salad reminded me that Christmas is not about celebrating with an exclusive group, but anywhere that kindness and generosity reign. In Christ we are not only always at home, but we become one together.

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SSCP BLOG SERIES — 2011 Advent Devotional:  “The Best Christmas Gift”
We will be accepting essays throughout the month of December. This year’s Advent focus is on “the best Christmas GIFT” you’ve ever received or given. Maybe there was a cost. Perhaps it was free. It took a lot of sacrifice. Or it was effortless. How was God a part of this gift? It does need to be a gift, not a moment or memory. We will upload new essays periodically, so please check back often. (tag: advent). If you feel moved to share the story about your best Christmas gift, please email it to Wendy Hudgins at communications@silverspringumcp.org. To stay up-to-date with activities and opportunities during advent, please visit our FB page.

CLICK TO REVIEW OUR PREVIOUS ADVENT DEVOTIONALS:

2008AdventDevotional

2009AdventDevotional

2010AdventDevotional

Blessings and peace as we begin the Advent journey to Christmas. See you Sunday!

2. The Visit

Part of our 2011 SSCP Annual Advent Devotional — “The Best Christmas Gift”
BY MARILYN PARR

During a particularly snowy winter, my family trudged off to church for the 5:00 PM Christmas Eve service in a very small Minnesota town.  The snow and wind were quite bitter, but everyone was anticipating the service.  As we lived in a rural area, no one locked their doors until bedtime, so the back door was unlocked while we were at the service. On our return home we discovered that friends, traveling from Iowa in this cold weather, had stopped for a respite in our home. 

Rev. Clarence and Louise Richardson were friends from my early childhood when we lived in Fargo, ND.  I stayed with this lovely couple during the January blizzard when my sister was born in 1951.  Because they served churches in Northern Minnesota we, who lived near Minneapolis, seldom visited with them; however, the families remained very close. 

Feeling the need for a break from winter driving in the darkening evening, our friends entered our house and felt the warmth of the furnace.  They, also, noticed a pot of oyster stew on the stove waiting for the final dinner preparations to complete the Christmas Eve meal. Deciding to seek shelter from the storm and share in the Christmas celebration, they dined with us and stayed the night, rather like the Magi on their wanderings through the countryside seeking the Christ Child at Bethlehem. What a wonderful evening was shared with our friends who worshiped with us at the late service. As is the way with Santa Claus, stockings for these beloved friends and a few small gifts were under the tree to remind them of the special place they had in our hearts.

Christmas morning dawned clear and bright with plowed roads to take the travelers to their home further north. The Richardson’s were soon on their way; however, their gift to my family, especially for my siblings and me, was their time with us. No greater gift can be given than time spent with those we love.

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SSCP BLOG SERIES — 2011 Advent Devotional:  “The Best Christmas Gift”
We will be accepting essays throughout the month of December. This year’s Advent focus is on “the best Christmas GIFT” you’ve ever received or given. Maybe there was a cost. Perhaps it was free. It took a lot of sacrifice. Or it was effortless. How was God a part of this gift? It does need to be a gift, not a moment or memory. We will upload new essays periodically, so please check back often. (tag: advent). If you feel moved to share the story about your best Christmas gift, please email it to Wendy Hudgins at communications@silverspringumcp.org. To stay up-to-date with activities and opportunities during advent, please visit our FB page.

CLICK TO REVIEW OUR PREVIOUS ADVENT DEVOTIONALS:

2008AdventDevotional

2009AdventDevotional

2010AdventDevotional

Blessings and peace as we begin the Advent journey to Christmas. See you Sunday!

1. Getting in the spirit. Reflecting on the year.

Part of our 2011 SSCP Annual Advent Devotional — “The Best Christmas Gift”
BY PAT TONKIN

These may not exactly be gifts in the traditional sense, but I feel better about the coming Season because of them.

First off, I gave myself a gift the other day. I went to see Sight and Sound’s “Miracle of Christmas.”  It turned out to be a very good first gift of the Season. Yes, it was hokey and pretty stereotypical in its storytelling; but, oh so joyful! I watched those shepherds dance and sing at the birth of a poor baby in very troubled times. Those folks believed; they had hope; and for a time, so did I. With angels swinging overhead and “star” light sweeping everywhere, I began to sing and dance in my head, even in my  heart. I actually responded to the Christmas Story. I’d like to give myself and everyone else this joy each day of Advent and beyond.

Secondly, it’s Christmas card time again, and I actually composed my year-recap Christmas letter to folks that I address just once a year. But I won’t send it. This year, I have too many questions about the practice:  “Who’ll really care?” “Is it just a competition?”  “Suppose this chronicle of my great year arrives at the end of someone’s hellish one?”  No, this year… I’ll read others’ cards with delight or compassion and jot an appropriate note on a pretty card to them. But I’ll keep my own letter as a gift to myself. After all, it is a wonderful way to count and record my many blessings.

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SSCP BLOG SERIES — Advent Devotional:  “The Best Christmas Gift”
We will be accepting essays throughout the month of December. This year’s Advent focus is on “the best Christmas GIFT” you’ve ever received or given. Maybe there was a cost. Perhaps it was free. It took a lot of sacrifice. Or it was effortless. How was God a part of this gift? It does need to be a gift, not a moment or memory. We will upload new essays periodically, so please check back often. (tag: advent). If you feel moved to share the story about your best Christmas gift, please email it to Wendy Hudgins at communications@silverspringumcp.org. To stay up-to-date with activities and opportunities during advent, please visit our FB page.

CLICK TO REVIEW OUR PREVIOUS ADVENT DEVOTIONALS:

2008AdventDevotional

2009AdventDevotional

2010AdventDevotional

Blessings and peace as we begin the Advent journey to Christmas. See you Sunday!

2011 Advent Devotional: “The Best Christmas Gift”

This Sunday we will celebrate the first Sunday of Advent.

Over the past three years we have put together a devotional book of essays from our members to be read throughout the journey of Advent. This year with various factors, we are sharing those here, on our blog. This year’s Advent focus is on “the best Christmas GIFT” you’ve ever received or given. Maybe there was a cost. Perhaps it was free. It took a lot of sacrifice. Or it was effortless. How was God a part of this gift? It does need to be a gift, not a moment or memory.

We will be accepting essays throughout the month of December. We will upload new essays periodically, so please check back often. (tag: advent). If you feel moved to share the story about your best Christmas gift, please email it to Wendy Hudgins at communications@silverspringumcp.org. To stay up-to-date with activities and opportunities during advent, please visit our FB page.

CLICK TO REVIEW OUR PREVIOUS ADVENT DEVOTIONALS:

2008AdventDevotional

2009AdventDevotional

2010AdventDevotional

Blessings and peace as we begin the Advent journey to Christmas. See you Sunday!

A Thanksgiving meal for the enemy

BY MATT EIDSON

But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. (Luke 6:27-28).

I think being involuntarily separated from your home, your family, and daily life is an experience that everyone reacts to differently.  The beginning of my deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in support of Operation Enduring Freedom was challenging for me.  I was a new officer, a new husband and this was my first long-term trip away from home.  I gradually fell into a homesick funk for the first couple of months but as soon as I had a daily routine and exercise schedule it was only a matter of counting down the days.  This sounds ironic, considering my job was helping to run an overseas detention facility for the captured enemies of the United States and “counting time” is how “doing hard time” is often described.  Needless to say, six months into the tour the counting had become painfully slow and the holidays were upon us.  One truly unique and giving aspect of being an officer is the practice of relieving Soldiers of their assigned posts during the holidays.  Usually manned by Privates and Sergeants it’s quite a hoot to cross a checkpoint staffed by Captains and Colonels.  Another common practice is for officers to serve meals in the chow hall to the enlisted troops during holidays.  It’s a festive and warm time, it’s a show of good will, and it’s also fun for a bunch of people wishing they could be anywhere else.

My Thanksgiving was different.  My Soldiers and I were scheduled to work an extended shift.  It was just a normal work day, and although it could be celebrated after, the shift would mean we would miss everything.  The daily routine was the care and feeding of the detainees.  This and maintaining their own daily schedule were our main objectives.  Late in the day I received a troubling call notifying me that we would be serving a special Thanksgiving meal to the detainees.  It was a “matter-of-fact” message and there was no explanation or acknowledgement as to how demoralizing it would be for my Soldiers to serve the enemy what seemed like their own Thanksgiving meal.  I felt whoever decided this must have good reason, but was oblivious to how it would make the Soldiers on duty feel.  I was torn between my loyalties to them and remembering that as a Christian I was called to show love to others, even to our worst enemies, and even on one of the most treasured American holidays.  A short prayer of courage and I served the first meal myself, leading the others to put their pride aside and complete the tasking.

I characterized what we did in the same way I often did with the other unflattering things we had to do; it was part of our unspoken duty.  Jesus encouraged us to lay ourselves aside, turn the other cheek, and love our enemies.  My Soldiers and I did this by serving them at Thanksgiving meal, a sign of compassion, a moment that God used to work in the world.  Everything we have that is good is given and preserved by God and since God uses us for good, in ways we do not always see, we should remember to love our enemies.  

Change the World — “OURSELF”

OCTOBER has been our Change the World Stewardship Campaign for the Cooperative Parish. Each Sunday we have had an opportunity for you to share  [on a post-it note]  how you might “Change the World” around you. If you were not able to be in church, please feel free to post your comment right here! For additional information, please visit our Facebook page.

Join us this Sunday, October 30th, for our COMMITMENT SUNDAY where we will share our pledges of financial gifts and gifts of our time and services. As we pledge together our continuing commitment to God and the ministries of the Cooperative Parish in 2012.

Please bring your completed Commitment card and join us this Sunday.

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This past Sunday 10/23 we considered the change we can each make in our *SELF* These are the changes our Cooperative Parish Family hopes for and intends to make in themselves:

1. Pray more; more diligent in my worship of you
2. To be a more loving and patient caregiver
3. Be more helpful to others; walk close with God
4. Patience to really hear others; courage to do more to help others
5. Continue to participate in God’s House of Worship; healing powers and take care of the poor
6. I will try to remember that I am Christian every day not just on Sunday; that I am always God’s child
7. To continue to engage in daily bible reading, meditation & prayer
8. Keep trying to focus on doing a few things well, and letting others go; and cultivate those priorities that are more a reflection of who and whose I am
9. To help me worry less about my own security and give myself resources so that others might have more
10. Fight disparity between rich and poor with political action if necessary; be more active for justice for the poor and oppressed
11. Change myself to be more mature and less hateful; To get along with others and be more neat
12. Try to be more open to change; work on relationships
13. May I (we) always remember our Brothers and Sisters in Christ who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ; They ask for our prayer support that they may be faithful to Christ and obedient to His will
14. Be more creative
15. Create a healthy balance in my life – work, family, church, community, & self; do better with people
16. Recall and embrace the many blessings I am given through the gift of my children
17. Follow the Word
18. Courage and strength to fulfill – and be transformed by – my calling
19. I would like to be more compassionate toward others
20. Help because of other people, not myself
21. Pray
22. To stay sober
23. Be more forgiving
24. I will hold on to the life that is really life
25. Be less judgmental
26. Strength, Confidence and resourcefulness to use by blessings to bless others. Amen
27. My prayer is that I not allow my relationships to precede the work you’ve called me to do, or the work/changes you ask of me in my spiritual walk.
28. I will commit to working in the food pantry or soup kitchen at least 2 times this coming year
29. Forgiving
30. Partnership & love. Physical health changes. Deeper commitment to family
31. I pledge to give back to those less fortunate than me by giving to charity or starting up my own non-profit organization in Sierra Leone
32. More praying
33. To help clean the home of a person who must stay in a nursing home & is alone
34. Have thine  O way Lord, Bless me God in all good ways. Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. I need Thee. Thank you God, my Lord, my Savior.
35. To grow deeper in my faith and trust in God.
36. Be a good person and help others.
37. To be more open to sharing my time & resources for God, with a glad and joyful heart.
38. I will… pray more with my children.
39. I pray for more tolerance and civility.
40. Compassion with myself to try to do my best; use my gifts/talents; and be patient and seek God’s guidance in my life always. In the good & the hard times.
41. Love those that can be difficult to love.
42. A pledge to do more community service and help those who are in need.
43. To employ my strength and creativity to improve myself in God’s sight and help my family.
44. sing praises
45. I hope to be more committed in church activities
46. To listen for God’s voice.
47. Befriend elderly & shut-in or caregivers
48. I will be satisfied with what I have and who I am.
49. I want to be more generous with my time, partly through volunteering
50. I pledge to try to Be an active member of my church and community. To give more of myself so that I can make more of myself.
51. Being there when one friend needs someone to lean on for support. Offer emotionally stability for friends.
52. Show hoe much I can love.
53. How I’d like to change… be kinder; attend church more; give more and expect less.
54. A young man named Peter needs you in his life Lord. Help his family and friends guide him to you!
55. Crecer en total confidencia y liberacion para poder a God a otros.
56. Participate in a Habitat for Humanity Build
57. I want to be filled by your Holy Spirit more.
58. Bless my whole family with a new beginning to know and love God each & every day.
59. To change the heart of my son P.B. & accept Jesus in his life for his salvation & to change people around him.
60. My heart and my service and Christian guidance for my grandchildren.
61. Tobe the best Mom I can be.
62. Care for myself so  that care more fully as an instrument.
63. I want to learn how to continue to put God first in my life so that all the other pieces will fall into place
64. Spread kindness.
65. O Lord, watch over my family. Let there be unity amongst us; let us learn to forgive, and bind us together in love.
66. I would like to go back to my elementary school, help teachers, and tutor little kids. I would also like to help clean the Chesapeake Bay.
67. Habitat. Serve with joy & gladness.
68. To be open & follow You.
69. 1 Timothy 6:17-19. [ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. ] Ruby (walking in The Word) obeying our Father
70. To have more patience & to be kind…
71. Reach out to those in need, be it in financial or any other ways, with an open heart and wallet and love.
72. Volunteer my time at church and school
73. I will change the way I am, in ways that it will help the people around me. I will learn to listen first, then say what I feel about anything.
74. Forgiveness. Respect. Patience.
75. Pay good deeds forward… and backward.
76. The courage to share my gifts with others for God.
77. Prioritize correctly: Make God first in ALL that I do; Especially before my work; Be a witness at work.
78. Accept Jesus love & have faith in Him.
79. To think about God before I make decisions not just after.
80. I would like to change the world in myself by being trustworthy to others around me. Have courage in myself to be an amazing person and to get that courage and to get that courage adn use it to help others around me.
81. I will be more receptive to Jesus’ presence in my life, and will be thankful for every day. I will also try to be as motivating and encouraging of others as possible.
82. Be less disappointed in people & turn it into compassion
83. Focus more on what God had given us instead of what we need or lack.
84. Go to the school where my mom works and help her teach her students.
85. Make an effort to truly see and appreciate others’ perspectives an others’ stories and accept.
86. [ 3yr-old child's drawing of a heart ]
87. Continued to pay kindness forward; be a diplomat for peace all over the world
88. Feed the homeless
89. Challenge myself to rethink my priorities; Commit an act of courage each week
90. I pledge to put more faith in God and his plan for me.
91. To pray for others! Give more canned food to the church
92. To be open to change in ourselves and to give more of ourselves & resources as we are transformed.
93. donate food
94. Practice peace & generosity every day
95. donate money to people in need
96. Pray for a miracle! Love and hope.
97. I’d never lifter…
98. Reach out to friends, family & strangers, praying for and with them.
99. Pledge to pray more for those I don’t know, rather than just those I do know.
100. Make the world safe for children so they grow up healthy, happy & bring on a new world.

Again, each Sunday we have had the opportunity for you to share  [on a post-it note]  how you might “Change the World” around you. If you were not able to be in church, please feel free to post your comment right here! For more information, please visit our Facebook page.

A Plan for Uniting in Ministry

On Sunday, October 23, 2011, a plan for uniting in ministry was made available at both of our church services. This is a plan to bring our administrative committees and work across the cooperative parish in line with the same collaboration and sharing we currently enjoy in our shared ministries.  You may download a copy of the plan by clicking on the following link:

Draft Plan for Uniting in Ministry SSUMCP

You are encouraged to review this plan, to pray about our future ministry and life together in the cooperative parish, and to talk with the pastors, leaders and people of our congregations about this plan.

A cooperative parish-wide discussion session will take place on Sunday, October 30 from 12:30pm-1:30pm in the Woodside Chapel. The Leadership Council will also consider recommending this plan at their upcoming meeting on Sunday, November 6.

This plan for uniting in ministry will be considered formally at our scheduled Charge Conference session at 7pm on Wednesday, November 9 in the Marvin Sanctuary. Charge Conference is our annual accountability and reporting session with the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Every member of both congregations may vote in consideration of this plan for uniting in ministry.

Change the World — “OUR COMMUNITY”

OCTOBER is our Change the World stewardship campaign for the Cooperative Parish. Each Sunday we’ll have an opportunity for you to share  [on a post-it note]  how you might “Change the World” around you. If you were not able to be in church, please feel free to post your comment right here! To see our focus for next Sunday, please visit our Facebook page.

This past Sunday 10/16 we considered the change we can each make in our *COMMUNITY* These are the changes our Cooperative Parish Family hopes for and intends to make in the COMMUNITY:

1. Continue to help with the food drive; support Arleeta’s Pantry; visit with my own neighbors.
2. I want to clothe more people and volunteer with my school’s community service project.
3. To reconect with my neighbors and maintain those contacts; to contribute to community agencies, as able, with financial, clothing and other resources for those in need; to be respectful.
4. Continue to serve by taking care of grandchildren, neighbors, and contact with former neighbors.
5. Be active in service-oriented activities in the community; be more pleasant to the people I meet.
6. Embrace my neighborhood community.
7. I want to give more of my time, to serve and meet new people in the community – my brothers and sisters.
8. Get more involved in church projects.
9. To be kind to others and find the capacity for empathy within myself and through faith.
10. Participate more with Shepherd’s Table; get to know my neighbors better.
11. To become more aware of who is in my community, and how I can help us all be more in touch – including our childrens’ schools, and our neighborhood.
12. Lord, show us your way to engage us in the surrounding community – how we can share you Lord God.
13. Provide food to the hungry; hope for the hopeless; give and bless many as God has so graciously blessed me; make a difference!!! (big and small)
14. Feed the poor.
15. Ask strangers questions about their personal lives.
16. Acknowledge; smile; say hello; have a conversation; grow an acquaintance.
17. Follow 10 Commandments – real; follow Jesus – what will Jesus do & think and you have result.
18. Serving at Shepherd’s Table and doing extra fix-it-projects there.
19. Encourage more people to participate in serving at Shepherd’s table and with Arleeta’s Pantry. Of course I will continue to serve with my time, my service and my resources.
20. Selflessness + caring for others in need
21. Camp Joy
22. Volunteer my time to assist in the education of children and youth in the church and at my kids’ schools
23. Be nice to someone who doesn’t have friends
24. Volunteering to serve in Arleeta’s Pantry, and contribute food to it.
25. Lord, show us your way we should go and do the work needed to improve the lives of those who are homeless, hungry and in any danger. May your name be glorified.
26. “I will help thos ined of love and nuture.”
27. Pray for jobs + work for affordable housing
28. I pledge to reach out to those who do not  have a church home and invite them on Sunday.
29. I pledge to give more time and resources to Arleeta’s Pantry
30. Give more of my time to Arleeta’s Pantry + Shepherd’s Table. Be a better citizen of Silver Spring and Woodside
31. Pray for Peace of mind. A stronger faith and a happy life.
32. Pray for my walk with God in his leading… I will understand his knowledge and wisdom. And he will keep leading me in spirit and in Him, with Him, all things are possible. Amen.
33. to begin volunteering in local schools
34. I pledge that I will… kind and gentle to my neighbors.
35. Donate food to anybody in need.
36. I will work to make this community a loving and welcoming place for all.
37. To be a… person when I grow up.
38. I love God! For everybody to love God.
39. Give more time to assist in charity-related events and activities.
40. Bring food for Arleeta’s Pantry
41. Prayer for the afflicted in Body, Mind, & Spirit.
42. Participating in the ministries of the Church
43. To be the best that I can be in my work.
44. Be a living example of how God wants us to live and treat each other because ‘we’ are the only bible that some people sees!
45. Love the little children.
46. Compassion for neighbors, others, even friends/family and the struggles and needs in our community.
47. Cook a meal for seniors or babysit for a couple to have a night out.
48. Continue to support for the the kids and families in Kentucky.
49. I will provide food for Arleeta’s Pantry on a regular basis.
50. Be nice to your neighbors and people who are around you.
51. I pledge to use that hammer and others like it to make a difference in someone’s life — both in the physical world and hoefully the spiritual one.
52. Get to know my nieghbors
53. Helping service members and their families as they transition from Military life to civilian life (reintegration). And continue to serve in the PTA at my children’s schools as a board member. To help all the students not just mine.
54. Whatever I can do to make the world a better place.
55. Volunteering in community — children related programs; food service; cancer and diabetes research.
56. Be more giving of the community
57. Pledge: Provide vocal music for the congregation; Volunteer at Shepherd’s Table; Invite someone new to church; Act as an example and share knowledge about Christ with people outside of church.
58. I pray for everyone to love each other & help support each other through personal struggles. I hope everyone can learn to love each other & recognize when someone falls to lend a hand to help them up again.
59. Be kind to strangers
60. Be present, pray, be open to grace and love one another.
61. Continue volunteering with the Washington Humane Society.
62. From picking up trash!
63. Continue to serve those less fortunate through Arleeta’s Pantry and other service projects.
64. [ child's doodles] We will share toys.
65. To try, even in simple ways, that I feel aren’t very big, to reach out, listen, and share.
66. In community I pray, I work for neighbors, work for my civic association but what I’d really like to do is build a community center for kids and adults to share for free when they can’t afford other things. (I swear I wrote this before the sermon)
67. Help stop bullying
68. Donate to other people in the community who don’t have as much as I do.
69. We will support Arleeta’s Pantry and Shepherd’s table.
70. Help at Arleeta’s pantry and volunteer in my community (community service)
71. Bring positive energy to otherwise difficult situations.
72. Whatever I can!
73. We will support Arleeta’s Pantry + Shepherd’s Table.
74. To have courage and faith to go out, service and meet others in the community — my brothers and sisters.
75. Corporations building housing for those in shelters.
76. Be more generous of my time and talents.
77. I ask for prayers for page, a homeless veteran, who sits by the SS Metro. I ask that he be able to find the benefits for what he is eligible.
78. I will donate some of the clothes that I don’t want anymore or one to small.
79. Give my offering, continue to teach and look out for each student pray for strength to do  God’s will.

Again, each Sunday we’ll have an opportunity for you to share  [on a post-it note]  how you might “Change the World” around you. If you were not able to be in church, please feel free to post your comment right here! To see our focus for next Sunday, please visit our Facebook page

Change the World — “THE WORLD”

OCTOBER is our Change the World stewardship campaign for the Cooperative Parish. Each Sunday we’ll have an opportunity for you to share  [on a post-it note]  how you might “Change the World” around you. If you were not able to be in church, please feel free to post your comment right here! To see our focus for next Sunday, please visit our Facebook page.

This past Sunday 10/9 we considered the change we can each make in our *WORLD*
These are the changes our Cooperative Parish Family hopes for and intends to make in the WORLD:

1. I hope to change the world by becoming a police officer and helping people everyday and help people that do not have faith in police become faithful in what people, like me, are here for.
2. Compassion for others — our neighbors, other countries, even other political parties.
3. Serve more.
4. To be more involved at church through service on a more consistent basis. Participate in the many opportunities that are presented.
5. Commit my time, talent, and finances to support the new Woodside-Marvin, or Marvin-Woodside marriage
6. Pray that God strengthen me in my walking and in my word…
7. Feed the hungry
8. To put, in popular writing, a vision of ethereal responsibility in book forms — through common experience such as sports, etc.
9. Feed the poor
10. Service to community
11. Be a business leader and empower, provide jobs and career opportunities for parents and families, provide opportunities for growth education and prosperity. Be kind and a good parent.
12. Pray for Peace. Feed the poor.
13. Random acts of kindness.
14. Use my leadership skills and experience in the church instead of just at my job — get involved in the church and make a difference.
15. Build my works on a deeper faith
16. Live in peace!
17. Adopt an African child through World Vision.
18. I can share my gifts daily and share WHO they come from.
19. Sing. Take my kids to church.
20. Demonstrate appreciation and love to others on a daily basis. Constantly evaluate what/how I can change my community.
21. More dedicated to the youth and children programs at church. More outreach for our family.
22. Become more active in church. Tithe. My children to be more active in church.
23. Contribute to improvement of buildings and facilities. Help guide, educate youth. Participate more fully in church community.
24. [ equal sign ] Equal marriage. Equal ordination. Equal adoption.
25. Provide a drug free work force.
26. To be the best teacher and impact my students’ lives.
27. To pledge to be a compassionate and more loving person to family, friends, and community.
28. Work with young children. Provide food for those in need.
29. To join or help create a community of action that actively seeks to make the lives of those around us better.
30. I’d like to teach inmates to read and write. And help end hunger.
31. I want to become more active in our church. Maybe create a mom’s group.
32. Help the church facilities to become more environmentally friendly.
33. To be more giving of my time to some through mission and prayer.
34. Donate more time to those who need attention and assistance.
35. Keep making my body uplifting and my house whole.
36. To help feed the hungry
37. Open our home to others.
38. To follow you, God, wherever you are calling us, and me. [ PHOTO ]
39. Support the food pantry with donations and cooking
40. I commit to working in the church’s feeding programs at the mobile food pantry and Arleeta’s Pantry.
41. Support the music program through greater participation.
42. Help one person move from homelessness to employment and stability
43. To come out and talk with the people and share some of the things I can do to help anyway I can. Show my great love that I have for God.
44. Bless others spread the good news. Great peace for all people.
45. I will help people realize that they are not alone in our world.
46. Comfort, joy, wholeness, peace, compassion, truth, love.
47. Youth ministry, witnessing to outside world, mindful prayer.
48. To be more committed in the workings of the church.
49. Bring peace.
50. Work to volunteer more within the community.
51. Participate in the church’s feeding programs.
52. God, I’m a writer, proofreader, editor, communicator. If you open the door, I’ll walk through.
53. To help ease hunger in our community.
54. Become a more faithful reader of scripture and church history.
55. Participate more in the church.
56. I feel called to raise a responsible and compassionate child.
57. Volunteer my time and gifts with others.
58. Pray for peace of mind for our country each day.
59. Children’s charity. Teaching children as young as 5 to give back via donation, help.
60. Liturgist. Member of the chancel choir. Volunteer from time to time.
61. Redirect financial resources to need-based organizations and to participate in same.
62. To help combine Arleeta’s Pantry with the thrift store.
63. Be a servant to God and a servant to the people. Put a smile on someone’ face daily.
64. Help feed the hungry and clothe those in need.
65. Help others to succeed. Welcome all. Be kind to all.
66. Work to make our government work better to improve people’s lives.
67. Volunteer, work with students.
68. Pray for people to have less hate.
69. Help the church grow.
70. Continue to ship food for Arleeta’s Pantry. Type up journal of those who went on mission trip to Bolivia. Continue to format/type up sermons for older adults. Help with Marvin food programs.
71. Help the church grow.
72. Help feed the hungry and clothe those in need.
73. Pledge together that Woodside and Marvin become greater as one.
74. Teach
75. Sing
76. Read
77. To participate with the Blue Human traffiking project. For us to remember our persecuted brothers and sisters who covet our prayers to stay faithful to Jesus Christ.
78. Give children support to have strength in themselves and faith to make positive decisions about their futures.
79. Lead my family to more opportunities to serve the community.
80. Help children learn to read, feel safe and hopeful in the world
81. Participate more in church.
82. Address problems at the root rather than at the twig.
83. Be good and warm.
84. Equality for all.
85. The way I act toward other people.
86. Raising my children to know Christ and to be kind and loving.
87. Recycle.
88. Care for the children.
89. To be more pro-active in inviting others to assist with our food ministry, especially Arleeta’s Pantry.
90. I hope to be able to look into others’ hearts and see how they feel, not only how I feel.
91. To increase my financial pledge for the furtherance of our ministries; to commit to serving our community by participating in projects such as food distribution, service projects around the church, and community.
92. To follow you, O God, to the new ways of serving and being the church that you are calling us, and me, to.
93. Help the environment, use renewable energy, save our planet from global warming and the negative impact of humans.
94. Be more active in service activities that go on in the church’s behalf; continue to give financially to the church.
95. By being more thoughtful and considerate of others every day.
96. The organ here must not be silent any longer. The world is a better place with music that inspires – like the mighty sound of an organ.
97. Sing in the choir(s); serve in the community.
98. To help sustain life by donating blood products.

Again, each Sunday we’ll have an opportunity for you to share  [on a post-it note]  how you might “Change the World” around you. If you were not able to be in church, please feel free to post your comment right here! To see our focus for next Sunday, please visit our Facebook page.

KingdomTide Coming In: Living the Kingdom

I have on my shelf a few cookbooks from which I’ve hardly cooked.  They’re beautifully illustrated, however:  beef stew steams in a wide-rimmed bowl, on a plate nearby a slice of brown bread is spread with butter, and chunky applesauce specked with cinnamon and clove is mounded in a blue serving dish.  I look at the photos and they are lovely.  And I look at the ingredients and the steps and – too often! – they are complicated and time-consuming and I think, Oh, it’ll just be easier to read this than to cook.  And it is pleasant to page through the images of all those lovely meals.  But just reading a cookbook (no matter how lavishly illustrated) doesn’t satisfy your hunger.  It’s more apt to wake your appetite than to cure it.  There comes a time to move from reading to doing, from page to life.

But maybe that’s how the books and pictures can matter:  they show all sorts of ingredients, open our minds and hearts to new patterns and possibilities so we can combine our own.

Family is hungry.  So am I, I realize.  Time to close the book and cook the dinner.  What do I have in the cupboard?  What can I get from the store?  What are the actual daily details of my life as it is … as it might yet be?

Time to move from looking at pictures of someone else’s table so to set my own.

(I’m thinking pork with apples; no time for bread but biscuits might be good … )

Katherine Brown

What are the world’s images of a good life?   What are your images of a good life?  Where do they come from?  How do you “recombine” those ingredients into actual life?

How do these images (yours, the world’s) connect to the kingdom images God gave Israel (as in the passages from the Hebrew Bible we read in prior weeks)?  How do these images connect to the kingdom images Jesus taught and acted (as in the parables he told and miracles/signs he did)?

How do all these images compete/contradict/undermine each other?  How do they reinforce/support/extend each other?

Texts for Reading and Wondering

Matthew 6:25-33; Luke 11:1-4  [the Lord’s Prayer]; Micah 6:8

Who initiates the prayer in each passage?  What is the occasion?  How are the prayers same/different?

Note connections between Jesus’ ‘kingdom prayer” and the original mission of Genesis 12, of Exodus 19, of the reminder of Micah 6:8 – how does Jesus’ prayer echo the older commitments?  How does it make them new? 

How can we keep this prayer?  How can this prayer keep us?

How is the Lord’s Prayer a recipe for kingdom-living?

Acts 2:43-47 [the new community as kingdom];  1 Corinthians 13 [love as the rule of kingdom-community]

In what ways was the kingdom realized/fulfilled in Jesus’ life?

In what ways is the kingdom still coming in?

Where do you see God working in the world to bring in the kingdom?

Where do you see yourself working with God – living already in the kingdom?

What are some of the words of kingdom? [love, peace, healing, wholeness, sufficiency, joy – don’t forget joy! – others?]  Where do we see those words as true?  How can we make those words true? … for us, for others?